#makes me think he’d work in a lab if not a driver

[supercolossaleevee]

part-time sunshine, part-time lab rat

[cherspastries]

Okay, but here's another question... What jobs do you think the drivers would have of they weren't a driver? Or what they would major in? (loved the story btw!! :))

YOU DON’T GET WHAT YOU WISH FOR,

YOU GET WHAT YOU WORK FOR.

WORK FOR IT

2025 Grid x Reader

SUMMARY 𐙚 What jobs I think the drivers would have if they weren’t in F1. Part 1, where I talk about the reader’s job, is here! I will be referencing this so I advise reading it first.

WARNINGS 𐙚 N/A!

WORD COUNT 𐙚 2.9K

A/N 𐙚 It was really hard to decide for all of these guys. Some of them do have doubles because I couldn’t think of anything else 😬 Maybe a university AU with some of the younger drivers is needed now. Love ♥︎ Cher

DIRECTORY | MASTERLIST | REQUESTS: OPEN

RedBull ෆ

Max Verstappen

Motorsports

Unfortunately I’m a firm believer that if it’s not F1 for Max Verstappen, it’s gonna be a different motorsport. He has racing so deeply imbedded in his soul that I just can’t imagine him doing anything else. I also think that he could potentially be a streamer in another universe, but I think he’s a racer first. Imagine MotoGP Max, or maybe even Nascar Max. He loves the thrill and that’s not something he’ll abandon. So, if he doesn’t make it to F1, there’s lots of other options for this boy.

Let’s go with MotoGP. Imagine the badass pairing of a bartender and a motorcyclist. It’s quite literally a match made in heaven. Bonus points if the reader also rides motorcycles, so they can go out on adventures together. Or, if that’s not your style, he loves to have you ride on the back with your arms around his waist and all.

Yuki Tsunoda

Chef

This guy loves his food, which leads me to believe that culinary school is in his alternative future. I think Yuki could live it up as a chef that experiments with food from all corners of the world— Except America. He refuses to partake in the oily food from America, as we’ve all learned.

And hey, a chef and a seamstress isn’t exactly the expected duo, but it could work. Maybe you’re the one making the uniforms for his restaurant, and designing the logos and such. Even if he’s just in the kitchen working his magic, he still needs to look good to represent his business! It works, okay?

Mercedes ෆ

George Russell

Politician

There was a video where drivers made up what another driver would do if not F1, and a lot of people suggested George was a politician, and I 100% agree. While he said he’d be a farmer, I think he has a talent that shouldn’t go to waste. He’s a very convincing fellow that has a knack for following the rules and maybe even being a bit bossy. He exudes the vibes of someone who is a great leader, so he’d likely be a pretty decent politician.

I don’t really think your jobs intertwine much, but that’s just fine. Graphic design doesn’t have the biggest role to play in politics, but he always tries to find a place to squeeze your work in. Besides, it’s not like they have to match up perfectly anyway. You both have your own respective lives, and the life that you share together. He’s still super supportive nonetheless.

Kimi Antonelli

Scientist

Scientist Kimi! I don’t know why, but I can see it. I think if we want to be more specific, he’d study pharmacology, but I can really picture him working with chemicals in some way. I need to see Kimi in a lab coat and goggles messing around with chemicals. Maybe he’s not the best and maybe it blows up in his face, but he’s having a lot of fun. Maybe he’ll accidentally create a whole new element.

And he has his tutor girlfriend to stand by his side and support him. You’re there to offer knowledge and help in all fields. An intelligent girl matched with an equally intelligent boy is a nearly dangerous duo, and people acknowledge that. All of his friends are a little scared. You have the potential to someday rule the world— But with your childish smile and his cute curls nobody would take you seriously. Maybe it’s best you stick to science.

Ferrari ෆ

Charles Leclerc

Architect

An architect and a fashion designer. Yes, this seems about right. You’re both designing, just in your own way. I’d like to think you each contribute and help each other with the designing process, and it’s always easy to tell what aspects were thrown forth by the other person. Suddenly he’s bringing math equations into your designs, and you’re bringing little details and trends to his.

Charles himself said he’d like to be an architect, but if I were to assign him something from my own mind, I’d probably say music. It’s clear it’s something he’s very passionate about, and he’s very musically talented too. I can picture the reader sitting with him and resting her head on his shoulder while he plays.

Lewis Hamilton

Fashion designer

Yet another obvious choice. Maybe him and Charles’ girlfriend can be friends. Anyway, a makeup artist and a fashion designer kind of go hand in hand. You’re in the fashion industry, and you both work with specific clientele. Maybe you’re even a package deal. Celebrities hire one of you, and they end up hiring the other too. Just for fun.

I think this choice is obvious because it’s clearly that Lewis has a talent for fashion. His work with the Met Gala, and his day to day wear just proves that. He’s always dressed to the tens in my opinion, and I think he should spread that knowledge with the world. He’s a genius!

McLaren ෆ

Oscar Piastri

Engineer

Yes, Oscar’s expressed before that he would go into engineering if it weren’t for his current career. It makes sense. The boy’s smart, and his family has a history with racing so it’s not like mechanical engineering is all that far off. I can even see him being a track engineer. I think he’d have some decent strategies to share with a team, and would be smart enough to handle all the numbers and stats.

Now, it’s not really like his occupation matches up with yours either, but again… I think that’s okay. If he was an F1 engineer, I could see him taking you along with him, so as a food critic you’re getting to travel the world and experience dishes from different regions. So maybe in that sense, you’re perfect for each other. Who knows.

Lando Norris

DJ

Similar to George, a lot of the other drivers said that if he wasn’t a racing pilot, he should be a DJ. Esteban Ocon himself said that Lando got up behind the booth and made some decent beats, so with a bit more practice he could definitely do it. He also has the necessary party boy energy to pull off being a DJ, so it makes a lot of sense in the long run.

I’m not sure how well a teacher and DJ would work, but I think that’s ultimately part of the charm. You’re total opposites. One of you is quiet and collected while the other is loud and chaotic and it makes you relationship consistently interesting and engaging for you both. If you were paired with people exactly like yourselves, you’d probably get bored after awhile. Each of you brings something new to the table.

Aston Martin ෆ

Fernando Alonso

Football / Soccer

This was hard because, much like Max, it was hard to see Fernando doing anything but racing. I was almost tempted to keep him in motorsports as well, but I chose not to because I remember Fernando saying he liked football, and that just makes a lot of sense in my mind. I definitely don’t think he’d play football as long as he raced for F1, so after he reaches a certain age he retires, but I can see him pursuing this career at some point.

The life of a football player with a wedding planner wife is rather domestic. You’re constantly doting on him and taking care of him, treating your retired lover as if he’s old and decaying. He insists that he can do everything on his own, but he does like the attention nonetheless, so Fernando sits back and lets you pamper him like he’s your princess. Hey, whatever keeps the man busy.

Lance Stroll

Business man

I was unsure about this one, but I think considering that his dad is a business man, it makes sense for Lance to follow a similar destiny. Maybe he also ends up owning his own F1 team, who knows? I think he’s a very diplomatic guy, even if he’s somewhat introverted. That doesn’t mean he’s rude or anything, so talking business would come along just fine for Lance! He’s a very smart guy. I’m picturing him as a CEO of sorts.

He doesn’t play about you, either. You get to act as his sugar baby for a while, even though you make plenty of money yourself. He loves getting to tell you to buy whatever you want using his card, and he loves spoiling you. If you need new equipment for writing, he’ll buy it. If you need help getting your books published, he’ll talk to people for you. If you need help advertising, he’s on it. Lance is there to assist you in everything. He’s your partner in crime!

Alpine ෆ

Pierre Gasly

Football / Soccer

Okay I KNOW, this is unoriginal, but if you look at Pierre’s instagram there’s lots of photos of him playing football and I think it just makes sense to me. He kind of has the appropriate build for one too? Muscular, but also very strong legs and a good runner. I can’t really describe it, just trust me.

And, since he’s still in a sport, you can continue to be his social media manager and like everything related to him. People are still stunned to find out that Pierre runs his accounts and is the one viewing everything, but they’re even more stunned to find out that a majority of the time you’re the one actually liking the posts because every time you see anything related to him you giggle uncontrollably and spam the like button. Still a perfect, dynamic duo.

Franco Colapinto

Journalism

This guy likes his gossip. Franco’s charismatic enough to be able to easily interview people, and I firmly believe in that. He loves catching up on all the latest gossip and posting about it online for everyone to see. It doesn’t matter if it’s none of his business, because he’s gonna make it his business. Either way, he tends to be fairly respectful about what he posts. Even if he wants to phrase it in the most dramatic way possible, Franco sticks to the facts. And what he assumes are facts.

He likes to work on his pieces while he’s in your shop. He’s usually sitting behind the counter while you tend to customers, typing away on his newest report back to his boss. Every now and then he gets a few weird looks, almost like people recognize him, but they aren’t quite sure if it’s actually him or not.

Williams ෆ

Carlos Sainz

Boxer

Ohhhh… Okay sorry let me compose myself. Carlos gives off these casual aggressive vibes that tell you he’s not someone to be messed with, but also he’s a very sweet guy deep down. He loves his job, but he makes sure to remain unbiased and sportsmanly throughout, because it’s important to ensure that your opponent knows they did a great job too. He always said he’d remain an athlete if he was to do something other than F1, and while boxing probably isn’t on the top of his list, I can see it happening.

A boxer and a baker. It’s very much giving cute wife who bosses her strong husband around like it’s no big deal. Sure, he’s a champion in the ring, but when Carlos comes home he has to listen to you first. You’re the one wearing the pants in this relationship. He doesn’t mind, either. It’s nice to come home and be ordered around by you.

Alex Albon

Golfer

Vet gf and golfer bf. Makes perfect sense to me. He’s out there enjoying a nice day on the fresh green grass while you’re taking care of very cute patients. It’s a win for you both, and at the end of the day you both get to come home and relax together and talk about your days.

I think golf suits Alex. I know he always jokes about being terrible about it, especially in comparison to his actual girlfriend (The beautiful that is Lily Muni He) but if he had years of experience like he does with F1, I think he’d be really talented! It’s something that he loves already, so it makes sense.

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls ෆ

Liam Lawson

Actor

Uhm, hello have you seen him acting in the VCARB tiktoks? Perfect. But also I think he’d be typecasted as a stereotypical teen in the 90’s. He looks young enough, and that’s exactly how he dresses and acts. He’d be very charming with younger audiences due to his boyish charm. He just needs to brush up on those acting skills a bit and then we have the perfect actor.

And hey, you’re an actress. It fits perfectly. Maybe the two of you meet on set. Maybe you’re even casted to play lovers, and then it just ends up being that you come out of the experience actually dating. Who’s to say if it actually works out. Lots of actors say it’s hard to date your co-worker, but you guys would have to disagree, because you’re going strong!

Isack Hadjar

Physicist

Isack’s dad is a physicist! I think it would be cute if he followed in his footsteps. Most F1 drivers do follow in their parent’s footsteps, especially their dad, but Isack didn’t. However, imagining a universe where he did is interesting. He’d probably have the brain for it, he’d just have to dedicate a lot of his time to school, which might be hard.

A physicist and a photographer. I think you guys both like to discuss your more nerdy occupations. You get to rant about photo editing and camera settings, and he gets to rant about astrophysics and a lot of stuff you don’t entirely understand, but you enjoy hearing nonetheless. This is my favorite duo, never stop being a nerd.

Kick Sauber ෆ

Nico Hülkenberg

Male model

Nobody can convince me otherwise. He has the perfect face for modeling. Ruggedly handsome with a slight stubble and nice hair. I almost gave Carlos this role, but I think Nico is perfect for a model. If he hasn’t already received offers, he should, because he’s 37 and he looks fantastic still.

A model and a sommelier is a great duo, actually. You both have jobs seen as sophisticated. You’re a killer duo, the type of couple that can kill with your looks alone. He’s always impressed by your extensive knowledge, and you’re impressed by just how beautiful he is. You like to show him off at events you’re invited to, and he likes to do the same himself. Power couple. End of sentence.

Gabriel Bortoleto

Sports commentator

Not sure of this one either. I think Gabi would be a very fun commentator, always making silly quips and witty jokes that draws the audience in while retaining that necessary sports knowledge. At first he’d definitely let the other commentators do a lot of the talking, but once he’s warmed up to the environment, you hear him just as much as you hear the others. There’s no more hiding!

I think a streamer and a commentator is a silly duo as well. Maybe sometimes you stream sports and commentate it to mimic your boyfriend, which he always pretends to be offended by, but he thinks it’s adorable in reality. He likes showing up on your streams too. I love them. I’m jealous of you, reader.

Haas ෆ

Oliver Bearman

Male model

ALRIGHT I KNOW. I’m being unoriginal again, but have you SEEN Ollie?! He’s absolutely model material as well. Tall, handsome, fit. He might need some training on how to pose and walk a runway, but he’ll get it down eventually. I can also see him being like a hand model for watches and jewelry and such. He has very nice, soft hands that are still very masculine.

A painter and a model are you SERIOUS? I know I wrote it but I’m also fangirling because wow. He can quite literally be your muse. He doesn’t even have to sit there, because there’s thousands of beautiful pictures online for you to use. Although it does make the experience a lot more special when he offers to be your live model and pose for you. It’s like something only you get to see. Yeah… Huge fan of this.

Esteban Ocon

Comic book editor

PLEASE he would have a BLAST. He gets to read all these superhero comics, and he actually gets to contribute to the process of making them. I don’t know I just love the idea of a superhero fanatic, especially someone who loves Spiderman like Estie, getting to edit the scripts for comics. He’d be so into it, too. Like “this idea is unoriginal, so you should go for something like this” because he’s already read so many comics out there that he can recite plot lines from a lot of them.

And trust that I am a huge fan of goddess girlfriend and loser boyfriend. A model with a comic book editor? Nobody would see it coming. Imagine pulling up to the red carpet, cameras flashing as a tall, handsome figure emerges from the limo and it’s… Oh, it’s just some guy they’ve never seen before, but you look so happy that it’s impossible to harbor any judgement. It’s adorable how much you two love each other.

[its-avalon-08]

📣 𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕖 📣

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10

🏁 pairing : Lando Norris x Piastri!Sister!Reader

🏎️ summary: she’s oscar piastri’s little sister — sarcastic, sharp, and completely uninterested in drivers. he’s lando norris — charming, persistent, and suddenly very interested in her. she came for oscar. she didn’t plan on falling for the one person she should’ve stayed away from.

themes : fluff, flirting, over protective brother, anxiety

𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼

𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼

chapter 3 : getting closer

Y/N sat cross-legged on the hospitality couch, laptop finally safe and secured in her tote. Lando plopped down a few feet away, spinning a cold water bottle between his hands, glancing over at her every so often.

“So,” he said, eyes flicking up, “medical research, huh?”

She smiled, head tilting. “Don’t say it like that. You make it sound like I’m building Frankenstein in a lab.”

“Are you?”

“Maybe.” She shrugged, leaning back into the couch. “But mine would be prettier. And less... stabby.”

Lando laughed. “Noted. If you start working on a charming British prototype, I volunteer.”

“Oh no, he’d be smart and emotionally available. So definitely not you.”

He feigned offense, dramatically clutching his chest. “Ouch. You wound me mini Piastri.”

“Good you deserve it Norris,” she said sweetly, sipping from her water.

There was a brief pause as he smiled down at his hands.

“You always like this?” he asked.

She blinked. “Define ‘like this.’”

“Just—sharp. Funny. A little terrifying.”

She grinned. “I prefer the term intellectually intimidating with a touch of grace.”

He snorted. “So terrifying.”

She let out a breathy laugh and looked at him properly then, taking in the messy curls still damp from his helmet, the playful glint in his eye that softened every time he looked at her. “I don’t usually let people see me panic,” she said quietly.

“I don’t think less of you,” he said without hesitation. “Actually... kind of the opposite.”

She raised an eyebrow, teasing. “Because I lost an entire laptop?”

“No. Because you cared enough to freak out,” he said, voice lighter than usual but still sincere. “Shows it matters. I respect that. It's impressive to know you cared about your research and I don't know, it just makes you seem human.”

There was a beat.

Y/N looked down, twisting the edge of her laptop sleeve. “You’re different in person.”

“Yeah?” he asked, nudging her sneaker with his.

She nodded. “Less Instagram, more human.”

He laughed. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me all week.”

“Glad I could keep you humble.”

They shared a smile, something lingering in the air between them now—barely there, but it buzzed under her skin.

Lando leaned back on his elbows, looking out toward the terrace. “You know... you're a good balance for him.”

She blinked. “Who?”

“Oscar. You ground him. In a funny way. Like... you don’t let him get away with being too serious.”

She chuckled. “He’s been that way since birth. I came out cracking jokes. Balance, I guess.”

He glanced at her. “So what grounds you?”

She paused, caught off guard by the question.

“…Honestly? Quiet. Soft things. Long showers. Instrumentals. My work. Stuff that’s mine and no one else’s.”

He nodded slowly. “That makes sense.”

She looked at him sideways. “You’re surprisingly introspective for someone who literally says hee hee in interviews.”

He burst into laughter. “Okay, rude, but fair.”

She zipped up her tote and stood up, slinging it over her shoulder. “Alright, Mr. Not-Charming. I have data sets to cry over and a brother to yell at.”

Lando stood too, brushing invisible lint off his suit pants. “Sure you don’t wanna stick around and psychoanalyze me some more?”

