#their handshake before the race was them agreeing to have some good fun racing and finish with a podium together

[racewinnerlandonorris]

LANDO NORRIS AND LEWIS HAMILTON TAKE 2ND AND 3RD PLACE AT THEIR HOME GRAND PRIX BECOMING THE FIRST PAIR OF BRITS TO FINISH ON THE PODIUM AT THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX SINCE 1999

BONUS:

[attllhak]

Adoption AU - Sky and Time: The Story of The Family’s Most Unlikely Arrest

@tortilla-of-courage @ghostdragonace hey look I actually have a tag list now!

Also, most of the fics in the Adoption AU don’t have really long titles like this, but this is also not the longest I’ve titled these fics. There is one with a longer title sitting in my docs.

Regardless, here’s the one where Sky got arrested that was supposed to be fun until Sky and Time decided that feelings were getting involved. So now feelings are talked about, kinda. This is also the second of those intro fics that will probably never have more added. Enjoy!

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

Time sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead. He set the phone down and sat back in his chair, not eager for this in the slightest.

“Who was it, dear?” Malon called around the corner, still busy getting Wild to stay sitting so he didn’t injure his ankle further.

Time sighed again, opening his good eye to the ceiling and asking Hylia why he ever chose to take in so many kids.

“Captain Viscen,” he replied, more tired than he was before answering the phone. “I need to head down and pick up one of the boys,”

Malon tutted, giving up on Wild now that Four had shown up and sat on him. “Which one? Twilight hasn’t gotten caught racing again has he? Or do we need to pull out the first aid kit because Warriors got in a fight? It isn’t Legend, is it?”

Time shut his eye and laughed. “The fact you have each boy and their cause of arrest memorized worries me about our parenting ability,”

Malon scoffed at him and wacked his arm lightly. “Oh just let me know if I need to prepare for when you get back because one of our boys is bleeding,”

Time chuckled again, standing up to stretch. “No, no one’s hurt, but I don’t think a lecture is necessary either,”

“Oh?”

Time hummed, dropping a kiss to his wife’s head on his way past her. “Apparently I’m picking up Sky,”

“Sky?” The look Malon gave him was clear confusion.

Time shrugged, grabbing keys and heading out the front door. “I’ll ask when I pick him up, but I suppose we’ll just see then,”

Malon shook her head. “Just get back safe,”

“Of course,” Time smiled back at her, then shot a look at the boys on the couch. Wild gulped and Four snorted.

About twenty minutes later, Time was pulling his old pickup into the police station parking lot. It was a situation he found himself in a lot. With a sigh he stuffed the keys into a pocket and made his way inside. Better now than later.

When he walked in he was greeted with Sky’s loud friend, Goose?, loudly recounting the adventure that led to the arrest to his parents, who had also been called and were less thrilled than their son. Sky was sitting nearby, head down and shoulders hunched, trying to make himself as small as possible, and doing a fairly good job of it.

He was approached by the captain as he entered. “Link! Thank you for coming down,”

“Captain Viscen,” Time smiled and accepted the handshake. “Of course, I’m just curious as to why I’m here. Sky’s not exactly a troublemaker,”

“Oh he’s not,” Viscen agreed. “But his friend most certainly is. We caught him painting one of the walls of a bar in town, fled when we showed up. We wouldn’t have even bothered with your kid, he was clearly trying to talk his friend out of it, but he ran too,”

Time sighed, well aware of how Sky had a tendency to just accept other’s snap judgements over his own when panicked.

“Thank you, Viscen. I can just take him home then?”

“Yup, he’s all yours,” Viscen waved at the boy, who shrunk into himself further.

Time nodded and moved past the captain, stopping once he was standing in front of Sky. The boy shrunk down, his ears tinged red in what was likely shame. There were flecks of red paint on the shoulder of his shirt, which was far less than the splatters on his friend. He was white knuckled with his grip on his pants.

Time sighed heavily and Sky flinched. “Sky,”

There was a long pause as Sky pulled his head up to look at Time. “Hi dad,” his voice was small, and Time could easily see guilt in his expression.

Time sighed again, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Come on, let’s go home,” he reached out a hand to his guilt-ridden son.

Sky took it and stood, gluing himself to Time’s side as he tried to stay as small as possible. Time rolled his eye and wrapped his arm around Sky’s shoulders, leading him out.

“Excuse me, sir,” Time paused, turning around briefly to address the man flagging him down. Sky’s friend’s dad had broke away from his wife to approach them.

Time would admit he didn’t know the man or his wife very well, Sky was a newer addition to their apparently ever growing family and he and Malon hadn’t had time to meet all of his friends or their parents yet. This wasn’t an ideal time, but he wasn’t about to come off as unfriendly.

“Yes?” He raised a brow as the man approached. Sky shrunk further into his side.

“You’re Link’s father, correct?” The man glanced from Sky to Time. “The one who took him in after,” he trailed off.

“That’s correct,” Time nodded, not one to dwell on the reasons his boys had come to him either, especially the less fortunate members of their family.

The man cleared his throat then, shaking off whatever it was. He stuck out his hand. “I’m Zulos, Groose’s father. My wife, Esha, and I have been meaning to get in contact with you for a while now,”

“Oh?” Time accepted the man’s hand, grateful that he offered his left, though that might be because Time’s right was occupied holding Sky. “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you as well. Malon and I have been looking at meeting up with some of the rest of his friends’ parents as well, we just haven’t had the time,”

“Keeping you busy, eh?” Zulos laughed.

Time chuckled himself, shaking his head. “Actually, he’s one of the calmer boys. It’s his brothers that we’re running all over town trying to keep track of,”

Zulos raised his eyebrows, looking Time over. “Brothers, eh? How many you got?”

“Six right now, but that’s likely to increase as well,” Time smiled patiently, rubbing Sky’s arm, which didn’t seem to help. “Sky’s our most recent addition,”

“Sky?” Zulos seemed confused by that.

“Oh, right,” Time laughed, waving him off. “My mistake, I forgot you might not know. My name is Link, as is, amusingly, all of our boys. I didn’t plan that, so you know,”

“Ah,” Zulos laughed. “I see! Well, we’d love to chat at some point better than here,” a glance back at his son who had only gotten louder as his mother tried to quiet him. “I don’t suppose I could get your number?”

“Of course,” Time pulled out his phone, rattling off the number as Zulos plugged it into his own phone, then added the number Zulos gave him to his own.

“We’ll be in touch,” Zulos waved, walking back to rescue his wife.

Time waved, then steered Sky out of the building and back to the truck.

Sky was silent as Time climbed in and pulled out of the lot, keeping his eyes on his hands in his lap. Time let the silence sit for the first half of the drive, willing to give Sky time to start talking on his own. When it seemed clear Sky was waiting for the same thing, Time sighed and took the initiative to break the silence. 

“Sky,” he paused, not sure how to go about this. Sky wasn’t in trouble, so he couldn’t approach it the way he did the other boys.

“I’m sorry,” Sky said, eyes down. Time glanced at him and saw the boy hunched up again, ears drooped and voice small. “I didn’t mean to get in trouble, I swear. Groose just heard that Legend and Ravio did murals sometimes and wanted to do one too. I tried to talk him out of it, but then the cops showed up and,” Sky paused in his mini rant, voice wobbling now.

Time cast his eyes over the boy, who so clearly felt awful about this and was beating himself up over it. Time sighed. “Sky, that’s not,” he paused again to collect his thoughts.

“I’m sorry,” Sky said again, now a shaky whisper. “I really wasn’t trying to get in trouble, and I didn’t mean to bother you to have to come get me, and I,” and that was the sound of tears.

Time sighed, pulling the truck over in order to deal with this without his attention drawn away from the boy in question. He knew Sky felt bad about getting caught, but tears weren’t something he thought would pop up. None of the other boys ever cried after getting caught and having Time collect them.

Sky was sniffling, and trying very hard to prevent himself from crying. Pulling over seemed to have made it worse, the boy curling in on himself a little and starting to shake.

“Sky,” Time tried for his gentlest voice, aware of how fragile Sky was right now. “Can you look at me, please?”

Sky shakily raised his head to look at Time. He was biting his lip, eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

“I’m sorry, I really am. I swear I’m not usually this much of an issue, I, we just,” Sky broke eye contact, looking away but not moving his head.

Time reached out and gently wiped away one of the tears that had broken free, fully aware of how Sky flinched away. “Sky, what is this about? It can’t be the arrest, so what’s got you so upset?”

Sky darted his eyes back to Time, anxiety or fear swimming around in the light blue. “I’m sorry, I just,” he paused to swallow, dropping his head down to his lap again. “You won’t send me back, will you?”

Time pondered that for a moment, then felt like he was hit with a sledgehammer. Sky was worried about getting sent back into the system again. There were a few heartbeats where Time felt furious at everyone who had ever said or done something like that to this wonderful boy to make him so scared of that. He quashed it down quickly, however. Anger, even righteous anger on Sky’s behalf, wouldn’t help here.

“Sky, we’re not sending you back,” Time put all the conviction he could into his voice, and his heart broke when Sky looked up at him again, eyes suddenly showing hope.

“You’re not?”

“No, of course not,” he reached out one hand to set on Sky shoulder. “We would never do that to you,”

“Even,” Sky’s voice wobbled again, and a hard set of blinks sent a pair of tears running down his face. “Even though I got arrested?”

Time had to remind himself that Sky hadn’t been around long enough to have seen his brothers get picked up. “Sky, this is not the first time I’ve had to pick up one of my boys from the police station. Twilight and Warriors both end up there every few months, and Legend only doesn't end up there more often because he’s gotten good at not getting caught. And besides, you’re not even in trouble,”

“I’m not?” Sky sniffed again, confused.

“No, of course not,” Time reached over with his free hand to wipe away a few more stray tears. “You didn’t do anything wrong except end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. You’re not going to get in trouble for trying to keep your friend out of trouble,”

Sky looked down again, grappling with this information.

“So, so you’re not mad at me? And, and you won’t send me back?”

Time’s heart broke again when Sky looked back up at him. No kid should ever have to look so broken or grateful to not get kicked out of the house. Especially not someone who was only 15.

“Of course not,” he leaned over the console to pull Sky into his arms. “You’re a part of the family Sky, and we’d never willingly give you up. We’d all fight tooth and nail to keep you around, you never have to worry about that with us. Nothing could make us so upset with you that we’d ever let you go. That I swear to you,”

It took a second, but he eventually felt Sky grab his shirt, and seconds later he could feel the shaking that came with crying. Time held Sky close, ignoring the twinge in his lower back from the uncomfortable angle and whispering a few soothing words and reassurances to his newest son. He made a note to call his lawyer when he got home to see about speeding up the adoption process for Sky. Getting that piece of paper might help set the boy’s nerves at ease somewhat.

Eventually, Sky calmed down from his bout, leaning back out of the hug to wipe at his eyes and croak out another apology. Time felt another lash of anger for this boy, who was so sweet and kind, and all of the awful things he must have lived through in the year since his parents died.

But anger wouldn’t help here, so he pushed it aside to deal with later, when he had Malon to rant to.

“Better?” Time asked, eye running over Sky’s face.

Sky nodded, eyes red and face flushed. “Sorry about that, I just,”

“Hey, no,” Time reached out to pull Sky’s face back to look at him. “You never have to apologize for being scared. Not to us,”

He held Sky’s gaze until he nodded, then leaned back.

“Can we go home now?” Sky asked, looking more tired than Time had ever seen him.

Time nodded, then glanced at the building he’d pulled over in front of. He jabbed his thumb at it. “Would you like some ice cream first? You can say no,”

Sky looked up, glancing between Time and the shop, then nodded. Time smiled, climbing out of the car with Sky following.

(---)

Time opened the door to let Sky in past him, then made a sharp motion at Malon warning her not to ask about what happened. Malon raised one eyebrow, but thankfully said nothing.

“Hey Sky!” Wild waved a hand to get his brother’s attention. “Can you hand me the remote? I don’t think I can take another hour of the documentary channel,”

“What’s wrong with the documentary channel?” Four squawked in offense.

“It’s boring,” Wild shot back.

“It is not boring!”

An argument broke out, and Time sighed heavily. He’d used up his emotional reserves already, and what was left was set aside for an angry rant at Malon later.

“I like the documentary channel,” Sky offered.

Wild squawked and Four cheered. Sky quickly looked like he regretted throwing his hat in the ring as he was pulled into the argument.

Malon wandered up to take his arm, smiling at him. “Everything went well?”

“I need to call our lawyer,” Time said. “The sooner we get that piece of paper saying he’s ours, the better,”

Malon gave him a curious look, but didn’t press. She’d hear it all later anyways. For now, Time was content to watch his sons bicker and argue like the kids they were.

That was a blessing well worth the pain that led them here.

[gxldenflower]

Sitcoms: The #1 Cause of Fatigue (Jimmy Woo x Reader)

Summary: FBI agent James E. Woo is a surprisingly good binge-watching buddy

A/N: Hello everyone! It’s finally here!! I really really hope y’all like this! Jimmy Woo was a really fun character to write and I plan on writing for him more in the future! I’m rambling rn but please enjoy!!

Warnings: FLUFFFFFFF, swearing, cheesy clichés and Jimmy Woo being one of the best MCU characters, very very minor wandavision spoilers (I don’t think there’s any spoilers but just in case)

Word Count: 1,364

Tags: @madame-rat, @bisexuaivalkyrie (for some reason I feel like I’m missing someone but I don’t think I am. If I did miss you I’m really really sorry i have a very bad memory dkafjdsklfj)

Gender Neutral Reader

Watching and analyzing a fake sitcom starring two Avengers (one of them dead) was not something you had planned for this week. Or ever, for that matter. Yet, here you were, eyes glued to an old box television with a pencil slowly slipping out of your hand. 

Doctor Lewis had commanded asked you and Agent Woo to continue keeping an eye on the TV as she went to work on something else. You’d agreed, and were now slowly starting to regret it. 

Sitcoms were never your thing in the first place and the fact that it was all some sort of an alternate reality made it even weirder for you. These were real people with real lives, and they were being forced to act in someone’s fucked up dream world. 

You sigh heavily, leaning back in your “chair.” Your “chair” was actually a hard wooden bench that barely fit two people. You close your eyes, finally letting the pencil drop out of your hand and onto the floor. I’ll just rest my eyes for a bit, you think to yourself. Because that always ends well.

***

You’re awoken by someone gently shaking your shoulder. You flinch away from them, startled. It takes you a few seconds to realize what had happened. You look up at Agent Woo holding a cup of coffee, looking down at you with concern etched on his face. 

“You alright, Y/L/N?” He asks you, tone matching his expression. You nod, rubbing your eyes as Agent Woo sits down on the bench next to you. 

“Shit, yeah. Sorry,” you mumble, brushing a few pieces of hair out of your face. 

Woo shakes his head. “You’re fine. I won’t tell anyone if you won’t tell anyone about how I accidentally short-circuited a laptop with a cup of coffee.” You stare at him blankly for a few seconds, when the hell had he done that?

He breaks eye contact with you and stares down at his shoes. “You didn’t know about that, did you?” Woo whispers in what you can only describe as abject horror. 

You have to bite the inside of your cheek to keep from laughing but, despite your best efforts, a small smile forms on your face. You shake your head slowly, “No, I didn’t.”

Agent Woo clears his throat, straightening his back. You sit in silence for a few minutes, staring at the old tv blaring the fake sitcom. “Oh! I got this coffee for you since I don’t trust myself with hot beverages and electronics anymore.” 

He holds out the coffee for you uncertainly. You take the cup from him and smile. “Thank you, Agent Woo.” He smiles back shyly. 

“You can call me Jimmy if you want to,” he says scratching the back of his neck, nervously glancing over at you like you might attack him at any second. 

You smile again, face burning almost as hot as the coffee in your hands. “Alright, Jimmy.” You turn to face him and hold out your hand. “You can call me Y/N.”

Jimmy stares at your open hand for a few seconds before clasping it and giving you a firm handshake. You hold hands for a moment before you both burst out laughing, letting go of each other. 

Neither of you can seem to contain your laughter. You weren’t sure whether it was the stress or sleep deprivation that was getting to you, but tears were starting to form in your eyes. 

“It’s not even that funny,” Jimmy wheezes out, accidentally knocking his knee against the table. Which causes another fit of laughter between the two of you. 

Eventually, you both settle down and are reduced to just an occasional giggle when you make eye contact. But, when Jimmy hits his knee on the table again, you’re thrown back into a laughing fit. 

It probably would’ve gone on for the rest of the night had it not been for a stern glare coming from an ARMY personnel that you hadn’t seen before. But, the look was enough for you and Jimmy to quiet down and sink into your seats like a couple of second graders. 

But, despite the awkward moment, you settle into a comfortable silence, scanning the tv for anything out of the ordinary. Ordinary being a fake sitcom, obviously. Every once in a while you sneak glances at Jimmy, who has his full attention on the screen in front of him. He looks incredibly cute when he’s concentrating on something, you think, suppressing a smile. 

It goes on like that for God knows how long, with you glancing over at him sneakily and occasionally trading notes with each other. You’re not even sure what time it is when Jimmy finally drops his pencil onto the table. 

“I’m starting to understand why you fell asleep,” he mutters, stretching his arms upward. You hum in response as Jimmy lets his arms drop back down. He cranes his head toward the ceiling. 

“Why the hell does S.W.O.R.D. have the fan on if it’s raining outside?” He asks himself. You look up at where he was staring. You had noticed it when you first arrived at the base but hadn’t said anything, having more important matters to attend to. 

You’d eventually gotten used to the cold temperature, but you were still chillier than you would’ve liked to have been. And as soon Jimmy points out the fan, you let out a series of sneezes, ending with a sniffle and an involuntary shiver. 

Jimmy looks over at you, concerned. “Are you cold?” He asks and you shake your head as you once again shiver involuntarily. 

You sniffle. “It’s the-uh fluorescents.” He raises an eyebrow, unconvinced. “The fluorescents make my nose itch.” As if on cue, you sneeze once more into your elbow. 

“Right…” Jimmy trails off, and you look over at him with a guilty look in your eyes. “Are you a mind-reading vampire too?”

You laugh, caught off-guard by the fact that he understood your reference. “You got me there, Jimmy. I am actually a 117-year-old vampire.” You hope your joke distracts him from the fact that your body has suddenly decided that you’re in the North Pole instead of just a room with an uncomfortably chill AC. 

“You should take my jacket,” Jimmy tells you, and before you can protest he’s pulling it off himself and wrapping it snugly around you. After a moment of shock, you grab the edges and pull it even closer around you, trapping in the heat.

You look over at him shyly, face burning as hot as a stovetop. You smile softly. “Thank you, Jimmy,” you murmur. He smiles back, meeting your gaze before looking away in favor of his shoes. 

“Of course.” You lean back, tucking your feet under yourself and doing your best to focus on the tv in front of you. But, your mind keeps getting distracted by your racing thoughts. Oh my God, he gave me his jacket. It smells so nice. That means he smells nice. That means he smells like vanilla. HE SMELLS LIKE VANILLA-

Eventually, you somehow calm your brain down enough to understand what was happening on the TV. Which was eating dinner by the club pool, apparently. Nothing important so far. 

You sneak a glance at Jimmy, who seems to be about half-asleep. His notebook was long forgotten in his lap and he seemed to be staring anywhere but the television. 

“You still alive?” You ask him quietly. He makes a grunting sound and gives you a thumbs up. 

“Yeah, unlike you.” You chuckle at his response, but it’s broken up by a yawn. “We should get our replacements and take a break,” Jimmy says. 

You hum in agreement. “That sounds like the responsible thing to do,” you reply as you rest your head on Jimmy’s shoulder. Almost immediately, he wraps an arm around you. 

“We’ll get them in a few minutes,” he reasons. 

“Yeah,” you whisper, closing your eyes. 

***

“Y’know, normally I would be mad, but this is just wayyyy too cute,” Darcy mutters to no one in particular as she snaps pictures of you and Agent Woo together. 

[serenasoutherlyns]

Not a Summer Crush Part Two

a/n: enjoy part two I hope! any feedback will make me fall in love with you 12 times. this one features much hijinks!!

Part Two

Immediately after you hopped on your bike, you began to regret your most recent conversation, your tendency towards flights of spontaneity. It hit you that you had not only turned down drinks with Cabot and Novak's important friends, you had invited them to watch you get your boogie on with all of your airhead dance friends at a somewhat raggedy club in Brooklyn.

What. Had. You. Done.

With any luck, Alex would not mention anything to Casey and the two of them would go to whatever wine bar the other senior ADAs and fancy defense attorneys hung out at with Gillian Hardwicke and whoever else, tell them how weird you were being, and never look you in the eyes again. You tumbled into your apartment, raining papers, carabiners, chapsticks, and hair ties as you hung up your bag and helmet. You made especially sure to hang up the key to your bike lock because four times in the last month had seen you frantically biking back to your apartment for it and countless more had featured you searching through the jungle of tiny bowls full of coins and wires and keychains before you left. When you made it into your living room, two little hands wrapped around your leg, tripping you. Your fall was cushioned by your fluffy area rug, but you were startled enough to yell "fuck."

Leaving no time to spare, you heard a high-pitched voice behind you yell, "Auntie, that's a bad word!" You got up and scooped the little home invader into your arms.

"Léa," you said, "how did you get into my apartment?" The six-year-old giggled as you tickled her.

"I left Mr. Cuddles on your couch. Papa gave me the key."

"Well, did you find Mr. Cuddles?" You asked, and Léa held the teddy bear out for you.

"Yeah, I did, but then I heard you and I got so happy because Auntie is home!" You melted at that, grateful to have the girls in your life, without having children of your own.

"OK, sweet girl. Thank you for the welcome. Why don't we go surprise Papa?" You picked up the laughing kid and slung her over your shoulder, walking down the stairs to your best friend's apartment.

"Ash," you said as you opened the door. "I think I found an alien in my apartment. I don't know what it is but it's very silly." Léa protested, saying she was a girl and not an alien. You plopped the pile of giggles on the couch and greeted Ashley with a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Are we still going out tonight? The babysitter's still coming?" Ashley was juggling the two-year-old and a pot of spaghetti at once, trying to get the girls fed so he could have a rare fun night out with you and the others.

"Yep, Emma is on her way right now. And we," he said as he took your hand, "are going to dance all night long." He turned you around in the kitchen, causing Yasmin to coo in his arms. "And you, my Meena-Beena, are going to be the best little dance prodigy in the world, aren't you?"

You took her from his arms and spun her around again, saying, "If I have anything to do with it, though, you're still going to college."

"Natch," Ashley agreed with you. The doorbell rang and Ophélie, the 12-year-old, raced to let the high school girl Ashley had hired to watch them in. Ashley explained where everything was to be found, then the two of you practically flew out of the door. You changed into more appropriate clothing at your place, then caught the subway. As you traveled, you broke the news to your best friend.

"Hey. So. I may have invited a couple newbies," you told him.

"Shouldn't be an issue, it's open night and there are going to be like, 20 teachers there."

"Right. Um. Yes. But."

"What, do you have a crush or something?" You hit him.

"No. But they are my supervisors."

"Both of them?" you nodded. "Well, it's a good way for them to get to know you I guess?" You laughed nervously.

"Hopefully, they don't even come," you said wishfully. Ashley changed the topic and the two of you rode the rest of the way without discussing Casey and Alex-- but they stayed in the back of your mind.

---

Casey walked into the darkened room first, holding Alex's pinky with her own, pulling her in behind. Casey had been reluctant at first, but now that the decision was made, she wasn't going to be bashful about the experience. Besides, she had danced before, unlike her wife. Alex's upbringing had been so very proper and protestant, about the only dancing she'd ever experienced was the waltz that she and her fellow wealthy little kids had been taught in cotillion, then told never to do again outside of a ballroom. Casey, on the other hand, had been raised around all types, and had gone to her fair share of swing nights as a kid. Still, nothing like the way everyone was moving in the little club. The band was on a small stage towards the back of the space, and the room was filled bursting with beautiful women wearing flowing sequined dresses and handsome men in crisp button-downs.

