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librathefangirl · 2 years

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When the Past Comes Crashing

ao3 (Chapter 1/7; 2k+)

A seemingly easy mission quickly goes awry for the Seven Deadly Sins, forcing them to make some critical decisions that sets off an unexpected set of events. At the same time, a long-buried secret comes back to haunt Meliodas with a 3,000-year-old call for revenge. Written for @amonthofwhump's March Trope-A-Thon!

Okay, so a little run-down about this AU/timeline: This goes off-canon back in the First Holy War and Meliodas’ betrayal against the demons. The details of how exactly, you’ll find out through the story (as it’s a vital part of the plot).

As for the present-time timeline, it’s canon-divergent in the way that Meliodas actually killed Fraudrin back in Danafor. This means Dreyfus was never possessed, Zaratras was never killed, and the Sins were never framed. Elizabeth’s relationship with Meliodas is of course also affected by this as she never had to search for the Sins with him. Instead, she grew up with him as the captain fo the Seven Deadly Sins and a holy knight of Liones. As for the Sins’ current dynamic, it’s mostly like how it was in Prisoners of the Sky, except only Merlin and Gowther (who has regained his memories) know about Meliodas being a demon.

Chapter Prompts: Day 1 – Environmental; Rockslide/Building Collapse.

Read on ao3 or under the cut!

“You’re worried about me?” Meliodas teased when Drole lingered behind. Gloxinia and Elizabeth had already flown ahead. Gloxinia had held onto Elizabeth’s hand, as if he was afraid that she would circle back given the chance. Maybe she would have. They had all been even less excited about the plan than usual. Elizabeth had been downright against it.

Drole sighed deeply, “I’m worried you’re not taking this seriously.”

“Come on, when am I not serious?” Meliodas questioned, flying up to the giant’s eye-level. Drole just gave him a look, causing Meliodas to roll his eyes. “I’ve got this.”

“If it were up to Elizabeth, you wouldn’t be doing this at all.”

“Well, Ellie’s a worrier,” Meliodas smiled. He then sighed when he only got the same apprehensive look. “The plan hasn’t changed.”

“Maybe it should,” Drole suggested. Meliodas crossed his arms over his chest, avoiding his gaze.

“We’ve been over this. I’m not abandoning him.”

“I know,” Drole acknowledged. “And we’re not asking you to.”

“Then you’re just going to have to trust me!”

“We do,” Drole promised. Meliodas felt his defensiveness falter. His hands dropped to his sides. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t worry about you.”

A small smile passed over Meliodas’ face, “We’re all taking risks here.”

“Not all of us are betraying the Demon King right under his nose,” Drole pointed out. Meliodas hummed at that.

“That’s true,” he admitted. “But we don’t have a lot of options here. Unless you honestly think we can count on Ludociel to end this war peacefully.”

Drole sighed again, “Just be careful.”

“I will,” Meliodas promised. He hesitated as he was about to fly away, glancing over his shoulder towards the spot the others had disappeared. “Look after Elizabeth for me.”

Drole nodded his head, “We’ll see you soon.”

– 3,000 years later –

“So, what exactly is this mission again?” Ban asked, glancing up at the towering building with an almost bored expression.

The massive house was like something from a horror story. It somehow looked simultaneously both sturdy and ready to collapse at any moment. Meliodas eyed the mountain behind it critically. He didn’t like the way it was more or less hanging out over the building. If something were to happen to the mountain, the building would be buried instantly.

“Ghost hunting,” Meliodas then exclaimed, throwing Ban a bright grin. Ban just rose his eyebrows at him as King groaned beside them.

“Captain,” King protested. Merlin shook her head.

“Nobody said anything about ghosts.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Meliodas muttered, waving his hand at her as they came to a stop before the house. “But that’s what they were all implying. Spooky hauntings.”

“The village down the hill has been subjected to a series of… mysterious incidents,” Merlin explained. “Nobody could give a proper explanation on what exactly happened, but it has the whole village crying ghosts and monsters. They’re all blaming this house, apparently. Even the knights are scared to go near it.”

“Wimps,” Ban snorted. “So, they sent us instead.”

“Yup!” Meliodas nodded his head, still grinning. “So, now we have to go in and make sure there are no vengeful ghosts haunting the village.”

Meliodas tilted his head, regarding the house. There was something about it that seemed off. Okay, there was a lot about this that seemed off. But there was something particular about the house he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Something that, despite his jokes, made him want to send the others away. Unfortunately, he knew they wouldn’t accept that without a proper reason. One he didn’t have yet. Because ‘a bad feeling’ definitely wouldn’t work.

“And Diane and the others stayed back because…?” King asked. Meliodas noticed but didn’t point out his choice of wording. It wasn’t like King was subtle about his crush on Diane, and right now, Meliodas was happy for the distraction. Something to shake the unease feeling. Meliodas shrugged his shoulders casually as he explained.

“To guard the village against whatever we anger of course!” King rolled his eyes, and Meliodas gestured towards the mountain. “And that looks about ready to collapse. If there is a rockslide, Diane and Escanor will be able to protect the village, and Gowther can help with an eventual evacuation.”

“Well, at least you’ve thought this one through, Captain.”

“So, we gonna go in?” Ban questioned, sending a teasing grin in King’s direction. “Or you wanna admit that you’re scared~?”

“I am not-”

“Okay!” Meliodas cut off, before an argument could break out. “Let’s go. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get a drink instead!”

– X –

“Found any vengeful ghosts?” Meliodas asked as Merlin stepped up beside him. They’d all split up once inside the house to cover all the rooms faster. Merlin sighed, shaking her head at him again.

“You’re enjoying this too much.” Meliodas glanced at her, tilting his head at her tone.

“You’re saying you believe the villagers?”

“There are no ghosts here,” Merlin muttered, glaring at him for even making her say it aloud. “Those people don’t know what they’re talking about, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something here. There’s magical residue all over the place.”

“Yeah,” Meliodas agreed, his smile dropping. “I felt that too. Haven’t seen anything that can cause any ghost-blamed incidents though.”

“No. I haven’t either,” Merlin said as Meliodas rubbed at a spot on the floorboards with his foot. He glanced at her again. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her shoulder raised; she looked as tense as she sounded.

“But you found something?” Meliodas guessed, frowning at the pattern underneath the dust. It looked familiar… Merlin hesitated for a moment before she shook her head.

“One of the rooms was completely destroyed,” Merlin explained. “What I felt there was… familiar in a way it shouldn’t be.”

Meliodas looked up from the floor, “What do you mean?”

“It felt like miasma.”

“No,” Meliodas muttered. He crossed his own arms, shifting from foot to foot. “It can’t be. Miasma doesn’t occur naturally in this realm.”

“Which explains the rotten wood in the room,” Merlin pointed out. “I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s the only explanation I have. That room has been exposed to pure miasma.”

“That isn’t possible,” Meliodas protested again, unconsciously grabbing hold of the dragon handle. “The demons have been sealed off from this realm for millennia. You know that.”

“I do,” Merlin acknowledged. “But you know there have been demons who have slipped out before. The Fairy King’s Forest, Danafor-”

“That was different! Fraudrin is dead, and there is no way a red demon could set a trap like this.”

Merlin raised an eyebrow at him, “You think this is a trap?”

“You don’t?” Meliodas questioned. “I wasn’t sure at first, but, something about this place always felt wrong. In a way, it didn’t feel wrong.”

“Like miasma.”

“Exactly. And, I mean, just look around! There’s nothing in this house. Yet the villagers are being plagued by something unseen and unknown? And no other knights will even step foot in this place. Meaning we had to come here. Then there’s the miasma, apparently, and…” Meliodas glanced down at the floor again, but before he could continue, the entire building shook violently. A loud, startling crack sounded from outside.

Meliodas and Merlin shared a knowing look, as Meliodas let out a muttered curse.

“The mountain,” Merlin agreed. Meliodas gaze flickered to the floor again before meeting her gaze.

“Whatever’s going on, we can figure it out later. We need to get the others and get out before that mountain buries us.”

– X –

As they all made it to the door, Meliodas had the feeling this natural disaster happening outside wasn’t so natural after all. Just like these ghost incidents wasn’t so ghost related. Someone had wanted them specifically to come here – had wanted him to come here. That much was clear. He didn’t know who or what or even why, but there was at least one demon involved. A fact that only made this whole situation worse.

Meliodas lingered behind as the other exited the house. Given King’s shout as he looked behind the house, they didn’t have much time.

“Merlin.” Meliodas stopped her before she could join King and Ban. She turned to him with a troubled frown. Her voice was tense as she spoke.

“We need to leave.”

“I know,” Meliodas said, but then shook his head. He rubbed his foot on the floor again, pushing away the layers of dust until she could see the carved pattern. The same pattern that had been in the other room – possibly every room. Logically, he knew it ran through the entire house. Merlin let out a loud curse as she recognized it.

“Yeah,” Meliodas agreed, his mouth twisting into a humorless smile. He reached out one hand towards the door and let his fingers push against the invisible force field there – design to keep demons and demons only from crossing. “This was definitely a trap.”

“But who-”

“There’s no time,” Meliodas cut her off. The ground was shaking with worsening tremors. “You have to get the others away from here. Keep the village safe.”

“Meliodas…” Merlin’s voice trailed off as he reached out his sword towards her. The dragon handle trembled in his hands. Ever since Danafor he had never let it out of his sight. Not even once. Until now. Merlin swallowed.

“What if…” she was stalling. They both knew it. She was no more eager to take the sword than he was to give it to her. They both realized what that meant. Only one of them was leaving this house today. Her gaze flickered back to the floor, but Meliodas shook his head. Ban and King shouted at them frantically from outside. They were out of time. Soon those two would just settle for dragging them out by force if necessary. It wouldn’t work of course, and Meliodas had no plan to have them here when their time really did run out. Big rocks were already crashing down around the house.

“You know as well as I do that not even you can undo or overpower that barrier. Not before it is already too late. I can’t leave. So, I need you to take this. You’re the only one I trust with it. Take it and get the others away.” His words were a strange mix of ordering and pleading. Tears shone in his eyes. “You know I will be fine. Take it and get them to safety.”

Reluctantly, Merlin took the sword from Meliodas’ hand. The sound of the crashing rocks almost deafening now. Before she left, she looked him straight in the eyes, “Don’t die.”

Meliodas gave her a shaky smile. Then she snapped her fingers, teleporting Ban, King, and herself down into the village. Away from harm, and away from Meliodas.

Meliodas exhaled slowly. The others were safe. The key was safe. That was all that mattered. He closed his eyes, calling every inch of his magic to him. He extended his wings behind him. Anything that could help as the mountain collapsed over him.

It wasn’t enough.

– 3,000 years ago –

Elizabeth was fluttering. Gloxinia didn’t have a better way to describe it. She was pacing back and forth, her feet barely even touching the ground. She wrung her hands together anxiously as she muttered to herself. Gloxinia would have said she looked like a wreck, but she looked like she had for the past few days.

“You’re back!” she cried out as soon as she saw them. Then she threw a glance over her shoulder, her expression darkening instantly. It seemed like her day with Ludociel had been less than pleasant. Not that Gloxinia was surprised. For all his power, the archangel was very far down on the list of people Gloxinia would willingly spend his free time with.

“What-” Elizabeth cut off herself, giving them a tight smile. Gloxinia nodded his head. This was not a conversation to have around nosy assholes. He shared a glance with Drole. If he was honest, he didn’t want to have this conversation at all. Gloxinia wanted to just erase these past hours and go back to living in blissful unawareness.

Once they’d made it far away to be unheard and undisturbed, Elizabeth spun around.

“So? What happened?” she immediately asked. “Oh, I wished I could have come with you!”

She faltered when she met their gazes. Oh, God. Gloxinia didn’t want to do this. Not when she was looking at them like that. He could see the worry in her eyes go from fearing the what ifs to something a lot more concrete; a realization that something actually had gone wrong. Gloxinia really wished he could prove her wrong.

“What is it?” she asked, her voice a mere whisper. Drole glanced off to the side, but when he spoke, he met her gaze. His steady calm barely hiding his own worry.

“He wasn’t there.”

Gloxinia could see the exact moment that Elizabeth processed the words. Her world shattering.

“… what?”

“It doesn’t have to mean something’s wrong!” Gloxinia hurriedly added. The words sounded false even to his own ears. Elizabeth shook her head, a few tears falling from her eyes as she pressed a hand to her mouth.

“No, it- he wouldn’t- Mel would have let us know!” Elizabeth stammered. She was right. Of course she was right. If Gloxinia had actually believed his own words, the worry wouldn’t have felt like a rock in his stomach.

“Okay, yeah, something is wrong,” he admitted shakily. “But it doesn’t have to mean the worst-case scenario.”

It was the same floundering attempts at comfort he’d been giving himself for hours by now.

“Which is?” Elizabeth asked. They all knew it – but she seemed to need to hear it.

“Worst-case,” Gloxinia said, reluctantly letting the idea form in his mind. “The Demon King knows.”

Elizabeth nodded her head, more tears rolling down her cheeks as she suppressed a sob.

“But it doesn’t have to be worst case,” Gloxinia tried again.

“He’s right,” Drole spoke up. “For all we know, this is to keep his cover. A precaution to not be discovered.”

“That’s still not a good thing, is it?” Elizabeth said shakily. Neither Gloxinia nor Drole answered her. They didn’t need to. All three already knew the answer. No matter the reason, Meliodas not showing up as planned meant that something had gone wrong. Just like they had all feared ever since they started this whole thing.

– 3,000 years later –

When Meliodas came to, it was painfully, slowly, and briefly. It wasn’t to the darkness underneath half a mountain. It was to a ray of the setting sun in his face. It was to a shadow towering above him. It was to the realization that something was horrible wrong before the darkness took over again.

To Be Continued…

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starbuckie · 4 years

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Some Quarantine Lovin’ Chapter 1: A Phone Call

Marvel Highschool! AU

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Warnings: Obscene amounts of fluff, kissing, swearing, kinda a lot of angst

Description: Bucky Barnes is absolutely, no doubt about it, in love with Y/N L/N. He’s loved her since the day he laid eyes on her in the third grade. He loved her when he had his own girlfriend, and when he was barely friends with her for a whole summer. And of course, in his freshman year, they are now stuck together. In a house. During a worldwide quarantine. This should be fun.

Words: 2,272 words

A/N: Hey y’all, I’m back. Here’s the new and improved chapter, because the last one was a but messed up. Thank you so much for the likes and reblogs, they mean so much to me. I’ve been having a lot of fun writing this series, and I’m excited for the rest of the series. I’ll probably be posting weekly, so thanks for sticking with me.

Y/N walked into the office, pep in her step and a huge smile on her face. Dear God, she hoped her parents said yes. Her parents loved Bucky a lot, they always told him every chance they could, but she didn’t know if they would even allow this. She took a deep breath, and looked into the eyes of the administrative assistant at the desk. “Hey Mr. Coulson, how are you this morning?” Y/N asked.

“Y/N, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Phil,” Phil chuckled, “you’re making me feel so old!”

“Sorry Phil,” she replied, “could I call my mom real quick?” Though she had a phone herself, her school’s cell service was absolute crap, and her phone refused to connect to the wifi, bringing her to the office to use the school phone. She usually tried to avoid the office at all costs, but this call meant everything to her.

“Sure, what for?” This is where she knew it would get tricky. If it was anything besides an injury, illness, or being sent home, the office would not allow her to call home. They were strict like that.

So, without any other choice, she lied. “I’m not feeling too good right now. My head hurts so much, and it's pounding a lot.” She put on her best show of weakness.

Phil frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that. Do you want any Advil? I think it’ll help your head feel better.” He moved his hand to his desk drawer and started to open it.

“Actually, it’s my head and my stomach. They both don’t feel good. And I hurt my foot. A lot.” She knew she was laying it on thick, but she leaned on her right foot to make it seem as if she couldn’t bear to put pressure on the other. Phil knew something was up, but he only narrowed his eyes and nodded.

“The extension is a one before the area code.” He said, but she was already fake-limping as fast as she could to the room next door.

“Thanks Phil!” She yelled back. Y/N made it to the door, opened it, and peered inside to make sure the lounge was empty. Once she knew she was in the clear, she rushed to the phone to dial her mom’s work number in. Pressing it to her ear, it ringed a few times, until she heard the static and her mom’s voice.

“Hello there, Mary L/N, how can I help you?” Her mom’s cheery voice made her calm down a bit, but then she remembered her mission.

“Hey mom, it’s me Y/N”

“Oh hey sweetie, what’s up?”

Y/N decided to try and get this out fast to lessen the blow. “Y’know Bucky, right?”

Her mom’s chuckle was heard through the phone. “Of course, he’s been your friend since the third grade.”

“And how he’s living with his dad and Becca alone?” Her mom’s hum of agreement prompted her to say her next words. “I was wondering if Bucky and Becca could stay here during quarantine. And, before you say anything, I know that you’re gonna say we don’t have any supplies, but we do! We still have the baby crib for Becca, and Bucky can just stay in my room like normal, and it’ll be like a sleepover. A very long sleepover.” Y/N winced at the awkward phrasing of her last few words.

She could hear her mom’s sigh through the phone, and the thoughts running around in her head. “But, even with all that, and I really hate to bring this up too, what are we gonna do about money? We’ll have to buy resources for not three, but six people.” Y/N’s shoulders slumped at her words, and she exhaled through her nose deeply.

Suddenly, like a godsend, she got a text from her sister. Thank whatever god is watching over cell phone service to allow them to receive this text, she thought as she read it.

“Hey mom, Ria just texted, she’s staying with her boyfriend for quarantine.” She was sure her mom could hear the huge smile through her voice, but in the moment she didn’t care. Y/N was desperate for her mom to agree, because she knew that he and his sister wouldn’t be safe. Bucky would always be her priority, even if he didn’t love her back the same way. “Mom, I know that this is huge, but we used to have him over for weeks at a time. This will be the same. If you need me to, I can use all the money that I made over the summer, I can pay for Becca’s food, and the formula, and oh god, what else does a baby need-”

She was abruptly interrupted by her mom. “You will be owing me big time. Your dad is going to murder me.” Y/N grinned widely at her mom's words. She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t fucking believe it. Her mom was allowing this. Bucky would be safe. Becca would be safe. “Before you go off running to talk to Buck, I should tell you to tell him that I need to voice a few concerns and rules.”

“Okay mom, thank you so, so much. I appreciate this so much, and I know Bucky and Becca will too. I’m gonna go tell him right now.”

“You’re welcome. God, I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Mrs. L/N wasn’t upset about it, no, she was ecstatic to get the Barnes children away from their asshole of a father, but she was going to get to care for them for however long the shelter and place would be going on. “Stop by the Barnes’ house and grab Becca and their things before you get home okay? Unless Mr. Barnes is there, then come straight home and I’ll go with you. You should also leave a note, if you can go inside.”

“You got it, mom. Again, thank you so, so much for this, but I gotta go back to the library to meet Steve and Buck. I love you tons!” Y/N said hurriedly. She was bursting with excitement to get her two favorite people away from their dad, and a month of spending time with her best guy friend that she happened to be in love with just added to it.

“I love you so much, Y/N. See you after school.” As soon as her mom hung up, she bolted. She didn’t care if Mr. Coulson saw and questioned her, nor did she care that she was shoving people in the halls and being a large disruption. Y/N burst through the doors of the library, eyes scanning around the room for her two friends. She spotted Steve talking to the librarian, probably about another spelling error he found in the book he was reading. Another time, she would have made fun of him for it, but she marched straight up to him with a determined look.

“Where’s Buck?” She asked. Y/N must have looked slightly insane and menacing with her windswept hair and slightly ruffled shirt, because her tall blond friend looked downright terrified of her. With wide eyes, he pointed to a couch where Bucky sat with his headphones in and watched a video on a school laptop. She nodded towards Steve in thanks, and dashed off to Bucky. As she approached him, she tried to also figure out the best way to say this. Oh god, what if he’s mad? I didn’t ask if this was okay with him.

The shadow that fell over Bucky gave him the notice that someone was near. His blue eyes looked up and met her gaze. “Hey doll.” He took one more glance at her appearance (not like he didn’t stare at her regularly), and asked, “Did you happen to get caught in a tornado in your hurry to your destination?” They both chuckled, but he could also feel the nervousness and excitement radiating off her. “In all seriousness, what’s up?”

She opened her mouth then closed it. “I need to talk to you. Just you and me. Even though, if you agree to this, the rest of the gang’s gonna find out anyway.”

“Now I’m a little scared, what's happening?”

She took a deep breath.”Well, after you mentioned it earlier, I was reminded that during quarantine, you’d be staying with your dad alone.” Y/N knew it was a little difficult for Bucky to talk about his family, so she decided to break it down slowly to him, even though her nerves were rattling. “And I hate the idea of you and baby Becca staying there, because… y’know.” He nodded his head in understanding, and you got the courage to continue. “Well, I talked to my mom, and she said that you could stay with us. For the quarantine. As long as you need. We love you so much Buck, and so if you wanna, you can stay with us.”

Bucky stared at her with wide eyes, in shock, but soon enough they started to get glassy. God, he couldn’t believe that she would think of him for over break. Y/N was the most selfless and caring person he knew, and he was just in awe of her. He stood up and grasped the girl for a tight hug. His face hid in the crook of her neck, because he was trying so hard not to let anyone see his tears, but he was having trouble controlling the sobs that wracked his body. Thank God they were in the corner of the library with the couches, so no one could see him. Y/N’s hands ran soothingly up his back, and it stayed that way for a few minutes until Bucky finally looked back up at her. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “I would throw myself in front of a moving car for you Buck, okay? Never tell Tasha, but you’re my best friend. I’ll love you forever.” Her arms tightened around his waist again, and his heart was filled with relief and love. “After school we’ll swing by your house and if your father’s not home we’ll grab Becca, your stuff, leave a note for your dad, and go to my place, sound good?”

