#mostly be in the Sunny Hours. though i guess that could be a good thing because the hottest part of the day is around 4pm and I’d be outta

[seilon]

just sent a hastily-made new resume to a hiring manager at a place i might get a summer job at and realized after sending it that it still has “MONTH 20XX – MONTH 20XX” written for one of my past jobs’ durations fucking shoot me

[prettyboybuckley]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

tagged by @saybiwithme @bi-buckrights @zainclaw

How many works do you have on ao3?

160

What's your total ao3 word count?

1,070,239

What fandoms do you write for?

I've mostly written for 9-1-1, though I started off with Shameless (6 fics) and I have written some for Teen Wolf (5 fics). There's one 9-1-1 crossover with Schitt's Creek.

Top five fics by kudos:

parents always yelling (telling us to get our acts together)

i just want something to hold on to (and a little of that human touch)

I will come to you (even in my sleep)

open up again (i believe in second chances)

exes and the oh's

Do you respond to comments?

Always, even if it takes me months. I actually just caught up again (there's still a bunch to go, but right now the oldest is 17 days ago instead of 250 days...). It's just a rule I have for myself, and even with the backlog I've kept it up so far, so I'm not going to stop doing it now.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I'm not a big fan of angsty endings, I generally try to at least make it a hopeful ending or, in the case of the college au, use an epilogue to fix things.

But I guess sunny skies & summer highs qualifies as an angsty ending simply because of the cliffhanger (and yes, there is still going to be a continuation, I'm working on it 🙈).

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Choosing one out of 160 is really hard, but I think tell me, will you stay or will you run away is definitely one that deserves a mention here, because it already has a happy ending and then the epilogue just makes it even better 🥰

Do you get hate on fics?

Not commented on the fic itself, no. I've had some people talk shit about my fics on twitter, though, and not even vaguely but calling me by (user)name.

Do you write smut?

Is grass green? Yeah, I write smut 🤭 Thanks to two times kinktober, I have 95 explicit fics, by far the most used rating for my fics.

Craziest crossover:

let's have some fun tonight is my 9-1-1/Schitt's Creek crossover fic for 9-1-1 Rarepair Week, and my only crossover fic

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

My head over feet Buddie valentine's two-parter got posted as one chapter in Wattpad work with over 30 fics once. Filed a DMCA and Wattpad took it down within two hours.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Two of my fics have been translated into Russian afaik, one on ao3 and one on Ficbook

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Nope. It may be a nice challenge for the future? Not sure who I'd do it with.

All time favourite ship?

Gotta go for Buddie on that one, lol. Especially if you look at my writing history. But I often tend to hyperfixate on one ship at a time (current reading obsession is McDanno)

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Buck's POV of if love is art then you might be my masterpiece. I really want to, but at this point it's been two years since the original so I don't know if it'd be worth it either. (I know not everyone was happy about how I ended it, but I doubt any of them are still waiting for more). Writing a different POV of the same fic takes an amount of planning that my brain just really struggles with. And I could pick up where the last chapter (before the epilogue) picks up, but I think that way there would be some crucial information about Buck missing.

What are your writing strengths?

I've been told quite a lot of times that I am good at keeping characters, well, in character, even when putting them in partial or complete AU's. Of course, what is in character or not is subjective, but I do always challenge myself to work as much of the canon backstory and personality into who they are in the AU as possible.

And I like to think I'm pretty good at writing smut.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm terrible at pacing, which multiple of my long fics prove. It'll be drawn out first and then suddenly rushing. And being ESL I do struggle with things like sentence structure and grammar pretty regularly still.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

As long as there is some kind of translation provided somewhere I like it, but I'm not so quick to use it myself. Not beyond a few Spanish words here and there (generally pet names between Eddie and his family we've seen on the show or the occasional curse word when I feel it fits better than an English one, but I usually need to employ help from Spanish-speaking friends for those).

First fandom you wrote in?

Shameless! I binged that right before I started 9-1-1 and combined with the creative writing minor I was doing, it was actually what got me back into writing in general and what made me write my first ever fic.

Favorite fic you've written?

My in your arms i feel safe-series (which I always lovingly refer to as the ace kink fic) is definitely one of my favorites simply because of how personal it is to me and for the reason behind me writing it in the first place.

Other strong contenders are i would've loved you forever (it's never enough but i wanted it to be) and i'm begging you, come home to me (Teen Wolf, Thiam)

tagging @monsterrae1 @rogerzsteven @loserdiaz @watchyourbuck

[david-tennant-sunglasses-id]

I should really be grading what am I doing?! Zooming in on David Tennant's face, that's what!!! Since the last post was mostly glasses I love (or at least would totally wear) I decided to post a few I don't care for but are still objectively fashionable, which means it's an AVIATOR PARTY

First, Much Ado About Nothing:

I'm not going to figure out Tate's glasses here* because this is not a Catherine Tate Wearing Sunglasses blog (go make one and we can be weird friends). I've spent more time than is sane trying to determine whether David is, in fact, wearing Oliver Peoples BUT NOT JUST ANY, NO! I think these could be the same OPs that Brad Pitt wore in Fight Club. It makes sense! Playing Benedik as a freewheeling sorta lovable douche is what he definitely pulled off here and these glasses are exactly that vibe.

There's a chance I'm just connecting-strings.jpg and they're Valorosos though. This is where I admit that I go by known price range and brands that David tends to wear a litttttle bit when stuck between almost identical styles (the rest is magic) (obsession magic).

10th Doctor:

Again, Oliver Peoples...but these are different than the ones above, which is why I have a more positive ID. It's the shape of the top bar, mostly. I think I like the inner teardrop shape on his face, but 1. he has a great face anyway and 2. these ones still kinda dominate his features even if the side angles soften the effect. Definitely can pull off the eyebrow bar though.

I'm tired of spending hours IDing aviators...

...but they're pretty!

You, Me And Him screening:

These are definitely by Bottega Veneta, based on the mirroring and the gradient. You can still buy these new if you have a spare $500 in your sunnies budget! There are very similar shaped Michael Kors dupes out there in resale land for closer to $120, but the lenses are boooooring.

This is the best eyebrow bar ever. Really enhances how he has the perfect Muppet face, but in a good lookin way. David tends to wear glasses which are flat on the bottom to compliment his square chin thing (I am guessing) but rounded glasses with horizontal attributes just go SO HARD on those cheekbones, man. And oof but I'm a sucker for classy mirrors. The glasses just wear your face with em, but in a good way. Fashion.

Still wouldn't wear these even if David gifted them to me personally, but I'd stare at them longingly sometimes.

Enough about my face. He looked pretty great here, I'll add a gif for our viewing delight.

*fine, I think they're Coach. but I'm not checking.

[musekicker]

A short Mario movie drabble taking place after sometime after the movie. Also a drabble to write for one of my Mario ocs.

Ever since moving in to the Mushroom Kingdom, both Luigi and Mario had to agree on one small thing the toads that were their neighbors now tended to over do. And that was to give the two humans gifts. It was still just a little odd to the brothers. They both had tried to insist that no one had any need to give them any gifts. But the toads insisted, saying they were house warming gifts.

A small issue that Mario was still thinking about today in this sunny day in the mushroom kingdom.

It was one of those days where Donkey Kong was visiting too.. His excuse being that since the kingdoms were safe now, at the very least he owed Mario help moving in.

Mario had pointed out that he and Luigi were moved in already. Donkey Kong had told him to shut up.

The gorilla wouldn't say it but he was becoming a friend here. Mario considered him a friend enough that he did talk to him about his feelings about the gifts.

"It's not that I don't appreciate the gifts at all. It just feels like everyone feels like they need to. And I don't want anyone to feel like that." Mario said. 

"I gave you a gift too." Donkey Kong said.

"You gave us a barrel!" Mario cried.

"And your welcome! Everyone house needs a barrel." Donkey Kong said.

"Does it really?" Mario asked.

Donkey Kong threw his arms up in the air, frustrated.

"Of course it does! Where would you store your bananas if you didn't have a barrel?" Donkey Kong asked.

Mario was attempting to come up with a good response to that. But that was interrupted by the appearance of one of Mario and Luigi's new neighbors. Her name was Agnes. One of a set of toads so to speak.

Edith and Agnes were neighbors that the Mario brothers were starting to get to know. They were a sweet, elderly toad couple. The second that Mario and Luigi had moved in, they were at their door with treats and a knitted blanket. 

Agnes was the taller of the couple, her cap a classic red. Though one of her spots were shaped like a heart. Edith was the shorter, green capped one. And the one who made gifts that were in the fiber arts family. More often she would knit but she could crochet and weave as well.

"Good morning Mario! Mr. Kong." Agnes said, smiling wide and carrying a pink paper bag with her. 

"Hello Agnes. Good morning to you too. How are you and Edith?" Mario asked.

"My bad knee is acting up. But other then that, everything is going well. And oh, while I have you here Edith just finished a brand new sweaters for you and Luigi." Agnes said.

Mario guessed that the sweaters would probably be red and green. There was often a color scheme when it came to both Mario and Luigi. Part of it was their own faults Mario guessed. They did like to wear a lot of their favorite colors.  Still, it could be tiring to have only those colors to wear.

As if Edith from hours ago had known what Mario was thinking now, the sweater that Agnes was showing now was not at all red. Nor was the other sweater green.

This sweater was mostly white with a super star image crocheted in the center of the sweater. The other sweater was the same.

"Edith thought you like to have a sweater in a different color then what you two normally wear." Agnes said. "Red and green is nice but I'm sure you would like other colors in your wardrobes."

Mario smiled. Once again Edith and Agnes had thought ahead.

"I love it. Thank you." Mario said. "And I know Luigi will love it too."

The gift giving should had been done. But Agnes called out before the two could leave.

"Oh don't you go away either." Agnes said. "I have something for you too Mr. Kong."

Donkey Kong raised his brows.

"But I haven't even been IN the mushroom kingdom the whole day. How-" Donkey Kong asked.

"My sweet Edith is just very talented and fast when it comes to knitting." Agnes said.

She then took out the sweater.

The sweater was much bigger then Edith was once unfurled. But she was able to hold it up well enough that everyone could see it well. It was red sweater with a small pattern of bananas on the collar. A big DK, naturally Donkey Kong's initials were also on the sweater on the chest.

Clearly thought and so much yarn had gone into the making of this sweater. A nicely thought out gift.

"I'm not really a big sweater guy-" Donkey Kong said.

Mario elbowed Donkey Kong in the side. It didn't hurt him but it did signal to him that he should accept the gift. 

"I mean, thank you very much." Donkey Kong said.

Knowing full well that Agnes would want to see if the sweater would fit, Donkey Kong tried the sweater on. 

"This... is really comfortable." Donkey Kong said, sounding just a bit surprised.

"Looks like it fits too! That's great!" Agnes said. "I'll be sure to let Edith know."

"Please do!." Mario said.

Agnes smiled.

"Now you two have a nice day."

And with that Agnes returned to her home. With the conversation over, Mario and Donkey Kong kept on walking. Mario noted minutes later that Donkey Kong had not moved to take the sweater off at all.

"Still not a sweater guy?" Mario asked.

Donkey Kong sighed.

"Maybe more of a sweater guy then I thought I was before." Donkey Kong said. "Still not my image but... if anyone makes a mean comment about it I'll just punch them." Donkey Kong said.

"That works I guess." Mario said.

"Also, I would kill to keep those two safe." Donkey Kong added in.

"I mean I agree but maybe not make that declaration in the middle of town." Mario said.

[delicrieux]

☆ﾐ 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚊𝚢 “𝚘𝚑”

PART 10: BIG DICK IS BACK IN TOWN

y/n is back in brooklyn for the holidays. thinking that a stream will make her feel less homesick for cali, she starts working on her famously titled hentai.free.srv. what was supposed to be a relaxing stream turns into a special delivery about two hours in.

─── corpse husband x reader ─── soc. media + written fiction! ─── word count: 2.2k ─── ❥ req: Here's one... You know those apps for delivery like Domino's or whatnot... What if reader is streaming Among Us with Corpse, and reader mentions they're hungry and Corpse offers to order them food, and readers like no no it's fine... Then there's delivery at the door (Corpse ordered beforehand) 

author’s note: fucky format is also back in town baby!!! also if you find any mistakes - no u didnt <3 thank u everyone for enjoying this story sm i literally cant believe how feral yall going strawberry cow was a nuclear explosion im still recovering tbh. got an ask a while ago and decided to incorporate it into myso. happy holidays everyone! myso will continue on monday!

ultimate masterlist.  ҉  myso masterlist   ҉   previous.  ҉   next.

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Indeed, being soft on any social media platform was the biggest disgrace and needed to be eliminated post haste. Moreover, it was a slippery slope - once you start flooding your timeline with cute imagery and heart emojis, what will stop you from posting inspirational Facebook quotes? Disgusting. If Rae were here, she would chide you (not you thinking about her as if she’s dead or something). For once in your life, you feel like you deserve it. 

Alas, you hope this little chaos you’ve caused is enough to throw everyone off. The stans, especially. You know the hashtags, you’ve seen ARMY scourging for info online with the same fervor and ruthlessness 1 Direction fans hacked airport security cameras just to spy on the boys. If you had any dirty secrets online, they are out to the public now - thankfully, besides the Harry Styles stan account (with edits and all), you have nothing. Though, now that you think about it, exposed nudes would have been better than your Punk!Harry edit receiving almost a million views. God, your life’s a fucking mess.

Your fans aren’t the only ones out for info - you, too, are trying to decipher Rae’s message. Code: Barbecue Sauce. The two of you had come up with it roughly two years ago, around the same time when you promised that if you didn’t find significant others by the time you’re 40, you’ll just marry each other. It was one of the many rules found in your friendship codex. Barbecue Sauce signifies information - an exchange of information. And depending on how it ends or begins (”So I’m sitting there” alludes to Rae, “On my titties” alludes to you), secret data on that person is given away, usually free of charge. 

But why? And to whom did Rae give away what? You had pestered her mercilessly and even sent some voice messages where you were crying. You were only crying because of a video of a grandpa smiling you saw on TikTok, but you are a snake, and so you put those tears to good use. If streaming doesn’t work out, you’ll just become an actress. Hollywood would love you. Your PR firm sure as fuck wouldn’t, though.

Rae was having none of it. She said you’ll figure it out eventually. Told you to channel your superior puzzle skills. You were quick to remind her that you can barely count to ten without having an aneurysm. Oddly serious, she admitted that she worries for you sometimes. Why only sometimes?! you demanded. She merely sighed. uttering under her breath something that sounded closely to “Boke.”

You leave her for barely a week and she’s already neck deep in the gay volleyball anime, hoodie and cardboard cutout and everything. Your life is falling apart.

But Brooklyn is nice. It had snowed when you stepped off of the plane. Thousands of snowflakes sprinkling into your hair, dotting your cheeks and nose. You missed this sight back in Cali. You missed your parents, too. 

Home cooked meals, old sweaters, your old room and about 40GB worth of old high school pictures on your computer. You went through them all one night. Some were stomach churning, cringe inducing nightmares. You were especially fond of those. Texted some of your friends that were still in Brooklyn, met up, decided to bake. Bad idea, Rae was the resident chef back in Cali. Besides laughing till your stomach hurt, and almost burning down your kitchen, nothing all that significant happened. Somewhere down the line, at about 3 am, half-way through a cheesy rom-com you had the overwhelming urge to text Corpse.

That’s where the problems really started. God, you missed California, missed being in the same timezone with a guy you hadn’t even met yet, how embarrassing is that?! You missed skating around and taking pictures of the beach in the setting sun, sending it to him, silently wishing he was with you to admire the view. 

You really want to call him. And to hang out with him. But for some reason, the thought of that springs up immediate anxiety and you shy away from asking. Him sending you cute good morning texts doesn’t help, either. Maybe it’s better he doesn’t know that you’re a blushing, stuttering mess each time you read “baby”. 

Late evening. Your stream is already set up, people are slowly trickling in and you greet them with a grin and a soft “Hello! Hi hi!”. You did your best to make your room a perfectly chaotic backdrop - led lights, an embarrassing amount of anime merch and plushies. You always try to balance out your weeb side by dressing hot as fuck for your streams - today’s inspiration just so happens to be egirls. Mostly because you watched one too many egirl make-up tutorials on TikTok, and also because you’ve been listening to Corpse’s song all day.

Yeah, no, who are you kidding, you dressed up this way because you were hoping Corpse was watching your stream. You didn’t forget your cat headphones, either. You know he likes them. You want to make him suffer. Perhaps then, finally, he will ask you out, so you wouldn’t have to.

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“I feel like,” You start when you put away your phone, staring idly at the chat, “I feel like I need a new name for you guys. Calling you guys after two years of streaming is just... weird, no? I also don’t respect men so I don’t want to call you guys. Like, so many creator’s have, like, a name for their fans. Uhm, Cody Ko has the chodesters, Kurtis Conner has, uh, folks? Kurtis Town? Citizens! Markiplier has mommy issues--” You can’t help snorting, “So, I’ve been, like, thinking - I know, shocking! - so I was thinking I’m gonna name you cockroaches. Because you’re grimy little shits impossible to kill. And also then I can use the legendary Minaj meme ROACHES!”

Your stream enthusiastically echoes ROACHES, making the chat swim. Yes, if anyone would enjoy such a name, it would be your audience. You’re as equally proud as you are disturbed.

“Well, anyway.” Leaning back into your chair, you throw your arms out with a bright grin, “Big dick is back in town, baby! If you noticed the backdrops different, it’s cuz I’m in Brooklyn now. Don’t ask me when I will return to Always Sunny, I don’t plan that far ahead.”

While Minecraft boots up, you decide to answer a few questions.

r u dating sykkuno?

You want to smack your head into the keyboard, but as it is, you can’t exactly afford a new one, so you refrain, “No, Sykkuno and I are not dating, we are just good friends. Uhm, I’m not sure how much I’ll have to repeat this, but, we really aren’t, so if the roaches could chill - Oh my God, that sounds so stupid, I love it - uh, yeah, if the roaches could chill that’d be great.”

the roaches lmao sounds like we’re a sports team

“Oh shit, yeah it does, uh-- maybe I can make like, jerseys or something. That’d be cool, I think.”

how disappointed are your parents with the way your life turned out?

“My parents are actually not disappointed at all!” You say with a cute little smile, “Uhm, they’re both really proud, actually. They’re glad I found something I love doing and made a job outta it. Dad finds my Youtube videos endearing. Yes, they watch pretty much all of my videos, unless I explicitly tell them not to. And yeah, with all the fucks and thirsting for anime characters. Uhm, it was very embarrassing at first, but I mean, after a while, shame just...doesn’t exist anymore, I guess? Funny thing about my parents, actually, when they watch my videos-” You eye catches a comment, “Oh! No, they only watch my Youtube videos. They don’t know how to use Twitter, thank God. Uhm, anyway-- when they hear a name they don’t know, like, I dunno, Dabi, or something, they google--” You’re grinning by now, eyes crinkling, giggling softly, “--who that is, and buy me like, merch and stuff. It’s really cute. 

can i be adopted by ur parents plz

will you and corpse ever collab?!

You were about to answer, though the man of the hour himself decides to do it for you.

Corpse_Husband: yes.

Okay, not to say your heart skipped a beat, but it totally did. With a pleased smile, you nod, like one of those bobble head toys sold at the dollar store. The motion is oddly reminiscent of Sykkuno’s own nod. Perhaps you had picked it up from him. The chat seems to notice.

pack it up, sykkuno

More questions pile about this mysterious collab you and Corpse are planning. Yeah, you’d like to hear more about it, too, since he single highhandedly decided one was happening right now. Corpse remains silent. Fine, keep your secrets. 

