#i feel like 4 people in the mansion would figure it out pretty quickly

[misty-moth]

Everything reminds me of him ✋😔

[bubacorn]

I’m not sure whether you got the other idea, about Sleep Tokens mansion and the spare room. They changed it into a stormy ocean themed quiet room.

I hope i don’t bother you.

So another idea. They have this big garden, right?

What about a swinging garden bed?

A big one. So all 4 can cuddle, bring their stuffies and enjoy the sun or maybe the moon at night. All the noises at night would be calming, if Vess isn’t feeling well. Maybe the cold breeze would sooth his anxiety.

Maybe they have little lights and those glowing stones.

So it’s not too dark at night, if the moon isn’t shining.

Yeah, just sone thoughts. Leaving very quickly.

Sending 🫂 and stuffies.

Hi! You don't bother me at all, I was happy to see you in my inbox! 🫂

About the spare room: the image of the vessels painting the walls and putting up wallpaper is now in my mind. also, them browsing for furniture and home decor. III in denim overalls. Vessel having clear-cut aesthetic ideas. II saying that they will check out every store in town until they find the exact blue paint Vessel chose. handyman IV. Vessel choosing the softest rugs and pillows. them having one of those ceiling projector light thingies. a jellyfish lava lamp. sorry, back to the question.

yes. a garden bed. a path paved with those stones would look so cool! i would imagine they have pretty cool outdoor furniture since they spend a lot of time outside. Vessel likes reading on their swing/garden bed. they like sitting outside. the air is fresh, the garden is pretty II and III look good working in the garden Vessel spends a lot of time unwinding in the garden after tours. the nature and their home grounds him. and the night. he sneaks outside and sit on the porch steps sometimes. II has to usher him inside or at least bring him a sweater/blanket, so he doesn't get cold. sometimes his others join him when they can't sleep.

when Vessel has a nightmare, and he wants to be alone for a bit, he sits out into the garden bed. it's dark and quiet, only the sounds of nature can be heard and it helps him calm down. he's home, he's safe and the darkness shrouds him. he feels close to Sleep that way. sitting in pitch darkness is like a hug from his deity. he likes the slight chill in the air and he can bring one of his 'outside' plushies, that they store inside. those are the only ones that can be brought outside, since they might get dirty or simply cause bugs can get on them. Vessel wouldn't want his everyday plushies to get 'dirty' like that. so they have a few 'outside' ones. maybe he lies down and puts a weighted plushie on his chest and simply stares at the night sky. one time his thoughts spiral instead of calming down and he gets a bit too existential, so he rushes inside and gets into someone's bed. he stared at the stars too long and suddenly didn't like the feeling of being small and insignificant, so he has to cuddle up to someone.

but also: stargazing. they have little light pollution so the night sky is clear. meteor shower dates. Vessel rambling about constellations. III trying his best to see the mythological figures but he cannot for the life of him figure out how the ancient people saw people in a bunch of stars in weird lines. Vessel is patiently pointing them out to him. IV making hot cocoa and preparing thermoses and little boxes of snacks so the atmosphere is there. chocolate flavored kisses after they spotted a falling star. giggling and nudging each other so they tell what they wished for. holding each other close in the low light. sitting together in the darkness and silence, simply feeling the others' presence.

[coeursetcolores]

Cyrus, The Scholar: Chapter 2

WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Chapter 2 of Cyrus’ story in Octopath Traveler!

Man, things got dark!

I thought Prim had the dark story, but this was messed up! Human sacrifices, kidnapping, torture...It was not just a name, not just a name.

Someone give Cyrus a break! And this is only Chapter 2?!

I have the feeling Chapter 4 might constitute bumping the rating up, this game is so unexpectedly dark. And so detailed about it.

But, let’s press on.

Since this is the same town as Tressa’s Chapter 2, I actually did her’s first. I figured with Cyrus being a gentleman and all, he’d step out of the lady’s way. 

And wow, can things change between two chapters.

I will admit, the bursts of humor about Cyrus’ obliviousness about how attractive he is got old pretty quickly: not that funny when it cost him his job (still salty Therese). Kinda feels like a double standard, female characters don’t usually end up in his situation...I dunno, I just really don’t like Cyrus getting punished/made fun of because he doesn’t notice when people are interested in him: if they like him, they should be upfront with him.

Lay off Odette, he’s supposed to be your friend.

Oh well; Detective Cyrus is back everyone! Book man’s hittin’ the streets!

Quarrycrest is nice, little mining town. All the wooden parts make it look like it’s still being worked on. It really sells that the place is developing into something else, like it would be bigger and more advanced later on. The wood could get upgraded to stone and the stalls could become stores. It’s nice to think of after Tressa’s chapter.

I do wish the mystery parts had more to them; I know it’s not that kind of game, but they’re just so easy it’s hard to believe Cyrus is the only one who can solve them. Eh. Moving on.

Are all of Cyrus’ chapters going to end up underground? I get that his bad guys like to stay hidden, but there’s more options: attics, abandoned buildings, woods, creepy mansions...

Overall, the sewer starts out pretty basic (hope everyone did laundry after they finished up down there): dark, wet, rats...

And then we get to the boss’ room.

Dang...This guy’s messed up. How do you even crystallize blood? And was the circle on the ground made of blood too?

I was not expecting that corpse to fall. Usually the hero gets there before anyone dies, so I figured everyone would get rescued and that the ritual just took more time.

And the game showed me it wasn’t playing around.

You save three people.

Ten went missing.

We’re going into some dark territory going forward, it looks like.

I’m actually kind of glad Gideon didn’t show up much, this guy is pure evil. Worked pretty well to just show up for the fight. Would’ve liked to have had his motivations explored a bit, though. Honestly just seems like he was written to just creep the player out.

I really like how this chapter shows Cyrus’ moral side: we already learned about how much he craves knowledge, but here we see where he draws the line. He admits the topics about necromancy intrigue him, but he would never actually try them. He knows that some things shouldn’t be researched and has the self-control and morals to reject them instead of blindly pursuing more than he probably should. Usually intelligent characters will disregard the moral choice in favor of research, but Cyrus doesn’t. I like that.

And now Odette wants to be nice. Yay.

Aaaaaaand, we’re being followed.

Let’s hear what our companions have to say about this tonal shifting chapter!

Primrose: Ooh, debate! And a respectful one! Both sides have points, and Cyrus even admits he likes hearing about her perspective. Just a talk about two ways of seeing the world. But did they have to end with another oblivious Cyrus joke?

Tressa: Cyrus, you are going to get killed one day. Tressa’s supposed to be the newcomer to the traveling life, why is she lecturing you? Though, it is refreshing to see how older people can have less wisdom than younger ones at times. Neither of them are naive, they just have more smarts than the other in different areas.

Ophilia: Oooh! I know he’s just being frank, but I have shipping goggles on! Watch yourself, Cyrus!

Therion: Recruit a criminal, solve a crime. But aww! Cyrus praised him! You go inspire that disenfranchised youth, Professor! GO TO CLASS, THERION! Achieve your potential (but also stay a thief, because they’re cool)!

H’aanit: You’re far too modest, my dear! People would line up to take your courses! I never want to hunt, but I’d love to learn biology from you!

Alfyn: Aww, poor guy! You go dad on him, Cyrus! Team Dad #2! I really like how he presents knowledge as ultimately being subject to the user. And yes, Alfyn is pure. I’d love to listen to discussions between these two about their fields, mutual mentoring is an interesting topic to explore.

Olberic: WAIT, YOU GUYS ACTUALLY NOTICED YOU’RE BEING FOLLOWED?! I was not expecting that! No ambushes coming for them, then. I feel so much wiser when these two talk to each other: one about knowledge, the other about danger. 

By the way, I love that everyone addresses Cyrus as “Professor;” even if he’s not on the clock, they respect him.

All we wanted to do was find a book. Now we’re involved in a conspiracy with necromancy, torture, murder and kidnapping.

Who hires someone to do this? And how does the academy fit into it?

And who’s that hooded figure?

Guess we find out.

On to Stonegard!

[padfootdaredmetoo]

Hi!! I was wondering if maybe you could write a Wade x plus size reader? Maybe she’s an ex pro thief and gets put with him for a mission or smth?? I got no idea man just have fun with it aye

Thank you for the request!!!!! Sorry for the wait!

I wasn't sure if you wanted it to be dirty or not so I sectioned that part off in case it's not what you're looking for :)

You are my first ever request! So, thank you, thank you, thank you, and I hope you enjoy it <3

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Thieving, being exceptionally attractive while doing it. Wade on his best behaviour, Smut is sectioned off.

You haven't accepted a mission in 4 years.

You got out of the business and left those “friends” and “friend circles” behind you after you scored your dream internship. 4 years and you were running your own team and writing a semi successful blog. It was a quiet life, and you enjoyed it immensely. You liked your team members, and you felt they found you a fair and caring boss. Your cat Mr. Sparkles was a healthy weight and had finally committed to using the litter box.

You don't know why you answered when he called you, you don’t know why you agreed to such fuckery. But here you were pulling out a familiar black box out of the bottom of your cluttered closet. You picked it up and placed it on your bed. The dark colour contrasted with your bright and colourful décor. Something you found oddly reflective, once you moved on from that part of your life nothing was dark. Everything in your apartment was covered by color and patterns that made you happy.

You opened the box. You and Mr. Sparkles looked at the contents like there was a wild octopus about to come flying out of it.

“It was the right thing to do.” You said out loud. “And it's going to pay well.”

Pulling the tight outfit over your curves felt better than you thought it would. You figured that it would cause you panic or anxiety. Instead you felt a wave of confidence looking yourself over in the mirror that hung on the back of your bedroom door. Normally you were covered in bright flowy clothes, that's what you liked. Your whole life was built upon being invisible since you were little. Now that you were in charge every day was a celebration in its own way. However this made you feel sexy, the outfit was sleek and left nothing to the imagination. Pulling your long hair into a tight french braid you were ready to get out there and do some thieving.

You kissed Mr. Sparkles and gave your aloe vera plant a light touch on your way out the window. It was a hot summer night and the air was muggy. These were your favorite kinds of nights to sit out on the fire escape, have some drinks, read books, and watch the city. It was lonely, but enjoyable nonetheless.

You got up to the roof and plotted your course to the impossible house. You misstepped a couple of times before falling into your usual rhythm. You contemplated whether you were doing this because the small piece of art should be with the family it belongs too. Or if you were doing this because you had some kind of Ocean’s 11 complex that kept you hungry for such challenges. It was an impossible place to break into, the floor of the old house containing the art work was covered with laser security. A piece of knowledge that should make your stomach flip, but only makes your heart feel funny.

You got yourself into position on the roof of the low building that was across the street, you took a few minutes to survey and eventually came to the conclusion that conditions were perfect. You made your way to the 3rd floor balcony. You knew of the owner’s, an awfully cruel man and his lover. They were asleep on the 5th floor of the house. Well, city mansion? Whatever, the point is it didn't feel like a home, it felt like something a royal family would keep when they came to visit. Lots of expensive art and velvet curtains. Massive gold and crystal chandeliers hung from mirrored ceilings framed with fancy crown molding. You did your research in the few hours you had after the job request had come in, there was a - *insert super fancy techno security laser system name here.* And it was said to be unbeatable. No gymnast or other cat-like thief had been able to tango with it. You had been challenged by its precursors but had got out of the game by the time this puppy had made it out on the market.

You picked the lock on the double doors, and slid past the heavy curtains and disabled the basic alarm system for the floor. Surveying the area you saw the lasers slowly dancing like it was a Pink Floyd tribute at the local planetarium. (something you attend regularly) You took a deep breath and got ready to disco your way across the floor to the small framed painting of a sun set. You put a headphone in and set the song *put on a song you would rob a bank to*. You began the journey. People often felt that your size and shape made you incompetent or ungraceful. You learned early on in life not to listen to stupid people say stupid things. You were the best, perhaps because you weren't afraid to look stupid or ridiculous. You bended and snapped, ducked and dodged, twirled and flipped. And just like that you reached your target. The second you lifted it off the wall, the lasers stopped. You pulled your knife and twirled around ready for a fight. What you saw was not what you expected, across the room none other than Wade freaking Wilson was looking at you.. Normally you hated being stared at like that, but he was a “friend” you found particularly challenging to leave behind. The whites of his mask were wide. After making a whole bunch of strange gestures with his hands, he held up a finger motioning you to be quiet. He disappeared towards what you figured would be the staircase going up to the next floor. If he gave you a clear shot at an exit you knew he had trouble with him. So you took your out.

You got back up on the rooftop across the street, you grabbed the bag you left there and secured the painting. You pulled out a large black piece of cotton and tossed it around your shoulders like a shall. This made your outfit look less stealth and more passion for leather/night out on the town. Making your way down the fire escape on the side of the building you saw the target house explode.

I guess Wade hasn't changed any.

You picked up the pace feeling anxious to get to Sister Margrets. Making your way through the city unnoticed, you went into the shitty establishment through the alleyway door. You wasted no time moving through the hallway into the servers entrance spitting you out behind the bar. You kept by the entrance which kept you out of sight, you didn't want to see any more friends tonight. Weasel jumped when he turned around and saw you there looming in the shadows, spilling the drink he had just made.

“Fuck” He quickly remade the drink then moved back to where you were standing. He had a large envelope of cash for which you handed him the back pack. You felt slightly relieved.

“Hey I know you moved on, but thanks for this.”

“No problem”

You turned around and went out the way you came in. Opening the door that leads back to the alley way, you notice a very large and slightly singed body blocking your exit.

“Stay for a drink?” His voice caused something in you to stir. Something you were not going to explore.

“Sorry Wade but no can do” You pushed past him and began walking down the street.

“Pretty pleaseeeee” he said with a sing song voice. You tried not to smile. He caught up to you so he was walking beside you. “If your not a big drinker anymore we could go for diner, tacos!, Sushi, chicken nuggets, you always loved a good chicken nugget” You tuned him out as he kept chattering a list of every food he could remember eating together. You had to figure out somewhere to go as you weren't leading him back to your apartment. Going in random directions, he spoke up.

“I know you live on *Insert cute street name here*”

“What the fuck Wilson?”

“Well you disappeared and I wanted to make sure you weren't being unalived. This means if we head back to yours we can do take out and homemade drinks, which in my opinion is much better anyway. I make the best margaritas in the city.”

You started the walk back towards your apartment. Trying desperately to come up with a way to leave him at the front of the building. The thought of him in your very personal, very colourful, even bordering on childish apartment made you unbelievably anxious. Every time you looked over at his slightly charred body you couldn't help a strange feeling welling up inside you. You got to the front door to the building and turned to look up at him. There was a long pause as you struggled for words.

“It's alright. It was a nice walk.” You could hear the layers of sadness underneath his tone. You were going to tell him that it was a nice walk and that maybe one day when things were better for you they could get that drink. Then you were going to threaten him into keeping everything a secret.

“I don't have stuff for margaritas.” The wrong words left your mouth but for a fleeting moment you actually didn't want him to leave.

“Are you sure?” Hey sounded very serious which caught you off guard and confused you a little.

“Yeah, normally I just drink stuff out of a can” You were terrible at mixing drinks, they were always way too sweet and strong and lead to trouble. Wade gave a big laugh. “Are you okay to pick up the stuff if I get changed?���

“You betcha.” He did a twirl, blew you a kiss, then headed down the street.

You dashed up to your apartment and started to hide your more personal stuff. Grabbing an armful of clean laundry off the couch, tossing it into an empty bin in the closet. You were so busy trying to hide your stuffed animals and random fan art, that you didn't notice him standing in the fire escape landing looking at you from the large open window.

“Damn. This was not what I was expecting.” He said, sounding surprised. “This isn't what your old place looked like at all”

“Uh” Your face got hot and you refused to look at him. “I ah don't have people over so um yeah. You can go now.”

“Nonononononono. This is a huge bit of progress from everything being varying shades of grey and uncomfortable.” Wade took the place in as he made his way to your kitchen. Placing the big brown bags on the counter top, and sliding the blender out from against the bright backsplash.

"Uh I'm going to get cleaned up. Help yourself to everything." You ran into the bathroom and freshened up and were very grateful to be out of the leather and into your summer pj's. They were more on the revealing side but you never found Wade the type to care or be creepy.

Coming out you found him very comfortable whirling around the kitchen. It looked like he had made a giant frying pan of pad thai and the blender was full. Turning around to see you he picked you up and sat you on the counter top like you were nothing more than a bottle of the many sauces he currently had out. He handed you one of your favorite rainbow glasses filled with margarita. Your brain was still trying to calm down from him picking you up like that.

"Thanks" you said with an even redder face.

"No problem, hot stuff" he divided the food into two plates, you led him out to sit on the fire escape with you. It was a sacred space, it felt weird to be there with a real live person. After the most delicious plate of food ever, many drinks, and laughs about the good old days things quieted down leaving a thick tension between the two of you. You realized you owed him an apology of sorts.

"Wade, I'm sorry I didn't give you a proper goodbye. I just had a life of running and I couldn't risk anyone fucking me over again."

"It's alright babe. I understand why you did it." His voice was low and sad and it made your heart hurt. You didn't want the night to end.

"Thanks for keeping my place here a secret."

"No problem. Do you think mayyybe now that I know about your situation we could do this again sometime?"

"You have no idea how nice that would be." You really meant it having him around was the most fun you'd had in a very long time. You didn't have to pretend or beat around the bush about anything with Wade. Nothing was too dark or silly or messed up.

"Well I guess this is my cue." He made to stand up but you grabbed his knee without thinking.

"Uh if you want to. You could also stay for a while." He turned his head to the side, bright eyes looking you over. "You could take a shower and I've definitely got a shirt and some boxers I could lend you." His eyes got wider. "They're mine. They're really…. comfy…" you would never understand how he made you so embarrassed.

"Uh, not sure about that… it just…" he motioned to the rest of his body.

"I've seen your face. It won't bother me" you looked up at him with empathetic eyes, part of you hoping that maybe they came across as bedroom eyes. You gave yourself a mental slap.

"If you're uncomfortable, that's okay too." You said, giving him a kind smile. You could tell there was an internal battle. So you gave him a minute.

"Alright that sounds nice. It's a fucking mess under here tho."

You went into your bathroom and found your gentlest scent free soap and a soft towel. Then into your room to find a giant t-shirt and your biggest pair of boxer shorts.

You put it into a nice pile in the bathroom.

"Okay there's some nice soap, it's natural scent free, made of angel's tears or some shit and a clean towel and clothes in there for you."

Wade shifted around you into the bathroom. "Thanks"

You flopped onto your bed and looked up at your glow star collection that littered the ceiling. You heard the water start running and you closed your eyes. Until your herd some very loud and off key Britney Spears. You couldn't help but laugh. Soon enough he was out and flopped onto the bed next to you.

"Man this is the best sleepover ever."

"If this has been your best sleepover with a chick I feel sorry for you. And her." You joked.

"Sorry enough for a pity cuddle." You know what the look he gave you meant. He was testing the waters to see what kind of night this was gonna be. You couldn't help but feel the need to challenge it.

"We could cuddle… or we could do other stuff then cuddle." You'd thought of all the reasons this was a bad idea. But voices weren't loud enough over the sound of your heart beating. He leaned in closer, fingers brushing your cheek.

"You sure that's not a margaritas talking?"

"Very sure." You said eyes locked with his.

"Why now?" It was a good question. One you had to think about.

"I don't think I ever was really myself. Like I was as much of myself as I could be while hurting that much. Now I'm happy and I enjoy things differently"

"Hmmm I noticed that. I think I got to know you more in the past few hours than I had when we were friends. You actually laugh now. At jokes and not just crazy like when things are exploding" he moved his hand to run through your hair and you couldn't hold back a soft moan. It had been so very long since someone had touched you.

You felt his lips press into your forehead. You'd thought about Wade before but he was in a relationship, then she died, and Wade wasn't himself for a long time. You'd figured if you were something he wanted he'd make it clear considering the dude flirted with everyone. You'd always had a secret fear that maybe you went his type. Vanessa was short and very tiny, other than her you were only sure of one other and that was Cable, who was serious, fit, tall, and massive. You were a good height and curvy as all hell. Suddenly you felt self conscious. But then he put his hands on either side of your face tilting your head up to meet his. You opened your eyes and they focused in on his lips. They were so close it caused the air in your lungs to get stuck.

"You're pretty quiet. You sure you wanna try to do other things. We can jump right to cuddling if that's better for right now?"

You looked up to meet his eyes.

"Is that what you want?" You tried your best to have it come out casually.

"Not really."

Your eyes migrated back down to his lips and you shuffled closer. You wanted to kiss him so badly you felt like your body was on fire.

"You can take whatever you want baby"

******************PSA: Dirty stuff below ;)*********************

That's all the permission you needed. You moved in and softly pressed your lips into his, then took things deeper. It didn’t take much for your breathing to become ragged, you were trying desperately to take the kiss further.

Eventually you bit his bottom lip and whimpered, finally he agreed, his hands tightened on your face and your tongues started to battle it out. You wanted to win, so you moved to straddle him. Finally accomplishing some friction between the two of you, you could feel your panties sliding against your wet folds. This only lasted for a few glorious seconds, before he flipped you on to your back quickly moving to pin your arms above your head.

He started moving south leaving a red hot trail of destruction behind him. There was only so much your tank top would allow, Wade seemed very content palming your right breast while biting on the flesh beneath your left collar bone. You on the other hand wanted your goddamn clothes off.

You tried to break his grip and moaned when you realized such a task would only be accomplished by hurting him. He really had you trapped there, a piece of knowledge that only made you want your clothes off more. His grip on your breast tightened and his smirking lips took a long pull on the hardened nub that was poking up benthe the cotton of your top. You couldn't help your back arching. Finally, after paying respects to your other breast, he pulled back to look at you. He squeezed your wrists.

“Stay”

God he was so bossy. Something that divided you internally. A part of you wanted to push it, see how hard he would dig into you, and the other part was desperate to behave and be good. You decided you would be good, for now. He sat up, leaning back on his knees in between your legs. Slowly his fingers brushed across the soft skin of your stomach, then his hands ran up along your torso taking your shirt with them. Feeling his scarred hands trail lightly across you sent shivers through your body. You felt him cup and knead your breasts for a moment before pulling your top over your head. He took a long look at you which made you feel delicious. No one had ever pulled out this side of you before. Kissing down your stomach he stopped at the waistband of your shorts. He took your left leg and used it to flip you over, somehow taking your shorts off at the same time. There you were ass up naked and loving every second of it. His big hands came down to smack your ass, a loud noise of please ran out of your mouth along with most of the air in your lungs. Enjoying the response he did it again then started kneading the flesh.

“Fuck you are so fucking sexy.” You felt his hands slide down to grip the tops of your thighs. You arched your back further resting your head on the bed. “Good girl.” The words hit you like a bullet but before you had time to find your footing his hot mouth was all over you wet folds.

His skilled tongue painting some kind of masterpiece, he was touching you everywhere but where you really desperately wanted it. But this seemed to be the way he operated, and you weren't complaining. After feeling like he had been everywhere, he started to circle that tight ball of nerves and you couldn't help but let out a shout. Pleasure was ripping through your body, things were starting to get hot and tight inside you, when all of a sudden those glorious lips closed in and created some heavenly suction. You couldn't stop your hips from bucking, this earned a heavy slap on your right ass cheek.

“Fuck fuck fuckf cukkkk ah” It quickly became too much, your orgasm hit you like a train, whole body tensing up then finally crashing down. Wade kept up the rhythm letting you ride it out. Finally pulling away when it became too much. He snaked his arm up your front to grab the front of your neck pulling you up on to your knees, angling your face so he could kiss you deeply. Putting on a show of how good you tasted. After a long moment of heated kissing, he positioned you so you were laying on your back again. Giving you a few moments to catch your breath.

“You wanna keep going?” he asked softly.

“Yes please.” you answered politely.

“Alright but, it's everywhere. All over me. So doggy style is generally best for this next part. If you wanna do it that way, I'm also just happy making you scream like this too.”

“Wade, we can stop if you need to. But I would much rather you fuck me like this. Or let me choke on you for a while then fuck me like this. On my back where I can kiss you and love you back. Ya feel me?”

He looked at you with searching eyes. You realized what you said probably sounded a bit off. Love you back probably wasn't the right thing to say, but you were operating with limited brain function at this point.

“This normally doesn't end well for me.”

“Hmmm. What part, how do you like to uh finish?” You asked slightly confused. Wade only laughed.

“That's not the problem, I almost got off just from you screaming like that. No, I just want to make sure you actually enjoy it. It's hard to enjoy things when you are looking up at someone who looks like they lost a fight with an industrial paper shredder that happened to be on fire.”

You snorted.

“Wade I never knew you before, but I’ve wanted you since I met you. Okay? There's no spooky feelings here.” Your words seemed enough to convince him. He leaned in for a soft kiss, one that made you want to misbehave. You pulled the shirt up, running your hands across the well defined muscles of his torso, then broke the kiss to pull it up over his head. You didn't give him a chance to be chatty, you resumed the heavy kiss, palming his erection. He moaned into your mouth. Feeling accomplished, you pulled the boxers off letting his heavy cock slap up against his stomach. You couldn't help but break the kiss, looking down you watched your hand slide over his impressive, throbbing length. You wanted to take him in your mouth, but before you could push him back onto the bed, he was already pinning you in place beneath him.

You felt him slide himself through your heat. Finally lining himself up with your entrance, his thumb set a steady pace on your clit as he pushed into you slowly. You were grateful he took his time opening you up. You let out a strangled sound when he bottomed out, you felt so full. He set a slow pace giving you lots of time to adjust, this only made you more desperate and needy. When he finally decided you’d had enough, you felt his hand squeeze the back of your neck as he set into a ruthless pace.

“FUCK” He was too much, his heavy body keeping you in place as your hips rose to meet every single thrust. you wanted to feel him as deeply as you possibly could. His hot mouth was biting into the flesh at the bottom of your neck. The heat inside you started to build and you were near your breaking point.

‘Wade” You breathed in a high, desperate tone.

“Cum for me baby” And just like that you felt it take over, your hips snapped up and your feet cramped up. You could feel your walls clench around him tightly, and you choked when he pushed through them even rougher than before. That thumb on your clit never gave up, keeping you trapped riding out the waves of pleasure. You felt it take him over, letting out a deep growl you felt him fill you. He held himself deep inside you, moving both his hands so his forearms were on either side of you trying to keep his weight from crushing you.

His forehead pressed against yours as you both tried to catch your breath. Eventually he moved out of you and he flopped onto his back. You got up and quickly went pee and cleaned yourself up. You grabbed another washcloth and went back to clean him up. You realised that getting up might have been a mistake. Wade was on his side with his eyes screwed shut.

“Hey, you okay?” You asked softly and grabbed the sides of his face and kissed his forehead.

“Better now.” He whispered.

“Sorry for getting up, I should have said something. Can I clean you up?” He gave you a strange look, like he was waiting for you to suddenly disappear. He took the washcloth and wiped himself down, you took it back throwing it into the bathroom. You looked down at him hoping that the voices weren't giving him a hard time. You sat next to him holding his hand, giving him some time.

**********************************************************************

“So about those cuddles?” He asked softly, and you wondered how many times people had hurt him or thrown him out.

You got under the light quilt on your bed motioning for him to do the same. He followed you, laying on his back, you tucked yourself into his side, enjoying his big arms wrapping around you. You gave his neck a light kiss.

“I missed you.” you said softly

“You have no idea how bad I missed being around you.”

“I won't leave again, if you wanted to make this either a regular thing… or a proper thing… if you're into that?” You felt a tight ball of nerves in your stomach.

“I’d really like that.” He kissed your forehead. You thought about all the things you would have to do to make this relationship compatible with your new life. But that was a later you problem, right now you were the best kind of exhausted. You both drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

Thank you again for the request!!!! <3

[fa-headhoncho]

Untitled TFATWS Fic: Part 4

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Prompt: You raid the Flag Smasher's base with Walker and Hoskins, bringing back unwanted memories.

