#yeah i'm gonna need intel on if this is something you guys want

[ponyosmom35]

he's gone

Simon Ghost Riley x reader

synopsis: reader finds out that Simon passed when Price, Johnny, and Gaz show up at her house.

warnings: angst, death, PTSD, panic attack, crying, I'm so sorry

Link to master list:

https://www.tumblr.com/ponyosmom35/733401347573088256/simon-ghost-riley?source=share

She holds her hose tightly in her hand as she sprays her blooming flowers with water. The sun was beginning to set and she felt at peace. Allowing her mind to wash away the stress of the day. The sunlight hits her face and she sighs, imaging that somewhere in the world, Simon was looking at the same beautiful sky. She recalled their conversation earlier that day, a small smile coming to her lips as she remembered his voice. 

She stood in the kitchen, intensely focused on her measuring cup as she attempted to fill it with the correct amount of water. She turns off the water after allowing it to reach ⅓ and carefully moves over to her mixing bowl. She dumps the water in and moves the mixer down, flipping the switch and watching as her kitchen aid whips the cake mix together. The loud noise drowns out the sound of her phone ringing and she carries on. A few minutes later she finishes putting the batter into a pan and throws it into the oven, hoping that a lemon cake would distract her from how much she missed Simon. She looks down at her small ragdoll kitten who plays with her feet and laughs, she picks him up and kisses his little face gently. Still deciding how she was gonna come clean about adopting a pet without permission. 

It had been two weeks since he’d gone. So far she’d been doing better than she expected, managing to keep herself quite busy all day. It was the nights that were the hardest. She struggled to sleep without him. She tried to pretend like her body pillow was the same, but nothing could beat the feeling of his arms wrapped around her. When she came across a post about the little guy needing a home, she volunteered without a second thought. 

He was quite good about calling, he would try to call every other day when in between missions. But as they got new intel he wouldn’t be able to reach out for several days at a time. This week she had not heard from him once. She knew he was going on their first mission.  She worried about him, she knew that he could handle himself, better than anyone in the world. 

She picks up her phone to set a timer when she realizes she’d missed his call. Her heart drops and she calls him back instantly. 

“Si?” she asks anxiously 

“Hi my love” 

“Oh thank god, I thought something may have happened. I’m so sorry I didn’t hear my phone I was baking and it was on silent” 

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t expect you to pick up every time I call”

“Of course I will” she says 

“How are you doing darling?”

“I’m doing good, I decided to bake a cake for whatever reason” she says staring at the mess of flower and egg shells on the counter.

Simon chuckles and leans back in his chair as he imagines her in the kitchen trying to bake. Tears fill his eyes and he attempts to keep his voice steady.

“Is my kitchen still standing?” he asks

“The kitchen smells wonderful thank you very much” she responds 

“What have you been up to this week? Catch me up” 

“I wanna talk about you, where have you been the past week? Are you any closer to coming home? How are you doing? How are the boys?” she says rapid firing her questions 

“We’re all good. But I don’t wanna talk about work, tell me about you distract me” 

She nods to herself, understanding that he didn’t want to talk about it, meaning that their mission didn’t go as planned. “What do you want me to talk about?”

“just talk to me baby, anything” 

“Well it’s been pretty gloomy today so I started reading a new book, it’s about grief. I’ve only read a few chapters but so far it’s been very reassuring and comforting to know that grief isn’t linear, you go through ups and downs just like anything else”

“That sounds wonderful love” 

“Yeah, so I’m gonna try and read for a few minutes everyday. Kylie and I have started a jazzercise class, you should see how awful I am. I can’t look at myself in the mirror because in my mind I’m absolutely killing it, but then I look at the mirror and it looks like i’m half dead” she laughs 

“I’d pay anything to see it” 

“Don’t worry, when you come home you’re gonna get a full performance” she promises, causing him to laugh. The lump in his throat is tightening as the tears fall down his cheeks. He runs his hands through his hair and covers the speaker as he sniffles. 

“I’m counting down the minutes” 

“Me too” she muses “so I think we should get a cat” 

“What?” he asks

“Let me rephrase that, I brought home a kitten last week”

“Did you now?” he chuckles 

“Before you freak out, he’s so cute and cuddly, he was abandoned and my friend found him but she couldn't take care of him, I just had to bring him home!” she defends herself 

“I’m not mad love, I’m glad you’ve got someone to keep you company. What's his name?”

“Junie”

“Why Junie?” 

“Because june is the month we met” she admits 

Simon puts the phone down and covers his face. His heart was crushing at her words. He receives a knock on the door, he wipes his eyes and picks the phone back up. “I love it”

“We’re about an hour out from departure, so I’m gonna have to let you go” he says slipping his mask over his face.

“Okay, please be safe”

“I love you more than anything in this world, take care of yourself okay?” 

“Of course Si, I love you too, call me as soon as you can”

“goodbye love” he says before hanging up the phone. 

She noticed his odd behavior that morning, but decided to let it go to prevent any unnecessary anxiety. She finishes watering the plants and turns off the hose. She walks to the steps and heads inside. She shuts the door, making sure to lock the door as well as placing the wood down to prevent it from being opened easily. She slips off her shoes and smiles at the sight of Junie sitting on the counter. She picks him up and holds him close. The sound of a knock at the door catches her attention. She wasn’t aware of any company. She walks over to the door and opens it to see John, Kyle, and Johnny. Her eyes travel to the British flag held in John’s hands and her smile falls.  

“John?” she asks as her brain struggles to process the situation. 

“y/n-”

“Don’t you dare” she warns holding her hand up to stop him “don’t” 

“He’s gone lass” Johnny says, his teary eyes meeting her own. She shakes her head and glares at him. 

“I just talked to him this morning” she refuses 

“Mission was local, went south and we barely got out. We came here as soon as we could�� 

“What happened to him?” she asks, crossing her arms, clearly still in shock from the news.

“Can we come in?” John asks, she nods and leads them into the living room where they sit and she remains standing. 

“Tell me john” 

“Why don’t you sit down” he responds 

“I want to know what happened!” she demands 

“He was hit” Kyle says 

“Where?” she asks, Price shakes his head and stands up, moving over to her and placing the flag in her hands. She notices the tags placed neatly in the center of it and she reads his printed name. She looks up at him as tears fill her eyes. 

“He’s not gone, I just talked to him today! He was telling me not to burn the kitchen down -” she cuts herself off with a sob, and holds her hand to her mouth. “We’re getting married in four months”

“I’m so sorry for your loss, I-I wish I could’ve saved him” Price says gently

“Please don’t say that” she begs

“Is there anyone we can call for you?” he asks gently 

“Stop this john I can’t - I can’t” she says setting his things down on the table as she looks out of the window. Tears stream down her face as she attempts to control her breathing. 

“These are for you” Johnny says, handing her a bundle of letters, each of them addressed to her. There is a small box on the top of the pile. 

Her vision blurs at the sight of his handwriting. Her body becomes weak as two words loop in her mind. Her body falls to the floor as the voices of the three men fade away. He’s gone. He’s gone. He’s gone. He’s gone. He’s gone. He’s gone. He’s gone. The man she loved with every fiber of her being. Her Simon. Simon who nearly killed the person who disrespected her. Simon who held her when her sister died. Simon who saved her life. Simon, who built her a bookshelf, redid her entire deck and porch. Never again would he give her one of his bear hugs. She wouldn’t hear his beautiful laugh, or watch the way he separated his food to keep it from touching. No more early morning cuddles, kisses, silly arguments. How would she live without him? What she wouldn’t have given to hear his deep voice in that moment, telling her that it was going to be okay. He couldn't. He was gone. 

She was inconsolable, her heart wrenching sobs echoed through the house. Bringing tears to the eyes of the soldiers surrounding her. Johnny was at her side, holding her shaking body, trying his best to bring her even the smallest bit of comfort. He felt sick to his stomach watching her writhe in pain. 

John had called her parents and the trio waitied with her until they arrived. As soon as John opened the door, they recognized him from the day he brought the news about Emma. Her mother gasps and hurries into the house, seeing her daughter crumpled on the ground, agonizing sobs erupting from her lungs. She drops beside her and rubs her back. Her father shakes Johns hand and walks the soldiers to the door. John pulls him outside and informs him the the truth. 

“Sir, we need you to understand that the work we do is classified, in the eyes of the Government we do not exist unless we’re needed. With a job like this, comes sacrifices we have to make to protect the people we love”

“I’m not following? What sacrifices?” her father says, crossing his arms 

“If one of the people we’re investigating finds any bit of information about out lives or our loved ones then they’d be in danger”

“Are you telling me that my family isn’t safe?” 

“Officially I can’t tell you anything, but you need to know that we’re taking care of the situation, you’re family will be under 24/7 surveillance. You won’t even know they’re around” 

“Is it true then? Is Simon really gone? Man to man, is he gone?” her father asks, staring at Price. 

“For now” he responds “it’s imperative that y/n believes this”

“You’re asking me to lie to my daughter? Do you hear her in there? How can I-”

“Sacrifices, we all have to make them in order to keep our family safe. That’s all we’re doing here” Price shakes his hand and walks down the steps “take care of her, we’ll be checking in”

-

After hours of tossing and turning, crying until her lungs and throat burned she finally decides to get out of the warmth of her bed. A place she used to feel the most comfortable, now was empty. She rubs her hands over her face as her headache grows more intense, the lack of sleep already affecting her. Having woken up multiple times from nightmares, she willed herself to stay awake, to protect her fragile heart from the horror of her dreams. Everyday for the past week she’d been reminding herself that dreams are simply just a reflection of the mind, a way for her worries and fears to be shown. It wasn’t real. He wasn’t gone. This couldn’t be true. Simon wouldn't leave her. 

She moves into the bathroom and stares at herself in the mirror, she looks exhausted. The weight of Simon’s absence is evident on her face. Her face was puffy and her hair was tangled. A mixture of tears, saliva, and mucus coated her face. She wipes it off and sighs. Her lips trembling once more as her eyes fill with tears. She grips onto her hair as she tries to breath through her fourth panic attack in 24 hours. Memories of his hands running through her hair flash through her mind. A wave of nausea runs through her and she stares at it in disgust. He always loved her hair, he’d play with it absentmindedly. She was angry. How as she supposed to live with the hair he would kiss every morning, the hair he gripped when he kissed her passionately. She notices the scissors on the counter and grabs them, without hesitation she begins to cut strips of her hair off. She watches as her gorgeous strands fall, some in the sink, others landing on the ground. She sobs as she ruins her hair, unable to stop herself. After several minutes, she drops the scissors and stares at herself, the jagged strands unbalanced. She rushes to the toilet in a split second and empties her stomach violently. 

The sound causes her mother to rush into her room, she bursts through the door and spots her daughter laying against the toilet surrounded by her precious locks. “Oh honey”

-

please forgive me for this! omg I made myself cry. below is the link to when they reunite, I posted this a few months ago. If you wanna read that now, you are more than welcome I'll link it below, however there will be a few filler chapters in-between that I'll be posting!!!

You’re alive? (middle of MW3)

https://www.tumblr.com/ponyosmom35/724654294153003008/youre-alive?source=share

love you all <3

[crusty-chronicles]

Is the airhead S/O headcanons over?, I wanna request a Itachi Uchiha with airhead S/O

It's not over necessarily. I just won't be focusing on it as much. But if you guys have any Airheaded requests, more often than not I'm gonna do them.

BONUS AIRHEADED S/O HEADCANNONS: Itachi (Naruto)

He's honestly indifferent towards you.

Doesn't really mind your presence, doesn't really like you either

You are a member of the Akatsuki, after all. He has no reason to get along with you past whatever mission you complete.

That doesn't mean he won't notice you from the corner of his eye.

Irritating Deidara with Tobi during meetings. 

Fumbling your own missions by losing the Intel you managed to get.

Openly spacing out when Pein is giving instructions

But again, you're not his concern. So he leaves you be.

Until he has the unfortunate luck of being paired with you. Kisame temporarily being out of commission.

His indifference slowly shifts into annoyance.

Please stop wondering off because you saw something shiny.

No, he doesn't want to play ‘guess which one is the real me’ with your Shadow Clones.

Wha-where did you get that raccoon????

No you can't keep it as a pet.

Honestly the fact that he has the patience to put up with you is a miracle.

It makes sense why you and Tobi get along so well. (Although he knows the latter is just a front for what truly lies underneath)

When you finally, finally start taking the mission seriously, he's decently surprised.

He likes to avoid fighting if he can, but there was simply no way out of it this time.

He was about to put the enemy under a genjutsu before you stepped forward.

“Cover your ears.” You instructed.

He did as you asked, curious about what you were about to do.

He could feel your chakra build up before you released it in a screech. The frequency making your enemy collapse to the ground in pain.

But there was something more there that he could sense.

A murky chakra making its way to the surface. One that was not yours.

And if it was what he thought it was, then your allegiance with the Akatsuki made a whole lot more sense.

He didn't question you on the way back.

Didn't try to push for information after the mission was complete

But he found his annoyance shifting into something else. Something more sympathetic.

You kept getting paired together and the process would repeat itself.

You'd act like a fool, then you'd defeat who you needed without lifting a finger.

And then, that murky presence would make itself known before disappearing again.

He found himself making small talk with you one day when you'd insisted on stopping to eat 

Saying your jutsu wouldn't work on an empty stomach.

Something he wouldn't admit had a smile tugging on his lips.

“Your technique, who taught it to you?” He asked.

“That? I kinda taught myself. I thought it'd be cool. Plus it does a lot of damage to a lot of enemies.” your answer was not what Itachi was expecting. A reason so simplistic it had to be fake. Perhaps your whole persona had been fake.

“You taught yourself because you thought it was cool?”

“Yeah. Don't you steal techniques you think are cool with your Sharingan ?”

He wanted to correct you. To say he did much more than that with his eyes. But he had a feeling you wouldn't understand it anyway.

He finds out the person you are isn't a facade like Tobi’s on the way back from an intel expedition.

You were a good ways away from the base when you decided to speak.

“Can I tell you a secret?”

The lack of mirth from your voice caught his attention quickly. With a small nod of encouragement, you started spilling.

"I've got one of the tailed beasts inside me. I think that's why they still keep me around.”

And that was exactly what he suspected.

You were strong on your own, but with a tailed beast inside you, you were dangerous. Or useful in the Akatsuki’s eyes.

“It's probably easier knowing where one of them is instead of hunting it down.” then you'd looked up at him with a small smile. One that although looked pained, also held content.

“I don't mind. It's not like I really had a purpose before this.”

Because people had never really been kind to jinchuriki. 

Always ostracizing them from society. Always being cruel. Always treating them like monsters.

He doesn't know why it's him you confide in. Why you feel comfortable telling someone who's a criminal among other criminals.

But you do 

And it makes him finally soften up to you.

Thinking that maybe in another life, you could have lived happily. Without feeling the worst the world has to offer.

He starts to enjoy your presence

Something about it is pure.

Naive in the way of someone who doesn't understand the cruelty they've been subjected to.

He may or may not send a crow out to watch you. Who's to say 🤔 

He just doesn't want you to get in any more trouble than you have to.

He doesn't mind it anymore when you can't stay still for more than five seconds.

Finding you when you've gone to the wrong place you were supposed to meet up with.

Correcting your mistakes in a way that's almost cooing in private.

And maybe, just maybe, he'll confide in you about Sasuke.

He knows you've committed no real crime other than being born to be here.

And for that reason, he trusts you.

You're not like them. And if you were a little bit smarter, you'd be able to see that for yourself.

Itachi doesn't believe he deserves happiness after what he's done. So no matter how fond of you he's become, he won't do anything about it.

Your presence is enough. He won't taint it by dragging you into his own affairs. 

Jealous? You're not together, so he doesn't see the need to be possessive. He can't even see properly

But if Hidan even dares put a hand on you, he better pray his God can save him. 

There are sweet things he'll call you in private though. Names of endearment when you've made a mistake, but nothing that completely gives away his soft spot for you.

Little siren being one due to your technique.

He hopes that you'll find a way out of the Akatsuki eventually.

 Before Madara can complete his plan and you've outlived your usefulness.

What happens after he and Sasuke fight? Not telling.

Nuh uh. Doesn't exist. Fluff only here 👁️👁️🫵

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

MASTERLIST

An: Sorry this took so long. If I'm being honest I've never really sat down and watched Shippuden from beginning to end, so most of what I know about Itachi is from the original series and snippets of Shippuden. Had to do me a little reading for this one.

[alwaysshallow]

Tomato emoji here.

I would love to request a little cute gaz fic yk? I feel like my boy doesn’t get enough love at all..

Kyle "Gaz" Garrick x gn!reader

You watch a movie with your boyfriend, after he comes back from deployment. (2,1k)

AO3 version

A/N: I'm so sorry it took so long!! Yet again, I hope it's gonna satisfy you! <3 Late birthday gift, I'd say.

It's the third Avengers movie, and Gaz still doesn't want to tell you what is going on.

Instead, he stares at you. Not like that surprises you in any way. It's a habit of his, you figured it out in the beggining of your relationship with him – he has his days, where he just needs to... zone out and stare. It happens more after he comes home to you, tired of everything that happened.

Mostly, he speaks about his deployment. Talks how they got the bad guy, or intel – really depends what it was about, but mostly he acts almost boyish, like he wasn't talking about some mission where his life was on line. He treats it like an adventure, something he wants to share with you because he's so proud that he not only made that far, but he made the world a better place with his fight. You appreciated it every time.

Now, he just stares at you. He doesn't even watches the movie that he carefully picked. He didn't even pay attention to the previous two before, he's just beside you, looking at you with unreadable face. Even if you want to, you can't read him, Kyle is like a walking mystery. You'd like to solve it, but it's harder than you thought it would be.

Nonetheless, there's a strange kind of understanding between you two. Gaz has never confessed, but you know that it's bad now. It's this kind of bad, where you want just to hug him and tear every worry he has off his face, whisper some soothing words. Everything for a man that did so much for you, a man that really brought the best of you.

The man who actually fought for you, when you wanted to leave him, when you told him it won't work.

He made it work. It was hard, but he made it work because he loved you. And, he still loves you.

You don't know this, but he wants your face to be the last thing on his mind before he dies, that's why he stares. Just in case something will happen, he has to remember your face.

“Tired?” Kyle asks quietly, tugging the strand of your hair behind your ear. You’re dozing off on the couch, and he feels pretty bad for keeping you up. It's almost three in the morning, you should sleep. It's his fault; he wants you by his side because you soothe him.

"A bit." you shrug, looking at him. It's not a big deal for you – even if your eyelids are way too heavy, your boyfriend's sake is more important than anything. "I can't sleep anyway." you lie swiftly.

Even if you won't sleep that night at all, it's all fine for you. It's about his comfort, not yours, and it's about making him confess what happened. You both know that he always feels better after a quick talk, but he's always so torned between telling you and keeping it for himself. Bad things shouldn't include you – he thinks, and he tells you this every time you two are fighting.

It's always about him being too secretive about things that bug him. Not that you counted, but most of the times, he always talked about his traumas so casually, after weeks. "I almost lost a leg" or things similar to this, concerning for normal civilian – like you – were pretty "normal" for a soldier – like him. You told him multiple times his explanation was shit, and he learned it the hard way, when you refused to go to bed with him because you were mad.

Apparently, nothing worked on Garrick as well as a threat of not spending a night in his arms; the captain of Task Force 141 always joked about this being his potential punishment, not 100 push-ups.

"Yeah." Kyle murmurs eventually. "Me, too." his voice is raw with emotion, and you can feel how much he wants you closer, he doesn't even notice your lie. You can't help but wonder, even if nothing is said out loud, how you came to understand each other so well. Was it because you loved each other so much, or your character was similar?

"I know." you just say, as you stare back at him.

He's a strange man, you know it – sometimes he was cutting you off, sometimes he had to have a quick break from everything, including you. The longest break was three days, and he came back on his knees, apologizing.

Most of the times, he was kissing you breathlessly, whispering sweet nothings to you, as his hands were working on unbuttoning your shirt. He needs this kind of contact, it's the love language of his. It's something comforting, being in your close embrace, without having to think of the rest of the world.

You know it, he knows it, so without any hesitation from your side, you come closer, sitting on his lap. Next thing you do is hugging him, tight; Kyle wraps his arms around you too, immediately. He feels your warmth, his body pressed against yours. He inhales your scent - the perfume you chose is his favorite.

Probably because he chose it for you as a Christmas gift, but it was really pretty, too.

This is a comfort he desperately needs right now.

"God," he sighs, burying his face into your neck. "I'm so glad you're here. I'm a mess." he speaks in a harsh whisper, like he doesn't want anybody around you to know, even if it's only the two of you awake. The rest of boys are sleeping in your house, Johnny wasted in the kitchen, Ghost probably in the bathtub, Price... well, Price probably outside. Smoking cigar or talking to someone over the phone.

