#how quickly they just resorted to straight up bombing

[redvelvetwishtree]

Hope no one ever takes the US and the UK seriously when the lecture everyone about hUmAn rIgHtS ever again.

[bruciemilf]

Okay so civilian AU where the batkids don't want their dad dating Clark (not because they hate Clark, they love him, they just don't want their dad Dating) but they don't outright say it because Clark makes Bruce happy, so they just. Commit micro aggressions.

Clark gets turned around in the Manor? Jason has a snarky comment about how "if you can't even find your way around a house, how do you expect to find your way around Gotham?"

There's a bomb threat while they're out at the mall (it's Gotham) and Clark’s slightly panicking. Dick helps calm him down, but not without the patronizing comment of, "the first bomb threat's always the hardest. You're not going to last long here if you still get so freaked out about bomb threats—it's best if you just go back to Metropolis."

Clark asks why Cass resorts to sign language only when around him, like stops mid-sentence and switches to sign when he enters the room. Cass looks innocently at him and signs, "I only speak around people I'm comfortable with and I know will stay."

Damian just flat-out ignores him. Clark can't even say anything because Damian’s just Like That. Titus chews up all Clark’s clothes? "I'm not responsible for my dog's habits, Kent."

Clark tries and fails to articulate a business proposal on the behalf of WE Tim comes to rescue him with a sympathetic but pointed comment about how, "it's okay, not everyone knows how to pitch proposals. In upper-class society, it's a necessary skill—even Steph knows, and I doubt she's ever set foot in WE, but it's fine you don't know, really! Just...stay away from my company, will you? It's a family affair."

Clark Knows they don't like him, but the comments are isolated and innocent enough that he can't point anything out without it seeming like he's nitpicking.

- batposts (on anon because I'd rather you didn't see my main)

WHEEZE POOR CLARK - this tastes so much like the bitterness I had for my mom's first boyfriend. Let me tell you me and my brother invented a new layer of hell for that man.

OH OH OH - Clark thinks the batkids are invincible, they're Bruce's perfect baby angels (quoted from the titan dad himself) but he quickly realizes that's not the case at all.

Like, maybe Tim says something snarky during dinner, something intentionally smarmy about the class difference between clark and Bruce and isn't it wonderful they lasted so long despite being so different?

And Clark doesn't even blink at that, he's used to Tim being Tim, but Bruce? " What did you say, Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne?"

An ivory red lits Tim's ghostly pale painted face on fire. " Um. Jay-"

" Don't look at me, man."

" Dick-"

" Eşti pe cont propriu, cretinule. (You're on your own, moron - I like to think Dick only ever insults his siblings in Romanian)

" Steph?"

" No habla little bitch."

" Dami?"

Damian stares at him, silently squishing his cheek againts a fuming Bruce's forearm. Needless to say Tim doesn't have desert or coffee for a WEEK and Bruce has a long talk with his kids.

Counterattack: Clark's kids do the exact opposite. They just snatch Bruce, OUR DAD NOW, CHUCKLEFUCKS, and dip straight up.

When they actually DO meet, let Jon look at Dami glowering at him, because NEW BABIES? IN THE NEST? NO- and just laugh.

He laughs. That's it. " Okay, first of all, you're adorable and I love everything about you. "

Conner is straight up like,

hey Jason, right? You don't have to worry about Bruce anymore, dude. I'm kinda planning on moving in? So you can move back out. I know for a fact you have the best room in this overpriced box and I plan on taking it. Haha, just messing! Seriously though, move out. I got this.

[la-appel-du-vide]

PUNTA CANA - Birthday Trip

Packing was a bit of a rushed mess, but it turned out fine. Beach and B came with me, so Jason came to give us a ride to the airport. Beach let me open my presents at my house before we left since she didn’t want to pack them around. She got me a pink Lulu sports bra, a Starbucks cup, and a game based on your zodiac sign. B also had me open one gift before we left, and it was a Moji home scent system. We have been loving how good they make all the Parade of Homes houses smell every time we go through one, and so he knew I wanted to try it! Can’t wait.

Our flight ended up pretty delayed (we flew JetBlue since they had a good deal for Punta Cana, but it ended up being kind of a regret) but they kept telling us to get to the airport on-time anyway since they would try to get things back on track. So we went a bit later than we would have otherwise, but with some time to still spare. The delay was frustrating, especially because it ended up pushing on our connecting flight in Fort Lauderdale, but once we finally got on, I slept like the dead the entire time. I love those kinds of flights. We were cutting our connection a little bit close, but we made it, and had another quick flight down to the DR. I slept through that one again, so love that for me.

The second we got off the plane we were smacked by the humidity - it was intense. That’s my only problem with these beautiful, tropical locations hahah. I hate humidity. We got through customs, got our bags, and made it pretty quickly over to the resort. We could tell it was going to be really nice pretty immediately. They sat us down, brought us welcome drinks, and went to get us checked in, and then we were good to go. We dropped our stuff off in the room - which was lovely, with a cool white reef chandelier - and headed straight down to the pool. We were all ready to be refreshed. The resort has six or seven pools, and we went down to the one that seemed most popular (likely because it has the bar in it). We took a dip, and then laid on some beach chairs to relax. I ended up taking a pretty good nap, just enjoying the breeze blowing nicely over me. When I woke up, we were ready for a lunch-dish snack. Being an all-inclusive resort, we could order whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. This was my first all-inclusive, and it was pretty great. We went to the beach grill and got some nachos and tostadas, and they were bomb. The nachos ended up being a personal favorite, that I would get many more times. The water here was somewhat refreshing, but not cold enough to make up for the insane heat. Luckily, it was late-afternoon and the heat started to die down. Everyone was pretty well cleared out of the pool by 5 or so, so we got to have a swim to ourselves. When we got out to go explore the resort a bit, we found a sand volleyball court, and we greatly enjoyed playing a few games (Beach and I against B, and it was still a hard battle haha). It’s been forever since I last played volleyball. That was a VERY hot and sweaty activity, so it was immediately back to the pool for us, for one final evening swim before dinner. After we got showered and cleaned up, we picked the Teppanyaki-style dinner for night #1. There were only two other people at our table, and it was pretty late by the time we ate (after 9), so we were all pretty low energy. The chef was NOT, and wanted a lot of audience participation, and we tried, but it was a bit much for us haha. The food wasn’t bad, though I thought the meat could have been better. We each got a skewer of chicken, steak, and salmon, and then some friend rice, and miso soup - plus a roll of sushi. It was a set menu, so not a lot of choice in it, but it was good. The meat was just a bit over done, maybe? Kind of rubbery. They also really wanted us to drink their special rum after, to the point where they poured us a cup - kind of annoying, after we declined so many times haha. We were so tired by this point, and were so ready to get to BED.

Then, it was my BIRTHDAY! B got up and decorated white I was still sleeping, so I got to wake up to a decorated hotel room too. He did purple and blue balloons to match my cake, and then signs that said “Older, Wiser, Hotter” hahaha, it was cute. We all felt SO much better after a good night of sleep, and we went down to start our day with the beautiful breakfast buffet. They had a custom egg/omelette station, pastries, fruit, Dominican specialties, hash browns, smoothies, juice, pancakes, crepes… you name it. It was perfect. My favorite was to get an omelette and then smother it in the Dominican pico de Gallo - SO good. After breakfast, we went out to the pool. This time, we opted for one of the higher, deeper pools. It was fairly empty, and so much cooler because it was so much deeper. That was the temperature we really needed to feel better in that heat! We swam, napped, read, and lounged in the sun all day- which is pretty much my birthday dream. I worship the sun, and love nothing more than being in the water (clearly a water sign) so I was absolutely content. We got more nachos, ordered poolside Pina coladas, and were just living our best lives. We got ready for dinner, which was a special Dominican food themed night in the main restaurant, and this was the only time I made any real effort to look nice for dinner - because duh, birthday. They had a whole market set up outside, and it was fun to look, but man those people are pushy. I wanted to buy an anklet, but the guy literally wanted over $300 for it. Insane. I ended up buying a Larimar ring for Kena and a little beaded necklace for me for a total of $20. B bought a little wooden monkey statue and a magnet for his parents for $53 - not a very good deal, but these people reallllly suck. Dinner wasn’t bad, but wasn’t my favorite meal of the trip, that’s for sure. I mostly ate some pasta and bread, B tried Dominican stew, rice and chicken, “mafongo….” But Beach went the hardest- she tried tripe and hoof stew, and the hoof was mostly just fat hahah. I love getting her food vlogs trying weird stuff everywhere we go. We went to get ice cream for dessert while B waited at the table, and I texted him the options: “Vanilla, chocolate, pistachio, biscuit” and he said, “wtf is biscuit” and that killed me, because I also had no idea haha. I had chocolate and it wasn’t bad, and Beach got biscuit which she ended up really liking. We also tried vanilla and pistachio, and pistachio might have been my favorite. After dinner, we stopped by the Sweet Shoppe for a birthday treat. I picked out an Oreo cheesecake with sprinkles, and it probably would have been better, but we waited to long to eat it, and then it wasn’t cold anymore haha. We went back to the room to play the new zodiac game I got from Beach. It really just consists of reading qualities you should have based on your zodiac sign and having others vote on if they think they’re true or not. A lot of them ended up being super emotional and personal, and Beach couldn’t get over how deep things were getting hahah. After a while, we decided to move on to play cards instead. We’d been playing on one of the beds, and Beach decided she’d rather be playing on the table, so she went to clear it off. The table was a two level table with glass tops on each level. The bottom tier was on a swivel, and Beach thought the top one would be too, but when she tried to move it the glass top tipped and slide off. She caught it, but the decorative bowl on top slide to the ground and shattered. That put a bit of a damper on the night, and ended up costing $78, but it was a total accident, and it is annoying that the table top wasn’t secure at all. We ended the night by watching Hannah Montana, which is the perfect end to a lovely birthday. I got kind texts and messages all day, which I always just love, and I get so sad to see the day come to an end every year. B made me feel better by reminding me that we got to celebrate through the whole birthday trip haha.

[acaiasahi]

✶ untitled [ part two ] ; so junghwan.

synopsis. after ignoring jeongwoo, you find yourself happier when hanging out with junghwan. it turns out that he may be more than just your seat mate.

info. angst, fluff. classmate!parkjeongwoo x gn!reader x classmate!so junghwan. 1.3k words.

warnings. heart break (?), grammatical/structural errors, proofread-ish lmfao!!!

part one.

it's been weeks since you decided to ignore jeongwoo after the whole incident. if he was being completely honest, it hurt him in a way words couldn't even explain.

i mean, to him, you dropped a bomb and left him to make sense of all the remaining pieces. that is if there was any left.

he was having a hard time sleeping, staying up until the sun started to take it's place in the sky as it bid the moon farewell.

he did everything to talk to you. it started off with text messages, then calls that went straight to voicemail, trying to catch up with you after class, even going as far as returning to your front door step.

he was ruthless, he has questions and you hold all the answers.

once he realized that talking to you became nonexistent, he soon went to his last resort: junghwan.

in all honesty, junghwan was pretty angry at jeongwoo for all the mess he caused. on the other hand, he felt pity for the boy. watching him sulk in his seat as he stole glances at your hunched frame.

you confided in him, and as time went on, junghwan felt his protective instincts kick in. they were small things, like little conversations during class to keep you distracted from jeongwoo's attempts to talk to you, to taking jeongwoo's place while walking you home.

as another school day drones on, you make plans with junghwan to meet up and walk home together making you both wish for the day to go by faster.

you both enjoyed each other's presences. it was calm, light, fun. jokes were being thrown around and your laugh had to be the nicest thing junghwan has heard in awhile.

it's almost as if everything goes in slow motion as he watches you laugh, your smile bright, eyes closed, the sun peppering kisses all over your skin.

his lips twitch, a smile finding it's way to his face as he continues to watch you.

junghwan likes the way you flail your arms around when you speak, he likes when you run a hand through your hair out of habit, or how you tap your foot against the metal leg of your shared table, making it shake gently.

he likes the way you make him feel.

you like the way junghwan covers his mouth when he laughs, or how he tilts his head slightly when he's confused. every day you find new things to adore.

you like the way he makes you feel.

as time goes on, you find yourself attached to the hip, somewhat filling the jeongwoo-shaped hole in your heart.

today you find yourself once again gathering your notebooks and pencils, a figure slowly finds it's way in front of your desk. you look down at the familiar shoes, your gaze going higher and higher til you meet jeongwoo's eyes.

he has stupid half smile on his face as he opens his mouth to speak but you beat him to it. "yes, jeongwoo?" you ask, your voice blunt.

he cringes at your monotonous tone, not used to hearing you so emotionless, especially to him. "i just wanted to talk. are you free right no-" he starts, his gaze falling to his shoes.

"hey, y/n!" junghwan smiles brightly at you as he stands next to jeongwoo, cutting him off. your gaze quickly snaps to him, your eyes twinkling.

jeongwoo looks between you two in confusion, not understanding why your eyes hold something that was only reserved for him.

"you ready?" junghwan asks, you nod as you slip your school bag onto your shoulder, grabbing his hand out of habit, quickly leaving as jeongwoo remains in the same spot.

anger and sadness consume him as he tries to will himself out of the spot in front of your desk. he can't move as if his the floor glued his converse clad feet to the floor.

you on the other hand, can't seem to keep your excitement contained as your feet keep moving towards the small café

your walk with him was filled with silly banter, swinging your linked hands. he plays with your fingers as you talk about your day.

"so what happened with jeongwoo?" junghwan asks, looking up from your intertwined hands as you give him a questioning look. you shrugged, "he just wanted to talk, i guess?" you respond and see and his scrunched up expression

"look, i'm just as confused and weirded out but do you think i should talk to him?" you asked, pointing a soft finger into junghwan's chest.

he shrugs, a simple "up to you" leaving his lips. just from his expression, you can see that he doesn't want you to and you honestly felt the same.

you has questions but did you really want them to be answered?

long story short, you didn't really care anymore.

your time with junghwan had made you feel happy. the longest you've felt in awhile. you felt different when it came to him and you didn't want that changing any time soon.

comfortable silence consumes you both but you soon let out an aspirated laugh as junghwan lets go if your hand, rushing to the door, holding it open for you. he flashes you a shy smile.

you mutter a quick thanks and walk through, taking in the cute scenery before you. the café was playful, cute hanging macramé plants fell from the ceiling, the lights shining brightly as you look around in awe.

unbeknownst to you, junghwan pulls his phone out before snapping a few candid photos of you. he looks through them before you finally turn your attention to the boy.

"what are you doing?" you ask gently, cocking your head out to see what he was looking at on his phone.

he's quick to turn it off, shoving it in his school blazer pocket, a small blush on the apples of his cheeks, "nothing!" he says.

"aw, come one hwanie, let me see!" you whine, reaching forward to hold his hands, pouting like a child as you do everything in your power to make him take the bait.

he laughs at your expression, shaking his head. "okay, fine, stop doing all that," he jokes, taking his phone out and showing your photos.

your expression is almost identical to a child in a candy shop, eyes bright, big smile. he watched your mouth drop, whispering a small "woah!" you look up at him, your faces closer than you thought they were.

your face gets hot, laughing awkwardly as you look back at his phone. "these are beautiful, thank you, junghwan" you say truthfully.

he waves you off, shrugging slightly, "what can i say? i'm an artist!" he says cockily, the atmosphere turning playful yet again.

rolling your eyes, "so you're basically calling me art?" you deadpan, watching his face drop into one of panic.

"well i mean, i never said that, but i'm also saying that you're not pretty because you are, like you're really pretty, too pretty, in-fact i think you've got the be the prettiest person at school! sorry, this is weird. i'm weirding you out, aren't i, sorr-" he rambles on, eyes looking everywhere but yours.

you cut him off with a small grab of his hand, his attention snapping back to you, afraid of what you'd say next. "it's not weird, thank you," you squeak out.

"i find you pretty too!" you quickly recover, watching as his face flushes pink. "oh. t-thank you." he stutters out, hiding his face with his hands.

you wave him off like he did earlier, "want to order now?" you ask, getting into the small line that formed in front of the register.

he silently follows you and looks at the menu and settles on the strawberry milk. you quickly find yourself at the register, ordering your drinks and a small snack for you both.

junghwan stops you from paying, tipping the cashier and saying a quick thanks before grabbing your hand and leading you to the small booth near the window.

★ treasure taglist. @h4chi @tayhunwoo @yogurteume

[ 🎧 ] jaydi's notes. woahhh!!! pt. 2!!! ended it a lil weird but i'm setting it up for a pt. 3!! hope y'all like this one bc pt. 1 was my first fic n it was angst like suckaaaa wtf u DOING!!!!!! anyways, ily!!! <3

© ACAIASAHI 2022 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COPYING, TRANSLATING, AND REPOSTING IS PROHIBITED.

[dreamescapeswriting]

Curiosity Killed The Cat ~ LMH & LF [M] [Request]

WORD COUNT: 4.9K

PAIRING: Minho x Fem!Reader x Felix

GENRE: consensual smut, Hitman au, mentions of death, assisnation, bombings, blood, face riding, oral, threesome, M/F/M, after care, no protection

A/N: Please I had so much fun with this! I love writing AU’s so much!!! 🥺🥰💗 Hope this is okay for you my lovely little anon!

"If you don't stop tapping that pen I'm going to shove it so far down your neck you'll whistle when you breathe," Minho growled in Felix's direction as they sat together in an old beat-up car. All Felix had done for the last four hours was tap and click the pen over and over again deciding that he was single-handedly going to be the one driving force that made Minho want to quit his job.

"I don't see anything else to do," Felix countered as he stared back at his partner who simply glared at him before looking out of the window again. It was a stupid idea to stake out a university it looked suspicious that two men were waiting in a car outside but it was the bosses orders. Stake out the school and wait for the suspect to come out but it felt creepy. Although it was a university and most of the students were their age it was strange to them both.

"Have we actually seen him go in?" The truth was no one had seen the guy that they were after in almost seven months, he was good at hiding which was why he was nicknamed "The Chameleon," something Minho hated. Why give the bad guy a name it was only going to boost the ego even more. 

"He's supposedly acting as a student," Minho handed the folder over to Felix keeping his eyes on the door, the Chameleon could walk out right under your nose and no one would have an idea it was him. 

"Why a student? Surely it would be feeling for him to be a teacher," Felix flicked through the folder the guy was a serial bomber that his company had been after for years. He'd killed almost over 100 people with no remorse whatsoever. It was as if the guy was a robot, he didn't care who he hurt as long as he got what he wanted, not that anyone knew what that was. His clues were always so vague. One thing for sure, it wasn't money that he was after. 

The government had tried to pay him to stop the needless killings only for the guy to blow the bag up in the middle of the street. 

"Easier to hide...Won't be so obvious when things go missing around the school...The student we're looking at fits his usual MO." Minho sighed taking a deep breath and looking at Felix for the first time in an hour. It was beginning to worry him the closer the two of them got to catching the guy. Their job wasn't a simple catch him and arrest him, no, they were the last resort. Kill him on sight as soon as they know, without a shadow of a doubt that it's him. Assassins or as they were better known as now, Hitmen. 

"Transfers in the middle of the year, things from the science department go missing and then there's the-" Right as Minho was about to explain that there were constant fire drills the alarm began to blare out through the school. 

"Those," He mumbled staring back over at the double-doored exit from the school. There was no use sitting at the entrance when they knew he liked to hide from everyone, if he was the one doing this they needed to find him and quickly before anyone else got hurt. 

"Another drill?" You mumbled looking to your left to see your best friend Mina smirking at you, you rolled your eyes knowing why she was so happy. Thanks to the fire alarm she was going to get out of her final exam and pass it no matter what, 

"It wouldn't surprise me if you were the one pulling them," You mumbled sarcastically as you pulled your satchel over your shoulder, looking around for her so-called boyfriend. 

"What did you do? Get Farara to pull it?" You teased as you jabbed your elbow into her side, walking out into the courtyard and taking in a deep breath, 

"You need to relax, we've just finished exams and you're still studying," Mina rolled her eyes at you, it was always the same with her. She wanted you to let your hair down and relax while you wanted to focus on things that were important to you, like actually passing your course. 