Word Count: 2701 (sorry lol)

Reader: Female

Warning: non-con kissing, nudity, blood

Author's Note: lmk for taglist

Masterlist

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

=====

“Ich habe keine Ahnug, wovon du sprichst.” The man sternly says, taking a step to size up Hoskins. “Ihr Amerikaner seid brutal geworden.” He insults causing you to tense, but in a way you knew he was right and it frustrated you. The GRC had good intentions but they didn’t understand what these people were going through.

Hell, you didn’t understand what they were going through. When Steve and the Avengers took you in, it wasn’t exactly a bad situation compared to what others had to deal with during the Blip. Especially with the ones who came back to nothing to their name anymore. The volunteer work made you realize that and it conflicted you. The Flag Smashers had a worthy cause and they were banding together in the wrong way.

“Bullshit. That’s bullshit!” Walker whines out causing you to tense. The tone wasn’t nice and you knew the three of you didn’t come all the way to Germany for nothing. He was getting angry, there was something here and something he had to prove. “We know she came through here. Now, where’d she go?” He demands, his voice threatening.

The man directs his attention to the Captain and looks him up and down. Walker’s stance straightens and you can see his fist balled at his sides. Over the short time of getting to know the new Captain America, you could tell he was falling apart a bit in this situation. Honestly, he wasn’t the worse guy when it came down to the bare bones of things but power can do wonders to a corrupt mind.

Your eyebrows shoot up in surprise when the German fellow spits on America’s new golden boy. The blonde lets out a sigh, showing he was physically restraining himself to jump on the guy. He looks over his shoulder at you, his eyes narrowing and his head tilted towards the target. The look was the familiar that made your mind flashback to the countless times a Hydra official gave the same look.

Mind going into autopilot, the boys separate like they’ve done these a million times. You stalk forward and brace your forearm, shoving the man back and holding him against the pillar behind him.

“Do you know who I am?” Walker screams out from behind you making you snap back to reality. You immediately release him and step back, the blonde taking your spot in front of him with a threatening gaze.

“Yes I do, and I don’t care.” The man spits back and you see a shift in Walker’s eyes. There was a flash of hurt then it switched to frustration, quickly regaining his facade, blocking out any emotion in his eyes. He leans forward slightly and you think he’s about to punch the guy but he steps back.

The officers start to cuff the man while Walker whispers something to Hoskins and then walks away. You watched with a dazed expression on your face, not believing you fell back into your old ways so quickly with just one gaze. There was a part of you still stuck in your past that you didn’t know about until Walker had you join him in this assignment. It frightened you.

A gentle hand rests on your shoulder bringing you out of your negative thoughts. Looking up, you see Hoskin’s kind eyes. “You okay?” He asks in a sincere tone which slightly surprises you. The little voice in the back of your head told you that it was just him trying to manipulate you like they used to and that it was their fault that you were back into all this however a much louder one says otherwise.

You shake your head, forcing a tight-lipped smile to appear on your face. “Yea,” You breathe out and slowly repeat the mantra your therapist had taught you years ago. He stands there for a moment, the internal battle in his mind playing in his eyes.

“I know this isn’t the ideal situation for you but we really do appreciate your help.” His grip on your shoulder tightens in a comforting manner. “I understand Walker hasn’t been the… kindest to you and I can’t apologize for him. He’s still figuring this stuff out, I promise he isn’t always this much of an asshole.”

You nod, letting his words sink in. You never thought how much stress this could be on him. He went from a normal life to being thrown into this hero thing with the title and responsibility Steve took years to build up. It was a lot for him and he didn’t need you reminding him of what he wasn’t.

Hoskins notices your demeanor change and releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He takes his hand off of you and takes a glance toward the hallway where his best friend left then to his left where all the Flag Smashers computers laid out unattended. “I heard you’re pretty good with intel.”

You let out an ironic chuckle, of course, he chose his moment to bring that up. “You had to ruin it.” An apologetic look comes across his face and you wave it off, knowing that it’s time to get back to the task at hand. “Go after your boyfriend, I’ll see what I can do.”

He rolls his eyes at your comment before jogging off to follow Walker. A small smile sneaks its way onto your lips as you watch him leave. It was nice to get an insight on Walker and have a little banter with Hoskins. It made you relax, feeling that you were no longer a hostage in a pretend game of hero.

The police officers around you start collecting what minimal things were in the Flag Smasher’s base. They grab the files in the cabinets, the food they have in the other room, and they even grab the goddamn chairs. They weren’t leaving any stone unturned when it came to this and you understood why... this was Walker’s first mission leading as Captain America and he wasn’t going to mess it up. Your heart goes out to him but that didn’t mean you liked him.

You hold up a hand to the man in uniform as he goes to take the laptop, signaing that you wanted to use it. He nods in understanding and moves to collect other objects. Plopping down on the metal chair, you turn and start typing away.

=====

The room was luxurious like the rest of the mansion. The walls were high, windows extending from the floor to ceiling, giving a breathtaking view of the landscape behind the home. It was a bedroom, a large California king against the wall opposite of the windows. A large desk with a dramatic-looking chair sat near the bathroom causes an evil smile to appear.

“Here it is.” The American turns around while holding his arms out.

“Wunderschön.” You respond, forcing an astonished look on your face. The dark-haired man furrows his eyebrows in response. “Uh… very pretty.” You pretend to struggle with your English to keep up the persona your file had described. He gleams at the compliment and moves to close the distance between the two of you.

He slips his hand around your waist, pressing his body against your scantily clad one. You wanted nothing more than to push him off and slit his throat but your bosses would be punish you for not following the mission orders. Especially when he starts trailing kisses down your neck.

You throw your head back and allow him access though. The kisses and nips were numb on your skin as you lazily trail your eyes around the room. The black dress left no room to hide anything so that meant anything pointy had to be disgusted in your purse… which was left on the dresser next to the closed door. You inwardly cringe at your mistake, saving it in the back of your head for future undercover missions.

There was no chance to lead him back to the entrance so you had to think fast. Gently pushing the man away, he doesn’t take the hint to get off of you and attaches his lips to yours. Your eyes widen in surprise but you quickly recover.

He tasted like whiskey and cigarettes and it made your stomach turn. Finally, he pulls away and you take the opportunity to look up at him through your lashes. That was enough for him to start fiddling with the zipper on your back. You let out an airy giggle at the way he struggles with it.

“Here.” You turn around and pull your long hair over your shoulder to give him better access. He hums out and starts to pull the metal tag down. Mind trailing off again, your eyes land on the laptop on his desk. The object of the whole reason why you were here.

The mission assigned was simple since it was your first undercover mission for Hydra. They thought you would be a good candidate considering you were young and “perky” in their words. Having no other choice than to compromise, they dressed you up and gave an identity to play as to get close enough to take the information off the computer.

Your breath hitches in your throat when you see a glimmer of light bounce off something in the corner of the room. The man paid no mind to it as it was a coincidence to your dress hitting the floor and the cold A/C of the room hitting your skin. You squint your eyes and try to make out the figure but it’s interrupted by the man spinning you around and throwing you onto the bed.

You stare wide eyed up at the man while he stands above you. A feeling of fear courses through your body at the thought of what’s about to come. The original plan was to sneak off with the target and tranq him but you fucked it up. The boss was going to have your ass if you didn’t figure out a way to get to that laptop.

You didn’t want to do anything further with this sleazeball but you also didn’t want to starve for the next few days. Closing your eyes, you wait for it all the happen. You’ve endured worse at the hands of Hydra so this would sadly come easy for you to block out.

A loud gunshot rings through the room and you feel something warm splatter across your body. Your eyes snap open in a panic to figure out what just happened. The man who was once hovering over you is now lying on the floor with a bullet in his head, blood pooling underneath him. Slowly, your gaze trails up to your own body causing your breath the hitch in your throat once again. Dots of blood litter your skin and undergarments which only meant--

“Are you okay?” A raspy voice calls out, one that you’ve never heard before. A piece of cloth comes into view, the metal hand attached to it surprises you. The Soldier has never shown this type of kindness to you, well anyone, before and it made you nervous. You hesitantly grab the wet cloth from him and start wiping the blood off of your body.

His stare was directed on the floor to give you some type of privacy. It was weird that the Soldier was showing you such care that you didn’t even think could be possible. You knew of his story, a brainwashed POW victim that was programmed to kill. But here he was, waiting patiently for you with your dress in his hand.

Once cleaned up, you stand up and bump into him. His head turns to you causing you to melt instead of flinching away like you usually would. His piercing blue eyes send a shiver down your spine. There was emotion in them. Concern.

Carefully, you reach out and place a hand on the metal appendage. The Soldier’s body immediately relaxes under the foreign soft touch. “Thank you, Soldat.” You whisper out, fearing that any hostility would send him back to his murderous state. Something flashes behind his eyes as he nods in response.

You wake up with a gasp, blankets are long forgotten on the floor. Your chest was heaving up and down as you try to compose yourself from the memory that forced itself into your dream. It’s been a while since you had a nightmare and you were confused. Maybe going back into the field wasn’t good for you. It was bringing back the part of you that you worked so hard to get past.

The abrupt sound of a phone ringing makes you flinch. You reach around blindly until your hand feels the cool touch of your phone laying on the bed next to you. Not even looking at the screen, you slide the green bubble and bring it up to your cheek.

“Hello?” You answer, cringing at how weak you sound.

“(Y/N).”

You close your eyes and release a deep breath, your body physically relaxing at the familiar voice. “Yea, what’s up, Buck?”

“We haven’t heard from you all day, we were wondering how this morning went. Did you find anything?” His tone was soft and steady in contrast to the bustling of the environment behind him.

You shake your head and bring your hand up to run it through your messy hair, “No, not of importance. I went through their laptop but most of the significant information was remotely deleted or something… Found the files but not the documents.” You shrug and fall back onto the pillows behind you. His hum is followed by comfortable silence… until you hear someone whine in the background.

“Are you gonna talk to her or are you gonna sit there like lovesick teen-- Hey, not with the metal arm!” Sam is cut off with what you assume is Bucky slapping him. You giggle at the sound of metal hitting concrete. “Jesus, man, you’re crazy.”

“I won’t miss next time.” Bucky threatens with his teeth clenched, you can imagine him pointing his finger at him with a scowl on his face. The silence resumes while you stare at the lamp on the bedside table. “Are you okay? You’re oddly quiet.”

You hesitate for a moment, your dream flashing in your head. “Yea.” You softly confess, “Just had a weird dream.”

He waits for you to elaborate, knowing you would do the same for him.

“Hydra.”

“Oh,” He lets out a breath and takes a few moments before continuing, “I’ve been having some of those too.” He admits, “More than usual, I guess. Being back out here is triggering some memories and not the normal ones.”

A sense of relief washes over you at his confession. Knowing he was going through the same thing sends a pang to your heart but it was a good thing to know you weren’t alone.

“Well, I have to head out. We have a possible led and we need to check it out before it’s too late.” Bucky announces, you frown. It was nice to be able to talk over the phone with him even though you saw him recently and you didn’t want it to end. “Text me if you need anything, doll, I’m only a message away.”

Butterflies erupt in your stomach at his nickname for you. “Same for you, Buck… Be careful.”

“When am I not careful?” He chuckles out, you can hear Sam snort and mumble something in the background. “I didn’t ask you, Wilson.”

“Just, please, be safe.” You beg, you knew the two didn’t have any restraints and would do whatever it took to get the information they needed. Sam has broken the law for him once and you’re sure he would do it again for a good cause. “I…” You hesitate for a second, the words you wanted to say didn’t come out. “I don’t know what I would do if something bad happened to you…”

“Don’t worry about me, doll.” He tries to calm your nerves but there’s a twinge of nervousness in his tone that makes you uneasy. “I promise.”

_____

taglist: @crowleysqueenofhell @mischiefmanaged71 @thewinterrbucky @lizajane3 @ahahafudge @spookycereal-s @a-girl-who-loves-disney @kittengirl998 @ sebby-staan @felicityofbakerstreet @sltwins @tanyaherondale

[serendipityjxmn]

Mr. President

Chapter 17

TW: Mention of rape

Words Count: 1.9k

Link to Masterlist

Link to Chapter 18

[Jimin, 4:35PM] Be ready for formal dinner at 7.

You received the text three hours ago. And that’s why you’re here now standing in front of the mirror as you take one last look of yourself. It doesn’t take long for you to get ready. You don’t have much knowledge in make ups anyway. So you just lightly put anything on.

To be honest, you don’t want to go. You haven’t talk to Jimin since last two days and he didn’t come home as well.

But who are you to say no. It’s one of your contract clause with him to accompany your husband in all functions as and when needed.

You look at yourself in the mirror, feeling somehow estranged at your own reflection. You’re wearing a V neck long burgundy satin dress that Taehyung gave you when he dropped by this evening.

When you head downstairs afterwards, you see your husband with his back on you, speaking to his bodyguards. Their eyes travel to you, informing Jimin of your presence. He turns towards you and you almost stop in your tracks.

He’s dressed in immaculate black suit which you assume is Valentino as well to match yours, his hair tousled to the back, he looks so handsome you feel your heart racing as you take his appearance. You had to remind yourself you both aren’t in speaking terms.

Jimin on the other hand, has his gaze on you for only a fleeting second until he looks everywhere else except you.

The ride in the car is exceptionally quiet as well. Jimin only speaks when he informs you that the function is held by Jaehyun, his cousin’s family.

When you arrive, Jimin got out first and offers you his hand automatically since there are tons of photographers and people from medias.

You realize the function is held at a huge mansion you assume is owned by Jaehyun’s family. Jimin leads you through the long porches towards a garden that’s been well decorated with beautiful lights, tables in white linen clothes and all kinds of flowers hanging on every nook and corner.

The function turns out to be a charity event collaborated with UNICEF you’re pretty sure is only part of their CSR responsibility. Everything goes by in almost a blur, with you sitting silently most of the time and zoning out, clapping only when you hear others.

Everyone is dressed stunningly in all their suits and long evening gown and everyone seems to know each other, you note. Well obviously since this is a family event with close family members and friends which you feel nothing like you’re part of it at all. Your fingers find your wedding ring on your chest, grasping it tight.

Even your husband has been completely ignoring you, talking animatedly to someone beside him. The main event is now done with most items being auctioned off, so you tug Jimin’s sleeve a little to excuse yourself to the bathroom. Most people are getting up for a slow waltz but Jimin doesn’t seem to have any plan for it so you just quietly slip yourself out of the garden and find your way to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, you reapply lipstick that is barely gone at all and fix your dress that barely needs fixing at all.

Once you’re done, you find your way out and heads back to the garden. Or so you thought.

Walking mindlessly, you somehow reach the end of the stony pathway and that’s when you start to panic.

At the same time, you suddenly got the eerie feeling of being watched. Hearts pounding, you turn around, searching for the source of your unease. But there’s nothing, except darkness.

Perhaps you’re just being paranoid.

You retreat using the same path but weirdly, you still couldn’t shake off the feeling of being watched. It’s eerily quiet and you can almost hear everything since the music playing at the garden sounds like a hum now from the distance.

As if on cue, you hear little footsteps shuffling from behind you. Yet when you turn, there’s nothing but darkness.

Getting even more freaked out now, you start to walk even quicker. Throwing side glances everywhere, at one point you start to run as fast as the heels would allow you.

Too busy craning your head around, you don’t see a figure in front of you. You let out a scream when your vision turns black as your body crashes against the solid figure.

“Hey- hey Y/N calm down-“ the voice is familiar. But it does little to calm your anxiety. “It’s me, Jaehyun.”

You lean back to take a good look and realize it really is Jaehyun. Unknowingly, you let out a sigh of relief. “Ah- it’s you-“ you say, though body still trembling and heart still racing.

Jaehyun’s gaze drop down to match yours. “You okay? Were you lost?”

“Uh yeah- I just thought-“ you glance once again behind you, “nevermind.” Only now do you realize that Jaehyun has his arms around your waist to support you so you quickly step out of his arms. You forgot that you aren’t in friendly terms with him.

Jaehyun seems to notice your change of demeanor and sees you trying to jerk away. He drops his hand instantly, probably not wanting to give the wrong signal to you. “Hey. I was looking for you just now.” He smiles and if it wasn’t for his personality, you’d probably swoon at his dimpled smile. He starts to walk and you follow his pace beside him.

“Why?”

“I wanted to apologize for last time, you know. That was really rude of me. Please forgive me.” He stops in his track and you look at him to see that he’s staring intently at you. His eyes tells you that he’s being genuine so you just nod. You’d probably nod anyway even if you don’t forgive him. Plus, he saved you from getting lost.

You both arrive at the end of the stony pathway but it isn’t dark like the one you found just now. Instead, it’s just dimly lit and deserted but the bushes and flowers are all well trimmed. You place your hand on the English style white fence in front of you as you stare out the grassy meadow. You honestly believe there’s no end to the open darkness you briefly wonder how rich Jaehyun’s family must be to have such huge estate.

The two of you exchange conversations and you end up laughing hard on several occasions. Now that you’re having conversations with him, you realize he isn’t so bad.

“So, how’s married life?” Jaehyun asks as he leans on his elbow on the fence, body facing towards you.

“Don’t you think the question’s a bit late?” You smile in amusement.

He chuckles. “I suppose it is. But hey, don’t blame me. Blame your husband instead. He loves to keep you hidden.”

“In the dark,” you mutter under your own breath.

“You know,” he starts as he stares out into the open darkness as well. “I think the both of you really look good together.”

You smile a sad smile though you’re pretty sure Jaehyun can’t see you. “Why do you say that?” You don’t think Jimin and you had put that good of a performance for people to see you both that way.

“I’ve known Jimin since we were child. He’s.. not the friendliest person, sorry not sorry.”

You let out a soft chuckle. There’s no denying that.

“He’s a very self sustained guy. Very smart, never needing any help ever since we were kids, not even me. He’s always clear of what he wants and would never stop in anyway to get what he wants. No matter how or who he hurt in the process. I learnt the hard way when I was seven.” He lets out a small laugh that somehow sounds sad.

“And.. why are you telling me this?” You look at him.

He looks at you too and his face serious, all trace of playfulness disappears. “I just want you to be careful.” He says carefully. “And also.. perhaps because I want to steal something of his..” he says that as he eyes you with unreadable expression but it causes a shiver to run down your spine.

You look away quickly as the atmosphere becomes awkward. “I- I don’t think I’d ever want or wish for anything else if I have a land this big.” You try to joke.

He laughs. “Is he not making you happy?” He suddenly asks, face turning serious again.

“W-why would you say that?”

“Because if he is, firstly he probably wouldn’t leave you all alone here in the cold.” He adds while grinning when he sees you shivering slightly. You don’t realize as Jaehyun tries to step closer towards you.

You shake your head slowly. “It doesn’t really matter how he treats me.”

“Why wouldn’t it? Because if he doesn’t..”

Suddenly, he swivels your petite body and crashes his own body against yours as he pull you into a hug. You crumble slightly in utter shock, falling back and you wince as your back pressed against the fence.

“Jaehyun what are you-“ You struggle and try to push him off of you. At that moment, your eyes flicker ahead and sees Jimin over Jaehyun’s shoulder, standing a few metres away from the both of you, staring at the scene in front of him.

You struggle again against Jaehyun but for a moment, you stare in lost at your husband.

For a brief second, you think of standing there in another man’s embrace just to see your husband’s reaction.

Just to see his feelings towards you.

To see if he feels something. Anything.

You just desperately want to see an inch of his thought.

He finally takes a few strides, “What the fuck you two think you’re doing?”

Jaehyun definitely heard him but he surely takes his time to release you before turning to face Jimin.

“Do you want to be seen hugging my own fucking cousin in the tabloid?” He snaps at you.

“I’m sorry, Jimin. She’s not at fault. I was the one who initiated everything.” Jaehyun says.

“Yeah whatever.” Your husband doesn’t even look at him. Instead, he reaches for you and pulls you close to him. His hands find its way to hold your waist firmly. Possesively.

“I was looking for you.” He says very gently. And then very tenderly, he leans forward to kiss your forehead.

You realize that this is the first time Jimin’s ever done anything intimate towards you in public.

And he does it in the eyes of Jaehyun.

Suddenly it dawns to you that he’s just marking his territory.

He’s showing that you’re his property.

“Come, let’s go home.” He says softly and nods curtly to his cousin before dragging you away by the waist.

You could only take a look at Jaehyun very briefly before being whisked away by your husband and finds him smiling in amusement.

The car ride on the way home is almost as awkward as when you got to the event early this evening.

It’s mostly filled in silence until your husband speaks up.

“I’m sorry.. About.. you know.” He says quietly. He’s trying to apologize for almost raping you. The memory almost brings fresh tears in your eyes. You still remember vividly how terrified you were.

“I’m really sorry.” He says again when you remain silent.

You don’t really trust yourself to say anything so you reach over for his hand and gives it a brief, gentle squeeze to let you know that you forgive him.

You think that a twisted part of you will always forgive him. Even if he didn’t apologise.

A/N: the stupid me just found out I didnt write the trigger warning for previous chapter. I’m sorry 😭

Anyway, things had been pretty tough because of pandemic. I was on contract basis for my job until June last year but was not renewed and I’ve been searching for jobs ever since but unfortunately wasnt able to land a permanent one. Writing had been a form of escape for me and I’m sincerely doing it out of love. But if, if you guys love my story and may wanna support me, you can drop a visit and buy me a coffee here! Thank you so much ❤️

Link to Chapter 18

Posted on 210507 9:00PM

[tlcwrites]

By A Nose

Submission for Writer Wednesday 5/12

Summary: If you're going to talk the talk, you better be able to walk the walk. Or, proof Poe Dameron is a terrible loser.

Word Count: 1528

Tags/Warnings: Poe Dameron x Reader, Modern AU. Implied smut but mostly in passing. Some bad words. Poorly edited because as usual I finished this at like 11 and my kids get up at 5 so I need to go to sleep.

Author’s Note: THREE FICS IN A WEEK WHO AM I?

Okay, so I cannot be the only one who saw the photo for this week's Writer Wednesday (thank you once more for hosting, @autumnleaves1991-blog!) and went the direction I did. If I am the only one, well, just further proof my brain is certifiable. Make sure you comment on when you figure out where this fic takes place.

There will also be an accompanying headcanon coming for this probably tomorrow, because there was SO much material I wanted to use but couldn't make fit. Thank you @paper-n-ashes for brainstorming with me and being the best hype-woman ever.

“AAAAHHHHH.”

“WE’RE GONNA DIE.”

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!”

“FINN!!” You smack him. “There are small children here!”

But he’s too busy screaming to pay attention.

On the other side of you, Kaydel looks decidedly green. She lets out a pained moan as your vehicle makes a particularly hard turn. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”

You pat her knee as you fly through a kitchy town. “Hang in there, honey. It’s almost over.”

The village elder’s well wishes still ringing in your ears, you pull up next to another idling transport. From the driver’s seat, your boyfriend winks at you.

“You’re going down, Dameron!” you holler at him.

He makes the universal ‘I’m watching you’ gesture. “Eat my dust, losers!”

Finn yells back something that has you smacking him again, shooting an apologetic glance to the second row of Poe’s transport, where Snap and Karé are sitting with their daughter Nora. Snap’s hands fly to cover Nora’s ears while Karé laughs heartily.

Next to Poe, Rey holds her thumb and forefinger up to her forehead in an ‘L’ shape. “Second place is the first to lose!”

Before any more trash talking can occur, you see a flash of red out of the corner of your eye and then both vehicles take off, bursting out of the dark into blinding sunlight.

You both fly over the rusty terrain, neck and neck as you navigate under rocky overpasses and around hairpin turns. From the second row of your car, you can hear Maz lobbing profanities at Chewie in the other ride. He’s yelling back in his native tongue (which you still only understand half of). Beside Maz, Leia and Han are both laughing like kids.

A shriek of joy erupts from you as you fly over a series of hills, the momentary weightlessness thrilling. Finn has both hands in the air, while Kaydel grips the safety handle with white knuckles.

Finally, you come out of a turn to see a sharp drop. You look to Poe, who grins back at you, his vehicle slightly ahead of yours. Damnit, you HATE losing to him. He’s the worst winner.

At the last moment, your ride leaps ahead, crossing under the checkered banner by a nose. The passengers of your car cheer and high-five in victory, while Poe’s passengers groan in good-natured defeat.

As you roll through the red-lit cavern, you laugh as you catch sight of Poe’s face. He’s a terrible winner, but he’s an even worse loser. Even if his loss comes at the hands of an algorithm.

Anthropomorphic cars wave you off as both vehicles enter the unloading zone. On the other side of the platform, Chewie is lifting Rey out of the front seat as she pretends to collapse in agonized failure, her laughter completely destroying the illusion. You accept Finn’s hand as he helps you up, both of you turning to support Kaydel as she crawls out of the car.

A ride attendant watches her warily. “Does she need assistance?” he asks Han.

Han waves him off, wrapping an arm around his wife’s shoulders as Maz and Chewie beeline for the ride photos. “She’ll be fine. No protein spills here.” At the cast member’s astonished look, the charming rogue gives his trademark grin. “Ain’t my first rodeo, kid.” As he and Leia stroll past you towards the exit, he catches your eye and winks. “That, and they haven’t changed the lingo since the 70’s.”

Laughing, you rub Kaydel’s back as Rey swaps places with Finn and helps bracket your green-tinged friend. “Let’s get you some water, yeah?”

Kaydel manages a slight nod, and the three of you make your way towards the exit.

Behind you, you can hear Poe and Finn bickering, as they’re wont to do.

“It’s a ride, dude,” Finn is saying, the exasperation clear in his tone.

“It’s physics, dude,” Poe shoots back. “There’s NO way the car on the outside of the turn would be able to finish first.”

Worst. Loser. Ever.

Your rag-tag alliance eventually makes it out of the exit tunnel. Ben’s waiting across the walkway, those ridiculously long arms crossed over his chest as he leans against the guard rail and steadily ignores whatever Armitage is ranting about.

On the bench next to them, Rose perks up, a smirk crossing her pretty face as she sees Poe’s expression. “Well, I don’t need to ask who won.”

“Don’t wanna talk about it,” the most-competitive-pilot-in-the-galaxy grumbles back, adjusting his backpack. You help Kaydel to a bench, where she quickly curls up.

Rey rolls her eyes as she forces her way into the circle of Ben’s arms. “It’s not like any of us could have actually controlled the outcome, you noodle.”

“Not without some kind of magic,” Ben intones dryly, resting his chin on his girlfriend’s head.

“How cool would that be, though?” Rey’s getting her Down-The-Wormhole-We-Go eyes. You and Rose exchange a Look™️ as she starts gesturing wildly with her hands. “Like, imagine if you could just look at something like rocks and, like, make them fly. Or make someone do whatever you wanted them to do. OH!” She looks up at Ben with a slightly manic expression. “Lightning bolts from your fingers!!”

Well-used to these kinds of rambles, Ben gently captures her hands and wraps her into a hug that doubles as a straight jacket. “No more SyFy channel before bed.”

Rose slides her arms around her husband as Finn joins her on the bench. “Did you behave?”

Nora, in all her 6-year-old innocence, giggles. “Mr Finn said a whole lot of swear-jar words.” She casts a critical eye on the young man. “You probably said enough you could buy an Elsa doll.” The ‘for me’ is unsaid, but implied.

Karé rapidly turns her laugh into a cough.

Finn glances down at his wife as Rose smacks him upside the head. “Hey! That tractor thing is terrifying. And Maz said WAY more than I did!”

“Age before beauty, Finnigan,” Maz says haughtily, waving off Finn’s ‘m'name’s not Finnigan, damn it’.

Giggling, you tune out the ridiculousness that is your found family and turn your attention to your still-sulking boy toy. “You know,” you murmur, wrapping your arms around his waist, “you make that face for long enough and it’ll stick that way.”

He huffs. “This is just how my face looks.”

“Uh huh.” Considering yourself quite the expert in his face, having spent countless hours studying every crease and line until you could have drawn him blindfolded, you call bullshit, but say nothing further.