You can't care less about this in the moment.

"I have these..." he starts, but pauses. "Bad dreams." he whispers eventually. "Really bad."

You try not to ask, so he won't trouble himself with speaking; that's the level of being close that you two have. Unspoken rules, so he will be comforted enough to eventually open up, while you listen, caressing his back in circular motions, her eyes shut, when his face is in her neck.

"About what?" you ask quietly, trying not to push him, but five minutes passed, and he got quiet again. "About what are those dreams, Kyle?"

He sighs. "Bad things. Bad things I've done. Bad things I've seen." Kyle pauses. Then, very slowly, he starts again."It feels real. In one moment, I'm sleeping by your side, and by another one, someone is kidnapping you. And I can't do shit about it" There's a deep, primal terror in Kyle's tone. "Then, when I wake up..." he trails off. "And you're here, sleeping. I'm feeling like I'm losing it, baby."

Your face is a definition of worry; you weren't aware how nightmares were affecting him. It feels bad not to know. You feel like you are a shitty girlfriend, but Kyle seems to notice that, as you take a deep breath. He hugs you tighter and places a kiss on the top of your head.

"I don't want to wake you up, but it's your presence that I always want. I don't know what I would do without you." he pauses. It looks like he wishes this moment would never end; because he knows it will end, sooner or later.

Probably sooner. They already have a mission they talk about, and Kyle, quite literally, wants to vomit every time they bring that up. It's not one of the hardest, but one of the longest. Three months without you is like a dagger to his heart, he already feels so tired, but asking Price for a break feels wrong.

Task Force 141 was formed for something and that certain "something" is: being ready whenever the world needed them.

"I'm always gonna be here with you, Kyle. No matter what, no matter what you are dreaming of." you whisper, kissing his head again. "Always. Come on, with a boyfriend like you? I'm the safest in the whole world."

He's silent at that statement. It's not like he doesn't believe you, but he knows how fucked up the world is. How fucked up people are, to do anything to get something.

Probably that's why the only people that knows about your relationship is his closest family and Task Force. Other people? It would be dangerous.

"I was going to tell you something," he eventually murmurs again, staring at you. He wants to change the topic, badly. "Ask, if we want to be precise. I don't know if I should. But I want to."

You kiss the top of his head, your eyes shutting for a moment or two once again. You're tired, but not ready to go to sleep without Kyle feeling better. "What is it? You know you can tell me anything, Kyle."

"You can read me like a book." he chuckles, shaking his head.

"And you happen to be my favorite book." you point out, chuckling under your nose too. "Tell me."

"It's something I wanted to do for... a few months."

Those words hang in the air. Kyle doesn't feel the urge to add any further details; he wants to see how you react, if you react. If you might know something, if you get the idea he's trying to tell you. In his opinion, you should be able to fill the gaps, the blanks, with your own intuition.

It doesn't help you to figure his thoughts, when he stares at you with those pretty, deep brown eyes. He expects you to know, you are together for two years already, but you really don't want to overinterpret this because if you would, he'd never let you live through it.

"You want to buy an apartment together?" you ask, even if it's not what you are thinking about. Kyle scoffs, as he kisses your neck; his face is still burried here.

"No." he raises his head. His back straightens up. "I want to marry you." Garrick's words are so genuine, so full of that sincerity you needed right now. You slowly clear your throat, as you look into his eyes.

It's important moment for you.

"And you're telling me this now, so I can expect this? Or you want a clue about a ring?" you grin, as you give a little peck to his lips.

Before he speaks, you know from his look that it's not exactly it.

"I was on that long mission, deep inside enemy territory. It took... a toll on me. Listen" he sighs, interwining your fingers with his. "You're my rock, my life line. You've always been the one for me. And I want to marry you now. As soon as possible."

"As soon as... we don't even..."

"Don't worry about your family. We can arrange something small for now, and have a big wedding later. But I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

He wants to marry you. A thought, a thought that he wants to realize as soon as possible, maybe even twice; something small, and then, something big for their families. You look at him, softly, as you think. It's hard to get the rush coming from him words, to not have second thoughts why exactly he wants it so soon.

Is it because he knows something bad is coming? You're overthinking this, sure, but it's a big life decision, it's something you could regret if you wouldn't think of it after.

"Please." he adds after a moment. "I need an answer."

Kyle acts like he can read your thoughts; he drops to one knee right in front of you, looking up at you – it's clear you're the love of his life.

"I don't want another day, another mission without you being my wife. Missions are getting tougher and I want..."

He doesn't have to say anything else; you understand, so you interrupt him, as you kiss him. You know you will have a wonderful life together. Your own family, together. You were meant to be a team, both in this life and the past. It's the order of things.

"We can marry soon, yes. Something small." you intertwine your fingers with his. "But, then, something bigger, alright? Exquisite. With everyone around us" you kiss him.

A small, hopeful smile spreads across Kyle's features. "And babies?" he asks, as if he knows the answer to that question. You can't help but laugh.

"You're speeding the process, Kyle. We will talk about it after the ring" you tease, as you kiss him.

You know that you will have babies with him, though; but the later he will realize, the longer he will want them.

[olsenmyolsen]

Ups and Downs

master list

dark master list

Slight MCU AU (Female Reader X Natasha Romanoff)

Summary: Your neighbor across the hall isn't anything like you thought she'd be.

Word Count: 3.5K

TW: Men, Guns, Violence, Bad Flirting

Your life has always been a series of ups and downs.

After graduating from university, your life took a turn. Some would say for better. Some would say for worse.

You got the dream job you wanted! But it took you to a brand new country away from everyone you knew.

Your girlfriend, who you planned to propose to, was happy for you! But she wasn't happy enough to stay.

You got a cat! A pet you always wanted! But it turns out it wasn't a stray. It was your neighbor's cat who loved to wander the streets.

So yeah. These last six months haven't been your brightest time. But you tried to be a glass-half-empty person: greener pastures and all that jazz.

So when your neighbor with the whore of a cat moved out, you were determined to become friends with whoever moved in.

Oh yeah, you also needed friends...

So the day you were walking up the stairs to your apartment and, a redhead you've never seen before whizzed by you. You got excited! But before you could even open your mouth, they were gone.

Okay. They're speedy, you noted. You'll catch 'em next time.

Except you didn't. Because unbeknownst to you, the redhead didn't just get home late. They got back home past 4 in the morning. Hair flowing in different directions. Her leather jacket scuffed up as if she was in a bar fight. The bruises on her face would give that impression, too. Plus, she was quiet.

So quiet that you failed to notice that the redhead had been living in her new home for three days prior.

She would roll her eyes at that word. Home. Sure, the apartment was very nice. Had all the parts she needed. But she didn't care where she was stashed as long as she got the job done. Plus, home wasn't a word for her. It never existed in her eyes.

Well, maybe once, but.. never mind.

"Clint, I got the intel, but I'm gonna need a few more days." Your neighbor spoke into her flip phone with such conviction. "Look, the guys I'm tracking can lead to something bigger. Just give me a few more days. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'll be waiting for his call." She threw her phone down onto the round wooden dining room table before bending back into the uncomfortable chair.

She knew she should get up. Go take a hot shower. Bandage up her knuckles and tend to her bruises. But with each blink happening in rapid succession. The redhead fell asleep while sitting upright in a chair that her back would curse for years to come.

Across the hall, hours later, you had already gone on your Saturday walk, had your breakfast, showered, and not so subtly waited for any signs of life coming from the woman you saw once. Was it weird? Maybe. Maybe yes. But even you would admit you were desperate for a friend. Or anybody who wasn't stuck in a screen when you wanted to talk. Plus, she was pretty. Or so you think. She had a cap on and dark glasses when you saw her yesterday, but her jacket looked incredible, and she had cute pink lips.

Not that you noticed!!

So, with it creeping closer to early afternoon, you decided to take the initiative. Standing here in front of her door, you were about to knock when a voice stopped you. "Excuse me." Turning to your right, you were met with a tall, broad, shouldered man. Black hair. Dressed in black. The vibe you were feeling wasn't right. Back in the States, you would guess he worked for the mob. "Yes?" You asked, looking him up and down.

"Sorry to bother you. But I'm having trouble finding my friend. She says she lives in this building, but I can't seem to find her. About this tall." He raises his hands just past your head. "Red hair." Oh shit. "She has a if looks could kill kinda attitude as well." He forces out a chuckle you know to be fake. But you fake laugh with him. Afraid of what will happen if he knows you've seen her or if he finds her.

"Wow, she sounds like quite the character. But no, I'm sorry, I haven't seen anyone like that here." You lie through your teeth. Something you don't like to do, but you're just hoping he doesn't notice. "Oh really?" The man's face turns from a fake smile to a fake frown. "Yeah, I'm really sorry." You shrug. You think that'll be it too. Thinking the man will leave with a simple no, I don't know her. But he's a man. They take no for an answer.

"Are you sure? Because I thought maybe this was her place?" He points to the door you're both in front of. You look from his eyes to the door. Shit. Think! "Oh no." You shake your head. "I mean, unless your friend turned into an old woman with a tabby cat who has a knack for playing gin rummy every Tuesday night, then I don't think so. The woman plays cards, not that cat! Although maybe we could teach him-"

"Okay, sorry to bother you." Without another question or look from the man, he turns his back to you and starts walking down the stairs. Frustrated with the answer you gave. Quietly, you move closer to the banister as he descends, hoping he'll prove his real intentions for being here. To your surprise, he does when he reaches the bottom floor.

"Yeah, I checked. She's not here, but..." His voice fades out as you faintly hear the doors to your building open and close. Turning around now, you have a different mindset about the woman across the hall. Before, you were simply going to ask if they had any allergies you needed to know about. Because you planned on making them homemade bread. Banana, to be specific. Well, if she could eat it. But now that was the last thing on your mind. When you looked at the door now, you can't help but feel bad for how much trouble she seems to be in. Taking a few steps closer, you ready yourself to knock on it again. Hoping to find answers.

"Okay, knock in 3..2..." Before you can even process 1, the door opens, and you get pulled into the room with a force you've never felt. Firm hands grip themselves to your arm before turning your body around in a flash so they have a hold around your waist. Keeping your face away from seeing them. You feel her body against yours, quickly short-circuiting your brain before the loud slam of the front door snaps you out of your thoughts.

Scanning the room around as quickly as possible while your neighbor holds you tight from moving, you see things you've never seen before. Files spread across the room in another language—a sniper positioned in the window and lots and lots of spy stuff.

Shit. Shit! This woman was dangerous.

"кто ты?" (Who are you?) The same woman barks, making your eyes go wide at the foreign language used and how lovely her raspy voice sounds. "кто ты!?" She barks again before pushing the backs of your knees out from under you so you fall to the floor. Arms pinned behind you. Fuck that's really going to hurt tomorrow, you think. Wait, if there is a tomorrow!

You rack your brain, trying to think of what she could be saying and what proper response would be beneficial for this particular moment, but your mind keeps getting distracted as the roaming hands of the woman keep touching you.

The redhead above you didn't get a good look before pulling you in, or she would see that there is no way you could be a threat. "Šíření!" (Spread!) She tries a different language, Czech, to be exact. Yet you still don't know it. You don't know any other language aside from English and the little bit of Hungarian you've been learning since you moved.

So her order for you to spread goes right over your head. Maybe if she asked nicely in English, you've complied...

"Oh my god, what are you doing?" You ask as the grip tightens around your wrists and the feeling of her fingers slides along your thighs. But you get nothing in return, only frustrated grunts from the woman holding you down, finding nothing on your person.

"Please, I'm sorry. Just let me go, and I'll pretend I didn't see anything or that I didn't enjoy-"

"Shut up!" Finally! English! She speaks it! "Ow! Fuck! You speak English?!"

"Who are you? What do you want?" Her fingers run through your hair, digging into your scalp before she grabs hold and lifts your head up. "Answer me!"

Remember what I said? Ups and downs.

"I'm sorry. Shit. I- I'm just your neighbor from across the h-hall.. fuck.." The small moan that escaped your mouth could've been mistaken for a groan of pain caused by the redhead.

But Natasha Romanoff knew better.

She knew exactly what that noise that left your mouth meant. Which also confirmed what she was thinking. You weren't a threat.

She loosened her grip on your hair but kept tight around your wrists. "Name? Give me a name." Her tone is softer and not as harsh.

"Mine?" You asked, confused by the whole situation. "Obviously." The spy rolled her eyes but had to hide the smirk, forcing its way onto her mouth.

"Y/N Y/L/N!" You answered honestly. Natasha could tell it was honest, too. Your rapid pulse she had her fingers pressed against didn't waver anymore than it already had by the older woman being on top of you. "And no one sent you?"

She began to loosen the grip she had on you as a whole.

"What?! No one sent me to check up on my neighbor. But Goddamn, this is the last time I'll do that." Natasha thought for a minute as your breathing began to calm down. "KGB? Hydra? MI6? Ring any bells?"

"No, I swear." Natasha thinks again. "Okay." Her voice goes back to a normal volume. One you find delightful even in this particular situation. "I'm going to let you go. Don't do anything stupid." She warns with a smile.

"Okay. I'll try not to." You say knowing you were prone to have stupid things happen to you. "Just please don't hurt me." You mumbled, but Natasha doesn't respond. Instead, she lifts herself off your body, removes her hand from your hair, and lets go of your wrist, which will completely have bruises tomorrow.

Once you feel the air touch your skin again, you crawl a few feet away before turning over.

You like to think that the first thing you laid your eyes on was the redheads apologetic smile, but it wasn't. It was her green eyes. You swear you had never seen anything more beautiful until you looked down the rest of her body. "You're beautiful." You let slip. Surprising the woman staring back at you.

Except she wasn't stupid. Instead of opening her mouth, Natasha kept those those words on the inside.

You're beautiful.

"Oh my God, ignore that. I'm sorry! Does that count as a stupid thing?!" You panicked, only earning a tight smirk from the redhead. "I'll let that one slide." She gets up and walks past you. Leaving you on the floor. "Besides, you're not so bad yourself."

You're brain short circuits for the second time in the last five minutes. Pretty spy dangerous lady called me beautiful?! You couldn't muster any more thoughts, so instead, you turn your gaze to the woman, watching her as she starts packing up. "What are you doing?"

"Packing."

"Why you just got here? Plus, what was that whole thing? Attacking me? Hello?" Natasha stops packing and looks at you. "No one is supposed to know I'm here. Within three days, I've been comprised by my neighbor from across the hall. I can't take the risk." Natasha says point blank while effortlessly avoiding your other questions.

You're not sure how to respond to that. But you know that you should probably get up off the floor. So you do that as the woman goes back to packing. She starts with clothes before moving on to guns. Lots of guns. "Whoa."

You take in all that you're seeing. "Who are you..." You felt the need to ask the unaskable question. "A person you shouldn't try and fuck with." She answers without any sense that she's joking until she winks at you.

Oh, you wanted to moan all over again.

"Should I leave?" You say to disrupt her and the growing silence. "Not yet. I still need answers from you. And to make sure that if you're ever asked. You never saw me." You nod, following along to her words. "Okay." You take a step forward, thinking it'd be a stupid thing to take a step back towards the door.

"Good." She says before dialing someone with a phone, you haven't seen in years. "Go secure. I need a cross reference on the person occupying the apartment across the hall from me. Give me everything. Bank records. Death certificates. Occupation. Everything. You have five." She flips the phone closed and sets it down before her eyes lock on you.

"I need you to sit in this chair for me." She pulls out the chair directly in front of her and her belongings. You would typically agree what, given the situation and the sight of her left hand on the grip of a pistol. But instead: "No."

"What did I say about doing something stupid." The woman groans, making you smile. Just a little over the tiny amount of control you have at the moment. "I'm not sitting on the chair until you give me your name. And the reason."

"You do realize I'm the one holding the gun, right?" You nod. Terrified of guns, but you nod as she waves it in front of you. "I do. But you're not going to shoot me or anything because, from what I just heard. You're waiting on your friend to see if I'm telling the truth, but I have no reason to lie to you."

Natasha couldn't believe what she just heard out of the mouth of that sweet little face. Here's the kicker. You're right. Natasha honestly hates that you have the upper hand at the moment, but Natasha's the Black Widow. She can flip the script as easy as one.. two.. "Please. Be a good girl and get in the chair."

You've never sat in a chair so fast in your life.

In fact, the second your butt hit the wood, you were mentally cursing your legs for betraying you. "How did you do that?!" You looked to her green eyes for an answer, but you both knew. "Alright, fine. Can I at least get a name?" You huffed as she gently handcuffed your hand to hers.

"Natalie." She replied as if that was her real name. But you took it for face value, even throwing Natasha a "thank you."

"What's that?" You asked, pointing at a pile of small silver discs. "Oh, don't touch those." She quickly moves them away from your reach. "They'll electrically shock you and leave you incapacitated." Okay. Good to know. "No touch, got it." You dryly chuckled, earning one from the woman who had no issues being handcuffed to you.

"How many languages do you speak?" You figured if you're going to be waiting, you might as well get to know Natalie. "Do you want to guess?" She smirks at you as she puts away her laptop. "Ummm, five?" You look up for an answer but only receive a shake of the head. "More than five?"

"More than 10, dear."

10?! Dear!?!

"Wow." You mutter. "What about you?" Natasha feels the need to ask. Plus, she wants to know more about the young woman she's handcuffed to. "I'm sure you'll find out when your friend calls back."

"Yeah, but I want to hear it from you." You look up to see her already smiling at you, forcing a shade of pink to sneak onto your cheeks. "Umm, it's not nearly as impressive. But one." You meekly answer, earning a chuckle from Natalie. "You're right.. that's not nearly as impressive."

"Hey!" You groan and whine. "It's two on a good day if I can understand what the vendor down the street says. It's not easy learning Hungarian."

Natasha nods. "You're right. It's not easy. But you picked the perfect city to learn it." You have to agree with her.

"You're right. Budapest is wonderful."

"Budapesht." Natasha can't help but correct you. "Huh?" You look to her, who looks down on you like an English teacher. "Budapesht." She repeats. "That's how you should pronounce it." You shake your head "No. It's Budapest. Your way is wrong."

"No, my way is right. It's Budapesht. You just don't know any better." You scoff, which Natasha takes as a sign to go on the attack. "Oh really?!" She starts. "I'm sorry, but who in the room is the world-class spy, and who is the.. the.. the whatever it is you do!?" She looks at you, who stutters for a moment.

"That's what I thought."

You go to fight back. Which frankly is an unwise move, but you're thankfully interrupted by the sound of the flip phone ringing.

Natasha answers it with urgency. "Clint, you're on speaker; which is it, Budapest or Budapesht??"

"Oh God no. Please stop this. Take me off speaker."

You watch Natalie roll her eyes as she takes the man, Clint, off of speaker. "Okay, shoot your arrow. What have you got for me." Natasha yanks on the handcuff, pulling you to make you look up at her. She holds a finger to her lips with a look in her eyes that you read as "Don't be stupid."

You not as she sets the phone down in the middle of the table on speaker.

"Okay, so Y/N Y/L/N. Born in California. Yadda yadda. Excellent student. Blah, blah, blah. University. Bank is in the green. No sign of trouble. Oh. Is the daughter of two former shield scientists before they lost their lives in a fire. Not Ohio. No Hydra connections either."

Clint quickly adds, confusing you.

What's shield?

"Relationships, let's see... looks like her most recent ex is one Gewn Stacy, and before that it was... Kate Bishop. The second one sounds familiar... Anyways, occupation.. occupation.. Stark Industries. Relocated to where she currently is. Moved into the apartment across from you six months ago. Isn't one to cause trouble. No arrest records or complaints of any kind. I can't find anything else on her. She's clean. Looks like you got a golden retriever living across from you, Nat."

The man finishes up before Natalie or Nat picks the phone up. "Okay, thanks, Clint. Yeah, no, I'm sure she won't be any trouble." Nat looks at you with a smirk, making you shift in your seat.

"Yep. Uh-huh. No. Could you not mention it to Fury? I got it. Okay. No, it's Budapesht. Bye." She clicks the phone shut and looks at you with a smile before laughing. "What?" You ask as you start to smile. "Nothing." She says before she controls her laughter. "No, come on. What!" You plead as Natalie picks up the key to the handcuffs. "It's just... I attacked you earlier because I thought you were dangerous, and here I have handcuffed to me is the most prett- perfect, sweetest person ever, apparently." The pink hue on Nat's cheeks gets missed by you.

You laugh at Natalie's explanation as the cuff slips from your wrist. "Well, I must be scary a little bit. Plus, I think I'm really good at lying!" You fess up. "Not to me, you're not," Nat calls you out. "And you're not scary." She picks up her bag and moves it to the counter to pack her suit.

Now it's your turn to roll your eyes. "Well, I have to be good at one of those things." You say as you get up and follow her around the kitchen and into the living room. "Why is that?" Nat is curious as to what you're answer could be.

