#many apologies for using the she hulk suit

[doyouknowthisdisabledcharacter]

Do You Know This Disabled Character?

This isn't specific to any media. If you know only one version, vote ‘I know them.’

Matt Murdock / Daredevil is blind and has depression.

[wandaspetal]

An Island Made From Love

𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦: Marvel/MCU

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫(𝐬)/𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐩(𝐬): Wanda Maximoff x Reader, mentions of Kate Bishop x Yelena Belova (platonic), and Kate Bishop x Wanda Maximoff (platonic)

𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞: Established Relationship

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1.4K+

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Mentions of death (no one actually died though I’m not heartless) , Mental breakdowns, panic attacks, mention of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideations, crying, angst with a happy ending, VERY GAY AND FLUFFY AT THE END I PROMISE

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: You make your island flag in animal crossing Wanda’s crown.

𝐀𝐍: Reader uses they/them pronouns! This is very much partially based on me restarting my anch island and wondering how Wanda would react after a hard day….I’m mentally ill shush.

Wanda had been having the worst day. The team’s mission went south very fast. Hydra began implanting bombs inside their base’s so that in the case if they are ever found they can destroy the evidence of them being there. Soldiers waited outside for them with military grade weapons. The Hulk went into a fit of rage, Clint almost lost an arm and Natasha was almost crushed by rubble. Wanda was able to push herself hard enough to use her magic to make sure Natasha and her got out of the building quick enough.

They were the only ones left inside as the rest of the team fought everyone outside. After everything was said and done the ride on the quinjet back to the compound was silent. Even a small cough had an apology following suit behind it. Wanda is surprised she didn’t cry the same way Kate did as Yelena held her on the way back. The brunette simply placed a comforting hand on Kate’s back on the way home.

Wanda Maximoff had lost so many people in her life and this was another reminder of why she had to keep them out the way. The team can protect themselves. Y/n, a barista at a family owned coffee shop–one they barely work at anymore because their rich girlfriend takes care of them and Tony and the team randomly throws money and gifts their way. But that’s besides the point. The team is strong with super powers or serums or martial arts and knows how to use weapons. Y/n makes the threat that anything can be a weapon yet they ironically apologize whenever they bump into a chair, table, etc.

The mere thought of losing them the same way she almost lost half the team today nearly sent Wanda into a spiral. She convinced herself to hold on and remain strong.

Once they landed everyone was sent off to med bay, visible injury or not. Wanda had a scar on her brow and a cut on her nose and a sprained wrist. Both her arms were sore but she didn’t think that was worth mentioning. After leaving medbay she informed Jarvis to tell the team she went to see Y/n if they asked where she went.

Wanda didn’t bother driving a car, she stepped outside and immediately teleported inside Y/n’s apartment. The Sokovian wasn’t allowed to do that anymore after she scared them but she couldn’t help herself as she was on the verge of shaking from overstimulation.

“Wanda is that you?!”

“Y-Yeah!” She already felt tears coming to her eyes at hearing your voice but quickly blinked them away.

“Oh! Come look and see!!” Y/n exclaimed happily.

Wanda smiled and quickly walked pass the small foyer and to the living room. Her shoulders relaxed at the sight of her partner gazing at the TV that displayed her animal crossing game on it. She walked over and sat down on the couch.

“I restarted my island and it took like five times but I finally got villagers that aren’t ugly!” They squealed with joy.

Wanda placed her hands in her lap and smiled authentically at the screen. Y/n had already begun decorating the island and including as much villager homes as possible. There was customized pathing on the beach and grass.

“I named it Westview because you know…we said we wanted to move there.” Y/n’s voice grew quieter as their shyness increased. They shrugged. “And yeah…”

Wanda turned her head and reached out her to tuck their hair behind their ear. “That’s nice, I like it.”

Y/n blushed then cleared their throat. “Oh! Also the flag!! Look, look, look!!” They still hadn’t looked at Wanda as they could not turn their attention off the screen. Not even a bowl of the best pasta in the world could take their focus off their hyper fixation right now.

Wanda turned her head back towards the screen, still twirling their strand of hair between her two fingers. She dropped her hand at the sight of the flag that blew in the wind at the airport. It was her head piece. The one that she didn’t like at first but Y/n adored because it suited her so well. And because Y/n adored it Wanda slowly began to, too. Tony designed it for her after he heard her ranting about wanting more accessories for her costume the same way Nat and Steve did.

“I made it just for you!” They exclaimed.

“You made me a flag…with my head piece on it?” Wanda asked, her eyes glazing over with the tears she had been holding back since the mission ended.

Y/n beamed at the tv screen missing the full effect of their words. “Yeah! Because you’re my favorite person in the world and–“ They faltered and their brow furrowed with concern as they finally turned to look at the brunette. “Wanda, are you okay?” Y/n reached out and caressed her cheek with their palm as the witch begun to cry.

“I just love you…so much.” A lone tear trailed down her cheek. “You make me so happy…I-…today was awful and some of the team almost didn’t make it and it was so traumatizing and I just–” A much needed sob broke free from her mouth as she curled into Y/n’s warm embrace.

Y/n began to rock them side to side and soothingly rub their hand up and down Wanda’s back. “You’re safe now, let it all out.” Wanda sobbed harder than before, gripping on Y/n’s shirt for dear life. “I’m so sorry all of you had to go through that.” Wanda continued to cry as Y/n continued to speak.

They sat in silence until her sobs died down to sniffles and her eyes had stopped producing as much tears.

Y/n moved to pull away then stopped as Wanda whimpered. “Put your head up for me please.” Wanda complied, sitting up straight with their arms still around each other. “I love you.” Wanda felt another sob building up in her throat. “And I’m so so proud of you.” Another sob broke free but Y/n continued to speak as they wiped away Wanda’s tears. “Today was really hard and you did such a phenomenal job–yes you did.” Y/n reassured as Wanda began shaking her head. “You did a good job because you did your best.”

Wanda pulled away from their embrace, her body immediately felt the rush of cool air surrounding her. “I didn’t even tell Pietro where I was going, I just left and came straight here to you because I just felt so overstimulated and…and broken and scared.” Y/n nodded, holding their palms together. “And I know I did a great job but fuck why did my life have to be this way, I’m still here, I’m still the scared little girl who hid under a bed with her twin brother for 3 days after realizing our parents are gone and dead and…” She felt herself begin to descend into a panic and placed one hand on her chest and the other on her head. “I’m tired. I’m so tired.” She choked out.

Y/n took both Wanda’s hands in their own. “Baby, look at me, hey-” Their eyes met. “I’m right here, okay? Everything is okay now, the team is okay, your brother is okay and you are okay..you’re safe now.” Wanda blinked. Y/n brought Wanda’s hands to their chest and took a deep breath in then a deep breath out and continued this until Wanda began to follow suit.

It took five minutes until the normal color returned to Wanda’s cheeks and blood no longer felt like it was rushing to her ears. Y/n placed their hand on Wanda’s cheek, smiling as the witch sighed out of content. Wanda turned her head and kissed their hand before she spoke.

“Can you show me more of…Westview?” She asked softly while making eye contact.

“Only as long as you promise to move there with me…and also order us a pizza.” Y/n bit their lip and grinned as Wanda giggled.

“I promise.” Wanda took her phone out of her pocket and snuggled into Y/n’s side as the number for their favorite pizza place began to ring. “Extra cheese?” She hummed as Y/n kissed the top of her head.

“Sounds great.” They replied and began to decorate Westview as Wanda ordered them enough food to have leftovers for the next day.

[letthebodyfall]

"Decision"

Masterlist

---

Seconds that felt like hours dragged on as he gaped at her, dumbfounded. To the wandering tourist, she would seem like a harmless woman. Sleek, beautiful, tall, good socializer that talks to and smiles to the nice grandma down the street- surely someone that would do no harm.

But he knew better.

She continued to regard him with those dark onyx eyes, malicious mischief now dancing in them.

He felt his throat swell and his mouth dry.

Surely, she's joking?

But the predatory glint on her eyes said differently.

He opened his mouth but closed it again as his heartbeat rivaled that of a sledgehammer beating against his eardrums.

"Nightshade." It was barely a whisper as she took a step, then another, closing in on his space but never touching.

"You don't have to decide now." Her voice was low, teasing, and for the first time touched his face with her thumb, wiping away some grime underneath his right eye.

Her touch was gentle, deceivingly so, that he had to pull himself back from leaning towards her touch.

Stepping back once again, Nightshade crossed her arms over her chest as she shrugged a shoulder towards the buildings that he forgot she was holding up.

"I'd better get to that if I were you."

---

It's been three weeks and Voltage was stressed.

The villain count rose again and the heroes were barely able to contain them all. Not to mention that they were way more understaffed due to many of the regular heroes are now staying at the hospital for an amount of time due to more serious injuries.

Nightshade was nowhere to be seen, however.

For three whole weeks he never even caught a whiff of her, which he usually had the nose for. It's possible that it was her being considerate of him or her version of playing mind games against him.

Which wasn't working.

Of course not.

Day by day he felt as if the dragging weight of it would drown him. He didn't want to consider it. Surely, surely it was a trap. Of course it was. Of course.

But what if it wasn't?

Would she really give it all up if he decided to marry her?

He shook is head before leaning it against the smooth concrete of the agency break room, eyes half-lidded as he focused on the succulent Carver was trying and failing to care for.

"You good?"

Not moving from his position, his eyes flitted to the left, sighing as the familiar purple of Savillon's suit came into view.

"Still thinking about the proposal?"

"It's not a proposal." He let himself sink lower onto the beat up sofa as it dipped due to Savillon's weight, ungracefully propping his feat up on the worn coffee table. "She couldn't possibly."

"Yeah." He looked at Voltage, grinning at his friend's inner struggle. "If it was from another villain, sure." Tucking bits of blond hair behind his ear, Savillon took a sip from his coffee, absolutely loving this. "She's probably one of the more honest villains we have."

Voltage's mossy green eyes met startling blue and scowled. "So you're telling me to marry her."

"Why not?" Absolutely unaffected from the other hero's grimacing, the blond mirrored the gesture and plonked his feet onto the table, barely holding the weight of two sets of feet. "She's rich. You've been complaining about your shitty apartment. She's hot- Oh don't look at me as if you haven't checked her out. She'd probably be a nice lay-"

"I'm not sleeping with her."

"-and she could lower the crime rate by a lot since more than a quarter of the shitty active villains we have are her extended family."

Voltage rolled his eyes as the blond ignored his interjections, holding the other's gaze with a worse grimace. Savillon just grinned.

"You know I'm right."

Voltage snorted.

---

So maybe he was right.

But Voltage wouldn't admit to that.

He'd have to die first before admitting that that damned Sav had a point.

And die he might if they couldn't find a way to prevent this beast of a man's massive hands from crushing his wind pipe.

With futile attempts at incinerating this massive hulk of a man with increasingly charged up electricity and the loss of consciousness slowly creeping in, it was at times like this that he desperately wished he had super strength. He'd have to make sure to apologize to Boulder later for calling her basic.

If he lived, that is.

Eyes frantically darting left to right, searching, searching for someone available to help. Desperately kicking the man was useless. Everyone was held up. Low level villains poured in waves as pickpockets used this opportunity to score.

Screaming, so much screaming filled his ears as he slowly, slowly lost consciousness.

He was alone.

---

He woke up and realized he was a table.

Like the considerate friends they were, Savillon and Carver lounged on the provided visitor's chairs as if they weren't death traps for the ass as several takeout boxes were haphazardly strewn across his legs.

"-I'm telling you man, it felt like I was floating or some shit."

"Carver, you were probably experiencing food poisoning."

"Nah, man. It was good!"

"Oh please, it was barely edible."

"It was legit though!"

"Carv-"

It took one solid kick from underneath the sheets that Voltage managed to get the two morons' attentions, knocking some empty boxes down to the floor.

Savillon cocked a brow and grinned as Carver crossed her arms before whistling.

"Man, you took a beating." Trying to keep a jolly vibe to her, Voltage could see a flash of worry in her eyes.

"Thanks for getting me out." He was glad his voice wasn't weak, though a bit hoarse. His brows winged when Savillon leaned forward, shrug.

"We weren't the one who got you out. The Twins did."

Images of two adolescents in a modern black and white court jester ensemble flashed in his brain as he frowned. "Nightshade's siblings?"

Sharing a look, Carver and Savillon shrugged.

Emotions swirling in his chest and head, he buried himself further into the bedsheets, closed his eyes.

"I'm gonna marry her."

---------------

Thanks so much to the people that liked the first one! This is just something that I started to destress and it's nice to pick up writing once again. I do start working again soon so parts might take a bit to write.

I usually write in a more detailed fashion than this so this is pretty refreshing for me. I have a lot more ideas for future chapters, and would love to get more! :>

Part 3

Part 4

Masterlist

[ynscrazylife]

Is it cool if u can request a avengers x fem reader where her powers are unique and born with them and she has ice and fire powers? Like half of her body she can control ice and the other half fire? Basically hot and cold lmao? Headlamps would be nice :) maybe some romance between Natasha x reader just cuz I miss her lmao

50% ice, 50% fire, 100% smitten

Summary: Y/N is an Inhuman. Half her body controls fire and half her body controls ice. Y/N doesn’t like to use her fire side out of fear, but when she sees her crush, Natasha, in danger, she’s forced to overcome what she’s scared of.

“Everyone ready for the mission?” Steve asked the Avengers as he boarded the jet. They were all preparing to go out and kick some ass.

“Yes”’s went around.

Y/N leaned against the wall, fixing her suit. The mission was simple enough. They were infiltrating an old Hydra base. They had gotten an anonymous tip that SHIELD files had been stored there. Phil Coulson (we’re pretending that they know he’s alive) had called, asking the Avengers to investigate as the files were reportily very important for Hydra’s plans and could compromise SHIELD’s safety. Phil was too busy with other problems, so the Avengers jumped to help out in anyway they could.

However, they had to take cautions. Even though it looked like it was abandoned, they doubted that anyone would likely leave these important files without protection. Which is why Avengers were going together, not quite knowing what Hydra agents were up to now.

“All set,” Y/N said, glancing up after she finished checking that everything in her suit was good. She gave a thumbs up to Cap as she watched Clint settle himself at the pilot.

Y/N situated herself in-between Natasha and Wanda.

“You excited, little snowman?” Sam asked as he sat next to Bruce and Steve.

Y/N rolled her eyes. The team loved to come up with new nicknames for her with her powers. Humoring Sam, she waved her hand and creating a flurry of snow that floated.

Steve grinned. “You know you can’t defeat Hydra agents with a snow flurry?” He joked.

Y/N bit her lip and sent an icicle at Steve, stopping just before it impaled his nose.

“Note to self: do not piss off Y/N,” Natasha said, making her heart flutter.

Y/N glanced over at Natasha, smiling. “Clint, can you go any faster? They’re tearing into me over here!” She called.

“Hey! That’s my job!” Tony called back from beside Clint.

Wanda slung an arm around Y/N, ruffling her hair. “Just joking, little one,” she said.

“I’m older than you!” Y/N argued.

“Tomato tomato,” Wanda said.

Ten more minutes of joking around and Clint landed, a couple blocks away from the base.

“Y/N, Sam, you’re gonna go in the base from the back entrance. Nat, cover the roof. Be ready to slip inside when Bruce locates where the files are. I will wait and cover the blocks, and will come back you up. Wanda and Tony will go directly through the front entrance and then Bruce, you stay here and monitor. I’ll let you know if we need the Hulk,” Steve told everyone.

“I’m not detecting any heat signatures. It seems like no one is there - but still, be on guard,” Bruce advised everyone.

Everyone nodded and split up.

“So,” Sam said as they walked around the building. “You like Nat, don’t you?”

“What?” Y/N asked, trying to play it off with a laugh. Seeing Sam’s smirk, she gave in. “How’d you know?”

“Despite popular belief, I notice things,” Sam said.

Y/N smirked.

“You should ask her out,” Sam whispered.

Y/N pushed his shoulder jokingly.

As they got closer to the entrance, they both stopped in their tracks. About a dozen Hydra agents stood in front of them. Waiting for them.

That’s when Cap’s voice rang through.

“They masked their heat signatures. There aren’t any files. There were files here - but they’re ambushing us now to distract us and get away,” Steve’s voice rang through.

“What do we do?” Y/N asked.

“Wanda, Bruce, and Tony are gonna go after the people escaping with the files. The rest of you - fight,” Steve ordered.

With a glance at Sam, the two began.

Y/N shot icicle after icicle, trying to trap as many Hydra agents as she could. Sam was doing well, and they almost had everyone knocked out, until someone managed to knock Sam out.

“No!” Y/N yelled. She thought quickly, and saw one agent moving towards Sam. Y/N, knowing she could take on the rest, put up an ice shield around Sam’s unconscious form.

However - she quickly realized that was a distraction when an Hydra agent shot two weapons at her. One was a weapon that sent out a burning flare at her ice side, as ice and fire didn’t mix well, and one was an ice flare gun that shot at her fire side. This made Y/N scream and stumble back in pain, after securing the ice shield around Sam. It gave one of the Hydra agents with powers an opportunity to make a ton of rubble crash down.

The Hydra agents grinned as they saw the rubble cover Y/N. She was knocked out, face first into the ground, and buried. The rubble was trapping one of her arms - the arm that could control ice. The agents ran away, knowing they could go after the other Avengers and when they’d come back, she’d still be here. With their plan, no Avenger would have time to come to her rescue. They ran away.

A couple minutes later, Y/N came back to consciousness. She groaned, spitting out dirt, and yelled when she felt the pain again. Y/N saw that her fire controlling arm was freed, but her ice was trapped.

Y/N thought. She couldn’t set fire to the rubble - that would hurt her even more. She was trapped, and her comms were knocked off. Y/N looked around for anyone to help. Sam was still knocked out but . . . The roof. Natasha. She looked up, trying to find the redhead.

What she saw crushed her (pun not intended). From what Y/N could tell, Natasha was fighting off about twice the Hydra agents she and Sam had. She was confident in Natasha as she was highly trained, but if Hydra had something up their sleeve like that they did to Y/N . . .

“NO!” Y/N yelled, seeing Natasha slip off the roof and fall. A Hydra agent caught her, though, and she saw his evil smile. He was going to drop Natasha. And Natasha was gonna fall.

She wouldn’t survive that height.

Y/N saw Natasha take hold of the roof with her other hand, so she wasn’t just hanging on from the Agent. However if he pushed her off, Natasha holding the roof wouldn’t do any good.

Y/N glanced down at her freed hand. She couldn’t do it. She was too scared to use her powers. She didn’t want to. She never did. It was too dangerous, too risky . . . But now she had no choice.

“NATASHA!” Y/N yelled. The Hydra agent was too prideful just to drop her - he had to get a view snarky comments in. “HOLD ON!” Y/N pointed to Natasha’s right hand, trying to indicate that she was going to save her. The spy seemed to get the message.

Taking a breath, Y/N conjured a hall of fire - it would hurt the agent, but not too badly and threw it up at him. Natasha ducked, and it hit him. The agent flew back, and Natasha held on from the roof. She scaled the building until she found an open window, slipping through it.

A couple minutes later and Natasha was practically running towards Y/N. “Oh my god,” she said, and Y/N smiled weakly at her. Natasha immediately began getting the rubble off of her, apologizing when Y/N would gasp in pain.

Finally, Natasha got enough off that Y/N could move without pain and get up. Natasha helped Y/N stand up, and she stumbled into the spy. Without warning, Natasha picked Y/N up, carrying her birdal style.

“Natasha,” Y/N groaned, leaning her head on Natasha’s shoulder. Her left arm, the fire ice, dangled limply as did the rest of her, essentially. She just had the amount of strength able to wrap her right arm around Natasha’s neck.

“Y/N, I’m carrying you. You’re heart,” she said firmly.

“No,” Y/N said quietly. “Sam.”

Natasha turned around, seeing their teammate’s body encased in the shield. She frowned. “You’re gonna need to melt that, Y/N. I’m sorry,” she said, knowing the pain it would cause.

Y/N took some breaths and let out a small cry of pain as she just about managed to melt the ice. Her left arm fell limp again.

“Someone else from the team will get him,” Natasha said, beginning to carry Y/N back to the jet.

“Why not you, after you get me back?” Y/N asked.

“I’m staying with you. Not only did you save my life - thank you, by the way - but I care about you,” Natasha said.

When they got back to the jet, they saw that everyone else - save Sam, of course - was back.

“Oh my god,” Steve said, paling.

“A bunch of rubble fell on her. She saved my life. Someone get Sam - he’s behind the building,” Natasha explained shortly.

Clint went to go grab him while Bruce directed Natasha to the back of the jet, where a medical table and a first aid kit was. Natasha laid Y/N, who had now passed out, on the table.

“You said a lot of rubble fell on her?” Bruce asked, opening up the first aid kit.

Natasha nodded. “I don’t think it was an accident. She was trapped underneath the rubble - save her fire power arm which she used to save me,” she explained.

“Friday, can you scan Y/N and give me a list of her injuries?” Bruce asked before turning back to his friend. “Did you get hurt?”

Natasha shook her head. “Bruises, but otherwise no. Is everyone else okay?” She asked, but never took her eyes off Y/N.

Bruce nodded. “Yeah. No major injuries,” he said.

Friday’s scan came back. In short, she had a broken arm, broken ankle, a stomach wound, concussion, dislocated shoulder, and a broken thighbone. She also had many bruises and cuts which were at risk of being infected.

Bruce cursed under his breath and got to work. “This is gonna take a couple hours. You should get some rest,” he told Natasha, seeing that her concern had grown.

“No,” Natasha said.

“Would she want you watching over her?” Bruce asked.

Natasha glared at him.

The next morning, Y/N woke up. She found herself on lots of painkillers and she was lying in a bed, her own bed. Looking around, she saw Natasha sitting in an armchair, reading a book.

“You’re awake,” Natasha said with a smile, dropping her book and sitting next to Y/N. “You’re going to need a lot of rest and I’ll be your doctor. How are you feeling?” She smiled.

Instead of answering that, Y/N asked her own question. “Why do you want to take care of me so bad?”

“I owe you. You saved me.”

An eyebrow raise showed that Y/N didn’t believe her. “Please don’t lie.”

“Only cause you’re injured,” Natasha said, with a smirk. “However . . . I like you. You’re cute. And I care for you. Also . . . Steve won’t let me go after the Hydra agents who hurt you and kick their asses.”

Y/N smiled. “Well, it’s a good thing that I like you, too,” she said.

[forgottenpasta]

Dulce Periculum Pt. 1

Summary: Devious and devilish, your two new impish hybrids never miss a chance to torment you for your hopeless attraction to them, knowing exactly what they do to you. But is sly sexuality and enigmatic allure all there is to the tiger and wolf hybrid, or do the depths of their eyes hide something more for you? Part 1/2.

Genre: Smut, Angst, Fluff

Word Count: 7.2k

Pairings: Tiger Hybrid!Taehyung x Reader X Wolf Hybrid!Jeongguk

Warnings: Taehyung and Jeongguk have no shame, arrogance galore, filthy smut in part 2, swearing, mentions of blood, mild violence, anime style nosebleeds.

Part 1 | Part 2 (complete)

A/n: Enjoy!

****

The sickening sound of Jeongguk’s foot connecting  with the bear hybrid’s face in what was a flawless display of a spinning wheel kick made you flinch in your seat. The crunch of bones breaking could be heard by even your inferior human ears. The hulking bear hybrid went down like a sack of potatoes, hitting the hard floor of the ring with a dull thud.

Jeongguk huffed out a laugh as he assumed a neutral position, wiping a hand down his sweat soaked washboard abs as he smirked down at the hybrid who was clutching his jaw with both his hands. “I thought bears were supposed to be aggressive in the ring and shit. You fight like a pussy.”

The man on the floor groaned in pain and anger, but try as he might he couldn’t get up, the rivulets of blood dripping down his nose, staining his hands and white of the ring floor indication enough of the result of the fight, but just so it was clear enough the bear hybrid tapped out nonetheless.

Jeongguk rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath to control his laboured breathing. “Put a band-aid on it and stop whining. It’ll be back to normal by tomorrow.”