She smirked, adjusting her sunglasses. “You couldn’t handle it.”

He watched her for a second, a flicker of something unreadable in his expression. “You’re probably right.”

She gave him a small, sincere smile. “Thanks again. Really.”

“Anytime, Y/N,” he said, his voice soft.

She turned, walking off down the paddock, hair swaying, laptop safe and her heart maybe just a little unsteady—though she'd never admit that part.

Lando stood there a beat longer, hands in his pockets, watching the spot where she'd just been.

And for the first time that weekend, he wasn’t thinking about the race.

-

A few weeks have passed.

-

The soft hum of a late-night show played quietly in the background, casting flickering shadows across Oscar’s apartment. The warm, dim light from the lamp next to the couch bathed the living room in a comforting glow. Lily tucked herself into his side, blanket pulled up to her chin, legs tangled with his under the throw.

Oscar absentmindedly played with a strand of her hair, but his jaw was tight—there was a tension in his eyes that hadn’t faded since dinner.

Lily noticed, of course she did.

“What’s going on in that brain of yours baby?” she asked softly, tilting her head to look up at him.

Oscar let out a short breath through his nose. “It’s nothing my love.” He kissed her forehead.

Lily just raised an eyebrow. No words. Just that. The eyebrow. The one that made Oscar cave every single time. Her eyes looked right into his soul.

“Okay,” he said finally. “It’s Lando.”

“…Lando?” she blinked. “What did he do now? Use your shampoo again?”

Oscar scowled. “No. Worse. He’s… hovering around Y/N.”

Lily held back a smile. “Hovering?”

“You know what I mean.”

—

[cut to: Y/N’s apartment – late night]

Her laptop was open in front of her, half-finished notes blinking on a Word doc, but her phone lit up with another text.

Lando [11:48 PM]: you know if you were here i’d be making you toast rn. like the fancy kind. with cinnamon and stuff.

Y/N [11:49 PM]: you say that like i don’t have a toaster also cinnamon toast is so 2006

Lando [11:49 PM]: excuse you it’s timeless

Y/N [11:50 PM]: you’re lucky you’re kind of funny Norris

—

Back in the apartment, Lily sat up a little.

“Oscar… Y/N’s not a kid. You don’t have to monitor everyone who breathes near her. I mean you can't. She's her own person Osc.”

Oscar’s expression turned steely. “I know she’s not a kid. But that doesn’t mean I trust everyone who suddenly wants to be close to her.”

“She and Lando haven’t even—”

“She better not,” he snapped. “Not with him.”

Lily blinked at the sharpness in his tone.

Oscar scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “My love I'm sorry. Didn't mean that. It's just that Lando’s my teammate. My friend. But he’s… Lando.”

“And what exactly does that mean?”

“It means he flirts with literally everyone, doesn’t think before he speaks, and has the emotional depth of a teaspoon most days.”

“Harsh.”

Oscar’s voice dropped. “She’s been through enough, Lily. After that idiot ex—after the way he messed with her head, made her feel small and stupid—she deserves peace. Not… not another guy who’s gonna say all the right things and leave.”

—

[cut to: paddock – a week earlier]

Y/N stood next to Lando near the McLaren garage, both of them eating frozen grapes from a little cup one of the staff handed them.

“Okay,” he said, mouth full. “Top five medical facts that would terrify the average human.”

She smirked. “Number one, the human stomach has more neurons than a cat’s brain.”

He paused. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

“…Does that mean my stomach’s smarter than me?”

She popped a grape into her mouth. “Statistically? Possibly.”

He burst out laughing.

—

Back in the apartment, Lily squeezed his arm gently. “But Y/N… she’s happy lately.”

“She’s always happy around people. Doesn’t mean she’s not hiding it.” Oscar’s jaw clenched. “I know her. I know when she’s guarding herself.”

Lily looked at him carefully. “Are you sure this is about her? Or are you scared because you can’t control this?”

Oscar flinched, eyes dark. “I don’t care if I sound controlling. I don’t. She’s my sister. And no one—not even Lando—is getting near her if I don’t think they’re good enough.”

—

[cut to: Y/N’s hotel room – midnight FaceTime]

Her phone buzzed and she propped it up with her water bottle, revealing a very cozy, hoodie-clad Lando, sprawled across a hotel bed.

“Why are you still awake?” she asked, hiding a smile.

He grinned. “Couldn’t sleep. Missed your voice.”

“You heard my voice this afternoon.”

“Yeah, well. Withdrawal.”

She rolled her eyes, but her cheeks flushed. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You love it.”

She didn’t answer that. Just looked at him through the screen for a moment.

He went quiet too. Then, gently— “You ever gonna tell your brother we talk?”

Her smile faded a bit, something thoughtful passing through her expression.

“Eventually,” she said quietly. “When I know what this is.”

Lando didn’t press. He just nodded.

“Okay,” he said. “No pressure.”

But his smile told her he already knew what this was.

And maybe, deep down, so did she.

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[kaunis-sielu]

Small Town, Big City: 8

You make it home fine but you know that Steve is fired up about the driver. You can’t say that you blame him, having a vehicle zoom that close to you more than once had ruined the comfortable vibe that you’d had before.

You’re surprised when Steve comes out of his room in his uniform.

“I didn’t know you worked tonight.”

“Technically, I don’t. I’m gonna go out and see if I can find that truck.”

“It was a truck?” You hadn’t looked because you didn’t want to give them any more fuel to go after you and Steve. He must hear the alarm in your voice, it’s not like there’s only one black truck but you just have a bad feeling.

“Yea, why?”

“Black?”

“T. What’s going on?”

“It’s probably nothing but, there was black truck just sitting outside the bakery today. I just clocked it because it was the only car on street.”

“If you see it again please try to get the plate.”

“Okay? It’s probably nothing.”

“Just in case Sweetheart.” You nod and he comes toward you, “I can stay in if you want.” He offers but you know he’d feel better if he could go out and try to find the black truck, even if they’re probably long gone by now.

“No, I don’t want him to hurt someone else just because I’d rather hang out with you and watch a movie.”

“Rain check okay?” He promises and you nod then follow him to the door, he kisses you softly at the door before cupping your face in one of his hands. “Lock the door behind me.”

“I always do.” You assure him, “Be safe.”

“Yes ma’am.” He tells you with a little wink and you can’t help but laugh softly, which you know was probably his goal.

You take Fury out to go potty before you hunker down to watch a movie. You think about calling Maria but when you check the time you realize it’ll be a bad idea. It’s too close to bedtime for Peter and you’ve learned that lesson. Instead you call Carol, you’d gone to Veterinary school with Carol and had just clicked.

“Hey! How’s it going in the middle of the desert?” She answers and you laugh,

“It’s good. I got to birth puppies the other day and they had their first checkup today. I might need you to send me some vaccines.”

“Yea, how many will you need?”

“Six. Actually why don’t you send me seven just in case anything happens.”

“Six puppies!”

“Yea. They’re adorable, mom is a lab and dad is a Shepard. I’m tempted to adopt one.”

“Yea that doesn’t surprise me.” You can’t help but grin,

“Excuse me I’m not the one that ended up with an orange cat before graduation.”

“Yea, yea, yea. How’s your hot cop?”

“Sheriff. They’re different.”

“Excuse me. How is your hot sheriff?”

“Really good. We went for a ride tonight and got a little harassed by a truck. Steve wasn’t happy so he decided to go out and see if he could find them.”

“Ooh, protective. That’s hot.”

“Mmhmm.” You agree with a little hum, “I know this was a total fluke to end up here but fuck I’m happy I did.”

“You think you’ll stay there even when you have the money to move home?”

“I’m not in a hurry to leave that’s for sure. Do I miss more consistent vet work? Yea, but if I end up staying it would make more sense to actually open something. You know?”

“You’re not completely committed to staying?”

“I mean Steve is certainly making it harder to want to leave. And I’ve started to make friends here that are cool, you’d like Nat. She’s snarky and funny and owns the mechanic shop. I don’t know. Is this where I thought I’d end up? No but I thought I’d still be with Brock.”

“That asshole.”

“At least he’s not reaching out every single day anymore.” You point out and she hums, “and at the end of the day if it wasn’t for him I’d never have met Steve.”

“Who sounds like a walking green flag.”

“You’d like him.”

“I can’t wait to meet him at your wedding.” She teases and you laugh,

“Oh my god. We just started dating.”

“And you already live together. You’re gonna get married in the next like, six months, then he’ll tell you he loves you.”

“You’re a dumbass.” You laugh, “but for real, if I’m here when you wanna take your vacation you could come visit.”

“Stay in your spare room?”

“We don’t have a spare room. I’m in the spare.”

“You’re not sharing a room yet?”

“We haven’t done more than make out on the couch.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“I don’t mind. He’s a really good kisser and I don’t think I’d be moving faster if we didn’t live together. Like, just because we’re living together that doesn’t mean that we have to be moving faster than we would in any other situation.”

“That’s a good point.” Carol concedes, “as long as you’re happy right?”

“Exactly.”

The movie you’d been playing ends before you’re done talking with Carol. When you do finally hang up you start another movie and get comfy on the couch.

You’re petting Fury when the back door opens.

“Any luck?” You call and when Steve doesn’t answer you look toward the door. Horror floods you as you clock that it’s not Steve standing in the kitchen of your home.

It’s Brock.

Tag list:

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[slippinmickeys]

The Unseelie Court (13/16)

The Adrian County morgue parking lot was a rectangle of crumbling asphalt with enough room for six cars, though there was only one other in it at present. Scully sat in the driver’s seat, wondering if this move had been the right one. 

She had called Mulder’s apartment from her mother’s, though he hadn’t answered, which had been, she’d decided, for the best. She’d left him an abridged message, letting him know that she’d be a few hours later than she expected, but that she’d have information from the Daly Carmichael case to share with him when she got there. 

At least, she hoped she would. She looked down at her open laptop at the bloodwork results from the state crime lab. There was still nothing that pointed to cause of death, but there were a few unusual chemicals found in Daly Carmichael’s blood that didn’t add up. And she had decided to come down to Adrian County on her own to address the problem. A fact that she knew Mulder would be less than pleased with.

It wasn’t just that Skinner had told her to keep him out of Adrian County—at least, it wasn’t all that. Mulder wasn’t the most gifted tactician, not when enthusiasm or worry informed his choices. And anyway, the enemy Mulder thought they were dealing with wasn’t who Mulder thought he was. For the sake of everyone’s safety and career, it was best if Scully handled this particular confrontation on her own. As sure as Mulder had been about cases in the past when he’d turned out to be right, Scully was certain about at least one thing about this one: she would be—at least relatively—safe. 

She closed her laptop, slid it into her bag, and headed for the morgue. 

***

Mulder walked through the door of his apartment, balancing several full bags of groceries. He didn’t have a lot of meals in his culinary arsenal, but he’d honed a decently respectable chicken marsala for a college girlfriend, and was hoping he could still pull it off. He’d promised Scully that he’d make the weekend worth her while, and that would extend to more than just bedsport. If he wanted to keep Scully happy long term, he would need to do more than he’d done in other relationships. He at least had to try. 

Setting everything down on his kitchen countertop, he looked at his watch. 1:22 pm. 

He’d expected Scully to call to let him know she was on her way for the last hour or so, but he had yet to hear from her, and the one time he’d called her cell phone just to check in, from the vegetable aisle of the grocery store (did she like asparagus? He couldn’t remember), her phone had been turned off. 

He put away the refrigerated groceries and, before tackling the rest, he pulled his cell phone out, unable to wait any longer to hear her voice. 

Margaret Scully answered the phone with a polite, “Hello?”

“Mrs. Scully?” Mulder said, knowing that while this wasn’t going to be one of those uncomfortable calls when he had to share bad news, it was still going to be awkward because of the conversation she and Scully had had the night before. “It’s Fox Mulder.”

“Hello, Fox,” she said, and there was an expectant, knowing lilt to her tone. 

“I’m sorry to bother you at home,” he went on, “but can I please speak to Dana?”

“Oh,” Mrs. Scully said. “Dana left almost two hours ago. I think she called and left you a message. Did you not get it?”

Mulder felt a jolt of relief. “No,” he said. “She must have called my home phone. I’ve been out all morning.” Mulder did some mental math. If she’d left almost two hours before, she should have already arrived. 

“I’ll check my messages,” he said. “But in the meantime, do you happen to know if she was making any pit stops on her way back to DC?”

“She wasn’t terribly specific with me,” Mrs. Scully said. “You know how she can be. But she did mention having to stop by the office and then make a drive of several hours. I got the sense it was for work. She had gotten what seemed like an important email just before she left.”

“Did she say anything else? Which case it was? A name maybe?”

“Just what I overheard when she left you a message. David Carmichael?”

A sense of unease washed over him, and he thought of his dream the night before. In it, Scully, still wearing the tiara and naked as a jaybird, had walked up to the willow tree, laughed shrilly, then touched the carving of the broken crown. She’d disappeared instantly, and Mulder had known she wasn’t coming back.

“Thank you, Mrs. Scully, I’ve got to go,” he said and hung up before she’d said goodbye. 

He made his way quickly to his desk, and sure enough, his answering machine light was on. He pressed the button. 

“Hey Mulder, it’s me. Listen, I’m going to be later than I expected. At least by a few hours. My phone is off, but I’ll check in when I get a chance. I’m–I expect to have an update on the Daly Carmichael case when I get there. I’ll talk to you in a bit.” 

With an escalating sense of disquiet, Mulder grabbed his sidearm and his keys. Scully had gone to Adrian County, he was absolutely certain. And owing to her pit stop at the office and geography, she only had about an hour’s head start. With any luck, he could catch her before she got there. Before Aeon Greene, the Unseelie courtier, got to her. 

***

Scully stepped into the morgue building, her shoes clacking against the tile floor. As she approached the autopsy bay, a man about ten years her senior stuck his head out the door. 

“Thought I heard somebody,” he said kindly. “Can I help you? You probably don’t want to come in here.”

Scully flashed him her badge. “I’m looking for Aeon Greene,” she said.

The guy looked confused. “Who?”

Scully returned his look of confusion. “Let’s start over. Who are you?” 

“Dr. Rosen,” the man said, pulling off a pair of nitrile gloves and coming all the way out into the hallway. “The coroner.”

“Ah,” Scully said, reaching out a hand. “We didn’t get a chance to meet. I’m Special Agent Scully, the forensic pathologist who did the autopsy on Daly Carmichael.”

“Oh, the cold case. Yeah. Open and shut, huh? What can I do for you again?”

“I’m looking for Aeon Greene. Your autopsy technician?”

“My what?”

“Your diener,” she explained, hoping the man wasn’t as dense as he seemed.

He looked at her a moment and then busted out laughing. “In this ass-backwater hamlet? God, if only. I’m sorry, Agent. It’s just me here. Has been for the last six years.”

Scully stared at him for a moment and then from behind her, heard: 

“Agent Scully?”

She turned to see Aeon Greene standing in the middle of the hallway behind her. He wasn’t in scrubs and a lab coat, but rather dressed head to toe in a long black garment that appeared, when the light hit it right, to be a diaphanous and shimmering green. 

When she turned to glance back at Dr. Rosen, he was staring at her expectantly, perhaps somewhat dumbly, as though frozen in place. 

“Dr. Rosen, you’re going back on vacation,” said Aeon, and without a word, Dr. Rosen turned on his heel and made directly for the building doors, walking out without looking back. 

Scully turned back to Aeon. “Neat trick,” she said. 

“I have more,” Aeon said with a sinister smile. 

“So it would seem,” she said. She thought back to all of Mulder’s various warnings and folkloric edicts. She would need to carefully select her words. 

Aeon cocked his head to the side. “What can I do for you, Dana Katherine?”

***

Mulder took the corner too fast and nearly spun out. Reluctantly, he eased up on the gas. US-220 wasn’t nearly as slick as it had been when they’d first taken the highway into Adrian, but he would do Scully no good if he crashed and ended up in a ditch, or worse. Once the road straightened out, he reached again for his phone. 

“It’s Agent Mulder,” he said into the receiver. “Anything?”

“I’m afraid not,” said Deputy Avery. Mulder could hear the low murmur of voices from the department bullpen. He’d called the Adrian County emergency switchboard. When dispatch couldn’t connect Mulder with the Sheriff, he’d asked for Deputy Avery. Mulder had explained that his partner was headed to Adrian County and that he hoped she’d stop by the Sheriff’s Department when she got into town. That she had information on the Daly Carmichael case.

“She’s not here, Agent Mulder. And I put out a BOLO on her vehicle, but we got nothing so far.”

“I’m afraid she might be in trouble,” Mulder said. 

“Trouble? What kind of trouble?” Avery asked, concerned.

“To be honest,” Mulder said, shifting the phone to pinch between his shoulder and his ear. “I’m not sure. But I…I want backup. Lots of it. Can you muster a team?”

“Absolutely sir!” said the deputy excitedly. If the mass of policemen hovering around the scene when Daly Carmichael had been found was any indication, this sleepy hamlet didn’t see a lot of police action. The Feds calling them in on a posse comitatus was likely the highlight of their collective year. “Where do you want us?”

Mulder tried to think of everywhere she might go. “I want a team at the beach where we found Carmichael,” Mulder explained, goosing the gas as he tore over the hill that led into the little town. “I want another at the Carmichael Estate. And I want a third at the morgue.”

“You got it.”