"Well, how else would I have gotten rid of that guy earlier?!"

Natasha wasn't expecting that. "What guy?" She turns to you with a stern, calculating look. "Th-the guy. Tall. He was outside your door. Asking about you. I sent him away." Natasha shakes her head and rubs to her bag, grabbing two pistols. "How long ago?"

"What?" You question. Nat runs past you. "How long ago was the guy here?"

"I-uh.." Since Nat's hands and sweet voice were all over and around your body, you truly lost any concept of time.

Nat ignored your non-answer as she looks out the window where her sniper is positioned before turning to you with a worried look.

"Y/N GET DOWN!"

Yeah, there will be a pt2 in the future.

dividers by @/benkeibear

[tobiasdrake]

Well, that managed to be the worst night of my--

The eclipse.

Well, that managed to be the second worst night my life. Congratulations, Teaks; You had some steep competition.

Back on the road to find the Docarri.

Oh good, mirror puzzles. I love those.

I sound sarcastic but I'm not. I'm a sucker for slidey blocks and light reflecting and all that old-school adventurer stuff.

There is ALWAYS something behind waterfalls.

...something for Teaks, in this case.

Been back and forth trying to figure out where the light puzzle begins. The little white doodad over the face is clearly where it ends. But there's no sigil for this obvious Solstice Warrior timey-wimey crystal.

Maybe I'm missing something. I can probably come back to this on my way out.

OH GOOD IT'S THESE SHITWEASELS AGAIN

Hey Serai, I have a question. You use weird-ass portals and they use weird-ass portals. Any connection? And please take that in the least accusatory way possible because I have complete faith in you and am only seeking intel on them.

We know nothing about these guys other than that those masks look like they're really going to hurt when we shove them up their assholes.

You picked a bad day for this. My entire worldview cracked in half last night and I could really use some stress relief.

Oh no, we do. We do have to quarrel. On the grounds that I want to. I want to be very clear that what is about to happen will not be an act of self-defense.

You ruined my Fake Birthday.

Today, I choose violence.

You did not bring this on yourselves. I brought it. And I suddenly feel much better about my life choices right now.

Thanks, guys. I needed that.

I'm gonna hold you to that.

Well, that was weird. But it did help clear my head. And we're at the top of the waterfall, so from here it should be a nice and easy stro--

Rock climb. A nice. Easy. Rock climb.

I'm beginning to think the Docarri don't want visitors.

Moraine said to ring a bell. But we didn't pass a bell on our way up here.

Oh, there it is. Good eye, Garl. Sorry, Serai; Your dramatic reveal's going to have to wait.

Hey, can't you just portal over there and do it? It'd take you like five seconds, right? Do we all really need to go together? Or do you have, like, limited portal ammo or something?

Huh. I expected something a bit more exciting. Guess we did need to go together.

Hey, we're looking for the Oracle of Tides. Oracle, specifically. Not the Ruler of Tides. He doesn't like us very much.

Aww, that's nice! We would be honored to take advantage of your hospitality.

If everyone around here is this sweet, then this trip's going to be pleasant.

This trip is going to be unpleasant.

You said you foresaw us coming here! I have air lungs. How am I supposed to visit the lake floor!?

Is that a threat?

Because if it is, I should warn you that I just engaged in a rousing bit of violence and am now fairly tired, and not in the proper mood to defend myself. So. I would appreciate it. If you did not start shit for... one hour? Yeah. One hour, please.

Oh my god we get complimentary gifts

I want the pink one. Second from the right. Bottom row. It's so cute. I will... I'll... Uh....

I get hit with things a lot and seashells are breakable.

I will leave it on the ship in my private area but so help me I will be taking it out to play with every night we're at sea.

Oh, sure. Since it's you, Garl, I won't even be snippy. Go get us a seashell! I trust your judgment.

Choose wisely. And by wisely I mean the pink one. Second from the right, bottom row. You know it's the objectively correct choice.

You chose correctly. I don't know if that means we passed the ritual's test, but it does mean that you passed my test.

Failure would have resulted in no penalty of any kind, but success earns you my appreciation. Good job, Garl. T_T This is why you're my bestie. You know me so well. We are on a wavelength.

Does this have anything to do with me making paths over water? Or are we gonna sprout gills or something?

Oh, I am going straight for Torment Peak. You should not have said that. You gave me a pretty seashell for good luck and said "Don't go to the cool place". What possible reason could there be for me to not immediately beeline it to--

[twoidiotwriters1]

Copycat: Cryptomnesia —(Marvel Fem!Oc)

A/N: Kate is so precious I feel like she's like old C.C. and it's so funny to see Cat half-amused half-exasperated -Danny

Words: 2,177

Phase Five Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

xv: Kate Bishop

Cat knocked on the door, she'd changed back to her civilian looks, her curls were short again, and she was wearing her sunglasses, so Kate didn't recognize her. Clint did.

"How did you find us?"

The mutant lifted her phone, pointed at the one on the kitchen counter, signed "DUH", and walked in. Kate was extremely confused but she ignored her. Cat grabbed her earpiece and offered it to Clint, urging him to take it. Once he did Cat spoke out loud.

"Activate 'little birdy' protocol," the earpiece turned a little green light on its side, and she smiled at Clint. "You hear me?"

His eyebrows raised. "Yeah. Thank you!"

"It's not permanent, don't get used to it," she crossed her arms. "We need to talk."

Clint glanced at Kate over his shoulder. "There's no need for you to be here..."

"I know," Cat said, "but you're in big trouble."

He nodded shortly. "No kidding."

"Hey, am I freaking invisible or something?" Kate demanded. "Are you gonna tell me who the hell is she?"

Cat looked at her with a frown. "I'm Copycat."

"No, you're not, she has white hair and purple eyes!"

Cat moved her sunglasses down and held her gaze. "So?"

"Oh— Oh my God!" Kate approached her, a crimson blush adorning her cheeks. "You wear a wig when you're in costume?"

Cat looked back at Clint. "You found yourself a great ward."

"This was an accident."

"Don't worry, he used to say that about me," Cat smiled at the girl. "Nice to meet you. You're terrible at many things, but you have a sharp aim, and you're kind of funny."

Kate returned the smile. "Thank you, Miss Copycat."

Cat made a face. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-two," Kate said, still staring like she was a celebrity.

"I'm twenty-four. Don't be formal, makes you sound stupid," she decided that was the end of their conversation and turned her attention back to Clint. "So what's the problem?"

He tilted his head. "You're a fast learner, aren't you?"

Cat shrugged. "Yeah?"

He drew out his hearing aid. "You know how to fix this?"

"You can't?" She examined it.

"Drop the tone, I saw you running around a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in a camisole when you were a kid," he said. "Yes or no?"

She chuckled. "Yes, sir."

"What do you need?"

"A quick-setting adhesive, preferably cyanoacrylate— thin pliers, and Mouse."

"You mean this?" Clint pointed at his ear.

She nodded. "Hand it back."

Clint took off the earpiece, gave her the pliers, and searched in the kitchen drawers to see if he could find glue. Cat walked up to the living room and sat down, her earpiece turned into a visor, and the young woman pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head.

Kate sat next to her, scooping closer. "You guys know each other?"

Cat glanced at the girl. "I wouldn't be here otherwise."

"I thought you were a recent addition to the team?"

She snorted. "Yeah, that's the authorized version."

"What's the real one?" Kate asked.

"Not a good idea to info dump..."

"Oh. I get it." Kate tried to look nonchalant. "Just so you know, you're asking Hawkeye for intel that he cannot give you because it's my business, so..."

"Your business?" Cat laughed dryly. "Maya's after the Ronin, not you. Who are you?"

"I'm— I'm Kate Bishop."

The mutant wrinkled her nose. "You rich?"

"I... yeah?" Kate shifted awkwardly in her seat.

The response made Cat smirk. "I've heard about you before. Well, not you, your family. A year ago..."

Kate inched closer to her. "I heard you say Tony made that thing you're wearing— you meant Stark?"

Clint placed the glue on the coffee table startling her, he talked to the younger archer. "Leave her alone, I've seen her rip a man's throat with her bare hands, you don't want to pester her."

Cat's hand twitched at the comment, Clint was joking, he didn't know she had indeed ripped a man's throat once.

"I don't mind it," she signed: "THANK YOU. REST." Before going back to work. "Heroes these days aren't talkers... maybe that's why I'm so damn depressed."

"Oh..." Kate said, unsure of whether Cat was talking to her or just thinking out loud.

Clint pointed at Kate's face chuckling. "She did it, didn't she?"

The girls looked up at him, Cat signed "WHAT?"

"That's the face everyone makes when you say some batshit thing unprompted."

Cat quickly replied: "BEEN YEARS SINCE I'VE DONE THAT. SHUT UP."

"Ohhh, those were one too many words, I didn't get that," Clint looked at Kate. "She's not crazy, never learned to filter her thoughts, that's all."

Cat lightly stabbed his leg with the pliers, he jumped away from her. The mutant went back to work feeling her cheeks burning.

"He thinks I'm still a kid," she muttered.

"So... you met years ago," Kate glanced at Clint to make sure he wasn't paying attention, he was making his way back to the kitchen. "Can I ask you something?"

"I can't promise I'll answer."

"You are an Avenger, right?"

"No. I'm helping Clint because he's got kids, I won't let another father die on my watch, that's all."

"You're talking about Stark."

"I'm talking about many people," Cat grabbed the glue. "I won't leave until this is over, let's hope we never see each other again after that."

"I wouldn't hate it if we do..." Kate sighed. "You were really cool today. The whole ass-kicking and the teleporting... How do you do it?"

She briefly pointed at her slitted, purple eyes. "I'm a mutant."

"That is so awesome."

Cat didn't know why, but she felt like she'd met Kate before, or at the very least, that she reminded her of someone. She took off M.O.U.S.E. and the visor vanished. "I'm starving, and we have to wait for this thing to dry."

"We should get food in the meantime, let me bring the dog."

Cat's pupils widened. "You have a dog?"

Kate was rambling about the fight so much that Clint turn off his hearing aid. Cat was trying to pay attention, but the dog kept growling at her, and it was making her uncomfortable. Clint finished his coffee and turned on his hearing aid.

"Was that— was that out the whole time?"

"Don't feel bad, he didn't use to listen even when his ears were healthy," Cat told her.

"Can I get more coffee, please?" Clint asked a waiter, completely ignoring them.

"Look I know this may sound weird, but I've dreamed of this for as long as I can remember. My dad was fearless... and his whole life was about helping people. When I put that suit on I thought 'This is it. This is the moment I become who I'm supposed to be'."

"...I remember the day I thought the same thing," Clint sighed.

"I don't," Cat mumbled.

"I don't think you remember what you had for dinner last night."

"Ha-ha. Seriously, I should be dreaming about it, right? I see myself in those suits and I think 'Not this again'— Maybe heroes are made, and not born."

Clint shook his head. "Kate, this whole thing... it comes with a price. The life you wanna live, to really help people— I mean, try to help people, anyway... comes with a lot of sacrifices, and some things you'll lose forever. Cat sounds like a beam of sunshine right now, but years ago she was truly something..."

"I got lonely, that's what happened," Cat interrupted him. "Was it necessary to use me as a bad example?"

"Well, if Kate wants to become what we are, she should know both sides. I might not be the luckiest man on earth but I think I've done well for the most part, and you—"

"Saved your asses from a warehouse, you're welcome."

"You're sad and alone."

"Do you want me to kill you with a butter knife?"

Clint shrugged. "See how that goes for ya."

Cat reached out to grab the utensil but Kate's hand landed on hers.

"There's also things you gain," her grey eyes stared at her, "like trick arrows and a cool costume. I love your cape, by the way. Speaking of which— I've been thinking about your branding issue..."

"Branding issue?" Cat asked in amusement.

"It's nothing—"

"Nothing! It's everything!" Kate rolled her eyes. "You need a more recognizable costume..."

She turned the paper mat and grabbed some crayons from the cup that was in the corner. She sketched her idea, Clint ran a hand over his face longing to get out of there.

"You realize that my job for the last twenty years, was to be not recognizable, right?"

"Well, you've officially failed at that."

"The first ten years were okay," Cat shrugged, "but for the last decade you've been front and center though, I agree."

"Okay! Picture this... in purple," Kate showed them her drawing.

"Oh... wow. What's that on his head?"

"It's your head," Kate corrected. "Uh— wings. Like a hawk. That's an 'H' that's on your forehead, that's for... Hawkeye."

"Why purple?" Cat questioned.

"I like purple. Why? You don't like purple?"

"Not happening," Clint stated.

"Don't know," Cat examined the drawing with interest. "That suit could make me like you more..."

"What if it was all black? All black with a mask? Maybe a hood? Oh! A cape like Cat's!"

"You're not stealing my looks! It took me years to find something!"

"Yeah, and looked at what you did," Clint scowled. "You stomped it all over."

"Look who's talking, quitter," she said in the same tone.

Clint and Cat glared at each other. Kate stared at her first, then at Clint, and decided to try him. "You can't say who Ronin is because it's someone close to you, isn't it? It's your job to keep their secret."

"There are several reasons why I'd never wear a flashy costume," he looked at her. "My job is to be, number one, a ghost. Number two, my wife would divorce me if I put something like this on, and number three, uh... I'm not a role model. I'm sorry, Kate, I'm not a role model to anyone."

"I can attest to that," Cat grumbled.

"If there's one thing I regret, heathen, was letting Tony have you running around doing whatever you pleased. Kids need to be told what to do to some extent, and we abandoned you in that tower."

Cat was about to reply but stopped, that couldn't be right, she didn't remember ever feeling lonely those days.

Kate was having none of that. "You two left your families at Christmas because you thought some stranger was gonna get hurt. You stuck around even though I screwed up, and now you're stuck. Whether you like it or not, the tracksuits have connected us to Ronin and it's pretty clear they're not just gonna drop this."

"Well, that you are not wrong about..."

"But you're wrong about me," Cat said. "I would've left both of you to die if Clint hadn't reminded me he's got children."

"You are so mean it's unfair how pretty you are," Kate frowned.

Cat pouted mockingly. "I fixed Clint's hearing aid, didn't I? I don't tell you to be quiet when you talk my ear off, but neither of you seems to care about that, do you?"

"It's just... I've had a rough couple of days... not to mention my mom might be marrying a murderer..." Kate sighed.

"Your mom what?"

The waiter brought them the check and Kate glanced at it. "I'm gonna need you to get that, my mom canceled my credit card."

Clint scoffed in disbelief. "Yeah, I got it."

"Twelve birthday parties and you never sent me a present, but you can pay for her breakfast..." Cat put the heart-shaped sunglasses back on.

"I'll give you a present when you tell me your real birthdate— and I'm paying for your breakfast too," he replied, getting up from his seat. "You're gonna have to name this dog, you know?"

Cat tried to move and the animal growled at her. She hissed back.

"Can you hold him so I can get up?"

"Er... sure, yeah," Kate put her arm around him. "Not a fan of dogs?"

"Never interacted with them," she shrugged, "cats tend to follow me though, they line up begging for my attention."

"Why's that?"

"I think it might have something to do with my Skrull genes—"

"Your what?" Kate stopped. "You're a what?"

Cat brushed it aside. "This is not your dog, then?"

"Oh, it is now. I rescued it the night I found the suit..."

"What were you doing at that auction? Do rich people get so bored they need to start doing illegal shit before their thirties?"

"I'm not like that," Kate said, walking toward the exit.

"You broke an old-as-hell tower back in your school, it sounds like you kind of are."

"You spied on me?" Kate asked in outrage.

She tapped on her earpiece. "I had to look into you to make sure you were not trying to trick the old man. You passed, so I won't kill you."

"Wow, such a relief," Kate scoffed.

"You can't say the same about your stepfather, though," she added playfully. "What's that about?"

Kate glanced at her. "You gonna tell me what your deal is too?"

Cat grinned. "I've got plenty of deals, you'll have to be more specific." They got out of the restaurant, Cat searched in the pockets of her jacket and pulled out her phone. "Put your number in."

"You wanna be careful," Clint warned the younger archer. "Heathen's an experienced flirt..."

Cat gave him a look. "I'm not flirting, don't get your baggy knickers in a bunch."

Clint laughed, but Kate mumbled looking a little hurt: "...you're not?"

Next Chapter—>

Taglist.

@mikaelsonwhxrebae​​​​​ @ieatpanicattacksforlunch​​​​​ @jesuswasnotawhiteman​​​​​​ @siriuslysirius1107​​​​​​ @greengarsstuff​​​​​​ @itsyagirl01 @23victoria​​​​​​ @espressopatronum454​​​​​​ @jkthinkstoomuch

[causeitsagame]

Ishimondo as spies tasked with finding each other?

Ahahaha this was fun. The plot took me in a little different direction than your prompt (they're tasked to work together, instead), but it was fun to just let that flow.

-----

"Yeah, I heard you," yawned Mondo Owada, and scratched behind his ear.

The woman on the other end of the line gave a tight, annoyed sigh. "You should treat this arrangement with more gravity. Should we decide to cancel it, you'll be right back in prison."

"Stop bustin' my balls, man," Mondo grumbled into his phone as he walked toward a cluster of men. "I said I fuckin' heard you, and you'll get it when you get it." The group sized him up as he approached. Apparently, he passed whatever test they'd been applying, and they let him through rather than challenge his presence.

"Excuse me?" the woman sputtered. "If you want to have me report to your superior right now, then I'll—"

As soon as he was safely in an alleyway and away from any prying eyes, Mondo gripped his phone tighter and hissed into it. "Okay, now there aren't any damn guys listening in. You know where you sent me, right? You think I'm gonna be able to say 'sure, boss!' and salute the phone? Screw your fuckin' head on straight!"

The woman's silence somehow deepened.

Mondo shrugged. "Guess I shouldn't have added that last bit."

"Very well," she gritted out. "We will keep the unique circumstances of this mission in mind, and contact you only when we must."

"And send a text instead of calling, so I can answer you whenever."

"Hmmm." She hung up without an actual goodbye, and Mondo snorted at the phone before jamming it into his pocket.

He'd been offered a straightforward arrangement by her government agency: in exchange for getting out of prison a hell of a lot earlier than he'd otherwise see, Mondo would report on a gang's activities.

Phrased like that, he'd turned them down instantly. Mondo Owada wasn't a fucking snitch.

The agency tried again, with more of an explanation. This gang wasn't a comparatively harmless one, like the one he'd gotten put away for. The gang targeted for surveillance didn't trade in mere larceny or assault. No: they were probably a front for an international bioterrorism group, and any ruckus they deliberately caused would be to draw police support away from the research labs of interest.

Fucking great!

Seriously, that was really fucking great. Just what Mondo wanted to fucking hear: if he wanted to get out of jail, he'd be spying on a bunch of murderous pricks trying to end the fucking world, from the sound of it. And he couldn't not spy on them once he'd heard what was actually going on, because otherwise, they'd end the fucking world!

Or something.

Maybe they'd just kill a lot of people.

Pain in the goddamn ass, either way, and the agency that was supposedly overseeing him was clearly in over their heads. Sighing, Mondo checked his hair, then went back out into the thick of things. Before he got access to any of the good intel, he'd need to make some friends.

Two nights later, a tattooed gangster with a cueball of a shaved head elbowed Mondo. "Check it out," he chuckled, and pointed down the sidewalk.

Mondo stared blankly at the indicated man. The stranger was also trying to make friends with the gangsters around him, and doing a goddamn fuckin' awful job of it. His hair was cropped short, which neatly featured his bold, intense features and near-unblinking stare. He looked fit enough to swing a bat or crowbar, too. Pity he'd covered those muscles with some sort of… Mondo didn't even know what. Some sort of Akira cosplay from the fuckin' 1980s.

"Hello!" said the stranger as he walked up to Mondo. "I'm working on introducing myself!"

The tattooed gangster chuckled and shooed him away. "It's past your bedtime, kid."

"I assure you, I am no 'kid!' I have reached the age of legal majority!"

For fuck's sake. Mondo ran a hand across his face. If he'd been hired to save lives, then he'd better start with this idiot before he got his face caved in. "I'll go dump him somewhere."

"Dump?" the man asked with concern, but he let himself be led.

As they rounded a corner and entered an alley, Mondo gestured to its far end. "I don't know how you ended up here, bro, but this place clearly ain't for you. Head off before you make an enemy you can't manage."

"Don't be concerned, Mondo. I am fully apprised of the situation!" The man considered things, and cheerfully added, "Bro!"

"That's… huh?" Mondo blinked at him. He didn't think he was known by enough of the gang to have his name shared with a newcomer, yet. "How do you know my name?"

"Kiyotaka Ishimaru," the man replied. "You may refer to me as Taka."

"Whatever. Who the fuck are you, and why should I give a shit?"

Taka's voice dropped in pitch and volume, but even at a whisper, he still seemed somehow boisterous. "Your supervisor agreed that communicating over the phone was risky. I am a highly decorated agency member and I've come to be your direct backup."

