#they do have some of that snark and dick is clearly annoyed with him when he has to take damian under his wing but like

[roobylavender]

one thought before i disappear again but i really fail to understand damian fans' logic or interaction with canon on any level like your entire engagement with him as a character relies on a bastardization of every person around him. i don't see what worth there is in comparing how dick and bruce are comparatively written as parental figures in damian's life when your primary basis for analysis is canon from a writer who believes (1) dick shouldn't be in a relationship with kory bc he's happy-go-lucky and hates drama; and (2) bruce's life as a hero naturally culminates in fascism. neither of these are good faith takes on the characters involved so how can you place any value in how either of them are portrayed to interact with damian by way of that. and obv this doesn't even get into the plethora of talia issues which i have essayed about to the point of exhaustion. like idk i get that i can't make people hate a character obv lol and for many damian fans that attachment is there bc they read about him when they were young but i still don't really understand what there is about damian to be invested in once you're an adult who realizes he is holistically built on character assassination and racist stereotypes that he is inseparable from. like you can't really analyze his interactions with anyone without the context for those interactions being shoddy writing of someone else and i know that can happen in comics a lot but it happening in isolation is different from it forming the entire basis for a character

[missywritesfor7]

🌙Moon’s Light | JJK🌙

Synopsis: Luna is a young paralegal trying to maintain her new found independence and enjoy life. Too bad her job sucks and her boss is the worst. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she encounters a vampire named Jungkook who changes her life in more ways than one.

Jungkook is a shield and protector of the vampire kingdom of Korealis. He’s trained his entire life to block out any and all distractions and focus solely on becoming the strongest. While investigating a potential threat to the kingdom, he encounters Luna who turns out to be more than he could have ever imagined. It becomes his job to protect her, but he can’t tell if what he’s feeling is his devotion to the job or perhaps something deeper.

Secrets are uncovered. Lives are on the line. Hearts are tested.

Pairing: Vampire!Jungkook x Fem!OC

Warnings: Violence, character death, eventual smut, tragedy, some angst, strong language, MINORS DNI

Previous chapter | Next chapter | Masterlist

|| Ch. 9: Who am I? ||

The next morning Luna wakes up to the sound of Jungkook rustling around in the room. She looks up and he’s got a small table setup with a cooktop and pot on the other side of the room.

“What are you doing?” Luna mumbles.

“Finally, you’re awake,” Jungkook says walking over to her. “Breakfast is almost ready.”

“Breakfast?”

“You said you wanted ramen last night, so there’s ramen here for you.”

“You actually went and got me ramen?”

“No,” he says sharply. “Hobi hyung brought it.”

“Oh, well thanks for cooking it I guess.”

“Do you still feel weak? Or nauseous?”

“Just a little weak, but I think I’ll be ok.”

“Good. Get your food,” he says going back to the pot of ramen and turning the stove top off.

“You’re not going to bring it to me?” She asks sitting all the way up.

“You said you’d be ok,” he smirks, though she can’t see it with his back still turned to her.

“Wow,” she huffs shaking her head. “I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything more from a demon bunny.”

“Get your food before this demon bunny throws you across the kingdom,” he hisses.

“Why did you agree to take care of me if you’re just going to be a dick about it?” She gets up slowly shuffling across the room.

He watches her make her way towards him and he can’t help but laugh. When she approaches him she growls and he steps aside while chuckling.

“You do look like you’re getting better,” he says watching her spoon a bit of ramen into a bowl.

“Are you a doctor now?” She snarks.

“No, I just know more about the healing power of this world than you do,” he smiles.

“Healing power?” She asks stuffing a wad of noodles into her mouth. “Your vampire shit nearly killed me!”

“That’s because the human in you tried to fight back. It’s like your body is having an identity crisis when you’re here. The vampire part of you can handle all of that blood, but your human side remembered that you’re human and fought back.”

“But my vampire side has never done anything when I’m doing human stuff. Why don’t I melt in the sun when I go to the beach in the summer?”

“Melt? We don’t melt! We…turn to ash. But that’s not the point, LuLuLuna!”

“Luna!”

“Why is your name so long? It’s such a hassle to say.”

“Because it’s not-“

“Most of us have one or two syllable names, why did your parents choose that?”

“It’s not-“

“You need a nickname. Can I call you LuLu for short?”

“No, you can call me Luna because that’s my name!”

“Anyway,” he says shaking his head to get back on track. “What I’m trying to say, LuLu, is that your vampire side is so weak in the human world that it never really made you think twice. Except for that crazy ass red eye you have, that you were fooled into thinking was a birth defect.”

“What else could it be if no one knows vampires are even real?”

“Clearly someone in your family knows because you literally came out as HALF A VAMPIRE!” He shouts grabbing her shoulders. “Use your head, LuLu!”

He’s annoying, but he’s not wrong. She needs to get to the bottom of this. How is she half vampire and why hadn’t her parents ever said anything?

“I need you to take me back home,” she says putting her bowl down on the table.

“No chance!” Jungkook asserts. “You’re not going back for your boss and whoever else he told to hunt you down for your portal!”

“I have to! I need answers!”

“We’ll wait until the heat dies down a bit.”

“No!” She shouts. “I need answers now!”

“LuLu I’m serious. They’ll do anything to sniff you out if you go back right now.”

“I thought you couldn’t smell my blood? How would they sniff me out?”

“They know to look for YOU!”

“Please, Jungkookie, I need answers and maybe we can actually figure some things out if we find out why I’m like this in the first place.”

Jungkook feels like he’s been frozen in place. She’s called him Jungkookie once before, why is it now that his body is choosing to malfunction?

“I-um,” he sputters. “If you go back I’m going with you.”

“I can’t just take you to my parents’ house.”

“Yes you can. I’m not giving you a choice.”

“What am I supposed to tell them? Don’t mind this creepy guy, he’s just a vampire who’s been stuck up my ass for over a week?”

“Tell them what you want, I’m still going to be there.”

“Is there a nicer person that can come with me?”

“No. It’s me or nothing.”

“Can you at least try to be nice?”

“Didnt I just make you ramen? Just because I don’t give you the princess treatment doesn’t mean I’m not nice. I could have left you for dead long ago.”

“Then why didn’t you? Why pretend to give a shit?”

“Who said I was pretending?”

“Oh right, you need me to save your kingdom,” she says rolling her eyes.

“Yup, that’s exactly it. I only have to care enough to save the kingdom I swore to protect.” He folds his arms and tilts his head. “I really hope I get compensated well for dealing with someone as difficult as you.”

“You fucking asshole!” She shouts causing a wave of energy to knock him back.

It’s the same thing that happened before. Someway somehow she was able to unleash a force that she can’t explain.

“I knew it!” Jungkook shouts smiling.

“Knew what?!” She yells wishing she knew how to control whatever that power is so she can knock him back again.

“You’re stronger than the last time you did that.” He stares into her eyes. “I thought the blood would make your ability stronger, although you threw it all up, but it was still enough to do some good.”

“What are you on about?”

“I wanted to test my theory but you don’t know how to control your ability so I had to do what I could to try getting it out of you. Congratulations on not being as weak as you were before, LuLu,” he smiles scrunching his nose, proud of his little experiment.

“You mean you were being a dick just to bring whatever this ability is out of me?”

“Yup,” he grins.

“Do it again. Maybe I can manage to knock you across the fucking kingdom.”

“Calm down, you’re still weak, but you could get stronger the longer you stay here.”

“I’m not staying here though. I need to go home and I need to go now!”

“I still think it’s too soon,” he says.

“I don’t care what you think,” she huffs.

“You should. It’s not like you can get back by yourself.”

Before Luna can launch a barrage of punches upon his chest, a knock on the door pulls him away. He opens the door to reveal Jimin standing there with more fruit and water.

“Hey,” Jungkook says letting him in.

“Hey,” Jimin says quickly turning his attention to Luna. “I just wanted to see how you were feeling.”

“I’m feeling better,” she smiles. Then she’s hit with an idea. “Jimin, can I ask you a favor?”

“Sure,” Jimin says raising a brow. “What is it?”

“This evil bunny is being an asshole, so could you take me back home?”

“Take you back home?”

“No!” Jungkook interjects. “Asking him isn’t going to get you there faster.”

“Please Jimin,” Luna pleads. “I need to go back now, but he won’t take me.”

“Well,” Jimin hesitates. “Wouldn’t it be unsafe for you still?”

“Told you,” Jungkook says amused.

“Jimin,” Luna says grabbing his hand. “I really need to go now. Please, I’ll owe you a favor in return.”

“Stop,” Jungkook says releasing Jimin’s hand from hers and stepping between the two of them. “I said no.”

“And who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?”

“The one trying to keep you alive!”

“Jimin, please.”

“Luna,” Jimin chuckles nervously. “You’re lovely, but I think I’m going to stay out of this one. Good luck though.” He quickly retreats out of the room leaving Jungkook and Luna in a standoff.

“Dammit!” Luna says hitting Jungkook. “Take me home now!”

“You can hit me all you want, it’s not going to do anything,” he laughs.

“You’re so fucking annoying!” She growls hitting him again.

“So are you.”

“Then take me home and leave me alone!”

“And let you die? No.”

“Why do you care if I die??”

“Why do you not care?”

Luna opens her mouth but no sound comes out. She doesn’t have much of an answer to that. She knows she doesn’t want to die, but how much harm could be in going back home to at least ask her parents why she’s half vampire?

She huffs throwing herself on the bed without another word. Trying to fight with him is already causing her to feel exhausted, and by the way he’s looking at her she knows he can tell. She lays there pouting until he brings her more ramen and water. Without a word he sets it on the bedside table and leaves the room.

Jungkook heads down the hall with no destination in mind. He simply wanted to give Luna a moment to herself. A moment where she’s not burning the little energy she has trying to fight him.

“Cute,” he chuckles to himself thinking of how she was trying so hard to hurt him. “Cute?”

He shakes his head trying to rid himself of the thought. Cute isn’t exactly what he meant to say. Though, he’s not sure what he meant to say. He steps outside and continues walking around the grounds of the palace to clear his mind. He’s sure he’s losing it.

He stays out for about an hour thinking of how he can keep her from being killed by SV. He wonders how soon they may go looking for her now that their main portal has been shut down. He definitely doesn’t want to take her back home until some time passes.

But she’s right. She needs to talk to her parents to find out why she’s like this. The sooner they find out, the better. They could possibly discover something that could help everyone and maybe even keep her alive. Maybe.

When he returns to his room Luna is in the bed sound asleep. She finished off her ramen and half the bottle of water. He takes her empty bowl and begins quietly cleaning up. When he’s done he tucks her under the blanket then makes himself comfortable on the couch. He didn’t sleep at all last night, he found himself much too worried about Luna. Now with her sound asleep he feels he can finally close his eyes.

[mochegato]

Even the Losers

Chapter 6

Chapter 1     Chapter 5

Marinette collapsed onto the barstool and immediately motioned to the bartender, ordering a drink before Adrien had even sat down. She downed the drink as soon as it came and motioned for another.  The bartender raised an eyebrow at her.  “Want me to just leave the bottle?”

“Yes,” Marinette answered gratefully with a bright smile.

“No,” Adrien answered over her.  “Just another drink for now and a water for me, please.” The bartender looked between the two of them, waiting for her response to his interruption.  Marinette pouted and slumped in her stool, but didn’t counter him so the bartender nodded and left to pour the drinks.

“Leaving the bottle would be easier,” she commented, slightly annoyed.

“And more dangerous,” he warned.  Marinette rolled her eyes and looked away.  It wasn’t that she disagreed.  She knew it was stupid.  She knew she shouldn’t drink until she blacked out.  She knew it wasn’t safe, especially in Gotham.  But honestly, she didn’t care.  The entire day had been a clusterfuck of dark thoughts and tears, after their meeting with M. Fox, and now she just wanted to forget… everything.  She wanted to forget her day.  She wanted to forget the last twenty odd years.  She wanted to forget her feelings.  She wanted to forget how to feel.  She wanted to forget how to think.

“You might want to try something else,” Adrien tried instead.  If self-preservation wasn’t going to get through to her, maybe he could use her self-destruction against her.  “If you get the bottle, you’re committed to that liquor.  If you just go by the glass, you can try different ones.”

Marinette looked at him from the corner of her eye, knowing exactly what he was doing but unable to fault his logic.  Instead she propped her elbows on the bar and buried her face in her hands.  She mumbled a thank you to the bartender when she heard him set her drink in front of her but groaned when she heard someone sit on the stool next to her.  There were plenty of open seats around the room, plenty of seats at the bar, if that’s where the person wanted to sit.  

The only reason for the person to sit so close was because they wanted to talk to her.  And while she would normally be polite and give the person a smile and maybe talk with them before turning them down, she was utterly, completely, and in all ways, not in the mood.  So, regardless of whether the person was there to hit on her or talk to her because she was a Wayne, she had no interest in any kind of a conversation.

She moved her hands just enough to clearly enunciate, “Not even remotely interested.  Move along, please.”

The man chuckled and leaned against the bar himself. “Good to hear it.  I'm pretty sure the Press would have a field day with that.”

Adrien scowled at the men who had taken the seat by them and wouldn’t take no for an answer.  “Hey, buddy, she said not interested.  Find someone else,” he growled threateningly.  

The man shook his head.  “I only have so many sisters and the others don’t drink. Well, not with me anyway.”  He motioned to the bartender.  “Actually, the only other sibling we have that can drink, besides Cass, is Dick and he is going to be absolutely insufferable for months over this, trying to make you feel welcome in the family.  So I’m avoiding him too.”

Marinette eased her head out of her hands to look at the man.  She immediately recognized him from the gala.  Jason Todd.  One of Bruce’s sons.  She narrowed her eyes at him.  What was he doing here?  How did he find her?  “You followed me here.”

Jason shook his head with a light chuckle.  He looked up as the bartender approached. “Hey Jay, Roy.  The usual?”

Jason nodded.  “Thanks, Jack.”  He waited for the bartender to retreat to pour the drinks before turning back to her. “If anything, you followed me here.”

Marinette scoffed and turned back to her drink.  “I was just looking for some place to get drunk and forget about the whole,” she motioned to him, “drama.”  She glared down at her purse.  “Lucky me.  I chose this bar.  Sorry for the accusation.”

Jason waved her off.  “No.  I get it. Paranoia is justified in this family.  Welcome to the family.  It doesn't get better.”

Marinette groaned and dropped her head into her hands again.  She motioned to the bartender as he brought Jason and Roy their drinks.  “What do you want?  Same?”

“I don't care.  Whatever you have and make it a double… please.  Is a triple a thing?”  Her eyes brightened at the idea.  Adrien motioned no behind her, his eyes pleading with the bartender.

Bartender nodded.  “Yes, ma'am.  Double it is.”

Adrien let out a relieved breath and turned to the boys.  “Hi.  I’m Adrien,” Adrien finally cut in after a few moments of awkward silence.

“Nice to meet you.  So you’re the one schtupping my sister.”  Jason reached out to shake his hand.

Marinette wrinkled her nose in confusion.  “Schtup?  What is schtup?”  She downed the last of her drink as she waited for them to respond.

“Screwing,” Roy answered.

Adrien choked on air and Marinette spit out the whiskey she had just drank.  Marinette glared at him and shot Jack an apologetic smile.  “Sorry about that.  This one and the next are on the asshole.”  The bartender looked to Jason with a laugh and nodded.

“It was just an observation,” Jason answered with a smirk.

“Don’t be an asshole,” Marinette grunted.

“That’s a tall order for Jason,” Roy grinned.

“He’s tall.  He can handle it,” Marinette snarked with a shrug.  She turned back to Jason.  “No.  No we are not stooping.”

“Schtupping,” Jason corrected.

“Stopping…” Marinette tried again.

“Sch…toooo…ping,” he corrected again, accentuating each sound for her.

Marinette blinked a few times at him.  “Screwing,” she finally finished with a decided nod.  Roy laughed hard.  “He’s my brother Adrien.  Adrien…”

“Her other brother, Jason.”  Jason finished for her.  Marinette narrowed her eyes at him but didn’t contradict him.  “And this is my partner, Roy,” Jason continued, motioning toward Roy who gave a short wave before taking another drink.

Marinette waved back at him.  She turned back to Jason.  “Partner… is that another word for screwing too?”  

Jason sputtered and narrowed his eyes at her, frustrated that he walked into that so easily, but Roy laughed loudly again.  “I like her.  New favorite sibling… don’t tell Cass… or Dick.”  He grinned charmingly at Marinette.  “But no.  Business partner.  Not currently schtupping anyone.”

Jason rounded on him and glared.  Roy looked back at him innocently.  “Yes?”

“No,” he said warningly.

“Are you another Wayne?” Marinette asked Roy.

“No?”  He stared at her for a few seconds before realization set in.  “No.  I hang out with them a lot.  Dick and I used to be on a team together so we were around each other constantly for a while there.  Our families used to be together a lot.  They feel like family sometimes.”  He grinned at her.  “But, no. Not in any way related to you.”

Marinette nodded and looked back at her drink.  At least that’s one person in Gotham her… M. Wayne hadn’t adopted after chucking her out.  Jason glared harder at Roy and punched his shoulder.  “Sister,” he hissed.

Roy grinned back.  “Yours, not mine.  We just established that.  Keep up.”

Jason narrowed his eyes even further before relaxing them as he turned back to Marinette.  “So, how are you handling… you know, everything?”

Marinette and Adrien both stared at him with deadpan expressions.  Marinette looked pointedly around the bar and her drink.  “Oh, you know… well.”  She kept eye contact with him as she downed the rest of her drink, wincing at the feeling. She looked down at her drink critically. “Why do I drink this stuff?  I hate it.”

“Maybe you should ease off then,” Adrien offered gently.

“No.  Fuck off. I want to get drunk,” she glowered back at him.  Roy chuckled and motioned to Jack for her.

Adrien sighed and raised his hands in defeat. “Okay.  Maybe something that tastes better then?”

Marinette cocked her head in consideration. “Okay.  Excuse me, M. bartender?  Can I get something that will get me very drunk very fast and taste better than this, please?”

Jack blinked at her a few times and looked over to Jason.  Roy laughed at her response while Jason shook his head.  “She’s had a rough day.  You got anything?”

Jack grunted and shook his head as he looked around. “I’ll look.”

“Thank you, M. bartender,” Marinette chirped at him. He waved her off without looking back at her.

“I think you came to the wrong bar if you’re looking for something other than the basics,” Roy mock whispered at her.

She leaned in closer, leaning past Jason to talk to Roy. “I came to get drunk and away from reporters and forget about all this,” she motioned toward Jason.  “I came to the wrong bar for more reasons than my liquor preference.”  

She suspiciously eyed the drink Jack put in front of her with a grunt, but plastered a smile on her face.  “Thank you.”  She tentatively took a sip and wrinkled her nose in disgust.  There was no way she was going to be able to drink this slowly.  The only solution was all at once.  She removed the tiny umbrella she was pretty sure he added to mock her and downed the drink like a shot.  She gasped at the horrific sensation.  Adrien just barely missed getting his water away from her before she grabbed it to get rid of the taste.

She handed the now empty glass back to Adrien and buried her head in her hands.  “Regretting your decision?” he asked with a smirk.  Served her right for stealing his water.

Marinette groaned into her hands and nodded.  After a few seconds she leaned back in her chair, eyes unfocused.  “I should never have come here.”

“Told you so,” Roy singsonged.  “Now there’s a different bar a few streets over you might like better…”  The rest of his sentence got cut off when Jason smacked his shoulder with the back of his hand.

Jason turned to Marinette with a sympathetic smile. “I often feel that way, but usually after a few more drinks.”

Marinette shook her head.  “I knew it was stupid to come.  I knew I shouldn’t have,” she groaned pitifully.  “I could feel something bad was going to happen, I just thought that was the part before we came not… not,” she motioned all around her. “God, I was so stupid.  I should have known I wouldn’t be able to just sneak in and out.”  She leaned her head on Adrien’s shoulder, fighting the tears.

“So why did you?” Jason asked as though he didn’t know.

She looked over at him for a second without raising her head from Adrien’s shoulder before closing her eyes again.  “Friend needed a job.  Was getting sc… schtuped by the hiring committee at WE and scouted by a few other places that I didn’t trust… I mean Lexcorp gets blown up less than Palmer but then he’d have to work for M. Luthor.  And, yeah, I don’t think so.  So that leaves your dad.”

“Our dad,” Jason corrected pointedly.

“So you thought you'd use your connections to get him a job and didn't think you would get noticed?” Roy asked not even bothering to hide his amusement at the apparent stupidity of the plan.  It wasn’t often he got to enjoy how laughably bad other people’s plans were.

“So,” she countered pointedly, looking directly at him, “I thought I’d use my charismatic personality to charm M. Fox into noticing him and let him know one of his scouts is poaching ideas.  You were never supposed to know I was here.”  She squeezed her eyes shut and let out another long sigh.

“But I was so stupid and now everyone knows and once they know...” she groaned and let her head drop onto the bar top with a resounding thud.  She popped her head up quickly and rubbed her head.  “Ewww.  It’s sticky. I don’t even want to know what caused that.”  She pulled some hand sanitizer out of her purse and wiped her forehead with it.

“You approached Lucius Fox with nothing more than charisma and got him to do what you asked?” Roy asked in amazement.

“And my brains, but…” she leaned closer to him as if passing on a secret, “I can be very charming when I want to be…”  She looked down at herself and frowned.  “When I’m not,” she motioned to herself, “you know. A mess.”

Roy smiled charmingly.  “I believe that.  Even when you aren’t trying.  And if this is you as a mess, normal you must blow people away.”

Marinette scoffed and turned back to her drink.  Jason waited until her attention was on her glass and shoved Roy hard enough to knock him off his chair.  Adrien raises an amused eyebrow at them before shaking his head and looking down.  Marinette looked over at the sound.  Her brow furrowed in concern.  Jason smiled casually and motioned to Roy.  “Too much to drink.”

Roy narrowed his eyes at him and rubbed his hip. “Overprotective much?” he grumbled quietly enough for Marinette not to hear.

Marinette turned back to her drink, noting it was awfully low.  She swirled the contents and nodded distractedly.  “Lucky.”

Roy bit his tongue as he climbed back onto the stool to stop from asking if she wants to be, because there's no way asking Jason’s new sister, in front of him, if she wants to get lucky, ends well for him.

“I’ll have whatever he had, please,” Marinette called out to the bartender, motioning toward Roy.

“So what now?” Jason asked.

“Now… fuck,” she whined.  She almost dropped her head on the bartop again but stopped herself just before actually making contact.  She eyed the surface suspiciously and whimpered instead.

Roy took a long drink to keep himself from talking because “Is that an invitation?” was not going to end well for him either and he was not looking to get a black eye out of tonight.  He frowned at his drink.  What was in his drink tonight?  He didn’t usually have this much trouble keeping his comments in check.

“I don’t know.  Now everything is…” she made a jumbled motion with her hands that almost caused her to fall out of her chair.  “I haven’t even…” she whimpered and eyed the bartop again before grabbing a napkin and setting it down in front of her.  She dropped her head onto the napkin with an audible thunk.

“You know your hair is still touching the counter,” Adrien mentioned with more amusement in his tone than Marinette appreciated.  Marinette groaned and sat back up.  She pulled her hair in front of her eyes to look for traces of gunk.  “She only found out about all this a few days ago and by then we were already on our way to the gala and in mission headspace so she hasn’t even had the chance to deal with it yet,” Adrien explained, keeping his eyes on Marinette.

“You didn’t know?” Roy asked incredulously.

“Nope,” Marinette responded popping the p and nodding in gratitude to the bartender for bringing her another drink and motioned for another.

“What the fuck?” Roy grunted.  “That’s messed up.  How did you find out?”

Marinette downed the entire glass.  “Heard my maman talking on the phone and distinctly heard ‘if you would like to actually meet your daughter…’ and she wasn’t speaking with my papa.  And I just…” she shrugged, staring at the empty glass like it might have an answer for her.  “… knew. I had a friend trace the call. And then I was here the next day and…”

“I think B was expecting more time to deal with it too,” Jason nodded along.

“He’s only had 20 years.  If that wasn’t enough, I may not live to when he finally has the time he needed,” Marinette groused.

“Twenty years,” Roy mused.  “Isn’t that when…” he trailed off and his eyes got wide realizing the timing of Dick’s adoption.

“I think he was planning on doing something soon,” Jason said louder than was necessary for their close proximity, leaning forward slightly to cover Roy.  “And being able to ease into it, slowly, making sure you… and Damian, weren’t too overwhelmed and you could move at your own pace,” Jason offered, fighting down the odd feeling defending Bruce left in his chest.

Marinette stared at him, swaying slightly in her seat. “Did you come here to drink or defend your dad?”

“Our dad,” he corrected.

“Because you seem to be doing a lot of one and not the other,” she continued as though he hadn’t said anything.  

Jason shrugged.  “Easy fix for that,” he said raising up his glass and finishing the contents.  “So… you staying around or what?”

Marinette whimpered again and eyed the bartop.  “I haven’t thought that through yet.  That wasn’t the plan, but then again getting found out wasn’t the plan.  Getting drunk tonight is now the plan.”  She looked over at the hoodie Roy had thrown over the back of his chair and back at the bartop.  “Can I…” she motioned toward the hoodie and reached for it at the same time.

“Oh, are you cold?  Yeah sure,” Roy almost fell out of his chair trying to get out of the way so he could hand the hoodie to her.  She gave him a weak smile and thanked him before spreading it out on the bartop and dropping her head audibly on it again.  She sighed almost happily as she let her head stay down on the bartop. Roy watched her in amused fascination and let out an amused huff.  “Not what I was expecting, but glad you’re getting use out of it, I guess…” he chortled.

