#how the medics are checking up on him while he stares blankly at the sky

[jayjaymorgan]

Thank The Force, You’re Okay

Author’s Note : This is a continuation of this, I decided to write it a happy ending. Please remember that English isn't my native language, so there might be some mistakes and stuff. I hope you all like it, have a great day/night!

TW : mention of blood, injuries, near death experience

When Rex woke up, for a moment he couldn’t remember where he was.

Thoughts were racing in his head, as he slowly looked around, blinking the sleep from his eyes. The clone felt something heavy resting on his right arm, not letting him get up. When his eyes got used to the dim light shining through the blinds, he finally calmed down. Sleeping peacefully beside him was Anakin. The weight on Rex’s arm was the Jedi’s head, who snuggled close to him during the night. Rex breathed with relief and slowly lied down again, not taking his eyes from Anakin’s face. The men were now facing each other, with almost no space between them. The clone watched his beloved, listening to his slow and calm breaths. “Thank the Force, you’re okay.” It was the only thing that came to his mind, the memories of the battle still fresh in his head.

He remembered how he waited for the transport, while trying his best to stop the bleeding from Anakin’s wounds, how he could see the colors slowly fading from his boyfriend’s face. It felt like an eternity, even though it couldn’t be more than a couple of minutes. When the ship finally appeared on the sky, he breathed with relief; but not for long. Anakin suddenly coughed up blood and started trembling, like he was cold. Kix sent three other troopers to help Rex, who were carrying stretches with them. Together they were able to gently lift the unconscious man from the ground, while the medic prepared his tools. Rex never left his general’s side, ignoring the tears streaming down his face. He knew that it was wrong, that he shouldn’t let his emotions take over, that he should make an example for his people, but today he just couldn’t. He just sat there, staring blankly at his beloved’s face, as Kix tried to save him. His brothers were watching in fear, some of them started to cry, meanwhile others tried to calm them down. Jesse was hiding his face in his arms, his back trembling from quiet sobs. Hardcase sat next to him, holding back his own tears, hugging his brother and whispering reassuring words to him. Echo and Fives were helping Kix, bringing him stuff he needed and and applying pressure on Anakin’s wounds. The medic was sweaty, his hands and armor covered in blood. Lonely tears were rolling down his face, but his hands remained steady. 

When they reached their cruiser, that’s when the real battle began. 

Medics were running around, shouting orders and trying their best not to slip on the blood that covered the floors of the med bay. There was an unpleasant smell of chemicals and blood in the air, as Rex sat down on one of the beds, while a medic took a look at his broken nose. He didn’t even flinch when the medic straightened his nose, putting the bone back in its original place – he was too busy keeping his eye on Anakin. The Jedi was still unconscious, but somehow stable, thanks to Kix, who was checking the general’s vitals and making sure that the wound was no longer bleeding. For a moment it looked that everything was going to be okay, until Anakin suddenly woke up and vomited blood on the floor. He slumped back onto the bed, his lips went blue and the heart rate monitor started beeping loudly, alerting the medics that something was seriously wrong. Kix immediately rushed him to an emergency operation, which took well over 4 hours. Rex spent all that time pacing around the medbay, too stressed to focus on anything else. Only when the medic excited the operating room and told him that he would make it did he finally calm down enough to just sit and rest for a moment.

It took another two days for Anakin to wake up and stay conscious for more than a couple of minutes. He was so weak he couldn’t even sit in bed without Rex’s help so Kix could examine him. Aside from the big wound on his side he had a broken rib, severed muscle in his left wrist, bruises and a concussion. He had to spent the next couple of days bedridden, which made him moody and bored. Rex did his best to keep him company, but as the second in command he had duties to attend to. If it wasn’t for his brothers he would be drowning in paperwork and reports, not being able to visit his beloved at all. The rest of the 501st helped with the reports and making sure that their general didn’t die of boredom, mainly by doing a group meeting next to his hospital bed and telling bad jokes.

Now they were back at Coruscant, in their private room somewhere in the Jedi Temple. Rex glanced at the clock, it was still a couple of hours before they had to get up. He turned to his lover and snuggled closer to him, trying his best to not touch the bandages on Anakin’s side. “Thank the Force, you’re okay.” he whispered, embracing the Jedi and kissing him on the forehead. The sleep washed over him and after a moment he was sound asleep, happy that the most important person in his life is safe and sound beside him.

[livvibee]

Three Times Tony Wanted to Kiss Peter and One Time Peter Kissed Him Instead

Pairing: Starker Rating: Mature (M) Notes: This fic fulfills my “First Kiss” square for @starkerfestivals​ summer bingo. Warnings: sexual content, Tony being an oblivious bottom Read here or on AO3.

Spring

It was the in-between time all insomniacs are familiar with, too late to be night and too early to be morning. The sun was barely flirting with the horizon, and the birds had yet to chirp, but the canopy of stars was beginning to fade from the inky blue sky. 

Tony was sitting in the courtyard at the center of the compound, with only the babbling of the water feature behind him to keep him company. His mug of coffee had long gone cold at his side as he stared blankly at the sky, keeping his eyes open in an attempt to avoid a tormented sleep. The stars that used to be such a comfort had their own set of bad memories attached, flying through the wormhole, being stranded in space surrounded by a sea of lights, cooling off on the lake house dock after explosive fights with Pepper. 

Tony heard the door swoosh open and quiet footsteps emerge. He looked over his shoulder to see a welcome sight. The object of his hopeless and quiet affections padding across the courtyard with two cups of coffee, steaming in the cool spring air. Peter was still dressed in his pajamas, muscled thighs below soft shorts, barely peeking out under the oversized tee that was threadbare with use, stretched out neckline drooping on one shoulder and exposing the razor-sharp edge of his collarbone. Fuck, he’s so pretty. 

“Can’t sleep either?” Peter held up the coffee like a peace offering for shattering the silence of the dawning day. 

Tony offered up a small smile but didn’t otherwise comment, taking the coffee in his sleep-deprived grip with shaking hands. Peter sat on the bench, shoulder touching with Tony’s as they relaxed and drank their coffee while the sun rose. Tony blinked away the film of exhaustion gathering in his eyes, finally ready to talk after countless sips of hot java. 

“What’s eating at you, Underoos?” 

Peter let out a soft sigh. “The usual. People I couldn’t save. Dissolving into dust on an alien planet. You know. Spidey stuff. You?” 

Tony tilted his head to rest against Peter’s and secretly thrilled at the additional point of contact. “Just thinking about the stars, Pete.”

They sat in silence again for some time before Peter shifted on the bench to face Tony, ducking his head a little in shyness. “Have you ever, you know, tried talking to someone about things? Sometimes I think I should, then I feel like I should be stronger, able to handle everything on my own.” 

Tony could see Peter starting to crack. “Hey, hey, no.” He put a hand on the other man’s to steady him, fighting the desperate urge to kiss Peter until the worry lines around his eyes relaxed. “You don’t have to carry everything on your own. It does help to have someone to talk to. You know, you can always come to me, or if you’d prefer a third party, I can help you find one. It wouldn’t be the first time someone on the team needed a little help, Pete.” Tony felt Peter’s eyes blazing into his own, searching his face for what, Tony wasn’t sure.

“Thanks, Tony,” Peter exhaled with shaky breath. “I think I’ll take you up on that.”

The two men sat together, quietly talking as the sun blazed orange into the sky, creeping up over the horizon and finally coming into view over the edge of the courtyard wall. Tony wouldn’t realize it until later, but their hands stayed touching for hours, until the complex was waking up around them, figures bustling to and fro visible through the windows. 

Summer

The Avengers annual summer cookout and pool party was the event of the season. The entire team would show up for hotdogs and hamburgers by the pool. Tony was sweating in the summer heat manning the small cabana bar, mixing up cocktails for his teammates and friends. Most of the team were relaxing by the pool, watching the younger set monopolize the diving board with cannonballs and flips, while Rhodey was chatting his ear off about the latest military gossip. 

Tony’s attention wandered as Peter rose out of the water like a Greek god, lifting himself with ease up the side of the pool. Tony was bewitched by the flex of his arms, and watched with hunger as the receding waters revealed Peter’s well built body, inch by inch. From the thick planes of his pecs to his rippling abs, down to his well defined quads and calves Peter was cut like a statue, some superhuman version of a man. Peter made his way across the patio toward the bar. 

Oh my God, he’s coming over here. Play it cool, Tony!

“Hey guys, how’s it going?” Peter’s chirped, hair glistening wetly in the sunlight.

“Hey Spiderling, everything’s good here,” Tony blurted out. “Having a good time, care for a drink? I’m making mai tais!”

“Sure, that sounds delicious.” Peter smiled expectantly toward Tony, watching as he mixed the drink together and gave it a vigorous shake over his shoulder before pouring it into one of the patriotically themed cups. 

“Thanks!” Peter grabbed the drink and gave it a careful sip. “Mm, Tony this is delicious.”

Yeah, I’ll tell you what else is damn delicious. You.

“Sure thing kid, it’s my pleasure. You’ve got a little on your lip, just there.” Tony watched as Peter’s tongue ventured out beyond his lips and slowly traced his top lip, biting back a whine at how badly he wanted that tongue in his mouth. 

“Did I get it all?” Peter asked, the picture of innocence. 

“Yep!” Tony’s response was rushed and his smile wide and fake as he tried to get control of himself. 

Peter took another drink from his glass before smiling and thanking Tony again. The younger man turned to face the pool, adjusting his clinging swimming trunks then stretching his body like a cat as he walked, arms up into the sky, keeping his beverage carefully balanced. Tony hungrily watched the play of muscles along his back as his arms lifted before focusing his gaze on the two perfect round orbs inside his trunks as Peter walked away. Tony bit his lip as he imagined all that bulk holding him down, spearing him open to just-

“Tony! Earth to Tony!” Rhodey’s voice cut in and dropped Tony right out of his fantasy. “Are you through staring at Peter, or should I go and leave you alone with your thoughts?”

Alert! Deflect! Deflect!

“Peter?!” Tony sputtered, trying to gather his thoughts and come up with a plausible excuse. “Uh, I wasn’t staring at Peter, I was on a mental tangent about the latest StarkPad design.” Tony laughed nervously. “You know I’m always working on something, honeybear.”

Rhodey shot him an unimpressed look. “Cmon, Tones, I’ve known you longer than that.”

Tony crumpled under his best friend’s perceptive gaze. “You’re right, I’m pathetic. Lusting after a man so many years younger than me. It’s ridiculous really, I don’t even think he’s into guys.” He glanced hesitantly at Rhodey’s face, who still looked extremely unimpressed.

“I swear your genius intellect deserts you at the most infuriating times.” Rhodey turned to walk away, saying over his shoulder, “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt, Tony”

Fall

Tony traced the line of Peter’s throat with eager eyes, watching the movement of his Adam’s apple as the younger man gulped down water. Rivulets of sweat were tracing down Peter’s shirtless form, collecting in the divots of his abs and tracing the vee of his obliques, soaking into the band of the sinfully tiny shorts slung from his hips. The golden autumn light from the window backlit the fine hair on his gloriously muscled thighs, and surrounded Peter with a shimmering halo from head to toe. Tony drank in all the details, burning them into his brain as he jogged on the treadmill. 

He’s so fucking hot. Soaked in sweat, glistening above those short-shorts. Honestly how much of this can one man take? Can the universe just give me one night? I just wanna grab at his-

“Hi,Tony!” Peter called across the gym, waving and trying to catch the man’s eye.

The sudden movement and attention startled Tony, and he tripped and went careening backward off the equipment, landing flat on his back and knocking his head on the floor. “Ow! Fuck.” 

“Oh my God! Tony!” Peter bounded across the compound gym and slid to his knees next to Tony’s embarrassed and sore form. “Tony, are you okay?”

Tony opened his eyes to see Peter’s face hovering above him. His warm brown eyes were round with concern, chestnut curls in disarray. Tony smiled up at him with a dopey grin, and lifted a hand to touch his cheek, desperately wanting to kiss away the frown on his perfect lips. “You are so gorgeous, you know that, right?”

A flash of something rose and sank in Peter’s eyes so quickly Tony couldn’t identify it. “Okay…” Peter said, drawing out the o. “Time to get you checked out, come on.” 

Peter hauled Tony up to his feet, ignoring his squawking protests that he was “just fine, c’mon, Pete” and hustled him into medical to get checked out.

Later, after being treated for his bumps and bruises, Tony was fervently grateful that Peter hadn’t listened to the besotted rambling he could fuzzily remember.

Ugh, c’mon, Tones, keep it together and leave the kid alone. You said he was beautiful and he reacted by taking you to medbay. Tony thought to himself with mild disgust, sitting alone on the edge of the medbay bed. You’ve gotta get over this!

Peter popped his head around the corner, startling Tony out of his thoughts. “Hey, you ready to get out of here?”

Tony tried and failed to stifle his blinding grin into something more appropriate. “You came back.” 

Peter laughed. “Wasn’t gonna leave you all alone to recover, but I was desperate for a shower after that workout. Let’s head back to your place, we can watch movies while you rest up.”

Winter

They were in the lab when it happened. Tony had just given Peter a new StarkPhone to replace his old, battered model with the cracked screen. As Peter’s apps and setting transferred over, Tony heard it. That sound. The unmistakable ping of the most popular gay hookup app. Peter didn’t even flinch from where he sat next to Tony, just kept going about his business working on a new suit modification as the notification sounded over and over. 

Tony’s mouth was dry, his heart pounding in his temples, sweating under his threadbare MIT hoodie. A momentous revelation was dawning over his head, and the kid was just sitting there innocently working like he hadn’t changed Tony’s life in a careless instant. This means... Peter likes guys. Oh my God, Peter likes men? 

“Uhhh, Pete?” Tony’s voice was soft and hesitant. “I think your phone is going off…” 

Peter was flippant as he answered, gesturing with the bright red candy cane he’d been sucking between his sugar-sticky lips. “Oh yeah, nothing important. Sorry, it is bothering you? Let me just put the phone on silent.”

“Oh, yeah, no it’s fine. I’m not bothered at all.” Tony delicately cleared his throat. “So… I’m surprised a man like you needs an app to find a hookup.”

Peter’s eyes boggled as he spun around on his stool to face Tony. “How did you… Wait, what?”

“I mean, not to be awkward or anything, but I couldn’t help but notice the notification sound.” Tony began, before delicately saying. “You seem to be very popular. I’m surprised a guy like you needs a hookup app to begin with. I mean let’s face it, you’re very, ah,” Tony’s voice squeaked humiliatingly as his mind flashed over thoughts of Peter’s physique. ”Attractive…”

Peter threw his hands up in the air, wild exasperation written across his features. “This! This was what got your attention? My notifications?!” Peter spun on his stool to face Tony directly, voice still raised as he waved his half eaten candy cane. “Tony, I’ve been trying to draw your attention to me being gay for almost a year! I’d practically given up!” Peter pointed accusingly at Tony. “Do you know the ridiculous things I’ve done? The outfits I’ve worn? I’ve tried to seduce you in the gym, by the pool, in the lab! Hell, I’ve been deep throating a candy cane for the past 25 minutes! An app! Unbelievable!”

“Uh, what?” Tony was completely floored by Peter’s ranting as his thoughts raced, trying to make sense of the conversation. Seduce me? He’s been trying to seduce me? What the fuck?

“And now you have the audacity to be shocked?” Peter was seething at Tony as he sat there stunned. 

Suddenly Peter grabbed Tony’s shoulders and pulled him into a furious kiss. Tony instinctively tilted his head as their lips clashed together, making a small sound of shock behind his closed lips. Tony’s lips parted as Peter’s tongue darted in delicately, stabbing gently inside Tony’s mouth. The older man moaned into the kiss, feeling heat spread down to the tips of his toes. 

Peter drew back and lifted his hands from Tony’s shoulder to grasp desperately at the sides of his head, mumbling against Tony’s lips. “You’re an incredibly infuriating man, Tony Stark.”

Tony panted quietly, half hard in his jeans and head spinning. He reached out to grab at the sleeves of Peter’s sweater and steady himself. 

“I… I didn’t know, Pete,” Tony whispered. “I would never think that you’d be interested in someone so much older and frankly you’re just so attract-” 

Peter gently shushed Tony and brought their lips back together for a series of light pecks, petting absently at Tony’s hair while they kissed. 

The younger man pulled away again to speak. “Let me show you how interested I am. Can I do that?”

“Yes!” Tony gasped as Peter leaned in to suck a livid mark into his neck. “You can do anything to me.”

Peter grinned against the column of Tony’s throat. “That’s an awfully big promise. I might make you regret it.”

Tony pulled Peter’s head up to look at Peter seriously. “I don’t think you could make me regret this, even if you tried.”

Peter’s eyes widened before he leaned forward desperately, knocking their mouths together again, finesse gone out the window. Their teeth clacked as the kiss deepened, Tony’s mouth being plundered once again. 

The next hour passed by in Tony’s mind in a blur of sin. Being spread over the lab table, pants down around his knees as Peter proved his tongue was just as talented in Tony’s ass- gasping at the slow penetration as Peter worked him open with strong fingers- crying out in pleasure over and over as Peter thrust in, deep strokes pressing across Tony’s sweet spot- feeling Peter’s hand wrapped around his straining erection, pulling Tony over the edge with rough strokes and a rush of white heat as Peter chased his own pleasure in Tony’s tightness. 

They ended up on the cold floor of the lab, Tony cuddled against Peter’s chest, sticky with sweat and release. 

“That… that was fantastic,” Tony sighed, hiding his face against the solid muscles beneath him. 

Peter’s grasp tightened where he was holding Tony close. “I knew it would be. Totally worth a year of slow seduction to wind up with you in my arms.” 

Tony let out a bark of laughter. “I guess Rhodey really was right, he was shaking his head at my idiocy all the way back at the pool party this summer.”

Peter’s chest under Tony’s head as he laughed. “Rhodey was totally right. He’d already given me a shovel talk by then, and I was beginning to think it would never be relevant. He pulled me aside after the party and told me not to give up hope, and explained all the hearts you’ve broken through sheer obliviousness over the years.”

“Yeah, he’s a good wingman,” Tony reminisced fondly before Peter’s words fully processed. “Wait, hang on, all the hearts I’ve broken through obliviousness?”

“Never change Tony, please.” Peter’s voice crackled with mirth before lowering into seriousness.  “Now that I have you, I don’t want to share you with anyone else.” 

[reddeadbread]

Fortunate ones

Javier Escuella x reader

Part 5

Summary: You recover from your first job with Javier.

Notes: this is another long chapter frick I’m sorry, this had been mostly written for days but here it is at last.

warnings: blood/guns?? SFW as always yall

word count: 2093

last chapter - next chapter

There was a loud thud of a body hitting the floor as the smoke cleared. You stared at the stranger you had just shot, shock taking over for a second that dragged on for an age. He didn’t die right away, and his co-workers wailed in terror while he writhed in pain. “fuck.” This was the best word you could come up with to summarize your current emotions. There was so much more blood than you thought there would be, his expensive tailored waistcoat soaking up all that red. That was a close one. It could have been you shot, or Javier. Oh christ, Javier. You whipped your head round to check on him.

“Mierda!” The victim’s gun had gone off as he went down but the bullet had thankfully only grazed Javier’s arm. Still not exactly how you wanted your first job to go.

“Javier!” you rushed to his side carelessly, anyone would think the bullet had hit his chest the way panic saturated your words.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” he whistled for the horses hastily. Those gunshots had drawn too much attention and anyone nearby would of heard it, you needed to move and fast. Both the driver and the passengers were too busy cowering to even dare try and attack either of you again and they didn’t move from their position, whimpering by the corpse of the man you’d shot when you snatched all the cash from the lockbox and crammed it into your saddlebags. “We need to move.” Javier pressed and you quickly mounted up and followed his lead. The thundering of the horse’s hooves matching the thundering in your chest as white-hot adrenaline coursed through your veins. It felt almost euphoric, or at least it would if you weren’t so worked up about Javier and about that man you’d gunned down.

The both of you bolted from the scene before anyone could so much as investigate, never mind alert the authorities, so it was safe to say you weren’t followed but that didn’t stop you from taking the long way back to camp. As soon as you were out of sight of passer-by and into the trees outside horseshoe overlook, you came tearing off your horse to his aid. “Let me see! That moron, I saw him reaching for his gun and I just-“ you cut yourself off mid-sentence and shook your head, as if trying to shake the thoughts out of your mind. He dismounted slowly, ready to insist he was perfectly fine until you caught him off guard again. Oh, so carefully you took his arm to examine the small wound, your touch as gentle as ever. Javier had been through a lot in his life, far too much as had most members of the Van Der Linde gang, but people were rarely so concerned for him. As long as he wasn’t dead it didn’t matter, you kept moving forward. “I’m sorry you got hurt because of me. It looks like it hurts.” The guilt of it all hit you and the weight of it was crushing.

“I’m fine, Just a scratch. We got away, you got the money, right?” this was of more importance than him, at least that was the way it always had been. The life of an outlaw, life as one of Dutch’s boys. It was dangerous but that was how it was for him, he wouldn’t even concern himself with a near miss like this for a second. Still, he didn’t pull away when you took his arm, it felt nice for someone to be so tender.

“I’m so sorry. This is my fault, you could have been really hurt, or killed!” You frowned as you looked at the blood on his shirt. It was really true when you said you wanted your first job to be with him because he was your favourite, you trusted him after only a few short weeks and that was rare in this life.

He looked at you, it was obvious you were upset, and he didn’t want you feeling so terrible over something so silly. He rested his free hand over yours, it lingered there for a moment before he spoke “I’m really okay, y/n.” he smiled at you, moving his hand to gently tilt your head towards him to press a kiss to your forehead. He had acted on impulse, he wanted to make you feel better. Normally if he flirted it was all just a little game to make you blush, and normally because he was drunk and had a soft spot for you, but this was just kindness. Maybe that wasn’t the most obvious trait Javier displayed but he had a good heart just as you thought you did and this small gesture made that weight much less heavy.

“no nicknames? Now I know it’s serious.” You joked and he smiled, you felt better when he smiled. You hesitated for only a second before wrapping your arms around him in a hug. He laughed a little and wrapped his unscathed arm around you. You had a spark about you, enough grit to survive but enough heart to not be warped by all this.

“Javier? y/n? you finally back?” You heard Bills voice and pulled away, a little sheepish as you looked at him, wandering out here for guard duty. “oh, am I interruptin’?” he spoke mockingly, and you were surprised he was even intelligent enough to mock anyone.

“we’re back.” You responded flatly, taking your horses reins to lead her back to camp. Bill tried to give Javier a knowing look but much to his dismay he was ignored.

Of course, when you arrived back in camp Dutch wanted to know how it had gone and you handed over half of the money just as you were told. He didn’t ask anything else once the money was in the box. He didn’t even ask why there was blood on Javier’s shirt. Upon arrival into this gang you had wondered why people did whatever Dutch said but already you noticed that you were doing the same. He spoke so confidently, every word that slipped past his silver tongue was dripping with charisma and you did as he asked without even stopping to think whether or not it was a good idea.

Javier was ready to leave and volunteer for guard duty again before you stopped him, taking his good arm and pulling him back towards you “hey, come.” You dragged him along to one of the tables and he reluctantly obliged, bewildered as he may be. “let me see,” you waited expectedly, and he stared back at you blankly. “what? You want it to get infected? You want to lose that arm?” you’d had your moment of weakness, but you were concerned for him now. Harmless as it may be this injury surely hurt. “so let me see.”

“so you want me to take my shirt off?” he looked bemused still, not expecting his own personal doctor over this tiny injury.

“don’t get shy on me now. I promise not to faint.” You quipped, skimming through the exceedingly lacking medical supplies you’d found once you’d paid your pound of flesh you owed to this gang into the chest, but you wouldn’t need much. The wound was minor, just a scratch as he said but you took your responsibility for it.

He glanced around camp, not many people were around anyways, it was early afternoon and the sun was still high in the sky. Most people were out at this hour. “Well if you really insist Chiquita. Do your worst.” He slipped off his shirt to give you access to the small would on his left arm.

Your eyes drifted down to his body for a moment, you couldn’t help yourself, but you tried to keep your focus on the task at hand. You noticed a few more scars on his body that were previously hidden under his clothes and pondered how he got them all.

You looked at the small gash and dabbed alcohol on it as gently as you could but he still sucked in air through his teeth, he was pretty sure this was more painful than leaving it to get infected but he went against instinct to keep his arm still to humour you.

“sorry,” you apologised when he flinched, easing off to give him a moment to adjust before continuing on. You were no doctor, but you knew to keep wounds clean and covered so that’s what you did. He watched you closely, not accustomed to this attention but enjoying your touch and observing the focus on your face until you were done and looked up at him, your eyes meeting his. “I guess now I owe you two, once for this mess and again for saving me up on that mountain.”

“that was Dutch,” Javier corrected you, he had happened to be the one to find you but around here Dutch was boss, he was the one who allowed you to stay. He was quite sure that he was the reason you stayed too, Dutch was the glue that kept everyone together and there wasn’t a man or woman here who didn’t trust him with their life.

“I don’t think so. Besides, you’ve been kind to me since I arrived.” you spent more time with him than anyone, something about him drew you to him right away. “I mean, every person here has been nice to me. Other than maybe Micah but I don’t think he has a kind bone in his body.”

“ah, Micah doesn’t count as a person.” He joked as he slipped his shirt back on and pulled out cigarette paper to begin carefully rolling a cigarette. He gave you a sideways glance as he did “y/n? Today…was that the first time you shot someone?” when he asked you this your smile quickly vanished which almost made him regret asking.

He was too blunt, and you stammered in your response. “uh…yeah. First time killing someone at least.” You looked down at his hands fiddling with the cigarette paper to avoid the steady gaze of his deep brown eyes. Killing was something he was perfectly accustomed to but as he looked over to see you shuffling uncomfortably in your seat, he realised that was not the case for you. He offered you the neatly rolled cigarette as if that would be helpful now but you shook your head and he set it aside.

“are you alright?” a stupid question really but what else was he to say? He could hardly remember what it was like to kill for the first time.

“I’m alright.” You were lying really but you’d get used to it. Everyone else already had after all.

“you know he would of shot me if you hadn’t shot him. You shouldn’t feel guilty.” He offered, watching you carefully still as if he was worried you might break. You had been rather fragile when you had arrived back at camp.

“I know.” You paused, not wanting to talk about this despite Javier’s good intentions to console you, “why are you looking at me like that? You gonna kiss me again?” your smile was just a little less bright after that particular topic had been discussed but you couldn’t resist throwing this back at him again and it made him laugh as he lit up his cigarette.

“maybe I will, Princesa. Would it make you feel better? I can if you really want me to.” he took a deep drag of his cigarette before exhaling the smoke slowly. You felt yourself blushing a little and turned your face away.

“you wish,” you were still lying but you at least managed to play off your reaction as a dramatic eyeroll. Javier laughed as he took another drag of his cigarette. You’d never liked the smell of tobacco before but on him you did. “next time I should go out alone,” you announced after a few seconds of admiring the man in front of you. “then I won’t get anyone hurt.”

