#comms are one thing but... just... sighing sighing sighing. man idk

[python333]

task force 141 reacting to [reader] telling them corny jokes during a mission — python333

— — — —

synopsis just as the title says, tf141 reacts to you telling them some corny dad jokes during a mission!

relationships platonic!taskforce 141 & gn!reader.

characters cap. price, soap, ghost, gaz.

warnings 2nd person pov [you/yours/yourself], usage of c/n [code name/call sign], bad jokes.

note ME AND MY 23 FOLLOWERS ARE STRAIGHT CHILLING RN. i love all of u. anyway gaz is in this one!! yippee!! i thought about ghost and his jokes in that one part of one of the cod games idk ive never played them i watch other people play it but you guys know what im talking about. i also just figured out that i should probably specify gender neutral reader for my fics?? so i'll start doing that! ANYWAY enjoy!! this is all fluff and has some classic tired parent & hyper toddler energy in the first part :}

JOHN “BRAVO SIX” PRICE

➥ insert exasperated sigh here.

➥ he will let you keep telling him jokes, however he will only respond to them with a simple, tired, “Uh huh. Good one. Very funny. Nice one.”

➥ tired dad energy.

➥ the first one you told was okay. he laughed at that one. the tenth one? please, god, just stop talking and put him out of his misery.

➥ he wonders how you know so many jokes, and then wonders if you got them all from ghost.

➥ if you did get them from ghost, trust that he will be telling the man himself all about how you constantly told him bad jokes over comms.

➥ if you just happen to know all of these, he won’t be surprised.

➥ he’ll put up with all of the jokes, for your sake, of course.

➥ the first time this happens, you’re both on a pretty insignificant mission compared to other ones you’ve done.

➥ you’re both talking over comms, just making sure you’re both okay.

➥ that’s when you started your attack.

—

“Captain?” You’d asked, listening as Price hummed in acknowledgment of you talking, “Wanna hear a joke?”

You could practically hear his hesitation, before he responded with a tentative, almost scared, “... Sure, [c/n].”

A delighted grin split across your face as you asked him, “How does dry skin affect you at work?”

He thought for a moment before asking, “How?”

“You don’t have any elbow grease to put into it.” You heard Price give a small chuckle, and decided to ask, “Wanna hear another one?”

Price’s second mistake of the evening, “Sure.”

“Where do boats go when they’re sick?” You asked, still keeping a lookout on your surroundings on your end while focusing on telling your Captain shitty jokes.

“Where?” Price asked.

“To the boat doc.” It took Price a moment, before he huffed out a small laugh and muttered just loud enough for you to hear, “Jesus, that’s terrible.”

Without warning, you tell him another one. He asks why, when, how, or what, whichever was appropriate for the joke you told, and slowly but surely his questioning tone became tired and exasperated. You don’t know why, but somehow his miserable tone made you even more motivated to tell him corny jokes.

“Do you just… memorize all of these?” Price asked in the middle of you telling a new joke, sounding almost astonished.

“Yes I do. Just for these missions, I do,” You answered confidently, smiling when Price sighed. You continued on with your joke, and even though Price didn’t respond verbally, you still told the punch line. You had repeated this for at least ten minutes, all of those minutes appallingly slow to Price, the poor man having to endure your bullshit for such a short yet such a long time. At the tenth minute, the only thing that stopped you from continuing was Gaz’s voice coming on over comms and interrupting you, telling everyone else on the mission that they could head back to the rendezvous point. Price, relieved at the interruption, gave a thankful sigh and you could hear him getting up from his spot before he muted himself.

You sighed as well, yours a direct opposite of Prices, full of disappointment, but you let it go. Besides, you’ll always have more opportunities to terrorize Price with your jokes on the ride back to base!

—

JOHN “SOAP” MACTAVISH

➥ he has the same reaction he had with ghost telling him corny jokes.

➥ he’ll call your jokes terrible, but will still laugh at them somehow.

➥ will 100% put up with your jokes, will laugh every time, even if his laughter slowly becomes more and more strained, he’ll laugh.

➥ tells you some jokes back, but after your 4th joke, he gives up and accepts his fate.

➥ he will suffer for your entertainment, guaranteed.

➥ he will be sure to remind you of how terrible your jokes are though!!

➥ he’s honestly impressed by how many jokes you’ve memorized.

➥ he’ll happily support you doing this to other people, no matter how much it damages his soul when you do it to him.

➥ the first time you do it to him, he starts getting deja vu from when ghost did it to him.

➥ “Oh, God, no’ ye too,” he’d groan playfully the moment you start telling him jokes, getting flashbacks.

➥ enjoys your jokes, even if he would do anything for you to shut up, he still enjoys them.

—

You and Soap were camping out in the same spot—atop a roof of a tall building that was just tall enough to give you a view of practically every other building in the area as well as the ground. It was cold up there, the air so cold that every time you’d exhaled, your breath turned to white condensation before fading into the clear sky.

It was fair to say that you and Soap were fairly bothered by the cold, so you really had no other option, you just had to start telling your jokes. How else could you warm the both of you up? Sure, it wouldn’t do anything physically, but mentally? It was sure to practically melt Soap’s brain.

“Soap?” Soap hummed and looked over at you, “Wanna hear a joke?”

Soap smiled, and decided to humor you, “Sure. Joke ‘way.”

“Why couldn’t the bike stand up by itself?” You asked, turning fully towards Soap. He didn’t bother to think before asking, “Why?”

“Because it was two-tired.” It took him a moment, but eventually he huffed out a small laugh and nodded.

“No’ bad,” He’d hummed, “Want me to say one?”

“Go ahead.”

“How did vikings communicate with one another?” Soap asked, turning fully towards you in turn.

“How?”

“By Norse code,” Soap had said with a grin on his face, clearly proud of the joke. You laughed quietly at it.

Without asking, you tell another joke. “Why did the bed wear a disguise?”

“Why?”

“It was undercover.”

Soap chuckled and turned back down to the ground, assuming you were done. But, oh boy, did he assume wrong. You told another one. He asked for the punchline. You delivered. You told another. He asked again. You delivered, again. Can you recall just how many jokes you told that fateful night? No. Does that make the memory any less funny to look back on? No.

Soap’s expression slowly turned to one of misery, his laughter becoming strained and slowly coming to a stop, the light in his eyes fading away as God himself seemed to appear behind you and reassure him that it would all be over soon. God, how he wished that were true.

Soon enough, you were both told over comms that you were able to safely make it back to the rendezvous point, and Soap couldn’t be happier.

He let you tell him more jokes during the walk over there, of course, and made sure to tell you how awful they were, but still endured them for your sake.

—

SIMON “GHOST” RILEY

➥ it’s like he’s been preparing for this moment his whole life.

➥ he’ll put up with your jokes and will tell you a joke back every single time.

➥ at some point you guys will probably use a joke on each other that the other one told you.

➥ he actively enjoys the joke-telling.

➥ he probably tells the first joke and that’s what triggers you to tell him your own.

➥ he’s annoyed soap, gaz, price, and a few others with his jokes, yet you’re the first one to go back and forth with him.

➥ every time you tell him one he’ll make a mental note of it and remember it for annoying people on future missions.

➥ probably thinks some of the jokes are genuinely funny but still knows that it annoys people.

➥ if you tell him a corny joke related to ghosts, he’ll probably laugh more.

➥ i am aware that that is pretty corny in itself but look at the title man what did you expect.

➥ he’ll probably tell some jokes about your [c/n] to you back.

➥ he’ll know when you’re reusing a joke and calls you out on it.

➥ “Does this require more creativity than you expected, [c/n]?”

➥ [in a perfect imitation of matpat’s voice] i find his jokes delightful! [in regular voice, now whispering as if scared i’m going to get caught by ghost saying this] i’m lying. he’s my fictional father figure so i am very much obligated to enjoy his jokes.

—

”[c/n], how copy?” You heard Ghost’s voice crackle through over comms, and pushed the PTT button on your small ear piece to respond.

“Copy, doing just fine,” You responded, “Little bored, if I’m gonna be honest.”

“Oh really?” Ghost breathed out, sounding amused. You could hear some gunfire on his end, and the wind his his earpiece making the annoying whoosh noise you hated. Just a few moments later, Ghost spoke up again, “Y’wanna hear a joke to ease your boredom?”

“Sure,” You’d hummed, looking around to make sure you were still safe to just stay where you were and chat for a moment.

“What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?” Ghost asked, his voice dry and sarcastic. You thought for a moment before shrugging—even though he couldn’t see you—and asking, “What?”

“A stick.” Ghost delivered. The stupid joke made you huff out a small laugh and mutter under your breath something about how good it was, and even though you couldn’t see him, you could practically hear Ghost’s self-satisfied smile.

“Another?” Ghost offered.

“How about I tell one?”

“Alright. Go ‘head.”

“How do ghosts stay in shape?” You asked, listening to Ghost’s amused huff on the other end of the line, like he knew where you were going with the joke but decided not to say the punch line for you.

“How?”

“They exorcize,” You responded, grinning, proud of yourself for thinking of that one.

“That’s not bad,” Ghost hummed, “Not bad at all.”

Ghost stayed quiet for another moment before asking, “Where do fish keep their money?”

“Where?”

“In a river bank,” Ghost said, his smile almost audible in his words.

“Nice one, L.t,” You breathed out, laughing quietly.

“We could do this all night,” Ghost mused, oddly happy at the sound of your quiet laughter, a little rustling audible on his end.

“Is that a challenge?” You asked in response to his musings, to which Ghost responds with a simple, affirmative hum. You think for a moment, before asking, “Why can’t a leopard hide?”

“Why?”

“Because he’s always spotted.”

Ghost hummed, mentally writing that one down before asking, “Why did the scarecrow get an award?”

“Why?”

“Because he was outstanding in his field,” Ghost delivered. With each joke you cringed more, and yet you kept responding with the same bullshit. The two of you went back and forth with the shitty jokes, eliciting responses from each other like, “That’s a good one,” or, “God, that’s awful.” It really had no in between, it was one or the other.

Eventually, and just in time because you were beginning to run out of jokes, Price’s voice crackled through over comms, letting you both know that everything was now under control and gave you both the coordinates for the rendezvous point. Before you get up from your spot, you can hear Ghost asking Price, “Wanna hear a joke?”, and Price’s quick response of, “I’m good”, the quick interaction making you laugh quietly.

“He doesn’t know what he’s missing out on,” You muttered, voice full of amusement.

“Damn right he doesn’t,” Ghost huffed out, chuckling quietly when Price groaned and muted himself.

—

KYLE “GAZ” GARRICK

➥ he just gives up and accepts his fate.

➥ i’m actually in full belief that he’ll just let you tell jokes and won’t even respond.

➥ if y’all are in the same spot, he’ll just stare at you in astonished silence, wondering how you know all of this and also wondering if he’ll make it out of this alive.

➥ i think he’s lovely, i also think that he would just let you do whatever.

➥ it’s like an older brother participating in his younger sibling’s tea party with their stuffed animals and bright pink plastic tea cups and fake tea.

➥ he considers taking out his earpiece but then realizes that that’s a bad idea so he just suffers through it.

➥ surprisingly, it’s easy to focus on his tasks even with your voice in the background.

➥ he’s only heard of ghost’s shitty jokes, and thinks that this might be worse, somehow.

➥ i mean, it’s not like he can’t ignore it, but he feels kind of bad that he does.

➥ he hums every now and then to remind you that he’s listening but he’s too caught up in pretending to listen to actually listen.

➥ when the mission’s over and you eventually stop telling your jokes he realizes how quiet it is without your voice in the background laughing at your own jokes.

—

“Why do bees have sticky hair?” You asked, this being about your twentieth joke of that evening. Gaz hummed in response, tone questioning, and you delivered the punch line, “Because they use a honeycomb.”

Gaz didn’t pay much attention to any of your punchlines, really just letting you get all of this out of your system, figuring that if you didn’t do it now it’d happen to some poor soul later. He accepted his fate early on, the moment you told your third dad joke, he knew it wouldn’t end. Call it a sixth sense of his, knowing when you’d be persistent in your quest to annoy every member of the 141, but he just knew.

“Where do surfers learn to surf?” You asked, giggling quietly at your own joke, despite the punchline being stupid. Gaz didn’t even respond, yet you still delivered, “At boarding school.”

Gaz considers taking his earpiece out for a moment, then thinks again and decides it’s probably better not to, knowing Price’s voice could crackle through into the earpiece and let you both know to head to the rendezvous point. Sighing quietly, he continued to look around him, scanning the area as he walked around, making sure no enemies were left alive. Your voice still hummed in the background, the sound becoming more normal to him and less distracting.

“Why did the tourists feel disappointed after seeing the Liberty Bell?” No response from Gaz. “Because it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.”

“What do rabbits need after getting caught in the rain?” A small, questioning hum. “A hare dryer.”

You continued to tell your jokes, and in the middle of one, Gaz interrupted.

“Y’know,” He started, “If you didn’t already have a call sign, we’d be calling you Jester.”

“I’d love to go by Jester,” You laughed quietly, lightly, “I feel like it’d be more fitting.”

“Probably, yeah,” Gaz chuckled quietly, about to say something else before Price’s voice came through over comms and let you both know to head over to the rendezvous point. After you stop telling your jokes and mute yourself, Gaz can’t help but notice how quiet it becomes.

He got a bit too used to your voice, it seems. He muted himself and sighed, pulling up the coordinates to the rendezvous point and heading over there.

[olichat-reads]

Imagine | ProHero!Bakugou x Villain!Reader #2

a/n: I felt like writing some insight to what i meant when i say you and bakugou working together is somehow worse than you two going against each other. Because, yes, its that bad haha.

she/her reader

🌟

Imagine being tangled in wires and each other like cats in yarn, with you strapped to katsu's leg, trying to wiggle yourself free like a dying fish while reading the manual upside down for katsu who is frantically defusing a bomb with only his left hand because his right is stuck to your face.

"Why do we always end up like this?"

"20 years of friendship and i still have no fucking clue."

"Red wire or white?"

"Re- WAIT. WAIT. NO. WHITE."

"FUCK YOU. ARE TRYING TO GET US KILLED."

"BITCH YOU TRY READING FROM THIS ANGLE. NOW FLIP THE PAGE."

*sigh of god's most tortured soul*

"Y/n. I only have one hand free."

"Well good for you. I have none. Now. Flip- OW. OW KATSU MY HAIR. MY HAIRRR"

"STOP FUCKING SQUIRMING. I CAN'T REACH THE DAMN THING FROM HERE."

*3 minutes left on timer*

*incoherent screeching*

☆

Its usually why you rarely have anyone else on comms- because no one can stand you guys' stupid 😭.

"Red, are you hearing this psychopath??"

"Shitty hair, if you take her side I'm going to blast your ass into next thursday-"

"Don't threaten him into admitting you were right! You KNOW you're fucking NOT."

"YES, I FUCKING AM-"

"OH YEAH? LETS PUT IT OUT THERE THEN. SEE WHAT THE PUBLIC THINKS OF THE NUMBER ONE HERO DRINKING HIS COFFEE WITH HOT SAUCE-"

"ITS AN ACQUIRED TASTE-"

"ITS FUCKING DISGUSTING IS WHAT IT IS. RED TELL HIM-"

"..."

*red has left the call*

*pinky has come online*

"...HI GUYS PINKY HERE. Red had to um-"

"Pinky please tell this psycho that hot sauce in coffee is fUCKING-"

"Ohhhh its you two...... Yea, nope :D." *call disconnected*

"HAH."

"THAT WAS NOT A *YES* YOU FUCKING-"

But weirdly no one is ever too worried about you two fucking up on missions. You're both the best in the field. Feral, reckless and a little insane? Sure. But you get the job done.

A cross between lawful evil and chaotic evil.

"Can we just kill him?"

"No."

"...can i just kill him?"

"No."

"You've read the file! I'll be doing the world a favour by offing trash like him."

"This world has laws that you are binded to. And the law said fucking no."

"...please?"

"..."

"How am I supposed to live, laugh, love in this conditions?"

*big sigh*

"Fine. Mess him up. No killing. Death's too good for him."

":D!! I feel like I should be worried about the number one hero's morals but FUCK YEAH! VIOLENCE! >:D"

☆

You're also not against smacking the stupid out of your bestfriend, especially when he gets a little too reckless on the job. Injured or not. It never works but it makes you feel better at least.

"Please stop getting shot. It stresses me out."

"Oh well if you don't fucking like it- PUT THOSE HANDS AWAY I'M INJURED YOU HEARTLESS WENCH-"

☆

Its not just him tho. You're BOTH stupid. It goes both ways. ✨️ b a l a n c e ✨️

"Why are you like this."

"Idk, man. I think its the anxiety."

"The anx- BITCH YOU JUST JUMPED OUT A 12 STOREY BUILDING."

"DON'T YELL AT ME I LITERALLY JUST TOLD YOU I HAVE ANXIETY"

"'I haVe aNxiETy' she says, yeeting herself out the window because the elevator is 'sUS'."

"Small spaces makes me twitchy-"

"AND JUMPING OUT A FUCKING BUILDING DOESN'T??"

"( ; ω ; )"

"Fuck you."

"I deserve that."

"THE FUCK YOU DO-"

☆

I feel like as much as it seems like a bad idea for both parties involved, neither you can help that your work life bleeds into your regular life as well. And you both surprisingly manage it well around each other.

"Have you heard about that new hero??"

"You talking about that air brained newbie?"

"Oh my god, so he WAS dumb! I literally thought you guys were using him as bait!"

"We weren't. He's just fucking stupid."

"I almost felt bad knocking him out :("

"Nah, you're fine. In fact, you should've hit him harder. Maybe give him a concussion or hell a scar as a souvenir. Make sure the lesson fucking sticks."

"You are worryingly condoning of violence for the number one hero, Katsu."

"Bitch, have you met me?"

☆

Another thing that i thing could go awfully wrong is literally planning out your work plans together but you two are just??? So trusting of the other to never double cross you.

"Wait, what? Why the fuck would you do that?"

"Because thats the nearest and fastest exit to the train station. I can cut down on 10 whole minutes and i need that time to catch the train."

"But its the riskiest, you fucking dumbass. Look, you have four other exits WHY would you pick the one you KNOW the heroes would target?"

"Because MATHS SAID-"

"You know what just let me do it-"

"Katsu no-"

☆

You give each gray hairs but you both of you were ready to risk your neck for the other.

"Having you as my bestfriend is like having an emotionally unstable daughter that never listens."

"...but?"

"There's no buts. You give me migraines."

":("

Yeah. You love each other.

🌟

a/n: hehe

[mad-c1oud]

Idk if ur Charlie duo request extend to Gegg but if so maybe Gegg and Antoine or Mike with the prompt “Show me where it hurts.” if not then maybe Mike & Charlie with “If you feel safer with me being there, you know I will always be there.”

dude dude dude YES I chose Mike and CHarlie for this one but I am very intrigued by Antoine... Ill be honest, I don't really know how to write Gegg but my interest is beyonf piqued... maybe in the future...

+++++

“If you feel safer with me being there, you know I will always be there.”

Charlie’s heart clenches in his chest at Mike’s blunt words. The scary thing isn’t what he’s about to do, no, it’s that he believes Mike. He does know that his brother will always be there for him. He should be apprehensive, nervous, and unwilling to look the other in the eye when he says, “Okay, I- yeah okay. Could you- Can you come with me? Please?”

But he isn't, this is all too easy. It's... Mike is safer.

Mike beams at him, usually droopy eyes bright and just as warm as ever. He slings a warm arm around his shoulder and pulls Charlie into his side hard enough to nearly send them both to the ground laughing. Just like that, the anxiety eases and Charlie almost forgets why he’s freaking out until his comms unit buzzes a few times. Mike hooks his chin over his shoulder to read the messages, a reassuring weight that helps him to actually open them in the first place. Funny what a little support makes you capable of. Ha.

Tubbo_: okay were at the adoption center now Tubbo_: maybe keep that… rash hidden Tubbo_: and remember, no weapons king

Charlie winces, tugging his sleeve down to cover the infection creeping up his arm. Mike scoffs behind him before stealing the comms and typing something into chat for him before he pushes the device back at Charlie. He doesn’t bother reading what his brother sent because it’s either in Portuguese or full of very Nice Words. He’ll laugh over it later; it’s something to look forward to.

“Would you like for me to kill him? He’s been bothering Pac and Fit too. It is a… good reason to hurt him. Don’t need one, though. But I would, for you both.”

Charlie snorts and leans away from the other, pocketing his comms before turning to face Mike. “Nah, it wouldn’t be a great first impression, yah know, killing Sunny’s pa and all.”

Mike frowns, reaching hands out to pull Charlie towards him. His brother fusses with his hair a little which is pointless, then moves to straightening his collar as he talks, “Isn’t Sunny your kid too? I think she even called you pops or something before and you haven’t even met. Shut the fuck up, man.” He rests his hands on Charlie’s shoulders and squeezes hard, “Just be you, I think she’ll like that.”

Charlie can’t help it, can’t help but ask, “Even when they find out about Tilín?”

And oh boy, top ten ways to make Mike mad! New one found: whatever the fuck Charlie just said.

“I am- I will kill you, no wait I will let Mine kill you. You are so- filho da puta estúpido. Graças a Deus não somos parentes de sangue,” he groans, dragging a hand down his face, “Okay, we are going to go meet these two. Together. You will do fine, Sunny will love you, and Tubbo will shut his hole.”

“That’s a pretty difficult hole to shut-”

Mike sighs, “Slime.”

“Sorry just- nervous.” Charlie breathes and Mike similarly relaxes, frown easing into a small smile. He throws another arm around Charlie and walks them to the waystone as he talks.

“They are going to love you, meu irmão. I know I do and I am always right. Don’t insult me like that.”

Charlie does not cry, but it’s a damn near thing.

[rexmeshlasblog]

It’s easy if you’d do it right Part 2

Commander Cody x Jedi Reader

Click here for part 1

Summary: After their meeting in the trainings hall the Jedi avoids the Commander…turns out he doesn’t likes it.

Word count: 1793

Warnings: feelings, fluff, mentions of war, use of Y/N, fmc, mentions of loss, intimate moment, lots of sexual tension, let’s just say no walls were harmed, angry Commander Cody, Obi-Wan being a wingman, angsty, swearing

A/N: Here is finally part 2 of “it’s easy if you’d do it right”. I hope you like the last part of this little one shot. Originally this had an other kinda outcome with more angsty Cody, but I guess this one’s better, but idk. Let me know if you want to read the other one as well.

“And that’s how we’ll do it. Anakin and the 501st will help us after.” Master Kenobi ended the briefing for us. We were heading to a mission in the outer rim and suspected Grievous there. There was a good chance that we could finally catch him and destroy his army of clankers and bring a bit more peace to the galaxy.

„Commander, Admiral you are dismissed“, Obi-Wan finished and gave me his full attention as they left us alone. I raised my eyebrows. When he looked at me with that look I felt like I’d done something wrong. Massively wrong.

„What is it Obi-Wan?“, I sighed rubbing my temples displeased.

His arms crossed while his face turned from full serious to an huge smile as he noticed that everyone else had left us behind.

“My dear, what did you do to our beloved Commander?”, he asked eyebrows raising slowly and smile widening. I never saw Obi-Wan like that before and I knew him a while now since he kinda adopted me to his -now our- battalion. Excited and fully invested in someone else’s drama if you’d call it that. This man was here for the tea. I always thought he was the calm and sticking to the rules type of guy and not like Skywalker. A man who gave a kriff about rules and just did his mission like he likes it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”, I mumbled under my breath turning slightly away from him, but he was a Jedi Master. Looking right through me and my flustered behaviour. And he also knew his Commander very well and noticed that Cody behaved different than normally. Not visible for someone who didn’t know him as well as we did, but still kinda obvious if you’re looking for a change in his mood.

“We both know that this is a lie. You’re both acting weird since a few days and you’re ignoring him completely. What happed to you and your friendship? Did Cody do something wrong?” Master Kenobi was worried. I could sense it, but behind his worry was something else as well. Hope. But hope for what?

“Master”, I began, but he disrupted me.