“Deputy? Tell your boys to exercise extreme caution.” 

“What is it we’re being cautious about, agent?”

Mulder shook his head. “I wish I knew.”

[thgfanfictionlibrary]

Teen and Up Rated Fics Masterlist (93)

Part 1- Part 85 / Part 86 / Part 87 / Part 88 / Part 89 / Part 90 / Part 91 / Part 92 /

Created: May 30th, 2025

Last Checked:—-

Check Out-songbirdheart (ao3) Summary: "He'd made it a point to find out what kind of coffee she liked her first week here and bring it to her during her long Thursday shift. Now, every time she gets her usual chocolate mocha, the smell reminds her of his blue eyes sparkling at her as he handed her the paper cup. She’d been so surprised, because they’d only had a handful of small-talking conversations to that point, but clearly he’d been paying attention — and then had gone out of his way to make her feel at home. She doesn’t deserve a coworker like Peeta Mellark. But she’s glad she has him." Katniss Everdeen is getting settled in her new job as a specialist at Seamtown Local Library, spending her days surrounded by books (which she loves), dealing with patrons (which she does not love), trying to impress her supervisor Annie (who is great), and making new friends with her colleagues ... especially one Peeta Mellark (who ... well, only time will tell how she feels about him). Chemistry-SoThere (ao3) Summary: Peeta may have ulterior motives when he offers to help his lab partner, Katniss. Modern AU inspired by the Everlark Drabble Challenge prompt from katnissdoesnotfollowback: "freshly raked leaves." Cold Mornings-shesasurvivor (ao3) Summary: Katniss and Peeta, one morning after the war. No games, no cameras or propos. Just a boy and girl in love. Comfort and Joy-SoThere (ao3) Summary: On a snowy Christmas day, Katniss is stranded at her mother’s nursing home. Luckily, her friend, Peeta, is working and stranded, too, and is more than happy to keep her company. Modern AU Coming Home-msdisdain (ao3) Summary: Johanna's lived alone for far too long. Country Roads-mrsbonniemellark (ao3) Summary: Modern AU. Katniss is a single mom who works on her family's farm. Peeta is the bus driver who drives her daughter Prim to and from school each day on the long country roads into town. As the year goes on, the two of them grow closer. Courage and Sacrifice-Manniness (ao3) Summary: “We salute your courage and your sacrifice.” Heart in my throat, pulse racing with sudden fear, I look at Katniss. Not her. That’s all I can think because thinking anything else will annihilate me right here in the middle of the square, surrounded by all these people, under the cold stare of the president himself. Katniss will not be another sacrifice in their Games. I will not allow it. cri de coeur-mswyrr (ao3) Summary: Lucy Gray is drawn back into Capitol intrigue, changing the course of Panem's history. Dandelion Salad-Mollywog (ao3) Summary: A potpourri of snippets, one shots, and other nonsense! Danger-songbirdheart (ao3) Summary: "When he is younger, Haymitch is conflicted about love." Haymitch does his best not to become a father figure, does not succeed.

[blueicequeen19]

Charter Ch. 5

Warnings: angst, smut, oral, protected sex

It’s Sunday and we’re closed so I find myself at the beach with my pit/lab mix Bo. We’ve engaged in a long game of keep away and fetch, my legs and lungs screaming when a familiar laugh catches my attention down the beach. My heart nearly bursts in my chest at the sight of JJ and Summer building a sandcastle together. He mentioned Sundays and Mondays were their days so I turn to give them space when Bo darts past me and straight for the sandcastle.

“BO!” I yell frantically, taking off after him but it’s too late. Summer screams with joy and JJ is momentarily stunned as Bo tramples their work during a case of the zoomies.

“Puppy!” Summer squeals with delight just as JJ’s eyes find mine. I expect him to cringe away or act like he doesn’t know me but he just chuckles.

“Daddy, look! It’s a puppy!” Summer chases after Bo and JJ hops to his feet.

“She’s going to be begging me for a dog again, you know.” JJ chuckles as we stand and watch them both play along the waters edge.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” I admit, looking up at him. My heart was racing just taking in his shirtless appearance and his casual attitude.

“No, you’re fine. I can only build so many sandcastles.” We both laugh just as Summer runs up and straight into JJ’s arms. He holds her on his hip and turns to face me with a proud smile.

“Daddy, who’s that?” Summer asks.

“Sum, this is my friend, Y/N. Y/N, this is Summer.” I smile at her as Summer looks at me questioningly before looking back to her dad.

“Daddy, is she your girlfriend?” My stomach knots with nerves at her question but JJ only chuckles.

“She’s a girl that’s my friend.” JJ counters, distracting her with tickles until she’s placed back on her feet and chases after Bo.

“Sorry, kids don’t really know boundaries on the personal questions.” JJ smirks, not hiding the way he’s checking me out. My body heats and I can’t help but smile back him.

“It’s fine. She’s adorable.”

We fall into comfortable conversation as we watch Bo and Summer play. By the time they were done, both were exhausted and hungry so we stopped at a beachside shack to get lunch. JJ and Summer didn’t know a stranger. Women gushed over him and her while guys chatted to him about the Charter. It wasn’t until I walked them to his truck with Bo at my heels that I started to feel sad about our time ending. I hadn’t realized how much fun I was having. How natural everything came with him.

JJ tucked a sleeping Summer into her car seat before gently shutting the door and turning to me. I thought for a moment he was going to touch me but he pulled back, tucking his hands in his pockets. I wanted to touch him and be touched.

“She’s got a sleepover tonight with John B’s kid if you want to come over.” JJ offered, cocking his head at me and checking me out with those fuck me blue eyes.

“Oh yea? Need someone to keep you company?” I tease, biting my bottom lip.

“Maybe. I don’t think I can wait until Tuesday.” JJ winks and my insides turn to jelly. I wanted to kiss him so bad.

“What’s in it for me?” My lips tip up in a smirk and he takes a warning step forward, making me suck in a breath.

“Food. Orgasms. What else could you need?” His eyes burn with every word and I know without a doubt that if I looked down he’d be hard right now. That’s what makes me want to tease him further. I want to torture him knowing he won’t or can’t do anything in public.

“Yea? You miss being inside me?” I lower my voice and his eyes widen.

“Which hole you want this time, boss?” He makes a noice deep in his throat like a warning just as Bo nudges my hand, ready to go.

“You’re in for it. I’ll text you my address.” JJ says, looking me up and down one more time before rounding his truck to get inside the driver seat. I lean down to scratch Bo’s ears as JJ drives away, my phone going off with a notification I know is no doubt from him.

By the time I get to JJ’s that night, I’m a nervous and horny mess. I didn’t want to think of this as a date but what if it was? Would I be disappointed if it wasn’t? I don’t get a chance to dwell because the front door of his little house out in the marsh opens and he yanks me inside by my shirt.

“About fucking time.” I smile against his lips as he slams the door and hauls me up his body. He’s shirtless and the feel of his skin against mine sends me into a frenzy as our tongues tangle together. He drops me on my back on the couch, frantically yanking my shorts and panties down.

“I thought you promised me food?” I tease, as he shoves my legs apart and settles between them.

“I got something you can eat.” Mischief shines in his eyes as he leans in to lick a slow stripe up my slit. I groan, my back arching off the couch as he keeps up a slow and steady pace. Now I wanted nothing more than to suck him off.

“Fuck, I missed this.” JJ moans against my clit, making me buck against his face. I can’t stop the orgasm that bursts from me even if I wanted to. Or the next one. Or the one after that.

I’m a wet, trembling mess by the time he makes his way up my body to plunge his tongue in my mouth. I suck my taste off his tongue, reaching between us to stroke what I crave so badly.

“I want you in my mouth.” I moan, his teeth sinking into my bottom lip as he thrusts in my hand. JJ pulls back swiftly, yanking a condom from his pocket and rolling it on within seconds before he’s on top of me again.

“After this.” He all but growls, reaching between us to fist his cock and notching it at my entrance. I suck in a breath at the initial burn and stretch before he plunges in deep. I swear I see stars, my body arching into his as we moan loud and long.

“Wrap your legs around me. Hold on.” JJ rasps against my lips, his hands and rings biting into my hips. I wrap my legs tight and hang on for the rest of the night.

We end up fucking on in every position on every surface of his house before moving to the shower to clean up… where we go at it again. He holds up to every filthy promise he made and I’m left deliciously sore and bruised. Now we’re in his tiny kitchen heating up hotdogs at three in the morning because we’re starving.

“What time do you have to pick her up in the morning?” I ask, watching him brown the hotdogs in a skillet. My eyes keep finding the thin trail of hairs leading into the waistband of his shorts and I momentarily picture what I know is in there.

“Whenever she calls. They don’t mind. Summer is practically theirs too.” JJ pauses, his eyes focused on his cooking. “I uh, had a lot of help from them when it came to Summer. I couldn’t have done it without them. Sarah showed me how to change a diaper, how to burp her, potty training, you name it. Their daughter is only a few weeks older than Summer so it helped.” JJ moves the hotdogs to a plate and turns the burner off.

“Cousins and besties?” I smile and his eyes light up, a smile reaching his own lips.

“Yep. Just like their dads.” I’d only ever heard JJ mention John B a few times since he’s always been so private but I could tell by the look in his eyes how much he loved him.

“I bet you guys got into so much trouble growing up.” I watch as JJ piles four hotdogs on his plate and two on mine, loading his down with ketchup and mustard.

“You have no idea.” JJ smirks before biting off half of one of the hotdogs. Time slips away as we talk and eat until we’re both blurry eyed and ready for bed. I didn’t plan to stay the night but I’m too tired to protest especially when I climb into the comfiest bed I’ve ever felt and I’m dead to the world.

I wake up to blooming heat between my thighs, on the brink of an orgasm as my back arches and my toes curl without even opening my eyes yet. I’d never had someone touch me while I was unconscious but that just goes to show how much I already trust him because I’m in blissful heaven.

JJ’s tongue lashes harshly at my clit before sucking it into his mouth and pushing two fingers inside me. I cum with a throaty cry, my body trembling and shaking as I start to come down when he plunges his cock inside me.

“Fuckkkkk.” JJ growls on top of me, his hands holding him up on either side of my head. I reach down to dig my nails into his ass, needing him closer as he pistons into me.

“God, you feel so good. Don’t stop.” I moan, my body ready to explode again.

“Don’t cum yet. Don’t you dare.” JJ rasps, pulling out long enough to roll me onto my stomach then he’s fucking me even deeper. His cock is a thing of magic. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. I didn’t realize dick whipped was a thing.

“J.” I gasp his name into the pillow, which he throws and lowers his weight to my back as he slows his pace to nothing short of torture.

“You’re close. I feel your pussy fluttering around my cock.” JJ groans from behind me, slowly trailing his tongue up my spine and over my tattoo.

Oh fuck. Reverse psychology. Don’t let him win.

“I can get myself off better than you can.” I huff, hearing him growl a moment later before his hand pushes down on the center of my back. Just as he’s about to deliver on the pounding of my fucking life… there’s a loud honking noice coming from outside.

“What the fuck?” JJ snaps, crawling off me to check the window.

“Who is it?” I breathe, my body aching with the denied orgasm.

“No idea. Anyone else would’ve called me.” JJ yanks on a pair of boxers and shorts before disappearing out the bedroom door. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I’m overcome with a bad feeling. Something isn’t right.

I throw on one of his shirts and shorts before following after him. I find him glaring out the window with his arms crossed over his bare chest, his back marked by my nails, and I stop at his side. I follow his line of sight just as the honking starts again.

It’s his ex. Chelsea. And she’s brought company.

[ofeliaxoxo]

i think if carlos wouldn't be a racing driver... it's very interesting bc you have to consider is his dad a racing driver still in that universe or no? whether he rebels against that path or not is a very interesting thing to consider...

i think lando is just lando.

charles would have to find something else to be obsessive and insane and competitive about. he used to say architect or engineer but idk...

max i can really not imagine as anything else but a driver...

i think daniel would have thrived doing work and travel around europe. might even get stuck there for a while. maybe im projecting cause i met an australian guy who reminded me of daniel at a pub crawl in prague once and that was his life story

oscar... idk. thoughts?

Carlos would be doing something responsible as fuck imo. Like some finance nonsense. That being said he’s always saying he’s a massive sports guy so he could def be doing like golf or something. I’m thinking less so much what he does for a career and more, would he be different personality-wise? Like the way he self-identifies as super silly makes me wonder if, occupying a less normative space, he would actually be silly fr. Does he have a crazy girl side locked within. Take away the CARLOS SAINZ JR of it all and would Carlos, random man, have a substantially different personality and self-presentation? I don’t know. But I think about it

Lando I can see as a streamer/youtuber. A lot of the ppl that collab w quadrant I actually knew before and watched as a teenager so I can see him slotting into that group of semi-well-known London based internet people. I feel like his soul yearns for it. I agree that I don’t think his personality or vibe would be very different. Graphic design also seems to be his passion which I think is sweet so I can see him getting into something artistic/designing things.

Charles I could not say. In the words of Lewis he’s Mr Ferrari. Like with Lando I don’t know if his personality would even be that different. He’s also still from Monaco so that probably does something idk how being from Monaco even works. Let’s say he does some tourist industry hotspot related jobs before he gets his career. I can see him as a beautiful and frightening waiter. You’re ordering moules frites off him in shit french and you wish you’d put makeup on. His cerulean orbs can see how gross your hair is.

Daniel would either still be famous or he’d be one of those ppl who like manage a bar or run a summer camp or some sort of surfing classes. Like you’d meet him on holiday and he’d be an instructor for a fun activity you’re doing for an afternoon and you’d walk away feeling like he was your best friend in the world.

My sweetie OSC would be doing a difficult and technical degree no one gaf about except ppl who do it. He’d be one of those ppl who just don’t go out or party but he’d still have a big group of friends who do that he never joins. He goes out like every few months and has one single drink because it’s his friend’s birthday. He’d also realistically have stayed in Australia so he’d have a stronger accent

Waow I forgot max. I’m ngl I can vividly see him behind the hotdog deli at the Esso station. Not because I think that’s what he’d do but because of his blonde Northern European vibe. Wrt realistic career fuck knows because he was built in a lab to Drive Car. Max scholars does he notably like anything else? Maybe some sort of high pressure businessy job where they work a lot but then party a lot after. For his personality, anything is possible. He could be more chill or he could be more of a lunatic. I think a lot of him gets sublimated into Drive Car and with nowhere for that to go what will happen

[ladylynse]

Happy Halloween, and trick or treat, please!

I was considering asking for one of the other "duffel bag" prompts you didn't already extend, but I thought I shouldn't be a one-trick ghost who asks for the same thing over and over.

SO, instead I am going to ask for a prequel to the DP prompt "Danny returns Lancer's wallet". For whatever reason, I just like to cause Danny and Lancer trouble, and want to see Lancer's wallet in Danny's pocket. Whether that annoys or concerns Danny.

Happy Halloween! Something in between this ficlet and this ficlet it is! Since Lancer didn't know the wallet was missing in the second ficlet, I actually built this off the first one (“Danny, why do you have Mr. Lancer’s wallet?”), in italics below.

-|-

“Danny, why do you have Mr. Lancer’s wallet?”

“What?” Danny asked, not understanding Valerie’s question, but he followed her pointing finger and, sure enough, there was a wallet on top of his backpack, neatly flipped open to reveal Lancer’s driver’s license.

Youngblood was so going to pay for this.

And, okay, fine, it might not be Youngblood, even if Youngblood had been playing one too many pranks recently. It might not have anything to do with ghosts. It could be Dash or someone else acting on his orders.

Still, that did not make it better.

Danny’s parents might not murder him for real if he got suspended from school, but they would have him do his make-up work in the lab while they worked in the meantime, and that might result in him being murdered for real by one invention or another. Just. Accidentally. Which, in that light, strictly speaking wasn’t murder. What did that make it, criminal negligence causing death? That ship had already sailed.

Technically.

Not that he was going to tell his parents that, let alone any authorities.

Danny snatched the wallet off his backpack and stuffed it into his back pocket, hoping it wouldn’t seem out of place there. “This isn’t what it looks like,” he said quickly. Why did Valerie have to have such sharp eyes? Why couldn’t this be a class he shared with Sam or Tucker so they could help distract her?

“Uh huh.” Valerie wasn’t even pretending to believe him. “If Dash or Paulina put you up to this as some twisted sort of test to get invited to the next big party, they’re pulling your leg. Ten to one they tell Lancer if you don’t turn it in before lunch, assuming they’re not telling someone right now. And leaving it out in the open like that is just plain stupid. I know you’re smarter than that.”

Danny groaned. “That’s why I said this isn’t what it looks like.”

 Valerie raised an eyebrow. “Are you really going to stand there and tell me that’s a fake?”

Danny tried a smile, but judging by Valerie’s expression, it didn’t come across as one. “Would you believe me if I did?”

Valerie huffed. “They’re setting you up. I know their style. Just give it back sooner rather than later, okay?”

Danny might be set up by the living or framed by the dead, but that wouldn’t matter if Lancer caught him with his wallet and Danny didn’t have a better explanation than this isn’t what it looks like and I think I’m being haunted. The ever handy and only sometimes true excuse of ghosts only went so far, even in Amity Park.

“I promise you, I do not intend to keep this for any longer than I have to.” Danny didn’t want to keep the wallet at all, really. He’d much rather steal money from Vlad than Lancer, and Danny was pretty sure he already knew the closest thing to Lancer’s deep dark secret. Giving this back ASAP was the plan.

