#it’s not july 4th yet but i wanted to make sure i finished it before then lol

[careytive]

happy 4th feat. lauren in her tally outfit!

[talkfastromance4]

Watermelon Sugar–Jake Seresin (An Arrangement Series)

An Arrangement Masterlist

Follow here for all updates as I do not have a taglist

word count: 3.3k

warnings: some body insecurity, brief smut scene

Feedback, asks, comments/reblogs mean the world to me!

Enjoy!

Jake told you about the bbq pool party happening on July 4th, he really did, but you were nervous for two reasons; you didn’t have a suit and you were anxious for him to see you in one. While you were having breakfast on the patio the day before, he was going over how he’d be gone shortly in the morning to do a flyover at the base but then he’d be back at eleven with the others. He insisted you invite Brynne, Serena and Dom but Dom always heads back home to spend the holiday weekend with his family. 

“I think I’ve got all your favorite foods for tomorrow, and some hard seltzers in the fridge by the bar. Is there anything else you need?” he asked and you bit your lip. “What is it, Sugar?”

“I don’t have a nice suit to wear,” you admitted sheepishly. 

“No big deal, let’s go shopping,” he wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin and pulled away from the table. 

“No, wait–” you grabbed hold of his forearm, he looked down at you. “Can–can I go by myself?”

He opened his mouth but then closed it. “Sure. I’ll have Reynolds take you. Buy a suit for every day of the week, okay?” He kissed your hand that was on his arm. 

So you did, you bought the ones that made you feel good in them and decided to wear a blue two-piece with white stars. You also bought a blue wrap to wear over it as a safety blanket when you were in front of Jake. Jake kissed you goodbye before he left to fly and you slept for another hour before getting up and getting ready. 

You’ve just finished putting on red lipstick that matches the red ribbon tied in your hair when Jake gets home. His flight suit is tied around his waist, his hair still a little sweaty and his aviators are hanging off his nose. 

“Don’t you look pretty,” he smiles, tossing his keys and wallet on his dresser. You’ve moved all your makeup stuff in his room, he bought a vanity for you to use along with the makeup you use and a bunch of stuff you’ve only dreamt about using. 

“You look hot, I mean–” you shake your head, “you’re sweaty.” He smirks at your comment but doesn’t really acknowledge it.

“Yeah, it’s a scorcher out there,” he says, sifting through his drawers for an American flag style swim trunks. “Make sure to put on sunscreen. Everyone should be here in an hour.”

“Okay…do you need my help with anything?”

“All taken care of, Sugar. Too bad you’re all dolled up, was gonna see if you’d want to save on water and take a shower with me.” He stands in front of you, tracing the contour of your face with his fingers until they’re under your chin. He tilts your head up. 

You shift in your chair making sure your wrap is covering you. Jake notices, his brows furrowing but again, he doesn’t say anything. You’re thankful for that. 

“Maybe next time,” you finally respond coyly. 

“Okay, Sugar,” his thumb drags over your bottom lip. “I love this color red on you.” 

And then he’s gone heading towards his bathroom singing the chorus to ‘Danger Zone’ before shutting the door. 

***

The party is in full swing and you feel a little more at ease when Serena and Brynne arrive. They gushed about your new suit and admired the other ones you bought. As soon as the three of you entered the pool area, Rooster smiled at Serena who quickly went over to him by the pool. He was standing on the first step, beer in hand and a bucket hat on his head. 

“He better ask for her number today, or Dom is gonna kick his ass,” Brynne sighs watching your friend flirt with the pilot. 

“He hasn’t yet?”

“Nope. And S keeps dropping hints but he’s oblivious.”

“I’ll say something to Jake. I know Rooster’s crazy about her,” you smile then notice Phoenix by the bar. She keeps glancing at Brynne while talking with Bob, her eyes traveling over Brynne’s cherry red suit. “Hey, Brynne, have you met Natasha yet?”

You take Brynne’s hand dragging her around the pool towards the bar and in front of Bob and Natasha. 

“Hey guys, this is Brynne. My friend and coworker. Brynne, this is Bob and Natasha,” you introduce. Brynne’s eyes glitter when she meets Natasha’s and they shake hands and Natasha offers to get her a drink. 

They move to the other end of the bar initiating small talk and that makes you happy. Warm, strong arms wrap around your waist and hot lips are on your cheek in a kiss. 

“Hey Sugar, are you thirsty?”

You nod and he moves behind the bar to get one of your hard seltzers, he pops the tab and slips it inside a coozie. He adds a steel straw then hands it to you.

“Did you put sunscreen on?” he asks taking a pull from his own beer. 

“Umm…” you suck on your straw, eyes downcast. 

“Let’s put some on before you go in the pool,” he pats the side of your hip affectionately. “C’mon.”

“Jake, I–”

He gives you no choice and tugs you along towards the house. Coyote and Payback say hello to you, they’re seated on the lounge chairs discussing something about football. Fanboy is relaxing in the sun. 

The cool air feels good from the dry heat outside as you enter the house, Jake still leading you through the house and into the bathroom on the first floor near the laundry room. He opens the closet grabbing a tube of sunscreen. 

“I can put it on myself,” you say quietly, arms crossed over your chest making sure the wrap is still secure around you. 

“I can get your back,” he smiles clicking the top open. “And you can rub my back, too.”

“Jake, I don’t–” you cover your face with your hands. 

“Woah, hey, what’s going on?” 

You shake your head, eyes closed. 

“Sugar, talk to me please. What’s wrong?”

“I’m self-conscious,” you mutter. 

“Self-conscious of what?” he takes hold of your hands and you let him remove them from your face. You open your eyes to stare at your joined hands between you. 

“Of how I look. I’m not tall and toned like Serena is and I don’t have the nice curves like Brynne does…I’m…I’m not–”

“y/n, look at me,” his voice is soft. You force your eyes up, his thumbs are rubbing the backs of your hands. “You’re beautiful, exactly the way you are. Your height, your size, your curves, all of it. I told you you’ve been tempting me since day one and I mean it, you don’t even realize how much. If you don’t want to take off your wrap yet, that’s fine, I’ll get Serena to come and help you.”

“No, she’s busy with Rooster,” you shake your head. You take a deep breath. “You can do it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” you nod removing your hands from his. Your eyes stare at his white tank top covered chest as your fingers untie the wrap. You continue to stare at the center of his chest as you pull it off your shoulders and he remains silent. 

“Damn,” he breathes and you finally look up at his face. His green eyes are widening as he moves over your suit. “As I live and breathe, darlin’ you sure are a sight for sore eyes.”

Your cheeks are burning from revealing your suit and from his words. He reaches behind you to get the sunscreen and he pops it open again. He starts at your shoulders, making sure to rub it in under the straps and over the hills of your breasts. Your heart is hammering and you wonder if he can feel it. His fingers tickle your stomach as he rubs in lotion there, and goosebumps appear when he gets the sides. 

“Can you turn around for me?” he asks softly and you do. He squirts more lotion on his hand and starts at your shoulders.

You watch him in the mirror, his face in concentration and you avoid your own gaze in the mirror. He moves your hair over your shoulder and you feel his hand slip down behind the clasp at the center of your back. 

“Here,” you murmur and unhook it so the only thing holding your suit up are your hands cupping it to your breasts. Your eyes meet in the mirror, questions burning in both of your gazes but neither of you voices them as he continues to spread sunscreen on your back. 

Did his hands get hotter? You try to concentrate on your breathing, the tips of his fingers dip a little below the waistband of your bottoms. More goosebumps, more heat. Part of you wants to remove your top and see what happens, part of you wants him to do it. 

To your surprise, Jake hooks the clasp back together and brings your hair back into place. 

“Can you do me now?” he asks your reflection. 

You nod as you readjust  your breasts in your suit so they’re more fitted and you can see Jake watches your every move. The way he’s looking at you fills you with a bit more confidence each time. When you pick up the lotion bottle he yanks off his tank top and turns around, you choke on the air you’re breathing because he’s so tan and muscular. He has freckles on his shoulders and a small birthmark on the very low part of his back. It looks like a heart. 

You squire the lotion in your palm and then swipe your hand over his whole back. His muscles tightened and you were mesmerized by the strength of them as you rub in the sunscreen. You make sure to get his shoulders and up into his neck. Your hand curves with his spine as you go lower and get the sides of his stomach. Without even thinking, your nail traces over that birthmark, Jake takes a deep breath. 

“Okay, turn around,” you say. 

When he does, he crowds your space, his arms caging you in between him and the counter.

“I already got my stomach, can you put some on my nose?” he asks scrunching his nose in indication. 

“Yeah,” you bite your lip and put a little more on your two fingers. You stroke your fingers over his nose and onto his chin, pressing the excess under his eyes and onto his ears. When you’re finished, you keep his face held in your hands.

You stare at each other for a second before lips are on lips and you’re somehow on the counter with your legs wrapped around his waist. His body is hard and hot and muscled against yours, his hands pulling you into him, your back bowing so you’re as close as you can be. Your fingers are in his hair and he moves one hand to cup and squeeze your breast. You moan into his mouth and then he shifts the suit down, his thumb and forefinger tweaking your nipple. You moan again and Jake moves his kisses down your jaw and to your neck and then his mouth is covering your breast. 

His mouth is hot and his tongue is slick and wet as it circles over your nipple. His teeth dig into the swell of your breast while his tongue flicks and presses on your bud. 

“Jake,” you sigh falling against the mirror watching through hooded eyes as he opens his. He keeps his gaze on you as he shifts to your other breast, his hand yanking the suit down. He doesn’t close his eyes until his mouth is on you again, a contented sigh coming from him and you keep your fingers curled in his hair. 

The noises he makes as he suckles on you electrifies your blood cells and you need him closer. It’s when you start to grind your hips against him that you yank on his head. His mouth releases your breast with a pop and his eyes are bright green. 

“We haven’t–we shouldn’t–” you’re panting trying to get the words out because so many thoughts are racing through your mind. 

You’ve opened up to him more, you’re more comfortable with him, you’re sleeping in his bed more frequently but the paperwork and Betty’s health are at the forefront. This is just an arrangement, he’s said you tempt him and he’s been tempting you a lot more too lately. 

“You’re right,” he nods but peppers kisses along your breasts before tucking them back into your suit. “We have guests. I got carried away.”

“I’m sorry,” you say. 

“No need to be sorry, Sugar,” he smiles crookedly and shifts on his feet. “I need a few minutes before I can go back out there.”

Your eyes immediately fly down to his waist where you can see a bulge over the stars and stripes of his suit. 

“Oh. Oops,” you bite your lip trying to hide your smile.

“Yeah, oops,” he murmurs, tugging your lip from your teeth into a kiss. He groans when you kiss him back excitedly. “Okay, trouble, time to head out before we’re discovered.”

“You’re the troublemaker,” you tease hopping down from the sink. You pick up your wrap and adjust yourself again. 

***

You went back outside and stepped into the pool water, you also needed to cool down after what you and Jake did. The rest were in the pool and Jake jumped in with a big splash then took you in his arms. Rooster started to complain he was hungry an hour later. You were the only one left in the pool floating on one of the floaties Jake bought special for the day.

Rooster and Serena were sitting on the pool steps and Brynne and Phoenix were sitting on the edge talking. You watched Jake as he gathered all of the grill stuff, and he even put on an apron that said ‘Kiss the Chef’. You suck on your drink through your straw watching his arms flex as he cleans the grill, a sheen of sweat glistening on his shoulders. 

You slip off the floaty and exit the pool just as Serena and Rooster wade in deeper, their fingers loosely linked. Jake’s eyes are on you as you walk towards him, water rolling over your body and when you’re close enough you lean up and peck his lips softly. His eyes flutter and he grins.

“What was that for?” 

“Your apron says to kiss the chef, so I did,” you giggle and finish off your drink. 

“I’ll kiss you too, Hangman,” Roster makes kissy noises behind you.

“Hard pass, Bradshaw. Go get your kabobs, man,” then he turns his attention back on you. “Did you put more sunscreen on?”

“Yeah, but it won’t work. I’ll still burn,” you shrug then turn around but Jake swats at your ass and you yelp. 

You grab another seltzer and the start taking pictures with Serena, Brynne and Phoenix. Jake and Bradley look your way when you all squeal as Coyote does a cannonball in the water. Phoenix and Brynne exit the pool getting cozy at the bar, Brynne even kisses Phoenix’s cheek for a picture.

“That’s good, Brynne is chill compared to the last girl Phoenix was with,” Jake comments.

“Yeah, your Sugar sure is sweetening up our group, ain’t she?” Rooster nudges Jake’s shoulder then goes over to Serena who is struggling with her beer bottle. 

When Jake has the food on the grill, he retreats inside to grab the extra plate of watermelon Rhea had cut up for the day. Jake always makes sure she spends holidays with her own family and he brought the plate out to you. You snatch a piece and take a bite, the juice dribbles down your chin and into your cleavage. You hold the piece up to Jake and he takes a bite, juice dribbling down his chin as well. 

You giggle then lean on the pool edge to swipe it from his lips. You suck it off your thumb.

“See, you’re trouble,” he cocks his head to the side and starts to stand.

“Leave the watermelon,” you tell him and snatch the floaty. You climb back on and make grabby hands for the plate which he hands you. “Thank you.”

The food is great as you all sit down to eat it and then Rooster runs off to grab the fireworks he brought. He sets them up with the help of Bob. Jake hands you some water because all you’ve had all afternoon are seltzers. The dry heat is really getting to you and your suit is starting to feel uncomfortable which only means one thing.

You’ve got a sun burn. 

You sit on Jake’s lap as Bob sets the fireworks off and you start to shiver now that the sun is no longer in the sky. Rooster and Serena were making out as the fireworks lit up the sky. You remember to tell Jake that Serena wants Bradley to ask for her number. 

“He’s an idiot, he has no game,” Jake shakes his head, “I’ll tell him.”

Everyone is gone by eleven o’clock and Jake tuts when he sees how red you are as you remove your makeup in his bathroom. 

“Sugar, you’re so sunburnt. You didn’t put more on after I did it for you, did you?”

“I did, I swear! But I told you…sunscreen doesn’t work on me for some reason,” you flinch when you dry your face off with the towel. 

He sighs heavily. “Take a cool shower and I’ll put aloe on you.”

You do what he says and it hurts when you put on the satin pajama set. The straps are thin but hit your burning skin in just the right way. When you exit the bathroom, Jake is already showered and tugging on the draw strings of his basketball shorts. 

“C’mere my little tomato,” he gestures to his bed and you crawl on it delicately. You lay down and lift your shorts up higher on your thighs and the bottom of your shirt. “Sugar…”

“Put it on please,” your body trembles as you shiver some more. Being in the heat all day is finally escaping you as you’re in the controlled temperature of the house. 

Jake rubs it on your thighs first, the cooling sensation of the aloe feels wonderful. It’s colder on your stomach, his fingers brush the underside of your boobs but you’re in too much pain to really get excited about it. 

“You’re gonna have to take your top off so it doesn’t cling to your skin, that’s not going to feel good,” he shakes his head. “You don’t have to sleep in here if you’re uncomfortable–”

“No, can I please? Your sheets are cooler than mine,” you pout and sit up delicately. 

“Of course you can,” he smiles gently. You begin to lift your top off but it pinches at your shoulders and you cry out. “I got it.” 

Jake removes it as softly as he can, folds it, places it at the foot of his bed and puts more aloe on his hands. He’s gentle as he rubs it over your shoulders and down your arms. By the time he gets to your back, it’s already dried on your front. He puts some on your hands and more on your chest because that’s where it’s the worst. 

“I’m getting you SPF 100 so this doesn’t happen again.” he sets the bottle on his nightstand. Your picture in a small frame.

“It won’t work–” you start to say slipping under his sheets. 

“Yes it will. SPF 30 was no help to you, Sugar.”

You sigh as you settle into his sheets, the coolness helps with the aloe but you’re shivering like crazy. Jake grabs your hands and blows on them. 

“If you wake up and it still hurts, I’ll put more on you.”

“You don’t mind I’ll be sleeping with my top off?” your teeth chatter.

“Sugar, I wouldn’t mind if you decided to sleep nude,” he kisses your cheek and shuts the lights off.

[awkwardchaosposts]

Icarus and his fool

Sherlock x Golden retriver!male reader

TW: mentions of death(possible murder),strangulation and other things related to crime

*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°

"For the greatest tragedy of them all, Is never to feel the burning light." -Icarus

*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°

He wasn't sure how to feel about this newfound fame. Sherlock did have more clients and more options means more reason to ignore the boring ones.

But if he had to name one thing he hated about it...

"Mr. Holmes! Mr.Holmes!"

You shouted from the crowd of reporters. You had a particular talent of being so loud that you could break even Sherlock's focus. He wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or impressed.

Scratch that,he was definitely annoyed.

Icy blue eyes found yours in the crowd. The closest he came to engaging with paparazzi.

It was odd to see such a cold and intimidating stare to make your face light up like fireworks on the 4th of July.

But he grew bored after five seconds. He could already tell everything he needed to know about you so why waste his intellect on something so meaningless.

Unfortunately for Sherlock,you followed him around like some lost puppy.

"Mr. Sherlock? I work with London Time Magazine and I was thinking-"

"Yes I know" he dismissed before you could even finish,putting on some gloves as he analyzed the body.

You both knew that you shouldn't be here but Sherlock was never one to worry about the rules. If you wanted to risk trespassing a crime scene then that was your problem. Not his.

"Well what would you think about an interview?"

"No"

"Oh" his answer was straight to the point atleast

The victim was strangled but no marks of resistance.

Reason: Drugged? Victim was too disoriented to fight back

He sighed. "Stop that"

You raised an eyebrow yet smiled like some jolly idiot. Sherlock made a note to not look at your face too much as to avoid that smile. How he hated it. A simple mind you were.

"Stop what?"

"I can hear you thinking,if you can even call it that. It's distracting "

There it was again. That smile. "Sorry. It's just you're so..." arrogant? cruel? Acting like a Gallus domesticus? "cool"

Cool? That word made his mind spiral in confusion. Your excited fanboying wasn't something he expected to see.

Sherlock knew a lot of people found his mind to be extraordinary,including himself.

But very few would find him 'cool'

"The interview. I'll...think about it" he lied so easily.

Never in his life has he seen someone so excited. What a twat

The door closing signalled to him that you left. Honestly it was better that way. Now he could finally focus.

The victim has no signs of being intoxicated. They look perfectly put together. The bruise on her neck looks older than 8 hours,meaning..

Sherlock dug in her bag. Cellphone,wallet, driver's license...

"There you are"

'Red room' the key card must be to some sort of hotel.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

1:59...2:00 the clock read

Sherlock was having trouble sleeping.

"Oh Sherlock look at the mess you made"

Mrs. Hudson scolded him in her too sweet voice. "I'll clean tomorrow" he made the empty promise. 'London Time Magazine' the web page stared back at him. His surroundings was filtered into white noise as he sulked. Brooding was the word Sherlock liked to use

"Mrs. Hudson" he called just as she was halfway out the door. The woman turned slowly so as to not upset her troubled hip. "Yes dear? Would you like some tea?"