“He tried talking to you, but you’re avoiding him. I saw it the other day.”

I bit my lip. Regret waved like flames through me. I knew that he wanted to talk. I sensed it, but after all meetings I just raced away so we didn’t have to talk about it. After our meeting in the trainings hall I thought he just wanted to forget about it and keep moving on without lending it a second thought. Cody had seemed so unbothered like it was and meant nothing to him when my comm interrupted us, so I tried to calm my nerves and feels for him as I suggested that I didn’t have a chance if I tried talking to him. He seemed uninterested in me. Like he didn’t have the same feelings as I had for him.

“I’m sorry.” The apology was weak and Obi-Wan knew that as well. But at least it was honest.

“Don’t say that to me. Speak with Cody. He isn’t himself anymore and I worry about him as much as I do for you, my dear.” Fathers like he patted my shoulder before I left to go to my room. I had to clean my thoughts before I could finally speak with Cody ‘cause Obi-Wan was right. I had to talk to him. We worked together and things would not turn out well on the battle field if we didn’t clarify everything.

But for now I had to clear my thoughts. Otherwise I’d just mumble nonsense plus announce things he didn’t want to know about. Like my romantic feelings for him. My not-so-Jedi-like attachment to him.

Deep in thoughts, as I walked to my barracks, I didn’t notice the person following and quickly catching up on me before dragging me into an empty room and pressing me into the wall. The air in my lungs leaving them quickly as my eyes were going wide as I took the person, pressing me to the wall, in. Cody. Kriff no. He always had the baddest timings.

“What the hell is going on with you?”, he shouted. His eyes were blazing with fire as he pressed me further into the wall. A deep furrow between his eyebrows. He was angry. Fucking angry. I never saw him like that before. Sure, I’d seen him mad if Waxer or Boil had done something stupid again. But not like that. He was for real not himself. His three days beard wasn’t shaved and he looked like a mess and nothing like the Commander everyone respected and looked up to. Deep rings were under his eyes and his eyes itself were entirely sad and exhausted. They no longer had that shine which I adored. And I hadn’t noticed till now. Was too focused to keep myself together to see Cody’s struggle.

“What do you mean?” Was my slow respond. Not very clever, because I didn’t know how to start this conversation and what I should say or even where I should start.

Cody laughed bitter, “You’re avoiding me. You’re fucking acting like nothing had happened between us.”

I gasped for air. The room between us too small to breath clearly. All I could sense was Cody. The Commanders smell was hypnotising and the proximity was almost too much to handle. But even now I enjoyed his company. Even when he yelled at me. I wasn’t scared of him, he was just done with me and my acting. Obviously, I would feel the same way if he’d act like I did.

„Commander I-“

„No, don’t call me by my title. The moment in the trainings hall, I have to know, did it mean something to you? Or was it just a moment you got lost in, ‘cause you Jedi aren’t allowed to have something like that. Because for me it meant something more.“

My breath hitched. There were no thoughts left inside my brain. But there were also no needed, because the next second he pressed his lips into mine. His large hands were on me. My hips, my waist all over me while my own found it’s way around his neck to scrub his scalp with my nails making him moan slightly and parting his lips. He parted mine rough with his tongue and I happily obeyed. Cody was all over me as he kissed me with his teeth, mouth and tongue. But it wasn’t just a kiss. It was a kiss on my body and soul. With his hole body looming all over mine and tying me in. Cody was here and he meant this kiss with his hole entire being. I sensed it through the force as it waved like fire right through me. Cody not just wanted me. He wanted me to be his reason to life and fight. And I wanted him to be my reason. A reason that’s every fight and every war worth.

We only broke away from each other to catch a breath. As soon as he wasn’t all over me anymore I missed him and wanted to be this close to him again. I needed him. Needed to feel him as clearly as I had seconds ago.

Our chests were rising and falling heavily as we tried to steady ourselves. Foreheads touching each other while Cody held me close to him. His thumbs making gentle circles around my waist. Spreading goosebumps like he did the other day in the trainings hall. I didn’t look at him, but I felt his eyes on me. Worried that he did something wrong and crossed a line, but also hopeful that I felt the same way as he did.

“You mean more to me, then you should and it scares me so kriffing much. It scares me that I can’t be with you all time to protect you even though I know that you’re able to protect yourself. I can’t loose you and I need you.” His words were almost just a whisper. Full of angst and the fear of loss. Cody lost too many. His brothers and friends. Family. Sometimes it was harder to survive than to die.

As I looked up into his eyes, they were already lingering on me. Searching for a sign that this was okay and I also wanted it.

“Cody”, I breathed his name and sensed how he shifted uncomfortable as his hands on my waist tightens his grip slightly. Like he didn’t want to loose me. Cody was scared of my reaction and I’d feel the same if I had told him straight about my feelings like he just did.

“When I’m not with you I feel incomplete. Whenever I see you around my heart jumps so much and makes me want to forget about the Jedi codex. It scares me to see you on a battle field, ‘cause every time you’re standing there, could be the last time I sense and feel you. See you alive. And I’m pretty sure if I had to see you death on a battle field I’d lose myself.”

My answer was honest and clear. Told him straight how I felt and was absolute right. I never felt as good in my life before. A huge weight was took from my heart.

His forehead found its way against mine again. I felt my one heart nearly jumping out of my chest. Suddenly there was a warmth inside of me that just had to come from Cody and his body. He took a deep breath in, before he said his next words. “What do we now?”

I sighed, “Keeping us a secret till the end of the war. And then we run away together if they want to us to break up.”

Cody sighed heavily. “This will be difficult.”

“But we have to try. Or they kill us both.”

He knew that I was right. Everybody knew about the severe penalties for clones who did not follow the rules and orders.

There was a pause between us. Silence, before Cody broke it again.

“May I kiss you again?”

I smiled while he chuckled slightly, before our eyes met. The sadness was all washed from him. Cody looked relieved and felt relieved as I touched him through the force. A better future for us. That was it what we were fighting for. A new hope for some kind of peace. A future were we didn’t have to fight anymore to be free and could do and feel how we’d liked.

I leaned up a bit to meet him half way, “Yes, Commander.”

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S3:E6; Chapter Six, E Pluribus Unum - [Pt. 4]

A Will Byers x Fem!Reader Series

𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘦𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴. 𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺/𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴. 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦, 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘹 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘰, 𝘮𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺/𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭'𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴.

⚠️: (1) very brief mention of anxiety, (comedic) filler dialogue is not my strong suit unless i have a purpose for it, sassy will, protective Max, Jonathan being a good bro, Lucas and Y/n being iconic as usual, and a little bit of a third-wall break from me calling out the show's logic 😀 why this is my breaking point? idk

📝: let us have some lumax... as a ✨️treat✨️

🔑: b/f = breakfast food (if you don't eat breakfast, it can be anything really)

"Will, you know you can--," Mike sighed with a wince, no doubt trying to be the friend he was last year. Almost like he had forgotten how to be. "you can be honest with me about this stuff. I get it, man. I do. What you went through last year was... scary. It was really scary,"

||𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

-MINUTES EARLIER-

Looking up from my last few bites of cereal and peeking through the window I barely make out the two of them sitting on the porch together. From what I can see, which isn't very much, the air is still very much tense. I can only see the back of her head as she sits to the left of Mike, but as he looks at her... I don't know, he almost looks shocked. Relieved? I can't very well make it out when the two of them keep turning away, but it's likely for the best. They need their privacy.

"I appreciate that, Mike." A passing glimpse of my old friend makes me smile, but I can't bring myself to all the way. Not with all the dangers we're still facing.

I take another bite, my attention wandering to the living room where the others are still gathered. Jonathan and Nancy are pretty much just bouncing theories back and forth between themselves now, and Lucas and Max have grown aware of the two missing party members out on the porch.

"She's not giving up anytime soon, is she?" Mike asked, his voice lost farther away in guilt than his eyes as he watched her pace.

Any instinct I'd normally have to get protective doesn't come. It's clear, for once in a long time, there's no ill intent. Just a glimpse of the old Mike; the one who, Y/n had told me of, had given Dustin a certain best friend speech all that time ago.

"Can you blame her?"

I know for certain I'm not the only one who misses how things used to be. It's something that comes up often, whether in stolen moments or subtle glances. Lucas, Dustin, and I most of all, had been there for the most tight-knit of days back in elementary school. But no matter how much we try and intervene, it's been proven many times over this is something only they can fix.

Looking back out, I see Y/n setting down her comm on the steps at her feet. Mike is watching her carefully. He looks the most vulnerable I think I can ever remember seeing him. Probably since that night with the Mind Flayer.

I shake my head of the thought and creeping blush and return to my cereal. I really need to give them privacy.

Nothing about their friendship stands a chance if I'm breathing down their neck. I should know this by now, it's happened before. Granted, things were never this bad in fifth grade-- shoot! A couple of pieces tumble off my spoon as I try to eat them, my head ducking after them in reflex but it does nothing. I feel myself frown instinctually as they fall back into the milk with a small plop and looking up at the others I'm glad to see no one saw. But they were starting to break off from each other and mill about.

Swallowing the last bites of my cereal and downing the remaining bit of milk before rinsing my bowl, I was at Max and Lucas' side at a moment's notice. They had since gotten up from the couch and were lingering by the phone, not so subtly trying to catch a glimpse at the two outside every once in a while.

Prying a pointer finger free from the arms folded against his chest, Lucas gestures wearily to the window. "Are they actually," His eyes meet with Max once before landing on mine, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "talking?"

Glancing back at the two, I find them both still facing out at the forest. It's hard to tell if either of them is speaking. Mike looks as if he's staring at his shoes and I wonder to myself just what might have pushed him to this point. What finally brought him here?

"Yeah," I nod with a small smile. "I mean, hopefully."

Max narrowed her eyes over my shoulder, and I have no doubts she's trying to scope out the air between the two. "Isn't that, like, a fire hazard?"

"Hey," I chide, despite the half-hearted chuckle that arose at the comment. "Watch it. Besides, this is progress. We all wanted this."

She wastes no time in tossing me a blatantly playful 'you know what I mean' look and shrugs it off. "Well, duh, yeah! In a perfect world those two would be best friends and not just for the sake of appearances, but, Will, face it. They're just not. Besides," Max straightens, almost in a defensive manner as she prickles, her eyes settling on who I could only assume to be Mike. "no one could blame her. Not with the shit he's been pulling,"

The very hot and itchy feeling of anger in my chest I had been getting well acquainted with threatened to return at the many examples gathered over the past two years. But none quite so much as the memory of the mall.

She looked around quickly, her voice falling into a whispered hiss. "What, so I should be locked up all day, too?"

"Maybe!"

A sharp breath escapes without me trying as the moment shoots to the surface above most of the rest. Most.

"It's not my fault you can't move on!"

That was a side of Mike I thought I'd never see. I never thought it could even exist. But I was wrong. It did exist. But as ridiculous as it sounds, the more things unravel, the more I start to see the old Mike. The Mike that was willing to put his pride aside for the sake of his friends cause at the end of the day, the ones he loved were what mattered most. Even if it meant going on a long, stumbling ramble he meant to be an apology.

"And I guess... I feel like I've been losing you to her. That once you two got together, I wouldn't ever see you. Which is totally stupid, I know, cause, like she said... friends don't do that..." he looks at me sincerely. Apologetically. "You wouldn't do that, and you haven't... and even worse, I went and did that exact same thing."

It was true Mike wasn't who he used to be. But something in my gut was telling me he wasn't all gone. And I refused to believe he was. It was the least I could do for him. After all, he did the same for me.

Hardly any time had passed before Lucas seemed to jump in with similar thoughts.

"They used to be," he admitted wistfully, causing Max to straighten in curiosity. "Best friends, I mean."

"Who, those two?" Max laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. But I could see it dying in her eyes fairly quickly when she met my gaze. And all either of us could offer her was a simple shrug. "Wait, you guys are serious? I thought they always just, you know, tolerated each other?"

"They do now," I say, "barely," and Lucas nods solemnly along.

"It's true. I mean, don't forget, Mike once jumped off a cliff for her and Dustin,"

Apparently, Max hadn't heard about that story before. Her head jerked flat to the back of her shoulders as she rapidly blinked, looking as if she had short-circuited back about three hours in time.

"Uhm, sorry," Max threw a dry laugh at both of us. "He what now?"

"I told you this!" Lucas insisted with great shock. "Last year. At the arcade. Ya know, when you didn't believe me?"

"No, no, no. You told me Dustin, Y/n, Mike and you got in a huge fight about El. The three of them went looking for her, got chased down by those bullies. And basically, a bunch of shit went down: Troy knocked Y/n out, getting ready to kick the shit out of her or something, and Mike and Dustin were nearly killed defending her until El showed up. But you didn't exactly go into detail,"

Lucas threw his shoulders up in defense. "If I did skim on the on details, it was because you kept eyeing the door like you were gonna bolt!" Max crossed her arms in a challenging manner, but I smiled a little to myself when I saw the signs of their lighthearted argument. Neither of them was mad and both held traces of amusement. "Besides... I wasn't there. I was on the other side of town. You know, doing real work and finding the gate. I warned everyone about the bad men."

Max was clearly fighting a losing battle with a smile, her lips puckering harder as she tried not to crack. But the more sheepish Lucas grew the more she melted.

"So you really didn't know he jumped off of a cliff?"

"No!" She turned to me, playfully batting at my arm and 'turning' back on Lucas. "Stalker here didn't exactly specify. So what the hell happened?"

Lucas shrugged again, trying to recall the details he had heard from the others. I do as well. It's then I realize neither of us were actually there for the encounter. "Apparently Troy and James cornered them at the quarry like I said. Mike couldn't throw for shit but apparently Troy could. It did a number on Y/n—she was out for most of it, I don't think she realizes Troy was ready to give her a few broken ribs while she was out,"

"Jesus," Max mutters, eyes drifting away.

I don't bother nodding. I'm too focused on trying to find a spot in the room to take my mind off of the growing pit in my stomach and the grit in my teeth. No wonder I avoided the details. I really hate hearing this story.

Judging by Max's reaction throughout, she didn't love it either. It was all I could do to tune out. I didn't want to hear it again, once was enough. The story of Y/n nearly punching Troy's lights out, however, I could listen to any day.

I'm not sure what makes me decide to tune in again, but when I do, Lucas is wagging his finger thoughtfully at Max as he recalls. Maybe it's something she said about this sounding familiar.

"Hey, I did mention the cliff. I specifically remember saying Mike jumped off of a freaking. cliff."

Max thinks hard on it for a second before something in her face catches. She gives us each a wince before focusing it on Lucas. "Maaaybe there's a slight possibility you did?"

He threw his arms up in exasperation and I chuckled. "Are you serious?" I ask, thoroughly amused by the whole ordeal.

"I don't know! Cut me some slack, I was brand new, and some randos start stalking me--" without taking her eyes off of me she affectionately nudges Lucas with her arm, causing a small smile to break out on his face as he looks down at her. "--hot and cold, hot and cold, and then dumps this elaborate sci-fi story in my lap, insisting I never say a word! I guess I convinced myself it was all bullshit and then when it wasn't, I didn't pick everything up. That or if I did catch on I didn't take it literally. It happens."

Lucas and I shared a look before we met her now defensive stance. It wasn't very hard to tell however there wasn't much bite to it. She gave way easily with a small roll of eyes and an 'Oh, like you two are so perfect,' just as Nancy stepped up to us.

"Sorry, guys," she flashed a quick, polite smile as she squeezed in to use the phone. All of us stepped out of her way, and it was then I caught Jonathan's eye back in the kitchen. "Thanks,"

I excused myself with a quick nod and wandered back into the kitchen where Jonathan was. He stood arms outstretched, propping himself up on the counter as Nancy began dialing the first of many numbers on a small notepad before stepping as far into the living room as she could.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey,"

Looking down at the counter between us, I spotted the open phonebook the two of them had previously been studying. Several addresses were marked, other pages of the book were dog-eared. But I had a sneaking suspicion our search for the flayed was going to be a lot more complicated than going through Hawkins with a fine-tooth comb.

"Any theories?"

Jonathan shakes his head and shrugs.

"It's all pretty much in the air right now," he flips a few pages before ultimately letting them all fall back into place. "But my best guess says if anything is going on, it's somewhere it doesn't draw a lot of eyes,"

All I can do in this moment is nod as my mind returns to the heavy picture. I can feel his eyes on me as I move back further into the kitchen and start digging through the fridge. Jonathan turns around to face me and I can hear the curiosity in his voice.

"Didn't you just eat?"

"It's not for me," I answer, retrieving a few things from inside and closing the fridge.

Jonathan looks (not so) subtly between me and the view of the front porch outside as a knowing look crosses his face. I try not to pay him any mind as I pull a dish out from the cabinet and begin making b/f with the necessities from the fridge and cupboards.

"I don't want to hear it," I say, and he cracks a smile.

"I didn't say anything,"

"Then you think really loud,"

"Will, come on," Jonathan chuckled, dropping his ballpoint pen on the phone book and turning to face me completely. He nods towards the window and speaks at a volume only we can hear. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. You have someone you care about, who—and I have it on pretty good authority—cares about you too."

"Then why do I not like where this is going?"

"Maybe because you're not used to this kind of territory? Maybe this is all new to you still and you might be a little nervous—all of that's totally fine, you know. It's normal."

"Or maybe I don't really want to have an awkward conversation about relationships right now?"

"Ouch," he frowned despite a small dry laugh. "But fair. I guess? The point is, Will--" he stops mid-sentence, looking for the right words. He sighs. "I don't know, it's just. It's nice. It's nice seeing you happy. The both of you, I mean,"

Acting like my blush wasn't there, I looked up from my task for the first time since starting it. Just out of my peripherals I could sense Jonathan following my line of sight to the two people I couldn't keep off of my mind for long.

"You're conflicted," Jonathan says in realization. His voice is quiet, likely for my sake. But all I can focus on is the mindblowing fact that I haven't visibly confirmed his suspicions in any way. Unless he can tell my heart rate just skipped a beat.

To my surprise, I'm completely calm despite it all. I look out there and I see my two best friends, two of the many people I love, and the one person I want to be with. Tentatively, she reaches out for Mike's hand that lays still at his side and places hers over in a tender grip. He gratefully squeezes her hand back, and though I can't see her face, I can see Mike's: there's resolve in his watering eyes and a smile of relief. Seeing it all, I'm not surprised my answer for Jonathan is so sure.

Taking the last of Y/n's breakfast in hand, finally prepared, I turn to Jonathan with a certain growing clarity.

"No," I smile. It feels so good to say and as I'm saying it, it's like a nagging question I never even got to ask has been lifted off of my chest. For the first time, any scary feeling I don't necessarily understand with Mike is something I feel like I can actually tackle. Cause one thing is for certain, and it's something Y/n has helped me realize; I'm not alone. "I'm really not,"

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

By the time Mike and Y/n had returned, Will had gotten Y/n's breakfast laid out on the breakfast bar. Nancy had already hung up the phone on her first three numbers and was dialing her fourth when the wooden creak of the screen door pulled everyone's attention to the unlikely sight of Mike and Y/n simpering and hiding chuckles under their breaths, not unlike old times. Both of them quickly discovered the attention fixed on them and came to a slow, the screen door bouncing shut behind them.

Rather than address the elephant in the room and eager to move on, Y/n gave the many lingering eyes a half-hearted shrug. "What'd we miss?"

She was met with awkward upturned lips and several shrugs right back. Nancy just turned back to whoever had just answered the phone.

"Y/n?"

Ever grateful for the sound of her partner's voice, Y/n gladly accepted the excuse to step away and came to meet Will. She released a mixed sigh as the room dispersed once more. Glancing over Y/n's shoulder, Will caught a glimpse of Mike as he joined what looked to be a prying Lucas and Max. His warm eyes falling back over his partner, Will spoke up with a hopeful glint to match his lowered tone.

"How'd it go?" he prompts, returning to his seat on the inner bar stool. Y/n followed suit without even thinking, taking a seat to his left as he nudged the b/f further into sight with a hopeful smile.

Butterflies lit up in his stomach in tune with the smile that lit up her face at the welcome sight. Already diving in with a mouthful, her thanks a muffled 'mmk ymm' and a tight and grateful squeeze on his arm before she could even get properly settled in her seat.

"Can't believe I'm saying this," she began after swallowing her first bite. She flashed Will a mischievous smile, and he couldn't help but notice a layer to her he hadn't seen in ages. "But I just might be thinking twice about killing him,"

"Oh, well, that's a step in the right direction," Will nodded, more than happy to play along.

"I think so, yes."

Y/n chuckled with him as her attention traveled steadily to Mike's increasingly tensing figure. Upon returning, he had quickly taken note of his absent girlfriend—or, ex-girlfriend, he reminded himself. She was still in her room, using her powers and exerting herself for the sake of everyone. All over again. And while her determination to do the right thing had been one of the many things about El to have won his heart, he couldn't easily fight the tightening clutch at his chest.

"Holy shit, you're alive," Lucas had mused the moment Mike had joined their side.

"Ha ha,"

Max took sudden hold of his wrists, much to Mike's (very visible) disdain, lifting his arms above her head, making a show to inspect him. "Nope," she concluded with a lopsided smirk as he yanked his hand away. "no sign of third-degree burns. You behaved! I'm surprised,"

"I get it alright?" Mike looked around, quickly letting go of his frustrations much to the Mayfield girl's surprise. Nevertheless, her folded arms and sharp sigh indicated she wasn't easily convinced of his new change, but she was willing to give him this. But she could steadily feel her walls rebuilding themselves at Mike's next comment. "Where's El? She's not still in there looking for the Flayed, is she?"

Lucas shrugged. "Yeah, but I'm sure it's fine. She said it could take a while,"

The lesson with Y/n freshly learned on his mind was just enough to keep him from blurting out his concerns. But the worry still clutched at his heart, and Mike feared it just might take control. It took just about everything in him to keep his voice steady and his mind open.

"Okay, but shouldn't we at least check on her? It can't be good for her to be looking this long, it takes a lot out of her,"

"Mike," Max sighed. "If she says she can handle it, then you let her handle it,"

Mike nodded, chewing on his bottom lip to keep his worries from spilling out. But it only delayed them. Max rolled her eyes in great exasperation when he let loose the breath that had been holding them back. "Okay, but what if she's just saying that so we don't worry? Like—not that she knows she can't handle it or anything, but that she knows she needs a break but she doesn't want to waste any time cause that's just who she is--"

"--Just relax, Mike. Give her a chance. For her. She's done this a million times,"

"That's kind of my point. She's always putting herself on the line and draining her battery for the sake of the group, it can't be good for her."

"Yeah, micromanaging her can't be too good for her either," Max huffed, Mike not far behind her. "And it's not like we're making her do this, or it's just all for us. She's saved countless people,"

It was clear to anyone watching the two were elbow-deep in their newest 'debate'. Having sat through just about one too many himself, Lucas knew he could slip away quietly without their noticing, and whatever was going on at the breakfast bar was looking far more appealing than another fight.

Lucas noticed Y/n was already halfway through her breakfast when he joined them, but with over five years of friendship with a Henderson under his belt, stuff like this didn't surprise him. Just like the Byers, they didn't like stuff going to waste. But the look growing on her face as she, Will, and Jonathan watched silently as Nancy fought to get a word in over the phone said otherwise—it was obvious Y/n's worries were seeding in her stomach at record speeds.

"Yes, yes, um, I was just..." Nancy shook her head around as she tried to summon the words. She remained in the corner of the kitchen, notepad in hand, crease in her brow, and desperation begging to escape her voice. This was one of their last possible leads, they had tried everything else. "following up to see if anything else had gone missing, or if-- okay,"

Nancy's shoulders sunk in defeat, falling low much like the tone in her voice. Behind her, the four listening in exchanged wary glances.

"Um, sorry to bother--"

Nancy didn't have to tell them the dial tone had been the one to cut her off this time. She had pulled the phone away with a huff before slamming it on the hook with a harsh 'twing'. Frustrated sighs echoing hers rippled out amongst the kitchen as everyone visibly deflated. Apart from Y/n, who, with a grumble, had grabbed her now empty dish and walked it over to the sink. Jonathan made sure to cross out the number in the phone book (not without a bitter scowl) and Nancy came to his side, eager to get a glance over his shoulder.