“And do you always need to have a plan?” Jason asked curiously

Marinette and Adrien snorted in sync.  “Do you have a plan,” Marinette mocked, raising her head purely so she could take another drink, but decided to keep it up to educate them. Jason looked over to Roy to see if he was as confused as Jason was.  “I have lots of plans,” Marinette continued swinging her glass around to accentuate her words.  

“I have plans.  I have contingency plans.  I have backup plans.  I have plans for plans,” she started listing off on her fingers.  She looked at her hands accusingly as she ran out of fingers and almost dropped her drink.  She set down her drink with a frown and continued counting off her plans.

“I have plans to back up backup plans.  I have plans for contingencies that the contingency plans didn’t cover.  I have plans for when things go sideways.  I have plans for when things go to shit.  I have plans for when things go exactly to plan,” She leaned over to them. “I’ve never once gotten to use one of those.  I have life plans.  I have death plans.  I have future plans.”

“That’s a lot of plans,” Roy noted, fascination laced his voice. “Any of them turn out for you?”

“No!”  She threw her hands up in exasperation.  “And then I have to make a new plan on the fly.”

“Sounds familiar,” Jason grumbled.

“If all your plans get destroyed before you can complete them, why bother making them at all?” Roy asked.

Marinette brought the fingers together in front of her face and stared at it as though she were holding something precious.  “It’s all about the illusion.”

Roy snorted and nodded.  “She’ll fit in.”

Marinette narrowed her eyes at Roy.  “Is that an insult?”

Jason laughed and Adrien dropped his head into his hands.  “Jesus, Mari,” he groaned.

She scrunched her nose at him.  “What?  He said I’d fit well with M. Wayne.”

“I meant his kids,” Roy assured her.

“Oh…” Marinette answered sheepishly.  “Sorry.”

Roy waved her off.  “Nah. It’s okay.  I get it.  I meant you’re smart, sassy,” he eyed her with an amused glint in his eyes, “short…”

Marinette rounded on him, mouth agape in insult.  She quickly closed her mouth and glared at him.  “Not too short to kick your ass.”

Roy laughed and grinned at her.  “Violent.”

Marinette scrunched up her nose and turned back to her drink. “Not like I’m out there every night beating people up.”  She took a swig of her drink, missing the glance Jason and Roy sent each other before looking back at her for any indication she had meant something more by it. “Anymore…” she muttered under her breath just loud enough for Adrien’s sensitive ears to hear it.

“But,” Adrien cut in.  He motioned toward Jason.  “Short?”

“Yeah,” Roy granted, “Jason’s the exception to the short part.”

“Damian’s the exception to the sassy part,” Jason added.

“Who’s the exception to the smart part?” Marinette asked.

“Dick,” Jason and Roy answered at the same time.

“Who’s the exception to the violent part?” Adrien asked, concern edging into his voice, because that wasn’t exactly a comforting quality to be associated with Marinette’s new family.  

Jason scoffed at the idea of any of them not being violent.  “We were hoping it was going to be her,” he motioned toward Marinette.

“But, nope,” Roy finished, popping the p.  “I mean Duke isn’t particularly violent.  He can protect himself but, like, he’s chill about it.”  Roy eyed Marinette analytically.  “Maybe you can be the exception to the emotional car crash part,” he offered.

Marinette snorted inelegantly, took a swig of her drink, and looked back at him.  “That wasn’t on the list.”

Adrien leaned past her to look at the boys.  “She wouldn’t be the exception.  She’d be leading the pack.”

Marinette shoved his shoulder.  “Like you’re any better.”

Adrien raised his glass to her.  “Never said I was, Bug.”  He eyed his glass with contempt.  “You know, this would be a lot more effective if there was alcohol in here.”

Jason ordered another round for them and raised his glass to Marinette when the drinks came.  “Well, at least now I know why you were completely uninterested at the gala. Because I'm your brother.”

Marinette scowled slightly and hunched over her drink at the bar.  “Not my brother.”

Jason looked at her curiously, a frown forming on his lips before a hurt look flashed in his eyes.  Almost immediately, the hurt turned into annoyance.  He pressed his lips together hard.  “Right, another blood child.  Another kid that thinks only blood matters. So adoption doesn't count?”

Marinette furrowed her brow in confusion. She faced toward him and pointed toward herself.  “Given away and never contacted again doesn't count.  You he cared for.  You he wanted.  You're his son, but I am not his daughter.”

Jason’s eyes softened looking at her and he nodded in understanding.  Feeling unwanted, he understood.  Feeling abandoned, he understood.  Feeling like you weren’t considered good enough, he understood.  Feeling replaced, he understood.  And the fact that Bruce had made someone else feel that too, that it wasn’t just him, pissed Jason off more than he could express.  He didn’t even bother reacting when Roy punched his shoulder.  “Maybe not. But you're still my sister,” he assured her.  “I want you.”

Marinette scoffed.  “You don’t even know me.”  Adrien gently bumped her shoulder with his and gave her a gentle warning look.

“I know you better than he did,” Jason reminded her calmly.  “I have more to base my decision on than he did, and I know enough to know you’re my sister and nobody can change that.”  He gave her a devilish smile.  “You’re stuck with me now.  Fuck the old man.  He did this to himself.”

“And,” Roy interrupted excitedly.  He raised his drink for her to clink.  “Now you get to be an official member of the Shitty Dad Club.”

“Oh,” Adrien perked up.  “Can I be a member of that club?”

Roy eyed him suspiciously.  “What are your qualifications?”

“Neglect, severe emotional abuse, and he was a supervillain who tried to kill me regularly,” Adrien rattled off nonchalantly.

Roy blinked a few times.  He looked to Marinette for confirmation.  She nodded almost imperceptibly.  He turned back to Adrien and raised his drink.  “Right.  Welcome to the club.  We meet whenever there are drinks.  We should get you one.  You deserve it.”

Chapter 7

Tags:

@maribat-bdbwm @jayjayspixiepop @redscarlet95 @alice-hazelwood @deathssilentapproach-blog @unoriginalmess @alyssadeliv @emotionalsupportginger @frieddonutsweets @when-no-wings-do-broomsticks @toodaloo-kangaroo @colorfulmongerpsychicranch @iloontjeboontje @wolf-for-life @maribatserver @aespades @prettylittlebutterflie @imarivers8  @certainmuffinbagelcalzone @ritacrow-blog @unoriginalmess @demonicbusiness @kking13 @lady-bee-fechin @blur-of-colours @kittenmywaythrulife 

[shyficwriter]

Temporary Home: Chapter 13

Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!) Guest starring Nick Fury and Maria Hill

Summary: Seems like that visit had quite the effect on you, enough to send you on a semi-bender. Should they step in? Should they leave it alone? Furthermore, what secret accidentally gets leaked to Yondu while this happens?

Previous Chapter here | Next Chapter Here Or click here to: Start From Beginning

Author’s Note: Thank you to @allylin05 for the scene suggestion (where Reader couldn't reach something!) And thank you to all the others who have suggested scenes they’d like to see in this series! (I’m still working them in!) As always, if you have a cute little scene you'd like to see in this story, feel free to send me a request! It might take me a bit to work certain things in, but I’ll try to add as many as I can! Also, for my records this chapter ends on day 21 of the Guardians living with reader.

Word Count: 5,635

The guardians were getting concerned.

This was different from the other times you'd get sulky and avoid the others. Ever since that night that the couple came to the house, you had barely said a word. All you did was curl up in your room, and when you weren't doing that you were drinking.

They tried a couple times to pull you out of it, to no avail.

For instance, they had decided to begin sparring practice again after Fury's last visit. Two weeks was enough of a break, and they couldn't just sit around going soft while they waited for the negotiations to finish. If they ever did. The first couple times you had refereed for them, seeing as you couldn't join in the actual sparring with your arm injured, but each time they tried asking if you'd like to ref again after the night the couple came, you had refused, not even looking at them as you lay staring at the ceiling or curled on your good side.

Mantis tried using her abilities on you, like she did to make you feel better when Fury punished you, but you barely let anyone near you, and you certainly wouldn't allow anyone to touch you. You either pulled away or sternly told the offender to leave you alone, or in Peter's case, when he got the 'brilliant' idea one morning in the kitchen that you might cheer up if he tried tickling you, a swift knee to the crotch.

Either way, Mantis knew better than to push it. She had a feeling it wouldn't work this time anyway. The effects of her abilities were only temporary, it wasn't a cure. She can ease sadness away for a little while, and if someone was just a little sad they might still feel better even after the effect wore off, but if that sadness was too deep it would only wash back in once the person was no longer subject to the effects of her abilities.

A few times you could be heard walking around the attic, and a couple of those times sounds could be heard like you were throwing things across the room. One of these times one of the gang finally got the courage to go check on you, but they found you had locked the door behind you.

It seemed the "attic is off limits" rule still applied even when you were up there.

This annoyed Rocket, who had been reminded by this recent development that he had never gotten around to sneaking up there to prove to Groot that there were no monsters up there. The fact that you had been throwing stuff around up there didn't help that matter, only convincing the little guy that the noises were in fact coming from the monsters. After a few times of this he angrily went into your room, intent on getting the key and going up there to yell at you for scaring Groot, only to be disappointed to find that the key was no longer in the drawer and annoyed with himself that he wouldn't have thought that you'd have taken it up with you.

The third day of this Gamora pulled Peter aside. They knew Fury would be coming the next day, and she didn't know if telling them would only make matters worse. Did they tell, or stay out of it? Unfortunately Peter didn't have the answer either, he only hoped that'd you'd sober up by tomorrow. He didn't know what was going on with you, but he'd hate to see you possibly get into more trouble with SHIELD because of it.

There was also a bit of a selfish concern for them as well. What if Fury decided you were unfit to look after them and keep them hidden? Would SHIELD remove them from your responsibility and need to split the team up to hide them?

Later that night you left your room and headed to the cellar to pull yet another bottle of whiskey up and take it into the kitchen. No one was in there, just as you hoped. Unfortunately that didn't last forever.

You were mindlessly scrolling tumblr on your phone when Yondu sat down in the seat next to you at the table.

"Mind if we join ya?" he asked.

You glance up to see Kraglin had also sat down, and you wordlessly scoot the bottle in their direction to indicate you didn't care and went back to scrolling and sipping from your own glass.

"So how long are ya planning on taking this bender?" Yondu asked.

You glance up with narrowed eyes and as if to spite him grabbed for the bottle again to top off your glass before putting it back.

Yondu looked displeased. "That ain't an answer." he said cooly.

"Best you're gonna get," you say, slurring a bit.

Yondu leaned back in his chair with an expression Kraglin recognized. It was the same one he used to wear when someone thought they could get away with mouthing off to him. The look of mild bemusement that usually preceded a whistle or a scolding. Only this time he didn't do either.

"Why don't ya tell us what's eating you?"

Your eyes flicked up but you didn't answer. You didn't want to talk. You were sleepy. It was none of his business anyway. What came out was an elegant, "Nothing... your face." This was followed by your also very elegant flipping of the bird before you reached for your glass again.

Yondu, seeing you were clearly past drunk, got to it first, sliding it out of your reach. "I think you've had enough, little lady."

You pout at him. "Give that back."

"No." he responded flatly.

"Dick," you mumble, lowering your head to rest on your good arm on the table.

"Yeah, sit there and pout. That's gonna help." Yondu snarked.

You didn't answer.

"Hey, I'm talkin' to you, pipsqueak." Yondu scolded, sort of hoping that the childish name would get a rise out of you.

No answer.

"You think she passed out?" asked Kraglin.

Yondu reached over to grab your wrist, intent to do the whole lift and drop thing to see how out you were, but you only whined on contact and swatted him away, mumbling something about sleep.

"That answer yer question?"

Kraglin shrugged before nodding to the bottle. "I'm gonna get a glass, want one?"

Yondu nodded, not taking his eyes off you until Kraglin came back with a couple glasses and poured the two of them a drink. Something was definitely eating at you, and the way you were dealing with it just wasn't healthy. Even as a Ravager he still knew that. Sure, it hadn't stopped him from going on a few of his own benders over the years, but it didn't mean he had to just watch someone else go through one. Unfortunately he had no solution. Closest he had to one was cutting you off, which he'd already done, and getting you to talk about it, which you wouldn't, and if you were unwilling then there wasn't a whole lot more he could do.

He and Kraglin sat there for a bit, sipping their drinks and killing time with idle chit-chat. They could hear a movie playing loudly from the sitting room. Probably something from that Netflix Rocket had turned on. No matter. Didn't bother them any. Clearly wasn't disturbing you as you slept at the table.

That is, until the sounds of a crying baby sounded from the film.

Yondu noticed you groggily sit up and rub your eyes. You lightly smacked his arm and, still half asleep, mumbled out, "You fetch the baby, I'll make the bottle, ok?" With that you pat him on the shoulder as you sleepily went to stand.

Yondu's eyes widened in a mix of shock and confusion. He shared a quick look with Kraglin. He had heard it too and his face shared the same sentiments. Baby? There wasn't any baby to fetch??

Before you could stumble away to prepare a bottle he was sure didn't exist, Yondu grabbed your good arm to stop you. "Hey there, where ya think yer goin'?" he said, his eyebrows knitted together. He really hoped this was just some sort of drunken sleepwalker dream on your part, and not you acting on some instinct he was sure there'd only be one way for you to have had. He tried gently shaking you.

You blinked a few times, finally seeming to wake up enough to remember where you were and who you were with, who had hold of your arm.

You didn't see your loved one's face, as you expected. Instead you saw a blurry blue that focused just enough into Yondu. You did still, however, hear the cry of a baby; but it wasn't- you knew it couldn't-

Yondu saw how you looked up and realized the sound, and how your expression changed from sleepy and confused to downright anguished. Your lip quivered and his eyes widened. 'No no no, none of that!' he thought, realizing you were starting to tear up.

You pulled your arm away and covered your mouth, turning so you wouldn't face him as pain tore at your drunken heart.

Yondu stood and caught you by the shoulders, spinning you towards the door at the far end of the kitchen, saying, "I think it's time fer bed! Someone's had a lil' too much t'night." He tried to keep his tone light-hearted, but he shot a glance back to Kraglin as he walked you out of the room. They didn't need words to convey what they were thinking. It seemed they might have just become privy to a bit of painful information you hadn't meant to share.

Yondu guided you up the stairs to your room, all the while he could hear you sniffing.

The clumsy opening of your door startled Mantis awake. She sat up and rubbed her eyes to see Yondu guiding a teary-eyed you into the room.

"Back to sleep, Bug." Yondu said. "Nuttin' to see here. She just had a little too much whiskey.

Mantis ignored him and stood from her bed, approaching the two of you as he tried to persuade you into sitting on the bed. Of course, being drunk and upset you weren't exactly very compliant. You kept trying to walk towards the attic door, much to Yondu's dismay and annoyance as he kept trying to tell you you needed to sleep it off.

Mantis watched the scene and knew what she needed to do. Before Yondu could say anything she had already reached out to your forehead and whispered, "Sleep."

Problem was you were a couple feet away from the bed and you fell backwards into into Yondu, who's arms shot out to catch your dead weight just in time with an 'Oof!' He sighed and maneuvered your now unconscious form to your bed, saying, "Ya couldn't have waited to do that until she was closer to the bed?" He wasn't angry, but a slight annoyance still coated his words.

Mantis twiddled her fingers sheepishly. "I'm sorry."

Yondu stood, having managed to lay you flat on top of the bed. "It's fine, Bug. I know you was only tryin' to help."

"Is she going to be ok?" Mantis asked. "That's the third time I've had to do that in as many days."

Yondu raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"At night, when she doesn't think anyone can hear her, she cries. It started after that couple came and said those things to her through the door. I put her to sleep so she doesn't cry." Mantis walked over to your sleeping form and placed her hand on your forehead. Her antennae glowed and she described to Yondu what she read from you. "Her heart aches. She's angry, she's sad, but mostly she mourns."

Yondu swallows. Remembering what had just happened downstairs, another memory came to him. That night under your tree in the forest. He had said something about you maybe settling down and having a few little ankle-biters and then you... oh no. He had a suspicion that he knew what you mourned, and the thought made his heart clench. He still didn't know how that couple showing up might have triggered this pain in you, but if what he suspected from the pieces he could put together was true, then that was a hell of a loss, and it helped explain to him a little bit why you were the way you were. You were in pain.

Before Mantis could say more he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let's let her rest now, Bug."

***

You woke up earlier in the morning than you would have liked. You could blame it on your throat being dry as sand, the dull ache in your temples, and the feeling like your bladder was in a vice. Oh, the 'joys' of the morning after a night of drinking. Not nearly as fun as the drinking itself. Though, you were sure 'fun' wasn't exactly what you had had last night, even though you couldn't quite remember it.

No matter. Time to shower and get yourself presentable. Fury would be coming today for one of his weekly-check-ins and it'd be unprofessional to greet him wearing last nights clothes and possibly still smelling of alcohol.

Today you had a chance of being told you no longer needed the sling, so you tried to at least be happy for that as you gathered a change of clothes for your shower and thanked whatever higher-being that might be listening that the bathroom was free.

***

Fury showed up about mid-morning with the same doctor as last time.

You pretended to be a good little soldier and sat patiently as the doctor examined you, said you were free to remove the strap from your brace, and adjusted the hinge on your brace for the limited range of motion he would allow your elbow to move while it was still healing. You were given some therapy exercises to do and informed you were still under a weight restriction for that arm.

The first thing you did was utilize the full range of this new, albeit limited, range of motion, stretching your fingers and wincing as you tried to work a bit of the stiffness out.

Before the doctor had begun examining, Gamora quietly asked to speak with Agent Hill alone. They left the kitchen to speak in the hall mostly unnoticed.

"She took the brace off, didn't she?" Agent Hill assumed. "Knew it. She's so damn stubborn!"

Gamora shoot her head. "No, no. That's actually not it. It's something else."

"Really?" Agent Hill looked surprised.

"Yes. She followed all of Fury's orders. It's about something that happened the other day. This couple came to the house-"

Maria looked alarmed. "Did they see any of you? If you were compromised you shouldn't have waited this long to tell us."

"No, it wasn't anything like that" Gamora said, slightly frustrated with the interruptions. She explained that you seemed to know them, how you had closed all the curtains and shut off the lights just before they arrived and pretended not to be home. She told her how they had spoken to you through the door, and that you had been upset and closed off ever since.

Maria frowned. "Do you know what they looked like? What they said?"

Gamora shook her head. "I never saw them, but they said something about how something wasn't her fault, that they forgave her? I don't know what they were talking about, she wouldn't say, but she's hardly left her room since then and we're just a bit concerned and thought we should tell somebody."

Maria nodded. "I'll speak with her."

Gamora nodded in return. She got the feeling that Maria knew the significance of the couple's arrival, but wasn't going to say, so she didn't ask.

They returned to the kitchen just as the doctor was finished. Agent Hill requested to have a word with you in private while Fury briefed the Guardians on the lack of update on their situation.

You rose an eyebrow at her, but obeyed, and the two of you made your way out to the front garden.

Maria spoke first. "How long have we worked together?"

"Almost since I first started, you helped train me. Why?"

"And we've come to know each other decently well in that time, yes?"

You look at her, confused. "Yeah? What is this about?"

"You know you can talk to me, right? If something's wrong?"

"I don't need to talk-"

Maria rolled her eyes. "Oh yes. Ms independent. Ms 'I don't need anyone.' I get it. I do. But maybe letting people in every once in awhile couldn't hurt."

"Are you going to tell me what this is about or not?" you say irritably.

"One of your charges has expressed concerns."

You looked confused and surprised. "Who? Why?"

"Doesn't matter. And they told me that you had a couple visitors the other day. My informant didn't know who they were, of course, but I have a pretty good idea, especially after I was told what they said to you."

You look off towards the road bitterly.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Maria asked.

Your gaze shifted from her to the ground and back a couple times. Finally you relented. "They said they forgave me. What am I supposed to do with that?" Your gaze was hard as you looked into her eyes.

"Accept it?" Maria said with almost a laugh, her eyebrows knitted together. "Maybe take a page out of their book and try to forgive yourself?"

"But it was my fault," you respond.

Maria can see the pain in your eyes. Her eyes soften. "It wasn't, though. It wasn't your fault. You have to understand that."

"No, you don't understand," you say, pain present in your voice. "Put yourself in my shoes. Tell me, that if it was you, that you wouldn't believe it was your fault then!"

Maria didn't answer.

"That's what I thought."

"Look, I have the ability to see reason because I'm not in your shoes. I can see that it wasn't your fault. You can't hold yourself accountable for what other people have done to you."

You give her a hard look but don't respond. After a few moments you see Fury come out the front door with the doctor and you finally say to her, "Are we done?"

She follows your gaze to see Fury before turning back to you. You can tell she wants to say no, but she settles for, "I suppose. For now."

The two of you walk back towards the front door to meet Fury. He tells you that he's pleased to see you followed orders, but to make no mistake, he still has Gamora looking out to make sure to follow through with the doctor's orders until your arm is healed, or until he can trust you no longer need that type of supervision. Whichever comes first.

You begrudgingly nod and they leave, you heading back inside.

***

You had decided to not confront them about who told Maria about the couple. If she was right, and they really were just concerned, then you decided it was better to just not make them concerned anymore. No concerned Guardians, no one getting SHIELD involved with your personal life.

You decided to not head back to your room after Fury and Agent Hill left, rightfully convinced that it had been how you more or less hid away for three days that alarmed them. Probably the drinking too, but jury was out if you'd stop that or not. What were they going to do? Stop you?

Actually... you did have a faint memory of Yondu pulling your drink away from you last night... Oh well. You were sure they wouldn't do it again, but that was a question for later. Now, you were going to go check your neglected garden.

Only, when you got there, you found it wasn't nearly as neglected-looking as it ought to be considering you hadn't visited it in over a week. You cocked your head and raised an eyebrow. Who had kept it?

On cue, Kraglin spoke up behind you. "Um, hey."

You turn to face him.

"Hope ya don't mind. Kinda kept it nice for ya, while you were- you know..."

You were taken aback. "Oh- um. Thank you. You didn't have to-"

"I know." Kraglin said, rubbing the back of his head. "Back before we- Yondu an' me- joined Pete's team we were on a lot bigger ship. Lotta crew. We had an areas for growin' food on board, helped keep fresh stuff around so people didn't get sick. Anyways- used have to shifts in those areas some when I was younger. Still remembered how to do most of it. Figured I should make myself useful when you couldn't do it- Ya know, something to do."

You glance back at the garden. "I guess, um, if you like it, I could let you help me next time, if you want, then," you reply awkwardly. "You did a nice job- thanks."

Kraglin smiled a bit. "Sure thing. Beats sitting around."

You crack a smile at that and look to the ground briefly. "Well I guess I'll find something else to do now, since this is done." With that you walked past him and back into the house.

You get back inside to a commotion in the kitchen.

Mantis is crying and panting and fanning her mouth, Gamora is yelling at Rocket, and Rocket is laughing his ass off.

"What's going on here?" you ask, brow furrowed in confusion and concern.

"Rocket tricked Mantis into eating these," she showed you the jar of jalapeños, "and now she's in pain."

You sigh and glare at Rocket, who didn't look sorry at all. You guide Mantis to sit at the table and pour her a glass of milk, instructing her to drink it slow like you had Yondu when he ate them and informing her that it would help. At least you knew she didn't react to milk the same way he did. Gamora asked to make sure Rocket hadn't fed Mantis poison, but you assured her she'd be fine. It was food, just not something any of them were used to apparently.

Kraglin re-entered the house just then and took in the scene. A teary eyed Mantis sat at the table sipping some milk, and you stood behind her, rubbing a hand up and down her back comfortingly, yours and Gamora's eyes both shooting daggers at Rocket, who was still grinning.

You begin to scold Rocket. "What's wrong with you? I know you did that on purpose."

"You don't know that, how was I supposed to know she wouldn't like them."

Kraglin's eyes narrowed. He spoke up. "Now if I'd known you was gonna use them to be mean to Mantis there, I wouldn't have told ya when you asked me which was the hot things Yondu ate. She's too sweet for you to be mean to her like that."

Rocket gave Kraglin a look of betrayal. "Come on. It was just a joke. Did you really think I was asking because I wanted to eat them."

"I thought you was asking so you wouldn't eat them," Kraglin replied, annoyed. "not so you'd make the bug girl cry."

Rocket rolled his eyes. "Lighten up."

"What's with you lately?" Gamora asked. "You're not even this bad on the ship. You behavior has definitely gotten worse since we've been here."

"Has not!" Rocket denied. "If anything you guys have lost your ability to take a joke!" He crossed his arms. "And how come nobody says anything when Star-Munch and dumbass there-" he pointed at Kraglin, "-mess around, but I always get yelled at! It's like I'm the only one not allowed to have fun here!"

You tilted your head at Rocket, contemplating a bit before saying, "Are you trying to say you're bored?"

Rocket threw up his hands. "Of course I'm freaking bored! What do you expect!? There's nothing to do! I can't blow anything up, or make any weapons, or make weapons that blow up! This place is like prison!"

You hummed and nodded your head. "I see..." You had an idea. You were normally against rewarding bad behavior, but you saw this more as an.. olive branch of sorts. Maybe if you gave him something to do he wouldn't be so restless. Wouldn't be so... rude. Give him a toy to play with, more or less. You nodded towards the back door. "Come here."

