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clouditae · 4 years

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First Love | 04

Word: 2.4k

You first saw him in the multi-purpose room. Later learn his name, and on your third year, as he becomes your neighbor, you discover his lifestyle. Knowing your crush on him was nothing but that, you wanted to find the courage to look for love. Asking your friend for help, you’re pointed in the direction of the expert. Your neighbor, Min Yoongi

Chapter Index

It’s Friday afternoon. Everyone's out doing something while you lie in bed. You’ve been in bed since you woke up and watched Ari pack a bag of clothes. She and Hoseok are going somewhere for the weekend and you couldn’t help but question how she and him were a couple after only knowing one another for a month.

“I wondered the same thing,” she told you, folding a dress and placing it into her bag. “But after we met that first day, I guess we just sort of clicked. We couldn’t help but get closer, and ta-da,” she laughed, “We’re dating. It’s still early to start a relationship, but we couldn’t help it.”

“Lucky,” you mumble, finally forcing yourself out of bed. “It’s so easy for you to find someone, but it’s a struggle for me.”

You walk towards your mirrored closet, opening it and grabbing your caddie. You grab a towel from the shelf in your closet, and close the closet door before making your way towards the bathroom door to take a quick shower. When you finished showering, got dressed, and walked back into your room, your stomach rumbles.

You sigh, “Ten more minutes.” You glance at the little blue clock on your desk to confirm that the dining hall would have lunch out in ten. Thankfully you’re correct.

You take your time putting on your lotion, brushing your hair when it is dry enough, and putting on your socks and shoes as you hang your towel on the rack in your closet. Checking the clock on your desk one last time, you grab your keys, ID, and phone before leaving your room to grab lunch. You walk down the hallway, but turn back around and make your way back to your dorm when you realize you didn’t grab your earphones.

Placing your key in the keyhole, you turn the key and push the door open. You quickly grab your earphones from your desk and leave your room once again, pulling the key out and making your way down the hallway. What you’re not expecting is a girl knocking on Yoongi’s door, and you definitely aren’t expecting an ache in your chest as you slowly walk past her. The sound of the door opening catches your attention. Your eyes meet Yoongi’s as he looks past the brunette and at you. Looking away, you walked faster until you were at the bottom of the staircase.

Your chest aches even more. You’re still not over him, even though he’s rude and clearly doesn’t care for anyone but himself. Your feelings for him remain. You want to believe that he is a good person, but you know he isn’t.

Maybe other people see different. But from what you see… you want nothing to do with him.

Entering the dining hall, you do your usual routine, grabbing what looks best before taking a seat in the back corner of the room. Pulling out your earphones and phone, you plug in your earphones before clicking on your usual app and clicking on the show you are currently invested in. You put your phone down, angling it just right and begin to chow down.

Today’s episode is about the main character getting the guy of their dreams. Some bad flirting happens, jokes are made, feelings are hurt, and all you want to do is throw your phone out the window. It’s like the world is giving you the bird in the biggest way for falling for someone like Yoongi. With so much anger building up inside you, you shove the rest of your food in your mouth, placing your empty plates in the huge sink for the dishwasher to wash, and practically stomping out of the dining hall.

Min Yoongi is a jerk and nothing can change your mind.

Saturday morning is something you don’t want to be awake to. It’s Saturday and all you want to do is sleep in until noon, but you have homework to do and a project to begin. If you stay in your dorm, you know for a fact that you won’t do it. All you will do is sit at your desk and stare at your computer screen, so you force yourself out of bed, into the shower, and pack your textbooks and other items into your backpack before grabbing your earphones and heading out of your dorm. You walk down the hall, past the staircase that leads to the first floor, and into the north hall. The hall is a lot longer than the center hall as you walk down it towards the exit door that leads to the outdoor staircase. You can’t help but wonder if everyone in the hall knows one another like your hall did. Center halls have fewer people, so it’s easy to remember everyone. Or at least know their faces.

Reaching the door, you exit the hallway and make your way down the staircase. You follow the group of friends making their way towards the shuttle that is across the parking lot and on the side of the street when you reach the first floor. The music plays in your earphones loud enough to block out the world. The cars that drive by, honking because the car in front of them is too slow, the chatter from the other students who are waiting for the shuttle, and the dogs barking. You don’t hear it.

You check your phone for the time. The shuttle will leave in ten minutes, but the bus will drive by in four. Glancing to your left, down the street you could see the bus parked on the curb next to the bus stop. Rather than wait for the shuttle, you walk up the sidewalk to the bus stop in front of the apartment complex next door. You stand next to the bus stop for two minutes before the bus pulls up in front of you. You steal a quick glance to see if any of the other students are making their way over towards you, but no one is looking at you. Either they aren’t paying attention, or they still didn’t bother getting the bus pass from the cashier window on campus—which is free. You hop on the bus, pressing your bus pass against the scanner, hearing a beep before making your way towards the middle of the bus.

Taking a seat next to the window, you watch as the apartments and the auto shop blur by, the coffee shop appearing as the bus comes to a stop. With the doors opening, two people enter the bus. They take a seat closer in the front as the doors close and the bus drives off towards its next stop. For the next five stops, three people enter the bus. Usually there would be a lot of students, but because it’s Saturday, no one wants to go to school. It’s the weekend, who would want to go to school to study? You can’t help but sigh. Sadly you have to go to school to study.

The bus turns left, entering the campus property. With no one at the first stop, the bus continues on until reaching the second stop where the stop light is red. The doors open and two students enter the bus. As the driver of the bus waits for the light to turn green, you stare out the window as a few students wait at the bus stop for their bus to appear. One student, however, catches your eye. He stands next to the bench, hands in his jean pockets. You can’t see his eyes with his sunglasses covering them, but his blond hair looks familiar. Before you can even think hard enough, the bus takes off, leaving the familiar person behind.

At the final stop, you get up from your seat and walk to the front of the bus, thanking the driver, and getting off. You walk to the edge of the sidewalk, looking both ways before crossing the small street. You make your way up the sidewalk towards the library, watching as a bus pulls up to the bus stop next to you. You continue forward before turning left and walk alongside the library towards the entrance. No one is at the tables outside the entrance, so that means the floors aren’t completely filled with people.

Entering the library, you’re met with the smell of coffee from the coffee shop in front of you. The five story building has each floor assigned to the level of noise. The basement is a floor for studying and no noise. First floor, the floor you’re on, has the computers, the front desk, and the coffee shop. Clearly talking loudly is allowed. The second, third and fourth floor contains books for the students to search for, along with tables to do some studying. The second and fourth floor allow talking, while the third floor doesn't. The fifth floor is a lot like the basement. All tables but this floor has cubicles for students to group study. The fifth floor allows talking, and during midterms and finals, a lot of the students spend the night in the cubicles.

You pass through the detectors, making a right towards the lobby. Pressing the up button to the elevator, you glance at the computers that occupy the rest of the floor to your right. A few students type away furiously on the keys as they most likely write their paper. After a few seconds, the middle elevator doors open. You enter the elevator, pressing the fifth floor, and watch the doors close just as a group of guys’ heads appear to be coming up the stairs from the basement.

The number at the top goes from one to two, then from two to three. The number goes up to five before the elevator comes to a stop and the doors open. You exit the elevator, making a left and enter through the glass doors into the study of the fifth floor. Much to your expectation, there are very few people in the room. You make your way towards the back of the room towards the desks that run along the window. Taking a seat in the empty one at the corner, you place your bag on the desk. You love this spot because from this floor, you get a view of the ocean.

And so, for the rest of the day until closing at five in the afternoon, you do all your homework and plan out everything you have in mind for your project. You’ll need to start the project on Monday when the shelter is open. When you leave the library, you contemplate whether you should have dinner on campus, or head back to the dorms and have dinner in the dining hall. You debate for a few minutes before deciding to have dinner on campus. You’re craving sushi and some fish and chips from the Greek stand.

Rather than turn left from the entrance of the library to head towards the bus stop, you move forward, passing numerous buildings where you had and have classes in. You pass the building of the Asian department, pass the psychology building and the bookstore. Walking down the small set of stairs, you pass the outdoor seating to the grill and pub, and finally enter the food court next door. The numerous smells of different types of foods hit you like a wave. Walking further in, you ignore the Boba shop that isn’t good, and the vegan stand as well, eyes strained on the Japanese stand and the Greek stand next to it.

You’re going to order your fish and chips first, and thankfully there isn’t much of a line. You follow the maze of the line leading towards the cashier, and walk up to the smiling woman.

“What can I get you?” she asks, her tone bright and welcoming. You give her your order, requesting only two fish rather than four along with a large drink. She repeats your order, asking for your school ID for the student discount, takes your card, and makes the transaction. You tell the woman your name before making your way to the stand next to it. Grabbing the container of spicy crab sushi rolls, walking up to the cashier to pay for it.

Once you’ve paid, you make your way towards an empty table, setting the rolls and your backpack down. Before you can sit, your name is called. You walk towards the counter of the Greek stand and grab your tray of fish and chips and your drink. When everything is laid out in front of you, you have your earphones in, show ready, and take your sweet time eating dinner.

Everything tastes so delicious. You’ve been craving sushi and the fish and chips for a while, but because you never have a reason to eat on campus, you never bother eating here. Now, however, you gave yourself a reason, and it’s the best decision you’ve made in a while.

Eventually you finish eating, pack your belongings, ride the bus towards your dorms, and close the door to your room behind you. Immediately you strip your clothes, feeling free as you slip on your gray pajama pants and a light pink short sleeved shirt. You’re about to binge something on Netflix, eat your tub of ice cream in your freezer, and pass out around midnight. Maybe later.

Before you can begin your steps to getting comfortable and eating, a knock is heard on your door, both startling you and confusing you. No one should be bothering you unless it’s your RA, but he wouldn’t bother anyone this late. You peek through the peephole, seeing blond hair on the other side of the door. You frown. Why did the blond hair look familiar?

Grabbing the handle, you twist it and slowly pull the door open, but the person on the other side pushes themselves in, causing you to stumble back. “Where is she?” the man says, as he walks into your room. You barely have time to open your mouth before the stranger turns around to look at you, eyes fuming. That’s when it hits you. You know who this man was. Ari’s stories scare you, but seeing him in person, showing his anger scares you more. “Where the hell is she?” he asks again, voice a bit louder than before.

“I-I don’t know,” you tell him, voice shaking.

Leo. Ari’s ex. She broke up with him your first year at the dorms when his verbal abuse became too much. Ari said he never hit her, but the way he talked to her made her feel worthless, and the way he yelled and got close to her scared her. He doesn’t break you physically, but he does mentally.

“Then you’re going to take me to her,” he tells you, grabbing you by your wrist and dragging you out your room.

“I’m telling you—I don’t know where she is. Please let me go,” you beg, trying hard to stop him from dragging you down the hall, but you’re not strong compared to him. With your free hand, you try to have him let you go. “Please Leo. Please let me go—I’m telling you the truth, I don’t know where she is!” You feel warm tears stream down your cheeks.

He isn’t listening to you. He’s going to drag you to his car and force you to find Ari. Maybe he’ll abandon you somewhere where you’ve never been. Maybe this is where you die.

A hand appears out of nowhere, grabbing Leo’s wrist, forcing him to stop. “What do you think you’re doing?” Leo turns back to face the person holding his wrist while you look up to see Yoongi standing next to you. “You should let go of her.”

Leo scoffs, “Not until she tells me where Ari is.”

Yoongi has a blank expression as he replies, “She’s out with my roommate for the weekend.”

“What?” Leo growls, grip on your wrist tightening causing you to whimper as he grabs Yoongi by his shirt with his free hand and pushes him against the wall.

“I’d suggest you leave. You have an audience, and you won’t be running far before the cops catch you for entering a room uninvited, kidnapping, and I’m guessing you already have a record, so this’ll be bad for you,” Yoongi says, tone so calm as if he isn’t being threatened by someone who looks stronger than him. Leo’s grip around your wrist loosens just a bit, and the voices behind you can finally be heard over the rapid beating of your heart.

Leo is silent. No words are said between the two as they stare one another down. Can Yoongi be stronger to challenge Leo? You’d never know as Leo finally lets go of your wrist, jabbing a finger at Yoongi’s chest. “This isn’t over,” he whispers before storming out the hall and down the staircase.

You remain still, staring at the spot Leo was just at. You’re afraid he’ll come back if you move from your spot. You thought that maybe if you stay here, he won’t come back.

“Hey.” You blinked, sucking in a breath as you turn your head to look at Yoongi who is leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets. He looked you up and down. “Where are your keys?”

It takes you a bit to comprehend what he’s asking, but when you’re finally able to push the thoughts of what happened back, it dawns on you. “In my room,” you whisper.

“The office is closed so you can’t use their key to get in,” he began, pushing himself off the wall, “so it looks like you’re with me.” You stare at him with wide eyes. You’re going to sleep in his room? Just the two of you? What will everyone in this hall think if they watch you walk into his room? “Everyone has gone back to their rooms, so no one will see,” he tells you. Everyone is gone? Slowly, you turn around to see an empty hall. When did everyone go to their room? Yoongi takes a few steps before he reaches his room and opens his door, staring at you as he holds it open. “Well?”

This is the one time where you wish you weren’t so paranoid and left the latch to your bathroom door open so you can just go to your neighbors and get to your room through the bathroom, but you know for a fact that you closed it. You couldn’t hate yourself any more than you do right now as you walk into his room.

Yoongi’s room is pretty much set up the same way your room is. Except, the only thing is that everything is on the opposite side of yours. While Hoseok has some rather bright colored bed sheets, Yoongi is more on the darker side. Having just a simple black pillow case and gray blanket.

“You can take my bed,” he tells you, and before you can respond, he adds, “I washed the sheets if that’s what you’re thinking.”

That isn’t what you’re thinking. In fact, you actually forgot what happened earlier. You feel rather uncomfortable sleeping in his bed, but the more you think about it, the better his suggestion makes sense. If you sleep in Hoseok’s bed, Ari may find a strand of hair or something and that can lead to something you do not want to happen for them. So, you nod and climb into his bed.

The blanket and pillow smell like fabric softener and shampoo. He must have been lying in bed before he found you and Leo in the hall. Your thoughts go back to Leo, your heart racing and body slightly shaking. You’re fighting the urge to cry. You don’t want to cry in front of him. However, the sound of music begins to play, getting loud enough to block out a conversation.

You’re not sure if he did it for you or not, but you’re grateful as your vision begins to blur, and the view from the closet mirror of your hero working at his desk goes blurry as you cry yourself to sleep.

#bangtanarmynet #thebtswritersclub #bangtanuniversity #btsgoldnet #bts #bts x reader #bts x you #bts fanfic #bts fluff #bts angst #bts au #min yoongi #yoongi x reader #yoongi x you #yoongi fanfic #yoongi fluff #yoongi angst #yoongi au

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nuttyrabbit · 3 years

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Giovanni Conti Bio

“Nutty, are you only going to show up to post about Archie Sonic and your OCs?” Yes, yes I am

Anyways, I decided to throw together a quick bio for Gambit’s dad because hey I figured his stuff out and I’m doing shit with him now.

Shoutouts to @pidgeonspen for doing his design for me.

Anyways, as always, everything’s under the readmore

Name: Giovanni Conti (Real name Brando Romilla)

Age: Approximately 50 years old

Height: 3'4"

Occupation: Auto mechanic/Conman

Location: Unknown, last confirmed sighting in Westopolis. Originally born in Lugaio, Spagonia.

Sexuality: Bisexual, though greatly prefers women to the point of denying any male attraction

Personality: Giovanni's personality is what one would expect from a seasoned conman: charismatic, self-serving, and conniving, the weasel finds success in his trade thanks to his natural talent in dealing with others. To his victims, Giovanni appears to be a charming, compassionate, smooth-talking individual who seems to go out of his way to help others in their time of need. But of course it's all a farce, a way to con unsuspecting victims out of their hard-earned cash. In reality, the man formerly known as Brando Romilla is the exact opposite. A selfish, grumpy, and temperamental weasel "behind the scenes", Giovanni finds himself unwilling to engage with the world around him outside of whatever con he's cooked up or to get out of whatever mess he's gotten himself into this time.

Giovanni's most defining personality trait however, isn't his sardonic attitude or his smoothtalking ways, but instead his paranoia. Giovanni has spent the majority of his life on the run and it shows. He often finds himself looking over his shoulder both figuratively and quite literally, hoping that his latest victim hasn't found out about him or that the law or the mafia or whoever he's crossed hasn't tracked him down to enact their revenge. As such, Giovanni is extremely hesitant to give out his name unless absolutely necessary for the con, even going so far as to make up fake names in emergency situations, though the truth eventually comes out. In addition, he trusts absolutely nobody and almost always looks for a way to backstab/escape any sort of partnership he's found himself on the receiving end of, willing or otherwise.

All of this being said, it isn't *all* bad for Giovanni personality-wise, for when the weasel finds something he actually likes, one can see a softer, more eager side of him come out. Despite his professed hatred of his previous job, Giovanni has a rather deep appreciation for the intricacies of vehicles and vehicle repairs, even going so far as to sneak into antique car shows to gawk at the new vehicles and reminisce about the "good old days" before it "got so complicated" in terms of technology. Oddly enough, he also loves vinyl.

Skills: Giovanni is of course, an incredibly skilled con-man, imploying a variety of cons and scams to trick people out of their money, ranging from simple "tourist trap" tricks such as "no change", "toll booth", and "free gift", to more complicated ones such as "flat tire" schemes and even reselling stolen/counterfeit items at a significantly marked up price. His variety in terms of cons is helped by his ability to sell them thanks to his smooth-talking charismatic persona that he puts on during them. As a result of his occupation he's also extremely adept at pointing out other cons/knowing when he's being duped. Not only that, but he's even picked up some basic lockpicking/hotwiring and ID forging skills, though they aren't quite as honed as his other talents in the area.

Surprisingly enough, again despite his professed dislike of his childhood job, Giovanni is an incredibly skilled mechanic, being able to assess the issues with (mostly older) vehicles just from a few minutes of observation and testing alone and fixing it in record times. OF course he'll complain about how he's "too fuckin' old" for it, but he'll do a damn good job...and even enjoy himself somewhat. He claims he would be unable to work on "new-fangled" vehicles such as Extreme Gear but if he were to get the chance, would find that he'd be a natural at it.

Likes: Antique vehicles, wine, the feeling when he pulls of a con, vinyl records, fresh pressed suits, rare steak, expensive cigars, older women, working on antique vehicles.

Dislikes: The law, organized crime outfits, his ex-wife, his kid, getting caught, prison, cheap beer, "new" technology, people who talk too much, his grandfather, working on vehicles (his relationship with auto repair is..complicated), staying in one place for too long.

Backstory: Brando Rombilla was born into anything but normalcy: born to a pair of younger Spagonian lovers, the result of a tryst gone wrong, he was abandoned on the steps of his paternal grandfather, the widowed mechanic Angelo Rombilla, who would raise the weasel as his own.

Angelo was an old, stubborn, hardworking man who had spent his entire life toiling away as a mechanic, even coming to own his own shop...yet despite it all, he never quite had a lot to show for it, and Brando grew up in not quite poverty, but in...less than modest means

Despite this...unusual situation, Brando would, at least for a time, grow up as any other child would, going to school, making friends, and living as a normal Spagonian child would--at least until he hit the age of 12-13, where his father suddenly and inexplicably ground his childhood to a halt, pulling him out of school and telling him that he was going to be a "working man" from now on, that he'd have to help out at the shop and help put food at the table--and that is indeed what happened.

From then on, Brando found himself working at the modest repair shop, working the front desk, doing oil changes, and learning the ins and outs of auto repair--and he fucking hated it.

Not just because he'd been robbed of the experiences his peers were getting, but it served as a constant reminder of the (at least to him) pathetic conditions in which they lived and worked. In addition, it only served to exacerbate his sheer irritation at his father's stubbornness and near-perfectionist standards.

But over time, as he aged and saw his peers move on to bigger and better things, he realized something else: all this work, all this "good, honest, hard" work he'd been doing, that his grandfather had been doing, that he wanted him to inherit, it was getting them nowhere

The both of them spent years and years doing the same shit over and over, and they were no better off than when they'd started. They still lived like shit, ate like shit, and worked like dogs, and the idea of doing this his entire life revolted him. Yet when he'd bring this up, he'd just get shouted down, beaten down, and told to get back to work. He loathed it all.

Then one day, around the time Giovanni hit 19--it all changed. In a moment of what his grandfather would call laziness and what Brando would later call ingenuity, he accidentally charged a customer for something they hadn't done--and with it, more money than he should've had. It suddenly hit him, his way out, his way to actually do something about all of this. It started off slow, an overcharge here, a useless job done there, a job not done this way or that, even some front product sold off of lies. Before Brando knew it, the shop was actually making money for once, and more than that, he was making money. And the best part was, that for once, Angelo seemed like he didn't have a stick up his ass. He seemed...happy, over the moon really that things had begun to look up. Things seemed to finally be getting better!

....until Angelo caught Brando in the act, after which the mother of all shouting matches ensued, of the grandson and grandfather screaming at each other about this and that, about everything--and saw Brando being thrown out of the shop, out of his grandfather's home--and out of his life

Out on his ass with only the money he'd pocketed and the clothes on his back to his name, Brando by all rights should have been terrified about his future, livid about what had happened, but instead he found himself excited. Now that his grandpappy or his stupid shop wasn't a problem anymore, he could finally do something with himself, and he knew exactly what that'd be--putting to use the same bullshittery that'd gotten him here to begin with.

And so the young weasel found himself hopping all over Spagonia, honing his craft. Whether it be through pinching wares from stores and selling them nearby at an outrageously hiked price, snatching and selling bootleg items, or even using his mechanic skills to craft "wonder items" that were quite literally just old scrapyard junk, Brando soon became quite adept at the art of the con. However, with that adeptness came attention, and with that attention came the watchful eye of the law, which attempted to crack down on the weasel multiple times as he traveled about Spagonia.

Soon enough, his face and name were plastered on wanted signs, in local papers, and in time, he couldn't run any longer, finally being booked on fraud charges and placed in prison for ~ 3 years at the age of 22. Upon getting out, Brando realized that he couldn't exactly do his work here anymore, lest he get thrown back in for good.

But Soleanna wasn't exactly appealing either, especially since the SPD were notorious for cracking down on fraudsters. He was at a loss at what to do, until he managed to catch a TV broadcast talking about Empire City and it hit him- EC would be the perfect place to disappear and get a fresh start. It was big, it was far away, and it was full of suckers just waiting to be parted with their money Forging himself a new identity (quite literally) as "Giovanni Conti" , he smuggled himself on board a ship and soon found himself in Empire City, where he almost immediately got to work--and found the results to be not what he expected

While the toursts were complete suckers as expected, the residents were anything but, and he found himself on the run from the law once more--and in addition, the various criminal orgs that made their homes there and had no tolerance for being scammed. Needless to say, the whole thing frustrated him, and with no other way to vent his frustrations, he turned to drinking, and with it, found himself at a small bar in downtown EC, drinking away his frustrations...and chatting up an equally frustrated, and rather attractive young woman. He didn't catch her last name, but certainly caught her first- Artemis

What should have just been a simple one night tryst suddenly got a lot more complicated once the young woman had tracked him down almost a week later with some soul-crushing news: She was pregnant, and it was almost certainly by him. To make matters worse, Artemis was an up and coming politician, someone in the running for the EC City Council, and she would be DAMNED if it came out that she got knocked up in a one night stand, that would ruin her career! Despite Giovanni's attempts at arguing otherwise, she also insisted on keeping the child, claiming that if word got out she got rid of it, it would ruin her career. Threatening to hand him over to authorities, she blackmailed him into sticking by her side for the following 9 months, appearing in front of the cameras as a pictureesque pair of parents-to-be, Artemis embracing the newfound attention and Giovanni absolutely loathing all the eyes on him, and not only that, but also moving in together to her (admittedly) lavish apartment.

This continued up on through the end of the pregnancy and into the birth of their son, who Artemis named "Tai", a (perhaps ironic) homage to an old Apotosian patron of Luck. From then, things continued normally, well as least as normal as could be for the unwitting parents-to-be, up until the child was around a year old, when Artemis went on a sudden vacation. Left alone with the child and feeling helplessly trapped, Giovanni contemplated making a break for it, perhaps faking his own death and figuring out the details later, when a hooded figure burst into the home and attempted to shoot both him and the child dead. Through a near-miraculous stroke of luck though, the intruder's gun jammed, giving Giovanni the chance to brandish a knife and stab them in the jugular. His heart pounding, his mind racing, Giovanni quickly put two and two together: someway, somehow, Artemis had tried to get the two of them whacked. Quickly disposing of the body and without really thinking about it, Giovanni grabbed the child and made a break for it, bolting from the apartment and leaving Empire City under cover of darkness, trying to make sure he left no trace that he had left--or was even still alive.

Soon arriving in Westopolis, Giovanni and Tai found a small apartment to squat in for the time being. Quickly settling in, Giovanni quickly fell back into his old ways, and found the people of Westopolis far more vulnerable to his schemes than in EC. Still, the weasel wasn't happy. His "new start" that he'd hoped for had fallen apart before it'd even gotten the chance to get off the ground because of *her*, Artemis. Giovanni's frustration gnawed away at him--not helped by the tiny weasel at home, his little boy--the *mistake* that'd gotten him into this mess. He often found himself verbally and physically taking out his frustrations on young Tai, even more so when it turned out the little brat wasn't even good enough to help him on cons. He wished he could get rid of the little bastard once and for all, but for some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to kill him despite his best efforts.

Years went by, but nothing truly changed for the pair, until young Tai was 8 years old and Giovanni found himself on the bad end of a con gone wrong, having inadvertently found himself attempting to swindle an undercover cop. Rushing back to the apartment he and Tai shared, he quickly grabbed whatever tools he could and attempted to disappear, leaving the young Tai behind for good.

Throwing himself out of the frying pan and into the proverbial fire, Giovanni had managed to disappear and evade the cops---and run right into one of his "victims": "Downtown" Ebony Hare--a "made man" in the Carnades, one of the major local outfits--and someone who he'd given a shoddy brake job. Ebony recognized the weasel almost immediately and motioned to off him for messing up his car, but after Giovanni pleaded for his life, Ebony spared him-- on the condition that he work off his "debts" to him and the Carnades.

Faced with either paying his dues or paying with his life, Giovanni made the obvious choice and ended up doing quite a few small jobs for Ebony over the course of the next decade and change (approx 13 years) not only fixing his car but also fixing the other vehicles in the outfit--and giving a disgustingly large portio nof the proceeds from his other "work" directly to Ebony. Once again, Giovanni was trapped doing the very thing he'd been stuck doing since childhood and not only that, but also indebted to a mobster who had no intention of letting him go. He desperately tried to find a way out, but it was to no avail--until a near miraculous stroke of "luck".

The Black Arms invasion decimated a significant portion of Mobius, especially Northamer, and no place found itself worse off than Westopolis. For most living there, it seemed like the end times as the city burned around them. But for Giovanni, it was an opportunity to finally disappear--and never come back.

The invasion soon ended, the repairs soon begun, and the Carnades began to operate once more--but Giovanni was nowhere to be found. Despite a thorough search of the city, the weasel had just...vanished, presumably killed by the aliens or escaping to parts unknown after.

Giovanni's current location is unknown and those who know of him believe him to be dead, but there have been some apparent sightings of the aged con-man. Some say they've seen him on the outskirts of Sand Blast City, others say they've seen him working his trade with another individual down in the Southern Baronies, and some even say that he's still in Westopolis, working his craft, and sticking close to the headquarters of the East Side Pack, a noted rival of the Carnades.

#OC Refs and Bios #Sonic OC #OC Stuff #Sonic FC #Archie Sonic #Sonic #Sonic the Hedgehog #Giovanni Conti the Weasel #Gambit the Weasel

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bxdbxdboy · 3 years

Text

Character Development

BASICS

Full Name: Luz Noceda

Alias: Apprentice

Nicknames: Bad Boy, (Luz Squad) B.Boy, (herself) Soft Boy, (Cottage) Baby Boy, (Eda) Nice Boy, (Sunny) Sweetheart (Bee)

Sex / Gender: Female, Nonbinary (she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs ) .

Right or Left: Left

Age: 16.

Height: 5'6″.

Eye Color: dark brown

Hair Color: Dark brown

Distinguishing Marks: She has a raven tattoo over her scar she received trying to stop her villain in her timeline. She’s shaved her left eyebrow in the middle to match her friend’s scar.

Paragraph Of Physical Traits: She’s got a rather strong build which means she has no weak nerd arms and a significant amount of muscle to her arm. Her hair is slicked back like a wave and it’s always been like that it just has always naturally curled and folded over in that direction. When she sleeps it gets wavy or spikey sticking up like a parrot.

FAMILY / RELIGION

Parents / Guardians: Camilla Noceda

Siblings: n/a adopted Brother King.

Marital Status: Not married.

Significant Other(s): Bee (Amity-Bee), Blushy (Amity in her timeline)

Children: N/A.

Other Relatives: Many Many cousins, aunts and uncles and cousins on both sides of the family.