His heartbeat immediately increased its rate. And there’s the panic. “But what if he is home, Y/N? I don’t wanna leave Becca by herself for any longer than she has to be. And do you have any baby stuff? Or food? She has to have formula, and her food needs to be in this weird food processor thing, I don’t know what it’s called, and oh god-”

“Bucky!” She cut him off with a giggle and a hand over his mouth, which he would’ve probably found hot, had he not been freaking out. “Me and Ria were once babies, we have stuff to take care of Becca. My mom knows all the products she uses, and we have the crib from the last time you came over. And if your dad is home, then we’ll just take Becca with us to my house and have my mom drive us back to yours to get your stuff, so she’ll know we’re okay. We’ll be okay James.” Y/N stared at him dead in the eye, so he knew she was serious. She never, ever used his first name unless she was being earnest.

He nodded. “We’ll be okay Y/N.” He released her from the hug, not wanting to make it awkward, but he regretted it, as he loved holding her in his arms. Looking to his left, he could see Steve bounding over to them.

“Ms. Moore said I need to stop talking to her about the typos and mistakes in the books, it’s like she’s completely unaffected by the flaws!” He exclaimed, but then he noticed the tears still resting on Bucky’s cheeks. “Hey Buck, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just Y/N offered to let me and Becca stay at her house for quarantine.” He sniffled and wiped the cuff of his sweatshirt against his face, looking to Y/N to find her already looking at him. Her small smile grew a little wider catching his eye, and she motioned toward the couch.

“Let’s get down to work y’all.” The trio sat down on the small couch, Y/N squished in between the two boys. Bucky placed his headphones back on, resuming the video from before, but not really paying attention. No, he was paying more attention to the girl at his side, resting her head on his shoulder as she typed away on her laptop. She managed to be the only one who completed any actual work during their free periods, but she always kept time open to have fun with her friends as well. Bucky couldn’t help but have his lips quirked up at her, leaning back to relax against the cushions.

He turned his head towards her, and whispered in a barely audible voice, “Thank you Y/N.” She looked up at him with her infamous smile and kissed him on the cheek.

“Anytime, Buck.” She turned back to her computer, plugging her earbuds in and softly humming to her music. Her head moved to his chest, and Bucky prayed that she couldn’t hear how fast his heart was thumping, filled with adoration and love. God, how he would love this girl for the rest of his life.

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bleedinghearthalstead · 4 years

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SWAT!Jay / Upstead AU

A/N: Part 3! Crossposted on AO3. Takes place right after Trudy Got a Gun, but is mostly unrelated plotwise. Enjoy!

Five blocks from their house, Hailey's phone vibrates in her pocket. When she pulls out the phone and sees the caller ID, she can't help but sigh – it's Hank.

"Upton," she answers. Jay watches her out of the corner of his eye as she hums and nods to what is being relayed to her until she hangs up the phone with, "I'll be right there." So much for a free afternoon with his wife.

Five blocks from their house, Hailey's phone vibrates in her pocket. When she pulls out the phone and sees the caller ID, she can't help but sigh – it's Hank.

"Where are we going?" Jay asks, already checking for places where he could potentially u-turn.

"Jay, you don't have to drive me there-"

"It'll be quicker," he cuts her off, "just tell me the address." And Hailey knows not to argue because she knows that look on his face that reads 'mission mode', so she just tells him the address and they're on their way.

When they pull up at the crime scene, Hank's car is already there and Hailey wonders how he beat them here, since they were only ten minutes away and Hank was still at the district when Hailey left. She doesn't say anything when Jay parks and also gets out of the car. Hailey's already got her badge clipped on her belt and Jay slips the chain with his badge around his neck. The patrol officer standing guard at the red police tape is giving Jay a weird look, but the officer doesn't stop them when Jay holds up the tape so he and Hailey can duck under it. Jay momentarily thinks about changing, he might have another shirt in the trunk, but actually no, who cares.

They find Hailey's sergeant at the loading dock of what appears to be a logistics center, semi-trailers parked in front of the gates. Hank and the medical examiner are standing over a body, a man in his late forties with a single bullet hole that sits neatly in the middle of his forehead. A clean kill. Not that much to do here for the ME.

"Hey, Sarge." Hailey stops next to Hank, peering down at the victim. Jay is looking around the crime scene behind them, studying the blood splatter on the ground behind the man. "Listen, I was on my way home, so my-"

Before she can finish her sentence, Hank turns to Jay and sticks out his hand. "Halstead, didn't know we needed SWAT support today." They shake hands.

"Voight," Jay returns, "yeah, unless you're cool with instigating a sniper standoff, I'm kinda looking forward to my afternoon off." Hank raises an eyebrow at him in question. "Distance, wind conditions, narrow angle between the trucks… this wasn't an easy shot."

"What makes you think this was a sniper?" Hank asks, intrigued.

"Well, I don't know if you've talked to any witnesses yet, so I don't know if anyone saw a shooter, but with that blood spatter, this definitely was a high-powered rifle." Jay tilts his head, examining the blood spatter closer, then turns around, scanning the horizon. Obviously looking for something, he moves to stand right behind where their victim must have stood, mindful not to step on the blood. He points at a building in the distance. "Angle suggests…" He squints, shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun with this hand. "That mid-rise structure about a klick south. Looks like a parking garage, but I can't say for sure."

Hank grunts at him in agreement, then turns to his detective. "Hailey, you wanna go confirm your husband's theory?"

And of course Hank knows, Hailey thinks. She has been quietly watching the exchange between the two men, but when Hank calls her name, she perks up. "You sure that's alright, Sarge?"

"Take some uniforms with you, canvass the area." That's all the confirmation she gets.

They get back into Jay's car and he drives them in the direction of the building that he spotted earlier, a couple of patrol cars trailing them. While he is driving, Jay keeps leaning forward over the steering wheel, trying to glimpse the building he saw from the crime scene.

"Sooo…" Hailey starts, "Hank knows."

"Didn't think he cared." Jay shrugs, still looking around. "And it's in your personnel file, so I'm pretty sure he's always known."

"Yeah, you're probably right… it's just weird that the whole team knows now. Trudy knows! And why am I not surprised that Hank already knew, but never thought to mention it to me?" Hailey frowns. "I've been in this unit for two years now and I'm not close enough to anyone that they know I'm married."

Jay raises an eyebrow at her. "Babe, you can be incredibly aloof about your personal life."

Hailey pouts. "Are you saying I'm an antisocial freak?"

"More like international woman of mystery."

"Good, my plan is working." They both glance at each other and grin.

They keep driving in silence, until Jay asks, "But you trust them, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. They're all good police."

"And good people too?"

"Sure," Hailey answers after a moment's hesitation. And she does mean it. They all have their issues, but what makes the unit work is that they all have each other's backs, no matter what.

"Then why don't you let them in a little?" Jay suggests. And truthfully, Hailey doesn't know how to answer that.

After some twists and turns, but not more than five minutes later, they arrive at what Jay has rightly identified as a parking garage. Hailey has one patrol car wait on the ground floor, telling them to find the manager in case they need to look at the security camera footage. The other cruiser follows them as they drive up to the top floor.

Jay parks and gets out, walking around to the trunk of his jeep. Rummaging around in a box, he pulls out a spotting scope. He quickly orients himself and goes to the north side of the garage, looking for an open space. A few cars over, there is a free parking spot. He walks right up to the edge, which is a half-height concrete wall, and peers through the scope. "Looks good." He hands the scope to Hailey, who, at Jay's direction, finds the logistics center they were at earlier, although their crime scene is hidden between two big trucks. "It's not the exact angle from here, but it's pretty damn close."

Still looking through the scope, she can see the crime lab techs still cataloguing the scene, but sees that Hank's car is already gone. Jay takes the scope back from her and determinedly walks to the northeast corner of the structure. He stops right at the corner of the building and looks through the scope again, then nods. "Got it." He turns to Hailey. "Roll a crime lab to our location."

Hailey nods in confirmation and relays the info through her radio. As she watches him examine the scene and then tell the two patrol officers to cordon off the scene, she thinks about how in another life Jay could've been a great detective.

* * * * *

When Jay drives her back to the district and again doesn't just drop her off, but parks and gets out with her, Hailey almost stops him. It was one thing for him to come with her at the crime scene since he was already there and she thinks that he wanted to back her up just in case, but to join the briefing? She isn't sure how that's going to go down with the team.

He is a few paces ahead when he notices that Hailey is still standing next to the car. Jay thinks he's gotten pretty good at reading his wife's mind and backtracks. "Is it okay with you if I join the briefing?"

She thinks about it for just a second, then nods her head 'yes'. It was Jay who figured out that it was a sniper and it was also him who found the point of origin within minutes. If not for her husband, they would have had to wait for hours until the crime techs processed the scene and then it would have taken even longer to find the parking garage.

Entering the district, Trudy just nods at them and Hailey uses the hand scanner and pass code to buzz them up to Intelligence. Upstairs, the team is already putting up info on the white board, Kevin sticking a picture of their victim onto the board and Kim writing down his stats.

"So what do we have on the victim so far?" Hailey skips the greeting and gets straight to business. When the others notice that she has a tag-along, they all perk up, first and foremost Kevin, who comes over to give Jay a bear hug.

Jay laughs. "Hey, buddy."

"'Sup, man? How you doing?" Kevin pulls back and they do a special handshake. Hailey can only wonder when they had the chance to learn that? She didn't see them do that at the bar.

Adam also joins the group. "Nice catch, man."

"Ah, it's nothing." Jay brushes off. "Total team effort."

Hailey marvels at how easy it is for Jay to fit into the group, almost a little envious that Jay has been able to build a comfortable rapport with her team mates on one single night out drinking, while it has taken her two years of working with them to achieve that sort of comfort level. He can be a charming bastard when he wants to.

Hank comes out of his office and breaks up the chitchat. He acknowledges Jay with a nod, then turns to his unit. "We got a dead body, what do we have?"

Their victim is Frank Moretti, the logistics coordinator at the center where he was found murdered. No priors, no obvious gang or organized crime connections, he seems like an odd assassination target. The team is going through the crime lab and medical examiner's reports, collecting their findings on the board. Jay's sniper theory is proven right, the recovered bullet's caliber suggesting a long range rifle. Unfortunately for them, the round is a .300 Winchester Magnum, which is popular in game hunting as well as military and police use.

Jay nods, "Popular is an understatement. Hell, even I use them."

When they get around to talking about the shooter's location, Hailey summarizes the report. "No conclusive evidence found at the parking garage, no notches or indentations from the rifle, no bullet casings, although we assume it was a single shot, no nothing."

Kim adds, "We're still going through the security camera footage, but no luck yet."

"I still think this was a professional hit," Jay interjects. "It's just too clean. If it was me, I would've done it from the cover of a van. Set up, open up the door, hit the target and drive off. If you know your target's schedule, that would've taken a few minutes tops." The others look at him with various degrees of alarm, Hailey included, but Jay just shrugs. "Just saying that you should be looking for a van arriving and leaving the garage within an hour of time of death."

"Alright, you heard the expert, let's get to work," Hank orders. "Upton, Ruzek, you go check out Moretti's home. Burgess, Atwater, you check out the footage and his financials. See what we can find."

The sergeant then turns to Jay and shakes his hand. "I guess I did need SWAT support today." Then Hank adds, "Don't tell your commanding officer."

Jay grins. He didn't have an afternoon off, but he was able to help with their case and he did get to spend some quality time with his wife. "Anytime, Sarge."

#upstead #jay halstead #hailey upton #chicago pd #swat!jay au #case fic is HARD #more fluff/humor next time #bhhfic

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champagne-bucky · 5 years

Text

Stronger

Summary: Life as the newest Avenger is tough, but a new friend is willing to help you through it

Warnings: bullied!Reader x Bucky

Notes: This is a requested one shot by @i-ve-become-fictional ! Hope you enjoy this! Like, repost, comment, and follow for more! :)

Avenger Wrecks Billion Corporation Building.

Newest Addition to the Avengers is Well Below Qualification Ranks.

Are the Avengers Becoming a Joke?

President Issues a Statement Regarding New Avenger: “Y/N Y/L/N is a Hazard to Our Country!”

The headlines wouldn’t stop, they were getting so repetitive. You get it, you suck, as an Avenger and as a person in general. Why do they all hate you so much? You’ll never understand why. It all started when James Rhodes hired you on as an Avenger. With Natasha Romanoff and Tony Stark’s passing and the retirement of Steve Rogers, S.H.I.E.L.D was looking to recruit a new member for the Avengers. You weren’t exactly top of your class strength wise, your skills excelled with computers and different types of technology. Needless to say, you had no real place on the team, unless they thought you were a gamma infected being that was holding out on everybody, you rendered useless.

Why do you put yourself down like this? Well, the other recruits were telling you the same thing, to your face and behind your back, when Fury considered you to be in the running for the Avengers. You were just as surprised as everyone else had been when you got a final nomination to join. It was between you and a highly respected and highly decorated S.H.I.E.L.D agent. You don’t know how you managed to get that far, but considering you blew everyone else out of the water when it came to cooking up concoctions in the scientific portion of the tests and memorizing how Tony Stark built numerous Iron Man suits, from a heap of scrap metal to glorious nanotechnology, the other recruits never stood a chance.

The team of remaining Avengers were shocked and impressed that you managed to make it as far as you did, truth be told you were too. When it came down to you and the other agent, Fury urged the team to really think about who they wanted. The votes were tied, but some poor soul thought you had potential to be an actual Avenger. What that same soul didn’t realize was with an uncoordinated member came dozens of heavily opinionated jerks from every walk of life criticizing your every move.

There was a small group of people that supported you. They tried their best to defend you, but that small group was always taken over by the tsunami that was late night television commentators and early morning local news reporters. It was safe to say, the majority didn’t like you.

Day after day you would train your ass off trying to get stronger. You were getting better, but you weren’t the best. You wish you could quit, but you were already in too deep.

The building was an accident. You didn’t mean to destroy it, however it was a building that was on the midst of foreclosure, which meant no casualties were harmed because no one was inside. Despite this important fact, the media ran with it and was quick to try and call you a cold blooded killer. Not true, not even a little bit, that at least was James Rhodes would tell you.

The others liked you. Sure, those who weren’t too keen on you took a while to warm up, but they all adjusted to your presence quickly. It seemed as though somedays they really did appreciate you. You could tell some were frustrated by you though. For instance, you had overheard a conversation from Clint and Sam voicing rather loudly how they thought you would get yourself killed because of you “careless” fighting style.

Most days you didn’t want to leave your room. You didn’t need to affiliate yourself with the new wave of hate and toxicity the internet and it’s trolls would bring you. You wanted to disassociate yourself from the world, and yourself, for one goddamn day. However, Colonel James Rhodes would not have any of that today.

“Due to light of the recent events from last mission, the Senate is ordering us to hold a press conference.” Rhodey announces which caused collective groans from the group.

“Do we all have to be present?” Clint asked slouching in his chair. He really didn’t feel like facing the ravenous press today.

“Well, actually, only myself, Bucky, Sam, and Y/N will be attending the press conference today.” You froze in your seat. A panic attack threatening to rise within you. The feeling of the teams eyes all landing on you. You’ve never had to be at the press conferences before. Usually it was only Sam and Rhodey taking the lead.

“Kid, you’ll do fine. Just give simple and minimal answers to the press. Don’t answer any questions you don’t want to. If anything, we’ll answer them for you.” Rhodey put his hand on your back before walking away to get ready.

—

You always had stage fright. Ever since 5th grade when you misspelled that one really long and complicated word. Everyone in the crowd was laughing at you, at least to your imagination. You remember specifically Marcy Hunter making fun of you and taunting you for weeks. Calling you stupid, getting the whole grade to think you were stupid, saying you were one of the biggest losers on planet ea-

“Hey, you ready?” Sam looked at you with concern.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s just get this over with.” You muttered nervously.

—

The millions of flashing cameras and yelling journalists did nothing to ease your confidence. Every single one of them were up in arms about what had happened. No one was hurt, so why were they all acting as if a mass murder took place.

“Colonel Rhodes, are there any updates regarding a body count from the premises of the building.” Someone shouted

“For the last and final time, no one was in that building. It was already cleared for months before we got to it.” Rhodey looked annoyed as ever. Same questions same answers. They were just looking for an opportunity to rip on you.

One woman eyed you up and down with her evil eyes. She was waiting patiently to get the mic and rip you limb from limb. She finally got it after about an hour into the conference.

“Ms. L/N, how do you think this mishap will affect on the citizens of New York?” She was going somewhere with this wasn’t she?

“Well,” you cleared your throat, “as Colonel Rhodes has mentioned, the building was cleared and the citizens surrounding the area were promptly evacuated.” Sam nodded his head in approval.

“So does this mean there has been no discussion of your removal from the team?” What?

“I’m sorry?” You questioned.

“Well, it just seems destruction follows you wherever you go. I mean for Christ sake a billion dollar building collapses and you aren’t even the slightest bit worried that you dm could’ve killed people.” She was evil. The way her lips curled into a devilish smirk.

“Like I’ve told the other reporters, building was empty and no civilians were near the scene.” Rhodey was getting annoyed now.

“What I’m trying to say is, did you all really think it was a good idea to have someone with so little experience play with the big boys. It seems as though she doesn’t even know what she’s doin-“ The bitch was immediately cut off by Bucky.

“Okay, that’s enough out of you, out of all of you. Y/N is an Avenger whether you like her or not. We voted to have her on the team, not you or you or any of you for that matter. I’m so sick and tired of seeing headline after goddamn headline about how “incapable” she is. Can’t you people focus your attention on, I don’t know, literally anything else in this goddamn world besides her. She’s made some mistake, we all have, just because she’s an Avenger doesn’t mean she’s not human like the rest of us. I swear to God I will personally rip to shreds everyone single news article that runs one more negative thing about her. So if you all can understand where I’m coming from, shut the fuck up about her and write something else. We are done here.” Bucky looks out fo the crowd angrily. The rooms falls silent after you all get up and exit.

—

It was late in the night and you were pounding it away at the gym. Trying to forget what had transpired at the press conference. You were working up a sweat trying to rid the voices in your head.

You’ll never be good enough.

You’re pathetic.

Failure.

You suck.

Failure.

Sorry excuse for an Avenger.

Failure.

Failure

Fail-

“I thought I was usually the only one up this late.” Your thoughts stopped as Bucky’s voiced echoed from behind you.

“Never thought anyone else came down here this late.” You responded, eyes still focused on the punching bag in front of you.

“Can’t sleep?”

“Never could.” You responded still hitting the punching bag.

Bucky ponders for a moment looking at your sweaty form. You always looked defeated, so helpless, you always thought you were useless. He never thought that though. Bucky always saw something in you, he never saw you like the monsters in the press did.

“Are you okay?” You sensed the concern and sincerity in Bucky’s voice.

“What do you mean?” You tried to act dumb.

“Don’t play coy, Y/N. I know how you feel.”

“How could you possibly know how I feel?”

“Because you’re not the only one who was the media’s favorite chew toy.” You stopped punching the bag as Bucky walks over to you and leads you to the bench.

“I know how it feels, to be an outcast, to be hated by everyone. How do you think the media reacted when the dreaded Winter Soldier was joining the Avengers. Dear God, I had to stay off the internet for weeks, couldn’t even walk down the street without some asshat yelling names at me, calling me a monster.”

You remember the public outcry that rang throughout the world when it was announced that Bucky Barnes, former HYDRA assassin, was joining the Avengers. The media had a field day with him, some even went as far as protesting the front gates of the compound demanding that this evil man be exiled for the crimes he had committed.

“Nobody liked me, and those that did couldn’t even get their message across to the world as to why I was a good guy. I know I’m not perfect, but I’m not evil by any means. It’s taken a while, but I know it wasn’t James Barnes who did those things to those innocent people, it was HYDRA and the Winter Soldier programming.” Bucky had been going through lots of therapy since he was brought back. Steve had insisted that Bucky go to every last therapy session even if it meant he would break out of the retirement home and drag him there himself.

“I was the deciding vote, ya know. When no one else thought you could do it I was the only one who spoke up in your defense.”

“What so the heat could be taken off of you?” You shot back, the little rage bubble in your heart expanding.

“No, stop thinking like that. I know what you may think, that everyone here doesn’t like you, but that’s far from the truth. Everyone here, they warmed up to you, they really do enjoy having you on the team, honest to God. They have their concerns thought.” Oh boy here we go.

“I agree with them on the fighting thing, you were a little choppy at first, but hey, no one is perfect. In fact, I remember one time where Sam crashed his new set of wings into the lake when the new compound was built.” You stifled a laugh.

“Hey, there’s that pretty smile.” Bucky smiled back as you fought a blush.

“You really don’t think I’m useless?”

“Far from it, doll.”

“Then teach me.” You finally looked at Bucky.

“What?”

“Teach me how to fight, how to be like you.” You looked up at him with pleading eyes.

“Doll, no one can be like me, you gotta be your own you.” You sighed.

“But that doesn’t mean I still can’t teach you a few tricks.” You had a wide smile plastered on your face as you hugged Bucky tightly. The first person to show you true compassion since you got here.

“Thank you Buck, thank you.”

“Anytime doll, anytime.”

—

Two months later…

“C’mon Y/N, let’s move it, just like we practiced.” Bucky yelled at you as you did the kick punch combo again.