“Does he really have to do that?”, you mused out loud from where you sat on the bench beside the fighting rings. You watched Jeongguk help the hybrid stand up. “I get that he’s the trainer, the teacher and all that but still. His words make me feel like a pathetic fighter and I’m not even in the ring with him.”

You hadn’t really expected a response from your bench co-occupant, seeing as ignoring you was the norm with the tiger hybrid, hence the snort startled you into turning your head to stare at him.

“That’s because you are a pathetic fighter.” Taehyung  didn’t look at you, busy scrolling through his twitter feed on his phone.

Despite your resolve, which you had tried so hard to harden ever since the two insanely attractive hybrids had come into your life, you found yourself sighing. And it wasn’t a frustrated sigh either, as it should have been considering his totally unwarranted barb about your non-existent fighting skills, it was the dreamy kind. You didn’t understand how he made slouching on a bench,  bored out of his mind while staring blankly at his phone look like a cover spread straight out of a bougie magazine. He unintentionally modelled every little thing he did, like right now you could take a picture of him and photoshop an ad of the device in his hand and no one would blink an eye. You could understand why so many brands clamoured to get him to model for them, though he was particularly picky and selective about who to lend his divinely handsome face to.

“Thanks, Tae.”, you replied, because what did you say to that really? You were always hard pressed to come up with a clever response whenever one of them were in close proximity to you. You swore up and down you were a quick witted person when your two new hybrids weren’t there to cloud your confidence with their sex-on-legs charm and mysterious aura.

“Don’t mention it, Owner. I’m always here to offer you some encouraging words.”, Taehyung muttered with a straight face, his striped tail swishing languidly beside him.

A shiver ran through you, even though the temperature in the gym was completely normal.

Owner. You had told them countless times to call you by your name ever since they came into your life three weeks ago, but every time you did they just smiled at you and went right back to calling you owner. You were convinced they got their kicks off watching you turn red or sputter or stumble all over yourself whenever one of them uttered the word. They knew what effect it had on you and they revelled in it.

You were about to ask him for the nth time not to call you that when the brownish orange ears atop his head twitched and he looked up. You followed suit, making eye contact with your wolf hybrid sauntering towards the two of you with a lazy grin on his face.

Shirtless. Sweatpants riding low. Underwear band showing above the top of the waistband of his sweats. Long hair wet from a shower. Fuck.

From the amused expression on Taehyung’s face you knew he could hear your thundering heartbeat.

“Don’t go getting a heart attack now, Owner. Who’s gonna feed us if we lose you?”

Jeongguk took that moment to reach the two of you. “Who’s getting a heart attack?”, he asked, pulling out a towel from his duffel bag beside the bench and towel drying his hair with it in that way guys did that should not look hot but did.

“No one. Are you ready to go?”, you diverted the conversation, willingly breathing deeply to tame your heartbeat. You did not need their ribbing over your obvious attraction to them right now.

“Yeah, just need to clock out for the weekend. Then we’re driving down to Lean Raw to have lunch.”, Jeongguk informed, chuckling when you made a face at the suggestion. The restaurant he was talking about only served tasteless “healthy food”, no sight of grease or artery-choking deliciousness anywhere.

“We went there last Friday as well.”, you complained under your breath, getting up to follow both of them out of the gym, trying not to stare at Jeongguk’s flexing back muscles as he pulled on a white T-shirt that might as well be see-through, his sleek yet fluffy dark grey wolf tail swaying gracefully behind him.

Jeongguk turned back and you quickly averted your eyes, feigning immense interest in the potted plants lining the gym’s exit.

“You should thank me then. I’m making you eat healthy at least once a week.”

“I eat fine. Not my fault normal is not upto your standards.”, you mumbled as you all reached his black Mercedes parked in the small parking lot for gym employees.

“If you consider subway sandwiches and Chinese takeout six days a week normal, Owner, then you’re asking for that heart attack you were about to get back in there.”, he quipped, winking at Taehyung when the elder hybrid’s amusement broke for a laugh at the stricken look on your face.  

You hurried to duck inside the car, going for the spacious backseat because they never let you drive when one of them were with you, even when you insisted to take your own humble and ancient Honda Accord. Taehyung got in the passenger seat and Jeonnguk in the driver’s, smoothly pulling out onto the road.

Seeing you three together the way you were, it was hard to figure out whether you owned the hybrids or if it was the other way round. People never believed you when you told them the two luxurious, predator hybrids were yours. And they wouldn’t have been had your great-aunt, who remained unmarried throughout her life and amassed a considerable wealth writing books about hybrids, had not unexpectedly died by slipping in her apartment-sized bathroom and breaking her head open on the corner of a marble countertop. Even more unexpectedly, she had willed the two hybrids that she had raised since they were teenagers to you of all people and all her wealth to them. You often thought that she must have had no idea that she’d die so suddenly and unexpectedly, because her will have to have been an interim joke while she figured out exactly who to actually give responsibility of her hybrids to in case of her death.

Or maybe she thought you were the only one who’d not try to extort the wealth she had endowed on her two “kids”. Technically, hybrid inheritance and property laws still prohibited ownership of property by hybrids if their owner hadn’t sanctioned it or gifted it to them, and in the eyes of law everything that belonged to the hybrids belonged to their owners as well. In your opinion, it was well past time such medieval and discriminatory laws were repealed but it didn’t matter anyway because your timid, tongue-tied self was incapable of extorting even an unwilling apology or “thank you” from the two spoiled hybrids, let alone their money.

Maybe your great-aunt was a genius. She knew exactly who would never be willing or able to curb her hybrids’ freedom.

“You guys are so mean.”, you pouted, looking out the window at the slow-passing buildings and dramatically leaning your head against the glass like you were a pitiful, wronged protagonist of an angsty movie.

“You’re just so prone to even a little bit of teasing, Owner. You get all nervous and fidgety, it’s honestly so funny to watch.”, Jeongguk supplied helpfully.

You rolled your eyes. “Glad I could entertain, but stop calling me owner, please. Just call me ___.”

Taehyung smirked at you from the review mirror. “As you wish, Owner.”

Giving up with a huff, you slipped in your earbuds to effectively shut out their teasing and showcase your disgruntlement. The name was an irony at this point, an oxymoron, because you anything but owned them. They had known what effect they had on you from the moment you’d first met them in your great-aunt’s lawyer’s office. You’d given away all your cards from the first meting like the inexperienced, naive idiot you were. You’d toppled over the carpet because you were staring at Taehyung instead of watching where you were going, signed the wrong documents because Jeongguk had flashed a smile your way and literally broken the glass of the table with a jerk of your knee when you’d felt Jeongguk’s hand accidentally brush your denim covered thigh. Even the lawyer tried to cover up his laughter with coughs and sympathetic looks towards you. In short you had been a rambling, awkward mess at the thought of two of the sexiest men/hybrids you’d ever seen living with you and that day had been marked as the most humiliating one in your life, one you’d likely reminisce for years to come whenever you couldn’t sleep late at night and your brain started playing the movie of all the embarrassing moments of your life. And it would be a long one, because even after three weeks living with them you continued to make a fool out of yourself at every reminder of how out of your league they were and how bad of a crush you had on them.

Even though you had earbuds in, you weren’t actually listening to music, too preoccupied with thoughts of your lameness to press play. You could hear everything when Taehyung and Jeongguk started talking.

“You helping me with the shoot tommorow?”, Taehyung asked him. He had a photoshoot for a luxury watch brand coming up which was going to be featured on multiple billboards and magazines. You always did a double take when you spotted Taehyung’s face around the city, on banners, screens and subway ads, had a hard time believing the same man slept across the hall from you.

“Nah, hyung. Jackson asked me to help him out at the club downtown, one of his bouncers quit recently and you know how the weekend rush is.”

Taehyung chuffed in disappointment, the sound so tiger-like you almost smiled. He couldn’t purr like small cat hybrids could, but his chuffs were so damn adorable it didn’t matter.

“Why don’t you take Owner with you?”, Jeongguk suggested, a small tilt to his lips indicating he was joking. Maybe. Nevertheless you shrunk down in your seat to make yourself as small as possible. You did NOT want to go to one of Taehyung’s photoshoots, for many reasons but mainly because you knew what seeing him in his element would do to you and you had clowned yourself enough to last a life time.

Taehyung frowned, running his long, slender fingers over his bottom lip in contemplation. “I would but I don’t want her to get nosebleeds watching me pose for the camera.”

Death. You wanted it.

Staring wide-eyes at your lap you willed spontaneous combustion to incinerate you right then and there. The nerve of him! He was so fucking arrogant but so fucking…spot on, and he said it with such quiet resignation too, like it was the truth of the matter universally accepted that you would, in fact, get nosebleeds watching him pose. But still, was humility not in fashion anymore? You had half a mind to connect your bluetooth to Jeongguk’s car and blast Humble by Kendrick Lamar.

Jeongguk laughed. “You are a smug motherfucker.”

Taehyung was affronted, he shot the wolf a glare. “That’s ‘You are a smug motherfucker, hyung’ to you, brat. Besides, you have no room to talk after that shirtless, just out-of-the-shower thing you pulled on her back there. You knew what you were doing.”

Jeongguk shrugged shamelessly. “Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy that as much as I did.”

Enough.

“I can hear you two animals.”, you said hotly, glaring at them as you crossed your arms across your chest.Jeongguk snorted.

“Animals? Thats what the playground bully called me in kindergarten. You gotta come up with something better than that, Owner.”

Taehyung peeked back at you with mischievous eyes, a playful smile on his face. “Aww, Owner, we knew you could hear us. There’s no music playing in those.” He pointed to the earphones you clutched close to your chest. Of course, how could you forget their superior hearing that just outed you in the gym as well. The pissed off glare you’d aimed at him faltered when you noticed his gaze linger on your chest for a second too long but his eyes were back to yours before you could say anything.

“I would love to take you to the shoot with me, you know. Nosebleeds or not.”

His eyes went hooded and his voice dropped an octave lower than it already was, his baritone rich and deep and sensuous. You stilled, involuntarily bracing for whatever he was about to say.

“I would love to let people know who owns me.”

********

Snatching a pristine white paper napkin from the holder, you stuffed it up your nostril, letting it hang from there as you smacked away Taehyung’s hands when he tried to help you.

“You have to tilt your head Owner or the bleeding won’t stop easily.”, he whined, trying to grab your head to make you tilt it. You shrugged him off.

“I don’t need to listen to you. You should be able to see what you did to me.”

“Flawless logic, Owner.”, Jeongguk snickered from where he sat across the two of you. Taehyung had immediately claimed the seat beside you upon entering the restaurant, hovering to make sure you were alright. Jeongguk had also tried to approach you with his hands outstretched but a glare from you had him sitting where he was now.

Taehyung sighed, leaning back in his seat to give you a look of concern but finally leaving you alone. “I was just joking. I had no clue that would happen.”

You didn’t want to talk about yet another one of your now infamous daily embarrassments, not having the willpower to confront your failings at the moment. You changed the subject. “Can we order please? I’m starving.”

Jeongguk signalled for a waitress but kept his eyes on you, a frown coming on to his beautiful features. “Did you skip breakfast again? I made you an omelette and cut up some fruits before leaving for work in the morning.”

“Oh did you?”, you asked sardonically, raising your brows and turning to look pointedly at your tiger hybrid. “I didn’t happen to find it.”

A guilty look crossed Taehyung’s face immediately, his orange and black ears almost folding over on his head. He rushed to explain himself. “I didn’t know it was for her! In my defence I offered to make her some pancakes to compensate but she refused. I did manage to get some cereal in her though.”

You were already speaking before Jeongguk could impart another one of his healthy eating lectures on you. “I was getting late to meet my friend, I didn’t have time to eat.”

The wolf hybrid shook his head in disappointment, making you feel strangely guilty. You were an adult dammit, you didn’t need to explain your eating habits to your own hybrid.

Thankfully the waitress took that moment to come take your order, saving you from any more chastisement from the hunk of muscle and soft fur sitting across from you. But a look towards the cute blonde standing beside your table, bending down low to show her modest cleavage, smiling at your hybrids like she was a kid in a candy store (or a waitress who’d just won the hot customer table lottery), had your mood tumbling right back down in the gutter.

It really shouldn’t have, you should be used to this by now. People, women and men, stared at your hybrids wherever they went, you had first hand witnessed a woman run into a pole whilst almost turning her head 180 degrees to keep staring at Taehyung and Jeongguk. You didn’t blame them, they were a hard pair to ignore. Especially when they were together, they oozed a confidence and charisma so magnetic that along with their otherworldly attractiveness, it tended to leave the people around them slack jawed, awed and/or jealous. But the most befuddling part was that they didn’t have to do anything for it except be themselves. If they noticed the attention on them, they were either used to it or consciously ignored it because you’d never witnessed them giving a fuck about what others thought about them or saw them as, and that just added to their charm even more.

Like now. They were doing nothing out of the ordinary but a sweeping glance around you informed you that almost all women and some men seated inside the healthy-crap selling establishment were either blatantly staring at them or trying to steal glances in between conversation and eating. They turned heads wherever they went, this was nothing new. So why did you feel a headache oncoming?

“Hi, my name is Lea. What can I get you boys?”, the waitress chirped, her million watt smile illuminating your table and worsening your headache.

You sighed in resignation, not at all surprised by your exclusion in her greeting. Whenever you were with your two hybrids, you might as well be thin air, except that one time when that pre-pubescent kid in the park had asked you if you were their maid.  

Jeongguk smiled at her, and you swore even you could hear her heartbeat double up. “Just water, while we decide please. Thank you.”

“Of course.” She wrote something on her notepad, making you scowl. Did she really need to remember something as simple as water? You saw her surreptitiously glance at Taehyung as she made to leave, and apparently the tiger hybrid noticed too, a smirk curling on his lips before he shot her a wink. The waitress stumbled over nothing, almost face planting in someone’s food. Felt good to not be the only one making a fool of herself over the two men. You ignored the irrational irritation simmering deep in you at the sight of one of them semi-flirting with a woman.

They were very respectful towards your home space in terms of never bringing anyone home for the night, even though you hadn’t said anything to the effect, but you were hundred percent sure they more than got their needs fulfilled without you ever coming to know of their escapades, it was impossible that they didn’t, looking the way they did and the sheer number of propositions they got on a daily basis.

You snapped open your menu in search of the least healthy option available when Taehyung addressed you.

“I wasn’t joking about you coming with me to the shoot, you know.”

When you said nothing, he grumbled out, “Owner, I’m talking to you. You look absolutely ridiculous with that napkin stuffed up your nose by the way.”

You gave him the stink eye, ignoring his last quip. “Why do you want me there? You always have your agent and staff with you.”

Jeongguk answered for him, leaning back to rest his arm across the back of the bench in a way that did wonders for his biceps and had you momentarily distracted. “He gets restless when he’s around strangers for a long time. Ideally hyung can manage it but during long shoots it helps when someone he has scented accompanies him.”

“Scented?” You frowned, not understanding. Your knowledge of hybrids was embarrassingly scant and whatever you knew about their behaviours had been acquired in the last three weeks of living with the two.

Jeongguk looked at you, surprised, before sharing a look with Taehyung that you couldn’t quite comprehend. “Um…”

“If you’re worried about getting more nosebleeds, you don’t need to. You can stay in the trailer during the whole thing and I can come get you when I need you.” Taehyung cut off whatever Jeongguk was about to say, speaking to you in a tone that bordered on placating. Pitying.

The mercury was rising on your temper thermometer. One thing you absolutely hated was being pitied. It was bad enough that they knew how you felt about them, how helplessly attracted you were to them. You could even excuse their teasing words and occasional jokes at your expense. But pity, you could not take. An idea formed in your head as you sat there stewing in your vexed emotions.

“No, thank you.”, you snapped, a little more crassly than you perhaps should have but Taehyung’s surprised face was worth it. You normally never spoke in anything but a diffident manner. “I have plans this weekend.”

A frown replaced his surprise rather quickly. “What plans? You didn’t say anything about any plans.”

“You normally stay at home during weekends to read those steamy books you love so much.”, Jeongguk added, looking at you with curiosity. At your shocked face he smiled crookedly and felt the need to further elaborate. “You know the ones with the ripped dudes on the cover.”

You sucked on your tongue, internally enraged but forcing yourself to not react and rise up to his bait. Anger and embarrassment were not a good combination for you, so when you spoke your voice was sharp enough to cut. “How would you know what I “normally” do on weekends? You two have only been living with me three weeks. Don’t presume that you know the first thing about me.“

It was Jeongguk’s turn to look surprised, likely because you’d never spoken to them that way. He shared a glance with Taehyung and because you weren’t looking at him you missed the “tone it down” gesture he made to the younger with his hand and Jeongguk’s subtle nod to it.

The wolf hybrid slowly reached across the table and picked up your hand. Looking contrite, he apologised. “I’m sorry, Owner. You’re absolutely right. I spoke out of turn. Will you please tell us what are your plans for this weekend?”

You almost answered them but the words stalled in your throat when a thought occurred. “Why do you guys want to know?”

Jeongguk looked like he was at a loss for a second. Smoothly, Taehyung picked up your question, saving the younger from coming up with an appropriate excuse. “For security, Owner. We just want to know you’ll be safe. Can you really begrudge us your mere whereabouts when we’ve recently lost our previous owner so easily?”

He knew he was being underhanded playing the dead owner card, but Taehyung had never been one for propriety.

As expected your eyes softened at the mention of your deceased Aunt. You shrugged, giving in. “I’m gonna go clubbing with some friends.”

The truth was you hadn’t been out partying in a long while, hadn’t had an orgasm given to you by someone else in even longer and you felt that this painful attraction to your two hybrids might just be more exasperating because of these factors. A night of drinking, dancing and maybe a good lay just might help. Or not. But you had to try and get over your unrequited crush over your hybrids, who were way out of your league.

Lost in your thoughts, you didn’t notice how the they had suddenly straightened to give you all of their attention, until Jeongguk broke the silence with a bark. “Who?”

You raised your brows.

He cleared his throat, voice calmer when he repeated. “Who? That girl who works under you? What’s her name? Mary, Maddie, err, Maggie? I can’t remember.”

“My assistant, Masie? Ugh, no. Just some people I’ve been friends with since college I guess.”

They frowned at your vague answer but before they could question you further the waitress returned, a suspicious new sheen of bright red lipstick on her lips which wasn’t there before. Taehyung noticed you roll your eyes at her, making him smile secretively.

Jeongguk turned on his charm on her, something you’d noticed he couldn’t help but do with people,  but you were hundred percent certain what he presented was a front. Like a computer which produced the same output every time you give the same command, no matter who gave it. You could shuffle his interactions with strangers interested in him with each other, and it wouldn’t make any difference. They all fell for it hook, line and sinker.But you didn’t feel like watching him make the poor girl more flustered than she already was today.

You turned your gaze to the menu, tuning out the sound of the waitress going on an in-detail spiel about her favourite dishes available when Jeongguk was gonna order the same thing he did last time.

Taehyung’s shoulder nudged you softly, and you looked up to see his soft smile directed at you. It disarmed you for a second.

He leaned down to whisper in your ear, making you shiver slightly. “Do introduce us to your friends.”

You promptly glanced back at the menu. Hell, no.

********

The next day you found your luck shining on you. Three flyers for a downtown club named Lithium which was offering free drinks for the code printed on them, were stuffed in your mailbox along with other junk.  As usual, when it came to actually going through with your plans you had been dithering, both laziness and your mild agoraphobia making a simple task such as going out with some friends seem like a herculean effort. As if the huge amount of money you’d spent on getting therapy for your anxiety wasn’t reason enough to enjoy your better state of mind once in a while.

You messaged some of your friends, the ones you knew were unlikely to turn down an offer of drinking and partying. Your college friends Naeun and Sooyoung accepted immediately. Giddy with excitement, you spent your day flitting about the house and pampering yourself with every skin care product you owned and scrubbing and waxing yourself down to a polish, not one prickly hair in sight.

It helped that Taehyung was out for his shoot and Jeongguk was out doing god knows what, it’s not like you pried into their lives. Even though it was the more heedful thing to do to know about their whereabouts because if hybrids got into trouble with the authorities out on their own, nobody could save them except their owners. You felt a little relieved that they were prudent enough to wear their collars whenever they were out on their own, though Taehyung wore his wrapped around his wrist like a bracelet.

At the thought of Taehyung you stopped rummaging your closet to rub your chin in contemplation and a little guilt. You could swear he was pouting when he left home this morning for work, looking at you out of the corner of his eyes when it became absolutely apparent that you would not accompany him to the shoot. You also remembered Jeongguk’s soft murmer of appreciation because you’d woken up early to make him breakfast just how he liked, he’d touched your waist lightly while doing so, making you almost drop your plate.

Sighing you glanced back at your closet, your gaze flitting to the deep blue number you’d bought on impulse but never worn. You didn’t feel like you had the confidence to carry risqué clothing, so your more revealing purchases almost always remained untouched in your closet. But you still remembered the happenings of yesterday, you would not pity yourself like they did. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? Ending up looking like a literal clown was better than making a fool of yourself every other day. You pulled out the deep blue halter dress that moulded to your curves like a second skin and ended at mid-thigh.  

Sooyoung and Naeun brought a bottle of vodka for little prep drinking before you went out. Naeun looked absolutely gorgeous in her slinky black dress and sky-high heels, towering over you as she hugged you. Sooyoung was dressed like she was going to a bdsm club. She was pushing past you to get to the kitchen and pulling out shot glasses before you could even say a word in greeting to her. Naeun and you followed her.

“So who are we getting over?”, Naeun chirped as she grabbed her shot.

“What do you mean?”, you asked nonchalantly, cutting up a melon and getting some salt.

You could feel Naeun stare even though you weren’t looking at her.

“You don’t fool us, ___, we’ve known you since college. You would never willingly go out unless it was absolutely imperative. You’re clearly looking for a distraction.”, Sooyoung gave you a knowing look before downing her first shot like it was water and she a fish.

You laughed, but even to your own ears the sound came out as awkward. “Can’t a girl just let loose with her friends once in a while just for the heck of it.”

Sooyoung exchanged a troubled glance with Naeun, the action reminding you of the subtle glances your two hybrids often exchange with one other, instantly putting a damper on your mood. You were sick of feeling like the butt of some inside joke you were never privy to.

Sooyoung saw your scowl and touched your hand.“We just meant it is unlike you. Even once in a while.”, she assured while reaching for the bottle.Naeun narrowed her eyes at you, making you go tense.

Ever the straightforward one, she never minced her words. She had a reputation for reducing many a guy and girl to tears with her honesty, including you. “I’m sure its got nothing to do with the two hybrids you now own. I saw the pictures in the living room by the way, they’re certainly a sight for sore eyes. Did you fuck them yet?”

You should have expected it but her crass words made you immediately defensive anyhow. “What?! No! I don’t- it’s not like that between us.”

“Between you and them or between them and you?”

“What the fuck does that even mean?” You downed your shot then, already itching to get out there and forget everything happening in your life.

Sooyoung answered for Naeun. “What she means, in Naeun-speak, is if it’s you who wants to keep it “not like that” or them? What’s the tea? C’mon tell us. ”, she imitated your voice, sounding way more annoying than you did. You hoped.

You rolled your eyes on an exasperated sigh. “You guys are looking for “tea” where there is not even a drop of water.”

Naeun pretended to check her one inch glittery gold fake nails. “If that’s so, you don’t mind me asking for their numbers right? It’s been a long time since I’ve been the filling in a sexy hybrid sandwich.”

After a few seconds of you staring at your two friends wide-eyed and them looking at you expectantly, you threw in the towel. “No, I’m not gonna give you their numbers. Can we go already?”

“Sure.”, Sooyoung got up, swinging an arm around your shoulder as she led you to the front door. Naeun followed behind with a smug expression you wanted to slap off. “We’re gonna get you a good lay and you’re gonna forget all about them. Good dick is good dick, no matter where it comes from.”

You made a face. “There’s so much wrong with that sentence.”