Pets: Bunga, (familiar, honey badger) Saturn, (familiar magical Owl) Calypso. (palisman Sable)

Friends: Cottage, Sunny, Iris, Bee, Lucky, Otter, Puppy, Gus, Willow.

Enemies: Emperor Belos.

Ethnicity: Latina

Religion: None.

Beliefs: N/A

Superstitions: black cats, broken mirrors. KARMA!

Languages: English. Spanish.

Diction / Accent: Spanish

SCHOOL / WORK / HOME

Education: Public School / High scool leverl/ Hexside

Degree(s): Not yet.

Occupation: Local Power washer for her boiling isles, Food delivery, Potion distributor.

Own or Rent: Neither.

Living Space: Eda’s home in the owl house, Her home in the human realm, and Magic Treehouse bedroom.

Work Space: N/A.

Main Mode of Transport: Skateboarding, Walking, running, or flying. Can drive, will learn, will drive without license.

PSYCHOLOGY

Fears: Being replaced / abandoned, her anger issues, her home getting concurred, loosing her friends, venomous snakes, possessed creatures, dark mimics. spiders, The deepest depths of the Ocean, Slender Man, Siren Head.

Secrets: A big softie just doesn’t want many who meet her to realize it.

IQ: Was never formally tested, but she may not be as intellectually gifted as the other Luz’s There’s a big jock mentally mindset to her as a whole.

Eating Habits: Ravenous Appetite, no matter how much she eats she’s always asking for more. She can put some food away if someone has something they’re saving it’s too late she’s already gotten to it.

Food Preferences: She enjoys Hot Wings they are her most favorite food besides Pizza coming around at a close second She likes a lot of junk food candy, cookies, chips of all kinds. On occasion she will eat something green though like some lettuce with taco meat or a green pepper. She’ll eat it all everything under the sun and even be adventurous eating a wide margin of other foods. She almost always has hot sauce on her there isn’t a single kind of meal she doesn’t love covered in the hot stuff.

Sleeping Habits: She sleeps well, for the most part, when she isn’t attempting to be a night owl she falls asleep relatively quick, even rivaling some of the younger Luz’s with how early she can fall asleep. It’s likely she has sleep apnea as she has tendency to snore so very loud and wakes up during the night in cold sweat, when she stops breathing from night terrors. She will oversleep until almost 2:00 in the afternoon if not monitored.

Book Preferences: She’s not a big egg-head book reader like the rest of the squad is the most Bad Boy read in school was “Animal Farm”, and The “Lord of the Flies”, in high school two books that peaked her interest a little bit. She also enjoys listening to Cottage read some horror books it’s the most she’ll really listen rather than use her eyes to read, in fact, one would say she struggles to read efficiently.

Music Preferences: Hip Hop, Rap, Dubstep, 80′s music, The Weekend, Various artists.

Leader or Follower: She likes to be the boss, but will occasionally follow if she doesn’t have to do much.

Planner or Spontaneous: Spontaneous! All of her ideas are never planned out she definitely does not look before she leaps. Her leaps are full of optimism and happy stupidity. The only time she tends to plan is when Bee holds her hand and forces her to take a step back.

Journal: Nope

Hobbies: Dancing, listening to music, training, watching videos / shows, exercising, roasting members of the Luz squad, doing dangerous stunts, skateboarding, basketball, baseball, (more so the batting range) Surfing (Prior), Deep woods exploring, practicing her magic, teaching her familiars, (Saturn and Bunga) Listening to music, Swooning Bee, Video games, Baking Pizza, Breakdancing, Beat Boxing, Collecting Hats, Serenading, Dancing, Snuggling King.

How Do They Relax: By listening to some calming beats privately, counting to 10, or at any point stroked by Bee she curls and becomes softer.

What Excites Them: Competitions, Wild magic, Magical Creatures, Parkour, Plane Crash videos, Unus Annus, Dogs! Kitties, Being in charge, Buffalo sauce, Food!, Flirting,

What Stresses Them: Bossy individuals, Strict Parents, Rude people, Being inside the Emperor Castle, Being the butt of the joke, Tests, Explosives. Needles.

Pet Peeves: Vegan food, Whining, losing games, Being accused of being a perv, mocking, people stealing her hat, Lucky sending her cursed images.

Prejudices: high horse, pretends not to be a trouble maker to stay in good graces, struggling to not be hostile towards her doppelgängers,

Attitudes: Closed off, Laid back, Aggressive, or chill and cool depending on who you are. Bad Boy appears to be the “scary” anger issues Luz that is liable to explode at any moment and when she does her face and ears can get as red as Bee’s. You’re either in good graces with her or your not, she’s not always easy to approach unless you have a good sense of humor than she cracks up with you about stupid jokes.

Obsessions: Her shoes and hats, her favorite music, lids, BEE

Addictions: Does addiction to sugary cereal count? because oh my god-!!

Ambitions: Defeat Belos in her timeline, find a way to get adopted as a sibling by Cottage Core, Have her own identity outside of Cottage and the Luz squad. Become a powerful witch, Make her mom proud.

ASTROLOGY / PHISIOLOGY

Birth Date: November 26, 2005.

Sign: Sagittarius

Traits Associated with Western Sign: loyal, smart, assertive, and compassionate personality

Chinese Zodiac Sign: The rooster

Traits Associated with Chinese Sign: active, amusing, and popular within a crowd. Roosters are talkative, outspoken, frank, open, honest, and loyal individuals. They like to be the center of attention and always appear attractive and beautiful.

Handwriting: It’s okay…; fairly sloppy.

Sexual History: N/A.

General Health: She takes pretty good care of herself as far as hygiene and having a good confident attitude. experiencing some struggles with her adhd, bad posture leaves her with some back pain.

Mental Disabilities: PTSD, ADHD, depression,

Allergies: Seasonal.

OBJECTS KEPT IN

Purse / Bag: Wallet, towel, water bottle, Treehouse keys key chain,

Wallet: Photo ID, Gold, Cash, rings, Brass knuckle,

Fridge: Chalked full of between meal and frozen pizza.

Medicine Cabinet: Bandages, Healing Potions, Icey-hot muscle rub,

Glove Compartment: Parking tickets, Trespassing tickets, concert tickets.

Junk Drawer: fidget spinners, gum, pens, sharpies, stress balls.

Backpack: Hats, Snacks, Mints, hair gel, Extra clothes, socks, pepper spray, hand sanitizer, suntan lotion, hair brush

Desk: Doodles, Paper Airplanes, Crumpled up Paper.

Clothes Pockets: Phone, Hot Sauce packets, hand warmers, stress ball.

OTHER

Halloween Costumes: A zombie, the cementary is hiring.

Talents: break dancing, beat boxing, fighting in close quarters, self defense, making Luz squad question their sanity, making jokes, flipping her hat. being annoying.

Politics: Nah.

Flaws: stand offish, moody, blunt and direct, vain, doesn’t like to be on the losing side indecisive, selfish,

Strengths: Her optimism, strong sense of personal integrity, avoiding the status quo, free spirited, confidence level, good sense of humor.

Drugs / Alcohol: N/A. No who invited?

Passwords: The most random shit.

Prized Possessions: Her hat passed down by her oldest cousin, her unus annus sweatshirt, a small wolf plushy named Akela

Time and Place: Currently, at the Treehouse interviewing new members of the Luz squad. She just got back from a trip and she has jet lag.

Special Places: The treehouse, her original house, The owl house, the forest where she goes to meet Blushy, The cliff by the Grom tree, the beach.

Special Memories: Meeting Eda and King then running into Cottage and Bee, Becoming friends with Cottage Core learning magic from them, Teasing Belos and Hunter with Cottage Core, Dancing with Bee at her Grom, becoming a polyamorous couple with Bee and Cottage. Being accepted into the Luz Squad.

Tagged by: Stole it from @witchesborn

Tagging: You, if you want to do it.

#hcs #the bad boy #;Bad Boy #long post #info dump #about b.boy

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fanfictionfansmiction · 4 years

Text

Interruptions

George reader insert modern au. Basically George has been your barista for months and you bump into him at the club but something gets in the way. Word count: 2533

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“Admit it! You’re in love,” Lavender extended the vowels like chewing gum, “don’t look at me like that! You haven’t stopped talking about him all week!” She buzzed with excitement, that finally her loveless roommate had a crush. She could barely contain the gasp that too anyone else would seem completely over dramatic but for Lavender this was tame. She eyed me knowingly as she reapplied her burgundy lipstick. Just as I was about to break and admit my crush Luna floated in draping her paper white arms delicately over Lavenders deep brown exposed shoulders. Luna planted a kiss on her cheek leaving a shiny residue of her sparkling lip gloss and then she gave me one to. In her hand she had a large glass of shimmering champagne that she somehow managed not to spill a drop of.

“What’s the crack girls?” She asked looking at Lavender. All Lavender gave her was a look. Unsurprisingly that was all it took. A wild grin grew on her face. The excitement of love! They would say and start giggling. I loved all of it really, but I had to keep my cool.

“I have absolutely no idea what she’s told you Luna but it’s not true! You know what she’s like,” I side eye Lavender who had resumed her knowing look, “I don’t even know the guys name! Yes, he gave me a free coffee one time but that was it! A gesture of goodwill, please can we drop it.” I plead dramatically.

“A free coffee! When’s the wedding?” Luna started.

“I was thinking a winter wedding.” Lavender finished.

My cheeks were burning, and I couldn’t stop myself from throwing my head into my hands. Shaking my head. God why are feelings so embarrassing.

“Right young lady,” Lavender said sternly, “I can’t have you feeling sorry for yourself. We are going out and we are going to have fun. So, for the moment you’re just going to have to get over the mortifying ordeal of feeling fuzzy feelings for someone you barely know! Here take this.” Lavender hands me a plastic shot glass of a green liquid that smelt like apple. I peered up and looked at my friends. A smile gave me away and then we drank.

We had made it from the flat, to the pub and now we were in line for the club. All of us dressed up and feeling very much like the most beautiful, funny, intelligent and wonderful people to ever grace the earth. Luna brought along some old school friends who had names I probably had been told but I was shooting blanks. She had her arm slung around the waist of a strong looking girl, face splattered with freckles and fiery ginger hair. Nattering with Lavender a girl with wild curly hair and hands somehow still covered in ink. We weren’t too far from being let in, each of us clinging to our ID’s and laughing about something stupid that happened earlier in the night. I kept fidgeting. Looking around and chewing on my fingernail.

“What’s up your arse?” The ginger girl asked me.

“Oh, she’s just in love.” Lavender said stretching the vowels a little further this time.

I slapped her bare arm, shooting her a look that I hoped would put this conversation to bed. She was about to open her mouth again.

“If you drop this conversation right now and for the rest of the night, I will buy everyone a shot.” They considered it and then all of them nodded and quickly changed the subject.

“Ginny why are you complaining?” I heard Luna whine.

“Because my brothers are out tonight and I’m pretty sure they’re already in the club.” She stamped her foot like a younger sibling does. I had to stifle my laugh because I could see my younger sister doing the same thing.

When we got inside, we weren’t cold and shivering anymore. The air was thick and the wooden floor disgustingly sticking. The girl with the large hair whose name I learned (Hermione) checks in her wool coat and Ginny’s denim jacket.

I make a bee line to the long bar that stands away from the crowded dance floor. The line was almost too long for me to care but I did promise shots and I am a girl of my word. I was quickly wishing I were more covered up. All the crowds pushing and shoving me. Being jabbed by sequins and zips. Not incredibly fun.

I found myself pushed up against someone much taller than me. Wearing faded jeans and a strange graphic t shirt. That’s all I could see from my restricted viewpoint. But then he looks down at me. A face full of freckles and orange hair illuminated by the changing lights. My barista. His brown eyes look down at me and I almost expect him to recognise me, but he doesn’t. His smile is wrong, not enough teeth and he’s missing a dimple. Not my barista. My face must show my disappointment because he starts to stay something. Which I can’t hear so he leans down. Hot breathe on my already sweaty neck.

“Don’t look so disappointed love, you aren’t my type either.” He chuckles. Then I look at him and feel the urge to explain. So, I plant a hand on his neck that must still be cold because he shivers and I talk in his ear.

“Sorry, you look like someone I know. But you aren’t the right one.” I say shrugging. Before he can respond I’m called forward to the front of the line. I’ve upped my order to two shots a person. They give me a silly circular tray that I am determined to defend. When I reach my friends, I have successfully kept everything together.

A chorus of yay and yeahs squeal over the thudding music. The shots are gone before I know it and Hermione only took one, so I have her other one and I’m ready to dance. That’s when I see the guy who’s not my barista again, it seems like he’s about to approach me until he looks beyond me and I can’t help but turn to see at who he’s poking his tongue out. He must be Ginny’s brother. He decides that whatever he was going say is worth it because he saunters over. Definitely not my barista. A wild look in his eyes and a wide grin.

“Hello again love.” He mouths. “I think you might know my brother.” He says. “Do you go to his coffee shop?” He asks. I nod. Then somehow his grin grows wider. Before I could ask if his brother is here, he disappears into the crowd dancing. I shake it off because I’m here to dance. I take Lavender by the hand and spin her around. We dance like an old married couple in a kitchen singing songs to each other. I’m having fun and I feel light. Someone catches Lavenders eye, and she sways over to them. She is going to have a fun night.

So, I go to dance with Luna, but I see that her and Ginny are closer than I knew so I decide to let them have their fun. I notice Hermione having fun and I decide to join her. We jump around in a circle and laugh together. She says she’s spotted her boyfriend and they need to have a conversation. I follow her eyeline to see someone who looks like Ginny and my barista. How many of them are there? I shrug again. Must be time for another drink. This time at the bar I see my barista. Black jeans instead of blue and a mustard colour crew neck. I look up at him to see if he sees me too. He’s not but his face is flushed pink and he’s chewing on his lip like his life depends on it. Why didn’t I read his name tag? I’m in that coffee shop every morning and evening why haven’t I learned his name? He quickly looks down at me like he’s checking I’m looking at him. Now the pink is a little darker. He looks down at me now smiling. That’s my barista. All teeth and a single dimple that casts a little shadow on his face. Now my cheeks are burning red. It’s my turn to look away. He bumps into me purposely and I look up at him. He bends down slightly to talk into my ear. The hair stands up on the back of my neck.

“Caramel latte with almond milk, right?” He asks, he voice deep and struggling to be heard over the music. It’s my turn to talk in her ear. I place my hand on his neck to steady myself.

“And you’re my barista.” I say.

He pulls away to look at me but keeps my hand there. He asks, “Your barista?”

I take a shaky breath in deciding how to play this. I’ll be someone I never am, someone who says what she means.

I tilt my head, “Yes. My barista.” He chokes on something and coughs a little.

“Can I buy you a drink?” He asks but he doesn’t wait for me to answer. He orders me a drink and leads me to smoking area where we share one chair. It’s still cold outside and my body heat seems to be running out of me. He drapes his arm around my shoulder rubbing his red hands up and down my arm. I turn to look at him and I realise I’m basically sat in his lap. I look up and we’re basically nose to nose. Looking away I down my drink which makes him laugh. A low rumble that I can feel in his chest.

“So do I get to know you name?” I ask.

“George.” He smiles at me, the light from the club dancing over his face. I go to ask if he needs mine but then he says it. As though he’s been waiting to say for months. It makes me blush like he said something inappropriate. It sounded like he did. So, I begin to question if it was my name he said.

“You know my name?” I ask a little breathless and beginning to feel the heat re-enter my body.

“Of course,” he brushes a strand of hair out of my eyes, “prettiest girl to come into the shop and the best tipper I’ve noticed. My brother said he ran into you at the bar. He sent me there to wait for you. I was beginning to feel a little ridiculous. Until I saw you staring at me.” He laughs quietly like we’re alone.

“I was making sure it was you.” I say in a hushed tone reserved for museums.

“How’d you know?” He asks edging closer so our noses bump.

“Well you’re the prettiest barista in town. Your brother doesn’t compare.” I say. Just as I feel us edging closer and his lips brushing mine someone clears their throat in front of us. I slump my head onto his shoulder and George looks at the person.

“What Gin?” He asks in a huff.

“There’s a girl emergency and she is needed.” Ginny says strongly like she’s asking for her toys back. George groans like he’s not done with me. I sigh because I know I’m needed but I’m also not finished with him.

“I have to go. If I don’t see you tonight, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I say kissing his cheek and push his hair out of his eyes.

“I hope you know you don’t have to pay for coffee anymore.” He shouts after me.

After finding Lavender weeping in the toilets I do my best to carry her back to our flat. Where I take her makeup off, brush her teeth and carry her to bed.

“Night Lav.” She whines in response. I switch off her light and close the door.

I wake up before Lavender and as I wander out the door in clothes, I’ve thrown on I see the rest of the girls laying across the sofa and the floor. The plan is to get everyone coffee. I don’t expect to see George in the shop but he’s not working. He’s in the queue looking as bad as I feel. When he sees me, he flushes red and doesn’t know where to look. Suddenly I feel just as shy, but I go next to him anyway. He looks down at me and then wraps an arm around me and kisses the top of my head.

“What are we getting?” He asks.

He pays for the drinks and brings them back to the flat me, not letting go of my hand as we walk. Ginny groans when she sees her brother causing Lavender to peak out of her door wrapped up in her duvet.

I give everyone their orders and make toast for them all. George and I laugh when Luna makes a quick exit to the bathroom. I cover his ears and he cover’s mine. So we don’t hear her bring up last night in the toilet. Slowly all the girls shower and collect their stuff to begin the walk home. Lavender manages to cry through the full story of what happened last night, blowing her nose dramatically as she does. I rub her leg and tell her men are stupid. George agrees making us another hot drink.

Lavender’s phone rings and she scurries back to her room. For the second time in twenty-four hours me and George and alone together again. Standing in the kitchen. Closer than you would stand to a friend. I don’t know what to say. So, I just look at him. He looks at me. I hug him, holding him close. Close enough to smell the coffee beans and to feel his heart racing. The TV still on the music channel begins to play a mushy love song I never learned. I move my arm to rest on his lower back and take his hand with the other. We sway in the small poorly lit kitchen. Laughing as we stand on each other’s feet. Still we dance together in the kitchen like an old married couple. Until the song changes to something I didn’t know you could slow dance to.

The TV goes on standby and now we’re just holding each other in the kitchen. His hand brushes through my knotted hair which makes us laugh. I rest my hand on his neck which makes his face soften. He says my name again like a wish I know will come true. I wait for him to kiss me or to say something to acknowledge how strangely familiar this all feels. Then his phone dings. He groans again. Cursing under his breath.

“It’s Fred, Mum’s expecting me for dinner.” He looks at me with pained eyes, “I have to go.” I whine. This time Fred kisses me delicately like he knows if he kissed me harder, he wouldn’t be able to leave. I give him my number before he leaves, promising that next time we won’t get interrupted.

#george imagine #george weasley x reader #george x reader #george weasley reader insert #harry potter imagine #george wealsey imagine #george reader insert #reader insert #george x y/n #george wealsey x you #george weasley x y/n #harry potter reader insert

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daresplaining · 4 years

Note

Have you ever done a post regarding Elektra and all her love interests in the comics? I know it's done often with DD (and how he is quite the ladies man) but was wondering who she has been romantically involved with in the Marvel Universe.

I haven’t, and I really should, so thank you for asking! This is one of those questions where the longer I thought about it, the more difficult it became to actually answer, and the reason is this: Elektra tends to be a sexualized character. She is frequently written as something of a femme fatale, and people are constantly lusting after her. This means that in some cases-- especially cases in which Elektra is not the narrator of the story-- it’s difficult to distinguish between Elektra partnering with someone who is attracted to her and Elektra actually being engaged in a romantic relationship. There is a ton of subtext involved in some of her interactions with people, and I will be the first to admit that I’m not the best at decoding romantic subtext. A great example is Agent Garrett from Elektra: Assassin (who I have not included on this list). We are in his head for most of the story, and he is going gaga over Elektra the entire time. On the page, it doesn’t look like she’s reciprocating, but Garrett imagines that she might be, and so you get into this situation where you start to think... maybe they’re being romantic off-panel. Maybe Elektra is actually into him. But since we’re not in her head, and because Garrett is an unreliable narrator, it’s very difficult to parse what is actually going on between them.

In any case, here is a list of people with whom I’m pretty confident Elektra has been romantically involved (in roughly chronological order).

Matt Murdock

[ID: Elektra and Matt seen from the shoulders up, kissing. Elektra has her arms around Matt’s neck.]

Obviously, number one on the list is this guy, the college boyfriend, Elektra’s first love, the one that accidentally got her father killed which caused her to become so disillusioned with life that she dropped out of school and became a ninja assassin got away. Elektra is very much her own character and has been for a long time, but she will always-- to some degree-- be defined by her relationship with Matt. This is partly because Matt was a significant player in her origin story, but it’s also because their relationship embodied a happier time, and is something that Elektra has continued to cherish through all of the chaos that she has been through in the years since. Matt serves as a bit of an ideal for her; she will occasionally compare other men she meets to him-- particularly men who she is considering involving herself with. If you want to play Elektra bingo, “Thinks About Matt” should be the free space because it happens at least once per run.

I tend to think of Matt and Elektra’s relationship as one of a connection that transcends their actual interactions. Their lives are so intensely paralleled, and their college-era time together was so important to both of them, that they are always present in each other’s lives even when they aren’t physically together. Elektra will frequently show up when Matt needs help-- sometimes in person, sometimes psychically, sometimes just in his imagination. They have shared a lot of closeness and are very important to each other. But they haven’t actually spent that much time together. Elektra was interested in resuming a romantic relationship with Matt immediately after her resurrection, during Chichester’s Daredevil run, but Matt wasn’t in the right emotional place for it. They tried, briefly, to date during Elektra volume 1, but that fell apart right away. Now, in the current DD run, they have started up a relationship-- which is hugely significant after years and years of pining and angst and near-misses. I’m curious to see where this will take them moving forward.

Tekagi

[ID: Two panels showing Elektra and a burly man embracing in a stream in the moonlight.]

Tekagi (caption): “My past with Elektra? Is that what really troubles you, Genkotsu? It was exotic and intense, yes... but it is also long over!”

In Elektra: Root of Evil, we learn that during her time training with/infiltrating the Hand, a lonely Elektra had a passionate but brief relationship with one of her teachers, an ambitious (and ultimately bad news) Hand warrior named Tekagi. While they both end up with fond memories of their time together, they also both treat it as being very much in the past. When they meet again as enemies, years later, Elektra doesn’t suffer too much angst about killing him.

Wolverine

[ID: Elektra and Wolverine, both in costume, are sitting together on a low wall with a Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters sign on the front. Wolverine looks sad; Elektra is embracing him from behind. They are surrounded by green trees.]

When Logan has the Adamantium ripped out of him and the trauma causes him to revert to a feral, animalistic state, Stick sends Elektra to help him find his way back. This comes at a time when Elektra is also struggling to re-find herself after returning from the dead. Together, the two go on an emotional journey of self-discovery that turns them into very close friends. Since then, they have frequently stepped into each other’s lives for team-ups and to provide emotional support. I have to admit a little ignorance on this one. While Logan’s appearances in Elektra-focused comics appear platonic, I haven’t read many Wolverine comics, and I've gotten the sense through my general Marvel reading that there is a romantic element to Elektra and Logan’s relationship that I just haven’t come across yet, which is why he’s on this list. If any of my followers can clarify this one, please do!

McKinley “Mac” Stewart

[ID: Elektra (in a jacket) is leaning down toward Mac, a beefy guy with a mustache and a ponytail. Her hand is on the side of his face. The scene is tinted dark blue.]

Elektra: “Stop talking. The answer is yes, Matt.”

Mac: “You mean... Mac.”

Elektra: “That’s what I said.”

Elektra’s first solo series takes place soon after her resurrection, and is centered around her attempts to put her life as an assassin behind her and start anew (spoiler: she fails spectacularly). One of her projects in this new life is a dojo that she founds and funds to give local kids a place to go to receive training and support. Elektra brings in two guys to help run the dojo: a martial artist named King Lau and a heavyweight boxer named Mac Stewart. Mac quickly develops an attraction toward Elektra, and while she at first hesitates to accept his advances for personal baggage-related reasons, she eventually ends up engaging in what seems to be a mostly physical relationship with him. However, this relationship doesn’t receive much development. Most of their interactions happen off-panel or in the background of the main plot, Elektra almost ditches him for Matt at one point, and when the series ends, Mac is in a coma thanks to an attack by the Hand and (to my knowledge) never appears again.

Frank Castle

[ID: Elektra and Frank are sitting across from each other at a diner-style table, drinking out of the same cup with straws. They are pointing weapons (sai and gun) at each other under the table.]

Elektra and Frank have tended to run in the same circles, kill the same types of people, etc. and through encountering each other and learning each other’s reputations, they end up developing a healthy admiration for each other. Frank asks Elektra to train him, in recognition of her superior skills. This blossoms into a romance that lasts throughout their time working together on the Thunderbolts team (she gives him the heart of a mobster she killed and he gets it bronzed... it's very sweet). They end up having a (verbal and physical) fight and breaking up at the end of the run, though they still seem to be on fairly good terms.

Stephen Strange

[ID: Elektra and Doctor Strange, both in costume, are kissing in front of the big window in the Sanctum Sanctorum. A full moon is rising over the buildings behind them.]

This is new! Elektra and Stephen are currently working together on Conan-related shenanigans in Savage Avengers, and a few issues ago they slept together. For the moment, they both seem to be treating it as a casual one-time thing, but time will tell if that remains true.

#Elektra Natchios #Daredevil #Matt Murdock #Tekagi #Wolverine #Mac Stewart #Punisher #Frank Castle #Doctor Strange #Asks #Adventures in Continuity

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moonstarsolar96 · 3 years

Text

Bohemian Rhapsody

MoonstarSolar

Warning

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A single copy of the materials available in this story may be made, solely for personal, noncommercial use. Individuals must preserve any copyright or other notices contained in or associated with them. Users may not distribute said copies to others, whether or not in electronic form or in hard copy, without prior written consent of the copyright holder of the materials. Contact information for requests for permission to reproduce or distribute materials available through this course are listed below:

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Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

••••

Synopsis

Bohemian Rhapsody depicts the story of Penelope and Sev, who have a love-hate relationship between the two of them. Sev is the most self-obsessed, narcissistic, jerk she has ever met. He's her boss, yes, but she won't let him ruin her career, even her day. Sev is the co-founder and CEO of Grey Holdings. He is one of the richest businessmen and also one of the youngest billionaires in the whole world. He was featured in Spring Magazine's Top Person of the Year. Steven Grey may look like a nice person, but deep down, he's a bad boy. He never fails to make Penelope's life a living hell as soon as they meet. He likes to taunt her. He likes to tease her. He wants to own her. He became obsessed with her.

Chapter 1: Is this the real life?

I have been an intern at Grey Holdings for exactly a year. I was surprised to learn that I had been promoted to be the supervisor of the team. Linda, one of my co-workers, ran up to me and hugged me as she congratulated me on having the promotion.

"I'm so happy that we're on the same team!" she happily said and hugged me tighter, swaying our bodies from side to side as I tried to untangle her curly blonde hair from the rim of my glasses.

"Thanks, Linda. I am also happy that I can now show my mom this black calling card!" I showed her my calling card that I got earlier that our senior supervisor gave me.

We have three colors for three types of calling cards. The white ones are for lower-ranked employees like interns. The black ones are for higher ranks, like supervisors. And the gold ones are for the CEO, CFO, and COO.

Grey Holdings Inc. is one of the biggest, and also the best companies in the whole world. Our company is the parent company of Samseong, Hyeondae, and many more. The company even owns an expensive hospital--Grey Medical Center. If you're wondering, a holding company is a company that owns the outstanding stock of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies to form a corporate group.

I really love everything about the company. We have a world-class lobby that looks like you're in a five-star hotel. We have a big cafeteria where the pantries are always full and anything that you like will be free and it wasn't even deducted from your salary. We also have a room where we can rest and take a nap.

"Penelope, I need you at my office now," my boss, Mr. Cohen, called. I excused myself from Linda's nonstop embrace and headed to my boss' office door.

"Come on," I heard him say. "Here is your new company ID, company phone, company laptop, and your new payslip." Mr. Cohen handed me all of the things that I needed to start my new journey in life. I am now an official employee of Grey Holdings Inc.

I have never been this happy in my entire life.

I am so happy, I feel like I'm on cloud nine.

But not until I met the worst person inside this huge building.

Steven Grey. The youngest, the prettiest *gags*, and the richest CEO of the company. His company became the fastest-growing company of the year. In just a few years, his business boomed, and he managed and held a large number of stock investments from other big companies and investors. It was all because of Steven Grey's hard work.

Linda has been a huge fan of the guy since she first stepped foot in this company until now.She never fails to fantasize about him, though she had a boyfriend. I told her that John was much prettier than Mr. Grey, but she gave me a horrifying look when I said that.

All of my other female officemates agree with Linda. They think of him as a God. But not me.

The guy is so self-obsessed. He can't function whenever he can't see his face in the mirror when going out of his office and going for an interview. He also can not stop himself from avoiding issues with himself and some other girls that he dated.

People are so fond of him, and he likes the attention.

Ever wonder why I hate him so much, I could die?

He was one of my college friends back then.

And yes, we had a past.

