#SIR i am not a computer engineer and neither are you why do we need to know this

[abombihoney]

Hi I'm not dead!

Chapter 7 is up.

(Sorry about the delay.)

you don't have to apologize! what you do or dont do is totally up to you!

That said, is the narrator omniscient or third person limited? im too lazy to check the other chapters to look but it super looks like maki has crush on muze lol

#if its omniscient then u have a crush on muze my guy #ask #chit chat #thx for chapter it was my bribe to make me do some studying today #why does my prof think i need know how to translate machine code from binary to hex #and also know exactly what bits mean what in instruction code #like sir. i barely fucking understand assembly code and you want me to memorize what individual bits do???? #SIR i am not a computer engineer and neither are you why do we need to know this #muze getting no information out of maki is fucking funny #he wont tell her that team snakemouth is chill and everything is probably? fine #but he will tell astotheles???? #like yeah that was the plan ig but like... hawk and tod are with team snakemouth he knows this #maybe he wasnt ready to be released yet someone check this mantis for a concussion #ALSO its so funny that he thinks yin wouldnt immediately be swept up by the fucking swarm #frankly im surprised they havent taken vi lol #kina could probably actually help lol #team snakemouth: help we need some competent adult women. we have 3 confused dads. an artist. 1 teenager #and about 50 odd kids of various ages. pls help #the swarm: what vi's a kid too??? HOW COME SHE GETS TO DO STUFF AND NOT GET IN TROUBLE #vi: shut up i have a good thing going here. i'll teach you all how to fight if you don't bring up that i'm a kid too.

[beanfic]

Prank War

Pairing: Platonic!Peter Parker x Stark!reader (fem reader)

Word Count: 1.7k

Warnings: language 

Summary: has the infamous stark vs parker prank war gone too far?

Author’s note: i seriously love writing peter so much (also I apologize that this is not a gender-neutral reader!). I think I am going to be opening up requests soon, so keep a lookout for that post :) ((also big s/o and creds to max for helping me with the guttural scream sentence)) 

The prank war between you and Peter Parker started innocently when you would sneak up on him in your father’s lab. He would then return the favor by scaring you when you got off the elevator. You both would get so paranoid that neither of you could even go thirty minutes inside the tower without looking over your shoulder. What first started as trying to startle each other, turned into more aggressive pranks. The first one was completed by Peter, with the help of Bucky, while they gave you an oreo filled with toothpaste. 

That bite of the oreo was the unfortunate beginning of the long-lasting prank war. It had been around three months now since it has first started, and everyone in the tower (especially your Dad), was wishing it could finally end once and for all. 

The pranks have included you putting plastic in front of your bedroom door, then proceeding to yell for him because of an “emergency”. Peter has always been protective of you, like an older brother, so he ran as quickly as he could. His face slammed into the plastic, attaching itself to him, and he went flying forwards to the ground. You also put plastic on his shampoo bottles, underneath the lid, and it took him a solid ten minutes to figure out why his shampoo was not coming out. 

He also got you good a few times, including replacing the saltshaker with sugar. That one was just cruel because Peter knows how much you love salt with your dinner, and he ruined an entire meal. He also would constantly hide fake bugs and snakes inside your room and you always would end up shrieking at first sight. They were just so realistic-looking from far away!

The last prank that occurred was when you put tape on the bottom of Peter’s computer mouse, making him believe that it was broken. You only revealed it was a prank when he started to order himself a new one online. You knew that it was your turn to get pranked next, and you had been on edge all week. It had been six days, and usually, they would occur only four to five days afterward. 

“Have you seen Pete?” you asked your Dad who was down in his lab working on some nanotech. He shook his head and continued to focus on the work in front of him. You groaned dramatically and shuffled to the hallway. Maybe some of the other Avengers knew his whereabouts. It was a Sunday, and usually, he spent it inside the tower either working on homework for school or engineering something in the lab.

“Sam, Steve, you guys seen Peter anywhere?” you peered your head inside the training room. 

“I haven’t sorry,” Steve replied while wrapping his knuckles with tape, getting ready to train with Sam. 

“I swear to god if he is up to something,” you mumble to yourself. You felt on edge, and you wished you could have “senses” like Peter does (even though for some reason he almost always fails to see your pranks coming). 

You walked up the stairs to the kitchen and common area but there was still no sign of the brown-haired boy. Vision and Wanda were busy cooking dinner when you sat down at the counter. You knew that both of them would be able to tell you where Peter was because of their powers. 

“Wandaaaa, Visionnnn,” you sing-songed. “Do you guys happen to know where the spider-ling is?”

“Oh yes, he is,” Vision started to say but Wanda took a spoonful of whatever she was cooking and plopped it into his mouth.

“Taste this,” she said, staring into Visions’ eyes. She looked back over at you innocently, “No, we haven’t seen him anywhere! I think he might have gone out on a day patrol”

“Day patrol?” you scoffed. “On a Sunday?” 

“Yes,” Wanda gave you the sweetest smile she could muster. 

“Alright, whatever you guys say.” You stood up from the counter and headed back up the stairs to your bedroom. You didn’t want to waste one of your free days with worrying about Peter and whatever he had planned for his prank, and the more you thought about it, you realized that this is probably exactly what he wanted. He wanted you to expect him to do it on a Sunday, and have you worried about all day. 

“Think you can outsmart me, Spidey?” you mutter under your breath. Once you entered your room, you threw yourself onto your bed and grabbed your phone from the charger. You wanted to do a little work out in the privacy of your room instead of the training room. You connected your phone to the speakers in your wall and shuffled your work out playlist. You were already wearing your work out shorts, but you decided that you would be too hot with the sweatshirt you had on, so you ripped it off, leaving you in just your sports bra, and you sat on the ground so you could start doing sit-ups. 

“Holy shit,” a voice spoke from above you. A guttural scream ripped through your throat as your eyes shot up the ceiling. 

“Peter? What the fuck?” you quickly grabbed your shirt and threw it on top of you as Peter hopped down from the ceiling. He was wearing his suit, but without his mask. His cheeks were as red as a tomato and his lips were pinched together as he stared at you with wide eyes.

“I-I, t-thought,” he stammered. 

“What are you doing in my room? On my ceiling?” you raised your voice. “Is that part of the prank war!?”

“You usually take naps on Sundays so I was going to wait for you to fall asleep and then scare you!” he confessed, throwing his arms around wildly.

“Peter that is messed up,” you scolded him. “And freaking creepy!”

“It would have been so good though! Plus how was I supposed to know you were going to work out in here, that is what the training room is for!”

“It’s my room, Parker.” You crossed your arms and glared at him. “How did you even get in here? My room is locked.”

“The window.”

“The window!?” you practically let out of a laugh. You were astonished at what lengths Peter was going to, to try to win this prank war. 

“It would have worked if you had just taken a nap!” 

“You can not blame this on me, sir,” you pointed a finger at him. “This has gone too far, and your prank failed, which means I won!” 

“No way! You did not win! My pranks have been way better than yours!”

“As if!” you took a step closer towards him. You were starting to get angry, and you could feel your body get warm with frustration. 

“Your pranks suck!” he spat. 

“You’re the one that still falls for them even though you have a Peter tingle,” you mocked. 

“Don’t call it that, Stark.” Peter tried to take a step towards you so he could tower over you but you shoved his shoulders, causing him to stumble backward. 

“Your peter tingle literally does not work.”

“Shut up!” he shouted but you grabbed the cup of water that was sitting on your desk and splashed him in his face. He looked at you in disbelief from underneath his wet brown curls. 

“Got you again, Parker,” your eyes narrowed. 

“Ahh!” Peter yelled and before you knew it your hand was webbed to the cup you were holding. 

“Peter Benjamin Parker!” you shrieked. “You are not allowed to use your webs on me!” You ran towards him, trying to grab onto his hair with your free hand, but Peter dodged you. He ran out of your room but you quickly followed him. 

“S’cuse me!” Peter said as he turned the corner and almost ran into Steve. 

“Get the fuck back here!” you chased after him.

“Language!” Steve yelled behind you, but you ignored him. Peter was already rushing down the stairs and you did not want to lose him. You were surprised at how difficult it was to chase someone while holding a cup that was webbed to your hand. 

“Peter!” you chased him all the way down to the labs. You stopped suddenly as you saw Peter being held by your Dad. 

“What have I told you guys with running in the house? There is outside for a reason!”

“He started it!”

“She started it!” you both shouted at the same time. Tony let go of Peter and rubbed his temples. 

“Peter, I expect more out of you, especially when you are wearing that suit. You don’t want me to take it away, right?”

“No, Sir,” he shook his wet head. 

“Now, Y/N. You’re a Stark so I do expect this from you but can you please just leave it alone? I’m so tired of this prank war you guys have going on.” Tony put air quotes around “prank war”.

“He snuck into my room through my window! He invaded my privacy and then webbed my hand to the cup!” I shook the cup furiously. You heard Peter giggle, and you shot him a death glare.

“Peter,” Tony turned to look at the frightened boy. “Say you’re sorry and I better never hear about you sneaking into my daughter’s room again, you hear me?”

“Yes, s-sir.”

“Now, go get the web dissolver and I expect you two to be on your best behavior or I will ground you both!”

“Yes, sir,” you both mumble. You follow Peter to his desk in Tony’s lab and open up a bottle that was labeled ‘web-be-gone’.

“You need a better name for this stuff,” you tease.

“Why? I like the name.” He placed a few drops on your hand and soon it was let free of the cup. 

“It needs more pizazz.”

“True,” he chuckled. “I’m sorry I snuck into your room. You’re right, it was an invasion of your privacy.”

“It’s okay. I’m sorry I pushed you and threw water in your face.”

“I’m sorry I webbed your hand.”

“I’m sorry you got in trouble with my Dad.”

“I’m sorry-”

“Okay, I think that’s enough apologies,” you interrupted him, laughing. “We good?”

“We good,” Peter smiled. He raised his hand for a fist bump.

“Good.” You connected knuckles with him and pulled away while making a “whoosh” sound. 

#peter parker fanfiction #peter parker x reader #avenger fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #peter parker fanfic #avenger fanfic #marvel fanfic #peter parker oneshot #peter parker imagine #peter parker fluff #marvel imagine #avengers fanfic #avengers fanfiction #avengers imagine #mcu fanfiction #beanfic

[muteashes]

the distant stars

A Ship Who Sang/Brainships AU. Yes. I said what I said

“You’ve got a rather stiff one,” the requisition officer had advised on the way up. Obi-Wan shared a look with Anakin. Neither were sure what they would be facing. As the memo had said, they were to receive ships. It seemed, as they walked down the long empty halls, that that may have meant more then the obvious.

They hadn’t encountered anyone since they left the hanger, there was maybe a handful on board when it could house thousands. All they could hear was the faint hum of minimum life support and the faint hiss of a emergency lights. It was all eerily quiet without other lifeforms around.

“Where’s the rest of the crew?” Anakin asked.

The officer shrugged, “They keep all crew and personal at a bare minimum on the new designs until they get command set up. We have several units ready to move in once their given the all clear.”

“Wouldn’t any officer have worked? I can’t imagine moving the ship here from Kamino on minimum staff was easy,” Obi-Wan questioned.

The officer hesitated, “It’s per protocol, sir.” He was suddenly uncomfortable, that was easy to tell, but he wasn’t trying to deceive. Obi-Wan and Anakin shared another look.

They had reached the end of the main hall. The officer waved the door open, leading them into the darkened control center.

“This is your jedi,” he had announced before promptly turning around, ushering Anakin out of the door.

“Hey!” Anakin yelled as he was shoved out. The doors hissed shut, leaving Obi-Wan alone a large room.

Obi-Wan took a slow look around, his breath puffing out clouds in the refrigerated air. The entire room around him was a massive network. He could see the bio-luminescent fuel lines that fed into the main engine and the computer in front of him. On the holo screen a little light was fixed on him, glowing a steady yellow. With nothing else to do, Obi-Wan moved closer to the mainframe.

With the soft whir of the comm systems, the room slowly started to turn on. The command consoles flashing to life. One by one, the lights lining the aisle eased on, leading a straight path to head of the room. At the end of the command deck, by the navigational systems a holoprojector flickered up.

The projection was of a young man, much like the requisitions officer, looking exactly like one of the millions he had seen at Kamino, and then Genosis. Obi-Wan looked at the projector which stared back calmly, something very different was going on here. Very different and very strange. Obi-Wan shivered, the force whispered, as if so many things had been leading to this moment. It felt like a gentle brush down his back.

“Commander Cody, ready for duty, sir,” The holo-image saluted. Quite filled the room after, as if waiting.

Obi-Wan looked around the still empty room, unsure.

“Hello, Commander.” Obi-Wan folded his arms back into his robe. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Though I am a bit confused why the grand setup to meet you over holo.” The image flickered briefly. The young man frowned, serious as he dropped his salute.

“I am a advanced class hybrid ship command,” The holo paused, “Your ship board command structure.” Maybe Obi-Wan had looked confused. Or maybe he could guess. The commander’s voice softened as he admitted, “I don’t know what else to say, sir.”

“It’s ok,” Obi-Wan smiled encouragingly, “I think I’m just missing something.” Cody smiled back. The air felt light as though it shivered. Whatever it was, Obi-Wan assumed he had done something right so far. “Are you stationed on Coruscant?”

“I’m stationed here, General,” Cody said, quietly. The Commander looked at him for a moment before seeming to decide on something, “Sir, have you been briefed on the advanced hybrid ships?”

“I’m afraid we weren’t really told anything before they sent us out here,” Obi-Wan confided.

“Right,” Cody said. “Right,” He repeated softly. The oddest thing, Obi-Wan could have sworn he actually felt him through the force, as if for one moment Commander Cody had been standing in front of him instead of just his holo, and he was nervous. “To be blunt, sir, I am the ship.” Obi-Wan stared at the young man. Did he mean what Obi-Wan thought he meant? Cody continued, looking somewhere not quite at the jedi, “My brothers call us brain-ships. Which is fitting, I believe.”

Obi-Wan stared at the young man, mind whirling. He could tell Anakin had noticed his nerves when he brushed against his mind inquisitively. Obi-Wan brushed him off in assurance, he was fine. Tentatively he reached out with the force to see what was there, and he could sense Anakin and the officer still out in the hall. Farther down several clones clattered around in the hull and farther still was the shuttle pilot who had brought them here as they returned back to the orbital station.

It was quiet, so quiet he had ignored it before, there was that steady hum at his feet and in the walls. Like all he needed to do was acknowledge it and suddenly he could feel everything. It was one large encompassing being, surrounding him. The hum of the engines, the heartbeat of the living ship. Slowly, slowly, every part becoming aware of him in return. The force sang with it, as if to say Welcome! Welcome! leaving him grasping at the lightening feeling.

“Hello, there,” Obi-Wan whispered in awe. He could feel as the whole ship, as Cody started something that felt entirely like a restart. Every console and control turning full systems on. The warmth of him surrounding the everything.

“Hello,” Cody said from the holo projector. “I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you, General.”

#codywan #commander cody #Obi wan #the distant stars #brainships au #i haven't reread this one at all so watch me cry about the errors tomorrow

[clockworkarchives]

Conscience of Constantine: The Suicide School

Orders came and the Industry has given me full responsibility in confirming whether or not if my theory about the two entities presenting themselves to us is true. And for me to continue and see if all our projects funnel down to our main goal. During my wait for the Industry’s orders, I've discovered that the last major test for Project Hello before it malfunctioned was at the same moment when the portal that the Warden’s soldiers go through opened. This occurrence may have been the cause of the second entity’s arrival. Though the portal is in a whole different room far away from where Project Hello is, it is still possible... It may also mean it is weaker than entity #1, because it needed the assistance of a portal and a machine before it can control one of our scientists. It also appears that entity #2’s powers are proximity based. The Warden’s soldiers were all victims of it and they may have all been in proximity of its presence. But until the Warden brings back any reports relating to the second entity, I will be focusing here and make sure to keep in track of the progress of various projects in the industry and of course make sure that I keep an eye of any activity that may relate to the first entity. Coincidently, about an hour after I received the Industry’s orders, I was sent a report from one of the handlers of Project Inspire, people from the North-West section of the building. Project Inspire works on a chemical substance that interacts with the human mind keeping them productive for a long amount of time. They came to me giving a report that they said I may be interested in. Their head scientist and his 16-year-old son is now dead while his 20-year-old daughter is missing and to top it all off, there was a report of mass suicide at the school where his children studied. It does sound a whole lot like what entity #2 would do, but there were so many things that did not add up. So with haste, I went to the school with 6 armed personnel from the Warden’s stockpile of soldiers, but once we got there the mass suicide was still ongoing. Parts of the school were on fire, screams and windows breaking can be heard from afar, students and teachers jumping off roofs and there were people standing on flames staring at me straight in the eyes... there was nothing but pure chaos in every corner of the facility. Firemen and the police were in the scene but even they were traumatized and confused as to what’s happening, so I told them to make sure no one gets in and out and that we will handle the situation from the inside. It’ll be a huge mess if the public knew that this situation was caused by us and that this school with a student population of fifteen thousand is affected severely. The soldiers surrounded me with guns up and senses on high alert, but no one was after us, people ran and screamed hysterically pass by us every minute and they’re all either bleeding or on fire. Once we’ve finally reached the school’s main lobby, I noticed one door with a dead body covered in blood leaning on it. The body had multiple scratches on his chest and face with his belly split wide open, the door too had scratches and broken parts, I tried to push it open but it was barricaded from the inside. A woman’s voice then shouted asking who was at the door, so I answered and told them that I was here to help. At first, they hesitated but eventually opened the door revealing a woman in a teacher’s uniform alongside three other students with bloody uniforms. I told the soldiers to guard the door while I talk to the teacher... and this, is what I found out.

CONSTANTINE: “I am here to help, can you tell what you know?”

TEACHER: “Sir... I honestly don’t know. I was just at the teacher’s lounge when suddenly one of our students barged in grabbing pens and pencils and then started stabbing it in her head and face...”

CONSTANTINE: “Calm down ma’am, can you tell me anything that you can recall?”

TEACHER: “There were many other teachers who grabbed Montero to keep her from stabbing herself and then... the other teachers that grabbed her started doing the same thing. I was so scared and when I ran out the whole school was... all the students and teachers... they were all killing themselves...”

CONSTANTINE: “That’s all I needed to know, thank you ma’am... Soldiers! You four! Escort these survivors to safety and make sure no one touches their skin and yours at all cost!”

SOLDIER: “Understood, but what about you sir?”

CONSTANTINE: “These are four people and I'm just one, you’ll need all the helping hands you can get. Now go.”

It was all clear to me then, these people that were driven by the urge to commit suicide were getting infected by each other through direct contact by touching one person’s skin. The teachers that the woman described started killing themselves after grabbing the student. This also explains why she and other students are still sane. The mere fact that she was in the same room with multiple infected people proves that it is not airborne nor it is transmitted telepathically. This also means that this event may not be caused by neither of the two entities. And also, Montero, that is the surname of the head scientist of Project Inspire. His daughter is already dead but long after her brother and father died. I wondered as to why, so I headed straight to the teacher’s lounge to look for her dead body. As I walk the halls of the lifeless while being accompanied by death as he reaps the lives of the people around me made me feel so... angry. The soldiers beside me were practically invisible to me while my thoughts are filled with nothing but anguish. On my way to the lounge, I heard a voice in my head whispering “I will end this, fix this.” I looked around and asked the soldiers if they heard that... but they didn’t.

Eventually, we reached the lounge. Fire crackles on the side while blood drips from hanging bodies and screams behind us can be heard from inside the small enclosed room. I stared straight into the eye of the dead Montero daughter, her body was on the floor with only one eye visible from all the pens and pencil piercing her face. I was trained hard by the Industry to a point that I can tell the difference between a jogger’s and a liar’s sweat... and those screams outside... they were all screams of pain, fear and agony. These people never wanted this, they were suffering... they all were.

CONSTANINE: “You! Hack this computer for me and look for the surname Montero with a female first name. And you, take her bag and look around her notebooks, papers and laptop and check if you can find complex math equations. I’ll be checking her phone.”

SOLDIER #1 and #2: “Yes sir!”

If my theory is correct, the reason she was near the lounge and that the teacher knew her is because she was a frequent visitor there, an honor student. A daughter of a very successful scientist may give her an advantage if her course was closely related to her father’s occupancy.

SOLDIER #1: “Sir I found a match, Angelica Montero. 4th year college student on Chemical engineering, she’s got straight A’s and is top of her class.”

SOLDIER #2: “Sir, I found the equations you were looking for in this notebook. It has twelve pages worth of it.”

CONSTANTINE: “I knew it, she knows about her father’s Project Inspire and tried to help. (Beep) This is Leonard Constantine, authorization level 9. Shut Project Inspire down immediately, I will be sending over a chemical equation and make those people who worked on that project to prioritize this equation and make an antidote as soon as possible! (Beep) You two, talk the police men and fire fighters outside and tell them to capture and tie down anyone left alive in this school and cover themselves up with no exposed skin. Tell them that in no circumstances ever get touched bare skin with the infected and put the entire school on lockdown.”

The situation was later contained and an antidote was made. Hundreds of people were saved while countless others perished by their own hands. I later then confirmed my theory that the daughter had a sure spot in the Industry after she graduates and that she’s been helping her father out on his project. She discovered that the substance her father was creating was highly unstable and she started running the numbers on her notebook to revert the effects. It was too late though, her father came home from work after getting mildly exposed by their experiment. The father and son were the first to get infected and the daughter left immediately just before the effects kicked in, and she most likely had skin contact with either her father or brother before she left. She went to school, hi-fived a few friends while she’s walking towards the teacher’s lounge and the rest is history. Countless lives were lost from such a small mistake... those people that were burning, bleeding, dying, helpless as their bodies moved for them towards death and all they can do is... scream. I’m guessing death will be around me more often, I thought I was already done hearing those screams... 

  Leonard Constantine, logging out.

#Clockwork Archives #Conscience of Constantine #story #story telling #Mystery-Thriller #mystery #fiction #My writing #writing #horror

[moonlitonyxandopal]

SH Scribbles #3

An: It's kinda long, but you'll like it. I promise. Please bear with my errors, and thank you in advance. Xoxo

Walking aimlessly for hours, he later realized that he was at the edge of Konoha City. The Great Naruto Bridge was at sight. His onyx eyes darted from left to right.

Light posts were illuminating the whole bridge. Sasuke stood against the railings, inhaling the december breeze, feeling the coldness of the night. He was there to jump, to end his dreadful life. In between of deep inhales and exhales, he closed his eyes then jumped.