“no.” he replied too quickly “no. That’s too dangerous. Dutch wouldn’t allow it. If you want to go out again come find me.” He was uncertain if he used Dutch as an excuse, either to save face and not embarrass himself in front of you or to save face and not admit to himself that he liked you more than even he was saying. Either way it didn’t matter, he had signed himself up to stay by your side and you gladly agreed.

“Okay. I’ll find you.”

[undeadsnorlax]

Can Anybody Tell Me Why I’m Lonely Like a Satellite?

heyyy my first fic for @badthingshappenbingo​. starting things off with my favourite space boy

Ao3 link

Prompt: Loneliness

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy (TV Series)

Warnings: mentions of self-harm, angsty as hell

Wordcount: 2603

A day in the life of Luther on the moon.

***

Wakey-wakey.

“Urgh…” Five more minutes…

Come on. You need to get up.

Luther groaned, rolling onto his back and squinting up at the blank metal ceiling. It took him a few more minutes to open his eyes properly, and a couple more to roll over and check the clock with another groan. 22:47.

“It’s early,” he mumbled, swinging his legs around and rubbing his face down. Well, early in his sense, at least.

Fifteen minutes won’t kill you. Means you could go to bed earlier later tonight, technically.

Luther considered this and nodded, slowly getting to his feet and walking toward the door-

Thunk!

“Every time!” he cried, rubbing his forehead. He’d learn to duck eventually.

He stretched his arms until his fingers brushed the ceiling, then placed a hand at the bottom of his back and arched it, grunting at the dull crunch his spine made.

With a few more stretches, he dragged his feet over to the counter, smiling at the small potted umbrella plant there.

“Evenin’ Ben,” he said softly, large fingers stroking the leaves before picking up the tiny watering can.

Hey Luther.

Luther let out a sigh, tapping one of the radars beeping away on the workstation below the plant.

Something wrong?

“Nah, nothing.”

He shrugged and went about doing his other ‘morning’ chores. Checking the base’s oxygen levels, collecting any trash, seeing if there was any response from home.

Nothing. Of course.

Luther dressed in his space suit, taking the bag of trash out and dumping it with the rest.

He allowed himself a moment of freedom, pure gleeful joy as he bounced light as air across the moon’s surface. He’d been up here two and a half years and this part still never got old. He was in space!

He pushed off from the ground hard, floating a foot higher before landing with a weightless thud. Grinning behind his helmet, he tilted his head to look up at the Earth in front of him.

It was awesome, thinking about how one planet could contain so many billions of people going about, living their lives.

Including four of the ones he’d grown up with. What would they be doing right now? Vanya would definitely be going to bed, and maybe Allison was doing a late night movie shoot. Klaus would probably be partying and Diego doing...whatever he did.

Luther let out a heavy sigh, his grin fading. No use in wondering like that. Just reminded him of how everything fell apart.

He was brought back into focus by his stomach rumbling. He clasped at it for a moment, staring blankly at the stars, before trudging back to base to eat.

Running low on those.

Luther narrowed his eyes as he opened a packet of soy paste, slumping down heavily on the nearest chair.

“I know,” he said quietly, squeezing every last drop into his mouth ravenously.

He also knew this would do nothing but numb his hunger for only a few hours, knew this wouldn’t have been enough food for him even before his accident. For as little as he did physically up here, his body still craved energy, and this shit just didn’t cut it.

You asked Dad for more, right?

“Every time.” Luther glared at the plant. “I’m due more soon, okay? Today or tomorrow…”

He drummed his fingers against his thigh, staring at the empty packet. Reluctantly, he went to the box and got another, pretending it was something more elaborate instead. One of Grace’s amazing dinners, a rich beef casserole in a thick red wine sauce, with potatoes and vegetables, maybe some kind of pie for dessert, with ice cream-

He groaned, swallowing the mouthful of saliva he’d formed at the mere thought.

Not helping?

“I miss real food.” He rubbed his middle, feeling at least a little more full, enough to concentrate on work.

Have you checked your bandages?

Luther licked his lips, before shaking his head, looking away like a naughty schoolboy getting a scolding.

Do that. Please? It’s been a few days.

“Okay, okay.”

He went to the cramped bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror first. He looked rough.

Dismissing that observation, he slowly zipped down his top, careful to not get it stuck on his body hair.

How’s it look?

“Better. Honest.”

The bandage itself, on his right side just above the ribs, looked a little grubby, dried dark brown stains having seeped through. Carefully, he picked at the medical tape keeping it in place, wincing every time it caught a stray hair, but managed to rip it off and inspect the wound underneath.

A laceration done in such a way there was a small chunk of flesh missing, but it was healing nicely.

Luther reached for his first aid kit, pouring out some antiseptic onto a cloth and pressing it down. He winced again, gritting his teeth, but knew it was all worth it to help it get better.

As he prepared clean bandages to patch it up again, Ben chimed in.

It was scary when you did that. You were so scared.

Luther’s gut churned with unease, remembering the frantic, near manic state he went into a few days prior. It wasn’t the first time it had happened either. A sudden burst of wild emotion overwhelmed him, forcing him to his knees as he tried to let it pass, but the feeling inside him just got worse and worse.

Are you okay now?

“I don’t know.”

He bandaged himself up again, before he traced along a similar mark on his stomach, healed now into a bright pink scar.

His fingers curled into a fist, zipping up his top again before he could do more damage to himself. Ignoring the urge hadn’t done much good the last few times, but maybe this time he’d figure out a way to not hurt himself again.

Doubt it…

He went back to sit at a console, rummaging through the mess of paper cluttering the table.

What’re you doing today?

“Going through these.” Luther scratched his chin as he thought, eyes skipping down the page. “Need to arrange them in order, rewrite them neater...pretty boring, right?”

What work isn’t?

Luther chuckled, splitting the paper into small piles. “Got that right.”

And then silence. Luther became engrossed in his work, only moving to either stretch his back or use the bathroom, and even that wasn’t often.

Sure, it was boring but...it was his kind of boring. One of his earliest memories was pouring over a book on the solar system, using it to try and figure out the constellations he could see from his bedroom window. Him and Five raced to have their hand up first during their physics classes.

It became a one man race after he vanished.

Luther tapped his pen against his temple, chewing the inside of his cheek. His mind was drifting, thinking of his siblings again.

He tried not to think of Five too often, but he still wondered what the hell could have happened to him. Sometimes he wondered if his brother had just settled somewhere. Gotten taken in by a nice family who looked after him.

He didn’t like the alternative. The portrait that hung in the living room reminded him every day for over a decade of the alternative.

That’s how he tried to feel about Ben. He was in a better place. He was at peace. Happier, maybe.

Again. Better than any alternative.

He wasn’t even sure he believed in an afterlife.

With a heavy sigh, Luther pressed his head down against the desk, closing his eyes for a second...

Luther…?

He jolted to sit up again, muscles tensing for a moment before he relaxed, picking the piece of paper that had stuck to his forehead. “Wha’?”

Drifted off bud. Not long.

“Ah. Right.”

You have been working hard for a while.

“It’s not that long-“

Luther cut off upon seeing the time. Eight hours had passed since he started. “Oh. Dang.”

You deserve a break.

“No, I’m...I’m nearly done, it’s fine.”

Luther…

“It’s fine.”

He didn’t mean to snap. He flinched the moment he did, putting his head in his hands.

Look, I get it.

“No you don’t. You’re a plant.”

Luther turned on his seat to face said plant, scowling at the thing. “You’re a voice in my head.”

Helps though, doesn’t it?

Luther wrinkled his nose a little, turning away and tapping a finger against the desk.

Helps to have someone to talk to.

“Crazy Luther Hargreeves, all alone on the moon with a plant that sounds like the brother he let die,” he muttered.

You know that’s not true.

“It’s true enough.”

He suddenly became aware of another console that had been letting out several beeps. Luther gritted his teeth and made his way over, reading the screen.

DELIVERY INCOMING

ESTIMATED ARRIVAL 0823

“Told you more food was coming,” he said, going to suit up once more. He’d missed it landing with his quick nap by about ten minutes.

Out on the moon’s surface, Luther tilted his head back, taking a slow deep breath. He could see the pod the package came in at the usual spot, but he desperately needed some quiet.

Inside his base, there was always some kind of noise. Little things, the consoles and monitors gently humming away in the background, the soft drip of a tap he might have left on. Constant.

Even back home in the mansion after everyone left, he grew used to the creak of floorboards, the structure settling around him. Every opening door making him perk up and hope someone was walking through, coming back.

Outside, on the surface, it was silent. It was like he could hear his body working, every thump of his heart that sent blood coursing through his veins.

In space no one can hear you scream…

So he did. He bent his knees, and took a deep breath and screamed at the top of his lungs. Everything contained within his helmet.

Straightening up, he screamed again, a rush of catharsis overwhelming his brain. It felt good to scream. He should do this more often. Better than hurting himself.

His chest ached a little as he caught his breath once more, staring dazed at the ink black sky above him.

So much...nothing. The night skies were never this clear back on Earth and maybe now he was glad because being confronted with such a sheer vast nothingness every day was sure getting to him. Would explain why his plant was talking.

Luther scrunched his eyes tight, and went to get the delivery. He dragged it inside, changing from his suit once more and tearing the box open.

Anything good?

He glanced up, narrowing his eyes, before getting out smaller boxes of soy paste. He sighed, inspecting the writing. They always said they were different flavours, but he mostly got the same soggy muesli or stale bread taste with every packet he consumed.

That…doesn’t look like a lot.

“Shut up, I know…”

Luther set one aside and put the rest in his food cupboard. He didn’t take a chair this time, just slumped down on the floor and gently squeezed the contents through the packet, huffing heavily.

Luther, that’s not going to last.

“I’ll make it last,” he mumbled, unscrewing the top and sucking gently, trying to savour it, “I have to…”

He tried to focus on the gentle hum of the base instead, closing his eyes to help. He wasn’t sure what had happened in recent months that his food packages were becoming less frequent, and less in amount, but it didn’t help anyone to dwell on that. Dad was busy, he had stuff to do…

C’mon big guy. You know that’s bullshit.

Luther glared up at the ceiling. That was new. Hearing Ben’s voice had happened surprisingly quickly, the moment he decided to name his plant after him. He never heard anyone else’s voice, but having Diego’s growling in his brain was almost a welcome change.

Almost.

You really think he’s that concerned for you up here?

“Shut up…”

Should’ve gotten out when you had the chance.

“Shut up!”

Luther slammed his head back against the console, grunting from the quick hit of pain. When Diego’s voice didn’t go away, kept taunting the same message of should have gotten out when you had the chance, he did it again...and again.

Until there was silence.

Too much silence.

Using the counter for support, he got to his feet and went back to his desk, staring at the piles of paper in front of him.

“This mission is of the utmost importance, Number One.”

That’s what his father had told him after explaining he was going to the moon. He’d blankly affirmed, not pointed out how pointless it was to refer to him by his number when it was just him left (because look what happened last time he said that), and gone along with it.

His whole life, Luther had been raised to lead a team and save the world. His team had left one way or another, and the ‘world saving’ work he did was mostly thankless.

But here he was. On the moon. Part of the mission. Everything was part of this lifelong mission. All the data he was collecting, the experiments he ran, they were important for...something.

Luther stared at his hand, the greyed skin and dark fur that kept making him forget it was his hand. This was all part of it too, somehow. It had to be.

Otherwise…

He finished his work. Filed away the pages neatly and made plans to send them out tomorrow.

For a moment, he hesitated by the umbrella plant, reaching to touch it’s delicate leaves.

“...Ben?” he said softly.

Nothing. Of course not.

With a heavy sigh, he dragged himself back to his bedroom, grabbing his personal notebook from the side table. He flicked through the pages until he landed on the poem he’d been struggling with for the last week, tapping his pen against the words.

Constellations are families, each star has their purpose, their name and position.

They work together as something bigger, part of the galaxy’s nightly exhibition.

There must be times where they can do nothing but fight,

When it grows so tiring to always be shining so bright.

Luther clicked his tongue, frowning at the words. Of all the hobbies he could have taken to pass time up here, he never anticipated poetry, but he was really getting into it, having filled pages already, some of which he’d sent back...just in case Dad was curious.

He could just see his plant on the counter through the door. He went to call Ben’s name again, but he cut himself off and shut his eyes, focusing on the hum of the base once more instead.

The voice in his head was never Ben. Ben was dead. Five had gone long ago. Allison, Diego, Klaus and Vanya were back on Earth living their lives. Had been living their lives quite easily without him.

He’d managed by himself. He was exactly where he wanted.

In space. On the moon. Just him.

Number One.

By himself.

Like it had been for years now.

Tomorrow he’d wake up and go through this again. The self-doubt and the spiralling and the focusing on work so hard to forget what was really happening. Maybe his plant would start talking to him again.

But really they know that no matter how much they argue and moan,

Being a family at odds is far better than being one star all alone.

[phantomphangphucker]

Ectober Day 28: Fall - Sinners Are We Chap.6: No More Idle Hands

And Dove could stay silent no more.

Neither he nor his brother got their father’s infamous wail. For Russet that made perfect sense, he simply didn’t hold up in the power department for such a powerful ability. And Orrin didn’t find such a brash brazen ability to be suited to him, so he rather didn’t care if he developed it or not. But Dove having it, and so young, was truly a surprise. And he loved those. So he feels he is quite justified in laughing as everyone else grasped their ears and collapsed, even father fell to the ground as everything shook. Everything around bursting, exploding, pluming even more smoke and ash into the sky practically blotting it out.

Who would have thought she’d have such a destructive ability.

He summons enough ectoplasm around his ears to muffle the sound, father wasn’t honestly smart enough to think of this quite yet. Then again, father was never on the receiving end of the Ghostly Wail. Orrin stands up, defying gravity to keep his balance on the shaky ground, sticking his arms out to the side and laughing, “WOW! I MEAN REALLY! WOW!”, grinning wide and a bit wild, if everything’s descending into madness and chaos then might as well behave a little mad to match, “KEEP THIS UP AND YOU MIGHT JUST KILL EVERYONE YOURSELF! HAHAHAHAHA!”. He absolutely knows father looks to him and notes his little trick to get around the wail, and will, of course, utilise it himself in a few seconds. The pressure’s on Dove, what will you do? What will you do.

But again she catches him by surprise, picking an option he never realised was on the board at all. She doesn’t stop, or aim it; no she changes octaves. Which, was father even capable of such a thing? She, she might just be stronger than him. Well fancy that. This octave though, oh it absolutely makes Orrin drop to his knees; the ectoplasm doing nothing to muffle the sounds.

All the mortals groan and roll over, many simply watching or backing away in stunned silence as three of the -apparently- four present Gray-Phantom’s pass out, the little girl- the princess losing the human disguise in the process.

Rio pushes herself up, staggering to run over to the little glowing gray-haired girl with her little head tilted skyward as green/purple sound-waves pulsed out of her mouth, sparkling pale blue tears streaming down her face from amber eyes. Rio collapsing next to her and hugging the little girl she’d grown to know as so gentle it almost hurt, “ROBIN! DOVE! STOP! SWEETHEART IT’S FINE! IT’S FINE! NO ONE’S HURTING ANYMORE! BUT YOU NEED TO STOP!”, and practically smushes the girl into her as the horrific sound peters off and the girl shakes violently.

Rio looks around as everyone starts to stand, some very cautiously looking towards the downed Gray-Phantom’s and chucking things at them from afar. Rio squeezing Dove/Robin closer and snapping her head towards Rex as he walks over, “she’s never hurt anyone”.

“She’s one of them”.

Rio snarls, “do I look like I care?”. Rex just huffs and wanders off, waving over his shoulder, “this is your problem then. Remi’s fine though”. Rio sighs at that. Then looking around as she stands. What the Hell are they going to do?

Spotting one of the hunters moving to put anti-ecto braces on Lark -Orrin, she staggers over, minding her twisted ankle and other injuries, “wait. This- this utterly insane nutter is to thank. He did this. Planned this. He-”, glancing to the girl she’s carrying in her arms who looked to just be staring blankly, “-got her to take them down. At least wake the twit up”.

The hunter huffs and cuffs him anyway but does give the... prince a good zap to wake him up. The guy groans on the ground in a way that makes it sound like he had simply been taking a nice afternoon nap, “well. That was certainly interesting”.

Rio grunts down at him, slightly out of pain, “and that was a stupid choice of first words. I don’t think I need to point out that you’re at gunpoint, cuffed, and surrounded; Orrin”.

He chuckles faintly, sits up, and crosses his legs. Cool, calm, demeanour never faltering, “well I would certainly hope so. These fellows wouldn’t be doing what they’re supposed to otherwise”, he looks around and shrugs a little, her following his gaze towards Russet. Him chuckling faintly, “well damn, that imbecile’s still alive”.

Jester loses it at that, “you wanted us to kill him?”.

“Arguably, why not? He’s a real bastard”.

One of the hunters makes a wheezing sound, “oh gods”, looks to Rio, “how in all the worlds did you turn one of the princes. Seriously”.

Orrin apparently won’t let that statement fly, “oh no. Blame the little missy. Real gentle doll that one”.

Rio looks to the side as Dove/Robin stirs at that, looking down at Orrin. Rio holds on to her, unsure, when the girl moves to reach for him. Orrin just chuckles and stands up while the cuffs just fall off and takes the girl from her in a swift motion. Everyone near -who aren’t helping with clean up or medical care- gape at him and follow him with their guns, Rio turning around gapping herself. Orrin chuckles again, looking at them with a smirk, “what? Did you really think I wouldn’t have altered everything to have little to no effect on me?”, he grins, “I’m the smart one you know. The sneaky shadow. Guess it’s true what people say that no one notices what their shadow does until it does something they don’t expect”. One of the hunters shoots him in the foot as if to check, which he rolls his eyes at. It, of course, does nothing more than leave a bit of ash on his black spandex high-heels.

Everyone looks to the two Gray-Phantom’s that could actually be cuffed. One guy clearing his throat, “so... what are we supposed to with this? Did... did we just win”. It takes only a bit of murmuring for most of the people around to break out into cheering or crying. No one stops pointing weapons at Orrin though, which he obviously ignores as if they don’t even exist.

Rio does smile at Dove when she seems to hum slightly happily over the cheering. Though Dove straightens up and leans away from Orrin a bit, reaching her fingers out towards Russet. Everyone jumping and staring as both Russet and Phantom move across the ground to the other two Gray-Phantom’s inhumanly fast, yet never waking. Orrin putting Dove on the ground who goes over, takes off her teddy bear backpack, and bops Russet on the head with it; pointing at him with puffed out cheeks like she was scolding him. Then moving to do the same to Phantom. Orrin blinks at the scene, “I do not claim to understand that girl”.

Rio is the only one willing to stand anywhere close to him, her crossing her arms, “I think you just don’t understand being nice and innocent”.

“You may be right there. Though I doubt most would be any different in my shoes”. No one really argues him there, because he was probably right. How could anyone be raised by those monsters and not wind up one?

Rio scowls at him, “I almost feel bad for you. But you’re probably as much a murderous monster as the rest of your family”, scowling more when he chuckles and grins meanly. Making it very clear to everyone that he was perfectly fine with that fact, and that he has, in fact, actually killed people. Rio draws her eyebrows together, “then why, why effectively save us”.

Orrin quirks an eyebrow, “didn’t I already tell you? Oh well, mortal minds are hardly of quality”, then steamrolls right over multiple offended objections, “me and brother dearest started out like terrible terrors”, pointing at Dove, “she, did not”, smoothing his jacket, “be a shame to turn gold to brass, don’t you think? Further, this seemed like a far more interesting course of action, I dare say”.

Everyone pauses and looks to Dove and Russet as the latter stirs. Orrin actually smirking when Russet spots Dove glaring down at him with crossed arms and Russet actually flinches. Orrin saunters over with a very wicked-looking grin on his face, “now what was that? Did the big scary bad Rusty flinch at the sight of a little girl?”. Which fine, more than a few people around laugh at slightly. Though many find this to be incredibly surreal and way too mundane after everything; petty sibling bickering between those framed to be the worst of monsters in the middle of what was just a battleground that had promised nothing but death for all the mortals there mere seconds ago.

Russet scowls up at the younger prince, “fuck you you fucking piece of shit demon child bastard. Ancients fuck you are a psychopath-”.

Orrin cuts him off with a shrug while everyone else just watches wide-eyed, “I appreciate the compliment, though really this seems more like a situation where you should be aiming to be insulting”, he shoves Russets head with his boot, making Russet squirm and start spewing profanities at noticing the cuffs and everything. Orrin just talks over him, “be glad I’m not power-hungry like you. Otherwise-”, Orrin grins and everyone tenses as he bends down, “-I’d find it quite tempting to take advantage of this and just do away with the first prince entirely. I find doing so would hardly be difficult, considering your current predicament”. Everyone relaxes when Dove hits Orrin with the plushie backpack, and he just chuckles faintly and gives her a head pat as he straightens up.

After a second though, all the hunters and rebels nod to each other, marching over and move to grab up both the still unconscious Phantom and snarling Russet. But Dove grabs both of them and squeezes them, somehow knocking Russet back out, and puffs out her cheeks defiantly.

Everyone glancing at each other awkwardly. Orrin breaks their awkwardness slightly by sighing, “and she still doesn’t know how to snarl properly”.

Rio shakes her head, personally glad for that, and walks over the kneel in front of her, “sweetheart, we can’t just leave them in the street. And remember what I said about bad people needing to be punished?”, when Dove nods she continues, “well we punish people by locking them up. Besides-”, side-eyeing the hunters, “-I doubt you’d let us seriously hurt them. Right?”. Dove nods immediately and repeatedly, puffing her cheeks more. Rio can tell that the hunters got the damn message that this was a losing battle. No Gray-Phantom was dying/being destroyed here today. This tiny girl just effectively took out all of the ghostly Gray-Phantom’s with one attack and practically instantly, even nearly destroyed the city and everyone in it at the same time. They were very lucky she was a kind gentle soul. Very. It would be better to not tick her off or do something to change that. Not that Rio was entirely sure it was possible to piss that girl off. Annoy? Sure. Piss off? No.

Dove huffs again, turns almost dramatically, and starts marching off in the direction of the -probably wrecked- jailhouse; dragging Phantom and Russet under her arms across the ground.

One of the hunters pointing out, “she does realise we can’t put them in regular cells, right? Like, those things need special ecto-containment cells. Especially Phantom”, grumbling, “with that bloody crown of his”.

Orrin grins and turns to him, sticking his hands in his pockets and giving a smile that’s close to charming, “actually, no”, tilting his head, “well, yes, but no”. Rio glares at him so he explains himself without any further prompting, “I think it is fair to say that father was quite efficiently and effectively bested, yes?”.

One of the hunters scowls, “your point, monster”, scowling a little more, “and know that regardless of this, you still belong in a cell or obliterated out of existence”.

Orrin only chuckles instead of seeming even slightly threatened, “oh I’m well aware how others feel of me, no need wasting your breath. After all, you need it and you have so very little of it”, grinning meanly, “why it could be snuffed out just like that”.

Rio pinches the bridge of her nose, “for the love of- stop being threatening just because you can be now that it won’t make you suspicious”.

Orrin rolls his eyes, “you have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to tear off your pretty little head”.

“Uncalled for”.

“And yet you still seem to put up with me. Strange”. Rio absolutely scowls deeper at the Gray-Phantom for that. “Anyway, my point is, when you best a royal, what is it that happens?”, he taps his chin in obviously fake contemplation before sounding rather condescending, “why you usurp them of course. You take their throne. Their crown. I do believe you get the message this time”.

Rio blinks at him, bullshit, “there is no way your... mother will go for that”.

He wags a clawed finger at her, “ah but her role as Mortal Queen is entirely made up and her claim as High Ghost Sovereign is that of a Consort”, shrugging, “normally in chess, you kill the queen, you win the game. But in this case, it’s the king”, smirking, “or was”. Needless to say, everyone starts freaking out.

Rio watches him smirk as people panic, it was mostly a good or confused panic though. “You just like chaos, don’t you”.

He doesn’t even look to her as he speaks, “I find it enjoyable yes. It’s more that I like to be entertained. I’m a creature of novelty and I had been rather bored as of late”.

Rio squints at him, “I can’t figure out if you’re genuinely on our side or are just dicking around”. Scowling when he winks before sauntering off in the direction of the jailhouse. More than a few hunters and rebels following largely to ‘keep an eye on’ the Gray-Phantom they could do nothing about; though some were conflicted on their feelings over the halfa that they had become familiar and even friendly with over the past while.

They walk in to Dove sitting on the floor attempting and succeeding at braiding Phantom’s flaming hair. Orrin furrowing his eyebrows at her, “why? What purpose does this serve”. She predictably just hums at him, rocking a little. Many of the hunters and rebels mutter, “you've got to be kidding me”. Rio and a few others barely hold back cooing ‘awww’s at the girl; the fact that it was Phantom getting his hair braided rather killed the cute effect of the scene.

Everyone but Orrin and Dove jumping at a portal swirling open on the wall and the FrightKnight waltzing through. All of the fully living aiming their weapons but doing nothing when the ghost bows to Dove, who pats his helmet with a small smile.

The FrightKnight looks to Orrin, “I must say, you frighten me. It will never cease to amaze me how so many call the first prince the demon rather than you”. Orrin bows very exaggeratedly with a coy grin, “you flatter me so”. The ghost shakes his head before turning and kneeling before Dove, “shall I take these two to the dungeon for you, my queen”, she just hums but the ghost seems to understand and before anyone can do anything the two captured Gray-Phantom’s are whisked away by the ghost.

All the fully living around are stunned stupid, Rio looking to Orrin, “you were serious”, then screwing up her face, “wait”, throwing her hands out to the side and scowling at Orrin, “Dove obviously doesn’t have a mean bone in her body. Isn’t she just going to let them loose?!?!”. The group giving the halfas panicked looks as they come upon the same worry. The princess -Queen?- was practically a newborn and those two monsters were her family.

Orrin waves everyone off, “oh it’s no matter. Crown’s hers all the same. Dear brother isn’t strong enough to beat her and father wouldn’t bother to even try. He never genuinely harms family in any long-lasting or permanent ways”, Orrin looks around and gives another mean smirk, “though you should thank little Dove for stopping you from killing Russet. I sure wouldn’t have”.

One of the guys squints at him, “why? Also, them being free is the problem, not them trying to challenge her. Though fine, that would be an issue too”. Everyone had officially decided without question that they’d take the sweet little Dove as a ruler over her monster parents or siblings.

“Why that’s so very simple. You may think father is bad already, but that is nothing compared to what he’s really capable of. I wouldn’t put it past him to annihilate everything he could get his claws on if one of us were destroyed”.

Rio almost can’t believe that she’s hearing the Phantom, the mass-murdering monster of monsters, had a ridiculous soft spot for his family. A genuine one. Turning to look at Dove and going wide-eyed at her floating/walking over while tugging at a flaming glowing green crown. Which pulls down over her face before springing back over her head every time she lets go of it. The girl humming and purring in clear joy and amusement. Then kneeling down to poke Rio’s ankle which suddenly doesn’t hurt. Rio blinking, “sweetheart... did you just... heal me?”. Dove hums and nods before running off poking people.

