#i guess i could blast in there like ‘hey sam how’re you doing’ but… who does that

[fingertipsmp3]

Okay. Is it delusional of me to try to signal to this guy in my class that I like him… through my choice of earrings

[fific7]

Dangerous and Divine - Part 6

Billy Russo x Reader

Summary: Billy Russo is an itch you don’t want to scratch. But he’s all over you like a rash.

A/N: This does not follow canon, it’s mainly fluff & lemon zest 🍋 with a side of angst. The GIF is from Exposed, unreleased pilot show in case you’re wondering 😌... Billy vibes.

Warnings: Some drinking & swearing.

(My GIF)

He made it out onto the street, looking around him in all directions, heart sinking as he couldn’t see her anywhere.

Running his fingers through his hair, Billy continued scanning the crowded streets. No.... nothing. He grabbed his phone and dialled her number. She didn’t pick up. So he texted her.

“Angel, just saw you in the restaurant. I was there for a business lunch, really hope you don’t think there was anything else to it cos there wasn’t. Please - call me back or pick up when I call.”

He tried another couple of times including FaceTime but no, she definitely wasn’t picking up. Trying once more, he let it ring through to voicemail, and left basically the same message on there. He had no intention of returning to Madani and continuing lunch - too many awkward questions to face there apart from anything else - so he went back to his car, got in, slamming his hands down onto the steering wheel a few times before starting the engine, and driving back to Anvil.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

You and your friend had only gone a few doors down to another restaurant, and luckily they had a table available. Once you’d ordered and had glasses of wine in your hands, your friend Karen had fixed you with a steely gaze and said, “Okay, give.”

She worked as a reporter at one of the big newspapers, and you hadn’t had the chance to catch up with her for a good few months. And you knew she wouldn’t let this go until she’d wrung all the juicy details out of you, so you took a big sip of wine and sighed.

Catching her up from the whole ex-boyfriend situation to the cocktail party and meeting your new love interest, through to becoming lovers and maybe thinking it could go somewhere, you finally got to today’s fiasco.

“So, literally as soon as we sat down, I look up and that big fucker’s walking in with some pretty girl and looking extremely comfortable with her!” You gave what could only be described as an angry growl, “I mean I’d sussed out from the get-go that he was a player, but ... uhhh!!!... how could I be so damn stupid to fall for his shit talk?!!! Telling me I was his girlfriend!!!” You blew out a big breath.

“And then...“ you switched to your fake “man” voice, “‘Oh, I got a job I’ll be on for the next couple of days, angel.’” Another angry huff from you. “Yeah, right, on a ‘job’...he was obviously gonna be ON her! For about 48 hours by the sound of it. Bitch! And he’s a fucking jerk.”

Once Karen could get a word in edgeways when your rant drew to a close, she said in a calming voice, “Honey, it sounds like you had a lucky escape. There’s a lot of them in New York, you know... fucking jerks, I mean.”

You felt your eyes welling up, but blinked the tears back fiercely, you weren’t going to cry over that stupid big douchebag. You pulled your phone out of your bag, “I mean, look! Look at what he literally put in my phone yesterday evening...” and, ignoring your notifications for the moment, you scrolled to Contacts and turned the phone towards her.

Karen rolled her eyes, “Urrrghh, how lame is that? ‘Your Boyfriend’?” shaking her head. Even though you were furious at him, you felt a twinge of annoyance at her comment. You’d thought it was quite cute. Well, you had before that little shitshow. Then she put her face closer to the screen, “Hey, wait a minute!.. lemme see his photo?”

You handed the phone to her, and she peered at the image. “Oh my god,” she breathed, looking up at you, “...what’s your guy’s name?” “Billy Russo,” you spat back, loath to even voice it. She handed you the phone back. “Well, that’s just damn spooky,” she said, looking amazed. She leant in to you, “I’ve been seeing a guy for a couple of months, his name’s Frank,” and your mouth dropped. “Billy’s got a friend called Frank!” you said, staring at her. She nodded, “Yep, works at Anvil which is owned by the one and only Billy Russo!”

She sat back, taking a long sip of her wine. “What a freaking coincidence this is,” she shook her head. “Frank’s told me a little about him, you know and I’m afraid you’re right - he sounds like a total player.” She looked at you sympathetically, “Sorry.” You waved a hand in the air, “Nothing I hadn’t guessed for myself, Karen. But... he seemed so sincere.” You laughed self-depracatingly, “I was gonna be the one who tamed the bad boy. Huh!!”

You scrolled through the notifications, realising they were all from Billy. “I think he must’ve seen me! He’s called and texted.” You read the text, huffing and showing it to Karen, who raised her eyebrows and commented, “Nice recovery, Russo.” “The voicemail’s the same,” you said, as you listened to it. “What a load of bullshit. I mean, c’mon, who walks a business lunch date to the table with his hand on her back?”

Karen nodded, “No-one, unless they wanna get slapped with a lawsuit.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Billy slammed his office door behind him, and threw himself into his chair, tapping out a staccato rhythm on his desktop with a long finger. He reached down, opening his bottom desk drawer and taking out a bottle of whisky and a glass. A moment later, the door opened and Frank came in, looking concerned. He took in Billy’s less-than-immaculate hair, bouncing knee and tense demeanour.

Billy waggled the whisky bottle and quirked an eyebrow at him, but Frank shook his head.

“Okay, Bill, what’s up? Something go wrong?” Billy looked up at him, scowling ferociously, “Fuck yes!” he bit out, “Frankie... everything’s gone wrong.”

Before he could say anything else, Frank’s phone rang and he held a finger up to Billy to say he was going to take the call.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he answered it, “how’re you?” Billy heard a big outburst of indecipherable speech from the phone, and then saw Frank’s eyes flick over to him. “Oh, uhhh okay.. umm right, yeah he’s here. Yeah... yep, I’ll let him know. Will I see you later?” He smiled fondly as he went on, “Okay! That’s great, see you then.” He hung up, hand going to his jaw and running over his stubbled chin, looking worried.

“Bill...” he started, just staring at him and Billy stared right back, “What?”

Frank said a name to him, his angel’s name, and continued, “You know her?” Billy nodded, “Yeah, that’s my girl.” Frank plopped down into the chair across from him, “Not sure that’s the case now.” Billy nodded, “I know. That’s what I was about to tell you. I took Madani out to lunch and my girl was in the fuckin’ restaurant.” He shook his head, “She ran right outta there and I followed but couldn’t find her. So I headed back here. Left Madani sitting there in the restaurant.”

He poured a generous slug of whisky into the glass and knocked back most of it. “Now my girl’s mad at me and Dinah’s mad at me, and this operation could be down the tube.”

Frank sighed, rubbing his big paw over his face. “And Karen’s her friend, can you believe that? So she’s mad at you too. Fuckin’ hell, Russo.”

“Yeah,” said Billy, also sighing. “How the fuck am I gonna fix this?”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Dinah Madani was not a happy bunny. She stomped into her office, yelling out “Sam!!!” as she went. He hurried in behind her. “Something wrong, Dinah?” She gave him a contemptuous look, “I see you’ve been working on your powers of observation. Well done! Yes, something’s wrong!” Sitting down behind her desk, she glared up at him, “Russo!!! That’s what wrong. That piece of shit.”

Inwardly, Sam laughed to himself. Despite Madani’s sarcastic gibe at his perceptiveness, he’d quickly realised as soon as Russo had popped up in this case that Madani had the serious hots for him. She thought she’d been getting somewhere with him, both on the case and personally, but now something must’ve put a spanner in the works on either one or both of those.

“What’s pretty boy done now?” he asked, trying and failing to completely hide his smirk. She scowled at him, “We’d gone out for lunch - to discuss the case,” she hastily added, and Sam thought to himself ‘yeah, right, and what were you hoping dessert was gonna be?’

“He spotted someone leaving the restaurant and off he goes, saying he’s got to catch up with them.” She viciously powered up her laptop. “Think it was a woman,” she mumbled. “Sorry, what?” said Sam innocently. “I said, I think it was a woman!” spat out Madani, “are you deaf or something?”

Sam smirked again, “Oh. Dear. Someone to do with the case, you think?” She stared at her screen, “How should I know? But that bastard’s got some explaining to do.”

Well this afternoon was gonna be a complete blast, thought Sam.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

You’d returned to Chelsea, and spent the whole afternoon getting under your team’s feet in the café. Not wanting to sit and brood in your office, you’d busied yourself ‘helping them out’, when in fact they didn’t actually need any assistance. And you could sense you were vaguely irritating them. But you didn’t feel up to telling them what the problem was.

Eventually, you’d asked if one of them wanted the rest of the day off as paid leave, and Gabrielle had jumped at the chance. Her older sister had just recently popped out another baby, and she was keen to visit and fulfill her role as doting aunt.

The two guys had watched you warily for the rest of the day, in case all your nervous energy ended up causing some kind of coffee-shop catastrophe. You sent them off at the end of the day, saying you’d close up yourself. Which turned out to be a mistake. Looking vacantly out at the street, you closed and locked the door when they left, and that’s when you spotted the Wraith, parked diagonally opposite the café.