"Who's next?"

"There is no next," Jonathan said. "Unless you want to start calling random people's homes,"

Nancy chucked her notepad on the counter in an agitated manner. "It doesn't make any sense,"

"What part of any of this makes sense?"

"There's a pattern, okay?" Nancy insists. "A consistency to their behavior. They've been feeding on these chemicals since this started an-and what? They just stop out of the blue?"

"Maybe they have all the chemicals they need?" Will wondered aloud. "Maybe they've all turned into those things?"

"But what about the source? I mean, did the Mind Flayer just suddenly stop infecting people? And, even if the flayed are monsters now, why can't El find them?"

The sudden clang of a freshly Y/n's washed dish sliding into the drying rack pulled all attention to her.

"Why can't anyone?" she said with a thoughtful hitch in her voice, eager to make her way back to Will's side. Planting herself against the wall between Will and Lucas, she gestured over her shoulder out front where Nancy's car was still parked. "wouldn't we have heard something about it on the radio? An emergency broadcast on the drive in about the hospital—I mean someone had to have seen something. Or at least, if this is happening everywhere, wouldn't we have heard something by now?"

"Well, I don't know about the hospital but don't they hide?" Lucas gestured to Will curiously. "Didn't you say he uses you only when he needs you?"

He nodded gravely. "He does. But that's what we really need to worry about. If he was hiding in people like Tom and Mrs. Driscoll on top of possessing Billy, who knows how many people he could get ahold of?"

-"Okay, can you guys settle something for us?"

Max came striding up with Mike close in tow, cutting all conversation short.

Y/n's arms involuntary interlock over her chest as she braces herself for whatever is to come. She tries, at the very least, to remind herself of her friends' patience with her own arguments with Mike—so she didn't exactly have room to complain about an awkward situation.

"Who do you think should decide El's limits: Mike, or Eleven?"

"Okay, the way that you're framing that is so unfair,"

"There's nothing unfair about it, Mike, this is your whole problem! It's also precisely the reason she dumped your ass,"

Y/n couldn't stop the weak and tired plea of her best friend's name from slipping past her lips. Just when she thought the worst had been put aside, she was realizing all too late she wasn't the only one involved in an inner-party conflict. All of this had been lost, however, in Nancy's shock.

"El dumped you?"

Mike's cheeks flushed red and the hot static in his chest was sparking but he did what he could to roll it off his shoulders.

"Does it matter? My point is, I don't think it's a good idea she be in there that long,"

Max bristled at this—whether from subconscious connections to her own trauma at home, her newfound protectiveness for El, or a powerful combination of the two. Regardless, she was quick to fire back on behalf of her new friend.

"Of course it matters! You never trust her to do anything. All you can accuse me of is enlightening her—how to be her own person," in the blink of an eye, Max had zeroed in on Y/n with a hopeful glint, confused as to why her other best friend was shooting her a 'what the hell' look. "Come on, Y/n, tell him. He's being ridiculous,"

Y/n straightened up off the wall, looking around at all the eyes suddenly on her. Her mouth fell open and shut once or twice before she cleared her throat. Something told her she was not going to get the best reaction.

"What, you really want my input?"

Incredulous, Max nodded. "Besides the fact you've been complaining about not seeing El all year," Almost no one caught the split-second exchange between Mike and Y/n before the silent understanding fizzled out when they broke their gaze. "you're basically in the same boat as El." Max continued, none the wiser. "I mean, I'd say the same thing about Will if he was going around telling you how and when to use your powers,"

Y/n stayed silent apart from the small sigh taking place of a coherent answer. Her eyes dropped to the floor as if the courage lay somewhere within the details of the old floorboards. But it didn't stay, it returned to Max and the others with stubborn confidence, and the grip on her arms subtly tightened.

"I'm sorry Max, but I think I agree with Mike on this one,"

Silence. Silence, and then--

"--Seriously?!"

"--Seriously?!"

Max and Mike shared a fleeting distasteful glance at having had the same thought, but both were quick to shake it off. The others seemed just as shocked.

"Y/n, you cannot be serious right now,"

Her stance begged to stiffen at Max's reaction, but she had been anticipating this. Especially as her mind returned to the day this drama all started days ago—when El had first sought their council; Max had been quite eager for El to dump her boyfriend, and completely disregarded her own suggestion to talk things out. But with that memory, also came the heart-melting sight of El discovering her true sense of self for the first time in her entire life. This only prompted Y/n to quickly explain.

"That doesn't mean I don't agree with you, Max—about El needing to be her own person." Y/n settled on Mike as she said this, her tone towards him, for the first time in ages, gentle and pleading. "Mike, I know you. And I also know how much she means to you. But that's exactly why you of all people should understand how important it is she discovers who she is outside of her relationships with other people--

"--exactly."

"--she has never had that opportunity before."

"--exactly."

"--And you should have seen her," a somber smile threatened Y/n's face made Mike falter as he imagined the sight. "She was so happy."

"--exactly!"

"Max?"

"Sorry," Max pursed her lips but quieted all the same.

"That's something you should want for her. And you know what, it's good for you too. And I'm not just saying that because, as much shit as we may or may not have been saying behind your back--"

"--You've what?"

"--not important--" Mike caught Will's eye over Y/n's shoulder and he felt a murmur in his heart again when they shared a tiny, noiseless laugh as Y/n continued, unaware. Just a small breath of air, barely noticeable but enough. "we missed hanging out with you. With you and El. None of us have seen you, actually present with us since the snowball, and it's been hard."

Max felt the satisfaction drain from her as soon as Y/n turned back to her.

"But Max, you wanted my opinion and here it is: I get what he's saying. And yeah, that's coming from someone like El. That's exactly why I agree, actually."

"But Y/n...?"

"Again, I'm not saying El shouldn't make her own decisions. They're her powers, she knows them better than anyone and she should be the one calling the shots. But..."

The memories hadn't stopped. Frankly, she was willing to spend as much time as she could get out on that porch even if she wasn't calling for her brother, who, infuriatingly enough, was still MIA. Between Will's presence, the distraction of the task at hand, and the current argument unfolding before everyone's eyes, it had done enough to keep the memories from last November on the back burner. But now, the pot was boiling over and spilling out as she somberly met eyes with the only two in the room who had been there with her during her endeavor. Even among the chaos of saving Will, each of them had found room to look out for her.

With one look, Y/n knew both Jonathan and Nancy were reliving everything with her. Will might have been reunited with them that night, but they were the only two to remember what it took to get there.

"But having someone looking out for you can make all the difference,"

Nancy and Jonathan knew at once what she had been referring to—Jonathan more than anyone. The sight of her strain as she put her life on the line to save his brother was something he would never forget.

"Especially when in situations like this. It is—and should be—our choice but it isn't much of one. Not when the people we love, and many more are in danger."

Max had yet to consider that, and it was clear to all by the shift in her feet and subtle change in demeanor. That didn't mean she was too happy with where this conversation was going, but she would much rather hear Y/n out than Mike.

Poorly masking the slouch in her posture with crossed arms, Max sent a small pout Y/n's way. "So what, then? You want her to stop?"

"No, I never said that." Y/n quickly defends. "Just, maybe you should try and see where Mike is coming from. He's worried about her and I kinda understand why. She's been through a lot trying to protect everyone. Twice. And now, the Mind Flayer is back with his-- little--" her nose scrunched up as she fought the words she still couldn't believe she was uttering. "flesh monsters-- the flayed—whatever. And that's a lot of responsibility with a line she probably shouldn't cross but she's willing to cause that's just the kind of person she is. But it doesn't mean she can't get scared or that it doesn't help to know someone's looking out for her, or willing to cross one for her,"

Y/n finished with a huff, not realizing until now she had never stopped to take a breath. She could feel the stares of the others, all a mix of worry and confusion on their faces, but she didn't much care at the moment. Her insides were winding back into knots so she allowed herself to sink back into the wall in between her boyfriend and Lucas. It wasn't long before Will's hand was rubbing soothing circles on her back as he looked up at her in concern, the conversation picking back up around them.

"She's not gonna be alone, Y/n," Nancy reassured, making sure the young girl met her eyes. She exchanged a single understanding glance with Jonathan before they both returned their soft gaze to her. "And neither are you. We're all here. Together. And we're all gonna be looking out for each other," she finishes, turning to make sure Mike heard. "But in order to do that, you have to trust us. You have to trust her,"

Mike could feel the tension returning to his shoulders and seizing up his body. His defenses were kicking in again. But he doesn't see the tension spilling off of him and pouring back into Y/n, who's cup was already running full.

"I do trust her," Mike defended.

His friend pulled her face from her palms which she had distressfully been rubbing up and down her cheeks, nose, and eyes, and gruffed impatiently at the boy. "Then why are you fighting this?"

"I thought you agreed with me!"

"I do! She should take a break, even if for a few minutes but--"

"--great," Mike jumped in, in his desperation to help El, disregarding what else his friend might have to say. Subconsciously, too afraid to hear it. "So let's get her,"

Max made a show of rolling her eyes and grasping the air angrily beside him.

"No!"

"Why not?!"

"Because that's not what she decided!"

"And if she hurts herself?!" He was yelling now, the panic in his voice no longer contained. Nancy made a move to say something but he cut her off before she could manage a single syllable. "Or gets herself killed?!"

"Mike," Jonathan's voice had cut in this time, laced with understanding, but Mike wouldn't have it. His worried had consumed him completely. He could hardly register the rising pitch of his own voice, let alone the looks he was etching onto everyone's faces around him.

"No, there's nothing that justifies that! I'm just trying to demonstrate how careless everyone here can be with El's powers. You're all treating her like a machine when she's not a machine and I don't want her to die looking for the Flayed when they've obviously vanished off the face of the earth. So can we PLEASE just come up with a new plan because I love her and I can't lose her again!"

The room had come to a stand still at the command of those very words. They clung to the air, silencing everyone and everything but the pounding drums in Mike's chest as he realizes what he has said. Shock had etched itself on everyone's faces and lodged Mike's next breath in his lungs—his gaze was miles away. Max felt her gaping mouth snap shut, and Will sensed the sudden gaze of his girlfriend burning into the side of his head.

It hadn't exactly been a secret—Mike and El's feelings for one another. But never before had it been brought to words. Not like this. And just when Mike was sure the silence was going to drown him, the gentle creak of the wooden door unveiled an even more gentle, wide-eyed gaze that roamed the group.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing," Mike insists, refusing to meet El's eyes. "Nothing."

"Just family discussion," said Lucas through a Chesire grin. This only prompted Y/n to bury her growing smirk in the crook of her elbow that rested on his shoulder.

Had he not known any better, Will would have said he noticed a certain sag in El's shoulders.

"Oh," she said with a hint of disappointment that lingered only for a moment. Drawing in a deep and courageous breath, El gave a nod. "I found him,"

Him? The group wondered simultaneously. El had been searching for many suspects—all of which they believed to be flayed. But there was just one 'him' to truly be worried about. One they all feared would slip past her lips the moment Nancy asked the question on everyone's minds—the question everyone already knew the answer to.

"Found who?"

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

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· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

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[bolontiku]

"Annoying AF"

Quick Fic

Characters: Bucky, reader, others mentioned

Posted: may 31st

A/N: Uhm something that popped up in my head, idk if i should write more to this? Also, idk what to title anymore lol

WARNINGS: cursing, teasing, fear of heights, idk if i missed anything

Like, Comments, & Reblogs are always appreciated and loved.

"Could you hurry up?"

"Could you shut up?"

Bucky shot you a look, somehow knowing you were staring. "This was supposed to take five minutes Y/N…"

You sighed, the tac gear that you wore annoying you and you growled, stepping back and shrugging the vest off, throwing the helmet on the ground. It was as if all the cool air rushed to meet your stifled skin, your brain sighing in relief.

It was short lived as Bucky's big body was pressed up against yours almost immediately, you could feel every inch of him pressed close, and for some reason… that made your face heat. "The fuck are you doing?" He demanded, breath fanning across your exposed neck. 

"Trying to breathe!" You shoved at him, glaring up at him as he pressed the vest at you. "NO."

Bucky stopped, "the fuck did you just say?"

"I said NO." You shoved a hand through your hair, grateful that you could breathe, "thing was squeezing my brain. Now let me do my job, there was some shit in here that wasn't in the original plans…" you turned back around grumbling as you reached back into the mess of wires, reaching down to your belt. 

Fucking Tony. Fucking saying you could do the job. Of course you could do the job. The sound of shots rang through the air and you flinched. Fuck. You could do this. It was like playing video games. And you knew video games. You knew computers. You were good at your job. 

Bucky took a second longer to glare at you. Not the way your military green tank top clung to your curves. Not the way you were half naked now. That had nothing to do with it. What. The. Fuck? He turned, "get it fucking done." You were so damned annoying. He hated you. There that was it. 

Ever since the two of you met there had been that… there had been something. And neither of you liked the other. Sam egged it on, grinning as he made small remarks that made the two of you growl and snarl at the other. There was even a time Sam had to sweep you over his shoulder while Steve held Bucky at bay.

Tony was no better. It seemed the more he touched you, the more familiar he was with you, the more it drove Bucky insane. He hated it when you nuzzled into Tony's arms, smirking at Bucky as you made yourself comfortable on the older man's lap. Smiling as Tony kissed the top of your head.

It didn't help that you liked being affectionate.

Steve was always your number one. At times you curled with Thor, you liked the way the two men dwarfed you. You knew Bucky was taller and bigger than you too but he was an ass and you were not going to give him cuddles.

"Fucking dick…" you muttered. Electricity shot through your hand and up your arm, the thick glove you wore doing nothing to stop it, and you yelped loudly, jumping back as the lights flickered and popped on. 

Bucky growled as your smaller frame bumped into him. He was quick, one hand on your lower back and moving you already. You made a noise, "lets go, we've been here too long already-" there was static in his ear and you smiled, eyes brightening. 

"Stupid EMP ain't got nothing on me!!"

"-that's my girl!" Tony's voice came over the comms and you squeaked at the praise.

"You can fuck him once we are back on the jet. But right now you gotta move!" He growled low in your ear before shoving you forwards. He grated on your nerves. Ever since you first met him, you thought you'd get along since Steve talked SO highly of him, but when you met him you knew. He was nothing but a pretty boy sharpshooter and you had met plenty of his like. He was so certain of himself all the time and he was constantly on you about SOMETHING. 

"You need to get laid."

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?!" He shot back angrily. You followed his lead, holding back when he held a hand against your midsection, before indicating to follow him onto the ramp you had crossed to get down to the lower section. It gave you the heebie jeebies, a clear shot to the darkness below now lit up you could see how far it was down.  

"Maybe then you'd fucking lighten up," you sighed trying to shake the fear off by poking the bear.

Bucky glared at you, jaw setting with that tic that screamed at how angry he was with you. It was just too easy, you couldn't help yourself, you loved riling him up. He opened his mouth to retaliate, and it was gonna be a doozy, when the building rocked. You slammed into the railing, clutching for dear life as the metal grating beneath your feet gave way. 

He was quick. He moved before he even knew what he was doing, half his body on the solid landing in front of him, the other stretched out and holding you by your wrist. "Y/N…"

You screamed. Attempting to grab him with your other hand. 

"Y/N-"

"BUCKY!!"

The sound of desperation caught at something deep within him. 

"Ohgawd! Please! PLEASEDONTLETGO!" You cried, reaching up and failing to reach him, this sent your feet swinging and you screamed certain that he would lose his grip on you. 

"Y/N- listen… Y/N!!!" He shouted forcefully, you met his gaze. "Stop thrashing, now listen to me-" he took in a breath as he realized you were crying, tears falling down your face, god he had never seen you like this. "Look at me. ONLY me, got it?" Your brows were drawn together as you grimaced, nodding in agreement.

"Don't let go?" You begged, unsure if he heard you, heart hammering against your ribcage. He shook his head, "I kn-know you dont like me… I swear I will never bother you again just-" you let out a sob as you felt yourself slip in his grip a scream tearing out of you. Terror blinding you, this was it. You were going to die the second he decided it would be easier to just drop you.

Bucky jerked you up, it was easier than explaining what he was about to do, especially if you kicked again. He had felt you slip, and he wasn't about to lose you. 

You kept your eyes screwed shut, if you were going to die you didn't want to see it. So, it took you a moment to realize Bucky was whispering in your ear, you clung to him and had your face buried under his neck, heavy sobs making it difficult for you to breathe, your legs wrapped around his waist as he moved through the building. 

How was he moving so quick? You realized he had a hand tucked under you, keeping you in place as he dipped under debris. 

"Tony, yeah… be quiet, that's my ear dammit, on our way.. Almost there." He paused, heard you sniffle and looked down. "Hey doll, ya with me finally?" You nodded, fingers curled in the fabric of his uniform. "Good. Listen, hold on, I'll get us on the jet but there's been some guys popping up since you checked out. Just, keep your head tucked and don't move alright?" 

You nodded, gasped when he shifted you easily, hand gripping your thigh and tugging you tighter against him. "Need some cover-"

You could hear Tony's answer from Bucky's comm, where had yours gone?

"You promised to leave me alone if I didn't drop ya… so I didn't. That counts for something, yeah?" He quipped trying to get you to come back at him, he frowned when you kept quiet. Bucky wondered if you had hit your head, sometimes he didn't understand you.

You felt your heart flutter as he ran. Once you got back you would have to leave him alone. You had promised. The thought made you a little sad.

[owaowabetch]

Uh Oh (Sykkuno x F!Reader)

Oneshot (maybe part of a series??? idk we’ll see): The Prequel to “Impasta” in which reader meets the gang for the first time and experiences a betrayal. Mainly Friendship

Warning: non-beta, I wrote this in one go and full sent it. 

You were a small time Twitch streamer that had recently befriend a streamer with a much larger audience, ValkyRae.  You had been talking back and forth for quite some time, since Rae’s dm to you weeks ago. You were mainly an rp channel where you played games like GTA, The Sims, and Animal Crossing. Though you gained a lot of your followers from playing League, though it mostly consisted of hate-followers that would only critique your gaming, even though you were pretty good at it. But it doesn’t bother you too much *que sob*

You were streaming GTA on a RP server playing an amish girl on a Rumspringa and wreaking havoc. You and your ‘gang’ had successfully finished hitting a bank truck ,causing your character to rake in a few thousand dollars, when you got a message from Rae asking you if you had wanted to play a few rounds of the popular game among us. 

“Alright guys, a friend asked if I wanted to join her lobby of among us. I know it’s different from the stuff i usually stream, but is that something you guys would be cool with?” You asked your chat and watch an influx of people messaging ‘yes’ or ‘pog’. You take a sip of your Starbucks and picked up your phone to message Rae that you’ll be joining. “Fair warning, I’ve never played among us. So we’ll see how this goes, guys” 

While you waited to be invited to the discord and into the lobby, you chatted with your viewers for a bit. “I just realized that I’m really awkward around new people. Like when I’m playing on the GTA Rp Server, I’m not myself, I’m a character you know? So it’s easier to talk with other people, cause they’re also role playing. Plus I don’t think I can call anyone in the discord a musty dusty rat bitch lol or sell them drugs, it’s not that kind of game...unless?...” You laugh as you login to your discord and accept the invite to the discord “alright guys! here we go~”

You enter the discord call and hear people talking. 

“Y/N!” Rae exclaims “Guys this is my new friend y/n”

“Hi” Responding to the various voices greeting you

“OK, so the code is in the chat and so are the bubbles, so your chat can see who is talking and what not” Rae explains

You input the code and saw your little character in the space ship. “Oh god guys look at us!” You ran your little character around the ship “How do we change colors? I’m not feeling this blue and I saw Rae with her lil creepy mask”

You read your chat tell you what to do so you went to the little computer to change the blue to white and clicked through all the hats til you decided on the pink flower. “How about this guys? Yellow is my favorite color but its taken”

“Alright, you ready y/n?” Rae asked

“Yup” you respond by running circles around her character

“OK i’m starting. Don’t forget to mute and close chat. You can open it back up if your imposter or dead” Rae sang “Good luck~”

“Alright chat I gotta close you til the game is done? I guess” You hum as the words ‘crewmate’ pop up. “Well at least i’m not imposter, i know the game. I mean who hasn’t at this point. I just never played it, seems to be to nerve wracking”

You open the map icon and run to where the closet yellow exclamation point was, which was admin. You make sure to note all the colors around you in there as you swipe your card “Alright, green, yellow, brown,red, and orange” You repeated the colors over and over again as you make your way into electrical when you notice something “Ok uh green is following me? I don’t know why but its freaking me out.” The lights turn off and you start freaking out “Oh god, this is where I die. Don’t I? You know what do it. Kill me! It’s probably a good idea. I’m kind of an idiot and it’ll help me figure things out on my own without the pressure” You follow the arrow pointing to a panel and you click on it “What am i supposed to do? You know green, this would be the perfect opportunity to murder me in cold blood... is this how you do it?” You flip the switches so that they are all bright green and the lights turn on “YAS BITCH, I did it” 

The green character kind of just circles your body as you do tasks in electrical, you do download, wires, and power diverter. “Ok BUT WHY IS HE FOLLOWING ME!!” 

An orange body had been reported and that two others had died (bright green and pink) and the person who reported the body was black or as his name read ‘Abe’ “Ok, so this body was in admin on card swipe”

“Well this body couldn’t have been me or y/n” Sykkuno says “I was following her this entire time”

“Yea, I’d like to know why lol? You were kinda freaking me out dude” You laugh a bit trying to play off how nervous you were to call him out on it

“Oh No! I was protecting you” Sykkuno explains “I promise”

“Sykkuno? Are you already simping for someone?” Rae feigns exasperation 

“No really guys!” He explains nervously “The new person always dies first, so I was just trying to protect her.”

You hum and smile mischievously “Unless, your just trying to gain my trust only to murder me in coldblood in front of my bestie Rae, to prove your superiority over her!?!”

Rae gasps “Really Sykkuno!?! I’m voting you just for that!”

“Wah? No wait! It’s not like that really” Sykkuno starts laughing as Rae votes “Oh God did you really vote for me?”

“Yes” Rae says and you start laughing 

“So anyways, Leslie’s body is in admin?” Hafu says wanting to talk more about the body and get all the sus’s and clears

Though you gasp when you realized a few things “wait I have some info to share” teasing Sykkuno had loosened you up a bit “it was me,green,yellow,brown,red, and orange in admin. Then me and green, uh Syyykkkuunnoo? Sorry if i didn’t say your name right, left and went into electrical, then lights were called and I fixed them before finishing off my tasks in there. So the body must’ve died during lights unless she left and came back into admin after lights were fixed? which doesn’t make much sense, sooo yea” you smiled “look at me chat! being all smart and shit” 

“yes” Poki agrees “I left admin also with Rae just before lights were called”

“Ok, so I know that puts sus on me, but I went straight to lights when they were called” Hafu says “Someone on the right side must’ve vented when lights were off. Like I was entering the hallway from storage with Tina when lights got fixed and we went to reactor room together. So it couldn’t have been me. Maybe Tina? I dont know which way she come from, but it was not me”

“That is true. I did meet up with Hafu at storage, but I don’t know man” Tina says “ I was doing download in comms”

“Oh god” You tell chat “I don’t know whether to believe Hafu or not. I know she is really good, along with Toast, but he hasn’t said anything”

“Well it is seven and we don’t vote on seven, so we can skip. Just putting a sus on Hafu” Rae says

“Yes please do” Hafu says as she votes to skip

“Do we know where the other bodies are?” Poki asks as the seconds start to dwindle down to zero “Also Toast? Why are you so quiet?”

“I’m trying to figure out a new strat, so don’t you worry. I’ll catch the killers” Toast starts to evil laugh and that was the end of the meeting.