But if this was Youngblood and not a human’s prank, there was unfortunately a very, very high chance of the wallet ending up in Danny’s possession again. As in, after he returned it. As in, returning it a second time would be awkward, something he’d try to spin as a coincidence and Lancer might buy if he were feeling particularly gracious.

If Danny wound up with the wallet three times, he was screwed.

Which is why taking precautions would probably be prudent, even if it meant hanging onto the wallet for a little longer.

And skiving off biology to sneak home to dunk Lancer’s wallet in some phase-proof foam.

…That might come back to bite him, but if it did, that would be Future Danny’s problem. Current Danny thought it was a great idea to get Youngblood to stop doing this to him.

Assuming this was Youngblood.

If it was Dash after all, treating the wallet wouldn’t help, and there was still a half decent chance of it ending up in his possession more than once.

Eh, Future Danny’s problem. He was only going to figure out how to cross that bridge if he actually came to it. It’s not like a thorough examination of the wallet would tell him who had stolen it either way.

It…may not be a bad plan, though. If only because then he could make sure nothing had been slipped into Lancer’s wallet. Because that could be bad, depending on what that something was and how incriminating it was.

Danny couldn’t see right now how this could be Vlad’s scheme, but he still wouldn’t put it past Vlad if it wasn’t Youngblood or Dash.

“You’re not….” Valerie hesitated and bit her lip. “I mean, you guys aren’t…. You’re still okay, right?”

Danny stared at her.

“Like, your parents haven’t, uh, not gotten groceries or something when you need them, right?”

Wait.

Did she think—?

“Because if it’s money you need,” Valerie continued, her voice somehow even quieter than before despite the sudden rush of her words, “I can talk to my boss. Even if you get detention, it’s just for an hour, right? So you could start a shift after that. You could be the mascot. No one would know it’s you, so no one else will know it’s because of…this.”

“We’re still fine,” Danny blurted out. That was probably true. Jazz had gone grocery shopping last week, anyway, and barely anything had gotten contaminated since. “I should just…return this. Now.”

Valerie was frowning at him.

Great.

She didn’t believe him.

Actually, how bad that was depended on which part she didn’t believe.

There wasn’t a way to ask that wouldn’t make this worse, was there?

“So, uh.” Danny reached down to pick up and then shouldered his backpack. “Yeah. I’ll see you in math, I guess?”

“Don’t do anything stupider than you already have.”

“Can’t make any promises,” Danny quipped, but Valerie just pursed her lips and finally—finally—left, though that was more likely so she could make it to class before the bell rang than because she was finished with him.

Danny headed for the washroom instead of class, locked himself in a stall, and dug the wallet out of his pocket to get a better look at it.

Yeah, there was no mistaking it. This was Lancer’s wallet. It even contained a picture of his ‘sister’.

Crud.

Why did this kind of thing always happen to him?

(see more fics | related musing | related musing)

[pink-hydrangea]

I just feel for seth 😭 he really does care and he wants to fix everything and it feels like he's the only one truly trying. like aaron is taking revenge and having fun and exploring but he still does all of his past mistakes (let kevin hurt him, not stand up for himself, not demand respect) and kevin too, like he doesn't even seem to see that he's ever at fault and then my guy seth is giving good head and acting like a therapist (and actually making progress) 😮‍💨😮‍💨 your writing is just too good I want to study these characters like rat labs..

They deffo all want to make it work (they just don’t ALL know it yet at this stage in the fic 😅)! They’re all coming at this from different angles - Kevin’s been in a team environment for 90% of his life where he wasn’t able to disclose his sexuality AT ALL because of Tetsuji’s prejudice, so he’s naturally going to be more repressed and less forthcoming/more hesitant with how everything’s developing because for a long time it would be been a MASSIVE no-no and career-ending move to get into something like this.

Aaron has also been semi-under the same sort of restrictive environment as part of the same team family, and has spent a long time feeling second-best to Andrew so is now very keen to assert his worth at his team and make it clear that he deserves his spot in his own right, especially after his arrangement with Kevin back in 2023 where he was sleeping with him in the hopes of gaining a permanent seat - I think he’s very keen to distance himself from that now and prove his value as a driver independently away from Kevin’s influence, hence why he’s also happy to keep things private when Kevin asks - he’s not just bowing to Kevin’s request for secrecy, he’s recognising that standing on his own in the public eye for a while will be good for his own career and image as well. I wouldn’t say that he’s letting Kevin walk all over him - remember we’re seeing this from SETH’S pov at the moment so of course he’s going to assume that’s what’s happening because he’s protective over Aaron and not particularly trusting of Kevin at this point in the fic, but Aaron does have his own agency and we’ll see that more as the chapters progress, right now we’re seeing a very Seth-skewed version of things. Even still, Aaron was quick to assert his boundaries with Kevin - “I won’t give up Seth for you, if you want to be with me it’ll be on XYZ terms” - so he’s definitely not blindly going into anything with him for sureeee

Seth-wise, he’s in quite a fortunate position as one of the more ‘liberated’ characters in the relationship - he’s been racing under Wymack for years, teammates with Matt who’s also a good close friend to him, so he’s always felt very supported and comfortable to be himself in a way that Kevin and Aaron haven’t had the luxury to be at all. It makes sense that he’d be the fastest to adapt to their new dynamic because he doesn’t have the same historic pressures on him as they do, he feels a lot more free to voice his opinions and desires which is FAB for him and we love it because it also means he can help coax them in the right direction, but he’s definitely had a very different life to the pair of them so now comes at this whole situation with a very different approach

GAH honestly it’s so hard to compare them all because they each have their own hangups and touchy subjects and everything but ultimately they will all wanna make it work and by the end of the fic they’ll be on the same page ❤️ and HEALTHY, I can promise that much

[writingpaperghost]

Without You (Chapter 24)

Chapter 24: Daiji's Resolve, The Heart and Kagerou!

Hiromi is forced to make a decision. Unfortunately, Daiji and Kagerou do not like that the choice has to be made at all.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43371954/chapters/134002981

“You’re going to have to make your decision, now, not later.” Akemi said, leveling Hiromi with a stern look. “Either you stop using the Demons Driver, or you die.”

Hiromi frowned, he’d been hoping to delay a while longer, hoping that maybe he could hold off until Karizaki had fixed whatever was wrong with the Anomalocaris Vistamp, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen. Not if the Deadmans made a move any time soon. Akemi likely wouldn’t allow him to keep using the Demons Driver – she’d put her foot down on the matter, as a doctor. But without being a Rider, Hiromi had no place at Fenix, anymore. It wasn’t like his body could really take much exertion, now.

He sighed, “I guess I have no choice, then.”

“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do to fix it.”

“It isn’t your fault.” He stood, “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”

She studied him, for a moment, “You’re leaving Fenix then.”

“Yes,” With that, he left. He’d have to return the Demons Driver to Karizaki, foremostly. Then he’d have to break the news to Daiji, Tamaki, and Makoto. He wasn’t too worried about how Makoto would take it – outwardly, at least, he expected little real reaction. But Daiji and Tamaki were a different story. Hiromi was worried about them.

The walk to Karizaki’s lab was… painfully short, though thankfully, the only ones there were Karizaki and Makoto. They’d be the easiest to break the news too. Makoto is perched in a chair, watching as Karizaki worked on the Anomalocaris Vistamp. He took his eyes off Karizaki only to glance over at Hiromi, when Hiromi entered.

Karizaki was far less vigilant of his company than Makoto was him, as when he heard Hiromi enter, he looked over and grinned, “What brings you here, Captain Kadota?”

Hiromi took a deep breath, then answered, “I’m here to return the Demons Driver and the Vistamps.” He produced said items, setting them on the table that Karizaki was working on.

Both Makoto and Karizaki regarded him with curiosity and surprise, but it was Makoto who spoke, “Why are you doing that?”

“If I keep using the Demons Driver, it will kill me. So I have no choice but to resign.” At his words, Makoto grimaced, then shot a glare at Karizaki, before shaking his head.

Karizaki scowled, “And this is why I didn’t want anyone using it…”

Carefully, Makoto said, “It was your father’s invention, yes? You think there’s some sort of bug in it or something?”

”Or something,” Karizaki hissed.

A curious expression crossed Makoto’s face, for just a moment, but it’s too brief for Hiromi to identify it. Makoto looks back over at Hiromi, “Tamaki and Captain Akaishi won’t take you leaving well.”

“I am aware,” Hiromi nodded, “I’d been hoping to delay it a little longer but…”

Makoto shook his head, “The only thing that would hurt them worse than you leaving is you dying. Good luck with telling them, though.”

Hiromi suspected he was going to need that luck, neither Tamaki nor Daiji would likely be willing to let go so easy – especially Daiji. Daiji had always stuck close to him, ever since they met. Hiromi only hoped Daiji would keep an eye on Tamaki in his place.

He leaves Karizaki’s lab, determined to track down either Tamaki or Daiji. Of the two, he finds Tamaki first, returning from a late lunch. He smiles when he sees Hiromi, clearly happy to see him. Hiromi just wished he had some kind of good news to share with him, or at least not the news that he was about to. But it had to be done.

“Captain Kadota!” Tamaki greeted, smiling. Hiromi would feel bad that the smile wouldn’t last very long.

“Tamaki,” Hiromi gave him a smile in return, “Just who I was looking for.”

Cocking his head to the side, Tamaki asked, “Really?”

In response, Hiromi nodded, “Yes, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“What is it?” Tamaki looked a little concerned, rightfully so. He could likely tell, based on those words, that Hiromi had come to find him, and the tone that he’d spoken to him in, that something was up. His eyes narrowed and his ears perked, tail twitching ever so slightly.

Regretfully, Hiromi answered, “From here on, I will no longer be aiding you and Makoto as Demons. As a matter of fact, I will be resigning from Fenix.”

Tamaki’s eyes widened, a horrified expression coming across his face. “What? No! Why?” Any attempt to hide what he was feeling had gone out the window.

No answer would make Tamaki feel any better about what was happening, but he deserved the truth. Carefully, watching Tamaki’s every reaction, Hiromi explained what the Demons Driver had been doing to him, and why he could no longer stay at Fenix. Tamaki’s horrified expression didn’t go away, but became combined with one that was upset.

Still, Tamaki stubbornly tried to hide those feelings, “That’s… that’s… do you really have to leave Fenix, though?” He wasn’t doing a very good job.

“Unfortunately, I’m in no condition to continue my work here, even as other than a Rider. So yes, I really do have to leave.” Hiromi answered, though he felt terrible having to tell Tamaki such things, even if it was the truth.

Tamaki’s ears flattened, “But… you’re…” Tamaki tried desperately to protest, but soon his gaze cast downwards, at his feet. He must have been unable to find any response that he felt might have been strong enough.

Perhaps the worst part of this entire thing, so far, was having to see Tamaki like this. Hiromi couldn’t help but be reminded of the day he first met Tamaki, having walked past him in a hall and pausing, for just a moment, not because of his fur or tail, but because Hiromi could tell something was troubling him.

A young cadet had walked by, eyes downcast, posture tense. He looked terribly upset, but also trying his damnedest to hide it. And there was something in the way he walked, a sort of resigned attitude that emanated from him. Hiromi had considered simply letting him walk by, but decided better of it.

“Is everything alright?” He called, causing the cadet to stop. He had a tail, Hiromi realized, and that was truly odd.

Turning, Tamaki looked up, meeting his eyes with confusion. “It’s… fine.” He said, but Hiromi doubted the honesty of his words. He looked a little too confused, a little too resigned, and a little too upset.

Hiromi could have left it alone, but now that he was talking to Tamaki, he wanted to even less than before. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Tamaki scowled.

“It does,”

He shook his head, “I’m quitting, so it’s not going to be anyone else’s problem.”

“Why?” It wasn’t unusual for cadets to quit. Fenix’s training wasn’t always easy, and often cadets come in not realizing that. Others simply aren’t cut out for it. But Hiromi suspected that wasn’t the case here, given Tamaki’s tail and the fur now visible on his face.

Tamaki hesitated, not entirely willing to answer. After a moment, he admitted, “I’m tired of being the object of ridicule. I’ve tried to ignore it, but it doesn’t do any good, and… I can’t deal with it anymore. So, I’ll just leave, help out with my family’s business.”

Upon hearing Tamaki’s reasoning, though it was what Hiromi had expected it to be, he frowned. “Fenix doesn’t tolerate any kind of harassment among it’s ranks,” He said, “that includes petty bullying.”

Before he can stop himself, Tamaki scoffed, before taking another look at Hiromi. Then he shook his head, “No point in wasting my breath, reporting people never did any good in school, I doubt that’s changed.”

“Give it a try,” Hiromi didn’t want Tamaki to walk away from Fenix so easily, especially if he was otherwise doing well. And perhaps he couldn’t help but see a little of himself in Tamaki, and thus he desired to encourage him all he could.

Only shrugged, Tamaki turned to walk away. “Maybe,” He said, quiet.

Hiromi hoped that this wouldn’t be the last he saw of the cadet with a tail.

Sure enough, a few days later, Tamaki was still there – Hiromi had spied in on a group of cadets training and easily was able to pick Tamaki out, with the tail and the fur. He seemed to be doing well, though when they stopped for a break, all the other cadets gave him a lot of space. Still there, but he was no more liked than he was before.

It was a start, at least, and some part of Hiromi hoped that he’d get to work with Tamaki someday, to see just what kind of person he was. He was surprised, though, when Tamaki had approached him, a day or so later, looking somewhat hesitant. But he put on a brave face.

“Thank you,” He said, “I… I don’t know if you remember me, but… I listened to what you said. It’s… better now.”

Unable to help himself, Hiromi smiled, small but reassuring, “I remember. I’m glad to hear that,” He wouldn’t mention that he’d taken a peek while Tamaki and the other cadets were training. Better not make Tamaki too uncomfortable. “What’s your name?”

Looking a little surprised, Tamaki quickly answered, “Tamaki Igarashi,”

In this moment, Tamaki reminded Hiromi far too much of when they first met, and that only made Hiromi feel worse. He knew that his kindness to Tamaki had acted as a turning point in both Tamaki’s life and in his time at Fenix, and to have him leave was hard for Tamaki. Tamaki still looked up to him and didn’t want to let go. Hiromi didn’t want to make him, but it was out of his hands now. It was time for Tamaki to learn to exist at a Fenix that lacked Hiromi, whether either of them liked it or not.

“Take care of yourself, Tamaki,” Hiromi said, “And in my absence, I hope you’ll be willing to look towards Daiji for assistance.”

Tamaki didn’t look at him, he didn’t need to for Hiromi to be able to see he was still upset. “I should… go,” he said, and then hurried off. Hiromi could only hope he’d be okay.

With Tamaki out of the way, that left Daiji. Hiromi didn’t look forward to breaking the news to Daiji, either, but hoped that he’d take a little better than Tamaki – or at least, no worse. He has a pretty good idea as to where Daiji likely was, making his way towards the training room he always used. While there was no sign of Daiji in there, a look in the nearest locker room finds Daiji in the midst of redressing himself.

“Daiji,” He called, causing Daiji to pause, his jacket lingering unzipped.

“Hiromi,” Daiji seemed happy to see him – as happy as Daiji generally allowed himself to look. Hiromi only felt worse about the news he’d have to deliver. Daiji’s happy expression turned to obvious concern. “You still look tired, are you sure you’re still not coming down with a cold or something? Maybe you should go see Akemi, you know she’d chew you out if you overworked yourself to the point of making yourself sick.”

Shaking his head, Hiromi responded, “I’ve already gone to see Akemi, that’s why I’m here, actually.”

Daiji frowned, “Oh, then what is it? Are you sick? Have you hurt yourself?” His gaze raked Hiromi over and over, taking in every inch.

“In… a way.” Hiromi frowned, “I’ll be resigning, I’m afraid.”

“What?” Daiji asked, sharply, “What do you mean you’re resigning?” His tone had turned horribly cold, a surprise to Hiromi. He’d never heard Daiji speak with such a tone, let alone to him.

Surprised, Hiromi took a step back, “I don’t have a choice, Daiji. I can’t use the Demons Driver anymore, if I did, I’d die. Without that, there’s no reason for me to stay at Fenix.”

“What about me? Hell, what about reckless fucking Tamaki?” His cold voice soon grew angry, “Do we mean nothing to you?”

“Daiji,” Still surprised, Hiromi sucked in a careful breath. He’d never seen Daiji like this, so… angry and desperate. He could understand it, but it was a surprise and he wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed. “I can’t fight anymore, I’d only be in the way and get hurt. My body is in a terrible state from my use of the Demons Driver.”

Face falling, Daiji looked away, “So that’s it? You’ll just be… gone?” And now Daiji sounded… scared. The only time Hiromi had seen him even close to this was a brief flash, once, when he’d learned he’d be meeting with his father. Nothing like this.

Hiromi looked away, surprised that he couldn’t meet Daiji’s eyes. It hurt just a little too much, more than talking with Tamaki had. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to leave either, but…”

“You really can’t stay,” Daiji finished, quiet. “Hiromi…”

“I can try to stay in touch,” He offered. It was all he could do, and he really didn’t want to drop the people he’s met at Fenix from his life entirely. “Though I hope that you can support Tamaki in my absence-“

Before he can finish his sentence, Daiji blurted, “Come with me when you leave.”

“W-what?”