"Fat chance. Like I'd go anywhere with you." Rocket scowled, crossing his arms petulantly.

You shrugged your shoulders. "Fine by me. I won't show you the workshop then." A smile tugged at your lips but you suppressed it.

Rocket narrowed his eyes. "What workshop?"

"You already know I built you that bed. Where did you think I did that? The bathtub? It's in the shed."

Rocket eyed you, like he wasn't sure if he wanted to trust you or not. Gamora and Kraglin exchanged pleasantly surprised glances, intrigued that you were offering an olive brach of sorts to the bratty raccoon.

"Ok, but any funny stuff and I'll bite your good arm off." Rocket said, moving towards you in an almost cautious manner.

You roll your eyes. "There's no reason why there would be any 'funny stuff.'" you say. You start to turn towards the door, but stop. "Oh, one thing before we go. Apologize to Mantis."

Rocket glared at you. It was clear he didn't want to, but after a few moments he made an attempt. In a sarcastic tone he said, "Oh gee, Mantis, I'm SO sOrRy-"

You cut him off. "Like you mean it, or I don't show you the workshop."

Rocket grumbled something you couldn't hear under his breath before begrudgingly uttering a, "Sorry, Mantis."

Mantis, whose mouth was now much less burn-y than earlier, told Rocket she forgave him and you headed back outside with Rocket to see the workshop.

Kraglin and Gamora watched as you went, completely surprised that that had worked.

***

You led Rocket to the shed and unlocked it, opening the door and motioning inside. Rocket hesitated, but eventually entered after you took the first steps inside to turn on the light.

A workbench ran along the length of one side of the room. On it sat a chop-saw at one end, and a vice as well as a small cabinet of little drawers where you sorted your nails, screws, and other fastenings. Above this workbench ran a series of shelves housing various drills and tool boxes and other odd-n-ends. Under the bench laid an old forgotten and broken step-stool you had never gotten around to fixing.

A smaller workbench sat on the wall opposite side. Above that was a pegboard where you hung different wrenches and screwdrivers and hammers, and above that hung a short cupboard.

In the middle of the room stood a table saw, and behind that, at the back of the room, is what caught Rocket's eye most.

You had a welding station set up, and he immediately walked back towards it.

"I didn't know you had this in here!" Rocket exclaimed.

"You never asked," you reply, slightly grinning at his obvious interest in the welding area.

Rocket looked the area over. It was covered in a layer of dust, showing that it had been awhile since anyone had used it. "This still work?" he asked.

"It should," you say with a little uncertainty. "I haven't used it for years, but I'm sure the tank still has gas in it. We could always find out. I take it you know how to use it?"

Rocket looked back at you. "Of course I know how to use it. It's just basic fire welding, not like it's a plasma welder or anything."

You raise an eyebrow. Apparently he knew his stuff better than you thought... "Ok then. Just let me find the striker..." You looked around the welding bench, but didn't see it anywhere. "Hm... must have misplaced it... let me look."

You walk over to the small workbench, looking in the drawers, but came up empty handed. You check the drawers in the long workbench. Nothing. You looked up at the shelves. Nope, didn't see it. You walk back over to the small bench to look in the cupboard above it. No striker. "I know it's in here somewhere." you sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

Then you see it. The edge of the striker glinting from on top of the cupboard. "Damn," you say, your gaze falling to the floor before returning to the striker.

You reach up in vain, knowing you couldn't reach it from the ground, even on your tip-toes.

"Need some help, shorty?" came Rocket's teasing voice. You obviously weren't short compared to him, but it didn't matter. You could have been seven feet tall and he still would have used the jab.

You throw him a look. "Like you're one to talk! And no." You try reaching again and sigh.

"Don't you have a chair or something to stand on?" He was chuckling at you now.

"No." you admit, gesturing to the broken stool under the other workbench. "Never got around to fixing it. Normally I just-" you cut yourself off as you tried to reach up again.

"Just what?"

You sigh. "Climb. Ok? Normally I'd just climb up there, but um," you gesture with your arm in the brace, "kinda can't do that right now." You try reaching again, but you give up. That tactic was obviously never going to work. You look around. "Maybe I can find something to knock it down..."

As you look around you see from the corner of your eye Rocket make a couple jumps to get on top of the cabinet, where he then grabbed the striker and hopped back down onto the workbench and held it out to you with a cheeky grin.

You exhale out your nose as you take the striker and say, "You could have done that this whole time?"

"Yeah," Rocket admitted. "but watching you struggle was funnier."

You ignored him and headed back towards the welding area. Yelling at him never seemed to do anything but encourage him anyway.

You attached a brazing tip to the line connected to the tank, turned on the gas, and clicked the striker up to the tip. It took a couple tries, but the flame finally caught with a whoosh and you laughed in surprise. "See. It works," you say to Rocket. "And as long as you don't burn the shed down or hurt yourself, you can use whichever tools you know how to use."

Rocket eyed you as you turned off the gas, extinguishing the flame. "What's the catch?"

"I just told you. Don't burn down the shed or get hurt." After half a second's thought you added with a slight grin, "Should I add 'don't break my tools' and 'lock up when you're done'?"

Rocket scoffed. "I'm not gonna break your tools. If anyone knows how to care for tools it's me! Hell, they'll probably be in better condition after I use them."

You shook your head in amusement. "Alright." Little guy could be so dramatic. "I know there's an extra key somewhere in the house, but until then you can use mine, ok?"

Rocket nodded but then asked, "Why keep it locked?"

You look out the open door. "Force of habit, mostly... keeps kids from getting in and hurting themselves too," you say, adding, "You know, like Groot. Wouldn't want him to go playing around the tools and getting hurt."

Rocket nodded again. He knew Groot mostly knew better from being with him not to play with tools, but he didn't argue.

"Anyway," you begin again, gesturing to the neat stacks of spare wood and metal material in the corner. "Knock yourself out." you placed your key to the shed on the small workbench. "Key's here. Lockup when you're done and leave the key on the kitchen counter after, ok?"

Rocket raised his eyebrow. "You're trusting me in here by myself?" he asked, sounding more suspicious than confused as you turned to leave.

You turn back to him, slightly grinning. "You said you know what you're doing, and I've already been told you used to work on the ships, so that claim has already been vouched for, so... yeah. Unless you're gonna give me a reason not to trust you, that is."

"No, that's all pretty much right," he said, eyeing you, still seeming unsure. As if he thought it might be a trap.

"Then we're good," you reply. You to leave again when you're stopped by him asking, "What's in this for you?" You didn't know whether to sigh or laugh, so you settled for a mix of both as you turn back yet again. "I figured maybe if you had something to keep you entertained maybe you'd be less of an insufferable asshole."

Rocket looked offended and you laughed. "Now can I leave or do you have anything else to ask?"

"Nah," he replied, taking his eyes off you to now look around the workshop. "We're good. Um... thanks..."

The 'thank you' honestly surprised you, but you only turned your look of surprise away as you exited the shed and said, "Don't mention it."

Rocket watched you leave before turning back to check out the welding bench some more.

Yes. This was just what he'd been needing. He could finally repair the device he smuggled.

[robinofgothamcity]

♡ prompt: "you accidentally get sent into the future and see how you both turn out.”

♡ pairing: dick grayson (anyverse / nightwing) x fem reader

♡ lyric inspiration: “I said that’s life and as funny as it may seem, some people get their kicks stomping on a dream but I don’t let it get me down cause this fine old world keeps spinning around.” 

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / again like what I said with my Jason fic, you don’t necessarily use the TITANS universe to imagine this fic. i just used this version of dick for no reason. 

“god, this is the last time I do any kind of work with ANY OF YOU!” you yelled at Dick as he bit on his inner cheek. all of you had been fighting off a bunch of crooks and at first, you thought it was okay.....that was until one of the crooks pulled out his hidden magical abilities, “at the very least, we could’ve called Klarion for help!” 

Damian gave you a look as if what you were saying was stupid, “I’M JUST SAYING! WE’RE ALL FUCKING HUMAN AND ZATANNA ISN’T EVEN IN THE COUNTRY TO HELP!” you yelled back. 

Dick was trying to remain calm as he hadn’t seen one of the criminals approaching him. he was too busy charging one that was heading towards you. you; however, had saw them out of the corner of you eye and practically sped to Dick which is what the criminal wanted. 

he wanted you and Dick out of the way in order to get Damian trapped. as you and Dick had passed each other with the notion to save each other, the crook pulled out a gadget that opened up a portal. 

“NIGHTWING!” “( YOUR HERO NAME )!” 

+

the two of you went to grab each other but it was too late. you and Dick had gotten sucked into the portal as you let out a piercing yell. Dick tried grabbing you, hoping that wherever the two of you landed, he would get the hardest impact. 

soon enough, both you and Nightwing collided with the ground. you instantly shot up, preparing to fight whoever was around. Dick had took in the surrounding and whispered that the two of you were safe. 

“where the hell are we?” you asked, trying not to panic, “we need to find another portal back. Damian is on his own!” you fidgeted with your fingers as Dick waved you off. 

“if anything, Damian might be more in his element,” he whispered, “you forget how Damian grew up. I think he’ll be fine. he probably already called Bruce or one of the boys.” you tried to figure out how the hell Dick was so calm about the situation. 

Dick took off his mask as you followed along, “I think are biggest issue might be trying to figure out what year he took us too. I can’t imagine he took us in the past so we might just be in the future,” Dick explained. 

both of you walked down the hill that you had landed on and saw you were in Bludhaven, “I think we’re in your home territory,” you murmured. Dick sighed in relief. he was more relieved that both of you landed in his hometown because had you landed in Gotham, he felt like that would’ve landed you in more trouble with the Bat, “I didn’t think Bludhaven was this ran down,” you told Dick. 

“hey!” he exclaimed, “it isn’t as bad as it looks!” you giggled trying not to catch attention from anyone. the two of you made it down the hill when the realization hit you. Bludhaven had snow falling all over the town and you nor Dick were even mildly dressed in clothes to handle the cold. 

“do you have clothes in your apartment? it’s freezing out here!” you exclaimed. Dick gave you the side eye, “I do but if we landed in the future, my future self might be there. we can run into a store and get clothes there.” 

“and do you have cash? bc if you’re carrying a debit card, that would be really weird to see a transaction from the future,” you replied. Dick took out his wallet and pulled out a crisp 100, “I stand defeated,” you murmured. Dick rolled his eyes as the two of you saw a department store at the corner of the street. 

before you could pull in, you heard someone scream you hero name, “hey! those are sick cosplays!” they said running up to you. you gave him a confused look before realizing, you had to pretend that you weren’t actually yourself, “thanks! it took a lot of work,” you tried to say. 

“I bet. it looks super realistic too! ever since she stopped fighting, it’s been super weird not seeing ( your hero name ) around.” you stood confused, wondering what he meant by that, “oh! you’re supposed to be Nightwing! that’s awesome! do you think I can get a picture!” he asked. 

you looked to Dick who just shrugged and agreed. the two of you smiled for the photo as he scanned it, “thanks! I swear, you look exactly like her too! but clearly that can’t be right since the actual ( your hero name ) is pregnant allegedly!” he said as he turned around to leave. 

“pregnant?” you yelled, holding onto Dick who was laughing hysterically, “it’s not fucking funny! I’m pregnant in whatever year this is!” you yelled. Dick could see the panic in your eyes, “he never said it was actually true. he said it was alleged that you were,” Dick tried to emphasize. 

you walked into the department store, which ended up being a Target, and ran to the women’s section, wanting to get out of your hero costume as soon as possible. once you and Dick grabbed the clothes, he quickly paid for it before the two of you darted to the bathrooms to get dressed. 

you managed to come out faster than Dick as you held onto your costume by hand. with curiosity plaguing your mind, you saw a magazine and looked at the date. 

December 22, 2024.

you sighed in relief. the two of you had only gone three years into the future which was a good thing....right?

“we’re three years into the future,” you told Dick. he nodded as you walked outside, “we can check if future you is actually home and if he’s not, you making some portal to get us back home!” you threatened. 

“at this rate, I would’ve preferred if Damian would’ve been the one to come along,” Dick retorted. you pushed him to street, making him stumble over his feet, “say some snark shit again and see where that gets you,” you told him, “plus, you think I want to get stuck in the future with you? I would have preferred Jason if we’re going to be honest. at least he would’ve been more entertaining to be around.” 

Dick remained quiet, not knowing how to respond. 

the two of you had a weird relationship with each other. at times, the two of you got along, to the point where some thought the two of you were together while other times, you practically hated his guts. no one knew why the relationship was this way but his heart felt a pang as you confessed that you would have rather been here with Jason than him. 

“way to kill a mood,” Dick said. you rolled your eyes, “you literally just said you’d rather be with Damian! don’t blame me for this shit. plus, if it wasn’t Damian, I’m sure you would wanted Starfire next,” you added on. 

Dick looked at you stunned, “what makes you say that?” he asked. you rolled your eyes, “please, it’s not hard to tell that you and Star have a thing for each other,” you said, this time more quietly than before. Dick didn’t know how to respond but quickly for him, he didn’t have to. the two of you had arrived to where lived or at least hope he still lived there. 

the house wasn’t big, not in the slightest; however, it was big enough for him on his own. the two of you looked inside of the window and saw that someone was facing their back towards it. 

“whose that?” you asked Dick. he shrugged, half of him annoyed at you and the other half not knowing who it actually was. the two of you remained looking at the person, hoping they turned around so you could get a look, “it looks like you if I’m going to be honest,” Dick replied. 

you sighed, “I don’t think it is but sure,” your statement was quickly taken back as the person finally turned around. it was in fact you...fully pregnant and opening up the window. you let out a piercing scream as Dick quickly covered your mouth, trying not to get caught. 

“can you shut the hell up?” he whisper screamed, “you’re going to get us caught!” he continued. you took his hand off your mouth, “do that shit again and you’ll be dead before you can even see your future self,” you threatened, “plus! that’s me! pregnant as fuck!” 

Dick tried not to laugh at your last statement but couldn’t, “if you’re pregnant, I wonder whose kid it is and why the hell you’re even at my place,” he wondered, “it’s probably yours,” you joked, making the both of you laugh quietly. 

you remained looking through the window, watching as you stood up and got different things from a box. you were whispered things you couldn’t exactly heart but one thing you did notice was the huge ring on your left finger. 

you whipped your head to look at Dick as his eyes widened. his future self had walked into the living room, giving you a peck on the cheek before bending down and kissing your stomach, “hey bubba! treating your creator well?” he asked. 

both you and Dick looked at each other speechless as you put two and two together. you were pregnant....with Dick’s child, “you better because your mom might kill me if you’re giving her a hard time,” he joked before placing a kiss on your lips, “we should eat before John gets hungry and your dad thinks we ditched out on the plans,” you mentioned. 

“John?” you whispered to yourself, wondering why the hell you named your future kid John, “John was my fathers name, you know, before he passed,” Dick confessed. your eyes widened, “oh, is it?” you murmured back, not knowing what to say. 

the two of you walked closer the door as you noticed your belly again. it was bigger than you realized as Dick had to help you down the stairs. you watched yourself get into Dick’s are as you were struggling to put the belt around you. eventually, Dick drove away and left the two of you alone again. 

the air was thick with silence as you had no idea what to say, “parents huh?” Dick asked with a chuckle of nervousness, “yup....and you’re the dad,” you added on. Dick nodded as you sat on the curb with your hands on your knees, “and you’re the mom,” he replied. 

you let out a laugh of disbelief as you couldn’t make up anything to say, “crazy right? I think we’re married too,” you finally looked at Dick as he stared at you, almost lovingly, “is there an issue with that?” he asked as seriously as possible. you shook your head no, “nope. just weird that we were the ones that ended up married and having kids together,” you said. 

Dick slowly grabbed your hand and held it softly. 

“I mean it could be weirder...it could have been Jason or Tim,” he said out loud. you shrugged, “I mean, that would have weird too,” you played with Dick’s fingers and bit your lip, “I guess we should try and find our way back? we wouldn’t want to change the future,” you gave Dick a hopeful look. 

he nodded as he helped you up but without hesitation, he pulled you in for a searing kiss, “I’ve been meaning to do that for a while now,” he whispered as he put his hand on your cheek and caressed it softly with his thumb. 

a few seconds later, both of you saw a portal opening with Damian screeching from the other side of it, “COME ON YOU BUNCH OF IDIOTS!” he yelled dramatically. you laughed, looking to Dick, “you heard the boy, let’s get the future started,” Dick nodded grabbing your hand and stepping into the portal. 

[hiccanna-tidbits]

this is a genuine, curious question! what's appealing 2 u about jackunzel :^] ??

Sure, I can talk about why I ship Jackunzel!!!

@gryffindorkxdraws has some posts about why she likes Jackunzel here, here, and here, so those are a pretty good rundown of reasons to supplement mine. But I’ll make a list of my own!

Why Jackunzel Owns My Entire Soul: An Essay in Disorganized Bullet Points ~I dig the sun/moon symbolism! Like Jack was chosen by the moon and Rapunzel has the powers of the sun. It’s such a nice contrast, and it also lends itself really well to star-crossed lover-type fantasy/fairy tale AUs (which I am ALWAYS a sucker for!) ~From what little we know about Jack’s preference in girls (i.e. the slight crush he seemed to have on Tooth), Rapunzel seems like EXACTLY his type--bubbly, energetic, optimistic girls with a bit of a maternal streak. I think even the RotG director confirmed Punz is the kind of girl Jack would like! ~Jack also absolutely seems like Punzel’s type--if Flynn/Eugene is anything to go by, she’s kind of into sarcastic troublemakers with a hidden soft side XD And she also seems to like guys who are good with kids, if Eugene reading “The Adventures of Flynnigan Rider” to the younger kids at the orphanage is anything to go by! ~They both seem to be naturally pretty social people who suffered a lot from being isolated for a really long time--Jack had it worse, obviously (300 years--OUCH), but it was rough on Punz as well, growing up for 18 years with no one for company but Mother Gothel and Pascal. Jack, spending all that time with no one able to see him and only the guardians (who weren’t even really his friends from much of that time) for company, would understand that pain a lot. I feel like they’d be able to connect on a really deep and intimate level about the pain they felt at being isolated for so long, and this would give them a really strong bond that I can easily see turning into something romantic. ~They’re both just such genuinely lively and fun-loving people, and I can imagine them having a ton of fun together and just genuinely really enjoying spending time together. Like imagine the snowball fights!!! The ice-skating!!! The sledding!!! Chasing each other through the forest!!! Jack grabbing onto Punz and her wrapping her hair around a tree and swinging them around Tarzan-style!!! Like literally the entire scene where Punzel leaves her tower for the first time and is goofing off and doing Silly Shit for like an hour straight??? Like man...if Jack was there, they’d have the TIME OF THEIR LIVES together. Idk I just really love couples who I think would have a lot of fun together, it’s so pure <3 ~They’re both so loving!!! Like Rapunzel goes out of her way to be supportive to an entire tavernful of terrifying “ruffians and thugs” because they have dreams, and she’s so sweet to Flynn/Eugene no matter how many times he snarks at her and tries to alienate her!!! And Jack loves loves LOVES entertaining kids, and it genuinely makes him so happy to give them snow days :3 I just feel like they’d shower each other with love, and it’s honestly no less than they both deserve!!! ~Rapunzel especially is such an affectionate person, and I can see her doing just absolutely everything in her power to make Jack feel as seen and as loved as possible after 300 years of being alone. And god, does he NEED it, too. Like no way is this boy NOT touch-starved, and with some MAJOR self-esteem issues (although he’s good at hiding them). Rapunzel would do absolutely everything in her power to build him up and make him feel wanted and validated--and since it’s in her nature to do so, it would never feel like a burden or an effort for her. And she’d love him so much that hyping him up just comes naturally! She’s just got the kind of nurturing personality that someone as affection-starved as Jack really needs, and I think she could help him feel safe, comfortable, and loved in a way a lot of people couldn’t. ~For all the fun they’d have together, I also feel like Jack needs someone to ground him a bit and provide the Brain Cell to perhaps reign in that Unchecked Chaotic Energy of his sometimes XD Rapunzel certainly has a smart and rational side--I mean, she charted STARS as a teenager!!! She figured out how to get this stranger she captured to take her into the kingdom to see the lanterns!!! Girl can be spontaneous and goofy, sure, but she’s got smarts and kind of a mature streak that I think mesh with Jack really well. He’d never feel like she was a wet blanket stifling his fun, but she’d also have a sense of when to transition away from goofing off and focus on responsibilities (princess and guardian responsibilities in this case, I suppose?) ~On the flipside, I don’t see Rapunzel as being someone annoyed or irritated by Jack’s antics. She might like...gently scold him if he takes a prank too far, but she never finds his shenanigans to be grating and tiresome the way other people might. Rather, I think she’d be endlessly entertained by him. Like in his memory reel when he’s dicking around pretending to be a deer, she’d get a kick out of that! Jack would always be trying to make her laugh and make her smile, and Punz would love that so much about him! ~They’re both searching for a deeper meaning and a deeper sense of purpose in their lives. Rapunzel entertains herself with hobbies, but doesn’t feel like her life has really “begun” and is desperate to find out if her hunch is right and the floating lights really ARE meant for her. Jack has no idea why he was chosen by the moon or what he’s meant to do, and he’s determined to find out so he can finally have a sense of purpose. Rapunzel clearly wants a sense of purpose too, since she wants to do more with her life than pass the time with hobbies. I can definitely see them bonding over this! ~They’re both just so adventurous, and love to explore! Rapunzel is curious, and loves to read and learn, and she wants more than anything else to see the world and all it has to offer. Jack loves adventuring and flying around the globe spreading winter and fun, and he could show Punz everything she ever wanted to see. A perfect match, honestly! ~Aesthetically I LOVE the similarities!!! Like they both like to go barefoot, kinda showing their free-spirited natures. And I love how they’re both naturally brunette, but had their hair turned a different color by magic. It’s a little thing, but I think it’s a really neat parallel and it helps cement me thinking they really ARE perfect for each other in every little way! Haha XD AND they both have small green companions, and as of Ralph Breaks The Internet, they’re hoodie buddies as well!!! Not that surface-level parallels like that are actually that significant BUT I just think they’re neat XD ~While I am fond of Flynnzel/Eugenzel (still my favorite canon Disney couple!), finding out their age gap is around 8 years admittedly made me a bit uncomfy and just pushed me further into loving Jackunzel as an alternative option. I still really love Eugene as a character and adore his and Punzel’s dynamic, but these days I prefer their relationship as more of a big bro/little sis type thing. Jack I think is the best match for Rapunzel romantically, and Eugene I prefer with Elsa--or poooossibly Tooth, Astrid, or Zarina, if I read a fic that sells the pairing well enough! ~On a related note, I was into Jack x Tooth the first time I watched RotG, but after discovering Jackunzel, there was no going back--I was hooked! Rewatching the movie, Tooth strikes me more as a mom figure/”fun aunt” for Jack, and I actually prefer her with Bunnymund (I am WEAK for “the grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one” lmao)

Well, I think that just about covers it!!! I’ll add more reasons if I think of them! Thank you for the ask, and I’m always happy to answer more ship asks about CGI crossover pairings :3

Also @ the anon who asked for Jackunzel headcanons--fear not, I shall provide them!!! I just wanna make a complete list and accumulate all the ones from my various fics so it’s gonna take a while XD

[moonlit-jeno]

Movie Night (m.)

Pairings: Lucas, Xiaojun, Hendery, Yangyang x Reader

Genre: SMUT, literally a pwp, fivesome??

Words: 3.2k

Summary: Maybe you don’t hate Lucas as much as you thought.

“I was sitting there.” True, Lucas had been sitting in the spot on the couch you are currently occupying. But then he’d gotten up to get a drink and left the space wide open, so you’re not going to move.

“Key word: was. Past tense. I’m sitting here now.” You smile brightly at him. He scoffs. “Look, there’s a spot on the floor over there.” You point with your foot to the area between the coffee table and the fireplace that clearly doesn’t offer enough room for his long limbs. Maybe it’s mean, but the two of you had never been particularly nice to each other.

He looks to the two boys sitting next to you on the couch with an expression that says can you believe this? Xiaojun merely shrugs while Hendery laughs, pointing to the floor. “She’s right, you know.”

Lucas gives them a hurt look before spinning around and dropping all 6 feet of himself on top of you. You grunt as all the air is knocked out of you, squirming under him. “Lucas, I can’t fucking- breathe, you asshole.” You slap his thigh and he shifts, scooting off your stomach so that he’s more on your thighs.

“Then give me my spot back.” He looks over his shoulder at you and raises his eyebrows. You shake your head. He shrugs and makes himself comfortable on your lap.

Yangyang, who had been dead to the world on the only chair in their living room, springs to life. “Okay, Kun’s taking too long, lets start the movie!” He ignores outraged cry of “I’m making you food, you heathen!” from the kitchen.

Despite how uncomfortable it should be to have Lucas on top of you, it’s strangely pleasant. At least you’re warm enough that you don’t have to argue over sharing the blanket with him. You can’t help but snort while you wonder just how long it’s been since you’ve had physical affection that you’re enjoying cuddling with Lucas. Because for a guy so warm and full of love, it seems that he’d forgotten to leave any space in his heart for you.

Not that you’ve made any room for him, either. He’s loud and annoying on his best days, and beyond infuriating on his worst. You doubt you could beat him in a fight but boy, does he make you want to try. You normally try to limit your aggressive comments for the sake of your friends, but he doesn’t seem to share the same sentiment.

