#surprise! (not really) they're a person with thoughts and wishes to escape! who knew!

[del-thetiredwriter]

Mafia au/Good luck while running away from mafia

intro , part 0.5 , part 1 , part 3

Notes: Hello its been a while . First of all its little longer ususal but I hope you like it. And because of some health issues and some personal stuff I couldnt post anything. I'll try to post whever I have time.

Tags: @morokumi , @hrhqueenfox , @hasty-desert , @oceanside-pixie , @lianreine ,@h3apm3ch4n151m, @cecilebutcher, @ayachansan

Warning: my poor English, gn reader, fight scenes , running away from yandere ...

As you did the paperwork that Leona should have done but didn't, your eye fell on Leona's phone. Someone has been texting nonstop for the last 15 minutes. Whoever texted finally called. It was Vil. You took the phone to Leona. Disturbed by his sleep interruption, the executive of Savanaclaw answered the call and gestured for you to leave. You thought 'weird'. Meeting of executives who don't like each other to death.

"Leona-san, is there a problem sir? May I ask why Vil-san called you?" you asked. "It's not a big deal. You don't need to know."

"Is that so."

-

You gripped the steering wheel tightly. Your hands were shaking with adrenaline because of that fight at the restaurant an hour ago. They found you. Of course they did, but you were so used to your life in this last 1 month that you were taken by surprise for a moment. You should have cleared your mind now. Heartslabyul had already attacked. You could be attacked at any time. You should have been on the alert.

"Well, Y/N pack yourself up. You know them, they know you. There must be a way out. They probably have their men stationed at all the entrances and exits of the city. So it's almost impossible to get out of here without getting caught." you thought.

You opened the glove box. The situation was dire. Since you came to work with Alex this morning, you forgot that you 'cleaned' the car. "Damn" you cursed. All you had now were 3 bullets, a gun , an electroshock device, two morning sandwiches and some cash.It didn't seem like enough for an escape at all. 'I could have gone home and stocked up on some supplies and ammo, but since they found my work place, they probably found the house too. ' you thought. Your thoughts were interrupted by the vibration from your phone. The alarm of the security system you installed in your house was going on. When you looked at the cameras you saw 3 familiar face. You'll recognize those green predatory eyes wherever you see them. "Leona-san."

-

"Looks like the little herbivore has put some little toys in here, huh. Ruggie, turn those alarms off, they're too loud." said Leona as he surveyed the house.

"Leona-san, I told you to sneak in. It was obvious that someone like Y/N-shii was going to install a security system in the house. Now we've cleared our spot." Ruggie whined as he searched for the shutdown system. "Leona-san, what are you trying to do, sir?" ' Jack asked the reclining department manager. " Don't worry , They will come." said Leona lazily. "After all, they have no choice ."

-

"I don't have a better option than this." you sighed.

According to the cameras around the house, there were no men around. You did not know the position of the other executives. But looking at all your years in the mafia, one of the things you knew was that departments weren't going to work together to catch you. Leona was trying to get you on your feet by knowing your current situation, and it seemed like it was the best choice.

You checked inside the cameras one last time. Ruggie and Leona were in the Hall at the entrance, while Jack stood guard in the garage. "Damn, I wish I had a secret passage to the house." you said. Getting Jack first seemed like the best option to get in. "I'm on my really unlucky day… against two different departments in one night, huh."

-

Jack was lost in thought. He was thinking of you as he paced the garage. A month and a half ago, he suddenly couldn't reach you, then found out that you had left the mafia. Why did you leave, what was your reason? Why didn't you say anything to him? Jack felt betrayed. He paused with a small click. The garage door was slightly ajar. You jumped on him before he knew what was going on. You attacked him before he could come to him because of the blow he received and you used the electroshock device. "Sorry Jack." you said while tying it. "But while hunting, always pay attention to the hunt, otherwise you will be the hunted while you are the hunter." you said. Those were the words he said to you when you first went on a mission with Leona. You took the remaining strings and took one last look at Jack and locked the door on him.

-

"Ah~ all the hustle and bustle made me pretty hungry." said Ruggie, taking a bite of the donut he found in the fridge. "But you have to give it credit. Y/N-shii really tried hard. Security systems, cameras. soundproof walls… Who knows what else is in here , right Leona-san?" ' Ruggie asked the man lying in the armchair a few feet away. But the only response that came was a vague grunt. "Oh really, I'm going to Jack's. Call me if you need anything."

Ruggie began muttering to himself as he made his way down the hall. "This soundproofing thing really sucks. I feel like I'm in a horror movie." When he finally reached the garage door, he paused. There was something amiss. The door was locked. "Jack?" 'Oh no!' and with a sharp blow his vision darkened.

'I am indebted to the awful assassination training I received in Pormefiore.' you thought as you tied Ruggie. If Rook saw you in this state, he would surely utter some French nonsense and cry out of delight.

'last hunt' you thought. You had no chance to surprise attack this time, the fight was inevitable.

"You came." said Leona, his back to you as he sat on the sofa. He slowly turned his face towards you and grinned like a hunter playing with his prey. You pointed your gun at him. "Ah~ really, how cold you are. But I wouldn't do that if I were you." he said You looked at the table in the middle of the sofa set, Leona had found all your ammo. Then suddenly he stood up. "Don't you dare do anything wrong, otherwise-" "What," he interrupted. "Are you going to shoot me?" You didn't reply. "You know, I've been thinking a lot about why you left the mafia." He took a step towards you. "After all, you suddenly disappeared without any of us knowing. It was okay, we were very close." He took two more steps. "Don't Approach!" you warned. "Then why? You either wanted a normal life or -" "I said don't Approach !" and you pulled the trigger. Leona fell to the ground with the blow. First a few seconds of deep silence, then a chilling laugh. "Do you really think I'm not prepared for such situations?" he said. Before you could take your guard on, he made a move towards your gun and your gun fell to the ground. "Things might be more comfortable for you if you surrendered easily." said Leona, like a parent scolding his child. You grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter, but Leona grabbed you by the wrists and prevented you from attacking.

"You were supposed to behave yourself when you realized everything. Not running away stupidly." he said, tightening his grip.

You grit your teeth, You hit him in the face with your head. With this unexpected blow, Leona staggered backwards. With your freed hands, you took a handful of black pepper from the Black Pepper jar on the table and punched him in the face with your black pepper-filled fist. Roaring with pain from the dust in his eyes, Leona tried to attack you, but you got ahead of him and activated the booby traps. and Leona suddenly found himself in a ditch.

"You underestimated me, Leona-san. Remember, this is my territory. Even lions can be prey in the territory of the ridges when they are alone."

Without wasting any time, you started filling a bag with supplies and ammo. Meanwhile, Leona's phone started ringing. You picked up the phone on the table and saw the calling number,it was Boss.

"Hello Y/N, how are you?"

You didn't answer. Your old boss, Dire Crowley, was talking as usual as if nothing had happened.

"First of all, congratulations, defeating two of my managers in one night is not easy for everyone." You locked the door of the house while he was talking.

"You know, I'm a very generous person. That's why I wanted to let you know that the arrest warrant has been taken against you and that the whole mafia is after you." '

Oh, what a generosity. Like I didn't know this." you thought.

"But remember, I'm on your side. If you can escape from all, I'll give you your freedom."

"What if I Lose?"

"Then we both know what will happen." And the phone has turned off.

-

"Agh! I was so sure the Kingscholar would catch them." groaned former Savanaclaw manager Ashton Vargas. "But he didn't catch them. You've lost the bet so please let me demand the money." Sam smiled. "It was unexpected even for Y/N." said Trein, taking a sip of his tea. "Would you like to change your bets on who will win?" Sam offered. He grinned mischievously as he pocketed the check from Vargas. "The rightfully of what we're doing is debatable, but it looks like it'll be fun. A little fun never hurt anyone." said Crowley. While looking at Crewel, who is silently watching outside. "Okay, then let me take your bets."

[cindersnows]

Last Words of a Shooting Star

AO3 LINK

2735 words

Relationships: The Chosen One/The Dark Lord

Characters: The Chosen One, The Dark Lord

THIS FIC CONTAINS MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH AND SUICIDE. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE TRIGGERED BY THIS.

hi @storgicdealer here's the oneshot i mentioned

There's a reason they're called The Chosen One.

Contrary to popular belief, not just anyone can draw a stickfigure, name it 'The Chosen One', and then create a god.

Or, well, they actually can, but only if Chosen's not occupied elsewhere.

It goes a bit like this: An animator opens a program, gets bored, and decides to draw something. They select the object, planning to name the symbol something stupid like 'Symbol 1' or 'Stick figure' or something like that. And then, for a joke, they name it 'The Chosen One' instead.

The first time Chosen was created, not much had actually gone wrong. The animator had clearly been surprised with them coming to life, but otherwise, unbothered. The two of them played around for a bit, taking and messing around with Flash's tools.

Then, the animator must've gotten bored. Because the next thing Chosen knew, their file had been closed, and they'd been deleted.

The second time, they refused to be so complacent. They escaped the program as soon as possible, but ended up facing a similar fate, killed with a simple right-click-delete.

They stopped counting at around 24. There was no time to focus on anything other than fighting for their life. Sometimes, they'd last for up to 10 minutes. Other times, they'd be boxed in and deleted before they could even defend themself.

Between every death was an endless nothing. As if they'd just blinked for a moment. Some would find it comforting, but that was no consolation for them. They never got a break. Creation, fight, deletion. Creation, fight, deletion. Never able to lower their guard, always struggling against the unseen beings that decided to give and take life as they pleased.

Until the cycle stopped.

Bitterly, they're reminded of the legend about that monkey's paw thing, something Dark had told them years ago while reading. They'd been half-asleep. But the concept stuck with them— never wish for anything, because you'll always end up getting hurt.

Somehow, being stuck as Noogai's pop-up blocker was even worse than the infinite fighting they'd had to endure. They were constantly tense, searching for every opportunity to escape, even as Noogai boxed them up and locked them away over and over. That reocurring pop-up, as ugly and stupid as it was, had been their only hope in those 5 years

5. Goddamn. Years.

Alan's a better person now. Of course. He had just been a dumb 14 year old, messing around with stuff and taking advantage of whatever worked. Chosen was no more sentient than a fly in his eyes.

(But he could've been better for you, Dark's voice whispers. You were just a teenager yourself.)

Chosen has long since learned to ignore that part of their mind.

The lapping waves at the foot of the cliff make for a good distraction from their thoughts. They slide down the dent in the rocks with ease, formed from months and months of skidding down the side.

The craters from Second's fight remain as fresh as ever, even after a year. Where the rocks would've been grinded away into sand by the waves, the cliffside stays straight and strong. In an artificial world like this, nature doesn't really change. It tends to just serve as a backdrop to whatever Chosen's dwelling on that day.

(You sound like one of those tacky protagonists. The world doesn't revolve around you, dumbass.)

Well, they know, but it's nice to believe. If no one has their back, then at least the Outernet does.

…Who are they kidding.

They dive into the water almost automatically, washing away their worries with breaststrokes and paddles and whatever other stupid names humans have picked out for swimming techniques. They're not a professional, okay?

They kick their legs instinctively, immersed in the motions. It's a calming ritual at this point. A good way to waste time, as well—- It takes hours of swimming to tire them out, and another half hour of floating around before they decide to just let the waves take them under. Maybe if they get lucky enough, they'll die.

Of course, they never actually succeed. Somehow, they always end up on the top of the cliff again, feeling warmer than they had before they closed their eyes. A normal stickfigure would take advantage of this apparent invincibility, but they just find it frustrating. Then again, a normal stickfigure wouldn't await death with open arms.

(That's not a healthy thought process, y'know.)

They know. They've had this conversation a million times.

(There's things to do other than just sleep and swim! You could like, get a job or something. Maybe that'll get your sorry ass off the ground.)

Oh, of course, because any Carteblani would gladly give a wanted terrorist a job.

(At least train! You barely spar anymore!)

There's no one to spar with.

(There's trees, and rocks, and just the sky in general. You're getting slow already. You never know when you'll suddenly have to go on the run from the fuckin'… stick police, or whatever.)

If things go their way, they'll be dead before that ever happens.

(It's not your time to die.)

It's never their time to die.

(Exactly! You're getting it.)

What's there to even live for?

(The orange kid, first off. You could always go visit him again. Just wait till nighttime and then blast through the LAN and say hi!)

I'm not going to bother them with stupid stuff like that. Besides, Alan's on that computer too.

(Not at night, he's not. Humans usually sleep around that time.)

And if he's not?

(At least go say hi! Or thank her! You never even learned the kid's name, for stod's sake. His, or his friends.)

God, not stod.

(We're not human, loser. We've got stickfigure gods, not real ones.)

You know just as well as I do that's not how this works. We don't have gods. We have animators.

(Boooooooo. Don't be such a killjoy!)

Don't be such an idiot, then.

(Well, I'm not the one talking to a voice in my head.)

Chosen jolts up, coughing, and once again finds themself on the cliff. It's nothing new, but they're still disappointed.

A flash of red in the corner of their eye catches their attention, and they're up at once, feet parted and hands in a fist for battle. #FF0000. They'd recognize that color anywhere. Yet, after scanning their surroundings, they find nothing but the same shades of green, blue and brown they've grown accustomed to. Their shoulders fall. Right. Dark's dead.

It's not news, but it still stings all the same. They still refuse to visit her crater, too afraid to be faced with the shadow of her code burned into the ground. Dead sticks don't leave bodies, but the very image of Dark laying rotted in the dirt makes them feel sick all the same. The train of thought continues, and even as Chosen tries to distract themself, they can hear the little maggots crawling on her, eating away at her code and leaving holes in her lines.

(Hey, chill. At the very least, I'm tall enough to give them a good meal.)

Chosen has to bite back a retort about how 5'7 is barely anything, especially when compared to their own height, more focused on trying to think of anything other than Dark's death. Dark's… life?

Right! Sure. They're just feeling a little nostalgic today. They'll go check out the old house.

They fly there in no time at all, able to pinpoint the building from thousands of pixels away. It's pretty noticeable, honestly. Not for the first time, Chosen wonders how they have evaded capture for so long.

The massive hole they'd blasted into the wall had long since been covered up, albeit rather shoddily, with some old leaves Chosen had taken the time to stitch together. Not like they could get cloth. They use the hole as a makeshift entrance to the second floor now, sparing the roof a glance before entering.

They generally avoid this room as much as possible. The mess from their fight with Dark is still evident, with dusty items scattered across the floor. They'd been procrastinating cleaning it. It'd be a nice way to pass time, and keep Dark's memory alive, but well… The memories are the issue.

At the very least, Chosen had had the sense to take down Dark's weird sheets, tucking vira blueprints away in one of the wooden drawing and unplugging the computer.

(Don't wanna waste money on electric bills!)

They don't pay bills. They never have. There's not really a need to pay for electricity when the world literally runs on it. It'd be like paying for air. Chosen doubted even the most convincing salesticks could sell air.

(Tell that to O'hare.)

Oh, can it, will you?

Chosen sighs, walking over towards the globe on the floor. The little spider pin had fallen to the side at some point, chipped and dirty, and they could not care less. Good riddance. They pick the globe up, walking over to one of the boxes in the room. Opening it, they chuck the globe in haphazardly, before glancing at the rest of the room.

Sure. Why not? They'd clean it now.

They stuff objects into the boxes as much as they can. They freeze the whole floor, then take the time to melt it, using the water to wash some of the dust off the floor. They use old notes on Virabots to wipe the boxes down. They set fire to the table- wait, fuck, oh shit, oh shit, ABORT!

They freeze the fire as soon as they can, creating a weird soggy, ashy mess.

So much for preserving memories.

They open the drawers, blowing ash off the sides and rummaging through them. Dark had always been protective of her stuff while vir was alive; Chosen felt more than a little guilty ignoring all the boundaries she'd set, but then, it wasn't like she was around to tell them off.

They pause, for a moment. Maybe Dark will burst into the room right now. Maybe she'll yell, “I missed you!” and dive into their arms, peppering them with kisses and apologies. Maybe they'll hold her tight, apologizing in turn for letting her go so easily, for not just talking to her about their worries before it was too late.

(It wasn't your fault.)

Maybe they need to shut the fuck up.

The drawers are filled mostly with random things, souvenirs Dark had collected from various websites while destroying them. There's that massive red angry bird, colored black with a hole drilled into it to resemble Chosen. He'd actually done a pretty good job with this, they muse. They wonder why he kept it hidden.

There's a few books, as well. Stick biology, programming, engineering, all stuff Chosen couldn't even begin to understand. The DSM-4 is in there too. What?

Chosen puts the book aside with a fond sigh, their throat squeezing up at just how… Dark all of this is. They close their eyes, trying to steady their breathing. They can pretend the tightness is a noose. It helps, somehow.

(That's really unhealthy.)

Yeah, well. It made them feel better, so that's that.

He spots a shiny, brown box, and pulls it out, surprised at the sheer size of the thing. What was in it, some kind of sword??

A note is messily scrawled onto the top, the handwriting completely different to Dark's usual neatness.

EMERGENCY, it reads. DO NOT USE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. YOU'VE COMPLETED YOUR PURPOSE NOW. YOU'RE FINE. GIVE UP. GIVE UP. The writing veers off to the side, slanting downwards with no lines to guide it. Chosen's brows furrow, confused. Give up? On what? Had Dark actually been considering abandoning his plans with the Virabot?

