#jokes aside i thought this woman was awful for the first 2 months or so and was terrified of approaching her

[lowestechelonabomination]

was freaking out about how I was going to fail this one stupid seminar class that's for SOME REASON a graduation requirement and thinking there's no way I'm getting above a 60 in it because there are only 10 assignments for the whole semester and all of them are weighted equally and all of them SUCK and are exactly the stuff I hate doing and I've been super behind in the class for the past 3 months so basically I'm screwed and then uh. my four missing assignments got put in as zeroes and my grade only dropped to a 58. WHICH IS BAD. but if I turn them in and get 50s on all of them and then get a 90 on the culminating paper (WHICH IS WEIGHTED THE SAME AS THE OTHER ASSIGNMENTS FOR SOME REASON BUT WHATEVERRRRR) I'll have a solid 76. WHICH IS NOT GREAT. BUT IT'S NOT FAILING. GUYS I'M NOT GOING TO FAIL

[hoedamn-eron]

he found the box of condoms - part 3 (finale)

You and Leto have to deal with the aftermath of your relationship.

Warnings: Age gap, but it is appropriate/legal. Mentions of drinking but it's isn't specified to be alcohol (but it's implied). An awful lot of dialogue. Some swearing. Angsty but happy ending. I have never seen nor read Dune (yet), so there may be some inaccuracies (Duke and Paul being OOC, stuff like that), but it's Modern!AU anyway. Slightly proof-read, as per usual. Word count: 3,025 GN!Reader, no use of Y/N.

FINALLY, I have this posted! Not some of my best work, but I was so aware that I hadn't updated this for 4 months!

Part 2

You wished you had declined your parent’s invitation to their barbeque.

It had been a terrible week. You had started your new job, but the person you were taking over from must have left the company with spite since they left everything in such a mess, that you technically couldn’t ‘start’ your job until everything was put right again. And there was a snooty woman (Harriet, in sales) on your office floor who had already decided you weren’t worth her time, and she seemed to have her fingers stuck in a lot of pies.

You’re dating life was a joke too. You’d been on a few dates here and there, from your adventures in the worlds of Tinder, and Bumble, but nothing went past the first date. They were all either looking for different things or just general walking red flags. The only ‘successful’ dates you had had were with your neighbour, Tom, who was a really nice guy, who treated you really well, and put an effort into your dates, but you had let him down massively by being too hooked on Leto Atreides. Now you can barely look at him when you happen to pass each other in the hallway of your building.

Speaking of your living arrangements, your apartment wasn’t working out like you thought it would. When you moved in five months ago, you weren’t prepared (or warned about) the excessively noisy neighbours, and the terrible water pressure, and the fact that your apartment was just freezing constantly. You’d already been on your landlord’s case, but he didn’t seem to care in the slightest, not now he’d had your security deposit and months’ worth of rent. You were on the verge of asking your parents if you could move back in until you could afford and better place.

And to top off your already terrible week, Leto was here.

You hadn’t seen him since he broke up with you six months ago, after you told your parents and Paul (who hadn’t talked to you since) of your relationship. It had been a hard time for you, obviously, practically seeing him every day since he lived next door to your parents. Of course, you didn’t expect your parents to stop talking to him, he was their friend before he was your partner (even though your dad had given him the cold shoulder for a while); but they could have given you some warning that he was going to be here.

“I’m sorry,” your mother said after pulling you aside to ‘help with the salad’, away from earshot of the other guests.

You were already shaking your head at her, giving her a tight smile. “It’s fine.”

It wasn’t, but you weren’t going to tell your mother who she can and can’t have in her own house.

“Your father must’ve invited him – “

“Really, it’s fine,” you say, placing your hand on her shoulder. “I’m gonna grab a drink.”

You really needed one.

Your mother soon went back to mingling and you hung around by the kitchen door, regretting your decision to come to the barbeque more and more. Everyone just seemed so chatty and happy, and like they currently had no problems happening in their lives. These people weren’t struggling to get hot water or being shunned in work by their new co-workers.

They most certainly weren’t in the same space as their ex-partners, still hopelessly in love with them. You did feel slightly pathetic, still pining over Leto the way you were, especially when he’d made it perfectly clear that it would be in everyone’s best interests that you separated.

“We shouldn’t see each other anymore.”

You had the feeling that was what was coming when he had said ‘We need to talk’. Nothing good every came from ‘we need to talk.’ But it didn’t stop you physically feeling your heart break in two, your body suddenly feeling like it would collapse.

Leto’s shoulders slumped as he looked at you with, annoyingly, sympathy. “That came out – “

“No, it’s fine,” you breathed, lightly shaking your head. “I get it.”

But it wasn’t fine, and you didn’t get it. You didn’t understand why you two would need to end what you had, just because Paul had thrown a hissy fit. But at the end of the day, you knew – deep down - Leto would choose Paul over you any day; he was his son, his flesh and blood. They’d both been through a lot since Jessica died. Leto would want the easiest life for Paul, and this wasn’t a part of it.

“I’m sorry,” Leto whispered, looking at you with those deep brown eyes, that you always thought held the stars. “I’m so sorry. It’s just you’re young, you don’t want to be with someone like me, an old man. And Paul is…I’m sorry.”

You shook your head at him again, disagreeing with everything he was saying. You both go silent before a wobbly smile makes its way on to your face. “We can always stay friends.”

Leto stared at you for a moment before giving a single nod. “We can.”

You almost roll your eyes at the memory, trying hard to ignore the pang in your chest. You hadn’t even remotely stayed friends. You wanted far away from him as humanly possible after that night. You were pissed off for a while, blaming Paul and wanting to wring his neck, but eventually you accepted that was just how life was going to go. Sometimes things work out how you want, and sometimes they don’t.

No matter how much you had wanted it.

You take a large sip of your drink, almost coughing at the burn down your throat. You truly didn’t want to be here. Maybe you could give your parents a discreet goodbye a quietly sneak out. Surely no-one would notice, only your parents had greeted you. Leto hadn’t even noticed you were here. You take a quick glance around your parents sunroom, your eyes landing on the God of a man himself.

He always looked so effortlessly good looking. He’d grown his beard out a little and God dammit, if salt and pepper wasn’t his colour. His white polo really brought out his golden tan, evident he’d been working in his garden with the nice weather you’d had the last few weeks. He didn’t look like his life was falling apart; obviously, Leto was a perfect human being. Nothing ever went wrong with Leto Atreides.

You sigh as you finish your drink, throwing your head back and looking back at Leto, before jumping out of your skin.

He was looking right at you, an unreadable look on his face.

You avert your gaze quickly, going to take another drink before realising it was already gone. Good, an excuse to disappear and avoid Leto’s coffee brown gaze. You make your way into the kitchen, intending to raid your parents appropriately named ‘drinks fridge’ for a good five or ten minutes. You weren’t ready to face him, even 6 months of being apart. It still hurt.

Once you had refilled your drink, you turn only to nearly drop your drink in shock. Leto had followed you into the kitchen.

Oh God, you’re cornered, there was no escaping him now.

“Hey.”

Why, why, did he have to have a voice that melted you from the inside out? It wasn’t fair. And you hadn’t heard him since you moved out, it shouldn’t make you feel like this.

“Hi,” you greet back. You curse yourself as the slight wobble in your voice, but you hope he didn’t notice.

He probably did, but he won’t say anything, because he’s just that nice of a person. He’s even looking at you like he’s causing you such an inconvenience talking to you.

“How are you?”

How were you going to answer that? Would you be honest and tell him that you were the unhappiest you’d been in a while, or would you lie? You could tell him that you were living your best life, that everything was absolutely fine with you, that you hadn’t had a few unsuccessful pity dates with your neighbour across the hall, because all you could think about was the Adonis of a man stood in front of you.

You’re taking too long to answer. The call of your name causes you to blink at him with a quick, “I’m fine.”

Leto nodded, an awkward silence filling the air. You look down at the drink in your hand, swirling it around the glass, biting your lip. You wanted to leave. What were you supposed to talk about? How miserable your life was? How he’s probably living his best single life with all the people falling at his feet?

“Your mom mentioned you’d…that you’d met someone.”

You couldn’t help the snort of a laugh that came out of you. Straight to the point. You shook your head as you look back up at Leto, a confused look on his face. “I wouldn’t say mine and my neighbour’s dates were something to write home about, pretty sure we’re not going to go out again.”

“So you’re not seeing anyone?”

“No.”

“So I can take you out then?”

You freeze, looking at him with wide eyes. What did he just say? “Pardon me?”

“I’ve been…completely miserable,” he said, huffing a laugh as he shook his head. “The past six months have been rough.”

The nerve! He broke up with you. He decided to end your relationship for Paul’s feelings, which you understood, really you did, but that didn’t mean you were going to just drop everything and crawl back into his arms. He’d ignored you for six months until today. As much as you were pining for Leto when you first spotted him, you couldn’t help but feel put out and pissed off.

Unnerved by your silence, Leto cleared his throat. “I spoke to Paul – “

“That makes one of us,” you mutter.

“He’s mentioned that he misses you and wants to make things right between us all.”

“He could have reached out himself instead of making you come and speak to me,” you mutter. “It’s awkward enough as it is.”

“He didn’t make me – “ Leto huffed, his shoulders slumping. “I’m trying here.”

“I just thought that my feelings meant just as much as Paul’s do.”

Leto sighed your name, closing his eyes in frustration.

“No, I get it,” you say, nodding at him. “As long as Paul’s feelings aren’t hurt.”

Leto looked back at you. “He’s my son – “

“And as I said, I get that, but he was also my friend. And he was a prick.”

“I know, I’m sorry, but you have to understand – “

“I do.”

You both stare at each other.

After a few moments, Leto shook his head at you. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” you counter. “We broke up. That was it. The relationship was evidently too much, so we decided to end it. And now you’re coming up to me, assuming you can take me out, like nothing happened?”

You knew you were being unfair. You had agreed to break it off too, but you had been having a bad week and you weren’t prepared for him to be at your parent’s house after feeling sorry for yourself. And for him to just approach you the way he did and throw his feelings back at you?

You wanted the floor to open you up and swallow you whole.

You found yourself suddenly laughing in disbelief, averting your gaze to look around the kitchen, mainly so you didn’t have to look at his heart-breaking expression, and so he didn’t see the overwhelmed tears in your eyes. “I really didn’t need this today.”

Leto didn’t say anything as you ranted to him, your stress and anger from the past few weeks coming out of you.

“Ever since we broke up, I feel like my life just fell apart. I lost Paul, and you, and my apartment that looked great on paper absolutely sucks and my landlord knows it but doesn’t bother to fix anything. My new job isn’t what I thought it would be and I have already rubbed somebody the wrong way, and I can’t seem to hold down a date with a decent guy, because all I can think about is you!”

You hadn’t realised Leto had made his way to you until he pulled you into his arms. You hadn’t realised you were crying until he was shushing you and whispering apologies in your ear, keeping you to his chest and he lightly swayed you. He was always so warm and welcoming, and always left you wanting to stay in his arms eternally.

You find yourself trapped in a wave of conflicting emotions. As the memories of the time you had spent with Leto flood back, you feel a mix of joy, pain, and longing at being held by him again, even if it was in the middle of a breakdown. Your heart feels heavy with the weight of regret, as you reminiscence on the times you had together and the things left unsaid when you broke up, how it was so sudden when you felt like your relationship had just started.

You don’t know how long you both stood embracing in the kitchen for, but you were vaguely aware of Leto waving your mother away, probably checking to see where you’d both gotten to. You heard your father call to the guests that he was going to start grilling, so you took that as your queue to get out of the kitchen. You pulled away from Leto, wiping at your eyes and avoiding looking at him.

You’d embarrassed yourself enough.

He watched you silently pull yourself back together before you finally look up at him, giving him a shaky smile. “Sorry about that.”

Leto was already shaking his head. “You don’t need to apologise. Ever.”

You take a few more deep breaths, finally calming down. “Did you mean what you said?”

Leto looked at you with a raised brow, before countering back. “Did you?”

Well, yes you did. You know you constantly think about Leto. He’s never far from your mind, you’re always wondering how he was doing since you moved out of your parent’s place, wondering if he ever got back into the dating pool, or if Paul had forgiven him (evidently, he did). Leto was the love of your life, even if you both chose to separate. And despite this, he was giving you the choice to get back together.

You eventually nod at him. “I did. I think about you all the time.”

Leto gave a small laugh of disbelief. “Then what are we both doing?”

You shook your head at him. “I don’t know. Everything was happening so fast, I didn’t…”

Leto gives you a small smile. “I understand.”

“I didn’t want us to break up. I didn’t want to be alone, without you, but you looked like you were doing so well without me and I was practically a pathetic, blubbering mess.”

“I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”

“I’m glad you were as miserable as I am,” you say jokingly, giving a small laugh.

The change in Leto is instant. His shoulders relax, and he starts giving you that small smile that he used to give you when you were having your long talks on dates. It was the smile that warmed your insides and made you feel gooey, like a teenager going to prom with the most popular person in school.

He stuck his hand out to you. “Shall we start again? I’m Leto, it’s nice to meet you.”

You snort but humour him, grasping at his hand as you introduce yourself.

“I just noticed you across the room and I have to say, you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”

“You’re so cheesy.”

“I remember you used to like me being cheesy.”

You feel your cheeks warm as you gave him a light shove. “We just met, Leto, I don’t know what you mean.”

Leto smiled at you. “Want me to ask you out again?”

You couldn’t help but sigh dreamily at him. Your heart beats hard against your chest as you nodded at him.

“Can I take you out sometime?”

Your breathing quickens, and you still felt like you were melting against that smile of his. This was it. This was your opportunity to be with Leto again, to be happy again. You wouldn’t need to sneak around and you could be a real life couple.

But you didn’t want to risk being hurt again. What if the same problems arose, that Paul wasn’t okay with it after a while, or your parents? Would Leto break it off again? Would he think it was too much again and end things? You were still an adult and could make decisions for yourself; something that others seemed to forget last time.

But you could handle it. You loved him, and you were sure he loved you. And you could be together again.

You nod at Leto. “Yes. I would love to go out with you.”

Leto grinned. “Are you free on Saturday?”

“I am.”

“I’ll pick you up at seven on Saturday then.”

Before you could reply, Leto leans forward, his lips meeting yours. You melt against him, your eyes closing as you revel in the familiarity of their kiss. The way his lips fit perfectly against yours after so long, like coming home after a long journey. You wrap your arms around each other tightly, deepening the kiss, savouring every moment as if you’d never been apart.

As the kiss comes to an end, you both pull away, gazing into each other's eyes, feeling the love and longing that has been building inside you for so long.

“I’ll hide the condoms better next time.”

You let out a laugh before slipping your hand into his, leading him back out to the party. You choose to ignore the smirk your parents were giving each other as you join them.

Tagged - @m0nster-fvcker, @justanotherkpopstanlol, @eonnyx, @secre-flower, @shaggzthatsnottheworm

[diana-bookfairchild]

@flufftober Day 2: “You’ve told your parents?”

William wasn’t sure he had ever been this wildly, this incredibly, this exuberantly happy.

He was fairly certain Gigi had nearly fainted when he’d told her he was taking a month with only remote work, and he couldn’t really blame her. Ever since their parents had died, he’d become a workaholic, studying and proving his worth as a CEO to the board and to the world. He didn’t realize how accustomed he was to just… working and scheduling family and friends around it or for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas until the whole mess with Gigi and Wickham.

He genuinely couldn’t believe he’d been absent enough to miss his sister falling in love with the bastard. It was why he’d come to Netherfield with Bing, why he’d adviced him to stay away from Jane when he thought his best friend might get hurt.

Of course, the second had backfired spectacularly, and he’d thought the first had too. . . Until now.

Which brought him back to the point. Lizzie. Lizzie was… She was amazing. He’d always scoffed at people who did ridiculously exaggerated things in the name of romantic love. But now. . . Now he got it. For Lizzie, for the way she let her breath out in a small gasp when she was kissed before kissing back, the way she threw her head back and laughed openly without fear of being judged, the way she could admit to her faults on the internet in front of her thousands of subscribers, the way she defended those she loved, the way she wrinkled her nose when she thought someone was wrong but was trying to have tact, the way she stuck to her principles. . . . He would do anything.

He'd thought he loved her during his disastrous confession in Collins and Collins—he could see now that that was nothing. The feelings he’d actively fought against until they had to be let out in a horrifyingly insulting manner were nothing compared to what he was feeling now, when Lizzie laughed at his jokes, actively debated points with him, held his hand and was in front of him trying to get the cream off her nose with her tongue.

Just half a year ago, he’d have been repulsed, taking this as even more proof that she was low class, not good enough for him. Now he was entranced, even as they talked about Dr Gardiner’s latest paper. He’d always liked the woman and her work, and more so now that he knew she was Lizzie’s mentor.

“And Lydia always says. . . .” Lizzie trailed off with a wince. William held back a grimace. He knew the pain of recalling what someone had been like before they were hurt when you blamed yourself for that hurt despite everyone around you telling you otherwise.

William had never been a man of action. He’d always liked how words could be calculated and carefully spoken. Lizzie Bennet had changed that, as she had a lot of things. He extended his hand until it covered hers. At that she smiled and stroked his hand with her thumb.

“How is she?” He asked softly.

“Doing better,” She sighed, and set aside her plate with a sense of finality. He indicated for the cheque with his other hand. “But well. . . How can you be doing after all that?”

“She has you and the rest of her family,” William said reassuringly. “She may not be able to bounce back immediately, or feel safe anytime soon, but she knows you love her and she knows she can come to you. That’s enough, I think, for now.”

Lizzie’s smile was loving, awed. William’s heart swelled. “Well, if I’m half the older sibling you are to Gigi, we’ll all be just fine.”

Their kiss was just as perfect as their first one. Their noses bumped slightly, and Lizzie tasted like strawberry and chocolate and the way she pulled on his tie drove him wild, and he wouldn’t change a single thing.

They parted, and William leaned back to catch his breath, heart beating wildly. “And the dinner will help cheer her up too, I suppose,” Lizzie mused.

William’s mind halted. “Dinner? What dinner?”

Lizzie looked up at him through her eyelashes, lips twisted in the way they always were when she felt sheepish. “I haven’t told you about that?” He shook his head. “My parents want to have this huge dinner for all of us – Lydia, cousin Mary, Bing and Jane, Gigi, Charlotte, you and me. . .”

“You’ve told your parents?” William asked, alarmed. “About us?”

“I couldn’t keep it from them,” Lizzie protested, giggling. “Even if I had tried, Lydia would’ve spilled the beans. William, you don’t need to look like you’ve received an execution order!”

“I think I do,” William said. When he’d asked after the dinner at the Bennets’ house, Bing had just laughed nervously and said that Jane had a really colourful family and Caroline had just shuddered and asked him not to make her relive the experience. Thinking of which. . . “Is Caroline coming?”

Lizzie bit her lip. “Well. . . Hopefully she’ll refuse. . .”

“Oh my God,” William wasn’t prone to dramatics but he thought this situation called for it. He hadn’t given much thought to meeting Lizzie’s parents – well, ‘much’ in his standards – probably because his own were dead, but he certainly hadn’t thought it would be in company – particularly of those mentioned.

“Come on, it won’t be so bad,” She said cajolingly.

“Or it’ll be a complete disaster,” He muttered, worst case scenarios running through his head.

“Either way, it’ll be fun,” Lizzie grinned, and then became solemn. “William, if you really don’t want to, we don’t have to do this. We can take Gigi and Lydia and Charlotte and go for dinner ourselves and another time with Jane and Bing, and you can meet my parents later.”

Of course she’d found out the crux of the matter. “You shouldn’t have to skip a family dinner for me,” He said, changing the subject.

She allowed it. “Are you kidding? Like you said, it’ll be good to escape the disaster.” She paused. “Besides, it’s for you. If you’re not comfortable with it, we don’t have to do it.”

William’s heart stuttered. “No, I. . .” He cleared his throat. “The notion was just discomforting at first. I would love to attend dinner.”

“You don’t have to exaggerate,” Lizzie said.

He shook his head. “I’m not.” He hesitated for a moment. “If it’s possible. . . I can meet your parents before?”

“Of course,” Lizzie said immediately. “Maybe the day before or just before everyone gets there.” She eyed him knowingly, but didn’t bring up William’s feelings regarding his parents.

“Besides, Gigi would be upset if we ruined her chance of seeing this spectacle,” He said, not bringing it up either. A genuine smile spread across his face at the thought.

“True enough,” Lizzie laughed. “Then that’s settled.” She paused. “Maybe we can invite your Aunt Catherine and see her expression when you talk about how you liked ‘my fine eyes’.”

“Please stop bringing that up,” William said, the tips of his ears reddening. Then the full sentence registered and he laughed, wholeheartedly, imagining his aunt sitting in the Bennets’ dining room, in the full loving chaos that was their home. “She’d go crazy.”

Lizzie snickered. “Yeah, poor Annie.” Her voice dipped in an uncanny imitation of his aunt when she talked about her dog. “You see, Annie, these heathens. They’ve brainwashed poor Darcy and his lovely so capable sister. You’re so lucky to be with someone like me, oh yes you are.”

William couldn’t stop his laughter. He hated being undignified in public, but like a lot of things – Lizzie made him not care. Lizzie made him want to live.

“You’re amazing, Lizzie Bennet.” He said, adoration and devotion dripping through every syllable.

Lizzie flushed, smiling widely. And they leaned in and kissed again. William could see a waiter looking awkward, holding the bill/cheque in his hand. But he didn’t care.

Lizzie was worth it. Lizzie was worth everything.

Even being in the same room as Gigi, Lydia, Charlotte, Caroline, and Lizzie’s parents at the same time.

[calpalirwin]

Come Back

Summary: It was a standard routine mission gone wrong in all the worst ways possible, or so the world, and most of the Avengers, was led to believe. 

A/N: When my 5sos writing addiction crosses paths with my superhero addiction. Beta-read by @jessalyn-jpeg​ thank you!!!!

Word Count: 10.8k

And away, and away we go!

__

“Hostage situation,” Ashton said, slapping the folder down in the middle of the table. 

Y/N’s fingers grazed the manila folder emblazoned with a giant “MISSION” stamp in the middle of it. Fuckin’ subtle, she thought with an eye roll. 

“Am I boring you already?” Ashton all but snapped at the woman, his arms crossing over his chest.

She raised her gaze to meet his, holding it steadily. Aside from Calum and Michael, Y/N and Ashton were the closest in age, with Y/N having the advantage over the man, a fact she knew he despised even though she graciously allowed him to take the lead at every opportunity. Leading had never been her cup of tea, but it was definitely Ashton’s, the arrogant little bastard. “Not at all,” she said sweetly, flashing him a smile. “Captain,” Y/N added as an afterthought. 

Ashton pinched the bridge of his nose, shifting his stare over to Calum, seeing if he’d help tame the woman’s snark, so that Ashton could get on with the team meeting, preferably without a headache. Calum just gave his sister a small shove, which she gladly took as a way to knock into Michael on her other side, the blonde’s arm going to rest along the back of his girlfriend’s chair.

When Ashton cleared his throat, Y/N rolled her eyes again. “Oh, just get on with it, you prat. Hostage situation. And ready? 3, 2, 1, action!”

“Yes,” Ashton said, his tone taking on the edge that was aptly referred to Ashton’s leader voice. “We, that is SHIELD, infiltrated a Hydra base about a month back in an attempt to get a spy on the inside. Problem is, that SHIELD agent was working with Hydra, and led our men straight into a trap.”

“And women,” Y/N added.

“Yes, and our women agents as well, thank you, audience participation.”

“So our task is to do what exactly? Search and rescue?” Luke asked, leaning back in his seat.

“Pretty much, yes.”

“Great…” the blue eyes rolled.

“Yeah, it’s not exactly glamorous, but it’s well within our authorization to carry out ourselves.” Ashton puffed out his chest a little, like he was proud to be trusted with such a high class mission. 

“Blow up New York a few times saving the world and everyone’s a critic…” Y/N joked half-heartedly. “Face it, Ash, we’re an over glorified search and rescue team. Just tell us when we’re headed out.”

“Jet leaves in a half hour. Folder contains more details regarding our individual parts and a map of the compound.”

Luke’s face lit up at the potential that individual assignments might have a little bit more glory to them, eagerly snatching the folder and passing out the packets inside to each team member before tearing into his. “Aw! C’mon!” he groaned, tossing the papers back on the table. “We never get anything cool anymore…”

Y/N kept her quip about how Luke should speak for himself to herself, as she glanced at her own personal assignment. Fuckin’ hell…

“You alright, babe?” Michael asked, his fingers rubbing at her neck as he started to pull his arm back across her chair.

She crumpled her assignment in her fist. “Hmm? I’m fine,” she grinned, kissing his nose.

Michael blew out his air in a huff, “Yeah, I know the mission’s kinda bullshit action wise. But when we get back we can play with these new arrows I’ve been working on. These ones have tracking technology, so even if I was to miss, I wouldn’t.”

“Aw, but you never miss a shot.”

Michael smirked, “I know. But now you guys can use them too. Doesn’t hurt to pick up an extra skill.”