Orrin sighs and shakes his head a little, guess she thought the hiding game was over; he does follow her with his eyes though. Which doesn’t go unnoticed.

One of the hunters kneeling down to let the little glowing girl poke his head, then staring off after her as she moves on, “this is going to take some getting used to”, then noticing Orrin’s staring that’s boarding on a glare, “chill out ah... for the love of everything take your human form again, this is too weird”. Some others nod, some laugh though it’s weak.

Orrin rolls his eyes but promptly shoots the guy lazily with an ecto-beam; the guy hissing from the impact and being caught off-guard, “that’s for proposing the idea of kidnapping Dove”. Unsurprisingly everyone points their guns at him again before lowering them and glaring at the halfa after he spoke. He just grins, “just keeping things interesting”, the grin turning rather mean as the guy brushes himself off, “besides I think you’d prefer a weak little ecto-beam over my original idea. Which involved cups, mice, and your eyes. Make of that what you will”.

Rio scowls, “I think I preferred when you didn’t randomly threaten people, let’s go back to that”, sighing and glancing to Dove, “at least you’re protective I guess”.

Everyone goes silent, which becomes slightly awkward till Remi comes running in looking for her ma only to get practically tackled by Dove. Gently tackled, but still tackled. Remi just looks confused and kinda scared, “w-who”. Resulting in Dove looking almost heartbroken and making gestures at Orrin, who rolls his eyes but twirls his fingers dramatically; both of them suddenly looking as everyone was rather more familiar with. Remi gets over her shock instantly and starts worry babbling at Dove.

-

Orrin grins faint and amused as he leans his arms on the windowsill, watching as Dove finishes poking people outside, everyone exchanging glances before basically shouting, “LONG LIVE THE QUEEN”. Oh there were so many possibilities to be had. Especially when father wakes and mother hears of this. Would she be proud ‘her little girl’ bested the ghost she never could? Would Dove ‘talk’ them into being peaceful ‘or else’? Would the dead accept her as a High Sovereign or would she need to prove her worth?

Looking down, she obviously had little idea what was going on. Possibly none at all. She was simply smiling and moving her hands around because she was enjoying their happiness and cheer. Such a strange thing. Her enjoying... joy. He truly has little clue how their parents made her. And he rather doubts they understand it either. Even when those two were ‘good guys’ they certainly weren’t able to be called ‘innocent’ or ‘gentle’. While those were the first words that came to mind with Dove.

Turning his head slightly as Rio comes in, her closing the door and leaning against it with crossed arms, “so... are you guys going to be staying or...”, and quirking an eyebrow.

“Is this your mortal way of asking me to”.

She huffs, “Remi would be sad, that is all”. Which Orrin isn’t even close enough to a fool to believe for even a second, “yeah. Sure it is”.

“...”.

Orrin shakes his head a little and turns to look back out the window. The mortals were giving her sweets. How quaint. “I doubt I could keep Dove away. As I find I doubt she would really let me try to in genuine”. She had clearly grown fond of this place and it’s creatures; and clearly not as simply pets, servants, or loyal manipulatable underlings.

He can hear the raised eyebrow in Rio’s voice, “wouldn’t ‘let you’? You don’t seem like someone who’s controllable”.

He elects for vague, not as if he needs to explain in the first place, “there are ways”. Far be it for him to mention that the Crown makes the wearer able to control the dead, or part dead for that matter. He doubts Dove would make much use of that, which is quite fine by him. Not that that wouldn’t make things interesting regarding father.

“Riiiight”.

He outright ignores that. Him speaking again as she joins him by the window, “regardless, no we will not be staying. Dove has her castle and throne to attend to”, grinning both mean and mischievous, “and I have a brother to torture”.

“... I can’t tell if you mean that literally”, she sighs, “so she’ll come back then”.

“Indeed”.

“And you?”.

That does catch him just slightly off-guard. Apparently he wasn’t completely deplorable to these people. Fancy that. Though he had a level of feeling that this particular member of the living was more than just tolerant of him. “Oh I doubt Remi would care if I did or not”, him smirking a bit, “unless of course, that particular question has nothing to do with her happiness at all”.

He glances at her as she audibly scowls at him, “you’re an emotionless asshole without a caring bone in your body”.

Which only makes him chuckle, “then clearly you’re rather nuts for getting feelings involved”. This entire escapade was bringing plenty of interesting surprises and twists that he hadn’t yet experienced it would seem. “Particularly when you know said asshole has wanted to at the very least mildly murder you on multiple occasions”. Why that of all things gets her to promptly give him a chastised kiss he isn’t going to claim to understand in the slightest. Instead he furrows his brows at her, “I find I don’t understand you much either at times”. Did Phantom’s just have a habit of attracting living women? That could be an idea to look into at a later date.

She rolls her eyes and looks back out the window, where Dove is now chuckling flowers at people. “Good. I’d probably bore you otherwise”.

He dips his head slightly to acknowledge that is rather true, “accurate”.

“... so, will you come back?”.

“Well I dare say my curiosity is rather peaked now, so I hardly can find a reason to not”.

She scowls at him, but even his moron of a brother could tell she wasn’t actually upset with him. “Yup. You’re still a jerk”.

He snorts, “don’t go expecting change. Dove’s the ‘sweetheart’, not me”, running a hand through his hair and smirking, “I’m definitely more charming though”.

“Annnd there’s the ego”.

“It’s far too late for you to make denials-”, pausing and tilting his head at sniffing mothers scent. Looking up to spot the red suit and hoverboard far up in the sky, clearly she was watching, was seeing this. Dove frolicking with a bunch of mortals, a green crown flaming over her head all the while. “Mother’s here”.

Rio immediately jerks to attention and puts her hand to her blaster in preparation for assault. Orrin tilts his head though, watching as mother seems to shake her head and laugh before shooting off into the distance. “She... left”, he’s never felt genuinely shocked by something before. Why?

Rio blinks at him, obviously in shock herself, “what?! Why?!”.

“I... don’t believe I know”.

Rio blinks at him before shaking her head and stiffly leaning on the windowsill again, “well I'm not about to look that particular gift horse in the mouth”.

He squints before smirking after a bit, “she may very well be going to mock father and berate brother for being a moron again”.

“Still not even glancing at the gift horse”. He chuckles at that.

Suddenly Dove’s floating in front of them, tugging gently on Orrin’s sleeve. ‘Come’. He feels the unspoken command deep into the core of him, and he can’t very well deny it. Now can he? So he floats off the ground and moves to head out the window, though smirking meanly and grabbing Rio at the last second to yank her out too.

“You bastard!”. That only makes him chuckle more.

Him speaking quiet enough that the living won’t hear, “you truly ought learn to be more sparing with the KingSpeak, being forced to do things is hardly enjoyable. Particularly for a Gray-Phantom”. Dove just hums pleasantly at him as he’s effectively dragged into the silly dancing thing. And while the mortals keep their distance mostly, they don’t outright flee from him. How quaint and a rather peculiar turn of events.

End.

[poli9048]

Part 2

"Righteous Christian"

It was after ten when Chris returned from Oprah's party. This time was especially pleasant to the young man: the foggy empty streets, filled with the echoing silence of the night, opened up space for thoughts and feelings. He couldn't get the image of the girl sitting on that small wooden nightstand out of the mind, how she's looking at Chris's face, scared from sudden and completely incomprehensible feelings, with a fervor in her eyes. The young man right now wanted to turn around, go into that house and press Leia to that hated for a few seconds nightstand, kiss so that the lipstick smeared the face, smears lay on the neck area. It was like she was a canvas and Chris was an artist, but it was just the opposite. This Frenchwoman made him change his emotions like the colors of a palette, mixing shades that had never been seen before. Sarah quickly faded into the background, the captivating scent of her perfume Chris no longer felt near, rather, did not want to feel near. In his mind's eye, he could smell the familiar scent of French lavender shampoo.

The Windows of his house were always warm with chandeliers with beautiful antique shades - mother loved things from flea markets and antique stores, so all the rooms were filled with old decor items bought for a few dollars. The front door was slightly ajar. Quite unusual at this hour of the night. He entered the house and smelled the sharp smell of alcohol.

-Mom, dad, I'm home!"

Chris walked down the hall. His father, Mr. Morris, was sitting in the living room watching TV, paying no attention to the images that flickered on the screen. His eyes were fixed blankly in front of him, his lips were muttering involuntarily, and with an exhausted hand he was furiously pulling back his hair.

-What's wrong, dad?-Chris asked carefully. At the sight of his father, something inside him shrank and sank-obviously nothing good was to be expected.

-Your mother... She... She's - " Mr. Morris gasped, his throat constricting. His speech was incoherent, his eyes wild, and his hands were shaking. - She got sick... Badly... With heart..."

-Where is she?-Chris could hardly believe his ears.

-In the hospital-having drained already not the first in a row a glass with alcohol, the father began to sob hysterically.

There was no point in asking him what hospital his mother was in, just as there was no point in running to it. The only facility that Mrs. Morris could have been in was Blackpaines, a hospital on the outskirts of Blackpain, a suburb of Seattle. The hour was late, and of course no one would let Chris into the room, and the attending doctor would not come until the morning.

After such news, the native bed seemed like a lot of small needles, digging into the body with every movement and thought. Chris didn't sleep a wink, trying all night to figure out if what he'd heard in the living room was a figment of his imagination after a cocktail, or a new problem in the Morris family's life. He stared ahead with slow, suffering eyes, letting his thoughts and images take him deep into his subconscious.

The boy remembered the taste of lipstick on his lips, hot breath in the area of the chin. A white cloud of smoke that had something in common between them faded into the darkness of his hair and fell over his lush lashes that covered his emerald eyes. After a little digging in the back of his mind, he remembered where the insolent neighbor had left a pack of thin cigarettes. His hand found a thin dark box with nicotine bundles inside. She didn't smoke American cigarettes; her brother sent her several blocks of French Marlboros. His gaze skimmed over the inscription; Chris had not studied French, and the young man simply could not hear this speech from someone other than a girl. The lighter was carefully placed in the same pack, so it was not difficult to smoke.Opening the window wide, Chris exhaled clouds of white smoke that disappeared into the night. The sky was surprisingly starry - the next day promised to be warm. His father was probably still sitting in the living room; there was no slamming of the door, no heavy footsteps. It's amazing how the absence of one person can turn a house into such an apathetic and dreary place.

Night gradually gave way to morning. The sky was lit up with timid sunlight, the ground was covered with a semi-transparent fog, and the air smelled fresh. The neighbor has already gone for a walk with the dogs, and the rest of the residents have started to get ready for work. It wasn't a very long walk to the hospital: ten minutes and you were there. Chris couldn't wait any longer and went to his mother.He saw streets that smelled of autumn rain, a few sluggish stray dogs, and houses where people were gradually leaving. Does this city wake up so early? The lights were on in the hospital, and a pleasant woman in the waiting room quickly ushered the young man into the cardiovascular surgery Department.

The room smelled of medicine and hope for the recovery of a loved one. His mother was sleeping, breathing steadily. Chris stared at his own face, and fragments of memories flashed through his mind: how she had taught him to ride a bike, carefully treating endless abrasions; how she had read him bedtime stories as a child - he loved the mysterious, fairy-tale, fascinating sound of her voice; tender warm hands stroking his head during a difficult school period; the way she gathered the whole family to spend an evening playing board games, invited neighbors to her birthday, which coincided with Independence day in a pleasant way. Chris found it hard to believe that this could be happening to her. Even more difficult was the thought that he was in danger of losing her. Forever.

The idyll of mother and son was disturbed by the creaking of the door, and a heavy man in a white coat entered the room.

-Good morning,-he greeted Chris and hurried to introduce himself.- I'm Dr. green, the attending physician, Mrs. Morris. Who am I dealing with?

-Kristoffer Morris, her son,-the young man said shortly. After a sleepless night, there was no strength to go into lengthy explanations.

-Nice to meet you,-Mr. green said, giving Chris a quick handshake while commenting on what had happened. "This is her second heart attack - not as severe or devastating, but you know, her body is already weakened.

Chris frowned.

-What are you implying?

-I mean, everything is stable now, but the medications that keep her stable need to be bought, and they are expensive. There may not be a strong need for them, but this is not guaranteed. Who knows what will happen next month, right?- Mr. green patted Chris gently on the shoulder and, after checking the readings on the device monitors, left for his morning rounds with his patients.

***

"Lord Jesus Christ, our God, bless us with food and drink through the prayers of Your most pure Mother and all your saints, for you are blessed forever and ever. Amen" the father's lips quickly whispered the usual prayer, after which the Brossard family members let go of each other's hands and began to eat. The dining room was filled with the head-spinning aroma of French cuisine, which Leia's mother adhered to, despite the fact that they had long left their native country. Mrs. Brossard sliced the chicken in a smooth motion and spread it out on the plates to match the clock on the wall.

-Lea, my mother and I have a favor to ask of you,-Mr. Brossard said, slowly turning his mirrored gaze on his daughter. It was probably only because Leia's father was a clergyman that she was tolerated by the school administration, because no one wanted to quarrel with the Confessor - especially the religious people, who were most of the older population of Seattle.

-I listening to you- Leah looked questioningly at his father.

-Our neighbors, the Morrisons, have family problems. Emily is in the hospital, and we have to help Chris while his father is away. Therefore, if he needs help, never refuse, you are a good girl, a good Christian-the father smiled gently from the corner of his lips.

***

The need for money for his mother's recovery made Chris think about work. The only thing he was good at was photography, so he decided to try to get a job at a local newspaper and went to the office the next day. Outside, the rain continued to fall, as if responding to the anguish that was tearing at Chris's soul.

The young man fidgeted with a battered portfolio - an old folder of his father, in which he had pasted several printed photos.

-May I come in?-he tapped steadily on the office door and went in after a soft "come in".The young editor-in-chief stood at his Desk, his black tie stretched at the neck, the collar of his ironed shirt unbuttoned, and a loose jacket over his broad shoulders. He was Smoking a cigarette, studying the latest issue of the newspaper. -Hello, Mr. Blythe.

-I'm listening- he said, looking Chris up and down, then stubbed out his cigarette and abruptly folded the newspaper.

- My name is Christopher Morris,-the young man began.-I'm a photographer, I'm looking for a job and I would like to get a job at your newspaper.-He handed the folder to the editor, but the editor did not move to take it, and only sneered.

-I'm sorry, friend, but we don't have a Union or a job center, and we don't need workers,- Mr. Blythe said, squinting and pulling a smug smile.

-At least, take a look at my work poi o-Losing his composure and completely forgetting about the need to make a good impression on the employer, Chris shoved the portfolio directly into the hands of the editor. He looked at Chris's work arrogantly for a while, turning the pages quickly and clearly trying to get rid of the annoying young man as soon as possible.

-The work is completely mediocre,-Mr. Blythe said at last.-I don't have instagram with a selection of aesthetic images for teenage girls. But as compensation for the time spent, I will take one photo from you.- he put one photo back in the Desk and handed the folder back.

Chris was filled with anger and resentment, but at himself, only at himself for the fact that the person closest to him needed help more than ever, and he could only imagine the rustle of bills in his hands, no more. Flipping through the portfolio, which now seemed like a useless collection of pictures, Chris discovered that Mr. Blythe had taken one of his favorite photos. A typical image of Leia from behind - it was one of the usual evenings when She came to smoke with him. Her hair was a little longer then, and she was facing the window, and the full moon shone on the curve of her back, the thinness of her shoulders, and the sheen of her hair.

[crying-gay-tears]

Man to Man

The air in Leorio’s fancy high rise office was stuffy. A huge mahogany desk rested in the center of the room, it’s top laden with scattered papers, odd looking trinkets, and a few picture frames holding some familiar smiling faces. The walls were lined with tall, matching mahogany book shelves, boasting an extensive medical encyclopedia collection.

Gon sat in a squishy chair that was parked in front of the desk, waiting patiently as Leorio fumbled with his coffee pot. He laughed to himself when the older man let out a quiet stream of profanities followed by a loud “AH-HA!!” The sound of the machine percolating followed. With a hot cup of coffee in hand, Leorio walked over to the two leather arm chairs facing the window, and motioned for Gon to join him. “The view is nicer over here” he said with a light smile, gesturing towards the huge window. Yorknew city bustled below them, the setting sun enveloped the world outside, casting everything into an orange glow. “Now,” Leorio peeked at Gon over his glasses while he blew steam off of his coffee, “what did you want to talk about?” Gon looked up at him, eyes round and bright. He swallowed nervously and glanced down at his feet before starting. “Well-“ Leorio held up a single finger. “Gon, I’m your close friend, there’s no need to be embarrassed or nervous. We can talk, man to man! Now, look me in the eye, and tell me what’s on your mind!” He squeezed his eyes shut, and with a deep breath and furrowed brow, opened them again, amber orbs now shining with resolve. “Leorio, I want to know about sex!” He blurted out, cheeks on fire and mouth dry. Leorio sputtered, spilling coffee onto his pristine white button down. This was a shock for sure! Gon was at that age, he supposed, but Leorio felt out of depth for this conversation. Why couldn’t Gon just talk to his d—his thoughts stopped in their tracks, he suddenly remembered Ging and wished very much that he could punch him again. Harder this time. His son was here, needing guidance! And where was that sorry excuse for a parent? Who knew?! Damned vagabond. Well, it is what it is, and Leorio was a doctor after all, aside from Gon being his dear friend, this was also his duty as a medical professional. After taking a second to regain his composure, he finally spoke, “Gon, you’re really growing up!” His loud exclamation was followed with a hand reaching over to tousle a patch of black spiky hair. Gon saw a tear glint in his eye. “Does this mean you like someone??” He pressed, shooting a wry smile and leaning over to elbow Gon slightly in the ribs. “Well out with it! Who’s the lucky lady, eh?” Gon’s face was deep red. “I-it...w-well, it’s not...” the boy trailed off, reaching an arm up to rub at the back of his neck. This was harder than he thought it would be. Leorio seemed to understand and took some pity on him. “Don’t worry, Gon. I won’t make you tell me. This talk is embarrassing enough without also having to talk about your crush!” He sipped his coffee before starting again. “Gon, you’re growing up, and with getting older comes new feelings and urges” —Gon cringed— “that may be tough to understand. The most important thing when you’re trying to navigate this new territory is to always be safe! Sex is a wonderful and powerful thing, but sex without safety measures is just dumb!” Gon’s adrenaline was rushing and his heart was fluttering in his chest. “What safety measures?” He asked, voice almost a whisper. “Ah! Good question!” The tall man quickly walked to his desk and rummaged through one of its many drawers. He fished out something small and walked back over to Gon. Taking a seat, he passed the foil square to him. “Do you know what that is?” He quirked an eyebrow at the mortified looking teen. “No... What is it?” “That is a condom. Whenever you want to have sex, you should always use one of those! It keeps you and your lady safe from diseases and unwanted pregnancy!” Gon’s face fell. “O-oh. Okay.” Leorio felt a blush rise in his cheeks. He knew what that disappointment was. “I know you may be thinking it feels better without a condom, but the risk just isn’t worth it! One day you might meet a nice woman and settle down, and you two decide together th—“ “Leorio?” “Eh?” He was a little surprised by the interruption. “I want...” Gon cleared his throat. “I want to know about sex with... boys.” Oh. Oh!! Leorio’s eyes grew wide, a new wave of understanding washing over him. Images of a pale, silver haired teen suddenly flashed through his mind. Everything made much more sense now. Gon, looking mortified, continued. “Aunt Mito talked to me about the birds and the bees a long time ago, but she never went into details. Now that I’m older, I need to know more, so I came to you. I really appreciate you giving me details, I just want to make sure they’re...the /right/ details. I don’t want to mess up or-or do something wrong...” Gon hung his head to hide his blush. His slightly upturned nose was now pointing down at the carpeted floor while his hands fidgeted in his lap. Leorio, still a little lost in thought, shook his head to clear it. “Gon. I appreciate your honesty, and so I’ll be honest in return when I say I don’t have much...er- personal experience in this department. But I can still go over the basics with you, and I can also get some helpful pamphlets from work to give to you. The clinic I work for has got tons of informational pamphlets, I’ll snag two for you in case Ki—“ he stopped himself abruptly. “In case you need an extra.” Gon hadn’t missed this, as was evident from the deepened blush now rising to the tips of his ears. “Let’s go over the mechanics now, eh?” Leorio quickly backpedaled. After a long and awkward talk that involved rolling a condom onto the banana Leorio happened to have in his lunchbox—“Gon! You’re in luck! I ran out of apples this morning!”— Leorio finally stood. “Wait here for a bit, I’ll take the elevator down to the main floor where the clinic is and I’ll bring some stuff back for you.” Gon, still sitting with pink tinged cheeks, nodded a confirmation before he head out the door. Gon’s brain was working in overdrive, trying to process all of the new information he had just received, on top of all the new feelings said information had stirred up. Thoughts of condoms, lube, and a certain blue eyed boy were flashing through his mind as he stared blankly out the window at a darkening sky dotted with city lights. He must’ve been truly lost in thought, as he didn’t even notice Leorio return until a hand was on his shoulder, and a small cellophane bag was being placed onto his lap. “There ya go Gon! It’s your ‘Becoming A Man’ Starter Kit. That should be everything you need. For now, at least. There’s pamphlets, some lube, and some condoms. Make sure you practice putting them on! I can’t tell you how embarrassing it is when you’re in the moment and you can’t figure the damn thing out—” Gon stood abruptly, legs shaky, and threw his arms around his friend. “Thank you, Leorio!” He gave a tight squeeze before letting go. “I appreciate all of your help. I didn’t know who else to go to-“ a long finger wagging in the air cut him off. “Now, now! No need to thank me, I’m your friend, Gon. That’s what I’m here for! Not to mention, this was good practice for me! I am a doctor after all, if I couldn’t handle this, I would’ve needed to turn my license in!” The man laughed. Gon looked up at him with a huge smile. “You’re a great friend, and a great doctor Leorio!” He exclaimed, shooting him a thumbs up. Gon could swear he saw another tear in the corner of Leorio’s eye as he returned the thumbs up. “Ah, well. Thank you Gon. I’m glad you think so! Now, off you go! I’ve got some stuff to check on down stairs and you’ve got some practicing to do!” Gon let out an exasperated groan, and Leorio laughed boisterously as they walked out of the office together.

[side-effect-of-the-meds]

Can you please tell us more about the girls’ relationship in the fem andreil!ravens au? It seemed a bit brusque to change the perspective from Ania and Riko making out to “anyway, Erin and Ania get together” :))). I just want to see my girls be happy and I’m sorry if this sounded weird, but I’m usually really big on seeing the development process of a relationship/character.

It’s not weird at all, love! I just didn’t feel like writing bc a) I’m lazy and b) my mom kept looking over my shoulder at my phone and I hate when people see me write. Now that I’m alone in my room, let’s get cracking. 

In exchange for Erin coming to Evermore, Riko offers to take care of Aaron n Nicky. The boys are living in the lap of luxury for like two years. They’re moved to a much nicer house and have a butler, chef, maids, chauffeurs, etc.  In reality, it’s how Riko intends to keep Erin in check. If she screws up, there’s like twenty people that can and will kill her family. 

The boys are oblivious to EVERYTHING THE ENTIRE TIME. Nothing ever happens to them to tip them off either. When Erin and Ania run, they’re still taken care of bc Ichirou intervenes and he outranks Riko and The Master. He does it bc he wants to take a different approach from Kengo. He wants to use as little violence to solve his problems as possible. Of course, he has no problem torturing and killing ppl should the need arise. The boys only find out years later when the ex-Ravens are talking. 

“What do you mean the Moriyamas were in the mafia?!?!?!” 

“Oh yeahhhhh. We forgot to tell you, didn’t we? That’s why you were living in that house. If Erin ever disobeyed them, they were going to kill you.” They say this super casually in front of Katelyn, Erik, Jeremy, Thea, and all their kids.  

Now the girls and the Ravens

First of all, only the perfect court call her Ania. Everyone else calls her Wesninski. 

Erin calls her various terms of endearment on the court bc it pisses Ania off. Riko is ready to fight. Kevin and Jeanie are betting on how long it’ll take before Ania leaves Ko for Erin. 

Ania and Erin two are paired off the way all ravens are. For every mistake Erin makes, Ania is the one paying for it. They spend a lot of nights running suicides up and down the court or playing until Ania blows her arms out. Riko will sit on the sidelines and watch. Night is the only time Ania really plays as a striker so she stands there taking shots on goal while Erin has to deflect them. Ania has collapsed more than once on those nights. Kevin and Jeanie are always sent to drag her back up. If she collapses again, Riko will take her off the court and Kevin will take Ania’s place until they return. After about half an hour, Ania will limp back out, clutching her gut. 

Erin doesn’t find out for a long time but every time Riko has to drag Ania off the court, she throws her onto the cold concrete and kicks her until she’s coughing up blood. 

Ania blames her constant abuse on Erin. She hates her so so much. 

It hurts Erin to know Ania hates her but she isn’t going to try to change her mind. It takes a lot of energy out of a person to hate someone. Erin consoles herself by reminding herself that if Ania hates her, it means she’s thinking about her. 

Every weekend, Ania disappears. The dorms feel empty because it’s where Ania is supposed to be. Erin can’t stand staying alone in their dorm which is how she finds the roof access. She smokes her cigarettes and stares up at the night sky. Castle Evermore is p far from Edgar Allen and is actually p far from the developed world. Alone on the rooftop, Erin feels like the only person in the world. It’s lonely in a different kind of way. 

Once school actually starts up, Erin is exhausted all the time. She can barely keep her eyes open n she’s covered in bruises all the time. Since Erin and Ania are paired off, Ania always waits for her in their dorms with a first aid kit. She spends about an hour every night cleaning up and cuts, icing her bruises, and massaging her with muscle ache relief cream. Ania is really rough about all of it but it’s still really domestic. Erin might not be on her meds but by the time Ania is finished, she feels just as high. 

Ania doesn’t ever let Erin do any of it for her. She also doesn’t change with any of the other girls or shower in the locker rooms. Erin is intrigued. 

On Friday nights, Ania drinks. When I say drinks, I mean she goes through a bottle of Grey Goose like it’s just water. Fridays are the only nights when Riko shares Ania so everyone stays up late to watch her. She’ll get drunk in the common room and dance. Anyone who gets within arms’ reach is getting dragged onto the dance floor with her. It’s the only time the Ravens get to let loose. The only reason they get away with any of it is bc Tetsuji has board meetings on Fridays. 

Erin avoids the common room like a plague. Ania dances dirty and Erin isn’t going to survive watching her dance with anyone but her. She passed by once and Ania ambushed her with the intention of dragging her off with her. When she realized who she was standing in front of she grimaced and left without another word. </3 

The reason Ania gets herself drunk on Fridays is because her father comes to pick her up at like 4 a.m. on Saturdays. She comes home at 3 a.m on Mondays and is thrown back on the court an hour later still nursing her new cuts and bruises. 

The girls only become friends after Erin becomes a member of the perfect court. She gets inducted during Christmas at Evermore. Riko runs Erin ragged on the court for the two weeks of winter break and Erin is actually convinced that she’s going to die. They strap her down and tattoo her at Midnight on Christmas. The Master gives the Ravens Christmas off to celebrate the newest member of the perfect court. Erin refuses to leave her room that day. She finds a knife and is about to start layering cuts over it in an attempt to cover it up when Ania finds her. 

