#i wanted to make it look a bit softer but oh well. o don't color as much as i used to so im kinda rusty... also i didnt erase the sketch

[vazaez]

White knuckled this so bad it looks like plastified paper now lmao

[chim-chimchii]

Encaptured (Jungkook)

Genre: Fluff 

Note: A little fuckboy Jungkook for you all! I’m currently working on a social media au and I might just post the profiles so I can give you guys a sneak peek and to also motivate myself to work on it more! Let me know what you guys think! I also didn’t know how to end this so I apologize if it’s a crappy ending. 

. . . . . . . 

On Thursdays, the literary class met in the college library, and that was when Jungkook always had you look over his essays. Not only did he use that time to get his papers edited, but he also took this time to prod you about your weekend plans.

"So, are you going to accept my offer to take you to the movies this weekend?" Jungkook asked, resting his chin on his palm.

You glanced up from his essay. "Hm, not this week. I think I'm all booked." With a smirk directed towards him, you continued marking his paper.

"You said that last week." He mumbled with a playful pout.

"And last week, when I rejected you, you ended up taking that girl from your math class." You stated with a challenging stare.

Tongue in cheek, Jungkook chuckled, "Well, I couldn't let those tickets go to waste! I thought for sure you would have agreed." He continued trying to justify his playboy ways.

You scoffed and slid his paper over to him; red pen marks were scattered all over it. You thought that the edits you made to his essay would distract him from the current topic, but he pushed the assignment to the side.

"Y/n, when will you let me take you on a date?" Jungkook leaned in ever so slightly and smiled sweetly.

Your heart rate increased. His whole appearance changed with that one smile, and it was hard for you to hide the fact that it made you feel some way. Maybe it was time to give him a chance, and if it didn't work out, then he would finally stop bugging you.

"Okay." You finally answered after thinking it through. That one word took Jungkook by surprise.

"Okay? Are you saying, yes?"

Without making eye contact, you nodded and closed your notebook with a gentle smile.

"I'll pick you up at seven." Jungkook bit his lip to hide his smile and watched you leave the library.

. . . . 

The sun was setting, and seven o clock was right around the corner. You gave yourself one last look in the mirror that hung by the door and nodded in approval of your outfit. You tried to remember the last time you got all dressed up for a date, and as you tried to place a moment, there was a knock at the door. 

As you reached for the door, you hesitated. What if this was a one-time thing? What if he never spoke to you after tonight? Just because you turned his offers for a date down multiple times, it wasn't as if you didn't like Jungkook. You appreciated his presence in your boring literary class; you appreciated his jokes and stories. What if all he wanted was to add you to the list of girls he won over with his charms? 

Your thoughts were interrupted again by a knock, but this time it was a lot softer. You took a deep breath and twisted the doorknob. Whatever his intentions were, you decided to accept this date, so you had to deal with the consequences. 

Jungkook stood in the doorway with his hands buried in his pockets. His head was hung low as if he was half expecting you not to answer, but when you opened the door wider, he looked up. 

You forgot to breathe upon seeing him. Instead of the cliche leather jacket he always wore, he wore a grey flannel over a white shirt. It wasn't THAT different from what he always wore but seeing him wear light-colored clothing suits him well. His demeanor was different, as well. A timid smile replaced the cocky smirk he always had on his face. 

"Are you ready?" His voice came out lighter than usual; it took you a moment to remember this was Jungkook and not someone else. 

"Yeah, let me just grab my bad." You left him by the door as you dashed back to your room to grab your purse. 

. . . . 

It was the little things that Jungkook did that made you weak in the knees. As the two of you walked to the theater, Jungkook rested his hand on the small of your back. He maneuvered you to the other side of him; it wasn't until his warmth left that you realized he was making sure you were closest to the buildings and away from the busy street.

Your eyes fixated on him, and it felt like the world was in slow motion, and you saw Junkook in a new light. You wanted nothing more, but to have this moment last forever. Forever didn't come because he glanced at you with that beautiful smile of his.

"Would you be upset if I told you I don't want to go to the movies anymore?"

The world resumed at its original speed, and your excitement disappeared.

"Oh? Did you want to take a rain check or something?" You tried not to sound too disappointed.

"No, no. I just don't think I can handle sitting next to you for two and a half hours and not talk to you."

You sighed in relief, which made Jungkook chuckle.

"I don't know what you've been told or what you heard about me, but I'm not cruel.

You raised your eyebrow at him and smirked. "I don't know, I've heard some pretty interesting things about you, Jungkook."

You gave him one last teasing look before walking ahead of him. Jungkook tsked before jogging to catch up to you.

"So, are you going to tell me what you heard so I can prove those accusations wrong?"

Together you waded through the crowded street, careful not to lost one another. If he took your hand, would you pull away or let him have that small victory?

"You haven't said what we're going to do now that we're not going to the movies."

His hand grazed yours. "You're changing the topic."

Seconds later, his hand rested on your shoulder to guide you towards the entrance of an arcade. It was full of other couples, groups of friends, and people wanting to have fun. The atmosphere brought a smile to your face. You didn't even realize Jungkook had left until he returned with a bag full of tokens.

"I'll let you choose the first game."

Dramatically, you rested your hand on your heart. "What a gentleman."

Jungkook threw his head back in defeat. "Whoever told you that I wasn't a gentleman needs to stop feeding you lies."

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but you don't really have the best reputation." You explained as you made your way over to the basketball game.

You glanced back at him to make sure he was following and found him chewing on his lip. Your statement bothered him. The two of you exchanged no other words until he was standing next to you.

"Is that why you always rejected me?" His eyes locked with yours, and you didn't dare look away.

Rather than lying, you nodded. "Yeah."

Jungkook was the one to break eye contact; it was clear he was upset. He fished for a token and inserted it into the machine to start the game.

As you watched him, you inhaled deeply and thought about everything. You didn't want to be the reason the date ended in ruins. You were honest about why you declined his offers, but now that you were here with him, you kept thinking how different things could have been if you had just agreed to date him the first time he asked.

Without thinking further, when Jungkook reached for another ball, you took it from him and aimed for the moving hoop.

"You can't blame me for being scared."

Jungkook opened his mouth to say something but stopped as he watched you throw the ball straight into the hoop. Another ball rolled towards you, but Jungkook grabbed it before you could.

"I wasn't blaming you. I was blaming myself." He missed the hoop and ticked his head to the side, slightly annoyed that he didn't score, but as the game ended, he had one of the highest scores.

Together you moved in the direction of another game.

"Why are you blaming yourself?"

He didn't say anything, and you were afraid he didn't hear you due to the increasing volume of everyone around you.

"Because I got careless with relationships and dating, and now that I want something serious, my reputation is ruining my chances.

The corners of your mouth twitched into a tiny smile. "It's your turn to pick a game."

You weren't ignoring what he had said; you just wanted to think about it for a moment longer.

The two of you wandered around the arcade and tried not to lose each other with the growing amount of people entering the building. Jungkook stopped in front of a photo booth and let out a small laugh.

"It isn't a game, but it seems like this is the only thing unoccupied." 

"I think it'll be fun!" You linked his arm with yours and entered the small booth. 