******** Club Lithium was jam packed, the weekend crowd clearly evidenced in the long queue of dressed up people that had greeted you outside. You had fully expected to wait outside till your toes went numb in the blue suede pumps you had selected to go along with your dress, but seeing you three approaching the entrance, a bouncer had broken away from his guard at the door to tell you about the random selection for entrants they were doing from people in the line. Which was odd because you hadn’t even joined the queue yet.

You eyed his suspiciously but Sooyoung was jumping at the chance before you could second guess anything, expressing gratitude by bounding upto him to clutch his bicep as he led you all inside.

“I think the girls are doing their job.”, Naeun observed, adjusting her cleavage for maximum potential. You laughed as you entered the club, darkness surrounding you immediately as strobe lights in red and blue occasionally flashed and gave you a glimpse of a crowded dance floor and a bar spanning the entire left side of the club. The mix of bass and thrumming drum beats was already making you itch to move to the rhythm even with just one shot in your system.

You absolutely loved to dance. It didn’t matter that you weren’t all that good at it, you could dance to anything and everything, even silence when you were alone in your apartment with an imaginary song playing in your head. Even if you didn’t find anybody to go home with today, if you were able to dance till your feet hurt you’d consider it a successful night out. Your friends knew this.

Sooyoung took your hand to drag you to the bar, shouting over the music. “Let’s get more shots so we can dance already.”

An adorable looking cat hybrid was manning the bar. His fluffy tail flicked as you signalled for his attention, a wide smile immediately coming on to his face as he greeted you. “My name is Yoongi. What can I get you guys?”

As Sooyoung answered him, you couldn’t help but stare meanwhile. He really was adorable. White tail and ears and a head full of platinum hair, he looked unreal. His black collar shone with a big circle cut diamond hanging from the centre. He was clearly much appreciated by his owner. You wondered if you could get away with gifting something like that to your hybrids. As much as they called you owner, you never got an inkling that they truly acknowledged your ownership enough to accept a symbol of it from you. You didn’t want to step on any toes.

“You look a little lost.” Yoongi’s voice made you snap your gaze to him. He slid your drink towards you.

You downed the shot as quickly as you could before answering him. “Just thinking about my hybrids.”

Yoongi didn’t look surprised, though he leaned his elbows on the bar top in curiosity. “What kind of hybrids do you own? I’m my owner’s only hybrid, I can’t imagine having to share his attention with another.”

“Tiger and wolf.”

Yoongi wrinkled his nose, looking even cuter if that was possible. “Wild predators. We got a wolf h—“

A cheery voice cut him off as a handsome man came down the other side towards Yoongi to fluff up his hair. “I hope you’re not getting distracted again, Yoongi.”

Yoongi huffed as he swatted away his hand. “I’m not. I’m just talking to the customers, Jackson.”

Jackson reached for his hair again, smiling deviously, making the hybrid duck away to escape. You tilted your head, a small smile on your face. What would happen if you made to ruffle Taehyung or Jeongguk’s hair? You had a sudden inexplicable urge to find out.

Leaving the bar you joined your friends on the dance floor. Hip thrusting and body rolling your heart out to the hip hop and EDM fusion beat. As the night progressed, you downed three more shots, thoroughly tipsy when Naeun grabbed you from behind for a less than platonic dance with her, grinding on each other and making many men on the dance floor drool over the sight of you two.

After your sixth shot, you were officially gone to the world as you moved on the dance floor. When an unfamiliar pair of hands snaked around your waist, you didn’t do anything to stop them, didn’t even turn around when a distinctively male, unfamiliar voice whispered in your ear from behind.

“You’re so fucking ho—hghk.” And just like that the hands disappeared and the presence gone from behind in a rush of air.

“Huh?” Slightly confused but the alcohol in your system muddling your intelligence, you made to look over your shoulder but another pair of muscular hands were replacing the previous ones before you could.

The body that moulded to yours thrummed with testosterone and something dangerous, the heady musk of maleness and something wild but eerily familiar making you simultaneously a little scared but comforted. You moved languidly together, though the music was anything but.

He towered over you, you could tell, his chin brushing the top of your head. He didn’t say anything, just held you impossibly close and danced with you like he had all the time in the world. The alcohol you had consumed was making you uncharacteristically bold, you leaned your head against his shoulder and when the music switched to something more sultry, you slowly took his hands in yours to trail them up your waist.

For a few seconds he didn’t do anything, but soon enough he was taking your prompt and running his veiny hands up your body. When his hands brushed the underside of your breasts, a sigh escaped your lips even as your failing inhibitions tried to contain it. “Yes.”

You threw caution to the wind when one of his fingers almost touched a nipple through the fabric of your dress. Taking his hands in yours, you placed them firmly on your breasts, undulating your hips to the beat to rub against his pelvis.

A curse left his lips that he muffled against your hair, hooking the the curtain of it that fell over your right shoulder with his fingers to bare your neck to him. He pressed his mouth to the sensitive skin there, and you had inkling he was also doing it to not let any more sounds escape him.

Reaching a hand behind you, you grabbed a thick thigh, urging him to not let any space between you. He bit your neck at the action, sucking on the skin to leave a bruise there.

“Fuck yes!”, you moaned, closing your eyes. You were unbearably wet in your lace panties, your thighs rubbing together to alleviate the sensations his touch on your breasts was causing.

When you couldn’t take it anymore, you swiftly turned around to attach your lips to his. Not caring to take a look at his face, the only thing illuminating your surroundings were occasional flashing strobe lights anyway, you went on your tip toes to deepen the kiss, licking his bottom lip for more. He obliged with equal eagerness, clutching the back of your head so that his tongue could explore your mouth.

He tasted divine, smelled even more amazing. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, certain you were going to spend your night in the arms of a strange man that felt like home. You hadn’t expected to actually get laid tonight, but were thoroughly satisfied by how the night was turning out.

Biting his lip, you trailed kisses up his jaw as your hands inched up to card into his thick hair. You were about to whisper into his ear a proposition to leave for somewhere less crowded when your fingers encountered the distinctive shape of ears on his head, the soft fur tickling your skin. You had no clue you were kissing a hybrid.

Surprised, you pulled back to look at the hybrid you’d almost been vertical fucking in front of so many people. The man tried to pull you back in to his lips but you resisted, curious, and when next the lights flashed to illuminate the club momentarily, your heart almost lurched out of your chest in shock.

Jeongguk was staring back at you with heavy lidded eyes, lips swollen from your frantic kisses and a hungry look on his face.

“Won’t you ask me to take you home, Owner?”

You gasped, stumbling back as some sobriety filtered back in. What had you done? This was not supposed to happen. You had promised yourself you’d never let either of them seduce you just for the sake of it. Your heart couldn’t handle it. Couldn’t handle being a notch on their belt when you had to live with them, and knowing your tendency for attachment it was downright dangerous for you to delve into any kind of physical intimacy with them.

But of course, why would they care about your heart. They were as cruel with their inconsiderate handling of your feelings towards them as ever. He could have easily told you who he was, or better yet never approached you in the first place, but they could never pass up a chance to torment you, could they? Your lips were already craving for more, your body still tingling in all the right places, even though you’d done nothing but make out. This is why you never wanted to go down this path, if you didn’t know what you were missing, you wouldn’t want it as much. Now, Jeongguk had ruined even that for you. He likely thought it’d be fun to prank his owner, making your vulnerability the butt of the joke as always. And now you couldn’t go back to just imagining what it felt like kissing them, he’d gone and given you a taste of what you couldn’t have. All for a joke. He must be laughing at you internally for falling into his arms so easily, even without looking at his face.

Self pity and humiliation were a depressing combination, forcing tears into your eyes even as you tried your best to keep them at bay.

Jeongguk had started closing the distance between you again, lust evident on his face, when the sudden suspicious shine in your eyes made him go stock-still.

A horrified, confused look dawned on his beautiful face. “Owner, what-wait—!”

Not letting him speak and fuck up everything more than it already was, you turned to flee the club.  

A/n: let me know what you thought, feedback keeps me writing.

[gumnut-logic]

Two Birds with One Stone (Bit 3)

Bit 1 | Bit 2 | Bit 3

Still @godsliltippy​ ‘s fault. I hope she enjoys this bit.

Many thanks to @scribbles97​, @tsarinatorment​ and @janetm74​ for the readthroughs and support ::hugs you guys::

Warnings: A bit of blood. Should have put this warning on the last two bits - my apologies.

Let’s get back into the mud with two very injured brothers...

-o-o-o-

Gordon went with him.

Mud kicked up and splashed all over them. Gordon fought to keep Virgil’s head from dropping into the stuff. “Goddamnit, Virg!” He struggled to hold his brother and Gordon did not miss the red that appeared on his now muddy bandage. “Shit. Why don’t you listen?!”

“Gordon, report!”

Scott’s voice raked the air in his helmet as Gordon bit into his lip, desperately attempting to both run a vitals check on Virgil and to stop the world spinning.

“Working on it, Thunderbird One.” His tone was sharp, but he didn’t have the energy for niceties. “ETA?”

“Eleven minutes. Status?” There was more big brother than commander in that request and it hit exactly where Scott had planned it to. Gordon’s shoulders relaxed just a micron and his breath came a little easier.

It was going to be a long eleven minutes.

The world spun again and he had to note that the pressure bandage was not doing everything it needed to do. There was more red than white and he still had eleven or more minutes to field.

Now his brother had been forced to stop moving, at least Gordon could examine his head injury. Unfortunately, up close, it was worse.

There was still metal in the wound. It reflected dully in the ominous lighting and if he hadn’t seen Virgil awake and functioning he would be even more terrified than he already was.

But that didn’t negate his brother throwing a bleed or some other nasty post initial injury.

Gordon shifted so he could support Virgil. He gently lowered his brother’s head into his lap. This freed up Gordon’s hands to grab at the engineer’s kit and drag out the mediscanner he kept in his baldric.

A flash of yellow.

The readout that was thrown to his HUD chilled him to the bone. “John, tell Scott to hurry.”

-o-o-o-

Thunderbird One was the fastest atmospheric craft on Earth, or the Solar System for that matter.

But sometimes she just wasn’t fast enough.

As John forwarded the mediscanner readouts and his brothers’ suit sensors, Thunderbird One physically screamed as her pilot pushed that increment more out of her engines and sliced atmosphere enough for the mach booms to merge into one devastating roar.

One made her own thunder.

It echoed Scott’s heart.

Virgil had a piece of metal embedded in his skull. It had already damaged a vein, but now it was pressing on an artery.

And Gordon…Gordon was bleeding badly.

A sound welled in Scott’s throat and here, alone, with only his angry ‘bird for company, he let it out.

It was more whimper than groan.

And to top it all off, all those people trapped in that factory still needed saving.

He could hear Virgil snarling from here at the thought of them leaving those people behind just because of personal injury.

“Thunderbird Five, task the factory collapse to the GDF. Get Aunt Val on the line if you have to.”

“FAB, Thunderbird One.”

There would be a delay and it pained him, but with both Virgil and Gordon down, Scott needed to see to his brothers.

One screamed even more as his hand twitched and nudged a little more power into her rockets.

He made it in ten point five minutes.

-o-o-o-

Gordon was wilting by the time Thunderbird One tore into the airspace above them. He was desperately trying to keep his blood inside him but the artery was determined and his ability to keep pressure on the injury was failing.

Which only made it worse.

Blood was running down his arm, the bandage soaked through, mixing with the mud his knees were sinking into.

He had briefly thought to make a run for it to Two, but that would have meant leaving Virgil and there was a good chance he wouldn’t make it anyway. Then both of them would be in serious trouble.

At least here, he could support his brother and keep calm.

Scott was coming.

Scott would fix it.

But god he was ever so cold and tired.

He knew the symptoms, of course, and he fought them. Hypovolemic shock was a nasty thing.

Everything blurred a moment as the world began to roar.

For a split-second Gordon hunkered down thinking the tornado had returned, but the clouds, though still dark, were moving on to terrorise someone else.

Instead, Thunderbird One shot into the sky, atmosphere screeching as she killed speed and spun into land. Gordon blearily noted that it wasn’t his big brother’s best landing. He basically dumped his ‘bird on the ground, leapt out and was running.

Oh, thank god.

The relief that washed over Gordon nearly took him out. He wanted nothing more than to collapse face first into the mud.

But Virgil…

Virgil.

Scott had two hoverstretchers trailing along behind him. Gordon blinked slowly.

And then Scott was in front of him saying something, hands were on his sore arm and they hurt, blue eyes were trying to catch his.

Gordon flinched away.

“Scott…Virgil…”

Scott said something else, but Gordon’s brain wouldn’t deliver the message to him.

Something clamped down onto his forearm and stabbed him. Gordon cried out and clarity hit his brain hard.

Scott was rebandaging his arm.

Virgil was on a hoverstretcher. How the hell did Scott get him there?

“Gordon, speak to me!”

“Ow.”

“C’mon, little bro, up you get.” Scott was lifting him to his feet, not unlike how Virgil tried earlier.

“Virgil!” Gordon tried to turn towards his injured brother, but Scott held him tight.

“I’ve got Virgil. We need to get both of you to a hospital.”

Gordon grimaced.

“Hey, it’s Topeka. Maybe Doc Chalmers will be on duty.” Scott shuffled him over to the stretcher and gently lowered him down. Scott held Gordon’s injured arm vertical as he led the two stretchers to the waiting green hulk of their brother’s Thunderbird.

Gordon stared up at her underside as Scott moved the stretchers onto the lowered hatch. “You wish, big bro. Maybe this time she will say yes.”

Scott grunted.

There followed a hovering older brother, needles, oxygen that cleared his head somewhat and ultimately the familiar roar of Two’s engines. His stomach lifted off the floor as she rose into the sky.

For a split second there was relief and then…

“Gordon?”

Virgil lay on his stretcher docked on the other side of the cockpit. Gordon blinked, forcing himself to focus. Scott had strapped Virgil down, his head held still to one side, fortunately facing Gordon and the rest of the cockpit. A loose bandage was soaking up the blood around his ear.

“Virgil, lay still!”

“Gordon?!” There was fear in his brother’s voice.

“I’m here, Virg. Scott’s got us.”

“Gords, please…” It was a wail of distress.

But then Scott was there, his body blocking Gordon’s view, his words as gentle as his hands.

His voice was ever so soothing. Virgil whimpered before falling quiet again.

Gordon closed his eyes, ever so, so tired.

Scott was here. He would fix it.

The roar of Two’s engines and his big brother’s voice followed him into a peaceful oblivion.

-o-o-o-

Next

[diaryofabeautyfiend]

Reader would like to apologize for the decision Steve Rogers is about to make. No smut just sadness.

Small Time Witch (24)

F I V E Y E A R S L A T E R....

.....And so far you’ve survived. Your days are not without moments of melancholy. Your thoughts meander back to the days when the two of you would sit quietly in your loft reading the day away. The music of old book pages turning and tea cups clinking onto saucers filled the air. The song still plays but it only plays for you.

You’ve become somewhat reclusive over the years. You’ve stopped going to the bar and haven’t talked to Jason. It’s just as well. Hopefully he’s found someone to help him move on. Maybe he’s happy.

Despite your official hermit status you are happy. You have a routine and just enough human contact to keep you from going completely insane. Friends come and go. Some stay the night sometimes longer. You welcome human contact in controlled doses. Some you welcomed more than others. Mostly you enjoyed your self imposed solitude.

Sometimes you take the trip to visit Hilde. She is taking care of the day to day business in New Asgard since Thor doesn’t come out much. She is always exciting and happy. When you need that she is happy to give it.

Today you are heading up the coast to meet her. When you hit a certain spot you put down your windows so the salt and brine of the ocean can fill your car. It smelled like Hilde. The air is crisp and the wind biting. Your hair whips your face as you sing loudly with the radio. She meets you at the entrance to the city with a big smile and a bigger kiss. With her you feel reborn.

“Your timing could not be more perfect. Thor has guests.”

You narrowed your eyes, “Guests? Who?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” You jumped back into your car and drove as close as you could to his hovel. You knocked on his door and Bruce answered. Though, it wasn’t Bruce. It was like Bruce and Hulk somehow merged to form a super Bruce.

“Y/n! Good to see you.” He wrapped you in his big green arms taking care not to crush you. “Angry girl!” He high-fived Hilde who smiled at you with immense amusement. “This is Rocket.” You shook hands with a raccoon. A freaking raccoon.

Thor glared at you, “I suppose they sent you in to bring me back as well.”

“Umm no. I was just here to visit Hilde. This was a pleasant surprise. I’m sorry bing you back? Is something happening?”

“We found a way to undo it all.” Bruce said with a cautious tone.

“Yeah but not Loki though so...” Thor looked was pretty drunk and smelled like he hadn’t bathed in weeks. Guilt rose from your chest and burned your throat. You should have pushed harder to see him.

“He wasn’t snapped so we don’t know. We’re going to try, Y/N.”

Your were filled when righteous indignation. No one bothered to even fill you in on their plan. If there was even a slim chance Loki could be brought back they should have told you.

Thor saw your balled fists crackle with electricity. “Y/N should come back with us. It’s the only way I’ll go.”

“I don’t know, Thor....”

“Bruce, I’m coming.” You looked back at Hilde who smiled though you could feel you were hurting her feelings. “Don’t leave without me. You..” you dragged her outside.

“You don’t have to explain yourself.” Tears shimmered in her eyes though she did her best to play them off.

“Yes, I do.” You pressed your lips against hers. She pulled you closer and deepening the kiss. Everything you had to say to her was in that kiss. I’m sorry. I love you. Goodbye. I’ll miss you. It was all there. Hilde was not one for flowery words. She was a physical person and that’s how you had to show her how much she meant to you. You pressed your forehead to hers giving a few more gentle pecks. “Thank you.”

“It was most definitely my pleasure. When you see him, tell him I kept you warm and promise me you’ll take a picture of the scowl on his face.”

“I love you:”

“I love you more.”

———————————————————————

Bruce’s words churned in your head the whole way back to the compound. They were “going to try”. You were sure that Loki wasn’t a huge priority. The thought made you angry all over again.

The Avengers had no problem overlooking his past discretions when they needed him. He was mostly tolerated because of Thor. Now there may be a chance to bring him back and they were “going to try”. It was going to be really hard not to melt someone today.

When you pulled up Tony was outside waiting for you. He opened the car door and took your hand. “Y/N. Good to see you.”

You sensed a lecture so you leaned against the car and folded your arms so he could speak. “Did Banner fill you in?”

“Not really.”

“We’re going back to get the stones. Like back in time. We’ve tested it. It works.....just as long as there are no fuck ups. So I guess it begs the question: are you going to fuck it up?”

“Not intentionally?”

He sighs frustrated, “Look, kid. I know Loki means a lot to you. We have to bring everyone back and if that means your boyfriend not coming back...”

“Husband.”

“No shit? Huh. If that means your husband. We have to sacrifice something.”

You were beyond yourself. Your magic jumped through your fingers wildly. He watched you eyes wide holding his hands up in surrender. “Kid. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like it sounded.”

“How many times did he save your asses? Yet you continued to punish him. Was his repentance not enough for you?! He sacrificed his life for that stupid stone. I don’t see anyone sacrificing you.” You raised your hand to knock him on his ass when Thor bear hugged you and dragged you away.

“Little sister you must control your temper. I will let you go if you promise not to kill anyone.” You struggled for a moment then relaxed against his chest. He spoke softly against your hair, “I want him back too. I miss him. If you can control yourself there is a way.”

He told you the plan to retrieve both the space stone and mind stone at the point of Loki’s arrest in 2012. “When they create the diversion you help him escape.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“You’re clever. You’ll think of something.”

Neither of you were thinking clearly. This was a stupid and not at all thought out plan. Neither of you accounted for the fact that he would be under heavy guard. The 2012 Avengers wouldn’t know you so they would be far less sympathetic to you if you were caught. And the biggest risk of all was that 2012 Loki was going through some things and was definitely not the same man you felt in love with. In fact, you wouldn’t be surprised if he figured out a way to use you and kill you when you were no longer needed. None of that mattered to you.

He waited for you to simmer down so he could bring you inside. You were met with sympathetic eyes and knowing smiles. You wanted to rip them all apart. The last eyes on you were Steve’s.

He gave you a quick hug hello and beckoned you into the other room.

“I haven’t heard from you in a few weeks. You doing ok?

Eyes closed. Count to ten. Deep breath. Don’t explode at the man. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“Because if we couldn’t bring him back I would have to watch you lose him all over again and I can’t do that. Tony ran the possibilities, honey. He’s not coming back. I’m sorry.”

“Mhmm. Well I’m here so can I help?”

His lip quirked up on one side, “You sure can, Princess. You can watch the platform and electrocute anyone who comes near it.”

Condescending prick. “No. I want to come with you.”

“Nope” he said with a pop of his lips.

“Steve, please! I just want to see him again. I’ll stay with you the whole time. I promise. And don’t tell me it’s dangerous. You know I can handle myself. Please.” You grabbed his hands and forced him to look at you. “I just want to see him. What would you give for that chance? What would you give to see the woman you love again?”

His eyes softened, “I’m looking at her.”

Your cheeks flushed. “I’m not talking about me.”

He knew you were talking about Peggy. And, you were right, he’d give anything. He couldn’t deny you this one time chance.

“Fine. But you stick by me and you do. not. do. anything. Promise me.”

“I promise. Thank you. You’re a good man, Steve. I love you.” You hugged him around his waist and he felt in his bones that this was a bad decision. He considered this his final declaration of his adoration.

“I love you too, Princess. Always.” He pressed the two pieces of Yggdrasil into your palm. He had kept them all this time locked away in a box inside of his sock drawer. Your eyes started to get a little misty. He kissed the top of your head and spoke softly in your ear, “Always.”

You all suited up jumped on the platform and hit the buttons. You landed in a alley littered with rubble from the attack. Hulk ran by smashing everything in his path. You split up into your predetermined teams and went to your positions.

Once you were in your new gear you joined the other men and women guarding Loki.

The closer you got to him the stronger the pull. You were falling apart inside. Every muscle in your arms trembled forcing you to reach out. To touch him. Your breath hitched in your throat and came out like a quiet sob. They all heard it. You shifted uncomfortably in your suit and your body propelled itself in his direction.

“Y/n, you good?” you heard Steve speak. He held his breath when you got closer to your husband. “Y/n keep it together. We are so close, baby” You held your finger to your earpiece and a high pitched ringing filled your ear. You cut your comms. “Shit! Tony, stop her!”

You were close enough to him now that he would be able to feel you. He had to know that you meant him no harm. You spoke softly so only he could hear, “Don’t look at me. When I say ‘go’ grab the tasseract and go. Blink twice if you understand.” He blinked twice and you moved away.

It all happened so fast. Scott triggered the arc reactor to short out. Present day Tony escapes with the Tasseract. You were supposed to follow behind him which you did. You felt Hulk’s rage emanating from the stairwell. In one fluid motion you pushed Tony towards the door and kicked the case which opened at Loki’s feet. He reached for the cube when he felt your hand on him. “Go!” and you followed with him.

Scott Tony and Steve made it outside with the spear. They argued for a second before Tony realized you weren’t with them.

“Where is she? Steve! Oh I’m going to kill her!”

Steve smiled and shook his head. “Come on, Tony. We’ll find another way.”

When they went back to the base in Jersey Steve began to feel all of the things he suppressed for so many years. He was a man out of time and felt like he had no place in it. He just wanted to get it right. Right now he should be old and surrounded by grandchildren. He was done fighting.

He never expected to see Peggy but there she was. Peggy wanted those things too. His eyes followed the curve of her crimson lips that he dreamed of kissing for years. He thought about your words. What would he give? Everything. When this fight was over he would give up everything. He made his decision right then and there.

[the-extra-joker-art]

What You Deserve

And I ope-

May or may not have written some indulgent shit involving Deacon angst and my Sole Survivor, Happy. Really I just used Happy cause using a nameless Sole felt awkward ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I don't usually post written fanfiction, so critiques welcome!