I was a scholar at Grey's Foundation back in high school. When I became a college student, I got an offer from Grey's Academy. That's where I met him and became friends with him.

He was the first one to talk to me back then, when literally, all of my schoolmates and classmates bullied me every time I stepped my foot on the marbled tiles of the school's entrance.

Sev--I mean Steven, helped me by threatening all of the bullies to stop harassing me or else they would be expelled and he would make sure that they'd never get into any universities.

They somehow stopped one day, and I was very thankful for that.

We became friends and I got into the same circle as him. We had some mutual understanding back then, but it all vanished when I learned that he and his friends played a bet on me.

His best friend, Noah, told me and I got mad. I was really thankful that there was Noah. He's always by my side. Noah became my best friend when Steven kicked him out of his group of friends.

And since then, the bullies continued to harass me again and again, until I transferred to another university because of their actions.

Steven just watched me get bullied and turned his back on me. Noah remained at Grey's Academy because his father wouldn't let him transfer to my school because it's for 'poor' people.

I lost contact with Noah and my other friends when I transferred, so I've decided to live a new life. Away from the bullies, and away from Steven Grey.

Whenever we saw each other in the company, I always turned my back first and ran away from him. I hate him even though I work for him. I am running away from him because I'm so scared he might break me again like what he did to me in college.

Whenever we saw each other, I was so confused because he was looking at me like he missed me, or did he not? My heart thumps louder whenever we make eye contact.

This day was the first time we got to be together in one room. Mr. Cohen introduced me to him as the new supervisor of the team.

But we were all surprised when Mr. Steven Grey started speaking. "Mr. Cohen, I'd like her to be my secretary."

To be continued...

#ceo #original story #novel writing #novelist #light novel #fiction #mafiaromance #romance

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vlogsquadssquad · 4 years

Text

Secure 2

summary: Charlie confesses his feelings and reader has to decide if that's what she wants, or if another guy has her *attention*

a/n: i’m honestly BLOWN away at part 1′s feedback. y'all really loved it so Ive been working on this all day, I hope its everything youve been waiting for! thank you to my new followers, ive been writing for a bit for fun and no one was reading my stories but after the reaction for the last story I was so motivated to write. I have A LOT more ideas and even an idea for a part 3 with smut and maybe even reader having to tell the boy she didn't choose the bad news, who knooowwsss. send me in suggestions!

warnings: language, alluding to smut at the end.

mood board:

-- YOUR POV

my life has been the most fun lately. ive been hanging out with David and he really gets me to let loose. he's always trying to top his last video which is so fun to be a part of. even if we wait around the house all day. tonight im alone though. I told him I needed to get some writing down for the last song of my album. I want it to be about being happy with yourself and secure with who you are. that you don't need another person to define who you are. but im having trouble putting that into words that rhyme. maybe I should just see what David is up to.

- daveyy (:

hey, I know I said I was busy but my mind is too cluttered and im curious what the vlog squad is up to 😉 >

< hahaa nothing actually. im by myself at the house tonight. really boring. watching movies ive seen dozens of times.

oh no! your friends realize they were too cool for you? >

< probably lmao. what are you up to?

trying to finish this last song but I can't think straight >

hey would you wanna come over? its ok if you're too busy being alone watching 50 first dates lol >

< how'd you know? 😅 id love to. chipotle?

- end texts -

“hey, loser” I say as he walks in with our food and... is that ice cream? “wait, did you get ice cream?”

“yeah, I got your favorite flavor!” he says with a smile. my heart aches at the kind gesture. “wow your house is so nice” he sets the food on my counter as he glances around.

“thank you, im really into interior design... and nice houses” i joke as i examine the ice cream David got for me. he chuckles as he gets my food out of the bag and sets it up in my living room. I put on a movie to watch but we end up muting it and just talking instead. our conversations just seem to flow. “what's a memory that stands out to you from your childhood?” I ask him. “there's so many things,” he puts his arm around the back of my couch as we sit sideways to face each other. we finished eating forever ago. “probably just all of high school. I learned so much, from my friends and my teachers. nothing academically, obviously.” he laughs. I smile to him and run my fingers through my hair. he watches my movements and for a moment its quiet.

“I think you're really smart.” I say finally. “I love how you push me, you're always there for me, and you just come up with the best ideas. you're so creative.”

“wow. what did I do to deserve your kindness?” he asks with a slight laugh.

“I can think of a few things.” our conversation became much lighter after that. after a while we went into my home studio and he helped me write. the night was filled with jokes and endless laughing but also had serious moments too. I shared very personal details about my life. but the best thing of all was that there was no camera in sight. it was just friends being friends. no clickbait. no underlying purpose for the long stay. it was perfect.

-- next day

“hey y/n could I come over and talk?” Charlie asked over the phone.

“sure, I don't have anything planned till tonight.”

“ok be there in 20.”

“what's the sudden emergency?” I ask as he walks in the door.

“there's just something I've been wanting to confess for a really long time and i’m not sure-”

“its ok Charlie, what is it?”

“I think I'm in love with you.”

my heart dropped. Im frozen in time. I don't need a relationship right now and I sure as hell can't lose my friendship with Charlie.

“I don't know what to say...”

“say you love me too!” he moves closer to me “I know you do! you always want to be around me, have me close to you, we talk all night. I know you feel it.”

I look at him with a blank expression.

“I honestly don't. I've never thought of you that way, and I'm really enjoying being single. for once in my life I'm not letting the pressure of having someone on my arm get to me, I don't need this right now, I-”

“what..? y/n. don't do this.”

“I'm not doing anything it's just the truth.” I look to the ground as his eyes fill with tears. “I think you should go.” I say.

-- DAVIDS POV, that night

- y/n/n 😋

you're still coming to my party tonight right? >

< I wouldn't miss it! so proud of you! ❤️

tonight was my party to celebrate my new show. I haven't told the fans yet but this vlog will be my announcement. we start filming for it on Monday and I've never been more excited. its exactly what I've been dreaming of all my life.

the party started to kick off and all my friends slowly started showing up. Charlie was going to perform his unreleased song tonight and everyone was already talking about it.

“hey have you heard anything from y/n and Charlie? are they dating?” Ilya comes up and whispers to me.

“no man, I haven't heard anything. I was with y/n all night last night and I wasn't exactly begging her to give me details but we did talk for hours about random stuff and she never brought him up or texted anyone. I don't know they might not be.” I say with hope shining through the cracks of my voice.

“I can just ask Charlie?” Ilya offers. he's such a good friend when it matters.

I nod and then head to get something to drink. y/n still wasn't here and I was getting antsy.

just then I hear Natalie let someone in. I peak around the corner and see y/n. she looks drop dead gorgeous. i’ve never seen her dressed up like that. I think she saw right through me and asked if she had something on her face.

“no, no, I just have never seen you dressed like that. you look great.” I look to the floor. no way she and Charlie aren't an item. they both love music and they're both flawless people. they're a match made in heaven.

“well, thank you, cowboy.” she says in a funny southern accent. she was so weird. she came in for a hug and she smelled exactly like when I first met her. I put my hand on the small of her back and for a split second I felt her push more into me.

“so where can I get a drink?” she asked as we pulled apart.

“a drink?” I ask

“yes, i’ve had a bizarre day and I need a drink.”

Im about to ask her what she means when I hear Charlie from behind me

“hey, babe, you're late.” he says to y/n as he pulls her into a hug. she almost looks uncomfortable. “hey Charles, how are you?”

“i’m great, i’ve had several drinks and im thinking much clearly-er now”

“I can smell that” she chuckles

I hand her her favorite drink and ask her if she finished the song. after a short conversation Charlie pulls her to the couch where some other friends are doing karaoke. she's basically sitting on his lap and laughing. I grab my camera and record a little outside trying to not think about it.

-- YOUR POV

I honestly think drunk Charlie has forgotten about our conversation from earlier. which i’m relieved because sometimes I just need good ol Charlie and not this new one that was in love with me. sure he's a little touchy but we were always close like that.

“alright I promised David I would perform an unreleased song tonight. come on I want you to hear it.” he grabs my hand pulls me up. I have a gut feeling I don't want to be here for it.

David set up the mic outside and everyone found a seat. David sat next to me with camera in hand.

“alright alright” Charlie starts. “hopefully I don't forget the lyrics since i’m a little buzzed.” the audience laughed. “but this song means a lot to me, and I wrote it with someone in mind. someone who has changed my life for the better and made me a better man.”

oh god, please don't say my name

“y/n. you are everything to me. I wouldn't be able to be who I am today without you.”

everyone looks to me as the music starts. a love song. i place my head in my hands and David nudges me. “you ok?” he whispers.

“can you please get me out of here?” he nods his head and stands up. Charlie is looking down at his guitar lost in his music. I feel bad leaving but how could he not take no as an answer? I follow David out the door and my head is down in shame. he closes the patio door and turns to me. “what is going on? I thought you guys were dating?”

“oh god, not you too.” I groan. “just please I need to be anywhere but here right now. fast.”

“okay. let’s go.”

we go to his garage and he looks at me.

“you said fast!” he shrugs as he opens the passenger Ferrari door for me. I laugh with my head thrown back “true. but im going to need a jacket or blanket.”

“here, use mine.” he took off his hoodie and handed it to me. I hopped in the car and we were off.

“anywhere in mind?” he asks as we pull out of the neighborhood.

“nope,” I smile. “im kinda hungry though”

“alright,” he turns the car at the light. “then we’re gonna make this worth our while. I know an overly expensive place with great burgers.”

I laugh at him as my hair blows in the wind “yes! lets spend all your money!” I lift my arms and scream. David just laughs at me. we speed down the highways. ive never felt so free.

we finally arrive to the place and get seated.

“so do you wanna tell me why we left my party now?”

“i’m sorry by the way. I didn't mean to drag you from your party but...” I look down and pick at my napkin “Charlie confessed his feelings for me this afternoon.” David looked at me confused.

“isn't that a good thing?” he asked.

“not if I don't feel the same way.” I sigh and David looks surprised. “I was very clear about my feelings- or lack of. but he had been hitting on me all night and then the song. I know he was drunk but im really worried for my friendship with him.”

“I can't believe my ears.” he said almost laughing. “you, y/f/n, don't like the guy who seems like he was sent down from the heavens for you?”

“nope. he just isn't my type I guess, I don't know. I never really thought of him that way and I don't want to.”

“wow, no one will be up to your standards will they?” David laughs as he takes a drink.

“the right guy will be.”

perfect timing. the waitress comes over with our food. we thank her and get eating. he was right. best. burgers. ever!

I moan as I take another bite.

David looks me up and down with his cheeks full of burger and chuckles. “okay, y/n, calm down. it isn't no Charlie puth.”

I gasp and throw a fry at him playfully, laughing. “no... no it is not!” we both laugh harder. as we finish up David pays despite my best efforts and we head to my house so he can drop me off. the car ride was fun, we listened to all the hits and sang our hearts out. we got tons of funny looks, but nothing mattered. I grabbed his vlog camera he threw to the side and recorded him singing and then popped myself into frame and had the camera aimed at both of us. our hair was crazy and the night was wearing down on us but it didn't matter. we were just happy to be alive.

as we pulled into my driveway and David put the car in park, I looked to him. “you wanna walk me to my door?”

“already on it.”

he came around and opened the car door for me and walked me up to my door.

“thank you for tonight. it was like out of a movie. I really needed it.” I was talking softly now since it was the dead of the night and the only thing heard was the crickets.

“anytime, y/n.” David also said softly. he kept looking to my lips which made my heart beat faster every time. I know I said I didn't need a guy, but he just looks too good.

“and congrats on your show, I'm really proud of you.” I step closer.

“thank you, congrats on staying single another night.” he joked but had his hands gently placed on my forearm.

“its still early.” I whisper closer to his face now. I can feel his breath and he can feel mine. my heart is going a million beats a minute and the butterflies in my stomach are in a tornado.

“I can't write a song about you, but I can buy you more expensive burgers.”

I laugh leaning my head on his shoulder. “that's all a girl needs anyways.”

he laughs too but gently. I look up at him and his eyes are locked on mine. he places a hand on my cheek and then lower to my neck. I take a sharp breath in and connect our lips. his lips are soft, sweet, and gentle. I pull my arms up around his neck and deepen the kiss. I feel his hands slide down my back to just above my ass. I move my head to the side and open my mouth gently. he knows what to do and opens his mouth too. I feel his tongue dominate my mouth. he retracts and I close my mouth only to bite his bottom lip and then pull away. I let go and we put our foreheads together breathing heavily.

“I could do that again.” he says.

“wanna come inside?” I whisper, my hands now playing with his hairs at the end of his neck.

“best party ever.” he laughs and I pull him inside. I don't know what im supposed to tell Charlie. the heart wants what it wants?

#David dobrik #david dobrik fanfiction #david dobrik x reader #david dobrik vlogs #David dobrik fanfic #vlog squad #vlog squad fan fiction #David dobrik imagine #vlog squad imagine #Charlie puth #Charlie puth fanfic

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lynyrdwrites · 4 years

Text

looked at death (in a tarot card)

This is to fill the bingo square “do you ever think of me” for @klaroline-events. @goldcaught, this is the celebrity AU I was discussing with you. Wrote while listening to “Dying in L.A.” by Panic! At the Disco. You should listen while you read.

Also on AO3. Listen to the song here.

---

It started like this.

She was eighteen. She rode into the city with bright eyes and hopeful heart. She had the whole world in front of her, and she can remember walking down the boulevard, looking at the stars, and thinking that, someday, her name would be there too.

She was eighteen, and someone gave her a fake ID, and it gave her free passage into every bar in town. She needed that passage. You didn't meet the people you needed to meet in daylight at Starbucks. You met them in the dark while bands that were just as hopeful as she was played in the background.

She was nineteen and had just finished her first speaking role - a tiny extra role, but the star of the whole thing was Meryl Streep - and she walked into a bar to celebrate. She had friends, but they had already celebrated that night. So she wanted this celebration to be just for her. The place was all about music, no movie executives to be seen. But on stage?

Caroline had showed up to L.A. with bright eyes and a hopeful heart, and part of her had wanted some of the magic of movies to be real. She had learned in the year since her arrival that wasn't the case, but when her eyes met His? She was a believer again.

His voice was low, and had an underlying accent to it, and she couldn't look away from him. It might have been embarrassing, except he was looking right back, and even though she didn't fully register a word of the song, she felt like it was directed right at him.

In the end, he bought her a drink.

In the end, she went home with him.

In the end... that was the end of her life Pre-Klaus.

---

At twenty-nine, Caroline classified her time in L.A. to two strict categories. Pre-Klaus, and Post-Klaus. There was also During Klaus, two glorious years that she tried not to remember, because...

Just, because. It was easier.

Just like it had been easier to walk away in the end, than to risk staying. Just like it had been easier to agree to date Stefan at twenty-three and stay with him through six years despite relative indifference towards each other.

At least... she thought it had been easier with Stefan.

Until he decided to implode her life by getting caught naked with his brother's wife.

She hadn't been in love with Stefan, had never come close to believing he was in love with her... but she had thought they'd had a certain level of respect for each other. A respect borne out of the fact that they had become Hollywood's It Couple and increased each other's careers exponentially. Separate, they had just been two more pretty and talented people in a city full of people every bit as pretty and talented. As Steroline, they had become the romance of the decade.

It had all been a lie, but it had been a romantic lie that the world around them ate up. And it had gotten them both jobs they might not have gotten otherwise.

All it required, was a bit of respect. All it required was that they keep it in their pants.

Caroline had done it. It hadn't even really been that hard. She'd done passion and messy and she'd walked away from it, because she'd been too young and too new to stand up under the scrutiny it brought her. She'd rather put forward the shining front that no one bothered trying to dig beneath.

And the whole time, Stefan had been screwing his brother's wife. His brother's wife who was one half of Delena, a couple whose popularity might even eclipse Stefan and Caroline's, simply because they'd come from the same home town, and the idea of a childhood romance turned lifelong partnership was difficult to beat.

It was all about the story after all.

And so, Caroline had been in meetings with Stefan and his agent, and her agent, all of them putting forward ideas of how to fix the whole mess. And their consensus seemed to be that Stefan would have a press conference, where Caroline stood bravely and loyally at his side while he announced that he had made a mistake, and they would appreciate privacy while they worked to salvage their relationship.

It was a load of garbage, and Caroline had listened to it and felt empty.

Not angry.

Not sad.

Not even a little annoyed.

She had just felt empty. And then she began to wonder when that had started. Because it hadn't happened immediately Post-Klaus. During that time, she'd sometimes felt so full that she wasn't sure she would ever be able to fully remove him from her. He had indelibly left his mark, and she'd felt broken by it. But at some point, during those seven years, she had become numb.

So she had looked around the table, at the people who were fighting for something she didn't care about. Something she was pretty sure she had never cared about... and suddenly she missed herself at eighteen, bright eyed and full of hope. That girl had felt so much, and it had seemed awful at times, but it had to be infinitely better than this nothingness.

Caroline stood, and without ever once saying a word, she left them all behind. At some point, the constant ring of her phone - Stefan and her agent trying to reach her - got annoying, so she turned it off and just kept walking around the city.

She tried to look at it with the eyes of someone just arriving, to see the promise and hope, but it just seemed... dull. Grey. Like any city on an overcast day, and she couldn't find what it was that had drawn her here so desperately when she was a teenager fresh out of school and fleeing Virginia and dead parents that had never really seemed to want her anyway.

She turned her face away from the clouds and focused on the pavement beneath her feet instead.

She didn't even realize where her feet had taken her, down streets that she had avoided for years, but that she still remembered so well. And then she was there.

It was a little run down compared to the clubs that had become her haunts in the years since that night she planned to celebrate. But the old sign outside had the same name written on it, and when she pushed through the door, the interior was still lit just enough for the mood to be right. It was the middle of the afternoon; the place wouldn't fill up for hours yet, but it had a regular day crowd that came in for food an whatever new band had scored a set on the stage that had created Klaus Mikaelson.

It didn't matter if it was a terrible time - every would be musician wanted to stand on that stage.

She looked to the stage as the first notes of a song that seemed familiar to her began to play.

It was almost a decade earlier, and she was stepping through the doors for the very first time, and she couldn't take her eyes off of him, and the way he owned the stage, even as he played an acoustic set that would never sound quite right anywhere else.

It was almost a decade later, and his gaze still found hers, as if it was that very first time. And she couldn't look away.

She knew the exact length of the song. She had listened to it so many times in the days after their first meeting, and then again throughout the years after they went their separate years, jaded and bitter and still so in love that she couldn't admit to anyone else that she still kept his albums, because it hurt too much just to say his name. It was three minutes and thirty-seven seconds exactly. But here, it would run three minutes and fifty-two seconds, because he liked to add some flourishes.

Even as the last note sounded across the bar, Caroline began to walk towards the bar. She knew the exact stool she had sat on that night. There was a tear in it, one that had been mended, but it was the same rusty red color, and even though she hadn't sat on one of these stools in years, something about it still felt like coming home.

Something about it made everything seem colorful again, even though the dim light of the bar meant it was even darker than it had been outside without the sun.

"Do you ever think of me?"

Those hadn't been the first words he'd ever spoken to her. Those had been "let me get that" and it had turned into... her biggest mistake? Her greatest regret? It had been both and everything in between at different points over the years.

But that had been then, and no matter that she might have felt nineteen again for those few brief moments the song had played, it had been a sweet dream, but nothing more. Years had passed, and this was now.

"Every day," she replied, because even at their worst, they had never lied to each other. They had said cruel, bitter words - but every one of them had been the truth. "Do you ever think of me?"

"I wrote an entire album about you, Love."

"That was five years ago. It won you the Grammy." Caroline hadn't ordered, but the bartender brought her a rye with gingerale. In front of Klaus, he put a glass of water. "That's new."

"That's not," he nodded at her own drink. "But Hank's never forgotten a drink order in his life. If you'd prefer something else, best tell him now. Perhaps a nice pinot."

Caroline took a sip of the rye, and tried to remember when she had ordered it last. It had been years. She had clung to it as the last reminder of a small town life, but somewhere along the way she had discarded that girl entirely. She'd held too many memories, and Caroline had wanted to pretend to be someone else. Someone that had never felt pain before in her life.

Stefan had never complained; he liked that he hadn't had to put any actual work into them.

"I hear there's an engagement in the making," Klaus said after a few beats of silence. "Congratulations."

"Tomorrow, you'll hear that there's a divorce. Maybe. I don't think any of my people have actually talked to Damon or Elena's people." She discarded the straw entirely and drained the glass, then tapped the edge, so Hank would refill it. "He slept with her."

Another long pause, and then, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"No you're not," Caroline replied with an inelegant snort. "I thought honesty was the one place we never went wrong. Things really do change."

She sounded angry. And bitter.

She was angry and bitter.

She should be angry and bitter with Stefan, because he was the one that ruined everything. They'd had a good thing going, and he'd tossed it aside because he couldn't stay away from his brother's wife. But she still felt nothing about that situation.

But Klaus... she'd felt many things for Klaus. Nothing had never been in the cards between them.

"I'm sorry he hurt you," Klaus corrected, and that, Caroline thought, might actually been true.

"He didn't," she replied simply. "I never gave anyone that power. Not after you."

There were so many words unspoken between them. They hadn't been able to say them back then, and now they were stuck in their throats and making them both choke. Or maybe she was the only one choking.

Klaus was just looking at her, the same way he always had.

"I shouldn't have come here," she said as Hank gave her the refill. But she didn't pick it up and toss it back the way she wanted to. Because Klaus still had just water in front of him, and she wasn't sure if she was proud or hurt, and she was afraid of what words she would unleash on him if she had another. "I don't know why I came here."

"Don't you?"

He always smirked at her like that, when he thought she was lying to herself and he knew all the truths in the world. It was a confrontational smirk that had always made her irate.

"Why did you stop drinking?" she shot back with the same confrontational tone.

"Because I didn't stop back then, and I lost you. And when Elijah managed to pull me out of the bottle I was trying to drown myself in, he made me realize that if I ever wanted you again, I would have to pull myself out and face the consequences of what I'd done sober."

Caroline swallowed, and pushed her rye a little further away.

"You never said anything about wanting me back."

"I wrote an entire album. And you never said anything."

She had been with Stefan by then, trying to ignore the album that had been everywhere, because she'd read it as a good-bye letter. To what they once had. In the end, she'd bought it, because ignoring it had been impossible, and Klaus had always had a way with words that spoke to her in ways beyond their relationship.

"If I said I wanted you to take me away," she said slowly, testing each word out carefully as she said it. "What would you do?"

"Where do you want to go?"

It wasn't a direct answer, yet it was. Klaus had never been a pushover in their relationship. There were things he liked to control. He had his preferences. But he'd always taken a sort of glee in giving her her heart's desire.

"Can you take me back to who we were a decade ago?" she asked, heart aching with bittersweet memories. "Give us a do over?"

"Do you think it would change anything?"

No, of course. Because in the end, the issue hadn't been them. It had been the bottle that was always between them, and Klaus had already started down that path before Caroline had ever met him. It made her ache for the boy he had been before they had ever entered each other's orbit.

It made her heart ache for the naive fools they'd been, the ones that had met too late, and because of that never really stood a change. Not with who they'd been, individually and together.

"I miss you," she said at last, and she found herself leaning into his side, his arm wrapping around her waist. How many times had they sat there, just like that? Too many to count. "That's the real answer - do I think of you? Yes, and I miss you."

"You've never been the type to run, Caroline. Not until you've no other options - I know that best. But if you'd let me, I'd stand by you."

"I didn't. Stand by you. You're being too nice, Klaus. You're shitty at being nice."

His chuckle made his chest rumble, and she felt him press a kiss to her hair. Part of her, the jaded part, told her this was just the magic of the bar. That it had swept her back in time, but as soon as they left the bar, the world would be dulled again.

The other part of her, the girl with bright eyes and hope in her heart said that the world was never dull around Klaus. It never had been - and L.A. had always been the city of second chances.

"You would of, had I let you. But I was an ass. I still am. I'm just a sober ass with clearer vision."

And Caroline, who had stopped listening to that dead girl inside of her looked up at Klaus, and she'd done the one thing she hadn't done since the last time she'd been in this exact position. She hoped.

And she took a chance.

"Stand by me, then."

And outside, the sun broke through the clouds, throwing color back into a city that had seemed to be lacking it for far too long.

#Klaroline #kcbingo2020 #goldcaught #Klaroline fic

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conceptuaiizing · 4 years

Text

I did EAs job for them and created a hypothetical teen-centered game pack. (Complete with jobs, aspirations, and events!)

All of the credit for this goes to this amazing person: @silent-spirits The original post can be found on Reddit. THIS IS AMAZING.

Teens need more in-game. They basically are just adults who don't work and it's really sad. I think teens could be one of the best life stages to play but there as of now just isn't enough for them to do. So I tried to brainstorm some ideas for a game pack based on them. Would love to hear your thoughts! If you have more ideas please tell me!

I wanted the main selling point for this pack to be an all-new group of teen-only aspirations, jobs, events, and interactions. This focuses more on the gameplay between teens than it does their interactions with adults such as parenthood.

I realize I've put more in this game pack idea than most expansion packs but listen I'm desperate for teen content and I ain't stingy the more the merrier.

Also, I know a lot of this would be cool as a free update but I decided to still put it here because it fits the theme okay.

New School Option:

Private vs Public School

When your sim becomes a teen the guardian will choose to send them to either a private or a public school. I think its ridiculous a family making $1,000s a day each sends their kids to the exact same school as families pushing $1,000 max all together. Obviously it happens in some cases but not too often.

Sims going to private schools have to pay money to do so and wear uniforms. They also have higher chance of getting scouted by universities cause that's life ya know.

Sims going to public schools don't have to pay or wear a uniform. They have a lower chance of being scouted but as a result, have a higher chance of getting a full-ride when they are because they have lower incomes typically.

Sims from the two become rivals and will play each other in games and other events like in University

Teen Only Aspirations:

Valedictorian

Reward Trait: Overachiever

Must not only have an A in high school along with high mental skill but also must be involved in some social activity. This would boost mental and social skills as a teen and once they get the trait they get two benefits. First, they have a higher chance of getting into a distinguished degree program in discover university if you have it. Otherwise, it allows adult sims to choose the socialize option while at work and still gain not lose promotion progress as an overachiever would have mastered the balance of work and socializing.

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Prom Queen/King

Reward Trait: Social Royalty

Focuses on mostly social but also creative skills. Sims must be friends with at least 7 teens and introduce themselves to at least 15. They also have to gain skills specifically in painting and charisma because they would be campaigning as a Prom Queen/King to other teens. Allows them to create posters to put up around venues with the teen hangout trait and they have a new school interaction to "gather support" for their campaign. Ties into the new prom event and allows sims to ask a teen to be the person they run with.

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Mr / Miss Evans

Reward Trait: Sole Lead

Your sim better be ready to bop til they drop with this creative aspiration. This focuses on sims who wish to go into acting, comedy, or music careers. Basically anything involving the big stage. Your sim will need to gain skills in the social categories as well as acting and dancing. Ties into the new school rabbit hole play event where sims can try out after school as they need to get one lead role at least to complete the drama route. They must choose to either be in the play (drama), be in band (music), or being in an improv club (comedy). This allows teen sims to have various interactions with other teens like "discourage from trying out" or "bost about being the lead." Sims who specifically wish to pursue music can join the after school band event which will be at stadiums for performances. Sims with the Sole Lead trait having higher success in stage-related careers, getting into the distinguished drama degree, and can mentor sims in related skills as long as they are a higher level (they don't have to be maxed out)

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Mandatory Participant

Reward Trait: Fighter of the System

For sims who are only at school because its a legal requirement. Sims boost all skill categories in this aspiration but the main focus is mischief and athletism (as they need to escape and play pranks). Sims in this aspiration will skip school with friends, crash prom, and skip their graduation ceremony. They also can't have more than a B in their class and must have a part-time job. This is for sims who believe they don't need school and are able to learn everything themselves. Sims focus on learning skills from books and mentors as well as a part-time career. Sims with the Fighter of the System trait earn higher for freelance, plopsy, and programming jobs as they don't want to work for the man. They also will have a harder time befriending those in the politician and education careers.

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Future 1%

Reward Trait: Big Brain

These teens aspire to be like Elon Musk or Jeff Besos aka the top of the top. Focusing on mental and social skills sims must reach the highest rank of a part-time job in either office assistant, tech intern, or tutor. Sims must also max out at least one skill by the time they become a young adult. Sims who get the Big Brain trait will have a boost to career/degrees related to the law, engineering, technology, and business careers. They also earn a new interaction to "destroy a sim with facts and logic" in the mean category.

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Advisors Pet

Reward Trait: Flexible

These are for the teens who have absolutely zero idea about what they want to do in life. Sims in this aspiration will need to quit at least one part-time job for another, have 7+ in at last 3 skills, and need to have a best friend. Sims will also need to do interactions such as "ponder about future" and "ask sim future plans" to get ideas. Sims with the Flexible trait will not get upset if they switch careers/degrees and have the ability to switch their degree mid-semester, unlike other sims.