Jungkook sat silently next to you as you messed around with the photo settings. As you sat back, your shoulder brushed against his, and it made it obvious how close the two of you were. You couldn't help but think back to his previous comment about wanting to be in a serious relationship.  Did he mean that he wanted to try and be in a serious relationship with you? You'd be lying if you said you didn't have feelings for him. The truth was, you had liked him all along, but you let the rumors about him cloud your judgment of his character. 

The beeping of the timer caused you to snap out of your thoughts. 

"Are you ready?" You glanced over at Jungkook, and to your surprise, he was already staring at you. The flash went off, signaling that the first picture was taken. Then the timer reset. 

"Your chances aren't completely ruined, by the way." 

The two of you looked away and to the camera, where you opted for a funny face. The camera went off. 

"What do you mean?" Jungkook turned to you again. 

"If you were this version of yourself all the time, you wouldn't have any trouble getting into a serious relationship, and any girl would be happy to be with you."  

You stuck your tongue out at him as the camera snapped another picture. 

"I don't want just any girl though--" He faced forward and held up a peace sign. "--I want you." 

Your expression changed in an instant, and it was captured as the shutter sounded. "Jungkook." 

He hesitated but looked your way as the last seconds of the timer counted down. You took his face into your hands and pressed your lips to his. The moment captured forever as the final flash of the camera washed over the two of you. 

[boys-from-santacarla]

Note; I deeply apologize seeing as this is going to end up being long. Onto the information; My name is Ghost(mainly go by this one), Acid, Killer(more of a nickname), or Gore(more of a nickname). I go by he/they/xe/its, and I'm a dude, MLM and poly so it really doesn't matter much who it is. Born March 31st, being an Aries I'm a very loud and energetic person. I'm also very impulsive and get myself into deep shit, even if I don't realize I'm doin' it. I get overly loud when the topic is about something I enjoy or is into, if I try flirting on purpose it's ass but when I do it without realizing I get called a huge flirt. Big music and art geek, I have sketchbooks upon sketchbooks filled just sitting around in my room. I listen to a lot of rock like Queen, Guns N Roses, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, ACDC, Nickelback, KISS, Slipknot, KoRn, and on and on. Although I listen to every genre of music minus country(although there are few songs I can deal with). Big tattoo/piercing person, if you have one visible I will point it out and geek out about it. Although literally don't ask me to name a few songs unless I've been rambling on about it because I have the shittiest memory. I dye my hair so often it's surprising my hair is still healthy. I have literally bleached my hair, dyed it red and let that fade for a week, then dyed it blue and have been touching up the blue ever since then. If it wasn't due to money problems and the fact it's hard to borrow in my town my hair would probably have my hair a different color every two weeks. I ramble quite a bit and have the shittiest focus and memory, so you may have to pull me to the side and tell me to calm down. Would definitely compliment on the boys looks, specially their outfits. I'm a coffee and monster addict at this point, you'll see one or the other in my hand, and the occasional water bottle because I try to keep myself health. My love language is through touch and insulting people. Ex, "I fucking love you dumbass" or flipping you off playfully as a way of saying "i love you bitch". Smoking doesn't bother me, grew up around it my entire life. I love riding on motorcycles, no matter the weather, is it cold asf, nice idgaf, is it raining, shit lets go. I have a bad(good in some people's eyes) of using petnames/nicknames for everyone. Everyone has a wholesome petname from me and then I'll call them a whore or some shit. I cuss too much for my own good, I literally don't have a filter in my entire body. I will impulsively say shit, sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's a bad thing. Due to my anxiety I try to stay away from large crowds, but if I'm in them (aka on the boardwalk) I will have music blaring in my ears and my ears glued into my current sketchbook. Although I currently don't have them, I'm going to add them anyways because I'm going to end up getting them when I have the money to go to a piercer or to get a kit. I want a shit ton of piercings. Such as snake bites(lip piercing), tongue, septum, all of the piercings finished on my ears, and bridge. I've stated once I'm a big tattoo geek, so I want a quite a bit of those. I'm definitely a big "oh let's do it myself" person, and I have tried giving myself a septum piercing. (it would've worked if it wasn't for the fact I did it too low to be able to flip it up to hide it) I love the adrenaline of fights, it doesn't matter if I win or loose, although I do prefer if I win. I literally get the most random urge to fight someone for the hell of it. Probably has something to do with impulsive thoughts and shit, but oh well. I'm a big respect person, I live by the motto "you respect me, I'll respect you". I have blackouts sometimes due to rage and anxiety, so I try to keep myself from having them. I have a bad habit of rambling and saying sorry too much. I tend to repeatedly say sorry whilst rambling as I tend to get overly excited and loud when I ramble. I'm a very talkive person if I know and trust you. If you're around me and you don't get your ear talked off or messed with, you're probably not liked or

you need to leave. It's one easy way you'll be able to tell if I get along with you or not. I kinda have a whatever/punk/alt style, a lot of time I just grab something decent and throw it on. Although you'll always see me wearing a belt and my platform shoes. I'm 5'0, so my obsession with platforms grew because of my need to be tall. I wear a lot of baggy clothing, I'm definitely more of a comfort over style person.

Ok, my dude, I'll definitely pair you with...

Marko and Paul

Oh, man, you three are gonna be some threesome (and not necessarily in the sexual way lol)

Just imagine THE MESS

The boys think you're adorable when you get into the romantic mood and try to flirt but end up saying bad pick-up lines, so they'll laugh, but will twirl their hair as whoerish as possible and follow the game. Or they would get on with their manly act and fight to see who will flirt back better.

Now, the chatting will be so goddamn long! You three will go on 4 hour-long conversations that'll get from a "look at this new t-shirt I got" to "so that's why Ronald Reagan was an alien". The worst part is left to the spectators like David or Dwayne since none of you three will be the sane individual and shut y'all up.

The blondes like your drawing, and ask you to draw them or random stuff and people CONSTANTLY, so you'll have many opportunities to improve your skills and try with different models. When they happen to find some of your sketchbooks, they try to impress you or simply give a small present by drawing you or something you like, or at least make the attempt since some of the "fine pieces" as they call them, they give you are like children's school projects.

And, man, about the hair, are you blessed to have the glam diva Paul by your side to give advice and constructive criticism to your hair. He will help you choose the color and will give it style from time to time if you accept. The process to dye it will be so much fun, and so chaotic; experimenting with the pigments ends up with wounds caused from the bleach and the currently used wardrobe disposed later.

A thing they love about you is that you can stand up for yourself if needed, but they rather you not to, because they know you handle yourself and the others well, maybe too well for your good. Paul tries to take care of you as much as he can so there is no need for you to possibly get hurt. It was enough trying to control Marko so he didn't get involved in some stupid street fight every night at the boardwalk to now have to worry daily about you too. Marko shares the passion for the adrenaline of this and will think it is hot as hell, but he protects you as much as Paul, maybe a bit softer than him about it tho, but if you're in the middle of a fight and it starts to get worse than expected, he dead ass will force you to back off. He'll finish the business himself, sweetheart.

As for your love language, don't worry, these dorks will accept you playful pushes with joy, and they'll give you some of them too. But if you accidentally flip and fall some meters before hitting ground, you know the rule: laugh first, help second.

