#we’re getting by on fumes and by fumes I mean suspenders

[bigtreefest]

Jimmy Dobyne? More like Jimmy Do-bane of my existence

[longliveao]

Ultimatum

AgedUp!Neteyam x afab!omaticaya!reader

Warnings: its mostly smut, nsfw, MDNI!!, oral (m receiving), unprotected sex (be careful!)

Summary: Neteyam always scolds you and Lo’ak for your mischief, what happens when you give him a bold ultimatum?

Word Count: 1.8k

Note: I’ve never written on here and I feel like I could’ve done this way better so I’m nervous. My mind is gross asf but I hope you enjoy lol

As Lo’aks best friend, he felt the need to have you come on every single expedition of his. You guys were double trouble, something you had gotten scolded for many times throughout the years. When you were not learning in the healers hut or exploring with kiri, you were off causing mischief with your right hand man. Neteyam hated this, not just because you allowed Lo’ak to drag you into these situations, but because of you in general. You had a habit of teasing him about everything, whether it be mean or sexual. He couldn’t stand you for it. No other woman in the clan would even dare to diss him half as much as you do. The two of you slowly but surely causing him to reach his boiling point. As you stood with Lo’ak in the forest to get lectured by him for the millionth time, Neteyam was nothing short of fuming at your nonchalance. “I swear everything I ever say to the two of you goes in one ear and comes out the other” he said raising his arms in frustration. “Bro its not even that serious for real” Lo’ak said equally tired of this conversation as you were. You kept silent watching them argue, Neteyam can’t argue if you don’t argue back. You and Lo’ak had snuck out of your tents in the middle of the night to go exploring again but Neteyam followed. It’s like he has a radar for when you’re doing something you’re not supposed to be doing. “They could’ve been hurt Lo’ak” Neteyam said strength to his brother. It was true. Right when Neteyam caught up to you two, you had gotten stuck in a tree. A vine was wrapped around your leg and arm, suspending you in the air. Lo’ak only laughed, swiftly cutting you down the moment his brother came into his view. “Why the fuck do you care so much about what we do?”, Lo’ak asked in frustration, “we’re adults now, we can do what we want”. While that was true, we directly disobeyed Jakes curfew order. Neteyam was very over this conversation that they were having at 2am. “Go home” he said to his brother. “Whatever” Lo’ak huffed, walking off into the forest towards High Camp. You turn to follow him, only to be stopped by an arm pulling you back. “Not you”, turning you see Neteyam with that familiar flame of anger lingering in his eyes. You groan loudly at this. His grip on your arms tighten, “watch it”. “Or what?” you ask amused, “you gonna run and tell Daddy how bad I’ve been”. His face hardens at this. “Stop” he says evenly. His arm pulling you closer. At this point you were inches apart, the height difference between you two becoming obvious. “Neteyam” you begin, “you can either fuck me, fight me, or shut the fuck up”. At this, his eyebrows relax and his arm grip falters. Taking this opportunity, you pull your arm from his grasp and walk off towards home. Leaving him as he stood dumbfounded at your sentence.

-

After the argument in the woods, you had gotten yet another scolding from your Olo’eyktan and Tsahík the next morning. A few days of training went by but a certain someone  was nowhere to be seen. Neteyam had taken to avoiding you after what you said in the woods. Honestly, you were used to it. Everytime one of your insults got under his skin, he’d disappear from your life until the next time you and Lo’ak needed to be told off. You found this funny. It was so easy to get under his skin and honestly, his reactions made it so much funnier. You had gone on another forest trip with Kiri a few hours ago. Night had fallen as you made your way out of another healers tent after they had patched up the nasty gash on your bicep. Most, if not all, of the Omaticaya population was asleep already. Taking a peak outside, you swiftly walked towards your own, hoping that Neteyam wouldn’t be awake to notice you. You realized you were not so lucky after you heard the opening to your tent swish behind you. Sighing you turned around to face an angry Neteyam. “What did you do now?” he asked pointing to your arm. “I fell” you said rolling your eyes. “Why are you so careless?” he asks, already frustrated. “If you came here just to yell at me again, you can find your way out jackass” you say turning your back to him, beginning to walk towards your sleeping mat. Suddenly a hand wraps around the front of your neck, yanking you back and turning you around to face neteyam. “wha-“ you exclaim, his hand tightens. “shut up” he says through gritted teeth, pulling you closer. “I’m real tired of that mouth of yours” he growls. 

You stare at him in shock. You’ve seen him this angry but this was more than that. You could see another emotion swirling in the gold of his iris’, one you didn’t recognize. Before you could even begin to compose yourself, he smashes his lips against yours. Although you were taken by surprise, you kiss back. The hand on your neck slides up to grip your jaw. He breaks the kiss and tilts your head up to look at him. The emotion in his eyes registers at this point. Pure lust. “Get on your knees” he states firmly. You listen immediately and get on your knees in front of him. From this angle you can see how hard he is in his loincloth as he unties it. “You always have something to say, should’ve shut you up long ago” he mutters as his loincloth hits the floor, his dick slapping his stomach. Gripping it between his fingers, he begins stroking himself. “Open up” he says. Once again, without a word you open your mouth. He rubs his tip on your lips, the salty precum lingers on your tongue before you begin to take him in your mouth. He’s bigger than you thought he’d be. All those nights spent touching yourself at the thought of him led you up to this point. You gag as his dick hits the back of your throat and he groans at the feeling. Gripping your head, he begins to thrust himself into your mouth. You gag as he assaults your throat, hands on his thighs trying to steady yourself. His head falls back, deep, loud groans leaving his mouth. His pace picks up making it harder for you to breathe, tears falling from your eyes. “Isn’t this what you wanted My Love? For me fuck your throat raw?” he teases. You only can only hum in response. 

You reach your hand down into your loincloth to circle your clit. A sharp yelp falls from your lips as Neteyam growls, gripping your hair and yanking you away from him. Your throat praises the breaths of air you take in. “Did I say you could touch yourself, slut” he barks, anger clearly evident on his face. “No sir” you mutter, staring at the floor of your tent, still perched on your knees. This seems to ignite something with him. Suddenly, he’s pushing your shoulders for you to lay down. “Mine” he says from on top of you before leaning in to kid you roughly. Your mouths move in sync, his touch pushing past your lips. His hand moves down, untying your top and loincloth as he kisses you. He runs his finger through your labia, up to your swollen clit. He pinches it, causing a moan to slip out and be swallowed by his mouth. Pulling away, he whispers in your ear, “so wet just for me huh baby?”. Leaning back, he positions himself between your legs. You moan as he runs his tip up and down through your folds. He lines himself up at your entrance before leaning down to capture your lips with his once again. He takes advantage of the distraction and pushes himself all the way in with no warning. You yell out in pain. “Shhhh it’s okay” he whispers again your lips, “I’ve got you”. He waits for you to adjust before he begins moving. The stinging slowly turning into deep pleasure, you begin to lift your hips to meet his thrusts. Neteyam takes this as a sign to speed up, pounding into you. His long fingers grip your hips roughly as he plunges himself in and out of your pussy. You can already tell it’s going to leave bruises. His braids fall around his face as he breathes obscenities.

 He lifts one of your legs over his shoulder, the new angles causing you to lose your breath. He’s hitting right where you want him too, and he can tell by the moans that leave your lips. You lean forward to press your hand against his abdomen only for him to slap it away. “Move your fucking hand” he growls. “Teyam- too much” you manage out. “Take it” he says speeding up, causing you to throw your head back onto the floor. A familiar feeling builds up, you clench around him. “Gonna cum” you say as the feeling begins to build up, causing your eyes to roll back in your head. “Not yet” he moans. The lewd sound of your hips meeting his echo through the tent. You close your eyes as you try your hardest to hold it in. It’s not long until his strokes turn a little sloppier. He places his thumb on your clit and begins running fast circles. “Neteyam!” you exclaim placing your hand on his as your legs begin to shake. “Cum for me baby” he says, out of breath. With that you allow the feeling of your orgasm to overtake you, eyes rolling back into your head as your vision turns white. The feeling of you clenching around him has Neteyam throwing his head back, pressing himself against your cervix. “Ah fuck” he says as he shoots his load into your womb. His hips stutter as his head falls back once again. Your legs shake as he fills up your overstimulated pussy. He gives a few languid strokes before he’s pulling out. Your head lay back onto the floor, catching your breath. You begin to feel the warm liquid leaking out of you onto the floor. Neteyam sits on his knees in front of you, admiring his work. “We should settle disagreements like this more often” he says smiling, as you cover your face in embarrassment, “don’t get all shy on me now, you’re the one who gave me an ultimatum”. You only sigh as he grabs a cloth and wets it with water before coming to clean you up.

[emyn-arnens]

In Darkness Buried Deep

Frodo & Sam | G | ~900 words | @lotrweek day 5: "here with me" | AO3

Frodo’s skin melted like wax. He burned and burned until there was nothing left of him but ash that floated away on the wind.

But even so, he still burned. His spirit, laid bare before the Eye, caught fire and trembled. The flames licked at him, all consuming, until he was hollowed, worn thin like clothing worn to mere threads that when held up to the sun cannot hide its light.

He shook from the force of the transformation, trembling and bare before the merciless Eye. His hand burned.

“Mr. Frodo!” Sam’s voice pierced through the veil of horror. “Mr. Frodo!” He shook Frodo.

Frodo scrubbed a hand over his face, his mind still caught somewhere between nightmare and waking. His hand curled around something warm. It flared against his fingers but did not burn, and a light pierced through the last lingering webs of horror.

“I’m sorry to wake you, Mr. Frodo, but we have to be getting on.” Sam peered at him closely, worry stitching his brows together as tight as a seam. He paused and looked closer at Frodo, his eyes fixed on Frodo’s chest.

Instinctively, Frodo clutched the Ring with his free hand. It was cool and soothing against his palm. He drew away from Sam, mistrusting the look in his eyes. 

Sam’s gaze turned thoughtful. “Do you remember Bilbo’s song in Rivendell about Eärendil? When I heard it, I never would have thought that one day we’d have a bit of Eärendil with us.” He nodded to Frodo’s chest. 

Frodo looked down at his hand, still held against his chest. In it was the star glass. Sam must have tucked it in his hand while Frodo slept, sensing the dark paths Frodo wandered in his sleep. And unknowingly, Frodo had clutched the star-glass to his chest, as if it were a ward against the darkness. The glass now burned as if it were living flame, casting its light about them in a pale bloom and forcing the gloom of Mordor to recede.

“I never would have thought I’d be part of one of the great stories. Me, a gardener! But it makes the task easier, doesn’t it, to think of Eärendil helping us, even though he’s sailing where we can’t go, up high above the clouds in his star-ship, and we’re down here, picking our way along paths no sensible hobbit would take.”

Something long-buried unfurled in Frodo’s heart. “Yes, Sam, I suppose it does.”

Sam paused, thoughtful. “I suppose you could even say Eärendil was sent to us, just as the Valar sent him in his star-ship to help Middle-earth long ago. And maybe that means that even now the Valar still watch and send help, even though they’ve removed themselves from Middle-earth and dwell where no man can go.” Warmth spilled over Sam’s brown face like sunlight shifting between clouds. 

“Why, think of it, Mr. Frodo!” he cried. “Maybe they’re helping us, even here in this dreadful land of rocks and fumes. Us! Helped by the Valar!” He stuck his thumbs behind his suspenders and beamed. “I wonder what my old Gaffer would have to say about that! That I’m putting myself above my station, most like, and taking part in things grander than us plain folk should be involved in. ‘Sam Gamgee,’ he’d say, ‘if you head weren’t stuffed so full of nonsense and foolishness, you’d do better remembering your place.’” Sam rocked back on his heels. “The Valar!”

Frodo's lips moved in the memory of a smile, the movement foreign and wearying. The star-glass, warm against his palm, still shone in his hand, light welling between his fingers. He clasped his hand tightly around it, then slipped the star-glass beneath his tunic against his heart and took courage from the warmth seeping into his heart.

He closed his eyes and let his mind wander from the dark land they passed through. His mind stepped toward the familiar places of home, as it had when he was imprisoned in the tower, but their names were nothing more than memories with no meaning, and he saw nothing but darkness. Still, the names, though featureless, were a faint comfort, and he let his mind linger upon them, remembering why he had set out on this hopeless quest. The Brandywine, the market at Bywater, Woody End, Hobbiton—they had meant something to him once, and he seized hold of them.

He stirred. “Thank you, Sam,” he murmured and withdrew the star-glass from his tunic. The light in it had gone dark, and it looked now like nothing more than a phial of clear water. “Keep this safe for me.”

Sam helped him to his feet, and Frodo peered at the barren land, pitted with rocks and craters and ringed by a red sky, that stretched before and around them. His feet moved with renewed purpose, and his heart no longer hung as a weight in his chest. And though he could not bring himself to hope, for the embers of his hope had died to ashes in his chest, he could reach out and clasp Sam’s hope as a rope leading him through the darkness.

[inphront]

in honor of my partner successfully making this whole room smell overwhelmingly of sweet corn, i am going to tell you all a story.

to set the scene, i would like you to imagine a very anxious fifteen year old in a closet made of glass so thin that light rainfall would do it in completely, desperately trying to make it to pride with their friends while maintaining plausible deniability to their parents that they are the biggest dyke who ever walked the earth (no denial would ever have been plausible, but as this is a story, i will request that you suspend your disbelief). this presents many challenges, of course.

one such challenge is that of attire. since this is their first pride, it is of the utmost importance that they wear thematically relevant clothing. they are *not* about to show up to the biggest event of their lesbian career looking like a straight person (this is impossible for them to do, but again, suspension of disbelief). unfortunately, they have no access to a vehicle or any real means of shopping for clothes without asking their parents, which they cannot do without explaining that they were looking to buy pride gear. you see the dilemma? fantastic.

our protagonist’s crafts closet contains a plain white t-shirt from god knows when. it will not be missed. they decide on a design to spray paint on the shirt (a very ugly design that acknowledges their status as a theater kid, but we’ll chalk it up to overzealousness). they would usually undertake this project in the garage, but that wouldn’t give them time to hide everything in case of their parents getting home early. they set up some cardboard in their bedroom and get to work one afternoon when no one else is home.

the spray painting itself is done in plenty of time to shove the end result into the closet to dry (this closet was not made of glass and would be perfectly capable of hiding its contents) and put away the crafts supplies. however— and herein lies the central obstacle our unlikely hero must surmount— spray paint produces a lot of fumes. their room does not have nearly large enough windows for those fumes to dissipate before anyone else’s return home. is this, in and of itself, a disaster to a level-headed person? probably not, but you’ll recall that we’re working with a very anxious fifteen year old here. the smell of spray paint would inevitably lead their parents to ask what they painted, and why in god’s holy name they didn’t paint it in the garage like any sensible person would, which would, in turn, lead to the destruction of their closet once and for all. they could not allow their parents to smell the spray paint. they needed to take action.

in our protagonist’s arsenal is a diffuser, for which they keep several kinds of essential oil. the diffuser by itself would do precious little against the paint fumes, which were really quite overpowering and may have accounted for some of the decision-making at play here. our hero may have done well Not to use spray paint in an enclosed space, but desperate times call for desperate measures, which is why our desperate closeted teen decides to use the oils without the diffuser, knowing their parents could get home any minute.

so that’s how i dumped almost an entire fucking bottle of lemon essential oil on my floor, completely on purpose. you could smell that goddamn citrus all the way down the hallway for the next four days. it smelled like every lemon on the face of the earth had been juiced all over the carpet. it kept me up at night. *i* probably smelled like lemon the next couple days of school. but goddammit, my mom never learned about my spray-painted gay pride shirt. thank you for your time.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

An imagine for adeuce please! They hang out someplace in their hometown during vacation but awkwardly run into crewel. I think treys family bakery would be a nice location but the setting is your choice in case you want to limit the dialogue and number of characters

Ps. I personally feel like the game needs more interactions between the students and teachers. Hopefully we can get more in the new event

Teacher-student interactions are so much fun! We definitely got more from Vargas Camp (which I’m really thankful for), and I hope we keep getting more!

So far, my favorite teacher-student dynamic has been Vargas and Azul. I’d feel bad for octoboi if I wasn’t laughing so hard at his flying fails--

I really liked this prompt, so I wrote more than my usual ~1000 word imagine; please enjoy!

***Mild spoilers for chapter 4!***

Imagine this...

The Rose Kingdom was aptly named for the flowers that bloomed in nearly every corner of its land. In the summer time, they blossomed magnificently, perfuming the warm air with their heady aroma—but in the winter, those delicate rosebuds were banished by a spell of frost. Without fail, a great cold would wash over the region every year, casting their famous red flowers in a thick layer of white.

It was a pattern that the kingdom’s residents had long since grown accustomed to. This was, after all, their beloved home—amid the roses, frozen as they were.

“Oi, Deuce! Hurry it up, will you?!” Ace called, tossing an annoyed glance over his shoulder.

His friend—wearing so many layers that he resembled a moving blueberry more than a human—lagged several paces behind.

Deuce attempted to return the sass, but his words caught in the scarf bound tightly around his mouth, coming out muffled instead. The puffball on his winter hat furiously bobbed up and down, as though communicating his frustration for him.

“If we don’t pick up the pace, they’re gonna sell out of hot chocolate and fresh pastries!” Ace rushed back, grabbed Deuce by the arm, and tugged. “C’mon!! I thought you were in Track and Field Club or something—so let’s get moving!”

Deuce loosened his scarf with his free hand and, glaring at Ace, declared, “No way am I running with the roads this icy. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

“Hah? You serious? I already got wasted enough time waiting for you to dress in your 101 layers of coats,” Ace grumped, gesturing to Deuce’s ridiculous outfit. “It can’t hurt to be a little quicker about it.”

“Mom wanted me to stay warm,” Deuce countered stiffly. “I’m gonna respect that, no matter what.”

Ace rolled his eyes and waves dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, whatever—enough talk, we really gotta get going...!! I’ll be damned if I freeze out here.”

“The Clover Bakery isn’t that far from here, so we don’t need to rush.” Deuce indicated a warm building at the end of the block, which gave off delicious fumes—spun sugar, baked bread, and spices. “Slow and steady wins the race.”

Ace groaned loudly. At this rate, it would take all day for them to waddle on over. He was about to bury his head in his hands when an idea dawned on him.

A mean, but clever, idea.

“Betcha I could make it there faster than you,” Ace chirped, his voice casual.

“It’s not a competition,” Deuce reminded him sternly.

“No one said it was, dummy! I’m just saying I could definitely beat you at your own game.”

“Tough words for someone shaking like a leaf in the cold.”

“Oh yeah?” Ace’s grin was wicked. “Prove me wrong, then.”

“I don’’t have to prove anything. It’d be dangerous to run in this weather, anyway.”

“I bet it’s way more snowy in Pyroxene—and Jack’s probably totally fine with running through it!”

“That’s Jack, and this is me. I said I wasn’t going to rush things, and I meant it.”

“Yeah? Too bad~” The redhead gave an exaggerated sigh and a shrug. “Backing out, huh...? Oh well. Guess if you snooze, you lose...!!”

“Hey, I never said...” Deuce’s voice trailed off, for Ace had shoved by him, darting off in the direction of the bakery. “H-Hey...!! Ace...!! ACE!! GET BACK HERE!!”

He tore after his friend, shouting at him all the while—and Ace, with his (cheating) head start, only laughed in return. Deuce soon caught up (no thanks to his club conditioning), and they were neck-and-neck for first place.

Windchill, knives upon their faces. The biting cold seeped into their lungs, making it hurt to breathe as they hurtled toward their destination. Yet they sailed on, determined to outdo the other.

Both boys launched themselves at the bakery entrance, grasping the handle at the same time.

“EXCUSE US!!” Ace and Deuce yelled in unison, yanking open the door (struggling to cram through the doorway at the same time) and stumbling in.

They were greeted by a blast of warmth and the smells of sweet cakes and toasted breads. The employee manning the counter glanced up, startled at the duo’s sudden appearance. When he saw who it was that had barged in, he sighed and calmly readjusted his glasses.

He looked a little different than usual, wearing a white shirt with green plaid that showed off his broad shoulders. The sleeves were rolled up to reveal thick forearms forged from years of lifting flour sacks and kneading dough. A brown apron was slung over his attire, four-leafed clovers sewn on the pockets.

“If it isn’t Ace and Deuce. How are the two troublemakers of Heartslabyul doing?” Trey asked, his smile lopsided as his underclassmen approached.

“A-Are we really troublemakers in your eyes, Clover-senpai?!”

“I’m just kidding,” he reassured Deuce. “Well, you are troublemakers, but more for Riddle than for me.”

“Geez... thanks for the vote of confidence...” Ace grumbled, casting the third year a cheeky look. “Some senpai you are, huh?”

“Now, now... I’m allowed to have some fun, aren’t I? We’re all ‘off-duty’, so to speak.” Trey said light heartedly. “Anyway, what brings you guys to the Clover Bakery? I’m assuming you’re not dropping by just to say hello.”

“Hehe. Obviously we’re hungry, so we came by for some grub!” Ace held up his index finger. “One large hot chocolate, and a plate of assorted butter cookies for me!”

“I’m okay with a small spiced apple cider,” Deuce chimed in, “please and thank you.”

“Gotcha. I’ll get you your drinks in a bit,” Trey nodded, “but as for the butter cookies, I’m afraid I won’t be able to sell those to you.”

“Huh?” Ace’s face collapsed. “Why not?”

“We’ve only got a few dozen left, and they’re reserved for a client that preordered them. Sorry.” Trey pointed to a neatly wrapped box already set upon the counter, done up in a bright green bow.

Through the plastic window in the box, Ace could see that the cookies had been converted into little sandwiches. Each pair housed a generous dollop of cream, caramelized raisins threaded throughout it.

“What? Who needs that many butter cookies? And why are there gross raisins in them--“

The door to the bakery flung open, summoning a gale of cold once more. A bell suspended above jingled, ringing in a new customer.

“Ah, speak of deville the devil,” Trey said—while his underclassmen balked in terror.

There, in the doorway, was a tall man in black faux leather gloves and a voluminous fur coat—striped, black and white. Beneath that, he boasted a crimson turtle neck and a blazer, half solid white, the other half a black , checkerboard pattern. This, paired with his slicked back hair, steely eyes, and regal face, made him appear as though he had just strutted off the runway, were it not for the leashes he gripped.

Two Dalmatians—one in a blue coat, the other in a red one—stood alert by his feet. They caught Ace and Deuce’s eyes and barked in greeting, but the two boys were far too fixated on the Dalmatians’ owner to gush over dogs.

“Crewel...”

“... Sensei?”

Ace and Deuce glanced to one another, then back at their Alchemy teacher.

“C-CREWEL-SENSEI?!”

“Wh-What’re you doing here?!” Ace demanded, pointing an accusatory finger. “School’s out for winter break...!! You... You didn’t hunt us down to make us do our homework, did you?!”

Crewel snorted. “Spare me your theatrics, Trappola. Your instructors are granted a vacation for the duration of winter break as well. Were you not aware?”