Ania pins Erin down and wrenches the knife out of her hand. Suddenly, they’re rolling on the floor fighting. No, they aren’t fighting. Erin is beating the shit out of Ania. Her fists are a blur. Pipe dream or not, Erin’s survival instincts override everything. She only stops when she realizes that Ania isn’t fighting back. Like… at all. To her horror, Erin looks down and sees Ania’s eyes glazed over. 

Once when Erin still lived with Drake, he’d pinned her against a wall and took her then and there. She had caught a glimpse of her reflection in a mirror, her eyes glazed over and empty. Ania looked like that now. 

She got off of Ania and scrambled back into a corner. What have I done? she thinks. She can barely breathe. She’s medicated so she starts to laugh. It’s a horrible sound. She’s in utter hysterics as the tears flow down her face. 

“Erin,” Ania’s voice is just barely there. “Erin,” she calls again. Slowly, Erin crawls over to Ania’s crumpled form. “Stop laughing.” Erin clamps her hands over her mouth. It does little to stifle her laughter. “Get out,” Ania whispers. Her eyes are still blankly staring at the ceiling. Erin runs. She vaults up the stairs to the roof. Standing at the edge of the roof, she considers just jumping. There’s no way she can face Ania after that. She goes through a whole pack of cigarettes before she comes back down. By then, the sun has set. Ania isn’t in their room. There had been blood on the carpet from when Ania’s mouth and nose. All of it was gone. 

“Minyard.” Erin whirled around to see Jean standing behind her. “Come on,” he says motioning towards the door. Erin doesn’t move. “Ania wants to see you.” Erin is on her feet at the sound of Ania’s name alone. Jean smirks knowingly at her and leads her down the hall to Riko’s room. He pushes the door open and walks in. Erin enters to find the rest of the perfect court already there. Riko is sitting on a recliner like its a throne. Kevin is perched on one of the armrests and Ania on the other. For the first time, Erin sees Ania with her shirt off. She’s no longer medicated but she still can barely keep her apathetic facade up. 

Almost every inch of Ania’s skin is cut up and burned. Scars race up and down her beautiful body. There’s nothing in the world Erin wants more than to trace over every one of them with her eyes, her fingers, her lips. Ice packs are strapped to Ania’s chest, undoubtedly covering he bruises Erin had given her a few hours ago. 

“Erin,” Riko said with a false kindness in her voice. It takes everything in her to pry her eyes off Ania. “I welcome you to my court and this is how you repay me? By hurting my beloved little Ania?” Riko shook her head, disappointed. “How about I do you another favor? We’ll see how much you like this new one.” Everything in Erin’s mind is screaming for her to run. She’s about to when Ania rockets out of her seat. 

“Ko, it’s nothing. I’m fine,” she insists. Riko turns her gaze to Ania. “Look, it was my fault. I’ve always been better at picking fights than winning them, right?” She offered Riko a sheepish smile. Riko narrowed her eyes at her. Suddenly, her arm shot out and grabbed a fistful of Ania’s hair. She wrenched it and brought Ania to her knees with a single flick of her wrist. Erin was moving before she could process it. Arm’s wrapped around her, lifting her clear off the ground. She bit and kicked at him but Jean was far bigger and far stronger than she was. The sound of Ania’s voice stopped her. Riko had been hissing at her in Japanese from the second she’d brought Ania to her knees. Now, Ania was speaking in a soft sultry voice. The malicious glint was gone from Riko’s eyes. Slowly, a lustful look replaced it. Erin caught the fearful look Kevin cast Jean. She wriggled just enough to catch the worried one Jean sent back. Erin didn’t know what was happening, but she knew it wasn’t good. 

“Very well, Ania. I’ll give her one more chance for you, my love.” Riko said in English. “I don’t think you understand just how lucky you are, Ms. Minyard. If it weren’t for Ania, you’d be back in Columbia watching your beloved brother bleed out.” Erin froze. “I’m giving you one more chance, alright? One more toe out of line and… Well, you’ll see.” Riko’s manic laughter had nothing on the drug-induced one that had poured out of Erin earlier that day. Erin had thought that she’d known fear before. She was wrong. 

From there, Erin isn’t usually in trouble. She’s far too afraid of Aaron getting hurt to play. Gambling with her life was one thing, Aaron’s was something else. Sometimes she’ll pick fights with the other members of the perfect court bc of her meds. However, she suddenly realizes that the bruises covering Ania’s skin only ever appear when Erin steps out of line. Ania picks fights with everyone but no one but Kevin raises a hand at her. 

A lot of days, the Ravens break for lunch to leave Kevin and Ania brawling on the court. As a member of the perfect court, Erin is now privy to everything happening between them. Jean is the one who tells her tho. 

Jean- no. It’s Jeanie explains to Erin about her gender. Erin had heard about trans people before, but she’d never met a trans person before. Her etiquette on the matter takes a while to develop so she just doesn’t say anything about it while medicated. She does work really hard to support Jeanie tho. She relearns Jeanie’s name and preferred pronouns. It isn’t hard. Jeanie also tells her about Kev and Riko’s sexualities and false relationships. Erin slips up and lets herself slip. She asks about Ania and Jeanie smiles slyly. None of them know what demisexuality is (i didn't even know about this until AFTG) so Jeanie just says that Ania doesn’t swing. She’s with Riko but she isn’t romantically interested in her. Or sexually for that matter. “I mean they’re not not together,” Jeanie said with a shrug. 

Since Erin is now a part of the perfect court, she and Ania are forced to spend a lot more time together. They now have to sit together for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Ania is a first yr so she and Erin have the same schedule. Like the exact same. They used to sit on opposite ends of the room but since whatever it was that happened during Christmas, Ania isn’t leaving Erin’s side. 

It’s tense at first tho. Neither of them is speaking. They do their hw together and the only sounds in their room are the scratch of their pencils on paper or the tapping of keys on the computer. 

It isn’t until a few weeks after the break that they start becoming friends. It happens when Ania seems to be struggling to study for their English test. They were supposed to read Dune but the book is nearly 800 pages and Ania is dyslexic. It hasn’t been diagnosed bc she was homeschooled but Erin picks up on the telltale signs. She only knows bc Aaron was too. How he managed to survive a schedule of AP classes and make straight 5’s on all his exams, Erin didn’t know. She was hella proud tho. 

Erin snatches the book from Ania’s hand and heads out. She knows Ania will follow. She leads a fuming Ania to the roof access and up the stairs. When she steps out onto the roof, she turns to look back. Ania is looking up at the stars with wide eyes. 

“The view,” she whispered, mesmerized. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, it is,” Erin replied, unable to drag her eyes off of Ania. Ania huffs a laugh still staring up. Erin just barely manages to tear her gaze off her before she looks over. Erin sits down, cross-legged. It’s freezing outside but her sweats are fairly thick. Ania, however, is shivering. She sits down beside Erin, leaving a little space between the two of them. “I will do this once and only once. Understand?” Erin asked. Ania nods, confused. Erin sets the book down and drags Ania into her lap, enveloping her in her arms. “If you freeze, Riko will have my head,” Erin muttered. Ania nodded, doing her best to suppress a smile. Turning her phone flashlight on, Erin opened the book up to where Ania had left off. 

For the next two hours, Erin sat there with Ania curled tightly against her chest reading the book. Whenever Erin began to think that Ania had fallen asleep, she’d interject with some strangely amusing commentary. For the first time in Erin’s life, she felt something other than anger. In its place, she felt soft and warm. Erin shook her head. It was probably just Ania’s body heat. 

“Erin?” Ania asked, stifling a yawn as they headed back downstairs. Erin turned to look at her. “Thanks.” 

“Whatever,” Erin said. She heard Ania laugh softly. Laying in bed, Erin could still feel the warmth of Ania’s body on her chest. She didn’t get a single hour of sleep that night. 

It only takes one more late-night trip to the roof to finish the book but the rooftop meetings become a thing. Ania doesn’t smoke but she breathes in Erin’s second-hand smoke which is still p bad for her lungs but we’re going to ignore that.

Erin isn’t great at math so Ania will tutor her in that but they do that in their room. The roofs become a sacred tradition not to be tainted with the hellish concepts of math. 

They first start trading secrets because Erin really just doesn’t want to listen to Ania talk about exy all the time. 

Ania tells Erin about how her mother used to beat her and Erin tells her about her self harm scars. 

Ania tells Erin that she’s killed people and Erin tells her about the boy who shoved her into a closet and stuck his hands in her pants. She had snapped his neck and thrown him in the river. She almost laughs when Ania criticizes her method. 

“You should have arranged for him to fall off a jungle gym and break his neck from the fall.” 

Late one Sunday night, Erin comes down from the roof to find Ania in the kitchen. She had come home from her father’s place early and disappeared into Riko’s room right after. Now she was pressing a bag of frozen peas to the bruise on her eye. There were open cuts all over her torso. 

That’s when Erin pieces it together. The scars on Ania’s body aren’t from her father. They were from Riko. 

Erin’s blood is boiling. She’s going to kill Riko when a hand clasps around her wrist. 

“Erin, no,” Ania hisses. 

“You can’t let her get away with this,” Erin snaps, wrenching her wrist out of Ania’s. She knows her anger is showing in her eyes but she can’t help it.

“Erin, please.” 

“I hate that word.”

“Then don’t make me say it.” Erin looks into Ania’s eyes and sees her, really sees her for the first time. The ice in her eyes doesn’t end there. It’s in her veins too. Nathania Wesninski isn’t just some Exy junkie, she realizes. Nathania is just a girl trying her very best to be more than she is. Jeanie had already told Erin who Nathania’s father was. Erin had never met the Butcher of Baltimore but she’d heard stories. He was cold-blooded and ruthless. He was fierce and fearless. He was unbreakable. Looking at Ania now, she didn’t doubt that she was his daughter. Erin turned and motioned for Ania to follow her. She led her back to the dorms and shoved her down onto the bed. She turned to leave and Ania caught her wrist again. 

“Don’t touch me,” Erin said. Ania nodded as she let go. “I’ll be back.” Erin headed straight for the bathroom and dug the first aid kit out from under the sink. She returned to find Ania picking at the bedspread. She looked up at Erin. A small smile tugged at her lips when she saw what was in Erin’s hands. Erin scowled. She was equal parts annoyed and elated to see Ania’s smile stretch across her face. Slowly, Erin cleaned every cut and bandaged them up. When she finished, she stepped back to inspect her handiwork. Satisfied, she turned to leave.

“Erin,” Ania said. Erin turned back to look at her. Ania extended her hands towards her face in a silent request. Erin obeyed. On her knees, she was about a head shorter than Ania. Ania cupped her hands around Erin’s pressed her forehead to Erin’s, staring into her eyes. She felt Ania’s hands drop away.

“Yes or no,” Erin whispered. Confusion swept through Ania’s eyes. 

“Yes?” she said uncertainly. Erin took it She pressed a soft, swift kiss to Ania’s lips. As she drew back, Ania followed. “Don’t leave,” she whispered against Erin’s lips. The words shook Erin to her core. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she replied. She kissed Ania again, this time with far more passion. She poured all her pent up feelings into it. Ania didn’t shy from it. In fact, she pressed right back, matching Erin’s intensity. Erin could hear the scrape of Ania’s nails against her bedframe as she curled them, doing her best not to reach out. Erin had always been a sucker for a pretty face but Ania’s dirty mouth would be the death of her. She had absolutely no self-control. Or so Erin had thought. 

She’d seen Ania kissing Riko before. Ania’s hands never remained in one place for long. Instead, they roved every inch of exposed skin. The fact that she was actively working to control herself for Erin drove her wild. No one had ever done anything for Erin her whole life. And now? Now Erin was kneeling in front of a woman mustering up every drop of self-control she had so that Erin wouldn’t leave. 

“Fuck,” Erin moaned into the kiss. She felt the smile gracing Ania’s lips and growled softly. “Not a word, Wesninski.”

“Don’t call me by that name,” Ania replied. Erin pulled back to look at her. They stared at each other. Even in the pale yellow light cast by her bedside lamp, Ania was the most beautiful woman Erin had ever seen. “Alora. I’m Nathania Alora Wesninski but I want you to call me Alora.” 

“Alora,” Erin said softly. 

“Do you like it?” Ania asked. “I thought you’d appreciate the irony.” Erin just stared at her. “It’s Latin. It means bay tree but some say it means ‘My Dream’ as well. That’s perfect for you,” Ania whispered as she leaned back into Erin’s space. Against her lips, she murmured, “Because I am your pipe dream.” That dirty mouth really was going to be the death of Erin.

[werewolves-are-real]

Hello! if it isn't too much to ask, can you share a short snippet of whatever you're currently working on? I am particularly fond of your Temeraire fic, but anything would be good - I am enjoying your latest immensely, although Star Trek is not my fandom.

:) Thank you! It’s always nice to hear people enjoy the writing.

I’m having a lot of fun writing more Star Trek - it’s nice to write something different. It seems like I only talk about Temeraire these days, ha, so I included excerpts from a Temeraire fic *and* a Star Trek fic below

The Temeraire snippet is from a fic where things... escalate at the start of book 2, The Star Trek fic is from an old, old WIP I never posted, where I wanted to address the way the crew (and especially McCoy) tend to criticize Spock’s heritage. It’s old and.. not so great, but I like pieces of it, so I’m considering rewriting it (once I’m done with other fics, hopefully)

(Temeraire)

Laurencewakens slowly after the battle. The last thing he remembers is thefighting; Temeraire was flying, the boarders had been repelled, andthen a Petit Chevalier was falling upon them...

“Sir,”says Mr. Allen. “Are you awake? Do not try to rise, please.”

Ignoringthis, Laurence levers himself up with an elbow. He looks around;Digby and Allen are crouched around him, each holding a hand over thehilts of their swords. The three of them are behind the bend ofTemeraire's leg, and in the distance Laurence can hear an argument.

“Iswear to you,” Admiral Barham's voice rings out, “If CaptainLaurence resists we will use force...”

“Goodgod, man, shut up,” Granby snaps. Laurence winces in mortification;the lieutenant will get himself booted from the service, using thatkind of language against an admiral. “Captain Laurence is injured,and you must wait to see him.”

ButBarham's threat has already roused Temeraire. Above them theCelestial lowers his head, snarling. His ruff is blood-streaked andgory from the battle; with his teeth bared he looks savage.

Barhamroars, “You will control that beast, Lieutenant! All of you willstand down, or we will take action - “

“No,Sir,” Granby snaps. “No farther, not one damned step. Temeraire,if these men make ready you may knock them down.”

Thatis too far. Laurence struggles to his feet, ignoring Digby's objects.“Help me up,” he snaps, when Allen insists on waiting for thesurgeon. “I must speak with the admiral.'

Reluctantly,they support him from under the protective shadow of Temeraire's leg.Barham scowls tremendously as soon as he appears.

“Thereyou are,” he says. Granby looks furious. “Did you think you couldhide here like a coward? You are under arrest, and if you prevaricateany more than by god I will have the Sergeant shoot you.” Hegestures to a nearby officer, who reluctantly levels a gun inLaurence's direction, flinching under the weight of Temeraire'sgrowl. “And stand down that animal, at once!”

“Iwill not stand down,” Temeraire says. “And you are not comingnear Laurence, not at all.”

Temeraireraises a claw. At the same moment Granby makes a quick gesture.Immediately the nearest aviators jump behind Granby, forming a line.They start to raise their rifles.

Ashot rings out.

Laurenceslides to the ground, startled. Granby shouts. More gunshots.Temeraire roars – loud enough to rattle his bones – and above thetreeline, at the edge of the clearing, Maximus suddenly looms up. Hepeers over with alarm, alerted by the commotion. All over the covertother dragons rise to look their way too.

“CaptainLaurence!” Digby cries. His hands are covered in blood, and hepushes futilely at Laurence's side. Laurence stares at him, thenlooks down. His jacket is soaked and red.

Laurencerealizes that Allen is holding him by the shoulders, bearing all hisweight.

He'sbeen shot.

“Oh,hell,” Laurence says aloud, and knows nothing more.

______________________________

It'snight when Laurence awakens. He looks up at the star-studded sky,trying in vain to remember the name for the little cluster of lightsabove his head. He's lying atop Temeraire and recognizes the scalesbeneath himself without any issue; maybe this is why it takes him toolong to remember the shooting, and Barham's yells, and the screams.

Laurencetries to stand.

“Oh,there you are,” says Mr. Allen. “Please do not get up, Sir, notagain. Roland, can you tell the lieutenant he's awake?”

Emilyscuttles away. Looking around, Laurence sees that for some reasonhe's resting in a a jumble of blankets and medical-supplies atopTemeraire's back. He becomes aware of people speaking in thedistance; then they cut off, abruptly, and under him Temeraire jolts.“Laurence!” the dragon cries. “Are you well?”

“Yes,my dear,” Laurence lies. His leg is throbbing in time with hisheart, and Laurence doesn't think he could stand,even if Allen let him try; the wound in his side makes him feelqueerly like he could snap in half if he made any wrong movement.“What has happened?”

“Well,I killed that awful admiral,” Temeraire explains. “So now we areall rebelling, but everyone is arguing about how to do it, eventhough I'm not sure how anyone would fight us.”

Laurencestares at him helplessly for a moment. Then he manages to prophimself on one elbow, looking around.

Thereare other dragons crowded into Temeraire clearing; more have sweptaway the trees to combine their space with that of Maximus. There aredragons coiled atop one another, heavy-weights on the bottom withclusters of Yellow-Reapers and Longwings and Bright Coppers clingingto their backs. And in between the dragons are the crews, andservants from all over, with a group of men and women wearingcaptain's-bars standing in a semi-circle before Temeraire.

Andeveryone is craning to look at Laurence.

Laurencedoes not immediately give speech to his dawning horror; Granbyscrambles up Temeraire's side, looking profoundly relieved. There's astreak of blood across his forehead; he doesn't seem to notice. “Sir.I'm glad you're awake – should we call the surgeon?”

“Forgetthe damn doctor,” says Laurence. “What the devil happened?”

(Star Trek)

McCoy has now been aboard for fourteen days, or two Terran weeks.Spock is well aware that his own interactions with the doctor couldbe interpreted as increasingly hostile. He feels no need to censurehimself. If he cannot risk reporting the doctor or properlyreprimanding him, he at least refuses to meekly submit to the man'sslurs. He has survived worse, and he will not give this human thepleasure of victory.

To this end he continues to verbally spar with the man, but howevermuch he makes the doctor sputter and grumble the man always comesback. And however efficiently and logically Spock can cut him down,humans do not much appreciate logic. Officers who watch theirarguments continually express amusement, and this rankles worse thanthe man himself.

After one too many incidents of open disrespect that leave hisscience department highly amused at his expense, Spock resolves tofinally reprimand the irrepressible doctor when he next acts in a wayunfitting a Starfleet officer. Public humiliation is never pleasant,but he is long past the point of having to tolerate racism. McCoyshows every sign of staying aboard for a long while, and Spock willnot let this situation continue.

Then the captain develops Vegan Choriomeningitis.

There is little warning when it happens. The bridge is quiet andcalm, officers moving with easy efficiency. It's only the second hourafter the shift's beginning - late enough for the officers to haveproperly woken, and early enough that everyone is still energized.Except, unusually enough, for the captain.

Spock notices the captain's blinking eyes and the quick, painedgestures he makes to his head. A headache, obviously, but these arefairly frequent among humans. Not a matter of much concern, howeverunpleasant. The captain seems tired as well, but he assumes this is aside-effect.

When Yeoman Tracey hands the captain a requisitions form, though,the man just seems puzzled. Instead of skimming and signing thedocument, he stares at it blankly for some two minutes, Traceystanding awkwardly by his side.

No one else seems to notice, but Spock keeps his attention on theentirety of the bridge. So he hears Tracey hesitantly ask, “Issomething the matter, Sir?” and turns just in time to see thecaptain crumple to the floor.

“Send for a medical team,” Spock snaps efficiently before Uhuracan even turn to see the source of the noise. Jumping, she quicklycomplies.

Spockwaves off the frantic yeoman impatiently, checking the captain'scondition with quick, careful fingers. His skin is significantlyhotter than normal for a human - 39ºC (102.2ºF)- but he seems not to have injured his head in the fall, which isgood. The man's pulse is a rapid flutter, but weak. Spock tilts hishead. The captain must have realized he was sick, and ignored it, tohave come to this state. Illogical.

The door slides open, and in a whiskof blue uniforms and terse orders McCoy takes Kirk straight toSickbay.

______________________________

The whole ship gains a certain tensionwhen the captain is in sickbay. Spock also finds, unpleasantly, thatmore eyes watch him. People want assurance that they are underadequate leadership. Spock wonders if people are comforted by hisdirection. He doubts it.

When the immediate crisis will likelybe over, and the doctor thus free to speak, Spock hands the con toSulu and makes for the infirmary.

“Took you long enough,” McCoysnaps at the sight of him.

Spock doesn't bother with a rebuttal.“Report on the captain's condition.”

Face darkening, a scowl on his face,McCoy complies. “It's not good. Vegan Choriomeningitis. Damn thinghas a high enough fatality rate as is, and Jim, the idiot, has let itgo on much longer than advisable.”

Spock nods. “To my understanding,Vegan choriomeningitis is fatal if left untreated within 24 hours.”

“I can't tell when he picked it up -the incubation period is unpredictable. All we can do at this pointis treat him and hope for the best.”

Spock considers the situation, andsays honestly, “Given the captain's nature, it is quite possible hehas been suffering for far longer than twenty-four hours. Death islikely.”

From what he knows of the captain'snature this is true. Indeed, had Kirk not collapsed on the bridge helikely would have struggled through the entire shift, though Spockknows that this particular disease causes extreme pain in the musclesand extremities. He is an admirably determined man - but, in thiscase, sadly misguided. His death will be... truly regrettable.

But McCoy seems suddenly angry.

“Damn it, man, do have a heart atall?” He bursts.

Spock blinks, wondering at thenon-sequitur. “I fail to see how my physiology is relevant to thepresent situation,” he says, honestly puzzled.  McCoy's sole focusshould be on the captain.

The doctor seems, if anything, evenmore furious. “I'm not in the mood for your damn logic, and I don'tknow what Jim sees in you. A computer has more feelings than aVulcan!”

This being said, McCoy dramaticallystomps into his office, leaving Spock blinking and perplexed in themain portion of Sickbay.

So, with little else to do, Spockleaves.

_______________________________

Later, this is what Spock learns;

Kirk goes into a critical state. Hisbody starts to overheat from the disease, and inflammation to thebrain causes him to have a seizure. After he is stabilized, McCoythrows caution to the wind and tries an experimental drug regimen -dangerous, untried, and wholly inadvisable by every tenet of logic.

It also works.

Quickly, asa matter of fact. The nurses and some biologists talk about theincredible benefit this will bring to the medical community; everyoneelse is just glad to hear that the captain is awake and talking lessthan a day after his collapse.

He is, of course,also tired. Spock assesses the captain's condition when he visits himin Sickbay. Kirk seems to have grown more pale during his shortillness. His face shines with sweat, his hair limp and lifeless. Hismovements are slow and fatigued, made only with great effort. But heseems relieved.

“It was close.And not a pleasant experience.”

“As you nearlydied, I would not expect it to be.”

Kirk smilesweakly. “Oh, not just the pain. Though that wasn't fun. I gotdelirious at the end.”

“That is acommon symptom of the disease,” Spock consoles.

“Whichisn't much of a comfort when you've rambled out all your secrets.”Kirk gives an embarrassed laugh. “I'm just glad it wasBones,” he says. “I trust him, you know? The things I said...”He shakes his head. “Anyway, he said to stop by sickbayimmediately, in the future,if I'm feeling off. What a pain; do you know how often this job givesme a headache?” He shakes his head. “But, I can deal with it forBones. Only for him! I'm not typically a fan of doctors - I'm glad Iconvinced him to come aboard.”

“It is indeedfortunate,” Spock murmurs, trying not to imagine this man dead.

Soon afterwardKirk drifts into sleep. And Spock, reluctantly, resigns himself totolerating Leonard McCoy for so long as he can safeguard thecaptain's health.

[katsens-writing]

Meeting the Team

Summary: You’re a SHIELD agent doing some research on your future co-workers... until you run into one of them.

Word Count: 2.1k (give or take a few)

Content: Fluff, maybe a little angst? Let me know if I need to add any!

A/N: This. This thing right here was supposed to be just a simple, short and sweet meet-cute. Three stories and three weeks later, I’m done. This and the second story, Meeting the Agent, are parallel running stories but you should read this one first. The third story is called Meeting the Sergeant. It should be read before or after Meeting the Team and Meeting the Agent. Let me know what you think! I might make more from it...

~

     As soon as you got through security at the museum, you went straight to the exhibit you were looking for. It’d been a while since you had been to the Smithsonian, but you knew the way from memory. You smiled wistfully as you walked past other familiar displays and cases. Weaving through them was like walking down memory lane for you. Finally reaching the exhibit you had come to see, you opened your notebook and pushed the brim of your black baseball cap up with the end of your pencil. You remembered the first time you went to see the Captain America exhibit with your mom. You must have been only four or five then, but you loved it so much that you wanted to go there for every birthday and special occasion. By the time you went to see it on a class trip, all the museum employees in that wing knew you by name. Eventually, you guys moved away when your mom was assigned to an embassy. You hadn’t been there in years when your mom heard from some old work friends back in D.C. that the Smithsonian had added an Avengers exhibit. As soon as she heard, she immediately booked some plane tickets to go see it opening day, as a surprise for your birthday. The second you saw it, your jaw dropped in awe. After walking through it you whipped around and told your mom that you were going to be an Avenger one day. You remembered your mother’s amused expression as you marched off to the Captain America exhibit.

     When you got your acceptance letter from the academy years later, you both jumped up and down screaming and crying. Just a month after that, you said goodbye to your mother and moved back to the States. Two years later, your mother wept in the audience as you walked across the stage to receive your badge from Nick Fury and shake his hand at the SHIELD induction ceremony. When you met her for lunch last week in Prague and told her about your new assignment with the Avengers, you could’ve sworn she was going to pass out. Now here you are in D.C., reading up on your future coworkers. You already knew so much about most of the team, but you wanted to refresh your memory before meeting them.

     You read over the story of Captain America again, even though you practically had it memorized even after all these years. As you walked through his exhibit, your eyes fell on the section dedicated to the Howling Commandos. You remembered hearing talks of the museum restoring the mural of Captain America and the Howling Commandos, so you quickly jotted down a reminder to check it out later before you moved over to the panel about them. You read through the brief articles on display about each of the commandos, for fun more than anything.

     ‘Caporal Jaques “Frenchie” Dernier, France, born January 2, 1911. Explosives and demolitions expert. French resistance.’

     Frenchie? You thought with a smirk. How original.

     ‘Private Gabriel “Gabe” Jones, United States. Born August 14, 1918, in Macon, Georgia. Translator and Communications Specialist. United States Army, 92nd Infantry Division.’

     I remember learning about him in high school. You blinked thoughtfully. I think he was the one that arrested Zola.