“Sounds like a date,” she said, this time pressing a kiss to his lips, savoring the moment. In a couple of months to a year, she added in her head, because what Michael didn’t know, and what she couldn’t tell him, was that these were going to be their last moments with each other for a while.

~~~

Exactly a half hour after Ashton had dismissed his team, the group of five sat strapped in the jet, the engines rumbling as it took off, headed for the Hydra base. “Everyone has their assignment?” Ashton asked, eyes darting across everyone.

“Yes, Dad,” they all mock-saluted.

The hazel eyes rolled, and his jaw ticked in annoyance. “If someone else wants to be leader, be my guest.”

“So then I could be the prat everyone hates?” Luke scoffed. “No, thanks.”

“Aw, Luke. We’d hate you regardless if you're the leader or not,” Michael joked, clapping the other man on the shoulder.

“Hehehe,” Luke laughed in a high-pitched, mocking manner.

“Nobody has a problem with you being leader, Ash. You know this,” Y/N said. “Plus we all know that you’re just the one relaying orders from the higher ups. You’re just better at it than the rest of us. I mouth off too much, and these three are babies. Face it, you’re the perfect soldier.”

Ashton’s expression softened a bit at her words, the closest thing to a compliment she’s ever given him. “Thanks, Y/N. That means a lot.”

“Oh, save it. It doesn’t make you less annoying.”

“Babies? Who are you calling babies?” Michael asked, poking a finger in his girlfriend’s shoulder.

“Yeah!” Calum huffed. “No babies here!”

Y/N laughed, reaching out to pinch Calum’s cheek. “You will always be a baby to me, baby brother.” Then she turned her attention to Michael, “And you? You’re just my babe,” she grinned, kissing his nose.

“And me?” Luke asked, perking up his seat.

“A literal infant,” she grinned wider while everyone else nodded, including Ashton.

The rest of the jet ride was spent doing last minute training (Ashton), reviewing personal assignments (Y/N), tinkering with new technology (Calum and Michael), or sleeping (Luke) until Ashton called everyone back for a quick meeting.

“We’re approaching our drop off point.”

“Drop off point or…?” Luke whistled before slamming his hand down on the table. “Jumping point?”

Ashton held up 2 fingers, and Luke grinned, pumping his fist in small victory. “We can’t risk the jet getting anywhere near their radar, so we’re landing roughly here,” Ashton continued, pointing at the map. “Hydra base is here,” he moved his finger to where there was a giant red circle. “And safe to assume it’s heavily guarded on the outside.”

Y/N studied the distance between where Ashton said the landing spot was versus where the base was. “So we’re landing about a mile out, and we’re just gonna knock on the front door, hoping they let us in?”

Ashton snorted. “God no. Well, kinda. Luke’s breaking in to shut down their security protocols. From there, Cal should be able to hack and override their system. Mike keeps our path clear from the outside. Making our job,” he waved a finger between Y/N and himself, and Y/N gulped wondering how much he knew about everyone’s personal assignments, “easier for helping Luke get the hostages out.”

She breathed in relief. Good. Ashton was under the usual impression of personal assignments from previous missions, and not the other, slightly more complicated bit to the otherwise usual mission. Luke, with his ability to shrink and grow with the push of a button, courtesy of Calum and Michael’s technology, was the thief. The one with the power to get small enough to squeeze in anywhere unnoticed. Which set him up perfectly to gain security access for Calum, who could then override any system remotely, alongside piloting his drone for extra security coverage/fighting power. Michael usually hung back with Calum to keep Calum company, while being both an extra set of eyes, and an extra fighter with his hundred percent success rate as an archer. Which left super soldier Ashton, and non-super soldier, but highly trained martial artist Y/N to provide the bulk of fending off enemies. A ragtag team of not exactly super, but definitely better than your average SHIELD agent, SHIELD had dubbed the Avengers. “Sounds like we should get ready to jump then.”

While jumping was Luke’s favorite part of the mission, the rest of the team paled a little standing in the doorway of the jet, air rushing all around. But when Ashton yelled “Go!” they all jumped, Luke first with a whoop of “Showtime!” Y/N sucked in a breath, following Luke out and grabbing Michael’s hand to pull him after her, the ground hurtling upwards at her. 

“Pull!” Ashton’s voice directed in everyone’s ears, and five parachutes deployed in unison, Y/N jerking wildly with the pullback.

“Whoa, easy there,” Michael’s voice was both in her earpiece and shouting above the wind, his hand squeezing hers. “You’re good, babe.”

“Ugh, I fuckin’ hate that part,” she groaned, her stomach churning.

“And I hate this part,” Calum groaned along with his sister, before all anyone heard was his feet hitting the ground and his string of curses as his body rolled with his landing.

“You gotta learn to land better,” Y/N and Ashton both scolded, as Y/N’s own feet touched down, and she ran a little with the momentum so she didn’t roll like her brother.

“You gotta learn to land better,” Calum mimicked as he picked himself up off the ground, shooting Luke a glare, “What are you so fuckin’ happy about?”

“That shit is the fuckin’ best!” Luke whooped in a whisper. “Fuck yeah! I’m pumped!”

“Good,” Ashton chuckled. “How do you feel about more flying?”

“Aw sick! Is Michael gonna shoot me?!”

“Not the way I’d like to,” Michael grinned sarcastically, reaching behind him for his bow and arrow. “Shrink down, giant man.”

While Luke shrunk down to the size of a tic-tac, Ashton started instructing Michael on where to shoot, but Michael brushed him off. “Yeah, yeah. Close enough to get him inside, but not anywhere that’ll draw attention. Cal, you got eyes yet?”

“Yeah, but I’m not gonna be able to get the drone in there until Luke gets in so I can hack the system.”

“That’s fine, I got it,” Luke said in the ear piece. “Cal, I’m on your right shoe. Lift up?”

Calum bent down to pluck up Luke, placing him carefully on Michael’s nocked arrow. “Just tell me where I’m aiming, Cal,” Michael said, breathing steadily as he pulled back his bow.

“Quarter inch to the right,” Calum directed. “If you aim low, Luke can run in from the ground, or if you aim high, there’s a branch that he can access the second floor from. Shooter’s choice.”

“Security’s on the second floor,” Luke and Michael both said, and with that, Michael inhaled, and on the exhale, sent Luke and the arrow flying towards Hydra, undetectable.

“And now we wait,” Ashton commented, stretching his arms up over his head. “Y/N, we-”

“Won’t have much time between Cal hacking the system and Hydra finding out. And Cal and Mike can only provide so much coverage while staying out of sight. So we’re on a time clock of maybe 5 minutes if we’re lucky. I know, Ash. I go left, you go right?”

He nodded. “Get ready to run.”

Y/N glanced at Calum. “How much time before Luke gets into the system for you?”

“Thirty seconds. Make it quick.”

She turned to Michael, tears brimming up in her eyes. “Aw, babe. It’ll be fine,” he chuckled lightly, kissing her.

“I know,” she answered in a shaky breath, resting her forehead against his, committing everything to memory from the sharpness of his green eyes, to the pink tint of his lips. To his calloused fingertips as they cupped her face, and the scratch of his beard under her own hand. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he chuckled again. “Now go kick some ass.”

“Luke’s in. 15 seconds,” Calum told Y/N and Ashton, so Y/N kissed Michael as deeply and fiercely as she could, clinging to every bit of those last 15 seconds. “2… I’m in. System’s down.” But Y/N wasn't ready to let go yet.

“Y/N!” Ashton growled harshly, dragging her by the back of her shirt and then shoving her forward. “Fuckin’ move!”

She swallowed her storm of feelings, shutting that part of herself off, and switched fully into Mission Mode, ignoring Calum's chuckle of “Damn, what kind of good luck kiss was that?” and Michael’s shy but proud, “I dunno, but I ain’t complaining.”

With the security breach came the storm of chaos that allowed Y/N and Ashton to enter the compound without raising any serious flags. With Ashton headed to the right flank, Y/N went left, and the first chance she had, she took it.

The Hydra soldier looked to be about her size, their attention not zeroing in on her until Y/N already grabbed them in a chokehold. “Sorry about this,” she whispered as she snapped their neck in a swift motion, then dragged them into a nearby supply closet. “Ash, Y/N, I located the hostages. Where are you?” Luke asked in the earpiece.

“Coming up on your right, Luke,” Ashton confirmed.

“Got in a small tangle, be there soon,” Y/N grunted as she started switching clothes with the body.

“God damn it, Hood…”

“Which one?” both her and Calum asked with an amused glint, their favorite little bit to annoy their captain.

“You know which one,” Ashton hissed. “Cal, time estimate. Mike, coverage report. Y/N, get a move on, seriously!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Y/N muttered before taking out her earpiece and stomping on it, leaving it with the dead Hydra soldier along with her tracker just outside the doorway of the supply closet. “Just not the way you think,” she then muttered quietly to herself before hurrying after the other Hydra soldiers, running for the back of the compound. “What the hell is going on?” she snapped at one of them, putting as much authority in her voice as she could.

“It’s the Avengers. Initiating protocol 78. Get in a vehicle and get out. 2 minutes until denotation.”

Denotation?! Son of a bitch… Ashton and Luke were still getting the hostages out. She had to warn them, but… SON OF A BITCH!

Y/N shook off the panic and kept moving, trusting that Ashton and Luke knew what they were doing, and that Calum and Michael could keep them safe and aware of the limited time before the whole base went up in a fiery explosion. Her priority wasn’t on the rescue mission anymore. It never had been. Hers was to carry out the original mission that had resulted in this mission in the first place. Get into Hydra. Learn what they had planned. Destroy them from the inside. But damn, it would be a lot easier if she didn’t have to hide it from the guys. Her guys. Her baby brother. Her boyfriend. I’m safe, she screamed in her head. I’m safe! Look after each other, please!

While she got herself onto a vehicle headed out, she caught a glimpse of Ashton and Luke herding people out through a side gate and into the neighboring woods.

“Hood, where the fuck are you?” Ashton hissed

“Which one?” only Calum responded, then, “Shit… Y/N?!”

“Cal, where is she?!” Ashton and Michael demanded at the same time.

“I- I don’t understand. Her tracker is still by the left side of the compound where she went in.” Calum started fiddling around with the drone, trying to find his sister with it. “Y/N? Y/N, do you copy?”

“Luke, take the hostages back to Cal and Mike,” Ashton instructed, his voice tight, but controlled under pressure. “Cal, where did you say she was last?”

“To your left. 50 yards. She should be right there, Ash, I don’t understand!” His voice was high with panic. 

“I don’t see her,” Ashton reported, and there was a loud bang as he smashed his fist against something. “I don’t fuckin’ see her!”

“Maybe she’s on her way back!” Michael said hopefully. “Maybe she was helping clear the way for you and Luke. You know she can’t turn down a fight.”

“Heh,” Ashton chuckled. “Yeah maybe. I mean, these trackers and earpieces only stay on so well when you’re kicking some serious ass, ya know?”

“Exactly,” Michael chuckled in relief. “It’s Y/N we’re talking about.”

“Well let’s hope that’s the case, and that Ash is the fuckin’ Flash because guys… this compound’s gonna blow,” Calum spoke up, his voice still holding a small wobble.

“How much time?” Ashton asked, already running for an exit.

“40 seconds give or take.”

“Alright, I’m ou- whoa, shit.”

“What?!” three voices demanded.

“It’s Y/N’s tracker and earpiece. Just lying here in the fuckin’ hallway… and guys… there’s a body…” Ashton gave a small grunt as he flipped the body over with his boot. “Oh, thank God!” he laughed. “It’s not her! Probably just a scuffle where some of her gear fell.”

“Okay, well 1.) thanks for the heart attack and 2.) if it’s not her, then get the fuck out!” Calum yelled.

“Okay, but if it’s not her body then she’s fuckin’ missing, so where is she?!” Michael asked.

“She’s not with me,” Luke told them. “I haven’t seen her this whole time.”

“I don’t have eyes on her either,” Ashton chimed in, running as fast and far as he could before the compound blew.

“Cal, anything?!” Michael asked, now growing frantic as he scanned around, hoping to find his girlfriend lounging against some tree behind him. Safe. Laughing at her boys for ever thinking she was in harm’s way.

“No…” Calum choked, tears starting to spill down his cheeks. “C’mon, c’mon…” he prayed. “C’mon, Y/N, don’t do this to me.”

“C’mon, Y/N, where the hell are you?”

In the distance, Y/N heard the boom of the explosion, the vehicle shaking with the sound. She hoped her boys were safe and okay.  And they were safe. But they were far from okay. Because what she couldn’t hear was Calum’s broken sob and Michael’s heartbreaking scream of her name.

~~~

The jet ride back to headquarters was heavy with tension. To keep his mind occupied, Ashton set to work getting statements from the hostages. Calum and Michael sat in their seats, every muscle tightened, faces blank and frozen, tear tracks running down their cheeks. Luke was the only one who looked remotely comfortable, lounging against the wall of the jet, legs stretched out, his index finger tapping an unrelenting rhythm against his jaw as he hummed to himself.

“Would you knock it off?!” Calum tried to yell at Luke, but his throat was rubbed raw, so it came out as a hoarse whisper.

“What? I’m thinking!” Luke defended.

“Thinking isn’t supposed to be loud.”

“What are you thinking, Luke?” Ashton asked, his own voice clear, but weary as he ran a hand over his face and then through his hair.

“Y/N’s not an idiot,” he started.

“Yeah, no fuckin’ shit,” Calum spat.

Ashton held up a hand. “Let him talk, Cal. Go on, Luke.”

Luke straightened up, drawing his legs up, and resting his arms across his knees. “She’s not an idiot,” he repeated, studying his fingernails to keep his mind on track. “She always knew what she was doing. So she would have known that the mission felt off.”

“What do you mean, the mission felt off?” Ashton asked.

“Oh, c’mon, Ash. You couldn’t feel it, too? We got in and out without running into anyone trying to stop us. They didn’t care that we were getting out the hostages. They were evacuating. They had whatever they needed and were going to blow the place up whether we were there or not.”

“Okay. And what does that have to do with Y/N?” Ashton continued to prompt.

“I’m saying she knew. So she went in search of any plans she could get her hands on. Anything that might have gotten left behind in the scramble to evacuate sooner than they had originally planned.”

“So you’re suggesting that instead of helping us like she was supposed to, Y/N went off to try and get us more information?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Hmm…” Ashton thought, mulling over Luke’s theory. “That does sound exactly like the type of shit Y/N would pull…”

“BULLSHIT!” Michael screamed suddenly, jumping to his feet. “THAT’S FUCKIN’ BULLSHIT!”

“How is it bullshit?!” Luke yelled back, rising to stand toe-to-toe with Michael.

“BECAUSE IF IT WAS TRUE THEN WHERE IS SHE, LUKE?! HUH?! DO YOU SEE HER IN HERE?! CUZ I DON’T!”

“Obviously she’s not with us,” Luke scoffed. “But she got out, that I’m sure of. She’s somewhere.”

“Oh…” Michael nodded, his sudden drop in tone frightening. “So, what you’re saying is that WE left her behind! Our teammate! His sister! My girlfriend! And we just LEFT her?!”

“It’s better than the alternative of believing that she’s DEAD!”

“Oh, cuz that’s SO MUCH BETTER! What your theory suggests, Luke, is that WE either failed our teammate by leaving her behind, or she’s dead. Regardless of which of those options is the truth, WE FAILED HER! Whatever happened to her is OUR FAULT!” His hands clenched into fists at his sides and he raised them, whether to hit Luke or the wall behind him, no one was sure. Then, a sob was wracking through Michael’s body, his fists dropping back to his sides as his body crumpled. “Oh, God,” he cried quietly, curling up on the ground, his body shaking with the force of his cries. “Y/N, I’m so sorry… It’s all our fault… Fuck, I’m so sorry…”

~~~

Five months later found Y/N in a place within Hydra where she had enough access to send word out to SHIELD about Hydra’s plans: the creation of the an undefeatable army made up of highly skilled super soldiers injected with a recently perfected and modified serum that made Ashton’s super soldier skills look like child’s play.

The same five months found 4/5ths of the former team, smarter than they were before, but at the cost of diminished spirits as Ashton laid the all too familiar manila folder in the middle of the table, with its pitch-black “MISSION” stamp in the center.

Michael’s fingers went out to graze the stamp, his eyes meeting Calum’s as they shared a weak smile, both of them missing the way Y/N used to call the folder stupid for stating so clearly what it was. 

“We’ve received intel about Hydra's latest plans. It’s not good,” Ashton said, pausing for a sarcastic comment about how if Hydra was involved then of course it wasn’t good that never came. “They’ve not only modified the super soldier serum, they’ve also perfected it. A hundred percent success rate. Hostages don’t stay hostages for very long.” Again, he paused, waiting for a witty quip, but was only given nods of understanding. He let out a small sigh. “With the intel, we also got information of where their supply of the serum is, and where they’re making it. As far as our source knows, it’s just the one lab. Our mission is slightly different than what we’re used to as it’s a three-parter. The first part is pretty standard. Get in and release the hostages they have before they can be turned. The second part is also getting more information about the lab and the serum. We have to make sure that this is the only lab before we can go about initiating Part Three, which is destroying any and all labs we learn about. But today, our focus is on Part One and Two. Part Three will be carried out at a later date once SHIELD has time to go over everything and assess the situation.”

“After I get in to override security for Cal, I can start looking around for lab plans,” Luke decided. “If you can handle the hostages, Ash.”

Ashton nodded. “Yeah, I can handle that. Mike, I might need you closer to the action though, rather than staying back with Cal, and providing your backup there. If you’re up for it, that is.”

“I can get closer, it’s fine,” Michael replied numbly.

“Perfect. And how are those new trackers you and Cal have been working on?”

“Ready. And injectable. Once injected, Cal has access to turning them on or off, so we’ll never have to think about trackers again. Like potentially losing one…”

“And some of them can be fitted onto your arrows, yes? So maybe we can stick a lab worker or two with them?” Ashton followed up, ignoring the bitter edge in Michael’s tone.

“Yes.”

“Alright. We leave in a half hour.”

~~~

Y/N was patrolling around the upper deck of the Hydra base when both an alarm sounded and her earpiece crackled to life. “Security breach. Fuckin’ Avengers…”

“Secure the hostages and the lab,” came a different order.

“On it,” Y/N answered with several other voices, but she stayed rooted in her spot, knowing her old team’s moves by heart. Luke was somewhere in the compound, no doubt hiding in his shrunken version. Michael would have taken a closer position now for Ashton’s sake to help keep the path clear for Ashton to escort the hostages to safety. And Calum would be flying the drone, being everywhere the rest of the team couldn’t be, informing them of every move.

The familiar buzz of a drone a few seconds later came as no surprise, and she turned to the sound, grinning.

“Y/N?!” the drone’s speaker yelled in shock.

“Hi, baby brother,” she said, waggling her fingers in a wave. Then, her lips turned down in a mock-pout. “Sorry about this,” she told him, grabbing the wings of the drone.

“Yeah, me too,” Calum’s voice said, as he pushed a button that shot out an arrow as Y/N brought the drone down over her knee, cracking the device in half. She let out a slow hiss as the arrow passed straight through her shoulder, and then embedded itself in the wall behind her.

“Tell Mike to up your archery practice,” she told the broken drone as she dropped the two pieces, then took off.

“Y/N?!” Ashton, Luke, and Michael were yelling in Calum’s ear. “You found her?! I told you she was alive! Where is she, Cal?!”

“Bitch broke my drone!” was all Calum could come up with as a reply.

“Calum!” Ashton’s voice was sharp, Michael’s desperate.

“Give me a second, she broke my drone!” Calum grumbled, his relief about his sister being okay mixing with the rage only siblings could have for one another when one of them broke something of the other’s. “Okay, okay. Yes! Fuck yes! Whoohoo! Mikey-boy the tracker arrows work!”

“Of course they work,” Michael scoffed proudly.

“Well, I sort of shot through her, so I wasn’t sure if the tracker got in her, or the wall.”

“You shot my girlfriend?!”

“She BROKE MY DRONE!”

“You can build a new one,” Ashton told him with a sigh.

“You shot my girlfriend!” Michael continued to screech.

“I had to get the tracker on her!” Calum protested.

“Well, fuckin’ track her then, and get her out of there!”

“Cal, send me and Luke her location,” Ashton ordered. “Whoever’s closest tries to get her. But Luke, we gotta head out before they surround us. This isn’t like last time. They’re standing their ground.”

“She was on the upper deck on your side, Ash. She’s headed your way now, Luke. Towards the lab,” Calum reported, his eyes on Y/N’s tracker.

“Fuck, I gotta get out of here with these guys. Luke, get Y/N,” Ashton said, guiding a small group of hostages to safety.

“I’m in the lab, I got h- Oh, fuck me!” Luke’s words of hope died down as he glanced out the window of the lab. “I gotta shrink back down if I’m gonna get out of here. They’re fuckin’ swarming the lab. Ash, that’s good news for you because it means your path is clear.” He grabbed as many folders as he could gather in his arms, before hitting a button to shrink back down, just as Hydra soldiers muscled their way into the lab, looking around for anything out of place. “ ‘Scuse me. Pardon me. Just gonna squeeze past…” Luke talked aloud as he sprinted across the tops of boots headed for the exit. “You know, maybe I should get some of those trackers next time. Got plenty of feet to stab them into right now.”

“Duly noted,” Michael said, loosing a volley of arrows, sinking as many trackers into Hydra agents as he could. “Did you get Y/N?”

“No…” Luke replied in disappointment. “Ash?”

“No, I had to get out with whoever I could. Luke, you out?”

“Headed back now. I snagged some plans, if that’s any consolation.”

“That’s awesome, Luke. Thanks,” Ashton said, but there was a lingering note of dejection that they couldn’t get Y/N too. “She’s alive, and Cal got a tracker in her, which is more than we could have hoped for anyway.”

“I know. But still. Sorry, Mike.”

Michael shook his head, straightening his bow and quiver on his back before following after Ashton and Luke back to Calum. “It’s fine. Ash is right. We’ll work with what we got.”

“We’ll get her back. Don’t worry,” Ashton said, his words mostly directed at Calum and Michael, but also as a vow on his and Luke’s part. They’d get their girl back if it was the last thing the team ever did.

~~~

Y/N sat with her mouth set in a tight line as the nurse patched up her wound. “You super soldiers are all the same. The blank expressions. Immune to normal pain,” the nurse commented as they worked.

“Not a super soldier,” Y/N replied numbly, feeling the thread pull her skin back together. “Just a regular psycho.”

“Mmm,” the nurse chuckled. “And this was ‘just some light training,’ yes?” They gestured at the wound.

“Sibling rivalry gone too far, actually,” Y/N corrected.

“Mmm, well in my experience, few things come between siblings. You will be fine.”

“I hope so,” she muttered under her breath, but Y/N wasn’t so sure. How did she justify leaving her brother, her boyfriend, and the rest of her team in the dark about a mission they were all part of? How did she explain that she had to let them think that she had succumbed to the worst of fates? That she had to let them deal with the heartache of thinking she was dead, only to find out she was working for the enemy? SHIELD assignment or not, that wasn’t the kind of news she could just waltz back home with and offer up a simple “Hey, sorry I’ve been gone.” Y/N and Calum had suffered a lot between petty sibling issues, like when he first learned she was sleeping with his best friend, to much bigger issues regarding missions as part of the Avengers team. But this? Playing double agent while having to leave him completely in the dark? There was no coming back from this. And Michael… Oh, the betrayal he must be feeling. And mix that with the guilt and blind rage? If he was functioning at all, she bet that it was an ugly sight. A shell of the man she loved. Any ounce of humanity turned off to not drown under the pain.

Still, a part of her hoped that Michael or, perhaps even Calum, would turn against orders to try and stage a useless rescue of her, now that they knew part of the truth. And while she knew it would be a meeting that ended poorly on all sides, she could at the very least slip them a note. So back in the safety of her room, she quickly penned a note, then tucked it into her uniform.

~~~ 

Similar to last time, the ride back to headquarters was tense. Ashton kept busy by collecting statements from the hostages they managed to rescue. Then, he joined Luke in pouring over the statements and the documents Luke got his hands on in the lab.

Calum kept his eyes glued to the device that held the locations of all the trackers, watching the way Y/N’s blinked steadily.

Michael sat off on his own in sullen silence, his mind racing, hands clenching and unclenching into fists in a repetitive manner. He wanted to order the jet to turn around. To go back and get Y/N if he had to carry her over his shoulder himself. He was angry at his team, and himself for leaving her behind for a second time. Angry that he couldn’t stop failing her at every turn. But in the anger was a twinge of hope and relief. She was alive. Which meant that they could get her back. Luke had been right along. She knew what she was doing. But he still selfishly wanted her safe next to him. He wanted her laugh ringing out as she annoyed Ashton. He wanted to be able to smell her shampoo mixing with her sweat when she rested her head against his shoulder, complaining about how she couldn’t wait to get back and take a long hot shower. He wanted to be able to cover her cheeks in a blush as he whispered dirty words in her ear about the things he’d do when he joined her in said shower.

“Could you stop?” Calum asked, snapping Michael out of his thoughts.

“Hmm?” Michael hummed.

“The banging. Wanna stop?” It was less of a question and more of a command.

Michael looked down at his fists, noting the redness form along the outer edge of his palms and pinky fingers. “Oh, sorry,” he mumbled, placing his hands in his lap, not even aware he’d been banging his hands against the floor.

“I want her back too, Mike. Just as much as you do.”

Enough to break protocol and go rogue? Michael wanted to ask, but all he ended up saying was “I know.”

When they got back to headquarters, Ashton and Luke continued their work of looking over every word on every scrap of paper. Calum wordlessly joined them, his attention still held captive by the location tracker with it’s slow, steady blinks. No one thought it to be out of the ordinary, when Michael opted to head straight to the armory. Just hand waving and mumbles of “Yeah, could you?”s.

So Michael lugged the bag of gear into the armory, setting to the task of putting things out, and taking stock. But instead of putting his own gear away as well, he prepped it, having no intention of sitting around waiting for orders to be handed down. Not now when he knew where Y/N was. Fuck the rules and regulations. He was done with letting her down, letting her wonder why her team still hadn’t come for her. “Don’t worry, babe. I’m coming. I promise,” he mumbled under his breath as he left the armory, dropping his bag in the doorway of his room, then going to find the rest of the team. “Hey, Cal?”

“Yeah?” the man asked, not lifting his head.

“You got a spare one of those?”

“One of these?” Calum questioned, holding up the device.

“Yeah. I, uh… Just wanna be able to see her, you know?” he half-lied, making his voice crack for extra sympathy points.

“Yeah, course,” Calum nodded, pushing his way to his feet. He walked a few feet to a docking station that held various other forms of tech. “Here,” Calum said, grabbing one and logging into it. He tapped a few buttons until the familiar map pulled up. “This is just hers, and this,” he swiped across the screen to pull up a menu. “You can click to see the location of any tracker. We’re 1-4,” he twirled a finger to signal he meant himself, Ashton, Luke, and Michael. “And Y/N is 5. And the others are various trackers we got in Hydra agents today, or just not in use yet.”

“Thanks, Cal,” Michael took the device in his hands, then titled his head slightly towards Ashton and Luke. “I think I’m just gonna shower, then call it a day.”

“We’ll holler if we find anything interesting. Feel better, Mike,” Ashton told him.

“Night,” Luke mumbled, even though it was barely noon.

“Night,” Michael repeated, heading back towards the rooms, swallowing the rise of guilt of lying to his team. But they’d understand that this was something he had to do. Or so he hoped.