“Okay, guys, oh, I mean, roaches, Oh my God--” You’re covering your mouth, giggling, “-calling all roaches, calling all roaches, calm down. Everyone grab a snack and a blanket I’m turning up the music volume so we can all chill. Entering chill zone. Entering chill zone. Roaches, prepare.”

we are prepared

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An hour or so passes and you grow hungry. It shows with the amount of cakes you had baked in your server. Currently, you find yourself throwing eggs at the wall of one of the renovated houses, your face scrunched in concentration and slight frustration. 24 of the 50 eggs have been wasted. “What’s a girl gotta do to get some chicks around here?” you had uttered under your breath, until, finally, a screech - the egg finally spawns a mob. Your mouth falls open, “Aww, look!” You approach it, so small, walking in zigzags beside you, “It’s a baby chicken! Die, bitch.” The baby chicken is no more as you swing your bedazzled (you have mods) diamond sword. You’re cackling by the time the dust settles.

y/n is a child murderer

“Roaches,” You address your fan-base, spurring another fit of laughter - you can’t get over the name, “I think I’m like, forgetting that eating in Minecraft won’t actually make less hungry in real life.”

take a break and go eat queen <3

“Fuck no, we starve and die like men. Now I actually really need another chicken.”

Another twenty minutes trickle by and you’re trying to lure back a panda from the jungle when there’s a knock on your bedroom’s door. Whipping your head to the side, you slide down your headphones. At the same time, your mom pokes her head through the ajar door, “MOM!” You scream, “Get OUT of my room I’m playing Minecraft!” But your yell has no actual bite to it, as you don’t manage to hide your smile. Your mom laughs, doing some sort of sign language and motioning for you to follow her with her head. That or it’s some sort of performative dance. 

“I’m live right now,” You tell her, pointing at your screen. She knows this already, though, “do you want to say hi?” 

The roaches spam the chat with friendly hellos. You mom, quite impatient now, waves you over. 

“Sorry, roaches, mom needs something. Be back in a bit!”

Stopping the stream, you rush out of your seat and pleased she slinks into the hallway. “What’s this about?”

“Your pizza came.”

“My what now?” You echo, confused.

“Domino’s. You ordered pizza?”

“What? No? I was busy with the stream, I never--”

Thankfully, you had managed to grab your phone from your room before you exited. You almost choke on spit once you read the messages.

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You decide that it’ll be impossible to stream after experiencing what you had just experienced. You tweet out a quick apology to the roaches (God, that fucking name) and say that you had a breakdown but you’re okay. That is as a close to the truth as you managed to muster. It’s a sad sight, chewing and crying; your mom winced when she saw your state - disheveled hair and rundown eyeliner and everything. “D’aww,” She had muttered, caressing the top of your head, “don’t cry my little raccoon.”

If anyone was ever to ask you where did your chaotic nature come from, you’d answer with my mom. To make yourself feel better, you took a selfie - duck face and peace sign and the horrible 2000′s angle. Sent it to Rae. 

looking hot, her message read. 

thanks, was all you replied with.

You couldn’t just leave things as they were. Once you calmed down, you wanted to text Corpse, but how would you follow up the ungodly caps lock and screeching? Impossible. An idea sprung to mind, one that was brave. Taking the first step.

Instead of sending a text, you sent a voice memo.

“Thank you for the pizza, it was delicious.”

You voice still sounded a bit raspy. His reply was instant. Your heart skipped a beat. He sent a voice memo back.

“Glad you liked it, baby.”

He was going to be the death of you.

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tags (in italics is those i couldn’t tag! make sure all’s ok w your settings!) : @littlebabysandboxburritos - @fairywriter-oracle - @tsukishimawh0re - @ofstarsanddreams - @bbecc-a - @annshit - @leahh19 - @letsloveimagines - @bellomi-clarke - @wineandionysus - @guiltydols - @onephootinfrontoftheother - @liamakorn - @thirstyfangirl - @lilysdaydreams - @pan-ini - @mxqicshxp - @tanchosanke - @yoshinorecommends - @flightsandfantasy - @liljennyx3 - @slashersdream - @unknown-and-invisible - @sinister-sleep - @fivedicksinatrenchcoat - @mercury–moon - @peterparkerspjsuit - @unstableye - @simonsbluee - @shinyshimaagain - @ppopty - @siriuslystupid - @crapimahuman - @ofthedewthesunlight - @mythicalamphitrite - @artsyally - @corpsesimpp - @corpsewhitetee - @corpse-husbandsimp - @hyp-oh-critical - @roses-and-grasses - @rhyrhy462 - @sparklylandflaplawyer - @charbkgo - @airwaveee - @creativedogs - @kaitlyn2907 - @loxbbg - @afuckingunicornn - @fleurmoon - @yeolliedokai - @truly-dionysus - @multi-fandom-central707

more tags are in the comments bcs tumblr only allows me to tag 50 people max 💙

[the-bugs-under-ur-skin]

Yandere Kel, Sunny, Aubrey and Hero affection HCs - Omori

i finally finished the request! i hope you like it :)

[yandere Kel x reader]

-Kel’s PDA rating is a 9/10

-his obsession with you clouds any embarrassment that he gets from being so affectionate with you in public

-he’s naturally very affectionate with you, so he doesn’t worry or overthink anything

-so his PDA affections is basically the same as if you were just at his house, a lot of hugs, kisses, and even full out cuddles

-Kel would love to rest his head on your lap while you both are just sitting in the park

-if you were to tease him for it, he’d either laugh about it and continue to hold you or get really embarrassed and stop doing it

-but when i say he stops, i more just means he pulls away for a moment and then he just ends up showing you affection after a day at most

-if someone else were to make fun of the both of you, he’d immediately get defensive

-even if it was a friend, he’d roll his eyes and puff out his cheeks, he’ll also probably throw in a “get lost!”

-he doesn’t see anything wrong with him loving his partner and he’s going to get upset if someone thinks they can just try to make the both of you uncomfortable

-Kel also wouldn’t mind initiating affection if you’re too shy or nervous to try

-even if you aren’t shy, he’ll still probably initiate affection before you even get the chance to try and do it first

-but he doesn’t mind either way, it actually makes him really happy when you initiate any sort of affection!

-but you’re not going to stop getting affection from Kel anytime soon!

-he’ll cling to your bones and never leave you alone, but he already knows you don’t mind!

[yandere Sunny x reader]

-Sunny’s PDA rating is a 5/10

-it’s not that he doesn’t like PDA, it’s just that it’ll take some pushing to get him to initiate it

-but he doesn’t mind any sort of affection you give him in public, he actually likes that you want to show all the people who pass by that you love him

-if he were to try and initiate affection, he’d just go for some hand holding... maybe a kiss on the cheek

-he really does try to be more affectionate with you in public even if you can’t tell

-the easiest way to get him to be more lovey-dovey in public is by getting him jealous, and getting Sunny jealous is one of the easiest things to do

-if you were to ever tease him about it, he’d get even more shy and maybe a little insecure

-but he doesn’t mind it too much and will just try to assume that you’re teasing him because you like the affection he gives you

-but if someone else were to tease the two of you about it, Sunny’s pretty pissed off

-he doesn’t immediately jump up and stab them or anything, he’ll just glare at them as they walk past

-he’ll only attack them if you start to distance yourself from him or if you’re very embarrassed about what they said

-Sunny doesn’t want anyone upsetting you, especially if it’s ruining you’re relationship with him

-he probably won’t kill them, but a good beating would be given

-though if you suddenly break up with him within the next week or two, guess who he’s going to blame and take his anger out on...

-hopefully you aren’t too shy because Sunny can’t initiate affection well

-he would try his best to be more bold if you’re just too nervous to give him any affection because Sunny is a very touch starved person

-and he would do absolutely anything just for something as simple as a hug

[yandere Aubrey x reader]

-Aubrey’s PDA rating is 6/10

-she’ll mostly just use PDA when she’s being protective or feeling smug

-but she’s still pretty shy so she doesn’t do it too much outside of that

-every time she gives you any sort of PDA, she’ll start out by focusing on whoever she feels threatened by

-she wants to see every single look they give, whether it’s anger, sorrow or disgust, she loves to see how they react because it’s probably not going to be a happy one

-but after she gets bored of them, she’ll sneak glances at you to see if you’re enjoying it or not

-if you were to tease her about it, she’d roll her eyes and push you a bit

-she wouldn’t push you hard enough to actually push you off of her, she doesn’t want to send the wrong message after all

-but teasing does hype her up in a sense; she’ll try to be more bold and make her acts of affection look more smooth

-she doesn’t mind the teasing that much; she likes it better than no response!

but she would mind the teasing if it came from someone else

-it really hits a nerve with her and she won’t hesitate to act

-she’ll start by yelling and screaming at them, not hesitating to tell them every aggravated thought that comes into her head

-and if that person tries to defend themselves or fight back in any way, they’re coming face to face with Aubrey’s bat

-she’s a protective person, so someone even playfully teasing you makes her go insane

-not going to guarantee that no lives will be taken, but i will guarantee that you are going to see a lot of blood on her bat afterwards

-Aubrey doesn’t need to initiate any affection, but she’ll certainly go for it

-although, despite her new tough attitude, she’s still pretty soft inside

-the one consistent thing about Aubrey’s affection, no matter who you are, is that she’s protective of your affections

-even a wrong look can spark an argument between her and a complete stranger

-and that protectiveness will definitely also include you never giving her affection

-she’ll admit this to you and only you; Aubrey needs you

-even if it’s just a greeting hug or holding hands while you’re walking to the shop, she needs that attention

-it’s better not to let her get to touch-starved, because then she’ll get paranoid

-and once she’s paranoid, she’ll start blaming people for the lack of contact

-and we all know what happens when Aubrey get’s agitated with strangers over you...

[yandere Hero x reader]

-Hero’s PDA rating is 9/10

-he’s known to be a charmer, and a charmer like Hero would never let his darling go without affection for too long!

-but the reason he’s a 9 and not a 10 is because of how easy it is to fluster and embarrass him

-i could imagine him going through his morning routine and overthinking how he’s going to show you affection throughout the day

-also seems like he’d experiment with PDA to see if you prefer stuff like hand holding or if you want to hold him while walking around

-if you were to tease him about it, he’d try his best to laugh it off but he’s pretty embarrassed

-like i said, he’s taking in all of your reactions to try and become the best man for you, but he can’t tell if you’re uncomfortable or just playing with him

-he’ll actually feel pretty happy if you’re just playing around (and not just because you aren’t actually mad at him)

-there’s just something that makes him happy about the fact that you’re comfortable enough to tease him

-if someone else were to tease you both, he’d have a pretty similar yet extremely different reaction

-he’d still give a little awkward chuckle and there would still be some confusion on his end

-he doesn’t know if they’re being hostile or if maybe they’re just a friend of yours that’s trying to make you laugh

-but either way he doesn’t like it

-Hero would like to think he isn’t an insanely jealous person, but there’s something about the strangers tone that he absolutely hates

-he probably won’t do anything to the stranger but you can tell how uncomfortable Hero is whenever they walk by

-when it comes to initiating affection, he actually doesn’t have a problem with it

-sure, he might have thought over and trained himself for a hug that he gave to you for an hour when the hug itself only lasted a few seconds, but he can still actually give you affection without hesitation if it’s clear you want it

-it’s actually more surprising to him when you give him affection

-he plans all of his days around giving you love, but he didn’t really plan out what would happen if you gave him love

-but he doesn’t hide his giddiness whenever you initiate any sort of affection

-he replays the moment in his head over and over again, he’s sure that he’ll never forget it

[iam93percentstardust]

Prompt: Stony, animal transformation

I realized about halfway through writing this that you probably meant a spell or something but I wrote shifters instead and I really liked what I had so I kept going. Sorry it’s a lot crackier than you were probably expecting; you can blame @maguna-stxrk for that

As always, everything I write is also available on ao3

~

“No.”

The first time Tony met Steve Rogers, he was both delighted and irritated. Delighted because hey! Captain America is another cat shifter! And that means that Howard was wrong and Tony is, in fact, like Captain America (in some ways at least; in others, that remains to be proven).

“I won’t do it.”

And irritated because Captain America is another cat shifter.

“You can’t make me.”

Tony knows that there are cat shifters out there who are perfectly friendly and like being around other cats. He is not one of them. There are multiple reasons why he and Steve clashed on the helicarrier and only one of them is Loki’s staff. Tony’s breed is highly territorial and everything in his tower is his and he doesn’t want another cat in there rubbing up against his stuff. But there Fury is, insisting that the entire team move into the tower.

“I don’t want them there,” Tony says flatly. That’s not entirely true. He doesn’t really want any of them there but he’s willing to put up with them. The only one he really truly genuinely doesn’t want there is Steve.

It’s probably a good thing none of the rest of the team is here to hear him complaining about them. But, well, they should know better than to expect friendliness out of him. He’s not friendly. He’s majestic and aloof and not in the mood to have anyone else around to see him when he’s not being majestic and aloof.

Fury eyes him. Tony doesn’t know what kind of shifter he is—he keeps that kind of paperwork on actual paper, ew—but he wouldn’t be surprised if it’s something sneaky and devious like Fury himself (probably a snake. Tony hates snakes).

“Stark, the ways I could make you do what I want—”

“—are all against the Geneva Convention,” Tony finishes smoothly. In his reflection on the table, he realizes that the tuft of hair behind his ear isn’t lying flat. He licks the back of his hand and reaches up to smooth the hairs back down.

“Stark.”

“Fury.”

“We are running out of options—”

“Well, that sounds like a you problem.”

“—for Clint.”

Tony shuts up. Sighs. Glances through the window of the conference room where he can see Clint leaning against the wall, stuck in partial shift since Loki and the invasion. His golden tail is tucked between his legs, his ears are drooped, and he flinches like a kicked puppy (not an inaccurate description) every time someone walks by.

“How bad is it?” he asks.

“People don’t want him on the helicarrier,” Fury says. “He makes them nervous. His pack bonds were broken when Loki took him, and with Coulson—well.”

Yeah, that. Dog shifters like Clint rely on pack bonds, even those formed between non-dogs. Tony’s always been more of a loner so he can’t really imagine what Clint is going through but judging by the way Clint looks, he can guess it isn’t easy.

“They’ve all been briefed on what it’s like living with a cat, even Rogers, and they know about your idiosyncrasies in particular.”

And that’s the crux of the matter. “I don’t want him there,” Tony says quietly.

“He’s not the same breed—”

“But he’s got the same instincts!” He sighs frustratedly and almost runs his hand through his hair before he realizes how much that’ll mess up his hairstyle. His tail lashes agitatedly behind him, instincts urging him to claw, to bite, to protect his home from the invader. “Why can’t it just be Clint?”

“Because where Clint goes, Natasha goes. Besides, Clint needs the pack bonds, which means he needs the whole team.”

Tony hisses, crosses his arms, pouts. “Fine,” he says eventually. “But I don’t like it.”

And then, before Fury can feel too smug in his victory, he keeps aggressive eye contact and knocks Fury’s water glass off the table, darting away before he can hear more than the bellow of rage.

 ~

“I don’t want you here,” Tony says, ears laced back irritably. It’s the first time he’s come across Steve in the tower so far and of course the man (well, actually he’s shifted into his cat form right now) is lying in Tony’s favorite sunbeam. The nerve of some people.

The single eye that Tony can see slits open and stares at him for a long moment. In the next moment, a ripple comes over the cat and then Steve has partially shifted back, stretching lazily as he yawns. “Okay, Tony,” he agrees.

“You’re in my sunbeam.”

“Okay, Tony.”

“I want you out of it.”

“But it’s such a nice sunbeam.”

“It’s mine.”

“We could share it.”

Tony lets out an offended yowl. They can’t share it. That would defeat the purpose of it being his. Steve stares at him for a long moment and then stretches again, muscles rippling in interesting ways that make Tony want to knead them for—no. No kneading. No accepting the interloper.

“Come on, Tony. It’s sunny and I want to nap. We can share the sunbeam,” Steve says around another yawn before flopping over onto his side, still mostly human. Tony wants to bite his tail. But… he does want a nap. And this is favorite sunbeam. And he shouldn’t have to find another one since there’s no way Steve will be leaving this one (sadly Tony has not yet figured out the right strength the armor needs to move him).

He carefully lays down, putting several inches of space between him and Steve. Almost immediately, he can feel the effects of the warm sun on him, pulling him under into a light doze. It’s not enough to fall asleep entirely, not when he can still feel Steve at his front but then Steve starts to purr and oh, that’s kind of nice. He hesitantly lets out an answering purr of his own. Steve’s rumble grows louder and almost without meaning to, Tony finds his hands kneading the ground contentedly.

~

But that won’t stand. It can’t stand. He conceded ground on the sunbeam because it and Steve were warm and that was clearly a mistake because now Steve is standing in the kitchen, drinking coffee from Tony’s favorite coffeepot out of Tony’s favorite mug as he talks to Natasha.

And this injustice cannot stand!

“Mine,” he hisses, fingers shifting into extended claws, ready to tear into Steve for daring to drink from what clearly belongs to Tony.

At his hiss, Natasha’s skin ripples until she’s scaly and blending in with the cabinets. Smart of her to stay out of his way. Few things are worse than a territorial cat and even someone as lethal as Natasha would hesitate to face him when he’s like this, even though Steve gives her an amused look and says, “Really?”

Steve takes another sip out of the mug. Tony’s hiss turns into a full-throated growl. “Tony, you have to learn to share.”

“No.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Mine.”

“Yeah, you said that.” Steve doesn’t sound very impressed. Or even particularly intimidated, damn it.

“It’s my mug, it’s my favorite mug, you have to give it back,” Tony says, eyes tracking the mug as Steve lifts it to his lips again—wow, they looked kind of pink and pretty in the morning—no, focus. “Give it.”

“Alright,” Steve says agreeably and holds the mug out. “Here you go.”

Tony’s tail lashes and he hisses again. “You know I don’t like to be handed things.”

“Oh right,” Steve says, sounding remarkably unconcerned. “Too bad then. Guess you’re not getting your mug back.” He takes another sip from the mug—Tony’s mug.

“No,” Tony whines, drawing the word out so that it has at least eight additional syllables. He flops over onto the kitchen table, rolling around mostly so that he’s treating this situation with the hysteria it deserves but also so that he can scent mark the table, which currently smells of the rest of the team and not like him.

“Tony, stop being overdramatic,” Natasha orders, apparently deciding that she doesn’t need to blend in with the background anymore. “Steve, stop being a shit and give him back his mug.”

“No,” they both say petulantly.

She pulls out one of the many, many knives she keeps on her person. Tony hurriedly rolls off the table. Steve quickly puts the mug down and pulls out another one. Immediately, Tony darts to his mug—all his, no one else’s—and cradles it to his chest.

“That’s better,” Natasha says smugly and stalks out of the kitchen.

Tony waits until she’s gone and Steve has filled his new mug. Then, as Steve busies himself with cooking his breakfast, he slowly, cautiously reaches out and bats Steve’s mug off the counter. He gleefully sprints out of the kitchen to the sound of Steve’s outraged yowls, clutching his own mug close.

~

“Clint says you’ve been working too long,” Steve says, surprising Tony so much all the fur on his tail stands straight up.

“Fuck,” he spits. “I have a heart condition, you know.”

“Yeah,” Steve agrees like the asshole cat he is. “But I don’t think I’m going to give you a heart attack just by sneaking up on you. Not my fault you were in a zone.”

Tony grumbles wordlessly under his breath. It’s true that he’s been in a zone for the last couple hours or so, something that he achieves only through kneading or inventing, but that’s no reason for Clint to be concerned.

“Why do you care if Clint says I’ve been working too long?” he asks. Steve picks up one of his screwdrivers and spins it between his fingers before setting it back down. Tony immediately picks it up as well and rubs his cheek on it to cover it in his scent again. Steve shoots him a mischievous grin and promptly moves further away to do the same thing to a different screwdriver. Tony resigns himself to losing another couple of hours to scent marking everything once Steve is gone.

“I don’t,” Steve says, now rubbing up against one of the armors (and no, Tony is not thinking about how good Steve looks like that). “I thought we were doing a great job of ignoring each other. But he says it’s been more than twenty-four hours, which means it’s time for a break.”

“Says who?”

“Pepper, apparently.”

Tony winces. Okay, yeah, he can ignore pretty much everyone except for Pepper. She’s important.

“So you’re… what, here to drag me upstairs for dinner?”

Steve shakes his head and holds up a bag in his hand. “Thought I’d offer to split a bag of catnip with you.”

Huh.

“Huh,” Tony says out loud. He eyes it suspiciously. “It’s not laced with anything else, is it? You’re not going to take me to knock me out and take me to Medical.”