     ‘Corporal Jim Morita, United States. Born October 20, 1919, in Fresno, California. Marksman and Medic. United States Army, Nisei Squadron.’

     Brigadier James Montgomery Falsworth, Great Britain. Born January 2, 1914, in Birmingham, England. Tactician and Marksman. British Armed Forces, 3rd Independent Parachute Brigade.

     Huh. He had two kids. You blinked, pleasantly surprised.

     ‘Sergeant Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader “Dum Dum” Dugan’.

     Your eyebrows rose a little and you tried to stifle a laugh but it ended up coming out as a small snort. That’s a mouthful. No wonder he went by Dum Dum Dugan.

     You kept reading. ‘United States, born April 11, 1912. Transport specialist. United States Army, 69th Infantry Regiment.’

     You tilted your head curiously at a series of panels you hadn’t seen before, covered in newspaper articles, headlines, and various official reports. Drawing closer, you realized they were a replacement for the old panel ‘A Fallen Comrade’. You began reading the first panel titled ‘James Buchanan Barnes: War Hero, Winter Soldier, Avenger’. You casually scanned the headlines and titles until one caught your attention. Your eyes widened in shock and you froze as you realized just what exactly you were reading-- you had been there.

     You had been working for SHIELD for almost a year when it fell. You were in the control room when Alexander Pierce ordered the manhunt for Captain America and declared him a fugitive. You were in that same room when Captain America revealed over the P.A. system that Hydra had taken over and you did everything you could to fight back, passively and physically. After the helicarriers were launched, you and your coworkers managed to retake the control room, but it was too late. You contacted the aerial commander and told him to gather all SHIELD pilots. You lowered your head, a wave of guilt washing over you. One of them must have been Hydra. They never made it off the ground. 

     You were literally forced to watch helplessly as Steve fought the Winter Soldier on the helicarrier and your heart stopped when you saw him plummeting to the earth, watching in horror as the fiery wreckage rained down upon him from the sky above. You were five floors below where one of the helicarriers crashed into the building. The impact was bone-shaking and caused your Hydra captor to stumble, allowing you to gain the upper hand. After subduing him, you grabbed his radio. Without hesitation or authority, you took charge and immediately organized and coordinated search and rescue teams. You scattered the teams all over the SHIELD compound, the river, and its banks to look for any survivors, before joining one yourself. Now with SHIELD reforming, you were one of the first agents to return. After having already proven your loyalty, you were an easy choice for your new assignment.

     You shook your head to clear your thoughts. ‘James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, possibly the world’s deadliest assassin and Hydra’s greatest weapon and asset.’

     You winced as you read that part. Why did they have to include that? You wondered. He’s not some tank or fighter jet.

     You continued reading. ‘Originally suspected in the terrorist attack on the Sokovia Accords Summit that led to the deaths of many ambassadors and political figures, Barnes was later found to be innocent, another victim of the real culprit, Sokovian nationalist Baron Zemo.’

     Your eyes narrowed as you read exactly how much the article had on the summit bombing. You were one of the few who knew the whole story. After SHIELD had fallen, you went to work for Stark Industries, where you met up once again with Maria Hill. When the news came out naming Barnes as a suspect in the bombing, you were one of those assigned to keep tabs on Steve, though you never found anything... as far as anyone knew. When Maria quietly slipped off the grid without a word to anybody, you were the only one to notice, and you made sure of that by covering her tracks.

     You never really believed that Stark honestly expected you to turn in Steve if you located him, not when he knew your history. He knew how painful it was for you to track Steve and how it reminded you of when Hydra had taken over SHIELD. He knew that for you it felt just as wrong tracking Steve then as it had before, yet he still assigned you to the task. You smiled to yourself, in spite of the painful memories. You would never forget the day when Tony received the call saying everyone had escaped from the Raft; you could hear Ross yelling at him on the phone from two rooms away before Tony sauntered into the main office with a barely concealed grin on his face. He definitely looked far more amused than he should have, considering.

     After you finished reading the new panels, your eyes drifted back to another old one about James. ‘Born in 1917, James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes was the oldest of four kids. He lived in Brooklyn where he was an excellent athlete and student. He enlisted in the Army shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and was assigned to the 107th. His unit was sent to the Italian front where they were captured by Hydra. Separated from his unit, Barnes was starved and tortured...’

     You blinked your eyes and looked away; you knew what happened after that. Your eyes fell on a display of pictures of Captain America, Bucky, and the Howling Commandos. You drifted over to it. Scanning the pictures, you couldn’t help but smile as your eyes fell on one of Steve and Bucky at one of the allied camps. They were standing side by side with lopsided grins, but Barnes looked like he’d just woken up from a nap.

     “Ugh, of all the pictures they had...” you jumped at the sudden voice behind you and spun around to find a man shaking his head, looking down at the ground. “They just had to pick that one.”

     The man lifted his head, revealing his face that had been hidden by the brim of a grey baseball cap, and your eyes fell on a familiar lopsided grin accompanied by a pair of startlingly blue eyes. The man looked a little embarrassed. Your own eyes widened and your mouth opened slightly in surprise.

     “Bucky!” you gasped softly.

     The former assassin just stared at you blankly for a moment. Realizing what you had done, your face reddened in embarrassment. You began to apologize, but Bucky simply waved it off. Shaking his head with a grin, he reassured you.

     “No, it’s ok, really. People just don’t usually recognize me.” His smile faded slowly as his eyes shifted to the notebook in your hands, tilting his head curiously.

     You looked down at the notebook you had forgotten you were holding and quickly pulled it closer to yourself, realizing how you must look. “It's just some research I’m doing for work,” you quickly offered.

     Bucky’s face scrunched in thought before it lit up. “You must be the new SHIELD agent assigned to the compound.”

     “Yeah, I am,” you replied, relaxing a little, but still a bit uneasy.

     “I thought you weren’t due in until next week?” Bucky looked at you, still curious.

     “Well, I wanted to get some research in. I like to learn a bit about who I’m going to be working with,” you shrugged, a little embarrassed but not apologetic. Looking into coworkers was a habit you had formed in the aftermath of SHIELD falling, out of caution and perhaps a little guilt. You had been caught off guard and you vowed you weren’t going to let that happen again.

     “Well that makes sense,” he nodded thoughtfully, almost like he understood what you were thinking. He shook his head lightly and with another lopsided grin, he held out his hand. “I’m James Buchanan Barnes. Or Bucky.”

     You took his hand and shook it, your gaze rising to meet his with the slightest hint of awe. “Y/N. Agent Y/N Y/L/N. It’s nice to meet you.”

     “Y/N,” Bucky repeated, a smile growing on his face. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

     You lowered your eyes to the notebook in your hand, fidgeting awkwardly. Bucky cleared his throat, almost making you jump again.

     “Well Y/N, if you have any questions, I’d be happy to help. The information here isn’t exactly complete...” his voice trailed off.

     “I noticed,” you replied, glancing to the side at the section about the bombing at the summit. Clearing your throat, you turned back to Bucky. “They don’t really have anything on Black Widow or Hawkeye.” That didn’t really surprise you, after all, what good is a spy with their face on display at one of the world’s busiest museums?

     Bucky arched an eyebrow with only the slightest hesitation. “Well, if you would like, I can fill you in on the team.” He glanced down at his watch then rubbed the back of his neck before completely throwing away caution. “Heck, I can even introduce you to some of them if you want.”

     Bucky looked up at you and grinned again, his eyes shining, and you just couldn’t help the smile spreading on your own face as your shoulders relaxed. “I would appreciate that, thank you.”

     Bucky looked down at his watch again. “Great, I’m meeting Clint- that’s Hawkeye- for lunch in an hour. You’re welcome to come,” he looked up at you and hesitated. “In the meantime, have you seen the Howling Commandos memorabilia exhibit?”

     You nodded. “Yeah, it’s been a while though. Are you sure Clint won’t mind the extra company at lunch?”

     “He’ll get over it,” Bucky replied with a grin and you couldn’t resist a small chuckle. Turning back to the direction of the memorabilia display, Bucky nods his head. “Shall we?”

     With a smile you walked alongside the super soldier, laughing and asking questions as he told stories about the items on display. You may not have learned much about the team like you had wanted to that day, but as it turned out, you learned more than you could have ever hoped.

[huangels]

i'll stay awake for you - vampire!jeno

nct dream halloween special: main menu | mark | renjun | jeno | haechan | jaemin | chenle | jisung

a/n: i skipped renjun for now (reason). um i was supposed to post this last night but i literally fell asleep before i hit post fjbdjb (pls ignore typos thx bbs) 

genre: fluff ?

word count: 3.8k

The stars in the night sky are nonexistent, as dense puffs of grey blanket their usual twinkle. There isn't even a moon to light the dark paths of the road, only blackness. You feel claustrophobic in the thickness of the night and soon regret not asking your older brother to give you a ride home from the local mall. You had no clue the darkness would arrive so early, texting your brother that you'll be able to walk home after buying a Halloween costume with friends. And here it is, 7:00 in the evening, and it's pitch black outside.

The chilly weather of late October doesn't help the fact you have a 20-minute walk to home. It bites at the nape of your neck, causing you to tightly wrap your long red scarf around your neck once more. The scarf only solves one problem of many as your cheeks tingle from the frosty temperature, as well as your fingers. It's a good thing you remembered to bring your coat with you or else you would've frozen to death out here.

As you walk along the deserted road, you kick along a large pebble to keep you company in the lonely night. The oval-shaped pebble bounces around on the asphalt ground until it stopped in front of something. It is too dark for you to see exactly what it is but it seems like an animal. You pull out your phone, using it as a light source. With the dim light facing the creature, you can tell it's a bat, lying on its stomach with its wings spread out on either side. The bat is still breathing as you see it pulsing slowly.

Carefully, you poke the bat with a finger, testing if it's alright. The bat lifts its right wing slightly off the ground before it falls flat on the road once again. You don't know what prompts you to save the bat but the wing motion seemed as if it's telling you it is injured. Unwrapping your scarf from your neck, you gingerly pick up the injured bat and encircle the scarf around it. Poor thing must be freezing in this weather.

You speedwalk the rest way home and beeline for the couch, placing the wrapped up bat on the cushion beside the lamp. Hopefully, it will help warm up the bat.

You stand there staring blankly at it because you have no idea what the next plan of action is. Your parents won't be home until tomorrow night and your brother is spending the night at his girlfriend's house, so you can't ask them for assistance.

Going to the only trusted resource you have, you pull out your phone and search up how to take care of a wild bat. According to the internet, bats usually eat worms and insects but it's not like you have those lying around in a jar somewhere. Recalling a documentary you'd been forced to watch in biology last year, you recall that bats also eat fruits.

You make your way to the kitchen to peel and slice a banana, placing that on a plate, along with a small bowl of water.

You set that down on the coffee table in front of the couch and hope the bat will be able to eat and drink. Debating whether to call an animal rescue, you decide to wait until tomorrow to see if the bat gets better and you can release it.

After a long day, you crash onto your bed, hair damp from your shower but you don't care at this point. Your eyelids become heavy of rest and slumber takes you away.

༄

The harsh light of the early morning peaks through the curtains of your room, causing you to stir awake. You turn your head to read the time, 7:44 AM. Too early.

Your head plops back onto the pillow before you shoot back up, remembering the incident that had unfolded last night. You quickly get ready in the bathroom before sprinting downstairs to the kitchen to check on the bat, the nearest animal rescue number already dialed on your phone.

What comes to a shock is that the bat has disappeared. Instead, laying on the couch is a boy, young but probably older than you. His jet black hair falls over his forehead, a few strands covering his eyes. He's dressed in a plain black t-shirt and jeans with a pair of converse. Wrapped around his shoulders and up to his neck is a familiar red scarf, my red scarf.

It takes you a moment to process this before you shout, "Who are you and what are you doing in my home?"

The latter bolts awake, scrambling to take in his surroundings before falling to the floor with a low grunt. You grab the closest thing to you as a defense weapon, which just so happens to be a wooden back scratcher laying on the coffee table. Way to protect yourself, Y/N.

The boy in black rubs his head with a hand, then wincing and rests it beside him. He rolls up the sleeve of his right arm, revealing a large slash over his bicep. You gasp at the sight of his injury.

"Do you need- help?" you ask with a shaky voice, not knowing if this guy is to be trusted. And it seems as if he feels the same way as he eyes you up and down. It doesn't help that you're in a defensive stance, in your baby pink pajamas, and holding out a backscratcher as a weapon. The older raises an eyebrow, "Do you have a bathroom I can use?"

Another short exclamation leaves your mouth as you spot sharp fangs sticking out from where his human canine teeth should be. With trembling arms, you motion to the downstairs bathroom by the front door. The guy sends you a nod and walks into the bathroom, closing the door behind himself before you can get another peak.

Vampire. You've seen enough movies to know what a vampire is, though you've never believed in them. Pale skin, dark eyes, black clothing, handsome, fangs- wait did I just say handsome? Either way, he must be dangerous and you wanted to call the cops, but what are you going to report? Hey, there's a vampire in my house, come arrest this supernatural creature. They'll for sure send you to the mental asylum without further explanation.

Who else would I call though? The priest? No, he isn't a demon. Ghostbusters? No, not a ghost either-. Hold on, wasn't there a bat on my couch last night? Where did it go? He didn't eat the banana. Has the injury healed and he just flew away? Wait- injury, injury on his right wing. The vampire, right arm. You finally make the connection between the bat and the boy in the bathroom. The same-?

Before you can come up with a clarification, the bathroom door pushes open and the vampire walks out with toilet paper wrapped around his wound.

"Uh- I don't think that's a good way to patch it up," you point at his right arm. The boy looks at the ground, rubbing the back of his head. His appearance is the complete opposite of the aura he exudes (or any vampire in those movies: cold and mysterious). The boy standing in front of you is embarrassed and rather confused. He still hasn't said anything after he went into the bathroom.

"I can help you bandage the wound," you suggest out of the blue, not even processing the consequences first. You can actually die.

"Thank you," the latter finally says, his voice is low and raspy but the tone of it displays shyness. You question if the vampire is at all dangerous. If he is, you would be dead and drained of blood by now, for sure.

You relax a bit, knowing you're alright, "Here, take a seat on the couch. I'll go grab the first-aid kit."

About two years ago, your older brother cut his leg while trying to help your dad with yard work and they bought this huge first-aid kit that contains everything you need for minor injuries. Your mom taught you how to use all of the tools and medicines provided just in case anything happens again. This might not be something your mother was expecting when telling you that but at least you're prepared.

You return to the boy with the large briefcase-sized kit, setting it on the coffee table and taking the seat next to him. The sleeve is already rolled up, with the toilet paper stripped from his bicep. You gently press a wet cloth on the slit. Once you cleaned the blood off of his arm, you apply some antibiotic ointment around the wound, mumbling a warning that it's going to hurt. The latter winces at the contact of the medicine.

After that, the silence returns as you continue to disinfect it. You can feel the guy stare at you as you work, so you look up to meet his gaze. He looks away with a slight tint of pink on his cheeks. From this close, he really does look like a vampire. His skin is smooth and pure as a porcelain doll, no imperfections in sight. His eyes are as dark as the night sky you've met him, only sparkling in some areas with the help of the sunrays from the nearby living room window. His eyelashes extend out and curl up at the ends, kissing the tips of his cheeks each time he blinks. His lips, rosy and glossy, pillowy even.

You shake your head and return to the injury, hoping the short pause does not get picked up by the handsome guy. In the silence, you wonder what's different between a real vampire and one shown in movies or TV shows. In films, wounds usually heal quickly due to regeneration or something but it doesn't seem to be the case since he's probably had this injury since before last night.

The silence is eating you up, you just have to ask something, anything to understand this situation, "I...I know what you are."

Silence. That wasn't the right way to say it, Y/N. You should've started with asking for his name, come on. He might not be human but at least you can be.

"I know that you're- a vampire," you clarify since there's no turning back now.

"What makes you think that?" the older stares down at you. You stop wrapping the medical bandage around his bicep.

"Smile," you challenge, with squinted eyes.

The boy chuckles with a grin, "Touche."

"Why are you so calm with the fact that I know? Are you not suppose to keep it a secret?" you question, curiously.

"Well, I am. But how am I suppose to explain me transforming from a bat to a human," he tilts his head to the side, "oh and my fangs?"

It's your turn to say, "Touche."

"My name is Jeno by the way and thank you for the help," Jeno looks down at the tightly wrapped bandage before holding a hand out.

You take it in yours for a shake, "Y/N and it's no problem. Well maybe, I didn't expect the bat I saved to be a human too."

"If you didn't save me last night, I don't think I would've lived," Jeno stares at his hands, twiddling them. That's probably true, considering the large slash on his arm (or wing) and the freezing temperature of the late winter night.

"May I ask- how did you end up like that?"

"It was a dark and hazy night, and I flew right into a barbed fence. I tried to get to somewhere safe but landed on the ground. My vision blurred after seeing a figure, you, in a bright red scarf."

You eye the said scarf laying on the couch, you're glad you can save Jeno. You continue to ask questions about being a vampire out of curiosity, and you're beyond glad that Jeno isn't taken aback by all of your meddlings. You've learned that movie vampires and real vampires are totally different. For one, real vampires can't heal as fast as ones in the movies but they can heal small injuries. Ones like that large cut from the sharp fence are too intense for his immune system to handle, hence not being able to heal it quickly. You've also learned that Jeno cannot go out into the sun and he's more than 60 years old, which is young for the vampires he lives with.

But there is just one question that's burning to be asked, "Do you drink blood...?"

Jeno visibly tenses at the question and you fear you've gone too overboard with your inquiries. However, the latter sighs before answering, "Yes."

You don't know how to respond, remaining silent beside Jeno.

He continues, "But I only drink animal blood or blood provided by my- brother."

"You drink from your brother?" you reply, exasperated. It's more of a demand rather than a question this time.

Jeno waves his hands, eyes wide, "No, no! Not like that! He's a vampire too, he's actually not my blood-related brother but he takes care of me. His name is Taeyong, he takes care of a whole group of us vampires."

You nod in response, glad to hear that Jeno isn't the type to go around killing people for blood.

"So do you have to go back to him?" There is a slight disappointment in your tone, hoping Jeno can't sense it.

"Yeah, once the sun has set. But he's not too far from your home, actually he lives in the same neighborhood."

"Wait, I live in the same neighborhood with a bunch of vampires?"

"Eighteen to be exact, counting me."

"Well, tonight is Halloween. So I can walk you there, if you want that is."

Jeno shares a bright smile, his eyes forming lovely crescents on his face. It decorates his complexion beautifully. "Of course, I'll introduce them to you, too!"

There's a warmness in your body, it spreads like fire but isn't as intense as the hostile element. Instead, it's mellow and refreshing, bringing a radiant smile upon your face as well.

"So what's your Halloween costume?" Jeno wonders, now more comfortable with you after the three or four hours of bonding (and bandaging...and saving his life).

You criss-cross your legs to face Jeno with a chuckle, "funny enough, a vampire."

"No way, you're joking," Jeno leans back onto the couch. You reach for the bag left by the coffee table last night from your shopping trip, pulling out the vampire costume. It consists of a black Victorian (with a modern twist) dress, fishnets, a black cape, and fangs.

Jeno scoffs, "This is vampire-ist."

You raise an eyebrow at the older, stifling a giggle.

"Vampires are never dressed in black and fishnets," Jeno motions towards the dress.

"Aren't you wearing all black right now?" you tease, leaning forward at Jeno.

He breaks the eye contact, ears burnt red, "At least I don't have on fishnets."

"I'll give you that one," you return to your regular sitting position.

༄

The clock perched up above your couch reads 7:06 PM. You don't even realize that hours have passed while talking with Jeno. You're just so engrossed in the way he talks, his voice, and his expressions. They're all such a contrast from each other; his voice is deep and rich, his expressions are light and happy like a child, and the way he talks makes you feel soft and warm, with how he speaks about his friends, his past 60 or so years, his experiences with the different decades, and so on. Just listening to him puts you at ease. And you just can't help but stare. His sharp eyebrows leaning into the crook of his tall nose, separating his bright expression-filled eyes and under them, his prominent cheekbones, leading down to his chiseled jaw and connecting to his pointed chin, just below his kissable smooth lips.

It's weird for you to feel this way towards someone you had just met. Maybe it's the vampire aura that draws you in, like in the movies. A compulsion type of feeling. And whatever it was, you knew you had to see Jeno again.

༄

Jeno lets you get ready for Halloween as you lead him to the kitchen for something to eat (he can still eat human foods but it doesn't fill him up as much). You also throw him an extra cape that was for your brother, "Vampire twins!"

It doesn't take long for you to put on your costume. It's just a simple dress and cape. You omit the fishnets since they are too difficult to get into, but replace them with black tights because the weather is far below chilly. Slipping into your black combat boots and throwing a black jacket (to match the vampire theme here) over, you quickly throw on some back smudged eyeliner and red lipstick. Finally, you add the fangs.

Jeno is sitting on the kitchen counter with his small cape, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, when you pop up from behind to scare him. The latter drops his sandwich on the plate before letting out a deep screech.

"Let's go get spooked!" you call, skipping to the front door as Jeno sends you a playful glare.

The setting is just as dark as it was last night but it isn't as lonely anymore, whether it'd be because of the hundreds of families and friends walking around surrounded by brightly lit Halloween decorations or that Jeno is by your side, mouth hanging at the multitudes of decorations and horror-themed costumes. You steal quick glances at him, smiling at how cute he reacts to Halloween.

"Have you never been out on Halloween before?" you question Jeno.

It takes a moment before Jeno returns to your question, "I haven't, I've only heard about it on TV."

You dip your head, as if asking him why. It seems like the latter understood your little action.

"Taeyong doesn't want us to get lost or scared," Jeno adds with a nervous chuckle. You resist the urge to squeeze his cheeks as his eye smile makes a comeback.

"Then, let me show you around!"

You grab his hand in yours, leading him to a street where the houses decorate their yards with the most effort, with their own homemade haunted houses and such. Throughout the Halloween experience, Jeno has never let go of your hand, holding it tightly when he gets jump scared by a decoration or costume. You give him a quick squeeze of assurance and draw him closer.

It's hilarious that Jeno is some supernatural blood-drinking beast and he gets frightened by a clown pop-up machine. Though, of course all clowns are terrifying and even you have let out multiple screams from that.

After both of you being scared to death, you decide to take a break and bring him trick or treating. "Ok, so you hold out this bucket and say 'trick or treat' and they'll give you candy!"

Jeno looks puzzled but followed my lead. We rang the doorbell, waiting for the owner to answer. You flash Jeno a small smile as the door opens revealing a woman in a mummy costume. "Trick or treat!"

"Wow two cute vampires, here you go." The nice woman drops a handful of candy in both of your buckets. You wish her a Happy Halloween and leave the premise of her home as Jeno follows along.

"See, not too bad?" you softly elbow Jeno on the arm. The older lets out a chuckle before agreeing. The both of you continue to trick or treat for another hour, stacking up so much candy that you can't fit any more in your buckets.  

The night is coming to an end as the streets empty out of little kids, and the moon is highly perched up in the twilight sky. Your smile fades as you two walk in the direction of Jeno's home and Jeno mirrors your dim expression.

You finally reach the door of Jeno's grand home, a lot larger than the one you live in. Jeno turns to you with a curl of his lips, "Thank you so much, Y/N. You have no idea how much you've done for me in a short 24 hours."

It feels like a permanent goodbye even though you live 5-minutes by foot away from Jeno, "Of course, Jeno. And I'd do it again."

Jeno draws his arms around your frame, taking you by surprise before you return the hug, your head resting comfortably on his shoulder. Despite being a cold-blooded creature, his hug is warm and soothing. You can feel his heart pumping rapidly against your own chest, or maybe that's your heart.

"So who's your little friend, Jeno?" A voice breaks the contact as you both jump back in shock. At the now opened door stands a towering and handsome man, a lot older than Jeno. His dark blue-tinted hair is long, hanging over his face.

"This is Y/N, my- friend," Jeno introduces as you slightly bow as a sign of respect. You have no idea how to greet vampires, especially since you've never met one until today. The man remains in his position, leaning against the door, with a look that you're unable to decipher. Before you can react, the taller man pulls you into a brotherly bear hug, a smile spreading across his heart-shaped face.

"Welcome Y/N! It's nice to finally meet a friend of Jeno's, though it seems like he doesn't have any," the man jokes, patting Jeno in the back, "My name is Johnny."

The panic that once filled your head now dissipates at how friendly Jeno's family is. However, Jeno looks quite embarrassed at the interaction by your side.

"Oh, I'll let you two- continue with what you left off," Johnny sends a cheeky wink to the both of you before disappearing behind the front door. Yet, you know he's still listening on the other side of the door.

"I'm sorry about him, he's so embarrassing," Jeno speaks first after Johnny leaves, a hand scratching at the back of his neck. You chuckle at Jeno's flustered state, how cute.

"What did you say?" The smile plastered on your face knocks right off. Did I say that out loud?

"What?" you play dumb, "Nothing. I didn't say anything."

"No, you called me cute, I heard it."

Curse those heightened vampire senses.

After going back and forth on what you said (since the both of you are too stubborn to back down), Johnny had to come back out to tell Jeno that it's time for dinner. Though, he said dinner with obvious air quotes, which causes Jeno to get even more embarrassed. You make Jeno promise to visit you during dawn and hang out, "I'll stay awake for you."

[jaxsteamblog]

One Bed

The snow started to fall just as Zuko stepped out of the taxi. He shut the door, pulling on his gloves and looking up at the slate sky as the taxi driver took out his luggage. As Zuko adjusted his muffler, the taxi driver stood next to him and also looked up, rubbing his eye from a fallen snowflake.

“They haven’t cancelled your flight?” The man asked. Zuko sighed and looked at his smart watch.

“Not as of yet.” He said. The taxi driver nodded and the two men shook hands.

“Have a safe flight your Highness.” The driver said. Zuko shook his head but smiled.

“Thanks.” He replied. Disowned and disgraced, Zuko hadn’t been much of a prince since he was fourteen. That was, as the cliche went, a lifetime ago and Zuko was headed toward better things. Clicking the handlebar into place, Zuko turned and walked toward the automatic doors of the receiving terminal.

He had gotten through security and was heading toward the VIP lounge when he heard someone call his name. Turning, Zuko scanned the sparse crowd till he saw the figure rushing toward him.

“Kat?” He asked in shock. Katara came bustling up, dragging a tattered suitcase behind her, smiling broadly.

“What are you doing in Omashu?” She asked as she slowed, getting closer to him.

“I had business here. What are you doing here?” Zuko asked.

“My internship is here actually.” Katara said, fidgeting now with her chunky knitted scarf. “Are you taking the two-thirty to Kyoshi?”

“I am.” Zuko replied and they lapsed into an awkward silence. “Are you, uh, travelling alone?” Katara stared at him blankly for a minute, blinking rapidly. Then a thought dawned on her and she smiled again before laughing lightly.

“Oh right, yeah. I broke off the engagement months ago.” She said.

“What?” He balked.

“Did Sokka not tell you?”

“No!”

“Weird, he told me about-” Katara stopped herself, rolling her lips inward and looking embarrassed. Zuko sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead.