But he didn't heard splashes of water, or didn't even get soaked. He felt someone grab his body, cold and slender arms hugging him from behind. He didn't know who, or what it was but he knew it was struggling to lift him up. He grudgingly opened his tired eyes sideways, then narrowed it slowly to focus on who prolonged his agony.

To his surprise, it was a woman. A woman with long, dark colored hair that reached her waist. She was wearing a long, light colored sleeveless dress that reached her struggling knees. His head titled when he found out that she wasn wearing sandals that are soaking wet. But it didn't bother him.

The woman managed to bring Sasuke back to safety, to the other side of the railings. "Please, don't do that again." She requested in between ragged breathing. "I never lifted anyone heavier than-"

"Why did you stopped me?!" Sasuke needed to handle his anger management issues as soon as possible.

"Hi! My name is Hinata." She deadpanned. "What's yours?" She offered her hand. He frowned as his eyes darted to her hand. Her head bobbed lightly, and shook her hand slightly. She was persistent, while he was getting frustrated. But in the end, Hinata smiled wider as Sasuke shook his hand with hers. In between grunts and sighs, he introduced himself. "Sasuke."

The two eventually got to know well together that night. They visited a 24/7 coffee shop which Hinata insisted on Sasuke to try. He ordered food and drinks for two but the cashier was confused on why would he order that. He argued with the cashier that he have company outside. The cashier nonchalantly accepted his order then prepared for it.

As the food came, Sasuke saw Hinata thanked the waiter but the waiter didn't managed to look at her. The waiter left then he stared at her. "Let's eat!" Hinata exclaimed as she clasped her hands.

Sasuke was on his fifth or sixth spoon when he noticed that Hinata didn't even touched her food. He raised an eyebrow as he finished his sixth spoon of food. Hinata covered her mouth as she made an excuse. "Oh, I'm not really hungry, nor thirsty."

"Okay then. More food for me." Sasuke remarked. Then they left the shop as soon he finished eating, and drinking.

They visited another 24/7 diner which Hinata insisted on Sasuke try. "Thought you weren't hungry or thirsty?" he questioned as he was being pulled by her to the reception.

"Yes, I'm not. I just wanted to show you the diner's interior design, and luscious garden." She hummed as they approached the reception.

Sasuke looked at the man at the reception. His head tilted as he focus on the man's pearl-like eyes. It was filled with color and life. It was very familiar, but the pearl-like eyes that he somehow remembered was not as vibrant as his. And suddenly, he felt her cold hands that made him snapped back to reality. "You have to right our names in their logbook." she smiled.

"I have to right our names?" He clarified. "Yes, your name sir." The man answered that made Sasuke look at him. He then cautiously grab the pen and began writing. The man's eyes widen a bit as he saw Sasuke writing two names - his name, then the other name that made him tremble as he read it.

They managed to enter the diner. Their eyes scanned the diner's interior design. Fancy lights illuminating the inner dining area. They danced their way out to visit the diner's garden. And it left them at awe, different kinds of flowers were blooming in midst of the December nights. As she was scanning the flowers, Sasuke managed to look at her. He thought what made this night so special. "Maybe, because of her." He answered himself as he walk his way to her. He grabbed those cold, and slender arms of her, and hugged her, letting her absorb the warmth he was giving. She gasped a little but managed to hug him back. "Let's call it a night, shall we?" she whispered as yawned shyly.

Sasuke's eyes lit up as he got an idea. "I know a place, where we can spend the rest of the night." And that was the only time when Sasuke was the one who leaded the walk. They walked to a hotel, and got a room for two. Sasuke already experienced being questioned thrice on why would he spend for two, and it made him furious. He saw her struggling getting the pen, he then decided to write for her. He paid eventually then went to their separate rooms.

She bathed herself, he bathed himself. Both readied themselves to sleep, and the night was ending soon. She left a soft chuckle while he smirked as both of them entered their respective balconies at the same time. "Can't sleep?" she asked as she steadied herself against the railings of her balcony. He casually nodded as he approached her, reaching the sides of his balcony. "Stay in my room?" She bravley offered. And that was Sasuke was waiting for, her green light.

Warm rays of sunrise touched Sasuke's satiesfied face. As his eyes gradually open, he found out that Hinata was gone. He quickly got up to search for her, in the bathroom, in the living area, in the kitchen, in the balcony, but no. She was nowhere to be found.  Not sure what he was feeling, neither the two rooms were half empty nor half full, but he reluctantly fixed himself and decided to go down the reception desk.

"Sir, that was what we've been telling you since last night. We have asked you a lot times about booking 2 adjacent rooms with you not having a companion but Sir, you..."

"I saw her writing her name..." Sasuke pointed out, hushing the hotel clerk. "You saw her writing her name on the paper you gave me last night.."

The hotel clerk kept on denying Sasuke's story. Persistent on trying to prove that Sasuke's story were not true, the hotel clerk showed him a video footage caught in the cctv through a computer.

"I don't believe it." Sasuke barked as he spun his heel away from the screen of the computer. "How can that video prove that she wasn't with me since last night?"

The hotel clerk was about to answer but Sasuke, known for a man of few words, continued his speculations. "It can be edited or tampered right before you show it to me." he suspected.

"We can't do that Sir,." The hotel clerk assured Sasuke that he can not do such thing. "I'm sorry Sir, maybe she's not real..."

Unsatisfied with the hotel clerk's response, Sasuke stormed out of the hotel, together with the bags he checked in last night.

"Then I have to... Purposely to look for her." he grunted as he started the engine of his car, driving off to nowhere.

He went to their first stop, the coffee shop they visited last night. He demanded a cctb footage of their dining at the shop, the manager obliged. And to his surprise, he was caught in the video footage eating and speaking, alone, in the open dining area. All alone eating, drinking, speaking alone. "No, no, no. That can't be..."

The shop manager assured Sasuke that the recorded video footage was true and can never be altered nor edited.. Sasuke, defeated, left the coffee shop in dismay. He went inside his car, then slamed the steering wheel enough times for him to realize that it hurts, it hurt when she left her in the hotel, it hurt when she was not in the footage, it hurt for real.

He went to their second stop, the 24/7 diner. He purposely looked for the man at that reception last night. But the man approached him first. The man tapped his shoulder and requested if Sasuke has the time to talk. He brought Sasuke to his office, and offered him to sit down.

"My name is Neji. Hyuga Neji. And i am the co-owner of this diner." the man introduced. "And your name is Sasuke." he added as he opened the ledger of the diner's visitors last night. Sasuke nodded but barked. "Where is she?"

Neji's eyes suddenly saddened which made Sasuke uncomfortable. "I don't want to repeat myself."

Neji then decided to get a photo album in his office desk. He flipped some pages until he found a picture. "Does she looked like this?" he asked as his voice shiver.

Sasuke stared down at the picture. And there she was, the Hinata that he knew, but as he scanned the picture, it was taken 20 years ago. It confused him, resulted at his eyes flicker at the picture and to Neji." What is the meaning of this?"

"Her name is Hinata, my loving cousin. She was about your age when she-"

"She what?!" Sasuke demanded as he slapped the office desk.

"She died." Sasuke suddenly froze. His stare at Neji became threatening. "She jumped off at the Great Naruto Bridge. I bet that was where you saw her, eh?" Neji continued.

Sasuke can't accept and process the information thay he was getting. He grabbed Neji at his soulders and demanded the truth. "Her spirit may have a purpose. And her purpose was you." Neji managed to talk as he was being grabbed by Sasuke. "Please help her pass to the after life."

Sasuke left the diner and waited for the night to come. He then visited the Great Naruto Bridge. He waited for her to come. And he succeeded. He heard a small splash of water, and saw her soaking feet and sandals.

He looked at her, straight in eyes. His eyes scanned that face of hers, her uneven bangs, her nose, her lips, her exposed neck, her dress. Her white dress, flew gracefully through breeze by breeze. With all his might, he tried to contain all the new emotions he had been feeling with her since last night. But it slowly broke him, as predicted, Sasuke snapped.

"Your touch, the hug, our kiss! Even how we made love last night... It felt real, too real!" Sasuke voiced in between while catching his breath. "All too real..." he hushed as he looked away from those cold moonlit opal eyes of hers. "Then now I found out that you're..."

"Last night, Sasuke... all I wanted was to save you from your distress." Hinata spoke as cold as ice. "I want you to live life to the fullest. And not become like me, dead."

"But I don't want to. I want-"

An: There's a continuation actually. I'm just too lazy to post the other half.

#hinata hyuga #sasuke uchiha #sasuhina #hinasasu #sasuke #hinata

[ladyfogg]

May I? - 11/?

May I? - 11/?

Fic Summary: Ensign Faith Diaz struggles to hide her mental illness from her fellow shipmates aboard the Enterprise until an intrigued Data goes out of his way to try to understand her behavior. At his insistence, Faith tries to figure out what she’s truly passionate about and eventually seeks the professional help she needs. Fic Masterpost.

Fic Rating: NC-17

Pairing: Data/Female OC

Warnings: tw: depression, tw: anxiety, fluff, friends to lovers, eventual smut

Screenshot by @ geekygwen

Data left Faith's quarters, replaying the kiss in his mind over and over again. It was the first one he himself had initiated and he was still uncertain as to what made him do so. However, when he told her he enjoyed it, he was not putting up a pretense. While it caused no emotional reaction, he was still able to appreciate the nuance of the kiss.

Faith's lips were soft against his but firm in their pressure. He could hear her heart beating wildly, sense elevated blood flow running through her veins. The way she looked at him when he pulled away was what stuck with him the most. Hyperspace reflected in her pupils, dilated with arousal. She had studied him as if she were afraid he would disappear, taking in every detail she could.

No one had ever looked at him like that before. And that was what he enjoyed.

He had every bit of confidence in her ability to handle her new position within Engineering, though there was another matter that Data needed to address.

Geordi was busy organizing his staff when Data arrived. The android took note of who was available, searching for Carver. When he did not find him, he approached Geordi just as his friend was finishing up his instructions. 

"Team One you'll stay here and begin repairs. Sawyer, I want you to keep a list of needs to be done at starbase and what we can do on our own. Team Two, you'll help me dismantle the device for study. If anyone comes back from sickbay, let me know and I'll assign them a team. Team Two, be ready to go in five minutes."

Everyone scattered to get to work and Geordi turned to Data. "How's Faith?" he asked.

"She is resting, per Dr. Crusher. She will be ready to take her post by morning," Data informed him.

"Good. I'm glad she's alright. She did a damn good job today."

"Yes, she did," Data said. "Have you spoken to Ensign Carver about his behavior?"

"Oh yeah," Geordi assured him. "It was the first thing I did when I got back."

"Where is he?"

Geordi gestured towards the warp core. "Working with his tail between his legs. He knows he screwed up. I don't foresee any more trouble coming from him anytime soon."

"Excellent." Data turned and headed in that direction.

"Whoa, hey, where are you going?" Geordi asked. 

"I must speak with him myself."

"What are you going to say?"

"While I was waiting with Faith in sickbay, I researched ways to defend the honor of one's romantic partner," Data explained. "I then pulled from my research and wrote a program based on this particular situation and what I believe Faith will or will not appreciate."

"In other words, a guy insulted your woman and you're gonna give him a piece of your mind?"

Data gave a firm nod. "Precisely."

Geordi smirked and lovingly shook his head. He put his hands up in surrender and said, "Be my guest." As Data walked by him, Geordi grabbed his arm to stop him. "Seems like that dinner was a date after all."

"It at least was an attempt. We will try again once things are less hectic."

"I'm happy for you, Data."

"Thank you, Geordi."

Data took the lift up to the second level. He found Carver fixing one of the conduits but as he approached, the ensign immediately stopped his work and straightened up.

"Commander!" he exclaimed. "What can I do for you?"

"I believe you and I need to have a talk," Data said. "It is about what happened this evening."

Carver had the decency to look sheepish. "Commander La Forge already spoke to me. I am so sorry! I was way out of line."

"That you were. But this is of a personal nature," Data said. "I do not appreciate you insinuating that Faith was being unjust in her reaction because she and I were intimate."

Carver's eyes widened. He clearly was not expecting Data to question him directly about the incident.

"Commander, I—"

"I am not finished," Data interrupted. "Not only were your comments based on false information, but you also insulted her honor and integrity. I can only assume you jumped to the wrong conclusion when you overheard me speaking to Commander La Forge this morning. After this talk, I will not air my personal life out in the open. Regardless, you were in the wrong and I expect you to apologize to Lieutenant Diaz when she arrives tomorrow morning." He stepped in closer, voice dropping into a low but firm tone. "Understood? " 

Carver swallowed thickly, nodding. "Y-Yes, sir. I will, sir. Again, I am so sorry."

Data took another step closer and Carver practically shrank back. "She does not need me to fight her battles, nor do I wish to overstep, but should I hear even a whisper of insubordination or crudeness coming from you, it will be me you have to deal with. Am I making myself clear?"

Carver nodded again, harder this time. "Yes, sir."

Data straightened his stance and took a step back. "Good. I am glad we had this discussion. Carry on." He turned and left Carver behind, satisfied in his approach. 

Geordi was waiting for him when he stepped off the lift. "Feeling better?"

Data did not have the need to reiterate his lack of emotions. Instead, he said, "Much. I shall return to my quarters to check on Spot. I will be working from my console for the remainder of the evening, analyzing the enemy ship. Please let me know once the dismantling of the device is complete."

"Will do, buddy. See you in the morning."

Data nodded and left Engineering.

He found Spot hiding under the bed. It took some coaxing for her to come out but when she finally did, Data rewarded her with her favorite supplements. 

Data sat at his console, loading all the information from the battle. The ship that attacked them was an anomaly. While its warp function did not match up to the Enterprise, its weapon system did. It bore no resemblance to any of the Federation's known enemies and it never responded to their hails. It attacked them completely unprovoked. 

Logically, it did not make sense.

Data worked through the evening, analyzing and compiling information. Worf's security sweep yielded nothing and Engineering was still dismantling the device by the time oh-seven hundred hours came.

Deciding to meet Faith before their shifts, Data left his quarters. She answered the door already dressed, but her eyes told Data she had not slept well.

"Good morning," he said, stepping into her quarters. "You do not look particularly rested."

"I don't feel it either," she said, greeting him with a kiss on the cheek. "Let me grab some coffee and then we can head out." She walked over to the replicator. "French vanilla coffee, hot, cream and two sugars."

As the cup appeared, Data said. "I believe we concluded having only coffee for breakfast is not nutritious."

Faith rolled her eyes but there was affection in her gaze. "Scrambled eggs with two pieces of buttered wheat toast." She made a show of holding up the plate when it appeared. "There, better?"

"Better." 

They sat at her table together and Data watched as Faith took a dutiful bite of toast before reaching for her coffee.

"I was monitoring the investigation's progress last night when I couldn't sleep," she said. "Can't say I'm surprised security didn't find anything."

"Neither was I," Data said. "Our culprit does seem to be a slippery foe. However, I believe I may have created a way to detect how they are cloaking themselves."

"How?"

She reached for the coffee again but at Data's raised eyebrow, she took a spoonful of eggs first before taking another sip.

"Last year, we encountered a group of terrorists who traveled inter-dimensionally. It was highly unstable and harmful to travelers. However, it allowed them to transport without being detected. The computer still has the data from their devices. I believe I can use that information to create our own device that will detect that technology."

"Excellent. If we can connect it to the sensors, we'd be able to tell if someone decides to pop up on our ship."

"Precisely."

"Would we be able to stop them from leaving again?"

Data considered her question. "With a few minor adjustments, I believe that will be possible."

"Great! Let's get started!" Faith stood but Data touched her hand.

"Faith, I do not wish to come across as pushy, but you will function more efficiently with the proper sustenance."

Faith chuckled. "Are you telling me to finish my food first?"

"I will ask that you consider it."

She smiled and sat back down. "You know, Data, if you were anyone else I'd be annoyed or angry."

"Why is that?"

"Because I'd feel like they were judging me," she said, returning to her breakfast. "At least with you, my anxiety can't go that route. I know it's because you are genuinely concerned."

"While I appreciate the compliment, I will say that I do not believe those close to you on the Enterprise will judge either."

"No. No, I suppose they wouldn't. Alright, let me finish this so we can go." She scooped the eggs between two pieces of toast and bit into the makeshift sandwich. 

Once she was done eating, Data put her plate back on the replicator for her while she downed the rest of her coffee.

Before they left, however, an alarm peeped and she stopped by her desk. "Almost forgot!" she said, pulling out her hypospray.

Data watched her take her medication before replacing the device. "Computer, reset alarm," she said as she adjusted her uniform. She turned to Data. "How do I look?"

"Beautiful."

She smiled softly, reaching for his hands which he accepted. "Thank you," she said. "For caring."

"You are welcome."

They did not leave her quarters hand in hand. Faith let him go as soon as they crossed the threshold. Together they walked in silence, though Data did not feel that Faith was at ease. Data could sense the tension in her. 

"What is occupying your thoughts?"

"Am I that obvious?"

"To me, yes."

Faith was silent for several seconds. "Do you think Geordi said anything to Carver?" she eventually asked.

"He did," Data said. "As did I."

Faith stopped walking but it took Data a second to notice. When he did, he paused and turned to look back at her. 

"You spoke to Carver?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"His behavior towards you and insinuations needed to be addressed."

Faith did not look relieved or appreciative. "But I was going to address them. Now he's really going to think I can't take care of myself." Her voice sounded strained and he could identify the panic in her eyes.

"I do not share your conclusion," Data countered. "Your actions during the battle proved otherwise as did your ability to speak out against him." He studied Faith's expression. "Did I make an error? Are you angry?"

She took a deep breath as she rubbed her forehead absentmindedly. "No. Well, yes, a little," she admitted. "Just...if this happens again, please let me handle it on my own."

"I understand and I apologize if I overstepped," Data apologized. "If it helps, I did preface my comments by saying you do not require me to fight your battles."

Her lips twitched into a smile and she began to walk again, catching up to Data so they could continue together. "That does help a bit. Apology accepted."

"I shall adjust the program as necessary."

"Program?" 

"As you know, I lack sufficient programming for many human situations. Last night I wrote a program designed specifically to defend your honor."

"Aww, you wrote a program for me? How sweet."

"If you do not wish for me to defend you at all, I can delete the program."

"Well, let's not be too hasty. How about this: if someone insults me to your face, then feel free to defend me however your program sees fit. Sound good?"

"I can establish those parameters." 

When they reached Engineering, they were met by Geordi. "Glad you guys are here," he said. "Faith, I need you to continue coordinating repairs. We'll be reaching the starbase soon and I want the crews to be able to start the second they get on board."

"On it, Commander," she said with a nod. "I'll talk to you two later." She shot Data a smile before taking her leave.

"Data, take a look at this," Geordi said, pulling up the device's schematics on the main console. "My team just finished our investigation."

"Did you find something intriguing about the transmitter's construction?"

"That's the crazy thing…no," Geordi said. "We found nothing unusual or interesting. It was a standard transmitter made from basic materials. Aside from the fact that it was seemingly made by ghosts, it's not special at all. There's absolutely no signature or indication of where it came from."

Data scanned through the information, cross-referencing it with the reports he and Faith had compiled to ensure nothing was overlooked. Finding no inconsistencies, he took control of the console from Geordi.

"I have been constructing plans for a device that can detect and disable interdimensional travel," he said. "Since we know the intruders are not physically on the ship and it is highly improbable they were able to transport on, it is my next working theory."

"At this point, I'd try anything," Geordi sighed, sounding exhausted. "How long will it take to build?"

"I will need several hours."

"Do it. And while you and Faith have got this covered, I'm going to get to some sleep."

"That is a good idea. I will contact you once the work is complete."

"Thanks." Geordi stepped away to speak with Faith before he left to go rest.

Data spent the rest of the day focused on his device. It was difficult finding the right parts, as many spare materials were being used for the ship repairs. But he managed to improvise when necessary.

Occasionally, Faith would come over to check on him, but for the most part, he worked in solitude, determined to produce something that could give them an edge.

It was well into the night by the time he finished. By then, Faith had already retired to her quarters and the night Engineering crew had started. 

Data knew his device would work and after integrating it with the sensors, he let Worf and Geordi know what to look out for before he too retired for the day.

With nothing to do with the investigation except to wait, Data decided to take part in one of his recreations. He had the image of Faith in the starlight that he wanted to capture on canvas. After feeding Spot, he set up his supplies and began to paint.

He had been painting for two hours and sixteen minutes when his door chimed. "Come in."

The doors opened and Faith shuffled in. Data had not expected to see her before morning. She was wearing a fluffy robe tied at the waist and had braided her hair per usual, but the loose strands suggested she had been tossing and turning. The dark circles under her eyes supported his theory.

"Cannot sleep?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I keep dozing off and then waking up," she muttered with a pout.

She wandered into the living area and dropped down onto the couch across from him. "Find anything useful with your device?"

"Not yet."

"If that doesn't work, what's your plan?"

Data opened his mouth to answer but then stopped. Instead, he put down his paintbrush, giving her his full attention.

"I do not think working will help your insomnia," he said. 

"I'll be fine, Data."

He knew this to be false. Sleep was essential to humans just as eating, drinking, and breathing.

"I do not share in your assessment," Data said. "You have been working very hard and need your rest in order to have full control of your mental faculties. I must insist you go to bed."

"Since when did you become so protective?" Faith asked. Her tone suggested she was teasing him.

"Since I adjusted your defense program to include a protective function. Now…" He put his hands on his hips to simulate a stern stance. "Will you go willingly or will I have to make you?"

What he said seemed to have a different effect on Faith than he anticipated. Rather than looking chastised or sheepish, her face flushed and her tongue darted out to wet her dry lips.

"Make me?"

"I am stronger than you. I will carry you to bed if need be."

"Uh...I'll, uh, I'll go to bed on my own," she stuttered, getting to her feet. "Yeah, that's a good idea."

Data studied her retreating frame curiously. "Did I make an error again? I did not mean to come across as controlling."

"N-No, you didn't. You're fine. Really fine. It's fine." She quickened her pace, almost reaching the door.

Her nervousness was different. Data ran through the scenarios until he realized what was wrong. "Did my forceful tone arouse you?" he asked.

Faith halted her steps and turned back around, showcasing the sheepish look he had been anticipating earlier.

"You took me by surprise is all," she said. "I've never heard you be so...firm before." Her hand reached up to fiddle with the end of her braid. "Don't worry about it. Actually, can we just forget this ever happened?"