“Just pure catnip.” Steve opens the bag and Tony’s eyes dilate at the intoxicating scent. “Why, do you need to go to Medical?”

Tony thinks of the two cracked ribs he suffered during the battle yesterday that he’d wrapped himself. “Nope,” he says blithely. Steve’s eyes narrow but he doesn’t argue. “Are you going to judge me for straight up eating it?”

“Are you going to judge me for doing the same?”

“Fair,” he says and holds out a hand for the bag. Steve upends it and dumps half in Tony’s hand, watching without judgment as Tony stuffs half of it into his mouth.

And when Tony comes back from his catnip-induced high to finds himself fully shifted, Steve’s own shifted form wrapped so tightly around him that his short tabby fur is mingling with Tony’s longer white fur, there’s no judgment there either, just Steve purring and purring and purring.

~

“Why do you do it?” Tony quietly asks Steve one night. Some animated movie is playing on the screen but Tony doesn’t think anyone is actually paying attention to it. The rest of the team is busy sleeping together in a cuddle pile in their shifted forms, Clint’s golden retriever spooned by Thor’s panda, Bruce’s owl perched on top of Clint with his head tucked under his wing. He can’t spot Natasha’s chameleon but he can smell her so he knows she’s there somewhere. He and Steve are sitting apart from the rest of the team, studiously ignoring them. It had surprised him when Steve hadn’t gotten down there to join them—tabbies tend to be more social than other cats—and instead chosen to curl up next to him on the couch in his partial shift, but to his shock, he isn’t complaining about it.

Idly, Steve twines his tail around Tony’s twitching one and purrs, relaxing him until he’s a puddle on the couch. “Nat said it was a good way to get your attention.”

“What, picking a fight with me?”

“Tony.” Steve gives him a long look and then leans over to lick his ear. It should make Tony stiffen, run away, groom over that one spot until he no longer smells of Steve anymore. It doesn’t. It just makes his ear flick curiously. “I never wanted to fight with you.”

Oh.

Oh.

Suddenly, Tony’s brain is sifting through every interaction he and Steve have ever had, looking at them in a new light. Okay, and yeah, now that he’s thinking about it, he can see that this has all been Steve’s clumsy, well-intended attempt at courting him. And maybe he’s never really thought about Steve like that before but he’s thinking now and what he’s thinking is that when Steve isn’t stealing his things and laying in his favorite sunbeam, he actually really likes Steve.

“You’re not very good at this,” he informs Steve.

“Yeah, I’m getting that impression.”

“Natasha gave you bad advice.”

“I’m pretty sure she did it on purpose to stir up trouble.”

“She’s worse than either of us,” Tony agrees. “Now, hold still.”

“Wha—” He leans over Steve and licks at his ear, carefully grooming him. Steve purrs beneath him, eyes half-closed with pleasure. Tony’s own eyes drift shut as his heart beats a rhythm to the tune of mine, mine, mine.

~

“Hey, babe,” Tony says, coming up behind Steve. He drapes himself across Steve’s shoulders like the affectionate cat he is, giving a very sharp grin to the young socialite who has been holding onto Steve’s hand for the last minute. Doesn’t she know that that’s Tony’s? “I was wondering where you got off to.”

“Hey, sweetheart,” Steve replies, relaxing now that Tony is here. “Got stopped by Miss—I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten your name.”

Tony knows Steve well enough to know that that’s absolutely not the case. He’s just saying it to irritate her. But she doesn’t know that, especially because none of them are allowed to be in partial shift for tonight’s gala—Fury’s orders—and Steve’s shifter form is a closely guarded secret. So she doesn’t know that Steve’s just following his instincts as a cat. Tony does though, and he smothers his laugh in Steve’s shoulder.

“Whithers,” the girl says, irritation bleeding into her tone.

“Pleasure,” Tony says, making no attempt to hide the fact that he thinks it’s the opposite. He twines himself around Steve so that he can reach his lips for a quick kiss. “If you don’t mind, I have to borrow Steve here. Although, I really don’t care even if you do mind. See, he’s mine and I don’t really like it when people touch what’s mine.”

And then, before her face can do much more than register shock, he bats her champagne glass out of her hand.

[space-mermaid-writing]

House Arrest [Loki X Reader] Chapter 1

Summary: You are Clint’s 'little' sister and actually a trained Shield agent. But you gave that up a few years ago and became a Chef, because you wanted a normal live. Then one day Natasha shows up at your door and takes you to the Avenger Tower for a while for security reasons.

Tags: Reader is an former Shield Agent, chef!reader, Reader Barton, 2012 Avenger vibes, everything is still alright, Slice of Life, Avengers Family, Loki has a good heart, still the god of mischief, Slow Burn, mention of food and cooking

Read it on AO3

Chapter 1: New Home

It's just before midnight when you finally get off work. You really like your job, but the hours are murder. Being a chef at one of the most expensive five-star restaurants in Philadelphia has its price. You take off your apron, which has hardly any stains from the last few hours on it, and throw it in the wash. The white jacket goes neatly into your locker and is replaced by a cardigan and a scarf. It’s a cool night. With a last good bye to your colleagues, who are still putting the dishes into the dishwashers, you make your way home.

The night is dark, but the streets are lit by lanterns and the windows of closed stores. Even if it had been pitch black, it wouldn't have worried you to have to walk alone through the empty alleys. Last year a guy had tried to rob you and threatened you with a knife. You had given him a broken nose and several stab wounds in the shoulder. After all, you had been trained at Shield. But the poor guy didn’t know that.

Half an hour later you arrive at your apartment. It's more functional than nicely furnished, and everything is a bit of a pick 'n' mix. But you don't mind it, because you spend most of your time at work anyway. At home you don't feel such great importance to culinary variety when it comes to your own food. A pizza or French fries with ketchup were always welcome. After all, you've been standing at the stove long enough at work. Tired, you decide to wait until breakfast for your next meal and, after a quick change of clothes, just fall into bed.

Fortunately, the next day is your day off. You make good use of it and sleep in. Afterwards you have an nice brunch with eggs, bacon and toast and after a short shower you go into town to do some errands. The sun is shining warmly from the sky and it's a beautiful spring day. If this holds up until the weekend, maybe you'd visit the weekly market and see what exotic and rare foods you can grab there. You love these little trips, even if you rarely find the time.

About two hours later and with three full shopping bags, you re-enter your apartment. It's on the second floor of a rather nondescript building, but the interior is very modern, with pastel-colored, high walls. You put everything in the kitchen cabinets and then brew yourself a tea/coffee, with which you make yourself comfortable on the couch and turn on the TV. It's time to relax a little. So you zap through the programs, watch the rest of an episode of your favorite series and then decide to watch a reality series, which is not exactly known for its quality but is entertaining. So the noon goes by until suddenly the doorbell rings. You get up to see if it's the mailman or a neighbor with a package. But a look through the peephole shows you that it is neither. Surprised, you open the door "Nat!" Natasha Romanoff is a friend of you and your brother, as well as the godmother of his children. But due to her job you rarely see each other. "Hey," she greets you with a small smile. "Can I come in?" "Sure." You lead her into the living room, where you turn off the TV. "What can I get you? Tea, coffee, milkshake?" "Coffee is fine." You disappear into the kitchen for a moment as she sits down in the armchair. Natasha was a rare visitor. Mostly she came with some news from Clint. You see him even less because he spends what little free time he has mostly with his wife and the two kids. Understandable. You don't hold it against him and try to visit them on holidays or for birthdays at her farm.

It doesn't take long until you return to the Russian woman with a new cup and some pastries and sit down on the couch again. "Well," you ask her curiously. "What do I owe the pleasure?" Natasha reaches for her cup. "It’s rather inconvenience. But first tell me if you’ve observed anything unusual lately." Questioningly, you look at her. "What do you mean?" "Nothing weird? You sure?", she asks. "Tell me what I'm supposed to have seen, please," you prompt her, both impatient and confused. Natasha gets right to the point. "You're being monitored." "By Shield?" "By Hydra." Stunned by this news, you remain silent. Natasha uses this pause to drink her coffee. "Oh, this is really good." But you don't listen to her at all, because various thoughts are circling in your head. And again you try to remember if you have noticed anything: same people you met, vehicles, anything. But you got pretty used to your life and didn't pay attention at these things. "Anyway, I'm here to pick you up. For your own safety it’s best if you stay with us for a while," Natasha finally breaks the silence and you look up. "What could Hydra possibly want from me? I don't know any internal secrets anymore. There are better to kidnap than me." "That's what we're trying to figure out right now." "Well, the danger doesn't seem to be acute", you note. "If they wanted to grab me, I wouldn't be sitting here by now. Thanks, but I decline and prefer to stay here. I have my job and the apartment." And now that you know what's going on, you can pay attention and take the necessary precautions, too. "Thanks for warning me." Natasha, on the other hand, doesn't look like she gives you a choice. "You know Shield has its ways to convince you?", she reminds you, but you shrug. Why would such a large organization bother with a single civilian like you? "What does my dear brother say about this matter?", you ask instead. "He hasn't been informed yet." Ergo, they deliberately leave him out of it so that he can't protest. You know this kind of approach of Shield.

Clint understands and supports you in your civilian life, even though he protested the loudest back when you announced your exit. "How’s he?", you want to know from Natasha, who is now finishing her coffee. "He's alive." That can mean just about anything from being happy and healthy to badly hurt but breathing. Better than being dead, you guess. "He's out in Africa with Steve right now." "Busy, huh?" "As usual." She stands up as a sign that she has nothing more to say for the day, and you walk her to the door, where you bid her farewell. "We'll talk again soon," she promises, but admittedly you have little desire to do so right now. "Sure," you reply and close the door behind her.

Well, that were some news. You put her empty cup in the sink and pause thoughtfully by the window. How could you have missed Hydra's agent, you ask yourself while glancing out. Your new life made you too comfortable. But it also takes up a lot of time and energy. And anyway, you dropped out because you didn't want to be cautiousness all the time anymore. You wanted a normal life with a normal job and normal problems. Away from agents, assassinations and super powers. You didn't want to check every day on your way to work if you were being followed, secretly monitored or if someone else was out to get you. That's why you’ve chosen this life. With a sigh, you sit back down on the couch. The past never leaves you alone, you guess. But tomorrow would be a long day even without these new old worries.

~~

The advantage of being a chef is usually that you don't have to get up at the crack of dawn for work. Most Restaurants open at noon, some even in the evening. So does the one where you work. There are preparations to be made before opening time, but you can still sleep through the morning, do some housework, and then head to the restaurant in the sunny afternoon. That's where the trouble starts, though. Just as you're about to open your locker to change your clothes, someone taps you on the shoulder. It's your boss, who hands you a letter. You can tell immediately from his serious expression that something is wrong. And when you open the envelope, you discover your resignation. You look up, perplexed, but you lose out in the following discussion. You don't even get a decent explanation, and that’s what annoys you the most. You're pretty sure your skills aren’t the issue, neither is the way you work. Nor the way you treat your colleagues, with whom you get along very well, even if the tone among cooks is a bit rough. You go back to your apartment, now in a bad mood. It‘s unbelievable! The sunny weather seems like a mockery to you now, and the people you meet along the way are in far too good a mood, in your opinion. It will be hell to find another good job as this was.

Arriving back home you immediately get more bad news: your landlord put a notice on your apartment door. The bathrooms in the building will get completely renovated soon and will be unusable for several weeks. Plus the heavy construction noise during the day. And the water would be turned off. It would be best to find temporary substitute apartment, so they recommend. "Haha...ha..." You laugh dryly and unlock the door. Was that a coincidence? When Natasha had been here yesterday? Probably not. You know Shield's methods and that it’s easy for them to take away your job and your apartment just to get their way. You have two options: either you accept the offer before Shield gets any more stupid ideas, or you run away and try to hide. With a sigh you go into your bedroom and throw a suitcase on the bed, in which you pack clothes, the most important documents and some things from the kitchen you need for work. Not everything fits, so you add a second travel bag. Meanwhile, you think about who you could complain to. Your brother was a favorite target of yours, but he a) had nothing to do with this matter and b) was not in the country. Which’s a shame, because you'd really like to have him by your side right now. If you wanted to complain to Shield directly, Fury would probably be the best person to do it. But you hold too much respect for him to vent your anger to him. Maybe just the next Shield agent who would come to you on this matter would have to step in. You know someone would definitely get back to you. With one last look around your apartment, you leave it and lock the door. Then you shoulder your bag and make your way out.

Just as you're thinking about getting a large coffee from Starbucks down the street, a red sports car pulls up to the side of the road. Natasha at the wheel. "Hmph..." You walk over to her and throw your luggage in the back seat. Then you take a seat in the passenger seat yourself. "Just for the record, I'm not happy with this." "I can see that." She tries to give a sympathetic smile, but you know this is just a job to her. "Well then, off to the Bat Cave, Wayne." "Does that make you Robin?", the Russian asks, driving off. "I guess", you reply snippy, not interested in keeping the conversation going. Fortunately, Natasha wasn't exactly the talkative sort either, so you have some peace and quiet to get your thoughts in order.

It takes you just under two hours to drive from Philadelphia to New York with city traffic slowing you down a bit. Otherwise, you would have arrived earlier at the former Stark Tower. It's been the Avenger Tower for some time now, but that doesn't make much difference, except that Tony Stark seems to be too lazy to put the remaining letters back on it.

Natasha parks in the private underground garage and you take the elevator up to the grand lobby. She tells you about the current residents here. There’s the usual staff, who are of course always present. Of all the Avengers, Bruce Banner is living here permanently. "He actually hardly ever leaves the lab," the Russian explains. "I'm currently living here, too. Every now and then Thor stops by, but mostly he prefers to explore the world. And his brother Loki is here. There have been some...problems with him and he's sort of under supervision here. Tony trusts technology more than Asgard. The owner of the house, by the way, is out visiting an outpost right now." "There are even Avengers outposts?" Natasha nods as she walks you down the halls to the living area. "But don't tell Hydra." "Sure", you promise unfazed. "Speaking of which, if I want to go out to visit someone, do I need a key or how does this work?" "It's better if you stay here in the house for now. It's for your safety, after all." "For how long?", you want to know. The answer is short. "As long as necessary." "So I'm sort of locked in here”, you state. That's typical Shield. As soon as there's any problem, an agent is sent in to put everything in solitary arrest or quarantine. As long as it’s shielded from the rest of the world. Natasha stops in front of a door that is now yours, but doesn't look directly at you, which as much of an answer as you get. "I'll be fine on my own now, thanks," you smile politely but not genuinely at her, and after she assures you that you're free to move around inside the building, you head off with your luggage in your new apartment.

[fluffy-lee]

Peace and Love

Part 9 of the series Vacation

This is a TICKLE series

PLATONIC Avengers x reader

Warnings: none

Summary: The Avengers enjoy a relaxing day at the cabin. Y/n notices Steve seems a little off and hopes to cheer him up. 

You woke up bright and early, feeling extra happy today. How could you not be happy on a beautiful, sunny day on Vacation? You rolled over to see Nat peacefully sleeping, and you wanted her to wake up, but you knew better than to wake a sleeping Natasha, so you tiptoed to the bathroom and shut the door, and proceeded to get ready for the day. When you were all ready, you went downstairs to find only Wanda and Vision awake. They were cuddling on a sunny spot on the couch by the window. 

   “Good morning, Y/n.” Vision greeted. 

   “Good morning!” You grinned. 

   “Did you survive last night?” Wanda asked, a grin on her face. 

   “Barely.” You answered with a blush.

Wanda and Vis chuckled. 

  “Can I get you some coffee, Wanda?” You asked. “I’d offer you some, Vision, but…” 

Vision grinned and poked your side as you walked by, making you squeak. 

  “I’d love some!” Wanda said. 

  “The usual?” You asked. 

You knew just how Wanda liked her coffee. You were the Avengers’s “little barista,” as Tony called you. You knew what each of them liked for their coffee. Steve jokes that it’s the only reason they kept you. 

  You made Wanda her coffee, and had the idea that you’d wake your dad up for another canoe ride. You handed Wanda her coffee, and went up the stairs to Bucky, Steve, and Sam’s room. You knew if you woke them all up, there might be hell to pay, but just Bucky was safe. 

  You quietly entered the room to see only one out of the three was awake. Steve was propped up on his bed, sketching. He looked over at you with a soft smile, and wiggled his finger in a “come here” motion. You walked to him, trying your best to be quiet. 

  “You need something?” He whispered. 

  “I was gonna wake him up for a canoe ride.” You pointed at sleeping Bucky. 

  “Oh okay.” 

  “What are you drawing?”

Steve turned his sketch pad around to show you that he was drawing the view out the bedroom window. The mountains and trees. 

  “It’s beautiful!” You whispered. 

  “Thank you!” Steve mouthed. 

You turned and walked to the side of Bucky’s bed. You got nervous to wake him and looked at Steve who raised his eyebrows with a nervous smile. You bit your lip and gently shook him. He didn’t wake up. You shook him more aggressively and he finally woke up startled and furrowed his brows at you, 

  “What are you waking me up for?” He groaned. 

  “To go on the canoe?” 

Bucky stretched, and much to your surprise, snatched you up and brought you into bed to snuggle you. You giggled and snuggled into his chest. 

  “It would be nice, but I think I’m going to stay here all day and you’re stuck here with me.” He teased some more. 

You smirked and poked around his chest and neck, making him crack up a little. 

  “Okahahay off you!” Bucky protested, prying your hands off him and sitting up in the bed with you in his arms.  

  “Well I guess it’s time to wake up then!” Sam grumbled, getting up out of bed and stomping to the bathroom. 

You giggled and Sam heard. He slowly turned around while you shut your mouth nervously. He pointed at you warningly. You didn’t move a muscle. He carried on to the bathroom when he saw you got the message. You smiled up at Bucky and he chuckled. He stood up out of bed still holding you, and then set you down by the door. 

  “I’ll meet you downstairs in five minutes.” He smiled. 

You nodded and gave Steve a smile before you left, which Steve returned. 

…

 You and Bucky had an amazing time out on the lake. You enjoyed this one-on-one time with him. He told you stories about his past, before the war. You absolutely loved to hear his stories. You had loved getting to know him. Whenever you told him stories about your past, you noticed how it made him upset, so you mostly told him your happiest memories, many of which were with your mom. Those memories definitely made him happier than the others, but he still liked to hear them all, because he liked getting to know you. 

Bucky rowed the two of you back to shore, and you walked up the hill, side by side to the cabin. Steve was sitting out on the deck reading, and you threw your arms around his neck lovingly. You noticed he was a little quiet today, but you didn’t understand why. He looked at you with a soft grin. 

   “Pepper made cinnamon rolls.” Steve smirked. 

You gasped and ran inside, making him laugh. 

  “Y/n! Pepper made cinnamon rolls!” Peter shouted, holding up his cinnamon roll he was eating.

  “I heard!” 

 You got a cinnamon roll and climbed into the stool and sat next to Peter at the bar. 

Tony walked in and kissed Pepper on the cheek. 

  “Good morning, Rugrats.” He said to you and Peter. 

  “We’re not babies.” Peter grinned, rolling his eyes. 

You looked at them confused. You didn’t get the reference. 

  “So Tony, this new game came out today and I was wondering if I can buy it on the PlayStation?” Peter asked.

  “Sure kid! Today is a pretty chill day. We’re going to town for dinner tonight, but that’s all.” Tony answered.

  “Oh awesome! Thank you so much!” Peter exclaimed, finishing his cinnamon roll and patting your head before dashing to the front living room. It was a little more of a formal room, mostly everyone hung out in the family room, but Peter preferred this one because he didn’t want to hog the TV. He planned on playing the new game all day long. He had been waiting for it to come out for some time now. 

  The day wasn’t very eventful, but it was very relaxing. You sat out on the porch and talked with everyone (except Peter who was still inside) for several hours, before you, Thor, Nat, and Bucky decided to swim. Steve, Vision, and Wanda lounged by the pool to talk and watch you all swim. Pepper and Tony took the boat out and had a picnic. 

