#maybe 'pestering' gives the wrong impression considering the man is there to be asked questions of

[thistransient]

For the past two years there's been a zodiac themed display of fun postcards designed by a variety of artists in the gift shop of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Looking forward to the Year of the Dragon, I'd been planning to go for a while and finally headed over. To my dismay it was not there! However, I was prepared to undertake one of my favourite activities, pestering an unsuspecting employee about it in Mandarin. Props to that man, who actually made a phone call to somebody about it, who called him back after investigating, whereupon he wrote down an address and phone number for me, because it turned out the whole thing was not organised by the museum but by a print shop. He suggested I call them first, but he was unaware that my least favourite activity is calling strangers on the phone in Mandarin, plus the location was only a ten minute walk away. The museum itself seemed plagued by an unusual amount of tourists and school children today, so I decided to skip the whole thing and go on this quest.

I was rewarded en route by a street full of seasonal decoration shops preparing all the shiny things for Chinese New Year (is this not also a kind of modern art??), and a wander down some alleys I would never have otherwise wandered down. Finally I found the place, Retro Jam 印刷, which to my good fortune had the sought-after postcards on obvious display. They seem to do all manner of screen and risograph printing, and also sell supplies and prints. I can't speak to the quality of services but I had a great time poking around in the latter. Across the street was a place called Risograph Museum, which as far as I can tell was unrelated to Retro Jam, and was not a museum but a small shop of prints and cute items where I also flipped through cards to my heart's content (apparently the main Risograph Museum with printing services is in Taichung).

Afterwards I had ambitions to go to IKEA and get a duvet cover for an IKEA duvet I'd come into the possession of recently (via a friend distributing loot household items before moving back overseas), so I walked to Beimen Station when hunger struck. I am not the kind of person who can simply walk into a strange restaurant. Usually it requires extensive investigation and two to three back-up schemes, which is not really something I care to do while sitting outside the metro by a noisy intersection. The primary way to streamline this procedure is to focus solely on curry. There was a place called Curry Lab. Tokyo (with the punctuation, yes) conveniently near IKEA, and it had a solid 5 stars, which induces suspicion because that generally means the place gives some discount or bribe for good reviews, but I chanced my luck.

It was dishearteningly dark within when I got there despite being 16:31 (with 16:30 opening hours listed) but the employees were present and the door was open, so I asked exactly when business commenced and they turned on the light and told me to sit down.

Lo and behold, I really would rate it as one of the top 5 Japanese style curries I've had. Something about the spices and the onions. I was impressed. I even indulged in a pudding afterwards, which was equally delightful.

Google Maps' estimation of the crowd level at IKEA had me a bit wary but it was pretty empty and I had a grand time feeling the fabrics, sniffing the scented candles, and restraining myself from purchasing an orb to ponder (I already have a lantern at home, one spherical glowing light fixture is enough unless I move into a bigger place). I even got the duvet cover I went there for and nothing else!

(imagine how immense my willpower must be in the face of these, for 499元 🙀)

When I finally got out it was rush hour and thus time to squish into the MRT like sardines. I have lived here long enough to have no qualms about moving people who will not move themselves. No more timid 不好意思 from this 外國人, it is time to 讓開! (Perhaps I give myself more credit than I'm due in terms of audacity, as more often than not the wave of humanity entering the train car behind me would propel me forward one way or another, I've simply learned to proactively embrace that inevitability.)

I've been feeling unexpectedly resilient regarding going out and doing things lately, although it may be because in going out I'm procrastinating on what I should be doing at home (although I am still thinking about it and making notes while walking around). In this way being outside feels more like a break instead of a torment 🤔 We'll see how long it lasts, but I might as well enjoy it.

[chippedaxe]

Hate Is A Strong Word

◠◡◠◡｡･:*:･ﾟ★,◠◡◠◡

Title: Hate Is A Strong Word

Warning(s): cursing, maybe a bit of angst? (Not a lot), fluff, arguing, fighting, ect..

Pronouns: They/Them

Synopsis: you and Karl hate each other (or at least you both thought) until it was leaked to the smp that he had feelings for you.

Pairing: c!Karl X gn! Reader

Word count: 1.7k

Note: this is my first sfw fic 😍😍

- if this gets enough attention then I might do a part 2 with some nsfw.

* This is unedited and I didn’t rlly proof read it so if this story actually makes no sense at all than I’m rlly sorry 😭

◠◡◠◡｡･:*:･ﾟ★,◠◡◠◡

Your eyes narrowed and you furrowed your eyebrows as you noticed Karl in the distance, he looked as if he was moving towards you so you were wondering what business he was up to.

“Karl! What’re you doing?” You called out to him but he snubbed you and ignored your question “Fine, ignore me then asshole!” You scoffed and returned to what you were doing, you try to act nice and he doesn’t play along!

You went back to crafting, putting the sticks together and cursing yourself once you realized you didn’t have all the correct materials. You sighed and held onto your nose bridge in annoyance “I can’t believe I forgot to get the red stone!” You grumbled.

This meant more work for you today and you were already tired of it, you sat down and tried to think of a way to get out of doing more hard labor for the day. You got an idea and stood up, there’s got to be someone on the server with red stone right?

You exited your humble house and approached the first person you saw outside which happened to be Purpled “hey! I’m sure that you’ve probably got some on you so I was wondering if I could borrow some red stone? Or just take it from you..” you asked politely “oh I Uh- I actually ran out, I used the last of it on this build right here!” He stood back and presented the stupidest thing you’ve ever seen.

You nodded “oh alright then- thanks anyways” you passed him and walked down the trail, perhaps Eret had stolen some off of someone and could let you borrow a few? You walked up to him and smiled “greetings! Do you have any spare red stone that I could please use?” You bowed down slightly.

“Oh no, I’m afraid that I don’t have any! I know who does have a whole supply of red stone though!” Eret’s voice sounded condescending and almost patronizing “oh really? That’s great! Who is it?” You smiled excitedly “It’s Karl!” Eret replied.

Your face fell and you frowned, your happiness was wiped from your face and you gave Eret a deadpan look “why does it have to be him?” You groaned “oh I’m sure someone else will have some, you’ll just have to check around..” Eret then scattered away.

You knew that Eret is normally right, she won’t let anyone prove them wrong, so you knew that Karl was probably your best bet at retrieving some red stone. You wiped your face and made your way over to Karl’s whereabouts.

You knocked on the door of his house and waited for him to open the door, you watched as Karl peeked through the curtain and then quickly ran away to pretend that no one was home. You banged on his door angrily “Karl, open up! I just need some red stone!” You yelled out.

“No ones home!” He screamed back at you, you sighed and lowered your head “what a fucking idiot..” you thought out loud, Karl gasped and opened the door “that’s quite rude, don’t you think??” He crossed his arms and huffed. “Oh great- you’re home, can I have that red stone now??” You gave a fake smile “what makes you think I’m gonna give it up so willingly?” Karl rose an eyebrow. What a pretentious fuck.

“Because if you hand it over now then I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the day!” You had hoped that your plan would work “who says that I want to be left alone? Maybe I want to pester you all day!” Karl teased “oh come on! I just need the red stone, give it up!” You held your hands up in defense “oh nuh-uh! That belongs to me!” He blocked the doorway.

You pushed him gently and tried to steal his red stone but he tackled you to the floor, you kicked him off you and then stood back up to dust yourself off “listen here- if you do something for me than I’ll happily give it to you” Karl offered.

“Fine, asshat, what is it?” You had already expected him to send you doing something horrible or incredibly dangerous “I need you to just give this to Quackity, he said he needed it” Karl handed you a bag full of just dirt “he needs a bag of dirt? This seems like the most useless task ever!” You exclaimed.

“It’s not useless if you’re getting something out of it, come back here when you’re done” he shut the door on you and left you to go on your quest. You knew it’d be an easy task, so why did Karl send you to do it? Did he not think you could do it? Did he underestimate you?

You walked back to your house and equipped yourself with some leather boots, they should help your feet with the long walk. You got back up and got back onto the trail, you flung the bag over your shoulder and coughed as some of the dirt came out.

You arrived in Las Nevada’s pretty fast to be honest! Your eyes glanced over the beautiful sight, Las Nevadas is a wonderful place! If you weren’t a traveler than you’d like to settle somewhere like this.

“Quackity!” You came up to the building and called out for him, yelping and jumping back when a little green man appeared behind you “AH!” You screamed and dropped the bag “Oh! You have my dirt! Thank you, Mx. Jacobs!” He ducked down “what?! What did you call me??” You bent down.

He popped back out of the dirt “Mx. Jacobs, Karl Jacob’s partner!” He smiled cheerfully “I’m not dating Karl! And my name is Y/n!” You spat out “oh really, you’re not?? But I heard Karl talking about how much he loves you! I must’ve misunderstood, goodbye Y/n (not the partner of Karl Jacobs)!” He sunk back down but you pulled him back up.

“Hey- no! I wanna talk!” You desperately spoke “oh sure! I have time to kill anyways!” He stuck his tongue out “who are you?” You asked curiously “I’m Charlie slimecicle! You’re Y/n the traveler, Karl’s partner!” Charlie stated incorrectly.

“Hey- no. I hate Karl” you crossed your arms “really?? I was getting the impression that you liked him from the way that you stare at him lovingly from afar” Charlie shrugged “WHAT- HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT? I DONT DO THAT!!” You quickly tried to defend yourself.

“Don’t defend yourself, I already said that Karl likes you too!” Charlie was a chill guy “then why does he purposefully irritate me so much?!” You complained “I dunno! I’m gonna go with my bag of dirt now..” Charlie disappeared and this time you weren’t able to catch him.

You continued to sit there for a while, just thinking to yourself about things ‘does Karl really like me?’ You thought. You shook the feeling off “hold on- I don’t even like him! Charlie was talking non-sense!” The words coming out of your mouth did not match the way you were feeling.

Your heart was in your mouth, your chest was sore and your lungs were gasping for air as your hair was beating faster and faster “oh god- shit.. maybe I do like him! I mean.. those times that we don’t fight are really nice” you were conflicted. You decided that it’d be better to just confront your problems so you stood up and went back home.

You knocked on the door of Karl Macon’s house, he answered immediately and snickered “great, you made it back, thought you might die out there” he teased you. You rolled your eyes “cut the shit, Slime boy told me all about you” you accused “oh yeah? Told you what?” Karl backed up a bit “he told me that you had a little crush?” You leaned against the doorframe.

“Maybe I do, what about it?” Karl looked away and lowered his head a bit “well maybe I like you too. I don’t know, I still find you annoying and irritating!” You confessed “I wouldn’t like it any other way. Would you consider dating me?” Karl reached out and grabbed your hand gently “oh fuck-“ you cursed.

“If you’d of asked me any other day than my answer would be so clear! If you’d asked me yesterday than I’d say no but- maybe I like talking to you and arguing with you a little too much to just be your enemy.” You dropped your head and started to blush.

This was a very embarrassing situation for you and you didn’t know what to do “so you’re not sure if you like me or not?” Karl asked “correct. I mean- I’d stare at you from far away and blush but that doesn’t necessary mean that I like you, right?” You hesitated.

“Are you afraid that you might like me?” Karl walked closer towards you “maybe a bit. We’ve been enemies for so long, I’m afraid of what will happen between us if we stop” you answered “I’m sure we’ll still find things to fight about when we’re together” Karl smiled “well- than yes! I’ll go on one date with you” Karl squealed with joy.

“Yes! You’re making me the happiest man alive!” He hugged you “yeah, yeah, am I gonna get that red stone anytime soon?” You pestered him “sure thing! Can I pick you up later tonight?” Karl asked you “8’o clock and no time later than that” you replied before walking off with his red stone.

“Hey wait!- can I kiss you? Just this once?” Karl had started to annoy you with the way he was trying to explain why it’d be better to kiss him now instead of on your first date so you decided to shut him up. You grabbed him by the collar and pressed your lips against his.

This relationship of yours was gonna be a real hassle but you knew you’d make it out alive (not sure about Karl tho)

[hopeassassin]

Rally’s Scribbles in the Work

So after that lovely anon blew my mind away with their kind words and wonderful support, and because I keep telling you guys about my writing plans without actually giving you even a teensy little detail, I have decided to stop being coy and actually likely get your hopes up a bit by dilvulging small details and bits of plots of what is currently going on in my G-Drive. 

This will be a brief recount of what I have currently baking in the AoMomo oven, so let’s dive right into it! Please note that the numbers are in no particular order - I just keep revisiting each of these stories and writing a bit more to them whenever I feel like it. So there’s no ranking and no importance, just a number to keep proper count.

1. “Knight of Renown” Dragons and Knighthood AU, based on that one AoMomo pic with Momo ithe Knight and Dragon Aomine that I reblogged a while back and I actually let me imagination go a bit too much in the tags. I ended up actually rather enjoying the premise I set up in the tags so I actually started writing that one out!  Completion rate at about: 5%? I’d say? Less? :D 

2. AoMomo Music AU - a dearly beloved project that I am pouring a lot of love and attentioin to. That’s why it’s coming along super slow. It’s been in the making since November and I chewed it and mulled through it so thoroughly that I’ve grinded to a halt with it. Intending for there to be 2 chapters, and I am at about 25-30% of chapter 1 currently ready currently. At the pace I’m going, it might be another full year before you actually get to see this bad boy up, but when you do, I’m sure you’ll see all the care and effort that went into making it perfect. Honestly, no joke here, I am intending for this to be one of my rare masterpieces in this tag. So I’m not gonna rush it!

3. AoMomo Car Accident AU where Daiki barely manages to save Satsuki from being run over by a hit-and-run and ends up being the one run over instead. This was my first piece of writing after coming back to AoMomo last summer and yet completion rate is a sad thing. I want it to be flawless, a perfectly agonizing, thrilling type of torturous read that gives you a great sense of relief by the end of it. Needless to say, the clusterfuck of negative feelings is a bit difficult to hold onto for a prolonged period of time and the work is coming along slowly. Planned at about 5 chapters, I have 2 complete ones and the 3rd one is at about ... 30%? Hopefully before this year’s whumptober, we’ll have a finished piece!

4. AoMomo bond character study, which went in a direction I did NOT expect nor intend. It was suppsoed to be an idea that you will see also listed below. But I started this one from their early childhood and somehow, instead of focusing on the kids and their bond and their weird interactions with each other and their first moments of realizing they are of opposite genders, it turned into something much too fun to let go of and the ideas for scenes just kept piling. It’s going to be a long one, very explorative and very in-depth character study on the bond between these two and how it changed over the years, and their first encounters with their sexuality inbetween (because that was really the main idea that I started with... xDDD;;;) Currently at 1 chapter complete, chapter 2 somewhere around 50-60% completion, and at least 6-7 chapters to come after that, soooo.... :’DDDD YEAH. THIS ONE AIN’T SEEING THE LIGHT OF DAY ANYTIME SOON.

5. AoMomo deciding to practice stuff on each other, because I am a sucker for this trope.THIS will be what the idea under previous number 4 was SUPPOSED to be like, but it instead spun out of control. So this one, under number 5, is going to be the smutty, idiots bumbling through physicality to discover that they actually have serious feelings for each other kind of piece. Chapters are planned at about at least 6-7 or so, but not my usual monstrocities! :D First we start with practice kissing, and we move our way up from there! 

6. “The Evil of Humanity” AU - a dystopian futuristic kinda mecha AU, sort of an amalgamation of some of my favourite anime in the genre - a bit of NGE, a bit of Gurren-Lagann, a lot of Darling in the Franxx rewrite and improvement, in distinctly AoMomo colors. I poured a lot of thought and love into initial outline of main moments for this one, and I really hope to make it an epic, thrilling action/adventure with a big dash of romance kind of read! Chapters currently not even planned properly, because I need to sit down and consider this seriously. It will definitely be more than 10-15 though, and they will be my usual chapter lengths so.... likely no time soon. :D 

7. Aomine Fanclub - I got a plot bunny some time ago and I shared it here and my friends were spurring me on with it, so I started trying it out a little more. I’ve written out like... maybe 30% of this one as well, but need to re-read and reconceptualize to get it back on track. The issue with this one is that I’m not really sure where I want to take it, thus it’s on the back burner at the moment.

8. KagaKuro AoMomo double-date kind of story, where Aomine is asking some curious questions of Taiga about going to America and pondering if any of his immediate friends know what Satsuki wants to do with her life. I’m really invested in this one but haven’t started properly writing it out yet beyond just sketching out the idea so I don’t forget it. (I’d say 1% complete here.) Really looking forward to using the idea of Kagami being super impressed with AoMomo perfect sync when playing as a team in arcade games!

9.Laws of Attraction Chapter 2 - You might be surprised at this, but I’m actually super invested in this one. Likely the reason why I am delaying so much working on it - I feel like all my great scene ideas are just too chaotic and I have a hard time starting the chapter flowing properly. I had like 4-5 false starts already and I’m feeling a bit skittish with picking it up. But I have such AMAZING concepts on where to take it after it revvs up the engine, so... Maybe sometime this year! Completion rate: 0% written, but at least about 30% ideas built up for the installment!

10. AoMomo college rooming together story - sort of an expansion on my fill for one of the prompts way back those years ago in AoMomo week. I really dig the concept and the trope of sharing spaces with someone you consider nothing more than a friend and then gradually learning to appreciate each other for something so much more. I am definitely doing this one some day, but not anytime soon, likely.

11. A random idea bit me the other day (read: a month ago) and I actually wrote out like... maybe 25% of it already as well. A random comment from Wakamatsu miffs Satsuki but then she realizes why he’s asking dumb questions and she comes to realize that something is wrong with the equation: either Dai-chan likes someone really close to them and she hasn’t realized, which is unlikely, or Dai-chan likes HER and is super blase about it in a way that betrays his feelings not at all, which is even more unlikely. Being a curious  individual, she sets out to find which it is! Some hilarity should ensue but mostly just some mess-with-Dai-chan fun!

12. Touou summer training camp at the sea - progress is practically 0, I wanted to write a summery piece and set my mind on this, but nothing beyond has come to me, so I’m not forcing it.

13. AoMomo cultural festival fic in second year of high school (meaning something approx end of Oct -> beginning of Nov.) with Daiki being in a distinctly Haruhu Suzumiya role at that festival (has anyone even seen this anime? I adored that episode to freaking bits, man, it’s engraved upon my soul) and singing Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” and one more song just like Haruhi did. And Satsuki just beholding the phenomenon he becomes in no time flat while he lays bare his passion for life for all the student body to see. Shippiness will happen in private afterwards!

14. You Can Leave Your Hat On Chapter 2 - Probably like 2-3 years ago while I was still in the damn woodwork and wrestling with real life and adulting being crap, I remembered this AU premise and I got super hyped on the idea of Club Owner Dai-chan being a flirt with innocent Satsuki who got dragged to his joined and fell in love at first sight with his shenanigans. I’ve already played around for like 7k words with the second chapter of this but I’m still not where I want to be at, so it will take a while longer to flesh it out.

15. Idol Worship - a story that I promised my mate aricana some 6 years ago the premise for which I am super hyped for but not quite engaging with it yet. The idea was that Momoi finally starts gettiing the dates she has been pesting Kuroko for for years, and Daiki feeling terrible about beholding that, whilst Kise is being pestered by Horikita Mai for a date and instead ditches her with Daiki because he knows his former Teikou classmate is a huge fan of her. Mai-chan isn’t particularly happy but somehow ends up enjoying her time with Daiki and starts considering actually pursuing him instead of Kise when she sees what an interesting soul he is, with the torch that he’s carrying for some girl in his life he doesn’t really talk about but is evident from the little things he drops off as hits. AoMomo shenanigans will start to ensue properly when Satsuki realizes that Daiki is actually having a close female friend who is not her but is Horikita Mai instead, Dai-chan’s perfect woman, practically. She doesn’t take well to the news and has to grapple with why that is! And what to do with these newfound frustrating emotions!

16. Obstruction of Justice Chapter 3 - MAYBE SOME DAY, I WILL GET TO WRITING THIS. Last summer I inteded to do just that but instead, Wild Side of Justice was born. And it became a spin off of sorts on its own. ORZ. I WILL FINISH THIS SOME DAY, I do have some plans for it and I do have the desire to pursue them. I just need to be in the right headspace for it ahsjkfhkjaf

17. A PWP story of Kagami arriving early for a practice match at Touou and somehow walking in on AoMomo getting busy with each other in very unexpected and explicit ways that Kagami did not see headed his way. Because, we need more PWP in this fandom, honestly.

18. And since we DO need more PWP, recently when checking the 30 lemons community on LJ (shut up, I’m not ancient, YOU’RE ANCIENT) I was wondering how exactly a smut plot around the “Taken by the Faceless Stranger” could work for Aomomo and I came up with this Masquerade ball that they end up both attending because of their friends and meeting each other and hitting off fantastically just chatting the night and then banging in a niche in the long castle-like premise of the ball. :’DDDD Cuz it’s me and if I don’t have something like that in the works, you know i’m likely sick.

ALL OF THESE I am planning on eventually finishing one day. ONE DAY!

For now they are in various states of completion and in various stages of being cared for and improved on with more ideas added and fleshed out.

I am not joking when I say I am very invested in this fandom. I just have difficulty getting to writing out these ideas when I spend like 60% of my free time playing my mobile games. :D 

So there you have it. I didn’t want to say anything about these because 1) I don’t want to get your hopes up. You Can Leave Your Hat On 2, for one, has been in the making for 3 years, very on-again-off-again kind of way, and I just... can’t do that to you guys. I have decided against posting any incomplete fics so I don’t torture you guys and my muse doesn’t abandom me forever for them. So when something is complete, it gets posted promptly for your viewing pleasure!

And 2) If I divulge too much of the story, I feel like my hype of it may disappear completely. Ehh, my muse is a willful creature, what can I tell you... 

So let’s hope at least SOME of these get to see the light of day soon!

[plainsight6578]

aftersome.

Pairing: Mista x Giorno

Genre: fluff to angst to a tiny bit of smut and fluff

Summary: Mista and Giorno had been there for each other since that fateful day that they met.

Word count: 3,422

A/N: I don’t really remember the time-line of the anime very well, so forgive me if I made any mistake xoxo. Characters may be a little OOC but i tried my best.

aftersome

adj. astonished to think back on the bizarre sequence of accidents that brought you to where you are today—as if you’d spent years bouncing down a Plinko pegboard, passing through a million harmless decision points, any one of which might’ve changed everything—which makes your long and winding path feel fated from the start, yet so unlikely as to be virtually impossible.

(via The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows)

Since Giorno was little, he’d been repeatedly told he was a failure, a disappointment, and an eyesore by his loving parents. And, as little children do, he believed every word. So, he never made any friends. In his mind, he was better off alone. Other people would be better off without him. Consequently, he never had anyone to tell him that he wasn’t all those things that he and his parents believed he was.

Giorno never had any, nor thought that he needed any friends. They were useless and would only serve as a distraction from his dream. When he was feeling down, he never had anyone to talk to; since talking was also useless. He just needed to pick himself up, work harder, do better. He didn’t need someone to tell him how proud they were of him, or that he’s been working too hard and that he deserved a break. Those were all useless.

He didn’t need anyone and no one needed him. Giorno never considered himself anything other than what he was told, he never had any reason to. The words that scarred him as a child would haunt him for the rest of his life. He’d always been alone. As far as he knew, he only ever hurt those that were close to him.

So, when Mista called him his “lucky boy”, he was so shocked he could barely process what that implied. That nickname given to him by this strange man he’d just met would mean that everything he’d known about himself - everything he’d been taught about who he was - was a lie. That couldn’t be true. 15 years of bringing misfortune to everyone around him couldn’t be wrong (although, admittedly, he never had many experiences with any other people that weren’t his abusive parents).

‘What a weird guy...’ was Giorno’s first impression of Mista. That was the only way to describe him: weird, not necessarily in a bad or good way. Mista was just weird; he’d contradicted everything Giorno had stood for. 

Mista was a simple man, simply following orders from his higher-ups, doing what he had to in order to survive. He was honest and upfront. Everything you needed to know about him, you could see. Giorno was far more mysterious, hiding his years of trauma underneath a calm and collected façade. He had his underlying intentions, and never fully exposed himself around anyone.

Giorno could never understand the strange man. He certainly wasn’t a lucky boy. It wasn’t luck that allowed him to survive, it was his own intuition, taking things he’d learnt and putting them to good use. It was his own skills that had lead him to where he was, and would take him to even higher lengths. He knew he was capable of achieving that with his skills, not luck.

Giorno stopped in his tracks. This was a first for him; how did this single interaction with this man he barely knew got him to reconsider everything he’d done? It was true, though, Giorno had faith that his plan could work because he had faith in himself. He just never previously realized it. And it felt like all the work he’d put in to get himself this far was paying off, like he was starting to reap the rewards of perseverance. In an instant, he could clearly see where he was going when it had previously felt like a daze. He supposed that he wasn’t entirely a failure, if he’d made it this far. How is he suddenly coming to question everything that he thought he was?

As far as Giorno knew, he was the most unlucky boy on earth. Mista didn’t seem to see him that way. Even though they just met? What did he know? Mista was a simpleton who didn’t know anything about Giorno or his life.

Still, he’d appreciated the nickname. It felt nice to have someone call him something that wasn’t an insult.

________________________________________________________________

After Giorno had saved Abbaccio and Fugo from the Man in the Mirror and had returned safely to the gang, Mista had pestered Giorno for more detail because neither Abbaccio nor Fugo were much of the bragging-about-our-super-cool-epic-win type (and neither was Giorno, really).

“Gimme all the juicy stuff! This dude was tough to beat right?! So, why’re ya leavin’ all the cool parts out?!” He’d yelled.

Giorno had no idea what classified as “juicy”, so he’d simply given Mista a quick summary of the fight: how he’d turned that brick into a snake to find the enery stand user, and how they eventually defeated him. Giorno only realized after he’d finished that he’d been talking for quite sometime. Mista was enthusiastically nodding his head throughout the story, adding in some “wooooah!!” sound effects of his own here and there. Giorno blushed, he got too carried away.

“Man! You’re so cool, Giorno!! I’d never think to do that!” Mista said, with an almost glimmer in his gaze, he was looking at Giorno in a way that hecouldn’t recognize. Rather than hostility, he was feeling...admiration coming from the other man. He remembered a similar look coming from Bucciarati, but that was when he had beat him in a fight then. What did Giorno do to deserve this from Mista? He could almost believe that Mista actually meant what he said.

‘I’m not cool...’ Giorno thought, but when Mista was staring at him like that... Who was he to say no. He didn’t know how to respond, so he blushed and looked away. Maybe he could allow himself to think he was slightly cool in that moment, he certainly did feel... cool, if only just a little.