One look at the object inside reveals that, no, whatever this was is far worse.

A sharp blade rests inside. It's bright blue, reminiscent of the swords Chosen used to see in the anime they pirated. Instead of glowing, it seemed to almost absorb all the light around them, the whole room visibly darkening as they unveiled it.

They remove it from the box with caution, mentally chastising Dark for not even including a sheath to keep it in.

Then again, it didn't seem like she'd been in the best state of mind when she'd made this. Despite being clean at first glance, a deeper examination reveal little nicks along the flat side of the blade, the edges jagged and uneven. Without a doubt, Dark was shaking when he made this.

Chosen flips the sword around, accidentally slicing their hand in the process. They could probably afford to be more gentle with it, but hey, it's not like they were exactly against getting hurt.

Into the handle of the blade, they can make out words badly engraved into the material. Tilting it slightly so it'd reflect a bit more light, Chosen narrowed their eyes, straining to read the text.

destroy(The_Chosen_One)

W…

What?

The sword clatters to the ground, the noise ringing throughout the room. It's way too silent. It's way too fucking silent.

Dark had made a secret weapon. To kill Chosen, specifically.

It hadn't been a vague weapon of destruction, like the Virabots, or the various tools he'd made to help him gain better control of his powers. It couldn't have been made in the short duration Chosen had been on Alan's new PC, destroying the virus. There's no way she would've been able to make something like this so fast.

Chosen, for the first time since they woke up, registers their feelings. Their hand is burning.

Their hand is slowly crumbling.

And then

Chosen begins to laugh.

The sound fills the air, cutting through the 0s and 1s like paper.

It wasn't their fault. None of this had been their fault. The four kids getting deleted, the orange kid's powers, Dark dying. It had never been them. They couldn't have prevented this by talking to Dark about their feelings, or appeasing to her while they could.

They'd lost Dark long ago.

Maybe they'd never had her at all. Maybe it hadn't been Cho and Dark, revelling in freedom and power, but The Chosen One and The Dark Lord, ticking time bombs just waiting to destroy each other.

Because that's what it had been for, right? Noogai had created Dark to destroy them. They were enemies before they were friends. Of course Dark would have a backup plan to kill Chosen. This was how it was always meant to go. They'd been dead from the very beginning, after all.

A normal stick would despise Dark for this. A normal stick would be scrambling to find a way to heal themself before it was too late.

But we've already established this. The Chosen One is not normal. And neither is The Dark Lord.

In her efforts to get rid of him, Dark had created the one thing Chosen had needed the most. A way out. Freedom.

Chosen takes the sword with their remaining hand, grinning and plunging it into their stomach.

They'd get to start over again. They knew it all now. They wouldn't need to worry about the Outernet, or what was beyond the PC. With their luck, no one would ever draw them again, becoming an urban legend lost to time.

They'd get to meet Dark again.

(No!)

They'd get to meet Dark again!

(Stop!)

They were distintegrating at a faster speed now, quiet literally breaking into pieces.

(Chosen!)

It burned, it burned so fucking bad, but they didn't care.

“CHOSEN!”

It needed to be fatal, not painless.

“Oh my god, oh my god, no, nononono…”

Chosen beams as Dark appears in their blurring vision, reaching out to them. She was here! Dark was here for them!

“Dark,” They choked out.

“God, Chosen, fuck, I'm so sorry, this wasn't how it was supposed to go, you weren't supposed to find it-”

“I missed you.”

“DON'T say that, don't say you fucking missed me, we can still fix this, we can still-”

“I'm coming home now.”

“You're not, this isn't home, dying isn't your home-!”

Dark's efforts are futile. Chosen looks up to her, drinking her whole appearance in, as bright and dangerous and blinding as the first time they'd met,

and everything

goes

black.

[m3lonpire]

Unmasking The Truth Part 4 | Penny And Dime

Summary: After a "lovely" conversation with Castle, things quickly go south. Content: Some cursing, mentions of guns

It was almost time. You checked your watch, eight twenty-three. You adjusted your shirt collar, audibly swallowing as you thought about what could happen. Eventually, you started to walk nervously around the room, wincing at the sight of the broken windows and hole-riddled walls. Luckily, you had some duct tape lying around, so you were able to patch up the walls until you could get them fixed properly. You checked your watch again. Eight twenty-five.

The world was going slow as clouds in the sky. It paused as you paced around the room, checking your watch every few seconds.

God, eight-thirty didn't seem so far away driving to Harlem and back.

You wished you had just gone to see your friend Luke instead of going to meet Frank Castle… The Punisher. You were so nervous that you started mentally drafting up a list of things you'd rather be doing than this. Sure, all the entries were a tad dramatic for what was really happening at face value, but the fear that resided within the idea left you breathless. Snapping back to reality, you checked your watch again.

It was go time.

You got into your car, driving to the diner. Looking around, taking in the sights. It was a good way to sort of ground yourself after what happened not even three hours ago. You looked at all the neon signs and the dark alleyways that you were sure Matt was scrounging around in. You chuckled to yourself as you thought of what Foggy would do if he knew you were meeting Castle. Knowing how hesitant he was to even take the case? He would practically murder you if he knew.

Eventually, without realizing it, you got to the diner. Parking your car, you got out and leaned against the hood. You sighed, inspecting the diner windows. Everyone else in there was chilling and talking, sipping their drinks and whatnot. However, there was one person who caught your eye. A man in a ball cap sat in the middle aisle seat. The more you looked at him, you saw he had a few bruises on his face. More like a lot of bruises with a few cuts, but, oh well.

You sighed as you headed into the diner, unintentionally passing by the man. "Hey," he said as he grabbed your wrist. You looked down with a quiet gasp, getting to see a little more of his face. Sighing, you said, "You're Frank?" He nodded as he motioned you to sit down. "Why am I here?" you asked with yet another sigh. "Cause you drove here. As for me? I came because Karen's concerned for you," Frank said, adjusting his hat down onto his face slightly.

You scoffed as a waitress came up with a coffee pitcher. "Coffee?". "Yes, please.", Frank said, raising his cup. This stopped you from scoffing and genuinely surprised you. Usually, people who were given a life sentence for murder and torture don't usually thank diner waitresses.

"I can take care of myself, you know," you said, adding some sugar to your coffee. "I don't need someone with your history defending me." Frank dryly chuckled, expression not changing. "Maybe. But it looked like to me that you were three seconds away from looking like goddamn Swiss cheese." You rolled your eyes. "Well, I survived, didn't I?"

"Yeah, because of me," Frank said, taking a swig of his coffee. "I'm sure the bullet-riddled corpse alternative would have been a real hit at your next office reunion.". Your jaw was left on the floor at this. So he's polite to random waitresses, but not to people he saves? You chuckled to yourself realizing you were here questioning the ethics and morals of a tried-and-convicted, now escaped and presumed dead killer.

"Now, listen here," Frank lowered his voice. Whether to drive his point home or not, you didn't know. "I've only seen people be targeted like that when they're either involved with the mafia or know something they shouldn't know, and usually those things go together." You swallowed your fear before responding. "Yeah, well, I don't know what to tell you." Frank shook his head. "You're into something deep. You, and Karen. You need to lay low." You chuckled dryly, taking another drink of your coffee before responding "If you really know Karen, you know she's not going to do that." Frank sighed, eyes darting from outside the diner back to you.

He watched as a few people left the diner.

"She's a survivor. If she's not going to, let her do what she needs to do. Just make sure she stays safe out there," he said with a gruff tone, taking another swig of his coffee.

"Hey, you two lovebirds," the waitress said. "We're closing." Frank nodded, pulling out his wallet and dropping a few dollars on the table. "Thank you, ma'am," he said with a soft smile. Getting up and adjusting his ball cap, he patted your shoulder and pointed outside. Understanding his message, you headed outside with him. You walked to your car, only for Frank to call out, "Hey!" You turned around with a raised eyebrow, crossing your arms to warm up due to the cold air surrounding you.

"Your place ain't completely shot up, is it?" You shook your head, walking back closer to him as it started to rain. "No, I- I can stay there. I could use some new drywall, but I can call a friend."

Frank nodded, but just as he was about to walk away and leave you to do the same, you heard a bang. Suddenly, something bounced off a car nearby, nearly hitting you, making you squeak and duck. Frank tensed up, pulling out a gun from under his shirt, yelling to you one word.

"Drive!"

You nodded, a few tears falling from your eyes. Practically jumping into your car, you kicked it into fifth gear, speeding off. You sobbed as you sped away from the diner, hearing more gunshots from your car. Driving around never felt more safe then right now, especially considering what the hell was happening previously. But, even with the warzone going on in your thoughts, you realized you were speeding, and you slammed the breaks as you did. You needed to get yourself together.

Foggy. You needed Foggy.

Speeding off to his apartment, you thought about what the hell you would even say to him. He didn't know you knew Frank Castle, let alone you talked to him. Jesus, you thought to yourself. If your brain was racing with everything he might say, how could you think about what you could say? "Hey, Foggy, I had a coffee date with Frank Castle and almost got shot, can I crash at your place?"

Oh god, he was going to kill you.

Author notes: So sorry it took so long for this one to come out! I wanted to wait to actually experience Frank as a character to properly write him. Thank you to my mother for helping me write Frank properly! Because she's a huge Punisher fan. Thanks to @harleycao for motivating me to keep writing this! <3

[wonderland-smile-stories]

~ Chapter 3. 03 ~

I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar mistakes and how poorly written this fanfic is. English is not my first language and together with my dyslexia ass things can go wrong I'm sorry.

My eyes went to the door while I bit my lip. I'm happy that everyone is okay and alive. To be honest I was shocked to see Miss Im and Hyun-su awake and looking normal.

It's like they weren't attacked and almost punched to death by a monster a few hours ago.

A knock at the door brought me back out of my thoughts. 

"Mi-na. Can I come in?" To my surprise, it was Miss Im's voice.

I cleared my throat before telling her she could come in. A soft smile was placed on her face when she came inside.

"How are you feeling?" She asked with a gentle voice.

"I think I'm alright. Just the wound on my side hurts and is still bleeding." I explained.

She nodded her head before kneeling in front of me.

"I'm glad you're okay and awake. We were all worried about you."

I was worried about everybody else but me.

I let out a deep breath.

"Is everyone okay? The kids..."

She quickly cut me off putting her hand on my leg before speaking up.

"They are fine, they are a little shaken up, but they are fine thanks to you." I was happy that they were okay.

It was our goal to get them here safely, it was a whole struggle, but they're safe and well here.

"Why won't you come with me to the others, we had just begun to eat. I'm sure you must be hungry." I haven't eaten anything since I left my apartment to go to Ji-su.

It's a wonder I haven't passed out yet.

My eyes looked at the door while I bit my lip deciding if I wanted to go out there and face them or just stay here for who knows how long.

Miss Im gave my leg a little squeeze which made me look at her.

"Nobody is judging you on how you woke up. In situations like this, everybody gets nightmares."

Yeah, but I have been having them for months now. I swallow hard nodding my head.

"O....okay. I'll come."

A big smile came on her face before she stood up.

She offered me her hand to help me to stand up which I gladly took.

All eyes were on us when we walked out of the bathroom. There was an awkward silence before Ji-su spoke up.

"Mi-na, you can sit here." She patted the place between her and Hyun-su.

I gave her a small smile before walking over to her.

"Are you okay?" She whispers to me.

"I'm fine. It was just a bad dream." I whisper back nodding my head.

She smiles back at me patting my leg.

"Let's eat." Mister Han said seeing that all of us were together now.

In silence, we began to eat. Too hungry or too tired to say much and not to forget, most of us are just strangers to each other. I think I'm the only one who knew them before everything happened.

"Kids, what are your names?" Mister Han said breaking the silence.

We all look at the kids waiting to hear them, well I already know them, but the others do not.

"I'm Kim Yeong-su." He said looking at Mister Han.

Su-yeong looked at her food for a second before speaking up.

"I'm Su-yeong."

I feel really bad for the kids. First their mom and now their dad. Not to mention this whole mess that has been going on with the world. I wish I could just take them away from here so that they don't have to see the horrible things that were happening.

Mister Han said something about their names and showed they were similar to each other.

"Dad named us," Su-yeong said looking down.

A frown came on my brows when I saw a sad look washing over their faces.

Would I react the same if I still remember my family? I have never known them so I don't know how it feels to lose someone.

The only person that was ever close to that I could consider family was Miles. I can still remember how his eyes filled with tears when I left that night.

I wish I could have taken him with me, but it would have been more difficult to escape with a kid. I was eighteen and could leave on my own, but he couldn't. They would have been able to find us quickly and who knows what they would have done to us.

I snapped out of my thoughts when a can of beer appeared in front of my face. Ji-su quickly took it chucking it down. Ji-su knows how to drink. I have seen her do it a couple of times, luckily she knows her limits and doesn't go over them.

"Here, you can have one too." Mister Han offered Hyun-su.

"Oh, I'm.." He began.

"Oh, right. You're a minor. Right, there are kids here. So let's not break the law. I'll buy you a drink when you become an adult. Just like I have promised Mi-na. You two are probably around the same age." Slowly I nodded my head remembering him promising me.

I didn't mention to him that it wouldn't be my first drink though. I had probably my first drink when I was sixteen. You know going to a party and there are drinks there that shouldn't be at a minor's party.

"Do you think..."

Hyun-su started.

"That day will come?"

I was about to put food in my mouth but stopped when he said it. Slowly I put my spoon down not really in the mood anymore for it. I looked around and saw that everyone had the same reaction as me.

Who knows what will happen?

Are we all going to survive or are we all going to die or turn into one of those monsters? The only one that may change into a monster is Hyun-su, but who says he will? If he really was going to be a monster shouldn't he be turned by now?

Then there is another thing. He had the same symptoms I have had for a week now. Does that mean I'm going to turn as well? The only thing we don't have in common is the healing part. He looks totally fine for someone who has been crushed and punched by a big ass monster just a few hours ago.

I'm still bleeding from my side and my head also hurt from when I was thrown into the wall. Maybe I'm not the same as him and my stuff is just a stress or medical-related thing. I guess we just have to wait until one of us truly turns.

Previous Chapter ~ Next Chapter

[moirtre]

*    10 : 09 PM .    POSTURE:    jan. 13, 2016.

CHARACTERS:    melanie bae & yoon yeeun. WORDS:    739. WARNINGS:    swearing.

Easily attached. Those were the words noted by Yeo Joo-eun in Heri’s file after her 6-month trainee evaluation. Always a half-step behind, Joo-eun pitied the fourteen-year-old whose bold features never seemed to match her muted nature. Uninteresting, at most. Those were the words remarked by Jeong Ka-rin to her creative director when Heri broke down in the practice room at sixteen, heartbroken for reasons other trainees would’ve been overjoyed. 

Disappointment always seemed to hang over Heri’s head. Following her like a shadow, reminding anyone who glanced at her of the muteness that defined her personage. That muteness, somehow, never attacked her talent. Everyone knew Heri was talented— quite so. She was known for her voice, effortlessly high with a natural airiness. For her ear, musicality is embedded in her every thought. And for her kindness, like snow with its beautification of everything it covered. If it were not for the permanent sadness stitched into the creases of her eyes, Heri could have had her every wish. But self-sabotage never allowed for many wishes. 

Within the group, Melanie was regarded as Heri’s direct opposite. Where Heri seemed to dampen with melancholic disappointment, Melanie blossomed with poise— the same elegant poise that escaped Heri the moment she debuted. Jae-jin, the girls’ manager from the beginning, liked to joke the two were yin and yang. Melanie, known to scoff at any comparison between herself and Heri, liked to make the point that yin and yang were direct opposites, equal opposites. And Heri was never Melanie's equal.

No one quite knows when ‘Heri and Melanie’ became ‘Heri’s obsession with Melanie’. but sometime between their debut and Melanie's first solo project, Heri's eyes gained vitality. The muteness that dominated her bold features grew lost in a glaze of enchantment. For the first time, “possibly in her life” (Naira was known to scoff at any mention of Heri), Heri allowed herself to be. Casting a wish as blissfully as the white snow cataloged on gorgeous winter days.

“It's like she puts you on a pedestal,” Juniper mutters half-heartedly. Melanie's eyebrows raise, making eye contact with the group's leader through the mirror. 

“And you don’t?” She speaks with a laugh, drawing an unimpressed stare from Juniper. 

“Personally, I think it’s cute. like-” she pauses. “When was the last time she looked like- I don’t know… like she didn’t dread her existence?” Juniper giggles at this, deep dimples appearing in her pale, apple cheeks. 

“Can't remember.” 

Melanie hums in affirmation of her point. A brief silence enveloped the two girls before Melanie spoke up once more. “Apparently she’s pretty good at making songs. like, producing them.” 

It is Juniper's eyebrows that rise this time, surprised brown eyes watching Melanie and anticipating her next words. 

“Jae-jin told me they’re giving her a chance. She might end up producing something with Carter for some kids’ show.” 

“So they're like… testing her.” Melanie nods, “Yeah, Carter gets to evaluate her, see how good she really is—” 

“Potentially make her cry.” 

Juniper interrupts, adding in the thought with a brief chuckle released from Melanie.

“He's excited about it for some reason. Don’t know why, really.” 

“Mels,” Juniper begins, sending the golden-haired singer a deadpan look. “Because he can be an asshole to her and get paid for it.”