"What does it mean when someone calls you...cool?" he confided in the woman far over her 60's,knowing well that she wouldn't understand what she'd call 'youngster slang'

~*~*~*~*~*

When Sherlock's mother made him learn to play the violin she certainly didn't think that it would be the source of outlet for her son's frustrations.

The apartment was filled with cries from the violin. Begging him to play more gently no doubt.

But he didn't. He was so frustrated with himself.

Sherlock hated feeling and this strange airhead made him feel just that. Albeit it was just curiousity he still hated the thought of his mind being stimulated by something so simple. It made Sherlock worry that all Anderson's talking has finally made him just as feeble minded.

"No don't be ridiculous,Sherlock. No one can be as stupid as Anderson" he silently reassured himself.

'Plink'

A pause ensued. He went to inspect his violin only to find one of the strings broke under the pressure of his abuse.

"Mrs. Hudson? I'm going out for a bit"

"What for dear?"

"It seems I'm in need of a stronger violin"

*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°*°

[nancydrewwouldnever]

The Receipts - Vegas, Baby! (Sept 2016)

So, this ask made me realize I wanted to step out of order in the timeline and do a fun stand alone moment – the Las Vegas couples’ trip of 2016.

Now, the Las Vegas trip is interesting because it exists on different levels. There’s the simple didactic level of dates and events, but then there’s also the level of fandom distraction and after-event gossip. So, let’s go!

In September 2016 Chris and Jenny were in L.A., as his MA house had begun undergoing extensive renovations. While I’m sure there were also business meetings to attend, it seemed it was mostly to do with getting out of the way of construction crews.

Now, to set the scene before the short Vegas weekend trip: a lot of shit was going down in fandom, because Jenny’s twitter feed was painting a not so cohesive picture of the “loving” couple. They seemed to be there, but separately there. We’ll get into all this when I get around to writing up September 2016 in full. But, suffice it to say, a lot of discussion was going on. We were also on pins and needles because it had been announced she was doing one of her comedy shows on Saturday, September 17th at the Largo Theatre in L.A. Everyone was taking bets on whether or not he would show up.

Thursday, September 15, 2016:

In fandom: It was a huge day. HUGE, for Jenny. Perhaps you may or may not remember, Chris and Jenny attended one of his friend’s weddings in Rhode Island over July 4th weekend. Well, fandom knew he had been there that weekend, but we didn’t think she had. Not until this specific day, when a helpful Anon went to a certain blog (guess) to point out that there were photos on a wedding photographer’s page. Photos of Chris and Jenny there together. Thanks, helpful Anon who may or may not but in almost all probability was Jenny herself. Well, that was like the Hiroshima bomb of distraction for the whole weekend for the fandom. It was all we concentrated on, the dissection of those wedding photos which were by that point over two months old.

In social media: Jenny made an IG post of being in a hotel room that had a phone in the bathroom. She seemed charmed by this fact. She deleted the post the same night. (Sorry, I don’t have a screencap, but have seen it. It was nothing special. An old style phone on a wall). We should have known this was bait.

In reality that we did not know yet: Chris and Jenny, Tara and Jason, Scott and his bf(?) and Guillermo and his wife had flown to Vegas for a weekend stay at Caesar’s. The phone in the bathroom was in a Caesar’s suite.

Also, in irony I cannot make up, September 15th was Jenny and Dean’s wedding anniversary. You know, Dean, the man she was legally married to for the whole of round one.

Friday, September 16, 2016:

In fandom: We are still arguing over the ramifications and meanings of wedding pics that are over two months old. We have no clue.

In social media: It was quiet. Too quiet.

In reality that we did not know yet: The friends group is enjoying their weekend comped trip to celebrate the double birthdays of Scott and Tara. They are staying, once again, in suites and rooms at Caesar’s. Dinner is, once again, at Nobu in Caesar’s. After dinner the group takes in a performance of “O” by Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio

(photo released after trip finished)

Saturday, September 17, 2016:

In fandom: What do you think we were doing? We were still arguing about those damned wedding pics.

In social media: It was quiet! Like the calm before a storm.

In reality that we did not know yet: The friends group (or only Jenny? this is murky) returned from Vegas back to Los Angeles. Before leaving, Chris had to take this promo pic, which would be released on the 20th.

Here’s where it gets interesting. That night was Jenny’s comedy show at the Largo Theater. No one turned up for it. Not Chris. Not a single member of that group who had just been with her for three days. Huh.

Then, on Sunday the 18th, shit hits the fan, at least for fandom:

And then:

So, you can imagine how the fandom train suddenly did this:

It looked like Jenny had a win. Or did it? Here’s where it gets really interesting, the aftermath:

Oh dear, a little too much fun in Vegas…

And then, the real fallout, a little later:

(Star Article excerpt from Octobert 21st print edition can be found at Celebitchy)

So, perhaps what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas?

Maybe, just maybe, it follows you around, like an overboard fuck buddy turned girlfriend.

(Edit: I had to go in and edit the days of the week of the trip after initial post. Didn't realize I was looking at a calendar of 2017 instead of 2016, d'oh.)

[charlesandmartine]

Wednesday 1st May 2024

We are fast closing in now to the end of our trip with the flight home scheduled for Friday arriving home on Saturday. So today is the penultimate day on the train. Overnight we slipped secretly into Beibridge, a frontier town minutes away from the border with South Africa. A more scruffy station would be hard to find. The immigration man was tidied away in an office behind piles of cardboard boxes and files full of long undiscovered, lost documents. His occupation spelled out on a handwritten sign hanging skewed from the platform ceiling. Another lopsided sign encouraged 3rd and 4th class passengers to use a rather dubious waiting room. In preparation for the next leg of our journey, the two Rovos diesel tractor units would need to be disconnected and replaced by a single South African unit piloted by a South African driver. We were eating our breakfast of Eggs Benedict as the train moved slowly out and we were warned that we would have something less than ten minutes before we would cross the Limpopo River and leave Zimbabwe behind us. The Limpopo of course made famous by Rudyard Kipling's Just So story, Elephant's Child. It was good to see, but an unreliable straw poll might suggest that all had expected the river to be just a little wider!!

Our train has 20 carriages in all, eleven of them being the sleeper side of the business, then two dining carriages with two kitchen carriages, four lounges, one carriage for staff accommodation. In total there are 53 fee paying guests on board. In all the train is likely to be about 500 meters in length; probably half the length of the train that carried us across Australia.

Lunch was served at one. It seemed odd that we had had no excursions today. Instead we sat in the lounge, or in the sunny but hot observation platform at the very back of the train. Passing through stations or across road junctions small children would appear from nowhere and run behind the train squealing excitedly. The heat would beat down mercilessly and force us eventually to move into the cool of the air-conditioned carriage. Conversation flows and you talk to people of all walks of life and nationality. The South African is worried about the outcome of the forthcoming May elections. In particular, nationalisation, poor management and yet more restrictions on their way of life. Many talk of leaving the country if all goes badly, including the Americans. We have met many nice and interesting people on the train. Especially Linda and Pam; sister's but one from the UK and the other from Canada. A pair of farmers from UK, Julie and Andrew who want to retire but a farm is a huge responsibility and difficult to hand on, let alone sell.

The evening meal had a real end of term feel to it. The fillet steak was so tender it virtually walked into our mouths. The wines flowed superceded by liqueurs and to finish the perfect evening we retreated to the observation car for cocktails. The ladies in their finery and the gents making the most of a tie and collar. I think all 53 guests on board had most likely had conversations with eachother. I'm not sure if our Christmas card list has increased much in size but friendship's have certainly been made.

Tomorrow after breakfast we all go our separate ways. The Rovos train gets washed down and prepared for it's next journey. We go to Pretoria for the night and then forwarded to Johannesburg for our flight home on Friday.

Then Kolokolo Bird said, with a mournful cry, 'Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, and find out.' Rudyard Kipling

[gwenxmoreno]

Time: a week or so after the rave

Where: Cemetery

What: Gwen talks about her current feelings

Warnings: mentions of death, cemetery things, anxiety

With the changing of the seasons, Gwendolyn had dug through an unlabeled box full of little decorations. Most of it was tiny little candles that needed new batteries, though a few bundles of different colored fake flowers were scattered about in the box. She felt unsure if she wanted to label the box as if it sealed its fate completely. Two years after his death, she still thought as if he was going to come back. She knew it was a silly thought. She knew that this box would forever be a box for him and that the label really didn't matter. Yet, she hated the permanent feeling of never changing the box.

She spent the morning picking out different flowers, fixing any weird bunched pieces from being stuck in a weird angle. Then she moved to make sure all her candles worked. Next in her tote bag were a few little pumpkins and fall decorations. Afraid of things getting knocked over, she rarely did anything too large or bulky.

Gwen debated for a while about taking Beatrice with her. Though the small blooming of something in her chest told her the answer she needed. This time she'd want to go alone. She'd want to be able to say her feelings and what truly needed to come out in the privacy of her father's church.

The drive was short and quiet. The closer she got to her husband, the more nervous she became. Her hands gripped the steering wheel just a little bit tighter as pressure from anxiety planted itself on her chest. Maybe this was all dumb, but she couldn't help the thoughts as she worried about what he might think. Or maybe what God would think about her.

Her legs felt like jello as she got out of the car, tote bag swung up on her shoulder. Still, she pushed through her anxious feelings and made her way up into the cemetery and to her husband's grave. Decorations from the 4th of July were still in decent shape. She easily moved them out of the way before taking out a small handheld broom to brush any debris from around his gravestone. "I know I'm a little bit early for autumn decorations, but I wanted to make sure I got these out here. You remember last year; we were too busy with Beatrice I just about missed Christmas as well." Of course, she knew there would only be silence in response.

"She's doing good. She's been loving those little baby puffs that melt into your mouth. I swear that's all she wants to eat now." One by one she slowly put out the candles and decorations. She took her time, thinking about the placement. Also buying her more time to delay talking about what really mattered to her. The blooming.

"I don't know why I keep thinking you're going to come back. Everyone says it's part of the whole grief thing. It's just weird sometimes. It's like some days I completely forget about what happened and that you'll come walking through the door." Her throat tightened painfully as she blinked back the tears threatening to spill.

"I... I just want you to know that I'm okay. I'm doing better... There's... There's this guy I've been bumping into every now and then. And he seems really nice and kind..." Gwen paused as she tried to get in a couple of breaths. The tightening in her chest and throat made it more difficult to even breathe let alone talk. "I don't know what's going to happen... I.. I wanted to tell you that I don't think I've smiled this much since you left me."

Shaky hands finished the decorations and the lights were flickering on as she flipped the switch to keep them on. She didn't know what she was more scared about -- her budding feelings for Rhett Harris or what her dead husband would think about it. She pulled her knees up to her chest, hands gripped tight. Maybe that would stop the shaking. Maybe that would make the guilt go away too. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She whispered, resting her head on her knees as she let the grief overcome her once more.

[ihopuhopwehop]

My Favorite Fremione Fics

Hello! Here is a list of my favorite Fred x Hermione fics!

Multichapters:

"The Brightest Witch of Beauxbatons" by free_bee

32/35 chapters posted. WIP

Rating: T

Summary:

"~July 1984~ Mr. Hugo Granger lived at number 84 Rue de Pierre de Lune, in Paris, France. Every morning he would collect his paper from the doorstep and retreat back to his kitchen where an owl would be waiting with his other paper at the window. However, on this rainy Tuesday, there was more than a newspaper in this owl's talons.

After the death of her parents, Hermione goes to live with her uncle at the age of five, discovering she is a witch from her magical uncle. Attending Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Hermione joins her school on a trip to Hogwarts in 1994, where three schools will be competing in the Triwizard Tournament.

Hermione meets many friends at Hogwarts, spending her sixth year amongst the other school's Houses, and discovering friends and loved ones that will last her whole life. If only she could figure out a way to help her new friends in the fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, while desperately trying not to fall head over heels for a certain mischief-making red head who seems intent on having her do just that.

My notes on the fic: AU- canon divergence. Where Hermione grew up going to Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts. She comes to Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament. I love this fremione fic because of how Fleur is written. I haven't finished reading this one yet, but I have enjoyed it so much that it must be added to my list!

"The Trouble with Wanting" by WrathOfMacy

39/? Chapters posted WIP

Rating: M

Summary: "This is a series of drabbles, ficlets and one-shots following our dear Fred and Hermione from June of 1995 (shortly before the third task of the Triwizard Tournament) to an as-of-yet undetermined point post-war.

Let's just call it the bastard love child of Alternate Canon and Fix-it Fic and leave it at that.

*Regarding the Underage tag, the characters are ages sixteen and eighteen at the first occurrence. If this upsets your sensibilities, this is not the story for you.*

**TAGS AND CHARACTERS WILL BE CONTINUALLY UPDATED AS NEEDED**"

My notes: I literally love this fic with all my heart. I subscribed to it and try to comment on every chapter kind of love. IT DOES HAVE SEX IN IT, CHECK THE TAGS BEFORE YOU READ.

"Things Have Changed" by marblewaves

33/36 Chapters posted WIP

Rating: M

Summary: "Fred Lives. Which is good because the world would be terrible without him. Snippets from 4th book on-"

My Notes: Soulmate AU. Slow Burn. I also really love this fanfiction, however I haven't read it in awhile otherwise I could give better notes lol.

"Not a perfect gentleman" by @ralina003 & Quartz

14/23 Chapters posted WIP

Rating: M

Summary: "Entering her second season in London, Miss Granger is already bored out of her mind. She is not interested in entering a marriage with one of the gentlemen, pursuing her only because of her dowry. Mr Weasley, who is the fourth son of a landowner not even having a title surely is no exception there. Or is he?"

My Notes: MY FAVORITE FICS RN Regency AU. I recently watched bridgerton and this is very much like bridgerton and I am LOVING it. I love how both Fred and Hermione are written. Highly recommend

"It Looks Better On Me" by SunshineSkies13

3/4 chapters written WIP

Rating: T

Summary: "* BY POPULAR DEMAND, 4th CHAPTER TO BE ADDED SOON* After a prank gone wrong, Fred lends Hermione his jumper. A few days later, she lets him borrow her hat. That should have been the end of it, except he refuses to give it back. She decides the only way to get him back is to 'borrow' something else, he decides to return the favor, and the Gryffindors place bets on whether they will empty each other's closets before admitting their feelings."

My Notes: Romantic Comedy. This story is so cute! I love the mischief both Hermione and Fred partake in.

"Prosturing and Prose" by evidenceclaimed

8/8 chapters posted COMPLETED

Rating: T

Summary: '"If I’m tried before the Wizengamot on accusations of moral ambiguity, you’ll be the first to say ‘I told you so.’”

“So glad we’ve established my favourite thing to say to you"

“I’ll be careful not to develop any pavlovian responses.”'

My Notes: Soulmate-identifying marks au, Enemies to friends to lovers. I love this fic so much as well. It was one of the first one to get me hooked on Fremione.

ONE-SHOTS

"Purr-fectly Matched" by omnenomnom

rating: T

Summary: "Crookshanks is fond of his servant. She is generous with both treats and affection while still knowledgeable of her place as his attendant. However, when she starts making that wailing noise, he decides the best solution would be to find her a mate. The question is, which male is worthy?"

My Notes: this is an interesting perspective that I love because Crookshanks is a distinguished gentleman.

"both hands outstretched (for meeting your hands)" by @gingerteaonthetardis

Rating: T

Summary: "a collection of fremione oneshots, featuring: early morning snuggling, soulmarks, time travel, domesticity, arguments about marriage proposals, and similar nonsense."

My Notes: I really like this one because it is a collection of one shots and I like the prompts within it.

"Don't pull away...not yet" by (me, myself, and I) Ihopuhopwehop

Rating: T

Summary: The war has finally ended and Hermione comforts Fred when he wakes up from being in a coma.

My Notes: Angst, Fred Lives

"Not So Perfect Prefect" by Ihopuhopwehop

Rating: T

Summary: For a tumblr Prompt of Fremione kisses with someone catching them

My Notes: In a series. I wrote this fic and I included the ones I wrote because I apparently don't book mark my favorite one-shots :(

[zappedbyzabka]

That college Johnny idea was too good.. Imagine Sam inviting Johnny over to a little barbecue Daniel is hosting for a 4th of July weekend maybe, and Johnny decides to dress up. He sports a tank top, with just enough bagginess to flash his tits, and he’s wearing short shorts, that at the right angle, ride up to show off his ass. Sure, it’s a bit obscene, but if Daniel hasn’t gotten the message yet, this will probably make it clear to Daniel what Johnny wants; if not, he swears next time he’ll show up wearing a sign that says ‘Fuck me Mr. Larusso!’.

Throughout the barbecue, Daniel is practically glued to the grill and Johnny only gets in a few teasing moments when he goes to serve himself food. He thinks about giving up, and heads to the kitchen inside to find a drink. Johnny’s standing with his back to the door, chugging down whatever beer was in the fridge when he hears the door open behind him.

“Johnny, can you toss me a beer?” It’s Daniel. Johnny really doesn’t want to turn around because he knows Daniel looks so hot in his button up, especially since he had the sleeves rolled up. Still, he grabs a beer and reluctantly turns to Daniel and hands it to him. He makes some small talk with Daniel, and Johnny delightfully notices that Daniel’s eyes seem to keep flicking down to his shorts. Johnny bites his lip as he adjusts his shorts farther up, creating an even tighter fit around his ass and upper thighs.

“I should go… They’re probably out there burning the food without me…” Daniel chuckles dryly and leaves without another word. There’s a devilish grin on Johnny’s face for the rest of the day because he knows he’s got Daniel hooked on him. All he has to do is get Daniel to give in and take him already. Lucky for him, he’s arranged to sleep over since he doesn’t really have anywhere to go and he’s driving back to his dorm tomorrow.

Johnny’s setting up for the night, making a bed on the couch. Sam had knocked out upstairs hours ago, but Johnny stayed up to clean while Daniel washed off the grill. Johnny takes a seat on the couch and hears Daniel walk in, his sigh a clear indication he’s done with cleaning.

“You mind if I sit here for a bit?”

“Go for it, Mr. Larusso. It’s your house anyway.” Johnny makes space for Daniel to sit, enjoying the proximity. Daniel glances down to Johnny’s shorts and frowns.

“Aren’t you uncomfortable sleeping in those? I can bring you one of my old basketball shorts, it might be a weird fit, but it’s better than denim.” Says Daniel, his eyes going anywhere but Johnny. Johnny smiles at the idea of wearing something of Daniel’s, even if it’s old, so he accepts and gets changed. After that he spends time talking with Daniel, when Daniel makes a remark about missing when he was younger and more fit, still attractive.

“C’mon, Johnny, I’m just some middle aged dad, it’s not that hot to anybody.”

Time to make a move, since Daniel won’t , thinks Johnny, as he moves closer to Daniel and drops his voice to a low tone.

“It is to me.”

“What?”

