#so i wanted to help with the scramble it caused. which technically meant i was overstepping my role... but who else is going to do it lol?

[avvocarlo]

holy shit I hate the rules and politics within the community services industry

[ariadnewhitlock]

Invitations After Class || Jasper & Ariadne

TIMING: Before the end of the school year LOCATION: UMWR campus, Jasper's office PARTIES: Jasper @eatdearth and Ariadne @ariadnewhitlock SUMMARY: Ariadne and Jasper talk while she's leaving his class, and have coffee in his office. Wholesome bonding occurs, despite them both being awkward. Maybe they are friends now? CONTENT WARNING: none!

Jasper only had three minutes left before the bell rang but he was not even close to finishing his lecture. He had distracted himself by going on and on about the different kinds of rocks found in the mines, which weren’t really important to what he was supposed to teach. The recent ongoings, however, meant more talk about the place, so his brain couldn’t help but do just that. 

Even seconds before the bell rang, Jasper could see some, if not most, of his students scramble to pack up and leave the room. Maybe they had other classes to go to. Or maybe they just didn’t want to spend another minute more with him and his boring anecdotes. 

“Class, remember to stay safe out there! Don’t go sneaking into the mines during these strange times! That would be a terrible idea!” Jasper chuckled before shaking his head, his attention on the books on his table he had to clean up now. He should know. He and the mines have a very special relationship, after all.

She wasn’t entirely sure why she’d decided to take a geology course, other than the fact that, as far as the science requirement at UMWR went, it seemed like one of the better options for her. More hands-on, that much was certain. Ariadne liked the class well enough too, even if the professor was a bit odd.

She didn’t mind odd, though - she never really had, and at this point, odd was significantly better than evil or cruel. It always had been, but now that Ariadne had become more aware of the world, she had an entirely newfound appreciation for anything and everything that didn’t cause pain.

Ariadne took her time gathering her books and computer, waiting until nearly everyone else had left the class, before she approached her professor’s table at the front of the room. “I liked the lecture today,” she began, fingers wrapped around the strap of her bag. “I - I don’t want to appear rude, but for some people - the warning about the mines might only make them more interested in going.”

Jasper knew all his students by name. It was required. Well, not technically, but he required himself to know all his students by name. Every single one. They all knew his name. Well, most of them, and mostly because they needed to; otherwise, it would be more of an inconvenience for them to go looking around for a professor whose name they did not catch for clarifications or submissions to the same professor’s class or classes. So, it would have been rude for him to not know theirs. 

Ariadne Whitlock was a strange case. She wasn’t a geology major, but she still took this course, this class. Students do that all the time, sure, but not when he was the professor assigned to the class. Most students preferred Nancy Go to him: She was a beautiful woman, and he was, well, Jasper was Jasper. But maybe Ariadne was just bored or maybe she just needed a change of pace. There were numerous reasons for her to have taken this class, most of which would be considered strange.

“Aria,” Jasper tried to use a nickname for her without her consent. Either she’d allow it or she’d correct him. Either way, he’d learn something new about this blonde student. “I don’t think that’s rude, and I very much appreciate your insightful input.” He offered her a smile as he took a moment from dumping his books in his bag. “Speaking of the mines, though, are you aware of any specific student that’s…interested in going?”

Geology was interesting. It didn’t always make sense to Ariadne, but she liked it all the same. If nothing else, it was one of the forms of science that felt more artistic (though her mother had said that all science was its own form of art), and she enjoyed it. Which was what mattered, anyhow, right? Even though enjoyable classes were still hard to make herself always do the work for, she was managing. Well enough, at least. Or at least that was what she told herself. Even if she was dead, she still wanted to pass her classes. 

Straight As and Bs were unlikely, but that wasn’t something she was going to focus on. Nor was she going to focus too much on the fact that he’d used a nickname. Not that Ariadne had never had any professor do that, but it was usually the ones in her major-related classes, and even then it was rare. Still, she flashed him a small smile. “Oh - okay, good. I - thanks.” She looked down at her shoes. “I - well, I’m not sure, a lot of them talk about it, but people talk about stuff in this town all the time and a lot of it doesn’t ever happen - why?” She bit her lip. “If I can ask?”

Jasper’s eyebrow was raised without his consent. Jasper was a lonely man. He was very lonely, so very lonely. So, when he caught a glimpse of that lip bite, he immediately thought of a very bad thing. Well, it wasn’t that bad, per se. He just thought it was bad enough. The fact was, he thought it was cute, that was all, really, but perhaps, it was that very thought that his eyebrow tried to distance itself from. 

To be fair, however, Jasper had never had such a relationship with his students. He would never. Or more precisely, THEY would never. He’s tried before, establishing a less formal friendship with a few of them outside class hours. He’s never stepped over the line, never would, considering this was the only thing he has in his life, only tried befriending some of the students. Even invited them to a “rager” at his place. Terrible idea. Jasper has never been to a “rager” before, so he thought it was just one of those parties with charades and movies. When he realized what they actually were, he felt relieved no one came. Not even his teaching assistant.

“I see, I see,” Jasper feigned a dignified cough as he finished chucking his books in his bag. He even added an obvious look at his watch, implying he could be busy, even though he wasn’t. Outside of the paperwork, there was nothing else for Jasper. Maybe the mines, his obsession with finding his lost childhood friend, but that was it. A life mostly wasted. “Well, of course, you can ask, and as I said, sneaking into the mines is a very, very bad idea, so if you hear about anyone doing just that, and if they invite you, do tell me, won’t you, Aria?” He then began to walk out of the classroom, assuming already that she would do the same.

Even though she’d always been a good student (or at least relatively good - the drive to be as perfect as possible didn’t stop even when she was struggling), she’d never really been a teacher’s favorite. At least not as far as she was aware. So for Professor Langston to be asking more of her made Ariadne feel nice. There was something about the professors at this school - a surprising number of them looked almost as though they could have been models, or some such thing.

Which she knew was probably not what she should be thinking about when she thought about her professors, but her mind had a tendency to wander at times, and she figured that those were positive thoughts, and having them, acknowledging them wasn’t bad. She didn’t let it change her mind about their work, so Ariadne decided that focusing on any of that wasn’t going to do her any good, and focusing on the present moment was what was best.

“Yes, of course.” There it was. The nickname, again. At least he knew her name, Ariadne figured that was a pretty big win. She followed him out of the classroom. “I - I don’t like doing bad things.” She wondered if Chance was going to try to sneak into the mines. She would ask, but if he wasn’t planning to, that would only put the idea in his mind and she didn’t like that much at all. “I’ll tell you, yeah. Just - like, anonymously. I don’t want people to think I’m a tattle-tale.” Also the likelihood of her being invited was slim. Not none, she tried not to think like that, but still. Very, very slim. “Is that okay?”

Jasper unintentionally raised an eyebrow when the blonde student mentioned doing bad things, which initially felt to him quite unprompted. Fortunately, however, after a second more, he realized she was probably just talking about sneaking into the mines as the bad thing she didn’t like doing. He heaved a sigh of relief in his mind that he desperately needed to get out of the gutter. “Of course,” he shook his head, gesturing that she didn’t have to do anything she didn’t like before following it up with a supportive nod. “That’s very okay.”

It was actually more than he expected of her, of anyone in his class. Usually, most kids would just ignore him. Fewer would even give him the time of day, so this one was heaven sent. She was fast becoming his favorite student “Here,” Jasper fished out one of his many unused business cards, a boring design with just his name, phone number, and unnecessary address on it. “Give me a call when you need to. On this matter and on anything else. I’ve always got time for my students.”

“Now, how are your studies, by the way?” Jasper gave her a grin as he caught sight of a gaggle of kids accidentally looking their way. Ha. Now there was proof he wasn’t all that bad. A professor talking to his student in school. He wasn’t a weirdo. He was just doing his job. That was a win for him, a very sad win but one he would take. “Finding anything difficult?”

“Really? Okay, good.” She wanted to continue saying that she very much doubted she was the sort of person to ask for help regarding - well, anything - but especially things that involved people talking to you and telling you secrets. Still, if he believed in her, that was something that she could work with. Something Ariadne wouldn’t want to admit how much she needed. 

“Oh.” She couldn’t help but blink a few times, in stunned silence as she accepted the card. Offering him another smile, Ariadne nodded. “I will. Call you, I mean.” Thankfully, she held herself back from saying yeah, I don’t really have many people to talk to, so… because calling your professor because you felt lonely was not a step she was willing to take. Yet, at least. Ideally never, with Wynne and her other new Friend - not that Professor Langston would be bad to talk to, but she figured that it was still not the best of options. “Thanks for that.” She tucked the card carefully into her jacket pocket.

She offered him a cautious grin back, eyes flitting to the students who watched them as they walked by. “They’re going well.” A beat. “Mostly.” Ariadne wasn’t ready to get into her newfound tendency to forget about assignments. “Sometimes, yeah - but that’s to be expected, right? I’ll be a senior next year, so things shouldn’t be too easy.” No matter how much she wished they could be. “You won’t rat me out if I say I am looking forward to a break from schoolwork over the summer, will you?”

“Of course not!” Jasper let out a chuckle at that question. “I mean, I’m also looking forward to a break,” except he wasn’t. “All this professor-ing isn’t easy as well.” That part was at least true. Yet Jasper would rather struggle with his lesson plans than spend the summer break all alone in his late uncle’s manor. It was a lonely life, only made bearable by rocks and stones and the classes he had about the rocks and the stones. And the mines. Maybe he could make the summer break better by spending more time venturing into the mines, ironically what he keeps warning people, including his students, against.

“But I digress,” Jasper led Ariadne to his office, his hand on his door knob. He wanted to invite her in but of course she wouldn’t accept it. No student of his ever does. Why prolong the suffering, making small talk with your professor after the same professor’s boring class, but joining him in his office? Still, Jasper made the polite gesture, just in case she wanted to continue the conversation…and risk her reputation with her fellow students and their scathing rumors. “Senior year will be much more difficult, so don’t hesitate to approach me or any of your other professors for help. We’re always here for our students.”

“I guess that makes sense. I hope you get to do something nice and fun this summer. I figure when you work as hard as you do, you deserve that.” Ariadne was grateful that she had plans with Wynne. Maybe she could convince Chance to hang out in a non-dangerous fashion. It was a high hope, and he might just go home for part of the summer anyhow, but it was still worth hoping for. It had to be.

They’d arrived at his office, and Ariadne wasn’t sure that was was quite entirely ready to stop talking. So when his hands gestured toward the door she nodded. “Only if it’s okay with you.” He was nice, and having someone to just talk to was nice. Someone who didn’t really know her. Someone who so clearly wished to help, just like her professor did. “I might - if you’re sure that’s okay, even though my areas of study aren’t what you cover.” Are you sure? You don’t have to take that on, you don’t have to offer that. “It might be nice to know I’ve got somebody to reach out to.”

“Oh,” Jasper’s face brightened up, even more so, when his student said something nice about him, for him. Was that the first time a student wished him well, someone else wished him well? Definitely the first time he’s heard someone wish him well inside the university and even acknowledge all his hard work. He couldn’t stop beaming. “Thank you, Aria. That’s so nice of you! I hope the same for you and your friends.”

“You guys can even come to my place if you’d like.” That last part was definitely weird for a professor to say to his student, but Jasper was too sad and lonely to realize that. Later, however, he’d be figuratively smashing his head on the wall when he finally realized the words that came out of his mouth were less than appropriate. For now, however, he just made room for Ariadne to enter his office. “Oh, it’s always okay with me. I love hanging out with my students!”

Jasper caught sight of another pair of students passing by who saw him and smirked to themselves, chuckling under their breaths as they walked on by. He thought they were also happy to see him, so he gave them a wide, goofy smile. He would later realize he had thought wrong.

“Oh, thank you.” It was nice to have that sort of positive wish, even if it was from a professor, who was probably obligated to say things like that. Still, it was nice, and Ariadne let herself relax just the smallest bit more. Which meant that she probably shouldn’t say ‘oh yeah, I don’t really have many friends’ because that was just going to open up a whole new route of conversation that she didn’t want to venture down.

“I - oh.” She hid her surprise as best as she could. “That’s very nice of you to offer, but I - we - wouldn’t want to impose or anything.” She ducked into his office, not paying any attention to the other students walking by. In part, because Ariadne hardly noticed them, and in part because she wasn’t sure she wanted to look at them, right now. 

Ariadne sat down in the chair in his office, gaze flicking all around the room. She wrapped one leg around the other and offered him another smile. “I - if you’re a geologist, does that mean you get to travel for work ever? I’d figure maybe you would, just ‘cause there’s lots of rocks in the world.” If she could have blushed, she would have. “Sorry, that’s reducing your job to make it sound - I - I just meant, there’s a lot of stuff in the world, and I hope you get to explore that.” 

“No imposition at all,” Jasper gave her a smile as he followed her inside his office. He carefully dropped his stuff on his table and then proceeded to head to his coffee machine, plugging it in to heat a relatively fresh batch. “Coffee?” The geology professor took a moment to turn to the student, offering her a cup for herself. 

It has been a long day, and while it was already over for his teaching schedule, Jasper usually waited until everyone else in his department left before he’d go home. There was nothing else, no one else, waiting for him in that manor anyway. Well, except for Val, his uncle’s dog, but he had someone to look after and feed the snobby little cretin while he was gone. 

“Used to, but now I just teach more than I travel for work,” Jasper explained with a polite smile as he turned his attention back to her while he waited for the coffee to be ready, leaning on that counter with his arms crossed. “I sort of prefer this set-up than traveling, to be honest,” he didn’t, not really, but it was all he had now. “More stable, more comfortable, less hectic… You plan on traveling a lot after…all this?”

“Sure, coffee’s good. Could I have it with sugar?” Ariadne didn’t prefer coffee, but it was still good, and more than welcome as something to do with her hands. Just fiddling around didn’t seem like the best sort of idea, even in the usual circumstances, let alone when she was trying to make some sort of good impression on a professor. Because even if she never took another class with him again, the last thing she wanted was to come off poorly to him.

“That’s nice - but -” she cut herself off, unfortunately finding herself fiddling with her hands while he prepared the coffee. At least it wouldn’t last much beyond whenever she got the mug of coffee, or so Ariadne hoped. “That makes sense, I know I prefer sticking local,” which was far more true as of this past year than it had been before, but he didn’t need to know that detail.

“I might.” I’ll have to, eventually, “I never got to go and study abroad in Europe, so I think I’d like that.” Ariadne offered him another smile, “but if you have any recommendations of must-see places, I’d be more than happy to hear them.”

Jasper simply nodded with a smile. He had the sugar ready already. Outside of the ancient members of the faculty, he wasn’t sure who else in their right mind would have coffee without sugar during class hours, especially when the day was already on its last leg. Maybe those guys over at the Chemistry Department, but those guys are hella weird. “Local? Hmm, yes, that’s fair.”

The geology professor carefully took both cups, his and his student’s, once the coffee was done and ready, offering Ariadne hers while making sure to emphasize how hot it was and for her to be careful not to burn her fingers or tongue with basic gestures. Once she held her cup in her hands, then and only then did he take his seat opposite hers. Not behind his desk as he usually did but on the other chair that paired the one Ariadne sat on. For a more comfortable conversation. At least in his head, that was what he envisioned, again forgetting how professors always have an innate advantage in the power dynamics against a student. In his defense, however, Jasper has never been acquainted with such notions like power and confidence.

“Europe,” Jasper took a moment to blow on his coffee. As if his tongue was delicate and fragile. If it held some sort of importance to him. Even though he’s dipped it in hotter and weirder things more times than he could count or care to remember. What were those weird egg things in China and the Philippines again? Blech. Those weren’t his style. “It’s a good place to study, especially in Switzerland or maybe even the Netherlands.” Heck, England was good enough for geology. “You’ve got family over there? Japan’s not that bad either. I went there for some seminars. Pretty great.”

“Though that could just be an effect of having grown up here and never lived anywhere else,” a shrug, “so I’m biased, big time.” Except she wasn’t sure just how biased in favor she was of the town right now. Ariadne nodded as she accepted the cup of coffee, the warmth welcome, though she blew on it just slightly in order to attempt to cool it. There was the slightest hint of confusion as he sat down next to her, but that quickly turned into a smile, if no other reason that to assure him that she was at ease. Which she was, at least for the most part.

“I’ll have to look into those places too.” Another smile. “I - well, my mom’s parents moved from France, but my dad’s family’s been in the States, even like, this town, for centuries, so I don’t think I’ve got family over there, no. Japan? I’ve seen photos and it’s beautiful. So’s their art.” Ariadne took another sip of her coffee. Well, if I become a professional ballet dancer or something like that, maybe I’ll get an excuse to tour to lots of different countries.”

“You’ve never been anywhere else?” Jasper parroted the information. It was a little unnecessary, considering he’s had other students that were the same. Not everyone gets to travel somewhere else, especially at that age. Those who do don’t even do it because they can, usually more that they had to. Realizing that, he heaved a sigh, trying his best to mask his pity with a warm smile. When he realized he sucked at that, he tried to cover his face with his cup of coffee, taking a quick sip of his drink. 

Jasper himself didn’t get to travel that much on his own accord either. His late uncle had to be, in a word, incapacitated to allow him to travel and that was only because, and through, his studies, too. The seminars on the other side of the world. The required field work in parts of Asia and Europe. When he came back, he found himself shackled to the town again, though there were still few opportunities to travel for work and study elsewhere. He could sympathize with Ariadne. “Well, I’ll see if I get any travel scheduled to France and Japan, and maybe I can take you with me?”

At that last part, his curiosity was piqued. Jasper crossed his legs and lowered his coffee cup, eyes glued to the young woman in front of him. “Ballet? You do ballet?”

“I mean, I’ve traveled a little bit, but uh - yeah, never really lived anywhere else.” Because her parents both had jobs that required them to be in town, and because living anywhere else just never seemed logical. Not at all, really. Still, they’d traveled somewhat. She didn’t regret the childhood she had one bit, because she knew that she had pretty incredible parents, but of course, the idea of having been a well-traveled child was a tempting one. Ariadne took another sip of her drink. “It’s fine, though - I’m not - I don’t - you don’t have to feel bad, if you were feeling bad.”

She sighed, thoughts drifting away for a few moments before she startled herself back to the present. “I - you’d do that?” Ariadne didn’t think to question the fact that it probably wouldn’t be feasible, but for the moment, she could enjoy living in the fantasy where she could easily travel anywhere she wanted. “Thank you - that’s - yeah, if my parents said it was okay, yeah, I’d like that a lot.” She grinned.

“Mhm, since I could walk, basically. I like other dance too - I love contemporary, but ballet’s where it all began, yeah.” Ariadne fiddled with her nail beds. “Do you like ballet?”

“Oh, it’s all right,” Jasper tried to make the young girl feel a little bit better about her situation, realizing that his words may have made her feel a bit insecure about things. It wasn’t like everyone got to travel the world every other month. Some things were more important than sightseeing. Like paying the bills or making sure your kids had plenty to eat. Besides paying the bills, Jasper didn’t really relate to relationships, familial or not, binding him to a place, to a responsibility. He’d very much want that but it seems to be forever out of his grasp. Probably the mines’ fault. “You’re still young. You’ve got plenty of time to change that.”

“And, sure, why not?” Jasper took a sip of his cup as well and then gave her a warm smile. “If your parents would allow for it, then you can join me and Ms. Jung. Between you and me, she needs friends her age in this school. Hopefully you two will get along. I see no reason why you won’t.” 

It was hard for Jasper to take on a protege like Yvonne Jung, even harder that she was the only daughter of his mentor, the guy who helped him get where he was, and hardest that Professor Jung seemed to be forcing this field on his daughter when she clearly enjoyed something else more. But it wasn’t his place. The least he could was make things more tolerable for her, for anyone really, for his students. They were all that he had at the moment.

“Oh, really? I’d love to watch you sometimes,” Jasper nodded before realizing that must have sounded weird without the proper context. “...dance. I mean, watch you dance. I don’t know a lot of people who do ballet, but I’ve always thought it’s a pretty interesting dance. Very cultured and elegant, I think.”

More time than you know, she wanted to say. Except, of course, she couldn’t. Wouldn’t, either. Ariadne knew enough to follow that rule, even if it wasn’t one that she’d been told about hundreds of times, or even dozens. Maybe a dozen, given or take a little bit - but regardless, she knew that admitting she’d live an abnormally long amount of time was not the smartest idea. “I hope so.” She offered him a reassuring smile, unsure of if it was more for her or for him, but either way, someone in this room had to need comforting, and that was that.

“I can ask them,” though Ariadne wasn’t sure exactly how she’d phrase that, but that was a worry for another time, and strangely, the prospect of having something different to worry about was a weirdly welcome one. “I’ll get along with her, I’m sure.” There were very few people that she’d found it difficult to get along with, and so there was no reason for this to be any different. Especially if they were nice, but even if not, she knew she’d find a way.

“I - oh, yeah, of course. I can send you the dates of performances for next school year, once I know them?” Professors came to the performances all the time, and maybe he just wasn’t aware of the performing arts calendar. “It’s also fairly rigid, but I actually don’t mind that - I like the structure it provides.” Ariadne shrugged. “I’d be happy to have you come, even if I don’t exactly love an audience, always.”

Jasper grinned, nodding his head. The thought of finally having someone else go with him and his teaching assistant made him feel…great, as if a giant weight was lifted off of his shoulders, even though no one gave him that burden, especially not Yvonne who’d clearly rather not get too involved in the field she had no feelings for. But, hey! Maybe Aria would change her mind. Maybe they’d all end up happy together as geologists and friends. Friends? They’re too young to be…friends with me. That would be weirder than me not having friends at all. 

Feigning a cough, Jasper tried to shoo those negative thoughts away. Of course, professors and their students can be friends. Maybe not the kind of friends students are with each other. Maybe not the kind of friends that hang out after classes, during holidays. Maybe more like associates than anything, really, for fear of tampering with the status quo, subconsciously growing bias toward specific students and that kind of thing. But friends nonetheless. Yeah, that’s never going to work.

“That would be lovely, Aria,” Jasper had never tried to go over the performing arts calendar after that one time he tried to ask one of the professors in that department out and she bluntly rejected him. Terrible trauma aside, it’s been a few months already, so it should be fine for him to take a gander at some ballet events, right? Maybe they’d even forgotten about him already. “So I’ve heard,” he nodded again, this time more pensively. “I’ve seen movies about ballet and ballet dancers, but it’d be nice to see an actual performance up close. I’d be very happy to come and watch you…dance, I mean.” 

“You’re not a fan of having an audience?” Jasper wondered if she was one of those shy dancers in those movies about ballet and ballet dancers.

“I’ll make sure to get you the calendar then, once the new school year starts back up.” Ariadne hoped that he wouldn’t regret having asked her to do that. “Uh, if you ever - if you want to not go, or stuff comes up, don’t worry.” She didn’t want him to feel obligated to go. Especially since what else exactly was he going to do when she was in the room with him? Tell her dancing was stupid and that he didn’t care about it?

“Movies can be good, but like most things - geology included - I think it’s best seen in person. So it’s not all Hollywood glamorized or what have you.” She was talking more than she wanted to, and so she looked down into her now nearly-empty coffee cup. “So I hope it’ll live up to your expectations.” That I will, Ariadne added silently, to herself.

“Not always, but I guess dance is like, the one time I am good with it.” She forced a bright smile on her face. “I just don’t always love attention, but dance is one of my favorite things, so it’ll be good. Promise.”

Jasper simply smiled at Ariadne’s promise. He could probably get that calendar himself, but her getting it for him? That sounded much easier. At least he wouldn’t have to go back there, embarrass himself again. She was a life saver. Hopefully, he could do the same for her. Somehow. Some way. “Oh, don’t worry! I’ll definitely be there. Wouldn’t want to miss it for the world.”

“I know it will,” Jasper took another sip of his cup, eyes never leaving her face, but then realized there was nothing left, not even a single drop. He raised an eyebrow, took a look at the inside of his cup to confirm, and was pretty much disappointed with what he saw. Maybe he should get another cup? 

Or maybe he should let Ariadne go. It was probably the longest conversation with a student he’s had since recent memory, with a student that wasn’t being forced to be in the same room with him, so Jasper was a little saddened that it was close to being over. “I hope it won’t be weird, me coming to watch you dance?” Why would it? Because he’d only go to see her? Jasper didn’t realize it right then and there, and maybe he wouldn’t for quite some time, but she was the only reason he’d actually make the first step to see a ballet performance live for the very first time.

“Good, then I’m looking forward to it. That – it means a lot that you want to do this, especially since I’m not even a long-term student of yours.” But that didn’t have to matter, did it? She supposed that it didn’t really, in the grand scheme of things. So Ariadne pushed those thoughts away, once again, not wanting to make some sort of truly not-so-good mistake even though it very much seemed like Jasper – was it okay to call your professor that? – didn’t think she was even remotely close to making some sort of mistake.

“No, you’re good. The dances are usually open to the whole campus, and I’d be happy to have you come. Promise.” She set her now-empty cup down. “Though I should probably be going, and I wouldn’t want to keep taking up too much of your time! Thanks a whole bunch again for talking, I’ll be sure to stop by again sometime soon.” Ariadne picked at her nails for a moment. “I hope the rest of your day is good, Jasper.”

“Well, what can I say?” Jasper wasn’t just asking her. Rhetorically or not. He was also asking himself. Well, he was asking himself mostly. What could he say? That wouldn’t get him in any trouble through wrong impressions. Was being friends with his students really that bad? Maybe of the second opposite sex? Maybe because he wasn’t that old? Nah, it would be worse if he was much older. What even was he getting at? “You did catch my eye.”

They are?! Jasper frowned at that, though he quickly tried to sweep that look of disappointment and semi-betrayal under a figurative rug. To be fair, no one betrayed him. No one even told him to steer clear of the dances, of the theater, of the entire arts department. That was all on him. That was all him. He rose to escort her out his door with a smile, leaving his own cup on a nearby table. 

“Any time, Aria,” Jasper lingered on her face for a moment that was a bit longer than he’d liked, especially when she called him by his first name. Was that all right? It felt good, didn’t it? It was all right in his book. No one else needed to know. No one would even care to know. She reminded him, right then and there, of his lost childhood friend, Faith. “Thank you… Yours, too. Study well, work hard, and break that leg!” And now it felt unnecessarily worse. 

“Thanks. Guess I’m just not too used to that.” Not that people never paid attention to her, but she wasn’t used to catching people’s eyes. Which she was fine with, too much attention had never been something she was fond of nor something she was comfortable with. Ariadne offered Jasper a smile, though. “Just, uh, even if you think I’m neat, please don’t grade based on that. I want to earn whatever my semester’s grade is. Not that I think you would, but I just feel like, morally, I need to make sure. If that makes sense?” Another case where she was grateful that she couldn’t physically blush, because she was making enough of a fool of herself that she’d absolutely be blushing if she could.

She looked over to him with wide eyes, wondering what he was thinking - which, in turn, led to its own hunger pain piercing through her stomach. But no, she wasn’t going to do that, wasn’t going to overly focus on that. Instead, staring at him with wide, nearly sad eyes would have to suffice. “I’ll work hard, promise. I - thanks.” Ariadne bit her tongue. Even if that wasn’t technically the word for dance, she still could appreciate the sentiment, and it wasn’t like she could get extremely hurt again, anyhow. “And just let me know about that trip, if you ever want to. I’ll see you around!”

[magnus-sm-writes]

Magnus & Trans Day of Visibility

This is really scrambled; my apologies. The words are fighting me today. But I wanted to post something for Transgender Day of Visibility, and dammit, I forgot to prepare something.

I am now 22. A damn good age, if you ask me. I like repeating numbers. I am 22, and I am a man, and I didn’t think I would ever get this far. I was an incredibly sad teenager that was fueled by hatred. Of the world, of myself. I thought the world was a shit place where everything sucked.

It turns out, I was so angry for a large variety of reasons. One: I was neurodivergent and fording the world without any sort of help. Two: I was living in a homophobic place as an openly queer teenager. And three: I was transgender and had no ability to live as myself. 

Living as a trans man for 3.5 years (my tranniversary is in October, one of my favorite months) has made my life so much better. My husband has done nothing but support me in my transition and ensured that all of our friends (and his friends, as well) are using my correct pronouns even when I’m not present. I have trans friends that I love with my entire heart and soul, both online and in person. Even though I’m technically presenting as a “woman” with my work and parents, I present so masculine that pretty much everyone believes I’m a butch lesbian in denial, which—y’know what? I’m willing to accept. It’s better than presenting an aggressively girly persona that makes me miserable. (And I hope it makes coming out in a few years easier.)

What I’m trying to say is: I love being trans. I am so incredibly fortunate to have the support system that I do in my life. My family might not know (or support me when I do), but the family I have found are some of the most important people in my life. They make me the happiest I have ever been. 

My body might not be what I want. I have DDD cups. For anyone unaware, that is overly-complicated bra speak for F cups, the size of small cantaloupes, which cause me a significant amount of back pain and dysphoria. (I’m trying to, at the least, get a reduction.) I have quite wide hips, and the babiest of all baby faces. I’ve been carded in a sex shop before—multiple times—because I have the face of a young high schooler. 

But I’m working on making my body mine. My tattoos make me feel more like myself. There was this Inked video I was watching where a woman said that it didn’t feel like her artist was giving her tattoos—it felt like they were scratching away her skin to reveal what was always there. I can’t agree more. All of my tattoos feel like they were supposed to be there. I feel like myself with them. My green hair both makes me more visibly queer and happier. I mean, green hair, where I am, basically makes you a freak. 

And I am! I’m a huge freak. A creature. A critter. I am what the people call me. I embrace being a freak, a crime against nature, an inhuman monster. I’m queer, and I make my own rules about what I am. Who I am. I think that’s what I love most about being queer. Being weird and gay and manly makes me happy. It makes me feel right, and real, and good. 

What can I say? There are so few words to use to describe trans joy other than the bright feeling of sunshine on your face and the lack of weight on my chest. (Metaphorically, of course: remember the F cups.) 

Trans joy is a song, a chant, a protest. Trans joy is what I feel when I wear my ridiculous goth clothes, what I feel when my friends and I are laughing about stupid shit, what I feel when I wake up to another day with the sun on my face and bird song in the wind. There’s no better feeling than the happiness I feel every day I live as the man I’ve always been meant to be. 