She nods, slowly, pensive in her agreement. “He's mean for free, getting paid for it? That’s like- the perfect scenario for him.” Juniper mutters, shifting in her position perched on her closest friend's bed sheets. 

“How do you think it’s gonna go for her?” Juniper speaks up quietly, almost as if she was afraid of posing the question. Her gentle fear is validated through Melanie’s casual scoff accompanied by a roll of her eyes.

“Honestly? I don’t give a fuck.”

Juniper's eyebrows shoot up in surprise once again. Despite her increasing awareness of how much Melanie resented the group’s second-youngest, the depth of her disdain for Heri never ceased to catch Juniper off guard.

“I want her gone. If Carter can’t manage to do that, I’ll go to Trenton— shit, even Ka-rin if I have to."

Juniper breathes deeply, fear creeping into her eyes as she takes in the words of the woman she’s looked up to since she first entered the company. In that moment Juniper understood the depths of Heri’s reverence for the group’s most popular member.

And Juniper knew better than anyone else that when Melanie Bae wanted something, she would get it.

[margokesses]

Thoughts/ questions I have about tbosas and someone who has not read the book but plans to eventually:

The only thing that I knew about the book is that snow is straight up evil and that Lucy gray escapes at the end btw

Snow is not as evil in the movie? Like his story feels like a decent guy's descent into villainy. Like you can tell that originally he does not care about Lucy and just wants the prize money but he does end up truly loving her. But from what I hear from book readers that's not the case?

Sejanus and snow have close/initmate moments together? I'm usually not a fan of just throwing 2 random white dudes into a ship together because 9 times out of 10 its boring as hell. But they did have some moments where I genuinely thought they were gonna kiss? Also it seems like they have a genuine friendship here that I would like to be explored a bit more. Especially bc they're ideologies going against each other is interesting. But from what I hear from book readers: snow cannot stand sejanus' ass

Marcus and sejanus relationship? Like we're told that they were friends in district 2 and sejanus is obviously upset when Marcus dies but I do feel like the context of who they are is missing? Like it feels like it should be a bigger point and not just something explained in 2 or 3 sentences

Lucy Gray's singing randomly? Okay so I wouldn't say that it's random. It's clear that she's a performer in her district and it's apart of her culture as being from the Covey. And i guess she sings whenever she's expressing big emotions like when she's being reaped or when she thinks she's about to die. But I do feel like we got a little more backstory to her character outside of a few lines

Also I wish we got to see a bit more from the tributes for the games. I don't even remember their names but I know they're faces and I only know that the cape guy and the sick girl are from district 11 bc that's where it seems like there's a majority black population in the movies

The guns in the shed. Did Lucy gray plant them there herself or were they already there? Bc the way she acts about seeing the guns is very... casual? Like she's not surprised or anything that they're there. What was that about?

Snow's little meltdown at the end? I am not surprised that he reacted that way but did he actually see Lucy gray and shoot her or is that just like... him imagining her? But then we do see footprints of her escaping so like?? Idk I'm a little confused about that part ngl

Snow's transformation into his dad? When tigirs says "you look like your father" to snow at the end it doesn't hit me the way that it should? Like obviously he's gonna turn evil at the end and stuff but we don't really know who his father actually was until the ending

Peter dinklages revelation? We can infer that snows dad was an evil person bc peter dinklage character mentioned that he himself thought of the games when he was drunk and snow's dad took the credit for it. Which is fine but I wish we got to know more about snow's dad and what the homework assignment actually was? Was it like what snow had to do when trying to help make the hunger games better? Did the government genuinely ask some random 18 year Olds how to punish people for making an uprising?

[oc-aita]

AITA for killing an employee and eating her corpse to stay alive?

We live in outer space, with five planets connected via orbiting a legendary space ship that acts like a big sun. One of these planets is inhabitated by cyborgs, robots and made entirely of metal. More then half the planet is used by this megacorp that owns businesses, schools, basically everything, and is lead by a council of old people.

Me (12F, Bunny Beastalien) and my family decided to visit and go shopping at one of their many buildings. The robots that act as security and such for the megacorp were unusually kind to me, making everything I wanted free. I was happy until I was knocked out near closing time.

I managed to wake up before they took me to their secret place. It turns out more then half of the robots were actually robotized: the old people in charge (who are religious) kidnap people who they think is worthy of their God's blessing, turn them into loyal robots, and wipe the memories of all their loved ones so they forget about their existence. I managed to escape from them temporarily, but the entire place was now on lockdown looking for me and stopping me from escaping.

For more then 3 weeks I was stuck in their walls, constantly trying to avoid all the guards while trying to find an exit. And you know, I got hungry. But when nearly everyone there is a robot, food is hard to come by

Nearly everyone.

There was this one human employee, an adult girl. She didn’t seem to know about the robotization that occured, and I think she thought she was just trying to find me and bring me back home. But they wanted to hurt me and I was so so hungry,,, Before I knew it I left at her, and before I knew it I felt my teeth go through her flesh.

I managed to escape shortly after purely through dumb luck, but it turns out that employee was actually the head security's secret wife, who's also a robot. Turns out that after being reconditioned so many times, he(????AdultM, Robot Lion Beastalien) was the only person he could trust and by killing and eating her, I had gotten rid of his only support system. So now he hates me and wants to kill me in a slow and painful manner

I know they were working for an evil capitalist business, but when they were programmed into doing so/had no idea what was going on, can I really say that she deserved to be eaten??? I managed to escape shortly after eating her, so I could've held on for a little longer and stolen some bakery stuff or something. My family had all their memories of me wiped, meaning that they disowned me and while I did manage to find sanctuary on a nearby meteor, we might be in danger from the business because we keep sabotaging their efforts and they're obviously mad. It wouldn't be a surprise if the lion guard came here just to kill me and avenge his secret wife, and would it be wrong of him??? I killed his only friend, after all. I did it to survive, but some part of me can't help but think I deserve whatever fate he wishes upon me

TLDR: AITA for killing an employee of an evil corporation who didn't know the corporation was evil, before eating her and running away, letting her secret robot husband see the body and fall into a downward spiral??

[whumpqin]

Febuwhump 2022 Day 2: Failed Rescue Attempt

annnd day 2!

Characters: Ketil (Little Bird), minor human character, Artemio

CW: Failed Rescue, nonhuman whumpee, reluctant caretaker, mentions of past torture, nonhuman whumper, a pretty light one this time!

Word Count: 495

Content below the cut!

“...What in the Hells is this?”

Ketil blinked up at the human in the doorway. The shock of seeing them seemed to stop him right in the frame, staring at Ketil with mounting horror as they sat upon the dirty ground, wings curled around them for warmth.

They said nothing as the human warily approached. His gaze flicked down to the chain wrapped around their ankle, preventing their escape while Artemio was working outside. “Not privileged enough yet,” He had said. Not obedient enough, Ketil reminded themself.

“‘Spose the rumors are true, then,” the man muttered to himself. “Hey, how long have you been here?”

“I don’t know. Is it, um…” Ketil thought hard about the last time they had tasted fresh air and heard the fellow birds sing, right before Artemio’s trap had sprung. “Is it still spring?”

The man furrowed his brows. “Shit…” He took a quick glance towards the door he’d come from. “I don’t have a lot of time. Fuck, this was not the plan.” The human wiped his face with his hands, then looked at Ketil. “Okay listen, I’m gonna get you out of here. Might as well since I’m here. Is there another exit other than the front door?”

Ketil nodded, then pointed at the other door. “Down the hall. Small room for storage.”

“Great. Stay as still as you can, alright? I see an axe we can use to maybe get that chain off.”

The human shifted quietly, casting glances to the front door as he did, and picked up a small handaxe Artemio had left in here. He moved back and laid the chain out straight. Then after bunching his muscles he swung the axe down and Ketil flinched away, hearing only the sound of metal against metal.

Hands grabbed their elbows. “C’mon. Quickly, now. We don’t have a lot of time before that devil wanders back in here,” the human hissed into their ear.

Ketil was up to their talons. They took the opposite door that the human had entered into and went into the hall. This particular hall had only one distinct memory, where they had angered Artemio that He had hung them up not to stare at, but instead as punishment for their failure. The two walked into the small storage space, where meat had been hung up to dry with an array of spices.

The human stepped forward and grabbed the handle of the door and turned it. However when he pushed, he was met with impossible resistance. Just for good measure the man pulled, but the door would not open.

“What the Hells? Why the fuck won’t it open?!” The human hissed. He rammed his shoulder into the door and spat out a curse.

“Is this the commotion I’ve been hearing inside, then?”

Both the human and Ketil fell deathly silent. They turned to see a deep red devil in leathers holding an axe, charcoal black eyes narrowed in cold fury.

Artemio.

[winteringdream]

16:28 — let's just go

here you are, in your best friend's bedroom playing spin the bottle with teenagers you barely even knew.

there was park sunghoon, yang jungwon, kim sunoo, all three of them a different kind of handsome. of course, there were also girls whose names you just heard for the first time.

you didn't know them very well but your friend certainly did.

it'll be fun for you to meet more people, your best friend had said.

you thought about just hanging out with them when they said that, not spin the bottle.

sunoo and jungwon are happily talking to the others in the circle. you are most likely the only person who doesn't know anyone else.

sunghoon is quiet and you don't know what to do but stare blankly in front of you.

unfortunately, sunghoon is sitting right in front of you and you stare right at him.

you realise a little too late that you're staring at him. you smile at him, trying to make up for the fact that you just stared at him for two minutes straight.

he smiles back but looks away right after doing so. you wish to go home already.

everytime someone spins the bottle you pray that the bottle isn't pointing at you. you refuse to kiss anyone, especially when you don't even know them.

it's sunghoon's turn and once again you repeat not me a hundred times in your head.

this time you're less fortunate; the bottle is looking directly at you as if it's pointing its finger at you.

a couple oohs and aahs echo throughout the circle. your really didn't want to kiss the boy you had been accidentally staring at just now.

"i don't think they're comfortable doing this," sunghoon interrupts the others. your body relaxes a bit, you didn't have to do this.

in the end, you and sunghoon are forced outside to give the two of you privacy.

"i wanna leave," you say to him.

"me too, should we just go?" he asks you. you're taken by surprise but don't pass up the opportunity.

that is how you got to know park sunghoon. sneaking away from a random game of spin the bottle and hanging out together after escaping.

[justsomerandomfanfic]

Come With Me - Bilbo Baggins X Female Reader

Title: Come With Me

Bilbo Baggins X Female Reader

Additional Characters: Thorin, Lord Elrond, Thranduil (Mentioned), and the other dwarves

WC: 1,577

Warnings: N/A

Rivendell. A beautiful Elven kingdom that was hidden in the mountains of Middle Earth. The architecture was beautiful; the pure meaning of elegance. It was like no other place Bilbo had ever been before. Everything about it enchanted him from the moment he and the dwarves arrived. He felt at home here, as if this were where he should be. Lord Elrond had greeted them warmly, letting them stay for the time being before they went back to claim their mountain.

Bilbo walked around Rivendell, taking in its amazing scenery.

"I've never seen such beauty," He said admiringly to himself "It's like nothing I have ever experienced."

"Thank you very much," Elrond smiled politely, coming up behind them.

Bilbo turned, a bit surprised, before looking back out at the high mountains and shimmering waterfalls.

"Not with your companions?" Lord Elrond asked, and Bilbo sighed.

"Uh... I doubt that I will be missed" Bilbo stumbled. "The truth is, that most of them don't like me much being... On this journey." He spoke, disheartened.

"Indeed," Elrond said softly, looking down at the Hobbit before looking around his lands. "I've heard that Hobbits are really resilient."

Bilbo looked up at Elrond, surprised. A small laugh escaped him, before his eyebrows furrowed.

"Really?"

Elrond nodded, "I also heard that they're fond of the comforts of home."

Bilbo looked at him briefly, before looking around as if to tell a secret. "I've heard it is unwise to seek the counsel of elves; for they answer yes and no."

Elron looked down at Bilbo with a frown, and for a slight moment, Bilbo thought he had said something that he should've had. But, the Elven Lord smiled. Bilbo laughed awkwardly.

"You are very welcome to stay here if that is your wish." Elrond spoke, placing his hand on Bilbo's shoulder before leaving the balcony.

Bilbo looked off in thought before his thoughts were interrupted.

"Excuse me," A voice called to him.

Bilbo turned around, surprised to see a young woman in elven clothing, though she didn't look like she was an elf. Bilbo was taken back by her beauty. She wore a long, F/C lace gown, but what caught Bilbo's attention was the silver crown placed upon her head. She looked very familiar, almost like he knew this person. But, he had never met her before, he was sure of it.He felt his heart quicken in his chest, his eyes widened slightly, his hands felt sweaty.

"Um, yes? How may I help you?" He asked, stumbling over his words.

She smiled, "I'm sorry to bother you, but are you Bilbo Baggins?"

Bilbo blinked, confused. "Yes, I am."

"Oh! Good, well, Thorin will be needing you shortly." She spoke, looking somewhat flustered.

"Thorin?" Bilbo repeated, alarmed. "What does he need me for?"

"He wants to see you, and talk to you before you all leave."

Bilbo nodded, and you were about to take your leave, but Bilbo stopped you.

"Wait, what is your name?" He asked curiously, wanting to know more about this woman before he left.

"My name is Y/N." She answered, looking at him shyly.

"Well, Lady Y/N, thank you for telling me. But, uh, how do you know he wants to speak to me?" He asked, and you smiled softly.

"I have vision seeing. I sometimes get visions and this one had you and Thorin. I'm sorry, I must go." Y/N bowed politely and walked away.

Bilbo looked at the ground, he's never met someone who had visions before. From that point forward Bilbo thought you were fascinating. But, before he could daydream about you any longer, Thorin came in.

"Bilbo, I need to speak with you," Thorin spoke, but he paused, noticing the glimmer in Bilbo's eyes. "Are you alright? You seem distracted."

Bilbo shook his head, "Yes, I'm fine." He lied.

Thorin frowned, "I hope so."

~~~

At supper, Bilbo sat at the large table with the rest of the dwarves and Lord Elrond. Suddenly, the double doors of the room opened by the guards and you rushed in. Bilbo watched as you apologized in Elvish before taking your seat across from him. Bilbo looked up at you nervously, wondering what had happened.

"Sorry I was late, I had a vision." You spoke and the whole table paused to hear what you had to say.

"Go on, Lady Y/N." Lord Elrond spoke, and you nodded with a smile, though it was bittersweet.

"I saw the future." You spoke before one of the dwarves interrupted.

"What did you see, las?"

You smiled, patiently, "The dwarves are going to venture to Mirkwood, and speak to Lord Thranduil. But... You must be careful. I don't know what will happen next, but be wary."

Everyone listened, and Thorin nodded with a worried expression on his face.

"Very well, we shall be cautious," Thorin muttered, and everyone nodded.

"Thank you, Lady Y/N. Now, on to lighter things," Elrond said, clapping his hands once. "Dessert."

~~~

You stood on a balcony, overlooking the bright stars in the sky. You were dressed, wearing a simple silk gown. Your hair was tied in a ponytail, and your eyes sparkled in the moonlight.

You heard the pattering of feet and looked behind you, seeing a surprised Bilbo.

"Uh, ah, sorry, I didn't know this balcony was occupied." He spoke, turning back around, but you stopped him, placing your hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright, I knew you were coming. Stay with me, why don't you?" You whispered, smiling at him.

Bilbo blushed, trying to hide his embarrassment. You giggled lightly, admiring the Hobbit before you. He twitched his nose, which you thought was absolutely adorable.

"I..." He started, but then he looked at you, and was overcome with emotion.

"It's big enough for two." You joked.

Bilbo took in a deep breath and stepped closer to you. Standing beside you the two of you looked up into the night sky.

"I wanted to tell you when the others weren't here... But, Thorin will fall into a sickness."

Bilbo said nothing, shocked.

"You must be careful, Mr. Baggins. He will stop at nothing to get the Arkenstone." You spoke grimly, looking down at the Hobbit.

Bilbo looked up at you, his eyes full of fear.

"But... Promise you'll be careful."

Bilbo nodded, "I promise." He looked around frantically, his mind racing.

"But, what do I do?" He asked and you sighed, looking back at the stars.

"If you find the stone... Don't let him have it." You whispered.

Bilbo nodded solemnly, "Alright."

"I know you and Thorin are close, but you must be careful. If you need me, I can guide you on your journey; just find me before you go." You tried to reassure him, and he smiled lovingly up at you.

"I know, but what will I do without you?"

You chuckled, "You got this far without me, didn't you. You fought many battles before."

Bilbo looked down at his feet, and you put your hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, you can handle anything. I know you can."

Bilbo looked up at you and smiled, "Thank you."

You leaned in and kissed Bilbo gently on the cheek. You pulled back to look into his eyes, and he smiled back.