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Future "Influencer"

Reward Trait: Attention Wench

For your classic insufferable teens dead set on being the next biggest youtuber, steamer, or simstagram model. Social media is fully opened up to all teen-elders (you don't have to be in the social media career to get all the options) and teens will have to grind for the numbers. Sims also can do interactions such as "ask for shoutouts," "invite to be in video," or "ask if photoshop looks real." These sims don't care about school much and focus on building up social skills. Due to their constant social media grind, they often will annoy other sims and if they annoy another influencer they can get in a social media drama. If they complete the aspiration they get the Attention Wench trait which makes them less embarrassed, gives a bonus to social media success, and makes them more successful at apologizing because they simply made a serious and severe lapse in their judgment.

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Teen-Only Careers:

Office Assistant

Gain experience in social and mental skills by working in a local office. Levels include paperboy/girl, secretary, intern, and future hire. Sims who make it to the future hire level will get offered to join the business career and gain promotions easier immediately when they grow up which will start them 2 levels ahead. However, they lose this opportunity if they goto University.

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Tech Intern

Sims must have at least 3 levels in programming to apply for this job. Gain experience in programming and logic. There aren't any levels (just bonuses) and the higher the bonus the higher signing bonus they will get if they immediately join the programming career. Like the OA they lose the opportunity if they choose to go to Uni instead of being hired by the company.

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Tutor

Sims must have 5 levels in at least 3 skills to be eligible to become a tutor. Sims gain skills in charisma, research and debate, and writing while working. They also will befriend the student they are tutoring. Becoming a tutor will give sims a bonus to the Valedvitorian aspiration and will also boost them in applying for distinguished degrees.

Note

I wanted to add more careers but I felt there are so many that shouldn't be locked purely behind a teen age. So I figured id stick to careers that actually hold benefits for teens in the future than simple pocket money ones.

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Events:

Prom

-Prom is an event that takes place at a lounge venue during a teen's lifespan much to the nature of the talent show event. Your sim will get notified when Prom begins and they can choose between three options, skip prom, attend, or show up late to crash it. When your sim travels to the venue for Prom they will change into formal gear (unless they showed up later to crash it then they'd be in normal clothes or a special outfit your choice) and have goals like any other event. Other teens that your sim know will be there and the venue will only have teens minus any workers at the venue or chaperons.

-Sims can dance with their date (who they must ask out before prom), try and steal someone else's date (and risk a fight), dance with friends (in case they went alone), take pictures together, and a prom king and queen/king announcement will be made.

-If your sims there to crash it they can mess with the music, steal the food, and even get up on stage to crash the prom royalty announcement. If you go as far as crashing the announcement you will have a little timer that pops up which is your time to escape the venue before the chaperons get you. If you successfully leave without getting got you will have a crown in your inventory and will receive a confident moodlet. If you get caught you get no crown and your guardian is called giving the teen an embarrassed moodlet and the guardian an angry one. Both however result in getting suspended for one day (they stay home) as well as a drop in school performance.

-The day after prom your sim will get texts from their friends regarding prom. If your sim went it will be about what happened there or someone asking since they didn't go. If your sim chooses to crash it they will either get congratulated by their friends for having the guts to do it or the prom queen/king will text them angrily. If your sim didn't go the others will inform them about what happened.

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Graduation

Graduation is much like the one in University where you only get it if you get at least a C and it is a rabbit hole. Your sim can choose to go or skip both results in getting a high school diploma either way. If your sim goes they will show up to the stadium in their uniform with their family if they choose to and will disappear. During the graduation a few things will pop up asking for a choice such as "your friend's name has been called do you A) Scream loudly or B) Act natural" or "your walking to receive your diploma do you A) Do something crazy or B) Act natural." Afterward, your sim will have a confident/happy moodlet and so will whoever attends. They will have time to mingle with the other teens and their families before being asked if they wish to bring their friends over to their house for a party.

Venues

Stadium

-Where sims go for graduation and athletic careers

-Allows sims outside University to go to sports games

-Includes NPCs that are food vendors, players, etc.

-Can be large football stadiums or a small town local one

-If a game or graduation is not occurring sims can play soccer, football, lacrosse, etc with each other on the felid

-Band kids will go here for performances

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After School Activities

Plays

-Anyone can try out for the play (as an actor, tech, or designer) and it happens twice in a teen sims lifespan. If your sim is high enough in acting to get a call back they will be able to choose a specific role to try out for and have the chance of being an understudy if they are beat out. Sims who choose to apply for a tech role will get it instantly. Sims who apply for a designer must have at least a level 3 in painting to receive it.

-If a sim is in production, no matter what aspect they will have to go to practice daily. They also must practice on their own and can do so with others. During practice, they will meet other teens and improve on skills related to what they chose. Sims can also ask others to go watch the play.

-After the play, you will find out how well your sim did relating to how much they practiced/the level. Sims who did great will get a moodlet bonus while sims who didn't will get a negative moodlet. Sims who did poorly also have consequences. If they acted badly they cant apply for the lead in the next play, if their tech or design they won't be allowed to participate next play.

-The night of the play sims and whoever they invited will travel to it as a rabbit hole.

-Allows for sims in the acting branch to get scouted by a college scout and will receive a college scholarship potentially.

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Sports

-Sims can apply for a sports team in various sports.

-All are rabbit hole except for soccer, football, and lacrosse which can be played at the stadium for practice

-Adds more variety of sports equipment that can be used by child-elders (which should also be a free update js)

-Sims on the sports team use the same system as the soccer team from DU

-Like the plays, sims have the ability to get scouted and they can either get a scholarship or if they decide to pursue an athletic-related degree a full ride

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Band

-Adds more instruments (which should be a free update)

-Sims must audition to be in the band and whether they practice or not will mean whether or not their position in the band increases

-Perform in their own rabbit hole events and at sports games for the highschool

-Can also get scouted which can result in scholarships

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Clubs

-Sims can also join various rabbit hole clubs such as anime club, chess club, social related issues clubs, cooking club, d&d club, etc you get the point

-Clubs happen after school but do not occur every single day some might be once a week while other might be three times which allows teens to either join multiple clubs or have time to do a job or simply their homework

-Clubs do not result in possible scholarships but they do increase skills and allow sims to meet friends

-Some clubs will have special weekend events like bake sales or trips

-Being an active club member will increase your sims chances of getting into a distinguished degree as they will look better to the schools

School Trips

-Teens will come home some days and be notified there is a school trip occurring the next day which can either be educational (a museum for example) or for fun (the beach, park, etc)

-If your sims grades are lower than a B they will not be allowed to go

-Sims must have a signed permission slip to attend the trip. When they get home they can ask their guardian to sign it (if you have parenthood and your sims not the best kid their guardian will be more likely to refuse) or if their mischief is high enough they can forge it

-Sims who forge a signature can get caught, sent home, and lose school performance while causing their guardian to get an angry moodlet

-If you have a vacation park (Jungle Adventure or Outdoor Retreat) and your sim has an A they will get the option for an overnight school trip

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thatoneitaliangirl · 5 years

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Obey Me! Soulmate AU’s!~ Mammon

Ahh, yes, the GREAT Mammon!~ I had a blast writing this one! If felt a lot less stiff than Lucifer’s and a lot more clear reading-wise, so I’m happy with it! I hope you enjoy!~

With Love, JJ!~

Link to the opening paragraph.

Mammon

'Geez, can't a guy catch a break?' The whole way Mammon led was picked apart and complained about by all six of his brothers. 'How much longer?' 'This place stinks!' 'Where are we going?' 'I'm hungry!' 'Why should we bother? Mammon's soulmate is probably going to be as stupid as he is!' That one really got to him. Even now, before even meeting her, he's defensive of her.

How dare they say something like that about HIS girl! But even so, he finds himself walking slower and slower to his destination. Does he really want to know who this chick is? His heart is still with his human . . . Once the exchange program ended, she left the Devildom and so did a piece of his soul. He loved her . . . Loves her.

He never got the chance to say it to her face, and he regrets it every day, but there's nothing he can do about it. And this whole soulmate thing their father has done for them feels like a punch to the face. He's already found love and experienced heartbreak first hand! He doesn't want to feel that shit again, not in a million years.

"Do you even know what you're doing, Mammon? We've been walking for ages!" Asmodeus speaks up, sweat on his brow and a frown on his face. "The human world's sun is dreadfully hot . . ." "I thought you enjoyed the human world's sun," The fourth born, Satan, says, a slight mocking in his voice.

"Always going on and on about summer and how fun the beach seemed?" Asmodeus' frown deepens as he looks at his older brother. "That was before it tried to melt my perfect body. Look! My beautifully creamy skin is now red from heatstroke!" Belphagor rolls his eyes. "I seriously doubt you're gonna get heatstroke, Asmo."

"Besides," Levi chimes in. "We'd all rather be doing something else instead of listening to you complain. Like, beat level 256 of Dragon Slayer!" "Or take a nap . . ." "Or eat . . . " Beelzebubs stomach makes a loud growling sound causing the other brothers to get nervous.

"We better speed things up before Beel eats the next living thing we walk by," Levi says, a nervous laugh escaping. "Or worse, your soulmate." Nodding in agreement, Mammon speeds up, still not quite knowing what to expect. Whoever this chick turns out to be, she'll always pale in comparison to his human.

With not much time left to spare before Beel tries to chew on his brothers, the seven demons walk up to a large building with the words 'South Campas' painted in black letters on a sign. "This must be a human world school," Lucifer states, a hand on his chin in thought. "It seems a lot different to RAD in the Devildom." The seven brothers walk through the archway and onto the campus grounds with hesitation.

"Are you sure this is the right way? I find it hard to believe anyone destined for Mammon would actually go to school!" Mammon glares at Asmodeus. "So what if this is a school? The Mammon only ever deserves the best!" They all collectively roll their eyes. "Still," Lucifer thinks out loud.

"This could be a wonderful moment to learn more about the human world's schools. I'm sure Lord Diavolo would be most pleased to know how they compare and contrast to our own." As Lucifer speaks, behind him, Belphagor and Levi make faces as they copy his words. He turns around quickly, as they hastily try to act natural.

"Does everything have to be about Lord Diavolo with you, Lucifer? For once, we're doing something that has nothing to do with him or the Devildom, and all you can think about is Lord Diavolo." The other brothers back up, sensing the anger radiating off of Satan as he crosses his arms and thins his eyes at Lucifer. "Oh boy . . ." Beel pats his stomach and backs up.

"I'm too hungry for this." The tension in the air is so thin, you could cut it with a knife as Lucifer and Satan have a stare off in the middle of the courtyard. "Do you boys need somethin'?" An older female asks with a strange accent. "Uh-" Mammon stumbles with his words, caught off guard due to the impending fight amongst hs brothers. All seven of them stop and look at the woman, not used to seeing a figure with that much age. Everyone in the Celestial Realm and the Devildom don't age, so this is surprising to them. All seem to be put off, except for Lucifer.

"Yes, ma'am. We're looking for a girl." He looks over at his younger brother Mammon, knowing that only he could be the one to know what she looks like. When he first found his soulmate, he already knew her name before he even stepped into the building. It has to be the same for the others, right?

Mammon blanks, not knowing what to say. "Well, y'all are gonna have to be a bit more specific than that." She lets out a small chuckle, though her obvious distrust is evident. Eventually, Mammon speaks up. "She's studying Phycology," His brothers give him a look of confusion. To be honest, Mammon is just as confused as they are. This intimate knowledge of his soulmate's schedule is just flowing out of him without him even knowing why.

"She stays after hours to help clean the front office for volunteer credit." The older woman smiles as if thinking about the girl he mentioned. "Oh! She is just a sweetheart. Follow me!" The boys all reluctantly follow this woman towards who they can assume in their brother's soulmate. Mammon sighs, an uncomfortable feeling in his gut.

He doesn't like the fact that he know's all this stuff without even trying. Or that this lady is so willing to just show them to this girl. Seven strange men, she's never seen or heard of before, waltz up onto campus looking for a girl with no name, and only give her schedule? What kind of establishment is this?! Even in the Devildom, you have to give proper ID and such for protection!

Walking into the main office, the seven brothers look around in awe at all the trophies and medals showcased along the walls. "Here at Germanic Atlantic University, we take pride in all of our accomplishments, big and small." She says, gesturing to the many awards. "Part of _____'s job is to polish the cases after hours." "_____?" Mammon says out loud as they're lead through a door. "_____, hun, some men are here lookin' for you!"

"Huh?" Confused, the young girl turns around to be greeted by seven surprised and happy faces. She smiles wide and runs towards the brothers, hugging the first one she sees; Mammon. "Oh my God! I thought I'd never see you guys again!!" She lets go of Mammon to hug the others, leaving him stunned. "To be honest, we never expected to see you again either," Lucifer states with a small smile.

Despite all the trouble she caused during the exchange program, he still held respect for the girl. After all, she is the reason Belphegor is even here right now. "Be honest, you all missed me too much to leave off at a year! I am pretty awesome!" Asmodeus rolls his eyes and hugs the girl. "Just like Mammon. Can't say I'm surprised." A disgusted look spreads across the young girl's face as the fifth born holds her close.

"God, Asmo, you smell terrible." He scoffs, holding her tighter. "It's your awful sun that did this to me! So deal with the consequences!" She laughs as she tries to break free from his sweaty grasp, Levi and Beel both attempting to pry Asmo's arms open. Mammon looks on at the scene, a large smile spreading across his face knowing she was who he was looking for all along. His human.

#obey me!#obey me! x reader #obey me! mammon #obey me! mammon x reader #soulmates #soulmate au #obey me! soulmate au

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ceealaina · 4 years

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Title: Time May Change Me Collaborator Name: ceealaina Card Number: 3088 Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Time Travel (to the past) Ship: Stony Rating: E Major Tags: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame, Endgame Fix-It, Friends to Lovers, Summary: A slight shift in timing during the time heist mission leaves Tony and Steve trapped in 1970. Stuck together while they try and work out a new plan, they instead start to see each other in a whole new light. Word Count: 13,609

It started to go wrong the way these things usually did for them — the second they split up. (You’d think by now they would have learned.)

Tony’s timing (hah, how fitting that time was working against them) had been off by seconds. He was just about to cut into the appropriate container, grab the Tesseract and get the hell out of dodge when he’d been interrupted. It probably could have been worse. At least he hadn’t been cut red -- or blue -- handed. But he was caught so off guard by being met with fucking Howard of all people that he hadn’t been able to find an excuse to stay, walking his father out and making bullshit conversation and feeling his heart sink deeper with every step further he took from the Tesseract.

Steve hadn’t fared much better. He had, initially, gotten his hands on the Pym particles. But, distracted by a glimpse of Peggy, of seeing first hand the life she’d lived without him, he had hesitated a moment too long before leaving. He thought he’d made it out. He was outside and had signalled to Tony -- who was talking to his father, no way that was a good idea -- and was just waiting for him to join him when he heard shouts. Steve had to make a quick get away after that, leaving Tony to extricate himself as quickly and unsuspiciously as possible, and hope they’d manage to find each other again. Steve got away, but somehow the Pym Particles were lost in the process. Because that just seemed to be how their day was going.

Tony found Steve a couple hours later, sitting forlornly on a bench in some little park. He’d abandoned most of his borrowed uniform in an attempt at disguise, leaving him in a white t-shirt and a pair of alarmingly high-waisted bell bottom pants that he’d gotten from god knew where. There were a few birds scattered by his feet and Tony resisted the urge to make a crack about old men feeding pigeons in the park as he flopped down onto the bench beside him.

“Cheer up, Cap,” he told him, giving him a conciliatory pat on the shoulder. “It’s not so bad.”

Steve lifted his head to glare at him, but it was half-hearted at best. “Not so bad?” he repeated. “Tony, I lost the Pym Particles.”

“And I didn’t get the Tesseract.”

“Oh, great, things are going to be just fine then.”

“Wow. Sarcasm is not a good look on you, Rogers.”

“I’m not in the mood, Tony. We’re trapped here, and apparently we don’t even have the thing we came for. It’s over, we lost.”

“Well... Not exactly.” At Steve’ confused stare, Tony gave a half shrug. “The good news is, we technically have all the time in the world. Once we get the particles, we can go right back to where we were when we left.”

“We still have to get the particles,” Steve pointed out, but there was something almost resembling hope on his face. “And the Tesseract. And they’ll have stepped up security, if they think there was a breach.”

“Yup,” Tony admitted. “And since bouncing in as Captain America Iron Man could probably result in some catastrophically timeline-altering bullshit, we’re probably going to have to play the long game.”

“What do we do in the meantime?” Steve asked. “It’s 1970, and we didn’t exactly come prepared. You technically haven’t even been born yet; I don’t think your driver’s license is going to fly. We’ve got no IDs, no money, and no place to stay -- SHIELD's list of safehouses isn’t going to cut it right now. How are we playing the long game?”

Tony gave him a crooked grin. “I’m gonna tell you something, and I really need you to not judge me over this, Cap.”

“Oh, this should be good.”

“So back when I was thirteen and in my last years of high school, I was young, and bored, and…”

“A pain in the ass?” Steve supplied.

“Precocious.” Tony gave him a dirty look. “Point being, I may have run some scams, started selling fake IDs… Pre technology era, it was surprisingly easy, actually. Which probably doesn’t say much for the security of our country, but works out well for our purposes.”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. “You want to run scams selling IDs?”

“Well, the IDs would be for us, but basically… Yeah, at least until we get ourselves situated. Unless you got a better idea? I mean, stripping usually pays under the table. Not sure how prominent male strippers were in 1970, but I’m sure you could fetch a pretty penny with that ass.”

Steve gave a long, pained sigh. “Nope. ID scams it is.”

THREE MONTHS LATER

Steve padded down the hall and into the avocado green kitchen that never failed to make his soul cry a little. Tony was already there, sitting at the kitchen table with a legal pad and a mechanical pencil, muttering to himself as he sketched out equations that Steve couldn’t even begin to process. Steve arched an eyebrow at him, beelining for the coffee pot; Tony’s bad habits were starting to rub off on him.

“You get any sleep last night?”

Tony waved his free hand in a so-so gesture before scribbling a few more numbers and looking up to give Steve a slightly crooked grin. “Couple hours.” He made a show of looking Steve up and down, and even though he should have been used to it by now, Steve felt a shiver run up his spine. “Cute shorts, Cap.”

Steve rolled his eyes, shifting to tug at the super short hemline for the umpteenth time. “It’s July, Tony. It’s 90 degrees out there. And apparently this is what the 1970s have to offer for running shorts.”

Tony leaned back in the chair, balancing it on the back two legs. “Hey, I’m not complaining.” He gave him a wink. “Seriously, Steve. You look good.”

Instead of answering, Steve turned to the refrigerator, pulling out a carton of eggs. Since they’d been stuck here, there had been a million little things that Steve had barely even noticed in the future that he missed terribly now, and currently his Super Special Super Soldier Protein Bars (Tony’d had them patented in 2013) were topping the list. He was sure someone, somewhere would have Thoughts on his shifting priorities and how they reflected the Decline Of America, but energy bars were infinitely preferable to having to mix raw eggs into his orange juice, and there was no way around it. He had to pinch his nose as he knocked the drink back, trying to swallow as quickly as he could, but it didn’t do anything to mask the texture.

The sentiment was apparently shared by Tony, who made a face as he watched Steve3. “I could probably reverse engineer some kind of protein bar that meets your super soldier needs,” he offered.

Steve gave him a fond smile. “I’ve had worse,” he told him, which was true, but not by much. “And I don’t think I’d trust your cooking. Anyway, I think I’d rather you reverse engineer a way for us to get the Tesseract.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Tony frowned back down at his legal pad and aggressively scratched out a few numbers. “I’m working on it.”

Steve arched his eyebrows at him. “And I’m going for a run.”

Tony waved him off, but as Steve headed back into the hall, he heard him call, “Bye, Cap! Hate to see you go, but love to watch you leave!”

As he started his regular run through the winding streets of small town Jersey (ew), Steve’s mind started to wander the way it always did when he worked out -- even if he had to hold himself back to keep from attracting unwanted attention. And, the way it seemed to be doing more and more lately, as his worries took a backseat, his mind drifted to Tony instead.

Steve couldn’t say exactly when things had changed between them. It had been the same as usual, at first, the two of them poking and prodding at each other. Steve respected Tony, always had after New York, and he was pretty sure Tony felt the same way about him. But they also knew how to push each other’s buttons, and didn’t seem to be able to stop doing it.

As the spring had dragged on, and their plans to get back into Fort LeHigh went exactly nowhere, and frustrations grew, Steve had expected things to get even worse between them. But instead the exact opposite had happened. Maybe it was the fact that he had a kid now, maybe it was the fact that it felt like the whole world was against them right now, nothing going right, and they were the only ones who had each other’s back. But Tony was different now, and Steve had a feeling that he probably was too.

They had talked about it, once, after yet another tossed out plan. Tony had admitted how much this was weighing on him, how scared he was that this would fail, how many people were counting on them -- Morgan most of all. And then, in a voice that broke Steve’s heart, Tony had admitted that making the effort to get along with Steve made him feel a little bit better about failing to get them out of there. Steve had tried to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault, that coming to 1970 may have been Tony’s idea, but that he’d also been right about it being their only chance. But he knew Tony enough to know that that guilt wasn’t going to stop no matter what Steve said. So he made the effort to be kinder to Tony in turn. And somewhere along the way, it stopped being an effort and just became their relationship. They still teased and prodded at each other, but instead of antagonism, it was all fondness, Tony looking delighted every time he’d get a smile out of Steve. They argued too, sometimes, because they were still them, but the arguments were fewer and farther between, and more often than not they’d just fizzle out entirely until they could come back to it later and have an actual conversation instead.

The team was his family, he loved and trusted them with every ounce of his body. But the little house he shared with Tony was starting to feel like home in a way that he hadn’t found since 1942. Steve knew he shouldn’t be getting too comfortable, that he was probably getting too complacent about their lack of progress. But it was easy to take heart in the fact that they’d be able to return to the same point in time. And he was enjoying the familiarity of their little life here. Tony had gotten a job at a local garage, kept making jokes Steve didn’t quite understand about how he was an actual mechanic now, and Steve had managed to pick up some freelance work drawing cartoons for the local paper. On the mornings when Tony hadn’t stayed up all night, Steve would start the coffee pot, making sure there was a fresh mug waiting for him when he dragged himself out of bed for his shift. And in turn, Tony would prepare dinner, because apparently cooking was a thing he’d learned in the past five years, more often than not making Steve’s favourites. They just knew each other now, things easy and familiar. Steve had expected to be bored, to be slowly going crazy with all the sitting around and waiting. But instead it was almost pleasant, like he’d been able to press the pause button on his life for one damn second.

Apparently Steve Rogers was the domestic type, who knew?

And then, of course, there were the other ways that Steve was starting to know Tony. Over the past few weeks, Tony’s teasing ogling had turned a little less… Teasing. Several times now, Steve had caught Tony staring at him when he thought Steve wasn’t looking, his gaze soft and heated and wanting in a way that made Steve squirm. And his comments on Steve’s body had an edge to them, a bit of truth to the words that hadn’t been there before.

And, well, the house wasn’t big. Steve wasn’t going to pretend that he hadn’t heard Tony jerk off on multiple occasions, that he hadn’t strained his ears to listen for the whisper of his name on Tony’s lips, that he hadn’t then jerked himself off with a little more noise than he would normally, picturing Tony do the same. Maybe it was just the fact that it was only the two of them here together, but Steve couldn’t escape feeling that there was something building between them.

***

The day had ended up being scorchingly hot, and Tony had picked up an extra shift at the garage, so Steve had cooked dinner. He’d never really bothered to learn to cook properly -- Tony liked to joke that his taste buds had been so ruined by Depression era food that not even the serum could save them -- but he could manage a few staples. He’d burned the first attempt at cheeseburgers, but the second set were better, and all the chaos was worth it when Tony shuffled into the kitchen, looking exhausted, only to inhale deeply and then positively beam.

“Steve,” he declared, still in his mechanic’s coveralls as he slumped into one of the kitchen chairs with a cold beer in his hand. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think I love you.”

It was fully dark by the time they finished their meal. The windows and the kitchen door were wide open in the hopes of catching a breeze, and the sounds of the crickets outside filtered through the house. The heat hadn’t dissipated at all with the disappearance of the sun, giving everything a hazy, dreamy feel. Tony had unzipped the top half of his coveralls, leaving them hanging around his waist with only a threadbare white muscle shirt covering his chest. Steve kept having to look away but couldn’t seem to keep his eyes from drifting right back. Those coveralls were his number one weakness right now; he’d had multiple filthy fantasies about peeling Tony out of them.

“Fuck, it’s hot,” Tony muttered, knocking back the last of his beer. His legs were spread on the chair, posture loose and easy, and Steve watched his throat bob as he swallowed.

“You could go and change,” Steve pointed out, even as his dick screamed at him to shut up, that was the last thing he wanted.

Tony sighed. “Yeah, but then I’d have to move,” he complained, offering Steve a grin. “Anyway, it’s my turn to do the dishes,” he added, not seeming to care that he’d just negated his last point entirely.

“No, hey. You've had a long day,” Steve said. “I’ll do them.”

Tony hummed, considering. “You wash and I’ll dry?”

“Done deal.”

Washing the dishes with Tony was one of his favourite chores, and tonight was no exception. They alternated between companionable silence as they worked, broken only by the gentle splash of water as Steve rinsed another dish, and easy chatter, nohing of importance, just dumb jokes and mindless anecdotes.

“So then,” Tony concluded, giving a glass a half-assed swipe with his dishcloth and putting it away mostly wet. Steve thought about calling him on it, but didn’t. “It turned out that he’d somehow wired the radio to the headlights? And every time they came on, the radio would turn off. That’s why it wouldn’t work at night.”

It wasn’t even that funny of a story, but Tony’s laughter was contagious. Steve turned to smile at him, and something in his chest caught. Tony was grinning, face lit up with humor and a hint of anticipation as he stared back at Steve. He had a lock of hair falling over his forehead, curling in the hot summer air, and he was still wearing those damn coveralls, biceps on display. Hardly aware of what he was doing, Steve let the dishcloth slip into the sink and curled a soapy wet hand around the back of Tony’s neck. He had a brief moment to notice Tony’s tiny shiver at the water on his skin, and then Steve leaned in and kissed him. Tony’s lips were warm and soft and slightly parted, practically inviting Steve to deepen the kiss, to suck gently on his upper lip. Tony made a soft noise in response, barely more than a huff of air, and all of a sudden Steve realized what he was doing.

With a start he pulled back, almost immediately missing the touch of Tony’s skin beneath his fingers. “Oh god, I’m sorry,” he burst out, staring at the floor and pressing his fingers gingerly to his own lips, like he could hide what he’d done. “I don’t know what that was. It’s just the heat, and, and… You…”

Stomach twisting with nerves, Steve chanced a glance up at Tony, expecting him to be upset, or angry, or even hurt for some reason. But instead Tony was just staring back at him with a soft, pleased smile on his lips. “It’s okay, Steve.”

And sure, he probably just meant that he was forgiving Steve’s lapse of judgement, Steve knew that. But he could also be giving Steve permission, and so he leaned in, kissing him again. And when Tony didn’t shove him away, only sighed against his mouth and pressed his palms against Steve’s abs through his tight, white-t-shirt, Steve deepened it once more, pressing his tongue past Tony’s lips to taste him. His hands shifted to grip at Tony’s hips, thumbs sliding over the bare skin where his shirt didn’t quite touch his coveralls, and he was only half-aware of turning them until he had Tony pressed back against the counter, Steve looming over him and holding him in place.

They were both breathing hard by the time he pulled back again, and Steve couldn’t stop staring at Tony. His hair was more mussed now, though neither of them had touched it, little strands curling around his neck and ears. His lips were red and swollen, eyes dark and heavy, and he was still giving Steve that soft smile. He tilted his head a little, squinting like he was trying to read him, and then he grinned.

“Close the door, Steve.”

Steve blinked at him, wondering if he was somehow so horny for it that a little kissing had completely fried his brain. “What?”

Tony laughed softly, the sound sending something warm and pleasant furling through Steve’s stomach -- though that may have been helped by the way that Tony slid his hands up Steve’s chest, dragging over his tight nipples in the process, and fiddled with the collar of his shirt.

“Shut the kitchen door, Steve. So we can go to bed.”

Steve nodded, a little dazed, and reluctantly let go of Tony’s hips. He didn’t know if Tony meant to go to bed because if they’d reached this point it was time to call it a night, or to go to bed, but he moved over to the kitchen door. He could feel Tony watching him with every step, his gaze heavy on his back and setting Steve’s nerves into hyperdrive. He shut the door firmly, the click of the lock seeming thunderous in the weighted silence of the room. Swallowing thickly he turned back to Tony.

“So, uh…” His voice sounded strange to his own ears and he trailed off, not sure what he even wanted to ask. Tony seemed to know though, giving Steve an amused smile. He held out his hand toward him.

“Come on, handsome.”

Steve moved back across the room, and curled his fingers around Tony’s. There were calluses on Tony’s hand, dragging against his own smooth skin, and Steve shivered at the sensation. There was a soft huff of laughter from Tony and then he was tugging gently on Steve’s arm, leading him down the hall toward their bedrooms. It felt hopelessly domestic, and something that had nothing to do with sex tugged at his heart. They didn’t speak, not even when they reached Tony’s bedroom door. Tony didn’t hesitate, his hand still clasped around Steve’s as he pulled him inside, and Steve was helpless to do anything but keep following.