“You heard me. I like that you’re older and so… experienced. It’s hot, Mr. Larusso.” Johnny moves to sit over Daniel’s thighs, arms wrapping around his neck.

“Johnny, this isn’t- We shouldn’t do this.” Yet Daniel makes no effort to push Johnny off.

“I know you want me. I really want you, Mr. Larusso, and since the feeling is mutual, have at me.”

Everything changes when Daniel’s resolve breaks. He holds Johnny by the hips and starts kissing his neck, sucking marks where a shirt can barely cover, pulling off Johnny’s shorts, grabbing at that ass. Johnny let’s it all happen, enjoys the attention Daniel gives him. Daniel gets Johnny slicked up later, sitting him on his cock and making Johnny ride him, chest to chest so Daniel can muffle Johnny’s sounds with kisses or his fingers. Daniel finally finishes inside Johnny, slowly pulling out, keeping Johnny in his lap as he kisses Johnny’s neck again, moving to his ear, pressing a kiss under it before he whispers to Johnny.

“I have to clean myself off. My shower is in my bedroom, come up in two minutes after I leave. Be discreet about it.” Daniel leaves Johnny on the couch, counting down the seconds until it’s been two minutes. When Johnny enters the shower it’s the perfect temperature and extremely steamy. He and Daniel make it steamier as he gets fucked against the wall, Daniel’s hands coming to hold Johnny’s above his head. Later, they actually clean off and turn off the shower, but not before Daniel smacks Johnny’s ass and pulls him closer.

“Now that we’ve gotten cleaned up, I want a taste of you.” That leads to Johnny getting rimmed, him passing out from pleasure, and then waking up in Daniel’s bed wrapped in his arms. Even though he’s leaving for his dorm that same day, he has Daniel’s information and can drop by when he’s free to get fucked.

(Btw Daniel totally took the shorts after Johnny borrowed them and used them for jerk off material until Johnny’s scent faded)

That last part👌👌👌👌👌

Sometimes Daniel offers to drive Johnny back to his dorm and Sam's like "Aww that's so nice!😊" Little does she know that half way through the drive Johnny reaches over and gropes Daniel over his pants while telling him how badly he wants to suck it until Daniel gives in and pulls over in an empty parking lot

[kanmom51]

BTS 5 July 2015 fan meet

I have been sitting here for a couple of hours with an ask about this fan meet. I was combing through the net, writing my answer, and the second I finished and tried to post it, it just didn't and the ask also disappeared. So, I am writing this post instead, and apologise to the anon that sent in the ask, but this is, in essence, my answer to your ask.

Where do I start here?

I've never seen this specific moment.

This is from a fan meet on 5 July 2015, just one day after the JK jealous fit at the Yeoeuido fansign,

There are several fan cams from that event.

I have combed through clips from the fan meet trying to find the moment in the original content, and the only clip I found of it cut from JM, RM & JK to Tae just after JM pulls away from RM. Couldn't find RM's reaction in the clips I saw, which was a bit frustrating, because I wanted to make sure the clip isn't manipulated somehow. It doesn't look like it was, but I always prefer to make sure of it.

So, sadly I couldn't find it from that camera angle.

Now to your clip:

JK was oblivious to JM hugging RM.

He wasn’t even looking in their direction when it was happening. Nothing was going on really and JK didn’t react to anything.

Yet RM's reaction was so suspicious.

Is it possible he didn't see JK wasn't looking or didn't notice? Is it possible that RM thought maybe JK saw it and would react the same way he did just a day earlier, so he felt he had to placate him?

Soooooo, what do we have?

I addressed RM's reactions in the 4th July 2015 fansign in a previous post. I also talked about it in my timeline.

This is July 2015. I don't think something was going on between JK & JM at that point, still no change to their dynamics. Not yet. But JK was clearly attracted to JM at that point, it looks like he was crushing pretty hard, and it wasn't going unnoticeable, at least not by RM. That's what it looks like from his reactions on both occasions.

Did RM notice this before or was the fan sign the previous day his lightbulb moment? Did RM have 'the talk' with JK? Did he have his suspicions but keep them to himself? All questions I would love to know the answers to, but obviously don't.

Anyway, this moment isn't a big Jikook moment, because, as I mentioned, it looks like JK is pretty oblivious to the whole JM-RM interaction. But RM's behaviour, that's the thing here. Super sus, and kind of an indication that RM was aware something was going on between those two, or at the very least that something was percolating under the surface.

[bluefirewrites]

While You Sleep

One shot based off a Juke headcanon I had about protective Luke. This is for this momentous March 4th JATP trending day. Here’s to clowning with you!

___________

She noticed him there one night. An almost indistinguishable blob huddled out her window, dark clothes blending in with the shingles, the trees- the night.

It was too late for either of them to be up.

Yes, Julie was aware that ghosts had no need to sleep. No bodies meant no circadian rhythm.

But he wasn’t supposed to be there.

Rubbing her eyes and groping her desk for her glasses, Julie tiptoed across the room, mindful not to make too much noise. It was past midnight after all.

She cracked open her window, the slight breeze playing with her hair as she stuck her head out.

“Luke?” she called, startling the ghost.

“Julie!” He all but yelped. Normally cool and confident, Luke Patterson scrambled, limbs moving wildly, “Uh, hey. What are you- What are you doing up?” he coughed then shot her a smile.

Would have been that perfect smile Julie had raved about to Flynn if it hadn’t come off as hesitant, as a ruse. It didn’t push against his cheeks like they were supposed to. If he hadn’t been a ghost, she would have chalked it up to fatigue.  

She nodded her head at the door, “I had to go to the bathroom.”

A yawn snuck out her mouth. Luke’s eyes softened at the sound.

“You should go back to sleep,”

Julie looked him over again, noting his attire. A beanie, his torn up jeans, and… that flannel. The brown one.

She shimmied out and carefully sat next to him on the roof, knees pulled up like his was, “Luke, is something wrong?”

“No. Just get back inside,” he urged, shooing her away. And when she didn’t budge, his tone grew a tad bit more authoritative, “Julie, I mean it. Go to bed.”

“I’ll go when you tell me why you’re out here,” She may be tired, but two could play this stubborn game. And as if she was going to bed without figuring out what’s bothering Luke.

His shoulders rose and sunk, “To think. For some privacy,”

It came out as more of a question, as if he wasn’t entirely committed to that story. At Julie’s judgemental silence, he continued spinning.

“Not sure if you know this, but Alex and Reggie?” he leaned in, hands cupping his mouth, “They can be a bit much.” he stage-whispered teasingly.

She raised an eyebrow, “Alex and Reggie?”

“They’re, like, so,so loud. Real annoying. Very hyper,” he said, “Like I tell them ‘Boys, keep it down’, ya know?”

“Uh-huh,”

She wondered if he legitimately thought this was working on her. And Julie thought she was terrible when put on the spot.

“You have the power to poof literally anywhere and everywhere, yet you choose my roof?”

Seriously, out of all the places to get privacy, Luke thought being a couple feet away from her window was enough seclusion.

Again, he shrugged, emoting a  ‘don’t know what to tell ya’, which only irritated Julie even more.

She scooted over, getting into his space, but the ghost wasn’t allowing it, bringing up his arms to keep her at bay, and maybe to move her in the direction of the window.

“Luke, enough with the games just tell me what’s going on-” she reached for him and ended up grazing his ever-jerking shoulder. Her hand landed on something behind him.

It wasn’t a shingle or a leaf. Whatever it was, her finding it made Luke’s eyes widen and had him stuttering out pleas to leave it alone.

With cat-like reflexes she wasn’t aware she had at this hour, Julie grabbed it before he could swipe it away.

Under the moonlight, she inspected the item in her hands, confused.

“Salt?” It was the same can of salt that Carlos had tried to use on the boys, supposedly trying to ‘burn their souls out’, “Why do you have this?”

Luke chuckled nervously, “Oh that? Well that’s just… that’s because...” he faltered, “Because…”

He sighed dejectedly.

“Uh, you mind waiting a couple minutes? While I come up with an excuse?” he tried, his usual charm doing nothing for Julie at the moment.

She stared at him, hard and unwavering. “I don’t like it when you lie to me, Luke.”

The ghost deflated. His features tightened, almost pained.

“I never want- argh-” he growled, pounding at the surface before cradling his head, frustrated, “Look, I never wanted to lie to you.”

“Then why do you do it?” her voice warbled as she pressed. He still did this? After all they had been through together? It hurt her to think about, somewhat insulting.

But of course there must be a reason. A good one because whatever he was hiding, it was clearly weighing heavy on him. Much like when he had visited his parents. And when he was suffering from the stamps…

“Something happened,” she surmised.

Luke didn’t want to admit it, she sensed that. But she could sense his resolve breaking, the more she looked at him, looked into his stormy hazel eyes.

Julie inched near him and the moment her hand came up to rest on his shoulder, his whole body shuddered, his breathing becoming less controlled- God, he was falling apart, as if he had spent so long bottled up, the pressure only escaping out now.

He kept shaking his head, refusing to let it happen, but Julie’s hand moved to his other shoulder, pulling herself towards him, her left side locking into his right. He practically melted, and with unplanned synchronicity, their heads rested against each others’.

They sat there, the quietest they had ever been with each other, but the moment screaming something that Julie had yet to decipher.

She thought she could speak ‘Luke’ by now. No two people could engage in something as personal as songwriting without picking up a thing or two on how the other person thinks, feels...

A sort of jitteriness existed in him and all Julie knew was that she just needed to quell it, to calm him down. Her fingers traced patterns into his shoulder, dancing en pointe to the rhythm of her breathing, and soon Luke’s. Slow and steady.  

“The night of the Orpheum,” he finally said, “after you left. We were gonna meet you there, I swear we were. But then…”

“Caleb?” she dared to speak his name out loud.

With the way Luke’s form tensed under her arm, she regretted it.  

He swallowed hard, withdrawing his head from its comfortable position against hers so he could look at her properly.

“He was here, Julie,” he gritted out.

Her stomach dropped.

Caleb had been here. At her house.

Logically, it was to be expected. He was a ghost, like the boys, able to go anywhere and everywhere. It made sense to come here to get them.

But the fact that he could…The fact that he had...

This man, who could so easily inflict pain, who had no qualms in threatening non-existence to three teenage boys, all because they wouldn’t do what he wanted, had been in her home.

The thought rattled her, and she was almost close to losing her regular breathing pattern. Sensing this, Luke’s hand shot out and coated hers, quick to soothe with guilty fingers.

None of them ever told her this. Of how they ended up at the club before the Orpheum. They must have wanted to shield her from the distress, taking it upon themselves the burden of worrying. Worrying when he would come back. If he ever came back.

“Look, Caleb’s this all powerful ghost. The things he’s capable of,” he shut his eyes, breathing deeply, “I don’t like knowing that he knows where you-”

He couldn’t bring himself to finish, voice cracking. Instead,  his hand reached for the can of salt, stealing it back.

Julie noticed it. In the way he held the can, that he didn’t need to open his eyes to grab it; it was instinct. If his palm had been large enough, he could encapsulate the whole thing. He couldn’t be gripping it any tighter.

“But Luke…” she tried to remind him gently.

“I know this doesn’t do anything. Doesn’t burn souls or whatever,” he slammed it down on the roof, “But it’s better than nothing.”

Julie bit her lip, not wanting to ask, dreading the answer.

“Have you been up here? Every night since?”

Luke hesitated.

Oh.

“I don’t spy on you or anything. I’m not a creep or-” he tried, “I just wanna make sure. Make sure you’re alright.”

Julie was at a loss for words.

She didn’t know what to feel. The gesture would have warmed her heart if the visual that presented itself wasn’t so utterly devastating.

The Orpheum performance had been months ago.

That meant many nights of Luke keeping vigil on her roof, outside her room, clutching onto that can of salt like a lifeline, always on edge. Never sleeping, just… sitting there in silence. Anticipating for some attack.

That could drive any person mad.

He didn’t tell the boys either. She knew that. Otherwise they would be up here with him, all armed with their own cans of salt.

Luke bore the burden of worrying.

And he did it alone.

Julie cursed herself for not picking up on it sooner, but there was never any residue of the anxious nights. The electric smile at its full wattage always greeted her when she woke up and visited the studio first thing before leaving for school.

But she should have noticed. Noticed in the way Luke’s gaze seemed to linger on her for a beat too long when he thought she wasn’t looking. In the way he embraced her, squeezing her tight, reluctant to let her go even so she could go to school.

She had always thought it was him relishing in the ability to touch her, never taking it for granted after months of never thinking such a thing was possible.

Finding out why- it hurt. It hurt knowing how much Luke was hurting and he didn’t let it slip once.

All to protect her.

“You don’t have to keep watch, Luke...” she didn’t want to put him through that anymore. Her peace of mind should never be at the expense of Luke’s. She refused.

He shook his head, “No, I do. Because if anything happened to you, I wouldn’t- I couldn’t-”

“Hey. I should be the one who’s worried. You guys almost…” she stopped, not wanting to dwell...

“Look. you’re who he wants. Not me. I should be the one to be,” she eyed the can of salt “to be standing guard outside the studio, protecting you.”

“We’d never want for you to put yourself in danger. Not for us. No way,”

“Well that’s tough because there’s no way I’m gonna let him take you away from me again,” she cried, desperate.

That gave Luke pause and she realized her mistake.

She had meant to say ‘you guys’.

But also at the same time, she didn’t.  

The moment of vulnerability made her want to run and hide, but it was already too late. The damage was done. Luke blinked at her, stunned and sad.

His hand on top of hers shifted, curling around until he was holding it, thumb grazing her knuckles,  “I’m not going anywhere, Julie,” he promised, “We’re not.” he corrected for her.

“Well, neither am I,”

It should feel like a lie. What both of them said.

Nothing about their situation was fixed. A promise from a ghost to Lifer and vice versa shouldn’t mean anything. Not when he could leave, cross over to the great light at any time. Not when she could grow old and leave him behind along with the memories of her teen years.

Their interesting little relationship was already doomed. No Caleb required.

But she meant it. And that felt like enough.

Luke meant it. And it was.  

She wished she could enjoy this.

Another agonizing silence flowed between them, and soon Luke’s hand left, the echo of his touch chilled by the night. She pocketed both of her hands in her sweatpants.

“How did you break free?” she asked, “You were at the club, right? How were you able to get out?”

Luke smiled, “You called. And we came. Duh.”

She sang. Somehow her singing had summoned them, had brought her boys back to her. It had always been that way sorta. There was this feeling she had ever since she played their demo, that there was something tethering them together.

They always knew where to find her. And when.

At first, it annoyed her. Like, who wanted three new responsibilities?

But now it gave her comfort.

She needed to voice this to Luke.

“You can’t be sitting here every night. It doesn’t help anyone for you to be on edge all the time,”

He opened his mouth to interject, but she kept going.

“I know. I know you can’t just turn off all your worrying. It’s scary not knowing what’s gonna happen,” She sneaked one last squeeze to his hand, “But If anything does happen, you’ll know. And you’ll be here” she snapped her fingers, “just like that.”

“But-”

“For me. Please,” she had to say, desperate.

And she watched as any further arguments died on his lips. She was lucky that it took this time.

She brushed away his bangs before cupping his face. His eyes fluttered closed at the contact. “I don’t like seeing you like this.”

That seemed to seal the deal.

“Ok. For you,” he nodded. Then he carefully guided her hand off and he cocked his head towards the open window, “You seriously need to sleep though.”  

It was her turn to nod, “I will.”

And with that, they both stood, with Luke guiding her back inside, ensuring she didn’t slip and fall off the roof. Once safe and away from the cold, she hung back, elbows perched on the window sill. Luke did the same from the outside.

“Goodnight, Julie,” he whispered.  

She smiled, a first for tonight.

“Goodnight, Luke,”

The ghost returned it, and it reached his eyes this time. He moved to leave but he froze. Pulling out the can, he opened the spout and began lining the entirety of window sill with a small stream of salt.

“Here,” he remarked upon finishing, “Just in case.”

Julie didn’t have the heart to correct him. Him standing guard may be for her benefit, but the can of salt was definitely for his.

“Thanks,” she said instead, brushing stray particles to fill any gaps in her protective barrier.

She watched him poof away before closing the window and crawling into bed and succumbing to sleep.  

********

Julie hadn’t seen Luke on her roof since.

It had been weeks and there was a definite improvement in the way Luke carried himself from then on out. It was miniscule, of course, but Julie could see it in his eyes that he had been receiving the equivalent of a well-needed slumber.

That didn’t stop him from keeping an eye on her from time to time. Though it never reached ‘stationing on the roof’ status. The boy had found a loophole and she found herself anticipating surprise visits by her locker.

She never did say anything about school.

And everything was fine.

Until it wasn’t.

Julie wasn’t sure why it took so long for the fear that Caleb’s visit had instilled to rear its ugly head.

But it did.

And in the form of nightmares no less.

It was the night of the Oprheum all over again, except when she launched herself at Luke, she merely passed through. No magical hug to save them, she was forced to watch as those jolts, those painful jolts, slowly killed them.

She remembered screaming and crying, the looks on the boys' faces when their light had been snuffed out, when they were nothing more than shimmering particles that faded away into nothing, it was something she never ever wanted to see again.

Her body jerked awake, her body sweating and she was startled to find the screams and cries had followed her- her face damp and her throat coarse. Bringing her knees to her chin, the horror of what she had witnessed was still fresh in her mind, and she was sobbing.

In the midst of all this, she barely registered the tugging feeling, somewhere deep inside her, somewhere she couldn’t really place.

Then suddenly, a telltale sound of a ghost poofing in diminished her cries.

“Julie. Julie!” she heard Luke, frantic. His form, blurred by her tears, moved about the room until he was sitting at the foot of her bed. “A-Are you okay? I felt it, I felt you calling-”

She wiped her face with her sweater sleeve, readjusting to reality, “I’m- I’m fine. It’s just-” she sniffled, “I had a nightmare.”

Once Luke’s face came in view, the nightmare image of his disappearing out of existence overwhelmed her again and some wayward tears flowed against her better judgement.

“Hey,” he moved and was at her side immediately, drawing her to him, “Sh. It’s okay. You’re okay.”

She buried her face into his chest just to make sure. Because forget her. He was okay. Caleb didn’t take him away from her. He was still here.

The tears she was shedding were ones of pure relief.

It had been awful. For a second, she was powerless. She had felt that way when she lost her mom, her sickness taking hold. She couldn’t stop it from taking her mom, and that left her feeling so hollow.

Julie wouldn’t know what to do if it happened again. If it happened to her boys.

She didn’t know how long Luke held her, wiping her cheeks dry with his thumbs and keeping her hair from clinging to her forehead. But somehow during all this, they both had reclined on her bed, the worst of it having passed.

Even when she had stopped crying, his arms still encased her.

“What can I do?” he asked, unsure, “Tell me. What can I do?”

“Just…” her fists curled around his shirt, her breathing steadying and eyes pleading, “Can you stay here? With me?”

He nodded,resolute, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Julie sighed and she was struck with that promise they made weeks ago. And she allowed herself to relax into him.