[venomous--fics]

Anon asked: maybe a continuation of the peter b parker kid thing where they finally confront the mom and get the readers things back 😩💞💞

a/n: ask and thou shall receive! this spent so long in the drafts bc i felt so insecure about it tbh, so any feedback is appreciated! I love seeing messages about what you guys think! really keeps me motivated! also, requests are open

Warnings: mentions of past abuse

Peter was sitting at the kitchen table, constantly looking at the clock. It was almost 5pm, you were supposed to be home an hour and a half ago. Yes, he keeps track of everyone's schedules, yes he knows the exact second you should be walking through the door. He's already texted you, but maybe you had detention. Nah, you were a good student, he highly doubted you'd have to stay after school.

His phone finally rang, and he was way too quick answering it.

"You okay?"

"I need some help."

"What is it?" he was already out the door.

You sighed, knowing he was probably going to give you an earful later.

"Well, it's a really long story, right.. But my mom showed up after school-"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I think. Anyways, we got into it on the way home, which is no- Not normal." you adjusted how you were sitting, "And since she was dragging me back to the house, I figured I'd just get my crap and come home, right? Makes sense, saves us the tri-"

"She took you without permission?"

"Technically she is my m-...Parent. I guess, y'know, legally she can do whatever- But..Okay." you began to feel bubbles of anxiety and pain and even resentment form deep in your core, "She locked me out." You rubbed your neck.

"Are you," he paused, looking around at all the faces passing by him, "Still there?"

"Yeah. Unfortunately. I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for? Don't apologize, you didn't do anything."

"I keep causing problems for everyone."

"Not for me. Or Mj."

It was quiet on your end.

"You still there?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be there in like ten minutes."

"You probably shouldn't."

"Nah, nah." He said, having a sudden wave of anger rush over him, "Let me take care of this."

And true to his word, Peter was there in ten minutes. You hopped up from your spot on the porch as he made his way up to the door and knocked on it as hard as he could. He gave you a reassuring pat on the back.

The door swung open, and your mother seemed awfully surprised and confused to see some random man just standing there. Peter held no emotion has he looked her dead in the eye, "Can we come in."

She opened the door wider so that way you two could step in.

"Go get your stuff." is all Peter said to you.

Wasting no time, and not wanting to be in the middle of a potential argument between the two, you skedaddled to your room. It almost felt like too much to be in there. It looked so empty and barren compared to your room at Peter and Mjs place. Seems really dull. Lifeless, almost. Dust covered every surface, which meant that nobody had ever even bothered to see if you were even still in there.

You heard their voices from the living room, but they seemed so distant, seeing as all you could focus on was every shitty thing that woman put you through.

You remember the day that you got bit. It made you deathly ill, and you just thought you were dying from some sort of allergic reaction to the spider bite. You tried to get her to take you to any doctor or anywhere that could help because all you could seem to see were stars.

Everything then was so loud. Everything was so bright. It was all too much, and you were certain that the reaper was waiting for you. What did she say?

"Suck it up and stop pretending. Everything has to be so dramatic with you."

Or that time you forgot a single item on the shopping list. You got this whole speech about how stupid you had to have been. To forget one item. It was the world's most useless item.

Everything else seemed to play all over again, all at once. Like a waterfall. It should've made you sad. It should've made you cry, or scream.

You recounted all the times you wanted to fight back, or just run away. Leave everything behind and just run until your legs gave out. But you never did. You always found some reason to linger.

The conversation was growing louder where Peter was.

"You aren't going to do this to them ever again. Sign the papers."

You nearly dropped your last belonging on the floor as you scrambled to your door. Papers? He wasn't serious. Well, obviously he was. He just said it.

"Fine. It's not like the-"

"Zip it. Sign the papers."

"Who are you anyways? The law? If so, whatever they've told you is a b-"

"Listen, lady. I didn't ask for any attitude. I told you to sign the papers." he seemed to huff in annoyance, "That doesn't require talking."

"I'm a good mother."

"And I'm the king of France."

"Really. I gave them a good home. I have fed them and kept them warm-"

"Really? You think you did all that? Or are you convincing yourself that you did all that?"

"I am-"

"Can I be honest with you?"

"Ye-"

"I've never said this about anyone, ever. I don't like speaking to or about anyone like this.. Ever, but, you? I think you're a piece of shit."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, look. You finished signing the papers. I'll take those. Thank you."

Realizing that it was your time to go, you stuffed your blanket into your duffel bag and rushed out the door and down the hall. Peter looked at you, expecting to see at least three bags. But he only saw the one.

"Where's the rest of your stuff."

"Uhm," you shuffled around, pretending as thought you dropped some, "This...This is all my stuff."

"That can't be ri-" He laughed a little, and noting the expression on his face, you saw that he was NOT happy. "That? That single duffle bag is all you have? That's it?"

"Yes..." you took a step back, "This is all.."

"I can't believe it." he said, "You're joking! One bag worth of stuff?"

He turned his attention back to your mother, who, for the first time in your life, actually looked like she got caught red handed, "You're pathetic. Absolutely pathetic."

"But they're so u-"

"No! No, you don't get to talk anymore. You've done enough."

You awkwardly shuffled behind him, in the event that you two had to make a mad dash out the door. That and you needed to not be seen as you tried to hide your almost evil grin.

"The hell is wrong with you? You have this amazing kid, and THAT'S all you've ever gotten for them? And you sit there and call yourself a mother? Absolutely, without a doubt, bullshit. I'd be ashamed of myself to call myself a father if that's all I've provided for my kid. Don't even get me started on you as a person, we made that clear."

It almost felt cursed to hear him swear, seeing as he made it a point to tell you to not swear. Every time you did, you have to give a quarter to the swear jar. Mj was always on your side, though. She'd say a swear that was much worse and have to pay a dollar. Each word had a value.

"Maybe we should just go." you suggested, tugging on the sleeve of his arm, "She's not worth it anymore."

"She was never worth it, it seems."

You finally made eye contact with her, and the look in her eye. It's like she understood, but was choosing to not do anything about the situation. She could look sorry all she wanted, but you knew she wasn't.

"I'm sorry, Y/n. You know that right."

"That means nothing to me."

"I can change."

"If you can change now, that means you could've changed then. You just chose not to."

"But I'm your mother, you should realize how I feel. You should want-"

"You're not my mom. You stopped being my mom the first time you-" You turned towards the door and started walking towards it, "Whatever. You mean nothing to me."

You practically kicked open teh door just to leave, and Peter was right behind you, shouting about how he'd make sure to egg her house everyday, just to piss her off.

"Do you really think I'm amazing?" you asked, the walk home feeling rather quiet.

"I think you're more than that. Just can't put it into words."

"Did you really mean it...That we could egg her house?"

"You want to? There's a store right on the way home."

"How about tomorrow."

"I'll have to clear up my busy schedule. See if I can work in a drive by egging. Well, swing by egging."

"You promise?"

"You kidding? I haven't egged anyone's house since college."

You had so much more you wanted to get off you chest, but you opted to just talk about it at home, with everyone present. You wanted to talk about how you felt about everything, and the papers. Whatever those were. But you were, for the moment, busy laughing about Peter's story about how he used to Egg this one reporters house. Someone named Jonah.

You wonder if Jonah ever put two and two together.

[ssahotchhner]

reckless endangerment

the reader can't let go of the trauma of aaron being kidnapped and tortured six months ago.

pairing: hotch x reader

warnings: kidnapping, torture, smut, dom!hotch

masterlist

questions, comments, concerns

It was stupid to jump on the helicopter that contained at least two terrorists as it took off that roof in Manhattan. Even stupider that you had done it alone, Aaron’s voice screaming for you from behind. You weren’t sure he would forgive you for this if you survived so you supposed it was a good thing you weren’t planning on surviving.

Why did you jump on the helicopter, you may ask, and that would be a reasonable question. Perhaps it was your hero complex finally getting the better of you, knowing the helicopter was planning on flying straight into the Empire State Building, loaded with explosives. Or perhaps it was because these terrorists were part of a group that had tortured Aaron for hours a few months ago when he was on assignment in Pakistan and you had always believed fully in revenge. Aaron did not, he was much better than you.

“Hold your fire!” Aaron had yelled when it was clear you weren’t getting off that helicopter, “Federal agent on board!”

“With all due respect, sir, but you said that helicopter was headed for the Empire State Building where there are thousands of tourists and--”

“I said hold your fire.” Aaron snarls at the leader of the SWAT team. He knows he’s being ridiculous, letting emotion cloud his judgement, but how can he let them blow up a helicopter that you’re on? And why the fuck had you jumped on it in the first place?

The SWAT agent glared at him, “That helicopter gets within a hundred yards of the building, I’m ordering my men to shoot it down.” And then he walked away.

“Hotch!” Morgan yells, the rest of the team not far behind him, “What the hell did she do that for?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” He responded. He was furious with you, so much so he couldn’t think straight.

JJ steps closer, the panic evident on her face, “She’s not responding on radio.”

He looks at the rest of the team, all of them one step away from absolutely losing their minds over the fact that one of their own had gone on a suicide mission without consulting any of them, and then he looks back to the helicopter that’s getting smaller and smaller by the second.

***

SIX MONTHS AGO

You take a sip from your glass, “I miss you.” You say to your computer screen.

On that screen, SSA Aaron Hotchner smiles back at you, “I know. I’ll be home before you know it.”

“When you get back,” You say slowly, “Can we… Can we tell them? About us?”

By them, he knew you meant the team. He gets quiet, the smile falling off his face, “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“Hotch, they’re like our family. I feel terrible keeping things from them. It was fun in the beginning, but I don’t want to hide it anymore.”

He swallows, but then nods, “Okay.”

“Really?”

He smiles, “Yeah, of course. I don’t like hiding you either.”

You’re about to tell him you love him when there are suddenly men in the tent, “Aaron?” He looks around and scrambles for his gun, but he’s too late. One of the men hits him in the side of the head with a blunt object and he’s out, “Aaron!” You yell and then the feed cuts out.

***

It was surprisingly easy to disarm them, you supposed because you had surprised them. You easily knocked the gun away from the one who wasn’t piloting, ducked some of his punches before kicking him square in the chest, causing him to fall down. He hit his head on a hard metal handle on the way down, knocking himself unconscious. The Empire State Building was looming closer and closer and you knew if you didn’t stop it, SWAT would shoot down the helicopter. It would lead to less deaths than crashing directly into the building would, but people would still die from fallen debris. You wouldn’t let that happen. You pointed your gun at the man in the cockpit.

***

“Garcia, is her body cam on?”

“No, sir, but I can turn it on.”

Seconds later, the team was viewing the inside of the helicopter. You had knocked one of the men unconscious and handcuffed him to a handle, but you still had to get control of the helicopter.

“Can you hack the helicopter, Garcia?”

He hears the frantic typing of the technical analyst, but she huffs on the other end, “Not under these time constraints no, by the time I get in it’ll be too late.”

“Agent Hotchner, the snipers have locked in on the target.”

“Just give her another minute.”

“We don’t have another minute.”

He sighs, “She’s about to take control of the cockpit.”

“Does she know how to fly a chopper?”

“She’ll figure it out. Stand down, I won’t say it again.” Hotch’s radio goes silent after that.

***

You waste no time getting the team together and forty minutes later you’re sitting in the conference room, styrofoam cup of coffee warming your hands.

“You were video calling Hotch? At 10 PM?” Reid asks. From anyone else, it would sound accusatory, but you knew he was just genuinely curious.

“10 PM here is 7AM for him. I caught him right before he started his day, wanted to ask him about a case.”

Spencer frowns, “What case?”

Your mouth falls open as you try to fumble for something, but it’s already too late. “I knew it.” Rossi says quietly.

You grind your teeth together, “I’m sorry, is dissecting my love life more important to you guys than finding Hotch after he’s been kidnapped by a terrorist group?” You stand, squashing the empty styrofoam cup in your hand and toss it in the waste bin as you walk out of the room.

Moments later, Spencer’s standing next to you and you immediately feel guilty, “I didn’t mean to pry,” He says, “Honestly, the two of you being romantically involved was the last thing I would have guessed.”

The corners of your lips turn up just slightly, “I didn’t mean to snap in there, I know you meant nothing by it, I just… Right before he was taken we talked about telling you all. Together. Once he got back.” You sniff, “Part of me feels like all of you figuring it out without him here is the universe saying he’s going to die out there. I know that’s silly, but…”

“It’s not silly at all. When you’ve witnessed something traumatic, like a loved one being taken away in front of you with no way for you to help, your brain looks for anything to rationalize it. Even the universe predicting the outcome.”

Spencer's voice throwing out facts was actually fairly soothing, “Thank you, Dr. Reid.”

“Come on.” He squeezes your shoulder, “Let’s bring Hotch home.”

***

“Slowly put your hands up and back away from the controls,” You say, flexing your fingers on the gun, “Now!” You say when he doesn’t move. You’re running out of time. Finally, he slowly raises his hands, but at the last second turns and lunges for you. The helicopter tips as you fall over, your gun misfires at the ceiling before tumbling out of the chopper, and you’re free falling until your face slams on the floor and your hands grab the outside edge of the helicopter so hard you’re sure you ripped out your fingernails. Dangling, you grunt as you scramble to hook your feet on something. The pilot, already assuming you’re dead, had gone back to the cockpit.

Finally, you haul yourself back inside and run to him, ripping him out of his seat. He’s bigger than you, though, and quickly overpowers you. His hands wrap around your throat as you’re pinned to the floor and you’re choking, suffocating. All you can think is at least you’ll die before the chopper goes up in flames. And then, in a last ditch effort that’s more involuntary reaction than conscious choice, you’re able to knee him in the groin. His hands immediately leave your throat and instead of taking the moment to catch your breath, you kick him off you and he rolls to the open door. You reach for him, but you’re too late, he falls.

You wanted revenge, but you didn’t want to kill anyone. But you had no time to think about that now. You cough a few times and then stumble over to the cockpit. For the first time since you jumped on the helicopter, you turn your radio back on.

“I don’t suppose one of you knows how to fly a chopper?”

***

When you reenter the conference room everyone’s watching the last few seconds of the video call. They look at you apologetically and you nod in acknowledgement. You have to close your eyes at the sound of your own screams.

“Who was he working to take down while he was there?” Morgan asked.

“The leader of the Kashmir Jehad Force, his name was Syed Khan.” You said.

JJ frowned, “He told you all of this? Wasn’t it classified?”

You nodded, “Hotch asked to bring me on a few weeks ago when they were stuck. I was debriefed, but then they had a break before I could get on the plane. They finished the operation a few days ago, Hotch was supposed to come home in the next couple of days.”

“So Khan is dead?” Rossi asked.

You nod, “No one was supposed to know it was the US Government who did it. They wanted it to look like an accident. They shouldn’t have known Hotch was there.”

“Are you thinking there’s a double agent?” Emily asked.

You shrug, “It’s either that or Hotch was sloppy. Which one would you bet on?” The room is silent. “Exactly.” You say quietly.

***

They don’t have time to be relieved about the fact that you single handedly re-hijacked the chopper because now you need to figure out how to safely land it and you’re a football field length away from the Empire State Building. Reid jumps into action, apparently having read a lot about helicopters when he was younger.

“I’m assuming he had it on autopilot, the button will be glowing green on your left, turn it off and then get ready to steer.”

You sigh, “Spencer, I am so happy to hear your voice.” You flip off the switch like he said and the helicopter immediately starts beeping at you and plummets. You try and remain calm and pull it up and then turn the helicopter in the opposite direction from the building and sigh. “You know how to land this thing, right Reid?”

“Yeah, I’ll walk you through it.”

Hotch has to walk away from the conversation because he’s so caught up in feeling relieved that you’re alive and absolutely furious with you for doing what you did. He thinks he knows why you did it. You had been absolutely torn up when he had been taken while in Pakistan and you had been on edge this whole case knowing the terrorists you were after had been a part of the group that had tortured him.

***

When Hotch wakes up, he’s chained to the ceiling by his wrists, shirtless. He can feel a migraine blooming from his temple where he was hit, but he knows the real pain hasn’t even begun yet. He can hear talking from the corner of the room and before they can see that he’s awake, he begins detaching himself. He pictures your face, smiling at him on your first date. The way you smile sleepily at him when he kisses you first thing in the morning. The way you scrunch up your forehead just a little when you’re thinking really hard. The first time you told him you loved him. And then he’s with you and no one can touch him, no one can hurt him.

***

“Do you know where they would keep him?” Strauss is sitting in the conference room now, looking at you, “You were debriefed, is it enough for a profile?”

You sighed deeply, eyes darting back and forth as you tried to recall all the information you know, “I know most of the profile for Kahn, but we never focused on the group as a whole because we wanted to find him alone when we neutralized him.” You tap your fingers on the table, “I have no idea what a group without Kahn would function like, even knowing what I knew before, the fact that Kahn is gone would change the whole profile. We don’t know who took over.”

“And what do you know about the group?”

“Um,” You blinked a few times, you were having a hard time focusing, “They were all followers, none of them would have been capable of leading. Whoever is in control now was outside of the group.”

“Maybe our double agent?” Emily says.

You nod, “That would make sense.”

Strauss frowns, “You think there’s a double agent?”

“There’s no way the group would have known Hotch was responsible if they didn’t have insider information.” You say.

“What you’re proposing is that a terrorist somehow infiltrated a Top Secret US Operation, waited for us to kill a terrorist leader, then took over that same terrorist group and kidnapped the leader of our operation.” Strauss said and waited for someone to say something, “Does that not sound ridiculous to anyone else?”

“Do you have any other ideas?” You ask sharply.

“Yes, that Agent Hotchner left something behind at the scene that pointed the remaining group in his direction.”

You’re shaking your head, “If you’re so certain that’s the case, then check their old stronghold. If it’s a new guy, they would have abandoned it, which I’m certain they did. But be my guest, waste our time and your men.” You storm out of the conference room for a second time.

***

You find yourself in Aaron’s office and you tilt your head to the side, stretching out a kink in your neck before sitting on the couch. You look around the office, well decorated with plaques commemorating his work in the bureau. When you get up and walk around to his side of the desk, you notice a small gold frame that hadn’t been there before. In it is a small picture of the both of you sitting on the beach at sunset. When had he put this here? When had he decided that it was worth the risk of your coworkers noticing that new frame? Seeing you propped on his desk like that?

And then you were crying and you couldn’t stop it and you just wanted to hold him. “Looks like you just outed your relationship to Erin.” You looked up to see Rossi standing in the doorway and wiped your tears, sniffling.

“Not like she can say anything considering you both make it a habit of checking in at the same hotel every weekend.” You snap, and then sigh instantly, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, kiddo.” He says and walks over to put a hand on your shoulder, “You miss him.”

“A few hours ago we were talking about what we were going to do when he gets back, and now he’s gone.”

“He’s coming back, Y/N. We’ll find him.”

***

You had been right about the former stronghold being abandoned. All signs now pointed to a double agent. You tried to think of everything Aaron had told you about the team that would be a part of the operation, but you kept coming up empty. When a list was brought out with pictures of each you went over it again, every conversation you had had with Aaron since he left.

And then… there was one interaction, one interruption that you and Aaron had both dismissed at the time.

A man walks up behind Aaron while he’s talking to you, debriefing you back when they thought you’d be flying in. At the look on your face, Hotch had turned around to face him, “Can I help you with something?”

The man had simply shook his head and left, but you could have sworn for the rest of the call, he had lingered. Listening. Aaron had explained to you that most of those involved in the operation hadn’t known the full details of the plan up until they had left, in order to prevent situations like the one they were in now.

There were times when Aaron was talking to you on the phone and he told you he felt like someone had been watching him, but you both dismissed it as paranoia. And when the pictures and names were presented to you again, you pointed to the man you were sure you saw on that one video call. “What do we know about him?” You asked.

And the look of dread on Erin’s face when you pointed him out told you everything you needed to know. Garcia did what she always did and soon they knew every detail of his life. He was a textbook narcissist and sociopath. Incredibly charming, everyone loved him, he could convince almost anyone to follow him. He had an FBI background and rumor had it, he thought he was to be the one to lead this operation until Aaron showed up.

“So he takes over an entire terrorist organization just to take out Hotch?” Morgan asks, “We have to be missing something.”

You’re getting impatient, “Well let’s figure it out on the jet.”

“This team is not going to Pakistan.” Erin says firmly, “We will inform an extraction team that’s already on the ground when we figure out where they’re holding him.” You’re already rolling your eyes and preparing a retort and she notes that and continues, “If you can’t compartmentalize your emotions, Agent, I will have you removed from the case.”

You hold yourself back from yelling that you need to be the one who brings him home, because you know how ridiculous it sounds and you being stubborn isn’t helping Aaron. “Fine.” You say, “Here’s what I can tell you.”

***

You’re on top of him, straddling his hips, giggling as your hair falls in your face. He reaches up to push it away and you grind your hips against his. “Hotchner.” You say, “You have to wake up.” He frowns. It’s not your voice.

And before he can stop it, your face swims away and it’s replaced by SSA Scott Carter. It takes him a few moments to realize that Carter isn’t here to help him and that he was probably behind this whole thing. “Carter?” He manages.

Carter smiles, “Ah, the darling of the BAU finally awakens. What were you dreaming about, Hotchner? Sounded juicy. Was it about your girlfriend?” His head shot up at that. If you were in danger, he’d kill this son of a bitch. “Oh, I hit a nerve.” He smirks, “Did you tell her you weren’t planning on coming home this week? That you had some loose strings to tie up?”

Hotch blinked, his brain was still fuzzy from what he assumed was a concussion, “You… You’re the one stealing the military weapons and selling them to the terrorist organizations.” He hadn’t told you he was planning on staying a few more days to figure out who was transporting the weapons, he had still been hoping to figure it out before his flight was scheduled to leave, but Carter had been his prime suspect. Apparently, Carter had figured out he was on to him. It was why he was able to get Khan’s men to drag him from his tent this morning.

Carter gives him a slow clap, “You know, for a profiler, I’m disappointed you hadn’t figured it out sooner, Hotchner. Really, I’m very torn up about it. I have half a mind to fly to Quantico after you’re dead and demand your position.”

Aaron laughs, “You’re out of your mind if you think my team won’t figure this out in a quarter of the time it took me to.”

“What did you tell them, Hotchner?”

“I haven’t been in contact with my team in weeks.”

“Oh, but your girlfriend. Did you think I’d forget she’s a federal agent in the BAU as well?”

“She doesn’t know anything, the mission was classified, you know that.”

“You never mentioned your suspicions of a lucrative weapons trading operation?”

“No.”

Carter hums and takes out a knife, “I don’t believe you.”

Hotch doesn’t flinch, “Then go ahead and carve me up, Carter. You won’t be the first.”

***

With Reid’s help, after working through the night you were able to narrow down the possible holding sights to three places and Strauss ordered three separate teams to check each place. Now the only thing left to do was wait.

You’re sitting alone in Hotch’s office when Penelope, JJ, and Emily all walk in, JJ holding a tea for you. You give her a small smile of thanks as you take it, “You guys don’t have to sit with me, I’m okay.”

“Did you think we were going to just let you gloss over the fact you never told us you were dating Hotch?” Penelope said.

You manage a genuine smile and look down at your tea, “We weren’t sure when or how to tell you guys. Or if it would make things weird.”

JJ shrugs, “We’re already family and families are weird.”

“Not the point,” Penelope interjects, “We need all the details now, who made the first move?”

“He did, actually,” You smile recalling the memory, “He asked me if he could call me outside of work hours and I said sure, he could always call me to discuss a case. Then he got really red and I asked him if there was something else he would want to call me about. And he cleared his throat and asked if he could call me to ask me out to dinner sometime and I laughed and said yes.”

Emily shakes her head, “Hard to imagine that man getting flustered over anything.”

You laugh, “Yeah, he gets really awkward around women he likes romantically, it’s kind of endearing.” You clear your throat, “Thank you guys for trying to distract me.”

JJ nods, “They’re going to find him. Alive.”

You nod, “Yeah. I just wish it was my face he was seeing first.”

***

You had somehow managed to fall asleep at some point, head in JJ’s lap with her fingers gently combing through your hair.

“Guys.” Spencer’s voice jolts you from sleep, “They found him.”

All of you jump up, but you’re the first one out of the room, trailing Spencer, “He’s okay?”

“He’s injured, but yeah, he’s gonna be fine.”

Your legs almost give out, but JJ and Emily come on either side to grab your arms as you walk into the conference room.

“They’re airlifting him to the hospital, he was stabbed a couple of times but they were shallow, some burns, looks like he was waterboarded as well,” Erin Strauss smiles, “But he’s fine. They’ll transfer him to DC first thing in the morning.”

“What about Carter?” You ask.

“It turns out he was stealing weapons from the military and selling them to terrorist organizations and Hotch was onto him. That’s why he took him. Not because of Khan. He wanted to know how much Hotch knew and if he had told you anything.”

You shake your head, “I didn’t know anything about that.”

Strauss nodded, “Carter has people here. Hotch didn’t mention it to you on purpose. So that they wouldn’t take you if something happened.”

You close your eyes. That man, always trying to protect you. Always being the hero. You could have found him hours ago if he had just told you. But that was the man you had fallen in love with.

***

You insisted on being on the roof of the DC hospital when the chopper landed and you charmed all the nurses into allowing you into every room he was wheeled in until he was settled. They had sedated him for the long flight and it seemed he would wake at any moment. You slid your small, cold hand, into his large, warm one and waited.

“I know that ice cold hand,” He said slowly. His voice was gravely and it brought tears to your eyes to see that he was trying to smile. “Oh, hey, don’t cry.” He reaches his hand up to stroke your cheek and you turn your head into his hand to kiss his palm, sniffling.

“I’m very happy to see you.” You manage, choking down your sobs, “I didn’t think I was going to see you again.” His smile grows, “It’s not funny!”

“It’s very funny, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry over anything and certainly not me.” You glare at him through your tears and he chuckles, “Ah, there she is, tough guy. I know the only thing holding you back from punching me in the shoulder is that I’m injured.”

“Oh, I’ll still do it if you don’t shut that pretty mouth of yours.”

He smirks, “Promise?”

And finally you break into laughter and lean over him to kiss his mouth, “You should’ve told me about Carter.” You say, “You could have at least told me you were in danger.”

“And what, have you worried from an ocean away when it might have been nothing? I needed more evidence.”

You bite your lip, “I’ve never been so scared in my whole life, watching you get taken like that.”

“I came home.” He says softly, “I’m okay, I promise.”

You swallow, “Did they get Carter?” He nods, “And what about the guys that took you in?”

“Sweetheart, that’s a whole terrorist organization, no they didn’t get them.”

“They kidnapped a federal agent!” You say indignantly.

“And the federal agent is alive.”

“But—!”

He puts a finger over your mouth to quiet you, “Don’t make me argue with you like your unit chief right now. I just want to be your boyfriend.”

You sigh, “Okay,” Leaning over him, you rest your head on his chest and he begins stroking your hair. Having not slept at all since Hotch had been taken, you fall asleep like that. Finally at peace.

***

You hadn’t really been able to let it go, even when Hotch was better and back to work, he could tell you were harboring real anger about his kidnappers.

And on that morning, the morning you jumped on the god forsaken helicopter, when the BAU was asked to come to New York to investigate a possible terrorist threat, he debated telling you not to come. The government had suspicions that they were here to take revenge for Khan and he knew you’d be upset with being benched.

“Hotch, I’m fine. I’m not angry.” You had said when he pulled you into his office after debriefing the rest of the team.

“If you even hint at taking impulsive, reckless risks I will suspend you immediately, understood?”

You sigh, “I hate when you use your boss man voice with me.”

“Y/N—” He starts impatiently.

“Yeah, yeah, fine, understood. No being reckless. Got it.”

His eyes scan your face to see if you’re lying, “Good.” He says finally and presses a kiss to your forehead, “Let’s go then.”

He should have known you were lying. It was only the previous night you had woken him up tossing and turning from a nightmare. When he had finally gotten you awake you practically flung yourself at him, arms twining themselves around his neck as you caught your breath, “I thought you were gone again.” You had said breathlessly. And he had wordlessly held you to him, running his fingers through your hair until you were asleep again. It hadn’t been the first time he had had to comfort you. You had had far more nightmares about him being taken than he had about himself being tortured. Truth be told, he had been through far worse than being kidnapped and tortured for 24 hours. He knew it made you feel weak, the nightmares, when you weren’t even the one who had been tortured so he never brought them up. Never made you talk about them. But they worried him all the same. You relived the trauma again over and over, nearly every night. How were you expected to let the anger go when you were still living through it?

He should have known, but he let you out in the field anyway. Would that not put in question his ability to lead? His ability to lead with you on the same team?

He can barely see through his anger as he turns back to where Reid is instructing you to land. When you successfully land and jump out of the chopper, the rest of the team gathers around you to hug you, but Hotch stays back, watching.

When you notice, you walk over to him, “Hotch, I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have--”

“You’re suspended for at least a month, if not more.” He starts, “You’re lucky I don’t remove you from this team all together.”

You frown, “Aaron, I was able to detain one of the suspects, now we can learn more about the group--”

“By doing what you did you put yourself and hundreds of civilians at risk. We could have shot down the chopper, but because you jumped onboard I had to instruct them to stand down. Which, by the way, I had to do several times because they were more than willing to kill you to get that chopper down, do you have any idea the damage you caused? What could have happened if you didn’t get control of that chopper when you did?”

“I… Baby, I’m sorry--” You reach your hand out to put on his arm, but he pulls away.

“Don’t talk like that, I’m not your boyfriend right now, I’m your unit chief. Now give me your badge and gun.”

You know you can’t blame him, he had warned you he would do this and you had disobeyed him intentionally. But still, your hands shake as you hand over your gun and badge. You don’t say anything else as you leave the roof, heading down all the way to ground level to get a taxi back to the hotel. And then you wait. You lay on your back and wait for the sound of the door opening and when it does hours later, you push yourself up and sit cross legged on the bed.

“Hi.” You say softly when he walks in.

He spares you a glance before heading to the bathroom without a word. You sigh and fall back on the bed. When you hear the shower running you decide to undress yourself and head in.

He sighs when he realizes you’ve joined him, but doesn’t object when you wrap your arms around his waist and press your face to his back, “I’m sorry.” You murmur.

“You keep saying that, but I know if you were given the opportunity to do it all again, you’d make the same decision.”