It’s been a long two months, but goddamn was it worth it. Slowly, the headlines about you stopped and the people moved on to a new problem. It felt good to not be the center of attention anymore.

Bucky recommended you to a great therapist. Together you and Dr. Han worked through your insecurities and difficulties. Everyday you were getting stronger physically and mentally. Bucky on the other hand enjoyed spending his time with you. Soon enough you became more than just training buddies, you became best friends.

He liked getting to take care of you, helping you defend yourself. Sam always joked that the two of you were doing something more than just training, but there really wasn’t more to it. Bucky saw something more in you, he saw that scrawny little boy from Brooklyn, weak, but had the drive and passion of a soldier. Bucky looked after you as if you were young Steve Rogers, and he’ll be damned if he lets anything happen to you.

#bucky x reader #bucky one shot #bucky x bullied!reader #bucky fluff #bucky imagine #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky fanfic #winter solider x reader #winter soldier #marvel #james barnes #james buchanan barnes #bucky fic

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dayseternal-blog · 4 years

Link

Summary: Naruto and Hinata join the Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Land of Fire's Daimyo. (But not really.) Their mission is to smoke out the rat among them who's selling political secrets to insurgents, while making sure the other Guardians don't figure them out.

Neither can tell when their acting became so convincing.

A fake relationship canon-divergent AU. Rated E for eventual shameless smut.

Written for NH2020 March - Bodyguard Theme

Read Chapter 1

Chapter 2: Motives II

Back at the apartments, they shut the door of Hinata’s unit, drop themselves into chairs, and simultaneously sigh heavily.

They look at each other, bewildered at their timing, embarrassed smiles cracking open at what they just went through.

“I’m sorry I left you hanging for so long!” Naruto starts.

“Oh no!” Hinata shakes her head in disagreement. She was just relieved that he caught on to her trick.

“I really had no idea what was going on there, like why they were being so confrontational, why that guy was picking on you-”

“It’s okay-”

“Why you were suddenly so close to me and holding my hand and stuff-”

Her cheeks heat up again at the memory. “I know! I’m sorry, I just wanted them to stop questioning us!”

Naruto works a hand over his face, trying to settle his deep embarrassment. “Yeah, I don’t know why I didn’t catch on quicker, oh man, I’m really sorry, Hinata.”

“It’s really okay, Naruto-kun.” She tempers her blush as best she can. “At least now we have an excuse to meet up often without drawing suspicions.”

“Yeah.” He nods, thinking about how the other Guardians didn’t question the fact that they left together. Just sent them off with snickers and sidelong glances. It was so embarrassing. “It’ll definitely make it a lot easier for us to plan and share information.”

They both nod, getting used to the idea that they are now a fake couple.

“Speaking of information,” Hinata says, finally getting a handle on herself, trying not to think that she’s now Naruto’s fake girlfriend... “They told us their motivations for joining the Guardians.”

“Right. That’s a good place for us to start. That guy, Eizan.” He frowns at remembering how he jerked Hinata’s chin up, how he was looking at her. Even if it was all an act, it was a very convincing act. That still bothers him a lot...that's probably why he didn't catch on quicker to Hinata's plan... “He said he never had a family. That the Guardians are his family.”

Hinata nods. “That’s either a very good reason to want to protect his job, or a good reason to want to change things.”

“You’re right…” He really wouldn’t be surprised if Eizan is the rat. But he also recognizes that they got off on the wrong foot. He needs to try to be impartial in their investigation, no matter how much he dislikes the man. “We need to find out what happened to his family. It would be good if we can confirm the others’ claims, too. And we need to learn the other half of the team’s motivations.”

So they spend the next several days growing acquainted with the other Guardians. Besides, earth and fire-style user Geiiro, lightning-style user Tacchi, taijutsu specialist Eizan, and long-range wind-style user Hukukane, they meet the other six: Taiyou, Ryuu, Sandou, Kurikaero, Hioki, and Jin.

Through regular shifts, always in fluctuating twos or threes, almost never together, Naruto and Hinata make conversation with them and grow acquainted with their fighting styles during training.

Naruto gets them hooked into conversations naturally. He has something to bond in with everyone.

And unlike the first day, Hinata finds everyone trying to be kind to her. They’re the ones trying to make conversation with her.

They send an initial report back to Konoha, asking Kakashi to do background checks on all of them with the help of the Anbu. Until they receive the report back, Hinata fields their questions, building up her own story for coming to join the Guardians.

“My father is too strict. I couldn’t live with him anymore.” Or “I needed to get out, away from my clan. I wanted to see the outside world.” It’s an easy lie that the Guardians expected from her in the first place.

The men nod sympathetically, as if they understand, and so she says, “I must sound so ignorant. It’s embarrassing. Thank you for being patient with me.”

And they try so hard to assure her that she’s doing fine, that she surprises them during each training match with her prowess.

She acts like it’s a compliment, smiling, like she has no concern for the fact that they thought she was weak.

The truth is that she knows she’s doing fine.

She knows she’s creating a false, sheltered image of herself. All of her targets on missions underestimate her, and she’s learned to weaponize that.

Feed their egos and ideas of her. Paint herself as non-threatening.

It’s not hard at all. Maybe annoying, but she expected all of this.

Naruto has an easy time, too, settling into the team of Guardians, until conversations steer toward Hinata.

Hioki and Jin, two who had been on duty once with her, pout longingly on their shift off in the break room.

“Ah, Naruto, you know how lucky you are?” Hioki asks, a question that doesn’t need an answer.

But Naruto honestly has never once felt lucky. So he responds with, “Huh?”

Jin laughs, completely understanding Hioki’s line of thought. “When Daimyo-sama told us who was coming, we all got our hopes up. Maybe except Hukukane and Sandou. They’re both married.”

“Hopes up for what?” Naruto asks.

“Hinata,” they simultaneously answer.

His guard rises immediately. “...What about Hinata.”

“You know how frickin’ long it’s been since I talked to a girl?” Hioki asks. “Who’s not a prostitute?”

“Or some chick at a bar?” Jin adds on, sighing. “Who just wants to sweet-talk free drinks off of me?”

He frowns. Of course he doesn’t know. And he doesn’t want to know any more on this topic. He shrugs.

“Too long,” Hioki continues. “Must be nice. Having a girlfriend.”

“And Hinata seems like an actual nice girl. I mean, picking up girls at the bar is fine on a weekend off, but...you know...civilian girls are different from kunoichi. It’s hard to relate to their lives.” Jin lies back on the sofa. “It’s always a one-nightstand. None of them want to wait around for someone in this profession.”

“...Oh.” Naruto’s the one who feels like he can’t relate. He hasn’t taken advantage of the girls around him in that way.

“Must be nice having a kunoichi girlfriend,” Jin continues, echoing Hioki’s earlier sentiment.

Hioki gestures out the window. “This place is like a frickin’ monastery. Not a woman in sight except for some desk clerks.”

“Well…” Naruto can’t quite place what’s making him so uncomfortable. Why are they talking about this in front of me? “..Just...don’t touch Hinata.”

“Yeah, yeah, we all know she’s yours,” Hioki says, turning his attention directly at him.

“She’s yours.” It makes him feel like he possesses Hinata. A strange, strange idea that makes him feel...strange. Eizan said a similar sentiment that first day, too.

“Yeah, she’s my girl.” He knows he sounded confident, but all he feels is the awkward lie. He inexplicably feels the need to apologize to her for these straight-up falsehoods. But he also feels like it’s necessary. Neither he nor Kakashi knew they were bringing Hinata into a pack of wolves.

“No need to brag, okay! We heard from Eizan and Geiiro that you freaked out when all Eizan did was touch her a little,” Jin fusses.

Naruto feels all reservations take pause. “Okay, no, he didn’t just touch her a little. He touched her face and he called her a ‘pretty little princess,’ he-”

“Is that what he said?!” Hioki snorts out a laugh. “She is a pretty little princess. A pretty little princess who can obviously fight and handle if someone touches her a little. Dude, you freaked out! About to fuck up Eizan's stomach!”

“I didn’t freak out!”

“Yeah, you are right now!” Jin laughs.

Why does he always feel like he’s two steps behind everyone else when it comes to this topic? “Well, if some guys you only recently met kept talking about wanting your girlfriend, wouldn’t you be getting mad?” The words are out before he even thought about it. But he feels like he completely nailed the strange discomfort of this whole conversation.

“We’re just teasing you, relax,” Jin says. “It’s interesting. You gave up, at least for the foreseeable future, your obvious path to being Hokage.”

“Even I don’t think I would do that for a girl as nice as Hinata,” Hioki adds.

Naruto stops to consider their words. He wouldn’t, either, right? If this wasn’t a mission, he would never join the Guardians. But he can’t say that. To these guys, he gave up that dream--they don’t know it’s his childhood dream--to stay with his “girlfriend.” If he had a real girlfriend, a girl who would actually want to be with him...would he give that up-

“How long have you been together?” Hioki asks, interrupting his train of thought.

“Um.” He blinks himself back to the present. He has no idea. “I’ve known her since I was a kid.”

Hioki stares at him like his head’s not screwed on straight. “No, like how long have you been in a relationship with Hinata? Unless! Did you mean you’ve been-” He twists his middle and forefinger together. “-since you guys were that little?!”

“Oh, um.” The obvious answer is no, it’s a yes or no question, but now that he’s taking so long to answer, does that mean his answer has to be yes?! His mind flies through random intervals of time. “I mean, I guess, maybe...8 years?” He has no idea if that sounds ridiculous or acceptable, and this whole topic is messing with him.

“Eight years?!” Jin bolts up from the sofa.

...He guesses he chose a ridiculous answer.

Jin stares at him incredulously. “How old were you guys then?!”

“Uhh……….12?” Aw shit, that really is ridiculous. He wants to kick himself for choosing such a stupid age.

Both of them stare at him, jaws hanging off their faces.

It’s too late for him to take his answer back.

“No fucking wonder you followed her here. Damn.” Jin lies back down on the couch. “Why haven’t you married her, yet?”

Uh… He has no idea. Why haven’t I married her, yet?? Whyyy did I choose 8 years??

Hioki leans forward in his chair. “Is it because you had to keep your relationship a secret?”

He nods. He’ll take that answer. In fact, he can really run with it. “The Hyuuga clan would have never accepted me before the war,” he starts with as much seriousness as possible. “I was the village jinchuuriki. Everyone hated me, and if Hinata’s father found out about us, he would’ve killed me.”

Hioki makes a sound of sympathy. “That must’ve sucked. What about now, though? Do they know?”

“We just...got so used to hiding it...we haven’t figured out a good time to...drop the news on everyone.” He grimaces, realizing that excuse sounded really flimsy.

Hioki’s brows scrunch together. “I can’t believe you hid it for so long. I mean, we figured it out before we even met you.”

“Uhh yeah. I can’t believe it either.”

“Maybe everyone knows already and is just waiting for you to say it yourself,” Jin suggests.

“Eight years is a long time,” Hioki reiterates. “People probably have figured it out already. Either way, you two should’ve gotten married by now. One of you could die tomorrow and leave the other in regret. You know, just seal the deal and to hell with what anyone else thinks.”

Naruto frowns, feeling a guilt for a wrong he didn’t even commit. It’s just an elaborate set of lies, but he feels guilty about this whole imaginary situation. What kind of loser must his imaginary got-a-girlfriend self be to not marry after 8 whole years??

“I’m assuming you want to marry her, right?” Hioki asks.

He feels a heat crawling up his neck. Marriage has never been in the cards for him, but in this scenario he created… “...Yeah.”

“What’s holding you back?” Hioki asks.

He drops his gaze to the floor, trying to make up some convincing reasoning, his mind carrying him to why he’s been holding back on accepting dates from any of the girls who have asked him out. “People still don't understand who I am, who Kurama, the Kyuubi, is. Few people have ever really seen me for me.” He thinks Hinata is among those few... “People might give her a hard time. I just don’t want to ruin a good thing.”

Hioki nods, brewing on his words. “You really love her, huh.”

“I love her a lot,” he simply affirms.

“Naruto! Damn!” Hioki exclaims, a bit of admiration in his tone evident. "That's awesome."

“Sounds so nice,” Jin verbalizes in a sigh, still stretched out on the sofa. “To declare that so easily about someone...I want that…”

Was what he said deserving of such reactions? Was it supposed to be hard to say?

Suddenly, the room feels stuffy, the heat at his neck doubling down.

Hioki turns his attention out the window once more. “Yeah...must be nice,” he echoes.

The longing in both of their tones is obvious.

And he can’t deny that their envy resonates with him. ...If all of these lies were real...

“Oh. I also just thought you should know, Naruto.” Hioki’s voice is softer now, slightly muffled as he talks to the window. “It’s not just us who felt that way...when Jin said we were all hoping... Be vigilant for her. We’re all family here. But we’re all lonely, too.”

He hasn’t thought seriously about girls in awhile, not since his younger days when he went peeping at the public baths, worked on his Sexy Jutsu, and had a crush on Sakura. He’s been aware of the attention from girls he’s been getting. It’s been more of a source of confusion than of entertainment in his daily life. He was aware that Hinata’s the only kunoichi in the Guardians, that due to that, it must not be easy for her. But he had no idea exactly how bad it might be for her.

When he meets up with Hinata later that night, he’s suddenly, incredibly, ridiculously conscious of the fact that she’s a girl, a woman. He knew that, obviously he knew that, and he’s known that for a long time now, but Hinata is most definitely someone of the opposite sex today, more than she ever was before.

Long, rich hair. Nice, smooth skin. Delicate eyebrows. Long lashes. Lean muscles. Small, soft figure. Proper, feminine speech. Demure mannerisms.

It’s the everyday Hinata.

Logically, he knows she looks and acts as she always does.

But to those guys? She must be like a drink of water in the desert.

To look at her, and get a sense of what she’s like for those parched bastards, it makes his chest heavy, anxious, almost paranoid for her.

“Are you okay, Naruto-kun?” She looks up at him, concerned about his periods of silence. Without his constant responses, she’s not even sure he heard her recap.

“Those guys, the other Guardians, they’ve been nice to you?”

Completely off-topic from the news of the daimyo’s upcoming trip to Kumogakure for the Chunin Exams…so, no, he wasn’t listening to her. But she nods. “Mhm. None of them have given me problems since that first day. Eizan-san and Hukukane-san are actually very respectful.”

That doesn’t make him feel better at all, even though he knows it should. “You shouldn’t get too close to any of them, Hinata.”

Her expression obviously communicates her confusion at his demand. “Naruto-kun, we spend all of our time together. I have to be friends with them, even if any of them could be the culprit.”

“Yeah, but you shouldn’t be friends with them. And you shouldn’t go anywhere alone with one of them.”

“We sometimes work in pairs,” she reminds him, starting to wonder if she can’t catch a break...not even with her crush. “What are you so worried about? I can take care of myself.”

“I know! I know you’re really, really, really strong!” He tries to backtrack as quickly as he can. “That’s not what I mean! It’s just-” He huffs out a sigh, remembering his earlier conversation. “You know what Hioki and Jin told me today?”

She registers his uncharacteristic unease. His obvious discomfort from today’s events. “What did they say?” she asks gently.

“...All of them are desperate for a girlfriend.” They all wanted you when they heard you were coming. He almost wants to tell her that. He doesn’t know if he should, or if he even can verbalize that.

Her lips tighten into a contemplative frown. “I don’t think any of them would do anything to me, Naruto-kun. And even if one of them tried anything on me…” She smiles and shakes her head. She knows the unfortunate soul might just lose a limb, or something even more precious to a male. She knows how to use every single tenketsu on her body, after all.

“I know.” He knows she’s more than capable of handling herself. He just hated the warning Hioki gave him, even if telling him was actually a cool thing to do. “I’m sorry for even hinting that you can’t handle them because I know you can. I’m not worried about you, really, I just...want you to be careful, okay?”

She nods, doing her best to allay his concerns. “I am being careful around them.” She waits for her words to really sink in, for his expression to finally relax a bit. She decides to steer the conversation back on topic. “We just need to focus on our mission. The faster we determine if any of them are another informant, the faster we can return home.”

“Right.” He takes a deep breath, deciding to try to forget the earlier events of that day. “...Sorry….so what were you saying about the trip?”

She smiles, glad that he actually was listening, at least a little. “We need to let Daimyo-sama know how we want to team up. Per the Guardians’ work Agreement, only half of us will go on the long-term shift, while the other half get to take a break. Then on the next trip, the teams switch.”

“Well...if we can...we should go on the break first, right? That’s likely the most opportune time for a spy to meet up with his-” His memory flashes to Kakashi’s mission debrief.

“Last time, the spies were caught on the break,” Hinata reminds him.

“So they’ll probably be more cautious this time. ...We can have an Anbu team watch them. That would be easier than us trying to track where everyone goes during the break.”

Hinata nods. “They probably expect to be under surveillance this time and will act as unsuspicious as possible.”

“Then we should go on the work trip, yeah?”

“I think that would be our best option, too,” Hinata agrees. “And Daimyo-sama asked us if we have any preferences about who the other four will be.”

“Those background checks we requested should come back soon. Can he wait on the schedules until we get that report?”

She nods. “I think so.” She writes their decided response on an inconspicuous letter, their major method of communication with the daimyo.

That would close up what she needed to talk to him about for tonight, but she doesn’t want to be the first to say so. Then he would leave. And for a partnered mission, she really doesn’t spend as much time with him as she expected. With alternating schedules, sometimes she doesn’t see him all day and all night.

“Is that it, then?” he asks.

She hums an affirmation, trying not to sound sad. “That’s all.” She mentally prepares to say good night to him.

But he doesn’t stand up to leave. Instead, he looks extremely uncomfortable.

With the way he’s been acting all night to her, she can tell that something’s wrong. To encourage him to share his thoughts, she asks softly, “Do you have something you need to tell me?”

“Yeahhh…” He scratches the back of his neck, trying to gather courage to push through the awkwardness and tell her the story he strung together that day without her permission. “I don’t know if the others have asked you about...us? And our ‘relationship’?”

She shakes her head. “No one’s questioned me about it.”

“Okay.” Good. That’s a relief. “Hioki and Jin were asking a lot of questions, and I kinda just told them a bunch of lies about us.”

She blinks up at him, curiosity peaked, an embarrassed smile making its way to her cheeks. “What did you say?”

He can’t help smiling in embarrassment, too. “I told them we’ve been together for 8 years.”

As he expected, her eyes widen in shock. “Naruto-kun,” she starts, not knowing if she should laugh or scold him. “Eight years?”

“I know, I know!” he groans in regret. “It just popped out! Hioki was asking if we had been together since we were little, and I didn’t know if I should just go with that or not, so I just chose something in-between!”

She tries to stop, but she can’t. Silent giggles erupt into laughter. She can imagine how troubled he was, trying to make up something believable about them, only to still land on an outrageous idea, that, several hours later, is still troubling him! “I was only 11 years old!”

“And I was only 12! I was just a runt back then, like didn’t we only just graduate from the Academy at that age?? I couldn’t even clone myself at the time!” With Hinata’s laughter, it really starts to settle in how ridiculous his story was. “If anyone from back home heard this…” He shakes his head, knowing that none of their friends would fall for such a stupid story. It’s lucky that none of the Guardians know what he was like when he was younger. “I was so embarrassing back then! Ah, who am I kidding, I’m still an embarrassment.”

Hinata stops laughing for a second to scrunch her face up in disagreement. “No, you weren’t! And you aren’t.”

Naruto looks at her incredulously. “Hinata, Hinata,” he sighs in mock seriousness. “You don’t have to try to be nice to me all the time, I know what I was like, at least back then, I know no girl would’ve dated me.”

Instead of agreeing, she stares at him determinedly, pink filling in the peach of her cheeks. “...You! Were admirable! Even back then!” Each word forced out to smash down her bashfulness.

“Admirable at what?” he scoffs. “At causing a commotion? At making Iruka-sensei reprimand me?” He nods, feeling a tiny bit of pride in his childhood escapades. “I was pretty good at that.”

She pulls herself up, shaking her head in confusion at his self-deprecation. “Even back then I thought you were inspirational, Naruto-kun. You always faced forward, just like you do now.” She smiles, hoping he can see that she’s being sincere. “I always thought you were a great shinobi.”

Her words sound too self-assured to be lies. Cotton puffs in his chest, light and thick at the same time. He awkwardly grins, not knowing what to do with himself. “Aw geez, Hinata.” He has no words to deflect the praise, no words left to even gloat. “...That’s gotta be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” And he’s been hearing a lot of nice things recently, yet none of them seemed so...so real.

And he’s astonished at how nice she is, at how nice she’s always been. He really lucked out on this mission, to get to do this one with her. He supposes that out of all of the girls he knows, Hinata’s the only one an 8-year long secret relationship would seem even remotely possible- “Oh. And our ‘relationship’ is a secret to everyone in Konoha. I haven’t married you yet because we haven’t figured out a good way to tell everyone. And we had to keep it a secret in the first place because I have Kurama in me.”

This time Hinata really does feel speechless.

“They were asking me why we weren’t married, yet, after 8 years,” he awkwardly explains.

“Oh,” she finally softly answers. She doesn’t know what else to say. She knows the villagers were terrible to him back then.

“Sorry,” he starts, suddenly uncertain at her lack of response.

She hums a disagreement. “That sounds...realistic, doesn’t it?... My family never let me talk to you.”

He nods silently, remembering all the parents who dragged their kids away from him at the playground, who avoided even walking near him on the streets. Hinata was just one of the many kids who was told to not even look at him.

She can see melancholy casting a shadow in his expression. She knows that even though everyone loves him now, that doesn’t make up for the treatment in his past. Nothing she says can erase that hurt, but… “I always wanted to talk to you when we were kids...I wanted to be your friend.”