   After swimming, you showered and got ready for dinner. It was late afternoon and you were laying on the couch next to Peter watching him play his new game he was quite addicted to. After a while, Steve came in. 

  “Hey we’re about to leave. Tony sent me in here to get you guys.” Steve explained. 

  “Um I’m not really hungry. I think I’m just going to stay here.” Peter shrugged, eyes locked to the screen. 

You looked from the screen to Steve, who was looking at Peter. 

  “Tony told me you’d say that. Family dinner is mandatory.” Steve shrugged. 

  “Just tell him I’m busy. He’ll understand.” Peter said absentmindedly, fingers twiddling the controller. 

  “Well, he also told me that if you didn’t listen…” Steve trailed off. “I should do this.” 

Next thing you know, Steve tackled Peter on the couch, and began tickling his sides and belly. Peter laughed and shrieked, dropping the controller to the floor. He curled in on himself while Steve launched his hands to Peter’s extremely ticklish armpits. 

  “Does this change your mind, Queens?” Steve asked teasingly. 

You burst into jealous flames. 

   You hadn’t been tickled all day and you were in quite the mood to be, especially by Steve, who seemed a little distant today. Your face turned bright red and you wanted him to get you instead, even though you adored the sight. Squealing and flailing Peter was priceless. 

  “Okay Steve! Let him go. You don’t have to keep tickling him so much. He gets it.” You spat, arms crossed. 

Steve looked over at you, slowing his tickling on poor Peter, to make sure it was really YOU that was speaking to him in such a tone. He observed your expression and tilted his head at you. 

  “Looks like somebody is jealous.” Steve teased, meanly calling you out. 

You tried to hide your sheepish grin but it was impossible. 

Peter caught his breath and pushed the now distracted soldier off of him. 

  “I’m going to get ready now.” Peter panted, recovering from the unexpected tickle attack. 

  “You do that Peter.” Steve replied, not taking his eyes off of you. 

You held a throw pillow to your chest nervously. 

  “Why are you so jealous? I tickled you all the time!” Steve asked light-heartedly, rolling his eyes with a shrug.

  “I am not jealous! I was just looking out for Peter!” You lied miserably.

  “Oooh alright. I get it. Well, we aren’t leaving for another thirty minutes anyway… and I can do this all day.” Steve said, cracking his knuckles and strutting toward you. 

You knew what was coming and it was exactly what you wanted, but now you were very flustered and nervous and you felt like running away, but it was too late for that. Steve dragged you to the middle of the couch by your ankle and snatched the pillow away. You giggled and instinctively covered your torso. Steve looked down at you with a playful grin and went right for ribs. Your giggles didn’t hesitate and you squirmed around, both sides of your rib cage trapped between his large hands. You laughed so hard that your laughter turned silent, so Steve let you breathe. Steve wiggled his fingers above your belly. 

  “Do you want some more tickles, Y/n/n? Cause you’re my favorite person to tickle! Just tell me if you want more tickles and I’ll keep tickling you!” Steve teased ruthlessly, purposefully saying the word repeatedly to get at you. 

There’s no way you could just answer “yes” so, you tickled him back, making him chuckle. He quickly caught your wrists and pinned them above your head. 

  “I’ll take that as a yes!” He exclaimed before tickling your tummy.

You let out your famous belly laugh and Steve smiled ear to ear.

   “Ohohoho there’s that laugh! Tickle tickle tickle!”

   “STEHEHEHEVE! NOHOHO! Sohoho mean!” You cried, flusteredly. 

   “Aww, so all of a sudden you’re embarrassed? This is what you wanted, is it not?” Steve teased some more. 

You quickly covered your face with your hands. You didn't know what to do with yourself.

  "Don't hide from me!" Steve began as he tickled under your arms, causing you to shoot your arms down. "I can't see your cute wittle blushy face!" 

  You could not believe this was Steve talking to you right now. 

  “Why are you blushing? I’m just tick-tick-tickling you!” He said through gritted teeth, curling his fingers with each “tick.”  

You shook your head, the smile never leaving your lips. 

   “I have a question for you, Y/n/n.”

   “OHOHOHOH NOHOHOHO!”

   “Who is your favorite Avenger?” He asked, tickling gentler, but giving you a warning look. 

You giggled and actually thought about it, and then gave him a little smile. 

  “No answer? I’ll just get your feet then!” He declared, stopping the tickling on your neck and catching your flailing left ankle. “Beeetter answerrrr!” He wiggled his fingers above your foot. 

  “Iron MaaahaaHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAAHA!”

Steve scritched the arch of your foot and you lost it. He had an angry expression on his face after hearing such an answer. 

  “HOW DARE YOU?” He boomed. 

  “CAHAHAPTAIN AMERICAHAHAHA! PLEHEHEASE STAHAHAHP!” You cried through your laughter.

Steve quit and dropped your ankle only to grab the other foot with a smile. 

  “Look at this cute little foot! You have the cutest little feet!” He sang. 

You caught your breath from all the laughing and that flustered look on your face only got stronger. You knew Steve wasn’t done with you yet. 

You looked up at him, shyly covering your cheeks with your hands. 

  “They’re like miniature versions of Bucky’s feet! And just as ticklish!” Steve quipped, now tickling your right foot while you laughed and tried to kick, but Steve had you, so you had to just take it. When he got bored of tickling your foot, he leaned back a second and tapped his chin as if he was thinking. 

  “Who are you and what have you done with Steve?” You growled, jokingly.

Steve didn’t say anything. He just pursed his lips and widened his eyes at you for only a second. Uh-oh. This can’t be good. 

 His hands suddenly latched to your thighs, catching you by surprise, making you jump. Steve chuckled at that. 

  “AHAHAHAHAHAHA! STEHEHEVE NOHOHO FAHAHAIR!” You yelled through your laughter. 

Steve squeezed repeatedly, tickling the daylights out of you as you ineffectively thrashed. 

  “What’s not fair? I don’t get to tickle your thighs enough, THAT is what’s not fair!”

You gripped his wrists and tried to push him off. You just couldn’t stand how much it tickled. It felt like so long before he let go, and you barely had time to recover before he was kneading into your very sensitive hips. Super high-pitched giggles now came out of you, making Steve bark out a laugh. After a minute or so, Steve saw your cheeks were still very flushed, so he stopped his tickle attack. He laid the back of his hands on your cheeks, and chuckled when he felt they were warm. 

  “Are you okay?” He asked. 

You nodded with a smile. Your cheeks were hot from the flusteredness and the laughter. You really liked that feeling. 

 “You never fail to make me smile, Y/n.” Steve mused.

You sat up to look at him, who was now sitting next to you on the couch. He looked back at you with a soft smirk. 

  “What’s been on your mind today, Steve?” You asked seriously, even though you had just been wrecked. 

  “You know me so well…” He started, shaking his head. 

  “Of course I know you so well! You’re like, well I don’t know... a dad to me.” You explained. 

Steve was caught by surprise by your sentence. He tilted his head slightly and stuck out his bottom lip at you, as if to say awww and his eyes were filled with adoration, and a little bit of teasing. 

You looked down and played with your hands shyly. 

  “Bucky is my dad, and I absolutely love him, I don’t mean to downplay that at all-” You rambled, before being cut-off. 

  “I know what you mean.” Steve said sweetly, pulling you into a side hug. “You’re so sweet Y/n/n!” 

You looked up at him and he kissed your forehead. You were like a daughter to Steve, but he never thought of it that way. He never took the time to realize, because he was so focused on making sure you and Bucky could be together. He wanted Bucky to have his daughter, who would bring him hope and purpose again after 90 years of hell, and through all that fighting, Steve became so close with you and you two just bonded like no other, and finally, looking down at you now, Steve realized the very reason you two had this special relationship, was because you are his best friend in the world’s very flesh. It was so clear! How could he not realize that? All he ever knew is that he loved you very much.

   You looked at Steve’s face, oblivious to what he was so deep in thought about. Finally, he spoke. 

   “Y/n, I have just been missing my mom today. I had a dream about her last night, and I’ve been thinking about how she would love this place.” He sighed.

  “Oh…I’m sorry. I miss my momma too, a lot. She would’ve loved this place too. I would’ve loved to meet your mom, Steve.” You said, sorrowful. You weren’t quite sure what to say just then, but you knew how he felt. 

 Before Steve could say anything else, Tony called for everyone to head out for dinner. Steve gave you a soft smile as you both stood up from the couch. You walked alongside him down the hallway.

  “You know, Steve,” you started, halting in your steps. Steve did the same, looking down at you. “it’s such a good thing to miss your mother. It’s so good, even though it hurts. It means you love her that much.”

Steve sighed and smiled down at you. You had managed to really lift his spirits today. 

   “Thank you, Y/n… I love you.”

   “I know!” You quipped, lightening the mood.    

Steve snatched you up baby style, making you squeal, and tickled your belly all the way to the van. 

…

   “There they are!” Tony announced as Steve walked up with you to the van, still holding you and tickling you. “What did she do?” Tony giggled at your state. 

  “She was being trouble! Like always!” Steve teased. 

  “What’s new?” Vision smirked, walking up next to you. 

Your jaw dropped to the floor at that. 

  “Ihihi- I’m not troubl- well. More recently…” You admitted, referring to last week’s antics.

Steve and Tony raised their eyebrows at each other. 

  “Hah! Gimmie a piece, Cap!” Tony demanded, wanting to tickle you himself. 

Steve held you up for him. 

  “Nohohooho HAHAHAHAH!” 

Tony dug into your sides and blew a raspberry on your neck. 

  “Ihihihi don’t thihihink I can take much more.” You said, shaking your head when Tony let up. 

Steve chuckled and set you down in the van. You sat between him and Bucky. You slept on Bucky’s chest the whole way to the restaurant. 

…

  You were all sitting down eating at the restaurant, having conversations amongst each other. You sat between Nat and Bucky and across from Thor and Peter. You, Thor, and Peter were gushing, having a stupid conversation about “who would win in a fight? Blank or blank.”

  “Well, I was going to say we could have a fire tonight, but it looks like there’s a storm coming through the night.” Tony said, catching everyone’s attention. 

  “WOW. WAIT TO GO, THOR! WAY TO RUIN EVERYTHING!” You joked, making everyone laugh. 

  “Y/N Buchanan I will fight you in the middle of this restaurant, right here right now.” He threatened jokingly. 

You gave him a challenging smirk. 

  “Y/n, when we get back to the cabin, you need to show Thor that new move we’ve been working on.” Nat grinned. 

  “Good idea. I need to practice it anyway, might as well practice on a god.”

…

It had already started raining when you headed back to the cabin, and was pouring by the time you arrived. Everyone ran inside and you plopped back on the couch to watch Peter play his game, but with a crash of thunder and a flash of lightning, the power was out. It was getting darker by the minute and though Peter begged Tony to fix it, Tony claimed he couldn’t, not out here. Tony handed you and Peter each a flashlight. Pepper went around the cabin lighting candles. Steve, Bucky, and Sam sat in the front living room, and everyone else sat at the table, drinking tea. 

  “Remember that hide and seek game you two used to play?” Tony asked. 

Butterflies instantly rushed to your tummy. 

  “You mean Hide and Seek: Tickle Edition?” Peter asked, wiggling his fingers at you. 

  “Yes! That one! You two hide and whoever I find first…” Tony started, wiggling his fingers at the two of you. “Whoever is not found gets to be the seeker.” 

You thought it was so cute how THE Tony Stark was about to play Peter’s game with you. Peter showed you this game after you two started spending more time together. He said that his Uncle Ben used to play it with him.

  Tony faced the wall and began counting while you and Peter scurried off. You desperately looked for a good hiding spot and were running out of time, so you hid on the side of a nightstand in Peter and Thor’s room. It was not your best work, but you hoped he’d find Peter first. 

You looked up out the partially opened window and watched the rain fall through the trees, and listened, and smelled the air. It was like heaven. You took a deep breath, at peace. You loved your life, and you loved this place, and that’s when you felt the first twinge in your heart at the thought of leaving on Friday. Everyone would go back to their crazy lives, and who knows what could happen next. Aliens, androids, wizards? You just wanted to keep them all here forever. Safe, hidden in the mountains. You always wanted to protect them, even though they were the ones doing all the saving. You were brought out of your thoughts at the sound of Peter’s laughter. You won this round, so you stood up and walked to the sight of Peter being tickled to pieces by Tony on the hallway floor. 

  “You two better hide!” You smirked and began counting. 

You searched the cabin and soon found Tony hiding behind a door. 

  “Behind a door? Really Tony?” You teased. 

He sighed in defeat. 

  “Alright let’s get this over with.” He said, raising his hands in the air. 

You tickled Tony’s belly and he hunched over in laughter and you just pulled him into a hug. He tilted his head in surprise and hugged you back and kissed your head.  

   It was Peter’s turn to find you and you were quite nervous. You hid in you and Nat’s shower and it brought back so many memories of when you two used to play this game. Several minutes passed and Peter suddenly swung open the shower curtain, making you squeal. 

  “Mwuahahaha! I gotcha Y/n/n!” Peter laughed evilly, and threw you over his shoulder and carried you to the bed. 

  “Tickle time!” He teased and dropped you to the bed. 

He pried your arms away from your torso and immediately began tickling your tummy while you squealed and laughed. 

  “Ticky ticky ticky!” Peter said over and over while his fingers danced across your tummy, sides, and ribs. 

You threw your head back in laughter when he zeroed in on your belly button. 

  “Awww I forget you have such a ticklish lil belly button!” Peter giggled, and used the opportunity to blow raspberries on the front of your neck, a spot only he knew about. 

You squealed and laughed freely, the biggest smile on your face. 

  “Go hide!” Tony called from the other room, making you and Peter look at each other nervously, before running your separate ways. 

You hid under the table, gripping onto Thor’s calf. Turns out, this wasn’t the best spot because it didn’t take Tony long to find you at all. 

  “Get out from under there, Y/n!” Tony ordered. 

You obeyed, but made a run for it. Tony chased you down the hall and caught you. 

  “You just made it a thousand times worse for yourself. I hope you know that!” Tony chuckled and dropped you on the couch and didn’t hesitate to tickle your underarms while you laughed so hard your abs ached. 

  “This is what you get for running from me, you little cheater!” He teased, as his fingers danced down to your ribs and you squirmed and tossed around, so Tony straddled you and your laughter only increased. Next thing you knew, he placed his “claw” on the middle of your tummy and began shaking your tummy. This always tickled you so bad and your famous belly laughter found its way to your smile. Tony laughed along with you at that. He thought that was so cute. 

  “You are so cute, Y/n!” He complimented. “I’m gonna give you raspberries for that.”

Your eyes went wide and his lips met just above your belly button and he blew the fattest raspberries, making you squeal and your laughter went silent, which happened when something tickled you really bad. After several raspberries, Tony sat up and kissed your cheek and you both laughed. Then, the power came back on and everyone cheered. 

  “Y/n’s laughter brought the power back on!” Pepper teased and you blushed. 

Later in the evening, you, Nat, and Thor stood in the living room.

  “Alright, Y/n. Show him what I taught you! Use your legs, NOT your back.” She instructed. 

You ended up flipping Thor on the floor and his handsome laughter poured out of him. Everyone else who was watching cheered and clapped. 

  “Amazing, Y/n!” Steve praised. 

You smiled and bowed. 

Thor pulled you to the ground by surprise and laid you face up on his chest and held your arms above your head, and wrapped one of his legs around both of your legs. 

  “Natasha, if you’d like to tickle Y/n, now is your opportunity!” Thor said. 

  “NOHOHOHO! I’ve been tickled so much today! I can’t take any more!” You lied. 

  “Sure you can!” Nat teased, dancing her long nails all over your neck. 

You laughed for the millionth time today, but Nat’s tickles were different. Her long nails caused a ticklish sensation that Steve or Tony didn’t have. Their tickles were more rough, and hers were gentler, but still would drive you quite mad. 

  “Nahahat! Plehehehase! Nohohot my neheheck!” 

  “Tummy it is then!” She giggled, dancing her fingers on your belly under your shirt. 

You squealed and laughed while Thor held you in place. He was smiling ear to ear, and thought it would be funny to blow some raspberries on the back of your neck. 

   “These sides look luscious!” Nat teased, now moving to scribbling your sides. 

You fell between your belly laughter and silent laughter, which everyone found very amusing. 

Nat was now pinching your hips while Thor squeezed you in a hug and was rubbing his beard on your neck. You just giggled, because this didn’t tickle quite as badly as before, and you were quite loving being loved-on at the moment. 

   “Aww I bet Peter wants us to do that to him, Tony!” Steve sang, just to embarrass Peter. 

  “Absolutely not!” Peter said, red-faced. Truly, he wouldn’t mind, but it made him quite flustered being called out like that. 

Tony tackled him to the couch and Steve joined. Tony tickled the screaming Peter’s belly while Steve got his ribs, sending him to tickle hell. 

  “YEAH TICKLE HIM!” 

  “TICKLE HIM UNTIL HE CRIES!”

Bucky and Sam hollered.

You were finally set free by Nat and Thor, and you rolled off Thor onto the carpet, catching your breath, with that warm feeling in your tummy. You looked over to see the cuteness that was Peter being tickled, and this time, you weren’t jealous. You definitely had your fill for the day. 

…

When you were ready for bed, you knocked on Sam, Bucky, and Steve’s door. Steve opened the door, shirtless and in his blue flannel pajama pants. 

  “Heeey dorito!” You sassed.

Steve rolled his eyes with a smile. “What do you want?”

  “To see you guys, especially Dad.”

Bucky bumped Steve’s out of the way with his hip, making Steve cackle and run into the wall. You giggled at that. 

  “Come here, cutie!” Bucky said, swooping you up from under your arms and bringing you into the room, giving your kisses on your cheek. Sam was laying in his bed with his laptop and headphones in, but smiled at you. 

  “Can I sleep with you tonight?” You asked your dad. 

Bucky dropped you on his bed. 

  “Can she Steve?” Bucky asked. 

 “I don’t care.” Steve shrugged casually, standing outside the bathroom with his toothbrush in his mouth.  

  “Sleepover!” Bucky cheered. 

  “DID SOMEONE SAY SLEEPOVER?!” Peter yelled, rushing into the room. 

  “WOO HOO!” You cheered.

Bucky and Sam went wide-eyed. 

  “I CALL SLEEPING IN SAM’S BED!” Peter announced, jumping into an “angry” Sam’s bed. 

  “OH HEEEELL NO!” Sam yelled, kicking the giggling Peter out of his bed, while you, Bucky, and Steve clutched your bellies laughing. 

  “Nah I’m just messing with you. Thor and I are going to watch a movie.” Peter said. “I just came to say night night!” He ruffled your hair and you said goodnight to your best friend. 

  You snuggled up to your dad and he snuggled you back before turning out the light. 

  “Your feet are freezing, Y/n!” Bucky exclaimed in the dark. 

You giggled a funny giggle, which made Steve, who just walked out of the bathroom into the dark, giggle and now the two of you went back and forth giggling. 

  “I guess we’re not tired!” Bucky sighed, rolling his eyes.

Steve turned on a show and crawled into his bed. 

You soon fell asleep in Bucky’s arms. Steve and Bucky exchanged a smile. Steve turned off the TV, and soon everyone was asleep. 

[storiesforallfandoms]

accident prone ~ machine gun kelly

word count: 1500

request?: yes!

“Hi love! Can I request something for Colson Baker where you’re like a college student who’s shadowing at a hospital and colson has to come in because he was stupid and injured himself on set for a music video and he flirts with you?”

description: on her first day of doing actual hands on learning, she ends up meeting a celebrity

pairing: machine gun kelly x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist (one, two)

After years of all nighters, stressful exams, and more procrastination than I care to admit, I was finally taking a giant step forward in my life towards my career: I was starting my first day as an intern at the hospital.

I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy job, I had been warned of this basically once a week since I had started school, but all I wanted to do was help people however I could. Plus, I had a strong stomach, so the gore would never affect me at least.

I tried not to seem too excited as I was assigned a nurse to follow for the day and given my list of tasks. Luckily, though, my mentor for the day seemed very sweet and understanding of my excitement, unlike some of the other mentor nurses.

I had just sat down for the first time in hours when my pager began to beep. I raced to find my mentor, who was stood outside of a room with the windows covered.