________________________________________________________________

The long road trip to retrieve their boss’s order from the statue that Giorno and Mista had gone into meant more time alone with Mista. For some reason, Giorno’s heart couldn’t seem to slow down. He decided it was from the paranoia of being attacked by another stand user. Since they’d started this mission, they’ve been relentlessly attacked by stand user after stand user, with barely any time to relax. That’s why his palms won’t stop sweating, and why there was a strange, tingling sensation in his stomach, and why his heart skipped a beat when Mista had called his name... Yeah, he’s just nervous about being attacked again.

Wait. Mista had called his name. He was talking to him.

“Right, Giorno?” He’d asked. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening, Mista,” Giorno replied.

“What are you overthinking now? There isnt another stand user for miles, we’ll be fine.” Mista kicked his legs up onto the dashboard, emphasizing his complete lack of anxiety. Giorno almost envied his ability to be so relaxed (although, he knew Mista was always prepared for an attack, he never really let his guard down). 

Considering how they’d had lots of time to kill in one cramped car, the pair had talked quite a bit, well, it was mostly Mista talking at Giorno. He liked it that way, though, Mista’s voice helped him unwind, and something about the way Mista’s lips moved as they talked made his stomach clench and his mouth dry.

Being with Mista, just the two of them, like this, it could almost convince Giorno to take a break and enjoy the little things in life, all things that Giorno had deemed ‘useless’. And yet, this philosophy that Giorno had held close to him as a protection mechanism was slowly falling apart. Rather, it was being undone. And Giorno didn’t know why, but he felt like a part of him was letting it happen, like, deep down, this is what he wanted: to sit back and be able to enjoy.

“Useless...” He muttered, under his breath he was getting influenced by Mista. He couldn’t afford to relax. But Mista brought that side out in him and he didn’t know why. Giorno couldn’t help but feel slightly at ease with Mista beside him, and it felt nice not to have to keep his guard up around someone all the time. It felt nice to be able to rely on someone else.

________________________________________________________________

Mista somehow always found a way to get himself horribly injured during their stand fights. After the battle with Ghiaccio and his stupidly powerful White Album stand, and after he’d made sure Mista was fully healed, Giorno made sure to give the older man a thorough lecture about his actions during the battle.

“Getting yourself injured like that is useless, Mista. You shouldn’t do useless things like that. What would the team do if we didn’t have you? You should think about that too!” Giorno rambled, “your actions were dangerous, Mista, don’t do useless things like that again.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” he replied, an embarrassed flush covering his cheeks, “I had the amazing Giorno to cover for me though, so I wasn’t that worried!” He finished with a wink towards the younger boy. And something in that made Giorno’s heart beat faster. Mista is alive, he’s still with him. A feeling of relief washed over Giorno, and he released the breath that he’d been holding in. 

Giorno sighed, he could almost cry. Remembering the sight of Mista’s body filled with bullets and then seeing him here, laughing and joking like everything was fine. Giorno’s heart clenched. Without saying anything, Giorno layed his head on Mista’s shoulder, close to his heart, and listened to the sound of the blood flowing through his body. Mista was left wide-eyed, but laid his hand on top of Giorno’s, who was clenching his fists. Soon as he did, Mista felt him relax against him. 

They sat like that in silence for a few minutes, just breathing in each other’s presence. Mista was caught completely off guard by this, he didn’t know that his actions would affect Giorno like this. Perhaps they’d gotten closer than he’d thought in the short time span that they’d known each other.

“I meant what I said, though,” Mista whispered, “as long as I have you with me, I know everything will be just fine...”

________________________________________________________________

Staring at Abbaccio’s corpse, Mista waited for some sign of life from his comrade. Giorno couldn’t heal him... He was just... Gone. There was nothing they could do. Mista’s head was racing at a million miles an hour but none of his thoughts formed anything coherent.

How did this even happen? They were gone for a minute. Why did this happen? With every blink Mista expected to see Abbaccio in a different position than he was. But Abbaccio never moved. He didn’t even blink. 

“WE’RE NOT JUST GONNA LEAVE HIM HERE, RIGHT?!” Narancia yelled. Mista wanted to agree with him. Watching Bucciarati walking away from their teammate - no, their friend - he understood Narancia’s anger. But he knew there was nothing they could do. Bucciarati was probably hurting more than any of them were.

Clenching his fists, he ripped his eyes off of Abbaccio’s corpse and followed Bucciarati. They all knew the risks of this mission. They had no choice but to continue.

Back inside the turtle, the gang continued on with their mission. It would take some time to get to Rome, so Bucciarati volunteered to keep watch outside the turtle while the rest of them got some rest. Inside, Narancia had passed out on in an uncomfortable position on the couch and Trish had curled up on the floor, eventually drifting to sleep.

Mista couldn’t relax enough to fall asleep. After seeing Abbaccio like that, he was wondering about his other comrades, he didn’t think he could keep his sanity if he had to see that again.

Mista was so lost in his thoughts he failed to notice that Giorno had placed himself next to him, “you shouldn’t think about useless things, Mista,” he said.

Slightly startled, his first instinct was to go on the defensive, “I’m not thinking about anything...!”

Giorno just stared at him blankly, although, Mista detected a faint hint of sympathy.

“Uh, well, I guess I am just overthinking...” He admitted. “I mean, Abbaccio died without anyone even noticing... So, I can’t help but think... That could have been any of us. If our enemy is that powerful... How many more of us are gonna die? Are we even... gonna be able to defeat him at all-”

“That’s useless, Mista,” Giorno stated firmly, “what you’re thinking about is useless. It’ll only distract you when we’re in battle.”

“Y-you’re right...” There was a slight twinge of shame inside Mista for having to be told off by someone younger than him for the second time now, “still, after everything we’ve been through, we all could have died so many times...” He adjusted his position slightly to face Giorno and then cupped both his hand inside his palms, “you amputated your own arms, for God’s sake, and... I almost died too! I just...” His tone was all over the place. Even now, he hadn’t fully grasped the concept of what it means to die. “I really don’t want to lose anyone else...” He said. 

Giorno knew how hard this must be for the him, he’d just lost one of his closest friends, they must’ve been like family, and with barely any time to properly grieve, they were going head-first into a much more dangerous battle. He didn’t know what to do or say. This is the first time he’d gotten this close to someone to consider them a friend and, frankly, he didn’t want to lose anyone either. After everything they’ve been through, Giorno felt a sense of fondness towards the gang members. 

“We’re right here, Mista,” he decided was appropriate, and leaned in to touch his forehead to Mista, “I’m not going anywhere, either.”

Mista’s hold on Giorno’s hands tightened. The look in Giorno’s eyes was so tender and soft, something Mista hadn’t seen in such a long time. Something snapped inside Mista, and he could no longer hold back his tears. Giorno didn’t know what to do as Mista sobbed into his shoulder. He just let Mista let all his grief out, if he could help Mista in any way, he would. This is his way of showing Mista just how thankful he was for him. Thanks to Mista, Giorno felt so much less of a burden to himself and others, he realized that everything he’d thought he knew as a child about himself was so much farther than the truth. 

Giorno’s chest ached seeing Mista like this. He wished he could take his pain away, just as Mista had freed him from his. He let Mista cry into him as long as he needed.

Even after Mista had calmed down, he didn’t move from his position. The way Giorno was leaning forward had exposed his star-shaped birthmark. Mista stared at it for a while, admiring how it seemed to glimmer despite the darkness in the room. He wondered where they would be without Giorno. He would certainly be dead, they probably all would be; with how many fatal wounds he’d healed for them.

Mista couldn’t really face Giorno right now. He liked the position they were in particularly because Giorno couldn’t see Mista’s puffy nose or blood-shot eyes, nor the snot that threatened to drip out of his nose. He’d always showed himself as this strong and care-fee guy; so breaking down in his teammates arms like that felt almost humiliating - or at least, it would be if this was anyone else but Giorno. Still, he didn’t want Giorno to see him in this state. So, as a thank you, Mista had placed the lightest peck right onto Giorno’s star-shaped birthmark. Giorno physically tensed up, and he blushed all the way to his ears. Giorno, being who he was and having absolutely no social skills, he couldn’t understand why.

“M-Mista-” He’d began to protest. “This is how I’m saying thank you, dumbass,” Mista answered, and intertwined their fingers, just for emphasis. “Why...” Giorno asked, what was there to thank him for? 

“Because you’re here.”

________________________________________________________________

Mista was the first one kiss Giorno’s hand after he’d taken over the organization. He experienced Giorno’s skill first-hand, there was no one better he could think to take over the organization. He was a simple man, he followed orders and was stupidly honest. That’s why he swore his loyalty to Giorno.

When the pair had finally gained some privacy, Mista immediately slumped his shoulders, no longer needing to impress his higher-ups or assert dominance to his subordinates. Though, he was still restless. He’d been like that all day, in fact. Being around all the other gang members, meeting new ones, and receiving hunderds of condolences from them, he, naturally, couldn’t stop thinking about finding his comrade’s corpses, the sight and smell of their blood...

Giorno merely stared at Mista as he paced around the room. No doubt he was stressed right now. Everything that he was used to was changing. Nothing was simple anymore. 

But everything was over now. Things would get better... Right? Giorno wasn’t sure- No! He shouldn’t be thinking like this. Abbaccio, Narancia, and Bucciarati had sacrificed their lives for this. ‘Thinking like that is useless.’ He told himself.

He had no idea what was going through Mista’s head right now, and he wasn’t sure how to ask. Giorno had inhaled, preparing to say something before Mista approached him and grabbed both his hands, “Giorno!” He yelled, “you’re still here!”

Their faces were mere centimeters apart, Mista was blinking at him, like he was waiting a response, “that’s right...”

“And you’re not going anywhere!”

“No, I’m not.”

Mista touched their foreheads together, just like they did back inside the turtle, and he smiled, “and as long as you’re with me... Everything’s gonna be alright!”

Giorno blinked. That’s what he said back then, too, and he didn’t exactly classify what had happened as ‘alright’. But, as he was being held by Mista, and seeing Mista’s unwavering smile, he just couldn’t bring himself to disagree.

“As long as I’m here,” Giorno started, lifting his hands from Mista’s grip to cup his face, “everything will be alright,” he whispered into the taller man’s mouth. Giorno also wanted to protect Mista with everything he had.

They were so close to each other... It seemed like they were slowly inching closer until the gap between them finally closed. All of their pent-up desire for each other, the feelings that Giorno had absolutely refused to acknowledge, they were all reaching their climax. They pulled away after a few seconds, before Mista swiftly closed the space between them again, and then proceeding to pull at Giorno’s bottom lip with his teeth, and placed his hands on Giorno’s hips to hold him closer.

Giorno gasped and grabbed onto Mista’s collar for support. His head seemed to be completely taken over by Mista. His scent, the way he tasted, the way his hands felt on his hips, Mista, Mista, Mista. All these new emotions he was feeling made his head spin in the most euphoric way.

Mista took advantage of Giorno’s open mouth and shoved his tounge inside his it. Giorno definitely wasn’t expecting this to heat up so quickly, and he definitely wasn’t expecting to feel Mista’s tongue inside his mouth. Giorno was losing control of himself, he moaned into Mista’s mouth, completely overwhelmed by just making out with him.

Giorno was almost completely leaning on Mista for support, his legs were about to give way any second . When they pulled away for oxygen, Giorno let out a desperate, “M-Mis...ta..” His face was entirely coated with a glowing shade of red, his eyes heavy-lidded, with Mista’s name on his lips. Mista’s lower half twitched at the sight, already addicted to it.

He did have to admit, he felt slightly weird doing this so soon after his friends’ deaths, but with Giorno being the most important thing to him right now, he wanted to feel him in every way to convince himself he was still here. He needed to feel his heartbeat, feel the warmth of his breath, feel the movement of his tongue inside his mouth, feel him moaning into his mouth... He needed to be able to feel that Giorno was alive.

Mista hugged him tight, just taking in Giorno’s presence, “you’re still here...” He whispered into Giorno’s neck, who barely had it in him to point out how, of course he’s still here, where else would he be? So, instead, he simply whispered a quiet, “I’m not going anywhere.”

________________________________________________________________

A/N: ASDKJSFHLSK OMG OMG OKAY IK THIS IS KINDA ALL OVER THE PLACE BUT I WROTE THIS OVER THE SPAN OF LIKE THREE DAYS AND I HAD THIS HUGE ESSAY DUE SO I WAS LIKE WRITING THIS AND MY ESSAY AT THE SAME TIME IT WAS SO CHAOTIC AND MY EMOTIONS WERE ALL OVER THE PLACE

ANYWAY IF YOU READ THIS FAR I RLY HOPE YOU ENJOYED TY FOR READING PLEASE LEAVE ANY FEEDBACK YOU HAVE!!!! I proofread it like six million times but if there are any mistakes I’m sorry!!! Pls lmk so I can fix them :3.

[sjw-publishings]

Man-aging your time

Foreign Relations

(Asian twist on @dumb-and-jocked story, Corporate Progression)

Edgar Han was never fond of conferences, specially ones he was forced to attend due to pressure from his company. As a college intern, he gave it his all to ensure a good grade and possibly a head-start in his business.

He was wrong.

Working at Wong.Inc, the 21 year old was constantly asked and tasked with menial errands all day, filing papers and serving coffee. Now he was asked to be an usher for a conference meeting with TenHaken Corporation.

Dressed in a black polo and khaki pants, he tapped his dress shoes impatiently, being forced to come far too early and way before any of the other interns showed up. He was pretty lean, sort of lanky as he did not do sports. Long hair was tied to a ponytail, as he kept it maintained and groomed so as to not leave a bad impression.

He wondered if it was because they were aware that he and his boyfriend, two of their interns, were gay. But he seemed to be getting the shorter end of the stick...maybe cause he actually cared about his grades and future career, they ended up treating him harsher?

Nevertheless, he did have a slimmer of hope, maybe if he left a good impression today, he could maybe...

“Aren’t you going to shake hands with me?”

Standing before him was a tall, handsome daddy who was bulked up with muscle, thick biceps straining against his suit, and the most devious looking grin that screamed corporate evil...but....it was so hot.

“S...Sorry Mr TenHaken Sir!”

He extended out his hand, as the Boss of the other company grabbed it and gave it a good shook. Snapping his mind away from his worries...and distracting it with...his strong scent infused with cologne.

And those hands, those warm..., and manly hands.

“So you are one of the few interns that...?”

“Yes...alongside my boyfriend...”

He responded in a daze, entranced by the scent. Yes he may go through several hoops just to impress the higher ups, even at the expense of his relationship with his boyfriend, but he would never reveal their relationship in a workplace setting...especially considering some of the higher ups may be homophobic.

A brief wave of disgust shown in the Boss’s countenance, before he returned to grinning madly as he let go of the shake. Giving a firm pat on the young asian man’s back, he spoke in his richly, deep voice.

“Splendid, you’d be perfect...”

The man sauntered into the conference room, bringing along most of his musky aroma and thick cologne with him...but of course, leaving some behind. The young intern blinked, realising what a poor attempt of a greeting that was, and to the BOSS of the other company too!

What is he going to do?

“Did ya watch the game last night?”

Snapping out of his thoughts, a suburban looking man in a suit asked him the question, sticking out his hand with a dopey looking grin. Almost sporting a similar thickness of the cologne the Boss wore...but more mild...and friendly.

“Uh...maybe I did?”

He grabbed ahold of the other mans hand, giving a firm shake as rehearsed. He may just be an intern, and maybe he fumbled with the greeting with the Boss, but he was going to give it his all with the next few introductions.

The shake, while it was a matter of seconds, seemed to last longer in his mind, as he felt the warm spreading from the thickness of those fatherly palms, and rough wrinkles that had definitely were from the years of prime in his youth.

“What maybe I did? Of course I did!”

Of course I did? He thought, scratching his head with his other hand, which felt oddly warm as well. Mirroring the other, as those palms expanded with a former grip, sun-kissed tan bathing their digits as it spread all over their palms. Crunching the older man’s hands, as the university intern smirked.

“Of course I did!”

“Atta Boy!”

The older father figure looped his arms around him, as he...slightly reluctantly, did the same. The tan had spread down his wrists, past the forearms and to those biceps. Giving a firm masculine boost as testosterone swelled his arms, thickening like he definitely lifted a lot.

He wasn’t into sports much, but he did lift a little...especially after some pestering with Mr Craig, the really nice man from the other company. Tasked to do some stock checking and other stuff before the event, they chatted quite a bit and surprisingly had clique very well.

“So what are ya doing out here shaking hands?”

“Oh I...uh was asked to shake hands?”

“What are ya talking about? That stuff was for the interns!”

Bedgaric blinked, interns? But wasn’t he...no. He moved past that stage a couple of years ago, and thinking back, the company never asked him to go stand at the door and shake hands when he was interning in Wong.Inc.

But he felt like...he needed to do this. Setting a good example for the future interns, and hoping they don’t slack off like his lazy young boyfriend. Straightening his back, not noticing he was now about the same height as Craig.

“Its merely in my good nature...gotta reflect well on the company!”

“And that’s right why we bonded right away!”

The man beamed, feeling at ease with his colleague as they were often paired together to strengthen relationships between both companies. Despite the obvious age and ranking differences, it was clear to the company that he was fit for the job.

As his mentor-figure rubbed against his sore shoulders, his shoulder blades clacked, as it was evident that the dark tan worked its magic there. Working out and making up for those wasted years, the 28 year old definitely made gains as his back rippled against the Polo tee he wore. Strapping muscles that he could recall several men, and girls ogling after him on a daily basis. Though he was into boyfriend Conan, many others were also into him too.

“Anyways...remember that bit? TOUCHDOWN!”

“Ah yeah! Man was that CLOSE!”

Resting his strong muscular arm easily on the other man, he was really into football, though he never made the team when he was younger. Too much of a pansy back then, but Craig really manned him up like the big brother figure he is.

Often watching football during the breaks, and a couple of roughhousing with Craig and a couple of his older friends. They had a blast!

Bendgardict, being the tall and bulky asian man he is, was assigned to be on defence. Recalling the impact the football nearly hitting his core, but his strong goalkeeper-esque hands catching it...definitely something he picked up during his soccer days.

Indeed, he had played soccer a ton, he was a jock after all. Legs thickening to hard trunks, as the hot tan spread with light dusting of hair at every spot. Feet surely sprung forth, as the heavy clunking of those dark polished dress shoes now spotted his attire.

Giving a huge SWING to Craig, broad shoulders rippling beneath his attire, he crossed his arms and smirked. Clutching every football toss to his core, abdominals crunching numbers as pectorals bounced back with even more force, a defender to the core, that’s the man he was.

Standing firm and tall, his polo shirt could barely contain the rippling maturity as the sound of satisfying rips echoed his larger bod. Material shifting to a more presentable cotton, bleached white as sleeves rolled themselves neatly down his arms. Spotting on a white dress shirt with the first few buttons unbuttoned, accenting his frame like the Chad he is.

He had some hesitations displaying himself, but he shook it off, knowing if God gave him a body like this, he should use it to the fullest. God? Must be Craig’s Church influencing him quite a lot, he believed, still new to it though.

“From production manager to executive director...Eugene definitely went bonkers last night...”

“Hah! Serves him right to go against our team!”

The two of them continued chatting about work experiences, the game, and altogether men stuff. Time flew by effortlessly, alongside maturity. The Associate ranking up as they laughed heartily.

It wasn’t long until the asian man surpassed his peer in height, stopping at 6ft 2. He laughed heartily like a big brother, even though he was clearly younger...not by much, 5 years or so.

But he certainly ranked up a lot, after all, he did share similar beliefs to his higher ups and colleagues...those ‘hip’ millennials call them boomers, but their values really resonated within him. Something his...intern would not understand, with all his constant flirting in the office.

Presentability. An upper coating of expensive fabric layered over his dress shirt, as well as replacing that of his pants. Beige with faint magenta straight lines, ironing the wrinkles over his suit pants and jacket combo with a matching pocket square.

He had earned quite a handful sum after all, spending it wisely in investing in stocks and proper attire. Not like those games that millennials waste their money on.

Masculinity. This was done without question, which represented his sunbaked complexion from working out and bonding with other men in the field.

It was also without question that the ridiculous ponytail began slowly retracting upwards, with sides shaved like a real man always would, especially in sports. Combing sideways with neat dabbing of gel, as the hard crusty dusting of aftershave went all over his upper lip and strong jaw.

He was nice, but pretty jock-centred in his beliefs. Both in his faith and how a man oughta behave. Big strong and masculine, the provider of the household, man and woman.

Man and woman...?

“Will see ya and the family on church this Sunday!”

“See ya!”

His mouth instinctively responded on autopilot, as his goofy grin waved goodbye to his long time friend, colleague, and church mate. His eyes blinked momentarily in light shock, making way to the bathrooms, and quickly closing behind one of the stalls.

LOCK!

“What...what in tarnation is happening to me? Haha?”

The stresses melted away into a grin, he always had a good natured stress-free persona, even when that gay intern confessed to him when he wasn’t into such things...wait no....

He felt compelled to...what? He barely knew the intern, plus he was more into ladies...in fact, he was sure his buddy Craig mentioned something about a family right? The air conditioning neutralising his heat emitting, he quickly fished for his-

“So warm...so fatherly...”

The middle aged man tugged his breeding tool beneath his pants, letting out soft groans like he was young. Ah the younger days, so simple, when men just liked women...when men just liked women!

Blushing to himself, as he tugged ferociously, letting out loud gasps as he felt his behind tightening with a SPANK. Disciplining away any penetration like his father would if he did not excel in his studies, swelling up to a sweet bubble butt reserved for...his love one.

He was raised in a traditional household after all, strong honour and an expertise in Mandarin Chinese. Which was why he landed his position in the first place.

But of course, he thanked God for everything after coming to know him in his college days. Strictness mixed with Kindness, Honour mixed with a loving father, Mr Benedgadict Kan understood who he was, as the firm but gentle brushes against his package were too much to bear.

“Forgive me...C...C....Cindy!”

He was a faithful man wasn’t he? It feels strange to even think about such ‘millennial’ thoughts! Haha, never understood them. Thankfully his wife Cindy and him raised their children well in the lord! Speaking of her...oh man!

“Cindy...you’re so beautiful!”

Gone were the dates of a gay man, replacing by a marriage lasting over two decades. Time well spent with her, His heart pumped in love with HER! Manhood rose in length and girth at the thought of her luscious hair, and soft lips that just made the man outta him.

Man and woman

THRUST!

She is your wife, and you are her husband.

THRUST!

You are a father.

“Ooooaaaah!”

The forty eight year old asian man gave a huge holler as he let out the remains of his homosexuality in an innocent bliss, slumping back as his eyelids closed without hesitation.

Stains looped around his left ring finger as a good man stays devoted to his wife. His member remained sturdy, hard and manly, but at rest. A golden necklace materialised, symbolising the gift she got him on their anniversary.

His married hand gave a good firm pat on his pouch, instinctively putting back his tool into hiding and zipping his pants up.

Almost as if Benedict Kang never tugged his manhood by himself, only engaging in it when multiplying with his wife. He was a good faithful man after all, his new genetics beamed to reflect that as he slowly opened his beady eyes.

“Oh lordee...Where am I?”

Managing Director Kang was your all around nice boss...dad guy. Ruffling his gelled hair, he laughed as he remembered praying and thanking the lord for his successes in his company and in his life.

Prayer time was always priority. He got results done, and had more than enough time to spend time with his family as well as watch the game. It had cut close sometimes, nearly missing a business proposal due to his son’s football game in school, but he always made it in the Bened-Nick of time.

Speaking of which...

“Oh shucks! What time is it?”

He quickly fished himself up from his mediation pronto, unlocking the door and strolling down towards the door entrance of the conference meeting, he quickly glanced at his ‘IanAs’ watch.

“Just in time! The Conference meeting was about to start!”

Mr Benedict Kang flashed his most genuine grin, stress melting away from the atmosphere as his wholesome presence was made known as he jovially walked in.

“Amen to that!”

[rvnclwrites]

Romania 1999 Pt 4 (Charlie Weasley x Female MC)

Summary: AU where MC is an American who attended the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry instead of Hogwarts. Set eight years post graduation (1999) when she finally gets the nerve to travel abroad and follow her dream to be a Dragonologist in Romania. Check out my master list for parts 1-3.  

Notes: Despite the word count, this one feels a little rushed to me and I can’t stop editing it, so I’m posting it before I lose my mind. Hope you guys like it!

Word Count: ~8000 (Yes, again. Sorry 😅)

"Hey, you ready to go?" Charlie asked, pushing open the screen door.

(Y/N)'s heart gave a painful squeeze as the redhead stepped inside. He was wearing khaki trousers and another crimson jumper, but instead of a dragon, this one featured a bright golden "C" in the middle.

"Woah," Charlie said, his brown eyes moving around the room. "I didn't know you liked Christmas so much."

(Y/N) turned away to hide her embarrassment. She had reorganized and used the colour changing charm on the scarce objects around her house this morning to give herself something to do. "I was bored and thought I should make this place a little more festive." She sat on the edge of the mattress to put her shoes on while Charlie stepped toward the dining table, picking up the snow globe Rowan had given her last year. 

"Any reason you decided to do this right before we're about to leave?" he asked, giving the Christmas decoration a little shake.

"Not really."

He set the snow globe back down and considered her for a long moment before a small smile crept across his face. "You're nervous, aren't you?"

"What? No, I'm fine," she insisted, but as she followed his gaze down to her boots, she realized she was trying to tug the left boot onto her right foot. Swapping shoes, she said, "Okay, maybe I'm a little nervous."

Charlie laughed. "There's really no reason for you to be."

"Easy for you to say." (Y/N) couldn't decide what intimidated her the most- trying to impress Mrs. Weasley, meeting Harry Potter, or just the sheer number of Charlie's siblings. She felt queasy just thinking about it. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Maybe I should just stay here."

Charlie snatched her bag from the floor before turning back to her. "I can pick you up too if I have to."

(Y/N) was certain her face was now as red as his sweater, and she hated herself for the perverted direction her mind went. She shoved Charlie on the shoulder before pulling on her coat and taking her bag from him. "Fine. Let's go."

Since nearly all forms of transportation inside the Sanctuary were banned for danger and security purposes, (Y/N) wasn't exactly sure how they were going to get to Weasley's until they stopped right outside the Sanctuary gates.

"Felix managed to get us a Portkey," Charlie said, indicating the battered oil lamp peeking out of the snow near the Sanctuary wall.

(Y/N)'s stomach did a backflip. "Oh."

"Everything okay?"