Oh, and you better get prepared for the bullying. You're the smallest in the group, so that leads to a constant attack as a hobbit. Marko joins the quip, but I mean, he'll get humiliated along. Let's just say Paul gives you two a hard time about it. With all the love of course.

They love to get out with you and the others and go to the boardwalk, but they try to take you out on days it is not that crowded, or in hours where a small amount of souls are having a stroll. But, if you happen to go out on a crowded night, they will keep you focused on having a good time, but just mention your getting uncomfortable and you'll be back at the cave in less than a minute.

Paul and Marko really love your style, they think it looks badass and try to match tough outfits with you from time to time. Giving you cool shirts and leather jackets with some patches on them that they think are awesome. Don't ask why some of the clothes have strange-colored stains on them tho.

They go with you to get you ears or nose pierced from the moment you three decided doing it diy style was a bad idea cuz y'all ended up with a bleeding nose and an ear infection the first time of trying it, and because there's no voice of reason in the threesome, Star and Dwayne had to give you kids a very long lecture of not doing those things by yourself.

[mikkachu8888]

A/N I do not own any of the main plot line or characters of Marvel. Those rights are reserved for the creators. Thank you.

Peter x adult!reader

You were nervous to say the least. You looked at the clock on your wall again. It was probably only 15 minutes until they would arrive. You sighed. Mae and Peter are coming over for dinner. It's only been a few months since Tony's funeral and you can't say you were coping well. Natasha...Tony... Steve... all gone. Steve wasn't dead, but he seemed on the verge of it due to his old age now, but either way you weren't ready to let him go either. It felt like you were robbed of so much time you could have spent with him. He always was my most understanding fake uncle/dad/brother...or whatever you wanted to consider him. It didn't matter how you felt though, it's what makes him happy and you have to respect that... even if internally you weren't ready to bury another one of your family members. These people helped raise you and it broke your heart to see how your family got so much smaller.

Clint made more of an appearance in your life after the events, however. After Nat died you both found great comfort and grieving her death together. He became your new outlet to vent, which had previously belonged to Steve. Actually, this whole dinner was Clint's idea. It was something that was meant to clear the air between Peter and I.

"Are you okay?"

I turned to the voice and saw my fiancé of 8 months standing in the kitchen door with his hands in his pockets and looking at me with a concerned, but supportive smile.

"No..." I admit. "I've faced mass genocide, the largest war to human kind, and losing most of my family all at once... and yet... I've never been more nervous than I am right now."

"What do you think is going to happen?" (f/n) says.

"I don't know... I know it's really not that big of a deal compared to what we've all gone through before, but for some reason I can't bear to see Peter so upset with me. It...Just...It hurts my heart. I can't explain it." you say putting your face into your hands.

"I understand... and to be honest I think it is... a big deal." (f/n) says walking over and placing his hands on my arms gently. "So many families have been disrupted by the blip. Parents seeing their children all grown up all of a sudden, couples having larger age gaps and who have grieved and moved on, people who have blipped and realized that their loved ones that have remained here passed away in that what seemed to be moments they've been gone...in which it was actually years."

You looked up at him. He gave a small smile. "You are not the only one struggling to adjust in these weird times and grieving the lost time. I'm sure Peter is just as confused and nervous as you are. He was your boyfriend, your lover. You guys were very close and I'm sure when he came back from the blip he still thought you were the same as ever... only to realize that it wasn't the case."

"He saw me for the first time at Tony's funeral...and he wouldn't even talk to me. He just stared at me... almost like he was afraid of me." The sentence came out like it was a soft whisper, but ended with just pain and hurt in it.

"Is that a bad thing?" (f/n) asked. "Wouldn't you be? I know I would, especially if I was just a 16 year old kid."

"No no...No... You're right. I honestly should be thinking about him too. He's probably shell shocked and I'm just worried about myself." You take a deep breath and gave a slight bitter chuckle. "I'm the adult here. I've matured and learned to cope. I shouldn't be the one who's scared here."

"I think it's okay for you both to be scared. Don't worry, though. I'll be there and Mae will be there to help. Clint says he'll be standing by if you need help." It was at that moment, the doorbell rang making you jump. "You got this. I promise."

He gave you a kiss on the cheek before leaving to answer the door. You mulled over his words for a moment before sucking in a breath and following him. As you walked through your living room you reached up and began fixing your hair as you walked. You wanted to make sure you at least looked like you weren't a complete mess, but you were on the inside. A horrible, grieving, pitiful, shawarma and ice cream eating mess.

I wore black. It was my go to color. Not because I was sad or grieving, but because it is the most convenient color and showed so much class while also hiding your shame. There was very little the color black couldn't hide. You were grateful that when you joined SHIELD and the main uniform color was black. You cut your hair shorter and mostly wore it up in a tight seamless bun for work, but tonight it is in its full glory. Your fiancé wore basic white button up and black pants. He had on a tie before, but you supposed it was bothering him so he took it off. At least he put on the black blazer as well. You never liked the tie anyway. It was just something Steve had said one time that was necessary for important events. He taught (f/n) how to tie it and everything.

You stood beside (f/n) a little ways back as you were bit afraid. He opened the door and there stood Mae, Peter, and shockingly Happy smiling back. Peter actually wasn't smiling. He wasn't even looking at neither you nor (y/n). His gaze was to the side towards the floor. It was clear that he wasn't ready to face reality either. Your eyes moved back to the group as a whole. "Happy, what are you doing here?" You- asked stretching out a smile that may have seemed a little forced.

"Well, I was just popping over to the Parker residence from visiting Pepper and Morgan, and Mae invited me to come along, so I thought I haven't seen you in a while and there was no harm in dropping by as well. I wanted to see what you've been up to and what not." Happy nodded with a big smile. He leaned close and half whispered "Mae thought that you all could use as much help as you could get with this weird situation anyway."

"O-oh... okay... well um. Thanks for coming. I'm sure it's appreciated." You internally cursed. More people to witness the horror that will be this dinner. You turned your attention to Mae. "Hi, Mae." You smiled a bit and you could tell she already had tears pricking her eyes and she held out her arms for a big hug. She gave you tight motherly squeeze and rubbed your back. "Hi, Honey. Gosh, you've gotten so big. You just look absolutely beautiful."

"Yes. Thank you. It's been so long since I've seen you... Well I suppose not to you." You attempted a joke to lighten the mood. She and Happy laughed though that joke didn't seem to land well with Peter as he didn't laugh and only seemed to be made more uncomfortable.