“I-I knew that! I just didn’t know you lived in the Rose Kingdom, too!”

“I thought teachers lived at school...”

“... Seriously, Deuce?!”

“The more you know.” Crewel narrowed his eyes at Ace. “But speaking of homework, I trust you pups are keeping on top of your assignments? Being on break is no excuse to slack on your studies.”

“D-Duh! Of course I haven’t been slacking!” A lie, Ace grimaced, thinking to the piles of homework he had abandoned in his bedroom in favor of hanging out with friends. Whatever, he could just pester his brother for help later. “Right, Deuce? Back me up here!”

“I’ve been diligently studying and working on my homework bit by bit every day, Crewel-sensei!”

“... But have you done it accurately?” Crewel asked, raising an eyebrow. “Simply writing down an answer does not guarantee full marks, Spade.”

“... Errrrrr, okay, maybe I need to work on it a little more.”

“You’ve got your notes and a reliable Science Club member to count on for assistance,” Crewel quipped, gesturing to Trey with a gloved hand. “There is no excuse for why you should not do well. That goes for you as well, Trappola.”

“Y-Yessir!”

“Crewel-sensei, I think that’s enough interrogation,” Trey called, waving for him to come to the counter. Outwardly, he wore a smile, but inwardly, he sighed. For the love of the Great Seven, don’t offer my help for me. “Here, I have your order prepared--oh, but be sure to keep your dogs at the doorway. No pets allowed beyond a certain threshold for health and safety reasons.”

“I am aware, yes.” Crewel’s eyes passed over to the two scared stiff underclassmen. “... Trappola, Spade--come here. Do your professor a favor and tend to my Dalmatians for me.”

“What? You want us to watch your dogs?”

“I’ll do my best, Sensei!!”

“Don’t just blindly agree to it, Deuce!”

“It will only be for a moment,” Crewel insisted, shoving his leashes into Ace and Deuce’s hands. The boys fumbled, but held firm--the Dalmatians eagerly staring up at them.

“... Oi, don’t give me those looks,” Ace grumbled. “You’re... You’re too cute looking and innocent to be Crewel-sensei’s pets.”

The dog in the red coat gave a happy bark, as if pleased with the compliment. Its partner, in the blue coat, panted with delight as Deuce gave it a firm head pat.

Crewel received the box of raisin butter cookies--but allowed his eyes to quickly a scan the glass display case as he strode up. “Do you have dog treats in stock as well?”

“We do.”

“Then add two to my total, please--peanut butter flavor.”

“Alright, you’ve got it.” Trey ducked, retrieved a pair of tongs, and fished out two bone-shaped biscuits. He dropped them into a paper bag and handed them over to his teacher. “That’ll be--”

He was cut off by several bills being fanned out on the counter.

“I’ve ordered enough from your bakery to know the general prices,” Crewel smirked, tucking his wallet away into his massive fur coat. “If there is a discrepancy, you may keep the change.”

“Ah, thanks for that. Hope you and the dogs enjoy--” Trey paused, cut off this time by the sound of several small footsteps from the back room of the bakery. He groaned, already knowing what was coming. “Oh no...”

“Trey-nii!!” A chorus of high-pitched voices piped up, startling Ace and Deuce. “We heard bark-barks!! Did Mr. Fluffy Coat bring back his doggies?”

Three heads of green hair poked above the counter--just barely. One girl and two boys, probably elementary school age, all of them sharing Trey’s mustard yellow eyes.

“Guys, not now. Big bro’s busy with the customers,” Trey warned. He passed an apologetic look to his underclassmen and teacher. “Sorry, my siblings are excitable sometimes.”

“I wanna pet the doggies!”

“I wanna feed’m snackies!”

“I wanna dress them up!”

To the boys’ surprise, Crewel merely chuckled. “No worries. Fellow canine lovers are always welcome.”

“Mr. Fluffy Coat!! Can we feed your doggies?”

“Pretty please with candied violets on top!”

“Please, please, please!!”

Crewel barked with laughter. “Perhaps I can allow it, little ones--permitted that your brother grants his permission.”

All three Clover siblings looked expectantly at their eldest sibling.

Trey heaved a sigh. “... I guess I’ve got no choice. Go ahead.”

Excited squeals filled the interior of the bakery. The Clover siblings nearly tripped over themselves racing over to Crewel’s dogs (they nearly trampled Ace and Deuce’s feet, too).

“Hey, watch it! We’re the ones babysitting these dogs, not you!” Ace cried as the kids descended on the Dalmatians. I’ve only had these dogs for five minutes but if anything happened to them, I’d kill everyone here and then--

“We can share, Ace!”

“Spade is correct. There is plenty of the pups to go around,” Crewel interjected. He produced two dog treats and broke them into smaller pieces, offering them to Ace, Deuce, and the Clover siblings. “Go on, then. One for each of you to feed them.”

The Clovers cheered and eagerly claimed their pieces, holding them out and allowing each Dalmatian to sniff and lick the treats straight out of their palms. As soon as the food was slurped up, the Clovers proceeded to vigorously pet the pups. But the first years hesitated.

“You’re... being awfully nice,” Ace noted, eying him suspiciously. “Are you gonna spring a pop quiz on us as soon as I take the treat?”

“Keep biting the hand that feeds you, and I just might consider it,” Crewel warned with a dark smirk.

“W-We’ll take the treats!” Deuce snatched up two pieces, shoving one into Ace’s hands. “Come on, let’s not worry too much. We’re on winter break, after all. Let’s just relax while we still can.”

“You’re right, you���re right! Let’s not sweat it!”

They exchanged a brief laugh before kneeling and offering up their own dog treat pieces to the Dalmatians. Just as the dogs’ sloppy, wet tongues connected with the boys’ hands, their cell phones went off.

“... Huh? Did you just get a text, Deuce?”

“I think I did. I heard your phone ping too, though. Did you get a text too?”

“I can check. One sec...” With his free hand, Ace fished his phone out of his coat pocket and consulted it. He immediately paled. “Oh, shit.”

(“Hey, language!” Trey shouted--but his protest seemingly went ignored.)

“What’s wrong?” Deuce asked, frowning.

“Check your phone. Check it right now.”

“Is it something seri...” Deuce’s face dropped as soon as he looked at his messages. “Fuck.”

(“I said, language!” Trey tried again, only to be snubbed a second time.)

The distressing text they had received?

SOS SEND HE LP STRAND ED D IN SCAR ABIA CANT GET OUT - Yuu, Grim

Ace and Deuce abruptly stood and bolted toward the exit, much to everyone’s surprise. They paid no mind to the concerned shouts of Trey, nor Crewel, or to the excited barks of Dalmatians no longer held by leashes.

All that remained of where the duo once stood were soggy, half-finished peanut butter dog treats.

[wheredafandomat]

Power Trip 🔋 P3 🔋 New Home

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

After your little trip down to the lab, you were basically told you’re not going home. Not for now anyway. Scans confirmed that you had absorbed a lot of gamma radiation however your genes hadn’t mutated. As for the tesseract, that couldn’t be located. You knew the power of it resided in you, you could feel it but the equipment at the lab wouldn’t have been able to identify it. You were told you’d have to stay at the tower until further notice. You were also told that living in the tower meant you were under the protection of the avengers and in the safety of Tony’s wallet.

Walking back to your room, you heard the sound of someone grunting in a room as if they were in a fight. Walking towards it, you saw Steve had his hands in fists hitting a punchbag. You started walking in which caught Steve off guard. As he saw you, he turned in your direction. Looking at you, he didn’t see the punchbag heading back towards him.

Steve stared at you as you stood there with your hand in the air looking shocked. As he turned around, he noticed that the punchbag was suspended in the air under your control. Steve gasped causing you to loose concentration and it hit Steve in the head. Rushing towards him, he looked at you in awe before speaking

“What was that?”

“I- I don’t—”

“JARVIS get Banner here now!” Steve shouted interrupting you

After a while, you were back in the lab. Bruce had run various tests on you and a plethora of scans. He asked whether you had powers before and of course you replied with no. You didn’t know what was happening to you but you knew Banners questions weren’t helping. You tried your hardest to explain to him that you just felt really full. You felt like there was some sort of power that was in you but you didn’t know what it was or how to control it. You saw that Steve was in danger of being hit so you just used some of that power to stop the bag hitting him. Banner then started talking about the Hulk and how he wasn’t sure how you managed to turn him back into himself without his permission. You were confused too. All you did was touch his hand and you felt the power draining from him into you.

You were allowed back to your room with the promise of more questioning and tests tomorrow. As you walked back, you heard Tony speaking on the phone.

“There’s something about this one, she seems powerful. Maybe if we’re gonna make the whole avengers thing permanent, we should look for some more teammates”

Did he mean me you thought trying to walk past quicker to go unnoticed.

Once you arrived at your room, you felt yourself feeling exhausted. You still felt full but not as overwhelmingly as you did earlier on. Crawling into the bed, you closed your eyes and allowed yourself to succumb to the abyss.

You spent the next few days exploring your new home. You had spoken to each of the other residents one on one and they seemed to like you which was great. Lucky you didn’t have anything waiting for you back home apart from an already half dead plant or there would have definitely been people worrying about you. Perks of being solus you told yourself.

After everyone heard about the little stunt you pulled a few days ago with Steve and the punchbag, people started testing you. It started off with Natasha dropping a glass next to you to see if you’d freeze it. Steve jumped out of your wardrobe to try and scare you to see how you’d react. The only thing that earned the yearned reaction was when Clint shot an arrow at you. You were walking out of your room when you saw an arrow heading straight for you. Instantly you caught it in your hand as it narrowly missed your eye. Fuming, you stormed up to Clint before being talked down by Steve who heard the commotion. After you calmed down, you felt yourself feeling quite smug. You’d manage to intercept one of Hawkeye’s arrows.

As the day went on, nothing out of the ordinary happened. You knew Tony was always around watching you. He was just as confused as you were. Although you’d always try and act alright, you were completely baffled. You had gone from being a nobody to now living in Stark Tower with superheroes and you have some sort of powers. A rumbling from the roof was what tore you from your thoughts as you started walking to the elevator to find out what happened.

To your surprise, Thor and Loki were on the roof. Thor was smiling obviously happy to be back whilst Loki grimaced. Clearly he wasn’t happy being here and this wasn’t his decision. Your eyes met briefly and you saw a flicker of intrigue cross his features. Thor lead Loki into the tower as he called for JARVIS to gather the rest of the team. As Thor approached you, he picked up your hand and kissed the back of it before saying “Lady y/n, glad you’re still here”.

You let out a shy laugh as he let your hand fall back to your side.

“Hey Thor” you said smiling “Loki” you said bowing your head slightly at him.

“Witch” he replied looking you up and down.

As you and the brothers walked into the briefing room. You were greeted with the faces of the rest of the team who didn’t seem pleased with Thor’s impromptu gift.

“No no absolutely not” Tony said pointing at Loki

“Hello to you too, Stark” Loki hissed

“Friends, Loki has been banished to Midgard under my watchful eye to be held accountable for his actions.”

As the team argued with one another, you noticed Loki’s eyes were on you. He looked as if he was studying you. You tried to keep your breaths even under his intense gaze until you looked back at him and saw he was no longer where he was just standing. instantaneously you felt yourself being grabbed, teleported and flung to a wall. Catching your breath, you looked up to see Loki walking towards you. Slowly. He wasn’t trying to quickly kill you, no, he was a predator stalking its prey. You stared him directly into the eyes as he stalked towards you and he stared right back, a grin decorating his lips. You blinked, and he was gone. Promptly, you felt a hand around your throat. Loki was right in front of you gripping tightly around your throat as you struggled to breathe. You desperately tried to call for help, you knew you were still in the tower by the layout of the room. Nearly giving up, you decided to firmly grab Lokis hand. He let out a groan as his grip became a lot looser. You held onto his hand, removing it from your throat whilst he looked at you completely in shock. The rest of the team burst through the door and stopped dead in their tracks as they saw Loki pinned to the floor with your knee to his neck.

“Guys look I did it!” You chimed looking at everyone’s stunned faces

“Well that settles our Loki problem” Steve said still looking at Loki on the floor

“Y/N welcome to the team. First job, Loki’s sitter” Tony added

[darker-soft-starker]

Starker High School AU, Pt. 2 (Pt. 1, Pt. 3, Pt. 4, Pt. 5)

-----

Peter will admit that during he took an extended moment during his journey home to grieve the loss of his free afternoon, and indeed the impending headaches.

And the rest of his future, if he was honest.

Not that Peter was prone to melancholy by any means, but with this assignment his fate was officially sealed, there was no misunderstanding. He was going to fail this assignment. He was going to, for the first time in his academic career, be forced to submit garbage of a caliber worthy of Tony Stark. It will forever be a black mark on his academic record.

No respectable college is going to accept him after this. In fact, he might as well drop out of school now and hit up Mr Delmar for a job. All of his prep for his MIT application is as good as useless after this. Extracurriculars? Goodbye.

Because it’s confirmed.

He’s doomed.

Swaying with the motions of the train, Peter types a text to Ned, the only person who might provide him with some much needed sympathy.

>  I’m doomed >  paired w/stark for an assignment lollllllllll.  >  help

Maybe Peter could trade with Ned. Maybe he could plead with their teacher, for honest fear of his life and scholastic integrity. He wasn’t even exaggerating. In no known iteration of this universe could Peter amicably work with Tony Stark. It would be like Harry Potter sitting down for tea with Voldemort, or Frodo and Sauron chilling with a pint and a pipe in Bag End. 

It was unthinkable. Implausible. Laughable.

And Peter would laugh, were it anyone but him in this situation.

The feeling is unusual. Never had he found reason in his life to truly dislike anybody before, everyone could be redeemed or given the opportunity for penance. Natasha has said more than once that Peter would offer the devil himself a sandwich if he appeared. 

Tony Stark on the other hand? No sandwich for him.

Well, maybe a slice of bread. A stale one.

While he waits for Ned to responds he catches sight of his injured reflection in the train window, which is admittedly pretty gnarly. Even with his hood drawn up, there was a noticeable berth allocated to him in the busy carriage between himself and the other passengers.

< sux. can I have ur lego hogwarts if u die?

> dude :( pity me.

< lol. so, can i?

Peter sighs.

> sure. Look after May for me, bro. delete my internet history.

< deal. godspeed

Pocketing his phone, Peter wonders if it’s too late to take up praying.

---

By the time he’s back in his apartment his mood has managed to swing back up.

Tony Stark is not going to be the arbiter of Peter’s fate. Hell no. He’s smart, he’s creative and hardworking - it isn’t up to anybody but Peter to determine his outcomes. If he has to do the assignment with Stark then he will. And he will work his hardest. 

If he has to do it sharing the credit with Stark, well, Peter knows a concession when he sees one.

No matter how reluctant he is.

But he powers through it, like ripping off a bandaid. It’s fine! He’s a Parker and he’s come this far in life already against ill, Parker-like odds. What was being paired for one assignment with someone who escaped the nearest hellmouth? 

It’ll be fine. 

Probably.

Not letting himself linger on his fears, Peter clears out his previous plans of going on a YouTube spiral and eating sour gummies until his teeth stick, instead utilising the time to get his foot in and and begins prepping for the assignment. Cursory, preliminary research at first, before the inevitable deep dive begins.

Neanderthal, Peter scoffs, mad all over again. Who is Stark to call Peter a neanderthal? He’s second in his class. He’s a straight A student. He likes school.

And as much as he is moderately skilled in, and enjoys JV, it’s not like he received his scholarship to study at Midtown based on his physical prowess.

The graze on his cheek that stings every time he yawns is proof of that.

Stark can eat his entire ass and choke on it, he thinks darkly, as he continues his research. He doesn’t know the first thing about Peter.

The data is sobering as he delves into job listings and statistics of his projected salary in a three year margin. This is really what his teachers earn? Wow. Depressing.

The contrast of expected salary versus the forecast of steep student loans is disheartening further still.

Teaching quietly slips from second to third on his list of ideal occupations.

Turning on a playlist on his phone, Peter continues to compile notes, amassing a truly gargantuan amount of tabs on his browser. His computer, old enough to be on its’ last teeth, whirrs loudly in protest.

It’s not until his room goes dark that he thinks to check the time.

Ah, shit. It’s nearly six.

Peter pauses. Should he tidy up the apartment?

...Nah, no point in breaking a sweat for Stark.

He continues typing. Then he hesitates, fingers suspended in mid-air. 

But what if Stark sees his unfolded laundry out on the dining table and publicly shames him for his old-but-comfortable Bulbasaur themed boxer shorts?

Goddamnit.

---

A quick, cursory clean ensues and leaves a relatively orderly Parker apartment. No freshly laundered underwear is in sight.

Peter wraps up just a few minutes before six. Right on time.

Taking a seat at the now clear dining table Peter drums his fingers on the surface and waits.

And waits.

And waits.

---

He knows when Tony finally arrives when he hears the sound of a car pulling up outside his apartment block. The riffs of a Roxette remix can be heard playing loudly  from the ground to the seventh floor of his apartment, the bass so thunderous it reverberates the windows all the way up to his floor.

Drumming his fingers on the kitchen table, Peter checks the wall clock again. It’s nearly seven.

Tony’s late.

Not that Peter is particularly affected with surprise that Tony is incapable of following basic instructions, but still. Really? Really?

By the time there is a knock on his door, Peter is already before it, his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face. Every second between Tony pulling up and his ascent to Peter’s floor has him positively fuming. He can’t believe how this day played out. It started with such promise. He had such innocuous, but high hopes.

Clearly, he miscalculated.

Feeling a touch petty, he waits to answer, listening to Stark knock a second and then a third, more insistent time before he rouses enough calm to open the door.

He instantly regrets it when he does. 

Tony’s expression is curious one as he breezes right passed Peter without waiting for further invitation. There’s a smudge of something dark on his brow, his otherwise white undershirt smeared in dark stains.

Peter watches incredulously as the other boy drops his backpack by the door with a thump.

“You’re late.”

He closes the door behind Tony and scowls at the other boys easy posture, hands shoved into his pockets, eyes taking in the apartment.

“I didn’t realise you lived all the way out in fucking Queens. Do you have any idea how bad traffic is at this time of day? Also, your elevator doesn’t work. I just climbed seven flights of stairs, where’s the hospitality?”

“Try earning it.”

The other boy rolls his eyes. “Like it’s worth my time.” He breezes past Peter and slides his leather jacket off his arms, tossing it atop of his backpack in the corner. “Look, I’m here now. Okay? You can unclench now. So, do I get a tour or what?”

“Or what. This wouldn’t have been an issue if we had just started straight after class like I said.”

“Oh I’m sorry,” Tony clutches his hands to his heart before gesturing to the room. “I didn’t realise I was interrupting your busy Friday night, Parker. You got a keg and the rest of the meatheads stashed away somewhere?”

Without waiting for a response, Tony wanders around the living room like a curious child in a new play room. His gaze inspects everything all at once, from peering at up close at the wall mounted photos and hovering his grubby hands over the oddments and knick-knacks speckled throughout the space.

Apprehensive, Peter can’t help but shadow him, afraid he just let loose a hurricane in a china shop.

Without asking, Tony picks up May’s old Magic 8-Ball and gives it a good shake. Peter’s fingers itch to reach over and stop him, but stops himself because then that would require actually making direct skin contact the other boy.

Not worth it.

“Cannot predict now. Huh,” Tony says to himself before placing the ball back in the wrong spot. 

They both watch silently as it rolls precariously close to the edge. 

“Anyways,” Tony helps himself to an armchair, lounging back and spreading his legs wide. “I know your long-term memory is probably as defective as the rest of you, so don’t strain yourself recalling that I had other priorities.”

“Like what?”

“Like literally anything that isn’t being around you,” the other boy grins. “Now, are we doing this thing, or did you invite me over so you could bitch at me?”

“I didn’t invite you,” Peter grumbles, swiping his notebook from the dining table before sitting on the sofa, as far away from Stark as possible. Shifting, he takes his phone from his pocket and opens the notes he’d taken earlier.

“So, I cross referenced some websites and current job listings,” Peter scrolls through his research, adjusting his glasses as they slip down his nose. “Assuming you have no savings, we’re looking at an average of sixty-thousand per annum based on my salary alone. The average rent in --”

“-- Uh, why are we assuming I have no savings?”

"Because... we’re being realistic?”

Tony springs to his feet and paces across the living room.

“Well,” he says, gesturing to Peter, “if we’re being realistic, does having no savings also that mean I have no debt -- or are you paying off two student loans on your salary?”

“I don’t --”

“Do we have car loans? Health insurance?”

“Wait, slow your roll, Stark. I haven’t yet --”

“-- Of course you haven’t. I mean really, Parker, do you ever think ahead? You should try it, we do have a baby on the way, you know.” Tony clicks his fingers and points at Peter. “Oh, names! I want to call it Molly.”

“As in the drug?” 

“No, as in Ringwald. Anyhoo, seeing as only one of us has the intellectual capacity to construct a budget,” Tony gestures to himself, “that would be me, consider maybe that I spent my savings paying off my student loans and bought a car for me and Miss Molly, leaving you with just your own stagnant debt. Happy?”

“Thrilled,” he says through clenched teeth, feeling utterly steamrolled. “But we’re not calling the baby Molly.”

“Yes, we are. Think of all the great nicknames. Hey wait,” Tony pauses in his pacing, “are your parents going to be home soon?”

It was in that moment Peters world narrows down to one, botched cosmic joke.

Turning his gaze heavenwards, Peter prays silently for mercy. What did he do to deserve this. This is all his bad karma come at once. This is the bad place.

“Ah, no,” he replies, eyes widening. “No, my parents are not going to be home soon.”

“Cool. Lucky you.”

Oblivious to Peter’s existential turmoil, Tony resumes his patrol through the living room, picking up a frame on the mantle. It houses an old photo of Ben, May and a young, bespectacled Peter. 

It is one of the more embarrassing immortalisations of his younger self, eleven-years old and grinning widely, bearing his silver braces to the camera as he holds up a science fair trophy, curls wild and untamed.

Oh god. That was exactly what Peter needed on this unholy day - Tony Stark in his living room, witnessing Peter in his prepubescent glory. 

Quick, create a diversion.

“So, as I was saying,” he says loudly, “rent is reasonably affordable with a sixty-thousand budget in --”

“Who’s the babe?” Tony points to a younger Aunt May in the photo.

Peter gets to his feet and removes the frame from Tony’s grasp. He glowers as he places it back on the mantle. 

“No one you would have a chance with. Can you stay focused? Like, are you physically capable of it?”

“Okay, calm down,” Tony holds his hands up in surrender. “You’ve got a lot of anger for someone so vertically challenged, you know that, shortstack?” 

“Focus, dumbass.”

“I’m focused! Let’s see, we’ve established that I am excellent at managing my money. You have a shitty job and a shitty salary, and apparently my imaginary future self has terrible taste in men. So. Have I got that right? Where are we living?”

“Queens. LIC has some one bed, one baths that could be affordable.”

“Uh, rewind. Going to have to eighty-six that - I am not living in Queens.”