Deacon wasn’t quite sure how long he had been chained up. He was sure it had only been a couple of days, but it felt like weeks. The Gunners that had locked him up thankfully had no idea who he was, or who he worked for, but all that did was make their visits less frequent and the long hours of the day blurrier. He was fading in and out of consciousness, hunger gnawing at his stomach whenever he opened his eyes and the numbness in his arms chained above his head was getting progressively more noticeable. Every now and again, he’d wake up to the sound of the door opening, followed by laughter and conversation, but his wakefulness would be quickly ended by a swift kick to his gut or the butt of a gun slamming against his already bloody forehead. As of right now the pain coursing through his entire body was nothing compared to the mental beating he was giving himself. He had no idea how he had gotten caught. It wasn’t supposed to be anything beyond a scouting mission; they had gotten word that a courser was lurking around a spot near Goodneighbor, and his job was to test the claim with his own two eyes. To his surprise though, the spot was actually a recent nesting ground of the Gunners. Deacon still had no idea where the courser claim came from, but he didn’t have much time to scout out an answer, because as soon as he found the camp the Gunners greeted him with a concussion to the back of his head. When he woke up, he was already chained to the wall of a windowless room that smelled of blood, vomit, and booze. He was dizzy enough already, but when more than one Gunner came in to interrogate him by adding more cranial wounds, he lost all sense of his surroundings. Apparently, the Gunners didn’t find his witty remarks charming at all. He couldn’t stop berating himself for getting caught. He was careless, he hadn’t checked his surroundings nearly enough. He should have asked around before he scoped it out, gathered intel. But instead he had to pull a Happy and rush in head first. He winced at the thought of Happy and the others. Were they worried? He was sure they would expect him to be more careful, to be more thorough. He wasn’t even sure if rescue would come in time before the Gunners decided they were done asking meaningless questions and just killed him. Deacon had fucked up bad, and he knew it. He chuckled, and gasped at the painful tightening in his chest. He was hoping he’d die a significantly more meaningful death than being killed by his own carelessness; Maybe he’d die saving someone, or blowing up the institute. At least a martyr's death would be more fitting for his chosen job, but this one seemed more deserving. Dying in the basement of mercenary bastards, without knowing if rescue would come, without nearly enough repentance for his past was just the kind of death someone liked him deserved.

“You’re a good man, Deacon…”

Deacon winced. Happy’s face flashed in his mind, the day after he had told her about his past, she looked at him differently. Almost with a look of awe, like she admired him. He couldn’t believe that even if he tried, but unlike most days, he was far too weak to stop himself of thinking of what she had said,

“You’re a good man, and I’m glad that out of everyone, you chose to travel with me.”

He wriggled against his binds, gasping in pain as the nerves in his arms started to feel again with the movement.

“The Wastelands are a little more bearable with you by my side.”

Deacon hadn’t realized he had closed his eyes so tightly, and when he opened them, he was shocked at the moisture on his cheeks. Tears ran down his face, silently falling against his filthy shirt. He couldn’t help but feel somehow this failure was letting Happy down. He knew it wasn’t, but his heart ached at the idea of her wondering why he wasn’t back yet, if she was worried at all. Again, he had no idea how much time had passed. Maybe she hadn’t even thought of him. He could imagine her helping another settlement, MacCready at her side, completely concentrated on supplying the people inside with water and defenses. Deacon's mouth twitched into a wry smile. Helping a settlement was considerably more important than saving one man from his own mistakes. He tried desperately to concentrate on the image of Happy in his mind, her face scrunched up in a smile, but he could feel his conscious slipping already. His body was going numb again, and he knew sooner or later he would fall back into restless sleep again. Using the last of his strength, he tried to think of an apology for his mistake. What he would say or write down in a last note for Des and the others, how he would thank them for making something of his life, for fighting to save so many synths. How he would thank Happy for dealing with his bullshit, and for staying with him despite everything. He would thank everyone for what they’ve done for him, and apologize for his failure. His mistakes. Again, he’s letting everyone in his life down. He blinked back tears as everything faded to black around him.

Deacon's entire body jolted as a loud crash filled the room. The sudden awakening made pain surge through his entire body, numbed limbs trying in vain to pull against his binds. He couldn’t tell if his eyes were open or not and his attempts to look for the source of the noise was met by blurred shapes. A giant shadow loomed over him, blocking the light from the door that he didn’t even realize was now open, and he groaned as he turned his head up, his gut clenching in fear as he realized the outline of a suit of power armor standing over him.

“Heh... You really didn’t have to put on your good clothes to… Finish off little old me…” Deacon forced a chuckle, his head lolling to the side. Power armor seemed a little much for killing one man, but he supposed these Gunners were the dramatic type. He tried to keep his eyes open, but his strength was wavering, and his breath uneven.

“Oh my god, Deacon…” A familiar voice came from behind the mask, “What did they do to you?”

Deacon tried to lift his head, heart racing as he recognized the voice tainted by the suit's robotic lilt.

“H... Happy…” He tried to say more, to speak more and apologize. For what he wasn’t sure, but he just felt he needed to. “I’m… Sorry…”

“Shh, Deacon. You’re okay. It’s okay.”

He barely even registered the lock on the chains being broken by the power armor's superior strength, letting out a pained breath as Happy gently placed his arms at his side. Deacon felt her wrap a metal arm around him as he began to fall to the side, his tired mind wondering how she was able to treat him so carefully in her hulking suit. He groaned and jolted when he felt a stimpack being stabbed into his leg, hand coming up to weakly grab onto her arm. He was trying to stay conscious, desperately trying to find Happy's face behind the emotionless mask.

“I’m getting you out of here.”

Her voice sounded far away, and his attempt to form a response only offered a breathy groan. His mind swam nauseatingly as the stimpack did it’s work, reconstructing the wounds the Gunners gave him, most of which were to his head. Deacon barely noticed that Happy had picked him up till they were already walking out the shattered doorway, looking down at himself to see that he was being carried bridal style, his body carefully nestled against her armored chest. He let out a shaky sigh, letting his body go limp as he realized he was safe in her arms. For a moment he was safe from his mistakes, safe from the pain that was now just a numbed buzzing through his whole body. He could feel himself slipping back into unconsciousness, but his mind filled with panic as he remembered where they were. His eyes opened wide as he looked behind them down the long hallways of the house they had dragged him through when he was knocked out, and he grimaced at the sight behind them. Blood splattered the wall of the kitchen at the end, the front door blown completely off it hinges. The bodies of the Gunners were strewn across the hall like grim decorations, themselves decorated with their own blood and bullet holes. The head of one of the mercenaries was completely blown off, his relatively fresh blood hiding the rotting wood underneath as it poured out of his body. Happy did this. She did this for him. He knew she could kill, she was an amazing shot, but something about this was different. They were more brutal, more bloody - The place looked like a Deathclaw had come through with a vengeance. In his exhausted mind he couldn’t tell what he thought of that.

Deacon felt himself losing grip on reality again, his eyelids feeling like lead as they slowly closed. He tried to keep them open, to get one more look at Happy. He wanted to thank her, to ask her if she was alright, but nothing came out. His breathing was finally evened out, and the only thing his body wanted to do was rest in the safety of Happys arms. It wasn’t a safety he deserved after the mistake he made, but he didn’t have the strength to refuse it, and he doubted Happy would let him. His head rested against the hard metal, and finally he faded to sleep.

“You got him… You got what you wanted. Now let me go.” The Gunner bastard on his knees on the front porch stared up at Happy, entire body shaking. The blood from his broken nose flowed freely, and his hands trembled. Maybe it was the fear, maybe it was the fact that she broke them under her boot. She had abandoned using her charisma to get him to help, which he was eager to do after she broke his leg too. Happy looked at him, her heated glare hidden by the tinted glass of the helmet.

“Come on! I lead you to the camp! I told you what you wanted, and you got the fucking prisoner! There wasn’t a courser here, okay? Just a bunch of useless synths!” The Gunner doubled over in pain, the effort of staying up almost too much for the shattered bones in his leg.

“You piece of shit… You say that like it’s supposed to make it better. Do you know who this is? His name is Deacon, and he’s a member of the Railroad. This man saves synths. He risks his life every day just to save someone he doesn’t even know from the Institute.” Happy turned away from the Gunner, “But you wouldn’t understand that, would you? No. You’re just a greedy bastard, you’re no better than a radroach.”

Happy looked down at Deacon, bloody but peacefully asleep in her arms.

“No, you wouldn’t know the first thing about saving someone. About risking your life for another. You don’t even know about loving anyone, do you? You’ve never loved anything in your life, besides bottlecaps.”

The Gunner let out a pathetic sob, looking up at Happy with fear in his eyes.

“Please! Just let me go! I... I’ll never take another job again! I’ll never even pick up a gun again! Please!”

Happy went silent, just staring at the man in her arms. She was never going to let the Gunner go, not after what he helped do to Deacon. There was only one person here that deserved mercy, one person who deserved the chance to repent for their crimes, and he was nestled gently in her arms, completely unaware of the conversation going on right now. She thanked whatever gods existed that he was unaware of what she had done to find him. Without another word she pulled out her gun and shot the Gunner in the head, his lifeless body hitting the porch with a thud. The blood pooled from his wound, eyes open in a now eternal expression of shock. She holstered the gun again as guilt pinged at her heart strings, feeling a lump in her throat when she looked at the dead Gunner. He had complied to her demands and betrayed his entire gang to show her the way here, and he deserved better than a death by her hands. Who was she to judge that he deserved death? To claim that he had never loved anyone? Happy didn’t even know who he was, or his real name. He was just a filthy Gunner to her. The guilt faded as she looked at Deacon. Of course he deserved a bullet to his head - He had helped take something very precious from her. She already had so much taken by greedy fuckers like him who just wanted to line their pockets and hurt someone who didn’t deserve it, and gods know Deacon didn’t. Even if he thought he did.

Happy stepped off the porch, looking ahead at the path illuminated by the moon ahead of her. She’d do that a thousand times again if she had to. She’d put a thousand bullets in anyone's head if it meant keeping one more person she loved in her life. That Gunner was just another Kellogg, the only difference was he wasn’t nearly as important. Happy would do this a million times more if it meant keeping Deacon by her side for just another day.

End.

[blackypanther9]

Part 22 - Oh Shit...We won...

Your POV....

I was in the air and killed the most Chitauri I could. I fought and attacked and killed. I was trained and skilled to do that. Suddenly I got shot, from behind.

"GAH !!"

I fell down to the ground. A hard landing but I still live. I stood up.

"Hey Lucie, are you okay ?", Tony asked me worried, over a communication device in my ear.

"I just got shot, from behind in my left lung.", I replied.

"Don't die ! I am coming !", he screamed.

"No. Continue fighting. I am fine."

"Are you kidding ? You got shot in an organ of yours ! Let Tony help you.", Steve said.

"I can heal myself I just need time. Continue fighting. I will survive it."

"Okay. But if you lied to us, we're gonna kick your ass.", Tony warned.

I laughed. After 10 more seconds I was healed and started to fight again. I looked at the portal and saw something big coming out of it.

"....Oh shit....", I said.

"We see it too. That thing is big as fuck...", Clint said.

"Holy shit of Odin. I am dead now.", I mumbled.

I flew in the air and killed some more Chitauri.

"Where are you guys ?", I asked.

"We are at the Grand Central Station, right infront of the building.", Steve answered.

"And I am in the air over New York at the big ugly thing.", Tony answered.

"Okay. And where is Thor ?", I asked.

"He is fighting Loki.", Natasha informed me.

"Okay. Steve I am coming to you. I see some trouble coming towards you.", I warned.

"Okay.", he responded.

I flew in their direction. I needed to dodge the flying Chitauri. I saw Loki infront of them.

"Didn't you guys tell me, like 10 seconds ago, that Thor is fighting Loki ? He just flew past me !", I yelled.

"They were fighting...", Natasha corrected.

"Well, fucking great !"

"Don't come here. Play with Stark in the air. We play on the ground.", Steve told.

"Fine !", I yelled annoyed.

We had an very interesting fight...for 15 fricking minutes... After this time Banner finally showed up.

"Tony, Banner is here.", Steve said.

"Good then tell him to suit up. I am bringing the party to you.", he replied.

"Dusk, how are you doing ?", Steve asked me.

"Doing fine...I think. I have a little too much work here... I need to kill Chitauri and save many people out of buildings...without dying...", I informed.

"You will do this. We have a party here soon.", Clint said.

"I rather have the party, than this...WAIT WHAT ?! You have a party and I have to work my ass off ?! NOT FAIR !!", I said sacastically.

"You hate us now...do you ?", Stark asked me.

"Nope. I am not the person for parties anyway.", I said.

10 Citauri surounded me now. I kicked one of the Chitauri in the nuts and the other in the chest. The others did all at the same time. I flew up and they crashed together. I summoned black flames in my hands and threw it at them. They all screamed while they burned. But I felt a little weak, now. I need to change with someone...soon.

"Guys...I need to warn you. Please warn Thor too. I won't be myself in a few minutes anymore. I will talk different, have another mood and maybe look different. Don't worry about it and don't worry about me. It's someone of me. Don't kill me. Not even hurt me. I swear I am no threat.", I informed them.

"Okay.", Steve and the others said.

'Listen Ratchel...don't attack or even try to find Loki. Kill the Chitauri and save the others, please. They need more help than we need to kick Loki's sorry ass. And after that, set me conscious again. '- You

'.....Fine. At least I can kill something with joy.'- Ratchel

'Great. I let you out now.'- You

Everything around me went black and I was unconscious. Better I was in my black void with the others.

Ratchel's POV....

As I saw the city around me in chaos, I was shocked. Everywhere, where I looked, was chaos. I saw the Chitauri running at me and I called a dagger which can also be a sword. If I press a button, while it's a dagger, it changes into a sword and the other way is the same. 6 of them were coming. I pressed the button and ran at them too. I changed my appearence to my actual body. I looked almost the same as Dest. Just the eye-, skin- and haircolour was different. (Chose on your own how she looks like.) I killed the six and suddenly all the Chitauri screamed.

"What's going on here ?!", I screamed.

"We killed one of the big Chitauri things...", Tony answered.

"Oh great...", I mumbled.

I stared up at the portal and saw more of them coming out.

"Oh Shit....", I mumbled.

Then I saw the big things.

"Oh fucking shit.", I cursed under my breath.

Then I remembered that we were outnumbered and these things have Loki as leader.

"Oh holy fucking shit....", I cursed again.

And then I remembered that it was war, we will die, Loki is an ass, we are probably wounded and exhausted and we don't have a useful army.

"Oh holy bloody fucking shit...", I mumbled again.

All the Chitauri on the ground attacked me now. I dodged and killed the first 3 with a slit open throat, the next 5 with cut away arms, the next 9 with an open stomach and the last 15 with a stab in their heads. I looked around and saw no people anywhere. Not even with my roentgen stare. I flew back to the others. They seemed fine and I searched Hulk. I found Hulk after 6 minutes.

"Hulk !", I called.

He turned around.

"I need your help to smash someone.", I said smiling.

"You friend of Lucie ?", he asked me.

"Yes I am a friend of hers."

"What you want Hulk do ?"

"You hate Loki right ?"

He nodded.

"Jump on him on Stark Tower. He will be there in 5 minutes.", I said.

"And Hulk then does what ?"

"You do what you can best. Smash him into the ground 5 or so times. Then leave him there and fight outside again. Show him no mercy."

He nodded again and smiled.

"But don't kill him, Hulk ! I still need his sorry ass ! Alive !", I screamed after him.

I took a short cut to the tower and hid in the shadows...well better said I made myself invisible. And after 2 minutes I saw with my eyes exactly what happened. Loki tried to shot the flying...something, where Natasha was on, down.

(Too lazy to write and it's funnier if you see it, or more painful, cause you like Loki.)

Wow...that must've hurt...Welp ! I love Hulk. I have problems to hold my laugh right now...This reaction of Loki...like he forgot that he got Hulk smashed in the basis once. Well, maybe he wasn't that hard the first time. That event must be traumatizing. How he lays there and stares in shock...I can't hold it anymore. I teleported away and laughed like an idiot. I made the others see it too. Heiko laughed too. But Mimi and Destiny didn't. Destiny flinched and Mimi looked away. Sheesh... I got back to work. I suddenly heard Natasha say...

"I can close the portal."

"Then do it.", Steve said.

"No.", Tony said.

I wondered why, but I turned the communicator off. I had other things to do, like stopping the other Chitauri from exiting the portal. And then- Oh.... What the hell is this ? A bomb ? What is that what Tony has there.... I looked closer. Nope no idea...

'What's that thing Tony carries ?'- Ratchel

'It's a missile. It can destroy maybe the whole city.'- You

'Oh...shit...'- Ratchel

I stared at Tony. He overpowered his thrusters and pushed the missile with himself through the portal. They were there and after maybe 5 minutes there was a sound of an exposion. We waited 40 more seconds for Stark. I saw Natasha then closing the portal and in the last second Tony fell out. All the Chitauri were dead. Better deactivated. I teleported to the others and saw Hulk catching Tony. Thor riped off the metal mask and Tony had closed eyes. No...

"Oh Shit....", I cursed loud.

They turned around and raised their weapons.

"Hey, hey ! I am Ratchel. Lucie told you she wouldn't be herself, right ? I am the other one. I am here in peace.", I said.

They all put the weapons down again. Hulk screamed angry and suddenly Tony awoke. I jumped and was happy he was still alive.

"What the hell ?", Tony asked shocked.

Thor smiled a little smile.

"What just happened ? Please tell me nobody kissed me.", Tony said.

Steve and I answered him then.

"We won."

Tony sighed relieved.

"Alright yay ! Hurray. Good job guys."

"We're not finished yet.", I said.

They all looked at me.

'Come out again, it's over.'- Ratchel

'Alright.'- You

And around me was all black.

Your POV....

I opened my eyes. They all still stared at me.

"We need to get Loki. Before he is able to run away.", I said.

"Well then...lets go.", Tony said.

"And then we take a day off and maybe go to try Shawarma.", Tony added.

"Fine by me, now lets go.", I replied.

After 10 minutes we were there and we saw Loki crawling to the stairs to sit down. He must be exhausted. He groaned by every painful move he made. After he stopped and wanted to sit down he noticed our presence. He slowly turned around and stared at the others. I was behind them, hidden. Nobody noticed.

"If it's all the same to you, ugh, I'll have that drink now.", he said.

He looked at them with almost asking for mercy eyes. And turned fully to us around.

Thor turned to me.

"So...you were the whole time here, Dusk ?", he asked smiling.

"Yeah...", I scratched the back of my head, "I knew Loki would appear here, but not like that...."

Thor nodded.

"Luciella ?", Loki asked.

"Shut up Loki. I don't think we need to talk now.", I said coldly.

"I just wanted to apologize."

"I know Loki, but...that won't help you now. You killed, kidnapped and hurt people here. A simple apology won't undo it. And about everything else before...too."

Loki was quiet.

"So you weren't lying with you and Reindeer Games, being best friends ?", Tony asked.

"No. We were best friends. In our childhood he was for 2 years and then after 352 years he was still my friend, but now...I am not sure anymore...", I answered.

I summoned chains with cuffs and cuffed Loki. He stared at me with eyes, that showed that he was still broken as hell, maybe even more and I still saw my best friend there. Trapped in a cell, which is slowly faiding away. I gave him a cold stare. He looked away. I stood up again and turned to Tony.

"Can I use a glass and fill water in it, for the chained princess, before she whines ?", I asked.

"Sure. I have nothing against it.", Tony replied.

I nodded, went to the bar, took a glass and went off. After 5 minutes I came back with a glass of water. I went to Loki and took a sip infront of him.

"I didn't poison it, like you see. Take it, drink it, be happy and shut up.", I said.

I took his right hand and pressed it into his hand. He looked at me, then at the glass and took a sip. And then another.

"Break one of these 4 rules in the next 10 minutes and I will set the poison in the water free.", I warned him.

His eyes widened and he spit it out. I laughed.

"As soon as it touched your lips, you can't get rid of it. It will not work anymore in the next 10 minutes. Within it, the poison just waits until I set it free. Are the 10 minutes over, it disappears."

Loki stared at me in shock.

"Drink the rest, or I set it free.", I told him.

He quickly drank the whole glass empty. I reached out my hand, he gave it to me, silently. I lifted my right hand and petted his head and hair softly.

"Good boy. You are such a good God.", I said with a small smile.

He looked at me. I slapped him across the face, starting at his right cheek, he didn't say anything.

"That was for New York, worrying me, not listening to me at the Bifrost and hurting me.", I told him.

He looked at me again. I grabbed his chin, moved it slowly but forcefully to the left and kissed his right, now red cheek.

"And that for being alive.", I told him.

Part 23

Masterlist with all Chapters of this Story click here !  

[crownjimin]

✰ 076 | not such a bad idea, part two.

la vie en rose ━ in which lee aera, a girl who has been crushing on choi soobin for a long, long time, is starting her junior year and her friends decide that its time for her to make her move.

( masterlist | prev | next )

A bit further down the hallway, Aera spots Soobin leaning against the wall quite leisurely. When he notices Aera approaching, he stands up straight and smiles at her. “The other boys went outside already, I waited back for you.”

The action in of itself made Aera’s heart skip a beat, quite a long one since she felt a pain in her chest from the lack of blood flow. But the gesture was sweet, and Aera smiled a coy smile, before answering, “You didn’t have to.”

“Eh,” Soobin shrugged. “It was my choice.”

The two take small steps down the hallway towards the balcony, almost as if the both of them didn’t want to join the others and stay with one another. An eerie, yet comfortable silence began to form, but Soobin quickly interjected.

“Your house is really nice,” he complimented. “So is your mother. She’s so lively and welcoming.”

Aera grimaced at his word choice, because lively and welcoming did describe her mother perfectly but so did embarrassing and overbearing. “Yeah, she’s quite a lot.”

“I think she’s friendly. Didn’t make the whole meeting the parents thing as scary as I thought.”

The words make Aera stop her walking for a second. “You were scared about meeting my parents?”

She looked up at Soobin, who was looking further down the hallway before he slowly turned to face Aera with a nervous smile on his lips. “Just a bit. I don’t know why though since I should’ve expected your parents to be just as nice and wonderful as you.”

“Wonderful?” she lightly breathes out.

“Well, technically, I’ve only met your mother, maybe your father isn’t as nice, but we will see when the time comes,” Soobin continues, either ignoring Aera’s look of disbelief mixed with another unreadable emotion or just not seeing it. “I’m sure he is nice though.”

Aera remained staring at Soobin for a few seconds, him returning the gaze as they stood in the vacant hallway in silence. No one else around, just the two of them staring at one another both with thinly veiled, heated gazes filled with admiration and fondness for the other. But the two did not know that, to them, they were staring at a friend, someone who did not return the same feelings to the same intensity as the other. If only they knew the truth, if one of then took the initiative to be brave and ask.

But neither did ask, instead Aera broke their gaze and brought her eyes to the floor, “I think he’s nice. Well, at least Appa is more bearable than Eomma. He’s not as forward.”

“Forward isn’t always bad.”

“Sometimes,” she replies. “Sometimes it isn't.”

They continue down the hallway now, both of them syncing up their footsteps. 

“But, hey, I’m guessing Sakura hasn’t tried to kill you yet?” Soobin says with a joking lilt, teasing her for her irrational worries.

Aera scoffs a laugh at that. “Not yet, at least.”

The pair finally make it to the doorway and Aera steps to the right to seat herself at the picnic table, muttering the apology she promised her mother she would deliver. Soobin veered off to the left, taking a place on the sofa with the other three boys who seemed to be deep in the talk about a new album from someone Soobin hadn’t heard of before.

Sakura watched as Aera placed down her laptop and notebook, seemingly expectant for the brown-hair girl to say something that Aera wasn’t sure of. Due to this, she raised an eyebrow at Sakura and asked, “What?”

“You didn’t tell me that you invited other people,” Sakura quietly spoke, peering over to the opposite side of the balcony where Taehyun now stood singing a random tune that seemed to have the other three boys enraptured. “Did you purposely not tell me or?”

“No, I-” Aera knows that she can’t lie well. Whenever she tries either her voice raises over to octaves or she blinks repeatedly, for the worst cases she does both. “Maybe we should just start choosing a song. I’ve made you wait long enough.”

“Yeah,” the other girl agrees, not taking her eye off of Soobin as she speaks, and Aera being sure to take note of the action. “Let’s start.”