Resting your forehead against the cool glass of the door for a moment, knowing you should really have anticipated that this would be Billy’s next move when you didn’t respond to his attempts at contacting you. Either turn up here or at your apartment. Not difficult to work out. You got the fright of your life as the doorway suddenly darkened, and long legs clad in suit trousers and a pair of shiny black shoes appeared in your line of vision. You’d jumped back in surprise and Billy leant one one arm on the door, staring in at you and mouthing “Please?” at you, followed by (you thought), “I just wanna explain.”

You’d looked away from his pleading eyes, contemplating what you were going to do. Let him in, don’t let him in. You couldn’t deny you wanted to hear his explanation. In all its no-doubt manufactured glory. So, heaving a big sigh, you unlocked the door and immediately walked away to the counter, leaving him to actually open the door and walk in. A small victory, you thought. You hadn’t actually let him in after all. Sort of.

“Coffee?” you asked over your shoulder. “Please.” You made an Americano for him, and a caffé corretto for yourself. You weren’t too fond of grappa, so topped up the espresso with some brandy. Billy, who was leaning on the counter watching you, raised an eyebrow at you. “Ooh, that bad, huh? Can I get some too?” You just stared at him, and he added, “Please?” so you added a shot to his coffee and handed it to him.

Sipping your own strong and bracing beverage, you leaned back against the unit behind you, face neutral, waiting. He took a long drink of his fortified coffee, eyes never leaving yours. He carefully placed the cup back into the saucer, leaning his arms on the counter and looking back up at you, the tip of his tongue swiftly moving over his bottom lip.

“I know you’ll probably think this is total bullshit, but I promise you it’s not,” he said into the silence. You nodded, “Mmhmm.” His eyes drilled into yours, sincerity shining out of them, “That was purely a business lunch. She’s a Homeland agent, and Frankie and I are... in the middle of something with that agency. I can’t tell you any of the details... yet. I’m sorry.”

You huffed out a long breath. “Firstly, Billy, since when does a business lunch entail walking the woman to a table with a hand on her back?” He winced, but you weren’t finished, “And right now, to me, the only thing you looked like getting into the middle of was her.” This time he flinched back from the venom in your voice, but he maintained eye contact with you.

“Angel, I swear to you... On. My. Life. There is nothing and will never be anything between me and Agent Madani.” So.... Agent Madani, your brain rolled the words around your mind. “We’re in a joint operation with them, and I need to make sure she doesn’t drop us out of the loop, they’re good at doing that.”

“And how’re you doing that, Billy? With ‘business lunches’, with lots of flirting? She got the hots for you, hmmm Billy? Yeah? So, ultimately with sex? Keep her really sweet?”

Damn, you knew you’d hit the nail right on the head. His face had flushed, guilt written all over him and he’d slid back on the counter slightly. You’d like to bet that If he hadn’t met you, that’s exactly what would’ve happened. Maybe he’d just not got that far down his timetable with her yet.

You stared intently into his eyes, “Slept with her yet, Billy?” He straightened up to his full height, looking down at you, a strange distant expression in his eyes. “No, angel, I haven’t. And I can’t deny what you’ve just said. That was the plan. Me and Frankie need to know what information and leads she’s got. Yeah, she’d like to fuck me, she’s made that pretty obvious. But we hadn’t quite got to that stage yet.” He took a deep breath, and said in a rush, “We had a drink after work one night, and I kissed her.”

“Uhuh. Did you.” Statement, not question, folding your arms over your chest.

“Before we met!” he hastily added, emphasising the ‘before’, “...it happened days before we met. And it was purely business to me. Nothing more.” “Really? She’s pretty hot.” You could tell he spent a split second thinking how best to reply and keep his balls intact at the same time. “Well, yeah she is... but the spark’s not there for me. She doesn’t float my boat. Not like you do.” You smirked, good answer Russo!

“So what would your schedule have been?” He looked at you, puzzled, “What d’you mean?”

“Flirt, tick. Kiss, tick,” you made little air ticking motions with your finger. “Fuck...? Now, just when would that’ve been on the table, Billy?” He looked away from you, shaking his head, “I dunno. Whenever it would’ve been necessary.” Glancing back at you, “Look, I know this sounds really...” “Shitty?” you supplied. He allowed himself a small grin, “Yeah, shitty,” then the grin dropped. “But this is life and death, angel, and it means finally clearing our names as long as it all goes down okay.” You decided to spare Billy the verbal barb which had popped effortlessly into your head, along the lines of ‘would it depend on who went down on who?’

But you didn’t, instead saying. “Oh right, that’d be clearing your name from when you and Frank got arrested by Homeland, yes?” Billy gave you a hint of a smile, “So, you have been digging after all.”

You nodded, “Yes, I have. Not that I found out much. The dead CIA guy, him having funded you, you guys getting arrested. That was pretty much it.” He nodded, “That’s the bare bones of it, the important parts though. I promise you that as soon as I can, I’ll tell you the whole sorry story. We’re still right in the... it’s all still goin’ on right now.”

You smirked to yourself, you knew he’d changed what he’d been about to say as he was saying it, in case you took another dig at him about exactly what he was in the middle of.

He moved round the counter, and stood next to you. His dark eyes looked huge as they stared into yours, “I promise you, angel, you’re the only woman I’m interested in. The only one I want to be with. Please say you believe me.” The annoying thing was, you did. You didn’t like what he’d told you - that basically if you hadn’t been on the scene he’d have slept with Madani to keep her ‘on side’ - but you did believe that he hadn’t had sex with her. You thought that the small snippet of her body language you’d observed had screamed ‘I want him’ but not the casual touching and languid looks of ‘I’ve had him’.

You gave a big sigh. “Okay, Russo, I believe you.” A look of pure relief crossed his face, and he immediately grabbed both of your hands, pulling you close and kissing you hungrily. You pulled away after a few moments, just as he was trying to deepen the kiss. “But you’re on parole for a while.” He groaned, which became a laugh, “Okay, yeah... whatever you want, angel. For however long you want. I guess I deserve some punishment.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

After closing up, you and Billy crossed the road and headed towards his car. He beeped his car remote at it as he approached and then opened the passenger door for you. As you folded yourself into the seat, he put one arm on the door frame and leant in to kiss you again. “Sneaky,” you said as you moved your lips away from his. “Always,” he replied and smiled widely at you. He seemed very happy to have been granted ‘parole’, you thought.

As Billy drove off in the direction of his place - realising this produced a part-exasperated smirk on your face - you contemplated what a fucking awful, emotional, but ultimately good day you’d had.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Someone else was stewing about precisely the same thing. Only without the good ending.

Dinah Madani had a furious scowl on her face as she put her SUV into Drive and pulled out into the traffic flow, following Billy’s car.

She’d just watched that whole little pantomime as he’d opened the car door for that woman, then leant in and obviously kissed her, although she hadn’t been able to actually see that from her vantage point a couple of cars behind his.

When she’d followed Billy from Anvil out to Chelsea earlier on, for the life of her she couldn’t figure out why he’d headed into a coffee shop, of all places. She’d discovered that she couldn’t see into the café from where she was parked, and didn’t want to break cover and walk over to the window in case Billy spotted her.

Then out he’d trotted, hand in hand with whoever this woman was - a waitress in a coffee shop? “Classy, Russo, very classy,” she said out loud, in a bitchy voice. She could ask him about it, she thought, but knowing him he’d more than likely tell her it was none of her business.

Well, she was going to make it her business to find out whatever she could about this apparent liaison of his. She pulled over and watched as his car disappeared into the underground carpark of his apartment block.

It could have some bearing on the case, she thought, trying to justify this course of action to herself.

She ignored that other little voice in her head which said to her that she was just plain jealous.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

@blackbirddaredevil23 @galaxyjane

[ibookishqueen]

Deal With Me (Bucky Barnes x O.C.) Pt.2

Summary: Some deals are meant to break...

Warnings: a little fluff that ends with a lot of angst, language

Word Count: 2.7k

Hey y’all this is pt.2 to this little mini series I cooked up for @wxntersoldiers 5k challenge!!! I definitely feel more confident writing but any feedback is absolutely welcome!! Also I didn't have time to check my grammar so don’t mind any of the mistakes. Thanks <3 #wxntersoldier5kchallenge

“Are you sure you want to do this? You can back out right now if you want. T’Challa, Steve, all of them, they'll understand if you don't want to do this”.

I glanced in the palace windows reflection to find James’ worried gaze, “You know I can't, they need me out there...,” I finished fixing my suit and adjusted the gun strapped to my back before turning to face him, “Plus I know if I that you would leave if I asked you too”.

He groaned, wrapping his arms around me, “Why do you always have to be right doll?”

I huffed, wrapping my arms around his waist and laying my forehead on his chest.

My mind wandered, trying to distract myself from the rising anxiety at what was to come. T’Challa had only come to our little hut hours ago, face pained as he told us what had happened in New York and what was going to happen here in a couple of hours. The only positive of the looming war was that Bucky got to see Steve for the first time since he’d come out of cryo.

Steve and T’Challa were currently upstairs briefing everyone while Bucky, Sam and I waited outside. When the fighting begins, I was supposed to be with Wanda, helping protect Vision and Shuri, while the rest of them fought on the ground. I’m just glad that Steve and T’Challa gave us a few more minutes to be together before we got separated. 

What happens if something happens to Bucky down there? What happens if he di- I felt someone jerk my shoulders, “Hey, Ryker. Stop that, whatever it is you’re thinking, stop it right now”.