He looks up, the clouds in his gaze chased away with honest disbelief. “Really?”

She smiles, nodding, embarrassed at the memories of her many failures to even say a single word of greeting to him.

He searches back into his own memories, trying his best to recall little Hinata. “You were really quiet all the time.” He peers at her analytically. “But I guess you wanted to be loud and brash like me, huh?” he jokes, only half-serious.

She scrunches her nose up, smiling. “Maybe I did…”

The idea of an energetic, troublemaking Hinata gets him cracking up in laughter. “I can’t even imagine it!”

She shrugs, smiling, unable to imagine it about herself, either.

“Ahh,” he sighs, calming down to a chuckle. “As fun as a noisy Hinata would be, I like you the way you are.”

She looks at him. For a moment, too amazed to respond.

She doesn’t know how he never holds things against her, against any of them. He could so easily question why she never tried to help him in his times of need, but, instead, he jokes.

Instead of blaming her, he laughs.

He builds her up unthinkingly.

It’s a warmth that glitters about her, within her, around him. She knows that he has no idea how his candid words light her entire world, open her up, and it’s the effect he’s always had on her.

“I like you the way you are, too," she murmurs. It’s so close to her truth, though they’re not exactly the words she really wants to tell him. Perhaps this mission will give her the confidence to finally confess, to finally be completely honest with him, to support and be there for him in the way he rightly deserves.

His blue eyes brighten, his head tilts slightly, as if he didn’t hear her right. “...Thanks.”

She smiles, happy that he’s happy.

He stands up. “Good night, then, Hinata.”

She nods, understanding that it’s getting late now. “Good night, Naruto-kun.”

He’s not exactly sure how he ends up back at his unit, puffy cotton steadily fuzzing up his chest.

Between her blushing gaze and his own blanking-out brain, he knows he must have said something to take his leave.

He doesn’t really care about what he said, though. He just knew he had to get out of her unit. He had to escape, of course politely, but escape, because that’s what he always eventually does once the girls' attentions become too much for him to handle.

But this time, it’s not confused discomfort that follows him to the safety of his room.

He feels dizzy.

Breathless.

Collapsed on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, overwhelmed. Fantasy and reality blurring, he’s not sure if he imagined it all.

Unrestrained admiration...he’s seen that a lot recently.

But to get that from Hinata…someone who’s usually so reserved, fearless, and genuine!

It’s like a punch swabbed in pillows aimed straight through his chest. Everything thick, heavy, squishy, churning right down to his stomach.

Sick. But a flip-flopping sick.

He’s trying to breathe it out.

Trying to rapidly blink away her softly feminine smile, softly light eyes, softly pink cheeks--

He rolls over completely, face flat into his pillow, suffocating himself. Hooohhh...

His memory runs rampant in the dark of his mind’s eye.

“I like you the way you are, too.” With her softly gentle voice. Cutely smiling at him, so much care in her tone, earnest honesty, so bare and unaffected.

So real.

He smushes his face back-and-forth into his pillow as if lack of oxygen will calm the pressure in his chest and beat back the heat under his skin. Hhhooh...

“I always thought you were a great shinobi.” Always, like, she meant always.

“I wanted to be your friend.”

“You were admirable even back then!”

Her expression turned amusedly sneaky. “Maybe I did.”

Hooohhhhh…

His chest is aching, all the things, so, so, so many things she said, all of them burning him up like he’s about to explode.

He flips back over, gasping, the sound of his own labored breath finally starting to clear his mind.

“Hohh...hohhhh…” He shakes his head slowly, almost in disbelief. “Haahh, damn…”

He’s sweating. Blinking. Aware of himself, freaking out, in his room.

He unzips his jacket, throws it off onto the floor. Drags the chain mesh shirt off, too.

He closes his eyes, tuning in to how near he is to hyperventilating, trying to get his breath to pace and calm.

Logically, he knows he shouldn’t be reacting like this. Hinata didn’t intend to provoke this ridiculous behavior from him, this is just him, blowing things out of proportion now that he's overthinking it.

It’s not a big deal. It’s not a big deal. Plus, she said everything so easily, like it should’ve been obvious-

His chest inexplicably tightens, heat dyeing his face. He plops himself back over on his stomach, pressing all parts of himself into his bed, dragging the blanket beneath him tight into his stressed hands for some kind of comfort, until his muscles are straining, his body screaming for air again.

He just turns his face to the side, breath rushing into his burning lungs. He relaxes his grip. He stares unseeing at the wall.

Suddenly exhausted.

Hahh. Hinata... He closes his eyes. Hinata…..hahh….

He holds his breath again for a second, then lets it out in a measured sigh.

Heartbeat receding from his ears, sinking back into his chest.

A smile he didn't know he had on this entire time, now hurting his cheeks.

He's okay.

He feels really good.

#naruhina fanfic #canon divergence au #no the last #fake/pretend relationship #bodyguard #undercover missions #romance #eventual smut #minor original characters #naruhina 2020 #nh2020 #thank you for reading!#naruhina fanfiction

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your-shield-of-love · 4 years

Text

The disbanded Inquisition members looked out from the balcony, the last Inquisitor looking to the future and their family taking in the view.

"Leliana." A small voice called out to her, all the members recognised the voice but Leliana was the first to look at her. Kalle Sabrae, Hero of Fereldan, Warden Commander of Fereldan and the Warden who fixed the Wardens, stood in the middle of the doorway.

Her eyes warm and teary, only looking at her love. Before Kalle could open her mouth to say something, Leliana dashed to her, the Divine hat falling off, which Cole quickly caught. The couple embraced, Kalle lifting Leliana off the ground to spin her for a few moments. They kiss, having missed eachother since Kalle had visited Skyhold last - a year ago. "I missed you." Kalle breathed, smirking nervously, "Sorry I couldn't see you sooner."

Leliana has her arms wrapped around Kalle's neck, slowly loosening the grip and smiling, "I thought you would have at least written. Or I would have received reports on where you were."

Kalle laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck, "Well, your people wouldn't have been looking for a plain raven that wasn't theirs." She looked away from Leliana, smiling to the group and her eyes landing on Varric before she pulled Leliana back to them. "I would have wrote but you know me, always planning secret missions and going through with them with no warning." The couple stops at the centre of them, beside the Inquisitor.

Leliana laughs, shaking her head at Kalle, realising her hat appeared on her head without realising. "Thank you, Cole." Leliana smiles, Cole nodding to her.

"You're welcome. Would you like my hat?" Cole offers to Kalle who smiles, but shakes her head.

"No spoilers, but advise would be good?" She tilts her head to Cole, who she wrote to when she also wrote to Leliana, and was friends with him.

"The news they need to hear first, they can hear your happiness afterwards. It would hurt a bit if it was the other way around." Cole spoke to her, Kalle smiled at the advice and looked to the group. "I have someone I need you all to come see." Kalle let's go of Leliana's hands and guides the groups to the infirmary, the staff parting to let the group through and before the staff opens the doors, Kalle holds her hands up.

"Wait a moment, please." She turned to the companions, arms placed behind her back and they knew she meant business. "There are a few things you need to know."

Leliana tells the staff within the room to leave, when they do, she nods to Kalle.

"After defeating the blight, things that were like the rifts appeared." Kalle began,

"I'm sure we've had this conversation before." The Inquisitor teased.

Sera jumped in, "Aye we have, so just tell us quickly, no background stuff!"

Varric laughed, "Buttercup, a good story needs details. Continue." He waves his arms to Kalle, who smiles relaxed in return as thanks, which he hummed at. He also stepped forward to her, the two had gotten to know eachother pretty well since Kalle appeared in Kirkwall all those years ago and he knew she preferred friends close when nervous, Varric wondered if she'd consider coming to Kirkwall for a holiday? He had yet to show off how Kirkwall changed and he could imagine Kalle would be thrilled with how it was developing. She could maybe give pointers too, since she helped Fereldan rebuild. Though Hawke would have been more excited about how Kirkwall had improved, though they would have complained that there wasn't enough danger anymore or maybe they wouldn't?

Kalle continued, "Well, I'll make this short. I could close rifts and such back then but um, what I didn't tell you... Was that when I was on the way to Skyhold, I closed a rift..." she looked guilty, "I'm sorry I didn't say but, I had my duty to the Wardens." She bowed her head slightly and before she or anyone could say anything,

"Rain pouring, 'no one around to see or be be hurt if it goes wrong'. Foot raised like before, the kick that closes the rift. Fear, worry, happiness, responsibility but you already had those. It's okay you didn't say, the Inquisitor had already planned to close it. It's good that you don't have more weight." Cole spoke, standing beside Kalle and patting her shoulder, "Doubt, sadness, guilt. You could have done more but it would have been wrong. You would have become broken and you needed to keep together. You did good." Kalle smiles sadly but relieved at him, pulling him into a hug.

"Thank you." Kalle and Cole spoke, making her laugh. They pulled apart and she looked across the group to see if anyone else had anything to say.

"It's alright, continue." Inquisitor smiled, wondering where this was going.

"So um... After Hawke," she paused, "I wondered if I could," The air became tense, "Open a rift." Varric watched her, pain and hope sparking within him, "It didn't work." Her eyes dropped to the floor, "I was... really fucking upset and pissed. I thought about asking you," she looked to the Inquisitor before raising her head again, "But I knew if you could ... then you would have." Kalle sighs, "But my stubborn ass wanted to make sure. To check. But I had to return to my crew, they needed my information and thoughts. I also had to prepare for them to kick Warden ass when we got back. So I left, did all that but... 8 months ago I returned to Fereldan."

Leliana interrupted, "And you didn't say anything?"

A frown started on Kalle's face, "No, I was going to but... I knew if I did, you would stop me." Her face grew serious, determination blazing in her eyes. "I couldn't let you or anyone stop me, so... I went to Adamant." Varric had her full attention, he didn't want hope or bad news or... but what if Hawke was rescued? Recovering in the infirmary behind Kalle? He held himself back. He was afraid to hope, 'and kid, don't say anything'. Cole fingered at that. "I waited till it was early morning, just before the morning watch would have started and... turned back into myself. I stood where the rift was before. I thought of Hawke and..." she swallowed, "I opened a rift. For the first time." Her hands fidgeted, "I closed it behind me, don't worry."

Varric stood wide eyed at her, she turned to him.

"I spent, 7 and a half months looking." She looked grim at first, flinching at whatever she had went through, Leliana reaching out and was about to give her trouble when she laughs slightly. "The big demon you mentioned? Destroyed. No demon in sight for most of my time there... I started to realise as I went along, that there were markers, placeholder on areas. Bodies of demons and such, laying in a particular way. The fear demon was the centre point. So I followed along the signs, there were long paths and I could tell why the length of my hair that it had been 6 months by the time I reached the last path..." Kalle smiles warmly at Varric, another tear in her eyes.

"You found her." Varric hoped, Kalle nodded. Kalle had at least found Marian's body. And at best... He stared at the doors behind her. There was a reason she didn't just open the doors to them.

"Found her, sitting and speaking to Spirits. Definitely not demons, spirits who were to weak to possess her mind but helped her stay sane. When she saw me, she thought I was a demon, she almost beat the shit out of me." Kalle grinned, "The spirits intervened, saying I was real, in the fade with her. A took her about two weeks to be convinced and only believed me when I told her to kill me if she thought I was a demon. Time is different there, your body doesn't need sleep as much and well, as a mage I never ran out of energy... it was disorienting." She shook her head, a sign she thought she was rambling.

"You mean Red was ... fucking shit fuck!" Sera shouted, looking both angry and guilty. Her and a lot if the patrons that were at the tavern grew close to Hawke. Iron Bull grumbled about the fade shit and how he hoped she was alright.

"Well... We got out, about a month and half ago. We ended up a few miles from my safe house." She itched the back of her head, "Which was good because it meant Hawke and myself could recover there for a bit. Or that was the plan. Instead we stayed for a month, then travelled here. Hawke is... they sometimes just space out, break things or have a full breakdown when they feel they're still in the fade. She will struggle with this for a time, so... I think it's best if you want to see her, to do so in small groups. Not alone and not too many." Kalle pats Varrics shoulder. His brain couldn't catch up with his mouth, so much to say and shit... He wanted to see Marian.

"Kid," Varric spoke, "You're with me." Cole nods.

"I'm coming with!" Sera stepped forward, she turns to Iron Bull-

"The Iron Bull?" He looks to Cole, "They are.. the arishok has hurt them in the fade, more than enough times. You should be yourself, not careful or quiet." Iron Bull winked in surprise, before smirking.

Cassandra steps forward, "May I?" She asks Varric, he nods.

"Thanks, Cassandra." He says, making her smile and nod. The four opened the door together and Varric stepped in first.

Hawke always went with they and them pronouns. At first he and him, so that growing up without Malcolm, she could get more jobs but it didn't feel right. Eventually they became happy with being they rather than he or she, though if someone called her she it didn't bother her. Just didn't feel right. Like how you find a dress and realise, 'fuck it, waistcoats for life'. They stood at the window doors, looking at the view and wished they could go fo the balcony. But the staff, and herself worried she'd jump or... the doors opened behind her. Kalle told them she'd get their friends to come visit. They fidgeted with their long hair, they knew they had been in the fade for just over 3 years. Kalle didn't hesitate to tell her, Kalle never lied to anymore unless it was necessary, and even then Kalle didn't like to lie for too long. After defeating the fear demon, Hawke chopped their hair to be short. As they did everytime she felt lost, lost someone or something - like Kirkwall, or on the rare occasion, when she started her life anew. Like after a year of being in servitude, she cut her hair. Now it was long, pulled into a thick ponytail, Kalle had used her mana to make sure no bobble would snap.

They turned and saw, a wheeling Varric. Their gut told then it wasn't him. That this Varric would either be a desire demon again (after like the millionth fucking time), or a despair demon, taunting and using his face to try get them to hate the person they loved most. No despair demon dared after the mess and warning she left. They had to kill fake Varric's more than once and often times had other Varric's shoot at them. Though it wasn't the first time, the first time the actual Varric shot at them. Though he was under the influence.

"Sat by the fire, papers in one hand, quill in the other. Spectacles on and he smiles. Too warm, too hot. 'I'll burn. Is this it? Is this what Papa Dragon told me? When I think of him and think 'this is it?'." Cole spoke, appearing in the room, Hawke smiled subtly at the memory. A memory they forgot because they got scared. It was before the expedition, they had pushed the thoughts and feelings away because they didn't want to get hurt.

Hawke sighs, "You owe me 10 sovereigns." They held their hand out to the Iron Bull, a grin growing on their face. He let out a hearty laugh but Varric held the hand they held out. He stared into their eyes, Hawke looked to him. "I love you. I'm sorry I didn't say before. Not really, anyway." They pulled the dwarf into a hug, Varric pulled his head out from their chest to look up, he was shocked but he cried. Hawke rubbed at his cheeks, he let out a whimper, gripping onto her.

"I... You come back, I plan on giving you a lesson and you just say I love you?" They panic, hoping they didn't fuck something up again, they let out a shaky breath but before they can question anything. "Of course you would." Varric grins brightly, eyes open and tears falling. "I love you, Marian." The two hold eachother.

Iron Bull, after a few moments taps Marian's shoulder. They and Varric look up, he's holding out a coin purse. "Ten sovereigns for bravest way to go. Fucking demons." Hawke grins, swiping the purse.

"Told you, I beat Qunari everytime." They smirk.