Peter stares at him.

Tony rubs his hands over his face and sighs. “Fine, whatever. But I want a Pontiac Firebird in this imaginary life if I have to deal with you.”

“For someone so keen on getting away you’re doing your best to prolong this experience. It’s literally painful.”

“Well, I just like to see you get all riled up, Princess,” Tony grins, leaning back against the mantle and folding his arms over his chest. “You have this vein that bulges on your forehead when you’re mad. Makes you look like a pitbull.”

Peter swallows the particularly acidic retort sitting on his tongue and tries not to let Tony’s words sting. Be the bigger man, Ben used to say. As difficult as it is to channel even a modicum of the mans’ eternal patience, Peter takes a deep breath and reminds himself to stay focused. The less he gets sidetracked by Tony’s fuckery, the sooner it’s over.

He mentions the next part with unease. 

“...Miss Ahn said that we need references and should do field research. Speak to realtors. Ask people who have a similar lifestyle and budget.”

The look that comes over the other boys face is one of unequivocal revulsion. Peter can relate. The thought of having to spend more time with this guy makes his stomach turn.

“Well, Parker, any bright ideas who we can ask?”

The hinges of the front door squeaks before Peter can respond.

Moments after, Aunt May walks into the living room, placing her bag down on the dining table. She looks between the two boys curiously.

“Hey, Pete,” she comes to his side to squeezes his shoulder. “Who do we have here?”

Tony rushes over with his hand outstretched, an eager grin on his face. 

“Tony Stark, ma’am. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh, ah, okay, well,” May laughs as he enthusiastically shakes her hand. Her eyes are soft as Tony smiles brightly at her. “Nice to meet you too, Tony. I’m May, Peter’s aunt. Are you... friends with Peter?”

Peter snorts. 

“Definitely not. We just have an assignment --”

“-- Great friends, actually,” Tony talks over him, taking a seat beside Peter on the sofa. To Peter’s utter disgust, the other boy puts an arm around his shoulders, squeezing his bicep encouragingly. “Aren’t we, Pete? Hmm? Best buds. We go way back.”

Peter freezes, feeling the line of heat from Tony’s against his side, the weight of his arm on his body. 

Eyes widening, he feels his skin crawl. 

“That’s sweet,” May smiles, putting her hair up in a loose, messy bun. “Well, I don’t know about you boys, but I’m starving. I’m ordering pizza, Friday special. You should stay for dinner, Tony.”

Tony places his free hand on his chest.

“I would be honoured.”

May looks at Tony strangely before retreating to the kitchen to retrieve the menus.

As soon as she’s out of sight Tony takes his arm off Peter and quickly shifts away from him like he’s been burned. 

“Dude,” Peter whispers, bewildered. “What the fuck?”

“Oh my god,” Tony whispers, shuddering as his face scrunches up in disgust. “I’m going to have to pour scalding hot water on all the places your skin just touched me. Ugh, I feel like I just touched toe fungus.”

Peter slaps his arm.

“What is wrong with you?”

Tony backhands Peter’s arm in retaliation and then shudders all over again.

“Your aunt is crazy hot, okay, I couldn’t help myself. It was an instinctual reaction. Is she taken? C’mon. Vindicate me.” 

“I’ll eviscerate you --”

“-- I mean, clearly she married into the family, she doesn’t share your unfortunate phenotype, but I didn’t see a ring on her finger. So? Yes or no?”

“You’re unbelievable,” Peter hisses as his aunt comes back in. “She’s not available to you. Not now, not ever.”

“But she is available?”

“Don’t even, Stark. You’re like, sixteen. Don’t you have any shame?”

Tony smiles, as she nears. “Not a shred.”

“So,” May waves a menu at them. “You boys happy with pepperoni?”

Closing his eyes, Peter wishes for death.

As fate would have it, he gets pepperoni instead.

-----

If you had ever told Peter that he would be sitting down for dinner with his Aunt and a dirt-streaked Tony Stark, he would have laughed.

And if Peter were outside himself he would probably find the sharing of pizza and soda over their plastic, chequered table-cloth comical -- in that uncanny, Dogs Playing Poker kind of way. But in reality there was nothing funny about the discomfort of having Tony in his personal space or the heavy, suffocating tension that has removed the air from the room. 

The entire time Tony has been hamming it up, cracking jokes with his aunt, complimenting her on the decor, asking what she does for work. Peter doesn’t know if he’s being sweet to May for the purpose of buttering her up, or, given the wealth of his family in contrast to the Parkers, if he’s being cruelly facetious. 

Nonetheless, Peter has felt on edge. It’s disconcerting, is what it is. Every single movement Tony makes, every time he opens his mouth -- frequently to sweet-talk his aunt -- has Peter’s anxiety standing at attention, hyperaware of everything the other boy does.

He’s beginning to feel like a meerkat whose den has been invaded by a lion.

Through the course of a single meal Peter’s attention moves from the sky to the floor. There is no grace or higher power that is coming to save him from this profound, unusual torture. 

So he focuses his hopes to the south, seeing through their tiny, cramped, dinner table, past bargaining. He’s willing to trade his soul to end it all. Surely some wayward being from hell would come to his rescue. 

May has Peter’s chin between her fingers. She turns it this way and that, inspecting his injuries.

“What happened this time, bubby?” She frowns, brow furrowing. “You look like you got beat up.”

Peter, very aware of Tony’s amused gaze on them, gently pulls away from her grasp. He smiles placatingly and picks at his pizza slice. God he’s never going to live this down.

“Training accident. It’s okay, I feel fine. ‘Tis but a scratch,” he brings himself to joke.

“You sure?”

“Yep.”

She leans in to kiss his cheek, carefully avoiding the fresh scabs and injured flesh. “God, you bruise like a peach. Be careful, baby, you’re our money maker,” she laughs. “What about you Tony, do you play football?”

Tony, who is mid way through chewing on a mouthful of pizza, momentarily chokes, beating his chest with his fist to swallow down the obstruction.

“Uh, no,” Tony gulps, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Nope. No recreational sports for me. Can’t.” He gestures to his chest and sighs heavily. “Asthma.”

Peter sips his coke and rolls his eyes, knowing full well there’s a half-empty pack of Marlboro Light’s in the pocket of Tony’s jeans. Asthma. What a schmuck.

“That’s a shame. Do you boys have classes together?”

Unfortunately, Peter thinks.

The other boy seems to have the same thought, as he glares at Peter from over the table. When he picks up his can of coke, he gives Peter the finger outside of May’s eye-line.

“That’s why Tony’s here,” Peter twists his napkin in his grip. “We have an econ assignment together on microeconomics. Teach says Tony’s destined to be on welfare.”

Tony leans in, chin rested on his hand. He addresses May but his stare, dark and odious, rests on Peter.

“Not accurate. Stay-at-home parent, actually. One might say that is the most important job of all. Wouldn’t you agree, May?”

She raises her Coke.

“Hear, hear.”

Tony grins roguishly, the same grin he gave the girls at the lockers earlier. “Petey here was just saying that we should ask you about your experience running a household on a single salary. We’d love to have you as a reference.”

“Was I saying that?” Peter narrows his eyes. “I can’t remember.”

Tony kicks him under the table. The hit lands right in his knee cap.

Wincing, Peter kicks back, satisfied when the other boy bites his lip to hold back a pained groan.

“Yeah, well, not surprising,” Tony says airily, waving his hand. “Hit your head today, didn’t you? Maybe you should get all that damage looked into.”

The napkin rips in Peter’s grasp.

“Maybe you should go f--”

“I’d be more than happy to help with your assignment, boys,” May cuts in.

Whatever snide reply he has in his mouth instantly wilts when he looks over to his Aunt. She looks...pleased. Delighted, almost. Her eyes under the dull, yellow kitchen light seem to get warmer, and her smile is small but softens around the edges.

Instantly, Peter feels like the worst person in the world. Of course May would be the best person to ask. She does so much for him, the least he can do is set his pride aside for one moment to make her feel good about how hard she works for their life.

He reaches over to squeeze her hand, smiling as gratitude swells unexpectedly in his chest.

“Thanks, May. That would be great.”

Across the table, a smug Tony looks like the cat who got the cream. 

Without warning, Peter’s chest goes hot with contempt, his fingernails dig into his palm. He’s not sure he’s ever met anyone he couldn’t like, until now.

I hate you, Peter mouths while May busies herself with rounding up the pizza boxes.

Kiss my ass, Tony mouths back. 

In an instant his expression flips from contemptuous to angelic when he stands and offers to help May clean up.

Peter stands too, sparing a disdainful glance to the floor. Turns out not even the devil was willing to give him a hand.

Natasha was right. It’s going to end in murder.

---

Peter walks Tony to the door after dinner to say goodbye to his ‘friend’. Following him into the hall, Peter closes the door behind them.

“What do you want, Parker?” Tony asks wearily, retrieving a cigarette from his pocket. “I’m trying to make a getaway here.”

Peter crosses his arms over his chest. “Don’t do that with my aunt. I’m not joking, asshole. It’s not cool.”

“Relax, princess,” Tony rolls his eyes, fishing for his lighter in his backpack. “I’m not actually interested. Just trying to get under your skin. Worked, see? You’re easy like that. Hey, why do you live with your aunt anyways?”

“None of your business,” he frowns as Tony holds one hand up in surrender and lights his cigarette with the other. “Dude, you can’t smoke in here.”

“Can’t, shouldn’t, gonna. By the way, you’ve got sauce on your chin, it’s very distracting.”

Peter wipes at it without thinking. When he pulls it away there is indeed a smear of red sauce on his hand.

Tony walks backwards down the hall and exhales a cloud of smoke, waving in a sardonic imitation of a farewell.

“See you Monday, bubby.”

Peter doesn’t bother with a response, too tired from the week, exhausted by this whole darn day, and it’s not like the other boy cares what he has to say anyway. He takes a moment to swallow his anger before he heads back inside, sighing. 

Well, at least he has an entire weekend free of Stark to look forward to.

May looks at him curiously when he reemerges, but says nothing. He considers for a moment about heading to his bedroom and playing a video game to disassociate - but then, suddenly, remembers her smile earlier, and how alone she looks now. A surge of affection hits him right beneath his breastbone.

He checks his watch and then catches her eye.  Tilting his head towards the living room, he says, “Hey. You wanna eat some ice cream and watch some Colbert before bed?”

She smiles just like she did earlier and kisses his cheek. “Sounds nice, Pete.”

Maybe the whole day wasn’t lost.

As May heads to the sofa and switches the TV on, Peter catches sight of the Magic 8-Ball from the corner of his eye. He walks over and gives it a shake.

Outlook good.

*

*

----

tagging: @bylerboyfriends @ravens-starker-stuff, @starker-rays, @ironspiderstarker, @notfor-temporaryuse, @tabbycat1220, @sugarfreecult, @rebel13lion39, @muse-of-gods

[minghaocouture]

Pairing: Hong Joshua x Fem!Reader

Genre: Friends to Lovers, fluff, angst

Warning: mentions of a toxic relationship, loneliness, language

WC: 3.6K

A/N: Happy Holidays @yutacrush​!!! You absolutely amazing bean!! ily SO MUUCCCHHH! You are such a joy to be friends with and i hope this fic brings you even half of the joy you bring our group chat <3333 

Age 10

“Sweetheart, this is Joshua. He’s our new neighbor.” The boy across from you stood before you, all smiles and cheer as you cowered behind your mother’s legs. You didn’t have too many friends in school and more often than not, felt isolated from your peers who seemed to almost look down on you. This boy was a stranger, a potential new villain in your life and you wanted nothing to do with him. 

So when your mother left you in the room alone with him, while she and Joshua’s mother went to go have tea in your kitchen. You quickly dashed to the living room and snatched your favorite Whinnie the Pooh plushie off of the couch, and made your escape to the far corner of the room where you crouched down and hid behind the plush bear. As if Pooh bear was the perfect line of defense 

The sound of soft footsteps hitting the hardwood floor had you cowering, covering your eyes as you prayed that he would just leave you alone. When the footsteps stopped you assumed that he had done as you silently wished, left you alone to continue your day in peace despite the wishes of your mothers. So you slowly pulled Pooh bear away from your eyes. Only for your eyes to meet the rich deep brown of Hong Joshua’s, the male who was now crouching down not even a foot away from you.

A small shriek left your lips as you quickly brought your favorite plushie back to cover your face again. Your reaction seemed to prompt a small laugh to leave the male, obviously amused with the situation. 

“I’m Joshua, but my friends call me Josh!” He said, talking to you despite the fact that you were currently trying to disappear into the wall behind you. “You like Winnie the Pooh too? Roo is my best friend!” 

At the mention of baby Roo, you slowly peered out and looked over at him with your eyes barely peeking out from behind the plush bear.

Age 13

“Joshua Hong, I swear if you don’t get out from in front of the tv I’ll make you regret it.” Your threat wasn’t as real as you wanted it to seem. After three years, Joshua knew that you were all talk and no action when it came to him. Which is why he didn’t even flinch at your harsh words, he knew he was safe.

“Your mom asked me to make sure you did your homework while she was gone, so turn off the tv and let’s work!” He was almost too responsible for his own good, at least when someone asked him to do something. Most of the time, he was just a goof ball and you honestly wish that translated over when he had ‘responsibilities’ 

Currently your mother was out on a business trip, so you were left alone in the house so she had asked Josh to keep you ‘in line’ since he lived right next door. Apparently, he was taking that request more seriously than you had expected. 

With an overdramatic groan, you grabbed the remote and shut off the soccer game you were in the middle of watching. At your compliance, Joshua let out a small laugh. 

“You’ll thank me later.”

“Yeah, seriously doubt that Josh.”

Age 16

“Josh! Seriously, that’s what she said to you?”  You were fuming, pacing around your room while your best friend sat on your bed. You had honestly never seen Joshua so...down. This girl had stepped over so many lines and you were livid.

“Yeah, and then she left. So...guess I’m single again.” Even his voice lacked the usual energy it had. It hurt your heart to hear him this upset. 

You took a second to take a deep breath, calming yourself. Now wasn’t the time to be angry, that could come later. Right now, Joshua needed you more than anything. This was about him and the pain he was currently feeling. Your need to punch that bitch in the face could wait. 

You joined Joshua on the edge of your bed, quickly wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling the male into a tight hug. For a moment he was limp in your arms, just resting his head on your shoulder. It was soon followed by the feeling of his arms wrapping around your waist, his hands gripping tightly at the fabric of your shirt as he clung to you. 

This wasn’t the first time you had seen Joshua cry, and it surely wouldn’t be the last, but it never got any less painful. Your heart ached for your friend, the feeling growing stronger as you felt moisture from his tears seeping into the fabric of your t-shirt. You hated it. 

The only thing you could think was that you never wanted to see Joshua like this ever again. 

A week later you were suspended for breaking his ex girlfriend’s nose.

Age 18

Over the years, your duo had become a trio with the addition of Yoon Jeonghan. He was...fun to be around but if you were being honest, a lot of the time it felt like you were being left in the dust. 

It wasn’t that you disliked Jeonghan, you were just...jealous. You kinda missed it being just you and Joshua. It had just been the two of you for so long that sometimes it felt like an outsider had come in and simply stole your best friend. 

Which is why you were currently sitting alone in your bedroom on a Friday night. Jeonghan had taken Joshua out for a ‘boys night’ as a way for Joshua to get to meet Jeonghan’s other friend group. 

You were lonely, and jealous and that didn’t make for a good combination. 

Your solution? Swimming. 

The pool in your backyard was cold, but the chill was something you needed at the moment. The water encompassing your frame as you delved beneath the surface, the ice cold waters completely chilling your core. It was terrible, but it felt better than being lonely.

Popping back up to the surface for air, you flipped over onto your back and stared up at the stars above you. Counting them as you slowly drifted through the water. Your thoughts began drifting from the stars and back to your friends, it was honestly pathetic how you were acting. You knew that Jeonghan wasn’t ‘stealing’ Joshua from you, he was your friend too! It just so happened that he and Josh were...closer, and yet here you were acting like a child because of it. You felt pathetic.

“Dude, what the hell are you doing?” Your thoughts were quickly stripped from you as you heard the familiar, although muffled, voice of the person who had been running through your mind. Quickly you maneuvered yourself in the water so that you could turn and face the back door of your home where Joshua and Jeonghan had just exited from. Joshua moved quickly to grab the towel that you had brought out with you, while Jeonghan moved to the edge of the pool and knelt down to watch you as you swam over with a look of concern blanketed across his face.

“I think it’s a bit too cold for a swim, don’t you little Piglet?” The nickname hit your heart, it wasn’t a mean one. It was an old childhood nickname that Joshua had given you based off of your first interaction, how scared you had been of him. When Jeonghan had joined your friend group he just adopted it since Josh called you that so frequently. 

You brushed off his question, ignoring it in favor of asking your own. 

“What are you guys even doing here? I thought you guys were hanging out with Seungcheol all night?”

Jeonghan reached out a hand and you got the message, taking it as he helped hoist you out of the pool. He let out a small giggle as he watched you shiver when the cold air hit your skin. He quickly began rubbing your arms gently to try and warm them as Joshua rushed over with the towel. 

“Well, Pooh Bear here said he was worried about you, guess his little hunch was right.” Jeonghan tilted his head to gesture towards Joshua, who surprisingly ignored the male in favor of wrapping the towel around you which thankfully provided some much needed warmth. Though that could also be coming from the feelings in your chest at Jeonghan’s explanation. It made you feel better to know that Joshua...hadn’t forgotten about you. 

“Go inside and get dressed, we’re gonna go out for dinner and we need you to not die of hypothermia before then.” Joshua ordered, a stern look on his face as he spoke. It was rare to see Josh this serious, but you supposed that you did just go for a swim in the middle of a chilly autumn night so...it was to be expected.

“Anything you say Pooh Bear.”

Age 22

“I seriously can’t believe Jeonghan, our little Roo,  of all people is the first to get married.” You laughed happily. Sure this day had been coming for months but it was still just exciting to think about. You were doing your best to contain your excitement, but sitting with the two in Jeonghan’s dressing room as he prepared to stand at the altar and wait for his blushing bride, you couldn’t contain your excitement. 

Jeonghan laughed along with you and Joshua as he straightened his bowtie...for the third time in the past 10 minutes. You could tell he was nervous, though you weren’t sure what for, you had seen the couple together and you could tell just how in love they were. It was quite adorable.

“I mean, I’m surprised too,” He confessed, glancing back at you through the mirror. “I always thought you and Josh would get married first.” 

Across the room you heard Joshua cough loudly as if choking on his own oxygen, you flashed him a look of concern until he calmed down before turning back to Jeonghan. 

“Don’t even joke like that dude. Chan would flip if he heard that.” Chan was your current boyfriend, he was sweet if not a little possessive. Something that both Joshua and Jeonghan had spoken to you about in concern.

At the mention of your boyfriend’s name you saw Hannie roll his eyes before reaching up to fiddle with his perfectly styled hair once again.

“Red flag~” He sang out, causing you to roll your eyes. It was frustrating that they were talking about this today of all days. You didn’t notice Joshua’s face harden in something that could only be described as irritation. 

“If she’s happy with him then just drop it, Roo.” hearing Jeonghan’s familiar nickname warmed your heart. “Besides, this is your day. I thought you’d be happy to focus on yourself today.”

“Oh, you’re absolutely right. I’m going to bask in this. Doesn’t mean I can’t worry about my friends.

Age 24

To no one’s surprise, Joshua and Jeonghan had been right. Chan’s possessiveness had taken a turn for the worst. Asking you to cut off contact with your two best friends so you did the only thing you could do. You broke up with him, decided you would be cutting off contact and now you were driving away from your former shared apartment and making the hour trip to Joshua’s new place, hopefully he and his new roommate would be cool if you crashed on their couch until you found a new place.

Despite the fact that you knew this break up was for the best, it still hurt and you couldn’t stop tears from shedding while you drove. The liquid sadness blurring the road as you sped down the highway.

Once outside the door to his third floor apartment, you gave a firm knock. Eventually the door opened to the familiar face of Joshua’s new roommate, Seungcheol. You knew the guy fairly well as he’d been a mutual friend of Jeonghan’s and Josh’s during high school, you never really hung out with him too much but you knew he was cool. 

Seeing your puffy eyes tear filled eyes, he quickly moved out of the way and gestured you in. With a small mutter about going to grab Joshua. 

You took a seat on the familiar royal blue sofa, the plush fabric sinking down and pulling you in as you sat down. It was almost like the sofa was pulling you into a hug and you were grateful for the soft plush fabric. You had left your old Winnie the Pooh plushie in the car with the rest of the belongings you had been able to quickly pack after Chan had stormed out of the apartment. 

You heard the soft sounds of speech as Seungcheol explained to Joshua what was going on, you couldn’t quite understand the words but it was followed by the slamming of a door and the sound of footsteps rushing to the living room. 

All too soon, Joshua was in front of you and you felt the tears well up once more as you explained to him what had happened...why you had left Chan.

“He didn’t hurt you did he? I swear if he touched you I’ll go kick his ass myself.” You didn’t trust your voice so you simply shook your head, sniffling as you tried your best to keep a strong appearance despite the tears. It didn’t work, and he gently gripped your shoulders giving you a once over, looking for any sign of possible injury and letting out a sigh of relief when he found nothing. 

Just as you had done during his break up in high school, his arms quickly wrapped around you. Pulling you as close to him as he possibly could. It was like whatever had kept your sobs held it was completely broken, and soon you were all out sobbing. A complete blubbering mess as you gripped his shirt and buried your face in his chest. 

His hand lifted and gently patted your head, his other hand rubbing small circles on your back as you let out all your welled up emotions. It was all too much for you, everything was too much. 

"You were r-right," you exclaimed between sobs, your voice muffled as your tears continued to stain his sleep shirt with your tears. "H-He told me...told me that..." Just thinking about it made your heart clench as you tried your best to continue. Joshua shushed you softly, trying to lull you into a sense of security so that you could calm down. He knew that you would get sick if you continued to wail as you did. 

"You can tell me later, just breathe right now okay?" His soft calming voice hit your heart, but it was still quite a little while before your sobs died down. Once they did, you explained to him just what had happened. How Chan had told you that he didn't feel comfortable with you hanging out with Joshua or even Jeonghan anymore, despite you explaining that they were just your best friends and going so far as to remind him that he was AT Jeonghan's wedding. 

Despite you being calm, you hadn't moved out of Joshua's grasp and the two of you had simply...migrated. Now the two of you were laying on his insanely comfortable couch, with you resting on his chest. It was far too hard to look up at him right now, your heart hurt too much and looking up at him was just a reminder. Right now, all you needed was just to be in his arms, the comfort of your best friend flowing through you as he did his best to comfort you. 

"You deserve better than him anyway. Much better. You don't need someone who is gonna try to control you like that." He declared, his voice soft and calming as he rubbed your back. It was nice, it felt right. Maybe it was because it was natural at this point, the two of you had been there for each other through everything. "You can stay here as long as you like, I know Cheol won't mind. Hell, we'll even grab Hannie and go to help you grab the rest of your stuff." 