Mondo stared, hoping that he'd somehow misheard. No such luck. "You're my backup?" he demanded, and looked the visibly out-of-place man over. "Fuck that!"

Taka straightened. "I have overseen protocol for seventeen embassy surveillance missions, and have avoided nearly as many diplomatic crises! And as you can see, I've even pieced together an authentic gang uniform!"

"Then head back to the office, pencil pusher. You don't have the first idea how to behave, here."

For the first time, Taka looked genuinely offended. "I have thoroughly researched this setting. I even developed a behavioral flowchart with my superiors. It balances the law, anthropological group norms, and the importance of the mission's desired outcome."

"Fucking hell," Mondo grimaced.

"Hey. Owada. Haven't you dumped him off somewhere, yet?"

Grumbling, Mondo turned to the bald gangster they'd left behind. "Guy just won't shut up. I'll be back in a second." Despite his suggestion, the man kept stumbling into the alley after them both. Hostility radiated from him, and clear intoxication didn't help.

"No need to wait." The man took a step closer, and jabbed a finger into Taka's chest hard enough to leave a bruise. "Fuck off, kid, or—"

Taka grabbed the man's wrist in an overhand grip, rotated it backward, and applied enough pressure to the joint to make the man yelp in pain. "You seem to be under the misapprehension that I need your approval!"

Mondo blinked. Well. The guy was dumb, but he had balls.

Once released, the gangster stared at him with disbelief. "What the fuck did you just pull?" he demanded, and pulled his fist back to send a haymaker right through Taka's nose.

The agency newcomer didn't seem to be a trained fighter, but Mondo had guessed correctly that Taka had some real athleticism under his ridiculous outfit. He easily dodged the drunk man's punch, and stepped aside to let him go stumbling headfirst into a brick wall.

"I wouldn't normally engage in any sort of assault, even indirect," Taka whispered to Mondo. "But the agency assured me that I needed to display some physical capacity to gain group approval. And that it would be worth it, given the stakes of this operation."

Despite himself, Mondo couldn't help but laugh. "The fuck is up with you, bro?"

"We're partners!" Taka cheerfully said, still too quiet for baldie to hear. "And I assure you, I have studied criminal infiltration thoroughly. I will live up to this vital task!"

"Fuckin' hell," Mondo said again, but this time, he chuckled. "Whatever, bro. You'd better not get in my way."

Returning to jail would probably be easier. But this, at least, should be entertaining.

[abbatoirablaze]

TM Tragedy, Season 2, Chapter 8

Word Count:  1.6k

Warnings:  mentions of rape, violence, aggression, mention of losing an eye, angst, serious injury, mention of blood, injury to a child, mention of a car bomb. 

Juice’s POV

"Hey," I asked Jax, "How's Otto?"

"Nearly blind."

Shit.

I put down my case of beer that I held, "Jesus. What's the retaliation?"

"I don't know," he admitted, "that's the problem. Not enough intel. We strike back now, and we could be playing right into their hands."

"Zobelle's squeaky clean, Jax," I sighed, unsure of what else we could do, "Mandy and I both looked. Not even a parking ticket. I'm gonna have to do some street level recon to find something."

Jax nodded, "Exactly. We can't just go in guns blazing Juice. I know Clay's gonna call for it, but you gotta think about what's best. What would Mandy think?"

I nodded, thinking about my girlfriend. Mandy would want justice for Otto, but at the same time she would agree with Jax.  Especially with how we’d talked about everything, and how we started making plans for the baby.  She’d want me to be there. We needed to be level-headed about it. We had to know all the angles this guy was playing at.

"You're right brother," I admitted, "Mandy would say we need to do some serious recon before we dive in. You don't want to go in blind."

He clapped my shoulder and smiled, "I knew I could talk to you about it. Church at 5. Okay?"

I nodded and Jax went out of the clubhouse. I began to stock the fridge with beer.  But my mind was racing.  How and the hell are we gonna find stuff on this guy?

"JUICE."

I shook myself from my thoughts. Tig was waving his hand in front of me, "Jesus. I've been trying to get your attention for ten minutes."

"Sorry. What's up?" "I said I needed to talk to you," he said matter of fact.  My brow scrunched together and he frowned at me, "do you even listen when I talk?"

I nodded, "yeah."

He looked at me then rolled his eyes, "Well we need to talk about tonight."

"The retaliation."

He nodded, "Clay's gonna call for a hit. We need you to back us."

"Why me?"

"It's gonna be a tight vote. We know that. You, Bobby, and Chibs are the wildcards."

"I don't know man," I said quickly, instantly thinking to how I’d had the conversation with Jax, "Jax already talked to me and he has a point. I don't think it-"

"That's just it, Juice," he said banging a fist on the bar, "you don't think. This guy is messing with us. He's hurting things we care about. This town. Our blood."

"I can't just-"

"His group raped Gemma and Mandy damn it."

My heart stopped dead in my chest, "What?"

"ALEX."

I turned towards the door. My girlfriend looked horrified. Her mouth was partially open, and she had tears in her eyes.

"Yeah," Tig said, holding back his own tears as he glanced from her to me, "I promised I wouldn't say any-"

"I can't believe you," she said, barging further into the clubhouse. She was sniffling, and the tears were about to slide off her face, "you promised."

"Baby?" I asked.  She looked at me. Her eyes were a mixture of pain, humiliation, and sadness. She bit her lip. She sniffled again.  I tried to reach out, but she shook her head, “baby…talk to me…what’s he talking about?”

"Mandy?" Tig said, trying to reach out to her.

"NO!" she yelled, turning to him. She began to shake, "you promised."

"I-"

"Baby," I whispered, coming around the bar, until I stood in front of her, "baby is this true?"

She didn't say a word.  She didn't have to. But suddenly the past few weeks had made sense.  How she couldn't sleep.  How she was jumping at everything.  How she carried a gun and became reckless.

I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her. She cried into my chest, but wrapped her arms around me, "you can't tell anyone Juan Carlos. Please."

"Baby I can't let this go," I said, holding her, “they hurt you.”

I felt her clutching my shirt as her sobs racked her body, "please. We can't tell the club..."

I sighed, unable to deny her request. I wrapped my arms tight around my girlfriend and unborn child. Whether it felt right or not...those assholes had to pay.

"It's been a shit year," Clay began, "I know we're trying to lay low. Shake off this ATF stink...and I would never put a member of this club at risk. But we underestimated Zobelle. The league's reach. Now he hurts a brother. If we don't act now, it's gonna be seen as a sign of weakness. They do it again and we've got an obligation to this club. To this town. To crush this threat. Retaliation must be harsh and immediate. That's what we do. It's what we've always done."

I looked at Tig. He nodded at me. I felt all the pain from this afternoon come back and slap me across the face. Mandy sobbing against my chest as she continued to apologize, as if being raped was somehow her fault.

These bastards had to pay. They raped Mandy. Then they attacked Otto. Maybe if Jax knew what had happened he'd agree...but I'd promised Mandy I wouldn't tell.

"I agree with everything you've said," Jax said.  He nodded slowly as though he were mulling over Clay’s words, "We underestimated Zobelle. We gotta protect our club. Our Town. Retaliation is indisputable but if we do it now we're going in half blind. These guys aren't gangsters. They're moneyed, smart, and connected to both sides of the law. They wanted us to blow up Darby's meth lab. That's us doing it. Caught on security cameras. Ope's face is plain as day. Otto getting jumped was the bait Zobelle knew we'd take. But out here he's not using muscle. He's using the law. He expects us to retaliate. He wants it and he's ready for it. I love Otto. I want to give him his eye. But not at the expense of my club. We gotta wait. Due diligence. Learn." 

"Let's vote it," Clay said, "Immediate retaliation. Yay."

"Absolutely," Tig said looking at me, "yay."

"It don't feel right," Chibs muttered, "so no."

"Yay." Opie said simply.

Piney looked at his son in disbelief and shook his head, "Nay."

I looked at Tig, and he gave me another knowing glance. I wanted to say nay, but the image of Mandy crying just kept coming back to me, "Yay."

Jax shook his head. Clay looked at Bobby, "it's 4 to 2, where you at brother."

"Smart vote. Nay."

Jax smiled, "Nay. 4 to 4. No majority. We wait on retaliation."

Jax’s POV

Clay banged his gavel and I nodded, feeling accomplished. I'd managed to convince the guys to keep him from starting a war we couldn't handle.

I didn't like the idea of waiting, but at least that would give us some idea on what the next move would be.

"Hey sweetheart," I said, kissing Tara. She was sitting outside with Gemma and Alicia. Cain came up to me and wrapped his arm around my leg.

"DADDY!"

I smiled at my son, "hey buddy."

"Everything okay?"

"Tough vote," I admitted. Tara nodded. I picked up Cain and balanced him on my hip, "I'm so glad I've got you to come out to though."

He laughed and I smiled. I looked at Alicia. She was looking at Chibs.

"You two work through it yet?"

She shook her head, "He hasn't come home."

"Well, you did change the locks," I laughed. She looked at me, "what? You didn't think he'd tell me that?"

"Did he also tell you that he's been consistently cheating on me the past year?"

"Put out then."

She rolled her eyes at me, "do you mind if I go talk to him for a few minutes?"

I nodded, "I'll watch Cain."

"That was nice of you," Tara said sarcastically. I ruffled her hair and she jokingly pushed me, "got any more great advice, Teller?"

I laughed and put my son down so I could pull her to me and kiss me. She laughed into the kiss but gave in nonetheless.

About half an hour later Alicia came back, smiling. I chuckled, "you put out didn't you."

"That's none of your damn business."

I laughed as Chibs came around the corner, his fly still unzipped, and a hickey on his neck, "your old man's got some battle wounds."

She blushed and shoved me, "shove it, Teller."

Cain began following Chibs and I laughed as he agreed to let him help with the van.

"You helping Chibs little man?" I asked.

He nodded and sat on Chibs lap as he got in the driver's seat. The engine sputtered for a second, and then Chibs started running towards us, Cain in his arms.

It all seemed to go in slow motion.  It was maybe a micro second, but it all felt like it was taking forever.  The terror on Chibs' face as he tried to carry Cain away.

The slightest whine from the engine before it exploded, sending a mini mushroom cloud and a fireball towards us.

The heat from the blast.

But how the blast threw Cain out of Chibs' arms, and how both my son and my best friend's blood mixed on the concrete.

The moment made my heart stop.  And then suddenly it all played out in regular speed.

My hearing was fucked, but I could see the shock leave Alicia's face as she raced towards our son, and Chibs. How she screamed for someone to call an ambulance.

How Tara sprang into action and tried to stop any bleeding she could on Cain and Chibs.

How I just stood there, in complete shock and disbelief at what just happened.

There was no way I was going to be able to stop retaliation now.

Chapter 9

Tag List:  @lohnes16 @evyiione

[panfluidme]

Robin Them Blind

Master Post, Chapter Five

CHAPTER SIX: REPORT

Robin had been in the Teen Titans for just over two weeks now, and he had been gathering a lot of intel, just like he had been asked to do. He was walking the hallways when he heard Beast Boy talking. He stopped and stayed behind a wall so they wouldn't suspect that he was there.

"Thank you," Kid Flash's voice came. "I know that you have the most experience with this kind of thing, so that's why I came to you."

"Me? Experience??" Beast Boy asked with shock, "Are you sure about that?"

"You crush on girls all of the time!"

Beast Boy blinked. "A crush? Wait- YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON SOMEONE?!?!" he yelled loudly.

"Beast Boy, quiet!" Kid Flash blushed darkly. "Not so loud, please."

Beast Boy quickly covered his mouth. "Sorry." he whispered.

Kid Flash took a deep breath. "I just need your advice. How do I tell him how I feel?"

Beast Boy slowly lowered his hands from his face. "Him?"

Kid Flash shut his eyes and looked away with a nod. "Yes, him. Do you have a problem with that?"

Beast Boy's eyes widened and quickly shook his head, "No no no! It's totally cool! I just never thought- well uhh..."

"You thought I was straight?"

He shrugged. "To be honest, I didn't think much of it at all."

Kid Flash smiled softly. "Yeah, that checks out for you."

"So, what do you want to know?"

"How do I tell him how I feel? I mean, we haven't known him that long. I just... Robin's great and all and I want him to be happy. Preferably with me."

"Well the first thing you should probably do is-" he paused and shook himself awake again, "Wait, you like Robin?!"

Kid Flash blushed more and nodded. "I do."

"Huh."

Robin's eyes widened at this new information. It was not something he expected. "Huh." he mumbled quietly.

"So... what do I do?"

Beast Boy brought back his concentration and nodded. "Right. Well, knowing Robin, and I hardly do, I think the first move you should make is ask him out on a date."

"How should I do that?" Kid Flash thought. "I don't know what kind of thing he would like."

"There are a lot of things Robin's unsure of. Maybe taking him out to eat and then for a night time stroll so you get to know him as he gets to know himself."

Kid Flash thought then nodded. "Good idea."

Beast Boy grinned and nodded. "I always have great ideas."

"It wouldn't say always." Kid Flash gently nudged him with a grin.

"Hey!" Beast Boy whined.

"A date, huh?" Robin thought to himself as he turned around, "This could be interesting."

"Beastie. You're like my little brother. Let me tease youuuu."

"Noo!" Beast Boy whined.

The moment Robin turned around, he realized Raven was right behind him.

Kid Flash pulled him into a headlock, ruffling his hair.

"Robin? What are you doing?"

Robin's eyes widened and quickly cleared his throat. "I was, uh, just about to grab some food."

"You're listening in on their conversation." Raven had heard Kid Flash and Beast Boy, but didn't know what they were talking about.

"I didn't hear anything," Robin lied and pulled out a hidden communicator out of his ear that he used to contact Slade, "I was listening to music."

"But you were crouched outside of the door."

"Can't a guy stretch whenever he feels like it?" he chuckled.

"You're up to something. The others may trust you, but I don't."

"Oh, Raven," he said innocently, "What could I possibly be up to?"

"I don't know yet, but I'm going to find out."

"Well good luck with that then," he smirked and walked off, "I'm gonna find me some snacks."

Raven huffed then looked at the closed door. Kid Flash and Beast Boy were still in there.

"So when do you plan on asking him?" Beast Boy asked.

"Maybe tomorrow night," Kid Flash decided.

"Good luck, dude!"

"Thank you, Beast Boy." Not a second later, the Titans got an alert of a thief escaping jail. Kid Flash opened the door. "Team! Let's go!"

The team formed together and headed to the location they were alerted to.

"It looks like a thief just escaped jail," Raven said flatly.

"Shouldn't take too long," Cyborg noted as he started looking for where the thief could've gone.

Kid Flash nodded. "Everyone, pair up. We're going to go into three group of two so we can cover as much ground as possible."

"Good idea." Cyborg nodded, "BB and I will go east."

"Starfire and I will go east," Raven stated.

"Uh, alright. We'll go west then."

Kid Flash grinned then nodded. "Sounds good. We'll find this thief."

Robin nodded. "Alright, let's-"

He was suddenly cut off by a voice coming from his communicator. "Robin." Slade's voice came up.

Raven left with Starfire while Cyborg and Beast Boy left as well, leaving Kid Flash alone with Robin.

Robin froze and quickly looked over at Kid Flash. "KF, I uh.. I think it'd be best if we go look out individually. We are the best of the team, after all."

Kid Flash looked a little disappointed, but nodded. "Okay... I'll go west, you go south."

Robin frowned, feeling bad and quickly turned around to gently grab his hands. "I'll see you later. And just in case you were wondering, I'm available tomorrow night."

Kid Flash blinked. "Why... okay? Cool."

Robin smiled at him quickly and immediately used his staff to pole vault up to one of the city buildings to run off. This was something that he needed to do alone for some reason. He got far enough so no one could see him and stopped to respond to Slade's call.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Robin, I need you to return to the lair to give me your report so far."

"I'll be there soon."

"Good. And be quick. The thief will be found soon and he was merely a distraction so you could get away."

"I'll be quick."

"I'll be waiting."

Robin nodded. "See you soon."

He hurried to the lair to meet up with Slade. He had been having so much fun, he had almost forgotten that he needed to do reports.

He got there and met up with Slade. "What's your report?"

"I have learned that most of the team is very quick to trust. Kid Flash even has a crush on me."

"A crush?"

"Yes. On me. He wants to ask me out tomorrow."

"Interesting." he replied, intrigued.

"What should I do?"

"I say go along with it," he ordered, "Gaining the trust of the strongest Titan is a great advantage."

Robin nodded, deep down, knowing that it was wrong to do. "Of course, sir."

"It won't be long till the plan will take action and you won't have to worry about them anymore."

He nodded again. "What will become of them once the plan is complete?"

"They will no longer be a threat to us."

"I know that. But what will happen to them? Will they be prisoners or dead?"

"Does that matter to you?"

"I'm just curious, is all."

"Well it's none of your concern."

Robin looked down. "Of course. I'm sorry to ask."

"I gave you this mission because I trust that you wouldn't get attached," Slade said strictly, "Do not disappoint me."

"I won't. I was just curious."

"Good. You may carry on with your 'hero mission.'"

Robin nodded. "I'll report back in two weeks, as agreed."

"Good. Don't let me down."

"I won't."

"Then go."

Robin nodded and left.

Chapter Seven

[aspenmissing]

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚘𝚕𝚢 𝙺𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 (𝙿𝚝 𝟸)

Three long ropes are attached to the sword, pulled by the strong and buff men of the village. Mead still pulling. They all scream in frustration to pull the sword out as the two Knights sit on the well, drinking their ale laughing hysterically.

"It won't even move a fraction an inch!" The tall one says.

"We're gonna sit here chugging this cheap stuff and enjoy the show"

"Come out!" Mead struggles before screaming. The knights laugh.

"He looks so desperate!"

"What a bunch of morons" The two are about to clink mugs before realizing the mugs are gone.

"Anyone who doesn't appreciate good quality booze doesn't deserve to drink it," Meliodas says, holding their mugs. Y/N by his side. The ropes then snap and the men, and Mead, fall to the ground, groaning. Meliodas and Y/N walk past them, drinking the mugs of booze they got from the knights.

"That hit the spot," Y/N says, placing her and Meliodas's mug down beside a tired Mead. Y/N and Meliodas walk over to the sword.

"Sorry you guys, We don't have any money for that drink. How about this" Meliodas and Y/N each grab a side of the sword and slowly lift it out of the ground. They pull it out and hold it up high and everyone looks at them with shock.

"Impossible! Only a holy knight could pull that sword out" The tall knight says, looking at Meliodas in a sock "So how did they do that?" The ground begins to shake.

"What's that sound?" Suddenly the two knights have pushed off the well as water sprays out. Y/N has the sword over her shoulder and they walk to the Knights.

"Think this is yours?" Y/N says as she throws it on the ground. The knights pick it up and begin running away screaming. Mead runs over.

"Hey, Mister! Lady!, that was so amazing. Are you two...?"

"Yep. We're the proprietor of a fine drinking establishment. It's true"

"That's not what I meant!" Y/N bends down to Mead.

"Yeah well, isn't there something you need to be doing" She looks behind him and Mead turns around to see the village giving him a sorry look?

"Look, Mead. We were wrong. Can you ever forgive us for treating you that way?"

"But what right do I have to ever forgive you. It's not like I'm part of the village" Meliodas pushes Mead forward.

"Go on"

"Hey, what do you mean to go on? After all, I don't belong here"

"Mead, mead, mead, mead, mead" Everyone begins saying. Mead begins crying before running over and hugging the chief.

"You can lie to yourself all you want, but there's no way you'' be able to fool your own heart," Meliodas says, making Elizabeth smile. Y/N places her hand on Meliodas's shoulder, seeing his smile drop. He looks at her and she smiles.

Later that night, everyone is in the pub.

"To Meliodas, Y/N and the Boar Hat!" A villager says "Cheers!"

"I, uh, I'm not sure if I'm ready," Elizabeth says "I've never really done anything like this before. My heart pounding"

"I think I understand. It's your first-time" Meliodas says, leaning forward. Y/N is sat on the bar, facing their way "Could you just say that again, but slower"

"What are you doing with her you pervert!" Hawk says. Y/N sits there, drinking her ale.

"Tell you what, just focus on your waitressing today. Don't worry about gathering any intel" Meliodas says.

"Stay relaxed out there. That's the most important thing" Y/N says.

"I can do that! I will be relaxed" Minutes later, Meliodas, Hawk, and Y/N sit at the bar watching Elizabeth mess up. She accidentally slips and a mug falls onto a customer's head. She begins bowing.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry about that" She says. The customer waves her off as forgiveness.

"Y-You didn't order this?" Elizabeth asks, a plate with a pie and ale on "Then who-"

"Over here" A man waves her over.