Standing just inside the doorway, Alex caught your form first. You were wearing your favorite dance outfit, a simple red crop top with a silver circle skirt. Your hair was secured in a casual bun. Your tall (and, curiously, male) partner's hand sat firmly pressed between your top and your skirt. She watched, transfixed (like many others there tonight, you were often the center of attention), as he lifted and spun you around, quickly and masterfully. What was most beautiful, though, was the unreserved grin that seemed stuck in its place, except when you lifted your head back and laughed after your partner whispered something in your ear. Alex and Casey made their way over to the bar and sat down with two mojitos (neither of their usual drinks, but half the people at the bar had them. It seemed fitting), and watched you whirl around with ease and clear pleasure. Casey thought she'd never seen you look so beautiful than right then, in your element, moving as naturally as anything.

"So," Casey remarked to her wife, "Either Ashley is a man or Haley's dancing with another partner."

"Or I heard it wrong," Alex offered.

"She's stunning, isn't she?" Casey said, a dreamy, captivated tone in her voice. Alex replied with a sigh and a hum.

The two women didn't get all too long to discuss you, though, before you saw them and came bouncing (Rita Calhoun doesn’t lie) to the bar, Ashley following close behind you.

"You two made it! Alex, Casey, meet my partner, Ashley Laurent. Ash, this is Casey Cabot Novak and Alexandra Novak Cabot, my esteemed supervisors from the DA's office." Alex reached out for a handshake, but Ashley made a "tsk" noise and pulled her in for two kisses on the cheek.

"We kiss on the cheek," he said, the smallest hint of his accent (French, Alex thought) showing through, then did the same for Casey. The way Casey comfortably returned it was adorable to you, as was how Alex tried her best despite her stiffness. You saw Casey rub her thumb along the back of Alex's hand in a calming motion, and without meaning to, you traced your left thumb over your right hand. "I've heard so much about you both," Ashley continued.

"All good things," you interjected with urgency, knowing Ashley's talent for embarrassing you in front of important people.

"Pleased to hear it," Casey said. You could tell that Alex was getting nervous, she had the same look on her face as she did before a difficult case. You felt a pang of guilt for having invited them, worried that you'd maybe pressured them into doing something they didn't want to do, or worse, that they'd come out of pity.

Ashley could tell you were overthinking and wanted to make it either worse (for his entertainment) or better (for your benefit). He took Casey's hand and told her, "You know, my partner here is one of the best dancers in the state. I'm sure she'd love to show you some of the ropes."

"Oh, Ash," you said, then turned to Casey, "Only if you want to. And he exaggerates my talents."

Alex spoke up, then, to say, "Not if what we saw earlier was any indication." You couldn't help but scrunch up your eyes and nose, flattered and flustered and a little embarrassed.

"I'd be happy to dance, Caroline, but I don't want to steal your partner, Ashley," said Casey.

"Nonsense," Ashley said, "besides, I need a break, the kids exhausted me today. I'll stay, keep this one company." You couldn't argue with him any longer, and as the band started up the next song, you took Casey's hand and led her onto the outer corner of the floor.

Your heart sped up when you noticed Casey's subtle signs of nervousness. "No need to worry, half the people in here have no idea what they're doing," you said. You placed your hand around her waist and put hers on your shoulder, keeping a friendly distance between the two of you. "The trick is pretending like you're confident, and people will think you are." Casey noticed the way your voice went up as you said it, like you knew how she was feeling quite well. "And I usually follow, not lead. So, I'm out of my comfort zone too."

You had no need to say the last thing, Casey thought, as you showed her the basic steps. "It's also, really, quite simple. When I step forward, you step back." She followed your lead. "Good! Yeah, that's exactly right," you told her. "I wouldn't even believe you were a beginner," you flattered her. It was a little choppy, but that didn't matter. As you felt her get into the groove of the movement, you let go of her waist and spun her under your other arm. She gasped, quietly.

"Now, the real key here is remembering to move your hips," you said, when you took her waist back in your arms. "You gotta let them guide you. You head should barely move up or down."

"I think you lost me there," Casey said.

"Here, feel," you replied, moving her free hand to your own hips. "Notice how I let them swing every time I move my feet?"

That seemed to work (though you saw a quick moment of an emotion you couldn't quite place wash over Casey), and she was soon dancing with relative ease for a newcomer. Of course, she was in good hands with you.

Alex watched the two of you as you led Casey along the floor. From work, Alex knew you were dedicated and thoughtful, but she'd always thought of you as shy and high-strung, despite your unguarded countenance. You had no problems in court, but outside of it, you would trip over your words, avert your glance at praise; you wore your insecurities on your sleeve. You were always vulnerable, too. More than once, she'd seen you get teary in your office or when speaking with a victim. You were never the first person to leave, and you took some of the most detailed (yet nearly illegible) notes she'd ever seen.

There was nothing shy about the way you moved, the way you showed Casey how to move herself. She found herself paying attention to the way your hips rolled to the music, how you never let Casey know when she stepped wrong. It put her at ease, knowing her wife was in good hands. Everything about you looked natural, comfortable, free.

"How long have you two been together?" she asked Ashley, sipping her drink (it was very minty). Part of her didn't want to know, but that part was overpowered by her curiosity.

"Ten years this fall. We met her first year at Stanford, at a ballroom rehearsal. She was so cute," Ashley said.

"Oh yeah?"

Ashley nodded emphatically, a nostalgic look in his eyes. "She grew up in a really intense studio. She was so strict about rules, and like, crazy competitive. I used to wind her up on purpose, messing with my technique to get a rise out of her."

"I really wouldn't've taken her for a big rule follower."

"It doesn't come naturally to her, but she got good at it," Ashley said. Alex thought he sounded proud of you, like something about you had come a long way. "She's so much more chilled out than she was at 17. But aren't we all?"

Alex was amused at the idea that anybody would call you “chill” and attempted to imagine what you would've been like at that age with little success. Then again, you kept surprising her. The way you seemed as you danced was very different to how you were at work.

"Now, tell me, Alex. Does she really have to put in all those hours? You don't seem like the kind of supervisor who completely disregards work-life balance."

She thought of how to reply to that, not wanting to get you in any hot water at home. Ashley was right. Now that she was older, married, and caretaker of a sizeable plant collection, Alex took a healthier approach to hours. She also remembered being your age and working every second that she could, every moment that it took to be as thorough as she could.

"No, she doesn't have to work so much," Alex ventured. "In fact, I'm not even technically in charge of her schedule. Everyone can choose how much they work, as long as they're meeting targets. Which, unfortunately, means that we sometimes get people who just do the bare minimum."

"I'm sure Caroline isn't one of those people," Ashley said.

"She's not. She's one of the most productive and successful in the office. With the younger ones, for the first few years, they either take a while to get acclimated to the work and need babysitting, or they work too hard and need someone there to remind them to breathe." Alex felt bad that Ashley had clearly seen some element of stress in you that she failed to pick up on. She tucked that away as a conversation to have later. "I was like her. So was Casey. We both calmed down a little, but it took some quite, uh, extreme events."

Ashley, for all his disregard for the norms of conversation, knew when not to push people, and could see that Alex was feeling a bit on edge. "Would you like to dance the next one with me?" he asked, but Alex's eyes widened as she adamantly refused.

"I'm happy to just watch, you don't want to see me try."

Ashley wanted to push more, but he didn't want to risk alienating your boss, so he filled the space by telling embarrassing stories about you in college. When the band began winding down for their first break, the bartender played some pop over the stereo as the dancing crowd made their way to the bar to rehydrate. You and Casey returned to the booth where Ashley and Alex were sitting.

Casey slid in beside Alex, giving her a quick kiss. You sat next to Ashley, leaning your head on his shoulder. You let out a sigh.

"It's been a minute since you taught a newbie, Bug," Ashley said to you.

"Hardly," you replied, shooting him a glare for using your nickname from your college team. "Casey's very capable." You couldn't resist complimenting her, the way she smiled at you was too precious. "You were great," you directed at Casey.

"Please," she said, waving a hand at you and taking a sip of her mojito, watered down slightly by the melting ice. The four of you managed a very engaging conversation (thanks to your partner's valiant efforts) for the next couple minutes, until Ashley's phone rang.

"That is the babysitter. I'm so sorry ladies, I gotta take this." Everyone at the table took the opportunity to check their phones.

"Hi, Emma. Is everything ok? What happened? Is she running a fever? The thermometer is in the bathroom cabinet, can you check?"

You pushed your glass away and rubbed Ashley's shoulder, knowing how upset he got when any of his kids were in trouble.

"No, 99 isn't technically a fever, but you said she threw up? On Yasmin? Well, that's certainly gross. Um, no I wouldn't make you deal with that, here," his brow furrowed, and you started to pack up your things and his, surely you, too, would be going home to help. "Emma, I'm coming home now, should be 20 minutes or so. Léa's lovey is on her bed, if you get her that and wrap her up in a blanket on the couch, she should be OK. Ask Ophélie to entertain Yasmin and stay with Léa for me, can you? You're a gem, kid. OK, I'm leaving now, see you in 20." You started to get up with him, Casey and Alex looked concerned.

"Casey, Alex, I am so sorry to leave, but it was great to meet you two," he said.

"Léa was fine two hours ago when she attacked me," you said, addressing Ashley. "Alex, Casey, I'm sorry I got you two out here and have to leave so soon."

"What? No, you stay here, love." You opened your mouth to argue, but he insisted. "You have guests, and I'll be fine alone. Léa's always sick, and Phélie can watch the baby for me." You tried to help him again, but he wouldn't let you. You gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek goodbye, and he waved kindly to Alex and Casey as he hurriedly walked out the door.

When he was gone, you said to the other women, "I think he does too much. I work all the time. I wish I was there more to help." You played around with a straw wrapper as you talked (Alex noted, you seemed to fidget when you felt guilty).

"He seems like he's OK," Alex said, remembering how Ashley had expressed a similar sentiment to her earlier.

"Do you need to work fewer hours?" Casey asked, "because you're doing more than well."

You sighed as you thought of what to say. "Ashley's a wonderful father. No questions there. But I do think he puts too much pressure on himself."

"There's one thing you two have in common," said Alex. You only nodded in response, looking around the room. This was your happy place, and Casey and Alex somehow fit perfectly in it.

---

You all left the club right before the crowd started to die down. You were tired, and you knew Ashley would need a hug once the girls were in bed; plus, you could tell Alex and Casey were wearing out (you couldn't get Alex to dance, but you and Casey were on the floor together about half the night-- an old student of yours pulled you away from your table as the band began again, but you found Casey another partner for a few songs). As you rode home, your nerves were completely calmed. You realized that you had nothing to worry about in the first place and felt pleased at how the evening had turned out.

As soon as they reached their apartment, Alex took Casey's hands and kissed her, lightly at first, deepening when Casey parted her lips. Casey moaned, muffled, as Alex threaded her fingers through her hair and gave it the gentlest of tugs.

"We have a bed, Lex," Casey said, pulling away slightly.

Alex hummed against Casey's jaw. "You just look so beautiful tonight."

"I don't always?"

"Oh, you do. I just kind of can't believe how perfect you looked dancing."

"Well, you really have Caroline to thank for that one."

Alex made a sound that landed somewhere between a whimper and a squeak.

"Am I wrong?"

"No, you're right," Alex said. "That's the thing."

"I know," Casey replied. "Too bad she's apparently both straight and taken."

Alex giggled. "I mean, how would that conversation even go."

Casey nodded in agreement, turned on her heels, and pulled Alex down the hall, pushing her onto their very fluffy bed.

"'Hey, I know I’m 15 years older than you, married to Casey, and we’re kind of your bosses, but do you want to have a threesome?'" Alex continued in a low tone of voice, comically seductive, running her hands under the hem of Casey's tank top, pulling her closer with the fabric.

Casey laughed into her collarbone, welcoming Alex's lips as she kissed down her chest.

---

The next week passed quietly. It was a two-case week for you, one of which ended in a plea bargain, giving you more free time than usual. Alex kept bringing you coffee, and you kept running with Casey, though the weather was beginning to be too hot to do so outside (Casey, who was raised spending summers with her grandmother in Georgia, didn't believe there was such a thing; but your poor bay-area body was not suited to temperatures much above 75°). Wednesday evening around 8:00, when you were working late, tying up the details of a sexual harassment case at Manhattan Arts High School, you knocked on Alex's office door, hoping she was still in and would be willing to give you some feedback.

You heard a noise from inside, an "mm-hmm" that you took to mean "come in." You didn't wait to open the door, thanks, again, to your already limited inhibitions and the focus you had when you got deep into a case like this.

It was slightly too soon.

You quickly turned around and all but ran away, apologizing with what felt like every word in the dictionary. That was it, you decided, you had to quit. It was a good run, you thought, but you now had no choice but to leave, change your identity, and move to Spain.

Or something. Why wasn't the door locked?

You made it back to your office, just down the hall. As you fretfully packed papers into your backpack, you heard the click of high heels approaching you, caught a glimpse of blonde hair through the window. Part of you wanted to hide under your desk, but you stayed standing, hoping that if you didn't move, she wouldn't see you (not unlike a child attempting to avoid a bee sting).

Alex tapped her knuckles on the glass in the door, not waiting for you to respond before she opened it and came in. You started to apologize again, but Alex held her hand (her distractingly pretty hand) up at you.

"I am very sorry," she said, "that you saw that. In our defense, we were only kissing, and you usually keep to yourself after about 6."

You had trouble making words come out of your head.

"Anyway, Casey feels horrible. So, I came to apologize and see what you needed."

You continued petrified, wondering how Alex wasn't livid. You noticed a deep red mark on her neck--You noticed her neck.

"Oh God, did we freak you out that much, Haley? It's ok, you didn't do anything wrong. We were the ones making out at work," she said, trying and failing to resist a smirk.

At that, you were able to break out of your overwhelmed silence.

"Uhm," you began, almost whispering. "It's the Manhattan Arts case."

Alex nodded. "That one's tough. That's why I gave it to you."

You nodded, suppressing a squeak.

"It is. I don't know what to do because the complainant is also a co-conspirator with the perpetrator in another case."

"Right. Why don't you come to my office, and we'll all look over it together?" Alex saw your expression fill with fear again, the same kitten-ish look she'd come to know and love. It was painfully cute. "You don't have to. But we do have leftover pad Thai." That was enough to convince you, though you were still taken aback and shaken up.

You went to Ashley's apartment first when you went home that night. He and Ramin (home from his business trip) were cuddled up together on the couch watching The Bachelor, the girls were long asleep. You greeted the men, slipped your shoes off, and padded into the living room, sliding onto the couch beside them. Ramin turned down the TV and slipped his free arm around your shoulders. Ten years of friendship between you and Ashley had made you more than comfortable with his husband, though you'd only known Ramin for four. You three didn't need words anymore, they could both tell when you were having a hard time. You were glad Ramin hadn't seen everything Ashley had-- while you weren't very skittish about sharing your personal life with the people close to you, you and Ashley had been there for one another's darkest moments.

Ramin patted your head, mussing your frizzy hair. "Wanna talk about it?" Ashley asked you, but you shook your head.

"Tea," you said.

"Fair enough," Ramin replied, amused, rising to put the kettle on. Ashley scooted over to give you a hug.

You were in a far better mood after a few pots of chamomile and a few episodes of The Bachelor when you went to bed that night (well, Thursday morning). You were still confused, though. Something in your core warmed up every time you closed your eyes, the image of Casey sitting in Alex's lap, her hair messy, their lips pressed against one another, was stuck in your head. You were still mortified, that was all.

---

Alex made good on her promise of drinks that Saturday. Things had smoothed over since Wednesday; she'd left a cookie and a note beside your coffee on Thursday morning that read: Consider this biscotti your olive branch, and, well, who could stay uncomfortable after that. As they left their apartment, Alex sent a text to their friends reminding them that they had a guest that night.

Alex: Everyone, Haley's coming out with us tonight.

Casey: That means best behavior. No being cruel.

Sophie: ...Rita.

Sophie: We were all thinking it.

Serena: ^

Rita: I'm a very sweet person!

Pippa: You made Gillian cry last week.

Rita: That sounds like a her problem.

Gillian: It kind of was.

Pippa: 💖

Casey: Just, be nice to her. Please?

Serena: We will!

Rita: Fine.

Satisfied, they walked the short distance to their regular bar. As they approached, they saw you standing outside, looking up the other direction of the sidewalk and fidgeting with your keys. Casey noticed what you were wearing first, a black A-line wrap dress that showed off your shoulders. Alex, on the other hand, noticed you were wearing your hair in its natural loopy curls when you usually straightened it.

The way the setting sunlight hit your face as you turned your head in their direction caused Alex's breath to hitch in her throat. The way you idly brushed your fingers along your neck as you tucked a curl behind your ear made Casey's mouth go dry. They shared a quick glance, their eyes talking for them, saying: we're in deep, aren't we?

The second you saw them coming towards you, you grinned wide and waved both hands, bouncing on your toes.

"Rita was right," Casey whispered to Alex, still out of earshot of you, "she's exactly like a bunny."

Alex squeezed Casey's hand tightly. You greeted them excitedly, resisting the urge to hug them both (where did that come from?) by holding your hands behind your back after you waved. They returned your greetings gracefully and led the way into their haunt, Casey, then Alex, then you.

Everyone else was already there, you were sure they must've gotten there before you. The bar wasn't quite what you expected; it had much more of a homey vibe than you thought it would. A mostly 30-something, professional-looking, crowd populated the place's tables, drinking mostly wine and whisky, talking over candlelit tables. You felt more at ease, now that you knew what you were getting into.

You were even more at ease when you realized that sat around the table you were approaching were all familiar faces. Honestly, if you had to pick which defense attorneys to spend an evening with, you could do much worse than Rita Calhoun and Sophie Devere. You knew Gillian would be there, and you were pleased to see Serena Southerlyn and Pippa Cox as well (you always admired the field of legal advocacy, you might've gone into it if the money wasn't even worse than prosecution. Pippa and Serena both clearly came from some amount of wealth-- you most certainly did not, and student loans called).

Pleasant hugs and hellos were shared around the table. Casey introduced you.

"Gillian, of course, you know ADA Haley, but for you others... Pippa, Serena, Rita, Sophie, this is Caroline Haley." Gillian raised her glass to you; Pippa gave a warm smile and a wave. Serena pulled out a chair for you, and you took it.

"Lovely to meet you, officially," said Sophie.

"We could use someone interesting," Rita added.

You had expected to feel anxious. You always did in social situations, and you had the Zoloft in your cabinet to prove it. And you did feel the familiar buzzing of worry in the back of your head. But something about the way Casey and Alex looked at one another and then at you made you feel safer than usual. It was a cozy, pleasant feeling.

Wait. Is that? Was it? No. Certainly not. Unless?

You let their conversations go on without chiming in much. Like you usually did when you met new people, you just watched and sipped your drink (gin and soda, your go-to. Serena had insisted on buying you a drink, Rita teased you for going with something so cliché but stopped after one jab. You'd seen Pippa give her a warning glare, thought you'd seen her squeeze her thigh as well, though that could just be your somewhat wonky eyesight). Noticing your anxiety, Alex gave you a friendly pat on the shoulder that made your stomach flip.

Eventually, at a lull in the talking, Alex turned her attention to you: "What's Ashley doing tonight, Caroline?"

Your expression lit up; you were always excited to brag about your best friend. "He's at the studio; he runs rehearsal on Saturday nights. His company is one of the best in the city." You could've said more, but you didn't want to ramble like you tended to when you were nervous.

"Oh. When do you teach? You're always at the office late." Alex asked.

You sighed. "I wish I had far more time than I do. I teach mostly workshops right now, one or two weekends a month." You saw everyone around the table react with some surprise.

"And you two didn't scare away the babysitter last week?" Casey added.

You chuckled in response. "I hope we didn't. The girls are usually very well-behaved, but poor Léa's always getting sick."

"How old are they, Caroline?" Pippa asked.

The only thing you loved more than bragging about Ashley was bragging about your nieces.

"Ophélie is 12, Léa is 6, and Yasmin is 2. I'm biased, but they're the brightest children on the planet."

The way you sounded when you spoke about the girls spun Casey's head. Alex had never wanted kids, and Casey had always been on the fence. But your clear pride had her feeling very drawn to you in that moment.

"Forgive me for saying," Sophie began, "But aren't you a little young to have a 12-year-old?"

"Or a 6-year-old, really," Gillian added. Alex wanted to say something, remind her well-meaning friends that, sometimes, people didn't want to discuss every detail of their personal lives with them, but she held back, knowing how composed you could be when you wanted. You paled, knowing where this conversation was headed.

"Oh, um," you said, "They aren't my kids, technically. Ophélie is Ashley's youngest sister, and Léa is Ramin's from his first marriage. Yasmin is Ashley and Ramin's only child together, but they have full custody of all three. But I've been in their lives since Ophélie was 4." You saw the confusion build on Casey's face, her brow furrowing like how it did when she was focused in on her notes.

"Who's Ramin?" She asked you.

"Ashley's husband?" You replied, "he didn't mention him to you? He usually can't wait to talk about him."

The subtle confusion turned to true befuddlement on the part of Alex and Casey, both.

"He didn't mention a husband," Alex said. "I actually assumed you two were together?" Casey nodded.The other attorneys watched with varying degrees of curiosity and chaotic joy. You swore you saw Rita cover a smile with her napkin.

You realized the place where things had gone wrong. "Oh, oh my gosh, I can absolutely see where you would get that impression if he didn't bring up Ramin. He was pretty out of it the other night."

"You said you'd meet him at home when he left, called him your partner, kissed him," Casey listed.

"He told me about your first date," Alex added. Their tones were humorously incredulous, teasing. You could feel your cheeks heating up. This hadn't happened in quite a while.

"Dance partner. We live on the first and second floors of the same building. And well, you know someone ten years, you build up affection?" you paused. "It's an easy mistake to make. Besides, did he tell you how said first date ended?"

"No, actually. You and Casey got back from the dance floor before he finished the story."

You hid your head in your hands for a moment. "Well, I'm glad he didn't, because I'm not sure I could've handled the mortification." Everyone at the table kept looking at you, expectantly. "It ended with me coming out to him, then crying into his shoulder about it. So, no second date."

"It's all good, Caroline," Serena said, helping your nerves. "I'm sure Alex just wasn't paying attention. She's like that."

Alex shot her a playful frown. You felt at ease, more comfortable and wanted to share more with the group.

"When Ophélie was in preschool, I used to take her to music class on the weekends. I was still a junior in college, so I would show up to these fancy Palo Alto mommy and me classes with my backpack full of textbooks," you told, reminiscing on your younger years with your niece. "I swear, every new session, I'd walk in and another one of my professors would be there with their kids, the looks on their faces were just so priceless." Nobody seemed bored of you yet, so you kept going. "That little girl is the reason I became a lawyer," you said, in a more serious tone.

"What do you mean by that?" Pippa asked, her passion for protecting kids showing through.

You took a deep breath, not having meant to get so deep tonight-- but you opened up whenever Casey or Alex was around.

"When Ashley sued for custody, he had just graduated and was working in the ensemble of a dance company. I was a couple years behind him, but we were super close, and I was there for every meeting and hearing." You tested the waters, looking around the table to see if anybody looked bored. Seeing no signs, you continued. "And I remember just thinking the attorney was just the coolest person on earth. She convinced a court that this 22-year-old contemporary dancer was more fit to raise a child than that child's wealthy mother. She would work on everything seemingly tirelessly... she eventually found a way to prove that emotional abuse was occurring in the birth mother's home and that Ophélie would be better off Ashley's. When he got custody of Ophélie, I knew I wanted to be like that attorney, prove the supposedly unprovable."

"Wow," Gillian said when you finished talking.

Rita gave you a raise of her eyebrows, said, "Well, you certainly are interesting."

Everyone looked at you like they were trying to figure you out. Casey seemed to be on the verge of tears, and you were holding back some of your own. You sipped your drink, still thinking about how proud you were of Ophélie and the other girls, how lucky you were to have them in your life. You knew it was time to change the subject.