"Not possible. I do not forget anything."

"Yeah, figured it was a long shot to ask." She nervously shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"I shall refrain from using such a tone when we are not alone, so not to arouse you in public."

At that, Faith chuckled. "I'm an adult, Data. I'm not gonna throw my legs in the air every time I hear you give someone an order."

"Legs in the air?" He processed her words. "Ah. You mean sex." Data raised an eyebrow. "Do you wish to do so now? We are not currently in public."

"Are you asking me to have sex with you?"

"I am asking if that is something you wish to do at this moment."

Faith studied him curiously. "You don't feel sexual desire, correct?"

"That is correct."

"So you asking me right now is purely for my benefit? You don't get anything out of it?"

"Not necessarily," Data corrected. "While it is true I do not feel pleasure as humans do, I can appreciate the need for sex and the closeness it provides. As I stated previously, I am fully capable of engaging in intercourse and am programmed in many techniques."

"Have you had sex before?"

"Yes. Only once. Six years, seven months, and twenty-two days ago."

Faith looked pensive. "I guess I never thought about whether or not you had sex."

"Because I am an android, most assume I cannot," he said. "Do you not wish for our relationship to become sexual? I would ask if you are sexually attracted to me but based on certain reactions I know that you are."

Faith's face increased in temperature again and she folded her arms across her chest in a protective stance. "I am," she admitted. "But we just became close and I'm not ready for that yet."

"I understand. For most beings it is a big step forward in the relationship," Data said. "Would you be more comfortable discussing this at another time?"

"Yes. Yes, I would."

"Very well," Data said. "Though, when I ordered you to bed, I did not intend for you to leave so soon. You may sleep in my bed if it will help your anxiety."

Faith smiled softly and closed the distance between them, uncrossing her arms. "May I kiss you, Data?"

"That would be acceptable."

She slid her arms around his neck, her fingers playing idly with his hair before she pulled him down into a kiss. Data placed his hands on her waist, tilting his head to provide the most comfortable angle for her. 

When her lips met his, they were softer than before and slightly dry. She sighed and let her eyes flutter closed. Data mirrored her, calculating the safe amount of pressure he could apply. 

Three seconds later she withdrew, her forehead pressed against his. After another soft peck, arms slipped from his neck and she smiled up at him.

"Still as good as the first time."

"That is nice of you to say but you do not need to sate my ego, as I do not have one."

"Trust me, I wouldn't. I'm not that type of person," Faith said. "I meant what I feel when I kiss you is still as strong as before."

"Ah, I see. May I ask what it is that you feel?"

"Once I can articulate it, I'll let you know," she yawned and slipped her arms around his waist in a light hug. "I should sleep now."

"Yes, you should."

He led her over to the bed, pulling back the blanket so she could lay down. She removed her robe, draping it over the couch. Underneath she wore a nightgown. It was made of rather thin material and Data noted that it hugged her frame in a flattering way. Once she slid into bed, he tucked her in like he had the night before.

"Computer, dim lights."

The room grew dark and Faith shifted to get comfortable. Data recalled several hundred old Earth movies he had downloaded when researching romance and leaned down, placing a kiss on her forehead. 

"Sweet dreams."

Faith smiled, her eyes already drooping. "Good night."

Data left her alone and went back to his painting. He listened to her heartbeat steadily and then her breathing evened out, signaling she was fast asleep. He found he enjoyed her presence even when she was not awake. Data never considered himself lonely by any means, but having another person in the room did offer a comfort he had not expected.

Three hours later, Data's communicator beeped.

"Lieutenant Worf to Commander Data. The sensors picked up a signature. Please come to the Bridge."

"I'm on my way," Data responded.

He knew it was too early to wake Faith, so he decided to leave her be. Before he left, he replicated a rose like the one he had Guinan bring for their date. 

Data set the glass vase on the small nightstand. The blanket had slipped off so he gently draped it back over her. It was then he noticed Spot curled up asleep at the foot of the bed. 

This intrigued him but he did not feel the need to move the feline as she was not disturbing Faith. 

Studying the image of the two for a moment, he allowed himself a soft smile before refocusing his attention and going to meet Worf.

#commander data #lt commander data #data tng #data soong #star trek next generation

[joannie95]

Legacy- Part 18

Pairing: Carter! reader x ?????

Summary:  Everyone knows Peggy Carter is a force to be reckoned with, who could have guessed her granddaughter would hold the same ferocity, if not more.This story follows y/n Carter’s life as she faces the obstacles life pitches her.

A/N: Yes I use principle Skinner’s real name as the villain, it just sounded evil. Thank you to @nasarogers for helping me with all the questions I had to help with this chapter I really appreciate it. Proofread by @welldonebeca

Warnings: A very bitchy Natasha, some swearing, violence and mentions of blood

You’ve been so stressed out lately, you can feel your mind racing a mile a minute.

“Carter,Carter. Agent Carter!" 

"Huh?” You look up once you hear Fury shouting your name. 

He had an irritated look on his face. “I’m sorry, is this briefing disrupting your daydreaming?” He had his arms crossed.

“No sir, I’m sorry,” You grabbed on to your necklace as you looked around, and quickly noticed the concerned look on Phil and Clints face and the arrogant look on Natasha’s face. 

“As I was saying,” he gave you a cold look before he started talking again. Armin Tamzarian obtained information for shield weapons and I need the three of you to retrieve it. Carter, do you mind?“ 

You stood up and walked to the front of the table.

"Not at all sir.” You activated your holographic projection of what seems to look like a normal cave. “I’ve tracked Tamzarians current location to the Alaska Wilderness, a few miles of a hike into the forest. I used the shields satellite to find a cave bunker he’s been hiding out in.” You explain, and enhance the projection to show heat signatures within the bunker under their watchful eyes. “There are 3 floors below ground level and a dozen people within the building. I believe that he is keeping the weapons information on the bottommost floor. It seems that I’ve bought us some time, they haven’t been able to break the code I added to the file." 

You sit back down, and let Fury finish the briefing.

"Thank you Carter,” he moved back to his previous spot “I’ll need the three of you to infiltrate that bunker and retrieve the information.”

You look towards Natasha once you hear her scoff.

“Why is the lab rat going on this mission?” She glared at you, with an annoyed look on her face.

“Because, Agent Romanoff.” You heard Fury say in a condescending tone. “Agent Carter is the only one capable enough to wipe all of the information Tamzarian has in his system.“ 

She sat up straight and clenched her fist. "Well, I’m not going to babysit her and make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”

You took a deep breath and gave her a cold stare.

Oh if only looks could kill.

“There is no need for that, Carter is more than capable,” he dismissed her words. “Now if you’re done with your temper tantrum go suit up, you all leave in 30 minutes." 

As soon as Nick left the room you walked up to Natasha. 

"What the hell is your problem with me?" 

"I don’t have a problem, I just don’t like some lab rat thinking she’s capable of going on missions." 

After hearing that you got right in her face. "Call me lab rat one more time and I promise you I’ll beat you even worse than I did before.”

You saw her lip curl up like she was about to make a comment before Phil intervened.

"Alright that’s enough!” Phil walked up to seperate the two of you. “I’m tired of your arguing, the three of you will go on this mission and that’s final. If I hear anything about you two fighting neither of you will go on missions do I make myself clear.”

You took a step back shocked at his reaction, you rarely saw Phil get this mad so when it happened, you knew it was serious. 

“Of course.” You looked down at your feet. 

You felt like a scolded dog.

Phil turned to Natasha.

“Agent Romanoff, do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.” She said with no hesitation, although she looked like she wanted to rip your head off.

The three of you left the meeting room only to hear Clint snickering behind you.

“Shut up Clint.” You and Natasha say in unison.

You went to change into your stealth suit, and started to pace back and forth, alone in the room. You were nervous. No, not just nervous, you were scared. What if Natasha was right? What if you couldn’t do this? What if you weren’t good enough? What if- 

"Y/n!” You looked up and saw Phil standing in front of you. 

When had he entered?

“Are you alright?” He gave you a worried look. “I’ve been calling your name for a while now.” 

He looked down at where your hand was messing with your necklace, and you knew he knew you weren’t exactly calm.

"No, I’m not,” You run your hands down your face. “What if I can’t do this Phil? Dad was able to but maybe I’m not good enough." 

You blinked several times, feeling tears in your eyes but refusing to let them fall.

He relaxed his shoulders and grabbed onto your hand. "You and I both know that’s not true,” he said in a soft comforting tone. “You can’t let Natasha get to you. I know without a doubt that your dad is looking down at you proud as he can be for what you’re doing. You have to go out there and show them what you can do alright.”

You stood up straight with confidence. “Alright.” 

When you walked to the quinkjet, your eyes quickly fell on Clint on the Pilot’s seat."Hey,” he had a smile on his face. “Glad you could join us. So what do you think?" 

You looked around. 

“This looks amazing,” you took the seat next to him. "You have to teach me how to fly this thing.”

“Of course. Are you nervous?”

You started to bite your lip. “No… Yes. Is it that obvious?”

“No,” he laughs.  “But it’s your first mission with us. Solo missions are completely different than group missions, you have more than just yourself to worry about, so it’s understandable. Just don’t worry about it you’ll do great." 

You smile. "Thanks Clint.

He started the engine and you began to take off. "Anytime kid. We should be arriving in about 3 hours.”

When you arrive at the predicted time, he landed the quinjet into a small clearing, and you pulled up a holographic image of the area from your watch. 

“The cave should be about 3 miles north from here. So, do you have a plan? We can’t just go in blind.”

“Of course we do,” He had a cocky look on his face. Once we reach the cave I’ll take out anyone I see by the entrance with my arrows and from there we can each take a floor. Y/n you’ll take the bottom floor since that’s where Tamzarian should have the information. Nat will take the floor above you and I’ll take the top floor, alright if we’re all set on the plan we can head out.“

After an hour of hiking you finally reach the cave, only finding one person standing guard. Before you can say anything, you see one of Clint’s arrows taking him out. 

"Alright let’s head in,” he instructed. “You both know what to do.”

The three of you walked into the bunker and made your way down the stairwell. Clint went through the first door you passed and Natasha was about to open the next one when you suddenly pushed her against the wall.

“What the hell do you think-”

She was interrupted by someone opening the door to the stairwell. Once he turned he saw the two of you, he was about to pull out a gun when you shot him in the chest. She doesn’t give you a second look before walking through the door, and you walked down to the last floor.

“You’re welcome.” You mumbled to yourself.

You were already in when you saw someone on a large computer mumbling to themselves. 

You quietly walk up behind him. “You’re probably using the wrong sequence.”

You hear him scoff. “And how would you know?” He turned around and his eyes went wide.

Once he realised who you were, the man went to attack you, but your reaction was quick, managing to put him in a choke hold until he passed out.

You sat in front of the computer and started to wipe out the system, you were just about to finish when you felt something hard hit the side of your head and knock you out of the chair. 

When you raised your eye you saw a tall muscular man with dark piercing eyes.

“Now who are you?” he asked, holding a threatening look on his face. 

You could feel some blood dripping on the side of your head for a moment, but it stopped quickly. 

“I’m going to assume you’re Tamzarian,” you suggested, looking at him from the floor.

The man pulled out his gun, pointing it to you, and you could see Clint and Natasha arriving from behind him.

“I am, but that still doesn’t answer my question,” he cocked his gun. Who are you?" 

You had a small smirk on your face. "That’s really not very important.”

You saw Clint throw something to the other side of the room and the noise made Tamzarian turn around. With that distraction, you kicked his ankle and he fell to the ground. You were ready to fight when you suddenly felt a sting on your thigh along with blood. 

You closed your eyes, falling in the pain for a moment but being interrupted by Clint’s voice.

“Finish on the computer we’ll take care of him.” he yelled. 

You stood up, quickly sitting on the chair again and ignoring your thigh while trying to finish and with a few more clicks the screens went black. 

“Done,” you announced.  “Let’s get out of here.”

When the three of you reached the quinjet you could feel the redhead staring holes to the back of your head, and turned to look at her. 

“Can I help you with something?”

She walked off and sat next to Clint.

You walked towards the back to see that the cut on your head and the flesh wound from the bullet completely healed.

When you arrived back at shield, Phil was waiting for you with a smile on his face.

“Hey kid,” He put an arm around your shoulder. “Come on Fury wants to talk to you.”

“Alright.” You turned to look at the other two. “I’ll see you guys later, and thank you." 

You walked beside your friend, leaving the duo behind you silently. 

Natasha watched you leave with a serious look on her face. 

"There’s something going on with her,” she crossed her arms.” She was shot I saw it happen.”

Clint had a confused look on his face.

“Nat what are you talking about,” he looked at her. “She looks just fine. Don’t you think she would be in some sort of pain if she were shot?”

She began to get frustrated, wanting to pull her hair out of her head. “Exactly,” she insisted.”Which is why I find it weird that she’s not. When she kicked Tamzarian to the ground his gun went off and I saw a bullet hit her thigh. So tell me why there’s nothing there. There’s something going on and I’m going to find out what it is." 

Clint was ready to answer, but she walked away, leaving him on his own.

Legacy Tags:

@agentmarvel13 @1v-kayla @5sos-wdw @a-dancing-hufflepuff@annoylinglyaries @avngrsinitiative @bradfordsgreekgod @babypink224221@captainam-erika-trash @carisi-sonny @chook007 @cosmiccomicloverqueen@daniellajocelyn @doctoranon @ecamille-xo @editsbyjenny @ellieababy @futuremissstark @gummiwormsandonedirection @henrietteoaks @hermionie-is-my-queen @ineedmorefanfics @isabella-bby @jaemingold @junitorials13@katykyll @klanceiscannon14 @littlephoenix-fire @lovemarvelousfics@l0kisbitch @ludwigvonbaethoven @maddie-laufeyson@magnificentsoulecollector @mikariell95 @moli1497 @nanajaeminniee@orderoftheflamingflamingos @paintballkid711 @pastelpurplexoox@princessizzy36 @shallowshawn @sillydecoy @spodermanpete@starstruckgardenstudentzonk @stuckyandsciencebros @thatweirdchick147 @tienna-laufeeyson16 @wishiwasanavenger @xalinx @zaza-jones@izzyisavengersupernaturaltrash

#peggy carter x reader #peggy carter x you #peggy carter x y/n #clint barton #hawkeye #clint barton x reader #natasha romanoff #black widow #natasha romanoff x reader #avengers imagine #avengers fanfiction #avengers series #avengers x reader #avengers x you #avengers x y/n #phil coulson x reader #legacy

[shatteredglassanimated]

Shattered Glass Animated Season 1 Episode 3 - Transform and Rise Up!, Part 3

The Decepticons get to know their new allies a little more, but introductions are cut short when they discover they were not the only Cybertronians who crashed on earth and Overlord Sumdac is far from done with the Resistance...

“Failures! The whole lot of them!” Sumdac snarled, hauling his wrench at the wall next to the unfazed secretary-bot who had just reported to him. That was perhaps the only downside to having a non-human assistant, Sumdac thought. Machines might be more reliable, but they also lacked the satisfying utter fear in their eyes. They would not flinch, no matter how much his wrath flared up and that irked him. Everything he owned ought to fear him. Oh well. At least the robots were obedient. Not like that resistance-scum that had yet again managed to elude him. How they’d managed to somehow completely destroy that techno-organic abomination that some of his finest scientists had failed to contain or control was completely beside him. He’d been so sure that had them this time! So sure he had retreated to his laboratory for two days and had ordered the secretary-bot not to disturb him until his return. Clearly they’d had help. Perhaps even from the inside? Now here was something to consider. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The high-tech weaponry, advanced enough to rival his toughest police-drones. The way his camera-bots seemed to mysteriously malfunction whenever a fight ensued between the resistance fighters and his own forces. Sumdac stroked his chin in thought. Yes, it seemed like the only logical conclusion. But who? It had to be someone high up, a human, obviously, intelligent enough to counter-engineer Sumdac-drones. Perhaps-