"Tal-Vashoth." (Sp? I forget how to spell it sorry) The Iron Bull corrected, he said it the same way Varric spoke about being a dwarf, with not as must distain. There was a story there, one they couldn't wait to Varric to tell. They smiled down to Varric, pulling his teary face into a soft kiss.

~~~~~~~

Hope you enjoyed ;;

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akirakan · 5 years

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Sony’s Universe would work much better if they focused on legacy heroes

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past weeks, we all know that Spider-Man is not going to show-up in the MCU anymore. Sure, they could arrange a new deal, but for the moment, forget about seeing him again alongside The Avengers.

Sony is very likely to integrate him into their own cinematic, Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters (SUMC), and do at least a soft-reboot, with the same cast but ignoring the events of the MCU. They already kick-started their little universe with Venom, with it’s sequel coming and Morbius starring Jared Leto, as well as the announced Black Cat, Silver Sable, Silk, Dusk, Nightwatch, and (*sigh*) Jackpot. Although, from all those announced, god knows how many will actually enter production (Silver and Black, Sinister Six, anyone?), specially now that they have Spidey all for themselves, he’s very likely to take priority. They’re very likely to continue with more spin-offs entirely focused on Spider-Man villains.

Okay, so honest question: outside of maybe Black Cat, Silk and maybe Silver Sable, does anyone really care about the others? Do you even know who Jackpot and Nightwatch are? Did Sony ever looked at Leto’s track and didn’t noticed that his only financially successful film is Suicide Squad? Does anyone really think that a universe build with villains turned into heroes as the leads is feasible?

If the answer to most of those questions is no, then you can see that the SUMC is heading to disaster. Sure, Venom was success, but let’s face it, building your cinematic universe on a “so bad it’s good” base is really shaky.

Sony is not entirely lost, however. They still have plenty of heroes. If there’s something that has characterized the Spider-Man mythos the past decade or so (I would go even further, to the 90′s and the clone saga) is the expansion of the Spider-Family. The aspect of legacy has been heavily played-up since the introduction of Ben Reilly, and the introduction of more diverse heroes with rich backstories, and (in most cases) independent from Peter Parker, opens a huge door for Sony to exploit. It’s much better having a universe where Spider-Man pressence is felt instead of awkwardly having Spider-Man villains headlining the universe with no Spider-Man on sight.

So let’s call this, The Spider-Man Legacy Universe, Phase 1.

Miles Morales - Spider-Man

I won’t even bother to explain him. I know you all saw ItSV. And if you haven’t, go watch it.

He would be the main face of this potential universe. He is THE Spider-Man. He would be slightly older in here, already being Spider-Man fo a few years by now, to show that he has more experience than all the upcoming heroes. Gwen would be introduced as the new girl at school, but she has her own agenda,

Mayday Parker - Spider-Girl

The daughter of the true Spider-Man! She’s Peter’s and MJ’s daughter, whose powers kicked-in when she entered high school. Her origin could be done fairly quickly: she’s Spider-Man’s daughter. There you go. Introduce villain.

Though, this would work to give more of a backstory to this world. Peter’s fate, for instance. He didn’t die in his last battle with Green Goblin. He was, however, incapacitated. He still lives a happy life with her wife and her two daughters. Yes, I said two.

At least in this version, I would introduce both of them. Annie being younger like in the earlier Renew Your Vows series, she would be the younger sister of Mayday. And no, she doesn’t have powers... yet.

Anya Corazón - Araña

Objectively speaking, the best superhero of all time (okay, I might be a little bit biased on that. JUST a little bit ;)). Anya Corazón is a mexican-puerto rican brooklynite who one night was caught between two warring factions: the Spider Society and the Sisterhood of Wasps. After almost dying during the attack, the mage of the Spider Society, Miguel, uses a ritual to save her, kick-starting her powers. After that, she becomes the hero Araña and fights alongside the Spider Society, at the same time that she tries to discover the dark side of the organization and other secrets, like what or who is inside the bunker...

This one would introduce mystical aspects into the universe. Kinda like being the Dr. Strange equivalent, introducing concepts such as the Web of Life, The Other, and, therefore, the Spider-Verse. This concepts would be key moving forward with the next heroes...

Kaine - Scarlet Spider

Kaine “Parker”, after living a miserable life as a failed experiment and seeing his brother die, he ultimately dies... before inexplicably coming back to life. He retires to Dallas where he tries his best to live a normal life. However, being a Parker means that you will always be dragged to something. And so, after encountering a young immigrant girl almost at the point of dying, he suits up once again and reclaims his place as the Scarlet Spider.

More exploration into the concepts introduced in Araña and a look into the Clone Saga, which will also spawn stuff.

Flash Thompson - Agent Venom

Flash as Venom is best Venom. There, I said it. Former bully of Parker, later one of his best friends, and #1 Spider-Man fan. Has been operating for years as a government agent after being disabled since his time in the army. Ex-husband of Felicia Hardy aka Black Cat, and father of Felicity Thompson Hardy, now a coach at a Philadelphia high school.

We take a little break from the more Spider-centric narrative into the symbiote world. As well, the more worldwide adventures of Flash would let us see the rest of the world in a post-Spider-Man era.

Jessica Drew - Spider-Woman

A former CIA Agent, she now works as a private investigator alongside her partner Lindsay McCabe. Everything seems normal until one day she’s contacted by Parker Industries (!) for a special mission related to her past. She’s gonna have to suit up again in order to discover more about herself and get her bread.

Similar to Agent Venom, more worldbuilding and we see the existence of more organizations and factions within. I would also like to throw in Ultimate Jessica Drew as a potential partner, but would need more development to see if it isn’t too convoluted.

After all the establishment, we get a team-up movie where all this heroes meet for the first time, and I’m gonna leave this here. There’s already hints about heroes around, without going overboard like certain other failed cinematic universes had (Dark Universe, TASM). The most important thing is to not rush things and take their respective development. Focusing on the legacy heroes shows how important Spider-Man truly is in the world, and that’s what they should aim for.

#Spider Man #Miles Morales #Sony #Anya Corazon #Mayday Parker #Jessica Drew #Flash Thompson #Venom #Kaine Parker

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douxreviews · 6 years

Text

Travelers - Season Three Review

Season one was good; season two was better. Season three was terrific, definitely the best so far. If you haven't tried Travelers yet, you might want to give it another shot.

Travelers is about people from a far flung, terrible future who have transferred their consciousness into the bodies of people from our time who were about to die. Working in teams of five, Travelers carry out missions given to them by the Director, an AI in their own time, saving lives and changing key events in order to "fix" their own future, even if it leads to their own nonexistence.

Although there was still a lot of action centered on lifesaving events and efforts to fight the lawless anti-Director operatives called "The Faction," season three was a lot more personal, more about the Travelers themselves.

And here is where I'm going to insert an adorable spoiler kitten! If you haven't seen season three and you plan to, I'm going to spoil everything! Come back and read this review later!

The season two finale in which David, Kat and Jeff learned the truth about the Travelers program at first appeared to be a nonevent when the three of them (and the befuddled Ray) received a 24-hour memory inhibitor that Grant had used on Kat once before. The kidnappees were told that they had been taken prisoner and drugged by a psycho serial killer, Vincent Ingram.

But the wipe wasn't entirely effective, since the kidnapping had lasted longer than a day. Jeff, an alcoholic, was able to partially resist its effects, and he remembered that Carly wasn't Carly. While David resisted a similar realization about Marcy because he loves her, he was frightened enough by what he remembered to buy a gun and start taking lessons in self-defense. And Kat kept getting memory flashes of Grant lying to her and planning to hurt her.

Interestingly, the real FBI became involved in Traveler operations when the FBI director (David Cubitt) was cleverly brought onboard. Grant got a new, reluctant partner, non-Traveler Agent Yates (Kimberley Sustad). And a 21st century artificial intelligence called Ilsa began to channel information from the Director, who was finally able to communicate directly with Traveler teams.

Season three got stronger as it went, with increasingly serious episodes and a blow-out shocker of a two-part ending.

3.3 "Protocol 3"

If you don't remember, I'll remind you what Protocol 3 is: "Don't take a life, don't save a life, unless otherwise directed." In this episode, Grant woke up mindwiped and was compelled to backtrack his own actions and find out why, even though there was clearly a very good reason why his own team was keeping the truth from him. Grant discovered that he had received orders from the Director to execute Aleksander, the Romanian child that the team saved back in season one, because Aleksander would grow up to do terrible things. (It wasn't stated outright, but he was already killing animals, suggesting that he would become a serial killer.)

This episode featured a depth of tragedy as well as ambiguity that ended up playing out through the entire season. The team managed to convince Grant that the time he had spent with Aleksander that day had changed the boy's future and that they had placed Aleksander in another, more successful foster home. But there was major subtext implying that Grant did indeed execute the boy and couldn't live with what he had done, so the team had wiped his memory and had come up with a convincing lie that Grant would probably believe. I was impressed.

3.6 "Philip"

Philip and other historians were kidnapped by the Faction, who wanted their knowledge of the timeline. We learned that the updates Philip was enduring would eventually kill him. !!! After the kidnapping, Philip decided to stop taking the yellow pills that kept him from seeing multiple timelines.

While I like Philip and this was a strong episode for actor Reilly Dolman, the real standout in this episode was Louis Ferreira as Rick Hall, who was shot and lying on Marcy's table at the garage as the team tried to retrieve Hall's knowledge about what had happened to Philip. Hall's final moments hallucinating that he was lying in a sunny field of flowers absolutely got to me; I cried for him. Ferreira did such a good job of making Hall a memorable character, considering that he was only in four episodes of the entire series.

In this episode, it was finally stated aloud that the Traveler program didn't appear to be working. Even with all of the lifesaving, positive changes, the horrible future was still basically unchanged.

3.7 "Trevor"

Trevor (Jared Abrahamson) has always been a favorite character of mine. There's something about the contrast of a teenage body housing the mind of an extremely elderly man that I've always found appealing, and the actor really made it work. In this episode, Trevor developed "temporal aphasia," a condition in which he checked out of consciousness for increasingly long periods of time, making him useless as an agent. (Sadly, we learned that the only other person who died of temporal aphasia was Trevor's late and much loved wife.)

Grace, who has a thing for Trevor, decided to save him before the Director overwrote his healthy young body with a new Traveler, and she succeeded in regulating his aphasia with a device that made his body unusable by any other Traveler. I found this denouement bittersweet since Trevor, who is extremely old, was clearly ready to die but resigned to continue doing his duty.

The B plot was actually even more moving than the A plot when David's very first client, played by the wonderful Jim Byrnes from Highlander, died and at his funeral, David gave him a beautiful, heartfelt eulogy that emphasized the worth of every human being. This homeless man's influence was what made David choose social work in the first place, and that choice in turn had a beneficial effect on everyone David has helped. This was another episode that made me cry.

In this episode's coda, Kat decided to test Grant by taking him to the place where they met, seventeen years ago. When he had no idea why they were there, Kat finally knew for certain that Grant was not the man she married.

3.9 "David" and 3.10 "Protocol Omega" (finale)

The Faction set off three nuclear devices in countries around the world, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. David was dragged into carrying out a critical Traveler mission and had to disarm the fourth nuke alone, absorbing a lethal dose of radiation.

Key government figures all over the world were taken over by Faction travelers, and our team was clearly falling apart. Trevor's aphasia returned; Philip was hallucinating so many timeline variations that he couldn't so much as cross a street; Kat threw Grant out and their marriage was over. David's painful death was the last straw – I found it practically unbearable. His last words came from the Director: "Protocol Omega," meaning the Traveler program was over. Later, Marcy committed suicide in order to keep the Faction from the backdoor-to-the-Director knowledge she had in her head.

I'm sure it won't be a surprise that I cried through these two final episodes, too. I even yelled "Nooooooo!" out loud. Marcy and David falling in love despite the terrible problems they had to overcome was the heart of this series. I can't imagine it continuing without it.

In the end, Grant used Traveler 001's consciousness transfer device to go back to his host's body the moment Grant met Kat, seventeen years ago – and then he let her go to live her life without him. On September 11, Grant was in the Tower before Traveler 001 arrived. Grant was the one to send a different message to the Director, telling It that the Traveler program was a failure.

So many questions!

Did Grant prevent the entire series from happening at all? Or are there multiple timelines where it did? They did give us a lovely alternate moment where David and the original Marcy met on the bus before her mind was destroyed by Traveler 001. And thank you so much for that. (Of course, in this timeline, there would be no Ingram to destroy her mind in the first place.)

After stopping the Traveler program from ever happening, Grant was checking his watch, waiting for the Tower to get hit by the plane – but there was no plane. Did it ever come? And why didn't the original Vincent Ingram arrive in that office to fix the computer? If 9/11 never happened, that would be really, really interesting. What could we infer from that?

The Director abandoned "version 1" of the Traveler program, and started "version 2." Is this the end of the series? Was it all a paradox? Was it the Traveler program that brought about the original future dystopia in the first place?

I should be bummed that the series might end like this, but instead, I find it fascinating. It's an excellent ending for the series, but it's also a surprisingly cool launching point for a fourth season, if they get one. Bravo.

Bits and pieces:

— The first two seasons consisted of twelve episodes each, and there are only ten in season three. But I'm okay with that; they certainly got the job done.

— Although... the introduction of Agent Yates, Ilsa the AI and Dr. Teslia seemed a little pointless. I thought more was going to happen there.

— Carly's ex Jeff had an interesting storyline this season when Carly deliberately set up a situation where Jeff would kill her, knowing that the Director would probably overwrite Jeff first. Which It did. Jeff later being taken over by Traveler 001 didn't work as well for me, although having himself chained to a wheelchair and bricked up behind a wall was gutsy.

— Gold acting stars for Jennifer Spence as Grace, especially in the episode "Trevor." Such a droll character.

— Honorable mention for Christopher Heyerdahl, who played a serial killer for five minutes in "Archive" and then played the Traveler who took over his body and had to face a lifetime in prison or possibly even the death penalty for something he didn't do.

— And a special grossout award for Heyerdahl's character vomiting up an eyeball. Bleeechhh.

— There were many shots throughout the season of only half of each character's face. I'm sure it was this season's Most Obvious Symbolism.

I thought this season was excellent. Four out of four pair of ducks.

Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

#Travelers #Grant MacLaren #Marcy Warton #Carly Shannon #Philip Pearson #Trevor Holden #David Mailer #Travelers Reviews #Doux Reviews #TV Reviews #something from the archive

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mooleche · 5 years

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GIMME DAT WHOLE OTP LIST FOR PIOTR AND NINA (although I already know that Nina's the one to basically wear no clothes and Piotr's the one to tell her to put clothes on, lol).

MY TABLET ISN’T HERE OTHERWISE THERE’D BE A DRAWING W/THIS ABOUT THAT LOL

It will come later Ψ( ●｀▽´● )ΨAs always I’m sorry for mobile users please don’t hate me - THIS WAS FUN TY!

1: Who spends almost all their money on the other?Probably Colossus, though they both end up pooling their money together a lot of the time to buy Venom a lot of chocolate delicacies to keep him happy. Nina usually spends a good chunk on surprising Piotr with art supplies which end up costing a pretty penny, while he swears up and down that he has to be the gentleman and pay for their dinner dates despite her being stubborn and wanting to help. 2: Who sleeps in the other’s lap?Nina usually, but it depends on the time. Colossus is far too large to sit in her lap (despite her brave offerings), but catch him trying to stay up late at night with Nina sitting in his lap and he'll end up resting his head against hers as he finally gives in to rest. Nina on the other hand will often curl up against him while he's reading in the daytime and rest her head against his chest so she can listen to his heartbeat (she always gets a giggle out of it because it beats a little faster when he realizes this).3: Who walks around the house half-naked and who yells at them to put on some clothes?You guessed Nina and you were RIGHT. She's shy about her ink covered hands and some battle scars but that won't stop her from revealing the goods under the clothes (especially on hot summer days). She usually relies on Venom to transform into her clothes so on days that she's no longer his host or she's running late and forgets Colossus is ready to scoop her up and drag her back into their room or home to make her put on some clothes (but not before she tempts him back to bed for some fun).4: Which one tells the other not to stay up all night and which one stays up all night anyway?Nina is very much the night owl in the relationship while Colossus is the old man and calls her before bed to tell her not to stay up too late. This unfortunately goes in one ear and out the other as the night is when she fights crime the most and also when she works on her college studies because she procrastinates until the very last minute. On nights that she's working extra hard he'll often wake up to find her passed out on the couch to which he gently wakes her up with coffee and a kiss so she's not completely dead during the daytime.5: Which one tries to make food for the other but burns it all by accident and which one tells them that it’s okay and makes them both cookies?Colossus is definitely the better cook of the two, but damn if Nina doesn't try. With two parents who often cooked their meals together Nina likes to think she can do the same but usually ends up messing up burning the dish because she gets distracted by one thing or another (ie Wade calling to dish the deets on his latest murder fest). This results in Colossus usually shaking his head and preparing a nice dish for them instead if he's got the time. If not they usually settle for takeout somewhere and laugh over it.6: Which one reads OTP prompts and says “Oh that’s us!” and which one goes “Eh, not really”?Colossus doesn't usually spend a lot of time on the internet so when Nina sends him one and goes 'This is us!' he usually has to have to explain it so it makes sense sdsjgksk7: Which one constantly wears the other’s clothes?Nina, hands down. Even though the size difference is LORGE she loves wearing his hoodies out and his shirts to bed. Colossus never complains though, because seeing her in his clothes turns him into the goofiest little lovebug because she looks so darn cute in them. As a result his wardrobe suffers quite a bit because of this. He tried to turn the tables once by wearing one of her shirts and needless to say Nina calling him the Hulk for a short while after was entirely justified. 8: Which one spends all day running errands and which one says “You remembered [thing], right?”Nina will usually run errands for Colossus due to his hectic schedule at the mansion (and inability NOT to take forever when reading the nutrient labels), which he appreciates but often has to send her reminders because she's so forgetful when in a hurry. In the end she still manages to forget SOMETHING and they end up taking a more leisure trip later on to retrieve the items.9: Which one drives the car and which one gives them directions?Due to Colossus' size he's usually forced into the passenger or backseat, so Nina is the driver most of the time. They tend to bicker when she's at the wheel because she goes a little too fast and he's worried she'll get pulled over, but also because Colossus will slip into Russian if he doesn't know the proper english term for some signals which leads to chaos. He tries his best though and she appreciates his navigation for that.10: Which one does the posing while the other one draws?They both take usually take turns since they enjoy drawing and painting, Nina a little more though due to her class projects. He's usually a bit shy about the whole thing because Nina has a permanent mischevious smile on her face when he's posing. Colossus often rolls his eyes and chuckles when she poses for him because every time he looks back she's making a new pose/face to surprise him with.11: If they were about to rob a museum, which one does backflips through lasers and which one is strolling behind with a bag of chips?Nina's definitely the one to be a super sleuth through the lasers while Colossus waits in the wings because he's 100% not for this idea and was dragged along to be the brawn if need be.Let's be real though she absolutely trips the wire after being smug and saying they wouldn't have any issues pop up during the heist.12: Which one of your OTP overdoes it on the alcohol and which one makes the other stop drinking?Due to being Venoms host Nina has an incredible alcohol tolerance so she can outdrink a fair number of her peers, including Colossus. She usually has to stop him from drinking too much at the end of the night because he turns into a big loveable lush that is hard to control (though it'd be a lie to say she didn't love the PDA he gives while sloshed). By the time the morning rolls around Colossus swears off drinking for a long time while Nina spends the morning showering him in water, aspirin and a big greasy breakfast to help soak up the booze while recounting all the crazy night events.13: Which one likes to surprise the other with a lot of small random gifts?They both do! Colossus usually buys some type of flower or fancy chocolate for Nina when he's out and about, or a trinket from wherever his last mission takes him while Nina usually scours old record stores to look for Neil Diamond vinyls or paintbrushes while out restocking her own inventory. They both usually try to surprise one another with coffee at least once a week and eventually decided to make it a usual thing so they could have a small date on the go.14: Which one keeps accidentally using the other’s last name instead of their own?They usually don't have an issue using the other's name unless its something like one of them being in the hospital and needing spouse visitation. Nina will sometimes tease Colossus by calling herself 'one of the Rasputins' as a joke but it just makes Colossus want it to become a reality even more every time she does.15: Which one screams about the spider and which one brings the spider outside?Colossus usually is the hero of the day and will take the spider outside while Nina screams blood murder and will launch herself against the wall in an attempt to get away from it. Piotr usually is quick to call out the irony in her being scared because she has spider senses due to Venom sdgjskjs16: Which one gives the other their jacket?Colossus. Nina hates being cold so he always ends up wearing one on their outtings just in case she starts feeling chilly. This usually gives him a good laugh because she disappears in his jackets due to how much bigger he is.17: Who keeps getting threatened by the other’s overprotective older sibling?Illyana often goes between being Colossus' little snowflake and debating on whether to sell his soul for a cornchip and Nina's 'sister' is a retired assassin who would gladly go out of retirement if someone even looked at her the wrong way, so I would say Ania.18: Who’s the first one to admit they have feelings for the other?OHO BOY. The setup for this is going to be an absolute hoot, all I will say is that it's Nina and she does it after Venom gets fed up with her pining over him so hard that he literally does the big 'Fuck It' moment. She's had feelings for him since she first saw him at an interview after Russell is taken in for the Ice Box so it's been a long time coming. Colossus on the other hand only realizes his feelings after she almost dies and it grows into this big ugly crush. She laughs at something? There's that familiar knot in his stomach. A smile? His feet suddenly don't work so well. And literally everyone BUT Nina notices how strange he's beginning to act kgfjkdgd19: How good would your OTP be at parenting?Definitely a bit rocky at first but power parents fo sho. Nina is high key nervous about being a parent because she's not very fond of children, but Colossus reassures her that they can overcome anything together and dotes on her constantly to make sure she's comfortable. They work together to make sure the baby room is painted with little animal murals and spend nights singing russian and french lullabies to her belly before bed.When the baby actually arrives? Nina turns into a full momma bear and would gladly kill everyone in the room and then herself if anything happened to their child. Colossus is the proudest papa in the world and basically turns into Hughes from FMA where he carries a dozen photos of their child in his wallet to dish out whenever someone even looks in his general direction. All in all they work hard to help one another out to make sure they're not both zombies but also that their little detka is happy and healthy.20: Which one types with perfect grammar and which one types using numbers as letters?Although he's usually proper with his english vocally, Colossus is definitely the one to type with numbers as letters and shortens what he can when texting because he struggles to use anything that isn't a beeper. Nina suffers greatly because of this.21: Who gets attacked by a bully and who protects them?Nina is usually the one getting bullied by bigger/stronger enemies on missions and Colossus is always quick to come to her side to protect her. He usually teases that HE should be named Knight instead of her because of this, but she's quick to get up and repay the favor to him for his heroic efforts. There ARE some instances where the tables are turned though and she's able to save Colossus from bullies, and she usually demands a 'victory kiss' in repayment after pbppbt.22: Who makes the bad puns and who makes a pained smile every time the other makes a pun?Colossus is definitely the one to make the bad puns while Nina attempts to smile at it and fails every time. But she tries, good god does she try.23: Who comes home from work to see that the other one bought a puppy?Colossus pbpbpt. He comes home to a lot of little surprises and is often thinking 'what will I come home to today' because of this, so he's pleasantly surprised when he comes home one day and a puppies head pops out of Ninas hoodie to greet him at the door. 24: Which one gives the other a piggyback ride when they’re tired?Colossus sjdgks Piggybacks aren't uncommon between the two. Nina uses her spider grip to climb up his back on many occasions and sit on his shoulders, especially during briefings before missions and after the more difficult missions. While he thinks it's a bit silly Colossus doesn't mind because he enjoys feeling her wrap her arms wrapped around him.25: Which one competes in some sort of activity and which one does the overzealous cheering?Nina is usually the overzealous cheerer when it comes to Colossus getting into fights on missions that they're on together. Showdown between Colossus and Juggernaut? You bet she's on the sidelines rooting for him to kick him in the balls. He says he doesn't mind it but it DOES make him very bashful after.26: Who takes a selfie when the other one falls asleep on their shoulder?Nina. She's big on taking photos as mementos and this situation is no different and loves catching little moments like him sleeping or painting unawares to look at later when they're far away from one another. 