“Stop breathing so loudly.” Lucas snarks, not even bothering to turn around. “It’s literally all I can hear.”

“I’m breathing normally! Maybe you’re just not used to hearing anything over your annoyingly loud mouth!” Yangyang shushes you from across the room and you bite your lip, clenching your jaw.

Slowly, you relax again. Your arms are laying awkwardly at your sides and you lift them up to rest on Lucas’s stomach, waiting for him to yell at you. He doesn’t say anything. Kun comes in at some point to say he’s going out to dinner with friends, pausing to give you and Lucas a strange look. You offer him a shrug,

The movie progresses uneventfully, with the exception of you wanting to strangle Lucas for every loud laugh he lets out. The onscreen jokes aren’t even funny. To be honest, the movies pretty terrible. Like the directors didn’t know what direction they wanted to go, so they just went everywhere. Example: the random sex scene that comes out of nowhere.

There’d been no set up for it, so none of you had time to prepare for it. And for such a terrible movie, the scene’s fucking hot. You feel much too warm and you have to resist the urge to push Lucas off of your lap to get some much needed air. Your palms stay on his stomach because you figure it’s more awkward to change positions than to pretend nothing’s happening. You can feel his breathing get heavier, more rapid, and you unthinkingly start stroking the smooth skin where his shirt had ridden up. You’d meant for it to be soothing, to calm him down a bit, but he jerks on top of you. Okay, maybe your thumb is a little close to his waist band.

His hand grabs your wrist and you expect him to pull your hand away. What you are not prepared for is for him to drag your hand even lower, resting it on top of his hardened cock. He lets go, then. Doesn’t force you to do anything, just lets you know that hey, this is a thing.

You swallow thickly, heart slamming in your chest, stomach jolting as electricity shoots down your spine. Lucas jerks on top of you when you squeeze him accidentally, and he leans back so that it’s your chest to his back, his head next to yours. Shooting a glance at Xiaojun to make sure he isn’t looking, you move your hand up his length. And keep moving it.

“Fuck, you’re big.” You gasp it without thinking, thought it’s quiet enough that only Lucas can hear it. His lips curl upwards but he doesn’t turn to look at you. A good thing, because you don’t want him to see how turned on you are just from palming him over his sweatpants.

You lightly run your hand up and down the length, taking your time, not applying too much pressure. Lucas looks like he’s caught somewhere between heaven and hell, your barely there touch driving him insane. A tight squeeze to his tip has his hips jerking up, a loud whine leaving him. You freeze, but none of the others even look up. Slowly, you resume your motions.

It doesn’t take you long to figure out how he works. He’s most sensitive at the tip, so that’s where you focus your efforts. It’s even better for you because you don’t have to strain your arm to reach. You build up a rhythm, rubbing two fingers around his head, squeezing every time he seems like he’s comfortable. He’s sagging against you at this point, and you can tell that all of his efforts are focused on staying still.

“Are you gonna come soon?” You ask him, pressing a wet kiss to his ear lobe. Lucas doesn’t answer, but you hope it’s a no because you’re having too much fun right now. He just groans softly, reaching for your hand and pulling it under his sweatpants.

The skin on skin contact is so much better. The flesh is hard and hot under your touch, the precum leaking from the tip making the glide easier. You run your hand over his whole length, mapping out his veins as you go, before returning to the head and repeating your motions from earlier.

You’re so turned on at this point that it almost hurts, the throbbing in your core painfully empty. Every rough breath that Lucas takes makes you leak more and more, and your panties are sticking uncomfortably to you. There’s a little dampness on your inner thighs and you’re worried that you’re dripping onto the couch. Lost in your thoughts, you don’t realize how tightly your gripping Lucas until his hand flings around for purchase, gripping onto your forearm tightly. His head is still thrown back, eyes squeezed tightly shut, teeth digging into his lower lip. You have the urge to destroy him.

Miraculously, none of the boys have noticed yet, too enraptured with what’s happening on screen. It’s thrilling, knowing that it would be so easy for them to look over and see what you’re doing. So easy to get caught. It’s not like either of you are being subtle. One look at Lucas’s face and it would be obvious somethings up. Not to mention you have your hand down his pants.

“Mhmm, your cock is so nice.” You kiss up his neck to his ear, pressing a kiss there. “So big, so thick. Would fill me up so nicely, wouldn’t you?” Lucas can’t say anything, knows he would blow it as soon as he opens his mouth. “And I feel so empty right now. I wish I was sitting on your lap instead.”

He shudders, trying so hard to compose himself. You stroke him lightly before giving a harsh squeeze. His thighs shake when you make a fist around him and rub your palm over the tip in quick circles. Lucas is definitely close.

“Such a nice cock, such a shame you don’t know how to use it.” Lucas stiffens at this, eyes opening to glare at you. You just smile, feeling a rush of power. “It just feels too good, doesn’t it? Having such a tight, wet pussy around you?“ You let your tongue drag along the side of his neck and his body thrashes at the image you paint for him. “It just feels too good, yeah? Can’t help but lose control.”

Lucas comes with a loud grunt, his whole body shaking as you stroke him through it. Come shoots up and stains his shirt, spills down over your hand and his sweatpants.

You wipe his come off on his thigh, stroking his stomach to cool him off as he comes down from his high. His breathing is still harsh and ragged and you press a kiss to the side of his neck.

There’s another moan and it takes a moment for you to realize that it didn’t come from Lucas. You glance over to find both Hendery and Xiaojun looking at you. Xiaojun looks very caught, with his legs pulling up to his chest to hide his tent. Hendery doesn’t seem to be as shy, his legs spread wide, boner on full display.

Hendery raises an eyebrow. “Okay, no. You’re not about to judge us for touching our own dick when you’ve just had your hand on Lucas’s dick for the past 30 minutes.”

“Congrats one lasting, by the way! I don’t think I could’ve done it.” Yangyang yells, giving Lucas a thumbs up.

Lucas just laughs. “Well, it wasn’t hard. Y/n sucks at handjobs.” You smack him, offended.

“Hey! I’m great at handjobs, asshole. You were literally a mess on top of me, don’t start.” You shove at Lucas until he’s off of you, though he doesn’t waste time before picking you up and sitting back down, this time with you on his lap.

“Prove it. Lets let the rest of them decide.” Lucas sounds smug, and you hate that tone of voice.

“Fine. Are you guys okay with it?” All three of them nod quickly, Hendery quick to add a “more than.”

You reach for Xiaojun first because he’s the one next to you. He bites his lip, letting his legs fall open for you. His eyelids flutter shut at the first touch of your hand over his pants and you smile to yourself. It’s cute.

“Are you really this hard from watching me jack of Xuxi?” Xiaojun groans, shaking his head, though his hips buck up when you slip your hand under his boxers.

“Oh come on, don’t lie. You were moaning and you weren’t even the one being touched.” Hendery points out, yelping when Xiaojun smacks him.

Xiaojun moans, soft and breathy, when you reach down to play with his balls. “Fine, yes, I- oh fuck, do that again. It’s just- you have nice hands.” He pants out, one hand reaching out to grip something. He ends up holding onto Hendery’s shoulder.

“Wow, Xiaojun, gonna come already?” Yangyang laughs, turned around in the chair to face you. Xiaojun doesn’t even bother to respond verbally, throwing up a weak middle finger instead.

You motion the youngest over. “Yangyang, you’re so far away. Come join the fun.” He takes a second to fix his boner situation before moving closer, settling on the arm rest next to Hendery.

Lucas is quiet for once, and it’s such a pleasant change that it doesn’t register that he’s being too quiet. Xiaojun is a moaning mess under your touch, and you’re so focused on making him feel good that you nearly vault yourself off of Lucas’s lap when he moves his hand to your pussy. He wastes no time slipping his hand under your loose shorts, rubbing you over the fabric of your panties. The pleasure it brings you has you moaning, hips rutting into his touch. A whine leaves you when he pulls his hand away, and it’s a smug look from him that snaps you out of your lustful haze.

“Baby wants my fingers that badly, huh?” Lucas sounds so cocky and it pisses you off, because yes, you do want his fingers that badly. They’re long and thick and you’ve been on edge for so long, all you want is to get off. You don’t respond, shifting all your attention to XIaojun, jerking him off pointedly. He cries out, slapping his hand over his mouth to muffle his moans as he comes, white spilling over your hand and his clothes. “Aww, don’t ignore me. I can feel how wet you are, baby.” “I don’t want your fingers, Lucas. I’ve been horny for like an hour- I would take anything at this point.” You let your eyes trail over his face. “You’re not special.” You wipe your cum-filled hand on his thigh, rolling your eyes at him.

“Fine, you could take anything? Ride my thigh, then.” He raises his eyebrows as if to say go on.

“I- what? I’m not going to do that.” You want to- God do you want to, but he’s so infuriating and you don’t want to give him the satisfaction.

He flexes his thigh muscles, lifting his leg to press it into your core. “Come on, y/n. I know you want to.” You look over at the other three boys- XIaojun looks like he’s half asleep, though he has Yangyang on his lap and is holding on to him tightly. Hendery is sitting next to you, palming himself leisurely.

“Or I could eat you out.” Yangyang offers, head cocked to the side. “Doesn’t my tongue sound so much nicer than Lucas’s thigh? He hasn’t washed his pants in like a month.” “Yes I have!” Lucas shouts, too loud directly next to your ear. You flinch at the volume. They look ready to argue the topic further, but you interrupt them.

“Yangyang, c’mere.” He shoots Lucas a smug look, prying himself out of Xiaojun’s arms to sit on the carpet in front of your spread legs. Xiaojun whines and wraps himself around Hendery. “Let’s see you put that tongue to good use.”

Yangyang smiles at you, dropping a kiss to your inner thigh before pulling down your shorts. A gentle kiss is pressed to your clothed core before your panties are gone, too, and then it’s just Yangyang’s mouth on your bare pussy. He parts your folds with his thumbs, tongue delivering a broad lick up your slit. You whimper, shifting on Lucas’s lap.

“You taste good.” Yangyang says, pulling back to admire your pussy. “So wet, too. I bet you’re dying for some relief right now.” You’re not one to beg but you’re getting close to it. The frustration that comes with being on edge for so long has you close to tears, You nod slowly.

Yangyang doesn’t waste another second before diving in, eating you out like it’s his sole purpose in life. His tongue fucks in and out of your hole quickly, before moving up to flick at your clit. You can’t help but to moan loudly, squirming and bucking up into his mouth. Lucas wraps his arm around your waist to keep you still.

A soft groan reminds you of Hendery’s presence and you reach your hand out to grasp his cock. He lets you take over for him easily, sagging against the couch as you start up a quick rhythm. There’s none of the teasing you’d given the others- you’re much to scattered to do something like that.

“Oh fuck, just- just like that.” Yangyang hooks your legs over his shoulder and you use your ankles to pull him in closer. “Don’t stop.” He mumbles something into your core and the vibrations have you moaning.

Loud moans leave you, your arousal only fueled when you think about just how filthy this whole situation is. You’re jerking off your friend while being eaten out by your other friend, all while sitting on the lap of your enemy who you’d jerked off earlier. Oh yeah, and all while your other friend is passed out because you’d also jerked him off. You whimper and clench around air.

Lucas pulls your face towards him, attaching your lips with no warning. You let yourself melt into him, moaning as he licks past your lips, plays with your tongue. He sucks on the muscle and you feel yourself gush, melting against him. You chase his mouth when he pulls away, feeling absolutely shameless at this point. Lucas just laughs and attaches his mouth to your neck, sucking hickeys into the skin. You throw your head back against his shoulder and give into the dizzy pleasure that’s trying to consume you.

Hendery places his hand on top of yours and fucks up into your grip, his groans growing in volume until he comes with your name on his lips. He lets go of your hand, tilting your face towards him before sliding his fingers past your lips. You suck on them mindlessly, moaning at the saltiness of his come.

Yangyang does something fantastic with his tongue and you come like that, Hendery’s fingers in your mouth, Lucas’s lips on your neck, and Yangyang tongue deep in your pussy. It’s the ultimate bliss, and you let yourself float off to the stars as they work you through it with gentle touches. Xiaojun mumbles about how gorgeous you look, his eyes half open from exhaustion and lust.

Soft moans leave you as Lucas continues to mark up your neck, Yangyang looking up at you from between your legs as he runs his palms up and down your thighs.

You reach your hands out for him. “Come on, let me return the favor.”

Yangyang just shakes his head, laughing. “I’m okay.”

You furrow your eyebrows, about to ask why, when Hendery lets out a bark of laughter. “Wow, Yangyang, I can’t believe you came in your pants. What are you, fifteen?” They start arguing, poor Yangyang hiding his face in your thigh. You stroke his hair, letting your eyelids flutter shut as Lucas shuffles around, somehow cuddling you more aggressively. You pull Yangyang up onto the couch, and him and Hendery end their argument by cuddling. Yangyang’s half on top of you half on top of Hendery, Xiaojun’s still attached to Hendery’s back. It’s so utterly comfortable that you fall asleep without much thought.

(You’re waken up by Kun’s loud screaming when he comes back from dinner. He’s traumatized.)

[dweetwise]

yes hello i am back on my bullshit again, presenting you yet another felix x ace! (also i’m taking the creative liberty to call the ship riconti because it sounds like a cheese or something and i found it funny) anyways, this one is just me thirsting over the oktoberfest skin through ace, ft. some suggestive language but no nsfw!

word count: 2781

Felix X Ace: Clothes make the man

The whole thing starts as an offhand comment.

"—I mean, it's clearly tailored. He pulls it off,” Ace is telling Meg, who has been complaining about Felix's stuffy suit and even stuffier attitude for five minutes straight. “But it's so impractical!” the girl argues. “Wasn't he on some kind of field trip when he was taken? What kind of guy wears a suit to that?” “I don't know, but I'm not going to complain about free eye candy,” Ace smirks, and Meg rolls her eyes. “Oh yeah, I forgot rich snobs are your thing. Sucks you can't scam him for his money in here,” Meg snarks. “Excuse me for having taste,” Ace shoots back. “I wish I had a suit like that. Do you think it's Gucci?” “Burberry,” an increasingly familiar voice answers from behind him and Meg whips her head around to look at its owner, eyes wide in shock at having been caught gossiping. Meanwhile Ace, liking to think he has more self-control, schools his face into a pleasant smile and slowly turns around to face Felix. “Would have been my next guess,” Ace says, trying not to let it show that he's mentally slapping himself for essentially thirsting over Felix when the other was within earshot. “I like the cut. You've got good taste.”

He’s feebly trying to save some of his wounded ego, but probably ends up laying it on too thick. Felix fidgets a little, maybe not used to getting compliments, before he seems to catch himself. He meets Ace's eyes and the hint of a smirk tugs on his lip.

“Wish I could say the same,” Felix says, pointedly looking at Ace's flamingo sweater, before turning around and walking away and leaving Ace to gape at the unexpected sass from the normally serious man. “I take it back, I like him!” Meg snickers beside him.

The Entity seems to share Ace's enthusiasm for Felix's fashion sense, and only a few trials in Felix is already in a different suit, this one a grey plaid.

“Hmm…” Ace pretends to mull over when they're working on a generator together. “Did you see something?” Felix asks, hurriedly glancing over the top of the machine to try, in vain, to spot the killer. “I think the navy blue suits you better,” Ace smirks at his own pun. “Though the plaid certainly makes a statement. Shame that statement is ‘I'm a grandpa at thirty years old’.” “You know, in my job, gold is really only used for trims. Any more than that is just tacky," Felix deadpans, not even sparing a glance at Ace's obnoxiously golden silk outfit. “And it's thirty-eight.”

Ace doesn't bother suppressing his grin over the fact that Felix seems happy to go along with his silly banter.

It becomes sort of an inside joke between them, and when Felix shows up to the campfire in a porn stache and driving gloves, Ace chokes on a laugh.

“I’m sorry, is this an 80's theme party?” Ace jokes. “Careful you don't end up on a propaganda poster with a stache like that.” “Why are you wearing an eye patch?” Felix immediately shoots back. “Is this the 16th century? Should we break out the rum and set sail?”

Ace hears Quentin snort beside him.

“It's a pilot outfit,” Ace argues, pulling his jacket with the pin-up print tighter against himself defensively. “No, mine is a pilot outfit,” Felix deadpans, and Ace can't really argue, not when the other is wearing a bomber jacket and pilot glasses and leather gloves. “Yours is a blind truck driver.”

Bill coughs out something akin to a laugh on the other side of camp and Ace bites his lip to stop himself from doing the same.

“Can I borrow the shades some time?” Ace forfeits the argument, and Felix smiles just the tiniest bit. “Sure.”

And Felix actually follows through with the promise, switching sunglasses with him when Ace later complains his own don’t go with his outfit. It’s a pretty cute gesture, like they were close friends or even a couple, and when Felix snorts and tells him he looks ridiculous it just serves to make Ace smile brighter.

It’s not like the exchange or the ones before it mean anything, it’s just harmless joking with the occasional flirt. Ace still thinks Felix is attractive, but he doesn’t have any illusions that the man would be into him like that, with what having a girlfriend and unborn baby back home, not to mention Ace having a good ten years on him in age. Still, he appreciates that Felix goes along with his cheeky comments, at least not grossed out by or taking offense to Ace’s flirting.

He only gets to keep the shades for one trial, because the Entity has blessed Felix with another outfit for Ace to offer his unsolicited opinion on.

“Oh my god,” Ace comments when he spots the horrendous, grease-streaked mop in place of Felix’s normally expertly styled hair. “Are you a closet hipster? Is an avocado smoothie going to fall out of the hat?” he quips, eyeing the fedora that is, in Ace’s humble opinion, vastly inferior to all of his own hats. “I needed a disguise to lay low for a while, and what better way to hide in plain sight in a big city?” Felix defends his unkempt hair and dirty t-shirt. “What’s your excuse?” he shoots back.

Ace glances down at his generously open shirt—gold again, just to annoy Felix—and tacky sequin pants.

“Vegas, baby,” Ace grins. “If you’d ever been, you’d know.” “I’ve never been happier to say I haven’t,” Felix chuckles. “I don’t think I could handle more of… whatever this is,” he says, gesturing to Ace’s outfit. “When we get out of here, I’m definitely taking you,” Ace quips. “I just want to see you cry over all the flashy satin and fake gold.”

Felix doesn’t roll his eyes or make a sarcastic comment like Ace expects. Instead, he stares blankly in confusion for a few seconds, before his expression settles into a smile Ace can’t quite place.

“Alright,” Felix simply says, and combined with the soft smile it’s enough to make Ace nervously look around camp for a distraction. “Hey, Kate!” he hollers, spotting the songstress braiding Meg’s hair. “You got a hairband for our friend and his questionable hair style over there?”

He ends up regretting the question as soon as Kate insists on braiding Felix’s hair and the normally standoffish man, somehow, goes along with it. He can’t believe he’s jealous for someone getting to touch the grimy, unkempt strands, and it sure as hell doesn’t help that Felix seems to like it. Kate looks thrilled to get to spend some quality time with the man, chatting about this and that and taking way longer than necessary to make the hairstyle, and Ace ends up walking away and pestering Dwight to play some cards with him so he can at least win at something.

His win streak over the poor boy is interrupted when Felix later sits down with them, gesturing for Ace to deal him in, and Ace can’t quite hide his pleased grin that Felix would rather spend time with him than the beautiful girl who just played with his hair for half an hour.

“Better?” Felix asks him, turning his head to display the most pathetic French braid Ace has ever seen, ending in a ponytail that’s barely an inch in length. “Much better,” Ace says, definitely referring to the company and not the state of his hair, and even the normally diplomatic Dwight gives him a weird glance over his cards after taking in Kate’s handiwork.

Only a few trials after the incident, Ace has the pleasure of spawning together with Felix in one of the Yamaoka maps. When he sees a horrendous checkered pattern from the corner of his eye, he knows he’s in for a treat.

He quickly turns to face the man, nearly tripping over some shrubbery as the Entity decided to place him in some inconvenient bamboo. He meets Felix's eye, opening his mouth to start a snarky comment, when his thoughts come to a complete halt upon seeing the entirety of the outfit.

“Well? Get it over with,” Felix demands, crossing his arms self-consciously and—lord have mercy—blushing a little.

Ace's brain is reduced to white noise in the equivalent of ‘hhhHhhHHhh’ while he just stands there, feet still in the stupid bamboo, and stares.

Felix's hair is now an impeccable undercut, a few loose strands framing his features beautifully, and the perfectly trimmed stubble adds a rugged charm to his handsome face. The vest is stylish, a navy blue similar to the suit Ace likes, and the checkered shirt shouldn't work with it but it does, and there's even a matching handkerchief in his breast pocket. Ace's horny brain immediately goes to hanky code and shut up brain it's in the wrong pocket—

Ace mentally shakes his head and looks at Felix's pants instead. And that was a bad idea, because he’s wearing fucking. Leather. Pants.

Again, it should look ridiculous, but Ace feels himself start salivating at the idea of them hugging Felix's ass—ugh, focus!

The pants have small ribbons on the sides and the entire ensemble is so goddamn adorable and sexy that he can't even deal. And Ace has seen a lot of handsome men during his life, mostly in the mirror, but right now, Felix takes the cake.

Felix's attitude shifts from embarrassed to curious when Ace isn't immediately opening his big mouth like usual.

“If this is how all Germans dress, it’s a tragedy I’ve never been,” Ace flirts, his dick having taken over his brain and his mouth running on autopilot.

Instead of insulting Ace's panama hat and favorite pink shirt, Felix clears his throat and averts his eyes.

“You don't look too bad yourself,” Felix mutters, cheeks heating up again as he twiddles with the cuff of his shirt.

Ace idly wonders if the bamboo bush is big enough for them to make out in without being spotted—brain, focus! The guy is just being polite, no need to jump his bones!

They've got the usual back-and-forth out of the way, but Felix still isn't moving to start the trial, regarding Ace warily and fidgeting, and he's just so fucking hot—ugh, he needs to say something, doesn't he?

“God, the things I'd let you do to me," Ace thinks while he says ‘We should find a generator’ because he's not going to creep Felix out any further—

Felix chokes on nothing and his face flushes bright red, and Ace belatedly realizes his brain got its wires crossed and he definitely said the first bit out loud. Shit, that was definitely out of line, and if Felix hasn’t been offended before he sure as hell should be now.

There’s a screech from his left and Ace has never been so glad to take a bonesaw to the shoulder as when the Nurse teleports next to him and interrupts their awkward conversation, Ace finally running out of the goddamn shrubbery while clutching his injured shoulder. Strangely enough, the Nurse doesn’t follow him as he runs up to the temple, and soon after he hears Felix yelp instead, the killer chasing him around the shack.

Damn, now he somehow needs to make it up to Felix both to apologize for his foot-in-mouth syndrome and for him taking the Nurse off Ace’s back.

Unfortunately for them, the Nurse isn't playing around this match, and when she returns to tunnel Felix right off the hook, Ace barely even gets the chance to yell out a “Move!” and throw himself in the way of the attack, much less talk to him about what happened earlier.

Soon Ace is walking back into camp, the second to last to have been sacrificed, only Claudette remaining in the trial and trying to find the hatch. He's already prepared an apology, and hopefully he'll be able to joke it off and Felix won't be weirded out by him. Well, at least not more than usual.

But then he spots Felix talking to Dwight by the edge of the camp, and Dwight freezes mid-conversation upon seeing Ace, before his face twists into a—smirk? Since when has Dwight smirked?—and he says something to Felix before taking off, walking over to where Steve and Ash look to be engaged in a game of tic-tac-toe.

Ace doesn't even have time to ponder why Dwight suddenly seems like he knows way too much, because Felix is approaching him and he knows this is a make or break it situation.

“Dwight seemed awfully smug, huh?” Ace jokes to buy himself some time after his carefully crafted apology flies out the window when he sees Felix’s serious expression. “We need to talk,” Felix says, looking and sounding every bit the stern businessman Meg thinks he is. “Yeah, alright,” Ace agrees and tries not to deflate too much upon essentially being shut down before he can even try to make things right.

As he follows Felix out into the woods away from prying eyes, he considers whether it's even worth apologizing if their friendship is done with anyway. He just hopes this won't cause unnecessary drama within the group, the others sure as hell don’t need to get involved.

His train of thought is interrupted when he's suddenly pushed against a tree, letting out a startled yelp that he’ll later vehemently deny. Shit, is Felix going to beat him up?

An arm wrapping around his hip is finally enough to pull Ace out of his racing thoughts, and when he looks up at the man he finally realizes that Felix is definitely not upset with him, and his eyebrows shoot up into his hairline upon seeing the clear bedroom eyes thrown his way.

“Is this not okay?” Felix asks, his dark gaze faltering from insecurity. “Naw, baby, just took me by surprise,” Ace practically purrs, a lazy grin spreading over his face as the familiar confidence returns, his hands running over Felix's shoulders appreciatively. “I thought you were upset with me from before, not that you'd take me up on the offer.” “Well, I—” Felix starts, clearing his throat self-consciously. “I've wanted this for quite some time, and Dwight said you probably wouldn't be opposed, so…”

That's what they were talking about? And Dwight convinced Felix that Ace is down to fuck? Shit, he needs to get the kid a fruit basket or something to thank him.

“He's definitely not wrong,” Ace says, trying for a seductive look but probably ends up leering stupidly from the anticipation instead. But apparently it gets the job done, because Felix pulls him tighter against him and leans in for a kiss.

And okay, wow, apparently he wasn't lying about really wanting this, because there's an urgency in the way he practically devours Ace's mouth, letting out an appreciative groan when Ace parts his lips and encourages him to deepen the kiss.