She nodded. "It's just- so soon. We touch that thing and boom, we're there. Guess I was expecting a train ride or something."

Amusement flickered across the redhead's face as they stopped in front of the lamp. "You've faced dragons head on for nearly six months now, but it's my family that scares you?"

"It's not your family," (Y/N) clarified, "it's all families. It's just… it's been awhile since I've done the whole holiday thing."

Charlie's expression softened and he hesitated a moment before grabbing her gloved hand and giving her palm a quick, reassuring squeeze. "This will just take us right outside the Burrow. We don't have to go inside right away."

She let out a breath, distracted by the tingling sensation in her hand. Thank God they were both wearing gloves- she didn't think she could handle any skin to skin contact from him at the moment. "Okay." 

On the count of three, they each grasped one of the lamp's handles, distorting reality and sending (Y/N)'s world spiraling. Portkey transportation was uncomfortable, but no worse than Apparition to (Y/N). She felt the familiar tug near her lower abdomen and within a minute was landing firmly on unfamiliar ground. Flying skills were definitely an advantage when it came to Portkeys because she hardly ever felt sick after using one. 

(Y/N) adjusted her messenger bag strap while Charlie pushed his hair from his face. For a moment, she wondered if they had ended up in the wrong place because all she saw was a field of snow-covered grass until she turned. 

A staggeringly tall, slightly leaning house stood in front of them. It looked as if each room had been added on as an afterthought, carefully building upward as the family grew larger. There was a detached garage out front, along with a snow-filled cauldron and what appeared to be a chicken coop.

"Wow," (Y/N) breathed. She was used to the city life and quaint suburbs in the States with nosy neighbors and houses smushed together. She didn't know anyone who lived out in the country.

Charlie rubbed the back of his neck. "I know it's a bit odd, but I promise it won't topple down while we're in there."

"Like I'd ever doubt any Weasley's ability when it came to magic," she said, nudging his shoulder with her elbow.

Charlie smiled at that. "You ready?"

(Y/N) swallowed, gripping the strap of her bag for something to hold onto as they drew nearer to the Burrow. "What if they don't like me?"

"Why wouldn't they like you?"

(Y/N) scoffed. "I don't know, it took you nearly three months to be my friend. Does stubbornness run in the family?"

Charlie laughed, shaking his head. "Trust me, if I were you, I'd be more worried about whether or not my mum will ever let you leave."

That made the knot in (Y/N)'s belly untangle the slightest bit. "Okay." She wanted to ask what Molly said once Charlie told her he was bringing company, but then a scary thought struck her. He had told them she was coming, right?

Before she could double check, Charlie's knuckles were rapping against the door and he was pushing it open. "Mum?" he called, holding the door open for (Y/N).

Gripping her bag for dear life, (Y/N) crossed the threshold into what must be the Weasley's kitchen, and a plump woman with an all-too-familiar head of red hair came bustling in.

"Oh, Charlie!" she cooed, arms outstretched as Charlie stooped forward to hug her. "How have you been, dear?" She patted her son's arm, looking up at him with clear motherly affection before her eyes landed on (Y/N).

(Y/N)'s heart dropped into her stomach as nerves overtook her. She tried her best to force a smile, now suddenly panicking on whether a wave, handshake, or hug was appropriate.

"Merlin's beard," Mrs. Weasley said, her eyes twinkling. "You sure are prettier than Hank or Scott."

"Mum, this is my friend (Y/N)," Charlie introduced, causing happiness to pool in (Y/N)'s stomach. Even though the redhead had confirmed their friendship months ago, she still loved hearing it. "The one from America I told you about that works at the Sanctuary with me."

"It's so nice to meet you," Mrs. Weasley said, enveloping (Y/N) in one of the best hugs she had ever received. Unexpected emotion tickled the back of her throat at the gesture. It had been years since one of her own parents had hugged her like that. 

Feeling vulnerable, (Y/N) forced thoughts of her family away. "Thank you so much for having me. I hope I'm not intruding."

"Oh nonsense," Mrs. Weasley assured, placing both hands on (Y/N)'s arms and squeezing. (Y/N) wished she could read minds because the look in Molly's eyes made her feel like there was something she was missing, like an inside joke or secret she wasn't party to. "In our house, the more the merrier. It's about time Charlie brought something other than just presents for the holidays. I've been pestering him to bring the team for years."

(Y/N) thoughts wandered back to the unanswered question she had mulled over endlessly at the Sanctuary. Did that mean Charlie invited them every year and they just said no?

"Hank and Scott keep pretty busy, even during the holidays," Charlie said, not answering (Y/N)'s thoughts in the slightest.

Wanting to get out of her own head, (Y/N) added, "Someone's gotta hold the fort down while the expert is out."

The corner of Charlie's mouth turned up. "Oh please. I took you hostage to make sure they didn't replace me while I was gone."

A swell of pride filled (Y/N) up like a balloon. Did he really think she was anywhere near as good of a Dragonologist as he was? 

As she tried to think of a witty response, (Y/N) caught sight of Mrs. Weasley, who looked between the two of them with the brightest smile on her face. Oh God. Mrs. Weasley didn't think… No, definitely not. Charlie had just introduced her as his friend. (Y/N) was overthinking things again. She was probably just thrilled to see her son after all this time.

"Arthur is still stuck at work," Mrs. Weasley said, moving to fuss over a pot on the burner, "but he said he would try to get off early today."

(Y/N) turned to Charlie, suddenly feeling rude for not asking sooner. "Where does he work?"

"The Ministry of Magic," Charlie answered, leaning back against the kitchen cabinets.

(Y/N) stiffened, feeling as though a bucket of ice water had been dropped over her. "Oh." She tried her best to sound casual, but her heart began pounding in her chest. "What does he do?"

"Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. The Ministry keeps offering him promotions, but he always turns them down."

Mrs. Weasley laughed, shaking her head. "No amount of galleons or authority can persuade that man to give up his fascination with muggles. Do you have any muggle relatives, dear?"

(Y/N) tried to relax, feeling oddly comforted by the loving look in Molly's eyes. She could handle this. (Y/N)'s problems had zero ties to no-majs, she should be fine. "Yeah, my grandpa was a no-ma-" She stopped herself before the American term left her lips. "I mean muggle." 

"Oh, Arthur will be so excited to hear about him. Can I get either of you something to eat?" 

Charlie looked to (Y/N) and she shook her head. Her latest panic washed away any indication of hunger.

"No, I think I'll show (Y/N) around the Burrow. Is anyone else here yet?"

"Ginny, Harry, George and Angelina are up in the orchard playing Quidditch, of course. Bill and Fleur should be here shortly, and Percy and Audrey will be joining us in a few days."

Charlie nodded. "What about Ron and Hermione?"

"They're visiting the Granger family this year, but they send their love."

(Y/N) exhaled, feeling a weight lift from her shoulders. At least now she would only make a fool of herself in front of Harry rather than the entire infamous trio.

Nodding his head toward the doorframe, Charlie said, "Come on, I'll show you around."

The passageway they went through lead to a staircase and as they began climbing, Mrs. Weasley called up, "Audrey's staying with Ginny and Percy is sharing George's room, so you two will have to share Bill's room."

(Y/N) knew her eyes had to look like big fried eggs as Charlie laughed.

"Calm down," he said, gesturing inside the first open door to their left, and (Y/N) spotted the two twin beds on opposite ends of the room. "If it still makes you uncomfortable though, I can take the couch."

"Oh no, it's okay." She tried ignoring the pitter patter of her heart at the thought of going to bed later. "Which one is yours?"

Charlie pointed to the one on the right, and she resisted the urge to claim that one as her own for the week. She set her bag down on Bill's bed and looked around the sparse room. "Did you and Bill always share a room?"

"No, Ginny's room used to be mine," he answered, setting his brown leather bag on the dresser in the middle of the room. "Cons of being the second oldest I guess."

(Y/N) bit her lip. She was about to ask why Mrs. Weasley was letting them stay in the same room when all other unmarried guests were separated, but the answer seemed obvious enough. They were just friends, and Molly was probably aware of her son's disinterest in dating. If anyone could be trusted alone in a room with a woman, it would be Charlie.

"So, are you going to give me the grand tour?"

Charlie smiled at her, an unfamiliar expression reflecting in his brown eyes. "I'd love to."

He showed her the remaining bedrooms, adding tidbits about each of his siblings along the way. (Y/N) could tell he was closest with Bill because of their age, so she was most excited to meet him.

They eventually made their way outside, walking up a hill behind the house until they reached a small paddock surrounded by trees and hedges. As (Y/N) glimpsed the four figures on broomsticks, it dawned on her that this must be the orchard. She stopped in her tracks, her legs feeling heavier than lead, and Charlie chuckled. 

"You gonna be okay? I thought you might want us to join them since you're so sure you'll beat me."

(Y/N) knew what he was doing. Charlie's playfulness always helped her relax and she was grateful he knew it. Before they continued on, however, one of the figures dismounted their broom and came barreling toward them.

"Charlie!" a stunning slender woman with long red curls squealed just before colliding into the dragon lover. 

"Oof." Charlie stumbled back a bit before returning the bear hug. "Hey. You're kicking their asses, right?"

"Obviously. There's no real competition until you come home- but don't tell Harry I said that." The woman did a double take as she registered (Y/N)'s presence, and (Y/N) felt a chill travel down her neck. The woman's hair may have been a deeper shade of red, but her brown eyes were identical to Charlie's. 

"Who's this?" Ginny asked, a smile growing on her pale face. The subtle suggestiveness in her voice reminded (Y/N) of Hank's once he found out (Y/N) was going to the Burrow.

"Hi, I'm (Y/N)." She waved slightly before nervously rubbing her gloved hands together. "I work at the Dragon Sanctuary with Charlie."

Ginny studied her with deep interest. "Wait, are you American?"

(Y/N) laughed a little, forgetting how out of place her voice must sound compared to their enviable British accents. "Yeah. Actually, that's kind of why I'm here. Charlie invited me since I couldn't go home for the holidays."

Ginny nodded slowly, glancing back to Charlie. "How kind of you." 

"So, do you have room for two more?" Charlie asked, making (Y/N)'s heart flutter nervously.

Ginny's eyes lit up as she turned back to (Y/N). "You play?" 

It was probably a good thing Ginny looked as though her happiness replied on (Y/N) saying yes- it prevented her from trying to weasel her way out of it. "Yep."

"Brilliant! What position? Please don't say Seeker, we already have enough of those."

(Y/N) laughed. "No, I prefer Beater." 

Ginny looked to Charlie with a unique expression in her eyes and for the second time, (Y/N) felt like she was missing out on something. "That's perfect. We can play girls against guys. Harry can be Chaser for a change."

Charlie chuckled at the look of dismay on (Y/N)'s face. "You may want to introduce (Y/N) first, or we might risk her fainting off her broom."

Mortified, (Y/N) smacked the dragon lover on the shoulder. "Shut up."

Ginny howled with laughter, taking (Y/N) by the arm and leading her towards the paddock. "Hey it's okay, he still gets it all the time. You should have seen me the first couple times I met him. If that hadn't scared him away, nothing will."

Ginny had been right of course. Harry, George and Angelina were all incredibly nice to her. Charlie had already told (Y/N) about how George lost his ear, so she was sure to make a witty remark about it, securing an instant friendship with the joke shop owner. 

As for Harry, she managed to not make a total imbecile of herself and was even a little less starstruck by the end of their match. She did, however, still get a shiver down her spine whenever she caught a glimpse of that lighting bolt scar on his forehead.

"You're a natural," Ginny said as they dismounted from their brooms. Just as Charlie was about to catch the Snitch, (Y/N) had sent a Bludger his way, allowing Ginny to sneak in and snag the fluttering golden ball. "I can't believe you didn't go pro."

A sore spot inside (Y/N) flexed. That was the one wizarding career she had no chance of ever perusing. "I was offered but don't really like the spotlight," she said, which was as close to the truth as she could manage.

They sat on a nearby bench together as Charlie and Harry wrestled the Bludgers back into the box. George had managed to slip away with Angelina beforehand, claiming his disability prevented him from helping, which (Y/N) found hilarious. She really liked George, and her heart ached whenever she considered the pain he was in. And most of all, she wished she could have met Fred.

"So, are you and Charlie together?" Ginny asked as casually as one would inquire about the weather.

(Y/N)'s stomach flopped, and she was thankful her face was already flushed from the cold air. "Uh no," she answered quickly, shaking her head. "We're just friends."

Ginny considered this for a moment, staring down at the powdery snow beneath their boots. "Well I'm really glad he brought you. He needs someone who can give him a run for his galleons." She smiled, but it fell away quickly, and when she spoke again, her voice was more fragile than (Y/N) anticipated. "And we've been down a Beater ever since we lost Fred. Did Charlie tell you about him?"

Frowning, (Y/N) nodded. "Yeah."

"Wow, you two must be close. He hardly ever talks about it."

"Well it wasn't easy." (Y/N) attempted a laugh, but it faded just like Ginny's smile had. She hesitated a moment and cleared her throat. "But um... I actually lost my brother too."

"Oh," Ginny said, her lips parting in surprise. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," (Y/N) reassured. "It was a long time ago. But I think that helped him open up to me." 

Ginny glanced at Charlie and Harry in the distance, a wistful smile now on her face. "I'm glad he has someone to talk to about it." She bit her lip before adding quietly, "I think he fancies you."

Unwelcomed butterflies swarmed in (Y/N)'s stomach, and she prayed she didn't sound as flustered as she felt. "What? Why would you say that?"

"Well he brought you here for one," Ginny answered, looking at (Y/N) like she was missing something obvious.

(Y/N) gripped the ends of her coat sleeves so she wouldn't fidget. "He was just being nice. None of my friends could come visit me and I'm not really close with my family."

Ginny hesitated for a moment. "You do know he's never brought anyone here before, right?"

(Y/N) figured he had never brought a woman here before, but she wasn't a girlfriend, just part of the team who happened to be a girl. "Well Hank or Scott have come here, haven't they?"

Ginny shook her head slowly. "Nope."

(Y/N) tried to keep her breathing steady. "Well maybe he's invited them and they've just always said no. The Sanctuary is hardly ever not busy."

"I don't think so," Ginny said with a cute giggle.

"Oh." (Y/N) wasn't sure what response she had anticipated to hear from her long awaited question, but that answer caused a weird tingling sensation to spread throughout her body. "I, uh, didn't know that."

"I hope that doesn't freak you out or anything," Ginny added quickly. "And it's perfectly fine if you two are just friends. I just-" She broke off, staring admiringly at her older brother. "I know it may seem like he only cares about dragons, but once he cares about someone, he never stops." Her attention found its way back to (Y/N) and she looked uneasy. "Just- if you don't feel that way about him, can you please careful? I know my brothers always feel the need to protect me, but I don't like seeing them get hurt either."

(Y/N) had to pinch her thigh to force away the emotion bubbling up inside her. Charlie was so lucky to have a family like this. She smiled reassuringly at Ginny and said, "I promise I would never do anything to hurt him. He's honestly one of the best friends I've ever had."

Ginny's brown eyes sparkled as a big, cheeky smile grew on her face, and (Y/N) suddenly had a terrible feeling that her confession may have had a little too much honest emotion behind it. But before she could add anything else, Harry and Charlie made their way over to the bench.

"Uh oh," Charlie said, looking between (Y/N) and Ginny. "Do I even want to know what you guys were talking about?"

Ginny hopped up and took Harry's hand, happiness still radiating off of her. "Just how bad you two are at Quidditch. C'mon, Harry, let's go see what my mum's cooking." She flashed (Y/N) another grin before tugging Harry back down the hill to the Burrow.

Charlie filled Ginny's spot on the bench, looking at (Y/N) with a mixture of amusement and hesitation. "Should I even ask?"

(Y/N) chuckled and shook her head.

"But she was nice to you, right?"

For a second, (Y/N) thought Charlie was teasing her in spite of her earlier comment, but he looked surprisingly serious. "Of course. Your sister's really sweet."

"Well then she took to you a lot better than Fleur," he admitted. "I didn't want to freak you out, but her and my mom were pretty hard on her at first."

"She's just protective of you guys, that's all," (Y/N) said, trying to ignore the stirring in her chest at the comparison. To Bill's wife. She forced a smile to move on from that detail. "And it probably helped that we got to bond over Quidditch. She was glad you finally have a friend who can kick your ass."

Charlie laughed, shaking his head. "Hank and Scott are never gonna let me hear the end of it."

(Y/N) tried to think of a response, but her heart ached as she watched Charlie's profile- his laugh, that smile. She thought back to what Ginny had said, and a chill raced down her spine. You do know he's never brought anyone here before, right?

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Charlie asked.

(Y/N) instantly looked away, pursing her lips together in an attempt to hide her pathetic smile. "I was just thinking about something Ginny told me."

"Merlin's beard. Let me guess, she told you the Apparition test story? They love telling that one."

(Y/N)'s eyebrows raised in interest. "No, she actually didn't, but you bet your ass I'm not letting you drop it now."

Charlie groaned, rubbing his face with his gloved hand. "Oh well, George would've told you eventually anyway. I failed my first attempt because I ended up five miles away from where I was supposed to."

That didn't sound embarrassing- several adult wizards rarely used Apparition because of the risks, and retaking the test was hardly uncommon. "Where did you land?" 

"On top of an older woman shopping."

(Y/N)'s jaw dropped and she leaned against the redhead, laughter pouring out of her. "Oh my God, are you serious?"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Charlie said, digging his elbow into her side. "Fair is fair. Now you have to tell me what other embarrassing secret she spilled."

"It wasn't embarrassing," (Y/N) reassured him once her hysterics subsided. She fiddled with the end of her scarf, choosing her words carefully. "She just- well she told me that I'm the only one you've ever brought here, and I guess I was wondering what made me so special." 

(Y/N) waited for Charlie to say one of the obvious answers she had managed to come up within the last five minutes. Perhaps it was the age difference- it would make a lot more sense to bring a friend his own age rather than two forty year old coworkers. Or maybe he was too shy to ask Hank and Scott and knew that (Y/N) was less likely to say no. Or maybe Charlie just felt sorry for her and didn't want her to be a lonely loser on the holidays. 

Instead, Charlie laughed and said, "Don't friends invite other friends over for holidays?"

(Y/N) smiled at that. She didn't think she would ever get tired of hearing Charlie call her his friend. "But Hank and Scott are your friends, and you've known them longer."

The redhead drummed his fingers against his knee, considering. "You're probably going to think I'm a nutter." 

"Try me," (Y/N) encouraged, relishing the way the British phrase rolled off his tongue. She tried to think of what reason he could possibly have that he would be embarrassed by. Maybe he was tired of being the only sibling without a significant other and they teased him over it.

Charlie sighed. "I wasn't lying when I told you Christmas at the Sanctuary is a little depressing, and I was worried that if you stayed back, you might get homesick. And then maybe-" He paused for a moment, looking back down at his hands. "Maybe you'd want to go back to America."

(Y/N) held in a breath, recalling Charlie's expression after he found out about her notorious career hopping. She had already spent six months at the Sanctuary, and he was worried she was going to leave. Her heart felt like it was going to burst.

"And now you think I'm insane, don't you?" 

She shook her head, hoping he didn't see the emotion shining in her eyes. She had never had a coworker care about her like that and it affected her more than she anticipated. "Quite the opposite actually," she said once she managed to find her voice again. "That's one of the sweetest things that anyone has ever done for me. But you don't have to worry about that, okay? I'd never just up and leave." It was risky for (Y/N) to make promises like that, but she would do whatever it took to stay true to her word. Charlie deserved that.

"Good to know," Charlie said, and the expression in his eyes made (Y/N)'s stomach do about a million back flips. "I also invited you to come because of your Christmas present." 

(Y/N) blinked, certain she misheard him. "What?"

He stood and rubbed a hand over his jaw in an attempt to conceal his grin. "We should head back to the house. Bill and Fleur are probably here by now."

"Charles Weasley," (Y/N) began threateningly, pushing off the bench, but he started down the hill, pretending not to hear her as she tried to catch up with his long strides. "We agreed no presents!"

He turned around, continuing to walk backwards while holding his palms up in a shrug as if to say, Oops.

He was so dead.

(Y/N) unfortunately didn't catch up to Charlie until they reached the back door, which he so kindly didn't hesitate to open. She wouldn't have minded so much if it was a small present, but he would have been able to give her that anytime. What on earth would she need to be here for him to give her?

A pair of unfamiliar voices broke (Y/N) from her thoughts, and she tried her best to remain expressionless as they entered the living room. Like George's ear, Charlie had told (Y/N) about the werewolf attack, so she had prepared herself for the worst. But as she glimpsed the healed slashes across Bill's pale face, (Y/N) decided it wasn't that the scars themselves were that bad- (Y/N) had seen wizards in America completely disfigured after encounters with dangerous magical creatures. What was more startling was the stark contrast as the eldest Weasley brother stood side by side with his breathtaking wife. It was like looking at a portrait- tragedy and hope. Love and war. It was a lot to take in.

"Hey, how's Egypt been?" Charlie asked, relieving (Y/N) of her initial surprise as the brothers slapped each other on the back in a hug. Charlie looked so happy to see his older brother, it reminded (Y/N) of how she looked up to Jacob when they were kids.

"Busy. Discovered three cursed tombs just this past week," Bill said, sliding his hands into his pockets. He was taller and more lean than Charlie with his matching red hair pulled back into a low ponytail. "I managed to break the first two though. I said they could handle the third."

(Y/N)'s heart thudded painfully inside her chest even though Charlie had already mentioned Bill was a Curse-Breaker. She didn't think she would ever be at ease when it came to that career.

"He'z a natural. Works zo very 'ard," the blonde woman said proudly, stepping forward to hug her brother-in-law. "How are ze dragons?"

(Y/N) had to purse her lips together to prevent a fit of laughter from escaping as Fleur placed a kiss on each of Charlie's cheeks. Even though Fleur was one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen, (Y/N) felt no jealousy. It was hard to when Charlie looked more uncomfortable than Hank did when on a broom.

"I don't see any new scars," Bill added with a quick up and down glance at Charlie. "So I'll take that as a good sign?"

Charlie laughed and started to say something, but Fleur interrupted as her eyes met (Y/N)'s. 

"Oh- where are my manners. Who'z zis?" Her eyes were twinkling the same way Mrs. Weasley's had as she approached (Y/N).

"Oh, it's okay," (Y/N) reassured, feeling her cheeks glow from the sudden attention. "I'm (Y/N). I, uh, work at the Sanctuary with Charlie."

A mixture of wonder and curiosity reflected in Fleur's ocean blue eyes. "Are you American?"

(Y/N) answered with a nod and a shy smile. Even she felt intimidated by Fleur's beauty.

"Wow, you've come a long way for ze dragons," Fleur said, and to (Y/N)'s surprise, she repeated the kissing gesture on (Y/N)'s cheeks. "I'm Fleur, Bill's wife. I would love to 'ear all about where it iz you came from. I've never been to ze States before."

"Of course." (Y/N)’s stomach gave a nervous tug as her gaze shifted to Bill, who was staring intently at her- the kind of stare that made a person worry if they had something on their face.

"Hi there, I'm Bill," he said, taking a step forward to shake (Y/N)'s hand. "Charlie's told me an awful lot about you."

(Y/N) hoped the skip in her heartbeat wasn't reflected on her face. She knew Charlie hadn't seen Bill since last Christmas, so any mention of her would have had to have been in letters. Did Charlie really write about her? "Oh really?" she asked coolly, and it was now Charlie's turn to squirm under the scrutiny. "All good things, I hope."

"Definitely. Even beat him on a broom I heard. About time someone knocked him off his high horse." He elbowed Charlie in the shoulder, but the younger Weasley did not look amused.

Instead of commenting, Charlie nodded toward the kitchen. "Well I think mum's almost done with dinner. You guys ready to eat?"

-

The next two days at the Burrow flew by and soon enough it was Christmas Eve. The family hung out around the house for most of the day, continuing to swap stories and play wizarding games together. 

(Y/N) told Fleur as much about the U.S. as she could and frequently bonded with Ginny over Quidditch. She talked to George about the clever pranks she used to pull on her brother and even managed to bond with Bill a little bit over her limited experience breaking curses. Arthur went crazy for stories about her grandpa, and she showed Molly a unique knitting pattern her mom used to use. It was such a good day in fact, it started to take a toll on (Y/N). By nightfall, she realized she had never had so much fun around the holidays before and that knowledge left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Hey," Charlie said, leaning against the door frame that lead upstairs as (Y/N) emptied her tea mug into the sink. "George wants to know if you're up for a game of wizard's chess since he and Angelina will be leaving tomorrow."

"Actually, I'm pretty beat and was going to go to bed soon," she admitted, turning off the tap and leaning back against the counter. The early morning routine at the Sanctuary usually left her yawning at ten o'clock, so she was impressed she had managed to stay awake this long. "But tell him rain check for me?"

The smile that spread across Charlie's face made (Y/N) realize a rain check implied she anticipated seeing his siblings again at some point. She hoped that wasn't too forward. "Sure thing."

Because of the dim lighting, it took her a moment to register the decoration hanging above Charlie’s head, and as she glimpsed the small bouquet of green pinned to the door frame, she couldn't restrain a giggle.

"What?" Charlie asked, his eyes following hers above his head.

Seeing the immediate discomfort that overtook Charlie as he spotted the mistletoe, (Y/N) decided to offer him a bone. "Want me to go get Fleur? It's bad luck to break tradition." 

Charlie let out a muffled groaned, rubbing his face with his palm. "Sorry I forgot to warn you about that. It's a French thing I guess."

"Oh, it's fine. Some people in America do it too, but it's usually just one cheek." She grimaced as she recalled the way her mom's friends used to pinch her cheeks and fuss over her when she was little. "Your face was priceless though. It looked like a frog was kissing you, not a stunning part Veela woman."

Charlie shrugged. "I guess I just see her as Bill's wife, so it's weird to me." 

"That makes sense," (Y/N) said, despite the sinking feeling in her gut. First Sydney and now Fleur. Had any woman ever caught Charlie's eye before? 

She nearly mustered the courage to ask about his former girlfriend from Hogwarts, but the clock chiming on the wall distracted her. "Merry Christmas," she said, seeing that both clock hands were pointing straight up.

An alarmingly smug smile grew on the redhead's face. "You mean Happy Christmas?" 

(Y/N) shook her head in disbelief, fighting back a laugh. Even on Christmas and away from the rest of the team he still loved to push her buttons. Well two could play that game.

Pushing off the kitchen counter, she walked toward him, wanting nothing more than to wipe that grin off his face. Instead of passing him, she gently placed a hand on his shoulder, gratified as the playfulness slowly faded from his face. "Happy Christmas, Charlie," she corrected quietly and, without questioning it, eased onto her tiptoes, placing a friendly kiss on his freckled cheek. If the French could uphold traditions, Americans could too. 