27: Which one would give the other a makeover if they asked?Nina. Colossus has a fairly bland wardrobe so getting a request like that isn't farfetched for her, and although he hates going shopping for new clothes (hence the scarce variety) he trusts her to pick a few good outfits for future date nights and the like, which she definitely does no problem along with some ~special~ intimates that he has to model off for her later in the night.28: Which one owns a pet that the other is absolutely terrified of?HEHEHE. Venom technically isn't a pet but Nina often coddles him like one and Colossus is absolutely mortified by him for a very long time. Between finding out that he enjoys eating people and seeing the level of madness he can create when paired with the wrong host he thinks that the sassy little symbiote is a ticking time bomb with Nina until they bond over how much they both care for her. He eventually realizes he's not SO bad and sneaks chocolate to him at night when Nina is sleeping to keep him content.29: Which one holds the umbrella over both of them when it rains?Colossus. Nina tried once but she was much too short for her attempts and they both got soaked in the process. Now Colossus keeps her close in one arm while holding the umbrella in the other.30: If your OTP went on vacation, where would they go and what would they do? Who would take the pictures?It's a toss-up! They both have their own designated places they want to take the other. Colossus wants to take Nina to Russia to visit his homeland while Nina wants to take Colossus to Paris to introduce him to her French relatives and childhood. Since Colossus' family farm is in ruins due to his family passing, they pay their respects and then go sight-seeing around Moscow and the local art museums.In Paris they would visit her grandmother and relatives who instantly go nuts over Piotr like he was one of their own and they give them a grand tour of the area and special sights. Piotr definitely surprises her (because we all know he would pull this type of thing) and splurges to get a hotel room that overlooks the city and Eiffel Tower because she wants to be extra romantic and boy howdy does it w o r k. They would probably both take pictures. Nina would take most of the scenic pictures and catching Piotr admiring the artwork while Piotr would be in charge of taking selfies because of how tall he is sgjdskgs

#long post #oc shit #tosses more mini comic ideas onto the pile #master-sass-blast

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malecsecretsanta · 6 years

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Merry Christmas, @Makosmonkey!

*****

Christmas Party AU – Yankee Swap

“Alec, stop worrying and start trusting me. You called me for a reason, didn’t you?” Alec rolled his eyes but kept his mouth shut.

“Good. Thank you.” His sister was starting to sound irritated. “Dark wash jeans, one of your work button downs, and the black pullover sweater I got you for Christmas last year. You still have it, right?”

“Yes, Iz. Somewhere. I think,” Alec muttered, emptying his shirt drawers to look for the sweater he definitely hadn’t worn. He didn’t remember donating it, so there was still hope.

“Okay, found it.”

“What do you mean, ‘found it’? Ugh, you really haven’t worn it, have you? You know, I go through a lot of effort looking for things that suit you but aren’t ten miles out of your comfort zone….”

Alec stopped listening.

“Thanks Iz, I owe you one,” he said as he jabbed the END CALL button on his phone. He hated fussing over clothes, but he wanted to make absolutely sure that he made a good impression tonight. Or, at least, a better impression than what his typical wardrobe of well-worn jackets usually did. Izzy knew style, hence his last-minute panicked call for advice.

Alec raced through the shower and threw the prescribed outfit on, combing his hair before heading downstairs to the kitchen. The invitation clipped to the fridge said the party started at 6pm, and it was already 5:57. He stared at the gift he’d picked up that afternoon on his way home, still wrapped in its plastic bag from the store. “Fuck. Wrapping.”

He ran back upstairs to his guest room, shoving the closet doors open and praying that there’d be something he could use. There. A roll of plain green wrapping paper, most likely left over from his sister from when she had stayed with him over the summer. Perhaps he owed Izzy more than one favor at this point.

Back downstairs, Alec hastily wrapped the gift and grabbed the bottle of Pinot he brought for Luke every year, nearly stumbling on his way out the door. Calm down, he told himself. It’s just a party. He picked his way down the sidewalk and around a stray snowbank or two, thankful that at least he didn’t have to worry about parking; the street was already packed with cars.

Luke’s house was, by far, the most decorated one in the neighborhood. Wreaths topped with red ribbons hung on every window and candles shone from every sill. He must have used something like a mile of string lights because every single edge of the house dripped in softly glowing icicles. The giant tree in the foyer was visible from where Alec stood on the sidewalk, glittering with silver and gold ornaments.

But never mind the decorations – Alec had to remember that tonight, he was on a mission. It was time. It was past time, really. He’d just have to buck up and be brave, and do the thing he came here to do.

Right. Here goes nothing.

He rang the doorbell and was immediately greeted by Luke, fashionably dressed in no less than Saint Nick’s signature red velvet suit, arms held wide open.

“Bro-ho-ho! Alec!”

Alec snorted and shook his head. “Really, Luke?”

“Yes, really. Tonight, I’m Santa. Don’t diss the beard man, and come on in.” Alec handed Luke the bottle of wine and followed him through the kitchen and into the den, where a second tree was set up, cluttered with presents underneath. Alec looked around the room, taking in a few familiar faces that were already paired off in deep conversations.

“Ah, almost forgot. Here,” Luke shoved a stocking toward Alec and gestured inside. Alec drew out a folded post-it note with the number seven on it and shoved it in his pocket.

“Put your gift under the tree and make yourself comfortable, Alec. Mix and mingle, like Ol’ Kris Kringle,” Luke chuckled, already backing toward the kitchen to greet his next guest. “Oh, and Maia insisted on taking over Nog duty this year, so… well, just be careful not to stand next to any open flames, if you get my drift,” Luke said over his shoulder.

Alec smiled. “Gotcha.” He turned toward the makeshift bar set up at the back of the room and raised his hand in hello to Maia.

Internally, though, he was groaning. This was the part of the party he always hated. Not this party specifically, but really, any party. Small talk was much more Izzy’s thing, even their little brother Max was better at it. For god’s sake, he was a thirty-year-old man and he couldn’t even manage to attend a party by himself without feeling awkward and out of place. He busied himself by heading to the kitchen to make a plate of appetizers; at least he’d look normal holding some food.

Before settling down in an empty chair, Alec took a loop through the crowd in each room, pretending to look for someone in particular. Well, perhaps it wasn’t pretend. That didn’t mean he actually intended to talk to the person he was looking for. Not right away, at least. He’d have to come up with a something to say first.

Alec looked down at his plate, trying to identify what was in the pile that had been labeled “Mexican Dip” that he’d generously scooped onto his plate. There wasn’t much “Mexican” about it, and the cheese had re-solidified. Maybe it was best to just leave it be for now.

“Ah, alcohol; helping us survive Christmas one sip at a time. It’s Alexander, right?” Alec nearly choked on the bacon wrapped scallop he’d been chewing on. He turned toward the voice and found he was being handed a festively decorated Solo cup filled to the brim with eggnog. Magnus.

Magnus, who was loud, attractive, and always perfectly— though often unexpectedly— dressed. Alec raised his eyes to meet Magnus’, immediately imagining himself melting into a puddle just like Frosty the Snowman threatened to. Magnus was generally flirtatious with everyone, but Alec hadn’t been able to help but watch him from a safe distance every year. Alec had come here tonight with the express intention of at the very least talking with him, and if he was feeling brave enough, hopefully flirting back.

Alec had attended Luke’s annual Christmas party almost every year he’d lived on the street, but this was the first time he’d be attending as an officially out and proud gay man. Well, out. Proud was still a work in process, no thanks to the ongoing icy relationship with his parents. Logically he knew he had nothing to be ashamed about and that his sexuality was nobody’s business but his own, but his mother’s sharp tongue and father’s disinterested tone still tended to cut at him unexpectedly, even a year after coming out to them. That announcement, or actually the resulting blow up, is what had kept him from missing the party—his annual opportunity to oogle Magnus Bane—last year.

Alec stared at the drink in his hand, trying and failing miserably to come up with something to say that wasn’t ‘finally’ or ‘thank god.’

“You looked like you could use a drink; did I read that wrong?” Magnus asked him.

Alec felt completely too caught off guard to properly respond. He thought he’d have more time to plan this interaction, why is his brain suddenly blank?!

Alec shuffled his feet and was saved from further embarrassment by Luke shouting from the kitchen.

“Come one, come all! Get your asses to my den so we can get this party started!”

Alec snorted. It sounded like Luke had been sampling some of Maya’s eggnog.

Magnus touched Alec’s elbow lightly. “Well, shall we?”

Still terribly confused, Alec followed Magnus. Why on earth was Magnus talking to him? Of all the people at this party, Alec had to look the least sociable. There were far better conversationalists; even Dot, his 80-year-old neighbor, could keep a person interested long enough to tell a story or two.

They made their way through the crowd and took a seat on the stairs in the corner of the room.

“All right, thank you everyone for coming. It’s always nice to end the year with all of your faces and all of this booze.”

“Hurrah!”

“Anyway. Thanks for all the presents, you can all go home now.”

“Fo’ real this time! To those of you who haven’t had the extreme pleasure of participating in our little holiday extravaganza exchange, here are the house rules: each of you has brought a wrapped gift and put it under the tree. When you arrived, you were given a folded piece of paper with a number on it. Whichever of you lucky sonsabitches has the number 1 will pull a gift from under the tree and unwrap it for all to see. Because there were some, uh, shall we say disagreements, last year, I will allow visual inspection of the gifts. You may pick them up and gently shake them, just don’t unwrap them until you’ve made your choice. And, Mr. Bane… apparently you need the reminder that there will be NO CHOOSING OF THE GIFT YOU BROUGHT.”

“But I bring fabulous gifts!” Magnus exclaimed, clearly disappointed that he’d been caught out. Alec stifled a chuckle.

“Anyway, the next guest will choose a gift from under the tree and model it, and then that sucker gets to choose to either keep that gift or choose from one that has already been opened. I am placing NO LIMITS on the number of times a particular gift can be stolen, or the number of times a poor soul can be stolen from.”

“Ah, I see we’ve graduated to the ‘Dirty’ version of the game,” Magnus murmured. Alec turned to look at him and found Magnus smirking, eyes filled with glee. Alec raised an eyebrow in question, but Magnus just responded with a shake of his head.

“We will continue in this manner until all those presents are unwrapped and we swing back around to number 1 again – who has that, by the way?”

*Ragnor raises his hand*

“Ok, Ragnor… at the very end, you get to choose from all the gifts, including the one you unwrap”

“Damn it, that means I’m stuck here.”

“You were stuck here anyway, my friend. No one leaves until we’re done…. With both the presents and the booze!”

Alec looked down at the folded paper in his hand. Hastily scribbled on it was the number seven. So much for lucky number seven… he’d only have a handful of gifts to choose from unless someone stole his gift near the end of the game. Magnus peered over his shoulder to steal a glance at Alec’s paper with a smile and a murmured “Perfect.”

Perfect? Maybe Magnus had been looking at something else. But Alec’s attention was quickly drawn to Ragnor grumpily unwrapping the gift in the pile that had been closest to him. He finally managed to get the box open after struggling with a particularly stubborn tape job and a soft-looking throw blanket slid out of the package, piling at Ragnor’s feet.

“Lovely,” Ragnor muttered with great distaste. He shoved the blanket into the corner of the chair he occupied and crossed his arms. “Next victim!”

“Ah ah ah, Ragnor, you have to model it!” chastised Luke. Ragnor looked at him in horror, but then bucked up and shook the blanket open to drape it around him. Alec tried to stifle a giggle, but seeing the grouchiest man he knew draped in a Snuggie was wonderfully entertaining.

“However this night ends, this moment right here has already surpassed my expectations,” Magnus said beside him, shamelessly clicking off a half a dozen photos of Ragnor pouting in his chair.

Alec nervously stood to choose his gift from the tree. It wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t have to choose the gift and open it so publicly. Something about being on display like this always made him uncomfortable. He reached for a smaller square box wrapped in purple and silver paper – at least it was practically guaranteed not to be a Snuggie. He turned around to unwrap the gift in view of the rest of the party and was relieved when the paper peeled aside to reveal a Bluetooth speaker. Huh. Something he’d actually enjoy taking home for once. “A Bluetooth speaker!” he called out to the rest of the crowd, holding it up for those who might not be able to see it.

“Nice!”

“Excellent choice, Alexander,” Magnus praised him when he returned to his seat.

“Thanks. Although I guess I should really be thanking whoever brought it. This is a pretty cool gift.”

“You’re very welcome, then.” Alec looked up, immediately caught by Magnus’ happy grin. “I’m glad you like it.”

A thought suddenly occurred to Alec.

“Back there, how did you—know my name?” came tumbling out of Alec’s mouth. Great. Perfect. Smooth, Alec.

“Well, I admit that it did take some detective work on my part. I had to ask Luke weeks ago if the brooding tall tree of a man would be attending this year, as I was remarkably disappointed by his absence last year,” Magnus said with a sly smile. “And there you were, brooding away in your corner.”

Alec ducked his head to try to hide the smile rising to his lips. “Well, you weren’t here yet. I had to wait somewhere.”

That seemed to spark something in Magnus’ eyes, at least.

“So it would seem. How have we gone this long without having a proper introduction? I’m Magnus,” he said, extending his hand. Alec took it in his own, immediately relishing the warmth radiating from Magnus’s palm.

“I know,” Alec said. “And I’m Alec, obviously.” Duh.

“Do you prefer Alec, or may I call you Alexander?”

“Uh…” Max’s sarcastic voice echoed in his head. You can call me anything you want, as long as you call me. “People usually call me Alec, but…” Alec trailed off, shrugging.

“Alexander it is, then.” Magnus smiled. “Something tells me that if I ask you to tell me about yourself, I won’t get the kind of detail I’m looking for. What if I were to ask you about this tattoo, instead?” As he posed the question, Magnus trailed a finger along Alec’s neck down his throat, causing goosebumps to chase after it.

“Ah, um. That’s… I guess you could call it a symbol of protection? It means ‘deflect.’”

“Like a shield?” Magnus asked, an eyebrow raised in interest.

“Exactly. I’ve had a lot of … well, my relationship with my parents has never been great. So when I got this one, it was like this reminder to myself to block out the bad things they said. Plus,” Alec found himself continuing, “having it so large and visible it may have really pissed them off.” He smiled. He can’t say he enjoyed that fight exactly, but he did feel freer afterward.

“I don’t doubt it,” Magnus chuckled. “Is that the only one you have?”

“No, I have quite a few, actually. But the rest aren’t so, well, visible,” Alec mumbled, feeling a blush rise. For a moment there, he’d been ready to take off his sweater and his shirt to show Magnus the tattoos on his torso.

“I see,” Magnus’ eyes glowed. “Or rather, I’d like to; at some point in the future. Perhaps this isn’t the time and place.”

Alec flushed and looked down at his hands. His attention is grabbed by the crowd around him laughing in unison; somehow, the game has moved on while he and Magnus been wrapped in their own little bubble. Someone had unwrapped a towel, half of it labeled “FACE” and the other half “BUTT”.

“Now that’s certainly more of a White Elephant gift than one for a Yankee Swap… can you say ‘regift’? Oh, that poor soul is stuck with that one, I’m afraid.”

“I didn’t realize there was a difference between the two games.”

“Ah, then you must let me enlighten you. Popular theory is that the term ‘white elephant’ came from a story about the King of Siam, who was considered to be quite the evil genius. He had a brilliant way of exacting revenge on any courtier who dared displease him – he would present them with the precious gift of a rare albino elephant. At first, the unlucky courtier would be pleased as punch, thinking that they had impressed the King. But little did they know that caring for one of those elephants was a huge and costly pain in the backside and would likely lead them to financial ruin. As such, it was called a ‘fatal gift.’ I believe the story dates back to at least the 1850’s, but as far as I’m aware, no one has been able to verify that such a king existed. Nonetheless, the term still persists in popular culture.”

“Well I’m not sure that towel will lead anyone to financial ruin, but I guess I can’t say it’s a gift I would have liked to unwrap.”

Finally, Magnus springs to his feet when Luke calls for number twenty. Magnus tiptoes through the remaining gifts and makes his selection. He flings the tissues paper out of the bag until he reaches his prize: a poster-sized world map covered in the same scratch-off material lottery tickets are made of. Before Alec has a chance to realize what’s going on, Magnus has plucked the Bluetooth speaker out of Alec’s hands and replaced it with the map.

“Next number!” Magnus calls out as he reclaims his seat next to Alec, ever so closer than they had been before. Alec smirks. “I guess Luke didn’t forbid stealing your own gift, huh?”

“No, he did not make that distinction, did he?” Magnus asks around a wink.

The game continued around them and Alec is pulled back into his bubble with Magnus. They discover a shared love of tv shows (Magnus considers himself a bit of a pop culture whore) like the Runaways and the 100, and discuss how interests of younger generations typically have a bad reputation with older generations, even though the same values and lessons can be found in them. That topic carries them until Luke asks for number twenty-nine. Magnus, caught mid-sentence, raises a finger to Alec in a request to hold that thought and rises to select another package from the tree. He returns with another gift to plop in Alec’s lap and takes back the world map.

Alec is terribly confused.

“What—” is all he gets out before Magnus interrupts him with a wry smile and a finger to his own lips.

“Shhh, Alexander. You’ll see.”

Magnus takes the opportunity to ask Alec more about his tattoos, and Alec eventually stammers that each of the tattoos he’s chosen have both a deeper personal meaning and a purposeful placement on his body. That, in turn, leads to a rather lively discussion about deriving strength from elements of pop culture like music, shows, and movies, and how fictional characters can be inspirational figures in real life. Before they get too far down that path, they’re interrupted again.

It turns out, that in addition to numbers twenty and twenty nine, Magnus also has numbers thirty three and thirty seven. He steals Alec’s gift every single round. Finally, once he has seemingly completed his turns, he takes a moment to whisper in Alec’s ear.

“Luke never puts a limit on the number of gifts that can be brought to the exchange. If you bring multiple gifts, you get to take multiple gifts home. I see it as a way to increase my odds of taking home something I want. And before you ask, I had this plan to steal your gift every turn before I even walked in the door tonight. Speaking to you before the game and witnessing that adorable blush was just the cherry on top.”

Alec doesn’t even know where to begin.

“May I be presumptuous, Alexander?”

“If you must. I can probably handle it. Maybe.”

“Would you like to find some place a little less rowdy and continue our conversation over a nightcap?”

Alec takes a deep breath. “I know just the place, actually. And it has the benefit of being close by, since I don’t think any of these guys are in shape to move their cars.”

Alec helps Magnus with his coat and gestures down the sidewalk. Magnus takes his hand, and the words “cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy cozy are we” echo in his head.

They continue their discussion of how tattoos have helped Alec unlock his truth (with each one he gets, he feels a little more sure about who he is and what he stands for, what he wants to fight for). Magnus responds that he feels that Alec has unlocked something in him as well.

Alec tugs on Magnus’ hand to pull him to a stop in front of his house. “Well, we’re here,” he stammers. Magnus chuckles, clearly surprised but pleased that Alec has led him here. Fuck, that’s probably the smoothest he’s ever been, and he has no proof for Izzy that he came up with it himself.

“May I ask another question, Alexander?”

“You can ask me anything you want, Magnus.”

“Do you believe in the theory of soulmates?”

“I believe it’s possible.”

And reader, he kissed the living daylights out of that man.

#Makosmonkey #malecsanta18 #*fics18 #*gifts18

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greyias · 6 years

Text

So, occasionally I’ll be doing something else and go down a rabbit hole in regards to content over on torcommunity. This weekend, somehow I wound up taking a journey through some of the cut content for the first expansion.

And man... did I find some interesting could-have-beens.

Like, I’m still kind of poking around and nosing through some of the dialogue trees, so this is by no means a complete and accurate reading of what-could-have-been (not to mention that the mined dialogue is very incomplete, there’s only Bothawui and some other snatches here and there for various classes—but still!)

So, I already knew that the Knight storyline introduced a bi-romance option for both male and female Knights, a Doctor Audra Kantos who is like... the exact opposite of Doc and kind of a babe if her 3D model is anything to go by. From what I’ve gleaned from the dialogue, she seemed like she would have been a fun addition to the universe. I hope they find a way to reuse some of her story content or bring her into the game proper.

What I didn’t realize the first time around was that Audra was a Knight exclusive romance, meaning... there were other romance options planned for the other classes.

I found two of those other options this weekend, and man, I feel both robbed and a little giddy that there’s at least some content that showed that some of the character and dialogue paths in Vanilla weren’t pure tease.

You see, before they had to change course on this expansion, it looks like originally we were going to get a romance option of Master Sumalee for (male) smugglers and Jonas Balkar for (female) Troopers.

Jonas Romance: https://torcommunity.com/database/mission/BdZCIC4/hidden_speak_to_jonas_and_chall/

Sumalee Romance: https://torcommunity.com/database/conversation/Bn3RGeF/cnvexp01bothawuiclasssmugglermaster_sumalee/

Sadly, the Sumalee romance getting resurrected is probably a no go, since she was one of the Shroedinger’s Cultists during Nathema Conspiracy. Although since a certain SIS Agent is going to be making his reappearance soon... maybe if we all ask the devs nicely enough they’ll let us kiss a Jonas?

I also find it amusing that Theron literally stole lines from Jonas’s seduction technique, and now I’m imagining Jonas trying to give him dating advice, Theron pretending to ignore it and then using those pick up lines when no one’s watching.