“How do you feel about practicing your stitches and bandaging, kid?” she asked as I approached.

“I haven’t done much of either yet,” I responded. “Should I really be practicing on a patient?”

“You can on this one. He’s a regular.”

I stepped into the room and immediately understood why the windows were covered. Sat on the able in front of me, cradling his hand in a blood stained cloth while trying to also hold a cloth to his bloody nose, was none other than Machine Gun Kelly.

“I was wondering where Diane went,” he commented, referring to my mentor. “You must be the new girl.”

“One of many,” I confirmed. “I’m (Y/N). You’re familiar with this place I take it.”

“I’d say I’m accident prone, but that’d be an understatement,” he responded.

I pulled on my surgical gloves and gestured to his hand. “Let me see the damage then.”

He held out his hand to me and I saw the giant gash on his palm. I started by cleaning the area, causing him to flinch slightly. He showed not an ounce of pain as I began to carefully stitch his hand.

“So, how did you manage to do this?” I asked.

“I may have been playing with knives,” he responded. I gave him a quick look before turning back to his hand. “I grabbed it by the blade without realizing.”

“You definitely cut it deep,” I told him. “Did that have anything to do with your nose?”

He shook his head, but paused as he did. “Maybe. One of my friends and I were fighting and he punched me in the nose. I reached for the knife to try to throw it at him.”

I looked back up at him with wide eyes. “You tried to throw a knife at your friend?!”

“I thought it was a fake one!” he tried to defend himself. “We were filming a music video with fake pocket knives and one of them was placed on the props table next to someone’s real pocket knife. I went to pick it up to throw it thinking it was fake and I ended up grabbing the blade of the real one instead.”

I shook my head at him and continued his stitches. “Why was there a real, open pocket knife next to a fake one?”

“I don’t know, man, someone took it out and left it I guess. Shit happens.”

I knew very little about Machine Gun Kelly. His music wasn’t exactly the type I listened to, but hearing him talking about fighting with his friends and throwing knives as if it were no big deal really told me all I had to know about him.

I finished his stitches and went to wrap the wound in some gaze. “Do I need to explain the healing process for stitches to you?”

“No,” he responded. “I’ve been told quite a few times.”

“I’d imagine.” When I finished with his hand, I gestured to his nose. “Does that need to be looked at, too?”

“I think it’s okay. He didn’t break it, just made it bleed a little.”

“I’ll look at it anyways, just to be sure.”

I took the cloth from his hand and put a hand under his chin to tilt his head back slightly. It certainly didn’t look broken, and I didn’t think he would need an x-ray to make sure. I’d ask Diane about it before he left just to be sure, but everything looked fine.

“I’ll clean you up,” I told him. I crossed over to the nearby sink and wet down a cloth with warm water.

“You don’t have to do that,” he said.

“Yeah, but I’m going to. Might as well, I have a feeling it won’t go over well if you walk out of here with blood pooling down your nose.”

He chuckled as I took his chin in my hand again and began cleaning the mostly dried blood off of his nose. I tried to be as gentle as possible, making sure that if he did have anything wrong that I didn’t irritate it more.

As I cleaned his nose, I noticed him gazing up at me. The windows pointing outside were open, and it was a beautiful sunny day. The sunlight came into the room and lit up his already bright blue eyes in the most beautiful way. I found myself trailing off from what I was doing to get lost in his eyes instead.

“Are you done?” he asked, giving me an amused look. For a moment, I thought he was referring to me staring into his eyes for so long, until I realized I was just resting the wet cloth against his nose.

“N-Not yet,” I stuttered.

I discarded the cloth into the nearby hamper once I finished and pulled off my surgical gloves to wash my hands. He stood from the table, stretching his body out from sitting around for so long. I had a feeling he was not a guy that was used to just sitting in one spot for too long.

“So, are you going to be here long?” he asked. “Just wondering if I should prepare to get acquainted with you or not.”

“Well, I don’t plan on leaving. I plan on staying here and becoming a nurse once my training is over,” I responded. “But I can’t promise you I’ll be the one looking after you all the time when you come in.”

“Maybe I’ll specifically request for you to look after me when I come in.”

I shot him a playful look over my shoulder. “What if I’m busy with another patient?”

“I can wait.”

I giggled at this, something that was very unlike me, but how can you not giggle when an incredibly hot rock star is (kind of?) flirting with you.

“I suppose I shouldn’t turn down patients,” I said. “It’ll literally keep me in a job.”

“Exactly! I could singlehandedly keep you employed all on my own, so you shouldn’t turn me away.”

I smiled at this and shook my head. “Well, we’ll see how things go. If you’re lucky, maybe I’ll become your nurse.”

I was about to head out the door, but his hand pushed the door closed, stopping me before I could. I turned to look at him, confused.

“Well,” he started, “maybe, just in case I can’t have you as my nurse again, we could exchange numbers and keep in touch that way.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you trying to hit on me Machine Gun Kelly?”

“Colson,” he corrected. “That’s my real name, it’s Colson.”

“Colson,” I tried. The name felt right coming from my lips, and I could tell he thought the same because his face brightened when I said it. “Well, if you’d like to keep in touch, I suppose I could give you my number.”

Colson was so excited by my response that he nearly dropped his phone trying to get it from his pocket. I chuckled and took his phone, putting my name and number into his contacts and passing it back to him.

“Watch your stitches,” I warned him before finally walking out of the room.

I felt like I was floating on cloud nine as I walked to the receptionists desks, where some of the other nurses and training students were stood around talking. Diane noticed me first and immediately broke from her group.

“How did it go?” she asked.

“Went perfect!” I told her. “I stitched up his hand and checked his nose. No sign of breakage, and he seems to know how to deal with stitches.”

“He’s more stitch and tattoo than man at this point,” she joked. “Good on you, kid. That’s your first big patient in the bag.”

I looked over my shoulder to the room where I had left Colson and smiled to myself. My first patient definitely went better than I could’ve ever expected.

[thefanficmonster]

There You Are

PART 2: ‘Finally, You’re Back’

Karl Heisenberg x Reader (Gender Neutral)

Warnings: Mild spoilers for Resident Evil 8:Village, Swearing

Genre: Romance, Mild Angst

Summary: It’s the life before the nightmare. It’s the breath of fresh air before the pollution. The sunshine before the storm. And there they are, standing in the warmth of a sunny spring day in that Romanian village, their meeting coincidental yet fated at the same time.

Requested by Anon. Hi darling! I’m sorry for the long wait but here it finally is - you request turned into a fic! Also, big thanks to that other Anon who gave me the idea of modifying the fic in a way where it’s now gonna be a two-parter, a sort of the before the nightmare and the aftermath of Heisenberg’s turning. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the read. Love, Vy ❤

Because one is incapable of expecting the unexpected One can never see what the future may hold One can never know what storms await One can never fully prepare And neither did he Because he could’ve never guessed Never known He could only see so far ahead He could only plan so much Yet he always thought he’d run free Let the winds and rivers guide him forward Never did he think his fate would uproot him into a nightmare He had no idea what to expect He had no idea he’d never be the same again Hell, to him it was the first and last time But to his hope it was a lightning spark Praying for more Regardless, in that moment When eyes met eyes, all he could think was... ‘There you are’

And there they were, standing in the almost completely melted snow on the outskirts of the Romanian village, the shy sun rays shimmering on their skin, making their hair glow. Their gaze gave away nothing yet so much simultaneously. Their crystal, shining yet still tired orbs were busy taking in their surroundings, their back turned to him. They didn’t have to face him for him to be able to guess they weren’t from around here. Truth be told, there were several clues that let him know: the clothes, the shoes, the sun-kissed skin - which there’s no way they could’ve obtained from the gloomy sunless winter in the village- but most important, the dead giveaway was the huge rucksack burdening their back and shoulders.

‘A traveler‘, he thought, ‘They’re probably lost. There’s no way they landed in this shithole on purpose.‘

The contemplation of whether to address them or not ends shortly and not really willingly - it mostly has to do with the fact that his thoughts were momentarily shut up when the traveler’s eyes met his. 

Even with the amount of distance between them, something in those E/C pools glinting in the faint sunlight while also reflecting the brightness of the last remaining snow on the ground stole his breath away and paralyzed him. He was rendered helpless and unmoving from simple eye contact with this stranger.

But they weren’t done surprising him with the overwhelming power they unknowingly possessed.

They, out of the blue, shot him a smile that could only be described as blinding. One that sent his heart racing, eyes widening ever so slightly with disbelief. He was rarely offered such a kind reaction upon being seen by someone. A smile - not a mocking or menacing one - was an expression he rarely saw directed towards him.

‘They don’t know you, idiot!‘ He scolds himself mentally, ‘They don’t know what kind of lowlife piece of shit you are.‘

Yeah, they don’t. And they’re never gonna find out

He was willing to pull every lie from the book to keep his miserable life as a nearly homeless, poorly treated worker of three jobs hidden from this stranger. He didn’t want to see pity in those eyes nor sympathy in their smile.

He didn’t want things to change. Though, he simultaneously didn’t know what ‘things’ he didn’t want changed.

And so, he decided to create some, knowing full-well they would be temporary.

“Need any help? You lost or something?“ He calls out to them as he makes his way down from the cliff and into the large field where they’re standing.

They shake their head in response, loose strands of hair forming a curtain over their features as they do so, their smile never fading, “Nope, not at all. I’m exactly where I wanna be.”

“What could you possibly wanna see here?“ He asks, now without having to belch his lungs out due to the smaller distance between them.

They turn away from him, pointing to the monstrosity of a building he’s more than familiar with, towering over the village and dominating the outskirts. Having been abandoned for years now, the factory has become a home for rats, roaches, bats and Karl Heisenberg. The young man runs the risk of having it all crumble atop him while he sleeps the three hours he’s allowed each night. He’s not usually embarrassed by this fact but he doesn’t proudly announce it either. Sure, some people who pick on him and are determined to make his life a living hell have spread rumors about his place of stay but no one dares go into the factory to fact-check. It’s menacing exterior looking to be straight from a horror movie or a nightmare is more than enough to drive any person away, but the haunting noises the place harbors accompanied by the many creatures that produce said noises just add to the fear factor among the villagers when it comes to the century old structure.

“That.“ The traveler says, looking almost dreamily at the building so many people turn to with disgust and fear. “Would it be trespassing to enter? I really wanna have a look inside.“

Forgetting to mask his confused and surprised expression, Karl is caught with that wide-eyed, mouth-slightly-agape look on his face which sends the traveler in a fit of laughter.

“I know I probably sound crazy saying that, but abandoned places are sort of my thing, you know. I can’t simply pass by one without going in and doing a literal scavenger hunt. Not that I ever find much apart from graffiti and crap all over the place, but it’s worth having a look. Especially inside a place that looks that old. And man is it huge.“ No, his assumption was right the first time - their eyes do indeed get dreamy when they turn to observe the giant structure further down the overgrown path.

Who gives him the right to tell them no?

“Lucky I found you then.“ He says, shedding every last bit of confusion and replacing it with enthusiasm, a wide smile plastered on his face, “Follow me, I know all the entrances.“

He needn’t tell them twice. Hell, he barely had to finish his sentence before they literally took flight as they rushed - as much as they could with the heavy backpack they were carrying - towards the factory, taking his hand to drag him along, never stopping their river of gratitude the whole way there.

It awoke something in him, something warm and genuine that made him want to get to know this sunshine in human form better. He hasn’t had a chance to smile plenty in his life, never having a reason to do so. But during this less than five minute interaction, he hasn’t been able to contain the grin brought upon him as a side effect of their own happiness.

“I’m Karl, by the way!“ He informed them as they stomped their way up the path.

“Nice to meet you, Karl!“ They called back, giving him a brief glance over their shoulder, “My name’s Y/N.“

‘Y/N‘ the name echoed and repeated itself in his head, intensifying that feeling dangerously close to adoration.

“Nice to meet you too, Y/N.“

                                                              *  *  *

Dust and dirt had stuck to their clothes, practically merging with the textile by the time the pair left the factory to see the setting sun once again. The darkness and dinginess of the factory periodically made them forget how beautiful the outside world was. The place was filthy but what Y/N didn’t know is that it had been in a worse state before. Before Karl started staying there.

The young man always had a fascination with mechanical engineering, having met many workers who worked in the factory prior to its closing. They often times snuck him in so he could admire the work process the different types of machinery they had in there - many of which still remained in the factory covered in rust and spiderwebs. That being said, he took it upon himself to clean up a bit, treat the powerful mechanical giants with the respect and decency a machine of their kind deserved. Some he even miraculously repaired - probably the biggest achievement in his life - but he was yet to put them to good use, given that he still didn’t know how to properly operate them and what their true purpose was.

“That was incredible!“ Y/N cheered once the two had stepped onto the grass outside in the field again, “I can’t believe I almost started debating whether to go or not after so many of the villagers tried to scare me.“ They turned to give the factory one more lingering look, “Damn, I wish I could go back in there again to see if we missed anything. Unfortunately, my time’s limited.“ They sigh, checking their wristwatch before sparing the setting sun a look as well. “And it’s almost up.“

The knot that suddenly appeared in Karl’s throat made him choke on the oxygen he had inhaled. The worry of what those words of Y/N’s meant made his stomach turn.

But, before he could ask what they meant, they gave him an apologetic smile, their eyes still shining, but saddened now, “I have to get going. I have a different destination I need to reach by dawn.“ They sighed heavily, looking down at their boots. Karl opened his mouth to say something, but he found himself to be at a loss for words. He felt hollow and empty and couldn’t bring himself to stomach what he had been told. However, Y/N once again beat him to the opportunity of saying something. Their head snapped back up, their eyes meeting his, now glimmering with the glow he had grown to think of as familiar at that point. “However, that doesn’t mean I won’t be back.“ They took him by the wrist and brought his hand up, opening his clenched palm to drop a small chain in it. “Growing up, I was taught to not expect people to return things you give them but to go and take them back yourself. And so, Karl, I’m giving you this necklace and promising I’ll be back to retrieve it.“ They closes his palm again, letting his arm fall by his side. While he still had only processed half of all that happened when they spoke up again, “Ok, so now I ask of you to stay here, not see me off, not follow me, just stand right here. Or you can turn around and walk away too, that’d be even better. Can you do that for me?” They asked, cringing suddenly, “Sorry, I’m bad at goodbyes.“

He faintly nodded, unable to get any words out yet again. That was probably a good thing, cause there was a huge risk that he would’ve asked them to stay if he spoke. 

Taking his nod as a positive response, they gave him a quick peck on the cheek before turning around and walking off in the direction they came from earlier, leaving him behind.  Karl wanted to force himself to walk in the opposite direction like they had told him to, but he couldn’t tear his eyes off them. He stood there, heart aching, watching them go. All the while squeezing the dog tag necklace tightly in his hand. The physical proof of the person that reminded him how it felt to feel.

The physical proof of the promise that they’d come back.

They’d come back to him.

He’d see them.

And he’d once again think to himself...

There you are, finally, you’re back

[nahoyaglock]

WHEN I STOP BREATHING..

pairings! ushijima x reader

summary! sitting on the beach, so close to each other they can hear each other’s heartbeats. They both smile and they watch the world end right in front of them, reminiscing on all they’ve been through together. Why does the end of the world look so beautiful?

genre! angst

word count! didnt bother actually counting so ill estimate maybe 2000+

warnings! end of the world, death, murder mention, slight ooc ushijima idk its the end of the world so pff

a/n! uh idk i wanna hurt people, sorry if this is bad i havent written in a while :p i feel like the beginning was really good, the middle was ass and the end was okay but hoh im happy enough w this. I also cried writing this ngl lmaoo also did not fix any errors so my bad

You knew it was coming, you both did. New reports, articles, it was trending on all social media platforms. It was unavoidable, what could you do but waste away your last few days, watching old shows you watched as a kid, harsh knocks and cries from your doors from friends and family. You couldnt face them, you just wanted to drown out the thought of what was coming the next few hours of the day.

You had woken up and sluggishly dragged yourself from the comfort of your bed to your dirty kitchen, littered with dirty dishes and some uneaten food that youd try to make, but didn't have the stomach to eat. Your phone rang atleast every hour or two, many unanswered calls and long voicemails you couldnt bother to listen to.

There was a knock on your door, and you sighed, not wanting to bother with facing the person at the door. You turned on your heels, about to head to your room when you heard the voice call out to you.

"y/n."

Out of all the people why did it have to be him. You bit your lip and let out shaky breaths. You took another step, freezing at another set of knocks. The last persom you wanted to see was your boyfriend.

"y/n let me in or ill tear this door down." His voice was stern, laced with seriousness and slight concern. You wanted to open it, let him in and crumble into his arms, but it hurt so bad.

"Go away." You spoke, loud enough to be heard through the door, but not loud enough to be a yell.

"y/n."

You hesitantly walked to the door, unlocking the bottom lock, the top lock remaining unlocked, too bothersome for you to have delt with anyways. At the sound of the click of the locks he opened the door with quick motions, while also being careful not to knock you over.

At the sight of his big frame you felt like the world had just stabbed you through the chest 28 times. You backed up with quick steps are your boyfriend reached out to hug you, scared that his touch would break down your facade. You tripped over your own feet, landing hard on your butt.

"Ush.. Ushijima," you started, not knowing exactly what you were trying to say, "Please dont touch me."

His heart sank when he saw you, lifeless and so frail. He guessed you havent been getting much sleep- or maybe too much sleep, and not eating as he took a quick glance towards the food littered kitchen counter.

It wasnt any better for you, seeing your normally cold and calm boyfriend with a worried expression and eye bags that made it obvious he hasnt got much sleep either.

You pull yourself up, your eyes boring through your boyfriends abdomen as you bit your lip, trying to think of what to say, and to also keep yourself from falling apart. "What do you want?"

"y/n. Dont be cold to me." It wasnt a question, but it wasnt a demand. "Sorry," you mumbled, leaving you two in silence for a while.

"Ushi, you should go home," you said, feeling your heart race, every second you spent in his presence, under his gaze, killed you. "You should call Tendou or something."

"Toshi." He said, making your head shoot up, looking him in his eyes, seeing a tear roll down his cheek, his face remaining mostly emotionless, fear slightly present in his eyes. "Please keep calling me Toshi."

You felt a pang in your heart, suddenly the reality of things hitting you. You were the only one going through this, you knew this but never gave it more than a mere thought. He was scared, he didnt know what he was doing, he just knew to find comfort in you, like youve told him to for many years into your relationship.

"Toshi," you breathed, reaching up to wipe the tear from his cheek, "Toshi lets go somewhere."

You never felt the need to go outside, wanting to be isolated, but being here with your boyfriend, you felt like running away, wanting to escape from the dark pit of your home. "Lets go to the beach"

"y/n–"

"Lets go. Lets go, right.. right now Toshi," you felt as if though youve felt shoked by lightning, like you suddenly got hit with some sugar rush.

"We dont have time–"

"We do Toshi, we do, we do," you saw the corner of his lips raise up into a small smile. He hated seeing you like this but he was glad you were more alive than you were minutes before. You knew this, what he was thinking, and you knew his smile had so much sadness behind it, "we have time, lets go, lets go!"

You grabbed his hand and dragged him out of your apartment, not bothering to change from your days out clothing or close the door behind you. It wouldnt matter in another hour anyways.

The ride there was mostly silent, songs playing quietly on the radio. You watched as you passed through the town, the streets were slightly empty, stores looked run down, some stores even tore up and empty.

"Has it been like this since.. since the announcement?" You mumbled, earning a hum for Ushijima.

"Yeah, yeah it has." He knew that you didnt go out, and he was slightly grateful for it. The world went to shit after the announcement, many lootings, murders and other various crimes being commited.

"Im glad your safe Toshi," you spoke into your palm.

"Im glad your safe too."

The ride went on in silence until you got to the beach. You both climbed out of the car, the beautiful blue sea sparkling under the sunny sky. It was funny how such a depressing day could look so so beautiful.

"Hmm, this is the beach we went to with the team our senior year, remember?" He asked and turned to face you. The fear in his eyes was much more evident in the light, along with signs of personal neglict. He hasnt been taking good care of himself either.