It should scare her. How much she trusted him. To be there. There weren't any guarantees in life. Not for her. Especially not for him.

But she called.

And he came.

A constant.

And as much as she didn’t want him to worry about her, she knew that she wouldn’t easily be able to not worry about him.  

And encased in arms that would phase through others, and even with the threat of Caleb still hanging over their heads, Julie never felt more safe.

He wasn’t supposed to be here. Not in this house. Not in this time of 2020.

But he was.

And she slept peacefully from then on.  

tagging @blush-and-books and @lydias--stiles (I will sleep now)

[avintagekiss24]

waiting on you > steve rogers

|| pairing: steve rogers x black!reader

|| word count: 3,608

|| warnings: smut, sex, angst, sad steve, sad reader, friends to lovers

|| square filled: @star-spangled-bingo​ SSB2020 N4: love confessions

|| note: here it is! 24hrs late BUT, technically, you can celebrate a birthday for like an entire week. this got stupid sad because i was listening to the atonement soundtrack again. anyway, happy birthday to this big, blonde, dummy - the only reason that july 4th means anything to me anymore. i went heavy with the italics again.

divider by @writeyourmindaway​

gifs (at the bottom) by @/largoaneditt

You don’t know why this idiot makes you so nervous. He’s a big, blonde… idiot, but yet here you are, nursing your third beer, staring at him from the corner of the room as he wiggles his hips - rather suggestively. He stands next to Sam, both of them facing the opposite wall, beers in hand, shaking their asses as the rest of the party goers hoot and holler.

“I don’t know Rogers,” Bucky says, shaking his head, “I think your age is finally catching up with your ass.”

“Bullshit,” Steve laughs, “Listen, I happily turn over my shield and suit to you, Sam, but that is my moniker! Look at it!” He shouts, pointing to his ass, “This will always be America’s ass!”

The room erupts in laughter and you can’t help but chuckle yourself. Idiots. All of them. He looks good tonight though - relaxed, finally. You’ve known them all for just a little while, Wanda, Steve, Sam, Bucky, but since Steve has officially decided to retire, he’s like a completely different person. He’s Steve - not Captain America. Which has actually proven to be an absolute nightmare for you because if you thought you had a crush on Captain America... whew, be still your beating vagina.

Steve is funny. Steve is confident, and laid back, and wears fitted chinos with Vans Classic Slip Ons. You have Sam to thank for this updated style of Steve’s, and you honestly want to stab Sam right through his buff chest. He’s made it impossible for you to be around Steve without having to change your underwear - a fact that Sam finds hilarious, but your wallet does not.

But, it’s more than that. Steve is also warm. He’s attentive to his friends. He listens. He cares. Steve goes out of his way to make people feel welcome, even you, the first night you wandered back to Sam and Bucky’s apartment with Wanda for one of their parties. You never left Wanda’s side, keeping your head down, your eyes cast at your hands and feet. He picked up on your nervousness quickly, but didn’t outwardly address it. He just made sure you always had a drink in your hand, a chip or sandwich to nibble on - he even adjusted the thermostat when he noticed you running your hands up and down your arms. 

Steve is easy to talk to. Steve is humble, reliable, dependable, strong - both physically and mentally - but he’s also... emotional and vulnerable - not just sometimes, but almost all the time. Then, he can turn right around and throw somebody through a wall. Steven Grant Rogers is dangerous… and you think you lov -  

You take a sip of your beer, closing your eyes quickly to chase those thoughts away, and reach for another chip, loading it up with some of Wanda’s famous dip before you shove it into your mouth, the taste calms your nerves. 

“Why are you hiding over here?”

His voice makes you jump. You pop open your eyes and inhale sharply as the one and only Steve Rogers towers over you. He smiles softly as you blink at him, before he reaches for a chip and pops it into his mouth.

“I’m not hiding,” you answer quickly, scrunching your face, “I’m eating, there’s nothing wrong with eating.”

“You’re quiet tonight.” He says, chewing slowly as he shoves his hand into his pocket and narrows his eyes at you, “You okay?”

You scoff, and roll your eyes to try and pretend that you have no idea what he’s talking about, “I’m fine, Rogers.”

“Are you sure?”

“Stop,” you laugh, raising your hand, “I’m fine.”

He shrugs, one of those I know you’re not okay, but I’m gonna drop it shrugs, and takes another long swig of his beer, “You know,” he starts, nodding slowly, “You still haven’t wished me a happy birthday. That’s kinda rude.”

“Well,” you laugh, “Don’t hold your breath. You’ve had your fair share of birthday wishes over the last, you know, one hundred and two years.”

He shakes his head, smiling at your sarcasm. You wiggle your eyebrows and push your chin forward a little, slightly proud of your attitude and your way of not falling into a giggly, stupid mess in front of him. Then, suddenly, there’s a… shift. All of the false confidence you had just seconds before floods out of you as his eyes drift down your body, before snapping back up to your wide eyes. He tilts his head and that soft smile appears again.

You’re not drunk enough for this. You lift your beer to your lips and focus on finishing it as quickly as possible as you glance away from him and focus on something, anything else in the room. You immediately grab another green glass bottle from the ice bucket, handing it to him for him to pop off the cap. You hear him chuckle, and then feel his large hand wrapping around your wrist before you're being pulled through the apartment. 

“Excuse me,” you laugh a little, having to nearly jog to keep up with his long strides, “Sir, this is kidnapping.”

You let him pull you out of the apartment and up a few flights of stairs before you burst out onto the roof. He pulls you to the edge of the building, dropping your arm so he can rest his hands against the ledge. You cut your eyes towards him as you grip your beer bottle in your hands. He gazes out over the city, the lights from the buildings and the stars lighting up his eyes. His expression is soft as no doubt hundreds of memories flash through his head.

“It’s nice up here, huh?” He says after a minute.

“It is.” You nod, casting your eyes out over the illuminated city,  “I’m kind of mad you’ve been hiding this from me.”

“You’ve been hiding from me.” Your mouth drops at the sudden admission. He turns his head towards you, blinking, “You’re always hiding from me.”

“I don’t,” you start, shaking your head as you swallow hard. You laugh nervously and try to play it off, “What are you talking about, Rogers? You’re drunk.”

“I’m not drunk.” He shrugs, “I can’t - I haven’t been drunk since 1939. I just, I like you and, I don’t know,” he trails off, turning away from you to look back out over the city, “You just are always so distant when you’re around me.”

You stare at the side of his face, your eyes wide, your mouth literally hanging open. You grip the glass bottle in both of your hands as your mind recaps the words that have just left his mouth. I like you. You’re always hiding from me. 

“I think you like to hide though,” he says, taking your beer from your hands and taking a swig, “It’s like a mechanism, or something. That’s what my therapist told me that I do, so, I guess I can kinda see it in other people now.”

“Therapist?” you ask, your voice soft.

He nods, still looking out over the city, “Mmhmm, at Bucky’s persistence. It’s nice to hide though, right? Like, you can be here but not here at the same time? Present, but not present.” He clears his throat, dropping his head, “You can feel but not feel.”

Your eyes drift away from him slowly, knowing exactly what he’s talking about - feeling exactly what he’s feeling. It is nice to hide. You’ve done it your whole life, but seemingly more over the past few years, “Yeah,” you finally offer, “It is.”

The air is warm as it whips around you on this July night. Brooklyn is as alive as ever - cars honking, people laughing and chatting on the streets below, planes flying over head. You swallow again as you cast your eyes down to your feet, his words still running on a loop through your head. I like you. You’re always hiding from me. 

“I do like you, I mean that. I do.” You snap your eyes back up to the side of his face as he keeps his head down, “I remember the first time you came over with Wanda.” He turns towards you and smiles, “You had on that flowery thing, I don’t know what it’s called.”

That night flashes before your eyes. Apparently he’s been staring at you from the corner of the room too,  “A romper. I love that thing.”

“Yeah,” he nods slowly, “You looked amazing.”

“Steve, is everything okay?” You ask suddenly, because, clearly, he’s not okay.

He nods again, smiles again, “Yeah. Are you okay?”

You laugh out of… you’re not really sure. Surprise? Nerves? Confusion? Or maybe, just the fact that you’re realizing that he’s not okay and you’re not okay -  and the two of you are desperately trying to prove that you are okay, but at the same time trying to deal with the fact that you’re not okay.

“Yeah,” you titter softly, “I’m okay.”

“Good.” He says, taking another drink of your beer, “I’m gonna get more. I’ll be back.”

Without another word to you, he moves away from the ledge and disappears behind the heavy metal door. You let out a breath that you weren’t aware you were holding and turn to face the cityscape. It is nice out here. Calming. 

Your heart sinks a little when you start to think about Steve wasting hour after hour, day after day, up here, all by himself, trying to deal with just living. He’s been Captain America for damn near eighty years - now he’s just Steve, but in 2020 - not 1939. He doesn’t know this Steve.

You’re always hiding from me. 

You turn away from the city, spotting an old, lumpy couch tucked in the corner of the roof. You move towards it slowly, rubbing your fingers against your pant leg as you move. You plop down and stare at your fingers as you start to rub them roughly. I like you. Fuck. That’s all you’ve wanted to hear, right? Since the day you laid eyes on him, like every other woman across the United States. It’s here, right in front of you and - 

The door opens, the metal creaking as Steve steps through it. It slams shut and you jump a little from the jarring sound. He turns to you, but dips his head, keeping his eyes low as he steps towards you and then falls onto the couch beside you. He hands you a beer and clinks the necks together before he takes a drink. You follow suit, swallowing the golden liquid slowly as you keep your eyes on him. 

“I’m sorry for being so blunt,” he laughs, spinning the dark green glass in his hands, “I don’t want you to be put off or anything. I’m not trying to make a move on you, I’m just-” he drops his head again, “It’s been weird for me, lately.”

“Don’t be sorry. Turning a hundred and two would be weird for anyone.” You laugh. 

“Bucky seems to be doing okay.” He smiles, keeping his eyes on his beer, “I’m happy for him, I really am. He and Sam are just so good together.”

“They are,” you smile, “But you feel stuck, right? Like everybody is moving and you’re just standing still.”

He nods slowly as he chews on the inside of his cheek, his fingers picking at the label glued onto the glass bottle, “I still want us to be friends, okay?” He picks his head up and turns to you, his eyes as blue as ever, but just a little sad and worried, “Just… forget about what I said earlier. I shouldn’t have put that on you.”

You sit your bottle between your legs and tap your manicured fingers against it as another silence drops over the two of you, “I don’t mean to hide,” you say quietly, ignoring his comment to just forget it, “You’re right, I do like to, but I don’t mean to. Not from you, anyway.”

You feel his eyes on you, wandering around before he speaks, “Why not from me?”

You laugh, sadly, “I um, I was married a few years ago. He um, he,” the emotion clogs up your throat. Fuck, it’s been two years and you still can’t talk about him. You shake your head, keeping your eyes on your hands, “I haven’t felt this way in a long time.” You whisper, “I don’t even know what I’m feeling half the time, it’s just, whenever I’m around you… it just scares me, I guess.” 

You see a shadow of his long arm reaching for you. Then, the rather soft tips of his fingers trace your chin before he lifts it slowly, so he can look at you - really look at you. You close your eyes before the two of you can make eye contact and smile nervously as a tear slips from the corner of your eye. He hums to himself as the backs of his fingers sweep across your cheek, removing the tear, before they move back down to cup your chin. 

“Open your eyes.”

You laugh, a sad smile on your face, “I can’t.”

“You can.” He presses, “Open your eyes, please.”

You take a breath, pressing your lips together as your eyes start to flutter. You blink furiously, but focus in on him - his face, his eyes - and then exhale deeply. You’ve been waiting to exhale for two long years. He closes the distance between the two of you before you can process it, and his lips are suddenly on yours. Soft. Warm. Still. His hands cup your face as you rest yours on his broad shoulders, gripping slightly. 

He pulls away but barely, still so close that his lips rest on yours. You open your eyes again to find his closed, his long dark eyelashes splashing against his smooth skin. He takes slow, deliberate breaths, the air from him washing over your face. You lift your hands, slowly, and place them on either side of his face, a small smile curling onto your lips. You press your mouth to his again. A little harder than the first time; and Steve responds a little harder this time. 

The kiss doesn’t dissolve into desperation, regardless of if the two of you feel desperate -  going untouched for so long. It stays sweet. It stays gentle, the kiss. You’re pulled into his lap, straddling his legs with yours, and it feels like you belong here. His tongue pushes, softly, asking permission by sweeping across your bottom lip. You grant it, the permission he asks for, without hesitation. 

You moan at the warmth of his velvety tongue. It spreads through you quickly, warming parts of you that you thought were long dead. His tongue slides along yours as he holds you to him, pressing his fingers into your thin t-shirt and back, pulling you close. So close. He licks at the roof of your mouth before he pulls your top lip between his, sucking gently. It makes you moan again. 

Steve kisses down your chin and throat,  working his way to the crook of your neck as he continues to hold you so tight. He nips at your skin, finding that little spot that sends a direct bolt of lightning to your core. You throw your head back, biting down into your bottom lip as you dig your fingers into his shoulders.  Your hips start to push into his as his warm fingers move underneath your shirt to feel your flesh for the first time. 

Your mouth open falls as you start to pant. Now that his fingers are on your skin - that whole desperation thing starts to kick up. He pushes your shirt up, up over your breasts and then just stops there, staring up at you with those eyes. His thumbs rub your sides as he holds them. He pushes in again, and presses his lips to the center of your chest, right in the valley between your breasts and then just rests there; breathing you in, feeling you. You smile, and run your fingers over the top of his head and through his hair before you rest your chin on his head. 

His fingers start to roam again, slipping along the band of your jeans. You bite your lip as you push your hips forward; ready. The button on your jeans pops, the zipper rolls down and you're on your back, Steve’s weight now pushing you into the cushions. Your legs are suddenly bare - you feel the warm air brushing along your skin. His lips are back on your neck as you wrap your arms around him, spreading your legs for him to settle in between. 

He fumbles around, pulling himself free, pushing your thin panties to the side. You’re nervous, he’s nervous - you can feel him shaking, but just a little. Then you both gasp as you're suddenly full of him and he’s encased by you. You groan, and so does he. His breath washes over your face as you both get used to the feeling again. 

He braids his fingers with yours and pushes them up over your head as he kisses you deeply. He starts to move - his hips pushing into yours, and then pulling away. You start to pant as his strokes get deeper - harder - as he breathes directly into your mouth. It’s sweet, his breath, even as it’s laced with alcohol. 

God, he’s such a soft lover. His hands, his lips, his thrusts, all just so soft. Passionate. Caring. He hovers over you, his eyes closed as he leans in to kiss you gently, his lips barely touching yours. You cup his cheek in your hand as his lips brush along yours, both of you breathing each other's air as his hips tenderly push into yours. He drops his lips to your throat again, kissing the base of your neck before he runs the tip of his nose up your chin - a small, barely there smile on his face. 

You kiss him hard, only breaking it to hiss. Your toes curl as the familiar pull in your stomach starts to build. Steve nuzzles into your neck, keeping his fingers laced with yours as his hips continue to grind. Your and his sounds mix and mingle before they are carried away by the soft breeze. Your heart starts to beat hard against your chest, your blood rushes as your body starts to tighten. 

He lifts your leg, hiking it over his hip but holds his hand there, gripping and groping your flesh softly as his thrusts now reach deeper. You gasp, gripping his biceps, your fingers pushing indents into his skin as your sex quivers from the attention. You bite down into your bottom lip, whimpering just a little as a dull pain ripples through you as you stretch to accommodate him - it’s been too long and he’s, more, than you expected. 

“Y’okay?” He slurs, his forehead resting against yours, his lips brushing against your cheek, “Baby, you-”

“Fine,” you breathe, “I’m fine- ah! -” you hiss as he hits that spot, “S’good, Steve. Don’stop… please.”

And then it blooms. It starts slow, at the tips of your toes before it floods throughout every inch of your body. You dig your fingers into his hands as you come, your hips bucking, your pants and cries loud and thick. He only lasts seconds longer, before his hips hitch and the growls scratch at the back of his throat. 

The calm is beautiful afterward. It’s not awkward or strained. You’re just two people trying to be okay, trying to reach out, trying to heal and move forward - trying to deal with the feelings swirling around in your chests and minds. There’s a blanket thrown over the back of the couch - he tugs it over the two of you, covering you from the elements and any prying eyes if they happen up onto the roof. 

You jump when the first firework explodes in the air. He chuckles and pulls you into his side, kissing your face as he drags his fingers, over your collar bones. Another firework goes off, and then another, and another, bringing you both back into the present. No more hiding. 

“I think I love you,” he whispers, watching the fireworks through your fingers as he lifts your hand into the air, “Is that weird?”

“Shit,” you laugh, curling your fingers between his, “I hope not, cuz I think I love you.”

Another firework pops in the air - red, white, and blue splashing against the dark sky. But all you can see are your hands, your small fingers laced with his long ones, twisting and curling around one another. He flattens his palm to yours before he brings it down to his lips, giving each finger a kiss before he lays a gentle one on the back of your hand. 

“You still haven’t wished me a happy birthday.”

You laugh loudly, pushing his shoulder, “And I’m still not gonna!”

“Why not?” he asks, laughing, picking your hands up again to watch your fingers dance with one another's, “That’s mean.”

“I’m a Taurus.”

Steve’s laugh makes you smile - yet another thing to add to the list of why you love this big idiot of a man. 

“That’s okay,” he whispers, pushing his nose into the side of your face as he nuzzles close, “You’ve got every year of the rest of your life to wish me a happy birthday.”

You don’t answer. You just smile harder and roll your face towards his, rubbing your nose along his. 

Steve Rogers is also a dreamer - how lovely. 

[jlalafics]

things fictional couples do that make me lose my mind + writing prompts: n 14.

Hope you enjoy anon! This is totally unbeta’d as I have just finished it this morning! Happy Saturday!

14. when one of them has never had a proper birthday party for whatever reason, and their lover makes it their mission to give them the best day ever, followed by “you didn’t have to do all this for me. just being with you is enough.” “i know. but i thought you deserved?’’ and their lover smiles, a kiss is shared

_____

“I just never thought it was big deal.” Katniss picked at her plate of spaghetti. “To me, it’s just another day except I’m one year older.”

Peeta reached over, his hand covering hers from across their dining room table.

“That can’t be true,” he reasoned. “There must’ve been a time when you were actually excited about your birthday.”

Katniss sighed, looking at him warily before placing her fork down.

“Truth?” Peeta nodded and straightened himself so he could fully listen to her. “When I was seven, I decided I wanted to have a birthday party. So, my mom and I had invitations made and I handed them out during class. My parents decorated our apartment with streamers and a huge banner that my dad hand drew himself. We even got my favorite strawberry cake from a nearby bakery—a treat for us—since we didn’t have a lot of money.”

Peeta smiled, imagining a young Katniss, waiting excitedly for her party start.