I gave him a tight smile, “Sorry, it’s just... I’m scared James. I don’t wanna leave you to fend off against some aliens while I’m tucked away safe in some palace. What it somethings happens and I'm not there to protect you. What if-”.

I was cut off by James’ lips atop of mine and my stress went down immediately. He pulled away from the kiss and leaned his forehead against mine, “Whatever happens out there, remember I made a deal and promise to you that I will never leave you again. Nothing and no one is going to stop me from coming home to you. And as for what you’re doing, you and Wanda have to most important and dangerous job and that’s protecting Vision, so don’t think that you’re not doing anything”. 

“I love you, Mr. Barnes”.

He cupped my face with his metal arm, “I love you too, Mrs. Barnes”. He lowered his face again, kissing me softly.

A cough interrupted us as a voice spoke up, “Aww look at these lovebirds. I don't know if this makes me want to throw up or just die”

I turned my head and glared at our audience, “Haha Sam, very funny”.

He gave me his signature smile as he walked up to us, “So do I get a kiss too since I'm gonna be down there too”.

I laughed, wiggling my eyebrows at him, “Only if you let me try the wings out”.

He threw his arm around my shoulders, “Deal”.

I looked at James’ who merely watched us with amusement in his eyes, “Well I guess this is it James, looks like Sam is stealing me away”.

He chuckled as Sam joked, “Woah, woah, woah, I didn’t realize this was gonna be a permanent thing”.

We all laughed when suddenly a chill went up my spine. I straightened out, Sam’s arm falling off my shoulders as they noticed my sudden seriousness. Then I heard it, a rumbling noise as I looked up into the sky in time to see a ginormous ship looking thing fall from the sky. “What the hell”.

I heard Sam’s voice over the comms as I kept my eyes on the object, “Hey Cap, we got a situation over here”.

A loud explosion happened as the object crashed into the barrier surrounding Wakanda as James said, “God, I love this place”.

Rhodey spoke up through the comms, “Yeah, don’t start celebrating yet guys. We got more incoming outside the dome”.

The ground shook as more of those things landed. My eyes snapped to James’ as the commotion began. I ran to him and hugged him as tight as possible, “I wish we had more time but I gotta go”.

He squeezed me even tighter, “I’mma miss you every second I’m down there. Make sure to stay safe.”

I squeezed my eyes shut in fear that I would start crying, “You too. I love you James.”

“I love you too Ryker”, he pulled me in for a hard, passionate kiss putting all the words he couldn't say into it. As we let go of each other, James gave me one last cocky grin, “Don’t have too much fun while I’m gone”. 

I watched as his and Sam’s heads disappeared into the crowd before turning towards the palace doors and jogging up to the lab all the while praying to any God out there, Please let him be okay, Please let him be okay, Please let him be okay.

.........................................................................................................

“Hey Shuri, how we doing on time over there?”, I glanced back at her from my position by the glass wall. 

Not glancing up from the task in front of her, she replied briskly, “I’m trying to go as fast as I can”.

I looked down at Vision, who had been silent for most of the time since Shuri had started working on him, “And you, how’re you feeling?”.

“I feel fine so far, Mrs. Barnes”.

“I told you to call me Ryker”.

“Ah, sorry. I feel fine, Mrs. Ryker”.

I huffed a laugh as I looked back out to the battlefield that had unfolded. It was absolutely crazy as guns and blasters fired into freaking aliens. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down as I saw the threshers, which had popped up from the ground a minute ago, tear into people. 

Wanda had made the decision to leave to go down and help, leaving me to protect Shuri and Vision if necessary. I watched as a red glow surround an entire row of threshers and smashed them, which signaled to me that Wanda had safely made it down.

I kept my eyes glued on the battlefield, watching as Sam and Rhodey flew around trying to disable the rest of the thrashers. I had lost Bucky in the midst of the fight but someone knew that he was okay. Or at least that's what I was telling myself.

Suddenly, there was shouting coming from the hallway. I turned around to see a tall alien creature thing walking down the hall, killing all the guards who got in his way. 

My head snapped to Shuri who was already two steps ahead of me, unplugging the system that was hooked to Vision.

“Shuri, get out of here NOW”. I ran over to Vision, grabbing his arm, “You need to get out of here right now too. We can’t risk them getting that stone in your head”.

I yelled into my comm, “Guys, we gotta Vision situation here”.

I heard Steve reply, “Somebody get to Vision and Ryker!”. 

I turned back to see the creature now in the threshold as he flung one of the Dora Milage through the room. Shuri grabbed the data and a blaster, trying to shoot the creature but he blocked it.

I let go of Vision as I stepped in front of Shuri, taking the blow from the creatures scepter. I gritted my teeth as I barely held my position, “SHURI, VISION, RUN”.

I heard scrambling behind me but was too preoccupied to check. The alien looked down at me, a smile on his face, “You puny mortal, do you think that you can defeat me”.

I gave him a wicked smile as a plan formulated in my head, “No, but I’ll sure as hell try”. I suddenly dropped my weight from where we were interlocked and blasted ice his face. 

He yelled as he took a few steps backward, allowing me a few seconds to regain my ground. “You and all of your friends are going to die”.

“Ah man, and here I was thinking that you guys just wanted to drink tea and eat crumpets with us”. 

That didn’t seem to make him any happier as he charged at me as I blasted him with more and more ice; what I didn’t anticipate is how quick he was to block them.

Suddenly we were face to face and he had begun to gain the upper ground. I knew I wasn't going to be able to win this, but I was just trying to gain as much time as I could for Vision to find safety.

He sliced his scepter at my body and I jumped out of the way and shot ice at the ground in hopes of getting him to slip. He avoided it and pointed his scepter again as I blocked it with and ice shield. He sliced at me again and managed to cut my right arm. I felt weak all of the sudden as my body, but especially my right arm, grew heavy. Shit, there must be poison on that.  

 He took the opportunity to swing his scepter at my legs and swept me off my feet. I slammed into the ground, losing my breath. I didn't get up fast enough and the creature took the opportunity to kick me in the middle. I flew across the room and my head and body slammed hard into the glass wall, cracking it in the process. I landed on my side and black spots danced in my vision as I struggled to remain conscious.

I can’t pass out now, they need me. I watched as black boots entered my sight. I felt the top of the scepter poke into my chest as I was turned onto my back. The creature sneered as he spoke, “I told you that you would die”.

I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I managed to see the scepter slowly being pushed into my skin, towards my heart. I struggled to stay awake, my only though being, Please let James know I love him and I’m sorry. 

The pain in my chest paused and my eyelids flickered as I looked in the creatures face to see shock, “You’re-”.

Suddenly, the creature was slammed by a blaster and I barely managed to turn my head to see that Shuri and Vision had come back to help. 

No. No. No, they should be gone. No, why did they come back.

I wanted to move but I couldn’t, the poison and the hard hit took its toll on me as the black dots soon became larger. I could only watch on as Shuri tried to take on the alien. I fought to stay awake but it wasn’t enough. The last thing I saw before the darkness consumed me completely was the image of Shuri being pushed down the stairwell and Vision and the creature crashing through the glass wall.

.........................................................................................................

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

I woke up to a horrible beeping noise. I tried to open my eyes but was immediately blinded by the bright lights. I attempted to block the light with my hands but felt a tug on them. As I finally peeled my eyes, I noticed where I was: a hospital bed. 

Suddenly, the memories of the recent events that occurred tumbled into my head and I sat up as fast as I could.

Where is Bucky? What happened? I need to find him.

I looked down and saw that I was in a tank top and sweatpants. I slide off the bed and began to walk to the door when I looked down at my hand and noticed the IV that was inserted into my skin. I yanked it out and barely felt the pain since I was focused on finding Bucky.

I walked out of my room and into the hallway. I felt a chill go up my spine as I noted that silence in here compared to the usual chaos. I silently padded down the hall that showed signs of absolute chaos as chairs and gurneys were strewn every where. 

I eventually made it out of the hospital wing and into the conference area which was just a bunch of meeting rooms. There were a few people in the common area but they didn’t seem to pay any attention to me. However, I saw that a few were crying and the rest had sadness written all over them.

Maybe they lost someone in the fight; that doesn’t mean we didn’t win.

I walked past the rooms, glancing into them hoping that I could find someone I recognize so I could find out what happened. One by one, I searched the rooms when I finally reached the last one. I saw a light glowing from underneath and I felt my hope pick up as I pushed the door open.

As I walked across the threshold, I came face to face with a room full of people. Steve, Nat, Rhodey, Dr. Banner, Thor, and a few other people I didn’t recognize, one being a raccoon, but no James. I took in everyones faces and immediately knew something was very wrong.

Steve stood up and softly said, “Ryker, what’re you doing out of your room”.

“What happened”.

He slowly walked toward me and I could now see the redness in his eyes, like he had been crying, “Ryker...”.

Panic began to build, my eyes frantically scanned the room, “Steve, what happened”.

He stayed silent as he stood in front of me, sadness and grief filling his eyes.

My voice cracked as I begged him for an answer, “Where’s James, where is he, where’s everyone else”.

“Um... I don’t know how to say this any other way Ryker but... they’re gone”.

Gone.

I felt the hysteria continue to build inside me, “Gone, what do you mean gone. Like they left to go somewhere and they’ll be back. That’s what you meant, right”. I looked at Nat and saw the pain in her eyes as she watched me break.