"I have another two years to go, you're done. I'm just getting started." You reminded her as you looked around, you loved Mina with all of your heart but since meeting Farara she seemed to be getting in trouble more. Not only with the university but with the police. Just last week you'd been called down to the station to bail her out because she was caught driving around in a stolen car with enough products to set a whole house on fire. 

"Take a year off, come with me and Farara to England. He's going to take me away and spend time with his family." The more you heard about the guy the more worry began to grow inside of you. She'd hardly known him and yet she was planning to run away to a different country with him,

"What does he even do for a living? To get all of this money?" You questioned hoping she wouldn't get too annoyed with you asking her about him. It seemed as though whenever you asked questions she would get pissed at you, claiming that you were just trying to poke holes in their "relationship,"

"What does it matter?" She stared at you with a disgusted look on her face, 

"Hey, baby!" A voice cried out as a pair of strong-looking arms wrapped around Mina.

"Snuckums!" She practically squealed making you jump as she turned around and began making out with him grotesquely in front of everyone. 

"That's my cue to leave," You said loud enough for them to hear, turning to head home to your dorms when Mina grabbed your arm. 

"Party tonight. Come with us," She begged looking at you with pleading eyes, as you were about to decline Farara scoffed at the thought of it. 

"Y/n? At a party, don't make me laugh. She's the party pooper baby, she doesn't know how to have fun." For some reason, the anger bubbled up inside of you and it seemed to annoy you more. If Mina had been the one to say it it wouldn't have bothered you as much but from him, you wanted to prove him wrong. 

"I'll be there. Text me the details," You smiled smugly in his direction but he just seemed to smirk, it made you feel uneasy to see him smirking at you like that. 

"This will be great! A going-away party right baby!?" Mina squealed before making out with him once again.

After spending almost four hours trying to pick something to wear you finally felt ready to go and headed straight to the party. It was at the frat house Farara had been living in since he got to the university. The whole walk over from your dorms you could have sworn someone was following you along. 

"Glad you could join us, take this." Mina handed you a drink and then laid a flower necklace around you before disappearing into the house leaving you alone. 

The whole house seemed to be partying hard, loud music was blaring for different speakers each of which was playing a different song. People were already yelling and dancing drunkenly along the floor and not to mention someone throwing up in a flower pot. 

"You came pretty late, didn't think you were going to show," Farara smirked once he caught sight of you in the kitchen. You hummed before putting down the cup Mina had given to you, there was no way you were going to drink that night. Not unless it was water at least. You didn't know anyone besides Mina and she was clearly preoccupied with other things.

"We have juice boxes in the basement," Farara joked earning a laugh from someone else in the kitchen but Mina pushed him softly. 

"Leave Y/n alone, she came and that's all that matters. Come on, let's go dance." She pulled you straight into the living room without giving you a chance to answer her. 

"Isn't this fun?! I'm so sad you never got to have parties all year," She pouted at you, wrapping her arms around your waist as she swayed in time to whatever song she heard first. The mixture of the songs and stench alcohol all starting to hurt your head the longer that you stood there but you were at least going to wait an hour before heading home. 

"What the fuck are we doing?" Minho mumbled as he stared down at the jeans and shirt he was wearing, Felix had dressed in the same outfit only a different coloured shirt. When Felix suggested going to the party Minho didn't think he meant actually attending it.

"We're blending in." He chuckled laying one of the flower necklaces around Minho's neck who stared at him with a filthy look the moment it touched his chest. 

"What better way to find out information than going to the people that know the guy." It still didn't make Minho feel any better about being at some kind of dumb University frat party. Everyone was drunk and drooling over one another except for the girl that they had followed over, you. 

"Look," Minho nudged Felix and nodded in your direction as they watched you heading for the bathroom alone. You stood out amongst the rest, instead of dancing or drinking you were simply looking for a bathroom and keeping your head down. They only knew about the party because they'd overheard you and Mina talking about it earlier that day. 

"She looks like she could be here to help, we saw them speaking with one another earlier," Minho reminded Felix but he shook his head,

"She does look like she wants to be here, they didn't look like they liked one another." Minho shrugged his shoulders as he thought back on it, 

"All good acting," The two of them weren't sure if Farara had a partner this time but in all of his other bombings, he had someone. Someone who would take the fall for him, usually the good girl gone bad once they met him and fell for his traps. Promising them a life of happiness in another country, planning everything out so it would seem as though he truly loved and cared for them when he didn't. 

"I'm just saying we find The Chemelon, take care of business and leave," Felix whispered as they made their way through to the kitchen when they saw him. A loud laugh spread through the air that physically sent shivers down their spines, watching as he left out of the kitchen door and down the back garden. 

"Follow him," They said in unison as they headed out of the same door, keeping their heads down as they tried to see what it was he was doing. 

Stepping out onto the back porch you took in a long deep breath of the cold air, it felt nice to have it circulating through you instead of the stuffy air from inside. Mina had begged you to stay once she caught you trying to leave, making you promise her that you wouldn't go anywhere until she found Farara who had run off leaving her in charge of the party. In your mind, he was out fucking someone else since he seemed like a player but you weren't about to tell one of your best friends that. 

The longer you stood there the more you wanted to go home but as you looked down at the end of the garden you frowned. Inside the small shed, there was a flashing light coming through the window and you could have sworn you heard someone grunting. 

"I swear to god if this is Farara I'll murder him," You mumbled to yourself as you began to walk towards the building. All you were going to do was look through the window, if it was him you'd find Mina and tell her. If it wasn't him you'd just act as though you hadn't seen anything but the closer you got the more uneasy you began to grow. Something inside of you was telling you to turn back but you weren't about to let your friend get cheated on by some good for nothing low-life.

"Tell us what you're planning and maybe we'll let you off easy," Felix whispered in Farara's ear from behind him. They'd followed him out and found him packing up a suitcase which meant the bombing was sooner than expected from him. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," The boy stuttered as he stared between the two men in front of him, both of them had guns on display to intimidate him into speaking. As if being strapped into a chair with garden rope wasn't scary enough for him.

"Look, we know who you are. Just tell us where the bomb is," As soon as the word bomb left Minho's mouth he heard a gasp and branch snap from outside the shed. His eyes met with Felix and he nodded over to the side door where Felix could easily get out without being seen. 

Stepping back from the building you tried to move out of the way but ended up backing into someone who pushed you back to the window. Forcing you to stare through it as the man inside shot Farara in the chair he was strapped to. There was no sound from the gun you just saw a blur before Farara dropped forward, lifeless in the chair as blood pooled from the small entrance wound in his head. A small scream was building up in your throat but before you could say a word a hand was covering your mouth and you were ushered into the shed. 

"Clean up to Agents 322 and 366," The man who had killed Farara said down a small earpiece looking over at you with a small smirk on his face, 

"What a curious little kitten," Felix purred in your ear as he ran his fingers up and down your cheek making you shiver, 

“Curiosity Killed The Cat you know,” Minho chuckled as he looked over at you from his phone.

 "I'll ask you once, and only once." Minho lowered himself to your level, looking you in the eyes. 

"Do you know who he's working with? Your friend maybe? Could she have known what he was planning?" Bile rose up in your throat as you watched the blood pooling onto the floor, running along to Mino's shoes as he stood there. 

"Mina. S-She wouldn't have know...I don't think," You looked back at Minho, the gut feeling inside of you seemed to subside as you looked at him and Felix who was now standing in front of you. 

"You don't seem scared that we just killed your friend?" Felix questioned looking from the body and back to you, your eyes get dancing to and from Farara, half expecting him to jump up and have this be some kind of joke. 

"A friend? I didn't know him and he did nothing but belittle me...What was it you said about a bomb?" Curiosity began to build in Minho as he watched you, there wasn't even an ounce of fear towards them from you. 

"Have you heard of the Chameleon?" The realization hit you as you stared at Farara. 

"He fits the MO." You mumbled shocking Felix who just seemed to stare at you in disbelief. 

"You're training to be in the forces?" Minho asked as he laid a garden sheet over the body, your eyes staring back at him this time. 

"My father was an FBI agent, I know some things...I know you're not FBI." A smirk plastered across Felix's lips as he watched you and Minho interacting the way you were. It was the first time he'd ever seen Minho act so casually with someone in months, not to mention he seemed laid back. 

"How do you know that?" Felix quizzed looking over at you as he folded his arms over his chest. 

"For starters, neither of you have a badge otherwise you would have shown me by now, your guns aren't standard issue for agents...So you're hitmen...That or random psychopaths." Minho blinked at you before standing up straight when he heard a knock on the door. 

"Clean up crew," Minho pulled the door open and ushered you out with Felix on your other side. 

"Do you need help with her?" A female voice asked as you turned your whole body to see a female staring at you. 

"No thanks, you go and clean up. We'll take her home." Your eyes shot up to the one with the deep voice, Felix, and you frowned. 

"We'll make sure you get home safe," Minho added when he could see how confused you were. 

Leading you over to their car you stared at it, it was the same car that had been following you earlier. 

"You followed me here," The back door opened and you crawled inside, looking around at all of the empty food packets. 

"Ignore the mess, we were on a stakeout," Felix chuckled as he got into the front passenger seat and glanced back at you. 

"I'm Felix and this is Minho," He shook your hand and you felt a spark ignite inside of you. The way his hand fit around yours made you shiver a little, 

"Look at that, someone liked your touch Lix." Your eyes shot to Minho started up the car and smirked at you through the small review mirror. 

"Give us your address kitten," The small nickname made you clench your thighs as you could feel an aerosol building. After giving them your dorm address you began trying to pull yourself back together, you'd just watch them kill someone and yet you were getting wet at the thought of them calling you kitten. It didn't help that they were insanely attractive, Felix's muscles could be seen through the thin white shirt he was wearing and Minho's ass looked like he worked out an awful lot. You blinked, ignoring the growing wetness that was pooling between your legs. 

"Look at that, we haven't said one suggestive comment and you're squeezing your little thighs together," Minho chuckled as he reached a red light, turning to look at you from the front seat and licking his lips at the sight of you. Completely innocent and sitting there rubbing your legs together as if that was going to give you any kind of satisfaction that you were desperately craving. 

"My guess is she's going to go home and touch herself to the thought of us," Minho teased as he began to drive once again, watching Felix as he turned to look at you. His eyes locking with you as he reached behind to rub your knee softly. 

"I mean she doesn't have to think of us, we could do it for you princess." The car stopped outside your dorm but you made no attempt to move as the car was shut off. 

"Would you like that?" Minho questioned turning his body to look at you. The need to press your thighs together built up but Felix kept them apart, licking his lips as he waited for you to answer the question. A finger trailed up and down your knee and you shuddered, 

"Yes! Yes...Yes, I would like that," You spoke loudly as you stared at both of them, the two exchanged a smirk with one another before climbing out of the car and holding your door open.

"Then who are we to let a pretty little kitten go home needy," Felix growled in your ear, holding your arm as you all walked in the direction of your dorm room.

Neither of them wasted time when they got into your room, attaching their lips to either side of your neck as you let out small whimpers of pleasure. You could already feel each of them smirking against your skin, Felix's hands around your waist while Minho kept his on your breasts, massaging them softly with his hands whenever you would whimper. 

"Here we thought you were the good girl," Minho whispered making you jerk away from him, 

"I'm not. I'm sick of people saying that to me," You spat at him your eyes locking with his as he tilted his head to the side, a smug look on his face. 

"Prove it to me," Without another word you pushed him down onto your bed sinking to your knees in front of him. You pulled down the jeans he was wearing discarding them behind you, forgetting about Felix behind you until he laid down on the floor. 

"Up," He ordered, you rose to your knees and he slid under you so his breath was right against your core. 

"Looks pretty," He whispered referencing the bright pink thong you had worn under your dress that night, 

"But it needs to go." One snapping sound later and you felt a cool breeze on your core,

"Dripping wet Minho, you should see her." A finger began to trace along your folds making your hips jolt forward, 

"So wet, pretty and-" A small kiss was placed on your clit and your eyes widened, 

"Tastes define." Felix moaned out in a deep voice, you whimpered looking at Minho. 

"The confidence seems to have faded from you kitten," You ignored him pulling his cock free from his boxer and smirking at the length. He was larger than you expected but you slowly pumped him in one hand, looking up at him smugly as he jerked. Minho shifted a little, leaning back against the bed letting his elbow prop him up. Running your fingers over the indent under the head of his cock your smirk grew wider as he moaned out.

"Good girl," He breathed out as your tongue began to caress him, swirling around the head of his cock before you took him into your warm mouth pumping your head back and forth while your other hand rested on his thigh. 

"My turn," Felix whispered pulling you to sit down on his face as you let out a moan around Minho's cock who seemed to moan out in pleasure. Hollowing out your cheeks you ran your tongue over the indent you'd found earlier and he cried out gripping onto the sheets around him. 

"Oh shit!" You moaned out as you could feel Felix's tongue running through your folds while he worked two fingers in and out of you, curling them up to meet your g-spot making you cry out again. 

Minho thrust up into your mouth as you took him back, moving your head faster this time setting his whole body aflame. Each thrust of your head caused his whole body to stiffen and he looked at you, holding your face as he began to thrust a little more. You smirked around him nodding at him to let him know it was okay and he slowly began to thrust into your mouth. 

"S-Shit she likes that Hyung, clenching around my tongue." Felix chuckled as he continued to eat you out aggressively as you rode his face, your hips bucking little by little as you felt an orgasm beginning to build up inside of you. Minho thrust up once more before his whole body shook and he let out a moan of your name, cumming into your mouth as he rolled his head back. You swallowed every last drop and focused on the pleasure Felix was giving to you, gripping onto the bed as you rocked your hips in time with his licks. 

"So pretty when your face contorts like that," Minho chuckled as he began kissing you softly, holding your neck in his hand lightly as he forced you to look at him, 

"Do you like this? Two strangers fucking you?" You nodded as you let out a choked moan, pulsating around Felix's fingers as he continued to thrust them into you at a rough pace. 

"Cumming!" You screamed out as your hips continued to buck as your orgasm ripped through you, your legs shaking as you tried to stay upright on your knees instead of falling to the floor the way you wanted to. 

"Y/n?" Felix whispered as he pulled himself into a sitting position, watching you as you ripped your dress off from your body, you were ready and you needed one of them inside of you. Now.

Lips met yours over and over again as Minho pulled you up onto the bed, sitting back against the headboard as you straddled his lap. Kissing him wherever you could, lips, neck, collarbone, anywhere you could get your lips on him. Felix sat behind you naked, his cock pressed against your ass as you let out a whine. 

"Still so wet," Felix chuckled as he teased your entrance with two fingers, meanwhile Minho had worked his fingers down to your clit circling slowly. 

"Holy fuck," You breathed out as your head fell forward to rest on top of Minho's. Your brain was in a fog as they continued to tease you with their fingers until Felix sank two inside of you and Minho applied the pressure that made you cry out pushing your hips back into Felix. 

A third finger was added and your whole body felt as though it was on fire, your fingernails dug into Minho's arms as you cried out a mixture of both of their names. 

"Someone is ready for us," Minho chuckled as they removed their fingers making you whimper at the sudden lack of touch from either of them. Felix moved to the edge of the bed and sat in the same position Minho had before. 

"On the floor kitten," He whispered as you got onto your knees in front of him, this time Minho sat behind you with his cock at your entrance causing you to clench around nothing. 

"You sure?" You ignored the stupid question as you sank down onto Minho's cock crying out as you adjusted to the size of him. 

"That..Oh shit...That's a yes Felix," Minho moaned out as he held onto your thighs, grunting at the tight feeling as you wrapped around his cock. Smirking to yourself you looked up at Felix, taking him into your mouth and began to bob your head as you had done with Minho. The two men moaning out in pleasure as you controlled them, moving your hips up and down at a slow pace just to torture Minho that little bit more. 

"Fuck," Minho's hands gripped onto your waist and he thrust up harder and faster into you, his breathing jagged as he moaned out your name. Felix's cock twitched into your mouth as you began to roll your tongue around the head of his cock, reaching your hand down between your thighs to circle your clit. 

Fire was beginning to build in your stomach with both moans from men titling you over the edge. 

"Just like that," Felix cried out as you moved your head in time with Minho's fast thrust. The room filled with wet sounds and slapping skin as you cried out around Felix's length. Felix's hand rested on your cheek as he began to thrust into your mouth, grunting as he came down your throat holding you around him until his hips stopped jerking. 

"M-Minho! I-I’m cumming! I-I’m cumming!" You screamed out as he continued his sinfully fast thrusts until he came into you touching you deeply as your head rolled back against his chest. Clenching onto anything you could get your hands on, screaming out his name. Cumming around him as you pulsated in pure bliss, your whole body felt as though it was shaking. 

Minho smirked as you slept in his shirt, they'd managed to clean you up with a warm wet cloth and got you into bed. 

"Poor thing must be exhausted," He smirked running his fingers over your face as your frowned in deep slumber. 

"That was a nice reward though for finishing our job," Felix laughed as he looked at your body, you were curled up in a small clutching onto the sheets and he smiled. 

"We should get going, paperwork to report and all that," Minho mumbled grabbing a hoodie from your wardrobe as he turned to leave.

The morning you woke up images of what had happened flashed before you and if it hadn't been for the achiness between your thighs. You would have thought it a dream and yet, you were laying there in a shirt that wasn't yours and a note beside your bed,

Until next time Curious Kitten x 

Written at the bottom of the note were two numbers with the boy's initials by the side of them, you clutched the note against your chest as you laid back. Enjoying the memories of the night before. 

Tagline: @minholuvs​ @taestannie​ @sw33tnight​ @acciocriativity​ @mwitsmejk​ @taeechwitaa​ @justbangtanthingz​ @stillwithlix​ 

[just-dreaming-marvel]

Out Of Time ~ 111

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 1,900ish

Summary: Captain America: Civil War (sorry if this chapter isn’t that dramatic.... I can promise the next one will be....

Notes: make sure that you have read chapter 110. That chapter didn’t have the taglist with it.

Steve and Sam eventually made it out with an unconscious Bucky in tow. Hidden in some abandoned building. Steve was watching through a gap at a chopper flying overhead.

“Hey, Cap!” Sam called. Steve went over to join his friend, who was near Bucky. Bucky was sitting with his arm in a vice.

“Steve,” Bucky said.

“Which Bucky am I talking to?” Steve asked.

“Your mom’s name was Sarah… You used to wear newspapers in your shoes.”

“Can’t read that in a museum.”

“Just like that, we’re suppose to be cool?” Sam questioned.

“What did I do?” Bucky asked.

“Enough.”

“Was Y/N…”

“The whispers is that you attacked her.”

“Oh, God, I knew this would happen. Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words.”

“Who was he?”

“I don’t know.”

“People are dead. The bombing, the setup. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than ‘I don't know.’”

“He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where.”

“Why would he need to know that?”

“Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier.”

~~~

Slowly blinking, Y/N let her eyes focus on her surroundings. She was on a plane. A Stark plane. She felt someone’s hand on hers. She looked over to see Tony’s hand on hers, head hung low.

“Where—“ She swallowed. “Where are we going?”

“Oh my—“ He quickly stood up and held a kiss to her forehead. “You… I can’t even… You shouldn’t have gone near him.”

“I had to try…”

“Doesn’t matter. His life is not worth yours.”

“Where are we headed?”

“Home.”

Y/N watched Tony for a second. “There’s something you aren’t telling me.” She sat up. “They got away, didn’t they? And you’re going to go after them.”

“I have to.”

“Please, Tony, stop this before it’s too late. Don’t wait until someone gets hurt and the team is completely destroyed.”

“I just doing what I have to do. And so should you.”

“What should I do?”

“Stay at home until this is all settled.”

“You’re going to keep me as a prisoner? Keep me locked away. You can’t to that.”

“That’s why I’m not telling you where I’m going. To keep you safe.”

“To keep me safe, or to keep me from protecting Steve and Bucky?”

“To keep you safe! Y/N, damn it! Look at your neck! Those bruises are in a literal shape of a hand! I don’t think they’ll disappear for weeks. Your precious Bucky did that to you, and I won’t let it happen again.”

“Tony, if you do something to harm them, either of them, I’ll never forgive you.”

“Tough sweetheart, because I’ll never forgive myself if you get hurt like that again.”