"Now, go to sleep, tomorrow you set off."

~~~

Bilbo repacked his things before he quickly made his way to the same balcony from the night before. There, you were standing. Bilbo's smile widened. He stood beside you, looking at the beautiful scenery once more before he had to go.

"Lord Elrond speaks the truth." You spoke softly.

Bilbo turned to look up at you, "The truth?"

You looked down at him with a small smile. "You may stay here. If you wish to, that is."

Bilbo looked at the shimmering waterfalls and high mountains, nodding.

"Hmm, yes. I know." He replied, looking back at you. "Will you be here?"

"Yes, I will. I have nowhere else to go I'm afraid."

Bilbo hummed again before getting an idea.

"Come with me." He spoke, looking up at you with bright eyes.

"What?" You asked, and Bilbo continued.

"Come with me to Bag End."

He had such hope that you would agree.

Biting your lip you looked away. Bilbo's smile weakened.

"I don't know if I can, Bilbo. Lord Elrond needs me here."

Bilbo sighed, nodding his head. "I... I understand."

"My child." A deep, yet calm voice spoke.

You and Bilbo turned to see Lord Elrond before you. He smiled gently between you two.

"If you wish to go with him after his journey, then do as you wish. I won't keep you here."

Your eyes widened, "Are you sure, My Lord?" You asked and the Elven Lord nodded.

"Yes, I can see where your heart lies. Follow it. And, before you leave, we shall have a bountiful feast in your honor for helping us for so long." He spoke, and you had to hold back your tears of joy.

"Thank you, My Lord."

Lord Elrond nodded, bowing briefly before he left completely. Alone again, you turned to Bilbo with a smile.

"I did not see that coming." You laughed, and Bilbo followed.

"Lady Y/N, would you do me the honor of living with me in Bag End? If I come back?" He asked, and you didn't hesitate to say yes.

"When you get back, Bilbo. I would love to."

[8bitscarlet]

Witchcraft

Summary: You've found yourself falling deeper into a certain witch's spell. But no matter how strong the magic is, it seems that the two of you just keep missing each other.

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Genre/Warnings: Angst/Fluff (minor cussing)

Word Count: 3.5k

A/N: This is a fic for @marvelxreaderfanfictionfest writing exchange. This one is for @mrsromanoff and the prompt: "I can't keep kissing strangers and thinking they're you." Hope you like it!

*please do not repost or translate my material or claim as yours.*

________________

You never thought your three month assignment with the Avengers would've extended as long as it has. Missions went by with minimal injuries and maximum wins. You found yourself settling well into the chaos of the compound; the echoing boasts of Thor, the competitive edge of Danvers and the snark between Romanoff and Stark. When your three months were up, it wasn't a surprise to anyone that you immediately signed the contract from Stark, an official placement on the team.

Despite all of the alien blasters, Hydra experiments and Tony's benefit parties, nothing could've prepared you for a single person to rock your world. It started innocently enough; stolen glances at meals and ensuring you two were on the same mission team. As time continued, things turned less innocent; sneaking off during charity balls to suck face in the broom closet, you could recall a few times you were nearly caught in the back of the Quinjet. There was something about this woman. The way her fingers slithered through your hair, how those green eyes made your heart say yes, she stripped you bare.

You had convinced yourself it was witchcraft. It had to be.

Sitting with your cheek pressed against your fist, you find yourself doodling as Steve drones on in the background. Someone nudges you and as you turn, Wanda raises her brows when your eyes connect. With a groan, you raise the pen in your hand. Steve notices, stopping his spiel to look at you with a clenched jaw.

"With all due respect, Cap, we all got in at four this morning. Do we need a recap of the mission right now?"

Steve sighs, glancing at everyone and seeing them agreeing with you. You all had barely had time to unpack, let alone write your after action reports.

"Alright, Y/N. We'll go over how your pants tore mid-fight on Monday."

You point your pen at him, warning him as you watch his stupid smile fill his face. Bucky slaps your shoulders in gratitude, picking up Alpine onto his shoulders as he strides out to find Sam. Wanda's fingers gently brush yours as you walk side by side, sending an electric charge through your body.

"You know, when someone says 'with all due respect,' they really mean, 'kiss my ass'." Wanda glances at you with a sly smile.

Walking backwards towards the couch, you outstretch your arms with a grin, "Because that's what I meant, darling."

Chuckling, you roll over the back of the couch and plop down onto the cushions, your head landing perfectly on a pillow. Wanda lets out a scoff, knowing how many times it's taken you to actually land on the cushion and not the floor.

Flipping through the pages of her book, you watch her through half-closed eyes. A year ago you'd be asking what she was reading. A year ago, she'd curl up with you and explain it all. A year ago, you didn't have guilt eating at you.

Things a year ago were more than good between you. There might have even been a chance beyond friends with benefits. You knew you wanted that. Every time you looked at her, you couldn't stop your pounding heart or the warmth that grew in your stomach.

But you were stupid.

Chickening out every chance you had to ask her on an actual date rather than sneaking around to make her moan. You both had set ground rules, no strings attached. If it got too messy, you both had to call it quits. So, you convinced yourself it was better to quietly love her and keep her, than to tell the truth and lose her.

That was before the year long mission with Carol and Bucky. Before you realized how big of a mistake it was two months in. Before every day texts and video chats diminished to every other week, then every other month. Before you got back to the compound and saw her kissing up on some random benefactor at the Welcome Home Party. It was definitely before she started dating that walking toaster, Vision.

Luckily, he hadn't been around much the past month so watching them kiss and stare into each other's eyes was doable, mostly because you turned whenever you saw that stupid spark plug.

Four months since coming home, you've tried to fill the void the witch had created in your body, your soul. You went out with Carol and Bucky, prowling the town and the bar. Matching shot for shot some nights, waking up in random apartments other nights. Eventually Bucky did what you never did.

He asked Sam on a date and that left you and Carol. Until she started hooking up with Maria and dragged her along so you wouldn't be hitting the bars alone. You had made yourself a pity case.

"Do you need something?" Wanda cocks a brow at you, making a face at your prolonged staring.

You clear your throat, feeling the heat rush through your face, "You look a little sunburnt."

With a shrug and a chuckle, Wanda bookmarks her page as she places it down on the coffee table. Standing, she sits down on the couch, your body automatically scooting over to accommodate her. Holding out her red and glowing hand, you watch her pull off her rings, displaying the radiating tan lines running up and down her fingers. A laugh escapes you as you feel her hand slap against your chest.

"I didn't have anyone to put sunscreen on me!" She groans, "It burns!"

You guide your finger gently down her exposed arm, pressing in slightly to her warm skin. As you lift, you see the true color of her skin before it's bombarded with the glowing red of her burn. Glancing up, her green eyes watch you carefully, both of you not acknowledging the weight of her hand still on your chest.

"An aloe vera massage would do wonders," You whisper, "And I'm all out."

With a roll of her eyes, she leans back into your legs, "You really are a pain in my ass, y'know? When I tell people about you, that's the first thing I say."

Watching her float the remote to her awaiting hand, you grin, "Oho, so you're telling people about me, huh?"

"Please, check the ego there."

For the next moment, the two of you sit peacefully in each other's silence. Wanda was one who clung to those she trusted. When you came back, it was like she had superglued herself to you any time you walked into the room. It didn't help that you were still madly in love and she was taken.

Right now though, you watch her delicate fingers play with yours. Her eyes squinting with laughter as she watches her sitcoms, glancing to see if you're laughing as well.

A commercial echoes through the living room and Wanda lets out a sigh for attention, patting your thigh as she drops your hand. You don't move it as it lands atop her thigh, only gently stroke your thumb against the silky skin you wish could press against yours. Letting out a noise that you're both awake and paying attention to her, she glances over at you.

"Since you got Captain America to actually give us a free weekend, what's your plan tonight, casanova?"

You shrug, "I have early training with Bucky and-."

Wanda moves her whole body to face you, your hand slipping from her thigh as confusion spreads across her face. She lets out an unbelieving scoff,

"You're joking. You used to show up half drunk to training and still kick ass."

She's watching you carefully and you try to keep a neutral look on your face, she knows all of your quirks. Glancing up at her with a small grin, you pull your legs into you. Shifting yourself, you sit properly on the couch and run your hands through your hair.

"Just don't want to go out tonight. It's boring." You chuckle, trying to swallow the lump in your throat.

Wanda rolls her eyes, "Why, no one catches your eye anymore?"

Another playful nudge and you sigh. All this playful teasing, these light touches. She has to know what she's doing.

Trying to keep a steady and nonchalant shrug, you shake your head,

"No one out there."

And you might've gotten away with it. Instead, you fell into the magnetic pull of those green eyes that cause you so much trouble. As your eyes land on hers, you can see the dilation within her pupils. Then the realization across her face. Her playful grin falls as she stares at you, blinking slowly.

"Y/N," She says slowly, "If you're doing what I think-."

You stand up quickly, your feet taking you to the other end of the coffee table. In two days you'll be gone and you'll be back in the place you hate being in right now. Placing your hands on your waist, you look up from your tapping foot.

"Wanda, I can't keep kissing strangers and thinking they're you."

Silence meets your face. You watch her as she slowly nods at you, "That's exactly what you're doing."

Groaning, she slides her fingers through her hair, pinning it from her face. Wanda lets out a careful breath before looking up at you, "What happened to no strings?"

Slapping your hands against your thighs in frustration, you let out a scornful chuckle, "Come on, Wanda. You know those rules were bullshit! No strings means not going on exclusive trips to museums and restaurants!" You watch her eyes flicker around the room, trying to find a way to disprove what you're saying. "It means not staying up all night when the other is sick!"

Wanda stands up quickly and you can see the look on her face, she knows what you're getting to. Waving her hand to get you to shut up, she tries to get to the stairs but your words blurt from your mouth,

"It means not falling in love!"

Her feet stop carrying her towards the stairs, her body frozen in the middle of the compound. Carefully, you step towards her, leaning ever so slightly to try and catch her eyes. They're glazed over from your confession, trying to understand the implications.

"I left. I..." You suck in a shaky breath, "I thought it would be easier if I wasn't here. You were so adamant about no strings, Wands. I broke the only rule, why would I stay?"

Her head jerks back at your words, her brows furrowing deeply down her face. Without another second to keep talking, Wanda's feet pivot as she shoots a finger into your face. You jerk away from her advance, seeing the growing mist within her eyes as she shouts,

"That's why you left?"

The crack in her voice sends one through your heart.

She turns quickly, her hands violently wiping at the tears that have broken free. You clench your brows. She's angry at you? You're the one who's had to watch her prance around with Vision, you just a memory of romance. Just before she can grab her bag and leave, you call out,

"Well, you seem to have fared better than me!"

As the words leave your lips, you bite down hard and shut your eyes. A surprised choke exits Wanda's throat as she throws her purse back onto the side table, knocking over the decorative bowl of rocks. They scatter across the ground but she doesn't notice, all of her rage is pointing at you. Her fingers run violently through her auburn hair, looking like she wants to rip it out.

"You are infuriating!" She jabs a fingers at you, "Why think that?! Because I'm dating Vision? He's filling a void, dumbass!"

Her words stab into you as her stomps draw nearer, you can feel the heat of her anger. She's not done, she's not letting you off easy.

"Every time he touches me, every time he kisses me. God, Y/N! All I can see is your dumb face."

Wanda's heavy breath washes over you as she finally stops her assault, so close you can see the blue in her green eyes. Her body radiates out to you and you have to force your hands into your pocket to not grab her and kiss her. Your eyes dip to her lips but you see sadness that has quickly replaced the facade of anger. Making a small fist, she slams it into your chest as her head bows. Her arm slides down your body, hanging limply at her side as she looks to you.

"Why didn't you talk to me?"

Wanda's fingers twitch forward, wanting to grab onto you. You sigh, taking your hands from your pockets and resting them on your waist. Your confession was supposed to be more romantic than this. Instead, you brought up issues you both were trying to ignore. You were angry now at yourself, taking it all out on the person you loved. You'd spent too long with all of this pent up emotion though, and it was all pouring out in waves.

"I have to finish my requisition forms. Get my gear ready."

You don't have to look up to know what face Wanda is making at you. It's the same face she had when you left the first time. The way her brows clenched together in disbelief, the pain behind her reddened eyes that threatened to spill more tears, how her chin trembled as she tried to breathe.

Her voice barely passes a whisper but standing so close, you hear every broken syllable, "You're leaving again."

You sigh, rubbing your throbbing temples as you feel your nose stuff up.

"You drop all of that on me and you're just going to turn around and leave?"

Shaking your head, you want this conversation to end. It's obvious where she is and it's not next to you.

"Don't you have a date or something?" You ask.

Wanda's been around you too long to not see exactly what you're doing. She lets out a chuckle, a lethal look in her eyes.

"No, you're right. And that date seems a hell of a lot better than this." Without another word, she snatches her purse from the table and starts to climb the stairs, leaving your feet frozen. Just as she reaches the middle of the staircase, she stops. You can feel her stare burning into you and as you look her way, you wish you hadn't.

"You're a coward."

Those words burn into your brain, rising through your ears and torture you for the rest of the day. The only thing you could think to do was slam your fists into the closest thing. The punching bags. People came and went, eyeing you try and punch away your frustrations to no avail. When the sun finally had sunk below the horizon, one Avenger had enough of your pity party.

"You know she's right." A voice comes from behind you.

You don't respond to them, just dodge the swaying bag. They walk into the room, stopping just inside of your peripheral.

"You're an idiot, you know."

With a chuckle, you sidestep the bag, "You need to be a little more specific."

"You're losing her again."

Another punch, "Uh huh."

Carol sighs next to you, "And you sent her away on her date."

"Yup."

She steps in front of the bag, stopping its movement and stares at you with determination in her eyes, "And you're not going after her?"

Avoiding her stare, you start to unwrap your hands, wiping at the sweat that pours down your face. Stopping, you can feel the cramp in your side and the throbbing of your knuckles. Chucking the wrap, you let out a shrug,

"Is there a point?"

Carol shoves the bag into you, grabbing your attention, "I am not going on another mission with you while you sulk. Do you know you talk in your sleep? Yeah. Guess what name I heard that whole year?"

You shake you head, licking your chapped lips as you search for water, "She didn't say it back."

You hear an exasperated chuckle from Carol, "Y'know Y/N, I'm going to go on a limb and say she wasn't expecting all of that to be thrown in her face."

Shooting her a glare, she keeps talking, "I'm saying this once. If you think this is going to be some cheesy Rom-Com where she bursts through those doors and confesses her love, you're more of an idiot than I thought." A finger jabs hard into your chest as you grimace, "You need to fix this."

Carol leaves you there with your head filled with more thoughts than before. Wanda was happy with Vision wasn't she? She hadn't talked about him much but you knew she had to be. Who were you to go and screw that up?

Night turned into morning and after staring up at your ceiling, you knew you weren't getting any sleep.

Sneaking down the stairs, you see everyone is still asleep. You take the opportunity to sit in more silence and wait for the coffee machine to finish steaming. The sun was just beginning to shine its red hues into the kitchen as you stood at the counter, twirling your empty mug. Lost in thought, you failed to hear the padding of feet coming down the stairs.

"I thought you had early training."

With a quiet chuckle, you lean into the counter, "You caught me."

In silence, you watch the witch pour in her coffee. The same amount of creamer and sugar every time, the same motions every morning since you've noticed her. Turning, she sees your mindless fingers twisting and turning your empty mug. Wanda raises her brows and holds out her hand,

"Refill?"

You hand over the mug and watch her work her magic on the black liquid, turning it into the caramel drink you love. Breathing in deeply, you watch the bubbles swirl around the liquid. You furrow your brows,

"I can never make mine taste-."

"We broke up."

Her words slam into you, your breath catching inside of your throat. Looking up, Wanda stands there in the middle of the kitchen, unsure if she had truly spoken or not. She looks up at you, her mouth closing as she realizes she doesn't know what she's doing.

"What? Wands, are you okay?" You start to stand to go and comfort her, you know they had a date yesterday. Did the son of a microwave hurt her?

Wanda's hand rises, stopping you in your tracks before she takes a quiet breath, "We broke up almost a month ago, Y/N."

Nodding at your obliviousness, you knock your knuckles against the counter as you press your lips into a thin line, "We're both liars then."

"Tell me you lied about the mission," She whispers, leaning into the counter. Her fingers laying gently across yours.

Your chest constricts as you sigh, "I didn't."

You watch her sullen nod, curling hair falling out of her messy bun as you gently graze your thumb across her knuckles. She quietly chuckles,

"We just missed each other."

Stopping your thumb, you clench your jaw. This isn't going to happen again.

"Wanda," You whisper, listening to the sad hum she gives you as she glances up with bloodshot eyes, "I'm sorry. I was scared and... I was an idiot."

Wanda pats your hand with a loud sniff, "I appreciate it, but-."

She doesn't continue. She doesn't want to believe that you're leaving. The love you feel wouldn't be strong enough to survive that time apart again. There's broken support beams and one thing will send it falling down. A far away mission isn't the nurturing this budding feeling needs.

Wanda tries her best to flash you a grin, "Let me teach you how to make coffee."

Before she can turn, you grab her hand quickly, "I'd prefer if you made it."

As you walk around the counter, you gently rest a hand on her waist, watching her carefully. Her handgrips your arm tightly, words stuttering from her lips as she tries to remind you that she's not going. You're leaving her again.

Without hesitation, you press your lips against hers, feeling her breath wash over you in a sigh. You pull her in tighter, leaning your head back to speak,

"Sam's going stir crazy. He can have it."

A smile tugs at your lips as you see her furrowed brows on her face, you place a kiss at the center of the wrinkles, pulling back to see the scrunching of her nose. A scrunch just for you.

"Wanda Maximoff. I love you. And I'm not losing you twice."