“It is,” he insists.

“Okay,” you agree.

The King of Sarcasm narrows his eyes. “You’re doing that thing.”

You widen your eyes innocently. “What thing?”

“That thing where it sounds like you’re agreeing with me but you’re really telling me I’m a dumbass.”

“What?!” You bring your hand to your chest. “Moi?! I would never.”

He huffs again, but you can see the hint of a smirk starting to break though.

“C’mon, First Runner Up,” you tease. “No sulking in Disneyland. Let me buy you a drink at Trader Sam’s, and then we can sneak off to the Haunted Mansion and make out like teenagers in our Doom Buggy.”

He tilts his head, considering it.

“Or-“ You brush an inky curl off his forehead and stand on your toes until your lips are just about caressing his ear and whisper, “-we could get back in line right now and go again.”

Even before you’ve finished speaking, Poe’s grabbing your hand and hauling you back towards the entrance, tossing a “See you jerks later!” as he pulls you under the Radiator Springs Racers sign. Their laughter echos behind you as he leads the way through the mostly empty line (thank goodness for parade lulls).

As you wait in the queue, only a few dozen people stand between Poe and his (re)shot at victory. You see that competitive gleam in his eyes start to come alive again.

“Hey.” You tug on his tee shirt until he looks at you. “If our car doesn’t win, tonight I’ll do That Thing you love.”

“Babe.” The look he gives you is one of pure torture. “You are killing me here.” He really loves to win. But he really, really loves That Thing. “What about when we come in first?”

You shrug demurely. “Then you wear Those Pants™️ tomorrow.”

Hm. Poe’s always been quick to calculate his odds, and this is quickly turning into a win/win situation. If you lose, he gets That Thing. But Those Pants™️ turn you about feral, and when you’re in that kind of mood- let’s just say Poe still has the scars on his shoulders to prove it.

“Are those terms acceptable, Flight Commander Dameron?” You smile sweetly up at him.

His licentious grin says it all. “Hell yeah.”

For the record, your car does lose a second time. And the next morning, Poe hardly has Those Pants over his ass when you’re ripping them back down his legs and shoving him backwards onto the bed.

Oh, yeah, he thinks to himself. This is better than any dumb kid’s ride.

…doesn’t mean he’s not going to ride it as many times as it takes to win.

A/N: I almost titled this “Tell me you have children without saying you have children”. I am so fucking sick of ‘Lining McQueen’. Yay 4-year-olds.

Thank you for reading; likes and reblogs feed my soul.

[lettheladylead]

Not Your Aunt

Chapter 4: Fethry [ao3 link]

He’d been told from a very young age that he was a “curious child.” He wandered into places he wasn’t supposed to go, he would stare into space for prolonged periods of time, his mood could do a complete 180 in less than a second.

Now at the age of thirteen, Fethry had gone from a “curious child” to a “curious teenager.” But he liked being curious! He enjoyed learning new things and figuring stuff out and finding patterns and seeing the beautiful side of stuff that other people might consider ugly. That was just how he liked to look at the world, and he didn’t see a problem with it.

Uncle Scrooge saw a lot of problems with it. So did his cousin Donald, though cousins Della and Gladstone didn’t seem to have any issues. Duckworth didn’t ever comment, but Fethry had a feeling the butler was just being polite. He liked the politeness, but sometimes it just left him more confused.

Unlike with Donald, who stopped being polite when they were kids and just got annoyed with his cousin when he was being too nosey. In this particular moment, Donald had just yelled at Fethry to get out of his room because he was “distracting him and he needed to be in the zone to work on his music” which Fethry thought made a lot of sense. Della was currently out and Gladstone was temporarily living in Scotland while some complicated adoption things were being figured out so they hadn’t seen him in about two months.

So, although normally he wasn’t supposed to, Fethry decided to wander aimlessly around the mansion. Duckworth wasn’t nearby to stop him and Uncle Scrooge was who-knew-where! He wandered past the bedrooms and down the stairs - looking up at the hundreds of portraits and paintings of Uncle Scrooge and his accomplishments. There were some other people - Uncle Scrooge’s parents and other relatives, mostly, nobody Fethry really recognized. But all the men had long whiskers, so it seemed like they were probably McDucks.

He was staring at a particularly interesting portrait of Scrooge holding a pick-axe and a bag of gold when Fethry was startled by a noise coming from upstairs. It wasn’t coming from the direction of Donald’s room - in fact, it was coming from the other side of the mansion, where the adult’s bedrooms were. Maybe Duckworth dropped something while moving furniture?

Fethry made his way towards the source of the noise so he could help, just in case. As he climbed the last stair, there was another noise, though it wasn’t as loud, and he could tell it was definitely coming from Uncle Scrooge’s bedroom.

He waddled over and stopped in front of the door, knowing he shouldn’t go in without knocking first. Or at least figuring out what was going on. Fethry leaned the side of his head against the door, listening close for any clues.

He heard two voices - one was Uncle Scrooge and the other was unfamiliar but very pretty - and they sounded mad at each other. He couldn’t figure out exactly what they were saying since their voices were kind of muffled, but it was definitely an argument of some sort. Fethry wondered briefly if they were fighting and the noise had come from that. It felt weird to imagine Uncle Scrooge fighting a girl...besides Magica De Spell. Or Ma Beagle. Or, well, okay, maybe it wasn’t that weird.

Footsteps started getting closer to the door and Fethry backed away before he could get caught eavesdropping (his mom would be upset if she knew he was doing that again). And suddenly the door opened up, revealing a woman with shiny blonde hair and slightly graying roots who was currently buttoning the top button of her blouse.

Fethry tilted his head curiously and she yelped when she noticed him.

“Oh god, not another one of you,” the woman grumbled. “I’m not in the mood for this.”

“Well isn’t that a surprise?” Uncle Scrooge’s voice carried out of the room. “Goldie O’Gilt in a bad mood? Not wanting to be nice to children? Oh, I never could’ve imagined that!”

She turned back towards the room and grabbed the doorknob. “Screw you, Moneybags!” she shouted as the slammed the door shut.

When she turned around again, she found that Fethry hadn’t moved and was still staring up at her.

“What?”

“If your name is Goldie…” Fethry mumbled, remembering things his cousins had told him. “...does that mean you’re my Aunt Goldie?”

Goldie pinched the bridge of her beak between two fingers and sighed. “I’m not doing this again,” she said as she started to walk towards the stairs.

Fethry followed her, unable to stop his curiosity. “Did you and Uncle Scrooge get into a fight? Are you gonna get a divorce?”

“We’re not married.”

“Why not?” Fethry poked his beak with his pointer finger. “Wait, if you’re not married, then how are you my aunt?”

She sighed loudly. “I’m not your aunt.”

The kid frowned and thought about that for a moment as he watched her head down the stairs. He followed and quickly caught up. “If you’re not my aunt, then why does everyone call you Aunt Goldie?”

“Because you kids are annoying, is why,” Goldie grumbled, refusing to make eye contact with this child. She was still ashamed of herself for bonding too much with Donald and Della and then Gladstone, of all children to bond with. She was not going to make that mistake again. She would refuse to even learn this red hatted child’s name.

“I’m not a kid, I’m a teenager!” Fethry said with a big smile. “My name’s Fethry!”

Goldie wanted to smack her head into the wall, but chose to keep her cool and continue down the stairs instead. Why did Scrooge have so many stairs? If she wasn’t so desperate to get out of his room and away from him, she would’ve just scaled down the outside wall like usual. But she needed to steal something from the old miser to feel better about how much of a jerk he was.

“Fantastic. Now you can leave me alone.”

Fethry did no such thing and continued to follow her, especially as she turned towards the study instead of towards the front door. “Where are you going?”

“Just trying to find something worth taking that’ll piss your uncle off.”

He stopped following her for a moment, trying to understand what she’d just said. He didn’t understand how adult relationships worked, that was certain, but they seemed very different from his parents. His parents barely ever fought and also they lived together and were married, so there were a lot of immediate differences. Fethry realized suddenly that Goldie had wandered into another room and quickly followed her before she could get away.

She was looking through the china cabinet when he found her again, and made no acknowledgement that she’d noticed him coming up behind her. She grabbed a particularly expensive-looking set of glasses and stared at them in her hands.

“Are you gonna steal those?” Fethry asked suddenly and a little too loudly.

Goldie, not having noticed the kid since she was so focused on the glassware, let out a loud QUACK! and dropped the glasses. She reached out to grab them as they fell, but only managed to save one as the other smashed onto the floor and they both flinched at the loud crash and shards of glass spreading out everywhere.

She turned around and glared at Fethry, angry at him for sneaking up on her and angrier at herself for not noticing him. She thought she’d lost him and let her guard down and this is exactly the kind of thing that happened when she spent too much time around children.

“Do you need something?” Goldie seethed, picking Fethry up by his armpits and plopping him on top of the closest table.

“Nope!” Fethry said with another smile. “Sorry you dropped that glass. Is Uncle Scrooge gonna be mad at you?”

His innocence was annoying her in ways she couldn’t begin to describe. “He’ll get over it. Now look. Hey.” She snapped her fingers in front of Fethry’s face, noticing that he was staring down at the pieces of glass instead of listening to her. “Listen up. I’m going to leave now and you’re not going to follow. There’s glass all over the floor and it’ll cut up your feet if you try to follow me. Got it?”

He tilted his head again. “But what about your feet?”

Goldie lifted up one of her legs and pointed down at her sneakers. “I’ll be fine.” She started to walk away, deciding that breaking one glass and stealing another would be good enough for the moment, when Duckworth stepped into the room holding a broom and dustpan.

“Duckworth.”

“Miss O’Gilt. You don’t normally break things...did something happen?”

She pointed her thumb over her shoulder. “He startled me, not my fault.”

Duckworth responded with a raised eyebrow and Goldie pouted before turning around to see that Fethry was not on the table where she left him. She paused for a moment before looking down and she should not have been surprised to find the kid standing next to her and staring up with the same curious eyes as before.

She yelped in surprise at seeing him so close, and once again felt stupid about it. “What did I just say to you?!”

Fethry shrugged. “Yeah, but...Duckworth is here to clean up the glass, so it’s fine now!”

Duckworth shook his head and started sweeping up the glass while Goldie frowned. “Okay no, see, he hadn’t done that yet, so it’s not fine. And also, um…” She paused and looked around the room for a moment. “Oh, what’s that over there?” she asked, feigning excitement and pointing towards the back door.

Fethry turned and looked, excitement plastered all over his face. “What is it?!” he asked and took a step forward. Seeing nothing different than usual, he turned back around to ask Aunt Goldie what she’d seen, only to find that she was gone. “Huh...where’d she go?”

Duckworth finished sweeping up the glass and dumped it into the nearest trash can. “I believe she’s gone.”

“Oh. But...where?” Fethry asked as he walked towards the foyer.

The butler followed, glancing at the walls to see if Goldie had stolen anything else. “Miss O’Gilt tends to be unpredictable. It’s hard to say where she goes when she leaves the mansion.”

“Aww,” Fethry pouted, kicking at the carpet. “I like her! She was real nice!”

“...is that so?”

“Yeah!” Fethry did a little spin and fell onto his butt. “She’s nothing like my other aunts, though.”

Duckworth smirked at that comment and considered correcting the child, but before he could even think about it, Scrooge shuffled down the stairs and took over.

“That’s because she’s not your aunt!” he shouted angrily, adjusting his coat and hat as he walked. “She’s a no-good thief who just likes to interrupt my life and steal from me and piss me off and mess with you kids! You shouldn’t listen to anything she says, especially not if it’s about me or our history! All she does is lie, lie, lie!”

Fethry looked a little sad and confused at Scrooge’s rant, so Duckworth, seeing that there was unnecessary conflict about to be had, interrupted. “Either way, she’s gone now, Mr. McDuck. And you have a meeting with the board in about twenty minutes.”

“Yeah, alright,” Scrooge grumbled. “Let’s just go.”

Fethry watched them walk towards the garage and frowned more. The way Uncle Scrooge talked about Aunt Goldie was weird and kind of sad. She hadn’t said anything like that about him, though Fethry wondered if she would’ve had he asked.

A noise from outside caught Fethry’s attention and he turned towards the windows by the front door. He spotted a bit of blonde hair and smiled at the realization that Aunt Goldie was still nearby. Then he frowned as he realized that meant she’d heard all the mean things Uncle Scrooge said about her. Maybe it didn’t bother her so much. But maybe it did and she just didn’t say anything. Fethry thought she was kind of mysterious and interesting.

He watched her rush away from the house and wondered if he’d ever see her again. He leaned back on his heels for a moment before deciding to go back to Donald’s room and ask him about everything he’d just watched. Donald would probably be able to explain.

[strangeradventuresofp]

must have been the wind (five x reader)

A/N : this is HEAVILY inspired by alec benjamin’s song lol if u havent listened to it i suggest u do its so good also five is aged up, 18 as always unless otherwise specified !! hope u enjoy loves<3

Five often roamed the halls of the Umbrella Academy mansion. Probably to remind himself that it wasn’t going to collapse anymore, after him and his siblings managed to stop the apocalypse. It was still so surreal to him, and he really didn’t have much of a clue of what to do with his life, so, he just moped around the various, decked out corridors, unsure of what his purpose was. Mostly, he spent his time in the kitchen or at Griddy’s, either drinking coffee or alcohol. Not so much alcohol anymore; after you shared your dismay with him he -mostly- cut it all out. And, of course, Five spent a fair amount of time with you. He had taken a special liking to you after his brothers, Klaus and Diego, had found you trying to run away from someone in your past. They had brought you here to look after you and keep you safe. This obviously led to you being very close with the two men, and evidently, the rest of the Hargreeves as well. They acted as if they were your big siblings, which you were incredibly appreciative of, as you had never really had a strong bond with your own family. 

Your bond with Five, however, was different. You liked him, and he liked you. Various flirty comments had been made between the two of you, but neither of you ever admitted you liked each other. In fact, you both acted as if you had absolutely zero interest in ever being with each other, but everyone knew that wasn’t true. You had taught him how to make coffee just how he liked it, after he begged you six times a day to brew him some more. You liked to think it was just so he could hang out with you, but you knew that black coffee was his one true love. It wasn’t terribly unlikely though, Five did everything he could to hang out with you.

It was a particularly stormy Monday, and it wasn’t unusual that you and Five were the only two in the house. Luther had accompanied Allison on her shopping trip. Diego was probably trying to fight crime again. Vanya was at violin rehearsal, and nobody ever knew where Klaus was unless he was present in the house. Five was messing with the things on the table in the lobby before he heard a glass smash in one of the bedrooms above him. His brows furrowed in concern and curiousness. He quietly made his way up the stairs, meanwhile hearing gentle sobs coming from your bedroom.

You quickly wiped your face, and turned around to face the open door, with Five stood in the space.

“Y/N? I heard some noises when I was downstairs, I was just wondering if you’re okay?” As you smiled, Five studied your face, noticing how puffy your eyes were, and how red your face was, frowning.

“I think your ears are playing tricks on you. Thanks for caring, Five, it’s really nice of you. I wish I could tell you about the noise, but I.. I didn’t hear a thing. It must have been the wind.” Five didn’t believe a word of what you said, and frowned, eyebrows knitted together in an attempt to figure you out. “Sorry, Five, but I would really like to be on my own right now.” You smiled apologetically before closing your door, leaving him stood outside it, taken aback. Suddenly, a blue flash appeared and Five was stood back in your bedroom.

“Y/N-”

“Are you kidding me? I just told you I wanted to be alone.”

“I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong.”

“What’s your problem, Five?”

“Why won’t you tell me?”

“Because I want to be alone, like I said!” You knew his intentions were good, but it made you upset that he didn’t respect your wishes first time around. He opened his mouth to speak as you pushed him out of your bedroom and closed the door once again. He sighed, and decided he wouldn’t try again, even though he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you so upset, on your own.

A few moments later you heard the front door open and close, looking out of your window to see him leaving, presumably to get himself a coffee. Even though you had taught him months ago, he still insisted that you make it, because ‘yours just tastes better’. 

It wasn’t long before Five found himself inside the doughnut shop, wanting a black coffee, as always. He was surprised to see his brother, Number Four, already sat at the counter.

“Hey, hey. Ben’s sat there.” Five sighed and took the seat the other side of Klaus and put his head in his hands. “What’s up, brother?”

“Y/N’s upset, and I don’t know why. And I don’t know how to help. And she won’t let me talk to her because she wants to be alone,”

“You gotta respect that she wants some alone time. Try talking to her later.”

“But she’s partly upset with me. I made her mad earlier and I just-” Five sighed, trying to find the right words. “It makes my heart ache to know that she’s upset. It’s like the worst pain I’ve ever felt. And I don’t know how to make her feel better.”

“Just buy her flowers or.. Or a doughnut or something, I don’t know. Just do something that she’ll like.”

“But how am I supposed to-”  As Klaus looked to the side, he saw a quick blue flash and noticed his brother was no longer sat beside him.

“Thanks, Klaus. No problem, Five!” He sighed and looked at Ben. “I don’t get enough credit form you people.”

~~~

A few hours and a hundred tears later, you heard gentle knocking on the wooden door. You mumbled a ‘Come in’ and opened your eyes to see Five stood by your bed, which you were curled up in, holding a cup in one hand and a bag in the other. He noticed your eyes hadn’t gotten any less puffy, and suspected that you had continued crying after he had left your room.

“What do you want, Five?”

“I brought you doughnuts. And some hot cocoa, with marshmallows. I tried to make it how you like it, but you’re always better at that sort of stuff.” He grinned sheepishly as he put them down on your bedside table, and you felt the bed dip as he took a seat beside you. You sat up to face him, frowning.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I also bought a few movies I know you really like. I thought we could watch them.”

“We? You don’t like any of the movies I like.”

“I know but.. I thought you might want some company. And I want to apologize for, you know, earlier. I overstepped and I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry.” As you looked at him, you noticed a shy smile on his face, that brought out his dimple. You smiled, pulling him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around gently, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Five.” You placed a gentle kiss to cheek, causing both you and him to gain red cheeks. Five pressed his lips to yours almost immediately, unable to hold his feelings for you any longer. Your mouths moved with each other rhythmically, and as you smiled against his lips, his hand reached up to cup your cheek. The kiss lasted a few minutes before the two of you pulled away from each other, your forehead leaning against his.

“Put the damn movie on.” Smiling, you pushed him away, making room for him on your bed while he started the movie up. He sat beside you, his arm gently rested on your shoulders. You hugged around his waist, listening to his heartbeat. Kissing your forehead, he moved the hair out of your face.

“A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be crying so much. I won’t ask what’s wrong, but I’m always here for you, Y/N. You can tell me anything. Nothing could ever make me think any less of you.” Once again, your lips collided, moving with each other in sync, huffing when he pulled away from you, earning a quiet chuckle from his parted lips.

“Five?” He hummed in response. “What are we?” Your eyes met his as his brows furrowed.

“I don’t know.” You sighed, hoping for a better answer, before he opened his mouth once again. “I like you.”

“I like you too.”

“Be my girlfriend.”

“Okay.” Snuggling more into him, you felt him plant a kiss to your temple and you grinned. 

~~~

“Hey! Guys, you gotta see this! Five and Y/N are spooning!” Klaus shouted to the rest of the house, stood in the doorway of your door.

“Klaus, what are you doing?” Five rubbed his eyes, propping himself up on his elbow, feeling you stir in his sleep beside him. Other footsteps could be heard coming down the corridor as the other siblings piled into the doorway.

“Little Number Five and Y/N.. Who would’ve thought?” Klaus placed his hands on his heart, grinning at you and the boy.

“Um.. Everybody?” Allison giggled as the others in the doorway laughed. Five shushed his siblings, gesturing to you. “Okay, okay. Let’s leave them alone.” Very quickly, the doorway became empty, and the door became closed again, and Five lay back down, facing you, smiling at how adorable you looked.

“Mm.. Five, what are you doing?” Your heavy eyelids pulled themselves open to look at your boyfriend, watching him smile at you.

“You’re just beautiful.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.” The ends of his lips turned up into a smirk and he kissed you quickly, before pulling away and grinning cheekily. “Make me a coffee?”

my masterlist

A/N : hiihi thanks 4 reading ! i actually rly like this and im proud of it so i hope u guys like it too and i hope u all have a lovely day<3

[nefoe-dd]

SO SMT AU AM I RIGHT GAMERS

I mentioned this in the tags of another post and joked about it in Discord but my brain went brrrr during my last class of the day and now I lowkey have a full plot starting to form lol.

Keep in mind the only Shin Megami Tensei game I’ve played myself is the Nocturne remake, plus I only really remember bits of the plot of 4 and whatever we’ve been given so far of 5 so I’m not super well versed in the series.

Also I’ll add this to the tags too but DSMP Spoilers specifically for the contents of Techno’s Will exist in this post, because that is where the idea for this came from. A lot of other JRPGs have similar plotlines but I specifically thought of SMT because its kind of a meme specifically for that at this point how the plot always seems to have the same type ending bosses. 

Also some spoilers for Shin Megami Tensei IV

ANYWAYS

Now Presenting: An AU where Techno’s Limbo is an SMT Game lol

(Under a ‘Read More’ because it got way ahead of me)

An Introduction to Relevant SMT terminology:

Demons: Makes up a large majority of the characters in the game. They are the enemies that you face in combat, and its possible to recruit them to your team through various means. Some demons exist in the overworld though, and can be talked to normally, they’re chill most of the time, unless you do something to tick them off. ‘Demon’ is not taken literally by the Christian definition, they are based off of various figures in folklore and religion around the world, some are even based on Gods and Angels.

Law vs Chaos: Many SMT games have multiple endings based on these two alignments, along with the neutral alignment. It is usually decided by some important decisions the player makes throughout the game. I’m most aware of the SMT 4 ending, in which the route you are on decides the final dungeon, the character you team with for the ending, and the final boss (its either Satan or the in-game version of God). It’s based off of the traditional interpretation of these two, where Law represents the importance of authority, and Chaos represents the importance of freedom. 

Another note is that a lot of SMT games take place in a post-apocalyptic world of some kind, which, spoiler, is the case here.

General Plot Details and Worldbuilding:

- Techno dies in the prison. The stasis chamber fails and Quackity succeeds in killing him. Permanently. 

- Despite dying, he wakes up again in the main prison cell, but things are different. The lava isn’t blocking the entrance anymore, (in fact there isn’t any lava at all), and he’s alone. Upon peering outside the main cell, he notices a bit of sky peeking through the prison ceiling, like it had been broken into. 

- The drop down to the bottom floor is long, but he’s dead, so he just shrugs and jumps down so he can see what’s going on. Turns out there are several holes in this part of the prison, in fact there are multiple on the ground, likely where the lava had escaped from. (Obviously Minecraft lava specifically doesn’t work like that, I’m pretty sure in the DreamSMP the bottom is all source blocks, but just ignore that bit). 

- He exits from the back wall of the prison, and everything there so far looks normal, except for the fact that there appears to be less trees than normal. Of the trees that are still there, many of them were cut down and never collected, and some appear to have fallen over due to some damage.

- Techno goes around the prison to the front, and that’s when he notices some things that are very wrong. Various parts of the prison, not just the main cell, are also sitting destroyed. Many cracks, scuff marks and full-on chunks are missing on the walls. The usual entrance which houses the nether portal is hardly still standing, and he can see straight into the main lobby where the portal would lead into once you were let through. 

- The surrounding areas are not much better. Tommy’s outpost is toppled over in the distance, only the base and bottom floor are left standing. The tents near the beach are collapsed and destroyed, the only remnants of one of them is a small piece of fabric ripped from the main bit and laying on the ground. Skeppy and Badboyhalo’s mansion is crumbling where it stands, half of the back wall and ceiling are gone. And that’s only what’s visible from here. 

- The rest of the server is also in various states of destruction, the spawn walls are hardly left standing, the main nether portal area is covered in potholes, none of the portals are active. The prime path is rotted and broken in most areas, the buildings along it are not faring much better than the ones he’d seen before. And the further he gets away from the prison, the more the plants themselves appear to be dead or dying. 

- L’manburg’s crater looks much the same as it once did right after its destruction, albeit with more debris at the bottom which had fallen from the sides as they slowly eroded. The flag at the bottom is torn up and discoloured, honestly its hardly recognizable. The nature that had finally begun to reclaim the land has slowly been dying instead over time, and the bridge overtop has completely collapsed. The only thing still standing, is the ever present obsidian grid that looms over it in the sky. He supposes that whatever disaster had caused this wasn’t able to reach that high up, or that it was at least in part done by someone that liked the way it looked. Not that there seems to be a need for the reminder anymore. 

- Something something, he finds out DreamXD is here, and that he might have had something to do with how this world looks. And as much as it shouldn’t matter in the afterlife, he did promise Phil he would be killing God sooooo he goes on a mission to do just that. He can do pretty much anything now that he really doesn’t have to worry about dying, so why not. He has no reason to care about some God, especially when they’re the only ones left.

- Some DSMP people hang around the world and are represented by certain demons, the mostly chill ones that kinda just hang around in the apocalyptic scenery. They don’t recognize him, it isn’t really the people he knows after all, but they are willing to talk to him since they can tell he isn’t human either. He learns little bits of what happened through them, and learns where DreamXD resides, that being one of the strongholds that’s a bit further out. 

- Unfortunately, due to the portals being inactive, and his inability to break anything efficiently, or even at all, he has to travel using the overworld. Along the way he manages to speak to some others, this allows him to better locate where the God is, although it doesn’t seem to be hiding out. He even sees it sometimes flying around, which he uses to follow where its hiding. 

- Some of the random demons he runs into recognize that he’s not supposed to be here (according to them at least), so he has to fight his way through them. Luckily, many of the friendly demons that he talks to end up tagging along in order to help, thus making up a team he can use to get through them instead.

 - There’s probably a demon that seems to resemble Phil somewhere, living alone (alone for so so long) away from everyone in an arctic house perhaps. If I wanted to really up the angst, the demon takes a liking to Techno right away, which is partly how Techno is able to tell its him so quickly. The more they talk, the more Techno realizes how lonely the Phil he knows must be without him there, how upset he’d be once he reads the will and finds out what happened to him. Thus he’s more motivated to, you know, fight God, in an attempt to figure out what the hell happened. (DXD is the only entity existing here that also exists where he’s from, he can guess pretty easily that maybe, just maybe, they are one and the same). Thus, he is given a choice that he knows he will have to make in the future. 

- Eventually he manages to find the stronghold and comes face to face with DreamXD himself. DreamXD is just kinda chillin there, they fight, through DreamXD doesn’t seem to be putting in too much effort, almost like it does not want to win. 

- Techno wins (duh), and he is left with a choice, a choice to finish the job, or spare the god and allow it to go free. And, well, he feels that he doesn’t really have the right to decide whether it lives or dies, and while its possible that DreamXD caused whatever disaster created the current state of the world, but he doesn’t know that for sure. DreamXD has done nothing this whole time he’s been here, and its done nothing to him or his companions.

- He chooses to leave it alone, and DreamXD seems to know that it was always going to end that way. 

- DreamXD disappears, and Techno wakes up in the cell again post-revival, the prison and the world around it is the same as he remembers

(I don’t remember the exact real-world to limbo time difference but I imagine that it felt like, a day, maybe half that, while irl it was only a few minutes to an hour.)

Some other notes/details:

- The other possible ending would have resulted in Techno killing DreamXD and being given ANOTHER choice to take its power over the world, or just leave and stay there forever. Basically DreamXD’s existence is vital to the power of the revival book, and it’s death would have resulted in Dream not being successful in his revival attempts. Obviously we have no idea how the powers actually work yet, but I just came up with an explanation because I thought it would be interesting. You can decide on your own which of these endings fall into Law, Chaos or Neutral because uh, its complicated given the scenario. You can also decide if letting DreamXD live even fits into his character! Idk! But its not like DreamXD’s being oppressive by any means, not that there’s anyone to oppress here anyways. That’s my logic anyways.