Steve put his hand on my shoulder, “Maybe you should sit”.

The hysteria turned into anger, as I snapped, “And maybe you should tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“They’re... dead. Thanos won”.

Dead.

We lost.

James is dead. 

I backed away from Steve like a deer caught in headlights, “If this is some kind of prank, this isn’t funny”.

He barely whispered, “Ryker...”.

 And it hit me that he was telling me the truth, “No, no, no, no. He can’t be dead. No, he promised he wouldn’t leave me again. He promised”, my voice cracking on the last part.

A loud crack shook through my head as I physically felt my heart shatter. I barely registered as surge of power radiated from me as my body gave out on me and my knees hit the hard tile. I felt Steve’s broad arms wrap around me, as if to keep me together. My entire body shook as I buried my face into Steve’s shoulder and cried.

What am I going to do. He’s gone. He can’t be gone. I can’t live without him.

“Steve, he promised me. He can’t be gone”, I sobbed. 

Steves stroked my hair, “Shh, It’s gonna be alright Ryker, I’m gonna make sure you’ll be alright.”

We sat there, on the floor as he comforted me. I felt like my body was going to shatter at any moment from the pain I felt. It hurt. I hurt. And I wanted it to stop. I wanted James back. 

The thoughts caused me to cry even harder as my body shook. I didn’t notice the others in the room who watched on with pain in their eyes. I didn’t see the tears in Nat and Thors eyes. I didn’t see the hurt on everyones face.

All I felt was the pain in my body, in my soul. All I felt was the missing piece of my heart. All I felt was sadness and rage. 

And as I cried there, I knew one thing: I was going to kill Thanos.

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Local Teen Shows Parents Why He Needs This Paranormal Weapon, Boy Possibly Hallucinating or Psychic, Children Risk Lives to Save Lives and Bicker About Responsiblity, Boy Silently Ponders if Magick Food Counts as Drug

When Tucker got home, his parents fussed over him, scolded him for not telling them that he was fighting ghosts that came after him and Danny, and made sure that he kept as off his leg as possible.

"You let me keep my bow and arrows!  I can do more damage to a human being with those than I can with this ecto pistol.  And I'm a great shot!"

"Does it have a safety?  Magazines to remove?"  Mom wasn't letting up on him for even a moment.  She examined the gun from every angle before looking back at Tucker.  

"Yes and no, respectively.  The safety is currently on; it's right here but don't turn that off.  What if I showed you how good a shot with this I am?"

Tucker's Dad, Maurice, heaved a sigh.  "We let you keep the bow and arrows only after you proved you could handle having free access to them.  This is… something."

"I'll set up the target, and you show me that you can reasonably use this without hurting yourself.  Then, maybe, you can keep it."  Mom put her hands on her hips.  "You best not let any police officer catch you wielding this potentially deadly weapon."

"Understood!"  Tucker saluted, heaving a tired sigh when his parents left to set up the target.   Pulling out his PDA, Tucker typed into the schedule he was keeping for Danny, "Foley Shooting Range, hit the target." Setting that for 10 minutes, Tucker hopped his way to the kitchen and made himself a sandwich. 

Once the time came, Tucker was outside in his backyard, his archery targets set up for him to shoot at.  Leaning on his dad, Tucker raised his pistol and shot the targets one after the other.  All of them hit, even if he missed the bullseye.  He turned the safety back on and grinned.  "Se-"

Three loud blasts flew from above them and Tucker looked up to see Skulker scowling at the wrist not protruding a big fuck off plasma cannon.  From this angle, it looked almost like… it couldn’t be.  “Is that my PDA?!  I have 3 more payments on that!”  Tucker nearly raised his pistol but considered that his Mom and Dad were there, and while he pitied the fool that confronted Angela Foley, this was a fight his parents couldn’t help him with.  Nostrils flaring he glared up at Skulker with all the impotent rage he could muster and the robot flipped him off before flying away.  “This is why I need this pistol; hostile ghosts can only really be hurt by Fenton weaponry.”

His parents were a touch easier to convince of letting him keep the Ecto Pistol after that.  Tucker decided the best distractions were working on things, so he got to work on that A.I. and the car design.

Danny couldn't Not see it now and that was bothering him.  That extreme indigo-esque color that blanketed the second plane of reality like a contact lens was now just barely there Everywhere.  Danny could see and trace every electrical current around him, track his family by the individual aura each of them had, and if he actually tried to look on that second layer he could see threads binding them all together.  The strongest ones connecting to him lead to Jazz and off into the distance.  Probably to Sam and Tucker.

And so there Danny was, writing in his journal while everyone was at school for various reasons, and muttering to himself.   "The ultraviolet light is starting to seep into my everyday vision, though mirror checks show no actual visible signs unless I actively check.  Internet searches only call this whole aura thing The Sight, but unless I go out and look for naturally hidden ghosts and spirits, I can't be sure this is that.   Is it safe to bring up that I can see the incorporeal if this is the Sight?"  He tapped his cheek with the eraser of the mechanical pencil and hummed.  "Debatable, consider later.  Leaning toward No.

"Pressing issue is Skulker; how to trap him is key.  He can't stand up to our bigger guns, that I'm sure of but we need to figure out how to out plan him."  Danny groaned and dug the heel of his palm into his eye and rubbed away the exhaustion.  "He can't attack me while I'm at home so this is both a safe zone and also an invalid area for the fight…"

Danny's phone rang and he nearly snapped his mechanical pencil in half.  Thankfully he only cracked it and set it down gently.  "Tucker, you nearly cost me another pencil."  Reclining, he laid his head on his pillow and stared up at the constellations he made with glow in the dark stickers.   "How's the leg and arm?"

"I'm not the source of your paranoia Danny, and you know it."  Tucker snorted and Danny could practically see him rolling his eyes. "Arm's fine, the leg is still sore.  How're you holdin up?"

"Lil freaked out cause I can see that whole uh second level of reality at all times now.  It's a good thing I like indigo and blue.  Also, I was able to calm Jazz down with that like, bond between us?  It was weird but it worked."

"As glad as I genuinely am about this progress we still need to figure out the issue of Skulker," Sam said.  Danny checked the time to see it was lunchtime.  "One of us is gonna get killed, probably Danny, if we don't do something."

"I feel like I've noticed something weird about Skulker," Tucker said.  "He could've shot a tranquilizer dart at all three of us on the way to school, or even just Danny before he met up with us, and be done with it.  Instead, he sent a monster after us after we got around his trap."

Danny hummed, eyes narrowing.  "Sam, what kind of animals did Grovsner kill in life?"

"The rare and about to go extinct kind," Sam growled.

"That's not what I meant, Sam.  You said he died killing the last female purple back gorilla, right?  What else did he go after?  Did he have like, partners or…"

"No, actually.  He always did his hunts solo, went after things like Cape Buffalo, Saltwater Crocodiles, endangered species of squid, sharks, other stuff like that."  Sam took a few moments to breathe and stop herself from punching something, likely because Danny wasn't there to punch, and shortly asked, "why?"

"So he only went after dangerous animals alongside rare, showed off everything he caught if his behavior in death is the same as in life, and doesn't just Get It Over With no matter his opportunity to."  Danny sat up, eyes wide.   "Guys.  He's not obsessed with being a hunter.  He's obsessed with being seen as Strong!"

"Alright, question: what does obsession have to do with it?"

"C' mon Tuck, you've heard mom and dad rant and ramble.  A ghost's form is informed by their self-image in life and they act primarily on their obsession.  Agatha is obsessed with food, Skulker is obsessed with being seen as strong."  Danny felt himself grinning wickedly and got up to pace.  "But he's Not."

"Seemed pretty strong to me when he blew a hole in the observation tower, Danny."  Tucker huffed.  A pause.  "Wait a minute: is he, in fact, a robot?"

Danny hummed.  Closing his eyes, he focused on the hum of energy inside of him just past a layer of cold quiet, and visualized it spreading throughout his body.  He could feel it tingling under his skin and could see it clearly, a vibrant green light that pushed steadily up to the surface of his skin and then out, blanketing over the room.  For a moment, Danny's brain stuttered at the sensations it was forced to process, but he pushed on and reached out over the whole of his room.  There!  Getting up, Danny grabbed the metal panel that'd come off of Skulker when his mom shot him.  It was sparking, wires exposed, a few buttons here and there with no discernible purpose at first glance.  But the important thing was that it was still There.  "No.  If the robot was the ghost himself then any pieces that flew off would dissolve into ectoplasmic mist or goop.  This bit is still here.  Which means he's not strong enough to go after anything on his own."  Danny squeezed, hissing when the wires sparked threateningly and tossed it on his desk.

"Sam," Tucker said, "you're filthy fuckin rich, right?"

"That is correct, Tucker, why?"

"So you own that zoo, right?  That's how we got in at night?"

"… perhaps."

"Which means we can get back in, and set up a trap for Skulker, right?" Danny laughed and flopped into his chair.  

"Tucker, you genius.  But how are we gonna get him there?"

"Yesterday my parents were freakin out over everything and threatening to take my pistol away, blah blah, safety, all that junk.”  Danny rolled his eyes, struggling to see the Foley’s point there.  Danny had been trained to safely fire a gun as early as 11, hell he’d learned how to build one by then!  Tucker could aim.