The comm on his desk sprang to life, interrupting his thought process. Sumdac growled and brought his fist down on the answer button, activating the small monitor. Seeing just who it was that had called him did nothing to improve his mood. A sturdy blond man with a much too eager look in his eye and a shiny badge pinned to his shirt. “What is it, Captain Fanzone?” Sumdac asked, in a tone that would have made a snow storm feel warm. “I am quite busy.” “Good morning, Overlord Sumdac,” Fanzone chattered giddily, either ignoring or not noticing his employers foul mood. “Me and the crew did a bit of clean-up in downtown, y’know, bringing back the drones that got shattered before the scavengers got to ‘em. We found a camera-bot and retrieved it’s footage - which is crispy clean, by the way. You couldn’t find a human making pictures like that in that situation! This is why I love machines-” “What did the footage show?” Sumdac interrupted, before Fanzone was able to descend into one of his unbearable gushing fits. He’d appreciated the man’s complete and utter loyalty and devotion to all things technological back when he’d hired him as his chief of police, but after soon thirty years of listening to his endless drivel, Sumdac wondered if perhaps he should have gone through with making his personal police force a hundred percent non-organic. At least robots had an off-switch. “Right, right! Well, I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t just seen it myself, to be honest I still don’t believe it. It’s amazin’, it’s groundbreakin’, it’s-” “Just send me the footage,” Sumdac groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming up. “Right away, sir!” A file popped up on his computer and Sumdac send the data over to the flat-screen facing his desk. As much as Fanzone liked to overstate, he had been right about the quality of the material the camera-bot had carried. The picture was sharp as could be. And what it showed raised Sumdac’s interest. Four gigantic robots, apparently able to transform into flying vehicles at will battled with his monster, each displaying a different set of skill and powers. The footage cut off when one of the beasts’ tentacles grabbed and crushed it in mid-air, but Sumdac had seen enough. He’d been right after all. The resistance had had help. Help from above. No wonder they had disabled his cameras. If he’d discovered their little secret earlier...although ‘little’ was perhaps not an apt descriptor for it. A sense of nostalgia overcame him as he thought back to that fateful evening fifty years ago. At that time he’d thought of his find as a once in a life-time occurrence. He wasn’t particularly angry to be proven wrong, though. Without knowing it, the resistance had possibly handed him just what he needed to sniff them out. He turned to switch on his computer, went through some files until he found what he was searching for, then contacted Fanzone again. “I am about to send you a probe of an energy signature. Do not attempt to find out what it belongs to, it is extremely rare and way over your head. You will feed it to a regiment of your police drones. And then you will dispatch them and let them search.” “So we’ve got a lead, sir?” Fanzone asked. Sumdac smirked. “Indeed we have. Tell the drones they have orders to take any robots they find and bring them to me, undamaged. And if they find any humans accompanying them, they are authorized to use lethal force.” ______________________________________________________________ A lean, great figure, raised it’s hand away from it’s head and left it’s hiding place outside the Terrordrome’s main tower to drop down onto and automated aircraft and onto the street. Transforming into a standard motorcycle and racing towards Downtown. ______________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, in an old abandoned factory on the outskirts of Detroit, the resistance in question were up to face another day. It had been a rather quiet two days since the incident and they’d gotten to know each other a little better. Currently, Amicable Archer had settled himself on Blitzwing’s shoulder and was rather enthusiastically explaining all the things that placed a bow above a regular plasma gun. The Decepticon listened and nodded politely after every second word or so, although he couldn’t for the spark of him understand what this conversation was actually about. But it was still fascinating to listen to a being that was so small and so vulnerable compared to him and his fellow ‘Cons, yet still threw himself into battle against opponents so much bigger and more lethal than himself to protect other humans. Lugnut and Cyrus were sitting side by side on an old assembly line, watching their respective partner and wishing desperately for them to break off and return. Neither of them knew how to talk to each other. Cyrus had mostly gotten over his discomfort after he realized the Decepticons were in no way associated with Sumdac, but they still unnerved him to a certain degree. So much so that he had forbidden Penny to interact with them until further notice. And although she had sulked quite a bit about his decision, she’d ultimately agreed to stay hidden in her room in their side of the factory, much to his relief. Lugnut felt much the same about the humans. He was by no means an organo-phobe, it was more that he’d never had the faintest idea what he was supposed to do with them. Most of the organic life he’d encountered in his life-cycle hadn’t really been intelligent enough to communicate in a way that he could understand and with how squishy and fragile organics were he’d always felt a mere touch with his giant metal claws was enough to make them wither away and/or break. True, this Cyrus looked a lot more put-together than his smaller companion, but still just as soft. The uncomfortable silence between them stretched out with every second, only highlighted by Archers’ and Blitzwing’s light-hearted chattering. Eventually, Cyrus gave an awkward cough and turned to Lugnut. “Umm, so. This ‘Cybertron’...is it...far away from earth?” “Very. Though without a proper star  map, I will be unable to tell you the exact distance.” “Ah. And, err...where did you guys say you came from again?” “New Kaon. It is the main capital of our colonies, a safe haven from the Autobots and their tyranny.” “Huh. Kinda like our factory’s a hideout from Overlord Sour-puss out there?” “...You could say that. Although New Kaon is much superior in size.” “I mean, if it’s supposed to host a whole bunch of you guys, I’d imagine it’d have to be.” Cyrus lifted one corner of his mouth in an uneasy smirk. Lugnut made a noise that could have been a laugh, but Cyrus couldn’t be entirely sure. The behemoths’ face wasn’t exactly what you’d call expressive. He came to the conclusion that, if Lugnut hadn’t been at least a bit amused by his comment, he’d have moved away by now and decided to leave it at that. The two of them continued to sit together in silence, though there was an air of comfort to it now. At the same time, Megatron and Blackarachnia were standing in the repair room. The techno-organic was checking the monitors showing  Starscream’s vital signs. He was still in stand-by, his condition having neither worsened nor bettered since her last check-up a few megacycles ago. Blackarachnia wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She supposed she should be glad he wasn’t going off-line at least. Megatrons was silent beside her, his optics firmly set on his second-in-command. She didn’t have the spark to tell him to leave and to be quite honest, there was no real need for her to do so either. It wasn’t like he was peeking over her shoulder non-stop. When Megatron hadn’t spend time getting to know their new human friends better, he had been in their makeshift med-bay, not saying or doing anything, just waiting for Starscream to wake up. Every time she came in, he would just mutely make room for her. The only time he had asked if she could tell him anything about his condition had been when he had entered the med-bay the morning after she had operated on Starscream to get his arm fixed on her behest. “We’ll just have to wait,” Blackarachnia had told him, trying hard to avoid his gaze by stubbornly busying herself with patching up his mangled servo. And that had been that. She finished her check on the monitor showing Starscream’s sparkbeats and ex-vented a little, turning to face Megatron. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but some time we have to discuss our next move. Particularly how we’re going to contact New Kaon.” She looked him right in the optics. “If what the humans say is to be believed, our crash-landing happened 50 of their years ago. And if my translations are correct, that means-” “We have been missing for 50 stellar cycles,” Megatron finished her sentence. There was fatigue in his voice. “I know. And you are right. Our main objective as of now should be to get in contact with our people. They need to know we haven’t perished. And that our expedition has been successful.” He ex-vented heavily, throwing one last look at Starscream and then turning towards the door. “Perhaps the humans can be of help. Their technology may not be as advanced as ours, but it has proven useful once already. If not communication, maybe we will at least be able to send a message.” Blackarachnia nodded, following him outside. When they entered the main hall they found themselves confronted by a very eager Blitzwing and not much less eager Amicable Archer standing on his shoulder. “Amicable Archer has just offered me to accompany him on one of his ‘patrols,” Blitzwing said, a wide smile on his face plate. “I feel that would help me learn more about the locals and their situation. With your permission, I would take him up on that offer.” Amicable Archer nodded. “Indeed! Methinks the metal knight would make a fine companion against Sumdac’s forces of evil.” Blackarachnia threw a cautious glance at Megatron. She knew he was usually more than capable of handling sudden requests, but it was safe to say the last few solar-cycles hadn’t really gone well for him. To her surprise, Megatron gave Blitzwing a soft smile with no trace of irritability or fatigue in it. “A good idea, Blitzwing. But do make sure to stay in contact. If this Sumdac is really as dangerous as our new friends say, he might well have something unpleasant waiting for us.” Blitzwing beamed. “I will! We will be back in about 2 megacycles.” “I doeth not know what that meaneth, but our watchful march should take no less than two hours,” Archer chimed in, putting his hands on his hips and striking a confident pose. __________________________________________________________ The two took off, Blitzwing transforming into jet mode in order to be less conspicuous. As Cyrus had told them in a rather bitter tone, drones flying their routes above Downtown wasn’t really anything special to the citizens and since everyone would be too busy keeping their head down and avoiding directly looking at whatever Sumdac aircraft was currently hovering over them, no one would notice that the jet was, in fact carrying someone. During their flight, Archer would occasionally point out places in which the resistance had fought (and won, as he never got tired to proudly proclaim) particularly tough battles against Sumdac’s forces. Ironically, the overlord’s stubborn refusal to use humans as well as robots in his newly instated police had made things a lot easier on the rebellion when it came to armed conflict. Since they weren’t in any danger of seriously harming some poor innocent sap who was forced to attack them they didn’t have to hold back and could use their bestowed weapons and abilities to their hearts’ content. As long as they made sure the civilians were evacuated first, of course. “After all, ‘tis our noble creed to protect the good people of Downtown from harm, not causeth them harm,” Archer said, crossing his arms and smiling proudly. “Funny,” Blitzwing mused. “We Decepticons have a similar ‘creed’, as you would say. We are programmed to respect and protect life at all costs. Before we came here, that usually meant the AllSpark. But you humans are life as well, which means we must protect you, too.” He paused for a second, before continuing: “Your little planet is so strange to me. You humans are so much smaller and so much more fragile than us and life has dealt you a heavy hand. Yet you just keep going and fighting the force that oppresses you, risking your life every time. It’s admirable, really.” “Oh, thou dost flatter, sir knight,” Archer chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “We doeth our best, but alas ‘tis not nearly enough to fully tame Overlord Sumdac’s forces, sadly. There art times I doth wish-” Archer suddenly interrupted himself and leaned forward to get a better look at the city passing below them. “Do I seeth smoke there?” A grey column rose in the distance before them, accompanied by a warm orange glow. “You humans have rather curious traditions,” Blitzwing said, chuckling nervously. Archer’s eyes widened. “Those arenst any traditions, friend! I knoweth these old factories, they have been shut down long ago when the tyrant Sumdac retreated the assembly of his armies into his fortress. Some of it’s old machinery musteth malfunctioned!” “But if I understand correctly, those buildings have long since been vacated. Why is it an issue if they get destroyed?” Blitzwing asked confused. “The fire couldeth take over to the city! Sumdac cares naught for the people who live here, so he will not send pawns to extinguish it in time if ever. We needeth to act!” Archer said, already fumbling for a particular arrow in his quiver. “Understood. Hang on tight, Archer.” Blitzwing turned towards the burning factory and put his thrusters to full power. Archer yelped as the sudden increase in velocity pressed him back into his seat. The two of them arrived and touched down a few meters away from the factory, Blitzwing transforming back into robot-mode as soon as the surrounding buildings hid them from sight. “Thankfully, our noble benefactor hast prepared me for this kind of calamity,” Archer beamed. He raised his hand to pull down a gas mask from a hidden pocket in his hat. The two took off into the fire. Blitzwing lowered his cannons, shooting ice beams into the highest fire walls. Ice crystals solidified in the spots the beams hit, suffocating the fire nigh instantly. Archer aimed arrows at the flames at his partner’s blind side, the tips of the projectiles releasing fire extinguishing foam upon exploding. In less than half an hour the fire was mostly under control, though Archer insisted on checking for any smaller flames they might have missed. They went deeper into the empty building, Archer lighting the way with yet another arrow. The ash and grime on the walls seemed to swallow the light as it hit them. The slowly melting ice created a steady background dripping. After the crackling and roaring of flames only a short time prior this place now seemed entirely too quiet. Archer had never liked places that were too quiet. It reminded him of... Cutting the memory off before it could fully form, Archer cleared his throat and stopped to turn to Blitzwing. “Well, it seemeth our work here is done. Shall we-” A quiet noise coming from the darkness interrupted him. It was a quiet, high-pitched sob, echoing from the high walls in an eerie manner. Blitzwing frowned. “It sounds like someone’s vocalizer is malfunctioning. Quite badly, in fact.” “We calleth that ‘crying’,” Archer said, slowly following the noise. “‘Tis a sign of distress and sadness among us humans. Though our youngest ones also often useth it to obtain things they doeth desire.” Not sure he entirely understood, Blitzwing followed the human. The light of the glowing arrow came upon a small human boy, curled up in the middle of the factory’s hall. His head was buried in his hands and he didn’t seem to have noticed them yet. Archer smiled warmly and approached the boy, extending a hand towards him. “Now what is a young one like you doing in a dismal place such as this? Didst thou get lost?” Blitzwing narrowed his optics. Something seemed off about this small organic. Archer had told him that humans were very susceptible to smoke and heat, to the point where it was impossible for them to function in an environment that had both aplenty. How had this little one be able to survive in here this long? And then the boy raised his head. It was only for a split-second and an organic eye wouldn’t have been able to catch it, but for a Cybertronians advanced optic it was visible enough. A flicker, like on a faulty monitor. Blitzwing’s optics widened. He jumped forward, servos closing around Archer’s body, just before an ear-shattering explosion blasted out the factory’s windows. ___________________________________________________________ Cyrus hated waiting. Especially if he had to wait alone. Sitting down and smelling the roses had never been his thing, not since Overlord Sumdac’s machines had overrun the city. Not that there had been many roses to smell after that. Aaron and Blitzwing had been gone for far too long for his liking now. And judging by the uneasy way Lugnut shifted beside him, he wasn’t the only one to think so. “Cyrus, was it not?” The voice startled him out of his thoughts and he jumped, looking upwards to meet Megatron’s worried blue....eyes? Lights? He wasn’t sure what they called it. It took him awhile to process what had been said to him. “Er, yeah. Yeah, that’s me.” “I do not mean to offend, but your human companion and Blitzwing have been gone for quite a while now. This patrol of yours, how long does it usually take?” Cyrus frowned. “Not that long actually. And seeing as they were doing it from a bird’s eye view it should’ve taken even less time today.” “I see,” Megatron answered. He seemed about as unsettled by this answer as Cyrus was. “Hey, um...you said you can stay in contact with each other, right?” Cyrus asked. Megatron nodded. “Maybe you should, y’know...contact him? Blitzwing? Just to be safe, I mean.” A penetrative beeping noise sprang up from Cyrus’ belt, making hism jump for the second time. “Sounds like somebody needs a check-up,” Blackarachnia pointed out. Cyrus looked down at the source of the noise, a small round device with a sleek white surface, his frown deepening. “No, that’s a distress signal. Archer, me and Pe- everyone else in the resistance has one of these communicators. We use it to call out to each other when we’re in a pinch.” He took the deice of the belt and tapped a button. “You okay, Archer? We’re all kind of starting to worry over here.” “As you should,” a metallic sounding voice responded. Megatron, Blackarachnia and Lugnut tensed up at hearing it, Blackarachnia even hissing slightly. “I must say, I never would have thought organics capable of constructing such a neat little communication device. It is remarkable primitive, but for your kind even that can be considered impressive.” Cyrus’ hand tightened around the communicator. “Who are you? What did you do with Archer?” “Nothing. Yet. And as for who I am...I am sure your new ‘allies’ can tell you more about that. We have met once before, after all,” the voice responded. Cyrus felt like he could hear the smug grin of its’ owner. He grit his teeth. “What do you want?” “First of all, I want to make sure that this is heard by the rest of the Decepticon-scum. Are they present?” “We are all here, Autobot,” Megatron answered, spitting out the word ‘Autobot’ like an insult. “I assume Blitzwing is with you as well?” “And you’d assume right,” the voice chuckled. “He is a bit worse for wear, but he’ll live...probably. Since you already deduced who I am, I will skip the introductions and get straight to the point. I know you are in possession of the AllSpark. And if you want your comrade and your precious little organic pet back, you will give it to me.” Megatron glared at the communicator in Cyrus’ hand. “We will need time to think about your offer. Give us a megacycle to debate.” “Stalling won’t help you, Decepticon-scum,” the voice spat. “But if you insist on wasting your friends’ time, you shall have your megacycle. And when it has passed, I expect to see you at these coordinates, with the AllSpark.” A light in the device flickered and it went out. Cyrus pressed another button on the surface, hurrying over to a control panel attached to a monitor and connecting the communicator with it. The screen flared to life, showing a map of Downtown with a small red dot flaring up to mark a specific spot. “I know that place,” Cyrus said, leaning forward. “It’s one of the abandoned factories on the other side of the city.” He turned back to the Decepticons, face hard. “If we hurry, we can make it there in under half an hour. We have to leave, now.” “Cyrus, it is not that simple,” Megatron said calmly. “We cannot rush into this without thinking. If this Autobot gets the AllSpark into his servos, this entire planet will be at risk.” “You’re not seriously suggesting that we’re refusing, are you?” Blackarachnia asked incredulously. “He’s got Blitzwing! And who knows what he’ll do to that human!” “Yeah, what she said!” Cyrus spoke up. “I’m not leaving Aaron with some crazy alien murder machine! I thought you Decepticons were the good guys and now you’re actually considering letting two hostages get who knows what done to them?” “You are both far too emotional.” Lugnut had stood up from his place on the assembly line and was now glaring at both Cyrus and Blackarachnia. “For once, I agree with Megatron. Handing the AllSpark over to the Autobot Empire is certain death. Two lives are not worth the prize of billions.” “So that’s it?” Blackarachnia asked, narrowing her optics at him. “We just let Blitzwing and the human die?” “We all must make sacrifices for the greater good,” Lugnut said gravely. “Do you think this is easy for me, Blackarachnia?” “I don’t know,” she hissed. “Isn’t it?” “Enough, both of you,” Megatron cut her off. “This is no time to argue amongst ourselves. Lugnut, I agree that the AllSpark must be kept from the wrong servos at all costs.” The big Decepticon straightened himself and opened his mouth to say something, but Megatron wasn’t finished. “However, I also share Blackarachnia’s feelings on the matter. We have already almost lost a fellow Decepticon yesterday. I do not wish to experience that again. Neither should an innocent human become victim of our wars.” Megatron turned and walked over to Cyrus, kneeling down in front of him. “Cyrus. You have stated that you know the place the Autobot has chosen for the exchange. Do you know it well enough to show one of us the ways around and inside it?” Cyrus nodded. “Yes, I think so. Aaron and I used to scout out these buildings regularly, in case we needed another hideout.” “Good,” Megatron said. “Then I would ask you to help us to prepare a nasty little surprise for our Autobot-friend. Though I must warn you, it won’t be without risk.” “Eh, what else is new?” Cyrus answered, giving a grin. “If it’ll knock that kidnapper down a few pegs, count me in!” Megatron smirked. “Oh, I should hope that it does. Here is what I need you to do...” ______________________________________________________________ Hothead rebooted to a a voice frantically calling Blitzwing’s name. In his processor he identified it as belonging to the organic who called himself Amicable Archer and whom Blitzwing had, apparently successfully, tried to protect from a booby trapped hologram. He groaned in annoyance, forcing the rest of his systems to reboot so he could access the situation and more importantly get Archer to stop yelling at him. His optical sensors reactivated slowly and he lifted his helm to see Archer standing on his chest, only a few centimeters away from his face-plate. Hothead quickly scanned the human’s body for any damage. Aside from a few tears in his costume and some grime on his face, Archer seemed unharmed. “Will you stop yelling at me, human?” Hothead snapped, still only half rebooted vocalizer making his voice sound hoarse. “My audials are functioning quite nicely.” Archer blinked in confusion and took a few steps backwards, but then shook his head as if recovering from some kind of stupor. “My apologies, friend. Thou seemeth to be rendered unconscious from that explosion and with the way the ghastly shadow knight treated thou, I wasnth sure you wouldeth make it.” He paused for a moment, as if uncertain about what to say next. “I couldeth not stop noticing that thine visage seemeth to have changed, along with thine manner of speech and demeanor. Artst thou truly not hurt?” Hothead ex-vented slightly. “No, I am alright. It is a long story. I am not the Blitzwing you know.. Let us leave it at that for now.” Suddenly remembering Archer’s earlier words, he frowned. “Who did you mean by ghastly knight? What-?” He tried to sit up and found that he couldn’t move his arms. A hastly look downward, revealed that someone had wound a thick metal cable tightly around his upper body, pinning his arms to his sides and keeping his cannons from lowering. Archer looked at him miserably. “I tried to stop him, but he tooketh my weapons and threatened to hurt thee.” “Not that he would have been able to stop me even with them. But I wanted to stay on the safe side. You never know with organics.” Hothead and Archer turned their head towards the source of the voice. A slender-looking Autobot with white armor-plating and a red triangular visor covering both of his optics was leaning on against the opposite wall with his servos crossed, giving a smug smirk. “I see you’ve finally decided to join us.” Hothead growled, trying to break his bonds. “You! I remember you, you cowardish, puny Autobot! Release me at once!” The Autobot chuckled. “So you can slag me like you almost did last time? I think not. And I’d advise you to behave.” He lowered his helm, so his line of sight now aligned with Archer. “You wouldn’t want anything to happen to the organic, would you?” “Touch him and you’ll burn, Autobot!” Hothead snarled. “Always so barbaric. You Decepticon-scum really are just mindless war machines,” the Autobot ex-vented in mock disappointment. “The only thing your kind is good for is destruction. Yet here you are, pretending like you’re actually capable of protecting anything.” Hothead flinched and grit his denta, lowering his helm. “Thou art wrong!” Both Hothead and the Autobot turned to look at Archer in surprise, who had lifted himself up to his full height and was now glaring at the Autobot. “Mine companion mayeth possess fearsome battle prowess, but that doeseth not make him less of a knight! He didst protect me from thy nefarious trap after all, didst he not?” For a moment, neither of the two Cybertronians said a word. Then the Autobot laughed. “You’ve certainly trained him well! If he was a little bigger he’d probably be easier to take seriously too, don’t you think?” Before Hothead could answer, the Autobot raised his helm as if listening for something, then put a digit to his auidal and smirked. “I’d love to stay and chat, but it looks like your friends just arrived with my AllSpark.” He walked out of the room, pressing a button on the other side of the entrance. A metal door slowly closed on cue. The Autobot grinned at them before it closed fully. “Don’t go anywhere.” _______________________________________________________ Megatron and Blackarachnia made their way into the burnt out building, carrying the AllSpark between them. Blackarachnia grimaced at the heavy smoke-smell in the air. It wasn’t bad enough to have a negative impact on her organic half but still strong enough to make her a bit uncomfortable. “Are you alright, Blackarachnia?” Megatron asked, giving her a worried look. “I can carry the AllSpark by myself, if you feel unwell.” Blackarachnia shook her helm. “I’m good. We should focus on getting Blitzwing and Archer back.” They stopped in the center of the hall, carefully lowering their cargo to the ground. “I see you’ve used your time well.” Blackarachnia and Megatron whirled around, taking defensive positions. Behind them stood an Autobot, servos crossed and an extremely smug expression on his face plate. Blackarachnia’s optics widened. “I know him! He was one of the ‘bots who boarded the ‘Nemesis’.” The Autobot laughed. “So you remember me? I’m flattered.” “I remember you getting your sorry soulanoid kicked by us,” Blackarachnia sneered. “Figures a spineless wimp like you would result to taking hostages.” The Autobot gave a derisive huff and put a hand on his hip, looking both of them over. “The name is Prowl. Though after this is over I won’t stay here long enough to get more acquainted.” His visor set itself on the AllSpark. “Leave it here and retreat.” “I think not, Autobot,” Megatron said coolly, stepping forward and drawing his sword. “Let us see the hostages first.” Prowl gave him an irritated look. “You will see them once I have the AllSpark. Now step away.” Instead of answering, Megatron gestured Blackarachnia to step aside, raising his sword over the AllSpark. “I do not like to repeat myself, Prowl. Release the hostages or I will destroy the AllSpark.” Prowl stiffened. “You wouldn’t dare.” “Wouldn’t I?” Megatron responded coldly, returning Prowl’s glare with steady optics. The Autobot hesitated, standing in place. Time seemed to stand still as the three Cybertronians stood off against each other, trying to figure out the enemy’s next move. _________________________________________________________ “Are you certain this is the right place?” Lugnut asked, optic trained on the wall in front of him. Cyrus was currently feeling said wall with both of his hands, teeth grit in frustration. “Give me a break, I haven’t been here in weeks! Ah, there we go.” He peeled off a part of the wall, revealing a hidden panel and pressed one of the buttons. Cyrus stepped back and watched nervously as the seemingly solid steel folded in on itself to form an entrance about Lugnut’s size. “Gotta be honest with you, I had no idea if this old  delivery gate even still worked. We found it some time during our second or third visit here and noted it as a possible emergency exit, if we ever decided to camp here. Guess I’m glad we didn’t now.” They entered the building together, treading carefully. After a while, Lugnut suddenly grabbed Cyrus carefully with his claw, making him yelp in surprise and placed him on his shoulder. “It is dark in here. I do not wish to step on you by accident,”he stated, when Cyrus gave him a confused look. “Er..thanks.” Cyrus stood up and balanced himself on the side of Lugnut’s helm. “Though maybe give a little warning next time.” Lugnut nodded. “Understood.” They made their way through the halls, Lugnut’s searchlights showing them the way. “Pick anything up yet?” Cyrus asked, stretching to look ahead into the darkness. “A faint Decepticon-signal, but it is dampened. Blitzwing must be damaged to some capacity.” Lugnut’s optic shrunk, an expression Cyrus had learned to identify as his version of a scowl. “The Autobot-filth will regret this.” “I hear ya,” Cyrus growled. “Still got a bone to pick with that guy for kidnapping Aaron.” Lugnut and Cyrus followed the signal until they came to a locked heavy metal door, not unlike the hidden one Cyrus had used to get them in. “The signal is clearest here,” Lugnut said, eyeing the door up and down. “They must be close.” “Great! Put me down, so I can-” Before Cyrus had the chance to finish his sentence, Lugnut retracted his right arm and rammed it into the door full-force. A loud crash, amplified by the echo of the empty hallway rung through the air. ______________________________________________________________ As soon as the sound reached the hall, Prowl whirled around. “What the-?” Blackarachnia lunged for him before he could run - only for her servos to close around nothing as the hologram of Prowl disappeared into thin air. She caught herself, cursing. “Slag! Of course he’d use that trick again.” “That was a mistake, Decepticon,” Prowl’s voice came from the shadows around them, impossible to pin down. “Your friends will not appreciate this.” Blackarachnia and Megatron positioned themselves back to back, searching the darkness for some hint of their opponent. “He has us pinned,” Megatron said through grit denta. “If we move he will either attack or flee without us even seeing him.” “Yeah, he- wait, seeing?” Blackarachnia’s optics widened. “That’s it! How was he able to react us in exactly the right way, if he was never really here? He has to have been close by. It was the same on the ‘Nemesis’! He attacked Lugnut right after his hologram was destroyed, as if he was just a few steps away.” She turned her helm to Megatron. “Fire your cannon about a few mechanometers to the right!” Megatron raised his free arm and fired at the spot she had pointed out. A startled yell came from the area the shot had hit and a heavy ‘clunk!’ filled the hall. The Decepticons turned, Megatron aiming his searchlight towards the sound. Prowl lay on the floor, glaring up at them and holding his left servo. It was almost entirely shot off, only a fracture of a base skeleton and a few sparking cables remaining. “You’ll regret this,” he growled, pushing himself to his pedes and taking a shaky step towards them. Before either of the three could do anything further, the door behind him was blown open, shrouding the room in smoke. When it cleared again, Lugnut stepped into the room, Cyrus and Archer riding on his right shoulder, while he supported a limping Hothead on his left. “Where is that  Autobot-filth?” Hothead shouted, trying and failing to push himself away from Lugnut and stand on his own servos. “I will incinerate him! Let me go!” “Thou art barely able to stand, friend,” Archer chuckled. “Perhaps thy vengeance can waiteth until a time thou art well again?” “Listen to the human, Hothead,” Lugnut said. Hothead growled, but he stopped struggling. “Hey guys,” Cyrus called to Blackarachnia and Megatron. “Where is that Autobot?” Megatron looked around, frowning. “It appears he has gotten away.” “And he didn’t exactly leave us with good wishes,” Blackarachnia added grimly. “We should go after him.” Megatron thought for a moment, then shook his helm. “We should get Blitzwing and the AllSpark to safety first. The Autobot was hurt. He will not come far.” After gathering up the AllSpark and Blackarachnia doing a quick patching up of Hothead’s wounds, the group took off in vehicle mode, Cyrus and Blackarachnia riding on Lugnut, while Archer remained with Hothead. When they arrived back at the resistance’s base, they were greeted by a bust-in entrance. Rubble from the door was strewn about and destroyed Sumdac-drones littered the area. “What the spark happened here?” Blackarachnia exclaimed. “Oh nothing to worry about really,” a familiar voice answered her. Megatron perked up upon hearing it, hope and joy filling his optics. Could it be-? It was. Starscream stepped out from the base’s entrance, smiling. “It is good to see you all again. Though we did have everything under control.” He turned his helm and raised his hand to give a (very gentle and disproportionate) high-five to a small girl with short pink hair who had made herself comfortable on his shoulder plate. “Hi Cyrus, hi Aaron,” she beamed, waving a wand-like object with a glowing tip at the two other humans. “I made a new friend!” _________________________________________________________ Prowl dragged himself through the empty narrow side streets, flinching every time his ripped off arm emitted a spark. This solar cycle had not gone at all like he imagined. As if waking up on this primitive planet wasn’t bad enough, that disgusting techno-organic had actually managed to see through his technique and now he would have to spend precious time to find a repair shop. At least things couldn’t possibly get any worse. A metallic noise sounded to his right and he turned his helm. A large assembly of drones, a sinister-looking ‘S’ engraved on their torsos stood there. “Energy signature match,” they chanted in unison. “Retrieve subject. Return to base. Retrieve subject. Return to base. Retrieve-”

#shattered glass animated #sga #shattered glass #episode 3 #transformers animated fan-write

[runaway-horses]

The Missing Soulmate: Chapter Four

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Read On AO3

Word Count: 1,917

A/N: Hnnng I Don’t Like this chapter, but oh well. Comments make me happy squeal and I’m not embarrassed to admit that I screenshot them and re-read them when I need motivation.