Your eyes did fixate on Peter now and the silence of the group became thick and very tense. He wasn't saying anything and you bit your lip. "Hey...Peter." Your voice was softer and sounded week. He looked exactly the same. Young baby face with wispy brown hair that seemed to like to hang in his face depending how it fell. He did a pretty good job at keeping it combed back, however. His brown eyes finally looked back at you and widened just slightly. You looked so much different, yet, exactly the same. For starters, the makeup. That was so much more new. You never wore makeup. You were perfectly happy with the nude appearance of your face. Although you weren't wearing much makeup it was still prevalent that you had some on, but just enough to look clean and classy. Your hair wasn't as super long as you had it when you were younger. It was always down and long and it was a daily struggle for you to keep it maintained and out of paint or your food at lunch. You were always getting it caught in your mouth or finding random strands of it on your clothing or in your stuff. He remembered how sometimes when he kissed you your hair would get caught between their lips. It was embarrassing then, but now he missed it. Now it was cut much shorter and seemed more tamed. He wasn't sure if he liked that or not. It didn't matter, however, for some reason in Peter's mind it made you look all the much more mature and older. Everything about you seemed older and mature. Your body was different. Slightly wider hips and a bit larger breasts. He probably wouldn't have noticed either difference if it wasn't for the dress you were wearing... or for the matter that you were wearing a dress at all. Dresses and skirts weren't your forte last time he saw you. You said they restricted you from doing the things you wanted to do. No, leggings and jeans covered in paint, pen marks, sharpies was what you wore on a daily basis along with an oversized hoody of some sort. Peter looked down at the ground. He noticed you weren't wearing any shoes. He cracked a slight side smile. At least that was one thing that didn't changed about you. You always hated wearing shoes. It didn't matter where you were or the temperature outside. Shoes were never the priority for you. You always carried a pair and wore them when you had to, but if they bothered you too much or you just found them unnecessary you'd kick them off and immediately toss them in your backpack. So many times you'd walk down the school halls bare foot with some type of drawing that you drew on them from being bored in class. Peter always thought that little quirk was cute. He could actually see a little tattoo on the side of your foot, but couldn't make it out in that moment. In fact when he looked closer, he saw that both your feet looked slightly different from each other. He wasn't quite sure, but it seemed the foot with the tattoo seemed somewhat off. He just wasn't sure what was different.

His voice finally decided to make an appearance. "Hey... again..." It didn't come out as strong as he wanted it to, but it came out enough for her to hear.

"How are you?" You asked him.

"Uh..." He didn't have anything to say. He just gave an awkward nod and a generic 'ok'. He wasn't ready to talk. You backed off and looked at the group as a whole once more.

"Oh um... everyone. This is my fiancé, (f/n)" you said stepping back and introducing your now future husband. Peter's face immediately dropped. His eyes widened and he looked back and forth between you and your fiancé in an almost panicked state. He couldn't believe it. You had found someone else. You had left him.

"Hi, everyone." (f/n) smiled and waved and shook everyone's hand, except Peter who didn't even attempt to raise his hand. His face now stared wide eyed at your fiancé who waited patiently for his hand in return. Mae nudged Peter's arm and he blinked a couple of times in realization and took (f/n)'s hand to shake. "Oh yeah um sorry... it's nice to meet you." He says politely trying to cover up how frazzled he was for a moment.

"Well, everyone. Why don't you come inside?" You say and step to the side allowing everyone to filter into your home.

"Wow... fancy." Happy says looking around at stuff.

"Happy, you knew I lived here." You say unamused.

"I've never seen the inside, though." He commented back.

"So how long have you lived here?" Mae asks looking at the light fixtures.

"3 years or so now." You say watching them. "I know it's much different than that dingy apartment I was at before."

"Yeah um.... How did you get a place like this?" Peter asks quietly.

"Uh well... with my new job and the housing being cheaper from the blip and-"

"Tony bought it." Happy commented bluntly cutting you off.

You sighed. "Yes. Tony bought and designed it for me. My job at SHIELD lets me be able to pay for it."

"You work at SHIELD?" peter asks glancing back at you.

"Yes. Head of the entire global security and protection program. Also, I'm a public advocate for the international super powered and mutated community." You say with a bit of pride.

"Wow that sounds like a very high position." Mae says.

"It can be, I suppose." You shrug your shoulders.

"You've certainly come a long way since you were young." Mae says a little sad.

"I think everyone who was left here during the blip has. It just depends on if they came a long way for the better or worse. That depends on the person." You state glancing at Happy. "Right, Happy?"

"Yeah. There's been a lot of people who dropped over the edge since that, but also a lot of people who've thrived since then. We've seen it all." Happy says skeptically looking at one of the vases you had on your counter. You walked over and took the vase from Happy's hands. "Why don't we all sit down before you break something." You says putting the vase back down where it was.

"Where did you get that? It's hideous." Happy says moving towards the sofa.

"It came with the house." You stated.

"Why'd you keep it?" Happy says scrunching up his nose.

"Don't worry about it." You say ushering him to the couch.

"I happen to like it. I think it's... unique." Mae says admiring it from afar as she sat next to Happy and Peter on one of the sofas. You and (f/n) sat across from them on the other. He gave them each glasses of water in case they got thirsty. You hadn't seen him even go into the kitchen to get them.

"Oh yeah... I mean... if you look at it that way then I guess it's pretty nice." Happy says backtracking and taking a pert sip of the water he was just given. Your eyes furrow as you look between Happy and Mae. You glance at Peter who also seems confused at the interaction.

"Okay...so Happy. What were you doing at the Parker residence?" you ask Happy with a smirk.

"Oh you know. Just checking in. See how Peter is doing." Happy says not so casually.

"I see." You say as your eyes look back at Peter. "So, Peter."

"Huh?" he asks a little startled by my turn of attention to him. The water in his cup sloshing at the sudden movement. "How are you doing?"

"Oh um... okay, I guess." He responds nodding. That was it. The entire highlight of the conversation between us for the rest of the time. The rest of the time he and you both remained quiet and only spoke when spoken too. You were hurt. He was hurt. You could tell. Not only because you know him, but because teenagers tend to have less of a poker face when they're upset. No matter how hard they try to hide it, it usually slips through that they are emotional in that moment. You have learned to control that side of you a lot better. You are no longer that emotional and even if you were, you've learned to hide it a lot better. Your face remains impassive, but you sit there thinking that perhaps he doesn't need impassive. He needs something to know that you are feeling much of the same feelings he is feeling. You just don't know what to say.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you two meet?" Mae asks setting her glass on the coffee table in front of us. Peter's attention becomes more alert at the question. It was obvious he was wondering the same thing. Just when did this happen?

"Oh no. I don't mind. I suppose that is one of the big elephant questions in the room." You say a little nervously.

"We met in physical therapy. We had the same Therapist and she brought all her patients together for group stretching once a week. It was something that was set up through a volunteer group for people with superpowers and mutations. I can't exactly remember the name, but it was group that helped with the devastation after the snap. They helped clean up and got people out of crisis and arranged for a lot of the people with powers who were injured to receive medical attention and physical therapy from medical professionals that had mutations of some sort as to not expose us or risk exploitation. Do you remember the volunteer organization's name?" (f/n) asked looking at me.

"It wasn't an organization. It was a school, I believe. Dr. Xavier ran the school. He's quite the man. I talk to him every now and again, but I haven't heard from him quite a while. He's part of the reason I got my foot in the door for advocating for those with superpowers or mutants as they call them." You state.

"Interesting. What were you going to physical therapy for?" Mae asked. "Or what I mean is, what happened?"