“You’re an archer.  You have like, a quiver full of arrows and a bow in your home.  What’s the difference?”

“I know that’s what I said!  But anyway I convinced them to let me prove I could use it properly and know to put the safety back on afterward and I slipped into your schedule, which is linked between my PDAs by the way, to hit the bullseyes in the Foley Target Range.  Guess who showed up at the exact time I scheduled that for.”

Danny’s eyes widened and his grin turned vicious as Sam asked, “Does this have to do with your missing PDA?”

“I think I saw it on his arm where Dr. Fenton had shot that panel thing off.  He flipped me off and flew away but fuck, man, I’m glad he showed up.  Means I can figure out his suit once all of this is over!”

“Sounds good Tuck.  Hey, do you mind if I finish up our hoverboard?  I have a feeling it’ll be useful.”

“Danny, bromigo, I beg of you: go do that right now.  I have a plan, and the Nav Ai is almost done.”

Getting into the Zoo was easy.  Sam got them in with access codes she had simply from being the owner, and they set up near the purple-backed gorilla habitat.  “You know, Sam, if you’re so concerned about Sampson you can just order better conditions to be built for him.”  Danny felt it needed to be said.  She hadn't stopped ranting about Sampson in between all the planning, along with all the other animals she was technically in charge of.  "This is your place, you can manage it how you want."

"Danny now is not the time for wisdom.  Now is the time for taking down robotic assholes.  Is your ectorifle charged up?"

"I sang it a battle hymn and it hummed to me of wars long and hard fought."  Danny snorted at the dumbfounded looks on his friends' faces.  "Yeah, I got it charged up guys, I just had to get into the armory for a little bit and Mom and Dad have been out patrolling with their ghost radar thing."  Danny pulled out the rifle and checked it over one last time while Sam and Tucker set up around the cage, a large gorilla costume being pulled out of Tucker's stolen jacket pocket.  "I still want that back after all of this is done."

"Make me one of my own and I'll definitely give you this one back, yes.  That is a thing that will happen."  Tucker giggled and Sam rolled her eyes.

"C' mon guys, we have no idea when Skulker is gonna strike nex-"

An explosion shook the ground between the trio, knocking them all back, and forcing them to cover their eyes to block out flying shards of concrete.  When they opened them, the robotic poacher stood before them, toxic green mohawk of fire casting odd shadows over his faceplate and highlighting his predatory grin.

"You certainly know now, don't you girl?"  Skulker raised his arm and the hand cannon that Tucker had described unfolded from a panel on his wrist.  Before the charge up whine could reach its crescendo, a bolt of green plasma flew into Skulker's back and knocked him forward,  burning a fist-sized hole in his back.  Skulker turned to Danny with those fiery green eyes and a growl in his chest, firing his cannon at Danny instead.  "That's the spirit!  The kind of fight I've wanted in my prey for so long!"

Danny, filled with the writhing void that boiled with thousands upon billions of stars, took to the air a second too late and was knocked back on his ass.   As he stumbled back up, Danny saw a flash of green and growled as Skulker turned a crossbow that emerged from his shoulder and fired back at Sam.  Lunging with every ounce of speed he had in him, Danny only managed to get the bolt torn through his side while it grazed Sam's shoulder.

"Truly, I am disappointed; I expected a greater fight from you, ghost boy!  Regardless, you shall look nice in your cage back on my island."  Skulker stomped over and reached down to grab Danny by the throat and lifted him into the air triumphantly.  "Truly, I am the greatest hunter in the Ethereal Plane!"  Danny's ears were ringing, he was bleeding, and the sharp pain spread itself to every nerve in his semi-corporeal body.  He laughed, hands grasping at the steel of Skulker's arm.  "Why do you laugh, boy?  You are defeated!"

"You're not even the best hunter in this zoo.  Hell, you're not even a good hunter ghost in the first place.  Just a sad little man who wanted to look big in life and couldn't help trying to do it again in death."  White hot pain blossomed across his face when Skulker slapped him and Danny spat out some dark brown blood as the ringing set in his ear.  "Can't even tell a hologram from a person."

Skulker stared at him for a long moment, silent and motionless, before his grip went slack and his mohawk died out.  Danny floated backward from the suit and picked up his rifle, offering a salute to the sky, from which Tucker descended with his belly on the hoverboard.  "You are being evicted from your mecha, repeat, your mech suit is being towed."  Tucker punched a command into his PDA, and Skulker's chest plate unfolded, ripping open the shirt to reveal a compartment holding a tiny bipedal blob.  An ameba that could fit in Danny's hand with eyes, a mouth, and limbs. 

"Release- release me whelp!  I shall have your head mounted on my bedroom wall and your pelt made into a rug!"   Danny snatched it out of the suit and glared down at Grovsner with all the malice he was physically capable of feeling.  A growl rumbled in Danny's chest and out of his mouth and he squeezed.  "Alright alright, suck me up into your little soup can and-"

"You pathetic, arrogant, vile little ameba!  You nearly killed Tucker and Sam!  You electrocuted me!  You put the lives of everyone at my school at risk!  And for what?  To show me off in a cage to everyone at the fucking afterlife Christmas party?"  Danny pressed the barrel of his rifle against Grovsner's entire body, pinning him to his hand.  Then the shadows bent around the source of Danny's fury and gravity itself bound Grovsner in place, allowing for a much cleaner shot.  "For everything you did in life and everything you've done to me and my family, I hope it takes you a long ass time to pull yourself back together from this."  And then Danny pulled the trigger, and Skulker was turned into a splattering of toxic exotic matter that evaporated before their eyes.

Tucker, now sitting up on the longboard shaped hoverboard, was staring at Danny right beside Sam, the two of them agape.  Danny could see in their green and golden auras something less than pleasant mixed with relief.  It was silent for a few beats too long and Danny awkwardly slid his rifle back into his pocket.  "Dude, you have fucking fangs, they look so badass!"

"What?"  Danny blinked a couple of times when Sam raised her camera and took a picture, frowning at his friends when he could see properly.  "Did you say I have fangs?"

Sam showed him the picture and yep.  His canines were longer and sharper than they should've been, gleaming in the light cast by the flash and his eyes.  "They're tiny and adorable, and yet I'm jealous because if anyone should have fangs it should be me!"  Sam threw her hands into the air and groaned.  "It matches my aesthetic and I deserve to be a creature of the night!  You're not even mildly scary!"

"Alright, true, Danny's not intimidating enough for fangs," Tucker agreed, despite Danny's half-hearted disagreement.  "But still, they look good on him.  The gravity bending is pretty fucking cool though."

"Thanks, guys.  That means a lot."  Danny pulled both of his friends into a hug before letting out a loud his off pain because that hurt and he was still bleeding, right.  Reaching out to those silver threads that resonated with concern care fondness Love Danny drew that energy into his wound and let out a long sigh as the burning pain cooled down a bit and dulled into a throbbing ache.  "More manageable at least.  Here, allow me."  Placing a hand on Sam's cut shoulder, Danny concentrated on pouring out his own love affection soothing to Sam.  He watched as the energy flowed out and into the cut, stitching it mostly together until he could barely see it.  "You should probably be careful with that arm anyway.  I'm not exactly a doctor yet."

"You wouldn't be that kind of doctor anyway, Danny."  Sam gave him a hug again, ruffling his white fluffy curls.  "Can we go home now?  I'm exhausted, and I'm pretty sure you are too."

"I am, I very much am.  Tucker, I'm not bothering to ask for the board back.  It runs on solar energy so just head straight home with it, ok?  It'll be charged back up in the morning."

Tucker gave a thumbs up and slipped his helmet down properly, covering his face.  Standing up with the magnetic boots locked into place on the board, Tucker rose in a wake of neon blue light from beneath the board and took off with a loud cheer.  A whole day at Fentonworks was more than enough time to perfect an outfit, as far as Danny was concerned.

The ghost boy wrapped an arm around Sam's middle on his uninjured side and they took to the sky, soaring straight to her house.  Danny set Sam down on the balcony of her room and stuck his head in.  A whistle escaped him and he gave a thumbs up.  "Sam, one day we have got to hang out at your place."

"My folks aren't entirely jazzed with me hanging around you since you 'attract dangerous attention from monsters' so yes, you must come over and hang out with me.  And you must do it soon."  Sam ruffled his hair again and Danny huffed, pulling his hood over his head.  "You can't escape me and you know it!"

"We'll see about that," he laughed, sucking in a breath when he felt the laugh shake his side.  "Stop being funny."

"Unlike some people, it comes naturally to me."

"Rude."  Danny waved and backed up.  "Night Sam!"  Danny soared into the night sky and angled himself toward downtown.  Once he was as close to Agatha's place as he dared be, Danny set his feet down on the ground and let the world come back into focus, heat rushing into him.  Never before had he regretted a decision more than that one, and before he'd even hit the ground Danny was a ghost again.  "Owowowowowowow.  Pain, very much pain, I will not be doing that again."

Once the echoing waves of pain died down to a throbbing ache once more, Danny pulled himself into the air and slipped out of the way of every atom moving around him, letting it move through him and watching the world bleed into vague green shapes outlined in extreme indigo light.  "I doubt Agatha even minds if I go in there and no one ratted her out yet so I'm probably safe."