Sakura and Aera had made progress within the last hour and a half. They chose their song, one by IU where Sakura felt like it was easy to catch the beat, while Aera thought the lyrics were telling yet easy to remember. They then called up the boys to listen to their presentation, allowing them to give out critiques and feedback to their girls where the four boys found necessary. Although Aera was almost certain Taehyun was using this time to show off his vocal abilities, seeing as each time he found a ‘problem’ with the girls’ singing, he gave them a tutorial on how they should be singing and performing it himself.

A few minutes after the girls had gotten started with their performance for the boys, Aera’s parents brought out the loads of ‘snacks’ that they had prepared. Tteokbokki, jajangmyeon, and fried pork cutlets were just a few of the delicacies that the eldest Lees had prepared for their youngest child and her friends. The moment the food had been set out, the six teenagers began feasting.

For the three new young boys, since he was already familiar with Sanha, they were introduced to Aera’s father. The older man took it upon himself to ask each of them their name and speak with them a bit. He relayed the compliments his wife had spoken to him about, but Aera noticed that her father kept going back to Soobin and asking him questions.

Her mother had sat with the girls at the picnic table, being sure to feed Sakura as much food as she pleased and answered any question the bright-haired girl had about the cooking process. For Aera, being around Sakura for these past few hours weren’t as tortuous as she thought. She had expected snarky comments and backhanded words to be spat her way every ten seconds, but Sakura was actually quite (and Aera can’t believe she was thinking it but--) nice.

Sakura has a voice that’s velvety and smooth when she sings, and whenever Aera would mess up a lyric or sing in the wrong key, Sakura wouldn’t belittle her for her mistake. She would actually pause the music and help Aera go over the line once again. The two girls made a better team than they had thought, and once the group had stuffed themselves full, the two girls resumed their ‘performance’ for the four boys.

They sang the song a total of five times before the girls were deemed ‘flawless’ by the quartet. Although, Jeongin wasn’t paying that much attention and Sanha would say that they were flawless after each time they finished their song. Soon all six of them fell into simple conversation, Sakura squeezing onto the two-seat sofa with Soobin and Taehyun, and Aera sitting comfortably between Jeongin and Sanha on the three-seat couch.

Currently, they were debating whether they were Team Iron Man or Captain America, and majority had voted Team Cap, with Jeongin and Taehyun being the outliers who sided with Iron Man.

“Literally, what does Iron Man have to offer,” Sanha argued, “he’s just a rich man in a suit!”

“Exactly,” Jeongin rebutted. “He’s rich, he has money to offer. Do you guys think the Avengers tower, the hulk iron suit thingy, and so many more of the gadgets the Avengers used would have been created without Tony?”

Soobin shook his head at that. “Well, Ultron wouldn’t have been made without Tony either. He literally caused the entire second Avengers movie.”

“Who’s Ultron?” Sakura asked, and Taehyun agreed with her.

“The robot in Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Aera informed them. “C’mon guys it’s literally in the name!”

“And-and also, Captain America is just better because he could pick up Thor’s hammer in Endgame, like,” Aera paused for a second for dramatic effect. “Iron Man couldn’t do that. That means Steve Rogers is worthy.”

“Well Iron Man freaking saved the world and brought back everyone who was dead leafed away,” Taehyun pointed out. “Steve didn’t do that shit.”

“Dead leafed,” Soobin asked in confusion. “But anyways, Steve Rogers was still alive in the end, Tony wasn’t. There is clearly only one winner.”

“But Steve went back,” Jeongin said.

“He still isn’t dead,” Sanha interrupted. “But I’m not going to say Cap is perfect. He kissed his ex lover’s niece like three days after she died. And then went back to be with that same ex lover, so technically he kissed his niece!”

A chorus of ‘eww’ and ‘gross’ echoed throughout the group, while Sanha simply shrugged and said, “Somebody had to point it out.”

Suddenly a vibrating buzz filled the air, and Sakura stood up from her seat. She grabbed her ringing phone and began talking to whoever was on the other line. None of the boys paid attention to her, but Aera was watching her in case it was time for her to leave. Soon after, Sakura hung up the phone and began packing her stuff.

“My mom said she’s outside,” Sakura spoke to the group, making Aera stand up so she could lead Sakura to the front door.

The four boys all echoed different forms of, “goodbye,” as Sakura finished packing her things, and began heading inside. Aera and Sakura made their way back down the hallway and to the front foyer, standing idly for a few seconds as they prepared their farewells.

“Uh,” Aera began. “Thanks, for coming over. I hope it wasn’t as bad as you thought it was going to be.”

“It wasn’t as bad,” Sakura smiled. “It was actually quite enjoyable, which I never thought I would have had as much fun with someone who I thought was so boring.”

Aera smiled tight-lipped at that, not being sure if she should be offended or grateful. “Thanks? But, yeah, it was fun. At least we got the project done.”

“Yeah,” Sakura placed her hand onto the door handle, pulling it open while still facing Aera. “But really, you’re cool.”

“You too, Sakura.”

“Thanks,” she smiled, turning to leave before she looked back at Aera quickly and said, “Oh! Can you also tell Soobin I’ll text him later? I forgot to say it before I left the balcony.”

The brown-haired girl froze at that statement, a pang of something settling in her chest but she recovers quickly. “Yeah, I’ll tell him when he leaves.”

“Cool. Thanks.”

“Yeah,” Aera watches as Sakura walks from her front door to the passenger seat of her mother’s car. “Bye.”

She makes her way back out to the balcony, expecting to see the four boys still in their same spots, but instead she is only greeted by Jeongin and Sanha.

“Where are the other two,” she asks, taking their previous seats in their absence.

“They went to go help your mom clean the dishes,” Jeongin says through a piece of fried pork cutlet in his mouth, which Aera doesn’t know where he got it from because she was sure they had finished that off first out of all of the dishes. “Y’know to get in her good ranks again.”

“I’m surprised you aren’t in there too, San San.”

Sanha rests back farther in his seat. “Eh, I think it’s time for me to step down from my position of favorite and let someone who deserves it take the crown.”

“Ah, what a humble fellow,” Aera jokes with a posh accent.

“That I am,” Sanha replies, playing along.

Jeongin mutters something under his breath about the two of them being weird just as Taehyun and Soobin return, Soobin sitting beside Aera on the sofa, and Taehyun choosing to join Sanha and Jeongin on the couch. 

A warm silence takes over the group as no one talks, but Aera does take notice of the fact that she and Soobin are merely an inch and a half apart and with the slightest movement of her knee, their knees would be touching. But she doesn’t have to contemplate whether or not she was going to make the first move, seeing as seconds later Soobin moves his own knee, knocking his jean-clad one with her sweatpant clad knee.

The silence seems to thicken for a moment, and neither of them move an inch. Sanha notices the discreet action, taking it upon himself to not make a big deal and he turns to face Jeongin in order to conceal his smile.

Maybe this wasn’t a bad idea after all.

[marvelship-oneshots]

BIONIC (WINTERIRON)

AU where Tony doesn't die after the snap and finds out he's much more similar to Bucky than he has ever thought. *Pepper and Tony are not married and therefore there is no Morgan. Steve still goes back in time (even tho i could not disagree more with this decision)* [1.9k words]

"I am inevitable" A click sound echoed on the battlefield as Thanos snapped. Everyone stopped, ready to die, but nothing happened. Tony fell on his knees as the gamma radiations of the stones penetrated his body. It hurt, it hurt an awful lot, but he was better than Thanos. "And I...am...Iron Man" As Tony snapped, Thanos and his army turned into dust. They won and Tony didn't mind sacrificing his life for it. It started with FRIDAY turning herself off, then the suit cut the power. Peter ran to him, followed by Pepper and Rhodey and in that moment Tony saw his life running in front of him. He lived a good life after all. Tony closed his eyes as Peter was pulled away from him. The light from the Arc Reactor started fading away when Pepper and Rhodey took his hands. Bucky wanted to be there, he never really apologized for killing his parents. It was like the whole word was falling on him, but he knew that his pain was nothing compared to Pepper's or Rhodey's, or even Peter's. Rhodey placed his mask on Tony's face, unable to look at his lifeless face. "Mr. Rhodes, sir. I found an heartbeat" The AI spoke from War Machine's suit on the comms and everyone in the battlefield looked at Tony's corpse. There was an heartbeat, Tony was most likely not dead then. Dr. Strange opened a portal with his sling ring, following Rhodey, who was carrying Tony's body. They placed him on a stretcher while Stephen was looking for Christine. He left Tony with her in a surgery room and went to change in more surgery-appropriate clothes.

Tony's body was resting in a private room, connected to various machinery that were keeping him alive for now. The surgery went well, Strange and Christine were positive that Tony would recover. It was going to be a long process, but eventually he would. They did everything in their power to save him and luckily it was more than enough. Unfortunately there was nothing they could do for Tony's right arm, the armor had fused with his flash. His body needed to regenerate and adjust to the operation they performed. He was in a coma but he was most likely to wake up. Tony was resting on the candid bed, he looked peaceful and that was probably the best sleep he had since they started the whole time heist thing.

Strange had returned the stones to the Avengers and Steve was the one in charge of returning them in the place they belong. He had greeted Bucky and Sam before going back in time again and never coming back. Well, he did came back, as an old man married to someone, most likely Peggy. He had nothing to lose, he complained, everything that meant something to him was gone. Bucky didn't know what to think of his decision. He was still there, Sam too and Tony was alive. But apparently they were not enough for Steve, once again Bucky was not enough.

Bucky couldn't hide that he was relieved when he was told that Tony would make it, but still couldn't force himself to visit him. He was sure Tony wouldn't want him there after all he caused to him. But one day Bucky decided that if he were to live in that century, he might as well try to fix as much as he could his relations with what was left of the Avengers. Bucky was well aware that it was him the cause of the Civil War and the reason behind Tony and Steve's rivalry over the past years. And that was probably the reason why they could not defeat Thanos the first time. 'Butterfly effect' thought Bucky entering the elevator of the hospital 'A butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo and in New York there is a hurricane. Steve wants to protect me and Tony ends up in a coma'

In the room with Tony there was Rhodey, reading a book while sitting on the armchair next to the bed. Bucky was standing in the corridor, behind the big window, looking at Tony and at his empty shoulder. He couldn't help but blaming himself for... everything. When Rhodey saw him, he smiled, walking towards the door. "You can come in, y'know" said the Colonel opening the door. Bucky shyly walked in the room, sitting in the plastic chair in the corner. Rhodey looked at the time. "I really have to run, Pepper is running late for a meeting at SI, you wouldn't mind staying with him 'til she arrives, would'ya?" asked and Bucky nodded. About an hour later Pepper arrived. Bucky was sleeping on the armchair when she put a hand on his shoulder. Pepper knew what he had been thinking, she was good at reading people. "It's not your fault."

The compound was destructed during the attack and it was in Tony's plans to build it again, but 'til then the Avengers, or what was left of them, was back at the Avengers Tower. Since the day he came back, Tony was locked in his workshop. Everything was new for him. Life seemed to be back to normal again, but in reality it wasn't. Steve was and old, wrinkly man, wedded to God-knows-who, Natasha was still dead, Banner was still in Hulk's body, Thor was somewhere with Quill and the other Guardians and Clint retired. Sometimes he felt like he was the only Avenger left, only to remember that he still had a missing arm, and without it where was a little he could do. Tony had spent a week in his lab trying to figure out what was next, trying to create a new arm with the help of FRIDAY and Dum-E, but he had always written and done everything with his right arm and trying to create an arm, or anything actually, without his right arm was incredibly difficult. Most of the time he spent in the lab, he was walking up and down the room with a glass of scotch in his hand at first, then the whole bottle and then with his beloved coffee.

Tony was sitting at the working table, looking at the holographic blueprints open in front of him. The only thing written on them was "Arm prototype n1".  Bucky was standing in front of the glass door of the lab, with a hand on the handle, not really sure whether he should open it or not. "Sergeant Barnes is requesting access to the lab sir" FRIDAY spoke up. "Let him in Fri" Bucky walked to the working table, looking in awe to the holographic blueprints. He lived in Wakanda for a while but he was still amazed by every technological evolution. "James" Tony greeted him with a small smile, keeping a look on the blueprint. They sat there in silence for a while, until Bucky spoke up. "Tony...I'm..I'm sorry for..." Tony looked at him softly "It's ok, it wasn't you" Tony knew that just like that he was not going to make everything fine, he knew that Bucky would still blame himself. Tony was aware that Bucky was not the Winter Soldier, and he had always been interested in Bucky, somehow. "I...I would make it light if I were you" babbled Bucky. Tony looked at him with a questioning look. "The arm, I would make it light" Tony smiled. "Wanna help me out here?"

Tony and Bucky spent much more than the needed time in the lab, designing and building Tony's arm and when it was finally ready, Bucky would teach Tony every secret he had learned over the years and Tony would teach him how technology works. They liked spending time with one another, they both felt like no one else could understand them. They actually liked each other and for once in ages, Bucky felt like someone really cared about him. Bucky had told Tony things he never told anybody, not even Steve. He told him about HYDRA, about the war, about the 40s and how was being a gay man in the close-minded society of the time. If Tony thought that the 2000s weren't the best time for being gay, he had to rethink his position. Together they had designed Tony's arm, another arm for Bucky in case he got tired of the Wakandian one, designed the new compound, build new suits for the two of them and a new one for Peter and Rhodey as well. Bucky now knew how to use the holographic table in Tony's lab and was not scared of FRIDAY anymore, he even helped create a new AI just for himself and Tony was incredibly proud of Bucky. Tony really really liked Bucky, he thought he was handsome and extremely hot, but most of all, had always a great time with him. On the other hand, Bucky really liked Tony too, maybe he loved him even, but never had the balls to tell him. Way too many times they found themself close enough to breathe each other breaths, but with an excuse or the other, that had always pulled away.

Tony couldn't take that situation anymore. He wanted Bucky to himself and himself only. They had an appointment in the lab that day, like any other day. They were about to develop some updates to Peter's sidey suit. Bucky came in the lab without any fuss, he didn't need a code, a badge or any announcement from the AI, he just lightly kicked the door. And by lightly I mean that he almost broke the glass, but managed to stop it soon enough not to cause damage. Tony looked at the entrance, where Bucky was standing in his gray sweatpants and black tank top. "It's a glass door Backaroo, there's no need to change it for the third time, is there?" asked Tony looking back at the blueprints of the new web shooters for Peter. Bucky walked over to his usual position next to the shorter brunette. They were working kinda peacefully when Bucky heard a metallic clicky sound. Tony had a guilty smirk on his face. Bucky looked over his left shoulder: Tony had just sticked a fridge magnet on his metal arm. It was a little thing between the two of them. A few weeks before Tony had bought more magnets than a normal person would ever need in their whole life and they just started sticking them on each other's arms. As soon as Tony realized that Bucky noticed, he started slowly walking away, but Bucky was faster and trapped Tony with his arms between his body and the table. Tony felt Bucky's breath on his neck and turned to face him. Their noses were touching. That was the occasion Tony had been waiting for. He stand in his tip toes while pressing his lips on Bucky's. Bucky's eyes widened but surprisingly enough he kissed him back, pulling him closer. The two walked towards the couch Tony had placed there for Bucky and they sat down. Bucky pulled him closer, making him sit on his lap, kissing his little innocent smile. Bucky placed both of his hands on Tony's waist, under his t-shirt. Tony leaped back for the cold touch of Bucky's vibranium hand. Bucky pulled back, taking his hand away from Tony's waist. His smile faded away and Tony understood. "It's just cold" said caressing Bucky's cheek "You better put that hand back and start kissing me again, old man" Bucky did what Tony told him to do with a smile. "Yes sir"

[nalgenewhore]

Too Late To Turn Back Now - Eleven

masterlist - ao3 - last chapter - epilogue

+*+*+*+*+*+*

The sun was still brightly shining outside and Lorcan half-wondered how it could when he was broken and hurting, his world crumbling around him. 

He drove the boat back on autopilot, hardly paying attention as he travelled across the blue waves, the ocean spray making his hair damp and his suit too, but he didn’t care. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a rumpled blanket sitting on the bench.

The sight of it was enough to make his heart break in half – again – as he shut off the boat and dropped onto the cushion beside it, picking it up and holding it to his chest. He had meant what he said. He would always find her. Always. 

But that wasn’t she wanted and no matter how badly it hurt him, he would respect her wishes. She deserved to be free, whether that was with him or not. She deserved happiness, even if he wasn't the one to give it to her. 

Throat tight, he sat there, unable to stop feeling like he was drowning. It hurt to breathe, the memory of them a sharp knife in his side that grated against his ribs with every panicked breath.

Slowly, he folded the heavy blanket and stuffed it into the cabinet, latching the door shut. Lorcan loosened his tie and dumped his suit jacket on the bench before he moved back to the driver’s seat and started the boat again, numb as he drove home.

He docked the boat an undetermined amount of time later. Guests were milling and buzzing about, gossiping as he parked the boat and stalked up the jetty, ignoring everyone and everything.

He saw Aelin first and when he shook his head, her face fell and she wrapped her arms around him. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” he whispered, his words strangled. “I’m gonna go… do something.”

Aelin stepped back and nodded, “Ok. I’ll be here if you need me.”

With a slight nod, Lorcan was off, not meeting anyone’s curious stares as he strode through the house and slammed the bedroom door behind him. It had been forty-five minutes since Elide left and he had never missed anyone the way he missed her.

Someone had moved the dress and the letters off the bed and he practically tore his clothes from his body, throwing himself down on the mattress and wrapping his arms around a pillow. It smelled like her honey-suckle shampoo and Lorcan gritted his teeth as he flung it to the other side of the room.

Deciding he couldn’t stand to be surrounded by her presence, even after she’d gone, Lorcan busied himself by cleaning the room, methodically cleaning the space. Even if he could never forget her, he could rid his home of her.

As he worked, he tried not to think about how his heart was going across the world and he’d never see it again.

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Elide sat down in her seat and clipped her seatbelt on, ready to leave. She’d been the first on, meaning everyone had seen how she’d left Lorcan like that. 

Her seatmate sat down and glanced at her quizzically, wondering why she hadn’t stayed.

If she were being honest, she didn’t know either. Well, she did know. Lorcan wouldn’t have been happy with her forever and she didn’t deserve him. He was good and kind and he cared about others. Elide did not and hadn’t for a while.

It was almost humorous, she supposed. Two people, who had been hurt from a very young age, their lives nearly identical, but while one had used that as fuel to be selflessly loving to the people that mattered the most to him, the other held on to the feeling of cold detachment, never trusting anyone ever again.

Elide tried to be happy. She had missed Terrasen all these years. There had been too many times to count when she had wanted to pack up her life and ship it back over to her home, but without the financial stability she had now, Vernon would have sought her out and reeled her back in with his vicious words. And honestly, she hadn’t wanted to go back. Every time she thought about doing so, a voice at her shoulder would tell her to stay and so she did. 

In need of distraction, she searched into her pocket, looking for what, she didn’t know. She felt something smooth and cool, pulling it out to find the piece of sea glass she’d found that night. It was black, and she’d chosen it because it looked like Lorcan’s eyes. She pulled out her phone next, fumbling as the screen lit up to a picture of her and Lorcan, walking together on the sidewalk. She was holding onto his elbow and hand, wearing his fleece and looking up at him with an adoring look. He was returning the gaze fondly, his posture relaxed for once. 

“You two look beautiful together,” the older woman sitting next to her said. “It’s probably none of my business, but I hope that you two know that, if you love each other, things should come easy. Before you tell me to mind my own self, just ask yourself: how does it feel to be away from him?” 

Like she was being torn apart. 

Without really thinking, Elide unlocked her phone and tapped out his number, knowing he wouldn’t pick up and still hoping he would. She got his voice mail and just hearing him talk had her wanting to cry again.

Her heart was in her throat as she waited for the beep and it took a few tries for her to speak. “Hi. It’s me. I just- I’m on the plane and I want to cry. I miss you. I don’t know why I’m here, I shouldn’t be here.” Elide swallowed back her tears, looking up as if it would stop them from forming in her eyes. “I thought I was going home but I’m not ‘cause you’re my home. Wherever you are, that’s where I should be. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t-“ she breathed in sharply, feeling like someone had punched her in the chest, knocking the air from her lungs. “I need to get off this plane.”

Quickly, she shot up, hastily grabbing her bag as the flight attendant pulled the door shut. Elide sped around passengers that were still putting their carry-ons, apologies spilling from her lips. “Miss-“

“I need to get off the plane.”

The flight attendant sighed, “Miss, I’m going to have to ask you to take your seat. The plane will be leaving soon.”

“No, you- you don’t understand! I need to get off this plane, I can’t leave—”

“Ma’am. I’m sorry, but I cannot let you off this plane. Now, if you would just—”

“Please. Please, I am begging you, just let me off the plane. I have to get off this plane.” Elide felt her eyes sting with tears and the woman pursed her lips, glancing between the cockpit, the door, and Elide. She tried again, her voice cracking. “Please.”

“Let her off the plane!” Elide turned at the voice, seeing her seatmate standing up, her fist waving in the air. “Come on, just let her off the plane! Have a heart, miss." 

Slowly, the other passengers took up her cry, pleading with the flight attendant. Elide bit her lip to stop from outright crying then and there. “Please. I love him.” 

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

No one had seen Lorcan since he’d returned and the boys had had enough.

They’d found out that the door was locked and he wouldn’t open it – that they knew, so they did what any reasonable people would do. 

They scaled the side of the house up to the balcony.

Crashing through the French doors, they found Lorcan in the shower. “Ayy, Lorcan!” 

He looked over his shoulder and shouted, “Do you fucking mind? Get the fuck out!”

Rowan and Connall nodded and turned, but Fenrys and Vaughan were unperturbed. “We don’t want you to be lonely! Are you sure you’re—”

“If you do not get the fuck out right now, I will kill you. I will literally murder you dead and chop up your bodies with the ax and feed you to the fucking orcas! Get out!”

Both wearing shit-eating grins, they left. He had a lump in his throat and no matter how many times he coughed or swallowed, it didn’t go away.

A few minutes later, Lorcan stalked out of the bathroom, his hair piled up in a messy bun to keep from getting wet. One of the boys, probably Connall, had put new sheets on the bed and they were all piled in it, looking up at him with excited expressions. “Dude. They have Space Jam.”

Lorcan rolled his eyes and huffed a laugh at the sight of all four of them in a bed that was far too small for hulking men. He got dressed, wearing a pair of sweats and a hoodie, the hood flipped over his head, and shoved Vaughan to the side so he could be in the middle, between his cousin and Rowan.

Rowan opened his arms and Lorcan let his best friend hug him close, Rowan’s chin resting on top of Lorcan’s head. Lorcan leaned the side of his head above Rowan’s heart, slinging an arm across his waist. Someone pulled him up into a seated position - Vaughan, who gently took his hair down and began to braid it as Fenrys used the remote control to choose Space Jam.

As the opening credits began, his eyes welled up and he did nothing to stop the tears from spilling down his cheeks. “I love her.”

Rowan sat up and let Lorcan lean on him. He kissed the top of Lorcan’s head, rubbing his back, “I know, L.”

“It wasn’t… just what happened. We were more than that,” he whispered, closing his eyes and still the tears slipped past his thick lashes. He had to believe that they were more than that.

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

The girls had been sent away, out of the house, their protests gone unheard over their mother’s commands.

Odette roped in Nehemia and Aelin to help her in making food, not that either of them needed much convincing. In times like these, it was hard for the two women to sit still, the very being in their bones urging them to help in whichever capacity.

Nehemia and Odette spent the late morning making food, while Aelin was in charge of whatever boozy drinks she could make, having been banned from the kitchen ages ago. She sipped from a glass, the drink burning the back of her throat and calling tears to her eyes, “Whoo, that’s got some kickback, dang! It’ll do.”

Wiping her hands on a kitchen towel, Nehemia wandered over, a scrutinizing look on her ethereal face. “Are you sure?” Aelin just rolled her eyes and took Nehemia’s towel, giving her her own glass. She looked at it warily and sipped, coughing and nodding, her voice strained, “Yeah, this’ll do, gods-damn, Aelin.”