You pause at that, “You’re right, I don’t regret what I did, but I’m sorry I had to disobey you to do it.”

He turns in your arms and looks down into your eyes, “Do you not see the problem with that? You did what you did out of revenge. You let your emotions get the best of you, you broke the number one rule of being in the BAU.”

“Those men were prepared to die at all costs, I just didn’t want them to get off that easy. I want them to pay for what they did to you, and this way, at least one of them will. Would you not have done the same? Did you not murder Foyet after he had given himself up because he had killed your wife and threatened your son?”

“Don’t.” He warns.

You scoff, “You have this God complex sometimes, Aaron, and it’s so frustrating. You can do whatever you want because you always have a reason and from your standpoint you’re always right. But whenever one of your toy soldiers falls out of line, it’s a different story--”

“What I did with Foyet did not put myself or civilians at risk.” He says firmly.

“You went in alone.” You said, “You didn’t wait for backup.”

He looks down and shakes his head, “You cannot compare what you did today to the things I’ve done because I would never endanger hundreds of innocent people just for some petty revenge.”

He thinks your eyes water, but it’s difficult to tell in the shower, “It wasn’t petty, Aaron. Not to me.”

He sighs and bends his forehead to yours, bringing both hands up to cradle your face, “Honey, I’m fine. You have to let it go.”

You close your eyes at his touch and lean up just slightly to capture his mouth with yours and as he sighs into your mouth you pull away, just slightly, “If it was me… If I was the one who was kidnapped and tortured in a country thousands of miles away, what would you have done?”

He swallows, and searches your face, “There wouldn’t have been a single protocol that I wouldn’t have broken to get you home safe.”

You nod, “I’m sorry. I understand why you’re upset, I put others in danger. It won’t happen again.”

He kisses you hard on the mouth, “You’re still suspended.”

You hum and he pushes you against the shower wall, his hand coming up to rest on your throat, “Are you going to punish me?” You asked breathlessly.

“Maybe.” He leans down and scrapes his teeth against your neck, hand tightening around your throat just slightly in warning when you squirmed. “I’m still angry with you.” He says, his eyes looking up to meet yours, tightening his grip on your throat again.

You can barely breathe through his grip, “For disobeying you?”

“No.” He says roughly, “For nearly getting yourself killed.”

You manage to swallow, “And that would have upset you?”

The desire immediately fizzles out of his eyes and he drops his hand, “Of course it would, how could you ask that?”

“I didn’t mean anything by it, I just…” You shrug, “I don’t know, forget it.”

“No,” He puts his hands on your shoulders to keep you from leaving, “Do you really think I wouldn’t have been upset if you died?”

“Aaron,” You say slowly, “You are the love of my life. But Haley was yours. And that’s okay, I don’t expect anything else, but it’s just a fact of our relationship that I love you more than you love me.”

He stares at you blankly for another moment, and then looks away to turn the shower off. He leaves you standing there, wet and naked as he climbs out of the shower and towels himself off silently.

“Aaron.” You say after he’s been silent for so long, stepping out of the shower and wrapping your own towel around yourself.

“You think there can only be one?”

You blink, “What?”

“A person can have more than one love of their life, you think you just get one and done?”

You frown, walking over to the bed and lowering yourself onto it, “Yes, that’s the whole concept.”

He scoffs at you, “I forget how young you are, you think you know everything there is to know about relationships, you have no idea.”

“Don’t patronize me.”

“Me?” He raises his eyebrows, “Don’t patronize you, you’re the one who just tried to convince me you know more about my feelings, about who I love than I do. That’s quite patronizing, wouldn’t you say?”

You look down at your hands, “I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.”

He sighs and walks over to you, crouching in front of you, “Haley was the love of my life, that’s true. But in my head,” He swallows, “There’s the me from before Haley, and there’s the me from after Haley. And you,” He brushes his index finger over the tip of your nose, “Were the person who made the me after Haley believe I deserved love again. You are just as much the love of my life as she is and I have no idea where I’d be right now if I hadn’t met you.”

You finally give him a little bit of a smile, “Probably even more insufferably miserable than you are now.”

He chuckles and you relish in the sound, bringing your fingers up to lightly stroke his cheek, “I’m sorry. For everything today, being reckless, bringing up Haley… I’m sorry, I was out of line.”

“It’s okay,” He says softly, “But you pull a stunt like that again, I’ll fire you.”

“Yes sir.” You say, smirking as you lean in to kiss him, twining your arms around the back of his head. Gently, you tug and pull him back on the bed, on top of you and you feel him smile into your mouth.

Since you’re already naked from the shower, he can’t stop his hands from wandering across your soft skin. His hand grips your thigh, lifting up your leg and allowing him to squeeze your ass. You gasp into his mouth just the way he likes and he bites down on your lower lip. “Aaron,” You whine.

“Did you want something, sweet girl?” He whispers in your ear as his hand slides between your legs.

It’s not fair, he knows when he works you up like this it’s nearly impossible to get a coherent word out of you. You manage only to moan his name again as he slowly, torturously, rubs over you again. “Come on, baby, use your words.” He teases and you can hear the smile in his voice. Bastard.

He runs a single finger down your folds, “Should I make you come with my fingers?” He slowly dips a finger inside you, eating up your reaction as your mouth falls open and a moan claws its way up your throat. “Or,” He pulls his finger out and you glare at him, “I could do it with my mouth.” Your eyes roll back when he licks you and you physically ache at his touch. But then he stops, “Or maybe,” He crawls back up to kiss your mouth and you can taste yourself on his tongue, “I won’t let you come at all since you’ve been such a bad girl.”

“Please,” You whine, “Please, I’ll be good. I promise.”

When he pulls back to look at you, his pupils are blown out and you feel such a rush seeing your effect on him. “We’ll see.” He says softly and without warning thrusts into you. Your back arches against the mattress as you curse. When your eyes meet his, he has a look of such confident satisfaction it nearly makes you come undone right there. “I think,” He pulls out slowly, “I’ll take my time with you tonight.” He reaches up a hand and wraps it around your throat again, “Is this okay?” He says softly, breaking his role for the first time.

You nod, “Please.” You say again, knowing how he loves when you beg. He scans your face once and then he grins again, tightening his hand around your throat until you’re gasping. “Good girl,” He whispers in your ear and slowly pushes into you again, gently biting your ear.

“Baby,” You manage with what little air you’re able to take in. He immediately stops, taking his hands off you, but you shake your head and pull his hand back to your throat, “Harder.”

He sighs and shakes his head, “Fuck,” He curses, wrapping both hands around your throat, “You’re gonna kill me one day.”

And you smirk as he pushes down on your windpipe before slamming his hips into you at full force, you’re rapidly approaching climax, but Aaron can tell. You don’t know how he can tell, but he immediately slows his hips and takes his hands off your throat. You gasp at the sudden release and cough a little bit, “I didn’t tell you you could come.”

“I didn’t,” You say breathlessly, your heart hammering against your ribcage.

“You almost did, and you would have if I didn’t stop.”

“I’m sorry.”

He looks at you and tilts his head to the side as he watches you, “Turn around.” He says calmly.

You hide your smile as you do what you’re told, turning on your knees, letting your forearms and face fall to the pillow. He roughly pulls at your waist, repositioning you and pulling your ass up even farther. He runs a hand over your ass, “Look at you, so pretty for me.” He says softly before pulling back his hand and smacking it hard against your ass. You moan into your pillow and then he’s inside you, a fistful of your hair in his fist.

“Are you gonna be good for me?” He asks breathlessly.

“Yes.”

He slams into you roughly making you yelp, “And you’ll never disobey me again?”

You swallow, “Never.”

He releases your hair and leans over you, sweetly kissing your shoulder and you can feel his smile against your skin, “That’s my sweet girl.” He reaches his arm around your front and begins to massage your clit as he thrusts into you. “Come for me, baby.” He says and speeds up his movements. It’s all the permission you need and you’re immediately unraveling. It takes everything in you not to collapse onto your stomach until he’s also climaxing, brought to his edge by the pulsing of your walls. He swears and collapses fully onto your back, your knees giving way under his weight.

You both lay there like that, him resting on your back in silence for a few moments, catching your breath. Then, Aaron sits up quickly, hands searching your skin, “I’m sorry, baby, did I hurt you?”

“No.” You say, but he presses kisses all over your skin anyway, immediately entering aftercare mode.

You sigh sleepily and pull him to you, wanting to snuggle with him. He obliges, wrapping his arms around you and nuzzling into your neck. “I love you.” He murmurs into your skin, “So much.”

You hum, “I love you. Thank you for not firing me.”

“If you ever end up getting yourself killed I’ll never forgive you.”

You chuckle and kiss his temple, “Noted.”

[beifongsss]

blush [zuko]

Pairing: Zuko x reader

Summary: Requested by anon “ Zuko x reader where she meets uncle iroh for the first time!!! Zuko has only talked to reader about him but she finally meets him”. Takes place when they find Iroh and the Order of the White Lotus right before Sozin’s Comet.

~

It had been a few weeks since Zuko had joined your group. And in those weeks, you had found yourself becoming a stuttering, blushing mess whenever he wandered anywhere near you. 

You had always thought that the prince was attractive but you kept those thoughts bottled away deep, deep inside your mind. He was the enemy. You shouldn’t have been fawning over his looks. However, now that he had had a change of heart and wanted to teach Aang firebending, a part of you couldn’t help but think that technically, your feelings weren’t forbidden anymore. 

Zuko and Aang spent most of their time training in the courtyard, which was a good thing seeing as how you spent most of your time there with either Sokka or Katara. It was quite a sight to see, the avatar being trained by the very person that used to be his sworn enemy. Their movements were strong and fierce, almost hypnotizing. It also didn’t hurt that Zuko had the tendency to lose his shirt halfway through their training sessions. 

Surprisingly, it was Sokka who had eventually caught on to your feelings instead of Katara. It hadn’t been hard considering that you were always bright red whenever Zuko was within twenty feet of you. Instead of confronting you and teasing you about it, he went to Zuko instead. 

~

Aang had scrambled off immediately after training, wanting to go for a ride on Appa. Shaking his head as Aang ran off, Zuko bent down to pick up his shirt, pulling it on before turning and coming face-to-face with Sokka.

“Agh!” Zuko exclaimed stumbling backwards at the water tribe boy’s sudden appearance before scowling. “What do you want?”

Sokka smiled widely, leaning on the pillar next to him. “Nothing. Just thought you should know that our very own (Y/N/N) has a crush on you. Although to tell you the truth, I don’t know what she sees in you buddy.”

Zuko’s scowl disappeared as he turned to glance at you. Sokka followed his line of sight, his smile becoming impossibly wider as he noticed Zuko’s puzzled expression. “N-No, there’s no way she likes me.”

“Believe me or don’t,” Sokka said, once again earning a scowl from the scarred prince. “But a girl like that? You’re one lucky guy.”

Sokka and Zuko stood in silence as they watched you talk to Katara, You had said something to her, causing her to bend a stream of water out of the fountain and splash you with it. You threw your head back as you laughed, unaware of the two boys watching you from a distance. 

Zuko’s chest tightened uncomfortably as he looked at you, a large smile still on your face as you splashed Katara with your foot. He had always thought that you were pretty, but his main concern had always been capturing the Avatar. Now that Aang’s capture wasn’t his concern, he could start to live his life as normally as he possibly could while in the midst of a giant war. And so, it was in that moment that he figured out that he had feelings for you as well. 

And of course, Sokka noticed and decided to take matters into his own hands.

~

It started off small. Sokka would make sure to call you and Zuko last for dinner so you’d end up sitting next to each other, he’d clean the sleeping hall and put your sleeping bags back next to one another, he would ask you to go hunt or get water together. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, just Sokka being Sokka. 

Eventually, Aang and Toph caught on and things became more obvious. Their manner of approaching things was more direct, and it usually ended up with you stumbling into Zuko. One time, Aang had sent a gust of wind into a door you had just stepped through, causing it to slam into you and throw you into Zuko, who had been walking past at that particular moment. 

Another incident was when Zuko was making his way over to an empty seat and Toph had suddenly caused the ground to become uneven. Zuko had tripped, falling against you and bringing you down to the ground with him. Everyone had gone silent at the scene before them. Zuko was hovering above you, his arms on either side of your head as he tried not to crush you under him. You were staring at him, wide-eyed. Your chests brushed softly with every breath you took and in that moment, as you looked into each other’s eyes, it felt as though it was only the two of you in the Western Air Temple. 

Katara was the one to break the silence, clearing her throat and asking if the two of you were alright. Zuko had scrambled up, stumbling over his words as he assured everyone he was fine before extending a hand to you. He had underestimated his strength however, and pulled you up harder than he meant to, sending you crashing against him. Your free hand was pressed against his chest as you regained your balance, cheeks blazing bright red as you made eye contact with him. After a bunch of stuttered assurances that you were both fine, the two of you departed from the courtyard with Zuko heading into the nearby forest to release some of his pent-up emotions and you heading to the sleeping hall to think about what had just happened. 

By the end of the night, everyone knew how the two of you felt about each other. Even if the two of you were still unaware. 

~

After the incident Toph had caused, Zuko had begun to approach you more often. Everyone had been surprised, assuming that the incident would’ve just embarrassed Zuko to the point of no return and that he would simply avoid you. 

And so, a friendship blossomed between you and the prince. 

After seeing the way the two of you interacted, everyone had decided to stop trying to push you together. It was much more interesting to see you blush profusely and Zuko stutter for a ridiculously long time whenever your hands brushed against each other. Not to mention the way Zuko would be rendered speechless whenever your eyes sparkled as you talked about something important to you.

Teasing the two of you became the new normal and you often found yourselves going for walks in the woods to avoid everyone and converse without interruptions. The two of you opened up to each other fairly quickly, talking about everything and nothing. When you learned about how he had gotten his scar, you had hugged him tightly, making sure that he knew it wasn’t his fault and that he didn’t deserve what Ozai had put him through.

It was after this that he began to talk to you about his uncle Iroh and how he had been the only person who had ever truly loved him, other than his mother. He spoke about Iroh with great love and respect and you could feel your heart break at the pain Zuko felt after betraying Iroh.

“He hates me now,” Zuko said roughly, bowing his head as his eyes filled with tears. You approached him slowly, placing your fingers under his chin to lift his gaze towards yours. Your heart ached at the pain that was visible in his striking gold irises. 

“He doesn’t hate you,” you whispered, not breaking eye contact. “The way you talk about him, he’s like a father to you.”

“More of a father than Ozai ever was,” Zuko muttered softly, avoiding your gaze.

“He loves you,” you insisted. “He will forgive you. I know it.”

You engulfed Zuko in a hug to which he responded by pulling you close and finally allowing himself to cry. After that, your relationship was only strengthened and when you walked back into the Air Temple, everyone could tell. 

~

A while later, you all found yourselves back in the Earth Kingdom, looking for the woman (June, Zuko had called her) that Zuko had once employed to hunt you all down. After proclaiming that Aang was just gone from the physical world, Zuko had gotten desperate and attempted one last thing to try and gain an advantage over the Fire Lord. 

And that is how you found yourself sitting next to a visibly anxious Zuko as Appa followed the shirshu, who was tracking Iroh’s scent. You eventually found yourselves back in Ba Sing Se, June telling you that this was where Iroh was. You all traveled a little further before Zuko came to a stop.

“It’s been a long day,” he stated, pausing slightly. “Let's camp and start our search again at dawn.”

You helped Sokka set up camp, shooting worried glances at Zuko every once in a while. 

“So,” Sokka drawled as he nudged your shoulder, a wicked smirk appearing on his face. “How long is it gonna be before you and Prince Pouty over there are smooching?”

You straightened up, blushing at his words. “Sokka! Shut up. There is nothing going on between me and Zuko.”

Sokka scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Sure there isn’t.”

The conversation ended as you walked off to your sleeping bag, curling up in it as you avoided Sokka’s teasing glances. You were beginning to drift off to sleep when you heard a familiar voice.

“Well look who’s here!”

You all shot up out of bed, with Toph shouting in the process. “What’s going on? We’re surrounded by old people!”

You felt Zuko holding onto your wrist, bringing you slightly behind him as you looked around. You felt a smile grow on your face as you recognized the people around you. “Bumi!”

Zuko’s expression changed into one of confusion as you ran forwards, stopping in front of each man to bow to them. 

“They aren’t just any old people,” Katara said, talking to Toph. “These are great masters and friends of ours.”

Zuko approached slowly, bowing to Jeong Jeong when Katara introduced him as Aang’s first firebending teacher. Sokka bowed to Piandao before Suki broke the silence. “So wait, how do you all know each other?”

“All old people know each other,” Bumi snorted. “Don’t you know that?”

“We're all part of the same ancient secret society,” Piandao explained, looking at everyone. “A group that transcends the divisions of the four nations.”

“The Order of the White Lotus,” Zuko breathed, realizing that Iroh was much closer than he thought. 

“That’s the one,” Bumi confirmed, still chuckling. 

“The White Lotus has always been about philosophy and beauty and truth,” Jeong Jeong said. “But about a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important.”

“It came from a Grand Lotus,” Pakku continued, turning to face Zuko. “Your uncle, Iroh of the Fire Nation.”

Zuko smiled softly, Toph coming up behind him to speak. “Well that’s who we’re looking for!”

“Then we’ll take you to him,” Piandao stated, a nervous look overtaking Zuko’s face.

~

“Are you okay?” you asked softly, sitting next to Zuko as the masters led you to their camp.

“Yes,” Zuko spoke sharply before glancing at you, his tone softening. “No. I don’t know. What will I say when I see him?”

“You’ll figure it out Zuko,” you replied. “And he’ll forgive you, because that’s what people who love you do.”

Zuko didn’t reply, instead choosing to reach down and intertwine your hands. You were both glad that it was dark out so that no one would notice the blush dusting your cheeks. 

You reached the camp far more quickly than expected. Zuko felt his heart race as you came to a stop in the middle of the camp, facing Piandao when he addressed him. 

“Your uncle is in there Prince Zuko,” he said, pointing to a white tent standing across from the spot you were standing in before walking away. 

You made a move to walk over to Katara and Sokka when Zuko’s hand tightened around yours, “Please stay with me.”

You hesitated slightly before nodding, following him to the entrance of the tent.

“Are you ready?” you asked softly, squeezing his hand. Zuko nodded before moving forward, his hand squeezing yours desperately.  

“Uncle?” Zuko asked quietly, entering the tent. He stopped in his tracks, a soft smile appearing when he saw his uncle snoring softly on a cot. Silently, he sat down, pulling you with him as he curled up on the mat. You took a seat beside him, his head landing on your lap as he laid down. You leaned against a crate that sat next to you, your hands running through Zuko’s hair until his breathing evened out and he fell asleep. It was only then that you closed your eyes as well.

~

Zuko awoke when he heard a slight chuckle, and sat up to face his uncle. Immediately, Zuko threw himself forward onto his knees, his eyes not meeting Iroh’s as he remembered what you had told him about apologizing. “Uncle, I know you must have mixed feelings about seeing me. But I want you to know, I am so, so, sorry, Uncle. I am so sorry and ashamed of what I did. I don't know how I can ever make it up to you. But I'll- “

Zuko’s rambling was cut off as Iroh knelt down in front of him and embraced him. His eyes began watering, tears spilling as he hugged his Uncle. “How can you forgive me so easily? I thought you would be furious with me.”

“I was never angry with you,” Iroh said. “I was sad because I was afraid you lost your way.”

“I did lose my way,” Zuko mumbled. 

“But you found it again,” Iroh said, pulling back from the embrace and motioning towards you. “And something tells me she had something to do with it.”

Zuko didn’t reply, his face going bright red as Iroh chuckled. He had nothing to say, knowing that his uncle was right.

“Tell her how you feel soon, Prince Zuko,” Iroh said, smiling softly. “Do not let her get away.”

~

You emerged from the empty tent a while later to find everyone sitting around a fire. Quickly noticing the man sitting next to Zuko, you proceeded to bow down to him. 

“General Iroh!” you said. “It is an honor to be in your presence. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Iroh chuckled before waving you over to the empty seat next to him. “No need for the formalities Miss (Y/N). And it is I who am honored to be here with you. I have heard much about you from my nephew and I must thank you for taking care of him while I was gone.”

You missed the blush on Zuko’s face that appeared at Iroh’s words, too distracted by the cup of tea that the once-general had handed you. You took a sip, your eyes widening in wonder as you looked at Iroh once more.

“This tea is amazing! Ginseng tea is my favorite,” you exclaimed, taking another sip. Iroh smiled at you before sending a teasing glance at Zuko.

“It is my favorite as well,” Iroh chuckled. “I am glad to see that my nephew has such great taste in women.”

A silence followed, only made awkward by Zuko’s stuttering. 

“Uncle!” Zuko hissed, glaring at the jolly old man who simply took another sip of tea. 

Neither one of you had a chance to reply as the conversation soon turned serious. With Aang gone, you all needed to think of a plan just in case he didn’t return in time. It was then decided that Zuko and Katara would head to the palace to fight Azula while you, Sokka, Suki, and Toph would stop the airship fleet. It wasn’t until you were gathering your tools and weapons that Zuko managed to pull you aside. 

“Look (Y/N),” he began, fidgeting nervously. “Just in case something happens-”

“Nothing’s going to happen,” you cut him off, placing your hand over his to stop it from shaking. “We’re all going to be fine.”

“Just in case,” Zuko stressed. “I need you to know...”

“What Zuko?” you questioned, ducking your head to catch his gaze. He stared at you for a few seconds, causing you to shift under his gaze. “What is i-”

You were cut off as Zuko leaned forwards, connecting his lips to yours. You gasped softly before returning the kiss eagerly. You stayed like that for a few seconds before being broken apart by Sokka’s voice.

“Hey!” Sokka cried. “As glad as I am that you and Prince Pouty are finally smooching, we really do have to save the world right now.”

Chuckling softly, Zuko pressed another kiss to your lips before pulling away. 

“Stay safe,” you breathed, embracing him one last time. 

“Trust me, I will,” Zuko whispered into your ear. “Now I have someone worth fighting for.”

You watched him walk away, only looking away when you felt something hit your head. Turning, you found yourself facing an impatient Sokka, motioning for you to climb onto the eel hound. “Are you done? let’s go.”

Grinning, you grabbed his hand, sliding onto the eel hound behind him. You were ready to fight, knowing that Zuko would be waiting for you when this was all over. 

~

so the sokka fic will be out soon but for now here is this zuko fic. i hope its alright its my first time writing for him. hope you all enjoy :)

[xhisokas-harleyx]

Helloo! I don't know if i can just request something, if requests are close or something please just ignore it sorry qwq

What do you think Hisoka's reaction would be if he saw Reader in yk,,,, maid outfit or "cat" outfit idk what they called. Like ears+tails. Who knows why, maybe they just wanted have fun and dear someone never knocks 🙄 ilovethismfsomuchistg- Anyways, wishing you a good day or night! 💛

Thanks so much for your request, sorry it took so long. I hope you still find this!

(hope you don’t mind that I sort of ran with this one!)

Warnings: sensuality themes, absolute PAMPERING of your man Hisoka. I mean, serious spoiling kink. Body worship

Enjoy 😊

Hisoka x Reader: Kitten

word count: 2700

Well… you were a sight, that much was certain.

Your eyes danced over your form as you twirled in the bathroom mirror, appreciating your bare thighs in the short kitty dress you were wearing. Your black tail swayed along with your hips, your lace gloved hands placing the kitty-eared headband atop your crown. Your bust was showing through the skimpy black material, and the size of it barely allowed your rump to be covered with a thin ruffly layer of fabric. It was promiscuous and you weren’t sure it was your style… but if Hisoka picked it out for you, you were open to the idea.

Well, technically you’d stolen this item from him, but something told you he wasn’t going to mind.

As you’d been cleaning your and Hisoka’s shared apartment earlier that day, you had unassumingly stumbled upon one of Hisoka’s hidden treasures when you were dusting under the bed. There, beneath the box-spring, you’d discovered a white container which looked as if it hadn’t been touched. Normally you’d never go snooping around in Hisoka’s stuff (not that he had a lot of stuff to snoop in anyway), but because you hadn’t seen it before, curiosity had gotten the better of you.

When you opened the box to reveal the cat maid outfit, your jaw dropped, your mind baffled and scrambling for an explanation. However, it was obvious, right? It was for you, who else would it be for? It made sense- one of his favorite things to call you was kitten… you could hear his lusty voice coo it in your mind even now. But you had no idea he could take things so literally!

You’d been wanting to spoil Hisoka for a while now. He’d been coming back hurt and exhausted from his strenuous missions with Illumi, and although you could tell he wanted to spend time with you, he was always being whisked away to fight his next foe. Many times, he didn’t even get to sleep before the next mission called him. Your little discovery had given you an idea, and currently you were planning it carefully in your head. You figured you had at least a few hours before he-

“So, you found your birthday present.” Hisoka’s voice startled you, and you wheeled around, amazed at how silent he could be stalking up behind you like that. Your face turned bright red- whatever chance you had to back out before was gone now. You took in the tattered appearance of your boyfriend, complete with blood on his face.

“MY birthday present?” You asked, placing a hand on your hip sassily, and cocking your body to the side. Hisoka loved your normal fiery attitude, which could go toe to toe with his own sarcastic and sharp tongue. He knew you still had a soft side, that desire to be sweet to him, but with how far apart you’d been recently, he hadn’t seen it in a long time.

Hisoka chuckled as he captured you in the cage of his arms, his nose burying in the crook of your neck and breathing in your intoxicating scent.

“Fine, you got me… it’s really MY present.” Hisoka smirked against your neck, already parting his lips to nibble leisurely on your exposed skin. Even in his words and his voice, though they were passionate and fervent, you could sense his exhaustion. The cuts that littered his exposed arms worried you, and in a moment, you drew back, looking up into his golden gaze. Bags were beginning to form under his eyes, and although they held a hungry gleam, you could tell he was close to collapsing.

The sight of you in this outfit, however, had him teeming with excitement despite his need for rejuvenation.

“How many times have I told you not to rummage through my things, y/n? Tsk, Tsk.” Hisoka grinned widely, his own catty eyes monitoring your body hungrily. He dearly appreciated your bust peeking through the fabric, your perfectly shaped thighs accentuated by the half white laced stockings, and the collar around your neck with a small bell that showed how possessive he was of you. If you’d paid even the slightest bit of attention when putting it on, you’d have noticed your name engraved on the metal tag. Of course, it was his plan all along for you to find this little secret, and you could sense that he was trying to be his normal difficult self in denying that fact.

“How many times have a told you not to hide things from me?” You fired back, causing him to withdraw and place a spread hand over his chest.

“Ouch. It seems you’re really in character tonight, kitten.”

His use of the nickname made your blood boil, and your aura pique a little at his purposeful insult of your methods. You wondered what his undercut insult truly meant to call you, but you allowed it to slide. For as much as he could be insufferable, you still had a deep desire to please your lover.

“And…” He just had to continue, his words grating on your nerves just as he wanted. “…since you’re already dressed the part, why don’t you get to cleaning?”

You felt enraged at his comment, for a moment letting your anger get the better of you and distract you from your goal. “I-I’ve been slaving over this house all day, what is there left to clean?!” As soon as the words left your lips, however, you realized you ‘d played right into his trap.

Hisoka’s thin eyebrow kicked as if he was surprised that you don’t know... but as soon as you saw his expression, you got the idea.

“Me, of course,” He reiterated anyway, a sly grin painting his features.