~~~

The compound was all but locked down. Vision and FRIDAY were both keeping an eye on both Y/N and Wanda. Y/N was worried about where Steve, Bucky, and Tony were, and if they were being stupid. Y/N and Wanda weren’t able to fall asleep, so they were in the kitchen. Vision was hovering in the corner, seemingly asleep, or as asleep as an android can be. 

Suddenly, the three were on alert. An explosion in the distance lit up the room for a moment. They hurried to the window to see another explosion near the fence line.

“What is it?” Wanda asked.

“Stay here, please,” Vision pled before disappearing.

Once Vision was gone the two women sensed a different presence behind them. Wanda compelled a knife to fly across the room. They turned to see it stop in front of Clint’s head and him flick it away.

“Guess I shoulda knocked,” he commented.

“Oh my god!” Wanda exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“Disappointing my kids.” He shot arrows to both sides of the room. “I’m supposed to go water skiing.”

“Clint,” Y/n called, the worry extremely evident. “What’s going on?”

“Cap needs our help,” he answered, grabbing Wanda’s hand. “Come on.” Wanda grabbed Y/N’s hand as they began to head out of the room.

“Clint!” Vision greeted, appearing through the wall behind them. “You should not be here.”

“Really?” Clint retorted, him and the others turning back around. “I retire for, what, like five minutes, and it all goes to shit.”

“Please consider the consequences of your actions.”

“Okay, they’re considered.” Suddenly, the arrows Clint previous shot, catch Vision in a force field. “Okay, we really gotta go.” Wanda stepped towards Vision as Clint grabbed Y/N’s hand. He began to led her to the door. They stopped when they noticed Wanda wasn’t moving. “It’s this way.”

“I’ve caused enough problems,” Wanda responded, nervously playing with her sleeves.

Leaving Y/N at the door, Clint jogged back over to Wanda. “You gotta help me, Wanda. Look, you wanna mope, can go to high school. You wanna make amends, you get off your ass. Shit.” 

Vision broke the force field with the Mind Stone. Quickly, he punched Clint to the floor, but Clint recovered. 

“I knew I should’ve stretched,” Clint groaned.

He extended a baton and tried to hit Vision but the blows went right through him. Clint resorted to punches before trying the baton again. It broke. Clint tried to kick Vision, but his leg wen right through him. Vision then quickly got Clint into a headlock.

“Clint, you van’t overpower me,” Vision warned.

“I know I can’t,” Clint responded. “But they can.” 

They look up to see Wanda and Y/N standing side by side, Wanda’s red glow between her hands. 

“Vision, that’s enough,” Wanda said. “Let him go. We’re leaving.”

“I can’t let you,” Vision replied.

Wanda held her hands apart, glowing with energy, forcing Clint to slip from Vision’s grasp. He grabbed Y/N and pulled her away as Wanda forced Vision to the ground.

“How far a long are you?” Clint whispered.

“What?” Y/N gasped, looking at Clint with surprise.

“My wife’s had three kids. I know the tells.”

“Five weeks.”

“Does anyone know?” Y/N shook her head. “Then you’re staying here. I’m not putting you or the baby in harms way. And I know Steve wouldn’t want that either.”

“No, I can—“

A crash is heard. They flinch as they turn to see that Wanda as forced Vision through several floors of the compound.