“About Mai and me.” He finished for her.

“Sorry.” Katara murmured.

“No, no it’s fine.” Zuko turned and looked at the lounge. “Would you like to get a drink with me? I saw on the board that our flight is delayed.”

“Am I allowed in there?” Katara asked.

“For how much I pay and how often I fly, the least they can do is let me bring a friend.” Zuko replied, looking over his shoulder to smile at her. Katara softened and smiled back.

“Then sure. I hate flying so maybe this will help me sleep through it.”  She said. Zuko gestured for her to go ahead and the two of them walked to the small kiosk at the entrance of the lounge. A woman in a crisp blue suit and bold red lipstick greeted them. She took in the cut of Zuko’s peacoat and Katara’s large parka, but her expression never changed. Whether it was out of a lack of judgement or the ability to mask it, Zuko didn’t know.

“Member card?” She asked and Zuko pulled out his wallet. He slid the heavy black card out and handed it to her, grinned reassuringly at Katara.

“She is here as my guest.” Zuko said, turning back to the woman as she scanned his card.

“Welcome Mr. Nakamura.” The woman greeted as she handed back his card. Her eyes slid over to Katara. “And guest.” Zuko cleared his throat as he replaced the card and offered Katara his arm.

“Shall we?” He asked. Katara tossed her hair over her shoulder, ignoring the woman at the kiosk, and took his arm.

“Thank you.”

For whatever reason, no matter the time, the VIP lounge was always dim. Perhaps it was to perpetuate a forever nightscape to keep travellers trapped in the liminal state. A man in a crumpled suit laid draped over a table with crumpled straw wrappers and a sweating tumbler of amber liquid. For him it was more like one in the morning than one in the afternoon. Zuko ushered Katara to the raised bar and they both took a moment to shed the outer layers of their winter wear.

“Have you eaten?” Zuko asked as they both hung coats and scarves over the back of their long legged chairs.

“Breakfast yeah, but not lunch yet.” Katara replied as she stowed her luggage under the bar and perched on the table. As if summoned, another woman wearing a matching blue suit to the one at the kiosk, appeared and handed them navy blue folders. Zuko took his as he sat and watched her place a plank of a menu between them; the drink list.

“Water?” He asked.

“Please.” Katara said primly as she opened her menu. As her face disappeared behind the blue screen, Zuko slid the woman his black card.

“Two waters to start please.” He said. The woman whisked the card away and walked off as Zuko flipped his menu open on the bar.

“Sushi?” Katara asked idly.

“This place is good, but that would still be airport sushi.” Zuko countered and Katara chuckled.

After they had ordered and the water had been delivered, Zuko and Katara sat still mostly isolated. The low tone of some smooth jazz album was barely audible and Zuko tuned it out. Katara slumped forward against the bar, casually using her bending to stir her straw through her glass of water.

“You know, I’m actually offended you didn’t know I was in Omashu.” She said suddenly. Zuko sat back in his seat, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Oh?” He replied, raising his brow in question.

“I told you that was why I couldn’t make it to Sokka’s bachelor party.” Katara said. Zuko raised a finger as he pulled his cellphone out of his coat pocket.

“APPA, search Katara’s emails for keyword ‘Omashu’ please.” He said into the flat black screen. The rim of the screen glowed a blueish white line before it fully illuminated.

“Keyword not found.” The artificial voice said. Katara sat up, ready to argue, but Zuko pushed out his hand toward her.

“APPA, please read the email tagged Katara’s excuse.” He said. The outline glowed again before the screen.

“There are sixteen emails tagged ‘Katara’s excuse.’ Would you like me to read them all?” The phone said.

“Newest please.” Zuko said.

“Okay, I get it.” Katara said with a laugh and Zuko just set the phone down on the bar.

“Reading newest email tagged ‘Katara’s excuse,’ received last month: ‘Hey! Sorry I can’t make it out there for the party, my internship is getting crazy. Hopefully we can meet up before the wedding!’ End of email.” The phone screen darkened and Zuko turned to Katara, who used her fingers to flick water into his face.

“I love that you named your phone assistant after Appa.” She remarked.

“That’s entirely Sokka’s fault. Watch how you can open the GPS.” Zuko said and leaned over his phone. “APPA, yip yip.” The phone turned on and the GPS app opened.

“Where would you like to go?” The phone asked before Zuko reached down to turn it off. Katara covered her face as she laughed. She calmed as the attendant came with their plates.

“When do you release it?” Katara asked while Zuko unwrapped his chopsticks. He tapped them against the bar and then dipped them into the plate of noodles.

“We have a limited release in the next few months. I’m moving away from phones though, since we made the decision as a company to protest planned obsolescence.” He said.

“What’s next for Nakamura Telecommunications?” Katara questioned, cutting into her steak.

“Much of the same.” Zuko picked up a thick noodle and dipped it into the small bowl of liquid in his plate. “I’ve created a non-profit to start manufacturing transportable medical equipment.”

“That’s different.” Katara said.

“It is. But anyway, how did your last tournament go? Sokka told me you won but not much else.” Zuko said. Katara snorted and paused to chew.

“Well, I didn’t win because that’s not how my school does things. It was an exhibition, and I kicked ass.” She said.

Zuko’s smart watch beeped and he tapped it to see the notification.

“Looks like we’re delayed again.” He said.

“Time for a beer?” Katara asked.

“Abso-fucking-lutely.” Zuko replied.

After five drinks in, their flight was finally cancelled due to weather. Katara swore as Zuko signed the bill and replaced his wallet.

“They’re gonna give me a voucher for a shitty motel.” She muttered as she jammed her arm through her jacket sleeve.

“Come on, let’s go check at the counter.” Zuko said evenly as he folded his jacket over his arm and pulled up the handle for his suitcase. Katara just continued to mutter as she followed him out of the lounge. Zuko smiled pleasantly at the woman at the kiosk, though now he was unsure if she was the same woman from earlier. He wondered, briefly, if that was a statement about him or the company who hired these women.

They walked through the terminal to the ticket counter, where a young man stood behind a computer; the only person behind the long counter with empty terminals. It was oddly quiet and the large tinted windows of the airport had been further darkened by the winter sunset and constant snow.

“Hello, we were set to board the two-thirty to Kyoshi.” Zuko said as they stepped up. “Do you know when the next flight will be?”

The young man, wearing a name tag with “HUA” typed in bronze letters, typed something into his computer.

“The next flight is a ten forty-five tomorrow morning.” Hua replied.

“Excellent. Do you have vouchers for accommodations for tonight?” Zuko asked.

“Unfortunately, the hotel we use is booked already.” Hua answered. Katara stomped off, swearing loudly now, and Zuko sighed.

“I’m a VIP member, can you check to see if there’s someplace I can use my points?” He asked as he slid his card over the counter. Hua took in and resumed typing.

“There’s a suite at the Blue Oasis hotel. Would you like me to book it?” Hua inquired.

“Please. And call a car, if you wouldn’t mind.”  Zuko said.

After everything had been booked and printed, Zuko went off and collected Katara.

“Come on, I got us a room.” He said, craning over Katara’s slumped form. Her head was buried in her crossed arms as she sat on the floor with her back against a pillar. Katara popped her head up and looked at him suspiciously.

“How?” She asked.

“I’m very wealthy Katara.” He replied and Katara snorted.

“I guess it does help when you’re the nephew of the Fire Lord.” She said.

“It’s more like I’m the head of a multi-billion company but sure, let’s go with the easy one.” Zuko quipped. He held out a hand and helped Katara to her feet. She tottered for a second, slightly off her step. Zuko continued to hold her hand as she leaned down to pick up the various cuts of cloth that had fallen off of her. He noted, for one odd moment, that he hadn’t actually held hands with someone in a long time. Katara’s hands were warm and she held him with the same indifference that she would hold onto a stair railing. But the touch of her skin made Zuko’s heart flutter.

“Okay, let’s go.” She said, still holding his hand. Unsure of if it would be ruder to let go or continue holding on, Zuko panicked and just kept hold of her as he walked to the exit. Katara easily fell in step with him and they were quiet, so Zuko could only hear the rolling wheels of their luggage and that subdued smooth jazz that was piped through the whole airport.

Heat seemed to build between their hands and Zuko wondered if as a Firebender he could spontaneously combust. It wasn’t something they had ever discussed in his lessons growing up.

The automatic doors opened and an air current blew warm air down on them. It wasn’t until the doors shut that they were hit by the gust of cold air. Zuko immediately began to cycle his breath, sending warmth to his limbs and extremities, but Katara didn’t seem fazed.

“You are so warm.” She said before leaning into Zuko, turning her hand so that their fingers interlaced. Zuko, in spite of the warmth that now was searing inside of him, froze and his shoulders pulled up.

“Still a Firebender Katara.” He said gently and she chuckled.

“Very useful.” She said. Zuko let out a cloud of breath and looked up at the black sky. He couldn’t see any stars, for all the lights of the airport or from high flying clouds, but the snow was still coming down in soft petals. It was only about five in the evening, but the sun set so quickly in the winter, and it felt so much later.

“Katara, are you drunk?” Zuko asked.

“A little.” Katara answered in a small voice. Zuko lowered his head with a smile. His smart watch buzzed and he rolled his wrist over, as his hand was still tied up in Katara’s fingers, and the screen illuminated.

“The car is here.” He said just as a sleek black town car drove into the taxi lane. The driver popped out and held up an umbrella, but Katara shook Zuko loose and used a hand to pull together a shield of snowflakes over their heads. The driver tucked the umbrella under his arm and came around to open their doors and take their luggage.

“So useful.” Zuko stated as Katara slid into the car, while he leaned against it, his arm on the roof. Katara paused and looked up at him, flicking her hands toward him. The cover of snowflakes dissipated and fell on Zuko’s head. She was laughing as Zuko got in, shaking his head to spray her with water. Sitting back, he started steaming the rest of it away.

The driver didn’t comment as he closed their door before getting into the front seat.

The hotel was close to the airport, but due to the weather the driver proceeded slowly over poorly salted roads. Zuko settled in and let Katara continue to rest against him.

“So I guess you’re not still mad that I’m Sokka’s best man?” He asked and Katara blew a raspberry.

“I mean, I get it. And I’m glad you guys are good friends, but it still stung.” She admitted.

“If you get married, is he going to be your maid of honor?” Zuko inquired.

“Of course. But could you imagine if we got married?” Katara said and Zuko choked.

“What?”

“He couldn’t be in both of our parties.”  Katara explained. Zuko slowed his breathing.

“Good thing we’re not getting married then.” He said evenly.

“You’d have to buy me a drink first.” Katara joked and Zuko laughed.

“I did that already.” He pointed out.

“Well are you proposing then?” Katara asked.

“I think there’s supposed to be a few more steps before that.” Zuko countered. He was warm, so warm, but he was suddenly trembling. He fought against the spasms of his muscles, trying to hide his obvious anxiety from Katara. She sat up and looked at him.

“Alright Mister Businessman, what are the steps to get to marriage?” She asked.

Gods above, Zuko didn’t know if she was flirting. He looked at her, unable to swallow or breathe, and tried to figure it out in the split second before he could respond. They hadn’t drunk much, she was just as touchy as her brother, they hadn’t seen each other in months. Was she just being overly friendly, or was she flirting?

He needed to know because he knew how he wanted to answer. He knew exactly how he wanted to answer.

“It’s like the old song, first comes love?” He said and Katara just looked at him for a moment. Either disappointed or unimpressed, she just leaned against him again.

“I tried that. It didn’t work out.” She muttered and Zuko sighed.

“Same. But I’ll let you know if I figure anything out.” He replied.

“Thanks Zuko.”

When they pulled up to hotel, they found the drive up blocked by two large industrial vans. One was an HVAC and the other was a local plumbing service.

They should have been as obvious as corvids, as they were a pair of ill omens.

The driver pulled up as far under the covered drive as he could and opened their doors before unloading their things from the trunk. Zuko took a few bills from his wallet and handed them to the driver as Katara took her suitcase and started for the front of the hotel. This level of expectation in regards to his wallet was fascinating to see. Where Mai had always been obvious about it, his friends had moved into a blithe acceptance; only Toph had funds that rivalled his and no one else could afford to move in this manner. Mai presumed, while Katara knew that any protest or offer would be feeble. She, much like her brother, just kept moving.

Katara waited for him in the lobby, and was patient as he took the time to remove his gloves and stick them in his coat pocket. Then they wordlessly walked to the check in desk.

“Good evening, my name is Zuko Nakamura and I have a room reserved.” Zuko said, producing a different but equally heavy onyx card. The concierge paled.

“Ah, forgive me Mr. Nakamura, but there is an issue with your room.” He said.

“What do you mean?” Zuko asked.

“We’ve been doing renovations, and a pipe burst on the eleventh floor. All of the rooms have been moved.” The concierge explained.

“Where is my new room?”

“We’ve placed you in room 618, but it isn’t a suite.”

“And that means?”

“There’s only one bed.”

Zuko and Katara stood at the foot of the bed and they both sighed.

“It’s really not a problem.” Katara stated.

“It’s inappropriate.” Zuko said.

“Why? Do you think we’ll be sleeping in the nude or something?”

“What? No, I-”

“Zuko, we can just sleep in the bed together.”

“But you’re…”

“What? A girl? Because I know you’ve bunked with Sokka before.”

“It’s not that.”

“So you’re worried for my dignity or something? I didn’t think you were a chauvinist Zuko.”

“I am very much not! Katara, please, it’s-”

“You’re worried Sokka will be upset? It’s one night.”

“Katara will you please let me finish a thought!”

Katara snapped her mouth shut and looked at him as Zuko ran his hands through his hair. He sat down hard on the edge of the bed, keeping his head cradled in his hands.

“I don’t want to share the bed because I very much would like to touch you and it will be very difficult for me to sleep next to you.” He said.

“Touch me how?” She asked.

Touch me, how? Would be simple confusion. Touch me? How? Would be incomprehension.

Touch me how? Is asking for examples.

Zuko looked up and found Katara standing directly in front of him. Was she flirting or angry? The clarity and intensity of her gaze didn’t give him an answer but thrilled him all the same.

At this point, he could only give her honesty. Being coy would gain him nothing.

“I don’t know. It’s not like I have any sort of tangible thought in my head. I saw you and for the first time we’re both single and I just want to touch you.” He answered.

“That doesn’t answer my question.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest. Zuko stood in a fluid movement, standing easily a head taller than her. His intensity covered the return of his trembling and now Katara wavered in her stance. Looking up at him, her lips slightly parted, and Zuko cupped her face with one hand. He ran his thumb over her bottom lip and he watched the movement, before flicking his eyes back up to hers.

“I just want to feel you Katara. You can tell me how you want to be touched.” He said. Her eyes widened in shock and it broke a bit of the mood. He wondered how others had gone about laying hands on her and Zuko bristled.

“I would like you to kiss me.” She said. Zuko hesitated. It wasn’t Sokka that he worried about. It was that in three days, they would all be back in Kyoshi. The wedding would bring romance and alcohol, and Aang. Tonight was just one night.

He dipped toward her, moving his hand to the back of her head as he kissed her. Gently, softly. She was smiling before they parted.

“Buy me dinner?” She asked, now so obviously coy and flirtatious.

“To spend the night together? How textbook.” He retorted. Katara laughed and Zuko grinned at her amusement.

“If we order room service we can kill two birds with one stone.”

“Do you know how expensive room service is?”

“Oh is Mister Multi-Billion Conglomerate not liquid?”

“I seem to be for how easily you’re manipulating me.”

Katara burst into raucous laughter and Zuko couldn’t help but join in.

“That was an awful pun.” She said.

“You seemed to enjoy it.”

“I always enjoy you Zuko.”

Zuko had channeled lightning that left him less charged.

Katara playfully shoved him over as she leapt onto the bed and crawled over to the head. She clicked on the lampp on the nightstand and propped herself up against the headboard as she examined the menu.

“The prices are ludicrous.” She conceded. Zuko took off his outerwear and started picking Katara’s clothes off the floor.

“Since you challenged my financial security, feel free to order to your heart’s content.” He remarked as he set about hanging things up.

“Would you have sex with me?” Katara asked suddenly.

“What?” Zuko exclaimed and whirled to look at her. Katara idly looked up from the menu, blinked at him, then looked back down.

“Would you?” She repeated.

“No.” He said firmly.

“Why?” She asked.

“Because I’m not ready for that.” Zuko blurted quickly. Katara nodded and flipped through the heavy laminated pages.

“That’s why I like you Zuko. It’s not you hedging your bets and making it seem like it’d be up to me, or because you’re worried about Sokka.” She said.

“That’s. Katara that is really disturbing when you think about the implications.” Zuko replied. He paused and then shut the closet door.

“Have you been testing me?” He asked suddenly, keeping his focus on the closet door.

“No.” Katara answered and Zuko relaxed under the wave of relief. “I mean, not until that last question anyway.”

Zuko went back to the bed and sat at the foot while he removed his shoes. He turned and began prying off Katara’s boots while she held up her leg, still looking for food. Again, this servitude was more akin to comfort than the prostate nature he had taken with Mai. There had been days after training where he had fallen at Katara’s feet and whined piteously until she started to massage his aching muscles. It was simply what they did for each other.

He wondered why this fearful reaction to his attraction had even occured really as he tossed her boots to the floor and pulled on her legs. Katara shrieked in glee as he pulled her down the bed and moved over her, watching as she slid the menu down her face to peek at him.

“You’re mean.” He said. Katara tilted her head back and lowered the menu a bit more so the rest of her face was exposed.

“You encourage it.” She countered.

“You should be nicer to me. I took a lightning bolt to the chest for you.” He said.

“Sure, but what have you done for me lately?” Katara quipped. Zuko snatched the menu away and flung it to the side. Katara laughed again and covered her face with her hands.

“You are a ridiculous creature.” He said. Katara opened her hands to make blinders on the sides of her face.

“But you love me.” She said jovilly. A joke.

“I do.” He replied softly. Seriously. Her hands, slightly shaking, reached up. He lowered himself as her arms went around his neck. He gently pressed his weight against her as they kissed again. He kept his eyes closed, unable to look at her face.

“A drink and love.” Katara whispered in his ear. “Are you proposing Zuko?”

Zuko kissed the soft, warm skin of her neck.

“Not yet.” He murmured. “Not tonight.”

[tf2canons]

First Meeting

For @axis-intercept‘s Pyromedic Week, Day 1!

Prompt: First meeting Warnings: Mentions of needles and stress eating Word count: 1734

It was Medic’s first day on the job and already his laboratory had been thrust into chaos. He had had a simple task: perform basic checkups and physicals on all of his new teammates to make sure they were in fighting condition for the battles that would begin in the following days. He had been so busy setting up his equipment, organizing his things, and getting his birds settled in that he had neglected to meet any of his coworkers up until the morning of their checkups. He had foolishly thought this would not be a problem; Why would he need to prepare any more than he would for typical patients? Surely grown men- professional assassins, no less- would be able to control themselves and act civilly for a doctor’s appointment.

He hadn’t been immediately proven wrong. The Engineer was an early riser and the first into Medic’s office, and he happily complied with all of the doctor’s requests. Truth be told, Medic found it almost nauseating to see someone so cheerful and friendly so early in the morning when he himself was barely awake, but he tolerated it in the name of efficiency and teambuilding. The Heavy had come in and they had a lovely first chat as Medic checked his vitals and made sure he was in good working order; he seemed such an interesting man that Medic hesitated to dismiss him when the Spy showed up. Spy, of course, refused to take off his mask for the checkup, but since this did not get in Medic’s way it was not a problem.

Things finally became difficult in the afternoon. Despite the fact that the team had all been told to see the doctor sometime that day, they had stopped trickling in. Medic had to go out into the common areas and start dragging people, metaphorically and literally, into his office for their physicals. This method ranged from successful, such as simply tossing a drunk unconscious Scotsman onto the examination table and then dragging him back into the hallway when he was done, to the exact opposite, such as when the Scout knocked over a bookshelf and nearly dropped a surgical saw on his own foot in an attempt to escape a mandatory flu shot. By dinner time three of his good beakers had been smashed, his textbooks were strewn across the linoleum floor, a syringe was lodged in the wall, a blood bag had ripped and spilt it’s contents all over his counter, and someone had posed the skeleton he had on display in the corner to look like it was pointing at its crotch.

That was the room Pyro walked into after they stress-ate a pound of chicken nuggets for dinner alone in their room. They didn’t have the best past experiences with doctors, and all day they’d heard their teammates talking about the crazy German scientist that was trying to steal their blood and cut off their feet with a saw. They dreaded the visit since they were told they would have to make it, having no idea what was in store for them. Only once everyone else had gone and come back alive did they get the courage to knock on the laboratory door. They heard a muffled shout from inside that they took to mean ‘come in,’ so they pushed open the door and stepped into the laboratory.

Immediately they heard glass crunching, and they looked down to see the shattered remains of a beaker underneath their feet. Books and loose papers were strewn about the white tile floor and on the metal tables that lined the walls, and on the far counter was a dark pool of blood. It was dripping down the cabinets onto the floor, and several white feathers were stuck in the puddle. Pyro wondered where the feathers came from until they heard the soft flapping of wings coming from above, and they looked up to see around twenty doves convening in the rafters. The room had unpainted gray cement walls and one long rectangular window, but since the sky was dark outside now the lab was lit only by one fluorescent light that hung from the ceiling in the dead center of the room. Pyro almost couldn’t smell it through their mask, but they got a faint whiff of bleach and death as the heavy wooden door swung shut behind them.

“Just a moment!” Came a bodiless, very German voice. A few seconds later it’s accompanying head popped over the top of a desk on the other side of the room. The doctor’s dark hair was tousled and sticking up in strange places and his round glasses sat crooked in front of his bright blue eyes. When his eyes settled on the Pyro he visibly jolted, his eyebrows shooting up on his face, but the expression was gone again in half a second. “You almost scared me with your mask, mein Freund! You must be my last victim- I mean, patient. Take a seat on the examination table, won’t you?”

Pyro stared at him for a second before turning and reaching for the door handle.

“Oh, nein, it was just a joke! Doctor humor, ja?” Medic laughed softly at his own joke, his chuckle sounded somewhere between an owl hooting and an evil cackle. He stood up and ran a hand through his hair to fix it, and then straightened his glasses and tie. He was in just his vest over his dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows; his lab coat was a few feet away tossed over a chair. He grabbed it and pulled it on as he went over to the examination table, patting it welcomingly. “Come on. I do not bite much.”

Pyro hesitated before slowly making their way over and hopping up onto the examination table. They gripped the edge of the table for security and swung their feet back and forth in front of them while glancing around the room some more. They noticed a small fridge with a padlock fastened to the handle in one corner, and the funny skeleton in another. One of the birds flew down from the rafters and landed in the pool of blood on the counter, starting to puff out its feathers and roll around in the puddle like it was a bird bath.

“Wunderbar.” Medic picked up a clipboard off a nearby table, pushing his glasses further up his nose with one finger so that he could better read the papers clipped to it. “You are the Pyro?”

Pyro nodded, their attention being pulled back to the doctor.

“Well, it says here that we do not have any medical records for you. Why is this?”

Pyro took a deep breath, a strange raspy noise due to their mask, and began on a long-winded explanation of which Medic could not understand a single word. He stared blankly at them over his spectacles as they rambled, their voice muffled and incomprehensible, gesturing exaggeratedly with their hands to explain something, but what that something was, Medic had no clue. When they finally stopped talking they folded their arms conclusively, as if they had just made a very good point and were saying ‘I rest my case.’

“... Right, well, I am sure it will not be a problem, as long as you do not mind getting a few shots today to-”

Pyro shook their head aggressively.

Medic squinted at them. “You do not want to get any shots?”

They shook their head again with just as much force as before. They started to talk again before they were abruptly cut off.

“-I am sorry, I cannot understand you with that mask. If you would remove it, I am sure we could have a much more productive conversation.” Medic raised a eyebrow awaiting the Pyro’s response. He sighed heavily when they shook their head again. “Would you at least take off the suit so that I can listen to your heart and your lungs? My stethoscope will not work through this material.”

Medic watched his own expression reflected back at him in the dark glass eyes of the Pyro. They did not move for a few seconds and simply stared at him, as if considering his offer. He held his breath and leaned in the longer they seemed to think, until once again they shook their head no. He huffed and slapped a hand to his forehead. The exhaustion of the day was starting to get to him and he could feel a sharp ache beginning to form behind his eyes.

“Pyro…” He said slowly, pressing his hands together in front of him. “I will make you a deal. If you promise not to contract tuberculosis or any other terrible condition, I will tell everyone that I performed a full checkup and physical and that you are in perfect health. You just cannot tell anyone we made this deal. How does that sound?”

Pyro slowly tilted their head to the side in thought and then pointed past Medic to his desk. Medic turned to follow the gesture, his eyes landing on a small bowl of lollipops on his desk. Keeping a bowl of candy around was a habit that he’d picked up in his early years of being a doctor, when he still had a respectable practice and had yet to lose his license. He hadn’t even stopped to think that there wouldn’t be any children here, but it seemed to him that the mistake would serve him well.

“Here.” A tired smile came across his face as he picked up the bowl and offered the lollipops to Pyro. Pyro didn’t hesitate before taking the entire bowl out of his hands and hopping off the examination table. Medic snorted as they started to walk away. “I thought you wanted one!”

Pyro stopped, looked over their shoulder, pulled the bowl closer to their body, and shook their head.

Medic laughed. “It is alright, take it, no one else will eat them. Just remember our deal, ja?”

Pyro gave him a big thumbs up with their free hand and then waved before skipping out the door. Medic watched the door swing shut behind them, and then looked out over the mess of his laboratory. He let out a tired chuckle and shook his head before starting his work cleaning up the day’s mess.

[theprojectatedensgate]

Oh this could be good! 14 with john and 20 with jacob.

“You were in a crash, can you tell me your name?”

John fluttered his eyes open at the voice, the shriek of tinnitus ringing in his ears. His vision spun rapidly and his head was swimming in pain. What happened? Why was he in so much pain? Where was he? He tried to focus one thing, a blurred figure leaning over him, he could feel the weight of their palms pressed on to his shoulders, firm but not too much. Nausea flooded through him and he attempted to sit himself up so he could concentrate but the hands held him down. His vision started shifting back to normal and he trailed his eyes up the arms of the figure, fixating on their face. He hasn’t seen them before, he doesn’t recognise them at all, but as the figure fully came into view, he recognised the uniform “Hope County Junior Deputy” sewn on to their chest and shoulders. They must be new, he knew all of the police in Hope County. When John came to his senses, his perplexity was replace by irritation, scowling up the Deputy leaning over him.

“What happened? What are you doing? 

The words came out as a hiss and the Deputy actually recoiled at the tone, letting go of him and allowing him to sit up. He glared at them as they looked him, eyes scanning his body.

“You were in a crash. I was just asking if you can tell me your name?” 

They waited on John for answer and he almost laughed at them in disbelief, A crash? How? And of course he remembered his name! It’s… 

His mind turned up blank, the frame of his skull aching as tried to remember, nothing came to him. A cold fear chewed at his insides as he thought, he didn’t know how he got there, he didn’t know who he was or where he was. It was all so overwhelming and pathetic. How could he not remember his own name? 