"Well I was on a train in New York with my sister and mother when people starting dusting away. I suppose the conductor was one of those people because our train never stopped and crashed full force into one of the buildings and derailed us from the tracks over a bridge, it sent us crashing into the streets. My mother died on impact, but I was able to protect my sister with my body. I can turn my body into different materials, so I was able to keep most of the things away from her and she just had a couple of broken bones, but I didn't move fast enough because I got a metal rod straight through the chest. It broke right near my sternum. I had no clue why or how I was still alive. I thought I was going to die in there for sure until some of the students from that school showed up." (f/n) unbuttoned his shirt half way to show the large star like shaped scar right in the center of his chest.

"That's awesome..." Happy muttered looking in awe at his scar before getting nudged in the shoulder by Mae. "I mean terrible. Truly terrible. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Yes, that's awful. I'm sorry that happened to you." Mae says sympathetically.

(f/n) chuckled and buttoned his shirt back up. "No, don't worry about it. These types of things make us stronger right? And I do agree with Happy. I think my scar is pretty awesome." He patted his chest proudly. You smiled in amusement and gave slight chuckle.

"...and you?" Peter's soft voice piped up after a moment. Everyone looked at him. He was looking at you. You weren't really sure what he was trying to ask you. He glanced at everyone before licking his lips and trying again to clarify. "Uh um. What I mean is what happened to you... as well? Why were you in, you know, physical therapy?"

"Oh. I was actually in Africa fighting in battle." You sated simply.

"You were a part of the Battle of Wakanda?" Peter asks sitting up straighter now.

You smiled a bit and let out a breathy laugh. "Yeah. It was like pulling teeth to convince Steve to let me, but yeah. I was. It was a savage alien that bit and clawed into my leg and that started the problems, but it was a female servant of Thanos that actually took my leg. Cut it clean off with swords she had."

"Oh my god. That's horrible." Mae exclaimed and Peter's eyes traveled to your foot once more. That's why your foot looked so off. It was a prosthetic. Peter thought it looked too real to be a prosthetic, but too fake to be real. You were able to walk so seamlessly though. Like you never lost your leg at all.

"Not as horrible as for her. When Natasha found out she was absolutely pissed. She and one of the Wakanda guards kicked her ass." You laughed outwardly. Peter saw the old you come out all of a sudden and all at once. He smiled brightly. "And then what happened?" he asked.

"They sent her ass through her own giant alien sawblade that they tried to kill us with!" You were full blown laughing now. The memory had you almost in tears because of how convenient and karmic the whole thing was. If you remembered correctly you remember yourself laughing in that moment as well. Despite nearly being dead in a ditch and bleeding out uncontrollably, you were still verbally shouting out cheers of praise to Nat as she fought and when she came to quickly bandage you up to stop the bleeding. You remembered Nat replying to you "Shut up, kid or I'll leave you here instead. All that shouting is going to make you pass out anyway." Funny enough she wasn't too far off the target because it wasn't long after she told you that did you fall unconscious from blood loss and woke up with a sweet new robotic vibranium prosthetic leg in Wakanda's medical ward.

"So, if she cut your leg off what happened next." Peter asked now interested in the story.

"Nat bandaged me up, I passed out, and I woke up with a sweet new robotic leg in Wakanda's medical ward. After I was healed enough I was transferred to Xavier's school where I sharpened my powers and did physical therapy along with the others. Once I was healed, Tony came back from outer space. Once he was recovered he told us everything and eventually upgraded my leg. Now it looks almost like I never lost a leg. Well, sort of. It still looks a bit off and it glitches every now and again, but I'm not complaining. I can still walk so." You shrugged now crossing your leg over the other and folding your arms over your chest.

"Wow. That's really cool." Peter said breathlessly. He seemed to admire you so much more. You knew you were now Tony Stark, but it was nice to have those admiring eyes directed towards you for once. The type of eyes that didn't hold romantic feelings, but still held the belief that everything you did was cool and amazing.

"Thank you, Peter." You smiled.

"So when are you two getting married?" Happy asks randomly and taking a gulp of water.

*smash*

The glass in Peter's hand immediately smashes in his palm. Everyone makes a noise in surprise at the sudden sound and turn to Peter. "Oh! Uh... I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I'll... I'll clean it up." Peter says getting down on the floor to clean it up.

"Peter, your hand." You gasp setting your cup down. His hand started bleeding from all the glass shards that decided to embed themselves into his skin.

"Oh um..." Peter's face flushed a bright red. He couldn't help but feel intense embarrassment about the situation.

"Don't worry about the glass. I got it. You go with (y/n) and get your hand all patched up, okay?" (f/n) says already standing to go and get the broom.

"Yeah, come on, Peter. I have a first aid kit in the kitchen." You say standing up and helping him to his feet. You held his arm as he kept his hand underneath his injured one, hoping to catch the blood so it wouldn't get onto your carpet. You walked him to the kitchen. "Just put your hand over the sink and I'll be there in a moment."

"Okay." Peter says doing what you asked as you began to rummage around the medicine cabinet. Peter began to run his hand under a bit of water as you came back with the first aid kit. You first got some tweezers and a dish towel and dragged 2 chairs over so we could sit. You first sat down and put the dish towel across your lap. Peter then sat down and you gently grabbed his hand and set it in your lap while looking closely at it. "Nothing bad it looks like. Obviously nothing the Amazing Spiderman can't handle." You joke looking at him with a smile and he smiles back with an awkward laugh.

A silence falls over you both as you begin to focus on plucking the tiny shards from his hand. You didn't notice how the air got thicker and you certainly didn't notice how things got increasingly more difficult for Peter to stomach. He stared at you the entire time and the longer he did the more his heart broke. You didn't notice how his straight face slowly broke until you saw a few tear drops fall onto the surface of the hand you were working on and you heard a choked back sob. You looked up and saw his face as he turned away. You set the towel with glass pieces aside and held his hand. You knew he wasn't crying because of his hand or if there was a possibility you hurt him. He was much tougher than that. You also knew you couldn't physically hurt him even if you wanted to. His powers made it easier for him to handle a lot more than a regular human. No, his pain was internal. His kind soft heart was bursting with pain. "Peter..." you said softly with a frown.

"I... I miss you." He said finally with his head down and his chest heaved. "I miss you so much."

This is where your heart broke and you couldn't even keep your composure anymore. You hugged Peter and you hugged him tight. You hugged him like how you wanted to hug him the day you found out that he was one of the victims of the Snap. You hugged him like he would dust away again. You hugged him like he would leave you again, but this time not come back. And you cried. Oh, you cried like you should have when you first saw him again. You cried as you were finally getting the closure you wanted. It was five years, but you had him in your arms again and you couldn't be more grateful. "I miss you, too."

"First I lost Mr. Stark and now you..." he began crying harder now. He drops to his knees on the floor and his face goes to your lap.

"That's not true. I'm right here." I told him holding him tighter.

"But you're not mine anymore. You're his... and it only seems like just a few months ago you were at my house and we were playing video games and listening to music." Peter said getting his voice more.

"But it wasn't a few months ago. It's been years, Peter." You tell him stroking his hair.

"I know... but... it's just not fair!" he says gripping the fabric of your dress around your thighs tight in his balled fists.

"I know, I know it's not fair." You tell him as more tears fell from your eyes.