Warnings: Anxiety, allusions to verbal abuse (it’s minor in this chapter but this fic has a theme of abuse and recovery that you all should be aware of.) As always please let me know if I need to add/remove anything.

Tags: @avocados26, @a-cure-for-sentience

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Logan drummed his pen against the table, his eyes on the clock as the teacher talked about next week’s homework and deadlines.

Almost all schools had a ban against writing to your soulmate in class. Which made sense; it was a distraction, a way to send secret messages, or cheat on tests.

Not that Logan would ever dream of cheating on a test.

But today that rule was quickly becoming a major inconvenience.

Virgil drew on his skin when he was anxious as a way to calm himself down, and today Logan’s arms were covered in drawings that eventually devolved into swirls. He just wanted this class to be over so he could go comfort his soulmate.

Finally, the teacher dismissed the class. Logan was out of his seat before he had even finished talking.

“Mr Young? Would you mind staying for a bit? I’d like to have a word with you.”

Logan took a deep breath in and tightened his grip on his bag before turning around to face his teacher.

“Of course.” He liked Mr Sanders a lot, he was an excellent teacher and kept his class engaged, and usually he would’ve enjoyed a conversation with him.

But right now he sort of wanted to strangle the guy.

“I know that you’ve already decided on your major, and your aptitude for math would make you an excellent engineer, I don’t doubt that.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Mr Sanders waved away the gratitude. “Anyone who's ever taught you is aware of your skills in the STEM classes. But I wanted to know,” He fixed Logan with a stare. “Have you ever considered a career in writing?”

Logan had a brief but vivid memory of his dad throwing away a paper with a bright red A+ circled on the top, along with a note asking if Logan would be able to meet with the creative writing teacher after school one day, his dad snarling that he would do no such thing.

“No sir, I can’t say I have.” “Please, call me Thomas. Why not? You have an A+ in this class, and everything you’ve turned in so far has been excellent, if not a bit stilted.”

Logan shifted uncomfortably and looked at the floor. Thomas continued to speak.

“All I’m saying is, you have a talent. It’s hidden, you’re not giving yourself completely to the writing, but it’s there. I’d like to see a bit more of Logan in your papers. You could go far, if you’re interested. I’m always free if you ever want to talk to me. Think about it, please.”

Journals being gathered up and thrown in the trash can, every English paper sneered at, a low, angry voice telling him that his writing was as worthless as him.

“I will sir.”

Logan slid down the wall and dropped his head into his hands. He took three deep breaths before lifting his head again with a neutral expression, lightly wiping at his face and pulling out a blue pen. He rolled up his sleeve and saw that Virgil had been shading in the swirls while he spoke with Mr Sanders.

Virgil? How are you doing?

He waited, hoping he wasn’t too late to offer assistance. The shaky purple scrawl appeared under his message.

Better. Not great. Distraction would be good.

Logan’s breath came out in a relieved sigh, pleased that he could be useful. That here, at least, his words weren’t worthless.

Alright. Are you familiar with the legend of the constellation Sagitta?

When Logan came home, his dad's car wasn’t in the driveway, meaning he was either at church or ministering to someone. The quiet was nice, and he dropped his books on the kitchen table to do some studying.

He blew through stats homework and biology, the time ticking away as he worked. When he pulled out his English homework however, he stopped. The only thing left undone was the start of his midterm paper.

When Mr Sanders assigned it, he said that ‘he didn’t care what is was about, as long as you’re passionate about it.’ It would’ve been easy as a research paper. They were cold, academic. Detached. Logan could write a good research paper.

But Mr Sanders didn’t want a good essay, he wanted an excellent one.

Logan stared at the blank document. The little cursor blinked back at him. I want to see a little more Logan in your papers.

He shut his laptop with a click.

He could always work on this later.

He leaned back in his chair and looked around the kitchen, wondering what he could find to eat when he felt the tingle of one of his soulmates leaving a message on his skin.

My parents wanted to meet my soulmates. Are either of you there?

Logan pulled out his blue pen that he always used to write on his skin. I am here, Patton. Hello Patton’s parents. I am Logan.

When the yellow pen started writing again, this time it wasn’t Patton.

Hello Logan! I’m Ivy, Patton’s mom. And below her message, in blocky letters, I’m Peter! The secondary parental unit.

The handwriting changed again.

Patton tells us you live in Florida? That’s where I grew up :)

Yes, I am a born and raised Floridian. Patton told me one of his parents was also from Florida? What part?

The messy scrawl, so similar to her son’s, appeared. Tallahassee. I met Patton’s father when he came to cheer for his football team. (He actually thought the Dolphins has a chance of winning, bless.)

I must admit that I am not very well versed in football rivalries, or which team is superior. However, I am from Woodville. It’s amazing that my hometown and yours are so close. The odds of a connection like that must be infinitesimal.

They really were, especially seeing as Patton currently resided in a different continent from him. Again, his mind drifted to the research paper. It would be an interesting topic. His mind whispered. His attention was brought back to his arm when he realized it had stopped tingling.

Well, Patton tells us you’re in a lot of classes and I’m sure you’re busy with homework, so we won’t keep you. But it was lovely to meet you Logan!

Pleased to make your acquaintance as well, Mrs Foster.

Patton was the next one to write, his parents presumably having left. Thanks for indulging them. They were a bit iffy about the whole multiple soulmates thing, but they really seemed to like you. (I didn’t expect anything less, you’re a wonderful conversationalist.) I’m going to bed now, don’t work yourself too hard Logan.

I won’t. Thank you Patton.

He capped his pen and opened up his computer again.

He had research to do.

Virgil sighed, leaning heavily against the door and dropping his book bag on the floor. He was tired from his anxiety attack earlier, (Seriously? At school? Like, god. Could anxiety have worse timing?) But the blue ink taking up most of his forearms filled him with a sense of calm.

Logan’s legend of Sagitta has proved to be a wonderful distraction, and Virgil found himself wondering how he had gotten so lucky as to end up with a soulmate he trusted.

He didn’t trust easily, but Logan’s calm, level headed demeanor had won him ever faster than he ever thought possible. And in the last month, he even found himself wanting to open up to Patton, the other teen having a bubbly personality that he would normally find exhausting, but with Patton it was a welcome change of pace from his own, darker, persona.

“Virgil? Honey?” Virgil’s mom stuck her head out of the kitchen and a corner of Virgil’s mouth ticked up in a smile. “Hey mom.”

His mom looked a bit frazzled, a bit tired, but she exuded a calming aura. Virgil made his way into the kitchen, where his mom was reheating leftover pizza. “Is mom working the night shift tonight?” She hummed and grabbed a pair of oven mitts. “No, she should be off soon. We can eat together for once.”

She slid the tray onto the counter and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Virgil hopped up on the counter and the sleeves of his hoodie rose up, his mom’s eyes flicking to his forearm. “How’re Logan and Patton?” She asked with a smile. He felt a slight blush creep up his cheeks and pulled his sleeves back down. “They’re good,” He mumbled.

His moms had been so chill with his poly soulmates, he thanked the stars for that every day. It made sense that they were, he supposed, seeing as their relationship was far from typical. His mom, Alana, never had any writing appear on her arm. She didn’t have a soulmate.

It happened, sometimes.

Most people were disappointed by their lack of a soulmate, it drove some people into a deep depression that they never recovered from. But his mom had always told him that she felt didn’t need Fate to assign her a soulmate to be happy. She lived her life as normally as possible, and then fell in love with Hannah, his other mom.

Hannah had fallen just as hard, and the two ended up in a committed relationship. To the best of Virgil’s knowledge, Hannah did have writing appear on her skin on her 18th birthday, but neither of his moms ever spoke about it, and he didn’t ask

Since they weren’t soulmates, they couldn’t legally get married, and they faced a lot of hate and disapproval from society and their parents for not being soulmates, but they never cared.

They had moved in together, and a few years later they adopted Virgil. Every day they seemed to fall a little bit more in love, and Virgil liked to think that his unorthodox family had taught him a thing or two about love and acceptance.

The sound of the front door opening has his mom’s face light up. “I’m home!” She came into the kitchen, her tired face breaking into a genuine smile at the sight of Alana.

“C’mon guys, get a room,” Virgil grumbled as Alana dragged her into a hard kiss. “It’s healthy to see your parents show affection Virgil,” Hannah scolded playfully.

“Not in the kitchen, and not like that,” He teased, and she laughed before sitting down. Alana grabbed plates for all of them before sitting down across from Virgil. They ate in comfortable silence for a while, but Hannah, ever observational, noticed the exhausted slump of her son’s shoulders.

“You look tired,” She commented, catching her partner’s eye. “Bad day?” Virgil went to nod, but it wasn’t really a bad day. Nothing was wrong. Sure, he had had an anxiety attack come out of nowhere, but Logan had helped calm him down. He didn’t want to bother his moms.

He shook his head instead.

“Just a long day. I’m all good guys.”

They didn’t look convinced, and he saw her face crease with a frown. Suddenly he didn’t feel hungry.

“I actually think I’m gonna go to bed early.”

He stood, throwing his barely touched pizza away. “Thanks for dinner.” He kissed both of them on the cheek and left the kitchen.

The last thing he wanted was to worry them. And if that meant talking less about his problems, then it seemed like a fair trade.

He missed the worried look they shared as he headed to his room.

#the missing soulmate #romantic lamp/calm #love athena #athena rambles #logan angst

[hanalwayssolo]

Beyond the Opulence

A/N: While I’m briefly taking a breather from Laws of Motion, I saw it fit to go back to some self-indulgent reader-inserts, so here we are. This new series of one-shots features FFXV men (older!bros in particular) in varying AUs. First up is Noctis.

Tagging some pals! @raspberryandechinacea @noboomoon @emmydots @gowithme @valkyrieofardyn @blindedstarlight @lazarustrashpit @bleucommelhiver @hanatsuki89 @animakupo (lmk if y’all want to get tagged on the succeeding ones!)

(Links in AO3) Alternate Universes in Which You and I Belong Together: Noctis | Gladio | Prompto | Ignis | Nyx | Cor | Ravus | Ardyn

The draft of your resignation letter on your computer screen is staring right at you with serious judgment, and you immediately think how Noctis is going to take this.

You have thoroughly considered Weskham Armaugh’s promising job offer in Altissia Works. Higher pay, better benefits. The title of VP for Communications definitely has a nice ring to it. But you know that quitting your current job is the last thing you ever want to do. As executive assistant to the CEO, dealing with the hustle that came along with your responsibilities is what you enjoy best: procurement requests, internal communications, meeting arrangements, public affairs, game launches and conventions, and pretty much overseeing Noctis’s day-to-day schedule have all become a steady ritual that you can probably do even in your sleep. You are severely fond with your work, so much so that you do not mind how taxing it could get on most months; the benefits and compensation that comes with your job even helps you in more ways to sustain a decent living. Besides, it’s not like you are not getting any support; if Ignis had not come along and taken the wheel behind all financial and strategic side of things, you would have easily lost your mind to stress. His sharp wit equates to his even sharper mind, and with all the years of working together, both you and Noctis have acknowledged that neither of you will survive without Ignis’s thoughtful counsel. In fact, Noctis claims he couldn’t find a better tandem to work with; for someone who is occasionally quiet and reclusive, he is pretty outspoken to always let you know one certain truth: that he wouldn’t survive a day without you and Ignis at all if he wanted to keep a robust video game company running at its finest.

So you didn’t mind the overtime hours. You didn’t mind the workload.

But as much as you love working for Noctis, you really don’t love the idea that you are recklessly falling in love with him.

Years of being around him, and you cannot really recall how this feeling unraveled itself. Was it because he is always checking up on you whenever you are spending too many late nights in the office? Was it whenever he brings you your favourite takeout food when you scarcely move from your seat even on lunch breaks? Or was it that time when he showed up in the middle of a Tinder date gone wrong after you texted him a simple ‘fuck this guy is a nutjob send help’? He always has your back, as you always have his. But how long have you felt this aching weakness for him? You know Noctis is always kind, if not a little too generous for his own good. He always goes out of his way to help others, treats everyone as equals. No hierarchy or class ever prevented him from reaching out to people. Even with someone like you, who had to claw your way out of the slums into this better life you have designed for yourself.

This, you thought, is what makes Noctis such a perfect guy: he is caring and selfless, even if he has a strange affinity with cats, or if he gets way too enthusiastic about fishing and video games. Sure, some people may think that the only notable things that qualify Noctis in the hall of perfection is because of how he is a handsome and dashing bachelor in his thirties who owns one of the most successful startup companies in all of Eos—a bold and impressive feat, considering he is already heir to a billion gil Lucian conglomerate. But he is more than his family name, more than his net worth, more than his pretty face.

And yet, perfect guy Noctis may be, he certainly is not perfect for you. He may still be in the market, but he is most surely way out of your league.

You minimize the word document and squeeze your eyes shut for a moment. The looming tower of files on your desk is already giving you a head-splitting migraine. The shrill sound of the printer right beside your cubicle is only making it worse. Not to mention, the group of game devs and quality analysts loudly debating their ideas in the conference room right across from your workstation. Interns are milling busily through the halls—some on skateboard, some on rollerblades. The background noise is starting to become insufferable. Even your favourite pop album blasting on repeat from your earphones is not helping. You return to your draft, and begin editing a couple of sentences:

After careful consideration, it is with deepest regret that I should inform you of my decision to leave the company. This is because...

You are tempted to end the sentence with a more blatant truth that says I am in love with you and could no longer stand being around you than saying that you are to pursue a better career opportunity. Which is downright nuts. Absolutely batshit crazy. It is true that you are never one to mix work with pleasure, and you are not that shallow to leave something behind for a petty reason...

But this rotten one-sided feeling with Noctis is a torment you cannot stand any longer.

Why do I always fall for the ones I could never have?

You are so close to murdering anyone who dares to step within the close perimeter of your workstation when a knock against your desk startles your fiercely undivided attention away from your screen.

“You seem like you’re about to massacre the whole floor. You good?”

You look up to see Noctis standing in front of you—extremely dapper clad in a white dress shirt and jeans—studying you with extreme concern. With much speed and dexterity and without even looking at your monitor, you quickly replace the word document on your computer and pull up the presentation deck with a subtle alt tab on the keyboard. The slide on display is that of the organizational chart that shows a couple of the functional units paired with the names of its respective leads. Cor Leonis, Risk and Control. Prompto Argentum, Creatives. Cindy Aurum, Product Engineering. Nyx Ulric, Game Development. You smile at him and say, “Yup, all good. Just reviewing my slides for the town hall later.”

“Really?” He raises an eyebrow, rubs a hand over his stubble-crusted jaw. A playful smile tugs on the corners of his mouth. “But you already know our monthly demographics like the back of your hand.”

“That’s Iggy, not me.”

“You keep selling yourself short,” he says, a little bit sternly. Then, he glances at his watch and all of a sudden, he narrows his eyes at you. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

“Why, thank you very much for asking, sir, but I already have,” you lie with an awfully pleasant smile.

As expected, Noctis is not buying it. The scowl on his face clearly says so. “Don’t make me ask Pelna to terminate your access.”

You laugh. “Wow, you’re going to ask our best programmer to go on this extreme measure just to get me out to lunch? I couldn’t even imagine how your Cybersecurity Director is going to take that breach of protocol.”

“I think Gladio’s gonna let that one pass.”

"HR, then?"

"Nah, Monica and Holly would probably support this."

“Oh really? How so?”

“Yes, ‘cause they know I’ll do everything for you to go out with me.” Noctis pauses, and you stare at him.

“I’m sorry, what—“

“I mean, for lunch—“ Noctis reaches for the back of his neck, and he swiftly backpedals in a flustered stutter— “like go out with me for lunch is what I mean—uh, you know. ‘Cause we know you rarely go out to lunch. Or even outside, for breaks. And ‘cause pulling the plug of your workstation clearly isn’t going to work with you.”

“Oh. Right.” You nod and you can feel the pinprick of needles on your chest. Either from the way he seemed to vehemently deny his way out of his misspoken invitation or the fact that you almost thought he felt the same way about you, you cannot tell at this point. Maybe it’s both.

The silence that follows is close to unbearable.

Noctis awkwardly starts, “So, you mind if—“

“Hey there, you two.” Nyx suddenly saunters in front of your desk, all swagger in his black leather jacket, and you almost thank the gods out loud for his casual intervention. He greets Noctis with a clap on the shoulder, and he looks at the both of you with a cheeky lopsided grin. “Am I interrupting—“

“No,” you and Noctis both say all at once, and way too defensively.

“Okay, cool.” Nyx flashes one of his devilish smirks, all the while still warily eyeing both you and Noctis. “Anyway—“ Nyx turns to you, sliding one hand through his hair and pushing the other on the pocket of his jeans— “you wanna grab some lunch at Yamachang’s, chief? I owe you big time for sending me the stats I needed on the mobile app I’m working with Crowe and Libertus. I’m a Lannister and I always pay my debts—“

“Yeah, sure,” you immediately tell Nyx as you briskly rise from your seat. You don’t know what made you agree with Nyx’s invitation so easily, that when you glance at Noctis, he is looking at you with an expression that you cannot seem to figure out.

“Glad someone’s finally successful in getting you out of your cubicle for a change,” Noctis says with an odd smile. “I’ll see you both in the town hall, alright?”

As Noctis walks away and starts to mingle with the game devs in the conference room, you see Nyx is watching you curiously.

“What?” You try not to sound annoyed, but the question spills snappily out of your mouth.

Nyx clicks his tongue and shakes his head. “You two are really something, huh.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means…” Nyx sighs, leaning against your desk. “Never mind. C’mon, let’s get going.”

Nyx offers you his hand and you take it. He whisks you out of your desk, and you laugh at his weird display of chivalry. As the two of you make your way out of the office, you pass the conference room and your eyes land on Noctis. His eyes meet yours, and he gives you a small smile. Nyx’s hand on yours suddenly feel terribly out of place. The thought of your resignation begins to settle heavily at the pit of your stomach. The job offer in Altissia has never been so appealing.

The town hall concluded without a hitch. By end of the day, you are pretty much exhausted, but relieved all the same. Everyone left early for the long weekend, and you are glad to have the whole floor all by yourself.

Well, almost.

Noctis is still in his office, his door wide open. You double-check his calendar to see if he has anything lined up on his schedule. He’s free for the rest of the night, and you take a deep breath.

This is it. You have already made up your mind, following your better judgment. It’s now or never, you think to yourself as you march your way to his office, letter in hand.

You knock at the door. “Hey,” you say, and Noctis looks up at you. A wide smile brightens his face.

“Hi, come in,” he says, gesturing to the couch in front of him. He eyes you nervously. “Have I missed any urgent meeting? Or anything that needs my approval?”

“No. Actually, you’re already free from this time onwards. Checked your calendar before I came here.” You couldn’t help but laugh. Of course, most of the time you have ever entered Noctis’s office is to remind him whenever he’s running late for a meeting or to follow him up on matters that require his immediate attention.

But this time around, it pains you that you’re here in front him for an entirely different reason.

“Oh, by the way—great job earlier, as usual,” Noctis says rather proudly. “Not that I’m surprised.”

“Um, thanks.” You wince another smile. His genuine kindness is a rock in your mouth that is slowly grating you with guilt.

“So…” Noctis trails off, his fingers drumming against his desk, and he is still looking at you with searching eyes. “I hope you’re not planning on staying here in the office for a few more hours.”

“Nope.” You shake your head. Your insides are twisted into knots when you say, “Actually, I’m already planning on leaving.”

You slide the letter on his desk. He unfolds it, and you watch how his smiling face shifts into something else. At first, he is surprised, then the second, he is completely crushed.

Noctis lets out a shuddery sigh. “I don’t understand—“

“I don’t need you to,” you swiftly say. “I got an offer. In Altissia. I’m sorry if this had been so sudden. Not to worry, I have all of my tasks and responsibilities properly documented for transition—“

“No, I don’t care about any of that,” he says, his voice deeply strained. “I just want to know why.” He pushes himself off his desk, circling over to you. “You said you love working here.”

“Yes, I do.” You cannot bear looking at him. Tears are starting to well under your eyes. “But I…”

“But what?” Noctis is now standing so close to you, his eyes casting you a searching look. “Tell me, please.” He moves in another inch. You could already smell his perfume, and you swear if he moves any closer you are going to shatter.

“Noct, it’s just...“ you say, and his name almost breaks along with the sound of your voice. “I don’t think I can work here if I—“

A solid knock on the door traps the remaining words in your mouth. You wipe your eyes before you turn to see Ignis standing by the doorway. He looks at you, then at Noctis. If he had caught on any of the conversation, Ignis is doing an excellent job not showing it on his face.