You heard Seungcheol rummaging in the kitchen for something for a minute before joining the two of you in the living room and plopping a tub of ice cream onto their coffee table, along with two sets of spoons. He smiled down at the two of you as he did.

"Just think of us as your own personal bodyguards. I've got a few friends too that could help move stuff. My friend's Hyunwoo and Hoseok are built like they lift boulders for a living. They'd probably be enough to scare away any evil exes." 

Joshua laughed softly at the mention of Cheol's two friends, glancing down at you with that soft smile of his. The same one that always warmed your heart in a way you couldn't describe. 

"We're here for whatever you need little Piglet." 

Age 25

"I am...so sorry, I didn’t mean to- I mean I just...” Trailing off, unable to think of the right words. You couldn’t look Joshua in the eyes, not after you had pressed your lips against his own...after kissing your best friend. You weren’t even completely sure why you did it, yet you had and you had also probably completely ruined the decade old friendship. Guilt welled in your gut. Out of everyone, you couldn’t lose Joshua. He was too important to you. 

As soon as that thought crossed your mind, you seemed to all at once understand the cause of your actions and why you were so scared to lose him. Somewhere along the road, you had fallen in love...with your best friend. Your heart sunk into your stomach, if you felt like this for him then this was even worse than you thought. It wasn’t like Joshua had ever shown any kind of interest in you like that.

“You can do it again if you want.” His words caused your brain to freeze as if someone had frozen you solid. Thoughts raced through your mind as you tried to think of an explanation for why he would say something like that. Confusion etched across your face as your eyes hesitantly lifted from the floor to meet his. “I really don’t mind.” 

“Josh, I just kissed you! I probably broke like, 30 laws of whatever best friend handbook there is!”

Your words simply caused Joshua to laugh, shaking his head lightly as he laughed. It was if you had just told the most hilarious joke. 

“You know I’m in love with you right?” Well it seemed that Joshua was determined to take you off guard today. Though to be fair...you caught him off guard first. 

“Since when? You never acted like it, or like...told me?” 

“I mean, not for Han’s lack of trying. Did you really think he joked about us being a couple for no reason?” Now that he mentioned it, Jeonghan did make...quite a few jokes about the two of you just settling down together and they only got worse after you broke things off with Chan. 

Rubbing the back of your neck in exasperation, your feelings being tugged in so many directions as you tried to comprehend the situation you were in. 

“Okay that explains one thing but like, since when?” You had just realized your feelings but from what he said this had been...a long time thing. A small humorless laugh left your best friend, avoiding your gaze. 

“You remember when we were in High school, and you got suspended for breaking my ex’s nose? Yeeeah.”

“That was...eight years ago Josh!” You were completely struck by this information. He had been secretly in love for that long? It would make sense when you truly thought about it, he hadn’t dated or shown any real interest in anyone after that year. As the pieces connected in your head, you felt Joshua grab your hand and lace his fingers with your own. 

“Yeah, nothing’s changed though. Honestly i’ll probably never stop loving you, even if you don’t love me.” He gave your hand a small squeeze. It felt right, like his hand was made to fit with yours just like it always had. Maybe this was why Chan had felt threatened by Josh, maybe he could tell, maybe he knew where your heart belonged even if you hadn’t known at the time.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that. I think somehow you’ve always had me.” You began, unable to stop yourself from smiling as you saw his eyes light up at your words. “So now, I’m going to kiss you again and then we have to let Jeonghan know that we’re not being stupid anymore.” 

You didn’t give Joshua a real chance to speak again before you pulled him close and once again connecting your lips once again. Your free hand weaving through his hair and your other gripping his hand tightly. Joshua wasted no time returning the kiss, free hand grabbing your hip and pulling you closer. 

In all your life, you had never imagined making out with your best friend, yet here you were locked in an embrace. You gently nipped his lower lip with your teeth before pulling away and resting your forehead against his own.

“You know, we could always just keep it a secret from Hannie? See how long it takes him.” you couldn’t help but laugh at Joshua’s suggestion. 

“I bet it takes him a whole year.”

“I’ll take you on that, baby.”

[bard-of-worlds]

Ladybug AU/ The Law is The Law CH1

Adrien scowled as he reached the location of the photoshoot, the way the battle with Mayura and Hawkmoth, what had been done to Sentibug was still causing him some problems, he didn’t know if after everything that had happened today he didn’t know how he would be able to handle the shoot.  When he saw Lila sitting on a chair and having her makeup done he stopped and grabbed Vincent as he walked by.  Vincent turned to Adrien and paled as he saw the look in Adrien’s eyes.

 “Vincent, hey……quick question, why in the name of everything good and pure is Lila here?” Adrien asked flatly as Vincent swallowed.

 “I don’t know Adrien, all I know was that I was told there would be a new model at the shoot, nothing about who or why only that Nathalie would introduce her…..Love to talk kid but I have to go and get my camera ready, sooooo.   Bye.”  Vincient said as he dashed off, throwing a look at Adrien as he walked away.  You know, I wondered how he was Gabe’s kid but that there, it’s gone now.  He thought as he looked around and saw the looks on the other crew’s faces and hoped Adrien wouldn’t explode.

 Adrien looked at Lila and scowled, not needing this now.  I don’t know what Father’s thinking, anyone in class could have been a better pick, Sabrina, Juleka or Chloe if he wanted someone my age to model with that’s not in the bussniess.  But maybe I can use this, if I can talk to her she might clean up what she did to Marinette, and if not then I might get the pressure to make her do it.  Adrien thought as he reached for his phone and moved it to his pocket, praying that he wouldn’t have to use this.

 “I don’t know how but you will fix this Lila.  How could you get Marinette expelled?!” Adrien demanded as he discreetly pointing his phone’s camera at her, part of him hoping this wouldn’t be necessary.

 “Why should I do that? I tried to get her play ball and she wouldn’t, I warned her and we both made our choices, I made mine and here we are.” Lila said as she looked at Adrien as he stared at her.   “I told her I would ruin her and I did, I said I would get you and here I am.”

 “So just so we’re clear, you lied, you threatened Marinette and got her expelled because she called you out on your lies?  How did you even do it anyway?” Adrien asked as he fought to keep his temper down    ‘Get me’, so I was right about her.  Just another person who objectified me or sees what they want to think. Adrien thought as he looked at her.  

  “It was so easy, all I had to do was go to the bathroom after the test, pull the alarm and get the answer sheet that was left on that idiot teacher’s desk and put it in Marinette’s bag. They never even noticed it but it was after the last class and well.” Lila said with a giggle as Adrien fumed and glared at her.

 “And you would do it again, wouldn’t you?”  Adrien asked as he kept his face plain, but inside he was shocked that this was so essay to get what he needed from her.

“I would even without the bonus your father gave me.”  Lila said as Adrien looked at her in confusion.  

 “Bonus, my father? What does he have to do with this?!” Adrien demanded as he looked at Lila, on the inside he wasn’t scared but angry, and he felt the last vestige of his control was starting to burn away.

 “Don’t act so surprised, he had to have talked to you about it and told you to act the way you did before the Akuma attacked everyone, the Gabriel brand over all, and its spokesperson speaking up for someone accused of a crime would be a perfect publicity stunt.” Lila said she looked at him.  

 Adrien stared at Lila as his vision went red as she sat there grinning back at him as he went over what she had said before whipping his head around and he saw Nathalie in the limo looking towards the shoot, his eyes widening as he realize that for once Lila was telling the truth, turning off his phone he turned to look at the river and tried to calm down. I can’t believe this!  I knew something was wrong when I learned that Lila was going to model with me but I can’t believe……Wait….if she’s here because of that then this means! Adrien thought as his thoughts crystalized

 “You did that for this!? You were completely willing to ruin her life for this?!” Adrien exploded as he shot up from his chair looking at her.  As the crew looked on Adrien grabbed her, pulled her behind him despite what she was saying and with surprising strength threw her into the river! Nathalie got out of the car and rushed over towards the water as the crew stared in total shock before they moved to help Lila out.

 “Adiren what were you thinking!  Your father will not be happy about this at all.  I don’t even know what….!” Nathalie would have kept talking but Adiren turned around and looked at her with such a look of rage, anger and disgust in his eyes that she stopped talking.

 “I don’t care.” Adrien said flatly as Nathalie tried to recover.. “Nathalie, tell my father that for the first time ever I’m glad that mom is gone.  This way I have memories of a beautiful person instead of someone who could love the monster that he’s become!” Adrien said as he looked at her and gripped his phone.  “An Agreste is held to high standards; well this has shown me that mine are very different from his and no amount of effort will ever be good enough for him!”

 As Nathalie looked at him, really looked at him for the first time ever she could comprehend what she was seeing.   Adrien had always been an accommodating to Gabriel’s wishes that she never thought that he would ever act this way.  Adrien turned, manipulating his phone as he did so and walked away, not even paying her any piece of mind.  Nathalie looked around and saw the photo crew trying to get Lila out of the river and stormed over to them, pulling them back and staring down at her. ”What did you say?”

 “What?” Lila asked as she tried to climb out of the river.

 “What did you say Lila!?” Nathalie demanded as Lila looked up at her.  “Adrien has never, ever acted even remotely like that or said anything about his father, so WHAT. DID. YOU. SAY?”

 “I told him about the job that got me here.  Why the hell he’d react that way, Gabriel told me to do it!” Lila said as Nathalie looked down at her and paled.

  “Louis, hey.  Sorry to call out of the blue but can we talk?” Adrien said into his phone as walked off, ignoring the camera crew as they stared at him, he just kept walking.  

 “Yeah Adrien, what’s up?” Louis’s voice came through the phone as Adrien could hear the squeak of his chair as he leaned back in it.  “Need some wisdom from somebody who’s been around the block a few times?”

 “No, not wisdom do it, that thing we talked about.  He’s finally crossed my final line, I don’t have a choice anymore.”  Adrien said as he looked behind him, not seeing the Gorilla anywhere so there was that.

 “You sure kid?  Once this goes out there’s no turning back, this is a big choice to make?” Louise asked causing Adrien to nod before he realized that Louise couldn’t see him and blushed before he spoke again.

 “Yeah I am, what he is, what he’s willing to do for his brand, I just can’t live with myself if we don’t do this.”  Adrien said as he walked.

  “And…….. done!  In a few hours there’s going to be such an investigation that gonna cause old Gabe to pass out!  I’m sorry you were pushed to this point kid, but I’ve got a spare coach if you want to use it.” Louise said.

 “Don’t be, I should have done this months ago.  Looking back my relationship with him died when mom disappeared.” Adrien said as he felt Plagg press against him and he reached into the pocket Plagg was in and felt Plagg hug his hand.  At least I still have him and Ladybug, and her kwami too.  He thought as he released a breath and let the last of his relationship with his father die as it should have when he started to treat him as only an employee. “And about that second thing I just sent you a video I just shot, and I think I have some pro bono work you’ll love, do you know the bakery near my school?”

 “Yeah, I love their cookies, but what do Tom and Sabine have to do with this?  And you know I only do that stuff when I have a good target of injustice so what happened?”  Louis asked. Wait a minute, don’t those two have a daughter who should be around the kid’s age?  Louise thought as he waited for Adrien’s reply.

 “First off, is it legal for a student to be expelled on the same day as the crime?” Adrien asked as he walked through Paris, hopping that

 “No, all students need a hearing for expulsion, did he use that world?  Hold on I’ve got the file you sent me………holy!  And this bitch framed a friend of yours at Gabe’s direction?!” Louise said as he “Kid you should have called me soon, now I can probably get the expulsion off her records and I think I can get a nice settlement for her and then there’s your dad but….”

 “That’s it Louise it happened today!” Adrien interrupted him and Louise stopped talking.  “There wasn’t a hearing, she wasn’t suspended, the principle just expelled her in front of everybody!”

 “Adrien, buddy.  You bring me the best presents!  A perfect way to strike against the school that let the person that abused my goddaughter into trying to commit suicide walk free, I love it!”  Louis said with a laugh.

 “Wait, what!  My school is the one where that happened?” Adrien asked as he stopped moving for a moment as his eyes went wide.

 “Yeah, this bitch always believed the whore and punished my goddaughter, she almost killed herself. In the end the teacher was fired, the bully had left and moved to a different county and what a teacher could do to a student was changed.  I think they were talking about changing the rules for how they punish someone.  One of the most idiotic ideas was to for it to only apply if the teacher saw them do it or they got it on camera, the most insane idea I have ever heard.”  Louise said as Adrien gasped.  “Kid, what is it?”

 “I think they did make that rule Louise. Chloe hasn’t changed much and besides words and actions taken where no one besides the victim could see it she’s gotten away with a lot.  And this time Mari….the victim was expelled based on only on the accusers word, they even made it a public spectator. ” Adrien said flatly.  Is this why Chloe gets away with everything she does? But wait the cameras! He thought as he heard Louise’s chair pushed backwards as he got up.

 “WHAT!  I know they’ve got cameras in that place; it was part of the settlement!  Don’t tell me that they aren’t being used!” Louise exclaimed with a hint of anger in his voice.

 “They’re practically ornamental at this point!  They never even looked at the ones in the courtyard, all Lila said was that Marinette pushed her down the stairs and the principle believed her!”  Adrien said as he heard Louise grit his teeth.  “And I admit finding the necklace in her locker was damming but there are no locks on any of them and it could have fit through the grill!”

 “This necklace, it was tested for fingerprints at least right?”  Louis asked as Adrien stayed silent and Louis felt a headache coming on. “Adrien tell me they at least did that and listened to more than just one student right, please?”

 “I can’t Louise, I just can’t.” Adrien said softly as he heard Louis trying to keep his temper down and count backwards from twenty.

 “Kid, I’ll meet you at the bakery, if I hear anything more now I’m going to scream.  I’ll have my people send out the papers for the first thing you called me about before I leave, see you there.” As Adrien heard the call end he sighed.

 “Plagg, I should have done this when this began.”  He said softly as he walked towards Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie.

 “The throwing Lila into the river or calling in Louise when pigtails got expelled, causing I’m all for transforming and going to cataclysming her.”  Plagg said as Adiren laughed.  I guess I can’t expect any different from Plagg, he’s been saying to get rid of her for weeks!  I had to hope she was acting that way like my mask have when I’m in public or around fat….Gabriel.  I guess this finally proved once and for all where I stand with him, and somehow I feel lighter. Adrien thought as he walked.

 “The calling Louise, I mean I had hoped she was just telling stories thing because she was nervuis and scared, I mean moving around so much I can understand that, it took me weeks to lighten up and start to be more then my mask at school.”  Adrien said with a sigh.  “And most of Chloe’s act is because she wants her mom to love her.”

 “I’ll say once and I’ll say it again, that woman is a piece of work!  I’ve seen a lot of people over the centuries but like her, always the worst of the worst.”  Plagg said as he looked up at Adrien.

 “Adrien there you are!” Chloe’s voice caused Adrien to turn and see her pounding towards him with Sabrina following behind her.  “How the hell are we going to get Marinette un-expelled?  This is ridicules, completely ridicules!”

 Adrien looked at Chloe as she started a terade and frowned as what she was saying got through to him. “Wait, you want to help Marinette?”

 “Of course!  Nobody but nobody messes with Dunpain-Chang but me! And even I wouldn’t threaten her how Lila did!” Chloe said a huff as she looked up at the sky.

 “What do you mean, threatened Marinette?!  When did that happen?!”  Adrien demanded as Chloe looked at him and Sabrina’s mouth dropped open.

 “It was when she came back, she cornered Marinette and she felt so scared an Akuma was summoned but she fought it off!”  Sabrina said causing Adrien to gasp at her.

 “That’s where that Akuma came from, that’s how Lila was Akumatized, not because I talked to her?!” Adrien said with shock, stepping backwards as he paled in horror. “God, I am the most idiotic person on the planet!”

 “Sabrina saw her reach for it Adrien what are you…..What did you do?!” Chloe demanded as she saw him react to what she and Sabrina told him and started to grow worried, he had only acted like this when he had made what he thought was a mistake, like when he had given his mom flowers and she turned out to be allergic to them.

 “I thought Lila’s emotions spiked because I talked to her about how she didn’t have to lie to get people to like her, not that she chased one down!  I told Marinette to take the highroad about her lies, I never knew…….” Adrien said as Chloe gasped and started to get mad and was about to exploded when Sabrina spoke up.

 “You thought she was so emotional that talking to her about her lies caused her to get on Hawkmoth’s radar?” Sabrina asked as Chloe looked at her then at Adrien with her mouth open.

 “God, and you were worried that she’d attack anyone who called her out, did you at least explain that to Marinette?” Chloe asked only to sigh when Adrien hung his head. “Adrien!”

 “I……. I knew she’d probably react like you guys are and I didn’t want to give Lila any ammunition to use, I’ve been trying to get alone to talk to her about it but I haven’t been able to yet.” Adrien said miserably.

 “Then go and talk to her now!  And wait……. Don’t you have a photoshoot about now?” Chloe asked as she looked around, confused beyond words.

 Adrien’s phone seemed to burn a hole into his leg and he looked at Chloe steadily. “I’m handling Marinette’s problems.  And about the shoot I walked off after I threw the other model there, Lila into the river!”

 “What the hell was Lie-la doing there?  And how are you handing what happened?” Chloe demanded as she looked at Adrien, fuming. Why the heck did Gabriel get Lila to model, if he wanted a new teen girl anyone would have been better, heck even Alya could do it!  She thought as Adrien seemed to be struggling with something.

 “I called Louise about it, he said that what the principle did wasn’t right…..and I told him to send off the notice to the Department of Child Services.” Adrien said as Chloe and Sabrina gasped and looked at him.

 “Why, I mean you should have done it months ago but why now?” Sabrina said, having been Chloe’s friend for years she knew Adrien at least superficially and this wasn’t like him.

 “Lila did what she did because he told her to.” Adrien as they looked at him, not understanding what he was saying.  “She said that the modeling thing is a bonus and that she thought how I tried to help Marinette was a publicity stunt for the brand.”

 Chloe gasped a hand shooting to her mouth as she looked at him with shock, wondering what had driven Gabriel to do that.  “I’m sorry Adrien, you know that there’s always a room at the hotel if you need it.”

 “I’ve got a couch dad will be happy to lend you.” Sabrina said with a small smile.

 “Yeah thanks girls…..I’m meeting Louise at Marinette’s, do you want to come along as support?” Adrien asked and Chloe laughed.

 “I can guess what’s going on, so I’ll do a little research and get back to you and Marinette later, good luck groveling to her.” Chloe said as she and Sabrina walked off. Adrien looked at her and shook his head, wondering if Marinette would forgive him for his mistake.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  Sabine sighed as she tried not to think what had happened earlier today at school but she couldn’t. “Nothing about it makes sense, I mean I know my daughter, she’d never do this!  And how Lila was still walking around after she was pushed, it doesn’t make sense!”

 “Your right Sabine and the necklace looked like it could have fit through the grill on the locker and did any of them have locks on them at all?  I thought Marinette said she only used hers for holding her coat during winter and projects?” Tom’s voice caused Sabine to turn and look at her husband as he brought a tray of bread out from the kitchen, the workers looking out as they all knew something was wrong with what happened.

 “Yeah, boss I guess you can bring them up when the hearing right?”  One of the cooks asked as he poked his head out of the back.

 Sabine and Tom looked at each other, confusion in their eyes.  Did that idiot owl do something wrong when he expelled Marinette?  Tom thought as he frowned. “What hearing?”

 “The expulsion hearing, the one she has to have after her suspension is up.  The one that by law all students are required to have before their expelled?”  The cook said in

 “The principle said Marinette was expelled, that’s it, are you saying he did something wrong?” Sabine asked as she looked at him.

 “That’s something I think I can help with!”  A voice caused all of them to see Adrien standing behind a man in a brown business suit holding a briefcase in his right hand.  “My name is Louis Artoga, attorney at law and I’d like to have a long talk with you about that if you don’t mind.”

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 Marinette lay down on her bed and hugged one of her pillows as she tried to forget the look in Sentibug’s eyes when Mayura destroyed it….her. That was something that will only haunt her for weeks if she’s lucky.

 “How could she do it Tikki, I just can’t believe that she was even able to do it.”  Marinette said as she hugged her pillow.

 “There have been people who have been bad holders, but I’ve never seen Duusu’s powers used that way.” Tikki said as she floated and looked at her chosen.  “You gave the Amok the talisman that created her; Mayura shouldn’t have been able to do it.”

 “Why does that have to do with anything?” Marinette asked as she tried to understand Tikki.

“That should have broken the link to Mayura, she should have been fully independent….. I can’t explain it.” Tikki said as she floated there, not letting Marinette detect any of her thoughts.  The only way that could have been possible was if the Miracolous itself was damaged, but Duusu wouldn’t have transformed then, it would have hurt her chosen.  Tikki thought as she watched Marinette try and deal with what she had seen happen earlier, some part of her glad she wasn’t thinking about how she had been expelled.

 “Something to talk to Master Fu about then, I just want to forget everything happened today and deal with it tomorrow.” Marinette said before a knocking caused her to look at the door down and frown as Tikki hid.  “It’s unlocked!”  

 She didn’t know what she was expecting but when Adrien came into her room she stared in shock. “Adrien! Are what doing you here?”

 Adrien looked at her and sighed.  “I…..Marinette…. I called a friend of mine about what happened, he’s downstairs with your parents and I volunteered to come and get you.  I told them I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes, I want to apologize first.”

 “Apologize, Adrien what happened today wasn’t your fault at all, you tried to help but he wouldn’t listen.” Marinette said but stopped when Adrien shook his head.

 “No, not that.  The advice I gave you when Lila came back.” Adrien said as he hung his head.  “Sabrina was in the bathroom too, she heard Lila threaten you and then the Akuma came at you…… while that was happening I was talking to Lila about her lies and she tried to ruin my life at school and my friendships after sooo.”

 “You told me not to act against Lila because you thought she summoned and Akuma from you talking to her about her lies?” Marinette said in shock.

 “I thought she had summoned the Akuma while I was talking to her about how she didn’t have to lie to get people to like her and she acted normal so……I’m sorry.” Adrien said as he looked away from Marinette and she just looked at him as she tried to understand just what Adrien had thought

 “You gave me advice based on what you knew.”  Marinette said after a few moments. “If I thought that way about someone I might have said the same to you.”

 “Then?”  Adrien asked as he felt a bit of hope.

 “Apology accepted.  So who’s downstairs?” Marinette said as she got up and walked towards Adrien who smiled at her.

 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 “So she’s always been making clothing?” Louise asked as he drank a cup of tea and looked at Tom and Sabine as they sat in the living room.

 “Clothing, blankets, odds and ends, it’s been her passion for years.  She really blossomed when she started to look at fashion and started to design her own cloths really and make gifts for her friends.” Sabine said as she looked at Louise with a smile as she remembered her daughter’s antics.  “Why I remember how she went and got a roll of blue wool to make a scarf for a present last year.  But enough about that, you think you’ll be able to get the expulsion off her record?”