“If you stay here,” Clint turned back to Y/N, hands on her shoulders, “I won’t say a word. If you come or follow, I’ll tell everyone and they’ll force you to stay put anyway.”

~~~~

Vision disappeared out of the hole not long after Clint and Wanda had left. Y/N couldn’t stop worrying, pacing, rounding every inch of the compound. FRIDAY had blocked her from being able to contact any of her teammates or watch any news channels. It was late into the afternoon of the next day when she finally was contacted. She had just barely fallen asleep on the couch when FRIDAY announced the incoming call.

“Y/N?” Natasha panicked voice filled her room. She was immediately on alert. 

“Nat? Are you okay? What happened?”

“It got bad. There was a fight at the airport in Berlin. Sam, Clint, and Wanda are in jail. Bucky and Steve made it to the quinjet to go—I don’t even know where.”

“What? How did this happen?“

“And Rhodey was extremely hurt. Tony’s in the other room waiting for the results, but it doesn’t look good. I think he’ll go after them next. The only way to stop him is if you go with Bucky and Steve to wherever it is they’re headed. Tony will trust you if you’re with them.”

“Nat, I don’t—“

“I’m not asking you to pick a side. I’m asking you to save your family.” Y/N’s hand went straight to her stomach. “To save your child’s family.”

“How did you…”

“You were in the bathroom for way too long, Y/N. And I’ve noticed how your hand falls to your stomach. Do they know?”

“Only Clint and you.”

“You need to tell them before it’s too late.”

“I know… Thanks for the information, Nat. I’m assuming you helped them escape.”

“I did. Have to go on the run now.”

“Stay safe, Nat.”

“You too.”

The call ended and Y/N took a deep breath. Bucky and Steve had taken a quinjet from Berlin, the same quinjet Y/N had arrived there in. So she could create a portal there. It was just bracing herself for the inevitable vomiting that would follow. Opening the portal, she rushed through, stumbling into the quinjet.

“What the—“ Bucky immediately turned around, pointing a gun in Y/N’s direction. He lowered it when he saw her vomiting in the corner. “Y/N?” He hurried forward, kneeling beside her. “How did you— are you okay?”

“Y/N,” Steve rushed to her other side. A hand found the way to her back, gently rubbing up and down. “What’s going on?”

“I’m… I’m… fine…” she panted. She straightened up, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. “I’ll be fine.”

“Is there something going on with your powers?”

“I’m fine, Steve, really. How are you guys?”

“Really Y/N?” Bucky questioned. “You just appeared through a portal and began to vomit. I don’t think you’re okay.” As he looked her over, his eyes found their way to her neck. “No,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.” His flesh hand came up, hesitant to touch the bruise. Y/N grabbed his hand and led it to her bruise. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m fine, Buck. I’m okay.”

“I promised to never hurt you and I keep doing it. Leaving for war, falling into HYDRA’s hands, back in DC, now this…”

“Bucky,” Steve called, slowly, watching the interaction. “How much to you actually remember?”

“I remember Y/N the most. Not everything, but I remember the feelings when we were together the strongest.”

“You remember me the most?” Y/N repeated quietly.

“Something happened the moment we met eyes in DC. Things kept creeping back.”

“Oh, Buck.” Y/N quickly wrapped her arms around Bucky. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you too, doll.”

“What are you doing here, Y/N?” Steve asked, again.

She pulled away from Bucky, so that she could see both men. “Nat called me and told me what happened. I came to help.”

“You know that you can’t go back after this, right?”

“I may be able to get us all home safety and talk everyone down. I just need to see this through to be able to explain it and help the cause.”

“I don’t know,” Bucky said, shaking his head. “I think you are safer staying in the quinjet.”

“Not a chance, Buck. If there’s a way I can bring you home, I’m going to do it.”

“I don’t think I’m worth all this.” He looked down into his lap.

Y/N guided her hand under Bucky’s chin, gently guided it up so that they were looking into each others eyes. “I think you’re worth it. I always have.”

next chapter >

NOTES: from now on the taglist when be added by a reblog. I will reblog it using my second account, @just-dreaming-marvel-2​​. Just so that my main page doesn’t get too cluttered.

If you want to be added to the tag list, please dm me or send in an ask.

[lamesiscanon]

Mistletoe

Day 5 of the holiday prompt list posted by @remus-john-lupin  I also did not read this again for mistakes so pardon those... anyways,

 The plan was christened as Sirius Black’s Five Step Method to Get Remus Lupin to Date Him. Or as James called it, Desperation at its Finest. It came together on a rather ordinary Wednesday evening in the dorm, where Sirius was lazily flicking sparks at James’ feet as the other boy slept. The appeal came from the quiet giggles and words like “Lily, stop that tickles” James would mumble sleepily, delighting Sirius to no end. This was prime blackmail material that Sirius would most definitely use as an advantage in the next coming weeks. 

Sirius had to bite his sleeve to keep his laughter from waking him up when James started puckering his lips against his pillow. Though, it turned out to be all for naught when Peter threw the door open with a bang. 

“Whazzat?” James sat up on his bed with his wand held out, though he held onto the wrong end. Sirius quickly hid his own under his duvet and turned his attention towards Peter, who was out of breath and full of sweat. 

“SIRIUS!” Peter shouted in a way of greeting, dumping his bag on the floor and slamming the door shut once again.

“PETE!” Sirius met his words with equal enthusiasm, though he had no idea what this was about. 

“JAMES!” James joined in, always ready to match his friends energy. Peter ignored him.

“Sirius, I just overheard a conversation in the library and Emmeline Vance is planning on asking Remus to the Christmas dance.” Peter let out in one breath as he searched through his trunk, pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill. 

“What?” Sirius and James both yelled in a panic, to which Peter explained everything he had overheard in the Library. Emmi’s Hufflepuff roommates had apparently talked her into asking Remus to the dance after Emmi herself complained about not knowing who to go with. Sona Pearce had suggested Remus because he was tall, kind, smart, and most importantly, mysterious as hell. The rest of the Hufflepuff girls had giggled at that, talking excitedly about how quiet and secretive Remus was. It was decided then, and declared by Emmeline that she would ask Remus Lupin to the Christmas dance. Peter had immediately run out of the library all the way to Gryffindor tower. 

And so that’s how Sirius Black’s Five Step Method to Get Remus Lupin to Date Him was born. Peter, as the scribe, James as the voice of reason, and Sirius as the anxiety ridden idiot in love. Together, they came up with the perfect plan to squash all of Emmeline Vance’s hopes and dreams. (Though, Sirius didn’t think she’d be too sad in the end, since she apparently didn’t have an actual crush on Remus.)

Sirius Black’s Five Step Method to Get Remus Lupin to Date Him (Desperation at its Finest) ((Shut the fuck up, James))

Step 1: Make sure Remus avoids running into Emmi Vance at all times. 

Step 2: Subtly show Remus that I, Sirius Black, am perfect boyfriend material.

Step 3: Ask Remus to the Christmas dance.

Step 4: Get Remus under the charmed mistletoe and kiss him until he forgets his name. (Stick your tongue down his throat) (Gettin’ Jiggy with it) (Peter, for the love of God, please never say that again.)

Step 5: Ask Remus on a date, become boyfriends, fall in love, get married, live happily ever after.

The first steps were surprisingly easy. Sirius managed to execute them without any complications, which was rare for a Marauder’s plan. The map came in handy when the first step was still in motion. All it took was a quick glance at the map after each class to make sure that they wouldn’t run into Emmeline on their way to the next class. A couple of times it was unavoidable, but Sirius would usually engage Remus in a conversation so he wouldn’t notice Emmeline trying to get his attention. And for the one time that Emmeline actually tried to come up to Remus and talk to him, Peter set off a well-timed dung bomb that set everyone running for fresh, clean air. He’d gotten detention for that, but Sirius was grateful enough to finish his potions homework for him for the next week. 

Step two was just as easy since Sirius usually complimented Remus on a daily basis and would help him with Transfiguration and Runes (the only classes Remus didn’t have the highest marks). He stepped up the game just a little by giving Remus his favorite sweets from a secret Hogsmeade run and organized his part of the dorm room before and after the full. Remus hadn’t acted like it was out of the ordinary, but he did thank Sirius and even gave him one of those secret smiles the two usually shared, so Sirius counted it as a very successful win.

Sirius was almost sure he failed the whole thing when it came to the third step, though. Actually asking Remus out brought up nerves that he usually only felt right before quidditch games. It ended up being a spur of the moment thing when the two were alone in the dorm, when Remus was getting dressed and Sirius was pretending not to watch. Sirius blurted the question before he could prepare himself for it. He thought the plan was completely fucked when Remus had only stared at him for a moment, confusion and concern evident all over his face. Sirius almost took it back, was about to play it off as a joke when Remus smiled and said “Sure, Pads. That sounds like a lot of fun.”

In the days leading up the the Christmas dance, Sirius learned that the fourth step wasn’t going to be as easy. Regular mistletoe wasn’t proving to be enough, so Sirius had to resort himself to charmed mistletoe, which backfired horribly when Peter had accidentally gotten stuck with him. Much to both of their disappointment, the charmed magic on the stupid plant didn’t settle for any cheek kisses. 

The one who the charmed mistletoe was actually meant for had jumped out of the way at the last second, but Peter hadn’t been so lucky. It frustrated Sirius, that Remus seemed to have memorized the layout of all mistletoe decorations around the castle and avoided it well. So far Sirius had been resigned to kissing Both Prewett twins (separate occasions, thank Merlin), Dorcas Meadowes, Sona Pearce, Isaac Ure, and poor Peter all because Remus was apparently afraid of mistletoe.

The actual day of the Christmas dance made Sirius feel excited, nervous, and frustrated in one go, but his hopes were up that tonight would be the night he could get Remus alone and under the damned magical plant. 

Remus was getting ready in the boy’s dorm while Sirius was dragged up to Lily’s because apparently it was “more romantic” to wait and see each other until they met up at the common room entrance. At least Sirius got the perk of having Marlene do his eyeliner.

As reluctant as he was to admit it, Lily was actually right about the extra romantic thrill of seeing Remus after walking out of the Fat Lady’s portrait. He cleaned up well, with a set of dark maroon robes that went well with his dirty blonde curls and honey eyes. Merry fucking hippogriffs, Sirius could barely manage from swooning straight to the ground when those eyes met his. And that stupid, beautiful smile that Remus gave him when those honey eyes took in every inch of Sirius. He was completely fucked.

Sirius was fucked when Remus laughed as the teachers took the first dance, he was fucked when Remus ate a sugar quill from the refreshments table, and he was fucked when a hand grabbed his to pull him out on the dance floor for their own dance. The night was one of the best of Sirius’ life, yet he still hadn’t managed to get Remus under the mistletoe. He got distracted by dancing with Remus once the music turned into more upbeat stuff, and then they met up with James, Peter, and their dates and sat around for hours laughing and talking about other couples they could see on the dance floor.

James nudged Sirius at one point, motioning to where Emmeline was dancing with Benjy Fenwick. Apparently Emmi Vance had a type, which was tall and smart bookish boys.

Sirius got so caught up in joking with Remus and Lily that he didn’t hear the announcement for the last song. Lily had been dragged away by her date, leaving Remus and Sirius alone at their table near the refreshments. 

“Come on, let’s finish the Christmas dance with a bang.” Remus said, holding out his hand for Sirius to take. Sirius was so excited to dance with Remus that he didn’t even process the fact that this was the end of the night and he still hasn’t kissed Remus.

In the middle of their jumping around and screaming, Remus pulled out his wand and made an unrecognizable motion to Sirius, but before he could ask, Remus put his wand away and continued to dance. The crowd cried for an encore when the song ended, nobody wanted to leave just yet. The band relented, though they announced that this was going to be a slow dance. Sirius shyly took Remus’ offered hand and led them both across the floor in twirls and slow sways.

The night was actually perfect. Even in Sirius didn’t get to kiss Remus, he always had tomorrow, or the next day, or even the next. He just wanted to be in this moment with Remus as they swayed and laughed, completely oblivious to everyone else around them.

“So I found something interesting today.” Remus spoke, jolting Sirius from his thoughts.

“Oh yeah?” Sirius asked, curious as to what Remus found and thought interesting enough to bring up during their dance. 

Remus smiled, reaching into the pocket of his maroon dress robes and pulled out a small piece of parchment that was torn at the edges. It sort of looked familiar...

“Sirius Black’s Five Step Method to Get Remus Lupin to Date Him.” Remus read aloud. “I thought it sounded quite interesting, so I picked it up.”

“Moony, no! You weren’t supposed to see that!” Sirius let of Remus’ waist to grab the parchment out of his hands, but Remus was quick at dodging the attempts. 

“Oh Merlin...” Sirius groaned, completely embarrassed. He wished that whatever deity was above would just smite him right then and there. 

“Well, it has my name on it so I didn’t have any qualms about reading it...” Remus cleared his throat and shook out the parchment to prepare reading the rest. 

“Step one, make sure Remus avoids running into Emmi Vance at all times. This one was interesting, since I have no idea what Emmeline has to do with any of this.” 

“She was going to ask you to the dance...” Sirius muttered. He was pretty sure this is the reddest his face has ever been, and there was no way to stop this torture. 

“Ah, I see. Step two,” Remus continued, “Subtly show that I, Sirius Black, and perfect boyfriend material.”

All Sirius could do was smack his hand to his face and keep wishing that he could somehow disappear from this whole mess. 

“Step three, ask Remus to the Christmas dance.” Remus read, sounding more amused as the moment dragged on. “Now, since we’re both here at said dance, I can only assume you deemed the first three steps successful, right?” 

Sirius didn’t answer, but Remus apparently wasn’t actually looking for one, he just continued reading. 

“Step four, get Remus under the charmed mistletoe and kiss him until he forgets his name.” 

They had stopped dancing at this point. Sirius was pretty sure it was because of him being to embarrassed to do anything but cover his face and listen as Remus read his own plan aloud to him. He felt rooted to the spot, no matter how much he wanted to run away and hide until graduation. Maybe the room of requirement would be a good place to live until then...

“I laughed and James’ and Peter’s inputs here. And suddenly, all your mistletoe mishaps made sense. It was hard to watch actually, nearly crushed all my hopes, but when I found this it all started to make sense.” Remus waved the parchment again and Sirius heard it flap. 

“Remus, please stop. I’m so sorry, okay? I promise I can just avoid you if you want that, but- wait? Did you say I crushed your hopes?” Sirius finally took his hand off his face, looking at Remus for the first time since he started reading. He expected to find disgust, but instead he saw Remus smiling that same, sweet, secret smile that they shared between the two of them. 

“Well, duh.” Remus shrugged, still holding that damned piece of parchment. “I don’t think anyone would like to watch the guy they fancy kiss six other people.” 

Sirius could only gape while his brain floundered for words to say. 

“You- you fancy me?” It came out as a whisper. 

“Of course I do, you daft mutt. Only for the past two years or so. How could I not?” Remus smiled again, and Sirius realized that the way he was looking at him was the same way Sirius would look at Remus when he thought the other boy wasn’t looking. Oh. This revelation brought back all of Sirius’ confidence, it seemed. He put his hand back on Remus’ waist to pull him just a little bit closer and plastered a smirk on his face. 

“Well then, what am I going to do about step four? It’s been bloody hard to check that one off, you know.” 

Remus laughed, and then pointed at the ceiling above him, revealing a single spot of charmed mistletoe. Well, that explains why Sirius felt so rooted to the ground earlier, then. And it explained Remus’ random wand movement earlier.

Sirius’ thoughts were cut off again, but he was more pleased by the cause this time. The pair of softest lips he’d ever felt were pushed against his own, and he hummed, perfectly content. 

Remus was kissing him, Remus was kissing him!

The song ended, and people around them applauded the band for their night of well-played music but Sirius and Remus didn’t even notice. Their own thought were filled with only each other. It was the best night of Sirius’ life. 

“Well,” Remus broke away, breathless from their kiss but still smiling, “You’ve already asked me out, and you got your kiss, so what’s next?”

Sirius laughed and pretended to think about it for a moment, head tilting side to side. Remus smacked him on the shoulder to hurry him along. 

“I’m pretty sure the next step was to become boyfriends.” Sirius beamed. 

“And happily ever after will come later.” Remus agreed, and then his lips were back on Sirius’ while both boys were completely oblivious to the rest of the people around them. 

[itsy-bitsy-spider-fan]

Don’t Leave Me Alone With Me

By @itsy-bitsy-spider-fan for @papered-owl

Rating: Teen and Up

Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark

Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, James “Rhodey” Rhodes, May Parker (mentioned)

Summary: 

Peter landed on his side, ears ringing violently and thoughts hazy. He was shaking, or at least he thought he was, until he hazily looked down. The building was shaking. He snapped his head around to look through a window and watched dust and rubble start to fall past the glass.

“--Peter,” Karen said loudly in his ear when the ringing stopped just enough for him to hear the AI’s urgent voice. “You need to get out of there. The building’s unstable. It’s going to collapse---”

Panic whipped through him. Peter furiously moved for the window he’d broken on his way in but he knew with growing dread that he wasn’t going to make it. His mask lit up at the last second, and he ducked into the only spot highlighted in green.

When he looked up, it was to see the building come down on top of his head.

OR. Peter gets trapped under a building during a battle. 

AO3 Link

@friendly-neighborhood-exchange

**The formatting is much better on AO3. I recommend using the link provided. (Full tag list on AO3 as well.)

Don’t Leave Me Alone With Me

Peter was taking a break from his patrol when the text came in, flashing across the HUD he was still getting used to in glaring red font:

From TONY STARK: Problem in Manhattan. Want to swing by? Your AI has the address.

Peter nearly dropped the half-eaten churro he was holding in his haste to stand up before tossing the remainder of it to a nearby pigeon. When duty called -- or really, when Tony Stark called -- sacrifices had to be made.

“Tell him I’m on my way, Karen,” Peter said as he pulled his mask down to cover his whole face. “And, uh, let May know what’s going on.”

“Affirmative, Peter,” Karen replied, and he grinned before shooting a web at a nearby skyscraper and pulling himself up into the air.

Already, Karen was plotting the fastest route to get to the fight, and Peter wasn’t wasting any time. Lately, Mr. Stark had seemed to be making some semblance of an effort to keep Peter more than just on the radar, but it had been a while since Peter had been called in to actually help anywhere. He didn’t want to let Mr. Stark down -- like, ever. 

“Okay, Karen, fill me in. What’s going on?”

Karen’s chirpy response was immediate. “News reports indicate that flying robots have been attacking upper Manhattan. No civilian casualties have been reported as of yet and police officers have begun evacuation procedures.”

Peter groaned. “Killer flying robots again? Do these villains not have any originality?” 

The only time that Mr. Stark ever seemed to call Peter in was for fighting off robots. Apparently, there was more Chitauri tech circulating than either of them had thought, though Peter could only imagine how much worse it would be if the run of the mill villains doing things like stationing attacks on Manhattan would have gotten their hands on any of the Stark tech on the plane that Peter had saved from the Vulture.

“Based on data from recent encounters, it would appear they do not,” Karen asked, seeming to miss the rhetorical part of Peter’s question.

He laughed. “Alright, I’m glad I have statistics to back me up. Who’s there right now?”

“Tony Stark and Colonel Rhodes are at the scene.”

Peter faltered, missing a mark with his web and sending one into thin air. He swore as he shot out another and clumsily swung around the side of a building. “That’s it?”

“I’m afraid so,” Karen replied, managing to sound genuinely sorry. 

“Hm,” Peter said, growing more serious as he realized that without the help of anyone else, this fight had the potential to grow very, very messy. “What’s our ETA, Karen?”

“You are two minutes out.”

“Awesome, thanks.”

“No problem, Peter.”

Peter was approaching the fight before he knew it, and despite what he was coming up to, he was filled with a familiar rush of exhilaration when the silhouettes of the robots came into view. As soon as he was in range, Karen patched him into the communications channel Mr. Stark and Colonel Rhodes were using, and Peter flipped onto a roof as his ears exploded with noise and chaos, loud from the battle beneath him.

“--on your left, Tony--”

“--got it--”

“--ETA on Spider-Man--?”

“I’m here,” Peter chimed in, leaping off the roof and propelling himself onto a nearby building to get a closer look. “What’s going on Mr. Stark?”

“An anonymous source just sent dozens of these things into the sky,” he grunted, and Peter could see the Iron Man suit blasting a flurry of robots out of the sky. “Apparent motive is unknown. We’re fighting to disable and destroy them.”

“You got it,” Peter said, taking quick stock of the situation. “Chitauri?”

“Only of course.”

Peter grimaced, eyes following a robot as it careened his way. He quickly shot a web at the thing, jamming its robotic propellers and sending it spiraling towards the ground. The robots were vicious, and clearly more advanced than the ones he’d faced over the last two months when his encounters with bots were more frequent. The robots had long, wicked-looking blades for arms and razor-sharp propellers that made it impossible to get too close without getting slashed to pieces. Right before he sent another robot slamming into the empty street below, Peter noticed a glowing purple core in the thing’s chest area behind a thin framework of steel resembling a ribcage.

“Has the area been evacuated?”Peter grit out as he leaped into the fray, using a web to pull a bot into his ready fist, where he smashed it into a mess of shattered circuitry and crushed metal, all while deftly avoiding the blades extended his way.

Rhodey’s response was prompt. “The robots seemed to be linked to this specific quadrant of the city. They won’t go anywhere else. Police have evacuated the buildings inside this quadrant.”

So everything seemed to be under control then. Except… Peter didn’t think that was the end of it. It couldn’t be. The robots were numerous, sharp, but not much more than annoying in the grand scheme of things. Left unchecked, they’d probably wreak havoc on civilians but damage to surrounding areas was minimal. Why would a villain even bother?

As he wove around the side of a building to send a bot to an early demise, his skin crawled. He took out the bot and stopped, perched on the side of the building. They had to have been fighting for the better part of thirty minutes, but the robots had barely seemed to decrease in number.

Peter’s eyes narrowed on a swarm of bots rising from out of nowhere, and heading straight for Mr. Stark. Only the core in their chest wasn’t purple… it was red? And flashing instead of just glowing. That could only be bad news, a thought further emphasized by his spider sense flaring violently. 

Peter punted a bot out of his way as he moved without thinking, swinging himself forward and furiously heading towards Mr. Stark. The swarm had broke apart, probably overwhelming Mr. Stark’s built-in sensors, but one was heading right for his back, and Peter had to act fast---

He slammed into the bot, sending it flying onto a nearby rooftop seconds before it exploded. In the seconds that it took for Peter to slam into the rooftop of an adjacent building, he was only relieved that he’d managed to get the thing away from Mr. Stark.

“Peter!” Mr. Stark yelled sharply, as the blast carried Peter onto a nearby rooftop, where he landed sloppily. 

“I’m fine,” Peter managed, shooting a web and pulling himself up. “The blast radius on that thing is insane!”

“Blast radius?” Rhodey asked quickly. “What are you talking about?”

“The robot exploded,” Mr. Stark explained hastily as he and Peter fought back to back. “It was rigged with a bomb. The kid stopped it.”

“What the hell do we do then?”

“Keep it contained,” Mr. Stark bit out, returning the favor and blasting away a robot that Peter hadn’t managed to take out. “I think this was the last resort for whoever the hell sent these things out here.”

“Watch out for the cores in their chests,” Peter cut in. “The purple ones are fine, but the red ones explode.”

“Friday, you got that?”

“Affirmative, Boss,” a faint female voice said from inside Mr. Stark’s suit.

The intensity of the fight surged, leaving little room for more chatter. Peter could barely keep track of all the robots swarming around him. Without Karen and his spider sense, he would have been toast. 

“Kid, watch your six,” Mr. Stark called in his ear, and Peter barely managed to propel himself away from an exploding bot. 

“I am not looking forward to cleanup,” he breathed, circling back to hopefully cut the numbers down on these things. 

Rhodey laughed in his earpiece and Peter grinned to himself, heartbeat galloping irregularly as the fight dragged on. Already his muscles were getting sore from having to snap himself back and forth to avoid getting blown to bits. Exertion made his skin damp with sweat, and he vaguely yearned for a shower. He’d already been patrolling for hours before Mr. Stark had asked for help (and jeez, saying there was a “problem” in Manhattan was a severe understatement; these things bypassed problematic and went straight to catastrophic.) So yeah. The exhaustion was compounding. 

Maybe that’s why his next movements were too slow.

The robot slammed into his chest like a truck before he even knew what hit him, drawing a swear out of his mouth and sending him smashing through the window of a building behind him. Glass caught his fall and he groaned.

“Kid, you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he grunted, rolling to his feet. “I just---”

His spider sense flared and Peter threw his hands up to cover his head as two of the robots who had followed him into the building exploded. The double explosion knocked him sideways, rattling his bones and sending heat searing over his body as he was tossed backwards like a wet rag.

Peter landed on his side, ears ringing violently and thoughts hazy. He was shaking, or at least he thought he was, until he hazily looked down. The building was shaking. He snapped his head around to look through a window and watched dust and rubble start to fall past the glass.

“--Peter,” Karen said loudly in his ear when the ringing stopped just enough for him to hear the AI’s urgent voice. “You need to get out of there. The building’s unstable. It’s going to collapse---”