- I don’t know what demons would represent specific people, I’d like to use one of the Angels for Phil but the Demons based on Angels usually have an important role in the plot that is in line with the Law alignment and like, protecting god or whatever, so no. There are a couple bird ones but idk if they fit the vibe, idk it could work, I’d have to look at a list if I want to go into this further.

- I kinda want Eret to be an Inugami because it’s body does that thing that ferret’s do when they’re all stretched out :) The only reason I’m hesitant is because Inugami is a dog, and Goose deserves representation.

- The reason I imagined for why Techno can’t break anything is because the mining fatigue lasted throughout this because he died with it, it’d get in the way of fighting too but at least it isn’t weakness, and he’s not alone either.

Uhhhhh that’s it for now I think!

(will potentially add to this if I figure something else out in the future)

[platypanthewriter]

The Devil Looks After His Own Ch.3

Chapter One | Two

Little Steve Harrington is so lonely he tries summoning a demon with a ritual advertised on TV–but luckily, it doesn’t work, and a buff, non-human nanny hired by his mom shows up minutes later.  Years later, they’re best friends, and Steve still doesn’t know the truth.   For @magniloquent-raven​!

“Y’know, I did take payment,” Billy said, as he snapped and Steve’s cereal was just marshmallows, and Steve shook his head. Billy snapped again, and there was some cereal in there again. “You were trying to give that Camaro set away to some demon, and when I showed up, I took it.”

Steve paused, frowning at his bowl, because he liked the LEGO 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.

“Unless you want it back,” Billy said, cocking his head to catch Steve’s eye, and Steve shook his head hard.

“No, no, I don’t,” he said quickly. “D’you...really really like LEGOs?”

“Uhhh,” Billy made a face. “I like making things with you, because you really like ‘em. But it’s not about what I want, it’s something important to you. And that set was your favorite, right?”

“...it was new,” Steve mumbled, kicking his feet. “But it’s not…”

“Not what?” Billy asked, cautiously, and Steve bit his lips together, wondering what to say.

“D’you want all my LEGOs,” he finally asked. “Y-you can have all of them. D’you—”

“Hey, hey, kiddo,” Billy laughed, as Steve swallowed hard. “Hey, it’s okay, my man, what’s wrong?”

“It’s not enough,” Steve said, squeezing his spoon so hard it dug into his hand, and blinking hard to clear his eyes.

“...brat,” Billy said, fondly. “All I’ve done is make you cereal a couple times. You’ve still got some credit, really.”

“You’re my best friend,” Steve squeaked out, not crying, but kinda sounding like it anyway. He tried not to sniffle. “Y-you’re my best friend, you—you’re worth more than LEGOs.”

“Shit, c’mere, kidlet,” Billy said, coming around to hug him. “Nothing here to cry about, you little weirdo, what—”

“Are you on sale,” Steve demanded, pulling Billy closer. “How come you’re cheap—”

“Oh my god,” Billy snickered, because he wasn’t taking anything seriously.

“Is this like the Woohoo! stickered meat at Safeway,” Steve asked, shaking him. “Are—are you old?! Billy are you gonna die—”

“No!” Billy cackled. “No, no, I’m—I’m fine—”

“Are you gonna get slimy like the old mushrooms we bought?!” Steve whined, crying for real, and Billy started laughing too hard to talk. “You’re not even listening,” Steve mumbled as Billy squeezed him tightly, stroking his hair.

“Lucifer falling,” Billy mumbled, kissing Steve’s head. “I’m okay, alright? I’m—I’m not past my expiration date.”

“When is it,” Steve asked anxiously, and Billy started snickering again, wiping his eyes.

“It’s not for a few thousand years,” Billy promised, and Steve mouthed it, wide-eyed.

“...oh,” said Steve, trying to figure out the math on the huge number. Even his dad, he was pretty sure, wasn’t more than a hundred. “...how old is my dad?” he asked, thinking, and Billy frowned thoughtfully.

“Younger than me,” he said, with certainty. “Maybe just a few hundred years old?”

“Oh,” Steve said, doubtfully, and then he squinted over at the card on the fridge. It said ‘Over the Hill: Congrats on the big 4-0!’ and Steve frowned at it. “...his birthday card says he was forty,” he said, and Billy stilled.

“...forty what?” he asked.

“...yeeeears?” Steve guessed, less certain in the face of Billy’s disbelief. “I...I think when my mom’s grandma died, she was seventy-eight. Years,” he added, for Billy. It had seemed like an impossibly large number at the time.

“...years,” Billy breathed, wide-eyed. “Not—not centuries, just years.” His grip tightened on Steve, and he finally looked upset. “You—you’re going to die in years.”

“...unless I get sick,” Steve told him honestly, and then wished he hadn’t, because Billy made a choking noise in his throat, and hugged him tighter. “Um, it’s—it’s a lot of years,” he muttered, into Billy’s shoulder, and Billy shook his head, sniffling.

“No, it’s not,” he breathed. “Fuck. Shit. I—damn it, kid.”

“It’s okay,” Steve told him, grimacing, and patting Billy’s shoulder. “Don’t cry. You—you can, um, you can get a...dog. You can play with my LEGOs.”

“That’s the most depressing picture, damn,” Billy muttered, wiping his eyes. “You sure you don’t want immortality instead of marshmallows, kiddo?”

“I-immune?” Steve muttered, frowning, and Billy messed up his hair. Steve yelled and batted at him, giggling.

“You wanna live forever with me, short stuff?” Billy asked, ducking away from Steve swinging a rolled-up magazine at him in revenge. Steve paused mid-swing, frowning suspiciously at him, and Billy laughed. “You wanna just be a kid and play with LEGOs forever?”

“...I wanna grow up,” Steve said, with certainty, after some thought. “And play with LEGOs.”

“...yeah, I figured,” Billy said, smiling a little.

“I want a credit card,” Steve told him, and Billy snorted a laugh. “...what happens to you when I die? Do you get to go home?” Steve asked, and Billy made a face. “...where is home?” Steve asked, more cautiously.

“Nowhere I wanna go,” Billy told him, messing his hair up again.

He looked kind of lonely all afternoon, Steve thought. There wasn’t much Steve could do about death, really, so finally he just hit Billy with a water balloon.

They took a long time to decide on a house for Billy. Finally Steve took all his kits out, and stared at them, while Billy fidgeted next to him on the bed.

“What if we put them all together,” Steve whispered, feeling like it was something forbidden. “I put them all together by myself already. We—we could make you a—a castle with a space shuttle on top, and a Millenium Falcon, and—and dungeons.”

“Those might come in handy,” Billy said, nodding, and Steve giggled. “I need a garage for my Camaro, too.”

“It’s a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28,” Steve told him, feeling like Nancy when she corrected people about dinosaur feathers.

Billy shrank down to the size of his hand and helped, running around the table and kicking through piles of loose LEGO to find pieces, and they added some things to support the weight of stuff hanging off the sides. Steve had been grinning so hard his cheeks were sore, his feet numb from sitting on them all evening, when his mom poked her head in, and Billy leapt through a LEGO window to hide.

“...what a mess,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “It’s gonna take you hours to sort these back into bags.”

“I’m making a tower,” Steve told her, since that was mostly what it looked like. “I’ll put all the extra parts away, though.”

“Eugh,” she said, and shut the door without remembering to say goodnight.

“How’d they get you as a kid?” Billy asked, from inside the haunted mansion, and Steve sighed.

“Probably I was on sale,” he muttered. “Dad will buy anything if there’s a coupon for it,” and Billy started laughing so hard he had to grab the fancy goblet stuck to the table, for support. Steve grinned, watching him standing next to the dangling skeleton. “You wanna try the elevator?” he asked. “It actually moves.”

“It actually falls, more like,” Billy said, making a face. His voice was kind of reedy. “No way.”

“...can you get...hurt, this size?” Steve asked, suddenly horrified, and Billy shrugged, leaning out to look at the elevator.

“My bones are tiny,” he said. “I could stay sturdy, but I’d weigh a lot, y’know, I’d probably break your LEGO set.”

“Oh,” Steve said softly, jerking his hands back from the set. “Do—do you need help getting down?”

“I’m fine, probably,” Billy said, and then promptly fell out as he tried to edge around the table, and Steve yelped and caught him in both hands. He weighed almost nothing, like a bird.

“Be careful,” Steve hissed at him.

“I can heal myself, probably,” Billy panted, wide-eyed, and Steve found another drawback of minifigure-sized Billy, when he tried to hug him, and had to just gingerly brush his cheek against Billy’s whole body.

“It doesn’t matter if you heal,” Steve hissed. “It still would hurt, right?!”

“...yeah, but if I fix it, I’m okay again,” Billy said, laughing, and Steve lifted him up so Billy was only a couple inches from his nose, and Steve could see his expression. Billy grabbed his thumb.

“...if I fall down the stairs and break my arms and my legs and my head open,” Steve said, remembering Billy’s panicked yell when Steve had slipped on the cement stairs outside, in the rain, and clonked his head on the rod-iron railing, “—is it fine if you fix it?”

“Holy crap, kid, don’t even say that,” Billy breathed.

“So it’s not okay if you fall down the LEGO stairs either,” Steve hissed, and Billy blinked at him, then laughed a little, and Steve could swear his face went a little red.

“I’m not human, short stuff. It’s different.”

“It’s not,” Steve said stubbornly. Billy waved to the Death Star, and Steve held his hand next to one of the conference room chairs, then grimaced. “Don’t fall again,” he told his tiny best friend. “I’m gonna put railings in,” he decided, rooting through the pile of discarded LEGO. “You can’t just fix yourself—”

“I do,” Billy said, laughing, and Steve stopped.

“...Billy,” he said softly, “—when?”

“...just...sometimes,” Billy said, climbing up on the table and kicking the Darth Vader minifigure in the head so it flew and knocked into the Palpatine minifig, which distracted Steve for a second, because it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen.

He covered his eyes. “Billy.”

Billy groaned. “You know. Like the time I didn’t know not to put cold glass under the hot water, and it blew up in my hand. Or that time in the parking lot when you didn’t look, and that car almost crushed you against the cement divider, and I pushed you out of the way.”

Steve remembered that one—he’d been kinda mad about it, because Billy’d shoved him to the ground, and he’d skinned his knees—but he remembered he hadn’t said so, because Billy was pale and shaken, and made Steve promise about 900 things about car safety. “...you...fixed...the car hit you?!” he breathed, his hands twitching as he longed to hug Billy, but couldn’t grab him when he was so small. “You—the—”

“I fixed it,” Billy waved his hands, laughing. “It wasn’t expensive—”

“You—could you have—moved yourself, or stopped the car,” Steve whispered, sitting on his hands.

“I might have had to alter the driver’s memories if I teleported, though, and moving the car is expensive, too, how many LEGO sets you wanna burn through to keep me, Stevie—”

“...Billy,” Steve said blankly. His eyes stung.

“Don’t wanna wear out my welcome,” Billy said, laughing.

“These are all yours now,” Steve said, waving at the stacked sets, ceiling-high. “The-they’re all. Yours. If—if you need more we can—we can do. Something. Don’t get hurt. Even if you can fix it.”

“...you don’t need to give me all that,” Billy said, frowning down.

“I love LEGO but you’re more important,” Steve told him, gritting his teeth, because Billy should have known that, and if he didn’t, maybe Steve had screwed something up. “You’re super important, Billy.”

“...okay,” Billy said, sounding confused.

“Save the—the magic for nobody getting hurt,” Steve told him, crossing his arms. “Obviously. What—what are you doing, anyway, are you stupid?! Don’t get hurt, Billy. That’s an order.”

“Oooo, an order, big man,” Billy said, laughing.

“An order, and you have to listen to this one,” Steve growled.

“You told me I can decide what to do after I listen,” Billy said, because he was a dick, and Steve told him so.

“You’re being an asshole,” he whispered, so his parents didn’t hear.

“I’ll try not to get hurt,” Billy told him, tossing Palpatine out on the rug, “—but no promises. Keep that guy out there, he reminds me of my dad.”

“He can go in the dungeon,” Steve suggested. “You promise? You’ll try.”

“Yeah, yeah. Put Darth Vader down there too, he sucks.” They put Doc Ock and Harley Quinn in there too, and Jafar, a clown Billy thought looked suspicious, and a lady in a horned helmet Steve was pretty sure wasn’t on the side of the heroes.

“No innocent until proven guilty here, I guess,” Billy said, sitting on the edge of the pirate ship on the mansion’s roof, and kicking his legs. “Maybe she was born a minotaur, you ever think of that?”

Steve giggled, and put the horned lady out with the topiaries. “We can see how she behaves,” he said. “But she’s not the minotaur—”

“Put Dumbledore in the dungeon too,” Billy pointed a flag he’d wrested off the pirate ship. “He is not responsible about the safety of his school.”

“And this mafia guy,” Steve said, and Billy gasped.

“Profiling! You just assume he’s mafia?!”

“He has a gun and a chainsaw,” Steve snickered harder, but sat him up in the conference room.

“Elsa should go in the dungeon too, from Frozen,” Billy said thoughtfully, and Steve fell over laughing, because Billy had yelled for an hour after that movie. “She froze a whole damn country,” Billy pointed out. “Sure, she warmed it up eventually, but how many people froze in the meantime?!”

“Let it go,” Steve gasped, wiping his eyes.

“What about the dead babies, Stevie? Should I let them go?” Billy asked, his hands on his hips. He looked hilarious with one foot on the LEGO rigging of the pirate ship, flag in hand. “You got any blue frozen children we can put with her?”

“Oh my god,” Steve cackled, rolling onto his back. His stomach hurt.

As the school year went on, Steve made more friends. Billy looked kind of lost the first time Steve got invited away for a slumber party, but Steve couldn’t help thinking about how magical beings required a price, and wondering when he wouldn’t be able to afford Billy being his friend anymore.

He’d gotten more esoteric in his reading, since Billy wouldn’t answer certain questions, and he’d found Grateful Dead stories at the library, all about travelers finding a corpse and burying it, only to be helped by its spirit for years, like Cinderella and her dead mom giving her dresses. In his reading, those sounded the most like Billy, since he wasn’t exactly a genie. Steve racked his brain trying to remember a bird he might have buried, or roadkill he’d pushed out of the road, but Billy didn’t like talking about who he’d been before Steve, so he was reluctant to ask.

The thought that Billy might be dead, might just...run out one day and vanish, used up when he’d repaid his debt to Steve, was so lonely Steve clung to him for nearly a week, sitting in his lap as they watched TV at night, and not paying enough attention to anything Billy said. He was so bad at acting normal about it that Billy tried to take him to the doctor, and Steve had to get ahold of himself, and start planning for when Billy was gone.

He started by making friends. He complimented Barb on her tidy desk when they did coloring, and Tommy on his new boots, and Nancy on her treasure hunt clues at recess. He passed his fruit snacks around, and pretty soon other kids shared too.

Billy got quieter. After a few days, Steve drug him around the side of the gym again and hugged him, squeezing him as tight as he could, until he hugged back so hard his fingers dug in against Steve’s shoulder blades.

“I’m not bored of you,” Steve told him, sliding his fingers into Billy’s hair, and brushing his thumb over Billy’s earring. “You’re my favorite too.”

Billy sighed into his shoulder, burying his face in Steve’s neck, and Steve held onto him. “...you ever want me to leave, tell me, and I’ll go,” Billy said softly, and Steve shook his head frantically, hugging him tighter, clumsily, so Billy’s shirt hitched up under his arm, and Billy’s skull thudded against Steve’s jaw.

“I don’t want you to leave ever,” Steve whispered, so fervently his voice shook, and Billy sighed, relaxing in his arms. “...how...how long can you stay,” he whispered, sniffling back tears, and Billy twitched.

“What d’you—I can stay, Stevie,” he said softly, but Steve shook his head, pulling his hand back to wipe his eyes.

“Genies run out,” he hissed, crying harder. “Ghosts fade. What are you, Billy, how can—how can I—”

“Oh, shit,” Billy muttered, grabbing his face, and Steve laughed, sniffling. “No, no, I’m—I’m not leaving, I swear.”

“I-if I don’t ask for things?” Steve offered, and Billy bit his lips.

“You can ask for things,” he muttered. “I—I’ll just tell you how much it would be. You can give me more LEGOs.”

“Okay,” Steve told him, used to the weight in his stomach that was worry about Billy. He squeezed tighter.

That night, he couldn’t sleep, and Billy finally called over from his matchbox bed in the space shuttle. “You okay, kid?”

Steve stared at the ceiling, blinking back tears, and trying not to sniffle.

“...are you dead?” he asked, finally, in a scratchy voice that hurt his throat. “Billy?”

Billy ran down like six staircases through the sets to stand on Steve’s bedside table, and Steve put his arm out for Billy to scoot down. “What,” he said, climbing up to stand on Steve’s chest, and Steve tried not to move too much as he pushed his pillow more under his head, so Billy wouldn’t fall.

“Are you dead,” he asked. “Is—is that why you can...do things? And—and why you’re so old?”

“No, I’m not dead, what the—heck, kid,” Billy sighed, sitting cross legged on Steve’s chest like a little Disney fairy. He was cute, and Steve sighed, trying not to smile when Billy looked upset.

“...you’re not a fairy or a genie, exactly,” Steve said, wiping his nose. A tear slid down around his cheek, and dripped warm onto his neck. “Cinderella’s dead mom granted wishes.”

“...I thought that was a fairy,” Billy said, frowning distractedly, and Steve shook his head.

“I read a book in the library that said she was actually a nice ghost. Disney changed it.”

“Huh,” Billy said, raising his eyebrows, then shook his head. “Anyway, no, I’m not dead.”

“Good,” Steve said, swallowing hard, and Billy got up, nervously, and walked up to pat uncertainly at Steve’s chin. “I love it when you forget you can change size,” Steve giggled wetly. “Turn kid-sized.”

Billy did, his weight squishing Steve’s chest until he scrambled off, but Steve grabbed him, and hugged him close.

Check out my other Harringrove stuff! 

[angelanika]

How Bizarre Pt.3

<<<Part 2                                      

Chapter Warnings: Toxic Relationships, Sugar daddy/baby relationship, cheating, cursing, implied sexual activity, depictions of racial discrimination

Your new job is how you would describe as very...eventful.

While most of the girls catered to Mr.Hara in more thrilling ways, you took it upon yourself to look after Prince and actually do some tidying up around the place, which Mr.Hara was extremely grateful for.

And being the generous magician that he is, he then materialized said gratitude into dollar bills.

One Saturday evening after you had tucked Prince in and all of the girls had left, you placed a steaming plate in front of an exhausted Mr.Hara who instantly pulled you into his lap.

The house was eerily quiet for a place that’s usually buzzing with excitement but you kinda enjoyed the peace.

You made yourself comfortable as he holds you tight against his broad chest and rests his head on your shoulder, letting out a deep sigh. 

His sleek, black hair was untidy and a few top buttons of his shirt had been undone but overall, the man just looked SEXY.

“Rough day?” you ask softly.

“Yeah,” he groans. “Thank you for the meal princess.”

“My pleasure.”

You hop off his lap to allow him to eat and he ushers you to sit down next to him. 

As he finished, you sprung up to collect the plate but he stopped you and told you to just sit back down for a minute.

You were confused.

“So,” he finally began,”My wife is coming back tomorrow.” 

Well isn’t this fucker just full of surprises...

“WIFE?!” you exclaimed, “You told me you were divorced!”

“Divorced……..in my mind.”

This bitch.

You felt totally betrayed, stupid and almost disgusted with yourself. You wanted to slap him across his cheek, spit in his face and walk out right then and there but... you didn’t.

You knew that finding a new job that paid just as well quickly would be extremely difficult, especially when the employers here were always reluctant to hire...people like you…

You basically had to fight for your last job and even after all that struggling, they still didn’t pay you well.

Mr.Hara watched the anger wash away from your face, being replaced with that of just annoyance and uncertainty of what to do next.

Taking notice of your semi-cooldown, he figured it was ok to continue, “She was dealing with some international relations for the Hero’s Commission abroad and was gone for quite a bit, but as i said, she’ll be back tomorrow so I have to make some changes.”

You rolled your eyes and sighed, plopping your exhausted body down in the luxury dining chair, holding your aching head in your hands.

 “Ok, so what does that mean for me?” You asked without even looking up.

Mr.Hara adjusted in his chair a bit and cleared his throat, “ahem well obviously I can’t have all the girls here anymore, so I let them go.”

Your face flew up, “Even Lada?”

“Yes, sorry, I know you two had gotten close.”

You only sighed and dropped your head again as he continued.

“But I would like for you to stay if you don’t mind.” 

Seeing that you were the only one who really worked around the house and took care of Prince, it made sense. 

With his wife around, his little “maids” are gonna have to actually do some housework and that’s where you come in.

“My wife will probably try to cut your pay but don’t worry, I’ll still top up your account and such. So what do you say princess?”

You remained quiet.

“I understand if you want to go,” Mr.Hara said quickly during your silence, sitting up and reaching for your hand, “but it would be a real help if you sta-”

“fine.” you whispered.

Relief washed over the unnecessarily attractive man and he was finally able to relax back down in his seat.

But just as he slouched back down, you swiftly jumped up.

“But if she’s a bitch then I want extra,” you argue.

Mr.Hara immediately laughed at this and dragged you into his lap once more,

 “Well I guess I’ll be paying you extra princess.”

*   *  *

The next day, just as he had promised, Mrs.Hara arrived.

She had long manicured nails and shiny jewelry to match. Her silky dark hair rested by her slim waist adorned with an expensive diamond clip. She looked a tad younger than Mr.Hara himself but her stare was just as intimidating.

The minute she stepped through the door, the whole atmosphere changed drastically and it was plain as day that their relationship hadn’t a single drop of romance.

You wondered if it arranged for connections or convenience or something like that but then again, that ain’t none of your business.

"Welcome home," Mr Hara stated plainly.

“Mm thanks" she boredly replied.

She huffed while taking off her brown fur coat, to which he makes no effort to assist and you laughed to yourself at the thought of how eager he is to remove other women’s clothing.

"Where's Rosalina? I need a massage."

"Actually…” Mr.Hara began, “Ms.Rosalina was getting a little old and had served us well for years so I let her go." 

Mrs.Hara glared at him.

He then grabbed your shoulders and presented you in front of her.

"This is Y/N L/N, our new maid" 

The terrifying woman finally acknowledged your presence.

She eyed you up and down and up and down.

The sass in you was aching to do the same to her and turn up your nose, but u suppressed to urge. 

"Hm," she finally says, "at least she looks the part."

TF SHE MEAN BY THAT?!?!

"Ok Y/N, I'm not comfortable with you touching me just yet, so fix up a plate for me quickly, I'm starving. I don't care what it is." 

"Ok," you said ready to walk off.

"Oh and one more thing....its Yes Mrs.Hara"

As you strolled passed Mr.Hara to slip into the kitchen, you quickly tapped his shoulder and whispered, "Remember. Extra."

* * *

It had been a little over 2 months since Mrs.Hara's arrival and you were balancing working at the house and the daycare pretty well.

When you finally arrived at the mansion one Friday to complete your evening work, you immediately noticed a missing luxury car from the massive driveway.

"Mrs.Hara," you spoke, "should i prepare the dinner table for you and your husband now or will he be out a bit later?"

She straightened up from her lounging position on the couch and looked up from her phone to face you.

"Oh yeah, about that. I kicked him out." 

Huh?

Your soul left your body.

Fly high y/n 🕊

"W-what do you mean you kicked him out?" You damn near shouted. Your voice laced with desperation and your eyes wide and shaky.

Mr.Hara was the only reason you kept this job, the only thing getting you through this job!

She turned to you with a raised brow, confused as to why this would bother you so much.

"I caught the old dirtbag sleeping around so I kicked him out," she explained calmly.

 "Frankly I knew he always had other girls in our bed and I was with other men," she laughed, "but I got tired of it, you know, so I kicked him out." 

You felt sick.

"P-please excuse me," you mutter.

Mrs.Hara only gave you a small nod before plugging back in her earbuds and turning to her phone.

You dashed towards your small chambers and immediately took out yours.

"Please pick up! Please pick up! Please pick up!" You chanted into the device as it rang.

The number you have dialed is unavailable. Please tr-

Fuck...

“Come on you dirty bastard! Pick up! Pick up!”

The number you have dialed is unavailabl-

FUCK!!

You probably tried to call Mr.Hara’s phone at least 74 times that evening and each time there was no answer. 

You didn't have anyone to ask for a possible new number.

The extra cash suddenly stopped being deposited into your account 

And honestly, now you were just tired.

Rumour has it that he left everything behind to go live his best life in the tropical paradise of Jamaica soaking up the sun, sand and sea and fully enjoying the Caribbean girls and culture. 

You laughed to yourself as you thought about all these bizarre events that took place throughout the year and landed you where you are now.

All you could do was laugh at this point.

You looked back at the list Mrs.Hara had left on the table for you this morning, mentally ticking off "Make Lemonade" as you placed the 2 jugs in the large refrigerator.

"Ok y/n," you said to yourself, "time for the cupcakes! Ouuu Prince is gonna love these!" 

As you zoomed through the kitchen, as busy as a bee, Bakugou was on the other side of town casually strolling through the hotel you had left just hours before.

“Did you enjoy your stay, Ground Zero?” asked the polite lobby boy as he opened the large glass door for the hero.

“Yeah Yeah Whatever,” Bakugou grumbled while pulling up his dark sunglasses.

But he was in a better mood than most days and was feeling generous. 

Before he slipped through the door, he stopped and pulled out his wallet, “And uh, here’s a tip- WHAT THE FUCK?!”

Lobby boy: 👁👄👁

“WHERE TF IS MY MONEY?!”

“Umm sir...we’re gonna need you to lower your voi-”

“STFU and take this,” Bakugou yelled while shoving a $20 bill into the boy's hand.

The boy went on to thank the Pro Hero but Bakugou was already storming out the door and throwing himself into his car.

“I’m sure I had a few other hundred bucks in here, where the fuc-……...THAT BITCH!”

It all finally came back to him.

“THAT SNEAKY FUCKING BITCH! Ohhhh when I get my hands on the slu-”

*Brrrrr Brrrrr*

Bakugou continued to curse under his breath as he aggressively shifted around in the car to grab his phone from his back pocket, “Tch. What is it shittyhair?!”

“Hey Man!” Kirishima chirped, “Just reminding you about the kid’s birthday party today.”

“HAH?! The fuck you talking about? It’s my day off!”

“Uh well no, not really. You agreed to show up for the kid’s party today at 4, remember?”

Bakugou finally took a glance at the notifications on his phone, revealing the 20+ reminders from his assistant and notes in his calendar. 

Oh yea this shit to make him lOoK bEttEr iN tHe pUbLic eYE.

“AGHHH!! Fine...I’m on my way. I just need to go home and grab my costume.”

“You’re not at home?”.

“No shittyhair, I’m at a hotel.”

“What are you doing at a hote- OHHH!” Bakugou could practically hear Kiri’s smirk through the phone, “so you finallyyy got laid, huh?”

“Shut the hell up! It hasn’t been that long shittyface!”

“Its shittyhai-”

“WHATEVERTHEFUCK”

“Haha alright man,” Kiri laughed, “Just hurry up ok? I’m pulling up now and these people are LOADED!”

Bakugou started up his car and put Kirishima on speaker as he began to drive.

“Yeah ok whatever, just send the address.”

“Alright man, will do…...wait, HOLY SHIT Bro!”

“What is it?!” Bakugou barked.

“Aye man, make sure you dress well! The maid setting up here is SMOKING HO-”

*Beep* Call Ended

“Tch. Fucking dumbass…”

A/N: wheww what a piece of drama! Sorry if this seemed rushed, I really wanted to get the backstory out there, without taking away from the main plot 😅 Thanks for all the support, sorry for the wait but sit back, things are gonna get heated🤪

Taglist:

@jazzylove @blkirishima @lovinthesiz3 @lasnaro @starrylustrousastraea @thanx-idonttry

[project-rosewood-476]

Every Rose Has Its Thorns Chapter 4

After months of planning and organizing, I am done with this chapter. I am on a roll today

TW: Homicide, mentions of blood

Summary: This is the aftermath of what happened to Tabby at the end of chapter 3 when she killed those parents. Tabby struggles to come to terms with what she did, her emotions, and what she has done in her past. Will she overcome her inner demons and rise above to make peace and amends? Or will she continue to make mistakes that will send her spiraling down the rabbit hole of despair?