"Okay" Elizabeth walks over but she trips over her feet and falls. The pie goes onto the customer's face. Elizabeth looks up at him in tears. Meliodas looks at Elizabeth unamused, while Y/N tries to hold it together, a mug in hand.

"Oh, yeah. They're no shortage of scraps for me tonight" Hawk says, walking over.

"Wanna help her?" Meliodas asks. Y/N looks at him.

"...Meh," Y/N says, before taking a drink of her ale.

"Ha! You haven't done any hard work a day in your life, have you?" Mead says.

"Uh, I"

"Oh, it's totally obvious. You completely suck at this job" The Auntie walks over to Mead.

"Now that's enough. Don't you start mouthing off again" Auntie says. Mead jumps "Didn't you learn your lesson today" She crosses her arms "Children who get too big for their bridges get taken out and left in the Forest of White Dreams"

"Oh, no! Not there" Mead pleads.

"Forest of White Dreams?" Elizabeth asks.

"It's a place so spooky, even Holy Knights won't travel through it" Mead explains. He turns around to Auntie "Oh, Auntie. I promise I'll be good, I'll behave. Anything but that"

"And just why should I believe you?" She says.

"I promise. I swear!"

"Don't try putting one over on me" Elizabeth looks out the window "I've got my eye on you" Later, Meliodas is cleaning a mug, while Y/N is sitting in the chair drinking more ale. They then both hum and share a quick look.

"Shouldn't you two see what's up? We just had a princess run out of here" Hawk says "Aren't you gonna make her feel better" Meliodas walks away.

"Hmm, gotta go pee," He says. Hawk looks to Y/N, who stands up.

"Meh," She says and leaves.

"Man, my bosses are real slackers," Hawk says "Guess I'm the one in charge of bringing home the bacon around here now"

==

Outside, Elizabeth is sat on the cliff. Legs cross, looking up at the sky. She hears two pairs of footsteps and turns to see Y/N and Meliodas walking her way.

"Oh, Sir Meliodas. Lady Y/N"

"Hey," Meliodas says. Y/N nods. She takes off her coat and wraps it around Elizabeth, who instantly gets a smell of cinnamon.

"You'll catch a cold" Y/N says.

"Thank you" Y/N and Meliodas then stare up at the sky and move around.

"I'm sorry. I know I'm supposed to be working now. But when I saw Mead and the villagers it brought up a lot of memories I have of my father" Meliodas and Y/N walks past her, looking up.

"Is that right?" Meliodas says, putting her hand on his head to block the light from shining into his eyes.

"I just hope he's okay" Elizabeth wraps the coat around her tighter.

"Around here, maybe?" Y/N says. Meliodas shrugs, doing the same.

"I shouldn't do this. It's no time to mope around feeling homesick"

"A little more to the left?" Meliodas says, moving Y/N and himself left.

"But I've seen so many good people suffer by the Holy Knights, and I know they are. But with a princess like me, the chances don't seem too good"

"Well, you found us, didn't you?" Meliodas says. Elizabeth turns to look at them, who are staring away, looking up at the sky.

"Come on, if you hadn't been trying everything you could to help your people then stumble into our place," Y/N says as she and Meliodas turns "You'd had no chance at all"

"So, you're saying there's something I'm meant to do," Elizabeth says.

"Exactly," Meliodas says, and he and Y/N turn back around looking serious "Right now, there's something we've got to do" Suddenly two spears come towards Meliodas and Y/N, fast. And the two quickly catch onto the spears before being pulled with them. They've pulled down the hill by the spears.

"Sir Meliodas! Lady Y/N! No!" Elizabeth says, looking over the edge at the two getting pulled quickly. They hit the bottom, jumping away and being pushed through the building. Meliodas's shirt ripping in the process, showing his mark and Y/N's hair being pushed to the side, showing her mark. The two move in directions to slow down the spear before they come to a stop. Y/N smirks before they stand up straight and spins around, throwing the spear back the way it came. Later, all the villagers come back to the village after the chaos. Hawk and Elizabeth, who is still wrapped in Y/N's coat, comes running towards Meliodas and Y/N.

"So glad we found you!" Elizabeth says. Meliodas and Y/N are sitting on the ground "Sir Meliodas, Lady Y/N, was that spear from the holy knight who left his sword in the ground" They stand up, holding their bleeding hands.

"Probably so," Y/N says, rolling her shoulder, "I think this is our cue to leave here as soon as we can"

"But, what if Vanya village is attacked again?"

"I think they'd be in a lot more dangerous if we stayed"

"Would be nice if we could find someplace to hide out?" Hawk says.

"What a minute..." Elizabeth says, and the three look to her.

"What is it?"

"Earlier tonight, Mead said he'll do anything to not be taking to the Forest of White Dreams. In fact, he said even Holy Knights stayed clear of the place"

"Really? Sounds good to me"

"That settle's it then," Meliodas says "Except, were not going to be hiding out. 'Cause we're going to be doing exactly what we should"

"What do you mean by that?" Hawk asks.

"You don't think...?"

"Yep. And we bet that one of us are living there" Y/N says. Elizabeth smiles.

"Okay, let's find another sin!"

"Right!" At Sunrise, they make their way out of the village. Continues their adventure to find the Sins.

[nighttimepixels]

I LOVE tytanttortoise’s version of soulmates. Mind if i ask what the ladies would respond to finding their soulmate? Please and thank you.

Oh man, this is a good one - I’ll admit, I can be a bit of a sucker for the soulmate trope. (and I love @tyranttortoise and her takes to death)

(also, sidenote on the soulmate front, are you guys following @popatochisssp?? because you should be! They’re a hilarious delight and a fantastic human being and are currently writing a series of oneshots about the skeleguys and their soulmates called Make Your Mark that is obscene levels of adorable and I totally recommend, along with all their writing & hot skele-takes! ♡ )

There’s a delightful not-so-guilty pleasure in the idea of soulmates in the contexts of UT & AUs; see, my interpretation falls in the category of ‘soulmates are people who are so perfectly compatible it transcends any other kind of resonance you have with people who get you’. It’s not so much fate forcing you together as it is… someone who’s just right. Puzzle pieces, you know? 3D ones, that interlock perfectly and make a stronger unit together. ♡

I’m also a big ol’ softie who loves her fluff and happy endings, so, y’know. X)

For transparency’s sake I’ll clarify that I’m not making soulmates canon to the Lilytale fic, but I love indulging in soulmate aus, so… I’ll answer this for those delightful ‘what-if’ scenarios anyways >:)c

That said! I’m beyond tempted to wax on about the girls, but here goes an effort to not be too long-winded (//▽//)ゞ below the cut!

first edit: (post Serif’s) ahaha nope this is long, hope you guys have fun with what turned into a series of super gay minifics

SECOND EDIT: ooookay, this turned into minific central! Below are soulmate setups for Serif, Vellum, and Crimson.

…. -sweats- it got… long.

So, if you want more of these… let me know! Leave a comment too, letting me know what you liked - doing just this much took more time than I meant, woops, so it's nice to hear if anyone's actually into it. X)

To clarify, this isn’t going to be a ‘soul mark’ situation - rather, I’ll work under the parameters that soulmates aren’t something you immediately realize.

For this post, soulmates are someone you are naturally drawn to…

But there’s got to be a moment, right? So… we’ll say that the ‘moment of realization’ only comes when you first kiss your soulmate.

Shhhh don’t @ me I love me some shoujo-tastic fluffy romance ;v;

Serif:

She didn’t think she had a soulmate.

They’re rare, after all; 2 souls, that compatible? Stars, after everything she’s been through… she’s just happy to have a cute s/o like you.

You’ve been dating for a while - she’s not the pushy type, not in the least, and hell, you were friends for well over a year before you’d woken up, leaning against her after a movie marathon turned sleepover… and her hand, tangled in your hair, slowed from it’s gentle stroke. She’d ended up admitting she liked you, to turn a long story short, with a casual matter-of-factness that was just so her - and the way she’d ended up grinning at you when you'd flustered and spluttered… You can’t help but wonder if she wasn’t hoping to hear your laugh.

Of course, you’ve been dating for a little while now. Life was busy, and hell, being friends for long enough, you weren’t in a rush - you held hands, cuddled, even went out on dates to her and now your favorite bar and grill, Charby’s -

She’d kissed your cheek goodnight so, so many times.

Stars, it was so close to your lips, but every time you nearly had the courage to try and sneak a proper kiss by turning your head into her motion - well, you got awfully distracted by the way her eyelights glimmered in the night, looking at you with a softness and focus and something that just stopped every thought in your head…

Maybe that’s why you were so caught off guard when she was dropping you off, one easy shortcut from Charby’s to your front stoop - and instead of turning her head to kiss your cheek at the last moment as always…

She didn’t turn.

Her mouth caught yours, gentle, something like the brush of a butterfly, one that fluttered your stomach as your heart skipped a beat -

And suddenly, everything… clicked. You had no idea how, no idea why, what this was - but it was like you’d been looking at the world through a tilted lens without even realizing it… and her kiss had set it right.

Her breath rushed out of her, her hand tightening in yours, her gaze meeting yours -

And suddenly, suddenly magic tears were welling in her eyesockets. You panicked, torn between laughing in giddy joy and confusion, your hands coming up to wipe them away, questions as to what was wrong on your tongue -

Her hands met your cheeks at the same time, wiping away tears that you hadn’t realized were falling down your own face.

“fuck,” she whispered, a single word that had you laughing wetly for how reverent it sounded coming from her, from your Serif, from- “you’re my soulmate.”

There were a million questions you could have asked - you’d heard the term, knew they were real, but there was so much unknown, so many questions all at once-

Instead, you kissed her.

Nothing, nothing had ever felt so right.

She kissed you right back, laughing and curling her arms around your waist, floored that… that she could have been so lucky. The kiss is breathless and passionate and eventually turns sweetly, mutually languid as she holds you ever closer...

It’ll take a long time for her to feel like she isn’t dreaming, but who’s she to question a good dream? For you… she’d dream forever, wouldn’t she.

Vellum:

Rare was it, a day that passed without your gorgeous skeleton lady-knight in stylish armor didn’t sweep you off your feet.

Literally.

Vellum loved it - loved the feel of you in her arms, loved hearing your bright, flustered laughter, loved the light that sparkled in your eyes, loved the way your arms wrapped around her to stick close.

You were the sun in the sky to her, and stars, she loved getting to be the one to see you rise, again and again, day after day. And when you were feeling low… well, she was just as willing to be the clouds that pillowed you and gave you a break from the pressures of everyday life-

Hm. Maybe that metaphor got away from her a bit.

But still!! The fact was, she loved you, and she knew it. You’d known each other for long enough, even if she was a little nervous about accidentally applying ‘pressure’, as she’d learned might happen from admitting such things too early-

But she just… she knew it. Down to her soul. She’d wait, of course, and besides there was so much to do first and she’d delight in every step of your newly confirmed relationship-

So… why was it she felt like her skull was about to burst as you leaned closer to her, your arms looped around her neck, that look in your eyes-

Kiss her!

Every ounce of her magic was clamoring that this was that soul-pounding moment, where it felt right to kiss you, and clearly you felt the same, and oh my stars her skull was sweating nearly as bad as Serif’s when she was caught sneaking that annoying (but damnably cute) dog into their house the first time-

KISS HER!!

She swooped in, riding on pure instinct and what felt like every butterfly in the world crammed into her ribcage trying very much so to be literally anywhere but that location.

…

She was many things! Strong, tall, extremely clever, definitely a puzzle master, a (now) excellent cook, quite the snappy dresser thank you very much, a brilliant strategist for escape rooms, very athletic and coordinated-

-as it turned out, smooth with the first kiss, she was not.

Her forehead smacked into yours, and you nearly tumbled off the couch you were both sitting on for your MTT marathon, and the popcorn fell off her lap and scattered everywhere as you both yelped at the pain-

She tried to scramble to catch you in the same moment, succeeding only in tangling your legs and knocking half the snacks off the coffee table as she too tumbled off the couch, 90% limbs, stars help her-

With an ungainly thud and mutual groan, you two ended up in a heap on the floor, snacks joining you for the party in a mess that even Serif would be proud of.

“OH, BUTTER BISCUITS…” she groaned, attempting to rub her head as she cleared it - only to find her hand otherwise occupied. It was, in fact, occupied by your own grasping hand, attempting to steady yourself from your newfound position post-injury-

Splayed on top of her, chest to chest, all but straddling her.

Suddenly, the room felt very, very hot. Hotland hot. Oh stars help me, I’m very gay, oh no she’s hot and I’ve injured her but also please don’t move or also ever remember what just happened hot-

Vellum could tell she was blushing by the low lights in the room doing ill to cover the glow over her cheekbones.

Vellum could tell you were blushing by the gorgeous shade your cheeks took on, the heat creeping down to your neck and even over your ears as you seemed to freeze, realizing your position in the same moment-

A slew of apologies were on the tip of Vellum’s summoned tongue, really. You would have heard them all-

If you hadn’t suddenly gotten a terribly brave and attractive look in your eyes, flushed cheeks aside - and swooped down to press your lips to her mouth.

For the rest of your lives, the story changes as Vellum tells it - sometimes she’s successful in gallantly catching you, others she’ll admit to fumbling it in the first place - but what never changes…

What never changes is how she compares it to seeing the sun rise for the first time.

To breathing fresh air, free of the underground’s stagnation, for the first time.

To realizing that for the first time in her life, she… she was free. And she had purpose - any purpose she wanted in life…

Because you… being with you… that was the reason the sun rose in the morning, to her. That kiss sealed it. Your futures, building and twining together - that kiss sealed it. Tackling all of life’s excitement, it’s lows and highs, it’s beauty and it’s struggles…

In that moment, it crashed through both of you, bursting open a damn and sealing something that deep down, you both realized you’d very nearly already known.

Neither of you thought to clean up the mess scattered about you for hours to come.

After all… Vellum was nothing if not very driven to be the best in everything she did. And you… well, you were her incredible soulmate, and she would show you just how much that meant to her, how much you meant to her - every day, for the rest of your lives.

Crimson:

The first time you kiss…

Is the first time you meet.

It wasn’t, in fact, a hook up - though when you’d walked into the busy bar, Crimson had done a double take immediately. Stars, you were… something. She knew a lot of people from all walks of life, knew how to get a vibe for what they were like, knew that sometimes some people just really vibed.

She’d never felt as drawn to someone before.

Naturally, she balked.

She wasn’t looking for a relationship - sure, sure, they were on the Surface, sure that seemed solid, no more screwy time-space anomalies, but… there was a lot to do, see, experience. It’d been a few years, yeah, but - she was a boss monster. She had a hell of a lot of life ahead of her - she didn’t… do serious. Not yet, anyways.

… Not even if she laid awake sometimes, hands folded behind her head and staring out the skylight she’d personally installed in her bedroom ceiling… just… wondering what it would be like to look up with… someone, someone who cared… tucked against her side.

… No, no. It was just - you’re gorgeous, it was obvious. Hell, if anyone insinuated otherwise, she’d either scoff or, maybe, deck them - as a service, obviously. Clearly they needed some sense knocked into ‘em, after all.

But uh, maybe you were… too good for her to… try and hook up. You were laughing with a friend - not alone, anyways. She’d see if you were down to dance, when a good song came on, just - eh, she was overthinking it-

She threw back her shot, waved at her friend the bartender to bring her another round, slammed that one back -

Aaaand tugged another girl to the dance floor.

What? She had standards.

… You met ‘em, at least from a distance, dammit. If she wasn’t gonna hook up with you, she had to burn of some kinda energy before approaching you and seeing if she was just too damn horny for her own good or if maybe she was still half-decent at reading souls and you’d be the kinda person she could… not… hook up with-

Of course, she couldn’t notice the way your own eyes had caught her as she disappeared into the dance floor’s crowd with another girl in tow. Didn’t catch the way your friend teased you for the distraction, following your line of sight… couldn’t know that they’d also given you a heads up, being a frequent visitor to this bar themselves, that Crimson wasn’t exactly the serious type, just so you were… forewarned.

Instead, all she knew was about an hour later, after a brief but very fulfilling trip to the back hallway and a closet Crimson could break into in her sleep, she exited a few minutes after her liaison with the other girl that had decided she was good for the night and left the bar -

After that, all she knew was she saw you, on one edge of the dance floor. Your friend wasn’t there. Three guys, however, were, and they were getting decidedly and unwantedly friendly.

Crimson hadn’t survived this long with half-assed instincts, or without developing an uncanny ability to read faces and body language - or, with a little more special a skill, read the intent of a soul.

You didn’t even see her coming, and startled when you heard Crimson’s voice from behind the guys that had zeroed in on you while you waited for your friend to get back from the bathroom.

“there ya are, cariña- sorry for takin’ so long.”

Two of the guys stumbled as her hulking form shouldered past them. Her grin was practically sultry - she swore she heard your heart skip a beat, but with all the bass thrumming through the room, surely that was her imagination.

Your blush and confusion wasn’t - but just as quickly, she saw you cotton on, and a flash of relief went through your gaze. She slung her arm around your shoulders, grin crooked and eyesockets lidded as she winked at you, ignoring the now blustering men.

“y’ wouldn’t believe the request i heard this guy give the dj- it was real obvious taste wasn’t his forte.”

You snorted.

Fuck, you were cute.

Your hands clapped over your mouth, but you were giggling, clearly not expecting her excellent humor, and Crimson grinned wider, snickering herself before the dumbasses who’d been bothering you and not taking a hint decided to prove how bad they were at this whole hint thing.

“Why the fuck didn’t you say you were seeing someone, c’mon,” one of them whined. The look Crimson shot him shut him up, and not for the first time her temper threatened to get away from her-

But then, another one of the morons spoke up.

“Oh please, don’t act, you’re too cute for someone like this bitch-”

Crimson didn’t even have time to misplace that temper.

The next moment, you’d grabbed her by the furry trim of her collar and tugged down and-

You were kissing her.

Later, she found out you’d done it not just to shut up the ‘total jerk’, but also to prove a point because you had noticed her, thought she was cute and ‘also rudely hot, I mean really, there you were just- just walking-’, and you couldn’t stand by that guy insulting her or your taste so with a little liquid courage burning an empty belly you’d gone for it because guys like these didn’t really accept words-

In the moment, though, the bar didn’t matter. The idiot guys she was half inclined to toss through the door herself didn’t matter. The pulse of the beat, the fact that, er, well, she’d just screwed the brains out of a girl in a supply closet and left her very satisfied, thank you- that didn’t matter-

Because you were kissing her, and holy shit, you were her soulmate.

Apparently, the rest of the world ceased mattering in the same moment, because when Crimson’s arms scooped you up and turned you around, pressing your back against the wall as her hand dragged along your thigh, your arms wrapped desperately around her neck and your legs, gods, your perfect legs wrapped around her hips-

…. Yeah, safe to say, you both forgot about the room. Neither of you had a damn clue what happened to those assholes that had been bothering you.

Eventually, when she broke the kiss to allow you, her perfect, breathless, soulmate a moment to breathe - her hands clutched you closer, one hand sliding into your hair. Her forehead met hers, her own breathing rough, her red eyelights dilated and fuzzy.

“soulmate,” she whispered, almost disbelieving. The reverence in her voice could have shaken mountains to dust.

Her…? You, her soulmate?

She didn’t know your name, didn’t know anything about you. She would though, and she just… knew, whatever you were like… gods, she was crazy about you. Fucked up, soul-scarred, battle-worn her…

What did she have to offer you? She - well, she was a fair hand at a bunch of shit, sure. Was kinda, secretly, wealthy… thanks to some of her inventions. But she had so much blood and dust on her hands, and… she didn’t regret all of it. She’d do it again, and she knew that had to make her an awful person -

Hell, she’d always assumed… well, as much as she craved a soulmate, as many times as she’d recounted fairy tales in Scarlet’s youth to her about older, better times, about the hope a soulmate brought a monster…

….. She never thought she’d be one of the lucky few to actually have a soulmate.

She didn’t deserve this. Didn’t deserve you. 

Fuck, she’d never let you go.

You’d cursed, then, looking awed, and it startled a laugh from Crimson. She was grinning, beaming, hoenstly, and the expression felt foreign on her skull… as did the flush stealing over her cheeks. Would getting to know you inspire… this? But stars… you were blushing too, and maybe, just maybe, Crimson could get used to the feeling if it meant she could see that look on your face.

That warmth, that… excitement, that hope-

You were hers. And fuck, if only you knew - if only you knew how much she was yours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

after note: can I just say… thank you so much to anyone who leaves a comment, whether a reply or a tag squeal?

I know it’s no chapter update, but these kinda posts take a while, so… seeing people like it enough to leave a little thought or bit of excitement one way or another beyond a like means a lot. You cuties are the majority of why I’ll take the time to sit down and write all this! I appreciate you deeply, and trust me when I say I read every comment ;//////;

Lilytale is such a… niche AU, so it means a lot to get any kind of interaction/feedback for it. Hearing that it means something to you cuties… well, that just makes my day in ways I can’t really describe.