“Ok we’re susing Hafu for this.Though I don’t think it’s her only cause I remember watching one of her imposter plays and it would be a too obvious kill,since so many people were there, it just doesn’t make sense, so someone venting in and killing is plausible or could be a self report? I don’t know lol It’s my first game” You run with Sykkuno and finish up your tasks together. Though lights were called when you both were at shields, you can see the vent pop open and in your little vision bubble you see a flash of red “Whelp this is where I die, I’d like to rate Sykkuno an 8 out of 10 for protecting me, but obviously I am now died” True to your word Rae killed you and you saw Sykkuno running around like a headless chicken when he reports your body 

“Oh God! They got her when I was trying to protect her!” Sykkuno exclaims 

“Sykkuno! You were supposed to be protecting her!?” Rae shouts “What happened? Did you kill her in cold blood? hmm?”

“smh Rae, you murdered me right in front of Sykkuno” You sigh “Well chat looks like I’m dead and we can speak now”

“No!” Sykkuno denies “I said I was going to protect her. I wouldn’t kill her after saying that”

“Well she’s dead now Sykkuno! Where’s the body?” Toast dramatically says

“It’s in shields. It happened when lights were off” Sykkyno says “I’m sorry y/n, I couldn’t protect you”

“Aw that is so cute” You pout at his apology, it wasn’t his fault. It was dark, so obviously he couldn’t see

“Well I don’t think Sykkuno did this, He said he was protecting her to everyone, so I can say that he’s crew” Hafu says “I’m at light panel, I remember seeing Poki and Tina there”

“I can confirm this” Poki says “So Toast let’s hear your big brain play. What’s your strat?”

It was silent for a minute, before Toast admits that he doesn’t have one.

“Ok so we can all agree that Toast is the imposter right?” Rae says “Vote him outta here!”

“Yep” Tina agrees hitting that vote on him and many follow suit

“Wait guys! WAIT! I do! I do have a strat” Toast screams out “Uhhh... wires! The wires guys!”

“Lol they’re gunna vote him off” You watch people voting “Rae is probably gunna win this”

“Yea, you’ve done that pay before” Poki laughs

“Don’t worry I’ll skip Toast” Sykkuno says 

“Why would you skip if we’re on 6?” Rae asks “Is Toast your imposter buddy?”

“Wah? I said I was protecting y/n, why would I kill her?” Trying to make his innocence obvious 

“Unless you killed her by accident or Toast did and you’re trying to protect him like the Simp you are!” Rae accuses him

Tina starts to also question Sykkuno “Wait a second, I dont think I’ve seen you do a single task this entire game! You’ve just been following y/n all around! We should vote him off next!”

“Guys, I swear it’s not me, it just doesn’t make sense” You can hear him plead “Oh no guys, how did this get twisted? It’s Rae! But how did it go to thinking Sykkuno as imposter?”

The meeting ends with Toast screaming into the abyss as he is yeeted out with Sykkuno telling him that he voted to skip.

“Ok then chat, looks like the imposters are gunna win, lets talk for a bit” You sigh and start reading the comments “ I know that I didn’t talk much with them, but I’m just awkward in general and I don’t know what to say to them. This is the first time playing with a group like this where i’m supposed to be myself and not a character.”

The words Defeat appeared on screen and there was Hafu and Rae as imposter. “I honestly didn’t think it was Hafu”

“Hafu was that you that killed Leslie in admin? I didn’t think it was “You asked when you returned to the lobby

“NO! I got framed by my own partner” Hafu explains before taking her bathroom break

“How did Rae get that kill cause I was with her?” Poki asks

“I vented from Caf back into admin when lights were off” Rae laughs “and I vented into shields and killed y/n right in front of Sykkuno!”

“Im sorry for not being able to protect you” Sykkuno runs circles around my character “Next round I’ll do better! I promise”

You laugh and start chasing after him in the ship “What if you end up as imposter?”

“Then I’ll have to look away as my imposter buddy kills you” Sykkuno laughs behind his hand and clears his throat “Im joking, Im joking, I promise”

“Wow Sykkuno” You tsk and run over to the opposite side of the room “I don’t know if I want your protection services now”

“Uh” Sykkuno splutters “I’m joking I promise! I won’t kill you as imposter”

“Wait til Corpse hears you simping over someone else” Poki says before starting the game

“Wait Hafu is still in the bathroom!” Rae exclaimed, but it was to late to stop the game from starting, so she’ll have to jump in when she comes back. Though you swear you feel your heart jump out of your chest when the words Imposter read on you screen. The 1st of the night for you and another in a row for Hafu.

“Oh God guys. Hafu is in the bathroom, but she has to carry us” You start to panic “What we do we do!?! Wait is Sykkuno seriously gunna follow us? Should we kill him or would that be to obvious?” You see the chat tell you that it would be to obvious and that it would be better to maybe frame him, but it seems to mean to you “Should we kill someone in front of him? You know to test his loyalty? It’s a terrible idea”

Though before you go on to fake tasks, you see Sykkuno standing on top of Hafu’s body, so you also go ontop of Sykkuno’s and to the outside perspective you are protecting Hafu, but really for you it’s to ensure that your imposter partner is going to be walking around and killing people,once she comes back from the bathroom. It seems that Hafu is back from the bathroom as her yellow character starts making her way away from you both. You and Sykkuno make your way to admin when lights get called and Sykkuno starts to wiggle his body around into a corner. It seems as though he wants you to stack with him in a corner, but before you do you double back when you see a body pass by and kill them, though you start to laugh when you see your character kill Rae, before ‘stumbling’ into Sykkuno’s view in the corner. You both stay there as lights turn back on and go on card swipe. You think about juking Sykkuno, but realize that it’ll look sus on you for ditching him. So you two just walk around ‘completing’ tasks as every once in a while the lights would go off and you two will stack on each other or wait for doors to open which you had been closing alot of them. 

“Honestly guys I’m at a point were I just wanna murder someone in front of him” You start to evil laugh as you both stack in the corner of medbay as lights start turning on when a body got called

“It’s toast, it’s toast, it’s toast” Hafu chants as it was her who reported the body “I saw him kill Poki”

“oh she self reported” you note and click on Toast’s name but not locking in your vote just in case. You also noticed that four people had died “She killed three people!?! Wow she is beast in this game! Holy Shit guys”

“see, from my perspective it’s hafu. I didn’t see the kill, but I did see blood splatter and Hafu immediately reported the body and blamed me, so it has to be Hafu. I’m voting her” Toast explains and votes her

“no no no no no no no. I saw you kill her when lights got fixed.” Hafu describes her side and what she did in that round “ Ok guys I was afk for like the first 20 seconds and I see Sykkuno and y/n there standing on me in caf., and I’m just doing my tasks, which I finished by the way, so I’m just going back and forth going to cams and just walking around to find any dead bodies. So if you saw cams on in the last 30 or so seconds it was me. I’ve also been fixing lights too! Peter and Leslie should be able to vouch for me on that! But on this round of lights I’m making my way to go help fix them when i see blood flicker in my little bubble and as it starts to get bigger I see Toast walking away from it. Its Toast. It is 100% Toast.” She locks her vote on him “Vote him please. If you don’t vote then you’re either imposter or just throwing”

“I don’t know guys” You start and hover your mouse over the green checkmark next to Toast’s name “I’ve been with Sykkuno the entire round and we did guard Hafu’s body. For Hafu to say that she saw Toast kill, but toast didn’t see Hafu kill? It just doesnt make sense so I’m voting Toast” You lock your vote in when Hafu reminds everyone that crew has to vote together since it is on six. Reminding Peter and Leslie that Hafu has been fixing lights got their votes, but Sykkuno was hesitant “You know I can never vote Toast guys, but I have been with y/n this entire time and I know it’s not her. So, I’m sorry Toast but uh” He locks his vote in for either Hafu or Toast? Who knows if he’s simping over Toast hard.

“Sykkuno?” You can hear Toast tremble his voice “Sy-sykkuno? Who did you vote for? Sykkuno!?!?! Do- Don’t tell me...did you really vote me?”

“I uh “ He clears his throat as the votes get out and all of us had voted Toast 

Toast gasps “Sykkuno!?! How could you!?!?!”

“I’m sorry! I just trust y/n!” Sykkuno explains as Toast’s body once again gets yeeted out into space. 

“Wow guys, looks like we’re gunna win our first imposter game!” You wiggle around happily “and we literally did nothing...wait we killed Rae! We got our revenge from the last round mwua hahahahaha”

Sykkuno and I run circles around each other before walking back into medbay. You can see Hafu kind of trailing behind and the doors get locked with us three in it, but Hafu is just standing there. “Chat what is Hafu doing? Why is she just standing there” You can see Sykkuno step on the med scan “Wait she wants ME to kill SYKKUNO! Oh god that is so evil lol but i’m so useless as imposter, so I might as well get in at least 25% of the kills” 

Once Sykkuno steps off you just murder him and you see that you had won.

“I- I can’t believe you just killed me!?! I trusted you y/n” Sykkuno exclaims

“Sykkuno” Rae sighs “she KILLED ME in caf! Why did no one NOT SEE MY CHOPPED BODY IN CAF!”

You just laugh “I’m sorry Sykkuno, but my chat was telling me that Hafu wanted me to kill you”

“Yea, cause I did like all of the kills and sabotages” Hafu recounts who and how she killed 

“Sykkuno, you giant simp. I can’t believe you vote me” Toast tsk’ed 

“I can’t believe y/n was the imposter! and she killed me!” Sykkuno shakes his head “you know what i’m no longer protecting you anymore”

“Wait Sykkuno I’m sorry. Really” You giggle 

“No no no it’s ok, it’s all part of the game” Sykkuno reassure you that he is not actually mad and that he hoped you had fun “But i wont be protecting you from now on, I have scars now”

So, you play a few more games before calling it quits and end your stream. Later on, you find that Sykkuno started following you on Twitter and Instagram, You totally did not stalk both of his pages and you totally don’t think that he’s cute.....

SideNote: You totally murdered someone in front of Sykkuno and he totally didn’t snitch on you. Instead he protected you as you ran around killing more people in front of him and like the giant Simp he is he totally went ‘I neva snitch on you Daddy, I hold a brick for you Daddy’.

[spacedikut]

risks ; spencer reid

pairing: spencer reid (criminal minds) x f!reader

summary:  “Hi! Do you take requests?? If you do, can I please request a Spencer x Reader (Including the BAU), where they are dating and the reader is a year or so younger than spencer, but just as smart and very loved by the team, and one day she has to save the team from an unsub and gets really hurt and after everyone is safe they are all really worried about her?? Idk if that made sense at all. Love you work!” 2898 words

a/n: do i know anything about bombs or surgery or post-op procedures? No. did i still have a lot of fun writing this? Yes . i hope you like it! this specific request has been sent to multiple fic writers which i didn’t know until i’d already written and posted BUT the good thing is every writer is different so every request will be approached differently

masterlist

“No.”

“Hotch-“

“I said, no.”

“My girlfriend is stuck in there with a psychopath, Hotch! I can’t leave her in there!”

“I know, Reid. But I need you out here, alive, rather in there, dead.”

Spencer glares, “She could be dead in there for all we know.”

Emily winces from behind Spencer. Hotch stands, hands on hips, trying to think logically despite the situation, “We can’t afford to think like that.”

“He has a bomb! He-he-“

“Reid.” Hotch says, tone authoritive to show he’s playing unit chief and not old friend Hotch, “I need your head in this. We need to profile him to figure out the best way to negotiate – we can’t do that if you keep threatening to act irrationally.”

Spencer scoffs. Derek steps forward and pulls Spencer aside to talk him down from the metaphorical ledge he’s standing on. He’s one second away from running right into that abandoned building that everyone had just evacuated, bar you, and straight into the arms of the man who now has you hostage with a bomb ready to be detonated whenever he pleases.

Hotch already tried calling and negotiating. The man scoffed, voice gruff, and rumbled, “Either I get what I want, or both me and the pretty agent are getting blown to bits.”

In hindsight, they should’ve been more prepared.

Storming the abandoned warehouse, the team expected to find the remnants of a crime scene – they profiled the warehouse was the base of operations for the unsub, a place for him to store all his supplies, and because it had made the news that the FBI were on the case, they assumed he would’ve started running the second he felt them closing in.

He didn’t. He’s ready to go down with his ship, and you’re the unfortunate one that found him. And his homemade bomb.

Derek found the bomb-making equipment. He shouted in his comm for everyone to evacuate, and Spencer realised the second he stepped outside that you were not there. And you hadn’t responded to any calls after stepping into the building.

All it took was one call from the too proud unsub for them to realise your life is in the balance and for Reid to stop thinking rationally.

Spencer should’ve gone with you. He knows you can handle yourself, you’ve saved his ass enough times, but if he’d just.. followed you instead of JJ. Maybe you’d both be in there, or, even better, out here. Alive. Safe. No hostage situation in sight.

Suddenly, several shots ring out.

The team ducks behind their SUVs, Hotch having to drag Spencer down when he doesn’t react, just in case he decides to run straight in.

“It wasn’t the bomb!” Derek calls across, their heads beginning to pop up from behind the vehicles.

Spencer breaks free from Hotch’s grip and sprints into the warehouse. Bomb be damned, there were exactly six shots fired – the exact amount you have in your revolver.

Also the exact amount he has in his revolver.

“Go! Go!” Hotch shouts. The team all charge after Spencer, separating and flowing through the hallways and doorways of the warehouse – there’s this sense of dread running through all of them. There’s something so unique to the panic you feel when someone so close to you, someone so dear, is the one in danger.

There’s a screech from the back of the warehouse. It’s filled with agony, anguish and unadulterated pain – loud enough to reach every nook and cranny of the premises.

“I need a medic!”

Spencer’s throat burns from the tormented yell that leaped from his throat when he found you. There’s so much blood, and it takes Spencer longer than it should to find where your wounds are: two shots to the stomach, one too close to your lungs for comfort.

Although, none of this is comforting. Your eyes are closed.

The unsub is dead. The team looks around the room and easily pieces everything together: you both shot at the same time. You were able to give fatal hits and Spencer refuses to let the hits you got become deadly too.

They spare little to no attention to the bomb – the bomb squad stampede in and analyse it. Their focus is you, if you’re breathing and if the blood has stopped and how weak your pulse is.

It’s too weak. Spencer chokes on a sob above your body.

“Spence, you gotta move,” Derek’s voice is gentle despite the chaos around them, two medics taking Spencer’s place when Derek pulls him away.

“She-she- I can’t-“

“I know, kid, I know. We have to let them take care of her.”

The team is frozen around you as a stretcher is brought it. You’re being given oxygen, the medics are frantically shouting all kinds of things that Spencer doesn’t register – he follows behind you, shoulders slumped and cheeks wet, scanning you from head to toe constantly to see some display of life within you.

Hotch tells him to ride with you to the hospital. He doesn’t bother sparing the team a glance – he needs to keep his eyes on you because if he doesn’t he’s terrified you’ll disappear and he’ll never see you again and never hear your voice and never get to hear you say “I love you” ever again.

He’s terrified.

+++

You’ve been in surgery for hours.

Spencer’s still covered in your blood. He sits next to Derek, who just force-fed him half a granola bar, leg bouncing while he bites his nails.

The whole team is waiting impatiently. Hotch hasn’t sat down once, JJ has been on the phone to Will and Henry several times so she doesn’t go crazy, and everyone has been taking laps around the hospital to burn off some… fear? Apprehension? Just to do something?

Penelope broke several driving laws to get here. She came in, makeup smeared all over her face and hiccupping as Derek caught her when she approached them and collapsed. It took her an hour and a half to calm down.

“Reid.”

Spencer doesn’t move.

“Reid, kid.”

Derek nudges him. He looks up, lips chapped and bitten raw, and looks at Rossi who holds his to-go bag.

“You should change.” Rossi says, a warm smile on his face as he speaks quietly.

Spencer stares at the bag, then his shirt and sweater vest. He nearly vomits – your blood is everywhere. It’s dried now, a testament to how long you’ve been on that table, and he feels himself getting choked up all over again. He wishes he could help you. He wishes this wasn’t happening.

The guilt sinks in.

If he’d stayed with you. If he’d followed you. If he’d found you a little earlier. If they’d realised who the unsub was quicker. If they’d come to the warehouse more prepared.

Maybe you’d be here. Maybe it would be him on the operating table. God, he wishes it was him.

He needs you alive. He needs you.

“C’mon, Spence,” JJ whispers. She can’t speak any louder or she’ll cry. She takes the bag from Rossi, gingerly takes Spencer’s hand and pulls him towards the toilet just a little way away.

She opens the door and holds it open for him, gesturing with her head for him to go in.

“It’ll take you five minutes. I’ll be right here.”

He sniffles and nods, a tear sliding down his cheek, and heads in.

Everyone breathes a sigh of relief when they hear the lock of the door.

Spencer hasn’t moved since he got to the hospital and you were hurried away straight into surgery. Your eyes opened in the ambulance and Spencer could only cry harder – you used every last bit of strength you had to grip Spencer’s hand and passed out again.

He hasn’t spoken, either. No one can blame him. But changing clothes, cleaning your blood from his hands and forearms and it’s somehow on his neck, that’s progress. It’s about as good as they’ll get until there’s an update on you.

Spencer slumps back out of the toilet, walking clumsily towards his friends with his head facing the floor. The room is too bright, his eyes are beginning to sting from crying, and his heart is hurting because he doesn’t know what’s going to happen. All of it is giving him a headache.

You know how to help him with his headaches. You always know how to help him. You.

There’s movement from the large doors next to Spencer. A doctor comes out, looking frazzled and still in scrubs, and says, “Y/N Y/L/N?”

They all stare.

“She’s stable.”

Penelope lets out a verbal gasp and a “Thank God,”, both Emily and JJ’s heads fall in their hands in disbelief and even Hotch’s head falls back as he lets out a sigh of relief.

Derek’s hand grips Spencer’s shoulder. He’s too shocked to say anything.

“Can we see her?” Derek asks. He knows Spencer will want to see her the second he can, and he’ll spend every moment with her until she’s fully healed.

The doctor gives a pitiful grimace, “Only one at a time, unfortunately. These next twenty-four hours are vital and we don’t want to overwhelm her.”

“I have to see her.” Comes Spencer’s voice, weak and fragile as he still chews his thumb.

Hotch nods, “Of course. Spencer, you stay with her and we’ll come back later.”

He then nods towards the rest of the team and they all filter out slowly, all acknowledging Spencer in one way or another – Penelope kisses his head, Derek and Rossi give his shoulder a squeeze, JJ, Emily and Hotch tell him to text them if he needs anything.

He knows they don’t want to leave, but Spencer would fight every single one of them if any even tried to see you before he could. He needs to see you for himself. Needs to see you breathe.

“Follow me, sir,” The doctor says, “She might look a little off-putting – she had more injuries than we thought. But she’s steady and strong, so we’re confident she’ll make it through.”

She gestures towards your room. Spencer nods and gives a tight lipped smile, mumbling, “Thank you.”

When the door’s pushed open, Spencer chokes on a cry.

He remembers the only time he was shot: that one time in the leg. It wasn’t much. It was a shock to the system, but ultimately he was fine. He’s come to love the scar thanks to you - you’ve placed plenty of kisses on it for him to see it and instantly think of you and the love you bring.

Which is exactly why he can’t lose you. He loves you too much and he knows you love him and he’s never been so sure of anything or anyone in his life until you and he swears to God if you’re taken from him-

He takes a deep breath, pulling the chair towards your bed as close as possible as he moves to interlock his fingers with yours and grip tightly.

Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay.

+++

Penelope is the first to visit. She waddles in, flowers, chocolates, a card, a cuddly bear and some food for the good doctor in her arms. When she walks in she realises Spencer is knocked out in the chair next to you. She’s not surprised; she didn’t want to leave you, but Spencer needed to be with you.

She pokes him gently. And again, when he doesn’t respond.

He jumps awake, immediately going to rub his neck that is stiff after spending hours at an awkward angle.

“Morning, handsome,” Penelope smiles. She hands him the food she brought and, after sparing a glance to your sleeping form, he takes the bag and digs in.

“Thank you,” He says quietly. Penelope looks at you.

“How is she?”

“Not bad. She hasn’t gotten worse, and that’s all I can ask for.”

Penelope leans over and presses a kiss to your head, “She’s a boss. She’ll be up and at it before you know it.”

Spencer pauses in his eating and watches you, feeling nothing but love and pride, and his lower lip began to quiver. He clears his throat and looks away.

His eyes have been rubbed raw from Spencer trying to stop his tears and from trying to stay awake all night, just in case you woke up. He doesn’t remember when he fell asleep.

Derek appears then.

“Hey, you two,” He’s also carrying flowers and a cuddly bear (the team knows you so well – the way to your heart is stereotypical gifts). He gives Penelope a side hug and shoots Spencer a nod, “How you feeling, pretty boy?”

He rubs his eyes, “I’m awesome.”

Derek chuckles, “Uhuh.”

He looks at you, then, and his smile becomes tighter. Penelope grips his arm and tugs him towards her, leaning her head against his shoulder.

“You two look cosy.”

All attention is snapped to you: half lidded, voice coarse, lips dry. Spencer drops the bag of food.

“Hi, pretty,” He grins, eyes filling with tears again when he stands and leans towards you on your bed. God, what do you do to him?

His forehead rests against yours and you close your eyes in comfort. His smell fills you, all familiar and oh so welcome after whatever the hell you went through. Your whole body aches, breathing feels strange and almost unknown, and you’re acutely aware of the tubes in your nose.

Spencer pulls back suddenly, eyes jerking open, and grabs some water for you, “Here, drink.”

You do as he says, gulping it down and gulping down a second and third cup.

“I’ll get the nurse,” Penelope says, having to tear her eyes away from you because you’re awake and it fills her with so much happiness to see you okay.

After a quick visit from the nurse, you’re told you have to stay for a further few days and you pout at the thought. No one likes hospitals. No one likes being stuck in a hospital.

The whole team arrives and Derek and Penelope offer to go meet them to catch them up on everything before they come in. Everyone knows it’s really so you and Spencer have a second alone.

The second the door closes, Spencer kisses you. It’s eager and full of angst. You wish you could wrap your arms around him and pull him in tight, but everything hurts. So that’ll have to wait.

“You had me so worried,” Spencer gasps, forehead against yours and hands cupping your face, “So, so worried.”

“My apologies,” You giggle. It hurts to do it, but Spencer makes you so happy, even in a dreary hospital. “Won’t happen again.”

“It better not.” He smiles. He feels like all the tension has evaporated from his body - you’re here, you’re okay, you’re awake, you’re as perfect as ever. “You had everyone scared.”

“I have fans?”

He can’t help but roll his eyes at you. You just woke up from being shot and going through a long surgery, and you’re joking around?

He loves you so much.

Your arm slowly moves up to loosely hold his wrist. Your eyes look glassy, suddenly.

“I love you, Spence.” You breathe, “My first thought when I got shot was I’d never be able to say that to you again. I love you so, so much.”

Spencer grips your face tighter and pulls your lips back to his. There’s so much passion in the kiss; he wants to tell you he loves you every second of every day for the rest of his life, and he’s trying to show that.

Now you’re here, he can do that. Thank God he can do that.

“I love you too. So much. I’ve never been as scared as I was when I found you, I-“ He gets choked up again, “If you ever do something like that again, we will have issues I swear to God Y/N-“

“Kiss me again you idiot,” You say, all smiles.

When the whole team roll in, Spencer is perched on the very edge of your bed, hand in yours, thumb rubbing back and forth. They all smile at you, holding various gifts that get you very excited, and tell you how glad they are you’re okay.

Derek’s brows furrow, pointing at your heart monitor, “Now what happened while we were gone, cuties?”

Everyone looks towards the monitor, where your heartbeat is still high from kissing and being close to Spencer after being scared you’d never be able to again.

You and Spencer blush, “I’m just very happy to see my team.” You say, trying to suppress a smirk.

“Yeah, yeah,” Derek smirks at you both, “Just couldn’t keep your hands off eachother, huh?”

Spencer sputters, “It would be so inappropriate to do anything like that in a hospital, Morgan! Actually, hospitals…”

As Spencer rambles on, you scan the room and find yourself tearing up. You feel so cared for and loved, surrounded by the people you consider family and holding the hand of the love of your life. You’re so lucky, you realise, despite the situation that led to this, to have such amazing people so close.