After a while, Tabby just stopped and stood up. She calmed down enough to scratch her ears as they were rashy from anger. She just stood there in shock, unblinking. She couldn’t believe what she’s done. She had blood splatters everywhere on her. At least with her jacket, they blended in. If she just zipped up, she could hide her white shirt, clean her glasses and pass off the bloodstains as something else on her pants and shoes.

Masky and Hoodie had grabbed the kids while Tabby was stabbing their father. The little boy was shrieking and struggling against Hoodie, who was being forceful and was in the process of tying up his hands. Masky took a gentler approach with the little girl. He had covered her eyes so she didn't see the scene, and he was in the process of leading her outside. The girl didn't struggle, probably out of shock and fear. Masky was talking to her quietly. Toby heard his assurances that they weren't going to hurt them and that he wouldn't tie her wrists if she just cooperated. In Toby's opinion, the little girl was acting in a much more intelligent fashion. He held the shy-looking baby in his arms. She was pretty cute and had settled down. She was looking up at him, reaching for his goggles curiously. He saw the baby had her name embroidered on her little onesie. The baby's name was Stephanie. Toby glanced around for clues about the kids’ names, and his eyes fell on a crayon drawing of the family. Two stick figures are called Mommy and Daddy. A slightly taller one called Ty. That must be the boy—a stick figure called "Me" and then a circle that was probably the baby. Audrey, age 4, had signed the little kid’s drawing. The little girl probably drew when she was younger. He then remembered that he needed to find the files.

Tabby just still stood there in shock. Her wide eyes were unblinking, and you could tell she wasn't there mentally anymore.

Toby went and tapped her shoulder while holding the baby in one arm.

"Tabby...".

Tabby wobbled her head over at him.

"Yes?..." she stated slowly and emptily. Her eyes were vacant, showing that she retreated further back into her head.

"Let me find the files, and we'll go, okay?" Toby stated calmly. The baby made a slight bubbling noise in his arms.

"Okay..." she stated in the same slow empty voice.

Toby soon found the files and took them. They weren't hidden very well, which made his blood boil. She followed him around, but she still kept that vacant look. She blinked now and then, but it was still unsettling to those who knew Tabby well. Toby was sure she'd be okay later. He just wanted to get this mission done first. It should be fast. Masky was probably contacting their boss so that he could make a temporary portal for them. Usually, Tabby would say something to ease the situation or complain, but this made her deathly quiet. Almost like a broken quiet. She just stared blankly straight ahead.

Toby went outside. It was pretty dark out now. Hoodie was still holding onto Ty, who looked very uncomfortable in his binds. Audrey was sitting by a tree and shaking, almost as if she knew she couldn't escape. Masky was seated nearby. They looked as though they were waiting for the portal to open. It was pretty dark out now. Toby knew that he would snap her out of it later; he tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

"Tabby...It's time to go, okay? Are you alright?"

Tabby nodded her head slowly in acknowledgment that it was time to go.

She wobbled her head towards him again, looking at him with unblinking eyes.

"....fine..." She started slowly in that same empty voice. She continued to walk towards the rest of the group.

Masky had the girl by the hand. Hoodie had tied up the boy and draped him over his shoulder. Toby held the baby and the files. Tabby stayed silent. She was strangely obedient, which was out of character for her. She waited for the next move. Masky turned and began to lead them back through the woods. Hoodie was glad that Tabby was quiet now. Toby was keeping the baby entertained. Tabby continued to move through the woods on autopilot. She just stared ahead, blinking occasionally. She wondered what the kids thought of her or what they'll think of her later on once they processed the whole situation. Once again, her stepdad’s words came back to her.

"All you ever do is ruin people's lives. All you ever do is hurt those around you. You're a monster and bad influence everyone is better off without you being around".

Those were constant thoughts that ran through the chaotic warfare that was her head. On top of the main idea of " how does it feel to know that he was right about you all along?"

She just let the ideas overcome her as she had that blank look of defeat to her.

Toby walked near her. They had to walk for a long while until they could get to the boss. The kids were quiet, thankfully. The baby in his arms made small noises up at him and Tabby.

Tabby was slowly coming to; at least she was more aware of her surroundings and blinking more. She didn't have that blank unsettling look to her anymore. But it was evident that she looked and felt like shit. She still had a glimpse of defeat and was more of a broken quiet.

Toby could tell she wasn't doing well. He figured she probably remembered something. He wondered if there was a way to cheer her up. She looked over at Toby and gave him a small reassuring smile, but it was fake. She then looked away since she's a horrible liar. She would try to explain it to him later.

Toby understood. The kids were surprisingly quiet. Masky was even being kind to the little girl and just talking about where they were going.

Tabby was a broken kind of quiet, but she was looking around at her surroundings more and more. She looked over at Masky being nice to the girl. Although he did try to kill her twice, and she wouldn't forget that. He sort of reminded her of a loose guiding father figure that she didn't have. She then looked at Hoodie, who was in front of them with the boy. However, she hated him and also tried to kill her twice. She sighed. She knew that they were never going to see eye to eye, and there were probably more arguments to come that she didn't know if she would win or not.

However new she was in this line of work, she understood how a team is supposed to work. Whether she liked it or not, she was part of a new team now. And their team can't work if they're constantly arguing and going at each other's throats always. Sooner or later, they were going to have to reach some sort of compromise. She just didn't know precisely how to go about that. She looked back at Toby with the baby in his arms. It was a pretty sight. She sincerely hopes that the baby would be alright. In a way, she was kind of reminded of how a tiny family would be with Toby as the father and her as the mother and the baby as their kid. She shook her head and looked away and scolded herself for having such thoughts about a happy long-term future. She took this second chance for one thing and one thing and one thing only. To get her revenge and avenge her friends. Nothing more and nothing less. As far as she was concerned, they were all just a means to an end, and she didn't care how much she had to kill to achieve her goal, and no one was going to get in her way.

Still...

The walk was short but felt much longer. They seemed to have passed through some sort of barrier. The proxies were okay, but the human children began coughing, shaking, and slightly seizing. The baby started to wail. Tabby looked dazed and confused as they passed through the barrier but was quickly able to snap out of it somewhat. Tim had to pick up the girl. Soon they recovered from this affliction, however, and they approached a large mansion. It was beautiful but had an eerie aura. Tabby felt terrible for the kids and had to restrain herself from helping them having older siblings and mother instincts herself. But she couldn't afford to show any signs of vulnerability. She was still in shock but not as bad as before. She put her hood up, kept her head down and her hands in her pockets.

The two older men ignored her, but Toby scanned her body language to see if she needed help. Tabby was grateful that she wasn't called out on her shit. She knew that she would have to explain herself later when they were more alone, and everything calmed down. Masky was talking to the girl he was holding in a comforting way. Toby was a little unnerved by it, as that was how he spoke to the children that he would kill. One thing Toby liked about Masky was that he always went a little softer on the kids. But he would still kill them. Hoodie simply told the boy who was whimpering to shut up. The mansion loomed as they approached. Someone was on the porch. He recognized the maid garb that his boss used and identified the figure as a maid. One of the dishonored proxies is working their way back into the boss' favor. Tabby saw the person cleaning furiously. She made the logical conclusion that the person was a maid of some sort. She prayed silently that the kids would be alright for the most part and that she did a good enough job so she wouldn't talk too much. Her anxiety was back up, and she was fidgeting with the bottom of her shirt again.

As soon as they entered the mansion, the two older proxies stopped and froze. Almost as if they had entered a trance. When they snapped out of it, they turned to Tabby and Toby.

"Follow us." They said in unison.

Tabby nodded and looked down. She was still quiet, but she mostly snapped out of her shock. Toby was used to this type of stuff. It just meant the boss had been talking to them. They got like that. Masky and Hoodie led Tabby and Toby down a large marble hallway. Many portraits were hung on the walls of different people in different periods. There were a lot of them. Toby stared. This was essentially Slenderman's wall of fame, of proxies who served him exceptionally well. Masky had told him that the being would paint these himself. The hallway was long and filled with these portraits. Toby knew Masky was up there. He wanted to be up there, too, someday.

Tabby nodded and looked down. She was still quiet, but she mostly snapped out of her shock. Tabby looked up at the wall of portraits. They were impressively well done. This was some artistic skill that not even Autumn could achieve. They made her take her mind off of her anxiety for a few brief minutes. Soon they came to a large, heavy wooden door. Masky had to set the child down to open it. He paused, seeming to listen before he turned to Hoodie.

"The boss would like to speak with you in private, but for now, stay out here with the children."

Hoodie nodded, his emotions undetectable during his mask. He set the boy down rather roughly on the marble floors and ordered the girl to sit next to him, which she did fearfully. Hoodie took the baby from Toby, then moved to let the pair follow Masky into the room. Tabby kept her neutral expression. There was no room for emotions or vulnerability here. She straightened out her shirt. She held her head up to maintain eye contact and stood up straight as she walked resolutely into the room. She just hoped that she wouldn't get talked to too much as she didn't trust how her voice would sound. Toby walked with her into the office. Tabby entered cautiously as she did so when entering any room. It was dark and spacious. A fire roared in a fireplace. Pictures of various scenes from history and nature were on the walls, painted as well.

A strange, ancient-looking black tubular object was bolted to the wall in the corner. A low hum came from it, but it was not the hum of machinery. It was some sinister machination. She noticed the machinery and snuck a few curious glances as curiosity was one of her downfalls. She strained her ears to listen to the hum as she was used to dark, sinister energy since she went to Rosewood. Masky didn't look at it, and Toby felt too uncomfortable to do so. The boss was sitting in an armchair behind a desk, his hands folded in plain view. His gaze seemed to pierce the group as they entered. She quickly disciplined herself to focus her gaze back to the situation at hand and kneeling. Toby and Masky kneeled too. Tabby gave yet another silent prayer that the kids would be alright and that she would be too.

"I see you all have completed your mission." The being spoke. His voice echoed through all of their ears.

Masky still knelt.

"Yes, Operator. The children are in the hallway like you asked." He spoke.

The Slenderman hummed softly.

"Have Hoodie bring in the baby when you all leave. The two groups that have agreed to take the human children are in the mansion. You should have no issues sensing them, Masky. And Toby, you have the files?"

Toby nodded and held them out to his boss, who took them.

"Excellent."

The being hummed. He turned to Tabby.

"And you made sure the humans were dead?".

Tabby looked up when she was spoken to, but she said swift.

"Yes, sir, they were most certainly dead," as you could tell by her dirtied bandaged hand that was covered in dirt and dried blood. On top of some on her cheek and splattered across her red plaid jacket and white shirt.

She looked back down. The being nodded slowly.

"Very well. You all may go. Bring the two older children to their groups and send Hoodie in with the baby." He waved his tentacles to dismiss them.

"Yes, sir"

She quickly walked out of the room with Masky and Toby trailing behind. Masky sent Hoodie into the room with the baby and untied the boy to walk on his own. He helped the two kids up. Tabby looked everywhere but the kids. She knew that she would have cast them a pitying look, and there was no place for that here. To her, it's best if they learned now and fast that they would have to save themselves from surviving. She had to push down her parental/older sibling instincts.

She looked down with a guilty look. Wasn't that what she was teaching her little brother? When she left him. That to survive, you have to save yourself? Tabby justified it as a form of tough love. And she had to take care of herself first to provide for him. One of the reasons she took this second chance was to provide Adam the best life he could have when he gets old enough to do so. She would gladly kill without a second thought if that meant avenging her friends and providing and keep her little brother safe. Hell, she'll kill anyone else that gets in her way. She wasn't going to be around forever; he would have to learn how to fend for himself eventually, and she was a firm believer that it's best to teach them young while they're still able to learn quickly.

Still, she couldn't help but feel guilty for what she did.

Toby didn’t want to look at the kids because he didn't know if they were crying or not. He hated crying. Especially kid crying. They soon got to another set of doors, which Tim opened. Three proxies were lounging on a sofa and laughing, but they turned when they saw the door open.

"Oh, hey, Masky! You brought the boy?" The leader of the group asked.

Masky nodded and said with a chipper note in his voice.

"Sure did! Here he is."

He gently nudged the boy to the group. His little sister let out a whimper, which Toby quickly shushed. Tabby continued to look down and say nothing.

"Pay no mind to the kids, pay no mind to the kids, pay no mind to the kids,” she chanted over and over again. She hoped that this would be over soon and hoped that she would continue to be ignored and not have too much social interaction. The boy was welcomed into the group with open arms. Usually, new groupmates would get new proxy names, basically as a sort of initiation. It was the group giving them a new identity. Already the new group began discussing new names for the kid. One of the members, a woman, moved so he could sit next to her.

"Hey, little buddy- no no, don't cry, don't cry, we're not going to hurt you. We're your new team. We're going to train you."

Masky took this as his cue to leave and lead the others out of the room. He closed the door behind them all. The little girl was trembling again, so Masky picked her up.

Tabby looked back at the group with a look of nostalgia and sadness. They reminded her of when she was first accepted into her friend group at Rosewood. They welcomed her and took her for what she was with open arms. She never had that before then. The group that would become her family. The group that she became the leader of. The group that taught her what love, happiness, home, understanding, and acceptance were. She looked away and ran to catch up with the other two. Now it was just her. The sole survivor. She knew that she would never get all of that again unless she made a home for herself, and she knew damn well that she didn't belong in this new group or this world. Well, she didn't belong anywhere, really but especially not here. She was lucky enough to have all of that once. She firmly believes that it will never happen again. They soon walked through the silent hallway to another room, where an all-female group was waiting. Masky set the child down in front of them. One of them, a pretty woman with long red hair, scooped the little girl up gently. The girl looked at the woman with soft eyes. She reminded the child of her mother. One of the team members scoffed at the softness.

"Aurelia, the child needs to begin her training instantly if she is to ever be of use-"

"Shut up, Laura." The woman snapped at the short girl with the blonde pixie cut.

"Not tonight. We can start training tomorrow. Right now, she needs rest and comfort. For now, she can have it."

Tabby looked at the red-haired woman like she was about to cry. She reminded her of an older, more adult version of Autumn if she were to have lived that long. Tabby remembered crying and being comforted by Autumn when she first met her outside of Rosewoods gates. Laura reminded her of herself when a newcomer was welcomed into her group. Autumn ensured that she would take it easy on the new kid before drilling them about surviving Rosewood. She looked down to control her tears. Thank god she was able to hold them back. Aurelia wrapped her arms around the young girl and held her to her chest.

"We're going to take you to your new home, okay, sweetheart? You're going to be okay. We'll take care of you. Come on; you have your room."

Masky moved so the group could leave. The little girl clung to Aurelia like she was a lifesaver. Tabby looked back at the group and then at Masky to study him a little. She was a leader once, and her group did well. Maybe once she got herself established and a home, perhaps she'll have a group of her own again, and maybe she could go back to the way she once was; she shook her head and looked away and chastised herself for thinking such hopeful thoughts. She took this life for one main reason to fulfill her promises. That was her only mission, and she'll kill whomever she has to to get one step closer to her end goal. After that, she was planning on dying. She'll have someone else kill her. She didn't plan on being here for long. She believed that this was a one-way mission and that there was no promising future for her. Good things don't happen to people like her.

Masky watched the other group leave. He sighed, then readjusted his mask.

"Well, now that that's done, are you all hungry? Want something to eat or something? We have a lot of walking to do later, so we might as well fuel up while we can."

They also needed to wait for Hoodie anyways before they could meet up with EJ. The boss always had little "chats" with Hoodie alone, and he wouldn't even tell Masky what they were about. Tabby shook her head no. She didn't trust herself to keep any food down for right now.

"I'm not hungry, right, but I could use another coffee" she rubbed her face. You could tell that she was dead exhausted.

Masky shrugged. That worked for him.

"Great. I'll tell EJ to meet us at the cafe nearby." He stated. They had sandwiches there that the rest of them could eat.

Tabby nodded

"Cool," she stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say or do next. She avoided eye contact with everyone else.

Masky stepped out to contact EJ. They were still waiting for Hoodie to return. Toby glanced at Tabby. They were alone together for a bit.

"Hey...Tabby..."

Tabby snapped her head up, and when she did, her neck made a loud crack. She winced at the sudden pain that faded away quickly.

"Yeah?"

Toby smiled gently at her.

"Uh...just wanted to make sure you have no questions or anything."

"No. I'm good." She stated quickly, giving him a reassuring smile.

She paused for a minute.

"Do...you have any questions for me?"

"Oh...er, maybe." Toby smiled slightly. "Mainly just...how are you feeling?"

"I feel fine, I guess. Mainly tired, but that's due to insomnia and narcolepsy. Anything else?"

"No, no, that's it," Toby said with a bit of a smile.

Tabby raised an eyebrow.

"You sure?"

Toby paused for a minute. No, he wasn’t sure. He had so many questions for her, such as what the hell happened back there? She just went all ballistic and then just blacked out. Not to mention her shocked state was just creepy and unsettling as fuck. He also took notice of her trying to restrain herself from helping the kids. Did she naturally have that instinct? Did she have any younger siblings that made her like that? Or for all he knows, maybe her own child that she left behind? He knew that Tabby was lying when she said that she was fine. She wasn’t fine; obviously, something happened to her in her past that made her so bothered about this. However, he knew that this wasn’t the best place or time to confront her about all of that. He would have to wait until the time was right.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Toby said.

Masky soon came back into the room, and they were quick, joined by Hoodie. Tabby became quiet and looked back down, avoiding eye contact with any of them. Masky nodded.

"It's time to go. We'll meet EJ at the coffee shop." He stated calmly.

Hoodie was silent. Toby wondered if he was okay. Tabby nodded and followed the rest. She kept her head down, hands in her pocket, and prayed that others wouldn't speak to her. Masky and Hoodie had no intention of talking to her. Hoodie was still a little annoyed with her. Masky didn't want to start anything. Tabby kept to herself. God, she was so tired. Usually, she'd take this week and go into a coma. But this was one of those times where she couldn't just sleep the week away. But she had a backup plan for that. Normally she'd just run on coffee and monster energy, and then she'd fall asleep wherever when she had the free time. All that caffeine isn't good for her anxiety or paranoia, but it keeps her awake long enough to take care of what she needs to for the day, and it beats collapsing where you are and being vulnerable. The walk to the coffee shop was short and uneventful. It was right next to a portal into the human world. Toby was a little excited. They entered the shop and got accosted by the smell of roasted coffee beans and warm air. It was pleasant. The girl behind the bar was a monster/human hybrid. She just had that look about her. Still. Very nice-looking. Masky looked at Toby and chuckled. He knew that Toby used to have a thing for her. Maybe it still did. Tabby looked at the girl, then at Masky, then at Toby. Whatever it was about, she didn't like it. Then again, she doesn't like anybody or anything. She waited to be seated. Toby was smiling at the girl.

"Hey, Leona!" He said to the girl behind the counter. She was beautiful. Short, with long curly brown hair and a peachy complexion. One eye was bright blue. The other side of her face was warped, along with that side of her body. That all added just a bit of charm to her.

"Hiya Tobes! Your usual caramel chocolate mocha?" Leona asked.

He nodded. Masky ordered an espresso and a sandwich. Hoodie got a black coffee and a croissant egg sandwich. Tabby ordered a regular coffee with lots of cream and sugar. Almost enough to make it diabetic. Leona smiled at her.

"Gotcha!" She chirped.

She turned to help make the coffee. Her coworker is a shy-looking girl with a dark complexion and vines growing on her legs and arms. She had twists in her hair, which she braided flowers into.

"Nalia, can you help me with the last two?" It wasn't busy at all.

Tabby kept her bandaged hand hidden in her sleeve to avoid blatant staring and people asking questions. She looked down and kept quiet. It was probably best that she'd only speak when spoken to. She would have gotten something to eat, but she didn't trust that she would keep anything down. Right now, she just needed something to stay awake. Leona handed Toby his coffee with a bright smile. Toby flushed a little. Nalia chuckled to herself and gave Tabby her coffee.

"There you are."

"Thank you," she said curtly but gave a small smile.

Her mom always taught her to be nice to the servers. Tabby sipped on her coffee. A serene smile appeared as she closed her eyes for a brief minute.

Toby was still chatting with Leona. Masky soon got his drink and was sitting it. Hoodie was waiting for his still. Tabby kept quiet, getting lost in her coffee. Tabby really couldn't complain much. If she miraculously saw one of her old friends again, she would do the same thing too. After all, Toby had just met her three days ago. He has had an entire life without her and she without him. In reality, neither of them was special to each other. Still, she didn’t understand or know why or what she was feeling. The best way she could explain it was that she didn’t like seeing him talking to other girls, it made her angry, and her stomach hurt for some unknown reason. She just brushed it off and tried to ignore it. Toby and Leona chatted for a while before Toby went to go sit down by Tabby. Hoodie got his coffee and was sipping it. Tim had finished his and was talking with the other barista. Tabby finished her coffee and was slightly upset that it was gone as she couldn't have any more caffeine since that would send her into an anxiety attack, and if that were left unchecked, it would send her into a paranoid episode.

Soon Hoodie and Masky joined them at the table. They could stay here for a bit before meeting EJ and doing the long walk to get to where they needed to be. Tabby was resting her cheek in her good hand as she struggled to keep awake despite the coffee. But she was determined not to fall asleep as she didn't want to be vulnerable as she was surrounded by three men who could potentially kill her at any minute. Hoodie and Masky talked amongst themselves. Toby glanced at Tabby.

"You good?".

"Well, aside from losing everything I knew in one fell swoop, losing my hand, spending my entire life trying to prove my stepdad that he was wrong only to prove him right today and the fact that It’s narcolepsy week for me and I can't sleep. Yeah, I'm good" she gave a small smile. She figured that she owed him at least a little bit of honesty for right now until they were more alone, and then she would try to explain everything.

"Well, you should get some time to sleep for a few days because we need to get the paperwork done and new identities for that school," Toby stated.

"Normally, I'd go into a coma for the week and then go back to my insomniac self. Or if I were at Rosewood, I'd just sleep my way through classes."

"Well, I mean, you can definitely sleep in the classes. We don't need to pass or anything. Just blend in.".

Tabby gave him a smirk.

"I was a straight-A student at Rosewood. I think I'm too smart for their classes. Benefits of being a teacher’s pet."

"Well, this is a different school, so let's see if you can keep that up." Toby joked a little.

Tabby snorted.

"Please compared to Rosewood where the material was harder, and you got punished for anything lower than a C. On top of my stepdad drilling the lessons into me until I learned them and got punished at where I used to live if I didn't. Greengrove will be a child’s play".

"Well, we'll see." Toby chuckled.

Masky soon turned to them.

"We have to go now."

Tabby nodded and got up and waited for the rest. The rest of them got up and began to head to the door. Toby waved at Leona as they left. Once they met up with EJ in the human realm, they could drive to the house. Tabby followed them, keeping quiet. They walked outside into the chilly air. Toby was quiet. Masky was eating his sandwich. Tabby grumbled and pulled her jacket together tighter around her. The walk, thankfully, was going to be a short one. EJ was waiting for them in the human world with a van. The portal was very close. Tabby kept her head down and prayed that everyone would keep ignoring her. Tabby's anxiety was slightly raised as four strangers surrounded her could potentially kill her at any time, so it was an unfair fight of 4 against 1. EJ paid no mind to Tabby as the group arrived. To him, she wasn't all that beneficial yet. She would probably only work with him once anyways. Masky greeted EJ like an old friend as they loaded up into the car.Tabby took the passenger seat to her left. She buckled up and pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her cheek on her knees as she looked out the window. She wrapped her arms around her legs. EJ couldn't drive for, well, obvious reasons. Masky took his seat at the wheel, and Brian, Toby, and EJ took their places in the backseat. Toby couldn't technically drive, so he wasn't allowed to drive in human territory. Tabby's anxiety was picking up. To her, it was four against 1. You could tell that she was silently running scenarios through her head and coming up with the best escape plans for each. Just in case shit hit the fan. She was fidgeting with the bottom of her jacket to keep her from spiraling into an anxiety attack. Or worse, into a paranoia episode which they didn't need to see. Masky didn't notice and didn't even pay her any attention. He switched on the radio and turned it up. It was an upbeat country song. Hoodie scoffed from the back. Ugh. Toby yawned in the back. EJ was sorting things in a pack.

Tabby gave a slight smile and a stifled giggled. They honestly reminded her of herself and Autumn when they would both play the music they didn't like but put up with for each other. She also knew the song too. It was an older upbeat song. It brought back a memory of one summer's night when she was younger, driving around with her grandfather after a long day of fishing and her falling asleep in the backseat. Both memories and the slightly familiar situation brought a sense of comfort to her. She stopped fidgeting less. Masky jokingly crooned along to part of the song, making Hoodie groan. EJ smiled to himself. It was a pretty peaceful drive as well. Masky was a decent driver. Usually. He was speeding slightly but not much. The road was straight and long as well as nearly empty. Tabby finally broke character at Masky jokingly crooning along, and Hoodie groaning at him and gave out a laugh. It was a weird sound as she hasn't done it in a long time. She cleared her throat and quickly returned to being her dark, angsty, stoic self, almost embarrassed. Masky smiled, seeing that she found that amusing. He turned to Hoodie.

"She's on my side, see?"

"God, Tim, you are so childish sometimes."

"Kinda have to be with this job. Don't want to be a mopey grouch like you, Brian."

"Shut up." Hoodie retorted.

Toby chuckled at the conversation. Tabby was a little bit more relaxed. She still didn't trust any of them. But her anxiety was less, and she was a little more smiley after that. They honestly reminded her of her and her friends. That thought was comforting. For a brief moment, she forgot all about her past, rosewood, Horatio, that awful fight she got into, her friends being dead. She almost forgot that her life was turned upside down and the fact that she was a killer now and that she was in a car full of them. She gave a quick look to Masky. Maybe toby was right; perhaps she was a little short to judge and deserved a second chance. Maybe they all did. But then reality came and hit her like a ton of bricks. Her smile vanished, and she scolded herself for letting down her guard. She can't get too comfortable with them. They are killers; they could quickly kill her right here and now if they wanted to. They shouldn't be trusted. Besides, she didn't plan on being here for long. This was only temporary until she got what she wanted. She couldn't forget about her motivation and keeping her eye on the prize. Her past is all she has left. She remembered that she didn't have friends anymore. They're all dead, and these guys would never be them. But you could tell that she was more hurt than anything., Masky reminded her of what her stepdad used to be before he left and then came back and then turned into what he is now. It just made her think about what could have been and knowing that she can never get that back. She went back to being her regular hurt self.

The men didn't seem to see her change in mood. Masky glanced in the rearview mirror.

"You excited to be in a school setting again?" He asked the grouchy proxy.

"Oh god, don't tell me I'm supposed to be going back too. I do not pass for some kid-"

"Nooo, we're not. Uh..." Masky looked like he was debating what he was about to say.

"Our aliases are technically married, so we get to pretend like we're Toby and Tabby's parents."

"Oooh, my FUCKING god. Was that Jeff's idea? I'm going to knock his fucking teeth in."

"No, it was BEN's."

"That piece of shit," Hoodie muttered under his breath.

Toby laughed. "I mean...that's kind of what you both are-"

"Shut the fuck up, Rodgers." Hoodie snapped.

Masky stopped any potential fights from erupting by turning to look at the two.

"Knock it off, you guys. Seriously."

Tabby muttered under her breath,

"Y'all not my parents don't tell me what to do."

Masky overheard her and busted out laughing. Hoodie just looked annoyed and looked out the window. Toby chuckled as well. EJ was ignoring the commotion and sorting some things in a bag. He was so quiet it would be easy to forget he was in there.