Little did he know, you already had quite the plan in mind for him- and it was something not even he had anticipated.

~~~~~~~~~

After promptly shoving him from the bathroom, you began to set up. You’d requested that he give you ten minutes to set up for him, but knowing how impatient the bastard could be, you swiftly tried to get it done in five. Lit candles were scattered throughout the bathroom, the tub in the center of the room being filled with hot water, almost scalding, just how you knew he liked it. Evening light filtered through the sole window in the room, painting the water and floor tiles with an orange cast. You scattered some bath salts into the water, as well as some cotton candy scented bubble solution, which you knew he loved.

That’s when he came barging through the door, smirk on his face, without so much as asking for your permission. You half expected him to be naked, but he still wore his tattered clothes, and you figured he was just that tired. But as he took in the surroundings before him, his eyes widened, and he seemed surprised that you’d been able to do so much in such a small amount of time.

“…” He didn’t say anything, and you quickly assumed your role in his relaxation before he got the chance to question your motives.

“All for you, Hisoka, my darling.” You threw in a small bow, playing the part of a maid just as you’d practiced in your mind. “I hope that everything is to your liking, my king.”

That nickname made him realize how touch-starved he felt in that moment, but he swallowed the urge to foil your little game so quickly.

Seeming to realize he was visibly gawking, Hisoka closed his mouth and smirked, sauntering forward and reaching for the hem of his shirt to peel it off. Though he couldn’t bring himself to say so outwardly, he was very taken aback that, contrasting with your earlier fire, you’d gone to this much trouble on his behalf. Part of him wanted to patronize you and make you angry, but the other wanted to see when this attitude was taking him.

“Let me help you with that.” You floated forward, dropping your voice an octave to reflect the sensual atmosphere you were painting with your environment. Your hands moved expertly to the bottom of his skintight purple undershirt, where your nimble fingers ghosted just under the fabric, grazing the V-line of his pelvis as you began to slowly remove his shirt.

Hisoka allowed you to do so, but he seemed dazed by how angelic and feathery your touch could be. The skin of his chest burned with passion as you pulled his shirt above his head for him, fingertips grazing tepidly over each muscle as you discarded it to the side. The care you touched him with was something he was unaccustomed to- typically when you touched him, you made it clear exactly what you wanted from him. His gaze was intent on your face, and while you could feel him staring, you paid no mind to it and moved onto his pants.

You coyly shimmied the elastic waistband carefully over his hips, ensuring that the magician would be mesmerized by your slight of hand illusions and the ability to make his worries disappear. It was as if you were the only thing grounding him at this moment, as his breathing picked up.

"There...” You dropped to the ground submissively as you beckoned him to step out of his bloodstained trousers, and along with them you trashed his underwear to the side. You ignored his obvious excitement as you reached up again to touch his thighs.

Hisoka’s breath hitched in his throat as your gloved hands traced the detailed lines of his muscular legs, praising and appreciating every mark and every muscle, your eyes remaining in sharp contact with his all the while. You were numb with appreciation at this point, and you let it show in your every motion.

“Look at you… you are so perfect.” You purred up at him, pushing past the moan he accidentally let slip. “Your body is so gorgeous. Every muscle, every mark, every feature is something that should be admired.”

His mind was a wasteland, driven by his willingness to let you talk him up, edge him closer to snapping just with your words. He had a shameless kink to withhold his own pleasure until his very breaking point, and you were unknowingly expertly fulfilling that desire.

~Oh, don’t look at me like that, y/n… you know I just can’t contain it…~

Hisoka’s body truly was like a finely chiseled sculpture, and it made you so pleased to worship him as you felt he deserved. Even if he felt like he needed to cover his imperfections with Texture Surprise, you always had a way of letting him know you appreciated his scars and flaws. Positive affirmations hadn’t been a part of the magician’s life before you came along, but this was on an entirely new level, it was delicacy, fragility, like he couldn’t comprehend.

“Now, if you’ll just step to the tub.” Hisoka did as you asked, his hand moving into yours, and you helped your man step into the scalding water, watching as he sank down into the tub, coloring the water pink with residual blood.

“Well, Well.” Hisoka snickered as he fully relaxed in the tub, and it seemed he’d gotten his spunk back. “What’s gotten into you, y/n? What game are you playing with me, hmm, kitten? You’re not usually this... eager to please me.” His voice was like honey, his eyes closing as he began to soak. You kneeled, and took your position just behind him, sitting on the floor where you could easily access his body from outside the tub.

Your small, heated laugh sent chills up his spine, because you sent it right into his ear, as your now bare hands began to trace his chest. “And why shouldn’t I be? You are THE Hisoka Morrow. You are the most powerful man around… you deserve this.” You got some soap in your hands, beginning to wash the dirt and dried blood away from his body in circular motions. You did mean your words- while you two loved to play fight, you did have a deep, almost obsessive adoration for Hisoka, and knowing that you could serve him like this was a major turn on.

Hisoka shuddered when your compliments continued into his ear, your teeth grazing up his neck, and to his earlobe, where you nibbled lightly. His body was submitting to your touch, his tense nature flowing out of him as you placed him under your spell.

“You’re so good to me… I’m so lucky to have a guy like you.”

You were being so submissive and serving that Hisoka thought you might have been under some mind control or something. This was like a fantasy come true for the magician- of course he feels like he deserves this kind of treatment from you. He ate up your compliments, they made his ego (and something below the water) grow to painful size. What you were saying was all true, of course. He is the great Hisoka Morrow, and you belong to him. Why shouldn’t you worship him like a God?

But as it played out before him, your reverse psychology got the better of him- and Hisoka ended up being the one questioning his worthiness. He expected you to get mad and retort at him, but you were dedicated to showing him how you truly felt.

He had the tendency to be so brash- sometimes he came home and ravaged your body before even saying hello- that was how strong his hunger was for you. But tonight, you had the ability to read the situation, and knew this care, this pampering, was exactly what he needed to recover.

“Let’s get that face, hm?” You nearly moaned, scooping some makeup remover into your palm and beginning to massage the faded paint from his soft, pale cheeks. Your hands moved back toward his hair, fingertips spreading over his scalp as you massaged. But this seemed to be the final straw for Hisoka, because he startled you by grabbing your wrist with such force that you thought he might snap it. You yelped helplessly as his golden eyes flew open and looked into yours directly, as if he were feasting on your soul. You could feel the weight of his aura rising, your sensual touch becoming too much for him to handle.

You knew that look; you’d seen it countless times before. His honeyed irises reflected a deep lust, accentuated by the offset of his tongue on his bottom lip. Your normal reaction would have been to struggle against him- but you submitted to his will, letting Hisoka’s hand pull yours back to his chest… and then lower.

All was silent as you allowed him to force your wrist below the waterline- and you tried to hide your panic when you realized where the magician was leading your hand. His traced his own V-line with your splayed fingertips, as if teasing himself just along the edges of the pleasure he so desired.

“Hisoka- you’re not being any fun.” You stopped him finally, your orbs reflecting a sense of disappointment, when he let go of your hand reluctantly, but not your gaze. He knew you’d truthfully be more than happy to oblige him- he made sure to guide you toward his end goal.

“You’ve had your fun… and now, I want to have you. This was always the outcome, y/n.” He droned dangerously, relaxing into the tub for a moment longer before he sat up, bringing himself to a standing position once again.

His words broke your resolve into shards, and a small moan escaped your plump lips as your tongue grazed across them. He stood up, confidently putting his manhood at your eye level, droplets of water cascading down his glowing body that was bathed liberally in the setting sunlight.

“I believe it’s your turn to get cleaned, kitten… But let’s get dirty, first.” With that, he snickered evilly, and pulled you into the tub, eager to put your newfound submissiveness to the test.

~FIN~

I likeddd this one :3

Hope you enjoyed, please feel free to leave a comment!

[jakeyp]

“I don’t know why I’m crying I-I’m sorry” // angst and fluff ♥︎

hi... i kind of wrote a small fic with that prompt. you can read it here or on ao3! thanks for this i really needed the motivation. i decided to write something about what happened after 8x06! <3 

—

Amy arrives home a little later than usual that night, overwhelmed with the events of the last few days. There are so many things to process, though the only thing she can focus on at the moment, is her husband’s suspension. She knows Jake very well, and most likely he’ll try to hide his sadness and pretend he’s fine, not because he thinks he’s weak but because he doesn’t want Amy to worry about him. Yet, she can’t help to wonder how he’s taking it.

Not knowing what to expect as she enters their apartment, Amy tosses her keys onto the couch sadly, too distracted to place them on the key hook. Jake is nowhere to be seen, so she figures he must be putting Mac to sleep, since it’s past ten already, and there are no toys scattered around the floor.

Indeed, she finds Jake whispering to his son, who lies in his crib, babbling and very, very awake, even though the lights are dimmed and it’s quiet in there.

“Hey,” Amy says softly.

Despite her tone, Jake startles, turning around, but immediately relaxes when he sees it’s just her. “Ames,” he breathes, looking down at Mac and then back at his wife, guilt taking over his features. “I kind of let him take a nap earlier and now he can’t sleep…”

“It’s okay,” Amy says, shrugging. She wants to add something else to reassure him, but her mind’s entirely blank, so she settles for a casual question. “What did you two have for dinner?”

Jake smiles. “He tried scrambled eggs for the first time. I know it’s technically breakfast food, but I read he can eat them now, plus it’s what I cook best.”

“And?”

“He loved them, duh.”

Amy chuckles. “Of course. Did you have some too?”

“I… wasn’t really hungry.”

“Oh. Well, I haven’t eaten either. We can heat some leftovers if you want.”

Jake nods with a weak smile, which widens as he turns to check on Mac. “Hey, he’s asleep! Maybe he just needed to make sure mama arrived home safe.”

Amy leans over to look at her sleeping son. Mac looks so much like his dad, when he laughs or smiles—which he’s been doing recently a lot—but especially when he’s asleep and completely peaceful.

She turns to see Jake staring at their baby with a proud smile and it warms her heart. Perhaps he’s forgotten about the suspension.

“Leftovers, then?” she whispers after a while, grabbing him by the wrist to pull him a little closer to her.

“Sure,” he says, throwing a last glance at Mac before following Amy out of their room and closing the door behind him. They’ve learned to make as little noise as possible in the last ten months, so their voices are barely above a whisper by default whenever Mac is asleep.

As it’s routine, Jake turns on the TV, not choosing a channel, and mutes it before joining Amy in the kitchen, while she gets the food from the fridge and puts it in the microwave.

From the corner of her eye, she can see Jake leaning against the counter in an awkward pose, staring at her almost anxiously.

Amy has no idea how to ask the question she’s been wanting to ask him since she got there, so she takes a deep breath and turns to him. “Babe, are you… okay with it?”

His expression tells her he’s been dreading her to ask. Yet, he plays dumb. “With what?”

“With everything that happened. Your suspension…”

“Oh,” Jake spats after what seems like hours, as if every emotion he was supposed to be feeling before was just settling in. Amy’s stomach drops. These subjects might not be her thing. “It’s fine. I suppose I can talk about it, but is it necessary?”

She shrugs. “Just tell me.” Her voice is as soft as it can be. “How do you feel about it?”

Jake puts on a poker face now. She’s usually good at reading him, but she can’t tell what he’s thinking. Amy knows how much he enjoys his job. Everything had happened so fast, though, at some point she’d lost track of it all. One second he was very excited about his ‘Speed’ situation and then, suddenly, he was in too deep.

To sum it up, it hadn’t gone well.

“I feel weird,” Jake finally admits, looking down. “It feels weird to know I won’t be going back tomorrow. But I’ll… adapt, I guess.”

“I’m sure you will,” she automatically replies, hesitating a little before placing a hand on his chest.

He seems to attempt a smile, but it vanishes right away. “I feel stupid too. Why can’t I listen? Holt told me to stay out of it and I screwed up. I screw up a lot.”

Amy frowns. “Of course you don’t. Sometimes you can be silly, yes, but there’s nothing wrong with it. This time it just… it got out of my hands too. I was really drunk.”

Jake chuckles. “Yeah,” he says shortly, and then swallows. “So five months, huh? It isn’t that much, is it? There are like thirty days in a month so it would be like a hundred days which have twenty-four hours each, so it would be like twenty-four thousand hours.”

“No,” she says, shaking her head with a smile. Math is decidedly not Jake’s strength. “It’s only like… three thousand and seven hundred hours.”

“Oh. That’s… still a lot.”

Amy sighs. His eyes are red, probably with exhaustion, and she can’t recognize the emotion behind them. It might be just deep, deep sadness.

“Ames,” he says huskily before she can talk. “What am I gonna do?”

Her eyebrows shot up, but before she can even think of an answer, Jake cuts her off again. “Things were so well yesterday. It makes me think… I can mess everything up so quickly. And it’s always my fault. What am I gonna mess up next?”

“Don’t say that,” she says, her throat knotting. “It’s okay to make mistakes, babe. And you are great at dealing with the consequences. You learn from your mistakes, you’ve always done.”

“Yeah, I keep pushing things until something goes wrong,” he argues in a trembling voice, “and until then I stop, I—” and suddenly that trembling voice breaks.

Amy’s stomach drops again as his eyes tear up, becoming redder. He immediately looks away when he realizes himself.

“Hey,” she says soothingly, cupping his face to make him look at her. “Don’t beat yourself up over this.”

“I’m sorry,” he chokes. “I know it’s a dumb thing to cry over, I just—” once more he’s unable to finish his sentence, pinching his lips shut before his voice can get any louder or high-pitched.

A single tear streams down his cheek.

“It’s not dumb,” Amy says. “If it makes you feel like this, it’s not dumb.”

“Well, I got myself into it—”

“And as I said, you will learn from it. That’s what matters.”

“I’ve been suspended like a thousand times already,” he counters, his tone bitter. "What makes you think it won’t happen again? What makes you think I couldn’t get fired?”

She shrugs, trying to stay calm even though she wants to cry as well. “I wouldn’t be less proud of you than I am today,” she says. “You’ve grown up so much and whatever you have to deal with, I have to deal with too, because I love you and I’m willing to. So please, don’t beat yourself up over this because it’s going to be fine.”

He sniffs. “How can you know that?”

“Because I’ll make sure everything’s fine. You’re not alone, babe. You have me.”

Jake stays in silence for a few seconds, and she thinks he’s going to start sobbing, but his lips curl instead. “I love you so much,” is all he says.

“I love you too,” she mouths back, afraid she’ll begin crying if she talks, and then pulls him into a hug.

They stay like that for a while, maybe five seconds or ten minutes, sinking in a silence that they don’t really mind. She pulls away from his embrace only to wipe his tears away. Jake looks so tired. Exhausted, even. She feels the same way, when minutes ago they were going to watch some TV and have dinner, though now she’s not sure she’s up for it.

Jake must have been thinking the same thing because a small laugh comes from his lips all of a sudden.

“What?” Amy asks, amused.

“I just realized we never even heated the food.”

Amy chuckles, and it only causes him to laugh a little harder. She wonders if it’s the exhaustion making such a simple detail seem so funny, and rests her head on his chest, feeling his heartbeat. It’s calmer now, it could be matching hers.

“Babe,” she says softly.

“Yes?” Jake hums.

“It’s going to be fine. I promise.”

He doesn’t answer right away, and Amy separates, afraid she said the wrong thing, but Jake’s only bowing his head like she said the cheesiest thing in the world.

“I know. Thanks, Ames,” he says, and then adds, “I love you.” Even though she hears those words coming from him at least ten times a day, he manages to make them sound like it’s the first every time.

“I love you too,” Amy whispers, leaning in to kiss his cheek.

Jake is about to return a much longer kiss on the lips when Mac interrupts the moment. Amy squeezes her eyes shut with a knowing smile—this has happened many times before. However, Jake immediately becomes alert and rushes to attend to his son.

Amy chuckles to herself, finally heating the food which is still inside the microwave and turns off the TV, because they are definitely not watching anything before they fall asleep, worn off with the events.

Like Jake would say, they’re sort of an old couple now, but she couldn’t care less. To her, so far, it’s meant that things can be so easy now.

Her husband doesn’t join her back in the kitchen so she goes and checks on him and Mac. The room feels so warm and quiet still, as Jake rocks his son softly, lulling him, again not realizing Amy’s watching. It always seems like he drifts away from reality when he’s trying to make Mac stop crying—and he’s good at it. She doesn’t know what it is, but Jake is great at it.

“I have to admit,” Amy says, startling him of course, “I’m a little jealous of you. You get to spend five months with him, all by yourself.”

Jake gives her what looks like an automatic smile, and then realization hits him. “I hadn’t thought about that before,” he huffs, stroking Mac’s soft curls and looking down at him. “Did you hear that, bud? Five months for only the two of us.”

Mac babbles, and Amy tries to ignore how awake he still sounds. “Careful, Ames,” Jake tells her. “That sounded a lot like ‘dada’, and with these five months? It’s definitely going to be his first word.”

Amy rolls her eyes with a playful smile. “Not if I train him every night.”

“Challenge accepted.”

An hour later they’re both in bed after eating dinner and Amy has already changed into her pajamas. Jake hasn’t stopped rocking Mac, who woke up once more, but his father doesn’t seem to mind, and Amy has the feeling that his suspension doesn’t sound so bad to him anymore.

—

[rosiehunterwolf]

There's Sand Everywhere!

(quick shoutout to @fires-of-ninjago for the title idea and inspiration for this- you remember that ask game where people suggested titles for fics and you had to come up with a story to go along with it? Well, he sent in this title, and I came up with this, and liked it so much that I screenshotted it and- here we are!)

Prompts: Summer and Heist

Word Count: 7,922

Characters: The whole gang (including Pixal) :)

Timeline: Between seasons 12 and 13

Trigger Warnings: none (holy shit that's never happened before-)

Summary: It was just supposed to be a day off. A simple beach day. But when your family consists of six ninja and a samurai, including a nindroid convinced he’s a detective, his reluctant sidekick, an aquaphobe, a girl who can command the sea, an unassuming teen who seems to attract every animal he crosses paths with, and a bunch of argumentative idiots, nothing is ever that easy.

Read on FFN.net

Read on Ao3

Tumblr work under the cut

“We,” Kai proclaimed, surveying the room, “Need a day off.”

Lloyd shrieked at the fire ninja’s sudden outburst, falling out of his chair. Jay broke into snickers, and Lloyd shot him a glare.

“Kai,” Zane sighed, “get off the table.”

Kai stuck his tongue out at the nindroid, but hopped down, anyway. “Look at you guys!” Kai waved his hands at the group for emphasis. Papers fluttered to the ground where Lloyd had knocked them in his fall, Jay and Nya were sitting on the ground, surrounded by stacks of books tall enough to be mistaken for some kind of fort, Pixal was gathering some of the papers that had gone everywhere, while Cole and Zane had only just paused in their task of boxing up and carrying crates to the far side of the room. “Filing documents and organizing? Boooring.”

“Tasks which you’ve been a big help with, by the way,” Lloyd grumbled, as Cole offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet. He turned back to the desk, shuffling papers off of the keyboard of his laptop, the screen filled with lines of script and dozens of files that made Kai's brain hurt just to look at.

Nya pushed her reading glasses up her nose. “Jay and I technically aren’t working. We chose to do this of our own free will.”

Kai rolled his eyes at her. “What kind of psychopaths read for fun?”

Jay kicked his leg out, aiming for Kai’s ankle, but Cole quickly stepped between them, stopping the conflict before it could escalate into anything worse.

“We’re not reading them, we’re sorting them in order from most potentially useful to least so. They’re mechanics and engineering books. You never know when they might come in handy in a pinch.”

“Oh, because that’s so much more interesting. If you guys wanna spend all your free time geeking out, fine, what do I care. But what about the rest of you? C’mon, Lloydster. You don’t really wanna spend your entire day doing this,” he gestured at the laptop and paper-strewn desk- “do you?”

“It’s not about whether or not I want to. This stuff is important, Kai.”

“Lloyd’s right,” Zane agreed. “With all the crazy missions we’ve been on lately, we’ve neglected all our paperwork, and taking care of the Monastery.”

“It’s because we’ve been gone so long that we need a break!” Kai argued. “We just got done saving the entire city from an evil video game AI! If that’s not worth celebrating, I don’t know what is.”

“Technically,” Nya remarked, not even glancing up from the book she was skimming, “That was Jay who did that.”

Kai spluttered, ignoring the smug look on Jay’s face. “Okay, yeah, but we helped! And what about Aspheera? Or the Never Realm? That was all of us. And we didn’t have time to properly recuperate from that before we got launched right into Prime Empire!”

Pixal’s brow furrowed. “Y’know, he has a point…”

A frown flitted across Zane’s face. “I suppose we have been working for a long time…”

“That’s what I’ve been saying! Come on, let’s do something fun.”

“Not video games,” Cole groaned. “Jay and I spent the last three days playing a Lava Zombies tournament, and I’m all gamed-out.”

“No, let’s actually go somewhere. Like the-”

“The library!” Jay pitched.

“Or the museum!” Zane suggested.

“No!” Kai snapped. “Man, you guys are so lame. I meant somewhere fun. We should go to-”

“The beach!” Nya cried suddenly, standing up so quickly that she sent a pile of books toppling over. “Brilliant idea, Kai!”

“Wait, no,” he yelped. “That’s not what I was going to-”

But no one heard him. They were already scrambling to their feet, murmuring excitedly to one another.

“Guys, wait!” he cried. “Why would you want to go to the beach? It’s all sandy, and wet, and-”

“Don’t worry, Kai,” Nya giggled, “we won’t let the ocean hurt you.”

“That’s not-” he felt himself turning red as the others laughed. “That’s not what I meant! I just thought… wouldn’t laser tag or something be a lot more fun?”

The others glanced at each other, uncertain. Zane stepped forward. “Let’s take a vote. All in favor of laser tag, raise your hands.”

Kai lifted his hand, but no one else did. He scowled at them.

“And all in favor of the beach?”

Six hands went up.

“Seems like we have a clear winner. Let’s get going, shall we?”

---

“Do you have the towels?”

“All here!”

“What about the sunscreen?”

“Hold on- Jay, did you grab the sunscreen?”

“What?”

Lloyd cupped his hands around his mouth, yelling louder. “Did you grab the sunscreen?”

“Oh yeah, it’s here! Wait, do you have my-”

“Your what?” Lloyd called, walking over to him, passing Pixal and Zane as they came out of the kitchen. The female nindroid sighed.

“Can’t anything get done around here without everyone making such a racket?”

“Nope,” Nya elbowed her playfully. “When you’ve been with these idiots as long as I have, you get used to it.”

Pixal’s eyes widened. “I can’t imagine ever being used to all this.”

Nya smiled. “Did I mention I’m slightly deaf?”

“We finished making the picnic,” Zane told her, holding out the basket he was carrying. “Is everyone ready to go?”

Nya eyed the guys, who were running around the Monastery, barely avoiding tripping over one another. “‘Ready’ is an overstatement.”

“Hold your horses, we’re almost done,” Cole grunted, heaving the large beach bag over to them. “Have a little faith in us, Nya.”

Nya put her hand on her hip, waiting- and a second later, there was a crashing sound followed by an angry chorus of yells from Kai, Lloyd, and Jay.

Cole grimaced, rubbing the back of his head. “Okay, maybe you’re right to not have any faith in us.”

---

After an intense, fifteen-minute argument about what mode of transportation they would take, they ended up deciding on the city bus, and finally, finally got out the door. The bus ride went off without a hitch, for once, (except for a brief panic about not having the proper change for the bus fare, but luckily Zane had a few extra dollars on him), and before Nya knew it, they were staking out an area on Ninjago City beach. She was beginning to think this could actually work out.

Maybe.

“Check out my abs, dude.”

“They’re the same as last time.”

“Are not! I’m way more shredded than last time we went swimming.”

“Okay, that’s just a straight-up lie. I saw you sneak that extra piece of pie last night.”

“You better not be disrespecting my muscles, Flat Stanley.”

“Hey! I’m way more muscly than I used to be.”

“Are you kidding? We call you ‘green bean’ for a reason, and it’s not just because you’re the green ninja. You’re a twig!”

“I’m a twig? Have you seen Jay?”

“Hey, don’t rope me into this, green machine, and, for your information, I weigh a whole fifteen pounds more than you!”

“Yeah, well, you’re also two years older than me!”

“I think the lesson we need to learn here is that neither of you have abs anywhere near as pronounced as mine-”

Zane sighed, rolling his eyes. “Here, guys,” he held out a pouch to the group, “this is a waterproof pouch, you can store all your valuables in here.”

They quickly filled the pouch with phones, watches, and wallets. However, as Lloyd pulled back, he tripped over Jay’s foot, and half the guys collapsed into a pile, groaning.

“Jay! Get your foot out of my face!”

“Right after you get your elbow out of my ribs!”

Nya turned away from them, shaking her head. Glancing at Pixal, she asked, “Wanna help me get set up?”

The nindroid nodded, and they pulled the large picnic blanket out of the bag, unfolding it to lay it across the sand.

“Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon,” Kai cried, “You get back here right this instant!”

Nya looked up from the blanket to see Kai running through the sand after Lloyd, his feet sinking into the sand with each step, making it difficult for him to retain his balance. He waved a bottle of sunscreen at the green ninja. “It’s sunny out today! And you know how easily you burn!”

“No way!” Lloyd whined. “You always make me stay out of the water for at least twenty minutes to let it set, and it’s way too hot for me to wait that long! I wanna go swimming now.”

Kai lunged for him, and Lloyd yelped, barely dodging out of the way.

“Over here, Lloyd!” Jay cried, already wading into the shallows of the ocean. “He won’t follow you into the water!”

Lloyd hurried after him, splashing up water as he went, accidentally splattering Kai and causing the red ninja to flinch back with a yelp. Sure enough, he froze at the water’s edge, glaring at Jay and Lloyd, where they stood, only about ten feet away, laughing at him.

Zane rubbed a hand over his face, sighing. “They’re both going to get skin cancer, aren’t they?”

“At the very least, they’re going to be bright red tomatoes,” Cole laughed. “Oh, it’s going to be a blast when they take showers.”

Zane stared at him, horrified. “Please don’t let Jay do that again. He had the worst blisters, last time-”

Cole held up his hands. “It was a joke, Zane! A joke!”

Zane narrowed his eyes and didn’t reply.

Nya laughed, grabbing Pixal’s hand. “Come on. Wanna go bodyboarding with me?”

Pixal glanced at her. “I don’t know how.”

“That’s fine.” Nya stepped on the board, flipping it up into her hand and handing it to Pixal, before grabbing a second one for herself. “I can teach you!”

“Thanks, Nya.”

As they walked down towards the shore, they passed Kai and Cole, who had finally managed to get Jay and Lloyd out of the water. Cole had his arms locked around Jay, preventing him from running away as Kai slathered sunscreen across his face. Lloyd was sitting in the sand beside him, pouting, his face already smeared in white.

Nya grinned at him. “Can you guys handle yourselves for twenty minutes if Pix and I go out bodyboarding?”

Lloyd stuck his tongue out at her, and Kai rolled his eyes. “We’ll be fine, Nya. I think you’re forgetting we save the city on a regular basis? We’re perfectly capable.”

Nya put a hand near Pixal’s ear, whispering loudly into it. “Betcha anything the beach will be on fire by the time we get back.”

The two ran off, giggling at the sight of Kai’s smoldering glare, before he could set them on fire.

---

To Kai’s credit, he did not set the beach on fire, or anything, for that matter, but when Nya and Pixal returned, they found him and Cole shoveling sand onto Zane, who was chest-deep by this point.

“Zane!” Pixal exclaimed. “Are you alright?”

“When Kai told me he had something fun to show me, this wasn’t quite what I had imagined.”

“Aww, come on Zane!” Kai grinned. “I’m having a great time.”

Pixal shook her head, and stepped forward, grabbing Zane’s hand and pulling him up, sending sand cascading down everywhere. Cole and Kai groaned.

“Aww, come on, Pix, that took forever!” Cole muttered.

“Yeah, we were gonna shape it into a mermaid tail. Don’t you know how funny that would’ve been?”

“Humor is subjective.” Zane rubbed at his wrists. “Augh, now I’m going to have sand in my gears for weeks.” Shooting a glare at Kai, he added, “I’ll remember this the next time you ditch your swimming lessons.”

“Hey!” Kai yelped. “That’s totally different! Sand is warm, and solid, and most importantly, not dangerous!”

“You could suffocate,” Zane pointed out.

Kai scowled. “You’re a nindroid, you wouldn’t have suffocated.”

“You’re related to an elemental master of water. You won’t drown.”

“Being related to a master of water and being a master of water are two very different things! I control fire, not water, I can’t do anything to protect myself.”

Cole rolled his eyes. “You’re so lame. Remind me again why we brought our friend with aquaphobia to the beach?”

“Technically,” Zane said, raising a finger, “the word you’re looking for is thalassophobia. Kai doesn’t fear water in general, only large bodies, such as-”

“It was his idea,” Nya interrupted. “If it weren’t for him, we’d still be at the Monastery, filing papers.”

“I never suggested the beach!” Kai snapped. “That was your idea!”

“Yeah, well, your suggestions were lame. The beach was the obvious choice.”

“Hey,” Pixal interjected, suddenly realizing they were missing a couple of people. “Where are Jay and Lloyd?”

Cole sighed, pointing up towards their stuff, where Jay and Lloyd were struggling with a large, yellow duck inflatable that was very much not inflated at the moment. Jay had his lips around the mouthpiece, his face red.

“Blow harder, Jay,” Lloyd insisted, hovering by his side. “You’re hardly doing anything!”

Jay pulled his head back, breathing out heavily as the redness faded from his cheeks. “I’d like to see you do better! You’d probably pass out after a minute.”

“Would not!” Lloyd snatched the floaty away from him, blowing hard into the mouthpiece, putting even less air into the floaty than Jay had. His face reddened as he huffed desperately, although he still wasn’t making much progress. After a few moments, Jay pulled it away from him.

“Okay, that’s enough. I don’t want you to actually pass out.”

Lloyd glared at him, panting. “I wasn’t… going to… pass out.”

Jay sighed, grabbing the inflatable and staring at what looked to be the eyes and a very flat, crumpled-looking beak. “At this rate, we’re never going to get Mr. Quackington blown up.”

Lloyd’s nose wrinkled. “Mr. Quackington?”

Jay blinked at him. “Yeah, that’s his name.”

“No, it’s not! His name is Mr. Waddles!”

“Mr. Waddles? What kind of juvenile name is that?”

“Oh, like Mr. Quackington is any better!”

“It is! It’s loads better!”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Is so!”

“It’s not!” Lloyd snapped, green energy sparking between his fingers. Jay glanced down at them thoughtfully. “Hey, what if…”

Lloyd was evidently catching on to Jay’s train of thought, his eyes lighting up. “We can use my powers to inflate Mr. Waddles!”

Jay narrowed his eyes. “Quackington.”

Lloyd bared his teeth, the small fangs glinting. “Waddles.”

Jay sighed. “Okay, whatever. We can use your powers to inflate Mr. Waddles.”

Lloyd grinned widely, whether about the promise of getting his inflated duck or having won the name debate with Jay, Pixal couldn’t tell. He held up a hand and formed a basketball-sized sphere of green energy. Jay’s eyes widened, and he held the mouthpiece up to the energy. Lloyd channeled it inside, watching with glee as the duck puffed up, the yellow plastic slowly tinging green, making the duck look like he was about to be sick.

Zane took a step forward, holding his hand out. “Lloyd, wait-”

There was a sharp snapping noise as the floaty popped, and Lloyd and Jay cried out in horror as the yellow pieces of plastic fluttered to the ground. Lloyd fell to his knees, gripping the busted plastic and wailing, and Jay landed next to him, crying, “No! Mr. Waddles, you were so young!”

“I can’t believe he’s really gone,” Lloyd sniffed. “He was my best friend in the whole world.”

Kai threw up his hands. “Great. You spend the last several years of your life looking out for him only to get replaced by his inflatable plastic duck.”