In his own room, he turned on music, then pulled a knife from his bag. Taking a few quick rapid breaths, he cut into the skin of his arm, prying his tracker loose. Hissing through his teeth, he dropped the tracker on his bed before bandaging up his arm. “Fuck,” he shuddered. “Argh! Okay. Here we go.”

~~~

Not being able to risk taking out the jet, it took Michael until well after the sun went down before he came within sight of the Hydra base with its giant searchlights, both lighting up the place, and casting it in menacing shadows.

Michael ditched the motorcycle well before he needed to as a safety precaution, before creeping the rest of the way on foot. His breath came out in huffed little clouds as he headed straight for where Y/N was. If the tracker was as accurate as Michael wanted to believe, she was right where she was when she’d had her skirmish with Calum earlier. Upper level deck, left side.

It was only as Michael got closer, that he started to realize he had no plan for getting in. “Time for a distraction,” he whispered to himself, digging through his bag for a grenade. “Showtime, bitches.” He pulled the pin and sent the grenade flying. He crouched low, covering his ears, and waited.

There was a loud bang, and then a startled scrambling from inside the gate, as a couple guards rushed out to check what had happened. Michael snuck up behind one, covering their mouth with his hand and dragging them backwards. The guard kicked uselessly at the ground, thrashing about as they tried to get free from Michael’s hold until they finally went limp. Quickly, Michael took their earpiece, before swapping clothes with the unconscious guard he left slumped up against a tree.

“What was that?” a voice was barking in the earpiece.

“We don’t know sir. We don’t see anything,” a handful of voices answered.

“Well if you find anything, put a stop to it!” the voice barked again.

“Did you find anything?” a voice called out in the dark, a flashlight swinging in Michael’s direction.

“No,” he called back quickly, heart pounding in his ears as the flashlight stopped advancing. “All clear.”

“Stupid fuckin’ pranks…” the other voice grumbled, the flashlight retreating. “Headed back in,” the guard spoke into the earpiece. “All clear.”

“Copy that,” a different voice replied.

“Well?” the first voice demanded, the small beam of flashlight turning back to Michael. “Are you coming?!”

“Right! Yes!” Michael said, willing his feet to move, and controlling his breathing to not give away his excitement as he crossed into the Hydra base. He still had the problem of needing to get to Y/N and get them out without raising any alarms. Which started with first getting away from the group of three guards he walked in with without anyone stopping him. So, not thinking too much about it, Michael slowed his walk before stopping altogether. And when his guard counterparts paid no mind, he slipped his way between buildings, hiding in the shadows as he checked the tracker.

He walked purposefully towards the stairs that would lead him to the upper deck, hardening his gaze and sweeping it across the grounds, like he was just another guard doing nightly patrol duty. “I don’t know what Luke’s always bitching about. This shit’s easy and I’m full-sized,” Michael remarked under his breath as he climbed the stairs and rounded a corner.

At the end of the walkway stood a single guard, their hair obscured by the black cap on their head. But even then, it didn’t matter. He’d know her anywhere, in any disguise. It was the way she held herself, her chin slightly tilted towards the sky, her shoulders squared but relaxed, her right foot always slightly shifted more forward than her left foot. He opened his mouth to call out to her, but the words died on his tongue. Was he just supposed to say “Hi” like he hadn’t left her for dead for five months?

It turned out, he didn’t need to say anything, as he took a step in her direction, his boots echoing off the metal floor. She whirled around, her dark eyes zeroing in on him. At the very least he expected a grateful smile as her head tilted slightly to the side, and she blinked slowly, trying to determine if her mind was playing tricks on her. But instead, she just fixed him with a cold steely look that sent the wrong kind of shiver down his spine. He cursed himself as he faltered in his next step. He had never once entertained the idea that she could have been brainwashed in all this time. “Y/N,” he said slowly, holding up his hands. “C’mon. It’s me. Let me get you out of here.”

“You need to leave,” she spat.

“Not without you.”

“Michael, I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

“Don’t make me do this…” she whispered, bowing her head ever so slightly.

“Do what? I’m here to take you home, babe. C’mon!”

She crouched, tilting her head so her eyes met his. “Final warning.”

Michael shifted a protective stance of his own, raising his fists. “So this is really how you wanna have this reunion, huh?”

“It’s the only way.”

Michael dodged as her fist came swinging at his jaw. “Fine. Have it your way, then,” he growled, throwing his own punch that landed on her body. When she huffed in annoyance and slight pain, an apology was ready to fly off his lips.

She used his pause to tackle him, the walkway rattling with the force of his body hitting the ground. “C’mon, I know you hit harder than that,” she taunted, connecting a rapid succession of blows against his upper torso.

He twisted underneath her, bringing up his arms to block her hits. “Just come with me!” he begged, as he threw his arms forward, sending her skiddering backwards off of him.

“I can’t!” she yelled, charging at him again.

He did his best to block her attacks, but some hits still found a place to land, small grunts leaving his mouth at each connection.

“Fight back!” she yelled again, aiming for his jaw.

“No!” He snatched her wrist, as her knuckles started to brush into the side of his face. “I’m not gonna fight you, Y/N! This is ridiculous! I’m not trying to hurt you! I’m trying to save you!” he tried to reason as he spun her body so her back was flush against his chest, holding her tightly to him. “Baby, it’s me,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s me. It’s Mike. C’mon, baby. Come back with me. Come back to me. Please.”

A growl ripped out her throat as she brought one of her feet down on one his with as much strength as she had. And when Michael doubled over in pain, hearing the crunch of bone, her other leg kicked backwards, nailing him squarely in the chest, knocking him backwards.

“Y/N?” a voice sounded in both of their earpieces. “What’s going on?”

Y/N’s chest heaved as she stared down at Michael, who stared back up at her, struggling to find his breath. “Nothing,” she told the voice, before turning her back on Michael.

“Y/N,” Michael croaked out uselessly, coughing. His mouth tasted of blood and every part of his body felt like it was on fire.

He had no recollection of how he got off the compound and back to his motorcycle. Just like he had no recollection of driving all night back to Avengers headquarters.

He was, however, somewhat aware of his teammates' gasps of surprise when he dragged himself into the foyer of the building, as his body slumped against the cool tile, and he finally blacked out.

~~~

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” Ashton thundered, his hand coming down hard on the table.

Michael stared blankly past Ashton, not bothering to give a response. Ashton didn’t care about the answer anyway, and it didn’t change anything. And now he understood what Y/N was doing, and she was trusting him to keep what he knew to himself.

Upon his arrival, Michael had slept for close to two days before finally waking in the infirmary, his body still badly battered, but his pain at a manageable level. He had trudged his way down to his room, rummaging through his things when the note fluttered down. With shaking fingers, he opened it, reading the hastily scrawled words, “It’s the mission. I’m safe. I love you,” in Y/N’s handwriting. He barely had enough time to shove the note in his pocket before Ashton was knocking on his open door, looking more pissed off than Michael had ever seen. Wordlessly, Ashton had jerked his thumb in the direction of the conference room, and wordlessly, Michael had shuffled after him, ready to accept whatever fate awaited him.

“Well?!” Ashton’s voice cracked like a whip as Michael did nothing but blink at him.

“What was I thinking?” Michael asked, his voice soft. “Oh, nothing really.”

“Yeah, no fuckin’ shit, Mike!”

“Oh, lay off!” Calum snapped, coming to Michael’s defense. “Mike did exactly what we all wanted to do, but were too scared to do. He tried to get her back. If you wanna fault him for that, Ash, then you’re a bigger jackass than we all thought.”

Ashton sighed, sinking into his chair. “I’m not faulting him, Cal. But what he did was reckless. It could have jeopardized all the work we’ve been doing. I get that it’s Y/N, but we still have a job to do. No one person is bigger than the mission, even if she is your sister. I’m sorry.”

“Fuck you,” Calum said with a sad shake of his head. “Fuck. You.”

“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again, Ash,” Michael said, his voice still soft. “Can I go?”

Ashton rubbed at his face in agitation, letting out a small scream. “Yeah,” he said, his voice muffled by his hands. “Yeah. Go. Whatever. I don’t care.”

“So you’re just giving up?!” Calum asked, his angry and broken expression sweeping across his team. “Just like that? We’re done?”

“Until we get our new orders, yes,” Ashton told him.

“That’s BULLSHIT!” Calum exploded. “You!” He turned, jabbing a finger at Michael. “You’re just gonna walk away?! You go rogue to rescue her on your own, without me, and now you’re throwing in the towel too?!”

“You heard Ashton,” Michael shrugged.

“Oh, you’re so full of shit! All of you! Fuck SHIELD and fuck you lot! It’s Y/N! She needs us! She trusted us! How many times are we going to keep failing her?!” Tears fell hot and fast down Calum’s face. “Please!” he begged, his voice cracking. “We have to do something besides sit on our asses! Mike, please! You can’t give up on her! C’mon! I thought you were on my side! Mike! It’s Y/N… please…”

“No, it’s not,” Michael said bitterly. “It’s not, Y/N. This,” he gestured about his beat up body, “is not her.”

“Fuck you!” Calum cried into his hands, and let out a muffled scream of heartbreak and rage. “I fuckin’ hate you!” He raised his gaze to shoot Michael his best death glare. “I hate you, do you hear me?! I fuckin’ hate you! You’re giving up, you fuckin’ coward! You’re supposed to love her, you fuckin’ bastard!”

Michael tried to bite his tongue as Calum continued to hurl abuse his way, but the last few words of the attack cut deep, and he couldn’t keep his composure any longer. “I gave up?! Me?! I’m the only one who wanted to go back for her five months ago!” Michael went off. “I’m the only one who went back for her a few days ago! Not Ash! Not Luke! Not you, her fuckin’ brother! ME! I went back! So fuckin’ listen, and listen good when I tell you that everything that makes her Y/N is gone! It’s useless, okay?! She’s Hydra’s now. The quicker you learn that, the better.”

“I FUCKIN’ HATE YOU!”

“ONLY BECAUSE YOU HATE YOURSELF MORE AND YOU KNOW IT! We all have to live with what we did. You have to live that you didn’t have the guts to go save her yourself. I’m not gonna carry that guilt for you, Cal. I’m not carrying any of your guilt, or Ash’s, or Luke’s. Because bottom line is I fuckin’ manned up when she needed us, while you three sat on your asses. So go ahead and hate me. Say I jeopardized the mission, or that I failed her. I don’t give a fuck. Because at least I fuckin’ tried, which is better than the three of you can say.”

Michael could hear Calum’s scream echoing off the walls as he hobbled back to his bedroom. He could also hear, or rather feel, the slam of Calum’s own bedroom door a few moments later.

Michael eased his way on his bed, the sheets freshly changed after he had left his blood splattered tracker on it. He knew a new one had been injected in him at some point over his state of unconsciousness, and he briefly wondered if it was the same one he’d ripped out. No sense in wasting technology when it wasn’t broken, after all. Laying back into the pillows, Michael dug out the note, and the device that still had Y/N’s location, seeking comfort in her looped handwriting, and the steady blinking of the device.

~~~

It took another week before orders came down, and Ashton summoned them all into the conference room. Michael’s fingers brushed against the empty chair between him and Calum as he took his seat. It took more willpower than he cared to admit not to slug Calum when the other man growled lightly under his breath. He doesn’t know any better, Michael had to remind himself. If he did, he wouldn’t be acting this way.

Ashton set the manila folder in the center, and when no one moved, he dove right in. “Between the files Luke was able to get, all the statements we have, the information we’ve gained from the trackers, and the intel SHIELD has from their agent inside Hydra, we have all the information needed to bring this to an end, once and for all. This is an all hands on deck situation. SHIELD is officially running the whole operation. They’re taking care of the hacking and gaining control of Hydra’s operating system. They already have a unit assigned to deal specifically with destroying the lab. Our job is pretty simple. We’re just soldiers.”

“Actual action?” Luke asked, leaning forward slightly.

“Actual action,” Ashton said, smiling a bit. “Something I‘m sure we’ve all been itching to do for quite some time.”

Luke pumped his fist, “Fuck yeah!”

“And Y/N?” Calum asked.

Ashton sighed. “Based on personal experience, we can assume she’ll be fighting for Hydra. So yes, it’s a good chance she’ll be around. Ideally one of us comes across her before the rest of SHIELD so we can subdue her, and get her out safely. But she’s not our priority, and yes, before you start, I tried to convince SHIELD into letting us specifically deal only with finding Y/N and getting her back. But all I got in response was bureaucratic bullshit about how we were being employed to do a job, and how we aren’t exactly in a position to ask for any favors.”

“So play good little soldier, but if we see our chance, take it?” Michael guessed.

“Yes, exactly. And Mike-”

“I’m not fighting, I know,” Michael cut him off. “Do I at least get to come and hang out wherever we set up base camp? Help with security, and the like?”

“Yes, of course. You’re not being punished, Mike. You’re not fighting because you don’t have medical clearance. But you’re still coming along. All hands on deck.”

Michael nodded. “Cool. That’s… Cool. Thank you.” He was fully expecting to be benched, and expected to stay behind. A lesson from SHIELD about how even the Avengers had to follow their orders. But getting sidelined only because he was still injured? Well, that… Fuck, he could handle that no problem.

“Be cooler if we can finally get my sister back…” Calum muttered.

“We’re gonna try, Cal,” Ashton said.

“You said that last time, and look what happened.”

“So… half hour til take off, yeah?” Luke asked.

“Not quite,” Ashton chuckled. “We leave tonight to meet up with SHIELD at the base camp they’re setting up just outside of Hydra’s radar. Then we go in just before dawn. I’ll give a 30 minutes heads up before we head out though.”

~~~

After the worst night of sleep he ever remembered getting, Michael got up just as the sun was beginning to brighten the sky from a dark purple blotch sprinkled with stars to holding soft shades of pink around the edges.

He stumbled his way to the cafeteria tent, finding the rest of his team at a table, each clinging to their coffee cup like a lifeline. “How’d you sleep?” Ashton asked, as Michael took a seat.

“Like absolute shit,” Michael answered honestly. “You’d think for how high tech SHIELD is, the bastards would have found a way to make camping missions less miserable.”

“Gotta cut expenses somewhere,” Ashton chuckled darkly, taking a sip of his coffee. “Fuckin’ bastards…”

“Fuckin’ bastards,” the other three repeated in agreement as a group of higher ups appeared in the entrance of the tent.

“First wave rolls out in 10 minutes,” the one in the middle barked. “Report to your positions, and standby.”

Everyone in the tent gave half-awake salutes, and the group of higher ups continued on their way. Then slowly, between stifled yawns, people started getting up from tables, dumping their half eaten breakfasts, and half drunk coffees, before going to their places.

Luke drummed his hands on the tabletop, a grin breaking across his otherwise tired face. “It’s showtime, boys!” he whooped before pushing himself to his feet. “Let’s fuckin’ go!” He rested a hand on Michael’s shoulder, dropping his voice into a low whisper, “We got ourselves a girl to bring home.”

In spite of everything, Michael couldn’t help but laugh at Luke’s infectious enthusiasm. “Stay safe, guys,” Michael told them as his three friends joined the rest of the crowd dashing off to their assignments. 

Only after the last man had cleared out, did Michael finally get up himself. He made himself a tray of breakfast, before going off in search of one of the security tents. “Anything I can help with?” Michael offered the first person who looked in his direction. “Michael Clifford. Avenger.”

The SHIELD agent looked Michael over, with the boot on his foot, face still sporting a small bruise, and scoffed. “Here,” he said, shoving a clipboard in Michael’s hand that wasn’t clutching  his tray of food. “This is a list of everyone involved in the operation. Those of us staying to do security are already accounted for. But the rest have been given strict instructions to check back in when they return. Whenever that is. You can be in charge of checking them in by the triage tent.”

“Gee, thanks,” Michael muttered, tucking the clipboard under his arm. “Triage is…?”

The agent pointed to a tent with a giant hospital cross decorating the top.

“Cool. Thanks.” Michael forced a tight-lipped smile before making his way over to a long table set up just inside the coverage of the hospital tent.

“Back already?” another SHIELD agent asked, pulling a clipboard close to them. “Name?”

“Oh, no, I’m helping you guys with check-in.”

“Oh. Have a seat, then.”

“Hey, is Y/N Hood on this list by any chance?” Michael asked as he took a seat.

“Nobody by the name of Hood has been checked in yet.”

“No, yeah, I know. I meant… is she on the list at all? Like are we expecting her to be one of the people checking in.”

“You’d have to check the list. I dunno, sir.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Of course. Thanks anyway.”

“No problem.”

~~~

The sky had transitioned into a soft blue, the sun peeking out from behind the trees, suggesting that at best it’d only been an hour, maybe two since Michael took up residence at the triage tent. But it felt like a lot longer, and if something didn’t happen soon, he was going to lose it.

From his spot, he could hear the engagement of combat and gunfire, so he knew the mission was well underway. But, God, waiting for everyone to get back was so fuckin’ boring! And it wasn’t that he wasn’t used to being the one hanging back, because he was. But this wasn’t hanging back to provide back up. This was just waiting. Painfully boring waiting. His breakfast lay next to him, discarded and half picked over.

He was about three seconds from excusing himself to the bathroom just so he’d have a reason to get up and walk around, when a laugh rang out. A laugh he’d know anywhere. “Y/N?!” he shouted, scrambling from his chair.

The laugh paused, turning into a soft gasp. “Mike?!”

“Y/N!” Michael shouted again, rushing as fast as he could in the direction of her voice. “Y/N!” he called out for the third time, happily as he saw her pushing her way through a small group of SHIELD agents returning to camp.

“Mike!” she shrieked, before running full speed towards him.

He got his arms open just in time for her to crash into him. “Ow, ow, ow,” he winced as he hugged her tight.

“Oh, my God!” she said, holding him out at arm’s lengths. “Are you okay? What happened to you? Where’s the rest of the team?” the questions fell rapidly from her lips. “Oh, Mike!”

“I’m okay. Somebody beat me up pretty good, but I’m fine. The guys are off helping SHIELD play soldier. Oh, God, you’re back! And you’re you!”

“Did you get my note?” she asked, nuzzling her face into his neck.

“Yeah, I got your note.”

“So you forgive me?” Her brown eyes were wide and soft, and maybe even a little fearful as she peered up at him.

“Of course, I forgive you. You didn’t have to go so hard as to break my foot, but of course I forgive you, baby. Fuck, I’m just glad you’re finally here. For good. Safe.”

They could have stood there forever in their locked embrace. And they would have if someone wasn’t clearing their throat to get the couple’s attention. “Ma’am, we gotta check you in.”

“It’s fine,” Michael waved them off. “I got her checked in. It’s fine.”

The agent shrugged, and walked off.

“C’mon, let’s sit. We can catch up while we wait for the rest of the guys,” she directed softly.

~~~

“So Luke was the only one who believed I knew what I was doing?” she chuckled as Michael relayed the past five months of utter shit to her. “Remind me to thank him when he gets in.”

“Yeah, I probably owe him a proper apology for that still. Should probably apologize to Ash and Cal, too. A lot of things got said in anger that shouldn’t have.”

“At least you didn’t tell your best friend that you hated him,” Y/N pointed out, trying to calm Michael out of his remorse.

“Yeah, but still. We all sat around twiddling our thumbs until this last mission. I mean, we didn’t know what to do. We didn’t know where you were, or if you were okay. And when Cal told us you were okay like Luke had guessed, I dunno… I snapped. I thought I could rectify my mistakes by coming to get you myself. I never once thought that you were with Hydra on purpose. I hadn’t even thought you could have been potentially brainwashed by them. I just… I dunno. Went blind with rage and every other emotion I’d been swallowing since that first mission.”

She nodded understandingly. Then, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Anything.”

“How did you find me? When you came back on your own.”

Michael pulled the tracking device from his pocket, which he kept permanently in his pocket along with her note. “After the first mission, we upgraded our trackers. Well, we just used the technology we came up with for my tracker arrows, and injected them into ourselves. So that way it’s a little harder to dump,” he explained with a slight tease in his voice that made her giggle. “And we loaded some arrows with them too, obviously. I nicked a few Hydra agents with them. And Cal got you with the drone.”

“But when Cal shot me, the arrow went clean through me. He was too close. Entry and exit wound.”

“The trackers are set to eject at the first point of contact. Pretty nifty, huh?”

She hummed in proud approval. “Pretty fuckin’ nifty indeed. Fuck… I’ve missed you, Mike.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” he said, wrapping an arm around her and kissing her hair, breathing her in. “So fuckin’ much.”

“And I’m telling you,” a familiar voice growled, “that I have the bloody tracking device right here! She’s not at the Hydra base! She’s right… in… tada!” Calum said, sweeping the tent open.

Ashton and Luke’s eyes went wide, their mouths working to sputter nonsense. Y/N got to her feet, offering them all a shy wave. “Hey, boys.”

The magic words broke the spell, a giant grin painting each man’s face, before they were all rushing towards her in a gleeful cry of “Y/N!”

“Y/N, what the actual fuck?!” Ashton tried to scold but he was laughing too hard. “Do you have any idea how worried we were?”

“Sorry, Ash. SHIELD orders,” she giggled, hugging the man tightly. “Missed ya too.”

“So it was you! You were the spy on the inside! Fuckin’ brilliant!” Luke marveled. “Go in to rescue the hostages after our first spy betrays us, and replace them with a trusted Avenger. Wow… That’s fuckin’ genius!”

“So I take that as I’m forgiven for worrying you guys, causing you guys to fight amongst yourselves, and having to break Cal’s drone and Mike’s foot?” Y/N asked with a hopeful smile.

“Absolutely,” everyone but Calum told her.

“Cal?” she asked, turning to the man. “Baby brother? Forgive me?”

Calum narrowed his eyes, but there was no hardness to the expression, suggesting he wasn’t actually angry. “You owe me a new drone, first.”

“Deal!” she said, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. “Fuck, I’ve missed you guys!”

“Glad to have you back with us,” Ashton smiled. “Guys, let’s go check in, so we can all go the fuck home, yeah?”

“Yes, Captain!” they all saluted with a laugh, heading towards triage to check in, and check out.

“Fuck, I can’t wait to get home and shower,” Y/N complained, her right arm thrown over Calum, and her left one thrown over Michael as she trudged happily between her boys once again.

“A good, long, hot shower sounds perfect,” Michael whispered against her ear. “And I think I can come up with a couple of other good, long, and hot activities for us after that shower,” he added, nipping at her playfully.

“Mmmm,” she giggled, leaning into him. “Think you got the strength for all that?”

“For you? Always. And we have a lot of making up to do. Might take days.”

She shivered against him, causing the other three to groan. “At least wait until after we get home before jumping all over each other, yeah?” Ashton asked.

“No promises,” they answered honestly.

Ashton groaned again. “C’mon, let’s give them a minute,” he said with an eye roll as he guided Calum and Luke forward to the line to check in.

Michael wasted no time in their friends’ quick departures to hook his fingers under Y/N’s chin, guiding her to meet him in a fierce kiss, fingers knotting in each other’s hair, breath rushing out of their lungs. “Promise me you’ll always come back to me,” he whispered when they had to break apart to gasp for air, resting his forehead gently against hers.

“I don’t think I can keep that promise, because I’m never leaving you again.”

“Good, because I’m never letting you go.”

__

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[jokertrap-ran]

(光与夜之恋 Light and Night) Main Story Chapter 2-5: 时间针脚 The Patchwork of Time Translation

“What are you standing around in a stupor for? See a ghost?”

*Light and Night Master-list *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Join the Light & Night Discord (＾▽＾)~ ♪ *Main story tag will be #For Light and Night

Behind the glass wall were several blurry figures busying around.

MC: This should be Team A's area.

Mya had suddenly called a few minutes ago to give me directions to the place I was supposed to report to.

I ran what I was going to say to everyone, in the form of an introduction, through my head once more before gently clearing my throat and opening the door.

❖☆———————————★❖

MC: Hello everyone, I'm—

Thunk!

The sound of metal heavily hitting the floor cut my words short as the handle of the door completely fell off.

MC: !?

Did I break it? No way! I broke the office's door on my first day here!?

I didn't quite know what to do for a while. One of the figures closest to the door turned slightly around at the noise.

He had a head full of spiky hair, like that of a hedgehog. He didn't spare even a glance at the door handle; instead, his gaze fell directly upon my person. He shot up from the seat of his workstation.

??: Yoooooou!!

MC: Sorry! It wasn't on purpose, I swear!

??: You're the newcomer that's supposed to be coming in today, right? Sister Zheng Lin, we've got an extra hand!

He excitedly yelled at the other end of the office.

This isn't quite turning out like how I imagined it to be...

Summoned by his yell, a plump woman speed-walked towards us. Her smile was friendly, but there was a sort of unconcealable exhaustion marring her features.

Zheng Lin: Hello. Welcome to Team A. I'm the leader, Zheng Lin.

MC: Hello. Um… I accidentally broke your door handle just now… Sorry…

??: Aw, that thing's been dead half a month ago. We just didn't have time to call someone down to fix it. Don't mind it, yeah?

??: C'mere. I'll bring you to your workstation. Your stuff looks pretty heavy. I'll take it for you, yeah?

He enthusiastically takes the office appliances I'd brought in from my hands and continues walking straight ahead.

Zheng Lin: That works too. I'll leave you to bring her around to meet the others then, Brother Mao. I'll come over once I'm finished up here.

I nodded, following after "Brother Mao".

Brother Mao: I'm Mao Ge, but you can call me Brother Mao! The best rock singer among all Designers here!

He grinned, pulling out a chair and gesturing for me to sit. He then magicked out a rag from god-knows-where and quickly gave the table a wipedown.

Brother Mao: You were 2nd place in the contest, right? We all watched the broadcast; it was absolutely brilliant.

Brother Mao: Especially when you chose Director Qi of all people. Boy, that was a killer! How did you dare to pick him?

Brother Mao: Forget his face, even his breath alone is an icy sub-zero.

Brother Mao: Ever seen an iron tree bloom? I'd say even that's slightly more common than seeing Director Qi smile.

Brother Mao: I'm not talking about his cold smiles, of course. We see that way too often.

MC: Eh? … I just thought getting him to review my work was a rare chance that I couldn't pass up on.

Brother Mao: You go, girl! Looks like we've finally got a competent person in Team A! Feel free to ask me anything if you face any problems in the future! I've gotcha covered!

He grinned, patting himself on the chest to further emphasize his point. He'd already assembled and laid out all of my office appliances on the table at some point in our conversation.

Brother Mao: Alright, everyone! Put everything down. Let me introduce to you our new buddy, (Y/n)!

All the people around me nodded in greeting as Brother Mao introduced them to me one-by-one.

Brother Mao: The one dressed in a Cheongsam is Li Man'man. She came here a minute earlier than you and braved through 3 interviews just to enter Warson.

Li Man'man: Hi, nice to meet you.

Brother Mao: And that's Chen Che, our team's tailoring genius. He's been here for nearly 4 years and has just been promoted to a Senior Designer.

The guy named Chen Che raised his head from the multitude of fabric surrounding him. He adjusted his glasses and gave me a wary look.

Chen Che: Hello.

It was at this moment in time that a guy sporting a quiff hairdo walked past us. His head was haughtily raised and his expression was one of utter disdain.

Man With Quiff Hairstyle: Hmph.

MC: And he is…?

Brother Mao: Don't mind him. He's an annoyance. He just failed the promotion test and is being the green-eyed monster to everyone right now.

I only nodded, not knowing what to say.

Brother Mao: That one over there's Hao Shuai, the trendsetter of Team A and also the King of Werewolf games.

Hao Shuai: Wanna play Werewolf? I'll host one next time, but not now...

Hao Shuai buried his face with a sullen expression as Brother Mao quietly pulled me aside to a corner.

Brother Mao: He's not been in too jolly of a mood these few days. He didn't manage to get promoted to Senior Designer, so he's been pretty depressed about it.

MC: Sounds like it's very hard to get promoted up a rank...

Brother Mao: Precisely! Although Warson has a rank promotion system in place, the way things are being assessed in them makes it scarily hard! People normally have to do it five or six times before they manage to get themselves promoted.

Brother Mao: And, you might even get demoted a rank if the work you turn in doesn't make the cut!

MC: That strict!?

Brother Mao: I'm a Junior Designer like you. I've already taken the assessment around…

Zheng Lin: 10 times.

Brother Mao: You remember all so well, Sister Zheng Lin.

He gallantly retrieved another chair for Zheng Lin to sit on, seemingly paying no heed to the embarrassing number of tries he'd gone through.

Brother Mao: Don't they say that failure's the mother of success? I just have to get a couple more of those and it'll net me a great success!

I laughed at his joke along with Zheng Lin.

Zheng Lin: Our assessment system is just stricter than others.

Zheng Lin: Even though everyone is free to design whatever they like with their creativity as the limit, becoming an actual Fashion Designer is some serious business.