You move and lean your head against Spencer’s shoulder and, mid-sentence, he presses a kiss to your forehead.

It’s an honour to be so loved by such lovely people.

[homoose]

okay so i saw your recent post about wanting morcia requests and this is more of like a suggestion??? i guess i don’t know but it just came into my head and i think you could write it so well omg idk if its already been done BUT

morcia in that episode where morgan is driving the ambulance and its about to explode right well he’s asking garcia to keep talking to him right?? and she just like blurts out in her rambling that she loves him like for real for real

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 the dialogue of the beginning is taken straight from the episode, which is 4x01 Mayhem.

———

Penelope worked quickly with Officer Bartelby to triangulate the signal and shut down the cell towers. Then, she called Derek through her earpiece. “Morgan?”

It felt like an eternity before he replied, “Yeah, baby.”

His breathing was labored, his voice slightly threadier than usual. She kept her tone as even as she could, though her nerves began to build. “You sound stressed.”

“Do I?”

She would have said something snarky, bantered a little, but there was a knot growing in the pit of her stomach. “Where are you?”

He took another heavy breath. “Not where I wanna be right now.” There was a pause. “Garcia, take this down for me: FDNY 108.”

“That’s an ambulance,” she said cautiously, and the nerves became amplified. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied, and she didn’t believe him for a second. “Just track it for me.” And then he let out a stressed, frustrated sigh.

Penelope didn’t say anything, just worked with frantic fingers to get the information he asked for.

Thirty seconds later he was back over the comm. “Oh my god,” he muttered, not meant for her to hear. Then, “Garcia, how long can you keep jamming the cell phone lines?”

Nothing good ever followed an inquiry about a time limit. “Uh— a few minutes. Max. Why?”

“‘Cause I’m gonna have to get this ambulance out of here.”

Her heart went cold. “Or you could just evacuate the building like everybody else,” she corrected, a little desperately.

“No,” he answered. “As soon as the airways are clear this thing’s going up.”

The determination in his voice was enough to have her scrambling. “Going— oh, my god, that’s in, like, three minutes because that’s when the satellite moves position.”

He didn’t respond, and she could hear the slamming of the ambulance door, an incessant beeping sound, and Derek fumbling around, muttering out a, “Come on.”

She could feel the tears starting to well up, watched helplessly as the blocked cell towers blinked on her computer screen. This could not be happening. She was not going to lose Derek Morgan like this.

“Garcia, listen to me.” His voice broke her out of her spiral. “I need you to find an area of town I can drive this thing, and you tell everybody— you hear me, everybody— that I’m comin’.”

She nodded even though she knew he couldn’t see her, fingers slamming over the keys to find the closest open area she could. She heard Derek begging the ambulance, “Come on, baby. Do it. Go.”

And she knew it wasn’t her he was talking to, but it gave her the boost, the motivation she needed to figure this out. To save his ass, like she always did.

“All right, talk to me, Garcia.”

His voice was frantic, and she worked to keep hers level, even though she felt like screaming. “Okay, head north... and floor it. I’ll tell you where to turn.”

She heard Derek’s breathing, the squealing of the ambulance tires, and then what sounded like fireworks. “What was that?” she demanded.

“It was nothing, it was noth— just talk to me.”

She murmured quiet directions to him, tried her best to soothe him, keep him calm and focused. Turn left here, use this side street, keep going north. Derek’s frantic breathing dominated her ears more than the blaring of the siren. He didn’t speak at all, just listened and navigated and drove a ticking time bomb through the streets of New York.

“How am I doing, Garcia?”

“How’s he doing?” she asked Bartelby.

“One minute, fifty seconds,” came the response.

Less than two minutes left with this man who had spent the last five years teasing her, supporting her, building her up, cherishing her— just as she was, and she couldn’t keep it together any longer. “Why does it always have to be you? Why do you always have to do this?”

He didn’t respond to her, and now the panic was turning to anger. “Derek, you don’t have much time. Please be smart about this. Signal’s coming back online.”

“30 seconds to full coverage,” Bartelby warned.

“Derek, drive to the opening and then get the hell out,” Penelope demanded.

“There’s something I really want you to know, Garcia,” he murmured.

“20 seconds.”

“Save it,” she begged, because there was no reason to be doing final confessions. He was going to be fine. “Just get out.”

“No, no, no, I’m not quite there yet.”

The tears bled through in her voice as they rolled down her cheek. “Morgan... please.”

Bartelby’s countdown rang in her ears, and then Derek tried again. “Just listen to me.”

“No, you listen to me, Derek Morgan,” she shot back. “Because you’re not gonna die in that stupid ambulance, but since you’re acting like you will, I’m gonna yell my love at you, and you’re gonna listen.”

She stared at the countdown of the cell towers. “You’re strong and kind and patient and supportive. You’re chivalrous without being chauvinistic, and you’re protective without being patronizing. You’re a hero and the best man that I know. You’re— you are my absolute favorite person.”

She was crying now, tears running hot down her cheeks and burning tracks that she was sure she’d still feel long after the saline dried up. But he needed to know, and she was angry with him for putting himself in this position, and she was angry with herself for being such a coward for so long.

“You can’t die, because I don’t know how I’m supposed to live without you, Derek. I— I love you. I know we’ve said it before, and I meant it then, in that way. But I’m— I’m in love with you. I don’t know when it happened, but it’s— it feels as natural as breathing. Like a fish loves water, like dry ground loves rain, all those pretty, flowery similes they write on planners and coffee mugs.”

Bartelby informed her they had ten seconds, and she rushed out the rest, all the things she’d been holding inside because she wanted to keep Derek in any way she could have him. “But I also love you when it’s hard, when we’re not in very good moods, when we’re struggling with demons that we thought we’d conquered. And I— I’ve never loved anybody like that.” She let out a shaky breath, shook her head and felt a sob building in her chest. “I need you to get the hell out of that stupid ambulance, because I can’t do this without you.”

“We just lost tracking,” Bartelby murmured.

The breath caught in Penelope’s throat, and she closed her eyes. “Morgan?”

The explosion rattled through the earpiece, Bartelby dropped her elbows to the desk in defeat, and Penelope couldn’t breathe. “Derek?”

For a long moment, there was nothing, and she was sure that she’d lost him. The man she should have been able to fix up houses with and play scrabble with and bake vegan treats with and raise children with and grow old with— was gone. And then...

“You know what you are Garcia?”

Penelope’s heart jump started and relief rolled through her like a tsunami, and then she rolled her eyes with absolute and pure (loving) disgust.

“I’ll tell you what you are to me,” Derek panted. “You’re my god-given solace.”

Penelope closed her eyes, brought a shaky hand up to wipe the tears from her cheeks. From the corner of her eye, she saw Bartelby lean back with a small smile.

Derek continued, “Woman, you promise me one thing— whatever happens, don’t you ever stop talking to me.”

Penelope huffed. “I can’t right now because I’m mad at you.”

“I can wait.” He sighed into her ear piece, and it was the most beautiful symphony she’d ever heard. “And Penelope?”

She sniffed in response, and he laughed a little at her pettiness. “Ditto, baby girl.”

[ohnopoe]

Potential Breakup Song | Jack Daniels

Ship: Jack Daniels x Reader Summary: It’s your birthday, and all you want to do is have a few drinks with your boyfriend, but when he doesn’t show, your coworker, Jack, takes it upon himself to check on you Word Count: 2.2k+ Tagging: @the-purity-pen​  Author’s Note: Ok so this... idk how this happened tbh. BUT I’d kind of love to write more for these two, I have some slight ideas, but idk... so if you’d like to see something more please let me know!

Sitting there alone at the little booth you had claimed over an hour earlier certainly wasn’t how you had expected the evening to go. You had been happy, excited even, when you finally grabbed your coat to leave Statesmen for the day, readying yourself for a proper, fun night out with your boyfriend.

Sure, you’d had to remind him twice already to meet you at the little bar you liked that was not far from work, and sure maybe it would have been fun to invite some friends too, but this was your birthday, and even having a few drinks with your man seemed better than nothing.

But the day had seemed to drag on, as if it knew you were anticipating the well-needed break.

With every knock on the door, a part of you couldn’t help but hope for something, although you couldn’t quite tell what.

Would it have been nice if your coworkers had realised what day it was? Sure. But then, hiding it off facebook had been your decision, and you couldn’t truly blame them for not knowing when you were so careful about keeping things separate between work and home. But with each interruption to your work came a following disappointment. Reports were required, devices needed testing, and not one person seemed to have anything but more work to add to your pile.

Dread was dancing in your periphery, but you refused to give into it.

You had decided this. You had been the one to do that damn stupid idea and hide your information in some desperate plea that someone would remember you even without the irritating little notification Facebook offered. You couldn’t blame others for your own actions, no matter how much it hurt to feel so damned forgotten on your birthday of all things.

But, as you sat alone in the booth at your favourite bar, well, that dread sure was starting to egg away at you.

Another glance at your phone, a silent reminder of just how long you’d been waiting along with the lack of any explanation, only helped solidify your negativity. What if he wasn’t coming? What if he’d forgotten too?

The drink you’d been nursing for the better part of an hour sat before you, the ice had melted into the mix, making it weak and watery as you took a hesitant sip once more. If he wasn’t there by the time you finished, you’d leave. That’s what you’d said to yourself some thirty minutes ago when the drink had arrived. But even you could see you were drawing out the inevitable now, taking slow sips in the hopes of prolonging what little chance there was.

“Either that’s the worst damn drink you’ve ever had, or somethin’s on your mind,” a familiar voice almost cooed from above you, amusement tangling with something you couldn’t quite place as the silhouette of Agent Whiskey blocked out a good portion of the bar.

Offering a half hearted smile, you took a determined gulp of the drink in your hand, stubbornly meeting his gaze as you did so. There was always something about the agent that brought out a fierce competitive side in you, and maybe it was the sheer determination to not appear as pathetic as you felt, but you found yourself offering a smirk as you placed it down on the table without a word, silently challenging him.

“Alright, maybe not,” he offered a chuckle, lips pulling into a smile and drawing out that dimple that caught far too much attention.

“Something I can help you with, Whiskey?” and damn it, that didn’t come off half as harsh as you had hoped. Hell, it didn’t even come off sarcastic. The usual fire in your tone seemed lost, and you could only hope he didn’t hear the way your voice broke ever so slightly with the question.

You weren’t used to this. You’d kept your private life private for a reason, kept yourself away from the work functions and the celebratory drinks in the hopes of distancing yourself from the people you worked with for the most part, and now, having him in front of you out in the real world, when you were already so damn close to breaking… it wasn’t something you were quite prepared for.

“You looked like you could use some company,” he answered simply with a shrug, and if his eyes hadn’t blazed with that intensity you’d seen so often when he was in the field, you might just have believed he was as nonchalant as he attempted to appear.

But his statement brought another thought, more harrowing than the last, and you had to take another sip of your drink to wet your suddenly dry throat as it plagued you.

“How long have you been watching me?”

With a sigh, that playful smirk you’d seen so often slipped from his lips. With a quick point to the opposite side of the booth, he waited until you nodded your consent before slipping in with yet another sigh, but still he didn’t answer your question.

“Don’t see you around here often,” and it almost sounded like a line, were it not for the curious way his gaze took you in as he spoke.

Your shrug was an attempt at something casual, but you knew he was too damn good at reading people to fall for that. “Maybe it wasn’t my idea,” it was. “Maybe someone asked me here,” they didn’t.

But he seemed to read more from your words than you thought you had offered, his attention falling from you to the drink in your hand, before darting around the room and landing on the door.

“Well, he’s a damn fool to leave you waiting,” he huffed, and, while you still felt on edge being around the agent you worked with day in and day out, a small, albeit genuine, smile broke through your demeanour.

It was just a line, just a statement anyone would make upon hearing someone had potentially been stood up. Your mind was screaming at you to remember that it didn’t truly hold the weight you desperately wished it did. But your heart clung to those words.

Were you really this desperate for someone to actually care about you on your birthday that you were clinging to hollow words said out of propriety? Damn, maybe you were. Maybe Ginger had been right all along, you really should go out with her some time, maybe having some real friends at work wouldn’t be all that bad after all.

“Alright, what about this,” Jack broke your harrowing line of thought with that charming smile he had down pat. “I buy you a drink, we relax, have a good time… if he shows, he shows, and I’ll leave y’all to it, if not, well, hopefully I’m not the worst company.”

A laugh, the first you’d managed all day, escaped your lips as you shook your head at the cowboy’s poor attempt at humility.

“Why would you do that?” the question sounded meeker than you would have liked, and you had to glance away when his confused gaze met yours. But the bar was filled with distractions, even if it wasn’t particularly busy, and you quickly clung to them as you regained some sort of a backbone. “You know damn well half the bar is eyeing you off, you don’t need to waste your evening on me, Jack.”

If his breath caught at hearing your slip up, hearing you utter his name for the first time in far too long, well, he was damn good at hiding it behind that playful smirk. But there was still that shine to his gaze as he watched you so intently that you could feel it even as you focused on swirling the small remainders of your drink.

“And leave you to this lot?” he questioned playfully, raising a brow as he gestured around you both comically. “Honey, I know all too well what these types would do to a pretty lil thing like you, all alone.”

“You would know,” you scoffed a laugh, and, damn it, how was it so easy to relax around him? You’d known him for years, sure, but never personally, always keeping that carefully concocted professional appearance in place.

“Darlin’, are you implying something here?” there it was, that playful lilt to his tone that he always seemed to offer at just the right time, almost cracking your hard exterior more times that you’d care to admit.

“You forget, Whiskey,” you pause, giving him a pointed look that didn’t quite have its usual impact as your lips desperately struggled to hide that playful smile that wanted to break free. “I’ve been on the other end of the comms during far too many of your missions. I know all too well what you’re capable of.”

The smirk he gave in response held a twinge of danger, his eyes lighting up as he leant forwards just enough to capture your full attention. This was a side of Jack you had seen through his glasses many times, a side he hadn’t shown you since you shot him down cold at the very beginning of your working together, and it was a side that could thrill even the most cold hearted of individuals, you were sure.

“Oh, darlin’, you have no idea.”

Well, that certainly shouldn’t have affected you as much as it did.

You’d been working with Whiskey for years now, you knew all too well what he was like, how much he liked to flirt and mess around. You’d watched through his glasses camera on numerous occasions as he flirted his way into the beds of targets, each time rolling your eyes to yourself because you’d surely never fall for something so cheesy.

But then, you’d always been safely seeing things from his perspective, hadn’t you? You’d never seen that intense gaze he offered along with those words, never watched as his tongue darted out to wet those plush lips… damn, maybe you weren’t as strong as you had always thought.

“Babe, hey!” a puffed out breath came from beside you, drawing your attention away from the perfect cupid’s bow that was hidden behind that neatly trimmed moustache.

You almost jumped at the sound, turning quickly to see your boyfriend standing there, looking none too happy to see you sitting there with another man, and, despite the fact you’d been waiting for, was that two hours now?, you felt guilt creep in.

“Hey!” you offered the brightest smile you could, even if it felt somewhat off as you glanced between the two men.

They couldn’t have been more different if they tried. One, the epitome of the suave cowboy, the other in what he so affectionally labelled ‘prime casual fashion’, or, as you secretly called it, jumped up t-shirts that had no right to charge as much as they did. Jack was leaning back in the booth, exuding comfort and confidence, while your boyfriend stood there glancing between you and Jack with a tense jaw. In fact, the only similarity between the two seemed to be the intense fire that sat in their gazes as they eyed one another up.

Oh good, yet another display of stupid macho masculinity. With a roll of your eyes, you cleared your throat, quickly gaining the attention of the silently feuding men. “Jack, this is my boyfriend, Tim-”

“Timothy,” Tim interjected, standing up even straighter, as if the use of his full name would hold some form of power.

Closing your eyes to avoid rolling them once more as you watched him look down his nose at Whiskey, you ignored the interruption. “Tim,” you started once more, more than a hint of irritation in your tone at the fact the same man who had left you waiting for so long was now trying to play some kind of stupid game. “This is Jack, we work together.”

It seemed the two didn’t particularly care about introductions, or, for that matter, manners, as they continued to stare at one another in silence for a long moment.

“I’ll leave y’all to it,” Jack spoke suddenly, breaking the tense atmosphere with a nod as he moved far too smoothly out of the booth. How he always seemed to move with such elegance had often caused you to wonder. It didn’t seem to match the macho cowboy exterior he gave off, but worked so seamlessly when he was in a fight. It was a part of him, small and subtle, that had caught your attention more times than it ought.

Only when Tim sidled up next to you, pushing you further into the booth did your mind fall back to reality with a frown. Words were already falling out of his mouth, mentions of his day, of the clients he had dealt with, and not a word of apology for how late he was, and that same resignation you had felt earlier seemed to sweep over you once more.

“Happy birthday, Y/N,” Jack spoke softly, the words somehow a farewell. His smile was gentle as he met your surprised gaze.

And then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, he was gone, leaving the bar’s doors swaying after him as your boyfriend clambered for your attention.

[thefloorisbalaclava]

hiii cass!! idk if you’re into writing for jack/whiskey but i had an idea and wanted to see if you could take a crack at it. :) the song “real good man” by tim mcgraw really reminds me of whiskey and i thought it might inspire you! :) love u!!

Pairing: Agent Whiskey x F!Reader

Warnings: Just some flirting

A/N: I just mentioned something about missing Jack and forgot I had this sitting in my inbox! Thanks for sending this in and sorry it’s taken me so long to get to it. I looked at the lyrics for the song and this is the idea that immediately came to me! I hope you like it!

[Agent Whiskey masterlist]

“Now it’s time for some minglin’,” he said to himself as he turned off the comm hidden in his suit jacket. He looked around the room and sighed. “If I find anyone I wanna mingle with that is.” This place was full of people who were up on their high horses and never came down. His eyes scanned the room slowly. At first he looked past you, but then he looked back and noticed just how bored you looked. You sipped at one of those fancy drinks and rolled your eyes at whatever the man next to you was whispering in your ear. Suddenly, you turned to the man and smiled, seemingly excusing yourself and getting the hell away from him. Jack followed your every move with his eyes and waited until he saw you step outside to join you out there.

“Stuffy in there, ain’t it?” he asked and you turned your head just enough to look over your shoulder.

“A stuffy room full of stuffy people,” you responded before turning to face forward again.

“You here with your husband or something?” He moved until he stood side-by-side with you.

“No.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Nope.”

“Girlfriend?” He had to cover all the bases.

You turned to him. “You ask a lot of questions, Mr...”

“Daniels. Jack Daniels.” He stuck his hand out and you shook it.

“Like the whiskey? Is that a joke?” You got a good look at him. The bolo tie was unlike anything you had ever seen. You looked down at his feet and noticed the cowboy boots. The only thing missing was a cowboy hat which you were sure he had somewhere.

“No ma’am. That’s my name.” He smiled when he saw the way you looked at him.

“I could use a whiskey right about now,” you murmured and he raised his eyebrows. “The drink.”

“A fancy lady like you drinkin’ whiskey? Let me guess, you like that expensive stuff?” He leaned against the railing and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Give me some Jameson or...Jack Daniels any day.” You gave him a look and he smirked.

“You ain’t like those people in there at all, are you?”

“No and neither are you,” you pointed out.

“Did the tie give me away?” he asked and you laughed. “Hey, this might be a little outta line, but you wanna maybe get out of here?”

“Please.”

You followed him down to his car--a Bronco--and he opened the door for you. On the passenger seat sat a cowboy hat. He moved it and threw it into the backseat.

“I knew it,” you said.

“Knew what?”

“That you had a cowboy hat.” You looked at him and he shrugged.

“What can I say?” He helped you get into the car then closed the door. He climbed in on the driver’s side and turned to you. “So...where to, ma’am?”

“Surprise me.”

“You sure about that?” He put his arm over the back of your seat. “You gotta remember I ain’t like those people in there. You’re in for a wild ride,” he warned.

“Maybe I need something wild in my life.”

“Well, then, let’s go.” He winked at you before starting the Bronco. You sat back and put your feet up on the dashboard, making him smile over at you as he pulled off a little too fast.

I may be a real bad boy But, baby, I’m a real good man

---

agent whiskey taglist: @hoodedbirdie @limenlimon @66wookies @no-droids-allowed @snips-n-skyguy0501 @allthingsnarcos @fangirlingss @damerondjarin @darthdumbasss @triggerhappyflygirl @ladybeediva @heythere80sbaby 

permanent taglist: @gallowsjoker @magicsuperheroes @feelmyroarrrr @the-dazzling-urbanite @phoenixhalliwell @liveloudwriteloud @tumblogbykarapaloma @jaime1110 @ahopelessromanticwritersworld @pascalz @blancatobarxoxo @dazedrhapsody @pascalisthepunkest @ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa @cryptkeepersoul @tiffdawg @freak-of-nature2002 @kingpascals @saltywintersoldat @theocatkov @babybelou @mandilflorian @aeryntheofficial @cyaredindjarin @winters-buck @the-feckless-wonder @loki-098 @arabellathorne @giselatropicana @dindisneydjarin @punkpascal @opheliaelysia @takens-world @huliabitch @stardelic @kandomeresbitch @havenforafrazzledmind @thisis-theway @stardust-galaxies @mrsparknuts @jedi-mando @frankiemorales @edencherries @lilkermit14 @virtualxjournality @ladytrashbird @thirstworldproblemss @emesispo @heresathreebee @tangledlove27 @marvgrrl @clydes-hole @hayley-the-comet @insoucianttt @witchyavenger @coaaster @starless-eyes-remain @wanderlustmags @wonderfulfluffer @lv7867 @lovelyasfcuk @pedropasscals @talesfromtheguild @pedroepascal @wigwitch @seasonschange-butpeopledont @theoria850 @roxypeanut @justanotherblonde23 @autumnleaves1991-blog @kenedyybrooklin @artsymaddie @dindjareen @silverfish-kingdom @heyitmelexie @gredandfeorgesgirl @mandaloriandindjarin @andriecastana @rosiefridayrogersunday @ssppoorrkk @amalie-buch @lucifer- @mstgsmy @randomness501 @max–phillips @darthadeline @youarenewformetoo @thehippiequilter @stardust-galaxies @whovian-gurl @neverlandlibrarian @chibi-liz05 @dragons-of-the-usa

i hope everyone is where they want to be! let me know if you want to be changed around! join a taglist here!

[anothertimdrakestan]

Light Of My Life Jason Todd x Reader

LINK TO PT 2

Words: 2.7k

Requested? Yes! From a lovely anon!

“Hello! May I have a Jason Todd x reader where the reader is a really powerful superhero from the avengers and is well known and she met Jason when she was hopping on rooftops in Gotham (for fun idk haha) and the reader feels lonely and they bond over that with Jason and they start dating and when Jason’s brothers find out they’re dating (a few months later) they freak out and say things like “YOURE DATING THEM?! How did this happen?!” Thank you!”

LINK TO PROMPTS  -> REQUESTS ARE STILL OPEN!

Ok so I took this as a new avenger I hope that’s okay :). It’s mostly selfish that I wanted to write my own badass hero for Jason to simp for... can you blame me? She’s basically a heroin Livewire for those of you that watched Supergirl. Also you really set me up for a long fic so strap in anon, you did this to yourself by giving me an amazing request! Hope you enjoy! xoxo

“You’re kidding right. Gotham? Mr. Seclusive Bat Brat’s turf? Not a chance in hell.” you groaned hearing your newest mission. “Sorry Y/H/N you’re headed to nut-case capital” your comm buzzed back and you rolled your eyes. At least it was a short trip right? Confirm with Dr. Strange exactly the newest magical item you needed to look for, find it, and get out. Maybe zap a couple villains for shits n giggles. Grabbing your motorcycle you headed out, praying for a short trip. 

Arriving at your hotel you began to set up, having powers meant no bulky suit which was nice but Strange had set you up with about a million photos, books, and what looked like scrolls about a stupid helmet. Apparently all the helmet did was let the wearer float and see in the damn dark, half of the avengers could do that shit already. But when THE Dr. Strange makes a request of the Avengers, they comply. 