Daiji took a step closer to Hiromi, a strange expression in his eyes – his red eyes, Hiromi realize. The tips of his hair seem to curl, his lips curling into a strange, off putting and familiar, smile. He raised a hand up towards his face, flicking his thumb and his finger together. His head tilted to the side, “Come join me,” He said, more slowly, “We’ll treat you better than Fenix ever has.”

“We?” Hiromi took another step back. Something was wrong with Daiji. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, Hiromi… think about it. Fenix’s mole. It’s not you, Karizaki would sooner die than give the Deadmans his technology, it’s not any of the commanders, they’re too uptight, and father is rarely ever here.” Daiji made up the step he took, and another, now standing too close to Hiromi for comfort, in this situation. He peered into Hiromi’s eyes.

His words hammered in Hiromi’s head, and the implication they carried. “You… Daiji…” Daiji really couldn’t be saying what he seemed to be. Daiji couldn’t be the one.

“You want to know who the mole is, Hiromi?” Daiji took a step back, then looked away, bangs covering his eyes, “…It’s me.”

It couldn’t be true. But Daiji wasn’t the kind to joke like that. “No… Daiji… Why?” He was the director’s son, after all. He was the last person who’d be suspected of being the mole. In a way, that also made him the perfect choice.

Still not looking at him, Daiji answered, “I have no choice.”

“But your father-“

“Is sort of the problem,” Daiji snapped, briefly looking towards Hiromi, before looking away once more, “But you didn’t hear that from me. You didn’t hear that at all.”

Just what was Daiji saying? What was going on with the director and what did that have to do with Daiji being the mole. Hiromi would have to ponder on it later, though.

He frowned, “You… want me to join you? The Deadmans?”

“You��d be safe there, we’d value you more than Fenix.”

“I can’t fight anymore, Daiji,” Hiromi shook his head, “Even if you weren’t asking me to go against everything I believe in, I’d be useless to them.”

Daiji sighed, “For every weirdly dedicated cultist, there’s a far more relaxed civilian who just needs somewhere they’re accepted. You don’t have to have anything to do with Lord Giff.”

Again, Hiromi shook his head, “I’m not joining the Deadmans, Daiji. I can’t believe you’d even suggest that.” Daiji should know well how Hiromi felt about such matters. How it went against all the things that he held close to his chest. Though, right now, those things, those beliefs, felt so terribly flimsy. But he won’t admit that to Daiji.

“Sorry,” He apologized, “Then… what will you do now?”

Knowing, now, that Daiji was the mole, Hiromi wondered if he should tell Daiji. It was a terrible thing to have to wonder, when mere moments before he’d trusted Daiji implicitly, had seen him as a close friend, on the level of Tatsuhiko and Chigusa, despite having known Daiji for less time. But now he had to question, had to wonder if Daiji would use this information against him, or pass it on to someone who would. It pained him as much as it worried him.

But Hiromi also wanted desperately to believe that, at least to some degree, Daiji was still his friend. “Back home,” He answered, “to my mother. I don’t know how long I have, so I want to spend as much of it with her as I can.”

Daiji frowned, but said, “I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.”

“I’m sure she will, I keep telling her I’m going to visit.”

Looking away once more, Daiji sighed, “I think we should both get going.”

“I should report that you’re the mole.”

“It won’t matter. You think they didn’t track down that every time something was stolen from Karizaki’s lab, it was my ID that got access? Father won’t let it get out, and those who figure it out…” He shook his head, “Just keep it to yourself and resign. Otherwise your mother might get a letter telling her that you went MIA or died.”

Pushing past Hiromi, Daiji left.

For some reason, Hiromi hurt, worse than Tamaki’s sad expression. Worse than any injury he’d gotten or the aches that had begun in his bones. He’d been betrayed, in a way, his friend was the mole and there was nothing to be done about it. And somehow, the director had something to do with it.

If the Deadmans’ influence ran that deep in Fenix, then just what was Fenix even fighting for? Was all that Fenix stood for a lie, deluding those with dreams of helping others, like himself and Tamaki, into being their pawns? It obviously didn’t stop with Daiji, if his father was also involved, then… it was likely, in some way, much of what Fenix had done was in fact to help the Deadmans.

All those beliefs, held closely to Hiromi’s heart, that he thought Fenix stood for… they were a lie.

What was he supposed to do about that?

---

One of the mirrors in a Fenix bathroom shattered against Daiji’s fist. In the falling shards, the scowling expression of Kagerou reflected.

“Father was the one who made Karizaki give Hiromi that Driver – we knew there was something wrong with it!” Daiji growled, bringing his fist back to himself. There were a few cuts from the broken mirror, but Daiji didn’t care. He’d had worse. “He’s punishing us for loving Hiromi, taking him away or risking his death!”

From the shards on the floor and the other mirrors to the side of Daiji, Kagerou spoke, “If only our dearest father would hurry up and fucking die. That’d be wonderful.”

Bringing his hands to clutch the edge of the sink, Daiji shook his head, “What do we do? Hiromi’s leaving, this place will be miserable. He won’t join us – he probably hates us now!”

“We could make him join us.” Kagerou suggested, “Have him all to ourselves…”

“No!” Daiji hissed, “We’re not kidnapping Hiromi.”

Kagerou pouted in response, “Fine, then how about this. Let’s make sure our dear father gets the message that we don’t like him messing with what’s ours.” He had a devious expression on his face. Normally, Daiji wouldn’t trust it, but right now…

“You have a plan,”

“That I do. I think it’s time that Fenix gets to see it’s mole – and learn that he’s not just anyone.”

Daiji was beginning to understand what Kagerou’s plan was, “You want… to reveal me as not just the mole, but as Evil?”

With a large grin, Kagerou laughed, “It’ll be great!”

As appealing as it sounded to throw his position at Fenix away, making it so his father couldn’t force him to be the mole, Daiji wasn’t entirely convinced. “Father would be… very, very, upset.”

“Well fuck him.”

“We can’t just go around provoking him,” They both knew damn well what would happen if they did, even just the thought of the punishment made Daiji shudder. Upsetting their father wasn’t something to be done lightly. The question was: was what he caused to happen to Hiromi worth it?

And Daiji couldn’t deny, the idea sounded tempting. A giant “fuck you” to his father. It might be playing his hand too early but… a Fenix without Hiromi wasn’t anywhere Daiji wanted to be. Maybe it was time he followed Kagerou’s lead, took a page out of Ikki’s book, and played a rebellious child.

Kagerou’s smile hadn’t faded, “So, what do you think?”

“I think… for what he did to Hiromi…” Daiji closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them and answered with a smile, “Let’s make Hiromi’s last day at Fenix one to remember.”

“Then let’s head back and make arrangements, we don’t have time to spare.”

Daiji nodded, ignoring the broken glass on and in the sink, and on the floor. Someone would clean it up, eventually, but he didn’t have time to worry about that. Kagerou was right, if they were going to pull this off, they had to act quickly. Sakura would probably be willing to help them, especially for Hiromi.

It didn’t matter how Hiromi felt about Daiji, now, what mattered was that their father had caused this to happen to Hiromi. He wanted Hiromi dead or otherwise gone, away from Daiji, and though he was getting it, Daiji and Kagerou weren’t about to let him get it scot-free. Take away their Hiromi, and he was losing his mole.

Kagerou was right, it would be great, and Daiji was almost excited to see the looks on everyone’s faces when they realized that the director’s son, that Daiji Akaishi, was really Evil. Perhaps the faces of crushing betrayal – although Daiji suspects that Makoto, if not already on to him, at least is willing to suspect him. But Karizaki and Tamaki…

Well, Daiji might feel a bit bad about Tamaki. He was losing Hiromi, and while he wasn’t very close with Daiji, he’d be losing Daiji too. Both of his captains. That would probably be a blow to morale. Maybe that would serve them well, at least in pushing Makoto and Tamaki further. After all, when Giff awoke, they wouldn’t be able to rely on Fenix.

Fenix would show its true colors, and they’d have to be able to survive on their own – or at least with only each other for support. Daiji couldn’t say for sure if they’d have any help from him and his siblings, or even Hana and Hikaru.

Truthfully, even he and his siblings knew little about just what would happen when Giff awoke. They just knew it probably wouldn’t be good, though they’d likely be safe from it. They were Children of Giff, after all, it was his DNA that made them have demon traits as they did. Ikki’s horns, tail, and feathers. Sakura’s scales. Daiji’s own strong hearing. In all likelihood, it was probably Giff’s DNA that caused Makoto, Tamaki, and Hana to have such traits as well. And further, in Sakura’s efforts to save Hikaru’s life, Daiji knows the scientists who had worked on him had injected him with Giff’s DNA.

Daiji could only hope that whatever future awaited, it would be able to be stopped, or at least lessened. But there was no knowing, so they could only prepare for the worst. Hope that Makoto, Tamaki, and Hana would be able to defeat Giff. Daiji didn’t like placing so much on hope, but right now, there wasn’t much choice.

But that was a worry for later, right now, it was time to teach their father a lesson. Who knows, maybe rebellion would suit Daiji better than he thought – though there’s some part of him that lingers on the knowledge that his actions will have serious consequences. They would be actions that their father wouldn’t take lightly in the slightest. But they feel far too correct for Daiji not to do them.

Their father took Hiromi away from them, and now he was going to pay, one way or another.

“After this, we’ll have to tell Hiromi our feelings,” Kagerou said as they walked.

“If he’ll even talk to us,” Daiji muttered, well aware that between being the mole and inviting him to join them, they’d upset Hiromi.

But Kagerou didn’t seem to care much about those details, “It’s worth a shot.”

Shaking his head, Daiji said, “Let’s just focus on the task at hand.”

“Telling our father to fuck himself.”

[rhymingtree]

I'm still scared I'll give myself another stupid reason to cry about this btw.

YAY DECATHLOOOON

He was helping out his classmates and he was tracking down a group of highly dangerous criminals. Mr. Stark was gonna be so proud.

Amazing time management skills by Peter Parker

Oh my god peter is a horrible liar.

Bucky groaned, cracking open an eye as the smell of coffee rolled through the room.

beautiful way to wake up... coffeeeee

He didn’t even make it to his room. Bucky had simply dropped his bags at the foot of the stairs and flopped onto one of the couches.

mood

He missed when she was his.

I KNEW I WOULD CRY I FUCKIN KNEW IT

*opens tabs to the New Eden chapters to cope*

He wouldn’t lie, she’d hit him harder than he thought. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t remember anything.

Hahahahaha... sure yeah that's why... that's definitely why

oh my god it's one step forward and four leaps back with these guys it's frustrating

“Save the lecture for when I give a shit.”

I read this so wrong omg i thought it said 'save the lecture when i shit'

I mean... I wouldn't want to sit through a lecture from Steve while holding in a call from nature either so...

He, in fact, did not look alright. Not with blooming dark bruises and cracked blood on his temples. Not to mention the dark rings that rounded his eyes.

He looks great according to the Female Gaze. We love ourselves a broken and battered man. It's very attractive.

He didn’t remember. He didn’t remember seeing Wraith. But he heard him.

SOOOOO WHAT CONCLUSION DO WE DRAW FROM THAT APT OBSERVATION

“I don’t remember. “

BUCKYYYY put some fuckin effort in and TRY

do like Rhymie during chemistry test and REMEMBERRRRR

“Their relationship confuses me,” Sam hummed, sliding into the seat beside Bucky. He flinched as Bucky glared at him, “What?”

“They don’t have a relationship,” he snapped, unable to stop the growl that echoed through the room. “Keep telling yourself that,” a call came from Stark as he poured himself a cup of coffee before ducking back toward the labs. It was Steve’s turn to glare at him, “Not now, Stark.”

Everyone's so nosy my goodness

I regret yelling at him from the beyond because now Bucky's about five seconds away from losing it and just melting into a puddle of regret and exhaustion

— (F/N) hummed to herself, running the cleaning solution along his arm before she took his hand in hers and rolled it. She pressed her lips to his knuckles, smirking at the sigh he huffed through his nose. — — “You feel that?” —

This is downright depressing

I now have a very strong reliance on the wonders of Bluey because that blue dog is the only media that actually brings me joy now

I'm running out of episodes to watch....

He’d gone up against two Hydra operatives and not died. That was more than a lot of people could say.

Really, Pete? That's your justification for that? Bro.

 “I’m sick of him treating me like a kid all the time. It’s not cool.” “But you are a kid.” “Yeah, a kid who can stop a bus with his bare hands.”

Bro you can't even have a driver's license yet how responsible do you think you are?

I love how this high schooler just hacked into Stark tech in a hotel room on a school trip. Go off Ned, I love you

PETER. STOP. SHHHH JUST SHSHSH

“Come on. I just need you to patch me through to the Shadowman.”

Ned paused, his eyes lighting up, “The Shadow what?”

“The New York Shadow.”

“Does he control shadows? Is he made of darkness? Who is—”

“What? No. No. He works for Aftermath.”

BRO THESE ARE BEYOND NATIONAL TOP SECRET LEVEL

Peter. STAHP.

For someone so smart, he can be really stupid. A lot of the time.

Poor Jack's babysitting two kids this time... this'll be fun

I can't wait for Jack to bring up the Guy in the Chair title to Zac.

I love how no one is yet mentioning how the glowy thing is a literal explosive sensitive to radioactivity. Like...

I truly hope no one in Alpha Two hears about the new Shadowman name because poor Jack isn't gonna hear the end of it

“Romanoff was right, wasn’t she?” he asked, “You are up to something? What’s going on?”

This is one step forward... we're waiting for the leaps back...

“I got a bad feeling about Walsh.”

Ok that was a slight inch backwards. Not a leap, but it's still not really moving either...

The more he deflects the more he inches backwards...

Some friends doing digging.. wow ok very detailed totally believable

“Are you seriously flirting right now?”

HAHAHAHA poor Jack

also who is he to complain, Alpha Two has to deal with him and his husband's less than innocent flirtations all the time

“Flirted?” he asked before he sighed, “Well, I guess, technically—”

Don't lie to the kid. You did more than flirt.

I'm sure if you and Duke found a janitor's closet during a mission you'd have spent a five minute break in there.

Also y'all got married while on the lam. That is BEYOND flirting.

“What?” he squeaked, flinching as he looked around, “Hello? Hello?”

Shoot! He was caught. Mr. Stark had sent someone to come get him. SWAT was here to stop him from—

😭😭😭 his hello hello oh my god

Hiya Karen

Wait so where's Shadow if Karen's here

“I-I-I put a tracker on someone,” he said quickly before setting his hands on his hips with a curt nod, “He’s a bad guy.”

He's so endearing but also this is gonna be so stressful to read

“—Which is why we have to stay on target. You got that?” “Yeah.” He chuckled to himself, “I got it.”

Jack's gonna come out of this whole thing with white hairs and less years in his lifespan because wow.

Duke would find his white hairs very attractive though so it's okay

White hairs on a pretty man with dark hair is always attractive...

Okay back to the topic at hand...

No but seriously though when men age well, they age WELL.

Natasha Romanoff is always digging for information. At this point she's Indiana Jones

“Wraith came outta nowhere,” she said, stalking across the room before she came to a stop by his breakfast nook, “Fucked up Barnes’ head pretty good.”

He stopped, glancing up at her as he tried to contain his surprise, “Wraith?”

There's the leap back.

Ooh, but we might make another leap forward. C'mon Nat, press him harder

I love how even Clint feels like he's losing his grip on reality because eberything happening is batshit crazy

also the stress of reading this chapter isn't helping my nerves, I just survived a spider ambush in the bathroom

All this secrecy and dwindling trust... is setting a perfect stage for a civil war 😈😈

I'm loving every minute of this but I also think I'm developing hypertension

“Uh,” Peter winced at the sound of the Shadow’s voice, “It’s new. Especially for this mission. Now quiet. I’m working. ”

ooh, spidey's getting bold

respect your elders, Pete. don't get mouthy with the shadowman

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” he exclaimed with a quick shake of his head, “I don’t want to kill anybody!”

Poor innocent Peter Parker won't stay innocent for very long...

I hope Jack is writing down Taser Webs, Enhanced Combat Mode, and Instant Kill because Boonie would draw lots of inspo from that

I love the difference between Peter dealing with all the voices in his head, and Ghost dealing with hers...

It's just so funny to put those two images side by side

Then, (F/N) could come back and everything would go back to normal.

Nothing ever stays normal in this line of work though, Wan... not even when you force it to be. Wouldn't you agree? *cue the Wandavision theme music slowly getting louder in the background*

It would be the Accords all over again.

lemme just knock on some wood and throw some salt over my shoulder for a minute... let's not manifest anything

I love Wanda forcefully getting the Avengers to relax and rest... girl I need it, hit me with it if they don't want it

You know that scene with Miguel looking at videos of himself and Gabriella before everything was torn away from him in ATSV, and then cutting to just the stoniest, most broken looking expression on his face?

Any picture he could find of (F/N) was also flashing up across the screen; images that she’d never seen before, images that were few and far between. They jumped between her childhood and adulthood, with most of them centering around her time at the Tower.

That's what this reminded me of... just her being a cold-hearted killer, next to her as a kid. Probably kissing a frog or at prom or with her Uncle Tim...

ow.

Hehe…Big Bird. He came up with that one on the fly.

Be proud of that while you still can.. the incoming concussion's not gonna feel very good.

“Suit lady, what was that?” he exclaimed, backing away as the flying guy came closer to him. “You told me to choose.”