Charlie blinked at her, his brown eyes wide and a subtle hue of pink spreading beneath those freckles (Y/N) loved so much. "Goodnight," he replied, but it came out weak and breathy.

"'Night, dragon boy.” She patted his shoulder once before continuing past him to the stairs.

Happy Christmas indeed.

-

(Y/N) couldn’t believe how fast the rest of their vacation flew by. Christmas was a blur for (Y/N) with all the heartwarming presents and affection. The thing about the Weasley’s was it was never about the amount or the cost. It was solely about giving meaningful gifts and everyone was always grateful. 

The only thing that confused (Y/N) was Charlie hadn’t given her a present and whenever she questioned him about it, he refused to answer.

“Why won’t you tell me?” she complained as they packed to leave the following morning. “It’s driving me nuts.”

But Charlie just merely smiled to himself and kept on packing before they made their way downstairs to say goodbye.

“Are you sure you can’t stay another few days?” Mrs. Weasley asked as she held on tightly to her son.

“Sorry, mum. I promised Felix we’d drop off some dragonhide gloves to Hagrid today or we would.”

That was the first time Charlie had mentioned a name associated with wherever the hell they were going, but before (Y/N) could ask who Hagrid was, Molly pulled her into an equally tight embrace. “Promise me you’ll come back to visit again, dear? It was so lovely having you.”

(Y/N) hugged her back, for once welcoming the unfamiliar motherly affection. “Definitely. This was seriously the best Christmas I’ve ever had. I can’t thank your family enough.”

Mrs. Weasley hugged Charlie one last time and just as (Y/N) was about to head out the kitchen door, Charlie tapped her shoulder and pointed to the living room.

“We're traveling by Floo Powder this time,” Charlie explained, leading her to the grand fireplace in the Weasley’s sitting room. He scooped a handful of powder from the vase on the mantelpiece, splitting the amount between himself and (Y/N).

(Y/N) gripped the powder in her hand nervously. She had traveled by Floo Powder before but had no idea where he was taking her. “Where exactly are we going?”

“You really wanna know?” Charlie asked as he stepped into the fireplace. When (Y/N) nodded, he smiled and closed his eyes. “Hogwarts.” He dropped the powder and was instantly engulfed in wild green flames before vanishing. 

(Y/N)’s mouth dropped open. What? They were going to... Hogwarts? 

-

(Y/N) coughed and sputtered as she landed on her feet, fanning away the smoke residue in the air. 

“I’m going to kill you,” (Y/N) said between coughs, stepping out of the fireplace and dusting off her clothes. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me sooner.”

She was surprised to not only hear Charlie’s familiar chuckle, but a deep gravelly one too. The redhead came into view first as (Y/N) blinked open her eyes, but she nearly gasped as she processed the unmissable person next to him. Huge didn’t begin to describe the man who was more than double Charlie’s height and at least three times as wide. Thick, long brown hair covered both his head and chin, and his cheeks were flushed pink.

“Oh hi,” she squeaked, mildly embarrassed.

“(Y/N), this is Hagrid,” Charlie introduced, gesturing to the giant man. “He's the Care of Magical Creatures Professor here at Hogwarts.”

“It’s so good teh meet yeh,” Hagrid said, and his jovial expression instantly put (Y/N) at ease. 

She smiled back at him. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

"Charlie tol' me yeh werk at the Sanctuary with him. Do yeh like dragons as much as he does?"

(Y/N) laughed. "I'm not sure anyone can like dragons as much as Charlie does."

Hagrid chortled, nudging Charlie's shoulder. "Yeah, he hasn't changed one bit. I've known him since his first year here at Hogwarts. Did'e tell yeh he tried to buy a dragon egg when he was just a wee fourth year?"

Before (Y/N) could shake her head, Charlie interrupted.

"I think she's heard enough embarrassing stories from George and Ginny this past week.”

(Y/N) wanted to say speak for yourself, but Hagrid conceded.

“Okey, okey," he said with a snort, holding up his massive hands in defense before turning back to (Y/N). "I hear yeh’re a natural with Norbeta. Isn't she a beaut?”

“Oh, you know her?” (Y/N) asked, surprised.

Hagrid looked at Charlie, shaking his head in disbelief. “Yeh jus’ spent how many days with Harry and yeh haven’t told her the story yet? C’mon, I’ll tell yeh all about it on the way back to my hut.”

(Y/N) followed Charlie and Hagrid through the castle, trying hard to not ogle every new corridor or room that came into sight. She couldn’t believe her ears when Hagrid told her how the Sanctuary acquired Norberta, and (Y/N) felt a nostalgic tug at her chest. It had been nearly six months since that first day when she fed the Norwegian Ridgeback. Time really did fly when you were having fun.

It wasn’t until they reached Hagrid’s place that (Y/N) realized how far they walked. Since Hagrid had met them in the castle, she was confused why Charlie needed to bring the gloves all the way out here- Hagrid could have easily carried several boxes of them on his own.

“Here we are,” Hagrid said, propping open the door. “Yeh take as long as yeh need. Jus’ be sure teh come back for some tea before yeh leave, okey?”

Charlie smiled appreciatively at him. “Of course. Thanks, Hagrid.”

The door shut behind with a bang behind him and (Y/N) looked to Charlie for an explanation, now completely lost. “Take as long as we need for what?”

“Your Christmas present,” Charlie answered, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Her gaze flicked back and forth between Charlie and the castle. “But I thought Hogwarts was the present?”

“No, consider the castle a bonus.” He lead (Y/N) toward the forest off to the right and pointed to a trail in the distance. “The real present is in here.”

“Wait- is that-” She gaped at the dense, snow-covered forest ahead. “Holy shit, that’s the Forbidden Forest, isn’t it?”

Chuckling, Charlie said, “I’m starting to think you’re easily impressed.”

“Oh come on. Voldemort was in that Forest at one point. I know you grew up with it, but this is stuff I only got to read about in textbooks.” 

“Fair point. I guess it’s a good thing my mom never found out how much time I spent in here,” Charlie said, staring around at the tall trees as they continued walking. 

“Let me guess- looking for dragons?”

Charlie grinned. “Absolutely.”

“So, are you going to finally tell me what this is this all abo-” (Y/N) stopped dead in her tracks and lost the ability to speak as the answer to her question stared back at her. She blinked, gaping at the stormy grey Hippogriff standing less than twenty feet in front of her. Her gaze moved between the beautiful creature and the redhead, and she tried to form a sentence but had to squeeze her eyes shut as raw emotion knocked into her like a freight train.

“You still mad I got you a present?” Charlie asked.

She shook her head slowly, still unable to find the words.  She was so overwhelmed she was trembling- partially from missing such a stunning creature and partially from how unbelievably perfect Charlie was. “I- I can’t believe you did this for me.”

"You don’t even know the best part yet.”

(Y/N) blinked, unsure how this situation could get any better.

“This Hippogriff used to be Sirius Black’s after he escaped from Azkaban."

The remaining air left (Y/N)’s lungs, and she glanced up at Charlie, lips parted and throat dry.

“Harry helped Sirius escape on him in his third year, saving both Buckbeak and Sirius’ life.”

As (Y/N) looked back the Hippogriff, she could no longer stop the tears from spilling down her cheeks. She quickly turned away from Charlie, dabbing at her eyes with her sleeve and forcing out a laugh. “Dammit,” she hissed under her breath. “I’ve been burned and scratched by dragons for the last six months, but it’s a damn Hippogriff that makes me cry in front of you. Now who looks like a nutter.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it." Charlie's voice was low and soothing as he stepped closer to (Y/N). "I won’t tell the guys- as long as you promise they’re happy tears.”

(Y/N) laughed, nodding her head so fast it began to hurt. Without thinking, she flung her arms around Charlie, hugging him tightly around the waist. He was stiff at first but soon relaxed into the embrace, wrapping his arms around her back comfortingly. 

“You don’t know what this means to me,” she whispered against his chest. She stayed there for a moment, breathing in his honeysuckle and grass scent before pulling back slightly to look up at him. 

It was a big mistake because Charlie's body was too warm and his face was way too close. She could make out every last freckle on his smooth, pale skin and it took all of her willpower to not let her eyes drop to his mouth. Her whole body shivered and she held in breath as he smiled down at her, praying he couldn't feel how fast her heart was racing.

Boundaries.

She quickly let her hands fall away and stepped back, her body instantly feeling betrayed from the loss of his warmth and touch. “I just- how can I ever repay you for this?”

“By not telling Hank or Scott you beat me at Quidditch," he answered easily.

(Y/N) shook with laughter, her tears and sniffles now subsided. “Deal.” He always knew how to make her feel better.

The only problem was that as Charlie urged her toward the Hippogriff, encouraging her to ride him for a bit, (Y/N) realized she wasn’t just crushing on her best friend.

She was falling in love with him and had no idea how to stop it.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

The Art Of Remembrance (Part 31)

Sokka groans, she still hasn’t spoken to him since the night they’d looked at the lights. She isn’t being hostile, but Raava he’d almost prefer it to her cold shoulder. Frankly, he never thought that a firebender could be that cold, perhaps he hadn’t wrapped her in enough parkas after all.

He watches Azula emerge onto the deck and tries a little wave. She returns it with a degree of nonchalance.

Alright, he decides to himself, so maybe she isn’t giving him the cold shoulder but she has definitely been distant. They are two days into their boat ride and she hasn’t come to him with her sleep troubles at all.

The worst of it is that he isn’t entirely sure why. Had not answering her right away really been such an offense? “Can we talk?” He asks as she passes.

“No.” It is a single word and she slips away. Slinking across the deck as though he hadn’t spoken at all. He watches her find TyLee and reluctantly invite herself into whatever discussion the girl is having with Mai. He supposes that he is happy for her, she has managed to bring herself closer to the two of them again, even if she lacks some of the social graces.

“You two fighting again?” Katara asks.

“No!” He answers. “Yes? I don’t know. She’s just not talking to me. But she hasn’t lit my close on fire yet, so that’s a good sign, right?”

“Well what were you talking about before she stopped talking to you?” Katara inquires.

Sokka gulps. His face might be going a shade pink. He isn’t sure if he should tell her. How the hell is he supposed to break the news that he is falling for the person who’d persistently attacked them for the longest time.

“Well?”

“I uh...she asked me if I…”

“If you…” she encourages with a hand gesture.

“If I love her.”

Katara’s mouth falls agape. “And what did you say?” She sputters, her voice a hair higher than usual.

“Nothing.” He replies. “I didn’t say anything and then she stomped--sort of, she kind of tried to stomp but her feet kept getting stuck in the snow and so she had to just walk--back to our house.”

Katara sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, giving him the impression that he is absolutely clueless. “You can’t just say nothing when someone asks you if you love them!”

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

“Answer the question, Sokka.”

.oOo.

“Awww,” TyLee gushes and Azula has to turn away to hide the light shade of pink creeping over her cheeks. “And what did he say!?”

“He didn’t say anything, TyLee.” She crosses her arms.

“Hmmm…” She hums.

“What am I supposed to make of nothing?”

“That he doesn’t like you and you should find someone who isn’t a moron.” Mai shrugs.

“He’s not a moron. Unlike your boyfriend.” Azula grumbles.

Mai shrugs again, “all of the men on this boat are idiots.”

“I don’t know.” TyLee replies. “Maybe he didn’t reply because he’s still thinking about it. Or maybe he does love you! And he just got shy.”

“Why would he get shy?” Azula asks.

“Because you’re...you.” She replies. “You’re an intimidating person.”

And yet he has seen her bawling and shaking like a child or a cornered and wounded animal. He can’t imagine that, that is intimidating.

“And you’re pretty and smart and maybe he doesn’t think that he can match up!”

Her flattery is rather nice, but she takes it with a grain of salt. Granted, she has decided that TyLee is the prefect person to ask about this. At the very least, she is enthusiastic. Azula finds herself glad that she has chosen to try to mend things between the two of them. Though she wonders if it was a feat only made possible because there is such a large portion of her missing.

“I think that you should ask him again.” She smiles.

“And this time give him time to answer.” Mai adds in a monotone drawl.

.oOo.

She ought to do it, she ought to ask him again, or at least resume talking to him. Her mind is loud again, loud and full of dark visions as it takes her through moments she has already lived. She wants to wander in by Sokka again but she doesn’t want to leave him with the impression that she is using him. That she only speaks to him when she needs comfort. So her legs carry her back to Zuko’s cabin. As of late, when the phantom tingling in her arms worsen and the past replays itself in her nightmares, she finds herself pestering her brother. He lets her take the top bunk and talks to her until her words break off into a sleepy murmur. It isn’t the same as spending the night with Sokka but it is its own kind of reassuring. This time she doesn’t bother knocking. He is still awake and doesn’t question her as she climbs back onto the top bunk.

He gives her a few moments to settle in before asking, “what do you want to talk about tonight?”

Tonight has been ludicrously rough, her nightmares much more potent and she wants to attribute it to her hatred of the sea combined with how recently she’d relived her days in the compound. “Can you tell me about your scar?” She imagines that this is a topic that will have strength enough to keep her attention.

She hears him suck in a deep breath.

“Nevermind.” She mumbles.

“No. It’s fine, I’ll tell you.” He replies and then he goes silent again.

“Let me guess, that’s my fault too?” She asks softly.

“No!” He replies quickly and much more hushed he adds, “it was our father’s fault.”

Her brows furrow. Their father. Truth be told she hadn’t thought much of him. Hadn’t even considered how bizarre it is that she hasn’t seen either of her parents yet. There is so much going on in her mind… “why haven’t I met them yet.”

“Because Ozai--father is in prison and mom is visiting our uncle in the Earth Kingdom.”

“Did he go to prison for burning your face?”

Zuko shakes his head. “Sokka told you about the war right.”

“Parts, yes.” She answers. “He only really told me about my part in it.”

“Well it was our father who sent you out to go after me. He’s the one who…” he trails off. “I think that a lot of what you did was his fault. He was always turning us against each other.”

Azula inhales, her chest constricting slightly at that mention.

“He was evil. He’s still evil, but he’s evil in prison now. He was going to burn the entire Earth Kingdom to the ground so that he could rule over everything. And he had you go out and conquer things in his name and you. You liked it.”

Azula curls her hands into the fabric of the pillow. In and of itself it is disturbing to know. But that she had managed several successes… “what’s wrong with me?”

She can sense him going tense on the lower bunk. “I didn’t mean that. I mean…” he breaks off with a frustrated groan. “I don’t think that you’re like him. For a while I did, but you’re different now.”

This only sinks her heart further. “When we get to the Foggy Swamp, I was thinking that we can just shut the facility down, make the arrests, and be on our way. I think that I’m better off without my memories.  And besides, I’d rather not risk losing the ones I have now if something goes wrong.”

“Don’t say that.” He says.

“People like me more now, I’d rather have that. Anyways, my past doesn’t exactly sound cheerful.”

“If you’re worried about going back to the way he--father--wanted you to be I don’t think that you should. I think that everything that’s happened since you lost them will matter more to you than what came before that.”

Azula draws her legs to her chest.

“And if it helps, even before you lost your memories I realized you weren’t like him. Ozai is a lost cause. You’re more like me.” He pauses.

“Why would you say something so rude?” Azula snickers.

“Gee thanks.” He grumbles, she detects a faint trace of amusement before his tone goes serious again. “Did Sokka ever tell you what I did before making friends with Aang?”

“No.”

“Well for one thing, I burned a whole village on Kyoshi Island. It was where Sokka’s girlfriend lived. And I sent a hitman to kill them all…”

“Oh wait, he did mention that.” She mumbles more to herself. “The hit man anyways. I can’t picture you as the type to burn a whole village down. Not on purpose anyways.”

“Ha. Ha.”

She snickers again.

“My point is, our father got us both to do awful things. But I had mom and uncle. You only had him. I’m glad that he’s not around you anymore or me. Because you have a chance now.”

“I suppose that that’s good to know.” She notes, not even conveying half of the relief that is swelling in her chest. She supposes that she can’t be horrible to her core if it brings her that much comfort knowing that she hadn’t been completely unsalvageable before the Vine Facility.

“Anyways, I knew that our father was evil from the start. I was thirteen when he challenged me to an Agni Kai.”

“Agni Kai?” Azula sits up and climbs down to join him on the bottom bunk. He sits up and makes room.

“Oh right, you don’t remember what those are.” He says aloud. “It’s a one on one dual between two firebenders. It’s a fight for honor and ends when one opponent burns the other.”

Azula nods. “Father wanted to hurt you.” It isn’t a question but rather a repetition of what she already knows.

“Yeah. A grown man wanted to burn his thirteen year old son because he spoke out of turn. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t fight our father because I...still loved him. I believed in him.” He shakes his head. “And even if I could have fought him, I didn’t stand a chance.” She can see tears glistening down his cheeks and thinks that perhaps she should reach out. But she also thinks that doing so would be awkward. So instead she holds her hands in her lap and stares at her palms.

“And while I was looking up at him, begging him not to do it…” He touches his fingers to the scar. “You and uncle were there.”

She can add that to the list of things better off unmemorized.

“After that he banished me. Told me that he didn’t want to see my face again because I’m an embarrassment. You found me a few days later and were able to convince him to let me have a ship and a crew and uncle.”

“I did something good?”

He gives a soft smile and nudges her on the arm. “Don’t look so surprised. I told you that you’re not like him.”

“Our father burned you…” she trails off. Suddenly she wonders what he has done to her. Just as much, she doesn’t want to. “A man with honor wouldn’t fight a child. Or anyone significantly below his skill level.”

“You always fought me.” He points out.

“Then I must have found that you could hold your own against me. Even if you couldn’t win.” She shrugs.

“You think that I’m a good firebender?”

“I haven’t see you do it much, but if you can fight me and come out alive then you have to be at least somewhat competent.” She pauses to consider the alternative. “That or we’re both horrendously subpar.”

He laughs. “You’re not subpar.”

She stands up and heads for the ladder.

“Thanks.”

“It’s the truth. You can’t be that bad if…”

“No. For telling me that it’s father who has no honor.”

“Oh, yes, well that is also the truth.”

He laughs once more. “You’re still terrible at being comforting.” Before she can climb up he adds, “but somehow that is kind of comforting.”

“Glad that I can help?”

“If you have trouble sleeping, I’m down here.”

“Yes, I know. Good night, Zuzu.”

She hears him give an exaggerated groan. “Why is it that no even a memory wipe could erase dumb that nickname!?”

“Because it holds more power than the both of us.” She murmurs. “Good night, Zuzu.”

“Good night.”

Azula pulls the covers up to her chin. She thinks that she might just have a peaceful night after all. She only needs to sort things out with Sokka. In the meantime it is a kindness to know that she isn’t resented. That, even at her darkest she hadn’t been so truly terrible that her own brother could write her off. Again she finds herself toying with the idea of calling her memories back. She sighs and decides to put that line of thinking aside for the night and take comfort in ridiculous nicknames and potential and highly cringeworthy sibling bonding.

[sm-entertain-me]

Technically Off Limits (E)

Requested by @sarangtae-vante:  Hey love, can have an imagine where you've been fan of bts for a long time but then you actually get recruited in their tech team and it was really hard not to fan girl around them but they made you fell really comfortable. And then any of the member (jin or jk or jimin or all) finds that you have a crush on taehyung and you can take from here.i don't mind if it's a fluff or mature. (I decided fluff, btw)

Contains: Kim Taehyung x (f) reader, adult language, FLUFF, tech team!reader, Bighit employee!au

Synopsis: Congratulations on you getting hired on Big Hit Entertainment's tech team! It makes all those computer science classes worth it to be able to work for your favorite company. However, it’s made very clear that you are not to be romantically involved with any of the talent... 

The day you got the email to join Bighit's tech teams was not one you would easily forget. Although the events leading up to it were something to be desired since you had gotten yelled at by your boss, well, ex boss. It was a cold, rainy day and you had gotten home around 9 o'clock ish because of the intense hours your employer chose to put onto you, serving as a "warning" to not be late again. Everything seemed to be going wrong until you opened your email to find a special piece of mail sitting at the top of your inbox, shining with bold letters. You had a good feeling what the email contained, but you weren’t sure that it was an opportunity to change your life forever.

Ever since then, you’ve been whisked away to Seoul to help out with minor technical issues with Bighit’s offices and stuff like that. Most of the employees didn’t really speak English that well so they often sent one of the trainees or other rookies that had recruited from English speaking countries to give you orders. Honestly, even though you were living your dream, it was a little bit boring to you. You were under the impression you would be working closely with the artists that have been produced from this company, not fixing minuscule viruses that would pop up occasionally because of the trainee artists clicking on emails that they really shouldn’t be. You weren’t going to name names of course because that would be embarrassing for them as well as you, since you knew what kind of emails were causing the viruses. Still, a job’s a job.

It was a little later than when you were supposed to get out, getting sucked into helping with PD-nim’s technical issues with his sound system in the office. You didn’t complain because he was a very nice man, and he was easily the most powerful person in this whole facility and could ship you right back into the shithole of a life you had prior to this. “Need help with that?” A familiar voice called out from behind you, causing you to jump where you stood and dropping some of your tools on the ground. You held your hand over your heart as you inhaled sharply, turning on your heels to find Jungkook standing there with his goofy smile after he realized he scared you pretty badly. “Jesus Christ, Kook,” You groaned as you doubled over and held onto the caps of your knees, still trying to get your breathing down to a semi normal rate.

“What are you still doing here? Shouldn’t you have gone home like, half an hour ago?” Jungkook questioned as he slipped through the opened doorway and stood next to you, sitting down in PD-nim’s swivel chair to tend to the need of Twitter for another selca. Rolling your eyes lightly, you nodded at him as you grabbed the tiny screwdriver that lay on the ground, “Yeah, but I have to get this done. I’m so close to being promoted to your guys’ technical manager.” It was true. You were very close to being promoted to being one of the on hand tech managers whenever the guys went on tour. Although you only really gotten close with Jungkook and Jimin, you were more than happy to get to know the rest of them. Especially Taehyung.

Ah yes, Kim Taehyung. He was easily the most beautiful person you had ever laid eyes on. He had a smile that could melt you into a puddle, eyes that were the softest shade of brown and could carry the whole light of the world in them, and a laugh that always made you smile. However, you never really got to know him because you were super shy and didn’t want to ruin any part of the nonexistent relationship you had, he was talent and you were instructed to never get involved with any of the talent as your job was just to make sure everything was running smoothly in the tech department, and you rarely got to see him outside of practice. It was a shame really because you felt like you and Taehyung would really hit it off. You did, however, come really close to asking Jungkook to be your wingman, but you knew that if he found out your true feelings about his bandmate that he would surely make your life a living hell with the constant teasing and pestering. 

“Hey! Y/N! Did you even hear me?” Jungkook’s voice rang out to you from his position behind you, yanking you back into reality. You turned to face him with a look of confusion, still gripping the screwdriver in your hand that had yet to move from your thinking about Taehyung. That earned an eye roll from Jungkook as he stood up and came towards you, waving his hand in front of your face to bring you completely back from the vice grip your thoughts had on you, “Geez you checked out for a good minute there. What were you thinking about?” “No one,” You responded simply, turning your back to him to continue your work. That was, until Jungkook reached out to grab your shoulders and turn you completely around, “Y/N, I said what were you thinking about, not who. But now you’re going to tell me who or I’ll break PD-nim’s sound system even more than it is now.” “You wouldn’t,” You seethed, narrowing your eyes at the young man in front of him who wore a smirk like it was a permanent part of his body. “Try me.”

Jungkook was a persistent one, you’ll give him that. He wouldn’t let you leave the room, wouldn’t let you pick up the screwdriver to continue your work, and surely wouldn’t let you change the subject. He even resulted to yanking the screwdriver away from you until you at least gave him a hint on who had taken your full attention. “Is he older than me?” Jungkook questioned as he fiddled with the tool needed to finish the job, knowing it was annoying you. “Yes,” You grumbled as you walked over to the desk, sitting on it casually. Jungkook’s lips formed a smile as he looked up at you to continue his questioning, “Is he in BTS?” “Kook, seriously,” You groaned as you tried to grab the screwdriver that was dangerously close to your hand but he was way too quick, looking at you until you answered him. With a huff and a sigh, you answered, “Yes.” Jungkook chuckled, “Of course he is. That’s why you want to be on the tech team, you like someone in the band. Is it Tae Tae?” 

The sudden silence that filled the room was more than enough to answer Jungkook’s question as you looked down at your hands, twiddling your thumbs as if you were ashamed to admit it. Jungkook saw the sudden drop of your face and quickly walked over to you, bending down to meet your eyes, “Hey. It’s okay. Taehyung is a really nice guy and I’m sure that I can get you two to go out or something.” “No,” You protested as you looked away to hide the redness that was spreading through your face due to embarrassment of this whole conversation. “I’m not allowed to. I’m here to work, not date. PD-nim made that very clear.” You watched as Jungkook rolled his eyes, grabbing your face to look at him, “Y/N, do you realize how many people here have had romantic trysts with the artists here? The answer is a lot. Now, I’m going to set you up with Taehyung and you’re going to enjoy yourself. Besides, maybe he likes you too.” “Who likes who?”

The voice that asked that question didn’t belong to you or Jungkook. You both turned to the source of the noise, coming face to face with the very person you were just talking about. “Taehyung,” You said with widened eyes, trying to hide your face that still had the prominent redness from Jungkook’s pestering. Jungkook stood up quickly and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “Oh, nothing Tae.” Taehyung’s lips formed a pout as he entered the office, walking to stand right next to you and offering a smile at you before he spoke, “Come on Kook, I barely get to hear any drama anymore. I wanna know.” Jungkook looked down at you, silently asking you to handle the situation since it was really your feelings being discussed. Taehyung also looked down at you, waiting to see if you would tell him even though you knew it could ruin any chance of getting that promotion you desired. 

“I... I don’t really want to tell you,” You admitted, stammering almost every single word that poured out of you because of the nervousness that sat in your stomach from Taehyung being so close and having to admit your feelings to him. Taehyung sighed as he grabbed your hand in his, stroking the top of it with his thumb, “Y/N, you can trust me.” You were kind of shocked that he actually knew your name considering he’s really only said hello a few times to you when he passed through the hallways or the elevator to get to the practice rooms, but you weren’t complaining. Jungkook was standing opposite the two of you as he watched the way Tae was holding your hand, awkwardly shoving his hand into his pocket, “Oh um, by the way... I may or may not have already said something about you liking him.”