Poking his head through the wall, Danny looked around until he saw the only in focus sight near him.  Agatha floated in the kitchen, pulling the ether around her into her hands and molding it into food to wrap and put away in the fridge.  Danny floated over quietly and cleared his throat.  She spun around, eyes wide and Danny smiled.  "Hi there.  Sorry to uh interrupt but I may or may not be in need of giving that healing food thing a try.  Maybe it won't work on a human, but any extra energy will help I'm sure."

"Oh of course child!"  Agatha spun the indigo light into a sloppy joe and handed it to Danny, who immediately chowed down on it.  The best part of not needing to breathe as a ghost was that he had no reason to stop inhaling his food.  Agatha watched in anticipation as Danny focused on the layers upon layers of trilling harmonies, the ringing of countless bells that echoed within Danny's center of being, and felt his wound close up like Sam's had.  "Oh my."

"Thank you, so much."  He beamed up at the ghost and gave a thumbs up.  "I should be able to manage with this much myself.  Uh, Skulker will be gone for however long it takes for him to rebuild his body.  He did a lot of damage and I just.  Couldn't let it slide."

"I see," Agatha said, her gloved palms flat against each other.  "Well, I won't hold that against you dear, no one deserves to be hunted like an animal the way Skulker hunts his targets.  I'll ask that you not make a habit of that though, it gets you a reputation."  She wagged a finger and Danny nodded, feeling heavy.  "Now, head on home so that you can rest.  Food is important, but getting enough sleep is just as important after you do something as strenuous as fighting Skulker."

"I'll be sure to do that."  Danny smiled and waved, pulling himself back toward the wall.  "Have a nice night Ms. Reece."

"Have a good night Danny."

[mr-lancers-english-class]

Waiting to Die Part 3

Waiting to Die Part 3!

AO3 isn’t working for me, but I���ll update when it is.

Word Count: 1916

Sam didn’t go to school the next day. She had woken up with a massive headache, and when her mother checked, a perfectly normal temperature of 97° (for Sam that was absurdly high, but Pamela didn’t know that). As a mature and responsible high school junior who was definitely totally worried about getting good enough grades to get into a good college, she spent all day texting Danny and Tucker. She tried using Discord, but after twenty messages with no responses, Sam remembered that first, the school wifi had recently gone on another purge and now blocked any sight deemed “games” or “personal” or “messaging,” and second, Danny had English Literature and Tucker had Statistics and neither teacher was particularly forgiving when it came to phones. After watching half of a movie and knitting a hat, she tried again, this time via text.

SM: Am I missing anything good?

TF: No

DF: Yes

TF: Definitely not

DF: Wes has decided that Tucker’s a ghost

SM: But…

SM: He is. Is that news?

TF: Ha ha

SM: I’m here all week, folks

DF: Lancer gave me your homework. We’re starting presentations next week, and we all need to make an outline for next class

SM: I thought only six people are presenting?

DF: Yeah, but we don’t know which six, and I think Lancer’s gonna pick based on the outlines

Sam groaned. She had not enjoyed reading The Great Gatsby, and did not want to have to think about the book any more, much less give a ten minute presentation.

SM: Well fuck

TF: Lol

TF: That’s what you get for taking Lit honors

DF: Moderately jealous

SM: You did this to yourself, Fenton

He had. Where her parents had made her take the hardest courses, his parents often didn’t even realize he was at school, much less think about his course load.

TF: Sooooo……… how’re you doing?

SM: My head hurts and I have a fever

DF: How high?

SM: 97 F

DF: That’s not good

SM: I know

DF: Aren’t you normally like a 93?????

SM: Yeah

TF: When do you start melting?

DF: Dude!!!

SM: Right under 100

DF: You don’t ask somebody when they start melting!!!!!

DF: But Sam, if you get up to 98, let me know and take an ice bath

DF: I don’t want to have to explain to your parents why you’re missing and there’s a puddle of ectoplasm in your room

SM: That’s fair

TF: Gtg. Tetslaff is yelling at me for not changing out

SM: Good luck! Don’t die!

DF: He should be fine…. Right?

SM: Nope

Suddenly, Sam straightened up. Her hair started to float up around her head and the air smelled a lot cleaner. She sighed, and climbed out of bed.

SM: Ghost. I’ll text you when i’m done

DF: Valerie just “went to the bathroom”

SM: Got it

DF: Be safe! You’re still sick

Sam pulled her hair back into a quick ponytail, stuffed a pillow under her sheets and turned the lights off to keep her mother and father from noticing anything, and shuffled over to the window.

“Well then, guess I’ll die.” As her voice trailed off, the two rings split around her waist, and she transformed. Immediately, she staggered and fell against the wall. “Oh, no no no. Not good. Come on, Sam. Just one ghost. You got this, you got this.” She quickly turned her arm intangible and reached through her wall, grabbing the Fenton Thermos and Fenton Wrist Ray she kept there. Danny had been both building and stealing his parents weapons since the Trio first started fighting ghosts, leading to the rather sizeable hidden collection they now maintained. Aside from the three other guns and extra thermos in her walls, Sam had stuffed an arsenal into the school walls, her locker, Danny and Tucker’s locker, her car, an old oak tree in the park, the library bathroom, and the Nasty Burger.

“Alright, let’s do this.” She attached the Wrist Ray to her left hand and the Thermos to her belt as she phased through the wall. It only took her a minute of meandering up Main Street to find a trail of small craters and broken bricks, and only a few more seconds to find Skulker.

“Ah, Ghost Child! You are here, which means I can-”

“Cutting you short there, buddy. I’m sick. I need to be home sleeping. I don’t have time to deal with your whole ‘Kill the Whelp! Take the Whelp’s pelt and hang it on my wall! Argh! bullshit. Can we just call it a draw and you head back to the Ghost Zone?”

“Never! I shall be victorious in this hunt-”

“Dude, seriously. You never win. Like, never. Not once. I’m giving you one chance to go home. The Red Huntress is gonna be here two minutes ago, and she’s not as nice as I am. Can you please just go away?”

“You are weakened. That means I shall-”

Skulker was cut off and thrown spinning backwards in the air as a missile hit him square in the chest. Sam groaned and dodged to the side as Valerie shot by her. She popped up, and almost went crashing to the ground just as fast, her vision fuzzy and darkening. She watched as Valerie went zipping around, peppering Skulker with rockets and plasma blasts and the occasional sideswipe with her hoverboard. If she hadn’t been on the verge of falling, Sam would have taken a moment to appreciate Valerie’s skill. Sam had never seen her equal. Back when they had dated for a month in freshman year, back before either of them knew what they were doing as ghost and ghost hunter, Danny and Tucker were convinced Sam was better. Having seen Valerie in action (and having been on the receiving end of that action more times than she would have cared for and thankfully not recently) Sam knew that, if it weren’t for her plant powers and preference for negotiation over confrontation, Valerie would have long surpassed her. As it was, most ghosts just needed a few kind words, directions to a natural portal, or a weekly shipment of boxes.

“Take that, ghost!” Valerie’s shout jolted Sam back to the present, right in time to fall into the road. She sat up as Skulker crashed a few feet away.

“I shall have your skin, huntress!” Skulker roared, clawing out of the new crater.

“I already told you, Skulker, go away!” Sam planted her hands on the ground, and let her powers loose. In seconds, vines and roots began to spring from the ground, breaking through the asphalt and wrapping themselves around Skulker’s suit.

“No! I will not be defeated by a tree!”

“It’s poison ivy right now, thank you very much, and yes, you will.” Sam pulled at the vines with her mind, and they brought the metal suit crashing into the ground. Skulker’s head popped off and rolled away, his little feet kicking frantically at nothing.

“And in you go,” Valerie laughed as she pulled out her own thermos and sucked in the head, as well as the rest of the armor. “That wasn’t too bad, eh?”

Sam smiled weakly. “Not too bad.” Valerie nodded back, her mask hiding any emotions. The two girls had come to a tentative truce at the end of sophomore year, and had been getting more comfortable with each other ever since. Sam had even gotten a burner phone so Valerie could call her at any time. She hadn’t yet, but it was the thought that counted.

“Hey, you good?”

“Mostly. Just a little under the weather.”

“Aren’t you dead?” Sam turned abruptly to glare at Valerie “Ack, wait, that came out wrong. Sorry. I just, well, I didn’t think you could get sick.”

“Oh,” Sam’s face relaxed. “Yeah, neither did I. But, here I am.”

“You should go rest.”

“I’m planning on it.”

“Like, right now. Go back to the Ghost Zone. I can take care of things here, at least for a few days. Besides, if I need any help, you have a phone number for a reason.”

Sam sighed. “Okay. Don’t die, Huntress.” She lifted off the ground a little.

“You too, Wraith.” Sam chuckled at the mention of her ghost half’s name as she flew shakily away. Valerie sped off in the other direction with the small hope that maybe she would make it back in time for the end of class.

“Now, back home I go. Slowly, very slowly,” Sam said to nobody. “Very, very slowly. Don’t want to collapse, don’t want to fall.” She faltered above the buildings. “I’m gonna set myself down right there, because falling hurts a lot. That is more power than I’ve used in a while. That was more power than I meant to use.” Sam set herself down in the middle of the road, and glanced back at where the fight had just gone down. Vines were everywhere. A few were still growing, twisting up to the sky. The entire road was blocked, along with half of the sidewalk.