Karen's AI is very humorous but also she could have gotten Peter killed

No portable portals to be found.

Just a solid roof above his head.

Which really, really hurt.

Goodnight Peter. See you in the storage garage thingy

BOONE

yay time for more stress woohoo fuuun

damn, these guys need to discover the wonders of Bluey too, it would be a massive help

Oh hi Steve... jesus christ

His eyes were dark, his lips pressed to a thin line and his shoulders terribly rigid. Boone shrunk away from him, letting him enter as he let a glare cross the room before it landed on her and it softened.

Hot but also terrifying

Oh hi Jack

right. problem. again. great.

 “What the hell is wrong with you?”“Many things but that’s not the problem right now,” he said with a quick shake of his head, “I lost him.”

Forever my favorite response to that question

THE FUCKING TRACKEEEER

PETEEEEER

Boone's momen of panic is absolutely heartbreaking

God, I need that blue dog so fucking bad

If Bluey was here they'd have fixed all of this ages ago

“Move?” Boone blinked, glancing up at him, “Where? Into your place?”“Safehouses,” he said with a shake of his head before he paused, “We’ll talk about my place after this is all over.”“Yeah?”Steve hummed with a small smile, “But it’ll probably be your place. It’s nicer.”“No, it’s not,” she chuckled, the smirk on her face growing as he splayed his hand across her back, “Mine was blown up.”“Then my place, it is.”Boone snickered, shaking her head before her face fell, “Steve? New York?”

They are just so....

They are just...

Goddamnit.

Steve scoffed lightly, licking his lips before he shrugged, “I’ll think about it.”

You know what they say...

Forgiveness is best served... spicy

🌶🌶😏😏😉😉

“I know.” Boone couldn’t help the sheepish smile that spread across her lips, “I have some plans regarding that.”

“Do you now?”

“Mhm,” she hummed, “I think you’ll enjoy it.”

AND SO WILL I HAHAHAHA

Where the fuck is Bluey I need her to calm me down

CHAPTER 94: HOLD THE LINE

To all my live reactors,

Please, please, please, hide your reactions under a Read More cut. I don’t want any spoilers floating around. 

&

To all my Anonymous Avengers, 

If you want to react in my asks, feel free. However, I won’t be answering any of them until at least Wednesday if they contain spoilers. 

Thank you,

Darke

┍━━━━━━━━ ★ ━━━━━━━━┑

“Tasha?” he asked, sitting beside her as she turned away from him to look out the window, “Что происходит?” What’s going on?

Natasha shook her head, curling into a ball as she pushed away his hand before a near-silent whisper came from her lips, “Я доверял ей.” I trusted her.

“Who?” he asked, letting down his guard and wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

“(F/N),” she muttered, “Even though we…And I…I trusted her.”

Clint sighed, gently rubbing his hand over her back, “Talk to me, kiddo.”

“I have trust issues.”

“No shit?” he hummed, raising a brow with a scoff, “I hadn’t noticed.”

Natasha chuckled lightly, sitting her chin on her knees with a sigh, “She saved my life. She fought by my side for years—by our side—and we just turned on her.”

┕━━━━━━━━ ★ ━━━━━━━━┙

» CHAPTER 94: HOLD THE LINE

✪ Bᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ Sᴄᴀʀʀᴇᴅ : Aғᴛᴇʀᴍᴀᴛʜ

♜♠ Tʜᴇ Sᴏʟᴅɪᴇʀ & Tʜᴇ Sᴘʏ

⧗ Tʜᴇ Rᴇᴅ Rᴏᴏᴍ

☞ Bᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ Sᴄᴀʀʀᴇᴅ: Oʀɪɢɪɴs

»Jᴏɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋᴇ sɪᴅᴇ Tᴀɢʟɪsᴛ

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***Just did a Taglist clean out, lemme know if I need to re-add you

[loveinhawkins]

Steve gets the idea from Dustin and Robin, in a roundabout way: Robin insists on buying a camping stove from The War Zone, which Dustin pounces upon with glee as soon as he notices it.

“Oh, we’re cooking with gas now,” he says, which is the worst pun Steve has heard thus far.

Eddie snorts, almost but not quite hidden underneath the sound of the engine. Steve smiles.

“Y’know there’s a stove right here?” he asks in benign exasperation, gestures behind him to the little kitchen area of the RV.

“Steve,” Robin says, “that’s not as fun.”

“Yeah, come on, Steve! It’ll be like at Camp Know Where—”

“Know Nothing,” Steve mutters automatically.

“—we oft dined al fresco.”

“Oft,” Eddie parrots, and Steve can faintly feel the movement of him laughing, from where he’s pressed up against the back of the driver’s seat. “Al fresco. Henderson, what lab did they make you in?”

“Eddie, either shut up or back me up, I wanna get a culturally enriching experience outta this.”

“Oh, excuse me, didn’t realise this was a field trip.”

“You’re excused.”

“Okay,” Steve cuts in, “have fun playing at camping, Henderson, but don’t come crying to me if you, like, blow yourself up.”

Robin chuckles. “Such a happy camper.”

“Boo,” Steve says flatly.

He parks the RV a little bit away from a store just off the main road—heads in alone as it’ll draw less attention. Out loud, he says it’s so he can focus without hearing whining pleas to buy junk food, whether Dustin-approved or not, but he already knows he’ll cater to each and every one of the group’s demands.

Eddie, surprisingly, doesn’t put in a request, says he’s happy to just go along with whatever everyone else wants—a far cry from when Nancy had relayed, with more amusement than frustration, “He said he wants a six-pack.”

Steve figures that the whole being wanted for murder thing would kill anyone’s appetite, but it still makes his stomach sink, that the most substantial meal Eddie’s gotten a chance to eat has been lukewarm Spaghettios.

They set up ‘camp’ in a field, and Robin’s the first to rush outside, shortly followed by Dustin, both intent on using the stove she’s bought.

Steve leaves them all to it, kind of enjoys the temporary peace of just messing about in the RV on his own—it gives him enough time to find where some crockery is kept, anyway.

He’s heating up chicken noodle soup on the stove when Eddie comes back in and tells him, “They got it working, no explosions yet.”

“Oh, miracles can happen. Good timing, by the way.” Steve switches the burner off, pours the soup into a bowl and sets it down on the table—where he’s already laid out a spoon. “Yours is ready.”

At first he doesn’t think the silence is all that unusual. He’s not really looking either, focusing on rinsing out the pan he’d used. But when he does glance up, it’s to see Eddie just standing there, looking at the bowl of soup and blinking rapidly.

It’s almost like… almost like he’s—

“Woah, hey,” Steve says, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” Eddie says, even though he’s still quite clearly tearing up. “Absolutely nothing. Jesus Christ.” He groans, presses a couple of fingers to the inner corner of his eyes. “This is fucking mortifying, just pretend you didn’t—ugh.”

In barely a blink, he shuts himself away in the bathroom.

Steve opens his mouth. Closes it. Tries again. “Hate soup that much, huh?”

A watery laugh from behind the door. “No.”

There’s a silence. Steve dries the pan and puts it away before calling, “It’s gonna get cold!”

It won’t for a while yet; he can still see tendrils of steam rising from the bowl.

There’s a long, drawn out sigh, and then Eddie opens the door, sidles in to take a seat at the table.

For a moment, Steve thinks he isn’t going to acknowledge it, which is fine. But as Eddie picks up the spoon he says, head down, “It’s just. That was, uh. Really—really nice.”

Steve’s concern abates a little; he can’t help giving a slight smirk. “Would it help if I was mean instead?”

Eddie laughs again, no tears in it this time. He shrugs with a grin. “Do whatever you want, man.”

He’s eating slowly, his spoon dragging through the soup. His eyes seem distant.

“It’s just… I miss—” His voice threatens to break, but doesn’t quite get there. “I miss… home.”

Before Steve can think of a reasonable reply, Eddie scoffs, rolling his eyes. He drops the spoon with a clatter. “God, that sounds so—”

“It doesn’t,” Steve interrupts.

“Yeah, sure.” Eddie picks up the spoon again, keeps scraping it against the bottom of the bowl.

“Dude, what did I tell you? You’ve gotta give yourself a break.”

Steve pauses, stuck on what to say next.

He can’t even relate, honestly. Home has long become something he couldn’t… Something he couldn’t really miss, exactly.

It’s ever-changing: the luxury of eating a late breakfast in History; the crunch of leaves underfoot as he walked the railroad tracks with Dustin; the chill of the freezer in Scoops Ahoy, Robin’s snorting laugh bouncing off the walls.

Now it’s his car radio playing as he gives rides on busy school mornings. A high school basketball game. A goddamn video store.

“I think you have this thing,” Steve says slowly.

“A promising start,” Eddie says, lips twitching.

He’s finished the soup. The sight spurs Steve on.

“I think you have this thing,” he repeats, more confidently, “where you think that, like, we’re seasoned monster-killers, and you’re—”

“Uh, speaking objectively, Harrington, that’s kinda what you are.”

“My point is,” Steve says, “that you don’t need to—shit, I don’t know, man. Just. You don’t need to apologise or whatever. You’re doing fine.”

Eddie blinks. He’s cupping the empty bowl with his hands, breathing a little deeper, like the residual warmth is calming.

And that Steve can relate to: in the days after Starcourt, when Robin pretty much dragged him to her house, empty thanks to her folks visiting extended family. They both pretended that they just wanted to stay up late because they could, because they were just teenagers enjoying the summer, and Robin had made shitty hot chocolate from a powder, heating up milk on the stove; when Steve complained that he could hardly enjoy it through a busted lip, she’d said, still jittery, “I just thought—it’s just nice to hold, y’know?”

She was right.

One of Eddie’s fingers starts tapping against the bowl, the underside of his ring making a series of restless clinks. Steve wants to still his hand, gently press it further into the warmth. Settle him.

Eddie stands up with the bowl.

“I can—”

“Nah, I’ve got it,” Eddie says, already at the sink. He turns on the faucet, smiles. “Thanks, by the way.”

It’s so simple, so domestic, and all of a sudden, Steve’s struck with a thought: oh, I want this.

“No problem. I’ll get you something better, after… um, everything.”

Eddie chuckles. “Oh, Jesus, I think I actually would kill for some fries.”

Steve clicks his fingers. “So we’ll make it happen.”

“We?”

“Yeah, I hate to break it to you, man, but as soon as they hear about free fries—” Steve jerks his head towards the chatter outside, “—they’re gonna demand to come with, they’re like piranhas.”

He expects Eddie to play up the joke, to groan and complain.

But while he does laugh, Eddie just sighs before saying in earnest, “That sounds fucking fantastic.”

And his eyes are warm and fond, like maybe he’s found another home in all of them, too.

[ebaylee422]

Mending Our Home PT. 1

Dad!Steve Harrington X Mom!Reader

Author’s Note: We be needing more daddy Steve people. As well huge trigger warning for any of those who have struggled staying or getting pregnant. You are seen and heard and we should normalize talking about it. Because you are not alone! I have many other fics for you to read if this is too graphic. This is still a insert because it's an ongoing timeline, I have kinda started a series for Dad!Steve. So again, I'm thankful for those of you who do decide to read it and respect the ones who cannot!

Summary: Steve picks you up for work on a particularly hard day. Neither of you realized how much your life could change in just a few hours.

Characters: Steve, Reader, Teddy Harrington (oc child), Dr. Kerr (oc, readers doctor), Wayne, Joyce, Robin and the OG Posse of Nuggets.

Warnings/Tags: Graphic description of miscarriage!!!! I cannot say this more, do not read if you are triggered by hospitals, blood or anything of the type.

Word Count: 3.8k

Waiting on the dial tone as you called home, Steve was alone with Teddy. So you knew to wait and give him a few rings before trying your hand again.

“Yello, Harrington Residence! Teddy ‘member what we talked about when the phone rings?” You could hear the faint giggles and little voice respond ‘Yes, Daddy.’ 

“Hi babies, it’s me.” You responded, tired voice evident of your distress.

“Teddy go in the living room and get your stuffy.” Steve asks him with sicky sweetness a small distraction “Hey, what’s going on? Are you okay?” Steve voice lowers his voice,

“I’m not feeling to well Stevie, boss let me off early. Could you come pick me up?”

“Yeah-yeah of course-. No not that stuffy the other one, we’re gonna go on a car ride to Nana and Pop-pop’s.” Shriek of Nana Joyce rung through the phone, splicing straight through your skull. “I’ll be there soon, just hold on for us. I’ll bring you home.”

“ ‘Mkay, love you. Don’t break any traffic laws.” You leaned against the cool metal of the phone box.

“I love you most. I’ll see you soon.” With that the dial-tone rang back and you set off to sit on the curb of the diner, waiting for your husband. He came not even 20 minutes after your phone call, parking job shoddy at the very least but all in one piece nonetheless. You stood slowly, Steve sprung out of the car opening the passenger door just shy before you could reach the handle. You leaned against him as he hugged you, arm limp at your side. Fatigue overtaking your body when you finally sat down in the car, mostly.

“You okay, Sweets?” Steve knelt down to eye level, putting his hand on along the roundness of your knees lovingly. You sighed, hunching over. 

“I swear if this is the first trimester of pregnancy aches, I don’t think I could possibly give birth again without an assortment of drugs lined up at the ready.” You tried to joke, blowing a laugh out your nose. Which made Steve smile bright and big. 

“Well unfortunately we burnt up the singular Russians lab years ago, so I can’t get you anything foreign.” You both laughed, “Have you eaten anything yet?”

“No, everything makes me want to puke my spleen out.” He got up and set your bag in the back, shuffling for something else behind the seat. You got the courage to swing each leg into the car. Leaning into the leather seats, it was pretty muggy outside. Steve’s head came into view again with antacid and water, along with a brownie he’d made the other night with Teddy. Dancing to Bob Segar’s greatest hits. You smiled taking the pill and the brownie, he opened the water bottle placing it between your thighs. He leaned over placing a kiss onto your forehead, unnecessarily aiding you with the seatbelt and gently closing the door before hopping in the driver's seat.

“Stevie, you shouldn’t be driving this late give me a minute. I was just scared to be by myself.”

“I’m fine, scouts honor.” You furrowed your brow at him, he was beat up so much in high school his vision and hearing is slightly impaired on one side. “I know the way home like the back of my hand, I’ve gotten used to the blurriness.” Hunger subsided but the pain slightly increased as he was driving home, something felt wrong. Pressing yours eyes shut to aid in the nausea, wringing your knuckles into the leather seats as waves crash over you they stopped with a sharp inhale.

“Hey what’s going on? Not sleeping already are we?” his eyes flickered between you and the road, placing a hand on top of your thigh. Shaking your head, realizing that probably wasn't the best idea as you fought not to get sick in Steve’s BMW. Not that it hadn’t happened before, you were both 21 for a whole year. 

“I think I just over did it today, I bet a bath and definitely some sleep and cuddles will help. I’m all dizzy and cramping.” Groaning, pushing the back of your head into the cushion behind it. Holding his hand tightly, breathing through the cramps. 

“Do you want to go to the hospital?” Steve asked, rubbing his thumb along your knuckles.

“It’s okay, just wanna go home and be comfortable.” You assured him as he turned to go home. When finally seeing the dim parking lot relief oozed for your shoulders as he pulled into the assigned spot. You unbuckled, he held tightly to you walking through the apartment complex, up the stairs to the apartment. Only letting go as he started a bath. Sitting on the edge of the already made bed slightly confused, everything was dizzy and blurry until Steve knelt down in front of you. Helping you to the bathroom, sitting on the toilet while the steam clouded the mirror.

“Okay, here I set everything up. If your okay being alone for a minute. I’m going downstairs to make some dinner quickly. I’ll check up on you, then we can go get Teddy from the Byers if you’re feeling better. Otherwise you know Joyce and Hop love the company now.” he kissed the top of your head closing the bathroom door behind him. 

Beginning to undress, moving the water between your fingers to see how hot it was. Taking off the now ever tightening diner uniform, stopping at your underwear there was a small red spot. You’d had a rough birth with Teddy, your doctors weren’t concerned for later pregnancies. The cramps came over you once again distracting, nearly knocking the wind out of you. You quickly sunk deep into the rose scented waters, moving your hands through your wet hair. Beginning to massage your abdomen, it was extremely hard, the pressure was unbearable. Then white shocks of pain started flowing through your center, twisting relentlessly. You groaned and thrashed slightly in the water, you couldn’t catch your breath. There was burning going down your legs, you opened your shut eyes to see the water turned a bright red. You yelled for Steve in shock, pain and so many other things bottled up inside. Hyperventilating, when the door crashed open you were barely able to keep your eyes open as Steve rushed to you. Diving over your frame, lifting you out of the water and a towel wrapping around you. You saw lights flickering to and from each eye, small pinches in your arms. Darkness came over your consciousness, pain subsided.  Waves of movement and lights came about once in a while, as well as voices. Several voices through time and time again, until you opened your eyes to strange surroundings. Waking up from a really good nap, taking in your surroundings; beeping of monitors, extremely bright lights, a sickly clean smell with a mix of sale metal. Moving just your eyes around you could tell it was a hospital, there was warmth to your left hand. You dizzily tried to move your head to look over, Steve had one hand in yours while the rest of himself was toppled over leaning on the other propped up by his legs. Rubbing and scratching at his scalp, 

"Stevie?" You said just above a whisper, his eyes met yours. He jumped forward on his feet, leaning over the bed.