“My apologies,” Ignis says. His tone is urgent. “Aranea from the Niflheim Studios’ Business Division just called. Says it’s about Ardyn’s offer for a collaboration. Should I ask her to call back—“

“It should be okay, Iggy,” you tell him, waving a hand. “I was just about to go.” To Noctis, you say, “I think you should probably take that. You know how your uncle can get so utterly relentless.”

Before Ignis or Noctis could breathe another word, you hastily take your leave. Ignis gingerly closes the door behind you, and his discussion with Noctis is reduced into hushed whispers. You walk back to your workstation, and as quietly and quickly as you could, you take the opportunity to pack all your personal effects while no one is around. You have so many memories here in Lucis Labs that as you stuff each frame and trinket into the cardboard box, there‘s no use holding back your tears. The annual trips with the whole team, the late night dinners with the game devs, the caffeinated days of tireless convention weeks…

It’s slowly dawning on you that not only you are leaving Noctis behind, you are also leaving a ragtag bunch of geniuses you have come to consider as family.

Unsteadily, you carry your belongings, weaving your way past the dimly lit hallways, past the glass boards and collaboration spaces, past the array of black-and-white cubicles, and onto the lifts. Downstairs at the Citadel’s lobby, your footsteps echo against the mosaic floors that one of the guards turn to look at your direction. It happens to be Dave, whom you already consider a pal after all the help he has extended to you on occasions you have missed bringing your ID to work. He takes a glimpse on the box you have wrapped around your arms. He cast you a stunned look.

“How? Why?” Dave asks in disbelief. His graying hair and beard looks just as lonely as this evening.

“Found a new job,” you say with a small smile. You hope he doesn’t notice how your eyes are still wet with tears. Kindly enough, he says nothing. He only offers you a polite nod and a sad smile as he ushers you out of the turnstile.

Just when you’re only a few steps away from leaving the premises, you hear your name echo all over the vastness of the almost empty foyer from a very familiar voice.

You turn and you see Noctis running after you.

“Wait,” he says, and he’s panting like he’s taken all twelve flight of stairs in a hurry just to get to you. Or has he?

“Noct, please. If you’re here—“

“I’m not here to stop you from taking the offer,” Noctis cuts you off. He exhales loudly, catches another lungful of air, before he goes on, “If you think it’s best for your career, then I’ll support you. No matter what. I’ve always believed that you’re off to do great things, and I’m sorry if how I acted earlier made you think otherwise. I just… it’s hard for me to accept that I’m about to lose the best assistant one could ever ask for.”

“Please don’t say that. You still have Ignis.”

“But Ignis is not you. And he knows that, too.” Noctis steps closer to you, smiling. He takes the box off your hands and sets it on the floor. “So, now that you’re effectively no longer working for me, I guess I have to do one more thing.”

“What thing—”

Noctis does not let you finish the sentence when he crushes his lips with yours. He kisses you fiercely, in a way that loudly proclaims I’ve been feeling the same way about you, and I just don’t know how to show it.

Despite wanting to believe that this is all happening, your disbelief pulls you away from Noctis. Breathlessly, you say, “Wait, I just want to be clear—you… you like me?”

Noctis laughs. “Goodness. I don’t just like you—I’ve been in love with you for as long as I can remember. It’s just—” he bites his lip, reaches for the back of his head the same way he always does whenever he is at a loss for words, but he shakes his head and pushes through— ”it’s, uh, well… I know how you don’t like being involved with romantic affairs at work. I know how you keep your private life completely separate from your job, and I respect that. I didn’t want to complicate things for you, so I kept my distance, in a way. So… by the time I realized how strongly I feel about you, and after learning from the people in the office that it’s obvious that our feelings are mutual, let’s just say it felt like I am fucked.” He pauses, and the blush on his handsome face is in full bloom. Then, as if by some realization, the pleasant expression on his face wilts into a mild panic. “Shit, am I wrong? You don’t feel the same way, too, do you—“

“No, no!” You say quickly, catching him by his arms. “I… That’s not it. I do feel the same way, Noct. I’m just surprised, that’s all. I didn’t realize that it was so obvious for people to know. I never heard about it from anyone.”

“That’s because everyone is terrified of you.” Noctis smiles, and he playfully pinches your chin.

You frown. “You make me sound like I’m Cor.”

“Hey, don’t worry—he’s of a different calibre.”

You quirk an eyebrow. “So you’re not terrified of me? Is that it?”

“Well, I will always be terrified of you,” Noctis says teasingly. “Because it's one of the many reasons why I love you.”

This time, you yank him by the collar of shirt and pull him for another kiss. There exists a fraction of a moment in that kiss where time is in a standstill; your mind freezes, your heart stops beating, and there is only that rush of electricity racing down your spine. And then, all at once, the knots in your stomach have untangled. Your hands finally move on its own accord, and so does your lips.

He presses his forehead against yours. In a breathy whisper, he says, “I’m yours. I want to be yours. Will you be mine?”

“Yes,” you say, and you cannot help the smile tugging on the corners of your mouth. “I’m all yours.”

#final fantasy xv #ffxv #ffxv fanfiction #fanfic #noctis lucis caelum #older!noctis lucis caelum #noctis x reader #older!noctis x reader #my writing

[greyias]

Dialogue prompts (right back at you ;) ): 12. “So I noticed you’re naked. Is that intentional…or..?”

Sort of a sequel/follow-up to this story.

Theron had always known that introducing Jonas Balkar to the Alliance at large was going to be a mistake. There was a reason he’d kept their meetings to neutral locations attached to neither Republic nor Alliance strongholds. It was just good business. Not to mention that when both spies got into the same room, Theron somehow seemed to always wind up with at least one black eye.

And if Theron could have had his way, he would have made damn sure that Jonas and the Alliance’s Commander never met up — although that had less to do with Alliance business and more to do with wanting to keep his wife far, far away from Jonas’s endless flirting. Unfortunately recent events meant Theron no longer had the luxury of keeping all the spheres of his life neat and separate.

Sadly.

“So I noticed you’re naked,” Jonas said a little too casually, not bothering to hide his smirk as he waggled the calendar in Theron’s direction. “Is that intentional…or…?”

“Are you asking if I just forgot to wear my clothes for a calendar shoot?”

“It’s an honest question!” Jonas insisted. “You have to admit, it wouldn’t be the first time.”

Theron shot a glare first at his fellow spy, and then at his wife who let out an indignant snort. Both of them answered the look with a winning smile, which just made him wrinkle his nose in disgust. This was the other reason he didn’t want these two to get chummy — they had far too many stories they could share with each other. And both had grown immune to his glares.

“First off, I’m wearing a bow so technically I’m not naked. And secondly, I have never once forgotten my clothes,” Theron said indignantly.

“What about on the Ascendant Spear?” Grey asked curiously.

“I didn’t forget them there. It was a strategic decision based on—”

“My dear Commander,” Jonas cut in, “when my friend says ‘strategic decision’ what he really means is a five-second impulse he couldn’t smother.”

“I don’t believe that for a moment,” the love of Theron’s life said, sticking up for him.

“Thank you,” he said emphatically, “at least someone—”

“You will need to show me proof that he’s ever actually successfully resisted an impulse.”

“Hey! That’s not fair!” he protested. “I think everything I do through.”

The high, disbelieving eyebrow arched at him spoke volumes as she just stared at him, casually running one finger along the rim of her glass.

“Name one impulsive thing I’ve done.”

She cleared her throat, brow somehow managing to arch higher as she subtly mimed a train running along a gravtrack. Theron felt heat rush to his cheeks and very quickly took a long sip from his glass of whiskey as Jonas struggled to contain his laugh. Technically that answer was incorrect because he had put a lot of planning and forethought into that whole operation — but he was also smart enough to know there was no winning any conversation or argument when that subject came up.

“The real question is,” he fumbled awkwardly, trying to switch topics, “how many copies of that thing you have.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Yes. That’s why I asked.”

Grey shot him a wide, dimpled smile, the freckles on her cheeks standing out prominently against the rosy hue that had taken up residence after her second glass of Durindfire. It almost matched the soft red glow of the phosphorescent drink, and he suspected was responsible for the appearance of that damned calendar. Rum seemed to bring out the Jedi’s flirtatious side, and so he’d steered her towards what he’d thought would be a much safer alcoholic beverage for this outing. Clearly he had miscalculated and summoned a mischievous imp instead.

“Well, I always have a copy in my quarters on my ship because—”

“Anyway,” Theron said loudly before that explanation could go any further, “the point remains is that these are isolated incidents. I got talked into posing in the nude for a charity calendar and just one time I was stuck in a broiling engine room and stripped down so I wouldn’t stain my undercover clothes. There is no pattern.”

“What about the goat?” Jonas asked.

“Goat?” Grey echoed as she peered into the glowing remnants of her glass and missed Theron’s desperate gesture for Jonas to stop talking.

A brief, but elaborate pantomime routine ensued, where Jonas re-enacted a few key moments from the incident in question, and Theron tried to illustrate exactly how he would murder and where he’d bury his fellow spy’s body if he told the story. It was followed by a series of silent negotiations that Theron wasn’t sure the exact parameters of, but was pretty certain he’d just agreed to craft a new identity for Jonas to carouse around Nar Shaddaa in. Which maybe was fair since he’d accidentally gotten his friend banned from every classy establishment on the moon.

“No, no, I think the lovely lady misheard me,” Jonas said smoothly as Grey looked up at the two spies blinking back at her innocently, “I said bet.”

She frowned, looking back at her empty glass. “Maybe I’ve had too much to drink.”

“Perhaps,” Theron said, hand unconsciously drifting to rest on her knee as he shot a disgruntled look at Jonas that was clearly meant to say ‘stop flirting with my wife’.

Jonas’s toothy grin clearly replied back that he was making no promises in that regard, but aloud announced, “Nonsense! I’ll order us another round.”

“No, I want to hear about this bet first!” she insisted.

Theron rolled his eyes up to the many, many decorative durasilk coverings draped along the tall ceiling in the cantina, wondering what he’d ever done to deserve this. Other than the incident with the stupid train. And stealing Jonas’s identity to infiltrate a fancy restaurant. Or the—okay. Maybe he’d done a few things, if he were being completely honest with himself.

“Well, it was almost Life Day, and we had just finished up an assignment where I’d saved this idiot’s life.”

“That sounds about right,” Grey said, “go on.”

Theron let out an annoyed huff, but decided to let it slide this time. The sooner this was over with, the sooner he could shuffle his very inebriated Jedi back to the Defender and get her to bed. And then hopefully search the entire vessel stern to bow for more copies of that damnable calendar that he could toss into the incinerator.

“The exact details of the assignment aren’t important (not to mention classified)—“ Jonas ignored the very un-Jedilike derisive snort, “—but someone who shall not be named, because I am bound by Republic law to not disclose sensitive information, nearly blew the entire operation at a certain privately owned moon because he got asked to do a few minor IT calls.”

“Look, you would have snapped too if you’d had to see what that Special Executive had done to his computer terminal!”

At the mention of a privately owned moon, as well as the unique corporate title, Grey frowned. “Wait, when was this?”

“14 ATC.”

“That’s… around the same time the Republic began to seize Czerka’s assets. And I had to head to CZ-198 to disable a very dangerous security system and take on a Special Executive by the name of Rasmus Blys.” Theron took another long sip from his whiskey and Jonas mirrored the action as they both looked anywhere but at the blonde now staring at both of them suspiciously. “Awful strange timing.”

“Yeah,” Theron coughed, “it’s, uh, very coincidental.”

“Truly,” Jonas agreed. 

“I haven’t had enough alcohol for this,” she muttered. “What does this have to do with a bet?”

“Genius here,” Jonas thumbed in the direction of his former partner, “made a wager that he’d be able to uncover the top secret intel we’d need as a lowly network technician.”

“I’m a damn good slicer,” Theron insisted, “it was a sure thing! And Ras—I mean, this unnamed executive practically had tech support as the first entry in his holodex. All I had to do was get in, get the intel, and get out. No one would be the wiser.”

“Funny. And what did you find on these tech support calls again?”

“Porn,” Theron groaned, covering his face with his hands, “so much porn.”

Jonas couldn’t contain his smirk. “Needless to say, things quickly went sideways, and we had to make a hasty exit.”

“What was the wager?” Grey asked curiously.

“I, uh, may have boasted that I was so sure my plan would work, that I would march an entire lap around Carrick Station.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” she said.

“In nothing but his ‘Life Day briefs���,” Jonas said, forming air quotes.

A high-pitched giggle escaped the inebriated Jedi and she leaned onto the table towards Jonas, nearly spilling what was left of both glasses of whiskey. “Please, please tell me you have holos.”

“Master Jedi, you wound me!” Jonas sounded almost offended. “Of course I do.”

As he reached for a small datapad stowed away in an inner pocket of his jacket, Theron let out a world weary sigh. He was never going to hear the end of this.

The Nekkid Theron Life Day Parade from December 2018, featuring Theron Shan (x4), Disaster Spyprincess, @keldae, @andveryginger, Sir-Jaydzia-Without-a-Tumblr, and @stephyhimemademe (who said I had to find a way to work it in to a story where Theron had lost a bet with Jonas — luckily I had already started on this prompt, so it worked out nicely ;)

#swtor fanfiction #theron shan x jedi knight #Theron Shan #Female Jedi Knight/Hero of Tython #Jonas Balkar #otp: adorkable #brotp: theron shan & jonas balkar #spybros #oc: greyias highwind #thank you for the prompt! #dialogue prompts #look #all i can say about the life day parade #is that we were playing hide and seek on ord mantell with the party bus #and somehow that uh #evolved #ginger is off on the side in that picture trying to pretend she doesn't know us #swtor #fanfic #elveny #greyfic

[finderskeepersff]

9.

I felt relieved to know and see that those mugshots of who got killed in Brooklyn was not Cassius, I mean I shouldn’t feel that way because someone has lost their brother, son, father or even uncle but it’s not Cassius. It’s been two days, two fucking days and I haven’t heard a single word from him, I am sick to stomach with worry, not a single phone call, not a single message. I even parked outside his house, I was so close to knocking on that door but I didn’t. I don’t know what went wrong, I am reading the news, seeing what they say. For all I know that may not have anything to do with him, why is he doing this to me because I don’t need it at all. Two fucking days, I am feeling very fucking numb right now. I haven’t spoken a word to my friends, I don’t want them to know anything. What if the police got him again, how would I even know. There is no way of me getting to him, there really isn’t because nobody actually knows we are together, it’s fairly new and I can’t just go there to his home and be like hi it’s me again, I am now dating your other brother or son. Also like an idiot I deleted Josiah’ number, what could he be doing. I am fucking angry, hurt and a little lost right now. He wouldn’t just dip on me like that, I know he wouldn’t. I expect that from Jordan but Cassius, he very much always there and I am sure he did love speaking to me, I mean I assume he did but now not so much. Maybe he didn’t want me and he is now running away from me. He would never know how I felt when I read they have named the victims of gun crime, that killed me. I also was angry at him, what if he died thinking I was angry with him, my heart is aching.

It’s fucking me up so much but yet I am having to sit at work like everything is fine, nothing is fine. I am making myself ill, I feel so ill about this “you think they will let you manage us Sofia?” Lee asked “uhm, I don’t know. I hope I don’t get it now” I don’t care for it “oh be quiet, I want you too. You’re so gloomy recently” I sighed out heavily “whatever, Ivy I am not coming to the meal with you guys. I am not feeling it, thanks for asking though” I think the fuck not, I am not about to sit somewhere I don’t need to be “seriously? We are having this meal because of you, you set this up and now you ditching us?” I shrugged “sorry but I am not feeling it” getting up from my desk “mhmmm sure, nice pencil skirt by the way. You would have made a sexy ass teacher you know” smiling at Ivy “thank you” let me find my manager so he can actually do some damn work, like authorize this stupid case. Things may be going to shit for me but life goes on, I should be used to this bullshit anyways, it’s always me “Sofia, I wanted to see you actually” that is never good, he locked his computer “sure?” I said “I understand your situation, you work between nine and three thirty because you need to pick up your brother, you only work one late. When do you think this will be resolved” tilting my head to the side “when I say it is, if you got an issue then say it to my face cause clearly you do right?” my manager shook his head “not that, Sofia. Just you know we are low on staff right? That is all but it’s ok” kissing my teeth “anyways, authorize that case, thanks” walking off, Lee and Ivy are both staring but looked away quickly “he was staring at your ass! He want that” sitting down “he can kiss my fucking ass, talking about low on staff. Does he think I care” Ivy shushed me “please, I don’t want you fired. Let’s just get on with things yeah?” I am so done with shit right now.

I have made an executive decision while sat here eating lunch, I am going to his house and I am asking for Josiah. I don’t care if they hate me, I need to know because it’s driving me crazy. It may hurt me because he may have ran away from me, it may be me he doesn’t want but is scared to tell me. It’s been two days now, what else can it be, I am fucking done with men “are you arguing in your head?” Ivy pulled a face at me “erm, a little. I am just getting conflicting information on what to do, but all is well” Ivy placed her fork down “you know if anything is wrong I am here, please speak to us. If you want to speak to the group, you know you can” swallowing hard “just that, things are never good for me. I think I am done with men, I don’t ever want to date again. If I want a baby then I will get a sperm donor” Ivy let out an oh “what? I don’t get what happened?” she said confused “neither do I, he’s just stopped speaking to me but least I sucked his dick” Ivy choked on her Sprite drink, rolling my eyes “bitch, right you need to just calm down. What the hell happened” shaking my head as I shrugged “I don’t know” and that is the truth.

“Ma’am he’s ok, we are taking him. Thank you, bye” Lamar said, closing my eyes as we stood at the reception “he has not recovered, you can’t take him!” the nurse shouted “he is dressed woman! He is awake” Lamar nudged me “aren’t you” I can’t even see barely or speak, I just groaned out “we can’t, no” Lamar sighed out “he is being discharged, bye. Come on Cassius” moving my arm away from the reception desk, turning around a little “nigga, come. Here. Sit down” the cast near dragged my arm off, everything hurts “sit back” Lamar said, dropping down into the chair “we advise you not to go” the nurse said “I advise you to stay out my damn way, thank you” Lamar pushed me down the hall “we need to get you out before the popo come” looking down at my arm, this dumb shit cast on. I don’t remember what happened, it hurts when I breathe “what happened” I said but I don’t think he heard “I can’t get Kyle out, he is still in a coma. This is a mess, Myles is in hiding but I know where he is. He told me to get you” my head fell froward and my eyes slowly closing on me, it’s too much to even stay awake.

“Hey, Cassius! You with me?” opening my eyes slowly “yeah” I breathed out, we in the car “what happened?” I don’t remember or can’t register what happened “nigga it’s been on the news, two are dead but it’s not you. You’re with us, from what was said to Myles. Y’all got jumped, someone snitched on y’all whereabouts because nobody was there on the streets which we know, there is always. How can it be dead? It’s weird right” Lamar put the car engine on “I remember” I mumbled “why ain’t I dead?” how am I not dead “he was choking me, they beat me. Kyle got shot, they knocked Myles out and chased me. Eli, I am not sure, I remember. Wait, they beat me and then Eli shot one of them and they all broke away, the nigga choking me said I killed his brother but I reached for my gun, I shot him. Then Kyle pushed him off me, he was holding his side but dragged me up, could hear sirens. Everyone split, them niggas were beating Eli. All I know is I was bruised and blood was coming from my mouth” I must have knocked out then.  

“You got a beating on your birthday” Lamar said as I stared out of the window, I swear I am close to death. I am sure I have tasted death, someone keeps saving me. I could have been anywhere, I am surprised my brain functions. Kyle dragged me away, he got me but I am in so much pain right now “I think my ribs broke, they got me bandaged up. My legs are just so sore” everything just hurts “I am happy you’re alive friend, we just need to get out of there. The police waiting on you to wake up, if they come searching so what, we need to get the story straight” breathing out slowly “where is my phone?” I asked “I got your Rolex and chain but everything gone nigga, I am not sure if the police got them” I pray they don’t “or maybe Kyle threw them, he was just trying to run from the shit. I only know this is because of Eli, he got stabbed but he is doing home treatment, we just need Kyle to be good” what a birthday I have had “do me a favour, what time and day is it?” I don’t know what day we on “erm, like two thirty. It’s Thursday today” I paused thinking “Sofia, drop me off at Delta office” I won’t know her number again “you being real? Nigga you need to be hiding? You are fucked up you can’t” shifting a little “just fucking do it, drop me off there” I am a mess but this mess needs to explain.

Staring at the Delta building, people walking in out of this bitch “you sure? Like seriously, people going to look at you crazy, look at your face. The black eye, cut lip, bruised cheek. You fucked up Cassius” opening the car door “is she worth it?” pushing the car door open, this is killing me but I can do it, dragging my leg out and then my next one before turning my body “you want me to walk you, you know what” hearing Lamar open his side of the car door, I really can’t fucking breathe right now. Taking in deep breath’s “here” he placed a snapback on my head and lowered it “better, now you want me to do this and get you out” I think that will hurt more, taking another deep breath and getting out of the car “you go, I will be fine” my limping self will make it, I don’t know how long I been away. I should go home to my mom but I need to explain to Sofia, shit replays in my mind. She didn’t want me to go out neither did my mom, walking to the building seems so far away. If Sofia ain’t working then I’ll have to ask for Lloyd, I have nothing else I can do. I pray she is working today, I need to let her know that shit is ok.

The guy that walked out of the building held the door open for me which was good, I don’t think I could hold the door open for myself so thank god “thank you” I mumbled, keeping my head low. Every step I am taking it hurts, so much pain right now. The security guard stared at me like I was foreign, like I didn’t belong here which he is right but I am here “can I help you sir?” resting my arm that is in a on the desk “I need to see someone, she works here” my vision is blurring so I can only imagine how my eyes look to them “you look like you need a hospital” I coughed which then the pain hit me so bad “look” I said through gritted teeth “Sofia, Sofia Bundy. Please, I need to see her. She is my girlfriend” he paused “ok, sir. Take a seat, please” I can’t sit so I will stand.

I am still annoyed, my manager was looking at my ass “you know Caroline, you know Christmas party. Well she had sex with Saleem, now he is a Muslim and he is married with kids, well anyways Caroline is pregnant” I gasped “no way!” I spat “but he said to me he was happily married but yet was drinking at the party, oh my god. Is she going to keep it?” Lee shrugged “she told me, I don’t know why. She knows I gossip but anyways, them two both have office quickies now” sitting back in my seat in shock “doesn’t she have a seven year old boy from a black guy?” some girls are straight hoes “she do, she has had plenty of office dick but chile. Pervert is coming” Lee went back to working “who?” I said confused “your manager” letting out an oh and pretending to work of course “nice to see the gossips are working hard, that is sarcastic but Sofia. Reception called up, someone is here for you” frowning at my manager “huh? Me!?” I am not expecting anyone at all “yes you, he said a male is downstairs and asked for you” looking back over at Lee and Ivy “it might be Cassius” locking my computer getting up, it could be him.