Zheng Lin: Those capable of joining us here in Warson are all talented individuals. Hence, what's really being tested in those assessments are your passion and perseverance.

Zheng Lin: I've welcomed hundreds upon hundreds of rookies during my 10 years here in Team A, but most of them drop out after failing the assessment 3-4 times.

MC: Eh?

Zheng Lin: Firstly, everyone who first comes here holds high self-esteem, so they're a bit more sensitive to criticism. And it is only natural for people to find it unbearable, especially after having been criticized a lot.

Zheng Lin: Secondly, there's a limit to the type of jobs that can be given to Assistants and Junior Designers, so things often end up being boring and repetitive

Zheng Lin: It's hard to go on like that if you don't have the right sort of determination.

MC: ……

Zheng Lin was about to say more when the door slammed open with a "bang!". Several people stood at the entrance, worry written all over their anxious faces.

Colleague A: Can someone consolidate all of Sliver's Autumn-Winter fabrics into a document?

Colleague A: I still have to go down to the mall and conduct surveys and research so I won't be able to do that in time!

Colleague B: Some trouble cropped up regarding the visas of the foreign models who're slated for a shoot next week, so we need another 18 new ones!

Colleague B: What should I do, Sister Zheng Lin!?

Zheng Lin gave a helpless sigh.

Zheng Lin: I'd originally wanted you to let you get used to things around here, but we have our hands full… Do you mind helping us?

MC: … Sure thing!

Zheng Lin: Then, could you first help us by going to the warehouse and picking up Silver's Autumn-Winter fabrics and consolidating them into a sample book after?

Zheng Lin: You can get Brother Mao to help you check it through once you're done.

I nodded and joined the fray.

Time went by. And finally, I finished my very first task after an hour. Brother Mao told me to take it up to the Team A representative who was in the meeting after checking through it.

❖☆———————————★❖

It was clearly noon soon, yet the doors of the meeting rooms on both sides of the corridor were still tightly shut, I could occasionally hear the sound of loud discussions coming from within.

❖☆———————————★❖

MC: Excuse me, I'm here to deliver the fabric samples.

Pushing the door open, I saw a Designer who was in the middle of loudly explaining his idea while Sariel held a pen, looking down at the document in his hand.

All the other Designers were either listening intently or hurriedly sketching out their new ideas, having been struck by a sudden wave of inspiration. It was almost as if the very air itself was crackling with ideas, going head to head with each other, gathering and merging into a brand new storm of ideas.

I’m going to be taking part in meetings with everyone in the future too… I couldn’t help but jump for joy at the exciting notion.

Placing the fabric catalogue book down, I couldn’t stop myself from taking one last glance at the meeting room before I left.

❖☆———————————★❖

Brother Mao: Oh, right. Don't forget to retrieve the catalogue book once the meeting upstairs is done.

MC: Okay.

❖☆———————————★❖

Everyone left after the meeting ended. I picked up the scattered pieces of fabric, stacking them neatly into a pile. It was only then that I noticed a pen lying on the ground.

The pitch-black pen was see-through, slender, and sturdy, with three gold-stamped petals at the very end.

MC: This is...

An image of Sariel wielding this pen with his head bowed in thought appeared in my mind.

MC: Is this pen his? It certainly suits that icy countenance of his...

❖☆———————————★❖

I bent down to pick it up, but the moment my fingers brushed against it… I suddenly felt an inexplicable sharp jolt of pain piercing my head.

My heart clenched violently, almost as if a nightmare that had been buried deep within its depths was about to be awakened. The stifling feeling of sadness and despair washed over me together with the odd feeling of my heart having been impaled by something.

What’s going on?

I pressed against my chest, trying to get through this sudden bout of pain that came out of seemingly nowhere.

Sariel: What's going on here?

There seems to be a faint voice ringing through my ears. The pen was taken away from me the next moment. Gone with it were the odd sensations.

I blearily looked at Sariel who had suddenly popped up from nowhere, still slightly woozy in the head.

Sariel: What are you standing around in a stupor for? See a ghost?

MC: I don't know what happened to me earlier…

Sariel: That's what I'd like to ask you.

☆Light Choice: Explain what you felt earlier

I shook my head, trying to recall that odd sensation you felt earlier.

MC: I… My chest and head just suddenly started hurting.

MC: I know I’m in the meeting room right now, but it kind of felt as if I wasn’t here at the same time…

MC: Like a nightmare, you can never wake up from…

Sariel’s expression changed minuscule bit upon hearing the word “nightmare”.

Sariel: How about now?

MC: I'm fine now, and the uncomfortable feeling's also gone.

Sariel: Has this happened before?

MC: Once…?

★Night Choice: Conceal what you felt earlier

MC: I just felt a little light-headed… I'm okay now.

MC: Oh, right. I picked up your pen.

I pointed towards the pen that he'd already reclaimed, which was now in his hand. Sariel only frowned.

Sariel: You felt light-headed after picking up this pen?

It was only when he mentioned it that I realized that that seemed to be the case. But what would a pen have anything to do with a bout of dizziness?

Sariel coldly grabs my hand, making my heart stop cold in my chest. However, all he did was stare at it in silence for a few seconds before releasing me just as quickly.

MC: What are you looking at? Is there something wrong with my hand?

Sariel: Nothing. It's well and fine.

What's up with Sariel? Grabbing my hand out of nowhere like that and not even telling me the reason why...

So, I ended up giving my hand a thorough check as well. There was nothing off about it, but I couldn't help feeling a little worried.

I'd also experienced some "auditory hallucinations" back then at the rooftop…

MC: Maybe I should go get myself a check-up at the hospital just in case…

Sariel: You look pretty peppy on your feet to me. Doesn't seem like there's anything physically wrong about you.

His gaze smoothly slides up from my face to the top of my head as he spoke.

Sariel: Though, I can't say the same about the other parts of you.

MC: ……!

I was fuming, yet I didn't dare to express it with a vehement glare. Seeing how riled up I was at it, yet unable to do anything about it, a flicker of a smirk made its way up to a corner of his mouth.

This was my second time seeing him smile today… The iron tree has bloomed…

Sariel: Are there flowers growing on my face?

I shook my head.

Sariel: A ghost then?

I shook my head again.

Sariel: Then why are you looking at me as if you've just seen a monster?

MC: You just smiled. It's too rare of a sight.

Sariel: … How stupid.

He put on a straight face as he pocketed his pen and turned to head out.

Suddenly remembering something, I hurriedly pushed the door open and ran after him.

MC: Wait a minute, Director Qi! Are you free right now?

❖☆————— ⊹ For Light & Night⊹ —————★❖

Previous Part: (Chapter 2-3) | Next Part: (Chapter 2-8)

[withcreamandsugar]

Chamisul Chapter 2 | Yabuki Nako

word count: ~1,200

category: fluff with a side of angst 

this is chapter 2!! read 1 if you havent: link also the wattpad!!

a/n: LIGHTNING QUICK update haha i kinda love this scenario can’t wait to see where it goes 👀

Chapter 2: Apple

Since meeting Nako at the convenience store that night, you've made an effort to see her nearly every day for nearly a month. Whether it be dropping off boba tea for her and her members, or hanging out alone (sometimes drunk) with Nako in her room, the two of you became very close friends. There was that subconscious thought in the back of Nako's mind that you might want to be more than that, but she quickly tossed those thoughts aside out of embarrassment (or maybe fear of rejection?)

"Ya, stop dropping chips on my carpet!" Nako yelled, picking up after you. "Do you want ants? That's how you get ants!"

"I'm surprised you guys don't already have ants, those boba cups I bought you last week are still here." you replied, throwing another chip into your mouth.

"Now that I think of it-" Nako snatches the chip bag out of your hand. "-why do we always hang out at my place? What secrets do you keep at yours?" Nako asks with a sly smile, throwing a chip into her mouth but missing, dropping yet another on the ground.

"Oh I sell drugs. A lot of drugs." you reply. "How 'bout... tonight? Come over? I can bake my world famous cookie brownies."

Nako slaps your shoulder. "Then how are you still broke? Cookie brownies huh... that sounds like diabetes on a plate but... I'm in. I have a schedule in an hour but I'll ring your place right after."

"Great." You jumped off Nako's bed and reached for the door out. "It's... a date." You gave Nako a warm smile, and left the room.

Nako bit her lip, feeling the flutter of a thousand butterflies in her chest. "A date, huh..." The rest of her members noted she was in a particularly good mood that day.

Ding dong.

You were busy fixing your hair for the last hour when you heard the door ring. Panicking, you hurriedly ran over to your door, opening it with your elbow.

"Hey!" You opened the door to see Nako wearing a sleek, black dress, complete with a full face of makeup and high heels. "H-hey..." you managed to sputter out, in awe at the sight of the beautiful girl.

"Can I help you pick your jaw off the floor?" Nako giggled, moving her hair behind her ear. "Sorry, I accidentally let slip I was going on a, uh, date and my members insisted I just wear what I wore for the photoshoot."

"No! I mean, you look amazing! Come in, the diabetes is almost ready." You closed the door after her, taking a moment to admire her from behind. You never really noticed it before as Nako usually wore an oversized t-shirt around you, but despite her height she had a particularly voluptuous figure, her curves beautifully accented by the tight dress. Not wanting to look creepy, you quickly averted your gaze towards the oven.

A plate of cookie brownies and many, many glasses of wine later, the two of you ended up talking about each other's love life.

"Am I your first?" Nako sheepishly asked.

"Well, we haven't done it yet but I'm glad you're already thinking ahead," you jeered.

Nako smacks your arm and clarifies, "I meant date, pervert. Anyone before me?"

"There was... this woman back in the US. I don't think about it much." you replied, taking a big swig of wine after saying that.

"Woman?" Nako thought. "At least you're oceans away now. It's a win win, you escaped her and you met me!" Nako joked, noticing your hesitance and trying to cheer you up.

You took her hand and smiled, reassured by her words. "Thanks, for helping me forget. I'm talking to the alcohol by the way, not you."

A bit later, the two of you decided to put on a cheesy romance movie to make fun of. By the end of the movie however, the two of you were nearly bawling cuddled over each other.

"I can't b-believe she sacrificed her life for her..." Nako muttered out, huffing and puffing from tears between each word.

You wiped the tears from both your faces with your sleeves and sat her up. "I thought this movie was supposed to be a comedy... I need another drink. Want some?"

"*sniff* Ahem, yes please. I'll take an apple jui- actually, just another glass of wine." You noticed a hint of hesitation in her voice.

"I've got apple juice, if you really want-" you paused your sentence to see Nako itching away at the dress's strap line and shifting in her seat, clearly uncomfortable. "You can take off that dress now - wait not in that way... er, I mean, I've got a spare hoodie for you somewhere"

"N-no, I'm fine, really." You haven't known Nako for very long but you already knew when she was lying - she always blinked twice and avoided eye contact.

"Nako, I know you're uncomfortable." You reached behind the couch for a particularly well oversized hoodie you kept for emergencies. "Here, wear this, it'll make you look ever more like a kid."

"I said I'm fine." Nako retorted, agitated at something.

"Nako, don't be such a baby-"

"I SAID I'M FINE!" Nako screamed.

The two of you sat in shocked silence, an aura on unease filling the room before Nako began to speak up.

"I-I don't know if this is the alcohol talking but... it was really my idea to wear the dress. All the other members wanted me to wear a schoolgirl outfit, or something. I just- I dunno. It feels like everyone treats me like a kid, like I don't know what's good for me. I'm 20 years old, I can make my own decisions. It's the same for you, Y/N. You've called me a kid, a baby, for so long. I'm not your little sister. I want you to see me as a woman."

You paused for a long time, thinking of what to say in response to Nako's confession. You slowly sit down next to Nako and caress her cheek.

"You don't have to convince me of all people, that you're a woman. You don't have to keep wearing this dress to convince me you're beautiful, either. I've been... holding back this whole time, actually. I love the way you walk, the way your hips inadvertently sway when you're doing something, the way your, er breasts move when you get excited over something".

"I want you. As a woman." you declared.

The two of you sat for what felt like an eternity, before your gazes returned to each other, a new sense of longing in both sets of eyes. As if your confessions didn't even happen and nothing else mattered, Nako took initiative and dived into your arms for an embrace. You took one last look into her eyes, before closing them and leaning in for a passionate kiss. A kiss that made you forget about money, school, other girls. A kiss that cemented your feelings for this girl, no, woman.  A kiss that, as you would find out later, would be the butterfly wings that cause a hurricane down the road.

Breaking away from the kiss, exhausted and breathy yet content, Nako asks, "How about that juice?"

[shadow-assassin-blix]

A Christmas to Remember

Jack “Whiskey” Daniels x Reader/You

This is my Secret Santa gift as part of the #Pedros12DaysofChristmas to one @mickeymouse-moshpit​ who wanted some fluff. This is my first time writing for Whiskey and I had a lot of fun with it. (Also, I sent an anon a while ago but I dont know if you ever saw it, or if tumblr ate it, so if you specified anything else my apologies!) I hope you enjoy this!

Warnings: Talks of loss of childhood dog, Whiskey mentions his deceased wife. Some anxiety issues in the form of trying to be a people pleaser. 

It was a few days before Christmas Eve, and most of the Statesmen were spending the day catching up on paperwork before heading out on vacation. That is where you were; stuck in your office finishing up reports.

It has been a rough couple of weeks for you. A mission you went on a week ago, went terribly. Your CI had gotten killed, and you had almost walked into a trapped that could’ve been the death of you and your team.

Thankfully, another agent who had been your backup got you out of there before anything could happen. Agent Jack “Whiskey” Daniels had been a literal lifesaver that day.

Then on top of that, your childhood dog had passed away over a month ago. He had been about 15, so his passing wasn’t too shocking, but it still broke your heart. He had been with you through so many changes: college, jobs, moves, break-ups. This was the first Christmas in years, that you would be spending it alone.

So, here you were typing up the last report before the holidays, with a smidge of dread.

It was as you were editing the report that you saw Whiskey making his way out of his office across from yours. You had always thought he was extremely handsome. He was a flirt, sure, but he was damn good at his job. You had been trying to figure out how to properly thank him for days since he saved your ass.

You bit your lip as an idea popped up in your head, and found yourself chasing after him, trying to catch up before he got on the elevator.

“Hey Whiskey!” You called out when you see him waiting for the elevator, just ahead of you.

He turned around, slight confusion on his face as he watched you run up to him.

“Where’s the fire darling?” He asked slight concern in his voice.

“Sorry. Um. Was wondering… do you have any plans for Christmas Eve?” You slowly asked, trying to not sound too winded.

“Uh. Not much. I’m on the graveyard shift both nights. Why you ask honey?” He questioned curiously.

“Well. I tend to have a small dinner at home and watch cheesy Christmas movies. I was wondering if you would like to join me? No one should spend the holidays alone or at work,” You offered with a small smile, scratching the back of your neck awkwardly.

Whiskey stared at her surprised. He wasn’t expecting that.

“Um. That’s mighty kind of you. I may take you up on that. I’ll let you know, yeah?” He finally answered not knowing what to say.

You nodded your head, somewhat excitedly.

“Great. No pressure though! I just… don’t want to be alone to be honest. But um. Just let me know, okay?” You said with a wave as you walked back to your office.

You go back inside, finish your edits and sent off the report for review. It was as you were gathering your things, that you realized that what you said… sounded a little guilt trip-y.

You winced as you thought more and more about it. When you got down to your car, and was simply sitting in it, you decided to text him.

‘Hey, umm. I’m sorry if what I said early made you feel awkward. I just wanted to do something nice for you after that mission last week. If I overstepped or made you feel weird, I am sorry.’

You hit sent before typing out one more thing.

‘If you want… we can just ignore that whole conversation.’

You sent it and then threw your phone over into to the seat next to you, not wanting to look at it ever again.

You made your way home and soon enough you were walking upstairs into your apartment. As you set your stuff down, you checked your phone expecting something horrific. There was nothing. You unlocked it to see the conversation, wanting to be sure nothing had been said. All that was there were your two messages. So, you continued on with your night, checking your phone occasionally.

Two days later, it was Christmas Eve, and you still had yet to hear from Whiskey. You simply sigh in resignation that he was either weirded out by you, or just wasn’t interested.

You began cooking your dinner at about 11am. You tended to make a lot of food, despite it usually only being for one person. You loved leftovers and it meant not having to cook a lot for a few days. It was about 3pm when you were fixing up the ham, getting ready to put it in the oven, when you heard a knock at the door.

You stared at it confused before walking over to it. When you opened it, there was a man you didn’t know standing there.

“Uh. Can I help you?” You asked awkwardly looking at him and the dishes he was carrying.

He looked at you then at the door number, and went, “Aw. Shit. Sorry. Got off on the wrong floor. My bad. Um. Merry Christmas?”

You laughed a little and said, “Merry Christmas to you. Enjoy whatever you’re about to eat, it smells delicious!”

He threw a ‘thanks’ over his shoulder as he walked away. You close the door and went back over to your ham. You finished preparing it and set it in the oven, creating a timer for it.

You were in the middle of cleaning up the slight mess that had been from that and was setting the table with everything that you had made earlier when another knock came to your door.

You walk over with a sigh, mentally preparing to direct another person who was at the wrong door. But upon opening it, you were surprised to see Whiskey standing there instead. He was wearing a simple black polo and jeans, a white cowboy hat in one hand and a bottle of wine tucked under his arm.

“Hi,” He greeted with a small smile.

“Hey,” You were shocked to say the least.

It took a moment for your brain to start functioning again before you realized you had yet to let him in. You stepped aside and he walked in setting his hat on a rung on the coat rack.

“I uhh… I brought some white wine. I remember you saying you’re not a fan of red,” He stated showing you the bottle.

You smiled at him meekly, and asked, “You remembered that?”

He nodded with a small smirk, “I only remember the important things.”

“My preference in wine is important?” You questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Indeed. I find most things that you tell me about yourself important. How else would I be able to woo you?” He fired back his smirk growing.

You felt your face warm with embarrassment before clearing your throat, “Ahem. Um. Dinner will be ready in about 30 minutes. There’s plenty to snack on as well, so help yourself.”

You made your way into the kitchen to get a bottle opener and a pair of wine glasses. Whiskey followed you, taking the opener from you gently. He quietly opened the bottle and poured the both of you glasses.

He then picked up both glasses and took them over to the couch, holding them, waiting for you to join him. You sat down next to him and took one. You clinked your glasses together before taking a sip.

You turned slightly to look at him, leaning back on your couch.

“Are you uh… still doing the graveyard shift tonight?” You politely asked, fiddling with the stem of your drink.

“No. I’m not. Decided against it,” He answered softly.

“Why uhh… why did you agree to do them in the first place, if I may ask?” You inquired, propping your arm up on the back of the couch to rest your head on it.

“Nothin’ better to do. Haven’t really celebrated the holidays in years. Not uhh. Not since my wife died,” He admitted with a flinch.

You stared at him, horrified. You didn’t know what to say. What does one say after that?

“I’m sorry… if this.. if this bothers you, you don’t have to stay,” You whispered feeling awful.

“It doesn’t bother me. Not as much as I thought it would. To be honest, I had planned on saying no. But. I don’t know. Somethin’ kept naggin’ at me to go. Maybe it’s cause yer the first woman in years that I’ve truly been interested, if it’s not too forward of me to say?” He confessed looking you in the eyes.

As you met his gaze, could see the honesty in his eyes. You set your glass of wine down, and got up, to walk over to the fridge. You reached in and pulled out 2 beers.

“Drinking wine doesn’t quite feel right for the current mood,” You lamely joked handing him one of them.

He chuckled softly and murmured in agreement.

“I lost my dog a month ago… Old age. Passed away in his sleep. ‘Best way for a pet to go’ as I’ve been told by everyone. Never really knew just how quiet this place can get without him. Thought about getting another to fill the void but I don’t know… None quite measure up I guess,” You told him before taking a swig of beer wincing slightly at taste of it mixing with the wine.

“I was about to ask, I remember you talking about him a lot,” He said with a nod.

“I know it’s silly, to not want to spend a holiday alone when your usual company was a dog-” You began to explain before he cut you off.

“It’s not silly to me. Now, I’m not quite sure who put that in ya head, but he was yer family. Just because he was a pet, doesn’t invalidate that or your grief,” He began, his hand gently brushing against your cheek. “I’m just… happy that ya asked me to come be with you.”

You smiled in appreciation, your hand reaching up to touch his as you leaned your cheek into it.

He slowly moved forward, his eyes glancing between yours and your lips, silently asking for permission. His lips slowly met yours a moment after you nodded your once. You kissed back just as hesitantly. His hand at your cheek, slowly slid into your hair bring you closer.

The kiss was slow but with each second that passed, the both of you gained more confidence. The kiss became deeper and more passionate. Your hands slid around his neck, slowly burying themselves into his hair. His other hand was fiddling with the hem of your shirt, brushing against the skin he found there.

The only reason why either of you pulled away was to suck in some much-needed air as you felt your lungs burn a little.  You wanted to go back for more, but the kitchen timer was going off, signaling the ham was done. The both of you chuckle as you took in the state of each other: lips swollen, hair a mess.

You quietly stood up to go take the ham out of the oven. The both of you fixed up a plate, and began to watch a few Christmas movies, curling up next to each on the couch. You were about halfway through the Nightmare Before Christmas when you paused it to put your plates into the sink.

“Before we continue… I.. I got you something,” You said to him walking over to your tree.

You picked up a small box that you had labelled as “Whiskey.”

The both of you returned to the couch, as you handed him the present.

He opened it stating, “I didn’t get you anything. Now I feel a bit bad ‘bout that”

As he opened the box to reveal a watch his breath caught. He looked at it and then slowly turned his wrist to look at the watch he had on. It was almost identical to the one he wore now, just silver instead of gold.

He pulled it out gently, examining it. What really got him was when he saw the engraving at the back. It had his name… and the name of his wife.

His gaze turned to you in confused amazement.

“I’ve seen you prepare for missions a lot, and when I first started, I was one of the people who had to lock up personal items when the mission called for extreme discretion. I noticed on your watch it had a name on it. I didn’t know who she was, but I figured she had to be pretty important to you. You mentioned a while back that it broke, and no one’s been able to repair it. So, I tried to find one that looked similarly,” You explained biting your lip.

He looked at you for a moment longer, before turning back to the watch. He gently set the watch back into its box.

You opened your mouth to apologize when he stopped you… by pulling you into a kiss. The kiss was brief but passionate.

“Thank you, darlin’. That’s… that’s the kindest thing anyone’s done for me in a long while,” He whispered against your lips, as he reached up to wipe away a tear that had escaped.

“You’re welcome. I was hoping you’d like it. I was worried you’d hate it,” You admitted.

“You worry too much. You need to stop worryin’ about upsettin’ everyone all the time. You are one of the best agents we have, and everyone adores you,” He assured you, kissing you again and pulling you into his arms.

You smiled sheepishly at that and nodded. You curled back into his side, and he held you as close as possible. You continued to watch movies until you fell asleep, feeling safe and warm next to him.

As morning came and you slowly woke up on the couch, a blanket covering you. As you sat up, looking around, you realized you were alone. You got up looking around trying to see if he left a note.

As you walked toward the kitchen to your phone, you realized that it had been cleaned up. He had put away and saved the food that had been left out.

She checked her phone and saw that there was one message waiting for her.

‘Needed to go do some things. Merry Christmas, beautiful. If it’s alright, I’d like to see you again tonight?’ -Whiskey

You sent a quick response back, ‘I would love to see you tonight! Merry Christmas!’

The rest of the day you went and hung out with some friends for Christmas and did gift exchanges. When you finally came back home, it was late in the day. You set the presents down and freshened up really quick before Whiskey arrived.

It didn’t take very long before you heard a knock on the door; perfectly timed since you had just finished cleaning up. You could feel yourself get excited at the thought of seeing Whiskey again. You walked over to the door to see Whiskey standing there with a large box in his arms, that was brightly colored.

You stared at him, slightly confused at the box. It was as you stared at it that you noticed a shimmer of silver. He had put on the watch.

“Hey darlin’. So. Funny story. I went out planning to ask a friend a question… when I saw something in an alleyway,” He began to explain hesitantly.

He slowly lifted the lid off to reveal a puppy. “He was alone. Took him to my friend who works with a shelter and had one of those fancy scanner things that checks for microchips. Found none. When I told him where I found this lil guy, they said it’s a common place for people to dump pets.”

You stared at the puppy wide-eyed, vaguely aware of what Whiskey was saying to you. The puppy gave a small bark, and his tail wagged excitedly. You could feel your heart melting as you stared at him. You could feel your eyes swelling up with tears.

You slowly reached forward, holding your hand out to his face to sniff. He sniffed it once and then began to lick your hand several times, causing you to choke out a laugh. You then picked up out of the box and held him close to you.

He gave you several kisses before snuggling into your arms.

“I uh… I think I’m gonna have to keep him,” You said tearily as you held him.

“Those are happy tears, right?” He asked nervously.

“Yes. Very happy,” You answered with a laugh, moving back to let him in.

“I had planned on just askin’ my friend about any available dogs for you, thinkin’ maybe we could go find you one tomorrow when the shelter was open. Then I just found him on my way over. I ain’t a big believer in fate but…” He trailed off smiling as he watched you.

“You wanted to take me on a date to find a puppy?” She asked setting the puppy down to let him explore.

“Yes ma’am. I did indeed,” He replied stepping toward her. “Now, however, I think it’s gonna be a get supplies for the little rascal kind of date.”

“I’m good with that, but uhh…  I do believe that I need to kiss you right now,” You said with moving closer to him.

“Oh? Is that right? Well then... please don’t let me stop you,” He drawled as his arms wrapped around your waist pulling you in as close as he could.

You giggled in response as you kissed him slowly and thoroughly, your arms around his neck. He kissed back, his arms lifting you slightly off your feet.

You broke apart when you heard a little bark at your feet. The both of you looked down to see the puppy staring up at the two of you, tilting his head.

You reached down and picked him up and as you held him, you looked at Whiskey who was smiling brightly at you.

“Not gonna lie, honey. This has probably been one of the better Christmases I’ve had in a long time,” He said fondly.

“Same here. Maybe uhh… when the holidays are over, we could go on some proper dates?” You proposed.

“I’d like that. I’d like that a lot,” He remarked pressing a kiss to your lips, before giving a small kiss to the puppy’s forehead.

You smiled and as the two of you spent the rest of the evening together, the both of you realized something. This wasn’t what you were expecting for Christmas at all, but neither of them will ever complain. This was a Christmas to remember.

[slashingdisneypasta]

Horror Villain x Reader || Drabbles

Plot: Having the kid of a Slasher. These have vastly different blurbs though so they have lil’ titles! 

Includes: Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers 

Warnings: Freddy’s one includes the kidnapping of a child by their father (A child killer, to boot). Other then that, what can I say? This is Slasher fanfiction, Freddy is himself. Michael’s is pretty humorous though... :D

Notes: 

I really wanna build on these some more! I plans to write a oneshot where Michael and reader eventually get ‘back together’ sort of? And a prequal to Freddy’s where Maggie visits her half brother and Luke questions her and reader about their father. 