You walk around the front of the car to grab his hand, your small hands tracing light circles on his rough palms before linking your hands together, giving him a comforting squeeze. "I remember."

He let out a shaky breath he didnt know he was holding in, and you two found a nice spot on the beach to sit and watch the sky. "Toshi, do you remember the time goshiki got gummy bears stuck in his nose?"

He looked at you, and his face softened, "yeah. Yeah i do." He let out a small chuckle at the thought of his old teammates. "Do you remember when Tendou took my water bottle and filled it with really sour lemonade?" He asked, you could hear his voice unravel into a more comfortable tone, instead of one holding in so much hurt and fear.

"Ha, i actually helped him with that you know?" You spoke up, a small grin on your lips as your boyfriend grabbed your waist, pulling you closer to him. "We'll its okay, because it was 2 years ago."

It had been 2 years. 2 years since you had become shiratorizawas manager, 2 years since you made the number 1 ace fall head over heels for you, 2 years since you had went on your first date with him.

"2 years, its been so long." You laid your head on Ushijimas arm, feeling tired. He wrapped his arm around your shoulders and placed a kiss atop your head.

"Thats when we first started dating," you spoke, shoulders shaking with a small laugh, "i would've never imagined to have the nations number 1 ace fall so madly in love with me." You laughed and turned to your boyfriend to continue your teasing, but stopped when you saw him looking back at you.

He couldn't respond with anything more than a mere chuckle, tears now streaming down his cheeks. You bit your lip, scooting closer to him so you were in his lap, wrapping your arms around his large stature.

"Toshi, I love you." It was no more than a whisper and he placed a warm, loving kiss to your temple, rubbing your back softly as he let out a shaky laugh.

"y/n god, you make it so hard not to cry." He whispered in an unstable tone, resting his head atop yours. "I love you too."

This was how it was, clinging to the other and sharing old tales of your days spent with Ushijima and the boys, tales of times tendou had snuck out of the dorms and got caught by washijou, or when goshiki cut his bangs too short, or how Ushijima brought your parents a half eaten watermelon as a gift.

Those last moments spent with laughs and tears, kisses and hugs, warmth and comfort, those were your best memories. Despite the fate to cross you, Ushijima and everyone else in the world, you felt like you could smile for the first time.

You would smile alot, but it felt different this time. You convinced yourself that it was just because you had been withering away for the past days, but you knew it was because you felt free.

You had no worries in the moment with your lover, you didnt need to think about getting up for work the next day, or how you would afford next months rent. You felt like the largest weight had been lifted off of you, and you could really smile for the first time.

There was a slightly rumble if the ground that had made you and Ushijima go silent. You pulled away from your spot in the crook of his neck to look at him, fear still in his eyes.

"I dont wanna die," he chuckled out, "but im not sad." He drew small shapes into your hips with his thumbs, looking onto your laps instead of your face, and you just stared at him.

His usually stoic face was calmed, relaxed, his jaw unclenched and his eyes soft. You hadnt seen so many emotions from your boyfriend so much, it was almost scary. But he looked so gorgeous, he was your world.

"Wakatoshi Ushijima, you know," your placed your hands on both sides of his face, "it doesnt matter what happens to this world, because," you placed a passionate kiss to his lips, the tears finally falling from your eyes, "you, you're my world Toshi."

He let out a noise that was similar to a choke, tears rolling down the apple of his cheeks as he placed his forehead to yours, letting his shoulders shake with hard sobs. Loud crashes, screams and car alarms had let you know it was coming, the end of the world.

The last thing you saw was Ushijima, smiling snd crying, mouthing out one last 'I love you'.

Why does the end of the world look so beautiful?

© tomura-heart — all rights reserved. reposting, modifying, or copying is not allowed. do not translate. do not read my writing as asmr. do not plagiarize.

[sharkboygirlish]

Messy.

ONE-SHOT

Word count: 2793

Disclaimer:  One piece and all it’s characters belong to Eiichiro Oda, I just like to write about them.

Warning: None

Rating: T (i guess?? there’s cursing)

Author’s Note: Whale, this is the first fanfic I’ve posted on the interwebs since high school so please keep that in mind, lol. I do plan to finish it sooner than later so check back in a few days if you want to read the rest, sorry I don’t have it all done right now.  At long last it it FINISHED.

Feel free to tell me what u think! Unless it’s mean, then I ask that u keep those thoughts in ur noggin because I’m just writing these for fun not for grades.

Without further ado, here ya go.

Author’s Note pt 2: So i didn’t end up going the smut route like I originally planned, but I think it worked out better bc this one got nice and Emotional.

Summary: Zoro really shouldn’t agree to be Nami’s drinking partner if he wanted to keep their friendship from getting... Complicated.

__________________________________________

The moon was floating high in the night sky when Nami wandered onto the deck, unable to sleep even after a few hours of sketching. 

She wanted company – specifically, she wanted the company of the crew’s resident alcoholic. It only took a few minutes to find him on the lawn deck with his back against a tree and his eye closed. ‘How typical.’

Nami smiled a small, excited smile as she strode over to him and squatted between his parted legs. An unconscious sigh left her nose as she swept her gaze up and down his face. She caught herself thinking, ‘He really is easy on the eyes isn’t he.’ ....again. 

Who was she kidding? She’d been thinking the same thing every time she looked his way lately. 

Two years ago she’d been able to keep the immature crush she had on him locked tightly away but somehow - it had gotten out and was slowly consuming her entire being. 

Nami hoped he hadn’t noticed how often she invited him to drink with her because she didn’t think she could handle being rejected. So she settled for spending time alone with him whenever and however she could. 

“Hey, moss-head,” the navigator said finally, leaning in to squint at him, “Are you asleep?”

He had literally just settled down for a nice cat nap when the navigator appeared suddenly to interrupt him. ‘Damn. What the hell did she want now?’ 

Instead of answering, Zoro chose to ignore her and pretend like he was deep asleep. ‘Why won’t she go bother someone else?’

Nami started prodding his cheek with one finger to rouse him if he really was sleeping, ”Zorooo wake up, I wanna drink,” she whined and his eyelid opened instantly.

‘Why’s she so damn pretty..’ was the first thought he had when he realized that she was a lot closer than he’d anticipated. 

He mentally chastised himself after, trying to remind his id that Nami had never once indicated that she wanted to be anything other than friends and he should respect that. 

But… There was no harm in looking from time to time was there? And she was pretty. She’d always been... ‘Oh for fuck’s sake, now he sounded like Sanji. He needed to get a grip.’

“Helloooooo,” Nami waved her hand in Zoro’s face until he snapped back to reality and snatched her wrist up, pulling it away. He scowled but it wasn’t deep, and now he was refusing to look her in the eye. “What was that about, huh Zoro?”

“Nothing.” The swordsman replied perhaps a little too quickly to avoid suspicion, “Thought I heard a noise, doesn’t matter – oi, didn’t you want to do something?” 

He couldn’t remember what exactly it was. He’d been so distracted by the way her bangs framed her face and sometimes got caught in her eyelashes—’Damnit! He was doing it again.’

Nami smirked again but didn’t press the subject anymore. She’d do that later once they started drinking. “Weren’t you listening to me? You’re so rude, maybe I should find someone else to share my booze with.”

Was it a good idea to go drink with Nami when he kept catching himself thinking about feelings that he’d been suppressing for the last two years? Probably not…

But he couldn’t just decline an opportunity to get buzzed. ‘And... Maybe he wanted to get buzzed with Nami, specifically.’  

Zoro scoffed, mostly at himself. “Quit playing games, damnit, do you want me to drink with you or not?”

“You’re so stubborn,” The navigator teased with a pleased smile that made his heart beat unevenly, “I could care less if you join me, but you’re not allowed to come unless you say you’ll be nice.”

“Nami. I am older than you, quit treating me like a fucking child or I swear-”

“That’s no way to talk to a lady who’s getting you drunk for free, Roronoa Zoro. If you can’t be nice then I’ll just add the cost of everything you drink to your debt and-”

Zoro didn’t have time to ruminate over the way hearing her say his full name made him shiver because he had to shut her up before she did charge him. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll be... nice.” He hissed through gritted teeth and her answering giggle made his pulse flutter. He had to fight to keep himself from smiling. ‘What the hell was going on with him tonight? Was he sick?’

“Good boy,” she turned and started walking towards the Sunny’s aquarium bar, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure he was coming.

“Don’t push your luck, woman.” Zoro snarled to mask his confusion over the sudden need to touch her that he felt scratching at the back of his head. He really shouldn’t agree to be Nami’s drinking partner if he wanted to keep their friendship from getting... Complicated.

He knew it, but he followed her up the stairs all the same.

                                                       * * *

“Why d’you always want to drink with me anyway, witch?” Skeptical of her intentions, his narrowed eye fixed itself on Nami as she approached him holding two maroon tinted bottles. She offered one to him and he accepted it – but he didn’t let his guard down yet.

Zoro lowered his gaze to check the label out, whistling long and low when he read 23% alcohol per volume. A couple puzzle pieces clicked together in his head ‘Oh, that’s why. Because if she tried to drink this with anyone else they’d pass out after two glasses.’

“Would you believe that I just like hanging out with you?” Though her tone was teasing she was actually being genuine, she had a lot of fun with him whenever they went out.

“No–“ He paused when Nami kicked him in the shin hard enough to make him swear. Reaching down with his free hand he rubbed the sore patch of skin and glared daggers at his crewmate. “What the fuck was that for?!”

“You said you’d be nice, Zoro! So be nice or I’ll charge you a hundred thousand beris for that bottle.” Nami uncorked hers but waited to hand the corkscrew over until he behaved himself. The look he was giving her would probably frighten a small child but she didn’t flinch.

‘This was his choice.’ He reminded himself. Of his own free will he chose to get drunk with Nami instead of napping, and that meant dealing with her bossiness no matter how much he loathed it. ‘Sometimes he just wanted to grab her by the shoulders and make her shut up, there were better things her mouth could be doing anyway-‘

“Why do you keep staring at me like that, do I have a zit or something?”

Zoro sat up so fast that he banged his shoulder on the underside of the countertop. ‘What the hell was that? What the hell was wrong with him?’ He hadn’t even opened the damn bottle and he was already making himself look like an idiot.

“No,” the swordsman grumbled, wracking his brain for a believable excuse, “Just thinking about how I’ll owe you money even after I’m dead if you keep charging me for bullshit.” That made her laugh and Zoro cursed himself for how much he liked hearing it. “Don’t see how it’s funny for me, witch.”

Nami let him take the corkscrew from her, eyes crinkled with amusement while he opened his bottle. “You’ll just have to stay alive until you pay me back in full, I guess!” She trilled before taking a long, heavy drink from hers.

“Yeah?” Zoro snorted before mimicking her and downing about half of the wine in the container. It tasted disgusting, which he’d expected, but that didn’t make the bitter aftertaste any less miserable. His nose wrinkled slightly as he set the bottle down. “I bet even if I did try to pay you off you’d find a way to charge me more.”

“You make me sound so heartless,” the navigator batted her eyelashes innocently, pretending to look hurt, “Why would I ever do such a thing?”

“Hah.” He scoffed before chugging some more wine and failing to keep track of how much he was drinking each time. “Because you want to keep me on a leash since I don’t throw myself at you like that dumbass cook.”

An impish smirk crawled it’s way onto Nami’s face that made him immediately regret what he’d just said. ‘Fuck. Damnit!’

“So…” She began slowly, savoring every second that the swordsman spent avoiding direct eye contact with her, “You admit that you are one of my lap dogs?”

A muscle in his jaw flexed and he stopped drinking for one second to grunt, “That’s not what I said.”

“That’s what I heard!” Chimed Nami as she rose from her seat, stepping over to Zoro and tracing a finger under his jaw while he drained the last few drops of liquid. “I should get you a collar, so people know who to bring you to when you get lost.”

Normally he would have snapped at her for poking fun at his sense, or lack thereof, direction but he wasn’t listening to her. She’d come close enough for him to pick up her scent and maybe it was the alcohol intensifying his feelings, but it was suffocating him in a good way.

He loved the way she smelled. Tangerines from her soaps mixed with salty seawater and traces of sunscreen. A hint of orange blossom, but only when she was close to him like this. 

Zoro inhaled deeply through his nose and, without realizing it, his expression melted into something affectionate and gentle. ‘In two years she’d changed in so many different ways… but she still smelled the same. She still smelled like home.’

                                                        * * *

“What are you thinking about, Zoro?” Her voice void of it’s usual teasing tone, Nami’s curiosity was piqued by his sudden shift in demeanor. He looked soft and peaceful, like he didn’t have anything to worry about. She wanted to know why.

‘Ah, fuck.’ What was he supposed to tell her? That he was thinking about how good she smelled? ‘Yeah right.’ Zoro was quiet for a while, mulling over his words until he came up with an explanation that didn’t sound as creepy – but also wasn’t a lie.

“I guess..” he finally murmured, his gaze shifting to meet hers, “It’s just been a while and… I was thinking about how nice it feels to be back here, with everyone…” a brief pause then he added, “I missed you guys.” ‘Look at him being all gushy and emotional, this wine really was something else.’ Zoro reached to brush his fingertips by her temple, catching a stray lock of hair and tucking it behind her ear, “I missed you.”

When had Zoro ever been this honest with her about the way he felt? Never was the answer, but now he seemed to trust her well enough to know she wouldn’t spill his secrets. Nami took his face in both of her hands, surprising him, and pulled his head down so she could kiss his forehead. “I missed you too, Zoro.”

Something about hearing her say that she’d missed him too broke a dam in his chest that he’d been trying to keep together for two years. Hormoness flooded through his bloodstream quicker than Zoro could even process them and before he knew it he was practically throwing his arms around Nami’s waist and crushing her against his chest.

“Nami—” he pressed his face into her neck to hide the tears that he couldn’t hold back anymore. Sober he might have cared about losing it like this around her but she was here and… ‘He just – needed to hold her.’ Hold her and smell her and feel how real she was because she had almost been taken from him.

‘He’d barely begun to process what he had been through on Thriller Bark when they were attacked in Sabaody. If he tried to think back on it his memories would get hazy and his bones would ache from their very cores. He knew what had happened but it’s like his brain was protecting him from understanding how close to death he’d come. Then – to be torn away from the people he loved with all of his heart? Who he had just nearly killed himself to protect?

It had ripped him apart and rubbed salt into every wound. And it fucking hurt. The same kind of pain he felt when he saw Kuina dead on the floor of their dojo. He was scared, he was furious, he was devastated – all over again but this time it was so much worse. So, so much worse.

That was why he had trained so hard over the last two years. Because he couldn’t bear the grief that came with loving them so deeply – so he got stronger. And stronger. And stronger. No matter the cost to his body, he would become powerful enough to defeat anyone who crossed them. Then… He would never have to feel the agony that he did when he first woke up on Kuraigana Island ever again.

Taking on all of Luffy’s suffering in Thriller Bark had been the most physically painful experience of his entire life – but that was nothing compared to how much it hurt to think that his friends were gone forever, that he hadn’t been able to protect them.

Training made it easy not to think about what had happened -- but now he was home, and they were safe - and he was realizing just how close he’d come to losing all of them. At once. And he could do nothing to stop it.’

Startled by him grabbing her, Nami was prepared to give the pirate a good smack if he was getting handsy but… He started trembling. ‘Was he not feeling well?’ Her mouth opened to form the question then stopped. His breathing hitched while his entire body jerked and she realized…

‘Zoro was crying.’

Roronoa Zoro, who prided himself on his strength, was sobbing wretchedly into her neck. ‘He must have been holding this in since Sabaody.’ Nami’s heart ached for him and his stupid pride that forced him to torture himself instead of letting him cry like he needed to. She’d been expecting him to crash at some point, how couldn’t he? Even someone as strong as Zoro was still a human being.

One of her arms cradled his head while the other wound round his shoulders, her fingers combing gently through his hair. “Oh you sweet, sweet boy…” she spoke in the tone that Bellemere used to use when Nami and Nojiko were frightened by a passing thunderstorm. It always calmed her, maybe it would calm Zoro, too.

‘Quit fucking crying you loser you’re supposed to be a man.’ But he couldn’t, he literally could not stop because he was trying to. “I wasn’t strong enough,” his voice quivered at the edges and he hated it. ‘He was definitely never going to drink this kind of wine again ever. Not if it turned him into a blubbering mess like this every time.’

“Shhh, no. No. Don’t you dare try to blame yourself for what happened. Hey, look at me.” Nami urged his head off her shoulder and cupped his face in both of her palms, “None of us were strong enough, okay? Not even Luffy.” Each tear that fell she tenderly swept away with the pad of her thumb. The corner of her mouth turned up as she assured him, “But we are strong enough now. We can take care of each other. Nothing is ever going to tear us apart again, Zoro.”

‘She was right. Of course, she was right. He needed to have faith in his crewmates and his captain. They could do anything as long as they had each other.’ His breathing slowly evened out as he focused on anchoring himself back to reality. He wasn’t in Sabaody or Kuraigana – he was on the Sunny. In the bar, with Nami who had grown so much since he last saw her. The look in his eye softened like it had before his breakdown.

“You’re staring at me again, Zoro.” The navigator teased, her hands falling to rest on his shoulders. He hadn’t let go of her yet but she didn’t mind, he could hold on to her for as long as he needed.

A ghost of his usual smirk passed across his face. “Sorry, Nami…” Zoro took a little risk by leaning in to press a chaste but lingering kiss to her cheek, then traced a path with the edge of his nose to her ear, murmuring, “Wine makes me a little… Messy.”

[extremelyblackandwhite]

innocence - 35

PAIRING: bodyguard!bucky barnes x innocent actress!reader

WARNINGS: fluff

A/N: i wanted to wait until tomorrow to post this but i have no self control. as promised, here’s some fluff. hope you enjoy xx

NEXT CHAPTER

     - We’re getting married. - she smiled at him, one of those sunny smiles that always made him feel like he was way too lucky to be marrying someone like her. Bucky leaned his forehead against hers, his hand caressing her the side of her waist as that sunny smile morphed into playful one. - You do have to leave this bedroom to get married though. 

     - But the bedroom is an important part of our marriage, princess.

     - No. You shouldn’t be even seeing me on our wedding day. It’s bad luck, besides Steve, Sam and Sharon are outside. - she played with the hair in the back of his neck. 

The super soldier playfully rolled his eyes at her answer. He hadn’t even had time to buy her an engagement ring or even tell anyone other than her parents and Steve, yet he guessed Sam and Sharon now knew it too, and yet the two of them were going to get married. Her family wasn’t here and it definitely wasn’t what he thought it’d be when he was younger. He’d pictured a much more traditional wedding, maybe somehow in the middle of war and he’d marry in his uniform with his family and hers surrounding them in a small little church yet, she was right. There weren’t a lot of things that were normal about them but she loved him and he loved her. That was the basis of marriage after all. 

His finger traced her jaw, feeling her features under the calloused texture of his fingers, the same features he hadn’t seen in two weeks and had barely seen yesterday. He examined everything, almost if he wasn’t going to see her again, yet that was mostly his mind screaming at him about the restraining order they could order. His eyes, however landed on almost fresh bruises at her lower neck. 

    - Princess, what this? - his fingers slightly lingered over her bruises. 

    - Oh ... - her gaze moved down before it moved up. - Stunt gone wrong while filming, it’s nothing major really.

    - Seems like something major, princess. It’s looks pretty bad. Did no one do anything?

   - It looks just like your bruise does. - she kissed his cheekbone. - Let’s go before Steve, Sam and Sharon resort to hearing behind the door.

He sighed, knowing she wouldn’t really say anything more about it so he dropped it, for now. The two of them left the bedroom and walked into the living area where Steve, Sam and Sharon were still sat in. 

   - So ... - Bucky started. - How do we do this? 

   - A wedding? - Sharon questioned. - We get an officiant, a marriage license, and make sure no one but us know about it. 

   - Oh Chuck has to know about it. He’s my only friend here and I’d like him to be present. 

   - Okay but we can’t do it here. - Steve added. - It’s most likely under surveillance and if they even dream you two are getting married, Bucky’s going right back to prison.