Okay, more likely the writers repurposed some of those lines, as poking around some of the Knight’s dialogue I found out that the (light side) Hero of Tython’s promotion fo Battlemaster was originally intended to happen somewhere within the cut class-continuation. (There’s also some hints I found this weekend that Master Orgus’s ghost was going to show up again, although there’s no dialogue I found to see if it was what eventually became the Rishi sidequest).

Also interesting to note of content that was originally written one way, but it seems like they used the concept for something else it this one: link (although I will point out that I think the only thing that was reused for the upcoming 5.10 drop is the planet location and the character).

Aside from the cut romance content, I found these bits of dialogue most interesting (although I am guessing this is one of those pieces of world building that got lost in the shuffle and cuts, and probably won’t make it’s way into canon proper):

And I’m like... just laughing here at the thought that one of Satele’s big acts of defiance against everyone who kept calling her Revan 2.0 when they wanted to shut her up is public going “Look! You guys can go have sex! Just... don’t like get married or something”. Almost like she was preparing for the inevitable moment some hypothetical impetuous and hotheaded offspring started making a habit of breaking into her living quarters any time he wanted to have a conversation. Or something.

Sadly, I don’t think we’ll ever get confirmation on whether or not that really happened in-universe (unless they decide to promote Satele back to Grand Master). And that’s a shame, because it really ties in nicely with Obi-Wan’s dialogue in the Clone Wars series where they actually clarify the difference between “romance” and “attachment”.

Ah well. I guess we’ll see what happens in 6.0.

#cut content #spending too much time on torcommunity #i’m not even looking for red string anymore #i just go there... for reasons...#what could have been #jonas balkar #master sumalee #grey’s silly swtor tag

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ticknart · 6 years

Text

Second Summer: Bedtime Story

Once upon a time, in the valley, Kingdom, and city of Grav, the twin kings, Ford and Lee, prepared for a tournament. Knights from across the land, even far outside of the great valley, were invited. Some would come to settle old scores. Some came to gain a name and honor. Some came simply for the purse. All, however, came to gain the favors of the kings. Grav was a small valley, but the kings made sure it was important to the world.

King Ford was a scholar. He created a college for higher learning which invited any to attend -- men, women, the wealthy, the poor, the crippled, the able -- as long as they continued to build on the knowledge that came before. Many came, expecting an easy life, cloistered and pampered. Life for King Fords scholars was whispered to be more difficult than life in the Royal army. Scholars living at the college had a large variety of duties. Each took a turn cooking and clearing and cleaning for the entire college. All were expected to keep the library clean and orderly and small groups were tasked with hunting down missing books lost in the dormitory, outside homes, or the King's private study and bedroom. Scholars in their fourth year went out into the city, towns, and farms to teach all members of the community. Everyone in Grav was expected to read, write, and cipher. King Ford firmly believed that the more educated the population, the stronger Grav would become.

King Lee, on the other hand, was ruthless, conniving, and greedy. His heart, though, belonged to his family, who he would protect with every fiber of his being, to his final breath. He believed that every individual within the Kingdom of Grav was his family. Each diplomatic mission he made was with his people in mind. His choice of ambassadors rarely came from the nobility, but from the learned commoner because they had a firmer grasp on the needs of their neighbors. After a flood, a fire, or some other disaster, King Lee was always seen swinging a hammer, carrying wood, or leading a plow. When they broke for meals, he sat with the others eating, laughing, and slapping backs. Though he hated spending gold from the treasury, King Lee did all he could to keep the people in their homes and working for each other.

Wen, of the Norwood, remembered when the kings visited her village, Cord, after a mudslide to help. King Lee dropped off his horse, pulled off his cloak and fine shirt, and got in line to help move rocks away from the slide. The guards with him quickly followed suit. King Ford commanded a group of men is brown robes trimmed with red, Scholars, who removed objects from wagons and constructed a great lifting device. It was a large tower covered in wheels that a long, fat rope was run through. Scholars placed a giant harness around the boulders, attached the harness to the rope, and were able to lift the boulders and place them out of the way. All who were taught to use the machine could lift a boulder. This was the first time she realized how strong the twin kings had made everyone, through leading by example.

The day before the tournament was Wen’s first time in the city of Grav itself. She was at the festival to sell furs from the animals she had trapped over the last year. She hoped that she would make enough money to leave her father's house. At one time, she thought she might be a Scholar. She wasn't so sure now. Here talents with reading and writing were stronger than some, but it wasn't what she most enjoyed doing. Sitting, reading a book, and taking notes all day didn't appeal to her. She didn't want to be trapped in one place unless it was the right place. She had only seen 16 winters, how could she possibly know which was the right place unless she visited them all.

As the wagon wound through the streets of Grav, Wen gaped at the buildings. At home only the church and the public house had stone foundations, but in Grav, most of the buildings were made of stone. The stone buildings were taller than the wooden ones. Yes, she watched the Scholars move boulders, but how did they stack stone so high without out any falling? How did they cut the stone so that it fit together so well she couldn’t see seams? Bridges of stone spanned from one building across the road she was on and over to another building. Children waved to her from above. She smiled in wonder and waved back. She'd always assumed that the books she'd read about Grav were made-up by people who had never visited. Now she knew differently.

The sun was near setting as she pulled into a vacant space near the tourney field and was glad that the sun took a long time to set during the summer. She locked the wheels then unhooked the team of oxen that had pulled the wagon. She hitched them to the far side and gave them water and fodder. She climbed back into the wagon to check on her booth and stock. Not only was her father a woodsman, but he was also a very clever craftsman. He altered the wagon so that one side could fold down and then open up into a booth. With a little bit of work she'd be able to attach a large rough cloth she'd bought to act as a canopy. Sometime, her father was as brilliant as he was infuriating.

A noise from down the way drew her attention. A crowd had gathered down where two roads crossed. Wen hoped that no one had been hurt. She hopped down to the ground to check the hinges and clasps her father had added.

"OW!" She heard from beneath the cart as her feet hit the ground. She stumbled back, but caught herself. She knelt down in the mud. A round dirty face with bright eyes looked back at her.

She smiled and asked, "What are you doing down there?"

"Are they gone?" he whispered.

"Who? Nobody's stopped here until you."

"No. Down there." He pointed back to the group she'd been watching from the back of the wagon.

"Whatever it was, it's breaking up."

He sighed and she saw him relax.

"Do you need some help getting out of there?"

"Can you hold this?" He handed her a knit cap that had a star stitched to it.

"My sister gave me that," he said, out from under her wagon. "I think it's supposed to be funny, but I can't figure out why."

"Come around back. You can wash up before you go."

He followed her. The oxen stood chewing their cud, no longer interested in their food and water. The boy rolled his sleeves up and plunged his hands into the water. He splashed water onto his face and scrubbed it. Finished washing, he shook his hands in the air before untying his collar. He pulled his shirt up over his face and used the inside to dry his face. She laughed. Boys were boys everywhere.

He grinned up at her and said, "Thanks."

"You should watch that," she said, pointing to his eye, "it's gonna be sore soon."

He touched around his eye and winced.

"What happened out there?" she asked, handing him his cap.

He pulled it over his dirty hair and said, "I said the wrong thing to someone bigger than me. When he hit me, I ran. He was fast. When I knew he'd catch me, I dogged behind a woman in a big dress and he ran right into her." The boy smiled at her again. "He tried to push through her dress. How stupid is that?"

"That's pretty bad."

"Right? So, I started running again and dove under a wagon -- your wagon -- to hide until it was over."

The sun had finally set and darkness began to settle in over the city.

"Do you want me to walk you back home?"

"Thanks, but no. When there are so many people out here the guards set up torch bearer rounds to remind visitors that their being watched. They come at every half."

"You want something to eat?" she asked.

"Always."

Wen climbed into the back of the wagon and grabbed her pack. When she looked over the edge, the boy wasn't there anymore.

"Wendy, are you from the Norwood?"

She jerked around. The boy had climbed into the wagon with her and was petting one of her furs.

"My name's Wen, actually and yeah, I'm from a little town called Cord."

"That’s why you have this fur. This kind of beaver is only found in the Norwood."

She handed him a piece of dried meat and said, "I hope that means I'll get a good price."

"You should," he said, gnawing. He moved around, feeling the different furs.

Looking out at the city, Wen took a bite and said, "I've never seen so many lights before. It's like looking across at the night sky instead of up."

"That's brilliant!" said the boy, suddenly at her side. "I've never thought of it like that. I bet we could even set up patterns so it looked like constellations. They could guide people around the city at night! I need to tell Grunkle Fo--" He cut himself off and looked over at her.

"It's okay," she said. "I wasn't planning on doing anything with lights on buildings today."

"It's not that," he said, looking across to the city again.

After some silence, Wen asked, "Where in the city do you live?"

"Oh, I don't live in the city, but my sister and I are sent to visit family here every summer."

"I didn't expect it to be beautiful," she said as more lights were lit.

"Me either," he said, dreamily.

She looked at him and saw that he was looking at her.

He jumped at her gaze. "Oh, look," he said, pointing, "There's a torch bearer now." He dropped out of the wagon and ran off, paused, and ran back.

"Here," he said, reaching his hand out. "If you ever need help from someone, find a guard -- one that’s not drunk -- and they'll help you."

She took a child-sized ring from his hand and he ran off to the torch without another word.

Wen put the ring in a pocket and then arranged the furs on the bottom of the cart. She laid herself down on them. As she looked at the stars over head, she thought the strange little boy. She hadn't even gotten his name, she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

She woke not with the sun, but with the smells of cooking nearby. She hadn't smelled anything like that since her mother's cooking. Memories threatened to overwhelm her, but she shoved them down and focused on her grumbling stomach. Drowsy, the climbed down from the back of the wagon and washed her face and hands. The water was cold and washed most of the sleep from her eyes. Before she set off looking for something warm to eat, she prepared her booth.

Sales that morning had been better than what she'd expected, but as noon approached the people trickled away from the sellers. Noon was the beginning of the tournament. Wen dropped the canopy to cover her wares then headed to the field. She'd miss the actual games, but she wanted to be there for the opening.

She pushed through the crowd to get as close to the kings' landing as possible. She was so young when she saw them before, she wondered if they lived up to her memory. She hoped.

Shortly after Wen pushed her way to the front, a very large man in a green robe stepped out. On his chest was the crest of House Pines: a pine tree divided down the center, one side all in black, the other simply outlined, a triangle with a single opened eye was at the bottom, in front of the tree. The large man pushed his hood back and grinned. He had the teeth of a beaver. He looked familiar, and not because she had trapped more than a hundred beavers over the last year.

"People of Grav," he said, "honored visitors, dudes in armor, welcome! Today will be filled with thrills, chills, and maybe a little laughter. Today grown men wearing tin will try to stab each other with really long sticks while riding on horses. And if that isn't funny, then I don't know what funny is."

The crowd cheered.

"And now, the men who brought this to you, from the Great House Pines, King Ford and King Lee." King Ford stood tall in his Scholar robe as he stepped onto the platform. King Lee looked a little bent over, but strong.

"Next, for the first time, the Kings present their heirs. I give you the princess--"

"Mabel?" Wen gasped. When did Mabel become a princess?

"--Mabe and her twin brother Prince Dip."

The field thundered with applause.

The prince looked familiar. She stared at him as he looked around at the crowd. When he locked in on her, he smiled. He had a bruise around one eye.

She gasped again. It was the boy she'd helped the night before. She'd helped the Crown Prince and didn't know. Her stomach felt sick. She pulled the ring from her pocket and saw the royal seal. She was going to be sick.

When the kings and their heirs sat, the man in green raised his hands to silence the crowd and said, "Yes, we're all happy to meet the princess and pri--"

Thunder boomed down on the crowd. The sky was clear. There was no flash of lightening. Thunder boomed again.

The world flickered. The royal family stood much closer to Wen now, behind a low wooden wall? Why was King Lee wearing a red fez? How did she know it was a fez? What happened to the princess's gown? What were those metal shapes around King Ford's eyes? Why was Soos smiling?

The world went white. There was no thunder. When her vision cleared, Wen...dy saw a short blonde, in a cloak so dark that it made the night seem bright, next to the royal family. Smoke rose from her feet.

Fika, Witch of the Northwest Barrens.

"FIKA!" someone screamed! Another scream. And another. Wendy felt panic encircle her. Before anyone else in the crowd moved, she took a step forward. She was going to be up there with her friends and stop the witch.

On her third step, the panic broke and the crowd ran in every direction. Fika pulled something from her cloak -- Wendy couldn't see what it was. -- whirled her hand over her head then pointed at Dipper. A rope appeared around him. With a tug, he was at the witch’s side.

Finally on stage, Wendy shouted, "PACIFICA, STOP!"

The witch grinned over her shoulder, waved a hand in front of her, and shoved the prince forward. He disappeared. Fika took a step forward and disappeared, too.

Wendy charged to where Dipper and the witch disappeared and ran into something hard.

"What are you doing up here?" asked King Lee.

"There's no time, Mr. Pines," she said, feeling the hard air for... something. She knew something was there, but she couldn't say what.

"That's your Majesty, missy."

One hand on the hard spot in the air, she reached out with the other to Mr. Pines and opened it.

The King's eyes shot opened at the sight of Prince Dip's ring. He fell to his knees and said, "Dipper." The princess and Stanford Pines were at his side immediately. Wendy still felt the hard spot in the air. She knew there was something there she could use.

"Dudes," said Soos, "what's going on?"

Something stuck out from the air. Something round and just as invisible as the wall in front of her.

Wen pulled at the round thing. Nothing happened.

Wendy turned the round thing, then pulled. A door opened in the air in front of her, a bright hallway behind it. She ran through it and down the hall.

The witch, Fika turned to face Wendy. Wen stopped running and shrank back in fear. Wendy saw the bright orange stone around Pacifica's neck. Pacifica would never wear orange because orange, especially that close to her face, made her look sickly. Behind the witch stood Dipper, his face blank.

"There's nothing you can do, peasant," spat the witch, raising her hand.

"Maybe there's nothing the peasant can do," said Wendy, stepping forward and reaching out, "but there still plenty the lumberjack can do!"

Wendy grabbed the stone from around the witch's neck, dropped it to the floor, and stomped as hard as she could.

Pacifica fell forward and collapsed into Wendy's arms. She buried her face deep into Wendy's flannel and sobbed, "I thought it would bring me a happy ending. I just wanted a happy ending."

"I know," said Wendy, running her fingers through the girl's blonde hair. "I know."

#Wendy Corduroy #Dipper Pines #Mabel Pines #Stanley Pines #Stanford Pines #Soos Ramirez #Pacifica Northwest #Second Summer #Alliterative Association #wendip week 2018 #Bedtime Story #wendip week #Be here tomorrow for a prompt that wasn't picked by the masses.#fanfic

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a-mad-scientist-approaches · 7 years

Text

The Cipher Conspiracy (1)

Another fic! What is this!

I had a massive brainwave some time ago, and this is what happened. A Gravity Falls Spy AU.

I don’t know if the Spy AU in general belongs to anyone, let me know if it does, but this was kickstarted by @hntrgurl13‘s version (with a few changes, sorry, sorry) and that one story anon. My imagination was CAPTURED, I tell you.

Adeline Marks is @hntrgurl13‘s marvellous OC, and the Addiford ship belongs to @scipunk63.

AO3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Chapter 1: Numero Uno

Sacramento, California (USA) ∆

Stanley Pines knocked briefly on the office door before making his way inside and sitting familiarly in a chair. Not the comfy swivel chair behind the desk. That hadn’t been appreciated when he’d tried it.

“I’m finished for the day,” he said, stretching his arms out behind his head.

“Must be nice,” huffed Senior Special Agent Carla McCorkle of the FBI from over at her filing cabinet.

Oh. One of those days.

“Case not going well?”

“It would be, if one of these idiots could get me the right information, and not lead me on a wild goose chase TO THE PIZZA PARLOUR!” she finished in a shout, turning to direct it across the hall at the office opposite hers. A muffled (and maybe English-accented?) yell answered her, but the words couldn’t be discerned. Although Stan was pretty sure they weren’t polite.

He frowned. “You need me to teach that guy a lesson?”

“Believe me, I already did,” Carla flashed a malevolent grin and walked past him back to her desk.

“That’s my girl!” He took the opportunity to pat her butt. Instantly, she whipped around and gave him a death glare that made him quail. “Okay! Okay! Sorry!”

Not the time. Got it.

A tower of files was dumped on the desk, enough to obscure Carla when she sat down in the coveted swivel chair. Not for the first time, Stan was immensely glad that he had never completed the FBI training course. Best to leave the paperwork to people who actually had the patience to get through it, like Carla, or Fo-

“Y’know, we were getting so close. What the hell happened? Suddenly we can’t gain an inch on these guys!”

“These guys being the-” Stan stood up and looked at the name on the topmost file – “Cipher Wheel?”

“Yep. Whoever’s running the show goes by Bill Cipher, according to rumour. We don’t have anything concrete to back that up, though,”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Stan said easily. Carla grunted unhappily.

Time to break out the big guns, he decided.

He stepped between Carla and the desk, the chair rolling backwards. She didn’t look happy to have her work interrupted, but Stan was confident that that would change soon.

“I have a present for you,” he told her, putting his hands on the chair’s armrests.

“Pines,” she warned.

“You’ll enjoy it, I promise,”

“We’re at the FBI!”

He leaned closer. Before she could threaten to eject him from the building, he shoved a hand in his jacket pocket and brought out a white-petalled flower. While she stared at it, he tried to keep the smugness off his face.

“You lost your other one,” he shrugged, by way of explanation.

For the first time since she’d gotten to work, Carla laughed slightly.

Mission accomplished.

She took the flower and kissed him gently. “See you back home?”

“You know it, babe,”

As he was leaving, Stan gave a mock salute and said, “Until tomorrow, Special Agent McCorkle,”

“That’s Senior Special Agent McCorkle, Mr Pines,”

When Carla made it back to their apartment (a full three hours later than himself), she had the flower tucked behind her ear.

Manhattan, New York (USA) ∆

“Fidds, what the hell happened?” Agent Adeline Marks stared in shock at her partner, who was covered from head to toe in muck. His normally green suit was completely brown and black.

With as much dignity as he could muster, Agent Fiddleford McGucket took off his glasses and wiped them clean, then placed them back on his long nose. “I’ve just crawled through five hundred heckin’ metres of basement to fix our gosh-darn processin’ system, and I don’t think it was worth it,”

Addi stared at him pityingly for a moment. “You could have waited for the clean-up crew to get rid of the mess down there,”

“I was getting frustrated, and I wasn’t sure they weren’t goin’ to reschedule again.” He sighed. “They wouldn’t keep doin’ that if they knew what our building was a cover for.”

Addi nodded, and Fiddleford knew she was wistfully reminiscing of the prioritisation they had had before their branch was supposedly shut down.

“Well anyway, you know we’ve got a meeting now? I think it’s a new assignment,” she said.

Fiddleford groaned as he looked down at himself, and then back at the mud trail he had left coming through the elevator doors. It had definitely not been worth it. A passing agent slipped in the tracks, papers flying everywhere.

“Alrighty, let’s get this over with,” Quickly, so I can have a shower.

They headed up to their boss’s floor.

Sacramento, California (USA) ∆

“Hope you like fish! It’s all we had,” called Stan from the stove as Carla dumped her bag on the couch.

“Smells great,” she said in relief, wrapping her arms around him from behind and burying her head in the crook of his neck.

“Geez, you really need a holiday,” said Stan, knowing what the answer would be.

“Not until the case is done,” she mumbled.

“And then you gotta promise you’ll give it a rest for a while,”

“You betcha. I am so sick of these hours,”

They stayed like that for a little while, until Stan noticed the fish was burning. As he hurriedly took it off the heat and waved away the smoke, Carla sat down at the kitchen table and examined their mail.

“Bills, neighbours having a party tomorrow, more bills – huh. A postcard,”

“Well, I don’t have any friends – any who want to contact me anyway – and all yours live around here. So who’s it from?” Stan set a plate down in front of her.

“Doesn’t say, exactly.” She looked up at him curiously. “Take a look.” She passed it over as he sat down on the opposite side of the table.

The postcard showed a forest and a cliff-face with a waterfall running down it. In big orange and green block letters, the words ‘Gravity Falls’ were emblazoned across it.

“Never heard of it,” said Stan, and turned it over. He almost dropped it in shock. As Carla had said, there was no address, no message, not even a name. There was a drawing. A hand. A six-fingered hand.

He looked up at Carla. “Ford?”

“It looks like it,” she nodded, clasping her hands in front of her face. “It’s been, what, five years?”

Stan took a deep breath. “I – I’ve gotta-” He stood up and ran his hands through his hair, staring between her and the postcard helplessly.

“Yeah I know! Go!” Carla said, smiling widely and standing up as well. “Come on, you have to pack!”

Stan laughed incredulously as they raced to the bedroom. He was feeling simultaneously scared and overjoyed. Before Carla could extract his suitcase, he pulled her in for a hard kiss and hugged her tightly.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,”

“No, it’s okay, take your time. I think you’ll need to. He wouldn’t have contacted you unless he needed something,”

Well, that hurt. But she was right. It wasn’t Ford’s fault, not really, and truth be told they hadn’t exactly parted on the best of terms. He should be glad he was getting to see his brother at all.

“I should probably bring some cereal,”

“Good idea,”

Manhattan, New York (USA) ∆

The Oracle Division had been created for the sole purpose of finding and eliminating the worldwide threat posed by an organisation known as the Cipher Wheel. The only problem was, as they soon found, no one had ever knowingly encountered an agent of this organisation. No one had ever admitted to having dealings with the organisation, even through a middle-man. There wasn’t even any evidence to back up the rumour that the head of the organisation’s name was Bill Cipher. So far, the only thing that the agency had managed to collect was a wide variety of symbols that the criminal underground had used in connection with the Cipher Wheel. Of course, they had so far led nowhere. Still, the government maintained that it existed.

So, due to the extreme lack of work available for the Oracle Division, it was a very small agency, and until anything to do with the Cipher Wheel was brought to their attention it was assigned other cases for efficiency purposes. Furthermore, as the Oracle Division was classified in an ultra-top-secret manner, it had to be hidden. Thus, why it had recently been relocated to a tiny five-storey building in Manhattan.

Adeline reflected on this as Fiddleford knocked on their director’s door. It was still surreal knowing they were the only field operatives in the whole agency.

“Come in,”

They entered.

“Well, agents, I’m sure you know – Fiddleford, are you okay?”

Fiddleford dripped onto the carpet. “Sorry ma’am, I was seein’ to the processing system,”

“Well, you have my thanks. It really did need something done for it. You’ll be hailed as a hero tomorrow.” The director smiled. “I’ll make this quick so you can go clean yourself up.”

“Thank you,” Fiddleford sighed.

“As I was saying, I’m sure you’ve guessed why you’re here,”

“You have a mission for us,” Addi said.

“Correct.” The tall, dark-skinned woman stood up from behind her desk and turned on a projector. An image of a bemused-looking woman appeared on the blank stretch of wall.

“This is Dr Jane Hansen. She is a chemist who has developed a new material with extraordinary refractive, reflective, and focal properties, called shimmern. This could be used to revolutionise the technological industry, for instance providing greater laser capabilities, enhancing computer operations, and creating a far cheaper way to manufacture stealth products.” The director nodded approvingly at Addi and Fiddleford’s raised eyebrows.