"So, Serena," you said, "Casey told me you two used to play softball together back in the day?" The whole table erupted in laughter, apparently at Serena for being a terrible pitcher.

---

That night, while Casey and Alex dozed off holding one another, Casey murmured softly to Alex, "Baby, you know you'll always be enough for me, right?

"Of course," Alex replied, her voice sleepier than her wife's. "I love you, Case."

---

[polaroid15]

Febuwhump day 12 - “Who are you?”

Summary:  Tony invites Peter to a fancy gala, fully intending to show off the kid's big brain and charm. One of the guests take too much of an interest.

WARNINGS: Attempted sexual assault/inappropriate touching. Read carefully!

Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29138196/chapters/72189720

----

“He’s the sharpest kid of his age,” Tony brags, clapping a supportive hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Not as smart as me of course, but, well, he has potential.”

Peter shuffles awkwardly underneath his mentor’s hold, smiling sheepishly at a sharp looking man that he’s forgotten the name of. It’s blurred with the countless other names and faces Tony has introduced him to in the last couple hours, all with fancy reputations or the creators of ground-breaking inventions. “Mr. Stark-”

“I believe it. It’s nice to meet you, Peter,” the nameless man says, extending a warm hand that Peter takes in a choppy handshake. “Glad you were able to make it today.”

The man leaves and Tony beams after him. “That’s the guy who invented those hotel robot things,” he says. “Well, at least I think he is.”

“Oh,” Peter says, looking at the man’s retreating figure. “That’s neat.”

Tony snorts and rolls his eyes. “Alright, break time. Go get something from the bar and we’ll meet up in a bit, alright?”

“Okay,” Peter agrees, smiling. “Want anything?”

“No, no I’m okay. Knock yourself out. Non-alcoholic only though, kapeesh?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Without further need of prompting, Peter bounds away. He’s wearing a different suit today, trading in red and blue spandex for a pricey Italian two piece that Tony had bought him for the specific occasion.

It fits perfectly, but of course it does.

The event is a fancy gala on the East side of Manhattan to celebrate technological innovation. Tony is meant to give some prestigious speech at its close that he definitely hasn’t prepared for, and had practically begged Peter to come along.

“To show off the big brain of yours,” he had said. “It’ll be fun.”

Peter makes it to the bar, feeling nervous and out of place in the crowd of rich scientists around him. He leans against the counter, waiting for the bartender to notice him.

“Hi there,” a man to his right says, and his voice makes the hair on the back of Peter’s neck stand straight. “You need a drink? It’s on me.”

And it all goes south from there.

---

Tony finds Bruce in the crowd, smiling when he sees him. They bump shoulders and look over the crowd, laughing at the sheer lavishness of it all.

“Enjoying the party?” Bruce asks, hands in his pockets.

“Sure,” Tony says, and is surprised to find it’s the truth. Usually he hates these kinds of events. Dreads them, even. “Been busy.”

“With Peter?”

Tony furrows his eyebrows. Bruce is smiling like he’s holding a secret. “What do you mean?”

“Everyone’s talking about him.”

“Really?”

“You shouldn’t be surprised,” Bruce says, his tone touching on humour. “You have been dragging him around all day. I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t a single person in here that hasn’t been personally introduced.”

For some reason, Tony feels his cheeks heat. “Well, they should know his name. He’ll be taking my place one day, just you wait and see.”

Bruce nods his head, still smiling. “One day,” he repeats. “How’s he doing?”

Across the room, Tony spies Peter leaning against the bar with a glass in his hand. There’s a tall man standing next to the boy, engaged in conversation. He smiles unconsciously at the sight, and clears his throat. “Good, good. The little punk has managed to stay out of trouble for a while, so that’s been real good for my heart.”

Bruce snorts. “True. I haven’t gotten many frantic calls to medbay lately.”

“Thank God,” he says, then pauses, his smile stretching. “Hey, you should go over and eavesdrop on what they’re talking about for me.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Yes! I want to know what they’re talking about!”

“You’re on another level of crazy,” Bruce says, shaking his head. “Must be the dad instincts.”

“No-”

Bruce’s hand lands on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly. “No need to defend yourself Tony, I’ll be your spy. Wait here.”

Tony huffs out a half-hearted insult, swiping his hand over the spot where Bruce had just been. He watches his friend weave through the crowd towards his protégé and a small bubble of pride rises up through him.

Peter is a good kid.

He gets sidetracked in light conversation with a short, older man in a penguin tuxedo. Bruce sidesteps into it shortly after, eyes frantic. “Tony-”

“What? Did the kid sneak some alcohol or something?”

“No,” Bruce says, and something in his tone makes Tony’s stomach drop. “I just don’t think that man talking to Peter is very friendly.”

“What do you mean? It looks like he likes the kid.”

“A little too much, Tones.”

He pauses, lets the words connect, refuses to believe them.

Then, he feels rage.

Bruce doesn’t stop him from storming across the room. When he gets close, he sees red, because the man’s hand is climbing Peter’s thigh. The other is circled tightly around Peter’s wrist, pinning him to the counter.

“Get the hell off my kid!”

Tony pushes Peter’s attacker up against the bar with his forearm on his neck, separating him from Peter. The man winces, but looks unafraid. “Get off me Stark!”

“Who are you?” he yells, tightening his hold. Distantly, around him, he can hear the room hush.

“I don’t have to tell you anything-”

Tony punches the man in the teeth before he can finish the sentence and is too angry to feel it when his knuckles split. The man grunts and falls off his barstool, collapsing against the ground and clutching at his bleeding face. When he’s down, Tony kicks him in the ribs.

“Tony-”

He spins, heart racing. Bruce is standing beside Peter, hands supporting the kid by his shoulders. Peter looks spacey and distant, his eyes open but not connecting to anything.

“Oh my god.”

He sees the glass in Peter’s hand, half empty, and the sinkhole in his chest increases. He puts his hands on the sides of Peter’s face, tapping lightly. “Pete? Can you hear me kiddo?”

Peter blinks lazily, head rolling. Finally, with great effort, he shakes his head. “Feel sick,” he murmurs.

The world blurs as Tony’s eyes fill with tears. He connects with Bruce somewhere in his panic, worry and rage ripping through him, threatening to knock him over. “Help me get him out of here,” he pleads.

Bruce nods, and together they help Peter up and out of his seat, supporting most of his weight when his knees give out beneath him. The other guests carve a path for them, whispering behind their hands as the man who had been with Peter is picked up ungently off the ground by security.

“You’re okay,” Tony soothes, squeezing Peter’s arm lightly and wondering if the boy can even feel the attempt at comfort in his roofied state. Acid burns in his throat as he thinks about what could have happened if Bruce hadn’t gone to investigate as Peter trips between them, letting out a low, confused whine. “You’re okay bud.”

They find a small room to slip inside, setting Peter down against the wall. He moans, head still rolling. “Sorry, sorry,” he mumbles, “I’m okay.”

“Don’t apologize,” Tony says, voice strained. “It’s not your fault.”

“Didn’t- didn’t want to ruin your party.”

Both Tony and Bruce still, and Tony feels as if he’s suddenly suspended somewhere in the stratosphere, somewhere with no air. He runs his hands through Peter’s hair, choking back tears. “Pete. Pete look at me.”

Slowly, remarkably, he does.

“I’m so sorry,” Tony whispers, shaking from head to toe. “Never put me in front of your safety, okay? Never.”

Peter blinks, swallows, then nods, looking close to tears himself. “Okay.”

“God, kid.” He pulls Peter into his chest and feels his weak, uncoordinated fingers curl around his suit jacket. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“That guy sucked,” Peter slurs.

“That’s an understatement,” Bruce says in solemn agreement.

They lapse into a short, fractured silence where Peter just breathes. He looks up at Tony with glazed eyes when they pull away, and Tony feels his heart stretch. “How’re you feeling kiddo?”

“Better now,” Peter whispers, eyes brimming with tears. He wipes a sleeve across his cheek when one of them falls. “Sorry, sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s okay, don’t apologize.”

“Thanks for helpin’ me.”

“Always.”

They sit there until the drug wears off, and by that time Peter is soundly asleep, pressed between Bruce and Tony’s shoulders.

Safe.

Tony misses his big speech, but it doesn’t matter.

The only thing that does is the kid drooling on his shoulder.

“I’m going to make sure that man never gets out of prison,” he decides, and Bruce nods enthusiastically. A sharp pit of protective anger blossoms up in his chest, and he hangs onto Peter’s sleeping form just a little tighter. “No one messes with my kid and gets away with it.”

And he means it.

[taeyohonic]

Just a Taste – Chapter Three

Summary: Being asked to take a blood test just to work at a merchandise booth should have been the first read flag for you. But you just gave them a sample of your blood in exchange for a very much needed paycheck and a summer job during BTS’ world tour. After the youngest member of the popular kpop band finds himself in a difficult situation, you come to realize that this wasn’t the last time you shed blood for your idols. or: You becomes the new donor for seven bloodthirsty idols, who seem to be way too interested in their new food source.

Pairing: OT7xfem!Reader

Genre: Fantasy, Smut, (Fluff)

Warnings: some profanity

Words: 3 k

Chapters: Prologue, Chap. I, Chap. II, Chap. III, Chap. IV, Chap. V, Chap. VI, Chap. VII

“Okay, there is no way this guy isn’t on drugs”, Joo-Won snorts as he jokingly nudges your shoulder. You can’t help but chuckle, eyes trained on the maknae… smiling radiantly in the camera. It’s such a striking contrast to his rude stone-faced smirk the day before. Of course, Joo-Won would notice.

Hell, you don’t even want to imagine the fansites and all the twitter threats dedicated to the youngest’s mood shifts. Jungkook’s eyes sparkle and his steps are light as feathers. He has such a carefree aura surrounding him – it’s enticing.

To clear your head, you take a hefty swing of the beer your friend has sneaked into the backstage-room. It was sheer luck that you met up – with your phone mysteriously vanishing and you no longer working at the booth. But it seems your … promotion was the gossip of the whole pre-concert team, so of course Joo-Won was up-to-date.

It’s not that uncommon to help out during tour, when there’s a shortage of employees. For you to move this far up in such a short time? Okay, granted, that does raise a few questions. But after your explanation, your friend was convinced, that everything was fine and dandy. When in reality…

“Or maybe he just got laid”, he shrugs, and you cough on the alcohol in your mouth.

“Damn… Woo… Why?”, you wheeze, and your friend tries not to laugh at your red face.  

“Oh come on, don’t be a prude.”

“I am not”, you defend yourself, taking another sip to calm your body. The alcohol Joo-Won provided, after finding you starstruck in a dimly lit corridor, helped you getting over the fact, that sweet summer-child Jimin was a shadow. The thought alone makes you empty your bottle.

“Maybe this would be more believable, when your face doesn’t look like a tomato”, he teases and you are glad that color is returning to your face. After last night’s blood loss, every form of healthy blood flow makes you think of yesterday’s attack as a smaller incident than it was.

“Argh, stop it, Woo”, you say, punching his arm in mock anger. You two stay like this, glued to the screen and watch the concert. All the idols seem to be in great spirit – joking amongst themselves and performing to their full capacity.

It makes you wish to erase the last hours – meeting most of them in terrifying situations. Their music means a lot to you and now it will forever be tarnished by the blood and secrets spilled in the last hours.

“Want another one?”, your friend asks, after the concert finished and the people around you are again running around, packing up. Tonight, you’ll have dinner with seven vampires.

“Of course”, you answer.

***

“_____-ah!”, Jimin’s voice is extremely familiar from the hours of Spotify-loops you listened to during their last comeback. But the sweet voice is way too near and way too authentic to be coming out of your nonexistent earbuds. You turn around, the beer bottle in your guilty hands as you see the singer running towards you. His steps are es excited as his exclaim and you brace yourself for impact, his sweaty body colliding with you in no time.

The embrace feels alien, his figure roughly the same height as yours – his nose brushing against your own, warm, sweet breath meeting your skin. Wow. Jimin seems to feel way too comfortable around you for your first meeting. Well, if you count getting introduced to his shadow as well, it’ll be your second meeting. But still, invading your personal space so carefree makes your heart race. He smells so amazing, you’re not even bothered by his sweat against your brand new clothes.

“Jimin-ssi”, warns a hard voice behind him and your stare meets Taehyung’s cold eyes. They don’t stay on you for long, fixing on something behind you instead. If it’s even possible, his eyes defrost more. You remember your friend exactly at the same time Jimin’s soft embrace morphs into an uncomfortable grip. You try to turn around, but the idol doesn’t let you move an inch.

“Who are you?”, he asks. The air feels cold against your skin as a shudder travels across your body.

“Uhm, Joo-Won”, there is a short silence, “I... manage the lightstick booth.”

“I don’t see any ARMY bombs here, Joo-Won”, Taehyung answers, stepping closer to the three of you. You can clearly hear the stern tone in the way he pronounces the stranger’s name. What you can’t hear, are the profanities and treats coming out of the vampire’s mouth – too low for human ears to detect.

“Uhm, Jimin-ssi?”, you ask, awkwardness coloring your question as you – again – try to move out of his embrace.

He complies wordlessly, but doesn’t let you get far away, an arm draped around your shoulder is keeping you in place – by his side. Now you see Joo-Won’s eyes screaming for help and you feel an instant guilt resting in your stomach.

“Joo-Won is a... friend of mine", you start to explain - missing the hissed not for long as you gesture nervously around the boys. Your movement shifts Jimin’s arm from your shoulder blade to your neck and you feel his fingers flex against your skin.

Taehyung has fully joined you, having moved to your other side. Both idols flank your figure almost protectively. It’s... weirdly exciting.

“Is that so?”, the deep-voiced asks and... offers your friend his hand. Joo-Won looks at Taehyung’s offer like he has never heard of shaking hands. Before the silence gets out of control though, he grasps his hand. The lights flicker as you see Joo-Won wince in pain. What the hell?

A sickening ash complexion travels up his outstretched arm and you panic. What is Taehyung doing? In two quick steps you manage to break the handshake by moving between them. Jimin seems too enthralled by his bandmate and lets you out of his hold by accident. Now you turn your back against Joo-Won, facing the adored duo of Vmin, while shielding your friend.

“You’re here to get me for the work dinner, right?”, you say with more meaning behind your words. Both look at you with an unreadable expression. Then they nod, as if they just remember where and who they are.

“So... let’s go!” You step around both of them and head towards the exit, not even daring to turn around. The sound of hurried footsteps confirms, that both idols are following you. If you had known it’d be the last time you ever saw your friend, you might have turned around to memorize his handsome face.

***

“Where are we going?”, you ask as the two vampires hush you into the tinted van. They sit facing you and spread their legs comfortably. Taehyung’s shoes rest against your feet and his face looks so relaxed, you wish he could lend you some calm.

“To our hotel”, Taehyung answers. Jimin adds: “They have an amazing cook.”

“And a private room”, Taehyung finishes.

They do complete each other in a harmonized way, that makes you feel... very excluded.

Your hands are resting in your lap and you watch the car drive away from the concert hall. Two more events, then you’ll leave. You remember that the group stays in one of the most prestigious hotels of Tokyo. A stark contrast to your hostel. And far away from it as well. It´ll be a pain in the ass to get back later. Especially without a room key, or even a cellphone.

“Do you guys happen to know, where my cell and my key card is?”, you ask and look in the eyes of a smiling Jimin.

“Oh, Gug should have them with him.”

Yeah right, Jungkook should be there. The vampire, who sucked your blood last night. Cool, cool, cool, co-

“What do they say, ______? They are more afraid of you as you are of them”, Taehyung says reassuringly.

“That’s what people say about animals – not vampires”, you snort.

“Some say our kin is more animal than human, so...”, Taehyung shrugs and you muster him curiously.

“And what do you say?", you ask.

“Ah, don't get philosophical on our first date, _________”, Jimin whines and you do not even want to think about the word “date”. Instead you still look at the younger singer. He seems to be conflicted, before answering.

“It’s more of a balance. And sometimes it’s... more fun to agree with these people.”

You don't like the way he thinks, always believing that humanity is the only solution to live in content.

“There we are!”, both boys exclaim at the same time and you shrink in surprise. Are these two for real?

Without missing a second, Jimin opens the car door, and motions for you to step out of the vehicle. With one hand he covers his face with a mask, and you do the same. It would be more practical for him to get out first. Then you would have more room to move. But he is still as stone, as you stumble out of the car, brushing against his rumbling chest in the process.

You are at the back entrance of the five-star hotel and you can see the open door with a fidgeting waiter. After a few quick steps and two vampires behind you, you enter the building. The young staff member bows formally and you do the same – both idols not even thinking about returning the greeting. So, the good manners are just for vlives – good to know.

Soon you step into the private dining room, the air thick with anticipation as you make eye contact with the maknae. His exciting body moves at lightning speed and you are glad the waiter stepped out of eye side. For the second time today, you collide with a strong body. Jungkook’s nose dives instantly to the crook of your neck and you feel his hot breath against your earlobe.

“_________”, he murmurs and lets his nose travel up and down your pulse. You shiver in response, the recurring invasion of your private space making you feel terribly uncomfortable. Flashes of last night, the pain, the helplessness, the fear... all emotions are rushing back to you and you feel tears in your eyes.

“Jungkook. Enough”, Jin commands and the youngster whines, not moving.

“Jungkook”, the eldest tries again, this time with more volume to his voice.

Before a tear can fall, the vampire lets you go and takes a step back. His excitement crumbles when he sees the unshed tears in your eyes.

“_________?”, he asks, and your name sounds starkly different to the first time he happily called you mere moments ago.

You take a deep breath and you think you're losing your sanity, because you swear you can ... smell them. The odor doesn’t even scare you; it’s weirdly calming. With two more breaths of air you feel grounded enough to let your eyes travel across the table.

There they all sit. Jin – half standing, ready to intervene. Namjoon is watching you closely, is expression full of curiosity. Then there are Hoseok and Yoongi. The duo looks at you... in disdain. The younger rapper with rumored sunshine in his heart musters you like you are a cloud, hiding the bright orbit behind you.

And Yoongi’s eyes are filled with... dissatisfaction. You don’t need to be a mind reader to basically hear his scream “YOU DUMB HUMAN!”. Yeah, you didn’t follow his orders. But how could you not agree to Namjoon’s offer? You don’t even have to do a thing; just be there. But as you feel seven sets of inhumane eyes on you, you’re not sure, if this is really easy money.

“Alcohol!”, Jimin shouts behind you, making you jump in place. Damn, the two singers move with leisure steps forward; pushing you to the group, cold hands against your back.

Jungkook jumps away from you, creating more distance as his sad eyes linger. Why is he so upset? What did he expect? He attacked you not even twenty-four hours ago. How fast were you supposed to overcome such trauma? His bite under the band-aid burns as you self-consciously take a seat next to Jin. No way in hell will you sit next to Hoseok or Yoongi; it’s easier to face your opponents than rub against their side while eating. Before you are fully seated, you feel Jungkook take the place on your other side.

You eye him with suspicion, but the young man looks at you with big, innocent deer eyes, you can’t begin to compare him to the vampire version of last night. Maybe it’s for the best if you don’t even try. You are only here, getting paid handsomely, because of this boy. You are the leftover he needs around.

“Is that okay, Noona?”, he whispers as he – again – leans close to you. You shiver; this time not in fear, as you nod silently. Across from you Hoseok chuckles humorlessly. You ignore the blunt mockery and look at Namjoon for any form of leadership. He still just observes, now focused on the youngest as Jungkook smiles. You accepted him next to you. And he can’t smell fear on you anymore – maybe a bit apprehension, but no fear. He is getting even more excited now that your warmth radiates against his cold, dead body.

“Uhm – … did you mention alcohol?”, you ask, no longer able to stomach the thick silence. Jimin, sitting next to Taehyung, laughs freely as he brings out a few unopened soju bottles from under the table. With ease the young singer moves your favorite – strawberry flavor – in front of you and you thank him with a kind smile.

The others soon join, Hoseok being the only one without a fresh bottle, still managing half of his last one.

“It seems this isn’t your first today”, Yoongi comments, cold eyes on you as your cheeks redden – making Jungkook groan in satisfaction.

Is your drinking with Joo-Won this noticeable? You hold your alcohol well, and you are sure you didn’t stumble or slur in the last ten minutes, so how c-

“It’s your breath”, Namjoon explains unsolicited. A hand flies to your mouth. They… can smell the alcohol in your breath? How? You chewed gum before Taehyung and Jimin collected you.

“We have a heightened smell”, he adds, “all our senses are improved.”

“That makes concerts extremely fun”, Jimin says toasting his bottle in your direction. “The lights, the screams, the sweat and all the blood-bags in a stadium – it’s intoxicating.”

Your eyes widen at being called a blood bag. But before you can voice being offended, Yoongi repeats his question, rephrased.

“You pre-game, when you know you have dinner with seven vampires?” There is belittlement in his voice and you feel shame.

In your college days it wasn’t unusual to participate in daydrinking, or just an after-lecture beer. But now – faced with idols, who performed relentlessly for hours in tiering conditions – it makes you feel cheap. And watching the sadistic pleasure in Yoongi’s eyes makes you think, that this is exactly what he wants.

“I- it was just a drink with a friend”, you defend yourself and don’t notice, how the movement in the room stills.

“What friend?”, Namjoon asks icily, as he freezes your time, while looking at Taehyung and Jimin.

“A low leveled booth worker was all around her, when we found her”, Jimin starts and tries not to move too much, so you won’t get a whiplash when being in sync again.

“I took care of him”, Taehyung finishes and takes a swing from his non-alcoholic beer. He didn’t like alcohol when he was alive and he sure as hell doesn’t care for the intoxication now that he is dead. But that doesn’t mean the vampire doesn’t adore Jimin’s drunk stumbles and Jungkook’s alcohol infused exhibition.

Every single vampire at the table knows what the vocalist means with his words. The uncontrolled power to extract life-light through touch equals a disaster. But after many years of training Taehyung can control and dosage his ability to… everybody’s benefit. Joo-Won will be weak, ill and even thinking he wants to die. But the few seconds of power extraction wasn’t meant to kill – it was meant as a warning.

“Did anything else happen to her while you were supposed to look after her?”, Jungkook hisses sarcastically and looks at his brothers. Both avoid the venom in his eyes.

“If you can’t remember, we were actually with you on stage during the concert. How could we control her whereabouts, when we were hip-thrusting next to you? Hm?”, Jimin responds and the room fills with confrontation. Jin shifts uncomfortably in his seat – the emotions in high drive from his brothers. He is very thankful that the leader froze you, otherwise he couldn’t manage all the feelings in this group.

Jungkook stands abruptly, ready to pounce on the smallest.

“If you had let me keep her with me, this conversation wouldn’t even happen.”

“Ha”, Yoongi laughs darkly, “If we had left you with her, you’d be sucking her nipples by now.”

The lights flicker and Namjoon – again – just observes instead of intervening.

Hoseok moves suddenly, circling around the table until he stands directly behind your still form. He stares at you with dark curiosity.

What the hell where you doing with them? What could be so fascinating about you to make Jungkook this mad at Jimin and Taehyung? What made Yoongi leave his bed last night?

Why isn’t Namjoon stepping up as leader? Why can’t Jin control the room?

Why is he standing behind you? Why is he bending down to your face? Why is he craning his neck to face you – supporting himself with a hand on the table? Why are your eyes deeper than his desire to eliminate you as the thread you are?

And most importantly: Why are you blinking at him?

“What the hell?”, Namjoon and you exclaim at the same time as you stare at Hoseok’s surprised eyes, which are closer than logic would permit.

_______________________

AN: Sub, people! I’m sorry for the late post, covid-19 is a real b**** and my workload has doubled over the last few weeks. Thank you so muc to every single one, who commented, rebloged, liked, read! I am still very touched to hear, which parts/characters/storylines you enjoyed!

What did you guys think of “eight”? I’m a deep rooted shawol, so the MV in particular hit right at home.