You’d heard about a drug leader with an eye for shiny objects, and you decided to start there hoping you could really give him a show. Waiting for night to fall you headed out, appreciating the constantly terrible weather in Gotham, lightning cracked in the sky exhilarating you, taking it as a sign from your gods that they liked this mission you felt the electricity run through your veins as you sped towards the ring a friend of yours had tipped you off about. Propping your bike up on the side of the building you felt the electricity dancing through the wires of the building and you zapped into them, travelling in to the main room.

Jason just about pissed his pants. He watched this hot motorcycle chick park her (sexy ass) bike outside the drug ring he was busting that night and right when he was about to put on some Red Hood Charm™ he watched her turn into a giant spart and shoot into the building through the camera system. Realizing she was going to do his job for her he decided to watch from above, trying to figure out who the mystery meta was. As he sat perched on the top of the building he couldn’t help but hope it was Y/H/N, one of the most prominent new Avengers but what was she doing in Gotham? Regardless he sat, ready for the lightshow.

What you saw inside the building was horrific. Disgusting men were throwing cash around to take home young, terrified girls. Disregarding the mission at hand you flashed into the middle of the “show”. Immediately guns were out but that had never stopped you. Dissapaiting into one of the lights you enjoyed how some of the men shrieked at your powers. “Shit dog I think it’s Y/H/N but what’s she doin in Gotham?” never able to pass an opportunity to boast you appeared behind the group smirking “hey boys. Don’t there girls look a little young for you? That said, you should let them go or I’ll get angry. And you’d be shocked with how angry I can get - literally.” you held up a hand letting sparks dance in you palm. What you didn’t expect was to see a blundering idiot in a red mask crash through the ceiling. 

Before you could light him up he called “uh hey! It’s Y/H/N right? Big fan. Red Hood pleasure to meet you. See, this is usually my territory, drugs and all, but I’d be happy to share with a lovely lady like you so-” you scoffed. “Shut up BatBrat I don’t intend on swinging minor league with you tonight, I just want these girls out of here and to talk with you” you gestured to the drug lord, annoyed this Red Batman or whatever his name is was getting in your way. “Minor leagues huh? Princess if you think this is any type of game you’re wrong, we don’t play by the rules here.” and he pulled out two guns and began firing. This shocked you. You thought the bats held the same standards as the majority of the Avengers, no killing. This clearly went down the drain as you watched him blow the brains out of the majority of the drug dealers. 

Deciding this wasn’t the night for you to successfully capture the man you needed, especially because Stark would kill you if you got in a fight with another vigilante on an away mission. While Red Mask went hand to hand with the guards you helped the girls escape, shooing them towards the exit and making them promise to be safer. After securing the public’s safety you took a moment to watch Red Armour fight. He was trained you had to admit, he ducked and punched like he’d been doing in for years, he was refined in skill but reckless and practice, it was fascinating. “You gonna help or is that not in the Avenger’s handbook?” you smirked as he got pinned by a couple guards. As he was preoccupied you zapped to the drug lord, shocking him enough to put him down long enough to move him. Forming an electric rope around his limbs you began dragging him out. “Sorry RedBat I got what I came for, you make a good side kick though” with a wink you walked out, not before hearing him shout “ITS RED HOOD SPARKY” 

In one of the Avenger’s safe houses you’d tied up your captive. “This is super easy buddy, all I need to know is where to find the Helmet of Razadazar” what a stupid fucking name, it doesn’t even sound cool. Knowing he’d feign innocence you prepared yourself for light, pleasure for you, not so much for him...

“You’re. Lying. Todd.” Tim’s fingers flew across the BatComputer. “Y/H/N in Gotham? EPIC!” Jason rolled his eyes. “Drake she definitely wasn’t all that amazing, plus she gave the impression she wasn’t long for Gotham so it’s probably nothing. Newbie training for the A list.” Tim sighed, Jason was probably right, the Avengers left Gotham to Batman, no one wanted a piece of it. “Alright, but you gotta tell me everything, I think she shorted all the camera footage so you better use all the detail.” Jason agreed, secretly excited to recount his experience, maybe fangirl a little. All he knew was that he was going to find you, the only game he wanted to play was chasing you.

After taking a short lecture from Captain A about aggressive torture techniques and why they should be AVOIDED you had gotten your answer. Apparently an underground auction with other-worldly treasures was the place to be. At least Gotham’s wealthy were making everything easy for you tonight. 

Jason adjusted his bowtie as he waited to enter the auction. Attending as Bruce Wayne was easy, he did owe Damian a barn now, but it was a worthy pay off for Damian to endure some father-son time as a cover up while Jason played billionaire. Finding an excuse to go other than finding Y/H/N wasn’t hard either, and now here he was, hoping you’d stand out. Let’s just say fate helped a little.

Sitting at a table with your fake identity as Ms. Stark was equally as easy. Excited to be meeting Mr. Wayne the Gothamite who was seated next to you. As he sat down he looked younger than the paparazzi pictures showed. You stuck out a hand to shake and he took it gently, kissing it, to your surprise. He looked at your smirking, “looking lovely tonight Sparky” you’re jaw dropped. Mr. Wayne I had no idea Red Cap was your speed” you whispered, shocked, but slightly comforted to know you had your sidekick here.”It’s. Red. Hood. And just as you Ms. Stark, this identity is not my own.” it made sense, but it was still impressive. 

Having exchanged pleasantries with the table the auction began. Item after item went, you and Hood slid in low bets to seem interested, but you wondered why he had came. Then the helmet was up. You sucked in a breath knowing the plan was to win the bid then snatch the helmet. You bid politely against someone at table 37 until it was yours. “Going once” “Going twi-” the auctioneer stopped as Mr. Wayne raised his paddle, tripling your bet. The auctioneer looked shocked at the amount, not letting you bid again before he shouted “SOLD to the sir at table 14!” For the second time that night your jaw dropped. “I need that helmet!” you whisper yelled. “That old thing? Sure princess. You just have to get dinner with me tomorrow” you realized he just spent millions and millions of dollars just to win your time. “Deal” you hissed. 

Jason decided not to tell his brothers about his date. Feeling like it was a once in a lifetime opportunity he wasn’t ruining it. After hiding the helmet in the BatCave he was waiting for you at a candle lit table for two. When you walked in he knew it was love at first sight. Sitting down across from him you smirked. “You clean up nice..” he finished for you “Todd. Jason Todd.” taken aback you’d heard about him, the kid that lived, part of the Wayne family. “Well if we’re going real names Mr. Todd what do I have to lose, y/n l/n” you smiled, drinking in his appearance. He was dashing you had to admit, confident and laidback it was alluring. “Beautiful name to fit a gorgeous girl” he winked, to your shock, making you blush. 

The two of you spent the night throwing snide comments, compliments, and flirtation between you. Something about Jason just clicked, it felt right. After hours at the table you and Jason went for a walk around Gotham while he showed you his most memorable spots. Somehow the two of you wound up on the top of a skyscraper staring at the stars. Finally having a person who understood the burden of heroism but wasn’t judging you for being new was refreshing. Only knowing each other for hours it felt like it had been years, confiding in each other about some of your deepest secrets. Jason was amazed with your powers, but you explained that they were hard to control, bottling electricity up in anything was difficult, batteries rotted, lightbulbs broke, and sometimes it felt like you were no different. He watched as you showed him how sparks danced across you skin and though he didn’t tell you, they’d been sizzling around you since dinner, an aura vibrating around you as you laughed, cried, and smiled with him.

“So Lightning McQueen, what do the sparks do when you’re happy?” you grimaced at another of his nicknames and explained how they crackle and pop sometimes taking on certain weather-like patterns. “Huh, well let’s see some lightning then” Jason grabbed your hand pulling you into his chest, using the other hand to lift your eyes to meet his as he leaned in. You sped up the process, hands wrapping around his neck, crashing his lips on yours. He was right, lightning struck across the sky as sparks danced between the two of you. Pulling away he grinned as he breathlessly looked at you. “Beautiful” You pulled him in for more, deciding maybe Gotham wasn’t so bad if he was here. 

“Why does Y/H/N always get the Gotham missions?” Peter Parker groaned. “Well seeing as she practically lives there it’s easy” the rest of the gang retorted as you blushed. “I guess I just really like the weather” you grinned while everyone rolled their eyes knowing the reason Gotham was having more lightning than ever was no coincidence. 

“Honey I’m homeeeeee” you squealed as you zapped into your kitchen. Jason had learned not to be alarmed when you appeared out of thin air and he opened his arms as you fell into his embrace. “Hello to my favorite double A” he grinned when you gave him a zap, he knew you loved all his nicknames. He pulled you out of his embrace looking you dead in the eyes. “Sparky it’s time you meet my family, you know Tim is going to kill me for hiding you” You were so excited, timing never aligned or one of you was injured or not on Earth but finally, it was time to meet the family. 

You’d snuck into the manor before, but everytime it seemed to get bigger. Jason squeezed your hand warning you about how annoying his family was. As you entered you took in everything. The cutest little boy was chasing a grown man with a sword, a teenage boy sat on a kitchen cupboard shotgunning an energy drink, all while a nice elderly man chopped carrots calmly in the kitchen. Breaking the silence you began to name each boy “Uh hi guys! I’m y/n you probably know me as Y/H/N but I’m so excited to be here! I’m guessing Damian, Dick, Tim, and the wonderful Alfred!” all the boys froze. Alfred smiled and continued chopping.  “Oh my god oh my god oh my god” Tim jumped off the cupboard wide eyed staring at you. “Todd how do you know her?” Dick looked at you, shocked to see an Avenger not in costume next to his brother. 

“Actually guys I’ve known Y/N for a while, remember Tim that night? We’ve kept in touch since and I’m lucky enough to be her boyfriend!” Jason kissed you on the cheek and immediately Tim passed out. As Dick poured water on the teen Damian walked up to you and you bent down to look him eye to eye. “Prove you’re Y/H/N because I don’t believe Todd could pull a famous hero like Y/H/N” Jason started “No y/n it’s fine” but you wanted to make a good impression so you zapped into the light fixture, counted to 5, then appeared on the cupboard Tim had been on, only to zap back nex tot Jason. “TT I’m impressed Todd. Y/n let me say I’m impressed with your recent activity with the Avengers. I know what it is like to be surrounded by older, entitled idiots.” Damian stuck out a tiny hand and you shook it, making sure to give him a little shock. 

Having woken up Tim began rapid fire questions. “So Todd lied you’re here? And you like him? Can I just say you’re so cool. Would you let me run some tests on your powers? What’s the biggest lightshow you’ve done? What is spiderman like? I feel like I’m quicker than him but I don’t know. Do you love Jason?” you tried to take in all the questions. “Yes I’m here, yes, thank you, sure I guess, biggest was cracking a small moon in half - don’t asl I was mad, spidey is cool kind of a dweeb but, he’s pretty quick but I haven’t seen you, and yes I do love Jason” you took a deep breath. Jason smiled at you, glad you could keep up with Tim’s q & a. Suddenly Tim grabbed Dick’s arm and started running to the BatCave, “okay y/n I’m gonna go set up some tests come down in a minute. Todd you lucky asshole you bring her down in five okay?” before you could reply he was gone. 

Taking a deep breath Jason wrapped his arms around you. “I’m so glad you can deal with them, but if Drake gets really bad knock him out cold” you chuckled, knowing that dealing with the Wayne’s was more difficult for Jason than it was for you. “Anything for you babe” you grinned. “Always the light of my life y/n” you rolled your eyes knowing the jokes would never stop, one of the many reasons you loved Red Hood with all your heart. 

haha I never do A/N but do y’all get the pun in the title hehehehe wow I need to go to bed. Also check out the pun in my masterlist lolz. Now, dear reader, that you read this post we have an inside joke together hehe... love you! xoxo

[ifmywishescametrue]

Hi love. I adore your work. Can you write for the prompt “You need to get out of there!” for stevetony? I’m a sucker for za *angst* and I can already imagine tiny Stark being his stupid adorable self and getting in trouble.

hiii thank you!! idk how this ended up being 3k words, but i hope that you like it!

It happens so quickly that Tony doesn’t even have time to really process it. One moment things are as close to fine as they can be in the middle of a fight. He’s close to breaking through the system, just a few keystrokes and a minute away from being able to stop the near army of robots right from the source. The next is filled with blaring alarms and dust starting to fall from the ceiling, though he hardly notices through the laser-focus. He hears Steve’s voice through the comm line in his ear and rolls his eyes, but doesn’t respond.

“Iron Man, you need to get out of there!” Steve says again, firmer and louder, and this time Tony opens his mouth to tell him off for being distracting right when he’s almost done, but the words die on his tongue at the first crashing beam. 

All he actually manages are a few ineloquent curses muttered under his breath while he scrambles to finish his task. Adrenaline and fear are coursing through him in equal parts, but the fear isn’t for himself. It’s for what happens if he doesn’t do this. If the building takes him out before he can take out the enemy, leaving the other five with far too many opponents to handle on their own. He can see it now - their blood on his hands because he wasn’t fast enough. Just one job to do and he couldn’t do it right.

There’s more shouting on the comm line, more than just Steve, but Tony can’t take the time to listen to it. The floor is shaking beneath him, and the dust in the air has accumulated to cloud his vision. He’s thankful he has the foresight to ventilate the suit through numerous filters, otherwise it would be getting hard to breathe. 

There’s flashing on the monitors in front of him, and he knows he’s done it by the way everything goes quiet for just a second, then explodes back into sound. He hears the relief in Clint’s voice, followed by the barely concealed panic in Steve’s as he urges him to get out of the building yet again. 

Tony powers up the suit to go back out through the shattered window he came through in the first place. No longer focused on dismantling the system, he realizes that the window doesn’t exist anymore. The wall has collapsed on itself, the left side of the room blocked off with rubble. His initial scan of the building showed another floor above him and two below, joined only by one set of stairs, but those were off to the left, too. The suit could probably make it through the wall directly, if he got enough power going. Might break a bone or two, he thinks, but with no other way out, he’ll take the risk. As he scans the walls again for the weakest point, he says into the comm, “Be out in a sec. Maybe, uh, get ready to catch me.”

Whatever Steve says next comes through layers of static, cutting in and out until the only word Tony can make out is his own name. It’s the last thing he hears as he turns up the repulsors to full speed and aims for the center of the wall. 

______________

All things considered, it could have gone worse. He has a concussion that makes him feel dizzy and a couple of large gashes in his abdomen from where the suit had caved in just a bit that required more than a few stitches. Two broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder top it off, but he doesn’t need to be in the hospital for more than a day. A precaution to make sure his concussion doesn’t turn into something worse.

He tells himself that the short stay is why Steve didn’t show. Natasha was the first to come, with her own fresh bandages on her arms and stitches in a jagged cut on her forehead. She told him about the end of the fight from the outside, and the way all the robots suddenly came to a stop, just like Tony predicted when he told them his plan for going into that building in the first place. Clint and Thor come together after. Their loud voices make his headache worsen, and the laughter makes his ribs ache, but he can’t bring himself to be upset about it. Pepper ends up kicking them out when she arrives and notices that he winces a little every time Thor speaks. Bruce is last, arriving the next morning after he’s recovered from those few hours as the Hulk, but still looking tired from it. He sits with Tony while the doctor tells him about all the things he shouldn’t be doing for a while, then rides home with him. 

In the elevator, Tony thinks about telling JARVIS to take him to the workshop, but one stern look from Bruce makes him reconsider.

“It’s really not that bad,” Tony tries to argue. 

“You’re not allowed to move your right shoulder.”

“But my hands are working just fine.”

“You can’t even stand up straight. You’re actually swaying right now.”

Tony shrugs with just the left side of his body and grimaces when it pulls on his broken ribs. “So I’ll sit down.”

Bruce pinches the bridge of his nose. “Don’t make me physically restrain you.”

“Kinky,” Tony jokes, but it falls flat because Bruce clearly isn’t in the mood for his humor and his own heart isn’t in it, anyway. He sighs and recognizes the losing battle. “Fine, take me to the penthouse, J.”

Bruce walks out of the elevator with him, hovering close behind like he’s prepared to catch him if he suddenly passes out. Which is fair, Tony supposes, because his vision goes dark around the edges a couple of times before he makes it to his bed. It’s why Tony only complains a little when Bruce kneels to take his shoes off for him when he sits down at the edge of the mattress.

“Alright, stop that, I can take care of myself,” Tony says, pushing on Bruce’s shoulder. Except the pain in his ribs and head that he gets when he bends over makes him audibly groan, and he feebly sits back up. “Okay, nevermind. You’ve got it covered. Even if this does make the top twenty most embarrassing list.”

“It makes it that high?” Bruce teases, and Tony weakly kicks at him. 

Out of his shoes, Tony maneuvers himself under the covers the best he can, trying to find a position that doesn’t make any of his injuries hurt. The pain medication he’s on is fairly low grade by choice, because he hates the stronger stuff, but he’s wondering now if the fuzzy head it gives him might be worth it. 

Bruce lingers a little awkwardly after, so Tony half-jokingly asks, “Are you going to stay and watch me sleep?”

Rolling his eyes, Bruce says, “No, but it’s my shift to make sure you don’t do something stupid, so I’ll be in the living room.”

“Your shift?” Tony raises his eyebrows. 

“Nat’s up next. Clint’s after her.”

“I wasn’t aware I needed babysitting.” He tries to sound annoyed, but he isn’t, really. It’s almost nice that they’re concerned.

“Thor’s on night shift,” Bruce smiles. “Figured he’s the one most capable of carrying you back to bed if needed.”

After his absence at the hospital, the lack of mention of Steve sticks out even more. Not that it wouldn’t have anyway. His life revolves around the presence of Steve a little more than he wants to admit, but no one else needs to know that he plans his appearances in the communal kitchen in the mornings based on when Steve will be back from his runs or that it’s never a coincidence that he only remembers to be on time for team dinners when Steve is the one that did the cooking. 

His face must reveal enough for him, though, because Bruce’s smile softens with just a touch of sadness and something that’s a little too close to pity for his liking. He doesn’t say anything about it, though. He just reminds Tony that he’ll be right in the other room if he needs anything, and Tony thinks about it while he’s trying to fall asleep.

It was almost something, he thinks. Him and Steve. It seemed like it to him, anyway, if the recent interactions were anything to go by. He didn’t think he was imagining the change in the way that Steve had been looking at him lately. The way the glances seemed to linger, eyes flitting down to his lips and back up again, and his cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink every time Tony caught him staring. Then there were the almost dates - restaurants Steve always claimed he’d been meaning to try, movies, museums, baseball games. Always on nights all the others just happened to be unavailable, leaving just the two of them. He swears he saw Steve glaring at Clint the one time he actually said yes to one of those half-hearted invitations. Clint’s yes turned to a no just a moment later. 

There’s a new ache in his chest that has nothing to do with the injuries when he realizes just how wrong he was about it all. He must have read too much into it. Mistaken Steve’s friendliness for genuine affection. He would be here otherwise.

______________

True to their word, his friends really do stay around the clock, though the shifts aren’t exactly accurate. Natasha and Clint usually come together, and Bruce doesn’t usually leave for a while after they do. Someone’s always there in a way that would border on stifling if he didn’t secretly soak up all of the attention with fervor. It’s a few days before his dislocated shoulder no longer needs a sling and his concussion has mostly cleared up so he can do more than lounge around. Steve is painfully absent for all of it, and he finds out on the third day that he’s left for a mission without saying goodbye. Natasha distracts him from how badly that stings by asking him which shade of nail polish she should paint his toenails with. He ends up with glittery pink and a pit in his stomach. 

It’s a week after the bruises have already faded that Steve comes back, and Tony pettily decides that two can play the avoidance game. His hurt has morphed from sadness into anger, because even if Steve didn’t share his feelings he could have at least bothered to ask how he was. Even a text would have been better than this. 

Knowing Steve’s schedule pays off in the opposite way now. He knows when to avoid all of the common areas, like the gym and kitchen. If he needs more coffee in the middle of the day, he knows to go between one and three, because Steve will be in a training session with the new Shield agents. If he shows up a little late for movie night, the only seat left will be the uncomfortable armchair in the corner that no one really likes, but he won’t have to awkwardly avoid touching Steve on the couch. 

Days pass like that, with Natasha giving him tired looks every time she catches him sneaking around and Bruce bordering on annoyed with how many times Tony goes to his lab instead of his own just in case Steve decides today is the day he wants to start coming by again. It’s childish, he knows, and it grows even more childish when he reasons that Steve started it first. 

He shouldn’t be surprised when the rest of the team decides that enough is enough, though he is surprised that they choose the pantry of all places for it. The ambush happens on a Monday evening, right when Tony is coming back from a long day of meetings that already have him feeling drained. Natasha grabs his arm, and it seems innocent enough at first. Until she pushes him into the pantry and slams the door shut behind him. He nearly topples right into Steve, who catches him by the elbow and rights him before he can fall. There’s the sound of something being dragged in front of the door, then Clint’s voice on the other side. 

“Get your shit together, and then you can come out again,” he says. 

Tony sputters, flitting between glaring at the door and at Steve. The look towards Steve softens a bit when he realizes that he looks just as confused as Tony, then hardens again when he remembers that he’s still angry at him. 

He turns to the door and pounds his fist against it. “Guys, open the damn door. This is fucking ridiculous.”

“So is watching you two avoid each other like the plague,” Bruce says. 

“Just talk to each other and stop being dumbasses,” Nat adds.

Tony sighs, and when he turns around, Steve won’t even meet his eyes. He stares down at the floor, shoulders hunched and folded in on himself in a way that makes him look small. 

It might be childish again, but Tony doesn’t want to be the one to break the silence first. He slides down to the floor and leans back against the door with every intention of waiting it out. It’s Steve’s famous stubbornness against his own, though, and god only knows how long this could take. He starts counting things on the shelves. Two bottles of ketchup, four boxes of microwaveable popcorn, a jar of pickles. He makes it as far as the tenth different type of cereal before Steve finally says, “I should’ve been there.”

The admission is so quiet it’s barely audible, and Tony glances up to see that Steve still won’t look at him. 

“Yeah, you should’ve been,” Tony agrees, and he can’t quite keep the bitterness out of his tone. “Why weren’t you?”

Steve hesitates, and Tony rolls his eyes. “Whatever, Cap. It’s fine. We’re not those kind of friends, I get it. I mean, if you were in the hospital, I’d want to make sure you were okay with my own eyes, but you don’t feel the same. It’s my own fault for thinking that you -”

“I was scared,” Steve cuts him off, and Tony snaps his mouth shut. “I was scared, because you were - you could have died. You don’t even know what it was like watching you fall like that. You didn’t see all the blood. You didn’t have to carry your body to the medics because you were unconscious. All I could think is that you could have been dying, and it would’ve been on me. Because I couldn’t do enough, and I should’ve done more.”

Steve looks like it hurts to even say the words, like he’s reliving the memory of it, but Tony only feels angrier for it. “And how does that translate into ignoring me for weeks? You were scared, so what, you just left?”

Steve nods a little, guilt and shame on his face. His hands clench and unclench at his sides, and he’s quieter when he continues, “I ran, and then I felt like shit for running, so I ran some more. I thought -” Steve swallows, finally looking up to meet Tony’s eyes, and Tony can see that his blue eyes are rimmed with red. “I thought you would hate me for it, and now I know that you do.”

Tony tilts his head back, closing his eyes with a sigh, “I don’t hate you. I missed you, and I’m mad at you, but I don’t hate you.”

“You don’t?” Steve asks, and the hope in his voice is enough to make Tony’s heart clench. 

“I could never hate you.”

“But can you feel the same way about me that you did before?”

Tony opens his eyes, a fragile smile starting to form. “And how do you think I felt about you before?”

Steve’s cheeks turn red, and he looks away again, but Tony won’t have that. He stands up from the floor, and in the small space it’s only a step before he’s right in front of him. It’s nerve wracking to be the one to reach out first, but he does it anyway. He turns Steve’s face back to him with a hand on his jaw and asks the questions again. 

“How do you think I felt before?”

He gets another one of those now familiar looks. Steve’s eyes move down to his lips, lingering there, before returning to Tony’s own eyes again. 