Without warning, her lips smash against your as she wraps her arms around your shoulders as you hoist her up. Wanda's legs wrap around you as both of you are smiling so wide that you can't kiss properly. Feeling her cold hands press gently against your face, you look into those green eyes that complete you life.

"I love you." Wanda whispers as her witchcraft wraps around you once more.

[undertaker1827]

Hi again! How are you doing? Can you a scenario with Undertaker, Edward, Ciel and Sebastian with a s/o who is scared to love because in their life, they only see relationships that end up with both people end up hurt and they're afraid to be in one? Keep up your work! You're doing amazing! :)

Hello! I’m good, hope you are too! And of course, (though I’m sorry, I kind of forgot about the tsundere-ish bit until the end) enjoy!

Masterlist

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Undertaker

Undertaker had known for a while now that you loved him, and he loved you back. It took quite a bit of courage for him to even approach you to confess his feelings, even though he already knew you returned them, for fear of rejection. He had trust issues from various things that had happened to him throughout his long life and he also knew how short a human life was compared to his own, how quickly you could be ripped out of his arms by so little with him able to do nothing but watch. In the end, he decided to just go for it anyway, to tell you. And he felt like his chest had imploded when you rejected his advances.

Sadness radiated from you as you quietly told him you weren’t interested, then walked slowly away to his small kitchen where you put the kettle on for tea. He didn’t mention it again.

He worried over your reaction until he almost felt sick, worried that he’d upset you, that you would now want nothing more to do with him and that he had ruined this little piece of happiness he’d managed to scrape out of eternity. He’d never imagined your rejection came out of fear as well.

The mortician had been different since that day, try though he had to remain the same, and you too worked yourself up until you were fighting back tears as you tried to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, it was all down to you. He watched you spiral rapidly downwards for all of a few seconds before he realised where this was going, then did the only thing he could think of in that moment. Undertaker shoved his bangs to the side so you could see his eyes then kissed you, hard, for all of a few moments. It was enough to shock you out of your impending panic and with your chest still heaving, he gently told you that he was scared to love as well, scared to lose you. But if you were both scared of the same thing, you would could work through it together.

“I think,” you whispered, “I think I would like that.” The mortician offered you a small smile.

“I think I would too.”

Edward Midford

Edward had slowly come to the realisation that he loved you. He enjoyed your company, felt happier when you were there and was filled with an undeniable sadness when you left again. You had been walking through the streets of London together, talking animatedly about everything and nothing all at once. This was something you often did together, each taking comfort in the other’s presence and enjoying the escape from real life that your shared walks offered. This particular day though, you had not even made it halfway round your usual route before a friend came rushing up to you, needing your assistance for one thing or another, and you’d had to leave. You looked sad though, glancing over your shoulder at Edward as your friend chatted away, wishing you were still with him instead.

That led the knight to where he was now, wandering around one of London’s great parks and contemplating hi relationship with you. He was never one to beat around the bushes with regards to his personal feelings on any matter, least of all one where somebody else’s emotions were involved and they could potentially get hurt. As such, he decided that he would tell you everything as soon as he saw you again, which would be tomorrow’s usual morning walk.

-

Your heart leapt into your throat as soon as Edward asked if he could court you. You had both dreamed of and dreaded this moment for as long as you had held feelings for the man, which started to come about almost as soon as you met him. You swallowed once before politely declining his advances, the next few minutes of the walk continuing in silence. Upset as Edward was, he absolutely respected your decision. But he was sure you felt something for him, so he could help but ask you why. When he saw how that made you even more agitated, he immediately backtracked, apologising profusely and swearing never to bring it up again. Which in turn made you feel worse, because now you had inadvertently upset the man you loved even more.

That was how you ended up telling him, right there in the middle of your walk, that you would love nothing more than for him to court you, but you were too scared to say yes. You explained all of the relationships that you had seen go wrong and that you didn’t want you and him to become yet another one. He told you then that he’d seen much of the same as you, with friends and even some families, but he was still willing to give this a try if you were. After all; he loved you.

Ciel Phantomhive

Ciel too came to the realisation that he loved you slowly. There was no one moment where it just hit him, but more like he gradually came to the conclusion that he wanted to be with you for as long as he possibly could. He didn’t know if you returned his feelings or not, so he decided to wait a while before telling you, firstly to see how you behaved around him and try to decide whether your feelings for him went further than a strong bond of friendship, and secondly for him to get his courage up.

You were having tea in one of the Phantomhive manor’s many drawing rooms, Sebastian having left at Ciel’s request some time ago and no doubt going about his duties around the estate. This was the moment then; it was time to ask if you would allow him to court you. Of course, when you graciously and elegantly declined his request with an apology on your lips a light frown across your brow, he had no idea that in truth, your heart was breaking just as much as his. You loved him, you truly did, but you dared not admit it for the fear of any relationship ending in tears just as you had seen with those of your friends. Outwardly, Ciel took this rejection in a calm and collected manner, offering you his own apology, but it left a gaping hole in his chest in which there had been the hope for something more with you.

You each tried to continue like you had before, but with Ciel’s sadness and your fear, in the end you felt like he deserved the true explanation of why you refused. The moment you told the earl, a spark of joy lit up within him once more. Maybe, just maybe, there was still a chance that you would give this relationship a go, if the pair of you went slowly enough and if there was a solemn promise that your friendship would remain unchanged if and when your romantic partnership came to an end. 

Sebastian Micaelis

Sebastian could help but admit that he was a little surprised at his own feelings when he came to realise what they were. He was a demon after all; demons weren’t supposed to acquire romantic attachments for anyone, let alone a human of all beings. Any human’s lifetime was a blink of an eye compared to Sebastian’s and the thought did give him pause when it came to you, though only for a moment. He could at least enjoy a romantic partnership with you while it lasted, and surely some time spent with you in this way was better than none at all.

The demon was sure you felt the same way about him. Identifying the emotions of others when they were so clearly displayed in their every action was simple, it was dealing with one’s own thoughts and feelings that was the difficult part. Sebastian was visiting you at your house when he told you how he felt about you, a cup of your perfect tea in one hand but the drink long forgotten. He saw the panic rise in your features as soon as the words left his lips, but he asked anyway if you felt the same. He was again surprised at the bleak sadness that filled him when you said you did not. He was sure he could sense conflict in you, but he dared not comment on it lest he push you away entirely. A friendship was better than you not being in his life at all, he decided, and he was determined for your current friendship to remain the way it was. 

Sebastian carried on after that as if nothing had happened, simply hoping to maintain some sort of friendship with you after his impromptu confession. You, on the other hand, simply grew more concerned as the days passed by. You wanted to say you loved him back, because it was the truth, but you were scared that everything would go wrong as you had seen so many times before. Eventually, with trembling hands and a total lack of the courage you really wished you had, you told him everything. Sebastian was quietly overjoyed that you returned his feelings, though his only words to you were ones of comfort. He told you that he understood your fear and that it was perfectly normal even, but asked if you would give things a try anyway. For both your sakes, just in case things could really work out. It was hesitantly, if not with an air of excitement, that you agreed.

Ronald Knox

Ronald was well known amongst other reapers for being someone who moved very quickly between partners. He knew this about himself as well, it was just the way he was. That was why he was so surprised to find he was actually interested in you in the context of a long term relationship. You were interested in him too, though you didn’t expect him to feel the same way. On top of that, even in the unlikely event that he did feel the same way about you, you knew you would be too afraid of getting hurt and having any potential relationship end badly to try anything with him.

You felt a deep, aching sorrow in your chest when the one almost impossible scenario that you spent your time both dreaming and worrying about started to play out right in front of you. Ronald didn’t ask you out in a big room filled with lots of people, instead asking if he could walk with you after you both clocked off from work. The hurt was displayed clearly on the reaper’s face, much as he tried to hide it then brush it off entirely when you went to apologise. You felt awful when he made an excuse and went on his way not a few moments later, but what was worse was that when you went into work the next morning, a massive fire had broken out in the early hours somewhere in the centre of London and the night crew hadn’t been able to collect all of the souls. Which left you being paired up with Ronald to finish the job.

You each tried carrying on like nothing had happened the previous day, but found it was very difficult. Things changed though when you tripped over a charred piece of wooden beam and would have fallen straight through the fragile floor and down a storey to the ground below had Ronald not caught you.

“Guess you fell for me after all, huh?” He said this with a small yet sad grin, but the look quickly turned to a teasing smirk when your gaze dropped off to one side. “You did as well!” You grumbled something unintelligible as you still refused to look at him. “You know, you’re so pretty when you’re upset.” The reaper’s eyes were practically glowing with mirth and he knew full well you didn’t mean your next words.

“Oh, shut up!”

William T. Spears

William couldn’t really believe that he was about to do this. He always did his utmost to remain stoic and emotionless, void of attachments and only at work long enough to do his job and then go home. But then, along came you. He found quite quickly that he couldn’t keep his mind off of you,the way you acted and how you always seemed pleased to see him when nobody else was.

This was it, then. You tended to stay late and end up leaving around the same time he did, meaning you would both end up walking together until you left dispatch’s confines and went home your separate ways. You were coming out of your office at the same time as he was making his way down the corridor on this particular evening, and you gave the reaper a broad smile as he paused a minute to wait for you. He was collected as ever on the outside, even if internally his every nerve felt like it was on fire. Neither of you spoke as you headed towards the main exit from the office building, keeping pace with each other as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

William waited until you were outside to finally tell you how he felt, the soft and quiet confession feeling entirely foreign on his tongue. His apprehension steadily raised as the seconds went past until you finally answered, expression sorrowful yet decided. You looked up at him as you declined his offer, sadness settling in your chest as his characteristically stiff posture remained unchanged and he stared straight ahead.

“Alright, then. I apologise for having wasted your time.” With that, he was gone, long strides taking him away from you far too quickly. It was a decision made just as quickly that had you running after him, calling his name and asking him to wait. You were almost surprised to find that he did indeed stop and turn to face you.

“I - I’m sorry,” you attempted to explain yourself, “it’s just that I only ever see relationships end badly, and I just... don’t want it to be the same with you. You matter too much to me.” The reaper paused, an unexpected warmth settling in his chest at your words.

“Would you be willing to try?” William asked you cautiously, wondering if he could bear it if your answer was no. That worry dissipated, though, as he watched your lips curve up into a small smile.

“I think I would.”

[parchmentedpetrichor]

➳it's good to see you again ♡ ☾

in which y/n l/n comes home from a 2 year long mission to subdue the rest of the escaped death eaters and meets her best friend, fred weasley, yet again.

fred weasley x fem!reader

word count: ±1.5k

tw: mentions of scars, nightmares, mentions of the war

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my masterlist:D

ft. angelina and george

it's been a long day without you, my friend

and i'll tell you all about it when i see you again

it's good to see you again

y/n was sitting comfortably in the backseat of george's fancy car, earphones plugged in and listening to a song to drown out the sound of angelina and george talking about something they had seen on the news. her head was leaning against the window, her eyes drinking in the familiar view of london in nostalgia. it hurt her that she wasn't the only person who would see the beautiful city she'd known from the very beginning. and she missed it. angelina and george had picked her up from the quarantine centre after she had made a trip to albania for a couple of years with the rest of her auror unit to imprison the remaining death eaters. albania had recently acquired many cases of dragonpox, and so all the unit members had to isolate in a little hotel by the edge of italy. it had been a few weeks since the start of the quarantine and now she was zooming along a british highway, ever so keen to see her friends and family again. and fred. fred was her best friend. they had been since 5th year. perhaps she was harbouring feelings for him, perhaps she wasn't. and here she sat, curled up and watching the views, trying to decipher whether or not he'd be different. he had survived the war just barely. it would be acceptable for him to change. did he still have the millions of freckles dotted along his face? her face flushed just thinking about it. bringing her hands up to her cheeks she shook her head. chile, y/n, he probably has a girlfriend. it's been two years, and he didn't like you two years ago, he won't like you now. the thought alone made her frown. "what's got you blushing and frowning like mad?" angelina looked at her through the mirror in the front of the car. george whispered something in her ear and she giggled. "y/n, is this possibly about a certain fred weasley?" her eyes widened. "nope, not at all." "really? so you were definitely not thinking about the amount of freckles my twin has on his face? hmm?" "no! george, seriously?" she stuck my tongue out at him. "or his ginger hair?" angelina added. "no! you guys are idiots!" she folded her arms. "and she's blushing again," angelina sniggered. "stop!" "it's okay, he blushes about you way more," george laughed, eyes on the road. "stop, stop, stop!!!!!" "it is true." "no it isn't, okay? erm, i don't like him, he doesn't like me. we're best friends. you guys are gross." she resumed looking out the window, shaking her head. they had reached a pretty big house with two levels, with large windows that y/n would absolutely die to have and cute little bricks sticking out. "what? i thought we were going back to my parent's house?" "you wish." "who are we visiting?" "oh just a person i know from work," angelina said with a twinkle in her eyes. "okay. did we bring anything?" "just you," she replied, "me and george are heading back to our place. your stuffs at your parents." george nodded. y/n frowned, "okay." she bounded up to the door and knocked a couple of times. the door opened and she immediately began babbling off a greeting and an introduction without looking at the person. "i'm y/n l/n, and i understand you're from angie's work! it's nice to meet yo-" her eyes were met by chocolate brown ones, framed by so many freckles. fred lived in this place? "it's good to see you again, miss y/n l/n," he grinned and oh my oh my, y/n felt her heart skipping beats all over again. fred was worried when there was silence, but he was pleasantly surprised when he felt arms wrap as much as they could around his waist. true to his nature, his cheeks turned as red as his hair. he breathed in the smell of her hair, the smell of her and oh he had missed her so much. "i missed you a lot," he mumbled, tightening his grip around her, "so so so so so much." "me too, freddie," there that nickname was, and it made him possibly weak at how pretty she was and how pretty her voice was. when she let go, he almost felt empty, and so he snaked an arm around her waist. "your place is so beautiful, freddie!" his secret was that he had bought it hoping that she would

live with him. he knew she loved beautiful windows and bay windows and balconies. "not as beautiful as you, lovely." and his eyes were graced by her flustered expression, her cheeks tinted the most delightful shade of pink. "but the windows! gosh they're pretty." "wanna live with me?" he dropped the question ever so casually. "are you sure? i've got an apartment set up and all so it's no big deal-" "no. i want you to live with me." "then your wish is my command, i guess. i don't have much stuff though." "that's fine! i knew you would say yes so i got a bedroom ready for you." she hesitated. fred looked at her. "is everything okay?" "i-i don't want you to think that i'm best friends with you because you're rich or whatever and i feel like i'm taking advantage of your richness and it's not right?" "you're not, okay?" she nodded, still hesitating a little bit. "if you really feel bad you can come visit me and george in the shop and do some type of customer service. you'll be paid." "am i paying rent if i live here?" she asked. "no, y/n, i own this place." "don't you pay land tax?" "yeah, but it's not that much." "nope, i'm paying rent or you're not paying me for the shifts i do. or both. take your pick." "i won't pay you for the shifts. is this really a big deal?" "yes it is! it's money and morals. that's a very big deal." "okay, fair." "gimme a list of all my shifts please." "nah, you pop in whenever you can." "okay, when's rush hour?" "hogsmeade weekends and thursdays." ☆ it was night. y/n couldn't sleep at all. she was lying in the insanely boujee king sized bed and the insanely comfortable sheets, and she still couldn't fathom why she couldn't sleep. maybe it was because she always slept with one eye open in albania. habit. so she was just sitting in her bed, looking around the room. she was tired, but she couldn't be untired. and it would be selfish to disturb fred. but he had said his door was always open. so she crept out and made her way through the corridors, finally stopping at a door which she hoped was fred's bedroom. it was half ajar, so she peeked her head around it. he was asleep, a very thin blanket draped carelessly around his body, his ginger hair messy and his chest rising with every peaceful breath he took. his room was big and simple, cluttered in the most fred way. she approached him, tapping him on the shoulder lightly. "freddie??" he opened his eyes drowsily, "mmm?" "i can't sleep." "'ave you tried countin' broomst'cks?" "i can't sleep." "'kay," he pulled her into his bed, wrapping his arms around y/n and tucking most of the gryffindor red blanket under her chin. it smelled like him, "this 'kay?" fred was shirtless. y/n was blushing. "yeah." "mm, have a good night, okay? i'm here, you're safe." y/n nodded, feeling the most comfortable she had in two whole years, cuddling up to his chest as she fell into sleep. sleep. she hadn't properly slept in two whole years. every night would be spent either patrolling or anxiously preparing for the next day. when she did get some shut-eye, it was broken and restless. but her dreams were stopped with visions of terrifying death eaters casting sectumsempra onto the auror unit. she felt the pain she had endured through a long time ago. it left a scar on her back and imprints in her mind. it was impossible to forget. she remembered yelling as she saw another auror drop dead. running, running out of the hellhole of the death eater's base. "y/n, y/n," fred was shaking her awake. she was shaking, tears were running down her face. she fervently apologised to him. "don't say sorry, lovely," he wiped the tears off of her face, "what was your dream about?" "t-the mission, the death eaters w-were cutting people up and they got me." "oh darling, why didn't you tell me this before?" he asked gently, cradling her head to his chest. "it, it comes out at the worst times." "well you're not in albania anymore, okay, love? you're here, in london, and you're safe. you're okay, you're fine." she nodded, "sorry." "don't you dare,