Odette laughed from where she was stirring a large pot of wohanpi, a bison stew Lorcan had always claimed had healing powers. All anyone knew about it was he made it once a year in a huge batch and froze containers of it. A lucky few would receive a portion when ill or fighting a raging hangover. Aelin, being his best friend, always had a guaranteed portion as well as Nehemia. The boys could fend for themselves. “Which of you is up to go wrangle the boys?” They had all watched as Rowan, Vaughan, Fenrys, and Connall scaled up to the balcony.

Aelin rose her hand, holding up a finger as she drained her glass, “I’ll do it.”

They nodded and waved her down the hall and off she went.

Having the decency to knock before entering, Aelin waited until someone called ‘come in’ to walk in, smiling widely at the sight she saw.

All of them, piled onto the bed and cuddling while watching what they considered to be the peak of cinematic history. It was cute and she thought about teasing them, just a tad, until she saw the tear tracks on Lorcan’s face and the redness of his eyes behind those round glasses of his. “I got booze and bison stew!”

“Did you make the stew,” Lorcan muttered, snuggled in between Vaughan and Rowan. Fenrys, probably having decided that he wasn’t being given his due attention, was sprawled on top of them and somehow managed to make it look comfortable. “If so, I don’t want it.”

“Hahaha, you’re so funny! Did you come up with that all by yourself? No, of course I didn’t – Mama Salvaterre did that and Mia made bread, I think. Or was it cookies, I can’t quite remember, but she was baking. C’mon! Get out of bed,�� she whined, stamping her feet on the floor like a petulant child until they all slowly climbed out, wearing an unintentional uniform of hoodies and sweats. Aelin being Aelin, commented as they filed out, somber and silent. “Wow, matching, how cute.”

Lorcan snapped his teeth at her and flipped her off as he sat down heavily at the island bar, smiling slightly when Nehemia pushed a filled bowl and spoon towards him.

The rest of the boys served themselves and were silent as they ate, shoveling the food into their mouths and down their throats. Nehemia half wondered how they hadn’t choked yet.

When their bellies were full, Aelin gave them glasses and the pitcher of her concoction, sending them out onto the porch. They all protested, of course, and said they would clean up like the good mama’s boys they all were (though they were loath to admit it) but Odette would have none of it.

It was a good thing that the sink was situated so that one could look out over the yard and therefore patio while they washed up. Aelin had suds up to her elbows as she half cleaned, half spied on the boys, little snippets of their conversation floating through an open window.

Lorcan was talking about Elide and how he didn’t want his brothers to hate her. They were all quick to assure him they didn’t, but Aelin knew better. There would be a grudge held for a while.

Eventually, Fenrys and Vaughan got antsy and went off to box on the grass. Aneha and Sadirah watched from the garden, egging them on, the little troublemakers. Rowan and Connall finally went down to break it up before either of them took it too far, as they were prone to do, but just ended up getting drawn in.

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Lorcan was watching his brothers fight but wasn’t processing a thing. He stood up and walked down to the yard, passing everyone to sit by the jetty, watching the sun set. Lorcan dug out his phone from his pocket, not exactly sure what for.

The screen was lit up with one missed call and he opened his phone to see who it was. He choked, nearly sending the drink in his hand flying when he saw that it was from Elide and she’d left a voicemail.

Hands shaking, he put his drink down and pressed on his voicemail, hardly breathing as it rang and the automated voice recited: “You have one new message. To hear your messages, press one-“

Lorcan pressed one and leaned his elbow on his knee, biting his thumbnail as her voice filled his ear. “Hi. It’s me.” She sounded like she was crying. “I just- I’m on the plane and I want to cry. I miss you. I don’t know why I’m here, I shouldn’t be here. I thought I was going home but I’m not ‘cause you’re my home. Wherever you are, that’s where I should be. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t-“ she breathed in sharply, interrupting herself, “I need to get off this plane.”

His eyes widened and his knee stopped bouncing as he heard a rustling sound and Elide murmuring quick apologies to the people she pushed past. There came a second voice that sounded like it was further away. “Miss—”

“I need to get off the plane.”

Lorcan swallowed hard, almost thinking this was a dream. The flight attendant spoke again, sounding slightly exasperated, “Miss, I’m going to have to ask you to take your seat. The plane will be leaving soon.”

“Let her off the plane,” he breathed, standing up and pacing back and forth. He ran his hand through his damp hair, his heart slamming against his ribs.

“No, you- you don’t understand! I need to get off this plane, I can’t leave—”

The message ended and he froze, “No, no, no, fuck!”

He hung up before the automated message could play and almost threw his phone into the ocean. He didn’t know what to do and so he hastily typed out Elide’s number, messing up more than a few times and hitting the wrong number.

When he finally got the right number, his call was sent straight to voicemail and Lorcan swore again, unaware that the play boxing had stopped and they were all watching him with confusion on their faces. “Princess, please, just tell me if you got off the plane, ok? I need you to call me back and tell me if you got off the plane—”

“I got off the plane.”

He froze, his phone falling to the grass beneath his feet. Lorcan didn’t dare turn around, afraid it would just be a figment of his imagination and she'd slip through his fingers again. When Vaughan nodded once, just barely a dip of his chin, Lorcan’s breath escaped him in a rushed exhale and he turned, not making any other move towards her as the same water taxi drove off, leaving Elide and her bag on the dock. “You got off the plane?”

Elide nodded, biting her bottom lip as tears streamed down her face, “I got off the plane.”

He rasped a laugh, the sound watery and tearful as he took one step towards her and Elide flew towards him, her arms stretched out and reaching for him.

Lorcan rocked back a step as she launched herself into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist. Her hands slid into his hair and his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her body closer and closer still. He could feel Elide’s tears drip onto the skin of his neck and her body shook as she cried. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I left. Of course I love you. I love you.”

Pulling back, Elide tracked her eyes over his face, crying anew at the tears on his cheeks, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Lorcan moved a hand to cup her jaw and kissed away her tears which only made her cry harder.

“I love you,” he murmured, stroking his thumb over her cheek. “I love you.” Elide laughed, the sound choked, and hugged him tighter, looking down at him from her elevated position as he hoisted her up higher and banded his arms under her thighs. “Did you mean it?” he asked, his eyes searching hers. “What you said in the voicemail.”

Elide smiled, almost shyly, through the tears that fell steadily and nodded. “Every word. I don’t want to leave you again. I’m home with you. Wherever you are, I’m there.” 

He didn’t want to waste anymore time and closed the gap between them, kissing her softly, uncertainly. After a second, he drew back, looking up at her as she kissed him again, sure of herself as her hands moved to cup his face. “I love you.”

“Say it again,” he whispered, chasing the feeling of those words against his lips. “Tell me again. Until I am tired of it.”

“I love you,” she said, pulling away. Her nose was tucked against his, their lips still brushing together as she said it. She kissed his cheek, “I love you.” Another kiss pressed to his other cheek, “I love you.” Elide kissed his brow, “I love you.” She kissed the tip of his nose, “I love you.” And then, finally, her lips pressed against his, soft and sure as her words, “I love you.” Her lips moved against his, her hands slipping back into his hair, “Are you tired of it yet?” 

“No.” 

“When will you tire of it?”

“Never.”

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Twilight was upon them and Lorcan guided Elide through the dew-kissed grass, her hand fitting flawlessly, like the final piece of a puzzle, in his.

After dinner, a slightly strained ordeal on the boys’ parts until Odette cut them a glare that had them near pissing themselves when it then passed smoothly, Elide and Lorcan had slipped off silently, having only eyes for each other as they strolled peacefully, their joined hands swinging between them.

Rowan and Fenrys had scowled after the retreating figures, an indignant fury directed towards the petite woman. Odette had seen this and pulled them to the side, chastising them for not recognizing their friend’s happiness over their own pigheaded, male need to hold grudges on behalf of a man who wanted not their anger.

In the present, Elide tugged on Lorcan’s hand until he turned back, gazing at her as she was bathed in the bright moon’s silver light. “I want to dance,” she whispered, delighted as he swept her into a sweet dance, slow and even over the glowing grass.

They danced under the twinkling stars and full moon, to the music only they knew - something that played only in their heads. 

When her feet grew sore and her eyes drooped, Lorcan scooped her up and held her close to him, pressing his lips to her forehead as she made a happy noise in the back of her throat and hummed sleepily. She toyed with his necklace, sliding her fingers up and down the chain.

Elide was out by the time he closed the door to their room and put her down, smiling as she clung to his hoodie and whined, her brow wrinkling.

She settled once he laid down beside her and let her move however she wanted, not satisfied until she was straddling his waist and snuggled against his chest.

Elide sat upright suddenly, her hands braced against his chest. Lorcan sat up, cupping her cheek, “What is it?”

“Kiss me.”

He did so with no hesitation, kissing her slowly, thoroughly. She sighed and melted into it, moaning when he licked into her mouth and their tongues tangled together.

Chests rising and falling erratically, Lorcan pulled away, only slightly, his lips brushing against hers as he asked, “What was that for?” She didn’t open her eyes, her fingers lingering on his cheeks. 

“Is this a dream? If I open my eyes, will you be gone?”

He smiled and waited until her eyes slowly cracked open for him to say, “You are my dream.”

+*+*+*+*+*+*

an: i told y’all it would be fine 

@mythicaitt​ @tinywolfofeyllwe​ @schmlip-scribble​ @the-regal-warrior​ @westofmoon @empire-of-wildfire @rhysands-highlady @city-of-fae @shyvioletcat @alifletcher2012 @tangledraysofsunshine @ttakeitbacknoww @tswaney17 @ourbooksuniverse @flora-and-fae @thesirenwashere e @queenofxhearts @maastrash @mynewdreamwasyou @cursebreaker29 @superspiritfestival @yikesitsmaddie @flowerspringsea @queen-of-glass @sleeping-and-books s @b00kworm @bat-wing-rhys @poisonous00 @empress-ofbloodshed @feyrethedarklady @gorl-power @keshavomit @ifinallygavein @rosegoldannie @pilesoffriles @julemmaes @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln @januarystears

[dizzydancingdreamer]

I’m really thirsting for a sneak peek of that 10k fic rn like I NEED IT, I swear im not obsessed but like I’m definitely in too deep

You ask, I deliver. I swear I can’t say no to you! Here are 1500 of my favourite words, it’s all you get you fiend.

When seven o’clock rolls around you’re standing outside the biggest mansion you’ve ever laid your eyes on. Its white pillars taunt you, each one large enough to hide your body. Twice. You’re alone, spare the people around you milling in and out of the large doors. Your mother had dropped you in front while her and your father went to park the car. Never before in your life has a house made you feel this small. This alone. You pull your shawl, a sheer black number, around your shoulders and shrink slightly.

A hand lands on your shoulder and you jump, spinning around quickly only to be greeted with Lily, whose face is twisted from the laughter pouring out of her. She clutches her stomach from the force, wrinkling the red satin dress she’s wearing. You take a moment to admire how much it suits her. It’s a little bold for your tastes but she wears it like no one else could. Her hair is twisted on the top of her head, a few curls falling to frame her face. She looks amazing, not that you had any doubts.

You lightly smack her shoulder, finally letting a few giggles loose, “you scared me you idiot!” You turn your eyes back to the mansion, swallowing the lump of nerves growing in your throat, “take a look at this place, will you. It’s huge! Have you ever seen a house this big? What could someone possibly need a house this big for?”

“Yeah it’s something alright,” her eyes drag down the hulking facade before meeting yours once more, a naughty smirk now on her red lips, “and I’m sure the inside is even nicer! Let’s go!”

She grabs your hand, all but dragging you over the threshold. Light pours over you, catching the sequins on your dress and making it sparkle delicately, something that would usually make you squeal however your attention is currently elsewhere. That elsewhere is the dual grand staircase in the center of the room. It’s encased in pillars, the feature leaking in from the exterior of the mansion. It’s bronze railings are strung up with thousands of twinkling lights. The staircase is easily the focal point of the foyer. 

But not because of the lights. 

Lily digs her nails into your hand, pulling you to a screeching halt, “are you seeing what I’m seeing right now?”

Her eyes are glued to the same place that yours are, dragging up and down the staircase with little care to whoever might be watching her little show. You choose a less outright form of gawking, opting to look all around the room while still making little glances at your main focus.

“Yeah, Lil, I think I am,” you gulp, your eyes training on three sinfully gorgeous men, “mama said they were handsome but this,” you let the end of your sentence drop, not having nearly the vocabulary to explain the Mikaelsons.

In total, there are five people on the staircase. Four men and a woman. Each one is gorgeous in their own right. You mull over the woman first. If you thought that you looked nice before you left, that’s pretty much gone now. She’s absolutely stunning. Her blonde hair lays in a sheet over her shoulders, winding almost to her base of her spine. She wears an emerald gown, one fitted to every dip and curve of her body like it was spun by Aphrodite herself. You have to look away, she’s the kind of pretty that makes you feel like you’re not worthy of seeing it.

Your eyes travel to the man next to her and your mouth goes dry. He’s tall. That’s the first thing you notice. If you were next to him he would easily tower over you. Not just because of his height, though. You shift your focus to his arms and the way the sleeves of his tux hug them tightly. You have no doubts this man could rip you in two if he wanted to. He stands at ease, his eyes wandering the faces of those closest to him as he lifts a hand to smooth over his brown hair. At least he doesn’t look to be in the killing mood.

Behind him is a man with blonde hair. Even from across the room it looks softer than silk and your palms itch to run through it. He leans against the railing, a glass of champagne loose in his fingers. His eyes are on the others but he has the appearance of a man who is a thousand miles away. Your heart hurts at the thought but you brush past it. You don’t know him and you’re most likely wrong. Still you give him another brush over, wishing slightly that he would crack even a hint of a smile.

You shake your head, moving to the man at the top of the stairs. He’s alive with something fiery, speaking to the others with animated hands and laughing hard. You can’t hear him over the crowd around you but, gods, you wish you could. It’s probably nothing important but, by the looks of him, he could make anything sound special. He throws his head back laughing, his brown hair flopping wildly. You can’t look at him for long either but not for the same reason you couldn’t look at the woman. No, you can’t look at him because you’re afraid if you look any longer than you’ll be sucked in forever.

When you look at the last man you shiver. It’s not the kind of shiver that makes you feel exhilarated though, it’s the opposite. Your blood runs cold when you look at him and, when his eyes meet yours, you look away instantly. You can feel his eyes burning into your back for a few moments after and you hate it. Unlike the rest of them, this man makes you feel ice cold.

You tug on your best friend’s hand, desperate to get away from the man, “come on, Lil, let’s go find the champagne.” 

Lily’s eyes light up at the thought, instantly taking the lead on this new expedition, “girl you read my mind!” 

You take one last glance towards the staircase as she pulls you into another you, momentarily catching three pairs of brown eyes before scampering around the corner. Your cheeks are hot when you’re finally out of their vicinity. You hadn’t realized how heavy the air around them had been. Now that you can’t see them your bones feel marginally lighter. Something nags at you though, a loss of sorts. You rub a hand over your chest, massaging the ache away.

Lily pushes a cool glass into your hand, lifting her own to her lips. You follow suit, breathing in the sugary scent before letting the sweet bubbles flow down your throat. It soothes your flaming chest.

“Shit,” Lily breathes, “everything about this screams money. The invitations, the house, this damn champagne. What’s next? A pool of synchronised swimmers?” Her eyes wander the room, her fingers tight around the glass, “I’m not used to this Great Gatsby level of wealth. It’s making my head spin a little. This is my parent’s scene, not mine.”

You nod lightly, her words everything you’ve been dying to say. It’s magnificent but you’ve never felt more out of place. Not even the founders day balls are like this. At least Mrs. Lockwood has the good sense to cater to the modesty of the town. Before you can answer, however, a voice joins your conversation.

“My apologies, my brothers like to go overboard when throwing parties. It’s not quite my taste either, a little too stuffy if you ask me.” 

You spin around to the sight of the woman from the stairs and your heart pounds hard in your chest. She’s even more beautiful up close, like a Van Gogh masterpiece. Her voice is accented and smooth, impossibly so. You feel like a peasant in her presence but her smile is light and it helps soothe your nerves a touch. When you look at Lily, though, her cheeks are beet red and her eyes are wide. 

“Oh my, I am so sorry! I didn’t think anyone would hear me besides,” she nudges you lightly, the smile she’s plastered on her face sheepish, “this one here. It really is gorgeous. Perhaps university has lowered my standards.”

You watch Lily fumble her words and you don’t blame her. This girl seems like she was made to insite insecurity and you mean that in the very best of ways. Despite her slight enthusiasm, though, Lily’s eyes flow over the woman slowly. You can tell she’s interested. By the way her stares are being reciprocated, you would say she isn’t the only one. You smile at that, 

The woman laughs, her eyes filled with mirth, “your standards aren’t low, this party is just a nightmare. I’m Rebekah, one of the many Mikaelsons you will surely encounter tonight,” she looks over her shoulder, her eyebrows furrowing slightly, “and it looks as though you’re going to get the immersive experience.”

[valeriethepussycats]

Assemble

Chapter 5

Pairing- Loki x Reader x Steve (one side)

Warning- cursing 

Your thoughts and other characters are in italics.

Flashbacks are in bold

Your favorite TV show- y/tv

Your Harry potter house- y/h

After Ororo kisses Y/n’s forehead she starts running away trying to make it out of the woods so she wouldn’t be Capture by the Weapon X Program. When Ororo makes it out the woods she comes across a  small town.

What have I done I left her when they after me was

This was Ororo’s only thought.  She had to fight the impulse to run back into the woods and save her daughter. Apart of her knew that her daughter was already gone. What is the point of both of us getting taking said  a darker another part of her. Feeling conflicted about everything Ororo starts to cry.

“You should listen to yourself it would’ve been pointless if you both would have gotten caught.” Said a voice behind Ororo.

Turning around Ororo see a man in a wheelchair. “Who are you?” Ororo questioned.

“I’m Charles Xavier and when came out the store I felt  overwhelmed  sadness coming from you I wanted to make sure cyou were ok but clearly you’re not....what is the matter?” Charles asked.

“These people they were after me and now they have my daughter. They experiment on mutants..... I have to do something to find her.” Ororo explained.

“How would you do it? If you had the power to stop them you would’ve.” Charles stated.

“May you can. Can you help me save my daughter please I’ll do anything.” Ororo pleaded as she wipes her face.  

“There’s not much I can do I’m just a man in a wheelchair who want to create a world were mutant can walk outside without fear.” Charles declared.

“What about my daughter I’ll never see her again.” Ororo sobbed.

Charles lay a comforting hand on Storm’s shoulder. “You never had a daughter Ororo your here because you want to help with your Mutant abilities.” Charles lied as he planted a thought inside  Ororo’s head.

Ororo stops sobbing and looks at Charles In curiosity.

“My school is for mutants who can’t control their powers or want to be around other  people of their kind.” Charles informed Ororo. “Does that seem like a place where you want to be?”

“Yes it does sound like a place I would want to be.” Ororo said with a smile.

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On the Helicarrier Tony and Bruce are working on their monitors to find the Location of the Tesseract.

“That’s the guy my dad never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn’t have kept him on ice.” Tony remarked.

“The guy’s not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us.” Bruce agreed with Steve.

“What he’s got is an ACME dynamite kit.”  Tony mocked. “It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does.”

“And I'll read all about it.” Bruce replied.

“Uh-huh. Or you'll be suiting up like the rest of us.” Tony disclosed.

“Ah, see. I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare.” Bruce  explained.

“You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart. Tony started then points at the mini arc reactor in his chest. “This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a... terrible privilege.”

“But you can control it.” Bruce pointed out.

“Because I learned how.”

“It's different.” Banner tries to read the computer screen, but Tony slides the  data aside with his finger so the two can see face-to-face.

“Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have  killed you.” Tony put forth.”

“So you're saying that The Hulk... the other guy... saved my life?” Bruce asked. “That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?”

“I guess we'll find out.” Tony replied.

Banner and Stark get back to work at their respective computers.

“You might not like that.”

“You just might.”

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Y/n walks into the room and uses her powers to cover up the cameras with a small little cloud she walks over to Loki so he has his back to her and waits for her to speak.

“Where is the Tesseract?”  Y/n question.

“35 minutes that’s how long it taken you to finally come in here. Loki announced. “See me you felt some thing when you first saw me like your world slow down and all you saw was me.”

How the hell does he know that .....ignore his question that’s what he wants to take the tension off of him

“Where is the Tesseract.” Y/n repeated her question.

“I don’t know where is but if you want to take a look inside my mind I wouldn’t object.” Loki said with a smirk daring wanting Y/n to do it.

Not trying to show her shock she starts to walks around Loki’s cell.

“So you don’t know where it is when you’re the one who took it.”

“Yes.” Loki said Dead serious.

“You’re a real piece of work you know that. Why did you let yourself be captured come on let’s be honest if Thor and his friends can hold their own in a fight I damn well you can.” Y/n proclaimed.

“It was a fair match I was over powered.” Loki lied.

“Bullshit. You expect me to believe that you got caught nah. You want this to happen you want to be here and I wanna know why because your prize possession ain’t here.” Y/n pointed out.

“You got me.  Something told me that you were going to be here I let myself get caught so I could finally met you in person.” Loki answered.

“Why would you do that?”  Y/n wondered.

“You are beautiful beyond measures and you’re nothing like anyone I ever met before You’re different like me.” Loki announced.

“You don’t know me.” Y/n informed sassily.

“I know everything there is to know about you Y/n L. Munroe.  I also know that you want information about what truly happened that night.” Loki commented.

“How do you know that.” Y/n questioned walking up to the glass of the cell.

“A trickster never reveals his tricks.” Loki answered with a smirk.

“Why do I feel this pull towards.....like everything inside of me is screaming to break this glass just to be close to you.” Y/n said touching the glass.

“Then why don’t you.” Loki whispered as he placed his hand where Y/n is on the glass.

“Because your the enemy. You want war.” Y/n Replied as searches Loki mind for the Tesseract.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

“What do you know of Agent Munroe?” Loki asked Clint.

“She is a powerful mutant that can control the weather and read minds.” Clint answered.

Loki calls over two Shield agents. “I want you to tell Dr. Selvig to take the Tesseract and find his opening.” Loki ordered then walks out the underground to get an eyeball.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Damn it he doesn’t know where the Tesseract is.

“I want to be a King and every King needs a Queen.” Loki breathed his words at Y/n.

I understand why eve ate that Fucking Apple

“I need to go.” Y/n rushes out the room and bumps into Thor.

“ You. Me. Talk. Now.” Y/n pulls Thor into The nearest room and close the door.

“What the hell you mean he’s here because of me?”

“I forgot you could read minds.”  Thor stated.

“It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose.” Y/n assured Thor.

“You and my brother are meant to be it’s been written in the stars of Asgard it’s a great honor.” Thor explained.

“What!?”

“My mother told me after Loki died or least we thought he did. She created a spell to find Loki a true love and it���s you.”

Is that’s why I feel the way I feel about him.

“Enough about Loki tell me about you how have you been. Have you seen Jane yet .” Y/n asked taking a sit on on the couch.

“No I haven’t I don’t think I will.” Thor answered taking a sit next to Y/n.

“Because after you leave here you have to go back home.”  Y/n expressed.

“It will be to hard.” Thor replied with a sad smile.

“I understand  it’s ok buddy.” Y/n said as she lays her head on Thor’s shoulder.

“How about you anything interesting happened after our last encounter?” Thor asked.

“I found out my mother is alive.” Y/n answered dryly.

“That’s........Amazing.” Thor proclaimed.

“She left me at the hands of people who hunt and experimented on mutants.”

“My.... apologies”

“I was five I loved her she was my world. All we had was each other. I.....I blamed myself for her death I thought if I would’ve just stayed awake or kept running....” Y/n trailed  off.

“Things would’ve ended differently.” Thor finished for Y/n.

“Ya.....what are we gonna do about Loki.” Y/n said getting up from the couch to pace back-and-forth.

“I was hoping you do something.” Thor proposed.

“I read his mind he gave the cube to Erik and told him to find an opening.”  Y/n answered.

“How did he know about your powers?” Thor questioned.

“Agent Barton told him.....Look I’m gonna go get some sleep I’m over working my brain.” Y/n said in a tired voice.