 “If she really was expelled and not suspended, of course, it will barely be a problem.  I’ll talk to the board of education and once I see the paperwork I’ll go from there, but there’s another subject that I need to talk to you about that I think I should wait until the kids are back to really start…..and here they are.” Louise said as he smiled as Marinnete and Adrien walked into the room, Louise standing up and offering Marinette his hand.  “Nice to meet you mam, I’m Louise, Louis Artoga, attorney at law and I want to help you.”

 “Help how?” Marinette asked as she and Adrien sat down after she shook his hand.  Louise beamed at her and before he continued.

 “I’d like to help you out, now fair warning.  I’ve have a goddaughter, a few years back she was bullied, badly enough that she tried to commit suicide.  She didn’t succeed and she got the help she needed, she’s studding to be a social worker last I heard.”  Louse began. “The people I blame are the teachers and the school, the same school that you go…..went to.”

 “Mr. Damocles had something to do with it?!” Marinette asked with shock, going silent as Louise’s face started to go red.

 “‘Damocles’?!  An old man with a beard, bald, has a fixation with owls?!  He’s the new principal” Louise screamed as he lunged to his feet.

 “Louise?”  Adrien’s voice caused Louise to look around the room and saw the looks on the others face and he released a breath and sat down slowly.

 “Sorry kid, he was the vice principle who let that bitch get away with everything back then.  I thought he was blacklisted.” Louise said as he sat back down, and got out a cell phone that he put in in a holder he got out of his briefcase so the camera was pointed at her. “Start recording, this is Louise Artoga, recording a questioning of Marinette Dupain-Chang about her ‘expulsion’ from earlier today.  As of right now I ask her parents, Tom and Sabine Dupain-Chang their permission to do so.  Also of note is that Adrien Agreste is here, as he was the person who told me about this incident.”

 “I, Sabine Dupain-Chang give my permission that my child; Marinette Dupain-Chang may decide if she wishes to be questioned and recorded.” Sabine said formally.

 “I, Tom Dupain-Chang give my permission that my child; Marinette Dupain-Chang may decide if she wishes to be questioned and recorded.” Tom said as he turned and looked at Marinette who smiled back.

 “I, Marinette Dupain-Chang agree to be question and recorded about the events earlier today.” Marinette said as she looked at the camera.

 “Thank you all, with that done the questioning shall begin.  So, walk me through what happened.” Louise said as he looked at Marinette.

 “Miss Bustier called me to the front of the room at the start of class and searched my backpack, the answer key was in it.”  Marinette said and stopped as Louise held up a finger.

 “Point of clarity what class was it in relation to the order of classes on a normal day in number format and has your backpack been out of your sight for any length of time before that.” Louise said as he looked at Marinette.

 “It was the first class of the day, as we had a test yesterday so I hadn’t looked at my backpack since then……..and my backpack was out of my sight because someone pulled the fire alarm yesterday and everyone evacuated, most taking their backpacks as it was the end of class and they were getting ready to leave.  As the class Representative I had collected the tests and had just put them on Miss Bustier’s desk with the alarm went off and we all evacuated.”  Marinette said as she thought about yesterday.

 “Why were you called to the front?” Louise asked, a frown forming on his face as he went over what he knew about proper class room behavior for teachers.

 “Miss Bustier said that someone had given an anomalous note that someone had seen me steal the answer sheet and my bag.”  Marinette said as and stopped as Louise held up a hand.

 “She didn’t call you outside the classroom?” Louise asked in shock.

 “No, after that I accused Lila of taking and putting it in my backpack to frame me and Madame B took both of us to the principal’s office.” Marinette answered as she looked at

 “Point of clarity, why did you believe that Lila is a liar?” Louise asked and Marinette went silent. “If it’s just what you believe about her its fine, sometimes we get feelings we can’t explain but please clarify your belief.”

 Marinette looked at Adrien before she hardened her eyes. “I know Lila is a liar and a thief.  A few months ago when she first came back I saw her take a book from Adrien, buy something at a store and throw it in the trash so he wouldn’t see her with it.” Marinette said causing Adrien to stare at her.

 “A book, my father’s book, the one that he took me out of school for losing, Lila was the one who lost it?!  You were the person who brought it back?!” Adrien exclaimed as he looked at her before blushing and turning away as everyone looked at him.

 “Yes and I was in passing by the park when Ladybug confronted her about her lies.  I was going to give it back to you the next day and tell you that you dropped it in the Library but then, well your father pulled your from school.”  Marinette said as she hung her head. “So after I saw that I had enough skepticism not to trust everything she said at face value.”

 “We’ll talk about that later, what happened next with Lila today?”  Louise asked as Marinette looked at him.

 “I told Lila that she wouldn’t win, that I wouldn’t fall for any of her traps and she said I did and then she walked down the stairs, sat down and made a commotion about how I had pushed her down the stairs.” Marinette replied as Louise tried to keep his temper down.

 “Point of interest, at no time were any of the camera’s that the school is required to have had checked at all?  And what about this Lila’s mother, was she contacted and was she sent to the nurse at least?” Louise inquired, his eyes twitching a little as Marinette shook her head.

 “They never checked and she wasn’t sent, they all just followed after Lila to my locker, a locker I only use to hold my coats and projects since none of all have a lock on them.” Marinette said as Louise nodded at her.  “And they contact my parents but Lila’s was unable to be reached, they left five messages as far as I know.”

 “Thank you Miss Marinette; that’s all I’ll need for this case, I will bring around paperwork that basicly says the sequence of events that you explained and have yourself and you’re parents sign them and that should be it.  This has been Louise Artoga, recording Madame Marinette Dupain-Chang.”  Louise said as he turned off the phone’s camera and picked it up and started to look over the file, they could hear the sounds of Louise or Marinette’s voice and he nodded.  “Thank you that should be all I need.  With this and the Adrien’s matter I think I’ll have a good few days of work to do. Now on your case, once I get to the board of education I think everything should be straightened out, but it might be best to wait a day, just so it’s not been filed as a suspension and it was the heat of the moment and all, if nothing comes tomorrow then I’ll move in.  And now let’s talk about Lila, with the video a Miss Sabrina has I think we could sue her for slander and making that threat.”

 Marinette gulped and looked at her father and mother who both went still and turned towards her as what Louise said penetrated their brains.  Louise winced as he realized that she hadn’t told her parents the same time as Adrien did and they both winced at what.

 “What threat?” Tom asked quietly as Marinette just looked at the table and stayed silent.

 “Who threatened my daughter!?” Sabine asked as Adrien looked up and motioned to Louise to let him talk.

 “It’s a long story, but may I can explain if Marinette lets me.”  Adiren said prompting Marinette to nod at him.  “From what I found out Lila corned Marinette in a bathroom the day she came back and threatened to take away all her friends and after that I gave her advice to take the high road, not confront Lila about her lying.”

 “Why did you tell Marinette not to confront her after she threatened my daughter.” Sabine asked coldly as Adrien looked down ashamed.

 “Because I thought Lila summoned the Akuma that got her from my talk with her.  And her first actions as a shape-shifter was to try and ruin my social life!  I didn’t want to think what would happen if she summed one when she wanted to hurt Marinette as the trigger!”  Adrien explained as he held his hands up.  “Of course idiot that I was I didn’t explain it, I didn’t want to take a chance that Marinette would get hurt, I never knew about the threat!”

 “Oh, so you were trying to protect her but didn’t know about she had been threatened.” Sabine said as Tom’s rage died down and he understood why Adrien had done what he did.  

 “Kid was raised to ignore lies the tablods said, do it and they die, like Tinkerbell, don’t act out and they die.” Louise said with a sigh.   Tom looked at Marinette as his wife hugged her and frowned.  

 “Wait, you thought Lila had summoned the Akuma? But wait if she didn’t summon it ….then who did?” Tom asked and Adrien went wide eyes and looked around, trying to find anything to say when Marinette spoke up.

 “Me.” Marinette said softly from within her mother’s arms causing Sabine to look down at her daughter as she closed her eyes.  “I was so scared she could do it.   She had them eating out of her hands, she even convicted Max that a thrown napkin could have taken out his eye and he wears glasses.”

 “I can’t even, I don’t even know where to…..just I can’t…. is she serious?” Louise asked as looked at Adrien in shock and when Adrien nodded as Marinette’s parents comforted her Louis sat there stunned.  Okay, getting that bitch sued is gonna be a public service and probably improve the intelligence of all those kids! Louise thought as he hung his head in disgust.

 “Ohhhh Marinette, I’m sorry that we never noticed how you were feeling!  I should have, I don’t know!” Sabine said as she hugged Marinette and before suddenly she went still.  “And those idiots at that school never even noticed, no they didn’t want to see!”

 “Kid, I don’t know but after the paperwork’s filed maybe you should look for a different school.” Louise said into the table as he put his head on it.

 “Wait, why would Adrien look for a different school?  After all that he did to make it into school in the first place…..and what paperwork?” Marinette asked as Louise looked up at her before paling as he realized what he had let slip.  Adrien spoke up and caused all of them to look at him.

 “I’m suing my father for not paying me for my work, the contracts I never signed and emotional abuse while going for emancipation or having myself removed from his control.” Adrien said flatly.  “The fact that he might have told Lila to do that, that he gave her a modeling contract and might have even hinted that I might be a prize to her, it’s too much, he crossed a line I didn’t even know I had.”

 “Oh Adrien, I’m sorry you were pushed to do this.” Marinette said as she looked at him as her parents looked on with concern, knowing from their interactions with him that he probably hadn’t want to do this but felt he had to.

 “I thought he was going around, that we had started to heal our relationship, especially after my birthday when I got that scarf from him.” Adrien said as closed his eyes.

 Louse went still when he saw Marinette wince, things connecting in his mind that didn’t paint a good picture.  Please, please don’t tell me.  He thought with a sinking feeling as he asked what he didn’t want to.  “Scarf, what scarf?”

 “A blue scarf that dad made with his own hands, I thought that maybe he was trying and……… what is it?” Adrien asked as he saw Sabine and Tom exchange a look and turn to Marinette who looked down as Louise held his head.

 “Adrien, do you have any picture of it?”  Tom asked as he turned to look at Adrien as he started to get a sinking feeling.  

 “Yeah, I did a selfie with Nino a few days after I got it and here it is.”  Adrien said as he pulled up the photo and turned it around and Tom sighed and Sabine closed her eyes.  “What’s wrong?”

 “Ask your friend kid, ask her.” Louise said around his hands and he turned to Marinette, who looked up,

 “I made it.” Marinette said softly.  “When you came to school so happy that you thought that he had put the effort into making it by hand, I couldn’t take that from you...”

 Adrien stared at her and he saw red, the sheer gull of what his father….what Gabriel had done causing him to lose focus and he felt so dizzy.

 “Adrien, Adrien are you okay?”  Sabine asked as she got up and Adrien shot to his feet as he held his hands to his mouth. “Oh hell.  Tom!  Open the door!”

 “Got it, Marinette help you mother!”  Tom said as he shot up and opened a door as Marinette and Sabine guided Adrien to the room which was revealed to be a bathroom.  

 Louise just sat there and shook his head and winced as he heard Adrien throw up in the bathroom and he knew he would have to mention this to the social worker.  Maybe it would be better to do it here, Nathalie wouldn’t look for him here and whoever they send could be in plain clothing and get around his eyes.  Louise thought as he looked at Tom and Sabine watch the door as Marinette rushed to the kitchen to get a glass of water.   “Tom, Sabine would you two mind if I called the social worker I sent the email to and have them come here, it might be helpful for Adiren.”

 “Please, the boy needs to know that not everyone is against him and what Gabriel did, I can’t even imagine.” Tom said as Louise smiled and sent off a text.

 “It’s taking all I have not to get my staff and go beat him up!” Sabine bit out as she glared towards the Agreste mansion.  “To have that little bitch hurt my daughter, but to have sold his son?!”

 “I’m tempted to get a sledgehammer and join you.”  Louise said with a sigh as he shook his head.  His phone buzzed and he looked down and up at Tom and Sabine.  “The Agent is nearby, and would like to get an initial statement from him, there are already a few red flags based on the paperwork and well, she wants to meet soon.”

 Tom and Sabine shared a look at each other and looked at the bathroom and after a few minutes looking at each other Sabine knocked on the door.

 “Adrien, are you okay? The agent from child Services texted Louise, they want to meet soon.  If you’re not up for it there’s nothing wrong with waiting.” Sabine said before they heard a toilet flush and the door open to reveal Adrien whipping his mouth with the back of his hand.

 “No, I want to get this done with and close off any chance of that monster from getting around this.” Adrien said as he clenched his hands. I thought you were just hard to understand and had a hard time with emotions but this, dad this is the last freaking straw!  Adrien thought as he tried to get his emotions back under control. He felt Plagg press against him and hide a smile.  If I didn’t have Plagg, Chloe and my lady to help me, I don’t know what I would be.  Probably broken beyond all points by now, if I didn’t have Plagg and my lady to inspire me I wouldn’t have snuck out on that second day to school. Adrien thought as he accepted a cup of water from Marinette and smiled at her before he drank it, not seeing her blush or her parents grin as Louise chuckled at the byplay.

[jmnjmnjmn]

Eternal beings |Chapter 5

Pairing: Vampire!Jungkook x Human!Reader

Key words: supernatural, vampire.

Word count: about 2,500

Warnings: swearing,  sadness, jealousy, mentions of murder

Inspo board

Masterlist

“Oh, we never went to sleep.” Taehyung answered with a yawn.

“We?” You asked in disbelief. “Who’s cooking?” You felt every cog in your head turning as you came to the conclusion. “Who else is here?” You asked again as your anxiety levels rose to the roof.

“Jungkook’s in the kitchen.” He stated as if it was nothing that there was a murderer in the house, but before you could say or do anything you felt someone brush over your shoulder.

“Move over, (Y/N). I’m carrying food.” Jungkook said, slowing down his step as he walked by you, his chest brushing over your shoulder. You felt goose bumps forming all over your body. He sat down on the couch next to Taehyung and set two plates full of veggies and sandwiches. Then he had the nerve to raise his head to look at you and pat the place on the couch next to him. “As if.” You thought and he scoffed quietly with a smirk in such a way it made you feel like he actually heard you. You walked around the coffee table and sat on an armchair the furthest away from him.

“Mm, this is good.” Taehyung stated with his mouth half full of one of the sandwitches Jungkook made.

“Have some, (Y/N).” Jungkook looked at you with a smile. “What game is he playing?” You wondered.

“Thanks, I’m not that hungry.” You said and grabbed a piece of cucumber. “He could have tampered with the sandwitches, but not with a cucumber, right?” You deliberated for a second before biting into the vegetable. Your eyes we're travelling from Taehyung to Jungkook and again. You couldn’t make out how it was that Taehyung was just okay with him being here, but then he didn’t know that Jungkook was a vile murderer you two were talking about yesterday. Your inner thought process was brought to an abrupt end by a cell phone ring. Taehyung murmured a quiet “sorry” as he took his phone out and stood up to answer it on the balcony. “Oh no… Don’t go. Don’t leave me here alone… With him.” You pleaded him in your head as you watched him close the balcony door behind him. You kept your eyes fixed on his back rested against the glass door as if that could somehow take you out of the living room in which you were now alone in with Jungkook. You felt his burning stare on you and it made you uncomfortable, but not unable to focus on the fact that he was munching on his sandwich like a damn rabbit. “How in the hell is he chewing so loudly!?” The absurdity of this thought came to you only after a moment. “Am I really focusing on the way he is chewing his sandwich and not that he murdered a man!?” You heard Jungkook chuckle and turned your head towards him with furrowed brows.

“You’re funny.” He said covering his mouth with his hand.

“Excuse me?” You asked with confusion. He swallowed the bite before speaking again.

“I said: you're funny.” He explained, but it didn’t make things clearer for you. He must’ve seen it in your face, because he put down the sandwich and spoke again. “What you said. It was funny.” 

“I know what “you’re funny” means, but I didn’t say anything.” You said putting emphasis on the last words.

“Sorry.” Jungkook put his hands up in defence. “I meant: what you thought was funny.” His words made all the hairs on your body stand up. “Thought!?” You asked yourself in shock. “Yeah.” He said as if he was answering your thoughts. Was he? “I can hear it when you’re thinking loudly.” He picked up the sandwich again and took a big, loud bite. “What does loudly even mean!?” You wondered frantically. “Like that. That was loud.” He explained with his mouth full. “Oh my god!” You cried in your head. “It’s okay. It’s normal for people like me.”

“What does that even mean?” You spoke out loud and not in just your head this time. Hearing him answer your thoughts made you feel violated. “It’s normal for people like you… You mean people that eat people?” You added, putting your head in your hands. This didn’t feel possible. A murderer reading your mind… Absurd.

“Yeah.” His quick answer made you even more afraid and unsure. “I’m no regular guy (Y/N).” He spoke. “You see I am something along the lines of-” “Oh my god, stop chewing while you speak.” You groaned in your head. “Damn, okay.” He said in an offended tone. “What I was trying to say is-” He was interrupted by Taehyung coming back inside from the balcony.

“Sorry, about that. I have to go to the office.” He said and grabbed his half eaten sandwich.

“This early?” You asked in a small voice and stood up to follow him, realising that if he leaves you’re going to be left alone with… Jungkook.

“International client. They work in different time zones. It’s a miracle I picked up the phone.” Taehyung worked as a photo editor in a studio downtown, but did most of his work from home which is why he decided on buying a house further away from the city. He wanted his space, room for a home office and a big garden to throw parties in. “Jungkook, (Y/N) will let you out.” He added casually. “Oh no.” You protested and immediately realised that it was probably one of those loud thoughts that Jungkook could “hear”, whatever that meant. You didn’t want to be alone in the house with him.

“I have to go to work as well.” You blurted out. “You’ll have to see your own self out Jungkook.” You thought, hoping that he heard it. “Can you drop me off?” You asked Taehyung, hoping he’ll agree, but when he looked up at you from tying up his sneakers and you saw his eyes you knew there was no option for that.

“Can’t. My license is suspended.” He said shamefully. 

“What for?” You asked in shock this being the first time you heard the news.

“I-” He glanced at Jungkook. “Ah, I’ll tell you later. It’s not that fun of a story.” He clearly wanted to skip the topic with Jungkook around and you didn’t stop him. “I have to run to get the train. I’ll see you tonight, (Y/N). Bye, Jungkook.” He hugged you goodbye, waved at Jungkook and closed the door behind himself. It felt as if the time stopped for you in that moment. Your thoughts stopped running though your head. All you could feel was Jungkook's gaze on the back of your head.

“So…” You heard him say as he passed you by slowly. “We’re alone.” He stopped in front of you and rested his back on the wall behind him. You looked him in the eye and decided to play tougher than you were. You turned to the stairs and walked up to your room. When you made sure you locked the door behind yourself you turned on music on your bluetooth speaker to both have something to distract yourself from the fact that Jungkook was down there somewhere and to have something to distract him from listening in on your rapid train of thoughts. You changed out of your sweats into jeans, put on your makeup and packed your bag for the day. The cheerful tones of your summer playlist on Spotify made you forget about all the bad things in life including the intruder downstairs. You switched from speaker to earbuds and strutted out of your room and down the stairs. As you were slipping on your beat up Adidas sneakers you realised there were no other shoes left in the hallway. “He left!” You cheered in your mind and opened the door with a big smile smacked across your face. “Could this day get any better?” You laughed to yourself, locking the front door. You turned around still a little sceptical, skipped down the couple of stairs leading up to the door and went out the gate in the wall surrounding Taehyung’s house. The sun was shining bright, but the air was still cold at the early hour of the morning so you pulled your jacket’s sleeves over your hands and walked towards the train station.

You pulled your phone out to skip a song when you noticed a red two on your Messages app. You clicked the banner and instantly regretted it. “Thanks for last night. It’s Jungkook by the way.” “Thanks for last night…” You scoffed, looking for a good comeback in your head when- Bam! You slammed into something as hard as a telephone post. The sudden impact made you lose your balance, but you didn’t fall over.

“Hey, look where you’re going.” Jungkook said in a sweet tone, holding you by your upper arms. “Of course. It was too good to be true.” You whispered to yourself internally, just to make sure he didn’t overhear it. You would think he’d be angry if someone bumped into him like you just did, but he wasn’t. You on the other hand were fuming. He looked at you with a small smile and let go of you. “Where are you headed?” He started walking with you.

“To work.” You said through gritted teeth, picking up the pace. 

“I’ll walk you.” He said, matching your speed.

“No need for that.” You spat back and walked up the stairs to the station leaving him behind. Your train was just about to arrive so you stopped by the yellow line marking the end of the platform and glanced over your shoulder expecting to see Jungkook there, but you didn’t. You didn’t wonder where he went and got on the train. You sat down by the window and pulled out your phone to switch your playlist to something more fitting to your mood. You decided on some hip-hop and sat back comfortably in your seat. As you watched Taehyung’s street disappear behind the window you felt someone sit down next to you.

“I’ll walk you from the station to work.” You heard Jungkook say through the music in your earbuds and closed your eyes in defeat. “Will he ever leave!?” You hissed in your head and he chuckled. “You don’t have to be so rude.” He said. Switching your seat didn’t seem like an option since he blocked your way out with his freakishly long legs so you decided upon not thinking or saying anything at all though the rest of the ride to the city. As the train approached your stop you stood up and so did he, making just enough space for you to walk past him, but not enough to not brush over him. When the train stopped you walked out the door and he followed. He didn’t try to talk to you all the way to the shop, but his silence didn’t make you feel any better. No matter what he would or wouldn’t say all you could think about is that he’s in some kind of a plot with Yoongi about killing- sorry, eating that poor man. You swallowed loudly feeling nothing but disgustment for both of them, but then you realised you’re no better. You haven’t called the police even though you had so many opportunities. You could call them right now, but for some reason whenever you wanted to do it you somehow found yourself unable or you just forgot about it, just as if someone had put a spell on you to get distracted with the next best thing whenever you thought of reporting the fact that you were now in very close proximity to the murderer the whole police department was looking for, the same one you described to the sketch artist and-

“(Y/N).” You heard Jungkook speak softly and you immediately turned around to face him, ready to fight.

“What?” You spat at him and he just pointed to his left. You were so immersed in your own thoughts you walked past your shop. “How does he know what shop I work in?” You sighed in your mind and started walking back when he grabed you by your forearm. “What?” You asked again, just as angry as before.

“I need to talk to you.” He said and let go of your arm. “About what you saw over the weekend and about what I said last night.” You rolled your eyes. “What more could you possibly tell me?” You thought. “Just, listen to me. Okay?” He answered your thought, looking around the street scanning for any passer-by. “Can you spare me a minute?” He asked, looking you in the eyes. “First of all, I wanted to t-” He started speaking, but you weren't listening to a word he said. “Were his eyes always so shiny and brown?” You felt yourself sink into the thought. “And his skin. It’s so perfect.” You thought. “What if I just touch it?” You started raising your hand, but when it reached the level of his face you suddenly felt embarrassed and averted it towards your hair as if you meant to fix it. You saw his lips moving, but your ears felt like they were covered with noise canceling headphones. “He’s so pretty.” You thought. “Yes, he is.” You answered yourself in your head. “And he’s so nice. Yes, he’s one of the nicest people I know.” You felt your eyelids getting heavier by each second. “What is he saying?” You wondered watching him through half closed eyes. He squinted a little as one of the rays of sun made its way onto his face. “So handsome in the sun.” You thought and as you closed your tired eyes your knees went weak. 