So maybe he should be worried about Felix's girlfriend or his sudden interest in men or whether he's looking for more than a casual fuck. But Ace has never been good at thinking certain things through and he's not about to start now, not when he has a breathless and flushed Felix pulling away from the kiss and looking at him with lust-blown eyes.

“I've wanted to do that for a long time,” Felix breathes, the corner of his mouth quirking up into a half-smile. “You really should have just asked,” Ace smirks, a little amazed that he managed to miss all the signs, because there’s nothing subtle about the way Felix looks at him now. “I was working up to it,” Felix argues. “But then you started practically eye fucking me—” “I was looking respectfully,” Ace corrects, causing Felix to snort. “You stood in a bush and drooled, and then propositioned me,” Felix points out. “Yeah, and you liked it so much you blushed like a virgin and started flirting and took the killer off of me—which, thanks for that, by the way—” Ace starts. “You're welcome.” “—and… why did I think you were mad at me again?” Ace realizes. “No idea. I thought it was pretty obvious why I dragged you here to ‘talk’,” Felix emphasizes, gaze roaming appreciatively over his body. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Ace encourages, flashing his signature smirk in challenge.

And Ace learns that no matter how much he likes Felix's outfit, getting to help Felix out of it is even better.

[bangtanlalaland]

getaway car | kth (m.)

synopsis ⇣ you and your boyfriend are on the run, having robbed your town’s local bank. the both of you spend what you feel may be your last moments together.

— established relationship!au

⇢pairing: kim taehyung x female reader

⇢genre: angst, fluff, pwp, smut

⇢word count: 2.9k

⇢contents ⨯ warnings: sub!taehyung, dom!reader, car sex (unprotected but plz stay safe!), some swearing, some insults lolol (it’s all out of love), masturbation, squirting, voyeurism (oop), oral sex (f receiving), soft love making in this (oof), mentions of a crime (robbing a bank specifically)

a/n: somewhat inspired by the movie “queen and slim” (the sex scene was beautiful omf) also this is unedited because i’m a lazy hoe ok sorryyyy

song rec: “getaway car” by audioslave

The revving sound of the car’s engine rumbles, as you and Taehyung cruise through the California desert—having been driving for hours. The scorching sun and dry atmosphere grants a sheen of perspiration, your clothes now glued to your skin. It’s hot and so are you. You ogle at the view of Taehyung on your left, in the driver’s seat with his arm bent and leaning out the window—one hand gripping the steering wheel and his curly, blonde strands flowing through the breeze. You quickly realize how much you miss his usual dark-chocolate hair, but you know this was all part of the plan.

He borrowed his father’s old Ford Mustang from like the 70’s and unfortunately there is no air conditioner—to which you now regret the decision to go on the run with said vehicle. You deliberately fan yourself with the sundress in which you’re attired, but the act didn’t help much, just breezing more warm air onto your being.

“Fuck,” you let out with a sigh of frustration. Taehyung knows that you tend to have an attitude when you’re: 1) hungry; 2) on your period; or 3) just too damn hot.

He notes your aggravated expression. “What’s up, babe?”

You roll your eyes in reply, “It literally feels like the devil’s ass right now. Is there any place we could stop by for some air?” You quickly add, “Conditioning!”

He chuckles at your annoyed figure, and you hate when he teases you. You instantly scoff, “It’s not funny, okay! You know how I get when I’m too hot.”

With a coy smirk, he adds, “But, you already are.” He peers at you for a quick moment to wiggle his eyebrows before glaring back to the road ahead.

“Seriously, Taehyung. Fuck you!”

He shakes his head, his tongue darts out to wet his bottom lip as he attempts to bite back that boxy grin of his. “I really wouldn’t mind.”

You roll your eyes so hard that you’re surprised you don’t have a headache by now.

“Relax, babe. Besides, we have another 40 miles out until the nearest anything.” Your jaw drops at his comment, and you let out a choked laugh. You feel like screaming.

“You’ve got to be kidding, right?” You probe, twisting your body to face him directly. He shrugs, “Clearly, you don’t know how to read.”

Your eyes naturally narrow in on the asshole, and you playfully jab his arm.

“But seriously, we’ll stop soon,” is all he says. You give a pout towards his comment—your lips poking out in a childish way, followed by crossing your arms.

“No fair,” You whine. “We are going to have to stop anyway a lot sooner than you think. Look at the damn gas!”

Taehyung notes the gas marker sits just above “E.” He verbally swears, “Ah, fuck!”

You shake your head at his silly self, “And you say I can’t read,” you add with a devious smirk and a quirked brow. He seethes, squinting his eyes at you and sucking his teeth.

“Suck my dick.”

You burst out in a laughter that has his insides fluttering. You can’t help how hilarious it is whenever you catch Taehyung slipping. You gasp for air, still laughing your heart out, and he couldn’t help himself from shining that familiar boxy grin you grew to love.

“Ah! It’s not even that funny.” He spills, every so often glancing at your heaving figure in the passenger seat. You slap your thigh and cover your face, attempting to shake away the giggles—your cheeks now hurting from laughing dramatically.

You retort, “You should have seen your face!” Taehyung snarks at you, his hair blowing through the breeze and golden skin glowing gorgeously; and you honestly have never seen anything more breathtaking. He notes your expression and lands his eyes back on the road.

“What are you lookin’ at?” A small smile paints across your face whilst you slip, “The hottest man on the planet.” His gaze snaps toward you in a quick fashion, and he doesn’t miss the way you examine him as if he’s a species you’d just discovered. With the added heat, your hormones are on overdrive; you shamelessly trail your hand onto his thigh, inching toward his groin area.

“W-whoa, baby what are you-” He’s cut off by your palm resting on top of his soft cock, gently grazing against the material—adding a soft amount of pressure. He grips the steering wheel tighter, just in case. You watch his facial expressions tentatively, pressing your hand down just a tad more; you love how the hiss spills from between his teeth, a soft groan shortly follows after.

“Mmm, do you like that? Like when I touch you here?” You coo, rubbing your fingers in a circular motion; your pussy throbs at the way his cock suddenly twitches from behind his slacks. He whines, wanting so desperately to rut against your hand, but he can’t. His foot remains on the gas pedal, and he doesn’t want to swerve off the road and/or risk getting into an accident. He sits there, taking whatever you give him. His eyes are glued to the steaming asphalt ahead, not breaking his stare; which slightly irritates you, granting a harsh squeeze within your grip.

Taehyung’s foot presses down on the pedal too harshly, by accident, and he instantly chokes out, “Yes, b-baby! I love it- When you touch me, Mmmm.” Your lips quirk up and you immediately snatch your hand away—gaining a small whine paired with a pout. Taehyung’s eyebrows furrow as he looks to you for a brief second, and he almost runs off the road.

“____,” he warns with that deep voice of his. You have your hands groping your breasts, as wanton moans spill from you. You close your eyes and throw your head back, in hopes that he’d watch you some more; maybe doing so would convince him to pull over already. And he does, continuing to catch glances of you while struggling to drive, yet each time he steals a gaze, you progress more and more. With your legs now spread out and lace panties on display, you rub your fingers across your clothed core, the soft material soaking itself in your wet.

“Want you to touch me, Tae Tae.” You whisper softly, but loud enough for him to hear. He swallows a thick gulp while peering at your hidden goods for a split second. You moan just a little too loud, wanting his attention on you again. He curses under his breath, his forehead glistens with sweat.

“Want to bury my pussy in your face,” You pull the thin material to the side, showcasing your lady lips. Taehyung witnesses the action and his cock jumps, an aching boner gradually approaching; you hear a growl escape from his lips—which prompts you to egg him on even more.

“Fuck, babe.”

“Touch me, Tae. Touch me now,” you demand, using a finger to glide along your folds, spreading your wetness. He takes another glance at you and back to the road, letting his right hand free to make its path toward you. His lengthy fingers reach out a little further, and graze upon your core—causing a low gasp from you.

You moan, “More.”

His left hand remains on the steering wheel, while his right continues to coat his fingers in your arousal—the slick, wet feeling causes his cock to harden to its full potential. You naturally buck your hips to follow his motions, and you gain another moan from him. He unintentionally grazes upon your clit, and your thighs jerk in response. He pulls his fingers from you and pops them in his mouth, tasting your essence.

He hums in reply and blurts out, “Fuck! That’s it. I’m pulling over.”

The sudden jolt of the car causes you to slide across the seat, bumping into Taehyung slightly. He abruptly parks the car on the side of the road, right onto the dry land of the desert. The door on the driver’s side shuts rigidly; Taehyung marches around the car and flings your door wide open.

“On your knees.” You command; and being the gentleman he is, he kneels down. You lift your bottom from the seat to remove your panties, throwing them somewhere out of reach; your legs spread open on their own accord, and Taehyung forcefully drags you closer to the edge of the seat—his arms wrapped under your knees. His intriguing, hooded lids fixed on your heat, his knees slightly burn from the scorching plains of the desert.

Your fingers run through his strands, lightly caressing his scalp. “Such a good boy. Now eat me.”

You push his head further down and the tip of his nose nuzzles your clit, his lips covering themselves in your wet—his tongue graces itself upon your inner lips, gliding along the juicy flesh. Your head falls back, while your grip on his hair tightens, forcing him to devour you whole whilst your hips grind against his face. Low hums and groans spill from your man, as he takes all of you into his steamy mouth.

“S-so fucking good,” You moan, Taehyung’s finger nails dig into your thighs, his tongue lays itself flat—the wet muscle skids up and down your labia, smothering you in his saliva. He purposely stops right before reaching your clit, repeating the action over and over again. A drawn out moan falls from you, and you tug his strands a tad too much, causing him to whimper under your hold.

You rut yourself against his tongue and state, “Bad boy! No teasing.” He pulls away and takes a quick look at your pussy that shimmers with his spit, then he peers up at you—staring straight into your eyes and watching as your chest rises and falls with each labored breath. He opens his mouth just enough to cover your clit, teasing you yet again and you grow impatient—needing to feel his lips on your throbbing clitoris. He inches closer and closer; you desperately push his head further and finally his soft, pink, plush lips encase around your needy nub. Lewd sucking noises follows soon after, and you treasure the view of Taehyung devouring your clit, vigorously jostling his head back and forth. Your grip on his curls falters, and you find yourself falling flat on your back, finding purchase on top of your thighs, nails grazing across the skin.

“Oh, ungh! T-tae” You lose your breath for a moment, keening in on the noises he makes with his juicy tongue and soaked lips, that you nearly miss the sound of a car passing by. Your moans now turned into cries, your kitty clenches and just as you thought this was enough, you feel Tae’s fingers rubbing along your folds, smothering them in your wetness. He inserts one of those long fingers and buries himself to the knuckle, whilst lapping at your clit. He pumps vigorously, and you find yourself squirming underneath him.

“Mmmm,” is all you hear him say as he doesn’t let up on eating you out.

“Fuck yes, just like that.” You add, swaying your hips to meet his finger thrusts. He sneaks in a second finger, and your walls welcome them in completely. You grip the leather seat of the car, and wriggle within his hold. He brushes up against that spot deep within you, fucking you with his fingers. Taehyung’s member knocks against his slacks, as if calling out to your kitty. You’re so wet that you coat his fingers nicely—like a lubricant.

“Yes, yes you’re going- t-to make me cum!” You cry out, he jabs into you at a quicker pace, creating squelches that’s like music to his hears. He lodges a wad of spit onto your cunt, then flits his tongue out to prescisely stimualte your clit yet again. He creates a “come here” motion with his fingers, ramming into that same sweet spot repeatedly. A strained cry escapes from you, and everything is blazing.

“Mmm, fuck!” Your legs quiver out of control, and you feel something build up only to be bought down as your pussy shivers, spurts of liquid project onto the car seat and Taehyung’s fingers, some reaching his blouse and his chin. Your body grows limp—having been drowned out by your orgasm, but he doesn’t let his tongue up. He pulls and tugs your lips, licking along your entire mound—touching your now sensitive clit in the process.

You lie there watching him and push his head away to keep him from touching you anymore, “Drink up, baby boy.”

“Yes ma’am.” You love how he complies, slurping the juices that stream down the seat. You beam at his obedience, and there’s this fluttering-like feeling within you that approaches—something like butterflies in your stomach. Taehyung watches you with those big, asymmetrical eyes. You scoot back to let him in on the passenger’s seat, and he seats himself, slightly soaking his slacks from your juices. But he doesn’t break his stare from you, and you feel scorching under his gaze. You pull the hem of your sundress and over your head, dropping the material somewhere behind you. Taehyung unbuttons his silky blouse just a few buttons, putting those sexy collarbones on display. His lips part at the sight of your black, lace bra.

“You’re so beautiful, you know that?” He reassures, rubbing your thigh and easing his grip onto your waist, pulling you on top of him. You straddle him in the cramped space, grinding your pussy along his clothed cock, a tender yet odd sensation of the fabric of his slacks as it grazing amongst your core. Taehyung catches your lips in a heated kiss, small moans muffled and whimpers caught in between breaths. A soft cry spills from you, and tears prick at the corners of your eyes. He notes how you’ve shut your mouth closed, and a frown graces upon your expression.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” He asks, brushing his fingers across your cheeks to caress them softly.

You can’t ignore the anxiety that fills you from the thought of being caught. What will happen to the both of you? Surely you’ll pay for your time, but then that would mean you and Taehyung would be separated, and who knows for how long?

You shake your head at the thought of it all, “I-I’m so scared. What if we-” You can’t finish your sentence, cut off by your sobs.

There’s a pang in Taehyung’s chest at your words, and he cups your cheeks to fix your gaze onto him.

“Look at me,” He says with a hint of certainty laced in his sentence. Your eyes pry open, soaked with tears.

“Look, I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you. Okay?” He expresses, pressing soft pecks to your lips. Your fingers lace within his hair while you continue where you left off before, grinding yourself against him. The warmth of his body consumes you, that the summers heat is long forgotten.

You moan in between kisses, “Please, Tae.” You pull away and stare into his eyes for a moment, finding placement on the button of his pants, unzipping the zipper. He lifts himself up to tug his slacks and briefs down to his ankles in one go.

His hard cock bolts upwards, the rosy-tinted tip shimmers with precum—that oozes from the slit.

“Need you,” you whine, wrapping your fingers around him—eager to pump his shaft. Taehyung grips your waist, his Adam’s apple bobs in the moment of his moaning—as the tip of his cock brushes against your pussy lips. He bucks his hip upwards, pushing himself past your entrance, and you engulf his thick length inside of you that stretches you out like no other.

Broken moans fill up the atmosphere.

“Fuck,” he slips. You gush at the melody of his moans filling up your ears; his large hands press against your back, as he darts his tongue out to lap at your breast, sucking your nipple and caressing the other. He starts with a sluggish pace, jamming up into you, but you want more—crave more.

“Harder.” You order, slamming back down to meet his thrusts. He rams up into you, making you jolt upwards, almost hitting the roof of the car. You note another car that passes by. He places kisses along your jawline, leaving a trail down to your neck and collarbone.

Your fingers pull on his strands a little harder, both of your bodies drenched in sweat. Taehyung forces himself to hit your spot repeatedly.

“I love you,” He lets out followed by another moan, “Love you so much, you know that?” You both pant for air, too lost in the feel of each other and too caught up in the moment; you ease your fingers down to find your clit and rub furiously.

Taehyung grazes his nails along your ass cheeks, while still fucking up into you. He lands a harsh smack, gaining a yelp from you.

He takes a break to let you gain control, and you deliberately ride his cock, the sounds of your thighs smacking against his makes him shudder underneath you.

“I-I’m going to cum, babe. Fuck!” You clench around him intentionally, wanting to make him cum inside of you. Just as he spilled those words, you fall like apart on top of him. He gives a few last harsh strokes, to help ride out your orgasm, whilst also gaining one of his own.

“Oh, Taehyung!” Your fingernails graze along his scalp, with trembling thighs and a pulsing cunt, you gasp for air—immersed in your orgasm. Taehyung slips a drawn-out moan, as spurts of warm cum project deep inside of you. Your grasp from his hair loosens up, and you pull away to lost yourself in those hooded lids that made you fall in love.

“I love you, too. So much.” You say passion, wrapping your arms around his neck—never wanting to let go, feeling protected in his embrace.

[stachmousworld]

The Sun

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Black!reader

Phew. I don’t even know how to tag that. You will cry and laugh and cry and be happy.

Tags: angst with happy ending, which includes self-deprecation, low self-esteem.

She entered the communal room with a greeting on the tongue

“Pictures of my...” Bucky pointed his groin. “Really?”

Deciding to eavesdrop, she tiptoed near the couch and hid behind a wall. She leaned and peeked at them. From her hiding place, she could see all of them. It was a chance they hadn’t noticed her.

“Yes, women love that,” Sam said, nodding with confidence. He turned to Clint who also nodded.

“Really? It is…” Bucky trailed off, his voice getting smaller. “…something that women like?” He asked unsure.

“Bucky, you gotta trust me – us. We are happy you came to us for advice and we would never lead you astray,” Clint told him, without any hint of his usual snark.

Doubt crept in her mind. What the hell did they tell him and why did Bucky not come to her first? He knew that Clint and Sam were not reliable. She thought he’d be comfortable with her. After all, she was the closest to him.

“So…when I have her number, I’ll send her a picture of my…” He didn’t dare say the word, which seem too...not so him. “And she’ll like it?”

Pictures of…? Realization dawned her. Bucky had found someone. And this someone wasn’t her. She wiped her dry cheeks and took a big breath. She was his best girl and as such, she’ll be there for him, even though he didn’t love her.  

“Y-”

“What the hell is going on here?” She uttered.

All of them jumped. Bucky spun around, a hand on his chest. He looked somewhat guilty and awkward. She smiled softly at him and muttered a small hello. Bucky sputtered a few words. His ears were getting red and his eyes rounder with panic. She repressed her chuckle. He looked like a kid who’s been caught the hand in the cookie jar.

Sam and Clint, though, sported a smug smile. She narrowed her eyes, suspicious.

“I don’t know what you’ve been telling him, but if I find out it’s bullshit…” She threatened, eyes staring deep into Sam’s, who cowered. He jumped to his feet, grabbed Clint and scrambled away. She smiled, with complete satisfaction. The “stare” always worked on Sam and sometimes on Clint, when he wasn’t reckless.

A few months ago, while they were both, Sam and her, talking about their moms. Sam had revealed how he was still scared of his mom’s stare. Even now, as an adult, his mom was able to make him feel like a kid. This information, unfortunately for him, had been stored. In fact, she would have gladly kept this weapon locked in her memory, but since Sam loved to prank Bucky, she’d make sure to keep him in check.

Some pranks could be triggering for Bucky, whether Sam was aware of it or not, and since Bucky didn’t like people to pity him…Let’s just say that the following months she had taken a great pleasure in making him squirm.

Bucky coughed and looked around, still a little awkward.

“What did they talk to you about?” She asked, nonchalant.

“Hm…nothing?”

“Are you asking me?” She laughed, a little nervous.

Bucky huffed and shook his head. She decided to change subject. The last thing she wanted was to make him withdraw.

“I’m going in my room, do you w –.”

Before she could finish her sentence, Bucky jumped to his feet and quickly made his way to her. She shut her mouth close and started walking toward the elevator.

They made their way to her room in silence. Bucky had clearly something on his mind. He was looking straight ahead, moving his hands as if he was talking to himself. Whatever the others told him it really perturbated him. And, if she was to believe what she heard, she hoped they hadn’t plant bad seeds into his head.

She tried not to think of the picture of his – she licked her lips – dick. She had long imagined how it’d be. Long, large with a little curve, the tip would be a reddish color…She had seen him in boxers before and had glanced a few times without getting caught, which has been difficult. Bucky had the bad habit of looking at her, even when they weren’t talking.

At first, she’d thought that there was something wrong with her. Maybe something on her face, or else. But no. Bucky loved to look at her. He could spend up to an hour, not moving, eyes on her. And when she’d turn to face him, he’d not even blush. She didn’t know if it was something common back then, but she’ll have to tell him not to do that with a stranger.

Imagine the lawsuit, she cringed. She could see the title on the first page “The Winter soldier harassed a strange.”

She shook her head and opened her door.

“I’m going to take a shower and I’ll come back,” she signaled, closing the bathroom door behind her.

She took a shorter shower than planned. Her head was buzzing with thoughts that even the hot water couldn’t disperse. She dried herself with her fuzzy towel, relishing in its softness and warmth.

She would forever thank Tony for those heated closets. Surprisingly, he hadn’t known about them. She had even thought he was pulling her leg. But no. Tony Stark, billionaire and genius, hadn’t known about hot towels. It hadn’t been long before he upgraded her own heated closets and set them on every floor. Steve and Natasha had been the first to use them, despite their skepticism and they’d love it.

Bucky had not outright told her he liked the new installment. She even thought he’d never used them, until she received a box full of first editions of her favorite books and records. The love and affection for him had grown tenfold.

She shook her head, a peaceful smile growing on her face. Bucky was really a man of few words.

She put on a boy shorts, and a strapless top before leaving the bathroom.

Bucky was sitting on the bed, looking at his phone. Her smile disappeared. Oh, yeah. He wasn’t interested in her and was talking to someone. She pretended to tidy her paperwork, glancing frequently at Bucky. He had not looked at her once. She didn’t let the disappointment overcome her joy.

“So, I heard what the others said, and I wanted to tell you that if you need an ear I’m here,” she said, nervous.

“No, it’s okay, thanks,” he replied, curtly.

Why wasn’t he looking at her? And what was it with this tone? She didn’t want to force him to open up and seem like a clingy girl. She grimaced. Yep, not a clingy girl.

“Ok. But you shouldn’t send a picture of your penis to no one, unless they ask you. And even if they ask you, you have the choice. And you should also be careful…” Bucky raised his head and looked at her for the first time since the communal room. “…because you also are an Avenger.” She finished, feeling lame.

Bucky tilted his head, pensive. Her confidence was steadily crumbling. He had to say something or she…

“Come here and sit down,” he ordered, calmly.

She released her breath and walked over bed. Bucky tutted and pointed the floor. She raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll do your hair,” he replied, as if it was the most obvious answer.

She sat down legs crossed. Bucky scooted forward, her box containing all of her hair products next to him. In her turmoil, she didn’t even notice it. She placed her hands underneath her butt to stop them from trembling.

Bucky slowly took off her wig making sure to be gentle where the glue was still holding on dear life. She grimaced in pain when it finally came off. Her forehead was burning, and she wanted to pat and press the irritated skin to sooth the pain.

Bucky stopped moving behind her.

“What have you done, again?” He asked, annoyed.

She raised her eyebrows. He couldn’t have found out. Her heart started to beat faster. There was no way he had noticed what she’s done.

“You know that I can see you, right?” He whispered in her ears.

She raised her head and met Bucky’s grey eyes in the mirror. She grimaced guiltily and avoided his intense gaze.

Bucky tilted her head back and observed her forehead. He pressed a metal finger across the mark on her face making her hissed in pain, which didn’t deter him. He kept on massaging the same spot over and over again until she couldn’t feel the pain.

“What have you done?” He asked again.

She sighed. “I wanted it to be more glued.”

He flicked her ear, making her wince. Ouch, she thought, pressing her hand on her ear.

“You are lying.”

“’am not,” she declared, pouting.

“Don’t make me tickle you,” he warned, before starting unbraiding her braids. His nimble fingers worked with practice ease and rapidity.

“I…” She stopped talking. The last thing she wanted was to appear weak in front of him. Not again. She didn’t like to complain or be ungrateful but sometimes her insecurities were too heavy for her to overcome. So, some days, she’d stay in bed, mulling over all the criticism she received. ‘You are not skinny enough.’ ‘You skin isn’t smooth enough.’ ‘You should consider surgery for your horse teeth.’ ‘Your boobs are big but if your waist was slimer you’d be body goal.’ ‘You’d be more beautiful if you had a bigger butt.’ ‘Your legs are too muscular.’ ‘You should wear your hair straight all the time.’ ‘You are too dark.’ ‘You speak white’ etc.

She could go on and on about the things she heard from colleagues, friends or even relatives. She could, most of the time, ignore these thoughts and move one. But the other days, like today, she hadn’t been able too.

There had been an annual brunch at work. She had wanted to be perfect. Not too loud, not to silent, straight hair, clothes that masked or accented what they wanted to see. She hadn’t spoken when not spoken too and didn’t try to be angry at their comments on her blackness.

She has tried. So hard and for so long…

She blinked trying to repress her tears. She sniffed and wiped her nose. But the more she tried and the less she felt like herself. Like this girl coming from a hard-working family. Her parents had made sure she went to the best schools, even if it meant sacrificing their own happiness. She had seen them work their entire life and save enough money to open a restaurant. Money, which ended up in her university fees. And now they were back to square one.

So, she couldn’t fail them. She was working so hard not to become a disappointment. And the worst is that they would never tell explicitly that she was a burden. They’d smile gently and encourage her to find another work, or to maybe go back to university…

“Baby Girl, are you okay?” Bucky asked, putting a halt to the train wreck in her head.

She nodded.

“You do know that I can see you, right?”

She quickly dropped her head, wiping her tears.

“Was it about your brunch?” He asked, now worried.

She nodded, not trusting her voice.

“Did something bad happen? Did someone do something to you?”

She shook her head.

“Does it have to do with why you glued your wig on your forehead.”