I hope you all stay safe and happy! Let me know what you think! All the best, Dana

[honeypwark]

[ Night Night ]

  ↳ Roller Coaster era (late Jan-early Mar 2019)

       ↳ Lily arrives right on time for NCT Night Night. JohnJae is whipped. Lily talks about promoting solo.

m.list

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

After a rather stressful salon visit and practically shoving herself into the outfit her stylist gave her, Lily raced to the recording studio home to NCT Night Night, among other radio shows. Normally, guests enter at the beginning of the ad break preceding their introduction. However, those commercials are over halfway over by the time Lily is shown into the recording studio.

Simultaneously, two voices shout, “Lily Leeeeeeeeee!”

Lily laughs, NCT Night Night’s very tall hosts, Johnny and Jaehyun, standing to greet her. Normally, she wouldn’t think twice before hugging her best friend’s older members in greeting but she knows there’s a live video feed, so she keeps to the more formal bow and handshake.

“You’re late,” Johnny says.

“Would you be insulted if I told you I forgot and fell asleep?” Lily asks.

“Yes.”

“Then it was traffic.”

The three of them laugh and Lily walks around to sit across from Johnny and Jaehyun. She sits and, careful of her recently styled hair, puts her headphones on. For a moment, all she can hear is someone advertising super fast pizza delivery service. She looks up and sees Jaehyun saying something and motioning toward his head.

“Ah,” she says in understanding, moving one side of the headphones off her ear.

She doesn’t notice Johnny and Jaehyun looking at her fondly as she fixes her hair. A few staff members rush into the room, adjusting the cameras facing Lily down, having estimated where she would be sitting too high while waiting for her. Soon after, the commercials end and Johnny and Jaehyun begin the introductory dialogue.

“Johnny, have you ever heard of Sunshine?”

“Sunshine? Like light from the sun?”

“No, like the Nation’s Sunshine, Twice’s Lily.”

“But isn’t Lily from America? How did she get the nickname Nation’s Sunshine?”

“Are you curious?” Jaehyun addresses the listeners. “Then find out here!”

“Come meet tonight’s special guest nicknamed the Nation’s Sunshine on NCT Night Night.”

With the show led into, Jaehyun turns his attention to Lily, “Our guest for tonight is a beloved member of a popular girl group who has recently made her debut as a solo artist, lighting up the stage with her bright vocals and refreshing concept during the cold winter months. Lily Lee, hello.”

“Hello!” Lily responds cheerfully.

Johnny chuckles at her peppiness, “Please introduce yourself.”

“Hello!” Lily repeats, “I’m Lily Lee. I’m glad to be a guest on NCT Night Night and am very excited about tonight’s broadcast!”

“Hello and welcome, Lily,” Johnny says.

“Before we begin, would you like explain how we all know each other?” Jaehyun asks.

“Yes. My best friend is one of Johnny and Jaehyun’s members, NCT Dream’s Jisung. I’m good friends with all of NCT, who I met through Jisung.”

“We’re you’re... oppas? Is it alright to say that?” Johnny glances around as thought looking for someone’s nod of approval.

Lily laughs, “Well, you are... six and four years older than me, aren’t you?”

“You were born in 2001?” Jaehyun asks.

“Very late 2001. December twelfth.”

“You’re that young? That means you’re younger than Chenle.”

“Not by much, but I am younger than him, yes.”

“And you’ve just made your solo debut with ‘Roller Coaster,’” Johnny reads from his script. “Your debut single came with two songs, the title track ‘Roller Coaster’ and b-side track ‘Don’t Know What To Do.’ You wrote your b-side, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Lily nods. “I wrote the lyrics and composed most of it. I had help from a friend I trained with who’s debuted now, Stray Kids’ leader Bang Chan. He and I were really the only ones to work on this song and he would push me to figure stuff out on my own. He didn’t hold my hand and tell me what would work.”

“He wanted you to make it your own,” Jaehyun supplies.

“Yes.”

“And you also helped write lyrics for ‘Roller Coaster’?” Johnny asks.

“I did.”

“So, what’s it like being the first of your group to have a solo project while also being the youngest? What were your members’ reactions?” Jaehyun prompts.

“When I was first offered the chance to promote solo, I was really really nervous about their reactions. I care a lot about my members because they really took me in and accepted me when I’d only just move to Korea and I didn’t want them to think that I was privileged or thought I was better than them. Those worries were ultimately stupid because after I talked to one of my friends about it to get his opinion, I told them and they were all super supportive.”

“And how does promoting solo vary from promoting with a group?”

“Well, I feel a lot more pressure to do well. I always feel a lot of pressure to do well because I want to give the best performance possible to Onces, but especially when I’m the only person singing onstage I want to do my absolute best. Of course, everyone makes mistakes and since I’m so clumsy I’m bound to make some as well. But anytime I do make a mistake, I know Onces won’t care too much. And if the rest of my performance was spectacular then it’s alright.”

“It must be a lot of pressure to be the only person onstage people are watching,” Johnny agrees.

“Yeah, it is.”

“We’ll continue our interview with Lily Lee in a few minutes. This is ‘Dancing With A Stranger’ by Sam Smith and Normani.”

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

“The story behind how you got your pet dog Blue is an interesting one, isn’t it?” Jaehyun asks about halfway through the broadcast.

“It is... a little unconventional,” Lily says carefully.

“How did you adopt him?”

“Well, I went out on my own one night to a convenience store and on my way back, I heard whimpering in an alleyway. When I went to see what it was, I found a little puppy in a plastic tub.”

“He was left to starve,” Johnny surmises sadly.

“Yeah,” Lily nods. “So I snuck him into the dorm because I knew my members probably would freak out and make me get rid of him. I went into the dorm, opened my bedroom window, and climbed down the fire escape to where I’d left Blue down below. I brought him up to the dorm, gave him a bath, and it wasn’t until the next day when he’d pooped on the kitchen floor that the girls found out.”

“And you managed to convince them to keep him?” Jaehyun asks.

“With a lot of promises that I would be fully responsible for him- and a little but of guilt tripping-, I did convince them to let him stay.”

“Good thing, too, because he’s adored by your fans,” Johnny says. “On another note, fans have been in a frenzy about something since they found out you’d be coming on the show.”

Lily groans, “I know.”

Johnny laughs, “You know what it is?”

“You two are both so tall,” Lily says, “They want to see me next to you.”

“We’ll take a picture at the end of the broadcast, don’t worry,” Jaehyun tells the listeners.

“How tall are you, Lily?” Johnny asks.

She sighs exaggeratedly loud and long into her mic.

Johnny and Jaehyun laugh heartily.

“I’m like one hundred fifty three centimeters or something,” she says.

“Am I really thirty one centimeters taller than you?” Johnny asks, bewildered.

“I don’t know, you’re the giant,” Lily says. “I look up at everyone regardless. Though I’m probably around one fifty seven right now with the insoles I’m wearing.”

“Imagine wearing insoles,” Jaehyun teases.

“Don’t patronize me,” she says, “I’m your sunbaenim.”

Johnny and Jaehyun falls silent for a few moments.

“You are,” Jaehyun says in disbelief.

“Oh my god,” Johnny mutters.

Lily laughs at the two men who are obviously just now realizing she is at least four years younger than them yet is their senior artist.

“While we think on that for a few minutes, this is ‘Airplane pt.2’ by BTS,” Jaehyun says.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

“So, how did you get the nickname the Nation’s Sunshine?” Jaehyun asks.

They are rapidly approaching the end of the broadcast after a little under an hour of fun stories and lighthearted teasing.

“I’m a really bright and happy person,” Lily starts, “I’m generally optimistic and I’m kind of the mood maker of Twice. My members started calling me Sunshine as a term of endearment and then just as a nickname. Eventually, it caught on and spread to the fans. I became really, really popular in Korea as I appeared on variety shows and things like that. I feel like I sound like a braggart when I say this, but people started commenting about how anytime I was onscreen- even if they didn’t know me- they’d start smiling, so they started calling me the Nation’s Sunshine.”

“Even though you’re a foreigner?” Jaehyun asks.

“I guess,” Lily shrugs. “I mean, I’m ethnically Korean and after living in Korea for four-ish years, I’m fluent in Korean so except for me name, people don’t always realize I’m from America.”

“America!” Johnny shouts.

“America!” Lily shouts back.

The three of them laugh.

“Well, tonight has been very fun,” Jaehyun says.

“It was fun!” Lily agrees.

“I hope we can have you back sometime,” Jaehyun says.

“I hope so, too,” she nods, “Maybe with my members.”

“Do you have anything else you’d like to say?” Johnny prompts.

“Uh, yes,” Lily says. “Um, Onces! Thank you so much for all your support as I ventured out and promoted solo. I hope I’ve promoted Twice and myself well and you are satisfied with my performances so far. Please always support me. I love you! Thank you! And thank you to Johnny and Jaehyun for having me as a guest! This was a lot of.”

“Okay,” Johnny says. “The final song for tonight is our lovely guest’s recent release. This is ‘Roller Coaster’ by Lily Lee.”

[firebrands]

persist and resist | stevetony

1.2k, T, exes getting back together modern au | on ao3 | stony bingo fill: reunion (part 1 of 4; completed and will be updated every friday)

They’re late enough for the party that Bucky has to drive around the block to find parking. Once he kills the engine, Steve unbuckles his seatbelt but stays inside.

“Hey, come on Steve,” Bucky says, turning to him and giving his shoulder a quick squeeze. “It’ll be fun.”

Steve takes a deep breath. Truth be told, he hasn’t been out in a while—not with a crowd like this, with more acquaintances than friends, at least. “Yeah,” he says finally. “Okay.”

From the sidewalk, Steve can already feel the thrum of the bassline, the murmur of voices all speaking at once. It excites him, a little, and he wonders what’ll happen that night because something always happens.

He takes another deep breath just as Bucky rings the doorbell. They’re greeted by a wave of sound when the door opens. “Oh my god, Steve,” Natasha says, completely disregarding Bucky and hugging him. “I didn’t think you’d come!”

Bucky makes an affronted sound. “Yeah, Nat. You're welcome.”

Nat turns to Bucky and laughs before pressing her cheek against his. “We just saw each other last week, Buck,” she says. “Come in!” They follow inside after her, the house dark and lit only by a few lamps that lead the way outside. It makes sense; Steve remembers the times he’d hung out here, and everything looked expensive and breakable. “Some people are in the den,” she says, gesturing even though he and Bucky know where it is. “I think for now it’s Mario Kart.”

Finally, they make it to the yard, full of people milling around, holding plastic cups and talking, smoking, laughing. There are a few people who have taken off their shoes and dipped their feet into the pool, and even more people crowding around what Steve assumes to be the buffet table.

Natasha takes Bucky’s hand and leads them toward a small group of people seated around a too-small table that Steve only recognizes when he gets up close. “Oh my god, hey!” Jan screams, bounding up to them and pulling Steve into a hug. Everyone looks so excited to see him, as if he’s been missing, or something.

Then again, maybe he has. He can’t remember the last time he’d gone to a bar, or a club and seen all of his friends. He greets them all in turn, accepts a bottle of beer, and is walking towards the food with Sharon when he sees him.

Tony.

Steve feels his breath stutter to a stop, and he turns abruptly on his heel and back to the safety of his friends.

Bucky turns to Steve expectantly, moving away from where he, Sam, and Clint were catching up. “Where’s my pizza?” he asks.

Sharon gives Bucky a look.

“Oh,” Bucky says, catching on fast.

Steve sits down across Bucky, his back to the crowd, and downs his beer. He reaches over the table and takes Bucky’s beer. Bucky lets him.

Steve takes a long pull and lets out a sigh just as Bucky looks over Steve’s shoulder, then at Steve, a quick, worried look passing over his face before he schools it into a warm smile. “Hey, Tony!” he says, standing up.

Steve half-turns in his chair just as Tony approaches.

“Hey guys,” Tony says. It happens quickly, before Steve can get a hold of himself—most of the people at the table get up to say hello. It’s only after the half-hugs and handshakes that Steve gets up.

“Hey,” Steve says, hating the way his voice sounds pinched. He hates that he feels awkward and knows that he shouldn’t—they ended on good terms. It wasn’t good to act as if he...

“Hey,” Tony parrots back, stopping Steve’s train of thought with how he sounds: soft, wistful. “How’ve you been?”

“Good,” Steve says, and before he can say more, Sam claps him on the back.

“Let’s get some drinks,” Sam says, steering him away just as Bucky ropes Tony into a conversation.

After a few steps, Sam hugs Steve close. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Steve says, feeling like he’s been caught in a daze. “Yeah.”

***

Steve hasn’t been this drunk in months, and now that he tries to remember when he was this fucked up he abruptly realizes why and sobers up for a few seconds before immediately taking another shot of Cuervo.

“Slow down Rogers,” Bucky slurs beside him. “Who’re you racing?”

“I’m fine,” Steve says, chasing the shot down with a gulp of cold soda. In the corner of his eye, he sees Tony talking to Jan, their heads bowed together amidst the loud music. “Beer time?”

Bucky follows Steve’s gaze then nods. “Beer time.”

Indeterminately later, somehow, Steve finds himself seeking solace on one of the couches in Nat’s living room. He can still hear the bass thumping from outside, but it’s nice and dim and he leans back, settling in. The sofa isn’t empty, and he realizes with a small thrill that it’s Tony sitting beside him.

Well. Steve thinks, his thoughts swimming through the alcohol slowing down his brain. Always been good at looking for trouble.

“Hey again,” Tony drawls.

“Hello,” Steve says, letting his head loll to the side so he can look at Tony. “Been a minute.”

“Yeah.” Tony sighs. They’re quiet for a moment. “Weird to say, but I’ve missed you.”

The admission is so earnest and simple, Steve feels something inside him shatter all over again. “I’ve missed you too,” he says, shifting and sitting properly. He touches Tony’s hand. “I’ve missed you a lot.”

Tony laughs, quietly, as if afraid to be heard.

Steve trails his hand up Tony’s arm, stopping to cup his cheek. It feels so familiar, so easy.

Tony leans close, touches their foreheads together, and lets out another small laugh.

“Kiss me,” he whispers, “for old time’s sake.”

“Okay,” Steve whispers, drawing closer. He thumbs Tony’s cheek, like he used to, and kisses him.

Kissing Tony feels perfect. Is perfect. Tony groans, and then they’re making out properly now, Tony’s hands in his hair, squeezing his shoulders, sliding down his back.

Steve’s phone buzzes insistently in his pocket, but he doesn’t care—he loses himself in the kiss.

“WELL!” Steve pulls away with a jolt. Bucky and Pepper are standing in front of them, and Steve lifts his hand to shield himself from the flashlight on Pepper’s phone.

“I think we should go home,” Bucky says, clapping his hands together with false cheer.

“I agree,” Pepper says, barely hiding a frown. “Come on, Tony.”

Steve’s so close to Tony that he hears him let out a small whine. Steve’s close to whining, too, and he tightens his grip on Tony’s waist.

Bucky tugs on Steve’s arm. “Come on, bud. Let’s go.”

Steve lets himself be pulled away. He looks over his shoulder and sees Tony smile at him, small and conciliatory.

***

[jaskiers-sweetkiss]

Paper Rings - Part 1

Pairing: Carrie Wilson x Female!Reader

Word Count: 2.9k

Warnings: none

PR Masterlist Masterlist

___

“Y/N!” A voice gasped excitedly, dainty hand clasping around your wrist as you made your way through the crowds of people in the town square.

The voice and the contact snapped you back to the present and you found yourself stumbling as you walked, nearly toppling into another person as you tumbled to the ground, your reflexes and the hand on your wrist doing nothing to prevent your fall. Instead, the owner of said hand fell with you, the two of you sprawled out on the cobblestone. The entire experience took you back to a similar day years ago, when you’d met the princess of your kingdom.

There wasn’t anything particularly interesting about the day you met the princess (though to be clear, you hadn’t known she was the princess at the time. You reckoned the whole thing would’ve gone a lot differently if you had). Really, it was just like any other Saturday— your family had set up your booth at the town market and the streets were bustling with your neighbors and the occasional nobility as they wandered from stall to stall.

You always spent your Saturdays at market. When you were younger you’d been a handful, running through the streets with the other kids from your town, only ever stopping when something sparkly caught your eye. Your mother always said she was grateful that you had such nice neighbors who would look out for you and return you to her care at the end of the day. Now that you’re older, you’re an asset to your family. Rather than running around for fun, now you’re the one bustling from booth to booth picking up anything your family requires for the week. While time has slowed you down some, your time running through the throngs of people as a child aids you well now as you bob and weave through the crowds with something akin to grace.

Except no amount of grace or experience could have prevented the tumble you took when a cloaked figure suddenly stumbled directly into your path. Usually quick on your feet you moved to skirt around them only to trip over the figure’s foot, sending you both onto the cobblestone. The figure’s cloak had fallen and when you turned to tell whoever had tripped you to watch where they were going you were met with that of a terrified girl who had to have been around your own age. You didn’t recognize her, which was odd as your town was fairly small and you didn’t get many outsiders. You brushed off your skepticism with the reminder that it was market day and the streets were chock-full of strangers. Still, you couldn’t ignore the entirely insecure look of the girl sprawled on the cobblestone next to you so rather than scold, you spared her the kindest smile you could muster as you pulled yourself up to your feet and offered her a hand. She thanked you quietly as she took your hand.

“First time at market?” You asked curiously, unable to help yourself before you blurted out the words.

“That easy to tell, huh?”

“Well, most of us are familiar with the crowds,” you chuckled. “Plus I don’t recognize you and I know basically all the regulars since I’ve been coming every Saturday since I was a baby.”

You realized you were oversharing but something about the girl made it easy. Besides, maybe you could make a friend or at least stop her from causing any more accidents in the street.

The girl seemed visibly relieved at your words, though you couldn’t quite figure out why.

“So, what’s your name stranger?” You asked.

“Oh, uhhh, Carrie.” “Nice to meet you, Carrie. I’m Y/N,” you stuck out your hand for a handshake. “I can help you navigate if you need?”

Carrie had readily accepted and you’d spent the rest of the day attached at the hip as you moved from stall to stall. Curiously, Carrie didn’t make many purchases but she was good company and you didn’t want to seem nosey so you didn’t mention anything about it.

The next weekend you didn’t see Carrie, nor the weekend after that and by the third, you were beginning to wonder if you’d ever see the girl again. However, all worries of such were vanished by the appearance of the cloaked girl by your side once more. After the third market day spent together, your mother invited Carrie to join your family for dinner. After that evening, Carrie began to show up even outside of market days just to spend time with you. A few months later, she finally revealed her true identity to you.

You were quite frankly mortified to learn that the girl you’d been spending so much time with (she’d sat at your family’s measly dinner table multiple times!) was, in fact, a princess, and not just any princess but Princess Caroline Wilson, the heir to your kingdom’s throne. She was a princess and you’d nearly scorned her when you first met and even worse, you’d teased and scolded her many times since.

Still, with time and much insistence from Carrie, you were able to move past her royal status and authority. With you, she was merely Carrie and that was how she liked it.

You huffed as you shoved Carrie off you, glowering at your best friend as she laid by your side

“Carrie! You can’t startle me like that!” You scolded, although there was no harshness or authority behind it.

“Sorry,” she giggled, “I just feel like I’ve been searching for you for hours, I couldn’t just let you slip away!”

You felt your cheeks heat up at her words and you ducked your head bashfully.

“Well, you found me,” you replied, intending the words to be bright and teasing but instead they came out shy and borderline breathless.

“And thank goodness for that!” If she thought anything of your tone she didn’t show it, responding just as chipper as before. “C’mon, I passed a booth of sparkly things when I was looking for you that I want to check out!”

You laughed at that, accepting Carrie’s outstretched hand as you moved to stand.

The crowds grumbled as they parted to go around you and you suddenly remembered where you were. You held onto Carrie’s hand, fighting off the blush that threatened to return to your face at the contact, and pulled her off to the side of the street.

“Oh, I saw your mom too!” Carrie spoke again, “She gave me a list of things she forgot to tell you to pick up.”

You bit your lip to suppress the laughter that bubbled in your chest at how appalled your mom would be if she had known she sent the princess to run an errand for her.

“Alright well we better get a move on then if you want time to look at shiny things,” you teased as you looked down at the list Carrie had handed you.

That was all the prompting she needed before taking off down the street, pulling you along by hand that was still entwined with hers.

You weren’t surprised when you and Carrie finished your shopping in record time. Carrie was nothing if not driven (a trait you knew would make her a good queen someday), especially when there was something she wanted on the line. You also weren’t surprised when, after you had purchased the last thing on your mom’s list, Carrie promptly pulled you through the crowds to the local jeweler’s stand.

“Good afternoon young ladies,” the jeweler greeted when you approached. “I haven’t seen the two of you in a few weeks now!”

“It has been quite some time, hasn’t it?” You mused while Carrie took in the array of metals and jewels.

You rarely stopped by his stall without Carrie as it was uncommon for you to have much spending money of your own and you didn’t have much use for jewelry in your lifestyle, your mom only had a few pieces herself, all gifts from your father. Carrie, however, was the exact opposite. She had more spending money than she knew what to do with and she certainly had plenty of occasions to wear all sorts of fine accessories so she always made a point of stopping when there was time. You found it peculiar when you really stopped to think about it. She was royalty, she had access to a whole kingdom of jewelry yet she always insisted on shopping in your little village. Your local jeweler was quite talented though, you supposed.

“Oh Y/N look at this one!” Carrie gasped, pointing out a necklace of gold adorned in some sort of pink gem that you didn’t know the name of.

“It’s certainly your style,” you mused with a soft smile.

As usual, when you visited the jeweler’s stand, you weren’t looking at the merchandise as much as you were watching Carrie, basking in the warm glow of her excited smile.

“You’re absolutely right, it must be a sign,” Carrie responded, indicating to the jeweler that she intended to purchase it before she continued to peruse the stand.

“Oh this is quite lovely,” she said softly, and you were startled slightly by her tone. Normally Carrie was quite loud and confident when it came to jewelry but now she spoke quietly and you were shocked to detect some insecurities in her voice and her facial expression.

When you looked down at the piece she was referring to, you found yourself even more confused. The necklace was much simpler than Carrie normally went for, a silver chain rather than Carrie’s signature gold with a simple star hanging from the center. With a jolt, you realized it was much more suited to your own simple style and your heart began to race as you noticed Carrie was now looking expectantly at you.

“Wh-why’re you looking at me like that Care?”

“Do you like it?” She answered with a question of her own and you frowned slightly, trying to figure out her game.

“It’s very pretty.” It really was. Although it was simple, the craftsmanship was still obvious in the delicate chain and perfectly shaped pendant. “But it’s not at all your style!” you laughed, trying to mask your confusion.

“Well, no, obviously not,” she agreed and you furrowed your brows. “But I thought it would be perfect for you.”

“Oh.”

“Would you wear it?”

“Care I don’t have enough allowance-”

“Y/N, would you wear it?” She asked, voice much firmer now, all trace of insecurity gone as she stared you down.

You opened your mouth but found you couldn’t force out any sound so you nodded meekly instead. Carrie turned back to the jeweler, you assumed to make her purchases but you heard none of it, too consumed in your own thoughts of your mother’s single necklace, a gift from your father back when they were dating. You knew Carrie didn’t intend the gift in that manner but you could stop your heart from racing regardless.

Purchases in hand, Carrie quickly pulled you off to the side, holding the necklace she had just purchased for you.

“May I?” She asked, that shy nervousness from earlier returning.

You nodded, not trusting yourself to speak as you spun around so she was behind you. With your permission, Carrie gently brushed aside your hair before draping the silver chain around your neck and fastening it.

“There,” she whispered when she had finished and you turned back to face her, head ducked down to hide your face which you were certain had caught fire with how hot they were burning.

Wordlessly Carrie reached forward, fingers slipping under your chin as she tilted your chin upwards to face her. You gulped nervously as you met her gaze, finding the open softness that you’d come to associate with the Princess when the two of you were alone.

“It looks lovely,” Carrie spoke, voice louder and more sure this time and you blinked, snapped out of whatever lovestruck trance you’d been in.

However, you were certain your cheeks grew hotter at the compliment and you found yourself instinctively reaching upwards to grasp the necklace, holding the delicate star between your fingers. It was something you knew you’d be doing often now whenever you wore it.