[lunamadhatter99]

Panic

Part 3

So.. here's part 3, thank to whoever likes this series, I appreciate it so much!❤️

Btw, during my series you're gonna notice my little soft spot for Diggins, hope you guys don't mind. And as always if you want to be tagged you can tell me here too.

Also, let me know know what you think❤️❤️

Chapter summary: more about their life, some questions about the next challenge etc. Also.. a little non-date happens. And something gets interrupted 😉

Chapter warnings: none except Dodge being a bit more flirty than usual😂

Tag list: @jillo0315 @one-edgy-bitch @shenevertricks1831 @girlygirl-20 @stuckinthesmalldoor @mixed-theater-faisty-tings

"Morning" I say as Dodge enters Dot's.

"Good morning to you too" he replies.

As we get ready for the customers to come we talk for a while, about panic yes, but also about her sister, we became friends as soon as Dodge introduced us.

At some point some boxes of supplies arrive so I offer to move them while he's busy with the tables.

I'm moving some boxes to the back, they're pretty heavy, so I move as slowly and carefully as I can.

"Need help?" He ask, I can feel a teasing tone there I think.

"Nah... I'm perfectly fi-" I got cuf off my the box on top almost falling, making me move quickly to balance everything, but also making me almost fall.

'Almost' because Dodge is quick to help, holding me by my waist.

"Perfectly fine. Yes, I see that" he tease.

His arms still on my waist, I turn around to look at him and reply, but I realise we're mere inches apart.

It took all my strength to not look at his lips in that moment, but I miserably fail for just a second. He notices though, he smiles, embarrassed, but he smiles. I'm pretty sure I'm blushing hard. Thankfully the door bell rings and we both turn around to see Heather, Natalie and Bishop entering. They send me a weird teasing look.

"I got it" Dodge says, taking the heavy boxes.

"Thanks" I basically whisper.

I walk towards my friends, to see what they want to order. So I take the order to the kitchen and then back to them.

"What was that back there?" Natalie asks.

"I.. took your order to the kitchen" I innocently answer.

"You know what I mean" she replies.

"Mmh.. nope" I insist.

"She's playing innocent" Heather says.

"Definitely" Bishop agrees.

"I'm not playing anything" I simply say.

They sceptically look at me, while I clean the counter.

When their order is ready I go to take it from the kitchen, but it's Dodge who brings it to me.

"Here you go" he says handing me the food "don't worry, I got it" he kindly says referring to the other customer.

"Thank you" I say.

I bring the food to Natalie, Bishop and Heather.

"I'm sure that was nothing too right?" Natalie says sarcastically.

"Oh shush" I reply.

"He's nice. Hot" she comments pointing to Dodge cleaning behind the counter.

"Yeah" I agree almost too immediately, getting distracted when Dodge bends over to grab something.

"Hey. Keep your eyes where they belong." Bishop teases and I turn around to look at him.

"Oh they are, trust me" Natalie answers for me, winking at me.

"Don't we have anything else to talk about?" I ask.

"Do you think that now that the judges know who we are, they're watching us?" Heather asks. Thankfully.

"Of course they're watching" Natalie answers "how else are they gonna get Intel on all the players? They're probably tracking where we work, and live, and hang out. Watching what we do when we think there's no one watching, keeping tabs on who we're with. They're studying all the players"

"Basically, they're creeping on us all" I summarise, to which Natalie nods and Bishop and Heather laugh.

The door bell rings again.

I roll my eyes seeing Ray entering the café.

"What. No invitation?" He asks.

"Nope" Heather answers.

He put himself between Heather and Bishop, anyway. Staring at me with that stupid smirk on his face.

"We were actually just leaving" Bishop says.

Natalie sends me an apologetic look to which I answer mouthing a "Don't worry".

"I'm just saying hello to the new kid" Ray says, standing up.

"Let's get out of here" Heather says as they all walk out.

"A bit late for that, don't you think? He's been here all year basically" I tell him crossing my arms.

"Better late than ever" he shrugs, ringing the bell on the counter to catch Dodge's attention.

I roll my eyes taking a deep breath.

Ray keeps ringing that damn bell until Dodge comes in and grabs the bell.

"Can I help you with something?" He asks handing him the menu.

"Yeah" Ray pretends to look at the menu "go ahead and give me the fuck you. I'm here to help you."

I sigh rolling my eyes cleaning some glasses.

"Look.. I know you're the new guy in town, and you probably heard about the game, and you probably heard it was one big fucking hard-on-"

"Get to the point?" Dodge interrupts him.

"The point is, Panic's a local game. We made it. We run it. We keep it a secret. Strangers aren't welcome." Ray explains.

"All graduating seniors are eligible to play the game, right?" Dodge replies.

"And a very few are eligible to win."

"I was pretty eligible when I got those 25 points from the jump"

Ray answers laughing, just laughing.

"I like you, I do. I like a man ain't afraid to get his ass beat. It's gonna make it all that much sweeter when I beat his ass." He says, making his way to walk out.

"See you soon baby" he says to me.

"In your fucking dreams" I reply not looking at him, but at the glass I was cleaning.

"Oh.. trust me, you're always always in my dreams" and with that he walk out.

"Charming" Dodge comments.

"It's been like this since... ugh.. I don'tknow... forever" I sigh.

"Is it true then?" He asks.

I look at him, he doesn't though. His jaw clenching.

"What is?" I ask confused. 

"That you two.. were together?" He says. He seems angry.. or even jealous.. what's up with him these days?

"In a way. It was... I don't know, 3 years ago.. or a bit more. There was a party and I just wanted to get it over with, you know. And.. yeah it happened" I explain.

"So.. it was just a night" he says.

"Yeah, he just like to think I was in love, completely and utterly in love with him, you know" I assure him.

"Mh" he simply mutters. He seems more relaxed though, good.

"Why do you ask?" I ask amused.

"No reason. Didn't like the idea of him having something like this to be proud of" he finally looks at me, tenderly smiling.

I'm speechless, I'm just blushing I'm afraid.

He can't be jealous, can he? Why would he in the first place?

I turn to look at the glass I'm still holding.

I hear him slightly laughing and moving towards me, leaning down.

"Mayne I'm kind of jealous too" he whispers before going back to clean the counter like nothing happened.

I swear if he keeps doing this I might lose it.

I've always found him cute.. hell he's very handsome, okay. When we felt more comfortable with each other we used to slightly flirt, but it was only a joke.. or so I thought. Now he just smiles at me a lot more, openly worries about me, that little talk in his car yesterday about him not liking one bit me living alone is a good example. And he admits he's jealous of Ray.. what..

I quickly look at him only to find him already looking at me amused.

Thankfully my phone ringing distracts us both.

I look at the text from Natalie.

"The next challenge will be at the granary, for sure. We're looking for a start time"

She quickly adds "Don't tell the competition"

Probably referring to Dodge.

I roll my eyes at that.

"Everything good?" Dodge's voice snaps me out of my thoughts. 

"Yeah" I get closer to him, I don't want everyone else to hear "the next challenge will be at the granary. Natalie just texted me that. They're probably looking for the time. Natalie also asked me not to tell you. But I'm sure you're smart enough to found the clue by yourself. Right?" I tell him smirking.

"Very smart." He nods "so.. any idea what kind of challenge is gonna be?"

"I think it's still gonna be something 'easy'. Like a crossing. But I wouldn't bet on it." I reply.

"We'll just have to wait" he shrugs. "Right?"

"Yeah" I agree.

"Hey..uhm.. want to come over later? Dayna's been bothering me so much, she wants to learn how you do your bracelets" he casually say.

"Oh" I smile "sure why not"

"We can order something" he offers, just as casually. Does he want me to stay that long?

"Sure" I simply answer, smiling.

"You then put the bead here and the trick is done" I explain to Dayna as I show her how to do one of my bracelets.

"That's.. actually easy" she comments laughing.

"Yeah, I had the same reaction. You just need to practice, that's all" I tell her smiling.

"Thank you, I've been wanting to do this for so long. Finally Dodge asked you" she says sending a weird look to Dodge, who was drinking some coffee watching us.

"You're welcome. Now will you stop bothering me and my colleague?" He jokes.

"It's not a bother at all, anytime you want I'm available" I tell Dayna.

"See? She likes me" Dayna says.

"She's just being nice" Didge replies.

I roll my eyes laughing at the two siblings.

"Fine, she's all yours" Dayna finally says.

"Oh don't leave me with him" I jokingly say.

"You accepted to stay for dinner, you're stuck with me" Dodge simply says, walking to his room expecting me to follow him.

"See you later"

"Thank you again, Y/n" Dayna smiles at me.

"What do you want for dinner?" He casually asks as he sat on his bed turning his laptop on.

"Anything is fine, really" I tell him honestly as I sit beside him.

"Well I'm asking you" he looks at me smiling. "whatever you like, princess" he teases again.

"You're playing with fire, Mason"

"Then tell me what you'd like and I'll stop" he offers.

"What about pizza?" I ask him.

"That's exactly the only thing I don't want" he says, faking seriousness. 

I slightly shove him "then you're not gonna eat anything at all today, I'm afraid"

"I can think of something else to eat... but that's for another time" he teases.

I can feel myself blushing hard, I turn my head to look at everything but him.

"So.. want to watch a movie while we wait?" He asks, laying down on his elbows.

"Yeah..Sure" I stutter.

He puts on a movie I can't pay attention to at the moment, because he's close, very close to me.

What's happening to me? I can't catch feelings now, it's already hard being friends and playing panic at the same time... if we start to feel something for each other.. it could get so much more complicated...

If this was a different situation I'd definitely take a shot, I mean c'mon... Dodge is like the whole package. He's sweet, smart, caring and undeniably hot.

fuck.

"You good there?" Dodge asks out of the blue.

"Uh?" I look at him.

"You good?"

"Oh.. yeah yeah sure" I shake my head focusing again on the movie, but I still feel his stare on me.

"You're blushing" he says.

I can feel him smiling.

"I'm not" I say.

"Then why don't you look at me?" He teases.

"Because we're watching a movie" I say as matter of fact.

"Look at me" he asks "please?"

I sigh and turn my face to look at him only to find him pretty close to me.

"Uhm..."

"Definitely blushing" he says, I see his gaze falling to my lips.

He's leaning closer and closer, but before anything could happens Dayna calls for us because the pizza has arrived.

Dodge sighs, disappointed.

"We better go" I say.

"Unfortunately" he answers looking at me.

"Thank you again" Dayna says as I walk to the door.

"You're more than welcome, it was my pleasure" I smile at her before heading out with Dodge.

"Thank you for that. It meant a lot to her" Dosge says as we walk, he insisted on walking me home.

"I mean it, it was my pleasure, I enjoy her company too," I tell him.

A comfortable silence fell between us.

As we get closer to my house he speaks again.

"Any plans for tomorrow?"

"Actually yes, Natalie wants me and Heather to go to hers to 'do our homework' which means studying the players and all possible challenges" I answer.

"Ooh so you're gonna tell them all my secrets?" He teases.

"Oh for sure. You won't stand a chance" I laugh "but for real, I won't tell them anything. That's not how I want to win."

"I know.. not that you need to use them against me to win" he says.

"That's right" I laugh again. "The only thing I care about is that Ray doesn't win"

"Oh we'll make sure of that" he states.

As I'm about to speak I receive a text.

It's Natalie.

"Tomorrow at 10pm"

"Cool"

"What?"

"The challenge, at the granary tomorrow at 10pm" I inform him.

"No clue on what the challenge could be?"

"Nope. But as I told you, it could be a crossing.. most likely, so you get more point based on how fast you are" I explain.

"Nice" he says nodding.

We arrive at my house. 

"Thank you for walking me, you definitely didn't have to" I tell him.

"It was my pleasure" he says, mimicking my voice.

I shove him away, making him laugh.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Mason" I tell him while I walk to the door.

"Goodnight Princess!" He say starting to walk back home.

I roll my eyes and enter.

It's gonna be so complicated now.

[resident-mercie]

Leon S. Kennedy - Fluff Fic - Love Me. (Valentine's Fic). (1/?) (SFW).

notices: angst

The note fell out of my work locker, as I stared at it completely dumbfounded, smiling back at me coyly. It didn't read much, aside from a "Be Mine? x" with no signature, written in a style of handwriting I'd simply never seen before. My fingers shakingly clutched the note, as I pocketed it, closing my locker, before yelling out.

"Claire! Jill! We have a situation, damnit!"

"Oh, c'mon." Jill laughed, looking at the note herself. "It's just someone liking you. No big deal. You could just pretend you never saw it if you don't want the Valentine's Day hassle. It's a pretty small card after all."

"It's not that. We don't know who the hell put that there! It definitely wasn't there my last shift!" I shook my head, giving a sarcastic laugh. "I hate Valentine's Day so much."

The three of us sat around the table, coffees in hand. We worked at an uptown patisserie place, which Jill herself bought after surviving the disaster that happened in Raccoon years prior. There were only a handful of employees, but we all worked well together and had a lot of fun baking treats and serving them. Jill employed the group of us that managed to flee with our lives, meaning our core workforce was made up of myself, Claire and her brother Chris Redfield, Carlos Oliveira, and Leon S. Kennedy, as well as Jill herself. We all got along incredibly well, which made working at the patisserie seem more like fun than a chore.

"This is easy to figure out. Neither me or Claire put it there, meaning it's one of the three guys." Jill passed the note on to Claire, who studied it thoughtfully.

"It's not Chris." Claire shook her head, the card still in her hand. "He would've told me if he was gonna pull some shit like that. Besides, it's clear he's got his eye on Jill."

"Hey, shut up!" Jill laughed, her cheeks rosy. "Well, that narrows it down at least. It's gotta be Carlos or Leon then."

"I don't think it would be Carlos either." Claire handed the coy note back to me. "He kinda seems like the guy to make a grand gesture or something, y'know?"

"True, but we can't really rule him out as a possibility." Jill sipped her coffee. "Anyway, you're up next. You'll be serving with Leon, I think. We'll try and get some intel from Carlos." She gave you a playful nudge. "Relax though. It's only Valentine's! No big deal."

"Yeah, right." I rolled my eyes, getting up from my seat. "I'll see you guys later. Keep me posted."

I headed down the stairs, as Leon stood behind the counter, his delicate fingers deftly tightening his work apron around him.

"Oh, hi!" Leon smiled at me, brushing down the apron. "I'm sorry, but it's looking like a busy day ahead. A lot of people must be, uh, making a big gesture for Valentine's Day, huh?"

"You can say that again." I sighed, tightening my own apron.

"Is something wrong?" Leon turned to face me. "You can talk about it, if you'd like. Might make our shift go a bit quicker, huh?"

I shook my head. "No thanks. I'm sorry, I'm just not the biggest fan of Valentine's Day. It's not even Valentine's Day yet, but the whole week beforehand really gets me down."

I paused, realizing how much I'd said.

"Uh! Anyway, what's the agenda for today, Leon?"

"Oh!" Leon blinked at you, holding some pale pink dessert cases. "Well, with it being a couple of days before Valentine's Day, we've got a lot of collections coming up, on top of regular customers popping in too."

"I can box up the collections, if you'd like." I forced a smile, taking the cases from Leon's hands. I desperately wanted to be alone so I had the space to think.

"Sure." Leon gave me a reassuring smile and nodded. "Let me know if you needed anything, right? I'm here for you."

"Thanks, Leon." I managed to give him a sincere smile.

Leon was a pretty great guy. A little quiet and reserved, but he seemed loyal until the end. He'd lost some of the innocence that used to dance in his eyes ever since the Raccoon incident, and had looked a little harsher ever since. It didn't change the fact he was still happy to be working alongside myself and the others, but he definitely looked a little more tired since the time we first met. He was pretty nice to look at too – a simultaneously muscular let slender figure, mousy blonde hair styled into curtains, and had these beautiful, pale blue eyes. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought I was falling for the guy. But ever since what happened a few Valentine's Days ago, I don't think I could ever open up to someone on such a personal level like that again.

For the most part, I stayed in the back for my shift. I didn't even notice Leon go upstairs for his break. He was right – everyone really was going all out for Valentine's. Cupcakes, donuts, tiered cakes, all kinds of pastries in an array of white, pale pinks, and crimson hues. I clutched a piping bag of pearly white fondant, drizzling a trio of heart-shaped donuts with icing and edible sprinkles. All boxed up in the uniform pale pink cases, a little sticker with the patisserie's logo sealing everything together. Rinse and repeat for a dozen more boxes.

"Hey, sugar. The shifts almost over. You've been pretty busy, huh?"

Leon's voiced startled me as I was in the midst of piping another pastry, my icing bag slipping from my hand, and the icing spilling everywhere. All over the counter, the walls, and even my cheek.

"Ah, shit!" I threw the half empty icing bag across the counter in surprise, turning to face Leon. "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to react like that."

"Don't worry about it. You, uh, have a little something... here."

Leon delicately lifted my face to reach his, wiping away the smear of icing that adorned my cheek.

We stayed like that, just momentarily. Until I pulled away.

"Oh! Uh, thanks, Leon."

"Don't mention it." He smiled, undoing his apron, hanging it on one of the hooks drilled into the wall. "What're you planning for tonight, anyway?"

"Not a lot." I replied, deftly undoing my own apron. "Probably just a night infront of the TV. The usual, really."

"Ah, I see." Leon nodded, as we headed up the stairs where our lockers were. "You need me to walk you home? Jill left it to us to lock up."

"... Sure. I think that would be great, Leon." I smiled back at him, opening my locker to get my coat.

But as I opened my locker,

There was another note.

[i-want-all-the-cookies]

This is a birthday gift for @esma-nisa

I hope that you're birthday was great, that you got all the presents you wanted, and that you got zero calories from any of the cake or food you ate.

Now please accept this angsty Wolf.

Word Count: 1.4K

Wolf lit up his cigarette as he listened to your laughter bounce off the walls of Ganghak's utility room. His eyes steadily following your movements as he watched you place a hand over your mouth, in an attempt to stifle your laugh, as Hayden told another lame joke. Which had Hwangmo rolling his eyes in the background.

It had been a couple months since your fiery first appearance, during one of Yeongdeungpo's union meetings, and surprisingly even to Wolf you had assimilated easily into the Union's doings. And had also become quite comfortable in the company of plenty of the union members. Especially with Donald.

It seemed as if every time Wolf caught sight of you, you were always in Donald's presence. Tucked right under his shadow as you followed wherever he seemed to lead. But as far as Wolf's intel suggested you both were merely acquaintances, possibly even friends, and nothing more. At least for now. But he was aware of the way that Donald looked at you. The soft tone in his voice when he spoke to you, and sometimes Wolf thought he saw something flicker across your eyes when you looked back at him. Nodding your head in understanding as Donald captured your attention with his words and actions.

The smoke seemed to burn a little hotter down Wolf's throat at the thought, and his eyes shifted over to you again. His nose  scrunching up slightly in displeasure as he watched Hayden handing his phone over. Most likely for you to input your information into his contacts.

Wolf still couldn't figure out how Hayden always managed to get people's phone number and information so easily. Not that his skill didn't come in useful at times, just like now Wolf thought. Knowing that if he ever wanted your information, all he had to do was get it from Hayden, instead of dealing with Donald for it.

You handed Hayden his phone back just as Hwangmo came in to say something to you both. Your neck craning up to look at him as he spoke. Eyes completely focused on his face as a smile stretched across your features. You gave him a small nod, and Hwangmo looked over and stated that you were all going to grab some barbecued chicken.

Everyone started shuffling out the door before Wolf let out a stern, "Wait." Causing them all to stop in their tracks.

Wolf snubbed out the last of his cigarette onto the linoleum floor beneath him before addressing everyone. "Not you two." he stated pointing to Hwangmo and Hayden with his index and middle finger. "You guys can go on ahead, but I'm gonna need to speak to her for a minute first."

Hayden gave Hwangmo a nervous glance, but Hwangmo simply nodded his head towards Wolf and started walking out without question. Causing Hayden to clasp a soft hand to your shoulder as he murmured something to you before following Hwangmo, and shutting the door closed behind him.

You took a few steps forward getting closer to Wolf, as he walked to a filing cabinet by the side of the room, and pulled out some documents. You kept a small distance, with your hands linked behind your back, as you rocked on your heels and listened to Wolf's instructions. Not once looking him in the eye.

"Are you even listening to what I'm saying?" he questioned abruptly causing you to stop your rocking and nod your head earnestly.

"Yeah, of course I am." You quickly replied as you started repeating everything Wolf had just said to you back to him as proof. All the while still avoiding any eye contact with him.

He knew you that you must have heard about his three second rule, and that out of consideration, you were making a concious effort to not look at him. And as much as he appreciated the sentiment he couldn't help but to also feel incredibly annoyed and bothered by it.