“Oookay,” Nya said, walking over to Jay and Lloyd and ushering them towards the picnic blanket. “Someone’s obviously been out in the sun too long. Go sit under the umbrella and let’s have something to eat.”

“Good idea,” Zane agreed. “I’m sure we’re all getting hungry. Jay, could you grab the picnic basket? It’s right behind you.”

The lightning ninja grabbed the basket, peering inside briefly as he carried it towards them. “I hope you brought the Pringles. I could really go for some of those right now- augh!”

Before anyone could stop him, Jay was falling to the ground, the basket flying out of his hands and landing sideways in the sand.

“Jay!” Kai cried. “Look what you’ve done to our picnic!”

“Hey! That was totally your fault! Why did you leave your shoes right in the middle of the sand, perfectly positioned for someone to trip over?”

“Why were you clumsy enough to get in the way of my shoes?”

“Guys, guys, it’s okay,” Zane assured. Walking over, he carefully lifted the basket out of the sand. “I’m sure it’s still salvageable.”

“Yeah, but now all our food is going to taste like sand,” Lloyd moaned.

“Lloyd, the food barely touched the sand,” Nya pointed out.

“Doesn’t matter. Every time you go to the beach, if the food gets even remotely close to the sand, it always gets sand in it. Every time. It’s one of the great mysteries of the universe.”

“Well, I think you’ll survive,” she said, passing Lloyd a sandwich and a bag of pretzels. Lloyd took them, but narrowed his eyes.

“Brings a whole new meaning to the word ‘sandwich.’”

“Just eat your food, mister.”

Lloyd shot her a glare, but grudgingly obliged. As Pixal bit into her own sandwich, she realized Lloyd was right, she could feel granules of sand between her teeth as she chewed.

“Hey… at least it adds a little crunch, right?” Cole grinned.

Kai grimaced. “Next time, I elect we don’t let Jay anywhere near the picnic basket.”

Jay chucked a grape at him, but Kai turned at the last second, catching it in his mouth. “Ha!” His gleeful expression faded as he caught sight of something behind Jay. “Um, Lloyd, you have someone you wanna introduce us to?”

The group turned to see a seagull had approached them, tilting its head where it stood only a couple feet away from Lloyd. The green ninja was staring at the bird with wide eyes, an awed expression on his face.

“Lloyd,” Nya sighed, “please don’t tell me you fed it.”

“He’s not an it,” Lloyd snapped. “His name is Scully.”

“Great.” Nya rubbed her hands over her face. “We’re already into name territory.”

“Scully?” Kai’s nose wrinkled. “Isn’t that the name of the seagull from The Little Mermaid?”

“No, that’s Scuttle,” Lloyd sniffed. “They’re completely different.”

“Lloyd,” Pixal scolded, reaching for Lloyd’s wrist just as he tossed another chunk of his sandwich at the seagull, “Feeding wildlife is not a good idea, it can be dangerous-”

Lloyd shrieked suddenly as the bird launched itself at Lloyd’s face. He scrambled to his feet, screaming, and Kai lunged forward, pushing the others out of the way. “Move, move!”

“Get it off me, get it off me!” Lloyd shrieked as the bird’s wings flapped in his face, sending feathers everywhere.

“Blast it with your powers!” Kai called, looking worried but keeping a respectable distance.

“I can’t! He’s on my face!”

“Well, I can’t do it, I’ll set you on fire! Nya, you do it!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying,” the water ninja spat through gritted teeth, globes of water already forming in her hands. “I just need to get a clear shot! For the love of… Lloyd, stop moving so much!”

Lloyd hardly seemed to hear her. “He’s going to claw my eyes out,” he wailed, batting weakly at the creature.

“Nya!”

Nya quickly thrust her hands forward, sending a large ball of water at Lloyd’s head, drenching him and the seagull. The bird squawked angrily, falling to the ground.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Nya and Kai darted over to him, Nya taking his face in her hands as Kai peered over her shoulder. A small red scratch stretched across his left cheek, but apart from that, he appeared unharmed, just frazzled.

“Dude!” Kai cried. “You just got attacked. By a seagull!”

“It owned you!”

Lloyd shot Jay a glare. “Did not.”

“You should have seen your face!” Jay laughed. “Oh wait, you couldn’t- there was a bird in the way!”

Lloyd crossed his arms. “I’d like to remind you how you reacted that time when my uncle set that berserk chicken on us.”

“The chicken had lightning powers. Hardly comparable to a simple seafowl, bud.”

“Ugh, I hope this doesn’t get infected,” Nya muttered, running her finger along the scratch. “We should probably get you checked for rabies when we get home.”

“Nya, I’m fine,” Lloyd groaned, pushing her off. “A seagull isn’t going to give me rabies.”

Nya shrugged. “With your luck, I can never be sure.”

“This is why you don’t give food to wild animals, Lloyd, it makes them bolder-”

“Watch out, Lloyd!” Jay shrieked suddenly, and they whipped around to see the seagull had caught its second wind, squawking as it charged at Lloyd.

Lloyd shrieked, taking off down the beach with the seagull in pursuit. Nya sighed, putting a hand on her head. Kai grinned, walking over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Do you think he’ll learn his lesson?”

“No,” Nya said without hesitation. “Absolutely not. That’s the sad part.”

“Hey,” Cole said, pointing a finger down the beach. “The volleyball court’s just opened up. You guys wanna play?”

“Sure. Tell Lloyd he can join us when he gets that seagull taken care of.”

Nya glanced towards the green ninja, who was currently lobbing balls of energy at the bird and missing by an embarrassingly wide berth. “Looks like it could be a while.”

---

“Great job, team!” Nya cheered, high-fiving Pixal and shooting a grin at Cole. “Although, if I’m being honest, the rest of you didn’t put up much of a competition.”

“Hey, don’t look at me!” Kai snapped. “I was carrying the team! Jay, Lloyd, were you planning on helping me anytime soon?”

“I was trying!” Jay insisted. “But you kept getting in my way!”

“Because every time I let you get the ball, you dropped it!”

“Hey! I never said I was good at volleyball, okay? Why are you attacking me, Lloyd sucked too!”

“It’s not like I ever had time to fit in volleyball practice between all my green ninja training! It wasn’t exactly a top priority!” “Are you telling me you’ve never played before?” Kai spluttered.

“I’ve played!” Lloyd insisted. “Uh… once or twice.”

Kai facepalmed. “Why did I let you come on my team?”

Lloyd grinned widely. “‘Cause you love me.”

Cole elbowed him. “It’s because he lost the coin toss and Nya got to pick first.”

“Hey!” Jay yelped. “Are you telling me you would have picked me last?”

“After I saw you play, yeah,” Cole snorted.

“I’m still not convinced on some of those calls, Zane,” Kai said, walking over to the nindriod. “I don’t think that one play near the third point was a foul.”

“Hey, the ref’s call is law,” Nya smirked. “Stop trying to cheat your way to victory, Kai.”

“I’m not cheating! Zane’s girlfriend is on your team! He’s obviously biased!”

“I’m a nindriod, Kai. I cannot be biased.”

“Stop being a sore loser, Kai.” Behind her, a wave swelled up. She raised her hand- then pointed it forward at Kai.

Her brother shrieked as the seawater drenched him.

“Nya! What’d you do that for?”

“You deserved it, with all the whining you were doing. Besides, you looked hot. I was just doing you a favor.”

“It’s alright,” Lloyd laughed. “You can share my towel, don’t worry.” As he handed Kai the towel, the fire ninja eyed it shrewdly.

“It’s got ducks on it. Of course it does.”

“Hey, you want the towel or not?”

“No, I’m taking the towel.” Kai wrapped the towel around himself, shivering, unfurling the ducks for all to see. Cole snickered, and Kai shot him a glare.

“Should we pack up, then?”

Zane nodded. “If we want to be back in time for dinner, probably.”

The team trudged back to their blanket, wet and sandy, but chatting amiably. They had nearly packed up all their things when Lloyd cried out suddenly.

“Where’s my wallet?”

Zane frowned. “Didn’t you put it in the valuables pouch?”

“I thought I did, but…” he paused. “Oh, wait. I tripped over Jay. I must’ve forgotten to put it in after that.”

“Well, then, it’s gotta be around here somewhere. What color is it, Lloyd?”

“What do you think? Green.”

They spent a good ten minutes searching through their entire bag and the surrounding sand, to no avail. It quickly became clear that if Lloyd’s wallet had ever fallen around here in the first place, it wasn’t here now.

Kai shrugged. “Oh well. It’s not that big of a deal. You don’t have any cards, and I don’t think you were carrying any of the cash. We can get you a new one.”

“No, but I had the things in there!”

Cole frowned. “The things?”

“You know.” Lloyd lowered his voice. “The things. That the mayor gave us?”

“What?!” Jay yelped. “Those were in there?” “You lost them?” Kai cried. “Lloyd, how could you?”

“It’s not like I did it on purpose!” Kai groaned, rubbing his face. “We should’ve never trusted you with them. Or at least split them up, so they weren’t all together.”

“I still do not understand.” Pixal frowned. “What are these things that are so important?”

“They’re a top-secret gift from the mayor,” Jay whispered. “We’re not supposed to tell anyone we have them. Not that telling anyone now would matter anyway, because we don’t have them anymore.”

“It’s not my fault!” Lloyd insisted. “It’s that stupid seagull’s, he’s the one who distracted me-” Lloyd paused, his eyes widening. “That’s it! The seagull must’ve swiped my wallet when it was chasing me!”

“Looks like we have a lead,” Kai growled.

“Wait a minute, does anyone else hear that mysterious music-”

“Oh no,” Pixal muttered, putting a hand on her forehead. “Zane, please don’t tell me you’re going to do this again.”

“It seemed that, after only a few weeks, it was time for me to crack yet another case.” The odd, deep voice rang out, and they turned to see Zane slipping on a fedora.

“Where did that even come from,” Pixal despaired. “I’m positive you didn’t bring that with you. Positive.”

“Again, I was to be accompanied by my trusty assistant, but this time, my highly trained ninja associates would also be coming along, all determined to reclaim what someone had stolen in the heist.”

Jay glanced between Pixal and Zane. “What is happening right now? Am I supposed to know what’s happening?”

Pixal shook her head. “It’s a long story. Just go with it.”

Zane tipped his hat down. “Already, we were off with a very promising lead. I suspected the culprit to be the feathered fiend that had been spotted lurking around at the scene of the crime only an hour prior.”

Kai snorted, placing a hand on Jay’s shoulder. “Oh, this is gold! Did you mess with his voice again, Jay?”

“No, I didn’t touch him! Pixal, you didn’t…”

She shook her head. “Believe me, I wouldn’t do this if you paid me. It was all him.”

Jay grinned. “What do we do next… detective Zane?” He and Kai simultaneously burst into laughter, leaning against each other for support.

Zane side-eyed them. “The primary suspect was as clear as a black bear in a snowstorm, yet the whereabouts of the creature were still unknown. It had vanished into thin air, without leaving so much as a trace in its stead.”

“Hey,” Lloyd said suddenly, leaning down to pick something up off of the sand, “What about this?”

“It appeared to be part of the plumage of a species of avian native to these shores. Could it belong to the specimen we were looking for?”

Kai plucked the feather from Lloyd’s fingers, examining it. “The feather was white with a dark tip, definitely having originated from a seagull- although the spiked, disturbed edges implied that this was from no ordinary gull- it was from one who had recently been in a fight.”

Jay grinned. “It seemed like we had hit the jackpot. Already, we were one step closer to tracking down this culprit.”

Pixal groaned. “Don’t you two start, too. It was bad enough with just Zane.”

Nya grimaced. “Yeah, this is already getting annoying.”

“How is a feather going to tell us where the seagull is now?” Cole asked.

“I could sense the wind was blowing in from the northwest,” Zane narrated. “If we wanted to find the culprit of the caper, we would have to walk upwind, hopefully leading us to the source of the feather.”

“Alright,” Pixal sighed, “let’s get this over with.”

“And so,” Zane grinned, “The Great Gull Caper began.”

The team trudged up the beach for about twenty minutes, to no avail. They passed many other beachgoers, pointing and staring as the ninja passed, but no seagulls were in sight.

“Are you sure about this, Zane?” Pixal asked.

“The feathered suspect had gained an hour’s head start in its escape from the scene, meaning we would have to hasten our pace if we ever hoped to catch up.”

“Oh, I am not walking an hour just to find this thing. Are we sure it’s that important?”

“Yes!” the guys yelped in unison.

“It’s a very important gift from the mayor! It would be rude to lose it,” Jay said. “We have to get it back!”

“Couldn’t you just ask for another… whatever they are?”

“No! They’re one of a kind!” “Well, can we at least hurry this up? Frankly, I’m getting quite tired of Zane’s shenanigans.”

Zane grinned at her. “Although she voiced her disapproval, my assistant knew the efficiency of my methods, as they had gotten us out of a pinch the last time things had been amok.”

“First of all, I was the one who successfully found Dyer last time. You just ended up getting caught.”

“Perhaps, but you used my techniques.”

Pixal huffed. “Second, I don’t appreciate that you keep calling me your assistant. If anything, we’re partners!”

Zane adjusted his fedora. “So it was a promotion she was after, eh? Well, if my assistant could prove her worth by properly complying with my techniques in this case, she may find herself with a loftier position in the future.”

Pixal sighed. “Whatever. Let’s just find the stupid bird, and go.”

The group trekked after Zane again, and Pixal wondered how long they would be here, when Zane suddenly stopped, causing half of the gang to crash into him.

“What?” Jay yelped. “What’s wrong? Why’d we stop?”

Zane pointed near his feet. “It seemed like the culprit had been careless enough to leave behind tracks in the sand.”

Pixal peered over his shoulder. Sure enough, the tracks of some avian species left a trail in the sand- and after consulting her database, it appeared to match the foot of a seagull.

“We’re getting closer!” Cole said. “It has to be around here somewhere.”

Nya’s eyes went wide, and she pointed towards something in the distance. “Look!”

Down the beach, a large group of seagulls was flocking around a half-eaten pretzel, flapping their wings and squawking as they tried to push past each other.

“It could be any of them,” Lloyd despaired. “How are we going to know which one was the one who stole my wallet?”

Jay smirked. “There’s only one way to find out.”

Lloyd eyed him nervously. “How?”

“One seagull, in particular, has come to associate you with food. One seagull has been known to chase you down.”

“Oh,” Lloyd paled, taking a step back and waving his hands. “Oh, no, I do not like where this is heading…”

“Come on, Lloyd, do it for the team,” Cole pleaded.

“You are the one who lost them in the first place,” Kai agreed. “It’s only fair.”

Lloyd groaned. “Why do I let you bully me into these things?”

“Go on,” Nya gave him a gentle shove. “We don’t have all day!”

Sticking his tongue out at her, Lloyd stepped forward, towards the seagulls. Several of them looked his way, a few flapping their wings anxiously and squawking in warning. Lloyd stopped, swallowing.

“Um. Hey. I don’t suppose any of you have seen a green wallet around here?”

Jay rolled his eyes. “They can’t understand you. Get closer!”

“Okay! I’m going, jeez-” he broke off with a yelp as a seagull darted in front of him, nearly tripping him as he stepped on its tail.

The seagull shrieked, and, in a flurry of feathers, the flock broke into a frenzied panic. Lloyd’s eyes widened, and he cried out, running away and frantically ducking swooping seagulls.

He darted behind Kai as a last nervy seagull hopped after him. Kai held up a fist, which burst into flame, scaring the bird off. Kai glanced back at Lloyd, amusement sparkling in his dark eyes. “You okay, bud?”

Lloyd glared. “Don’t look at me like that. These birds are vicious!”

“Look!” Pixal pointed at a gull that had remained behind. With the others out of the way, she could see the small, green wallet between its beak.

“That’s the one!” Cole cried. “After it!”

For ninja, the group was embarrassingly unstealthy as they clamored after the bird, shooting elemental powers at it and screaming as they narrowly avoided each other’s blasts, so that by the time the seagull reached the water, the beach was a mess of crystalized sand, crevices in the ground, and various burn marks from fire, lightning, and energy.

“It’s a seagull!” Nya cried. “We’ve faced giant snakes, lords of darkness, elemental masters, Oni, more criminals and gangsters than I can count, and an evil video game AI, yet we can’t catch one measly seagull? It shouldn’t be this hard, you guys!”

“It’s getting away,” Jay cried, pointing at the bird, who had finally taken flight and was heading out over the ocean.

“No!” Lloyd moaned. “Now we’re never going to get it back!”

“Not on my watch,” Nya growled, racing past them towards the docks. “Come on!” “Oh no,” Kai groaned. “Nya Smith, whatever you are thinking, stop it right now, because I’m not doing it.” “Come on, Kai,” Lloyd insisted, grabbing his wrist and yanking him along. “We have to hurry!”

They raced after Nya, who was running down the dock towards a man who was examining the boats. Kai followed them more slowly, taking careful steps.

“Sir, we need to use a boat, right away! We’ll pay for it, we promise!”

The man shook his head. “Sorry, ma’am, but these are all private boats. The only one we have is that one,” he pointed to a small, worn-looking fishing boat, “and the motor’s broken, so it’s of no use to anyone.”

“It doesn’t matter, I can take care of that. Everyone, get in!”

“W-wait,” the man stuttered, looking flustered.

“We’ll bring it right back, I promise! Now, come on, we don’t have much time!”

“No!” Kai insisted, as everyone else piled in. “Nuh-uh. No way. Not in a million years. You are not bringing me out into the middle of the ocean in a tiny, crowded boat with a busted engine!”

“You don’t need an engine when you’ve got me!” Nya raised her hand, and the water swirled under the boat, rocking it slightly. “Now, come on, we don’t have time for this!” “Y’know what.” Kai took a couple of steps back from the boat. “I’m good. I’ll stay here. You guys have fun finding the wallet. I’ll cheer you on from the beach. The dry, dry beach.”

“Nope.” Cole reached forward, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him in. “This is your gift we’re saving, too. If you want to get part of it, you’re coming with.”

“Finally!” Nya huffed. The water rippled beneath them, and suddenly, it was propelling their boat, and they were off.

“Where’s the bird?” Nya asked. “Does anyone see it?” “Over there!” Cole pointed slightly towards their left, where the seagull was gliding away with surprising speed. Getting into the boat had slowed them down, and it had gotten a large head start.

Nya gritted her teeth. “Hold on.”

“Don’t go faster!” Kai yelped from where he huddled near the middle of the boat, protectively sandwiched between Lloyd and Cole. “If you tip this boat, I will never forgive you.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Nya growled, although the boat slowed slightly as they continued.

“Our team continued to chase the thief, determined to put an end to the Great Gull Caper and put the culprit to justice. Even when our path took us across the raging waters of the ocean, with nothing but a rusty, broken old boat, and deep, swirling waters around us, filled with the dark abyss and the creatures that lurked there…”

“You mean like sharks?” Lloyd perked, peering over the edge. “Did you see any? I wanna see one!”

“Nope,” Kai yelped, pulling himself into a ball as he sat down on the floor of the boat. “Nopety nope nope nope. I’m done. I’m outta here.”

“The prospect of sharks was a dire one, but one we were willing to take. We would get that wallet back, no matter the cost- even if it meant competition from this fierce predator of the sea.”

Kai screamed into his hands. “Just end me now!”

“What Zane means to say,” Pixal said, elbowing Zane sharply, “is that sharks are actually very off-put by the taste of human flesh, and do not go after humans on purpose.”

Kai stared at her. “Oh joy, now a shark can devour my flesh by accident, what a relief.”

“Do not worry, Kai,” she told him. “There is only one estimated death by shark per year in the greater Ninjago City area.”

“Knowing my luck,” Kai grumbled, “I’ll be that one.”

“Did anyone bring their phone with?” Lloyd asked. “I wanna get a good picture when the sharks come for Kai.”

“I call dibs on his katana,” Jay exclaimed. “Y’know, the super flashy one with the flaming dragon carved into the handle?”

Lloyd wrinkled his nose at him. “Why would you want a fire dragon on your katana? You’re the lightning ninja!”

“Hey, just because my element is lightning, doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a super dope fire design when I see one-”

“Guys,” Cole sighed, pushing his way between the two arguing boys. “No one is getting eaten. We’re perfectly safe here, on this boat.”

“Cole’s right,” Pixal agreed. “The sharks around this area are smaller, reef dwellers, and won’t come after us. They may, however, come after our seagull friend if he gets too close to the water.”

Kai made a noise in the back of his throat, and Cole scowled at her. “Thanks for the help, Pix.”

“Nya,” Jay whined, “the seagull’s getting further away! We have to go faster!”

“Don’t!” Pixal cried. “This boat has not been manufactured to withstand a lot of weight. With seven people, especially when two of them are titanium, going too fast would be sure to capsize us.”

“I told you I should’ve stayed behind on the shore,” Kai wailed.

Lloyd leaned further over the edge, raising a hand to his forehead to keep the glare off of his face as he peered intently into the water. “Is… is that a shark?”

Kai stared at him. “Shut up. You’re just baiting.”

Lloyd shook his head, his eyes lighting up in a way that was not reassuring in the slightest. “I’m not! It’s a shark! It’s a real, live shark! I’ve never seen one this close before! Except at like, an aquarium!”

Kai closed his eyes, rocking himself gently. “You’re lying. You stupid liar, I hate you.”

Cole peered over, following Lloyd’s gaze, and promptly bit his lip. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“This is a dumb prank, you guys!” Kai was half-yelling by this point.

“Stop being so loud,” Lloyd hissed. “You’ll scare it!”

Kai blinked at him. “I’ll scare it?”

Lloyd crossed his arms. “A scared shark is an aggressive shark.”

Kai’s mouth snapped shut.

“I can’t believe this,” Cole muttered. “Did we really not bring any weapons?”

“No!” Lloyd yelped. “Cole, you wouldn’t!”

“I would if it kept us from being eaten.”

“For the last time, sharks don’t eat humans!”

Cole ignored him. “Well? Did we?”

Nya snorted. “Why would we bring weapons to the beach?”

“Hey, with how often this city gets attacked, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Nya rolled her eyes. “It was supposed to be our day off.”

“It’s fine,” Pixal reported, keeping a careful eye on the shark. “It’s swimming away now. As long as we leave it alone, we’re safe.”

Kai frowned. “Looks like the gull isn’t so convinced, though.”

Pixal glanced up. Sure enough, the seagull was eyeing the shark nervously, pumping its wings as it flew higher and higher above the surface of the water.

“Do something!” Jay shrieked. “If we don’t stop it now, it’s going to get away for good!”

“Lloyd!” Nya cried. “Is your wallet waterproof?”

“What?”

“Just answer the question!” “Yes! Yes, it is!”

Nya gritted her teeth. “Hold on, everyone!”

Suddenly, a vast wave rose out of the water, looming over the seagull.

Kai’s eyes widened. “Nya, be careful, you’ll hit us too-”

But it was already too late, the wave crashing down, downing the seagull, and soaking them in saltwater. The team cried out, and Kai screamed, throwing his arms over his head in a futile attempt to protect himself. As they all tried to lurch away from the spray, the boat rocked precariously, and, for a horrifying moment, they were suspended there, on the point between balance and capsize.

And then that moment was over, and they were all falling into the ocean.

Pixal’s world immediately dimmed as she plunged into the water, quietness enveloping her like a blanket. For a moment, she was too shocked to do anything, until a foot thrashed past her face, snapping her out of her trance as she swam towards the surface.

A couple of feet before she reached it, a metal hand snatched her wrist and pulled her the rest of the way up.

“Pixal!” Zane cried, his detective voice dropped. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. What about everyone else? Are we all here?”

Zane nodded his head behind her, and she turned to see the others all within a couple of feet. Cole had his hands on the now upside-down boat, trying to use his strength to push it over, but it was hard for him to get a good grip and stay afloat at the same time. Just behind him, Jay was spitting out a mouthful of seawater, sending ripples across the surface of the ocean as he treaded water. Lloyd was doing the same a couple of feet away, only the green ninja was struggling a lot more because of the arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

“Don’t let me go, Lloyd!” Kai yelped, although the feat would’ve been impossible even if Lloyd had wanted to- the fire ninja was clinging to him like a barnacle. “I can’t swim!”

Lloyd sighed. “I know that, Kai. It’s the only reason I’m letting you hold on to me like this.”

“I can’t believe this happened,” Kai cried. “We’re going to die out here. This is the worst day off ever.”

“Hey!” Lloyd snapped. “It’s not my fault this happened!”

Nya shot them all a sharp glare from where she was drifting alongside the boat. She didn’t even bother to tread water like the rest of them, instead using her powers to keep herself afloat. “It was going to work until you guys made such a big fuss about getting a little wet and tipped the boat.”

Cole sighed. “We’re not going to die. As soon as I get this right side up again, we’ll climb up and get out of here. Can you give me a hand, Zane?”

As the nindriod moved to help him, Kai suddenly went rigid.

“Lloyd,” he whispered.

“What, Kai?”

“Something just bumped my foot.”

“It’s probably just seaweed, Kai,” Lloyd sighed, looking down- and promptly froze.

“No one. Move.”

Jay squeezed his eyes shut. “Oh no, oh gosh, don’t tell me that’s what I think it is, this is not happening-”

“Jay, shut up,” Nya whispered, her face pale as she watched the dark shape lurking below them in the water.

“Everyone, stay calm,” Pixal murmured. “Don’t make any sudden movements and try to look it in the eyes.”

“Please, the last thing I’m gonna do is look at it,” Kai breathed, burying his face in Lloyd’s hair.

After a moment, the shark slowly swam past, losing interest.

“It doesn’t care about us,” Zane realized. “It wants the seagull.”

Several yards away, the gull was floating on the water, still trying to shake off the moisture from Nya’s wave. Suddenly realizing the danger it was in, the bird raised its wings- and launched itself into the air, just as fierce jaws snapped against empty air where the seagull had been less than a second ago.

Kai’s fingers dug tighter into Lloyd’s shoulders, and Pixal caught Jay biting his lip as he swallowed back a scream, but, its prey lost, the shark was already swimming away.

“Gotcha,” Nya murmured, reaching a hand out and snatching up the wallet, which the seagull had dropped in all the commotion, before it could sink to the bottom of the ocean.

“Okay. That’s great. We got it. Now can we get out of here?” Kai pleaded.

After a minute, they finally got the boat flipped over, and Cole hauled himself aboard before helping to lift the others. Ten minutes later, they were all safely out of the water and on their way back to the dock, and Pixal had never felt more relieved by the fact.

“So,” Jay asked, as the boat glided through the water, leaning closer to Nya. “Did they survive all that?”

“Let’s see,” Nya murmured, opening up Lloyd’s wallet. Pixal leaned forward, anxious to see what all the fuss had been about.

“Yes!” Jay cried, pulling out seven slips of paper. “They’re all here!”

“Wait.” Pixal snatched one from his hand, quickly scanning it. “A summer pass for free all-you-can-eat ice cream from the Dairy Dragon?”

“Yup,” Jay smiled, passing them out to the others. “The mayor gave them to us as a gift after we saved the city from Prime Empire. That’s what we were going to do today, after the beach, actually.”

“You’re telling me,” Pixal deadpanned. “That we just risked our lives. For free ice cream.”

“Free ice cream is free ice cream, Pix.”

“You’ll understand once you’ve tried their butter pecan,” Nya told her. “It’s to die for.”

“Butter pecan?” Jay spluttered. “No way, the Ninjapolitan is best.”

“You heathen, chocolate fudge is obviously the best flavor-”

“What are you guys talking about, mint chocolate chip is superior!”

“You just like it because it’s green.”

“Do not!”

“Do so!” Nya sighed, putting her head in her hands. “Here we go again.”

“Calm down, all of you,” Pixal said. “You can get whatever flavor of ice cream you want. Just do me a favor and try not to end up capsizing us in the middle of the ocean this time.”

Jay hummed. “No promises.”

[calwrites]

one of those days (s.r.)

Summary: You’ve had a really awful day. Luckily, your boyfriend always seems to make life better.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x female!reader

word count: 5k

we’re going to ignore civil war and just pretend everyone is a big, happy family in this one

request from @maximeevansblog

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

You know those days where everything is going so wrong that you can’t even bother being upset about it anymore? As you stood on the sidewalk, staring at the coffee you had just paid too much money for and then dropped after taking three steps out of the coffee shop, you realized that your day had officially reached that point. It shouldn’t have been surprising that your day would turn out like this. You had started off the morning with a new case. One that was actually going to earn you money this time, which should have made you excited. Except your client was suing the Department of Damage Control, which meant going another round against Tony Stark and his legal team. Somehow, you had become the go-to lawyer for New Yorkers suing the DODC. While you and Tony got along on a personal level, you most certainly did not on a professional level.

You had barely had time to read over the new case before going to a meeting about another case you were working on. It was very obvious to everyone involved that your client didn’t have a very strong case, but having to deal with smarmy corporate lawyers rubbing it in was almost unbearable. Still, you managed to cut a deal that was better than anything your client would get in court, though you thought that they weren’t likely to see it that way. You were right. So that probably should have been the low point of the day. 

It wasn’t.

A large bouquet of your least favorite type of flower was sitting at your desk when you got back to your office. Unsurprisingly, a note from Tony was attached, which meant that he had heard about your newest case. Underneath the ugly bouquet were two letters from potential clients asking for your help pro bono. You would take the cases. You always took the pro bono cases, even though you didn’t have the time and could really use the money.

The text was what you thought was going to make you lose it. You had stared at the screen for a minute, wavering between wanting to throw it at the wall and wanting to lay your head down and start crying. Steve was stuck at the compound upstate and wouldn’t be able to make it into the city for date night. He didn’t offer a reason, but he rarely ever did when Avengers things were concerned. There were some things that he didn’t think you needed to know, and you were perfectly fine not knowing them. Still, you had been looking forward to seeing Steve. He had been stuck at the compound for most of the week, and you really missed him. At least he had promised a weekend at the compound, which was the closest thing to a vacation you ever had, to make it up to you.

You and Steve had been dating for a few years now. Though he technically lived at the compound, the two of you basically lived together. Whenever he wasn’t upstate, he was staying in your little Brooklyn apartment. Your friends often teased you that it wasn’t fair that you were the one to snag Captain America when he wasn’t even your favorite Howling Commando. It had been Dum Dum Dugan, but only because eight year old you thought his name was the funniest.

According to Steve, he had known the minute that he saw you, or actually heard you, that he was going to fall in love with you. He hadn’t even opened the door to Tony’s office before he was able to hear you ripping Tony a new one. Perhaps storming into Stark Towers to yell at Tony Stark wasn’t the smartest move, but you were young, it was your first big case, and you were fired up. Plus, the DODC needed to get it together because whatever system they had at that time wasn’t working. You ended up winning the case. Steve had known then and there that he had to know you. And Tony had decided that he needed you on his legal team. Only one of them got their way, and it wasn’t Tony. Not that he wasn’t still trying, you thought, glancing at the ugly flowers again.

It was impossible to be mad at Steve for missing date night because he had superhero responsibilities, but it still bummed you out. You managed to plough through the rest of the afternoon before heading home. As you passed your favorite coffee shop, you thought that you would treat yourself to some caffeine, since you would probably be up late working on the new pro bono cases. Of course, you had dropped the coffee almost immediately, which you took as a sign to just chalk up the day as a loss and head home as quickly as possible before lightning struck you or a tornado swept you up or aliens abducted you.

Morning came too quickly. Though you had gone to sleep earlier than you had anticipated, it was still hard to peel your eyes open. You glared blearily at the clock. It told you that it was still early in the morning, so why were you awake?

The answer came in the form of the creak of your bedroom door. You barely had time to panic about the possibility of an intruder before Steve poked his head in, a smile breaking out on his face at the sight of your sleepy confusion.

“Surprise, honey,” he said quietly.

“What are you doing here?” Despite your confusion, you reached out to him, pulling him onto the bed and snuggling into his chest.

Steve wrapped you up in his arms and settled deeper into the bed. “I felt bad that I had to cancel on date night after you had such a bad day, so I thought I’d surprise you. I’m taking you out and spoiling you today before we head upstate for the weekend.”

“I have work today, Steve,” you protested, though you were too happy to see Steve to really worry about work.

“I’ve already talked to your boss, and he told me that you were taking a half day today. I managed to talk him into giving you the whole day off. One of the perks of being Captain America.”

You hit Steve’s arm lightly. “I don’t know why everyone thinks you're such a golden boy. You’re a bad influence, Rogers.” Steve’s loud laugh caused your heart to soar. You’d stay in bed with Steve all day if you could.