“I…” It came out as a stammer, his lips trembling “I don’t know.” 

The syllables were clumsy, tumbling out one after the other. He chastised himself internally for his bad wording. Apart from the fear of losing his name his more annoyed than anything. He was sat in the dirt with some random Deputy ogling him, he felt like a zoo animal. The Deputy raised their brows in shock and moved back closer to him, sitting on their calves in front of him, the dirt staining their black pants.

“You don’t know?” They cursed under their breath, scanning along the tree line. John looked too, getting the first view of surroundings, they were in a clearing at the edge of a woodland, the moon hung proudly in the sky, surrounded by stars, illuminating the trees around them. It was silent, save for the sing songs of crickets in the late night, the occasional rustling from wildlife in the bushes. It was cool, the breeze sending a chill down John’s nape. He turned back to meet the Deputy, his eyes now unwavering as he demanded an explanation.

“Okay. You were in a crash, I saw it from my quad, I watched you parachute out and I headed towards your location. I’m guessing the the parachute in the canopy up there you took quite a tumble.”

John looked straight up, the black chute was caught in the branches above him, blanketing the top of the tree. Vague images of being in the sky and soaring flashed through his mind, hurting as they passed. He reached a hand up to hold his head, a feeble attempt to quell the pain. 

“I was flying?”

“You sure were, I was watching your stunts for like five minutes, I’m not sure what happened but you pulled into a loop and didn’t lift back up from it, it’s like the plane just died.”

“The plane? Where is it?”

“I think it crashed south of here, I’m not sure if its salvageable, I came straight here.”

John placed his head in his hands, exhaling sharply,his blue eyes searched the Deputy’s, bewilderment radiating from his expression.

“Do you know who I am?” 

Rook froze, a grimace greeting their features, they shifted their weight awkwardly, glancing at the ground before meeting his gaze. Anticipation pooled in John’s stomach as he examined their body language, waiting for the answer.

“You’re John Seed.”

The words rang no bells, no part of his mind jumped at remembrance of the name. It was new to him, it felt like the first time he ever heard it.  He stared at them blankly, they seemed to flinch when they mentioned his name, like it was a swear or a curse, he hadn’t made any threat to them, why did they act like that?

“I don’t remember. I vaguely remember drifting through the sky, and remember that this is Hope County, I know that for certain.” smirking at their uniform.

The Deputy fought the urge to roll their eyes, typical, he lost part of his memory and forgot who he is but he still acts the same. They took off the rucksack they were carrying, slugging it to the ground.

“Right. Well you’re John Seed, Confessor and Baptist of Eden’s Gate, Herald of the Holland Valley. And I need to check you over for injuries.”

John grinned at the revelation, he remembered the Holland Valley that was one of the regions of Hope County and the labels the Deputy just gave him? Intriguing. 

“Those sound like good titles. But what do they mean?”

“It’s not important right now, just keep still.”

He straightened up as the Deputy came closer, they pulled a small torch out of their bag, their hand reaching the lift John’s chin, the turned the torch on with a click, shining it into his eyes. John flinched at the brightness, but held still in the Deputy’s hand. After checking out both eyes the lowered the torch to shine it over the rest of his body, His jacket covered in dirt and scrapes.

“ You’re reacting fine to light. Are you feeling any pain? If so can you tell me where and how bad on a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst one being the least.”

“My head hurts, my whole body aches.”

“I need numbers, John.”

“Fine. My head is a seven and the rest of me is a five.”

“Okay well considering you have amnesia as well as head pain, you must of hit your head quite hard. You need medical attention.”

“Are we going to a hospital?”

Rook had to stifle a giggle at the thought of showing up at a hospital with John Seed. What would people say? It would surely be one for the history books.

“No, no hospital. At least not with me anyway.”

John’s smile dropped, he looked at them suspiciously, sadly even. His eyes narrowing.

“What? Why not?” he whined like a small child being denied a treat.

Rook sighed, they didn’t want to be the one to explain it all to him and that would take far too long anyway. He needed to see a doctor.

“Because I can’t John.”

“But you’re a Junior Deputy, isn’t it your job?”

“Yes but it’s not like that. It’s complicated, too much for me to explain to you right now. You need looking at by a Doctor, I’m only trained in first aid.”

The Deputy reached down pulling a radio from their back pocket. They flicked through the frequencies until they found the right one and held it to their lips.

“Yeah, this is the Deputy, I found John Seed. Ya’ know you guys should protect him a bit better, I found him before you did and I’m the sinner apparently.”

John watched them intensely, did they really just call themselves a sinner? Why? Who was supposed to be protecting him?

The radio crackled with static as a man came through the frequency.

“You touch him sinner, we’ll string you up!” The radio quietened as the man on the end turned his attention to someone else that was with him. “John’s been found by the Deputy, track their radio and move!”

Rook looked back at John with a smile for the duration of the call. His eyes widened, those people just threatened them and all they were doing was smiling. The man sounded furious, he wondered what the Deputy had done wrong by finding him. The placed the radio on the ground, keeping that same reassuring smile. 

“Do you have your radio on you, John?”

“Why would I have a radio? And who were those people? They didn’t sound happy you found me.”

Rook sighed again, they moved their hands to pat him down his pockets, he stilled at the contact. They were gentle, careful not to put any pressure on him. It felt comforting. When they found there was no radio, they slid theirs towards him. John looked at it like it was alien. 

“Those are your people John. They’ll come get you and patch you up, you might get your memory back by tomorrow once you’ve had some rest. Take my radio and keep it on you, they’ll track you through that.”

They pushed the radio in John’s hand and he took it reluctantly. Concern crossing his expression. Rook had never seen him look so worried, they had never seen him use any other emotion apart from anger. The softness on his face a stark contrast to his usual smug demeanour.

“What about you? You need your radio you’re a Deputy!”

They didn’t want to admit it but the this new caring side of John warmed their heart. It was so unusual and yet so natural at the same time.

“It’s fine, there’s more radios where I’m going. Don’t worry about me.”

There was the sound of engines in the distance, getting louder by the second, Rook tensed and looked over their Shoulder quickly, before facing John again.

“I need to go, they’ll be here soon. It make them a while to find you because of how far into the wilderness we are, but they will find you.”

Rook scrambled to their feet, leaving the torch on the ground, illuminating John’s pained face. They grabbed their rucksack shrugging it on clumsily. John was terrified. He didn’t want to be left alone and he certainly didn’t want to meet the people who sounded so hostile.

“Don’t go! Don’t leave me here! Please stay with me! I don’t understand!”

Rook was taken a back by such a desperate plea, their heart ached at tone, guilt weighing heavy on their shoulders. If was a civilian they would stay but this was John Seed. He was a dangerous unstable psychopath with an army of devoted followers who had a tendency for violence. They couldn’t stick around and they couldn’t explain why.

“I’m sorry, John. I have to go. I’m sorry.”

They started speed walking away from, determined to leave the area. John’s stared tingled at their nape as they walked, resisting the urge to look back.

“Will I see you again?”

They lost the battle of restraint, stopping in their tracks. They didn’t doubt they would, he would definitely hunt them down after tonight, mocking them and demanding an explanation for being saved. They didn’t have one for him, they don’t know why they did it. Moral compass? Maybe. The oath they took as a police officer? Perhaps. Caring for John Seed’s welfare? Well that was the problem. Were they just doing their job or was it something more than that? John hasn’t been kind to the Deputy, taking every chance to harm or insult them at every corner, they weren’t obligated to help him and the Resistance would definitely question why they saved the man who they were supposed to kill. But they did it, and they felt no regret.

“I’m sure you will.”

John watched after them until they disappeared into the trees. Who were they? Yes they were a Hope County Deputy but who were they really? The stranger who saved his life. Perhaps an angel sent from God. His mind ran through possibilities and exhaustion getting the better of him he collapsed into the ground. Lethargy forced his eyes closed, catching sight of headlights through the bushes before everything went black.

It wasn’t until a week later, The Deputy curled up in bed with a good book, ice tea on their night stand, their windows open to let out the Montana heat into the cool night air. The old lamp being the only light source in the room, cosiness snug on their mind. Much to their chagrin, John was constantly on their mind since the crash, all the potential what if’s plaguing their thoughts, sleepless nights while they awaited his word. Why were they still thinking about it? He wouldn’t bat an eye if Rook had crashed, he didn’t when they crashed in Josephs compound. They prepared for the string of insults and chastisements heading their way if he regained his memory, their stomach curled at the thought if he didn’t. So when the new radio buzzed to life next to them and the same old sing song voice greeted them with 

“Deputy~”

they couldn’t help but smile and press the button to answer.

Thanks for requesting! Enjoy!

I’ll make sure to do the Jacob prompt to!

[redheadedramblings]

Good for each other (Part 6)

Title: Good for each other (Part 6) Paring : Bucky x Reader Summary: Bucky Barnes has lost everything. He is alone in this world, at least not until you enter his life. word count: 8201 (sorry!) warnings: maybe slight panic, fluff, bruce being a protective dad, concerned Bucky A/N : Holy crap sorry this took forever! I went on vacation and I had to move back into my apartment at school so its been a stress. But I finally got back to it and I have a lot of writing in my drafts so I hope to get to them soon! I made this chapter super long, I am so sorry about that. I hope you like it! Tell me what you think! The italics indicate a flashback.

masterlist

Bucky was feeling better this week, his mood was happier and there was something different in the air. Maybe it had to do with the fact he was sleeping though the night, or the fact that he hadn’t had a nightmare since he began to sleep next to you. What ever it was, he was feeling great and it showed, the team noticed it. He would carry himself differently, he began to participate in more activities that he usually wouldnt. He started to do a lot of things out of his comfort zone which was huge for him and really showed how well he had improved. Just a two years ago he wouldn’t even leave his room, he would stay in there all day long and only come out to eat. But now, he was out and about, going out with you, helping trainees with Natasha and even sometimes going down to visit Bruce in the labs which he hardly did.

Therapy also was helping, his mental state was getting better and he didn’t feel as trapped anymore. His brain was clearer, he could think faster and he wasn’t moody and depressed anymore. He felt lighter, he now walked with confidence and would talk a lot more. He would bicker with you like he always did, but that came with living with you of course. But he felt closer to you, now more than ever. 

He woke up late in the after noon, his body tangled in soft blankets on the couch. Sitting up he rubbed his eyes and looked around to see where you were but you weren’t there and neither was River. Getting up from the couch he patted down the hall way and into the kitchen avoiding dogs toys sprawled out on the floor along the way. When he walked in he is shocked to see Sam standing behind the counter. You were sitting on a stood at the counter eating lunch and watching something on the small television that was below the cabinets. River was rolling around on the floor with a chew toy in her mouth and her tail thumped on the ground in excitement. Bucky made his way to you and sat down in the free stool on your left. 

“What are you doing here?” Bucky asks Sam while leaning his elbows onto the marble. Bucky knew that today the two of you didn’t have any therapy sessions, and if he was here to baby sit he certainly didn’t call and tell you he was coming which he usually would do.

“Just here for a brief check in.” Sam brushes Bucky off not even looking at him. He is washing a pan in the sink, it appears that he had made you lunch and he was cleaning up after himself. Barnes turns his attention to you and watches as you gobble up your food, eyes still focused on the television that is across the kitchen. He lets out a breathy laugh while he watches you, your shoulders shrugging up and down as you take a new bite. Bucky is amused at your little happy dance.

“And whats up with her?” he asks nodding at you with his head.

“Oh, you should have seen her a few minutes ago, she had an attitude, but now she is fed so she is back to normal. She was just hangry.” Sam points at you with a spatula. You finally peel your eyes from the tv and give Sam a guilty shrug and turn to Bucky with a mouth full of food. With his one hand holding his chin up and the other laying on his lap he watches you eat. Your little dancing in the seat making him chuckle to him self, he watches your chewing which has become a force of habit for him. You pick up on it almost instantly and so does Sam, you are well aware of what he is thinking about. Knowing he always worried when you ate, occasionally glancing over at him as you chewed slowly, you didn’t want to make him worry about it anymore.

It had been raining all week, the air was too thick and the humidity was bad. The team began letting you walk around outside but under very close supervision with a limited time frame. There was a little garden house that you liked spending your time in, you would spend hours in the small area just staring up at the sky. When it was time for you to leave Bucky was the one who would collect you, he would escort you back to the flat you both shared. But it was rainy the past couple of days and you were getting anxious feeling cooped up in the apartment all day. You began to be restless, you didn’t know what to do with yourself and your mind began to wander, and that was dangerous. You couldn’t be left alone for too long or you would have an episode or a panic attack from all the thinking, so they tried to keep you occupied with something else. It would be little things, sometimes they were dumb and insignificant but they worked and kept you out of the way for a while. Cleaning seemed to help, it gave you a sense of accomplishment, organizing medical files also helped. You never once complained or were bothered by it, for it was helping you stay in your own mind. Today the tower was mainly empty, it was a Friday afternoon and the thunderstorms were constant. For some reason thunder didn’t settle well with you and it made you jump, and being in a high up building in the sky didn’t help that fact. Bucky knew something was wrong the moment he heard you shuffling around the apartment, your feet patting around on the floor. When he rounded the corner he found you digging around the room, picking up things and then setting them down again. He watched for a moment when you momentarily turned and he saw your eye brows furrowed together and your teeth sinking into your bottom lip. A bright flash of lightning lit up the outside followed by a large crack of thunder that felt like it shook the entire building. The sound made you jump and you let out a high pitched yelp and covered your ears and fell to your knees. In a blink of an eye Barnes was next to you grabbing onto your shoulders while you pressed your forehead to the floor. “Easy! Easy, Y/N your alright. Its okay! Its just thunder! Its not going to hurt you! Your alright.” he spoke in your ear. He stayed hovered over you for a couple moments until you lifted your head up slowly as he knelt down in front of you to look at your face. “I’m sorry.” you breathed out trying to get ahold of yourself. He always hated when you apologized for things like this, things that you clearly couldn’t control. “Here, get up.” he said pulling you to your feet. As he walked you over to the bar stool the door opened in walked Bruce with a brown paper bag in his hands. “Is she alright?” He quickly asks walking over to the two of you and quickly putting the bag on the table. “Yea, she just got spooked by some thunder.” Bucky reply to him. “Y/N? Are you alright? Talk to me Y/N.” Bruce asks kneeling down to you grabbing your shoulders firmly. His eyes roaming yours searching for any signs of distress. “Yea, I’m Okay.” you finally look up at him and he holds your face. “Really. I’m okay.” You tried your best to sound as calm as possible when in reality you were slightly shaking and were beginning to claw at your wrists under your sleeves. Bucky grabs your hand instantaneously and holds them tight stopping you from hurting yourself. “Have you taken your meds today?” Bruce asks, Bucky stands near you, his eyes never leaving your form. He holds your arms securely, but soft, you twitch under his grip but begin to relax to his touch. “Yes, I have.” you said softly. “When was the last time you ate?” Banner asks trying to distract you. Your silence answers his question for him, he lets go of you and steps behind the counter and clatters though the kitchen taking out ingredients and cooking utensils. “Lets start on dinner alright? Its about time to eat anyway.” he says as he lays out the food in front of him on the counter. As Bruce rummages around Bucky still stands by you holding onto your wrists, afraid if he let go, you would begin to harm yourself again. Rubbing his thumbs on your skin you look up at him and give me a slight nod adding a smile to go with it. He didn’t buy it at first, he felt that you were faking being okay just to ease his mind. So Bucky refused to let go of you for a while, he just stood there next to you holding your arms as you sat still. Eventually you gave in and your body slummed slightly, you were no longer tense and your arms went limp. He gave you a satisfied look and he spun you around so that you were facing the counter. Letting go of you he stepped back and your skin called for him back with his sudden warmth leaving your skin. “I’ll help!” Bucky quietly chimes in as he also stepped behind the counter to help him prepare dinner. The two men start dinner and you sit silently at the table and watch them as they both scurry around the kitchen cooking. Banner was the one to talk first he began to talk about random topics trying to engage you with some how. It didn’t work that well, you would grunt relies and would just stare blankly at the wall and when the rain poured harder on the window you seemed to curl into yourself. Bucky noticed it and ratted his brain for something to do, he had to do something anything. He knew what you were feeling all too well, he had been there too many times before. An impending panic or anxiety attack was a tough thing to tackle. He tried to remember what others would do for him but it was no use. No one was really there for him when he would go though these things in the past and even now. But he wasn’t going to let you be alone, he couldn’t. He didn’t want you to suffer the same fate, to end up like him. While he moved he accidentally bumped a jar full of measuring tools, and it fell off the counter and clattered to the ground, the objects scattering on the floor. He looked down and winced at the sight and at the noise afraid that the sudden sound might have scared you. But to his surprise he heard you laugh it was a genuine laugh, nothing fake, it was real. It took him off guard and both Bruce and Bucky looked up and stared at you, shocked and surprised to hear such a pleasant sound coming from you. To be honest, it was probably the first time either of them had heard you laugh. After a long moment, the men exchanged looks, Bruce half smiling at Bucky’s reluctant expression and they returned to their work. His clumsiness made you laugh and he knew now that he had to use that to his advantage especially now. After cleaning up the floor and setting it back into its place on the table he began fooling around, making faces at you just to hear you laugh. The sound of your voice egged him on and it made him feel warm. He stepped it up and began making funny faces at you and even Banner when he wasn’t looking making sure that you saw it. He even picked up utensils and twirled them around with his metal fingers. Before he knew it Bruce was serving the food on plates and he slid one over to you and handed you a fork and knife. Pulling it toward you, Bruce turned to walk over to the sink to start washing dirty dishes. Immediately you hunched over your food and began to shovel it into your mouth, taking bites that were too big, almost like your life depended on it. This startled Bucky and he noticed suddenly raced over to you and tried grabbing the fork out of your hands but you jerked away from him. “Stop Y/N! Slow down! Don’t eat so fast! You are going to choke if you keep eating too fast!” Bucky exclaimed while he continued to reach for your hands. You froze in front of him, your cheeks full with food, Banner turned around and threw down the towel down. A mixture of frustration and fear creeped up on Bucky as he watched you slightly scotch back in the seat away from him. He was about to reach for you again when he stopped himself and pulled back, a sad realization suddenly setting in. This was the first time he ever saw you ate, when you would get your meals everyday, you would always be with Banner down in the lab under close watch. You shoveled the food in your mouth for the fear of not knowing when you would get your next meal, and the fear of it being stripped away from you. It registered with him that it was probably because who ever had held you captive didn’t feed you that much, only enough to get you by. So many red flags were popping up now that Bucky was silently scolding him self for not seeing earlier. You were oddly thin when they first found you and slightly malnourished, something that he didn’t notice until he got a good look at you. Gently he took a step back and raised his hands slightly to you when he saw the death grip you had on the fork. “Swallow!” He instructed you, in a calm but firm voice. Slowly you gulped and put the fork down on the table. “Slow down! You cant eat that fast! You are going to make yourself sick! Slow down okay?” he asked with a hint of desperation in his voice. You nodded but refused to move in your spot, your body frozen from being scolded. “Continue eating, I just want you to slow down okay? Just take smaller bites and slow down is all.” he spoke noticing your response. Shaking your head in understatement you reached for your fork and began eating, slower this time. You looked more relaxed but on alert, looking around the room and eyeing Bucky who was still standing next to you. After a couple moments he sat down at the stool next near you and leaned on the marble watching you eat and counting your bites. Bruce was in shock of what he had just witness. He had noticed something was off in Bucky’s attitude the minute he walked in and saw him helping you during your panic. This wasn’t like him, he knew Bucky didn’t like you it was apparent from what he displayed toward you. But for some reason Barnes changed and it was clear from the interactions it was evident that he was changing because of you. Banner had seen you have problems eating before and he would always take time out of his day to sit with you during all of your meals and observe you while you ate so that way you wouldn’t choke. He didn’t once think that Bucky would do the same, he saw as the color drained out of him as he rushed to your side the minute you started to eat. Watching you and Bucky sit there silently at the table eased his mind, the way Bucky’s eyes would roam your face and the way he would signal for you to slow down if he felt that you were eating too fast gave him hope and the sense that your presence was helping Barnes. The two of you were becoming friends and the thought of that made him smile, and he turned back to the dishes to finish his work.

“Alright I am headed out, but before I go I wanted to remind you guys that the annual charity auction is in a few days and they are requiring the two of you to go.”

“What?” you and Bucky exclaimed in unison. 

You turned your head to Sam in disbelief and Bucky let out a scoff in annoyance. The Avengers hosted this fancy party every year, it was a huge charity event that was open to the public. The proceeds would go to people in need or families that were torn apart by wars. You were never allowed to go, they felt that it would be wise for you to stay put for safety reasons and your mental health. So when the time rolled around every September you would be alone in your room eating snacks and snuggling with River.

“Why are they making us go? Why all of the sudden are they letting Y/N come?” Bucky questioned.

“Fury feels like Y/N has made great strides in the past couple of months so he feels she is ready, plus it will look good for his higher up pals if you know what I mean. The two of you have to go this year, everyone has to go, so dress pretty and for the love of god, please be ready when I pick you guys up.” Sam pointed at you and you held your hand over your heart pretending to be offended. “Do we have to go?” you complained while slumping you shoulders. “I don’t want to interact with people. People are boring…” Sam just ignored your pouting and picked up his coat hanging on the rack and walked towards the door.

“I will pick the two of you up on the 14th at 2pm sharp. Be ready.” he waved with out looking back and you and Bucky just grunted as he walked out of the room. 

It was around midnight when Bucky walked into the pitch black kitchen to hear chewing sounds coming from around the counter. Stepping around the counter top he flicked on a light, there you were sitting on the ground with a tub of ice cream in between your legs. Your head hung low watching the screen of your iPad that you held in one hand, and in the other hand you held a massive spoon that was clearly not meant to be eaten ice cream with. River laid never to you sprawled out with her head up on your foot, her tail began to wag when she saw Bucky. 

“I see you are relieving some stress for tomorrows party.” Bucky joked as he opened the silverware drawer and pulled out a matching spoon. 

“Hey, I got to do what I got to do.” you confessed not even looking up with a spoon in your mouth. Bucky sat down in front of you and stretched his legs out around you so that you were in his center. Dipping his spoon in the container he took a large bite of the cold substance and swallowed making a face to you.

“Brain freeze?” you asked.

“Yea.” he grumbled.

“Buck, your name is the Winter Solider. I thought you were used to the cold?”

“Not freezing cold ice cream.” he sassed. You laughed and set your tablet down next to you and took another bite.

“I don’t want to go to this stupid party tomorrow. Too many people, I don’t like crowds. I can’t believe Fury is making me go.”

“I know.”

“How do you survive?”

“I don’t know, I just didn’t really interact with anyone, Steve was the once who always did the talking. He was such a people person.” Bucky’s voice faded out and you inched forward.

It was true Steve loved it, he was the one who hosted the event every year. He loved talking with the kids, meeting new people and honoring veterans. It killed you to see such sadness etched in Bucky’s face at the mention of his best friend. 

“Ah, well I guess we will just have to power though it then. It can’t be all that bad, they have free food right?” you laughed. Bucky smiled and looked down shaking his head at you. “Yea they have free food so you can eat until you explode.”

“Excellent!” you chuckled.

Sitting on the floor with him the hours passed and you began talking with him like you usually did, about the good and the bad. The two of you would get into insult matches in which you would always win and he would complain like a child. You ended up laying on the floor, your back touching the cold tile and your legs spread out. Bucky had been on a rant about something from his childhood when he stopped to realize that you had fallen asleep. Carefully standing up he put the empty ice cream container in the trash and the spoons in the sink and turned to look back at you. Bending down he gently scooped you up in his arms carefully trying his best not to make you stir as he walked you down the hall to the living room. River followed right on Bucky’s heals and once he reached the entrance she hopped up on the couch and plopped herself down. He set you down in your usual spot and covered you up with your favorite blanket. Crawling back to his spot he laid him self down next to you and in no time his eyes fluttered shut and he fell into a deep sleep. Bucky wakes up the next morning rather uncomfortably with sun beams reaching into his eye lids. Shifting on the couch he opens one of his eyes slightly to look around the room when he sees the hanging clock on the wall and shoots up suddenly when he realizes the time. Its 1:40, Sam will be there in 20 minutes. 

“Y/N!” he screams.

His voice makes you squeal and your body jumps a few inches in the air and you fall off the couch in a heap. River begins to bark and jumps down and grabs one of her toys on the ground thinking that its time to play. Bucky shoots off of the couch and begins to run down the hall to his room. “Y/N! We over slept! We are going to be late!” you hear his muffled yells coming from his room. Running back into the living room he over looks the couch and notices you aren’t there. 

“Y/N?” he dryly questions while walking around the front of the couch to see you slightly wiggling on the floor tangled in blankets. With you eyes squinting and your bottom lip pushed out you looked up at him with your hair a mess and in your face. 

“What are you doing on the floor? Get up! We are going to be late!” he scolds while turning away to run down the hall way again. You moan in annoyance and begin to squirm on the carpet like a slug, getting up you yawned while walking into your room. River follows you with a toy in her mouth and jumps on your bed and begins to rip it apart.

“Buck I don’t even know what I’m wearing to this stupid thing!” you shout to your door.

“Natasha stopped by yesterday and dropped off a dress or something for you. Its hanging in your closet!” You hear him yell as he rummages though his drawers.

Rolling your eyes you walk over to your closet and see a dress hanging from a hook wrapped with a sheet of plastic wrap to keep it safe. Taking the dress out you hold the fabric to yourself and look in the floor length mirror to inspect it. You didn’t want to admit it but the dress was beautiful, the color was bringing out your eyes beautifully. 

“Gross…” you mumble to yourself as you slip into it. After a few minutes a very impatient Bucky marches to your door and knocks an unnecessary amount of times. 

“Y/N! Come on!” he calls out. 

“Calm down you old fart! Give me a minute!” you grunt as you smooth out the dress with your hands.

“Hurry up and get out here! Our baby sitter will be here soon!” he shouts referring to Sam. 

“I don’t want to go I hate dresses! I cant do this! I am just going to stay and hide in here!” You begin to pat at your face in the mirror while listening to Bucky bang on your door. River began rolling on your bed in amusement and chewed at your covers while the two of you went back and fourth. 

“Either you come out or I will break the door down!” He threatened.

“I look terrible Barnes!” you hollered in an exhausted tone.

“I am sure you look like a million bucks now will you please hurry up!”

Huffing you looked down at the foot of your mirror to see a pair of black heals, you awkwardly slipped into them and ran your fingers through your hair. Turning you walked or in this case wobbled to the door and slowly opened it. To your surprise Bucky wasn’t standing there anymore but his voice lingered from down the hall. Turning back to River you motioned her to follow you and she jumped down from your bed and trotted into the kitchen. When you rounded the corner you saw Bucky and Sam standing there in the kitchen waiting for you. Sam wore a gray suit with a patterned tie with a falcon pin on it no doubt as a conversation piece. Bucky’s suit was black, and so were his shoes, his hair was pulled back into a small man bun to keep it out of his face. 