Peter furiously moved for the window he’d broken on his way in but he knew with growing dread that he wasn’t going to make it. His mask lit up at the last second, and he ducked into the only spot highlighted in green.

When he looked up, it was to see the building come down on top of his head.

When Peter opened his eyes again, everything was still. The dust had settled. The building had stopped groaning and contorting. Darkness blanketed him, wrapped around him like a too-tight glove. For a moment, it was quiet: so quiet that it made Peter’s stomach swoop. He wasn’t even sure he was alive until his ears exploded with noise: staticky voices and explosions from his comms. The battle was still live, but Peter was… he was down. No --- worse. 

He was stuck. Again. 

“Karen,” he said hoarsely, furiously trying to stave off the approaching panic attack before it swallowed him up. “Karen, can they hear me?”

“You are muted,” came her monotonous reply.

Peter let out a hitched breath, clenching his teeth so hard he thought he might crack them. There was dust all over him, covering his mask and making the darkness thicker and impenetrable. He would need to take it off, or at least wipe it off if he wanted to regain his bearings, but that would mean moving and possibly upsetting whatever high-stakes Jenga tower he was under and the thought of that sent terror so sharp and icy through him that it took his breath away.

Or maybe what took his breath away was the notion that the second worst experience of his life was unfolding again.

Except this time, Peter wasn’t stuck under a warehouse.

He was stuck under a skyscraper.

The pocket he was in was barely big enough for him, that much was made clear even without sight. He was on his back, with both of his legs pinned down under something, and even though his arms were free, he could barely bring them up towards his mask. The left one felt broken. Moving it drew a strangled gasp from his throat so he swallowed and switched to his right, which wasn’t much better. He was pretty sure the cloud of shock and maybe adrenaline wrapped around his brain was muting the true nature of his injuries but he was more grateful than concerned. Karen hadn’t told him he was bleeding to death, at least. He cautiously lifted his right arm.

“Peter,” came Karen’s voice as his gloved fingers shakily slipped beneath the edge of his mask. “I would advise you not to remove your mask while the air filter is functioning.”

Peter’s hands stilled: he hadn’t considered that. The air filter, because of course Mr. Stark had thought of everything. Peter clenched his teeth and wiped off the dusty lenses of his mask instead. Almost immediately, his eyes started to adjust. Karen turned on night vision without any further prompting.

He almost regretted being able to see. The panic he had staved off before punched through his chest with a new fury as he stared up at the rubble trapping him. It was terrifying. 

There was about two feet of space between his chest and the makeshift ceiling, which looked so fragile that Peter was surprised it wasn’t crushing him. He could see bent rebar and warped metal barely holding up literal tons of chunks of concrete and steel. Glass that he hadn’t noticed before was shattered and spread out beneath him, crunching and grinding into his back against the concrete floor he was on whenever he shifted.

And then there were his legs. A long pillar thing had fallen, trapping them, holding them down, crushing them, crushing him.

When Peter’s next breaths came, they came short and staccato, choppy and loud in the silence that came with being buried by tons of concrete. Peter’s heartbeat pounded so loud in his ears that he almost couldn’t hear his comms anymore, but he managed to tune in when he heard mentions of his name.

“Peter, we saw the building go down. Are you okay?”

His first instinct was a guttural cry for help, but he managed to stifle the panic down and swallowed dryly. It wasn’t that he didn’t want help. Even laying there in the dark with an invisible fist wrapped around his heart --- squeezing it --- he recognized that they were shorthanded. It was just Rhodey and Mr. Stark and how could Peter draw them away from a fight that still needed to be wrapped up? He couldn’t.

“I’m fine,” he managed tightly. “But I’m done. I can’t---”

“Shit, Rhodey I found it,” Mr. Stark interrupted with a breathy edge of exhilaration. “I found the source.”

“Can we disable it?” came Rhodey’s voice, crackly from interference on Peter’s part.

“I think so,” Mr. Stark replied rapidly. “Peter, are you secure? Can we wrap this up first?”

Something shifted and Peter squeezed his eyes shut as rubble closed in around him. This time, it wasn’t just the building that was shaking and Peter needed to get himself off the comms before he lost it basically in front of them.

“I’ll be okay.” And that wasn’t exactly a lie. He was pretty sure he’d be fine, except that as the panic increased so did the awareness that he was hurting in places he hadn’t noticed before. “Finish it.”

“Alright, see you in a minute kid.”

Peter severely doubted it, but he wasted no time in gasping, “Karen, mute” before the panic swallowed him whole.

Peter clenched his fists tightly and tried to breathe, but his eyes were burning and his chest was so tight he had to make sure that the rubble hadn’t crushed it after all. Moving was impossible and looking up made everything worse. How easily could this come down? All it would take is one stray explosion from a stupid robot and he could be done for. Peter shut his eyes to try and shut everything out.

A pipe burst somewhere above him and he flinched, eyes shooting open. The mass of destroyed rubble shifted, some of it coming down farther, closer to him, and he crossed his hands over his chest --- groaning when his left arm positively throbbed but at least he was ready to hold something up in case it fell. 

A few seconds later, something did fall. It was water, and it was freezing. His whole body felt like he’d dipped it into an icy pond, even though the water coming down was barely more than the sprinklers at school he’d set off on accident during chemistry.

“Peter, you still there? Karen won’t give me a read on your condition.”

So he’d tried, Peter thought to himself as he instructed Karen to unmute. “I think some of her sensors were damaged when I--- uh, took the hit.” He craned his neck back when water sloshed onto his face. He was starting to shiver and his awareness seemed to be ebbing. “Are you guys almost, uh, almost done?”

“Just about, underoos,” Mr. Stark said, and Peter couldn’t even find the energy to be embarrassed about the nickname. “Hang tight.”

Haha. “Not like I have a choice,” Peter mumbled to himself.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Just let me know when you are on your way, okay?”

His voice was quieter than he’d meant, and Mr. Stark seemed to hesitate over the comms, like he should notice something, but the man didn’t. Peter sighed in short relief, almost grateful that the man didn’t know enough to call his bluff.

Peter had stopped sending voicemails to Mr. Stark’s phone a long time ago, especially after the Vulture incident (which he quickly put out of his mind before he lost it again.) Peter barely went over to the Avengers Compound. He only went over with Happy when there was an actual mission and when that was the case, he didn’t have a chance to say much to his mentor. So that was that.

Peter tried to doze off if only to muffle his torrent of thoughts, but every time he let his guard down, his enhanced senses picked up some sound that sent pure panic racing through him. The water had stopped after a while, but Peter was already wet --- so much so that he didn’t know which parts of him were bloody and which were just rained on. 

“How long ‘as it been, Karen?” Peter whispered, shifting and wincing when broken glass dragged on his back. 

“Twenty-seven minutes, Peter,” came her soft reply, and Peter nodded to himself dazedly.

Not much longer, then. Or at least he hoped. Over the comms which he kept forgetting to stay tuned in to, the sounds of the battle seemed to be dying. If Mr. Stark had found the source of the bots like he’d claimed, it had to be drawing to a close. 

Maybe fifteen minutes later, Peter had just found the closest thing to sleep that he could under the circumstances when Mr. Stark let out a victorious whoop. Peter shifted, hope sharpening some of the senses that had been dulled with the growing exhaustion pulling at his eyelids.

“You did it?” he asked, coughing a little after.

“Yeah,” Mr. Stark confirmed with a breathy, battle-worn laugh. “They’re disabled.”

Peter sighed in relief, but carefully, because any movement --- even breathing --- hurt. His left arm had stopped burning, had settled into a tame throb. His legs were numb from the cold but he could feel his toes so he attributed the numbness that drenched him from his chest down to the rust-smelling water.

“--Underoos? You there?” Mr. Stark was asking before Peter even realized he’d zoned out. He was in worse shape than he thought he was. Maybe because he knew he could finally get out of the suffocating pocket of dusty air he’d been trapped in for the better part of the last hour. “Peter? Spider-Man?”

Peter coughed. “What? Yeah, I’m still here.”

“Well, Karen isn’t telling me anything, kid. You sure did a number on her, huh?”

There it was again. That subtle edge of concern that Peter wasn’t sure was real. “You could say that.”

“We’re heading back,” Rhodey said into the comms. “Where are you down at, Spider-Man?”

“Uh, the building. The one that fell, I’m---” The building shifted and Peter’s heart nearly broke free of his ribcage. “Be careful, uh, I’m under it.”

If he hadn’t heard the sharp inhale that followed, Peter would have sworn that the comms had broken what for the way it went silent. Peter tried not to be embarrassed but even in his rapidly deteriorating state of consciousness, he recognized that he had severely messed up in letting himself get taken down --- and like this, of all ways.

“Peter--- Kid, what---” Mr. Stark choked out. He raggedly cleared his throat. “Where are--- nevermind, Friday, track--- yeah, okay--- hold on, kid, I’m coming. Just hang on, alright?”

Peter nodded to himself, breathing hard. “I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for,” Mr. Stark said quickly. “Rhodey, are you---?”

“On your right, Tones,” Rhodey said tensely, voice hard. 

Peter would have flinched if he wasn’t so afraid to move. The colonel seemed pissed --- at Peter? He set his jaw and closed his eyes. He had acted like a complete idiot. If it wasn’t bad that he hadn’t managed to escape the collapsing building in time, he had lost his crap in the dark and probably all of Mr. Stark’s trust.

He thought of the first time he’d met Rhodey, that first fight with Mr. Stark after things with the Vulture and Liz had settled down --- 

“Tony, remind me. Who is this guy again?” 

“He’s good; a good kid. Like an intern of mine, except he’s jacked.”

“Mr. Stark, really---?”

“You know it’s the truth, kid. Anyways, I’m showing him the ropes but he can handle his own. We can trust him, Rhodey.”

“You can, Colonel Rhodes, I swear---”

“Hm,” Rhodey had said, disbelieving. “It’s just Rhodey, Spider-Man.” To Tony: “Can I at least get a name?”

“Uh, well, he actually---”

“It’s Peter, Mr. Rhodes sir.”

“Kid, really? I thought you said---”

“I thought you said I can trust him?”

“I did--- you can--- of course you can, I---”

“It’s still Rhodey, you can drop the mister. And how old---”

“Like I said, I’m just showing him the ropes.” 

Peter groaned and came back to the present when the rubble shifted, some of it falling down onto his face, crumbling and sliding against mask and he squeezed his eyes shut again---

“Is that you guys? Above me, is that---”

“We’re right here, Spider-Man,” Rhodey said reassuringly through the comms. “Just calm down. We’re almost to you.”

Peter nodded sharply even though he couldn’t see. He’d let himself panic, and now that they were close, he had to grit his teeth and get through it. Easier said than done.

The building shifted again --- worse than anytime before --- and he barely managed to hold back the terrified cry that threatened to leap out of his throat as a chunk of concrete the size of a watermelon dislodged from the unsteady ceiling above him and smashed down four inches away from his head. The entire building was groaning now, but the fear in Peter’s chest didn’t have a chance to spike before a metal-enclosed arm shot through the destroyed wall behind and above Peter’s head.

The Iron Man gauntlet.

For the first time since the building collapsed, Peter breathed. Or at least, he breathed easier. Above him were Iron Man and War Machine --- or was it the Iron Patriot now? Superhero politics were a mess and Peter didn’t want to exert brain power on anything other than getting the hell out of the pocket he was in. Either way, help had come.

“Mr. Stark,” he breathed, squinting violently through his mask as blinding daylight filled the space that darkness had just occupied. “Hey.”

Mr. Stark’s expression was shielded and stoney behind his helmet, but his voice betrayed the man’s relief. And maybe some anger that made Peter’s chest dry. “Hey yourself, kid. Ready to get out of here?”

Peter just nodded, gritting his teeth as the superheroes worked around him, carefully moving and stabilizing the rubble trapping him. 

“You’re a lucky kid,” Rhodey said softly, sounding like he was farther away than he was, like at the back of a subway tunnel. That must have just been Peter. “You couldn’t have landed in a better spot.”

“Thanks to Karen,” Peter mumbled, wishing he could raise an arm to cover his eyes. His headache was worsening. Unfortunately, his arm felt even worse and he didn’t have enough energy to get his unbroken one up anyways.

“Karen?” Rhodey hedged, like maybe he thought Peter had a head injury or something.

To be fair, he probably did, but Karen was very real. Definitely not a hallucination.

“His AI,” Mr. Stark cut in with a short laugh. “And no, I didn’t name it.”

“It’s a good name,” Peter insisted weakly.

“Huh.” Rhodey sounded like he didn’t know what to make of that.

As they cautiously worked, Peter didn’t know how to feel. He was tired --- so tired --- but at the same time was unwilling to let himself pass out until he was in the clear, and especially not in front of two of his heroes. 

Apparently his brain had other ideas. The thought of sleep had just barely crossed his mind when his eyelids started to droop. The fog from before was back, flooding his brain. Except instead of making everything cottony and jumbled, he felt relaxed. The exhaustion was crashing and so was his will to stop it.

“Hey, I think I’m gonna…”

He passed out.

-+-

The first thing Peter registered when the darkness in his brain thinned was the sound of voices, nearby and angry but hushed. He knew a whisper fight when he heard it and decided against opening his eyes; that seemed like too much work anyways in the warmth of… wherever he was. The notion that he was most likely in the Medbay of the Compound comforted him, but the two people arguing quietly did not.

“---what the hell were you thinking?” That sounded like Colonel Rhodes, or--- just Rhodey. Right. He’d almost forgotten. Rhodey sounded ragged. “A kid? And how old? Sixteen?”

“You knew he was a kid---”

“I knew he was young,” Rhodey whisper-snapped back. “It’s not like I had more than his name to go off of---”

“It’s better than it looks, okay?”

“I just pulled a kid from a collapsed building,” Rhodey heaved. “What could make that better?”

“You think I wanted him to do this?” Mr. Stark’s voice was rising, and Peter almost winced. “I don’t need a genius IQ to know that it’s dangerous. But he was a superhero before I was in the picture, Rhodey. I couldn’t keep Peter off the streets if I tried, okay? And I tried.” He let out an exhausted laugh. “I did try, okay? I’m doing the best I can. I’m helping him out. Taking him under my wing. It’s better than leaving him to his own devices. At least if he gets hurt or needs help, I can help him.”

There was a pause before finally, “This is insane.” 

“Don’t I know it,” Mr. Stark breathed. “You should have seen the first suit he had. Glorified pajamas, I’m telling you.” 

A pause and Peter didn’t know if he should open his eyes and let them know he was awake or keep listening. It only took Rhodey to angrily burst, “And what the hell was he thinking?” to convince him to stay “asleep.”

“He’s a good kid,” Mr. Stark answered. “He wanted to help people---”

“Not that,” Rhodey snapped, barely managing to keep quiet, as if it mattered anymore. “Why didn’t he call for us, huh? Jesus, he just stayed under there for… how long? Forty-minutes? An hour?”

Mr. Stark didn’t say anything, just let the tense silence pass.

“He could have died,” Rhodey said finally. “He almost did. Christ.” Another pause, a little longer than the last ones, and Peter swore they were looking at him. “Really needed to scare me half to death, didn’t you kid?”

They were definitely looking at him.

“Come on,” Mr. Stark muttered quietly. “Let’s go. I’ll check on him, later, okay?”

“Sure.”

“And we should probably get you something to drink,” Mr. Stark mused as they walked farther away. “Maybe a coffee?”

Rhodey scoffed out a laugh. “I think I need a Xanax.”

They both laughed, easier, and a door snicked shut right as the room went silent again.

Peter wanted to open his eyes, but he’d gotten too comfortable. Warmth was wrapped around him, dragging him down down down until he barely remembered what he was trying to think about.

By the time Peter drifted to consciousness, he was done with being tired. That wasn’t to say he was energetic, but when he came to, he wanted to stay awake. Wanted to figure things out now while he had the chance and hopefully, he realized with growing dread, avoid the wrath of Aunt May.

Opening his eyes underneath the bright lights of the stark room he was in was almost worse than opening them when the rubble around him had first been shifted to make way for blinding sunlight. He blinked rapidly as he waited for his brain to filter out some of the brightness.

It didn’t happen. Or at least, it wasn’t happening quickly.

Peter tentatively tried to sit upright (maneuvering around his newly-casted left arm) as a headache pulsed at the middle of the back of his skull, free hand reaching out to find a call button or something. The assault on his eyes was so bad that he couldn’t think straight. He always forgot how bad his senses got right after long battles, and this one had certainly been long. 

Peter whipped his head up when he saw a flash of movement towards the approximate door shape. It was a head, bent and peeking through the doorway. As soon as Peter got a look at the face, the silhouette stepped into the doorway.

“Mr. Stark?” Peter croaked in confusion. “What---”

“Just checking in,” Mr. Stark said quickly, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Good thing I did, huh? What’s wrong?”

“Lights,” Peter managed. “Can you turn them down?” Realization crossed Mr. Stark’s face. “Ah, dialled to eleven right? Friday, lights.”

The AI responded instantly, but not verbally. The lights immediately dimmed, and Peter relaxed. The headache was already fading, but the rest of his pain wasn’t. Peter shouldn’t have gotten so worked up, because he hadn’t wasted a thought on wha moving around might do to aggravate his injuries.

And aggravate his injuries he had. Peter winced as pain flared in his arm --- casted or not --- his knuckles, his legs, and his back. His back was probably torn to shreds because of the glass. His whole body hurt, now that he stopped to think about it, but mainly in a few spots.

Peter didn’t complain --- he’d take the pain to being stuck under a building any day --- but he didn’t have to say anything for Mr. Stark to read him like a book. The man’s face pulled with sympathy.

“I have a doctor working on synthesizing pain meds for you,” Mr. Stark told him, easing into a plush-backed chair near Peter’s fancy hospital bed. “But we had to give you some of, uh, Steve’s for now.”

Peter nodded, toying with the sheet draped over his lap. “Where am I, again?”

“The Medbay in my tower---”

“Your tower? I thought---”

“I didn’t tell you?” Mr. Stark asked curiously, cocking his head. Peter shook his head minutely. “I bought it back. Figured if I was going to be your mentor and all I should have a base, with a Medbay of course, nearby.”

Peter blinked. “You bought the tower back to help me?”

Mr. Stark shrugged, almost managing to look nonchalant. “Good thing I did. Didn’t think I’d need the Medbay so soon though, to be honest.” He glanced back at Peter with a hint of a smile.  “It’s mostly office now. I kept my penthouse though, for you if you ever need to drop by. And the Medbay too, in case you ever get webbed up over your head.”

Peter blinked again when he heard that nugget of information but he managed to put his shock aside and ask hesitantly, “So, uh, what happened? After I, uh---”

“Passed out?” Mr. Stark finished, face darkening a hint. “Rhodey and I managed to get you out. Think you gave us about three heart attacks though when we got a good look at you.” He paused and raised an eyebrow. “Three each.”

Peter dropped his gaze. “He’s mad at me.”

“You heard that? Well, you’re kind of right. But he’s not mad at you because you messed up or whatever is going through your noble brain right now. Actually, I’m a little peeved too. So tell me.” Peter glanced up with a grimace. “Why didn’t you say anything? I know your comms were working.”

“I, uh, well…”

“Well?”

“I didn’t want to bother you guys,” Peter blurted, eyes widening when he read on Mr. Stark’s face that that was the Wrong Answer. “Uh, I mean there was only two of you with me down and there was like way too many robots for you to handle so I figured--- okay, so maybe I should have said something.”

“Right answer, kid,” Mr. Stark said, but his voice was a little tight. “Alright, second question.”

“Oh, jeez.”

“What did you mean by ‘not again?’”

Peter froze. “What?”

“You woke up for a minute,” Mr. Stark began lightly. “After you first passed out. You were muttering that phrase. ‘Not again.’ And you were talking about Toomes…?” Peter’s mouth was too dry to get a word out. “You were talking about the plane, right? The plane. Peter?”

“I guess I never told you about that night, huh?” Peter said weakly after he managed to find his words. “Toomes uh, he… well. He dropped a building on me.” 

He tried for a laugh and fell short. As if he could ever laugh about that. But the last thing Peter wanted to do was tell Mr. Stark about it. About how helpless he’d been. About how he’d screamed himself hoarse calling for someone that wasn’t there. About how bad he’d let himself fall apart when he was alone. 

“It turned out okay. I got out and followed him and took down the plane and well, you know the rest.” There was silence again that Peter hurried to fill. “It was okay though,” he reiterated. “I guess it happening again just was… too much.”

Peter wondered how many other people had managed to render Tony Stark speechless. Probably not a lot. 

Mr. Stark blinked, like a lot, before finally saying, “What part of you getting a building dropped on you is okay? You know what, scratch that. Why didn’t you tell me? Who were you trying to save by keeping it in, anyway?”

“Well, it’s not like you made it easy,” he found himself almost-snapping defensively. “I thought you hated me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Mr. Stark said slowly. “But we’re changing things up, alright? I don’t want you to think you can’t tell me if you are literally dying so we’re going to do something about that. After you get better, of course. I can’t be passing on any of my bad habits.” He stood up, brushed imaginary dust off his thighs and headed towards the door.

Peter found himself straightening. “You’re leaving me here?”

Mr. Stark spun around. “Nope. Just stepping out to call your aunt---”

“You didn’t call my aunt yet?! She’s going to kill me,” Peter moaned.

“---and then I’m thinking we get to talking about an internship. Okay?”

“As long as you tell Aunt May that I physically could not text her, and therefore I should not be lectured for not checking in, then I think an internship would be, like, super cool Mr. Stark,” Peter said, beaming. “Thank you.”

“Your message will be relayed,” Mr. Stark answered, before his face became serious. “And can you drop the Mr. Stark now? Tony’s fine.”

Peter tilted his head, his brain flashing back to that time in Happy’s car with Mr. Stark. He couldn’t resist it.

“Thank you but, uh, I don’t think we’re there yet.”

Mr. Stark’s face dropped into an unimpressed scowl faster than a neuron firing off, making it more than worth it. Feeling like he was floating on clouds, and more relaxed than he’d been probably ever, Peter laughed.

[12yeahiminluvwu]

A Little Bigger Now (Alt. Scenario)

pairing - Rudy Pankow x Little Sister!Reader

summary- Rudy comes to pick you up from a party when he catches wind that you’re a little tied up...

word count- 1.18k

warning(s)- implied sex, swearing, mentions of underage drugs/alcohol usage, protective older brother, probably some typo(e?)s, shitty writing :)

Rudy’s Little sister pt.4!!! I’ve gotten quite a few requests for another one, so I thought this one would be fun :) I hope y’all like it! 

masterlist 

series list

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

Your ears buzzed at the feeling of the bass booming throughout the crowded living room you had been sucked into. Bodies crashed around like wild animals to the beat of the music, everyone lost in the moment, drunk and high off of pure teenage ecstasy. You didn’t quite remember how you ended up here, at this party, with your friends and your boyfriend. Nonetheless, here you were, dancing and drinking, having the time of your life. 

“Baby, let’s go upstairs…” Your boyfriend whispered from behind you. You could feel his smirk on your neck as your body grinded into his, creating a friction you had never felt before. You nodded to him and led him up the stairs, disappearing into the night. 

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

Rudy pulled up to the house and sighed, knowing it would take him a while to find you. Walking into the living room, his eyes scanned the crowd, thinking maybe he’d get lucky and you’d be sitting right there. You were nowhere to be seen, only fueling his frustration. 

One of our friends had accidentally called him, asking if you were with him because she couldn’t find you, resulting in him getting worried and coming to find you himself. 

He found your friend sitting at the kitchen counter with a drink in her hand, laughing amongst other people. 

“Hey, have you seen y/n?” He yelled over the music, making sure she’d be able to hear him. Looking over, she shook her head, then continued her drunken conversation that didn’t make any sense to him at all.

Your brother resorted to showing people a picture and asking if they’d seen you. After many “Nah man, haven’t seen her’s”, and “no but could I get her snap?’s” he finally found someone who recognized you. 

“Yeah man, saw her walk upstairs with some dude!” The person said. His eyes widened at their words. 

“Wait what? She went upstairs with someone?” He asked and they nodded, turning away and going back to dancing. 

Rudy knew exactly what that meant. He also knew you were very drunk, or at least he thought so. That’s how your friend made it seem… So he rushed upstairs, hoping to find you before it was too late. As he rounded the corner of the upper hallway, you could be seen slipping out of a room, hair a mess and clothes disheveled like they’d been ripped off. 

“Y/n!” He yelled, rushing to you, pushing through the people that had gathered upstairs. Your head shot up at the sound of your brother’s voice echoing through the hallway. 

“Fuck…” You whispered to yourself, smoothing out your messy clothing to the best of your ability and trying to come up with an excuse that your brother would actually believe. He came to a quick stop in front of you, immediately checking you for any injuries you might have. 

“Are you ok? What happened? Are you sober? What happened in there? Are you ok?” He rushed out in one breath, overwhelming you even more than the party had. 

“Rudy, I’m fine… What are you doing here? And yes, I’m sober, for the most part…” You said, swatting his hands away from you and taking a step back to try and catch your breath. 

“Your friend called and said she couldn’t find you so I thought you were in trouble, so I came to find you… What were you doing upstairs… alone in a room with someone?” He asked, eyebrows perked. Your face flushed and suddenly any excuse you had conjured up to try and get out of this situation went out the window. You had never been good at lying to your brother. 

“Uhh, I- I was… you know… hangin’ out. With a friend. Yeah, a friend. We were just, hangin’ out…” You stuttered out, capped by a sheepish smile, desperately trying to get out of telling your brother what you had actually just done. He was quiet, processing what you had just word vomited at him. Your hand began to sweat, in anticipation of what he was going to say. 