As if he was reading your mind, Steve said, “Why don’t you go back to sleep for a bit? We have a reservation at your favorite brunch place in a few hours. You could get at least another hour of sleep.”

“I won’t argue with you, but you have to stay in bed with me.”

“I like that deal.” Steve kissed the top of your head gently as you snuggled into his side, already drifting back off to sleep.

An hour later, you woke up feeling much more rested. Opening your eyes slowly, you immediately found Steve gazing at you.

“Were you watching me sleep?”

“No.”

“You’re a bad liar, babe.”

“And you’re adorable when you’re sleeping, honey.”

“Ok, Edward Cullen, calm down.” You didn’t really want to get out of bed, but you forced yourself to stand and stretch, leaning down quickly to give Steve a peck on the lips.

“I don’t understand that reference.” It was hard not to laugh at the small pout on Steve’s face as he watched you walk into the bathroom.

“That’s because you refuse to watch Twilight with me. Now, I need to get ready for our day out. You can stay there and pour, or you can take a shower with me.” You didn’t bother waiting to see if Steve would follow you, confident that he was already scrambling out of bed.

After your shower, Steve insisted on picking out an outfit for you while you did your hair and makeup. Once the two of you were ready, you left the apartment and walked down to the restaurant, holding hands the entire time.

It was sometimes a bit strange when you and Steve went out in public. Steve managed to blend in pretty well when he was dressed in casual clothes, but he was occasionally recognized. Many New Yorkers had grown fairly used to seeing Avengers out and about and were content to leave them alone, but tourists were prone to getting over excited and star struck. Luckily, Steve flew under the radar during brunch. You thought that the waiter probably recognized him, but the only sign he gave was charging you for only half of your meal.

As you ate, you caught Steve up on your work, and he told you about some of the stuff the other Avengers had been up to. Bucky was settling into the team well, which you knew was a big relief for Steve. You had only met Bucky a couple times. He wanted to make sure that all of the Hydra brainwashing was gone before you spent much time together, despite both you and Steve trying to tell him that you trusted him.

After brunch, Steve let you drag him into some of your favorite stores. He played the doting boyfriend as you tried on clothes, showering you with compliments and even picking out a few pieces that he thought would look good on you. Despite your protests, he bought you way more than you were planning on getting, and silenced you with kisses when you tried to tell him you didn’t need it all.

You had assumed that you would head back to your apartment to drop it all off and then head up to the compound, but Steve led you into a nail salon on your way home and insisted on paying for you to get your nails done.

“You’re doing way too much, Steve. Honestly, we could have just gone to read in the park and it would have been a perfect day,” you told him. He looked a bit funny sitting on a small chair surrounded by shopping bags.

“I told you that I wanted to spoil you, honey. You work too hard. You deserve a day all about you.” You were about to protest more when your stomach let out a loud growl, causing your face to heat up in embarrassment. Apparently all of that shopping made you work up an appetite. “Wait right there,” Steve laughed as he stood up and made his way out of the nail salon. As if you had much of a choice, considering a woman had just started painting your nails.

The lady had just finished your first hand when the door opened and Steve walked back in, a fast food bag in his hand.

“I got the feeling you were hungry,” he teased as he sat back down next to you. He opened the bag and dug out a couple of fries.

“I’m kind of in the middle of something, babe,” you laughed, nodding your head at your hands that were splayed out on the table.

“That’s why I’m going to feed you,” Steve said as if it was obvious. He held the fries up to your mouth. You shook your head in amusement, but you ate the fries anyway. You knew that you were incredibly lucky to have a boyfriend like Steve, who was willing to sit and feed you fries and chicken nuggets as you got your nails done.

“You’re the best. You know that right?”

“Are you just saying that because I got you food?”

“No. I’m saying it because I love you.”

Steve’s smile spread shyly across his face. “I love you too.”

The two of you had finished the food by the time your nails were done. Steve once again took up all of your shopping bags, and the two of you walked back to your apartment. You packed quickly, eager to leave. To your delight, Steve had ridden his motorcycle into the city rather than taking a car, so you got to press yourself into his back as the two of you rode up to the compound. You loved riding the motorcycle with Steve. It was often too windy and loud to really talk, so you got to enjoy each other’s presence in silence.

“Where is everyone?” you asked when you got to the compound. Normally, you ran into at least one other person on your way to Steve’s room, but it was like a ghost town.

Steve shrugged. “Maybe they’re out. Or training. I think most people should be here this weekend though. They’re all looking forward to seeing you.”

At the beginning of your relationship, you had been nervous about meeting all of the Avengers. Your worth had been needless, though, as all of the Avengers had been happy to meet the mystery girl who was helping Captain America settle into the 21st century. Now, you could comfortably say that many of the superheroes were some of your best friends.

“Weird,” you muttered, but you weren’t really too concerned. They all had their own lives, so you couldn’t really expect them to be sitting around waiting for you all the time.

You didn’t have much time to dwell on it. Steve had decided that the two of you were making your favorite dinner, though you didn’t really do much. You sat on the counter and watched as Steve cooked. Music from the 40s floated gently through the room. You knew from Steve’s slightly wistful smile that he was remembering his old life. It broke your heart a little bit whenever he got quiet like that. You could never understand what he went through, but you hoped that you helped make it more bearable for him.

“What are you thinking about?” Steve’s voice broke through your thoughts and made you realize that you had been staring at him.

“You,” you answered simply.

“Me? I’m flattered.”

“Do you miss it? How your life used to be?” It was a subject you tended to skirt around because you were afraid of the answer.

Steve was silent for a minute, his face introspective. “I used to wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn’t been frozen. Or if I hadn’t been picked for the serum at all, I guess. Now, I don’t think there’s any point in that. I can’t change what happened. I don’t think I would even if I could. I have everything I could ever need here.” Steve took your hands, rubbing his thumbs over your knuckles gently.

“There’s nothing you miss? The food? The clothes? The dancing?”

“Food is much better in this century. We used to boil everything. And we can still dance now just fine, honey.” To prove his point, he stepped back and dragged you off the counter. He pulled you against him, and the two of you swayed gently. You weren’t sure how many songs you danced to before the oven timer went off. Steve wrapped up in a hug and kissed you deeply before pulling away to get the food.

Dinner was delicious. Steve’s cooking had made great strides the last few years. You insisted on clearing the table while he got dessert ready. The two of you sat and chatted as you ate your dessert. At one point, Steve laughed so hard at something you said that he knocked his fork off the table. Shaking your head fondly, you bent down to pick it up.

When you sat back up, you were confused to find that Steve wasn’t in his chair across from you. Instead, he was kneeling on the ground next to you. You gasped, your hands flying up to cover your mouth, when you saw the small box in his hands.

“Y/N, you are the most amazing person I have ever met. I was a man lost in time before I met you. You’re my home. You’re the love of my life, and I hope that you’ll let me spend the rest of my life with you. Y/N, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” you laughed, tears falling down your face. “Yes! Yes, of course, Steve.” He took your hand and gently slid the ring onto your finger. He had barely finished before you were throwing yourself into his arms. 

“I was so nervous,” Steve admitted. His voice was muffled slightly because his face was buried in your neck. “I’ve been trying to decide how to do this for so long. Tony offered to book a private island, but I thought that might be a bit much.”

“Just a bit,” you agreed. You pulled back slightly to kiss him. Your hand shook slightly as you held it out to look at the ring. “It’s gorgeous, Steve.”

“It was my mom’s.” Your head snapped up quickly, your eyes once again filling with tears. You hadn’t known that Steve had anything from his family. “Howard and Peggy managed to keep some of my stuff. I guess they never stopped hoping I’d come back.”

“I’m glad they did.” You leaned in again, letting yourself get lost in the kiss. “I love you, Steve.”

“I love you too. Now you have to win your next case so you can pay for the wedding. Unless you want Tony to pay.”

“I can’t even imagine what that wedding would be like,” you groaned. “You might need to get a real job.”

Lucky for Steve, it didn’t come to that. You won your next case. And the one after that. And the one after that. In fact, your career was on a high leading up to your wedding. Not that you needed much money for the wedding. It was a small affair, only close friends invited since neither of you had any family. On Steve’s side were all of the Avengers and their friends. On your side were your friends from school and some of your coworkers, all of whom looked a bit overwhelmed to be in the presence of so many superheroes. You and Steve decided to have the wedding at the compound so that you wouldn’t have to worry about security or paparazzi or anything like that.

“I’m nervous,” you groaned for the hundredth time that morning. “Why am I so nervous? I feel like I’m going to be sick.” 

“You better not be sick. You just got your makeup done,” Nat pointed out dryly.

“And you need to get in your dress soon so you’re not late to your own wedding,” Wanda added.

You and Steve had agreed on having small wedding parties, so Nat and Wanda were your only two bridesmaids, while Bucky and Sam were Steve’s groomsmen. You opened your mouth to respond, but quickly clamped your lips together and rushed over to the toilet, making it just in time to avoid making a mess on the floor. Fortunately, Wanda was able to use her powers to hold your hair back.

“Are you sure nerves aren’t the only reason you’re feeling sick?” Nat asked as you sat back. “I noticed that you didn’t have anything to drink at your bachelorette party.”

Wanda’s eyes grew almost comically wide. “Oh my gosh, Y/N! Are you pregnant?”

Your mind whirled as you tried to come up with a way to spin this, but you realized it was pointless. “You can’t tell Steve.”

“He doesn’t know?” Nat asked. You felt it was a bit hypocritical of her to be judging you for keeping a secret when she was an actual spy, but you decided to let that slide.

“I didn’t want to tell him until I was sure and then he was so stressed about making sure the wedding was perfect. I didn’t want to make him more stressed.”

“This is amazing, Y/N,” Wanda squealed, wrapping you in a hug. After a second, you felt Nat’s arms circle around you too. “Now let’s go get you married.”

Any nerves that you had melted away when you saw Steve standing at the end of the aisle. His eyes filled with tears immediately when he saw you, causing you to become misty eyed too. You tried to hold the tears back, knowing Nat and Wanda would kill you if you ruined your makeup so quickly. However, you lost that battle once Steve started to say his vows, his voice breaking with emotion.

Most of the non-Avengers guests left after staying at the reception for a couple of hours because they didn’t want to be driving back into the city late. Once they were all gone, Sam started urging you and Steve to start opening up your presents. Eventually, you had to give in.

“Let’s see whose gifts are lame,” Sam cheered as everyone took a seat. The first gift that Sam declared lame was from Scott, who claimed that he had shrunk your gift to make transporting it from San Francisco easier and then lost it somewhere in his room.

“Cmon, small fry! Just admit that you didn’t buy anything,” Sam teased. Scott tried to defend himself, but soon everyone was piling on. You had to move on to the next present to put him out of his misery. Most of the others had given you things you mentioned needing for the bigger apartment you hoped to get soon. Even before you knew you were pregnant, you and Steve had decided that it might be time to upgrade from your small, one bedroom apartment.

Peter was a bit embarrassed by his gift. He couldn’t exactly afford to buy anything fancy. He was a high school student after all. Instead, he had made some sort of toaster, microwave, air fryer hybrid that he assured you didn’t explode...anymore. You weren’t sure how confident you were in that, but you acted thrilled anyways.

Vision bought you what he assured you was the safest baby essentials. You almost choked on your water when Steve opened the box for the crib, which Vision told you he would put together. Everyone else was too busy laughing to notice the panicked looks you, Nat, and Wanda shared. There were a lot of jokes about how Vision must be eager for some kids running around the compound, but he didn’t seem to understand why everyone was laughing. You were sure that he had somehow used his super robot brain to figure out that you were pregnant, but apparently he hadn’t mentioned it to anyone else.

Tony insisted on going last, of course. His gift was a world class realtor showing you some of the best apartments in New York, which Tony insisted he would pay for. Steve tried to refuse, but you stopped him.

“We’ll think about it,” you said. Steve looked at you in surprise. Since the Avengers didn’t get paid, Steve usually had to rely on Tony’s money, but you were the one who was always insisting on paying for things yourself.

“We will?”

You shrugged. “There’s no way we’ll get a fancy penthouse or anything, but we could use a good realtor. And let’s face it, Tony will find a way to end up paying for most of it anyways.” You knew that your family would no doubt spend a lot of time at the compound, but you wanted a nice place in the city where your kids could go and be normal kids. If accepting Tony’s help was what it took to ensure that your family would have a nice place to live, you were willing to live with that. Plus, not having to worry about rent would allow you to take more pro bono work. 

Everyone sat around chatting for a while after the presents were done. Steve had you tucked into his side as the two of you lounged on a couch and watched your friends.

“You wanna get out of here?” Steve whispered in your ear.

“I’ll have to ask my husband if that’s okay,” you teased, enjoying the chuckle you got out of Steve.

“I think he’ll be fine with it. Not that you ever listen to anything he says.” Steve stood, pulling you up with him. Your face burned when everyone started cheering the two of you on, but Steve just laughed and waved goodnight to them. The two of you walked through the compound to Steve’s room in comfortable silence. Tomorrow, you would head out for your honeymoon, so you were enjoying your last peaceful moments at home.

“Do you actually think we need Tony’s realtor?” Steve asked suddenly. “I thought you liked that place we saw the other week.”

“Are you trying to start our first marital fight?” you joked, trying to get Steve to drop it. There was no way to explain why you were second guessing the place you and Steve had both liked without explaining that it wasn’t as child-friendly as you would like.

“I’m serious, honey. What made you change your mind?”

“I don’t know. I guess I was just thinking about how a third floor walkup could make some things difficult. And that place isn’t that much bigger than where I live now. There are also much better neighborhoods. Maybe we could look for somewhere closer to a park with a few bedrooms in a building with an elevator.”

“A few bedrooms? Sounds like you're describing a mansion. This is the city we’re talking about.”

“I’m not asking for a penthouse or a townhouse or anything. Just something that isn’t very cramped.” You tried to pull away from Steve, but he wrapped you up in a big hug.

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry. I just want to know what made you change your mind so much. I thought you said the third floor walkup would ensure we both stay in shape.”

You chewed on your lip thoughtfully, which made Steve know immediately that you were considering something important. Instead of answering, you grabbed Steve’s hand and pulled him down the hallway and into his room. Once you shut the door, you turned to face him. He was alarmed slightly by the nervousness in your eyes. You and Steve hadn’t talked seriously about kids. You both wanted some, but it seemed like both of you thought about them in terms of the future, not right after getting married.

“I’m pregnant,” you said finally.

“What?” Steve had heard you perfectly, even though you had barely whispered it. Perks of being a super soldier. It looked like his brain was short circuiting, though.

“I’m pregnant,” you said again, louder this time. Slowly, you put your hands around Steve’s waist. “Steve? Babe, talk to me. Where’s your head at? I know we weren’t expecting to have kids so soon but-”

“This is amazing,” Steve breathed. He picked you up and spun you around. “Oh my gosh! This is amazing.” He gently set you back on your feet, then kneeled to kiss your stomach. “How long have you known? Does anyone else know?”

“I’ve only known for sure for about a week, but I was suspicious. Nat and Wanda know. And Vision, apparently.”

“That explains the crib,” Steve laughed breathlessly. He hugged you again.

“That explains the crib,” you agreed.

“And the apartment. Honey, I don’t care how much money Tony has to spend. Your kid is going to have the best place in all of New York City.”

“It doesn’t have to be the best. It just has to be home. And just so you know, you’re not allowed to miss the birth because you’re on a mission. You’re taking paternity leave as soon as I’m close to popping.” Steve laughed and agreed before picking you up and carrying you towards the bed.

Steve shouldn’t have been surprised by the text. Of course you would go into labor while he was across the country. You weren’t due for another three weeks, so you and Steve had both thought it would be safe for him to go on one last mission. It had been a quick one, luckily, so he had a chance to get there before you actually gave birth.

A few people gave him strange looks as he ran through the halls of the hospital, almost sliding past your room because he was going so fast. Though the looks might have been because he was still wearing his Captain America uniform.

You couldn’t help but laugh when you saw him stumble into the room. He seemed uninjured, which meant the mission was a success in your books. He was breathing heavily, not you knew it wasn’t from the running. Another perk of being a super soldier. Steve Rogers, who had fought actual aliens, was nervous.

“Thank god I made it,” he gasped, rushing over to grab your hand. “We broke about every speed limit on the way over. Sam thought I should just jump out of the plane and into the roof of the hospital, but I thought that might be a bit much.”

“Just a bit,” you agreed before being overtaken by another contraction. You squeezed Steve’s hand as your eyes screwed shut. “You made it just in time. I’m about to start pushing. I was going to ask them to go find a hot doctor to hold my hand.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Steve laughed, but he did grip your hand tighter. You smiled brightly at him. Despite what you said, it was such a relief to you that he had made it. Your smile faded when the doctor told you to push. This was the part you hadn’t been looking forward to.

Steve was on the edge of his seat next to you. He hated that there was nothing he could do to really make it easier, but he held your hand and reminded you to breathe.

Finally, you were able to collapse back into the pillows. You and Steve watched in amazement as the doctor placed the tiny, crying body in your arms.

“It’s a girl,” Steve breathed.

“It’s a girl,” you agreed. “And she’s perfect.”

“Yeah she is.” You turned to smile at Steve and realized that his eyes were already on you. He leaned in to gently press a kiss on your lips before bending down to press another on your daughter’s head.

You couldn’t help the tears of joy that ran down your face. You had the two most important people in the world with you now. You couldn’t ask for your life to be any more perfect.

[arhvste]

❝ kuroo tetsurō - rate-a-child ❞

in which kuroo takes a more refined but catty approach towards having his say on your daughters ex boyfriend leaving her in tears

an - sorry this took so long to get out, this went hand in hand with the hcs i did that’s why it’s a little late seeing as i changed the concepts for oo of yesterday’s work !!

tetsu week masterlist

“i’ll kill him.”

“you’ll do nothing of a sort.”

“i meant with kindness.”

“kindness my ass, the look on your face says it all!”

you were currently in a hissing match between yourself and your husband as you stood outside the bedroom door of your 16 year olds daughter who was currently curled up under her sheets which were damp with tears.

the catalyst to the situation was when your daughter first slipped in through the front door and failed to greet yourself and her father as usual. you hadn’t missed this as you poked your head out of the living room only to see a pair of legs stagger up the stairs without much care placed in each step.

“tetsurō, is she okay?” you whispered nodding towards the door your daughter had just entered through from school.

“i couldn’t tell you, she didn’t look in my direction.” kuroo raised an eyebrow as he looked up from his laptop screen briefly towards the hall.

“i think i’ll go and see.” you muttered as you dropped your phone onto the couch and headed towards the staircase.

“i’ll come.” kuroo got up ready to stand only to halt when you shot him a piercing look.

“this is mother-daughter time i think.”

“aw don’t be like that! why can’t i be included and see what’s wrong with my little girl?”

you rolled your eyes and shook your head.

“because i don’t think she likes how you baby her so much. she’s independent tetsu, we have to accept it. just let me talk to her first and you can come up in a few minutes okay?”

“guess you’re gonna have to take her amounts of babying in her place then.” he pouted to which you let out an airy before heading upstairs to your daughters room.

you knocked and waited for the signal to come in but it never came. you tried again and still no reply. pressing your ear to the door you heard soft sobs coming from inside as your heart rate sped up.

“i’m coming in” you quietly warned before gently opening the door, your daughters saddened form right before your eyes.

“oh!” you rushed over to her side and pulled her weak state into your arms as you sat on the side of her bed.

“baby what’s wrong?” you cooed stroking the hair stuck to her face as a result of wet tears dripping down her face.

“-he -he dumped me.” she hiccuped as more tears dropped down her face.

you frowned silently to yourself as you racked your brain for an appropriate response.

kuroo had been your first and only boyfriend so you had never been broken up with before so you couldn’t understand the pain she must’ve been feeling. for now, rocking her back and fourth and calming the crying seemed like the best option until you could think of how to approach it without looking too aimless.

as if the heavens had opened their gates specifically for you to grant any wish you so much desired, your husband entered your field of vision in the doorway as his eyes softened at the two of you.

“so much for mother-daughter time.” you tutted and kuroo softly smiled before approaching the two of you.

“i know you’re relieved i’m here, it’s written all over that pretty face of yours.” he replied he took a seat on the other side of your daughter.

“can you not flirt while in front of me whike i’m going through my first teenage heartbreak!” you daughter snapped as kuroos eyes widened.

“heartbreak?” you sent a pleading look his way as if to beg for him to say something to attempt damage control.

“o-oh i mean, heartbreak yes. well, i’m just waiting on you to confirm it was that ugly boyfriend of yours who did it so i can take matters into my own hands.”

you glared at your husband who now had a small fire ignited in his eyes.

“it was. -but please don’t say anything! i don’t want this to be a thing!” you daughter tugged at your husbands arm pleading him to keep this to himself.

“no can do. princess, you’re crying. i never want to see you cry especially over some boy who’s league you were well above anyway!” he scoffed as he got up to leave.

“don’t worry pretty one, dads gonna get him back for ya!”

“tetsu don’t-”

and with that he shut the door behind him, leaving you to scramble to your feet offering an apologetic look to your daughter to which she dryly laughed and waved off her fathers antics. you hastily dashed out the room to grab kuroos hand before he could get any further down the hall which was where you were presently questioning your husbands motives.

“y/n, let me go please.” he whined as you held his arm tighter.

“and if i do then what?” you pressed, raising an eyebrow at him.

“then i’ll get revenge for our little girl.”

“then i’m not letting you go.” you quipped back frowning at him.

“makes no difference to me.” he sighed using his other arm to scoop you up easily off of your feet and out of shock you let him go.

“tetsurō! let me go! i want no part in this!” you hissed as your husband carried you down the stairs and into his home office.

“why are we in here?” you quietened down once he placed you on the plush black couch in his work space.

“you didn’t seriously think i was going to actually show up at his house or something did you?” he grinned as he sat upon his desk chair to fire up his desktop.

“yes.” you honestly muttered, raising an eyebrow towards him.

he cackled and shook his head before motioning for you to come over to which you found yourself obliging to.

“look, i’m not gonna be too embarrassing speaking for her but i think you’re gonna want a say in this eventually.” he explained as your confused face only stuck as you watched him open his emails.

he typed in the email address of your daughters ex boyfriends parents. you knew you had their contact details as they had requested your husband help them get their son into the sport industry to which kuroo very reluctantly agreed to, only because you insisted.

kuroo was never a fan of the boy. he knew from the first time he met him that he would cause trouble and as much as he’d like to have his ‘told you so’ moment, he knew that it could wait. he’d prove his point another way instead.

‘dear mr and mrs whatever your last names were, i’ve forgotten it already,’

you flicked him on the arm for that but something told you to let him continue as you silently fed off of the pettiness yourself.

‘it’s come to my attention my suspicions about your ‘boy’ were right. he is in fact a trouble maker and i should’ve prevented him from getting involved with us from the very start when i first had a hunch.’

kuroo typed with such precision and passion. you had never seen him so into an email before and you weren’t sure whether you should’ve been concerned or not.

‘i first had an idea of what sort of person your son was when my daughter for some reason brought him over for dinner. his manners? comparable to a farm animal. who eats with their mouth open?’

humming as he typed, kuroo mentally listed all the time he didn’t like the boy which wasn’t exactly hard since you knew he had disliked him from the very start and while right now your daughter might’ve been upset and distraught, he was silently happy that he was finally out of the picture.

‘another thing i find closely similar to a farm animal in him is his hair. i don’t particularly understand why you allow him to leave the house looking such a state, but you’re certainly not doing him any favours by doing so.’

you snorted reading this one as kuroo glanced up at you.

“i think that’s a bit rich coming from you.” you hummed as your husband snickered.

“my hair and his hair are two very different situations. mine is unintentional and you love it. his... well, his is just straight up ugly and he intentionally styles it that way.” kuroo replied before turning back down to face the screen.

‘i remember the first time i enquired your son about his very ‘unique’ hairstyle and he scoffed in my face and told me it’s what was currently ‘trendy’. forgive me if i’m wrong, but a trend is a pattern multiple people follow and make normalised no? i haven’t seen another soul wander around with the same bizarre mop on their head as your son, perhaps a dictionary is in order to be purchased for your son so he can educate himself on what a ‘trend’ really is, because no sane being would follow along with his atrocious aesthetic.’

your eyes danced over the screen as kuroo typed it up so flawlessly, it was as if he had revised everything he’d been wanting to say for months which in all honesty, wouldn’t shock you considering how vocal he was speaking against your daughters then boyfriend.

‘so not only is your son lacking in the aesthetics department but also the personality. i’m not quite sure why he thinks his rude tone is normal, but it’s not. why does he act like owns the place whenever he visits my house. i hate to make assumptions, but your boy isn’t bringing any income to the table is he? so tell me why he acts like he does whenever he comes over.’

the irritation deepened on kuroos face as he recalled all the times the boy would come over and treat the house like his own. his shoes muddy and left in the middle of the hallway, his feet always propped up on the coffee table centred in the living room by the couches, no greeting or acknowledgment when he’d come in, he’d simply come in and head straight upstairs to your daughters room. kuroo was agitated each and every time but held his growing aggravation together at the insistence from you that your daughter would come to her senses soon enough and dump him. the outcome is technically what yourself and kuroo had wanted, although, the two of you were confused as to why your daughter was crying over someone so inferior. nevertheless, you were both internally relieved it was all over now.

‘while i know your son is still growing up and such, i do think 16 years old is a little concerning for him to not know manners. this is exactly why i was reluctant to help him into getting into the professional sports industry. both yourselves and your son were demanding of my assistance however, let it be known msby weren’t fans of your son and his awful mannerisms in the slightest so i wouldn’t prepare myself to cheer him on at their stadium anytime soon so hold your breaths.’

kuroo recalled the few times he brought the wretched boy to work with him only to suffer at the hands of secondhand embarrassment. he was rude and obnoxious towards the staff and had provoked several of the players leaving kuroo to apologise in his place and guide him as far away from the pros as possible.

‘i’m glad myself and my family are finally able to wash our hands with him. i didn’t like him and my wife wasn’t too keen either. teach him to do better than this. while i’m bothered by my own daughters current state of upset, i know her tears will dry quickly once she realises what a waste of time this all was. i don’t want a reply, i want an improvement from your son. don’t let him treat his next girlfriend (if he’s lucky enough to get one) the way he treated my daughter and i think basic manner instructions and examples are required for him to start an improvement.’

your arms draped over kuroos shoulders as he gunned finishing his email.

‘my daughter will move on quickly from this, i have no doubt in that, but teach your son what it means to be a responsible man and reshape the strange looking piece of clay of a child you’ve moulded him into. there’s still hope (if you’re optimistic). overall, i’m rating your child 2/5 stars. he was reliable but that’s the only good thing he had going for him. take my constructive criticism and work on improvements for the future! yours sincerely, kuroo tetsurō’

with a slighter harder press on the final letter of the email, kuroo clicked a few options on the email and wasted no time in hitting the ‘send’ button before exhaling.

“that was... something.” you muttered as kuroo turned to face you on the office chair.

he laughed softly before pulling you onto his lap and leaning in. his hot breath ticking the back of your neck as he spoke.

“i think this is going to shake them more than a visit to their house won’t it? i’m sure an email is the last thing they’re expecting.”

you leaned back into his chest as his arms wrapped around your waist as he pressed soft kisses to the back of your neck.

“i hope one day, she finds someone who’ll love her the way you love me.” you sighed, eyes fluttering shut.

“i know she will, she has your good looks and my sharp wit, i don’t have a single doubt she’ll find someone as good as her over time.” kuroo murmered his kisses ceasing for a moment.

the two of you sat there in contentment for just a moment before you pulled yourself from his grip and stood before him offering your hand.

“boys can wait, the only boy she needs in her life right now is sat right before me and i think she needs him to come and comfort her with me for now.” you softly smiled as kuroo smirked.

“so, i finally get an invitation to mother and daughter time?” he leaned further back in his chair, sharp features only more defining.

“looks like it.” you confirmed as kuroo reached for your hand.

“then, i gladly accept.” his calloused hand took in your own as you tugged him off the dark leather office chair.

you and kuroo had no doubt your daughter would pick herself up on her own over time. that didn’t mean you wouldn’t slyly defend her behind the scenes though because while kuroo loved the idea of his daughter staying his little girl forever, he knew better than to tug at her independence.

nevertheless, your little girl or not, yourself and kuroo would go to all ends to make her happy and if that meant to send a petty email, the so be it. yourself and kuroo would gladly sit at your screens for hours and type up as many needed if it meant to make your daughter happy.

there wasn’t really anything kuroo wouldn’t do for his family and you loved that about him. always taking the higher ground and solving issues in sometimes questionable but logical ways was kuroos method at tackling things. youd question his motives but he’d always come through in the other end. perhaps you’d have to trust your husband from the start of these situations a little more in the future.

dt - @aislastetsu

general taglist → @atsumuwoah @bloody-bella @bbymilkbread @miracleboy420 @doggonudez @tsumue @peteunderoos @tsukkisbean @saturnfarie @toffees-main @zumisace @boosyboo9206 @totorosleaff @27kei @dai-tsukki-desu @angrylittleriri @tsukkaria @kuxredere @warakou @mattsuny @lovinnoya @sophiashortcake