Note: Freddy is going to call you mummy if you are woman, man, or gender neutral. And I’m going to spell it the American way because it just seems more fetishized that way and more like the wrapped up Egyptian dead people the English way. I am not sure how you would accidentally have his child if you have a penis, but who knows in this universe. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy! 

~~~

Freddy Krueger: Luke // ‘Protecting your child from his father’

“Hey! How are you?” I call, breathless to the receptionist -Judy, - sitting in school office. She looks up and a haze of confusions crosses her pretty green eyes, and I try not to worry. There could be any reasin this woman is confused to see me that is unrelated to my son’s whereabouts. Deciding not to wait for her to tell me how she is because the anxiety in me clenches around my heart like a boa constrictor, I paste on a bigger smile ask. “Where’s Luke? He didn’t come out when the bell went.”

Maybe he’s in the sick bay, or… I don’t know. What other acceptable reason could there be that my son is not here with me?

Don’t think like that.

My smile must look stiff and sharp at this point, because Judy starts very slowly. Cautious. “… Hi-His Dad picked him up, Miss L/N.”

Dad? My nose scrunches up in utter confusion. I’m absolutely certain that I had Bradley taken off the register as Luke’s secondary emergency contact- I stood right here with this woman for half an hour figuring out how to do that. And besides, why would my ex-husband pick up my son from school and not tell me? Luke doesn’t have a-

His… his Dad? Freddy couldn’t have. I’ve been giving Luke Hypnocil pills since he could take them, crushing them every night and stirring the dust into his dinner. I haven’t heard any signs of Freddy for 8 years and a couple months. Let’s set aside that crazy, ridiculous theory for now. Because its impossible! Even if he did want to do something with Luke, he would try to get to him through his dreams, yes? It would be too risky to come on out here and take him from school. That’s crazy.

“What?” Where is my goddamn son? Who took him?

“U-um, uh. A uh, ‘Fredrick Krueger’ took him about an hour ago. His name was in the system, and they looked a bit alike in the eyes, s-so I-we just assumed it was okay.”

For a moment I think I’m going to die on the spot. Then I spit out. “Is this a joke?!”

Its too horrible, too unthinkable to be true. I’ll say it again; I haven’t heard from Freddy in nearly a fucking decade, and that’s the way I was hoping it would stay. What is this.

“N-No, Miss L/N.”

“Did he say where they were going? Did Luke say anything?” My baby. Starting to breathe heavily now from the effort of staying calm and thinking too fast for a clue as to where my son is and what the hell is going on. Did this chick even look at Freddy’s face?! This school is just handing babies over to suspicious men who look like they should be in the burn ward of the intensive care unit?!

“Miss L/N- “This woman is scared, I know, and anxious as she looks with wide eyes all around me instead of at my eyes but she’s really grating on my nerves. A maniac has my son and she is going to give me all the information she has.

“Do you remember your dreams last night? Or the last couple nights?” That’s how assume Freddy got in the system, manipulated Judith here to do it for him. Maybe he left a clue.

“My- my dreams? Um-mm, well I… “My hand slams down on the bench between us so hard the pen attached to a string attached to the early leavers clipboard jumps up a little. My hand shakes, and as she quickly recalls her dream I read through the most recent entries on the board for the early leavers. Right at the bottom, in tiny handwriting that does not belong to Luke is the name Luke Krueger under student and ‘Doctors appointment’ under ‘Reason for leaving’, and a smiley face. I take a deep breath and turn back to Judy with eyes of molten lava. She fumbles with her glasses, on a string around her neck. “I-I remember a junk yard in a couple… “That’s it.

Already flying to the door, I call back. “Have some child’s school exit forms ready for me tomorrow Judy; Goodbye.” And promptly, I fling the door open and run for hell and leather for my car.

~~~

“LUKE!” I scream into the old junk yard, hands shaking but courage as strong as an ox. Nothing, not even death itself will stop me from saving my kid. Looking around every corner and trying to listen to any sound over the loud beating of my heart in my ears, I speed walk around, heading towards the burnt down old shed, yelling for Luke every 2 seconds because I’m deluded into thinking any second he might hear e, and come running out safe to me. When the horrible thing, the shed, comes into view, I feel sick. Its still burnt up, and rust litters the ground around its four walls but its standing.

They’ll be in there.

Forcing myself ahead, because I never wanted to see this, the place Freddy was killed -Because it’s something so terrible. Not because I give a fuck about what happened to Freddy, - I open the door and immediately there they are. It takes me a second to catch my bearing’s, because this place has such an awful feeling and I’ve never been in a situation like this and I don’t know what to do, and because theirs a child killer with his filthy hand on my 7 year old son’s shoulder.

“Luke?” My eyes soften as soon as they find his. Glancing from him to Freddy’s other hand to see if he has a weapon, especially that glove to find nothing, and back to him, I gesture for my him to come here. “Come over here, baby. Its okay.”

He doesn’t say anything, just frowns and whimpers, looking wearily up at the man who’s holding onto him and for an awful second I think Freddy’s going to pull a fast one on us and pull out a razor or something… but then one finger at a time he lets go of Luke and Luke rushes to me so fast that the force pushes me back a little when he reaches me, wrapping his little arms around my waist and digging his face, shaking so I’m well aware that he’s crying now, into my stomach. I drop to my knees and look him over thoroughly, searching for any indications that this ‘doctors’ appointment’ that he was taken for occurred, but theirs nothing.

A sick taste wells up in my throat as I realise this, and as Luke burrows into me again for more hugs and I wrap my arms around him I look back to the problem. “What-What’s this doctor’s appointment I read about? Just a cover?”

“Not in the slightest! But I thought we should probably wait for you before starting… Mommy. I got us a good deal- family pack!” With that, Freddy takes out a scalpel and grins madly. I tighten my grip on Luke. “Who should go first, eh?”

“Stay the fuck back.”

“Oh, I think not!” I gently tug Luke back as Freddy advances, wondering if it would be smart to make any sudden moves right now.

“I called the police!” God, I wish I had now. But I was too focused on getting here before something awful happened that I…

Forgot.

Oh my god.

He stops coming towards us, but then an evil, knowing smile creeps across his mouth. He tilts his head, calling my bluff. “No, you didn’t.”

“Uh, yeah I did!” So, I’m buying for time. Main objective: Save Luke. Leverage: Me. Freddy’s a being made completely up on vengefulness and anger at this point, and I escaped him. He hates that.

Stroking the back of Lukes head with my thumb in thought, I know what I have to do and make like him giving him a little, worried head kiss- but really whisper to him that our car’s in the carpark and my phone is in the passenger seat. He clutches me tighter. Oh, baby… I wish I could come with you.

“You called nobody. Don’t try to bullshit Daddy. Now, I think our little bundle of joy should go first, more fun for me! Little blast from the past, ey?” He takes another step towards us, causing me to jolt back violently from fear, because I’m so close to saving Luke and if Freddy makes any sudden movements, we both might be done for, and tats just unacceptable. That scalpel is unnecessarily big. Where the hell did he get a scalpel that big?! What is it for? Crocodile surgery?!

Luckily, we’re closer to the door then Freddy is -oopsie made on his part,- so when I let go of Luke he goes straight out the door and before Freddy can reach the door and slip out after him, and push myself hard against the door, slamming it closed. For a second everything is still, which is a scary thing when it comes to this killer, and I just sit there on the ground and watch his scary face just be still.

His eyes, though, expressive as they are, reveal how utterly furious he is.

Then slowly he looks down his chest at me, aiming that mad anger at me as his shaking hand grips the weapon so tightly that his knuckles go absolutely white. “You bitch.”

Michael Myers (RZ): Rachael // ‘Visitation’

“Morning Rache!” I exclaim, setting down cheerily on my 12-year-old’s bed as golden early morning light slips through her purple curtains and leaves stripes on my thighs. “It’s Sunday!”

“Why does it always have to be so early with him? Its not church.” She informs me, sleep thick in her voice as she pulls the doona up over her head and rolls over so her back is to me.

“He thinks very highly of himself.” That or this is when visiting hours are.

“I see that.”

“So… “Like I always do on Sunday, I put pluck the blanket away from her face to see her eyes are open and she���s already fully awake. She always is on Sunday morning, it’s because of what she knows is coming. I tuck some of her hair behind her early, and speak gently now, like always. “You wanna go see your Dad?” It always, always, always needs to be her choice. She always says yes, though.

For a moment this time, she pauses. Then deeply rolls her eyes and flicks the blanket back up over her face. “Yeah, okay.”

“Alright. We’ll head off in half an hour, then. Oh- maybe you can tell him about the awkward you got!” I exclaim, brightening immediately because my baby is so smart! Captain of her class, and she just got an award for doing well in maths! Her teacher even told me at parent-teacher interviews that she’s getting the work so much easier than any of the other students. This has been the same since she started Elementary school. Dunno where she got those brains from, but I like to believe if it’s me and not Michael. And I am so proud of her.

“Yeah, I will. Can you get out now so I can get changed, parent?”

“Whatever!” I exclaim cheerfully, like the immature one between us two that I am as I leave the room and shit the door behind me, heading to make her toast. She is more like Michael, in that regard. So focused and serious- I, on the other hand, have Goldfish brain.

Which makes a lot of sense when I ask myself ‘What made you think fucking the Shape of Haddonfield was okay?’ because then I remember ‘Big man, strong hands, big dick’ and I remember.

I’m a moron. Was, a horny moron. But no more! I am a mother now, and mothers don’t get horny! No, no. Ahahaha.

… But that doesn’t mean I regret having Rachael. No fucking way. She’s the mother-fucking light of my life, and I’ll have sex with Michael a thousand more times if that’s what it would take to keep her.

Wait, that doesn’t sound right.