“Already.”

“I really did miss you Thor.” Y/n said with a smile.

“And I you.” Thor returned the smile.

Y/n walks out the room to her Temporary quarters Y/n lays down in her room she closes her eyes and drift off into a deep sleep.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Y/n wakes up and see she’s not in her bed she gets out of the bed and walks to the nearest window and pull back the curtains and see a city made of gold.

Asgard

Y/n smiles as she looks at every detail. Seemingly built into the rock, large structures with sweeping terraces top many of the cliffs; gleaming pyramids, statues, and columns surround Odin's palace. Another notable feature in Asgard is the-

“The Rainbow Bridge.” Y/n Announced.

“Actually it’s called The Bifrost Bridge.” Said a voice behind Y/n making turn around fast.

It’s Loki. But he looks different he doesn’t have that evil look in his eyes there soft.

“Loki.” Y/n whispered his name. “What are you doing here? What am I doing here.”

“You’re in my mind,when you saw me for the first time we became linked.” Loki explained.

“Oh.”

“Will you have breakfast with me?” Loki asked.

“Breakfast?” Y/n said with a smile.

“You must change.”

Just then two ladies comes walking in the room with to dress then they lay them on the bed and bow at Y/n.

“Don’t you think this is a little too formal. It’s just breakfast.”  Y/n stressed.

“These are Asgard customs.” Loki Informed Y/n.

“Ok I’ll be down in few minutes.”

Loki bow his head then walks out the room.

Why are they bowing at me

Y/n  walks over to the dress on the bed. The one on the left is a long and green with cross stitching on the chest. But the one on the right was long and tan light with red sugar Maple Leafs climbing from the bottom of the dress to around the neck leaving the upper chest expose. Y/n  picks up the dress and smiles.

I not really a dress girl but who could deny this one

Y/n  puts the dress on and walks over to the mirror.

Damn I look good

Y/n walks out the room not bother to fix her hair but it was already in her favorite hair style. The ladies that brought the dresses in the room walks Y/n  to the dining hall. When she gets there she see Loki waiting for her. Loki take Y/n’s hand and walks her to her sit.

“This is all so much.” Y/n  said taking a sit.

“Nonsense anything for you.” Loki said pushing Y/n’s sit in.

”Thank you...I’ve only seen Asgard from Thor’s memories but this is beautiful.” Y/n

“This is my memories.” Loki told Y/n as he takes his sit.

Y/n looks around the Grate Hall in  amazement. There’s two tables a shorter one thats the one Loki and Y/n are at then it’s the longer one where Loki has every earth breakfast food on it.  As Y/n is distracted by the architectural structure of the Castle Loki is looking at her noticing every detail of her face.

“This is really beautiful Loki.” Y/n Praised.

“Not beautiful then you.” Loki remarked.

When Y/n finally looks at Loki she see that he’s giving her the “looks” you know the see into your soul look.

“Loki, what am I doing here?” Y/n wondered.

“I want to know you better is that a crime.”  Loki answered.

“No it is not but I know there’s more to it.” Y/n disclosed.

“I want to know everything about you in exchange I’ll tell you about the night your mother disappeared.” Loki proposed.

“Ok. What do you want to know?” Y/n asked.

“Anything.” Loki breathed.

“Well I find nature relaxing, best years of my life was when I lived in New Orleans with  Gambit, November 18  is the day I control my power l just remember this overwhelming sadness that I couldn’t control.  I caused a state wide earthquake and black out even some city in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut had black outs. Think I care to much. I’m passionate about everything I do. When I’m losing control of my powers I think of my time with Gambit and it always seem to work. I think I watch y/tv  to much.  My house is y/h . You remain me of Professor Snape a good guy in disguise.

“Who’s Professor Snape is he someone important to you?” Loki asked.

“He’s important to everyone who reads Harry Potter. You see Professor Snape was portrayed to be a bad guy but he never was he was an asshole yes  but not a bad guy. He cared for Harry because he was a piece of the woman he loved.....I’m sorry I really the loved books and movies Gambit used to read them to me.” Y/n stated with a smile.

“No it’s fine you said you were passionate about everything.”  Loki said with an fond look.

Y/n  smiles and starts to eat her pancakes. As Y/n is eating some syrup gets on the corner of Y/n’s mouth. Loki looks Y/n in the eyes as he reaches over and slowly wipes the syrup away from Y/n’s mouth with his thumb. He  then puts the pad of this thumb into his mouth. Y/n is shocked by Loki sudden movement.

“You had syrup on your cheek.” Loki told Y/n

“Um....thanks....Um the view is amazing.” Y/n  gets up and walks over to the balcony needing to put space between her and Loki. But it was in vane Loki walks up behind her.

“I’ve seen something far more amazing.” Loki

“Why are you doing this are trying to put me under your spell?” Y/n wondered.

“No I would never.” Loki said serious voice.

“Then what’s going on.”  

“I just want to be here with you.”

And in that moment Y/n  knew that Loki  was serious even asked all the times he told her he was she finally believed.  Y/n turns around and smiles at Loki she ledes in and kisses him. She then starts to get flashes of Loki’s childhood and smiles into the kiss.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Steve, with all his might, slides the heavy iron door and stealthily walks in. Secure storage 10-C is a large warehouse, filled with Metal crates stacked. Steve looks up, seeing another level. He leaps up high and holds onto the catwalk railing. Steve continues to move forward.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Inside this particular van, Selvig and a few other soldiers are  driving inside a long tunnel. With the CMS device inside, Selvig carefully picks up the small cylinder shape Iridium with metal prongs and lightly places it a slot within the CMS. The CMS Accepts it and Selvig looks at it, devilishly smiling.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

After “accepting” Charles offer to be be apart of this school Ororo went on to be known as the X-Men Storm somewhat of a caretaker of the children at Charles’s school. This was every day routine for Ororo waking up teaching children taking care of them and then probably go out scouting for more mutants with Jean or Scott but this time Charles had a different approach he paired her up with Logan. Yes you heard right the mutant with an unstoppable healing power, adamantium metal claws and no-nonsense attitude and one of the most ferocious heroes in the universe.

Logan and Ororo walk into Cerebro and see Charles. “You wanted to see us Chuck?” Logan  asked.

“There’s this mutant in Manhattan with a the power that can take the potential energy stored in an object and convert it to kinetic energy thus “charging” that item with explosive results. I need you to find him he has information on a mutant that  I need to find.” Charles informed Ororo and Logan.

“What’s he’s name Professor?” Ororo asked.

“Remy LeBeau but he also goes by Gambit.” Charles answered.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Gambit is at a bar late night drowning his sorrows in whiskey. Thinking about all the choices that led to him being here at a bar in Manhattan drinking he’s life away. He missed Y/n more then anything she was his daughter.

Gambit nod at Nick then  walks over to Y/n. “I guess is the end of the road.” Gambit commented.

“Can you promise me one thing?” Y/n Asked.

“What is it?” Gambit wondered with a curious tone.

“Don’t forget about me.” Y/n said with a sad smile.

“Never in a million years.” Gambit promised in a fatherly way.

Y/n hugs Gambit like her life depended on it.

“I love you.” Y/n sniffled.

Gambit pulls back from the hug to wipe Y/n’s tears “I love you too petit.” Gambit replied.“ This isn’t goodbye you’re gonna see me.”

Gambit shakes his head not wanting to remember what he said it makes him feel like a liar. He hasn’t seen her in years apart of him wonders if she would see him would she remember him? Gambit didn’t want to think about that he didn’t want that to be a Possibility. Gambit orders and another glass of whiskey and just when the bartender hands him he’s drinking two people approach him.

“I’m in no mood to fight so whatever business you have with me can it wait.” Gambit announced.

“You Remy LeBeau?”  Logan asked.

“That depends on who’s asking.”  Gambit stated.

“Charles Xavier he wants to know what happened in Canada with you and a mutant.”Ororo explained.

“And who might you be?” Gambit questioned as he turns around and see Logan and Ororo.

“Storm.”

“Stormy. You know my real name but I don’t know your.”

“And that’s how we like bub.” Logan Chimed in.

“No it’s fine I’m Ororo Munroe.”  Ororo told Gambit.

“I figure you were.” Gambit  downs his drink then pays for it and walks out the bar with  Ororo and Logan following closely.

“You asked nice now it’s my turn.”

Gambit pulls out a deck of cards and charge them. “Looks not looking for a fight ok you want to know what happened in Canada.  A little girl woke up in a cell across from mine crying out for her ma. Experimented on her and made her into a powerful mutant. The black out that happened on November 18 her I no doubt.” Gambit explained. “If you came here thinking I know where your daughter is you are mistaken.”

“What’s he talking about?” Logan questioned.

“I don’t know? I have a daughter?”

“I would seem that the good old Professor did more then help you crop. Look I’m not mad at you because you’ve getting me something I never knew I wanted.” Gambit said walks away.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

On a Shield monitor is a photo and record of Jane Foster. Thor looks at her, remembering all the moments they had together.

“As soon as Loki took the doctor we moved Jane Foster. We've got an excellent observatory in Traunsee. She was asked to consult there very

suddenly yesterday. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe.” Agent Coulson informed Thor.

“Thank you. It's no accident Loki taking Erik Selvig. I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man.” Thor declared.

“He talks about you a lot. You changed his life. You changed everything around here.” Agent Coulson told Thor.

“They were better as they were. We pretend on Asgard that we're more advanced, but we...we come here battling like Bilchsteim.” Thor replied.

“Like what?” Agent Coulson asked.

“Bilchsteim? You know; huge, scaly, big antlers. You don't have those?” Thor wondered.

“Don't think so.”  Agent Coulson answered.                      

“They are repulsive, and they trample everything in their path.” Thor walks over to the side of the ship and looks out the window, lamenting about what has happened and what may come. “When I first came to earth, Loki's rage  followed me here and your people paid the price. And now again. In my youth I courted war.”          

“War hasn't started yet. Nick Chimed. “You think you can make Loki tell us what the Tesseract is?

“I do not know. Loki's mind is far afield, it's not just power he craves,it's vengeance upon me. There's no pain hat would prize his need from him.” Thor explained.

“Loki is a prisoner he can’t do anything to here I won’t let it happen.” Thor proclaimed.

“Then why do I feel like he's the only person on this boat that wants to be here?” Nick questioned.

Thor doesn't answer.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

When Y/n woke up from the dream world she was both relieved and upset. Loki had her flustered and that’s what made her upset. So Y/n walked to the combat room and turns one one of the drone.

“Who would you like to fight?” The drone asked.

“Surprises me.” Y/n answered.

The combat room changes into a living room of a middle class family house.

“Not the living room scenario.” Y/n protested.

The drone takes form of Sabretooth. A feral mutant named Victor Creed, his an animalistic mutant who possesses superhuman strength, mobility and cat-like claws and teeth and  He’s also Wolverine's brother.

You got to be kidding me I fought him one time

Without warning Sabretooth throws Y/n crashing her coffe table in front of the sofa.

“Why is it always the table and never the sofa.”

Y/n kicks Sabretooth in the chest,knocking the big man into a table on the right wall, where he crashes into the  Vases and slides to the floor in a tumult of glass shards and water. Y/n springs to her feet and swings at Sabretooth, again and again, her fist whooshing through the air. Sabretooth grabs Y/n's right wrist. With no room to dodge, Y/n drives her head forward,smashing Sabretooth's face with a glorious headbutt.  As Sabretooth staggers back, Y/n picks up a broken leg from the table and points it at Sabretooth’s neck.

“You know there’s an easier way with dealing with-“Natasha turns off the simulator and the table leg disappears out of Y/n’s hand “Anger.”

“I’m Frustrated Nat. Loki knew I could read minds so he had the cube sent somewhere without him knowing.” Y/n explained.

A red glow starts to form around Y/n. Masking her worry Natasha walks over to Y/n. “You know what’s happens when that part of you takes over.”

“But what if the Phoenix taking over stops Loki and no one gets hurt?” Y/n questioned.

“Y/n there will always be collateral damage in anything that involves saving someone or saving everyone.” Natasha told Y/n.

“Your right......I’m gonna go check on Bruce and Tony in they lab.” Y/n about to walk out the room but Natasha’s voice stops her.

“I was told to find you and give you this.” Natasha hands Y/n a folded piece of paper.

“It’s your Remy LeBeau.”

“Thank you.”  

“Don’t thank me thank Director Fury.”

Y/n smiles at Natasha then walks out the combat room.

Part 6

[quicksiilver]

In My Fathers Eyes

All Parts: Here

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Part Six: No Distractions

Word Count: 6.2k

Chapter Summary: The next day begins with breakfast with the team, which follows with a training session with Natasha.  Just when Rachel thought she’d get along with Tony something turns it sour once more.  While training Rachel meets two new faces, and one who may turn out to be another great friend.

A/N: This part is a little longer than ones I’ve been posting, but I needed to fit this all into one!

The alarm on my phone woke me up at nine thirty.  Buried in the pillows I slid my hand all over the mattress beside me to find my phone and shut it off.  In doing so I found a few messages from Shaun, and realized I never said goodnight to him.

S: Hope everything is still good with Spidey boy

S: Today is the longest you’ve gone in between texting me I don’t know if I liiiike this Rach!!

S: I’m jk-ing.  You’re living a life right now and I’m happy for you and not jealous at all!!

S: That was a lie I’m totally jealous

S: Love you and goodnight!!

Rubbing my eyes I tapped a few words out for him and hit send then laid back down.  I stared at the ceiling letting my thoughts from yesterday come in slow which was a technique taught to me by Shaun’s mom.  She’s been a psychiatrist for years and she helped me through my mom's passing.  I’ve learned that thinking of everything all at one time would cause more anxiety than needed, so I think of one thing at a time and talk it out with myself.  I haven’t had to use the technique in a while actually, but thanks to yesterday that streak broke.

“I have a dad,” I spoke quietly admiring the plain ceiling, “And he’s a bad guy to these people.”  I took in a long deep breath closing my eyes, expanding my chest to its max before letting the air out slow.

“I don’t want to judge him yet.  I need to meet him, talk to him, and then I can make judgments,” I said, “It’s cool that he can do... some kind of magic.  Thor told me I could learn to use it.” My eyes popped open and I felt a small tinge of excitement spark inside of me.

“I could learn magic,” I giggled flipping onto my stomach face first into a squishy pillow, “This is madness!” I said louder, muffled by the cushion.  Composing myself I rolled again onto my back not even worried about falling off an edge, the bed was far too big for that to happen.

“I met some Avengers who all seem to want to help me,” I continued the list of yesterday, “They need me to help them.  I could be a part of a mission with these people.  The Hulk and Tony Stark read my freaking mind...” My excitement toned down and was swapped for a different feeling.  A sixth grade and high school kind of feeling.  The forget to eat, trip over your feet feeling.

“I met a boy,” My voice was quiet again, “Called Peter-“

“Calling Peter,” Friday's voice said from the beyond.  My heart shot out of my chest, and I’d never gotten out of bed faster.

“No! Friday! No don’t call Peter,” I spoke frantically and tried to keep my voice low.  I was waving my hands at the ceiling still having no idea where Friday even comes from.  There was a knock at my door.  I spun around and stared for a second.  There was no time to feel anxious, at this point I was just feeling stupid.  A few more knocks came from the other side of the door so I took that as my cue to answer it.

Pulling the handle I opened it a few inches and peeked outside.  Sure enough Peter was there in a t-shirt and sweatpants rubbing one of his eyes.  His hair was a little messy, and even though he still had sleep on him I almost preferred him like this.

“Hey,” His voice was a bit deeper than usual, “Are you okay?” He asked, looking at me with heavy eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” I said sincerely, “Friday... is in here I think and she... she called you.  I told her to stop.  I didn’t mean to wake you up, I really am sorry.”  He smirked at my rambling and shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it, Mr. Stark tells me I need to wake up earlier anyway.  If anything, you saved me another lecture,” He rolled his eyes and we both smiled as he turned away to go back into his room.  I was about to shut my door when he paused and turned back around to me.

“Why did she call me?” He questioned, finding it funny.  I just shrugged and hoped Friday wouldn’t give me up.  If I had known she was listening that entire time I wouldn’t have said anything out loud.

“Miss Rachel said ‘Call Peter’, Peter,” Friday came out into the hallway.  Pressing my eyes shut I sighed heavily.  I was cool with this girl last night, but now she was testing me.

“I did not say that,” I said.

“Miss Rachel said to call you Peter,” Friday said, her tone staying the same.

“Girl!” I looked toward the ceiling.

“I have the proof if she doesn’t believe me, Peter,” Friday spoke again, and the next thing out of her was my voice.

“Called Peter,” Was all it said.  Looking at him he was watching me with a faint grin.  I pressed my lips together tight and honestly didn’t know what else to say.

“Friday she didn’t say to call me,” Peter said and Friday answered with an apology, “It’s okay, but maybe let her have a moment to herself.  I told you to look after her, not smother her.”  Our eyes met again, his looking a little uneasy as if he was waiting for a reaction from me.  Friday apologized again and said she would no longer come into my room unless there was an emergency.

“I guess we’re both sorry now,” He said guiltily, making me laugh.

“Thanks,” I said quietly referring to his gesture with Friday.  He nodded and shrugged looking down to his feet for a second.

“Who were you talking to?” He asked, speaking as quiet as I was, nodding at my room.

“Children?” Tony’s voice came from the elevator that opened without Peter or I noticing.  We both snapped our necks toward him, and I thanked him internally for saving me from answering Peter’s question.  Behind Tony walked Natasha who was eyeing Peter and I curiously.  Tony was dressed in a suit, for the royal wedding apparently, and Natasha wore a similar outfit to the one from yesterday.

“Wow, up before ten?” Tony asked Peter sarcastically, who shot me a quick deadpan look that made me have to suppress a laugh, “Maybe you’ll actually eat some kind of breakfast today and not straight junk.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Peter looked down trying to brush him off, “Sure.” His tone was flat.

“I’m serious Parker,” Tony said.

“Alright!” Peter snapped back looking at him annoyed.  Tony went to speak again but Natasha cut him off and got him back on track.  She looked to me with a smile.

“There’s food in the kitchen,” She spoke sweetly, “Have as much as you’d like, and make yourself at home.  We want you to be comfortable here.” Her voice was smooth and soft, like the blankets in my room if I had to visualize it.  I couldn’t believe that Natasha was the Black Widow.  The badass, villain killing woman that every girl wanted to be.

“After that you’re training with her,” Tony said to me and put a hand on Natashas shoulder, “We need to get you into shape and there’s no better person to do that than Nat.” She shrugged, still smiling, still looking at me.  Tony commented on Peter's appearance making Peter throw his head back in frustration and then he went off for the elevator.  Natasha leaned in coming closer to Peter and I.

“He forgets what it’s like to be young,” She joked, “He wasn’t always like this.  Promise.” She poked Peter on the chest and turned away joining Tony in the elevator.  Right before the doors closed she gave Peter a wink.  He instantly looked away flustered and my mind quickly took a turn.

“Does she like you?” I asked without hesitation.  His jaw fell open and he laughed out loud.

“No,” He said firmly, “She teases me like a freaking big sister.  You think Friday is a helicopter?  Nat is ten times worse.” I felt relief from the pit in my stomach that started to grow.  If there was a chance she liked him I’d be dead, and he’d be lucky because she’s a knockout.

“She’s a little too old for me, too,” He smiled.

“Right, sorry,” I said.

“Want to go eat?” He asked, raising his eyebrows.  My rumbling stomach answered for me and we laughed.

“I’m gonna get ready,” He said, backing up to his door, “I’ll meet you back out here.  I’ll wait for you so you know where you’re going.”

“I can help,” Friday chimed in.

“No!” Peter held up a hand and I grinned.  He watched me, amused, as I shut my door.

The elevator took Tony and Natasha to the floor Peter and I were on last night.  Steve, Thor, Bucky and Bruce were there waiting for them all sitting around one of the long tables.  Steve was sipping coffee from a mug talking quietly with Bucky while Thor and Bruce were looking through a pile of photographs.

“Gentlemen,” Natasha said affirmatively as she and Tony joined them.  She said hello to Bucky in russian.  He just smiled, shaking his head.

“The girl’s awake,” Tony said as he sat beside Bruce.  Steve rolled his eyes, setting his mug on the glass.

“The girl's name is Rachel,” He said glaring toward Stark.

“Right, what I said,” Tony retorted.

“Come on boys,” Natasha sang.  She’d been around them for too many years to know that their bickering would never stop.

“She’s up, so is Peter.  She’ll be training with Natasha today for the most part,” Tony explained.  Thor raised a hand and Tony sighed, disappointed.

“Yes, Thor,” He cooed sarcastically, Thor, again, not catching onto the mannerisms.

“Will I get some time with Rachel? I have some things I need to speak with her about,” He said squeezing a fist.  Tony eyed it and nodded.

“Yeah, she’s gonna need to know,” He told him, “Especially if she happens to be one, too.”

“You may have to fight Parker for her,” Natasha teased.  Tony turned to her suddenly, eyebrows in a twist.  She smirked down at him.  Tony shook his head, and Natasha nodded hers back.  They did this two more times before Tony broke away.  He took off his glasses and placed a hand to his forehead.

“I win, again,” Nat smized and Tony shot her back with some uncomfortable noises.

“She does always win,” Bucky said quietly from across the table.

“Shut up, Ted Bundy,” Tony shot at him, and you’d think he actually shot him with the way Steve stood up angrily.  Bucky ignored Tony.  He reached for Steve's arm and pulled on him to get him to sit back down.

“Yeah, cool it, Capsicle,” Tony said, “Wait.  I’m sorry.  You already did.” Steve rolled his eyes and sat back, looking to Bucky who just smiled at him.

“Does Peter like her then?” Bruce spoke up waiting for Natasha to explain.  He and Thor listened eagerly, leaning forward like it was ground breaking news.

“He might.  The way he looks at her... I’ve seen it before,” She looked at Bruce and gave him a gentle smile.  Tony fake threw up making Natasha smack the back of his head, her face expressionless.

“That,” Tony pointed at her looking around at the guys, “Why are science guys into girls like that?”

“You’re going to want to put your finger down, Stark,” Natasha warned.  Tony glanced to her and slowly lowered his hand, “You have been more of an ass than usual recently.  Anyone else seeing what I’m seeing?” Everyone at the table nodded their heads, even Bruce which surprised Tony.

“We can take the usual... but what’s going on?” Steve asked, “We can fight Tony but why are you picking one with everybody over everything?” Tony slid his glasses back on his nose and sat back with a deep breath.

“You’ve been anxious again?” Natasha asked, resting a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Tony said quickly and nodded.

“Tone, you know you can talk about that with us,” Steve said looking between him and Natasha.

“Pepper’s pregnant,” He spoke faster than before, eyes glued to the table in front of him.  The room was quiet for only a second until the group broke out in happy sounds.

“Tony, congratulations!” Natasha said, wrapping an around him to give him a hug where he sat beside her.

“Yeah, man,” Steve nodded with a grin, “That’s awesome.” Tonys expression didn’t change.

“How far along is she?” Thor asked.  The group looked to Tony excitedly.  He took a long deep breath before he answered.

“Four months,” He said, “She’s been going through it, I haven’t been sleeping at all.  You guys know me, I don’t sleep.  Every now and then I do, but now instead of sleeping I’m helping Pepper,” He placed a hand back to his forehead, “It’s great.  Shit, I’m excited as hell to be a dad.  Now knowing that we’re about to face total destruction of the planet... again! I’m... afraid.”  Natasha rubbed his shoulder.

“We’re prepared this time Tony,” She said softly.

“What... with the powerless daughter of the antichrist upstairs?” Tony snapped.  If he didn’t just tell all of them his recent news, Thor would’ve been ready to swing his hammer around at the snide comment about his brother.  Nat looked to Thor with eyes that could kill, letting him know that if he reacted he’d be doing the worst right now.

“She’s going to learn,” She reassured Tony, “Trust me.  Even if she can’t learn the magic, I’ll get her as close to me as I can in the time that we have.”

“Yeah and how much time is that exactly?” Bruce asked Thor.  The god sighed and shook his head.