It started to sink in that he knew what you were doing, but he wanted you to say it. 

“You were hanging out… with a friend…” He repeated and you nodded, too quickly for it to be believable. 

The look in his eyes was prying. Your breath caught in your throat at the thought of even saying it in front of your brother. He’d never talked about it with you, you had never talked about it with him, and you’d like to keep it that way. 

“Y/n…-” 

“Ugh, Rudy you don’t want to hear what happened in that room ok, just drop it!” You finally said and his eyes widened. Ok, maybe he didn’t know… Or he did but he didn’t think it was actually true. Who knows. 

“You… like right before this? Like, in there?” He asked and you nodded slowly. 

“Gross.” 

“Oh shut up, don’t act like you don’t!” You defended yourself, pushing his shoulder. He turned away, grabbing your hand in the process and started walking down the hallway. 

“Where are we going?” You asked, having to yell as you got into the living room to be heard over the music. 

“I came all this way, I’m not gonna come all the way back to pick you up. Let’s go!” 

“Ugh, Rudy, I wasn’t ready to leave yet!” He turned around, looking you straight in the eye. 

“Y/n, I just found out that my baby sister had sex, and has probably had it before tonight too. I need to get out of here and process this information. So please, let’s go!” Heat rushed to your cheeks once again and you sighed, realizing you just dropped a bomb on your brother. You followed him out to his car and got in quietly. 

“You’re not mad are you?” You asked after a while. Before now, your eyes hadn’t left the road in front of you, but now they shifted to your brother in the driver’s seat. You saw him shake his head. 

“I can’t be mad y/n, I was the same age when I lost my… you know. But it just shocked me because I didn’t realize how grown-up you were getting… I thought you were always gonna be my little sister, but you’re not little anymore,” You saw him tilt his head back, as if he was trying to hold in tears. You felt your eyes well with tears at the thought of making your brother cry.

“Oh, Roo I’m always gonna be your little sister… I’m just a little bigger now…” You said, reaching over to grab his hand. He latched tightly onto you and didn’t let go until it was time to get out of the car. He came around the car and wrapped his arms tightly around you, swaying the two of you back and forth for a few minutes. 

“Don’t get any bigger ok?” He said and you nodded, laughing as the two of you walked up to your apartment.

-----

@deathcompass

[lassieposting]

Vile/Mevolent for the last ship ask? 😘

Who starts most fights?

At the start of their relationship, it's Vile like a solid 70% of the time - he's got a hair-trigger temper and it's practically impossible to tell what will set him off. That's one of the things Mevolent initially finds exciting - Vile is unpredictable, and the sporadic explosions of temper keep things interesting.

After a few hundred years, though, he's more than used to Vile's tells, and at that point it's more likely to be Mevolent noticing the prickly atmosphere and the general spikiness and the agitated shadows and being like, "Good gods, what, I can feel you sulking from here."

Who surrenders at the end of most fights?

If it's a physical fight, it varies. One of the first things Mevolent liked about Vile, one of the first things they bonded over, is that he's strong enough to take Mev in single combat. It's incredibly refreshing to have a sparring partner who's a) a challenge and b) not afraid to try and fucking end you. A lot of their fights get worked out physically, so it's really a toss of the dice as to who comes out on top - who's having a bad day, who's got a healing injury, who's more upset or distracted.

Who is more likely to cry during a fight?

Neither of them are really upset/frustrated criers. They don't? Really cry at all, tbh, unless they're injured and like, can't help it.

Who is more likely to storm out during a fight?

Mevolent, when he's not in the mood to physically fight it out. Usually accompanied by an air-assisted door slam and an "I can't stand you sometimes," or an "I can't deal with you when you're like this."

Who is louder in fights?

Mevolent. Vile's stutter comes back under stress, so if anything he shuts down during arguments and mostly expresses anger through his magic - sharp shadows, power surges, throwing furniture, that kind of thing.

Who is more likely to throw things in fights?

Vile. Both of them will throw things in a fight, but Vile is also more likely to just. Demolish rooms to get the anger out.

Who is more likely to bring up past mistakes?

Vile, to devastating effect, but it's rare. Ultimately, this is his trump card when Mevolent gets frustrated over how unreasonable he's being or how the latest explosion came out of nowhere. You signed my death warrant, you let him torture me, you're the reason I'm like this. It's a sore subject for both of them, and even Vile - who's notoriously temperamental - only really uses this as a last resort, when he feels cornered.

Who is more likely to give the silent treatment?

God, lbh, if both of them were into giving the silent treatment they'd fight once and never speak again. Vile is practically a selective mute. Mevolent can Silent Treatment so effectively he can tune out Skulduggery infodumping for eight hours straight. But they're not really the couple who drags fights out - they build up, they explode, and very quickly they go back to normal.

Who is more likely to blame the other?

Both of them, outwardly. They're both traumatized wrecks with bad childhoods who never really mastered healthy communication, and when they're confronted with conflict, they lash out at whoever they're fighting with. They'll both be furious at the other one for starting shit until they've calmed down.

Who is more likely to blame themselves?

Both of them, inwardly. Mevolent has some weird not-quite-guilt going on around being the one who ordered Skulduggery's death - he doesn't regret it, because it was the smart move for his ultimate goal and he has no attachment to Skulduggery Pleasant. He's even happy he did it, because if he hadn't, Vile wouldn't exist. But he does care for Vile, and he doesn't enjoy seeing him hurt, and this does hurt him. He still has nightmares about the torture, still vividly remembers being burned alive, and there's nothing Mevolent can do to change it, and that bugs him.

On Vile's side, he doesn't really understand why he is the way he is and he 100% blames himself for being like that. He doesn't understand why his temper is so explosive and unpredictable, he doesn't understand why sometimes he just has to fight someone, anyone, no matter who it is, because he feels like he'll burn up from the inside if he doesn't. He knows he used to be better at hiding how angry he is all the time, he knows he used to be able to compartmentalise better, he knows that a lot of the time he's not really angry at Mevolent specifically, he's just lashing out at whoever's closest. He's a breathing, walking ball of trauma - a psychiatrist would have a field day with him - but he doesn't know what's going on, only that there's something wrong with him that he doesn't know how to fix.

Who gets jealous more easily?

At the beginning, it's Mevolent for sure - he's a man who always wants the shiny new toy, and someone as powerful and vicious as Vile is a toy he doesn't want anyone else to get to play with. He knows Vile isn't interested in the religious aspect of his cause, he knows he's a heathen - so he puts a lot of effort at first into like, almost courting him to make sure he's invested enough not to defect to someone else's army - the Sanctuary could win the war with him, the Necromancers could re-enter the fray and become a real threat with him at the helm. It's in Mev's best interests to make sure Vile doesn't want to leave, and he hates the idea of someone taking his new toy away.

After they catch Feelings, though, it's Vile. He's clawed back a tiny little bit of happiness and nobody is gonna touch it this time. He's incredibly territorial, and he's the type to kill first and ask questions later.

Who is angered more easily?

Vile. Mevolent is, for an insane genocidal warlord who worships eldritch evil gods, actually pretty chilled out and reasonable. It's one of the reasons he's so good with Vile in the first place - Vile picks up on the negative emotions of people around him, like all Necromancers, and because he's so powerful, he's very sensitive to little shifts in the level of emotions that appeal to his magic - fear, anger, etc - and they fuck with his mood. Mevolent isn't afraid of him, and he doesn't get angry easily, so Vile himself is actually a lot calmer around him.

Who is more likely to break off the relationship?

They both think it's the other. As far as Mevolent is concerned, he needs Vile more than Vile needs him. Vile is his not-so-secret weapon, the living, breathing nuclear bomb who's winning him the war. He was losing before Vile came to his side, and he's smart enough to know that if Vile ever got it in his head to walk away and go back to being Skulduggery Pleasant, he'd probably start losing again.

From Vile's side, he hates himself. He doesn't see himself as loveable or worth fighting for. He goes after the competition mercilessly because he's terrified of someone better coming along - someone less scarred and less difficult or more powerful - and Mev losing interest to go after the New Thing. He doesn't really understand why Mev is fond of him in the first place, only that he wants to keep it that way.

Who is more likely to threaten to leave?

It's less Vile threatening to leave and more Mevolent calling his bluff. Like, oh, well, if you hate being around me so much, I could recall Vengeous and send you to fight the insurgents in Tanzania for a few years, how about that? Or you could go home? Go ahead, go back to whatever's left of your friends.

Vile hasn't left yet. And Mev never really wants him to.

Who is more likely to actually leave?

Vile. The palace is Mevolent's, the city is Mevolent's, Vile even moved into Mevolent's quarters rather than the other way around. Mev isn't going to be the one moving out if they have a row. He lived here first, damn it.

Who is more likely to forget the other first?

Probably Vile by virtue of being capable of a whole new level of repression. It's how he deals with a lot of his trauma. He doesn't, for example, remember much about Skulduggery's family. He remembers they existed, he remembers that at some point he was that person who cared about them, maybe as much as he cares about Mevolent. But if you asked him to describe them, or what Skulduggery loved about them, or the last thing they said to him, he wouldn't be able to remember. Likewise, he's blotted out a lot of the details of the three days he spent with Serpine because they're just? Too much. He can't handle that and also be with Mevolent. It's a mess. So if a breakup was traumatic enough, he'd probably protect himself the same way.

[bichlordstories]

8: training turns south...

Training wasn’t hard for you, all you had to do was figure out what needed to be improved and then improve it.

It was working with others that wasn’t easy and reading boring textbooks.

More specifically, it was hard dealing with the silver haired prick, Tetsutetsu. One one hand, he does try to work with you, but on the other, his temper makes him flip flop between being tolerable to being a nuisance.

Unfortunately, you didn’t really have a choice.

You knew Sekijiro-sensei was forcing you and the guy to train with one another in a training exercise outside on the field. Although the man didn’t say it outright, you knew he was trying to get you to open up and... bond? With the guy.

“Hit me with your best shot!!!!” Tetsutetsu yelled.

You scowled at the teen and charged him while he charged you back. He wasn’t hard to move around and punch, it was just the fact that his stupid quirk kept him from bleeding.

He quirk turned him into a living metal statue, taking in your blows better than he would without his quirk.

He was the only one in the class that could land some good hits on you and stay standing long enough. He had a higher percentage of being able to take you down.

How did he know this?

Well, he had you bruised up and panting, sometimes collapsing to one knee.

However, the longer the two of you fought, the weaker his metal got... and the stronger you got.

You thought you were pushing your limits when training by yourself, but this reached a whole other level. Due to Tetsutetsu being a challenge, you were breaking new limits you didn’t know were there.

Now, you were discovering something new about yourself, and that was how long you could go against an opponent...

And how more aggressive you get.

As time passed, you grew more and more angry and unpredictable. Your movements became more rapid and you started losing your rhythm.

Tetsutetsu was growing fatigue due to using his quirk for far to long and soon found himself becoming less immune to your punches. Your blood was covering most of the ground and you. Your sweat glands practically squirting out blood.

By now, everyone stopped what they were doing and watched in morbid curiosity and awe at the display.

You were reaching a new height.

A new level.

And unfortunately, like a fledgling flying for the first time, you were losing control.

You uppercut the silver haired teen, sending him in the air a couple feet before he collapsed on the ground. He was no longer moving, clearly unconscious and his quirk deactivated, leaving bruised, pale skin behind.

He was no longer the threat, in your eyes.

But everything else was.

“That was amazing!” Pony exclaimed with a clap of her hands.

Her voice and the sudden clapping sound made you snap your head in her general direction.

Your teeth were bloody and bared and you slowly began approaching her and the brown haired kid next to her. She didn’t even realize the danger she was in as well as a few others, though some could see what was about to happen.

When you were within 10 feet of her, you launched yourself towards the girl with a bellowing war cry. Luckily for the foreigner, a large body made its way in front of her and took the blow to the gut.

Vlad King let out a sharp exhale and stumbled back a bit, bumping into the poor girl before engulfing you into a bear hug.

“Get Aizawa in here, NOW!!!” He yelled and pushed you back enough to let Pony and Kaibara escape.

Kendo ran into the building, leaving the rest to watch in abject horror. Ibara pulled Tetsutetsu’s unconscious body with her hair towards the group and hid him behind them with the help of her classmates.

“The rest of you stay back, I-“ before he could finish, you gut punched him two times and forced him off his feet.

The man quickly used his quirk, engulfing you in a bloody cocoon. You snarled and growled, struggling to get the man’s hardened blood off of you while Vlad scrambled up and pinned you to the ground.

You twisted in his grip, snapping your teeth at him and nearly slipping from his grip. He held you steady, looking down at your enraged expression.

“(L/n), you need to calm down. Deactivate your quirk. Now.”

The adrenaline pumped harder than before, heart racing fast, and muscles tending to the point of pain. Your mind was completely gone, relying purely on instinct, and having your teacher telling you to calm down did not help at all.

“Sekijiro-san!” A voice called.

The man didn’t look up to see who it was, already knowing the boisterous voice belonged to All Might. Aizawa stood behind, still covered in bandages.

The blonde man rushed over and helped to hold your head down, surprised by the fight you put up.

“Are they restrained enough?” Aizawa said in a serious tone.

You snarled at the blonde for holding your head tight, getting blood all over his hands and wrists.

Within seconds, your quirk began to weaken. Blood no longer pumping through your body at a fast rate. It was as though you took a high quality chill pill that took away all your stress and worries.

Your body grew limp and your eyes grew heavy. You couldn’t stop sleep from taking hold of your body, and you stared blankly up at the sky for one last time before closing your eyes.

“Just what the hell was that?”

Sekijiro winced at the scruffy man’s tone. You were currently resting at the nurses, recovering from low iron levels, dehydration, and the filling of your lungs.

Toshinori stood at the coffee maker in silence, listening to the conversation.

“They just... lost it. They never did this before. Sure, they have a temper, but their actions are always directed at the people who got on their bad side.”

In front of the two men sat the principal of UA, Nezu.

He held a file in his paws, reading through it before placing the file down and turning it toward Sekijiro.

“Their quirk heavily involves adrenaline and aggression. Seeing something like today hasn’t been mention before, I would have guessed that this is something new.” The mouse chimera said.

“Kids have discovered new things about their quirks inside and outside of school, either by strengthening themselves or something else. Either way, in most cases, it’s on accident.” He placed his paws together.

“So the kid is the embodiment of a ticking time bomb? Tch, troublesome.” Aizawa muttered the last part under his breathe.

“Hm? What do you mean?” Nezu cocked his head.

“That kid has apparent anger issues. Unlike the kid in my class, Bakugou, (L/n) is more unpredictable.” He said before turning to Sekijiro.

“You said it yourself, they have physically harmed others, correct?”

“W-well, that’s just a little exaggerated, I mean, they haven’t necessarily beat someone up...” he tried to defend you.

“But today, they attacked you.” Aizawa stared bluntly.

“They... they aren’t sadistic. And they’re a good kid, I’ve seen how they act when they aren’t inconvenienced-“ he said but stopped when he felt he was getting nowhere.

“You’re getting attached, Sekijiro-san.” Aizawa stated.

Toshinori stared at his steaming black coffee but didn’t reach out to grab it. His body was ridged and he was ready to butt in at some point. A sigh rang into the air, catching the men’s attention.

“...but... I’ll admit that I do see something in them.” Aizawa muttered.

“They aren’t a bad person, but they are dangerous. It’s obvious that they don’t have complete control over their quirk, nor their behavior, so...” Nezu said before taking a sip out of his tea cup.

“Sekijiro-san, I’m going to need you to train with (L/n) during your tutoring. Help them blow off steam, redirect their aggression.” He said, earning a nod from the larger man.

“Mister Nezu.”

The two men and mouse turned to the deflated blonde.

“If they have another incident like this... will they be kicked from the program?” Toshinori asked, afraid of the answer.

“That would be last resort, Yagi-san. If they have another incident, we would have to put them into counseling.” Nezu said while waving this off.

“(L/n) isn’t someone we want to pass up on. They have great potential, they are astounding when it comes to combat... they could do better in math and writing... and they work well with others despite their antisocial traits.” Nezu clapped his paws together and stood up.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some tea to taste test.” The principal said and left the three men in the teachers lounge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nezu has his priorities straight!

Sorry about the short chapter... don’t worry though, it’ll get good, especially in the sports festival arc.

[warriorssurvivalandstuff]

Thinking about a non-bender Zuko AU that changes things up for the Fire Nation by a lot, Zuko is the one majorly altered to start a butterfly effect here but I haven’t written that much about him, actually. Full text with musings under cut.

Summary: Ozai yeets Zuko out of the palace, family, succession as he was a non-bender. Ursa manages to keep him somewhere relatively safe but they are still separated. Azula no longer has a punching bag that always distracts her mother from her and instead receives the blunt of the consequences from Ozai’s little show to usurp the throne, she is to capture the Avatar, a dangerous, time-consuming, and generally seen as impossible feat. Vehemently trained by her father and accompanied by her mother, the princess sets out on her mission. During so, she meets many faces, the Avatar, some old friends, and a mysterious figure wielding swords who seemed to defend both the Avatar’s team and her.

Major events/points:

Ozai casts Zuko out

Ursa finds somewhere to keep him safe, but cannot keep him close

Zuko is raised outside Ozai’s influence

Iroh goes to look after him after Lu Ten’s death

Zuko fully relies on his swordsmanship, trains under Piandao still with word from Iroh

Would join Aang probably due to Iroh

Azula is basically an only child

She has most of both Ursa and Ozai’s attention

Ursa is still troubled and kinda distant but is still significantly closer to Azula than canon

Ozai is always subtly distancing the two however

Azula is more learnt on compassion and empathy, but really it’s mostly just soft manipulation compared to always using fear

There would be genuine friendship with Mai and Ty Lee however I imagine

So Ozai makes his move to replace Iroh and Azulon orders to sacrifice Azula

Azula hears it and confides in Ursa, who is reminded of Zuko

Ursa confronts Ozai, simmering with all the repressed ferocity 

Ozai wouldn’t do anything permanent to Azula of course, she’s too valuable

He proposes to have Azula sent on some dangerous mission

Azulon sets the mission as hunting the Avatar, who had been missing for nearly a hundred years and is very able curbstomp a child even if found

Ozai manages to bargain for training time for Azula before the mission

Ursa all but demands to go with her

She can’t firebend iirc and Azulon is punishing Ozai so he allows it, believing she won’t make much of a difference

Ozai isn’t too happy but having Ursa to look after Azula would be favourable to her survival

He does make it clear to not try anything and makes it his task to tell Azula

Ozai and takes over Azula’s training for the period and his grooming intensifies, her time spent with Ursa is taken over by training

After some time, Azula and Ursa set off on their hunt 

Some time into the hunt, Zuko would get involved

He would probably not fit into any side initially and only show as the Blue Spirit

He is against the capture of the Avatar but will not let harm come to Ursa and Azula

Possible for Mai and Ty Lee to join her after Azulon’s death 

I do not have the motivation to get further.

First, Ozai makes good of his word and has him out. Ursa manages to keep him somewhere away, but safe, either secretly or not, Ozai would probably find out some time anyway. However I think as he sees Zuko as absolutely nothing, nothing immediate is done. He makes sure Ursa knows what he can do and uses the knowledge to threaten and blackmail her. She is kept in the palace to separate them and Zuko is raised by some old friends.

I don't know when or how non-firebenders can be determined with high certainty especially with pressure from Ozai so Zuko might fully remember or have hazy memories of his past, though clearly remembers his mother. The two scenarios would lead to rather different development for him so I won't comment too much, but I believe he would have been rather young when casted out and he would not have as much influence from Ozai as canon so act kinder from the start. At some point Iroh might get involved after losing Lu Ten, though it wouldn’t be direct, maybe through Piandao and White Lotus. Zuko would still pick up sword fighting and hone it even more without the ability to bend.

Back at the palace, Azula is now an only child. There's no competing for affections but Ursa is troubled and still distant with her daughter, not that Ozai want her too close to his prodigy child anyway. With that said, I do think Ursa would still manage to have observably more influence on Azula than canon. That or there's no one so heavily antagonised by Ozai like Zuko always being around, Ursa may fall somewhere close but canon Azula does have an attachment when really young to her mother, don't think it could be severed that easily. 

Most important part is when Ozai makes his move after Lu Ten dies, Azulon would have ordered to sacrifice Azula instead. Ozai had indeed casted his actual firstborn away but Azula excelled both mentally and physically, referred to as a true prodigy and so cannot be compared to Zuko’s case. Azula still eavesdropped and learns of the Firelord’s order, she knew no matter how much Ozai took pride in her abilities, he could not defy the Firelord. She sought comfort from Ursa and she is reminded of what happened to Zuko, then determined to protect Azula from harm. She is aware that Ozai might save his own skin over anyone, including his prodigy daughter and prepares to confront Ozai on the matter.

Ozai expected her and states that he values Azula upon her entrance, stopping the worst case scenario Ursa thought of. She skips to enquire him on any plan he has for Azulon’s order and Ozai’s reply was to have Azula in a situation the Firelord could take as as good as gone, which he suggests to be some sort of grand mission. [On the alternate options of Agni Kai and assassination, I feel Ozai would’ve gone for Agni Kai to challenge Azulon if he could, though he was bent on making Zuko’s life hell, being commanded to kill his own child and just taking it seems kinda weak. With an Agni Kai victory he might as well claim the throne as well. Assassination was suggested by Ursa in canon, which was a rather desperate option she resorted to with about only herself unwilling to let harm come to Zuko. We don’t really know if Ozai had considered that, wouldn’t put it past him to consider it before Ursa barges in with a hand. So it could be similar to canon and the two have Azulon dead, just Ozai would be the one to raise it most likely... But that’s boring and I need to have someone go after Gaang, I doubt Ozai/Iroh has any reason to chuck Zuko off to find the Avatar or that he would try to capture the Avatar himself.] Ursa contemplates the plan and their other options, then makes a condition that she would travel along Azula should the Firelord accept the proposal. Ozai tries to brush her off and talk her out but Ursa wouldn’t back down and makes points on how she would be useful. At last, Ursa is triumphant and Ozai decides that he would mould Azula before the long time that she’ll have to spend away, when Ursa is sure to sow her own beliefs on their daughter and he would not be able to tell Azula otherwise, Azulon would make sure they are to have minimal contact.

Azula would most likely hear the discussion as well, I haven’t thought up if this would cause much impact, she would probably make some suggestions to improve it if she could. Unsure if she has a strong enough opinion on Ursa coming along to talk about it.

Ozai and Ursa presents the proposal to Azulon the next day with the most convincing tone he could muster, Azula is to be sent on a mission away from the Fire Nation with the company of Ursa, with some time allowed for training prior. Lu Ten had died in battle, and there’s no reason to just throw someone skilled like Azula away for nothing, she could do to help Fire Nation’s conquest. Azulon accepts and states his conditions, he would set the goal, only a minimal crew as company, Ozai is not to communicate with her during the mission, training is to be overseen by Azulon etc. He had expected similar requirements and does not object, then Azulon drops the bomb by setting the goal as capturing the Avatar. [I don’t really know much about Azulon so I didn’t complicate things on his end. Avatar hunt is basically a wild goose chase, disappeared for about a hundred years with no hint of location and expected to be extremely dangerous, perfect for getting rid of someone.] The prince and princess had expected something along those lines, but still tensed at the impossibility of what the Firelord set. Regardless, they had got what they bargained for, and Ozai prepares Azula for ramped up training.

Azula is a quick learner and has talent, but Ozai and Azulon’s training is enough to burn even her out in just a few sessions. She is pushed to her limits, expected to master multiple forms simultaneously at quadruple normal speed for one. Ozai is already tough on Azula and does not shy away from potential non-permanent injuries, but Azulon seems like he’s straight up going to murder her at times. [Something like this: Lightning 101, after they tell her about conjuring lightning, Azulon charges up a lightning bolt and just fires at her general direction without warning, then Ozai interrupts it with a bolt of his own. Azula is then expected to know to counter it at the next blast.] Training also shortened the time she was to spend with Ursa beforehand, which he fully took advantage of, emphasising strength and power. When Ursa did not seem increasingly impressed by her quickly widened set of moves, Ozai would tell her to ignore her mother, not to seek from her and continue training with him. [Ursa does praise her, but kinda repetitive in wording... and she isn’t familiar with bending forms to notice new things. I can’t describe it clearly but to Azula, it seemed like she was saying for the sake of it, and more words just made it feel smothering.] Azula soon gains her signature blue flames and lightningbending, but also grew apart from her mother and closer to Ozai. 