… Ah, oh well. Toast!

~~~

When we get to Michael’s cell, Rachael goes straight over to the door and uses her foot to move the little stepping stool they keep right there, specially for her -well, I bought it and made them keep it there, but that’s just semantics,- and hops on so she can peer through the window to her father. I stay back a few feet with Dr Loomis, my jacket hung over my crossed arms. Because I don’t have anything in common with Sam Loomis at all, as we have previously discovered on these visits, I turn bluntly to him and ask, shamelessly. “So, how’s he going Doc?” Even though Michael’s condition hasn’t changed since he was six, that is what I ask.

Loomis offers me a crooked, humourless grin and explains that nothing has changed, but he did make Rachael a new mask. “Oh, that’s nice.” I say, although really, don’t think that’s nice. Does Michael think I have endless wall space for these things? I don’t want my home to look like his sanatorium cell. I have taste!

Hey, don’t judge me. The only way I can get through these visits is by being sarcastic and making jokes to myself.

And to Loomis, but he doesn’t really like me.

Probably because I make sarcastic jokes about his most dangerous patient.

Eh, oh well.

I turn back to Rachael to see her holding up her award to the window so Michael can read it, and after I lean to the left a bit to see inside the cell I see that he is doing so. He’s just sitting in his dressing gown on a desk chair at the other side of his cell- no wonder Rachael has to talk loudly!

He communicates through head shakes and nods, and sometimes even writes on a white board he always has set on his big -big mannnnnn. Oh jeez, the thirst is still strong, despite him now being an irritating part of my life… I have to get up at the ungodly hour of nine on a Sunday for this. Just to get a new stupid mask and stand back here with Doctor humourless, - lap, which I do concede, is pretty sweet. He doesn’t communicate that way to anyone else, as Loomis told me, except for with her.

Visitation usually lasts an hour and half, if Michael’s feeling ‘chatty’, And he definitely is today, so our visit bleeds into breakfast time so we join him -without a door between us and him,- for breakfast in the cafeteria. Rachael and I sit on one side and Michael and Loomis sit on the other. Mostly Rachael and I chat during this time, but Rachael looks to her father every now and then for his reaction.

“Hey mum, do you want the last pancake?” Rachael asks, eyeing the last fluffy breakfast food just as hungrily as Michael just after Dr Loomis gets up to go check quickly on another patient, leaving us as a ‘family’ for a little bit.

I pat my tummy. “Naw, I’m stuffed! Why don’t you and your dad share it.”

A little smile breaks across her little face, making me grin too. She’s so cute! She’ll always be cute, I don’t know if she’s 37, a pasty scientist and mildly mangled from experiments gone wrong, she’ll still be adorable. I’m sure Michael agrees. “Okay!”

As she goes off to get the pancake, I leap to take the chance alone to have a chat with Michael myself.

Or attack him.

Placing my elbow securely on the table between us, pointing at him, I squint. “Stop making her masks, Michael! Anything else, really!- We’ve had this talk before, multiple times. You know I have no wall space!”

He shoulders jump, like he silently chuckled at me, and my squint-greasy, just enhances.

“You know what you’re doing, don’t you?”

After a moment, he veeeeery purposefully shrugs those huge shoulders of his. He does know, he does. I knew it!

“Ooooooooh… “I nearly shake with annoyance, returning to my seat properly and glaring I hope subtly from my side of the table as Rachael returns and carefully tears the pancake in half for them. As she does, I watch and just sit and take great pleasure in the fact that they wont even trust plastic knives around Michael. Ha!

He see’s the too-happy glint in my eye and drinks all my juice.

Damn him.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Drama Shinsengumi Oni-tan Track 2 Translation

well... finally got around to finishing ssl’s harada’s cross short stories... been super sleepy this week... which doesn't help with me being swamped with stuff to study since i finally booked the exam for the aws course im taking... it’ll be a month and half before I can resume my normal pace for all things... that is assuming I’m still stuck at home doing nothing aside from looking for a job. oh well. lol. im in the health>everything category... stay safe people!

anyway, this is my translation of Shinsengumi Oni-tan track 2! according to the drama info page, I believe this is the very first audio drama that either Amagiri’s or Shinaranui’s VA participated in tho i can’t remember who it was... however, this cd is definitely both VAs’ first appearance in a Hakuoki drama.  

due to content of this, out of all the dramas i have TL for, i’ve wanted this translated the most... unfortunately since all i got for resources are images and a video of the translation, it’s a serious pain in my ass to translate it since my CH word recognition ability is very bad...

well, no pain no gain as they say... though i think i suffer way more than what i get back in return lol. finals edits will be done later when i get to making my subtitle video (delayed due to me being busy).

anyway, enjoy~!!!! 

do not repost elsewhere or else! 

Hakuoki Drama CD: Shinsengumi Oni-tan Track 2: A Letter from the Yase

Translation by KumoriYami

Shiranui: Ah~ahah~ really, this is turning out to be a real hassle. hey, Amagiri, have you read this letter?

Amagiri: Yes, I've already checked it. Having received a letter from the Yase princess, I was contemplating on what should be done next.

Shiranui: Then, what's to be done [what do you plan on doing?]. Do you intend to/Should we tell Kazama about this? If it's anything related to that guy, it'll be even more troublesome.

Amagiri: I don't blame your way of thinking, but because he is the leader of the western clans, there's no choice but to inform him of this.

Shiranui: Mah~ na.

Kazama: Amagiri, you've come.

Shiranui: oh, you're finally here.

Kazama: Shiranui. Why are you here?

Amagiri: His presence today is owed to oni relations.

Kazama: What business do you have. If there's nothing, hurry up and go.

Shiranui: mah, mah, quit being so inflexible. Compared to that, what's the matter with you. I just had nothing important to do so I went out. Were you checking on that girl's condition/situation [check for Kazama in audio here]?

Kazama: Of course. My wife has constantly been mistreated by those wild dogs. To check on her situation is my/the duty/obligation as a/of the husband.

Shiranui: I was only joking. However you actually did that./You actually went [check audio for if sounds like a question]?

Amagiri: I'll be asking this just in case, [but] you didn't forcefully touch her/come into contact with her right?

Kazama: Hmph, how could that possibly happen. As long as my wife sees me, she will graciously cheer aloud [roughly says: thankfully cheer for (me). reword later?]. So today I only watched her from a distance.

Shiranui: You should really learn how to distinguish/what the difference between screaming and cheering is.

Amagiri: Observing from a distance, this type of activity is still not appropriate as a leader.

Kazama: The next time I'd like to prepare glasses to watch her from a distance [or maybe: something to watch her from a distance. the version i used for this translation says glasses.... check other tl later since im assuming this to be binoculars/telescope], but I won't be talking about that now. Instead of that, there's something you should know.  

Shiranui: Ah? It's not going to be something boring again right?

Kazama: It can be considered boring/simple/ can't be considered complicated, in a sense.  This was something that just happened after I encountered the Shinsengumi recently on my way back. I don't know why, [but] among that pack of dogs, [there seems] to be someone who's inherited the blood of the oni.

Shiranui: Eh... Amagiri: Hmm

Kazama: What's with that response? That reaction, are the two of you thinking that I'm an idiot?

Amagiri: No. We didn't mean to imply that, but how could that be?

Shiranuui: To confirm then, you saw an oni that wasn't Kodo's daughter?

Kazama: They're unrelated to my wife, I saw a young man, it's impossible for me to mistaken the characteristic [not sure if this is more of the 'mistaken in what i saw' sense or unable to be mistaken in this' kind of sense. check other tl after], he must have inherited the blood of the oni.

Shiranui: It turns out it was like that. Indeed, this can be considered simple/not complicated. Actually, this was sent/delivered recently.

Kazama: What is it, that letter.

Amagiri: Nn. This was from the oni living in Kyoto, Princess Yase's envoy delievered it.

Kazama: Huh. Is that woman finally going to bow down before me?

Shiranui: Why do you immediately imagine that.

Kazama: Then, don't be surprised otherwise [roughly says something to the effect of 'don't leave a man's appetite in suspense' so i put down what i thought made more sense. double check both tls later], hurry up and read the letter.

Shiranui:......."To Amagiri, Shiranui, also Kazama" Ah, by the way I added that in because it doesn't make sense [to not do so], [though] this letter was mainly directed towards me and Amagiri [check other tl later].

Kazama:......By the way [check audio and other tl], Shiranui. Are you deliberately adding in details while reading this to make this more interesting [literally: to add oil and vinegar, which figuratively means: 'adding details while telling a story (to make it more interesting)']?

Shiranui: Don't use such unpleasant words, that's basically how it reads.

Kazama: Che, it seems that Kyoto's oni do not know much about manners/etiquette. It seems that oni princess has inherited that lunacy of her ancestor [the translation of "血肿," used here means hematoma/swelling of soft tissue due internal hemorrhage... so I put in what I kinda thought was appropriate given the time period]. How laughable [check other tl. i’d guess ‘amusing’ though].

Amagiri: Can I continue reading this? [continue with this]

Kazama: Ah... Hurry up continue reading. What's wrong with that guy [check tl]?

Amagiri: "then before I get to the main point, I will first say, if you're still coveting Kodo's daughter, you should give up," she said.

Kazama: That's ridiculous.

Amagiri: It seems that the Yase Princess is speculating that, she [that girl] is fond of someone in the Shinsengumi. Perhaps it's he harsh/strict and strong Hijikata... or perhaps it’s Okita or Saito, who are excellent swordsmen/have superior swordsmanship. Of course, it's possible that it's Todou or Harada, since it's hard to guess/determine who it might be [reword later].

Kazama: That's utter nonsense/what a load of nonsense [check audio. the tl is the same where it says 'that's ridiculous']! Get to the point.

Shiranui: Really, you're impulsive as ever. Anyway, it says that a different clan [while i use the word 'clan' here, and most of the other times i see the word '族', it can also mean race/nationality/ethnicity/social group (ex - office workers). may use "group" since it's more ambiguous when I get to making the video] of oni entered Kyoto not so long ago.

Kazama: Oh? there are [other] oni in Kyoto? Where are these oni from?

Amagiri: Based on their whereabouts, they should have come from the west [says 'western part' so i might change this to 'from western lands']. So if we know something, That's why she's saying that if we know something, to please tell her. 

Kazama: So it's like that/that is to say, the person I saw recently in the Shinsengumi, is the someone who probably comes from an oni clan fro a different part of the country, as mentioned in this letter.

Amagiri: That is very likely. Although Kyoto has long history, the bloodlines of many oni clans are around here/in the area. [may just omit bloodlines entirely here]

Shiranui: Joining the Shinsengumi, that sounds impossible/Then joining the Shinsengumi is even more impossible [check other tl and audio]. Then as the leader of the Western clans, do you have any idea/know anything about this oni clan?

Kazama: No/I don't know, at least I have never been in contact with them.

Amagiri: Then I'll contact the village to investigate [check tl again since the tl i wrote says 'fight'. probably wrote something down incorrectly]. How do you intend to handle this unidentified oni clan?

Shiranui: The Shinsengumi being involved in this, already makes this a real hassle. If that guy becomes a member of the Shinsengumi, we'll be fighting sooner or later.  

Amagiri: Did he know that the Shinsengumi is hostile towards us, or did he know that there's a female oni within the Shinsengumi?

Shiranui: Either way it's a problem.

Kazama: hrn...

Shiranui: I'll first say, that even if it's me, I don't want to fight against another oni. There are a barely any of us to begin with/ There aren't a lot of us to begin with.

Amagiri: Then, what should be done, Kazama.

Kazama: That remains to be seen. let's go. Amagiri. Shiranui. Based on my observations, I'm afraid that the strength of his bloodline is so weak that he doesn't even know that he is an oni. Those who have inherited the noble blood of the oni, even if they don't know it, answering to the call of humans [check other tl], is something that must never be allowed.

----------

ah i wish i could have someone reading a letter from sen about why saito is better than kazama lol....hahaha i can only wish.

unfortunately im still really busy so i don’t when i’ll be able to translate the next track of this... still would like to have it done before end of the year though.

also, the reason why the sanan tsukikage chapter TLs were taken down from that blog i found was apparently because the site itself had problems with the images that were uploaded along with the author’s translations... i think? 

Well, regardless of the reason, i was able to save the tl of sanan’s 1st tsukikage chapter since it got re-posted, and guess that means it’s only a matter of time before the tl of chapter 6 gets re-uploaded so i can go save it later....

[littlemisspp]

Backsliding (Part 1) (TH)

Summary: You and Tom broke up a while ago and hadn't seen each other since. But one night you spot each other in a club, and things get interesting. 

A/N: The song mentioned is ‘break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored’ by Ariana Grande. I thought the vibes fit well and its just a bomb ass song. Part 2 coming soon!!!

EDIT: HERE IS PART 2

_____

Let’s get one thing understood. You did NOT intend for this to happen. Not at all. You were never the type of person to backslide. You were independent, confident, and totally NOT still in love with your ex. 

Nope. Never.

Or at least that is what you told yourself.

There you were, stood numb at the bar of Hollywood’s hottest A list nightclub with two of your best friends. You were supposed to be out having a good time, celebrating the weekend. But no. It was ruined.

By him.

At first you didn’t even notice him. You were sitting at one of the tables with your friends, stirring your cocktail with the straw when your best friend grabbed your arm in surprise.

“Y/N” She muttered, eyes wide. “He’s here”

“Who is?” You questioned, moving to turn around.

“Don’t look!” Your other friend snapped, grabbing your other arm. “He can not see you looking!”

“What is going on?” You say, fed up with the chaos. “Who is it, guys?”

“It’s...” Your friend looked at your other friend.

“It’s Tom” She said, frown crossing her lips. “Y/N, we can leave right now-”

You didn’t listen to the rest of what she said, your mind buzzing. Tom was here? He hardly ever went out. He hated it. Why was he here? Why was he even in Los Angeles? 

You and Tom hadn’t spoken since that one fateful night in London. The night when you stormed out, fed up with the fighting. Your break up was hard, one of the toughest obstacles you had ever had to conquer. Usually your turn around was fairly quick, but this heartbreak had you in bed for days.

That was six months ago. 

And now, he was in the same room as you.

You blink, fading back to reality as your two friends look at you.

“It’s okay” You say confidently, looking at them both. “It’s been six months, I’m good now”

Your friends exchange a look, both of them more than aware of how awful that break up was for you... and them. 

At this point you hadn’t even seen him with your own eyes yet. There was still a small chance your friends were mistaken. A lot of people look like Tom, especially in a dark nightclub. 

You tried to calm the butterflies in your stomach and turned around, eyes peering over your shoulder as you scanned the room of mingling people. Your eyes went from figure to figure, squinting to study each and every face in the room. 

And alas, his beautiful face wasn’t one of them. 

You exhale in relief, calming your rising blood pressure only to lock eyes with Harrison.

Then it was like the whole world started to spin. Your heart pumping as the temperature started to rise. Harrison was there. Which meant Tom was there... somewhere.

Fuck.

Tom was walking back from the toilets, squeezing through the room of moving bodies when he found his friend, grabbing his beer from him.

“Mate” Harrison said, eyes wide. “Y/N is here”

Tom scoffed, “Doubt that, she hates these types of places”

Tom’s heart began to pound, eyes starting to scan the room of people. He doubted you were here. That would be almost too cruel of a joke. Out of all the places you could be in the entire world, there was no way you were here. In the same room. As him. At this current moment.

“She was just sat over there with her friends” Harrison offers, finger pointing toward a table.

The table was empty, causing his nerves to rise even more. Now you could be anywhere. He hadn’t seen you in months, what was he supposed to even say to you? Did he ask how you were? Did he even acknowledge you at all? 

“I need another drink” Tom mutters, moving past Harrison to get toward the bar.

Harrison follows, commenting on how that sounded like a good idea. Tom shoved through people, finally making it to the bar. He walked right up to the tender, ordering a whiskey neat.

Tossing his card on the counter he turns around, looking back at the crowd and scanning the room for you. He was starting to feel anxious. The impending conversation you would have to have freaked him out. Not even trying to think about the scenarios if he saw you here with another man.

Across the bar you stood asking what the strongest drink the bartender could make was, and how quickly you could get it. You kept looking around, trying to locate Harrison again, trying to get a location on Tom’s possible where-abouts.

“Y/N, we could just go to another club” Your friend reasoned.

“No” You say. “We don’t have to leave just because of Tom. I refuse to let him ruin this for me”

Your friend nods, nervously sipping her own drink as the bar tender brings you yours, placing a napkin under the glass while you give him some cash. He moves, allowing you to see across the bar. 

At first you look right past him, busy going from face to face. But then your brain catches up with your eyes, and you flick your head back to him. But his eyes are already boring into yours.

God, he was just as gorgeous as you remembered. He was wearing that button up dress shirt you absolutely loved, and had proudly ripped off of him plenty of times in the past. His hair had grown out slightly, almost begging you to run your fingers through it from across the bar.

Little did you know, Tom was in just as much awe as you.

His breath caught in his throat when the bartender stepped aside, allowing him a clear view of the woman across the bar. You were just as beautiful as he had remembered. It slightly pained him to look at you, his brain running into overdrive as he took in your appearance.

The dress you wore was one of his personal favorites. It was the one you had worn while you both vacationed in Ibiza, one of his fondest memories. Your hair was longer than the last time he’d seen you, your figure looking better than ever- and he didn’t even think that to be possible.

A small smirk crossed his lips as he watched your wide eyes look him up and down, the alcohol pulsing through him as he leaned against the bar. The whiskey now hitting him like a truck, his mind clouded.

You watched him turn and wave a bar tender over, exchanging words before the tender nodded and moved to make a drink. Your mind wonders for a moment what he was up to, but then you almost go pale as the tender turns and walks toward you, placing a drink in front of you.

Your friends break out into hysterics, also witnessing the delivery. 

“Did he just-” Your one friend gasped, looking down at the drink sitting in front of you.

You raise the glass and take a sip, eyes widening at the taste. You knew exactly what kind of drink that was. How dare he. The fruity taste was so familiar to you it hurt. The peach flavor swirling with the vodka making your own head spin.

It was a Sex On The Beach. Your favorite drink.

Tom laughed to himself, watching as you picked up the drink and looked back to him. He had hoped you’d understand the gesture, but based off your expression, he figured the message had been delivered.

Harrison nudged him, nodding toward the dance floor. Tom nods, titling his head back and finishing the drink off with a big gulp. He follows his best friend onto the floor, joining a group of people Harrison was chatting with. He turns around, now significantly closer to you.

Under the flashing lights of the club, the DJ changes songs and the beat of a popular Ariana Grande song begins. Your friends freak out, excited by the tune as they pull you to the dance floor.

It was then you decided to just go all in on this little game Tom was trying to play. With the fruity drink in hand, you glance at him as you begin to move. Your friends flanking beside you as you dance, the beat and the alcohol making you focus on nothing but your movements.

It was like some cruel joke. Tom was glued to you. He had never cared much for that ‘break up with your girlfriend’ song, but currently, in that club, it was his favorite song of all time. The way you moved and looked in that moment was heavenly. He watched you move your hips, fingers running through your hair as the drink in your hand gleamed in the club lights.

You tilt your head, making eye contact as you move. You snicker to yourself, based on his expression and how he was frozen on the floor, you figured your play was successful. And you had to admit, you kinda liked this game.

You mouthed the words to the song while you danced, completely and utterly feeling yourself at the moment. 

“Your at home like damn, she can't compare”

The song was moving into its bridge when you smiled, sending him a flirty wink. The alcohol moving through your veins making you feel like you were on top of the world. Any caution you had and any worries you carried were thrown into the wind. 

“But you without me ain’t nice”

You felt arms wrap around your waist, smiling to yourself as you moved. You had officially won the game. Tom’s breath is hot on your neck, pulling you closer to him as you dance the rest of the song.

The beat finishing out and you turn, the song changing. 

“Y/N” He breathes, suddenly aware of himself.

“Thomas” You note. “Fancy seeing you here”

He still had his arms around you, holding you to him as you speak only inches apart. You could feel his breath brushing against your face.

“I-I don’t know what I’m doing here” He says, looking puzzled.

You giggle, both of you clearly intoxicated. 

Your hands slide up his chest, resting on his shoulders. His eyes look deep into yours, like he was trying to memorize what was in front of him before it was too late. You notice his eyes flicker down to your lips, an idea popping into your head.

“Don’t over think it” You hiccuped. “J’kiss me”

He gulps, not even taking a second to consider it. His lips crash onto yours for the first time in half a year, and it felt like heaven. Even in your heavily clouded mind, your heart races and before you know it, you are wrapping your arms around his neck and kissing him even harder. 

You had to admit, you really, really missed kissing him.

Tom pulls away, with only one thing on his mind now: You.

He grabs your hand, leading you through the crowded dance floor, past the bar, and into the hallway by the toilets. Without a word he has you pushed up against the wall, leaning into you fully while you embrace again.

You don’t even think about anything but him. How his lips move against yours and feel so familiar. Your brain was slowly piecing together the next step, your sense of reason taking the night off.

His hands are holding you still against him, fingers ruffling the material of that damned dress from Ibiza. You feel something brush against your thigh, an entire new wave of tension flushing through you.

Sure, you missed Tom. You missed talking to him, and being around him, but you also reallllly missed being in bed with him. But let's be honest: who wouldn't?

You pull away, chest heaving as you look at him. He blinks, pulping wide as he licks his lips.

“Well?” you say, “My place or yours?”

[matrixaffiliate]

Endeavor

Chapter Update! FFN and AO3

Next chapter goes up on August 8th! =)

Chapter 2

Ted walked into the office the next morning and went right to the sign that Vic had made the day before. He had scoured the internet to find out what these old machines sounded like and did his best to imitate the noises he'd heard on different obscure YouTube videos as he mimicked stamping his time card. Vic laughed at her desk while he did so.

"Good morning," He grinned at her as he sat in his desk chair. "Did you clock in?"

"Oh yes," Vic nodded seriously, "I want to make sure I keep this job. It's helping to support my family until they find me a good husband."

Ted pushed down the question of whether or not Sean was in the running for her husband and the question of if Sean was worried about helping her keep her job.

"What a noble thing to do, so selfless of you." He grinned when she laughed. He really liked the sound of her laugh.

"So how was running around with Uncle Ron all day yesterday?"

Ted smirked, "Brutal, the hazing here is intense. I don't know how you put up with it."

Vic shook her head, "How else will we know if you're up to working here?"

Ted laughed, "See this is how I know that working here is the right move. I like a group that doesn't mess around, no-nonsense, nose to the grindstone, that's how I like it."

Vic laughed, "I can tell. I don't think there's a bone in your body that knows how to joke around."

"Not a one," Ted shrugged, "some people think it's a waste, but I think they're just jealous."

Vic laughed before her phone rang and she composed herself to answer it.

Ted took advantage of the moment to get his laptop turned on and start unloading the few things he brought for his desk. He'd just started to look through the new potential clients that Ron had been wanting to reach out to when Vic's voice spoke up.

"A wolf figurine?" She picked up the wolf his mum had given him when he finished A-Levels.

Ted gave a nervous laugh, "Er, do you know my last name?"

She bit her lip, "No, does that make me a bad coworker?"

Ted shook his head but he couldn't keep from smiling. "You know if I answer that honestly, I'm only going to make you feel bad."

"Do you even know my last name?" Vic crossed her arms over her chest, still holding the wolf.

Ted smirked, "Why yes, Weasley, I do."

Vic blushed and then laughed, "Fine, I'm an awful person, now what's your last name?"

"You think I'll let you off the hook that easily, Weasley?" Ted grinned. "You underestimate me."

"Oh, come on, I admitted to being awful." She kicked his foot.

"And I admire your honesty." Ted held out his hand for his wolf figurine.

Vic smirked. "I think I'll hold on to this, at least until I guess your last name."

Teddy briefly considered fighting her for it, but he smiled when she rubbed her hand over it like it was a puppy she was petting.

"Sure, hold on to it."

She blinked and bit her lip before smiling, "Thanks, I'll give it back once I figure out your last name."

Ted shrugged and grabbed his phone to call the first company on Ron's list. "I won't hold my breath."

Vic went to argue with him, but Teddy held up his hand and responded to the receptionist that had answered his call.

Her playful glare put a smile on his face for the rest of the calls he had to make.

"Did you bring lunch?" Vic asked as she moved to the fridge.

Ted looked up at the clock and raised his eyebrows. Was it really already one o'clock?

"Er, yeah, I did," Ted pulled his backpack to him.

Vic moved to the card table as Ted sat at his desk and pulled out his sandwich.

"You're going to eat at your desk?"

Ted looked up at her, "Yep."

"Well, this will be an awkward lunch hour. I'm practically shouting at you from over here."

Ted smirked, "Yeah, really awkward."

Vic pulled her drink to her lips and Teddy felt his smirk morphing into a smile. She had something about her, something that kept pulling him in even when his brain kept telling him to back off. Honestly, he needed to stop, she was snogging a guy in the office when he wasn't there. But try as he might, Ted couldn't stop himself. Vic was pulling him in and he couldn't, or maybe he wouldn't stop her.

"Well, what shall we shout about?"

"Do you normally shout with the men in your life?"

"Only when they insist on sitting fifty feet away from me."

"Fifty feet? This office is barely twenty feet across." Ted laughed.

Vic ignored him, "No one likes a cleverclogs, Ted."

He laughed loudly at that one, "Fine, I don't normally care for shouting at the women in my life, but if you insist on eating all the way over there, I can make a special exception for you."

"You're ridiculous," Vic laughed and went to say more when her cell phone rang.

She looked torn as she looked at the screen before mouthing sorry to him and swiping to answer.

"Hi, Sean."

Ted turned to look out the window and tried to push away the annoyance he felt. It would make sense her boyfriend would call over her lunch hour. He tried to tune her out and focus on the cars driving past the office building, but the catch in her voice as she spoke again completely threw that idea out the window.

"Oh, are you sure you can't do that another night?"

Ted focused on chewing his food to keep from turning to look at her.

"No, I understand, just, we planned this out last month."

It was involuntary. Ted glanced her way and saw one of the most dejected looks he'd ever seen, including when Lily was two-years-old and didn't get a second scoop of ice cream.

"Alright, but I'll see you tonight?"

Ted looked back out the window and took a long drink from his water bottle.

"Oh, right, well, text me then."

It wasn't his business, but Ted couldn't help but feel like taking it to blows with Sean. How dare he treat this amazing woman like someone he could blow off?

"Right. Bye."

Ted finally allowed himself to turn his office chair back to face Vic and found her gripping her phone tightly between her hands.

"Everything alright?"

Vic took a deep breath and nodded, "Yeah, just, just plans changing and I've always been a little frustrated when that happens."

"Must be something big to cancel plans that have been set out for a month."

Vic swallowed hard and took a bite of her sandwich. Ted took the hint and moved the conversation forward.

"Well, while you were rudely interrupting our shouting match, I thought we might start shouting about how insane it is that Ron couldn't find space for two more desks at the main office."

Vic grinned. "You're more observant than most. I have two theories on that one."

"Wait!" Ted held up his hand as he set down his sandwich. "We have to make sure that he hasn't bugged the office to spy on us."

He started inspecting the ceiling and the floors, Vic's laughter echoing in the small space. Ted opened the supply closet and the bathroom and the fridge and the microwave before deciding he'd played the part well enough and went back to his desk.

"Alright, I think the coast is clear. Now, what are your theories?"

Vic grinned, "Well, my first theory is that he's protective of me, and doesn't want me involved with all the politicking that happens at the main office. But my second theory is that he doesn't want this to keep being a part of Bread & Butter. I think he's prepping this so that it could become its own operation. And that transition goes much smoother if the people who work here haven't been involved with Bread & Butter at all. I mean, aside from meeting everyone at the main office, did you get contact information? Sure, we could find them over the company system, but we don't do anything that involves them at all. Uncle Ron even hires a different company to deliver for our department than the rest of the company."

Teddy felt his eyes go huge. "Vic you're brilliant!"

Vic blushed, "Well, that's just my speculation…"

"No!" Teddy shook his head, "You're a genius, really, and that's going to completely change the game!"

Ted snagged his notebook and pen and started jotting down notes.

"What are you on about?" Vic moved back to her desk chair and rolled it to his desk.

"Vic, my degree is in marketing, not sales, but your uncle hired me basically on the spot. He's got you running a website and coordinating deliveries. But he's completely cut us off from the rest of Bread & Butter. He told me that he wanted to see me pioneer this division. Vic, we're building a company! And I know how to market that! My job title says Salesman, but I'm sitting on the precipice of being the Chief Marketing Officer. If I can show Ron what I can do to increase my sales, if you and I can grow this into something big, Vic we could be the C-staff of this gig!"

Vic stared at him for a long moment before rolling back to her desk and grabbing a notepad and pen.

"So, what do we do?"

"Why did Ron hire you?" Ted pushed back in his chair.

Vic looked down, "Because I needed a job."

"No," Teddy shook his head, "I will put a thousand pounds down that he did not pity hire you. Did you go to university or any sort of training after A-levels?"

Vic shrugged, "I went to uni, but my degree is in communications, how does that help here?"

Ted looked out the window and thought about it, trying to connect the dots. What did Ron have in store for Vic? Then it hit him.

"You're pretty close with Ron?"

Vic smiled, "I'm his and Aunt Hermione's go-to sitter for Rose and Hugo. And growing up they were always my favorite to play with at family gatherings."

"You're Ron's pick for Chief Operating Officer," Ted scribbled down in his notebook again. "He knows he can trust you to handle anything he throws at you. Did you know anything about managing a website before this?"

Vic shrugged, "No, but it wasn't hard to learn. I watched a load of online courses and I've been able to keep it going pretty well after that."

Ted grinned, "We're building this company up Vic, and we didn't even have to do the hard part, we get to jump into the fun and make this happen!"

"Ted," Vic bit her lip, "I was just speculating. I have no idea if I'm right."

Ted shook his head. "But it doesn't matter if you're right or not. Don't you see Vic? Even if this isn't Ron's intention, we can make this his intention. We can make this big enough to be its own company."

Vic shook her head. "Ted, I don't know the first thing about running a company or even what a chief operating officer is."

Ted looked at the clock, it was nearly two and he had a phone meeting scheduled with a client. "What are you doing after work? We can plan this out, I can teach you what we're working towards, give you the vision of where we're heading."

Vic looked at her cell phone for a moment and licked her lips.

Ted guessed she was thinking about Sean. "This would just be work, Vic, we'll even stay here at the office."

"Right," she kept looking at her black phone screen. "Right, ok, I'm free tonight."

"Perfect," Ted tried to ignore the way his heart beat faster. "We'll order some dinner and then we can start mapping this out, make ourselves a plan."

She smiled and looked back at him, "Sounds great."

Ted would have sworn that all of their clients were talking in slow motion as he had his phone meetings throughout the rest of the day. But finally, five rolled around and Teddy felt like he'd won the lottery.

This wasn't a date; he reprimanded his stupid heart. This was a business planning meeting with dinner involved. This wasn't a date.

"What are you in the mood for?" Vic scrolled through the options on her computer.

"I'm not picky, my family has always been pretty adventurous when it comes to food."

"Oh, there's an Indian place the next street over, how does that sound?"

Ted grinned, "Sounds good, but I doubt they'll do as well as my Uncle James."

"Uncle Harry's dad?"

Ted nodded. "Hands down he could out cook the majority of the Indian restaurants in London."

"I'll have to try that sometime then. But what do you want from here?"

They placed their orders and when it came time to enter the payment, Ted pushed her chair so it rolled across the room and quickly typed in his card info and paid.

"I have cash, I can pay you my share." Vic shoved her chair at him.

"How are you going to get me to take your cash? You don't even know my last name." Ted sat back down in his chair and grinned.

"I could stick it in your shirt pocket." She grabbed her purse out of her desk and started counting out the correct number of bills.

"I'll throw it back at you. I'm not the sort of bloke to throw money at women, but when it's her own money I'll make a special exception." Ted put his hands behind his head and leant back in his chair and smirked.

"Here," she stood and slipped the small wad of bills into his shirt pocket.

Ted almost shivered at her touch, but just as soon as she pulled her hand away, he grabbed the money and threw it back at her.

"You're not paying me back."

Vic picked up the money from the floor. "Come on, aren't we supposed to be coworkers?"

"I don't use bills," Ted shrugged, "I'd probably just lose them. It's a waste of your money to pay me back."

"Really, Ted, you can't just go buying me dinner."

"Of course, I can, you don't know my last name, I can get away with almost anything right now," Ted smirked at her.

"You know, all I have to do is find you on the company roster and I'd know your last name."

"Do you know my first name?" Ted kicked his feet out in front of him.

"No, I'm just calling you Ted because it felt right."

Teddy ignored the way his heart beat harder at her wording.

"Ted is a shortened version of my name, and there happens to be more than one name that shortens to Ted." He smirked at her. "The company roster has my full proper name, Weasley."

Vic narrowed her eyes at him. "I could always call Aunt Ginny."

Ted shrugged, "You could, I don't think you will, but you could. She is my godmother, after all, she would definitely want to know why you want to know my full name."

Vic bit her lip. "If I knew your full name would you take the money?"

"Nope," Teddy grinned at the groan Vic let out.

"You are absolutely impossible!"

"Infuriating isn't it? You should meet the men who taught me how to do this."

"You mean there are men out there who teach you to be awful?" Vic kicked half-heartedly at his feet still stretched out near her chair.

"Oh yes, they taught me all of the awful things, like paying for dinner and holding doors open and being kind and saying please and thank you and asking for consent and all the other things that turn you into a right scoundrel."

Vic chuckled, "Sound like a group of tossers."

Ted smiled; the Marauders had their moments.

"They're the best men I know."

"I'd like to meet them someday."

Her voice had a softer quality to it and Ted felt his heart caving into the sound of it combined with the little smile that touched her lips.

"So, keep your money," Ted tried to bring the joking back as he cleared his throat. "Because those same men will kick my arse if you don't."

"That I might pay to see." Vic laughed and put her foot out to tap his.

"So cruel," Ted shook his head.

Then their dinner arrived and Ted was grateful for the interruption. He was quickly finding himself falling fast with Vic and he didn't want to stop himself. This woman was everything he'd ever looked for and he just felt in sync with her. It was easy, too easy. So easy that he was already having to stop himself from reaching out to touch her. She wasn't his. She had a boyfriend. He needed to back off. He needed to stop.

But he didn't. He justified it by telling himself that this opportunity to grow their division into its own operation was too good to pass up. And Vic deserved this. She deserved to see how far she could go. To see that Ron trusted her more than she probably understood. And if he could give her that, well, it would be worth holding himself back, mostly.

"Alright, I'm going to have to roll myself out of here." Vic moved what was left of her food to the fridge. "Let's get started and you can teach me all those things I need to know to help run a start-up."

Ted grinned and put the rest of his food in the fridge with hers.

"Good idea, the sooner we start the better, you don't want to be driving home in the dark." Ted teased.

Vic blushed, "Well, I go home to my parents' so I'd prefer it after dark. Then most everyone is asleep."

"Alright then, I'll make sure to go into great depth and detail to make sure you aren't leaving here until well after sunset. Then you can pretend you bought your childhood home and live alone with your cat."

Vic scoffed, "Do I look like a woman who would own a cat?"

Ted nodded, "Oh yes, you have the crazy cat lady vibe going for you."

Vic threw a napkin at him, "I hate you."

"How can you hate me? You've known me for less than 72 hours." Ted threw the napkin back at her.

"You just called me a crazy cat lady!"

"No, I said you had the vibe for it," Ted kicked her foot from under the card table. "I'm sure you'll not end up alone without anyone to fill the companionship void but a cat."

"You don't like cats?" Vic kicked his foot back.

"Cats are alright, but I'm not much of a pet person. I like Uncle Sirius' dog well enough, but pets seem like a lot of work for a lot of feedback that doesn't appeal to me. I don't find joy in sitting with a dog or a cat. And I don't really like watching anything you'd keep in an atrium."

"Do you want kids then? Or are they like pets?"

"Are you kidding me?" Ted laughed. "Having kids is completely different than having pets. Kids are little humans that you get to help grow and here's the best part, kids ultimately can handle their bowel movements without any help from me."

Vic's laughter came bursting out of her and Ted couldn't help but admire the way she looked so happy.

"But, yeah, I'm looking forward to being a dad." He rubbed the back of his neck to keep his hand from reaching across the table for her.

Vic's smile went just a touch sad and Ted frowned.

"Hey, you alright?"

She sighed, "Yeah, just wish more blokes were like you."

Ted's heart flipped in his chest.

"But that's neither here nor there," Vic pulled her notepad to her. "Let's get down to business."

Ted blinked, "Er, right."

Ted moved to retrieve his notebook and felt a small smile tug at his lips. Because Vic said she wished more guys were like him, and Ted hoped the underlying message was she wished Sean were like him. Or maybe that he was in Sean's place.

He was so screwed.

[talkfastromance4]

For Your Eyes Only– bodyguard!ashton [Chapter Eight]

Summary: Ashton Irwin is the head of security for Princess Alouette who is a kind, gentle young woman. Secretly pining for one another, those feelings will soon come to light as an occurrence will change Alouette’s life forever, and Ashton’s.

Word count: 2338

Warnings: slight smut in the beginning, softness and a poor (unplanned) reference to the notebook near the end

Masterlist

Chap. 1 || Chap. 2 || Chap. 3 || Chap. 4 || Chap. 5 || Chap. 6 || Chap. 7

It’s been a week since Alouette came back home from the lake, she’s still having her advisors handle her duties but she’s a bit more involved than before she left. She still didn’t want to be seen in the public quite yet and Ashton senses the looming storm still within her. 

He hasn’t asked her what happened to her in that room again, for fear of her completely shutting down and away from him. That’s the last thing he wanted. Calum is still interim head of security with Ashton delegating here and there while also trying to find out who instigated her kidnapping.

It’s as if an unspoken law has been bound between Ashton and Alouette, because they’re always together. Whispers are spread throughout the castle of their tryst but with the amount of respect each worker has for their Princess, they never bring it to light. 

Sunday mornings are reserved only for Ashton and Alouette, with absolutely no interruptions. 

Her fingers are light as they dance up the center of his back while he’s breathing heavily above her. Their hips moving in slow, tantric pulls. Ashton nudges her nose with his then stretches his lips to hers for a passionate kiss. 

Alouette moans beautifully inside his mouth, and Ashton drags his fingers along the creamy skin of her thigh. His thrusts are precise, hitting her in the right spot each time. 

“Angel,” he whispers when he feels her clench around him. 

“Ash--”

“Alouette Jolene!”

Alouette’s door flies open banging the wall and causing Ashton and Alouette to break their kiss in startlement. He covers her out of instinct and respect because her staff know better than to come bursting in her room. Especially on a Sunday. 

He covers himself with the sheet quickly and Alouette does the same but peers over Ashton’s shoulder to see who the intruder was. She sighs disdainfully next to him and Ashton peers behind his shoulder to see a tall, narrow eyed brunette glaring at the two of them.

“Aurora, what are you doing here?” Alouette asks sitting up a little straighter.

Ashton’s ears perk at the familiar name. She’s a cousin to Alouette who married a Prince of her own from Norway, the only way she was granted a title. Ashton stares at her disdainfully, he’s heard stories about her from Alouette and Michael. Not only does she think she has control over Alouette but she’s ruined their perfect Sunday morning. 

“Coming to talk some sense into you! This is what you’ve been doing for the last five weeks? Sleeping with the help?” Her voice cuts like knives and her words are going in for the kill.

Ashton sets his jaw, his fist clenching the bed sheet between him and Alouette. Her fingers rub the backs of his knuckles. 

“Aurora, you have no business being here. For one thing, it’s rude to barge into someone’s room unannounced and for a second, you have no jurisdiction here. Not over Chadria and definitely not over me,” Alouette’s tone is firm and authoritative. 

Ashton stares at her in awe, he’s never heard her speak like this with anyone before. 

“Suitors are sending in requests from all over for your hand, you need to stop messing around and get back to your--”

“In case you hadn’t heard,” Ashton speaks over Aurora sitting up so he’s blocking Alouette, “the Princess was taken hostage a month ago and she’s still recovering.”

Ashton will always defend Alouette even if the situation is compromising such as this.

“You have no right to talk to me like that, guard,” Aurora scorns. “I’ll make sure you’re fired for forcing my poor, sweet cousin to fornicate with you.”

“Aurora, that’s enough!” Alouette shouts. She shuffles from under the covers and stands, her sheets covering her like a toga. Her hair is a bit messy but her eyes are a fierce blue. 

Ashton can’t look away.

“You may have married a Prince, but like I said, you have no jurisdiction here. This is my kingdom. I don’t know what made you think you had to come here but you can go back to Norway. Your presence isn’t welcome at this time. Now please, leave.”

It’s a stare down between both women. With one last disgusted look to Ashton, Aurora huffs and stomps out of the room slamming the door in her wake. 

“She seems lovely,” Ashton jokes trying to lighten the mood. 

Alouette sighs falling to the bed and Ashton scoots closer to her and kisses her shoulder. 

“I’m sorry about her.”

“You don’t need to apologize, angel,” he continues to skim his lips over her skin. 

Alouette turns quickly, the sheet falls from her chest as she links her arms behind Ashton’s broad shoulders. Her eyes are intense as she stares into his.

“You know you’re more than help or a guard to me, right? That you’ve been more than that for a long time?”

Ashton smiles softly tucking her curl behind her ear and admires her. Her cheeks are tinted pink from their intimate moment, her rose colored lips are parted slightly and her eyes, her beautiful eyes are filled with remorse but also hope. 

“I do know,” he nods cocking his head to the side, “because you’ve been more than just my Princess for the same amount of time.”

Alouette smiles joyously then presses her lips to his. Ashton falls back against her bed and they continue where they left off before they were so rudely interrupted. 

•••••

 Alouette and Ashton were sitting out on the swing bench by the lake, cups of tea in both of their hands as they gazed across the water. Ducks and swans were gliding lazily over the water, their feathers glistening in the sun when they’d bathe themselves. Her fish were reaching the surface now and then as well, bursts of oranges and yellows touching the water.

Alouette sighs taking a sip of her tea.

“Swans have always been my favorite kind of bird,” she says.

Ashton looks at her when she speaks but her eyes stay glued to the two swans floating underneath the willow tree. 

“Why’s that?” Ashton asks, setting his cup on the small table in front of them. He rests his arm on the back of the bench, his thumb touching her shoulder. 

“Because they’re graceful and beautiful but fierce when it comes to protecting their young. Did you know that swans have one mate for life? And if one of them dies, the other could die of heartbreak?”

“I didn’t know that, no,” Ashton murmurs watching her steadily. 

While she described the white feathered birds to him, he couldn’t help but compare the exquisite bird to Alouette.  She’s the epitome of beauty and grace and only recently with Aurora he’s seen how fierce she can be. 

“You’re my swan, Ashton,” she confesses tearing her eyes away from the two birds. Her eyes are full of love and sincerity from her proclamation. 

“You’re--”

“Ashton, Princess,” Calum says from behind them. They both turn to look at him.

“What is it, Cal?” Ashton sighs rubbing Alouette’s shoulder with his thumb.

“The Queen is here and she’s requesting you both,” Calum relays the information, there’s a slight falter when he says the word queen. 

Ashton’s heart plummets and Alouette sighs again.

“Thank you, Cal. We’ll be right up.”

•••••

 Ashton’s palms are sweaty as he follows Alouette to the Queen’s office when she visits Alouette. So many thoughts race through his head for what she could want to discuss with them both. 

Will Ashton get fired because of his lack of judgment back in Paris? He had to speak with Queen Helene first before he was placed as Alouette’s head guard and being the Queen she could easily strip him of that title, and his job in general. 

Peter, Queen Helene’s head bodyguard is standing outside the closed white oak doors, hands folded in front of him. He smiles warmly when he sees Alouette and opens his arms.

“Princess,” he greets and Alouette walks into his embrace.

“Hi Pete, it’s so good to see you.”

“It’s wonderful to see you. The Queen wanted to see you as soon as we heard of what happened but--”

“I understand, Pete, it’s okay. I’m glad she didn’t have to see me like that.”

Peter glances up at Ashton who is going paler by the second because of the thoughts running through his mind. 

“She’s waiting for you, Princess,” Peter continues then releases his hold on her. He eyes her appearance. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“You have Ashton and his team to thank for that,” Alouette smiles at Ashton. “I’ll be right back.”

Peter steps aside and opens the door letting Alouette walk inside. 

“Alouette!”

“Grandmére!” 

Peter closes the door then turns to stare at Ashton. Ashton gulps.

•••••

Queen Helene and Alouette hold each other for a long time until tears spring in Alouette’s eyes. Her grandmother’s lilac perfume brings her back to when she was younger and would spend the summer’s with her at the palace. 

“I’m so glad to see you mon chérie,” the Queen breathes petting her granddaughter’s soft hair. 

“I’m glad to see you, too,” Alouette whispers.

“Come. Sit with me, mon chérie,” the Queen takes her granddaughter’s hand leading her to the soft pink couch near the window. 

Alouette notices she can see the swing bench by the lake from the view of her window, her heart races. Did her grandmother see Alouette and Ashton?

“How are you faring?” Helene asks, eying her granddaughter’s face.

“Each day gets better,” Alouette nods. “Dr. Hunt has been wonderful. I know I’ve been neglecting my duties, I know how disappointed you must be--”

“Not at all, Alouette. I was terrified as soon as I heard the news of what happened and then to hear that Ashton found you? I’m so sorry it took me so long to see you until now.”

“You wouldn’t have wanted to see what I looked like before,” Alouette sighs. 

“I came here because I want to discuss a few things with you. First and foremost, as soon as you’re ready to fulfill your duties let me know. They are being taken care of so you have nothing to worry about and the people of Chadria are more than willing to wait for your return.”

“Thank you,” Alouette mutters, tears welling in her eyes yet again. 

“And I’ve already spoken to Aurora, she won’t be bothering you again,” Helene adds grimly. “But that does bring up the subject of you and Mr. Irwin.”

Alouette gulps then nods. She knew this would be coming. She braces herself for the command of not seeing him anymore, to let him go.

 “Do you love him?”

“I’m sor--what?” 

“Do you love him?”

“I . . . I do, yes,” Alouette swallows confused at the unexpected turn of this conversation. 

“Good. That makes me happy,” Helene grabs her granddaughters hands giving them a squeeze. “And he loves you, too?”

“He does, grandmére,” Alouette finally relaxes. “I’ve never loved anyone like I do Ashton. He’s been with me everyday since the kidnapping helping me through it. He’s wonderful.”

“That’s all I needed to hear. Can you bring him in? I’d like to speak with you both.”

“O-okay,” Alouette nods then rises from the couch. 

When she opens the door she’s beaming at Ashton who is still white as a ghost standing next to Pete. “Come with me,” she says holding out her hand. 

Ashton glances at Pete then hesitantly takes Alouette’s hand following her into the office. His heart is racing when he becomes face to face with the Queen. 

“Your Majesty,” he greets bowing slightly. 

“Hello Mr. Irwin,” Helene smiles motioning to the couch next to her. “Please, sit.”

He follows Alouette and sits rigidly on the couch. Alouette rubs his hand in hers.

“I’m aware of the relationship you have with my granddaughter, Mr. Irwin and I wanted to tell you both that you have my blessing. But I’d also like to know both of your intentions as this appears to be moving forward. As you know, when Alouette turns twenty-five she will become Queen.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Ashton says swallowing audibly. His heart is still racing. 

“Would you like to stay on as her head bodyguard or down the road become her Prince Consort?”

Alouette and Ashton squeeze each other’s hand at the same time, inhaling deeply. 

“We haven’t really discussed that yet, grandmére,” Alouette licks her lips. 

“Ah,” Helene smiles serenely but she can sense the tension she inadvertently caused. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. But as your birthday is approaching shortly, I’d like to know what you’ve both decided so we can move forward. January is your coronation, mon chérie.”

“Of course,” Alouette says. 

“Wonderful. Well, I’ll let you two continue on with your day and I will see you both for dinner,” Helene rises and so do Ashton and Alouette. She holds out her hand to Ashton who hesitantly takes it. “Thank you for all that you’ve done for my granddaughter and for the love I can clearly see you have for her.”

“Th-thank you, Your Majesty,” Ashton stammers but shakes her hand. 

Alouette pulls Ashton from the office and once they turn the corner down the hall from Pete, she sprints into the nearest room which is her small library. She launches herself into his arms and Ashton lets out a loud sigh.

“That was horrifying, I thought I was walking into my beheading,” he chuckles nervously into her hair. 

“I’m sorry she brought up the coronation and the whole Prince Consort thing,” Alouette shakes her head leaning back to look at him. “We don’t have to discuss--”

Ashton presses his lips to hers feverishly, his hand holding onto her neck. It took Alouette’s breath away. 

“We can discuss that, angel,” he breathes once he breaks the kiss staring into her eyes. “You’re my beautiful swan, I’ll follow you wherever you choose to fly.”

• • • •

Taglist: @galcalirwin @cashtonasff5sos @wokeupinjapanisabop @myloverboyash  @rotten-kandy @tea4sykes @jannimoeller3 @loveroflrh @iovehemmings

[calpalirwin]

Expecting

Summary: Luke becomes a dad

A/N: So @cxddlyash​ and I made these like comic book character pictures. And I thought it was funny how the text we put for ourselves went together like we personally were having a conversation. And it’s good dialogue I didn’t want to waste. So here’s a sequel to Period Pains that no one asked for just so I can use 2 lines of dialogue that really have nothing to do with the actual “plot” of whatever cute shit this is. 

Content: Soft cuz you know no one does it better than your gal(cal) Bri

Word Count: 1.5k

And away, and away we go!

__

“Hey, Lu?” Caroline asked.

“Hmm?” Luke hummed in response over the rim of his coffee cup.

“Remember how back a few months ago, you joked there was a way to stop my periods?”

He set down his cup with a shaky rattle. “What about it?” he croaked. 

“I’m two weeks late…”

He gripped his hands tightly together to control the shaking, forcing himself to stay calm. “H-have you taken a test?”

“Yep. Took one just now, actually.”

“A-and?”

“It’s on the bathroom counter.”

Caroline wasn’t sure she had ever seen the man move faster. In fact, she wasn’t sure someone like Luke could move that fast without tripping over his long limbs. When Luke’s scream shook the house, she slowly made her way to him. “Good yell or bad yell?”

When he turned, his blue eyes were glossy with held back tears, his curls disheveled from his hands passing through them so many times in the last minute. “Is this the only test you’ve taken?”

She shook her head. “I’ve been taking one every day for a week.”

“And they all say the same thing? They all say yes?”

“Yeah.”

“YES!” Luke’s voice cracked as it went high too fast. He rushed across to her, tears falling freely down their faces as excitement took over and they jumped up and down screaming. “Oh,” Luke spoke softly when he caught his breath, his fingers soft against her cheeks. “I love you so much, Care.”

She tilted her head in his touch, lips brushing against the palms of his hands. “We love you too, Lu. Can I ask you one thing?”

“Anything, baby.”

“I know we’re both excited, but can we keep this to ourselves for a bit?” Her question held all the fears she didn’t want to speak into existence. Fears about their loved ones getting too invested like they already were when she was too early along for anything to be certain.

Luke placed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Of course.”