___

Hours later, after a filling dinner and the sun had set, you found yourself laying on the roof of your home side-by-side with Carrie. The two of you often did this, whenever Carrie was able to sneak away from the castle for this long.

The first time she’d stayed into the night you’d dragged her up to the roof to stare at the sky. It was a favorite pastime of yours, looking up at the stars although you knew nothing about them. Not long into your first evening of stargazing Carrie had begun to point out some of the constellations and you had begged her to teach you everything you knew. Your mother had never taught you astronomy in your lessons but the same couldn’t be said of the various tutors who oversaw Carrie’s education at the castle.

“Orion The Hunter,” Carrie pointed to the constellation depicting a man holding a bow and arrow. “He was my great great great great grandfather,” she explained, ticking off the ‘greats’ on her fingers.

You hummed in response, listening intently as Carrie pointed out another constellation, this one named after some distant uncle of hers who’d been an impressive general in his time.

“They’ll name a constellation after you one day,” you finally spoke a couple of explanations later.

Your eyes never left the sky, seeking out the collection of stars that would one day tell the story of the princess beside you though you could see her movement out of the corner of your eye. She sat up slightly at your words, propping herself up just enough to peer over at your face as if judging your sincerity.

“You really think so?” She whispered after a moment, apparently unable to find the answer in your facial expression.

It always surprised you, how vulnerable she let herself become when the two of you were alone. It was the polar opposite of her public facade, even when in disguise. Everywhere else she was the epitome of confidence and grace, the picture of a perfect princess and one day queen, but with you she could just be Carrie. You were beyond grateful that she chose to share this side of herself with you, of all people, though you wouldn’t dare to let yourself speculate as to why.

“Gods yeah, Care,” you whispered back, the soft hush of your voice clashing with the strong conviction in your tone. “You’re going to do such amazing things.”

You half expected her to argue like she sometimes did when she was particularly worried or self-doubting but she didn’t. Instead, the two of you lapsed into a comfortable silence, both of your eyes trained on the stars.

“Sometimes I think the stars are the only thing that make sense,” Carrie sighed eventually, the words so quiet you nearly missed them.

It was a loaded statement, one you couldn’t possibly begin to interpret on your own so you asked her.

Rather than respond right away, Carrie sat up fully, drawing her knees up to her chest.

“What if we ran away together?” She blurted suddenly, catching you off guard. When you turned to look at her she had a wild look in her eyes, mind reeling as she formulated a plan in the moment. “No royal responsibilities, no titles. Just you and me, striking out on our own? We could do it, you know. With your talents? You could be the breadwinner and I’d stay home and keep house and-“

You let out a shocked laugh before you could stop yourself. You pushed yourself up into a sitting position as well, mirroring her own.

“Carrie you have a duty,” you countered gently, covering her hand with your own as you tried to push aside the part of you that ached to do exactly what she had suggested. “To your kingdom, to your people. To me.”

Carrie slumped into herself, the manic look leaving her eyes as she rested her chin on her knees.

“I know, it’s just...” she sighed, squeezing her eyes shut.

“What is this about, Care?” You asked quietly, sensing an inner turmoil within your closest friend.

“I’m engaged to be married,” she confessed and you couldn’t help but feel as though your breath had been knocked out of you.

You scolded yourself for it and for the sudden ache in your chest. You knew you could never be with her the way you wanted, it was foolish of you to ever think otherwise. She was a princess, someday she’d be a queen and you were just Y/N.

“Some prince from the Kingdom of Albuquerque,” she explained further, and you winced at the gendered term, knowing full well that Carrie had no interest in princes or any other man for that matter. “I know I have a duty, and I’ll do it I just... I cannot do it happily.” She sighed.

Your heart ached for a new reason as you watched Carrie, her face buried into her arms. You could practically see the weight of her royal responsibilities pressing down on her and you desperately wished you could help shoulder some of that weight. However, she was the princess and you were just Y/N.

___

Part 2

[ultraglittercat]

Drabble 141

Movie Night (AU)

Rapunzel and Eugene were getting their house ready for an evening with friends. They'd picked out a movie called “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”, a nice family comedy. She knew family togetherness was important to all of her friends, and she wanted something low-key that wouldn't upset Varian, who was still adjusting to 'life on the outside'.

Varian and Quirin had been in a horrific car accident the previous year, and Quirin had been in a coma for months. She knew Varian's past year had been difficult, feeling alone and abandoned, he'd resorted to breaking and entering her father's home, angry at the Mayor of Corona for his poor road conditions. Fred had pressed charges despite Varian's young age, and the poor boy had been sent to juvie. It had taken ages for Rapunzel to convince them to release Varian under supervision and some people, like his parole officer Cassandra, still didn't quite trust him.

Cassandra was a very strict, by-the-book law officer, but as one of her closest friends, Rapunzel had seen the kindness hidden in Cassandra on a few occasions. She hoped Cass would enjoy their evening. She'd just gotten a text from Cass saying she was on her way and that Varian better be on his best behavior.

There was a knock at the door, and Eugene raced to get it while Rapunzel straightened some pillows on the sofa.

“Lance, buddy! Good to see you.” Eugene and Lance did an elaborate handshake that made Lance's daughters groan.

“Hey, this handshake was considered very cool when we were kids.” Lance insisted.

“Yeah, but that was like 50 years ago.” Kiera joked. Catalina giggled.

“It was not that long ago!” Lance protested.

“Hi girls. We're not going to start the movie until everyone's here, but I left paper and art supplies on the table.” Rapunzel offered. The girls took off like a rocket towards the crafts table. Lance smiled. By the end of the night he'd have more drawings to pin to the fridge.

“Are we the first guests to arrive?” asked Lance.

Rapunzel nodded. “Yes, but Cass is on her way, and so are Varian and his father, Quirin. We're going to have a lot of fun. Eugene chose a really good movie.” Rapunzel smiled.

“Remember when we were kids and we used to sneak into movie theaters?” Lance recalled. Catalina and Kiera poked their heads up, wanting to hear more about their Dad's 'criminal' past. But Eugene elbowed him and he quickly backtracked. “But we were wrong, of course! It's much better to pay for movies.” Lance corrected. He was saved from further embarrassment by the next arrivals: Varian and Quirin, carrying a large plate of food.

“Hey guys. Um, Dad and me made nachos for the party.” Varian grinned nervously. He was still getting used to the idea that they were all friends and had forgiven him. If he didn't have Quirin with him, he probably wouldn't have even showed up, but everyone was glad to have him there.

“Thank you, that's sweet. The girls are already making art and you can join them if you want. I hear you draw a fantastic Iron Man.” Rapunzel prompted.

Varian blushed. “I just like drawing armor and robots.” he mumbled as he took a seat next to Kiera and Catalina.

“He does very well in art, math, and science. You know Varian took an aptitude test and qualified for college classes. I think it's a better fit for him than high school, the students are a little more mature and don't pick on him so much.” Quirin told Rapunzel.

“Is college really better than high school?” Catalina wondered.

“It's a lot bigger, and you have more choices of what you can do. I like the chemistry lab and math department.” Varian answered.

“You would like all that nerdy stuff.” Kiera teased, but she was secretly glad Varian was enjoying school again.

The kids busied themselves for half an hour with art, while the grown-ups talked. They collaborated on a big drawing- a TIE fighter vs a mermaid and some monkeys- when Cassandra finally showed up.

“Hi guys. Sorry I'm late, I got held up in traffic.” Cassandra apologized. Cass was still wearing her police uniform, even though she was off-duty. Varian stopped drawing and stared at her, eyes wide. “Hey, kid. You keeping out of trouble?” Cassandra wanted to know. Varian nodded hesitantly.

“He's been doing great, helping fix the pipes in the Old Corona Housing Projects.” Quirin was quick to praise his son.

Cassandra's expression softened, just a little. Only Rapunzel noticed. “That's good. Just make sure you keep track of how many hours he works, and whatever else he does between classes.” Cassandra told Quirin.

“I'll do that.” Quirin agreed.

Rapunzel saw how Varian tensed up, and wanted to shift to a more neutral topic. “Now that we're all here, we can watch our movie. We'll let the kids have the sofa, while the adults can sit in chairs.” Rapunzel said.

“Yay, movie time!” cheered Kiera and Catalina, who left in such a hurry their drawing fell to the floor. Varian picked it up and handed it to Lance before taking a seat next to the girls.

“What movie are we seeing?” Cassandra asked.

“Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.” Eugene replied.

“Oh, I love that. With the big fat guy who breaks stuff and is obnoxious! Can you imagine knowing somebody like that?” Lance said, reaching for the nacho chips and double-dipping them in cheese sauce.

“I think I can imagine it.” Cassandra said dryly.

“He's not the only character in the movie, you know. There's also the really uptight entitled guy who rudely judges people.” Eugene gave Cassandra a pointed look.

“C'mon guys. Set a good example for the kids. We're about to start the movie, so no arguing.” Rapunzel laid down the law. She pressed play on the remote, while Eugene dimmed the lights. Soon everyone was laughing at the antics of Steve Martin and John Candy. There were a few highlights: Steve's f-bomb riddled speech got gasps from the girls who were never allowed to talk like that, and the pillow scene at the motel made everyone chuckle. But what really appealed to everybody was when Steve finally got home and invited the homeless John Candy to join his family for Thanksgiving dinner. The credits rolled, and Rapunzel turned off the TV.

“That was really good.” Catalina approved.

“Yeah, I never thought they'd be friends.” Kiera added.

“It's got a good message about welcoming people into your life.” Lance smiled. He'd grown up lonely in the orphanage, with only Eugene as a friend, and he was so glad to have adopted the girls, giving them the sort of loving family he'd dreamed of as a kid.

“Thanks for coming to movie night. Will we see you guys for Thanksgiving?” Rapunzel asked.

“You couldn't keep us away!” Lance laughed.

“Um... are we invited, too?” Varian asked nervously.

“Of course, Varian. We're all friends here.” Rapunzel told him.

Varian thought about it. Like the movie characters, he hadn't always had a perfect friendship with Rapunzel, he'd yelled at her for things that weren't really her fault and done desperate, illegal things to try and save his father, just as Steve had tried everything to get home on time. He could really relate to the movie, which in hindsight was probably why they had chosen it.

“Yeah, we're friends.” Varian said softly. Quirin put his hand on Varian's shoulder, and Varian smiled, a bigger smile than he'd had all evening.

The End

I've never done a modern setting for Tangled before, it was fun. I miss going to movie theaters, but a movie night at home is just as good, particularly if you have friends over.

[aedelia]

A Hero in the Making

Also cross posted with FF.net and AO3

All Tucker wanted was to play on the slide.  Some bullies interfere and he ends up gaining something much better than just a trip down a slide.

A Hero in the Making

                 Tucker was grinning as he raced around the playground. He had helped his mom make cookies and she let him lick the spoon and the beaters.  It tasted amazing as always and then she had shooed him out the door to play while they baked.  There were only a few weeks left of the summer before third grade and the weather was perfect! It was nice and warm outside, birds were singing and kids were laughing while they played.  He ran past a bench where a red haired girl with headphones had her nose in a book and a sandbox where the little kids were digging for treasure.  

His eyes lit up when he spotted that the big slide was empty.  He clambered up the rope ramp and bounced in excitement at the entrance to the tunnel.  He had just put his hands on the top to go in when he felt someone grab his shirt from behind and yank him back.  He stumbled as he was pulled and tried to keep his feet under him while being dragged backwards to the edge of the platform.

A tall blond boy with green eyes gave him a mean smile and said, “Kids with glasses aren’t allowed to slide.”

Tucker shook his head at him twisting his neck to try to see the other boy, “Yes I am!  I’ve gone on this slide before!”

Tucker was flailing around and trying to get the bigger kid to lose his grip on his shirt.  The blond boy smirked as he yanked Tucker back again and swung him around.  He then shoved Tucker down the ramp. He was bouncing and tumbling as he rolled over the knots to the ground.

“Hey Frankie, this kid thinks he’s allowed to slide on our slide!”

Another blond boy who looked like the big kid snatched Tucker’s glasses off the ground from where they had fallen.  He peered through the lenses; his eyes magnified as he held them up to his face.

“Wow Russ, his eyes are really bad.  I can’t see anything!”  He looked around the playground with his dirty hands half covering the glass and smudging the lens as he twisted and bent the frames.

“Hey give them back!” Tucker shouted, shedding wood chips as he scrambled to his feet and lunged at the thief.

The other boy laughed and held the glasses up high above Tucker’s head where he couldn’t reach them. There was a thud as Russ jumped back down to the ground.  

“You’re just a little kid, you’re not even big enough to get your glasses back!” He taunted, shoving Tucker.

“A blind little kid!” Echoed the other blond as he pushed Tucker back into Russ’s grip.

Russ grabbed Tucker’s ball cap off his head and threw it behind him, “My big brother is on the Casper football team and you’re not cool enough to wear a Ravens hat!”

Tucker��s hair had sprung into a fluffy cloud without his hat and Russ squashed his hand into it, smacking Tucker on the head in the process.

“Wow!  Look how girly his hair is!”  

He shoved Tucker back to his friend.

“It’s so gross and poofy!” Frankie exclaimed, shoving Tucker again.

“Stop it!”  Tucker cried as he was violently shoved back and forth between the other boys.  His vision became more blurry as his eyes started to tear up.  New insults assaulted him with each push.

“So girly like a princess!”

“Aw look he’s crying now!”

“Little girly crybaby!”

“No one is going to save the crying princess!”

“Princess Poofyhead!”

“Cotton Candy Head!”

Frankie pointed Tucker’s glasses at him and said, “More like Cotton Head.” He said slyly, “You should go find some cotton and pick it like-” his next words were cut off as a red and white blur flew into him and tackled him to the ground.

“You’re just a mean bully!” A voice shouted from the figure kneeling on the downed bully.  

Russ shoved Tucker one more time, knocking him to the ground as he rounded on the shorter boy that had interrupted his fun.

“Hey kid, we’re just showing this crybaby who’s allowed and not allowed on the playground.  It wasn’t very nice of you to knock down my cousin.”

The boy swiped the glasses from the stunned blond he had knocked down and leaped in between Tucker and the bigger bully.  Now that he was closer, Tucker could see he had curly black hair, a red and white shirt, shorts, and red shoes.

“It wasn’t very nice of you to be a bully and be mean!” he shouted.

“Hey hey, we’re not bullies! We were just...enforcing order on the playground.”  Russ, hands stretched out in placation.

“You’re lying!” The black haired boy hissed through clenched teeth, “The rules are to be kind to each other!”  He clenched the hand holding the glasses and roughly pointed his other at the bully. “Stealing is wrong!  Pushing around kids that are smaller than you is wrong! Calling people mean names is wrong!” His volume increased until he was shouting.

The second bully slowly got to his feet.  He rubbed his backside and then brushed off the playground dirt and wood chips that were clinging to his shirt and shorts.  “We were just having some fun.” He muttered.

The smaller black haired boy heard him and quickly changed targets, “It’s not fun if it hurts someone else!  If you don’t leave us alone and go away…” he paused, face scrunched as he thought of a good threat, “I’ll yell for my mommy and daddy and tell everyone that you were hitting and calling names.”

Russ stood still for a moment thinking before he grimaced slightly, “Hey Frankie, let’s go.  Slides are stupid anyways.  Let’s let the babies play with the stupid baby toys.” He turned and tugged his cousin along when it looked like he was going to argue.

“Why are you listening to him?  He’s just a whiny little kid, the only reason he knocked me down was he got me by surprise.” Frankie complained.

Russ leaned towards him and loudly whispered, “Cause we don’t want the Freaky Fentons coming over here. Let the weirdoes play, we have better things we can do.”  

Frankie faced the smaller boys as he was led away and called, “Keep your weirdness to yourselves freaks!”

Tucker’s rescuer waited until the tormenters were far enough away before crouching down level with him. “Hi!  I’m Danny!” He said with a friendly grin.  

“My name’s Tucker.” he responded, using his sleeve to wipe away his tears.

Danny offered his hand and helped pull Tucker to his feet.  He frowned as he passed the glasses back to their owner, “I’m sorry they messed up your glasses.  I ran as fast as I could but I was on the monkey bars when I saw what happened.”

Tucker shook his head still letting out little sniffles, “Thank you for helping me, they were really mean and said some really bad things.”

Danny had a thoughtful look as he picked up the hat and handed it to Tucker.  “Do you want me to tell the grownups?”

Tucker shook his head again as he put the crooked glasses on his face, “No then they’ll just be mad and come after me again.  They’re not worth it.”  He blinked as he adjusted to being able to see again, Danny’s eyes were very blue.

Danny shrugged, “If you’re sure.”  He offered Tucker his hand again.  “Come meet my big sister!  Jazzy is really smart, she skipped the fifth grade and is starting middle school this year.”

Tucker hesitantly took Danny’s hand and asked, “Why are we going to your sister?”

Danny grinned at him, “Cause we’re friends now right?  Jazzy will want to meet my new friend and know who you are!”

Tucker felt hope in his chest like a little bird stretching its wings for the first time.  He shyly returned the smile, “Yeah I’d love to be friends.”  

Danny’s grip was gentle as he led Tucker to the park bench, chattering the whole way. “And I have these really cool model rocket ships that my mommy and daddy got me, they glow in the dark!  And I have glow in the dark stickers on my ceiling too!  Daddy had to help me put them on, he’s really tall!  We had to do them over a lot until they matched the real constellations.  My mommy makes cookies every week and they’re really good!  We have ghost sprinkles that we can put on them.”

“My mom makes cookies too, I helped her make some today.” Tucker said.

“Helping make cookies is so much fun! Did your mommy let you lick the spoon?” Danny asked.

“Yeah!  She let me lick the spoon and the beaters from the mixer too!  It was so good!” Tucker answered.

“Ohhh that’s the best!”

They came to a stop next to the bench that Tucker had run past earlier.  The red-haired girl was still reading her book.  It didn’t have many pictures and Tucker could see a lot of big words.  He recognized ‘mitochondria’ and ‘nucleus’ but didn’t know what ‘vacuole’ or ‘cytoplasm’ meant.

Danny reached out with his free hand and put it right over the pages, “Jazzy!” he sang while wiggling his fingers.

“Danny!  I was reading that!”  The girl slid her headphones down around her neck as she finally looked up. Mozart continued to play as she and Tucker stared at each other for a moment.

Danny looked back and forth between them with a sunny smile on his face, “Jazzy!  This is my new friend Tucker.  Some bullies were being mean to him but I stopped them.” He said proudly.

She held her hand out to Tucker, “It’s nice to meet you, my name is Jasmine Fenton, but you can call me Jazz.”

Tucker gave her his best firm handshake and replied, “My name is Tucker Foley and I just turned 8 last month.”

Now that the introductions were through, Danny pressed forward and asked, “Jazzy can Tucker come over to our house to play?”

His sister frowned at him, “Danny you can’t just invite him without checking with his parents first. He can come over to our house if he gets permission first.”  

Danny turned to Tucker with hope shining brightly in his eyes.  Tucker rubbed the back of his neck as he considered what to do, Danny was even better at the puppy eyes than him.  “We can go ask my mom if it’s ok, she can fix my glasses up too.”  He grinned at the other boy, “She’ll be really glad to meet my friend and the cookies might be done now too!”

Once he had agreed Danny began bouncing in place and tugging on his sister’s hand.  “Come on Jazzy, you have to come too!”  As she packed her book and music away, he turned expectantly to Tucker, “Where do you live?” he asked.

Tucker pointed and said, “The second street over from the park on that side.  I live in the yellow house.” He grinned as Danny took his free hand and started swinging their arms as they walked, Jazz trailing a few steps behind them.

It only took a few minutes for them to arrive at the door to the Foley house.  Tucker shoved the door open, kicking off his shoes while yelling, “Mom!  I made a new friend!”  He turned to the Fenton siblings and pointed to the mat by the front door.  “You can put your shoes here and then you can come into the kitchen and meet my mom.”

Once all the footwear had been dropped onto the mat, he led them down the hall and into the kitchen.

“Wow, your cookies smell really good!” Danny exclaimed as they came into the room.  

“Why thank you, young man.” Angela Foley said as she used an oven mitt and a spatula to slide the cookies from the baking sheet to the cooling rack.  Once all of the cookies had been moved she looked up at the children hovering by the hallway.  “Oh my! Tucker, what happened?  You’re covered in dirt and your glasses!”

Tucker sniffed as he showed the bent frames to his mother, “There were some mean big kids at the playground and they messed up my glasses and tried to take my hat too.  Danny made them stop.”

“And this is Danny?” she asked, looking at the other boy.

Danny nodded while scuffing his foot as the attention shifted to him, “They were being really mean and pushing him and saying mean names.” he explained.

“And who’s this?” she asked while looking at the third child in the room.

“My name is Jasmine Fenton, I’m Danny’s older sister and I didn’t see the bullies.” Jazz answered while hovering behind her younger brother.

Mrs. Foley knelt down in front of Danny to meet his eye level and sincerely said, “Thank you Danny for helping Tucker when the bullies were being mean to him.  It means a lot to me that he has a friend who will stand up for him if someone is being a bully.”

Danny nodded and then surprised himself with a big sniff as tears started to come down.  He scrunched up his face in confusion as he continued to sniffle.

Jazz moved around to face him while asking, “Danny, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Danny shook his head, “No! I don’t know why I can’t stop.” He said, offended that the tears wouldn’t stop.

Tucker tugged on his mom’s sleeve, “Mom, why would you cry is you aren’t hurt or sad?” he asked.

The other children waited expectantly for the answer.

Angela smiled and said, “Well sometimes if you’re trying very hard to be brave and strong when you’re feeling scared you can get through without crying, but when you get somewhere safe then the scared or sad feelings will still need to come out.  It’s ok to cry if you need to, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

She got off the floor and dampened a nearby towel.  She then used it to wipe Danny’s face of tears and dirt.  Once she had cleaned his face, she rinsed the towel and repeated the action with Tucker.  Jazz watched her with something close to awe in her eyes, “How did you know that?” she asked.

Angela chuckled and answered her, “That’s called psychology dear.  It’s the study of how the mind works and is very useful for understanding why people act in certain ways.”

Jazz nodded thoughtfully while watching Danny and quietly muttered, “Psychology sounds very useful and helpful.”

“There, that’s a lot better now.” Mrs. Foley said once both boys were cleaned and calm.  She gestured to the kitchen table and said, “Why don’t you three have a seat and help yourself to some cookies while I fix Tucker’s glasses.”  After plating the sufficiently cooled cookies, she ruffled Danny’s hair and held out her hand for the damaged glasses.  Tucker handed them over and then slid into the chair next to Danny, “Mom, after my glasses are fixed may I go over to play with Danny?”

His mother hummed thoughtfully as she ran water over the glasses to remove the dirt and smudges. She glanced at the table and had to hide her grin at the pleading looks the boys had.  “Of course you may.  As long as you come back before dark and follow any rules the Fentons have in their home.  You can give their parents our phone number when you get there.”  She carefully didn’t react to the happy exclamations from the boys and gently bent the metal frames back into the correct position. Once she was satisfied with the shape, she used a clean cloth to wipe the lens and passed them back to Tucker.

Once his glasses were back in place, Tucker shoved the last third of his cookie into his mouth and chewed furiously.  A moment later he thanked his mother and slid out of his seat.  He shifted on his feet while he waited for Danny and Jazz to finish their cookies as well.  Once they had all finished and Mrs. Foley had dropped some baggies with more cookies into their hands, they were out the door again.

Angela hummed cheerfully as she started cleaning her baking dishes.  She had almost finished scrubbing her baking pan when her husband returned from work and entered the kitchen.

“Hello Honey.” He said as he pecked her on the cheek.  “Where’s Tucker?” he asked as he swiped one of the warm cookies from the plate on the table.

“Tucker made some friends at the playground today.  Some bullies were harassing him and another boy stepped in and scared them off.” His wife answered while finishing the dishes.

“That’s wonderful!” He absently replied before taking a bite of the pilfered treat.