Training allowance passed, Azula with Ursa is sent away on her hunt. I have not thought about basically anything that would transpire with her hunting Aang in place of Zuko and with Ursa instead of Iroh to temper her dedication to the throwaway quest. Ursa doesn’t consider the possibility of actually finding the Avatar and awaits for Azulon’s day but Azula does ponder it and genuinely looks for information. [Ursa would have picked up some extra skills to help with the hunt, mostly for defence, on top of herbalist knowledge. It would be funny if they come upon Aang right when Azulon dies. Ozai sends them the note that they can return and he instead gets their report of having found the Avatar. Though for storytelling, it might be better that he does so after the events of season 1. Unsure if Iroh would ascend to the throne in Ozai’s place in canon, he would probably stop the war then and there, and Ozai might challenge him and take the throne anyway.] No particular points of interest come to mind as this gets to the start of the show. Azula would no doubt be more effective and ruthless, and the Zhao rivalry that happened with Zuko would not happen, but something else.

Back to Zuko, he would first make appearance as the Blue Spirit [not definitely the same chronological events] then be revealed to Ursa later down the line. He would start on the Avatar’s side but be held back once he recognises Ursa. Afterwards he would probably harbour some resentment for his situation and confront her one day. Ursa tells him the whole story with an apology and Zuko tries to convince her to drop the Avatar mission. Ursa thinks it’s unlikely for Azula to change her mind but does what she can.

No clue what happens next.

[sourbat]

omg 17 feels so magnus/toki to me 8) if you wanna, of course!

Aw, thank you. Nothing like a dose of playful magtok to end the day :)

Tucking their hands beneath the other person’s shirt, just to watch them break the kiss and gasp in surprise at the sensation of cold/warm hands on their skin.

This took a slightly different path than intended, but hopefully it brings a smile. Thanks again for the request. 

Three hours after Magnus arrived at the luxury resort, some jackass came running into the lobby with a makeshift bomb, demanding that he see Dethklok or blow up the entire building. He and Toki didn’t catch wind of the event until making their way out of the elevator, intent on leaving the building for rush of the city, only to have the band’s manager and several hooded men warn them the entire resort was on lockdown for the next several hours.

Not willing to let one crazed fan get in the way of their fun, Toki took Magnus back to their shared room and forced him into a pair of swim trunks before dragging him down to the poolside. With the resort on lockdown, the massive cool area was more crowded than usual, and Manus used it as an excuse to not remove his shirt and remain comfortably situated by the poolside, reclined on top of a cushioned seat. In truth, Magnus didn’t care too much for the crowds, but there was no way in hell he would be caught dead shirtless, exposed in front of strangers and contrasted against his younger, more svelte half currently poised to take a dive. 

“Hey, Magnus!” Toki waved an arm up high in the air, catching the attention of Magnus and a small collection of onlookers who didn’t recognize him with goggles on. “Looks!”

Magnus lowered his sunglasses, right eye twitching until is adjusted, and quickly fixing in on Toki. “I’m looking,” Magnus repeated, voice dropping as his stare cast downwards, internally screaming at the streaming trails of cold, pool water dripping down Toki’s sculpted abdomen, making him glisten under the sunlight. Toki performed one final wave, earning a slightly strained smile from Magnus, then turned around to face the water. Back now turned, Magnus went ahead and slowly traced the indent of Toki’s spine before leading into a pair of dark swim trunks. His stare further narrowed as Toki’s back stretched into position. “Boy, oh boy. I’m looking.”

And Magnus liked what he was seeing.

No amount of jet lag or exhaustion could tear his eyes from Toki’s long, slender legs. Nothing short of having his good eye being gouged could tear him from that sculpted side profile, that wonderfully crafted abdomen and Toki’s sheer ignorance of the effect he had on him and others.

Toki took a dive, and though Magnus was at quite a distance, blinked and felt a chill settle as he watched and waited for Toki to resurface. He stared at the chlorinated pool water, grinning once Toki breached the surface and showed off his long, dark hair cling to his face, those long, flexible arms of his reaching to pull it all back and, in doing so, exposed that delectable set of muscles, shallow belly button and Adonis belt.

Just then, Toki sank underneath the water. With a kick of his legs, he jettisoned over to the edge of the pool, then resurfaced in front of Magnus.

Magnus pulled himself upright, enjoying how the water reflected the sun’s ray and gave Toki’s already glistening body a more otherworldly glow. “You look like you’re having fun.” 

Toki rested his arms on top of the marbled edge. “Comes swimmins with me!”

“Oh, well.” Magnus looked around the pool area. The crowds had admittedly started to dwindle. No big surprise seeing that it was getting close to lunch, and Magnus had caught a glimpse at what the buffet lines were offering before entering the poolside. It was also getting warmer, and Magnus knew they only had half an hour left before the sun became too much for him to handle with just an umbrella covering his top half. He really ought to join Toki. This was Toki’s day off, after all. Magnus let a hand slip over a button, but when he thought to remove it, felt his anxiety double and push against his chest. “Maybe later,” Magnus said, watching the side of Toki’s mouth slant into a disappointed, but understanding frown. “I’m still recovering. Jet lag.”

“Oh. Okays.”

Some time passed, and just as he predicted, it got too hot for comfort. Magnus grew tired of pretending to read, and looked around the poolside to locate and convince Toki that they return to their room. He couldn’t find the guy anywhere, at least not without doing a thorough search underwater, but he did see that the nearest poolside bar had no lines. Magnus checked the time, figured he could do for ten more minutes if booze was involved. A fancy mixed drink just might be the ticket he needed to get Toki back inside, and just the way he liked him: grabby, flirtatious and overly ticklish.

He left the seat and ordered two drinks, picking out a top shelf bourbon for Toki’s orange mint julep, and the second he mentioned the younger man’s name, had the two drinks awaiting him in only a few minutes. Magnus carried the cold drinks back to his chair and accompanying table, placing his down first before giving one auspicious glance at the fruity, refreshing scented drink.

“Whatcha doins?” A voice rang up behind him, startling Magnus and nearly causing him to spill the overpriced julep.

“Christ, man. You nearly gave me a heart attack,” Magnus complained, grabbing his shirt and watching Toki sink in reaction.  

“Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Magnus offered the glass to Toki. “Got you something,” he said, heart returning to a calm rhythm once Toki’s mouth parted, finger pointed at himself in disbelief at being offered any kind of gift. Fuck, if that wasn’t the cutest thing ever. Toki took the drink, cheeks rising into a perfectly pink smile as he brought the straw to his lips and sipped. The heat grew more pronounced as Toki swayed in place, cupping the glass and nursing a few more gulps and unassumingly awarding Magnus with glimpses of his drenched, flexible physique.

“This ams good!” Toki hummed a pleasing noise, rubbing the side of his face as he knelt to place his half-consumed drink next to Magnus’. Once finished, Toki stood up, took Magnus’ hand in his, and Magnus shivered against the cool, wet hand, and frightfully cold fingertips. Toki leaned forward, closing in the gap until Magnus could feel the evaporating pool water covering Toki now being to sprinkle across his face. And then, Toki grinned. Not his usual, opened-eyed or coy grin, but a mischievous snicker; one that harbored a tongue firmly pressed between his shiny teeth, and playfully luring Magnus closer.

“What’s this?” Magnus asked, letting his exhale shift into a mild chuckle as Toki dared to brush his wet face against Magnus’. The cold, wet hair made his entire left side shudder.

“Just thinkins about how I ams going to rewards you for the drinks,” Toki replied, lowering voice sending an exciting throb down Magnus’ abdomen.

No longer suffering from the lag, Magnus asked. “What’s my reward?”

Cool, wet minty-orange tasting lips smashed into Magnus’ thin grin, nearly causing him to stumble back, were it not for Toki’s generous hold. His nose flared, and he inhaled that scent of chlorine, sprinkled in with a bit of the refreshing mint and heat of the sun, and Magnus happily allowed himself to close his eyes and get lost in the sweet taste of Toki’s lips, the feel of the sun and Toki’s hand slowly riding up his arm. Should’ve got him a drink a while ago, Magnus privately mused, widening smile daring to end the kiss, and Toki fighting it with increasing vigor and possessive yearning.

Then, suddenly, a hand slipped under Magnus’ shirt, and shockingly cold, wet fingertips felt up his back. He hissed out a gasp, breaking the kiss as he stiffened, goosebumps springing up as Toki’s fingers continued to trail across his back. Startled, Magnus jumped back from the overwhelming sensation. In his mind, it was the perfect thing to do. With Toki snickering at him, it was the premeditated, totally rational thing to do. Anything to get away from the onslaught of cold, probing fingers. In his haste, Magnus failed to consider their positions, and it wasn’t until he tried taking another step back and realized his foot failed to touch land, did he remember that it was Toki whose back was towards the table, his to the pool.

Toki’s eyes turned wide and white. “Magnus!”

Toki grabbed Magnus by the wrist, yanking and barely stopping the older man from falling into the pool. There was a wet pop from his wrist, and it was more loud than painful; but otherwise, Magnus was safe. Another sharp yank, and Magnus slipped forward, straight into cold, wet arms.

“Fuck.” Magnus complained at the unwelcoming sensation, but a wet hug was far better than slipping and possibly cracking his head against the pool’s inner walls. Or just making a huge ass of himself. Both would have been equally humiliating for Magnus, though the constant Norwegian whispers uttered by a still frantic Toki suggested things could’ve been far worse. Hearing the skittish prattle made the hug feel less invasive, and after a few seconds, Magnus calmed Toki down with a returning embrace. “Thanks, man. You saved me.”

Toki nodded into Magnus’ shoulder. He continued murmuring, first in Norwegian, then in English told Magnus to be careful where he was jumping, and then finally settled into silence. Magnus pet Toki’s crown, waiting until he could no longer feel that racing heart beat against his own before dropping his hand to the side. “You can let go of me now.”  

Toki shuffled, pushing his face into Magnus’ shoulder. The grip around his waist tightened.

“Toki?”

Another squeeze. “Magnus?” Toki whispered into his ear. “Wants to go swimmins with Toki?”

Fear rattled up Magnus’ spine at the question. He grabbed an arm, only to feel it withdraw and strengthen its hold on him. Then, came the push, and Magnus felt his heart rate spike up, and he became painfully aware of his bare, wet feet, and the lack of friction he had compared to Toki’s strength and determination.

Magnus quickly glanced over his shoulder. “Toki, don’t you dare, he warned, then turned back to see Toki peering over his opposite shoulder, concentrating on devising what Magnus guessed would be a safe, shared dive into the pool. “Toki, I’m fucking seri–” Magnus started, but then shifted into a yelp that he just knew everyone around the damn pool heard once that same miserable slip from before returned, only now couple with the weight of an additional man pushing him into the sparkling depths. 

The last thing Magnus witnessed before hitting the water was Toki’s inquisitive, curious stare, followed by that once innocent, coy grin. Then, the cold blast. The defeaning fold as chlorinated water toppled over him. Once submerged, Magnus opened his eyes, and he saw the same, menacing profile circling around him, smiling and pushing bubbles through a satisfied grin while he bitterly sank to the bottom of the pool.

[hypnotica-ships]

3x3

So, thanks to some A+++ enabling from the discord server, I've decided to post my BNHA self insert fanfic. I haven't really talked about my insert, but I plan to sometime in the future, but for now I"ll leave ya'll in the dark.

This whole thing was made just to make me and my friends feel good and give us some much needed self indulgence.

Word Count- 1,550

Hypnotica- My S/I

Grafight- @fictional-characters-are-hot's S/I

Slasher- @alwayslovestruck's S/I

It's been 3 hours.

4 hours since the hero team Discorded was asked to help out with a capturing some drug smugglers.

3 1/2 hours since they found the drug den.

3 hours since Hypnotica sent in Grafight and Slasher to covertly search the place.

3 hours since he's heard a response.

It was a loud, shrill scream that made his blood go cold. Expecting the worst, he decided to find some loiters and use his quirk to get some backup.

After being only able to scour up 2 shadows for his mask alts to posses, he realized the longer he spends time looking for people, the more harm could come to his friends...*family*. Dolly, taking the form of a Harpy, and Dylan taking a shape of a Lion man, will have to do for backup. Hoping that it won't be needed, he finds an open window and heads into the den.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Look! They're opening the crates. That must be how they ship the quirk enhancing drugs."

"Slasher. I can't see shit, it's too dark in here and I don't have dope cat eyes like yo-....wait a sec..."

The younger of the heroes takes out a sketch book and quickly draws our some night vision binoculars and they suddenly 'pop' out into a physical object. After giving a thumbs up, in order to stay quite, Grafight uses the goggles.

"Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiit....that's a lot of powder. How the hell do they sell it all?"

Slasher just shrugs it off and continues watching the group of men, tail swaying as they do.

All of a sudden, all of the men stop moving. A few moments later they all turn to the gurder that the hero duo were perched on.

"Hey! Lookey here fellas, some new 'test subjects' to try the new mix on."

"Oh as if you'd even come close to touching us! You won't even get a chance to lay a finger on us. Right Grafight?"

"Right! Good luck fuckers!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Slasher! Grafight! What's going o-...."

"We won!'

Hypnotica was greeted by the sight of Slasher triumphantly standing with one foot on top of a human mound of passed out thugs while Grafight was looking over the crate of drugs, kicking one of the thugs that started move on the ground.

"Wha- Then who the hell screamed?!"

Grafight, grabbing the thug she kicked by his collar and threatening to punch him again.

"This guy did. I think he's like...the kingpin or something. Screams like a little bitch though."

"We managed to take these guys out super easily, like it was nothing! Can't believe they were talkin' smack like they could beat us..."

Still a bit shaken up from his worry, Hypnotica headed over to check out the crate. Noticing a strange metal box buried slightly underneath some of the drugs, he pulls it out and begins to question the kingpin about it.

"This your tracker? Is this the thing that you use to keep an eye on your 'supplies'?"

"You better answer. Grafight is pretty liberal with bodily harm."

Slasher says as she walks over to look at the box better, poking it with one of her claws.

"...it....it...he.....hehaha..."

"Punching time?" Grafight asks looking up at Hypnotica.

"Not yet. He needs to be conscious to answer our questions."

"Talk then, asshat."

"...doesn't matter....we....we were gunna..."

"Gunna what, idiot?!"

"d....die...die anways..."

"...Punch him Grafight."

Hypnotica grumbles while Dolly pried open the box with her talons.

"Gladly!"

"...I don't think he meant, like, *80 times Grafight...*"

Slasher now worriedly watches as the kingpin get's absolutely destroyed by fists.

"..."

Hypnotica seems frozen as he looks down at the box, unmoving, and holding his breath. Cocking her head, Slasher notices that somethings wrong with him.

"Hey....you alright big bro?"

"..."

Finally stopping her onslaught on the kingpin, Grafight looks over to Hypnotica.

"Cat got your tongue or something?"

Still not saying a word, Hypnotica turns the box so the others can see. In the box is a small glowing green tube with wires attached to it, there's also a countdown screen slightly below it. It's only got 3 seconds left on it.

As her tail drops, so does her heart, with only a few second to accept her fate Slasher meekly gasps as she starts to speak.

'Oh..'

'Shit'

Grafight finishes Slasher's thought, right before everything goes white.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sirens are blaring as the green mist clears from the rubble of what's left of the warehouse. Various bodies are strewn all about, policemen and EMTs were able to arrive on the scene fairly quickly. Not that it mattered, the damage was done. From the looks of everything, there was no survivors, all thugs and kingpin were either crushed by the rubble or suffered from some strange type of asphyxiation. Death seemed to encompass the area, until one of the EMTs discovered a lion like shadowy figure seemingly protecting a group of still breathing bodies. The figure soon dissipated leaving a strange mask in it's place.

The bodies were still alive, but barely, and they needed medical attention and fast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"-Sources say that the 'hero' team were incapable of apprehending the group and had to resort to extreme measures to stop the-"

"Horseshit! Why would we set off a bomb? We had it covered already, it wouldn't kill them to get their facts straight..."

"Calm down Gummybear, the doc said you shouldn't strain yourself..."

It's been 4 days since Grafight was released from the hospital, suffering from 2 broken arms, rendering her unable to use her quirk...among other things. Fatgum, her partner, had insisted to stay by her side until things healed, neglecting his own hero duties in the process.

"The doc can shove it as far I care! These newscasters have no right to spew out garbage lies like that! It's gunna hurt our rep.... Sure we might not be the nicest, safest, smartest heroes in the game, but we aren't villainous either!"

"...You...you do have a point, but don't worry about it, I"m sure one of the others will give them a piece of their mind and sort things out. Right now you and I have dinner to eat!"

Grumbling as she rose from the couch, Grafight followed her partner to the kitchen, sitting down at the small round dinning table that the family usually shared. This dinner was different though. The table had a nice white satin cloth draped over it, with 2 light candles on top. It seemed that this time these two will be dinning alone.

"Take a seat baby, I'll go grab our meal."

"It better be something good, the meals at the hospital were utter shit..."

She lets her sentence trail on as a covered plate is placed ever so gently in front of her.

"Oh? Did you plan on surprising me? ....Babe, my arms, I can't open it."

"Yeah, my bad, here ya go my sweet Gummy."

Fatgum slowly removes the cover for maximum surprise effect. Once it's off, Grafight can't help but smiley widely as she notices one of her favorite meals, but with a culinary twist. Hotdogs sliced up into star shapes, surrounded by a circle of mashed potatoes, topped with melted cheese, a dash or salt, and a glob of ketchup in the middle of it all.

"So? Ya like?"

"..."

Grafight's eye's start to tear up, but her smile still stays plastered on her face. Fatgum notices right away and goes to quickly grab some tissues.

"Oh Gummy, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you! I just...I just thought I could do something special for ya...I...I-"

"Oh baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabe! I love it! Omg, I love it so much, you're the best, you know that right?"

"I...yeah....no. Wait. YOU'RE the best, you're so strong and special to me, I...I"m just so happy that I didn't lose you...you mean the universe to me."

"Stop...I'm already crying, let's just...let's just enjoy this meal together, okay?"

"Okay. I"m starving anyways..."

Fatgum takes his place across from Grafight, and starts to devour his meal.

"Uh....Ahem...."

"Oh! Yeah, my bad, let me help ya."

The two enjoy their meal together, never breaking their love filled eye contact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Slow down Mochi, you shouldn't be over-exerting yourself."

"But Kano, I want to dance! I really like this song...cough cough...it's a total....total banger, and I deserve to have some.....fun after what happened. Everyone else has been so....gloomy since then....I just....want to bring some life.....back into the house is all...."

"I know, I know...but, you won't be able to do much joy-spreading if you can barely walk to the mailbox without getting winded halfway there."

"Hmph, stupid bomb chemicals getting.....getting into my lungs...fucking up my whole system...did they ever figure out what...what was in that tube...anyways?"

"They still haven't called us back about the results yet, but they said the inhaler they gave you was working well enough for us not to worry. So we won't, right Mochi?"

"...Yeah...I guess...I just hate...feeling weak like this...I wanna cry but.... I don't want the others to...to see....they've been through enough....I don't wan them to worry about me...me too..."

Kano takes a moment to think, after a moment he takes Slasher's paw and leads her into the living room.

"Sweety...what are you doing?"

After he gets Slasher to relax on the couch, he walks over the Hypnotica's advance sound system and grabs a homemade looking CD. Putting it in he looks to Slasher.

"The good doctor said YOU shouldn't exert yourself, but....he never said anything about me."

As soon as the music starts, Kano begins to dance in a way that's all to familiar to Slasher. It's a dance they've grown to call the 'Humpty Dance', and no one else in the house can quite get it right like these two.

"Oh Kano! This....this makes me so....happy! Keep...keep going! Maybe...maybe you could...put in some...Slipknot next? Pwetty Pwease?"

"Anything for you my Mochi."

Slasher enjoys the show Kano puts on for almost 2 hours, by the time he gets done, Kano is just about as winded as Slasher has been recently. The two then cuddle on the couch, just taking in each other's slow and labored breathes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You will most certainly not."

Sir Nighteye slams his hand down on the counter to emphasize his point, making Hypntoica jump a little.

"And why the fuck not? The need to get their facts straight. I will not stand for all of this fucking slander."

Sir sighs and pushes his glasses up, trying to calm himself down.

"I understand that, but 'kidnapping the newsroom executive' is not the most ideal way to go about it. You can barely walk, even with the crutches!"

Motioning to Hypnotica's broken left leg, and the sprain in his other. Hypnotica just huffs and looks off to the side, still with an angered expression plastered on his face.

"So. Fucking. What? Okay, maybe kidnapping is a bit extreme, but..."

Sir's own angry expression starts to soften as he notices the tears that begin to fall from his partner's face. Wondering how long he's been holding it in.

"...I can't let my family take the blame for a stupid mistake that I made!"

Hypnotica's body begins to shudder as more tears fall, Sir walks over to him and embraces him in a way to try to calm him down.

"It's not your fault...all of you did what you could to try and handle the situation."

"That doesn't excuse all of the death and destruction that happened, and not to mention all the hurt my family is going through because of it!"

"No. It doesn't. But how is any of that your doing, hmm?"

"...I...I..."

"Shh, just stay, and relax. I'll make up a fully detailed report and send out a few copies to some of the stations. They'll most likely use those facts since my name does carry some weight..."

While still holding him with his right hand, Sir uses his left to tilt Hypnotica's chin up to meet his eyes. After a few seconds go by, he rests his head on his partner's.

"...Trust me dear. Everything will turn out just fine."

"Promise?"

"I promise. I saw it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A trusted source, who has decided to stay anonymous, has confirmed that the deaths in the Discorded Warehouse accident were not the before mentioned teams fault, but the fault of-"

"Thank you! Finally, a news channel that checks their facts. Even though I'm fine with a few deaths under my belt, but whatever I guess."

"Oh! Look Gummy! That's me! Saving all of those orphans was quite the task, I'll have to tell you all about it later."

"Kano my love! Let me help you with those dishes, there is far to many for one man to clean."

"Thank you Mochi! I kinda went all out with the meal this time, it was a celebration for everyone recovering so quickly....well, mostly everyone..."

"I call bullshit. Of course right after I get healed I trip down the stairs and end up right back to square one."

"Guess that means I'll have play nurse bit longer my dear."

~~*Cue Laugh Track*~~

[oldsoldierr]

The Carnation ~ Part 6

summary: the media always told you that the famous art critic bucky barnes is an arrogant, rude playboy and you agree, but something still draws you to him. is there a deeper reason to why he acts the way he does or is he the class A jackass you first met?

art critic!bucky x artist!reader

word count: 1.7k

series masterlist

The sound of a gun cocking snapped him back to reality. A low, sinister voice followed.

“Hey, James. How’ve you been?” 

It was husky and haunting. Bucky felt the cold metal of the gun muzzle against the back of his head. He slowly put up his hands.

“I don’t want any trouble,” he growled. He heard an apathetic chuckle behind him.

“Well I do.” he felt Brock get closer to him. 

“You’re gonna do what I want and you’re going to like it,” he snickered.

“Just kill me already. I’m not going to play your game,” Bucky retorted aggressively. 

“Oh I think you will.” The brunette could hear the smile in Brock’s voice. He heard some shuffling in the back seat before a paper was slipped into his lap, face down.

“Flip it over.” Brock shoved the gun harder into Bucky’s skull. He begrudgingly turned it over. He regretted it immediately. 

There, on the page was a picture of his sister in her kitchen. Bucky moved to cover his mouth. She was smiling blissfully, with no clue she was being photographed. Brock could shoot him, but he wouldn’t allow him to touch his sister.

“Why are you doing this?” he breathed. He knew Brock’s answer.

“I’m not letting you ruin my reputation. I worked hard to get where I am, and you’re not going to try anything. Now, you can take my offer. Or,” Brock equipped a faux sorry voice. “You can kill your lil’, poor, baby Becca. Your move Barnes.” Bucky took a sharp breath.

“What do you want?” The brunette looked into the rear view mirror to Brock grinning like a maniac. 

“You’ve got a lot of questions for a dead man.” He leaned in close. Bucky could feel the heat from his ex-manager on his ear. 

“I have only one request.”

Brock continued in a menacing whisper. With every word he said Bucky felt like he was losing more and more oxygen. The simple sentence felt as if it was an eternity. When Brock finally pulled away, he only said six words.

“You’ve got a week. Bye now.” he opened the car door, and disappeared into the night. 

It was as if he was never there, but the single Polaroid of his sister taunted him, reminding him this wasn’t just a nightmare. Bucky sat completely alone, soaking wet, with not much more than thousands of strings of thoughts choking the air out of him.

He just wouldn’t accomplish Brock’s request. But the thought of his family’s blood on his hands was so much stronger. How did he get into this shit? He let his forehead fall onto the steering wheel in defeat. 