ALL CONTENT BELONGS TO @KUROOSKULT ON TUMBLR 2020 PLEASE DO NOT REPOST, CHANGE OR PLAGIARISE

[thenovelartist]

A Blanc Slate, Chapter 2

<Previous Next >

4. Cafe

By the time Chat had finished his bath, Marinette had finished warming up a bowl of soup for him.

“Sit,” she ordered, pointing to her chaise lounge.

He did as asked, less taking a seat and more collapsing onto the chaise. He’d given up on fighting her, but she couldn’t tell if he was sick or just tired of fighting. Maybe both.

She handed him the soup bowl, and he took it with a quiet thank you. But before he took a bite, she placed her hands on his forehead and cheeks, trying to gage his temperature compared to hers.

He did pull away at first, hurting her heart once again, but this time, he eventually relented to her touch.

“You feel too warm,” she muttered. “Stay right there; let me go see if I have anything for that.”

When she returned with water and some medicine, he was staring at his bowl of soup that still looked quite full.

She frowned as she set the glass and pill on her desk. “Something wrong? Does it not taste good?”

“No, it tastes like the soup from one of my favorite cafes. I’m just…”

“Can’t stomach it?”

His eyes closed, shaking his head almost imperceptibly.

Frowning, she sat herself down next to him on the edge of the chaise. “Is it because you’re sick? Or stressed?”

He tapped the side of the bowl with his fingers. “More stressed.”

She nodded. “I could have guessed that.”

He quirked a brow at her.

She tapped his arm. “You’re white. Something must have happened.”

His eyes hardened, and Marinette instantly worried she shouldn’t have said anything. “How do you know I’m not an akuma?”

“You’re too lucid for that,” she easily dismissed. “You let me drag you up here, and you’ve said nothing about Ladybug’s miraculous.”

He sneered, looking almost disappointed by that fact. “How do you know I’m not dangerous, though?”

She scoffed. “Are you?” she sarcastically challenged, already feeling confident in her answer.

“What if I am?”

“Then what are you planning to do?”

He forced a rougish grin, but it looked tired and it didn’t reach his empty eyes. “Why would I tell you?”

“Then do it.”

His eyes blew wide. “What?”

“Do it,” she challenged, leaning closer while a challenging grin grew on her face. “What is a dangerous kitty like you planning to do to little old me?”

She watched a pink creep out from under his mask, his eyes panicked as he leaned away from her.

See, white or black, you’re still my good kitty. With a chuckle, she pulled back to give him space again. “You’re not dangerous,” she said, her smile small but genuine. “So don’t even try to pretend you are. You’re just trying to push me away, and that won’t work on me.”

Though caught off-guard for a moment, he soon relaxed with a tired sigh. “Anyone ever tell you you’re too smart for your own good, princess?”

She shrugged. “No, but thanks for the compliment.”

5. Nightmares

“You’re not really leaving, are you?” Despite having rested and eaten a few bites of food, Marinette could tell he was tired. She knew what an adrenaline crash felt like, and Chat was probably in the middle of one. The last thing she wanted was for him to hurt himself while trying to make his way home while under the heavy weight of exhaustion.

But Chat seemed determined to leave as he made his way to her balcony hatch. “I have to.”

“No, you don’t. You can stay here tonight—”

“Marinette,” he interrupted, cutting her off with a firm look. “I can’t. I have things to do.”

“But you have a fever.”

“Even if I didn’t!” he firmly cut in. “I can’t stay.”

A shocking intensity shone in his green eyes that silenced her completely.

He sighed, his angry front fading just a little. “I get nightmares,” he admitted. “Bad ones. And unless you want me to wake your parents when I wake up screaming, you’ll let me go.”

Before she even had the thought to stop him, he’d disappeared. And Marinette was left sitting on her bed in shock.

Her kitty had nightmares? And they were that bad.

“Chat Noir,” she muttered under her breath to no one. “What happened to you?”

6. Midnight

When the clock struck midnight, Marinette still could not fall asleep. She partly wondered if Chat had turned back into a pumpkin by now. Hopefully, he had and was at home sleeping after such a rough day.

Too bad she couldn’t sleep.

Frustrated by her inability to drift off into dreamland, she decided to stand out on her balcony for a bit. The rain had almost stopped by now, only a drizzle remaining. She really should go grab a coat or just go inside, but the cool, damp air was just what she needed to clear her head.

Chat Noir. Chat Blanc. What had happened to him? And why wouldn’t he let her help him? And she meant both Ladybug her and Marinette her. He was hurting badly, yet refusing to lean on anyone. Most he did was allow Marinette to care for him a bit, and she supposed it was better than nothing, but she also could guess that she wouldn’t see him again beyond when he returned the clothes to her.

And even then, he might just knock and leave the clothes there without her ever seeing him.

Lastly, there was the issue that her once cuddly kitty now flinched at her touch. Had he taken a beating? Was he hurt? Was he scared? What had happened that made him change so drastically in the course of a day?

It wasn’t long before a set of sirens broke her out of her reverie. First it was one fire truck, then two, then an ambulance followed by a couple police.

And curiosity got the better of Marinette.

She called for her transformation before following the vehicles. She normally didn’t participate in such endeavors, leaving it to the emergency responders to do their normal job, but occasionally, she would help comfort victims or secure a larger scene. At the moment, she just wanted something to take her mind off the raging questions without answers surrounding her cat.

However, as their destination came into view, her gut twisted into countless knots.

The Agreste mansion was on fire. And it wasn’t just a little one.

Adrien.

She remembered him talking about how he was moving out soon, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember if he ever told her the date he was moving. And even if he had, she doubted she could recall today’s date, anyway.

Frantic, she swung close to the building, landing on the fiery window sill of his bedroom before breaking the window in. Smoke billowed out into the night, causing her to choke and sputter. Still, she forced past the pain, blinked away the tears trying to flush the smoke from her eyes, and pushed her way into the building.

“Adrien!” she called out, trying to keep low to the floor. The flames roared up the walls, burning everything in sight and covering everything in a thick, black fog that made it almost impossible to see. “Adrien!” she called out again before pulling out her yo-yo to breathe through, just as she would underwater. She scrambled about the room, smoke burning her eyes and the heat overwhelming her as she checked his couch, his bed, the bathroom, but she couldn’t find him.

Unable to stay in the building any longer, she made her escape, swinging up to a nearby building’s rooftop for a place to land and catch her breath. Her eyes were burning, and even despite her yo-yo, she could still feel the sting in her lungs.

Oh, Tikki was going to give her an earful later.

From where she was kneeling on the nearby rooftop, Ladybug watched the increasing number of emergency responders desperately trying to put out the blazing fire. She watched as firefighters, all suited up and masked, took the brave plunge into the building, but after many excruciatingly long minutes, they emerged with only one body. One that just looked black in the man’s arms.

Please don’t let that be Adrien. Please don’t let that be Adrien. Please don’t let that be him!

She couldn’t stand it any longer. She had to har Adrien’s voice. She had to know he was okay. It was well past midnight by this point, but she was too desperate to care. As fast as she could, she rushed home.

The moment she detransformed, Tikki started her lecture.

“That was wildly dangerous, Marinette,” she warned.

“I know, I know,” Marinette assured, tearing her room apart as she searched for her phone. “But I just had to know.”

Tikki sighed. “I know you know,” she relented. “And I know you would have done that for any of your friends. I only say that because I worry for you.”

Her phone now in hand, she turned back to Tikki with a somewhat relieved smile. “I know you do. Thanks.”

“But please, don’t do that again.”

“Understood.” With that said, Marinette hit the call button next to Adrien’s name. Please pick up. Please pick up!

It went to voicemail. Which caused Marinette’s stomach to tighten so much she could barely get out a voice message.

She tried again, but to no avail. Ice seemed to creep through her veins, causing her to shake so badly she could barely hit the redial button, desperate to try one last time.

And got an answer.

“Adrien!” she cried, already feeling the tears of relief bubbling up. “Thank goodness you’re okay.”

“Sorry for scaring you,” he said. “I saw your messages.”

She felt like she could breathe again as the weight of worry, a weight heavier than she expected, dropped from her shoulders at the sound of his voice. “Yeah. Sorry for calling so late, but I had to know you were okay.”

“You don’t live that close to me, though. Were you close by? If you were, what were you doing out so late?”

“Um…” Marinette minorly panicked when she realized that technically, she should not know at all. The Agreste mansion was close, but not that close. She should be in bed, or maybe she would have been working on a project this late. Instead, she desperately scrambled for a lie. “I… I was up on my balcony getting some fresh air when I saw several emergency vehicles go by, and then went online to see if I could find anything out. And when I learned it was the mansion, I tried to let it go, but I couldn’t and… well… yeah.”

“Oh,” he said, voice taking on a tired edge again. “No, I’m out of the mansion. So don’t worry about it.”

“Okay,” she said, sighing with relief and feeling a wave of exhaustion slam into her. “Sorry for calling so late. I should have just let it go.”

“Don’t be,” he said. “It just meant you cared.”

“Of course, I do. You’re one of my closest friends, Adrien.”

He hummed. “Thank you, Marinette.” His voice was warm, now. Enough to make Marinette’s heart melt and remind her once again just why she fell for him all those years ago. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”

“I think I get the idea,” she said. “If the last…what, six years now? are any indication.”

He chuckled. “I guess so.”

As much as she would have loved to keep talking, she knew it was late and she could feel her body aching. “Hey, sorry if I woke you up. I’ll let you get back to sleep now.”

“Well, this time, you didn’t,” he dismissed. “But even if you did, I wouldn’t have minded at all.”

“Good to know,” she hummed, laying down on her bed, smile on her face. “Good night, Adrien.”

“Good night, Marinette. And thanks again, for everything.”

[shadow-assassin-blix]

The Assassin and His Lady

CHAPTER 1

Assassin’s Creed AU!Billy Russo/Past!CaspianX x Reader

It’s here y’all. Billy Russo as an Assassin, his past life as Caspian X. No warnings so far. Italics are past life. Billy may be slightly OOC. Let me know if you want to be tagged.

Everything taglist: @mikeisthricedeceased​

The year was 1536, mere weeks after Henry the VIII changed the religion of England simply to divorce his wife. The castle was bustling about as they planned the upcoming wedding of Anne Boleyn and the King. You were a lady in waiting to her and as such, you were tasked with running about getting inane items for her.

You were in the nearby town, picking up orders that Anne had placed for the wedding. You had a carriage nearby for not only transport for yourself, but everything you picked up. A knight stood by helping you to protect the items from thieves.

The last thing you had to pickup was several bolts of fabric. You were grabbing the last of the bolts, when a man bumped into you rudely, making you drop at least one of them.

“Damn it,” You grumbled staring at the white lace that was now covered in mud.

The man turned to her, yelling at her for blocking his path before wandering away.

“Oh yes. Not like you couldn’t see me standing here for several minutes holding my weight in fabric and couldn’t possibly go around me,” You mumbled loudly.

You heard a deep chuckle behind you. You turn to see a handsome man, with shoulder length brown hair and warm brown eyes.

“Did he hurt you?” He asked as stepped forward.

“No. But he did ruin a very expensive bolt of lace that was meant for the queen. So, I’ll have so much fun explaining that to her,” You replied with a heavy sigh, adjusting your grip on the bolts.

You were tired, and you weren’t ready to try and talk to the vendor. He had been very short with you and were not in the mood to try and beg for more fabric.

“Allow me to help you,” He offered cordially, taking the bolts from her.

He walked with her to the carriage and placed them inside. He motioned for her to wait, as he walked back over to the stall. She could see him talking to the vendor, and the vendor walked away and came back with a much larger bolt of lace fabric. You see him pay without a care. He carried it over to her and presented it to her.

“This is very similar to the fabric that was ruined, but much prettier. I’m sure the queen won’t mind,” He stated with a charming grin.

“Why...? Why help a complete stranger?” You asked grateful but cautious, taking the fabric and setting it in the carriage.

“Maybe… I was hoping for chance to ask you for a stroll, or to lunch one day? The tavern nearby may not be as fancy as the royal court, but they do their best,” He proposed taking her hand softly to press a kiss to it.

You stared at him somewhat surprised and bit your lip for a moment.

“Hm. I’m sure they do. However, I don’t even know your name,” You said coyly.

He chuckled, “I’m Caspian and you?”

You tell him your name adding, “But… most my friends call me Dahlia.”

“Dahlia? Why?” He asked her curious.

You stepped into the carriage with a secretive smile, poking your head out lightly through the window once the door closed.

“Guess you’ll have to find out during that stroll and lunch, Caspian,” You teased before having your guard drive off, making your way back to the castle.

Caspian stood there watching it leave, his charming smile slowly falling away. A large bulkier man, the same man who had bumped into you, appeared by his side.

“Is she the one?” Came his deep voice.

“Yes Jasper. I do believe so. She will be my ‘in’ to the castle. Our good king has made far too many enemies. Tis only a matter of time before they try to target him,” Caspian said lowly, his Mediterranean accent coming in more thickly.

“Indeed. Let’s go get a drink aye?” Jasper patted him on the back.

The images faded and blurred all around him.

Billy blinked harshly as he was pulled from the animus. He rubbed at his eyes with his thumb and index finger, as he leaned forward, cracking his neck a moment later.

“Hate the headaches that come with this damn thing. Why was I pulled?” Billy asked Frank looking up at him and Curtis.

“Been in too long. You know the rules,” Curtis said tapping away at the computer.

Frank offered his hand to help him up, which he took with a groan.

Billy sighed, stretching as he straightened up.

“Go get some air. I’m going to sift through the data so far. Go get a drink,” Curtis dismissed him with a wave.

Billy nodded grabbing his jacket, phone and wallet that was sitting off to the side. He made his way downstairs, stepping out onto the streets of London. They were searching for piece of Eden that was located here in London. They were currently residing in a large studio loft that was located off the beaten path.

He made his way to his car, hopping in it, to go for a drive to clear his mind. He drove around for about an hour, making his way deep into downtown London. He parked outside a pub, wanting a drink. He made his way inside, taking a seat at the bar. He ordered a beer, and slowly drank it. As he drank, he felt someone staring at him.

He subtly looked around and saw a glimpse of a woman sitting near the booths. He felt strange as he tried to get another look at her. He felt like he knew her; she seemed so familiar.

He sees her walking toward the door finally. She looked like Dahlia, but that wasn’t possible? Right? He blinked and she was gone. He got up, tossing some money down, and followed the woman. However, when he stepped outside, she was nowhere to be found.

Billy turned around several times trying to figure out where she went. He was confused. Did he imagine her? Was he experience the bleeding effect? That’s not possible. They had been so careful. He decided he was tired and just drove back to base. He went to bed without saying much to the guys.

Several weeks had passed and he kept seeing this woman everywhere. He was sure he was going crazy. After about 2 weeks of it happening, he told the guys about what was happening with a grimace. That admission led to them holding off time in the animus because of it.

One day, he was strolling around the London Eye Pier, bored. He was ready to go back in and figure out where this piece was. He stood off to the side for a moment, watching the Ferris wheel move. He heard a shout to his right, a man running his way, with a bag clutched between his hands, and a woman yelling ‘stop thief.’ Billy stuck his foot out tripping the thief.

The thief tripped, dropping the bag. Billy grabbed the fallen bag and glared at the man who tried to lunge for it again. The man stuttered in his movements, when he spied the look Billy was giving him, before scrambling to run away. He turned to the woman, gasping softly. It was her.

“Thank you so much!” She exclaimed as she took her bag from him.

“You’re welcome,” He replied with a smile, blinking several times, amazed she was real.

“I’m sorry… this is going to sound strange… but do I know you? You…seem oddly familiar,” She said staring at him softly.

“Ya know… I was about to say the same to you. I’m Billy,” He introduced holding out his hand.

She says her name, before going, “But. Friends call me Dahlia.”

She took his hand with a smile. He thought about just simply shaking it, but he couldn’t resist. He gently lifted it to press a kiss to her knuckles.

She gazed at him with surprise, before giggling prettily.

Billy smiled at her, before checking her over for a moment “You okay though? He didn’t hurt you?”

“No. I’m okay. Just surprised me. Thank you for asking. I’m… I’m not usually this forward, but… would you be interested in having dinner with me?” She politely asked with a hesitant smile.

“I would actually. Tomorrow night? Say, 6 pm, you choose the restaurant?” Billy suggested.

“Yeah. Sounds good. Umm. Lemme give you my number,” She said pulling out her phone.

They exchanged numbers, and parted. Billy had a slight skip in his step. He walked in, whistling causing Frank and Curtis to look at him curiously.

Frank slowly followed him over to his room, leaning against the door.

“What’s got you all happy?” Frank asked squinting at him.

“I wasn’t imagining her. It’s… it’s really Dahlia. I ran into her. We… we’re going to have dinner tomorrow,” Billy breathed a sigh of relief.

Frank nodded with a smile, “Good to know you’re not that crazy. We’ll resume animus work in two days then. Is she as pretty as her past self?”

“Better. I mean… technically she looks practically the same, but… seeing her in reality… not just… a memory? I just… She’s gorgeous,” Billy struggled to describe how he felt.

Frank chuckled, “Never seen you so flustered over a woman. Maybe she’ll be good for you. Go get some rest.”

Billy nodded, stripping down to go shower, before laying down. Once he was done cleansing, he laid down in just some boxers, grabbing a book. He tended to read for a bit before crashing for the evening. He read until he felt tired, and he dreamed of a girl with a bright smile and beautiful eyes.

[siren-dragon]

Do Androids Bleed Silver? (Ch.1) -- The Cat Returns fanfic

Hey everyone, I wrote another story and this time it isn’t a one-shot but a chaptered one. Yay! This is my first time doing a sci-fi story, so if it seems a little strange or odd, I apologize but I wanted to get something out before I go on vacation. Anyway, hope you all enjoy it! Also tagging @catsafarithewriter because they have been a wonderful support and inspiration.

Ao3 story link

Summary: Cyberpunk/Android AU

=============================================

‘Next stop; Shibuya Station. I repeat, next stop Shibuya Station.’ The automated voice sounded over the train intercom, ‘please wait until the train comes to a complete stop and stand away from the opening doors before disembarking.’

Looking down at the half-crumbled note in her hand, Haru took hold of her frayed but well-loved duffle bag and stood from her seat. “I guess this is my stop,” she muttered aloud before the exiting the train and out of the station.

In the year of 2207, the use of androids and cybernetics had advance to a level where their use was a common practice and the backbone of modern society; even in her much smaller hometown. But after entering Shibuya Crossing- Haru felt her backwater home was definitely not on the same level as Tokyo. The famed metropolis was well regarded as the forefront of robotics and cybernetics throughout the entire world but the invention of CREATIONS was the achievement that truly put the city into a category all of its own. Though technically possessing a robotics classification, many who’ve had the chance to see a CREATION regarded them as so life-like, it was almost as if their creator had conjured life itself….

And it was part of the reason why Haru wanted to study robotics in Tokyo; as the only robots that her hometown possessed were generic models of the Alpha and Beta-Classes. She wanted to see the daily technological wonders always taking place in Tokyo. But in truth, the real reason Haru wanted to go was because she loved to help others and repair problems. It was why she decided to study robotics and cybernetics in the first place- with the exception of her apparent talent in the field.

At first, many had viewed the cheery but ultimately clumsy brunette to be a bit of a hazard; and it wasn’t exactly a secret to Haru herself either. She could remember constantly stumbling on her impromptu runs to high school after having slept in- or when she once tripped cleaning the trash disposal unit in the classroom and ended up spilling the contents everywhere. But the moment she sat behind the small desk in her bedroom among the clutter of spare parts and tools, her once graceless movements sharpened and Haru would smile as she’d begin to skillfully repair whatever tech the residents of her hometown brought her. So, with the encouragement of Hiromi and Tsuge, she applied for various internships everywhere in Tokyo in the attempt to join someone’s Workshop team.

And it seemed that only one person was willing to give her a chance…

Walking further into the depths of Shibuya Haru gazed in amazement at the 3D holographic displays and looming skyscrapers that was a far cry from her small hometown. The streets were littered with people possessing a variety of enhancements the young woman had only seen before in adverts that managed to be broadcasted back home. Quickly shaking off her awe and hurryingly pulling out her note of directions once more, Haru began the walk away from the train station and towering skyscrapers while weaving her way through the small alleyways, the brunette teenager came to a halt once more on a rather isolated street. Glancing down once more at the paper in her hand, Haru glanced up at the sight before her with a bit of surprise.

“This… is the Bureau?” Haru spoke, looking at the old, neon green sign that flickered slightly with a smaller neon sign saying the Workshop was open beside an open doorway that was partially blocked by a dark noren curtain. Next to what was meant to be the entryway into the shop was a pair of roll-up garage doors- one of which was already lifted up to reveal the illuminated Workshop within. Tools ranging from chisels and wrenches of all sizes to a designated soldering station, making her maple-colored eyes glow with delight.

“If you don’t have any business Chicky, keep walking. This isn’t a museum.” A gruff voice sounded, causing her to jump slightly.

Standing up from beside what, to Haru’s surprise, was an AeroCycle on a hydraulic lift was probably the largest man the young woman had ever seen. He was tall and rather stout with ivory crew-cut hair and a dark stubble about his mouth and chin while dark brown eyes gave her an unimpressed stare as he crossed his arms; with the left being a robotic prosthesis baring a shade reminiscent of a dark coffee. As the man took in her short height, petite frame, and slightly disheveled ponytail; Haru only hoped he didn’t immediately send her back home based on looks alone- after all, she knew her appearance didn’t exactly scream ‘mechanic’.

“Well? Do you have business here or not Chicky?” He asked again, a hint of impatience coloring his tone.

“Sorry sir, my name is Haru Yoshioka… I’m the intern assistant you made the offer to.”

It was here a skeptical eyebrow lifted as his hands soon went to his hips. Haru mentally scrambled for a way to defend her skills should this man end up turning her away, but he only asked one question. “Can you cook?”

“…Yes?” Haru answered, still a little confused.

“Show me; head up there and make something then bring it over. We’ll talk after.” And with that said, the man returned to his work on the AeroCycle without another word.

Haru could only stare with a slightly dumbfounded expression before letting loose a soft sigh and followed his brief and general directions. Up a set of steel stairs lay a large viewing window, which oversaw the garage, and another door that lead into the living quarters that was surprisingly clean; if a bit cluttered. To the left lay a small kitchenette while the right had a simple living room and a corridor that led further into the flat. Turning to the kitchen and figuring not to keep the man who’d likely become her boss waiting, Haru was quick to fix a lunch from a hamburger steak with a fried egg on top and rice (it was either that or one of the instant ramen containers nestled in the pantry) and returned to see the stout man now talking to a customer while gesturing to the AeroCycle. “Next time learn to drive properly bird-brain.”

“And I told you before, lard-ball, it crashed during a chase!” The customer, who was dressed in a police officers’ uniform, snapped in response all the while glaring at the mechanic.

The mechanic merely grinned savagely, as if he was used to the explosive behavior from the officer. “While you were chasing what? A nearby bird.”

“As if you’re one to talk, you over-sized marshmallow. I’m surprised you can even climb the stairs to your flat without them snapping from the strain.”

“You say that again, you big chicken!”

“Umm… excuse me,” Haru spoke up, causing both men to swerve their heads to her immediately. “Is everything alright? I’ve got the lunch ready.”

“Thanks, Chicky, I’ll just take that off your hands.” The larger of the two men spoke, retrieving the succulent smelling meal with a gleam in his eyes, “and congratulations- you pass my test; welcome to The Bureau. The name’s Muta and this idiot here is Bird-Brain, a regular.”

“The name is Officer Toto Tsubame, nice to meet you and please, ignore this fatso.” Toto replied instead, bowing in greeting with a kind smile. “Are you new to the district? You are a bit young to be on your own…”

While Muta was large and hefty, Toto was his complete opposite with a slim frame and long, layered black locks tied into a small ponytail at the nape of his neck; reminding the brunette of a bird’s feathers. His skin was a tad darker than the larger mechanic and his clothes the standard dark navy-blue police uniform with the exception of knee-high shock absorption boots and a black carbon-fiber and titanium woven shirt that rested under the uniform with the cuffs rolled to his elbows. But what truly caught Haru’s attention was the unique dark-grey coloration of his eyes that she had only seen a few times before in holo-books or advertisements. “Oh wow, you have an optical upgrade on your eyes, I’ve never seen that before. That’s really cool…”

Here Toto gave a good-natured laugh, “you’re definitely new to Tokyo if this is your first time seeing something like that, but well spotted. My eyes have been altered with increased monocular vision and can see with UV and Infrared, alongside night vision. Plus, the color is a rather nice aesthetic as well- but that’s enough about me; what brings you here to the city Miss…”

“Haru. Haru Yoshioka, and it’s nice to meet you too.” She smiled, giving a bow of greeting in return. “I am here for an intern job at the Bureau. But, I’m not sure what cooking really has to do with robotics and engineering.”

Muta bit into the hamburger steak and sighed happily as he devoured the plate of food while Toto groaned at the mechanic’s table manners; or lack thereof. “I didn’t want some assistant who couldn’t take care of themselves, I’m not a babysitter. Besides, if you weren’t skilled enough to be here, I wouldn’t have offered you the job in the first place.”

“O-Oh, thank you.” Haru beamed, more than relieved that though he seemed to be rather rough and intimidating, Muta wasn’t that bad- arguing with Toto aside. “I promise I’ll do my best, and thank you for your help Moo-ta.” Haru quickly gasped, raising her hands to her mouth in horror as if attempting to prevent the words from being heard, but it was too late.

“What?! Did you just say Moo? Like I’m some kind of fat cow!”

“No, no, you’re just fat! Oh- um…”

Toto, meanwhile, had lost all pretense of professionalism and started laughing with tears of amusement threatening to spill from his eyes. “Bahahaha! Oh, you’re going to fit in here quite well with nicknames like that Haru. I’m definitely going to be using that one.”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up bird-brain.” Muta grumbled, glaring at the still chuckling policeman, “and you Chicky- you got anything to say for yourself or to me, your boss?”

Haru gave a nervous smile, “I’m sorry Muta, it really did slip out. Would you accept an Insta-Pudding with my apology?”

The ivory-haired man stared down at her with an irritated look before sighing, “make it an Angel Cake from Osono’s bakery down the street, and we’re even.”

“Coming right up!” The young woman chimed before quickly making her way toward the aforementioned bakery.

Toto and Muta both watched her leave with the former giving a thoughtful hum, “Yoshioka huh? I don’t suppose she wouldn’t happen to be related to Hayata Yoshioka, would she?”

“His daughter apparently, if you’re that curious. And she’s only a few good years younger than you and me, idiot.” Muta answered, releasing the AeroCycle from the hydraulic lift while wiping the oil and grease from his hands. “I didn’t know he had a kid, and thought the name was just a coincidence till I saw the resume file Haru and her friends sent me. She was apparently fixing Alpha-class mechs at 11 years old.”

Toto gave an impressed whistle, “well, she’s certainly her father’s daughter if that’s the case.”

"I thought that too, but it was the fact that she has no personal cyber-enhancements that really sealed the deal." Muta added, that information causing the slim police officer to splutter in shock. "So I thought ‘why not?’ and decided to give her a shot; and it wasn’t like I was going to turn down the help- so here we are. But the fact that she can cook is a definite bonus.”

“Do you ever not think from your stomach?”

“Shut up, bird-brain!”

Toto sighed, “well, just try to keep an eye on her, alright? Not everything is exactly safe here, so if you ever need anything give me a call.”

“Thanks… you big chicken,” Muta answered before giving a devious grin and holding out his hand. “Now for the repairs, that’ll be 3,500 credits.”

“What?! That’s daylight robbery!”

“Is that so? And here I was giving you the ‘Friends and Family’ discount. But if you would rather pay full-price, who am I to deny you that.”

By the time Haru returned to the Workshop, she could hear Toto and Muta starting to argue once more and was glad she decided to buy two cakes in order to pacify both parties. Though slightly nervous about her new job, Haru couldn't help the feeling of joy at the upcoming work ahead of her.

[blu-archer]

Forgive?

Right...

I have these moments in writing when I get hit with a sudden realization that I have no idea what relationships are like, so if you notice anything that doesn’t quite add up... it’s because I’m winging the shit out of this

Standardly, there will probably be errors because its a common occurrence with me and I’m just embracing it at this point

anyway..

Sickie: Tae

Caretaker: like Jhope/Jin/Kook 

Cold/Snz based [although I feel like I drifted on things]

AU: Magic and hybrids exist

[mild language]

word count:  4560

*

*

*

*

Jungkook had to force himself to not snap at Taehyung when the witch had decided to follow him into the kitchen after Jungkook had specifically said he was going there to study in silence. He had to bite his tongue when his thought pattern had been abruptly cut off by Taehyung complaining about how his throat hurt or how tired he was.

If he was tired he could go sleep, and leave Jungkook in peace, but that seemed too much to hope for.

Feeling a warm weight press up against his back as he hunched over his notes, Jungkook let out a low growl. The weight didn’t disappear, then again he hadn’t really expected Tae to abide by his study rules when the elder had woken up in a much similar state as their universal favourite cat hybrid had been in just a few days prior. Jungkook felt awful for him sure, and concerned and empathetic, and a huge part of him wanted to just leave his work and hold the elder until he was content, but he had a paper that needed to be written up within two days that he had completely forgotten about as well as continue studying for his art history exam that was the following week. His jaw ached from how much he had been grinding his teeth and his head pounded with the beginnings of what he hoped wouldn’t lead to a migraine. He just couldn’t focus and Tae’s noise making and constant need for cuddles was distracting him from his work.

 “Taehyung.” Jungkook pushed back against the other so that he could relieve himself of the body weight, not bothering to look up from his notes to see the witch giving his signature sick-pout at him. “Can you please stay away from me right now, why don’t you go lie down or something. You are literally one big germ and I can’t afford to get sick again so soon after the last time. Especially not in the middle of my exams. I need to focus.”

 Taehyung sniffed thickly before collapsing into the seat beside the bunny, wiping his nose on the edge of the blanket that he had wrapped around him. He kept staring his boyfriend, coughing miserably only to be ignored. Yet neither of them were willing to complain about the others lack of helpfulness, rather it became a test of who would cave to the others vibes of annoyance first.

Tae was progressively getting more and more whiny, and Jungkook was gnawing down on the back of his pencil to keep from saying anything that he would regret later. He wanted to go lie down with his sick boyfriend just as much as said boyfriend did, but he didn’t have the time nor the ability to risk his health – not when he was so close to being finished with his finals for the year.