“That is way more power than I thought.” Sam turned away from the destruction and pulled out her burner phone. She wasn’t sure how, but once she clipped it to her belt, the phone was always there when she transformed.

“Where is it… there it is.” She speed dialed the fire department. “Yes, hello?”

“Amity Park Fire Department Non-Emergency line. How can I help?” The operator on the other side of the phone sounded too cheery.

“Hi, yeah, it’s the Wraith.”

“Oh, hi! How are you? It’s been so long!”

“I’m pretty good, Sharon, you?”

“It’s good, it’s good. Nothing’s burned down recently.” Sharon, the operator, laughed.

“That’s good. So, I made a bit of a mess…”

“Just now?”

“Uh huh. Skulker showed up on Main Street.”

“Is everyone okay? Do I need to get an ambulance? A firetruck? The police? Did you burn something down?” Sharon’s voice rose an octave as lots of scrambling and thudding was heard through the phone.

“Nothing’s burned, Sharon, and nobody’s hurt. No police or ambulances necessary. Just a lot of vines in the middle of the road.”

“Can’t you undo them?”

“To be honest, I don’t know how. I was hoping, if there’s some extra people at the station, you could send some to burn them down?”

“You said in the middle of the road?”

“Yeah, they’re growing through the road. And a few on the sidewalk. And they’re poison ivy. Sorry.” Sam winced.

“I’ll send a crew down. Main Street?”

“Yeah, right in front of the mayor’s office.”

“Okie dokie. Sounds good. And thank you!”

Sharon hung up before Sam could respond. The woman was nice, and Sam liked talking to her. She almost never got to, but Sharon didn’t know anything about her other than their phone calls and the news, so when they did talk, Sam enjoyed the outside opinion and caring voice.

“And now, all the way home. You got this Sam. You got this.” She continued walking, slowly and shakily.

It took her another half hour to walk to her house, and then three minutes to muster the strength to fly up to her window and phase through. She wasn’t sure when she had transformed back, but a quick glance in the mirror told her Sam Manson was lying on her bed and not the Wraith. She sighed lightly, and drifted off to sleep.

[winchesters-favorite-girl]

I just wanted to belong

A/N: Happy Angst Appreciation Day round three, it’s a day late, but life happens. Reader is Dean’s 17 year old daughter who has a twin brother named Robby.

Word Count: 3486

Warnings: Angst, character death

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You stood at the counter of the diner trying to decide if you should go back to the booth where your father, uncle, and twin brother sat, or if you’d have a better time alone at the counter. You’d gone up to ask for more napkins to clean up a spill that Robby, your twin had made. However glancing back you saw that they had waved down the waitress who your dad and brother were both flirting with.

With the roll of your eyes you took a seat at the counter; knowing you’d actually enjoy your meal if you weren’t near your father or brother.

You loved them both dearly and at one point your entire family was so close knit that your absence would have been noticed right away. However as you grew older the bond you shared with your twin and father began to disappear and once you started going on hunts with your dad and uncle, it all but vanished.

At first you told yourself that you were overreacting; that your father was just constantly worried about you, but as time went on you saw how close Robby and your dad still were, yet you remained on the outside.

It was something that your dad and brother both seemed oblivious to. Whenever you’d try to involve yourself in what they were doing they would send you away with some excuse as to why you couldn’t participate with them and soon you just stopped asking.

This never seemed to impact them, but it sure effected you.

Your father and Robby might not have seen what they were doing, but your Uncle Sam did. At first he tried to stick up for you, pointing out to Dean all the times it seemed that Robby and him would purposefully leave you out. Dean would deny it and after countless arguments with no change Sam stopped trying. Instead he became the figure in your life you so desperately wanted.

Still, there were times that Sam got sucked into whatever fun Robby and your dad were having; leaving you to be the outsider in your family once more.

It was a role you learned to accept and gave up hope that it’d change.

You were just finishing up your grilled cheese when you felt a presence behind you.

“What’s up squirt?” Robby asked as he plopped down next to you.

You rolled your eyes at his antics, “I was enjoying my lunch before you decided to interrupt.”

“You love me.” Robby replied.

“Riiight.” You quirked before taking a bite off of a french fry.

Robby grabbed a fry off of your plate, placing it in his mouth he asked you, “Whatcha doing over here?”

“Avoiding you.” You said with a sly smile.

Robby let out a scoff and lightly pushed your shoulder, his mannerisms matched your fathers so much it was scary.

“For real, why you over here by yourself? Thought you were just grabbing some napkins then comin’ back. What’s up with that?” He questioned, looking at you with the same eyes as your father.

You shrugged your shoulders, “You guys seemed to be having a grand time without me so I figured I’d get some me time.”

Robby rolled his eyes at your words, “You throwing yourself another pity party?”

“It’s not a pity party if it’s true.” You quickly replied.

“It’s not true, how’re we supposed to hang around you if you walk away all the time?” He questioned.

“Why would I wanna hang around if I’m just gonna be ignored the entire time?” You responded.

Robby let out a groan, “Will you stop with that crap? We don’t ignore you.” You simply scoffed in return, “Come on squirt, I miss hangin’ out with you. What’s the point of having a twin if they’re never around?”

“I’m not a squirt.” You stated.

“But you do miss hangin’ out with me? Don’t ya?” Robby prodded.

Rolling your eyes you glared at your brother, “Maybe.”

“Ha you do, just admit it.” Robby told you.

“And if I confess what do I get?” You bartered.

“You, my wonderful sister, will get to hangout and watch movies with me tonight.” Robby replied.

“Doesn’t sound like much of a reward.” You joked.

Robby lightly elbowed you, “I’m serious. I miss hangin’ out.”

You let out a groan, “Fiiiine, tonight we can watch movies.”

“Awesome, now, let’s go.” Robby said.

“Don’t we have to pay?” You pointed out.

“Na, Dad paid for us already.” Robby told you.

“Mine too?” You questioned.

“Uhh, I think so?” Robby answered, but it was more of a question.

Letting out a sigh you looked over at the waitress who had been helping you, “Excuse me, mam? Did my dad pay for my food?”

She looked down at her orders and shook her head, “Sorry hun, no one paid for yours yet.”

“That man over there didn’t?” Robby asked as he pointed towards your father.

The waitress blushed but shook her head, “No, he paid for the table and that was it. I can ring you out now if you’re ready to go.”

“Yes please.” You answered politely before sending a look at your brother, “Always the forgotten child.”

Robby let out a scoff but couldn’t help but feel bad about your joke; he was beginning to see it was kinda true.

“You ready to go?” Your dad asked as he approached Robby with Sam close behind him.

“Uh yeah, just a sec.” Robby replied as he looked back at you.

“Oh, Y/N/N, there you are. Where’ve you been?” Dean questioned but you simply rolled your eyes as a response. Thanking the waitress you gave her a tip before looking back at your uncle, sending him a knowing look.

He totally had no idea I was gone.

Later that night you sat in Robby’s room with his laptop connected to the television so that it could play the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies that you two loved. You and Robby were having a blast, remembering how you used to watch the movie on repeat to the point where it drove your parents crazy. The pair of you were about halfway through with the first movie when your dad knocked on the door.

“Hey Robby, guess what I got u-oh, hey Y/N. Whatcha guys doing in here?” He asked.

“Just having a movie night, been a while since we did one so figured we should catch up.” Robby explained with a smile.

“Oh, well, you guys will have to pick it up some other time. Robby, I got us a pair of tickets for the Top Notch wresting show in town tonight. Hurry up we gotta go or we’re gonna be late.” Your dad said in an excited tone.

You looked over at Robby expecting him to be bouncing up but he just stayed in his seat. “That’s awesome dad, did you get one for everybody?” He asked in a hopeful tone.

Dean shook his head, “Na, figured we’d make it a father-son thing. You gonna be ready in a few?”

Robby looked at you before glancing back at his dad, “It sounds like a lot of fun dad, but I promised Y/N we’d hangout. I’ve been bailing on her a lot lately and I-”

Dean interrupted, “I’m sure she’s fine with it, aren’t you Y/N/N?”

You opened your mouth, about to say it was okay, but you quickly shut it when you decided that if you didn’t tell your father how much what he was doing bothered you then it wasn’t going to get any better.

“Actually dad, I do mind.” You said, speaking your mind. Dean shot you a confused look but you continued, “You and Robby have shut me out of a lot lately and I just, I wanna feel like I belong again.”

Dean took your words in and slowly nodded his head, “I’m sorry you’ve been feeling like that baby girl, I never meant for it to be like that.”

“I know dad,” You said softly, “It just sucked.”

Dean walked over and gave you a tight hug, something he normally did but hadn’t done in months. Placing a kiss to your forehead he looked down at your face, “How ‘bout you and Robby take the tickets and go together?” He offered.

You shook your head, “It’s okay, you and Robby can go. Then maybe tomorrow we can go do something together, as a family?”

Dean let out a small chuckle, “Sounds good sweetheart. Robby, get ready and I’ll meet you in the garage.”

After your dad left Robby busted out laughing, “Aw you and dad had a chick flick moment.”

“Shut up.” You said lightheartedly, “I’m a girl, he has to have them from time to time.” Slapping his back you turned away from him, “Better get ready if you plan to tame that hair.”