“Then the day came…and no one showed up,” his girlfriend continued. “I waited for hours…until I fell asleep and my parents tucked me in bed. The next time I went to school, no one mentioned it. I cried all through lunch and finally, my teacher called my parents…it was a mess.”

“I’m so sorry.” Peeta stood and rounded the table, kneeling before her chair. “That’s horrible.”

“Later, I found out that some of the parents had an issue with bringing their kids to such a rough neighborhood,” Katniss told him. “I was a financial aid kid in a preparatory school. I didn’t belong and I learned that early. I also learned that birthdays are just another day and there is no need to make a big deal.”

“That is not true,” he declared. “And I’m going to prove it.”

Katniss looked to him suspiciously. “How?”

Peeta kissed the top of her head. “You’ll see.”

“Oh boy.” His girlfriend couldn’t help but grin. “That can’t be good.”

++++++

May 8th

Katniss awoke slowly, her eyes adjusting to light filtering through the blinds in their bedroom.

“Peeta—”

She turned to find her boyfriend’s side of the bed empty, his pillow cool. It wasn’t unusual. They had been living together for six months and even though it was a weekend, Peeta still got up early to pick up breakfast or even do a quick jog while she slept in.

Getting up, Katniss went to their adjoining bathroom, going through her morning ablutions. Her eyes closed in on her reflection, looking to see if there were any differences now that she was a full-fledge twenty-five-year-old.

Other than the slight line between her eyes—she glared way too much, according to her best friend, Johanna—Katniss found nothing different.

“Sweetheart, you awake?” Peeta called out from the living room. “Breakfast is ready!”

She smiled to herself, hearing the endearment. They had been together for a year, meeting at her friend Gale’s birthday party. Madge, Gale’s girlfriend, had invited her cousin to the party and that cousin was the man currently calling for her to join him for breakfast.

Was it love at first sight?

Perhaps.

Her breath might’ve caught slightly when Peeta had walked into the room. She had also briefly wondered if her outfit smelled like the coffee shop she was working at as Madge made the rounds to introduce Peeta to everyone.

As their eyes met during Madge’s introduction, Katniss knew that this man would change her life.

By the time they shook hands, she was a goner.

“Coming,” Katniss called out as she headed out and towards the living room. “I hope that you have coffee ready—” She froze, stopping at the archway leading into the front rooms. “What is this?”

Their living room was decorated in purple and yellow streamers connected by unicorns. Matching balloons floated on their ceiling while right above their couch was a weathered banner with ‘Happy Birthday Katniss!’ written on it.

“Happy birthday, love.” Peeta smiled tenderly at her, giving her a kiss, before placing a tiara with ‘Birthday Girl’ written in rhinestones atop her head. “Pancakes or waffles?”

“How did you know how my birthday party was decorated?” she cried out and her eyes widened at the banner. “And is that the actual banner that my dad made?”

Peeta guided her to their dining table. “I called your parents, and your mom sent a picture along with the banner. They kept it with all your other belongings.” He pulled out her chair and help his stunned girlfriend to her seat before pouring a cup of coffee, putting in a splash of milk and a spoonful of sugar—just how she liked it. “Also, she invited us for 4th of July at their place.”

“You called my parents?” she asked in surprise. “They haven’t even met you yet.”

“I went by Gale and Madge’s so I could Zoom them and introduce myself,” he explained. “Your mother looks really young for someone who has a grown daughter.”

“Why did you do this?” she asked, still in shock.

“Because you need a birthday do-over,” Peeta told her simply as he forked waffles onto her empty plate. “Eat up. We need to get going.”

She had already stuffed a waffle in her mouth.

“Where?”

++++++

“I thought you and I could try something new,” Peeta said as they walked through the park. “Your Dad mentioned that you used to do this together.”

“Why can’t I remember what it was?” Katniss said as he led her down a side road. “We did do a lot of things together…” He guided her into a gated enclosure, closing it behind them. “What is this? Are we about to run around here?”

“Nope.” Peeta walked over to a nearby tree—and pulled out an archery target. He came back with a bow and quiver of arrows. “We—or more appropriately, you—are going to shoot.”

“I haven’t done this in ages!” Katniss replied. However, her hands were already itching to get the bow. “This was something me and Dad used to do every weekend in the backyard.”

“But you had fun, right?” her boyfriend reasoned. “Birthdays are all about fun!”

Katniss chuckled at his exuberance thinking how adorably handsome he was.

And how hot that made her.

She took off her jean jacket, tossing it to the ground.

“Give me that bow.”

Peeta handed it over easily along with the quiver, watching as Katniss strapped the container to her back. He admired the strong line of her back as she walked away from the target and wondered for the millionth time how he even got a woman like her.

The moment Peeta saw Katniss at Gale’s party, he was a goner.

Peeta could barely get a word out as they shook hands, his eyes square on the beautiful woman before him. However, it wasn’t just her dark hair and smoky almond eyes that had him shook. There was a confidence in her that made her stand out like no other person in the room.

He was intimidated but also enamored.

Even now, Peeta was shocked that he even had the guts to ask her out on a date.

However, he thanked his lucky stars that he did and that Katniss accepted.

Katniss pulled back the string of the bow, hand firm on the grip before she released it with an exhale.

She grinned seeing that she managed to hit the bullseye.

“Thank you,” she breathed out. “I forgot how much I loved this.”

“Anything to see that smile on your face,” he told her.

“Get over here,” she called out.

“What?”

“You didn’t think that you were just going to watch me, right?” Katniss put a hand to her hip, her stare expectant. “You have to shoot at least once.”

Peeta shook his head as he joined her. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“Then, I’ll teach you.” She cocked her head at him playfully. “Come on.”

Katniss handed him the bow before removing the quiver and placing it on the ground.

“You’re going to hold here—” She held the bow, hand in the middle. “—this is the grip. The head of the arrow is positioned in the middle of it. You’ll line it up from head to the end of the arrow—the nock. Then you aim, pull back, and shoot. Easy, right?”

“Not even close to easy,” Peeta pointed out.

“I’ll help you.” Katniss reached for an arrow, helping him line it up to the nocking point. She moved behind Peeta, her hand moving over his to where he held the string, pressing her front against the line of his back. He smelled of juniper and she breathed him in. “Now, aim as you breathe in and pull the string back. Now exhale and let go.”

Peeta shivered at her words. However, he held firm, listening to her instructions.

“Breathe in—” He pulled the string back, her hand guiding him, his eyes on the target. “—and exhale.”

Peeta let go, his eyes shutting as he did.

It was silent, the only sound being the twittering of nearby birds.

“Well, fuck that!” He opened his eyes to find Katniss at the target. “You are closer than I am!”

Peeta joined her, examining his work, before beaming at his girlfriend.

“What do you think?” she asked, breathless at the sight of him.

He dropped the bow, gathering her in his arms.

“I think that—” His mouth brushed against hers. “—I need to have you right now.”

Katniss shook at his words. “Now?”

“Yes.” Peeta was already lowering her onto the grass, his lips traveling along the opening of her top. “Now.”

++++++

By late afternoon, they managed to make it to their next destination.

“I still have bits of grass in my hair,” Katniss said as Peeta parked their car.

“But do you regret it?” he asked her, his gaze sated.

She shook her head. “Not one bit.”

They both got out of the car, making sure their clothing was fixed and in place before Katniss looked up at their newest destination.

“Our first date.” Peeta wrapped his arms around her waist as they gazed up at the neon sign: Greasy Sae’s. “I had prepared myself to take you on a fancy date.”

“Instead, you got a girl who loves a greasy spoon,” Katniss replied. “I’m starving, let’s go—”

“Before we go in...”

Peeta cupped her face in his hands before kissing her fully.

Katniss fell against him, her palm to his chest to steady herself. She could already her knees getting weak; it happened the first time they kiss and a year later, it continued.

She knew then that he was the one.

“…I just wanted to get one more in.”

“What do you mean?” Katniss asked as they headed towards the entrance. Peeta pulled the door handle, ignoring her question and her glare. “Peeta Mellark—”

“SURPRISE!”

She gasped, her eyes moving over the crowd of people—just about every person that she and Peeta knew—before settling on the three in front of her.

“Mom? Dad? Prim?”

Her parents dove in first, both pulling her into their embrace.

“Happy birthday, baby,” her mom said, kissing her cheek.

“Growing more beautiful every year,” her dad added gruffly.

They pulled apart so Prim could jump into her arms.

“Happy birthday, sis!” Her younger sister held her tightly. “I’m really glad I get to spend today with you.”

Katniss stared in shock. “How did you even get here?”

“Peeta,” Prim informed her. Katniss looked over to her boyfriend who was chatting with Gale, Madge, and Johanna. “He flew me, Mom, and Dad in. It was all arranged last week.”

“He is unbelievable,” she said dazedly.

“Peeta is crazy into with you,” her sister declared softly. “I wouldn’t mind having him as a brother, you know.”

Katniss grinned as her eyes met Peeta’s. “I know.” He smiled; eyes soft at the sight of her. “One day.”

++++++

“First off, thank you for all coming,” Peeta said, as he stood in the seat of the booth.

His eyes looked over the crowd for people all grinning up at him. Katniss’ parents stood to one side along with his own parents, who come into the city to attend the party and meet her parents. It seemed like the quartet were getting along, agreeing to brunch together the next morning. Prim was at a table with Gale, Madge, and Thresh, his co-worker at the office. The man was obviously into Katniss’ golden-haired sister.

Johanna, Katniss’ best friend, was also in attendance. She sat with Annie, who was Johanna’s cousin, and Finnick, her husband. Katniss along with the two women often went on girls’ nights while he and Finnick would hang out at the apartment playing video games or watching a movie.

Peeta realized that he and Katniss lived a full life together.

“Just make babies already!” Johanna called out, a wide grin on her sharp face.

“Also, I just wanted to say that we wouldn’t be here—eating diner food and drinking milkshakes—if this amazing, beautiful woman sitting before me wasn’t born,” Peeta continued, his eyes looking to Katniss, who shone brightly before him.

“But not before putting a ring on it!” Annie added, before toasting her milkshake glass against her cousin’s.

Peeta’s complexion reddened at their words though he couldn’t help but wink back at the women.

“Anyway, before Katniss goes running for the hills, I just wanted to toast to my beautiful girlfriend.” Their eyes met. “Thank you for being born and for making my life nothing short of spectacular.” He raised his soda glass. “To Katniss!”

The crowd echoed his sentiment: “To Katniss!”

Peeta stepped down and went to his girlfriend, holding out his hand.

“Dance with me?”

Katniss stood. “There’s no music.”

“Tonight you're mine completely…”

“You were saying?”

They went a clearing in the middle, Peeta wrapping an arm around her as her arms circled his neck.

Katniss grinned. “I can’t believe that you remember the song—”

“The song that played the first time we kissed?” Peeta pulled her in closer. He placed a soft kiss on her neck. “Of course, I remember. I remember every single moment since we’ve met.”

“I can’t believe you did all this for me,” his girlfriend replied, her grey eyes shining. “You didn’t have to do all this for me. Just being with you is enough.”

“I know, but I thought you deserved to have a birthday that gave you good memories,” he told her. “This is the birthday that we’re going to remember. The one that we’ll look back on when we’re old and grey. The one that we tell our children about.”

Peeta dared to look into her eyes. They had never discussed their future; he could only hope that’s where they were heading.

Katniss was grinning, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“The one we tell our children?” She nodded. “I like the sound of that.”

Then, their lips met and there was nothing else but their dance and the sound of The Shirelles from the nearby jukebox.

“I'd like to know that your love

Is love I can be sure of

So tell me now and I won't ask again

Will you still love me tomorrow…”

++++++

Katniss’ mouth ran along the line of Peeta’s neck as she slammed him against the surface of their front door. Her hands ran along the hem of his shirt, moving underneath to feel his bare skin.

“Baby…” Peeta groaned, his knees almost caving at the rush of pleasure hit him. He shakily reached for his keys, attempting to unlock the door. Katniss wrapped her arms around him, breasts pressed against his back, and her hands already unbuttoning his jeans. “…oh fuck…”

He turned the knob and they fell into their apartment in a rush of limbs.

“I made a strawberry cake…” Peeta pushed off her jean jacket, his mouth pressing to hers. “…just like the one you had for your birthday.”

“That’s so sweet—” Katniss yanked her dress over her head. “—let’s have it after I thank you for the best birthday ever.”

“The cake can wait.” He scooped her up and her arms wrapped his neck as she kissed up to his ear. “This cannot.”

A platinum diamond ring sat in the drawer of his side table.

He guessed that would have to wait for after as well.

FIN.

Music: “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”-The Shirelles

[just-dreaming-marvel]

Out Of Time ~ 124

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 7,320ish (I know... yikes)

Summary: Y/N tries to help Simmons and Daisy save Fitz, Mack, May, Director Mace, and Coulson. (Sorry, I hope it’s not too confusing as you read it. It’s a lot...)

“Okay… So… Let me get this straight…” Y/N’s mind was trying to comprehend everything that Simmons and Daisy had just told her. “Dr. Radcliffe created a Life Model Decoy—“

“LMD for short,” Simmons added.

“Right. He created an LMD of his computerized assistant… just saying that takes me back to Ultron.” A shiver went down her spine. “Anyway, and she went crazy, building more LMD’s to replace the team. She put those she replaced in what is called the Framework, some sort of computerized alternate universe where consciousnesses can live… Am I getting this right so far?”

“Yes,” Daisy nodded.

“And Aida, the crazy LMD, has replaced May, Coulson, Mack, the new Director, and Fitz. And to stop them, you blew up the base and now need to go into the Framework yourselves and pull the team out. Correct?”

“Basically.”

Y/N sighed, running a hand down her face. She was still dressed up for her date, standing in front of Simmons and Daisy who were both injured, with Yo-Yo standing beside them.

“Okay, where do you need me then?” Y/N asked.

“If we’re in there too long, our bodies will… give out,” Daisy said.

“Well, that’s the hypothesis,” Simmons clarified.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, right?” Y/N exclaimed. “You guys want to go in there knowing your bodies might give out?!”

“We have to get our team back,” Daisy stated.

“I know but just… I’m going in.”

“No. You need to stay about here and—“

“And what? Watch over your bodies with Yo-Yo? No thanks. You’ll have a better shot with me in there.”

“Yes, but we need you out here,” Simmons said. “The Government won’t be far behind looking for us and you can help stall them.”

“You realize I’m a fugitive of the law, right?”

“Do you realize we found you with Tony?” Daisy retorted. “Isn’t he suppose to arrest you on site?”

Y/N clenched her jaw with a huff. “Fine. I’ll stay in the Zephyr. When do you need to go?”

“Now,” Simmons answered.

Y/N watched as Daisy and Simmons set up everything and connected themselves to the needed equipment.

“Meet at the rendezvous right away,” Daisy told Simmons and they both laid down. “That’s where I programmed the backdoor to get out.”

Y/N stood in between the two beds. “Listen, you two,” she said, trying to hide her worry. “Living in there too long may kill you, but dying in there will definitely kill you, so… just be careful.”

“Remember, Y/N and Yo-Yo,” Simmons started, “even if our vitals are going haywire, do not—“

“Do not pull you out or wake you up,” Yo-Yo finished. “We know. It will cook your brains like huevos rotos.”

“Cause permanent damage to the cerebral cortex, test.”

“Just promise me you’ll get our guys back, okay?”

“I promise.”

Y/N watched with bated breath as they hooked themselves up and seemingly feel asleep. Feeling around in both their minds, Y/N could tell they were in the Framework though. Now it was only a matter of time.

~~~

“They missed you,” Yo-You said. 

Y/N had changed and the two of them had been sitting in silence, watching their two friends, for who knows how long.

“I’ve missed them, too,” she replied. “I… I really didn’t want to leave.”

“They knew that. And they felt terrible for what had happened when you woke. They had many arguments with Director Mace about it.”

“I didn’t like that guy.”

“He grew on me,” Yo-Yo shrugged. She leaned back in her chair. “Where have you been?”

“I can’t say,” Y/N shook her head. 

“Understandable. They never stopped searching, you know?”

“I figured.”

“They actually caught sight of you once. In South Africa, I think.”

“They wouldn’t be the only ones. I was stupid for staying too long in one spot.” Y/N silently watched her unconscious friends for a moment. “I was going to say that I can’t imagine what’s going on in there, but I kinda can. Falling asleep, walking up in a new world. It’s how I got here.”

“Except they’re walking up to a demon world.”

“Truth,” Y/N chuckled. “Very true… Do we have any idea where the others might be kept at?”

“No.”

Y/N let herself comb over Yo-Yo’s thoughts briefly. “You and Mack, huh? That’s…”

“Interesting?”

“I was going to say exciting. The height difference must be a real challenge though.”

Yo-Yo laughed. “I don’t let it stop me.”

“Never thought you did.”

“And you and Stark?”

“It’s complicated. Especially now.”

“I can imagine.”

“Honestly, Yo-Yo, I don’t know if you can."

~~~

“Agent Rodriguez!” A woman came jogging up to Yo-Yo and Y/N, who were still watching over their friends. “Agent—“ She came to a halt. “Agent Rogers? I thought—well, you should be—“

“On the run. I know,” Y/N responded. “You are?”

“Agent Piper, ma’am.”

“And what seems to be the problem, Agent Piper?”

“We’re running out of power. Keeping them plugged in is draining the Zephyr faster than we thought.”

“Are we cloaked?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Y/N took a deep breath, thinking over the options. “It’s going to be risky but I need you to uncloak the Zephyr.”

“What?” Yo-Yo questioned. “You can’t be serious? They’ll see us.”

“Just trust me and do it, Agent Piper.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Agent Piper responded, heading back to the controls.

“And please stop with the ma’am, it’s annoying.”

“Are you sure about this?” Yo-Yo asked her.

“No. But if anyone tries to take this bird down, I’ll take them down first.”

~~~

“Zephyr’s got 24 hours till it runs out of power,” Agent Davis, a man, informed. 

“We can’t wait anymore,” Agent Piper chimed in. “We need to touch down and refuel.”

“Let’s not have this conversation again,” Yo-Yo said.

“Okay, we don’t know who we can trust at SHIELD and, the government, Talbot’s been trying to reach us. Maybe it’s time we talk to him.”

“Not an option,” Y/N said. “You’ve seen what they’re saying in the news. We’re lucky they haven’t shot us out of the sky. Not to mention that I’m on board and that if they turn off the Framework—“

“That thing’s draining all our power,” Agent Davis stated.

“Might be time we figure out a way to wake up Daisy and Simmons,” Piper suggested.

“Again, not an option,” Y/N argued. 

“We must find something else to turn off,” Yo-Yo said.

“We already shut off all non-essential functions,” Davis stated. “Including the heat and the cloaking.”

“Why haven’t they shot us from the sky yet?” Piper wondered. “We haven’t been cloaked for almost a day.”

“Because I’m cloaking us,” Y/N stated.

“What?” / “How?” / “You can do that?”

“I’ve never released the amount of power I’m releasing for this long of a time, so I really don’t know how much longer I can hold it for.” Y/N turned to Daisy and Simmons, nibbling at her thumb nail. “They’re taking too long though… I think I need to go in after them.”

“No!” Yo-Yo exclaimed. “If you’re what’s keeping us safe, then we need you conscious.”

“It’s still only a matter of time before we have to land and I can’t hold it anymore. I can get in there and pull them out.”

“You don’t even know where the duplicate of you is.”

“What makes this world different, Yo-Yo? Why is it different than ours?”

“Simmons said something about taking a regret away.”

“So everyone has one regret taken away?” Yo-Yo nodded. “Then I have a pretty good guess where I’ll be.”

“You have no way of knowing if your powers will work.”

“If it’s basically a replica of our world, then I’m pretty sure they will. Besides, I’m not an inhuman, my powers are from sources much more powerful than some stupid computerized world. Now hook me up, we’re running out of time.”