"If... if he wasn't there... If you weren't getting married, would you wait for me?" he asked quietly. You pressed your lips together. This was a very heavy question. It wouldn't change the outcome of how things were now no matter how you answered, but it could change the way Peter thought about things and how your relationship would be from here on out. You had to answer carefully. Either he could be angry with you and refuse to have contact with you, or he could have a false sense of hope and closure all depending on how you answered his question. You just hated to see him so upset and you wanted to give in, but you also could not lie to him either. If you ever loved him then you would not lie to him, even now.

"No, Peter." I told him gently petting his hair. His body tensed at the words. "Look at me."

He didn't move, so you shifted your body away slightly and lifted his chin up, so he would look at you. "Peter, I want you to listen to me. I want you to really hear what I am trying to tell you."

He looks at you with his tear stained face, but he does what you ask. "What happened to us is cruel and unfair, but it did happen. This whole situation is hard to swallow and seeing you like this kills me. Seeing your face for the first time when you came back and realizing you didn't grow up with me was one of the hardest things I had to come to terms with because I immediately realized that we couldn't work. I think it was even harder for me when I realized that when you came back, you had no idea what had happened and you thought we were still together like always. I found it difficult when I saw the reality hit you when you looked at me for the first time at Tony's funeral. I still care deeply for you, but you are still a child, Peter. You blipped. I didn't. I mourned and moved on. I know that when you become in your twenties it won't really be a big deal anymore with the age gap, but that's nearly 10 years of my life waiting for you. That's 10 years of my life halted and stagnant. That's also nearly 5 years of your life wasted waiting on me when you also need to move on. I'm sorry, but it won't be healthy if you wait for me."

He doesn't say anything for a long while. He just sets his head back down in your lap as he thinks over what you just told him. I don't mind, however. You said what you had to. You couldn't lie to him. It wasn't the adult or right thing to do. You had to just rip the band aid off. It seemed we sat there for a while. I knew the others were giving us our privacy. We all knew this dinner was really just to break the news to Peter that our relationship wouldn't work and hoping we could still be okay afterwards.

"Do you love him?" he asked quietly, his voice breaking a bit.

"Yes." You answered back.

"Did you love me?"

"Yes."

"Do you still love me?"

"Yes."

"But... not the same way..." he sighed.

"...No... not in the same way." You tell him gently.

"I... I suppose that's okay." He muttered, even if he didn't like his own answer.

"Thank you, Peter." You say with a smile looking down at him.

"For what?" he asks looking up at you.

"For understanding, for not being angry, for being a good person, for doing the right thing for yourself and I, ... and for just giving me some of the best moments of my life being with you." You tell him happily.

"O-oh. No problem." He says now getting back up off the floor and going to his feet.

You follow suit. His face was still tear stained, but he didn't have complete dread in his eyes anymore.

"It's going to take a while for me to get over you." He says looking at the ground.

"I know it will because it took me awhile. (f/n) was very patient with me." You tell him before thought came into her head. "Peter, I know this is too soon, but may I point you in a direction of people to consider giving a chance?"

"Um... okay?" He didn't seem too comfortable, but he was open to hear what she suggested.

"You know Michelle Jones that was in our class, right? I believe she just went by MJ."

"MJ?" Peter thought taking it into consideration.

[snarkysarcasm]

Please don't think I'm greedy, (which I totally am) but could you do: 77. In vino veritas and 99. Magical accidents? For Gail and Holly, always Gail and Holly...

Sorry for how long this took...

---

“I don’t know about this, Ollie.”

“Will you just trust me, Peckling? Celery is always right about these things.  She just knows.”

“Yeah, but, like we’re talking magic…”

“Weren’t you the one who went to a psychic?”

Gail’s eyes narrowed, “I told you that in confidence and you swore on a dozen donuts that we would never mention it again.”

“I’m just saying that I don’t think you’re as skeptical as you could be.”  Or as she wanted him to believe.  Oliver knew his buddy too well for her antics to work.

“Fine.”

“Great.  Now pass me the eye of newt.” Oliver laughed when Gail immediately went to protest,  “I’m kidding, but I do need the jasmine.”

Gail looked at a few vials before handing over the right one.  She glanced over his shoulder as the concoction he was brewing took a strange gray color.

“I really hope you’re reading that right.”

“I am and don’t worry, Celery said that it’s guaranteed to get you what your heart desires most.”

“Oh great.  Now I know it isn’t going to work.  You didn’t say having a heart was a requirement for tonight.”

“Excuse me, Little Miss Petulant Peck.  We both know you have a heart, you just also have a brain that likes to ignore it.  You deserve good things and whatever you want most, so this is going to help you get it.  But only if you want it to.  If not we can just forget the whole thing and go shopping for weapons and shoes.”

“Here’s the newt.”

---

“So wanna tell me what happened tonight?”  Holly asked as she helped Gail into the passenger seat of her car.  

“I uhhh burned myself ummm cooking with Oliver.” Gail held up her bandaged hand as if it was explanation enough.

“What were you two making?”

“Oh some recipe Celery wanted him to try.” Gail’s voice was at least two octaves higher than normal.

“O-kay.” Holly said slowly.  She gave her friend a strange look before pulling out of the hospital parking lot.

The car ride was mostly a quiet affair.  Holly hummed softly to whatever was playing on the radio while Gail rested her head against the cool glass of the window.  She was thinking about texting Oliver to yell at him for abandoning her at the hospital just because Izzie had gotten taken into the station for underage drinking, but it seemed like too much effort.

When they reached Holly’s house, Gail finally spoke up.

“Thanks for coming to get me, Lunchbox.”

Holly shrugged, “I couldn’t exactly leave you there.  I don’t think the city wants to replace a hospital if you burned it down with the looks you were giving everyone.”

“It’s not my fault the doctor was an idiot and wasn’t listening.”

“Well you definitely made the intern cry and the senior resident also had tears in his eyes.”

“Well, maybe they shouldn’t let children pretend to be doctors.”

“Come on Grumpy Cat.”

Gail pouted but followed the pathologist into her house.  It wasn’t until they were in Holly’s kitchen that Gail remembered why she hadn’t been hanging out with her in the first place that night.   

“I thought tonight was girls’ night.”

“Last time I checked you were a girl too, Officer Peck.  Unless there’s something you’re trying to tell me, in which case I support you.”

Gail shoved her laughing friend.  “You’re such a nerd.  I meant you were supposed to be with your friends.”

“Again last time I checked you were one of my friends too.”

Hearing Holly say that Gail was her friend made her feel warm and tingly.

“Did you bail on them just to come get me?”

“No, it was already cancelled. Rachel got called in for a patient and Lisa is making a housecall for whoever she’s sleeping with this week.  I was going to ask you to help me drink this bottle of wine instead but I knew you were with Oliver.”

“So I was your second-choice.”

“You are always my first choice but you didn’t want to join us.”

“Lisa gives me dirty looks for how much of your time you spend with me.”

“That’s just her face.  I’m pretty sure she was born that bitchy.”

“I don’t know I’m still feeling rather unwanted.  I think you should share your wine with me?”

Holly narrowed her eyes, “Did they give you any medicine at the hospital?”

Gail shook her head, “I wouldn’t let them.”  Last time narcotics were involved she was almost attacked by a pink elephant.

“I’ll get the glasses.”

---

Still chuckling, Holly wiped tears from her eyes, “Alright, alright my turn: truth or dare?”