[twitchesandstitches]

Treating with Sekhma

The old manor overlooked a wide stretch of big and deeper stretches of the swamp, moldering planks fallen into the murky waters and bridges suspended from the sprawling root systems of trees forming most of the supporting ground, and incorporated into those same roots.

The anon, with a cluster of similarly faceless cohorts dressed in the topical costumes of the season (a gaggle of ghouls, cohorts of skeletons, and similar beasties and spirits of the liminal peak of fall), carefully approached the door of the manor. The knocker was old brass, partially corroded by the fumes drifting up from the strange waters. The anon's eyes darted down there, the murky depths again.

There were eyes down there. Crocodiles, gigantic catfish and owls attempted to imitate penguins for some reason drifted sagely through the waters, pausing to watch them with something like surly suspicion.

They paused as a group, even as one or two of them hissed to hurry on with it, propelled by the feeling and the fear to do it and get it over with.

One of them said mournfully, "I don't think anyone's gotten to this place and, you know. Survived."

Another elbowed them. "Shut up shut up!" They hissed. "The witch of the swamp is just a fable!"

"Then why are you so scared?"

"Dude this is an abandoned manor in the middle of a spooky swamp. I think I see ritual dolls hanging from the porch! Of course I'm scared! This place is scary!"

Dozens upon dozens of cloth dolls slowly spun in the wind. Stuffed with sand and mud, cloth stitching together as needles pinned down something to them.

Chimes strung up higher snag out as the wind blew. Sightless button eyes stared at them silently, for brief moments, and then turned away.

Another anon shifted uncomfortably. "I know there's a witch of the swamp."

"You mean that monster lady that runs the farm not too far from here?"

"Yeah, her. The one with, like, a million kids running around. A bunch are our age."

"Six of 'em dated me for a week," another anon said blissfully. They stared at him. "Hey, those guys are goddamn stacked. Used to babysit me and now all I can get attracted to are boobs the size of me and better if they're colored like, i dunno, the black blood of the earth."

"What happened with you and them?" Another anon asked. Distantly, they knew they heard something moving.

"We're getting married next week. Me and all six of them." The other anons stared. "You guys are invited, by the by. And don't look at me like that! We held hands! And, like, they group-sexed me. I guess that's how they do marriage proposals."

The door opened. Not slowly, and not with any kind of momentum. One moment, it was closed, and the next, it was open, the darkness beckoning beyond.

All the anons froze up.

There was no sense of movement as the giant woman appeared. She simply seemed to be there, their eyes barely aware of her until suddenly she commanded attention with her presence, and they fixed upon her.

Fear, sick and curdling and cold, roiled in them, and spilled away as she smiled gently at them, milking the moment. She was gigantic; perhaps her people were typically large to begin with, but s he stood even taller of that, so that even the tallest of them barely came up to the soft rise of her gut.

A big woman; she would have been amazonian even if she was typical size. Massive thighs supporting a powerfully built body, muscles upon muscles layered over each other in the model of a professional strongwoman. A gossamer dress, cut in wide swatches to show off hints of mighty thigh muscles and arcing in a cloth loop across her broad shoulders, showing extremely generous amounts of cleavage enough for them to stand in, and her very muscular arms all completely exposed.

She'd been milking the moment, they had thought. Now milk in general came to mind; she was extremely buxom. Her belly was big, yes; a huge, protruding pot belly slabbed with muscles along its round shape, in the 'muscle gut' morph-type. Her boobs swelled past even that, billowing outwards and barely confined by her thin clothing, enormous and possibly leaky nipples puffing up against the fabric over their heads, invitingly purple against the black clothing, the shadows beyond, and her onyx-black skin.

Hips over six feet across bent. A torso, longer than any of them were tall, swayed down with genteel decorum.

Massive breasts sloshed down, with such a thick liquid noise that they felt their mouths watering. They nearly smacked against the floor, suspended by astoundingly supportive dress top, and her face appeared above it. Her face was not too different from a humans; a snout instead of a nose, short purple hair cut into elaborate patterns and shaved with ritualistic purpose against the sides. A pair of chisel-shaped horns, rising up backwards, and blue-purple eyes considering them behind a thick pair of glasses.

Her lips were immensely thick, and with a brief glimpse of terribly sharp fangs, she smiled.

"Well, well," she said, gently raising a hand to the nearest of them, the one who had suggested this in the first place. The anon's face quivered with fear, and desire, and the feelings mounted as her mental power sank in deeply. It sang, come closer. Come to me. Come, come...

They all, completely unconsciously, as though some other power had taken control of their legs, stepped forward.

"Someone is finally brave enough to see what TREATS I have." She gestured her arms wide, as if to indicate just what sort of salicious, seductive treats she had. "Well."

She leaned forward.

Sekhma Dionsi's eyes glimmered with mischief. "I think a kiss would be good for starters, before you all go treating with me~?" She picked the anon up, and shoving them into her breasts, laid a deep, passionate and slow kiss right over their face.

[shinelikethunder]

"#'what circumstances exactly' you ask? congrats! now you're asking the right questions#feel free to join the rest of us in arguing endlessly over the answers at essay length because this shit's complicated" i'd love your thoughts!

(re: the tags on this post about suspension of moral disbelief)

I mean, there are plenty of finer details lurking in that “exactly” that I won’t even pretend to have well-formed answers for. But applying the concept of ‘suspension of disbelief’ to morality is just... a thing people do with stories. All the time! The decision to play along with it can be well-judged or ill-judged, just like most other human exchanges of ideas, and the demands a story makes of its audience can be beneficial or pernicious or just plain expedient. All you really need for it to be in play is:

some kind of moral skepticism to suspend (re: consequences, risk, what really matters here, the innate horrificness of a transgression, whatever)

some sufficient incentive to suspend it (catharsis, Feeeeels, wish fulfilment, digging into the appeal of something that’d be a terrible idea IRL, neat thought experiments, compelling trainwrecks, having more important things to Story about...)

some level of confidence that this is a temporary setting-aside of scruples for the duration of your stay in Fictionland, not actual persuasion about something you’ll potentially take with you into real life that demands fuller scrutiny

And there’s no one uncomplicated answer on that for any story. Different people are gonna have different reactions to the same work, on all three points. There are fandoms I just never got into, because the main characters didn’t grab me enough for there to be any incentive to play along with whatever their Standards-Warping Special Snowflake Bullshit was. There are others where I ate that shit up but grumped about it the whole time, because the writing seemed to be huffing its own paint fumes re: narratively vs actually justified. And others where it wasn’t bullshit or grump-worthy at all, because the story knew damn well when it was offering to take you for a ride and when it was in dead earnest and when it was having too much fun to know for sure. (And the last point, about RL persuasion, has a whole stable of sub-essays about intent, responsibility, actual effectiveness at persuading, risk of actually picking up unexamined bullshit vs. sheer annoyance at being sold a load of crap you have no interest in buying... it’s all complicated!)

The “moral suspension of disbelief” mechanism itself, though? It’s a routine part of telling and being told stories. It’s in play every time you don’t give a shit about the widows and orphans and rich inner lives of the redshirts getting killed off. Every time you take satisfaction in watching an obnoxious character meet an outlandishly awful fate they would never have deserved in real life. Every time you root for a protagonist pulling a long-shot heroic stunt that would recklessly endanger everyone around them if the laws of narrative probability weren’t so thoroughly in their favor.

I’m going to haul out Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a movie I love dearly, for examples of both a success and a failure at getting me, personally, to suspend judgement. On pretty much the same highly-morally-charged question of fact--the efficacy of torture, and how it’s portrayed in fiction. The success: I really don’t give a fuck that the movie trotted out a bunch of hoary old chestnuts about torture, brainwashing, and miraculously competent mindfucked double agents to get from Point A to all the tasty layers of identity porn we’re really here for. It’s convenient handwavium presented as Literal Comic Book Science. The traditional fearmongering about inhuman foreign enemies and their magical exotic mind-control techniques is a vaguely-gestured-at red herring; the onscreen horror is homegrown and ugly. The tropes themselves are a crock of shit, and the later movies completely dropped the ball on questions of responsibility and rehabilitation, but zero claims or assumptions about reality are being put forth here, except that The Really Bad Shit Is Coming From Inside The House.

The same can’t be said for Steve, Sam, and Natasha getting from Point A to Point "Obligatory exposition the movie could just as easily have delivered any other way” by... uh... staging a mock execution on a Hydra mole? And doing it as a quick, dirty, totally effective, totally-justified-by-the-Proverbial-Ticking-Clock, nasty-but-efficient way to get 100% accurate information out of someone who has zero incentive to cooperate. All of which is taken so thoroughly for granted that the whole scene, particularly the idea that Steve might consider it unconscionable, is played as a joke. That’s fucking rancid. Doubly rancid for this movie (whose politics are otherwise “what if the real fascism was the national-security state we built along the way”) to be blithely regurgitating the exact same War on Terror propaganda talking points that are still used to "justify” actual, real-life, really fucking recent US war crimes. Triply rancid to have the character who is literally called Captain America, who is supposed to be the country’s idealized conscience in the face of whatever its most topical ongoing failings happen to be, ringleading that shit. Listen, I love this movie, but that scene is straight-up morally indefensible. It skates by on good comic timing juuust long enough for the next big plot point to click into place and divert your attention before you can think too hard about it. But think about it for five seconds and it’s vile.

There was also a weird trend in some of the first waves of fanfiction after CA:TWS came out, which I suspect was the result of a mismatch in moral-disbelief-suspension between that movie and Person of Interest. Overall the tonal, thematic, and subject-matter overlap between the two canons is downright uncanny, but it’s not 100%, and one of the little differences is that the crew of maladjusted weirdoes on Person of Interest are big on “covert surveillance of your friends & loved ones as Actually A Gesture Of Affection.” A number of popular authors who’d written in both fandoms ported that over to CA:TWS fic as an endearing quirk to spice up the character dynamics, and let me tell you, it hit real differently in that universe.

[renaerys]

PPG One-Shot: Back At You (Butch/Buttercup)

A T-rated Greens one shot I did for our resident gothic heroine @avesthetea over on AO3! 💚

A heartfelt shoutout to the Instagram clown cult. Y’all know who you are and how much you inspire me to chronicle Brick’s eternal suffering in new and creative ways. It’s what we do.

Summary: When Buttercup's birthday planning falls apart at the last minute, the last person she would ever expect offers his help (or horror, depending on your perspective).

xxx

Buttercup’s phone buzzed on the nightstand by her head, and she jerked awake. Swallowing the bitter sleep taste, she wiped her mouth and fumbled for the phone. Head still buried in the pillow, she answered: “What time is it?”

“Time to get your ass to the precinct,” said Ty, her partner at the Citiesville Police Department. “Chief Foolery’s all hands meeting starts in twenty minutes. Tell me you’re not still asleep.”

Buttercup sprang up on her elbows and checked the time on her phone. Shit, she was going to be late. “Shit, I’m going to be late!”

“Girl, that’s what I’m tellin’ you—”

“Gotta go, bye!” Buttercup hung up the phone and would have launched out of bed if not for the arm that slipped around her waist and pulled her back down.

“Five more minutes,” Butch grumbled.

Buttercup lost her balance and ended up with her bare back flush against his equally bare chest. His breath was hot on the back of her neck where he pushed his nose among her loose black hair. “Butch, I have to go,” she said in a warning tone.

He chuckled, and it sent a thrill of heat down her spine and under the covers, where he pushed a knee between her thighs. “Why go when you could come?” The arm he’d looped around her waist traveled low beneath the sheets.

Buttercup groaned at his crass joke and caught his wrist before he could carry out the threat. “Because if I’m not at CPD headquarters in twenty minutes, Foolery’s going to pop a hemorrhoid—”

Butch flipped them over with his Super speed, and her back hit the mattress beneath him. He loomed over her, those green eyes acid-bright in the early morning sunlight streaming through his bedroom window. Her traitorous gaze raked up his chest, over the shadow of stubble on his jaw, and settled on those fast darkening eyes as he admired her in turn. But the moment he bent down to kiss her, she slipped out from under him in a flash of green and darted across the room. In a matter of seconds, she’d pulled out a spare change of clothes from the lone dresser drawer he’d cleared out for her use.

“Leaving me hangin’? For real?” Butch complained as he flopped back down among the sheets with a yawn.

“You’ll live. But I won’t if I’m late for this fuckery.” She dressed quickly in dark jeans and a button-up blouse before heading to the connecting bathroom Butch shared with his daughter, Brisa.

“Missin’ out!” Butch called from the bedroom.

Yeah, Buttercup thought as she combed through the tangles in her hair with her fingers and ran the water to brush her teeth. A knock on the door interrupted her morning ablutions, and Brisa entered through her bedroom door.

“G’morning,” she said. Her brown hair was a frizzy mess, and she clutched a stuffed purple Pretty Puff Pony under one arm.

Despite her haste to get out of there and jet to work, Buttercup spared the little girl a soft smile. “Morning, kid. You’re up early.”

Brisa grinned wide. “I couldn’t sleep.”

Buttercup’s smile fell immediately. “Did Butch sneak you that second chocolate bar after dinner last night? Goddamnit—Butch!”

“What, change your mind?” he called. “I knew you couldn’t leave before climbing my morning wood.”

Brisa made a face like she was going to ask, and Buttercup slammed Butch’s bedroom door shut. “Never mind. Let me guess, you were too excited to sleep because today’s your birthday, right?”

Brisa blinked up at her and smiled, her questions forgotten. “Yeah! Oh my gosh, we’re gonna have so much fun!”

Buttercup chuckled and ruffled her messy hair. “For sure. But first, I have to go to work.”

“You’ll be back for my party, right?”

“One hundred percent.”

“Pinky promise?” Brisa held out her little finger.

Buttercup hooked her pinky around Brisa’s. “I promise. Now go get dressed and brush your teeth. I’ll check on your dad.”

“Okay!”

Buttercup breezed through the bedroom, chucked Butch his sweat pants with a cautionary “Hide your dick,” and flew out of her paramour’s two-bedroom apartment in downtown Townsville just as Brisa came bursting in excited to start the day.

xxx

The morning was a complete waste of time, and a bitter part of Buttercup lamented not skipping out in favor of staying in bed with Butch.  

“Well, at least nobody died today,” Ty said as he and munched on his doner kebab lunch to go. “Yet.”

Buttercup sucked down half of a water bottle after scarfing down her own lunch. They had stopped at the food truck parked a couple blocks from the precinct, opting for a quick fix as they watched oblivious pedestrians lost to their Air Pods. “Welcome back to active duty, Mr. Brightside.”

Ty chuckled, low and deep. After a few months of healing and rigorous physical therapy, his legs were completely healed and he’d finally been cleared for work that didn’t involve pushing papers at his desk. Once more standing tall with the sun shining off his bald head, Buttercup could not have been happier to have her partner back to his old self by her side.

“You bring it outta me.” Ty winked.

“You ready to head out?” she asked, tossing her wrapper in a corner trashcan. Traffic was shit as usual midday on a Saturday, but they had time before Brisa’s party was slated to start.

“Sure. Lemme just text Melanie.”

Buttercup figured she better catch up with Butch while she waited for Ty and make sure he was on the ball.

[Buttercup: Did you pick up the cake?]

After a few seconds, he replied.

[Butch: Omw with B. You still on clown duty?]

Buttercup groaned at the reminder.

[Buttercup: Can I just say he died and couldn’t make it?]

[Butch: Sure, if you want to crush B’s hopes and dreams 💔😈]

“Kill me.”

“What’s wrong now?” Ty asked.

Buttercup pocketed her phone and led the way to the precinct parking lot where Ty’s car was parked. “Just grappling with some casual childhood trauma coming back to bite me in the ass.”

Ty side-eyed her. “Which one?”

“Ha ha.”

They made it to his red hatchback, and Buttercup slipped into the passenger seat.

“This about Brisa’s birthday party?” Ty asked.

Buttercup groaned again and tugged at her loose hair. “Of all the things, a clown? I thought they were universally considered nightmare fodder for kids these days.”

“Speakin’ of which, I think I remember a psychotic clown attacking Townsville back in the day.”

“You remember correctly.” Buttercup glowered out the window as Ty eased them into traffic toward the Golden Bay Bridge. “But it was the one thing she said she just had to have because some other dumb kid in her class got one for her party.”

“Ah. Six years old and already the social food chain’s tuggin’ on her.”

“Whatever. I never cared about that shit when I was a kid.”

Ty smiled to himself. “Uh-huh.”

Buttercup resigned herself to her unfortunate fate and dialed the company she’d previously contracted to rent a clown for the afternoon. After about five minutes on the phone, she hung up.

“What was that all about?” Ty asked. “Problem?”

Buttercup stared straight ahead as the Golden Bay Bridge’s suspender cables passed her by. “The clown died.”

Ty laughed.

“Ty.” Buttercup looked directly at him. “The guy got hit by a bus on his way to work today and he died.”

Ty shut up. “Oh, uh… Shit.”

A pause.

“I mean, is there another clown, or…?”

“I don’t fucking know,” Buttercup snapped. All she could think of was how Brisa was going to be so upset that the one goddamned thing she had asked for wasn’t going to happen because there was no time to book a new party clown on such short notice on a Saturday.

When Ty shifted in his seat, the leather squeaked loudly in the fuming silence he wisely chose not to break, until he did. “So, should I—”

“Just drive. I’ll think of something…” Buttercup said as she pulled out her phone and tried not to completely lose her shit as she dialed the one person who always seemed to know what to do in a crisis.

“Hey, Blossom,” Buttercup said gravely after her sister picked up. “I think I need some help.”

xxx

When Buttercup and Ty parked in front of her childhood home, guests had already begun arriving. Bubbles was outside greeting people and directing them to the backyard for the festivities. When she spotted Buttercup and Ty, she waved. “Hey, there you are!”

“Have you seen Blossom?” Buttercup asked.

Bubbles pushed up the sleeves of her chunky lavender sweater and looked around. “I think she and Princess were setting up the piñata. Is everything okay—”

Buttercup dashed to the backyard in a blaze of green, leaving Ty to make his way inside at a more sedate pace. The backyard was already teeming with people. Brisa was playing tag with her best friend Richie and a few other kids, while Boomer stacked presents on a table by the back door. Mike and Robin led the day drinking charge by pouring out sangria for the adults and juice for the kids. Buttercup nearly crashed through the green tissue streamers criss-crossing the enclosed backyard in her haste to locate her sister, who was in fact stringing up a red monster-shaped piñata with Princess Morbucks. Or rather, Blossom was doing all the work while Princess held two glasses of bloody sangria and provided live commentary.

“Whoever invented piñatas had the right idea is all I’m saying,” Princess said as she sipped her drink. She was annoyingly chic as usual in designer jeans, dark boots, and a purple silk blouse that probably cost more than the pittance Buttercup’s government paycheck brought in every month.

“You think so?” Blossom said, floating near a high branch so she could toss the suspension rope over it.

“Of course. You’re rewarded with candy for smashing the shit out of your mortal enemy. What could be better than that?”

Blossom grinned. “Mortal enemy in effigy.” She patted the red monster’s snout. “But you’re not wrong.”

“Obviously.” Princess handed her back her sangria, and they shared a knowing laugh.

“Blossom,” Buttercup said.

Blossom smoothed the front of her navy skirt as she turned toward Buttercup. “You’re here. Everything all right?”

Buttercup eyed Princess watching them. “I was going to ask you the same thing. Any progress on the clown front?”

“I’m sorry, the what?” Princess asked.

Blossom’s pink eyes softened, and she put a hand on Buttercup’s shoulder. “I took care of it, don’t worry.”

“Wait, really? How? I called five other rental companies, but everything’s booked solid.”

Blossom’s smile turned devious. “Trust me. Brisa’s going to be very pleased.” Buttercup wanted to argue, but her sister squeezed her shoulder in a silent entreaty. “Just enjoy the party. Boomer, Bubbles, and I have everything under control.”

“Speaking of control,” Princess had her phone out when Blossom turned back to her, “where is that prima donna? He’s not answering any of my texts.”

“Brick’s running a little late,” Blossom said as she led Princess away. “Wardrobe malfunction…”

Their voices faded to the background as Buttercup watched them. Two peas in a fucking pod, and she still didn’t really get what Blossom saw in Princess. If Princess hadn’t played such an integral part in things a couple months back, she would never have given the woman a second thought beyond “Hard pass.”

People, however, had a tendency to surprise when it was down to the wire.

“Heads up, Buttercup!”

Buttercup automatically caught the child hurtling through the air like a tossed water balloon before he could crack his head open.

“O-Oh! Hi, Buttercup,” said Richie, meek and curled in on himself like he’d forgotten he was no longer fragile.

Brisa came dashing over. “Nice catch!”

Buttercup peeled Richie off her and dropped him flat on his ass in the grass. “Brisa, don’t yeet your friends. Bubbles will have an aneurism if she catches you.”

Brisa blushed, abashed. “Sorry…”

Buttercup cracked a smile and winked, and Brisa lit up.

“I’m okay!” Richie, Super resilient, hopped onto his feet and shook out his fluffy blond hair. “Um, does this mean I’m ‘it’ now?”

“No, I wanna play with the clown!” Brisa announced.

Buttercup’s face fell. “Uh, about that…”

Brisa blinked up at her. “He’s coming to my party, right?”

The flicker of doubt that passed through Brisa’s big brown eyes cracked Buttercup’s cold stone heart. She struggled for the words to let her down gently, because whatever Blossom had managed to put together so last minute wasn’t going to be the colorful surprise Buttercup had gone out of her way to book and customize a month in advance.

A round of squeals from the other kids across the yard drew her attention, where they had gathered around Mike at the garden door. “Okay, settle down, kiddos! He’s a little shy. Now, where’s the birthday girl at? Hey, Brisa!”

“C’mon, Brisa, let’s go,” Richie said, tugging on her hand.

But she held her ground and didn’t budge. Buttercup wanted to die.

“Brisa, look,” she began.

The door behind Mike slid open, and out stepped what Buttercup could only describe as her personal revenge fantasy gone morbidly wrong. Brick had never looked so sour in his life.

“Oh! Uh, ta-da!” Mike said hastily as he stepped aside for the person formerly known as Brick until his murder by dishonor.

His steps squeaked in his oversized red shoes, and the striped red and yellow overalls he wore over a polkadot shirt ballooned out at his legs. He looked like a tropical bowling pin. He looked fucking absurd.

“It’s Flameo Hotman! Say hello, kids,” Mike said.

Brick shot Mike a scathing glare that may have incinerated him where he stood if the tiny party hat and enormous red clown nose didn’t ruin the effect. “The hell it is.”