~~~

It was hard on both of them to not shout their news from the rooftops with each passing doctor’s appointment that assured them their baby was developing right on schedule. Caroline and Luke passed the first three months combining her office with his music room, and then discussing how to decorate the newly freed up space.

“What do you think of this?” Caroline asked, sliding her laptop around so he could see the teal and grey nursery template.

Luke set his guitar aside and peered over at the screen. “You don’t want to go with something brighter? Something that will get their attention?”

“You know babies can’t really see color that well for the first few months, right?”

“They don’t?”

“Have you read any of the books?”

“Yeah!” he answered with fake indignation.

“Mhm, which ones?”

“The one with all the names…” he admitted with a sheepish grin.

Her eyes lit up. “Did you find one you like?”

“I found a lot of the ones you like,” he teased, referring to how the book was filled with blue-inked hearts next to yellow highlighted names.

“And?”

“What do you think about Charlie Hemmings?”

“Oh, that one’s my favorite!”

“Ready to tell everybody about Charlie?”

“So ready.”

They told their parents first, swearing them to secrecy until it was publicly announced. Within a week, a giant care package was delivered on their doorstep, courtesy of both their moms conspiring together.

From there, the parents-to-be decided to tell the godparents. Luke had suggested Ashton for godfather, while Caroline suggested her childhood friend Britt for godmother.

“But they’re not together. Are you sure we shouldn’t go with Mike and Crystal?” Luke wondered.

“It’s Ash and Britt. They’ll get together.”

“Care, you’ve been saying that since they met.”

“Well if Ash would pull his head out of his ass…”

“If Britt could string more than two words together around him…”

Caroline laughed. Neither of them were wrong. Their two dearest friends were… rather stubborn when it came to each other. “We don’t have to decide this now. We can just tell all our friends, and figure out godparents later.”

“No,” Luke shook his head. “I trust Britt and Ash.”

~~~

“Care?” Britt’s voice called out as she pushed open the door to her friends’ home. “Luke?”

“You invited Britt?” Ashton asked, raising an eyebrow at the woman’s voice. “Is everyone else coming over, too? What’s going on here?”

“I know you’re home,” Britt continued to talk as she walked deeper into the house. “Your cars are in th- oh! Hey, Ash.” Her voice squeaked as she caught sight of the black haired man sitting comfortably on the couch.

“Hey, love,” he greeted with a two-fingered wave that caused the woman’s cheeks to turn pink. “Did Care tell you what these two idiots are up to?”

Britt shook her head as she sat down next to him. “N-no.” She turned her attention to Caroline, her friend’s ever steady and soft gaze stilling her nerves she felt whenever she was in Ashton’s presence. “Care, what’s going on?”

Caroline’s cheeks burned from holding back her smile as she looked over at Luke. “Tell ‘em, Care.”

“We’re pregnant!” She clapped her hands over her mouth as the words tumbled forth much less eloquently than she had planned in her excited state.

“Oh, that’s great!” Britt squealed with her.

“Congrats,” Ashton smiled, reaching forward to give Caroline’s leg a small squeeze. “But that could’ve been a text.”

“We want you to be the godparents,” Luke spoke up.

Ashton choked, his hazel eyes flying over to Luke. “What?”

“Uh, a word, Care?” Britt asked, rubbing her neck.

The women left Ashton staring slack-jawed at Luke. “What’s wrong?” Caroline asked, worrying her bottom lip.

“You can’t do this to me…” her friend whispered frantically, looking over her shoulder at where Ashton was still coming to terms with the news that had been dropped in his lap.

“Aw, are you jealous?” Caroline teased good-heartedly.

“Yes!” Britt hissed. “No! I’m happy for you and Luke. But making me godmother with Ash as godfather? What the hell do you think you’re doing, Care?”

“What you and Ash are too scared to do yourselves.”

“I can barely be in the same room with him without sounding like an idiot. Now I’m gonna share your kid with him?!”

“Oh, would you relax? Luke and I aren’t dropping dead. This is just a symbolic title.”

“One I share with Ash!”

“Would you rather share it with someone else?”

“No!” Britt answered far too quickly.

Caroline grinned. “That’s what I thought.”

~~~

“You okay?” Luke asked, concern lacing his tone as Caroline gasped.

She took a few deep, slow breaths, her face pinched in pain. “Another contraction,” she winced.

Luke gripped her hand in his, squeezing lightly. “You got this, baby. I���m right here.”

“Lu?” she panted, sweat coating her face, tears prickling in the corners of her eyes.

“Yeah?”

“This is so much worse than period pains…”

“I know, baby, I know,” he soothed, using his free hand to push back her hair and wipe away some of the sweat.

“No, you don’t!” she hissed through gritted teeth, her fingernails digging small crescent shapes into his hand. “You don’t have a uterus that throws a fit every month unless you’re growing a human inside of it. A human you then have to push out of you!”

“You doing so good, Care,” he smiled a smile that has rarely left his lips the last 39 and a half weeks. A smile that bore nothing but total admiration for the girl by his side and complete amazement for the life they were creating.

“Ow…” she whimpered, loosening her grip as the contraction passed.

“Where does it hurt the most?”

“My back…”

“Here, sit up, and scooch forward,” Luke told her, standing up from where he had been sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. Caroline did as he directed as he squeezed himself in behind her, stretching out his legs on the outside of hers. “Try to relax as much as you can,” his voice remained soft and low as he started to rub at her back. He stayed that way, with her back pressed against his chest, alternating between rubbing at her back and her arms, always whispering reassurances in Caroline’s ear until there was a small cry and a bundle was placed in her awaiting arms.

“Oh, hi there, Charlie.” Tears ran a path down both their cheeks as Caroline cradled the baby close to her, Luke’s hand reaching over her to gently run a thumb over Charlie’s soft cheek.

“There are so many people waiting to meet you,” she cooed.

“They can wait a little longer,” Luke said, holding his family close to him.

“At least get Britt and Ash in here.”

“Shouldn’t you get some rest first?”

“Oh, please, Lu?” Caroline pleaded, turning her head upwards to look at him. “I feel fine, I promise. I want them to meet him.”

“Alright,” he gave in. “Scoot forward so I can get out.”

Caroline lost herself in the dark grey eyes of her son, with his little pixie nose and soft curls, until Britt’s gasped “Aww!” filled her ears.

She looked up to see the other woman, hand in hand with Ashton, grinning so wide, Caroline’s own cheeks hurt just looking at her friends. “Well, come meet Charlie. We’ve been expecting you.”

__

Tag List

@frontmanash​​ @goeatsomelife​​ @flameraine​​ @creator-appreciator​​ @cxddlyash​​ @1-irwin-94​​ @sparkling-calm​​ @tea4sykes​​ @youngblood199456​​ @5-seconds-of-obsession​​ @gosh-im-short​​ @aquarius-hood1996​​ @talkfastromance4​​ @itjustkindahappenedreally​​ @philthepegacorn​​ @boomerash​​ @teenwolfss24​​

[ladyreapermc]

Fic: Parent Trap 2/? (Keanu x Reader)

Summary: Annie and Hallie are twin sisters who never met until they end up in the same summer camp together. They decide to switch places to see how the other lives. Hallie heads to Los Angeles to meet Keanu, owner of Arch Motorcycle Company, while Annie goes to New York to meet you, rising fashion designer. Their plan is simple: get their parents together to make the perfect family. If only it could be that easy…

Prologue | Chapter 1

Author’s notes: So we finally get to see a bit more about these clueless parents. Hope you enjoy it and feedback is always appreciated.

Wordcount: 2446

Warnings: none.

New York, August 2019

You checked your watch for the third time in the last ten minutes before glancing at the arrival board again. Hallie’s flight had landed twenty minutes ago, but the girl had yet to appear. You knew your niece was probably just waiting for her luggage, but you were anxious to see her.

Hallie had spent a month away at camp and you truly didn’t think you would miss the girl this much. As a matter of fact, you’ve always believed you would be that kind of parent that taught their kids how to be independent, have more autonomy. Raise them for the world, isn’t that the saying?

You weren’t expecting the emptiness associated with Hallie being away though. The apartment was so silent and lonely that you had to contain your urge to call the girl every night, see how the camp was going. You didn’t want to be one of those overbearing parents that smothered their kids.

So you waited for Hallie’s calls and texts, even if they started to become rarer and rarer as the month progressed. You knew that was probably a good sign. She was having too much fun to remember to check-in, but it still made you worry and stare at the phone, trying to will it to ring.

That was over now though. Hallie was finally back and you weren’t planning on letting her out of your sight. She still had another month of summer break before classes started and you planned to enjoy with her everything New York had to offer.

You rose to your tiptoes to get a better look at the new wave of people stepping through the doors. Finally, you caught sight of the familiar redhead and your lips tilted into a smile as you took a moment to just watch as your niece looked around.

Was it possible that Hallie seemed a little taller than the last time you saw her? Her jawline a little sharper? It had really been only a month? Felt like so much longer. The longest you ever had been away from her since you adopted Hallie.

It had been so hard. Especially with knowing that Annie was still out there. No matter what everyone else said, you knew in your heart that she was alive somewhere and every inch of you craved to search for Annie, but Hallie needed you too and you had been only twenty-five and all by yourself.  

You definitely didn’t regret it a second of it, though. Almost thirteen years later and look at Hallie: such an amazing, sweet kid. Maybe you managed to do this parenting thing well enough. Even if it meant you ended up making a few sacrifices in your career and romantic life. It was all worth for Hallie.

“Hallie!” you shouted and waved and the girl took a second to look your way, but her eyes lighted up as she saw you.

You didn’t know why she looked a little awed at seeing you, but before you had time to really think about it, she was rushing towards you, but stopping almost as if in hesitation.

“Welcome back, Hal!” you greeted, pulling her into a tight hug, which the girl returned.

“Thanks, m…,” Hallie paused, clearing her throat quickly. “Dave.”

You pulled back to look at her with a smile and a frown. Had Hallie been about to say what you thought she was going to? She had never called you mom and you never pushed her to do so, even if that was how you felt in your heart.

“I missed you, kiddo,” you said pushing away the thought, before bringing the girl back into your arms, inhaling the scent of her strawberry shampoo. You could swear you missed Hallie so much even her hug seemed a little different. Like you had forgotten how they felt like.

“Missed you too,” Hallie replied as she pulled back and looked up at you. Once again with that awed expression.

“Come on,” you said, picking her duffle bag while throwing an arm around her shoulders. “I wanna hear all about camp.”

In the taxi ride home, Hallie told you everything with such detail, her eyes shining bright and you couldn’t help but grin.

“It does sound you had a great time, sweetie,” you commented as the two of you stepped through the front door and you handed Hallie the keys. “Why don’t you go ahead? I wanna check the mailbox.”

Hallie just nodded and you waited until the girl had disappeared up the stairs to unlock the box and pull out three envelops. You grimaced at the words overdue on them, but shoved inside your jacket pocket, way from sight. The last thing you wanted was to worry Hallie. you would think about these bills later.

Once you arrived at your floor you couldn’t help but chuckle at the way Hallie was struggling against the old lock. Moving closer, you set the girl’s bag on the ground.

“What? Been away so long you forgot the trick?” you joked, taking the girl’s place in front of the door, jiggling the keys three times while turning it so you could unlock and push it open.

“Salem!” You called. “Look who’s here!”

You looked around at the familiar room, searching for the black cat Hallie had adopted, but he was nowhere in sight. Weird. He was always waiting for you two at the door unless there was a stranger around.

You glanced over at Hallie, hoping the girl wasn’t too disappointed at not seeing her cat. You knew how much she loved Salem.

“It’s fine,” Hallie shrugged, a strange smile on her face. “I probably just smell like camp and the airplane.”

She shouldered her duffel and headed to her room without another word. As soon as she was out of sight, Salem peeked his head from under the couch, meowing softly and you sighed, kneeling to caress the cat.

“Everyone’s weird tonight,” you whispered, before flopping on the couch and ordering a pizza before checking her emails.

Yet another magazine had politely refused to feature your designs on their fashion section and you had to take a deep breath to battle sadness and tears. It wasn’t exactly surprising because your latest collection was far from your best work but you had to get something out there, find a way to keep the business afloat or be forced to sell your brand and that was the last thing you wanted.

With another sigh, you set your phone aside and moved towards your room, surprised to find Hallie standing there browsing your old sketches, the ones that hung on your wall since forever but Hallie was looking at them as if it was the first time.

“Hal?” you called to catch her attention and the girl jumped startled, looking at you almost guiltily.

“Everything ok, honey?”

“Yeah,” Hallie replied a little too quickly as her eyes shifted to the framed picture of you and Mary that you kept on your bedside table.

You watched the way the girl gently ran her finger over her mother’s face in the picture almost as if a caress; as if she was seeing for the first time.

“You’re sure?” you asked and it was impossible to miss the way Hallie wiped her eyes before turning to look at you with a smile.

“Guess I was just homesick,” she replied, voice rough with emotion.

“You’re home now,” you said, gathering your kid in your arms. “Everything’s back to normal.”

---

Los Angeles, August 2019

Keanu knew he should be paying closer attention to the meeting unfolding in front of him. A company as big as Harley interested in funding Arch meant he and Gard could go from being a custom shop based in LA to actually start selling nationally, maybe even internationally. They would be able to expand their business, maybe even start to build some of the parts they still have to import from other companies. It was huge.

Still, Keanu’s attention wavered, his eyes shifting periodically to the clock, before he glanced down at his cellphone, willing it to ring. Annie should be arriving soon and all he wanted was to be there to greet his baby girl as soon as she stepped through the gates, but this last-minute meeting had made it impossible, so Karina had to pick her up.

“We’ll get in touch once we make our decision,” Gard announced, bringing Keanu back from his musings.

He stood up from his seat to shake hands with the two sharply dressed men in their fancy elegant suits. Even Gard had thrown on a dress shirt for this meeting, but it wasn’t enough to make Keanu feel all that bad for his t-shirt and, jeans and brown hiking boots. Suits weren’t really his style.

“Did you hear a word they said?” Gard asked with an amused smile playing in his lips and Keanu chuckled, running his fingers through his messy raven locks.

“Maybe two or three,” he admitted with a sheepish look. His friend and partner snorted and shook his head, walking out of the office.

“You’re supposed to be the businessman, Ke. I’m the mechanic, remember?”

“I know, I know,” Keanu sighed, following Gard to the shop where the prototype of their new bike was waiting. “It won’t happen again. It’s just…”

“Annie is coming home, I know,” Gard smiled and patted Keanu’s back, who grinned and nodded.

Keanu had always wanted to be a father, everyone knew that. Call him old fashioned, but along with Arch, having a wife and a kid had to be one of his biggest dreams and for a while, he thought he wouldn’t be able to have it because he still hadn’t found that person he wanted to spent the rest of his life with.

In his head, Keanu thought he would first find the woman of his life, that one person that completed him, then they would have their kids and live happily ever after. Cheesy? Yes, but it had been his picture-perfect idea.

Keanu had never imagined that Annie would be the one to complete him, make him the happiest man ever. His daughter was his everything and even if he still hoped to find that person to be his partner and share his life Keanu knew now he had almost everything he wanted. He was a happy man. Especially when he was with his bikes.

Running his fingers over the smooth metal of the motorcycle, Keanu glanced at the clock again. Annie should’ve arrived by now. Why hasn’t Karina called yet?

“Maybe the flight was delayed,” Gard offered and Keanu had to smile at how his friend knew exactly what he was thinking about. “Come on. Let’s test this baby. It’ll get your mind off things.”

With a sigh, Keanu nodded. Gard was right. No matter how much he wanted his daughter to get home, staring a the clock wouldn’t make her arrive any faster. He changed into his race gear and pushed the bike to track.

It was one of the reasons Keanu and Gard had chosen to build their store in Hawthorne instead of Los Angeles itself was to be able to add this small track so they could make their tests without prying eyes.

With another glance at the clock, Keanu put on his helmet and climbed on the bike, gloved hands tightening on the handles as he twisted the accelerator, the roaring of the engine bringing a grin to his face as he settled a little more comfortably on the seat.

“Ready?” Gard asked, his voice coming loud and clear from the speaker in the helmet. Keanu only hummed in agreement. “Alright. Go.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Keanu sped away, his mind going peacefully blank as the wind rushed through him and he became one with the bike. The machine easily responding to every little nudge and twist of his body. It was one of Gard’s greatest creations and at that moment Keanu knew they couldn’t merge with Harley. This was an Arch. This was theirs and no one else’s.

After a couple of rounds in the track, Keanu brought the bike back to the gate, meeting Gard’s expectant look as he pulled off his helmet.

“It’s perfect, man!” Keanu grinned, breathless from adrenaline and excitement. “I can’t wait to show this baby off in the next circuit!”

“Great!” Gard’s grin matched his, but there was so underlying relief too. He had been working on this bike for months now, tweaking it until it was just right. “We’re ready then.”

If possible, Keanu’s grin widened even more as he handed his helmet off and walked back inside the shop, freezing in place when he saw the girl peering at the bikes exposed. His heart raced and all of the sudden, that gaping hole he had been experiencing in his chest felt full again. It was always like that whenever he was away from Annie.

“Annie,” he spoke softly but the girl’s head snapped his way, her green eyes widening slightly as her lips twisted into a smile.

“Dad...” Her voice sounded almost hesitant and he thought he saw her eyes welling up, but it was for just a second before Keanu found himself wrapped into a tight hug.

Keanu grinned widely, kissing the top of her head, sighing in relief and from the corner of his eye, he saw Karina standing there, phone in her hand and smirk on her face. Gard right beside her. They knew. They planned this. Sneaky bastards!

 “Ke, you’re gonna smother the girl,” Karina joked moving closer.

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, finally letting go of Annie and being able to properly take a look at his daughter, who was watching him with something close to wonder. “I like the new hair.”

“Oh. Thanks,” she said, touching the long bob she was spotting. When he dropped her off at camp, Annie’s hair felt to mid-back. He noticed her cheeks turning a little red and Keanu frowned.

“Everything ok, sweetie?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Annie hurried to say with a quick smile. “Just tired.”

“Well, you’re home now so you can rest as much as you want,” Keanu said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Annie looked up at him, once again with that hint of hesitation and wonder, before her gaze shifted to the bike being brought inside, curiosity shining through.

“Wanna take a look at the new arch?”

“Yes!” She flashed him a big, eager smile.

“Come on then,” Keanu said, guiding her closer excitement making him forget Annie never really cared for motorcycles before today.

xxx (tbc) xxx

Go to Chapter 3

Tag list (give it a shout to be added or removed)

@toomanystoriessolittletime​ @meetmeinthematinee​ @theolsdalova​ @krazycags01​ @beyond-antares​ @cumberbatchbaps​ @sgt-morgan​ @futuristic-imbecile​ @howtoruin-someones-perfect-day​ @a-really-bi-girl​ @fanficsrusz​ @nonsensicalobsessions​ @poisonedjoinery​ @soarocks​  @tnu-ree

[marvelstud10s]

Cupid’s Bullet | 02

Leading a life of mystery and quiet, she has everything under control in her impeccable life as an assassin. Except this one time.

Warnings: curses most likely, capturing, striking

A/N: hehe some feedback would be gr8 thanks :))) *endgame never happened here* ask to be in my taglist in my asks too

*can somebody find me a website where you can describe words you can’t think of ?? I saw a post about it but I can’t find it ??

3.2K words of complete shit writing

Chapter 2

“Holy shit,” Sam murmured through his comms, soaring through the sky, trying to locate his target. “She just, disappeared into thin fucking air, how’d you miss her Barnes?” Sam asked, disbelief in his voice. All he received was a grunt from the super soldier, waiting on the side of the highway for some new transportation, his motorcycle far from revivable.

Bucky watched the cars pass, the scene playing over and over in his head, trying to figure out one, how the girl managed to escape, and two, who she was talking to. The rest of the team didn’t know that she had some help, it wasn’t in the debriefing. “Guys,” Bucky spoke up with a raspy voice. “She was talking to somebody, like a partner,” he recalled slowly. “A car came out of nowhere, nobody inside, and opened the door for her, as if waiting,” he confessed. The rest of the team was quiet, going over this new piece of information. “Computer maybe?” Nat offered, driving in her fake delivery car to the highway. “That would make sense. Friday, figure out more about this woman. She’s more complicated than we thought,” he said, setting down the mechanical super suit on a random rooftop, not wanting to double task in the air.