“Yes, the Fenton children are very sweet and were very polite when they came here to ask if Tucker could come over to play.” She said while placing the last dish on the drying rack.

Maurice choked on his cookie; “Did you say Fenton?” he gasped out, crumbs flying.

Angela dropped the towel she was using to dry her hands and hurried over to pound on his back.  “Yes, the Fentons.” she repeated, “Danny is around Tucker’s age and Jasmine is his older sister.”

“That’s great Honey.” Maurice wheezed, thinking back to his junior year of college and the party where he poured a whole bowl of punch over some huge freshman with the name Fenton. ‘That was years ago and hundreds of miles away from here.  Surely it can’t be the same Fenton?’

[btsxmalereaders]

Love is nothing stronger

Male reader x Kim Namjoon.

In which you're kind of jealous of the relationship that Namjoon and Halsey have.

Genre: fluff ❄️

Word Count: 3k

No warnings apply.

You're totally fine. For real. Just tired after a long day at uni. It had been a nightmare; you are on exams period and have a few projects that its deadline is really soon, so you probably will not have free time for a long time. When you arrive home, Namjoon isn't there yet, so you decide to take a shower and then start to prepare the dinner. 

You think about all the homework you have to do and the fact that maybe you'll have to decline Joon's offer about you being on set for BTS' new music video. You really wanted to be there to show your support and love for them, but perhaps that won't happen this time. 

As you prepare the dinner, you hear the front door being opened and RapMon barking at Joon. An smile appears on your face without even noticing it. Namjoon puts his coat on the coat rack and takes off his shoes. 

“I'm home, (Y/N)” 

“Here.” you responded, still smiling, focusing on not burning up the meat. Namjoon gets closer, putting his arms around your waist and kissing your head. “How are you? Was your day nice?”

“It was, actually. We have everything ready for tomorrow! It'll be so great, I'm anxious already.” He answers, still embracing you, resting his chin on your shoulder. “Now how was your day?” 

You sigh for the twentieth time on the day. “Not so good. Still have lots of things to do this weekend.” 

“Oh? You should rest tonight, don't even dare to open up your books.” 

“But, Joonie, I have to—”

“Give yourself a little break, 'kay?” This time he kisses your neck. “Come tomorrow with me, it'll be fun! The guys miss you. They ask about you all the time.” 

You turn around to face him and give him a warm smile. He smiles back, of course, showing his dimples and trying to convince you with his sparkling eyes. “Dunno. How many days will the shooting last?” 

“Three days, if everything goes according to the plan”

“Mmh, perhaps the second day I'll join you guys.”

“If that's fine to you, then it's fine to me.” He assured. “You should let me finish this. Go get some sleep”

“You probably are tired too. Don't baby me, I can do this!”

“But, (Y/N)! I wanna help you too. Last night you prepared the dinner as well.”

“Why don't you set the table and help me with the sauce?” 

Namjoon pouts but agrees. The night is a bit cold but relaxing. You both spend it sat on the sofa, drinking cold water (because Namjoon shouldn't drink alcohol before filmings) and enjoying the meat you prepared. As that episode of friends is finished, you both stand up to clean and head to your room.

“Are you sure you don't wanna come tomorrow?” Namjoon asks, picking some comfortable clothes and a Koya's towel. 

“Already told you. I wanna be there but I have to finish my projects. Probably I'll finish tomorrow, and then I am all yours.” you wink and put yourself comfortable between sheets. You already have the pajama Namjoon gave you as a birthday present last year, it was Koya pajamas, of course. He had a pair for himself to match. The boys found that cute, and teased Namjoon for a long time.

“Sounds like a plan” He smirks and heads to the bathroom to take a short shower before sleep. Meanwhile, you set the alarm on your phone and send a few text messages to your teammates. After that, you scroll down on your twitter timeline. You have a a lot of followers since everyone thinks you're Namjoon's best friend. Well, they're not wrong after all, but they are still not getting it, yet.

It was something crazy to think about, really. No one suspected about you two even though you were together for years; according to numerous fans, you were just friends since childhood, and mostly because that's what the company has said in a press conference. Namjoon really wanted to show you off but they decided that it was not the best time to make it public. You both have been waiting but, still, you are happy like this. 

You post a selca with the caption "sleepy". The pic is cute, and it shows the pajamas you're wearing. Army may find that adorable, and perhaps they'll finally reunite the pieces of the puzzle. 

You get some mentions telling you how handsome you are and some others asking you to tell Namjoon they love him. You smile at that. A few minutes later, you can't help but search "(y/n) namjoon" cause it drives you insane. Some fans have posted an update of you wearing koya's pajamas, and some others are just freaking out because you both are such a "supportive best friends". 

Namjoon enters the room, his hair wet and wearing his matching pajamas. He looks so soft and cute that you just wanna cuddle with him forever. 

“Do I have something on my face?” He laughs and looks for the hair dryer. 

“Shut up” You say, making some space on bed for him, “come with me. I wanna cuddle tonight.”

“You always wanna cuddle.” Namjoon laughs and connects the dryer. “Hold on, love. I'll be back with you in a few minutes”

You stare at the ceiling, breathing deeply, still worrying about tomorrow's duties. You hear the dryer and Namjoon humming «boy with luv ». When he finishes, he puts the dryer on its place and joins you in bed, covering up with the sheets. 

You take your phone to take a selca. You both look so cozy wearing matching pajamas, warm and safe. You took another one of Namjoon kissing your temple and another one making silly faces. Of course you are going to keep those for yourself. 

“Let's sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be rough for us” He says, sleepy, pulling his arms around you. You rest your head on his chest and hum in response, kissing his lips shortly.

“Night, Joonie.”

“Goodnight, (y/n)”

•••

The next morning, when you wake up by your alarm, Namjoon is not there. You feel a bit sad but when you see the little note on the nightstand, your heart rushes and you smile wide. 

«I couldn't wake you up, you looked so tired and yet so beautiful.  I hope you have a great day, don't stress yourself, you got this!  Call me if you need it. Fighting!!!   Love you»

You stand up, stretching your body to release the accumulated tension from the night. Don't feel like changing your clothes cause you are comfortable like that and you have no plans to go outside. You wash your face and teeth before walking down and start to do homework.

Monie barks when he sees you and you immediately go to pet him. You make sure he has enough food and water before opening the backyard door for him to go outside and play. You are hungry but honestly, you are way to lazy to make some breakfast. When you take your backpack, a sticky note falls to the floor, and you pick it up a bit confused, «please have a breakfast. There are some fruits on the refrigerator, yogurt and granola. Don't start your day without the most important meal!! xx»

Sometimes it scares you when you think about how good Joon knows you. Like the palm of his hand. You smile and roll your eyes, and even though you still don't wanna have breakfast, you can already hear Namjoon scolding you for it, so you decide to take the things he said and mix it on a bowl. 

As you take your notebooks and textbooks, you receive a Skype message request. Your heart races, thinking is Namjoon, but your smile fades when you see is your teammates asking you to join the video call. You sit down, putting the spoon on the salad of fruits and accept the call. 

“Hi, good morning (y/n)! How are you today?” WheeIn greets you with a smile. She looks so fresh and suddenly you are conscious about your eye bags, feeling a bit ashamed. The rest is just staring at you, smiling too.

“Morning, fellas” You answer, trying to not sound so throaty. “I've been better, to be honest.”

Everyone laughs at that, but after a few minutes of joking around, everyone starts to work on the project. It's tiring, but important for your final grades. Every single one of you try your best to make a great job, and in orders to not make things boring, you all often make jokes and take little breaks.

“Hey (y/n), I just noticed you still on your pajamas" Jackson says, and everyone rolls their eyes, including you. “You look nice, still obsessed with that BTS group?”

“I mean, yes? I just feel comfortable on my pajamas when I'm home, who doesn't, though?”

“Still obsessed with that Namjoon guy?” This time Byul speaks up. 

“A lot. I'm pretty sure I love him more than I loved him yesterday.” You joke and Byul sighs. 

“You know, guys, the level of obsession this man has for Namjoon that he even adopted a dog similar to his pet and named him the same, and not to mention the pajamas of that koala just because he created it” 

OK, it was funny. No one of your friends knew about it for the simple reason that you weren't ready to tell them. It was a bit unfair, and they'll probably kill you for not telling them before, but you still feel so insecure about it. Although, you knew for sure they were going to support you unconditionally.

“Yeah, stop it. I know we're meant to be.” You laugh when everyone just remains in silence, not sure about what you just said.

“If you say so...” Kai mentions, going back to the project. 

•••

The rest of the day passes by really fast, you successfully finished your project and now you just have to finish some summaries and a class that you'll give to your classmates in two weeks. 

You still have no messages from Namjoon, and you want to call him but maybe he's busy. So you decide to start to do the rest of the homework and think about something to eat. You're really concentrated on your lecture when a message pops up on the phone. You take it as fast as you can to see it's a message from Hobi, and for a moment you feel scared but your muscles relaxes when you see it's a video with some emojis of laughing and thumbs ups.

You open it very anxious to see Namjoon and Halsey face to face, with their arms and hands extended to make a funny handshake. You can also notice Jimin and a girl (probably from staff) and Taehyung and Jungkook carrying Yeontan in the back, but then your attention is again on Halsey and your boyfriend. 

They seem to have fun, and it looks like a great time, but suddenly you can't help but feel a bit jealous? It was stupid and nonsense, but you still feel so insecure, constantly over thinking and wondering why'd Namjoon be with you, anyways. It is a constant problem, of you always feeling nothing special, not enough for Namjoon, and he'd always remind you how handsome, intelligent and awesome you are but you still feel worthless.

It was also stupid to be jealous because, even though Namjoon was bisexual, he'd never cheat on you. Just because Halsey is pretty and a good friend of him didn't mean he likes her... Right? But you knew it wasn't only that; it was how jealous you felt two years ago when he told you he met her at the BBMAs, how happy he was about it, making it a big deal (because, let's face it, it was a big deal), and then him talking about her all the time, saying he wanted to collaborate with her in a song, then messaging her everyday; it made you feel so scared and insecure. You felt so bad and tried to hide it but it all ended up in horrible discussions. 

You quickly shake the thought and reply to Hoseok with heart-eyes emojis and some other hearts too. In an impulse, you send Namjoon a message. «Hope you're having fun! Love you.» It obviously didn't sound jealousy, did it?

•••

 An hour later you're done with the summaries. You decide to take a small break and order some food. It's 6 pm and you feel tired, a bit dizzy too, but you don't care at all. You can't stop thinking about that video, and even watch it all over again, feeling saddened by your thoughts and insecurity. Then finally you receive a text message from Namjoon, announcing he'll be home really soon. You sigh and clean the table, putting your backpack on the floor and books inside. 

Your food arrives fast and you thank all gods above for it. When Namjoon opens the door, Monie barks, as expected and enters the house to greet Joonie. You half smile and see Joon so handsome and tall, he seems tired but still gets closer to you with a big smile and kisses your lips softly before sitting in front of you and steal you some sushi. 

“How was your day?” You ask, sleepy, your eyes avoiding Namjoon and concentrating on the food.

“It was amazing, a bit tiring, but so cool. We had so much fun and it was great to see Halsey again” He answers simply, eating as fast as he can. He was really hungry. 

“Good.” You say, fake smiling, and stand up. Before Namjoon could say something else, you speak again. “I'll take a shower, I'm tired too.”

He sees you heading to the second floor but doesn't say anything. You prepare your pajamas (just a green pair, a pair jungkook gave to you since you loved pajamas so much) and a towel. You decide to use the bathtub this time to relax your body and clear your head. 

You were being unfair, yes, but it's hard to think about something else. You didn't want to have the same discussion again, you didn't want to cry, you didn't want Namjoon to worry about it, you just needed to work on your trust issues all by yourself.

When you finish cleaning yourself and putting on your pajamas, you head to the room, where Namjoon is already, packing some clothes for tomorrow. You ignore him and put yourself comfortable in bed, wrapping up in the sheets and breathing heavily. Namjoon puts the suitcase down, and looks at you. 

“What's wrong, jagi?” He asks, a bit worried. You feel like you're going to cry, but hold back the tears and just deny with your head. 

“Nothing, 'm just tired, that's all.” 

“You're lying to me, you're not looking me in the eyes.” 

You roll on your back to face him and pout a bit. “I'm sorry”

“Don't be. Tell me how are you feeling. What happened?”

 You deny with your head again and sit. “It's stupid, really-”

“It is not stupid if it makes you feel like this.” He interrupts you, sitting next to you and putting his hand on your waist to put you closer. You can feel his warmth, his smell of fresh air and lavender. He feels like home. “Trust me, please.” 

“It's just...” You doubt, but his embrace gets tighter to let you know you can rely on him, always. “Hobi sent me a video of you and Halsey, you know... ” 

He doesn't let you go, but hums in response, waiting for you to continue. 

“And, I dunno, just, I kinda got jealous” This time you whisper, ashamed. He did listen and you expected him to laugh and assure you that it was ridiculous, but he didn't do that. 

Instead he holds you tighter and kisses your head. “Ah, (y/n), I understand but, baby, please...” He puts his free hand on your jaw for you to look at him, directly to his sparkling eyes. “Trust me when I say that I only love you.” He bops your nose and you laugh a bit.

“Joonie…”

“Listen to me, please.” He asks, still holding you like his life depends on it. “I know you have trust issues, and we argued a lot for it, but I really want you to be aware of this: You're the love of my life; and I'll tell you this everyday for the rest of our lives, you are the most incredible man I've ever known, you are my best friend, my boyfriend and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Joonie…” You repeat, with tears on your eyes. Your heart beating so fast and your cheeks red. 

“I would be making a huge mistake if I ever leave you, or if I ever hurt you. You are my everything, okay? I don't wanna see you like this again. Please, please, trust me. We can work on this.”

You nod and a couple of tears roll down your cheeks. Namjoon wipes it away with his thumbs and kisses you. 

“Actually, tomorrow you are coming with me, aren't you?" 

“Yes, I did finish my homeworks, so...”

He smiles, taking off his shoes and jeans, just leaving the underwear and the T-shirt on. He climbs into bed, cuddling with you. “The boys asked a lot about you and were wondering when would you see them again. I didn't tell them you would be with us tomorrow cause, you know, didn't want to ruin the surprise”

You laugh. “I miss them too so much. Haven't seen them in a while, though”

“We all were talking about you.” He says, softly. “Halsey asked about you because of that.”

You raise your eyebrow. “What?”

“Yes, jagi. We were on a break, and then Jin-hyung asked about you, so all the boys started to ask me too, making some jokes, and then Halsey just said «who are you talking about?»” He laughs a bit, but continues. “So I say, «oh, (y/n)! He is my boyfriend!» And then I think she kinda got excited about it, cause she couldn't stop asking about us for the rest of the break” 

You blush, feeling completely stupid.

“She asked for how long we've been together, how do you look like, and then I showed her a few pics of us. She found us adorable and said she wants to meet you”

“Oh” You say, dizzy. “Now I feel like a dumbass”

Namjoon laughs at that. “Yeah, but you're my dumbass.”

You punch his shoulder and he just holds you in his arms, resting his head on your chest and breathing heavily. “I love you, baby.”

You smile again, feeling better, feeling determined and loved. “I love you more, Joonie. Thanks for everything.” 

Rules.

[cavendish-dakota-central]

Inspired by:

I got extremely carried away shaping Heinz into a hero and even more determining what circumstanced could possibly require Perry to need saving X)

Also I interpreted this as an Owca Files style mission and wrote it as an all!human au so I hope you like it

Thanks for this idea, it was a lot of fun to write.

-

Out of everyone on Owca's team, Perry was by far the most proactive. He had a certain something within him that demanded he take charge. Not that it was bad, in fact- leadership was his strongest attribute.

He had been slow to warm to his teammates, but now that he understood each of them as individuals, he had become fiercely loyal to them as a team. They often warmly joked that Perry's instinct to protect kept them the safest agents in Owca, even accounting for Heinz's -inator mishaps.

Perry was always the first in and the last out.

Lately, Heinz was working on laying off on the (often explosive) gadgets and learning to trust his OWN instincts- per Owca's request.

At first, it was incredibly difficult for him. Heinz had learned early on in his life that his instincts weren't very good at all. They caused him to act without thinking and his tendency to ramble often got the better of him. People didn't typically like those qualities, and he felt he had worked too hard to mess up his shot with Owca now.

Nevertheless, he had decided to try it. Perry's faith in him made Heinz want to try and to become better.

It was very nearly his worst mistake yet.

The team had run into a warehouse, blind. Perry had raced in ahead of the others to make sure the area was safe to enter.

The team was on the trail of a dangerous villain whom they'd been chasing through the city for the last several days.

This villain they were chasing was someone so dastardly, and who ignored the evil code so blatantly, that even Love Muffin had exiled him. He, in short, enjoyed overriding the minds of other evil scientists and using them as pawns in his twisted game. He worked them to the brink of exhaustion, forcing them to build him powerful weapons. Now that they finally found him, there was no time to waste.

The team of five sneakily lept in through a window in the roof, but the moment their feet hit the floor, the room began to fill with a masking smoke. It was still early evening outside, but the sunlight couldn't reach into the windowless room. In seconds, the agents found themselves unable to see their own feet through the thick mist.

"Perry?! Maggie?!" Heinz called for his teammates. He heard the sharp voice of Maggie calling back 'Here!' and a relieved bit of laughter from Harry, the pair barely visible to his left. Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he quickly recognized Karen's sauve but unconcerned figure just over his right shoulder.

"Alright, that just leaves Perry," he commented, troubled not to have heard from him yet. He tried to push away the uneasy feeling. After all, he was sure Perry was plugging the source of the fog.

He felt his theory had been confirmed as the fog began to clear and he saw the familiar, well-dressed man standing just across the room. His bright teal shirt and brown vest were easy to see through the dissipating clouds.

But there was something amiss about him.

Perry abruptly began walking towards them- but his pace wasn't right. His body was too stiff and the orange shoes Heinz occasionally mocked him for wearing weren't slapping against the ground in the usual way he had grown accustomed to.

"Uh... everyone?" He grabbed the team's attention. Maggie and Harry turned to him and Karen even spared him a glance, "Take a step back. Mmmmm... maybe two."

His gaze stayed fearfully transfixed on Perry.

The agent was closing in. The gentle gleam in his blue-green eye missing, leaving them lackluster.

"Hey, Perry," Heinz chuckled nervously, "how are you! Did you happen to get a haircut or something because I could swear that-"

"His hat!" Maggie suddenly called out.

The band around Perry's hat was a different color- that was the difference Heinz had picked up on. Owca agents had bands around their hats with a unique identification sown into them. Instead of his usual brown-red band, a completely black ribbon was in its place. And the band was most likely the device now taking over Perry's volition.

Karen suddenly snapped to attention, her fists raised and green eyes narrowed.

Heinz tried to mirror her, but he already knew he was at a loss. He didn't have any gadgets left on him, per Perry's recommendation, and he certainly couldn't win at hand to hand combat. Years of experience had proven that much to be true.

"Oh, of all the times to be a good guy. I spend YEARS creating traps and -inators to take this guy down and then the ONE TIME I NEED THEM-" he ended with a defeated sigh. He quickly settled on a different approach,

"Perry, now hold on a minute! We're your friends!"

The other agents faltered as well, exchanging indecisive looks. Not only did none of them want to fight their friend, but none of them wanted to fight Owca's number one agent. Heinz had fought Perry for YEARS before joining Owca and had won roughly once out of hundreds of battles. Even with four of them, those weren't excellent odds. They didn't want to hurt him either.

Their fearful eyes must have ignited something in their team leader because suddenly Perry stopped.

The control seemed to let him go. His bright eyes widened and looked over the four in unprecedented, overwhelming confusion.

"You're going to be okay!" Heinz promised, reaching out with one shaky hand.

For a moment Perry looked relieved, like he had woken up from a terrible dream to find reality untouched. He took a step forwards and then winced, freezing in place immediately. His kind smile twisted into an agonizing grimace. His worn, skilled fingers clamped down on either side of his head and in a single agonizing moment, he collapsed limply onto the cold floor.

"Perry!"

Heinz raced to him, but the sight of a new figure appearing out of the subsiding fog stopped him. The newcomer was tall and elegant looking. He wore a perfectly tailored white suit and held a shining remote in one well-manicured hand.

"He's a strong one, I'll admit," the man's voice hummed in a cold, uncaring tone. He looked down his nose at Perry and turned the dial on his remote.

Perry quickly climbed back to his feet, standing at attention, his eyes once again empty. It felt like a knife through Heinz's chest to have Perry's eyes look right through him.

The ex-evil scientist faltered. The other agents prepared themselves, squaring up for a fight, but Heinz did no such thing. He simply took a determined step forwards.

"Let him go!" Maggie demanded.

"You think he's strong, just wait until we get our hands on you!" Heinz threatened through gritted teeth.

The man only laughed with a lightheartedness that conveyed nothing more than mockery,

"You won't- get a hand on me that is. Not as long as I have him. Consider him my hostage."

"What would he want he want us to do?" Maggie asked Heinz.

The scientist's provoked rage suddenly washed away as his teammates looked to him expectantly. It was true, Heinz knew Perry the best- but he didn't think like him. He didn't have Perry's skill or experience as a good guy. He wasn't naturally sharp-witted or focused. And he certainly didn't have Perry's instinct to know what to do....

All at once, Heinz realized something more. It was true, he had been failing to live up to who Perry believed he could become- but that was okay. He did have instincts, they were just different. His instinct was to adapt, and that took failing before he could succeed.

Heinz might not know what to do when it came to fighting or making a plan, but years of hardship had taught him that he could always find a solution.

What's more, he had something no other agent did. He had a little bit of evil helping him find his direction. And it was because of that evil that he hadn't ENTIRELY listened to Perry's advice. He still had a gadget or two left on him and that was all he needed. He just had to get creative.

Heinz cleared his voice and stepped forwards confidently.

"I have to say, it looks like you've got us. I mean, taking one of our own to use against us?" Heinz gave a falsely wholehearted slow-clap and let it ring through the empty room, "That's just not something just ANYONE can accomplish."

"Th...thank you?" The man in white answered with a baffled head tilt.

Heinz continued, gaining traction, "As an ex-member of Love Muffin I can't AGREE with your methods per se, but as a scientist of my own, I just have to know how you do it before you lock us away or enslave us for your own schemes. And anyways, you must have some triumphant dialogue planned!"

"I... I suppose." The mind-controller replied, "I've been waiting for the right nemesis but I have been dying to explain."

"Explain away!" Heinz insisted energetically. He slowly approached the figure and his army of mind-controlled guards as he spoke. He passed Perry without sparing him a glance.

He continued, trying not to let his voice waver,

"I mean, something to transmit that kind of signal to so many people would need to be incredibly powerful, but you would also need to keep it near you at all times," Heinz prodded.

"Well, I won't go into the details," the evil-doer blushed at another taking an interest in his work, "but it's quite simple really. I keep it all powered through my watch right here!" He held up his wrist. On it, was a massive chunk of metal with numerous controls all over it, "I am able to control the minds of each of my subjects with the simple press of a button!"

"Well it's a shame I won't be able to learn more before the obvious, taking over the tri-state-area and all that fuss," Heinz replied, acting as disappointed as possible by the prospect. Fear was gnawing at his chest but he refused to give in. He couldn't afford to if he wanted this plan to succeed.

He confidently reached out for a handshake and- caught up in the moment- the villain did the same.

Heinz grabbed he man's hand tightly and, with his other, produced a small, handheld -inator out from his pocket.

The -inator didn't have much of a name nor did it function at all like it was supposed to. Heinz hadn't NECESSARILY counted it as a gadget because it wasn't intended for Owca work nor evil. It was, simply, SUPPOSED to recharge the team's communications devices. However, it didn't work yet and instead, one blast from it had overheated Perry's phone so greatly that it melted on the spot just a few days prior. Perry had blatantly shunned him for several hours afterwards, so the incident was still fresh in the scientist's mind.

Sure enough, Heinz's scheme worked perfectly. The moment the -inator's blast connected with the bracelet, it began to overheat.