 “Kook…” Taehyung coughed softly before hooking his finger in the side pocket of Jungkook’s sweatpants, continuing with a strained voice. “You’ve been here for hours…. It’s cold in the bedroom alone.”

 Jungkook ran a hand through his hair,  giving a harsh tug on his one long, black ear to keep from letting out the frustration that had built in his throat. “Hobi should be back soon and while I’ve been here for hours, Tae, you have successfully made sure that my focus has been on everything except my work. So I’m going to be here for hours more.”

 “Uh..” Taehyung sniffled and pulled away. “Sorry, you’re right. I’ll just…”

 He stood up and shuffled from the kitchen without another word, realising that the bunny hybrid had returned his focus to his laptop and the pages scattered on the table.

*

Jungkook hadn’t even realised how much time had passed by the time he gave in to the aches of hunger in his stomach. In fact, he had thought that Taehyung would have wondered in asking for food or cuddles well before he would have decided to call it a day, but he hadn’t seen or heard of the elder since earlier that morning. He had probably managed to fall asleep, which was good. The witch had definitely been overworking himself to try and improve on what Namjoon and Yoongi had been teaching him, it was almost frustrating to watch Taehyung push and struggle through things that always seemed to come naturally to others. It’s not like he did bad at everything, once he is able to decipher and control his magic properly everything will come to him easier than the common witch or warlock – he was technically a mix of both, he’d be more powerful than a lot of people. He just needed to over come a few things first, and perhaps take a step back from experimentations until he actually had the control needed for it – but Jungkook was willing to stay and support him no matter what methods or route he took to achieve what he wanted. Even if that meant having to deal with a few potion after effects or a mass clean up after a spell went haywire – he’d come back to a flooded apartment more than once, one time Tae had even accidentally made it snow in their home for the three days straight and it had only been fixed through the help of Yoongi.

In any case, he was glad that the elder was resting now. Feeling relieved at how much work he had managed to get finished – he just needed to proofread and edit some sections of his essay before submitting – Jungkook decided to get started on making some food. It was a little early for dinner, but considering how tired he was, and no doubt after a day of teaching with extra class sessions after school Hobi will be too, it was probably for the best that a meal was made earlier so they could go to sleep quicker. Taehyung never really had much of an appetite when he wasn’t feeling well, so it would be much easier to get something in him before it got too dark.

He called Yoongi for the recipe of japchae that elder had shared with himself and Tae a couple of times, which had taken a while to connect and he’d been chewed out for apparently waking the elder – another person succumbed to sickness – but it was worth it. Taehyung had become obsessed with it, claiming that the only thing that could top it was his mother’s food and maybe Jin’s famous bibimbap, so hopefully he’d eat without too much of a fuss. Jungkook felt a little bad at having ignored the elder so blatantly earlier, but on an upside he’d managed to get a huge chunk of his work done, so when Tae woke up Jungkook would just have to make up for his actions earlier. Maybe if he made some of that tea that the witch enjoyed so much as well… and something to watch while laying together. Tae loved dramas. Cuddles and dramas. A solid plan.

He got to work on chopping up various vegetables while he waited for the water for the noodles to boil, his mind flicking through the series of tasks he’d set to make his boyfriend feel better.

 **

 Taehyung had given himself exactly fifteen minutes to cry, which was as long as he’d managed to walk before he’d caved and waved down a taxi to take him the rest of the way to his friends place. From then he had scrambled to try dry his eyes and blow his nose into the handful of tissues he’d stuffed into the deep pockets of his coat before having left. Doing anything to seem remotely okay in case Jin was busy and couldn’t let him stay, he didn’t want the elder witch to feel pressured into keeping him company.

The warmth of the taxi had caused his stuffy nose to start running at an annoying rate and he was regretting not bringing a mask. Although he hadn’t given his actions much thought besides tossing on a sweater and coat, switching his pajama bottoms for a pair of black sweatpants before slipping on sneakers and walking out – he hadn’t even tried to be quiet but Jungkook hadn’t seemed to really care what he did, as long as it wasn’t around him.

Taehyung shook his head, burrowing deeper into his coat and training his eyes on the blurring world outside as he got closer to Jin’s house. He didn’t want to think about how his chest had pained worse than anything he’d felt that morning when Jungkook had told him to leave. A part of him understood, his boyfriend was probably stressed and had just been saying whatever he needed to in the moment, but Taehyung had still been upset by it.

He sniffed deeply, the thick icky sensation in his throat made him want to do nothing more than be back at home, in bed with his boyfriends gently running their hands through his hair or down his back or just being close to him – the bare minimum at least. Anything.

The car gradually pulled to stop. Tae got out and thanked the driver quickly before needing to cough into his sleeve. The wind whipped at him and his nose twinged as the cold air bit at his now heated skin. If anything, his nose had begun to run even more. He took a moment to blow his nose again, dragging out more than a few bothersome itchy sneezes that had left him leaning heavily on the front gate of Jin and Namjoon’s house to catch his breath.

The blowing hadn’t helped much, his head was heavy and congested, and he just wanted to sleep now. He was so tired.

Coughing downwards as he huddled against the cold and welcomed himself into the couples yard to get to their door, he could only hope that he didn’t look as dreadful as he felt. He didn’t want to be a bother. He just wanted to be around someone, and Hoseok was working, Jimin too, and Yoongi had also been booked off sick and probably wouldn’t even be awake – so this was his last resort.

He knocked on the door, praying that either Namjoon had closed the shop early or Jin had already arrived home from the school days exam schedule. It was a bit of a long shot, but he vaguely remembered Namjoon mentioned during that week that Jin hadn’t been needing to stay as late as usual, and some days didn’t even have to go in to help the second nurse at the school. Taehyung rubbed at his nose and knocked again when the wind shook him with a particularly cold breeze, his breath hitched inevitably once more. Defeated, he hovered a single hand in front of his face and waited, panting desperately with furrowed brows.

..hh..hehh..snff.. .. hhh’Heh’HESHH.. HE’ITSH’UHhh… he’hh..hEHH’TSHH’uh..

 “Taehyung?”

 …heH’HEESHH – HEH’EESH’AH!  

He felt a sturdy hand grip his shoulder and pull him out of the wind, into the warm safety of the house. Jin – because it had to be Jin, even if he wasn’t quite aware of his immediate surroundings with how his head was spinning, Namjoon had never been able to craft the level of concern that Jin was able to put into his voice and touch – kept his hand on Taehyung’s arm as the younger had bent forward to catch  another wet double into his hands, even when he made sure to push his front door shut once more.

Breathless and dripping, Tae was led to the familiar family sized couch that Jin had purchased upon moving into their home. He had claimed it was for guests but Tae had always had a suspicion that it was bought in case Namjoon tried to stay up late and ended up falling asleep while working. It was incredibly comfortable. Taehyung couldn’t help but sigh as he dropped into it with a tired cough.

 “Tae… What are you doing here?” Jin ran a hand through the young witches hair, carefully running his eyes down the mans form as if he could figure out what was happening through sight alone. “Joonie messaged me saying he was working alone today… I would have thought that meant you’d be at home?”

 Taehyung sniffled thickly, blinking away fresh tears before he grabbed the last few of his unused tissues and blew his nose once more. It was beginning to pulse in time with his throbbing headache, and he just knew that it was probably all red from its recent activity. It wouldn’t be much longer before his blowing would make his skin raw.

 He scrunched a tissue into his fist to wipe at his nose gently before he managed to give Jin his full attention. Thankfully the man was patient. “I just.. had to leave. *snf*.  Jungkook needed… space. I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind me coming over..”

 Jin’s lips pursed tightly. The congestion was sinking into Tae’s words in a way that made him think the younger witch definitely shouldn’t have left home. He ran a hand over Taehyung’s cheek to swipe away a stray tear that had slipped out and then leaned in closer. “Well it’s a good thing I love having company. I was just about to go fetch Namjoon, but how about I ask Seokie to do that for me and we can drink some tea and watch a movie.. hmm?”

 Taehyung nodded, letting Jin tug off his coat and shoes before following the momentum from Jin’s hands – pushing him to lie down on the soft couch with the gentle promise of ‘being right back’.

The elder retrieved a pink, fluffy blanket that he tucked around Tae’s body, ‘like a warm hug’, Tae had smiled and pulled it closer to embrace its warmth. Vaguely Taehyung could hear Jin on the phone, once the man had moved to the kitchen to fix up the tea, but he couldn’t bring himself to focus completely on what was being said. His mind was mostly being entertained by the hopes of sleep and trying not to sneeze again, but a part of him was aware that it was probably Hoseok on the other side of the phone. He smothered a cough into the blanket, the force shaking him and paining his throat. He would have groaned if he didn’t know that it would just hurt him more. Just a little more time, and then Hobi will be there with him. That’s all he could wish for.

 He was woken up by a gentle hand shaking his shoulder, and upon blinking his eyes into the light of the afternoon sun,  immediately crumpled forward with  a harsh ‘hehH’ESHEW!’.

 “Bless you…” Jin set down the cup he had been holding to help pull Taehyung to sit upright without the blanket falling from around his shoulders. “I let you sleep for a little bit, because you looked like you needed it, but I want you to drink and eat something too.”

 “mm ‘ot hungry.” He mumbled, letting out a yawn that shifted into an irritated cough that grated at his throat. He took a hold of the cup Jin offer, holding it through the material of the blanket and pulling it closer to rest on his chest.

 “It’s not a lot,” Jin promised. “Just some crackers with your tea.. It’s not negotiable, unfortunately.”

 Jin sat next to him with his own mug of tea and a plate a crackers’ settled on his lap, pointedly being pushed closer to Taehyung. “Tae…. I love having you here, but I want to help if you need me too. Did Jungkook really tell you to leave?”

 Tae hesitated, sniffling thickly as the steam from his tea worked its way to his sinuses. “Not exactly, but… I didn’t feel.. okay.”

 He spoke about how he had woken up sick and what he had been feeling, as well as all of the things Jungkook had been going through with his studies – breezing over vaguely of what had been said that morning – then finally speaking about his decision and plan to come where he would be accepted. Jin listened intently, every so often handing him a tissue or a cracker, depending on what he felt Tae needed more as he snuffled through his words. He didn’t say anything either, just letting Tae lean into him and occasional letting out a soft grunt of disapproval – mainly towards Jungkook’s actions and Tae having thought walking would be a good idea.    

 “I’ll put on a movie, okay?” Jin said softly after Taehyung had admitted to ‘just wanted someone to hold him’ and ‘be there’. If he needed comfort then Jin would provide, he just couldn’t believe Jungkook had shunned his boyfriend. Even if the bunny had needed to focus, he usually always had time to spare for Taehyung. “Eat a few more and then we can finish our tea and get comfortable. Hobi should be coming here soon too, so you can look forward to that.”

 Taehyung couldn’t stop a small smile tugging at his lips. While Jungkook gave great cuddles, and Jin gave amazing hugs, there was an atmosphere so uniquely ‘Hoseok’ that made Taehyung crave him. He was warm. There was no better way to describe it. His presence was enough to be satisfying.

For now, he made do with his friend. Letting himself be pulled down to rest on Jin’s chest once he’d finished his drink. The elder had set a box of tissues within grabbing range so that Tae could catch each flurry of damp, heavy sneezes into the soft tissue – his nose growing brighter with each passing minute until he had merely lay his head onto Jin’s lap and held the tissue in a ball against his nose, fighting his eyes to stay open and watch the action movie Jin had found, but eventually falling to darkness.    

  It hadn’t taken long for Hoseok to leave work – calling his afterschool class to a close earlier than usual so that he could pick up Namjoon and go see Taehyung. Jin hadn’t told him much of anything, mostly just explained that Tae was sick and Jungkook had said some stuff that had hurt his feelings – which was absurd because those two never intentionally hurt each other, especially not with words. It was one of the things he had envied about them, how well they worked. His next concern was that Tae was sick and had still left the house. His homebody boyfriend felt better leaving their home because he didn’t want to be around Jungkook?

Nothing was making sense.

Namjoon had had to tell him to slow down three times before they’d finally reached his stylish home. Hoseok had left his car parked partially in the street and had moved past Namjoon to get into the house first. He’d swung the door open so hard it had slammed into the wall, but thankfully the only reaction that was given was Jin’s startled yell and Namjoon’s complaints about Hobi breaking things. Taehyung was asleep on the chair with his head nestled int Jin’s lap and soft congested snores sounded from him. Thank goodness he hadn’t been disturbed.

 “Sorry.” Hoseok murmured as he moved to kneel by his boyfriend. Jin’s face softening a little bit. “Is he alright… he looks like he has a fever…”

 “I think he does.” Jin agreed, stroking his fingers through Tae’s hair. “He’s been getting warmer, but other than that I think he just wanted someone to be with him. Jungkook had apparently told him that Tae was distracting him from work and that he needed to stay away because he was sick? Or something? I don’t know, it seemed like a small thing.”

 “It’s not.” Hoseok said, his voice hardening.

Jungkook had told Tae to stay away from him because he was sick? The same Jungkook that would cling to either of them every chance he got whenever he possibly could? Not to mention that he said that when Tae was clearly not well…

A heat spread through him that made his jaw clench.

“I should probably get him home.”

 “I didn’t give him any medication, but just take some back with you. Joonie?” Namjoon stepped behind the chair and lent down to lay peck on Jin’s lips and cheek. “Hey… can you fetch a few immunity boosting potions, as well as some of the cold and flu  ones that I made earlier?”

 “Sure, I’ll put a variety in. I have some balms and ointments that will help with any fevers or raw area’s.” Namjoon added before trailing off further into the house, muttering about what else could help.

 Jin smiled with reassurance and Hobi let out a sigh as he moved to retrieve a balled up tissue from Tae’s hand. . “He’s fine. The worst of it really was that he seemed lonely but was afraid of being a bother, which is unlike Tae.”  

 “I know. I just – Sorry.” He stood up abruptly as he searched his pockets for his phone that had started blaring. Tae shifted in his sleep and Hoseok scrambled to find it faster, answering as soon as it was out. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to speak before Jungkook started rambling on in a state of panic.

 “I don’t know where he is! He was here and then I thought he was asleep but he’s not asleep because he’s not here! And he’s not answering his phone, please tell me you have him?!”

 That heat from before amplified. If Jungkook was going to be sounding that scared of Taehyung not being around then why the hell did he send him away in the first place?

“You asshole.” Hoseok hissed, then lowered his pitch to avoid waking the sick witch. “You basically told him that he was being a pest! What the hell is wrong with you Jungkook? You didn’t even know that he left until now? He tried to walk to Jin and Namjoon’s place. In this cold weather, because you couldn’t be bothered to spare an hour with him.”

 “I-I didn’t realise –“

 “You didn’t realise?  You have been dating him longer than I have Jungkook, you should have fucking realised! What the hell is wrong with you?”

 “I’m sorry!”

 Hoseok bit his tongue as he heard the choking tears in the hybrids voice. He shouldn’t be snapping at Jungkook. He shouldn’t be picking a side. They were supposed to be open and honest and understanding with one another. Clearly something had gone wrong, but he had a feeling that Jungkook understood his mistake, even if it wasn’t understood as quick as it should have been.

 “Okay. Okay, I’m going to bring him home. He’s safe – just… he looks plain exhausted.”

 “I’m sorry..” Jungkook repeated softly. “I didn’t think he’d leave.”

 Hobi took a deep breath. “We’ll see you at home Jungkook… Just hang on there.”

**

  Taehyung had woken up about halfway home, coughing deeply into the blanket that Jin had lent to them. It was harsh and crackly and overall, just didn’t sound good. Hoseok had sped up just a bit to get him home faster, so that they could get him medicated and in bed… maybe a bath would help.

 “Sleep well, Baby?”

 He got a rough, undecipherable mumble and Tae struggled to push himself upright from where he was lying down in the back seat.

 “We’ll be home soon.” He promised, watching Tae rub at his eyes and then his nose in the rear-view mirror. Then added. “Jungkook was worried about you.”

 “He told me to.. to le-ehh hh’-ve…. hh’HE’HEITCHh… HUH’HRESHH’uhh…ugh.”

 “Bless. And I know, I don’t think he realised the impact his words had.”

 Tae sniffled and rubbed his nose with the edge of the blanket. “He’s jus’ stressed. I over reacted,”

 “I don’t think you over reacted.” Hobi answered honestly, that heat from earlier still present even after he’d tried to stamp it down. “He said something wrong when you needed him, perhaps if it happens again then it might be wise to talk about it instead of leaving without telling anyone though, or at least take your phone with you. But the three of us are in this together, neither of us like seeing you sick and Jungkook shouldn’t have taken his stressors out on you.”

  He didn’t get an answer. Taehyung just stared blankly out of the window at the dying light out the world until they pulled up at their complex.

After wrapping him tightly in the blanket and draping his coat over Tae’s shoulders, they began their climb to home.  Hoseok kept a steady arm around the witch and had to catch him once when Tae had snapped forward into a bout of surprise sneezes that had almost caused him to slip up the stairs when heading to their apartment. They went a bit slower after that. It wasn’t much of a surprise to see Jungkook waiting outside the door for them. He had been perched on the ground with his back to the door chatting politely to their neighbours six year old daughter, and by chatting the conversation had probably mostly been about wanting to play with Jungkook’s floppy ears and asking when he could teach her to draw ‘like a real artist’ again. He didn’t seem as invested as he usually was, and after having glanced up and seen his boyfriends, had almost burst into tears. Taehyung had actually started crying, both choking out apologises.

Hobi smiled. They’d all be fine it seemed. He greeted the child and encouraged her to get out of the cold, waiting for her to be inside before he opened their door and gently tugged his boyfriends inside. The smell hit him first and he sent Jungkook a questioning look.

 “Did you make food?”

 “Yeah,” he swiped at his face with a sniff. “I thought if I made japchae then Tae would want to eat something.”

 The news only caused the witch to let out a sob that had him coughing for breath.

 “Tae, baby… please calm down, you’re going to make yourself worse…” Hoseok laid a kiss to his burning cheek and reached to squeeze Jungkook’s hand. “Why don’t you and Kookie go take a bath? I’ll fetch you some water to drink and get the food reheated, okay?”

 “Will you join us?”

 “I think you two should be alone for a bit, I want to read over everything that Joon and Jin gave us for you.” The dancer placed kiss gently on the tip of Taehyung’s nose, grinning widely as the witch’s tears were halted with a hitched breath. “Don’t take too long though, I missed you both so much today. These extra classes are going to kill me.”

 Hoseok took a moment outside the bathroom door to listen to his boyfriends whisper soft words to one another, a flurry of apologies made a second appearance from Tae but was cut off abruptly. Hoseok took that as his cue to get everything ready for when they got out.

Everything would be worked out by tomorrow and yet he was definitely still going to be leaving his classes early to join in on whatever mess was going to be happening here. Taehyung had never learnt the ability to not share anything in his life.

[elstreem]

ALBW One-Shot: The Sword and the Shadow

Heya, so more writing stuff! This one is technically finished but prolly needs edits.

To summarize, the spirit of the Master Sword meets with a lad with her master's face on one late night.

As usual, if this is too hard to read, here's the G docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pjs3LhclohUslR_ZQ55N1y8qQ3nZ640EJgn_5c-6HSg/edit?usp=sharing

ALBW: The Sword and the Shadow

Night lay deep on Hyrule, the late hour quiet except for the occasional rustle of the grass. Ravio peered outside and sighed in relief – despite his fears, none of the monsters patrolling outside had ever thought to come inside the houses of Hyrule. Whistling to his only companion, his pet bird named Sheerow, he proceeded to lie down on the dusty rug, the only comfortable place to rest on. It wasn’t always so – a few days ago, it was the neat and cozy home of a blacksmith’s apprentice. Ravio had changed that, and the former home was currently devoted to being an item shop. Not that it looked much like a shop - the display tables formed a rectangle, but most of them were empty, displaying only a few placards which proclaimed most of the items were on rent. Only a Fire Rod was left, sparkling in the lamplight.

Though he should have happily dozed off, Ravio felt rather restless and try as he might, could not get himself to feel sleepy. With a sigh, he realized he had to do something to pass the time. The only problem was there wasn’t much to do when there are monsters outside and your only companion is a pet bird. Looking around the house, the Fire Rod caught his eye, and with a huff, he stood up, expecting little more than a quiet night polishing the magical item. Ravio was just picking up the wand to dust it off when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Instantly alert, he clutched the Fire Rod to himself and anxiously peered out of the window. A warm glow came up the hill on which the house stood, and in a few moments a slight figure limped its way up the slope. Ravio perked up and immediately returned the Fire Rod to its display table, before eagerly bustling off to the front of the house to welcome his only customer. The door had barely opened when Ravio did his usual greeting.

“Hello, Mr. Hero!” Ravio chirped, sounding a bit like Sheerow.

“Here to rent -?”

But he stopped short in surprise. Garbed in green and with a sword in hand, the Hylian named Link looked like a hero straight out of the legends, but a very exhausted one. The hand he was using to carry a lantern was shaking slightly, and aside from the usual dirt from his adventures, a nasty cut was also on his face.

“Need to sleep,” Link groaned, limping into his home.

“Hang on, let me just, uhh, dig out your bed,” Ravio said, looking around at Link’s furniture, which he had wildly pushed to the walls to make the space for his shop.

“This will do,” Link mumbled, lying down on the rug. He just about placed his sword back into its sheath before he collapsed into sleep. Ravio gasped and hurried to his side, and was relieved to see Link breathing – in fact, he was already snoring.

“Phew, you scared me Mr. Hero…” Ravio murmured. Checking once more to see if the Hylian was truly, deeply asleep, he felt confident enough to remove his mask. Without the distinctive rabbit hood, Ravio could almost be mistaken for the youth sleeping on the floor. From the shape of their eyes, the same pointed tips to their ears, and even the way the hair fell down their faces, they were incredibly alike. There were only two differences: while Ravio’s hair was the purple of falling dusk, Link’s was the gold of noonday sun, and though the Hylian’s eyes were closed at the moment, his eyes were blue to Ravio’s green. Perhaps it had something to do with the worlds they lived in, and Ravio sometimes wondered if he too, might have had golden hair and blue eyes if he had grown up in a world filled with light. He shook the thoughts away and stood up. He went to the roughly stacked furniture and scrounged for a blanket, before returning to Link’s side and sitting down again. Sheerow landed on his shoulder and gave a curious chirp, making Ravio smile.

“Of course, we only look alike, Mr. Hero and I. The similarity is only skin-deep, but it would frighten anyone to see someone look much like themselves. I suppose he’ll only want to see his own face in a mirror,” Ravio softly said to Sheerow. With a sigh, he pulled on his hood again, wincing at the stuffy feeling of having it back on his head. With his face hidden away, Ravio then gently draped the blanket over Link, but on noticing the sheathed sword still within Link’s hand, he paused. It was definitely new – the sword Link had been using was a plain old sword, sharp and a good blade, yes, but nothing remarkable, especially when it was tucked away in its nondescript brown scabbard. This one was sheathed in a beautiful blue scabbard, richly decorated with gold ornaments, with the holy symbol of the Triforce prominently featured. The hilt of the sword was all that was visible, but it was certainly anything but ordinary. The hilt was made of a crystalline material, carved into the shape of wings that jutted away from the blade. It was enough for Ravio to recognize that this was the legendary blade spoken of in Hyrule - the Master Sword.

Awed, he couldn’t help himself from going closer to gaze at it. Even without knowledge about the history of Hyrule, Ravio could tell that this sword was sacred, meant to banish evil. Scarcely daring to breathe, he reached out to touch it, thoughts careening wildly in his mind. With a sword like this, maybe, just maybe, he could…he could do…

Nothing. Still nothing, because I’m only a coward.

The thought came like a splash of icy water, and Ravio flinched, fingers stopping short of touching the sword. A bitter frown formed on his face – while very unwelcome, the truth still held fast, and that truth was that he was a coward at heart, and he knew it. Only a coward after all, would have fled and left a princess when she needed him most…he was no hero. With a sigh, Ravio dropped his hand, his fingers brushing against the sheath of the sword.

In the next moment, a blinding flash lit up the inside of the house.

Ravio yelled in surprise and threw up his arms to shield his face. It was a dazzling silver light, and it burned his sight much like the sun of Hyrule has burned him when he first came through the chink between worlds. But as quickly as the light had come, it faded, and sensing this change, Ravio carefully lowered his arms and blinked away the spots dancing in his eyes. As soon as his senses cleared, he was aware of Sheerow making an alarmed racket next to his ear. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, and realized why the bird was behaving so strangely. With his heart hammering away at his chest, Ravio scrambled back, his mouth open to scream, but sadly, his voice got stuck somewhere in his throat and would not come out.

There was an intruder in the house, and she was definitely a cause for alarm.

For starters, she was floating in the air, close to the ceiling. The sight reminded Ravio of the Great Fairies that were scattered across the land, but she had no wings at her back. Also similar to the fairy folk, she was very beautiful. Her face was young and smooth, her blue skin glowing with a metallic sheen. She was clad in the colors of the sky and dusk, her fluttering robes fit for royalty, richly dyed purple and blue, and threads of gold running through her dress.

For all her beauty and regal air, however, she also looked frightening.

“Ahhh…aaargh –!“ The pieces of a scream started to come out of Ravio’s mouth, but a voice cut across the sounds of his distress.

“Please refrain from creating noise,” the voice instructed in formal tones. Ravio saw the spirit’s mouth move, and he supposed only she could have spoken in such a voice – it sounded like a girl’s voice, but also otherworldly, echoing as though she was speaking from the end of a tunnel.

Ravio's voice, on the other hand, decided to crawl back into his throat and cowered there, and he ended up just shutting his mouth and scooching away. Sheerow perched on his shoulder and stayed there, trembling occasionally.

The spirit looked on curiously, and satisfied that Ravio seemed to have quieted down, she floated down until her feet touched the ground, just beside Link. At that sight, Ravio was about to stand up, a sudden feeling of protectiveness coming over him. He couldn't let Link be harmed by this spirit - he was the only hope for their kingdoms (as well as his only source of business.)

But before Ravio had even shifted his weight, the spirit sat down, neatly folding her legs under herself. She also draped part of her cloak over Link's sleeping form, and though her face hardly changed, Ravio thought there was deep fondness in her eyes. Her gestures and mannerisms - Ravio sensed a devotion in them, of a bond that had been forged long ago.

"What is your relation to my master?"

"Huh?" Ravio asked.

"What is your relation to Master Link? You share his home and your auras are very similar," the spirit said.

"I…I'm Ravio. I guess…I'm like his counterpart in this world," Ravio said. He briefly pulled his hood away to show the spirit his face. She did not look fazed at all to see Ravio's face, and only nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"Processing information…processing complete. You are not of Hyrule, but of a world also created by the Goddesses. Greetings, Ravio. I am Fi, servant of Master Link, spirit of the Master Sword."

"Servant…so you've been looking after Link here?" Ravio asked.

"Only very recently in this life," Fi replied. Ravio got goosebumps - the way Fi said it, he could only guess how many times she had performed this role. "I am sworn to serve my master, in any age that evil wakes to threaten this land,” she added.

“So...you’ve done this before then? Save Hyrule?” Ravio asked.

“Yes,” Fi answered simply.

“Then - then please -” Ravio came closer, aware of the desperation in his own voice.

“Please - save my own kingdom. No - save my princess,” Ravio said, bowing his head so low that his forehead touched the ground.

“I couldn’t do my duty to her. But you - and Link - you can do what I couldn’t. Right?” Ravio said, raising his face to look at Fi in the eyes.

“Once, long ago, I failed my master, and Hyrule fell to ruin. I cannot guarantee that it will not happen again,” Fi said. Ravio got a lump in his throat and fell silent.

“Any time we face down the dark forces against Hyrule, my master faces a 90% chance of failure. It is the same situation now.” Fi looked at Link’s face, a master she had grown to truly love over the ages. And with that love she had also felt his pain, and now, she felt hurt to see him wounded and in danger.

“But even with the low chances of success, I will do my utmost to prevent the same downfall,” Fi said, her words gaining an edge as sharp as her blade. Then she looked at Ravio, her eyes still blank and expressionless but somehow it felt like she was looking through him.

“If you are to prevent what you fear the most, you must act,” Fi said.

“But if I can’t find the courage to do so…” Ravio said, lowering his head.

“Then, act with love.”

Ravio looked up, his words trailing into a stutter of surprise. The spirit of the sword, a legend who had endured countless ages...her lips were unmistakably curved in a warm, fond smile. It was a sight that no one, save Link, had ever seen.

And the sight of her smile reminded Ravio of long-ago days, when the princess he loved did not yet bear the burden of saving a fallen kingdom...

“The hour grows late, and you will need strength for days to come. You should also get sleep,” Fi suggested. Ravio started, not realizing that he was lost in thought.

“Oh, but-”

“Do not worry. I shall keep watch,” Fi said. She stood up and floated over to the window, humming a lonely melody. Ravio blinked - it was like all his exhaustion caught up with him all of a sudden, and he lay down, his mind clear of all worries. He didn’t know what he was meant to do yet, but...he shut his eyes and slept, dreaming about light for once.

Alone, Fi looked out into the night, and when a curious Sheerow perched on her shoulder, she did not mind.

-------

“Up and at them, Mr. Hero!”

Link groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He knew he heard a wonderful, familiar song in his dreams, but he couldn’t quite remember it…

“Breakfast?”

A warm and sweet aroma perked Link up, and he looked to see Ravio pass him a tray, on which there was a bottle of milk, still-warm bread and apple slices. Link looked down at the tray and then up again at Ravio, and his wonder must have shown in his face because Ravio put up his hands.

“Ooh, surprised? Well, so am I! I was only looking forward to some apples for breakfast but a really nice lady passed by and left this food. I think she said she was the Blacksmith’s wife? Anyway, she said it was for you for finding...Gunney or someone,” Ravio explained in a chirpy tone.

Link’s mouth watered - he hadn’t had a proper meal in forever, it seemed, and barely had Ravio finished when he tore into the food.

“Whoa, adventuring sure gives you an appetite huh? Anyway, you’ll be going out again, yeah?” Ravio said. Link nodded, crumbs sticking all over his face.

“...well, take care, you hear me?”

Some time later, Ravio repeated the sentiment as Link was heading out, and the Hylian cocked his head at him, puzzled by Ravio’s behavior. Sure, he was pretty cheerful, but laid-back, and Link wondered why Ravio was being positively sunny. Shrugging it off, he walked out, not seeing Ravio wave cheerfully at his back - or the Master Sword twinkling briefly as they set off on another journey together.