Buttercup had no problem averting her eyes from the literal clownery to focus on Brisa, who was still staring and petrified. Oh shit, oh fuck, she was upset and it was Buttercup’s entire fault—

“Uncle Brick?” Brisa blurted out.

Brick’s lurid eyes passed over Buttercup and landed on Brisa. If Buttercup hadn’t been looking right at him, she would never have believed the way they softened just a little. He pursed his lips and lifted his elastic-tied party hat off his short red hair. It snapped back in place when he let go. “Happy birthday, Brisa.”

Brisa immediately dashed out of Richie’s grip in a sprint too fast to be human and body slammed Brick where he stood. With a grunt, he managed to catch her and keep his balance as she hugged him tight around his inflated waist and laughed. “You look so funny!”

Brick coughed. “Yeah, that’s sort of the point…”

The other kids took that as their cue to also mob Brick, and soon he was adrift in a sea of grubby hands and demands for balloon animals and magic tricks. Buttercup could not believe her eyes. She could hardly remember the last time she saw Brick dressed anything other than to the nines, and now…

“Fuck me,” she wheezed, too stunned even to laugh, it was that heinous.

“Pretty good, huh?” Bubbles sidled up to her with a wrapped present for Brisa under her arm.

Buttercup swallowed hard. She didn’t trust her voice as she watched Brick—Brick—snap at Brisa’s friends to line up in an orderly fashion if they wanted their faces painted, and no cutting the line or there would be consequences.

“The costume’s a little janky, but I didn’t have a lot of notice when Blossom told me we needed something colorful for him to wear,” Bubbles went on.

“Why?” Buttercup croaked. She turned to her baby sister, who seemed totally nonchalant existing in a universe where the selfish clown Blossom had chosen to keep for reasons Buttercup could not sympathize with deigned to dress as a literal fucking clown.

Bubbles slipped her hand in Buttercup’s and squeezed affectionately as they watched Brick paint the requested unicorn on Richie’s face as seriously as if it were a goddamned Monet. “I think this is his way of trying,” she said.

Buttercup would never forget that day two months ago when Butch asked her to come over after Brick had broken down and apologized to Boomer and him and all he wanted to do was break something, to feel it shatter in his hands, so why not her, who couldn’t break? That fight had been one of their most brutal, even compared to their rows in high school in the throes of raging hormones exacerbated by Chemical X.

They hadn’t spoken as they rinsed the dirt and sweat from each other after—Buttercup had been worried about setting him off again after he had settled into some sort of quiet serenity with his fingers in her hair, pulling the tangles out under the warm water like an artist honing his craft. Those hands were always working, always looking for something to crush.

“You ever love someone, but you don’t like them?” he’d asked her as she wrung the water from her hair and he stared at his hollow-eyed reflection in the mirror.

Buttercup was pulled from the memory when Blossom came out of the house to snap pictures on her phone of the kids with their painted faces, a bright smile on her face as Brick continued to ignore the entire world and focus on his task with surprisingly minimal complaint. Buttercup supposed that if anyone could dress like an ass-backwards buffoon and maintain some pretense of dignity, it was Brick.

“Yeah, I guess,” she said at length. She squeezed Bubbles’ hand back.

He’s trying something, all right.

xxx

“I want a dog, please!” asked a snot-nosed kid inexplicably dressed in a full dinosaur suit.

Butch watched Brick from the picnic table he’d plopped down on with a cold beer and three entire pizza boxes set aside entirely for Boomer and himself.

Brick frowned so deeply he looked like he was trying to pass a hardened turd. Wordless, he blew up a long red balloon, tied it off at the end, and handed it to the little boy. “Here.”

The kid accepted the unfolded balloon with quizzical look. “Huh? This isn't a dog.”

“Yeah, it is,” Brick said. “It’s a hot dog.”

“But that’s not what I asked—hey!” The kid squealed when Brick squirted him with water from the rubber flower on his overall strap.

“Next,” Brick said in a tone that promised medieval torture.

Cowed, the dinosaur kid slumped away with his shitty balloon, and the next little girl in line made her request.

“It had to be a bet,” Butch said grimly as he watched his brother pawn a “magic wand” on the little girl who asked for a monkey. She trudged off with the unfolded purple balloon and look in her eyes like she’d seen the hidden darkness of this world.

Boomer shrugged and swallowed a bite of pizza. He had his back to Brick, but he spared a glance over his shoulder. “I don’t know.”

“I mean, he’s gotta know the pictures will live on forever. This is unlimited blackmail.”

That got a little chuckle out of Boomer. Butch ruffled his bangs too roughly to be entirely affectionate, and Boomer swatted him away. “Dude, my hair.”

“Want me to get you a balloon dick?”

Boomer’s gaze flickered to him, and for a moment Butch was transported back twenty years to Mojo’s Observatory. He and Boomer were sometimes left by themselves while Mojo and Brick tinkered in the old man’s lab well into the night with nothing to do and no one to talk to but each other. On nights like that, Butch didn’t really mind it when Boomer crawled into his bunk and fell asleep there. The room always felt a little colder and darker without Brick there.

“I’m fine,” Boomer said.

Butch searched his eyes, blue and expressive and always shining like he might cry or laugh. He had always envied Boomer that ability to project, to offer a connection, even if it was only pain. He’d always been good at that.

“Really,” Boomer added, hardening his gaze like a fucking mind reader. “I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah.” Butch wondered how long it would take for that to be true. “You know, it’s been a couple months—”

“Butch,” Boomer said, cold like he never was.

Butch hopped off the table and put a hand on Boomer’s shoulder. “It’s been a couple months, but it’s not a race. There’s no finish line to cross.”

Boomer chuckled, but it sounded kind of like a wheeze. His hand was cool on Butch’s where he squeezed him. “Thanks, Butch.”

Butch patted his back. As he was leaving, heard Boomer call, “Make mine blue.”

Butch chuckled. “Sure.”

Fucking sap.

At least Butch wasn’t the only one.

He made his way to the terrace, where Brick was set up with balloons and the face painting station. When Brick noticed his brother waiting in line, the balloon he was inflating went up in flames and disintegrated to ashes, leaving him looking as flushed as his stupid clown nose.

“I’m out of balloons, kids. Go dig a hole or something,” he said to the remaining two children.

“Huh? But there’s a whole bag—” one little boy with enormous glasses started to say.

Brick fired his laser eye beams at the bag of balloons and blew it up. “What bag?”

The kids stalked off in a sulk, and Butch sauntered up to the chair Bubbles had brought out from the kitchen table.

“Bitch move,” he said, plopping down. “I promised Boomer I’d bring him a blue cock, made special with love.”

“Uh-huh,” Brick said. He watched Butch with those shifty red eyes like he might lash out and attack him.

Amused and a little nervous, Butch sank into the chair with much bravado and man-spreading. “Paint me like one of your French girls.”

Brick narrowed his eyes, but he picked up the paints and sat down in the opposite chair without a word, until: “What do you want?”

“I dunno, something cool. A rocket ship.”

Silence. Brick leaned in close to apply the paint with a thin brush, meticulous and anal like he was with everything he did. Butch didn’t have to see his face to know he was concentrating way too hard.

“I can feel the vibrations of you clenching your asshole from here,” Butch said. “Relax.”

“I’m relaxed.”

“Fuck off.”

Brick put down the brush. “If you keep talking, this is going to turn out shitty.”

Butch shut up. Brick resumed painting.

After a moment, Butch closed his eyes. There was something soothing about the soft scrape of the brush against his cheek. Behind his eyelids, he saw a much younger version of Brick covered in paint and grinning fiercely, king of the world, until Butch hit him with his paintball gun right in the kisser. Green paint exploded everywhere, and Boomer fell on his ass laughing. Brick angrily wiped the paint from his eyes in a goopy mess and lobbed it back at Butch, who was too far gone to care. Rolling on the grass and covered in paint, he couldn’t remember a happier afternoon spent with his brothers and Mojo. At least, not until Brisa came along.

Butch sucked in a breath as he opened his eyes and dispelled that trance-like memory. Brick didn’t even snap at him when he turned his head to look right at him. His face was pinched: his mouth too thin and his eyes too wide as he waited for another pot shot to the face.

“You look stupid,” Butch said.

“I know,” Brick said.

“Really fucking stupid.”

Brick’s eye twitched. “I know.”

“Thanks.”

Brick swallowed. “It’s her birthday.”

“Yeah, but I’m your brother. So thanks.”

It was not often that Brick was flabbergasted, but the dude looked like someone had just grabbed him by his oversized red nose. Butch burst into a sly smirk and did just that. To his sadistic satisfaction, it squeaked when he squeezed it.

“Honk honk, motherfucker,” Butch said.

It took Brick all of two seconds to ditch his bewilderment and swat Butch’s hand away. “Shit head.”

“Clown.”

To Butch’s immense surprise, Brick let him have the last word. Well, damn. He chuckled and leaned back in the chair so Brick could finish painting his cheek. Two months and he barely saw the guy on purpose, and now this.

“I’m burning every picture Blossom took today,” Brick said at length.

Butch chuckled. “You forgot about the cloud.”

“I’m burning that too.”

“Now you’re just being a whiny bitch.”

“Wipe Bubbles’ phone and I’ll pay you.”

“Eh, maybe just grab a beer sometime.” It came out so naturally that he didn’t even think about it. Brick, too, was taken aback. The more he saw it today, the less Butch liked that surprised look in his older brother’s eyes. It was fucking weird. “Seriously. It’s been a minute.”

Brick didn’t move. He didn’t even breathe. “Yeah, cool.”

“Cool.”

Cool.

“Hold on, almost done,” Brick said, and grabbed Butch’s chin to turn his face.

Butch’s eyes found Brisa running around with a large, green balloon crown on her head and her cheeks painted with rainbows, and his gaze softened. It was almost time for cake.

“Done,” Brick announced.

Before Butch could reply to that, there was a small commotion at the backyard gate with Bubbles, who followed a very short, very hairy monkey inside.

“Grandpa Mojo?” Brisa stopped playing with her friends to greet the old monkey. He had a box with a green bow on top so perfectly wrapped a department store may have done it. His arms were rigid as they held it out and Bubbles hovered just behind him, watchful.

“Good afternoon, Brisa. I have procured you a gift to celebrate, rejoice, and otherwise partake in various forms of merriment on this day of your birth, which is to say, your birthday, thus, the day you were born.”

Nearby, Blossom paused picking up trash with Robin to eye Mojo askance, nonchalant in that low key frightening I-will-blow-your-dick-off way she had. Buttercup was chatting away with Mitch Mitchelson and Clara Clearly, but she too had eyes only for Mojo.

Brisa blushed cutely, suddenly shy. “Thank you.” She accepted the gift and looked between Mojo and Bubbles. “Um, will you stay for cake?”

Mojo’s green skin turned a ghastly shade of pink. It took a Butch a moment to realize he was blushing. He was sure he had never seen Mojo blush before.

Mojo cleared his throat. “I do not eat cake,” he said with finality.

“Oh…” Brisa clutched her new gift to her chest.

“But, I suppose… I could sample a beverage while I am here. A guest ought not turn away hospitality when it is offered.”

Brisa just smiled brightly and reached for Mojo’s crusty old paw. “I have juice. Oh! And you have to stay for the piñata. Have you met Richie? He’s my best friend in the whole world!”

“I do not think—” Mojo lost his words as he was pulled along by his Super granddaughter whether he liked it or not.

“Hey.”

Brick’s hand on Butch’s shoulder exerting Super pressure made him looked down at his hands, which sparked with green power. He clenched his fists and fizzled it out.

“You good?” Brick asked, low and grave.

Butch sniffled. “Yeah, I’m good. Habit.” He paused, then: “I invited him. Boomer said it was fine.”

Brick nodded. “Okay.”

Butch’s stupid heart clenched. “I meant to text you—”

“Blossom told me. It’s fine, drop it.”

He should have dropped it. Two months ago he would have, happily. What the fuck did it matter now when it never had growing up? But that was two months ago. “Don’t fucking do that.”

Brick frosted over and got up. “Do what.”

“Hey.” Butch grabbed him by his ridiculous overalls. “You and me. No girls. Battle and beers, like the old days.”

Brick was a cold hard bastard, but even he had his cracks, and right now he broke like an egg, slack-jawed and lame.

“Tomorrow,” Butch said.

Brick nodded numbly. “Tomorrow.”

Butch smirked and got up to leave, but Brick’s voice stopped him one last time.

“Thanks, Butch.”

“Sure.”

“Tell Boomer it’s a consolation.”

“Huh?”

But he got nothing more out of Brick once Blossom and Princess showed up.

“Oh. My. God. Wait, let’s take a selfie.” Princess managed to get her arm around Brick’s neck, but he snatched her phone before she could take a picture.

“No fucking way, Princess,” he said.

Blossom grabbed his chin and kissed him right there, shameless. It was enough to distract him so Princess could reclaim her phone. “You know, I kind of like you as a clown.”

“I don’t.” Princess managed to snap a picture of Brick and Blossom. “But you’re pulling off the striped overalls, I have to say.”

“Burn that.” Brick advanced, but Blossom pulled him back with a laugh.

“Why so serious, Brick?” she teased.

Princess stuck her tongue out at him.

Butch left them to their childish shit; it was time for cake, and he had a brand new six-year-old to impress.

xxx

Buttercup was having a surprisingly good time. Between pizza with Butch and Boomer, hanging out with her sisters, and the everlasting memories that were clown Brick saved to her iCloud where he would never find them, today was turning out surprisingly well. Butch caught her eye across the yard and gestured inside, so she excused herself from the conversation with Ty and his sister to followed him.

He was in the kitchen when she found him.

“Hey, doll. Cornering me for dirty kitchen sex?” he teased.

Buttercup laughed at the sight of him, two percent bravado and ninety-eight percent imbecile. “Let me grab you a glass of water for that thirst.”

The cake he’d bought sat in a box in the fridge with Brisa’s name scribbled on the lid. Buttercup brought it out and set it on the counter. Then, she hunted for the colorful party platter Bubbles kept for special occasions.

Butch’s arms slipped around her waist from behind, and he pressed his nose to her loose hair. “Mm, you smell like pepperoni.”

“Eat my dick,” Buttercup said.

“I like it.”

“I bet you do, you horny carnivore.”

“Nooo, not the dirty talk,” he whined, pressing a kiss to her neck and pulling her back against him.

Buttercup fought against her growing smile as she opened the cake box and transferred the treat to the platter. “You need rehab.”

“If that’s your kink.”

Buttercup snorted. “Shut up and help me with this.”

They loaded up the chocolate cake on the platter, and Buttercup found the candles in a drawer.

“Got some shit on your nose,” Butch said.

“What?” He dabbed his chocolate frosted finger on the tip of her nose the moment she turned toward him, and she swatted his hand away. “Oh, come on. What are you, five?” She wiped the frosting from her nose and licked her finger clean.

No sooner had she finished than he grabbed her chin and kissed her deeply. In the quiet of the kitchen with no one around to see them, Buttercup gave into feeling and curled her fingers in his flannel shirt. When he smiled against her like the swooning buffoon he’d always been at heart, she laughed and pulled him closer.

His hands found their way over the curve of her ass, as they always did, and pulled her against him with a squeeze. “Fuck, I want you.”

“You always want me.”

“Have you seen your ass? You’d want you too.” He gave her another squeeze, and she had to bite her lip to stifle a moan.

Buttercup slipped her fingers through his hair, full and soft on top and shorn short behind the ears. For a moment, they simply stared at each other as Buttercup marveled at how much she wanted this, wanted him. She had never wanted anyone as much as she wanted him, so badly she could feel it threatening to tear her in two.

“You have all this power,” he murmured, soft like it was a precious secret he clung to.

Buttercup could have laughed at how much he underestimated his own power of her. “Back at you.”

“No.” He touched his forehead to hers and breathed like they finally had time. “Not like you. Not like this.” His hand moved to her waist as if to lead her in a dance. “You have me, Buttercup.”

Buttercup’s eyes burned with a foreign heat, unwelcome. Butch used to scare her when he spoke to her like this; now, she could only bite her lip and wait for the threat of tears to pass. “Back at you,” she said again, shaky and so fucking grateful.

They stayed that way a moment, in the kitchen of her childhood home with the warm smell of chocolate and the low din of the party outside, and for the first time that day, Buttercup felt the tension ease from her shoulders.

“By the way,” Butch said, his eyes still closed and his forehead still pressed against her, “I’m fucking the shit out of you when we get back to my place.”

Buttercup smirked. “Great example you’re setting for your daughter.”

“I got her new headphones with noise canceling.”

“She’s going to notice if we break the tub again.”

“There’s a hose. She can bathe with that.”

“Just pressure wash her like a truck.”

“Fast, efficient, and it’ll save on the water bill.”

“You don’t even pay for water, the landlord does.”

“Hey, I’m a good Samaritan lookin’ out for my neighbors.”

“Screw the neighbors.” Buttercup ran her fingers over his lips, down his chin to his chest, where his heart thundered under her touch. “I want you to fuck the shit out of me.”

Butch laughed hoarsely. “Maybe I should ask Boomer to take Brisa tonight.”

They parted, and Buttercup was about to tell him to grab the cake while she hunted for a knife when she finally noticed his cheek. “Did Brick do that?”

“The rocket ship? Yeah, good excuse to talk to him.”

“A rocket ship, huh?” Buttercup smiled so brightly her cheeks began to hurt. “That was nice of him.”

Butch gave her a weird look. “Whatever, we’re hanging out tomorrow. After today, I figure he can use it.”

Buttercup’s throat wrenched as she tried her best not to burst out laughing. “Don’t quote me, but he sort of saved my ass today. The other clown died.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m serious, he literally died.”

“Wow, party almost ruined.”

“I mean, also a man is dead.”

“Oh, shit, yeah you’re right. Sorry. I guess don’t tell Brisa.”

Buttercup rolled her eyes. “Jesus Christ. Grab that cake and don’t drop it.”

xxx

Brisa grinned to the point of bursting as everyone sang Happy Birthday to her and she blew out her candles. Cake went by in a breeze as the kids screamed about presents next. Like some hot, pink angel, Blossom took charge of the activities with Robin’s and Buttercup’s assistance and made sure the kids were thoroughly entertained so that Butch could eat his cake and watch his little girl enjoy her special day.

Now, seated on the picnic table again with Boomer and Bubbles, he dug into the slice Bubbles said she couldn’t finish.

“Hey, Butch,” Boomer said, chill.

“Yeah?” Butch asked.

“Why’s there a huge dick on your face?”

“Huh?”

On Butch’s other side, Bubbles poked his painted cheek. “It’s a very proportionate dick. Good dimensions.”

Boomer wheezed into his beer. Butch choked on his cake. At the next table over, Brick, that soggy ballsack, stood chatting with Princess Morbucks and Mike Believe still in his full clown regalia sipping sangria through a bendy straw. The moment he felt Butch’s eyes on him, he grinned maliciously around his straw.

“Motherfucker—” Butch tried to get up, but Bubbles grabbed his wrist.

“Language, Butch. There are children around,” she sang, cheerful as a fucking bell.

Butch pointed at Brick. “You—you clown!”

“Hey, that’s Flameo Hotman to you,” said Mike, with all the confidence of someone who didn’t know he was about to be drop-kicked in the face.

Princess squinted at Butch. “Is that a cock on your face?”

“It sure is,” Boomer said, mid-heart attack.

“Daddy, come hit the piñata with me!” Brisa came bounding over with a stick and a blindfold.

“Great timing, Brisa!” Bubbles shoved Butch way too hard toward his overeager daughter, and he had no choice but to accept the stick and blindfold.

“Uh, right,” he stammered, trying to reign it in. It was her birthday; Brick and his dick pic clownery could wait.

A hand on Butch’s shoulder squeezed too hard to be entirely friendly, and he turned to get a face full of said clown.

“Honk honk, motherfucker,” Brick said under his breath.

Butch raised his hand to decapitate his brother right there, but Brisa yanked him with her Super strength, and he had no choice but to let it lie.

The sight of Buttercup nearby watching him take his place at the piñata should have mollified him, but she had let him walk out of that kitchen dick pic’d, a betrayal of the highest order…and a quality prank, if he was honest.

He’d let his guard down around her.

It was his own mistake, underestimating her.

The heat of a challenge in her eyes as she watched him lift the blindfold to his eyes set fire to his blood. After all was said and done today and Butch left Brisa with Brick because fuck his fancy Saturday plans, Butch would take Buttercup’s advice and screw the neighbors. Tonight they were putting on a show.

With a self-satisfied grin, Butch lowered the blindfold, readied the stick, and imagined the red piñata was Brick in his ridiculous clown nose.

xxx

Hm, seeding the future Buttercup and Brick friendship I’ve been waiting so long to dive into for this universe? It’s more likely than you think. 👀

Thank you so much for reading! Long live the clown cult (Blossom ghostwrote this). 🤡

[valkyriesryde]

Adore You

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader

Summary: Bucky is always asking you for favours, how can you say no to those eyes and that smile? 

Word Count: 1,600

Warnings: Swearing, mad Tony and dumbasses

A/N: Requested by Anon thanks boo I love this song so much oml. This is a pretty open ending obviously but it just felt right you know?