Tony led him over to the side of the bed, angling himself to face Steve as he sat down beside him. Steve’s breath caught as Tony locked eyes with him, running his hand lightly over his chest before he curled his hand in the cotton of his t-shirt, tugging at him gently until they were kissing again. Steve let himself melt into it, hyper-aware of every point of contact between them as heat flooded through his body. Steve let his hand slide over Tony’s ribs and the two of them tipped back against the mattress until they were lying side by side, sharing kisses so sweet they almost ached. One of Tony’s hands came up, running through Steve’s hair, and he shuddered against him, pulling back to look at Tony with heavy eyes.

“Tony, what…” Steve tightened his hand against Tony’s waist, not wanting him to pull away. “What are we doing?”

Tony huffed out another soft laugh, shifting closer until his chest was pressed to Steve’s. “I think that’s kind of obvious, Cap,” he told him, voice low and rough.

Steve whined softly, his hand clenching against Tony’s side before he forced himself to loosen his grip. “What… What about Pepper?” he asked, because he couldn’t not.

But Tony just smiled, unperturbed. “Don’t worry about it. We have an understanding,” he told him vaguely before pressing in closer. Steve could feel their lips brush against each other, unbearably intimate. “Just relax, Steve,” Tony hummed. “I want this. I think you want this too, right?”

Steve nodded. “Yeah,” he said, voice rasping over the word. Tony beamed.

“Then don’t worry about anything else.”

Tony kissed him again, soft and slow, and Steve let himself sink into it, everything that wasn’t Tony’s lips on his fading from his mind. Tony shifted against him, pushing himself up on one elbow so he could press Steve onto his back, leaning over him. He moved his hand up under Steve’s t-shirt, and Steve gasped a little, abs flexing at the touch of his cool fingers. Tony grinned against his mouth, tugging at his lower lip.

“There we go,” he hummed. “God Steve, you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to touch you like this?” He pushed at the fabric, movements getting a little sloppy. “Come on, gorgeous. Let me see you.”

Steve felt hot all over, could feel his cheeks flushing red. He pushed himself up far enough to haul his t-shirt off over his head.

“Oh yeah,” Tony breathed. “There we go.”

Steve rolled his eyes, not bothering to hide his fond smile. “You know, you have seen me shirtless before,” he pointed out. “This morning, even.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed, but he sounded distracted, eyes locked somewhere around Steve’s nipples. “But it’s different now.”

Steve arched an eyebrow, peering down his chest skeptically. “I didn’t run that hard,” he told him, voice teasing.

Tony shook his head. “You’re not different. It’s just… Knowing I actually get to touch you, get to have you?” He visibly shuddered at the thought, and the idea of Tony wanting him that much sent something hot and squirmy rolling through Steve’s body.

“Tony, fuck,” he muttered, hips rolling up as he yanked Tony back down on top of him. Tony made a startled noise that shifted to groan as he ended up with Steve’s cock pressing into his hip.

“God,” he breathed, breath hot on Steve’s skin. He dragged his teeth over the tendon in his neck. “The things I wanna do to you.”

“Please,” Steve moaned, sliding his hand down Tony’s back to squeeze at his ass through the coveralls. “Whatever you want, anything.”

Tony grinned into his neck. “Whatever I want, huh? Never thought I’d hear those words coming from you, Cap.”

Steve opened his mouth to offer some kind of retort, but bit out a string of curses instead as Tony’s thumb found his left nipple, rubbing over the pert flesh. Tony was barely touching him, just flicks of his fingers and teasing little brushes of skin on skin, but every point of contact was setting Steve on fire, feeling like it was on the cusp of too much. He let his eyes fall shut, hands clenching periodically over Tony’s ass and side as his cock throbbed in his shorts.

“Tony, god, please. I want…”

“What?” Tony asked, and his voice was thick and rough. Steve opened his eyes again to see Tony staring down at him hungrily, biting down hard on his lower lip. “What do you want Steve?”

“Please,” he whined, dragging his hand back up to Tony’s hips to hold him in place while he rocked his hips up against him. “Wanna… Touch. Please.”

He could feel the hot air of Tony’s breath as he laughed against his neck, and then he slid lower down Steve’s waist, sucking the nipple he’d already been teasing into his mouth. Steve didn’t even try to hold back his shout as Tony bit down on the tender skin. His body arched up into the touch, nearly unseating Tony entirely.

“Christ,” Tony muttered. “You’re so fucking sensitive.”

Steve whined as Tony’s warm heat left his body, but when he opened his eyes in protest, Tony was grinning at him as he stripped off his tank top. Steve let his eyes drag hungrily down Tony’s chest, noted the way he flushed a little in response, and then scrambled to arch his hips and kick his shorts off down his hips. Tony was doing the same with his coveralls, and distantly Steve felt a little disappointed that he hadn’t had the chance to peel him out of them himself. But then his cock was springing free, resting hot and hard against his belly, and Steve couldn’t stop himself from curling his hand around it, groaning in relief.

It took him a minute to realize that Tony had stopped undressing, staring at Steve’s cock with heavy eyes and his lips parted. “Holy shit, Steve,” he ground out. Then he was kicking off the last of his clothes and moving to lean over Steve again, covering his hand with his. Steve gasped at the sensation -- he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had someone else touching him, and this was Tony -- and his cock grew heavier in their shared grip. “Fuck, Steve.” Tony bit down on his earlobe, hard, tightening his grip around him. “You gotta let me taste you, honey, please.”

There was suddenly nothing that Steve wanted more and he whined a little desperately, catching Tony’s lips in a desperate, sloppy kiss before Tony moved down his body, kissing sporadically over Steve’s chest as he went.

From the first flick of Tony’s tongue against the head of his cock, Steve was lost. He rolled his head back, knowing if he tried to look at Tony now he’d last all of five seconds. He panted up at the ceiling instead, body thrumming and over sensitive. The hot summer air was giving everything a dreamy, dazed feel, not quite real, and he gave himself over to the sensation, losing sight of time and what was happening, but hyperconscious of how good he felt, the way his skin lit up everywhere that Tony touched him. His mouth was hot and wet, swallowing around Steve over and over again, until he couldn’t focus on anything else.

Steve had no idea how much longer it had been when he felt his balls draw up tight, his orgasm suddenly right there. He gave a ragged moan, patting clumsily at Tony’s shoulder.

“Tony,” he mumbled, and he hadn’t thought he’d been screaming, but his voice sure sounded like it. “Gonna…”

But Tony didn’t pull off, just swallowed him deeper. Wondering if maybe he hadn’t understood, Steve dragged his eyes open only to look down and find Tony staring back at him intensely. There was a look in his eyes like making Steve feel good was the greatest thing he had ever accomplished, and Steve couldn’t hold on any longer. Clenching his fingers in the sheets hard enough to ache, Steve spilled down Tony’s throat, cursing when that only made Tony swallow harder around him.

When he’d finished, Steve collapsed flat on his back on the mattress, body limp and ears ringing. For a long moment he was only aware of his own breathing, his heart racing in his ears. And then he felt Tony shifting against him, opened his eyes to see Tony on his knees beside him, jerking off frantically. He was running his mouth again, but Steve couldn’t seem to focus on what he was saying, only catching bits here and there as Tony rambled about how gorgeous he was, how hot that had been, how he couldn’t wait to do it again, and again, and again. Steve couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away from the sight of Tony’s cock moving through his fist. He was thicker than Steve had expected, the tip wet as it poked between his fingers over and over again. He wanted to touch him, taste him, but he could seem to find the energy to do much more than reach up, mirroring Tony’s earlier movements and curling his hand over Tony’s, feeling the rhythm of him jerking himself off.

Tony’s eyes snapped to his, his face looking almost comically startled, and then he was making a strangled noise before he came across Steve’s chest. It seemed to go on forever and then he was collapsing onto his side, not quite touching Steve but close enough that he could feel the heat from his skin anyway. It was like second nature for Steve to shift his arm, stroking his fingers feather light up and down Tony’s back.

He drifted for awhile, everything still having that hazy, unreal feel. At some point he’d been aware of the mattress shifting, Tony getting up only to return a few moments later, giving them both a cursory wipe down with a damp cloth. Distantly Steve had thought that maybe he should get up, return to his own room, that maybe Tony wouldn’t want him actually sleeping beside him. But before he could make a move, Tony had tossed the cloth in the direction of the bathroom and flopped down beside him again, this time slinging an arm across Steve’s waist. His skin was hot and sticky, but Steve couldn’t bear the thought of getting him to move.

He must have slept, because suddenly he was awake again, aware of the crickets chirping outside the open bedroom window and Tony breathing into his neck. His breathing was steady and even, but somehow Steve knew he was awake anyway. He wondered what he was thinking of, if he was just riding the high of an amazing orgasm, or if he was thinking of home, of his family. That made Steve think of Pepper again, wondering what exactly ‘an understanding’ meant, and he felt guilt twist low in his stomach.

“Tony?”

“Hmm?” Tony’s voice was soft but alert, and Steve drew in a deep breath.

“What’s your ‘understanding’ with Pepper? Did you, I mean… You didn’t just say that so we’d keep going, did you?”

Tony made a disgruntled noise and pushed himself up with the arm not draped over Steve. He stared down at him, eyes slightly narrowed, although he didn’t actually look offended. “What, you think I was so thirsty for it that I lied so you wouldn’t stop me from cheating on my wife?”

Steve winced; put like that, it sounded really bad. “Well, no. And I don’t know if you noticed, but I wasn’t exactly putting much effort into stopping you, I just…” He trailed off, giving him an awkward, helpless shrug. Tony blinked at him a moment longer and then flopped back down on the mattress, fingers drawing idle patterns over Steve’s abs. The silence dragged out between them and Steve was just about to do something to break it when Tony spoke, the words mumbled against Steve’s shoulder.

“Pepper and I aren’t actually together anymore.”

Steve blinked. “Oh,” he said, a little dazed. He didn’t know what he had been thinking, but that was the last thing he had expected. “Oh shit, Tony. I’m sorry.” He felt his heart sink. “Was it… Was it because you came back? To help us with the whole time travel thing, I mean?”

“What? No! God no, nothing like that! Pepper was actually the one pushing me to do it. No, we, uh... actually... haven’t been like that for awhile.”

He sighed, flopping onto his back and slinging an arm across his eyes. Steve immediately missed the weight of his arm across his middle, but he curled his hand around the back of Tony’s neck instead and waited patiently for him to figure out what he wanted to say.

“I don’t know,” he said finally. “After I came back from… From space, things were different. It wasn’t anything she did. It probably wasn’t even anything I did, it was just… Different. Whatever we had wasn’t there anymore. She knew it too. But then she told me she was pregnant, had been before that squid-faced fuck arrived even. And I…” Tony pulled his hand away and rolled his head so he could look over at Steve. “I don’t know, Steve. For the first time since we lost, I remembered what hope felt like again.” He smiled, completely different from how he had smiled at Steve earlier, but just as warm. “She wasn’t even born yet, but Morgan was already saving my life. I wanted that baby more than I’d ever wanted anything in my entire life.” He snorted, his smile going uneven. “Even my dad’s approval,” he added, and Steve winced but Tony’s eyes were dancing. “So Pep and I talked and talked and talked and talked, and eventually we decided… Fuck it. We may not have been in love anymore, but we still love each other. We’re always gonna love each. And with all the shit we’ve been through together, we figured we could totally platonically coparent a baby.” He shrugged. “It’s been working out pretty fantastic, actually, but uh… Yeah. We haven’t been together in like five years so… You’re off the hook.”

“Oh.” Steve nodded. “That’s good.” He knew he should have felt better knowing this and he did. But he also felt weirdly bad about it. He thought every day about what had happened when Thanos’s minions had arrived in New York, replaying it all over and over. This felt like just one more thing that he could have stopped, like maybe if he’d just been there they could have ended it before Tony ever went into space, and maybe Tony and Pepper would still be together.

He didn’t say any of this out loud, of course, but Tony seemed to know something was up anyway. His eyes narrowed a bit before he rolled back onto his side, hand resting comfortably on Steve’s stomach like it belonged there. “Hey. Whatever you’re thinking? Stop. This really is for the best, I’m not lying. We still love each other, and it’s working really well this way. Honestly, I’m not sure what would have happened if we tried to do this as a marriage, but I don’t think it would have ended well. And anyway, the past is the past Steve. There’s no point in worrying about it because we can’t go back and change it.”

Steve gave him a look. “We’re living in 1970, Tony.”

“Okay, but we’re not changing the past, we’re just… Borrowing from it. Well, if you ignore the idea that we’re making minute changes in time just by our ongoing existence here, and that the longer we stay the further those ripples will travel. But we’re not actively trying to change the past, and anyway, all of that should be negated when we eventually return the stones to their original point, so…” He waved his hand, giving Steve a sheepish smile. “Point being, I think we both did things we regret. Going over and over them isn’t going to help anything. Just gotta… Stop thinking about it and move on.”

Steve was quiet for a long moment, combing his fingers absently through Tony’s hair; it was oddly soothing. “I don’t think I can,” he admitted quietly. He gave a short laugh. “Tactical mind. I keep running through scenarios in my head. All the things I could have done differently, all the ways it could have played out instead… I can’t stop it.”

Tony lifted his head to stare at him, eyes wide and horrified. “Still?” he demanded. “You’ve been carrying that around for the last five years? Jesus, Steve.” He shook his head, blowing out a long breath. “Okay, well. I know I can’t make that stop for you, but I can promise you that even if we can’t change the past, we are going to make up for it. We’re going to fix this, Steve. You and me, together.”

Steve nodded, curling his arm tighter around Tony’s back as something in him eased a little. “Together,” he repeated quietly.

***

Steve woke up the next morning alone in Tony’s bed. The air filtering through the window was already hot and humid, promising another sticky day. For a brief moment he was a little disappointed that he hadn’t woken up with Tony beside him, but he could smell bacon and coffee drifting down the hall from the kitchen, so he slid out of bed, hauling on the boxers that he’d left on the floor and padded down the hall to the kitchen.

Like most mornings, Tony was working at the kitchen table, but he looked up as Steve came in and his expression went a little dazed as he took in Steve’s barely dressed state. “Uhh.” Tony made a punched out noise before he seemed to get himself under control, offering Steve a broad grin.

“Morning, Cap,” he said, voice sounding a little raspy like… Well, like he’d been sucking cock. Between that and his obvious appreciation of his body, Steve felt his dick twitch in his shorts. He shifted a little, giving Tony a bright smile in return.

“Hi Tony,” he said, moving over to the coffee pot. He could feel Tony’s eyes on him as he poured the mug and when he turned back around it took a minute for Tony’s eyes to drag back up from he’d been staring at his ass. Steve couldn’t help his pleased little grin as he sat across from Tony at the table. “Any progress?” he asked, nodding at the legal pad covered in Tony’s weird shorthand.

Tony shrugged, but he didn’t even glance at the paper, eyes trained on Steve. “Same as usual,” he told him, taking another swallow of coffee. “Surprisingly hard to hack a security system that hasn’t been automated yet. And they’ve really stepped up their shit.” He eyed Steve, tilting his head a little. “You going for your run this morning?”

Steve shrugged, glancing down at his mostly naked state and grinning ruefully. “I mean, I might put on a few more clothes first, but yeah, probably…” He eyed Tony, who was ogling him again. “Why?” he asked, voice a little lower.

Tony slunk a little lower in his seat, eyes going dark as they locked with Steve’s. “I don’t have to go to the garage until a little later this morning, since I worked late yesterday and everything.” He grinned then, eyebrows waggling. “Wanna do a different kind of cardio this morning?”

They didn’t actually make it to the bedroom this time, only getting as far as the kitschy sunken living room before Tony got his hand in Steve’s boxers and the two of them collapsed to the ground in an uncoordinated heap. Tony jerked him off right there, whispering filthy things into his ear until he came. Steve had barely caught his breath before he was shoving Tony onto his back so he could return the favor.

Afterward, they both lay splayed out on their backs, panting up at the ceiling. Steve hummed, vaguely aware of Tony squirming around beside him. “I never noticed that crack on the ceiling,” he said. “Should have asked for a discount from the realtor.” Tony giggled, right in his ear, and Steve realized that all the squirming had been so he could move closer to Steve, pressing up against his side despite the heat and slinging a leg over his hip.

“I’ll keep that in mind the next time we get trapped forty years in the past and have to buy a house together,” Tony promised, giving a contented little sigh against Steve’s neck. It was strangely comforting having him close like that, leaving Steve feeling settled. He curled his arm around Tony, rubbing over the bare skin at his hip.

“It this… A thing now?” he asked.

There was a long moment of quiet from Tony before he answered, like he was choosing his words carefully. “It’s… Whatever you need it to be, Steve,” he settled on at last. Steve wasn’t entirely sure where that left them, but for now he would take it.

***

Tony whistled to himself as he rooted around in the engine of the Dodge Challenger, in a ridiculously pleasant mood. He was genuinely enjoying working as a mechanic; it was good hands-on work, helping to keep his brain calm, but there was a simplicity to the older engines that he had always preferred. There was a reason he’d kept so many classics in his own garage. It was more than that too though. Since he and Steve had started sleeping together, things felt brighter somehow. The urgency that had been plaguing him since they had fucked up their first time heist, the sense of panic that he had been trying to hide, it had all faded. He was still worried, of course, still working on a new plan, but it didn’t feel so hopeless now. Between the two of them, he knew they’d get it done.

Tony had moved to grab a wrench from the workbench when Joe wandered out of the office, leaning against the doorway. “Barbecue and beers at my place Saturday night. All the fellas are coming. You in?”

“Oh.” Tony couldn’t help his grin. He still wasn’t entirely used to his coworkers seeming to just like him, not wanting anything from him because, as far as they knew, he didn’t have anything to offer. “Yeah, sounds great!”

He turned back to the car, but Joe didn’t move away. Tony could feel his eyes on him, and he turned back, eyebrows arched expectantly.

“You know…” Joe hesitated another moment. “My brother never married. His roommate comes with him to family dinners and for Christmas. Charlie’s a great guy, and he and my brother have a really nice life. No one here would give you grief if your… roommate came along for a drink, is all I’m saying.”

Tony blinked, not quite sure what to do with that. “Oh. Uh, thanks. I will… Let Steve know.”

Joe gave him a warm smile then, followed by a quick pat on the back before he headed back into the office without another word. Tony turned back to the car, utterly nonplussed.

“Steve’s not my boyfriend,” he grumbled at the engine, but even as he said the words, his stomach twisted a little and a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Pepper yelled, ‘liar!’ He blinked down at the mechanics beneath him, thought of how they ate dinner together every night, how long they could spend talking and laughing together, the animosity left over from the last few years faded entirely. How the sex they had could just as often be considered, well, love making, as much as he hated that particular phrase. Tony felt something catch in his chest. “Oh shit, is Steve my boyfriend?”

When he laid it all out like that, like an equation to be solved, it definitely sounded like a relationship. But even bigger, when he focused on Steve’s face, really pictured his smile and his laugh, he felt something in his belly go warm and soft. He didn’t know how he had missed it before, but it was the same feeling he used to have when he thought of Pepper, and Rhodey before that. Tony groaned, sinking forward against the edge of the car.

“Oh god,” he muttered. “I’m in love with Steve Rogers.”

The rest of his shift passed in a blur, Tony caught off guard and a little overwhelmed. The thing was, when he really stopped and thought about it, these feelings weren’t exactly new. In fact, he had a feeling that even while he’d been completely in love with Pepper, and even when he and Steve had been at their absolute worst, there’d been a part of Tony still a little in love with Steve. The way they’d worked so intuitively together, even when they were at odds, the way they’d be so in sync over the weirdest things… there’d always been a spark there. And now alone together, able to talk, and relax, and really take the time to understand each other, he supposed it made sense that that spark would grow into something real.

When he finally wandered in the front door, mind still a bit of a wreck, Steve was standing in the kitchen, cooking them dinner, which looked like it consisted of panned fried hamburgers and… Tomato soup, for some reason. He must have heard the door, but he didn’t look up, humming to himself as the meat sizzled in the frying pan. His hips were swinging a little in rhythm to whatever song he had playing in his head, and his shoulders were loose and relaxed, carrying exactly none of the tension that Tony typically associated with Steve. The whole scene was hopelessly domestic, and Tony wanted nothing more than to step up behind Steve, wrap his arms around his waist and kiss the back of his neck, just to see the squirmy little ticklish shoulder shrug that he would get in response. He was totally gone for the man.

“Aw, fuck,” Tony muttered to himself.

Steve did look up at that, looking over at Tony with a bright smile. “Hey Tony.”

“Hey honey, I’m home,” he answered automatically, getting a chuckle out of Steve before he frowned at Tony a little.

“Hey, you all right? You’re looking a little stressed.”

Tony waved him off, stripping off the top of his coveralls and noting the way Steve’s eyes went dark at the sight -- it hadn’t taken him long to realize that Steve had a thing for this particular look. “Just a long day,” he reassured him, hopping up on the counter beside Steve. He made a grab for some of the cooked burger and got his hand swatted with the spatula for his trouble. “Wow, domestic abuse,” he deadpanned.

Steve rolled his eyes. “What a drama queen,” he retorted, equally dry. “They’re almost done, just a few more minutes. Then we can sit down, and you can tell me allll about your long day.” He looked back up to give Tony a lecherous look. “Or not, and we can just skip to the part where I make you feel better,” he offered, waggling his eyebrows and looking pleased when Tony snorted.

Tony was quiet a moment, watching Steve’s hands manipulate the food. “Hey, Steve?” he said finally. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

Tony fluttered his eyelashes at him, not wanting it to come across too seriously, in case he was reading everything all wrong. “Are you my boyfriend?” he sing-songed.

Steve choked on his own spit, coughing for a minute, but when he’d caught his breath back he was grinning like an absolute idiot. “I mean, I guess, sure,” he offered. “I hadn’t given it much thought.”

Tony arched an eyebrow at him; he knew Steve well enough to know that the flush on his neck said otherwise.

“Okay, I’ve maybe thought about it once or twice,” he admitted sheepishly. “We can be, uh… Boyfriends, if you want. Like you said, this is whatever we want it to be. I know these are weird circumstances, but if we want to, we can call it boyfriends for now.”

For just an instant Tony felt his smile freeze on his face, but he masked it quickly, leaning forward to give Steve a sloppy kiss on the cheek before he could read the look in his eyes. “In that case, boyfriend, call me when dinner’s ready. I’m just gonna wash up.”

He slipped off the counter and headed down the hall for the bathroom, adding an extra wiggle to his walk to make Steve laugh. But once he hit the bathroom, he shut the door behind him and leaned back against it with a sigh. Boyfriends for now pretty much said it all. He probably shouldn’t have been surprised. These were wild circumstances. There was nothing wrong with Steve wanting to take a bit of comfort where he could find it. And if Tony had been hoping for something more, that could stay between him and the bathroom walls.

***

They didn’t talk about it again, at least not in so many words, but they talked about everything else under the sun and that was somehow even better. Steve loved sex with Tony, really truly did. Just a look from the other man could set him shivering, heat spiking up and down his spine. Tony seemed to take special delight in finding all the ways he could make Steve fall apart, surprising him over and over again. Steve had all but given up his own bedroom, spending his nights with Tony instead and they’d spend hours lying there sometimes, Steve splayed out and feeling like he was slowly going out of his mind as Tony kissed and touched and teased every square inch of his body.

But afterwards, when Steve had come more times than he’d thought possible, when Tony’d had his fill and would slide off Steve to stretch out beside him instead, for Steve that was almost better than the sex. They’d talk well into the early hours of the morning. Steve had told Tony how desperately lonely he’d been for the past five years, how nothing he’d done seemed to ease that ache inside him. Tony talked about Morgan, how completely he missed her, telling story after story about how brilliant she was already, putting him to shame, but also how creative and sweet and kind. He’d sound awed when he talked about her, which had led to confessions about how his own father had been. Steve had been horrified, hands tightening around Tony like he could somehow make up for it. And then next night, when he told Tony how proud he was of him for letting the bullshit die with Howard, that even from the brief interaction he’d witnessed, he could tell Tony was an amazing father, Tony hadn’t bothered to hide the way he’d choked up a little.

Nothing was off the table (except, perhaps, their exact feelings for each other, but neither of them brought it up so it was fine), the darkness, and the heat, and the fact that they were the only two here who could understand their situation making it easy for secrets to spill out. Maybe it was just the fact that they were caught in a bit of a limbo, that deep down Steve knew that nothing they did here would really matter once they got back to their proper point in time. But his time with Tony was easing something inside him that he hadn’t even realized was aching, was making him feel whole again. He wanted to get back, to make things right, of course he did. He just also couldn’t help thinking that he wouldn’t mind being stuck here with Tony just a little longer.

They slowly settled into even more of a routine than they’d had before. They ate dinner together every night, talked about their day before they’d slink off to bed together. Some nights they wouldn’t even do anything, just sprawl out on the bed, touching despite the heat until they drifted off to sleep. They went grocery shopping together once a week, and one day Tony came home with a second hand badminton net that he’d found somewhere. Steve had never played badminton, but they set the net up anyway, and Tony had showed him how to play. There were more barbecues, with the guys from Tony’s work, mostly, but there were a couple for the paper that Steve worked at too. Nobody seemed to look askance at Steve bringing along his roommate. Maybe it was just an extension of fighting side-by-side for so long, but having Tony with him here just felt right in some kind of visceral way that Steve couldn’t put a name to but that he loved anyway.

***

Steve was once again going over the Fort LeHigh plans that they had managed to cobble together, when the front door slammed open. “STEVE!” Tony hollered at the top of his lungs.

“I’m right here,” Steve answered, turning to meet Tony as he heard him rush up the hall. “What’s wrong?”

But even as he asked, Tony came into view, an enormous smile on his face, and it was pretty clear that there was nothing at all wrong.

“What?” he asked again, because there still had to be a reason that Tony was home hours early, grinning like an idiot.

“I can’t believe I forgot,” Tony told him. “Do you know what tonight is?” he added, even though he knew perfectly well that Steve didn’t. “Planet of the Apes comes out. In theatres!”

Steve blinked at him. “Is that all?”

“Is that all?” Tony repeated incredulously. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”

Steve cracked then, laughing. “Tony, you’ve seen that movie more than a hundred times. Which I know because you’ve made me watch it a hundred times.”

“Yeah, but this is different,” Tony insisted. “It’ll be in theatres, Steve.”

“You’ve done that before, too,” Steve pointed out. “Remember? That 45th anniversary theatre showing or whatever? I distinctly recall you and Colonel Rhodes talking about it.”

Tony just shook his head. “It’s different,” he said again, making a face at Steve. “Just hurry up and get dressed, you damn dirty ape.” He waggled his eyebrows, making a show of staring at Steve’s bare chest; he hadn’t bothered getting redressed after his run. “I’m taking you out.”

And really, Steve was helpless to resist that thrilled look on Tony’s face. And even though he had to pinch Tony several times to keep him from whispering the lines along with the characters, it was a very enjoyable evening. They’d sat at the back of the theatre, Tony claiming it was because Steve would block the view for whatever poor asshole got stuck sitting behind them, but halfway through the movie, when their shared popcorn was gone, he curled his greasy fingers with Steve’s, rested their joined hands on Steve’s knee, and snuggled into him a little, resting his head against Steve’s shoulder. He could smell the faint, pleasant scent of Tony’s shampoo, and couldn’t resist turning his head a little to press his face against the soft curls of his hair. He pressed a soft kiss against Tony’s scalp and in return received a soft little content sigh from Tony.

Abruptly Steve realized that, for all the activities they’d done together, they hadn’t been on an actual proper date before -- and that’s what this was, whatever Tony’s original intentions had been in dragging him out.

Settling a little more comfortably against Tony’s side, Steve decided that was something he was going to fix immediately.

So the next morning, after Tony had made their customary Saturday morning pancakes, and they were sitting around the kitchen table, pleasantly full and content, Steve curled his hand around Tony’s. “So listen,” he said, doing his best to ignore the way Tony gave his hand a heated look before glancing up to meet his eyes. “I’ve been thinking, and we’re under a lot of stress, with working and trying to find a way out of here and everything.” Admittedly, it wasn’t his best excuse; the stress was real, but he felt a step removed from it, and was pretty sure Tony did too. Even from a purely business perspective (if you could consider the Avengers a business), this had definitely become the easiest mission he’d ever been on. Tony seemed to agree, giving him a mildly skeptical look but gesturing for him to continue. “So I was thinking that it probably wouldn’t hurt for us to plan to take a break regularly,” he said, feeling his cheeks starting to glow. “And I had a really fun time last night, so I was wondering if you’d let me take you out tonight? Repay the favour?” he added, all in a rush.

Tony tilted his head at him, curiously, and then he was beaming bright and wide. “Steve. Are you asking me out on a date?”

Steve shrugged, but he was helpless not to return Tony’s brilliant smile. “I mean, I guess?”

And just like that, Saturday night date night was born.