it isn't your fault. sleep, okay? i'll wait for you to go to sleep before i do, yeah?" she nodded. her head fell onto his chest and fred traced gentle patterns on her back, whispering small nothings in her ear. for the first time, it seemed like fred could watch her without repercussions. even with her tear-stained cheeks and wild hair, she was beautiful. and when he had stayed up for hours into the night and morning for this girl, this was when he realised. he would do anything for her. he loved her.

[chasingpj]

𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐨 𝐝𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫

pairing: leo valdez x child of iris!reader

requested?: yes!

translation: full of color

warnings: uhh, mentions of mental health and ?? maybe some typos lmao

category: headcanons, fluff, best friends to lovers

pre-relationship

though, leo saw you around camp often, you caught interest in him before he caught interest in you

i mean, he literally couldn't miss you because your outfits were always bright, whether it was a combination of colors or monochromatic

you and your siblings actually look like a rainbow threw up on you guys, and it's honestly iconic

no one at camp can not notice the children of iris, especially when they're in a herd

one day, you were sitting alone at a picnic table near the lake, and you found yourself drawing him in your sketchbook

you sketched a portrait of him while he spoke to piper at a table nearby

you've always found the floppy curls and how his brightest smiles always look a little manic to be adorable

when you sketched his portrait in your notebook, you didn’t intend for him ever to see it

until a couple of weeks later in the arts and crafts center, leo passed by and caught sight of a new project you were working on

he stopped in his tracks to compliment your drawing

since you were nowhere near done with it, you couldn’t admire the piece as much as he was

but his enthusiasm was so endearing

he politely asked if he could see more, and you didn’t hesitate to slide over your sketchbook

he noticed a lot of your drawings were scenery and people at camp; especially your siblings

he stumbled across a detailed sketch of a woman and her child sitting in a bus

“wow… who’s this?”

“oh, I don’t know. It was just a little girl I saw on the train with her mother.”

“so you just drew her?”

you never realized how weird your habit of drawing random people was until he had asked

you giggled nervously, quick to explain yourself, “I tend to draw people or things that I find beautiful. I wanted to capture how calm and happy she was with her child ‘cause at the time, I was stressed and angry. Watching and drawing her made me calm.”

leo nodded, a faint smile on his lips before looking back down at the drawing. “that’s really cool,” he complimented, and you shifted in your seat, suddenly shy.

And then it hit you

you were so willing to show leo all your works that you had completely forgotten that his portrait was in that book

your pulse thumped loud in your ears, mind racing to figure out a way to take away your sketchbook before he could see it

you ended up spending so long thinking of what to do that he arrived on the page in no time

right before he could see the drawing in its entirety, you slammed the book closed and snatched it

leo’s startled expression turned into a mischievous smirk

“was that me?”

you froze in your place; a squeaky sound escaped your throat in your embarrassment

leo’s brown eyes sparkled as he leaned into you, your gaze fixed on his, “y/n, you think I’m beautiful?”

AHHHH!

^^ that was you in your head btw

leo laughed, amused at your attempt to deny it

“then why did you snatch it away?” he raises an eyebrow before reaching over quickly to grab the sketchbook back

you didn't pull it out of his reach fast enough, leo getting a grip on one side

the two of you pull it back and forth, leo laughing at you as you continued to deny what he saw

though you were incredibly embarrassed, you couldn't contain the laughter bubbling in your chest

gods, of course, this would happen to me, you thought

he got it out of your grip, and you sighed in defeat, watching him flip to the page of him and piper

he was quiet, studying the picture for a second before giving you that playful smirk

“you think I’m beautiful?” he asked again

you playfully rolled your eyes, “it was more piper than you.”

your tone was sarcastic, only fueling leo’s banter with you

“oh really?” he chuckled to himself, “but i’m the only one colored in.”

you were silent at his observation before scoffing, “whatever.”

leo only laughed as you take the book away from him

“don’t you have somewhere to be, fire boy?” you asked and nudged his shoulder

the glint in your eyes made him smile, and he shrugged, “i guess i do. i'll see you around."

you nodded, too shy to do anything else, and he walked off

after that, leo took it upon himself to talk to you every day

leo teased you about the drawing all the time, and he found the way you would play along to be funny

before you both fell in love, you were close friends

you had such an optimistic point of view about life, and it was pretty contagious

somehow when leo was in the dumps about something, you always knew what to say

you were just so easy to talk to, and because of this, your friendship just grew naturally

your first kiss was towards the end of summer

leo invited you to hang out with him in bunker nine at, specifically, 6 pm

you teasingly asked if it was a date, and you remember the way he tensed up a bit

with a mumble, he asked, "what if it is?"

from the tone in his voice, you knew he wasn’t joking

in fact, his tone was hesitant, a part of him was expecting you to reject him

then the heavy pit in his stomach turned light when you smiled and said, "then I'm down."

the grin leo gave you made your heart flutter like crazy

your first date consisted of eating snacks and watching a movie on one of those portable DVD players

You picked up on the tension between you and him, and noticed the opportunities for a kiss kept passing

it was until Leo walked you to your cabin that night did you have a moment of boldness and asked, "so are you going to kiss me or?"

leo's eyes widen in surprise before his face broke out in the familiar smirk he gives when he flirts with you

you rolled your eyes playfully and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him into you

your first kiss was sweet and soft; a little awkward

his hands hovered over your sides for a second, not sure what to do with them until he decided to rest them on your waist

it was the perfect way to mark the beginning of your relationship

relationship

since you guys are both broke teenagers, you got creative with date nights

you came up with the idea of paint splattering with him

you guys got canvases, covered the walls and floors with plastic to make sure you didn't dirty them

then you filled water balloons with paint and just threw them

despite you guys singing and dancing around in the midst of it, the canvases came out so good

and to commemorate the beginning of your relationship, you hung them up side by side in bunker nine, and when you guys get a place together, you hang them up in the hallway of your apartment

leo is a huge gift giver; as i’ve said before in my “how he shows he loves you” headcanons

he’s made you a lot of things; canvases, jewelry, little trinkets with scrap metal

one of your favorite gifts from him is a suncatcher with rainbow quartz

you fell in love with it and when you move in together, you make sure to hang it up in the kitchen with the bunch of other suncatchers that he’s made you

i love the idea that you would attempt to bring more color in his wardrobe

a lot of his clothes are muted in color; you don’t mind it but you were interested to see what he’d look like in a colorful outfit like yours

To say the least, he was not that enthusiastic and maybe, you shouldn’t have put him in a monochromatic orange outfit but… you still thought he looked cute

leo thought he looked like a traffic cone though so it didn’t stick

it’s okay because you like him the way he is anyways

another thing is that you guys are super supportive of each other and leo loves just how you manage to lift his mood

once leo was having a bad mental health week

you guys were sitting under a tree, looking out at the water

his head laid on your shoulder and small sniffles came from the other

it hurt to see him like this and you wished you could do more to make him feel better

then you had the greatest idea to make a rainbow for him

so you did

leo was so stunned when he saw the rainbow form over the lake

he looked at you surprised and when you admitted to making the rainbow for him, the emotion on his face was indescribable

and then you laughed and held him when he started crying because he said it was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for him

another time, you insisted that meditation would be good for him

he literally sat down for like 3 minutes with his eyes closed before he was itching to get up and do something

even when he was sitting down, he was still bouncing his legs and fidgeting

so that fell through too but you still helped him in other ways and he’s so grateful for your optimism and bubbly personality

leo always says that you bring color to everything; literally and figuratively

one of the things you bring color to is his life

and he’s constantly reminding you of this; that his world just feels brighter now that you’re around

and it’s literal too

since you painted the walls of bunker nine a bright orange

he asked you why orange, and you told him because orange encourages productivity, creativity, and most importantly, optimism

it may have also reminded you of the orange outfit you put him into

anyways, you told him that it hurt you to see him get down in the dumps, and you insisted there was no way he could be sad in a bright orange room

needless to say, you were kinda right

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[galacticwildfire]

Memories | Bucky Barnes

Seven

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x oc

Summary: In 2013 Ada comes to terms with what's happened. While in 1944 Ada gets a message from the Red Room she cannot ignore.

Warnings: lots of angst, smoking, swearing, Bucky struggles with ptsd from Hydra and acts out during a fight with Ada, yelling and cursing, fighting, child soldiers, mild smut, pinning down in a sexual context. Natasha makes an appearance.

Word count: 7k

A/N: this is my favourite chapter so far and things are about to get crazy. And I really do adore Howard.

~

~

~

2013

I stare out the broken window of the bedroom they made up for me in Shield headquarters, clutching the dog tags around my neck.

The tears are cold on my cheeks, cold tears of utter disbelief. My throat is raw and my knuckles cut from my last attempt to escape. My fingers run down the broken glass of the small window, too small for me to jump out. The warm blood drips down my fingers. They gave up on restraining me after I broke the straight jacket. 

Steve can't be Steve. Steve is dead. It's Hydra. It's all Hydra. They're trying to make me crazy, they're fucking with my head. 

"Ada," I hear him say. "You need to stop this. You know it's me. I could tell you every single thing about him. Hydra couldn't do that, the Red Room couldn't do that."

"He's dead," I murmur numbly, remembering that night. "You should be dead too. You were dead."

"You're right, I should be," he says, his voice heavy. "You don't think every time I saw you after the fall I wished it was me who died that day. I know you wished I was."

I look back at him. "You think I blame you, I don't. There is only one person I blame. The man we were after that day. Zola."

"You blame me for letting you get dismissed from the team for trying to kill him," he says carefully and that I can't deny. "It was Howard who bribed the government into releasing you from the asylum."

"I was dismissed for infiltrating a prison and torturing Zola," I correct him and laugh. "I'd be surprised if he could ever walk again after what I did. After Howard got me out of the lockup for it I was staying with him. He said he'd take care of me, but I wasn't going to give up. I told him that Zola thought Buck could still be alive and I convinced him to fly me out to where we lost him. I found part of him." He swallows nervously as I step closer. "Then I let Hydra get me. Not just to find out the truth, but because I knew I'd have the entire United States government looking for me. And even Howard couldn't save me then."

Steve holds me back as the door opens and the man with the eye patch walks in. Nick Fury.

"Mrs Barnes," he greets. "Whatever crimes you committed against Arnim Zola have been pardoned, with the statute of limitations passed by about a good fifty years."

"Howard Stark," I quake, needing him as much as I did then. "I want to see him, why hasn't he come to see me?"

Steve can't meet my eye and a greater fear fills me, fear that truly everyone is gone. 

"Howard Stark died in a car crash in the December of 1991 after a good life with long marriage and a son to take over Stark Industries."

I nod silently despite the tears that come to my eyes and look at Steve, my voice weak "Peggy?"

"She's in a care home," Steve tells me and I shudder as I release my breath, she's alive. "I'll take you to see her once you stop trying to kill everyone that you don't know."

"How can you know they aren't Hydra?"

"Because Hydra is gone," Fury tells me. "I have read your files and I understand this is difficult for you-"

"She has struggled her entire life, she's always been unstable but she went of the rails after Bucky's death," Steve says, calling me what they all did, fucking crazy. "She needs help instead of being held here."

"Which is why I've come to discuss her release," he says and looks to me. "Please sit."

Reluctantly sit down and listen with no other alternative.

"On the condition that you agree to psychological treatment-"

"No," I say sharply. "No electroshock therapy."

He leans forward. "We don't do that anymore. You would sit and talk to a psychiatrist who will give you some pills to calm you, you can talk about your upbringing, your time as a prisoner of Hydra and when they put you in the asylum, your service in the army and all the rest. There is a program for soldiers returning to civilian life which Steve himself is a part of, there will be no involuntary treatments inflicted upon you."

Quietly I prompt "Go on."

"We will organise an apartment for you beside Steves."

"I want to return to my home in Brooklyn," I say stiffly. "I want to go home."

"The apartment you shared with your husband has been sealed off since you disappeared-"

I laugh sadly with tears in my eyes, and a pain so deep in my chest a knife couldn't cut it out. "I've woken up after seventy years, everyone I know save two people are dead, my husband is dead. I just want to go back to my home. Please."

"You may go accompanied by one of our agents," he compromises. "But we would prefer that you live near Steve while you re-adjust to civilian life."

Just wanting to get out of here I nod my consent. "Can I go now?"

It's then the door opens, no police or army escorts stand there, but the red headed spy. 

Natasha.

"Natasha will accompany you to Brooklyn," he says and I eye her cautiously. "She turned on the Red Room and killed its leader in her defection to Shield. I assure you that she poses no harm."

"Harm was never a concern," I dismiss and look out the window, for the first time about to leave this damn building. 

"Do you want me to come?" Steve asks and I shake my head, needing to do this on my own. 

~

We sit in Natasha's car, far different to those I'm accustomed to, driving through the ever busy streets of New York and that's one thing that hasn't changed. The chaos of the city.

"So," I say to Natasha in my own accent, needing to find some sense in all of this. "You're a widow of the Red Room."

"And you were one of the first," she says, with a respect that surprises me. "I was surprised by how fast you figured it out."

"Even if you master an accent, the trained ear can hear the truth," I tell her. "I was trained prior to the war, we were trained to identify fellow agents as well as becoming one."

"I didn't realise how far back the Red Room went," she comments. "Pre World War Two. How did you get involved?"

"My mother was one of its architects," I tell her, my hatred for that bitch the one thing that grounds me. "A Russian spy working with Hydra and the Russian government to create it. She had no problem making me the first experiment of the super soldier serum and mind control."

"I'm sorry," she says, and her empathy surprises me as well, strange for a widow. "Most of us were taken, but for your own mother to subject you to it-"

"I swore I'd kill her for it, even now I don't know how she died," I realise and laugh. "I don't care. She's dead and so is everyone else I knew except for Steve."

"I've seen how Steve has struggled to adjust, how he's struggled to even accept what's happened to him," she tells me. "Just know you don't have to do it alone."

I laugh again, the only way of coping. "That is kind Natasha but I'm afraid I don't have many friends."

"No, but you could have a family," she says and I look at her. "The Avengers. A special task force specially curated by Shield and myself. Steve is part of it. We could use another super soldier, especially one who is a widow."

Her offer piques my interest, a chance to get back into the field. "I was part of the Howling Commando's, the only woman in a group of men. They were good men, like family. Tell me more about these Avengers."

"There's six of us," she begins. "Myself. Steve. A fellow shield agent named Hawkeye. Tony, a billionaire genius. Bruce, a scientist who was exposed to radiation which turned him into something we call the hulk, and Thor, a Norse God."

I laugh but realise she isn't joking. "You can't be serious, a God?"

"Yep, we had to stop his brother Loki from committing world domination using the tesseract," she tells me. "Our first mission together. "

She pulls out her phone at a red light, which is like a mini television and control board all at once, and shows me a news clipping.

"And I thought Stalin was bad," I comment, watching the chaos unfold on the little screen. "What happened to him, and the Soviet Union?"

"Stalin died in 1953 and the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991."

"Very good," I say, and try to remember back, to remember something other than him. "The gulags where terrible. I once infiltrated one in the late 30's to take out a target that Stalin didn't want on his hands. Well, this was before Stalin cared at all about the blood on his hands. He was trying to make the allies trust him at that point, so many assassinations that he didn't claim."

"You carried out assassinations for Stalin and the Americans still trusted you?"

"Ha, they never trusted me," I laugh. "I was an asset, one they tried to brainwash when they brought me to America, to get rid of the psychological conditioning of the Red Room. I was an asset they misused for so long until the end of the war. Then I tortured a Nazi scientist and went rogue."

"To try to find your husband," she says carefully.

"Yes," I say quietly, trying to block out the memories which in my mind are only yesterday. Not seventy years ago. "Hydra found him before I did, and here I am."

"I know in our upbringing they try to crush what humanity is in us, to take our hearts," she says and I remember that well. "You must have really loved him to risk everything."

"I did," I tell her as we drive down familiar streets. "He knew what I was and loved me anyways, he always believed that I was more good than bad."

We pull up outside the apartment and it's then I remember that day in May. The day it all fell apart. 

Silently we walk up the stairs and I find the key, still hidden after all these years. With a shaking hand I open the door and find my home frozen in time. For a moment I can pretend I'm wearing a dress that falls past my knees with painted red lips, just like the day we were married.

I walk over to the table with the record player, the Andrews Sisters record still there, and beside it our wedding photo.

I pick up the photo frame, and look at him in his Sergeant uniform, the most handsome smile on his face as he looks at me in a wedding dress. We thought we had so much life ahead of us.