Placing my work pass around my neck, let me take the elevator because nobody got the time to be walking down these steps. The lady saw me walking and held the elevator “to reception?” I asked, she smiled as I stepped on “thank you” this is a little packed, it is slowly approaching home time for early leavers so that is why. Looking up at the numbers going down, I hope it is Cassius and not Leyton, he seems to be playing up so it could be Leyton too. But then again Leyton would give his name, I feel a little nervous because it could be anyone or what if it is someone telling me he’s dead. I need to not think that, stupid brain. The elevator doors opened and so did the set of elevators across open at the same time, stepping off of the elevator and made my way to the reception. Catching the security guard wave at me to walk to him, turning away from the turnstiles “Sofia, I wasn’t sure if you knew the man” the security guard walked over to me “what do you mean?” I said confused “follow me” he said to me as we walked together “he is just there in a hat, he has not moved at all” seeing someone with a black snapback with their head down, my heart dropped and so did my stomach as I could finally see his face. My lower lip trembling “do you know him?” I could swear he looked at me but his head looked away “yeah” I strained out.

Swiping my pass across the barrier, I am shacking ready to cry. His hand in a cast, his face. I am not sure if he can see me, a small sob left my lips as I walked ever slowly towards him “sir” the guard said and pointed at me, Cassius looked away from the guard and in my direction “no” placing my hands over my mouth seeing the full extent of his face, not a single place on his face is untouched “can we talk” wiping the tears that fell looking around me, I am at work and I can’t do this. I don’t know what to feel or even react. Walking back “I need to get my things” wiping my tears “wait there” I just want to release this cry so much but I can’t, two fucking days. Swiping my pass, I can’t hold it in any longer as I ended up running towards a toilet, any toilet. Pushing open the door, checking the cubicles before I let out the most painful cry from my lips, I thought he was dead.

I look like I have been crying, I am a mess and I can’t stop myself from not looking like this. Grabbing my bag from under my desk and placing on top of my desk “Sofia? What happened” putting my jacket on “it’s Cassius, it’s nothing too bad. I’ll let you know, I need to go” I don’t want them to know anything really so that is the best way of saying it, picking my bag up from my desk. I left him normal as he is, he was fine and he’s come back to me like this. Let me take the stairs this time, I am just so angry and hurt but I can’t say anything here to him. I don’t want anyone to hear what I want to say to him, I am hurt and angry but I have let out the cry that I needed too. I want to know what the fuck, why me, why does things like this happen to my happiness. Am I cursed, I must be cursed for this to happen to someone I care about. I need to pick up Leyton in an hour, I have so much happening right now but I am just happy to see him walking but he looks so bad. Swiping my card at the turnstiles “come” I said bluntly “have a nice day miss” the security guard said, pushing the door open “I will try too” holding the door open for him, he is even limping. Looking up to the sky, why on earth does this happen.

It was a long silent walk to my car, a painfully slow one too “do you need help getting in?” I asked him, I don’t even want to look at his face “the door” he mumbled, I am in the right mind to let him just suffer it out. Dragging my car door open “is the seat too forward for you?” he complained last time “it’s how I left it” turning my face away from him, he can close the door him damn self. Walking around my car, how he left it. I fucking left him just fine, he comes back to me like this now I am angry. Throwing my bag in the back seat before banging the back door shut and then getting in the drivers seat, banging the door shut again “are you in pain?” I just want to confirm he is “yeah” putting my key into the ignition “good” it’s what he deserves, putting the car engine on “you think I want this? I feel like I am dying inside” hitting my steering wheel, my temper is harsh “no! You do have a choice, I left you that morning before your birthday fine. You was fine and you come back to me like this!? You don’t fucking understand how I felt did you? Not exactly, when you’re not answering me, I thought you was dead! Those two men that died in Brooklyn I thought was you Cassius, you don’t understand how I felt, what about me? You didn’t think of me, is this what it is now? I am always going let you go out and you come back broken, because I don’t want that Cassius” my voice broke “I don’t want to fucking cry either but fuck! You don’t understand how I felt working, I thought you was dead, I was waiting. I don’t want it Cassius, I can’t do that. I can’t be on edge thinking that the man I care for one day will be dead not because we grew old together but because of senseless shit! I am so angry!” I spat, I am just angry. Wiping my tears that fell, I am hurt.

A part of me is happy, he is here and breathing but I am not showing that “We may not have been dating for years, it’s been weeks give or take, but those have been my happiest weeks. You make me happy, I told myself I never wanted to fall for a man but look at me now. You will never understand the feeling, I couldn’t sleep. Waiting on you to see your birthday message Cassius, you never read it! All along you was out there, I have been telling you but you don’t listen. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad you’re here and I am not seeing you being buried but look at you” I can’t even look at him and I won’t “I’m sorry” Cassius said, sorry ain’t going to fix anything but I won’t say that “I came to you, I didn’t go home. I was just unconscious about two hours ago but I came here, I get it” looking over at him “then why are you not in hospital? Why are you here!?” I asked “my friend got me out, to stop me from being questioned” closing my eyes sighing out “oh my god” I said lowly as I looked away from him “that makes you a wanted man, you being in my car includes me” is he crazy “just listen to me! I wouldn’t let that happened to you” glaring at him, he coughed after he tried to raise his voice “you have just got out of being locked away, this is getting worse. You could be right now dying on me, you could have internal bleeding, oh my god” I give up “least I saw you last” placing my hands over my face, what am I going to do.

#Chrianna #Chrianna FF #Fanfiction

[stripesthesupervillain]

The Mad Hatter’s Guide to Happiness: Chapter 11

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Summary:  Batman takes an interest in the two villains' week out, deciding to get personally involved. Scarecrow and Mad Hatter find a place to stay after the day's events.

Don’t want to read this on Tumblr? Read it here! (I’ll add links to more chapters tomorrow.)

“As of now, police are unable to locate the two criminals, Jervis Tetch and Jonathan Crane, better known by their criminal personas as the Mad Hatter and the Scarecrow.”

Bruce Wayne was drawn away from his phone call upon hearing the two familiar names on the television. He raised a brow, initially confused as he watched the news report., he leaned back on his chair, paying more attention to the woman presenting herself on TV rather than his friend on the other end of the line.

“With a count of twenty-one confirmed kills by the pair, including twenty SWAT and the chief of police, Walter Paloozi, the town now lives in fear every waking hour of the night. No one knows why they’ve come to the small town, nor why they have decided to join forces, but one thing is for sure: they won’t slow down if they aren’t stopped.”

“Hey, Lucius, I'm sorry, but something just came up. Yeah, trouble. We'll talk about the device later. I’m gonna have to call you back,” Bruce sighed, quickly hanging up the phone and rising from his chair. “Alfred, turn up the volume.”

“We’ve had several reports that the kill count is higher than originally expected, with two new bodies having appeared so far fitting Tetch’s MO. Without the town's personal Batman to stop them, and the police force showing to have been a poor match for them, it seems that anything can happen at this point, and we can only pray for their safety as they are forced to adapt to Gotham's special breed of crime. Stay tuned for more as the story develops.”

The two stared at the TV as they quickly flashed images of the criminals, both in costume and out of costume. “It seems that I may have to work out of state, Alfred,” Bruce sighed, turning off the television and heading to the bookcase that hid his biggest secret. Alfred followed after him dutifully, standing by as they waited for the bookcase to shift out of the way to reveal the entrance to the Batcave. “Usually I wouldn’t suggest having other states outsource your services, Master Bruce,” Alfred sighed, “as you are only one man. However, this seems to be a different matter altogether, so I suppose there's no point in trying to convince you, is there?” Bruce gave a curt nod as he trotted down the stairs, the floodlights to the cave activating to shine down on the complex series of computers and vehicles he used for his secret hobbies. “Usually I would let them solve their own problems, Alfred, but this is Scarecrow and Mad Hatter we’re talking about. While Tetch's predictability is limited to the Lewis Carrol books, he's still a deranged schizophrenic and still a threat, and Crane is a sadist with enough fear gas to bomb an entire country. I need to go to Georgia and stop them before they can hurt any more people.”

“Master Bruce, these two are not your responsibility,” Alfred reasoned, following at a steady pace as Bruce got onto the batcomputer to get the coordinates for the last known location of the masked men. “Maybe not,” he replied, “but I am responsible for helping to protect this city, and I let these Crane and Tetch slip under the radar. I didn’t even realize they were gone until literally three minutes ago, Alfred, and now another town is paying for this mistake,” he sighed, going over to begin putting on his infamous batsuit. Alfred didn’t reply, merely watching from afar as he occasionally checked the computer for updates. Wayne had just put on the chest plate and had begun to fit on his boots when he stopped, considering a thought. “They killed over twenty people, Alfred,” he murmured, clutching his mask in his left hand in simmering anger. “If there is a chance I can stop them before anyone else just to save a few more lives, I’m more than willing to go any distance.”  

Once his mask was on and he was fully suited up, he moved over to the computer, collecting any information that he would need. “I’m going to need to use the batmobile,” he told his butler, typing into the computer in order to see which roads he would need to use to get there the fastest. “I’ll have to go at full speed if I want to get there quickly. There’s no time to plan anything else.”

“What do you expect to do once you get there?” Alfred questioned, watching him as he began to head towards the batmobile. “Find them. I’ll have to set up a few crime scenes and check for anything they’ve left behind, and once I get ahold of them, I'm bringing them back to Gotham,” Batman informed him. “I know them, Alfred. Crane isn’t one to just run away from his problems, and Tetch loves Gotham too much to move away.”

“Not a common interest between Englishmen, I can assure you,” Alfred commented.

“They came there for a reason, most likely of Crane’s own interest. From what the computer says, Tetch has no connection with Georgia, much less even stepped foot in it. Crane must be after something. Something important, I’m sure. I’ll make sure he won’t get it. Check the computer for any linking factors between Crane and the town. Make sure you hit all bases, including profession and personal life. Oh, and make sure Robin keeps the city safe while I’m gone.”

“Understood, Master Bruce,” Alfred nodded as Bruce hopped into the armored vehicle. “Stay safe, sir. You’ve stopped several villains at once before, but there’s always a risk.”

“I’ll be home before next week, I can assure you,” Batman said confidently, lowering the roof of the batmobile and revving up the engine. It was going to be a long couple of days, he was sure of that. Even as he drove off, he couldn’t help but wonder why these two criminals would travel such a far distance to wreak havoc.

Little did he know, someone else was wondering the same thing, and they were determined to figure out this little enigma.

The Mad Hatter and Scarecrow were more than overjoyed by the time they broke through the line of trees, their run slowing to a steady walk. Breathing heavy, Scarecrow was still laughing lightly to himself, still a bit animated after the day’s events. Bits of blood was still visible on his costume, but neither of them really seemed to care. Jonathan would care when he would have to wash the damn thing, but that's for another time.  

“Oh, I honestly wish I could have recorded all of that,” Scarecrow chuckled, one hand on his scythe and the other on the duffle bag slung around his shoulder. The two were still in costume, of course, attempting to find a good point to where they were safe to change. “You’ve said that at least three times,” Mad Hatter grinned, looking up at him. “I have to say, I’ve never seen you look so spirited about anything before.”

“I enjoy a good adrenaline rush every now and again,” Scarecrow murmured, calming down as he looked over the parking lot they had come across, sparsely populated by only a few cars. “It beats sitting in an office and listening to the problems of everyone else. Now, which one should we pick?” They surveyed the area. While it was still the black of night, street lights were able to illuminate the area and give them a clear picture of where they were heading.

“Oh, I like the red one,” Hatter pointed out, gesturing to a small red car that would perfectly seat the two of them. It looked cheap and rather plain and unnoticeable, which was perfect for them. “The red one it is,” Scarecrow declared, beginning their trek through the lot. “So how many of those cards do you have left?”

“Quite a few,” Hatter replied, not bothering to check his bag. “I always bring a chess set’s worth.” They stopped at the car, where he watched Scarecrow skillfully break in and begin to fiddle with the wires. “So how much toxin would you say you have left?”

“A few canisters,” the taller villain replied, grunting as the wires didn’t seem to be connecting. “So I’d say enough to break at least a hundred minds. In case that fails, I still have a scythe and an axe, whereas you don’t have a weapon of any kind.”

“Well, I usually I have other people do my bidding who usually have weapons,” Hatter huffed, watching him move the wires in the obviously wrong places. “Er, Hare, I don’t believe-“

“I know what I’m doing,” Scarecrow spat, before cursing when one of the wires gave him a little shock, although it wasn’t felt through the gloves. Hatter rolled his eyes, grabbed the other’s arm before he could protest, and ducked under the steering wheel. Within seconds, the car came to life. When he came back up, he dusted his dinner gloves on his coat. “I suggest you leave the technology to me. Hares don’t climb trees and haberdashers don’t live in burrows. It’s just not practical,” he chuckled, going and getting into the driver’s seat. “Says the one in Wonderland,” Scarecrow scoffed, getting into the passenger seat. Normally he wouldn’t let Hatter drive the car, as it was akin to trusting him with his very life, but he decided to let him have it this time. With a sigh, he pulled off his hat and mask as they began to pull off, revealing unusually unkempt red hair and a man with a stupid grin on his face, which slowly faded with time.

“Ah, Wonderland seems to be more exciting than usual, doesn’t it?” Hatter sighed, adjusting his hat. Jonathan knew he wasn’t going to take that thing off until he was asleep and didn’t bother to tell him off. “It sure does,” he muttered, now feeling more worn out. “Let’s just find a place to stay for the night and get out once daylight hits. I don’t want to spend another second here.”

“How about one of the neighborhood houses?” Jervis suggested, looking at an intersection that led to a cluster of houses. “That’s risky,” Jonathan replied, shaking his head. “We don’t want to wake any neighbors. They’re probably already high strung as it is.”

“Well you lived here, didn’t you?” Tetch said, looking over at him. “Where do you suggest we stay, then?” Jonathan had to think about this for a good few seconds, going through his terrible memories for any place they could stay that the police wouldn’t check out.

“On the next intersection, turn left and keep driving until you hit Duley Road,” he instructed. “There’s a small plaza that used to be filled with vacant shops. With any luck, a few of them may still be empty.”

Jervis nodded, beginning to follow as instructed as he began to rest against the car seat. He felt more tired than usual, which was understandable. Today was undoubtedly the third most eventful day of his life. He nearly died several times, so it was at least in the top five. Today was a good day, he’d say.

The car was filled with silence, with Jonathan now quieted and recounting the day’s events with a small smile. Jervis couldn’t help but become curious about some words shared several minutes earlier.

“Hey Hare,” he hummed, only receiving a grunt in response as a sign that he had his attention. “Do you really prefer this life over the life you could have had?”  

Jonathan paused, looking over at him silently. Tetch took this as a sign to keep going. “It’s the question we all ask ourselves, isn’t it? If we could go back in time and stop ourselves from become this, would we?” He glanced over at the unamused Crane, who only let out a sigh after a minute and shook his head. “Tetch,” Jonathan sighed, “as much as I appreciate the conversation and attempts to keep away the silence, I really can’t bear any more questions for today. Save it for tomorrow.” Jervis let out a small titter of amusement, but nodded in understanding. If Jonathan was sick of questions and answers, it must have been a really long day for him. He just hummed a tune to himself and kept driving.

They soon came to the plaza his companion had mentioned, looking around the dimly lit area in search of anyone. Besides one lone car, there was really no one there. Sure enough, a few of the stores were empty, the signs torn down and the windows covered to show there was no longer any occupants.  

It only took a few seconds and the door was soon opened, thanks to Catwoman’s helpful lessons. They trudged in with their things, locked the door, and took a look around. Jervis noticed the wallpaper still clinging to the interior was a light green with the occasional flower print. There was also an area where things were clearly meant to be on display, with lights and nozzles for misting water hanging above each display.

“I believe this place may have been for floristry, Hare. Oh, you know how I enjoy flowers,” Jervis mused, before frowning. “Except daisies. Those are always irritating to listen to.” Jonathan emerged from another room, now in his more citizen-type clothing, looking rather normal except for the unkempt hair. “It doesn’t matter what this place is for,”  he scoffed, peering out the small cracks visible between the coverings of the windows. He could already see the red streaks of dawn starting to make their way towards the center of the black sky. “What matters is that we get some rest. News travels fast, Jervis. I’d rather not take the chance of Batman taking interest. Get some sleep.”  

Tetch gave a curt nod, but gave a quick knowing smile to the doctor. “No pills, right?” he chuckled, watching as Crane turned to give him a small glare. He just shrugged it off. He soon found a good place to take a rest, before setting his hat to the side and nearly passing out then and there, not bothering to change out of his dirtied costume. Jonathan did the same, sitting nearby as he finally began to relax for the first time today. Well, the first time that didn’t involve being drugged. That time didn’t count. He let out a soft yawn, noticing it was becoming even brighter outside. He just grumbled in annoyance, turning away from the windows and closing his eyes.

Once they woke up, they would immediately head straight back to Gotham and nowhere else. He was already sick and tired of this town after just two days of being back. No one would stop them, and soon he would be back to terrorizing the people of Gotham. Those thoughts gave him some comforts as he began to rest up and drift off to sleep.

However, he would have to stay up a bit more, as soon enough, the phone rang.

Jervis audibly groaned in vexation, covering his ears. Jonathan just sighed and ignored the ringing until it finally stopped. Whoever it was could wait a few hours.  

Of course, when the phone rang again, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep without answering it. Even if he wasn’t called again, just not knowing who it was would be enough to keep him up a good hour or so. He angrily snatched up the phone, noticing Jervis sit up with an expression of both curiosity and slight annoyance. Jonathan recognized the caller ID as being from his base back in Gotham. It was Rockwell, most likely. Anyone else wouldn’t be a good sign. He let out an annoyed huff and answered the phone.

“Yes?” he greeted, going into an impatient stance as he leaned against a counter. “Whatever it is, it must be pretty damn important, Rockwell.” He could hear his henchman clear his throat in a nervous fashion. Something else could also be heard in the background, but he couldn’t identify it. It almost sounded like a voice.

“Well, Mister Scarecrow, sir,” Rockwell began, “I caught this guy sneaking around the base. Messing with all your chemicals and notes and stuff before I caught him. You know, the things you told me never to touch unless I want to end up in an Asylum?”

Jonathan furrowed his brow in initial confusion, before quickly becoming angry once again. “An intruder? Messing with my things? Well tell me you at least killed the imbecile.”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Rockwell replied. “I was going to, but he told me to cal you specifically. Told me I would regret it if I killed him. Called me a bunch of things, too.”  

At this point, Crane was simply puzzled at the situation. “Who gives a damn who he is?” he scoffed. “What sort of brainless halfwit would even think to intrude upon my lair? If he was caught by you, he obviously can’t be of much importance. I won’t be shedding any tears, trust me on-“

That’s when he heard it. Whatever voice that was in the background soon became loud and clear.

“HALF-WIT? I’ll have you know that I was able to find both your base and figure out the access code in a mere hour, not an easy task for a mere simpleton. If it’s anyone lacking the brains of the bunch, it’s you for only hiring a single guard to protect the supplies that are integral to your potato sack visaged alter-ego!”

Jonathan had to pull the phone back in order to not damage his ear drums. He blinked in surprise, looking over at Jervis, who had heard the yelling man on the other end. Both recognized that voice clear as day, but both seemed unable to make sense of it.

“Is that…?” Tetch murmured slowly.

“It is…” Crane replied.

They looked at each other and back down at the phone. They practically said it at the same time, equally as confused.

“Nygma?”

#MHGH #Batman #Alfred Pennyworth #Jervis Tetch #Mad Hatter #Jonathan Crane #Scarecrow #Edward Nygma #Riddler

[kaleenjackson]

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: winterfrost, James "Bucky" Barnes/Loki, Stony, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark Characters: Loki (Marvel), James "Bucky" Barnes, Tony Stark, Thor (Marvel), Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) Additional Tags: Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Sassy, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Loki-centric, Loki Feels, Loki Has Issues, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Good Loki, Thor Is Not Stupid, Thor Is a Good Bro, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Bucky Barnes Has Issues Summary:

Thor dragging him to Stark Tower might just be the best thing for Loki.

Chapter 2

It Takes Two

“Ya know Reindeer Games, having you standing behind me is…”

“Unnerving?” Loki smirked as he watched the engineer’s hands move with surprising dexterity. He had changed back to his usual attire of black, green and gold armor. “I do not understand why, Anthony. I pose no threat.”

Bucky chuckled. Apparently his soulmate was a sarcastic ass.

“No threat, my ass.” Tony grumbled. “Damn Hydra and their proprietary hardware. They couldn't just use a Robinson head. Nooo they have to use some pentagonal bullshit.”

Loki looked at his soulmate in confusion. Bucky shrugged his one shoulder. “I think it’s a screw driver.”

“Yeah it's a screw driver. Will you move!” Tony stood and snapped at the black haired man. Loki put his hands up in surrender. Even when he had been threatening his life, Tony hadn't raised his voice and it surprised Loki.

“You can see what he's doing from here. Sit down and get out of the crazy man's way.”

“I could just leave that servo stuck like that Barnes.” Tony pointed a screwdriver at him threateningly. “And I'm not the crazy one. How long would fabricating a pentagonal head driver and bit set take J?”

“For one of each in a single size would take approximately two hours, Sir. Might I suggest using the multi-bit?” JARVIS responded. Just like the last time Loki stared at the ceiling.

“Right. That's what I used last time. Barnes remember that, I need the multi-bit. Thanks J.”

“Of course Sir.”

“Are you sure that there isn't a person locked in some room speaking. It sounds… uncannily human.” Loki didn't look away from the speaker until Bucky touched his leg.

“He was a person.” Tony said, not looking away from the arm.

“I met him once. He was Howard's butler. Nice guy.” Bucky smiled. “He was pretty sarcastic too.”

“Well, he did basically raise me. Dad was too busy lookin’ for the Capscicle to pay attention to me. Barnes move your fingers.”

“Yet you're still so much like your dad.” Bucky smiled at Tony, wiggling his fingers.