“You fucking what?” You yelled, snatching your hand out of Taehyung’s and rushing over to Jungkook to grab him by the collar, shaking him as hard as you could even though it barely made the bulky kid move. “You told him?!?” “To be fair, it was kind of obvious. Yoongi-hyung and I had a bet to see how long it would take for Tae to find out, so I told him so I could win the bet,” Jungkook admitted as he let you continue to shake him back and forth against the wall. You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. You trusted Jungkook. Actually, you hadn’t even told him that you had feelings for Taehyung, so you were more shocked at the fact that it was so obvious to everyone else besides you. You thought you were pretty good at hiding your emotions, but your actions prove otherwise. 

You finally calmed down at you let go of Jungkook’s collar, pushing the fabric out so you could smooth the wrinkles you caused. Sighing softly, you pressed your fingers to the bridge of your nose to control yourself, “Kookie, I’m sorry. I just, I really want this promotion and the whole reason I hadn’t said anything was so that PD-nim wouldn’t find out and threaten to terminate me... And now Taehyung knows, and so does Yoongi. God I’m screwed.” A soft hand found the base of your shoulder blade, rubbing it lightly as the person it belonged to spoke quietly, “No, no. You’re not screwed. PD-nim doesn’t have to know anything about it. Y/N, you’re a great tech expert. And if you hadn’t noticed, we kind of have a say in who’s in our tech group on the road. Both Kook and I can vouch for you. Hell, even Jimin can vouch for you.” 

You turned on your heels to look up at Taehyung with eyes that had a few tears being held back sicne you thought you would surely get fired, “You-You’d do that? For me?” Taehyung smiled softly at you, his eyes forming deep crescents as he looked at you, “Of course I would. You’re one of the most talented people I’ve ever seen, and you’re also the kindest person I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.” A smile found its way onto your face as you looked down to hide the small blush, afraid Taehyung would catch it.

 A hand gripped the bottom of your chin and pulled you to look up, your eyes meeting once again with Tae’s, “And about you liking me, let me ask you a question. Has it ever occurred to you that I always say hi to you in the elevator when the practice rooms are below the tech department? They’ve never been above.” It all made sense to you. Taehyug had no reason to be on the elevator with you for so long. The practice rooms are on the third floor and the tech department is on the fifth. He’d gone out of his way to stay on that elevator to say hi and strike up seemingly meaningless conversations with you. That was sure to get your heart racing.

“So are you going to ask her or what? I did my part,” Jungkook said impatiently, interrupting your conversation as he stood with his arms crossed. “She nearly ripped my shoulder out of place by shaking me so hard.” Taehyung rolled his eyes at Jungkook and motioned for him to leave, Jungkook giving at nod to the both of you to say his farewells. You tilted your head at Taehyung, wanting to know what he meant by “I did my part.” Taehyung smiled a nervous smile, gripping the back of his neck and giving a good scratch, “I may or may not have planned this out since Kook told me about you liking me a couple months ago. I didn’t know how to go about it since we barely talk, but I would love to get to know you, if that’s okay.” Taehyung saw your face contort to show your nervousness, still thinking about how you could lose your job over this. Until he used an argument you simply couldn’t resist, “It’s just one little date. What PD-nim doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” 

Little did you know that the one little date that Taehyung was talking about turned into another date, and another one, and him asking you to be his girlfriend after you got your promotion to the BTS technical manager. Once you were promoted, PD-nim really had no grounds to fire you since you and Tae were dating after you got your promotion... Or so he thought. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

[timeisacephalopod]

Ironbat

Just a little Bruce Wayne/ Tony Stark thing because I felt like it lol. (Also Fun Fact about this: Bruce and Tony accidentally end up with like 6 kids in 2 years because they keep bringing home strays though, in Tony’s slight defense, Peter still has May so he’s only half adopted). Also ignore the hella uncreative name of this D:

Natasha considers Tony for a long moment and its fucking creepy, she doesn’t even blink. It probably doesn’t help that when she first came to America she told him if anyone smiled as much as Americans in Russia she’d punch them in the face but since everyone here does it she keeps that urge to herself. Tony honestly thought smiling was polite but okay.

“What’s he like?” she asks finally.

Oh, she wants to know about Bruce of not the Banner variety. Because they all know what Banner is like. He sighs and Rhodey’s soul dies, Tony sees it, because he knows Tony well enough to know he’s going to say something stupid. “I’m going to give a description and I need you all not to laugh or judge him, okay?” Because Bruce is sweet, and generous, and yeah he’s so dramatic he makes Tony look like an unseasoned chicken breast in comparison but he’s a great guy. He shouldn’t be judged for his dramatics. They don’t judge Tony for his dramatics.

Actually Stephen told him last week that his cars were ostentatious and if Stephen is talking about Tony’s cars being ostentatious they really must be something.

“He’s a damn furry, isn’t he?” Rhodey says and Tony resents that. Mostly because he wonders if the Batman thing constitutes as being a furry but he doesn’t think so. It is, as far as he knows, just a LARPing thing and its fucking hilarious because no one knows its Bruce Wayne under that dramatic ass cape.

“No he isn’t a furry, T’Challa is a furry,” he throws out there just to make Rhodey cringe. Sam and Rhodey basically worshiped the guy only to find out the dude dresses up like a panther on the regular.

“That is a religious thing, it’s exempt,” Sam says, throwing out his shitty rationalization that they all know is fake. 

Tony rolls his eyes, “sure, bud. Anyways, Bruce. Don’t judge him okay, he’s a great guy,” he starts but Rhodey cuts him off.

“If you need to preface this with so much ‘don’t judge him’ he probably sucks,” he points out.

Pepper frowns, “we preface Tony with a lot more than this,” she says.

Tony is offended, truly. “Okay you know what, Bruce is the kind of guy who would say ‘hello darkness my old friend’ unironically and yeah that’s needlessly dramatic but we’re all needlessly dramatic here so no one should judge him for it,” he tells them all.

They all start laughing immediately like a bunch of twats. “What the hell, Stark?” Bucky asks and Tony squints at him.

“You texted everyone in our group chat ‘I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory’ when your cat stole your garlic bread. Rhodey, you drove a whole ass tank into a military bunker as a fuck you to your superiors. Stephen had that weird ‘sorcerer supreme’ phase and forced us all to call his cape a cloak. Natasha got memes banned in Russia and North Korea. Steve has told half the members of congress to fuck off to their faces and Sam made an AI he named Redwing because Bucky refused to let him get a falcon. Not a single one of you have a place to judge Bruce,” he tells them.

They all look properly shamed except Pepper, who grins. “I am not needlessly dramatic like the rest of you so I have all the right in the world to judge,” she tells them and Tony snorts.

“Oh hell no you do not. You’ve decided you hate fellow CEOs so much that you refuse to address them, only their wives. You once told Justin Hammer that you would rather drink paint thinner than spend another second with him. You punched Aldrich Killian into a pool because he made me uncomfortable. You once told a reporter that people fear you because you have the energy of a Lovecraftian monster. You are not exempt,” he tells her.

Sam laughs, “I remember the Lovecraft thing. You ended up being a lesbian meme for awhile after that,” he says.

Tony remembers that too, it had been around when the Babadook was a gay meme. Monsters were a thing that week.

“Is Bruce seriously that dramatic? I thought he mostly read to kids and whatever,” Rhodey says and yeah, he does that too. And a lot of charity work in orphanages. It’d been how they met- sometimes when Tony is sad he goes to hospitals and holds babies and Bruce happened o be donating money to that particular hospital and found him crying over a small premie that was so sweet and precious. They hit it off pretty easily but yes, Bruce is so dramatic he may give Stephen a run for his money.

“Yeah, he is one hundred percent that dramatic. You’ll find out,” he says. Granted most of Bruce’s dramatics went to his Batman character- Tony struggled not to laugh out loud when he heard Bruce unironically say ‘I am the night’ but he’s dramatic elsewhere too.

“Find out what?” Bruce asks, coming up behind them, smiling. Tony has never had a thing for classic Hollywood hot- too fifties for his tastes, but Bruce makes it feel different. Maybe its because nothing about him aside from his classic looks remind Tony of the past or maybe its something else, he doesn’t know.

“Holy Christ, are you even in there anymore?” Bucky asks, jabbing him in the side with his finger. Tony smacks his hand away after jumping a little.

“Yes, now keep your fingers away from me,” he tells him. “We were talking about you being dramatic,” he tells Bruce for reference.

Bruce’s eyebrows draw together, “I’m dramatic?” he asks. “Don’t you have a friend who insisted you called him ‘sorcerer supreme’?” he asks.

Right, Tony forgot about that too. “Yeah, Stephen got a little in character and none of us knew what the character was for but he’s mostly okay now, he’s chilled out a little. Come sit,” he says, shooing at Bucky to get out of the spot beside Tony. Bruce tries to move towards the only empty seat that is, for some damn reason, beside Sam but Tony pulls him back and continues to pester Bucky to go sit beside his damn boyfriend.

When he discovers they’re currently in the middle of an argument he’s not surprised, he’s watched the two of them get into it over Steve’s cat that died when he was ten of all things, but he’s damn annoyed to discover that this particular fight is about Sam not finding bats cute. Bruce lets out a small shiver and Tony holds onto him a little tighter, knowing about his fear of bats.

Honestly that only makes Batman that much more dramatic because Bruce fucking dresses up as his worst fear. Jesus, he really does have a talent for finding people who are so dramatic they could blend into a comic book easily. Bucky moves his ass finally and Bruce sits next to him and looks around. He pinpoints Rhodey as the most important at the table easily and Tony will never understand how he does that. It takes him ten seconds flat to find the person at the top of any food chain and he can figure out how to exploit them in another ten seconds. Its actually useful in business and Tony is surprised that Bruce’s success comes from reading people so well. But then Bruce thought he could do that too and had been surprised that Tony was just following math no one else saw. Pepper can do it now too so that’s neat, usually he can’t teach for shit.

“Tony has told me about your military career, you recently got promoted, didn’t you?” Bruce asks and Rhodey leans into it easily, going off on a tangent about his recent promotion and how he got it. Bruce smiles and listens easily, asking all the right questions because he’s freakishly good at people if they weren’t in a relationship with him. If they were, well, Alfred told Tony he has a fear of being close to people thanks to that time his parents got shot right in front of him as a kid. Tony thinks he deals with it well, or at least well enough that Alfred gives him advice and he’s seen how protective the old man is of Bruce. He’d chase Tony out of the mansion without a second thought if he thought he was a bad choice on Bruce’s behalf.

Natasha watches Bruce’s exchanges keenly because she’s as good at people as he is but when he gets to addressing her- right after congratulating Pepper on her recent multimillion dollar deal that no one else thought was a good idea but Bruce did for the exact reasons she did- he manages to find her soft spot too. “I’ve read about your rat rescue- I had no idea you could buy rescue rats but I suppose they might need it more than most. Its not like people care if rats are mistreated- people mostly want them dead,” he says.

She perks up, “and they’re very clean contrary to popular belief,” she says.

Bruce nods, “I used to have rats as a child. They’re smart as hell too, probably a little too smart for their own good actually. They were both escape artists and Alfred, my butler, was not impressed to find them in the kitchen more often than not,” he says and Natasha laughs. With that he somehow manages to win her over too despite the fact that she’s impossible to please and probably wants to punch him because he smiles.

And Bruce thought this was going to go badly.

*

Bruce is sure he’s managed to screw everything up given how utterly silent Tony has been through the whole dinner. Tony isn’t normally silent- he errs more on the side of dominating the conversation if only by accident but through this entire thing he’s said next to nothing. So by the time they leave he’s worried he’s somehow managed to say something wrong but he can’t for the life of him figure out what it is. He did his research- all of Tony’s friends are as impressive as he is in their own right and he made sure to acknowledge that- the fastest way to impress Tony was to recognize worth in others and Bruce finds it both telling and strange. 

He’s never met someone who’s so attracted to the ability to recognize talent in others but Tony has a clear... thing for it. Maybe because he recognizes potential in the strangest of ways and in odd areas too- its just part of the way his mind works- and Bruce seems to be the only one who picks up on this aspect of Tony’s personality. And the potential Tony sees. Tony thinks he’s bad at people but he isn’t, he just sees them differently and this isn’t really odd considering he sees everything differently. What Tony is bad at is finding conventional ways to relate to people and Bruce likes that about him. It makes him feel less dangerous, somehow, like maybe if he’s different this relationship will be different too. He’s never been good at relationships, Selena knows that better than most.

“How the hell do you manage to do that?” Tony asks when they leave. 

Bruce has no idea what he means and his gut twists a little, worried that he’s managed to botch this too. For the first time since... he hasn’t felt like running and he doesn’t want to do something to make it end. “Do what?” he asks.

Tony frowns, “win people over like that. I’ve never met anyone who managed to make Natasha go from suspicious to smitten like that ever,” he says.

Well, it might help him to know Natasha isn’t smitten, she’s just convinced that Bruce isn’t horrible. Its the best she’ll ever think of him most likely, she’s not the kind of person who would ever fully trust another person, but Bruce already knew that when they met. But he does at least relax because he hasn’t done something wrong, Tony is just impressed with his people skills again. Its an odd trait to hone in on, but its that, his generosity, his love of children, and his ability to disagree with Tony that draws him in. That’s probably the strangest combination Bruce has run into but he doesn’t dislike it either. Those happen to be the traits, minus his ability to manipulate people, that he finds most admirable about himself too.

“I just did my research, Tony,” he says. Its all he’s ever needed to do.

Tony smiles and leans into his side, “yeah well, was ready to write you off and now he thinks I’m lying about how dramatic you are so obviously your research paid off,” he says.

Bruce wraps an arm around Tony’s waist, “Tony he doesn’t think I’m dramatic because he doesn’t know about Batman and you’re not going to tell him. If Cobblepot finds out who I am he’ll use it against me,” he says and Tony bursts out laughing.

“I love you, but this LARPing thing is ridiculous. Endearing, but ridiculous. You do know Cobblepot works in a bank, right? He’s not nearly as impressive as The Penguin even if he sucks at names,” Tony says.

Yes, Bruce knows that already. “I’m aware of all my foes, thank you. Harley Quinn is a psychiatrist who’s real name is Harleen Quinzel and her girlfriend is Poison Ivy,” he says. Pamela a botanist and a very well known environmental activist too, Tony has read her work when considering his green energy projects, actually.

“Jesus Christ, this is so dramatic. How the hell did you get half of Gotham involved in a LARP?” Tony asks.

Well, that’s just an exaggeration. There’s certainly not that many people in the game and frankly Bruce doesn’t care if he’s winning.

[tere706]

Ask me no questions - 3

(Thanks for your patience on this fic! I did mention it would be slower to update than the Eddie/Venom/OC fic. I really enjoyed the dialogue in the second half. Had me chuckling *in an evil way for part of it*. 

Anyways, I didn’t proof read this very well because I’m tired. But I’m not seeing anymore red squiggles than there should be... so it’s okay? Enjoy!

Words: ~2300)

Y/N was up early the next morning. She needed to patch together something to use as a sled for carrying Ultron. Their system from the day before wasn’t the worst, but she was trying to pass him off as salvage. He couldn’t be hanging onto her, acting alive, and have that work.

Honestly, it was a relief when she had to tell Ultron to power down and fake being deactivated. It meant he stopped pestering her. She was already anxious and worried about her whole plan. He was not helping the situation in the slightest. The only hitch with the smugglers was their demanding extra money since her ‘salvage’ was larger than expected. They actually seemed impressed.

The anxiety didn’t end there. She hiked her way back to the city, the remains of the city, and had to load up on a refugee bus. It was crowded and depressing, but at least most of the people were either quiet or spoke softly in their own language. She could lean her head back and try to relax.

She drifted away from the refugee center and headed out to catch a ride once she got off the bus. It took a few hours longer than expected to get to a city with an airport. Her mind kept imagining Ultron being discovered. Or breaking free and trying to go off on his own. Or being stolen. She had to literally bite the tip of her tongue to keep herself from speaking.

A hefty sum of money got her a ticket on the next flight out and back to America. She settled into her seat on the plane and closed her eyes. The physical exhaustion and the mental exhaustion of the worry finally took their toll. She slept.

~

She was half curled up in the back seat of the cab, her forehead pressed against the cold glass and her eyes closed tightly. Her stomach rolled with nausea and her head throbbed with her pulse. She was at the end of her limits. All she wanted was to crawl into her home and pass out. The cab made a slow turn and finally came to a stop. Her eyes opened and glanced out the window.

Snow had fallen since she left. The ground was covered in a fluffy, white layer. It decorated the pine trees. It also covered the long gravel drive up to her home. There weren’t any other tracks in it, so presumably she’d beaten Ultron here. The wood and brick home was out in the forest, away from people. The closest town was fifteen minutes away by car, the closest real city was over half an hour away. Her cab drive hadn’t been thrilled by her directions, but she’d offered enough money to make it worth his while.

Y/N opened the backdoor and stepped out into the snow, the cold wind biting into her. She heard the cab drive cough, a very fake cough, and leaned back in with several bills held out. The man was quick to leave, which was fine. She hadn’t taken any luggage with her, so she trudged up toward her front door. It took a moment to fumble out the key and unlock it.

Ah, blessed heat. Running electricity and plumbing out here had been an expensive pain, but it was well worth it. She dumped her coat and boots at the entry way. Her floors were hardwood and she didn’t want to drip water everywhere.

“I’m home.”

She knelt down on the floor as a white and black cat came streaking around the corner to leap into her arms. The cat was purring up a storm and nuzzling her face against Y/N’s. She stroked her hands down the cat’s small frame and chuckled softly.

“I missed you too, Eve.” The cat was mostly white with black patches on her body and legs. Y/N had adopted her when she first moved into this house two years ago.

The orange tabby sitting at the corner and staring at their little display of affection had adopted them. He was not as cuddly as Eve, but Sunny was still a part of this little family.

Y/N stood up with Eve in her arms. “Let’s get you two some fresh food and water. And scooped. Sorry I was gone so long. I shouldn’t have to travel again for a long time.” She sighed in relief just from saying those words. The pain from being around other people these last couple days was a reminder of why she had isolated herself.

~

Ultron didn’t arrive until the next day. She was grateful for the small reprieve. It had given her time to recover from the last few days and medicate the worst of the headache away. Ultron was sure to bring it roaring back.

“Hello, Ernie.” Y/N had the door open, shivering as the cold air invaded into her home.

“You’ve been getting a lot of packages lately! And all of them quite heavy.” Ernie was the delivery man who usually brought anything she ordered. And he wasn’t wrong, her ordering habits had certainly changed.  

She smiled brightly and handed the clipboard back to him. “Oh, I decided I needed a winter project. Doing some renovations."

He nodded. “Want me to bring this box in for you? It really is heavy.”

“I would appreciate if you could bring it into the garage. I can take it from there.”

Ernie moved the large box into the garage and wished her a good day before he loaded back into his truck and slowly drove away.

Y/N sighed and started opening up the box, ripping the tape away. The inside was filled with packing peanuts. She tossed handfuls aside until she found part of Ultron’s robot body and tapped lightly on it.

“Come on, big guy. Time to wake up.” The worry settled back into her chest again. What if something had happened during the trip? What if he’d actually died?

Relief flooded her when there was a sudden red glow from the body and his arm lifted to pluck a packing peanut from one of the eye holes.

“Charming. I do believe that is a record for slowest travel for me.”

She chuckled and knelt down. “Well, you know what they say, go big or go home. Now, let me help you get downstairs. You can look over what I have and tell me what I’m missing.”

Once she was sure Ultron was holding tight with his arm over her shoulder she stood with a grunt of effort. Y/N had left the door from the garage into the house unlocked so that she just had to toe it open to slip inside. Eve chirruped up at her before arching her back and then scurrying away to hide under the couch.

“You have a cat.”

“I have two.”

“My condolences.”

Y/N rolled her eyes and carried the Ultron’s robot body to the basement door. She had to juggle a bit to get a hand free for opening the door. Then it was just a matter of not falling down the stairs. She carefully set Ultron’s body onto a rolling cart and stepped back from him.

“I didn’t know what all you would need. I did my best to gather what I could. Let me know if we need something else. It might take a couple days to get ahold of.”

She turned to look at the transformed basement. It had been a library and entertainment area. Now the bookshelves were half hidden behind boxes of metal and parts, tables, and other machines for manufacturing. Y/N knew she had gotten most of what would be needed, but some specific details had been too difficult to find out.

“You have a suitable metal to begin building a new body?” Ultron reached down with his one arm and pushed the cart along with an annoyed noise.

She shrugged slightly and gestured toward a pair of box stacks that went almost to the ceiling. “It’s not vibranium, if that’s what you hoped for. My pockets aren’t that deep.”

There was a long pause before Ultron turned his head to stare at her with that blank face. She felt her heart slam against her chest and turned away, trying for nonchalant.

“You know about vibranium?”

“Obviously. I did my research about what the best metal would be. It was used to make Captain America’s shield. I have lots of contacts. Heard there was some on the market, but it’s gone.” The best way to cover up a lie was to just use the truth and omit the pieces you wanted to keep secret. It was too soon. If Ultron tried to leave, he’d probably end up dead. He needed to stay long enough to create a few bodies as backups.

“It’s a glorified frisbee.” Ultron snapped, his anger apparently derailing his previous train of thought. Or maybe he was storing it away to consider later.

Y/N turned and smiled in his direction. “Having seen some footage of him fighting, I can’t disagree. I’m going to give you a little while to go through what I have here already. When I come back down here you can tell me what we’re missing. I think we should be able to get to work right away, even if we’re missing a couple things.”

Ultron made a contemplative noise as he turned his head to look at the rest of the room again. “I will tell you if anything is missing. But I don’t require your assistance.”

“Nope. But you’re getting it anyways. First of all, it’ll be faster than you working alone and with one arm. And second of all, I don’t fully trust you not to blow up my house.” She ticked off the points on her fingers.

“I thought we were operating on trust here.”

She snorted softly and put a hand on her hip. “Yes, to an extent. But neither of us fully trusts the other. We both have our reasons for that.” Y/N sighed, looking away. “Ultron, a few days ago you were literally trying to kill me. You can’t expect me to fully trust you yet.”

He shrugged slightly. “To be fair, I didn’t know that you as an individual existed at that time.”

“Not a valid excuse. You were still trying to kill me and everyone else.”

“Then why did you save me? If you truly believe that, why go to all this trouble to bring me here? To buy all these materials? Why are you giving me a second chance, when you know I might just kill you anyways?”

Y/N had been right. Ultron was going to bring that headache roaring back despite the pain meds she’d taken. She closed her eyes and rubbed at her temples. “Because you’re a person. You deserve a second chance. A chance to make better choices. You were born into this world in a terrible way, exposed to things that no newborn should have been.”

“I am not human. I’m not a child.” Ultron interrupted her.

“As for being human… no. You’re right that you aren’t human. But you are a person. Those are two different things.” She picked up a bolt from the table, fiddling with it to distract herself. The last time she’d brought up a difficult subject with Ultron she’d almost gotten a concussion. She felt nervous talking to him now.

“And no. You are not a child. You are incredibly intelligent, but you lack… experience. You have all this knowledge, but no practical life experience to go with it. Emotionally, you are much like a child, Ultron. That’s probably why you lash out physically when angered. Common in emotionally young people. But I don’t see you as a child, just as someone lacking the experiences to ground their decisions.”

There was a long silence after that last statement. Y/N played with the bolt for a minute before glancing in Ultron’s direction. He had turned his face away from her, the boxes he was facing had a faint red glow from his sockets. Well, he had taken that better than expected. She realized with a pang that he didn’t really need her alive anymore. He had this rough workshop set up, he could make do without her here if he had to.

“How did you know about my creation?”

The question caught her off guard and she dropped the bolt back to the table with a hollow clang. He still wasn’t looking at her, hadn’t moved at all.

“Sorry, your friendship level isn’t high enough for that question.”

Ultron’s head slowly turned to face her. It was still hard to tell, since the face was solid and emotionless, but she could almost feel his baffled anger.

“What?”

“You’ll have to level up your friendship with me before I can answer questions like that one. Try again later.” A slow grin split her face. Y/N felt her chest tighten with manic glee. It was the feeling of looking at death and laughing in his face. Crazed hilarity.

This time Ultron stared silently at her for about two minutes. Which, naturally, felt like two millennia as sweat tricked down her spine and she suppressed demented laughter.

“I’ll have a list of required materials in two hours.” Ultron turned his head away and moved the cart further away.

Y/N just sagged, catching herself against the table. She panted, suddenly out of breath as her heart raced wildly. That felt like her third narrow scrape with death in the last couple days. Funny, they’d all been because of Ultron. She rushed up the stairs to escape the basement before he changed his mind.

Maybe he would forget the joke by the time she came back down.

[initiala]

Thank you everyone for continuing to read and support this fic!

A warning for this week, the second flashback is about how Emma lost her first litter - a miscarriage. If that will bother you, it's very short so it's easy to pass over that set of italics. Otherwise, enjoy the update!

Also on AO3 and FF.Net

The bed was empty when he awoke, though a rational person would hardly call it 'awake'. He lingered on the fringes of consciousness until he was sure he wouldn't fall asleep again, then rolled over and hugged Emma's pillow. He breathed in her scent as his sluggish brain pieced together the world around him.

According to the clock on the nightstand, it was almost noon - which explained why Emma was up and out of bed. His back ached something fierce, which explained why he'd slept so long. And the frosty tinge in the air meant she'd made good on her promise to air out the apartment.

Killian sat up with a groan, rubbing his eyes, and the noise must have alerted Emma because she popped her head in the door. "Morning," she said. "How do you feel?"

"Bloody exhausted," he admitted. "We weren't up that late."

She smiled in that way that meant she was holding back an 'I told you so' and came to perch on the bed. While she talked, she made him lean forward so she could remove his bandage. "No, but in all the excitement of yesterday, someone forgot that he'd been seriously injured and overexerted himself. You didn't even budge when I got up this morning, and even if I get up to pee you always move to keep me in bed with you."

He yawned wide enough that his jaw cracked. "Fuck - I feel as if I've been pounded with mallets."

"Next time I tell you not to hurt yourself, you'll listen."

"You can just say 'I told you so', love."

"No," she said, getting up. "I'll just think it real loud. Go take a shower, it'll help you wake up."

He snorted and moved to get up. His legs weren't cooperating much and he struggled to find comfortable clothes - sod Liam, he'd wear pajamas if he wanted to. He showered quickly, or as quickly as his body would allow, and while he wasn't fully awake when he got out, he still felt better than he would have otherwise.