Sam was trying to convince Bucky to pin a Captain America shield pin on his tie but Bucky kept pushing him away as while getting harassed. When your heals clicked on the wooden floor both of their heads spun toward you and they froze in place. Bucky’s eyes widened as his eyes wandered your form, he had never seen you in a dress before, you never wore them. He had only seen you in pjs or combat gear, you never dressed up, you found it too uncomfortable. He knew you were a bit of a tom boy, you weren’t a girly girl and someone would literally have to put a knife to your throat to force you to brush your hair. But looking at your figure in front of him made him feel butterflies in his stomach and his whole skin felt hot. You looked beautiful, your hair was wavy and cascaded down your shoulders. The dress hugged you but the fabric was loose, your skin was glowing in the sunlight from the windows. Natasha did have good taste you had to had it too her, she knew what she was doing, she was the worlds best spy was she not? The makeup that you managed to throw on last minute was light and was illuminating your natural features. Your face was gentle and calm as you looked up, your gaze finding his finding his eyes lingering on you. Teleporting right in front of him you put your hands behind your back and leaned in and he didn’t budge, his mouth was slightly agape as he still stared at you. 

“So, do i look like a million bucks?” You crossed struck a pose in an attempt to look cute but failed miserably. 

“No, more like 2 dollars.” Sam teased while looking you up and down. “Oh thats cold.” you smiled at him. He then looked down at his watch and nudged Bucky with his elbow knocking him out of his trance that you had put him in.

“Alright kids lets go!” Same started to the door. You called for River and made sure she stayed in the common area so she wouldn’t get into the food in the kitchen. Clicking to the door Bucky held it open for you as you wobbled past him. As you passed though the door you hit him on the chest with the back of your hand. 

“You clean up nice old timer.” you winked as he felt his cheeks turn pink as he closed the door behind him and followed you and Sam down to the garage. “You guys are late” was the first thing said to you as you walked into the giant banquet hall.

“Correction, we are fashionably late.” you stuck your pointer finger up as Bruce just crossed his arms at you. He was about to turn to Sam to say something when Sam dodged the question and disappeared into the large crowd. Banner just scratched his head and laughed turning his attention back to you. “You look really nice Y/N. So do you Barnes, I am impressed.” Bucky murmurs out a thanks and you look around at all the people walking about in the room. “Hey Y/N, are you alright?” Bruce asks you noticing you eyeing the civilians. He had a certain ability to tell when you were beginning to feel nervous or uncomfortable. 

“Yea I am okay, just taking this all in. This is new for me.”

“Alright, well if you need anything come and find me alright?

“Okay.”

“Promise?” He grabbed your shoulders and gave them a squeeze.

“I promise.” you mocked and squeezed his wrists in return. 

“Okay good.” he smiled. “They are going to start the event in a few minutes so go and find your seats.” He let you go and you began maneuvering though the crowd to find your way to your table. Bucky went to follow you when Bruce put a hand on his shoulder and he turned towards him. “Keep an eye on her alright?” he softly asked and Bucky nodded and quickly followed you. 

The event is massive, you haven’t seen this many people in your life. The center was massive, the ceilings reached up to the skies, crystal chandeliers hung down from golden chains. Pictures and papers littered the walls from letters to the team to photos of loved ones to children dressing up as their favorite super hero. 

The room you were in was probably the biggest one in the building, circle tables with wooden seats held the spectators and the reporters. Giant cameras were placed in the back with television employees broadcasting the whole ordeal. Security was crawling all over, that was one of the first things you noticed when you stepped foot into the party. Ever since Vicrum showed up on the radar the security had nearly tripled in numbers and were on anyone who looked remotely suspicious. 

The Avengers had their own quiet corner and you took a seat down at the table closest to the wall with a good view of the whole vicinity. You had a good view of the stage and of all the exists just in case. Wanda and Vision sat at your table along with Sam and Bucky, Natasha and the others were sitting at the other that was right next to you. Looking for Fury you finally found him toward the back of the room sitting at a table with some older looking people you had never seen before, you didn’t know who they were but who ever they were they were high up so you kept your mouth shut. 

A microphone tapping sound began to silence the crowd and the room became quiet, the lights dimmed and a spot light turned on to illuminate the stage. A man walked out of the curtains and the crowd erupted when the one and only Tony Stark began to wave. “Theres the fat cat!” You heard Sam scream and Bucky just hit him to try and shut him up. 

Tony took to the stage and began to monologue, it was unscripted because Tony Stark doesn’t have time for scripts. You could see Pepper, Tony’s wife, behind the curtain on the right giving him silent queues to go to the next topic. He thanked the crowd and told a few jokes and make everyone laugh and clap, even you cracked a smile a few times. His face became all serious all of the sudden and you instantly knew what he was going to say next and you tried to brace for it.

“This is our third year hosting this event without Steve and I just want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for coming tonight. Steve loved hosting this party every year and I am glad we still get to do it in his honor. So thank you once again for coming and I hope everyone has a lovely evening and a fun night.” Tony stepped back and lowered the microphone. The entire crowd began to clap and cheer in honor of the fallen captain, standing up the peoples eyes facing towards the stage. But your eyes looking somewhere more important, as you clapped you looked at Bucky. He sat there in his seat clapping along with everyone else, his eyes roaming the crowd. His head turned and you looked at him and smiled and for once he didn’t look sad and he gave you a smile that made your heart leap.

The festivities went on and on and your were becoming board out of your mind, the party and moved into different rooms of the venue and somehow you ended up in the ball room near the bar. You ordered a fruity something or another with a lot of vodka in it and leaned on the bar with Clint, Rhodey and Bucky. The team has dispersed and were floating around talking to the chairmen or members of the commission. Ones thing was for sure and that was you didn’t like to float especially with all these people around, so you decided to drown yourself in your drink.

“I hate this.” you took a sip of your drink and crushing some of the ice in your teeth.

“Yea, this isn’t my favorite thing in the world either.” Rhodey downs a shot. “Well I quite like it. I’m having fun.” Clint says happily in while he receives scowls from Rhodey, Bucky and yourself.

“What?” Clint questions

“You just like it cause it gets you away from the kids for a while.” you take a longer sip of your drink. “Cant argue with that.” Clint shrugs. 

The bass of the music becomes louder and you feel as though your heart is going to explode from the rhythm. You continue the conversation with the boys and the night drags on. 

A jazzy song then comes blasting out though the speakers, something in Bucky begins to move and his foot begins to tap widely on the floor. Pictures flash in his mind, a simpler time then with Steve at his side and a woman under his arm as they push their way down the street brightly lit with lights. A feeling washes over his body, its similar and he gets a burst of energy, something that he hasn’t felt in decades. He is excited. His body screams to move and the rhythm is fast, he looks to the side and glances at you as you take a soft sip of your drink and setting it down on the bar, while watching all the spectators with a displeased scowl. 

“Come on Y/N.” he blurts out and holds his hand to you becoming you to the dance floor where everyone is dancing. 

“Oh no, I don’t dance.” you smile hold both of your hands up.

“How do you know?” He says while stepping in front of you.

“I just know, I may not have any memories but I already know I have two left feet.”

“You don’t know until you try it.”

“Yea Y/N!” Clint and Rhodey say in unison.

“Shut up boys! No Barnes. I am not doing it.”

“Come on, I will show you some of my moves.” he teases you. Curious at his persistent behavior you push your lips out and place your hands on your hips. 

“Oh, you have some moves old man?”

“I sure do.” He wiggles his shoulders. 

“I will take your word for it. Go on with out me.” you shrug him off.

“I can’t just go out by myself.” he complained in a childlike voice.

“What are you waiting for then?” you ask curiously. With that his face got closer to yours, standing your ground you look up at him at his blue eyes, they were twinkling with confidence. 

“The right partner.” He said in a low voice. 

You raise your eye brow at his response and open you mouth to speak but before you get a chance he suddenly grabs you by the wrist and drags you to the dance floor into the crowd of people. Instantly you groan in annoyance as he pulls you and spins your body around to face him. Trying to look around the room your eyes roamed any open spots where you could teleport to away from this situation and Bucky was quick to pick up on it.

“Oh no, you aren’t getting out of this one, if you use your powers I am just going to drag you back here again.” he says to you instantly.

“You really think you could catch me?” your shoulders slump when you see Clint and Rhodey waving at you from the bar in which you just stick your tongue at them which makes Bucky laugh.

“Here.” he says while grabbing your left arm and swopping it around his neck, irked, and slightly embarrassed you push some air out causing some hair in your face to shoot up. His right arm sneaks around your waist and pulls you in closer to him, he grabs your right hand in his left and holds onto your palm. 

“Ready?” he questions.

“No…” you mumble.

In a swift motion the two of you were off, Bucky led as he brought you back in fourth making faces at you every time you swayed making you chuckle. Both of your feet moved back and fourth to the rhythm of the song, the music beating in your chest taking you away. You had never quite seen this part of him before, the smile on his face wasn’t forced and his body language was relaxed and comfortable. You wondered how long he had been hidden and why he didn’t come out earlier. What ever the reasons were, you didn’t care because deep down you were loving it but would never admit it.

“This is how we did it back in the day.” He chuckles to you.

“Oh really? You must have been quite the ladies man.” you reply back at him. He suddenly dips you forward and you squeak at the abrupt movement. He pulls you back up and your hair falls in your face and he grabs some pieces and pushes it out of the way.

“You know, I used to be really good at this.” He says starting up again. His fingers finding your and squeezing your palm as he rocked you back and fourth. 

  “Yea and now you suck at it, its cause you are old.” you snort.

“Hey, I’m not that old, I am only 105 give me a break, I am technically 34!” He grins trying to defend himself.

“What are you babbling about frozen fingers?” a voice interrupts you. The two of you turn your heads to see Sam swooping in dancing with a beautiful women in his arms.

“Bucky here, was just tell me how he used to be good with the ladies back in the day.” you look back up at him while he sways.

“Ha! Thats a funny one. Doesn’t seem to be good at it now huh? You nearly dropped Y/N on the ground just then.” Sam mocked, he has clearly already become loose from too many drinks. 

“Shut up bird brain.” Bucky brought his attention back to you and spun you around making you laugh. Sam just snickered to himself and dances away with his dance parter and disappeared into the crowd. The music when on, the jazz filling your body, your heart pumping away in your chest as you danced on. Your heals clicking on the ground as you tried to match your foot work with his. Occasionally you would step on his feet my accident and would constantly apologize to him which just made him smile with glee. 

You felt so whole, the lights the music the dance, everything was perfect and it was like everything bad just melted away. Bucky was the only thing your eyes saw, you felt drunk on his presence as your body danced with him. Although you were never on beat Bucky didn’t care, he would carry you with him no matter what. Your hand clenching tighter around his shoulder feeling lost with out his grip. This was all you needed, you never wanted this to end.

Little to your knowledge people were beginning to watch you, a small group of onlookers began to clap to the tempo as Barnes twirled you. A small circle formed around the two of you that consisted members of the team and some lucky even holders that just happened to be around. The tempo picked up and you danced faster and faster as the song reached its peak and Bucky lifted you up by the waist and whirled you around in the air and you squealed in excitement. He gently brought you back down and dipped you down as the song came to an end and the two of you began to pant.

Clapping and cheering erupted all around you and your mouth parted to see the people accumulated around Bucky and yourself. With your body still bent over your chest heaved, your lungs begging for more air. Bucky was hunched over with you still in his arms. You looked up at him, your hands still wrapped around his neck. Something in Bucky’s eyes made your breathing stop and your body feel warm. Your smile that you had on your face slowly fading when your eyes found his lips, the way they curved up ward made you feel like there were butterflies in your stomach. In can instant you felt your cheeks turn pink. “Well that was entertaining!” a slurred voice boomed though the speakers making you jump and Bucky swiftly pulls you up to your feet. Turning your heads you both look to the stage to see Tony standing there with a bottle of champagne in the one hand and a microphone in the other. He swayed back and fourth and Bucky cursed quietly to himself at the sight. 

“Again! Again!” Stark tried to point to the two of you but dropping the bottle in the process. Pepper ran up the stairs onto the platform meeting him and grabbing onto his suit trying to turn him towards her. 

“Okay, I think you have enough!” Pepper smiles and take the mic away from a very, very drunk tony and he just leans on her whimpering out her name and tugging on her dress like a child. “Alrighty that was quite a little show we just had, so I just want to direct everyone attention to the auction room, the bidding will be held in 30 minutes so the teams can just start heading over there now and the rest of you can help yourself to more of the refreshments. Thank you!” she beams. You watch as she places the microphone on the stage and drags Tony off dragging him my the front of the suit with the Iron Man helmet in her arm. 

Rolling your eyes you look back and Bucky and flinch slightly when you realize his gaze in still on you. Suddenly realizing that you are still in his arms you clear your throat and he quickly lets go of you and you take a step back. Your skin burns from where his hands were and a feeling of loss overwhelms you when he is no longer touching you. Swallowing hard you look down and tuck your hair behind your ear and Bucky stuffs his hands in his pockets and awkwardly looks around. Turning away you watch as some people begin to leave the room and exit down into the Lobby.

“Hey, why don’t you say we ditch this party?” 

“I couldn’t agree more.”

Your bare feet dangled off the edge of the building as you looked up at the sky. The stars that you has expected to see scattered were non existent for the city lights were too bright and washed them away. Looking to the side you watch Bucky as he shifted on the ground, his hair was now down hanging loosely at his shoulders. His tie was unraveled and thrown over him, his jacket unbuttoned a glint of light would catch your eye from the Captain America pin hooked onto his tie. He laid on the ground next to where you were sitting, his arms behind is head propping him up.

Ditching the party was a wise choice, there was nothing left to do anyway and it getting boring. The two of you had snuck up to the roof of the building and sprawled out and got comfortable waiting for the festivities to come to an end. You lifted a bottle of champagne to your lips and took a big swing of it and gulped, the sweet liquid running down your throat made you shiver with delight. Handing it to Bucky he grabbed it from you and took a sip and set it down next to the empty plate of ordurvres that you had stollen from downstairs now empty with some speckles of crumbs on it. 

“Some party huh? I don’t know what I was expecting when they forced us to go to this thing.” you spoke grabbing the bottle back from Bucky and setting it next to you.

“Yea as you can see, you weren’t missing much. Its really boring.”

“But in a way I am glad that we came, it was nice to get out of the apartment for once do something new besides them sending us out on assignments.”

“Yea i guess so.” he grunted. Sitting up his expression now turns dark, his body stiffens as he fidgets around a thing he does when he has something on his mind.

“What is it Buck?” you ask nonchalantly.

“I…I want to talk about what happened. A…a few weeks ago.” His voice sounded unsure of what he was saying. Your stomach felt sick at his statement and you hunched forward a bit looking around at the site scape.

“Alright.” you started out. “Whats on your mind?”

“I never got a chance to say I’m sorry.” 

“Bucky, you did say sorry remember?”

“No Y/N, I didn’t apologize to you, sincerely. I hurt you. and I’m sorry. Im so sorry Y/N.”

“There is nothing to be sorry for Bucky. It wasn’t your fault. Stop blaming yourself for it.”

“Y/N, I could have killed you.” his voice cracked a little.

“I don’t know Barnes, I kicked your ass pretty good too.” you laughed.

“YN…” he was not impressed at your joke.

“Bucky, I know you feel awful for what happened, I understand that, but I don’t want you to keep worrying about it. I’m okay. We are both are okay. Its in the past now alright?” you picked your words carefully trying not to upset him. To your surprise he became loose at your words, he wasn’t as stiff anymore and became more relaxed. He stayed silent for a moment and the only thing you wanted was to see him smile. 

“We needed a new broom any way. It was old. But I am lucky I put it to good use.”

With that he broke out into a chuckle and a dropped his head down trying to hide a smile. There it was. 

“Right.” he agrees with you rubbing his head where you smashed the broom over. Another awkward silence follows again and he lays back down on the ground next to you and looks up.

“Why are we so messed up?”  he drily laughs.

“We arn’t messed up, we are just trying to find our place in this world just like everyone else, were not quite there yet, we are just a couple steps behind.” He turns his head to you and you look back at him and smile. You stay up there for the remainder of the night and look up at the sky trying to find the stars in the blankets of blue.

tags: @slender--spirit @honeyicouldntthinkofaurl​ @aceanika​ @disneychic8​

[agirlinjapan]

Red Data Girl: My Longest Day of School (Week 29)

Red Data Girl: My Longest Day of School By Noriko Ogiwara A Translation

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I’m back from Japan! I had a great two weeks in the country, and I’m already making plans to go back next year. Maybe Hokkaido next time?

I, being the nerd that I am, found my way to three RDG related places on my trip. As I think I mentioned before, I went to Mt. Togakushi and Mt, Takao, but as a last minute addition to the trip, I also stopped by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to see the view from its observation deck. All three places were great experiences. The two mountains were especially fun. I’d recommend them to anyone who even vaguely enjoys hiking. They weren’t difficult treks at all. (Mt. Takao has some more challenging trails available if you’re into that though.)

Along with talking about how my trip went, I also have some exciting RDG news. For the month of August, I’ll be moving back to a weekly posting schedule. That means I’ll be posting four weeks in a row starting on the 5th. As always, I’ll be posting the installations on Sunday evenings around 5:20 EST. I can also tell you that RDG 5 will come to an end in August, and we’ll be moving onto RDG 6. It’s going to be a busy month for RDG!

Red Data Girl: My Longest Day of School By Noriko Ogiwara Chapter 4: Choice Part 4 (1 of 2)

“Is that Takayanagi’s voice?” Izumiko asked, quickly recognizing the tone just as Miyuki had.

“Ah, yes,” the dog responded. “I wanted to ask your thoughts on this, Izumiko. Why do you see me as a dog?”

“Is this dog Takayanagi?”

Miyuki gazed at Izumiko standing next to him, her wide eyed. He sighed, and said, “So it was unintentional after all. I had a feeling it was.”

“Regardless, I have made it to where you are,” the dog continued. “Thus, I am reminded of the theory that a prince can be released from the magic holding him, and returned to his true form by a princess’s kiss.”

“Who’s the prince?” Izumiko asked, shocked. She quickly grew upset. “There’s no way I’m going to do anything like that. You’re really making me angry, Takayanagi. You’re the one who’s been using magic. You were using it at the horse ring to completely change the way I was thinking. Oh. I remember now. This has something to do with launching the balloon, doesn’t it?”

Her voice became sharp as her frustration continued to increase. “What was the chemistry club’s balloon for? Am I right in thinking that it was influencing people’s emotions through magic? ”

“Mmm. Of course it would be you pulling something like that,” Miyuki added slowly. “You might have come here in this form, but I knew you’d find a way to benefit from all of this. I was completely aware of everything you’d already done, and I still didn’t beat you up when I had the chance.”

The dog flattened its ears a little, but besides that, remained sure of itself.

“Is this really something to get so upset about? We’re expected to utilize the powers in our possession and fight, aren’t we? I believe it’s pointless to get worked up over this just because we all possess strong magic.”

“So what did the balloon do?” Miyuki pressed. “Keep talking until Izumiko tells you to stop,”

Takayanagi paused, but then began to speak somewhat reluctantly. “…Here in the world, there is a species that has evolved further than any other. Magic users. We diviners have been studying hybrid magic. The balloon is one of our experiments. We added a small bit of substance that would create a hallucinogenic reaction…”

“Did the balloon scatter it? You really are the one who did all this.”

“It was a tiny amount. It didn’t harm anyone. The effects will wear off in about half a day.”

Izumiko stared at Takayanagi, her eyes bright. “The school festival is falling apart because you did this. There are ghosts all around the horse ring because of you, too.”

At this point, Miyuki cleared his throat.

“Actually, I hate to say it, but you’re the bigger reason why the festival is falling apart, Izumiko. You probably don’t know this, but right now, all the electronics on campus have stopped working. No one can use their cellphones or laptops.”

“What?! That’s impossible!”

“But, Takayanagi seems to be the one who set everything in motion,” Miyuki finished.

Izumiko stared blankly out in front of her as she remembered how she had refused Takayanagi with all her might before disappearing into this dimension.

“The whole school was affected? No way… What about off campus?”

“I haven’t checked to see, but I’m guessing anywhere beyond the school probably wasn’t affected. It turns out that there are multiple barriers around the campus. The diviners weren’t the only ones who created one. The ascetic monks did too, along with other groups.”

“That must be why so many strange things were happening on campus lately. The diviners have been using magic everywhere. This thing with the balloon is practically medication abuse.”    

Takayanagi’s expression grew somewhat frustrated. “That’s not true. Since long, long ago, people have seen the efficiency of medicine and magic as two separate entities, but they’re really not. When a person slips into an altered state of consciousness, they are able to think and feel in ways that they normally wouldn’t, just like the effects magic can create.”

“If anyone’s experiencing an altered state of consciousness, it’s you,” Miyuki retorted.

This time, Takayanagi cleared his throat. The white dog placed his front paws together and sat down neatly. Then he turned his gaze to Izumiko.

“Izumiko. I now understand that your magic has been much stronger than mine this whole time. Even working with a group, I did not match up to you. I know we were the ones who ambushed you so inconveniently, but I apologize sincerely for underestimating you. I will respect you from here on out, and do what I need to make everything up to you. So please, return me to my normal form. Find an opportunity to do so soon. People will come looking for me.”

“Did you put enough complaints in that apology? Asshole,” Miyuki grumbled. “Izumiko, I’d completely support you if you decided to leave that guy the way he is right now. He’ll be much more popular with everyone that way.”

Izumiko looked at the pining dog. He was quite a pretty white, Shiba inu, and he did look very dog-like—no one would have guessed he was really a high school boy. Still, she could not imagine that the dog felt the same way.

“I don’t think I can turn you back. I want to if I can, but doing that would be completely different from healing Sagara’s wound.”

“That’s because I’m a better person than he is,” Miyuki remarked, looking rather pleased.

“That’s not true, Izumiko. I suffered greatly in order to make it here to you.”

“Sagara’s wound happened here, so I just had to imagine what I wanted to see,” Izumiko said, still at a loss at what to do. “You were turned into a dog outside of this dimension, so I can’t imagine you back to the way you were.”

Takayanagi’s voice rose in protest. “Isn’t it your doing that I’m here in this dimension with its different wavelengths? And you tell me that you can’t do anything?”

Izumiko gave a vague shake of her head. “Well, that’s not really the way I remembered it…”

“Yeah, Takayanagi. You didn’t come here and then become a dog. You looked like one back at the academy,” Miyuki pointed out. “And you were the one who was making the campus into such a strange place, weren’t you?”

“You yourself said that groups other than the diviners were putting up barriers!” Takayanagi said angrily. “You can’t accuse me of everything when everyone’s doing something. All the magic mixed together and created something like a bad chemical reaction.”

Miyuki took a breath and then called up into the sky, “Wamiya, tell us what to do. Will we be able to return to the school without settling this?”

The crow did not appear, but his voice was audible throughout the clearing.

“Izumiko is not yet conscious of her abilities. She has the power to return the dog to its original form, and fix the rift in the school, but she doesn’t know how. All she can do to access this power is have it bubble up unconsciously or dance.”

That’s right. I’ve been able to use Kagura dance before…

She recalled how it had felt when she had done the Kagura dance in front of the stone door in Togakushi.

I guess the wavelengths increased while I was dancing then...

Miyuki looked at Izumiko quickly. “You’re definitely dressed to dance. Could you? You don’t have to force yourself on Takayanagi’s account, though.”

Izumiko had momentarily forgotten how she was dressed, but now she remembered. She straightened herself. Her hem and sleeves still touched the ground, but that didn’t change the fact that she was still dressed in the beautiful, red over kimono. Her long hair flowed over the cloth’s floral brocade design, its deep black luster looking so good against the outfit that the leaves it had picked up earlier were barely noticeable.

“Sure. There isn’t anyone else to see us, so I can dance here.”

She easily pulled a fan from her kimono to dance with. Creating one was much simpler than treating Miyuki’s wound had been. She tucked it into her hand and then looked around the woods. She couldn’t help but think that the space between the trees was a little small for dancing.

“But first, I have to find a larger space where I can see the sky.”

“We saw a place like that on our way here,” Miyuki said. “It’s this way.”

The three of them began to walk.

Mayura waited uneasily, continuously torturing herself with the thoughts streaming through her head. She couldn’t stand the fact that Manatsu hadn’t let her come with him.

She had already considered running after him to the horse ring more times than she could count, but she was the princess general right now. She had responsibilities to her team. It was just as Manatsu had said.

The electronics on campus were still not working. Seeing as no one could figure out the source of the malfunction, the unrest among the students was growing. The team’s third year high school members hadn’t fallen into panic right away, but the middle school players were in an uproar. Those middle schoolers also clearly wanted to put their trust in Mayura more than anyone else. They had no plans for leaving the sports grounds any time soon.

In the student government tent, Mayura could see that Jean Honoka Kisaragi had come over from the classroom building along with the vice principal and some of the teachers. With the entire school’s PA system down, the administration had to join in on running the festival. They couldn’t leave it entirely to the students anymore.

After a hurried consultation, the schedule was changed and an afternoon break was added so that repairs could be looked into. With the break going on, there were many fewer students from the castle attack team gathered on the field than there had been before.

Just then, Mayura noticed a group of kuroko moving towards her.

“Manatsu.”

As if sensing Mayura’s worry, Manatsu broke off from the group and jogged to her side.

“Sorry for not coming sooner. The horse ring area is in complete chaos.”

“…Thank God…”

Mayura had to take several deep breaths to keep her composure. She didn’t want anyone seeing the princess general cry over her brother at the moment.

“I thought you were further away than that. What about Masumi?”

“He’s somewhere else.” Manatsu was a little out of breath. His eyes were cold. “I couldn’t go, so I told Shinko to go instead,” he said, looking at his sister.

“Sagara?”

“He went into another dimension to search for Izumiko. Izumiko and Masumi are in an alternate reality touching this one.” After taking a deep breath, Manatsu added, “I wanted to search for Izumiko, but honestly, I probably couldn’t have gotten to her. Masumi and I are too different at this point.”

“Masumi… isn’t coming back?”

“I’m not sure. I think it’ll depend on what Izumiko and Miyuki decide to do.”

After a moment of silence, Mayura said softly, “I don’t like it when you’re not with me, but I don’t like it when Masumi isn’t with me either. This is all happening too fast…”

“Mayura.”

“Masumi said he’d be with me today. I haven’t settled things with Takayanagi yet…”

Manatsu’s voice was also soft, but his tone was determined. “I’ll tell you everything later, but what you need to know right now is that Takayanagi’s disappeared. I want to say this to you. Stop your fight to become best in the school. It wasn’t right of us to use Masumi to join the competition.”

Mayura blinked. “What are you talking about? Why are you saying it wasn’t right all of a sudden?”

“Because it’s going to end in a sacrifice. It would be great if we could fix our current problems, but then something else would just take their place. Izumiko would become that sacrifice.”

Mayura shrank back as if she had been hit. She stared at her brother. “What do you mean?...”

“First, I need to lead the students to where everyone’s going to meet. Then we’ll talk more.”

Manatsu looked around and then jogged away, leaving Mayura wrestling with her emotions. A minute later though, she returned to her duties as princess general.

Keep reading!