   - What do you suggest? - Y/N cocked her head to the side.

   - Me and Buck will get rings, Sam will get the marriage certificate and the officiant and Sharon will stay here with you. We’ll all meet at the HQ in an hour. 

   - You’ll be okay? - Bucky mumbled over to Y/N who nodded. - I’ll see you in an hour, okay?

   - I’ll be the one in white. Or at least something white. 

Bucky kissed the top of her head before leaving with Steve and Sam leaving her with Sharon. Of course like most girls she had pictured the eve of her wedding, even the hours before, what it would be like, who would be by her side, where it’d be. She had to admit it was very different from what she had envisioned but it was okay. Better have an odd wedding with the right person than the best wedding with the wrong one and she knew Bucky was the one. She felt it whenever he looked at her or whenever he’d fall asleep on her shoulder after telling her he wouldn’t. Her parents were right and so were the movies, when you know you know. 

She knew. 

    - I have to message Chuck. Maybe he can pass by my apartment and grab me something white. - she took her phone from her pocket to text Chuck.

    - Something new, something blue, something old, something borrowed. Luckily for you, I have your something new. 

Y/N furrowed her brows at Sharon as the blonde spy made her way inside her shared bedroom with Bucky. Y/N watching with confusion as she opened the small closet which was still a mess with packed boxes from both Bucky and Y/N which both of them kept putting off unpacking. Sharon moved some boxes and small trinkets off her way and pulled out a white big short rectangular box before putting it on top of the still yet to be made bed. 

The actress approached the edge of the bed as Sharon pulled the lid off and removed some packing paper from the top of whatever was laying inside. She quickly recognised what was inside of it, somehow through her prosecco influenced mind that night she could still remember what her favourite dress looked like. Her eyes looked up to Sharon’s before looking again at the dress, taking it from the box and holding it in front off her. 

     - When did you get this? No ... scratch that, when did you hide it in my flat?

     - Same night we got it. I’m prone to shop lifting when drunk. Besides there’s more than 5 thousand dresses in that shop, she won’t know. - Sharon shrugged, a proud smile on her lips. - You’re not gonna get married in a used white dress. You’re already not gonna have a big ceremony so you should at least have a wedding dress.

     - What if I get arrested? It’s illegal. 

     - It’s the least illegal thing I’ve done, besides, she won’t know and we can return it in the end if it makes you feel better.

     - It’s so pretty. - Y/N held the dress against her chest, almost hugging the fabric. - You’ll be my maid of honour right? I don’t have a lot of female friends here yet. 

     - Sure. Now, we have an hour to do preparation and hen’s night all together.

     - It’ll be okay, right? With Bucky ... they won’t hurt him because of me, right?

     - Don’t concern yourself with that now. It’s your day, no matter how little it is. Whatever comes after that, me, Steve, Sam will be there for you two. You’re family. 

     - I don’t want him to get hurt because of me. - Y/N dragged whatever tears were trying to spill out of her eyes with her knuckles. - I don’t want to be the reason he’s not free and he keeps telling me it’s fine but ... I love him so much and it broke my heart to see him handcuffed because of me when he’s been always there. 

     - Hey ... - Sharon patted the side of the bed next to her, waiting for Y/N to sit by her side. - No relationship is easy. I mean maybe most relationships don’t have the downsides yours has but you have something that only a small part of them have.

     - A huge age gap?

     - Hey, I have that too. - Sharon laughed before rolling her eyes. - Unconditional love. Trust me, it’s not easy for someone who is not in my “line of work” to understand what happened to Bucky and he isn’t one to open up easily. And you just love him and he just loves you. That’s all it matters at the end, that you love each other hard enough you will hold each other’s hands through the worse of storms. Not everyone has a hand to hold in their darkest moments and when you do, and when you know, those monsters become folklore. 

   - Wow, Sharon. If super heroing does not pan out for you, you should become a poet. - Y/N leaned her head against Sharon’s shoulder. - Well, if they don’t handcuff my fiance during the wedding, I don’t think it can get any worse. 

   - Good. Now hop onto the shower and only come up when you smell like a baked good. Exfoliate everything. 

   - Wait, what about something blue? I have something old ... and something new and ... somehow borrowed. What about something blue? 

   - You have Bucky. 

   - I have to be in something blue. 

   - Well, Bucky will be in you later tonight, I’m sure. Just get in the shower, Y/N. The clock is ticking. 

Bucky looked at himself in the mirror, old army suit on and somehow still fitting even with the metal arm. To be honest, Bucky was more surprised that a more than 70 year old suit hadn’t been made into a ball of threads and dust yet there it was looking exactly as it did when he first got it. He straightened his back and the lapels of his jacket, looking up only to return to a slouched position as the light hit the metal of his arm. James Buchanan Barnes was not the same man he was 70 years ago yet he was doing the thing which was expected of him back in his day. Now ... now she just had to show up and he hoped she did. All he wanted right now was to see her walk whatever path she was gonna walk, as long as she met him at the end. 

He straightened the lapels of his jacket once again, trying to appear as confident as he used to be back then. His rushing mindset was interrupted by a knock on his door.

   - Steve, not again. I’m still here and I’m fine. - he barked at the door.  

   - It’s not Steve. - his sister opened the door. 

   - Becca? - he abandoned the mirror to go to his sister. - What are you doing here? Is everything all right?

   - I would’ve preferred you telling me you were engaged and getting married today rather than one of your bride’s friends, I think his name is Chuck. - she crossed her arms, that childhood smile that she still remained making her way across her lips. - You think I’d let my big brother marry without me to see it? It took a long time but here we are. 

   - Yeah, getting married in the Avengers’ HQ. How romantic. 

   - Mum would be so happy. - she started to straighten up his tie. - She always said she wanted you to marry a nice girl and seems like you found one. Although, I was expecting you’d propose to her with mum’s ring. I guess you could give it to her for her birthday or something.

   - She doesn’t even have a ring. - he sat down on his old bed. - I feel like she might not even show up.

   - I’m sure that if she didn’t run away when she saw your baby photos, she won’t run away now. 

   - Bucky, five minutes. - Steve poked his head into his old bedroom. - Let’s make a move before the bride is there before you are.

Steve and Sam had decided it would be best to hold the wedding in the inner private garden where no one but the Avengers or people with an access pass could come into. No media, no police, nothing. Bucky did remember that garden, the one with the cherry blossom tree which was somehow always on bloom. Genetically engineered, Bruce had told him, whatever that meant. All he knew was that it was pretty, it was pretty enough for her to get married in with the flowers standing over where whom he guessed was the officiant and the petals which would fall with the wind, laying on the ground.

  - Dude, you’re not taking the photos. 

  - Sam, I am the best man, it is my duty.

  - You can barely use a phone. - Sam retorted. - Remember the last photos from yours and Sharon’s vacation?

  - C’mon Sam, we all loved to see Steve’s thumb in all of them. 

  - Fine, I guess I’ll just stay here and do nothing. - Steve stood by Bucky’s right next to Sam and his sister.

Time went slowly even when Sam told him Sharon was already in the building. Despite that, his mind still told him she wasn’t going to come. No one in their right state of mind would marry a super soldier, much less him. Definitely not him, he did not deserve this. He did not deserve this. Yet, she stood there at the end of the makeshift aisle with Sharon and Chuck by her side. 

He’d definitely heard many stories from many men and women about how they felt when they first say their loved ones on their wedding date but he never thought about how it would felt. It felt as if he could only see her, everything was blurred and blacked out and all he could see was her approaching him with a wedding gown and veil holding a few white flowers tied together with a white string. He definitely did not deserve her yet there she was. She was there and she took his hand standing by his side, looking more radiant, more beautiful, more ... god words failed, yet all he could say was he felt like he was floating. He was sure in that moment he had to be standing next to an angel. 

Y/N handed her flowers to Sharon before turning with Bucky to stare at the officiant. 

    - Welcome, friends, family and loved ones. We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two people in marriage. You have come here to share in this commitment they are making to one another and allow James and Y/N to start their married life surrounded by those who care and love them. Marriage is perhaps one of life’s great adventures, one where you chose someone who will see it through with you to the end and support you during your darkest and brightest times. A wedding ceremony is not what makes a marriage but merely a celebration of the choice you have made to support and love each other. This is merely the start of the life you two will carve together. Will you James take this woman to be your wedded wife? Do you promise to love, honour, cherish, and protect her, forsaking all others, and holding only unto her forevermore?

   - Absolutely. - he turned to look at her, holding her hands in his, 

   - Will you Y/N take this man to be your wedded husband? Do you promise to love, honour, cherish, and protect him, forsaking all others, and holding only unto him forevermore?

   - Absolutely. - she giggled a bit. 

   - I have been told the bride and groom have chosen to say their vows in private so we will skip to the rings. Rings are nothing of importance and have no importance unless you give them value. Your wedding rings are a reminder and will be a reminder of the choice you made here today, a choice which is never ending. That’s why the ring is a circle, it’s never ending. - Steve handed Bucky one of the rings they had picked up in a rush from the jewellery shop downtown and Y/N the other one. - James, please place the ring on Y/N’s left hand and repeat after me. As a sign that I have chosen you, as proof of my love above all else, I give you this ring. With this ring, I thee wed.

   - As a sign that I have chosen you, as proof of my love above all else, I give you this ring. With this ring, I thee wed. - he slide the ring on her finger, thanking heaven he’d gotten the right size. 

   - Y/N, please place the ring on James’ left hand and repeat after me. As a sign that I have chosen you, as proof of my love above all else, I give you this ring. With this ring, I thee wed.

   - As a sign that I have chosen you, as proof of my love above all else, I give you this ring. With this ring, I thee wed. - she slide the ring onto his finger. 

   - And now by the power vested in me by the state of New York, it is my honor and delight to declare you married. You may now kiss the bride. 

Y/N gave him a little smile, nose scrunching as it did whenever she smiled out of shyness before he pulled her in for a kiss. It wasn’t long, it was a short and sweet. He knew the two of them had little time and would have to be back in the flat the sooner as possible but it was still a kiss. Their first kiss as a married couple. The two broke the kiss as the clapping became just too loud to ignore and she merely leaned her head against his shoulder, holding his hand in hers as the people around them clapped. 

   - Good, back on the road. - Steve said taking the lead to exit the garden to which everyone followed, with Bucky and Y/N behind them.

   - You look beautiful. - he mumbled to her, kissing her cheek as Sharon and Steve lead them to the back of the HQ where a white van was parked. - Where did Sharon get a van?

   - She stole the van. 

   - I didn’t steal it, Y/N. I borrowed it. I will park it back where it was. - she said as she entered the drivers seat, Steve opening the back for Y/N and Bucky to get in so no one would see them. 

The two of them just sat in the back of the van in silence. Her head leaned against his shoulder during the whole trip as he merely basked in the fact that he was married. Not only married, but married to her, to the woman whose head was now leaning against his shoulder. She’d chosen him, she’d come. 

Sharon parked behind his apartment, bringing the van to a stop as Steve hopped off to open the door to the apartment complex and Sharon opened the back of the van. Bucky was the first one off, reaching out for Y/N’s hand to help her out. 

   - Have fun. - Sharon winked at Y/N. - And I am keeping your bouquet. Maybe someone will take a hint.

   - Congratulations, Buck. Y/N, you look beautiful, congratulations on dealing with him for a very long time. - Steve added. - I don’t know how long, but expect a few more hundred years.

   - I am okay with that. - she smiled at Steve. - Thank you for helping out.

   - We will see you in court.

   - See you in court. 

Bucky kissed the top of her head as the two of them walked inside the apartment, hand firmly clutching hers as the two of them walked up the stairs with her in a rather voluminous dress. She just looked so beautiful to him, he was love drunk on merely her voice but looking at her just made it all even more intense. Catching her little side looks, a small giggles she’d let out whenever he’d kiss her cheek or lips mid climbing the stairs up to the floor where his flat was. It was a tiring day and right them both of them just wanted to be with each other and celebrate witch each other.

As they stood in front of his flat’s entry door, Bucky picked her up bridal style as if they were in some cheesy sitcom, yet it was tradition. 

   - Bucky, what are you doing? - she giggled at him, her hand holding her veil against her head so it wouldn’t fall down.

   - I have to carry my bride over the threshold, that’s just how it works. - Bucky opened the door to his flat and entered the place the two of them already called home with his wife in his arms. He helped her back on her feet before closing the door. Finally, it was just the two of them. - You look so beautiful, princess. 

   - You’re making me flush, Buck. - she turned her head to her own shoulder, her shyness looking absolutely endearing to him. Yet, everything she did was endearing to him. 

   - It always looks really sweet, princess. 

Bucky kissed the top of her head and walked up to the old vinyl player he’d gotten as a gift from Steve a few years ago which laid on top of a mahogany dresser leaning against the wall of the biggest window on the living room. He fished through a basket of old records, placing one on the vinyl player before walking up to his wife who had a curious look in her sparkling eyes.

   - What are you doing, Bucky?

   - I’m not doing anything. - he took her hand in his, softly and carefully pulling her towards him. - I want to dance with my wife.

She leaned her head against his chest, listening to his heart softly beating against his ribcage. Everything was so peaceful and despite all that was lying in front off them, they were just focused on each other and the music which softly played in the background. Nothing really mattered in that moment, it was just the two of them, his head buried in her neck and her head against his chest, softly lulling to side, one hand on her small back while the other one held her hand. Fingers intertwined, new shiny copper coloured thin bands on their fourth finger of their left hands. 

Wise man say only fools rush in but I can’t help falling in love with you. Shall I stay would it be a sin if I can’t help falling in love with you ...

    -  Bucky ... - she rose her head slightly up, not to disturb him. He moved his head to stare at her, bright blue eyes filled with calm seas. - I love you.

    - I know, princess. - he smiled, softly and slowly twirling her, before bringing her back to being flushed against his chest.

    - No, I don’t just love James Buchanan Barnes. I love all of you. - her free hand rested upon his chest, right over his heart. - I love what you’ve been, what you are and what you’ll be. I love you during your best times and during your worse times. I know you think you’re crazy and damaged but I don’t think you are. If I had gone through half you what’ve gone through, I wouldn’t be a good person after but you ... you decided to help other people, you’re kind, you’re warm. You have a golden heart, James Barnes, and I will always love it. No matter what happens. 

Bucky was taken aback by those words, almost as if he wasn’t expecting to hear them. Everything came back into flashbacks, a kaleidoscope of memories from seeing Steve in the train as he fell down, killing the Starks, almost killing Steve, the Zemo events and then it was just her. Seeing her for the first time in the preppy skirt and shirt, the little charming smile she had given him when she had interviewed him, hearing her sing for the first time, kissing her for the first time to seeing her walk down the aisle up to him just a few hours ago and he knew. Bucky knew he’d do it all over again, he’d go through all the pain, through all of what HYDRA did, through all of it as long as she’d be there at the end in her little cupcake shaped white wedding gown and shy smile. He’d do it over again. 

He’d do it over again for her. For her touch, for her embrace, for her smile and laughter. 

So take my hand, take my whole life too for I can’t help falling in love with you. Oh, I can’t help falling in love with you.

taglist: @disasterbi @lookiamtrying @buckysteveloki-me​ @americasass81​ @jamesbarnesappreciationclub​ @lostinthebeans​ @mariahthelioness29​ @oh-nohoney​ @peaches-roses-sins​ @theadorasabditory​ @sipsteacasually​ @saiyanprincessswanie​ @booktease21​ @noiralei​ @learisa​ @everythingisoverratedbutgreat​ @uglipotata72829​ @naturalthrone22​ @husherstan​ @mandiiblanche​ @vicmc624​ @newyorkgoddess​ @itsallyscorner​ @chipilerendi​ @emzd34 @writerwrites​ @bluevxnus​ @that-girl-named-alex​ @captnrogers​ @nsfwsebbie​ @sarge-barnes-sir​ @niki-is-a-thing​ @cynic-spirit​ @tenaciousperfectionunknown​

[holykillercake]

One Year

pairing: Zoro x Reader

word count: 2k

summary: No summary this time. I´ll just say this ¨Bartholomew Kuma and Sabaody¨. Read at your own risk. Seriously, ¨KUMA AND SABAODY¨, do you understand?

highlight: ¨Everyone did their best, but no one could have done better.¨

warnings: angst with happy ending; Sabaody Archipelago spoilers (?)

notes: Hey guys! This was a request from @roronoatrash​ in which ¨Zoro who has 0 sense of direction seemed to always find his way back to is s/o, and his s/o only.¨. I really hope you like it!💚 This is also the first time I write a Devil Fruit user, so I'm considering a sequel to develop the character and add more humor.

𝕷𝖊𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖘, 𝖗𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖘, 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊!

It was a cloudy and melancholic day in the New World. The men on board were leisurely enjoying their afternoon; some drinking, some napping, some eating. The air was humid and cold, and the tides were strangely calm. No one seemed to care. After all, that was the New World. 

¨Boss!¨ the lookout shouted from the crow's nest ¨Something is falling from the sky! It´s going to land on deck!¨

All men tilted their heads to look at the sky, watching a tiny black spot become bigger and more recognizable.

¨Is that what I think it is?¨ the captain asked himself, not believing his eyes.

¨Boss, is that a girl?¨

¨Yep, I think so.¨

They stood still watching what they suspected was a girl fall from the skies. The red-haired took a quick glimpse at his first-mate and officers, and since no one moved, he felt safe to assume that that was not a threat. Mainly because whatever was falling towards the ship looked dead already. 

The body fell through the main deck and went straight to the lower level of the ship. The captain and his officers stood around the hole on the wooden floor, observing the unconscious and injured body of a girl. 

¨I´ve seen some crazy things rain around here... but this is new.¨ he spoke.

They were ready to have someone dispose of the dead body when the girl opened her eyes, putting herself on her shaky legs. Blood dripped from her eyebrows and nose, and she had bruises all over. Her eyes wandered around as if she was looking for something.

¨Z-Zoro...¨ she spoke when her teary eyes met the captain´s ¨I-I need to find Zoro.¨ 

That was all she said before falling on her knees and collapsing. 

                                                             </>

Almost a year has passed since the tragedy in Sabaody Archipelago. A year passed since you were defeated in the fight against the marine force. Your gashes closed, and your bruises healed, but there was a wound that would not go away, even after one year. 

So much had happened since that day. Luffy had broken into Impel Down, fought in the Paramount War, and lost his brother, Ace. A few days later you received the hidden message he had left you, saying that you were no longer going to meet in Sabaody in three days but in two years.

It took you a while to understand the situation you and the rest of the Strawhats were in, and it took you even more to let go of your selfishness and trust them. The guilt for not being strong enough to protect yourself and your comrades ate you alive during the first weeks, but then you considered how they must be feeling too. No one could have done better. 

Everyone did their best, but no one could have done better. 

For one year, whenever a News Coo flew by to deliver a newspaper, you would run and grab it before anyone did, hoping to see another message from your friends. But the status of your captain was the only one you knew so far. You knew he was training with Rayleigh-san, and this whole two years thing should have been his idea. 

When Bartholomeu Kuma used his Devil Fruit powers on you, you ended up landing on the ship of the Red Hair Pirates. They would always tell you how you rained on their Red Force and broke the deck floor. They said you were looking for someone, and during your stay in the infirmary, you would always call for the same person. 

For months nightmares had you waking up in the middle of the night panting and crying. The same one, torturing you in an infinite and merciless loop. 

Every detail, color, and noise. Everything was so precise and clear in your head. 

When he fought still injured from the last encounter with the Shichibukai; when he stood up and faced the Warlord fearlessly. Even with the damages caused by Kizaru and the Pacifistas, he stood up. 

And maybe your eyes fooled you, maybe your exhausted body played a sick trick on you because he was there until he wasn´t.

 Right in front of your eyes.

 His cropped green hair and tanned skin, the vibrant red and white striped shirt, the scar across his chest, the haramaki, and the swords. Gone, simple as that. 

But after all the training that you had with the Red Hair Pirates, you seemed more in peace with yourself. After one year, the nightmares would bother you only every once in a while. You were not prepared for the New World before, maybe still aren´t, but you will get there. 