“Baby? Oh my god,” he brushed your hair from your face, endlessly kissing everywhere. Feather light kisses on your hand, cheek, temple, jaw and forehead, “I thought I wouldn’t see those beautiful eyes soon enough, Jesus Christ,” he pressed a button on the wall and a faint red light flickered. You yawned with a dry mouth, suddenly aware you are hooked up to the beeping machines. Along with an IV and Blood bag, there was also something taped to your leg. You shifted trying to sit up comfortably when an extremely tall older man pushed the curtain open.

"Woah, hold on there Mrs. Harrington. You're quite freshly out of the ER. I'm an anesthesiologist, just checking you feel alright before I get Dr. Kerr. Any confusion, chills or feelings of vomiting?” you shook your head, feeling some drowsiness but overall not terrible.

“Great, and any pain I should alert your charge Nurse of?” you shook your head again, moving your taped up hand over your stomach feeling excessive fabric there. You looked at Steve who held tension in his eyes, “alright well, I wish you a speedy recovery ma’am, I’ll let my colleague know you’re ready.” the man wrote something on the clipboard, before walking out and shutting the curtains again.

“Hey, you’re here. That’s the only thing that matters-” Steve started.

“What happened? Is the baby okay?” you asked him scared, his face contorted with pain. Sitting back down pulling his tiny chair closer, hanging his head in shame. Red, all I saw was red. Those words were so similar to ones said to you, what seemed like a lifetime ago. They rang through you like a séance but desired something else this time, you felt Steve’s other arm reach up holding yours fully in place. He was shaking before he came up for air,

“I’m sorry Sweetheart, there’s nothing I could do. I-” The curtain ripped out to reveal a stout man your primary doctor and a even tinier woman full of gusto. Who you knew to be Dr. Kerr and a probable Nurse,

“Evening Mr. and Mrs. Harrington. Just wanted to give you a final diagnosis as well as some time for us to discuss after care.” Steve wiped his face, you looked at the wrinkles in the curtain. Dazed with all the drugs you were probably on, everything felt dry. You didn’t even realize you were smacking your lips until a cup appeared in front of you. It was ice chips with a spoon added to the top, the woman handing it to you nodded before stepping back behind where Dr. Kerr had sat across from Steve. “Mrs. Harrington, do you remember much?” you shook your head in response, Steve reached out to hold the cup as your free hand scooped up ice slowly. The cold crunch sent a shiver down your spine, a hand still tangled with Steve’s rings rolling against each other. “Then please know that I’m giving you the facts and that it may indeed be hard to hear.” you took another scoopful, making short eye contact with Steve before putting the spoon back into the cup. "We weren't able to save the baby, it was an ectopic pregnancy. Have you heard of them before?” You shook your head. “It was the main cause of the abdominal hemorrhage or severe bleeding, so you unfortunately miscarried…” You swallowed hard, looking at Dr. Kerr for the first time since giving birth to Teddy. His eyes were a dark blue, rich with knowledge and no doubt pain. You felt your heart grow heavy, breathing then swallowing. Repeating the word over and over again.

“Miscarried.” You said out loud, out of body only stating it as he did without hesitation.

“Yes, there would have been no way to save it. It's very important that you know it's not your fault, as well the risks moving forward fertility wise are concerning but always possible." You felt so many things at once; numb, angry, relieved more than anything from the pain. Steve’s voice churned you from your thoughts,

"Why's that?" Steve asked, holding your hand a bit closer to his chest.

"More often than not after one ectopic miscarriage, the risk for another one is extremely high. About 1 in every 10 women, which is more than a simple miscarriage. As well, since we did have to expel the rest of the fetus. We have no way to measure fertility until the future, it determines how suitable the uterus will be unless we simply try other means of procreation. Those I'm afraid are very expensive but worth the health and wellness of your partner. If you wish to continue to have a child once she’s healed, you're both fairly young. There will be plenty of time for you Mrs. Harrington." Your heart was shattering, tear slipping into the collar over your starchy hospital gown, Steve pinched his nose sniffling with you.

"I would like to keep you here for at least 24 hours if that's alright, you may stay with her unless they run a test or scan Mr. Harrington. Otherwise, you'll be shown some exercises by physical therapist to prevent blood clots. To just give us more peace of mind that you will not hemorrhage again. Since the blood loss was towards the extreme as well as the circumstances. I do not want to take any chances, despite how much I enjoy your family.” Looking at Dr. Kerr you gave him a hopeful smile, “You'll be moved into a private room shortly for the remainder of your stay, I have walks scheduled every four hours for you to do with a Medical Assistant. Until they clear you from a one person assist, please do not try to do much but the assigned walking and of course eating in an hour would be fine. Is there anything else I can do for you tonight or questions that you have?" He reached out holding your shoulder comfortingly, like a father figure would. 

“No.” You shook your head, tears hadn't stopped since he entered but your breath finally catching when you spoke clued the other into your own misery, guilt swarming between all of you.

“Our family is in the lobby, when can they see her?” Steve asks for you, you look up from the curtain across the walls to his face. His eyes, red, heavy with dark circles and so swollen, lips dry and his hair a mess. He looked so young next to you, you were both so young barely 25.

“As soon as she is completely aware from the general anesthesia, and moved to the private room. However, now that she is awake I will need you to step outside into the hall Mr. Harrington.” You shoot your eyes to the doctor.

“Why?” you ask, your voice is so quiet and hoarse. 

“Just a precaution while my nurse asks you a series of questions. Because of how tragic the event was we just need to ensure somethings.” You start to speak, but Steve squeezes your hands.

“It’s okay, Sweets. They probably just, just want to confirm my story. I’ll be right in the hall waiting for them to be done.” Steve stands from the chair pulled next to your bed, and places your hand on the side of the bed before walking out with the doctor. You finally notice Steve is in light brown scrubs, they open the curtain where dozen of others are either alone or holding their sick loved ones. 

“Oh I almost forgot, sorry it’s my on-call night. But healing should be about 2 to 4 weeks, so nothing should be inserted into your body after they remove the catheter.” You curtly nodded at him again as Steve walked with him shaking Dr. Kerr’s hand. Shortly after a tall dark skinned woman in dark blue scrubs comes over and closes the curtain.

“Hello Mrs. Harrington, I’m Nurse Maywood. I need to ask you a series of questions, are you alright with that?”

“Yes, ma’am.” She moves to the foot of your bed so you don’t have to strain to see her.

“Alright I need you to answer as truthfully as possible each time. First one, how are things going at home?” You almost laugh, until her raised eyebrow shows signs of extreme seriousness.

“We’ve been working a lot, both my husband and I. While taking care of our young son, until tonight things have been blissful.”

“Has any of yours or Mr. Harrington’s behavior's changed due to this pregnancy?”

“No.” Her brow raised again, (blanking) you to continue. “I’m sorry, is Steve in trouble?”

“Mrs. Harrington we just want to ensure your health and safety.”

“Steve is a wonderful husband and father, he picked me up when I started having pain tonight despite taking care of our son as well. He has never emotionally or physically hurt me or my child.”

“That’s enough for me, Ms. I am truly sorry for your loss, and do recommend postpartum therapy for all women I see. You are not alone.”

“Yes, I appreciate the gesture. I just need my family now.” She smiles, respectfully leaving bringing Steve to you again. Followed by more Nurses in scrub but the original pitete Nurse from Dr. Kerr.

“Hey, you needed me? Did everything go okay?” you nod at him, with a somber smile. The two people look at your chart, one walks away before one begins to speak to you.

“Y/N Harrington? We’re about to move you to a private room now, if you just step aside for a minute Mr. Harrington.” You push yourself up on the pillow a little, still extremely numb in your abdomen. The woman comes back with a large wheelchair, then takes your IV and other monitors and puts them on the tall pole attached to the back of the chair. Steve pats your head and moves out of their way, the man who spoke to you draws the curtain. They both put on gloves, Steve staying by your head as they removed your catheter. Running his hand through your hair, soothingly. They wiped everything, before coming back up to speak to you.

“Alright honey, we're going to do a two person assist to get you into the wheelchair. Since you're still quite numb and drowsy, each of us is going to take hold of the support under you, you’ll sit up completely, she’ll move your legs off the side of the bed while I hold you upright. Then we’ll use a belt above your sternum and pivot you to the wheelchair. Sound like a plan?” You nod and do exactly as they instruct, to their surprise you have more strength than they thought. “Thanks Shelby. Alright Mr. Harrington if you’ll just follow us.” it’s quite a way before he carts you into a room. The belt still strapped to your chest he pivots and assists you into the bed by himself while Steve watches from the foot of the bed. The man leaves you two alone, closing the door behind him. Steve doesn’t move, until you reach your hand out to him. He forces a smile, walking around and grabbing it with both hands. You pat the side of the bed, and try to scootch over making room for him.

“Hey, hey. I don’t want you hurting yourself, careful.” He stops your hips, 

“I just want you to hold me,” you say innocently through your lashes, Steve instantly melts. Putting his arms under your legs and behind your back moving you over just enough that he can lay sideways next to you. You have to lay on your back but it doesn’t mean you can’t turn your face to his. You brush the hair away from his eyes, caressing the side of his face, he sighs as his heavy eyes close.

“We should let them know you're awake,” he whispers to you, eyes closed. Holding the forearm caressing his face, the other had the IVs still attached so you kept it against your midsection. His free arm draped across your lap, below.

“We should get some sleep first, where’s Teddy?” he props his head on his hand with his elbow flush against the bed, trying to avoid sleep.

“He’s with Aunt Robin and Dustin at home. So just Joyce and Hopper. Nancy and Jonathan have been keeping the others updated. Everyone went to the Wheelers to wait for news.” he yawns huge at the word news.

“So you haven’t slept for like, over 36 hours?” he shrugged.

“I was terrified, Robin kept me updated on Teddy I was able to say goodnight to him. He-he doesn’t know yet, I didn’t know what to say. I don’t think-”

“Steve, one thing at a time. You need to sleep. It’s okay we’ll figure it out, this is not good for you.” he groaned neck cracking as he rolled off the bed.

“And I will, but first. I’m going to go get them and get us some refreshments and gross hospital food.” grabbing his wallet from the front of his brown scrub pants. “Also Joyce brought clothes for us and these are a little ripe.” He pulls at the collar of his scrubs, and grabs the call button clipping it to your pillow. “I’ll be right back, promise.” You take hold of the hand he was using and press the side of your face with it.

“I would kiss it but we’re in a hospital, and I don’t know when you last washed them.”

“Yeah that’s fair,” He leans down leaving you with the impression of his kiss on your temple and thoughts. Caressing the side of your face before walking out the door. After a minute of contemplating you pull the sheet down and slowly bring the nightgown up. You of course weren’t wearing anything except this thin gown, ribbed gray socks and a ginormous diaper they slipped on after removing the catheter. Holding your mouth to quiet the sobs, you needed to calm down before they came back. They were all already so worried about you, so much you can’t imagine how Steve was still standing. You let your mind wander until feeling like you had to go to the bathroom, it hurt to let it sit in your bladder so you pressed the call button. After a few moments there was a knock on the door, someone announced themselves before entering, “Hello, Mrs. Harrington, what can I help you with?”

“Am I allowed to use the restroom with assistance or do-do I have to pee myself?” You asked quietly,

“Great question, if you're uncomfortable standing right now. You can most definitely use the alternative, but it is good to start moving right away. Just like you normally would postpartum.” She helped you use the restroom, changing the pull up as you continued to bleed. She assured you, it will likely occur for a couple days until your hormones balance again. There was a small shower and everything in this room, you were probably in Labor and Delivery now.  You were able to wash your hands and wipe your face off a bit, before leaving she helped you to an upright position in the bed and got you some ice chips. It took about 15 minutes total. She made you feel more human. Instead of overwhelming you with information she was making you as comfortable as possible. Knocks clambered the door, opening to reveal your family. The answer to salvation in the darkest of times.

Masterlist

Part Two

[marvelwitchergilmore]

Falling in Fall

Summary; Steve Rogers x Fe!OC (Noelle Harlow) - Steve never thought he would find someone who he could spend his life with, outside of the Avengers of course. But what happens when that someone turns out to work inside his home?

Ever since coming out of the ice, Love had been the last thing on Steve’s mind. Without Peggy, he didn’t really know where to look. Sure, he’d managed to fall in love with her within a matter of days and it took another few months before either of them would make a move. But she had been a constant in his life. One of the very few people in Steve’s life who he could always count on. 

And, over the years, that number had gotten so low he could count the amount of people he trusted - mostly with his personal life - on one hand. 

Steve trusted his teammates. They would have his back the same as he would have theirs. But a personal life? They all kept their own to their own. 

It was safer that way. 

And out of everyone, Steve’s was the safest. 

He didn’t have anyone. 

Romantically, anyhow. 

That was until late one night when he couldn’t sleep and decided to take a walk. 

In all honesty, Steve didn’t know why he couldn’t sleep. He was tired; he knew that much, but something was still keeping him awake. So, he took a walk. Going from his floor and down the staircase and towards a random level. 

It was so peaceful, how quiet it was. All day Tony had scientists and PhD doctors running in and out of every lab and office doing god-knows-what. Steve never really paid attention when Tony would explain what was going on. Not for the lack of trying, however. Lord, he tried but he was a 40s guy. He could barely understand how to work Stark’s brand new tablet. 

But, he was slowly getting the hang of it. He understood the basics but when Tony began using tech-lingo, it flew right over his head. 

All the lights were out in the halls. The darkness, usually something that would place Steve on edge, was calming. The only people awake in this building right now was himself and Norm, the security guard, and maybe a few other security details about the place. 

However, as Steve - dressed in a grey t-shirt, blue joggers and black socks - made his way a little further down the hall the peaceful silence was inturrupted by a woman’s voice. 

“Stupid. Stupid damn machine and your springs and your metal- Stupid.”

Slowly as Steve turned the corner, he was met with the light from the lab where he saw a woman stood in a white lab coat, her hair a little messy and her glasses slightly down her nose before she pushed them back up. 

Steve didn’t realise his inital thoughts at first. She intruiged him. No-one else was here and yet, here she was, working away, yelling at pieces of metal.

“Need a little help?”

The woman quickly spun around in search of the voice when she spotted him at the door. 

“Can you use a screw driver?”

“I can.”

She seemed to visably relax. “Please.”

Steve walked inside, picking up the screwdriver from the side before asking where and what he needed to do. She intructed him and he followed her orders whilst she tinkered with something else. 

“If you don’t mind me asking-”

“What am I doing up at 2 in the morning? Working late.” She answered. “I --” she fixed something else. “I had a breakthrough at lunch and I’ve been in here ever since. Only, the metal scraps don’t seem to want to working with me today.”

Steve gave a smile as she spoke and even began to talk to the items in front of her. 

“Now, will you work for me? Just this once? Please, because then we can both go home and go to bed and not have Tony come in with a gallon of coffee for me to drink.”

“Do you always talk to your tools?”

“Only when they don’t work.” She smiled. “Oh, my god. You must think I’m rude. I haven’t introduced myself. God, you come down here at 2 in the morning and find a mad woman talking to inanimate objects. I’m Noelle. Noelle Harlow.”

Steve shook her hand. “Steve Rogers.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Steve smiled. “So, how long have you worked for Tony?”

“A few- wait. Is this some kind of test? Is Tony listening right now? Jarvis!”

Steve chuckled. “No, no. No test. Just curious.”

“Oh, well...a few years.” Noelle answered. “He took me on when I was doing my PhD.”

“You’re a Doctor?”

Noelle smiled. “I am.”

“But this is the 4th floor.”

Steve had a point. 4th floor was reserved for trainee and grad-students only. Not fully qualified Doctors. 

Noelle smiled. “Tony offered me a bigger lab, but I like it down here. And this way, I’m closer to my team who I supervise.”

“How come I’ve never seen you before? Around the labs, I mean?”

“I’m usually either here or at home asleep.” Noelle told him. 

“Is it a habit of yours to work late or is Tony trying to create a mass army of mini-hims?”

Noelle chuckled at this as she turned back around to look at him. “Do you usually ask this many questions when you meet stangers at 2 in the morning?”

Steve lowered his head sheepishly. “Sorry, I’m bothering you-” Steve began to move from his seat realising he’s probably been distracting her from her work this whole time, asking her questions. 

Noelle was quick to shake her head. “No. No, you’re not bothtering me. It’s actually nice to have some company for a change. Usually it’s just me and my tools. The conversations can lack some times, especially since they can’t actually talk back to me. Please, stay. But, only if you want to. I don’t wanna keep you from...Avenger stuff...”

Truthfully, Noelle didn’t fully know what the Avenger’s did. She knew they saved the world, but what did they do when they weren’t doing that? Play twister? 

Steve decided to stay and try and find out more about Noelle. She intruiged him. She...she made him feel something. Something he’d only felt when he first saw Peggy. That...attraction. He wanted to know more. He needed to know more. 

So, by the time it came to Noelle finishing up Steve decided to take the jump. 

“I know I’ve just met you but...would you wanna get a cup of coffee some time?”

Noelle turned back to look and him and smiled. “I’d love to.”

“Great.”

“I’m free tomorrow, if you’re not doing anything...” Noelle told him. 

Inside her head, she was scolding herself for seeming desperate. They’ve just met and their going for coffee. Isn’t this thing usually a ‘i’ll see you in a week’ thing? Not a ‘I hope I’ll see you tomorrow thing’?

But, rather than looking put off, Steve smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

By the time tomorrow came, neither the Avenger or the Doctor could wait. 