~~~

On the first couple days after, Bucky had been confident he could avoid any of the outcomes. There had got to be, there HAS to be, there always is. But days kept going by, faster than he could fight. His hope for an easy solution, or pretty much any solution, dwindled and was diminished, like a small, pathetic flame. 

Before he knew it, it was the morning of the seventh day since that night. Bucky had slaved for hours trying to find some way, some loophole, out of this but he just couldn’t find one. The deadline was approaching quickly and he didn’t have much of a choice. 

He sat in his dim living room mulling over his very limited options. Bucky looked like a wreck. His hair was greasy and tangled, his eyes were sunken and dark, he looked like he could’ve just gotten out of a cave he’d lived in for 100 years. He hadn’t been able to get any sleep for three consecutive days. 

He had done nothing but think but he still came out empty handed. There was nothing he could do. 

Bucky would have to do what Brock wanted. He put his face in his palms as a sob wracked his body. He shuddered in silent tears. They slid off his cheeks and landed on his carpet. 

Bucky would have rather been dead than be him at this instant. No matter what he did, someone would die tomorrow. Everything felt heavy. 

All he ever wanted was to be an art critic, his dream job since he discovered it. He supposed this was the price. Everything had seemed so perfect, too perfect. He should’ve know. Bucky laughed without humor and took a sip of beer from the bottle. He couldn’t have imagined being in this situation in his worst nightmare. Yet he was still here. 

That was Bucky’s last thought before he collapsed onto his couch and blacked out almost instantly. 

When he regained consciousness it was the evening. Bucky checked his watch. It was 10:43 pm. Only a little more than one hour until Becca would be killed. It was a ticking time bomb with no way to disable it. 

He had a decision to make. In the end, there was only one choice. He had known it all along but it was still endlessly painful. Even to think about it made him feel like his heart was getting cut out. 

“I guess it’s time,” The exhausted looking man mumbled. Life was far too long. 

He reached for a single pistol placed at the end of the clear glass coffee table. The last resort. Bucky grasped it with a shaky breath and slid on a black leather jacket. 

He walked out of the apartment. He got in his car and began driving. He drove as slowly as possible. Maybe that would delay what was about to happen. 

He tried to admire the outside world, one he might never see after this. Every tree, bug, person, building. The things he should’ve appreciated more. His destination was now only a little more than five minutes away. Bucky could barely breathe. His arms felt numb. 

Four minutes.

Three minutes. 

Two minutes.

One minute.

He saw the building coming up. The pit in his stomach grew. Bucky swallowed. If he had stood up at that moment his knees would have buckled. He felt like he was going to pass out but pulled up to the building anyways. He didn’t even bother to park, he just left it there in the middle of the parking lot and climbed out. 

He padded his way to the front door. It was locked but Steve had given him a copy of the key before he left. Bucky inserted the key and stepped inside. 

The halls were echo-y but not too large. What was though, was the staircase. It seemed to go on forever. Or maybe that was just what it felt like at the time. 

With a huff Bucky started his way up. His steps felt heavy. Each one boomed of a man who didn’t have any more strength left in him. He passed two floors, barely registering it. All he knew was what would happen at the third one. He was there the next minute. The adrenaline was catching up to him. 

Down the hall he saw the one person he wished to avoid as long as possible. You had come home for a quick change of clothes before leaving for some food. You came out of your apartment and fiddled with your keys a little before locking your door. 

You went to keep walking but instead you saw a certain brunette man who had missed his usual visits to the art studio. You figured it was because you had slept with Sam. You still felt guilty. You had been trying to contact him and explain but he never picked up or responded to any of your many texts. 

This seemed like the chance you’d been needing to make amends. You were a tad suspicious of why he’d come to your place, or how he even got in but you brushed it off. 

As you got closer to him you realized how terrible he looked. He could’ve been a walking corpse. His eyes were swollen and red like he had been crying. 

“Bucky!” you ran towards him. “Are you okay? Gosh, come here--” You stopped dead in your tracks. 

Bucky had pulled out a gun from his pocket and was pointing it straight at you. You felt all your air leave your lungs. A silence rang through the hall.

“...Bucky?” you breathed. Your confusion laid out on your face. The man in front of you looked as if he might fall apart at any moment.

“S-stay where you are!” He threatened, tears brimming from his eyes. You were still processing what was happening. 

“What are you doing?” you asked, fear creeping into your voice. He attempted a smile. It wasn’t ill intended though, it was one of those charming lop-sided grins that you liked, but this one felt different than the rest.

“I’m so sorry,” he choked out, full of remorse, ignoring your question.

“He-he said he’d kill my sister if I didn’t--” He took a breath. You took the opportunity to step toward him hesitantly.

“Bucky, we can figure this out, just please put the gun down.” Your words only made him hold on harder to the handle. He cocked the gun.

“Don’t get any closer to me.” He told you. His eyes were sad and mournful. He looked broken.

“Please,” he begged.

“Okay,” you held eye contact with him. “I won’t.” 

He interrupted, “I never meant for you to get swept up into this, I--I just wanted to have a normal life for a little bit, but--” his lip trembled. “--but I shouldn’t have. Now you're gonna hurt for it and I--I’m so sorry. You’re an amazing person, you always figured out a way to make me laugh and--god--your talent, it’s unbelievable. And I know it doesn’t mean much now but, I just needed you to know that you have been the best part of my life--for a while now--and I’m so lucky to have found you. Visit me in hell, if you get the chance.” Bucky breathed out a chuckle.

“D--don’t talk to me as if this is goodbye. We can still change this, we’ll find a way!” you searched his face for anything that could tell you that this was just some mean spirited joke, but it wasn’t there. 

Something else seemed to change in his face though you couldn’t quite place it. Bucky’s finger quivered on the trigger, a single twitch away from firing. He gave you an earnest, reassuring look that was contrary to the rest of his body.

With a shaky breath he continued. “I love you.”

He pulled the trigger.

only 2 more chapters(probably)! thank you for the support on my first series! i’m really bored so if anyone wants to hit me up feel free! 💕💕💕

taglist

@the-fifth-marauder101​

[jj-lynn21]

How A Girl Must Live Ch 3

Ch. 3: Opening Up

Ch1: A place for singles , Ch 2: Popular, Ch 4: Dating Ch 5:Family Ch 6 Violence begets Violence Ch 7 Love Birds

Notes: angst, jealousy, bullying, and mean girls. Cheesy fluff. Trauma, southern accent.

taging: @super-pink-a-palouza @luciferreads @glasglowgrin @loomiz @princessloveme123 @hornyhetero @taintedglass @bohemian-brian​ @maryan028 , @scxrsgxrd, lizziejorgie, @waywardtigersandwich​

“I can walk straight without holding on to you, Mr. Goodland.” Samantha stood. “But I suppose a girl needs an escort around here so you may walk with me.”  

He smirked as they walked along the grounds. “You’re a little rule breaker.”  

“Not particularly.” She bit on her lower lip looking around for others as they entered the quiet of the library.  

“Yeah, you are.” He grinned. “I am not sure how you got Mr. Russel, Mr. Jonas, and Mr. Stokes to say you weren’t there the other night, but I know you can open up for me. I will keep my mouth shut about all you do sweetheart. Your one of those promiscuous girls, aren’t you?”

“I have to go.” She turned to head in the direction of whispering voices. She just wanted to be away from this uncomfortable situation quickly.

He stepped in front of her grinning. “You just need some discipline.”  

He raised his open palmed hand. She cringed. As he his hand started its journey to the side of her face. His wrist was grabbed before it got there. 

“Do you remember what I said about raising your hand to any of the lady’s here, Mr. Goodland?” Mr. Russel said calmly. “Miss Samantha, I will get you safely to your class on the other side of the library. I will escort you to lunch after.”

“Thank you, Mr. Russel.” Samantha looped her arm around his. She felt safe with him. He was the only person in the resort she was starting to trust.

“You can’t do shit to me Mr. Russel.” Mr. Goodland yelled as they strolled away. “You can’t always be with that little hussy to protect her either.”

“Mr. Goodland!” A husky voice rang in the silence. “That is no way to talk in the halls of a library. My office now. I will be calling your Father to deal with you.”

“Don’t bother I’ll take the money my Father gave you and my Thunderbird.” He knew disappointing his abrasive Father would get him beat within an inch of his life.  

“Your Father signed a contract.” Mr. Jones escorted the boy out of the library. “This time when you leave you get nothing of the money he put into this place. Now be a good boy, pack your bags and leave this place.”

As Samantha read the latest Nancy Drew Mystery called The Hidden Window, the other girls read less bold independent literature like The Years of Grace, Jean and Johnny, The Luckiest Girl, and The Boy Next Door. She could not help but notice some of them whispering and pointing her way.  

When they giggled loudly the librarian rang a small bell whispering, “Ladies that’s enough.”  

Samantha ignores them choosing to dive into the descriptions of Charlottesville, Virginia mansions and the mystery unraveling inside such places. She was just finishing her book when the library once again rang her little bell.  

“Lunch time, girls.” She reminded them. “Your escorts should be here shortly.”

Mr. Russel was standing right outside of the room. He came in when he heard the librarian. “I’m here to escort Miss. Samantha to lunch, Miss Penny.”

“That’s good of you Mr. Russel.” She smiled. “Good luck.”  

Missy laughed loudly. “I do not think you need luck with here.” The other girls giggled.

Samantha ran out embarrassed not knowing where they could get such an idea. Tears were streaming down her face when a hand on her shoulder startled her. She turned quickly. Her heart beating fast. His green eyes peered down at her with concern. His hand caressed her cheek as his thumb brushed away a tear drop.  

“Do not worry about them, Samantha.” She threw herself around him as more tears flowed. He strokes her hair. “There are a lot of no good son of bitches out there. And I will try to protect you from them. They will all get what’s coming to them.”

Her arms wrapped around his waist she looks at him sniffling. “Promise, Mr. Russel?”

“I promise, sweet Miss Samantha.” They both straightened up as they walked out of the library trying to ignore the stares of the others around them. “I think it is best you have lunch with me if that is agreeable?”

“I would like that.” A smile tugged its way across her lips. “Mr. Goodland had a reservation for us. I do not have to eat with him instead, do I?”

“You do not ever have to worry about him again.” He patted her hand that was grasping a little tightly at his arm.  

Other couples rushed around them to get to lunch. Many whispered and snickered as if Samantha and Mr. Russel were doing something wrong. They did not pay any of them attention.  

When they got into the common dining area Mr. Russel stopped a few steps away from Mrs. Sally and Mr. Jones. “Wait right here while I talk to Mr. Jones a moment before we have lunch.”

Samantha nodded her head in agreement.  

Mr. Russel stepped up to Mr. Jones. “Excuse me Mr. Jones. I escorted Miss Samantha here from the library. She is still a little shaken from the incident with Mr. Goodland. I would like to have her join me for lunch if that is acceptable?”

Mr. Jones looked to Samantha standing straight with her arms relaxed at her side like a nice young lady. As he looked back towards the others, Miss Pamala, Miss Missy, Miss Flora, and some other girls pushed past Miss Samantha roughly as they whispered, “little hussy.”

“That would be fine Mr. Russel.” Mr. Jones smiled. “You can tell Miss Samantha that Mr. Goodland has been kicked out so not to worry her pretty little head about a thing. You may take the table at the bay window with the yellow carnations that was set up for them. A menu was already chosen.”

“Thank you, Mr. Jones.” He nodded politely. “Have a nice lunch, Miss Sally.”

“Thank you, Mr. Russel.” she beamed. When he took a few steps away she turned to her husband. “I don’t think in the five years he has been here he ever took a liking to one of the girls.”

“There is someone for everyone, Miss Sally.” He takes her hand. “It just takes some men a little longer than others to open their heart.”

When Mr. Russel gets back to Miss Samantha her bottom lip is quivering as tears fill the corners of her eyes. “What is wrong sweet girl?” He lifts her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “What could have made those beautiful eyes look so sad?”

“They all think...” She sobbed into his shoulder.

“Let us go sit down.” He cooed as he coaxed her to walk with him. “Tell me what happened when we are away from everyone. It has been a trying day for you. Perhaps you should rest in your room for a while.”  

She shook her head no.  

“What if I stand right outside the door while you rest, Miss Samantha.” He pulled the seat out for her to sit down. Then he pushed it in gently.  

“Maybe that would be a good idea, Mr. Russell.” She sighed deeply.

“What did they say to you sweet girl?” He sat down across from her.

“They all think I am a bad girl.” She murmured.  

The server came to the table with a smile. “For you young Miss. I have a Tab and a wedge salad. For you Mr. Russel we have a club sandwich with fries and a Pepsi.”

In Unison they both said, “Thank you.”

Samantha looked down cheeks turning rosy. Mr. Russel took her hand in his.

“There is no need to look down when you are with me, Miss Samantha.” He was smiling brightly as she looked up.

“You can call me Sam.” She whispered it so only he heard her.  

“You are a good girl, Miss Sam.” His thumb rubbed over her hand. “You have done nothing wrong. It is always wrong for any male to raise his hand in anger to a female. Now that wedge of lettuce does not look very filling. Would you like a wedge of my club and some fries. They gave me way too much.”

Her heart fluttered with his touch. “Thanks, I have been a little hungry with them just feeding the girls rabbit food.” He put some of his lunch on her plate, she picked up a french-fry and took a dainty bite. “Tell me about your adventures with the other soldier boys.”

Willard tensed a little. “I would not call anything we did there an adventure, Miss Sam. No stories from there are really fit to tell a young innocent girl as yourself. Tell me about the book you were readin’. I mean reading. My bad pronunciation still comes out when I’m just chattin’, chatting sometimes.”

“I don’t mind your accent, Mr....”  

Just then one of the servers dropped empty dishes, bowls and glasses. As they shattered on the ground, Willard’s eyes widened. He sat up straight. He started to shake. Mr. Russel heard gun fire instead of dishes. Bombs going off instead of glass shattering.

Miss Samantha tried to get his attention from across the table. She tried to grab his hands.

Willard pulled away. His breathing picked up as he held his head down. Then he looked straight ahead with utter terror on his face.  

“Willard? Mr. Russel?” Samantha bent squatted in front of him taking his trembling hands in hers. “Mr. Russel focus on my voice if you can. You are going to be alright. Its Samantha right in front of you.”

“No, it can’t be her like that.” He sucked in his breath.  

“I’m not sure what you are seeing but I’m right in front of you Mr. Russel and I’m fine.” She assured him. “Take a breath and look at me.”

He blinked a few times as Mr. Jones and Miss Sally came to check on the couple.

“Is everything all right here Mr. Russel?” Mr. Jones asked with concern.  

Mr. Russel looks at him still a little dazed and confused but coming around to his current reality. “Yeah, fine. I just need some air is all. Are you all good, Miss. Samantha?”

“I’m fine Mr. Russel.” She stood and held out her hand. “Let us go to the garden as you planned.”

“Yeah, then you should rest.” He got up slowly. “You have had a trying day. Thanks for your concern Mr. Jones and Miss Sally.”

The owners of the resort went back to their lunches. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and saying as they stared at Mr. Russel and Miss Samantha. Mr. Jones clapped loudly. “Finish your meals everyone. Classes resume shortly.”

Samantha held Willard up as best she could as they walked out into the garden. They sat on a bench along the path. Roses trailed up a trellis behind them.  

“Would you like to tell me what happened in there Willard?” Samantha said softly stroking his arm.

“Don’t worry about it, Sam.” He forced a smile. “Just loud sounds sometimes make me think of less happy times.” He took her hands in his staring into her eyes like he was trying to read her soul. “Do you know what I would really like?”

“What is that, Mr. Russel.” She looked in his gaze spellbound in the moment.  

“I’d like to kiss you.” He whispered into her hear.

She blushed turning away from him.  

“I am not going to until we have a proper date wear I pick you up at your door to meet your parents and bring you flowers and chocolates of every sort. But I just wanted to tell you I want to.”  

“I am not sure what to say about all that, Mr. Russel.” She turned to look back at him. “If I was not already sitting down, I would need to. I think someday I might want you to kiss me.”

“Will you have dinner with me tonight?” He held her hands inside his looking at her eagerly for a yes.  

“I want to say yes, Willard, Mr. Russel, but Mr. Jonas already asked me.” She talked faster as she went on.”I’m not sure we can be exclusive anyway. If you feel we should and I feel we should maybe, maybe we should talk to Mr. Jones and Miss Sally. I don’t think I am anywhere near ready for marriage, but I think, I don’t know; you’re swell.”  

He chuckles. “I think you are swell to, Miss Sam. I’ll talk to Mr. Jones and Miss Sally. Maybe iffen you wanna, we can go on a car ride off the resort property this weekend? Just let Mr. Jonas down easy that he isn’t the one, sweet girl.”  

“I will do my best.” She giggled.