Tabby looked at Masky defensively and narrowed her eyes. She sat more in a defensive, protective position.

"What's so funny?"

She looked almost offended.

"You," Masky said. He continued driving. "You sound juuust like Hoodie does. He's rubbing off on you."

Hoodie and Tabby looked at each other pissed off and horrified, “WE DON’T SOUND ALIKE!”

"Theeen, stop acting like each other," Masky said, utterly unbothered by them acting like a child.

He continued driving. Toby sighed and picked up a magazine to read. EJ finally looked up at the rest of them.

“Jesus, I haven’t been in a public school in eight years,” said Tabby to herself in realization

“Still, it would be nice to be back in familiar territory again,” she said quietly more to herself.

Tabby got a little more excited as they reached town. Tabby bolted up, sitting straight and looking out the window, happy to be back in familiar territory. She looked at all the shops and houses at restaurants. They even passed by her old workplace at the This or That restaurant. It wasn't a bad town. Yes, there were bad parts, but the only places she hated were Rosewood prep and her old apartment. And now that she wasn't under her stepdad’s thumb. She didn't have to sneak out to do usual teenage shit, and she could go out whenever she wanted to. The thought of all that newfound freedom was making her buzz with excitement. The only thing that sucked was that she didn't have anyone to share that with.

The town was an array of stuff. Up north in the town of Holy Ann was more of a rural area and where the only bus stop was. It was where Tabby's grandparents lived up on the hill in their birch-colored house. Tabby used to spend her summers up there when her mom wanted a break from her. We have the main Town of Maplehood Creek. Uptown was where the poor and bad areas were; Tabby lived in their gray and yellow apartment complex. Downtown was where the businesses were, rich people and Rosewood Prep was. The best place to trick r treating was downtown. And in the back roads was more of a quiet place to live, and that's where her uncle mark lived. Tabby knows the town inside out. She can use the backroads and the underground catacombs under the town and Rosewood Prep. She thought it would be nice to have someone to share that knowledge with.

The town was relatively quiet. Other cars were passing by, and you could hear the sound of children playing and people talking. It was a brisk November afternoon, but Tabby didn't mind the cold air. The streets varied with houses and apartments and neat little shops and restaurants. Very few of the trees still had their leaves on. Honestly, it would be a good and quiet town to settle down and live in if it wasn't for the slums and Rosewood Prep and the odd killings and disappearances that happened in town.

They passed Maplehood Creek cemetery. Tabby's mood drastically changed from happy and excited to quiet and sad and dead on the inside. She looked away, not wanting to remember that the only form of family was buried there. And the fact that near the cemetery there was a sign saying ROSEWOOD PREPARATORY SCHOOL MASSACRE SECTION TO YOUR LEFT AND CIRCLED IN THE ENCLOSURE did not help at all.

Hoodie was looking over a map from the back. Masky was looking for the house that they had attained. It should have been close to the school they were infiltrating. Hoodie was giving him directions from the back. EJ just sat still in deep thought. Eventually, they pulled up to a cozy blue house. Masky could see the Operator symbol posted in the window. That was their signal. He pulled into the driveway. It was a lovely house and comfortable. Had four rooms, but Masky and Hoodie could share. EJ had already claimed the room in the basement, so the others chose the upstairs rooms.

Tabby gave out a small whistle.

"This is so much nicer than my old apartment. It’s an actual house. I never lived in an actual house before. Then again, we're in the middle-class part of Maplehood, so that's why."

Masky chuckled.

"Yeah, we had some strings pulled, so we got a place that had multiple rooms and whatnot. Seeing as SOME of us-" He glanced in the rearview mirror at EJ. "need our space every waking moment of the day."

Tabby nodded

“I relate. I like being alone. I don't blame him. I hate any involuntary social interaction. Actually no. I just hate socializing in general.”

"Good thing you get your room too. We couldn't get individual rooms for everyone, so Hoods and I will share."

"I figured you wouldn’t want to watch me eat," EJ stated.

"Yeah, I'm SURE that was the only reason." Masky teased back, making Toby giggle.

Masky parked the car. He could see that no one was out and about. He unbuckled his seatbelt and went to get out. Shuffling from the back revealed that the others were moving to get out as well. Tabby bolted out and went to the door before smacking into it by accident and realizing that its locked. Hoodie chuckled a little unkindly. Masky sighed and shook his head. EJ stepped over her with the key in his hand and unlocked the door. Without a word, he went inside. Tabby glared at Hoodie, ready to attempt to beat his ass but decided against it, considering that she wasn't the one to make the first move in a fight. She walked in after EJ taking in her surroundings. The house was a nice, spacious place with a wood floor and white walls. It was a clear shot from the living room to the kitchen, which was clean: a rug and sitting area with a television and a coffee table and a double-sided fireplace. Off to the left, stairs were leading up, and next to them was a door that presumably led down the stairs. An open door off to the side led to a laundry room and then a bathroom. It was a rather lovely place. The only hint as to what happened to previous residents was a tiny speckle of blood on one of the rugs.

"This...is nice… it’s much more spacious than my run-down three-bedroom apartment that had paper-thin walls and constant drug busts next door.”

Tabby nodded thoughtfully and left it at that before running up the stairs excitedly, almost tripping over herself to go check out the rooms.

The others brought in their items. EJ, along with his somewhat mysterious and odd-smelling bag, came out to help with the rest. Hoodie looked more interested in settling in than exploring. It was unclear how Masky felt. EJ was mainly trying to get everything inside.

Tabby went to explore the rooms. There were four rooms upstairs, two next to each other and one at each end of the hall on top of two bathrooms. Tabby took the one that was smack in the middle and took a look around. It was spacious.

EJ entered the basement and closed the door behind him. Toby took one off to the side, and Hoodie and Masky took the enormous bedroom. It fitted, as they worked very closely together and were secretive little shits. Toby didn't have much to set up.

Tabby was speedy in unpacking as she didn't have much either she put her clothes and necessities away and hung up her pictures and Autumn’s sketches. She stood back to admire her work. Toby spent time going over his background and starting his research into some of the students they may encounter. He wanted to be able to cement his alibi by making friends. She wrote down a set of rules as she didn't like or trust any of them. And didn't want to interact with them more than she had to. That and she was antisocial as fuck.

1) only come to me if there’s an emergency

2) only come to me if you want something cleared up

3) don't talk to me unless its about food

4) don't talk to me unless you have essential information to share about the group or mission as a whole

Tabby taped it up on her front door where everyone can see and know what to expect. She then decided to go over her alibi too. She was good at remembering shit. She chuckled at her new name. "Karma," it read. She wondered if it was a coincidence or did someone that put this together knew her and her legacy at Rosewood. It didn't matter anyway. She began to do some research on her own.

Some of the kids were more public online. Some were not. Toby noted a few who seemed to be easy to get along with. He figured he could find some. He could see some pretty clear friend groups, but he didn't see that many cliques, unlike most schools. That was good. Those were obnoxious. He still wasn't sure what the mission was, exactly. He knew that it was a mission to capture someone, but he didn't know who or why.

Tabby decided that it was best to stick to what she was good at. Being a teacher’s pet, fighting and spying. She would rather avoid any unnecessary socialization if possible.

Toby knew he didn't have that option. As much as he didn't like socializing with people, he had to do it to coax out any information he needed. He wasn't afraid to break a few bones, of course, but he would prefer not to.

Tabby planned to stay in her room at all times unless someone was making dinner because she would have to watch. Or unless it was important information about the mission or if she was physically forced to socialize with the rest of the boys.

Toby glanced out of the window. The sun was high in the sky. It was hot out. Or at least it looked it. He could hear Masky and Hoodie unpacking in another room and EJ shuffling around downstairs. He could see a few people outside. It seemed just normal.

Tabby didn't realize how lonely she was. Everything was so different now that she lost all of her friends. It was evident that Masky and Hoodie were thick as thieves despite how strained their relationship was like her and Autumn. Toby could fit in with just anyone and EJ...well...she was pretty sure that he could make his way around if he had to. Tabby knew that she was an outsider, nor did she belong. Hell, she never belonged anywhere growing up. But this was the first time that it sunk in. She let out a quiet whimper before shaking her head and standing up straight. What was she thinking? She knew that she wouldn’t have friends here with them of all people. She couldn't. It was her against them. 4 against 1. She knew that she didn't belong and that she never will. That's not what she was there for. She was there for one thing and one thing only. To take out Horatio once and for all. Tabby sat on her bed, finally being allowed the quietness to process just everything that happened to her so far. Now that Tabby took this second chance at life, she had genuine freedom, more or less.

This was the most freedom that she's ever been given in my entire life. She always had to sneak around just to get what she wanted and act like an average teenager. Well, as normal as a problematic Rosewood child can get. Now she didn't have to do that anymore. With everything that has happened so far and her crippling loneliness, she was so overwhelmed that she began to cry silently. Goddamn it. She hated herself for being weak, especially around these people. She didn't have the luxury to be vulnerable. She was paranoid that they could smell weakness on her, which just made her cry silently harder.

Toby soon overheard Hoodie and Masky having some sort of conversation. He heard the words "tour" and "school" in the same sentence and groaned. They had probably been signed up to go on one of those stupid school tours to see the campus before they went there. He sighed. This was going to suck. He already hated the idea of going back to school. He wondered what Tabby was doing. Probably unpacking and didn't want to be bothered.

Tabby just cried more, letting out gut-wrenching sobs into her pillow as she curled up in a ball, praying that no one can hear her. No one could. Except for one. Footsteps in front of her door. Three knocks, but no announcement of who it was.

Tabby bolted up with dear in the headlights look. She gave a loud hiccup before announcing, "I'll be there in a minute!"

She turned the water on hot in the bathroom connected to her room and splashed the water on her face. Yes, it burned, but it would explain why her face is wet, cheeks red, and eyes puffy. She ran to the door as fast as she could and opened it. She sounded like her usual mature, tough girl self.

"Yes? What do you want? I have rules on socializing with me posted on the door, you know."

"I can't read. I don't care." The voice responded coldly.

Tabby groaned.

“Figures…”

EJ stood at her door, quite a bit taller than her. He seemed to look down at her, but it was unclear what he could see and what he couldn't. His face was hidden behind his mask.

"Be glad I even knocked." He was a blunt man. Socially not the best.

She took on a harsher and sarcastic approached.

“Oh, I am so grateful for your consideration.”

"I heard you crying." It was stated in a very matter-of-fact way.

She stood up tall, attempting to stand her ground almost in a fighting stance.

“First of all, I wasn't crying. I don't know what you heard. I was washing up, and the water happened to be too hot, and I accidentally burned myself; that’s why my face is red and my eyes puffy. Besides, even if I was, what's it to you? I appreciate cold genuine hatred then someone pretending to give two shits about me when they don't!”

You could see her almost bristling like a cat would be defensive. She couldn't tell if he was just polite or if he cared for some ungodly reason. She wasn't exactly good at being social either.

"No, that's ridiculous. You were crying. I can smell the salt and snot." He couldn't see, but he could sense that she was very defensive and that he was unwelcomed.

`Tabby hissed at him

"Well, I'm a naturally salty person. Besides, what's it to you? If you want me to be quiet, I'll just cry silently.”

"No. I want you to shut up. You crying is ridiculous. Very much so. You will have to keep a better handle on your emotions, or you may be killed or be viewed as too sensitive. Especially as a proxy."

"Yeah yeah, I hear you. I honestly don't care at this point. I'm only going to say this once. I lost everything I knew in one fell swoop. I’m struggling with the fact that the person I hate the most was right about me, I’m more alone than ever, and I'm in a household full of males. It’s four against one here. So forgive me for letting out a few salty streaks when I'm alone and away from all of you who I despise very much."

She gave a sarcastic, bitter, sickly sweet smile.

"Have a nice night" she slammed the door in his face.

"Get over it," EJ responds from behind the door.

"No, because getting over it means moving on, and moving on means forgetting. And I will never forget" she punched the door with her right hand.

Footsteps as he soon leaves her be. He doesn't care. He's looking out for her, in a sick sadistic way, true, but still nonetheless. He wasn't going to try to damage her reputation. Being that vulnerable would get her killed. And that would be annoying for him.

She heard him walk away.

"If I do forget all of my hatred, there would be nothing of me left," she added, still loud enough for him to hear.

"You are just a weak child," EJ responds through the door. "Nothing more, nothing less. Get. Over. It. Or I'll kill you myself."

"I hope the fuck you do."

She said it more softly, but she did mean it.

EJ stopped in his tracks as he heard the last of what Tabby said. He looked over his shoulder back at her door. He didn’t know how to respond to that. It sounded like she almost meant it like she wanted it to happen. He wasn’t used to being called upon his threats. He meant to use it as a scare tactic to attempt to keep her alive. If she didn’t want to be alive, he couldn’t use the value of her own life to keep her in line when she didn’t value it at all. I daresay this time he bit off more than he could chew. He also wasn’t used to being stood up to and called out on his threats. What a .strange human she was. He also wondered if she didn’t want to be alive, then why did she take this life, to begin with? What was keeping her here in the land of the living? He shook his head and made his way back into the basement. Oh well, he’ll figure something else out to help keep her in line and forcefully stay alive. Right now, she’s too intriguing to let herself get killed; maybe she’ll end up being useful too. He knew that he’d get his answers sooner than later.

After she was sure he was gone, she slid down the door with her knees up to her chest and put her face in her hands. She went back to crying silently. Great, just great. She really fucked up. She could have had a potential ally, but she just had to go and be spiteful. After a few minutes of being on the uncomfortable hardwood floor, she staggered over to her bed and flopped face-first onto it. Maybe if she stayed there long enough, she would suffocate to death in her blankets.

Oh yeah, this was going to be a long six months.

[2manyfandoms2count]

You can count on me (I will be there for you)

Alya joins the identity dance, and the chapters flirt with the 2k mark again (it’s fine).

Hope you enjoy!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | AO3

---

Chapter 4

Chat Noir detransforms as he lands into Marinette’s room, and goes straight for her sewing box. He knows the code for it; Ladybug had made sure he did after she’d started to find the blackmail letters, in case anything happened to her.

Not that they use it much, these days, mind you.

The Miraculous box unfolds before him, and he swiftly picks up the Fox and the Horse Miraculouses. He’s about to close it when his eyes land on the Turtle bracelet, and he pauses. Even though it would probably be better to have as few people involved as possible, he has to say it might be a good idea to have some backup, just in case.

He mentally scans the guest list. Alix already has her Miraculous with her, and he knows she’ll use it if needed. Luka’s Second Chance could come in useful, but he’s performing with Kitty Section. It would be a little tricky to camouflage his costume on stage, especially with Alya’s Mirage otherwise occupied. Chloé would surely be ecstatic at the idea of seeing Pollen again, but Adrien isn’t sure that she would be very discreet about it. Same for Kim and Xuppu.

This leaves Nino and Kagami, his best people. Calm, collected, trustworthy. He shoves their Miraculouses in his pocket, closes the box and dashes out of the door. He doesn’t know exactly what their role could be, but he knows that having the Miraculouses on him can only buy some time later.

He slows down as he walks into the reception room, nodding to a few acquaintances his father had insisted should be there, and grabs a canapé from a waiter’s tray as his eyes search the room for his wife’s best friend. He spots her in the middle of a conversation with Marinette, next to the head table, and makes a beeline for them.

“Hello, beautiful ladies.” He clears his throat as he approaches.

“And hello to you, Hot Stuff.” Alya winks and elbows Marinette in the ribs. The bride blushes a deep shade of crimson at the reminder of the time she’d stolen Adrien’s phone, and starts to regret asking Alya to be her Maid of Honour. I’m going to die of embarrassment before the end of the toasts, aren’t I? Her head shake says.

“Marinette, would you mind if I borrowed Alya for a minute?”

“Please, do.” She all but pushes her friend towards her husband, who smiles and starts leading her towards the edge of the room.

“Actually, Adrien?” Marinette calls out before they’re too far away. He turns around and sees her jog up to him.

“Erm… Have you seen Chat Noir yet?” She whispers, looking around them carefully to make sure nobody’s listening. Alya’s eyebrows shoot up and Marinette gestures that she’ll explain later.

“Yes!” Adrien nods. “You can count on me, after the toasts.”

“Okay, good.” Marinette lets out a relieved sigh. “Just wanted to check. I’ll leave you two to it.”

“See you later, love.” He leans in and kisses her on the cheek, ‘for appearances’.

“Y-yeah, sounds good.” She blushes again, her hand flying to her cheek as she watches him and Alya leave. Kwami, his acting is smooth.

“Aw, look at my girl, she’s just as flustered as when we were in collège!” Alya coos, glancing back at Marinette once they’re out of earshot. She waves at her, and Marinette waves back nervously before starting to talk with a guest. “What’s this about Chat Noir though?” She turns towards Adrien and looks him in the eye.

“Actually, he’s what I want to talk to you about.” He shuffles awkwardly on his feet, trying to find the right words. “But first, I need you to promise this conversation will stay between us. No telling Marinette, or anyone.”

“Not even Nino?” Alya clutches her heart. She can keep Miraculous secrets from the public, but she feels bad keeping things from her fiancé.

“Nino will know part of it soon enough, I promise. The rest is something I’ll only tell him once I’ve told Marinette.”

She pouts pensively, weighing satisfying her curiosity against lies of omission.

“I guess that’s alright.” She finally shrugs, and her eyes widen hungrily at the smell of a scoop. “So, what’s wrong with Chat Noir? And what does it have to do with Marinette?”

“Well, I wouldn’t call it a problem, per se, in normal circumstances, but today…”

“Spill it, Agreste.”

“Okay.” Adrien takes a deep breath. “You know how Ladybug is dating Chat Noir?”

“Duh, I was the one who uncovered that story.” She says with a smug smile. Adrien rolls his eyes, an amused smile playing on his lips. It had occurred to him later that Ladybug had made sure it was Alya who found out first, as if to soften the blow of keeping her identity from her later.

“Well, it turns out that…” Adrien looks around them quickly, just to make sure there are no ears lying around, and his voice drops to a whisper. “Marinette is Ladybug.”

“What? ” Alya’s shriek is muffled by Adrien’s hand.

“Shh, this is confidential info, we don’t want people to come poking around.”

Alya blinks, then closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She takes her time to formulate a coherent sentence, although Adrien can tell from her slight nervous twitching that her thoughts must be all over the place.

When it looks like she's gotten over the news enough that she can control the volume of her voice, he moves his hand away from her mouth.

“So, Marinette is… you-know-who. Okay. This is fine. I can handle it. I just… I was obsessed with her! How did I not notice she was literally right there, next to me, the whole time!!” She facepalms.

“Tell me about it.” Adrien smiles. He'd had the same mini meltdown after he and Ladybug had parted ways on the day she'd called off her transformation in front of him. He’d sat in front of Marinette for years , and never suspected a thing. At least, he thought so. There was something about calling her their everyday Ladybug that had come back to mind when he’d dug deeper in his memories… But he would be lying if he said it had been intentional.

“But… If she’s who you say she is… She’s been seen kissing Chat Noir very recently, while you guys were dating. So, no offense, but… why would she be marrying you? Shouldn’t she be marrying Chat Noir? Unless…” She gasps and points at him. “ You’re Chat Noir!”

Adrien smiles at his friend's excellent deduction skills. “Well, see, this is where it gets complicated. You are correct in saying that I am Chat, but , Marinette doesn’t know that.”

“What? But why?” Alya frowns in confusion.

“The good old ‘no reveal’ rule.” He shrugs. “Long story short, Ladybug is being blackmailed. She revealed her identity to me because she figured it would be better this way. I -Chat Noir- offered to act as her bodyguard until we got to the bottom of it all, but she refused because she doesn’t want to know who I am, in case everything goes wrong. She wasn't sure where to get protection from, though, so I offered the Adrien Agreste option, since I have a bodyguard. Match made in heaven, really.”

“Dayum.” Alya looks at him blankly, taking the time to process his explanation. “So, to sum up: you guys are involved in a fake, fake-wedding situation, where Marinette thinks she married her ex-crush for benefits, instead of the love of her life, when you were the same person all along?” She smirks. “Boy, I wish I’d known that before writing my toast, I would have made so many allusions to it… I would have kept it discreet enough that she wouldn’t have understood, of course, but the satisfaction of her connecting the dots later would’ve been amazing.”

“Don’t worry, I took care of that in my own speech.” He winks. He plans on keeping a phone nearby to record it, so he can play it back to her when she knows everything and have her see how genius it was.

“Okay, now. I’m guessing you didn’t just tell me this to get it off your chest.” Alya clears her throat.

“Indeed. Something happened earlier, and Marinette thinks that the people who are blackmailing her are my father and Nathalie.”

“No offense, but that would check out.”

“None taken, I feel the same way.” He pats her shoulder, lips spreading into a tight smile. “Anyway, we’re going to go back to the Mansion to look for evidence after the toasts, and we’ll probably need Rena Rouge to come out of retirement to make sure there are ‘sightings’ of us here while we’re gone. I'm sure Marinette will tell you all about that part of the plan herself, but before that, I need your help because Marinette wants to speak to Chat Noir and Adrien.”

“Oof. She really isn’t making it easy for you to keep your identity a secret, huh.” Alya chuckles.

“Nope.” He smiles as he digs his hands into his pockets. “But it was bound to happen at some point, I’m actually surprised I managed to dodge the situation for so long. You wouldn’t believe the number of times she wanted to have dinner with Chat Noir and Adrien so we could all discuss the plan.”

“Typical Marinette, to overlook the potential awkwardness of having her boyfriend and her fake fiancé together if she’s working on something.” Alya shakes her head.

“Tell me about it." He chuckles, looking at the ground. His wife really is something else, and he loves her for it. "So, are you up for it?”

“Of course!” Alya replies, eyes twinkling as Adrien hands her the necklace. She slips it in her purse with a satisfied smile. “You can count on me.”

“I never doubted that.” Adrien smiles back, and turns back towards the room.

“I just have one question, though.” Alya holds him back before he can start walking away.

“Yes?”

“Why me? I mean… It’s been a while, and… Why not get your cousin to do it? You guys are pretty much carbon copies of each other, physically speaking, wouldn’t it be easier?”

Adrien pauses. “Maybe in theory, but unlike him, I trust you.”

“Ooh, family drama.” She rubs her hands together. “Why did I assume there wouldn’t be any today?”

“Wishful thinking?” He jokes. “Anyway, I'll give you the signal to Mirage a nice little Adrien later. And then if you could bring the necklace back discreetly so that Marinette doesn’t suspect anything, that would be great.”

“Aye, aye, captain.”

Both head back towards the centre of the room, Adrien finding his way to Marinette’s side, and Alya to Nino’s.

Alya grabs a champagne flute and a knife. She nods at Adrien knowingly before she clinks them together, a sly smile spreading to her lips.

The toasts sure are going to be fun.

[americasmarauders]

Wasteland, baby!--Ben Hargreeves (part 2).

author’s note: here is part 2. 

Beware: lot of feelings ahead

words: 3315

masterlist

part 1

part 3

part 4

#

Klaus started to pester Ben about Y/N.

           He wanted to know everything. And Ben didn’t want to share. Y/N was just his, and he had enough of sharing everything with his siblings. He dodged somewhat successfully his advances.

           That didn’t mean Klaus stopped asking.

           At some point, Ben would relent to his advances, he would say something. Not because his brother had annoyed him enough, but the feeling growing in his chest was getting too unbearable to carry by himself.  

           Every time he woke up, she was there smiling at him. Ben would waste a few seconds just staring at the photo, memorizing every single detail about it. Then he would proceed with his routine, climbing down the window, a watch programmed to alarm him 5 minutes before breakfast time. He had followed Klaus’ advice after all, and unfortunately that meant cutting their conversation 5 minutes short. It made his heart bleed a little but if he wanted to stay out of trouble, he had to do it.

           That day he was clutching the book she had lent him. He had treasured it as much as he could, Ben took his time reading it, hoping time would stretch as held a token of how much Y/N cared about him. She shared a book with him. She had opened a window to her thoughts and to her heart. Those words meant something to her, so much she wanted to share it with him. That was something Ben didn’t take lightly.

           She was already there, as always. She smiled brightly at him, those smiles that reached the eyes and that made Ben’s heart beat stronger in his chest. He smiled back, crossing the street quickly. His breath got caught up on his chest at the sight of her in the morning light. It never ceased to amaze him. He hoped it never would.

           “You finished the book!” she said enthusiastically to Ben. He looked down at the book he was holding, the title staring back at him.

           “Yeah, I did. I’m sorry it took so long,” he went to give the book to her and she stopped him.

           “No, no,” she shook her head, “it’s yours.”

           “I can’t accept this,” Ben said politely. “I can tell it means a lot to you.”

           “You mean a lot to me, too. And I would like for you to have this copy,” she responded. “Besides, I have another one at home. It’s my mom’s but I don’t think she will mind if I steal it.”

           Ben almost felt the need to cry at her kindness and love. “Thank you,” he told her. It felt like he had a permanent window to her heart now. It wouldn’t be taken away from him and he would make sure no one would ever take it from him.

           “You’re welcome, Ben,” she smiled once again. Her eyes trailed to the window of his bedroom, a boy staring at them.

          Her smile faltered and Ben noticed, and tinge of panic rising in him. His eyes followed her line of sight, falling on his bedroom window. He saw Klaus, his face serious, and Ben reached for his watch in his pocket. They were nowhere near the breakfast hour. He looked over at Y/N, her face serious and scared at the sight of his brother on Ben’s window.

          “I think you need to go,” she said sadly.

          “I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I don’t want—”

          “I’m sure whatever your family needs it’s more important right now,” she tried to smile, but Ben saw she was covering her pain.

          “It will never be more important than you,” Ben muttered.

          She smiled genuinely, but it was nowhere near the smiles she gave him when she was happy. “You’re cute, but right now is not the time. Later, okay?” she squeezed his hand firmly. “Go,” Y/N released his hand and nudged him towards his house.

          He didn’t look back and sprinted towards his window. He never climbed so fast. Klaus helped him up, but instead of sarcastic and annoying remarks about Ben’s ‘friendship’, he was met with Klaus wearing his uniform for missions.

          It took Ben a second to register that there was running in the hall and there was the dreadful alarm ringing through the walls. He put the book on his night stand, loosening the tie and heading for his drawer when Klaus sneakily left his room.

          He threw his clothes on his bed, jumping to fit in the weird uniform his Father had made for the Academy. Ben closed the zipper and put his shoes, his mask in his hand. He sprinted down stairs, behind his siblings. He clumsily put his mask on, as he heard his Father howling about how the Umbrella Academy would be discredited if they were late for missions, etc. The same boring speech he had to listen every week or so. He had it memorized by now.

          He entered the car, squeezed between Klaus and the door. His Father accelerated and took off, Vanya waving shyly at them. Ben waved back, a sad smile on his face. His eyes drifted away from his sister to the corner of the street and there she was. Y/N.

          She looked sad, and Ben’s heart twinged painfully at the thought he had caused it. He couldn’t even wave or smile at her, his Father racing by their spot like they were losing a race. Ben trailed his eyes forward to the back of his Luther’s head. Klaus nudged him on the side and he heard a whispered ‘Are you alright?’, in moment of lapse, Ben was sure.

          In response, Ben only nodded.

 #

#

Diego wandered after they got home. His siblings all scattered after the mission.

           Klaus was most definitely getting high, Diego thought. What a bastard. Luther was sucking it up to his Father or in his room doing whatever he did that Diego couldn’t be bothered to care. Allison was somewhere, he guessed. He could listen to Vanya playing violin in that shoebox of a room. It was nice to have a background noise in that ghostly house.

           Diego lingered in front of Ben’s room, the door slightly opened. Out of all his brothers, Ben was the best. He was the kindest and smartest. He seemed so pure, and even though Diego had absolute certainty dad’s words and neglect had its effect on his brother, he was the most well balanced—or so it seemed—of the 7 of them. Ben was the one who would make it when this super hero play thing was over.

           Snooping wouldn’t be so bad, right? It wouldn’t, for sure Ben had once snooped on his things.