Steve knew he shouldn’t get too complacent, that getting used to this was only going to end in heartbreak. Tony had said this was whatever they needed it be, just whatever it took to get them through. The implication was pretty clear that once they got back home -- and they would, eventually, Steve had to believe that or else what were they even doing anymore -- things would go back to something like normal. He probably wasn’t doing himself any favors, giving himself this glimpse of what they could really have. But he knew, deep down, that he wasn’t going to be able to forget it either way, so he figured he might as well enjoy it now.

***

Tony actually happened to think vegetables were delicious. But there was something about the very specific look of consternation that Steve would get every time he found another box of poptarts or gummy candies or whatever hidden in the cart that Tony couldn’t get enough of. He was feeling punchy today for some reason, snickering to himself with everything he managed to slide into without Steve noticing. There was a good chance that Steve was just humoring him, since Tony couldn’t imagine anyone actually sneaking something past the man, but then again he’d worked with the STRIKE team for almost a full year without realizing they were literal Nazis, so who knew? Either way, he was having a stupid amount of fun with it.

“Oh my god,” Steve groaned as he realized that under the loaves of bread and packages of pasta, Tony had managed to fill the entire bottom of the cart with bags of jumbo marshmallows. “You are literally five years old,” he added.

Tony just shrugged, giving Steve a sugar sweet smile, and Steve fought back his own laughter.

“Make you a deal,” he offered. “You can keep three bags of marshmallows if you stop adding in everything else you see.”

“Oooh.” Tony eyed him; he didn’t actually care about the sweets, but tormenting Steve was its own brand of delightful, especially now, when Steve took it as the gentle teasing it was meant to be, didn’t get his back up about it. “Throw in some chocolate and graham crackers, and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

Steve stared blankly back at him. “What do you need graham crackers and chocolate for?”

“Steven Grant Rogers,” Tony hissed. “Are you trying to tell me you don’t know what s’mores are?”

Steve didn’t even last a full second before he was breaking, snickering to himself. “You’re so gullible sometimes. I may not have ever had them, but I do know what a s’more is, Tony.”

Tony frowned, tilting his head before shaking. “Okay, nope, I give. I can’t tell -- are you telling the truth, or are you still fucking with me?”

“The… Truth?”

“You’ve really, honestly never had a s’more before? How is that even possible??”

Steve gave him a fond eye roll, even as he added the extra ingredients to the cart. “Contrary to what you seem to think, I wasn’t ever actually a boy scout. There weren’t any camping trips in 1930s Brooklyn. Where do you think I would have melted the marshmallows? On the heater? Admittedly, I spent a lot of time in the woods during the war. But that wasn’t exactly a romp with campfires and ghost stories, what with the whole hiding from the Nazis and Hydra thing.”

“You’re such an asshole,” Tony muttered. “But after that? You’ve really never had s’mores since? With the team or something? Nat seems like she’d enjoy a good s’more.”

Steve just shrugged. “Don’t know what to tell you. Never had ‘em.”

“Well, that changes tonight, Rogers. We’re having a bonfire.”

Tony had added three packs of hot dogs to the cart -- Steve would eat them, he knew -- and after they got home, relegated him to the kitchen while he got everything set up in the yard. Steve had looked skeptical, but when Tony finally called him out to where he had a bonfire burning brightly and a blanket spread out on the ground (because some of us have minor grass allergies, Steven), he looked impressed.

“Wow. Tony, this is… Really nice.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to sound so surprised,” he grumbled, offsetting his complaint by wrapping his arms around Steve’s waist and kissing him on the cheek.

“No, I’m not,” Steve said, holding Tony against him a moment longer when he started to pull away. “You just… Don’t really seem like the camping type,” he added tactfully.

Tony snorted. “I’ve camped! … Once… Okay, a camper I am not. But Rhodey and I used to have bonfires on the beach when we were at MIT, and I was the designated fire starter. And when I was a kid, Jarvis used to let me help set up the fireplaces in the old house. I don’t know why, that was one of my favourite things.” He hummed, quiet and contemplative for a moment, and then pulled away to grab a package of hot dogs, slamming them into Steve’s chest. “Now grab a stick, Rogers, and start roasting.”

They sat out there for hours, cooking, and talking, and laughing. The sun had faded and the stars had come out long before Tony pulled out the s’mores ingredients, the two of them getting in a sticky mess as they squashed together the sweet treats.

“So?” Tony asked when they were full and satiated and sitting back on the blanket. He arched an eyebrow at Steve. “What’s the s’more verdict, Captain Handsome?”

Steve shrugged. “I don’t know, I think they’re kind of overrated. I prefer the marshmallows alone,” he told him, popping one of said marshmallows, unroasted, into his mouth.

Tony blinked at him. “Overrated?” he repeated incredulously. Then he saw the way that Steve was grinning at him, lips twitching up in a smirk. “You are such a troll,” he grumbled. “I’ll show you overrated.” Without any further warning, he launched himself at Steve, feeling a little gratified at the almost inaudible grunt that Steve made as he took his weight. He knew Steve could take him easily, especially when he didn’t even have an Iron Man suit, but Steve pretended otherwise for a minute, letting Tony knock him back as the two of them rolled around on the blanket and then into the grass, each trying to get the upper hand.

It didn’t take long before their movements shifted, less wrestling, more sliding up against each other with purpose. Tony could feel his cock thickening in his pants, sparks of pleasure going through him every time Steve’s hand would slide over his skin just right. He shifted a leg, getting it between Steve’s knees, and when he pressed up he could feel Steve hot and hard against him, the feeling made better by the sharp, needy little gasp that he made in response. They ended up with Tony spread out on top of Steve, the two of them rubbing off against each other as they shifted and rolled in the grass, stifling their noises against each other’s skin so the neighbours wouldn’t hear. Tony had his hand shoved down Steve’s pants, jerking him off with quick, sharp motions, and his face buried in Steve’s neck. He could smell wood smoke in his hair, and when he pulled back a little, he could see the starlight reflected in his eyes before they clenched shut as Steve came over his hand. Steve lay there for a moment, panting, and Tony took a moment to look him over in the dim light from the fire before Steve pulled himself back into awareness to roll Tony over onto his back and pay him back in kind.

It was up there with some of Tony’s best memories.

He should have known it wouldn’t last.

***

They were at the grocery store again, goofing off and being idiots, probably laughing too loud, when all of a sudden Steve froze, going pale. Before Tony could ask him what was wrong, he was grabbing Tony’s arm and dragging him around the corner and down an aisle, leaving their half-filled cart abandoned in front of the cereal.

“Steve, what?” Tony finally managed to hiss as Steve pulled him past the baking supplies and then zig-zagged ridiculously through the produce section. He half expected Yakety Sax to start playing over the loudspeaker.

“I just… I saw someone I recognized. Like from the forties recognized,” Steve answered vaguely, aiming for the front door.

“Do you think they’d recognize you?” Tony asked a little stupidly, although his behaviour made the answer pretty obvious.

“Uh, yeahhhh,” Steve answered anyway. “I think so.”

They made it out of the building without being caught though, Steve looking over his shoulder as they headed down the street. He made Tony cross the road, turning down a side street they wouldn’t normally take, and he was just breathing a sigh of relief when they rounded the corner and were met with Peggy, standing there waiting for them with a furious expression on her face.

For a long moment everything went almost comically still, Peggy and Steve standing frozen, staring at each other, Tony looking back and forth between them in a mild state of shock. Then the anger seemed to fade out of Peggy all at once, shoulders sagging a little as she took a half step forward, making an abortive gesture like she was going to touch Steve’s chest before she remembered herself.

“It is you,” she breathed.

Steve opened his mouth to say something, anything, but before he had the chance he was interrupted by Tony, still staring at Peggy with wide eyes. “Aunt Peggy?!” he blurted out, because he knew Peggy had cofounded SHIELD, and he knew she had worked with his Dad, he just somehow hadn’t expected her to be here, looking almost exactly as he remembered her from when she’d come visit when he was growing up. She used to spend hours sitting with him, listening patiently as he explained the workings of all his machines and inventions. She’d always encouraged him, and he found himself getting choked up seeing her now.

And then he glanced over at Steve, saw the look on his face as he stared back at her, and Tony felt his heart sink a little.

Peggy had turned sharp eyes on Tony at his outburst, looking him over, but now she looked back to Steve and without hesitation poked him square in the chest. “Explain,” she told him. “How are you possibly here? And why is this man who looks exactly like Maria Stark calling me ‘aunt?’”

Tony would never fully understand how, but somehow Steve managed to convince Peggy to come back to their place. And then he sat her down, and told her everything. How he’d been found in the ice, how the avengers had formed, about Tony being her ‘nephew’ and also Iron Man, and then about Thanos, how they’d lost everything and were doing everything in their power to make up for it now.

The one thing he didn’t mention, Tony couldn’t help noticing, was the relationship they’d developed over the last few months.

Peggy took it far better than Tony would have expected. Although, he supposed, if she’d helped found SHIELD, she’d probably been dealing with far crazier shit than this for years.

“So if I’m to understand correctly, you two are from the future. And you,” she turned to Tony here, “Are my godson. And you used Hank Pym’s… science experiment to figure out time travel and come back here and get that cube that Howard found in the ocean. To save the world.” She drew in a long breath as Tony and Steve both nodded, waiting for her to process the information. “God, Hank is going to be impossible to live with when he finds out,” she muttered. She drew in a deep breath, smoothing down her hair -- a move Tony remembered from when she’d try to keep her cool with Howard when he was a kid -- and then looked back over at Steve. “I take it you two are responsible for the breach a couple months back?” She didn’t wait for their confirmation, the question rhetorical. “Well, I suppose once again it’s up to me to clean up your messes, eh Captain?”

The smile she gave Steve was a little dry, but fond and familiar in a way that made jealousy twist low in Tony’s stomach. But even worse was the way Steve smiled back at her, sheepish and full of so much history and love that it almost ached to see. For a moment Tony felt like he had disappeared from the room entirely, the two of them only having eyes for each other. Somehow Tony managed to act normal as Steve and Peggy made plans for when and where they’d meet and how they’d stay in contact, even though it felt like he was losing a little more of Steve with every word that passed between the two of them. And when Peggy had left, and Steve turned to him with the broadest grin Tony had ever seen, still looked awed and dazed and delighted in the wake of her presence, the smile Tony gave him in return was almost genuine. He waited until Steve had left the the kitchen, wandering down the hall for something, before he pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes and whispered a very quiet, very heartfelt, “Fuck,” into the empty room.

***

Tony wanted to go home. More than anything in the world he wanted to see Morgan again, missing his little girl a constant pit in the bottom of his stomach, even in his happiest moments. But being here with Steve was easy in a way his life had never been before, no stressors, no superheroing, no being recognized on the street… No end of the world barreling toward them faster than they could stop it. Now that they were close to going home, he couldn’t seem to appreciate the last few days they had here together, just he and Steve alone. They still talked, and fooled around, and did all the things they’d been doing before, but the time was passing in a blur. It didn’t help that Steve had been distracted since they’d found Peggy; more than once Tony had caught him staring into space with a soppy smile on his face. There was a growing feeling creeping through his stomach that he might be making the return trip solo.

And then he was out of time entirely, the two of them meeting Peggy in some back alley for the hand off. It had, she assured them, gone off without a hitch, but that wasn’t a surprise. Peggy had always been strong and brilliant, confident and capable. On some level it probably should have been weird that he was jealous of his aunt, but mostly Tony was just resigned to the fact that this was it. Peggy and Steve were staring at each other again, couldn’t keep their eyes off of each other, and Tony felt like his heart was somewhere around his ankles.

“I’ll, uh, I’ll let you two… Chat,” he mumbled, uncharacteristically awkward as he took the two briefcases that Peggy had brought and headed for the main road, forcing himself not to look back at them.

In a weird twist of deja vu, he ended up sitting on the same bench where he’d found Steve on that first day, after everything had gone tits up. He sat there, staring off into space and thinking of a million things at once, and it hadn’t been a full half hour before a shadow passed over him and then Steve took a seat on the bench beside him, their thighs not quite touching.

Steve was staring forward, maybe trying to figure out what Tony was looking at but he hadn’t spoken, so Tony didn’t either. Eventually, though, he couldn’t stand the silence any longer, clearing his throat.

“You, uh… You don’t have to come back with me, Steve,” Tony told him, giving him an out. He felt Steve snap his gaze to him, heard him make a strangled sort of noise, but he narrowed his focus to a tree in the distance and kept going. “If you’re finally happy… We can do it without you. Probably. Maybe. I don’t know, we’ll figure it out. I know you’ve already sacrificed a lot, more than anyone ever should have to, really. You can be selfish, for once.”

He turned to face Steve then, because he really didn’t want Steve to stay, but he needed him to know that he truly meant the words he was saying. He had fallen in love with Steve, and because of that he couldn’t bear to stand in his way.

Steve was staring straight again, leaning forward with his elbows braced against his thighs, hands clasped together between his knees. He blew out a long breath, and Tony tensed, bracing himself.

“You’re right. I am selfish, Tony. I’m real fucking selfish.”

Tony bit down hard on his bottom lip; expecting it didn’t make it hurt any less. But then Steve was turning to face him, a shy, hopeful smile on his face offset by the determination in his eyes.

“And no way in hell am I giving this up. Giving you up.”

For a moment Tony was actually rendered speechless. “You… what?”

Steve shrugged. “I’m in love with you, Tony. It’s as simple as that. And I know you said this was whatever we needed it to be, and maybe that means you don’t have the same kind of feelings, but --,”

“God no, are you kidding?” Tony burst out before he could even stop himself. “I was already half in love with you when I said that, and it’s just gotten... more since. I just… I know that extreme situations aren’t the most conducive to long-term relationships, and I didn’t want you to feel pressured, so…”

He trailed off helplessly and Steve chanced a quick look around before darting in to kiss him. It was quick, because it was still a public place in 1970, but full of love despite that. When he pulled back, Tony shifted his hand to curl over top of Steve’s, squeezing tight.

“What… What about Peggy?”

Steve’s eyes were dancing. “What about her? She’s married, Tony, happily so. I just… I wanted to see first hand that she was okay, and she is, more than. She’s moved on, and… And so have I.” He grinned then. “She did tell me I was an idiot though, if I didn’t say anything to you because she’d never seen two people more obviously pining for each other. And uh, then she threatened that if I didn’t treat her godson right she’d be bringing me a wealth of pain.”

“Oh,” Tony said faintly, but he was laughing then too. “Well alright then.” He leaned in to give Steve one more quick kiss. “I love you, Steve,” he told him, because it seemed important that he say the actual words. “Now let’s go home and save the world. Again.”

THREE DAYS LATER

Tony snapped back to consciousness all at once with a sharp gasp, blinking his eyes open. The first thing his gaze focused on was Pepper and Rhodey, standing at the foot of his bed with watery, relieved smiles, Pepper holding Morgan in her arms.

“Daddy!” she shrieked. “You’re up!” She started wriggling frantically, attempting to leap onto the bed and making Pepper wince.

“Morgan, sweetie, remember how we talked about how you have to be careful with Daddy for a bit?”

“I don’t know.” And that was Steve’s voice, sounding gruff, but when Tony snapped his head up to see him leaning against the doorway, he was beaming brightly and looking just a little smug. “I think he can take it.”

After solemn promises from Morgan that she would be careful, Pepper finally set her down and Morgan scrambled up on the bed beside him. With strength that he knew he shouldn’t have had, he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight enough that Morgan protested a little. She smelled fresh and clean and like her apple honey shampoo, and it was quite possibly the best thing that Tony had ever smelled. God, he had missed her so much.

Morgan settled onto the bed beside him, telling him stories about everything he’d missed the past few days, everything she’d been doing with Uncle Happy. Tony did his best to follow along in his shell-shocked state, because the last thing he remembered was snapping his fingers, all of the infinity stones in his hand, and he was pretty sure that meant he wasn’t supposed to be here now.

Eventually it was decided that Tony should get some rest, and so with a final, clinging hug from Morgan, Pepper escorted her gently off the bed. Her hands shook a little as she closed them around Tony’s, leaning in close to place a soft kiss against his cheek.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered softly, a slight tremor in her voice.

They headed for the door but Rhodey lingered a second longer to lean in and give Tony a hug. “Gotta stop doing this to me, man,” he told him, and Tony could hear the tears in his voice, felt his own throat close up as he hugged Rhodey as tight as he could manage.

“I know,” he mumbled, burying his face against his neck. “I’m sorry.”

Rhodey pulled back just a little, enough so he could meet his eyes and give him a pointed look. “And sometime soon,” he added, “You are going to sit down and tell me exactly what the hell happened between you and Rogers while you were getting the Tesseract.”

Then he was moving away, leading Pepper and Morgan out the door with a hand on the small of Pepper’s back. Steve had moved out of the way to let them pass into the hall, but once they were gone he moved back into the room, coming to sit on the side of Tony’s bed now that it was just the two of them. For a long moment they just stared at each other and then Tony shook his head.

“Steve… What did you do?”

Steve shrugged, feigning casual. “Funny thing about spending so much time together. I knew exactly what you were planning with the stones. So I just stepped in and… Helped.”

Tony stared back at him incredulously, still half feeling like he was dreaming. “Right,” he said, voice a little faint. “Okay. And we’re alive and healthy and whole… How?”

“Uh, Carol brought a special something from somewhere. I didn’t catch the details; I was pretty fucked up for a bit too. But…” He gave Tony his best innocent, hopeful smile. “As you can see it did the trick.”

“Jesus Christ,” Tony muttered. Then he was lunging forward, practically crawling into Steve’s lap in his haste to kiss him. Steve took his weight easily, pulling Tony the rest of the way toward him as he wrapped his arms around his back, mumbling soothing words and stroking a hand over Tony’s spine. “You absolute idiot,” Tony gasped, allowing himself the comfort as he buried his face in Steve’s neck. “You could have been killed too. What the fuck were you thinking?”

Steve huffed out a laugh, but his voice was rough and thick when he spoke. “I thought I told you, Tony. I’m real fucking selfish.” He pulled Tony back so he could see his face, see how absolutely serious he was. “No way in hell am I giving you up.”

@tonystarkbingo @not-close-to-straight

#tonystarkbingo2020 #stony #steve rogers #tony stark #time travel #endgame fixit #friends to lovers #canon divergence #romance #fic #my fic #lemon

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ohwereusingourmadeupnames · 4 years

Text

A Little Time We Can Borrow

Pairing: Peter Parker/Tony Stark Rating: Mature (M) Word Count: 11.2k Notes: This is my free space fill for @starkerfestivals summer bingo. I caught the bug for firefighter Tony & got a couple of help little nudges from @goindownshipping to create this little gem. PS Notes: Sorry about the repost - this wasn’t showing up anywhere :[ Warnings: Some NSFW stuff, fire drama, minor character death, slight angst Summary:

Tony decided to be a firefighter to piss his dad off - & fell in love with the career. Now, a fire chief in Sarasota, Tony's life is bound to change when a handsome pastry chef is in the business of looking cute and making black smoke billow from his ovens.

Or: the one where Tony Stark looks great in his uniform and Peter comes up with excuses to get him to his shop, Truffles.

Read on AO3 here

At the beginning, firefighting seemed like the best way to piss his father off. Tony hadn’t ever been able to please the man, so he figured his career field of choice would be the most self-serving if it also got under his father’s skin. Desperate to get out of New York, Tony took the scholarship University of Florida gave him and pursued fire science with zero hesitation. He wanted to be doing things and in the action for the rest of his life.

Tony’s advanced intelligence made getting through the program easy – he took as many hours as he could to finish up in 2.5 years, instead of four. Finishing out the rest of that 3rd year, Tony took the classes necessary to get into nursing school and entered into it the very next fall semester. The training was fast paced and filled with lots of interesting skills that he couldn’t wait to take with him to whatever fire house he ended up in.

After graduating nursing school, Tony took his medical expertise one step further by getting an advanced EMT certification. By the time he applied to get into the academy, Tony was more than prepared to take on anything that came that way.

His exemplary skills followed him into the academy – Tony surprised no one by finishing at the top of his class. Aside from the bragging rights, top spot earned him his choice of assignment. Enjoying Florida so much, Tony decided to head to Sarasota and take the medic/driver position he’d been excited to try and pursue since he got into the academy.

The job was fast paced and though he didn’t do any actual firefighting inside the buildings, Tony was always busy out on calls. He was the first line of medical care if fire was the first to arrive on the scene. Between his men that were always coming out of a job with some sort of injury and the people that were on the scene, Tony got his wish; action came at him from all angles and from every direction. It fueled his fire – the irony of that not lost on him every time he thought it. Putting his head down and doing everything he could to go against his father ended up being the best decision he could have ever made.

As the years passed, Tony started to move up the ranks. He didn’t try and shift his position in the truck or take on more responsibility in terms of the fire management – instead, he provided leadership in the way he kept everyone calm, collected, and focused on whatever plan they were trying to execute. The knowledge Tony kept in his brain came in handy all of the time – knowing shit made it so much easier to think on the fly.

10 years on the job came and went with the big promotion to fire chief. At 36, he was very young to find himself in a position like that. Yet, the guys in station 501 were behind Tony 100% - most of them grew up in the firehouse with him, and if they didn’t, they quickly learned that he was the guy to go to when in trouble or out of ideas. Tony didn’t have to worry about having children ever, the guys in the firehouse were the only kids he’d ever need.

In all of his time working for the ladder, Tony hadn’t been dumbstruck by any of the people they came in contact with. One of the demands of the job included keeping a level head and being subjective – which meant mooning over gorgeous men with flour on their cheeks during a call was not optimal.

It all started earlier that day when Tony first stepped foot in the station. He’d been on his 3 day turn around and was eager to get into his office and catch up on all the comings and goings during his time away. He barely managed to get his jacket off before the horn was blaring – the early morning calls always ones that made his skin prickle a bit; most of the world had no business being up before 9AM. The worst things always happened in the mornings.

The heart pumping process of getting into his garb and pulling the truck out of the station never got old – flicking on the sirens, Tony got into the zone and got them to Truffle as quickly as they could. In the back of his mind, Tony recalled looking at the new bakery on the corner the day before – his phone ringing and pulling his attention away was the only reason why he didn’t walk across the street and check it out. Heading in that direction, Tony felt a bit like karma was coming out to play.

Getting there, Tony noticed that the building wasn’t visibly on fire – that simple fact one that always made the call seem a little less terror inducing. Despite having been on the job for more than 10 years, Tony still got scared shitless every single time he got in the truck to answer a call. It was half the fun – the activation of his fight or flight reflexes. Putting the truck in park against the side of the building, Tony climbed out of the cab and signaled for the rest of the guys to climb down and start prepping the truck for the unfortunate need of the hose.

A very disgruntled looking employee opened the door for him – her hair was everywhere around her face, a wild look in her eye. “Thank god you’re here,” she said in the form of a greeting. Her steps were quick as she led him into the kitchen – the smell of something burning immediately hitting his nose.

“What’s the problem?” Tony questioned, his eyes roaming around the kitchen in an attempt to find the source of the smell and billowing black smoke. Instead, he laid eyes on someone that immediately took his breath away.

The man had dark curly hair that was streaked through with auburn highlights. There was the smallest stud in his nose and the visible parts of his arms were completely covered in tattoos – the chef whites really highlighting the color of them. Tony couldn’t make out what they were, but they were bright and seemed to be pretty consistent in terms of a color scheme all the way up.

The handsome stranger’s eyes met his, a redness settling in the circle of his cheeks that wasn’t there before. “This was my first time attempting to use the ovens. I turned them on, and they immediately started to smoke. It doesn’t look like anything is actually on fire – the smoke just keeps billowing every time I open up the oven door.”

Tony took his helmet off and put it on the counter, the immediate threat of a roaring fire no longer his first worry. Grabbing the walkie on his shoulder, Tony gave the guys the all clear. “No hoses needed, fellas.”

He took the handful of steps over to the over and pulled open the door. The smoke was black and coming quickly from the back of the oven. “Is this new?” Tony asked, his hands shutting the oven before he could breathe in anymore of the chemical smelling smoke.

Turning around, Tony was surprised to find the man staring at him blankly. “I don’t know – I just got access to the space a few days ago. I set up the front of the house before I even thought about getting baked goods in the display cases. We’re not set to open for another couple of days.” His initial thought was relief over the fact that he didn’t miss anything when he got pulled away from his attempt to walk inside. He did his best to push that away – business was the first priority; it was straight to the facts.

“New industrial ovens like this one need a thing called a burn-in. It gets rid of all the chemical residue that sits on the surface of the new material. Sometimes, there’s remnants of the coating of some of the plastic that catches and causes the billowy smoke like what’s happening right now. You need to open a few windows and let the over run through the process,” Tony finished, his eyes finally meeting the man’s again.

A flour covered hand moved through the dark hair Tony hadn’t been able to look away from. The residue shifted from his fingers to individual strands – he had a couple of white streaks in his hair when he pulled his hand away; and Tony did his best not to notice. It wouldn’t do him any good, reaching out and brushing it away like he wanted to.

“Shit – why didn’t I think of that?” Turning to the woman in the kitchen that originally walked Tony back, the man fired off a couple of instructions, the details he gave her specific and exactly correct. Tony ran his tongue over the back of his teeth to distract himself – he was stuck between wanting to contribute to the conversation and a startling feeling of nervousness that refused to do anything other than settle down within him deeper. Whoever this person was – he had Tony’s attention.

Soon, the man was walking Tony to the front of the bakery, a somewhat embarrassed smile on his face. “Sorry to have wasted your time. MJ kept screaming about the smoke – I didn’t know what else to do.”

Resisting a chuckle, Tony put a hand up between them – if this guy only knew the amount of ridiculous calls they got on a daily basis, he wouldn’t be apologizing. “You did the right thing. It would’ve kept smoking at the temperature you had it set. An hour should do the trick,” Tony mumbled. Suddenly, the thought to give him a business card settled in his mind. He kept a small stack in his jacket next to his ID and badge – he knew they’d come in handy eventually.

“Here – this has the line to my office on it. If you ever have any more scares, don’t hesitate to give me a call. I can bring the SUV instead of the whole crew.” Tony held the card between them and almost felt disappointed when their fingers didn’t brush in the hand off. Though, he might not have gotten out the door if they did.

He watched the younger man look down at the card, a soft smile forming on his lips. “Thanks, Fire Chief Tony Stark.” The card went into his pocket and then a hand floated between them. “I’m Peter Parker,” he looked up as he spoke, the honey-hazel of his eyes hard to look away from.

Tony didn’t hesitate to take Peter’s hand, his gloves tucked into the middle of his helmet at that point. The long sleeve of his jacket covered their hands for a moment, but Tony didn’t miss the way the world sort of shifted when they touched. Pulling away before he could make an ass of himself, Tony turned back towards the door – he shot Peter a quick smirk over his shoulder.

“Don’t burn anything down, Peter Parker,” Tony added before he opened the door and stepped through it quickly. He was met by Bucky, his second in command, before he could get into the truck.

“That took an awful long time for just a little bit of smoke, boss,” Bucky said, his arm digging into Tony’s side. He let Tony up, but not before he ribbed him about the smile on his face, too. “Chief – looks like the cute baker boy got under your skin.” A hand clapped against Tony’s shoulder as he got settled in his seat behind the wheel. “Put the smile away before the guys see.”

Shaking his head, Tony threw Bucky’s arm off of his shoulder and buckled himself in. “Buck – shut the fuck up,” Tony finally replied, his eyes catching icy blue ones in the big mirror right above him. “You’re not wrong, though.”

Bucky threw his head back in laughter, the heavy helmet on his head crashing to the ground behind him. The rest of the ride was filled with sickening awe sounds and cackling that made his head hurt. It was only fair, though – everyone on the truck got the same treatment when they came walking into the group all goo-goo eyed. That’s what family did.

----

Over the next couple of weeks, Tony got three calls from Peter. The first one was an actual emergency – they didn’t have any fire extinguishers in the entire building. Taking care of it was more like a civic duty than anything else.

The second and third calls – they weren’t nearly as legitimate as the others.

Tony walked in during a busy time of the morning expecting to see something amiss, but Peter was simply standing there with a fresh pastry and a smile on his face. Eye bulging, Tony didn’t know what to think – the professional part of him wanted to reprimand Peter for abusing the privilege. Yet, he found himself smiling widely, instead – his heart throbbed any time he was in Peter’s vicinity; the thought of being able to get mad didn’t really register after letting it stew for a moment.

Peter didn’t have any real time to talk to him, either – he simply gave him the bag and slid an espresso across the counter, the same grin on his face the entire time. It made Tony’s head spin – the shift from scared to overwhelmed was a lot to take in, apparently. Sitting down at a table close to the display case, Tony ate the admittedly delicious pastry and watched Peter go about running through his duties flawlessly.

The apple strudel was so good, Tony grabbed all the rest Peter had in the case before heading out. Maybe the ruthless grief he knew he was going to take from the crew would be soothed a little by the sugary deliciousness. He and Peter shared a smile when Tony pulled the box to him – the same feeling of rightness as before settling between them.

It didn’t dissipate, either – Tony knew the second he heard Peter’s voice on the other side of the line the third time that his excuse of faulty wires in the kitchen was total bull shit. He didn’t hesitate to get up and climb into his SUV, however – at that point, he wasn’t ashamed to admit that Peter got under his skin. The resolve to ask him out got more and more traction the closer he got to Truffle.