“It’s too big,” she wailed. It was ridiculous, she knew it. To have a complex so insignificant. But how many times people had made fun of her about it. She had been able to straighten her teeth and whiten them, use makeup to refine her nose, and lighten her skin, but there was nothing to do for her forehead. It was too damn big.

“What?” Bucky leaned and embraced her tightly. He let her cry and sob without interrupting her. She felt herself fall apart. She was so weak, and Bucky didn’t deserve that. He had already a lot on his plate.

She tried to push him away, which had the opposite effect.

“Don’t push me away, baby doll.” His voice cracked. “Don’t. I’m here for as long you’ll have me.”

“Not true…” she retorted. Her voice came out muffled. “...got a girlfriend…gonna leave me.” She sobbed harder.

“What? What do you mean I have a girlfriend and why would I leave you?” He asked, confused.

This time, when she pushed him away, he let her. He grabbed her face with his hands and pressed their foreheads together.

“What do you mean?” He repeated, his eyes glistening, filled to the brim with tears.

She sniffed, unable to look away.

“I heard your discussion with the other –.” Bucky suck a breath. “And you implied you are interested in someone.”

Bucky stayed silent for a second.

“And…why would I leave you?”

She bit her lip hard enough to make it bleed. Bucky wiped slowly the blood with his finger.

“You really love hurting yourself,’ he complained, half-joking.

He released her and sat back down on the bed. He leaned and pressed a kiss on her forehead. She froze. From one kiss came many more on the sore mark left by the wig. She sighed, not moving one inch.

“For a small head like yours, you really are thinking too much.”

He took some oil in a bottle and started applying it to her roots. She shivered at the cold oil dripping on her scalp.

“You still didn’t answer me,” he reminded her.

She chose to answer to the least painful question. There was no way she could explain why she was afraid he’d leave her.

“Kids used to make fun of me,” she explained, vaguely.

Bucky hummed. There was some oil running down her neck. She didn’t have to notify him that he wiped the nape of her neck with a small towel.

“If it wasn’t my forehead, it was my horse teeth. If it wasn’t the way I talked, it’d be my skin color. Then I hit puberty, and criticism on my breasts size, waist, butt, hair, nose…” She took a shaky breath. Bucky was now massaging her scalp. Usually she’d enjoy it. After all, Bucky was an expert. He would release the tension in her scalp and help her relax, until he braided her hair again. But now, she felt more vulnerable than ever.

He was already twisting her hair into vanilla braids, when she blurted out, her voice full of pain and incomprehension. “Bucky, why am I not enough? Why don’t any of my efforts work? I try so much…I swear Bucky. I promise, I try so hard to fit in…but nothing works. My parents have worked so hard for me to be here and I don’t understand why I am such a failure.” She took a quick breath. “I wear straight hair because my natural ones are not professional. I smile, I try to look less menacing, less smart, less cocky, less…less….” She let out an ugly cry. A sound coming from the deepest part of her chest. She leaned forward and heaved.

She felt Bucky’s arms lift her. He laid her on the bed, embracing big spooning her. He held in his arms and kissed the oily top of her head. She was so lost in her pain to notice.

It took her what felt an eternity to come back. Even if the ugly monster in her brain roared and trampled her defense, she fought to come back.

“’m sorry,” she mumbled.

Bucky stayed silent. The only evidence she had he heard what she just said was how he tightened his arms around her, cutting her oxygen supply. She let him. It was probably her last hug from him. He would probably leave her now he witnessed her breaking down. And maybe…and maybe he’d have the courage to say the words her parents couldn’t. He’d be the one to tell her she was a burden.

“Don’t ever…” He said, harshly. “Don’t ever say that you are a failure, or not good enough.”

She shrugged.

“No!” He screamed suddenly making her jump. He rolled her over and face her. She stood still. Bucky was…he was crying. She had made him cry…She thought her own tears and guilt. She was really a burden. Her weakness brought pain and suffering to everyone around her.

“’sorry. Didn’t want to make you cry.”

Bucky’s face turned into a painful grimace. More tears came out of his eyes.

“I fucking love you.” He whisper-yelled “I fucking love you and hearing you saying those words...it’s like you’ve put me in the electric chair again and again and again.”

She tried to apologize but he pressed a finger on her lips. Guilt gnawed her inside.

“Don’t you ever degrade...” He spat the word. “...yourself like that. Ever.”

He kissed the tip of her nose, closing briefly his eyes.

“If you could see yourself with my eyes, you’d see how amazing you are. Hell! If you could see yourself through every Avengers’ eyes, you’d see that you are gorgeous, smart as hell, snarky, sarcastic, but also kind with a golden heart.”

He caressed her cheeks.

“I love you. And I want you to love yourself for yourself. I want you to tell the colleagues of yours to go to hell. I want you to do everything that pleased you. And not everyone else.”

He kissed each wet cheek.

“Your parents love you. They believe in you. You could never be a failure. Never. And I’m sure they’d agreed with me that you need to find another job.” She shook her head, disagreeing fervently. “Yes, you’ll change job. I have seen you, baby doll. I have seen you wilt and become more depressed. You always told me you wanted to work as a librarian. I know you have enough money to quit and you can become what you truly wanted.”

She opened her mouth to shut his idea down. It was true that on one particular night she’d express her dream of owning a library. But it was…crazy! A mere dream. She could…She should keep working and give her saving to her parents to help them open their restaurant. That was the goal since she was 18.

She didn’t notice Bucky leaning forward and she barely registered the pressure on her lips. She blinked slowly before closing her eyes. She sighed in the kiss. He didn’t try to push deeper. He backed away, then kissed her again. Just a press of two lips on their twins. There again, her thoughts disappeared.

“You need to shut that brain of yours.”

“What about your girlfriend?” She asked, dazed.

“What about her?”

“Wouldn’t she be mad that you just kissed me?” She frowned.

“Are you mad I kissed you?” He asked, a small amused smiled appearing on his face. His eyes were still red and the grey of his pupils were darker.

“What?”

“Are you mad I kissed you?” He reiterated, patiently.

“Why…I don’t understand.”

He brushed his nose against hers.

“You asked me if my baby doll would be mad at me for kissing you. And I just asked my baby doll if she was mad because I kissed her. Clear enough for me.”

Her brain short circuited. She spluttered some unintelligible words.

“Are you?” He asked.

She raised an eyebrow. Her heart was beating to fast and her brain wouldn’t catch up with the situation. One moment she was crying, then he was crying, then they were both crying and then kissing, and now…wait! He said he loved her. She didn’t imagine it, right?

“I love you,” she blurted out, blushing profusely. Let it not be a dream. Please…

“I love you,” he replied with a happy smile. “Took you long enough. I thought you’d never catch up.”

Their body sagged against each other, the pressure and tension leaving their body. All the benefits from the early head massage was gone. Her neck was stiff, and her heart was beating so hard she could feel it through her skull.

“So, I’m your best girl?” She teased him

“If you had opened you eyes before, you’d notice it since the beginning,” he retorted on the same tone. “I have never been one to be good at hiding my feelings. Everyone could see my love for you.”

“Since the beginning, really? I’m sure I’ve loved you longer, though.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow. “You were always talking about this Jeff from work.”

“Jeff?” She frowned. Seeing how sulky Bucky was, he had probably botched the name, as usual. “Do you mean Jeremy?”

His eyes grew comically wide. Why did she had to fall in love with such a kid.

“You see! You remember his name and his been out of the company for more than a year,” he stated, indignant.

She laughed. “Babe, you are unbelievable. I remember his nam –.” She stopped talking. Bucky eyes were now half closed and is grin…oh his grin…

Warmth pooled in her heart as her lips reciprocated his. A tender smile. Full of love and longing.

“Babe,” he repeated slowly, like he was tasting the word on his tongue to see if it was right. His smile grew wider.

“Well, you call me baby doll so…”

He suddenly laughed and grabbed her. She slapped his chest to show her disapprobation.

“I’m not a ragdoll. You’ll have to treat me carefully. And hey! You didn’t even finish my hair!” She exclaimed, in fake outrage.

Bucky doubled and laughed harder. She soon joined him.

Later…later, they’ll discuss again.

Later, he’ll show his love to her.

Later, he’ll help her stand her ground and raise her head high.

He’ll let her shine for the world to see.

And if…And if one day, as she rose high and beyond, she decided to let him go. Bucky would let her. Because his love for her would burn like a thousand suns. No matter what. And she’ll forever hold his heart.

Two years later, it felt inevitable to him. After she opened her library, after she met new people, after she got away a few months overseas, Bucky hadn’t dared hope.

And then she came back. The little box in his jacket felt too heavy. She looked heavenly in her little black dress. A few years ago, she’d have never worn it, but now she was confident. She talked freely and with animation. Her hands had yet to touch the silverware near her cold plate.

She mentioned a few people, fondly. And Bucky knew he wouldn’t be able to stand besides her. She was shining so hard and he was a shadow. But the Sun never needed one. She needed a strong man, who’ll support her through everything.

So, his box stayed in his jacket.

After their date, they wandered around. She had pressed him to talk about his life, in vain. The more they walked and the less they talked, until the silent came. Loud and heavy.

She was cold, he noticed. Without even thinking he gave her his jacket. She barely protested and snuggled in.

Bucky stayed in his thought thinking on how he would break up with her before she did.

“Bucky?” She asked, unsure.

He stopped walking and turned to her. She was holding the box in her hand.

“What is it?” She asked in a small voice.

“Nothing!” He tried to grab the box, but she was too fast. How ironic. Him the Winter Soldier was too slow.

She quickly opened it and…and…time stopped. Bucky had many words, explanations…all of them died before leaving his mouth. He waited with bated breath her reaction. Her eyes widened and…

“Yes!” She screamed, jumping around then in his arms.

Yes? She had said yes. He…Bucky spun her around barely believing his chance. She didn’t want to break up with him. He sighed, breathing in her scent. She was there she still wanted him…

“Of course, I want you, dummy,” she replied in his ear. “You’ll forever be my King. My knight in shining armor…”

Tears of gratitude pooled inside his eyes. His doubts slowly dissolved under her warmth.

His Sun.

“My Sun,” she whispered on his lips.

He tensed at the nickname, thinking it came from him.

But no.

As he stared deeply into her whisky orbs, he finally realized it. He finally realized that they were two pieces from the same sun.

And they’ll burn until the world ended.

Fin

Mother masterrliiiisssstt ✨✨✨🐱‍🏍

[mochegato]

Hope on Board

Chapter 17 - Flowers Break Like Promises

Chapter 1     Chapter 16

“What about Oliver?” Marinette suggested, looking up at him from her very cozy looking spot on the couch, surrounded by pillows and under a soft blanket.  Kismet was curled up on her lap purring away happily.

Dick scrunched up his nose considering just how brutal his murder at Bruce’s hands would be if he named his son after Oliver.  Probably wouldn’t be a murder, but Bruce would find other ways to punish him.  He was positive there were pictures he could show Marinette that Dick would never recover from.  “No, not Oliver.”

Marinette shrugged and clicked a few more links on her laptop.  “Arthur?” she offered instead.

Dick blinked a few times. Was she trolling him?  Was this her way of letting him know she knew about Nightwing and about the Justice League?  Any second now she was going to offer Barry or Diana.  He studied her closely.  She was completely relaxed, or at least as much as she could with her growing belly.  She looked up to him with innocent, guileless eyes.  He smiled at her.  “No.  How about Thomas John for the boy and Mary Sabine for the girl?” Dick offered instead, taking a seat next to her and scratching Kismet’s head.  Marinette wrinkled her nose at it.  Dick chuckled.  “Both our parents’ names included.”

“But what if we have more kids?  We’ve used up all the grandparent names in one go.  What do we do for the next one?  They don’t get a significant name?”

Dick grinned and gave her a suggestive look.  “Already thinking about more?”

Marinette rolled her eyes but leaned back to lay against him, resting her head on his shoulder.  “I thought it might be an option.  I always wanted more than two.”

Dick kissed her head. “Yeah, me too.  I thought three was a good number.  Maybe four.”

Marinette hummed in agreement and turned her head to nuzzle it into his jaw.  “Three or four sounds good to me.”

Dick squeezed her and looked back to the baby name website on her laptop.  “Okay, so which names do we use for these two?”

“I don’t think I want to name my daughter Mary.  No offense to your mother but it’s a bit too close to my name?  It feels wrong and confusing.” She added apologetically.

Dick nodded in agreement. She was right, that would get confusing, especially since he liked calling her Mari.  “How about middle names are grandparent names.  First names are names we like for different reasons,” he offered instead.

Marinette smiled up at him. “I like that.  Now we just need to figure out the first names.”  She quirked her lips to the side.  “What if you choose the boy’s first name and the girl’s middle name and I choose the girl’s first name and the boy’s middle name?”

Dick nodded and started thinking of names.  The girl was easy.  Mary would be a good middle name and wouldn’t get confused with Marinette.  Then again there was always his Mother’s middle name… But his son’s name was more difficult.  What would he want to call his son if he didn’t name him after his Dad or Bruce?  What were the important names to him?  He couldn’t use his brothers’ names.  He couldn’t use one of the other heroes’ names, he’d never live it down.  So, what other names were important to him? Zitka?  Cute, but hard pass.  Haley? No, he couldn’t do that. Robin?  He wasn’t going to put that out there so clearly.  But then again…

Marinette knew the boy’s middle name.  Thomas was her father’s name and Bruce’s father’s name.  It was the clear choice.  As much as she liked the idea of having a son named Tommy, it would have to be a middle name.  The girl’s name was more difficult because it was whatever name she liked.  So, what name did she like?  She couldn’t use a friend’s name and they already agreed not to use family names.  So it was a matter of what names she liked.  She knew what her father and Adrien would suggest, some pun.  Adrien would probably suggest Catherine so he could call her Kitty.  Pass. She could go with something significant to her like Coco or Vivienne or Vera or Carolina or Guo.  She loved flowers, she could go with Iris or Heather or Daisy.  Rose was out due to the friend rule.  But up until now, the most significant thing in her life had been being Ladybug, but she couldn’t name her daughter Tikki or Lucky.  But then again…

“I know what I want to do,” they both said at the same time and laughed.

“Well that was fast,” Dick observed with a smile.

“And for you,” Marinette agreed.  “Okay, let’s do the girl first.  I like the name Lucy.”

Dick repeated the name as if practicing how it sounded. “Lucy.  I like that.  Lucy Marie. French version of Mary.”

Marinette nodded. “Lucy Marie Grayson.” She turned to him with a smile.  “I love it.”

Dick nodded in agreement. “I do too.  Now the boy.  I like the name Robert.  Rob for short.”

Marinette repeated it. “Robert.  Rob.  Robert Thomas Grayson.  That’s a good name.”

Dick hugged her excitedly. “They both are.  I love the names.  And people said this would be hard.  They clearly don’t know what a good team we make.”  He gave her a quick kiss that turned into a longer kiss, which turned into an even longer kiss.  He pulled her into his lap to get her closer.  She started to pull off his shirt when his phone rang.  “I hate my phone,” he grumbled.  Marinette giggled and nodded in agreement.  “What?” he asked in an annoyed tone that he knew the person on the other side didn’t deserve.  “That is promising.  Okay, I’ll take a look tomorrow.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him as he hung up.  “Tomorrow?”

He nodded.  “Tomorrow.”

“Will you make the appointment at 3?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.  I’m really looking forward to it,” he assured her.  “I promise I won’t miss this one.  Now where were we?” he asked as he took off his shirt.

<><><><><> 

He was late.  He had tried to get out as quickly as possible, but he couldn’t.  There was always something more to investigate or to find.  Then he had to coordinate their next move, so he had to call into the other Titans to figure out logistics.  There was never a good time to get away.  And he had rushed out so quickly he hadn’t grabbed his phone. So here he was rushing to the hospital to try to maybe catch the tail end of Marinette’s ultrasound appointment and unable to let her know or check if she was still there.

He waited impatiently behind another woman as the secretary got her checked in and her insurance information.  His foot was tapping a beat at a speed that would impress Wally.  Finally, the woman stepped away to fill out her forms and Dick rushed up to the counter.  “Hi, I’m here for Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s appointment.”

The secretary raised an eyebrow.  “You must be the boyfriend,” the tone he used to say ‘boyfriend’ indicated to Dick just how badly he had screwed up.  Dick cringed at the thought.  “Her appointment got over about twenty minutes ago.  She already left.”

“Fuck,” Dick grumbled and dropped his head hard on the counter.

The secretary clicked a few buttons on his computer and wrote down an address on a piece of paper.  He slid it across to Dick.  “Good florist.  Really nice flowers and chocolates.”

Dick sighed and took the paper.  “Thank you. I’m sorry.”

The secretary shook his head. “Nothing to apologize to me for.”

Dick nodded in understanding. He couldn’t keep this up.  He knew he couldn’t.  Something had to give.  Marinette wasn’t going to keep forgiving him.  At some point she was going to reach her limit and snap at him.  And he would deserve it.  He wasn’t being fair to her and he knew that.  He wasn’t making the appointments he said he would make. He was leaving at the drop of a hat with little explanation.  

The only explanation he had offered was a lie.  He could alleviate a lot of this by just telling her the truth, telling her who he was, but he didn’t want to do that.  He didn’t want to drag her into this mess, especially with the Court as active as it was.  He didn’t want her worrying unnecessarily or worse yet, getting involved.  He wanted her and the babies as far away as possible from all of this.  The less they knew the better for them.

Dick stopped by the florist and a jeweler and their favorite take out place, making him even later getting home.  When he finally did, he heard the sound of laughter in the apartment.  He pushed his way in to find Marinette sitting on the couch with Jason.

“Hey, Dickhead.  Only,” he pretended to check his non-existent watch, “what? like three hours late.”  He gave Dick a pointed look.

“Yeah, I know.  What are you doing here?”

“You forgot this.  Roy thought you might want it back,” he said waving Dick’s phone in his hand.  “Couldn’t call you to let you know so he called me.  Thought I’d let Pixie Pop know and keep her company until you decided to show up again, hear about the ultrasound.”

“Thank you, Jason,” Dick growled.  He knew he screwed up.  He really, really didn’t need Jason reminding him or getting in his way of apologizing to Marinette, like he knew he needed to.  “I’m here now.”

“Again, only a little late. Mari and I were thinking about watching a movie.  Want to join us?” Jason offered with a snark in his voice.

“Jason…” Dick hissed.

“Jason,” Marinette gave him an exasperated look.

“Fine, whatever.  I’ll go.  Nice talking to you Pixie Pop.  You need anything, let me know.”  He glared at Dick on his way out the door.

Dick sighed and looked down before looking back up at Marinette with the most contrite expression she had ever seen.  “I am so sorry, Marinette.”

“Dick, this is the fourth time you’ve missed or been late for an appointment,” she answered quietly.

“I know,” he looked back to the floor, unable to match her sad gaze.

“If you can’t make them, that’s fine, Dick.  Most partners don’t.  But you keep telling me you can make it then don’t, with no warning.”

“I know,” he repeated, still looking to the floor.

“I asked them to wait for you because I was sure you were going to be there.  You said you wouldn’t miss this one.  I thought you would just be late again.  You promised.”

“I know I did.  I’m so sorry.  I really tried.  I couldn’t get away.  I didn’t want to let you down and I didn’t want to miss seeing my babies.”  

Marinette watched him as he spoke.  His entire body spoke to his remorse, but then again it always did.  He was always sorry when he missed an appointment or a date, when he was late, but then he always did it again.  She sighed and looked down.  She didn’t know what to make of it or how to respond.  She was starting to feel unimportant to him.

“I got these for you. I know they don’t make up for missing yet another appointment after I promised not to, but I thought they might make you happier.”  He held out the flowers for her.  

She took them with a mirthless smile.  “Thanks.”

“And I thought you might be hungry so I got us dinner.  I would have asked what you were in the mood for but,” he motioned toward his phone on the coffee table.  He set the bags on the counter.

“Thanks,” she repeated.

Dick let out a frustrated breath.  He knew he screwed up and didn’t know how to fix it.  The problem was what he already did and he couldn’t change that.  “Marinette, I’m so sorry.  I know I screwed up.  I know that.  I’m going to do everything I can to not repeat it.  I swear to you.  I don’t want to miss any of this.  I don’t want to disappoint you.  I don’t want you to think you can’t trust me.  I’m going to get a calendar and put it right on the refrigerator so I can’t possibly miss it and put every appointment and date on there.”  He took her hands in his and stared in her eyes, “I bought this on my way home to show you how much you mean to me.  How sorry I am.”  He pulled a box out of his pocket and handed it to her.

Marinette gave him an uncertain look but took the box.  She opened it with a gasp.  She took the necklace out of the box to examine it.  “Dick it’s beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you and not enough, I know, but I thought it would look good on you.”

Marinette shook her head and put the necklace back in the box.  “Dick, I don’t need flowers and jewelry.  I need you.  I need to know you’re in this with me, that I matter or lacking that, that at least the babies matter.  I need you to be there when you say you will.”

Dick’s eyes widened at her words.  His heart clenched.  She could not possibly think he wasn’t completely committed to this, to them. “Mari, do you… Mari, you and the twins are the most important things in the world to me.”  He stared at her with an intensity that made her believe him, or at least believe that he believed his words.  “You, this family we are creating, is the most important thing to me. I’ll do anything I have to in order to protect you three.”

Marinette immediately froze and stared at Dick wide eyed.  Her breathing picked up.  She hated those words.  She hated what they excused.  “Dick, what are you protecting us from?  What are you doing?  Is there something I need to know?”

“No,” he answered quickly, a little too quickly to be true.  His voice taking on a soothing tone.  “I just meant you are important to me, the most important thing.” He pulled her into a tight hug.  “Please never doubt that.”

Marinette nodded into his chest.  “Okay. I believe you.”

She didn’t sound entirely sure of her answer, but Dick wasn’t going to question it, he was just going to give her every reason possible to mean it.  “Can you tell me what I missed while I was being an asshole?”

Marinette giggled lightly, still strained but at least it was a move in the right direction, and grabbed two plates.  “Yeah, I can do that.”

Note: For those who don’t follow DC, the teams would frequently call the Robins, including Dick, ‘Rob’ for short.

Chapter 18

Tags:

@dickinette-february @demonicbusiness @ichigorose @iloontjeboontje @ladybug-182 @toodaloo-kangaroo @dast218 @golden-promises @trippingovermyfeet @emimar7 @laurcad123 @lady-bee-fechin

[shyficwriter]

Temporary Home: Chapter 12

Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!)

Summary: You want to make a run into town, but you're forced to take one of the Guardians with you if you want to leave. Guess who get's the pleasure of annoying you? If that wasn't bad enough, someone decides to show up at your door...

Previous Chapter here | Next Chapter Here Or click here to: Start From Beginning

Author’s Note: For my records, this is day 17 of the Guardians living with reader.

Word Count: 6,751

"Where you going?"

You turned and looked towards the source of the voice, Peter's voice, coming from a door to the kitchen. You had just grabbed your keys from the kitchen counter and you were finishing up the short list on your phone.

Obviously you had intended to quickly run your errands the other day when you planned to take the raccoon corpse into town to be tested, but when Fury showed up having brought his own doctor and lab to test the raccoon on site, and also sentenced you to wearing your arm in a sling, you obviously hadn't done that.

It had been a couple days since then, you having wanted to get used to the sling a little bit before attempting to drive. You knew it still wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do, but you really wanted out of the house.

"Just running into town," you say, not paying him much mind.

"Why?" he asked, his tone weighting the word, almost as if he wanted to tell you that you weren't allowed.

You look up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Because I need to? Ya know, check the mail, pick some stuff up, post a few bills?" You knew it could all wait, and the bills could be paid online if you really needed to, but he probably didn't know that. "Unless you need something I really don't see what it is to you." You weren't meaning to sound like a dick, but he was acting weird. You didn't like his tone, and his weirdness was only emphasized when you start to approach the doorway to exit the kitchen but he didn't move.

His eyes briefly went to your arm in the sling-brace. "Don't you think you should be taking it easy?"

That's what it was. Knew it. You roll your eyes so hard one might think they'd get stuck. "I'm literally fine." You make a shooing motion but he still doesn't move. Sighing, you make your way toward the other door, only to hear him jogging up the hall to meet you there, the sound making you pause before completing the distance, rolling your eyes before continuing on to see he had indeed done just that. You awkwardly cross your good arm with the one in the sling. "Can I help you?" you say irritably.

Gamora entered the kitchen from the other doorway and you looked to her. "Can you please make your boyfriend stop being annoying?" you ask.

"I'm afraid that's impossible," she quipped with a slight smile, "Why? what's he doing now?"

By now Peter had entered the kitchen through the doorway he had been blocking. He ignored Gamora's quip about him being forever annoying and said, "She's trying to leave, I don't think it's a good idea."

"Well, lucky for me, you're not my boss," you say, admittedly a bit childishly.

Peter then donned a smug grin. "You're right. She is." He nodded in Gamora's direction, referring to the task Fury had assigned Gamora, essentially making her your babysitter as punishment for you neglecting to seek medical attention for your arm.

Your nostrils flared in irritation at him bringing it up and Gamora gave him a look that clearly stated she was uncomfortable. No one had mentioned the incident since the first day. You, because you didn't want to be reminded Fury was treating you like a child, and the others for pretty much the same reason, seeing no reason to provoke you, especially since you were seemingly behaving. (Again, aside from Rocket, but you had taken to keeping your earbuds in for most of the time, so if he did act like a dick to you it often fell on deaf ears.)

"Peter, I really doubt Fury intended for us to keep her locked inside." Gamora said, having assumed Peter was only wanting to refuse to let you go out for a walk, which she didn't understand, because he hadn't said anything when you took one the other day.