"Ah! Hot!" The villain immediately panicked. He unlatched the watch and tossed it to the ground. He rubbed his wrist with his other hand, relieved, and watched the bracelet crackled and spark until it became a puddle of half-melted medal.

The evil man let out a sigh of relief before he opened his eyes once more to see a cunning smile beaming away on his enemy's face.

"Oh.... damn...." he realized.

Heinz punched him square in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

The guards who had been under the villain's control immediately became aware of their surroundings and asked each other what was going on to little avail.

By the time Heinz made it back to his team, Harry was holding a barely conscious Perry upright. The black band fell from his hat and softly to the floor.

Karen aggressively smashed it under her boot.

Heinz ignored everything happening around him and focused on the gently-opening blue eyes of a particular secret agent. His long, boney fingers carefully cupped under Perry's sharp square jaw.

"Are you okay?"

Perry gave a weak thumbs up with one hand and then shakily stepped up to throw his arms over Heinz's shoulders. The scientist's long arms caught him and his tall frame leaned down to hold Perry so tightly Heinz was almost worried he would crush the smaller man. After a moment, Heinz felt Perry smile as the famous agent buried his face against his old nemesis's neck.

"If it's all the same to you, I think I'll stick to my gadgets from now on."

Perry gently shook with silent laughter and replied by hugging Heinz even tighter.

Heinz let out a small breath and lowered his head onto Perry's shoulder. He chuckled with relief of his own, "I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you agree."

[popculturebuffet]

Loud House Reviews: Racing Hearts

Welcome back errbody. Continuing the Salauna trilogy with Racing Hearts. We’ve already seen the cute asking them out story , now comes the actual first date.. which ITSELF is massively important. Keep in mind even though Nick fully supported L is for Love and the crew put a lot of work into it given how good it turned out, Sam easily still could’ve vanished into Limbo. For it’s first 2 seasons loud house, the show HAD continuity: Once Ronnie Anne and Bobby moved away to set up their spinoff, there was an episode with Lincoln’s friends trying to help him deal with missing her in the first ep giving any of them  besides Clyde focus, a trend that would continue, they still showed up via video chat or in person where waranted and there was a full episode about Lincoln’s group of friends trying to help him deal with it... which also reminds me of a smiliar episode of ned’s declassified that was really damn good but unrelated to this... seriously that show is underated and I hope with the Netflix deal it shows up there.  Anywho back on the show we’re actually talking about, the show didn’t really have arcs, thigns that carried from episode to episode.. until Season 3. Season 3 is where the show REALLY hit it’s stride, with it now fully being an ensemble show and more continuity injected int, not interfering iwtht he show’s episodic nature but making it feel like events had meaning. Stella was introduced in “White Hare” and later got a full introduction that i’ll no doubt cover with “Be Stella My Heart” and afterwords rather than being forgotten entirely like the show used to do became part of his friend group in their episodes. Lynn SR. was revealed to have quit his office job to work at a restraunt and was working on opening his own, which while only a two episode arc, lead to the opening of Lynn’s table in the finale and it’s stuck around since. And Leni got a job at a clothing store she’s kept since and friends at said job who’ve shown up since.  See i’m fine with a show not having heavy duty continuity or serilzation, some shows thrive there but I love it when shows do this: even if it’s not all about plots, things progresing or being followed up on makes the show feel more vibrant and keeps it from stagnation in my book.  And as as show with a bunch of girls at dating age, it was invetivible theird’ be recurring romantic arcs, hence Chaz is mentoined as dating Leni, if not given any real focus so far hopefully that’ll change, while Luaan, in this episodes pairing brother, and most importantly Luna got followups on theres. And thus that brings us here to racing hearts,where nick earns the praise they got from l is for love by following up on it and showing in no uncertain terms the two as a blossoming couple.  I get to the actual episode under the cut:

We start with Lori being upset the bathroom is being taken up.... and that brings up a small issue I have: .. WHY IS THERE ONLY ONE BATHROOM FOR 10 KIDS. I do assume Lynn Sr and Rita have their own, and that it might be hard to put another one up there for plumbing reasons, but it still seems WEIRD to not have more than one up there or close to the stairs so that it dosen’t take 50 years for 10 children to get ready. And yes I said 10, Lily has a diaper and isn’t potty trained yet and any cleaning up or getting dressed, when needed, falls on Rita or Lynn Sr. But still it’s a LOT to ask for 10 children to share share one bathroom peacefully and it’s only through the power of not wanting to spend an animation budget on it that the bathroom isn’t a constant disaster area.  Anyways it’s actually Luna who, to her sister’s shock, is in a facemask getting ready to go to the Royal Woods Astonishing Quest with Sam for their first date. Naturally the other two are excited, and Luna, despite her usual nerves, is actually incredibly stoked and feels it’ll go perfectly. 

At any rate, she’s happy and Lynn comes in to kick everyone out to scrape off her callosuses instead of you know... having Lucy leave their room or doing it while she’s not there, butttt that little detail is actually a tell for later so fair play to you. Plus Lucy may just understandably find int gross and Lynn dosen’t trike me as good at picking up after herself. As it turns out to no one’s shock, Lynn was banned last year for being a sore winner and rightfully so as we see in flashback, but she’scome to terms with it... wink. But they agree to leave as the louds need to get over there anyway.  Cut to the ASTONISHING QUEST.. which turns out to be a scavenger hunt with admitely a great name. Seriously someone use that. But we see tons of returning charcters including Scootst, Pop Pop and his girlfriend, and... 

...........

I”d apologize for thatbut I feel that way any time I see the little weirners face. Be glad this dosen’t happen every time he shows up.  On the bright side he looks as dead inside as I do whenever I find out he’s in an episode, and Zack looks the same amount of dead inside.. probably because he realized a filing cabnet would’ve been a better partner. A review of your choice for the first person to get that reference and send it to me.  Thankfully my extesntial dread at seeing a Rusty cameo is lifted when Luna meets up with Sam and the two are awkard dorks together for a second as they figure out what greeting to do, settling on a handshake. It’s fucking precious. We then meet Royal Wood’s Mayor, voiced by Shirley! Now if she’d just show up on Ducktales already. Though hearing her reminds me I should do some Harvey Beaks reviews at some point... anyways, she announces the quest and Clyde and LIncoln make a fist bump while Lori and Leni stare down their parents like their about to start brawling in the streets then and there. What.. what have you guys done to each other over the years at these things? I want to know the history there. Have astonishing quest show up again in another season. I”d also love an Brooklyn Nine Nine style heist episode with this show .  Anyways, the rules are laid out: Each team is given an evelope with a clue, standard scavenger hunt contest stuff, and have challenges at each location to complete. The first team to finish wins the key to the city.. er a tiny trophy with you did it on it. Honestly that last one’s better anyway. Anyways after from trashtalk from Scoots and her partner Helen, who seems oddly familliar, we’re off! The first clue is easily figured out by Luna and the two old ladies quickly take advantage of Luna saying it loud where everyone can hear it by heading off: It’s off to Lazer Maze , the local Lazer Tag.  The guy there gives them their challenge: They need to get 500 points to get the next clue. Luna takes to it like a fish to water and easily tags Lisa and her friend Darcy... another nice little cameo. And it also shows something I like: not only are all the louds except Lynn, whose banned, and Lily, whose a baby, are competting on their own. And only Lori, who pops back up in a bit and Leni,whose partnered with her are plot relevant, but the episode easily could’ve left them out or used extras for the other teams but wisely decied to instead use characters we’re familiar with. It adds a nice touch that makes this feel like an actual event and make sme wish the show did more townwide events like this. Stars hollow it up. You have a fun character in the mayor, who was hilarious in her one minute here, you have your taylor. Just give her a quirky sidekick and have fun with it. Granted I want every series to have a little gilmore girls in it, but still.  Anyways Sam botches it and instead of shooting the golden girls shoots Luna by accient, though by the next cut they have their points, and the lazer tag guy encourages them anyway. Sam apologizes not being good at Laser tag but Luna happily shrugs it off: While she enjoys it it’s not for everyone. Anyways it’s Luna’s turn to be confused while Sam easily figures out the clue: IT’s off to the farm. And if you wanted the exact oppsite of my reaction to a Rusty cameo...

Yeah while my reactions to Rusty is “Why haven’t you died on the way to your home planet yet?” My reaction to Liam is pure joy. He’s like this generation’s stinky peterson and I love it and has a nice enjoyable personality instead of being my own personal Kahn.  Anyways LIam’s challenge is to get Eggs from the chickens. Which Sam does easily.. Luna however is nervous to start despite Sam’s reasssurances.. before totally freaking out. To be fair though, chickens can be downright terrifying. Just look at Poyo

. 

And why yes that is a chicken hell lordd whose also a cyborg  bisecting santac lause. And why no, you are’nt getting any more context than that, go read Chew.  Anyways theys till have enough eggs to complete the challenge, if now splattered in egg and with Liam disapointed with their shenanigans, but being a professinal about it. Total pro. Anyways, Sam is just as ready to brush it off as Luna, noting farms just aren’t for everyone. I also like this plot in general because while it has the series habit of “thing happens again and again and again then climax” it’s used to flesh sam out a bit. While she is there to be Luna’s love intrest, being a love intrest dosen’t mean a character can’t be good or fleshed out. Just look at tom from star vs the forces of evil for a good example of that.  Anyways it’s once again Luna’s turn to figure out the clue and we’re off to Werk It Dance studio.. I gurantee it was going to say twerk it but nick was like “oh honey no. “. The name is just awkward otherwise. Or maybe i’m just old. Also the twins are there. Just a nice thing to note and two characters I THINK are from an episode I haven’t watched yet but read about. Anyways, Luna’s pumped while sam has “oh crapbaskets” written all over her face and quickly does terribly. This one however is .. not as easy to brush of. Not liking going to farms or laser tag is easy, there just things not to do on dates. Not dancing.. is hard when your both musically inclined people whose taste in music is why you met in the first place. While they try to gloss over it, it’s clear this is an issue and worries them both.  Moving on you know the drill at this point: Sam gets the clue, Luna dosen’t, we’re off to rock climbing. Sam utterly loves it while Luna is terrified. Moving on We cut to Luna, whose sitting down feeling depressed, aka my natural state these days, when Lori and Leni show up. Lori even gave her a cute backpack for the quest.. that has a leash attached. I’d say it’s a bit extreme but i’m half convinced this happened at some point and is the reason Leni dosen’t wear laces. 

Luna is of course spiraling because it turns out she and Sam don’t have a lot in common. Lori however gives some really good advice: Turns out she and Bobby hit some of the same problems and she just suggest they both try embracing things the other person likes. Even if it dosen’t work, shocker given the episode is far from over yet, it’s not bad advice and I like that in relationsihp based episodes it’s Lori who tends to be the one helping out, having the most experince to deal with that and a, at least by this point early Lori could be a bit TOO asholish sometimes, really solid couple.  And if you read this before I apologize because for some reason Tumblr decided to EAT A THIRD OF MY REVIEW FORCING ME TO REWRITE IT. And yes i’m ranting a bit but in my defense I worked hard on this and to have most of it chewed up through no fault of my own pisses me off and thus I needed to rant a bit. Back to the review! So Luna tries Lori’s approach while Lori runs off to find Leni who got off the leash.. again. SHe’s probably just going to sniff some ground, eat the plants,she’ll be finnne Lori. Anyways Luna and Sam go to the local health smoothie shop, the kind of place that is my nightmare for people like me with Orangutan bods but makes sense Sam would be into, and the next challenge is identify what this smoothie is made of. I”ve played this game before: my guesses were fish bones,chicken bones, and dry bones.... seriously the glass was just purred bones. I never bought a smoothie from that guy again.. mostly because someone called the cops. There’s a lesson in that. Luna however spits hers out.  IN a break from formula the next activity is for Luna to come sail away, come sail away come sail away with Sam.. whose actually a pretty apt sailor. You can guess the rest. Luna botches it, they still get the clue, yadda yadda time for the sad part. The two have an honest discussion abotu the fact that despite chemstry being there, they seemingly have nothing but their music in common and are diffrent people, with Luna glumly resolving to finish the race as friends and neither being happy. WHelp my heart just broke, next episode.  So Mayor SHirley from Community greets the girls at the final challenge: A bake off... because apparently just being the first one there wasn’t good enough... then again i’ve seen far worse rule changes by a far smugger canadian man so i’ll let it slide. Thankfully the universe throws the two a bone: Neither can bake. What follows is a damn adorable scene: The two touch hands and blush over butter, before working in synch.. and Sam then procedes to cause their pie to explode in her face.. I could’ve phrased that better, but Luna giggles at it, Sam playfully tackles her giggling insues and the two end up on the ground, smiling at each other. Also Helen and Scoots win. Who cares. Luna realizes from this that she was an idiot to suggest giving up so soon, and proposes they simply try to find things they like together rather than focusing on their diffrences. Because as a coked out cat who sang a duet with a coked out Paula Abdul once said:  If things go wrong we make corrections, to keep things goin in the right directions, try to fight it but i’m telling you jack, it’s uselss opposites attract! By the way the show really dropped the ball not having Luna mention this song titles in one of her song refrence things she does this episode. Anyways the two decide to start dating and then hug. My heart.. it’s too full.  We end the episode on the reveal Helen is Lynn, a nice payoff for earlier as Lynn rides off on her elderly partner in crimes scooter into the sunset while Luna and Sam giggle and look on. Like any great love story. And we’re out.  Final Thoughts:  Okay second time around with this, and it’s a great ep. The repetition hurts it SLIGHTLY, but Sam and Luna’s chemistry helps the episode as does it’s terrific aseop: You don’t have to be exactly alike to love a person, or like the same things.. as long as you connect, and TRY to find things you both enjoy, you’ll be fine. The episodes also helped by plenty of nice little cameos, showing off the series new grasp on continuity, and Lori being Luna’s advisor and Lynn naturally being the douchey rival to them and everyone else. Overall a solid ep that was a natural step forward and set up a good status quo for Sam and Luna. The next ep dosen’t feel as natural a story step, but is still a nice one and the one that insipired me to take the leap and review these eps so join me next time as our faviorite couple bond with some cats and get into some scooby doo door shenanigans with “The Purrrfect Gig” Until then later days. 

[ohwereusingourmadeupnames]

young starker growing up together - maybe their first kiss?

ask prompts 

young starker - a fumbly first kiss

~5.8k words 

It all started in eighth grade. Tony Stark had always been the freaky genius kid. It didn’t take long for the school system to realize that the boy would do nothing but cause trouble anywhere but with people that were close to his mental abilities. At seven, it felt almost neglectful to throw him into the high school crowd – so Tony joined the ranks of eighth graders after a summer spent at space camp. 

He didn’t realize the big deal until he walked into the front doors of the school – this one a little different than the private school he’d been in before. He immediately felt like a shrimp in the bunch and it was obvious that everyone else noticed it, too. The cosmic joke of the day is the top shelf locker – one he has to stand on his very tiptoes to reach. The slam of the damn thing was insanely satisfying, though he didn’t dump his backpack in there like he originally planned. Oh well – what was another thing to carry around? Maybe he could use it as protection when the inevitable bullying came his way.

With the paper schedule clutched between his fingers, Tony walked into his homeroom class – all eyes in the room trained on him. He’d been taught to keep his head held high – his intelligence wasn’t a burden – Tony looked around the room at all the people staring him and immediately noticed a kid that looked almost as small as he was. The boy was amongst the group staring at him – but the look didn’t say disdain, instead, it seemed like he’d finally run into someone that just might be his equal. The only seat was in the corner of the room, a spot that would make seeing the board hard and observing the interesting kid even harder. There wasn’t much time to dwell, though. They immediately started into Algebra II and Tony ducked his head down, completely absorbed in the numbers running through his head.

At lunch, Tony almost chickened out and spent the time spread out on one of the benches he passed on his way into the building earlier that day. The math homework was already done in his backpack, but there were plenty of chapters for him to look over. A thought had him stopping, however – those big doe eyes of the only person Tony saw the entire day that looked remotely close to his age intriguing him. Maybe the lunchroom would be a good place to spot him again.

Reluctantly, Tony steered himself towards where the majority of the classmates he recognized were heading. There wouldn’t be any room at any of the cool tables for Tony – he already knew that. People didn’t like to be outsmarted by someone so young, especially, he found, people that were uncertain of their own intelligence – like most teenagers he was surrounded by. Steeling himself to be the main topic of people’s stares once again, Tony walked into the lunchroom.

Spotting an empty table, Tony took himself to it. It was closer to the back – which meant it probably didn’t attract the people who wanted to be front and center. Maybe, just maybe, he’d picked where that boy sat. A peanut butter sandwich Tony packed himself joined the Sherlock Holmes novel on the table – the boy a master at fading into the background now that he knew how precious anonymity actually was. He was so good in fact, he jumped with surprise when the clatter of a lunch tray sounded next to him. Tony forced his glasses covered eyes up from the page – Watson’s latest quip on hold for a moment. Brown eyes widened when he recognized the messy curls and round nose from class that morning. 

“You’re the only other young person like me I’ve ever seen here,” the boy said, his fingers already working on opening the chocolate milk carton all the way – the chicken nuggets on his plate immediately getting dropped in.

“I am?” Tony asked, his eyes pinching slightly at the corners, his tongue sticking out. “Did you just put chicken nuggets in chocolate milk?” Tony felt exasperated, his stomach and heart in a frenzy. The boy shrugged and shook the carton up. 

“You are. I’m Peter Parker. They said it was weird that a seven-year-old was in eighth grade. So, when I saw you, I figured maybe it’s not so weird after all. And yes – it is chicken nuggets in milk. It’s delicious. You can’t knock it until you try it. Who are you, anyway? How’d you end up here?” Peter – the nameless boy from earlier now affectionately labeled Peter – said without pause, his focus split between the conversation and the chocolate milk-soaked nuggets. The boy spooned one out and placed it on the empty bag that used to house Tony’s sandwich.

Tony eyed the thing for a second before quickly taking a large bite. He figured it would be gross – but then the combined sweet and salty hit his taste buds and he grinned. “That is really good. Gross to look at, but tasty. I’m Tony Stark. I ended up here because I was bored in the school I used to go to. I was getting into too much trouble. I need more – stimulus or something. I guess a room full of teenagers is the perfect amount.” Tony shrugged and finished off the weird chicken nugget, his eyes on Peter.

He hadn’t met anyone so forward before, especially someone that was his own age. “Should we be friends?” Tony asked seriously, his shoulder bumping into the boy next to him. “I used to get beat up a lot at my old school. We could protect each other, or become a tag team.” Tony didn’t really understand the connection he was making in that moment – didn’t quite get that they were creating a lifelong and unbreakable bond. Neither boy did, how could they? How many lunchroom pacts actually manifested into literal lifetimes together?

The boy’s smile widened when Peter nodded his head and looked at him seriously. “Yes, we should. You’re totally right. Sherlock had Watson after all,” Peter replied, his fingers tapping on the cover of Tony’s book. He was smart and knew about Alfred Conan Doyle? He was sure, probably for the first time ever, he’d never met another person like this boy. Tony nodded and held his hand out between them – he remembered his father saying that a deal wasn’t done until there’d been a handshake.

It was satisfying to feel the slightly sticky hand in his own – Tony’s first official friend and fellow comrade. Strength was always greater in numbers – his father told him that, too. Although the man seemed to like to spend more time by himself than with others, Tony figured he had to be right – the instant amount of comfort having Peter agree to be his friend had to mean something.

They spent the rest of that lunch period sharing soggy chicken nuggets and talking about A Study in Scarlett. Tony devoured each of the stories and was making his way what felt like the hundredth time through the book. By then, no one around him wanted to hear him talk about it anymore. Peter did, though – and their conversations easily transitioned into playdates where they’d try to reenact some of the cases. Tony didn’t mind playing Watson, either – which seemed like something he thought he’d never do. When he read the books, he always thought he’d be Sherlock. Yet, when Pete led their investigations, it was just as fun to be the pretend brute force that kept the genius safe. He figured Peter looked better in the old-timey hat, anyway.

Those playdates easily became sleepovers. Late nights together were filled with way too much sugar and hours upon hours of video games – the two staying up so late most weekends that the emptiness of the house on Sundays for Tony was a relief. He got to sleep after Peter’s Aunt May came to pick him up – and then they’d start the cycle all over again. They were quickly getting lost in the magic of online gaming on the state-of-the-art systems Tony’s dad bought when he first heard about his son having a friend over.

The novel concept of online was quickly starting to catch on – and Peter and Tony were avid partakers of it. Most of the time, having a dad that owned a company that was constantly in the news and being talked about for this and that was a little exhausting – but the strength of the internet and the access to all the components of the games they were playing was a definite bonus. Especially when Peter smiled at him while they were playing. A strange feeling settled in the pit of Tony’s stomach every time that happened.

By the end of the year, Peter and Tony were inseparable. When Tony turned eight right before they went into high school together, he and Peter went to Disneyland with the Stark family. He hadn’t been into Disney movies much growing up – they weren’t really anything that interested him. Without explosions or cool cars or really awesome weapons, it was hard to keep Tony’s attention – but Buzz Lightyear in person was pretty hard to not be impressed by. Especially when he took a picture with him and Peter with their arms flexed like strong men – he and his best friend had both puffed up their chests and let out a guttural cry.

Their smiles stayed huge the rest of that day – the two of them playing the horse racing carnival game until they each won one of the little robot stuffed animals. Jeff and Charles (or more affectionately known as Chuck, Tony’s pal couldn’t be *that* stuffy), their newly won friends, rode the rest of the rides with them and when they were sleepily carried back to the hotel, they were nestled safely in the depths of Maria Starks big purse.

Tony kept the robot and a copy of the Buzz Lightyear picture by his bed at night, immediately putting them there when they got home. Any time he got a little scared or couldn’t sleep because there was too much in his head, he’d look over and remember the day they spent wrapped up in the joy of being in the middle of space with a hero – even a made up one.

The next few sleepovers they had after they got back were filled with as many Disney movies as they could get their hands on. Tony’s dad laughed when Tony requested the use of a VCR – but he granted it with ease and watched with a keen sense of interest as the two boys devoured all the classics – Snow White and Sleeping Beauty included. Their play time moved from strictly robots and war planes to include some of the aspects of the great movie plots they watched. Tony wouldn’t admit it, but he liked when Peter played Prince Charming – his friend was perfect for the part, and though Tony didn’t have Cinderella’s life, he never minded playing her. The soft kiss on the cheek Peter took to giving him when he eventually matched Tony’s Nike to his foot was always worth it.

School starting again didn’t feel nearly as daunting for Tony – this year, he’d be entering into it with a buddy by his side – a buddy that was taking all of the same classes as him, a buddy that would be a perfect lab partner and the best person to navigate the high school hallways with. The strange looks they both received when they walked in together were a little easier to handle when Tony could look over his shoulder and see Peter attempting to keep his head held high – maybe if they stuck together, they’d make it out alive.

Tony never felt intimidated outside of the school’s walls – out in the open, people could appreciate intelligence like Tony and Peter both had. After getting back from vacation, Tony’s dad even let them spend time in the Stark Industries labs where they helped a couple of the technicians finish a project they were working on. Those guys seemed to be really impressed by how quickly they worked through the problem – why couldn’t the rest of the world?

Either way, Tony felt more prepared this time around. Though he’d still be the youngest person in their class, the concreteness of Peter’s presence made him feel bigger and stronger than any of the people that might give either of them a hard time.

If Buzz Lightyear approved of them, did anyone else really matter?

----

Things started to change right around the end of high school. For most humans, entering into the adult world happened when a person was an actual adult – but for Tony and thankfully Peter, they were entering into the next step of the world before turning 13. The high school experience was much like the rest of school – pretty boring, quite the time suck, and a little on the terrible side. Tony didn’t spend a lot of time on the receiving end of things that were terrible – he learned early that using his fists was a good way to get people to back down.