And they made everything easier. It was no mystery why Luffy liked them so much. Whenever you were not engaged in a fight or some other Emperor crap, those guys were incredibly light-spirited. And the moment they realized you were part of Luffy´s crew they treated your wounds and welcomed you onboard. 

Shanks agreed to have his men training you, but he made very clear that no one would babysit you, so it was ¨keep up or keep out.¨. You spent most of your time with Yassop, Benn, or Roux, for they were the best in the abilities you exercised. 

Inside the Strawhats you were a stealth agent, mostly because of your Devil Fruit, the Nagi Nagi no Mi, once possessed by a Marine Commander. Another Supernova, the Surgeon of Death Trafalgar Law had told you that before shit broke in Sabaody. 

You used that combined with your fighting skills to breach the enemy´s first line of defense before they saw you coming. Usually, Usopp would assist you with the sniper training, trade he ¨learned from a friend¨, Sogeking. 

His father was an extraordinary sniper, and he used the same kind of firearms as you, differently than Usopp´s slingshot. Benn´s combat skills were remarkable, and Roux was exceptionally fast for a man his size. You haven´t had a lot of opportunities to fight the Red Hair himself, though you had a strong will, his Haki was something you have never seen before. 

¨We´re going to a bar, kid. You´re coming?¨ Benn asked you with his cigarette on his lips. 

You pondered a little over his invitation but decided to decline it. ¨Thanks, Benn, but I´m keeping a low profile tonight.¨ He nodded and smiled, turning to follow his crewmates ¨Don´t drink too much, we have training tomorrow!¨ 

The first mate laughed shortly and spoke without looking at you ¨Roger that, kid.¨ 

You walked the opposite way, wandering between the vegetables and gimmicks tents, feeling the kind sunset kiss your skin. There was some music playing, kids running around with ice cream in their hands, laughing loudly and happily. Marketers were announcing their prices, housewives were thinking about delicious recipes to prepare for their families, and couples would sit together around the font, swearing love to each other.

Every day was like that. The citizens would wish their neighbors ¨good morning¨ from their windows; bakers would open the doors early, letting the delightful smell of fresh bread wake up those who slept in.  

How could you, in the middle of all that happiness, feel so sad and lost?

You sighed and made a route change. Maybe you needed a little bit of booze. 

The island where Shanks had decided to dock was in the Grand Line, a place where they were known and welcomed. So you knew where they were, and it would be a short walk to get there.

¨Y/N?¨ 

You turned automatically, thinking that a crew member had gotten lost and was looking for his captain - or boss, how he likes to be called.

 But when you saw the man standing in front of you, everything stopped. The music, the kids, and the love promises. 

At some point, you started to cry and hyperventilate, believing you were in another nightmare, and you would have to go through that day all over again. Your lover carried pain in his eyes as well, like his fears were the same as yours. 

Those minutes you stared at each other felt like hours while you kept every detail of him in your memory. His hair was slightly longer, and his complexion was paler, even with the sunset painting his skin. 

¨Z-Zoro...¨ you whispered shakily.

He gave a step forward ¨Y/N... it´s you...¨ 

You ran in his direction as soon as your name fell out of his mouth. Your arms embraced his neck, and your legs gave up when he held you tight against his body, whispering comforting words as you broke into tears. 

¨I...¨ nothing but sobs came out.

¨I know... me too.¨ he fondled your hair and hid his face in the curve of your neck. And there stood the both of you, not wanting to let the other go. 

                                                          </>

¨How did you know I was here?¨ you asked and he blushed a little.

¨I didn´t... I had to buy stuff for the castle, and I got lost.¨ a loud laugh came out of your mouth. It was so obvious, how didn´t you guess that?

¨They didn´t give you a log pose?¨

¨They did, but I took a nap and when I woke up, I was here.¨

You spent the rest of the day cuddling on the beach sand. Zoro was laying on his back, and you were resting on his chest. You had one year worth of conversation to catch up on, and neither of you rushed to do so. He told you about Mihawk, the creepy island in which the only native habitants were copycat human drills, the boat he destroyed, and even how he begged the Warlord to train him.

The sun had started to hide behind the sea, and the warm sand was cooling down. The sound of the waves crashing on the shore together with the salty breeze made you question if you had died at some point, and that was heaven.

¨You´re paler.¨ he chuckled.

¨It´s not very sunny where I´m living.¨ 

¨Hm...¨ you hummed ¨And how long did you take to figure out Luffy´s message?¨ 

¨Oh...¨ he thought for a second ¨ I knew right away.¨ you giggled and doodled on his chest with your finger. 

You felt his chest go up and down as he let out a sigh. 

¨I missed you, Y/N.¨ he hugged you tighter. 

¨I missed you too.¨ you stayed in silence for a few minutes ¨Anyway, when are you setting sail again?¨ You asked him softly, and he tensed up. ¨I know... ¨ your lips began to tremble ¨ I don´t want to go either, but what happened in Sabaody... I don´t want that to happen ever again.¨ you bit your lip as tears started to roll on your cheeks. 

He wiped the tears with his fingers and pulled you closer. None of you wanted to part ways again, but not only those were your captain´s order that was your future. If something like that happens again in the New World, a two-year separation would be the best scenario possible. 

¨It won´t. I promise.¨

When the night came, you decided to stay on the beach and talked until you fell asleep under the stars. The best sleep you´ve had in a long time. No nightmares, no agony, and no pain. Just the warmth and peace you missed so much.

On the following morning, you helped him get the provisions for Mihawk´s castle. You toured around the city holding hands and joking, kinda like the couples sitting by the font, enjoying every second you had before he left. 

If he didn´t get lost trying to go back to Kuraigana Island, it would be a quick trip. You assisted him with the bags and walked him to his boat. Your heart ached to say goodbye to him, but you had to. The circumstances were bigger than the two of you.

¨I love you, Zoro.¨ you hugged him and tried not to cry again.

¨I love you more, Y/N.¨

¨Careful with the naps, ok?¨ he chuckled and nodded ¨One year. We´ll meet again in one year.¨ 

¨Wait for me. I´ll go get you, and we´ll return to Sabaody together.¨ 

¨But how will you know where I will be?¨

¨It doesn´t matter where you´ll be. I´ll always find you.¨

[bunnys-beetlejuice-blog]

But What If, Instead

Decided to give a go to posting my horribly named but hopefully very fun Beetlejuice fic to tumblr as well. This is an au where BJ is adopted by the Deetz family at a young age.

He’s twelve when he’s left on his own in the upperworld.

He doesn’t know he’s twelve, because he’s never celebrated a birthday, but that timeline seems to fit, later, when he thinks back on it. So he’s twelve. His mother has promised him a special treat that day, and though he’s skeptical to trust her, he follows her quietly through the door she’s drawn, the bone white stick of chalk a blaring contrast to the dark hallways of the netherworld reception office. She’d knocked, and the drawing was more than a drawing, suddenly, with white light and noise spilling through into his little corner of hell as it opened, and when he steps through, Betelgeuse sees blue skies and green grass for the first time in his unlife. He’d turned back to look at Juno, confused, curious, his big orange snake eyes watching her, waiting for the catch, for her to yank him back and punish him for being naive, and trusting her, but all the demoness had done was billow smoke from her slit throat, and nod encouragingly to him. He takes another step, and another and another, and suddenly he’s running and laughing and jumping and the air up here is different, but good, and he takes breaths he doesn't need because it feels nice, and he turns to her again to try and entice her to play with him- And the door is gone. He stands there, staring at the nothingness where she and it had been, and realization hits him hard, because he’s twelve, and he’s been left on his own.

He doesn't cry, both because he can’t, and because he knows it won’t change anything. It doesn’t take him long to find them. Pre ghosts. Breathers. Humans. The place is lousy with them, and the smell of them irritates his sensitive nose. He’s a dumb kid, sure, but he’s got some survival instincts, so he hides from them as they go about their lives, strolling around this place, completely oblivious to the little demon now crashing their dimension. Breathers look so weird, all flushed with blood and bright eyed and hearts beating, no signs of death or rot or decay on them. It’s a lot to ask a kid to get used to. The ghosts back home, the ones workin in Ma’s office, tell him stories about the world up here, sometimes, usually in exchange for him going away, and leaving them the hell alone. (Their words) If there was one thing he learned from them, it was that humans, living or dead, didn’t like things that were strange or unusual. He wanders the wilds of wherever he is for an hour before he finds a body of water, and stooping to peer into it, takes a look at himself.

His skin is pale, but not pink. The undercolor is purple, maybe, which he would have thought would be close enough, but compared to the living, breathing people walking around this place, he knows is too different. There’s not much he can do about that. His hair is a bushy mess, sticking up all over the place, but at least the color is currently green. It’s the eyes, teeth, and ears that really stand out. Yellow snake-like slits stare back at him, long pointed ears flick in the direction of distant sounds, and when he tries to smile down at his reflection, those too many too sharp teeth are all he can see. He’s not the best at magic, yet, mostly using it to play pranks around the office (and hey, maybe that’s why Ma left him here in the first place?) but he does what he can. He throws a glamour over himself, and it’s far from perfect, but the three big problems are taken care of. He looks more human than he did a minute ago, at least, and that’s something.

He’s less afraid to take the main paths, after that, and with that worry out of the way, he finds himself enjoying the afternoon again. So, ma left him here. So what? She’s done him a favor, probably the first she’s ever done anybody, because now he doesn't have to be around her just as much as she doesn’t have to be around him. It’s a win-win, Betelgeuse thinks stubbornly, trotting along the winding pathways lined with benches and garbage cans and other silly human things. He’s starting to get a bit tired of all the green when he reaches, quite unexpectedly, the end of it. There’s a big arched sign, and he can’t understand the language written over head, even though he’s squinting and tilting his head. Someone at some point had sat him down and tried to teach him letters, and he’d gotten far enough to read through the first page of the Handbook, but then that person had been reassigned, and was gone, and no one had cared to keep teaching him.

He’s holding his hands up at his sides, rubbing his red tipped claws against the palms of his hands, top teeth biting over his bottom lip, head tilted to one side in an extreme, when he hears a snort and then a soft giggle.

There’s a woman standing in front of him. Her hair is a sunny yellow color, but her clothing is dark and dramatic, and there are roosting bats dangling from her ears. She’s laughing at him. They stare at each other for a long moment, her hand raised in front of her mouth, her eyes crinkled pleasantly at the corners, and he finally breaks the silence by pointing at the sign, and speaking. “Wazzat say?” She blinks in surprise at his grating little voice, and then glances back at the sign. “Krap Lartnec,” she tells him. “Which is flipped around and backwards for “Central Park.” He’s been staring at the sign the wrong way. Of course. He feels his cheeks heat up with embarrassment. “Oh. Got it. Park. Right, yeah.” She lets out another laugh, and it’s so different from the sounds his mother makes when she’s guffawing at him, shaming him, that it almost doesn’t register as a laugh at first. There’s no cruelty to it, just amusement, and maybe curiosity. “Are you here alone?” she asks him, and he shrugs easily. “I guess.” She moves closer to him, cautiously, like he’s going to bite her, or bolt, but he doesn’t really feel the need to be worried over one breather. He knows he could rip out her throat if he needs to. The glamour only hides his demonic features, not takes them away. He’s still plenty capable of taking care of himself. “Where are your parents?” She's crouched down next to him now, one knee on the pavement, big brown eyes all sweet and worried, and he shrugs again. “Don’t have a dad. Mom’s downstairs.” She squints at that, and he gestures down with a pointed red claw tip. “Ya know. Downstairs.” The way he emphasizes it is meaningful, and when her eyes show understanding, he assumes she gets it. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” “Don’t be. I’m havin’ a good time.”

That doesn’t seem to be what she expects, but she just nods thoughtfully. “Are you staying someplace?” He can’t, for the undeath of him, figure out why she’s asking, and why she cares. He shrugs again, because things feel better in threes, and says vaguely, “I guess I’m stayin’ here.” That also doesn’t seem to be a good answer. “You can’t stay in the park overnight. There’s creeps around here.” He bites back the urge to explain that he’s the creepiest thing here, because suddenly she’s taking his hand, and she feels cool to the touch. “Good god, kiddo, you’re burning up!” she puts her other hand on his forehead, all the play gone from her voice, clearly concerned. “You might have a fever. Listen…” she worries her bottom lip with her teeth, smudging the dark color there, before she makes a decision. “Why don’t you come home with me? I’ll give you something to eat, make sure you’re alright, and we’ll figure out what to do from there, okay?” He isn’t sick, and he’s pretty sure he can’t get sick. It’s the hellfire in his veins that makes him hot, because he’s not like her, not even close, but the idea of following her seems like a fine one to him, so he just nods. “Kay. You got bugs where you live?” She snorts again, and stands, brushing off her dark, rose patterned tights. “Sure, what New York apartment doesn’t have a few roaches lurking around. You like bugs?” “Yeah, I like em. They’re crunchy an’ they skitter around an’ stuff.” “Yeah,” she agrees, nodding thoughtfully. “Bugs kick ass.” It’s his turn to snort, and then laugh, because she’d sounded so serious that it strikes him as funny. His hand is still in her’s, and she gives it a squeeze. “What’s your name, little buddy?” “Betelguese.” He expects a pause, or a comment, because no newly dead has ever heard his name without wrinkling their nose and looking vaguely sick, but her smile just grows wider. “Far out. I’m Emily.” And hand in hand, they leave the park.

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Beetlejuice decides quickly Emily might be the nicest breather who ever breathed. It’s a decision he makes only moments after they’ve left the park. Normally he’d be talking, and talking a lot, and his ma might throw something at him, a curse or a bottle, to try and shut him up. So he’s giving silence a try, here, even though it feels like it hangs like a weight around his neck. But Emily is the one instead filling the silence with sound, and he’s never had such unfiltered attention from an adult before. She’s talking about the park, then his hair, then his name, and everything she says is just… sunshine. She likes his hair. She likes his name. She even likes the loose fitting and filthy black and white striped shirt he’s got on, she says it’s deadlyvoo, whatever the hell that means, but it must be good, because Emily said it.

They’re walking down the street, his little hand still in her’s, when a smell hits his sensitive nose. It’s unlike anything he’s ever smelled before and if he wasn't tethered to her, he would have floated after it. As it is, he does feel his feet lift off the ground briefly, and he has to remind his body to obey gravity, before someone notices. Luckily, Emily only sees part of his reaction, namely the way he’s sniffing the air like a dog and drooling. “Hotdogs!” she grins, and she leads him over towards the smell before he can even ask what that word means.

There’s a little cart set up, and a short, fat woman is fussing over a fire. He quickly finds the source of the smell, those little weird shapes of meat she’s turning over, and he goes to reach for one, only stopped by Emily’s other hand over his. “Not so fast, little bug. To unlock lunch, you need the power of capitalism.” She nods gravely. He nods back, clueless, but after a moment he has the source of the smell in his hands, and he wastes no time in scarfing it down. It’s good. He wants more, instantly, and tugs at her sleeve. Emily has hardly put her wallet away before it’s back out again, and she’s bought two more hotdogs. He eats them just as quickly, but before he can ask for more he realizes she’s led him away from the woman and her meats and her fire. Clever breather.

The walk to her home isn’t so bad, and it gives him time to take in his surroundings. The park had been jarring enough- what little plants grow in the netherworld are perpetually gray and withered, sad little scraggly weeds that struggle and choke each other out for the privilege of what miniscule sunshine permeates through the perpetual overcast. But there’s enough sunlight and water and everything to go around here, and it all grows green and vibrant. The city feels the same way, sort of. Like there’s plenty of space to stretch out and grow, and so they did. In the netherworld, everything is short and cramped, but bigger on the inside, with long, winding hallways meant to confuse and trap the dead. The buildings here are so tall looking up at them makes him dizzy, but he hardly has time to admire them before Emily is guiding him this way and that, and finally, to another door. She presses a button and they’re let inside, and he experiences another first as they ride the elevator up a few floors.

They ride the first few floors up in relative silence, until - “Get ready to jump!” Emily says suddenly, crouching, and he follows her lead, and jumps when she does. There’s a brief moment of weightlessness before gravity catches up with them, and their feet hit the elevator floor again, in time for the doors to open. “Good job, Beetlejuice!” she praises, pushing that long sun colored hair out of her face, and he beams up at her. “Feels like flyin, kinda!” “Right?” she enthuses loudly, and he’s about to ask her how a breather knows what flying feels like, but a door down the hall opens, and the biggest man Betelguese has ever seen steps out. “Thought I heard you rattling the elevator,” he’s chiding Emily, who only gives her snort and smile in return. “Lydia isn’t even with you, do you really play that game when you’re-” his eyes fall on Betelgeuse. “Alone?”

“Charles, I made a new friend!” Emily tells him simply, leading the little demon into their apartment. The interior is dim, but he can see fine. He knows his amber eyes are glowing a little in the gloom, and he closes them, just for a moment, as Emily leads him down the hall and into a sunny, well lit kitchen. The big man, Charles, is tailing behind, looking mystified. “Where on earth did you find him?” a hint of nerves creeps into the breather’s voice. “You didn’t… steal him.. Right?” “Charles!” Emily laughs, like it’s an absurd question. Betelgeuse can’t tell if it is or not. Emily doesn’t seem like a child snatching witch, but he doesn’t know enough about such things to be sure. “I didn’t steal him,” she clarifies, busying herself with getting the boy a cup of ice water, and stopping by for a moment to touch the back of her hand to his forehead again. “I found him wandering around Central Park. He said he doesn’t have any folks, and he was all alone, and he feels feverish. I’m being responsible! I’m a responsible adult!” “A responsible adult who still plays the elevator game, despite being told by maintenance you might throw the whole elevator out of whack?” Charles askes, but he doesn’t look angry, more amused.

“I was teaching Beetlejuice how to play.” The pause he was expecting with Emily finds its home with Charles. Charles glances at the boy. Betelguese stares back with big amber eyes, sipping quietly at his ice water. Charles looks to Emily, who seems to be waiting expectantly. The silence stretches for another beat before Charles asks, baffled, “Is that… his name?”

Emily throws her hands up like he’s asked if the sky is really blue. “Of course it’s his name! Or at least, that’s the name he gave me. I’m respecting it. Respectful and responsible, that’s me.” She turns and winks at Betelgeuse. He returns the strange breather gesture because he likes Emily more than he’s ever liked anyone before.

The water cup is empty, and he simply lets it go, no longer interested in holding it. It bounces and rolls across the floor, and Charles wrinkles his brow at the boy. “Wh-” Before he can say much more, Betelgeuse is sniffing at the air, and he crouches on all fours, nose to the ground, like a dog in a cartoon. He’s caught the scent of some kind of upperworld bug, and despite all the hotted dogs, he’s still hungry. He’s on the prowl around the kitchen, weaving under the little dining table and three chairs, and then back down the hall, into the living room. Charles and Emily poke their heads out of the kitchen to watch him.

“I think you brought a feral child into the house, Em.”

She makes a psshaw sound and rolls her eyes, smacking gently at his lapels. “He’s a kid. Kids are weird. I was doing weird kid stuff when I was his age, too.” “And you never stopped,” comes the dry response. “Charles, I know you worry, but he’s a little kid, lost in New York. I mean, my god, it’s like a movie! I couldn’t just leave him, and I wasn’t just going to give him to some cop, he’s probably an undocumented runaway or something-” and the rest of her rambling is drown out by Charles gasping and grabbing her, and her own muffled gasps of shock, because Betelgeuse has caught the bug. And also, he’s on the ceiling. He may have been trying to blend in, but the second he caught the scent of that delicious crunchy upperworld bug meat, everything else was out of mind. He’d spotted it on the ceiling, and had followed it up there, ignoring gravity to get what he wanted, and right as he pounced on it, nearly catlike, Charles and Emily had gasped. Their breather noises distract him long enough for the bug to skitter away, and he loses his concentration, and drops to the living room floor with a sickening crunch. Emily shrieks, and Charles panics, sprinting for the boy, certain he’ll find a dead child with a broken neck. Instead Betelguise sits up, his glamour disturbed from the fall, and the breathers get an eyeful of what he really looks like. There’s a beat. They’re all staring at each other for a long moment. “I… I might have brought a feral child into the house,” Emily admits sheepishly. You can read the entire thing, right now, over here