"Well I really doubt she's supposed to drive like that."

Finally understanding the issue Gamora grimaced. Peter was probably right.

Just then Yondu and Kraglin came into the kitchen looking to make something to eat, but saw the tense atmosphere.

"What's goin' on?" asked Yondu with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't heard any fighting coming in, but the way you were standing between Peter and Gamora almost implied someone was getting into it.

Peter spoke up, stating how you were looking to make a run into town and how he thought it was a bad idea for you to drive, only he phrased it to group him and Gamora together as having the thought, which prompted Gamora to say back to him that she actually hadn't given her opinion on the situation yet.

Yondu eyed you, or more specifically the brace on your arm. "Can ya drive like that?"

"Yeah." you reply. It was true, the arm in the brace wasn't the one you'd need for changing gears or signaling, so you should be fine, even if truthfully it'd be better if you didn't.

Yondu shared a glance to Kraglin and then shrugged. "Don't see a problem then." He turned toward the pantry, Kraglin following his lead, before he added, "Long as ya take Quill with ya."

You blinked. "Excuse me? Why would I- That's not- I'm not-" You were caught off guard and were now sputtering, clearly not thrilled with his addendum.

Yondu grinned at Kraglin, who was wondering where the elder was going with this, before saying nonchalantly, "If you're too nervous to take a passenger like that, then ya don't need to be going alone."

"I didn't say that!" you countered, pushing down the fact that the thought actually had entered your mind. "Maybe I just don't want to be annoyed by him- and I actually don't know if I can take him. That was never discussed." Again, this was also true. The topic hadn't come up. You had no idea if they were allowed to leave the property. Sure, for some it seemed obvious that they couldn't go into public, but you truthfully had never asked and had consequently never been told.

"He's Terran. Not like you'll run into issue there. I s'pose we could always call yer boss and ask..." His tone was laced with a grin as he turned back to face you with a Terran fruit he'd come to enjoy. A pear, he believed it was called. He was sure you wouldn't go for calling Fury, and he was right.

"No, we don't need to do that," you say irritably. Last thing you wanted to do was call Fury for something like this when he was already unhappy with you.

"I do think it'd be better if someone went with you," Gamora finally spoke up. "It couldn't hurt, at least." She was actually leaning towards the "don't let the Terran with an injured arm drive" party, but part of her believed you'd probably be fine and wanted to soften as much conflict as possible. Being transported in SHIELD vehicles she had seen how the insides operated, and it didn't look so complicated that you'd need both arms. It's not as if you were piloting a ship, and if you did wind up needing help, she was sure Peter could figure the vehicle out well enough.

You give her a mournful look and Yondu speaks again.

"But if yer still set on goin alone, I'm sure Gamora there won't mind callin' that Fury feller. Bet ya just wanna get away so ya can take that brace off without gettin in trouble," he said cooly with a grin. Catching the frown Gamora threw his way he added, "An' if she don't, I can always do it myself."

You tilted your head at the man, expression a mix of confused irritation. "First off, no, I'm not just leaving to do that. Secondly, who do you think you are? My mom?" you snarked.

"Nah, but yer acting like a kid. Somebody's gotta knock some common sense in that stubborn head of yers." Yondu replied, unfazed by your attempted insult as he took a bite of the pear and nodded once more to your injury.

You didn't get it. Why would he care? Why did any of them care?? Was it guilt? Because you wouldn't have been injured if they weren't there? You wanted to ask but settled for just sighing in defeat. You looked Peter over. He wasn't wearing a shirt with any alien writing on it, so at least he wouldn't get any funny looks for that. "Fine," you relented. "Get ready."

Peter let out a triumphant laugh and said he was already ready to go.

You took a moment and opened a couple drawers before finding what you were looking for. "Take these just in case." You tossed him a pair of black sunglasses. "You'll look like a douchebag, but you're probably used to that."

Peter let out a, "Hey!" but you ignored him, making your way past the others to the front door, telling Peter to hurry up.

***

"Can I drive?" Peter asked as the two of you walked to your vehicle.

"Absolutely not." you answered back with an incredulous glare.

"Why not? It'd be easier to let me drive than you try to drive with your arm in that."

"Because I seriously doubt you have a drivers license," you begin to say. Peter opened his mouth to retort but closed it again when you added, "that would be valid here." You open the driver's side door and add, "And because I don't even know if you know how to drive."

"I'll let you know I've been flying a ship since I was ten!" Peter countered.

"I don't care." you reply. "You're not driving. I can't risk us getting pulled over and you not have a license. You're fully free to stay here if you have a problem with that." You gesture back towards the house.

Peter disappointedly huffed but got in the passenger seat. You won this round.

***

Once you and Peter had left out the front door Yondu grimaced. "Might've miscalculated that one..."

"What'dya mean?" Kraglin asked. Gamora also gave him a funny look.

"Thought fer sure tellin' her to take Quill would've made her see that stayin' put wasn't that bad."

"Wait, you were trying to use reverse psychology??" Gamora asked, clearly annoyed.

"If that's what ya want to call it." Yondu shrugged with a frown, watching through the window as you pulled away down the drive, making sure the vehicle looked like it was driving straight. Luckily for you, it was. Otherwise he was fully prepared to whistle and spear a couple of your tires. Kitchen window would've needed replacing too if that happened, seeing as it was closed.

"Doesn't matter what I call it! It didn't work!" Gamora scolded. "If you didn't think it was a good idea you should have just taken our side instead of trying to play games and sending Peter with her!!"

"What'dya mean 'our side'? You were saying she should take someone with her too!"

"I didn't mean it!" Gamora snapped back.

Kraglin looked uncomfortable, not liking the feeling of being stuck in the room while the two of the more intimidating Guardians argued. Not wanting to draw attention to himself by leaving he just stood there and nibbled at his protein bar.

"Calm down, missy." Yondu said. "It'll be fine. And if not, Quill's got one of those phone things SHIELD gave us. Boy can handle himself."

Gamora glared but didn't speak any further, choosing instead to grab an apple off the table and head to her room. Yes, it likely would be fine, but it didn't mean she felt good about it.

***

After several minutes of driving in silence Peter tried to make conversation.

"So... lotta trees out here..."

"Uh huh."

"You make these trips into town often?"

You shrugged.

"I can see you don't feel much like talking..." Peter said awkwardly. You obviously weren't pleased with taking a passenger.

You turned on the radio in response.

Peter tried again after a few minutes when the music cut to a commercial break, trying a different tactic. "So, why are you afraid of doctors?" he asked, turning the radio down.

You gave him a strange look. "What? Where'd you get that idea."

He went into how you seemed tense when the doctor was checking you over when Fury came, and then recounted an incident that had happened the other day.

You had been reading in the sitting room when Mantis came in. You overheard her tell Gamora that her throat hurt, and so you pulled a lozenge from a drawer in the nearby table, telling her to suck on it and to tell you if it still hurt in an hour. If it did, you'd contact SHIELD to inform them she needed to see a doctor. Hearing this, Kraglin had piped up and asked why you would see that Mantis got a doctor straight away, but you had to have one forced on you. You gave him a look before telling him that it was different, and left the room before he could ask how.

"I only just put the two together." Peter said. "It must be because you're scared of doctors."

"No," you said flatly. "I'm not scared of doctors. I just didn't need one. If Mantis was sick, she would have needed one."

"But you did need one." Peter countered. "And Agent Hill told me about what you did in Romania. You needed one then too. Why would you do that to yourself unless you were too scared to go see a doctor?"

You exhale out your nose, annoyed that Maria had been telling him your business. "I'm not afraid of doctors, ok? It was an important job. There wasn't the time to stop and say 'Oops, will ya look at that, my appendix needs out. Better put the job on hold so I can find a doctor.' Not when I can do it myself. Happy?"

"She said you nearly died. That doesn't sound like being able to do it yourself. You can't do things like that. It's insane."

Your face hardened. Who did this guy think he was? Telling you what to do, you barely knew each other! "What's insane is a crime ring that traffics children to the wealthy elite for sexual favors," you snap at him. "So I guess I'm sorry if I wasn't willing to compromise the job to go lay in a damn hospital bed."

Peter didn't know what to say to that. He still thought you were insane for performing surgery on yourself, but he couldn't quite find a suitable argument after what you just said. After a moment he asked, "Did... did they get out?"

You knew he meant the kids. You swallowed. "Most of them. I don't want to talk about it." You turned the music back up, and Peter let it go.

The two of you rode in silence for a good bit longer before Peter turned the music back down again to speak.

"How much longer until we get where we're going?" he asked.

"Not long. Another ten minutes maybe. Why?"

"I need to take a leak."

You almost roll your eyes. "Why didn't you go before we left the house?"

"I didn't have to go then!"

A huffed laugh escaped your throat. "Seriously? You're like a toddler." You shake your head and say, "Do I need to pull over? I can if it's an emergency."

Peter almost pouted from the toddler comment. "No, I can hold it."

"Alright. Suit yourself."

About five minutes later you come up to a town, and a few minutes after that pull into the lot of a shop, the first stop on your list.

"I just have to run in here and grab a few things, they'll have a toilet you can use." you say as the two of you got out of the car, adding, "Don't forget those sunglasses. I don't want to take any chances."

He rolled his eyes but put them on anyway.

Upon entering the store you told Peter he'd find the toilet in the back and told him you'd be looking in the spices, pointing in the direction he'd find you when he was finished. You debated going along and waiting for him since he was technically your responsibility, but you decided against it. The shop wasn't too large so you trusted he wouldn't get lost on his own.

You split off on your separate ways and you grab a hand basket before heading towards the spices. You had only browsed for a short while when suddenly Peter was back at your side. "That was quick." you said to him, locating two of the spices you needed and dropping them in your basket.

"Door said it was out of order." Peter replied, sounding almost pouty.

You shook your head and said, "See, this is why you go before we leave the house." You find the last spice you needed and give him a knowing look as you began walking away from the spices.

"Don't talk to me like I'm a kid!" Peter said indignantly, following you as you left the aisle.

"Don't act like one." you reply, turning to find the cleaning aisle. SHIELD had been kind enough to include other basic things like toilet tissue on their supply drops, which you had been grateful for with eight other people living in your home, and the Guardians had already come with their own toiletries like toothpaste and soap, but you were seemingly on your own for cleaning supplies. You were now running low on dish and laundry soap. Gods, there was always laundry now. At least they did their own. Mostly.

"You're one to talk!" Peter retorted, gesturing to your arm.

You glare over to him as you walked. You swore, if you heard one more time about how you were acting like a child just for being stubborn about not seeing a doctor...

"Ow! You did that on purpose!"

"Did not." You said flatly, though you absolutely had smacked him with the basket on purpose. Not super hard or anything, but enough for him to feel it crack him in the knee.

He pinched you on the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Didn't do it on purpose." Peter mocked.

You were by the dish soap now and so you set the basket down to grab a bottle. However, you were sure to flick Peter on the back of the head before you did.

"You did not just flick me!" he said irritably, retaliating by giving your exposed side a couple quick squeezes.

Your arm jerked down fast as lightening, having been just shy of grabbing your preferred bottle of dish soap. Your cheeks were burning and you looked around as you scolded him in a whisper-yell. "We are in a public shop! Don't you dare start that!"

"You started it," he countered smugly. However, his the smugness was wiped off his face when you gave him a taste of his medicine.

"See how you like it then!" you say, using your good arm to return his actions. You hadn't been positive it would work, but you weren't disappointed to see the playing field leveled when it did.

Peter's eyebrows shot above the sunglasses, his eyes widening as he crippled away from the touch and grabbed your wrist. "Don't! I told you I had to pee!"

"Oh." You had been so busy bickering it had honestly slipped your mind. "Sorry."

"Truce?" Peter offered, releasing your hand.

"Yeah, fine. Truce." you agreed, reaching up to finally grab the bottle of dish liquid, a little embarrassed as you realized how much like children the two of you had just acted. "Just hurry up and figure out if you or your friends need anything before we leave," you say, making your way down the aisle to grab the laundry detergent.

It was Peter's turn to look embarrassed, only for a completely different reason. "Actually, now that you mention it- if it's ok, I was wondering if they sell... "certain"... things here?"

You put the detergent in the basket and begin to head towards the pharmacy section, realizing it wouldn't hurt to pick up some bug spray and more of that gel for the bites. Mantis had a bad habit of getting bit by midges, and most of the others had started falling victim to them as well. You didn't look at Peter as you walked, saying, "You're going to have to be way more specific than that, dude."

Peter's cheeks we turning noticeably pink by the time you looked at him when he said, "You know... um... the things... for "special moments..." he used air quotes and looked quite uncomfortable, even with the sunglasses hiding his eyes. "Um... you know... uh... When two people like each other very much..."

You wanted to cover your mouth to hide your grin, but one arm was stuck in a sling-brace and the other was too busy holding the grocery basket. "Are you asking if they sell condoms here?" You tried really hard to bite back a laugh, but a tiny chuckle slipped out. It wasn't that he was asking for them that was funny, it was the way he seemed like a teenage boy about it, all nervous and such like you'd call his mother on him.

Peter's face was bright red now. "Don't laugh! Just- never mind."

"No, it's totally cool. It's just funny. I mean, we're adults, you can ask for them. Like, at least you're being safe about it." Suddenly feeling in a better mood and wanting to tease him you say, "Unless... do we need to have 'the talk' young man?" Now you really couldn't hide your giggles.

"So not cool!" Peter pouted, hiding his face in his hands.

You nudged him in the arm and pointed him down that aisle and told him he could find what he needed there. You continued up a couple aisles to grab the bug repellent and itch cream.

You met back up and he wordlessly threw what he had retrieved into the basket, barely looking at you as he did so. You held back giggles at his behavior and asked if he knew of anything else you needed to grab before checking out.

Peter shook his head, and you can tell by his expression he's eager to leave the shop and go back to the house. You almost feel bad for laughing, and you get an idea.

"If your friends liked the Oreos I can pick you up some more. We'll pass that aisle to get to the checkout anyway."

Peter nodded and you grabbed another double sleeve of Oreos before walking to check out. You only hoped you wouldn't get stuck with one of those chatty cashiers.

Wouldn't you know it, of course you did. You weren't super familiar with the cashiers despite frequenting this store, but you had become familiar with the fact that you didn't care for the one who's line you got stuck in, not realizing you had until it was too late.

Normally you feel for retail workers. You knew it was a tough job, but this one cashier just didn't know how to get the hint that not every item he scanned needed a comment.

Laundry soap? "Ooh! Great taste in scent!" Spices? "Someone likes cooking! Anything good tonight? Yum Yum! Ha ha!" Bug spray and itch cream? "Oh those nasty midges are out again. I feel you, haha." Cond-? Oh fuck. "Oh ho! Someone's getting luck-ay tonight! Am I right, my dude?" He winked at Peter, who noticed you looked like you wanted to reach across and murder the cashier.

Peter chuckled nervously and tried to smooth it over. At least, that's what you thought he was attempting. "Oh- aha- no. We're not together. We're uh- She's my sister."

You snapped a glare at Peter as you thrust your payment to the cashier and grabbed one of the two bags before storming off, telling him to keep the change. Peter grabbed the other bag and left the cashier standing there, who at least finally had the decency to look embarrassed by his comment.

Peter caught up with you quickly.

"Don't call me your sister. I barely know you," you say grumpily. That wasn't really the full reason it upset you. Peter wasn't your brother. Your brother was gone. Peter didn't get to call you that.

"Sorry, I panicked," he said.

You brush him off. You knew there was no way he could know. "Whatever, let's just leave. Sooner we finish in town sooner we can go back to the house."

You made your next stop to a nearby petrol station to fill up your car and give Peter a chance to find a working toilet. After the two of you successfully completed both tasks respectively, you stopped by the post office to grab the mail and post your bills while you left Peter in the car. On your way out of the post office you caught glimpse of someone across the road and a brick fell in your stomach when they waved, indicating they clearly saw you. You nodded back out of politeness but hurried to get in your car.

You buckled in and looked in the rearview mirror, only to see the person, a middle aged woman in a flowery blouse, walking towards your car, still not quite to the road yet, and waving her arms trying to get your attention.

"Fuck," you say, putting the car in gear to reverse before stopping to put it back in drive to finish pulling away. This would be so much quicker if your arm wasn't in the damn sling, but you still managed even with having to completely stop to remove your hand from the wheel to safely change gears.

"What?" Peter asked, turning to look out the back window once you began to pull forward.

"Don't worry about it- and don't look back!" you scold. You take a peek in your review mirror to see the woman gesturing in defeat, thinking you hadn't seen her trying to get your attention, and you let a small relieved sigh.

"Who was that?"

"No one." you replied.

"So you ran away... from no one. Sure."

You shoot him a look and turn the radio back up, clearly signaling that you weren't about to discuss it. The rest of the ride was spent in silence.

***

Once home you told Peter to put his "special" items (yes, you called them that, air quotes and all, just to embarrass him) in one of his pockets unless he didn't mind advertising them to the rest of his friends. You had assumed he'd be embarrassed if they were just on display for the others based on how he acted in the shop, and the fact that he obeyed implied to you that you were correct.

Once inside you and Peter made your way to the kitchen to put things away. He had refused to let you carry both bags, and you didn't fight him.

Sitting at the table were Kraglin, Yondu and Rocket. On the table were five empty bowls and an empty tub of ice cream.

You sat your bag on the counter and began pulling out it's contents to put them away. Honestly you were slightly bummed that they had finished off the whole thing, if you had known that you might have picked some more up while you were in town, but you didn't say anything about that. You did, however, say something along the lines of "Looks like you guys had fun without us."

Kraglin, who knew you didn't like the house to be messy and knew they were expected to keep up after themselves, began gathering the bowls to put them in the sink, to the eyeroll of Rocket.

"Yup. Ya two missed the party," said Yondu with a chuckle. "I'll admit, that ice cream stuff ain't bad." He then said to Peter, "Yer girlfriend is the only one who didn't want any."

You froze in place, your eyes widened. It hadn't clicked before. Your mind had been preoccupied with other things. Ice cream. Five bowls. There were seven people left at the house. Gamora hadn't wanted any. Tiny Groot probably shared with someone else. Yondu literally said he ate some. That meant... fuck.

You turned around to face them. Looking right at Yondu you say, "Uh, how long ago would you say you guys had the ice-cream?"

"Not quite half an hour ago, why?"

You bit your lips before saying, "Do none of you think to read labels before you eat things?"

Kraglin rolled his eyes playfully as he sat back down. "What? Ya mad we ate your snack?" he teased.

"No no no-" you state, holding up your pointer fingers like a teacher instructing the class on why they were incorrect. You didn't know if you wanted to laugh or groan. Probably the later. You look over at Peter, who held a slight grimace on his face. You say to him, "You know what ice cream is?"

Peter nodded. He remembered ice cream. He also knew the moment Yondu claimed to have eaten it what the problem was.

You look back to the others. "Any of you know what ice cream is?"

Yondu and Kraglin exchange a strange look and Rocket rolls his eyes, wanting you to get to the point.

"It's basically frozen milk."

"Ah." Yondu says, clasping his hands on the table and dipping his head with a slight wince of understanding. He was about to have a bad time. Kraglin and Rocket now share a look that can only be described as 'Crap..." (No pun intended)

Disbelieving laughter bubbles up your throat as you bend below the sink to retrieve a can of aerosolized air freshener and plop it down on the table in front of Yondu. "That's for you, for the inevitable. Use it." You walk to haphazardly throw the contents of your grocery bag in the pantry, leaving your mail on the counter and grabbing your earbuds. "Make sure to open the windows... I'm going for a walk, because there's no way I'm sticking around to deal with that again," you say, giving a mock salute as you make your way out the back door, leaving the guys there to deal with what was sure to be the horrible aftermath of their oversight.

*** You finally came back a couple hours later to find all the windows still open, but no one outside, and decided that was probably a good sign.

You cautiously re-entered the house to find that no bad smells seemed to have stuck around and decided to go look for survivors, but first you needed a snack. You were starving.

You ate a pop-tart just for something quick and then found everyone in the sitting room. Feeling in decent humor you said, "Oh good. You lived." This earned groans from the others. They weren't really annoyed with you for abandoning ship, so much as they were annoyed that Yondu would have messed up and ate dairy for a second time. Well, Peter was a little annoyed that you had just left him there when he hadn't been part of who caused the issue, but he'd get over it.

Your phone started to go off, startling you and a couple others in the process. You checked the caller-id and recognized the number. "Nope," you say aloud, ignoring the call.

"Who was that?" Peter asked.

"No one," you reply, only for your phone to chime with a text almost in response. You open the text and your eyes widen before you make your way quickly but calmly to the windows to shut them and draw the curtains.

This, of course, gathers the attention of the Guardians.

"What's wrong?" Yondu asks, perplexed by your behavior.

"Nothing," you answer at first, before turning to face them and amending it to, "Nobody's home," and continuing your task with the other three windows, still trying to retain a semblance of being calm.

The others watched as you made your way about the room, sharing perplexed glances. Once finished with the final window at the back of the room you started heading towards the door when Mantis grabbed your hand.

"Are you ok? What can we do?" she asked, concerned. "Please tell me?" She could feel you didn't want to ask for help, but she hoped her asking nicely might work.

You barely glance at her, don't notice her antennae are glowing. "I'm fine. If you want, I could use some help shutting the rest of the windows and curtains, please and thank you." You pull away and head to the hall, where they can see you draw the curtains on the front door shut through the sitting room doorway.

"I know you said you can ease people into compliance, but I didn't think you could actually make people do things." Peter whispered to Mantis. He naturally just assumed that's what happened. You, miss "I don't need help from anyone!" had actually asked for help. Clearly that wouldn't happen without some Mantis mojo. The closest you had come to asking for help was the first time Yondu had dairy and you wanted Peter to help open the windows, but still, that was less asking for help and more of telling him what to do if he wanted to live.

"I can't." Mantis replied. "She was genuinely asking. She's very nervous."

Peter shared a look with Gamora and Drax stood up from the couch to follow you, and the they followed him along with Mantis.

Yondu and Kraglin stayed in the sitting room with Rocket, who told himself he didn't care about whatever this nonsense was about and continued to play with Groot. Kraglin and Yondu exchanged puzzled looks, because unlike Rocket they were genuinely curious what was going on to make you as nervous as Mantis claimed. Why were you batting down the hatches for?

In the kitchen Drax helped you close the windows and curtains. As soon as he heard Mantis say she felt you were nervous he felt there must be a good reason and that he should probably help you, just in case.

Then you started shutting out the lights, and this increased the other's concerns.

"What's going on?" Gamora asked, authority in her voice as she followed you out of the kitchen. You may be their host, but she still felt they had a right to know what was going on, if they were in danger.

"Nothing." you say, shutting off the lights in the hall on the way to the sitting room.

"If it was nothing you wouldn't be doing this. Something is wrong. Do we need to call SHIELD?" She asked more insistently, not believing you.

You turn to her irritably at the doorway. "No. We don't need SHIELD," you say, flicking the switch to turn the sitting room's light off, much to the puzzlement of those inside.

"I will if you don't tell us what's wrong."

Just then there was a knock at the front door, and you visibly startled in response before freezing in place and whisper yelling, "Quiet!"

The other's obeyed, not sure what else to do or what was going on.

Peter quietly stepped out of the kitchen where he had been peeking through one of the curtains when he thought he could see the dim glow of headlights through the fabric. He saw a blue car pull up next to yours, and out of it stepped a tall man in a light grey sweater and a woman in a floral print blouse. She looked familiar.

"Hey," Peter whispered across the hall, "It looks like that woman from earlier. The one you ran away from."

"Shut up." you hissed.

Gamora looked at the two of you in confusion, but didn't say anything, didn't get the chance, because the knock sounded again and a woman's voice could be heard from the other side of the door calling your name.

"We know you're in there." said the voice. It wasn't angry or confrontational like the others might expect for someone you were apparently hiding from. "Your car's in the drive and we saw you shutting the lights out when we drove up."

You grimaced.

"We just want to talk." It was the man's voice this time.

Peter and Gamora looked at you expectantly, and you shook your head at them. Drax was now standing behind Peter in the kitchen doorway, Mantis having already moved past him to stand next to Gamora in the hall with you.

"Yes, we just want to talk." The woman's voice again. "We saw you in town today, we've been thinking about you."

By now Yondu and Kraglin had made their way closer to the door to better hear what was being said. They didn't care if they were being nosy.

The man spoke your name now, questioningly, as if to ask if you could hear them. "Ok, we understand if you don't want to see us, but please listen; We forgive you, and we're sorry."

You take in a breath, trying to mask your feelings with the others near. They were looking at you. Gamora's face had softened, wondering what the man meant. Forgave you for what? Sorry for what?

"We shouldn't have blamed you for what happened. We know that now." came the woman's voice. "We've had a lot of time to think it over, and we were wrong."

The man spoke again. "We were just hoping you could find it in your heart to forgive us, too."

You felt your chest tighten and you eyes burn, and so you clenched your jaw and your fists, unwilling to show any emotion to the space-strangers in your home, but they noticed anyway.

Peter gestured to get your attention and mouthed, "Open the door."

You shook your head, and he gave you a confused look. You nodded your head towards Mantis and Gamora as if to say, "Um, not with aliens in my hall!" Although that wasn't completely the reason, and you had the feeling he could tell, as he only sighed and frowned slightly in response.

After a pause the woman spoke again. "Alright. We understand you may not be ready yet. Maybe another time. We're still at the same place when you're ready to speak with us. Hopefully that's soon. We'll be going now."