“Heimdall hasn’t given me a sign,” He said, “I’ve asked for one when he knows of the Jotun’s plans from my father.”

“The Yo-ton’s are going to tell your father their plan to attack,” Steve said seriously, “There’s no way.”

“There is,” Thor grinned and pointed Mjolnir at Steve.

“Loki,” Natasha said calmly and Thor turned to her with a wicked smile.

“Yes! See I told you Friday makes them every Monday,” Peter said to me as we stepped into the kitchen.  He snatched two plates that were set out on the counter and handed one to me.  The counter was covered with plates of pancakes, but Peter told me these weren’t regular pancakes.  They were pancakes made by Friday.  That was the explanation I was given, so I didn’t ask further questions.  Popping two on my plate I put some syrup over top of them and looked to Peter who was turned around, his face reading surprised.

“What?” I asked and turned and gasped, alarmed.  The entire team was sitting at one of the tables.

“Who’s scaring who now?” Tony raised his eyebrows at me.

“We totally didn’t see you guys when we came in,” Peter said walking towards them, I followed right behind him.

“Why would you?” Natasha started to smile, her eyes looking between Peter and I.  When I wasn’t looking he shot her a dirty look.

“Oh,” Steve said from somewhere in the back, then laughed under his breath watching the two of them, “I get it.” Natasha looked to him with sarcastic awe.

“Come sit, eat, and get comfy,” Nat said, gesturing to empty chairs beside her.  I slipped in beside Natasha and Peter beside me.

“What were you guys doing?” Steve asked, his eyes waiting for a good answer.  Peter and I looked at one another, confused, then back to Steve.

“Just getting ready,” I said quietly, my eyes drawing to the man who sat beside him.  A man with blue eyes, long brown hair and a metal left arm, “Bucky,” I said without even realizing I was going to say it, it just came out of me.

“Rachel,” He spoke as quietly as I did, and he smiled.

“Sorry,” I shook my head and laughed, “I heard all about you guys yesterday.” I looked around at everyone there.  Thor was grinning something fierce toward me.

“Hi,” I said, smiling back.

“Good morning,” He nodded.

“So?” Steve began to ask, “What have you heard about us?” Peter glanced at me, subtly proud, awaiting my answer.  They were all waiting, actually.  Each one of them looked at me closely.

“Oh... well,” I sat my fork down and let my eyes move around them, “I learned about you two and your past,” I motioned to Bucky and Steve who both looked to their laps with a small smile before composing themselves and sharing a glance, “Bruce... I know, yanno, you’re... green,” I spoke carefully not really knowing what to say.  Peter told me Bruce could be sensitive about Hulk.  He bobbed his head up and down seeming not to care.

“Thor, I heard about Jane,” I lowered my voice.  Everyone looked at him and snickered a bit.  My uncle shook his head, shutting his eyes.

“She was fantastic,” He sighed letting his eyes gaze behind us all.

“Natasha,” I looked to the red head beside me who eyed me cautiously, as if she was not going to be ready to hear what I had to say, “You’ve traveled everywhere... Saving so many people, and you need to be more recognized for that.  These guys are all fancy with their tricks and shit,” I twirled my hands around watching Natasha start to smile, “But you, you do it yourself.” She tossed an arm around my shoulder and pulled me in giving me a shake.

“I like you,” She scrunched her nose happily as the guys tried to debate with what I had said about them, “Uh uh,” Nat held up a finger, “The girls are speaking.”

“What about me?” Tony asked confidently.  He and I hadn’t gotten off on the best foot yesterday.  I heard plenty about him from Peter, because Stark is one of his favorite topics to talk about apparently.  I watched him and tapped on my chest over my heart.

“I heard about this story,” I said just a little louder than a whisper.  The table fell silent.  Tony kept his eyes on me.

“How you pushed a nuclear bomb into space.  What you’ve done to keep this and these people going.  Harley.  Pepper, which congratulations by the way,” I smiled and then let it fall once I saw everyone's faces twist with confusion, “The wedding you’re planning? With Pepper?” I asked hoping someone would catch on.

“What?” Bruce said in shock.

“Oh no,” Peter mumbled from beside me.  My head turned to him, and then back to Tony, and then back to Peter.

“Parker,” Tony said sternly.

“I’m sorry Mr. Stark, I didn’t think she’d say anything,” Peter defended.

“Tony, this is so huge for you.  Now we really know why you’ve been on edge,” Bruce said tapping his arm.

“Yes,” Thor chimed in, “First a baby, now a wedding?  You’ve been a busy man!” He cheered.

“A what?” Peter asked quietly.  Tony’s eyes slowly left Thor and found Peter who was looking to Tony with furrowed brows.

“Oh no,” Thor copied Peter's words from before.

“A baby?” Peter asked innocently, “You’re getting... having? A baby?” Natasha turned her head away as did Steve and Bucky.  I watched Peter, whose emotion changed from confused to disappointed.  Thor sat back in his chair while Bruce hung his head, but kept his eyes on the conversation.  Tony glanced all around the room, stumped.  For the first time I believe I was witnessing Tony Stark not know what to say.

“Peter, we can talk about this later,” He finally said after a moment of complete silence.  Peter lowered his head and tangled his hands together.  He took a shallow breath before he stood up calmly, avoiding eye contact with everyone, and took himself out of the room.

“What’s wrong?” I whispered turning to Nat.  I started to stand up to follow Peter, but she took hold of my arm gently and shook her head.

“Let him go,” She whispered back to me, “He’ll be okay.”  Tony was staring at the table with his arms folded across his chest.  He didn’t even react to Peter walking away.  Resting my elbows on the table I narrowed my eyes at him waiting to see if he’d stop him, or go after him, or say anything to him.  Peter was clearly hurt, and after hearing all about how great their relationship is last night I was feeling a little hurt as well.  More like taken back by Tony letting his prodigy walk away from him upset.

“Are you going to just let him go?” I said.  Tony's eyes flickered to me.  He was giving me the same look I was giving him.

“Don’t speak about things you don’t know,” He warned.

“I know that he looks up to you and admires you,” I said, “He said himself yesterday that he’d give his life if it meant saving yours.”  Tony didn’t crack.  Steve was watching me in awe at how I was speaking to him.

“You think I don’t know that?” Tony fired back sitting forward, “Do not think for one second you can come in here and tell me how a boy I’ve been raising for five years feels about me.” His voice was sharp, loud.  I stood my ground, not letting my expression falter once even if I suddenly felt small, my confidence plummeting.  He may have just put me in my place, but I was not going to let him know that.

“You’re just like your father,” He spat, standing to his feet.  Thor sat up straight, and Bruce was ready to calm him down.

“You have no respect.  I invite you into my home, my family, and you have the nerve to step in and interfere with the way things are.  I run the show here, sweetheart.  Don’t think for a second I’ll let you screw it up,” His hands were open flat facing behind him, “You have his blood, so be ready for me to treat you like him if you try anything.”

“That’s it,” Thor shouted jumping up, his chair tipping over behind him.  He raised his hammer and began to aim it toward Tony, but Stark was quick to summon two red and gold blasters from the back.  They flew through the air from somewhere and latched to his hands.  He pointed them to my uncle, a high pitched buzzing sound coming from them which I could only assume was him preparing them for a shot.  They both froze, glaring.  I reached an arm to my right to hold onto one of Natasha’s.  Something I would’ve been nervous to do any other time.  She put a hand on top of mine giving it a pat.

“Come on,” She said gently.  She stood up taking me with her, her hand still holding mine.  When we reached the elevator and stepped inside I turned to find Steve now on his feet talking to the two of them calmly.  Words I couldn’t hear from across the room.

-

“I didn’t mean to start a fight,” I said to Natasha as we walked through the first floor to the backyard Thor took me to yesterday.  She held the door open for me and insisted I walk out first.

“They’ll get over it,” She sighed, “I’m usually the one to break up the weekly fight.” She smiled lightly giving me a glance.

“This happens a lot?” I asked, smiling with her.

“Oh god, yeah it does,” She said, guiding me towards another building across the field.  A group of men and women dressed in identical clothing came jogging by us in formation.  I turned around myself in a circle as I walked to watch them.

“I was the only woman for years before we found Wanda,” Natasha said, “You think with all that testosterone there wouldn’t be any fights?” I laughed and she smiled at me, bigger this time.

We reached the building that was only a story high.  After we climbed up the three steps to the door, Natasha held it open for me again.  Inside there was gym equipment everywhere.  A boxing ring, punching bags hanging from the ceiling and some insane jungle gym looking thing.  And not close to the ones you’d see in a school yard.  It was tall, fitting just below the high ceiling, with wooden pillars that I could assume one would train to jump across.  I looked around the place with wide eyes, impressed with the intensity of these machines yet kind of scared that I wouldn’t be able to handle this.  The only heavy lifting I’ve done is canvases and easels, and the only exercise I’ve done was involuntarily in high school gym class.

There were two other people in here with us, a girl with light brown hair pulled into a ponytail and a man, I presumed, that looked to be all red all over.  They were in the boxing ring, the man calling out things for the woman to try on him.  Natasha and I came up to the edge to watch them.

The woman exercising kicks was beautiful.  She had delicate features and big round eyes.  Looking to the man I tried to make out what he was exactly.  He was red everywhere except where he’d be wearing clothes, that part was a dark blue.  Something was on the center of his forehead.  It was yellow, and bright.  It shone whenever light hit it in the right way.  He was the one to notice Nat and I.

“Natasha,” He said.  The woman stopped what she was doing and turned around, her breath heavy.

“Oh, hi,” She smiled her eyes on me, “How long have you been there?” She asked with a small laugh to Natasha, a hint of a Russian accent in her voice.

“We just came in,” Natasha said, “This is Rachel.” She looked to me, then back to them.  They both gave me a wave.

“How are you?” The man asked, his english accent very prominent, “I’m Vision.  It’s lovely to finally meet you.”

“I’m Wanda,” The woman said, coming close to us, grabbing a water bottle that was in the corner of the ring.  Shaun had mentioned them both at one point I was sure of it, but Peter gave me the run down on them last night.

Wanda was the Scarlet Witch, her powers given to her by the same people that created the Winter Soldier.  She and her twin brother, Pietro, were Russian and were sent to destroy the Avengers, both of them having a grudge against Tony.  They all met in Russia, the Avengers battling Ultron and the twins at once.  It wasn’t until Wanda used her gift to discover Ultron’s true plan that she and her brother turned on him and joined the Avengers.  Unfortunately Pietro didn’t make it out of Russia, but he gave his life to save a member of the team, Hawkeye, and a child civilian.  Vision came from Ultron as well.  His entire being consisted of Tony and Bruce’s mind, Jarvis who was one of Tony’s old AI’s, and a piece of Ultron.  While I knew that Vision wasn’t born the traditional way, I had no idea he wasn’t some sort of human, and there was no mention of the stunning stone on his forehead.

“It’s nice to meet you guys,” I said nodding my head.

“Have you settled in alright?” Vision asked me walking closer, “Those men being nice to you inside?” Instead of slipping between the wires around the rink to come out, Vision levitated up and brought himself down beside me.  My jaw dropping made him smile.

“Uh, yeah, I guess they’re being nice,” I said quietly, stunned by what he was just able to do.

“Miss Rachel I can assure you that this won’t be the strangest thing you will see here,” Vision told me.

“You haven’t seen anyone do anything yet have you?” Natasha asked me, knowing the answer herself, “I think today we can change that, but for now we need to get to work and I need to set up a schedule with you.”

“Ooo,” Wanda sounded excited, “Are we training?” Natasha nodded to her, and slipped between the wires unfortunately unable to fly like Vision.  I stood patiently watching the two women talk with one another like lifelong friends.

Earlier when the team asked me what I’ve heard about their story, I was hesitant to talk about Natasha. I gave her an honest answer, but it wasn’t my first choice.  I learned of her past.  Training in Russia, becoming a spy and essentially an assassin for the group she was a part of.  While she may seem calm and collected now, Peter told me he heard that there was a period of transition for her to get over the trauma she endured, and for her to come to terms with the lives she’s taken.

For a long time she wasn’t welcomed anywhere, but when Nick Fury, the creator of the Avengers, found her and brought her in for work she was finally at home.

Seeing her and Wanda together now I felt happy for them.  They both almost had similar stories with being from Russia, and created and trained to kill.

“You coming up, Rach?” Natasha asked me.  Taking a deep breath I nodded and got myself up there next to her.  Nerves erupted inside of me as I stood beside these powerful women.  I could feel my hands about to shake so I crossed my arms over my chest to keep my composure I didn’t want them to know I was losing.

“I don’t want you to be uncomfortable,” Natasha said calmly.  Wanda smiled at us both and walked to the edge of the ring where she sat with her bottle of water taking sips from it.  My heart beat got faster as Natasha took a few steps away from me slowly.  Something was coming, and I should probably ask what that was, but my stubbornness to appear confident was far too strong.  I dropped my arms by my side and narrowed my eyes on her as she fell silent.  Suddenly in a matter of seconds she lunged at me with a fist that I dodged and a kick that I squatted down to avoid.  Wanda cheered me on from the corner.

“Okay,” Natasha approved.  I could see her making mental notes.

“I didn’t hit you.  That’s better than Peter on his first go with me,” She said and I laughed out loud with Wanda at the thought of Peter training with Nat and her beating him.  I then was brought back to not even an hour ago when Peter left the table obviously torn up by Tony.

Natasha kicked at me again and hit my shoulder sending me tumbling backward.  It didn’t hurt, but it didn’t feel good either.  Bringing up a hand to hold where she kicked I stood up and looked to see her smiling smugly.

“Tip number one,” She said, “Don’t get distracted.” Pressing my lips together I felt vaguely embarrassed.  She had brought his name up on purpose.

“You can swing back, don’t be shy,” She grinned, “I can take it, and I need to see what we really need to work on.” I had no clue what to do, but I wanted to at least try to make a good first impression.  Making a fist I hurried towards her, she didn’t move.  I got as close as I could and I swung for her arm, but she quickly and swiftly slid on the floor under me.  Tripping out of fear that I’d step on her I spun around to see if I could swing at her again, but she was quick to grab me around the neck before I could even turn.  She wasn’t squeezing, but I was against her tight with my arms pinned at my sides.  Wanda said something to Natasha, and Nat answered but I wasn’t going to let her distract me.  I followed tip number one.  Trying to free myself from her hold was pointless.  She was so much stronger than me.  I didn’t expect her to let me go, this was a test, and I knew she was only doing it to see what I could do.

Closing my eyes trying to think of something fast, my mind took me back to fifth grade on the playground where a boy would pick on me everyday.  He’d push me over, call me names and sometimes pin me on the ground by my wrists and hover over me.  One day when he was laughing over my face I had had enough, so I pulled my legs in and used all of my strength to kick him hard in his stomach.  Sure enough he was sent flying behind me.  Some of the other kids witnessed this, and I wasn’t bullied again from there on out.

Opening my eyes now I took a deep breath and pulled my knees in, my feet lifting from the ground.  Natasha’s grip was tight enough for her to hold me up here.  Using all of the strength I had in me today I lifted my legs and kicked them behind me getting her just above the knees.  I had caught her off guard to my surprise and she let me go.  Now I was able to turn around and I readied my fists in case she was coming back at me.

“Nice,” Was all she said, “Handle this.” She came at me with two fists flying one after the other.  I ducked in front of her legs and just as she was about to use them to get me I jumped up punching her right in the stomach.  It wasn’t a powerful punch but it was enough for her to praise me.

“When you concentrate you really know how to dodge a hit,” She smirked.  I kept the straight, concentrated look on my face, but I could feel it start to turn to a smile as Natasha and I went on.  We went back and forth with different tactics for about an hour.  She talked me through about half of it, but let me go on my own for the rest.  I didn’t think I was impressive, but Natasha assured me I was better than she thought I’d be.

“You’re not bad,” Wanda said, seeming impressed as she gave me a bottle of water.  I thanked her and sat next to her on the floor drinking from my bottle generously.

“When I first... started,” She began to explain, “I was terrible.”

“At fighting?” I asked, still catching my breath.  I was sweating like mad, my body not used to this type of exertion.  Wanda nodded her head and slowly smiled.

“At all of it,” She said, “The powers I have are so strong.  I was intimidated by the strength I was given, I was out of control.  I didn’t know how to fight, I had never done it before.”  The inside of my body was relieved to hear this, I could feel the instant release of every anxious muscle in me.  I listened to her happily, watching her porcelain complexion tell me this with intent.

“I started with Natasha after Ultron,” Wanda gestured to Nat who was out of the ring now walking towards the door, “Then once I moved on to train with others I found a great partner with Vision.  He gets me.” Pushing my eyebrows together I glanced around the room realizing I never saw him leave.

“Don’t worry he’s always off somewhere,” Wanda giggled, “He’s also not into doors, so beware of the walls.” Her eyes went wide and we both shared a laugh.  It was nice to hear that one of the strongest members on the team struggled when she first joined.  It gave me hope that one day I’d be able to be like her and Natasha.

“So how’d we do?” Steve's voice called out, catching Wanda and I’s attention.  He and Natasha were coming towards us.

“Pretty good for day one,” Wanda reached an arm around me.  Steve smiled at me and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“I love to hear that,” He said, “You’re in good hands here, especially with this one around.”  He pointed to Wanda and Nat agreed with him.

“It felt good to move like that,” I admitted.  Steve was about to say something back to me, but Natasha whispered something to him taking his attention.

“Right,” He said to her, “I was told to come here to tell you that your... Thor wants to spend lunch with you when you’re ready.” I laughed at his avoidance of using the term uncle and thanked him for telling me.

“Come on,” Wanda said standing up.  She held out a hand for me to grab and helped me to my feet with a single pull.

“Let’s get you showered,” She said and I followed her out of the ring and out of the building.

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

Sick Little Games: Nineteen

When you stepped out of a portal, dripping wet and looking like an irritated cat, Thor chuckled, “Overshot your portal?”

“In case you were wondering, it’s raining in Ecuador,” you say, ringing out the end of your cloak.

“How do you hit Ecuador if you’re aiming for New York?” Tony asked. 

“I was just a little distracted,” you murmur, cheeks heating. 

“By what?” Bruce asked, handing you a towel.

“Long story,” you answer, turning away to take jewelry off and towel off your hair. You didn’t know how to explain that Bucky had sent you a really long, frankly incoherent wall of text messages vacillating between being apologetic and being fucking pissed that you’d gotten an abortion and not told him. 

You had wanted to know how he found out but, you had next to no interest in talking to Bucky. Not anything outside things for work. 

“Ew,” Tony said, “Barton sent you dick pics, didn’t he.”

“No, you freak,” you sigh, throwing the soaked towel at him. “Ugh, I’m gonna go take a shower.”

You turn and start towards the elevator, slipping past Steve with a small smile of hello. Steve looks at the water pooled on the floor and at your back, confused, and Thor laughs, “Evidently, it’s raining in Ecuador,” he says. 

“Ecuador?” he calls after you, laughing a little. 

“Barton sent a dick pic, and she got distracted,” Tony shouted, smirking when you flipped him off as the doors slid shut.

________

Clint sat on the couch, fussing with the pizza and the cold six-pack the coffee table. He had his black hoodie where you could find it in the closet and your rainbow socks neatly folded and lying next to a warm, freshly fluffed towel. Everything you asked him for. And he had a few more little things. A new book and a pretty dagger you’d had your eye on for a minute. 

Still, even with all of that in place, he felt a little sick. Like he’d just breached your trust when he’d blown up at Bucky. He didn’t like it. There had been no reason for him to blow up like that. None. Except for letting Bucky push his buttons. And the worst part was, he’d known it was happening. But hearing him gloat about having sex with you. Hearing how fucking smug he’d been after seeing how fucking shattered you’d been. Knowing he was proud of himself for taking something from you that you had a good reason to be keeping for yourself. He looked down at Lucky, gazing longingly at the box and smiles a little, “Let mom get her piece first, ya cretin,” he scolds fondly. Lucky swishes his tail and barks once, easing himself onto his hind legs to beg properly, prompting Jinx to do the same thing. “Animals, both of you,” he sighs, going to find their treats. 

He was about halfway to the counter, grumbling to himself when the door to the suite opened, and their current pizza lust was temporarily forgotten to get pets. Clint leaned on the table and smiled, watching you give kisses and pats. “Why are you wet?” he asked, amused.

“It’s raining in Ecuador,” you sigh.

“Overshot it, huh?” he teased.

“Yeah... but At least I didn’t end up in Antarctica again... I’m still pissed Steve wouldn’t let me keep the penguin.”

Clint chuckled and kissed you softly when you stood on your toes to lean over the counter, “Where would we have put it?”

“We have another bathtub!” you pout.

“Speaking of bathtubs,” he says, kissing your nose, “Why don’t you go get warmed up and then I’ll feed you and give you a beer.”

“But what about a shower beer?”

“You’re such a brat,” he groans, “I guess. If It’ll get you in the shower before the pizza gets cold.”

You smile and kiss his jaw, padding towards the bathroom, going to strip out of your wet clothes and find something warm and snuggly to put on. Clint waits until he hears the shower turn on and then brings you the requested beer before padding out to the living room to sulk until you came back. He knew he needed to tell you. He knew he needed to talk to you about it. But he just. He wanted a date night, He wanted to love his girl and forget that this day had happened. He felt like a dick. 

Worse than a dick.

He felt like a dildo. He wasn’t real enough to be a dick. Flirting with you and not just telling you the truth. 

Still, When you come back warm and soft. Wearing his black hoodie and your rainbow knee socks, snatching a fresh beer before wrapping yourself around him. He still can’t bring himself to talk about the day. “Hungry?” he asks, popping you on the bottom as you wrap your legs around his waist. 

“But cuddle,” you murmur, hiding your face in his neck.

“Baby-” he protests lightly, but he stops when you tighten your grip. These aren’t just needy cuddles. These are “Clint is angry” cuddles. And you might not know why but you’ve managed to twist it around in your head to be all your fault. And you’re trying to fix it without knowing what you did. “Okay,” he soothes, “Shh, okay.” He rubs your back and kisses the side of his head.

“Are you mad at me?” He feels the question instead of hears it. Your lips against his neck and the tremble in a deep breath you took before asking. It’s such a soft whisper he can’t actually hear you. But he knows that question well. 

“No,” he murmurs, “I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at me.”

“What happened?” you ask, fingers toying with the close-cropped hair at the nape of his neck, rubbing gently. 

“I- I fucked up today, babe. I fucked up really bad.”

“What, you murmur, “Get caught reading fanfic about yourself getting railed by Hulk?”

Clint snorted, “Worse- I think,” he tilts your chin up tenderly to look you in the face and sighed, “I- I blew up at Bucky today.”

Several emotions flit across your face. Confusion, understanding, hurt, and then... oddly amusement.

“Oh.”

“Oh,” your forehead thuds gently against his collarbone, and you sigh, “Clint, you dummy. That explains so fucking much.”

“Oh no,” Clint said, “What-”

“Bucky sent me this massive fucking text wall and yelled about the baby and kind of apologized but... didn’t then yelled at me some more and I spent like, all fucking day trying to figure out where he heard it from.”

“That’s gross,” Clint said, crinkling his nose, the knot in his stomach loosening a little when you weren’t angry. 

“Right?” you yelp, “Who the fuck yells at someone about that via text... fucking boomers.”

“Technically, he’s too old to be a boomer,” Clint says, brushing the hair out of your eyes. 

“Well, he acts like one... seriously. He used Emojis. Too many. Like Ew.”

Clint snorted, “And you’re okay?”

“I mean... yeah. Fuck him”

Clint grinned and smacked the swell of your ass again lovingly, “Yeah... But don’t fuck him. Fuck me a few times, and let me feed you pizza.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you liked me or something,” you tell him, stealing another kiss.

“Baby,” he hums, shifting you over gently and popping open the pizza box, “I don’t just like you. I love you.”

He hands you a plate and lets you tuck yourself against his side, “I love you too,” you tell him, beaming. “Can we watch Manos: Hands of Fate?”

“Anything you want, baby girl,” he chuckles. And as you settle in with your pizza and beer, Clint wonders just who exactly he had to blow in a past life to be this fucking happy.

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