Emma had started a pot of coffee while he showered. Leaving his prosthetic in the bedroom, he followed his nose out to the kitchen, where she also had a box from the bakery down the street. "Please tell me there's something not covered in sugar and glaze in there," he said, making a face; his dearest had a sweet tooth and that much sugar tended to upset his stomach.

"Sit," she told him, pouring him a mug of coffee and sliding it over to him. "I did get some croissants for you, don't worry."

He watched her putter around, wiping down the countertops that already looked spotless, putting things away for the sake of it, rearranging old magazines and books and fluffing the pillows in the living room. "Darling, you're nervous enough to make me nervous," he said, picking apart a pain au chocolat. "And Liam's my brother."

She paused momentarily, then smoothed a blanket over the back of the couch before going to close the windows. "I just want to make a good impression," she muttered, going back into the kitchen.

Killian managed to get her to sit down next to him when she came out with a mug of cocoa. "It'll be fine," he said, pushing the box of pastries towards her. "And if it's not fine, I'll break Liam's nose for you."

She snorted at that and picked out a bear claw, eating it with a distant look in her eye. They continued eating in silence until a knock at the door startled them out of their quiet reverie. Emma looked at him with barely-concealed panic before getting up to answer it. Killian started to get up as well, but, frustratingly, found it more difficult to get up now than it had been to get out of bed.

Emma opened the door and Killian heard Liam say, "We finally meet."

Killian smiled to himself as Liam - just as he knew he would - enveloped Emma in a bear-hug. Killian shuffled over to the entryway and caught his brother's eye as he let her go. "Brother."

Emma moved out of the way just in time before they embraced. Liam seemed to be aware of where his wound was, because where Killian slapped his brother on the back in greeting, the same gesture was not returned to him. "Just where do you get off by getting yourself hurt, Killian?" Liam asked when they parted.

He shrugged. He leaned against the wall and tried to make it look nonchalant, and not what it really was: he really was bloody exhausted. "Well, it's coyote hunting season, so maybe they just thought there were coyote out."

The last time Liam had looked so exasperated was probably when Killian was fifteen and pestering him about when he'd make his first shift.

Much as he tried to hide it, Killian couldn't keep the glum expression off his face. He batted around a few rocks with an old splintered off piece of wood, trying to keep himself occupied outside old Mrs. Haskins' place. The littles were annoying him but he wasn't allowed to leave yet — which was the stupidest thing ever, he was fifteen, he could look after himself. But no, he wasn't considered an adult of the pack yet, just another pup, so every month he went without fail to one of the pack elders and sat around with the others too little or too old to make the monthly change. But while he couldn't leave until Liam picked him up, nothing was stopping him from getting away from everyone, so he sat on the front steps of the old townhouse and waited.

Liam would probably say he was sulking, but how could he do anything else? There was something wrong with him, last night just proved it and not even Liam could do anything to fix it.

"Little brother, why do you look like England's just lost the final at the World Cup?"

Killian looked up as Liam strolled down the street, hands tucked into his pockets and not at all looking like he just spent the night running with the pack. "Nothing," Killian muttered.

"Killian."

He shook his head and went back to his rocks. Liam sighed and muttered something about checking in with Mrs. Haskins. A few minutes later they were ambling back to the council estate, London beginning to wake up around them with morning deliveries, corner shops opening their grates, and early joggers and dog walkers. "Why don't you try telling me what's really wrong, brother," Liam said as they rounded the corner towards home.

Killian debated not saying anything. It was dumb. He knew it was dumb, Liam would know it was dumb, it wasn't worth it. But then Liam nudged him on the shoulder and his resolve broke. "Cullen and Michael didn't come last night," Killian said quietly. "I'm the oldest one left."

"Ah."

"Liam, what if something's wrong with me? What if I never change - or if I can't? Mum and Dad were werewolves, but maybe we have a human ancestor and I got their stupid human genes instead?"

Liam's head fell back with an enormous sigh. "Killian, we don't have any human ancestors."

"But-"

Killian flinched as Liam lightly boxed him on the ear. "Don't be a git. If you weren't a werewolf, we'd know." They stopped on the corner and Liam looked down the street. "Tell me what you smell."

Killian looked where his brother did, sniffing cautiously. "The bakery's making up fresh dough, the bin man's late, and -" An unfamiliar scent hit his nose as Liam stepped in Killian's way. He inhaled, then realized what it was. "Brother! You were with a girl last night?!"

Liam reached to box his ears again and Killian ducked out of the way. "You nosy little-"

"You told me to!"

Liam got him in a headlock, messing up his hair. "Well, that settles that, then. You're just a late bloomer, lad, your time will come when it comes."

He didn't think Liam would box his ears this time, but it was a close thing. "The healer should have checked your brains while they were at it," Liam said. "We're much larger than any coyote - even normal wolves outsize them."

Killian caught Emma eyeing him and tilted his head in a question. "Let's move this into the living room," she said, her gaze flicking to how he was holding himself up on the wall. He suppressed a smile - nothing got past his Swan. "Killian should be resting anyway and we can all be more comfortable. Do you want any coffee, Liam?"

While they discussed beverages, Killian went to go claim a comfortable spot on the couch. Emma had more pillows than frankly anyone ever should, but in this case he was grateful to have a soft incline to rest against as he all but collapsed on the couch. Liam followed, carrying Killian's mug. "I figured the cocoa wasn't yours," he said, handing it over. "Unless you've truly gone American."

"No," Killian said, taking a sip before setting it aside. "Emma's been attempting to corrupt me with all the sweets she keeps around, but she has yet to succeed."

Liam smiled. "I couldn't help but notice something else succeeded." At Killian's questioning look, he said, "The ring on her finger."

There was a spot under Killian's ear that always itched whenever he became flustered; he reached up to rub it and Liam's smile widened into a grin. "Ah," Killian said, looking down. "That happened… rather quickly, I admit, but we agreed to make things official last night. That is, we agreed last night that on a future date we would-"

"Relax, brother, I'm not going to lecture you," Liam said. "You mooned after her for months, I'm the one who convinced you to come over here and give it a go, did I not?"

"You did."

"To which I'm very grateful," Emma said, coming into the room with a mug for Liam and her own. "I know things are moving fast, but I hope we'll have your blessing," she added as she sat down.

"I know quite a few elders who would argue that's part of the point of mating season," he said with a smile, "but rest assured that you have my blessing. And my congratulations to the both of you."

Killian very much wanted to get up to hug his brother, but his body had decided it had had quite enough movement for now, thank you very much, and so he settled for a firm handclasp. Emma took care of the hugging. "Now, as for you," Liam said as they sat back down. "Are you certain it wasn't a silver bullet? There's no reason I can think that you're so… immobile."

Emma made a noise that sounded like a laugh, but she covered it by taking a sip of her cocoa. "No, we checked. All of us could handle it once Granny removed the thing. He just overexerted himself yesterday."

Undoubtedly Liam could still smell what that meant, but tactfully didn't comment on it. "Still. I've been hearing things from this side of the pond about some anti-human movements. It wouldn't surprise me if things have spread enough that the humans have heard and start fighting back. Maybe not this moon, but the next… who knows?"

Emma looked pained. "God, that bullshit made it all the way over to England?"

"Well, it's sort of hard to ignore, particularly when your crews are all made up of magical folk. They hear all sorts of things from every community. It's quite a useful way to keep in the know, really."

It was useful, Killian agreed, but wading through the complaints their employees could lodge against each other was tiresome. They asked in the interview process if a vampire could work alongside Fae, or anyone could handle working with a werewolf on a ship during the full moon, but apparently once at sea all promises of good behavior were long forgotten. "We could ask Alice," he said. "We have to see her anyway, and Robin's got her foot in both the magical and human worlds. She'd be the one to know if it's spread to the uninitiated."

"Or she'd know if it's those 'in the know' are deciding to fight back," Liam added.

Emma held up her hands. "Wait, you're not serious. You know it's Regina who started talking about all of that, and if anyone is just looking to stir up blood, it's her. She's got her hands full with all those turf wars she's starting right now, but I bet anything all that talk stemmed from the fact that she just doesn't want any non-werewolves in the North End."

Killian looked at her sidelong, taking in the pinch of her lips and the way her cheeks paled; it wasn't fear that made her look like that, no, it was anger. Emma had rightfully never forgiven Regina for murdering her parents and taking control of the North End pack. "So it's a real estate ploy?" he asked.

"Not the way we're hearing it," Liam muttered into his mug.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Emma said. "If we talk to Alice and Robin we can find out if any other groups are being moved out of the area - either by force or just because they're getting uncomfortable with how rowdy the pack's getting. But Regina's not an idiot, she can't just go spouting off any anti-human rhetoric she wants and not blow the cover of everyone in the magical community. I don't know what you've been hearing, Liam, but you know how gossip spreads and gets blown out of proportion."

He looked chagrined for a moment, then nodded. "You're right. But there's no smoke without any fire."

Emma's cheeks grew paler and Killian held up his hand. "Let's just table it as Regina stirring up more trouble in her section of the city and our crews are a bunch of gossips. May we move on to a more pleasant topic of conversation?"

Emma caught his eye and smiled gratefully; she hated any reminder of her past and what Regina had done to her family. The conversation turned back to their engagement and the matter of Killian's injury was left alone.

Granny's words turned out to be prophetic: Emma made Killian stay home for a week while Liam took care of things at the office. After the first few days - and after Killian was able to move around without exhausting himself just by going into the next room - he managed to convince her to stop fussing over him and return to work. It wasn't as if he didn't enjoy her company, but he knew how her boss felt about how much time off Emma could take at once and she needed to save that up for when mating season rolled around.

And their honeymoon.

They managed to keep their engagement quiet for that first few days, but after Emma returned to work and couldn't hide it any longer, Ruby arrived at their apartment that night in a whirlwind of wedding plans and half-made seating charts. Liam, joining them for dinner, watched in amusement as Ruby bowled both Emma and Killian over with an impassioned speech about pack politics and who needed to be invited and how there was no way in hell the niece of the alpha could get away with a quick legal ceremony at the courthouse. "It's not like it's every day that one of us does the human thing anyway," she added. "You've gotta let us throw you a party to remember."

"She reminds me of Anna," Liam said quietly while Ruby and Emma went over a list of event halls and who could schedule something so last-minute. "Only Anna wasn't half as terrifying when she found out Elsa and I were to be mated."

"You and Elsa stuck to the traditional way of things," Killian said. "Anna just wanted to throw a party for it because that's how Anna is."

Liam smiled and his hand drifted up to his neck, where his mate-mark was hidden under the collar of his shirt. Quite frankly, Killian was surprised Elsa hadn't come along with Liam, the two were almost as inseparable as he and Emma were. But to hear Liam tell it, Elsa had her hands full with the operation of her brewery and didn't feel she could leave it for even a week. "True. Remind me to work something out with her to stock your bar for the reception. She might even give you a friends and family discount."

Killian snorted, but made a mental note to tell Emma; his sister-in-law specialized in brews that could knock even a golem on his arse. They'd save a small fortune just in supplying alcohol that was stronger than 6%.

By the time Liam was set to leave, Killian was back on his feet (for the most part; he would be happy to be sitting in his office for most of the day) and Ruby had somehow sweet-talked an amazing deal at an estate in western Massachusetts for a wedding just a few days before Christmas. "Don't be surprised if my sister-in-law shows up here in a few days," Liam said as he stopped by to say goodbye on his way to the airport. "The moment I say 'wedding', she'll be booking a flight."

"We might need the help," Emma admitted.

Killian agreed, though he wouldn't say it out loud. Who knew so many decisions needed to be made for a wedding? "We'll look for a redheaded whirlwind," he promised, and the brothers embraced.

"Elsa and I will see you in December," Liam said as he left.

As Killian closed the door, Emma slumped against the wall. He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "That wasn't too bad, was it?"

"Liam?" she asked. "No, Liam was fine. I think he likes me, even."

"Trust me, you'd know if he didn't," Killian said drily. "He's not shy about letting someone know when he dislikes them."

She smiled and pushed off the wall, going back to their table, which had been commandeered by Ruby and was now completely covered in wedding plans. "No, Liam wasn't bad. It's… all of this. Which isn't bad, it's just… It's stressful. And I didn't realize just how stressful it would be, or else I wouldn't have asked to have it so soon-"

"Well, darling, I believe the original idea was to have a quick ceremony and be done with it. And that wouldn't have been nearly as stressful."

Emma sat down and buried her face in her hands. "No, and now she's actually roped Uncle James into it and he agrees with her. Apparently there's even a bank account just for this."

His brows furrowed. "Your uncle set aside funds for you to marry? This isn't the eighteenth century, love, I'm not asking for a bride-price."

She snorted and sat up, hands falling into her lap. "No, Mom and Dad…" She swallowed and he saw how her eyes went glassy. "Mom and Dad set it up. I had a small inheritance when I turned 21 and apparently if I never married the human way I'd just get this money when I had my first litter."

Pain.

She hurt all over - that wasn't right, no, she burned all over. There were people talking around her urgently, the vague sensation of cold pressed against her forehead. Her body seized and she felt something pass from inside her - no, no, it was too early, no it couldn't be, no, not her pups, no -

The burning feeling increased, a searing pain on her neck and she cried out, every nerve ending flooded with too much feeling. She just wanted it to stop, wanted to stop feeling and hurting and go back to before all of this, exhaustion and agony twining together in a black pit she couldn't wait to collapse into. Only one thought flitted through her mind before she let the darkness claim her -

He's gone.

His heart broke when the scent of salt hit his nose, just before a tear slid down her cheek. He went to her, pulling her into his arms and holding her close. "Emma, if this is all too much, just let me know. I'll fight off Ruby and your uncle single-handedly."

She snorted, dissolving into watery giggles and he smiled. "Was that supposed to be a joke?" she asked.

"Aye, but know that even if I had both hands I could still do it with only one." He pulled back a little and tipped her chin up. "Please, love, is this something you truly want to do?"

He swiped away another tear and she nodded. "It's stressful, but it's also bringing up a lot of memories and feelings I don't want to think about. This - us - is so different from anything I had before, it shouldn't even factor in. It should be happy, it shouldn't be me all down because of everything that happened in the past. But it creeps up on me."

He kissed her forehead again. "It's still part of your past, love. Part of who you are." Killian moved to sit and pulled her into his lap. She smiled and swatted at her cheeks quickly. "Now, then let's work to make this a happy occasion for both of us. Let's make some decisions together - and let's not worry about the cost of things for now, either. I'll pay for the whole bloody thing myself if that's what makes you smile again."

She shook her head, her smile widening. "No, we'll share the cost of it - you're gonna make me have a stroke one of these days otherwise."

"Perish the thought," he said, pressing his lips to her shoulder. "What's first, then?"

She chewed on her lip and he could feel the tension in her body. "Well, a lot of things could be decided if we settled on colors… is it too cheesy to have red so close to Christmas? Like, red and white?"

"Do you want those colors?" he asked. She sighed and he pressed on. "I'm not asking to pass the decision off on you - I'm asking if that's what you want. Forget the fact that it may be a little thematic with the holiday - is that what you want? Even if we waited until March?"

Emma hesitated, then said, "Yes."

"Okay. Then that's what we'll do. I happen to think I look rather dashing in red anyway," Killian said with a cheeky grin. She elbowed him. "Now," he pushed away other color swatches and focused on the reds. "If we want white, then let's go with the more wintery reds to offset it." He tossed a few other colors away. "The cranberry red is lovely. A deep red, offsetting the white in a bit of a romantic way," he paused to kiss her shoulder again, "symbolizing my passion for you… and I suppose there would be plenty of decorating options available for the time of year."

Emma picked up the color swatch. "I like it," she said. "Your passion for me?"

She twisted in his lap to look at him in amusement and he just smiled in return. "Red is a very passionate color, love."

"I know, but you're all poetic about it. I just like red."

She set the swatch aside and pulled forward another set - "Why are there so many shades of white?" Killian asked, slightly horrified at all of the options.

"Now you understand why I was about to have a meltdown last night."

"Well these are just ridiculous," he says, picking out all the ones with yellowing tinges to them and flinging them over his shoulder. Then went the greens and oranges and - "I swear most of these are just pastels masquerading as white," he snarled while Emma covered her face in her hands and laughed.

Finally left with things that at least resembled white as he expected it to be, the name of one caught his eye.

According to the tale he'd been told, Emma's mother had been born late in the season, but during the first blizzard of the year. It was bad enough that Emma's grandmother hadn't even been able to leave their home or summon the pack's midwife, going through the whole birthing process with only her mate at her side and whatever instincts she had in what felt right. But the pup had come healthy and whole while snow swirled and fell outside, and from that came her rather unusual name.

Killian picked up the color swatch. "Snow White," he said softly. "For your mother's memory."

Emma's breath hitched and his arm around her waist tightened. She took the swatch from him and picked up the cranberry red, pairing them together. Her throat worked for a few moments and finally she leaned back against him, resting her head against his. "Thank you," she said quietly.

He hummed as he nosed the hair just behind her ear. "We'll do things for your father and my mother as well," he said, his tone just as soft.

"What about your father?" Emma asked.

Killian shook his head. "The less we make an effort to honor that bastard's memory - nevermind."

He generally preferred not to discuss his parents, but particularly because of the disgraceful way his father had died and left himself, his mother, and Liam with his mountain of heretofore unknown debt. His poor mother had worked herself to an early grave to whittle the debt down to a manageable size, one that Liam had finished settling before their business took off. Killian realized he probably should discuss that with Emma before they mated properly, but he didn't wish to add to her emotional burden as of now. "A sad and sordid tale for another time," he said. "For now, we'll settle on honoring our parents who deserve it."

"Okay," Emma said, but she sounded as dubious about his aversion to the topic as he felt about bringing up the subject with her at all.

They made it through quite a bit of the details that night, but where Killian had initially set out to cheer her up in planning their wedding together, he found that his own spirits fell as he remembered just how much of his own family's history he had yet to tell her. That was something that good mates did, right? What if his failure to divulge old family secrets meant he wouldn't be a good mate? It wasn't as if he hadn't told her of his own misdeeds in the past, the sad tale of Milah and how he'd been cast out of his original pack. Just the bigger things, the misdeeds of his father and the whispers that had followed the Jones brothers for years until they'd proven they were not cut from the same cloth of their father.

And besides, there had to be other things in her past that Emma hadn't mentioned yet.

This is normal, he thought to himself as they decided on the layout of their rather simple invitations. It's just a bit of cold feet, and it doesn't help that we've only been together a short time. Other mated pairs have joined together on much less than we have now. We'll get to sharing these other parts of ourselves as time goes on.

He hoped they would, anyway.

[the-canary]

Pastel Colors - B.B (4/15)

Summary: If only the cute teacher would stop pestering you for a pen.(Library/Teacher AU! Reader/Bucky Barnes)

Prompt: you’re always asking me for a pencil because for some damn reason you don’t know that there is a whole store for stationary—happy birthday here’s a gift card to that store. wait, you work there? what the hell?

Word Count: 2414

Masterlist

A/N: This is for @bithors writing challenge. i finally get to introduce the fav stationery place and where this story is going, i really love this chapter so enjoy!

Feedback is always appreciated.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Saturday.

“Becca, do you have any more erasable ink pens?” you question coming up the aisle as the young women behind the counter-top thinks for a moment. The skin around her blue eyes crinkling for a moment in though, as her pixie blue hair sways back and forth for a moment.

“In pairs no, but singles should be a little ways back,” she answers pointing to the other side of the story, as you turn and give her a grateful smile. B’s Stationery had been your go-to place for for pens and other such things since you had moved to New York City 5 years ago, and while it was a trip away from your current studio apartment, you always made the trip to Brooklyn on the weekends. The owner, Rebecca Protractor, picked up the shop after her parents retired down to Florida and she continued it as a little extra side income for her and her husband, William, who worked as  sous-chef. She considered you one of her prized customers and even a friend who had unusual attachment to pens and others writing utensils.

“Didn’t you buy pair just last week?” She questions, as you stand next to the counter, eyeing the letter sets and flash drives on display. Neither you nor Wanda had sent a care package to Pietro in awhile, as he roamed throughout Australia as part of his job’s current project.

“The man I told you about last week,” you pause and place a blue and white tropical floral set next to the rest of the items you were going to buy, “He took the black pen and it just feels…”

“...Incomplete,” Rebecca finishes since she already knows what you are going to say. You give her a timid smile, knowing that she doesn’t mean any harm, though you are still a little weary of people knowing too much about you, it usually didn’t end well and all this collecting of stationery was your own coping mechanism but only Rebecca, Wanda, and Pietro knew that.

“No harm, my older brother is kinda like that too,” you quirked an eyebrow at the sudden mention of Rebecca’s older brother. You didn’t know if they were close or not and she didn’t mention him very often as her younger sisters, though when she did it was usually in either pride (he was an accomplished physicist that was once in the NASA program) or anger (he had dropped out of said program and moved back home after his fiancee broke up the engagement).  

“He collects pens too?” you ask, as you pick up your bag as she laughs, before suddenly lighting up with a bright smile on her face like she just had the world’s greatest idea. You try to take few steps back, but she’s already grabbing your wrist stopping your escape.

“I know it’s been awhile, but maybe I can set you guys up,” she smiles at the idea as you frown, “He’s a bit of a nerd, but I’m sure you’d hit it off great!”

“I don’t know…” you murmur, “That teacher wants to meet during weekends since we are both free at that time rather than school hours when he’s busy.”

“Just think about it, ‘kay?” she gives you that smile that you just can’t say no to, and nod your head slightly.

“I’ll think about it, promise.” is all you say as you wave goodbye until next weekend, though you are bit more unsure of coming back now that Rebecca had a certain idea in mind because she was stubborn as a mule when she did.

Sunday.

“So, it’s not a date?” Wanda questions you with Matcha at her side, as you look at the outfit in her full-length mirror. The weather was calling for more fall clothing, so you had decides to wear a long blue knitted sweater with a long-sleeve and jeans. Your friend had given you her approval and so had the true owner of your apartment with a long meow. Though, all your nerves seems to give your old friend the wrong idea.

“No, Wan. It’s not a date, it’s a meeting about the project,” you explain as you grab your bag and double check that you have all your papers, planner, and pencil case once more. She shakes her head as she give the black and white cat a few tummy rubs, Matcha had clearly always liked Wanda more than you.

“I mean..you never know,”she raises her eyebrows in that not-so subtle way, as you let out a groan and hit her with the nearest pillow, clearly not thinking of Mr. Barnes that way.

“I think the guy has to like you first,” you explain, clearly remembering your latest meeting with him, “I think Mr. Barnes thinks I’m pretty incompetent.”

“What the hell do you mean?” Wanda exclaims, causing Matcha to jump out of the bed with an annoyed sound coming out of her mouth. You shake your head, and go about explaining what had happened after the last meeting.

You’re getting ready to leave after all the teachers are done talking with each other when you see Mr. Barnes take the sit right next to you. There’s a frown on his face, as he start drumming one of your pens on desk like a drum. You look at him for a moment, unsure of what he was to say or if he’s here to steal another one of your precious items. He shakes his head slightly before speaking.

“Look, since we’re working as a team now. Maybe we should meet up, so we’re on the same page about all this. So no mistakes are made,” he sighs out the last part like he’s speaking to a child, and you can’t help but feel a little angry. From the corner of your eyes, you can see Natasha watching one as well.

“Sure, what do you have in mind?” you give him your most professional smile, as he goes on about meeting during the weekend since the rest of his week is filled with after school tutoring and Astronomy Club activities, so that you can hash out the finer details of what you both have in mind moving forward.

You are agree, but you not going to be thought of so lowly of if this is a partnership.

“Well, clearly that ass doesn’t know what he’s missing,” Wanda shakes her head as she gives you a small smile,”Just you wait, you’ll be driving him crazy in no time.”

“Wan, stop. You’re embarrassing me.”

It’s close to 3 in the afternoon when you get off the train and set off to a small cafe not that far from the school to meet him. He’s sitting outside with a cup and sandwich on his right and a stake of books on his left, he’s too engrossed in whatever he’s reading to notice you coming up to him. He runs a hand through his brown locks in what seems like agitation, though you can help but notice that he looks nice brown leather jacket and green shirt. You place your bag down on the table, which causes him to jolt from his seat just a little.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Barnes,” blue eyes look at you  for a moment, as if trying to process that you are standing right in front of him, as you give him a tight-lipped smile. When he finally gets it, he starts moving some of his books away, and giving you a bit more space to finally seat down.  

“James is fine,” he replies while putting a set of books down onto the floor, most people don’t seemed bothered by it and you wonder if he does it often in this particular cafe. You’re get caught up looking at the decor of the outside, a semi-shaded area with mostly wooden tables and chairs that gave it that cottage in the city feel, while through the large window you could see at least three bookshelves, which definitely caught your attention. You feel like going inside, but maybe for another time

“I’m sorry. W-What?” you ask for clarification on the statement you certainly missed.

“You can call me James. Mr. Barnes seems a little strange outside of school,” he explains, as you nod before saying the same about your own name. He gets something from his bag and hands it you, saying that’s it’s his proposal, if you wanted to look over it before talking about and future goals. You nod and smile, taking out a plastic bag full of highlighters before taking about a folder and handing it to him.

“What's this?” he looks at the folder before opening and you wiggle in your seat with a smile on your face hoping that the last three days of researching with Natasha and skyping with Pietro over his own field of study were worth it for the confused look on Mr. Barnes, -- no James’ face.

“It’s my own original proposal to Mrs. Potts-Stark and my notes on your own,” you declare, but instead of confusion like you expected, there is an excited smile on his face as he puts on his glasses and takes out one of those multi-colored pens. You glare a bit at the unknowing object, briefly wondering where your own missing pens could be.

It takes the both of you a good hour to go through both documents and throughout you found yourself glancing at the physics teacher’s face wondering what he was thinking as he changed from black to red and then blue ink. However, once or twice you caught an excited smile on his face and you felt your chest flutter with pride, you didn’t know why you wanted to impress him so badly, but you hoped that it was working. By the time, you were both done you had ordered a sandwich with a latte and Mr. Barnes was going through his 3rd couple of coffee.

“You really did your research,” James lets out in breathless excitement over everything he had read, while taking off his glasses, “Some of these are great ideas! It’s just really exciting, ya know?”

“I know,” you smile back behind your floral pattern cup, as he starts explaining what he wants to do with his classes and clubs, integrating the library after winter break at least once a week once the VR tech has been setup. You nod and suggest background research to be integrated into some of the latter courses after testing, so that they can get used to working with the tech and know of its history for a deeper appreciation of the whole experience. Once you’re done taking notes on the discussion, you finds yourself talking his Astronomy Club and how he got into physics, and you quickly learn that James has been a nerd -quite the handsome one- his whole life.  