Gail didn’t want to move.  She was stretched across the couch, and using Holly as a warm pillow.  The now empty bottle of wine was on the floor beside them and over the course of the night she had made herself more and more comfortable.

“Truth.”

“What were you and Oliver cooking when you got burned?”

“Meth.”

Holly poked her in the side, “You’re supposed to answer truthfully.”

“A…” Gail mumbled the word against Holly’s thigh.

Holly gave the blonde hair a soft tug, “Try again.”

“A potion.  Okay, it was a fucking potion.”

“I KNEW IT!” Holly fist-pumped the air.

“How in the hell did you know that?”

“I met Celery at the wedding remember?  And I totally knew you were lying before.  You need a better poker face, Peck.”

“I have a great poker face.”

“Oh yeah, then what was the potion for?”

Gail sighed dramatically, “I don’t know.”

Holly pursed her lips and tilted her head to one side.

“I really don’t.  All Oliver said was that it would give me what my heart wanted most.  But I’m pretty sure I didn’t want second degree burns.”  

“Maybe you guys didn’t make it right?”

Gail just shrugged, “Maybe.  Alright.  Your turn, Nerd.  Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Lame.”

“You just picked truth too.”

“Yeah but I didn’t want to move.  I was being lazy not lame,” Gail argued.

“Well, maybe I don’t want to move either.”

“There is no way you’re comfortable.”

Holly stuck out her tongue.  “Just ask the question.”

Gail’s teeth sank into her bottom lip as she thought about what she wanted to ask.  She was pretty sure she saw Holly’s eyes flicker down to her lips and stay there a little longer than usual.  Gail cleared her throat and Holly’s eyes shot up and a faint blush tinged her cheeks.

“Did you really mean it when you said that I was your first choice?”

“Of course, Gail.  You’re always the person I want to spend time with.  I’d choose you any time.”

Gail had never been anyone’s first choice.  Not Chris’.  Not Nick’s.  Not her parents’.  No one ever chose Gail but there was no way Holly could be lying.  Not with the way she was looking at her.  Not with the amount they drank.  

In vino veritas.

Gail was up and crashing their lips together before Holly could even process what was happening.  She knew she caught the doctor off guard but when she started to pull back, Holly pulled her closer.  She pushed Holly down onto the cushions, their lips moving together until air became a necessity.

“I’d choose you too.” Gail whispered when the kiss finally broke and Holly’s smile was wide and just the tiniest bit crooked.  Gail leaned it for a softer, more gentle kiss.

She would never admit it, but Celery’s magic had worked.

[nighttimelights-prompted]

Us Papyrus and Uf Papyrus with a male S/O because most the time even if the S/O isn't gendered do they almost always have a fem body in most imagines that I have seen let's give the guys some love? Have no idea for anything specific except that I would love some fluff, maybe cuddles, anything will do :D though I got a sort of idea while writing this, the skellies realising they are falling for their male friend who they are not sure swing that way? I don't know anymore, you decide~

(alright, i apologize for taking a bit to finish up this prompt! you’re absolutely right, there’s nowhere near enough plainly-stated male s/o content for those sweet skeleton feelings around… i’m happy to give this a shot- so let’s see what may be brewing for Stretch and in Edge’s mind on that front, shall we~?

US Pap:

“Okay, seriously, how do you get a huge mixed flavor box of popsicles and only have blue ones?”

You shot an exasperated look over your shoulder at Stretch, who was watching you with his usual tired grin while he took a drag at his cigarette. He shrugged amicably, his gaze turning briefly towards his brother’s room - it was unoccupied at the moment, as Blue had decided to go out training with Alphys.

“would you believe me if i said that Blue buys six boxes at once, then sorts them into single flavor boxes and delivers the other flavors to friends with the matching taste?”

“… Holy… okay, damn. Yes. Yes I would. That ridiculously kind-hearted son of a…”

You shot one last lingering look to the box of popsicles, but grimaced and shuddered briefly and opted to grab yourself a soda instead. You shut the freezer with a bump of your elbow and moved to flop back down on the couch next to your best friend.

“not a fan of that flavor, then?”

You tilted your head back with a groan before meeting his genuinely curious look. “Blue raspberry? Hell no. I mean, it’s cool, Blue can like what he wants, but…” you shuddered again before taking a swig of your soda, as if to wash the ghost of a remembered taste from your mouth. “Just… no way. I mean, first off - it’s only blue because there were too many ‘red’ flavors, so they chose to make cherry flavors darker, watermelons lighter, that sort of thing, and just decided raspberry could screw off to an antifreeze blue color, as if that was a reasonable choice - and second, the raspberry flavor. It’s actually mostly freaking pineapple and banana mixed flavoring you’re tasting, did you know that? I just… nope. Not gonna do it. I may eat junk, but I’ve got junk standards, dammit.”

(continued under the cut … //mobile link)

… You realized that you had definitely veered into outright ranting about artificial flavoring. You colored slightly, biting back the urge to curse at having just essentially insulted Stretch’s beloved brother’s favorite flavor. Oh hell, maybe it was his too-? You knew Stretch had a thing for honey, that was more than obvious even without how much you two had been hanging out, but…

You decided to take your odds and looked back at him with a bit of a sheepish grin. Much to your relief, he was grinning too, and - wait. Was that…

“Uh. What’s up, Stretch?” You asked, your face heating just a bit further despite yourself. You forced your eyes away from his orange-tinted cheekbones and tried to recover further. “Er, I mean - sorry, didn’t mean to rant.”

He chuckled then, one of his hands lifting to rub at the vertebrae of his neck as his gaze shifted from you. “nah, don’t worry about it. it was just - er, nevermind,” he said, trailing off to a low laugh.

Your hand tightened around your soda just a fraction - the sound of his laugh always did funny things to your gut. You knew exactly why, but you weren’t going to go out on that limb when you didn’t know where Stretch stood - and even as you though that, your chest tightened a little.

Stretch’s gaze turned to your chest for just a flicker of a moment before meeting your gaze as you spoke again. “No, I mean - now I really wanna know,” you said with a laugh of your own, pushing aside your feelings with a practiced mental effort. You nudged his closer arm with your elbow, leaning just a bit further towards him to do so. “What, do I have a weird look on my face or something?”

You pulled a face as you spoke, putting special focus on talking just as casually as before even as you made the silliest, weirdest face you could manage. Stretch snorted so hard he nearly dropped his cigarette, the sound turning into a laugh as he smacked a hand to his face.

“stars, no - though that’s a good look on you,” he shot back with a waggle of his brow bones, and you shot him finger guns and a wink in return, which caused him to grin a little wider. “no, i just - uh, just was thinking about how… cute you are when you get into something you’re talking about like that.”

Your eyes flew wide open. You were stock still now, and you felt the rush of heat and blood take over your face.

Stretch now seemed to be finding a bit of paint on the opposite wall absolutely fascinating.

“I don’t - I - uh. You. You.. think I’m cute.” You couldn’t even quite phrase it as a question, your voice had gone dry and far too soft. Shit.

Stretch didn’t look back towards you, but you could see the orange glow becoming more intense against the line of his bones. “i mean - uh. sorry. sorry? i forgot - human guys don’t like to be called cute, right-”

His voice died as his head whipped back towards you - you, now sitting next to him, your arm now resting against his.