~~~

Y/N gasped as she woke, immediately taking in her surroundings. She was in a casket, in the ground, inside of the Framework. She wasn’t surprised at all to find herself there, there was only two things she ever regretted. This regret Y/N had was one she always kept to herself, for reasons as to not hurt the ones she loved. She took a deep breath.

“Here goes nothing,” she whispered to herself. 

She put her hands on the top of the casket and focused. The purple energy quickly glowed from her hands, blasting forward to free her from the ground. She crawled out of the hole, analyzing her surroundings. Arlington Cemetery in Virginia, just outside of Washington DC. Looking down, she realized she was in an old, warn out, military uniform. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the headstone. Turning to look at it she wasn’t shocked to see what it said:

Y/N Rogers

July 4th, 1918 to November 1945

A Hero Of World War 2

A Champion For Women

“Okay,” she whispered to herself as she stood up, brushing herself off, “If I were SHIELD, where would I be?” 

Raking through her mind, it didn’t take long for her to come to a conclusion.

“The base.”

~~~

When Daisy woke up in the Framework, she was shocked to find out that here she was working for HYDRA, her powers weren’t active, she’s was still Skye, and that she was dating Grant Ward. HYDRA had taken over the world, SHIELD had fallen. Trying to find Simmons without the rest of HYDRA, she’s followed by Ward.

Simmons woke up in a mass grave of SHIELD agents, her Framework double having died in the fall of SHIELD. She eventually came across Coulson on her way to find Daisy. Here, Coulson’s a teacher teaching a HYDRA-approved curriculum that warns against the dangers of inhumans. Simmons tried to convince Coulson that he’s inside a virtual simulation, only to fail and have him call HYDRA on her.

When Daisy and Simmons finally met up, they tried to exit the Framework using a safeguard they created. They realized they were in over their heads in here and they needed back up. Unfortunately, Aida, the Director of HYDRA, blocked their way out. Ward then revealed himself to be a mole in HYDRA for the Resistance, out to protect Daisy since she’s inhuman.

On the run from a HYDRA attack, Simmons explains what happened with Coulson. This caused Daisy to go visit him, where he remembered her name. Ward took Simmons and Coulson to the Resistance, though he wasn’t so sure to believe the story Daisy and Simmons were telling. The Resistance is the remnants of SHIELD, led by inhuman Director Mace. 

Daisy went back to HYDRA to find Radcliffe, hoping he could help them escape. But May, now a top HYDRA agent, gave her a new mission on the orders of Fitz, lead HYDRA scientist, and Aida, though she goes by Ophelia or Madame Hydra in the Framework. Daisy sent the information to Simmons on Radcliffe’s whereabouts before going with May to arrest Mack and his daughter Hope. May forced Mack to trick Daisy into confessing her true allegiance. Daisy gets placed in a cell and tortured. Mack, after him and his daughter are freed, joins the Resistance, having felt bad about what he did to Daisy.

Ward, Simmons, and Coulson find Radcliffe living in seclusion with Agnes Kitsworth, the woman he based Aida off of. Radcliffe explains that him and Agnes cannot leave the Framework since both of their real bodies have died. Fitz and Madame Hydra arrive. Radcliffe attempted to appeal to Fitz, though Fitz seemed to already know of the “other world” and believed that Radcliffe had enslaved Aida there. Fitz killed Agnes and takes Radcliffe as a prisoner, all while Ward, Simmons, and Coulson watch. 

Ward, Mace, and Coulson then infiltrate a HYDRA “Enlightenment Camp” to free an undercover agent, Antione Triplett. They are tracked there by May, who uses a super serum to fight Mace. Coulson attempts to save one of his former students who he sees being held in the camp. Mace followed him into the building to help free all the other kids. HYDRA brings the building down with a missile. Entering the rubble to ensure Mace is dead, she finds him stopping debris from crushing a student, with Coulson and Tripp helping other children escape. May is horrified to find children being victimized by HYDRA. With the others having escaped to safety, Mace is crushed beneath the debris, dying in both worlds.

Through the vents of their holding cells, Daisy learns from Radcliffe about a backdoor he installed to escape that Aida is unable to disable. Turning on HYDRA, May sneaks a terrigen crystal into Daisy’s cell so she can gain her abilities within the Framework. The two women work together to escape HYDRA, with Daisy using her abilities to break Ophelia’s back.

Ophelia insists that Fitz, her lover, complete the work on their secret project, Looking Glass, after which her Framework body will no longer matter. Fitz then, with his very much alive father, becomes the head of HYDRA.

~~~

Y/N knew that it wouldn’t be smart to just appear in the base, so she showed up at a known SHIELD meeting spot. Appearing, she saw May and Daisy get out of an old car.

“I saw the building collapse on him,” May stated, getting out of the car. “I have the body-cam footage to prove it.”

“A building collapsed on who?” Y/N asked, worried.

Daisy spun around. “Y/N?” She questioned.

“You were taking too long.” The two women rushed into a hug.

“We tried to get back out to get your help, but Aida—“

“Stopped you. I got it.”

The three women pressed themselves up against a storage container.

“That’s not possible,” May whispered, staring at Y/N. “You’re Y/N Rogers. You died in World War 2, in the plane crash.”

“That, let me guess, my brother survived,” she responded.

They heard a security drone whirring near them and they pressed themselves up further against the storage container. May glanced around the corner to see the drone fly away.

“This is our window,” May stated.

The three then walked around the corner, Daisy leading the way. They were all on high alert, two of them now being considered terrorists. Daisy knocked on the red door of the building. A man quickly appeared, gun out.

“Get out of here,” he ordered.

“Hey! Hey,” Daisy exclaimed, hands up in surrender. “We are friends of the Resistance.”

“I know who you are. There’s chatter all over the police hand.” The man kept switching who his gun was pointed out.

“We weren’t followed. We were careful.” Then tires screeching were heard.

“Not careful enough,” May said. 

Daisy and her quickly pulled out their guns. They took cover behind a trash can as those in the speeding car began shooting at them.

“Milkman, I have contact!” The man shouted into a walkie-talkie before getting shot down.

May and Daisy were firing back as Y/N pulled the man into the building.

“Come on!” She shouted. May followed.

“Incoming!” Daisy yelled, seeing a bomb thrown their way. She stood up and quaked it back into the car. She was shutting the door to the building as the car exploded.

“I’m going to be honest,” Y/N began, “I have not missed getting shot at.” Y/N began pushing large things in front of the door.

“He’s still breathing,” May said checking on the man. “But we’re gonna need to find another way to get out of here.”

“How long before HYDRA busts down the door?” Daisy asked.

“Not long. They’ll be following SOP for a hostile inhuman. Six teams to sweep the area. And if the hostile’s taken cover they’ll call in an air strike and sort through the rubble later.”

“Like what they did with the Patriot?”

“What I did. That air strike was on my order.”

“You didn’t know.”

“Doesn’t change what I did.”

“I’m sorry, who’s the Patriot?” Y/N asked.

“Director Mace,” Daisy answered.

“So, he’s…” Daisy nodded. “Oh, gosh.”

“May, you can’t blame yourself for their lies. Once you learned the truth, you fought back. That is what we need.”

“Daisy’s right. If more people see what you saw, they’ll probably start fighting back too.”

The three of you froze, hearing the HYDRA agents break down a door down the building. The three women hid, waiting for the agents to come to them. When they did, May jumped down on one from the ceiling, Daisy took one from the side, and Y/N appeared behind another, quickly knocking him out. The three HYDRA agents were quickly finished off.

“Three down,” Daisy whispered.

“Stop right there,” a HYDRA agent ordered, aiming at Daisy.

May and Daisy held their hands up, while Y/N’s hands slowly started glowing purple. Before any of them could do something, Mack showed up from the side, knocking the guy out with his guy.

“Mack?” Y/N and Daisy questioned. The three headed towards him only to freeze when he aimed his gun at May.

“Mack,” Daisy called.

“I’m here to help you,” Mack stated, “not the woman who held my daughter hostage.”

“May is the only reason I’m alive. She helped me escape. HYDRA messed with her head, but she’s fight back now.”

“How do you know she’s not lying?”

Coulson and a SHIELD agent ran in. Assessing the situation, Coulson stopped between May and Mack. Y/N was relieved to see her long time friend.

“Not a good time to be holding guns on our allies,” Coulson said.

“Alpha One, report in,” a HYDRA agent requested from outside. “What’s the situation down there?”

“We have to go, now.” Coulson slowly walked towards Mack. “Mack, I get it. These wounds don’t heal overnight. But for reasons I can’t fully explain, I trust this woman. And so should you.” Mack put the gun down.

“This place was originally build during the prohibition,” the SHIELD agent explained. “We have a secret tunnel out of here.”

“Lead the way,” Y/N said.

Mack grabbed the SHIELD agent from before and they all jogged towards the secret tunnel. Coulson moved so he was beside Y/N.

“Y/N? Right?” He questioned.

“You remember?” She asked.

“Little things. But you’re also known here. Not necessarily in a good light, but you are.”

“I’ve missed you, Phil.”

“Weirdly, I’ve missed you, too.”

“Y/N?” Daisy called. “Do you think you could just portal us there? It would be faster and safer.”

“And miss all this fun?” Y/N smirked. “You kidding?”

~~~

“Welcome to SHIELD,” Coulson said as the group walked into the base.

“So the secret base is the base,” Daisy said. “Probably should’ve guessed that.”

“I did,” Y/N said. “I just didn’t want to scare everyone.”

“Been looking for this place for years,” May said, looking around.

“I got to go find my little girl,” Mack stated, leaving.

“Thanks for your help,” Coulson said.

“Thank goodness you’re alright,” Ward said, coming towards them. “We’ve been combing the streets looking for you.” Y/N clenched her fists and they slowly began to glow purple.

“I can take care of myself,” Daisy responded.

“And you are?” Ward looked at you before noticing your hands. “And what are you doing?” He went to grab his gun but Daisy quickly stepped between the two of you.

“Woah, woah, woah.” She had her hands out. “Stop. Y/N,” she turned to her friend. “This is not the same Ward that shot you.”

“I shot you?” Ward repeated.

“Yeah,” Y/N responded. “I almost died.”

“That wasn’t me.”

“Y/N…” Daisy called. “Calm down.” Y/N looked at her friend and nodding, powering down. “Now, you want to explain the purple hands?”

“It’s complicated,” Y/N answered.

“How about we go take a look at that body-cam footage,” Coulson suggested. “Could really hep the cause.” May and Coulson left, leaving Ward, Daisy, and Y/N.

“Y/N and I are gonna go talk to Simmons,” Daisy said.

“She and, uh, Agent Triplett are on a recon mission,” Ward said, stopping them.

“Tripp?” Y/N repeated.

“Mm-hmm.”

“That’s the best news I’ve heard in weeks,” Daisy smiled.

“What’d you need to talk to her about?”

“It’s not exactly—“

“She told me about the other world.”

“Ah.” Daisy nodded. “Right.”

“Is that what you believe?”

“Yeah. And I need you to trust me. I know a way for us to get back home.”

“By ‘us’, you don’t mean me.” Y/N stepped back, feeling the tension. “I guess I was holding out hope that Simmons was wrong and that you’d still be… the girl I knew… I’m glad you’re safe, Daisy.” Ward walked away.

“Well that was…. Weird,” Y/N said. “Do you want to tell me—“

“Not really.”

“Okay.”

~~~

Y/N and Daisy walked in as Coulson, Ward, and May had just finished the body cam footage of Mace’s death.

“Getting this footage out isn’t enough to make up for what I did in HYDRA,” May spoke up. “But it’s a start.”

“Changing people’s hearts and minds is great,” Daisy said. “But I know a way to destroy HYDRA for good. Remember the place Simmons and I were trying to find? Radcliffe told me where to go, how to find it.”

“The way out of this?” Coulson asked.

“Yes. If we can get there, all of our problems go away. We just— we need all the help we can get.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” May stated. “THere’s no magic bullet against HYDRA.”

“Yeah,” Ward agreed. “This footage is a close as it comes. I mean, people will finally wake up.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Daisy said. “None of this will matter in the long run. It’s— it’s… Coulson, this is the only chance to actually wake people up.”

“Maybe the only way to solve our problem,” Coulson replied, “is to solve their problem.”

“What does that mean?”

“Getting to Radcliffe’s coordinates right now is next to impossible. We need a way to divide HYDRA’s forces.”

“To save ourselves, we need to save the world,” Y/N said. “Well, I’m in. But I guess none of us really have a choice, do we?”

~~~

Using both Y/N’s and Daisy’s powers, a small SHIELD team broke into HYDRA’s broadcasting center. All their people hand their hands held up. Bakshi was sitting at his news anchor desk. Coulson, May, Y/N, and Daisy walked up to it.

“Heard you were looking for some enemies of the state,” Coulson commented.

Y/N and Daisy looked at each other with small grins. Coulson would always be Coulson, even if he didn’t remember everything. With a nod from Coulson, Y/N controlled all the people to stay in their seats. Ward tied Bakshi to his chair.

“Stay quiet and we won’t have a problem,” Ward warned Bakshi.

“May and Coulson are getting everything set,” Daisy told Ward and Y/N.

“We’re good to go out here. No one’s putting up a fight.”

“That’s because I told them not to,” Y/N explained. Ward looked at her, confused. “I have a variety of abilities. Just don’t plan on crossing me.”

“Yes, but we will,” Bakshi said. “If you think you can force me, Sunil Bakshi, to go on air and slander HYDRA, then you’re delusional. I am the most trusted voice in journalism—“ Daisy quaked him back so that he hit the wall behind him. “Just, uh, put it in the teleprompter, then.” Bakshi was scared.

“We don’t need you to say a damn thing,” Daisy said. “The facts will speak for themselves.”

~~~

Y/N waited by herself for Coulson to finishing filming his speech. She longed to know the truth about what happened to Steve, Bucky, and Tony in this Framework. She was just too afraid. With a sigh, she looked to the side and saw a HYDR computer. Y/N contemplated for a moment before finally giving in and searching.

Steven Grant Rogers

Born: July 4th, 1918

Died: December 6th, 2007

First super soldier created. Helped defeat HYDRA. After his sister, Y/N, crashed a plane in 1945, Rogers married Peggy Carter and helped found SHIELD.

James Buchanan Barnes

Born: March 10th, 1917

First HYDRA super soldier ever created. Alias is The Winter Soldier. Still in regular use. Currently under cryo. 

Anthony Edward Stark

Born: May 29th, 1970

Died: dated unknown, during the fall of SHIELD

Former CEO of Stark Industries. Son of Howard and Maria Stark. Died trying to stop the fall of SHIELD.

After reading everything, Y/N quickly turned off the screen. She wanted it get out of this hell whole faster now. This was not the place she longed to be. She met up with Ward, May, and Daisy, right before Coulson entered the room.

“Well,” he began with a breath, “that’s that.”

“Let’s get out of here,” May stated.

Coulson noticed that Ward’s gun was on the table and he knew that Ward was planning on staying. “The Patriot would’ve been proud of what we did today.” 

Ward and Coulson nodded to each other before Coulson walked out of the room, with Y/N following. May and Daisy were close behind. Ward began the broadcast, playing it on every screen.

~~~

Daisy stood by Y/N’s side as they watched the news from the base. Everyone in the room had their eyes on the screen. Madame Hydra had sent crews to take back control of the broadcast center. Y/N huffed as she watched people getting beat up by HYDRA agents.

“She’s not subtle, that Madama Hydra,” Daisy commented.

“Yeah, just look at her uniform,” an agent said from beside them. “It’s so crazy hot.” They both gave the guy a look. “I-I mean, if you’re into the whole ‘bad girl’ vibe. Not—not me. I’m just… making an observation.”

Just then, Tripp and Simmons walked into the room.

“Tripp,” both Daisy and Y/N gasped.

“It’s so good to see you!” Daisy laughed, pulling the man in for a hug.

“Hey… person I don’t know,” he said, hugging her back.

“Right.” Daisy immediately let go. “Yeah, sorry. I-I heard about your mission. Awesome job.”

“Thanks.” Tripp looked at Y/N, studying her. “I… do I know you.”

“You might have seen pictures,” Y/N responded, thinking back to the conversation she had with the real Tripp. That seemed like so long ago. “Y/N Rogers.” She held her hand out to shake his. “I worked with your Grandfather, Gabe. He was a—“

“Howling Commando.” He shook her hand. “I’m sorry, but shouldn’t you be dead?”

“Long story.” Y/N pulled her hand away.

“Tripp,” Simmons got his attention. “Do you mind if Daisy, Y/N, and I have a quick word?”

“Sure,” he agreed. He looked at Daisy. “You can finishing hugging me later.” He chuckled before walking away.

Simmons grabbed grabbed an arm from each of the other women, pulling them to the side.

“Aida’s building a body for herself in the real world,” Simmons stated quietly. “A human body.”

“She wants free will,” Daisy said.

“Which would allow her to unplug the Framework… killing us all.”

“Okay,” Daisy sighed. “We can still stop her. Radcliffe gave me the coordinates to the Framework’s back door.”

“Will it work?”

“According to him, all we have to do is pass through the exit point, and then our minds will disconnect from the Framework.”

“So we just need to get everyone there.”

“Which own’t be easy,” Y/N said, “with May and Mack having no idea what’s really happening.”

“Well, and Fitz had HYDRA guards around him at all times.” Y/N and Daisy shared a look. “What?”

“Simmons, we can’t reduce Fitz right now,” Daisy said. “There’s no time.”

“We can’t just leave him behind. He’s part of our team.”

“And the current head of HYDRA,” Y/N reminded them.

“The Fitz in this world wants all of us dead,” Daisy added.

“Guys—“

“I know that it’s not his fault, but that is the reality that we are living in. If we don’t get Coulson, May, and Mack out of here, Aida will kill all of them.”

“I can try to get Fitz, if the time is right,” Y/N offered. “But I can’t promise anything.” She shook her head slightly. “What I can promise is that we will find a way to get Fitz out once everyone’s safe. Okay?”

“Okay,” Simmons agreed quietly.

Daisy left quickly, realizing Mack was leaving. Y/N stayed by Simmons. 

“When did you even get here?” Simmons asked.

“When May and Daisy were escaping HYDRA,” Y/N answered. “The Zephyr is almost dead. You guys were taking too long, draining the power. I had to jump in to see if I could help.” 

“Thank you.”