          Diego opened the door fully. He stepped in and left the door opened.

          There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary at first sight. Ben had a couple of books on top of his tiny, tiny table. His notes neatly organized, beside it his stationary. Diego kept glancing over his things, eyes wandering to the bare walls, with the exception of a single bulletin point board with a couple of pictures of them—spontaneous ones he had taken with a camera he had found in the mansion and took possession of it. There was a list of books he wanted to read. Nothing too incriminating. Not that there was something to incriminate Ben, or that Diego wanted to.

          Diego then turned to the window. He walked towards it, looking outside. Nothing out of the ordinary, practically the same view Klaus had from his room. His eyes darted to the bed beside him. Ben’s clothes were thrown on top of it. His tie and his shirt wrinkled. If he was seen wearing those, he would hear a handful. He must have been caught by surprise by the mission alarm. Diego moved his sight to the bedside table. Now, that was interesting.

          A frame, a pretty one at that. Inside a picture of a girl Diego had never seen before in his life—not that he had met many people in his 16 years in this Earth. The girl was about their age, maybe a bit younger. Diego thought she was pretty, but that was a detail on his mind that moment. How did Ben get this picture?

          It all seemed weird. The photo didn’t look like one of those that came with frames, and the fact that Diego could see a couple of creases on the picture’s paper proved that this was handled on multiple occasions. He could see marks of what he concluded it was handwriting on the back of the photo. It all seemed too confusing.

          The book in front of the frame caught his attention. My Sweet Orange Tree. What the fuck was that title? Diego picked the book up and examined.

          It was old, the edges soften by use. The pages were yellowed, proving the age of the item just as much as the smell of dust. It looked second hand and he knew for a fact that this book hadn’t come from the endless book collection their dad had. Reginald Hargreeves wouldn’t be caught dead with a book so simple and filthy in his hands much less in his house—his esteemed, expensive house.

          Diego hummed and put the book down. Accidentally, he dropped an envelope that rested in front of the photo. As the book rested on the night stand, the envelope fell gracefully to the ground, falling just in front of Diego’s feet. He picked it up, a pretty cursive ‘Ben’ staring back at him. He was about to open it when he heard someone behind him.

          “What are you doing here?” Ben said, and if Diego was being honest, he heard some panic his brother’s voice.

          Diego turned to his brother. Ben had just come out of the shower. He was, as always, drenched in blood when they got home and it was a silent agreement between all the siblings that Ben was always the first one to shower. He didn’t deserve to be further haunted just by staying more than necessary covered in blood.

          Diego decided to play dumb, faced with Ben’s question. “I wanted to check on you.”

          Ben’s eyes narrowed at him. Diego remained calm. Ben’s sight then shifted to his hands and his eyes flew open in shock and panic. Diego’s heart raced in his chest. It was one thing to mess with Luther or Klaus, it was another to mess with Ben. Ben never prompted pranks, even when he was the one pranking (even though he had been on the receiving end of it too). Ben was sweet and kind and incredibly quiet.

          Ben raced forward and snatched the envelope from Diego’s hand. “That’s private, Diego,” he said, annoyed.

          “I figured,” he responded, dryly. “Why do you have a picture of a girl in your night stand, Ben?”

          Ben swallowed, nervously. He knocked the frame down, so Diego couldn’t see the girl anymore. “None of your business,” he answered, coolly.

          “Are you stalking someone?” Diego guessed wildly. He knew it wasn’t the case, but if he wanted to squeeze information out of his brother, he’d have to annoy him.

          “Of course not! I’m not a fucking creep,” Ben said, indignantly.

          “But it sure looks like it, I mean,” Diego shrugged, “there’s this picture of a girl I’ve never seen in my life and last time I checked we knew the same people, Benny,” Diego put his hand in his brother’s shoulder and squeezed it. “It looks quite suspicious, if you ask me.”

          “It’s nothing weird, Diego,” Ben wrangled out of his brother’s grip. He brushed passed him and rested the envelope in between the pages of the book. “It’s nothing weird,” he breathed out.

          “It looks weird.”

          “It is not! Piss off Diego.”

           “I might as well call the police now and say there’s a stalker in the Umbrella Academy.”

           “I’m not a stalker.”

           “Imagine what Dad’ll say when he hears precious Number Six is creeping up on some pretty girl.”

           Ben jumped on his brother both of them falling on the bed, Ben’s hands gripping Diego’s neck firmly, but not enough to choke him. Diego knew Ben wouldn’t do that. “Don’t tell Dad,” Ben gritted through his teeth, his eyes determined and angry.

           Diego had never seen him like that. So angry and focused. Ben was sweet and calm, he didn’t think he had it in him to unleash anger to the world. Diego put his hands up in surrender, “I won’t. Stop choking me.”

           Ben released his brother hastily, turning his back on him. He closed the door. Diego sat up and noticed the action, furrowing his eyebrows. “Who is she, Ben?”

           Ben sighed heavily. “If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone.”

           “I won’t tell,” Diego said, bashfully.

           “Promise me,” Ben demanded firmly.

           “I promise,” Diego answered, hands in the air in surrender.

           Ben sighed once again. He turned and sat beside his brother. “She’s a friend.”

           Diego laughed. “Friend, yeah right.”

           “She is!” Ben tried. Diego thought he was trying to convince himself rather than convince him.

           “If she was really a friend you wouldn’t have a picture of her on your night stand,” Diego pointed out.

           “How would you know?”

           Diego was taken back by this because Ben had a point. How would he know? It’s not exactly like they had a lot of experience with normal relationships. “I just do,” he said, shrugging. “Who is she, Ben?” he asked softly.

           “She is…” Ben trailed off, lost in his own world for a moment. “She’s—I,” he cleared his throat, “I saw her on the bus stop one day, and she seemed lonely. A couple of days later I sneaked out and I started doing it every morning.”

           “How long?”

           Ben smiled shyly. “For a little more than three months.”

           “You’ve been sneaking out for 3 months and no one knows?” Diego said. “I don’t believe you.”

           “Klaus caught me one day, he can vouch for me,” Ben said seriously. “I can’t believe I have to prove to you I’m sneaking out.”

           “To see a girl no less,” Diego completed. “Out of all of us, you would be the last person I thought was sneaking out to flirt.”

           “Should I be offended?” Ben asked.

           “Don’t sweat about it. The point is my little brother is in love,” Diego swung his arm behind his sibling’s neck, putting him in a head lock. He then proceeded to mess with Ben’s head, as he wrangled out of Diego’s grip.

           “I’m not your little brother,” Ben stated.

           “So, you don’t deny you’re in love,” Diego said smirking.

            Ben’s face remained impassive, but it told all to Diego. “You really are!” he said shocked. “That’s huge!”

           “No, no, it’s not,” Ben shook his head. He put his head on his hands, exasperated. “I—I don’t know, Diego. It doesn’t feel great.”

           “Why not? Isn’t it supposed to?”

           “I guess so,” Ben shrugged. “And it does when I’m with her. But then I remember Dad and with the Academy and I—” he cleared his throat, “I get scared. Because I know Dad’ll react badly and I don’t wanna lose her.”

           Diego smiled sadly at his brother and put his hand on his shoulder. “He won’t. Me and Klaus, we got your back, Benny.”

           “Thanks, Diego.”

           “You’re my brother, Ben. I’m here for you when you need me,” Diego said quietly and sincerely.

           “Yeah,” Ben breathed out, smiling. “Thanks.”

           “So, tell me everything about her.”

           Ben laughed. “Yeah, yeah.”

#

#

Ben was the first one to get to their spot the next day. He leaned on the poll next to him, looking at his hands as if time would pass faster.

Ben barely slept that day. He rarely ever did after missions but that time it was different.

           He was anxious. There was a lingering conversation on the horizon he wasn’t too thrilled about. He kept thinking and thinking about the possible outcomes and most weren’t great. It was either she would storm out on him screaming that he was liar and that he had conned her or Dad would discover he had been sneaking out and trap Ben inside the academy until his death.

           He sighed pushing those thoughts aside. He held his blazer in his hand, that fucking umbrella tattoo staring at him as he did so. He looked down at it and he wished he could rip it off his arm. He wished for a second he hadn’t been bought and put in a weird boarding school. Ben sometimes felt like he was in a glass case, and everyone was there to see him, the entire world. He just wanted to be normal.

           “Ben!” he heard. He looked up and saw Y/N running towards him, smile in her face. He sighed in relief when he saw her smiling like that.

           She hugged him tightly and it took a second for Ben to process the amount of care and, dare he say it, love in it. As soon as he came to his senses, he melted in her embrace, his heart racing and his stomach filling with butterflies. “Hey,” he said softly.

           “I’m so glad you’re alright,” Y/N breathed out, breaking the hug. Her hands found his cheeks, her thumb caressing it gently. Ben smiled at that.

           “I’m alright,” His hands found her wrists, holding delicately as if she was made of china. “I thought you were going to be mad at me.”

           She let out an airy chuckle. “To be honest with you, I was. I still am, a bit,” she shrugged and Ben’s heart clenched uncomfortably. “But I—” she shook her head as if she was dismissing something, “I talked to my psychologist and she calmed me down. She, um, she showed me some stuff about the Umbrella Academy and I understand why you hid it.”

           “You do?” Ben said in disbelief.

           “Yeah,” Y/N nodded. “I’m sorry you have to go through this, though.”

           “But it led me to you,” Ben added quietly. He kissed her wrist gently, and he heard her breath hitch.

           “You’re such a charmer,” she said incredulously.

           He smiled at her. Their hands dropped, still linked, his thumbs grazing over her knuckles gently. “You have to tell me though,” she said looking in his eyes.

           “What?” Ben looked at her confused.

           “What is it like having brothers and sisters?” she smiled. “Is it as insufferable as I read it is?”

           He laughed, throwing his head back. “Yes, absolutely.”

           She laughed with him, her eyes crinkling and her smile bright. Ben’s heart almost gave out at the sight.  

           “It has it’s perks,” Ben pondered. “They got my back when I need it, but sometimes it doesn’t outweigh the amount of shit I have to endure.”

           “I mean, I guess that’s fair,” she shrugged, her eyes falling to his tattoo. She looked sadly at it, like he used to look at it when he was little. She didn’t linger long on that, thankfully. “Tell me about your brothers,” she smiled. “Are they as nice as you?”

           He smiled sadly. “No, definitely not.”

           “Well, I guess it was stupid question, there’s only one of you after all.”

           He looked at her, and he almost cried. The three cursed words threatened to leave his lips but he managed to catch himself before that. “It wasn’t stupid, it’s okay,” he said quietly. “I mean if you really want to know, I guess I’ll tell you.”

           And he started telling her about his siblings as he walked her to her school. It felt nice to finally talk about these things with her, it was like a gigantic weight was lifted off his shoulders. He had a spring to his walk he didn’t before. You know the best part?

           She hadn’t let go of his hand.

[kurt-nightcrawler]

Together Again

John Allerdyce x Female Reader

Request: Hi! I love your your writing (especially the mother nature ones and crush honestly,,,,, art lmao) and I was wondering if you could write something else for John? Like honestly anything I'm just really starved for pyro content 😂 if you don't want to then uh dw 💜

A/N: if you guys want a blurb about wedding vows or baby making sex let me know!!

Warnings: teen pregnancy, swearing, mentions of sex, and some angst.

Word Count: 8.9k

“Hey, I know it’s been a while, but I miss you… and I know I shouldn’t… but I can’t help myself. I’m really sorry for everything I did. I hurt you, I acted out, I ruined all the relationships I had at the mansion…” His voice faltered as tears fell from his eyes.

“Um, you don’t have to call me back… I’m just really sorry for being such an asshole… You deserved better…” 

You jokingly scoffed to yourself.

Typical John, You mused. Never realizing his potential. 

“I love you…” 

The voice message ended. You felt your eyes watering. Despite it all, you missed him. You missed John so much. 

-

He joined Magento’s army, brotherhood, and left you. You didn’t want to side with either of them, Charles or Erik. 

You wanted to run away somewhere, live a small-town life, maybe in Europe or something. You hadn’t really figured out all the details, but you assumed that figuring it out as you went along would suffice. As long as you had John by your side, nothing could get in your way. 

But then he wasn’t by your side. And your entire world came crashing down. 

-

You had woken up to an empty bed. Unusual, since John was in it with you the night before. 

His clothes were gone, and it felt like he had never been there to start with. 

You got yourself out of bed, not even bothering to change out of your pajamas. You wanted to know where he went. 

You made it downstairs to the den, where your friends were seated with some staff members. 

“Ah, (Y/N),” Xavier said. “You’re awake. Please sit down.” 

You sat down on the couch next to Kitty. “What’s going on? Where’s John?” 

“Allerdyce left,” Logan stated with a bitter tone. 

“Left? What do you mean he left?” 

“Magento is forming a new brotherhood of mutants, and he’s planning to attack Worthington industries.” 

“Is this about the “cure”?” You asked. 

Xavier nodded, “John left to join him.” 

No… You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. “That can’t be true. He wouldn’t just leave and not tell anyone. He would have told me if he was thinking about joining forces with Magento!” 

“(Y/N),” You looked over at Bobby, “We had an argument in our room late last night. I tried to convince him to stay but—“

“No…” You were shaking. “You’re— you’re lying!” You stood up too quickly and you got a head rush. 

“I wish I was—“ 

You felt like you were going to be sick. You could hear the blood pounding in your ears. Your vision was blurry, and you were sweating. 

You ran to the nearest trash can and dunked your head in as you heaved. 

Kitty held your hair back and rubbed your back. “Let it out. Let it out, (Y/N)...” 

You puked your guts out until you didn’t have the energy to continue. Then, you turned over, moving your head out of the trash and started crying. 

No one knew what to do about you— and Magneto trying to kill a bunch of people was a bit more of a pressing issue. 

-

You didn’t want to go to Worthington industries and fight. You didn’t want to see him. You wanted to be left alone. 

Plus, with your mutation, the X-Men thought you’d be a good guard for the mansion if anything happened. 

It was a few days before anyone came back, and while they were gone you caught a stomach bug. Constantly vomiting, bad cramps, and your chest was extremely sore. 

You didn’t know what to do about it, so you kept a trash can nearby and drank lots of water and took some ibuprofen. 

When everyone returned, Bobby, Kitty, and Rogue, all ran to hug you, knowing you’d need it. 

“I punched him for you,” Bobby whispered. You held him tighter and let silent tears rain down your face as you hugged him. 

The three of them told you about the battle, and what happened to everyone, and a new addition to the team— Scott’s younger brother, Alex Summers, who had apparently been friends with one of the brotherhood members, but decided to switch sides and support his brother. 

He was in the medical bay downstairs with everyone else, getting checked out. 

“What have you been up to?” 

You let out a weak laugh, “Nothing much. I’ve been watching tv and puking my guts out the past few days…” 

Your friends nodded in sympathy. “You’re probably sick from all the stress…” Rogue commented. 

“Yeah, that’s probably it. When it’s a good time, I’ll ask Dr. Grey to give me some medicine other than pain killers.” 

“Good idea…” 

“I’m gonna go shower,” Rogue said, getting up from the couch. 

“Me too! Kitty replied. “Are you going to change Bobby?” 

He looked over at her, “Uh, yeah. I will in a little bit.” The girls walked off, satisfied with his answer. 

You patted Bobby’s shoulder. 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t talk him out of leaving…”

“He’s… He’s stubborn. I don’t think any of us could have convinced him to stay…”

“(Y/N)...” Bobby sighed.

“He never told me about even wanting to leave!” Your words stung in the air like venom. 

“He’s not coming back, is he?” 

Bobby shook his head, “I don’t think so. After the fight, the brotherhood just kind of wandered off… We have no idea where any of them went—“

“And that includes John…”

There was a pregnant pause before Bobby spoke up. 

“He really loves you.” 

“Not enough to stay,” You scoffed. 

“He just didn’t want you to get hurt… And while he’s dumb as shit, deep down, he meant well…”

“It’s just…” You snuffled your nose. “Three years, B. We were together for three years. He confided in me, and we trusted each other and we were gonna move out to the countryside in France or maybe Denmark…” Your cries interrupted your words, and all Bobby could do was hug you. Trying his best to comfort you. 

-

You weren’t sick with a stomach bug from stress— you were pregnant. 

It was simultaneously the best and worst news of your life. Everyone was supportive and kept reminding you, you didn’t have to keep it, you were only 18. 

You weren’t sure what you were going to do. John wasn’t there and you had almost no money. 

You didn’t want to raise a child alone, but you didn’t want to send them into foster care either. 

It was a messy situation, and with each week passing by, your baby grew, reminding you to make a decision. 

“I’m going to keep it. I’m going to stay here and raise my baby. It’ll probably be a mutant, so what better place for a mutant child to grow up?” 

-

Everyone was excited for you and your baby.  Kitty was excited to “be an aunt”, Rogue was excited, ablet a little nervous, with her no-touch rule, and Bobby just wanted you to be happy. 

You found out you were having a boy, and you were so excited, you cried. Jean and Ororo threw a baby shower for you and Bobby, Logan, and Scott helped redo your room so it could function for the baby too. 

Everything was going great. So great, in fact, you didn’t think about him most nights. 

You still longed for John, and you wanted him there with you, to see your baby at the ultrasound screenings, feel him kick for the first time, and decide on names. But you had to remain strong. With or without John, you needed to be a good mom for your son. 

Before and after his birth. 

-

No one was allowed on the roof normally, but you were especially not allowed in your condition. 

Yet you went up there anyway, for a moment of quiet and alone time. 

You had snuck up to the roof before in your 4 years at Xavier’s. Most times it had been to hide with John. Or just lay and star gaze— your head resting on his chest, and his hands either preoccupied with his flames, or they’d be in your hair. 

You placed a hand on your stomach, thinking it would maybe soothe you, but it didn’t really work. 

You heard footsteps, and you quickly looked over to see who it was. 

“Sorry— I uh, I didn’t think anyone was up here.” He started to leave. 

“Alex, no, you’re fine. You can stay.” 

“You sure?” 

“Yeah! Of course.” He walked over and sat next to you. 

“How’ve you been?” 

“Good, good.” He nodded. “How have you been?”

“Same as you…” You both awkwardly laughed together. 

“That’s good.”

“Mmhmm…”

Alex shifted in his spot awkwardly. 

“Are you uh… are you excited about being a mom?”

You laughed. He was so nervous. “Yeah. I mean, I’m nervous as hell, but I have all my friends around, more than willing to help me, and my life is secure and safe.” 

Alex nodded, shy and awkward, yet attentive. 

“Is… Is Bobby excited about being a dad?” 

You were shocked. “Bobby’s gay.” 

“I know, but wait— isn’t he— is he—“ Alex was so confused. 

“Bobby’s probably my best friend here, his old roommate, um, he’s the father…” 

Alex’s face was red as a tomato. “Oh…” 

He knew about Bobby’s old roommate, seeing as he took over his spot in his room. He didn’t know much, and he was pretty sure he died or something. 

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine. You didn’t know…”

“Did he… did he die?”

You rubbed your eyes. “No… he left to join the brotherhood, days before I found out I was pregnant…” Alex listened to your every word. He still didn’t know who this guy was, considering he too, joined the brotherhood during the battle at Worthington industries, but so did a ton of other mutants. 

“I don’t really know how to contact him now, and… I don’t really want to at the moment.” 

“You don’t have to…” Alex said.  “He left, and that’s his problem.” 

“Yep… And besides, I’m not alone. I have my friends and family here.” 

“Yeah, see! You’re doing great.” 

You laughed at Alex’s words. He was cute and dorky. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

-

You were crying. Crying in pain, in joy, in sorrow, in relief— you were extremely emotional. Your baby was finally born. 

Once he got all cleaned up, umbilical cord cut, and was in your arms, laying on your bare chest for some bonding, people started coming in. 

At first, it was just Bobby, Kitty, Rogue, and Alex. They had some flowers, balloons, and presents with them. 

“We got you some things…” Rogue began.

“Awww... how are you guys?” Kitty interrupted. 

“We’re fine. He’s asleep.” You glanced down at your chest. 

“He’s so small.” Alex’s eyes were glossy. 

“He’s all pink,” Bobby observed. 

Kitty hit him on the arm, “He just came out of her vagina!” 

You laughed, “He was a C-section.” 

“Oh, I was a tumor baby.” Everyone looked at Bobby like he grew a second head. “What?” 

Rogue rolled her eyes, “Anyway, we all got you a card and some gifts.” She set them down on the ledge near the visiting chairs and window. 

“You guys didn’t have to do that.” 

“Most of them are for the little guy,” Alex said. 

“Still! He’s gonna be so spoiled…” 

Your nurse walked in after you said that. “Alright mama, we gotta get him weighed and everything. Just get stuff for the birth certificate…” She set papers down on your table tray. “If you’re up for it, you can fill stuff out now, or have someone else do it for you… We’ll be back in a little bit.” 

“Aww, bye…” Your friends cooed at your son. 

You rolled your eyes, smiling. “He’ll be in the nursery, and you can go see him in a little bit. Then if he’s fine, he’ll be back here with me and you guys can hold him.” 

“We can’t stay in here forever. This room is too small, plus Scott and his posse wanna come say hi.” 

“Right, right.” You took a sip from your water bottle the hospital gave you and looked at the birth certificate and other papers with it. 

“So… What’s his name?”

“I don’t know…” You admitted. You hadn’t really thought of a name. 

Well, you had, but it was kind of stupid. 

You wanted to name him after John, his father because he was one of the few things you had left of John. You also wanted to name him after Bobby or Alex, because they’d been some of your best friends and there for you during your pregnancy. 

“Well, you have sixty days to think about it.” Bobby reminded you. 

“Yeah,” You yawned. “Oh boy… Sorry— Sorry, I just—“

“Nonsense. You gave birth like what maybe an hour or two ago? Take a nap. You deserve it,” Kitty told you. 

“Yeah, we’ll go down to the nursery and see if we can spot him.” 

“Okay, you guys sure?”

“Yes, mom,” Alex teased. “We’re sure.”

“Okay, okay.” 

“We’ll be back.” 

Once the four shuffled out of your room, you quickly examined the birth certificate. 

You took a pen and wrote down your name, John’s, and the perfect name for your son. 

-

“Johnathan-Robert Alexander (Y/L/N)! Get back here!” Rogue scolded. 

“Sorry Marie, I just saw a cool bird, and it flew away…”

She ruffled his hair, “Your mom is gonna be mad if we don’t eat lunch. I let you play outside for an extra twenty minutes.”

“Oh, okay…” 

It had been six years since your son was born. You named him after his dad and your two best guy friends. His nickname was Jr, or Junior, because of his initials. 

He took after you mostly, except he had John’s eyes and mutation. 

You and your friends all became X-Men and teachers at the mansion, and they all pitched in to help raise Junior, despite you telling them over and over again that they didn’t have to. 

It wasn’t easy. You were a young mom— there were some pity looks at the grocery store, people asking if Junior was your little brother, you had no biological family around, despite the X-Men making up for it, and you were single. 

Not the end of the world, but sometimes, late at night, you thought about John. 

You know he did what he thought was right, somehow. You just wish he didn’t leave. Keeping you safe, what bullshit. 

Sometimes you resented him and you were glad he was gone. Sometimes you cried and wished he was there with you. 

He would have been a great dad. Nervous, and a little unsure at times, sure, but you know he’d love Junior and do anything for him. 

You were grading papers when your phone rang. 

You didn’t recognize the number, and you had no idea who’d be calling you at noon in the middle of the week.  

It stopped ringing and you didn’t look at it again for the rest of the hour. 

You glanced over at your phone as you took a bite from your salad. The caller left a message in your voice box, which was weird since spam calls usually don’t do that. 

Maybe it was someone with the wrong number, thinking you were a lost loved one. 

Oh god! I better listen to the message!

You picked up your phone and went to your messages. 

Your finger didn’t even hover over and hesitate when it hit the play button. 

-

You were crying. Six years later. Six years later, and he finally reached out. 

You didn’t know what to do. 

What did he want?

You rubbed your temple. What if he’d been in trouble with some bad people? What if he was dying?

You quickly selected his number on your screen. 

“Would you like to call? Yes or no?” 

Your thumb hovered over yes. 

Why didn’t you just push it? What were you so afraid of?

“God…” You groaned. “What am I doing?” 

“No! No, no… I have to call him back. Urgh!” You ran a hand through your hair. 

“Whooooo…” You hit yes, out your phone up to your ear, and let the phone ring. 

You were sweating and your heart was pounding like a drum. 

What if he didn’t pick up?

“Hello?”

“Hi, John, it’s me… (Y/N).” 

-

You asked him to come to the mansion, to sit down and talk to you. He seemed nervous over the phone, but he agreed to come and talk. 

“He called you? After six years of nothing?” Kitty scoffed in disbelief. 

“My number isn’t the same as it was in 2006. Plus who knows what he’s been up too since…” Your words trailed off.

“Why didn’t you ask to meet up at like a Starbucks or the library?” Alex asked. 

“I want him to meet Junior.”

“Are you insane?!” Rogue asked, looking over at you.

“The mansion is a place we’re both familiar with, and he doesn’t have to see him right away…” 

The three all had unsure looks on their faces. 

“It’s my decision. And while you’ve all been more than supportive, I believe he has a right to meet his son. He doesn’t have to be in his life permanently, as much as I’d like that, but he should at least know about him. See him once, maybe.” 

“You’re right,” Kitty spoke up. “He deserves to meet his kid. We may not like him or want him around, but Junior is his son. We can’t change that.”

“Kitty’s right. John’s not the greatest, but he always tried when it came to you, and he deserves to meet his son.” 

“When is he coming over?”

“Tomorrow at 10.” 

-

“Hey, kiddo.” You slowly opened your son’s door and peaked in. “You ready for bed?”

“Yep!” He popped the p. “I fed George and Rock and Socks.” Those were the fish in his little aquarium. “I brushed my teeth, and I put my pajamas on!” 

You gave him a hug, “That’s great, sweetie!” 

Junior sat under his covers in his bed, and you sat on the edge. “What’d you do in your classes today?” 

“Well, Ms. Monroe read us a book about a farm where the cows found a typewriter and made the farmer change the farm up!” 

Wow, starting them young.

“And then she taught us about different types of plants. Did you know broccoli is actually a flower?”

“I did not,” You blinked. 

“Does this mean I don’t have to eat it anymore? People don’t eat flowers!” 

Oh, Junior thought he was so slick. 

“Actually kiddo, some flowers are edible. So, no, you can’t cut out broccoli.” 

He frowned, “But I don’t wanna eat flowers!” 

“Rules are rules… And besides, you wanna eat healthily and get strong, don’t you?” 

“Yeah!” Junior’s face lit up. “So I can beat Gabe when we wrestle!” 

Gabe was Scott and Alex’s 10-year-old brother, who also went to Xavier’s school. He was one of the few kids even close to Junior’s age, making them almost best friends. 

“See! That’s the spirit! Now, do you want me to read to you before you go to sleep?” 

“Hmm… Hmm… Hmm…” 

You laughed a little, “I’ll take that as a no.”

Junior yawned, “Hmm…”

“I’ll let you get some sleep, okay?” You got up, bending down to kiss his forehead. 

“Okay, mom… Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, sweetie.” 

You closed the door behind you as you stepped out. You stood there for a moment to take a breather. 

John was going to love him, you weren’t worried about that. You were worried if you still had feelings for him and you were acting irrationally. 

No, You decided as you brushed your teeth in your bathroom. I’m not acting irrationally. I’ve wanted to talk to him since he left. I have no anger or sadness left in me, and I just want to catch up. 

“(Y/N),” Professor Xavier spoke into your mind. “You’re making part of the mansion shake.” 

“Shit!” You dropped your toothbrush into the sink and tried to pace your breath. 

“It’s alright, dear.” 

You had geological manipulation, and while you had practically mastered it, you still struggled at times. 

You rubbed your face with a towel and sighed. 

You knew getting any sleep was out the door at that point. 

-

You must have fallen asleep at some point and gotten some sleep because you woke up almost an hour late. 