“Tony, I don’t think we have the right idea about her, or any idea about her at all,” Steve finally said, looking throughout her apartment, trying to find something useful. “How so, Cap?” Tony asked, half distracted as he was shuffling through her files. “First off, her apartment is a little messy. Somebody wouldn’t leave a safe house a mess if they were on the run, but she has a list of people, names crossed off, which makes me question my first discovery. And two,” Steve bent over to pick up the little handheld box, turning it over to find his reflection staring at him. Weird place to put a mirror. “We didn’t even plant this. It was already outside her door. It doesn’t have an address, name, or anything. But she knew it would be for her. Should we open it?” He inquired. The team was silent, Tony letting out a huff at this new revelation. “Okay, back to the quinjet, we’re starting over on this case.” He concluded, turning Iron Man around, in the direction back to the ship.

Bucky was silent, feeling his long suppressed fear sneaking up behind him. This mission was too much for him, too soon. Bucky tried desperately to catch his breath, every breath he took in, seemingly escaping from his constricting lungs. Bucky clawed at his tactile suit, trying to get out of the trapping leather, whining at all the weightless guns and knives that seemed to suddenly weigh too much. Three months of therapy could never really save him from the thoughts that were already seeping from the cracks into his broken, but carefully placed together, facade. You did this. You failed this mission. Bucky shook his head, chest heaving, trying to block out the familiar thoughts. Bucky placed his hands on the side of his head, trying to follow what the therapist told him to do when he was feeling vulnerable. “Macy Jenkins, Ryder Quincy, Anthony Santos, Khalil Brown, Jeremy Seong, Maria Costa, Olive Brown, Joshua Finnegan,” he whispered. Bucky whispered more names, repeating them over and over in his head, slowly, but effectively, calming him down. As if on cue, Nat pulled up as he put his hands down, a small frown on his face. She jerked her head for him to get in, noting how off his body language was. Bucky closed the door carefully behind him, trying to remember his super soldier strength.

“You know, it wasn’t your fault, Bucky. She’s more advanced than we anticipated.” Nat spoke up into the silence. Bucky glanced over at her, shaking his head, not daring to open his mouth to spill his thoughts. “You’re skilled enough Bucky. We just weren’t prepared. You’re valuable to this team. You’re the one who managed to catch up to her, not us.” She said, not expecting a reaction, turning up the radio, tapping her fingers on the worn out leather of the steering wheel to a new Dua Lipa song. Bucky’s eyes shifted briefly to her face, a small smile forming. Nat always knew what to say, even if she was the most broken out of everyone else. Bucky played with a loose string of the seat, feeling like a little kid who just got told his pasta art was beautifully made. Even if he knew it wasn’t, he still had a small smile on his face.

Bucky could literally not frown harder if he tried. He could feel the strain on his face, the pull of his eyebrows, and the twitch of his right thumb on his thigh. The team sat in the debriefing room at the compound, going over the mission and files once again. “No, Friday didn’t find anything about her e-companion. And she couldn’t scan anything from inside the box, either. You guys got anything? Capsicle?” Tony asked, pointing his chewed pen at Steve, crossing his feet on top of the table and leaning back, unconsciously calling him by Steve’s nickname. Steve’s face fell just a tick, giving an annoyed pointed look to the famed superhero. “No, but I think the box would just give us answers we need. What do we know about her? That she shoots people but it doesn’t do anything to them? I don’t think we’re dealing with some bank robber type situation here, let’s just open the box to see what we’re dealing with.” He concluded, looking at the mysterious box placed carefully on the middle of the sleek table. Nobody said anything, silently agreeing to the Captain’s suggestion.

“Well then, let’s do it?” Sam said nervously, staring at the box with a little bit of fear. “Aw, is the pigeon scared?” Tony asked out of fake sympathy, pouting and smiling cockily, but sitting up quickly at the pen in his mouth blasting out ink from his over chewing. “Obviously no, squid. Stop putting stuff in ya mouth and maybe that wouldn’t happen,” he tsked. Tony wiped his face quickly, unknowingly making it worse, but nobody notified him, so he didn’t care. “Steve, open it,” Bruce spoke up out of the blue, crossing his arms a little tighter across his chest as he leaned farther back into the door frame. Everyone looked at Steve expectantly, waiting for him. Steve breathed in, refusing himself to let out the, “why me?”, bubbling in his chest, pushing down his scrawny and sickly past self, and bringing out the rebel’s bravery. Steve grabbed the box, taking the little knife from Tony’s offering hand, carefully cutting the colored cardboard. Steve put on a hard face, hoping to fool anyone into thinking that he wasn’t afraid of whatever was inside. Suddenly, the box shook, Steve quickly putting it, and the knife down, watching as it shook harder as the seconds passed. Everybody wheeled their chairs a bit farther back, watching in curiosity. The box suddenly stopped, a dead silence falling over the room. Nobody dared to breathe, watching as the box sat there. It seemed like almost an hour before a great boom, silent, but great, came from the box, the team quickly turning away and groaning at the bright light.

“I only open for the worthy,” came a booming voice. The light suddenly went away, and the box laid there, almost innocently, not a scratch on it’s exterior. The team started in disbelief. “Is this some kind of sick joke?” Sam asked angrily. “Where is that strange hunk of muscle,” Tony muttered, already trying to page him. “Wow, I knew Thor liked pranks, but this is a little much,” Bruce said, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. His heavy breathing fogging his glasses a bit. Everyone looked over in alarm, but seeing as Bruce’s breathing exercises calmed him down, it calmed them down a bit, too. Heavy footsteps suddenly walked into the room, a hearty voice following. “Hello, Midgardians! Needing my help once again, I see,” he smiled, biting into his stolen pop tart. Tony was a bit confused at how he arrived so fast, but quickly put that aside. Steve crossed his arms across his broad chest, giving him the famed ‘Cap America’ look, but adding a bit of a glare to it. Thor’s smile faltered, finally catching up to the mood in the atmosphere. “Am I in trouble?” He asked timidly, his personality not quite fitting with his stature. “What the hell is this?” Tony asked, rubbing a hand on his forehead, gesturing with his other hand the box. “Um, a box?” Thor responds carefully. Nat noticed his genuine confusion, along with Steve, Bucky and Bruce. “This is a dumb prank man,” Sam scolded, shaking his head, still oblivious to Thor’s innocence. “What prank? I haven’t been to Earth in months!” Thor defended, finishing his pop tart so he could focus on the accusation. “C’mon don’t lie, it literally said, “I only open for the worthy.”” Tony mocked, doing a terrible accent. “And that’s your trademark line, it doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together. And I am a genius, so,” Tony said, always remembering to add a little compliment for himself. Steve took in Thor’s body language, how he was gesturing wildly, as he tried to explain how he had nothing to do with it. “You really didn’t know about it, did you?” He asked the God. Thor shook his head frantically.

The team looked at the box with newfound attention, feeling something wrong in the pit of their stomachs. “You said a voice? Open it again, I want to hear it.” Thor said, now caught up with this mystery. Steve took the box and cut it open again, and it shook again, seemingly harder, and the blast seemed brighter than before. “I only open for the worthy.” It said again, maybe even louder, as if trying to drill it into their memories. Thor looked on with a confused, but shocked face. “Where did you get this.” He said, pointing a finger at the box. Steve took a step back from it. “From a mission. Why,” he demanded, breathing a little faster. “I need everything on that mission, now.” Thor said, taking a step back as well.

Steve hesitated. “The mission was about a target who was seen briefly, shooting a gun at two civilians at a cafe, but it never hurt them. She was spotted carrying a red gun, in a black bag, and was followed back to her apartment after months of trying to get to her. She was too stealthy for us to follow her immediately. She got away, but this box was left outside her door.” Steve explained. Thor slowly shook his head, running a frustrated hand through his hair. “Yeah, no, you need to find her, and get her here, I don’t think this is a small ordeal.” Thor informed the team. Tony sat up. “But what’s in the dang box?” He asked, throwing his hands on the table. Thor shifted his stare to him. “That’s the thing. I don’t know what it is, but what I do know, is that it’s from Asgard, and that it’s dangerous. Everything that’s dangerous we put that whole “worthy” line. It gives that sort of ‘don’t mess with us’ vibe, you know, it’s kind of our thing.” He huffed a bit of a light laugh, but it quickly left. Tony gave him a blank stare, opening and closing his mouth at his loss of words. “So, let me get this straight. You don’t know what it is, even if it was from your own home planet. Can’t you tell from the packaging?” Tony asked, his frustration showing. “Well I suppose you don’t know every single box on your home planet, now do you?” Thor asked with a bit of attitude. Tony recoiled, a single hand to his chest. “Our planet isn’t one fucking city!” Tony exclaimed, throwing his hands up. Thor glared, opening up his mouth as if to say something, but glanced over at the box once again.

“There is something a bit familiar about the packaging, actually.” Thor murmured under his breath, but a murmur for him was regular volume for everyone else. “What is it, Thor?” Natasha asked, leaning forwards towards the God. Thor never ripped his gaze from the package, leaning forward, he grabbed the box and turned it over, finding a mirror on the bottom, a carved, decorated silver border outlining it, a single carved apple at the bottom, and two carved doves around it. Thor gasped through his nose, putting it down quickly and moving back to his original spot. “That mirror,” Thor said. “Their from somewhere different than mine. Not my- our, universe,” He spoke quietly. Steve furrowed his eyebrows. “So she’s from a different universe?” Steve asked. Thor shook his head. “I’m not sure. But this box is. Those doves, that apple, that mirror, their a representation of Aphrodite, I’m not sure if you’ve all heard of her, but she isn’t Norse. She’s from Greek Mythology.” He explained. Tony snorted. “Aphrodite is not real, you are, Norse is real, Greek is not, end of story. Maybe she just likes birds, fruit, and staring at herself. I mean who doesn’t like staring at themselves, I mean, except for Sam.” Tony smirked. “You’d have to actually be visually appealing. Sorry to break it to ya,” Tony insulted, shrugging his shoulders. Sam shook his head. “Menace,” He whispered under his breath. Tony winked.

“Okay, guys, focus. You’re saying that Greek Mythology is real? Different mythologies can correlate with others?” Nat asked, looking up at Thor. “I didn’t even know that until now,” He confessed. “I need to take this to my father.” He said, grabbing the box. “I’m going with you,” Steve said, already walking in front of the God. “Me too, I’ve been there before, plus I don’t really want to be here with Tony,” Bruce whispered. “I don’t have to be a God or a super-soldier to have heard that Banner,” Tony said, standing up. Bruce smiled apologetically. “Okay, So, I’m going to go with Thor, Steve and Bruce, while Bucky, Sam and Tony are going to stay here?” Nat confirmed, standing up. “Yeah, I’m gonna get Lang and the Pym’s here. Could use some more brains here.” Tony sighed, already ordering Friday to contact the three. Nat nodded, turning around with the rest of her team to get suited up.

Bucky leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand, not knowing what to do. Tech really wasn’t his thing, obviously. Back in the day, he was actually very gifted intellectually, but it wasn’t really useful to know advanced mathematics in the 21st century. The five great minds, Janet Van Dyne, Hank Pym, Hope Pym, Scott Lang (who gave a very long handshake and a rather long speech about his vibranium arm), and of course, Stark sat a few tables away, talking. Sam sat along with Bucky, giving out a huff as he traced patterns into the lab counters, tapping his foot on the floor in impatience. The five discussed in hushed whispers, Tony explaining the situatuion. “What?!” comes an angry exclaim. The two veterans look up in surprise to see The oldest Pym going up to Tony’s face. “You made us fly all the way across the country because your stubborn ass couldn’t finish a small mission?! What a genius you are!” He yelled into his face, poking his pointer finger into his reactor. “Whoa, relax, will ya? This is extraterrestrial, I promise. Now can we just gather our horses, please?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow and both his hands in defense.

Hank looked at him up and down, but was eventually backed away by Janet. Sam breathed a laugh, finally finding some entertainment. Tony turned and glared at the two. “Hey bird brain, Tin Man, would you two make yourselves useful and look back at the footage? We haven’t had the chance to yet. Thanks, too sweet, really.” Tony said, already turning back around. Sam rolled his eyes as Bucky got up as well, happy to at least be doing something.

The ride towards Asgard was silent, as Nat and Steve never rode to another planet, let alone outer space. Nat held her breath, then let it out slowly, but it came out shakier then she expected. Bruce smiled softly at her. “Nervous?” He asked, letting out a chuckle. “Well excuse me, but outer space really isn’t my forte.” She smiled back bashfully. Steve watched the two with a knowing smile, a twinge of sadness in his chest, a sudden longing for a feisty British brunette suddenly overcoming him. Steve averted his gaze to Thor instead, choosing not to dwell in the past. “Does your father know about the different type of mythologies existing too?” Steve asked him, the silent beeping of autopilot coming as calming to the hero. “I’m not sure, it would be like having duplicates of your own people, but not looking like you. Like there was another Captain America, except he was,” Thor paused, trying to find the right words. “Less-american-y.” He smiled, going back to gazing out the window. Steve furrowed his eyebrows. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Steve asked, looking at Nat and Bruce for support, who turned to listen to the conversation. Bruce looked away, but Nat smiled. “Well, for starters, you’re literally a walking version of patriotism.” She explained, gesturing to his whole body. Steve scoffed in disbelief and was about to fire back when the quinjet came to a sudden halt, making the four hurdle forward, but slowly land. ���Can this ship even land on water?” Nat asked, watching as is landed near the walkway leading to Asgard. A broad shouldered man stood at the end, watching the jet. A walkway landed, letting the four walk down the ramp to the rainbow walkway. Thor jogged ahead, pulling the mysterious man into a brief hug.

“Heimdall! It’s so good to see you old friend,” Thor greeted, clapping him on the back. Heimdall smiled at him, turning his head to see the others. “Natalia Romanoff, Steven Rogers, welcome. Bruce Banner, a pleasure to have you again.” He winked at the latter. Bruce nodded, almost going into a bow, but remembering his mistake with Rhodes. “How do you know our names?” Steve asked, looking at him almost suspiciously. Heimdall politely smiled, knowing of the Captain’s hesitance. “I’m Heimdall. How could I not?” He raised an eyebrow playfully. Steve sat in embarrassment, letting the two Asgardians laugh at the foreigners expense. “Well, I have something I need to do. I’ll see you later, friend.” Thor said, giving him another hug. Heimdall nodded, already knowing what they needed to do. Heimdall turned, and with a goodbye, headed to the Bi frost.

“Okay team, how are we getting there? Carry one of you at a time?” He asked, throwing his hammer into the air and catching it with ease. Steve shifted his weight uncomfortably. “I’m okay,” he verified, not trusting the speed of the hammer. “Well, guess you’re walking Steve,” Nat said, already volunteering to go first. Steve gave her a confused look, looking at Bruce who just shrugged, who was waiting to go next. And with a burst of wind in Banner and Roger’s faces, the two were gone. “Wow, that’s a little um, fast,” Bruce said nervously. “Walk with me,” Steve suggested, nodding his head in the direction the assassin and God went, already heading on his way to the large castle. Bruce hurried to catch up to his long strides, already dreading the long walk.

Yet another A/N: i fucking hate this

but go in my asks to be in a taglist and/or to request a fic !

[elizabethemerald]

Dreams of Drowning: Chap 2

AO3

Please remember to Reblog and Comment!

Claire. He can't pull her name from his mind. She can't be real. Can she? 

***

Jim worked quickly in the kitchen. He was still the lowest chef on the totem pole, though even since his first week one of the cooks who had been there longer had already quit. They would be hiring a new cook in a couple of days. No wonder he had been able to get hired here. The facility went through cooks at an astonishing rate. 

His weekend had been largely uneventful. He had no further dreams of the mysterious woman, but his thoughts still swirled around her. Who could she be? What could she want? What was she? 

That last question echoed the loudest. She had called herself Claire. Seemed like a regular enough human name for such an ethereal being. If he had been religious he would have sworn he just met god. Though he would be more than a little concerned that god tried to drown when he first met her. 

Jim’s line of thought paused as a sound kicked on. It sounded like a massive piece of machinery somewhere close. He placed a hand on the work table and sure enough he could feel the vibrations through that as well. He looked around at the other cooks. 

“Does anyone know what that sound is?” Jim asked. 

“What sound?” One of the cooks responded. He had been there the longest at five months. 

“This one.” Jim grabbed two glasses and set them on the table next to each other. The vibrations made them clink together rhythmically. 

“Oh that’s the pump turning on.” He said. “You get used to it. I hardly ever notice it anymore. No wonder it vibrates everything here, the pump room is just down the hall.”

“What on earth does a research facility like this need a pump that size for? Do we have a secret aquarium somewhere?” Jim and the cook laughed. Then Jim thought about his dream. “Or maybe its because of massive chamber filled with purple cloudy water?”

He laughed but the others grew still. The other cook, who had remained silent to this moment whirled, his face red with anger. 

“We don’t talk about that! We don’t ever talk about that!” The man shouted. Then he stormed out of the kitchen. Jim looked to the first chef but he had gone back to work and ignored him. Jim set about his own work, including covering for the man who stormed out. 

He couldn’t get this new thought out of his head. He wasn’t the only one who had these dreams? The other cook hadn’t mentioned seeing the woman though, had she only appeared in his dreams? Had other people been greeted by drowning as well?

These thoughts continued to rattle around his head as he prepared the chum. He had spent all weekend thinking up how best to change up the recipe with what he had available. This time it was going to actually have a taste that didn’t make a person want to gag and die. 

The cook who had stormed out never came back to the kitchen. And he didn’t show up the next day either. Or the rest of the week. The cook who had been there longer didn’t mention his absence. It seemed he was used to folks leaving and never returning. 

Jim kept a careful eye on the news for the next couple of days. He wanted to be sure the man didn’t drown in his sleep, but he never heard of the other cook again. 

Toby and Darci were having a special date night that Friday so Toby asked if they could move their drink night. Wednesday worked just as well as any other night for Jim and he was always happy to see his friend again.When Jim arrived his friend was bent over at one of the tables a jeweler’s glass in his eye as he looked at a rock sample. 

“Tobes! What have I told about bringing work to drinks night!” Jim said cheerfully as he walked up. He laughed even harder when Toby looked up the glass still in his eye, making one eye seem huge and the other squinty. 

“You told me not to lick rocks at the table!” Toby laughed and gestured to the open spot. “I was the one who had to tell you to stop cooking every time we hung out! Why do you think we meet at bars now rather than at one of houses!”

“What can I say, I love to cook!” Jim sat and waved to the bartender. Him and Toby were regulars the staff knew their prefered drinks. Toby removed the jeweler’s glass and set it and the rock he had been looking at aside. 

“Do you?” At first Jim thought Toby was joking, but his friend’s face was deadly serious. “I’ve heard nothing but you complain for the past couple of years about every cooking job you’ve had.”

“I just needed to find the right one.” Jim said with a laugh. He didn’t want to talk more about his work so he gestured to the rock. “What’s going on with this?”

Toby smiled at the waitress as she set down two drinks in front of them. Then gestured to small sample. “This continues to defy me. I’ve been a practicing field geologist for ten years. A hobbyist rock collecter for more than twenty. I can properly ID hundreds of minerals on sight. And I can’t figure this one out. I’m waiting on chemical analysis to come back but it continues to frustrate me that I can’t nail this one down.”

“It’s not uh, radioactive is it?” Jim said. 

“Nah. I’ve gotten in the habit of checking each sample as soon as the boss’s kid sets it down on my desk. A few too many have tested positive for my liking.”

“The boss’s kid? I don’t think I’ve seen him.”

“Massive brute of a man. No respect for the finer needs of a geologist. His name is Bular.” Toby paused for a moment. “Of course I call him a kid but he’s at least as old as I am. Though twice as much of a jerk. Always dresses in black leather like he’s in some kind of biker gang. I’m pretty sure he only has a job because his daddy owns the security company.”

“Huh, well I guess it’s for the best that I haven’t met him. I tend to piss that sort of person off. And then get either beaten up or shouted at.”

“Yeah like you and Steve from highschool! I swear he beat you up so many times!” Jim snorted and rolled his eyes. “Though did you hear he and Eli finally tied the knot? They went over to Vegas and got married by a guy in a martian costume!”

“Really? Good for them!” Jim and Toby laughed for a long time at that thought. Neither were surprised by either bit of news. The two had been pining for each since highschool. And Eli was a die hard conspiracy nut. What would Eli think of a giant woman who drowned people in their dreams? Jim sobered at that thought. 

“Uh, Tobes.” Toby picked up on the somber tone and focused closely. “Have you ever had a dream where you were sinking in purple water?”

“And I started drowning in it?” Jim’s jaw dropped as Toby supplied his exact next words. “Yeah. I had a dream like that.”

“What happened in your dream?” Jim asked. 

“Well I appeared in this dream, immediately felt like I was drowning. It was awful. I think I had only been at 49B for two days. Then in the dream you and Darci appeared. And Darci started drowning as well. I couldn’t just let her drown! She’s the girl of my dreams, I’ve loved for years and years. I tried to blow the last of the air in my lungs into her mouth. Then I could breath again, and woke up sputtering a few seconds later. Darci said I had sweat so much in my sleep I soaked the sheets!”

“Wow.” Just like in Jim’s first dream, Toby had seen his loved one and been spared because of how he treated her. But there was one detail missing from Toby’s dream. “Did you see anyone else?”

“Other than you and Darci? No. I’m a little surprised I didn’t see my Nana. But it was just my best friend and best girl.”

“Hmm. I had a similar dream my first week. It was you, Darci and my mom who I saw.I think a couple of the other cooks have had the same dreams.” He didn’t mention the mysterious woman in his dreams. 

“Yeah, they don’t talk about it much, but everyone who works at 49B has them.”

“Wha-what? Why do you think that is?” Jim leaned forward with an air of conspiracy. Was there something more to these dreams?

“Micro vibrations caused by all the machinery in the building.” Jim’s mystified look must have shown on his face because Toby elaborated. “Humanity’s ancient ancestors were cave dwellers. Micro vibrations are cause by two objects moving against each other, which could be a sign of a possible cave in. The vibrations cause paranoia, irritation and fear. Most likely projecting as fear of our loved ones getting hurt. Once you get used to it your body ignores it. I’m not surprised the cooks get it the worst. There’s a lot of machinery down there. I work next to the head researcher’s office. So everything up here is more insulated.”

“Huh. Micro vibrations.” That...made sense. Toby certainly knew more about science than Jim did. Especially any science that didn’t relate directly to cooking. Then could Claire be a projection of his longing for a relationship? The rest of drinks night passed quickly as Jim retreated into his thoughts. 

Jim took a deep breath in the kitchen. The lunch rush was over. The kitchen stocked the cafeteria that all the researchers and security personnel used. Unfortunately the cooks were currently down two staff, so keeping up with the demand had been exhausting. It was time for his own lunch now. 

He checked his phone. Oh, a new text message from his mom. ‘I have great news. Call me when you can :)’ Jim stepped out of the kitchen and hit the call button. After a few seconds she answered. 

“Hey mom! What’s up?”

“Hi baby. I have the best news! Guess what it is!”

“Uh… I’m going to have a baby brother?”

“Jim.” His mom did not sound amused. “Do I have to explain to you how that’s not possible?”

“Please do not. Sorry, Toby and Darci are trying for a kid and he was telling me all about it. What is the good news?”

Jim could tell his mom was struggling with deciding between continuing her guessing game and just telling him the news. Her excitement won out. 

“Zelda got us tickets to go on a trip for our anniversary! We fly out tomorrow morning!”

“Oh my goodness. How fun!”

“Yeah she was so sneaky about it. She even contacted my work to arrange for the time off. She’s so good at surprises, I love her so much. And I get to spend an entire week in France with her!”

“That’s great. Do you need someone to drive you to the airport?”

“No, Zelda’s friend Walter will be driving us.”

“You mean your ex boyfriend Walter?” Jim said with a slight chuckle. His mom huffed. 

“No I prefer to think of him as Zelda’s friend.”

“Well have an amazing time mom! Call me when you get there so I know you’re safe.”

“Thanks Baby, I love you so much!”

And she was gone. Jim laughed quietly and walked back to the kitchen. He was glad his mom and Mr. Strickler had broken up. It would have been too awkward to work alongside his father-in-law during his brief tenure teaching his high school’s home ec class. 

Though he would miss his mom. He was a little sad that he wouldn’t get the chance to say goodbye in person before she left for her trip. 

That night he dreamed of Her again. 

As soon as he opened his eyes he knew he was under water again. He could feel it’s weight pressing down on him and all the small swirls and eddies in the flow around him, moving his hair and arms. 

Claire was in front of him again. Her purple skin glowed and was almost translucent. He could only look up at her in awe. It was hard for him to think about things like Micro Vibrations when she was here in front of him. She looked at him curiously. Her head tilting this way and that. 

She reached a hand as large as his whole body towards him. It was stopped by thick chains on her wrists. Jim had noticed the chains during his first dream of her. If this really was a projection of his anxieties then he was really worried about the state of his psyche. Claire gestured and the current in the water pushed him close enough that she could press a finger tip as large as his whole face against his forehead. 

Jim looked around in confusion. He was in what looked to be the Arcadia airport. He had only been there a few times but recognized it vaguely. There in front of him was none other than his mom. 

Barbara Lake struggled under the weight of a massive amount of luggage. The suitcase was taller than she was and kept popping open throwing her stuff around the airport. People were staring and laughing at her as she stumbled around trying to gather all her clothes and shove it back into the suitcase. 

Jim stepped forward and the laughter stilled. He walked to his mom and helped her pack her things. When everything was packed he took some of the bags and his mom took the rest. 

“Nervous about the flight tomorrow?” Jim asked his mom as they walked through the airport together. 

“Yes I just…” His mom hesitated. “I haven’t gone on a trip like this in years. Not since before your father left. What if something goes wrong?”

“If something goes wrong, you two will deal with it. Together. Just like you’ve dealt with every other problem together.” He set the bags he was carrying down and watched them vanish into the floor. Then he hugged his mom close. “Ms. Nomura has always taken good care of you. That’s not going to stop now that she’s Mrs. Lake-Nomura.”

Jim gestured forward. His mom’s wife was waiting at the gate. Zelda had a bag and two tickets in her hand and was looking around. Barbara pulled away towards her. She turned back to face him again. 

“I’m glad I got to say goodbye to you!” Jim said. “I love you mom.”

Barbara ran forward leaving the rest of her luggage behind. Zelda got his mom in her arms and twirled her around. Jim smiled. 

“Let’s give them some privacy shall we?” 

Jim turned away from their embrace to face Claire again. The purple water eddied around them stirring up her hair. Her pure white eyes were almost blinding in their brilliance. 

“Thank you. For letting me see her off.” Jim said. He couldn’t tell if he said it out loud or in his mind. But She seemed to understand. She smiled at him. The smile made her eyes seem softer. He was lost in her smile. She was everything amazing and wonderful in the world and he knew in that instant that he would do anything he could to keep her smiling. To make her smile again and again. He was in love. 

She giggled, an impressive sound considering her size. She tossed her head back in forth causing her hair to wave wildly around. She pressed a hand to her face then blew him a kiss. 

Jim woke up gasping. His hair was wet like he had just gotten out of the shower. And there was the taste of the sea on his lips. Claire. He can't pull her name from his mind. She can't be real. Can she?

I’d love your comments or questions about this AU. It’s such a fun one to write.