“Tony,” he whispers. “I’m so sorry.”

“Answer the question,” Tony whispers back. “What were we?”

“I don’t know what we were, but I know what I wanted us to be,” Steve says, and Tony quietly waits for him to continue. “I wanted to be yours, and I wanted you to be mine. I still want that, if you can forgive me for running.”

Tony nods, “But you can’t do that again.”

“I won’t,” Steve promises. His hand finds Tony’s hip to pull him in a little closer. “And if you could stop falling from the sky, I would really appreciate that.”

“I’ll do my best, but I’m not sorry for what I did. I hate that I scared you, but I can’t pretend that I wouldn’t make the exact same choice again. Not when it’s me or everyone else, especially you. Don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same.”

Steve opens his mouth, and Tony can tell he wants to argue it, but instead he sighs. “I would sacrifice myself every time for you.”

Tony smiles, “I know you would, but I’d never let you.”

“Try and stop me,” Steve replies, teasing and light to make Tony laugh. His arm wraps around Tony’s back to press them together chest to chest. 

Tony tugs on the collar of Steve’s shirt to pull him lower, and Steve takes the hint to finally kiss him like he’s been wanting for so long.

[flying-nightwing]

Double Cross (Jason Todd)

Hi people! So this is my little project I was talking about. A sudden blurb of inspiration led me to this and uh. Here it is! Once again, this is super experimental so yeah idk about its potential. You’ll be the judge of that I guess

This time I worked on time jumps back and forth and perspectives, so let me know how it turned out!

Masterlist in bio/pinned!

Pairing: Jason Todd x gender neutral!reader

Word count: 6937

Warnings: swearing, uhhh idk it’s dc so you know what you’re into 

-- 36 hours ago --

Your heart was beating hard against your ribcage as you flew down Washington DC's streets. Your motorcycle was burning under you, and you had a feeling you were on the clock to get off of this ticking time bomb before it exploded and brought you down with it. The bullet holes broke the black paint, decorating your bike in a way that flagged unwanted attention. About six blocks ago, unmarked cars had joined your fast paced parade across the city.

A terrible mistake, all of this was. That was certain. 

You took a sharp right, your knee scraping on the asphalt on the way. An infernal noise came out of your bike, but you still willed it to accelerate on the straight alley. You shot back on the main roads like a bullet, swerving around the black police car that had tried to cut you off. But soon enough, you saw the blockade on the street in front of you. You could never jump it with your bike so in disarray, and there were no viable alleys to sneak into. You shut your eyes tight for a moment, then exhaled.

"I'm sorry Jason" You muttered to yourself. "But you left me no choice"

With a firm grip, you pressed the brakes and came to a stop a fair distance from the blockade. You turned off your bike and kicked the foot to hold it up, slowly getting off and pulling your hands up. Shouts erupted around you as the police mobilised themselves in tight formations, guns up and ready to shoot. With one hand up, you undid your tinted black helmet and let it fall to the ground. 

"On your knees!" An officer shouted as he approached. "Keep your hands where I can see them"

You complied.

-- Now --

The white of the neons glaring down on you made your already tired eyes hurt, saturating your vision with a harsh and constant flash of light. You were left alone with a room temperature glass of water on your left and your own reflection on your right. You couldn’t hear them, but you knew they were there, observing you. Instead, all you could see was the dark bags under your eyes and your messy greasy hair. 

You perked up when two men in suits came in by the door in front of you, thin files in their hands and calculating glances. They were nicely dressed, one with a gray suit and the other, black. Both suits were obviously tailored to them. They sat down in front of you and observed you before the one in the gray suit spoke. Dark hair, blue eyes, taller than the other, maybe around six feet.

“Good morning, Agent”

You only nodded, looking down to the table. 

“My name is Agent Baker,” He said. “My colleague here is Agent Tanev. We will proceed to your debriefing”

“Sure” You nodded again.

Agent Baker set a recording device on the desk and turned it on. “Please tell us again why you are here today”

“I am--” You paused, clearing your throat. “I am here today to deliver crucial information on a wanted criminal in exchange for a pardon” 

“Which wanted criminal should that be?”

“The Red Hood” You said, meeting his eyes. “I have names of associates, safe houses locations, frequent territories of operation as well as his specific m.o.”

“How come you know all of this?” He asked, his voice neutral. “No seasoned agent has ever managed to get this close to him, let alone a rookie. We want to know how you gained his trust, start from the beginning, spare no details. Leave nothing out”

“I met the Red Hood during operation 7381 in northern Lithuania” You began as Agent Tanev started to take notes. “I was in the back up team for the extraction of General Kradiev from a local opposant group. I wasn’t supposed to even see action, as it should have been simple enough against an untrained mob, but when is it ever…”

They had known you were coming. A whole grab and go operation had been compromised by the feeling of invincibility of the CIA, that looked down so much on whoever they went against that they never stopped to think that maybe--maybe--they were prepared.

So when the Alpha team stormed the country house where the General was supposed to be kept and found it empty, all action plans were thrown out the window. The Beta team was mobilised to close off all the roads surrounding the area and to search for the hostage. You were ordered to search a single decaying house in between two pine trees because the structure was so old, so  nobody could have ever been hiding in its debris. However, as you were leaving, you heard whimpers coming from the cellar a few feet away from the foundations. Carefully, you made your way to the wooden doors on the ground, and after making sure your magazine was full and the safe of your semi automatic off, you kicked the doors open and raced down the stairs.

“Don’t move or I’ll blow your head off” You yelled, pointing your gun at the first person you saw. It was clearly a man, wearing a bright red helmet that shone under the single lightbulb hanging down from the ceiling. He slowly held up his hands, but he didn’t seem so bothered. Your eyes found another man next, tied to a chair and wearing a bag on his head. The military uniform was a dead giveaway of his identity, so you returned your full attention to the red helmet guy. “You’re going to back up and face the wall now”

“Or what?” He challenged. “You’ll ‘blow my head off’?”

“Shut up!” You barked, taking a step forward. Your firearm was ready to shoot. “Do as I fucking say”

“You’re CIA uh?” He changed the subject, looking down at your marked bulletproof vest and not listening to you. In fact, he didn’t seem worried at all by the situation he was in. “Should have known. You guys have never cared who lived or died. What fucking difference does it make, as long as they’re good pals with the good ol’ US of A right?”

“God would you just fucking shut up and back up” You were getting impatient, but also nervous. You were alone without backup, with a guy in a red helmet who was clearly taunting you, and you had never shot anyone before. It was your first oversea mission, and already it was fucking catastrophic.

“See, that’s the thing” He held a finger up. “You’re pointing a gun at me like I’m the bad guy, while you are trying to rescue the scum of humanity. You’re going to extract him, give him a nice long life on Florida’s golf courses with the taxpayers' money and wipe out from History the mass graves in the woods two miles away”

You remained silent.

“Oh, did you not know about the mass graves?” He asked rhetorically in a mocking tone. “Your friend here decided he wanted to test the new shipment of automatic weapons, because their bullets per minute capacity had been expanded. And what better targets than the group of students that opposed the american military presence in the country? The youngest was 16 and her name was Vera Beliskava. Isn’t that right, Kradiev?”

He pulled the hood from the general to reveal his bloodied and bruised face. He had been gagged and beaten, that was obvious. He looked at you, pleading. 

“You’re the only one who saw” The man in red said, softer this time. “You don’t have to save that piece of trash. Just say your search came up empty and I’ll make him disappear from the Earth's face permanently without leaving so much as a trace. Nobody else will know, and you will go to sleep knowing you made the world a better place”

You took a breath, a million thoughts running into your head. Who was that guy? Why was he here? Why did he not attack you, while he clearly had a handgun strapped on his thigh? Could he be right about Kradiev? You knew he didn’t have the cleanest record concerning human rights, but mass graves? 

“Beta team, report”

You both froze as your comm broke the silence. He gave you a challenging look as you were still debating. You wanted to do good, that’s why you went into the secret services. Being complicit in mass murder wasn’t something you signed up on. 

“Nothing to report on the north road”

“Clear in the valley”

“Farmer’s house empty”

“No traffic on the south road”

You knew it was your turn now. Slowly, you reached for your comm, not breaking eye contact.

“Pinetree house’s clear” You spoke in a flat line, decided and direct as you lowered your gun. You shut down your comm and glanced at Kradiev, whose relief morphed into fear once again as your decision registered. You averted your eyes. 

“You made the right choice”

“I hope so, or I’m dead” You mumbled. “I’m going back now. Don’t make me regret my decision”

“You won’t”

“So just to be clear,” Agent Baker frowned. “You just… Believed him? And you let General Kradiev in his hands?”

“When I left, I went to check, and the graves were there. Kradiev was guilty”

“That was not your decision to make” He pointed out.

“I know” You sighed. “That was my first mistake. I-- I lost it for a moment. He mentioned the graves and the victims and there were so many people the same age as them I could think about and I decided with my feelings rather than my judgement. And I’m paying the price today”

“Alright” He mumbled, passing a hand on his face like he was already done with this debriefing. “When did you cross paths with him again?”

“We were back in America” You continued. “By that time, I was no longer on training wheels. It was a little more than a year later, in Newport Oregon during operation 9004. We were busting a trans pacific drug dealer on the docks when we got unexpected company…”

You were running as well as you could through the maze of freight containers on the docks, trying to push back the pain of the bullet in your leg. You had drawn the fire of the hired gang so your colleagues could proceed, but things went down the drain when you were met with heavier fire than the briefing stated. Outnumbered and outran, you stopped in your tracks and closed your eyes, taking a deep breath. You wouldn’t go out as a coward, that was certain. If you went down, you’d take as many of them as you could with you. 

You reopened your eyes and checked the magazine of your gun, letting it drop on the ground and pushing a full one in. You loaded and clicked the safe off, flexing your fingers on the handle as footsteps surrounded you. You spun around and pulled the trigger, but before the bullet even reached your target, two men dropped on his side. 

You weren’t the only shooter. 

Thinking it was backup from your team, you allowed yourself to back up against a container, trying to stop the bleeding. You were starting to feel light headed, but you still had a bit more fight in you. Soon enough, all hostiles were down, and you were in for a surprise. Instead of the black uniform of your colleagues, you looked up to a red bat, a leather jacket and a familiar red helmet. You squinted your eyes and let out a chuckle of disbelief.

“Do I even wanna know?” You asked.

“I owed you one” He shrugged. “You okay?”

You looked down to your leg, your pants soaked in blood that was already cooling, then back up again. “Peachy” You gave him a thumbs up. “You were right about Kradiev. He was a fucking trash bag”

“It’s often the case” He said as he rested his hands on his hips. 

“You here for Hiko?”

“Yep” He nodded, then snorted derisively. “Any tips?”

Ever since Kradiev, you have developed a habit of researching your target better. Most of the time, it was a capture or an execution on site, so it didn’t matter the extent of their crimes. But there were moments when you were extracting the package without knowing what came next, and those times usually meant they’ll make them disappear under a new identity, without giving them any repercussion for their actions. This one, Hiko, was the later case, without any plan revealed for when you get him back. He was a known drug trafficker, but he was also rumored to smuggle people back and forth between Asia and North America through the docks he owned. The Red Hood’s appearance was well timed, to say the least. 

“Sneak past the squad through the east” You panted. “If you can move on top of the containers without being seen or heard, you’ll cut them off with about two minutes to spare. Make sure you’re gone with Hiko when they bust through the door, or neither of us will ever find him again”

He paused, studying you. “Thanks…” He trailed off. “Why are you telling me this again?”

“Well, you said it yourself” You managed to smirk. “If I can go to sleep knowing I made the world a better place”

He didn’t answer with anything else but a quick nod before he climbed the containers and disappeared from your field of vision. You sighed, then reached for your comm. “Alpha 003 to central, I’m down and need medical attention, Northwest entry of the docks”

“So if I understand correctly, not only you let him go again,” Baker exhaled, looking bewildered. “But you told him how to get there first? You realize those are becoming serious crimes right?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t” You snapped, before recomposing yourself. Both agents had backed away just a little at your outburst. You sighed, running a hand through your hair. “Sorry. I’m just tired, it’s been a crazy last two days” 

“Did he offer you any medical help then?” Baker returned on topic. 

“No, I called the medics and I was extracted with the chopper” You replied. “I knew he was there for Hiko, not for me. It was a coincidence we crossed paths, and at that point I thought it was the last time I’d see him. I mean, what are the chances, right? But you see, that here was my second mistake”

“How so?”

“The CIA goes after threats to national security, but so does he, in his own way” You said, locking eyes with Baker. “The guy’s everywhere, even where we don’t go. And he’s at least three steps ahead of us at any turn. He has good funds, good intel and exceptional skills. You don’t find him, he finds you. And that’s what he did”

“He contacted you after the affair on the docks?” He raised an eyebrow.

“We could say that...”

You finished washing your tea cup when you heard a thud coming in from your living room. Slowly, you grabbed the gun hidden in your cupboard and held it up, quietly making your way to the next room. You rounded the corner and pointed your gun to the man standing with his back to you, registering his identity as he turned around. You must have been a sight in your baby pink pajama shorts and mismatching turquoise tank top, pointing your handgun to a man in a shiny red helmet. 

You scoffed and lowered your gun, clicking the safe back on and putting the firearm on the lamp table. “Breaking and entering, really?”

“Wouldn’t be the worst crime I’ve committed” He shrugged, and you could just imagine him rolling his eyes, whoever he was under that helmet. 

“What are you doing here?” You asked, crossing your arms against your chest. “How did you find me?”

“Like I find anyone” He answered like it was the simplest of evidence. You waited for him to continue, but he seemed to have no intention to reveal his methods. This time, you rolled your eyes. “And I’m here because I wanted to check on your leg”

“No you’re not” You snorted. He would have come months ago if it was about that, and even then, the little you knew about him told you he was not the kind to just check upon people who didn’t mean anything to him. “But I’m doing fine, thanks”

“You’re welcome” He nodded. “And you’re right. I need something from you”

“Well, go ahead, since you’re already in” You gestured at him to go on.

“Wait wait wait” Baker held his hand up. “He broke into your house and you just let him? You put your gun down and didn’t call anyone?”

“Yeah, that’s what I just said” You replied slowly. 

“And it never occured to you that he was dangerous?”

You paused, thinking your answer over. “No, it didn’t. I mean, if he wanted to get rid of me, he would have done it on the docks where I was an easy target”

“Fair point” Tanev muttered under his breath, earning him a glare from Baker. 

“Now do you want to know what happened or not?” You said, annoyed at the interruption.

“Please, go ahead”

He reached inside his jacket and handed you a file. You took it and opened it, staring at the picture and the description beside it. “This is Ian Markstrom, he has been suspected to kidnap young women, mostly tourists, to sell them on the sex trafficking market” He began. “Not only is he friends with your big bosses, but those who were brave enough to try and get him locked up never got anything to stick, and that was the best case scenario. The others either disappeared or ended up dead, so I’m assuming someone in this government does not want Markstrom to stop”

You nodded. “What can I do for you?”

“There’s a secret auction strictly reserved for the elite, Markstrom will sell his best teenagers there” He explained, a hint of disgust in his voice. “The CIA chief of operation received an invitation. I want to know what it says on the card”

“I’m not sure I’m good enough to reach anywhere near it” You mumbled. “But sure, I’ll try”

“No, I believe in you” He said, and he seemed pretty sure of himself. You raised an eyebrow to hide your surprise at his compliment. “What I’m wondering though, is why you’re not asking questions”

“Well, you are two in two so far about targeting the bad guy” You said after a moment. “You seem qualified to spot ‘em, and you’d be real twisted to to make up that scenario for a petty revenge, so I’m guessing you’re on the mark again”

“Huh. You might just be the only smart CIA agent I’ve ever met”

You snorted. “Well, the more it goes the more I’m questioning the integrity of my employer”

“You keep impressing me” 

“With what I saw, I believe the bar was pretty low to start with”

“Keep talking like this and I might need a cold shower”

“You’re an ass, you know that?” 

He let out a short bark of laughter. “If only you knew”

“I’ll do my best for the invitation” You brought him back on topic, closing the file and putting it beside your handgun. “How can I contact you if I get it?”

He paused, then took a step forward and grabbed your wrist. He fetched a pen from his jacket and wrote a number. “This is a burner phone, which I will destroy after this whole deal. Don’t try and trace me with that, it won’t end well for you”

“Yeah yeah” You rolled your eyes, pulling back your arm when he was done. You cleared your throat, trying to ignore his overwhelming proximity. “I gave you two fast passes just to trick you into seeking my help to finally bag you, I’m busted”

“Hey, listen” He backed up, holding his hand in surrender. “I make that threat to everyone. It’s only a disclosure thing, I didn’t doubt your motivation”

“To each their own I guess” You shrugged. “Alright. If this is all, please get out of my apartment”

“Oop, sure”

Baker blinked slowly. “And did you? Communicate him the details?”

“Yeah” You nodded. “I managed to get into the chief of operation’s office, break into his safe, memorize the date, time and place of the auction and communicate it to Red”

“Red?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Short for Red Hood” Tanev clarified, and judging by yet another glare from Baker, he wouldn’t speak anytime soon.  

“He kept it on the quiet, but after that the chief of operation did seem a changed man” You smirked, before dropping it instantly. “And I didn’t hear anything from Markstrom, it was like he disappeared for good, which he most likely did. So I guess the Red Hood succeeded in taking him down”

“Jesus Christ” He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Why do I have the feeling it wasn’t the last law you broke?”

“Because it wasn’t”

“Are you going to make a habit out of dropping out of nowhere to ask me for favors?”

This time, you knew who had broken into your property without even looking. You put the keys into your car and turned the engine on, trying to warm yourself. The Red Hood pulled himself upright from your backseat, shaking his head.

“Your car is very comfortable,” He declared. “You have good taste”

“So that means yes”

“Back at it again with your superior deduction skills” 

“What do you want?” You went straight to the point, but you were just a little amused. You could have a worst stalker. 

“I’ve been thinking this through,” He began, moved his legs so he was properly seated on the backseat. “You are skilled and you’ve got balls of steel. I could use your help more often. A partnership, if you might”

“Why do I have the feeling it took a lot to admit that and reach out?” 

“Because I don’t just trust people” He said plainly. “They disappoint me, among other things”

“So why me?”

“Like I said, skills and balls of steel” He repeated. “You went against the fucking CIA not once, not twice but thrice to do the right thing. That’s enough of a test of will for me. And besides, your job would be an advantage that is hard to turn away”

“Makes sense” You mumbled as you put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking spot. He buckled his belt like it was a reflex. “Will this partnership imply me shooting bad guys?”

“If that’s what you wish for” He shrugged, leaning forward in the space between the two front seats. “I won’t be the one to limit you”

“Okay, yeah” You nodded. “Where do we start?”

Baker was looking into nothing, processing your words. He shook his head slowly in disbelief before he met your glance. “I shouldn’t be surprised” He spoke after a moment. “But this is Everest high levels of stupid”

“At that time it did seem like a good idea” 

“Yeah, might as well jump off of a bridge…” He trailed off, eying you suspiciously. “Did you do that too?”

“Well, if we consider the time when--”

“You know what, don’t tell me” He cut you off. “Please go on”

“Alright” You held your hands up in surrender. “So, where was I?”

You and the Red Hood operated on the field like a well oiled machine. Your expertise and contacts with the CIA helped him get into places way more easily than alone, and your somewhat reckless ways were compatible with his mode of operation. You knew who he was as well, you found out after he nonchalantly took off his helmet after a stakeout. You had not been prepared for what you saw then, when you were faced with what you could qualify with the most beautiful man you had ever seen. 

“Hey, you okay?” He waved a hand in your face, making you snap out your daze. You blinked a few times, shaking it off.

“Yeah” You replied. “I just wasn’t expecting this”

“Expecting what?”

“I mean, the helmet did give disfiguration vibes… Obviously I was wrong” 

“So you think I’m hot then?” He snorted derisively.

“I do” 

His head did a whiplash. “Huh?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable” You backed away. “Sometimes my filter doesn’t work”

“No it’s--” He tried to find his words, then sighed. “I’m just not used to that, I guess”

“What’s the point of this?” Baker groaned, his head in his hands. 

“It’s a turning point that brought me here today” You explained, turning your palm up briefly. “You asked for details, I’m giving you details”

“I kinda wanna know what went down, to be honest” Tanev added sheepishly.

“Tanev, I’m going to drive you through the mirror if you do not shut up”

“Jeez sorry” He mumbled.

“As I was saying”

That day was the moment things changed in your relationship. There was this tension that hadn’t been there before, the little brushes of hands when you were side by side, the staring at the other while they weren’t looking, the unspoken invitations to stay a moment longer after a mission for a cigarette and a good conversation. He was one of a kind, you had to give that to him. He was passionate, driven, smart in a way that told you he never really had it easy but always made it work somehow; the way he always thought of the less obvious way to do things, how even his messes seemed calculated. 

It was raining in Chicago and the air was crisp. Your muscles ached from the fight in that warehouse against drug lords that enrolled kids in their schemes, that and from the unforgiving cold of January. You had one too many whiskeys back in that little studio flat he rented under a false name, and it led you straight to his bed. Trying to find warmth, trying to find a connection, it didn’t matter why, as long as you were as close as humanly possible to him. 

And it didn’t stop there. The night after, and the night after that, always in his company past the business hours. Your chemistry translated way beyond the field, for you found him in a partner in more ways than one. You grew quickly to feel love for him, more than you had ever felt for anyone. The number of times you woke up naked and tangled with him--

“Okay I don’t need to know this-- I do NOT need to know this” Baker yelled. If he could have flipped shit from the table, you’re sure he would have. 

“You told me to spare no details!” You argued. “This is a detail. I’m being as thorough as I can”

“You know what-- Forget it” He brushed his hand in the air aggressively. “Just get to the part we have interest in, for God’s sake please just skip to that”

“Okay, okay” You muttered, rolled your eyes. “It went well for the first months or so, it was great. Nothing to say on that front, I was happy and fulfilled in this new englobing partnership we had going on. That was my third mistake, to get into that kind of involvement with him. Because then, like all good things must come to an end, mine slowly began crumbling down in my hands”

“Okay” He sighed, half in relief. “Tell me more about that”

“Well, he started to show his true colors” You admitted, pulling your hands under the table. “Sometimes, he became something else. Something dark. And sometimes became most of the time, but I was too in love to see it. He became manipulative, controlling. He was everywhere, in everything I did. It’s like I didn’t even have control on my life anymore…”

“Where do you wanna eat?”

You looked away from the car window, your feet comfortably up on the dash. You took a deep breath and shrugged. “Dunno, where do you wanna eat?”

“Don’t really care” He shrugged too. “You decide”

“What about chipotle?”

“Sure” He nodded. “Chipotle sounds good”

Tanev shook his head sympathetically. “He wouldn’t even let you choose a restaurant?”

“Never” You looked down, sadness weighing your voice. 

“I’m so sorry you had to live through that”

“Thank you” 

“Alright, moving on” Baker broke the moment. “What happened next?”

“Next? Next came what comes every time in screwed up relationships” You answered, returning your hands on the table and crossing your fingers. “We burned like a meteorite as it tears through the atmosphere, falling to our demise to high velocity and taking everything in our wake”

“That was poetic” He pointed out sarcastically. “What the fuck does it mean?”

You raised an eyebrow. “We got dangerous for real, Agent Baker” You paused to take a reserved sip of the water. “If you thought I was reckless before, you’ll need to reevaluate your scale. I was in for real. I was his battle horse, his wildcard, his whatever that he needed to succeed. And I was good at it. The worst was, I didn’t even realize he used me as a smoke screen. He put me more and more often in fucked up situations that were way more dangerous for me than him, and I was naive enough to think it was love”

“No. This is not up for discussion”

You stared at him in disbelief. “You said you would let me choose--”

“I said I would let you choose, not let yourself get killed” He interrupted, slightly raising his voice. “This plan of yours is stupid dangerous. If it backfires, you are almost guaranteed of not making it out free, or alive for that matter. I’m not allowing you to take that risk. Not for me.”