~~~

Y/N found herself mindlessly watching Mack interact with Hope. She didn't even notice that she had been staring too long until Mack met her gaze. She looked away, trying to compose herself.

“Hey,” he greeted, walking up to her.

“Hey,” she replied. “Sorry about staring. I just… you two are a good pair.”

“Yeah.” He smiled softly, looking at Hope. “Have any kids of your own?”

“I… I should have… He… there was a big fight and I lost him before he was even born.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—“

“It’s no problem. Really.” She waved him off. “I’m… it’s still a little fresh.”

“Did you, uh, pick out a name?”

“Anthony James, or AJ for short.”

“That’s nice.”

“It is.” She nodded. She looked at Hope, thinking about how Mack will after to leave her soon. Even though she’s not real. “Just.. Mack, don’t wast any second. Every moment is precious.”

~~~

Y/N met up with Daisy and Tripp in the Director’s office. They were leaning over a map.

“Okay, so, Radcliffe’s coordinates should put it right about here,” Daisy stated, drawing a circle on the map. “DO you think you can fly us there?”

“No problem,” Tripp agreed.

“Great.”

“But what’s with this team of yours? A HYDRA agent, a school teacher, and a dad? Looks pretty bad news hears to me.”

“Trust us, I think they’re up to the task,” Y/N replied.

“Does this have anything to do with that other world Simmons was talking about?”

“She told you?” Daisy questioned.

“What can I say? I’m easy to confide in.”

“Okay. Yeah, you, May, Mack, and Coulson were all apart of our team in the other world.”

“So that’s why you were so happy to see me.” He smirked. “You and I,” he pointed between Daisy and himself, “we must’ve, uh, you know—

“Dated?”

“Sure. We’ll go with that.”

“Uh, no. Sorry.”

“Right. Me and Simmons, we probably—“

“Nope.”

“Agent May?” Daisy shook her head. “Y/N?”

“Sorry, Tripp,” Y/N smiled.

“Damn. And this is really a place you two want to go back to?”

“Easy, playboy. Right now, we have to round up Simmons and the rest of the team.”

“Doubt she’s back yet.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I thought you two knew. Simmons left base an hour ago.”

“Where was she going?” Daisy asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Let’s go ask Coulson and May,” Y/N suggested. “Maybe she told them.”

The two women rushed down to find May and Coulson walking the hallway.

“Do you know where Simmons went?” Daisy asked them.

“No, sorry,” Coulson responded.

“She went to find Alistair Fitz,” May replied, like it was no problem.

“What?” Daisy questioned. “Why didn’t you come and tell us?”

“Because I don’t answer to you. Not here or any other fantasy word you three might have cooked up.”

“You told her?” Y/N asked Coulson.

“It came up in conversation,” he shrugged.

“How does the existence of an alternate reality come up in a casual conversation?”

“I’d like to think it’s because we were bonding, though I don’t really want to speak for her.”

“You’re really not helping,” Daisy said.

“Don’t worry. Melinda here said she’d keep an open mind.” May sighed.

“We can’t leave without Simmons.”

“She knows how to stay off-radar,” May stated. “I’m sure everything’s fine.”

~~~

The small team packed up the quinjet. And now the only person they were waiting for was Simmons.

“Hey,” Daisy went up to Tripp in the pilot’s seat. “We all good?”

“Ready when you are,” he replied.

“Yeah. We just can’t leave without her.”

Y/N was waiting at the end of the ramp. She was the first to notice Simmons.

“Jemma!” She exclaimed rushing towards her friend. “You okay?”

“I was trying to save Fitz,” she answered, clearly shaken up.

Daisy noticed blood on Simmons jacket. “Please tell me that’s not his blood,” Daisy pled.

“No. It’s… It’s from his father. I—I killed him.”

“That’s—that’s okay. Fitz’s dad is just an avatar. You didn’t kill anyone. You just made some ones and zeroes disappear.”

“But Fitz won’t come with us now. We’ve lost him.”