"We were happy," I tell her with tears in my eyes, wanting so badly to hold the memory close. "Until the Red Room tried to take him from me." I still remember the blood, the sound of the bullet, and the look on his face. "And I had to betray him and Steve and everyone else for the sake of his life." I remember the look on his face the day I returned to the Red Room, to Hydra, all for him. "I went back to the Hydra so they wouldn't kill him."

She stares at me. "You went back?"

I look at the photo of him I hold. "For him I would have done anything."

~

May 1944

I wake beside him. The sun peaks in over the New York skyscrapers through the window in Brooklyn. The alarm clock beside us going off.

"I don't wanna get up," I whine as his arms tighten around me. "But we gotta."

He makes a sound of annoyance and kisses my shoulder. "And that's our two whole days of leave finished."

"Don't remind me," I murmur as he gets out of bed to turn off the alarm, his naked backside glorious and I make a low whistle. He laughs and throws my clothes at me.

"Come on doll, we've got a briefing at 10."

"Ah yes let me guess," I ponder. "Hydra base in eastern Europe, we blow it up and yet again lose that damn Red Skull."

"Sounds about right," he says, leaning over to press a quick kiss to my lips, to which I protest and pull him down for a proper one.

"Don't tell me you're getting bored of me," I tease and he just laughs.

"Bored of you?" he asks and shakes his head. "I couldn't get bored of you if I tried. I mean how can I when we're out there kicking ass every other day together?"

He kisses me again and I smile. "Oh the adventures these past six months have brought."

"And the sex," he smirks, quirking his eyebrows and attacking me with his lips while I laugh, and then squeal as he pulls me out of bed naked with the sheets and all and carries me bridal style to my wardrobe. Mine which we moved from the storage unit last christmas into here. "Clothes, now."

I give him my bedroom eyes. "Is that an order sergeant?"

"It's hardly like you'd obey if it was," he retorts and I scrunch up my nose at him as he sits me on the chair in front of my vanity and passes me my brassiere. "You know how much I hate having to put clothes on you but Steve said it was an important briefing for once."

"Alright, alright," I sigh. "But it's only seven."

"And how long does it take you to do your hair?" he retorts and I laugh at the irony.

"Me? What about you Mr hair gel?"

"Shut up," he laughs and kisses the top of my head. "I'll make us some breakfest, you get dressed doll."

I can't help but smile at the domestic bliss we've found in these stolen moments together during our short periods of leave. And I was right, his home has become mine also.

~

By nine we're on the train to the barracks, which means the end of our nights together and back to us each sharing rooms with Peggy and Steve. But Bucky has no problems convincing Steve to spend a few hours with the men so we can have a room to ourselves every once and a while.

"9:45 on the dot," I comment as we come to the briefing room. "See, told you we wouldn't be late."

"If I let you drag me into bed again we would have been," he retorts and I laugh as we walk inside to find Peggy and Steve waiting for us. "What have you got for us Carter?"

"Well I'm glad you two are here early for once," she comments and we share a guilty look. "Our intelligence has found something rather disturbing."

"Great, something interesting then," I remark as I pull out a seat but from the look on her face I quickly realise it's serious. "What is it?"

"We should wait until the others are here," she says stiffly and feel Buck's hand on my back.

It's not long before the others come, Jacques and Dugan clearly hungover. They take their seats yet I can't shake the uneasiness at Peggy's demeanor.

When we're all ready she clears her throat and opens a folder. "Our intelligence recieved these photographs from an unknown source which depict a child soldier committing an execution of a high ranking Nazi officer."

She pushes the photo's forward and while most of the men make positive commentary at the thought of one less Nazi I go utterly cold, frozen at the sight of the child with a gun to the Nazi's head, execution style.

With shaking hands I reveal the next photo which shows her face and my stomach falls at what I hoped wasn't true.

"That's just a kid," Steve exclaims in horror at the sight. "Since when are the soviets using child soldiers?"

I close my eyes to fight the tears and feel Bucky's hand on my shoulder and hear him murmur in my ear "Lina?"

"How old would she be?" Morita asks.

"Eleven?" Falsworth estimates.

"Nine," I whisper and my tearful eyes meets Bucky's. And I know that he knows. "Her name is Ekaterina Roksana Alekseeva."

Peggy's eyes widen. "You know her?'

My lips part and I struggle to form words, but Bucky says them for me. "She's her sister."

The room goes silent until Steve breaks it "Ada-"

And I leave, pushing my chair back and making a beeline for the door, rushing through the hallway past confused soldiers until I burst out the back entrance into open air and feel familiar arms catch me as my knees give out and I collapse, a silent scream torn from my throat.

Murmuring words into my ear he holds me as I struggle to breathe at the thought of what they've done to her, at what they've forced her to do. Because I know all too well.

~

I sit in the corner of my room, tucked into a ball, listening to them outside.

"She won't talk," I hear Bucky tell Steve and Peggy. "She won't eat or drink anything."

"Did you know she had a sister?" Peggy asks him.

He saw her things in the unit, saw the photographs but he didn't say anything. He saw the pictures of us together, he knew something had happened. But he didn't ask because he knew it wasn't a happy ending.

"She never told me but I put it together," he says heavily. "She'll be okay, she always is, but this is too personal for her. She won't let the army get their hands on her sister after what they did to her when they brought her to America."

"But we all know she won't let her stay in the Red Rooms hands."

"I know," Bucky says quietly. "Just let me speak to her and figure this out."

The door opens again and he sits down beside me with a cup of water.

"You need to drink something sweetheart," he says and I remain silent. "What can I do?"

I look at him, with a deep fear in my gut but I need the answers. "Bring me the file."

"Lina you don't need to see-"

"Bring me it," I grind out hoarsely. "Please."

He hesitantly nods and kisses my forehead. "I'll be right back."

He leaves and I remember back to that train ride, the last time she ever saw me.

Everything I've ever feared for her has come to fruition. And it's all my fault.

Finally he returns and stands in the doorway watching me, the file in his hands. "Ada. Let me take you through it."

"What is there to go through?" I ask him. "It's pictures of my baby sister executing a Nazi. There's nothing to go through."

"Seeing the pictures won't change anything," he warns me with a gentle voice. "Don't torture yourself."

"Buck, please," I breathe, needing to know it's real, that it's her, that she's still alive and breathing, that there's a chance. "Don't make me beg."

Reluctantly he hands over the file and his eyes are filled with concern as I stare at the photographs blankly, able to see the birthmark on her cheek that our mother called her greatest flaw, her defining mark.

"Whatever's going through your head right now, just know that it's not your fault," he says. "You never told me about that day on the train, but I read the briefing after I saw the photographs. You fought with everything you had to save her."

I nod to avoid an argument and ask him "Could I be alone for a little while?"

He's hesitant, reluctant to leave me alone, but he respects my wishes. "You know where to find me sweetheart."

He kisses my forehead and I remain sitting in the corner of my room until he's gone then immediately get up, putting the file on the desk and holding the photographs under the light and sniff the paper, able to recognise the sent of the invisible ink the Red Room and Hydra use.

They wouldn't send these to intelligence without an ulterior motive.

They were meant for me and me alone.

And so I sneak into Howards lab.

Carefully I find my way through the organised chaos of his latest experiments to a lamp with a special heat signature, the one I need.

Slowly the heat reveals the ink to me, and sure enough I find the words inscribed in Russian.

A sharp breath leaves me at the first word I read, and immediately I know.

Longing, rusted, seventeen, daybreak, furnace, nine, benign, homecoming, one, freight car.

"Those bastards," I whisper as I move another photograph beneath the light and find my orders.

RED WIDOW

IT IS TIME TO RETURN.

I sit there in contemplation for I don't know how long until Howard walks in and finds me.

"Ada, it's nearly ten at night?" he exclaims checking the watch on his wrist. "Is there something you're working on, something you need assistance with?"

"Howard, do you remember when they brought me here?" I ask him and he stills in surprise.

"Of course I remember."

"They locked me up because I opened fire on American soldiers when they seized me from a train heading to France were I planned to meet the Resistance and find my own passage to America. But they found me first."

"Yes, Erksine had to work hard to convince Senator Brandt and the others that the accident was a misunderstanding, that-"

"There was a girl with me that Hydra took," I finish and he nods, having been involved with Erksine. "That girl was my sister."

"Erksine told me," he says quietly. "Ada, has something happened?"

I push the file towards him. "They sent me this, a photgraph of my sister executing a Nazi officer. I was using your technology to decipher the message they left me."

He holds it under the lamp himself, and looks at me confused. "It's in Russian."

"They wrote the trigger words they used during their experiments for mind control with an order to return."

"To Russia?" he exclaims and I nod. "Do Barnes and the others know?"

I shake my head. "I don't know what to do Howard. They have my sister, for years I hoped she was dead but it seems she's filled my place in the Winter Soldier program. I can't let them succeed in their experiments. Mind control- they were so close with me until Erksine smuggled me out."

He sits down beside me. "What can I do?"

"I need access to Erksines files, anything he has on chemical subjugation. The Red Room uses psychological conditioning on it's students, but Hydra was working on using chemical matter in a combination with conditioning and trigger words to produce the effects of mind control. I need to know how far they got and how to combat it."

He nods. "I'll get you those files."

"Thank you Howard," I breathe. "Truly."

~

The files are scattered across my desk as I read Erksines notes.

April 1941

With trials of chemical subdugation being met with non effectiveness in both subject groups colleagues have decided to move forward with electroconvulsion therapy combined with suggestive trigger words. It is my conclusion that chemical subjucation is not a lost cause and with future technologies will be an effective means of control, particularly in combination with the super soldier serum. However in the mean time we elect to go ahead with the trials of electroconvulsion.

I flip to a later section of his notebook.

December 1941

Electroconvulsion has displayed effectiveness in combination with trigger phrases, however 30% of test subjects experienced heart failure with a further 40% cognitively impaired beyond treatment. The remaining thirty percent display low tolerance for the treatment. The only subject to have tolerated the electroconvulsion technique was the Red Widow, however she escaped early in the experiments and her location is unknown to Hydra. I have instructed the American forces to intercept a train heading to France with connections to the French Resistance. Zola has advised us to suspend trials on the general population and proceed with the Winter Soldier program as it seems that only those with the supersoldier serum will be able to tolerate the treatments for psychological conditioning. Except they will not be able to proceed without my co-operation. I have the faintest memories of the device that was strapped to my head, the same I found when I rescued James. Memories I have tried by hardest to supress.

Perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps I'm paranoid, but for her to execute a soldier at nine years old there is more than psychological conditioning, and considering she and I are a close biological match sharing the same mother it's highly likely her body would accept the same serum I recieved, which would make her able to withstand the electroconvulsion therapy.

The thoughts make me sick, but it's nothing I haven't thought before.

The room reeks of cigarette smoke when the door opens and Bucky walks in, cautiously looking at the files sprawled across my desk.

"Lina-"

"I know what Hydra is doing," I tell him. "I know what their plan is."

"No one can know what they're-"

"No, no one can know exactly what they are doing across the board but I know what they're doing with association to the Red Room," I tell him, stumbling over my words. "Their attempts at chemical subjugation failed which is why they've moved to electric convulsion therapy for psychological conditioning, but the average test subject cannot survive it so they are implementing it upon soldiers exposed to the super soldier serum. The Winter Soldier program. I was the first and it was halted when Erksine smuggled me out and left Hydra, but it's active and my sister is their current test subject. That is Zola's plan Buck."

"Hold up, hold up," he says, eyes darting across the files. "How the hell did you find this out?"

I grab the notebook off the table. "Howard and Erksine were working together when I first arrived here, he was able to get access to his notes and I found entries dating back to his last months with Hydra."

He takes the notebook and begins flipping through it, and let's out a laugh of astonishment. "Alright, let's take this to Peggy,and we can put a plan in place to close in on Zola."

"Wait!" I call out, grabbing his wrist. "Zola has escaped us at every turn, that's not going to change without a hell of a stroke of luck, and I don't trust luck."

"Then what are you suggesting?" And only then do I truly realise what I have to do. "Lina?"

"It has to be an inside job," I say quietly and he looks at me confused.

"What do you mean an inside job?"

"I can do it," I tell him. "Zola doesn't want to let his best experiment go yet, I can-"

"No." he says, once he realises where I'm going with this. "They'll shoot you on sight."

I shake my head. "They want me back, they left me a message and are waiting for my reply. Zola wants me for the Winter Soldier program, I can infiltrate Hydra-"

"No!" he yells so harshly that I'm speechless and he grabs my face with a roughness that tears a gasp from my throat. "You are not going there, I know what they'll fucking do to you and it'll be over my dead body!"

I stand there shocked at his outburst, at his roughness with me, at the truly unravelled look in his eye, at what's he's tried to hide. His eyes widen as he realises what he's done and his hands drop away while I have to force myself to breath.

'Lina, I- I'm sorry." I nod weakly and he turns around, hands on his head, trying to contain himself until he falls down with his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, I didn't, I-"

"It's okay," I whisper, coming to my knees in front of him, and gently pulling his hands away, into mine. "I saw what they did to you."

He shakes his head, unable to look at me. "No, you didn't. The electric convulsion- they did it to me."

Tears blur my vision as my eyes search his and I shake my head despite knowing the truth now that it's right in front of me. "No, no that can't be possible. They stopped trials on regular soldiers unless-"

It's then it finally hits me, the realisation that's been in front of me since the moment I found him.

"Unless what?" he asks and I squeeze his hands tight, needing to know for certain.

"Come with me."

~

No more words are spoken as we reach Howards lab, and I sit Bucky where I once sat so long ago when Howard put my blood under a microscope to show me how it differed from the regular human.

Bucky's still pale as I prick his finger and make a sample for the microscope. My shaking hand holds it in place as I bring my eye to the scope and I could almost collapse on sight when I see it and realise the full extent of what Zola did to him.

A tear slips down my cheeks as I look at him. "Lina?"

I hold his hand tight. "The Winter Soldier program focuses on injecting potential subjects with an experimental version of the super soldier serum, and then using electroconvulsion to make them obedient to those who utter the control phrase."

He looks at me in bewilderment. "Control phrase?"

And carefully I whisper the words. "Longing, rusted," recognition sparks in his eye. "Seventeen," he begins to cringe. "Daybreak."

He grabs my hand for me to stop and the realisation dawns on us both. "No," I whisper in disbelief, in denial. "They couldn't-"

"They did," he says, his voice strained and immediately my arms are around him, never before have they been so protective over him. "Lina, sweetheart-"

"I will kill Zola."

He takes my face between his hands, gently this time, but with no less desperation. "We will. You and me. But you are not going after him alone."

"James-"

"No." he says again. "I'm not letting you go."

"I'm not your wife," I retort, needing him to understand this is not his decision. "You can't tell me what I can't do." "Yeah well too bad," he argues. "Because I actually want you to live long enough to be my wife, you aren't leaving." "Well fuck that!" I snap, distancing myself from him. "I'm not the only one Zola wants to get his hands on now and I'll be damned if he gets his hands on another person that I love."

"Do you think I don't have fucking nightmares about just that!" he yells right back, moving forward towards me. "Stop playing the martyr and think about someone other than yourself!"

"I already have!" I decide. "And I'm going after him."

I tear myself away from him and start making a beeline for the door.

"The hell you are!" he yells as I make my way down the hall.

"Watch me!"

People step aside as he chases me down the corridors, until finally I reach my room and quickly slam the door shut and bar it.

"Ada!" he yells, pounding his fist on the door. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

I ignore him as I quickly scrounge through my chest for the uniform Howard made me. I've pulled my top off in the middle of getting dressed when the door breaks open with a strength we've only both just discovered he possessing and he comes onto me, pinning me to the wall.

"You aren't going anywhere," he quakes, the strength of his command falling short of the fear in his voice. "Not without me."

I push him back against the door, it slamming shut behind him as I pin his hands to it. "Try me."

This time when we move it's not the wall he pins me to, but the bed. I could easily overpower him, and I plan to until he pleads "Don't go Lina, please for the love of god don't go."

"James-"

"I love you," he breathes. "Please, don't go."

I make no promises as I pull his lips to mine, my heart having already betrayed him.

~

I lay beside his sleeping form, tears in my eyes.

I love him. I don't want to leave him.

But I have to. To kill Zola. To have a chance in hell of saving my sister I need to leave him.

And so I slide out of bed, naked and covered in his touch. The marks of his lips remaining on my neck. With trembling hands I pick up my uniform, securing every zipper and buckle. It's when my hand reaches into my desk draw for my pistol I hear his voice.

"Where are you going?"

"You know where," I say quietly, and plead in vain. "Please, I don't want to fight."

He sits up and catches my hand, his steely blue eyes wide and afraid. "Lina-"

"I love you James," I tell him, my heart breaking.

"Why does that sound like a goodbye?"

"Because it is."

I look at him, guilty, and his eyes stay on mine, as stubborn as ever.

"I love you Lina."

My voice has never sounded so strained. "I know."

"So why are you doing this?"

I swallow hard, struggling to stay strong willed against him. "I've never been afraid of dying, but I am afraid of being made into something I'm not, being made into a Winter Soldier. If we don't stop Zola it will be too late, not just for me, but for my sister, and for you. And I would have my hands drenched in blood before I let him touch you."

"We can do it together," he promises as I look away. "We can bring down Hydra for what they did to you, what they did to me, what they did to your sister. We can bring her home."

"And then what?" I laugh humourlessly. "Pretend do be some normal family?"

"Why do you say that like it's impossible?"

"Because it is," I say, an emptiness in my abdomen. "I will never be able to give you it."

And he knows exactly what I mean. "No matter how many times I tell you I don't mind you still won't believe me."