“Again, ‘if’ being the keyword” You insisted, following him as he stomped out of the storage room. “I am capable of executing it flawlessly. I know I am, you’ve always told me I am”

He halted his steps, hesitantly turning to face you. His eyes softened as he sighed, taking your hand. “I know you can, it’s not about that” His voice was back down, even lower than his usual volume. “I can’t lose you. I won’t lose you for something I dragged you into in the first place, I would never forgive myself”

You closed your eyes and rested your forehead on his. “Okay” You finally said, nodding lightly. “We’ll find another way. Another plan. But we’re hitting that ball out of the park either way, I won’t let Preston get away with it”

He smiled. “Oh no, we won't indeed” He kissed the top of your head. “We’ll get him one way or another, I promise”

“I almost feel sorry for you now, Agent” Baker gulped. “I cannot begin to imagine what terrible things the Red Hood forced you to do under his manipulation. We however must continue this debriefing”

“Of course” You nodded quickly, breathing deeply. “So we planned our next move, but he wouldn’t tell me the final target. I found it weird, he always told me the targets. I don’t know, maybe he sensed I was trying to find a way out”

“And that plan was…”

“Yes” You didn’t have to let him finish his trailing thoughts, you knew what he was getting at. “So this brings us to 36 hours ago”

“Be as thorough as you can” 

“So the Red Hood gave me those instructions to follow” You began. “I was to draw the attention of the authorities to me in a city wide chase. Now, I am rather good with a bike, that I won’t hide, but outrunning police and secret services? That was impossible. I still don’t know how they got there, but it saved me. He would have never dared to come into the melee to get me back, and risk getting caught”

“Was he not afraid you’d talk to us?” Baker asked. “That was a pretty big gamble”

“He thought I wouldn’t talk I guess, probably for the same reasons I stayed with him for all this time” You said, biting the inside of your cheek until it bled. You hated to think about these words. “Because I believed I loved him”

“I guess that wouldn’t be too far fetched” He hummed. “Wouldn’t be the first time we saw it happen”

You nodded, remaining silent. Baker made eye contact with Tanev, then looked into the reflecting glass. He took a deep breath and returned his attention to you. 

“We are going to get you back to the holding cell while we process this information” He said. “But once we do that, you’ll be free, and with a new identity if you wish, as your agreement states”

“Thank you” 

“Just one more thing before we wrap this debriefing” He leaned forward. “You must know his name"

“Of course” 

“Then what is it?” He asked. “What is the Red Hood’s name?”

You looked down, taking a deep breath, then back again, locking eyes with Baker. Then, you spoke. 

-- 36 hours later --

The sunset over the valley was gorgeous. The mixes of pink and orange on the yellowed sky was straight out of a fantasy world, and Jason couldn’t help but appreciate the scenery. It was soothing, like it could swallow up his anxiety at least for a minute or two. He leaned on the wooden ramp, the sightseeing roadside station seeming not so cheesy at the moment.

He only tore his eyes from the burning sun when he heard a motorcycle approach from behind. He pushed himself off the ramp and faced the sleek black bike--the lack of use on it showing him it was brand new--then, the driver with a black tinted visor. 

You took off your helmet and smiled at Jason’s stern expression, whose eyes showed relief anyway. You turned off your bike and parked it, then got off and walked to him. 

“What the hell were you thinking?” 

You walked past him and leaned on the ramp he had been on moments ago, and he joined you. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered you one. He lit up both with his lighter, and you took a long draft before speaking. 

“A simple ‘thank you’ would suffice” You smirked, bumping your shoulder to his. “I did save your sweet ass, after all”

“I thought we agreed not to do that” He glanced at you sideways. His annoyance was also mixed with playful disbelief, like he both wanted to throw you off the cliff you were admiring the view from and do celebratory shots with you. 

“We did” You nodded, chuckling. “But circumstances changed. You weren’t out by the time I reached the monument, so I had to draw them away from you, or we would not be having this conversation. ”

“Still” He tilted his head to the side, before his head snapped in your direction. “Wait, did you call the secret services after yourself?”

You shrugged half heartedly. “Mayhaps” Your lips curved upward, while he shook his head. “I mean, it kinda was my fault too. I misplaced the bomb and it barely detonated. I had to flip to plan B, then they shot my bike. They had me surrounded, and my it was running low on life, so I skipped directly to plan fuck this”

“So you gave yourself up”

"Played the victim, pretended I wanted to exchange information on you for my freedom” You sighed, taking a drag of your cigarette. “None of which was relevant enough for them to even get close to you, worry not”

“They must have asked for a name” He hummed, now turning his full body toward you. “What did you tell them?”

“My grandpa’s name” You snorted. “He died two decades ago. Let me tell you, when they found out the last update on him was in the necrology of the 2001 Sunday paper, they were not happy campers”

“Then how did you get out?” He squinted his eyes.

“Oh, do not underestimate me, sweetheart” You grinned. “I’ve spent my whole career getting to know the buildings and the procedures for people like me. It was a piece of cake”

You were escorted out the interrogation room and into the small, yet cozy holding cell. You were on the clock, because the lies you’ve slipped into your story would unravel pretty quickly once they discovered that the name you gave them was a farce. Then, you wouldn’t be put in a minimal security room, but probably somewhere way less fun. 

“Hey wait” You called after the guard before he could close the cell door behind you. He paused his actions, waiting for you to speak up. “This wasn’t there last time”

He frowned and took a few steps into the cell, trying to spot over your shoulder whatever you were talking about. When he didn’t see it, he got closer and closer until he was all the way into the cell. “What wasn’t there before?” He asked, annoyed. 

You smiled. “You” 

With a quick jab of your elbow behind his head, he fell down unconscious on the floor. You grabbed his keycard and exited the cell, locking the guard in. You winked at the camera on the upper left corner of the hallway and made your way down to the garages as the alarms blared through the whole building. That meant it entered lockdown, closing all the escape routes. But you had your own fool proof plan.

Agent Baker began swearing when the hallway was plunged into the red glow of the lockdown alert. It hadn’t taken long for him to figure out you had led them in circles, and he had appeared a fool in front of his colleagues when he proudly revealed the name of a long deceased old man instead of anything tangible. He had been on his way to your cell when he realized the depth of this foolery, understanding you had been stalling them for this opportunity. 

“Sir, we are reporting engine noises in the garages”

“Fuck” Baker shouted, pushing the other man aside. Tanev was a step behind, his weapon drawn. They had stored your bike there, you must have gone back for it. “All units report to the garage, we’re having a break out. I repeat, all units to the garages”

They all flocked to the lower levels, ready to enforce the barrages at the doors and trap you with no exit. It was an excellent execution of emergency measures, but they definitely weren’t prepared for what came next. As they kicked the storage unit of your motorcycle, they came face to face with the bullet ridden bike with no driver in sight. Baker lowered his gun, squinting his eyes. Then, they widened comically as the dark smoke coming out of it and the strong smell of gasoline registered in his brain.

“Motherfucker” He spat. “Everybody out!” 

Seconds later, it exploded.

“You’re unbelievable” Jason scoffed, shaking his head. However, he now had a full blown grin to match yours. “I gotta give it to you though, blowing up your bike as a distraction was smart. Balls of fucking steel”

“Of course it was!” You replied, then reached in your pocket for your phone. “And it’s not even the best part, look”

You unlocked your phone and passed it to him, showing him your most recent picture of the CIA’s chief of operation dead with a letter opener through his neck. His eyes widened. “You got Preston?”

You turned around from your position, now leaning back on the ramp with your elbows resting on it. “The bike opened a window big enough for me to get the target” You said, finishing your cigarette and disposing of it in the ash bin on your right. “And with all those idiots guarding an empty garage, t’was easy enough”

“After all this time, you’re still impressing me” He nodded, holding up his fist. “Good fucking job”

You bumped your fist sideway with his, laughing at his baffled expression. The sky was getting darker and darker by the minute, but the air was still warm. You could hear the crickets in the high grass, and the silence was a peaceful one. You could admit that you had cut it close this time, that this gamble could have very well turned to shit, so you just took a moment to let the pressure slip away from your muscles, at least for now. You had the time to smoke another cigarette before you spoke.

“So now what?” You hummed, looking up to the bright stars above your head. “Markstrom’s ring is no more, and I’m pretty sure I not only lost my job by pulling that stunt, but also bought myself a ticket on at least three intelligence services’ most wanted list”

“Well, that’s nothing a good ol’ fake death can’t fix” He shrugged. “But until we find the right moment for your tragic public demise, I’m sure we can manage to find on our own some domestic assholes to beat up. What do you say?”

You met eyes with him, then raised your eyebrows. “I say let’s get to it”

[vagrantblvrd]

That one Marvel/DC crossover that happens after the first Avengers movie, right?

Tony designing floors at the Tower for the Avengers who move in and things are still in that awkward stage of okay, yes, we did just save the world but are still getting used to one another outside of that period in life.

As you do.

Tony and Bruce are doing better than the the others in that regard because science bros?

And Tony and Natash have fond memories of that time Tony was dying of palladium poisoning and Natasha was sent to...profile him or whatever, idk. 

(What’s a little being stabbed in the neck between friend, right???)

Clint is like.

Who even knows, is the thing. Tony sure as hell doesn’t.

(But then that time Tony heard snoring from the vents while he was waiting for a meeting with Fury at SHIELD - Tony tried to be fashionably late, of course, but Fury was like, bitch please and Tony was waiting for half an hour before he showed up, and anyway.

Yeah.

Snoring from the vents, and when he investigated found Clint in his little bird nest and learned that with the everything of the brainwashing and whatnot Clint’s in limbo where SHIELD is concerned.

Tony should have, would have, left Clint there to his sad little nest, but then he remembers Agent and all that concern he had when he went to Tony at the Tower at the start of everything, and it’s like shit.

So Tony drags Clint back to the Tower where Natasha’s waiting like what took you so long? and honestly Tony doesn’t know if that’s meant for him or Clint of both of them, but yeah.)

Steve shows up a few weeks later, fresh from his cross-country drive or whatever, and he looks like shit.

Better than when he left, maybe, but still bad.

Middle of the night and all, and Tony is staring at him because Steve looks so miserable like he didn’t know where else to go, and Tony just sighs like yeah, yeah, okay, and means to drop him off on his floor?

But the whole miserable thing, and anyway, anyway, Tony’s couldn’t sleep - funny what flying a nuke through a wormhole will do to a guy’s head afterwards - and maybe Steve could do with coffee.

Or, something.

(And if the others come out of the woodwork after that, well. Communal kitchen on the communal floor, you know? That’s what it’s for.)

But then, okay.

That’s when all the “interns” show up around the Tower.

“Pretty sure it’s to do with corporate espionage,” Tony tells Steve when the man asks. Tony’s got this odd little smile going on, and he doesn’t seem all that concerned and shrugs, because.

Wayne Enterprises and the Bruce(ie) Wayne and all these kids of his that somehow manages to swing internships with SI and access to areas the other interns don’t have.

Such as the Avengers communal floors.

Also, they just.

Show up out of nowhere sometimes.

(Clint is absolutely not weirded out intimidated by a bunch of kids, okay. Fuck off, Tony.)

Natasha is delighted, especially when Cass and Steph are at the Tower.

(And if there are “surprise security tests” by individuals in bat-themed suits that she gets to take part in, well that’s neither here nor there.)

Bruce is like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ because it’s probably better not to know, and hey, Tony’s not bothered and anyway.

(But then there’s Bruce Wayne at the breakfast table one day or Lucius Fox and they’re going over some new organization or foundation or something between SI and WE for charity and Tony’s pretending he’s not listening - Bruce knows better by now - and so is Brucie, but Lucius and Pepper keep trucking on anyway.

Tony looks up and waggles his eyebrows at Bruce as he pushes a chair out, like, oh hey, science bro, interested in discussing ways to spread the wealth and do some good in the world?

Because of course he does, and of course Bruce does, and anyway. They have the fancy donuts and assorted pastries, so.)

Sometimes someone hacks into the Avengers’ comms and helps them out on missions or just to heckle Tony who is like, the sass on you, even as he sasses her back because Oracle

Anyway, all these Bats around and Steve is like how, and why, and Tony you neglected to mention you know Batman when the guy helps them out of a bit of a pickle that one time, and Tony is just.

“You never asked?”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

To which Steve is like are you kidding me with this right now, but yeah, no, Tony’s right.

(Because why the hell would Steve even think to ask that???)

Also, though, also.

Galas and fundraisers and all that fun stuff, but with Tony and Bruce(ie) being horribly little gremlins about the everything.

Steve is like “...” and oh, no, because Pepper and Rhodey both warned him about the two of them being utter bastards way back when, didn’t they, and he laughed it off thinking surely it couldn’t be that bad.

(But it is. It so is.)

Also, there’s that one reporter from the Daily Planet who’s there for most of the galas and fundraisers - he and Steve do the wallflower thing and Clark tells him about various stories/scandals Tony and Bruce have been involved with over the years and is like oh, no because what has he gotten himself into here?

Because ~feelings for Tony and all, and anyway, can’t dwell on that because any event attended by at least one (1) bat or other superhero is surely doomed from the start.

And then supervillains, and of course this is that little pickle Batman helps the Avengers out with because Bruce and other assorted Bats helping save the day when someone targets Tony.

Tony being like oh, yeah, they’ve been keeping an eye on me because Bruce(ie) is a paranoid bastard and he and Tony really do go way back, and anyway.

Bats, you know?

Overprotective bunch, really.

Which is when Steve realizes various Batkids have been watching Steve and the others after Tony invited the Avengers into his home, and also, also, Batman has wholly earned his reputation.

(Not that he gives Steve the Shovel Talk or anything, just. The man’s intense, and overprotective and apparently a damn good friend, and anyway. He’s just returning the favor for the time Tony did the same with Clark, and it’s just. You know. A thing.)

... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[kimberly-spirits13]

Right Hand Man (Loyal to the End) Pt. 8

Pairing: Damian Wayne x reader

Synopsis: You were like Talia’s daughter. The only thing was that you weren’t and instead, you had grown up in the foster care system and at a young age were taken by and personally trained by Talia. Along the way, you meet Damian and the two of you start to work side by side and eventually, after some time become closer and closer. However, when disaster in the league strikes, you face balancing an old, forgotten life as a normal child and the burden of right hand to the demon heir.

Note: I know that this is long and that there are a good number of time skips, but I didn’t want to make this into a series and just wanted it as a long fic because .... well because I can lol

Also, I didn’t want to have Damian so young in this so just go with it. I’m thinking maybe early 15 or almost 16 at the most. Idk I just don’t like writing for young Dami.

Warnings: angst, almost losing someone, buildings on fire, bombs, the usual lol

Word Count: 2181

Masterlist for Series

Both you and Damian had now been secretly dating for two months. It was an exhausting game of cat and mouse of either running from his family, or the prying eyes of the press. You had just excepted at this point that this was just going to be a new normal for a long time. There was nothing you could seriously complain about much however. This was all you had wanted for years and if the company of clandestine meetings was going to be a center of attention in this relationship, that was what was going to happen.

        Dates were mainly just tea or coffee on the rooftops late at night for only a short amount of time if it was on patrol, and longer if it was at the manor. Right now, you were sitting in the library, laying in Damian’s lap, both reading your own books. No one but Alfred was in the manor however, you were sure that he knew about you and Damian. Light streamed in through the windows and silence blanketed the room as Damian ran his fingers through your hair, occasionally braiding it. You fiddled with the matching golden ring on your left ring finger some as he did this. This was the most relaxed you had been in years and you wouldn’t trade it for anything.

        He didn’t know this until recently, but the only professor that had ever lived was one that you had. Your voice professor used to braid your hair during warm ups. She was the closest thing that you had ever had to a mother and in return for this, you begged Talia to let her live. You decided not to make it out so that you trusted or cared for her, but rather that she had connections to people that the league could use. With this tactic, Talia actually allowed her to leave but under a life- long oath of secrecy to protect the league. You braid your own hair when you were stressed or anxious but it’s better having someone else do it. Damian only found out when you started braiding and braiding your own hair in the roof tops one night at the league, only to let the piece unravel and start again.

        “Beloved are you going to go on patrol tonight?” He asked breaking the silence.

        “Of course.” You answered, “Is there a reason you asked?”

        “No, I was just checking.”

        “...Damian, how long do you think we’re going to stay a secret? I’m not upset or anything of the sort, it’s just a bit exhausting sometimes.” You questioned, flipping the page of your book.

        “I don’t really know Beloved. How long do you think you’d want to stay like this?” Damian set down his book to give the conversation his attention seeing as this one was important.

        You audibly sighed as he started braiding a portion of your hair, twisting it around and then letting it lose again, “I don’t really know, 3 months at most maybe?”

        “Are you tired of seeing strangers online pine away after me?” He asked smirking.

        You rolled your eyes and jokingly slapped his arm making him laugh, “What about me? I’ve seen plenty of suitors for myself.”

        “Don’t remind me Y/N.”

        “Oh no, I’ll remind you. First there was one that actually messaged me asking if I was single. Oh, another that tweeted asking if I was single. Then, there was another that mailed a love letter to the man-“

        Damian cut you off, putting his hand over your mouth making you laugh. You sat up and sat crisscrossed in his lap facing him, running your fingers through his hair.

        “You didn’t really think you could shut me up that easily did you demon?” You asked quietly.

        “I’d gage you would find a way to get your point across any way you could General.” He kissed the corner of your lips which made you glare at him some before pulling him in for a real kiss.

        “Next time some girl gets a hold of you at a gala though, just make sure not to charm her for me, will you?”

        “Whatever you say.”

_______________________________________________________________________

        Patrol started off boring and uneventful. Nothing exciting was happening but for maybe a few ally level crimes. You and Damian were perched on the rooftops looking down at the city lights and occasional people. Damian had obviously gotten the whole Robin outfit, in his own version of course. You however, took the same style as your past uniform. It was similar in the sense that it was amour and a hood, you still had your knives and compartments, this time though, the color was different. He couldn’t see the look on your face through the mask you were wearing which covered your lower face to your eyes, but he was sure you were bored. He was going to start a conversation when the comms came on with Bruce talking loudly.

        “I need everyone at the Rosehill Apartments on 7th Street! There’s multiple bombs spread throughout the building, civilians are inside.”

        You looked at Damian who nodded at you before you both swung off the building.

        “ETA 2 minutes.” You replied back getting onto your own bike and speeding off towards 7th St. following Damian.

_______________________________________________________________________

        Upon arrival to the building, you could see that everyone else was already inside but for Nightwing who on crowd duty until you two had gotten there.

        “There’s one more bomb in the kitchens. Everyone else is either getting their own or helping the residences escape.”

        You looked around for an entrance that wasn’t in terrible condition. Once you found one you ran towards it at full speed with a bomb on your mind.

        “Stick close, the roof might not be stable anymore.” You said, “If the bomb goes off, I expect you to leave immediately.”

        “Beloved I’m not leaving you if anything happens.” Robin replied running beside you.

        You didn’t reply, instead bursting into the kitchen and jumping over one of the carts in the way of your path. Using the locator on your wrist device, you scanned the room stopping when it got a hit.

        “It’s in the freezer!” You ran over and opened the door into the large room, “Hold this open and make sure it doesn’t close, I’ll disarm the bomb.”

        Damian nodded and did what you said as you went inside and ripped open one of the floorboards to find a massive collecting of wires and buttons connected onto one device. The type of timebomb was one that you had seen plenty of times before in training and when you yourself had used them. Part of training was learning to make one so it wasn’t too terribly difficult to disarm this one. The hard part was getting out.

        “Y/S/H/N!” You heard from behind you as you were about to stand up, “The place is on fire.” Damian called out, “We have to leave!”         You turned around and saw the place ablaze. Damian already had his other mask up over his face so he could breathe when you got out of the freezer. The two of you started running out to find the hallway also up in flames.

        “Don’t come near the kitchens, the whole place is going up in flames.” You said, “Bomb has been disarmed however.”

        “Good, now get out of there.” Batman replied back.

        “Working on that.”

        You and Damian sprinted down the hallway making sure no one else was inside on your way out. Once in the lobby you turned hearing someone screaming from a room nearby.

        “I’ll be right back.” You said turning around locating the person who was a small child.

        “I can’t find my Mommy.” She said sobbing into your arms.

        “I promise you I’ll find her.” You said running back up front, “I’m going to give you to Robin and he’ll take you outside, I’ll find your mommy.”

        You reached the front of the building where Robin was, “Take her, she can’t find her mother, I’m going in after her.”

        “You can’t, the building is going to come down at any minute!” Damian said taking the girl in his arms.

        “I have to check, I can’t let her grow up without parents like I did.”

_______________________________________________________________________

        You ran inside not really aware of what was happening outside anymore. Looking around you saw no sign of anyone but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t be buried under something. As you did this, you pulled out the scanner again but this time had it scan for biological creatures instead of machinery. There was nothing at the point where you were. Going farther into the structure was a no go at this point but it was your only option.

        Outside, Damian was trying to find the girl’s mother in the crowd as he mentally cursed himself for allowing you to go inside. He should’ve done more, he could’ve done more but he didn’t. Running to the line of ambulances, he looked for someone that matched the girl’s description of her mother. When he finally found the person, he rushed over just in time for the lady to see her daughter and burst into tears. She hugged her daughter and thanked Damian for bringing her back to her before Damian rushed back to find you.

        “Y/N!” He screamed getting inside catching your attention.

        Further down the hallway you heard Damian yelling for you. You turned around and started headed quickly for him and once he saw you, he announced that they had found the mother outside of the building. The two of you started running for the exit when you looked up hearing a faint beeping. The exit was 50 feet ahead and the closer to it you got, the louder the sound.

        “Damian! There’s a bomb above us, I- I think it’s about to blow.” You said as pieces of wood from the building came down little by little, “5 seconds now!”

        Damian had a look of terror as he picked up the pace. You knew that both of you wouldn’t make it without a little boost so you got behind Damian and launched him out of the way where Nightwing was standing right as the building was coming down. The last thing you heard was a defining thunder and then the screams Damian who was kicking and trying to get away from Nightwing to go back for you.

        “Y/N is still inside you idiot let me go!” He sobbed trying to elbow his oldest brother in the rib.

        The second round of explosions came, only making the structure collapse more, fire raining down.

        “Beloved!” He screeched making Nightwing almost drop him in surprise at what he called you.

        He understood why Damian was fighting so hard now, but that didn’t mean that he could let him go. The rest of the family standing by heard it as well. It would’ve been hard to miss anyways.

        “You can’t go in after her!” Nightwing yelled over the explosion.

        “I have to! She’s the only one I have, I have to go! Let me go!” Damian got lose just as the dust was settling.

        He ran to where he last saw you and started digging, tears filling his eyes so that he couldn’t see. There was no chance you were still alive and if you were, it wouldn’t be for long. That was when he heard you try and move something. He was looking in the wrong place, only a few feet away. When he saw where you were, he lifted the piles of wood and debris off of you to find you badly injured and hardly awake.

        “Beloved stay awake for me okay?” He said lifting you up out of the rubble.

        There was a part of your side where you had gotten impaled. It didn’t look like it hit any vital organs, however, you were bleeding out rapidly.

        He swept the hair out of your face and gently held you to him as he ran for the Batmoblie quickly trailed by everyone else. With you in the backseat, Nightwing front, and Batman driving, you were quickly headed for the cave. Damian wrapped your wounds tightly and held your head up in his lap checking your pulse every few seconds.

        “How is she?” Bruce asked sparing a glance at the back seat.    

        “Unwell, I-I don’t know how she’s still alive.” Damian responded.

        “Enhanced strength from the pit.” You groaned some in pain.

        “What the hell?!” Dick turned around to see you trying to sit up, “Enhanced strength my ass, how many times did you take a dip?”

        That earned a sharp glare from Damian and a reprimand from Bruce. He apologized realizing that he overstepped.

        “Beloved don’t move like that, just stay down.” Damian said gently, “You’ll only hurt yourself more.

        Getting to the cave, you don’t remember much, just waves of pain and floating in and out of consciousness. The only part that you really remember was the worst part, but that was later to come when everyone really thought you would die.

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