“So, why did you choose Library Studies as your field?” he questions with curious blue eyes that seems to sparkle gray for a moment under the fairylights surrounding the cafe.

“Mmm...as long as I can remember I’ve always been stuck in the library,” you reply and play with your pen, “The library was like free daycare for my mom, I just couldn’t separate myself from it, still can’t I guess.”

James hums at your answer but say nothing about the loneliness he seems to pick up behind your explanation, instead steering it into another direction, “Then, why don’t you make it more fun? It’s your place, make a Library or Literature Club.”

“I’ve never really thought of it that way,” you remark, remembering that there was really a club beforehand because Mr. Philips’ enjoyed the solitude of the library more than the children towards the end of his career, without a proper say in you didn’t really have a choice but to follow what he said. You sort of continued that after he left, it was only now that it seemed like a good idea.

“I’m sure Mrs. P would approve, she sort of loves you,” he explains with a light grin on his face at the mention of the new principal, and even though you want to correct him on that train of thought, because you saw Mrs. Potts-Stark as nothing but a fair and honest person, you knew that her excitement over the library sort went above everything else if need be.

“Hmm...I’ll think about it,” you admit softly and all James does is nod eagerly like he’s already won.

He seems to be ready to say something else when the familiar sound of David Bowie’s Space Oddity rings between the both of you. You look around for a moment because that isn’t your cell phone melody, but it’s his and you can’t help but laugh as he gives you an embarrassed smile and shakes his head. God, he really was a space nerd! James goes to answering the message he had received, though there is a serious look on his face before he goes back to paying attention to looking at you.    

“I have to go,” he sighs, though Barnes seems unwilling to get up. It causes you to look at him for a moment as he rubs the back of his neck, “I have a double date with Steve and his girlfriend, Peggy.”

“Oh,” is all you can say, as he gives you a disappointed smile, “I guessing you don’t want to go.”

“No, it’s been awhile,” he explains and he looks at you with expectant blue eyes, as if you’re going to ask something else, but you just nod your head since you understand a little of where he’s coming from. He grips and releases his right hand in anxiety, as you slightly tap his palm with your pen. He’s looking at you, but you’re too engrossed with tapping his palm.

“You shouldn’t worried. You seem all right,” you explain without noticing how your words are affecting him, “I am sure you can show anyone a nice time... I mean this was fun .”

“Yeah?” his breathe hitches for a bit, though you don’t seem to catch it.

“Of course, James. I wouldn’t lie.”

It’s another ten minutes of silence before James decides to leave, so that he doesn’t run late and you say goodbye with a small wave before going your own way, completely unsure of the warm feeling building in your heart at the sight of his nervous smile is, but with a familiar black pen in your hand you hope his date goes well.  

Part 5

[hope-for-olicity]

Revelations

Upon reading of Felicity with another man, Oliver has a revelation that he may have waited too long to make his intentions clear.

So this is my first submission for the Olicity Hiatus Fic-a-Thon 2018 organized by @thebookjumper - the prompt was Revelation. Also available on AO3.

This story is set early in Season 6 with a few changes from canon. Curtis dies, on the island, Thea is fine and Felicity has her own business.

Oliver sat down at his desk in the Mayor’s office. He rubbed his hands over his face, let out a sigh. He did it. William was at school, he was at work, everything was under control.

He couldn’t lie, being a single father to a boy who just lost his mother, while being the Mayor and the Green Arrow was taking a toll on him. He felt like he was treading water. He worried if he stopped for just a moment, he would drown.

Enough self-pity. He turned to look at the mail his assistant left of on his desk. He began picking up the envelopes when a familiar face caught his eye. There was Felicity Smoak in all her glory on the front of Starling City Business magazine. She got the cover. It made him so proud.

He quickly flipped open the magazine to read the profile on the love of his life. She looked beautiful in a fuchsia dress with bright pink lipstick. God, he missed her. Yes, he’d seen her last night in the bunker but he felt like that was only in passing. He was burning the candle at both ends, that left no time to spend on his personal life. Felicity said she understood that he had to focus on William but how long would a woman as wonderful as she is willing to wait.

He glanced back down at the article. Felicity talked about the tragic loss of her partner in her first business, Curtis. He knew Curtis’ death was not something she nor the rest of them were anywhere near over. It hurt him to think of her grieving alone. Thea had checked in on her, a girl’s night, she said Felicity was withdrawn and wasn’t open to talking about it even with her constant pestering.

The rest of the article talked about Felicity’s newly launched Smoak Technologies and the spinal chip which she now had the legal right to mass produce after taking her other company Palmer Technologies to court for the patent. The headlines were amusing when she won, Smoak Sues Herself and Wins. Another moment, where Oliver was very proud but watching from a distance instead of by her side.

He knew Felicity had thrown herself into her work to help deal with the loss of Curtis. He was glad she was making such strides but he could see the sadness in her eyes. He looked down at the end of the interview where the reporter began inquiring about her personal life, her love life to be precise. The reporter asked if there was any truth to rumours that she was dating actor Chris Pine. Felicity said you know I don’t comment on my personal life but suffice it to say I’m happy.

I’m happy?! Oliver sat up straighter in his chair. Was she really dating Chris Pine?? He knew she had a long-standing crush on the actor but he wasn’t aware that they’d actually met. Had she moved on? It suddenly dawned him there was no reason for her not to move on. It’s not as though he’d given her any hints that a future with him was possible.

Upon their return from the island, they agreed that Oliver would focus on William. But since then, he quickly looked at his calendar, six months passed. If he knew Felicity, which he did, he knew she would never push him. She would put William’s well being above all else. She was emphatic about William needing his father so he knew he was making the right decision. But now….

William was doing so much better, he was still going to therapy but he was in school and making friends. He talked more, even joked with Raisa. Getting Raisa to come help out was one of the best decisions he’d made. Oliver remembered growing up how Raisa just got him and now she got William too. Things with William and him were improving but still on shaky ground.

It suddenly dawned on him that William would probably really like Felicity, well everyone liked Felicity but William liked Felicity things - comic books, computers, video games and he was really smart. Maybe it was time for them to meet again.

Oliver’s phone rang. He saw his receptionists number. “Yes, Mary.”

“Mayor Queen, your 10 o’clock meeting is in five minutes in the boardroom, Mr. Lance is in there now greeting the board members as they arrive.”

“Thanks, Mary, I’ll head in now.”

*****

Felicity was currently running her business out of her loft. She met with clients in restaurants so she decided to save on overhead until she actually had more than one employee. Currently, it was just Alena and her, she was hoping to add Thea Queen very soon.

In fact, Thea was due to arrive with lunch any minute. She wanted to lure Thea away from the Mayor’s office, she wasn’t sure how that would go over with Oliver. So, she decided to take the bull by the horns and ask Thea if she would even be interested in such a position.

Thea had such potential, she whipped the Mayor’s office into shape when she was Chief of Staff, the girl had people skills and manners ingrained in her by Moira Queen, she would be an asset wherever she worked. Felicity wanted that to be Smoak Technologies.

Felicity just finished tidying up her workplace when she heard the knock on the door. She opened the door to see Thea holding a tray of Big Belly Burger drinks in one hand and food in the other.

“Oh, let me take that from you!” Felicity quickly grabbed the drinks from Thea, she put them on the table.

Thea closed the door, followed behind Felicity. “Thanks!” Once she put the food down she quickly pulled Felicity in for a hug.

Thea released her. “So, sister-in-law what can I do for you?”

“Haha, very funny, Thea. Let’s eat the food while it’s hot. I’ll tell you my proposition.” Felicity took a seat, began taking the food out of the bag Thea brought.

“Oooh, consider me intrigued.” Thea dipped a french fry in ketchup. “I’m all ears.”

“Well, first I’d like to say if you are not interested, just say so. No hard feelings. All cool.” Felicity was starting to feel nervous.

Thea reached across the table to touch Felicity’s hand. “Hey, it’s okay. Just ask me. You are starting to worry me.”

“I was just going to say I’ve always admired you, Thea. You as a woman and as a professional. What you did with Verdant all those years ago and all the work you have done at City Hall. You impress the hell out of me.” Felicity smiled at Thea, she could see Thea was surprised by her words.

“Wow, Felicity, thanks. I mean thank you. I had no idea you saw me that way. It means a lot as I really respect you as a professional and you are the smartest person I know. That you would think so highly of me…” Thea smiled.

“Now, for my pitch. I’d like you to come work for Smoak Technologies. I believe you have a lot to offer. I really need the best when setting up my business. You know my core product is the chip stimulant that Curtis created. It costs a lot to re-create per each patient’s specifications and most people with spinal cord injuries don’t have that kind of money. So I need someone to help with fundraising. Both holding events and finding private donors to help aid in this process. Once we have established ourselves with the chip, I will begin introducing other products which will hopefully help improve the lives of others. You know, I want to work on that shiny beacon of hope we talked about before. So, what do you think?” Felicity began to fidget, she really wanted Thea to say yes.

“I think hell yes! Where do I sign? Seriously though, Felicity, you are giving me the opportunity of a lifetime. To use my skills to help you, help people. This would be a dream come true.” Thea jumped up, then stopped. “Can I hug you? Would that be unprofessional?”

“Not unprofessional at all. Come here!” Felicity held Thea tight they weren’t sisters-in-law yet but she would always consider Thea a part of her family. “I’m so so glad you are interested. Now, we can talk about the issue at hand. Do you think Oliver will be okay with me stealing you away from the Mayor’s office?”

“Are you kidding? Ollie will love it! He loves you! He’s so incredibly proud of what you are doing. I think he’d be thrilled for me to come work for you. Quentin is doing a great job as Chief of Staff, they no longer need me over there as a consultant. The only question is when can I tell him?” Thea laughed.

******

Oliver heard the knock on his office door. He finished signing his last document for the day as he looked up. “You’re not Mary.” He smiled.

“Nope,” Thea smiled back. “Mary stepped away, just wondering if you have a moment for your sister.”

“Always.” Oliver got up, greeted his sister with a hug. “What brings you by?”

“I have news!” Thea smiled brightly.

“Good news from the look on your face. So sit,” Oliver gestured toward the couch, he followed. “Tell me your news.”

“Felicity has asked me to come work for her at Smoak Technologies! She has big plans and she explained how my skills would help make that happen. She thinks I’m great!” Thea was practically bouncing in her chair.

“That’s fantastic, Thea! I agree with Felicity you would be an asset to Smoak Technologies. Good on her for stealing my overqualified staff.” Oliver joked, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice. Of course, he wanted Thea to go work for Felicity. They would compliment each other greatly. It was a marvelous opportunity for Thea but he would miss her. Truthfully, the only time he saw her nowadays was at work. Perhaps, it was time for a family dinner. William met Thea once, he knew Thea was dying to see her nephew again.

“Oliver? Did you stop listening? Are you okay? Are you mad that I’m leaving? Felicity was concerned but I told her you would be okay. Was I wrong?” Worry was creeping into Thea’s voice.

Oliver patted Thea’s hand. “Hey, sorry. Momentarily distracted. Not mad at all. So happy for you and Felicity. I was just thinking I would never see you if you leave City Hall, then I thought how it would be nice to have you over for dinner. William is doing better. It would be nice for him to see his aunt again.”

“Really? I can see William? That would be amazing! When do you want me to be there? Can I bring a gift? I mean, I missed so many birthdays so I’ve been buying things...can I give him something, PLEASE?!” Thea batted her eyelashes at her big brother.

“Of course you can bring him a present.” Oliver smiled, he really should have done this earlier. “How about tonight? I was going to make pasta. We can celebrate your new job. I miss you, Thea.”

“Tonight it is! Why don’t you swing by my office on your way out, I’ll head out with you?”

“Sounds perfect. How about a half hour? I just need to check some emails. The rest I can bring home.”

“Great! I’m going to let Quentin know about my new job. I’ll start packing up my desk.”

Oliver watched Thea walk away with a bounce in her step. He was still grateful she was alive, she was unconscious when he found her on the island. Luckily, she woke up shortly after. She had given him quite the fright.

*****

Thea: I told Ollie! He’s happy for me

Thea: When do you want me to start?

Felicity: That’s so good! Welcome to Smoak Tech!!!

Felicity: I understand you may need to tie things up at the Mayor’s office

Felicity: But I’d like you to start ASAP, I’m trying to put this event together for next weekend

Felicity: Could really use your expertise

Thea: I can be there tomorrow at 9

Felicity: Wow that would be AMAZING

Felicity: We can talk salary tomorrow...I promise I will pay you

Thea: No worries, I know where you sleep :)

Felicity: Hahaha

Felicity: See you tomorrow

Thea: Can’t wait

“Aunt Thea, who are you texting?” William wandered over to sit on the couch with Thea.

“I was texted my new boss, Felicity. I let her know I would start tomorrow. She seemed happy.” Thea smiled.

“Is this the same Felicity who was on the island?” William picked up the TV remote like he didn’t care about the answer.

Thea watched as William turned on the TV. “Yes, she is the same Felicity from the island. William, have you seen Felicity since the island?”

“No, but I guess she’s been busy. She seems really nice. Look she’s on the front of the magazine Dad brought home.” William got up, he brought the magazine to show his aunt Thea.

“Well how about that. Well done, Felicity.” Thea chuckled as she looked at the magazine.

“She’s pretty amazing, isn’t she?” Oliver stood looking down at his sister. “Dinner is ready.”

“I’ll go wash my hands.” William darted from the room.

Thea followed Oliver into the kitchen area. “William hasn’t seen Felicity since the island? What’s going on Oliver? I knew you were busy but I had no idea. Is this why you keep asking me questions about her? Do you ever see the woman you are in love with?”

As if he didn’t feel guilty enough, now he had his little sister pointing out his flaws. “Thea, I saw Felicity last night.” Yes, he’s defensive.

“Seeing her in the bunker before and after you change doesn’t count, big brother. You better be careful or she might move on to someone knew.” Thea teased.

Oliver’s faced grimaced before he could stop himself.

“What? Is there someone new? I’m shocked I can’t believe it! I don’t believe it! Who do you think she’s seeing??” Thea’s voice was rising as she became more excited.

“Who are we talking about?” William came into the kitchen.

Thea and Oliver responded at the same time, “Nobody, Felicity!”

“Oh, maybe now that Aunt Thea is working for Felicity we can see her again?” William looked hopefully at his father.

“Of course, we can see her again. She asks about you, buddy, I just wasn’t sure you were up for visitors.” Oliver said softly.

“Well, I’m not up for visitors but Felicity would be nice. Unless you don’t want to hang out with her.” William spoke the last words quickly as though embarrassed.

“Ha!” Thea couldn’t help herself. “Your father always wants to hang out with Felicity. Don’t ever let him tell you different. Now, back to the other topic, who do you think she’s seeing?” Thea began twirling her spaghetti around her fork.

“I didn’t say she was seeing anyone. It’s just the magazine reporter asked about Chris Pine.” Oliver looked down at his plate in disgrace. He’d never be able to compete with a gorgeous actor.

“Chris Pine? As in the actor? Now, I’m intrigued. Maybe she can set him up with me.” Thea smiled.

“Weren’t you listening, Thea? I just said Felicity might be dating him herself, she’s not going to set you up.” Oliver could feel his anger increasing the longer this conversation continued. He had to admit when it came to Felicity he became rather caveman like - Felicity mine - summed up his feelings.

“Ollie, Felicity is not dating Chris Pine,” Thea spoke with a serious tone.

“You don’t know that, Thea. Besides, there is no reason she couldn’t be. Chris Pine would be lucky to date her.” Great, now Thea knew he was defensive.

“Oliver Queen,” Thea put down her fork, waited until he looked at her before continuing. “Felicity Smoak loves you. She will always love you. She’s not dating Chris Pine or anyone else. Hell, I think she’d turn down Chris Hemsworth for you!”

Oliver was puzzled. “Who is Chris Hemsworth?”

William took the opportunity to jump into the conversation. “Dad, Chris Hemsworth plays Thor.”

“Oh,” was all Oliver could think to say.

“My point, dear brother, is Felicity doesn’t want anyone else ever. You are her always, she is just waiting for you to give her a sign. If you ask me, she’s been pretty damn patient. Time for you to step it up.”

Thea used a tone that made her sound like their mother, not that Oliver would say that out loud, somehow he knew it wouldn’t go over well.

“In fact, why don’t you drop over now. I can hang with William until you get back. He hasn’t had enough Thea influence in his life yet.” Thea winked.

“But…” Oliver wasn’t sure what to say. “The dishes…”

William got up, began collecting the plates and silverware. “I can load the dishwasher, Dad. Aunt Thea’s right you should go see Felicity. Maybe you could invite her over here sometime.”

“It’s settled. Go.” Thea’s tone brooked no insolence.

“Okay, I’m just going to change.” Oliver began walking toward his room.

“Wear a blue shirt - Felicity likes you blue shirts,” Thea called after him.

*****

Oliver knocked on the loft door carrying flowers. He was suddenly having second thoughts about the flowers, were they too much?

Felicity opened the door. “Oliver? It’s nice to see you.”

Oliver held out the flowers.

Felicity took the flowers. “Wow, for me? Thanks. Come in. Can I ask why you brought me flowers? Not, that I don’t love them. I do...it’s just that we haven’t really spent much time on our own. Not that I’m mad. I understand you have responsibilities. It’s just I missed you a lot so the flowers are nice...I’m going to stop talking now.”

Oliver shuffled his feet, giving away his nerves. “Please don’t. I love listening to you talk.”

“Wow, flowers and compliments. Oliver, you are killing me.” Felicity blushed.

Oliver stepped forward cupped Felicity’s cheek. “I’ve really missed you too.”

Felicity stepped forward so they were as close as possible. “Do you think kissing, might help with that?”

Oliver nodded before quickly capturing Felicity’s lips. Felicity sank into Oliver. She just gave into the feeling of being in his arm again. One of Oliver’s hand remained on her cheek but his other hand moved down her side and back to cup her butt, pulled her closer still.

“God, Felicity,” Oliver broke the kiss for a moment.

“I hope that’s a good God?” She looked up at him nervously.

“Felicity, I’ve missed you every second. I love you. I needed to say that because I had a revelation today that I might not have been clear about that.”

Felicity pressed a quick peck on his lips. “No, you were clear. I knew you had to take care of William. I agreed, remember?”

They were still a breathe apart, Oliver growled, “I remember but that was months ago, then Chris Pine.”

Felicity was confused. Then it dawned on her. “The article. Oliver, I met Chris Pine at a party recently. I totally fangirled it was embarrassing for him and me. You know about my celebrity crush but that’s all it is. I love only one man, named Oliver Queen.”

Oliver kissed her again more passionately. Felicity really wanted this continue so she pulled back for a moment. “Oliver, how long do you have?” She was a little out of breath, quite frankly dazzled. “I mean, where is William?”

“William is home with Thea. Both encouraged me to come spend some time with you. So, I’m in no rush. Do you have something you need to do tonight?” Oliver asked suddenly realizing she might. He looked down at her, noticing for the first time she was in pajama pants and a tank top.

“Just you, Mr. Queen.” She hopped in his arms. “So you had a realization that you needed to make it clear you loved me, how about you show me?”

Hope you liked :) I’m tagging some people but let me know if you would like to be tagged or untagged.

@memcjo @wherethereissmoak @green-arrows-of-karamel @mel-loves-all @spaztronautwriter @charlinert @tdgal1 @oliverfel4 @vaelisamaza @coal000 @miriam1779 @laurabelle2930 @onceuponarrow @cruzrogue @lageniuswannabe

[akaluan]

Kisuke Adopts the Kids Pt4: Uryuu Interlude

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

((So Uryuu gets a scene to himself here, because otherwise this part of the story would be skipped since Kisuke is giving Uryuu space to think and isn’t pressuring him.

I think maybe... three or four more parts? I’m not taking this to the start of canon, at least not in this round.))

Uryuu kept to himself after that night, going between the shoten and school with as little interaction between himself and Urahara as he could manage. He wasn’t certain how he felt about the man now, after finding out that he was a Shinigami; did that negate everything the man had done for him so far, or didn’t it?

So instead he holed himself up in his room and ran the conversation through his mind again and again, searching for something, /anything/, that could prove the man a liar.

(There had to be something. There had to be.)

Kurosaki Ichigo left him alone the first day, and the second, and the third, and Uryuu hoped that meant the other boy would just leave him be until he /finally/ sorted this out. This wasn’t something that Kurosaki Ichigo could help him with, he was certain.

(He didn’t /need/ the other boy to help. He didn’t. He was just fine on his own.)

Except Kurosaki didn’t get the hint, finally growing tired of Uryuu hiding himself away, and came to pester him. The boy knocked on his door, then cracked it open and peered in, brows drawn together and mouth drawn down in a frown. “Hey, you okay?” he asked.

“Go away,” Uryuu muttered, looking back at the homework he’d been half-heartedly working on.

“Nope.” Kurosaki stepped into his room and slid the door closed behind him. He flopped down on Uryuu’s futon and leaned into Uryuu’s side, looking down at Uryuu’s work. “So what’s wrong? You haven’t hidden like this since you first came to stay.”

“Nothing’s /wrong/,” Uryuu said, answering another problem and trying to ignore the way Kurosaki was pressed against his side.

“Uhhuh. So what’s got you distracted enough you’ve answered like half of those wrong?”

Uryuu froze, looking back at previous problems with a more critical eye, and groaned when he realized Kurosaki was /right/. Problem after problem had glaring issues that he’d simply glossed over, and it made him wonder whether he’d already turned in something just as bad.

He dropped his pencil onto the workbook and took off his glasses, rubbing at his eyes and desperately hoping that the tears he could start to feel would /stay away/.

(He couldn’t cry in front of Kurosaki. He /wouldn’t/. He wasn’t a /baby/.)

“Hey, it’s okay,” Kurosaki said. He reached out and wrapped an arm around Uryuu’s shoulders, pulling Uryuu into an unexpected hug. “It’s okay. Tell me what’s wrong so I can help, okay?”

Uryuu struggled half-heartedly against Kurosaki’s hold, before slumping against Kurosaki’s chest and making himself comfortable. Kurosaki was /warm/, and his reiatsu was so… open, and friendly, and /caring/, that it was hard to resist. “You can’t help,” he muttered.

“Well, we don’t know that until you tell me,” Kurosaki pointed out.

He hesitated, but Kurosaki was right. Even if Uryuu doubted Kurosaki could help, they wouldn’t /know/ until Kurosaki knew everything. “Promise not to tell anyone?” he asked, hating how small his voice sounded.

“Promise.”

Uryuu bit his lip, then reluctantly began, “Sensei… Sensei died this spring—” and once he started, it all came tumbling out. His grandfather’s death because of Shinigami being late, his mother falling into a coma, her death, what he found… /him/… doing, and fleeing the hospital because of that. Being found by Urahara. Being offered to make this /permanent/, and the revelation of Urahara being one of /them/ and not knowing what to /do/.

By the end of it, he was sobbing into Kurosaki’s shirt, clinging to the other boy with both hands and desperately hoping he didn’t mind. Kurosaki continued the hug, though, rocking them back and forth and just listening to Uryuu speak the entire time.

“What do you really want to do?” Kurosaki asked after Uryuu’s sobs quieted. He continued before Uryuu could speak, “I mean. Does it really matter if Urahara-san is a… a Shinigami or not?”

Uryuu opened his mouth to declare that of /course/ it did, then slowly closed it. Truth was, he couldn’t say either way, and that was what was causing him problems. “I don’t know.”

“So… so he left, right? He’s not part of that group anymore?”

“I… don’t think so,” Uryuu agreed. That, at least, was the impression he’d gotten from how Urahara had spoken. “He… he said he was lucky to escape?”

Kurosaki hummed faintly and rested his chin atop Uryuu’s head. “Well, then he probably didn’t have anything to do with your grandfather’s death. And he took you in that night without question, and never brought up the Quincy thing until the talk about him being your guardian. So… so I don’t think he cares about the Quincy thing? He cares about /you/.”

“He did say it could be dangerous,” Uryuu said. He wriggled a bit in Kurosaki’s hold, trying to get more comfortable, then settled down once his legs were no longer twisted awkwardly.

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Kurosaki tapped his fingers lightly on Uryuu’s back, reiatsu fluttering thoughtfully. “Like how the teachers at my dojo don’t want us practicing alone. Cause we can hurt ourselves if we do something wrong.”

Uryuu hummed in agreement. When he thought about it like that, it did make sense. Sensei had given him the same restrictions, after all, telling him he wasn’t supposed to practice on his own unless Sensei said he could. “Do… do you think Urahara-san could teach me?”

“Maybe. That’s something you should ask him, though.”

“Should I agree, Kurosaki..?” Uryuu tentatively asked, tucking his head more firmly against Kurosaki’s chest. He felt calm for the first time in days, with Kurosaki hugging him and his reiatsu draped around Uryuu like a heavy, warm blanket.

(He couldn’t even bring himself to care about appearances.)

“I would, but it’s not my life. And call me Ichigo, already!” Kurosaki grumbled without heat, poking Uryuu in the side as he said it. “We’re friends.”

Uryuu squirmed at the poke and huffed. “But… I… fine,” he reluctantly agreed, uncertain /what/ he was feeling.

(They were… friends? Oh…)

“Do you want to?” Kurosaki — Ichigo — turned the question back on him. And when Uryuu nodded before he could start to think too hard on it, Ichigo continued, “Then talk it out with him. I think he’s missed you around.”

“He… has?”

“Yeah. He’s just… I don’t know…” Ichigo paused to consider his words, then said, “Quieter? He seems… sad, I guess.”

“Oh,” Uryuu murmured, thinking back to when he’d left the room, and Urahara had folded over and rested his head on his arms, like he was tired. He’d thought that maybe Urahara was tired of the argument, or of /him/, but… maybe that wasn’t the case? Maybe Ichigo would know. “When… when I left the room that night, Urahara-san sort of… folded over and put his head in his arms? I… I though he was just tired, but…”

“Maybe,” Ichigo agreed. “But he was talking about sad things, right? So… maybe he was just dealing with sad memories, and waited for you to leave.”

“Why would he wait?”

Ichigo shrugged. “Adults are weird like that. They don’t want kids to worry, so they hide when they’re sad about stuff.”

“Oh.” Uryuu mulled that over, thinking on Urahara’s words, on running and hiding for decades from his own people. Was Urahara afraid of Shinigami like Uryuu was afraid of… of his father now?

“It’ll be okay. Just talk with him, please?”

He bit his lip and squeezed his eyes closed at Ichigo’s gentle tone. “What if he’s changed his mind?”

“He hasn’t, trust me,” Ichigo replied.