Even if the guys were bigger than him, Tony found a way to make sure he was understood. No, most of the terrible stuff happened to Pete and although Tony could throw his fists around for himself, he’d been banned from doing it to protect his best friend. Getting into MIT was the dream and had been since they started high school all that time ago. They already threatened to take back Tony’s acceptance if he had anymore behavioral problems and Peter made it pretty clear that he’d be pretty pissed if he got himself kicked out of MIT before they even got there.

So, Tony did what he could without the use of his fists. Anytime Flash would corner Peter in the hall and start to call him ‘Penis Parker’, Tony swooped in and slipped his arm through Pete’s – the contact with the boy never failed to make him happy, either. “Peter, dear – I think we’re scheduled to blow something up. Shall we?” Tony would joke and Peter always pulled his hand in a little tighter against him. Taking off in the other direction always threw Flash right off. The older boy would taunt and tease until they were out of sight and then they’d take off running down the hall – both boys laughing, the adrenaline of outsmarting someone once again fueling their fire.

Tony’s actions never stopped Peter from getting picked on – he figured he’d have to fix the problem the old Tony Stark way for that to happen. But – Peter always smiled at him gratefully. If only that smile could cure all the things, Tony wouldn’t have to worry about Peter’s safety or how much he wanted Peter to let him take care of it for him. It’d be so easy. No matter how much he wanted to, though – Tony respected Peter. They’d been friends now for what practically felt like their whole lives, he owed him at least that.

One particular event later in their senior year hit the shuffle button on their relationship and fixed the course of where they were going in life together. Up until the mention of prom, Tony hadn’t really thought about feelings. Most kids his age were just stepping into the stage of development where hormones were running rampant – they were set up in a place where exploring those hormones was expected, if not encouraged. Being so young, Tony never paid any of the couples attention in the halls. Sometimes, he and Peter would go down the rows of lockers they knew people were making out against just to point and laugh (because they were pre-teens, after all.)

So, he’d never given much thought to why all of the people around him were always crazed out of their minds, desperate to get their hands on another human being. Until, of course – he saw Peter’s eyes light up across the table from him. For a while, that look gave him the weirdest feeling in the pit of his stomach and he didn’t really understand it. He complained to his mom about it a couple of times – she merely brushed it off as a stomachache and sent him on his way.

Looking over his shoulder to where Peter’s eyes were focused, he understood the feeling a little more. Two guys, the only out couple in their school, were wrapped up in a hug together – one of them, Steve Rogers, was holding a huge balloon and the cheesiest sign Tony figured he’d ever seen. The public prom proposal – a high school cliché. Yet, he felt himself smiling widely, too. Their embrace looked warm from where Tony sat, and their faces depicted so much happiness. That warm feeling in the pit of his stomach came back – his entire core on fire now, not just the middle of it.

Turning back towards Peter, he knocked his hand against the other’s. “They look good together, don’t they?” Tony posed the question casually – though he felt that heat in his insides start to clench, like the answer to this question would be the difference between a complete take over or a total system shut down. Peter’s smile made his toes curl in his shoes – what in the actual heck was happening? And the touch against his arm? He might’ve melted right then and there. 

“Yeah, they do. Prom looks like it might be fun, too.” 

Their eyes met then, and something clicked. Tony sucked in a breath like he’d been knocked on his ass and blinked quickly. “I think so, too.”

And that’s when Tony started to plan.

He still didn’t really understand what the heat he felt every time he looked at Peter meant. They’d been friends since eighth grade and spent most of the days since then together in some way, shape, or form. Getting to spend time with Peter made him happy and when they weren’t together, he anticipated the next time they were. He thought, because that’s what people always called them, that’s what being best friends felt like.

For some reason, though – he couldn’t get the thought of pulling Peter into a hug like Steve and Bucky’s out of his head. They’d given each other tons of hugs before – he’d been there when Peter broke his wrist and cried the entire walk home – Tony hugged him and kept him close the whole time. It didn’t make sense, but – there was a difference. Tony could feel it in his very bones and there weren’t many times his instincts weren’t right. The rotary tool on the front of their robot the previous year had won them the gold at National’s, after all.

Being confused didn’t stop Tony from plotting, though. He used the freedom of having parents that were never around to go through his dad’s lab and collect the necessary tools for his idea. He spent most of his study hall period putting together a rough drawing of the puzzle he was going to build – so the preliminary steps were easy. Over the years, Tony picked up many skills with the welding torch – the puzzle’s manufacturing wasn’t too complicated once he got the pieces put together. He ran into a hitch when one of the pieces wouldn’t open like the rest of them – but he quickly caught the issue in the math and fixed the problem.

The finished product sat before him a few hours after he sat down to put it together, the light from the daytime completely gone – he’d worked the whole day away. Sitting down for the first time in a while, Tony picked up the cube – his eyes roaming over it critically. His confidence in Peter’s intelligence made choosing something like this perfect and he couldn’t wait to see what the other made of it. Tony didn’t really know what this would mean for them, but he liked the way it felt.

It took him a couple of days to work up the courage to break into Peter’s locker and put the cube where he could find it. The first day, he over thought it and almost took the cube apart completely. The next day, he put it in his backpack – and never found an opportune time to actually take it out or do anything productive with it. The turning point came when his mom found him slumped over his porcelain bowl filled with cold Spaghetti-o’s. “Amore, what are you doing?” Maria said, the words startling Tony from his reverie.

He must’ve been sitting there much longer than he figured – his mother didn’t normally get home until well into the evening. The spoon in his hand clattered against the bowl as he turned, his brows creased. “How do you know if something is right, ma? There’s something I want to do, but I can’t decide if I should or not.” The words were out before he could take them back, his face immediately turning red with embarrassment. Did other kids have conversations like this with their mothers? Biting down on his lip, Tony grabbed the spoon again – the metal of it now completely covered in the orangey-red sauce.

“Does it feel right, bambino? If it does, that’s your first clue. You want to do it, so there’s another check off the list. Tony, the fact that you’re so worried about it probably says the most about how right it really is. Take a deep breath and really think. You’ll always do the right thing that way.” She leaned against the counter next to him while she spoke, her critical eyes watching him. For such a smart boy, there was still so much to learn.

Tony met her look for a second and then nodded – his hands pushing him away from the counter before his brain to mouth filter broke down once again. “Thanks, ma. I think that helps.” Before running away, he pressed a kiss to the side of her cheek. Of the two of his parents, Tony could see his mom try the most, so he let her in every now and again. He waited until he was far enough away from the kitchen not to be caught before he let a huge smile slip across his face. Her advice really was helpful after all.

The next day, Tony had Phil drop him off a few minutes earlier than usually. Luckily, Peter’s Aunt May was working the later shift and could take Peter to school – or else his plan would have been a little harder to execute. The need to break into Pete’s locker was moot, they’d been the sole guardian of each other’s lock combinations since they first walked down the Wal Mart aisles and picked them out. He spun the dial in the intricate pattern and let out a little noise of joy when it clicked open – the simple fact that Peter still trusted him was enough to make his decision feel a million times righter.

Placing the cube on the shelf right in Peter’s line of vision, Tony quickly shut it – if he looked at the thing for too long, he might reach back in and pull it out. As fast as the lock was opened, it was once again in place – waiting for Peter to open it himself and find the little prize inside. Sucking in a breath, Tony forced himself to turn and walk the other direction down the hall. He figured Peter would find him in the library like always when he got in for the day.

The door opened not even ten minutes later, and a flustered Peter Parker walked in. “I hate riding in with May, Tony. She’s always running late and makes me eat those super nasty bran muffins. Also, did you put this in my locker?” Peter asked breathlessly, the cube held tightly in his hand. He’d already started working on one of the four side panels – each would open to show the elaborate design he’d etched into the metal. Tony looked up and blinked behind his glasses – the slightly scattered look on his friend making that heat come back, this time with a vengeance.

It felt like a straight punch to the gut and he found himself smiling through it – the wild greatness of it something Tony wanted to get used to. “I told you that Phil and I were in the neighborhood. You know how much riding in with May means to her, though. She’s always complaining about how much she’s working and never getting to see you. And yes, yes, I did. You’ve got to solve all of the puzzles to get it open.” Tony’s smile stretched further, his words making a mischievous look flit through Peter’s eyes.

By lunch time, Tony was bouncing his leg nervously. He made each of the puzzles just hard enough to keep Peter on his toes – and he figured the other would be done with each by now. The small glimpses he could see of the boy across the room made his heart flutter a bit – Peter was hard at work on the second side, a tongue hanging out the edge of his mouth. Their last class right before lunch was the only one they didn’t have together – so Tony was feeling a little antsy. He even stood in the line to buy a gross school lunch to pass the time. They were serving chicken nuggets, though – so he couldn’t be too mad about it. Grabbing an extra chocolate milk for Pete, Tony made his way towards the table they’d been sitting at together for ages – their corner spot always left for them. No one wanted to sit with the weirdo geniuses, anyway. A smile slipped across his face when he looked up on his way over and saw Peter sitting in his normal spot, a Nutella and peanut butter sandwich already securely in his hand.

“Hey Petey,” Tony said in greeting. The other boy looked up at him and grinned, that same look of mischief on his face from before. 

“Hey, Tones. You were pretty clever with that last one. I didn’t get that I needed to press up with the one I solved before to get the final piece to fit. Ms. Russo almost caught me.” Peter’s words were coming a mile a minute, his glasses moving down his nose every time he moved a hand while he spoke. 

Without thought, Tony reached over and pushed them back up Pete’s nose. Whatever was on the boy’s tongue quickly faded away and they were suddenly staring right at each other.

There were a few seconds where they simply looked, Tony’s eyes were roaming all over Pete’s face – the boy desperate to understand what in the actual fuck was happening. Another heartbeat thumped against Tony’s chest, the pulse like the ticking of a clock. “Do you want to?” Tony finally spoke out, his eyes breaking away from Peter’s to glance down at the open cube – the panels each had a couple parts of ‘will you go to prom with me?’ on them, each with a different design he etched into the metal to make the whole thing a cohesive, kind of abstract piece of nerdy art.

Peter picked up the solve puzzle and ran his fingertips gently over it – the touch like one would place upon a small puppy or something that was fragile. That smile that sent warm trails of heat into his core lit up Peter’s face and then the boy was nodding – his cheeks a pink Tony only ever saw when they were in gym class or playing space aliens throughout the SI labs.

“Yeah, I do. I really do. People will probably think it’s weird that we’re there, but I couldn’t imagine going with anyone else. Do you think we could find suits like the ones in Dumb and Dumber?” Tony didn’t try to stop the snort of laughter that bubbled up from his chest – the thought of a powder blue top hat on Peter’s head making his heart ache with that warmth. How the hell could he say no to that? 

“That’ll be the way to be remembered. I’m in. I bet we can get Maria to take us to the tailor. I bet Francisco would have a blast putting those together.”

And when they took pictures together in their powder blue and bright orange tuxedos, Tony couldn’t help but smile his biggest smile. Peter looked ridiculous and totally awesome – he’d let his hair grow a little bit, so it pressed down and curled under the brim of the hat. Together, they looked insane and completely perfect to represent who they’d been throughout their years in high school. The weird kids – the ones that were always together, the ones that no one understood and probably never would. His mom sent him a shot she took on her phone while they lounged in the back of the limo – the sight made him wrap an arm around Peter and shove the phone between them.

“Do we look good, or what?” Tony asked, his stomach filled to the brim with pressure and heat and the slightest bit of pain from laughing too much.  They were back to back, each with a cane in their hand. Their heads were turned towards each other – both boys smiling. Tony could see the brightness in his own eyes, his pupils blown wide from excitement. What surprised him, though, was the same brightness in Pete’s eyes. It was like maybe – well, maybe he wasn’t the only one constantly sitting with a pool of heat in his belly.

The rest of the night together went in typical Peter and Tony fashion. They fucked around with the canes and photo bombed a few too many pictures before settling down and grabbing some punch. Tony took the top hat from his head and wiped at his brow – the thing was cool, but so, so hot. His hair was matted down a little bit and for the first time in probably ever, he worried about whether Peter would mind. Shaking his head, Tony forced himself to focus and downed the punch the other boy handed him.

“Did you see how mad Natasha looked? I hope Clint will send me a copy of the end result of that,” Peter muttered, the noticeable shine in his eye still there, brighter than ever. Tony felt himself laugh; his cheeks irritated from being stuck in a smile for so long. 

“I bet I can get them if he doesn’t. You know as well as I do that the school’s server isn’t very secure. I think we’re lucky we didn’t get our asses kicked, though. Bruce looked like he wanted to punch you in the face but also like he wanted to laugh his ass off.” They were leaned against each other, Peter’s random wandering leading them to the edge of the dance floor into their usual corner.

Of course, the second they started to relax, a slow song started to play. They’d abandoned hats and canes in the corner with their punch glasses and were stupidly dancing to all of the dumb pop songs. Tony couldn’t remember the last time he watched Peter move in any other way than gracefully. He didn’t talk about it much, but Tony knew Peter took dance lessons once a week. A Christmas tradition in the Stark household included watching Peter in The Nutcracker and eating hibachi afterwards to celebrate. Peter looked seamless when he moved, even the choppy way he was slinging his shoulders here and there looked good.

And that’s when it hit him – what the feeling he’d been troubling over actually meant. Peter looked good. He made Tony’s heart race. Tony always felt better in Peter’s presence. All of the sudden, he wanted to lean forward and press his lips against his best friend’s. Tony liked Peter. In the purest of ways, Tony wanted Peter. And, like the stupid person he was, Tony let that sudden realization run straight from his brain out into the open air between them. “I like you, Peter. I really, really like you,” Tony’s voice was a little loud to be heard over the music – but he felt like he shouted those words, like everyone now knew his secret.

Blushing, Tony brought a hand to his forehead and let his fingers run through the sweaty hair there. “I mean – I “ Tony tried to stumble into some sort of explanation, but it was unneeded. 

Peter grabbed the wrist of the hand currently trying to pluck all the hairs out of the front of Tony’s head and held it tightly in his own. “I like you, too. You made me a puzzle. You asked me to prom. I figured it out, Tony. I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t like you, too. You’re my best friend – I’m not going to screw that up.”

Tony’s sweaty palm couldn’t have been comfortable to hold, but Peter didn’t let it go and after a minute or two – Tony nodded, his smile returning. “Want to dance with me, then? I’ll probably step on your toes, though.” 

Peter didn’t answer, he simply pulled Tony’s hands to his waist. “This one is easy, you just kind of shuffle. And hold me close. Don’t forget to do that,” Peter mumbled, his own smaller arms reaching up to wrap around Tony’s neck. They probably looked ridiculous, the insanity of Dumb and Dumber, of young pre-teens in a crowd of soon to be adults – hell, their entire existence was a little ridiculous.

Before the song shifted, Tony leaned forward and let his forehead rest against Peter’s. For now, they were right around the same height – so Peter’s breath brushed against his nose. It smelt like fruit punch and chocolate, a combination of things that were distinctly Peter. The natural way they fell into their first kiss made them both jump back in surprise – Tony’s eyes were wide, and Peter looked comically taken aback. Watching Peter reach up and touch his lip was enough to make it real, though. “Wow,” he mumbled softly, eyes still firmly watching Peter and the many reactions manifesting themselves so prettily.

When they came out of the gym later hand-in-hand, May didn’t say a thing. Tony caught her smiling to herself in the mirror and felt that warmth in his core blossom a little bit. Maybe there was more to that feeling than he first thought.

[hoffkk]

Fake Date, Real Kiss

A Brightwell Fanfic

Story By: @hoffkk

Prompt: Gimme a question and I’ll give you a brightwell kiss!

Question given: Feta or goat cheese for your salad?

**********

"Feta or goat cheese for your salad?" asked the chipper waitress.

"Feta is fine." Malcolm smiled.

"All righty, I'll go put in your orders." she smiled back then made her way over to the kitchen entrance.

He gave a nod in return then glanced at Dani sitting across from him. It was strange seeing her all dressed up in a black cocktail dress with full make up and side swept hair. She looked beautiful, then again, she always did to Malcolm. Although, she usually fell in the beautiful without really trying category. Tonight, however, she was in the undercover and glamorous category. Technically, they both were. They were on a fake date at the upscale restaurant Scarpotto's. A restaurant known for its delectable tiramisu, and, to the rich and immoral, as a front for selling drugs. Let's just say that if you tip well, you get one hell of a doggy bag. The team decided to set up a sting in order to find proof of the drugs and, hopefully, of the murder of the restaurant's hostess.

So, there they sat, drinking wine and enjoying some fine dining, like just another posh couple relishing a night out in the big city.

"So, is this how you typically treat a girl on date?" Dani probed. "You know, with a fancy restaurant and expensive wine."

"No." Malcolm smirked. "I don't have a typical date. To have a typical date, I'd have to actually date."

"You date." She told him knowingly.

"Well, obviously, I dated Eve." He agreed. "And there may have been one or two other casual affairs over the years, but I've never dated consistently."

"I'm guessing being the son of a serial killer put a damper on your dating life." Dani noted, only half-teasing.

"Something like that." Malcolm nodded. "What about you? What's your typical date night look like?"

She thought for a moment then said, "Probably, beer, take-out, and a movie."

"That sounds... boring." He told her. "I thought you'd do something more adventurous."

"Yeah, well, you know how exhausting the job can be." Dani explained. "After working long days, it's nice to have a chill night."

"You mean it's easier." Malcolm corrected.

"Tomato, tomahto," She retorted. "but for the record, I did go on more fun dates every once in a while. However, I can undoubtedly say that I've never been on a date like this."

"Did go? As in, you don't date anymore?" He inquired.

"Not for a while, no." Dani replied. "Work keeps me busy."

"Interesting." Malcolm muttered before taking a sip of wine.

"What?" She quirked a brow.

"You use work as an excuse for not dating," He shared his observation. "but there are plenty of cops who find the right balance and make it work. Just look at JT, he's married with a baby on the way."

"Well, I'm not JT." Dani asserted.

"No, you most certainly are not." Malcolm retorted, giving her another onceover.

She bit back a pleased smile at his response then said, "but you're right. I do use it as an excuse."

He pushed on, "Care to elaborate?"

Dani took a long swig from her glass before replying, "I told you before that I have trust issues. Part of the reason why is that the last couple of guys I've dated turned out to be jerks. One lied about who he was, one tried to control me, and another cheated on me. After the last relationship failed miserably, I decided dating just wasn't worth the trouble. In fact, it's been over a year since my last real date."

"Wow." Malcolm responded. "I'm sorry... about the jerks, I mean."

She just gave a shrug while playing with her napkin on her lap.

"So, you're just never going to date again?" He queried, trying to hide his disappointment.

"I wouldn't say that." Dani amended. "I mean, I'd consider dating again, but the guy would have to be worth it. Very worth it."

"As he should be." Malcolm nodded then lifted his glass and toasted, "To the one who's worth it."

"To the one." She reiterated, clanking her wine against his.

Before they could go on, the waitress was back with their salads. For the next hour, they ate, talked, and laughed. It was a pretty great non-date overall except for Arroyo and JT listening in from a van across the street, and of course the buying drugs thing, which was going exactly according to plan. Malcolm ate his meal then precisely half of his dessert before turning his communication device on for the guys to hear him speak the code phrase to the manager who came to check on their dining experience.

"How was your meal this evening?" The smarmy manager asked in false politeness.

"Perfectly palatable." Malcolm spoke smoothly. "but I'll need to take my dessert to go."

"Very well." He nodded and grabbed the plate of half eaten cake. "I'll take care of it personally."

Malcolm gave an appreciative nod in return and watched the man disappear into the back.

Dani took a sip of her water to cover a whisper into her own com device and said, "Manager's on the move. Stand by."

A moment later, the manager returned with a medium-sized white paper bag that had the restaurant's name on it in golden script. The top was folded over to seal its contents inside. Setting it on the table, the manager spoke, "Your dessert, sir."

Malcolm casually handed over a rolled up wad of cash to the man via handshake as he thanked him for his service. He then stood to help Dani onto her feet and into her shawl. Making his way out the door of the restaurant with Dani in one arm and the doggy bag in the other, something bothered Malcolm.

"Are you okay?" Dani asked, noticing his perplexed expression.

"Did that seem too easy to you?" He wondered aloud.

"We had a solid plan and followed instructions. It was supposed to be easy." Dani told him. "Stop over analyzing things."

"You're right." He relented as he waited for the signal to cross the street, so they could hand off the evidence to Gil. That's when they both heard a loud click and immediately turned to look at the take out bag. After exchanging a glance with Dani, Malcolm opened the bag and retrieved the black plastic container inside. It was supposed to hold the drugs. However, peering inside, his eyes went wide as Malcolm saw a small timer with a red blinking light and thin wires surrounding it. Closing the box quickly but carefully, he yelled, "Bomb!" The pedestrians near them screamed and fled for safety, while Malcolm tried to figure out what to do. There was an alley nearby he could toss it in, but there could be somebody back there, and it would probably take too long to get it back there anyway. There seemed to be no good option and only seconds left to react.

"Malcolm! The garbage can!" Dani shouted, pointing over his shoulder.

He hurried over to the metal bin, threw it in, covered it back up with the lid and made a run for it. "GET DOWN!" He screamed, knowing it would go off any second. Jumping through the air, he tackled Dani to the ground and shielded her with his own body as a loud explosion erupted behind him, flinging garbage and debris everywhere.

Malcolm and Dani didn't move for a long moment as they stared into each other's eyes deeply and held onto each other for dear life. Her heart was racing and she was breathing heavily, but she managed to blurt out, "Malcolm, are you okay?"

"Are you okay?" He panted back. When she nodded, Malcolm finished, "Then, yeah, I'm okay."

Just then, Arroyo and JT made their way over and hoisted Malcolm up off of Dani and onto his feet. After helping Dani up next and making sure they were both okay, a million questions ensued. A little while later, after being checked out by paramedics, Gil sent the two of them home, figuring they had been through enough for one night, and he and JT could wrap things up themselves at the scene. Agreeing to leave, Malcolm hailed a cab for him and Dani. He had the cabby take them to Dani's place first, wanting to make sure she got home safe. Once they arrived at her building, he told the driver to wait while he escorted Dani inside, up three flights of stairs, and to her door.

It had been silent for the entire walk until the end when Dani turned to face him and said, "Thank you for walking me home. It was very chivalrous of you."

"You're welcome." Malcolm smiled timidly then added, "You know, tonight was fun... I mean, right up until we almost died in an explosion."

Dani's lips quirked upward as she replied, "Yeah, it was."

"Maybe..." He started then quickly cut himself off.

"Maybe what?" She probed curiously.

Taking a deep breath, Malcolm pushed forward, knowing that if he learned anything from tonight, it was that you have to make the most of the present because you never know what will happen in the future. So, he continued his thought and said, "Maybe we could do it again sometime?"

"You mean, without explosions, drug dealers, and the guys listening in on us?" Dani quipped.

"Yeah, just you and me... and maybe some beer and take out." Malcolm clarified with a knowing twinkle in his eye.

Biting her lip, she stared into that sanguine sapphire gaze of his and thought for a moment. Breaking into a smirk, she finally answered, "Yeah, I'd like that.

"Really? I-I mean, good. Me too." He fumbled. "So, I'll call you, or you can call me if you want."

"Well, we'll see each other tomorrow." Dani reminded. "We've got a case to solve remember?"

"Right, the case." Malcolm nodded. "We will take care of that first, then I'll call you."

"Sounds like a plan." She told him.

"Not a plan. A date." He corrected, finally saying the word aloud.

"Yeah, a date." Dani agreed with a grin then turned to unlock her door. Opening it a crack, she paused, turned, and called out, "Malcolm?"

He had just turned to leave, but turned right back around at her voice and replied, "Yeah?"

Crossing the distance as rapidly as she could in her stiletto heels, Dani pressed her hands against his chest and kissed him tenderly. Pulling back after a brief moment, she whispered, "Thanks for protecting me tonight."

Astonished by her actions, Malcolm didn't have time to say or do anything before she sauntered back toward her apartment. It wasn't until Dani was inside that he touched his tingling lips and mumbled, "You're welcome." Then, turning once more, he headed back down to the cab with a goofy smile on his face and a spring in his step.