“No, we haven’t,” Y/N said, shaking her head. She rested her hands on her friends shoulders. “We will figure something out. But first, we have to get back to the real world before Aida makes us disappear. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Y/N and Daisy guided Simmons into the quinjet and Tripp took off.

~~~

The quinjet landed on the roof of a steel mill. Everyone armed up and headed out, leaving Tripp with the quinjet. May led the way into the mill.

“Just up ahead,” she stated.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” Y/N said, cautiously surveying the area.

“Nothing about this disgusting world feels right,” Simmons stated. “It’s hell. A digital hell.”

“Radcliffe said the back door was in a public fountain, not some creepy steel mill.”

“If only the exit beacon I brought to this world worked, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“Yeah, well, if we’re gonna get out of here,” Y/N said, “this is our last chance.”

“Found the location,” Coulson called to them.

They quickly followed him. He led them to a pool of molten steel.

“This can’t be it,” Daisy said.

“Uh, the coordinates lead right there,” May replied.

“Into a pool of molten steel?” Coulson wondered. “You think Radcliffe gave us bad info?”

“Radcliffe’s a prisoner at HYDRA,” Daisy said. “He’s got no reason to lie.”

“Maybe someone else found it and took it,” May suggested, getting annoyed.

“The back door is part of the Framework’s digital infrastructure. It can’t be moved.”

“But it could be concealed,” Y/N spoke up. “What if Madame HYDRA discovered the back door and built this place as a way to prevent people from passing through?”

“Wait a minute,” Mack interrupted, confused. “What is this back door everyone keeps talking about? I thought we were here to take out Madame Hydra.”

“Let me guess,” May started, “no one told you about the other world.”

“The other world? What?”

“So what does this mean for us?” Coulson asked, ignoring Mack and May.

“It means Aida’s won,” Simmons stated.

“You seriously believe that there’s some magical back door that will transport us to another world?” May wondered.

“It’s not magic, May. It’s science.”

“Then where’s your proof?”

“We just have to trust Radcliffe,” Daisy said. “He said when a person passes through the back door—“

“That they wake up on the other side. This is what you really believe?” May asked Coulson.

“Admittedly, it doesn’t sound great when you say it like that,” Coulson admitted.

“You lied to me,” Mack said to Daisy.

“Mack—“

“No, don’t try to talk your way out of this. You’re a damn liar. My daughter looks up to you, and for what? SO you can bring me out here on some wild goose chase?”

“Daisy was only trying to help,” Simmons excused.

“How?” By taking me away from my kid? What the hell is wrong with you guys?” Mack pointed at Y/N. “And you? You’re willing to let me feel the pain you felt. That’s… that’s cruel.”

“Mack, you don’t understand,” Y/N began. “It’s different. So, diff—“

“No it isn’t.”

“Hey, guys, maybe we should start thinking about a plan b,” Coulson tried to cool everyone down.

“Glad you’ve finally come to your senses,” May said. “We need to get out of here.”

“Actually, I was thinking we might try to find another way through the back door. I still believe Daisy’s right.”

“Wake up!” Mack exclaimed. “There is no back door, just like she’s not Moses about to take you to the promised land."

“That’s it,” Y/N whispered. “Daisy, quake it.”

“What?” Daisy questioned. “What do you—“

“Quake the damn thing, Daisy!”

Daisy held out her hand and quaked the pool of molten steel. It revealing the backdoor beneath it.

“HYDRA!” May shouted, as bullets came at the group. “Take cover!”

The small team took cover. HYDRA started shooting more and Y/N caused them all to drop to the ground, unconscious. Daisy went back up to the platform and quaked the steel again, uncovering the backdoor.

“It’s real,” Coulson said.

“It could be a trap,” May suggested.

“The time for doubting’s over. We’re going back to our world.”

Coulson got up from where he was hiding, heading to the platform across from Y/N, Daisy, and Mack. Unknown to the team, HYDRA agents were below them. Shots were fired, hitting Coulson.

“Coulson!” Y/N screamed, quickly appearing at his side. She had watched him die once, she couldn’t bear to do it again. “We have to get you up.”

May and Mack began firing at the lower agents as Y/N helped hoist Coulson up.

“This feels oddly familiar,” Coulson grunted, blood covering up his chest.

“Sadly, it is,” Y/N replied.

“You were there… I think I remember that…”

“We need to get you patched up,” May said, coming from behind.

“No, it’s too late for that. Help me to the edge. It’s the only way.”

“Daisy!” Y/N shouted. “The door!”

“On it!” She replied, quaking the door open again. May and Y/N helped Coulson to the edge.

“Hey, come with me,” Coulson told May.

“How can you be sure it will work?” She asked.

“I can’t. Guess it’s gonna be a leap-of-faith type of thing.”

“It’s not that simple for me.”

“Yes, it is… Just follow my lead.”

Coulson pushed himself away from Y/N and May, falling back into the door. He disappeared, causing a wave to ripple out through the Framework, showing that it wasn’t real.

“They were right,” Mack whispered. “It’s not real.”

“Go May,” Y/N urged. “He’ll be right there when you wake. And we won’t be far behind… Go.”

Giving Y/N one last look, May took that piece of faith and jumped. Y/N sighed in relief. Two down, just 5 more of them to get through.

“Simmons, you’re up!” Daisy shouted.

As Simmons headed towards the platform, a gun cocked behind her. She looked back to see Fitz pointing a gun at her. Radcliffe was handcuffed behind him.

“Hello, Jemma Simmons,” he greeted. “Seems you finally found me.”

“Fitz—“ She tried to rush towards him.

“You don’t get to say my name! Not after everything you’ve done.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this.” Simmons shook her head. “Aida, she took you from me, and I cam to rescue you.”

“So you kill my father? Right after he tells me that he loves me, you murder him in cold blood as I listen.”

“I am so sorry,” Simmons cried. “I was an accident.”

“Nothing that you’ve done has been an accident! You want to destroy this world! To destroy me! You want to destroy the woman that I love!”

“That woman is lying to you! None of this is real! She’s not real! Aida’s just a robot yo and Radcliffe created.”

Outside the small room Fitz-Simmons was in, Y/N was wondering what was happening. So she slowly walked over, ready to attack.

“Her name is Ophelia,” Fitz defended.

“It’s name is Aida,” Simmons responded. “Artificially Intelligent Digital Assistant. And stop making excuses for it!”

“She’s right, Fitz,” Y/N cut in, bringing the attention to her. “Radcliffe, Simmons, and Daisy have all told you the truth.”

“Y/N?” Radcliffe quietly wondered. “Wow, they really called in the big guns.”

“Please… Fitz,” Simmons pled. “You have to wake up.”

“Get on your knees,” Fitz ordered Simmons. 

“No.” Fitz shot Simmons in the foot causing her to fall to the ground.

“You don’t get to touch her!” Y/N screamed freezing Fitz in place. “You don’t.”

“Let me go,” he growled.

“Fitz, listen to me,” Simmons begged. “I love you.”

“And you mean nothing to me.”

Suddenly there was a gun shot. Y/N turned to see that Radcliffe was out of handcuffs now and had shot the agent with them. He pointed his gun at Fitz and took Fitz’ gun away. Radcliffe looked at Y/N and she let her hold on him go. Radcliffe hit Fitz on the side of the face, pushing him towards the door and the platform.

“This was never my intention,” Radcliffe stated. Y/N quickly went to Simmons, helping her up. “The Darkhold corrupted my mind. Please, don’t blame yourself.”

“Go,” Simmons nodded at Daisy. Daisy quaked open the back door.

“It was all my fault.” Radcliffe pushed Fitz through the back door. Simmons caught Radcliffe before he fell in too. “Bringing Fitz here was the only way I could truly save him. I know I can’t make everything that happened in the Framework right, but at least— at least this way, Fitz gets to be his old self again.”

“Simmons,” Y/N called. “Go.”

Simmons nodded, limping forward and throwing herself through the doorway. That left Mack, Daisy, and Y/N.

“Now it’s your turn,” Daisy told Mack. “You said it yourself, this world is not real. And in the real world, you’re in danger right now.”

“What about Hope? Is she in danger?” He asked.

“No,” Y/N answered, appearing beside Daisy. “Things are different there.”

“Different? How?”

“Hope… she isn’t alive in our world. I’m so, so sorry. I… I don’t exactly know what happened. It’s not something you talk about.”

“No, no. That— on, the doesn’t make any sense. She’s alive here. Why would it be different there?”

“Aida,” Daisy answered. “She made changers in this world to keep us from fighting back. So fixed your biggest regret.”

“Then I’m staying.”

“Mack—“

“I don’t want to live in a world without Hope.”

“But it’s not real,” Y/N argued. “You saw it with your own eyes it’s a computer program. All of it. Even hope.”

“She laughs at my jokes. We watch movies together. And when she’s sad… when she’s sad, I hold her. So, she’s real to me.” Mack looked back in the eyes. “If you had the chance to be with AJ, would you stay?”

“I know the truth, Mack… And I know that AJ is safe where he is. Loved and protected. Here…. Here’s not that. Here’s not real.”

“I have to stay.”

“I understand,” Daisy replied. “And I know how hard this is, but you have people who really care about you,” she began crying, “who love you very much.”

“Tell them I’m sorry.”

“Mack, please… I don’t want to lose you.”

“Good luck. Both of you.”

With a deep inhale, the two women looked at each other, both shedding tears. They turned away from Mack. Not wanting to force him into anything. Daisy grabbed Y/N’s hand, quaking the door open as they jumped together.

next chapter >

I know I said that Agents of Shield would end with this chapter, but that ended up not being the case. We will see our Agents of Shield team for the last time in chapter 125 and Infinity War will start in chapter 126.

NOTES: from now on the taglist when be added by a reblog. I will reblog it using my second account, @just-dreaming-marvel-2​. Just so that my main page doesn’t get too cluttered.

If you want to be added to the tag list, please dm me or send in an ask.

[poodlejoonas]

Niko - Thoughtful Disasters

For @bcfanweek​ Day 2: Niko

Words: 1,382

Description: Niko’s no professional baker, but he wants to make your birthday a special one.

Notes: Niko Moilanen/Reader (gender unspecified)

Niko was panicking just a tiny bit. He’d been so busy with the album recording lately that he forgot that your birthday is coming up in less than 12 hours. He meant to buy you a legitimate present but it totally slipped his mind. Now here he was, stuck trying to read a cake recipe under his kitchen’s shitty lighting and throw you together a makeshift gift.

You loved Niko, but you also knew that he was the worst when it came to remembering dates. He once sprung anniversary dinner plans on you at 3 PM and he picked the first random place that came to mind. Sometimes he even forgets about Christmas, and finds himself working in the studio at the stroke of midnight on New Year's. You've grown accustomed to knowing that if it was an important date, Niko would probably miss it. 

You were still at work and wouldn’t be coming home until later. In the meantime, Niko was pondering over all the ingredients he would need to bake. He was squinting trying to read his own messy handwriting when he received a phone call from Joel asking where he was.

“I’m uh… at the supermarket. Do you know how to bake a cake?”

Joel sighed from the other end. “You forgot their birthday, didn’t you?”

Niko hung his head in shame and remained silent for a solid 10 seconds. “I know, they’re probably going to kill me, don’t you think?”

“I doubt it. They’re pretty chill, but if it’s that big of a deal, I can come over and help.”

“Please do,” Niko begged, which made Joel laugh out loud.

“It’s that bad, huh?”

--

Not even an hour later, Joel was pulling into Niko’s yard ready to help. The two vocalists met in the kitchen, where Niko had already haphazardly thrown the ingredients into separate bowls. To call it a mess would be a disrespectful understatement. There were bits of egg shells on the floor and flour coating the counters. It was obvious that Niko had tried to scoop the excess flour into his trash can, but his fingers left streaks across the dark blue counter. The chocolate powder was its own mess, as he’d already tried to mix in milk before the rest of the ingredients. Niko’s normally black t-shirt and basketball shorts were coated in flour, and some of it turned the tips of his hair white.

Joel paused and took a good look around the kitchen. “Jesus Christ, dude,” he muttered. “Did you murder the Muffin Man in here?”

"Shut up," Niko whined. “I had to scroll through this bitch’s life story to even get to the recipe and I got annoyed.”

Joel snickered and shook his head. “Of course you did. Anyway, let’s throw all of this together. You have a cake beater, right?”

“A what?”

“You know, the thing that goes…” and then proceeded to make a series of mechanical and whooshing noises.

“Oh, that thing- FUCK, that’s what I forgot.”

Joel would be more sympathetic if he could only stop laughing at poor Niko’s plight. He looked stressed making up for almost forgetting your birthday again, but Joel could tell that he wanted to do his best for you. He always thought that you two made a great couple. Behind Niko’s gritty exterior was a man who had a heart for his partner.

“Okay, so I guess I’m gonna…” Niko contemplated using his hands to mix the bowl until he realized that it was going to be a bigger mess than the one he’s already made now. Instead, he grabbed the wooden spoon and began to sift it until it started blending in. “How long should I do this?”

“Until it looks evenly mixed.”

“Thanks, Captain Obvious.”

Niko was unsure if he brought Joel over for help or just the banter. The older vocalist cleaned up the mess while Niko continued to stir the spoon. At one point, he almost lost his grip on the bowl and spilled its contents onto the floor.

“Want me to finish it?” Joel offered, seeing that he needed a minute to relax. Niko almost immediately accepted his offer and took a break to check his phone and sip some water. He nearly did a spit take when he saw that you were coming home from work earlier than planned. Something about your manager being nice enough to let you go early so you can begin celebrating your birthday. Your work place was only 20 minutes from home, and you sent the message 7 minutes ago.

“Dude, kill me.”

Joel looked up from the bowl to find a slightly panicked Niko realizing that the kitchen was a mess, dinner hadn't even been started, and the cake still had half an hour left on it before it was done. There was no way he could laugh at him now. “Hey, calm down. Maybe you can order something in? You know they’re not picky about what they eat.”

“I know, it’s just… I feel like such a dumbass because I can never remember the important stuff. I think they should just dump me at this point.”

“Hey, that’s not true! Sure you forget things, but you’re still so genuine when you do things for them. I was talking to them a few weeks ago and they had nothing but glowing things to say about you.”

Niko was listening but his mind continued to race. But it was comforting to hear from someone else in the band that you speak so well of him when he’s not around. “I get it. I just hope they like the cake later.”

“I’m sure they will. Now, let’s get this in the oven and then we can think about dinner.” With 10 minutes left until you came home, the cake was baking and the kitchen was being cleaned. You walked in on the two of them putting away the cleaning supplies and chatting happily as if nothing had just happened. Niko tried to give you a hug but all you could do was laugh as you got a good look at his flour-stained clothes.

“Oh, yeah… let me fix that.” And without another word, he was off to change clothes in your room.

Joel stood in the kitchen with a knowing grin. He said he’d come over to help him put together a “surprise” for you. He didn’t say what it was, but the smell from the oven gave it away. Niko returned and proposed the idea of ordering Chinese food, which you happily accepted since you had Hunan chicken on your mind for a while. The both of you offered to let Joel stay for dinner so he wouldn’t have to drive all the way back to Helsinki tonight. Joel chose to play bartender while the food was on its way.

The three of you were several drinks and large dinner specials into the night when suddenly the smoke alarm began to beep. Niko sprang on instinct once he remembered - fuck, the cake! The chocolate cake blackened around the edges and crumbled under the impact of the cutting knife. The music stopped and the only sound was Niko groaning. He looked beyond done with the situation.

“Love?” you asked quietly.

“I’m sorry I ruined your birthday,” he apologized profusely. His eyes were sympathetic and he looked like he wanted to shrink away from everything. You just held him because there was no resentment for him at all.

“You didn’t ruin a thing, kulta,” you whispered. “It was really the thought that mattered. Besides, you do so much for me every other day of the year, so what’s wrong with a day where we just get to chill?”

Niko leaned up and thought about it. “That’s true. Do you want to do anything tomorrow?”

“Just a movie and some leftover Chinese food with you.”

The moment between you was touching, and then Joel spoke up. “I can go back home tonight if you lovers are getting any ideas.”

You and Niko laughed. “Nah, we just need you here to make more drinks for us.” Your birthday hadn’t come yet, but this was already a great start. Good food, a good friend, and a boyfriend who only wanted the best for you.

Endnotes:

I wrote this on the 4th of July when I was hungry and had Chinese food on my mind but everywhere around me was closed. Consider that a self-insert too.

[dramaruni]

@bpdaf so this answer opened a can of worms (that I can call procrastination) and I wanted to address it, but with the limited characters in the reply function, I decided to answer it with a new post. Also sorry if this come as an attack, I promise it's not. I just became really curious if I had the wrong idea about the live-shooting system as I was ready to refute your points, but realized I didn't have enough knowledge to do so.

*also tagging @jahe, @yasmini24, @le-amarant as they also replied to my post and I figured maybe you were also interested in this (although it's really long and rambly, so I don't blame you for ignoring the post entirely). So yeah warning, this post is really long.

So I'm well aware of kdrama's live shoot system. But I did wonder if it was normal to start shooting 6 months before the first airing episode, as I was under the impression 6 months of shooting exceeded the standard duration of filming. But I couldn't actually refute it without some data to back that up. So I went to find data.

According to Wikipedia's page on Korean Dramas, they write: “As producing a series involves high expenses, production companies seek to shoot the episodes in the shortest time possible. In contrast to practices elsewhere, the first four episodes of Korean series are usually shot in advance, but the rest are shot continuously as the series is being aired.”

This fits in line with what I believed about Korean dramas live shooting system. They film a couple of episode ahead of time and then rest comes while it's still airing to fit with the audience response to it. Even preproduced dramas are sometimes reshot and re-edited while it's airing. But it didn't really say anything about the average filming duration for a drama or what shortest time possible was defined as. Probably because all dramas will aim for different things and given the content it can vary a lot how long it takes to film.

But I highly doubt it took Vincenzo 6 months to shoot something around 4 episodes and then crammed the rest into the 2 remaining months, as they knew from the start they had 20 episodes to fill.

So let's go through some other drama's shooting schedule to compare with Vincenzo.

I chose to limit the list to 2020 dramas (as they were likely affected by the pandemic) and tvN dramas, so it's the same broadcasting company as these dramas will likely share the same practices. Obviously with the amount I have included, I can't make any definite conclusions, but it does show a pattern.

*disclaimer I tried my best to accurately determine the shooting duration from when filming started to when it ended, but not all of these dramas had that information readily available, so I made do with the information I had at hand. This means some of these are just estimations.

So without further ado, here's the list:

Vincenzo:

May 2020, Director Kim Hee Won and writer Park Jae Bum teamed up.

July 2020, Song Joong Ki and Jeon Yeo Bin were considering the drama, while Ok Taecyeon had confirmed

September 2020, filming started

February 20th, 2021 first episode aired

No episodes April 17thand18th

April 17th, last episode script delivered

April 23rd, filming wrapped

May 2nd, 2021 last episode aired

Shooting time: 8 months

Shooting duration before first aired episode: 6 months

Filming wrapped before last airing episode: 8 days

1. Crash Landing on You

*not affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic * includes overseas filming

July 31st, 2019 – first script reading

End of august 2019, filming overseas begin

December 14th, first episode airs

January 12th, filming wrapped

February 16th, 2020 last episode airs

Shooting time: 5 months

Shooting duration before first aired episode: 4 months

Filming wrapped before last airing episode: 1 month + 4 days

2. It’s okay not to be okay

I couldn’t find the exact time shooting started, so these numbers are based between March and May, as I assume they didn’t shoot without Oh Jung Se being casted and while the table read photos were released in May, it could very well be they had started shooting before this.

February 2020 Kim Soo Hyun and Seo Ye Ji casted

March 2020 Oh Jung Se casted

May 8th 2020, first script reading photos released

June 20th 2020, first episode aired

July 31st 2020, filming wrapped

August 9th 2020, last episode aired

Shooting time: 3-5 months

Shooting duration before first aired episode: 1-3 months

Filming wrapped before last airing episode: 9 days

3. Start-up

August 4th, all the leads are confirmed for casting

September 2020, promotional starts to come out

October 17th 2020, First episode aired

November 21st 2020, Bae Suzy wraps up filming (assuming filming wraps up around the same time as her as she is the lead)

December 6th, last episode aired

Shooting time: 2-4 months

Shooting duration before first aired episode: 1-2 months

Filming wrapped before last airing episode: around 15 days

4. Hospital playlist season 1

*only aired 1 episode pr. week

October 2019, principal photography took place

March 12th, first episode aired

Late April 2020, filming wrapped

May 28th 2020, last episode aired

Shooting time: 7 months (couldn’t find when they actually started shooting, so let’s just pretend they also filmed around October)

Shooting duration before first aired episode: 6 months

Filming wrapped before last airing episode: 1 month

5. A piece of your mind

February 7th 2020, article of the first script reading

February 13th, first photos from drama unveiled

March 23rd, first episode aired

April 8th 2020, tvN announces that 4 episodes are cut due to low ratings

April 28th, last episode aired

Shooting time: 2-4 months

Shooting duration before first aired episode: 1-2 months

Filming wrapped before last airing episode: N/A (couldn’t find the exact time but they also axed four episodes and I don't know how much that affected filming)

6. Psychopath diary

*not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic

August 2019, first script reading

November 20th, first episode aired

January 9th 2020, last episode aired

Shooting time: n/a

Shooting duration before first aired episode: 3-4 months (assuming they started shooting shortly after the first table read)

Filming wrapped before last airing episode: n/a

7. Stranger /Secret Forest season 2

* preproduced based on the information I found

January 2020, first script reading

June 20th, 2020 lead actors wrapped filming (But I only found this article that says this)

August 15th 2020, first episode aired

October 4th 2020, last episode aired

Shooting time: 6 months

Shooting duration before first episode aired: 6 months

Filming wrapped before last airing episode: 4-5 months

What does this mean?

So the drama that comes closest to Vincenzo's filming duration is Hospital Playlist, but they also did things a bit differently. According to their Wikipedia, they only aired 1 episode a week to comply with 52-hour week system and to avoid overnight filming for the cast's and crews' health. So that would extend their shooting time. They also had the same amount of shooting time as Vincenzo before the first episode aired, i.e. 6 months, but Hospital playlist was only 12 episode drama so they also had less content to fill.

The rest of these dramas has a shooting time with 6 months or less. I will say though a lot of these dramas are not action-packed (also I haven't checked the budget for any of these), so comparatively they probably have different needs when filming. The drama that comes closest in terms of action is Stranger/Secret Forest, and it's also pretty close in shooting time with only 2 month different (that's counting from the first table read though). This was however pre-produced so they wrapped up filming before the first episode even aired (if my information is correct). Also this was a season two so they were operating under a little different circumstances.

But with the exception of Stranger/Secret Forest (preproduced) and Hospital Playlist(tried to work with humane working hours), none of this drama has a 6-month filming duration before the first episode aired. In fact some of these dramas don't even exceed 6 months of filming. Meaning they had less time to shoot before the first episode aired. Their production was probably also lower and none them did CGI (although I haven't watched all of them so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) as that should also be accounted for.

So 8 months of filming is a lot to allocate to a drama, at least it's not the norm. There are other dramas that exceed that filming time that didn't make the list (Mr. Sunshine sorry too much research for at this point), but obviously that is not the standard.

Obviously I don't know how the filming was divided, how many of the episodes they had filmed before the first one aired. I don't know how many of the episode scripts were written before it aired. But I can see that even with the live-shooting, Vincenzo has some very uneven scheduling that doesn't align with how the rest of these dramas did their scheduling and airing. None of the mentioned dramas had any delays (in airing, I can't be sure about filming as some of them are probably affected by the pandemic), and yet Vincenzo did, even though they had spent more time filming before the first episode aired.

Also, most of these dramas wrapped up filming with more than a week to spare before the final airing, with It's Okay Not To Be Okay coming the closest to the airing date (with the ones where I know the date when they finished shooting), but they also only had 1-3 months of filming before the drama actually started airing so much less time than Vincenzo. And although they didn't have CGI, they did have the animations for each of the fairytales which I don't know how long it took but I can imagine it took some time.

So then I looked up another drama not by tvN but by Park Jae Bum:

Good Manager/Chief Kim

December 15, 2016 first script reading

January 25, 2017 First episode aired

March 30, 2017 Last episode aired

I couldn't find the date they finished filming, but given they only started a month before airing (honestly I felt super sorry for the cast and crew when I saw these dates), I am assuming the hit the last airing date pretty closely with filming, and that would give them 3 months of filming roughly. And they also had 20 episodes like Vincenzo.

I haven't seen this drama myself, so I can't say anything about the writing quality, but here Park Jae Bum was working under even more time pressure and was able to deliver the ending on time and as I hear, it was pretty a pretty good ending (but I haven't seen it, so feel free to refute me). And yet he couldn't do it for Vincenzo. So I do think something happened with ending, whether it was Park Jae Bum just took a long time writing it for whatever reasons, or someone/thing (be it something personal, writer's block, execs not liking the ending etc.) actually interfered and that prolonged the writing or entirely changed the ending.

Anyway this became too long, so let me just end it here.

I wish I had time to make a more comprehensive list so I could be more definite in the conclusion because obviously I can't base everything of the schedule of 8 dramas that also vastly different in production quality, genre and content.

So yeah I might have just wasted the last three-four hours making something that doesn't even make sense. But hey, at least I'm less prepared for the exams now, good use of time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[potrix-the-queerschlaeger]

kickstart my heart

The sequel to boys boys boys that has been requested. You were right, peeps, we definitely needed some Sam/Bucky fluff. So, here you go.

This can also be found over on AO3.

*

1

Sam’s so absorbed in his text conversation with Sharon—there’s always some crazy shit going down in Madripoor—that it takes him a while to notice that Bucky hasn’t returned with their refills yet.

The coffee shop isn’t busy, so he quickly spots Bucky by the register, and has to snort when he realises what’s going on. Bucky’s got a hip propped against the counter, casual and loose, and is smiling sweetly at the barista, dimples out in full force. Sam’s too far away to hear what’s being said, but the barista’s cheeks are flushed, and as Sam watches, his hand slowly, carefully moves closer to Bucky’s until their pinkies just barely touch.

It still catches Sam by surprise, sometimes, to see Bucky like this, confident and at peace with himself. Laughing freely at whatever the barista is saying, eyes crinkled at the corners, and smile flirty when he answers back with something that has the barista duck his head, giggling shyly.

Bucky’s always been gorgeous, Sam will freely admit that to anyone but the man in question, but Bucky content and happy is something else entirely.

“Do not ruin this place for us,” Sam warns, just loud enough that he knows Bucky’s enhanced hearing will pick it up, “they have the best carrot cake in the city, man.”

Bucky never looks away from the barista, but he does flip Sam off behind his back, so he definitely caught it.

(Watch out for the break!)

Chuckling to himself, Sam picks his phone up again. Sarah’s sent a series of adorable pictures of Cass and AJ, and Sam is gushing over them like the loving uncle he is when a steaming cup is set down by his elbow. He looks up as Bucky drops into the chair across the table, eyes immediately zeroing in on the plate in his hand.

“Special delivery,” Bucky teases with a quiet laugh, and pushes the giant piece of carrot cake towards Sam. “You’re welcome.”

Sam’s heart flutters traitorously.

2

“I am a trained medical professional, Sergeant Barnes, I can assure you that I know what I’m doing.”

Bucky doesn’t stop glowering at the doctor, looming over her back as she finishes up with the stitches on Sam’s forehead. Sam hisses when she ties off the last one, and Bucky breathes out something that sounds suspiciously like a growl.

The doctor doesn’t seem fazed. Sam shoots her an apologetic smile anyway.

His wrist is badly sprained, she tells him while she puts it in a brace, and he’s bruised pretty much all over, but there are no more serious injuries to worry about. As soon as he’s cleared to leave, Bucky’s right there with an arm around his waist, snatching the bottle of painkillers the doctor holds out with a glare.

Sam can see the doctor trying very hard not to roll her eyes.

He nods off on the drive home, head on Bucky’s shoulder, and barely wakes up enough to stagger up to his apartment with Bucky’s guiding hands on his shoulders. He’s deposited on his bed, dozing lightly until Bucky returns a few minutes later with a glass of water, and helps him sit up enough to swallow one of the painkillers.

The last thing he hears before he falls asleep again is Bucky tugging and cursing at the laces of his boots.

It’s dark out when Sam wakes up again, tangled in sweat-soaked sheets, and panting wildly. His hand is trembling when he rubs it over his wet eyes, and he has to clench his teeth against the sob he can feel bubbling up his throat.

He startles when his bedroom door creaks open, and watches in sleepy confusion as Bucky makes his way across the room towards the bed. Bucky is warm and solid when he reaches out for Sam, hands gentle as he pulls Sam close, and Sam is too exhausted to question anything, just lets himself be tucked against Bucky’s side, head on his chest.

Bucky tugs the sheets up and over them without a word.

Sam breathes out shakily, fingers curling into Bucky’s shirt, and closes his eyes again.

3

Joaquín’s face as he walks out of the plane is very telling.

“So, the good news is,” he starts, grease-streaked hands on his hips, “I can fix the engine. Well. I think I can. Probably.”

Sam and Bucky exchange a sceptical look.

“Rude,” Joaquín sniffs.

Sam quirks a brow at him. “I’m assuming there’s some bad news, too?”

“There’s always bad news,” Bucky mutters, which is, more often than not, true.

He shrugs off his combat jacket, and Sam gets momentarily distracted by the way his damp undershirt clings to his abs. Joaquín clears his throat, mouth pursed in amusement when Sam turns back to him.

Sam narrows his eyes at him. Joaquín just grins back.

“Well?” Bucky demands.

“Oh, yeah. Uh, so,” Joaquín grimaces, “I don’t actually have the parts I need—”

Sam and Bucky groan in unison.

“—but! But I managed to get through to HQ, and they’ll airdrop everything I need.” He pauses, looking shifty, before he adds, much quieter, “In about eight hours.”

“What the fuck,” Bucky hisses, at the same time as Sam yells, “Eight hours?”

Joaquín spreads his arms wide, gesturing around them. “Well, I mean. We are in the middle of the jungle, you know?”

Which, unfortunately, is also true.

With not much else to do but wait, they decide to set out and explore the area around the crash site. The plane is stocked with emergency rations that will last them for a while, but they’re low on water, and in this heat, that could become a problem pretty soon.

The universe, mercifully, decides to give them a break, and they find a small lake after only about half an hour of searching. Sam whistles appreciatively, and Joaquín actually pumps his fist, whooping, “Nice!”

Bucky doesn’t say anything, but immediately starts kicking off his boots.

“Uh,” Joaquín says, unsure, peering into the seemingly calm lake. “Do you think that’s a good idea? We don’t know what lives in there.”

Bucky only snorts at that. “I think I can handle an alligator,” he declares, pulls off his shirt, and, with a wink in Sam’s direction, dives headfirst into the water.

“So.” Joaquín eyes Sam with a mischievous little smirk on his face. “What’s going on here? Anything you wanna tell me?”

“That you’re way too nosy,” Sam shoots back, but has to smile when Joaquín just laughs, and nudges their shoulders together.

“You seem happier, though, lately,” Joaquín goes on. “Both of you. So, you know. Good for you, yeah?”

Bucky choses that moment to resurface, wet chest glistening in the sun. Sam can’t help but stare, just for a moment, as Bucky stretches his arms over his head with a happy little sigh.

Next to him, Joaquín starts cackling.

Sam decides to push him in the lake.

He’s pretty sure Bucky will save him if there really are any alligators.

+1

Sam is picking up cups and paper plates around the yard as the party winds down, absently humming along to the music that’s still playing softly from inside the house. The sun has set a while ago, but it’s summer and still pleasantly warm outside, and the faint glow from the porch lights is just enough to see where he’s going.

It’s quiet and peaceful, and Sam smiles to himself as he ties off the trash bag.

Last year, on the 4th of July, he’d stood in front of hundreds of people, talking about Steve’s biggest achievements and sacrifices as if his loss hadn’t still been fresh for him, too. As if he hadn’t been grieving for a friend, instead of an international icon and hero.

This year is different, though. Today has been good. Very good.

Sam had, politely but firmly, denied to speak at any memorial services or ceremonies, had announced that he would be incommunicado for the week, and had packed up his shit to spend the holiday with his family in Louisiana.

His wings are stowed away, his phone is off, and he won’t have to talk to anyone from work for at least another few days.

Well. Almost no one.

Bucky’s just vanishing around the corner upstairs when Sam steps into the house, Cass in one arm and AJ in the other. They’re definitely getting too big to be carried around like this, something Sam’s back reminds him of whenever he does it these days, but something about seeing Bucky do it has Sam feel warm all over.

He can hear one of the boys murmur sleepily, and then Bucky say something that has both of them giggling tiredly.

Sam breathes out shakily.

It’s no wonder Sarah’s been making fun of him ever since he arrived with his unannounced guest in tow.

“Hey.”

When Sam glances up, Bucky’s standing on the stairs, only a few steps up, watching him with his head tilted curiously. “The boys want you to go say goodnight to them.”

Sam nods, absently licking his bottom lip. Bucky’s eyes track the movement.

“Buck,” Sam whispers, and when he holds out a hand, Bucky takes it without hesitation, letting himself be pulled close. “Can I—”

Bucky’s, “Yeah,” is pressed against Sam’s mouth, his lips soft and warm. Sam kisses back for a moment, before resting their foreheads together with a shuddering sigh.

“Wait up for me?”

Bucky nods, pecking him on the cheek. “Okay.”

He squeezes Sam’s hand, lingering, then lets go to join everyone else in the living room. He says something, too low for Sam to make out, but it makes Sarah laugh, loud and excited, and Bucky chuckle deeply in response.

Just a regular, normal holiday weekend with his family, Sam thinks as he moves up the stairs, absently touching his cheek.

All of his family.