Masterlist

~~~

Walk in your rainbow paradise Strawberry lipstick state of mind I get so lost inside your eyes Would you believe it? You don't have to say you love me You don't have to say nothing You don't have to say you're mine

Life is good when Bucky is around. He has this aura that surrounds him, that radiates calmness. Or maybe it’s just for you. Maybe he just does that for you. But being around Bucky is paradise. 

Sitting next to him at breakfast you get lost in listening to him laugh and joke around with the others. You sit there listening to them all talk and chatter, lost in your own world when he turns and taps your arm. Bucky holds up a strawberry for you, no words as he hands you the fruit and gives you a smile so wide his eyes crinkle. His eyes an ice blue and you find yourself getting lost in them so easily. 

He winks before turning back to the others at the table. He doesn’t have to say anything for you to be wrapped around his finger most times. He’s never told you he loves you, never even suggested such a thing. Yet here you are, looking at him like he puts the sun in the sky each morning while he says nothing. You’d think it’d make you said but...he’s still in your life. That has to count for something.

Honey I'd walk through fire for you Just let me adore you Oh honey I'd walk through fire for you Just let me adore you

“Can you do me a favour?”

“Hey, I was wondering if you could do this little thing?”

“Are you able to help me out?”

“Of course Bucky.” I’d walk through fire for you.

“You’re a doll.”

“You’re the best.”

“You’re such a good friend.”

He’s always asking things of you. Small favours. You like to think it’s because he trusts you with those things, that he doesn’t want to go to anyone else for them. Maybe it’s just because you’re a tech specialist. Maybe it’s because you deal with the data of all comm recordings and communication from missions. Which means you’re able to download the footage of Steve face-planting from a few weeks ago for him or delete the half an hour of dialogue between he and Sam “no questions asked and it's confidential”, and just like every other time...you did as he asked. 

Tony had stormed into the kitchen while you made your usual mid-morning coffee. He mumbled something about needing to go back through the records “maybe Friday missed it, could you have a look for me?”

“What, sorry Tony I was in my head,” you replied shaking yourself out of your thoughts.

“There’s a chunk of dialogue missing from the last mission I need you to try and find it, it can’t of gone too far,” he pleaded. 

Now he stood over you in your office. His face was a deep red and you were pretty sure there was literal fire in his eyes. “WHY WOULD YOU DELETE IT?!” He’d gone through the files himself after you told him you couldn’t find anything “it’s probably gone now” you had told him “probably a glitch” but he wanted to be sure. Now he was fuming, you’d forgotten to delete your footprint in the database and he’d figured it out, although you refused to tell him why. “YOU KNOW WHAT?! TELL ME ON MONDAY! FOR NOW, you’re suspended.”

“I’M WHAT!” 

“Oh, so that got a reaction? Go home. You’re lucky I don’t fire you on the spot right now but the data you deleted didn’t have anything to do with the mission, I don’t know why but you can explain it to me next week.” and then he walked out. 

You couldn’t tell him Bucky had asked you, first of all, that would make you look like a pushover. Secondly, whatever was in that recording Bucky obviously didn’t want anyone to hear and he didn’t want it to be on the record. You couldn’t say no to him. 

Your wonder, under summer skies Brown skin and lemon over ice Would you believe it? You don't have to say you love me I just wanna tell you something Lately you've been on my mind

“Hey, where are you going?” Bucky caught up to you at the elevator, he thought it weird that you were leaving so early and on a Wednesday? “Are you not feeling well? I can give you a lift home if you want?”

“I’m fine Bucky.” You adjusted your strap and stepped in when the doors opened. Giving him a tight-lipped nod and wave before the doors closed between you. But not before he waved back, worry on his mind, you hadn’t looked fine to him. 

The entire way home you couldn’t help but kick yourself for not telling him what had happened. He’ll probably find out. This is stupid. Hiding behind gestures, hiding behind friendship and false smiles. You sighed, leaning against your door once you’d made it home and sinking to the floor. You were going to get fired from working with the Avengers and all because you had a crush. 

You should just tell the truth you thought. Get it out. He doesn’t have to love you back, he doesn’t have to say anything. Just tell him that you love him. Tell him. 

~~~

“You SUSPENDED HER??? You can’t just go and do that without me, Tony!” Steve yelled into the hallway. He’d gone to your office needing help and when he hadn’t found you at your desk a quick text exchange and you’d told him what Tony said. 

“She deleted vital evidence, Steve!”

“It was half an hour of comms recording what could it have been?” It was a stupid thing to do, Steve had to admit that. But the principle here was that Tony hadn’t consulted him about it before suspending you. That’s why he was angry. 

“I don’t know! She wouldn’t say! That’s why she’s suspended and not fired.” Tony sighed, he pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to rack his brain around this all. 

“FIRED! You’re not firing her.” 

Bucky’s eyes went wide as he listened from the hallway, he wasn’t sure who ‘her’ was but he had a feeling that it was you and it had something to do with you leaving so early this morning.

“She needs to explain herself.”

“What’s going on?” Bucky cut Tony off as he rounded the corner, his arms crossed and ready to defend you. 

“Tony suspended Y/N for doing her job,” Steve breathed out, throwing his hands up in frustration. Tony threw his folder with his findings at Steve’s chest with a groan.

“IT’S NOT HER JOB TO DELETE COMM RECORDINGS AND HIDE IT FROM ME!” 

Oh no, Bucky thought. This was his fault. But she hadn’t told Tony anything, why not just tell him that it was him that asked you to do it? Why would you risk getting suspended, fired even, just for a small favour for Bucky? 

“I asked her to.”

Honey I'd walk through fire for you Just let me adore you Oh honey I'd walk through fire for you Just let me adore you Like it's the only thing I'll ever do

“I’m sorry you what now?” Tony stared at Bucky gobsmacked by the audacity of the super-soldier. 

“Bucky what the hell?” Steve was close to banging his head against the nearest wall. Can he not catch a break with this lot?

“I asked her to delete a tiny bit of the transcript with no questions asked…and asked her not listen or read any of it. So she has no idea why or what she deleted. At least I hope so.”

“What did you do that you needed to be deleted?” Steve rolled his eyes, preparing himself for the stupidity.

“It was Sam!” There was the stupidity. 

“Right, you’re going to go to Y/N’s and tell her that this is your fault and she’s not suspended anymore but I want to talk to her tomorrow. AND BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING TONY I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!” With that, Steve stormed off. Tony gave Bucky a pointed look and walked in the opposite direction. 

~~~

Bucky sat on your couch with a coffee in his hands as you sat opposite him waiting for him to speak. He took a deep breath, ran his hands through his hair and over his face. 

“I have good news and bad news,” he started and she almost dropped her mug as she placed it on the table. 

“Tony is firing me, isn’t he? Oh god, I knew this was going to happen.” her head falls into her hands and she lets out a groan.

“What?! No! You’re not fired! You are not suspended anymore either that’s the good news!” 

“Oh...so what’s the bad news?” 

“I uhh I got suspended...well I got grounded from missions for like a month,” 

“Oh...you deserve it,” she says with a smirk and he throws a pillow at her in retaliation. 

“Yeah well, I didn’t really think I’m sorry. I didn’t realise how much trouble you’d get in doing that for me. Thank you for not ratting me out, by the way,  you didn’t have to do that.” Bucky’s sincere and you’re lost in him for a moment. 

“Of course I did,” she swallows the lump in her throat, “we’re friends,” she chokes out. Friends. 

“Yea we are, good friends.” Bucky nods, friends. 

~~~

The recording:

Sam: So when you propose to Y/N what’s your colour scheme for the wedding going to be?

Bucky: It’s bad enough you have to give me shit at home but on a mission?... We’re not even dating

Sam: Yea what’s up with that?

Bucky: Do we have to talk about this now?

Wanda: I’d say focus on the mission but...Sam has a point. Why haven’t you asked Y/N out yet?

Sam: Because he’s a chicken

Bucky: I’ll shoot you out of the sky birdbrain

Sam: Try me

5 minutes later

Sam: Hey so I just realised something

Bucky: You’re an idiot?

Sam: Y/N is the data analyst right...so she gets all the transcripts from missions...WHAT THE FUCK BUCKY YOU SHOT AT ME

Bucky: WHAT DO YOU MEAN TRANSCRIPTS?!?!?!

Sam: She analyses them to see if there’s any noteworthy shit I don’t know...STOP SHOOTING ME!

Bucky: You brought up my crush on Y/N knowing she was going to get the transcript I’ll shoot you all I damn want!

Sam: Is it a crush or are you more hopelessly in love with he- OKAY DAMN I’LL STOP

Wanda: Are you two done?...I mean, this is probably the only way she was going to find out

Bucky: I’ll shoot you too Maximoff

Wanda: I’ll fuck you up Sarge

Bucky: Can we drop this? I gotta figure out a way to stop her from finding this…

[fluffonthebunniestail]

What a Sleepover

Okay, so I may or may not be plotting some headcannons for Zuko 👀👀

BUT, in the meantime- I must push this fic out because I've been thinking of it for a while!

Also, small psa. Just because two dudes are having a sleepover, hugging, holding hands etc. does not mean they're into each other, or gay. Same goes for females, we all just need affection sometimes and shouldn't have to be dating to do so!

Summary: Karma and Nagisa are having a sleepover because that's what best friends do :)

--------

It was the last class before a well deserved free day. Well, it feels very well deserved.

It was a rough week of extra training not to mention crammed-in study sessions for the following tests. Finally, about ten minutes until school's was done for.

Nagisa was just bouncing his leg in excitement, especially because he is going to go home with Karma.

It wasn't very often they got to hang out anymore, so he was going to take this sleepover and enjoy it. And everything else can go shove it.

So yeah, Nagisa was quite excited. It was a time to just be stress-free. Not just from the normal teenage stress, but the stress placed on their shoulders about the end of the world.

So, when the bell finally rung, it took every bit of will power not to whoop. Instead, he said his goodbyes to Kaede like the gentlemen he is.

He then, packed his things, walking towards Karma's desk.

"You ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah, give me one second." Karma replied, pulling his back over his shoulder. "Okay, you won't mind if we stop by the store real quick? I want to pick out a few things before we head to my house."

"Yeah, we can go." Nagisa said as they began to walk out the door together. "What are you gonna get?"

"Just some snacks, I don't know. If you see something you like, tell me."

Nagisa just nodded as they continued to their journey to the store. It was mostly accompanied by silence, but it was nice silence. Just listening to some music they've recently found with the occasional bob to the beat.

Once they finally made it to the store, Nagisa just followed behind Karma.

"You cooking tonight?" Nagisa asked seeing Karma picking out some beef.

"Yeah, I was planning on making some beef curry. Unless you wanna order."

"Nah, I always prefer your cooking."

"Damn right."

They got to the isle filled with snacks, Karma just let Nagisa pick out a few.

"Imagine if your parents were here." Nagisa mentioned making the other snort.

"God, they'd lose their shit. I mean sure they're gone but they're... something." Karma huffed, shaking his head.

Nagisa could remember the first time he met Karma's family, it was strange to say at the least. They were putting Karma on a strict diet, despite the fact that he was already skinny. It was just strange.

"Has it ever bothered you?" Nagisa asked suddenly.

"Huh?"

"Uh, I mean, them being gone all the time. Does it bother you? Like don't you get lonely sometimes?"

"Not really, it's weird. I don't miss them if that's what you're asking."

"When was the last time they were here?"

"Uh, shit I dunno. A little before I was suspended last year."

"Shit."

"Oh don't worry, it's freeing if anything. It's nice. I'm not a people person."

"I know, I know. But still."

"How about, worry about yourself and your own jackass of a mother." Karma said lightly punching Nagisa's head.

He always does that.

"Well, welcome to my humble abode. You already know where everything is and whatnot. Do me a favor, set something up to watch while I make dinner, will ya?"

"You got it chef Karma." Nagisa soluted then retreated to the living room getting something to watch.

Long story short, Karma finished cooking, they ate it and it was absolutely delicious.

Like what couldn't he do?

They then watched some fun stuff, did whatever they felt like until they set up camp in the living room. Aka, Karma getting blankets and pillows, and for them to wrestle who got the couch and floor.

Then they just talked, talked about some woke shit, but not really woke shit ya know?

"Terasaka's a bitch." Karma blurted.

"You're an even bigger bitch." Nagisa retorted, snorting at the random statement.

"Hey, at least I take pride into it."

Nagisa just changed his position slightly by resting his head on Karma's stomach (they're resting like a T) Hey, bromance. It was normal, Karma wasn't very touchy feely but Nagisa was and Karma had to accommodate. Basically, Karma didn't have a say but he didn't really care. It was nice having someone trust him like that.

"This year is crazy." Nagisa said just staring into the ceiling.

"And it's not gonna be any less crazy any time soon."

"You think we're actually going to kill him?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"On how sappy everyone gets."

"But we have to."

"There could always be another way. It always bothered me when Koro Sensei said that he blew up the moon and will to the earth. What is stopping him? He could've done it a long time ago when even the higher ups can't do shit. How come he's now giving us -fucking students of all people- a deadline. He could take us all out as easily as a blink of an eye, what it stopping him?"

"Should we ask him?" Nagisa asked, making Karma bark out a laugh.

"Absolutely the fuck not."

Nagisa just hummed in response. Karma then just sighed obnoxiously.

"I'm bored."

"What do you wanna do?"

"I dunno."

"You don't know?"

"Nope, entertain me."

"By...?"

"Wearing one of my mom's dresses."

"Fuck no!" Nagisa yelped, sitting up.

"What? It'd just be you in your final form."

"You're an ass."

"Ouch, I'm truly hurt. You've wounded me deeply Nagisa!" Karma said clutching his heart, turning to his side covering his head with a pillow. "Just leave me here wounded to such painful words you've set upon me."

Nagisa just scoffed, poking his side making him yelp sitting up quickly.

"Oi!" He pouted.

"What?" Nagisa asked pretending to be concerned.

"And you're calling me an ass?"

"You wanna see this 'ass'."

"Not really, I can already smell it." He snickered.

"Oh yeah?" Nagisa said putting his hands up. Karma catches them pushing them away from him.

"Nagisa, I will rock your shit."

"Yeah? And I can do the same."

"Sure thing pipsqueak."

"You'll apologies for that."

"Will I?" Karma said pretending to think for a few seconds, "I don't think so."

"You're so gonna get it."

"Yeah, whatcha gonna do about it?"

Nagisa then quickly let go of Karma's hands, tweaking his sides.

"Hey!" He yelped, "That's cheating!"

"How so, modern problems call for modern solutions."

"You did not just say that-" He cut himself off as he saw Nagisa snake his hands towards him. "Okay, we're not gonna do that!" He said pushing Nagisa's arms away from him.

"Why not?" Nagisa snickered, "Is it because little Karma's too ticklish?"

"Nagisa, shut the fuck up." He fumed, his face starting to get red.

"Awwe this is adorable." Nagisa was loving this, after all those times Karma embarrassed him to no end.

"Fuck oHOFF!" He yelped as Nagisa quickly started to squeeze his sides.

Did he fuck off? Nope. If anything, he continued to squeeze his sides. This made Karma fall not so gracefully onto his back. he was slapping and swatting his arms aimlessly at Nagisa, pulling at his hands trying desperately to pull him off.

"STOHOHOP NAGISA!" He screeched, laughing loudly and uncontrollably. He was squirming around as much as he could, trying to buck Nagisa off but the boy was determined.

"What's wrong? I thought you were said you were gonna 'rock my shit'." Nagisa teased. It was hilarious how easy it was to tease Karma.

The redhead was trying. Key word: trying, to retaliate by jabbing his fingers at Nagisa's ribs. Only reason it didn't work was because it actually hurt a bit. Thank god for Karma losing all sense of control when being tickled.

"Oh yeah? Do you think you're in any position to try that?" Nagisa asked, snaking his hands to the hollows of Karma's underarms.

He squealed, arching his back, elbows locked to his sides and laughter reducing slightly to giggles. It's his least ticklish spot, but it still keeps him going strong. He was able to spout out a string of curses and demands of stopping to Nagisa, but all fruitless.

This however, gave Nagisa full access to the spot he knows kills Karma: stomach.

As soon as his hands had even made contact to his shaking abdomen, Karma screeched.

"NOHODON'TPLEAHAHAHA-" He pleaded. He was trying his best to throw the smaller boy off him. However, it was deeming incredibly difficult with the unbearable sensations that spreaded all throughout his stomach. Nagisa made sure to squeeze every bit of his midsection before briefly traveling to his ribs.

He drilled his fingers between his bones without mercy.

"Are you going to apologize for calling me a pipsqueak?" Nagisa asked digging at his stomach again, making him squeal with every vibrating movement.

He knew that Karma could barely speak a proper sentence, but this was very fun.

What was more fun was seeing a bit of skin from his shirt that rode up from all the rustling. Nagisa tried to grab his hands with one hand, not very successful but better then not trying. His other went under Karma's shirt clawing at his twitching stomach making his laugh come out more panicked.

"Sorry, I can't really hear you." Nagisa grinned, vibrating his hand right around his navel making Karma nearly jump out his skin. His laughter went in and out of being silent. Nagisa felt bad and relented his attack.

The redhead in turn was panting out a few giggles holding his midsection.

"Gohod, you're such a dick."

"Meh, maybe. But you deserved it you mega dick."

"Whatever." He waved off Nagisa, sitting up. He turned his head to the blue boy. "You know I'm gonna get you back."

Nagisa just sighed pumping the air deflated, "Worth it."

"Well, I'm getting snacks and you aren't having shit."

"Why must you be so cruel?" Nagisa sobbed. Karma just chuckled walking to the kitchen.

Karma although wasn't a big fan of getting tickled the shit out of him, it was nice to let loose every once in a while. If course he isn't going to say that though.

[teddybear-yn]

[jersey]

txt. choi beomgyu

txt as school rivals

soccer season

beomgyu was now in his prime as he doubles the soccer teams practice every morning

soccer season = not volleyball season

so you and the girls chill for most of the time, doing only minor practices

and apparently chilling = supporting the soccer team for your team mates

you weren’t surpised knowing how every one of your members are in a relationship with the soccer players

but it didn’t help the fact that you were rivals with beomgyu, soccer captain

short summary of your guys’ relationship

basically, you didn’t like beomgyu that much to say the least

he would always fight you in terms of funding and would always tease you in the court especially during a game

once there was this heated game for semi finals

your team was literally 2 points away from winning and just as your team mate set the ball for you to spike

beomgyus loud ass voice rings through the court

“If you win that means you have a crush on me!!”

for like a milisecond you almost decided not to spike the ball

alls well ends well cause you win but unfortunately he teases you endlessly about it for the whole rest of the day

doesn’t help that the soccer team was invited to the house party after

anyways back to the present

being the volleyball team captain meant you were always dragged around by your team to places

you were okay with that most of the time cause they were all basically your besties

except the times when they want to watch the soccer games cause their boyfriends played there

those were a lot of times

so here you were watching the 3rd soccer game in a month, and your school’s team was one game away from semi finals

i think you were more consistent than their actual coach that couldn’t attend one of the games

your friends all had their banners and customized fans and of course

their boyfriends’ jerseys

you on one hand had a plain shirt on with a pair of sweats

“There’s more people cheering the away team today, isn’t there, Y/N?”

now that your friend’s bring it up, you notice that there are a lot of people cheering the away team

usually majority of the people watching are for the home team but today it was even

“Must be one of those really school spirited teams then.” you shrug it off

you decided to try to do some of your homework during the game, you weren’t really interested anyways

but that all goes down the drain as beomgyu throws one of his jerseys on you as he’s on break from warm ups

if you read the txt as school rivals you’ll know that he always does that

and no matter how disgustingly you hold and look at the jersey you always end up wearing it cause beomgyu would literally not shut up if you didn’t

today, you decided not to put up a fight and wore it quietly

“Oh? Are you finally starting to accept your love for me Y/N?”

“Shut up Gyu.”

you finally put your homework done once the game starts

everything’s as expected up until when beomgyu’s team has over 5 points ahead of the opponent’s by half time

during the 20 minute break, you noticed how fidgety the away team was

even with beomgyu jumping around in front of you, you felt this dark aura from them

maybe it was just your team captain senses being too over analyzing

“Yo Y/N? What are you staring off to?” beomgyu notices

“Hm? Nothing. They just seem like they’re plotting something. I could be crazy.”

beomgyu ruffles your hair, something you never admitted that you actually liked

he had a bright smile so you were seemingly calmed

“It’s gonna be fine. You’re wearing my jersey so lucks on my side today. We’ll win this.”

the referee rings the whistle to resume the game and you still can’t shake that feeling off

15 minutes into the game and you were right

beomgyu was most of the time a midfielder or a defender he only was an attacker when absolutely needed

not that you noticed or anything

so while he was resuming as a defender why on earth did another defender decide to shove him and repeatedly trip on his leg??

it was after beomgyu finally drops after being simultaneously shoved and tripped by two DEFENDERS that the referee called a flag

it was the opposing team’s 4th flag so they were on thin fucking ice

but you didn’t care cause you were too occupied if beomgyu was okay

the field was quiet as they watched him try to stand up and after he whinces one more time, you finally decided to sprint towards him

their coach didn’t mind that you jumped the fence, they were too used to beomgyu jumping it towards you anyways

quickly, you supported him and laid your coat on him after seeing how he couldn’t even breathe properly

their manager and coach helped you get him to the infirmary too and in there you finally blew up

“They fucking did that on purpose! I knew they were plotting something!” your friend that followed you tried to calm you down

beomgyu clearly broke his fibula (outer leg) and you were fuming because you clearly saw how that one defender stomped on it

“Y/N calm down. I’ll be fine. And they’re probably gonna lose anyways, seeing how they have 4 flags and we’re like 15 points ahead.” beomgyu says with a weak laugh

that only enraged you even more though

“It’s cause you were a freaking attacker at the start, so they wanted to take you out even if you were just a defender at the second half. Why the hell were you an attacker anyways?”

“Well, I wanted to look cool in front of you.” beomgyu was a complete idiot really

but somehow what he said was the only thing that calmed you down

with a blush on your face, you tryied to ignore his comment

“I swear in gonna break that dude’s fucking head. Let’s see if he’s a good defender.”

beomgyu only laugh at your vulgarity

you were team captain for sure

“Y/N, really. I know you love me but that’s a bit yandere.” he teases even more

finally you sit down letting beomgyu ruffle your hair again

it was softer, the way he did it, like there was more affection to it

he was staring at you with those eyes as he did too, like he was lovesick

“Okay, beomgyu. Let’s go get you that cast.” the nurse breaks the moment as she barges in with a wheelchair

they were going to take beomgyu to a nearby hospital now, to get his cast on and to see if needed any surgery

luckily, as he came back the next day, full left leg cast and that pair of crutches he had placed multiple stickers on from before, he didn’t seem to have had surgery

in fact, he had the widest smile on his face

maybe, just maybe, you had a small one on yours too

he walks up to you, the rest of the soccer team following him and the volleyball team by your side

“So, Taehyun told me you almost got suspended yesterday?” he still had that dorky smile

meanwhile you scoffed and glared at Taehyun next to him

“I mean all I did was glare at the guy that shoved you.”

your friend laughed loudly next to you

“Yeah and cursed at him like a sailor? Even I was scared and it wasn’t even towards me.”

“Not to mention how you somehow had a bat on your shoulder? A metal one too that you kept tapping on the fence near their team??”

now both the soccer and volleyball team were full out howling

it only served to make you face even more red

after getting scolded by the teachers for being too loud they finally calmed down

“I mean maybe I did threaten them a little.”

at your little comment they then all simultaneously ‘awwed’ like you said the cutest thing ever

fortunately for you the bell had rang, and as much as they didn’t want to they finally had to disperse with their partners to class

this leaves you and beomgyu in the halls

beomgyu was allowed to be a little late considering his circumstance, you on the other hand

“I’m leaving. Catch you late-“

“Hold on! I need a helper while I’m in crutches!” with a groan you finally decided to carry his stuff for him and to walk him to class

“So you only threathened them a little?” laughter was still laced in his voice but somehow it was much more deep and intimate

“Maybe.” you said shyly

“Hmmmm so you threaten the people that hurt me and you’d carry my stuff and take me to class while I’m injured...”

“Hey I’m not carrying your stuff the whole time you’re injure-“

“You won’t?” darn it. you hated it when he used those puppy eyes on you

“Okay, fine. But only while you’re in crutches.”

he laughs again, this time with a soft sigh at the end as you guys approach his classroom

“You know, with everything you’re doing for me, I might just have to make you my girlfriend.” his eyes were steely as they looked deep into yours

meanwhile you were just dumbfounded as he suggested that

“Why would you have to-“

“Will you be my girlfriend?” he cuts you off

in the end, you didn’t notice anything but how soft his hand was against your face

not even the fact that the kids in the classroom were watching you two, Volleyball queen and Soccer king, in suspense

all you could do was nod