Walking out of Robby’s room you headed towards the library in search of your uncle; you figured if Robby and Dad were going to be gone tonight that maybe he’d wanna do something with you. You were nearly to the library when you heard what sounded like your dad and uncle arguing.

“Well have you ever thought she feels like that because it’s how you make her feel?” Sam questioned.

Your dad let out a scoff, “She’s just being a dramatic teenager. They always go on about feeling ignored and like they don’t get enough attention.”

Robby came up behind you and you quickly turned to face him, placing your finger to your lips in a ‘be quiet’ motion.

“Yeah, but Y/N doesn’t make it up Dean. You spend way more time with Robby then you do with her. Hell you ignore her half the time, maybe that’s why she feels that way.” Sam tried to explain to your dad but it was hopeless.

“It’s just girly problems Sam; she’ll get over it. She’d probably rather read a book or something then come hangout with me, now stop trying to give me parenting advice; last time I checked I’m their father, not you.” Dean said with an attitude.

“Yeah well last time I checked I know more about your daughter and spend more time with her then you do. So nice try with the ‘I’m her father’ crap because at this point, I’m more her father than you are.” Sam replied.

You didn’t wanna hear anymore, you moved to leave but Robby grabbed your arm and gave you a desperate look which you just shook your head at. Wrenching your arm out of his hold you went to your room, slamming the door with the hope of keeping the outside world away.

Three weeks have passed and you have avoided everyone in your family ever since. If your father didn’t want to be around you then you didn’t want to be around him. Robby hadn’t said anything to you about it so you assumed he was just too oblivious to realize what you were doing. Sam caught on quickly, he was just an innocent bystander in your anger, but you still ignored him.

You ate your meals alone in your room, read more lore than ever before, trained harder. Your reason behind it?

Maybe if you were the best your dad would want to be around you.

You were in the middle of hitting a punching bag in the bunker’s gym when your uncle came walking in.

“Hey kiddo, what’s up?” He asked as he came strolling up to you.

You glanced up at him but continued to hit the bag, “Working out.” You stated the obvious fact while trying to dismiss Sam.

He wasn’t going to let you though, “You’ve been doing that a lot lately.” He spoke back, “Working out. Reading lore. Upping your hunting skills.”

“Yeah well,” You breathed out, “Winchester’s gotta be good hunters. Gotta prove to dad I belong.”

“Is that what this is all about?” Sam questioned.

You looked at him, but turned your eyes back to the task at hand; ignoring his question.

“Y/N.” Sam tried again but you continued to ignore him so he grabbed the punching bag, “Y/N.” Sam said in a stern voice.

“What?” You asked in an angry tone while you stopped your movement.

“What is with you lately? I understand you’re ticked at your dad but you never used to shut me out like this.” Sam said, his voice getting softer as he spoke.

You gave your uncle a sad smile, “‘M sorry, it’s just, I wanna get better. I wanna rub it in my dad’s face that I’m just as good as Robby. That I’m just as worthy of his attention as Robby is.”

Sam’s face mirrored yours, “You don’t have to be like Robby to get his attention.”

“But I do; otherwise it’s just ‘girly problems that I’ll get over’ right?” You repeated your father’s harmful words from a few weeks ago.

Sam let out a sigh, “I thought you might have heard that.”

“Yeah well, when dad and Robby were gonna go out I thought maybe you’d wanna hangout. Heard that instead.” You filled your uncle in.

Sam opened his mouth to try and make it better; but he knew that no matter what he said it didn’t matter, he couldn’t defend his brother this time.

“Well, I like hangin’ around you.” Sam said with a smile.

You let out a small scoff, “Thanks Uncle Sammy, I like hangin’ out with you too. It’s just-” You stopped yourself trying to find the words, “I just wanna be wanted by my dad too. We all used to be so close, then mom died and he kept us so close, now he wants nothing to do with me. I just don’t get why.”

“It’s not that Y/N.” Sam tried to explain but he honestly didn’t know what was going on with Dean. Whenever he asked Dean would shut him out.

“Then what is it Sam?” You said, frustrated with the conversation.

Sam went to answer but was interrupted by Dean’s voice sounding in the gym.

“We got a case Sam, pack up! Robby’s all ready to go so we’re just waiting on you.” He told his brother.

“What about Y/N?” Sam asked, looking between you and your father.

Dean shrugged his shoulders, “Figured she’s wanna stay here,” Dean explained, “You haven’t been too interested in Team Winchester lately.”

You scoffed at his words, “Surprised you noticed.” You mumbled out.

“What?” Dean asked but Sam answered for you.

“She’s been training and reading up these past few weeks; told me it would help us on hunts. I say we put it to the test, whatcha say Y/N/N?” Sam questioned with a smile, giving you the opening to prove to your father that you were just as good as Robby.

Dean looked at you with an obvious fake smile, “If you wanna come you can.”

Sam glanced at Dean with a confused face, wondering why he was acting so strange before he looked back at you, giving you an encouraging smile.

“Yeah. I’m ready.”

You weren’t ready.

None of you were prepared for that hunt.

What was supposed to be a simple ghoul hunt resulted in your family going after the alpha ghoul who wasn’t too happy about your family killing his.

The alpha had managed to get a hold of you and Robby, using you as leverage against your father. He had slit one of Robby’s wrists to slowly drain him and had nicked an artery in your leg when your father and uncle showed up.

Dean and Sam handled the alpha before turning their attention to you and Robby. Dean ran to Robby while Sam went over to you. You were extremely pale after losing so much blood, too much blood. As you opened your mouth to tell your uncle you were injured your father’s shouting rang about the room.

“What were you thinking Y/N?!” He roared, “You got you and your brother kidnapped! Do you know what could have happened if we hadn’t found you in time?”

Robby tried to stop him, knowing that you were in trouble but Dean wouldn’t let him, “You’d be ghoul food! That’s what!”

“Dean!” Sam shouted, knowing right now wasn’t the time for this.

You continued to hold your flannel with your shaky hand over the wound on your leg. At this point you were light headed and you knew you probably weren’t going to make it out of this. A tear fell down your cheek as you looked at your father, knowing you had let him down.

“I’m sorry Daddy.” You said in an exhausted tone, alerting the men in your family that something was wrong.

Dean turned from furious to concerned in an instant, “Y/N, baby what’s wrong?” Your breathing was getting more labored as your body leaned further onto your uncle so he was the only thing keeping you up.  “Y/N?” Dean questioned in a worried tone as he cupped your face in his hands, “Baby, where are you hurt?”

Sam continued to hold you and looked down at your body, noticing your hand lightly holding onto your flannel, he lifted it up.

“Oh my god.” Sam said as he pushed down on your leg with as much pressure as possible, “Dean she’s bleeding out, the alpha hit an artery.”

Dean looked at Sam’s hand and felt panic begin to take over.

“Robby!” Dean said loudly, snapping his brother out of the trance he was in from looking at your leg. Getting his keys out he handed them to his son, “Baby’s at the edge of the parking lot. Go get her. Now.”

Robby quickly nodded his head before sprinting out of the warehouse.

“Y/N baby, you gotta stay awake, can you do that for me?” Dean asked you gently.

“I’m so sorry dad. I tried so hard.” You whined out, too exhausted to cry.

“Tried what baby?” Dean questioned, trying to keep you talking and alert.

“To belong.” You said sadly, “I just wanted to belong in the family and I couldn’t even do that.”

“What are you talking about?” Dean pushed.

“You never wanted to be around me, only Robby. I tried so hard and when you didn’t notice I decided to be a better hunter like Robby, only I failed that too.” You tried to explain as you fought your eyes to stay open.

“No, no baby I love having you around. It’s just, you’re so much like your mother and I-I was selfish and didn’t want you to be ruined by this life like she was.” Dean tried to tell you, “I always want you around, you’re like having a piece of your mom around so sometimes it makes me sad, but baby you gotta stay with me okay? You can’t leave me, I-I promise I’ll make it all better, you just gotta stay awake.”

Dean had tears rolling down his cheeks as she continued to hold your face in his hands long after you eyes had closed.

“Y/N, Y/N please.” Dean implored, “You can’t leave me.”

Sam reached his arm around so that he was completely holding you as his body shook with tears. Dean placed his forehead to yours as he continued to beg you to wake up.

That’s the scene Robby ran up to after pulling the impala up to the front door. As he neared the sight he slowed down, knowing what he was walking into but praying it wasn’t real.

His breath caught as he stood behind his father, seeing your still body and his father and uncle crying. Dean looked behind him at the sound of his son’s presence and tried to reach out for him but Robby just shook his head and stepped back.

“Robby-” Dean tried but Robby continued to shake his head.

“No.” He said in a destroyed voice, “No. She’s not-she can’t be-Dad.”  Robby began to sob. Dean was torn between comforting his son and holding onto his baby girl.  He reached out for Robby again who continued to shake his head. “No Dad, she, she, I never got the chance to-dad we were gonna make it better. We had the time to make it better. She didn’t think she-dad, she just wanted to belong.”

Dean stared at his son while soaking in his words.

Everyone in his family knew what you were going through.

Everyone but him.

He looked back at your face and broke again, his daughter was there because of him. She was trying to prove to him that she belonged in his family. She didn’t realize she was the foundation of the family.

Dean gently took you from Sam’s arms and cradled you in his, close to his chest. He held you tight while placing kisses to your head as tears fell from his eyes, occasionally whispering, “You do belong baby, you do.”