“No, no, no!” You were frantic, slipping on your clothes, trying to brush your hair and somehow rock half-assed bed head and no makeup so you could be presentable in under five minutes. 

“Hey, (Y/N), you slept through your alarm—“

“I know, Bobby!” You were running down the hall to get to your classroom. 

“So I got Junior dressed and ready for the day—“

You slowed down to stop and open your door, looking at Bobby. “Oh my god. Thank you so much…” You instantly wrapped him into a hug. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay…” 

“I’m just so worried… about John and—“

“You’re gonna be fine,” He soothingly rubbed one of his hands on your back. 

“I got no sleep last night… I’m anxious about John coming back too. We’re in this together, okay?” 

“Yeah, together.” 

-

You stood peeking through a window, waiting for him. 

10:00 came, and a rugged, black Jeep pulled through the gates. 

You watched him step out of the car— brown leather jacket, facial hair, and he looked slightly more muscular than you’d last seen him. He’d aged, just like you, but not in a bad way, despite the fact he looked a bit tired. But then again, so did you. 

You left your hiding spot and went outside to greet him. 

“Hey!” 

“Hey!” He quickly checked you out, but it didn’t go undetected by you. “Wow, you look— great!” 

“You too.” You stood there, face to face, unsure if a hug or a handshake was appropriate. 

“So, how have you been?” 

“Good, um— well, a lot has changed since you left…” 

John nodded awkwardly. “But uh… I could give you a tour. Tell me about what you’ve been up to?” 

“Yeah, sure. Sounds good.” 

“So… Bobby, Rogue, Kitty, and I all became teachers...“ John chuckled. “What? Hard to believe?”

“No, no…” He shook his head. “Are Bobby and Rogue still together?” 

You laughed, “No way! Bobby came out of the closet and Marie sees some guy from New Orleans, I think his name is Remy? I’m not really sure… 

John smiled, “Yeah, he told me— junior year, he didn’t like girls.” 

“It hurt, Rogue,” You admitted. “But she understood.” 

“Well, that’s good, I suppose…”

“Yeah, yeah.” You wandered down the halls a bit, before speaking up. 

“So… what have you been up to?”

“Well, I lived in Genosha for awhile…”

“Magento’s hippie colony?” 

“Hey!” He jokingly scoffed. “It’s not a hippie colony!”

“Okay, Mister.” 

“Anyway, I uh, I started writing…”

You rose your brows in surprise, “Really? What do you write about?”

“Romance, mostly…” John was flustered. “Gothic romance. One of the people on Genosha knew a guy, he’s a literary agent—“

“Wait, are you…?”

“Yeah, I’m an actual published author. I only have two books out right now, the first one came out in 2008, and the other just last year.” 

You were baffled, all this time, and you could have contacted him sooner somehow. “I had no idea… congratulations! That’s amazing!”

“Thank you…” 

“Yeah, of course. You do anything else?”

“My mom died two years ago… I went to her funeral… I saw my dad.”

“How’d that go?”

“Not great… but, you know how it is.” You nodded in sympathy. “Anyway, what’s new with you? Besides teaching… Any new X-Men? Are you… seeing anyone…?”

“Scott’s younger brother joined the team, and he has another brother—“

“Mommy! Mom!” You froze. John noticed your shift in demeanor and glanced from you to Junior. 

“Junior, you’re supposed to be in class.” 

“I was, but then Stacy Brown, the girl with the lizard tongue, threw up, so Stacy got taken to Dr. Grey’s lab and Ororo let us leave early.”

“I know who Stacy Brown is, sweetie. You don’t have to tell me she has a lizard tongue. That’s not very nice to point out people’s mutations.” 

Junior frowned and sulked a little, “I’m sorry…”

“I forgive you.” 

John’s eyes kept moving between you and Junior. When did you have a kid? He couldn’t be any older than five or six. 

“Hi. Who are you?” The kid spoke to him. 

“Oh,” John crouched down to equal eye level. “I’m John… What’s your name?” 

“My name is John, too! Well, actually Johnathan-Robert, I was named after my dad and one of his closest friends, even though his name isn’t actually Johnathan. Everyone calls me Junior though, cause my initials are JR.” 

John was floored. He had a son. 

He had a son, and he left him. He left you. 

Oh, God… 

“Uh, Mr… Mr. John?” Junior asked. “Why are you crying?” 

“Uh, Junior, sweetie…” You trailed off. “He’s your dad.” 

“Oh! Oh, I’m sorry…”

John wiped his eyes and stood up, “What for?”

“I made you cry… I’m really sorry…”

“It’s okay. They were happy tears.” He rubbed his eyes. 

“Oh… Do you wanna see my fish? I have 3 of them in my room, they live in a terrarium!” 

“Aquarium,” You corrected him. 

“That’s what I said!” 

John smiled, “Yeah, I’d like that.” 

“Come on, then!” Junior grabbed his hand and led him upstairs. 

-

John moved back in. 

Not with you necessarily, but he wanted to be a part of Junior’s life. He felt like the world’s biggest asshole for leaving days before you found out you were pregnant. 

He joined the brotherhood because he felt like you were the only person who saw him as a decent human being. He didn’t agree with everything Xavier said and stood for, and he was tired of people comparing him to Bobby. 

He wanted to fight for what he thought was right. He wanted to be able to just do what he wanted without hurting the one person he cared about. Which is why he didn’t tell you he was leaving. 

But he knew he hurt you. He knew soon as the battle was over and he claimed one of the small homes on Genosha as his. 

He was scared to reach out the first few months. And then he assumed you left Xavier’s and he didn’t know how to contact you from there. He only just got your number because a graduate from Xavier’s moved to Genosha, giving him your number and telling him you hadn’t left. 

He didn’t even hesitate to call you. He didn’t even care if you cursed him out on the other line, yelling about how you never wanted to see him again. He just wanted to hear your voice one more time. 

What he wouldn’t have done to hold you in his arms again, feel your soft, pink lips against his, your bodies pressed against each other, becoming one. 

But he knew he didn’t deserve any of it. He didn’t deserve you. He knew he fucked up. 

And what hurt him the most was he thought he was worse than his own father. The one who beat him, called him a monster, sent him away to a foreign country, left in the care of strangers— he thought he was worse because he wasn’t there in the beginning. He wasn’t there for the doctor’s appointments, the birth, or his first steps and words. 

You talked to him. Tried to convince him he wasn’t bad, while still holding your ground and making him responsible for just up and leaving. 

“I should have gone with you. You know I would have. I would have followed you to the fucking moon if you asked.” 

“I know… I just thought keeping you out of all that was the best choice.”

“We were fucking kids John! We really didn’t know much. We still don’t! We’re 23 with a child.”

“You don’t have to forgive me. You don’t have to love me again. I just want to be in my son’s life, please.” He was trying his best to not cry again. 

“Most of the time you’re a great guy. I want you in Junior’s life… I just… I don’t know if we can ever go back to how it was before.” I still love you, but I’m not ready to rush into anything…

“Yeah, no, I get that. You have no reason to trust me, and no obligations to date me…”

You sighed, “I want us to be friends. Not for anyone’s sake but for our own… because as much as I should… I don’t hate you.” 

“Thank you.” His voice was breaking. 

“Friends?” 

He nodded, “Yeah, friends.” You wrapped him in your arms in place of a handshake. Neither of you said anything. Nothing needed to be said. 

-

John had been living at the X-Mansion for almost two years. He taught an English class or two and continued to write more gothic romance novels while spending as much time as he could with Junior. 

He became friends with Bobby, Kitty, and Rogue again. He became friends with Alex. He was friends with you, despite wanting more. 

But he knew he didn’t deserve it, and he was just glad to get what he could. 

“So… what do they like, do in Romania?”

You looked up from your lesson plan for the week and gave John a funny look. 

“What do they do in Romania? Aren’t you the one writing about vampires? You should know.” 

“Yeah, but you’re a history teacher!”

“I teach kids about the civil war, Marie Antionette, and the Han dynasty.” 

You sometimes worked together in the library or in one of your rooms or classrooms. John— writing the next chapter of his novel— and you, usually doing lesson plans or grading tests. 

“What are you writing about anyway?” You turned in your chair to watch John scribble words down in his notebook. He preferred to write down on paper first, then type it up. 

“Well, she’s making Von take her on a date since she’s been living with him for a month and he confessed he liked her.”

“Isn’t Von a vampire?”

John nodded, “Half. Anyway, he’s gonna like, take her stargazing on the rooftop. I don’t know what else they’re gonna do after that.”

You pondered for a moment, “We used to do that all the time…” 

“Yeah, um…”

You laughed a little, teasing him. “Do you base all your stories on our romantic endeavors?”

“Not all of them!” He defended. 

“That so?” John hummed in response. “What has the great womanizer, St. John Allerdyce, been up to in his love life the last few years?” 

“Not much,” He admitted. “I went on a few dates, a handful of hookups, but nothing really worked out…” He tried to shake the feeling of longing for you off, “What about you?”

“Same as you. Not much luck, especially with being a young mom, and raising a kid with two of her best friends who are guys, it tends to… scare people away…” 

John swung his legs to the side of the bed, about to get up. 

“They’re pussies,” He said while looking at you. 

You nodded, not noticing he got up, “Yeah, besides I’m busy…”

Your train of thought was forgotten as John’s eyes looked into yours. You weren’t speaking. 

Your eyes glanced down at his lips. They were soft and pink. 

You cleared your throat, trying to distract yourself from your thoughts, unaware John’s brain was on the same page as yours. 

He unexpectedly pressed his lips against yours. You were wide-eyed with shock as he did so. You weren’t expecting that. 

But you were glad it happened. 

He broke away too quickly for your liking. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have—“

“Do it again.” 

“What?” John almost thought you were kidding. 

“Kiss me again, Sinjin.” 

And so he did. His lips collided with yours, your mouths moving in sync. 

His weight and force caused you to fall back in your chair, with John straddling your waist. Your hands were tugging on the hair at the nape of his neck, causing him to moan a little against your mouth. His hands were roaming up and down your body. 

You partially ground against his crotch, causing him to break his lips away from yours and curse. 

It didn’t last long, as he went back to kissing your lips like a horny teenager, pulling your shirt up off of you. 

“Wait, wait, stop.” John froze, looking you directly in the eyes, his face barely two inches away from yours. 

“Is everything alright?” 

“Buy me dinner first, before you undress me, okay?” 

You didn’t want to get carried away. You wanted a clear mind before you slept with him again. Kissing and going on a few dates and whatever else you were doing was enough at that moment. 

He nodded, in total awe of you— The small details of your face one could only see if they were this close— “Tomorrow at 7. Does that work for you?” 

“That’s perfect.” 

-

“So I need you— if you can’t that’s fine! You have lives of your own— but I kind of need someone to watch Junior for the night.” 

You really hated asking people to babysit, but it was Kitty and Rogue. They wouldn’t care. 

“Not that we won’t do it,” Kitty said. “But why can’t John watch him?” 

“Well—“

suddenly, Bobby burst through the door, screaming the girls’ names. 

“KATHERINE! ANNA MARIE! I HAVE HUGE NEWS!” 

“What is it?”

“John—“ He looked at you, and then stopped his sentence. 

“Oh… I’m assuming you told them.”

“Told us what?” Rogue asked. 

“John and (Y/N) are going on a date.” 

“Finally,” Kitty let out. 

You were confused, “What do you mean, finally?” 

“Are— are you serious?” Bobby asked in disbelief. 

You nodded. 

“You two are so in love, it’s sickening sometimes!” Rogue scoffed. 

“We are not!” You knew that wasn’t true. You obviously still had feelings and so did he, but love? You weren’t sure if it was that. 

“Please, he never stopped loving you, and you never stopped loving him.”

“Bobby…”

“(Y/N)...” 

You groaned. 

“Look, I’m not gonna push you into saying the L-word anytime soon, but the guy writes romance novels for fuck’s sake! You’re gonna have a great time no matter what.”

Yeah, you thought to yourself as John drove down the crowded New York roads. 

We’re gonna have a great time no matter what. 

You went to some restaurant that just opened. It wasn’t too fancy or too casual, but since it was new, you still needed a reservation. 

After dinner, you walked around the city streets, just catching up, looking at shops and apartment buildings and all the people. 

It almost felt like you were teenagers again. 

Holding hands, watching the sunset…

John pulled out his phone to snap a few pictures. You decided to try and photobomb, making dumb faces and peeking your head into view of the camera. 

John shifted his hands and arms so you were the camera’s main focus. 

The way the sun's rays reflected through the lens behind you making you glow, (John already thought you were most of the time), your goofy smile— he took a picture, but to him, it looked more like a renaissance painting. 

He glanced away from his phone to see you without a lense. 

You still looked like a heavenly being to him. You always did— strong, beautiful, intelligent, witty, and you were an amazing mom.

 He didn’t have anyone to use as a base for “mom skills”, but he didn’t need that to know you were amazing. Not just with Junior, but all the young kids at the mansion. 

Of course, there were times when you faltered or felt like you weren’t good enough, times where you would make the mansion shake on accident, but everyone had weak points. 

John didn’t see you as any lesser for them, he knew your life wasn’t easy. Even if he had never left, it wouldn’t have been perfect. 

But he couldn’t dwell on the past forever, despite how much he wanted to at some of his weaker moments. 

“Whatcha looking at?”

He blinked. “You… The sunset… You look like an angel.” 

You nervously laughed, “Stop it.” 

John put his phone away and got back to your side. 

“I’m serious, you’re beautiful…” 

Your gaze fell down to your feet, not unnoticed by John. 

“Hey,” He cupped your face with his hand, forcing your gaze on him. “It’s okay if you don’t believe me right now, but you will one day… I promise you that.” 

His hand faltered and you hugged him. 

“God, you’re so nice to me.” 

“I don’t deserve you.” He plainly stated. 

You narrowed your eyes at him and pointed a finger. “No self-deprecating talk!”

John laughed at your attitude shift. It was cute. “Alright, but that means nothing from you either.“

“Fine.” 

John kissed the top of your head, causing you to smile like a madman. It made his heart flutter a bit. 

-

Your first date was almost two years ago. It seemed so long ago, yet almost like it was yesterday. 

You woke up to the sound of your alarm. 

You immediately woke up, but John just groaned and stirred in his sleep a little. 

He had an arm wrapped around you, so you had to wiggle your way out of bed. “Come on, sleepyhead…” 

John groaned some more, his grip on you just got tighter. 

“If you don’t let me out, I’ll pee on the bed.” 

John’s eyes shot open, and you smirked to yourself, having been victorious. 

“That would be hot.” 

You gagged as you walked into your bathroom. “Gross!”

John followed you, “You know I’m just joking.” 

You shook your head, a smile evident on your face. “I know, I know.” 

You turned the sink on and began washing your face. John used the empty space in the mirror to brush out his bed head. 

You caught him starring at you a few times as you both went through your morning routines. 

“What are you thinking about?” 

“Nothing.” He kissed the crook of your neck. “Today’s just gonna be a good day. That’s all. I can feel it.” 

You let his words sink in for a moment. 

“Yeah, today’s gonna be a good day.” 

That’s when John knew. His instinct, gut, or whatever you call it, knew this was it. 

He casually walked out of the bathroom and grabbed a small box. You were preoccupied with applying some makeup. 

He came back in, on one knee in the doorway. 

You looked over at him, nearly dropping your brush on to the floor, your jaw slack. 

“(Y/N), I love you. And this isn’t some big romantic gesture, but love isn’t only seen in big romantic gestures. It’s the small things, the intimate moments. I did have something planned, but I really couldn’t wait. I love you… and…” John’s words trailed off. He was starting to cry. Your eyes were watering too. 

“Will you marry me?”

You nodded, “Yes, yes!” 

John got up and kissed you. Then he slipped the ring on your finger. 

You admired it, “Wow… it’s beautiful…”

“So are you.” 

You kissed him without missing a beat.

-

“You may now kiss the bride.” 

John didn’t hesitate with that. 

People cheered and some jokingly wolf-whistled. Junior made a sour face. 

Your wedding was magical, and despite having to say hello to every guest and dance at least twice, you were happy. So happy. 

John was happy too. He had a big smile on his face the whole time, no matter what and he was so excited to call himself your husband. 

Some people teased him and others were very surprised, claiming John was really out of his element. 

You knew better though. You both just loved each other, and after John spilled his guts on how much he loved you in front of everyone at the altar, he couldn’t care less who saw him like this. 

-

You just had a quick breakfast before you had to teach your first-hour class. You didn’t think anything of it as you were running a bit behind. 

You were fine though, and your schedule was going smoothly, your class was taking notes as you talked about the French Revolution. Students were asking questions when needed, and most of them were paying attention. 

Suddenly, you felt a wave of nausea hit you. You tried to keep it down, but you couldn’t, and immediately darted to the trash can near your desk. 

Your students were murmuring among each other, unsure of what to do. 

“Um… Ms. (Y/L/N)? Are you okay?” 

You used a tissue to wipe your mouth and applied some hand sanitizer. 

“Yeah— um—“ 

You couldn’t come up with an excuse though, for one of your students opened a portal and grabbed John and another teacher. 

John rushed to your aid, asking if you were alright. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“I’m gonna take you to Dr. Grey. Piotr, can you watch her class for a little bit?” 

“Yeah, sure.” He replied, a little unsure and worried about your well being. 

John helped you out of your classroom, despite you insisting you didn’t need help. 

Thankfully Jean was in the lab, so you didn’t have to go looking for her. 

As you explained what happened, John sat at your side like a nervous puppy. 

“Babe, I’m not going to die. I probably just ate something bad and my stomach didn’t agree with it.” 

“Food poisoning is really serious—“

“It’s probably not that.” 

“You rarely get sick aside from the common cold or seasonal allergies.” He reminded you. 

Jean smiled, at how much John was worrying. It showed he cared. 

“Have you had anything else happen to you lately?”

“I’ve been a lot more tired, and more headaches, but that’s just aging, right?” 

“Probably. I’m gonna have you fill this out though, just in case.” Jean handed you a clipboard with a questionnaire attached. 

You read each question, leaving a checkmark or an x, depending on what it was. You handed it back to Jean and she read it over. 

“I’m gonna have you pee in a cup, just so I can test it for a few things.”  Jean opened a plastic wrapping and handed you a small plastic cup. 

“Bathroom’s on the right.” 

You came back quickly, informing Jean you left the cup in the bathroom. 

“I’ll go get that… and I should be back with your results soon.”

She walked out, leaving you and John alone. 

You checked your phone, seeing some missed texts from Kitty. 

 KITTY: Hey

 KITTY: heard you puked in class today :( you alright?

 (Y/N): yeah, I’m in Jean’s lab. She’s testing my urine for something…

 KITTY: oh my god! Are you pregnant?

 (Y/N): What!!?

 KITTY: that’s usually why they test urine. Although, when I’d go to the dr. they’d make me pee to see if there was like protein in my pee or something

 KITTY: idk

 (Y/N): There’s no way!

 (Y/N): Well...

 KITTY: *side eye emoji* didn’t you tell me your period was a little late?

 (Y/N): Yeah, but that’s normal! 

 KITTY: You’re almost 30

 (Y/N): So? Your period isn’t always regular, and we’re the same age

 KITTY: I’m a lesbian. You have a husband. 

 You turned your phone off. What if you were pregnant again?

Obviously, you were in a good place, you would be fine having a kid. (Plus, Junior had been asking for a sibling awhile back.) You just hadn’t really discussed it with John. 

Why mess up a good thing? You, know? You didn’t need another child, but you wouldn’t be disappointed. 

Oh god! You were definitely pregnant and what if John didn’t want more kids? What if your body couldn’t handle carrying another baby? What if—

“Sweetheart, you’re shaking.” John’s hands held yours, trying to keep them from moving. “Are you alright? Do you feel like you’re gonna faint?”

“I might be pregnant…” You whispered. You don’t know why you whispered it. 

“Are you sure?”

“My period is late— but even after five different kinds of birth controls it’s never really been on a regular schedule. Me throwing up could have been morning sickness—“ 

John couldn’t hide the smile on his face. You were rambling about how you were probably pregnant and how worried you were. He just held your hand, and calmly said your name. 

“(Y/N), you’re gonna be okay. You’re an amazing mom, and I’m gonna be with you through all of it this time.” 

You nodded, not trusting your voice. 

Jean came back with your results. 

“So?”

“You must have eaten something bad, or your period is coming up. Some women vomit during PMS.” 

“Am I pregnant?” You asked. 

“No, why? We’re you expecting that?” 

“Oh, no. We’re not— I just thought— cause you made me pee—“

Jean shrugged as she typed on her computer. “I did test for that. But no baby…” 

You nodded, asking what to do next. 

John sat, lost in his thoughts. He was so excited at the thought of you being pregnant. 

Do I want another kid?... 

When Junior had asked for a sibling not too long ago, John said, “No way.” 

Now?

“Just drink plenty of water, and bed rest. I’ll get someone to cover your classes for tomorrow after we disinfect your room. If you don’t puke or have any new symptoms within the next 48 hours, you can go back to teaching.” 

“Make sure she stays in her room, okay?” Jean said to John. 

“Yes, ma’am.” He half-joked. 

John led you up to your shared room, shutting the door behind him. 

“Lay on the bed. I’ll get you some pajamas, and then some water. How do you feel? Do you need more blankets? I’m sure I can get Bobby to cover my next class, I can cuddle with you if you’d like.” 

“No, Sinjin, I’m fine, really… besides, I can make another lesson plan, or finish my book—“

“Oh no, you don’t. Jean said you needed to rest. So, that’s exactly what you’re gonna do. Even if that means I have to sit and watch you.” 

“Creep,” You teased as you changed into your pajamas. 

“Edward did it with Bella,” He argued, while quickly texting Bobby, asking to sub for him. 

“Didn’t you say Stephanie Myer was an ‘embarrassment in the gothic romance community?’” 

“Besides the point…” 

“Okay, Edward Cullen.” 

John removed his shoes and socks and joined you in bed, “Shut up.” 

“Make me,” You teased, eyes bearing into his. John kissed your forehead. 

“I would, but you puked up breakfast not even three hours ago.” 

You frowned, “Then don’t cuddle with me! You’ll get sick.” 

“My body is like a furnace. Most diseases don’t last in me.” 

“I don’t think that’s how it works.” 

John shrugged as he draped an arm over you, rubbing circles into your skin with his thumb.

You shifted a little, trying to get comfortable, before settling on a position. 

“Hey, Sinjin…”

“Yeah?” 

“What if I was pregnant?” 

John’s hand stopped. 

“We thought I was for a minute, and you looked excited, despite the fact I was freaking out… Do you want another kid?” 

John flinched a little at your sharp question. “I mean… it’s your body. It’s up to you.” 

“No, no, we’re in this together. Do you want another kid?” 

“Honestly?... Yeah, I do. I know I was on the fence when Junior first asked, but that was months ago… I want to experience everything, and be there for you this time… do you want to have another kid?

“Uh-huh.” 

“Okay… Wait— when can we— Jean said 48 hours without puking—“

You glanced over at the clock, “10:43 AM. This Wednesday.” 

“Right. At exactly 10:43 AM, on Wednesday, we can have sex… Oh my god.” John laughed, somewhat disappointed and embarrassed by his words. 

“What?”

“We’re like an old couple, scheduling when to have sex.” 

You laughed, “Plenty of people schedule sex— remember when we were younger? We’d plan around when Bobby and Kitty wouldn’t be around so one of our rooms were empty—“

“Okay, okay… I’ll go to the store and get some viagra.” 

You snorted, “Don’t think you’ll be needing that big guy.” 

“You’re right. I’ll just get some extra large condoms.” John joked. 

“First off, that defeats the whole point of baby-making, and second, you need small at best.” 

“You wound me, woman!”

You smiled stuck your tongue out like a child.

-

When you were in better health, you and John didn’t waste any time— You went at it like rabbits. 

You thought you’d get pregnant on the first try, seeing as you weren’t even trying for Junior, but that wasn’t the case. You had to try a few more times before getting there.

Test after test, until finally, one said positive. 

You and John were so excited, not a dry eye between the two of you. 

“We’re having a baby!” John held you close, his hands down at your stomach. 

“I’m not showing yet, it’s too early…”

“I know, I know,” He sheepishly admitted.  “I’m just excited.” 

“We can’t tell anyone until the second trimester, or well, we’re not supposed to, because it’s such early development right now that something could go wrong, usually it doesn’t— but that’s what all the doctors and books and mommy blogs online say.”

John nodded, he’d read a few books, and some articles online, but he knew you’d already been to doctors before and just knew more. 

“When do you think we should tell Junior?” 

“How are we gonna tell Junior,” You corrected him. 

“He wanted a sibling. This should be easy.” 

You squinted your eyes at him. “If we start to struggle how to explain this to him, it’s all on you buddy.” 

“Alright.” 

-

John knew what was going to happen. He knew what a cesarean section was. He even watched videos, about it. 

But boy, oh, boy, seeing it in person was so much different. 

Your doctor let him cut the umbilical cord, which he was super nervous about. He was anxious about everything. 

Was your daughter safe? What if you woke up before you got stitched up? What if you had a sudden health complication?

His mind raced as he watched your baby get cleaned off and checked on. 

“Is she okay?” 

“So far. We’re going to take her to the nursery to get her weighed and measured and move her mom out of the delivery room. Stay with her, when the anesthesia wears off she’s gonna be pretty sore.” 

John didn’t want to leave your baby girl, but he wasn’t going to disobey your doctor. 

You made it into your recovery room without any trouble, and after a few minutes, your nurse left you and John alone, saying he could visit your daughter in the nursery soon. 

“I’ll wait until our friends and family get here.” 

Your nurse nodded and reminded you to press the button on the side of your bed if you needed anything, before heading out the door. 

-

You named your daughter after your other two best friends, Katherine Anne Allerdyce. John wanted to name her after you, but you argued what if you had another girl? 

He got all flustered and nervous at the idea, which you found cute. 

“Do you wanna hold her?” He asked Junior. 

He nodded and was told to sit down in one of the chairs. 

“She’s so… tiny…” He emphasized. 

Everyone laughed or chuckled at Junior’s demeanor. 

“She was born a few hours ago,” You reminded him. 

“Oh… Yeah.” 

Everyone else took turns holding her and cooing and doting over Kat. 

“Aww, hello… Hello Kat… Aww, you’re so cute.”

“Bobby she’s asleep.” 

“Hush let me hold my niece.”

John frowned. “She’s my child and I’ve held her less than you have.” 

You rolled your eyes, “Babe, let Bobby dote.” 

“Fine…”

Kitty pulled out her phone, “Let me get a picture of you guys! Bobby, John, and Katherine. I think it’ll be cute!” 

“Fine, fine.” John rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless. 

He scooted closer to Bobby and grinned up at Kitty’s phone as the flash went off. 

“Ow!” Bobby winced. “Did you have to use flash?” 

“Aww… you blinked.” She pouted. 

“I was blinded!”

“Hush it, you big baby. Let me take another one.” Kitty positioned her phone to take another picture again. 

“No flash this time!”

“It’s not on!”

John smiled again and so did Bobby. Kitty took her photo and then admired her work. 

“Aww, you guys look so cute together!” 

She handed her phone to John so he and Bobby could look at the picture. 

John smiled. 

He looked tired, normal with age, raising a kid, and being up for hours while his wife gave birth. 

But he was happy. 

His life wasn’t how he thought it would be, but unplanned plans are usually the best ones. 

He had a family— not just you, Junior, and Kat— but Bobby, Kitty, Alex, Rogue, and everyone else at the mansion. He had people to fall back on and that supported and loved him. 

He looked over at you, talking to Alex while sipping from the straw of your hospital cup/water bottle they gave you. His heart yearned. Despite how tired you were, and how you couldn’t even walk at the moment due to giving birth not even 24 hours ago, John still thought you were the most beautiful and brave person he knew. His writing could never compare or encapture your character, no matter how hard he tried. 

But it didn’t matter. 

You both had what you never knew you wanted. 

And you were happy.