Wolf let out a grumbled sigh as he took a step closer and continued his instructions. Pointing out details on the page and asking if you had any questions at the end. Only for you to shake your head with a soft "No." as you started to inspect your nail polish.

As if the pink paint on your nails was soo much more entertaining to look at than him, and he felt something inside finally snap. And without thinking, and running on pure instinct, he grabbed onto your shoulders and slammed you up against the nearest wall. A loud thud sounding out in the room as your back hit flat against the hard wall.

Wolf internally winced a bit at the sound. Not meaning to be so rough with you, and realizing a little too late that he was not used to manhandling someone with your body mass. As he was mostly used to dealing with bigger and thicker guys. He quickly made a mental note to be more gentle next time.

"What the fuck was that about asshole!" You angrily shouted at him once the shock of the impact passed through your system, and you began to push against his chest in a vain attempt to move him away from you.

"Hey. Stop that and listen." Wolf spoke out calmly as you continued to struggle against him.

When you didn't respond he merely let out an annoyed sigh before he grabbed onto your wrist, and quickly pinned them to the wall on each side of your head. He took a step closer, giving you no option but to calm down and look him in the face.

"The fuck is your problem Wolf!?" You exclaimed as you looked at him and sent him a murderous glare.

"Hey. What do you see?" he finally stated as the corners of his lips twitched slightly with amusement as your eyes finally locked with his.

Your eyebrows formed into a deep V of confusion on your forehead. "Huh?"

He took another step towards you. Stopping just short of bumping his nose with yours. The sweet scent of your strawberry lip gloss drifting up and temporarily playing with his senses as he took in a deep inhale. "I said. What do you see right now?"

Your lips formed into a pout as your eyes began to roam his face. Silently taking in his cold gray eyes, followed by long lashes that fell just a little short of brushing against the clear glass perched on his nose, the slight curl of lavender hair, and a full set of lips. That were currently set into a straight line as he waited for your response. You opened your mouth to speak, just to close it, before you opened it again. "I- I see you?"

This must have been the correct answer because Wolf took in a deep breath and then slowly released his grip on your wrist and took a couple steps back. Giving you your space again. You immediately started rubbing at your wrist as you grumbled out some complaints.

Wolf's eyes took in the red marks his hands had left on your skin, and he made another mental note of how easily he could bruise you. Telling himself he would have to be more careful with his hold on you the next time.

He then turned and took a few more steps away from you, and pulled a cigarette out from his pack and lit it up. Behind him he could heard the shuffling of your feet as you stomped towards the door, before there was a pause and you called out. "Hey! Aren't you coming to get some chicken too?"

Wolf turned to look at you. Your eyes meeting his again, as you waited for a response.

He took a deep inhale of his cigarette.

One

Held it for a second.

Two

Then slowly exhaled.

Three

Your eyes stayed locked with his, and your eyebrows slowly started rising in question. "So you coming or what?" You exclaimed irritably lifting your arms up for extra emphasis.

The beginnings of a smile started to appear on his face before he wiped it away and cleared his throat. "Yeah. I'm coming."

Wolf stomped his lit cigarette onto the floor. Scattering the brown tobacco under his shoe, before he started to take a step in your direction.

[sonnetthebard]

This is kind of a crack idea, but I don't really care and I'm throwing it out anyway

Curt and Owen have to go undercover in a show for a mission(keeping an eye on one of the members of the cast maybe?). The show? Either Spies are Forever or a Hatchetfield show, take your pick -S

S anon... you have been waiting a while for this, and I apologize. With Headless, I needed a moment to recharge. So this is going to be a Modern! SAF fic. And as a treat, we're going original cast in an AU. That's right folks. Extra meta content. You asked for crack, you're gonna get crack. Please note: Most of the stories pertaining to the real people involved in this oneshot are made up based on what facts I know about them/ what I’m able to pick up on personalities. I don’t know any of these people personally, though. This is going to be such a ride, so buckle up.

Genre: Comedy/ Action/ Fluff

Words: 5639

TL;DR: Curt and Owen take the stage in order to monitor Chimera and one of their operatives. The thing is, they only have a vague clue as to who they're going after: he was one of the writers.

TW: Swearing, Guns, Fighting- But not much, this is mostly just gonna be a joke.

_________________________________________________

"Next we have... Curt Mega?" The longer-haired one read off, looking at Curt. "Cool name! We might have to use that- if, of course, that's okay with you."

"Oh... yeah, that's fine." Curt chuckled softly.

What, precisely, was Curt doing? Only the thing he'd vowed to Owen that he would never do (other than, of course, leave him): auditioning for a musical. Owen was a total theatre kid, and he'd done his share of musicals. Curt was always in the audience, but he'd jokingly told Owen that he would never be joining him up there. But... here he was. In an audition room. Curt never broke promises, not even joke ones. But these were... extenuating circumstances. In other words, this was for a mission and he had no doubt that Cynthia would actually kill him if he didn't follow through with his orders. Owen gave him a sly, triumphant smirk from across the room, where he was waiting for his audition. Curt got up, following the guy back further into the studio where they were holding auditions.

This mission was an odd one. It was monitoring a potential operative with Chimera Worldwide. Sure, they had the world by storm now- but A.S.S. was getting intel telling them that they might be breaching the privacy rights of people all over the world. In fact, Chimera may be a lot more criminal than they would seem to the naked eye. There was evidence coming to light of plots that could very well end in world domination. The worst part: apparently they were pretty plausible. One world government, puppeted by Chimera. That's why MI6 had sent Owen, and A.S.S. had sent Curt. They were their best agents, and a duo that had proven to work well together.

What did all of that have to do with a musical? To the average joe, nothing. Oh, Chimera had done well. They'd even declined to offer these guys a production grant so as to not seem shady. But... the A.S.S. had reason to believe that one of the writers and producers for the show that they were about to audition for was an operative for Chimera. Now, this play in and of itself may be an independent project. It may have nothing to do with Chimera. But... it was looking like the easiest way to monitor this operative, and so here Curt and Owen were. Owen was thrilled! He loved doing shows. He usually had to slot them into his schedule carefully, though. He couldn't do them during missions. So a mission where he was doing theatre was basically a dream come true for him.

Curt and Owen had chosen roles according to their experience with theatre. Curt had chosen to keep his name as his theatrical stage name, and Owen already did keep his name as a stage name. It was risky, but it also provided their names with a solid cover in the world outside of espionage. Owen had a legitimate resume built. That was why he was going for the lead, currently named 'JB' for 'James Bond' (subject to change). Curt, on the other hand, had stolen his resume from another actor named Curt Mega (who had fully agreed to that and signed an NDA and luckily enough happened to look like Curt). He had literally no acting experience, so he was going for a smaller role: The Informant and Ensemble. Both would likely have eyes on different parts of the production process and the cast. Hopefully they'd get a good idea of what was going on and who their target was. Maybe they'd even get to eliminate the threat! That was Curt's favourite part of missions.

"So, Curt... you did Glee?" The guy who had initially called him asked as they walked.

"Yep!" Curt lied.

"I recognize you! You were one of the Warblers- nice job on that solo in Uptown Girl, by the way." The man chuckled. Oh good. He was passable as the other Curt Mega. "I did Glee too. I was only there for, like, an episode though. But my buddy Darren... well, you probably know him."

"Yeah. He did a phenomenal job as Blaine." Curt smirked. Darren was also on an NDA. The government was being extremely careful.

"I'm Joey Richter. Me and my friends Brian and Corey wrote this show." The man introduced himself, extending his hand. Curt took it, giving him a firm shake. Joey smirked. "Damn... you've got a good shake."

"Thanks." Curt chuckled. He liked this guy. It was hard to imagine right now that he could be talking to an agent for one of the greatest evils known to man since... probably the Nazis. "I'm Curt... I mean, you know that, I just..."

"Yeah, I get it." Joey chuckled along with him. They walked into a room. Inside there were four other men. Two sat behind a table, Curt's supposed 'resume' and headshots laid out in front of them, a stack of papers on the side. Two other men shared a piano bench stationed by a keyboard. None of them were dressed particularly formally. Actually, they were all dressed pretty similarly to Curt. Short-sleeved patterned button-ups were about as formal as it got. So Curt and his black, white and gold striped short-sleeved button-up were in good company. "Hey, guys! This is Curt!"

"Hey! Welcome to the auditions for Spies are Forever!" One of the men behind the table smiled brightly. God, all of these men looked... so innocent. Curt couldn't see any of them being traitors to their country, much less mankind.

"Okay, so that's Brian. The guy beside him is Corey." Joey introduced. Corey waved. "The two guys at the piano bench are Clark and Pierce, our composers and band."

"Hey, Curt." Clark smirked.

"You brought your sixteen bars?" Pierce checked.

"Yep." Curt nodded, popping his 'p' and passing him the binder with his sheet music in it.

He'd brought Being Alive from Company, which Owen said was "such a cliche" and "a terrible choice for a comic show", but it was the song Curt felt most comfortable singing. So he was singing it anyways. Owen was very adamant that Curt had to be careful to actually be cast in the show, but Curt held that that song was his best chance. Curt had always thought he was an okay singer. He had his range that he shined in, and he used that. He never performed though. He wasn't that good. That's why he was going for a mostly non-singing role. He went over his cut with Clark, who was actually the one who would be playing for him. Then he cleared his throat, took a deep breath and gave it the old college try.

The odd thing, Curt thought, was that they seemed very into it. Either they were being very nice to him or they were genuinely enjoying the performance. Curt was a bit surprised by that. Owen was the performer among the two of them. Curt supposed it could just be the song. But then... something else unexpected happened. They asked Curt to do his cold read as 'JB'... and change the name to his own. 'Agent Curt Mega'. It was all getting a bit real for Curt. They liked him. And they liked his cold read. They were laughing during his cold read- and at all the right times! Curt was very confused. This wasn't where he was supposed to shine. He walked out of the audition room, and Owen was called in.

Owen really could not have come out sooner. Curt was anxious. What had he just done? He had given it his best because he thought that the best that could get him was ensemble. Was it going to get him more? Was he ready for more? He was past the point of no return, but... God, what had he just done? Owen came out of his audition, smug and content with himself. Apparently they'd asked him to read multiple sides. Curt hadn't the heart to tell him they'd asked him to read for the lead. A few days passed. Curt almost forgot that he'd even auditioned. That it had been so successful. Basking in the California sun could do that to you. But three days later, it all came back to him all too vividly.

"Curt, I got the email!" Owen announced from where he was lazing on the couch across from Curt in their hotel room. He sat up quickly, eager.

"What does it say?" Curt asked eagerly, sitting up with him. Owen scrolled down on his phone.

"Well... I'm in the show..." Owen furrowed his brows. "But... not in the role I thought. I got Deadliest Man Alive."

"Oh." Curt frowned. "I'm sorry. I know you really wanted the lead."

"It seemed like a juicy part." Owen hummed, still a bit dazed by the rejection. "I was looking forward to it."

"I know, babe." Curt sighed, getting up and wrapping his partner in a hug. "Maybe this one will be even juicier!"

"Maybe..." Owen nodded. "Thank you, love. For trying to make me feel better."

"Yeah, no problem!" Curt smiled softly.

"Did you get your email?" Owen asked.

"I... haven't checked." Curt admitted.

"Well go on, then! Sit! We'll check together!" Owen urged him. Curt sighed, sitting beside him and opening his email. Owen peered over his shoulder. The email from the Tin Can Bros was the first one that popped up right at the top. "Open it, Curt!"

"Okay..." Curt chuckled nervously, pressing the email to open it. He scrolled down, sighing in relief. "I got in, O."

"Congratulations!" Owen cheered, grinning. he was genuinely happy for Curt, and excited to be in the same show. "What role?"

"Let me scroll down..." Curt chuckled, before his heart stopped. Naturally, his laughter stopped with it, and his face fell.

"Love, what is it?" Owen furrowed his brows, concerned by the sudden mood shift. Immediately, his mind went to the worst-case scenario. "Curt, is there anything in there indicating that we might be compromised?"

"No..." Curt shook his head, staring at the role.

"Then... darling, what's wrong?" Owen blinked, before looking over his shoulder. His face fell to a state of shock almost equal to Curt's when he read the words, bolded on the screen: We would like to offer you the role of 'JB', renamed Agent Curt Mega. "Oh..."

_________________________________________________

Rehearsals for Spies Are Forever were potentially one of the best times Curt had ever had. Everyone loved him! Apparently, his voice was much better than he'd given himself credit for, as was his acting. Even Owen admitted it. It turned out Curt was perfect for the role. The songs fit right for him, the personality was spot on... the spy was even gay! It was as though it was written specifically for him to perform. Curt truly was having the time of his life. And Owen was loving the role of Deadliest Man Alive. It turned out it was a significantly juicier role than Curt's- funny, dark. And he even had a minor side comedic role to take on, Dick Big. So he could flex his chops in different area. There was a bit of a minor complication with the characters, though.

It turned out Curt's was not the only name that they'd liked. The Tin Can Bros had thought Owen's name was absolutely perfect... for Curt's partner turned villain. Romantic partner turned villain, to boot. They liked the ship name Curtwen. Ironically, both Owen and Joey were playing versions of Agent Owen Carvour- Owen playing him when he was in disguise as Deadliest Man Alive, Joey playing him out of disguise. Owen didn't make a fuss- he couldn't in the position he was in. But he didn't like being portrayed that way, or his name being used that way. The truth was, Owen had used to be morally grey. He'd had a phase where he'd almost betrayed his country and Curt. He'd very nearly done some terrible things. He wouldn't way who for, but Owen had implied it might have been Chimera. But he and Curt had worked through that, and he saw the error of his ways. It hurt seeing his name associated with villainy again. But for the sake of the mission, he literally could not complain.

As for the mission, they weren't really getting too far yet- and that wasn’t for lack of effort. As hard as finding a balance between rehearsal and espionage was, they’d managed to find a routine and stick to it. The work they were doing really should have been productive for them. They'd bugged all three writers and the two composers, but HQ (who was monitoring those so that the boys could focus on rehearsing so that they didn’t become too suspicious) was saying that they'd not gotten any suspicious activity from those except for Joey constantly being with an unidentified girl. But it seemed like that was his girlfriend and not another operative. So either this operative was smart and onto them or taking a hiatus from their work. Background checks were pretty clean. They were going purely off their interactions with these writers, which wasn’t really helping. All five of them were lovely. All five of them were also extremely smart. And all five of them had acting experience. Right now, though... Joey, Clark and Pierce weren't their main suspects. Joey was just too genuine to be bad, as were Pierce and Clark. Plus, if we're looking at technicalities (as Owen tended to), Clark and Pierce were composers, not writers. It was between Brian and Corey- unless something changed. Truly, it was anyone's game.

Owen and Curt were on break. It had been a hard day of rehearsal so far. Curt had just had to rehearse his pseudo-love-song with Mary Kate (who was lovely, but he was a bit jealous of- Owen had called her 'gorgeous' on multiple occasions now), and though it wasn't physically or musically demanding it was hard not to just start laughing. Especially with Curt, a gay man who had experienced this before. And Lauren played his meddling mother during the song, which only made it harder not to laugh. His own mother had no idea what he did or who he was seeing, and it was better that way. She just thought he was a single banker. He liked Lauren’s version of his mom better. She was way funnier. It had taken a bit of time just to get a run in where Curt wasn't giggling the entire time. The song was just so well written! He knew it was so unprofessional (and Owen had certainly reminded him of that) but he couldn't help it! And the Bros were laughing with him, so it was all good. He was glad to be on break, because his sides were killing him. He scrolled through his phone, checking for anything from HQ, before he felt a hand on his back.

"You know, Curt, I don't know if I've told you this lately but you're really, really great!" Joey told him.

"Thanks, man." Curt chuckled. "Thanks for the opportunity!"

"Thank you for coming out for our show!" Joey smirked. His voice dropped to a lower volume. “Listen... you and Owen are dating, right?”

"Yeah..." Curt furrowed his brows. He and Owen had chosen to be open about that. They were all pretty supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. The actor playing Susan and The Informant had even confessed to him that they thought they might be nonbinary- maybe even female leaning. 

"Okay, so for the whole anniversary thing..." Joey fidgeted a bit nervously. "I mean... I've got an anniversary coming up, and, like, it's not my first, but... I think I’ve used every trick in the dating book at this point, and-"

"Wait, you're dating?" Curt blinked.

"Oh! Right, you're new!" Joey started to laugh. "Um... yeah! It's me and Lo."

"You and Lauren?" Curt smirked. He chuckled. "I knew it!"

"We're not public about the relationship yet, though, so... keep it quiet?" Joey pleaded.

"Oh yeah, you're safe." Curt assured him.

"So... any ideas?" Joey asked. “I really want this to be special for her.”

"Have you guys done the beach yet?" Curt offered. "Like, just a picnic- something you both love to eat- out on the beach."

"Yeah, did that two years ago." Joey sighed.

"Alright... how about a museum?" Curt offered. "It can be any museum that has something the two of you could bond over. But... I mean, Owen is super into experiencing art together."

"That we haven't done... not by ourselves on a date." Joey considered. "It doesn't even really have to be art, does it?"

"Nah, that's the beauty of museums! There are museums out there for everything." Curt smirked. “Maybe you two could go to a movie museum.”

"That’s probably more our speed.” Joey chuckled. “Thanks, man!”

"No problem.” Curt winked playfully. Then, he got an idea. He trusted Joey, so hopefully this worked. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

"I mean, I kinda owe you one." Joey chuckled. “Ask away!”

"Have you noticed anyone... acting a bit weird? Like... different from the way they usually do." Curt whispered.

"I... think I know who you mean." Joey nodded. "With Mary Kate... I think she honestly just misses Sean, you know? The rehearsals are a long time for her to be away from him. Those two are so close."

"Yeah... yeah, that must be hard on her." Curt hummed sympathetically. That... wasn't what he'd been going for.

"But I don't know what's going on with Brian." Joey confided in him. "I mean, it's not like he's been acting weird, per se, but... I mean, he always used to be down to just hang after work. But recently, he's been too busy to do that? I honestly thought it was just me who was picking up on that, but like... you're noticing it too?"

"Yeah. Yeah I am." Curt lied, all the sympathy he could muster in his tone. Bingo. He'd just gotten some really, really good intel there. If there was anyone who would be able to know when one of the writers was acting shady, it was Joey. They were his best friends. And Curt tended to agree with Joey anyways. Corey just didn’t give off villain vibes. Neither did Brian, but out of the two of them, Brian gave off more. “Glad it’s not just me.”

"What's he saying about me?" Brian rolled his eyes playfully, approaching his bag from behind them to grab something. Shit. He must have heard his name. 

"Uh..." Joey blushed.

"Oh, he was just telling me about how you two met." Curt lied. Joey gave him a questioning look. But Curt remembered him mentioning it in another one of his longwinded vents. "U of Michigan, Freshmen year. You two got into a lot of trouble."

"He's not telling you any of the bad stuff, is he?" Brian teased.

"Nah, man- I respect the bro code!" Joey scoffed playfully. Curt gave Joey a wink, and Joey gave him a grateful look in return. The wink hadn't gone unnoticed by Brian though.

"Oh god, he is telling you the bad stuff, isn't he?" Brian groaned playfully. "Listen, if Lauren asks, none of it was us."

"Oh don't worry... I'm great with secrets." Curt chuckled. He kinda wanted context now. Knowing those two, it was nothing serious- Joey had a heart of gold. He wouldn't be involved in anything bad. Especially not with his soon-to-be-girlfriend. So probably pranks, or other such shenanigans.

"Guys... I already knew it was you." Lauren rolled her eyes. None of them had noticed her by her own rehearsal bag picking up her water bottle. "It was so obvious... I may have believed you when you blamed Holden like... once? Twice? But you literally signed off half of the time."

"We did?" Joey blinked, looking at Brian.

"Okay, look, some of the time... I was pretty proud of our work." Brian defended himself.

"Dude!" Joey started to snicker. "And here I was keeping secrets from my girlfriend for you!"

"Sorry, Joey." Brian winced. 

“Eh, I guess I have to forgive you.” Joey rolled his eyes, chuckling. “You’re my best friend.”

“Hey, what’s that?” Lauren asked, noticing a pink piece of paper sticking out of Curt’s rehearsal bag. Curt blushed profusely. That was the letter Owen had written to pick him up. he took it everywhere with him in case he panicked so that he could read it, remember those days and calm down. It helped. He’d meant to keep it hidden. 

“Oh... it’s nothing.” Curt lied. 

“It’s not nothing, is it?” Lauren smirked. She gave him a genuine look. “Is it personal?”

“Oh, it’s nothing too bad.” Owen chuckled. Curt blushed further, feeling Owen wrap his arms around his waist. When had he gotten there?”

“What’s going on over here?” Corey asked, joining them. It seemed they had formed a rather large clump. 

“I think Lauren might be about to read the first letter I ever wrote to Curtis.” Owen smirked triumphantly, clearly not embarrassed by that prospect. 