The shop wasn’t open anymore, so Tony didn’t attempt to keep up the pretense of it being an official visit. Walking in, Tony was immediately hit by the smell of cinnamon and warm butter – the scents he’d immediately filed under ones associated with Peter. He felt his cheeks heat up a little – he might actually have it pretty bad. No matter how much he wanted to ignore it. Tony forced himself to focus, his eyes roaming around the place. “Mr. Parker?” Tony called out; his voice rich with sarcasm.

“In here,” Tony heard a moment later – the kitchen door swung open without Peter walking through it. Taking that as a sign to enter, Tony was immediately taken off guard when he found himself with an arm full of Peter Parker. He was covered in a flour and cinnamon-butter mixture in the depths of putting together some cinnamon rolls. Tony could smell the sugary goodness from where Peter’s hands rested over his shoulders.

Tony was still in his uniform, the black of his crisp short sleeved button down a direct contrast to the white apron Peter had tied around his hips. He didn’t think about the fact that he probably had a smear of butter and sugar down his back – Peter didn’t give him any time to do anything other than respond to soft lips pressed against his own. Without much thought, Tony wrapped his arms around Peter’s middle and narrowed the space between them down to nothing.

A simple kiss like the one he was currently tied up in shouldn’t have made his heart pound the way it did – Tony could feel his pulse at his temples, the throb of it just as alive as the connection that leaked out into the air. Peter was just an inch or two shorter than him, so the tilt of their heads was absolutely perfect – Tony’s nose brushed against his when he pulled away from the deep kisses to place light, chaste ones against the baker’s lips.

“This is the best call I’ve ever answered,” Tony muttered, his hands moving to frame Peter’s face. Tony’s thumbs ran along the sharpness of his cheekbones, the ability to touch something he’d been craving since the first time he saw him. His already kiss swollen lips pulling into a light smile – Tony didn’t want to look too eager.

Peter took a step back, a matching smile on his face. “I was going to go insane if I didn’t kiss you. The sneak attack has been my best idea yet,” he replied, his cheeks coloring at his admittance. Looking at his hands, Peter blushed a little harder. “I totally forgot I was baking before you got here. I probably got your uniform all dirty.” The look on his face was a cross between amusement and guilt.

Shaking his head, Tony stepped up and gripped Peter’s chin between his thumb and forefinger. He leaned forward and gave him another soft kiss. “The department pays for my dry cleaning. It’s okay, Pete,” Tony said, his lips tingling from the touches as he forced himself to actually put some distance between them.

It took a second to get a hold on his courage, Tony hadn’t done something like this in a long time. Sucking in a deep breath, he met Peter’s eyes – light brown pools were fixed on him, looking at him unblinkingly. “Want to go out on a date with me? Not that I don’t love all of the calls,” Tony started, his face breaking into a smile. “We might have more options when I’m off the clock, though. I’ve been told I’m a lot of fun.”

Tony wiggled his eyebrows and let a hearty laugh fall from his lips when Peter’s face scrunched up at the look. He felt like a kid again, enjoying the minutes of life passing merely because he could – because, when all was said in done, it felt good to. Peter joined him in laughter, and they spent a few minutes trying to gain control over their very adult, very mature selves.

“I would very much like to go on a date with you,” Peter finally answered after a while, his eyes a little watery still from all of the laughing. He pulled in a deep breath and let it out noisily, Tony watched with interest as Peter tried to collect himself. The roll of his shoulders almost had Tony losing it again, but he managed to keep it in. The way Peter made him feel was indescribable.

“Good – then I’ll pick you up here tomorrow night.”

----

Tony felt nervous the entirety of the next day. Usually, he was counting down the hours until he got his 3 days off – he was definitely excited; but nervous all the same. He talked to Bucky about taking Peter to The Hangout on Siesta Key Beach and groaned when his best friend’s eyes opened widely. “You’re taking the baker boy out? Tony Stark does have it bad!” Bucky exclaimed, the words echoing around the room loud enough to get everyone’s attention.

Despite Bucky’s reasoning behind letting the entire firehouse know about his endeavors later that evening, Tony was glad for the distraction. It’d been a slow few days on the call front and they were all getting a little antsy. The ability to make fun of their fire chief made the time pass much quicker.

Before he knew it, Tony was pulling up to Truffle, his heart hammering against his chest for a totally different reason. He looked down at his outfit one more time, suddenly unsure of the black henley and jean combination he picked out. Peter must have seen his car pull up because he was out the door before Tony could second guess himself any longer. Hitting the locks, he grinned when he caught Peter’s attention.

The smell of Peter’s cologne hit him the second the man started to slide into the bench seat of his truck. There were the underlying spices as well as something citrusy – the tang of it made Tony’s mouth water. Leaning over when Peter settled, Tony pressed his lips to a soft cheek. “You look great, Pete,” Tony remarked, his eyes sweeping over his date for the evening.

Pete’s jeans were dark and hugged his legs nicely. The flip-flops on his feet gave way to long toes that were obviously well cared for. Living at the beach brought a certain style to the people that embraced it and Peter was one of them. He wore a black necklace around his neck that had a small pie pendant hanging from it, the crisp blue he wore contrasting nicely. It was a totally different look than the rolled-up chef whites Peter usually donned.

“Thanks! So do you, Tones. I had no idea that firemen could look as good out of the suit as they do in it,” Peter slipped his hand on Tony’s leg as he spoke, his fingers digging in with the last statement.

“Common misconception, I think,” Tony replied, backing out of the parking space. With the gear shift dealt with, Tony scooped up Peter’s hand and held it tightly. Their joint fingers were warm against his thigh. The music wasn’t too loud, so when Tony asked about how the day went for the bakery, conversation flowed easily between them. Peter was open with is words and wasn’t afraid to say what was on his mind.

Tony was beaming by the time they made it to the beach. Shifting in his seat a little, Tony brought their joint hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to one of Peter’s knuckles. “I thought we could get a drink and play some cornhole, or something. When you find yourself getting hungry, let me know – I’m making dinner back at my pad when we’re ready.” For whatever reason, he felt the need to explain himself – he wanted the night to go well and couldn’t stop the nervousness from overflowing.

Luckily, Peter was an amazing person and just went with it. They got out of the car and spent a few minutes tracking down a bar tender to get a couple of drinks. Tony stuck with a beer and giggled insanely when Peter ordered a strawberry daquiri; the happiness in his eyes when the bartender put it down in front of him was absolutely adorable.

Making their way over to one of the cornhole pits, Tony let Peter pick his bean bags and took the other set. “You’re not too far out of culinary school or college, right? You know how this is played?” Tony asked, his eyebrows raising when he saw the acceptance of some unknown challenge settle on Peter’s face. He was learning new things about the younger man by the minute – starting with the fact that Peter Parker was very competitive.

“We used to have backyard tournaments all the time when I was a kid,” Peter remarked, his hand flipping the bean bag up and then catching it on its descent. “Want to make this interesting?” Peter spoke again, an evil sort of glint in his eye.

Not one to pass up a challenge himself, Tony nodded, his smile widening. “Cool, then we’re on equal footing. We’ve got a pit in the common area at the firehouse. I would love to make this interesting.” And he did – no matter what Peter threw his way; Tony was probably going to be absolutely excited to be a part of.

Unless, of course, it was baking – Peter’s face took on an amused expression. “If I win, you come learn how to make those cinnamon rolls you’re always mooning over. If you win, I’ll bake whatever you and the crew want for a whole month.” The deal was very one-sided and should have been enough of a clue for Tony to understand that he would not be wining and that the cuteness of Peter Parker was laced with mischief and a sort of excitement that was entirely too addicting.

Instead of running like he should have, Tony took the deal without any hesitation. “Bucky is going to be so stoked – he loves that baklava that you make.”

In the end, Peter kicked his ass – his aim was practically perfect and the amount of cornholes he scored made Tony embarrassed to have even tried to match him. They played 5 games and Peter won every single one of them. While they played, they talked about little things – what kind of food was their favorite, where they traveled, favorite colors. Tony enjoyed every single painstaking second of getting his ass handed to him; Peter was full of life and made it hard for anything else to break through the surface.

“So, I guess I should tell you now that I have no baking skills to speak of. Putting me anywhere near your kitchen with an intention of not burning something is a huge risk, Pete,” Tony said a little later. They were gathered around the small table in his kitchen passing a big bowl of pasta back and forth. As long as he wasn’t using the oven, Tony could put food together – the minute he needed to gauge time and temperature all bets were off. Aside from pissing his dad off, a near fatal interaction with cupcakes as a kid put firefighting in his head to begin with.

Peter reached across the table and gripped his hand tightly. He’d been doing that periodically throughout the meal – his hands were constantly moving, especially when he talked. Yet, Tony wasn’t upset about it for a single second; the restless nature of Peter’s need to move matched with the way Tony’s brain could never shut off.

Done with the food on his plate and able to give Peter more of his attention, Tony laced their fingers together. He didn’t miss the flash of happiness in Peter’s eye, the look one Tony hoped he’d get to be very familiar with. In his adult life, Tony didn’t make a lot of connections like this – he appreciated every aspect of the interesting relationship they were slowly starting to piece together. If he read things correctly, Peter seemed to be throwing himself full body into their interactions, as well – but only time would tell.

“You can cook – that’s at least a little reassuring. The baking process just gets a little more technical than throwing stuff in a pan and hoping it tastes good. I can teach you – how hard could it possibly be?” Peter gave his fingers a squeeze and pulled away to take a long sip of the glass of wine tucked against his plate.

Tony didn’t have any idea, so he didn’t comment. He simply relaxed into his chair and watched Peter enjoy himself. Bucky told him that when he met Steve – things just clicked. There was something inside that just knew. Looking at Peter in that moment, Tony finally understood what he meant. It was too early for thoughts like that – but he felt something settle in him and take hold; Tony wasn’t going anywhere as long as Peter would have him.

With that thought in mind, Tony let Peter help him with the dishes before grabbing the rest of the wine and leading him out to the front room. He spent most of his time out there, so it was pleasantly decked out with a big wide screen TV, multiple gaming platforms, and a deep L-couch that Tony spent more time sleeping on than he cared to admit. Peter’s eyes widened with excitement as he looked around the room.

“This is nerd haven, Tones. On a night that I haven’t beat your ass already, we’ll have to fire up the Switch and play some Super Smash Bros Melee – I used to win so much money as a kid in tournaments playing as Link,” Peter gushed. When Tony settled against one of the edges, Peter snuck under his arm and leaned against his chest, their sides pressed together from shoulder to hip.

Wrapping his arm more firmly around Peter’s shoulder, Tony placed his wine on the table next to him and picked up the remote. He got a movie on the screen, then turned his attention back to the conversation they were having. “That doesn’t surprise me at all, Pete. I bet you hustled all the other little kids out of their money no problem,” Tony said, his lips pressing against the side of Peter’s head.

At the affectionate contact, Peter leaned a little further into Tony’s side, his arm wrapping snugly around his waist for good measure. “I didn’t hustle anyone. I just used my superior video game skills to win money that was fairly bet. It’s not my fault that people have always underestimated me.”

Tony let his hand drift up and down Peter’s arm in what he hoped was comforting. He knew exactly what it was like to be underestimated – his father didn’t believe in him a day in his life. Keeping that to himself for now, he simply pulled Peter even closer to him and tucked in to enjoy the fact that they were together and watching Pineapple Express.

The soft snore he felt against his chest half an hour later had Tony grinning – Peter shouldn’t be allowed to get any cuter, but he did and probably wouldn’t be stopping anytime soon. Shaking him with the hand still resting on his shoulder, Tony managed to wake him up. “Hey, let me take you home – I know you have to open the shop early in the morning,” he whispered, the smile on his face stretching wider at the sleepy look on Peter’s face.

It took a little bit of prodding, but Peter eventually got up and collected himself enough to get into the truck without much of a fuss. He didn’t fall back asleep and spent most of the drive staring over at Tony. He didn’t want to admit that he spent more time looking at Peter than the road – he drove a firetruck for fucks sake. Pulling into the driveway of a small ranch style house, Tony parked the car.

“Can I walk you up?” Tony asked, his eyes flashing to the porch at the front of the house. Though he knew the night needed to come to an end, Tony didn’t want it to – especially not before he got to feel Peter’s lips pressed against his own again.

“Sure, Romeo,” Peter replied, the softness of his hand on Tony’s softening the blow of the sharp sarcasms. Tony gave it a squeeze and got out of the car, meeting Peter around the front of his truck. Grabbing his hand again, Tony led him the 20 feet between his headlights and the door.

Peter didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around Tony when they got to the door – his fingers played with the soft hairs at the back of his neck for good measure. Tony pulled him in tight and leaned forward, pressing their noses together. “You’re kind of a shit, aren’t you?” Tony asked, his lips skimming Peter’s he spoke.

“Yup, and you like it,” Peter replied before filling the rest of the distance and really kissing Tony. His movements were still a bit choppy from the sleepiness, but the heat of his kiss was more than enough to sweep Tony right off of his feet. Peter pulling away felt like crashing to the ground – his lips already missing the press and pull of the other’s.

“Good night, Tony Stark,” Peter whispered, his body already turning towards the door to get it open.

Taking a step off the porch, Tony grinned – “Night, Peter Parker.”

----

The next couple of weeks passed by like a snap – Tony worked a couple of double shifts to cover for Bucky who went out of town with Steve for their wedding anniversary. He spent as many random moments with Peter as he could, but they weren’t able to get together in much of a formal capacity until Bucky got back. If it weren’t for the dazed look on his friend’s face, he probably wouldn’t have made it out of the door so quickly without a little heckling. Tony owed Peter a little time in his kitchen and planned to pay his due that evening.

Walking into the empty bakery always had Tony taking a deep breath in – he’d never get over the warmth and comfort that immediately wrapped him up the second he took a step inside. Peter was standing at the counter waiting for him, a warm look on his face. “Chief,” Peter greeted him, his hand wrapping around Tony’s shoulder without any prompting.

Tony grinned and turned his head to press a kiss to Peter’s ear. “Chef,” Tony replied as they walked through the heavy door to get into the kitchen. Tony got a quick kiss on the lips – then, an apron hit him in the side of the head.

Like most things, Peter seemed to be playfully specific about his time in the kitchen. He helped Tony tie off his apron, then immediately set him up with a rolling pin. He guided him through the best way to get the dough flat and what sort of thickness they were looking for. The way his fingers tangled up with Tony’s made it hard for him to concentrate on the baked goods – despite being flour covered, Peter’s hands were so soft.

They put an embarrassing amount of butter on the rolled-out dough, then sprinkled a cinnamon and sugar concoction on top. Peter moved behind him and showed him the maneuver to roll up the dough – Tony once again almost completely distracted by the touch of Peter’s hands on him. “You’re distracting as hell, I hope you know that, Pete,” Tony said after they had the dough rolled.

Cutting individual rolls, Peter nodded his head, a cocky smile slipping across his cheeks. “That’s kind of the point, Tones,” Peter admitted, his hands moving in a repetitive motion that was very obviously familiar. “One of the best parts of baking is the freedom of it. You have to make it fun. Touching you is fun.” Peter finished what he was doing and put them into a couple of pans. Tony, in an effort to help, put them in the oven.

Before he could move away, Peter was grabbing his upper arms and walking him back until Tony was pressed against the counter. “Those need about half an hour and then we’ll need to check them. I can think of something that will pass the time, though – if you’re interested.” He leaned in before Tony could even respond, but it didn’t matter; he wasn’t going to pass up the chance to be pressed flush against Peter in any way.

It’d been a long time since he spent so much time making out with another human – Tony felt very much like a teenager and appreciated it wholeheartedly. Peter started to thrust his hips against Tony after a while, the hardness that pressed against him was the ultimate tease. Not interested in resisting the urge to reciprocate, Tony broke away from their kiss and let out a deep groan. “You feel amazing,” he babbled, his fingers attempting to make quick work of the button on Peter’s jeans.

Just as he started to make progress, Peter’s alarm for the food in the oven went off. With a sigh, Peter pulled away and stumbled the few steps over to the oven. Tony followed, his body unwilling to be separated from Peter’s, even for the few seconds it would take to open the doors and check on the pastries. He wrapped his arms around Peter’s hips and pulled him close. Tony’s lips started to suck and kiss on the back of his neck.

The heat from the open oven had Tony hiding his face against Peter’s shoulder, his nose pressing into the softness of his shirt there. Peter made quick work of pulling them out and turning the pans – it didn’t seem quick enough, though. Tony moved his hand to the temperature gauge on the side and cranked it up while his other hand turned Peter around when the oven door was finally shut.

Getting lost in Peter’s lips was insanely easy. The idea of getting lost in his pants brought a whole new dimension to what they were doing together. Tony managed to get the button popped and the zipper down without much of a hassle, his fingers grazed over the front of Peter’s boxer briefs without any hesitation.

When the fire alarm started to sound, Tony had Peter’s boxers pulled all the way off his hips and his cock gripped tightly in his fist. Peter tried to do the same for Tony, but only got around to getting his pants undone. Looking up in confusion, Tony let out a sharp gasp when he noticed that actual flames were engulfing the oven. “Holy shit,” Tony stuttered out, his brain still muggy from the haze of arousal. “Get the extinguisher!” Tony yelled, watching as Peter rushed to pull up his pants and run into the office in the kitchen.

Tony got Bucky on the phone as quickly as he could.

“What’s up, Stark? I thought you’d be too caught up in your date by this point of the night,” Bucky said in the way of a greeting. Any other time, Tony would’ve laughed, but he couldn’t – not right then.

“Bucky, grab the keys to my SUV off of my desk and get to Truffle. The oven is on fire.” Tony mumbled the last few words and looked guiltily down at himself, the button on his jeans still undone and everything. “Hurry!” He didn’t give the man a chance to respond – Tony hung up and grabbed the extinguisher from Peter when he came running out with it.

It didn’t take much to get the flaming pans of cinnamon buns under control – they were all ruined, but the oven would still be usable once it got a thorough cleaning; which Tony offered to pay for several times. Calling Bucky wasn’t exactly necessary – it just gave Peter the ability to file a report with his insurance company if push came to shove. Luckily, it didn’t.

Tony, however, was not so lucky – Bucky started to laugh at him from the second he was let into the bakery until he left. He looked at the still undone button on Tony’s pants and the permanent flush on Peter’s cheeks with a knowing expression. The cursory glance that he gave the oven was just to make the pain of his presence even worse than it already was. Tony bit into his lip to stop himself from being a sarcastic asshole. He’d get Bucky back one of these days.

Before he left, Bucky wrapped his arms around them both, a shit eating grin on his face. “We should have learned in this embarrassing collection of events that having sex and cooking cinnamon rolls is not a good mix. Chief, you should know better.” Bucky finished his little lecture with a firm kiss on Tony’s cheek and a soft smack on Peter’s. “Be careful, kids.”

Both Tony and Peter stayed silent until they heard the bell on the front door ring, signaling Bucky’s exit. Tony broke the silence first, his hearty laugh echoing in the otherwise empty kitchen. “That’s probably the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to me,” Tony groaned after a few minutes of letting the hilarity overtake his body. The gasping sounds of Peter laughing right along with him made it all a bit more okay.

“I can’t believe he just gave us a safe sex lecture,” Peter added, his face now completely red. “In my own kitchen!” He put a hand on his chest like he was affronted, which made them both laugh even harder.

Unable to stop himself, Tony wrapped Peter up in a tight hug and let the remnants of his chuckles die down – his nose buried in the man’s skin was more than calming. “I’m sorry – I shouldn’t have touched anything,” Tony admitted, regret and the slightest bit of guilt apparent in his voice.

Peter shifted until he could palm Tony’s cheeks. Their eyes met, the soft smile he saw on Peter’s face was too much – there were so many emotions just sitting on the surface. “It’s okay, Tony. Life with you is never going to be boring, and I’m way more than okay with that.” Peter rubbed their noses together, then kissed him – the intention behind it very clear.

----

Tony couldn’t decide whether the break they took to take both their cars to his house was a good idea or a terrible one. It gave him a few seconds to clear his head, because Peter consumed him whenever they were together – it was obvious in the way that he almost burned down the bakery he’d been slowly becoming familiar with. It felt miserable to be away from him, though – his fingers ached to feel Peter’s warm skin underneath them. The slightest taste he got back in the kitchen wasn’t nearly enough.

They pulled up right around the same time and hustled into the house through the garage door. Tony didn’t give Peter a chance to do anything other than react, his hands gripped slim hips and tugged him close. Their lips were pressed together before either of them knew it, Tony’s tongue slipped between the seam of Peter’s lips when he gasped at the sensation of being pressed lip to toe.

It took a little bit of fumbling, but Tony managed to walk them through the maze of his kitchen and front room until the backs of Peter’s knees were hitting the edge of his mattress in the master bedroom. Tony broke the kiss and pushed on Peter’s chest, the other man taking the hint and dropping down, crawling until he was up by the pillows in the middle of the bed.

Pulling the soft t-shirt he’d been wearing all night over his head, Tony kicked off his shoes and thumbed off his socks before crawling onto the bed. He methodically took Peter’s clothes from him, too. First the short sleeve button down; then his pants, boxer briefs, and flip-flops all in one move. Tony took a few seconds to enjoy the vision of Peter naked and panting – he couldn’t recall anything so erotic. “You look great spread out on my sheets, Pete. I’ve imagined you here so many times.”

Peter looked up at him with lust blown eyes, his tongue peeking out to trace his bottom lip. “Is that so? What, exactly, have you imagined?” Peter got Tony’s button undone and zipper pulled down while he spoke. His hand plunging into the front of blue boxer briefs and gave Tony’s cock a quick squeeze.

His skin tightened, Peter’s touch like a hard press to the gas of his body’s responses. Gooseflesh pebbled over his skin, the battle between fire and icy goodness pulling a moan from his throat. Reaching down, Tony reluctantly grabbed Peter’s hand and worked it out of his pants so he could get them down and off his body. He replaced the hand on his cock and went about running his hands all over Peter’s skin.

“I mostly imagine this – the long lines of your limbs and how the skin gives way to the lean muscle I knew you’d be sporting. You’re under me a lot and sometimes, I’ve got you on your belly and pressed so far into the mattress. It just depends on the mood, honestly – you’ve been in a starring role since we met.” While he described what he thought about, he let his hips start to move in the tight grip Peter had around his cock.

Leaning down, Tony let their lips tangle. He slipped his hand between them and slapped Peter’s away. His fingers wrapped around himself and Peter and started to stroke, instead – the slick from his cock helping the slide of his hand up and then back down. When Peter started to pick his hips up and chase Tony’s touch, he squeezed their lengths together one more time before pulling back. Peter looked up at him desperately, his eyes wide. “You okay?” Peter asked breathlessly.

Tony didn’t answer right away, he gave Peter another swift kiss on the lips, then leaned over to the bedside table to grab the lube and a condom – things were about to get hot and heavy and he didn’t want to have to stop. “I’m good, Pete. Better than,” he finally muttered, a sigh leaving his lips when he was pressed against Peter’s bare skin once again. “How do you want me?”

Peter blinked up at him, his colorfully coated arms rubbing up and down Tony’s sides. “This is good. I don’t need much prep, I want you so bad, Tones.” He gripped Tony’s shoulders and pulled him down, the kiss they got lost in warm and intense – the touch a sweet prelude to what was to come.

In an attempt to finally get some of the friction back against his length, Tony pulled away from Peter’s distracting lips and shifted until he was upright and seated between long, lean legs. Snapping the cap off the top of the lube, Tony poured a large amount into the palm of his hand – he wrapped it around Peter’s erection and gave a couple of slow pulls, spreading the slick around. Peter thrust up into his touch, the vein on the side of his length throbbing against Tony’s fingers.

He forced himself to pull away from Peter’s leaking erection to pour more lube into his hand. Coating his fingers in it, Tony traced the rim of Peter’s hole, the muscle clenching with the tickle-y caress. Tony used his free hand to fist his red cock while his lubed-up fingers traced and pushed until two of them were slipping into Peter’s warm embrace.

Tony didn’t spend much time teasing anything out – he pressed forward slowly until his fingers were fully seated, then pulled back and started a steady rhythm. He kept his thrusts even until he felt the tips of his fingers press against Peter’s prostate – the contact against it pulled a sticky glob of precum from the head of his cock.

“Oh, fuck! Tony – that’s fantastic.” Peter tossed his head back and forth, the words coming out of his mouth in loud shouts. “More – I need more. I want you inside of me.”

Running his tongue over his bottom lip, Tony pulled his fingers out swiftly and immediately pushed back in with 3 of them. He spread his fingers apart at the rim a couple of times in a desperate last-minute attempt to stretch him. Then, he pulled out completely and reached for the condom he placed carelessly on the comforter. He put the edge of the foil between his teeth and ripped it, a sigh of relief slipping from his lips when his fingers fumbled it out of the package.

Shaky fingers rolled the latex down his hard length, his fingers squeezing at the base when he got there. Closing his eyes, Tony heard the cap of the lube open and fingers that weren’t his own slick him up. He glanced down to see Peter looking at him impatiently, his cheeks beet red and covered in sweat. “Come on – “ Peter gasped out, obviously unable to control himself.

Not needing to be told more than once, Tony guided the head of his cock to Peter’s hole and pressed in, his upper body folding over the man below him. With each thrust forward, Tony got a little further inside, the warm heat enveloping him like a tight glove. His eyes were wide and his breathing erratic – it’d been a long time since he felt something so sweet; and the fact that it was Peter below him made it that much sweeter.

His hips rested against Peter’s ass as he finally bottomed out. Biting down into the skin of Peter’s shoulder, Tony let his hips roll forward, just that slight movement making the heat in his core bubble dangerously close to the rim. He turned his head enough to capture Peter’s lips, Tony drawing his hips back and snapping them forward as their tongues tangled.

The arousal rising between them was tangible – intensity swirled in the room around them. Peter broke away from the kiss to pant out loud breaths and moans; his chest rose and fell against Tony’s in a way that spoke of how good it actually felt. Tony took advantage of Peter’s distraction to sit up and grab his legs, throwing them up over his shoulder. The change in position let Tony slam in a little deeper – the tip of his cock nailed Peter’s prostate with every single thrust.

Signs of Peter’s orgasm overcame the younger man’s body progressively. Tony felt his toes curl against his fingers, then saw the rush of blood trail down Peter’s chest. It was a deep red, much like the color of his cock throbbing against the flatness of his stomach. The pearly bead of precum that dripped onto his stomach caught Tony’s eye, his vision focusing on the clear liquid. When Peter actually came apart under him, Tony couldn’t look away – thick ropes of cum covered his stomach.

Rhythmic clenching of Peter’s hole pulled Tony over the edge a thrust later. He managed to drop Peter’s legs down around his hips before falling down over him, his body suddenly heavier than Tony could manage.

Lips against the side of his head pulled him out of the haze a few minutes later – Peter was looking at him with a deep look of satisfaction on his face. Tony grinned up at him – his heart felt light and despite the fatigue that tried to pull him under, he’d never felt better. He managed to shift just enough to pull out, get the condom off and tied, and lay down heavily on Peter’s side. His heavy head rested on Peter’s muscled shoulder and finally, Tony let himself relax.

The next time Tony blinked, he was on his back with Peter tucked under his arm. His skin felt like it’d been wiped clean and the room around them was much darker than it’d been when things first started. Peter’s arm was across his chest and for the first time, he got the chance to look at the tattoos covering the entirety of it. There were a collection of roses wrapping around his forearm and over his bicep and deltoid. All of the free space was covered by cherry blossoms. It was simple and elegant – perfect for the man Tony was starting to know so much about.

Before relaxing back into the pillows, Tony gave Peter’s forehead a soft kiss – a smile slipping across his face as he did. Gripping the tattooed arm resting against him, Tony nestled into the warmth surrounding him and let himself drift back to sleep.

----

For a little while after that, Tony got to live in a state of bliss that shouldn’t have existed. Peter was passionate in all ways – breaking down the wall between them in the physical sense opened the floodgates and pulled them both under. For weeks, whenever they could get a free second to be together, Tony and Peter allowed the hunger to take over.

The guys at the firehouse were quickly accustomed to seeing Peter walk out in the early hours of the morning with a sleepy chief trailing after him for the chance at one more kiss. It quickly got too sickeningly sweet for them to make too much fun of it.

Tony was more than grateful for that – and not just because it got the guys off his back. Peter brought out a different side of him and for the first time, probably ever, Tony had someone else that got him to the very core. With Peter, Tony could be himself.

They were able to live in the fuzziness of the novelty of their relationship for 10 weeks before the reality of Tony’s job came crashing down around them like the scary thing it actually was. He’d been lucky, to have met Peter during a time when things were slow around the station. In the years he’d been working, Tony knew lulls didn’t last for long – and when they came to a grinding halt, there was always something catastrophic to blame.

Getting a call on his day off, Tony immediately knew there was something wrong. Fury, the Captain in charge when he and Bucky weren’t around rarely called him. Even when he was actually needed. Seeing his name on the caller-id had him kissing Peter on the check and excusing himself to the hall of the restaurant they were at. He didn’t miss the concern etched on Peter’s brow – though, the depth of it was not yet understood.