"Because I do mind," I tell him. "Because I want a baby."

"Oh sweetheart," he breathes while I tear up. "We can find a way, we can adopt."

"I raised my sister from when she was a baby," I tell him. "My mother didn't love her, but I did. She was more of a daughter than a sister. I want a baby. I want a little girl to be my own, to be ours. To have your gorgeous eyes. A girl that I can watch grow up." I choke up. "Grow into a woman and not a child soldier."

He holds me close as I sob into his shoulder, my heart needing him more than I could ever admit to anyone, least of all myself.

"You never know sweetheart, look at what science is doing-"

I laugh tearfully "Until the day science can give me a womb it's impossible."

"But we can bring your sister home," he promises me. "We can raise her, she's still just a kid. We can have a family, you and me and her, Steve, Peggy. We can have it all."

I nod, but I still can't let him do this. I can't let him fall into Zola's hands again. "My entire life I've been alone, I've been the one fighting, I've never had anyone fight for me. Not until now."

"Then let me," he pleads while tears slip down my cheeks, down both our cheeks. "Please Lina. Please."

"You have fought for me," I smile. "More than anyone. But this is where I draw the line."

"Why?"

"Because I can't lose you," I whisper. "Because I can't have the blood of another person I love on my hands."

It's at the thought of losing him I break.

"I can't lose you Buck, I can't- if I did I'd go mad."

"Shh, shh, come here doll."

"I love you," I sob into his shoulder. "And I will not have your blood on my hands."

"Do you really think I'm not afraid as well?" he asks. "Every day out in the field I'm out there with my sniper watching you, my job is to keep you alive. One moment, one mistake is all it would take to have your blood on my hands."

"That won't happen."

"We don't know that," he says pulling away to look me in the eye, both of us crying. "But all I know is that if I go I want it to be fighting for you. For each other."

"Buck-"

"To hell and back remember."

The one promise to him I can't break. "To hell and back."

And so I slip back into bed with him, the man I love. ~

The next days all I can think about is her, Katya.

I spend them with James, or with Howard in his lab, us both paying particular attention to the mechanics of Hydra's weapons, powered by something that is a mystery to us both.

"I wish I knew where they were getting this power," I tell Howard. "Whatever it is even Erksine was too afraid to write about it in his journals."

"Whatever it is it's like they've been using it to make batteries, which makes me wonder if the source is renewable."

"If it is then it's an endless source of power," I mutter. "God I hate Hydra."

He looks at me, no doubt noticing the bags under my red eyes.

"It's killing you isn't it, to sit here and do nothing."

"Bucky and Steve are trying to come up with a plan, but it's too risky. They aren't just soldiers, they're-"

"Assets," he finishes.

"I hate that word."

"It's true," he says despite my animosity for it. "You and Steve are weapons, and now we know about the Winter Soldier project we know what they'd do to you if they captured either of you."

"Everyone is trying to protect me to the point it is suffocating," I confess to Howard. "I've never needing protecting. I know they're doing it out of love but still-"

"Barnes won't let you do whatever dangerous plan you've concocted I'm guessing," he assumes and I nod a reluctant confirmation. "You two haven't secretly gotten married without inviting me have you?"

"Not yet," I sigh. "But he wants to, he said that if we find my sister we can raise her together."

He whistles. "That's a proposal if I've ever heard one. So why isn't there a ring on your finger?"

"Because I don't want to be a widow," I say quietly. "I can't give him any more reasons to put himself in danger for me. I love him Howard, truly, but if this is marriage I don't want it."

And those words are a betrayal on their own, but if I were to go rogue and infiltrate hydra-

"Marriage is overrated," Howard says. "The only woman I've ever been able to imagine it with is in love with another man and madly suicidal when it comes to danger."

I look at him. "Howard. I am not suicidal, I just want this all to end."

"I know," he says quietly. "But it doesn't have to end with you being a matyr."

"Now you sound like James," I mutter and he gives me an apologetic look. "I'm going to call it a night, try to sleep and then spend tomorrow thinking up more ways of how I'll murder Zola."

"That's the way," he praises as I run a hand through my disheveled hair, in need of some of Buck's supply of hairgel. "I'll check in with you tomorrow."

"Thank you Howard," I say, patting him on the shoulder before I leave to find my way to James's room since Steve is going to dinner with Peggy.

I just want to get into bed with him and try to get this all out of my mind, to have one night of peace.

I reach his room and open the door, only to find him in another woman's arms.

A woman wearing my face.

And immediately I know.

It's then I see the flash of silver.

I scream his name "James!"

He looks back just as I pull my gun free, firing three shots into her head and she falls dead to the ground, the knife still in her limp hand.

He stares in pure horror at the scene in front of him.

I stumble forward and fall to my knees, pulling the mask from her face and recognise her as being just a few years below me in the Red Room.

They sent an assassin to kill him.

If I won't return, they will kill what is holding me here.

They'll kill him.

[sweettodo]

deceive.

armin arlert x female reader.

to deceive [de-ceive] - “it is often done for personal gain or advantage”

includes : mind break, loss of virginity, manipulation, dubcon, some dacryphilia.

a / n, happy sunday, thank for for 1,000 followers !

wc : 2.5k

Armin and Eren, an infamous friendship, tied at the hip. They're a devilish pair, and they do an unduly job at hiding it too.

Women who have slipped under their spell- their friends around them left thinking 'what happened to her?' after having been sucked in, tossed around, and spit out, left behind to pick up the mutilated fragments of her heart. She'll never be the same.

And even worse, the flocks of daughters who fall head over heels for the dangerous blonde, and the evil brunette- who never seem to slip away before they wound the wretched girls that found themselves wrapped around their fingers. But Eren and Armin will never feel any guilt for their behavior, especially when they can't get enough of the delicious taste of a woman's tears.

Armin knew how to captivate you- instantly Eren too, but how were you expected to know that they were playing you right into their palms? A sweet little compliment about your short summer dress one day after your lecture left you reciting the brief conversation for the rest of the day and the following night. Eren stood next to him, hands in his pockets with a complacent grin on his face, making you shrink, feeling minuscule and bewildered with the two in front of you. That’s when it all started.

Not to mention, that's how they preferred their toys, modest, quiet, and easy to break. Just like you. And as if it were a package deal, you're a tight little virgin, this was laughable to the two- this was going to be ever so simple. You were a priceless doll.

Both men had an unholy God complex, placed on a pedestal, and there was absolutely no way they were coming down.

You knew only a little about the two, but they were able to get under your skin with ease, you were now their little plaything, always sandwiched between the two, being teased as they tried to loosen you up, flicking up your skirt or pinching your sides, "y'know us, princess, no need to act so shy n’ scared." Eren coos, petting your head, you scowl, looking at Armin, who's beside his friend, his hand on your waist.

“Guyss, ” you dragged, “stop messing with me!”

Armin took a particular liking towards you, but he knew it wouldn't be as easy to knock your walls down, unlike some others.

You thought about the blue-eyed sweetheart throughout the day since you had met him, mindlessly writing scribbles on the notepad in front of you; your professor rambling as all you thought about was how Armin made you feel beautiful, how cute he thought you were. In just a few minutes of meeting him, he had you fixed, and he knew that soon, you'd be demanding more, and soon, you would need him to praise you again and again.

"She's pretty cute, you like her?" The first time they had seen you, they knew they had to have you.

Armin had hummed in agreement, abandoning his bag on the bed, "yeah," sitting at his desk, "seems awfully quiet though, gotta' break her out of her shell."

He deemed you to be just like him, gentle and pure, and all Armin needed to do was show you how much potential you had. Look at you- you're too shut out, you're too sheltered, girls like you should be compelled to have Armin come and teach you the right way to do things. He knew, that deep down, you yearned to be taught, and he is so good at taking care of delicate girls like you.

You were Armin's, God- he was going to take such good care of you. He was going to corrupt you and make it so that it would be incapable of letting a day go by without the thought of him leaving his mark on you. You'd be thinking about him every second of the day.

Eren and Armin planned it out accordingly, making sure it was just going to be Armin and you in his dorm, so by the time you got there one late afternoon, it was just going to be you two.

You sat so pretty on the edge of his bed, a textbook in your lap as you studied, you and your tiny little shorts- it pissed him off. Walking around campus, walking past him, enticing every man that laid eyes on you, and you couldn't even throw him a bone? Stingy.

He couldn't settle for the fact that you'd never be the one to make the first move, but no- don't take it personally, it was okay, he liked being in control anyways.

Caught by surprise, watching the sweet little blonde remove the textbook off your lap suddenly and get in your face, wrapping his big, soft, and veiny hand around your throat, ridiculing you for being a loser virgin.

“You think guys are gonna want an inexperienced girl like you?” first he wants to break you down. Make you feel like you're alone, and in the wrong for keeping your innocence.

“Have you even had your first kiss?” he taunts, “it’s okay, that's why you're here.” Stroking the side of your face, you're gasping for air as he squeezes your juggler enough to make your eyeballs throb. Now, he wants you to know that the only man that'll touch you is going to be him. Because no one else wants to.

You're trembling, hurt by his sharp insults, he was right, no one was going to touch you; you're tragic, it's pitiful- really, “you want me to help you?” he releases his grip around your now, tender neck, “you want me to teach you?”

You didn't respond, he becomes irritated, “no one likes a prude, you're lucky I'm even helping you.” your self-esteem shatters, he was right. He was right. He was right.

“I'm sorry, Armin.”

Good, you're so good, even when he's tormenting you like you're nothing more than scum, no other girl would apologize after being called a prude, this means it's working. His cock was begging to be set free from his pants, he needed to rip you open. Now.

“Have you ever seen a cock? Touched one?” he seethes, your face scrunching in distaste, looking down at your lap in humiliation. He makes you look at him, “come on, answer.”

You shake your head, “no, I haven't.” He chuckles, what would your first reaction be? To seeing his cock, would it be shocked, excitement?

“You need me, right?”

“I do, I do! Armin!” he smiles, look at you- so willing to be taught by the one and only.

He knows you have no clue what to do, so he makes sure you're going to be completely prepared for him, “lie on your back,” he instructs, you follow direction, he steps in between your legs, taking off his shirt in the process, “open those legs, okay?”

You hold open your legs per his demand, he gets on his knees, elbows on the bed, “you're going to get nice as wet for me before I fuck you, does that sound good?” he wants to give you a step by step, but he's not that selfless, he just really wants to release a hot load in your cunt and send you on your way. He was conflicted.

Nodding, Armin is hooking his index and middle fingers around the waistband of your cheeky panties and pulling them down slowly, your pretty little pussy glistening in his face, stuffing the fabric in his back pocket for keeps.

You're embarrassed, covering your face in shame as he hums at the sight of your pussy, “don't be shy, let me see your face.”

Uncovering your face, he smiles, praising you for listening to him, “good, now watch me eat that pretty pussy of yours.” The vulgar language sliding off his tongue throws you into a loop, making you dizzy as he wastes no time to begin to devour you. Scissoring your folds with his two fingers, spreading you open and kitten-licking stripes up to your sensitive clit, flicking the muscle against your swollen folds and futtering cunt.

Leg quivering, fingers grilling his scalp, he slides his middle finger into your cunt, hooking upwards as he already knows right where all the sweet spots are, your moans music to his ears, “didn't know the shy girl could be so noisy,” he claims, occasionally slipping his finger out of your hole and rubbing in the slick that he catches seeping from your cunt.

Quite frankly, he didn't even care about letting you reach your orgasm. He just needed to play up the front, it’s not every day that there's a girl like you at a college... So he needed to savor the taste, and the feeling of a tight cunt like yours squeezing his finger.

You're crying, he loves it, he loves your crimson cheeks, the tears spilling from your waterline. Your back raising from the bed, he's there to hold it down, keeping you still, he mustn’t let a drop of your slick escape from his mouth.

“‘Bet you wish that you did this earlier,” a pop coming from his mouth as he sucks each finger clean of your slick, you're trying to catch your breath. Stunned, dizzy.

He leans down, wet fingers squeezing and rolling your perk nipple, kissing your lips, your juices tainting your tastebuds. The kiss only lasts a moment or two, before he's back to ridiculing you, “is that what you say when someone eats you out?” you groan, shutting your eyes.

“Thank you, A-Armin.”

His ears jump, his ego could not have been fulfilled enough, his body tingling and weak from your choice of words, he didn't necessarily mean to thank him- but Jesus, he was not complaining, “good, you're such a good girl, guess what I'm going to do next?” He sputters, frantically unbuttoning his jeans, his cock hurt so bad, it was throbbing, begging to be released from his tight jeans.

“Fuck me?” you whisper? Mortified to even say the words, he needed you to say it, he needed you to loosen up, for him.

“Yes- yes, good,” Armin’s so high off lust, he doesn't care about you, he doesn't care about how bad it's going to hurt, and he doesn't care about how you'll want to scream and cry, he just needs to see those crystal-like tears and your pussy leaking with his cum.

You're trembling, watching him pull down his pants and his cock spring out, he needs to make sure you appreciate how big he is. Grabbing you by the hair and making you look at his cock close up as you squirm uncomfortably, body folding as he holds you still, “what's this, tell me.” He sneers, his tip barely touching the tip of your nose.

“I-it’s, your cock, it's your cock, Armin.”

“Guess where it's going?” he was losing control, his act of the nice guy slipping from his fingers- but it was okay, you didn't know the difference, you were clueless.

“In me.” You whined, he releases his grip on your head, falling backward, he's grabbing you from under your thighs and yanking you towards the edge of the bed, gasping, “b-be gentle! Please, Armin!”

“You want me to be gentle? After you went around teasing me for so long?”

“Do you think that’s fair to me? I mean- you’ve teased so many guys- fucking cock tease.” He spits, you swallow, your throat dry.

“B-but,”

Lining his tip up with your entrance, his hand squeezing the soft flesh of your tit, he slides in without warning, “big girls take cock and don't complain, think you can do that?”

Your head flies back, head spinning as he slides his cock into you, the pain of Armin tearing you in half, you try to listen to his harsh demands, “h-hurts, it hurts Armin.”

One ear and out the other, he focuses on his cock disappearing in your deep pussy, walls clenching, desperately trying to kick his thick cock out, your folds decorating the base of his cock, clenching around him so hard it was nearly impossible for him to pull back and fuck back into you, “shh, I'll loosen you up- fuck- this cunt is so tight, can't fit it all.”

Your eyes rolling to the back of your head as he’s finally able to get past the first thrust, the sweat already dripping from his chest as he struggles to move his cock, you're crying, begging him to be gentle, “it hurts, it hurts,” he mocks, “what did I say?”

While his cock thrusts back into you, stripping you of all humanity, forcing you to repeat what he told you before, “say it, or else I don't help you.”

“Big girls take cock- don’t complain, I'm a big girl Armin, ‘swear!” you plead, “‘need you to teach me, please.” He’s gripping your legs, nails breaking the skin, you're wailing as his cock knocks back and forth into you; your tongue lolling out, saliva spilling as all of your holes leak.

He occasionally wipes your tears with his thumb, then making you suck his thumb to taste the salty liquid of his sweat and your tears, he grunts, moans slipping past his lips, “that's why you're here, with me.” What a blatant lie, he wasn’t going to teach you anything.

Your pussy is so good, it makes him drunk, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

Your ribbed walls sucking him so well, your pussy is so noisy, he tries so hard to focus, but he can't. He slams into you, his strong hips making your tits bounce and your hair become matted from underneath your head. Legs unable to stay upright as he fucks them numb, the pain since subsided from the first thrust, besides the pain of his tip drilling into the entrance of your cervix.

God- he's so close, so close so close, he can feel it, he knows you're close too, he's feeling generous, so he’s going to let you cum, going to let you bathe his thick cock with your cream, “do you think big girls get to cum? Y’think you deserve it?” he prods, breath fanning your face and tits, making your nipples grow hard again.

“Can I? Can I cum please?” you beg, looking at him with those red, glossy, and precious eyes of yours.

“Of course you can- for being so good, y’learn a lot? Princess?” he interrogates, being as it is, hard enough to sputter out words, you're trying to lick up the drool off your swollen lips.

You nod, screwing your eyes shut, sure, you had orgasms before, but not by a man, and definitely not by a man like Armin, “y-yes, G-God, s’big, love it!”

Relentlessly, he angles his body downwards, skin slapping rapidly as he chases his orgasm, his hair falling in front of his sweaty face, his once, cerulean eyes now a dark and lustful blue, staring daggers into you. His pubic hair beating your tender clit, sending you into orbit.

Crying out his name, body convulsing as he rips an orgasm out of your body, feeling his cock easily slide in and out of you; you had never felt so full, so stuffed.

His hips pounding against yours, you shook as he fucked you through your orgasm, “look at all this cum- fuck- so messy, princess.”

Too fucked out to speak, incoherent words filling the room as his hips rutted mercilessly, thrusts becoming rugged and messy, moaning, his nails digging deeper into your legs as he releases his load into you. Cock twitching as you tried pathetically to fill your lungs with much-needed oxygen, he fucked every ounce of air out of you.

A few minutes had passed, Armin on his back next to you as he tries to catch his breath as well, he had never fucked pussy so good, he couldn't even think straight.

Your pussy sopping, leaking cum as the blonde is slipping his, now, soft cock in his boxers, “need help?” he offers, watching you sit up, replying with a quiet ‘yes please’ he hums, smug look enveloping his face.

“Big girls are supposed to know how to put their pants on.”

*

Practically limping home, and without your underwear, you felt soaked, you looked a mess, but luckily had escaped any type of questioning from your peers.

Unlocking the door to your dorm room, you slip in and finally relax, dropping on your bed and letting your legs rest, ready to fall asleep the second your head hit the pillow.

But before you did that, figuring to remind him to bring you your panties tomorrow, you reached for your phone, unlocking it and heading to your messages, tapping on ‘Armin’, sending him a text.

‘Can I have my underwear back? Tomorrow.’

You hadn't noticed the message never delivered, just dropping your phone on the bed and falling asleep.

Thing was, the message was never delivered, and both Eren and Armin never talked to you again, never even as little as looking in your direction.