“Ooooo romantic!” Tessa teased Curt. When had she shown up? God, for a spy, Curt was not very observant. He took a brief look at his surroundings. Ah. Everyone was there. Fantastic. 

“Oh hell yeah I am!” Lauren smirked. She plucked the paper out of Curt’s bag. 

“Oh god...” Curt groaned. 

“You okay with this?” Corey checked with Curt. Curt nodded reluctantly. 

“I mean, as long as O is.” Curt sighed, relenting.

With that, Lauren used the rest of their break to overdramatically read out Owen’s letter. Curt was a blushing mess, and Owen was grinning like an idiot. Evidently he was proud of himself- as he should have been. It was a good letter. At least Curt and Owen now had an idea of who to look into: Brian Rosenthal. It was a bit odd to think that Brosenthal might be a Chimera operative. He was a funny, quirky... he didn’t seem ruthless enough. Maybe they were wrong. But this was literally all the intel they could get at the moment. Mind you, they needed concrete evidence before they could actually do anything, but... at least they had a lead. Even if it was a weird one. The thing about espionage was that leads were usually weird. So they... well, they managed to bug all of the writers’ houses a bit more to give HQ more to work with, but especially Brian’s. That way the minute they had solid evidence, they could act. Well... not the minute. More like within about twenty minutes. But same difference. There was nothing else they could do. 

________________________________________________

Nothing happened through the rest of the rehearsal process. Literally nothing. No one did anything suspicious. Honestly, Curt and Owen were starting to think that their superiors were wrong. They were performing their shows- with excellent reception, might they add. People were loving Curt. The real Curt Mega was getting huge acclaim on Curt’s behalf. And the fans... well they were going mad. It was looking like the show would be a huge success- which meant two things. One, Curt was going to have to do more theatre. Cleary he was good at it. Two, his life as a spy was about to get more... complicated. IT turned out these guys had a bit of a cult following because they had been involved with a theatre group called Team Starkid? Curt knew about them from his mission briefing, but honestly he’d never thought that they were that big of a deal. When he’d confessed that to Owen he’d gotten a long lecture. Apparently Owen was also a fan, and that was half of why he was so excited to be doing this show. But that was a topic for another time. 

It was about the third show in when they finally got the evidence they had been looking for. It... was not when they’d planned to find anything. Actually, it was at the least convenient time. Between acts. It was also in the least expected way. Curt had to get his props for the top of Act Two. Owen decided to go with him, mostly to make sure he wasn’t a total and utter child. Honestly, they just meant to get their props before places. They were the only ones in that area backstage- the stagehands were resetting the stage and helping with costume changes/ tech issues. Well, they thought they were the only ones backstage. They should have been. But it turns out that someone else had anticipated the lack of people, and was using that to his advantage. At first, all Curt and Owen could hear were murmurs- not distinguishable in the slightest. Bey both gave each other a look before pulling out their real guns (which they hid on their costumes just in case) and following the sound. And that was when they saw him. The culprit behind all of this: Bri- Corey Lubowich? They lowered their guns a bit, staying dead quiet. That wasn’t what they’d been expecting. {erhaps this was a false alarm. 

“I am in the middle of a- no, I get that my work with you is important! Believe me, I know!” Corey hissed. “I just... tonight is one of my shows! I’m going on as the Prince! I- well can it wait half an hour? I mean I’d prefer two hours, but if I have to whip out my laptop backstage, I- well I’m kinda insisting on- come on, you guys know my theatre is important to me!”

“Okay... so we were wrong...” Owen whispered. 

“We don’t know that...” Curt reasoned. “It could be his family.”

“Of course I’m loyal! When have I not done what you said? I have sacrificed so much for you!” Corey fumed quietly. “Chimera is my life now! Not theatre, not my family or friends. Chimera! Do you know how fucking weird that is for someone my age?! I’m too young for all this corporate shit! No! No, of course that’s not what I’m saying just- can I have my night? Come on, this is really important.”

“Okay, I take that back.” Curt blinked, stunned. He was just a bit too loud. Corey’s head snapped in their direction, and both men raised their guns. Corey’s eyes fumbled, and he pulled out a gun of his own, haphazardly aiming it at them. 

“Okay... shit, guys, I’m going to have to call you back... we’ve got a situation.” Corey muttered. His face fell and he rolled his eyes, unimpressed. “No, not a theatre situation. An us situation. I’ll fill you in- look, they have guns. Just- I really don’t have the time for this anymore- NOT MY JOB WITH YOU! This conversation! Jesus, I’ve got two guns pointed at me! Let me go! Okay, fine! Bye!”

“You...” Curt spat, glaring at Corey. 

“You guys finally figured it out...” Corey sighed, raising his gun fully at them. 

“You know who we are?” Curt blinked. 

“How?” Owen asked him coldly. 

“Chimera has eyes and ears everywhere.” Corey rolled his eyes. “Just like in the show. I knew you were coming, and I knew you were looking for me. I just didn’t think you’d actually find me.”

“Are you insulting our intelligence?” Owen scoffed. 

“No. I just thought I set up Brian pretty well.” Corey admitted. “It was pretty easy, too... all I had to do was point out to Joey that Brian wasn’t coming to as many of our hangouts as he used to. You trusted Joey. Joey relayed that to you. Threw you completely off my scent.”

“Yeah, aren’t you just the friend of the year.” Curt rolled his eyes. “You threw your bro under the bus.”

“You’re lucky we didn’t get a false tip-off and eliminate him.” Owen hummed in agreement. “You’ve no clue the kinds of things that could set our superiors off.”

“Well... It’s Brian. The chances of him doing anything sketchy are slim to none.” Corey reasoned. 

“Corey, I’m going to need you to put that gun down and put your hands behind your head.” Curt sighed. 

“Alright, guys, places!” Joey called out to them. Everyone was backstage- except, oddly, Lauren (who was usually pretty punctual on cues). Shit. Their timing was awful. “You can play with the... are those our prop guns?”

“No... those are too modern.” Brian furrowed his brows, approaching them to get a closer look. He blinked before stumbling back. “Holy shit, guys... are those real guns?”

“Yes, they are... and you’re going to need to stay back.” Curt told them levelly. “Lubowich, gun down, hands behind your head.”

“We outgun and outman you.” Owen reminded him. The fact that Corey was so reluctant was astounding. “And we have a license to kill if you don’t cooperate.”

“Okay, guys, what the fuck?!” Joey exclaimed. 

“Can we just... put the guns down and talk this out?” Tessa pleaded. 

“No... we can’t.” Curt shook his head. “My name is Agent Curt Mega, American Secret Service. My partner is Owen Carvour, MI6.”

“Our credentials...” Owen muttered, pulling them out with one hand and holding them out to Brian, who was closest. He hesitantly took them. Corey shot Owen while he wasn’t in peak position to shoot him. Curt shot Corey back with no hesitation. Neither shot was fatal, Corey’s hitting Owen in the arm and Curt’s hitting Corey in the shoulder. The impact was enough to make both men stumble back. Owen stayed on his feet, but Corey fell. Curt kept his gun trained on Corey. 

“Holy shit, they’re not lying...” Brian mumbled. 

“Okay, Corey... what the actual fuck, man?!” Joey fumed, definitely feeling a bit betrayed. 

“Corey... why are you fighting the secret service?” Mary Kate asked coolly, trying to be the level-headed one. 

“He works for Chimera.” Curt told them, knowing they might not get a clear response from Corey for a bit. 

“The assholes who wouldn’t fund us?” Brian groaned. Corey grunted in admittance. “Come on, man! This just keeps getting worse and worse!”

“Okay, guys, I’m here. Sorry I took so-” Lauren started, rushing out. She saw the scene playing out and blinked. “Holy fuck! What’s going on?!”

“They’re actual fucking spies, Lo.” Joey hissed. “All three of them.”

“Pretty sure Curt and Owen are the good guys.” Brian added in a whisper. 

“Oh yeah, Curt and Owen are definitely the good guys.” Tessa gulped. 

“Corey is an agent for Chimera.” Curt explained. 

“Please tell me this is an elaborate prank.” Lauren chuckled nervously. 

“No, Lo... this time it’s real.” Joey sighed. 

“Okay, but... Chimera’s just a huge global corporation, right?” Mary Kate reasoned. 

“Not really.” Corey croaked out. 

“They’re plotting world domination.” Owen grunted. 

“Corey...” Joey breathed. 

“World domination makes it sound bad.” Corey grimaced. “We more just want control over every world government... and then maybe to take all of them out and form one Chimera government.”

“That doesn’t make it sound any better.” Tessa winced. 

“Why?” Brian asked Corey, hurt. “Why are you doing this?”

“Honestly, I just needed a bit of extra money in college.” Corey muttered, trying and failing to find his footing. Clearly he wasn’t a field agent too often. 

“So you turned to espionage?!” Lauren scoffed incredulously. 

“Honestly I started as a delivery boy and then I found out some shit I should never have known...” Corey sighed. “It escalated really quickly.”

“God, this is a mess.” Joey groaned. 

“Curt, love, can you give our superiors a ring?” Owen prompted him. “I’ll deal with our former friend here.”

“On it.” Curt nodded, pulling out his phone. 

“So... do we stop the show?” Brian asked Owen as he pulled out a zip-tie- another essential item Owen always kept on him, even in costumes.

“Oh no... the A.S.S. is the epitome of discretion. Believe me, you’ll have no clue what’s going on. Just see if you can find a friend in the audience to go on for The Prince.” Owen told them, tying up Corey and forcing him onto his feet. “Owen will take him outside and... he should honestly be ready to go on after We Love The Prince.”

“Holy shit... okay...” Lauren sighed. 

“I’ll make an announcement that we’re having technical difficulties...” Joey planned. “Let’s, um... just take a moment to breathe and get back into the right headspace.”

“We’ll be back in a moment.” Curt told them as he and Owen took Corey outside. 

“Rot in hell, you asshole!” Brian called after him, sniffing. Was he... crying? You know what, it was completely fair. That was one hell of a betrayal. 

So Curt and Owen passed Corey onto their superiors, and Spies Are Forever was able to go on. They got Nick Lang to play The Prince, which only made the fans more excited. Curt and Owen were allowed the opportunity to finish their run with the show- which Curt was so, so grateful for. He loved theatre. he never thought he would, but he loved it. And Owen loved that he loved it. Spies are Forever was the first of many shows for Curt. He got into the habit, like Owen, of doing shows between missions. In fact, he actually got to make Owen a little jealous later on- he got into a Starkid show. Mind you, they knew who he was. Fully this time. They even supported him- helped him build a public backstory. The real Curt Mega’s wife even played wife to him publicly when she needed to. It was a new start in Curt’s life and one that he hadn’t even known he needed. Finally, everything seemed like it was okay.

[kaz11283]

Only One God For Me

(Part 2 of Love Never Wins)

SUMMARY: After blowing up at him afyer weeks of hiding out you challenge Loki to hand to hand. Blowing up might have been the best thing, it could help you let off that frustration you had built up.

Characters: Nat, Clint, Thor, Loki, avengers on the side line.

(Loki x you, clint x you, Thor x you, Nat x you)

ANNOUNCEMENT: I didnt know how much part 1 was going to be but I am forever greatful in this amazing community! Thank you guys SO much! Check out my other stuff too if you like this. As always reblog, ask, comment, and like! After I finish up here I'll be back to writing for Fire and Ice. Thank you again so SO much for everything! 💚💚💚

Loki Master List

~~~~

You and Nat were standing at one end of the training area as Loki walked in. You glanced up from Nat wrapping your hands and noticed he was wearing his normal traing gear. Plain leather black pants with a dark green Henley, his hands already wrapped.

"Focus, your getting distracted." She said yanking on one of the straps.

"Ow. I cant help it Nat, we went from cant keep our hands away from each other to literally fist fighting each other. Ya know this is normally frowned upon is normal society." You streched your fingers out and balled them back up streching out the gloves a little.

"Hunny, even in a perfect world were anything but normal. I mean for god sakes your fighting a literal god. You remember what I taught you. Right?" She asked looking almost terrified for me.

"Yes mother, I havent forgotten. This is gonna be a piece of cake." Inside you were freaking out. You normally was in a very high spot with your bow or normally trying to break into the computers. You wasnt normally in hand to hand combat, but you were smarter than to think you would never need it.

You turned shaking you head and putting the mouth piece in your mouth. Hitting you fist together jumping back and forth getting ready. Loki just stood there smirking. You was gonna smack that smirk off his face.

"Hey sis, Im not saying you cant beat him just be careful. He throws a nasty left hook." Clint said munching on some chips."Thanks, Hawk. Mind explaining why the rest of the team is here?" You mumbled around the mouth piece.

"Thor, definitely Thor." He said walking back to the small group that gathered.

"Sweetheart. Are we gonna fight or are you just gonna stand there chit chatting?" He called across the mat.

"I'm coming." You walked across the mat to the center. Someone hit a bell signaling for the fight to start and he jumped toward you. You dodged his first attemped and circled him slowly. You could read his every move, read where he was going next.

You took a defence stance that Nat had taught you from your training before he lunged again. This time you managed to upper cut him in the side knocking some of the wind from him.

"Oh you little minx. I figured I would take it easy on you but we can play your way also." This time he took a step back centering himself. Looking up you noticed he had a dangerous look in his eye.

"I didnt invite you here to take it easy on me, I invited you because you dont take anything serious. Because if someone like me can beat you in hand to hand then anyone can." You stepped closer to him gauging what move you was going to make next.

He dropped down to the mat attempting to sweep your legs out from under you, he missed one but caught the other causing you to fall. He jumped on top of you pinning your hands above your head. "Now this positions brings back memories." He whispered to you causing your face to turn bring red. You brought your leg up able to wrap it around his waist and slammed him back down to the mat gaining some advantage.

"This one also." He smirked. You raised your fist above you aiming for his face. Whem you brought it down he moved his head causing you to miss. It felt like forever that you were both on the mat neither one gaining aginst the other. A busted lip here a bloody nose there. When the bell rang for a break Nat was in your corner with Clint offering you some water and a rag ti wipe the blood off.

"Sis, I'm try in real hard not to grab an arrow and stabe him with it." Clint said from one side. You could see anger in his eyes.

"Hawk, its fine. Given the circumstance its all good. Its just training in a matter of speaking. Anger is mostly wunning but I got this. I was trained by the best. I'm not even tired." You took another drink of water before going back out to the mat.

"This is fun. I have never seen my brother trying harder to win anything in his life." Thor shouted across the room. "Lady y/n is quite good at sparing. We must fight sometime." Thor laughed.

A few more rounds when and you could feel the weight of the afternoon but you wasjt about to simply throw in the towel just yet. You knew you could get the best of him. You had thrown him back on the mat then he took his feet placing them on your chest shoving you off of him. Before you knew it you were surrounded by multipuls of him.

"Loki we agreed no sedair! This is cheating!" You yelled at them.

"God of Mischief and lies sweetheart. Besides we're in weird predicaments all the time. You said so yourself. Tell you what. You find the real me and I'll forfeit." One of the clones said. You stood up in the middle of them all focusing everything you had on concentrating, ignoring Clint yelling in the background and the rest of the group shouting.

You opened your eyes zeroing in on one closest to you and walked up to him.

"Are you sure your right about this decision?" It mocked.

"Yeah. I think I am." You brought the ball of yoyr fist up crashing it into Loki's nose. The rest of the clones disappered as he fell to his knees in front of you. "You are a complete and utter asshole Loki Odinson. I hope that it messes with you for a while that you got beat by a mortal." You started unwrapping your gloves as you walked away.

Over the next few weeks you avoided every living space in the tower that you knew he would be in. It had truly hurt you that he had cheated during the fight. You still couldnt understand how just months before you couldn't keep your hands off of each other now you were both avoiding each other like the plague.

"Miss y/n. Team has a mission. Tony wants everyone in the confrence room dressed and ready in 15 minutes." JARVIS called pausing your movie. With a roll of your eyes you walked to your bedroom to start getting ready. Pulling out your tight skinny jeans a black tank top and your zip up hoodie you French braided your hair and grabbed your bow case before heading down.

The rest of the team was gathered when you walked in and placed your case on the table opening it up to make sure everything was right. Streching out the strings and making sure the sights were spot on aiming them to the other side of the room where Loki stood.

"It would be more effecitve if you had an arrow." Clint whispered next to you.

"Shut up, I'm just making sure everything is right." You put it back down in the case and started going over your arrows.

"You realize we have a place you can put that when your not using it." Tony said walking around you.

"Right up your ass if you suggest that again." You laughed putting everything back up.

"Love the enthusiasm kid." Tony laughed walking to the front of the table.

"Ok Team, going to be a long few days for us. Just got some Intel about a caravan carrying some explosives across the Scandinavian border. Gonna have to divide into teams for this one. Hawk, Nat, Strange, Rodgers, Bruce, and Thor you'll be starting at the meeting point and working your way toward us. The rest is with me." Tony pulled a map up on the big screen showing where you wwre going.

"Oh come on, why cant I be with the A team?" You asked with a groan.

"Sorry kid, gotta divide it up right. One god for each, one Archer. Only fair. And even if you two hate each other you guys work good together." Tony shrugged.

"Yeah sorry kid." Clint laughed.

"Hey I'm a full three minutes older that you. Probably explains why I'm better. Whatever. I'll go pack my stuff." You huffed standing up.

The next two hours seems to drag by, it was freezing here. You was just ready to get this over with so that you could go back home and relax in a nice warm bath, you pulled your jacket tighter aginst you.

"I've told you many times that you should start wearing the uniform that they gave you. You'll freeze to death one day." Loki said taking off his cloak and putting it around your shoulders.

"Thanks, but I'm still pissed at you." You hugged it closer. "I hate the whole uniform thing. To tight to revealing."

Another few minutes pass before Tony gives everyone the heads up that your about to be over the caravan. Figuring you were warm enough you took the cloak off and handed it back to him. "You may still be pissed at me but I do still care very deeply for you y/n. I was an idiot for everything." He took it and wrapped it around his shoulders. When his fingers grazed yours there was a surge that went through you.

"Give me time. You really hurt me, not just by breaking up with me but by lying to me during training. Good luck out there God of Mischief."

"Tony, your gonna have to get lower i cant get a clear shot on the driver!" You yelled over the wind whipping around your face. About that time a diffrent arrow shot through gettkng the driver in the side causing the vehicle to completly stop.

"Gotta be faster than that sis. One for me." Clint laughed over the com.

"You are my least favorite person right now Hawk." You mumbled. Tony brought the Quinn Jet down so your team could spread out.

"That is truly saying something my dear." Lokis smooth voice said in your ear.

"You gave me your cloak to keep me warm. Gave you a fell points." You pulled back again and shot it through the truck behind the first hitting the driver in the head. "Got one, Hawk, your next."

"Can we cut the chatter. Got alot going on in the sky at the moment." Tony said. Youbcould here something firing above you looking up you could see Tony being followed by a jet firing at him. "Need some back up guys. Twins. Anyone."

"Hawk. I need a Boom Boom stick." You met him in the middle of the road.

"I really wish you wouldnt call them that." He said handing you one. You both pulled your bows back and aimed. "Heads or tails?"

"I like the tails." You let go of the sting and watched as the jet exploded.

"I think she can call them whatever she wants as long as she keeps doing a good job keeping bogies off my ass." Tony yelled over the coms.

"I hate this. I cant see shit down here." You yelled over to Clint. "I gotta get higher." You looked around eyeballing the turnes over truck. You threw the bow across your back and started climbing up the truck. Shots rang around you one grazing your side, before it had started it was like it stopped looking behind you you noticed Loki with his daggers in his hands.

"You need to pay more attention y/n." He scolded you.

"Why pay attention when I have someone keeping an eye out for me." You smiled.

"Oh darling Im doing more than just keeping an eye out." After everything that ass had done to you he was flirting FLIRTING with you.

"Y/N! No. More. Gods." Clint yelled. From here you could see everything going on. Nat fighting two men, you took one out easily from your spot. She shot you a thumbs up. Bruce had hulked out throwing things everywhere, multiple times you had to dodge something flying your way. The fight was almost over when you glanced behind you noticing four men backing Loki aginst a turned over car.

His hands were up as if in surrender. "Loki why arent you using your sedair?" You mumbled pulling the bow back.

"Well darling you could say that I am in on of those weird predicaments. I've exahusted alot of my power down here." His back was aginst the truck now.

"Could let him get beat up." Clint pipped in as you shot one of your last arrows though two of the guys standing there. You watched Loki easily take out the other two.

"Told you Hawk, I'm not like that." You smiled walking over to Loki. "Although you could use a little practice in hand to hand, dont you agree?"

"Only if your the one practicing with me he smailed down at you.

"Ugh! Y/n! No mo-" Clint started before you pulled the com from your ear.

"Only one God for me." You leaned up kissing Loki on the cheek.

~~~~

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