“No, I… thanks, Stretch,” you said, your voice still a little quieter than you wanted. It was your turn to look forward - wow, that really was a great spot of paint.

You could nearly feel the weight of his shocked gaze on you.

Then he lifted his hand to his mouth, tucking the cigarette between his teeth and putting his arm back down… around your shoulders.

“… anytime,” he said, his own voice just a hair quieter too. When you chanced another glance at him, you saw that he was looking back at you, a softer grin on his blushing face.

UF Pap:

“IF YOU DON’T CHOOSE TO SKIN THAT INSOLENT FOOL ALIVE WITH YOUR WORDS, I WILL.”

“Edge, c’mon, he just spilled some coffee on me.”

“AND THEN PROCEEDED TO BLAME YOU FOR IT-!”

“The city’s full of rude assholes, Edge, trust me - we’ll never get to the park in time if we stop to pick a fight with every one of them.”

Edge paused in his stride again, ready to argue further, but you shook your head and grinned in good humor as you rolled up the sleeve with the new stain.

“Besides - it’s pretty hard to stay angry when I get to see you having my back so strongly.”

You turned forward again as you finished matching your other sleeve and started walking, a bump of your arm against Edge’s signalling your desire for him to keep up.

He stared after you for a moment, horrified as his magic rushed unbidden to his cheekbones.

… But stars damn him back to the Underground if he was going to give you a reason to turn around and catch the absurd magic displaying itself traitorously on his cheekbones. So he picked up his stride until he was a step in front of you, leading the way, his height thankfully giving him added cover.

This was absurd.

It had been, for too long now - not you, not anymore at least, but his own soul, reacting so strongly to your presence, to the easy spread of your grin, to the sharp glint to your eye when you were about to reply with that damnably attractive sharp wit of yours, to your steady hand under a number of kinds of pressure-

“Don’t worry about it, okay?”

Edge’s gaze shot down to you. You were looking back up at him, a knowing tilt to your brow even as the smallest crease of a frown pulled at your lips. Edge’s own brow furrowed in response as his unintentional scowl turned down a little further. You huffed a breath through your nose and gave him that particular look you were so inclined to when you had caught on to something.

“I’m fine with standing up for myself - when it matters. That time wasn’t anything - hell, if you want to look at it another way, someone like that just isn’t worth the time you’d waste on him, right?”

For once, you had only just slightly missed your mark - but, well, only slightly. That particular rude human was still on his mind, just… not the forefront. Edge’s blush had faded, to his relief - which seemed to help account for your guess.

Edge sighed, a sharp and short puff of unnecessary air. “I AM NOT FOND OF THE ATTITUDE OF DISRESPECT SO MANY HUMANS HAVE,” he replied dryly, his gaze turning forward again.

You laughed, a low sound that made Edge’s soul stutter in his chest. Your arm bumped against his as you matched his stride - and he yours, admittedly. “Can’t say that you’re alone in that, Edge. But hey, we’re a couple of pretty good-looking guys who more or less know what they’re about - we’re bound to run into some trouble,” you said with a grin. “Well, I mean, you’re - uh, you’re downright hot, and definitely know what you’re about, so you’ve got that all handled more than I do,” you added, your face turning away from him as you chuckled again - the sound a hair… embarrassed?

Edge’s brow lifted as he looked back down at you, knowing the bright red was dusting his cheekbones again. If only his damn soul would calm down - “SURELY YOU’RE JOKING,” he replied, a rougher lilt to his voice despite his care.

You looked back up at him, and Edge saw now that your face was flushed - something that made him far more pleased than was probably good for him. Your own brow was lifted in mirror of Edge’s, a disbelieving grin on your face. “What, that you’re hot? I - I mean, not to be… weird - is that weird? No, I mean - well, it’s just fact,” you said, playing off some apparent nervous energy with a shrug.

Edge was feeling less and less angry at his intensifying blush - your words were proving to be quite the compensation for his ego and soul.

“NO, YOU - ABOUT YOU,” he managed to reply. He turned a corner, and you took an extra few quick steps to keep up.

“Oh- uh. Well… not really?” You replied. You shrugged, decidedly matter-of-fact on this topic. Edge frowned as you continued, “I mean, I’m alright, but in comparison to you-”

Edge stopped in his tracks, causing you to stop barely a step later. You turned half back towards him with clear confusion on your face.

“IN SPITE OF YOUR QUICK MIND, YOU’RE FACING A LOGICAL FALLACY,” Edge said. He captured your gaze, one hand on his hip as his gaze narrowed. “THERE IS NO COMPARISON TO ME-”

“Don’t I know it-”

“HUSH. I MEAN THAT IT IS A FALSE LINE OF LOGIC TO MEASURE YOUR OWN WORTH IN COMPARISON TO ANOTHER. YOU ARE A BRILLIANT MAN OF YOUR OWN RIGHT, WITH YOUR OWN IMPRESSIVELY OVERCOME PROBLEMS AND ONGOING STRUGGLES AND TALENTS AND GOOD LOOKS.”

Edge continued to hold your gaze as he took another step closer to you. He ignored the continuing bright red glow of magic on his face in favor of speaking further as you stood there, somewhat frozen in place.

“YOU SHOULD ONLY EVER MEASURE YOURSELF BY YOUR OWN GROWTH. AND PLATEAUING IS NATURAL TOO, SO THAT IS NEVER SOMETHING TO BE TOO UPSET ABOUT - SIMPLY A MATTER TO FIND MOTIVATION THROUGH. AND BESIDES… EVEN IF YOU WERE TO COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS…” Edge’s voice slowed slightly and he fought the urge to look away from you, despite the distracting thrill running through his soul right now. “… YOU WOULD STILL FAR OUTSHINE SO, SO MANY OTHERS.”

… Stars damn him. Was that too much? Well, no, he wouldn’t make such a mistake… but if he recalled correctly, human men were not always so receptive of words of praise from other men - isn’t that why he hadn’t yet measured whether it was worth broaching any such subject with you…? Oh, stones take him if he had gotten too caught in the moment with that horribly distracting thrum of his soul in your presence-

His eyes snapped back to you as your hand met his upper arm - he hadn’t even realize his gaze had turned from you. You were blushing hard, and were having trouble meeting his eye.

Still, you squeezed his arm, and gave him a look torn somewhere between intense embarrassment, abject relief, and something much, much warmer. “… Thank you, Edge,” you said, your voice a little rough. You seemed to be struggling to find other words.

… Oh stars, what you did to him.

“… I SPEAK ONLY THE TRUTH,” Edge commented, returning your intentions with a small nod. He fought the odd phantom urge to clear his throat. No, instead he took a sudden stride forward, his hand closer to you shifting without a look to catch your hand. He tugged gently without glancing back as he spoke again. “COME NOW, WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE, AND YOU DO SEEM TO HAVE THE GOOD SENSE TO WANT TO AVOID THAT.”

Edge strode onwards, unable to fight the slight smile pulling at his bones as you recovered and matched his stride once again, a grin spreading on your own face. Your fingers intertwined, neither of you shifting to let go of the other’s hand as you continued on your way.