“Dr Hansen, however, is a very gentle soul who has insisted on using the only existing sample to create a fabulous piece of jewellery for her wife, which made our superiors rather frustrated,” the director said with a small smile.

The image changed to show a photo of Dr Hansen in her house, presenting a glittery, tear-shaped pendant on a silver chain to another woman. The picture was taken through the leaves of a bush.

“Aww,” said Addi. It was a very sweet scene, captured forever in an ethically questionable manner. “So, you want us to obtain that necklace?” she asked, switching back to professionalism.

“Of course. As well as the method she used to create it. We’ve been asked to hold onto it until our superiors have had a chance to study, and presumably replicate, it – as Dr Hansen has made it clear she has no interest allowing it to be used for weapons or stealth technology,” the director said with only the vaguest hint of approval.

“I assume the plans’re all stored electronically?” asked Fiddleford.

“Yes, Agent McGucket,”

“Then it’ll be an easy workday, ma’am,”

“Good to hear. Dr Hansen is planning on unveiling her creation at the Centro Congressi Giovanni XXIII Convention Centre in Italy five days from now. It will be a very classy event, so, Agent Marks, I assume you have some very classy clothes?”

Addi grinned at the director. She was looking forward to this assignment. “Of course, Jheselbraum,”

Gravity Falls, Oregon (USA) ∆

Stan walked cautiously up the stairs to the porch of 618 Gopher Road. It was a very isolated house, nestled in a forest, and yet Stan couldn’t help but feel watched. Like there were eyes pointed at him from all directions. Considering this was apparently where Ford lived, though, that wasn’t exactly surprising. He’d probably been scanned no less than eighteen times since stepping out of the car.

Trying to convince himself that everything was fine, is fine, would be fine, he knocked on the door. It was flung open instantly, and he looked down the barrel of a gun.

His hand was coming up almost as soon as the door started opening. Stan slapped it away from his face and into his other hand where he flipped it around and caught it in a two-handed grip pointing at his opponent.

Ford beamed and said, “Well done, Stanley. It’s good to see you haven’t lost your skills.” Then he stood aside as though it was perfectly normal to brandish weapons at your family members.

“I’m fine, by the way.” Stan muttered as he stepped inside. “Might’ve pissed myself, but I’m fine.”

“I assume you found my message?” asked Ford, holding out his hand for the gun, which Stan wasn’t exactly eager to return.

“You mean the one written in invisible ink on the mysterious postcard with a cryptic drawing?”

“Yes, that one,”

“Yeah Ford, I found it. Been doing that since we were kids.” Stan rolled his eyes. “But an address and ‘Please come’? You had me worried, bro.”

“I’m sorry, but there wasn’t much else I could say. I didn’t want to risk it falling into the wrong hands. By the way, you burnt that, didn’t you?”

Stan nodded. As they spoke, his eyes roamed around, taking in everything they could. Ford didn’t look like he was in any trouble. He seemed completely normal, if a bit manic, but he had been that way forever. At least he wasn’t in some deep danger like Stan had been had been fearing. Five years of silence, and then ‘Please come’? Worried was an understatement: he had almost had a heart failure.

The large room they were standing in was absolutely covered in things with Ford written all over them. Maybe even literally, if he had been indulging in the invisible ink. Technology, gadgets, weird substances in science beakers, it was all there.

Ford was looking at him oddly, with an awkward half-grin on his face like he wasn’t sure what else to say. Guess it was up to Stan to make the next move.

Crap.

He didn’t know what to do either. It was getting weird now. Should he try for a hug? No, that would make it even worse. Ford was still standing there, and now they were staring at each other. Just when Stan was on the verge of yelling “NON-SPECIFIC EXCUSE!” and making a break for it, his brother spoke up.

“So . . . you’re working for the FBI now?”

“Oh, er, you know about that?” Of course he does, it’s Ford. “And it’s more like with, not for. I’ve got connections and such, I know people. Useful for them, and I get paid when they need me, so I’m not complaining,”

Ford nodded, like this was exactly what he had wanted to hear. This is getting stranger by the minute.

“How did that happen?” This time, the question was genuinely curious, not prying for information, or confirmation, or whatever.

“Heh, well, remember Carla, from back in Glass Shard Beach? She works for ‘em now. Found me in California about four years ago, arrested me on a case, I put the moves on her,” he waggled his eyebrows and Ford snorted disbelievingly, “she couldn’t resist, and the rest is history.” Not exactly true. He’d completely fallen for her all over again as soon as she had laughed in recognition while handcuffing him. Then he’d bargained for a job and sold out his co-conspirators.

“It was surprising to learn you went back into law enforcement, or some semblance of it,” said Ford.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I just never would have expected it of you, especially after the way you gave up your training when we were both at the FBI,”

Stan frowned. “The way I gave it up?”

Ford tilted his head. “Well you didn’t exactly quit in a regular fashion,”

“I didn’t quit, they ran me off the property!”

“Yes, because you were idiot enough to accept a drunken bet and try to steal secure files! That practically sealed your life as a criminal!”

“Well let me remind you why I was off getting drunk that night. A certain high-paying job offer from a shady government agency ring a bell?”

“Stanley, we have had this conversation before. They offered you the exact same deal!”

“Which you were all too eager to accept! A deal, by the way, which included completely cutting off all ties with family and friends,”

They were glaring at each other now, and were unconsciously tensing for a fight. Things had gotten heated even more rapidly than Stan had expected.

“That was not a permanent arrangement, Stanley, as is clear from your presence here right now,”

“It’s the principle of the thing that matters, Ford! You just upped and ditched me, like you couldn’t wait to get rid of me!”

“You’re talking to me about principles and ditching? The last time I saw you was five years ago, when you led the FBI to my apartment after attempting to steal from them, broke in, yelled at me while grabbing all my cereal, and then climbed out the window! I am assuming that was all deliberate, as when the FBI kicked down my door they thought I was you and arrested me!”

“Well, in your words, that wasn’t a ‘permanent arrangement’ and they sorted it out eventually,”

They lapsed into silence, the air between them practically sizzling. Stan had said enough, had had enough. He’d come here to help Ford if he could, and he’d hoped to maybe patch things up, but it didn’t look as though Ford was all that inclined t-

“I didn’t mean to abandon you, Stan,” Ford admitted, frowning angrily at him. Stan blinked. Carla’s words immediately came to him: he wouldn’t have contacted you unless he needed something. However, if this was a ploy to get his help, it was pretty sincere.

“Although your actions didn’t make it easy to apologise. Furthermore, taking my cereal was incredibly petty.” Ford waited, looking closely at him, seeing how he would respond. Stan was tempted to start up another argument over Ford’s hypocrisy in calling him petty – he wasn’t the one still sore about cereal. Instead, he was reminded forcefully of his brother as a kid, and what one of his first thoughts had been to do when he thought he’d gotten a chance to see Ford again. He’d been half-convinced he never would, what with the super-secret job Ford had taken.

Stan pulled a box of cereal out of his bag and handed it mutely to his brother, who stared.

And stared some more.

And laughed. And pulled him into a hug.

“It’s good to see you again,”

“Yeah, you too bro,”

Well that was easy.

Ford gave him a tour of the house. As he memorised the layout of it, Stan noticed that Ford didn’t seem able to confine his inventions to the main workroom – and they were Ford’s inventions. Stan guessed his brother’s brain was the main reason he had attracted attention from the government.

“Ford, not that I’m complaining, but why am I really here?”

Ford grinned and stepped back into the workroom. He picked a thick, red-bound book off a bench. “For this,”

Stan took the book. It had a gold, six-fingered hand emblazoned on it, similar to the one on the post-card. He opened it to where it was bookmarked.

All the words were in code, but it was a code he and Ford had used since they were kids. It was like a second language to Stan, and he read it easily.

“What’s shimmern?” he asked, looking at a hand-drawn picture of a pendant on a chain.

“A new kind of material.” Ford had an excited look in his eyes. “There’s only one sample in existence, in fact. My assignment is to appropriate, and eventually replicate, it. You’re here because I want your help,”

Stan noticed with some elation that Ford had specifically said “want” not “need”.

“This would be much easier with you, Stan. Like you already said, you have contacts. You’re good with people, not to mention you haven’t lost the skills you had five years ago,”

“I’m in,” said Stan without hesitation. “but don’t you have a partner to help you out? Pretty sure that’s what’s supposed to happen when you work for the government.”

Ford cleared his throat. “That’s not how we do things. Our missions are carried out entirely without assistance from other agents. There’s less chance of a leak that way,”

No matter what his brother’s test scores said, to Stan, Ford was as easy to read as a child’s book.

“Ford . . . you do work for the government, don’t you?”

His brother shifted now, not even attempting to lie under Stan’s scrutiny. “You don’t have to worry, we aren’t working against anyone. We’re primarily research-based,”

“What kind of research needs highly-trained field agents with no connections?”

“I’ve told you all I can,” Ford said firmly, with a hint of apology.

Ever since he and Ford had both been made an offer during the training course for the FBI, Stan had assumed it had been some sort of government branch, the CIA or something. However, the more he thought about, there was absolutely nothing to support this assumption. In short, Ford had him worried. Again.

Even more reason to stick close to him then.

“Okay, I’m still on board. How do we get this thing?”

“Italy, five days from now. We have a party to attend,” Ford said mischievously, and again Stan was reminded of the plans they’d come up with as kids, specifically the more notorious ones.

“I’m gonna need my fake IDs again,”

∆

“Hey Fordsy, how’d it go?” Bill Cipher said, sitting ramrod straight in Ford’s desk chair and swivelling around in it as the elevator doors opened to the basement.

“Good,” Ford replied. “We’re ready for the assignment. Or we will be soon. Stan has to sort a few things out first,”

When he’d first met his employer, Ford had been slightly disturbed by his too-wide smile, eyes that blinked less than a person’s normally would, and far more familiar demeanour than befitted the director of a shadow organisation. Now, he knew it was just one of Bill’s quirks.

“I hope you understand how lenient I’m being, letting your brother in on this. Not that I have anything against him, swell guy I’m sure, but of all the people to choose . . . I mean, really? Didn’t he used to be a bit – what’s the word? Oh yeah. Impulsive. Reckless. Untrustworthy. Take your pick. From what I’ve seen, smart guy, you are far more capable on your own. I don’t want him dragging you down or anything, numero uno,”

“Stan was just angry before. I promise that he will be more focused on this, and he will be a valuable asset,” Ford assured him quickly. It had taken over a year for Bill to come around to the idea of letting Stan meet up with him, and Ford was sure he had only agreed because he knew how ridiculously stubborn Ford could be.

Or because it was affecting your work.

The thought was immediately brushed away. Bill was right to be concerned about Stan. The organisation he had built was founded on levels of secrecy unlike any Ford had previously encountered. Any breach of that could bring it all crashing down. So yes, allowing Ford to bring someone in was a risk, he understood that. And so what if Bill had only agreed because their argument five years ago was eating away at Ford enough to disturb his performance in the field and the lab? That just proved how much Bill trusted, valued,and even cared, about him.

“Alright Sixer, we’ll try this your way. Just keep the objective in sight, you know what I mean?”

If there was one thing Ford was certain about in his line of work, it was that Bill Cipher was a good guy.

“Yes sir,”

#gravity falls #fanfiction #spy au #stanley pines #carla mccorkle #adeline marks #fiddleford mcgucket #stanford pines #jheselbraum #bill cipher #lets get this thing rolling #the cipher conspiracy #double o sixer au #my writing

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yenneferw · 7 years

Text

Anonymous requested: “Tony being a trans guy has been my headcanon for a long time and I would absolutely die if you would write about him supporting Peter…”

Anyway I’ve gotta say I love writing Peter, like idk if I’m doing it in character but I love this

Also I’m definitely down for doing more of this with Peter coming out and stuff if someone requests it, but I wanted to do this scene like the moment it popped in my head

ALSO brevity is NOT my forte and I loved this prompt so it’s long beware of that

The first time Peter saw Tony after he turned down his offer to live with the rest of the Avengers, he wasn’t expecting him at all. He hadn’t been doing anything dangerous—Peter had decided that the criminals were just too scared to act out in Queens after Spider-Man took down the bird guy with the fancy weapons—nor actually noteworthy in particular. Actually, as it happened, when there was a knock on the door to Peter and May’s apartment, he and Ned were in his room, supposed to be studying but instead talking about the next Star Wars movie. Actually debating. Ned said that Rey was Luke’s daughter, but Peter was emphatic about her being Obi-Wan’s granddaughter.

So not exactly when you would expect Tony Stark to show up at your door, whether you were Spider-Man or not.

“Peter!” Aunt May called from the other room. She didn’t sound normal—not alarmingly different, but more like the kind of different that you called to your nephew who happened to be Spider-Man and whose superhero mentor, Iron Man, had arrived at the house.

Peter looked to the door and then to Ned, standing up with a huff of breath. He had gotten comfortable, and had just started in with all of his best points about why Rey was and should have been a Kenobi. Ned stood up too, and when Peter looked at him questioningly, he said, “It’s cold and here and I left my jacket in your living room.” Peter shrugged and walked out of his room.

When May found out about his superhero abilities and identity, she had been justifiably angry about the major secret he had been keeping from her, and all the danger he had been putting himself in. She at first insisted he couldn’t do that anymore, and then it was really emotional because she started saying stuff like What if you had died, Peter? What if you get hurt? and then Peter felt terrible, but then he just panicked and called Tony, afraid that if it wasn’t one overbearing guardian taking away his suit, it was another.

Well, maybe they weren’t being overbearing in this situation, but still.

She had spent a good ten minutes yelling at Tony Stark—Tony Stark, but if there was anyone who was going to yell at him unabashedly and without apologizing when she had a point to make, it was Aunt May—and then the next ten minutes with Tony on speaker phone, pacing through the living room and throwing up her hands every time Tony tried to explain. In the end, she had pointed to the phone as if Mr. Stark could see and said, “I can’t do this tonight.”

They had talked again the next morning. There was some begrudging agreement between the two of them, but some of May’s animosity hadn’t faded entirely.

So he suddenly understood why she sounded strange when he saw Tony standing in the living room seeming a bit like May had chewed him out before calling Peter into the room.

Meanwhile, Ned’s jaw had reached the floor.

“Oh, hello,” Tony said casually as he strode over to the two of them. “You must be Ned.”

Ned’s eyes were wide as he looked back and forth between Peter and Tony, and Peter was glad that this at least wasn’t how his best friend was finding out that he knew Iron Man, because otherwise he might have fainted. He certainly seemed like he was going to when Peter first told him that he was in a “Stark internship.”

“You’re Tony Stark,” Ned said. “You’re Iron Man. Peter, Iron Man— Iron Man is in your apartment.”

Peter nodded and patted his friend’s shoulder. As much as he had seen of superheroes and Tony Stark in particular, it was still strange to see him standing on their floors, next to their couch, Aunt May’s arms crossed next to him and Ned next to him while in his presence. He guessed he had gotten used to being around Tony as Spider-Man, not Peter Parker.

“Yup, Iron Man is,” Tony said. “And I think Iron Man wants a moment with Peter.”

Ned nodded and Peter saw him looking at Aunt May with incredulity. Maybe for the first time, Ned was realizing that Peter wasn’t only a crime-fighting spider guy, but also someone who had met and fought alongside the Avengers. He wondered what he would do if Peter showed him some of the videos that he took while he was away on that mission.

Tony put a hand on Peter’s shoulder and started to lead him away from the living room. With Ned there, he had forgotten that Tony didn’t just show up at his house, so there was some kind of reason for him to be there. Peter’s mind bounced quickly back and forth between There’s another mission! and He’s taking my suit again, so he said, “What is it?” before they were even in the hallway. Tony just patted his shoulder and didn’t look down at him, which only made his heart race faster. “What does it have to do with?”

Tony peered into his bedroom to make sure that that was the room they were going in, and then the two of them went in. Peter shut the door behind them and looked at Tony expectantly, but he just looked vaguely uncomfortable and unsure of himself. And that didn’t lend itself to either of Peter’s theories, so now he was really confused.

“Mr. Stark, please,” Peter said, “you’re killing me. What is it?”

“I— Well, Tony. You can call me Tony, Peter.”

He hadn’t expected that, but it wasn’t the kind of thing that you flew across state to talk to someone about, so his heart was still beating high in his throat and down in his stomach. “Okay, Mr. Tony— er, Tony,” he said, feeling the words flounder in his mouth as anticipation skyrocketed through him.

“Okay.” Tony let out a breath and looked at Peter squarely. “I’ve been trying to do better by you than people did for me.”

Peter’s brow creased and his eyes veered off as he tried to understand what that meant. “Okay… I think you’ve been really nice.”

Really nice was a little bit of an understatement when he thought about all that Tony had done to help along his transition. When he first started helping them, it had been weird trying to explain to Aunt May why Tony was helping out without explaining to her that they were connected via the Avengers, but she had accepted that they were close from the internship and Tony was generous. It was pretty surprising for himself, actually, and he was fully aware of the fact that he was Spider-Man.

Tony just shrugged, though. “I was in the neighborhood and I thought it might be a good idea to talk a little bit more about why I took the suit,” he said. The moment it sunk in, Peter had to stop himself from groaning. All of that anticipation for a lecture? But he knew he was in the wrong, and probably deserved a lecture. And he was glad that Aunt May didn’t know about all the trouble he had been getting into then and how much he had disobeyed Tony, because he was sure that she wouldn’t like it a bit. A lecture from Tony was better than a lecture from May—if a bit more awkward.

Peter rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m really sorry about all that, Mr.— Tony,” he said.

Tony nodded. “I think I owe you a bit of an apology too,” he told him. “I thought… I thought keeping an eye out on you was enough. And I wasn’t communicating with you. If I was, you wouldn’t have barged in on the FBI. That’s on me.”

He could see that this was hard for Tony somehow, and he remembered something Tony said about his dad when Peter was on the ferry. He wondered for a moment, then, if Tony’s dad wasn’t exactly good. But then, what else could Peter take out of this except that Tony Stark considered him to be a son figure? And that was too— surreal.

“And you shouldn’t have been lying to me and taking out your tracker and deactivating your training wheels,” Tony reminded him, and he shrunk a little bit and rubbed the back of his neck more. “But I think we can move on from that.”

“Are you going to tell May?” Peter asked. “If you think we need to, I can tell her. I don’t think she’d—”

“She already suspected and she asked me about it,” Tony said, cutting him off. “And I think, since she knows now, telling Aunt May might need to start becoming more of a thing.” Tony sat down on his bed and looked up at Peter. “Come on, sit down. Let’s have a moment.”

He paused. “A moment?” he asked, but he stepped over to his bed and sat down as well. He looked up at Tony, and briefly he wondered how hard May was having to restrain Ned from bursting into the room to talk to Tony and ask him a million questions.

“Yeah, we’re going to have a moment,” Tony told him decisively. He let out a breath. “Pete, I want you to feel like you can talk to me and I’ll listen.”

Peter nodded. The situation was quickly going from anxious to just plain uncomfortable, and he wasn’t sure where Tony was trying to take this. But he hadn’t felt like anyone was listening to him, not when he went to the ferry. He had texted Happy a million times, and for a while he thought that maybe Happy just didn’t like texting, but the more that happened, the more he came to the conclusion that unless he was useful, they didn’t need him around. And if they were going to treat him like a child after he went to Germany to help in their stupid fight, he felt like he had to take matters into his own hands. It was nice hearing that Tony had been listening the whole time, but he had been wondering if he would show any indication of that in the future. He guessed this was proof that that was true, but it felt like a very serious conversation with adults, and he hated those.

“I’ve been afraid that I’m going to mess something up here,” Tony went on when Peter didn’t say anything. Maybe he expected Peter to say something sincere in return, but his mind was scouring for jokes to make to lighten the mood. “I want to give you the things you deserve, Pete, and I don’t want you to think I’m doing that out of obligation.”

“Well.” He was reeling for something to say, but nothing came to mind. “Thank you.”

“I want you to feel like you can talk to me,” Tony said, and it seemed like this was the hardest part of his speech because he relaxed a little bit once he said it. Peter looked at him blankly, unsure what he meant. “About more than just all this.” He gestured to where Peter’s Spider-Man suit was sitting slung over the back of his desk chair.

More than just superheroes? He couldn’t imagine talking to Tony about things like what he got on his math test and what he wanted to do when he got older. Those were the conversations he had with May, but he guessed that that was the point.

“You mean… you want me to… No, I don’t understand,” Peter said, shaking his head.

“I don’t either, kid,” Tony said. He sounded so much like Uncle Ben for a second that Peter felt his chest feel tight with that pain. “I just want you to feel like you can talk to me.”

“Why?” was the first thing out of Peter’s mouth, and he didn’t really have time to think about how that might have been rude, because he was already launching into more. “What do I— I tell you about all my missions, I don’t understand. Are you— I mean I think it’d be a waste of your time if I just… ‘Hey, Tony, I got an A on my Spanish quiz today, have fun being Iron Man.’”

“No, I don’t think it’d be a waste of my time,” Tony told him. Peter was at a loss for words. “You’re a good kid, Peter. I care about you. I want to know about how you are, I want to know if anyone’s a dick at school, I want to know how your hormones—”

Peter stopped him by shaking his head. “Mr. Stark, I don’t— I get enough ‘your body is changing’ from May, and I don’t think you’d get it—”

“I think I’d get it a lot better than May would,” Tony told him.

“Well, I guess so, you’re a guy, but—”

“Pete, I’m trans too,” Tony told him, with a little smile on his face like he hadn’t expected Peter not to know that. “You didn’t know?”

All of his life he had looked up to Iron Man, all of his life he had played with toy Iron Man masks, all his life he had watched as Tony Stark told the world he was Iron Man and fought all the bad guys and exuded everything that Peter wanted to be one day—and it turned out that he was trans too. All his life, when he was struggling with his gender, when the “Penis Parker” chants stung, his favorite superhero was trans too. He didn’t know what to say. It seemed like this conversation was doing that to him a lot.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Tony said. He put an arm around Peter’s shoulders and patted his back. “I get it. And I wanna be there for you.”

Holy shit.

He remembered thinking that Tony was going in for a hug in the car, the “We’re not there yet.” It had been awkward thinking of it every time it came to his mind since then. But right then he just felt like they were there, so he leaned over and hugged his hero. “Thanks, Tony,” he said.

Tony hesitated, but no more than a second before he was hugging Peter back. “Hey, no problem, kid.” He pulled away from the hug and looked down at him. Peter felt so much admiration for his favorite superhero, but it didn’t feel like the normal way any kid admired Iron Man. It was that his favorite superhero was Tony. “Now, uh, I think your aunt wants to talk to you about the ferry business.”

Peter groaned. “Well, I think Ned wants to ask you a million questions.”

Tony grinned. “I don’t think we’re there yet,” he said, standing up. “But maybe next time.”

Peter stood up as well and went over to the door, shaking his head. “Oh, no. If I have to get lectured, you have to answer all of Ned’s questions,” he told him.

“I guess that’s fair,” Tony said, laughing. He patted Peter’s back again as they left the room.

Later, Peter would change “Mr. Stark” in his phone to “Tony,” and he wasn’t about to tell him just yet about his homework and his tests and his life to that extent, but it was enough.

#trans peter parker #my writing #mine #trans tony stark #sm:hc #sm:h #smhc #smh #this was fun to write #i'm bad at last lines and i couldn't figure out how to end it tho #let me know if you liked it if you want tho #smhc spoilers

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