You waited a few moments before approaching the door, and the other's thought you might finally be going to talk to the couple. You didn't, mostly to Peter's disappointment. Instead you peeked through a sliver in the curtains to watch them leave, not pulling away until their vehicle was gone.

As soon as you stepped back from the door Peter asked, "What was that? Who were they?"

"Nothing and no one," you answer, not meeting anyone's gaze as you flicked the hall light back on and walk towards the stairs.

Mantis grabbed your hand, but you pulled away, telling her that you weren't in the mood to hold hands right then and you were going to go take a shower. She just looked down sadly in response, but you wouldn't look at her to notice.

No one stopped you as you walked upstairs, and when you were out of earshot, Drax whispered to Mantis asking what you had been feeling just then, having noticed Mantis had been reading you when she grabbed your hand.

The other's listened in to her answer as she mournfully replied. She hadn't been able to touch you for long enough to get a full reading, but there had been one dominant emotion when she did touch you. You had been sad.

This only rose more questions from the team. Had the couple been been angry with you? What had you done? Why would their forgiveness have made you sad?

Weren't most people happy to be forgiven?

The sound of your bedroom door opening and shutting travelled down the stairs, followed shortly by the same noise of the bathroom door as you entered for your shower.

Yondu almost thought he could hear the faint sounds of crying before the noise was drowned out by the sound of a shower blasting on.

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Because I’m in the mood, here is more obsessive analysis about Pyro, this time concerning him and Mystique.

I think Pyro and Mystique have a very interesting relationship.  Sometimes, she seems to regard him as a dumb lackey, especially the story when they fight ROM while trying to break out of prison, and completely bungle the whole thing.  She’s certainly willing to leave him in prison if he screws up.  But sometimes, she seems affectionate towards him, or at least appears to regard him as a trusted team-mate and friend, more so than she does with Blob or Avalanche.  Pyro certainly appears to consider her a friend in this moment on Muir island.

Pyro also seems to respect Mystique as a leader, and to stick up for her.  In fact, the first time he gets pissy with Blob is right after Blob disparages Mystique.  It could also just be Pyro doing some dick-measuring with Blob about who’s the biggest, baddest mutant.  But he reacts right after Blob says he doesn’t “take orders from a broad.”

I also note him snarking on Val Cooper when Mystique is annoyed with her.  Maybe that’s just his own opinion (Pyro likes to snark on people…a lot), but it feels like he’s chiming in to support Mystique, and maybe as a way of bonding with her.  Or assuring his own position as a friend.  “Look at us, we sure are chums, right Mystique?  We do fun things together like gang up on Val and the new recruits.”

I remember years ago when there was more of a fandom for the old-school comics Brotherhood, before they got over-shadowed by the movie and Evolution versions (and before like half the comic Brotherhood died), I saw fics shipping Pyro and Mystique as a friends with benefits thing, or writing Pyro as having a one-sided crush Mystique.  And as much as I head-canon gay Pyro, I could totally see it (and of course, he could always be bi).  Like, if Duggan writes Pyro as being in love with Mystique as part of his characterization (that would require Duggan to actually give Pyro some characterization, LOL), I wouldn’t consider it out of character.  Personally, I imagine Pyro having a strong sense of admiration and loyalty towards her.  Duggan does seem to write Pyro being in awe of powerful women like Storm and Emma, and I think that fits perfectly well with his previous relationship with Mystique.

I think we especially see Pyro’s loyalty towards Mystique in the X-Factor Graydon Creed assassination story.  He was mostly there so that Mystique could discuss her plans using extremely ambiguous phrasing and mislead readers into thinking she was the assassin, when she and Pyro were actually attempting to save Creed’s life.  (And then it turned out that Mystique actually was the assassin via time-travel shenanigans….but Pyro didn’t know that at the time).  But I thought his few panels had some good character moments.  

 Despite his protests, he’s clearly in no condition to be running around getting into fights.  And he doesn’t even fully agree with what they’re doing, but Mystique has asked for his help, so he’s giving it.  To some extent, I think this is partially about Pyro wanting to do something important before his death, rather than just fade away.  I also think that his insistence that he is still well enough to carry out the mission is a kind of denial about his own condition.  Like, if he’s well enough to do this, then the disease isn’t that far advanced, and he still has time, right? (Actually he has a lot of time, because the editors weren’t ready to kill him off for a while).  

But taking all that into account, I still think it’s very significant that, when Pyro is arguably in a vulnerable state, when he’s sick and weak and admits himself that it’s difficult to think clearly, he turns to Mystique to tell him what to do.  Also, there is something weirdly cute about how he keeps calling her “Boss.” 

I head-canon that Pyro sees the relationship as a little bit more than it really is, like he thinks he is “special” compared to Avalanche and Blob.  Like he’s not just her lackey, he’s her friend/trusted right-hand man.  And he is wrong.  I think Mystique is probably fond of him as a useful follower, and maybe even something of a friend.  I think she was sorry to see him waste away from Legacy.  But he’s certainly not in the top three of “Important People that Mystique Cares About,” (that would be Destiny, Rogue and Nightcrawler), maybe not even in the top five….or ten.  I think Pyro would claim he has no illusions about his role in the Brotherhood, but if Mystique threw him under the bus, he’d be both surprised and hurt.  

And this isn’t meant to paint a picture of poor, innocent Pyro used by evil Mystique.  Pyro took to crime and terrorism like a duck to water, he’s clearly having a great time setting fires and burning people, and he continues to participate in the Brotherhood under other leaders like Toad (and Joseph, but that was resurrected zombie-Pyro, so I like to ignore it).  He’s not a particularly good guy.  And Mystique has shown that she is capable of caring about others, but only a limited few.  And even the few people she cares for fall victim to Mystique’s chronic back-stabbing syndrome (except maybe Destiny?).  She would absolutely sacrifice Pyro if it was part of some greater plan, although she might feel bad about it.  But she also probably doesn’t want to see him killed or hurt, as long as he’s not getting in her way.

Further head-canon, mostly because I’ve been frustrated by the complete disconnect between Pyro and Mystique (and Pyro and other Brotherhood members) in Marauders: I think after Pyro came back, Mystique kind of “cut him loose.”  But not in a cruel way.  I can imagine him being all, “What’s the plan, boss?” and her telling him that there is no plan, there isn’t really a Brotherhood any more, and he can find his own place on Krakoa.  Partially because getting Destiny resurrected is the most important thing to her, and she can’t trust anyone with her plans for that.  And partially because Pyro joining the Brotherhood eventually led to his death, and she doesn’t want to immediately take him down that same path.  I think Mystique wants to offer him the chance to start over and find his own way. I don’t think she’s mad about his last-minute turnaround saving Kelly.  She’s done plenty of back-stabbing in her time, and she wasn’t even there at the Brotherhood’s attempted assassination, so it wasn’t going directly against her. Plus, he’s been dead for years, so I think she’s had time to get over it.    

Of course, if she does decide to burn Krakoa to the ground, she’ll probably come around to recruit him, anyway.  I’ll be very interested to see which Brotherhood members Mystique asks for help when she inevitably turns on the Council.  Will Pyro go to help her, or does he have some newly developed loyalty to the Marauders?  Or will he just be completely ignored in that story, because writers haven’t been paying much attention to old character relationships at all?  We’ll see.  

TL,DR: I think Pyro sees Mystique as a friend and admires her as a leader.  She may or may not consider him a friend, but I think she somewhat cares about him.

[pale-silver-comb]

I forget what episode it was, but what are your thoughts and feelings about the time Eliot broke Parker's pinata? I love Eliot but that was a real dick move. I just wanted to hug Parker and punch Eliot in the nose.

I think that’s the Gone Fishin' Job.

Hmm, honestly? I never really saw it as a dick dick move. Eliot can say or do things that are mean but I don’t consider that to be one of them. Not to that extent anyway. While I ship Parker, Hardison and Eliot romantically, Eliot’s relationship with Parker can sometimes come off as squabbling siblings or like two five year olds on the school playground. Not in a way that would make me ship them platonically. More just that’s their brand of fighting. Parker pokes and prods at Eliot to see what he’ll do. She enjoys pushing his buttons. Sometimes he pushes her away, sometimes he snarks at her and sometimes he just lets her do what she likes.

I mean, if Parker had just come in her with piñata and Eliot had gone up to her and smashed it for no reason because he was tired of seeing it?  Or if she had said “stop” or “no” when Eliot was wrestling with it? Oh man, yeah, I would have been like “wtf???” But Parker has already opened her piñata and is deliberately pouring all the contents on the table and, more importantly, she empties what’s inside onto Eliot/Eliot’s side of the table. Not Sophie’s side or even in the middle, but she deliberately swings her body towards Eliot. Now, while I don’t think that was Parker asking for her piñata to get broken, I do think that was Parker’s way of engaging Eliot in play, like she often does. Eliot and Parker have a very specific rapport and it’s for that reason she does this type of thing only with Eliot. I mean, Parker has literally chucked a crowbar at Eliot’s head before. They are actual children. She knows what’s coming and so does he. (Unfortunately, Eliot is not having a good day, being hurt and forced to work by Nate, so he is not in the mood to have stuff dumped on him.)  They squabble - like they often do - and then he rips the head off, much like a sibling or little kid might when annoyed.

Not that a reaction makes an action okay or not okay but I don’t think Parker is genuinely upset about it either.  Lowkey sad, sure, but not in a way that I, as a viewer, am left properly angry at Eliot beyond “aww dude, no”. Although, yes, I do want to pet Parker, poor lamb, when she makes the wee sad sounds. 

I may be completely wrong and it is a dick move (I mean, did he have to do it? no) but I’ve never read that scene in a bad way because it’s pretty on brand for Parker and Eliot. It’s not an ooc moment for them. Parker knows dumping stuff on Eliot when he’s cranky is going to get some kind of equally cranky response. At this point it’s clearly part of the fun for her since she continues to do it. I mean, this is literally them:

Also because there is no way Eliot would do anything to hurt Parker on purpose. If it turned out he had hurt her and he didn’t realise how much that piñata actually meant to Parker, I am certain he’d be mending it himself or out buying her or making her another one.

That’s just my take though! With different characters who had a different relationship, I might have read it differently.

[stellarstacey]

Eddie was fuming. The team had been invited to Maddie's birthday and a few of her friends from Hershey flew out to attend it. One of her friends was named Jason and he was a dick. He hadn't stop being a pretentious asshole since he showed up. Flaunting his business degree from Yale in everyone's face. The only person that didn't seem annoyed or affected by him was Buck. When someone suggested a game of Trivial Pursuit, Eddie knew that Jason was going to use it as another opportunity to be a smartass. Eddie sat next to Buck on the ground around the coffee table where some people were getting ready to play. Jason had gotten his first question right and was already being insufferable. It was Buck's turn but Eddie knew Buck was more interested in his chat with Hen than the game. Jason smirked as he looked at the question.

"Yeah, don't worry if you don't get this, Evan. This is going to go way above your head." Jason snarked and Eddie gripped his thigh to keep from punching his lights out.

Buck didn't seem even remotely phased.

"Who took the assumed name Sebastian Melmoth when living in Paris?" Jason asked and Eddie blinked.

How in the hell was someone suppose to know that?

"Oscar Wilde." Buck answered not even glancing away from his conversation with Hen.

"Right..." Jason muttered and Eddie smirked.

Of course! Eddie was so busy being pissed off about Jason that he forgot that he was sitting next to an actual genius. Buck was full of information. Oh this was going to be good! Eddie thought sitting back to watch everything unfold. An hour later and Buck had crushed Jason at Trivial Pursuit. Eddie was smiling from ear to ear. Jason was looking extremely annoyed.

"Where did you go to University?" Jason asked Buck who snorted.

"I didn't. I was accepted into Princeton and Harvard but I declined in order to join the Seals instead." Buck shrugged and Jason looked green with envy.

"You're the telling me that the kid that used to get his tongue stuck on metal poles in the winter got into Princeton and Harvard? How is that even possible? You're clearly and idiot that just retains information." Jason snapped and the room went quiet.

Eddie decked him. Sure he promised Bobby he wouldn't fight anymore but screw it. Buck stood in front of him to stop him from going in for a second hit.

"Easy...I don't give a single fuck about what he thinks about me. But I do give a lot of fucks about you getting arrested for assault." Buck told him and Eddie sighed nodding.

Maddie kicked Jason out and the party never really recovered. Eddie had apologized but Maddie had assured him he did not wrong. When he and Buck left, Eddie felt horrible.

"I need to learn to control my damn temper." Eddie growled as he kicked his tire.

Buck just leaned against his truck with an amused look.

"You don't say." Buck teased and Eddie glared.

"This is your fault too! You gotta learn to stick up for yourself. He was taking jabs at you all night." Eddie snapped and Buck shrugged.

"Why? Like I said I don't care about what he thinks of me. I only care about what the people I love think of me." Buck stated and Eddie sighed.

"I just hate it when people insult your intelligence, when you are by far the smartest person I have ever met." Eddie grumbled and Buck smiled.

"The smartest huh?" Buck asked and Eddie rolled his eyes.

"You have a Michelangelo quote tattooed on your arm, man..." Eddie huffed and Buck smiled.

"You're also wicked smart." Buck said and Eddie scoffed.

"No I'm not." Eddie muttered and Buck frowned at him.

"Eddie you were an army medic. I can't even begin to wrap my head around most of the medical knowledge you have in your brain. You are also one of the most creative people I know when it comes to thinking on your feet. The jams you have gotten us out of because you are able to think under pressure is mind-blowing." Buck told him and Eddie blushed.

"You're full of complements tonight..." Eddie mumbled and Buck laughed.

"Gotta say seeing you punch the living spirit outta someone for me was extremely hot. So I blame the over sharing of complements on the fact that all my blood has left my brain and has drifted south." Buck stated evenly and Eddie swallowed.

Did he hear that right?

"You're complementing me because you're horny?" Eddie asked and Buck nodded.

"Should I be offended or honored?" Eddie tilted his head.

"You should be taking me home." Buck told him and Eddie bit his lip.

"And when we get home, am I going to help you with your umm hornyness?" Eddie asked shyly.

"You're a smart guy, Eddie. You already know that when we get home, I'm going to tear both our clothes off and thank you for defending my honor." Buck whispered in his ear and got into the truck.

Eddie blinked...before racing to the driver's side.

[themangoyogurt]

Misguided Youth: The Second Misunderstanding

Chapter 2

It was time to atone for the sins of last night, and that meant having to face the mysterious man who both infuriated and intrigued you. And to make things harder, it turns out that his friends were the type to meddle. 

It was time to atone for the sins of your past. Rolling over onto your side, you heaved into a waiting trash can. You felt like shit - both physically and emotionally. You hated being that friend, and Jyn already had enough issues in her life without you being one of them. Making yet another mental promise to get your act together, you reached over to your side table to text her an apology.

Somehow Jyn had been able to deposit your body into bed, and the saint had not only left some aspirin next to a bottle of water, but had also made sure to charge your iPhone. Checking your messages, you almost dropped the device in shock.

General Hux | 9:39 PM | Where the fuck are you asshole?

Big Titz | 11:42 PM | Kyloooo. Come fuck me.

Phasma | 11: 45 PM | Hux said you got your ass handed to you by a girl.

Phasma | 11:46 PM | It is now my life’s mission to meet her.

Big Titz | 11:58 PM | I’ll let you cum in my mouth.

You dropped the phone in disgust. Of course the man from last night would be type to just input “Big Titz” instead of an actual name. What a douche. You’d rather just chuck the damn thing out the window, but unfortunately you’d need it as collateral to get your own phone back. You seriously needed to stop drinking so much. After all, it wasn’t like you had the stamina from undergrad anymore.

Sitting up with your chin perched atop your knees, you tried to shake the demons out of your mind. You were so lost - scared to admit that you only signed up for grad school because you weren’t sure what to do with your life. All you knew was that in the blink of an eye, it seemed like all of your high school buddies were getting married left and right. Doing adult things like joining book clubs, having kids, and arguing over paint chips at Home Depot.

You took one look at the scene and promptly thought “fuck that”.

You parents had been lackluster at best. On bad days, they found amusement in belittling your passions and thoughts. On good days, you were simply ignored. The moment 18 years rolled by, you were swiftly out the door with a one way ticket to New York City. You swore that nobody could ever convince you to have kids. Just in case you were a shit mom and perpetuated the cycle of neglect and pain.

Why did you even bother thinking about your parents? Now you were going to be in a crap mood for the rest of the day. As if on cue, the cosmos decided to add fuel to the fire when you phone number lit up on the glass screen.

Sighing, you picked up with a lazy, “Hello?”

“Is this the bitch who stole my phone last night?”

You immediately swept your feet to the side of your bed to stand up. So the leather jacket clad creep wants to start a fight? You were more than happy to oblige.

“Depends. Is this the old man from last night? The guy who has to prey on younger girls because women his age can see through his bullshit?”

The sound of something smashing echoed in the background, and you couldn’t help but smirk. He huffed, “Just give me my goddamn phone back!”

You snapped, “You’re the one who took my phone. Nobody wants your filthy manslut machine.”

“Whatever. Let’s just meet and get this over with. Can you come down to Brooklyn and meet me at the Starbucks on Bedford and 7th?”

Rolling your eyes, you muttered, “You’re lucky I live in Brooklyn, too. What if I lived on the Upper West Side or something? Also, of all the coffee places in fucking Williamsburg, you want to meet at Starbucks?”

Glass shattered in the background as Kylo seethed, “I’m not drinking the fucking coffee with you. We’re just meeting somewhere public.”

“Jesus. Calm down, I’m just joking.”

This guy could seriously go from zero to one hundred in a flash. You shuddered thinking about someone that huge running around throwing tantrums. You set a time with Kylo for later in the afternoon, eager to get off the phone. You couldn’t resist one last taunt though. Just before hanging up, you teased, “By the way, your friend ‘Big Titz’ sure has a way with words. I can’t wait until she finally gets the Pulitzer she deserves.”

The last thing Kylo heard was your cackle and then the line went dead. He had had remind himself that he was holding someone else’s phone, and he couldn’t slam it down the fire escape. Even if he really wanted to. He stared out the window, still seething with irritation.

Who the hell was this chick? Stomping around just saying whatever the hell she wanted. Kylo huffed and crossed his arms. He hated that despite his general disdain for you, a small part of him was intrigued. It had been ages since anyone worked him up like that. Made him feel anything at all. Somehow, he was already developing an appetite for your snark and attitude.

Maybe he was looking forward to meeting you at Starbucks after all.

He couldn’t wait to push your buttons some more. Maybe, he couldn’t wait to feel you push back.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

Kylo felt his chest tighten, and he hated it. The man had half the mind to just turn around and walk home. Phones were overrated anyways. He watched you standing on the street corner, waiting for the light to change before crossing over to his side. You looked like you really didn’t care about meeting up with Kylo, and somehow that managed to bother and fascinate him at the same time.

Your hair was pulled up in a messy top knot - baby hairs sticking up and loose strands framing your cheeks. A thick knit cardigan was slung over your shoulders, but he could see some sort of graphic tee through the opening. Black ripped skinny jeans topped off the look, and heather wool socks peeked over a pair of Dr. Martens that had certainly seen better days.

God, someone this annoying shouldn’t look so cute.

“Hey, you’re actually here on time!” You chirped. Without the influence of alcohol, you were actually in a rather good mood. Kylo’s brow twitched at the assumption that he wouldn’t have been on time. Noticing his balled up fists, you quirked an eyebrow and flatly replied, “Relax, Goliath. I didn’t mean it that way.”

Kylo felt surprise at the fact that you could read him so clearly. Before he could respond, you fished out a black iPhone and waved the device around in his face.

“This yours?” You joked. Kylo huffed and moved to seize it from your fingers. Quickly whipping your hand out of the way you continued, “Nuh-uh. Not until I see mine.” He rolled his eyes and pulled out a similar, yet distinctly more battered, phone. Your lips split open into a wide smile as you swapped devices. Turning it on, you checked your messages and made sure that everything was in order.

“As if I’d snoop through your messages. You’re not nearly as interesting as you think,” Kylo dryly spat.

You looked up from the phone and grinned. “You’re right. I don’t have the pleasure of being friends with ‘Big Titz’.”

“Jesus, again with the name! I don’t even remember her! I don’t think we’ve even hooked up.”

Giving Kylo a look of faux innocence, you replied, “You don’t have to convince me, Kylo. It’s not as if I’m judging you or anything.”

He threw his hands up in frustration and began a sharp retort when a tall blonde woman suddenly appeared and threw an arm around Kylo. Her British accent seemed to dance alongside her jovial expression as she teased, “I hope you’re not punching walls again, Kylo. People Magazine would go nuts.”

Kylo grimaced as a third individual materialized next to him. You recognized him as the “General” from last night. Although he was dressed down in dark-washed jeans and a cable knit sweater, he still held an imposing air around him. Judging by his sharp gaze and rigid demeanor, you could see where he got his nickname from.

The man sized you up, and then a wicked grin spread across his face. Turning to Kylo, he softly spoke, “I didn’t realize that you were bringing a friend with you to brunch.” You quickly raised both hands up and replied, “Oh, no. I didn’t...”

The man quickly cut you off and interjected, “No need to be polite! It’s my treat anyways. A friend of Kylo’s is a friend of ours. I’m Armitage. You can call me Hux, and this is Phasma.”

You looked between the trio - Kylo’s ears were reddened, and you couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or anger. Phasma looked like she was eating the whole scene up as her mischievous smile matched that of Hux’s. You really weren’t in a position to turn down free food, and agitating Kylo seemed to be an added bonus.

An equally evil grin spread across your face as you chirped, “Sure! Thanks for the invite.”

Kylo groaned, “Fucking hell.” Everyone ignored him though, and Phasma slipped an arm around your shoulder. Leaning against your ear, she whispered, “So. I’ve been meaning to hear all about how you almost punched Kylo last night...”

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

“So how long?”

Phasma looked up from pouring syrup on her waffles and quirked an eyebrow. “How long since what?”

“How long has your friend Kylo been suffering from being a total dick?”

Hux choked on his bacon as Phasma burst out into laughter. The blonde reached over and snatched you phone up before inputting her number into the device. “Here’s my number. We’re totally hanging out later, okay?”

Kylo rolled his eyes. “Don’t encourage her. She’ll just develop bad habits.”

You stuck a tongue out at the man and retorted, “Too late for that.” He groaned and speared a sausage with his fork. Watching you joke around with Hux and Phamsa, gave Kylo an odd sense of satisfaction as he watched the natural joy that spread across your face. His friends weren’t exactly easy people to get along with, and he was surprised by how effortlessly you seemed to assimilate into the group.

Phasma was mid-laugh when she noticed the way Kylo was eyeing you. You were giggling over some nonsensical thing Hux was talking about, and didn’t notice how soft Kylo’s gaze was as he took in the way your shoulders would shake every time you exhaled a puff of air. An idea suddenly popped into the woman’s head, when she asked, “Hey, what are you doing tomorrow night?”

Kylo and Hux both swiveled their heads to look at the blonde woman. You shrugged your shoulders and replied, “Nothing, really. Why?”

“Phas,” Kylo flatly interrupted. She turned to Kylo and gave him a defensive stare. Hux responded by nudging Kylo in the shoulder, and you quietly watched as the three seemed to engage in a silent conversation. You guessed that Kylo was the one to relent, because the man slumped backwards into the booth and threw his hands up with a sigh.

The tall blonde asked, “Want to see a show with us tomorrow?”

You pushed a potato wedge into your mouth and nonchalantly shrugged. “Depends on who is playing.”

Hux coughed and you swore that Phasma’s eyes glittered. “Have you heard of K.O.REN?”

Kylo stared at your relaxed demeanor in agitation as you worked on shoveling down more potatoes. He felt completely offended that you were unaware of the fact that you were eating brunch with one of the largest rock bands in the world. They played international stadiums for fuck’s sake, and here you were packing home fries into your mouth like it was your last meal. You shrugged your shoulders again and replied, “Who’s that?”

“Who?! As in you think K.O.REN is one person?” Kylo incredulously spat.

“I don’t know! Karen is a pretty common name!” You defensively retorted.

“Karen? Karen?!”

Hux moved to push Kylo back into the seat while Phasma kneeled over in laughter. Wiping a tear from her eye she gasped, “No. Knights of Ren. Shortened to ‘K.O.REN’. They’re a band.”

Your wide eyes blinked a few times before yet another shrug graced your shoulders. Kylo swore that he was going to lose it. Don’t you use the internet? Social media? Anything? Which rock in Central Park did you drag yourself out of? Noticing that Kylo was about to lose it for real, she quickly continued, “Look. One of my good friends is covering the show and we can get you backstage passes. Do me a favor though, and don’t look up the band prior to going. He’s wants to get some opinions from people who have never heard the band before. Something about a ‘fresh perspective’ or whatever.”

Hux watched in amusement as your fork reached over the table and began to pick at his bacon. The fact that you were now helping the bassist clear off his plate didn’t go unnoticed by Kylo either. Swallowing once again, you replied, “Can I bring a friend?”

“Sure. But you can’t tell her...or him...who the band is. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Phasma gave Kylo a wicked look as she stressed the word “him”. Kylo rolled his eyes and feigned nonchalance. You could bring whoever you wanted to the show. It was none of his business. If you wanted to get drunk and make out with some douche...

He hadn’t even realized that he was balling up his napkin in an angry fist. Her suspicion now confirmed, Phasma quietly began to plot in her head. This was going to be the most fun the woman had since the trio were just teens playing shitty covers in her parents’ garage.