“You’re sure?” Uryuu felt Ichigo’s nod and sighed. He didn’t know why he trusted Ichigo’s judgment so much, he’d only known the other for a couple of weeks. “Alright… I’ll… I’ll talk with him.”

“Thank you,” Ichigo murmured, holding Uryuu tight and resting his chin on Uryuu’s head again. He didn’t seem in any hurry to let Uryuu go, even now that their conversation was over, and Uryuu couldn’t find it in him to protest.

Silence settled over them, and Uryuu let himself relax, comfortable and warm and /safe/, his mind at rest for the first time in days.

[ludacryst]

Survey Says..

1: How tall or short do you wish you were? I'm 5'3, but I sometimes wish I was shorter because of how cute it can be in a relationship. I've watched too much anime, okay?

2: What’s your dream pet? (Real or not) Well, @warpedbelief didn't help me figuring this out because his dragon idea was really cool. However... I'll just stick with cats. I love cats. (I also love dragons..)

3: Do you have a favorite clothing style? Comfortable. Lol. I mostly wear PJs.

4: What was your favorite video game growing up? Final Fantasy series in general. 7 & 9 Specifically. My heart was always with Zelda ALTTP though.

5: What three things/people do you think of most each day: Erwin, Wiggles, PoF (Power of Friendship, so my friends/family.)

6: If you had a warning label, what would yours say? Caution : Speaks her mind far too often. No filter. Bossy af. Does not cave easily.

7: What is your opinion on [insert person/thing here]? I don't know.

8: What is your Greek personality type? [Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, or Melancholic] Melancholic.

9: Are you ticklish? .....No...?....(Yes)

10: Are you allergic to anything? Lots of stuff. There's a list uploaded somewhere.

11: What’s your sexuality? Heteronormative Bisexual. I used to call it straight with a twist until I figured out there was an actual term for it. Basically, I'm emotionally attracted to men and commonly see myself in a relationship with men. (My Husband, HI.) However, I have similar attractions physically to women, but have never seen myself in a relationship with one other than physically.

12: Do you prefer tea, coffee, or cocoa? Cocoa or Tea, but I'll drink any of em.

13: Are you a cat or dog person? Cat. 1000% They're chill just like me... once they're older.

14: Would you rather be a vampire, elf, or merperson? Elf, probably. I love nature, I hate being allergic to it though.

15: Do you have a favorite Youtuber? Nah, I just skim youtube from time to time, no favorite.

16: How tall are you? 5'3.

17: If you had to change your name, what would you change it to? I'd probably keep it in the realm it's already in. So, I'm Crystal. I go by Crys (Chris) so probably Christina.. or anything that could shorten it to Chris of sorts. It's just me.

18: How much do you weigh? 175-190, depends on if I've ate fast food recently or not. More averaged at 186, but it's jumped a lot the past few months. Goal weight is 125.

19: Do you believe in ghosts/spirits? Sure. I don't disbelieve. Had a thing when i was a kid a few times that make me think something exists.. whether or not we know what it is.

20: Do you like space or the ocean more? Space. Stars. I love water don't get me wrong, but I'm more curious about what we can't physically reach.

21: Are you religious? Nah.

22: Pet peeves? Liars, people who try to grind my gears, people saying "I'm going to do it just to spite you." I'm tired of toxicity of people.

23: Would you rather be nocturnal or diurnal [opposite of nocturnal]? Diurnal. I'm defaulted to Nocturnal, so just eat some edibles and we're in bed by 10pm! :)

24: Favorite constellation? Leo ;)

25: Favorite star? Sirius, it shines the brightest.

26: Do you like ball-jointed dolls? I don't like dolls. They're creepy.

27: Any phobias or fears? Irrational : Dolls, Being around people. Rational : Heights, Closed Spaces t-t

28: Do you think global warming is real? Fucking. Is this seriously a question? Of course it's real.

29: Do you believe in reincarnation? I actually like to. It gives me hope there's something after death.

30: Favorite movie? I'm not sure I have a favorite movie...

31: Do you get scared easily? Nah, but I love a good jump scare.

32: How many pets have you own in your lifetime? Christina - My first doggie, passed away when I was in 4th grade. She was a mini collie~ Alexi - My green/yellow parakeet. Passed away at roughly 2-3 years old. Jiggy - My gray/white beautiful DHS big boi kitty. (2006-2016) Momma - My loving calico who picked me over everyone. ;o;  (2006-2018) Wiggles - Adopted from my family, he's a tyrant! He loves his dad more than me tho... [rude] (2016-???)

33: Blog rate? [You’ll rate the blog of the one who’s asking.] You CC please.

34: What is a color that calms you? Blue. Blue is always relaxing, especially softer/darker blues.

35: Where would you like to travel and/or live? Travel wise, I want to visit a lot of places. Germany, UK, Canada... more specifically Niagara Falls.. Live wise, if I could, I'd live in Canada. However... I just want to live in the midwest, or east, somewhere more affordable in the US.

36: Where were you born? Ohio!

37: What is your eye color? Blue-gray.

38: Introvert or extrovert? 1000% introverted.

39: Do you believe in horoscopes and zodiacs? I think they're amusing as fuck. I don't believe/follow them 100%. I do like to imagine what it would be like if they were right though. I follow zodiac stuff way more than horoscope.

40: Hugs or kisses? xoxoxo - Preferably hugs, they're for everyone! *HUGS*

41: Who is someone you would like to see/visit right now? Scotty! ( @warpedbelief )

42: Who is someone you love deeply? @hyphenhero - My husbando.

43: Any piercings you want? I really dunno any more. The only one I've been considering lately is Daith.

44: Do you like tattoos and piercings? I don't dislike tattoos and piercings.

45: Do you smoke or have you ever done so? Cigarettes are disgusting. Be more descriptive of your "smoking." I have marijuana vapes I enjoy.

46: Talk about your crush, if you have one! Well, I married him.

47: What is a sound you really hate? Anything pitchy. My ears have been killing me the past year or so.

48: A sound you really love? Meow.

49: Can you do a backflip? HAHAHA No.

50: Can you do the splits? Almost did them on accident the other day. It really hurt. (No)

51: Favorite actor and/or actress? Do voice actors count? Because then I'm between two. Johnny Yong Bosch and Matt Mercer.

52: Favorite movie? Wasn't this asked already? I don't have one.

53: How are you feeling right now? Tired.

54: What color would you like your hair to be right now? I really want to bleach it blonde again.

55: When did you feel happiest? Maybe when we first moved into our second apartment? The rent was cheaper, it was nice. I miss freedom. Though, I also miss having a full guild of friends and getting along and having fun together.. Man I'm getting old.

56: Something that calms you down? Marijuana primarily. Hugs. Kittens.

57: Have any mental disorders? [Only ask this if you know the user doesn’t mind!] Anxiety, Depression, Memory issues xD Honestly you should just ask if there's stuff NOT wrong with me.

58: What does your URL mean? It's a nickname a friend gave me 11 years ago. Holy crap. It's been 11 years.

59: What three words describe you the most? Sassy, Bratty, Mom-ish.

60: Do you believe in evolution? Yes.

61: What makes you unfollow a blog? Too much spam/boring content. Stuff I'm not interested in. Sometimes inactivity for years.

62: What makes you follow a blog? Stuff I'm interested in typically.

63: Favorite kind of person: People I can just talk to about anything. I like to talk. I don't like to be pestered and felt bad about not responding right away. I enjoy helping people. So I'm mostly a listener. I like to talk about stuff we're mutually interested in. Sometimes I love people I can debate with but not hate after (reasonable debates.) I guess I'm going to be that guy and copy what my friend said.. "Engaging, but not too much that I’m constantly tired. I like doing nothing, but doing nothing with the right person."

64: Favorite animal(s): Cats. All the cats.

65: Name three of your favorite blogs. I don't really actively follow any specific blog in particular! :x

66: Favorite emoticon: :smirk: (use it on discord... though if you played maplestory, it's an F3 equivalent... )

67: Favorite meme: You said that tho?

68: What is your MBTI personality type? INFJ-T

69: What is your star sign? Leo

70: Can your dog roll over on command, if you have a dog? No dog, but you'd be damn right to guess I'd train them.

71: What outfit out of all your clothes do you like to wear the most? Any of the fluffy pjs with a thin tank top.

72: Post a selfie or two? https://ludacryst.tumblr.com/tagged/me https://ludacryst.tumblr.com/tagged/wedding

73: Do you have platform shoes? Nah. I don't have heels either.

74: What is one random but interesting fact about yourself? My memory is absolutely shit in most situations.  However, in certain and RANDOM AF situations it can be clear as day. If I want to learn/remember something? Forget about it. If I could not care less about something? You'll be damn straight I'll remember it.

75: Can you do a front flip? Lol, no.

76: Do you like birds? Yeah, cept the annoying high pitched ones T_T

77: Do you like to swim? I used to love to. I can't really be in the sun for long any more though.

78: Is swimming or ice skating more fun to you? Never been Ice Skating! Always wanted to try. I'd probably equally enjoy both.

79: Something you wish didn��t exist: Mosquitoes, Cancer, Violence. On the violence part... It's mostly guns. If we had swordsman style fights - It'd be more interesting.

80: Some thing you wish did exist: Cures to incurables. Cancer, Epilepsy, Autism, etc. (I'm an epilepsy survivor.)

81: Piercings you have? Had an eyebrow piercing, lost it the same month I got it to pink eye.

82: Something you really enjoy doing: Watching television. I miss reading. I have a hard time focusing on reading now.

83: Favorite person to talk to: I have 3! Erwin (@hyphenhero) - My husband~ and my friends Scott (@warpedbelief)  and Brandon.

84: What was your first impression of Tumblr? What the fuck is this and why do people use it? inb4 I replaced wordpress with it.

85: How many followers do you have? I don't really check. My Tumblr is mostly for me... and I just restarted fresh these past few months.

86: Can you run a mile within ten minutes? Maybe if I tried. Used to be able to run one in 6.

87: Do your socks always match? Yeah.

88: Can you touch your toes and keep your legs straight completely? HA, Never could.

89: What are your birthstones? Peridot, Sardonyx, Spinel

90: If you were an animal, which one would you be? Cat? Yes. Spoil me.

91: If a flower could aesthetically represent you, what kind would it be? Tulips.

92: A store you hate? Umm.... I don't know if I avoid any stores in particular....

93: How many cups of coffee can you drink in one day? 1-2. My stomach gets pretty upset.

94: Would you rather be able to fly or read minds? Fly. Definitely. I get lost in my own mind enough.

95: Do you like to wear camo? Situationally.

96: Winter or summer? Winter 100%. Hate the heat. Love the snow.

97: How long can you hold your breath for? I don't know. Like 30 seconds maybe?

98: Least favorite person? They who will not be named. It gives them too much attention.

99: Someone you look up to: I used to look up to my mom a lot. Now I'm more-so my own person, I just do what I can to do right by me and my hubby.

100: A store you love? Uhm.. Any cheap store... I don't really have a favorite. I guess amazon for saving me gas?

101: Favorite type of shoes Skechers.

102: Where do you live? California.

103: Are you a vegetarian or vegan? If so, why? Nah. I love ham too much.

104: What is your favorite mineral or gem? Cubic Zirconia actually. It's so undervalued but so pretty.

105: Do you drink milk? Used to. Not really much any more.

106: Do you like bugs? Sometimes. But not in the house.

107: Do you like spiders? Sure, they get rid of the bad bugs.

108: Something you get paranoid about? Being followed. Bugs crawling on me.

109: Can you draw: Used to be able to. Not any more.

110: Nosiest question you have ever been asked? I don't know, I usually tell people anything they ask lol.

111: A question you hate being asked? Any question I had previously already answered, and they just weren't paying attention. Anything related to me/my own working/schooling.

112: Ever been bitten by a spider? Not that I can remember.

113: Do you like the sound of waves at the beach? Yeah, it's really relaxing.

114: Do you prefer cloudy or sunny days? Cloudy, 100%

115: Someone you’d like to kiss or cuddle right now: I would like to cuddle Momma right now.. Why you gotta go and make a girl sad for survey thing? (My calico that passed away last year..)

116: Favorite cloud type: Cumulus, Cumulonimbus, and Nimbostratus. Yes I googled them for their names.

117: What color do you wish the sky was? I honestly love the colors the sky is/can be, especially at sunrise and sunset.

118: Do you have freckles? Yes, but you can only see them when I have a tan. So to anyone who hasn't seen me since I was 10, you'd never know I had them.

119: Favorite thing about a person: How they treat people. If they're kind to animals. Eyes. Definitely eyes.

120: Fruits or vegetables? Fruits @_@

121: Something you want to do right now: Play Zelda - BoTW on Hard - but... I'm lazy.

122: Is the ocean or sky prettier? Ocean. But they look best together.

123: Sweet or sour foods? Candies or actual food? Food, sweet. Candies, sour.

124: Bright or dim lights? Dim as you can go without causing me to have seizures over tiny little things.

125: Do you believe in a certain magical creature? I wish. Dragons would rock my world.

126: Something you hate about Tumblr: Yahoo owning it.

127: Something you love about Tumblr: The freedom it USED to have.

128: What do you think about the least? I dunno, I think about it the least... so it won't naturally come to me.

129: What would you want written on your tombstone? Carpe Diem ....heheheh.

130: Who would you like to punch in the face right now? Why would I name them? Again with the attention thing.

131: What is something you love but also hate about yourself? My Epilepsy. It's shown me who really gives a fuck about me, but also it's taken a lot from me.

132: Do you smile with your teeth showing for pictures? No, I hate my teeth.

133: Computer or TV? Computer, it offers more.

134: Do you like roller coasters? Never been on one, definitely want to try.

135: Do you get motion sickness or seasickness? Sometimes motion sickness, never got seasick tho.

136: Are your ears lobed or attached? Attatched.

137: Do you believe in karma? I like to believe in Karma, but I really feel like people don't get their just desserts :(

138: On a scale of 1-10, how attractive would you say you are? -5

139: What nicknames do you have/have had? Crys, Crysti, Cryssi, Crysii, Ludacryst, Toxie, Punky, there's probably more but effort.

140: Did you have any pretend or imaginary friends? I am unsure.

141: Have you ever seen a therapist/shrink? Yes. More than one therapist.

142: Would you say you are a good or bad influence to others? Yes.

143: Do you prefer giving or receiving gifts/help? Giving.

144: What makes you angry? Lots of little things. Dumb things. Mostly the way medical/doctors are here... Our president... a lot of things really.

145: How many languages do you speak fluently? I can barely manage English, you want me to learn more?!

146: Do you prefer boys, girls, and/or non-binaries? I kinda answered this earlier.

147: Are you androgynous? No.

148: Favorite physical thing about yourself: My eye color.

149: Favorite thing about your personality: I'm more willing to let people go if they make my life worse. I used to be terrible at that.

150: Name three people you would like to talk to right now in person. My Mom, Scooter, Matt Mercer.. (shh)

151: If you could go back into time and live in one era, which would you choose? ANY ERA WITH KNIGHTS AND KINGDOMS AND WEEEEEEE............ (I like a lot of oldie based shows.)

152: Do you like BuzzFeed? Eh.

153: How did you meet your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend/partner? [If you have one.] MapleStory. Not even remotely kidding.

154: Do you like to kiss others’ foreheads or hands for platonic reasons? Yes. I'm a very touchy person if I trust the person. I prefer hugs on most though. Forehead is pretty sentimental to me.

155: Do you like to play with others’ hair? Sometimes, yeah.

156: What embarrasses you? My teeth, my weight, a lot of things.

157: Something that makes you nervous/anxious: People. Crowds. Planes. Heights. New Doctors.

158: Biggest lie you have ever told: If it's the biggest lie I've ever told, do you think I'm going to out myself on social media?

159: How many people are you following? Fuck if I know... I'm too lazy to check.

160: How many posts do you have on your blog(s)? See #159

161: How many drafts do you have on your blog(s)? See #159

162: How many likes do you have on your blog(s)? See #159

163: Last time you cried and why: It's been over a lot of things. My health, my families health, my cat, hurting myself, etc.

164: Do you have long or short hair? Medium?

165: Longest your hair has ever been: Just below my shoulders.

166: Why do you like, dislike, or have neutral feelings about religion? Neutral mostly, because you can't prove or disprove a god exists. Just because you haven't seen something does that mean it's not there? Also, just because you believe in something, does it mean that it exists really? I'm agnostic. Though Wicca seems like a more reasonable religion in most aspects (I've dabbled in research, I hope that doesn't offend anyone.)

167: Do you really care how the universe and world was created? Not really. I just care if it's gonna blow up before I die.

168: Do you like to wear makeup? Like? Not usually, it just helps me feel a little better sometimes.

169: Can you stand on your hands or head for more than thirty seconds? Nope.

170: Did you answer the questions you were asked truthfully? As much as I could.

[ladylynse]

How about something more with Debbie? Maybe something with Le Beret? Or maybe Debbie knowing Randy being the ninja? Thank you! ^^

Sorry for the wait on this! I hope you enjoy the story. It’s set immediately after Let Them Eat Cake Fries. Thanks for the request.

Anonymity: [FF | AO3] Anonymity isso passé. I know who you are. Really, what was Randy supposed to think when Debbie texted him that?

After two hours without rest, Debbie stuck her shovel intothe cake batter and sat down to rest her aching muscles; almost everyone elsehad given up, even though they were doing this for Le Beret.

Le Beret.

Howard Weinerman.

It was…hard…to believe they were one and the same. LeBeret’s pranks had been exquisite, all perfectly timed and pulled off without ahitch. Howard had almost drowned them all in cake batter—would have, if theNinja hadn’t baked it in time. She could admire Howard’s dedication to thecause, for all that she had seen him and Randy bail on the cleanup effort, buthis execution didn’t seem up to snuff with Le Beret’s.

It was almost as if he wasn’t Le Beret and had just beencovering for the folk hero.

Debbie frowned, seizing on the idea. She knew Howard wasgood at pranks—usually—since he and Randy would have a go at each other everyonce in a while. But for Howard to just be helping Le Beret, that meant thereal Le Beret was either Randy or Heidi; no one else would enlist Howard’shelp. Even Julian or Bucky would turn to a different friend before leaning onHoward, considering it was practically common knowledge that Howard and Randytold each other everything.

Thing was, she already knew it wasn’t Heidi. They’d kept incontact on the story too often for her to be able to go radio silent withoutDebbie noticing. The real question was whether Randy could pull off somethinglike this, albeit with Howard’s help.

Granted, he had been the one to rally them together in thefirst place, suggesting they all rip up Principal Slimovitz’s pamphlets withoutreading them.

And it could have been guilt that had prompted him to act inthe cafeteria when he’d realized Slimovitz couldn’t swim in batter. A prankgone too far, something he’d felt obliged to right.

She could vaguely recall seeing Howard disappear frequentlytoday—Randy’s usual trick—but there were enough times that Randy wasn’taccounted for, either. And while she wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of Randybeing Le Beret, it was easier to believe it of him than of Howard. Randy typicallymade a terrible show of it—probably an act, come to think of it—but he stood upfor people. He could play the hero. And she could easily believe he could inspirepeople to follow his lead, at least if he was wearing a mask and no one knewhis true identity.

Had Howard and Randy sneaked away not to skive off work butto get their stories straight so that no one suspected Randy was the true LeBeret? So that he would be free to act again when Norrisville next needed ahero who wasn’t the Ninja?

Debbie smiled. That had to be it. The two of them were good;she’d give them that. She’d nearly missed it. Howard might have been the faceof Le Beret, but Randy had been the real hero behind the mask. She’d have towrite an article about it. Howard still deserved credit for what he did do, ofcourse—some of which was more impressive than nearly drowning them all—but ifshe could show that Le Beret’s spirit was embodied in both of them, it wouldmake an easier argument that anyone else could step into Le Beret’s shoes andfight for what was right.

Next time, it wouldn’t be cake fries.

Next time, they weren’t likely to get something just as goodor better as a replacement.

And next time, someone else might need to step up to be LeBeret, the person they could all rally behind.

Debbie pulled out her phone. She wanted to get this storyinto the next edition of the NHGTTWDPC (online edition), and if nothing else,she needed a statement from Le Beret. Thanks to Theresa, she had Randy’snumber. She doubted he had hers, but that wouldn’t matter; he’d be curiousenough to meet her anyway, and she had no doubt he’d drag Howard with him.Smirking, she sent him a text.

When Randy’s phone beeped, he thought it might be his momsince he was standing next to Howard. “Leave it,” Howard said as he poppedanother chip into his mouth. “If it’s actually important, you’d get a phonecall. This—“ and here he waved a hand at the swamp in front of them “—is moreimportant.”

Howard wasn’t exactly wrong, even though Randy didn’tusually get texts from his mom at this time of day. After realizing how quicklyhe’d baked the cake batter with the Tengu Fireball, they’d (eventually) talkedabout the idea of baking mud the same way. He might not always be able to relyon Sandjas for everything, and he kinda liked the idea of being able tobasically fire cannonballs at robots. Not that he was sure hitting mud withheat would work, but pottery was basically firing clay, right? There couldn’tbe much difference.

They’d steered clear of Booray’s corner of the swamp (Randywas not going through that again ifhe could help it) in favour of hiding out closer to where they’d scared thesnot out of Doug with the Mudfart story. Howard’s job was going to be flinging mudat Randy (he was more enthusiastic about that than strictly necessary), andRandy was going to shoot a fireball at it. Once he figured that part out, he’dwork on shifting into the Earth Attack.

The phone beeped again.

“That’s just the reminder,” complained Howard as Randypulled out his phone. He crumpled up his chip bag and shoved it into hispocket. “I thought we were—”

“It’s not from my mom.” The number was local but not oneRandy recognized. The message, on the other hand….

Anonymity is so passé.I know who you are. Meet me behind the school in half an hour.

Howard pulled the phone out of his hand. “C’mon, Cunningham,are we going to do this thing or not?”

“Howard.” The name came out as a croak. Randy wasn’t surehis voice was working anymore.

Howard glanced at the phone. “Kang’s number,” he said.“What’s she want?” And, as Randy watched, Howard’s eyes went wide. “Oh, man,she’s so getting ready to wonk your cheese.”

Randy knew Debbie had been investigating the Ninja.

He had not known he’d given her the last pieces of thepuzzle.

“What am I supposed to do?”

Howard shrugged and handed back the phone. “Play dumb? Tellher she has the wrong number? Mind wipe her? Prank her? Your call, bro. You’rethe one who shoobed this up.” Perhaps in response to what Randy was sure was astricken look on his face, Howard added, “Tell you what. Say what you needdoing and I’ll help you do it. Just remember you’ll owe me.”

“You borrow money from me all the time!”

“Favours, Cunningham. Favours.”

“But you’re my best friend!”

“Which is why I’m going to make sure you get the friends andfamily rate.”

“Oh,  c’mon, Howard,you’ve gotta help me. Please.”

“So we have a deal?”

Howard wasn’t taking this seriously. He must think theycould get out of this easily, but Randy wasn’t convinced. He was, however,desperate. “Okay, deal. What do I need to do?”

Howard grinned. “First things first. Are you any better at thatArt of Disguise thing?”

Randy, predictably, was late. Or he’d decided to blow heroff. Debbie wasn’t sure yet, but she wasn’t going to let him succeed inignoring her. She’d start pestering him andHoward if she had to. (She still hadn’t quite forgiven Howard for claiming heknew the Ninja when he didn’t or for the million little things he didpurposefully to annoy her, and his good actions on Le Beret’s behalf hardlymade up for any of that.)

Finally, Randy’s head poked around the corner of the school.He forced a fake smile on his face and walked toward her, though to hersurprise, Howard didn’t follow him. “Hey, Debbie, what’s up?”

Debbie rolled her eyes. “You can cut the act, you know. I’mnot stupid.”

Randy blinked at her. “I never said that.”

The way he was acting, he didn’t have to, but Debbie wasn’tgoing to pursue that point right now. “Look, I’m not in the mood to beat aroundthe bush. I know who you are.”

He actually laughed at her. “We-ell, yeah, I’m RandyCunningham, and we’re classmates, and you texted me, so….”

She crossed her arms. “I mean your stint as a masked hero.”

Randy opened his mouth, but his response was lost as a smokebomb went off to her right. Debbie jumped, spinning around to look as the smokecleared. The Ninja, of all people, leaned against the school. “Someone mentiona masked hero?”

Debbie couldn’t help it. Her mouth dropped open before shecould close it. The Ninja almost neverturned up when there wasn’t an attack. “Ninja? What are you doing here?” Asmuch as she wanted to figure this out with Randy, she couldn’t pass up anopportunity to get the goods on the Ninja.

Unfortunately, he didn’t seem inclined to stick around. Shecould see another smoke bomb in his hand already. “Just checking in on things,”he said, winking at them. “Everything looks fine. Bruce job on that cake cleanup;I don’t see a thing I can do to help. Smoke bomb!”

Debbie coughed and moved toward Randy to get away from thestink of it. “What was that allabout?” she asked, even though she knew he wouldn’t have a clue. It was Randy, after all. He might not even havenoticed anything suspicious about that. He probably took the Ninja’s words atface value, as if he always checked in on them post-fight.

“Sounded to me like he was seeing how much cake was left. Or maybehe was just checking in on one of his number one fans.”

Right. As if Randy and Howard were actually the Ninja’s number one fans, no matter what they claimed.She’d never even seen the three of them together.

“Still,” Randy added, “his appearance kinda wonked yourtheory, didn’t it?”

Debbie frowned. “What theory?”

Randy’s unease was instant and genuine. “You know,” he saidslowly, “the one about me being the Ninja.”

Debbie couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing.

Randy actually looked alarmed. “Wasn’t that what your textmeant? That you thought I was the Ninja? That I should own up to you becauseyou figured it out?”

Debbie wiped the tears from her eyes, tried to saysomething, and just dissolved into laughter again.

“Wait, so what did you really mean?”

“Le Beret,” she wheezed in between giggles. “You and Howard.”

Randy’s look of confusion was thorough and convincing. Maybeshe’d been wrong after all. “What?”

Debbie waved him off. “Forget that.” She took another beatto try to get her laughter under control before adding, “Why’d you think Ithought you were the Ninja?”

“Um.” Randy took a step away from her. “No reason.” Anotherstep. “Hey, I gotta go. Just remembered I need to throw in a load of laundry. Y’know,after getting cake batter on stuff. Bye!”

He took off before she could say anything, includingpointing out that he hadn’t even been withthe rest of them to nearly get covered in cake batter in the first place. Thenagain, he had jumped in to save Slimovitz. It might not be as big a lie as itsounded.

Still.

Why had he assumedshe thought he was the Ninja?

(see more fics)