By some sort of weird gut feeling, Peter already knew he had to go when he walked back into the room. He paid the check while Tony was on the phone and was waiting by the door. “I’m sorry, Pete. There’s a multiple building fire and they’re calling everyone in. I have to go,” Tony explained, his thumb hitching over his shoulder like Peter didn’t know Tony’s truck was parked outside. “I’ll come back when I can.”

With a soft kiss and what felt like a desperate hug, Tony was turning on his heel and heading towards the location he’d been given. The enormity of it hit him when he realized how backed up traffic was on his way to get a couple of miles down the road. Pulling up, Tony covered his mouth when he saw the entirety of the brand-new commercial shopping center on fire.

It didn’t take long to find Bucky, who was also in a similar state of civilian dress – they looked at each other with wide eyes, knocked shoulders, and walked into the scene with as much confidence as they could. Aside from the battalion chief that hadn’t been called in, they were the highest ranking on the scene.

Tony didn’t hesitate to move around and get into a suit while collecting all of the facts. They were four trucks deep and pulling as much water as they possibly could. There hadn’t been signs of explosion, but the intensity of the fire meant it had a mind of its own – a change could occur in a heartbeat. Unable to think of anything else he’d need to know, Tony tucked in behind Bucky on their truck’s line.

The fire was too big to recognize all of the signs of the flashover that took the building down and 6 firefighters with it instantly. Tony, who’d been near the front of the building went flying back, landing in a heap not far from the truck. Disoriented, Tony got up and pulled anyone in his path up and off the ground. No matter what – they needed to get the fire under control.

It took another couple of hours and two more buildings falling to the ground to finally get the flames under control. Tony, who’d been dealing with dizziness and nausea since getting off the ground, called in for back up from neighboring stations – they needed manpower and they needed it quick. Falling against the side of the truck when things were finally out of his hands, Tony retched, then slipped down further until he was on the ground.

A panicked look in Bucky’s eyes was the last thing Tony remembered before the blackness of a severe concussion and fatigue overtook him.

Waking up in a hospital bed wasn’t what he expected when he walked onto the scene the night before. Peter and Bucky, both pale with what he could only assume was worry, were staring at him when he blinked awake. The lights in the room were incredibly bright and the figures of his two favorite humans were a little wonky – but, he felt glad to be alive.

“We got it stopped, right? I didn’t punk out before the fun was over?” Tony asked, his voice foreign to his own ears – he sounded loopy, the words slurred a little. Whatever they had him on, it was doing the trick. He felt woozy and without a single ounce of pain.

Peter grabbed his hand and let out a snuffled laugh – for the first time since coming to, Tony could see the tear streaks on Peter’s cheeks. Reaching out to him, he gestured with his fingers for Peter to come closer. In the state he was in, it probably didn’t look coordinated, but his boyfriend came over, anyway. He let out a sigh against Tony’s chest when he pulled him close – the feeling of Peter was the only thing Tony needed in that moment.

“We got it handled, Chief – no worries. There was a lot of damage and we’re… 6 men short; but we stopped it.” Bucky’s voice cut through the little bit of goodness he was feeling – the memory of the blast and the guys they couldn’t get to respond hit him like a bus. 6 good men. Clenching at the hand that he was more than grateful to be holding, Tony let tears he couldn’t control fall.

Without any hesitation, both of the guys in the room wrapped him up in a hug – the sensitivity of his head and body be damned. He felt the sleeve of his hospital gown get more and more wet with tears; the spot Bucky was claiming a total mess when the moment finally broke. Tony clapped a hand against Bucky’s arm a few times in solidarity – the two of them sharing a look.

After a little while of merely existing in the same room together, Bucky got up and moved towards the door. “I’m gonna go home and sleep – now that I know you’re okay, I can stop worrying Steve.” Bucky flashed him a halfhearted smile, the forced nature of it making Tony’s stomach churn a little bit.

It should’ve been a sign – the unease he felt. Yet, Tony was just grateful to be there and have Peter sitting there by his side. That lasted all of ten minutes before Peter was bringing his hand up to his mouth for a lingering kiss – then, he let it go and got up. Tony pinched his eyebrows together – the move making his head ache through the haze of the drugs. “Pete?” Tony mumbled; his body suddenly frozen.

“Tony – I’m glad you’re okay. I needed to make sure you were.” Peter looked at him, the man desperate to portray something in the way he stared at him. Tony didn’t blink – the thought of closing his eyes meant Peter would disappear that much sooner. “I think I need some time to think. I’ve lost so many people in my life – the idea of you being one of them the past twelve hours was a little soul crushing.”

He took a step towards Tony and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Please understand. I just need some time.”

Tony tried not to let the sob that shattered him go until he heard the click of the door closing behind him. It was probably the head injury – making him feel like the world titled a bit off its axis at the sight of Peter’s back to him. He suddenly wished for the numb feeling he experienced the first couple of seconds of coming to – at least then the feelings wouldn’t be sitting on his chest, threatening to stomp him into the dirt and keep him there.

----

The doctor kept him in the hospital for another day to make sure they observed his brain function and symptoms fully. Bucky and Steve grabbed him when he was released and plied him with greasy cheeseburgers and fries before dropping him back at his house. He still had a couple of days off, so he bypassed his living room and dropped onto the bed. It smelt like Peter – everything in the place did. Stuffing his face into the pillow that Peter usually slept on, Tony let his tears lull him to sleep.

That went on for about 16 hours – he slept for a while, came to and got lost in the rush of emotions that he couldn’t control, then fell asleep again. A part of him was glad that Peter wasn’t around to see him – he wasn’t stable in any way. Peter deserved much more than that; much more than him.

His inability to sit still for long had him heading back to the station the next day – sitting around his house that was swarming with fresh memories of the person he thought he might really let himself have fully wasn’t going to get him anywhere. It felt more painful than the ache in his head ever could.

He didn’t take into account, however, that 2 of his own guys were taken from them in the horrendous fire that, at that point in his career, was the worst one Tony experienced. The mood around the station was somber and only made the entire body ache that engulfed him so much worse. Funeral service plans were waiting on his desk, the sleek black of the folder finally making the situation real.

In a desperate attempt to find that numbness again, Tony got lost in the mountain of work that he’d been putting off. Between the hands-on part of the job and sneaking off to spend as much time with Peter as he could, Tony let a lot of his duties slack. Now that he didn’t have anything to look forward to, the least he could do was get his work done.

The funeral ceremonies were the following week – seeing everyone dressed in their Class A’s usually made him beam with pride; but it made his heart heavy, instead. Tony made his speeches about Quill and Draxx with as much emotion as he could pull from himself. He stood at the front right of the procession and did his best to bring comfort to anyone that needed it. All the while, Tony found himself falling apart more and more – it was all too much at once.

Making his excuses as early as he could, Tony got back to his house without turning around. He never distanced himself like that from the job that was so important to him. Yet, he found himself unable to give himself to the people that needed that from him – so, he got out and went to hide his tail between his legs in the privacy of his own home.

What he didn’t expect, however, was Peter’s car parked in his driveway, the man leaning against his driver’s side door. Tony tried not to smile, his face a little unsure of the movement pattern, anyway. Seeing the person who’d been on his mind non-stop since he walked out of the hospital room made Tony feel a lot of things. Relief the first among them.

Before getting out of the car, Tony ran his hands over his eyes and down his face. There wasn’t a chance in hell that he’d be able to wipe the sadness and days’ worth of tears from his face – but it felt good to try. Sinking his hat low on his brow, Tony finally climbed out – the entirety of him feeling on edge.

Peter didn’t wait to approach him, he filled up the space between them and threw his arms around Tony’s shoulders. The touch was too nice to worry about anything else, Tony merely leaned into it – his own hands wrapping around Peter’s waist. Closing his eyes didn’t feel like inviting in a nightmare, so he tilted his head and let his chin rest of Peter’s shoulder. The weight of everything left him; just for a second.

Wordlessly, Tony pulled back and grabbed Peter’s hand. Much like the first time he brought him home, Tony led Peter through the door – only this time, they stopped in the kitchen. Tony let go and went about taking his hat and gloves off, the fancy things getting brushed to the corner of his otherwise empty counter. He didn’t stop moving until the crisp jacket was off his shoulders and slung over one of the chairs pushed into the table.

“Tony, I – “ Peter started. His hands gripped the edge of Tony’s counter, the knuckles turning white.

“If you’re going to say you’re sorry, don’t. You don’t have anything to be sorry for. My job is scary and it’s a lot to handle. Even for me,” Tony said, the last couple of words coming out breathlessly. The truth behind them made him want to curl up in a ball. He walked to the fridge and grabbed two beers, instead – anything to distract himself.

Their fingers brushed when Tony handed over the bottle – Peter’s fingers held his purposely, the warmth of his touch scalding, the scorch a delicious pleasure-pain of uncertainty and deep want clutching and not letting go. It felt good – even if it was fleeting; having Peter back at all was enough.

“I was just going to say that you look good – in your uniform. It suits you. You embody it. I didn’t know what I came here to say, to be honest. I just knew that I wanted to be here,” Peter stopped to take a long pull of the beer, his eyebrows arching at the hoppy taste of the IPA. He let silence build up for a moment – their eyes never leaving each other. “I think that’s enough. To be bigger than the worry. Being here, I mean. With you.”

The click of glass on the counter was the last thing Tony remembered before Peter’s lips were on his. He could still taste the beer on Peter’s tongue – the bitterness of it made the slide and press of their lips together that much sweeter. Huffing out a breath through his nose, Tony gripped Peter’s cheeks and tilted his head further, deepening the kiss.

“I need you to be sure, Pete,” Tony whispered after a while, his forehead resting against Peter’s. “You’re it. Don’t let me get used to you if you’re going to disappear.” It was more than he meant to say, but now that it was out there, Tony felt a bit better for it.

Peter grabbed the back of Tony’s arms, the touch soft, his thumb moving over the thin white shirt there. He gave Tony a brief kiss – and then another. “I’m sure, Tony.”

#starker #starkerfestivalsevents #bobbie writes

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wheresmynaya · 4 years

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Two Ghosts Ch.21 | Brittana

Yes, you’re seeing that correctly LOL. I’m determined to turn 2020 around, at least through writing fics! I will also (try very hard to) update weekly.

Available on ff.net (x) ao3 (x) & below the cut!

The wheels of the plane from New Haven barely hit the tarmac before Quinn is texting Santana and Brittany to ask if they want to grab a coffee. Santana figures Quinn must be dying to know what happened with Alex because she sure didn’t call Quinn up to tell her. She also highly doubts Brittany had the time to do it either.

They’ve both been…busy.

Not like that, they’ve just had their own things to deal with. You know, private feelings.

Like knowing Britt still loves her after all these years and Santana wanting to do things right this time. Brittany had teased Santana about being courted, but Santana kind of liked the idea of taking things slow. There were still so many things about Brittany she didn’t know and the thought of learning her all over again sounded nice.

Brittany P. – You free to meet up with Q?

Santana sees the text from Brittany and it makes her smile. It’s so reminiscent of their high school days when Quinn would message the Unholy Trinity group chat but Santana and Brittany would text each other on the side to confirm what they wanted to do first before replying. They’ve grown so much over the years, but the text just shows Santana that some things never do change. Do they?

Santana L. – Yeah, hbu?

Brittany P. – Yup!

Santana swipes into the group chat and sends a text agreeing to meet up which is closely followed by Brittany saying the same. Quinn’s all too quick to provide the when and where before Santana sets off to get dressed. She’s nearly made it to her closet when her phone goes off again. It’s a private text from Brittany.

Brittany P. – I’m glad you’re free. I’ve kinda missed your face.

Santana feels a heat rise up the back of her neck and cover the apples of her cheeks upon reading the text. She quickly types out a reply, trying to keep her cool.

Santana L. – It’s only been like…2 days?

Brittany P. – 2 days too long!

And just like that, Santana feels like a silly school girl again blushing over a cute text from Brittany. She remembered at time back in high school when Brittany would make it her mission during class to break Santana’s bitch face with an onslaught of cute texts that she would totally make fun of if they had come from anyone else but Britt. Sometimes she’d send corny pick-up lines or puns are just straight compliment the crap out of her. Either way, Santana never stood a chance.

She was like putty in Brittany’s hands.

Apparently after all this time, she still is.

She ruffles up her hair and positions the camera towards her. She gives it a cheeky grin and snap the selfie before sending it off to Brittany, followed by a text.

Santana L. – Don’t want to deprive you of this beautiful mug.

Brittany texts back almost instantly.

Brittany P. – hubba hubba!

A picture of herself sporting the cheesiest of grins accompanies the new text and Santana laughs at the combination. She makes a point to set the picture as Brittany’s new Caller Id later.

When Santana steps outside, she’s surprised by how cold it is. With years of having to wear a Cheerios skirt no matter the weather and 5 years worth of living in New York, Santana was pretty immune to the cold but today seemed to be a dramatic drop in temperature.

Then again, now that it was December could she really be that surprised? She let that thought sit with her for a moment as she slid into her Honda. December already? Time was flying by, the school years was nearly halfway over!

What is she going to do after?

She hadn’t really given it too much thought. She figured she would head back to New York, but things were changing. It wasn’t just her future anymore, it was Brittany’s too. And maybe she’s jumping the gun a little, fast-forwarding that far ahead after she told Britt she wanted to take things slow, but that talk would have to come up eventually, wouldn’t it?

Santana shakes away the thoughts, they’re too heavy for the lack of caffeine in her system, and sets them on the back burner for now before she goes to start her car. She twists the key in the ignition and surprise surprise it doesn’t roar to life.

“Seriously?” Santana frowns and tries again but it’s no use. Her little Honda refuses to start up. She lets out a sigh and glances over to the empty spot in the driveway where her mom’s SUV is usually parked if Maribel didn’t happen to be at work right now. Santana rolls her eyes and tries to start the car one more time before giving up.

It feels a bit like déjà vu; Santana’s car refusing to work right before the first Unholy Trinity meeting at the beginning of the school year which ended up making her late. She had felt so bad for making her friends wait for her and here she was about to do it again. Back then she had to figure out her useless car on her own, but again, things were different.

Santana heads back inside for warmth and fishes her phone out from her purse before making the call.

“Hey Santana!” Brittany greets enthusiastically, albeit slightly out of breath. The sound makes Santana’s mouth go dry, remembering other times where Brittany sounded just as breathless.

“Hey Britt! Are you…running?”

“Kind of,” Brittany answers through a chuckle, “What’s up?”

“Do you think I could catch a ride with you to meet up with Quinn?” Santana asks a little nervously, “My car is being a piece of shit again and refusing to do the one thing it was built to freaking do.”

“It’s probably just mad at you for still not taking it in,” Brittany teases her, “But yeah, I can totally pick you up! Be around in 10?”

“Thanks Britt,” Santana grins, “I’ll see you soon.”

“Kay bye!”

It’s ridiculous to think how all of a sudden Santana’s heart starts beating a little faster and her movements become more fidgety in anticipation for Brittany to come over. She really wishes she could get a grip, but after everything that happened on Thanksgiving and their talk after seeing Alex it’s hard to control. She couldn’t get over the fact that Britt still loved her and they still had a chance to make things right. She couldn’t believe it, after all the years of struggling and pushing away those feelings, there was still something there for them.

Britt had said that her body wakes up whenever she’s around Santana and now Santana totally gets it.

Santana’s body wakes up around Brittany too and she has missed that feeling so much.

There are a couple knocks at the front door, but she doesn’t have to check to know that it’s Brittany. Other than the fact that Santana knew she would be coming, Brittany still taps the same signature rhythm with her knuckles.

“Hey, I would’ve-“ Santana’s words get caught as her eyes land on Brittany.

Her blonde hair falls from her messy bun in cute tendrils, something that’s prone to happening whenever Brittany breaks a sweat. In fact, she glistens and steam rises from the top of her head against the cold air. Santana wonders how the hell she isn’t freezing, but she can’t comprehend much as her eyes start to rake up Brittany’s body on their own.

She’s dressed in baggy red sweat pants and a black sports bra that’s damp with sweat and it’s barely covered by the pathetic excuse for a t-shirt. The material is so thin it’s practically see through and Santana can literally count each one of Brittany’s abs.

Santana’s swallows dryly because woah.

Brittany’s still got it. Then again, did she ever really lose it? Apparently not, she just got hotter.

There’s a muffled chuckle that brings Santana’s eyes to meet mischievous blues. Brittany smirks and adjusts the strap of her duffle bag on her shoulder. Santana didn’t even realize she was carrying it.

“Hey Santana.”

“Sorry, hey Britt. Come in,” Santana gestures, not wanting Britt to catch a cold with the lack of clothes she has on, “Why are you so…sweaty?”

“My dance class ran a little late so I didn’t have time to get ready there,” Brittany explains, “Could I change here?”

Santana begins to picture Brittany’s lithe body breaking it down in dance class and god since when did she become such a desperate mess? She blames the lack of sex and Brittany.

She thinks how they kind of go hand in hand, but she quickly pushes that thought away.

“Yeah, sure. Go ahead. Did you want to shower too?”

“I should,” Brittany says, “Class was really intense today.”

“I can see that,” Santana comments without thinking but covers it with a smile, “Go shower. I’ll tell Quinn we’ll be late.”

“Thanks,” Brittany grins and presses a kiss to Santana’s cheek as she walks by.

Santana turns and watches as Brittany head up the stairs, a dopey grin filing her face as her eyes land on Brittany’s perfect ass.

That dopey grin is replaced by something of annoyance as Santana and Brittany sit across from Quinn at Starbucks a little later. Brittany is busy talking about her class and how they can incorporate some of the elements into their set for Sectionals since it’ll be coming up soon, but Santana can’t focus with how Quinn keeps glancing between her and Brittany so analytically.

Quinn’s itching to say something, Santana can tell, but she won’t interrupt Brittany when she’s speaking so passionately. She stays engaged and listens intently, but Santana knows the minute Brittany stops it’ll be fair game and she’s not ready for all that.

It makes Santana nervous; not because she wants to hide whatever is going on between her and Brittany, but because it’s too new to hash out over lattes. It was literally a day ago that they were even suggesting picking up their thing again, so Quinn would just have to wait until they sorted everything out themselves.

Santana holds out a little hope though. Quinn’s a lot more mature now than she was in high school, softer even, but she’s still the same ole’ Quinn in some aspects and Santana really doesn’t want to lure her out with talking about relationships.

But of course it’s a difficult topic to dodge when Alex is brought up. Santana and Brittany explain everything that happened at Frank’s and where Alex is now. It was already hard to miss the similarities between Alex and Santana, but it’s even more so now. It’s common knowledge so Santana’s glad that neither Quinn nor Brittany decided to delve into that. Instead Quinn says how thankful she is that Santana and Britt were around to help Alex and she’s a little upset that she missed out.

Quinn talks about being mentors and wanting to have a positive impact on the squad, something that was hit or miss when they were all in school because Sue could be so horrible and it wasn’t a secret that Mr. Schue had his favorites.

They could all agree that they wanted to do better if they could help it. When Quinn says she thinks Santana and Brittany did a great job with Alex and would make Ms. Holliday proud, Santana nearly gets choked up if she weren’t so badass. Ms. Holliday helped her and Brittany through so much so to be compared to her is a lot for Santana. If it weren’t for her, it would’ve taken her way longer to come to terms with her feelings. Maybe she never would’ve?

She owed Ms. Holliday everything.

Brittany thanks Quinn for them though and nuzzles into Santana’s side for a hug like she can sense Santana’s struggle. Santana’s grateful but she can’t help but smile at the scent of her shampoo wafting from Brittany’s hair, reminding her further of their new closeness. She catches Quinn’s analytical eye again and quickly turns up the snark.

“Who knew the holidays could turn you into a big softy, Quinnie.” Santana comments as Brittany pulls away. She already misses the warmth but she miraculously keeps from frowning about it.

Quinn just rolls her eyes and smirks, “You’re one to talk, Satan.”

After a refill, Quinn goes on to ask how everyone’s Thanksgiving went. Santana really feels like Quinn is trying to set her up here. Or maybe, Santana’s just feeling a little paranoid because Quinn always has that look like she knows something you don’t.

It seems that Santana’s the only one that’s trying to make it a bigger deal than it is, because Brittany easily fills Quinn in on how great it was to spend Thanksgiving with Santana and Maribel. She excitedly goes over the events of the night, but thankfully leaves out the more intimate details.

“I’m glad you didn’t have to spend it alone, Britt,” Quinn comments genuinely then looks to Santana, “It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun. I knew including Britt would be a good idea!”

Santana bites her cheek and narrows her eyes. She knows Quinn isn’t trying to be a pain in her ass on purpose judging by her tone, but the way she’s always silently rooting for them is embarrassing and makes Santana feel jittery. But more importantly, Brittany wasn’t aware of the fact that Santana had been considering inviting her to dinner and she doesn’t want to that to hurt Brittany’s feelings or for her to misunderstand.

Santana just wasn’t brave enough at the time and if Maribel didn’t invite Brittany over, then she and Santana wouldn’t have had such a great time and they would’ve never had the chance to reconnect like they did. There was no way of knowing Thanksgiving was going to have such an impact on their progress, but it doesn’t keep her from regretting her lack of bravery.

She hates that it still has the ability to dictate how their relationship pans out and unfortunately, that’s just another thing that hasn’t changed.

Santana scowls at how fast her thoughts are moving and she’s about two seconds away from saying something witty to take the attention off of her when she feels Brittany’s hand slip over her knee. Her knee twitches at the unexpected move, but she soon relaxes at the gentle squeeze Brittany gives her.

The gesture instantly softens her up and she glances over at Brittany who remains looking at Quinn like nothing’s happened, but it’s all the reassurance she needs for now.

“Oh no, Maribel invited me.” Brittany clarifies and squeezes Santana’s knee again, “We ran into each other at the grocery story. Not literally, but she did need help reaching something from the top shelf. She invited me over, but I didn’t want to impose. Santana was the one who convinced me to stay.”

When Brittany puts it that way, it eases more of Santana’s nerves. She didn’t even consider the amount of courage it took her to ask Brittany to stay. She always loved Brittany’s ability to turn her negatives into positives and she ducks her head in a quiet thanks.

Quinn smiles at them, but it’s more loving than her usual Queen Bitch Smirk. It makes Santana roll her eyes although her stomach flips from the fluttery feelings brought on by the feel of Brittany’s hand on her. She’s sure now that Quinn is on to them, but she doesn’t want to get into that right now.

“Shut up, Q.” Santana grumbles as she subtly overlaps Brittany’s hand with her own before taking a sip of her latte with her free one.

Quinn just laughs and waves her off, “I wasn’t saying anything.”

They spend the rest of the time talking about Sectionals and developing a game plan. They’ve been preparing for awhile now, maybe just before Thanksgiving break let out because they knew the squad would start to get less focused the closer the break came. For the most part, they felt ready and were confident that the squad felt it too.

“The Cheerios have placed first every year since 2003,” Quinn said, “At least, that’s what Sue said. I’m not sure how accurate that is.”

“I believe it,” Brittany replied with a shrug.

Santana just inhaled deeply and said sarcastically, “No pressure or anything.”

“We’ve got this in the bag,” Quinn answered confidently, “For one, we’re the only squad with 3 coaches.”

Brittany wagged her finger at Quinn, “True. That’s 3 times the awesomeness.”

“And we’re probably going to be the only hot coaches there too,” Santana shrugged nonchalantly.

“Also true,” Brittany nodded then sent a wink Santana’s way, “The hottest.”

Santana felt her cheeks flush, but she just smiled back smugly and dusted off her shoulder, “You know it.”

“Not really important,” Quinn chuckled causing Santana to screw up her face in disgust.

“Are you kidding me?” Santana looked astonished, “Looks are everything in the Cheerleading world, where have you been? Remember all those ridiculous diets Sue put us on?”

“Santana’s right,” Brittany added, “Our squad is a reflection of us, we have to set the example. Although, those diets were really unhealthy so let’s not tell the squad about it.”

“Oh we won’t,” Quinn clarifies, “These next couple of weeks are going to be pretty intense. Our girls are good but we can’t let them get too comfortable.”

“Let’s make them do wind sprints tomorrow,” Santana suggests devilishly, “Make them run off all that food they had over Thanksgiving.”

“Greens, beans, tomatoes, potatoes,” Brittany starts rapping and it makes Santana and Quinn laugh.

“This is our first competition as coaches and it’s important we make a good impression,” Quinn adds after their laughter dies down, “Afterall, we want to make it to Nationals, right?”

Santana briefly remembers Sue’s tape and the arrangement that brought them all together and the bonus that was promised if the squad were to place at Nationals. She had almost forgotten the real reason she was back in Lima, that it had nothing to do with Brittany, and it made her sit a little straighter.

She needed to stay focused too. She and Brittany both needed to.

“Of course,” Santana says and she’s surprised to hear Brittany’s voice in time with hers, mimicking the same words.

Always in unison, even without meaning to be.

“We have to be on point then,” Quinn adds a little more solemnly, “For Coach Sylvester.”

Santana can see the storm clouds rolling in above Quinn’s head and she wonders what that is about. She knew this was a job and they had to meet certain expectations in order to get paid, but she didn’t think Quinn would take it that seriously. Then again, she and Sue had always had a different dynamic. Maybe she really did want to honor her legacy by winning.

“We will be,” Santana replies anyway and gives Quinn an encouraging nod, “We don’t know how to be anything else but flawless.”

After saying their goodbyes to Quinn, Santana and Brittany are back in the car on their way to Maribel’s a little while later. Brittany had passed Santana the aux cord upon settling in and they decided on taking the long way home since the queue was so good. Santana had missed many aspects of Brittany, but being able to ride around in the car with her as they bobbed their heads to songs they use to sing for Glee Club is probably something she missed the most.

Brittany really was the easiest person to get along with, they just fit together so perfectly.

“You know, I don’t mind driving you around while your car gets fixed. You have great taste in music and your car dance moves are the best,” Brittany says after belting out the final note of a Whitney Houston song. She’s a little breathless again from the dramatic runs and the bellyaching laughter, but that’s when Santana finds her the prettiest.

She’s so wrapped up in staring that she nearly misses the words that follow.

“You are going to get it fixed, right?” Brittany asks and chances a glance at Santana to find her biting on her bottom lip. She might’ve forgotten to call Burt’s shop while she was waiting for Brittany, mostly because she was too busy running upstairs to touch up her make up before she arrived.

She smiled guiltily, “Yes?”

“San,” Brittany sighs as they come up to a red light. It was meant to sound frustrated but it was more endearing than anything. Santana hasn’t heard Brittany call her San in years and it makes her heart flutter wildly. Brittany gives her that you’re exhausting but I love you look and it has Santana’s guard instantly dropping.

“What?” Santana laughs as Brittany lifts a brow, “I will!”

“You better,” Brittany warns and her voice dips low.

The rumble of her tone has Santana biting her lip again and she presses further, edging over the middle console.

“Or what?” She asks challengingly.

Santana lingers there and she knows the exact moment Brittany’s head starts to cloud with thoughts, she can see it in darkening blue eyes. The glow of the red light illuminates them both, masking flushed cheeks, but Santana is confident they’re there. Suddenly, the heat coming from the vents is way too hot but it only seems to increase the longer Brittany stares heatedly back.

Santana remembers this look a little too well considering how long it has been. It was the same look that led to many spontaneous make out sessions in a dark parking lot when they were meant to be on their way to somewhere important. Back when they were young and reckless and couldn’t keep their hands of each other. The windows of Santana’s little Honda would be so thick with fog that she’d have to turn on the defroster afterwards just so she could see.

Brittany would just sit topless and doodle love hearts until it went away.

“You don’t want to know,” Brittany manages to reply in a whisper as she leans in and it’s like she’s daring Santana to close the distance.

And she would, she totally would! Their lips are so damn close now and the scent of her cherry lip smackers and peppermint gum is just so Brittany and it’s flooding her senses. All Santana has to do is lean just a little bit further and they’d be stopping traffic. She would give not one single fuck if it meant having Brittany’s lips on hers again.

But then their faces illuminate in green and Brittany’s the first to break the trance as the car behind them beeps their horn.

Santana settles back in her seat, tossing shy glances in Brittany’s direction, crossing her legs a little tighter as they continue their journey to Maribel’s.

She waits a few minutes before clearing her throat a little, “Maybe I’ll get Burt to have a look at it tomorrow before practice, see if it’s worth repairing…or whatever.”

She’s thankful that Brittany’s success in getting her all flustered can’t be detected in the tone of her voice and takes that as a small win.

“That’s my girl,” Brittany teases lovingly and reaches over to squeeze at Santana’s thigh.

Santana just about melts into a puddle on the spot because she wasn’t expecting Brittany to say something like that. Brittany can be so smug sometimes, but trying to fight from swooning at Brittany’s words is hard. She knows she can’t give Britt the satisfaction no matter how right she is in wanting Santana to take her car in, but being her girl?

Santana hasn’t been anyone’s anything in so long, at least not to anyone that mattered. She had forgotten what it felt like to be wanted in that way, even if Britt only said it as a passing comment. It makes Santana feel whole in a totally different way and she loves it.

She loves being Brittany’s girl.

#Two Ghosts #Brittana #fanfics #Brittana fanfiction

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