It was odd, really. Noelle had gone most of her life expecting to spend it in a lab. She wouldn’t be surprised if she was born in one at this point. And then, just by simple chance, she had met a man. She had found conversation with someone, let alone it be Captain America of all people. Noelle had found someone who made her think of something else than going back to her lab to continue work - that made her remember she had another life outside of work. 

Their small coffee date took them from a coffee cart and into the park, walking amongst the falling leaves. Both were wrapped up warm, a cup of coffee in their hands. Steve in jeans, sweater, boots and coat whilst Noelle had dressed herself in something similar. Both looked like they’d just been picked out of a Hallmark movie. 

“So, tell me. How does a ‘skinny kid’ from Brooklyn find himself leading a team of Avengers?”

Steve couldn’t stop smiling as he talked to her. He hadn’t realised how much he had missed this. Just...talking to someone. Talking to someone who didn’t treat him like Captain America or ‘Cap’. Talking to someone who treated him as just...Steve. 

“Well,” Steve began, “I was trying to get into the army and after making a few adjustments to my application.”

“Wait- You lied? You lied on your enlistment form?”

Steve shrugged. “Adjusted.”

But, Noelle just laughed as they continued walking. “Steve Rogers. America’s Golden Boy, lying on his enlistment forms. What a scandle!”

Steve smiled with a laugh. “Okay, fine. I might have lied.”

“What did you change?”

“Where I lived.” Steve told her. “Anytime Bucky found my rejected forms he’d get so pissed at me. One, for still trying to serve but second for whereever I said I came from. I said I came from New Jersey once - he went on for 30 minutes about how I could have chosen anywhere else.”

“You’re really close, aren’t you?”

“Ever since we were kids.” Steve smiled. “So, what about you? How does Stark find himself with a Doctor who refuses to leave the 4th floor?”

“Well, I got my BA in Engineering at Oxford. I came back to the states to go to MIT for a year before flying back to England and living there for the rest of my time. And then, after I graduated, I got a call. The Dean wanted me to come and study my PhD at MIT - full ride. So, I accepted but it wasn’t until I landed that I found out I had a couple of strings attached. Not that I minded them so much. I would have to teach a couple of classes at a local school before I would then spend what time I had left working for Tony. By the time I finished, Tony wanted me working full time and years later...here I am.”

Their conversation continued from family life all the way to people-watching, wondering what people were talking about and thinking about as they walked through the park. 

Before they knew it, they had - unspokenly - extended their date into dinner. Steve knew the best place to get some food so after 10 more minutes of walking, Noelle and Steve found themselves inside a small diner/cafe place where the staff seemed to know Steve by first name basis. 

“I’m guessing you come here a lot?”

Steve nodded but before he could give a verbal reply a woman who looked to be in her mid-sixties came over and answered for him. 

“Every week before closing. Usually he’s trying to hide from his work in here with a decent meal and a good cup of coffee. Hi, I’m Tilly.”

“Noelle.”

“Steven, she’s beautiful.” Tilly whispered not so silently to Steve. “You’re a lucky man.”

Steve smiled, and even gave a small blush. “That she is, Tilly.”

“How’s your date been, Honey? He been treatin’ you right?”

“It’s been wonderful,” Noelle said. “Thank you.”

“How about...2 of the house specials?”

“That sounds great.”

“Coming right up.”

Once again, they talked. They talked about everything and anything, but, like everything it came to an end and landed them outside her apartment. 

“This was...nice.” 

“Yeah...”

Although he was once again nervous, Steve found the words falling quicker out of his mouth than he had wished to. 

“Would you want to, maybe, do this again some time? If you just wanna leave it be, I’ll understand-”

However, Steve was cut off when Noelle reached up and kissed his cheek. “I’d love to do it again. I’m busy tomorrow but maybe we could work something out?”

“I’d like that.”

Smiling, Noelle kissed his cheek again before backing into front door. “Goodnight, Steve.”

“Goodnight, Noelle.”

The next day, Noelle was stuck once again under another contraption of her own design. It was at times like this that made her question her choices when she was growing up. 

With every spring she put in, another one popped out. It was like whac-a-mole in an arcade. 

“You son of a-”

“Noelle?” 

Steve. 

“Down here?”

“Where?” Steve moved around the lab a bit before he saw her lower legs and fett sticking out from underneath what looked like the base of Dum-E but about 10x bigger. “Oh, there.”

“Hey, sorry. I’ll be done in a moment. Stupid - Stay. Good spring. No!”

Steve tried his best to surpress his chuckle. “You okay?”

Sighing, Noelle rolled back out so she could finally see Steve. “No. Not unless you know anything about a power steering pump and whatever else the engineers upstairs decided to add to this...thing.” Noelle accidently hit the side of the contracption before it began to release some form of smoke. 

“Oh, crap.”

It took a few moments but the smoke stopped and Noelle managed to tighten whatever had gotten loose. 

“I know I’m not an engineer but I do know how to get a car working again.”

“Please, be my guest.” Noelle said, gesturing to the machine. 

“I -- I brought you some lunch by the way. I didn’t know what you’d like but the guy at the counter said that’s what you usually order.”

Noelle looked to the wrapped sandwich and orange juice on the counter behind her and smiled. Thankfully Steve was underneath the machine so he couldn’t see her major blush. 

“Thank you.”

“I thought we could have lunch together. I would have taken you somewhere nice but you said you don’t usually get much time off work so I thought maybe this could be our second date?”

“I prefer this.” 

From under the machine, Steve smiled. Somehow, for both of them, this felt more intimate - and romantic and sweet. He had brought her lunch and now he was helping her fix a project.

It took another half hour but, by tag-teaming, they managed to fix the bottom of the machine and ate the rest of lunch together. 

But, since the world is...the world, Steve was called away for training at Shield HQ. However, as more hours passed in silence, it was reaching towards 9pm when Noelle made her way back into the lab and found a hot cup of coffee at her desk with a note on top. 

I really enjoyed today (and yesterday)

And on the other side...

Would you like to get dinner with me on Friday night? 

Smiling, Noelle pulled her phone from her pocket and typed a response to Steve. 

Thanks for the coffee x 

I’d love to get dinner x

Except, as Friday came around, as much as the date had been on her mind, Steve saying he’d pick her up at 7, it seemed to slip her mind. 

“Hold on, I’m coming!” Noelle quickly opened the door, an apron covering her clothes and scattered in brownie, cupcake and cookie batter. “Steve?” 

Standing in front of her door, very confused, with a boque of flowers in his hands, Steve began to talk. 

“Hey, are you- Is everything okay?”

“Oh, crap. Our date. I --” she looked to her apron. “am so sorry. I - I should have called.”

“It’s okay. Do you...do you need any help?”

“No, I should be-” A bell rang. “Just...give me a minute.” 

Running through her hallway and into the kitchen, Steve looked around before entering and closing the door behind him. 

“I have a goddaughter. Her mom should have been helping her bake for tomorrow’s bake sale at school. They’re doing it at the weekend for the town fair. But - ow - her husband landed himself in hospital so now, Charlotte - that’s my goddaughter - she’s at her grandparents and I’m handling the baking.” Noelle explained however, when she looked up she found Steve removing his jacket and rolling up his sleeves of sweater. 

“What are you doing?”

“Helping.”

“No, Steve. You don’t have-”

“I don’t. But I want to.”

Noelle smiled after a split second. “Okay, but...hold on.”

Reaching into a closet, Noelle pulled out a second apron and, standing on her tiptoes, she placed the apron over Steve’s head, allowing him to tie the strings around his back. 

“Thank you,”

She kissed his cheek. “You’re welcome.”

“Okay, so what do you need me to do?” Steve asked as he looked to the kitchen island that was covered in cupcake trays, cookies and brownies. 

Noelle looked around herself before holding out a spatula. “Icing.”

“Icing.” Steve nodded, taking the spatula from her. 

After an hour, Noelle looked to Steve who was icing the third batch of cupcakes. 

“I’m sorry about tonight. I was really looking forward to it.”

“It’s okay.” Steve said with a light smile. 

The lights around them had dimmed a little so the setting seemed a little bit more romantic than your average kitchen light. 

“Raincheck?”

“Sure.” Steve smiled. 

If he was being completely honest, he prefered this. It was easier - for both of them. Out in a resturant, it wouldn’t be long until the whole world was watching them. Like this...they could be themselves and not be out of breath when running away from the paps. 

“You okay?”

“Yeah...just cramping.” 

“Let me.”

Steve stepped away from his station and towards hers, helping stir the thicker mixture around the bowl. 

“Why did you decide to stay tonight? I know you’re America’s number 1 when it comes to helping, but...I forgot about our date.”

“I don’t care about that.” Steve told her. “I care that I get to see you, and talk to you. Whether it be at a resturant or...here. I’m just happy to be with you.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah.”

Their voices were in a whisper now, standing so close to one another that there wasn’t an inch between either of them. It was like they were in their own little world, not a care for anyone other than them, here, in this moment. 

As Steve leaned down, Noelle leaning up, they met in the middle with a kiss that felt like nothing every before. And, as cheesy as that sounds, it was true. 

With a hand on his cheek, she pulled him closer as he did with her, wrapping his arms around her to hold her just that little bit closer. 

However, as they left the kiss the bell from the oven rang. 

“I’m starting to think the world hates me.”

Steve smiled, slowly letting her go from his hold so she could get the last of the cookies out of the oven. 

“20 more minutes and we should be done.”

It was forty minutes, but neither seemed to mind. Steve removed his apron as did Noelle before they placed on their coats and, stacked with tubs of cakes, cookies and brownies, they made their way to her car before dropping them off at Charlotte’s grandparent’s home. 

“Noelle!”

“Hey, honey!” 

Charlotte came charging at Noelle, wrapping her arms around her waist as Amelia and Derek came around the corner helping carry in some of the baked goods. 

“Oh, my god.”

Noelle turned around and found Charlotte stood looking up to Steve. 

“Oh, yeah. Erm...Lottie, this is Steve.”

“Nice to meet you.” Charlotte shook his hand, her mouth wide open and eyes wide before she moved over to Noelle and whispered; “Is Captain America your boyfriend?”

Noelle blushed very visably, and Steve smiled as she did so, however Noelle was quick to change the subject. 

“Uh...shouldn’t you be fast asleep in bed?”

“Yes, she should.” Amelia answered as she came around the corner. “But her mom called and said you were helping and so-”

Charlotte jumped up and down holding onto Noelle’s hand. “Can you read me a bedtime story? Pleaseeeee.”

Noelle looked towards Steve who just gave her a smile. “Will you be okay for 10 minutes?”

“Of course. Go ahead.”

“Yay!” 

“I’ll be back soon.”

Charlotte pulled Noelle up the stairs, rambling on about another book she had gotten from school. 

However, after finishing up Lottie’s bedtime story Noelle came downstairs to find Steve stood helping Derek set up a shelf above the TV. 

“Don’t worry, I offered.”

Noelle smiled. “Of course you did.”

“Why didn’t you tell any of us you were dating, honey?” Amelia asked. 

Noelle freezed up for a short moment. Was she meant to tell people? She spent so much time in the lab, most of them thought she’d have a psychotic break one day and marry her tools. 

“Oh, well...erm...” Noelle tried to think of an explanation but so much had happened in the last three days that she hadn’t had time to take a phone call. 

“Oh, doll, leave the poor girl be.” Derek told his wife. “She can have secrets from us. God knows Hattie prys so much into her life she deserves to keep something to herself.”

Steve just looked back to Noelle with a soft grin on his face. If she wasn’t careful she might just fall in love right then and there. 

And Derek did have a point. Hattie - her best friend since highschool - always tried to stick her nose into Noelle’s life. It wasn’t that it wasn’t unwanted, but...Derek was right. She deserved to keep something to herself for a while. 

“But I warn you, son. Don’t you hurt our Noelle. She’s a smart girl and anyone would be lucky to have her.”

Steve just gave a knowing smile. “I don’t plan on it, Sir.”

A few moments later they had the shelf up and Noelle and Steve left the house, heading back for the car. 

“I’m sorry about them. It’s just...they’re like family to me and they can get a little...involved? sometimes.”

Steve, tucking his hands into his coat, just smiled. He couldn’t remember the last time he smiled this much. 

“It’s okay.” Steve told her. “I’d be the same if it was my daughter. They want the best for you.”

“Yeah.” Noelle nodded. “Thank you, for staying tonight. You didn’t have to. Especially after I forgot about-”

“I meant what I said, Noelle.” Steve reassured her. “I’m just happy to be with you...wherever that may be.”

Noelle looked up and met Steve’s eyes. God, he was perfect. 

Neither said a word, just leaned in and shared another kiss. At first, it was a simple kiss until there was an unspoken agreement that they wouldn’t break it just yet. 

Noelle’s arms locked around his neck and shoulders whilst his arms pulled her in closer by the waist. 

Maybe she was falling in love...maybe they both were.

[scoobydoo-andnancytoo]

Reading Secrets Can Kill but I Share My Every Thought Chapters 5-8

- gym teacher borderline misogynistic ab cheerleading to Carla instead of just calling her irresponsible - Hal Morgan -> Hal Tanaka - Hal ran against daryl for class prez and im wondering if that's bc of Jake - Hal being blackmailed to write essay for Jake, maybe didn't actually copy an essay for this one - Jake has locker 515 - I don't think we know his locker number in the game ? which is a bummer bc that would be a simple fun tie-in - nancy uses a little lock picking kit which would honestly be a more fun puzzle/mini game than JAKE on the phone (esp bc puzzles feel so scarce in the remastered one to me) - Connie's bracelet inside locker so maybe he blackmailed her for it instead - i like Connie and Nancy being friends in the book - daryl sees her and smiles his "porsche driver's grin" whatever the hell that means ???

- daryl talks way too openly about her being a detective, idc if no one else is in the room - nancy ABANDONS investigating the video lab to ask Daryl to go for a coke. this is the biggest difference from the games because nancy wouldn't even stop sleuthing if Ned was deathly ill in those, meanwhile here's a man she just met and revved her engine at (never getting over that) and she's putting her case on the back burner - she literally tells daryl the last thing she wants to do rn is solve mystery. she's got it so bad wtf - Nancy's brakes aren't working as she's going downhill far too fast 😱 and Jake was poking around cars as she and daryl were leaving so Jake might be a lot more dangerous than he was in the game - they almost end up in an intersection until nancy veers them into the shoulder and after she almost kills them both she starts GIGGLING bc her car is due for inspection soon. ok girl. - her brakes were cut 😱 and then her car EXPLODES so....the affinity for explosions is the game seems to be in line w the book - hey maybe now nancy can get her dream Ford gt-e whatever convertible - after they got flung by the force of the explosion he's holding her and nancy is just thinking ab how "fabulous" daryls arms feel around her. GET A GRIP NANCY U ALMOST DIED - she and daryl had been kissing and now she finally, finally remembered Ned exists and feels bad lol - nancy thinks it's Jake and daryl asks what she's gonna do and she says "talk to him about it. first thing tomorrow" and personally if someone cut my BRAKES i would not simply chat with them about it ??? - bess and george are also like "hey maybe tell the cops instead of just talking to the guy who tried to kill you" but nancy is "confident she can handle him" HE CUT UR BRAKES !!!!!!!! what r u talking about nancy - Jake is dead now and i hope nancy will suspect daryl considering he knows she thinks it was him who cut her brakes and might have done it to ~protect~ her - I thought nancy would've been the one to find him when she went to confront him but ig not - Jake got beat up before being pushed down the stairs so im wondering if that'll be daryl but w/o him killing Jake - it seems like no one is pretending to be or acting sad that Jake is dead so ig the game fits the book - I would still pretend tho like??? - daryl does not seem to have found the body - even with all this nancy makes a point to make Carla jealous and kiss daryl's cheek she's soooo into him - nancy breaks in to Jake's locker pt 2, evidence tampering edition: wire cutters!! so he def tried to kill her, - nancy would bet her "$50 designer jeans" that Jake made the video and im stuck on the $50 part like who are we considering designer here??? - she finds an article ab walt (blech) having a football injury and if he couldn't play in the all state Champs he'd lose his scholarship but he "poo-pooed" the injury. you guys. i can't do it w this dialogue that is TERRIBLE - he also had SAT answers in there and I wonder if that's what Hal vs the essay from the game - I wonder why they changed that? it's interesting figuring out all the differences - desperate to know what he has on Connie tho !!!! - Brenda Carlton catches her committing a felony! idk who this lady is - OK investigative reporter girlie and nancy should team up and have an enemies to lovers arc forget Ned forget daryl idc - nancy is VERY murdery in this book between wanting to push Jake down the stairs and going "she promised herself one day she was gonna close that reporters notebook for good" like this is not the same girl detective that only blocked moves and never went on offense at the end of DAN - video lab has been trashed (hey maybe you should've investigated it before and not gone for a death ride w daryl instead !!!) - magically, the one not-trashed area has Jake's evidence tape - walt "hunk" hogan doesn't seem to be using steroids he's just badly injured and hiding it for the sake of his scholarship :( - this just seems messed up that he could lose it over an injury and is maybe doing worse damage to his body as a result - someone is hiding in the supply room of the video lab 😱 luckily she was smart this time and ran instead of confronting them - OK nvm door won't open and she hears footsteps behind her, confrontation imminent but also I feel like it'll just be daryl or smth and he saw her running but wasn't the one in the video lab