“Alright. Hand still works and…” there was a metallic pop as the engineer pulled a small hydraulic cylinder out of his elbow. “We have our trouble maker. Now, lets get you back under warranty.”

“That expired when they started tryin’ to fry my brains.” Bucky said.

“Well, just the arm then.” Tony began to fuss about under the plates. “I'm not even looking at the loon and I can tell he's confused. It's like you have two emotions; homicidal and confused.”

“I have other emotions.” Loki feigned offence.

“Yeah Tony, you forgot sarcastic.” Bucky deadpanned. Loki glared and swatted his arm. Bucky grinned, catching the other man's wrist. “Careful. They only made one of me, so warranty or not, I can't be replaced.”

“Well it appears you have few emotions as well James. I would say… Sarcastic and flirtatious.” Loki’s neutral expression showed only a tiny smile.

“See and you forgot murderous. Neither of you actually knows the other yet.” Tony smirked.

“Well it’s not like we just met or anything Stark.”

“He’s right you know. We barely know anything more than each other’s names and a loose description of our stories.” Bucky turned to Loki. “We really should actually talk, instead of trying to passive aggressively threaten each other. Oh Tony, speaking of not knowing anything about your other half, these are for Steve. His favourite.” Bucky reached under his seat and handed Tony the dozen cookies he’s picked up. “And your damned cannoli.”

 “I know Bucky and I are good looking but you don’t need to drool openly Antlers.” Tony grinned a moment later, half eaten pastry in his hand.

“Where can I find something to eat? And I would never drool over someone as short as you Stark. I don’t want to have to look down upon my lover like they are nothing more than a commoner.”

“Me, common. Yeah right!” Tony scoffed. “Just for that I shouldn't tell you that there is a vending machine down the hall that is unlocked so you can just grab food out of it.”

“And I assume one of you is going to come with me.”

“Nah. JARVIS can keep an eye on ya. Though Thor doesn't really trust anything he can't touch so Dum-E come ‘ere. You mind taking the robot for a walk Antlers?”

Loki stared at the rolling “arm” Stark called Dum-E. It looked harmless enough. “I suppose it would be fine. At least Thor has something other than myself to hit with Mjölnir if I get caught alone.”

“Well, he isn't what I expected my soulmate to be.” Bucky told Stark as Loki left.

“What did you expect?”

“Well, human and maybe not quite as dangerous as myself for starters.”

Loki sighed, leaning against the doorframe out of sight but not earshot of the other two men. That had hurt to hear. It wasn’t like this was what he had wanted either. Deciding he didn't want to hear anything more he began to wonder down the hallway.

“Mr. Laufeyson?” That voice asked calmly.

“What?” Loki glared at the ceiling.

“You are going the wrong direction, unless you are attempting to calm yourself down.”

Loki stopped and stared at the ceiling.

“Your heart rate appears elevated. Would it be because of the Sergeant’s choice of words?”

He was astonished. The voice was supposed to be a machine, yet he still sounded and spoke more like a man might.

“Yes. I…” Loki sighed again. “It's not like either of us had a choice in this and yet he says ‘I'm not what he expected.’ What did he expect?” His voice got hard. “Some little woman who he could marry and have lots of babies with?”

“More than likely. He comes from a time where men were not allowed to be romantically involved with other men. His situation is probably very uncomfortable, as is yours.” The calm voice of the AI spoke.

“Uncomfortable. That's an understatement. I have to live with the knowledge that even my soulmate doesn't want me.” He slumped against the wall, allowing himself to sink to the floor.

“What leads you to that conclusion Sir?”

“It was the dangerous comment. I am dangerous when provoked but most of the time I am mostly harmless.”

“Unfortunately we only have the singular incident to base our knowledge from and he only has what others have told him. Having watched over Sergeant Barnes and the others for sometime now, I believe he is simple voicing that he got something different. Not that those differences are a negative thing Sir.”

“I can't believe I'm saying these things to a computer and an arm on wheels. How can my differences not be a negative? That is all they ever have been. I was…” He looked away from the ceiling but couldn't continue.

The funny arm nudged him gently. Absentmindedly Loki ran his hand over the metal, like he might an animal.

“Being different was wrong. I was different and therefore treated differently and seen as imperfect. As lesser than I should have, could have been. My differences were my failing. No matter what I did I could never be good enough, or strong enough, or… I don't even know anymore.”

“I believe that being different is what draws the residents here closer, Mr. Laufeyson. No one here falls within the norms of human society and they find comfort in being around others like themselves though each is singular in their own right. Even your brother, and I assume he is very much like his own kin.”

“Yes he is. He is what I was measured against my whole life.” Loki shook his head. “I am considered dangerous by everyone. A criminal, a lunatic, an ‘unrightful' king and just a failure at everything by anyone whose opinion still matters. Put me next to Thor and what am I? Nothing. I am invisible. It was the first major trick I learned. How to not be seen. It was easy when no one ever looks for you anyway.”

***

“I thought you said the machine was just down the hall?” Bucky hadn't stopped staring at the door since they had heard Loki sigh. Bucky was kicking himself to Timbuktu over what he had said. He knew Loki hadn't understood what he meant but now the strange alien man was likely hurt.

“J would let us know if there was anything major wrong.” Tony said calmly.

“What if it was Stevie who misunderstood what you had said?”

Tony didn't reply or speak for a moment, just kept working on the arm.

“There. I want you back next week to replace about five more. Go find him, that's what I know I should do if we were I the reversed position. Probably not what I would do but I know its exactly what you will do.”

Before Bucky could even stand JARVIS spoke. “Just to inform you Sir but Thor has just departed leaving Mr. Laufeyson in our custody until he returns. He did state he would not be more than a day before returning.”

“The thundering bastard didn't even tell us he was gonna leave tall, dark and psycho behind.” Tony stated. Bucky said nothing, just got up and left. “Thanks for fixing my arm Tony. Thanks for almost getting ripped to shreds by my crazy soulmate and getting the collar off his neck Tony.” He muttered sarcastically under his voice and unintentionally loud enough for Bucky to hear in the hall.

***

“My Seidr is my greatest strength next to my mind and yet both were seen as a waste. Imagine this, I am standing in my full royal regalia, next to Thor, both of us crowned princes of the realm and yet I have a servant insult me to my face. Thor just laughs it off. So I play a little trick so I can laugh too, so it wouldn't hurt so much to know just how lowly I am viewed. Just how little I truly matter to anyone.” Loki continued to hang his head between his knees.

“You matter to me.” Bucky’s voice startled him but he didn't let it show. “I know you heard me saying that you aren't what I expected my soulmate to be. I heard you sigh outside the door. Whatever you think I meant by that, I think you got it wrong.”

“Really?” Loki still didn't look up. “I think you mean that I am not what you want, or what you deserve. That I am some sort of consolation prize. A broken toy that you are forced to take because all of the perfect ones were gone. I know that you deserve better than me.”

“Better than a prince? Really, I don't even know why I deserve someone who probably had to chase women away from his bed at night ‘cause they all wanted a piece of that action. Men too, I'd bet.”

Loki laughed. The image of himself having to chase men and women out of his bed chamber because they had hidden there to try and seduce him was actually funny. Then the words hit him.

“I am not a prince anymore James. I am a prisoner. Why would you want me?”

“Well, why do you want me? It's not like I spent seventy years of my life as little more than a biological robot.” Bucky slid to the floor across the hall from him. It was wide enough Bucky knew Loki had enough space to not feel crowed but still close enough to know Bucky really was listening.

“I don't exactly know. I know that I don't want to be alone anymore.”

“I would like…” Bucky sighed. “I don't know if you will believe me but I want you to understand that just because you aren't what I expected doesn't mean you aren't what I want.”

Loki finally looked up at him, his expression neutral.

“It’s not that I expected anythin’ in particular. What I got is a person who I have been told can fight with the best of ‘em, is mentally sharp and down right tenacious. Not to mention pretty fuckin' hot and so sassy.” Bucky smiled and winked at him. “I think I got more than I bargained for.”

“You know I will likely have to return to Asgard, to my cell. I doubt they would ever let you come be with me.” Loki started to stand, his face still neutral. Bucky jumped to his feet.

“Then we make the best of the time we have. Thor left about twenty minutes ago. JARVIS thinks he went to Asgard. So you don't have to have him hanging on your shoulder for at least the rest of the night I would think. We can just sit and talk and maybe know each other a bit before we get separated by time and space again.”

Loki stepped into Bucky’s space, gripped his face and stared at him for a moment. He then kissed Bucky again. It felt so right, no space between them and no one to interrupt them. “I don't want this to be it James.” He murmured, eyes shut, resting his forehead against his soulmates. “I have nothing else to live for. No reason to try and maintain my sanity.”

Bucky pressed a finger to Loki’s lips. “Please stop.” His voice broke slightly. “I don't wanna have that image floating in my head with everything else. I don't wanna think about you alone in a cell. Please.”

“I don't want to lie to you though. It is what awaits me, for the rest of my long life.” He felt Bucky's hands resting on his hips, grounding him.

“How do we change that?”

“Erase my past. Make that old bastard understand what happened to me after he…” Loki drew a hard breath. “He let me fall. He let me try and kill myself. He loves lording his power over me. I am only alive because of him and I have to accept that fact every morning. I doubt he would ever listen to reason about what I did here. He would never let one of his stolen relics out of his sight without being in the trusted hands of his moron of a son.”

“Then we make him trust me.”

Loki looked at the old soldier with some surprise.

“How? He has no respect for humanity. He… well most of Asgard sees humans as lesser.”

“What about you? How do you view us humans?”

Loki didn’t speak for a moment. Bucky knew he was trying to word his answer correctly for what he wanted.

“Both I suppose. I was raised to put myself above all others. Asgard sees herself as the benevolent parent of the other eight realms. However I happen to actually not be Asgardian, but Jotunn, whom they see as monsters. I was raised to believe my own kind were going to eat me if I misbehaved. Finding out what I truly was…” Loki let his words die. Bucky understood what he didn’t say. It had hurt to find out that he wasn’t what he thought he was.

“You’re not a monster. You’re really messed up and finding out that you were “adopted” didn’t help I’m sure. Still you would think a parent would treat his child better, and don’t get me started on the racism. I grew up around enough of that bullshit. I don’t know how many fights that I had to pull Steve’s skinny punk ass out of started with ‘Hey Bog-trodder!’ I can’t stand that sorta shit.” Bucky gripped Loki’s thin hips. “I’m sure he’s gonna love that your lyubovnic is human. I wonder what nasty thing he’ll call me.”

“Mortal. That’s it. They just call humans mortals, even though Asgardians are mortal as well. Jotunns they call mosters, as well as the dark elves. Only the races that fought against Asgard’s rule were labeled as such. You mind releasing my hip, your grip starting to become rather painful.”

“Sorry.” Bucky unlocked his left hand. In his anger it had locked up. Carefully he pulled Loki against himself. “We didn’t fight against strangers ruling us. That doesn’t sound right.”

“Well it was over a thousand years ago. Mostly they just leave Midgard alone believing it not worth the time. Even now they think it to be inhabited by a backwards race of beings who will never understand the universe they inhabit.”

“What do you think?”

Again Loki took a moment.

“That Asgard is the backwards one. At this point they may have more advanced technology but they refuse to see value in people and places different then themselves. I know that with the right group of humans I could likely destroy Odin’s rule and take Asgard for myself. Most of them are inhabitants of this very building. I also know that the true differences between most of the sentient races of the nine realms are very small. All desire to direct their own course, individually and as a collective race. Midgardians have proved no different. I no longer seek a crown in any realm though. I would still be a better ruler than Thor but I do believe that he will do well enough.”

Bucky felt the strange man rest his head against the crook of his neck. He gently ran his flesh hand through the inky black hair. Loki had a lot of issues. He would likely always see himself as better than most people on earth, though never good enough for his own high standards and those he assumed others set against him. But at least he wasn’t about to try and take the world over…  again. A thought brought a sudden smile to Bucky’s face.

“You really think that ‘The Avengers’ could over-throw Asgard?”

“Well… Yes.” Loki lifted his head and gave the other man a questioning look.

“We can barely make it through a dinner without killing each other. We’re living, breathing chaos.”

Loki laughed. “I am called the God of Mischief by some. Chaos is something I’m good at.”

“Why doesn't that surprise me?” Tony laughed at the end of the hall. “You never went to get food did you?”

Before Loki could speak, JARVIS did. “He was upset by the Sergeant's words and was attempting to calm down by speaking with myself and Dum-E, then with the Sergeant once he found him.”

Loki didn't look away from Bucky.

“So, are you two good then?” Tony looked at the two men who were still leaned against each other and the wall.

“Perhaps.” Loki said.

“I hope so.” Bucky smiled, running his hand through Loki's jet black hair.

Steve found them a short time later, discussing how the Avengers could over throw Asgard while eating food out of the vending machine. He didn't know what was more disconcerting; hearing Bucky comment about the ease with which he figured he could out wit Asgardian royal guards or seeing Loki eating, and eating Swiss Rolls none the less. The whole scene was just weird. Not knowing what to do he just stood there.

“Your boyfriend is staring at us Tony. I think we're gonna get lectured on eatin' sweets before our supper.” Bucky teased.

“Shut up, Jerk. And you know you really shouldn't binge on junk food Tony.”

Loki just smiled at him. He was enjoying watching the way he made Captain America squirm.

“When was the last time you ate actual food Tony?” Steve finally asked.

“I had a couple of sandwiches during the meeting this morning.” Tony grinned proudly.

Steve looked at Bucky.

“About four hours ago. I grabbed a sandwich at Dino's. Tony wanted cannoli so he sent me to fetch him some.”

“What about you?” He finally made eye contact with Loki.

“I don't know that I would call the disgusting concoction Thor tried to feed me last night food-“ Steve cut Loki off.

“How long before that?” Loki was surprised to see what might have been genuine concern on the Captain's face.

“I don't actually remember. I have been dragged across so many realms as of late that the days have all blended.” He shrugged, taking a bite out of the cake in his hand.

“Well I'm gonna head over to Romanesco's if you wanna come.” He kept eye contact with Loki.  “You need to eat something more than that.”

“You guys up for some Italian?” Tony smiled as he went to follow his boyfriend.

Loki looked from the bouncing brunet to Bucky. “Did the Captain and the Man of Iron just invite you to bring me along to dinner?”

“I think so.” Bucky seemed just as confused. “I need to change if that’s the case, you too. I doubt the armor is a good choice. What you were wearing earlier though should work though.”

Loki smiled and Bucky watched his clothing change back to the green dress shirt and black tie in a shimmer of light. “Neat trick.”

“Thank you.” Loki smiled as he flicked his wrist. Bucky felt a strange warm tingle run over his body. Looking down he saw that he was now wearing a black dress shirt, black slacks and a red tie.

“What the…” He looked back up at Loki.

“Your welcome.” He winked over his shoulder.

“Okay, I look great but ask next time. It's kinda rude to magic someone without permission.” He hustled to catch up with Loki who had already begun to move towards the elevators.

“So long as I can still surprise the others once in a while.” Loki gave a sly smile.

“Just don't go turning anyone into frogs or anything unnatural, you ass.” Bucky goosed him to emphasize his choice of word.

Loki grinned as they stepped into an elevator. “I think Stark would make a pretty damsel.”

“You're not turnin' Stark into a Dame. Not after he pulled the collar off your neck today. Wait till he pisses ya off. He muttered somethin' earlier ‘bout you tryin to rip him to shreds, wanna tell me?”

“It hurt and my power came flooding back so I lunged at him with claws and fangs. I had very little control for a moment. If not for the strange cold foam which that Dum-E sprayed me with I fear I may have killed him.” Loki looked at his hands.

“Dum-E sprayed ya? Wait.” Bucky gawked at him for a moment. “You have claws and fangs?”

Loki sighed then bared his teeth. A moment later Bucky could see the fangs. His nails blackened and lengthened, hard and sharp. As he showed how they were retractable Buck noticed his eyes had started to turn red. In the relative safety of the moment Bucky didn't find it all that frightening, in a tight spot however…

Bucky kissed him just as both claws and fangs began to vanish, replaced by a small look of shame and surprise. They walked through the private lobby of the tower in silence.  

“At least you don't have to worry about being caught unarmed.” Bucky smiled, grabbing his jacket from the closet.

“I suppose. I still dislike that I have them and that I tend to use them when I'm not in complete control.”

“I can understand.” Bucky said, pulling on a pair of thin black gloves. “Once I started getting myself back, I had a hard time with the arm. It took a bit but now it's just another part of me. A highly useful part but, just like the fleshy one, still just a part of me.”

“Are you proud to have it?”

Bucky tilled his head slightly to the left. “I guess. It’s part of what make me, me. I am Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier. The winter soldier is known for his skill, accuracy and metal arm. Day to day, it’s just a thing I have.”

Loki was silent as his jacket shimmered into existence. Then he looked Bucky over.

“Can I speak of something and expect that you shall keep it between us?”

“Of course. You want me to tell Jarvis to close his ears?”

“If that is alright?”

“Of course, Sir.” The voice spoke. “Would you like to have audio recording alone disabled or both audio and video?”

“Both. Please” Loki swallowed.

“Done.”

“So… I mentioned earlier that I am not what I appear to be.”

Bucky nodded.

“This is what I meant.” Loki closed his eyes. It took a moment but then a soft gold shimmer, different from the green of Loki's own magic, fell away from his body.

Bucky was silent. Unnervingly silent. Loki finally managed to make himself open his eyes. The look on his soulmate's face was… adoring. He was looking at Loki like he was attractive, and lovable and not a monster.

Bucky didn't say anything as he reached his hand out to touch the soft blue skin of his soulmate's cheek.

“Don't.” Loki stepped back, his voice a bare whisper.

“I'm not gonna hurt you.”

“I might.” Loki shifted his strange red eyes away from Bucky.

Bucky stepped forward, filling more of the gap between them. Again he reached his hand out. “I'm not scared of you Loki.” He had pulled his glove off his right hand. Loki flinched as Bucky's warm hand rested against his cheek.

“This… this… monster is what I truly am James.”

“And anyone who calls you that is gonna deal with me. And it ain't gonna be pretty.” He kissed Loki. His lips were cold. For a moment it was almost painful, then Loki seemed to relax into him and the biting chill seemed to fade. “I don't wanna hear you talkin’ ‘bout yourself like that. I don't fuckin care what you’ve been told. Ya ain't a monster, and I would take you however you are, claws and all.”

Loki couldn't speak. For all of his fancy words and pretty lies, Bucky's honesty had caught him off guard.

“My Ma used to say that soulmates were bound to each other. Nothin' could truly drive ‘em apart. That it didn't matter about any dividing lines ‘cause they were gonna want to be with the ones they were pulled to.”

Loki let the glamour reassert itself over his appearance, pale skin and green eyes over taking blue and red, in a shimmer of gold. “I hate myself. You understand that, right? I can't even look in a mirror some days without wanting to destroy it.”

“Well, maybe I can change that.” Bucky kissed him again before gently taking his hand. “Come on. We're gonna be late. Stark will never let us live it down.”

***

They found Pepper sitting at a table set for five, at the restaurant, alone.

“Pepper! When did you get back?” Bucky hugged the woman gently.

“Just as Tony was dragging Steve into a bedroom.” She wiggled her brows. “I think they're going to be a bit late.”

“I was worried for nothing. I figured I was gonna have to stop Loki from turnin' Stark into a girl ‘cause of the tormenting we would get for bein’ the last to show up.”

“What?”

“Oh right.” Bucky looked over his shoulder. Loki had been standing back, trying to blend in, which for someone with his stature and natural charisma was an impressive feat. “Umm, yeah. So Pepper, this is Loki. Loki, this is Tony's assistant Pepper. She keeps everything and everyone in the tower on track.” He stepped aside. Pepper stared at them both for a moment.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Pepper. I assure today has been rather strange for myself. I can only imagine what yours has been like.” Loki stepped next to Bucky and gave a small bow before taking and kissing the back of Peppers offered hand.

It took Pepper another moment to regain her footing. “You're… how… what?”

“Well no wonder Tony talks so much-“

#winterfrost #soulmate au #loki x bucky #soulmarks #bucky x loki

[aceholmes]

the uncharted (6/?)

summary: the vienna gets into trouble with some romulans who want to arrest the vienna’s first officer, kaz jamin. troi, ke’lth and swift find that running a galaxy-class starship singlehandedly is harder than it looks.

here it is on ao3!

The week later

“All the refugees are still aboard.” Commander Jamin reports. “Living conditions are livable for another three months or so, but no more.”

“How many are there?” Yar asks.

Jamin reads off her PADD. “Three hundred and fifty-six. That’s twice the number of our crew.”

Yar nods. “How is the housing situation?”

Jamin’s forehead wrinkles, and it brings to attention that her forehead is clear of the brow ridges that mark most Romulans. In fact, Jamin could very well pass as human (her father was human, according to Starfleet records), except for her ears, which are delicately pointed at the ends. Her long hair, up in a ponytail, is far from the conventional way the Romulans wear theirs, which also strikes curiosity in Yar.

“Not good. We’ve had to reallocate quarters.” Jamin says, pausing slightly. “If you don’t mind, Captain, Commander Hurley and I have temporarily taken up residence in your quarters.”

Yar seems taken aback for a moment, but relaxes and shifts in her chair. “It’s an emergency. Measures have to be taken.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Jamin says, sternly. “Also, have you managed to read Lieutenant Ang’s report on Planet X-2030?”

Yar shakes her head. “No, not yet. I just got back an hour ago.”

“My apologies, Captain.” Jamin replies. “It had slipped my mind that no news reached you when you were on shore leave.”

“Even if news had reached me I would’ve been too busy to do much about it.” lies Yar. She tries cracking a smile, but deep inside she knows that all she did on shore leave was lie around in the hotel, drunk on cheap wine and still denying that Deanna’s disappearance ever occurred. She would’ve been drunk the whole way if Beverly didn’t show up at her door on the last day and insisted that they spend the day together. It was still uneventful, with Beverly and her sitting under a drab grey sky as Jean-Luc futilely tried to feed the ducks. (The ducks weren’t hungry.)

“Captain.” Jamin’s serious, commanding voice snaps her back to reality.

Yar coughs. “Sorry.”

“We found it to be a class K planet. Life could possibly be sustained there with pressure drones.” Jamin explains. “Starfleet has announced that a science ship will be accompanying us to Planet X-2030, which we’ve named Teloi I.”

“I wasn’t informed.” Yar frowns. “Has Starfleet announced the specifications of this mission?”

“Reports came in this morning.” Jamin sifts through her PADD. “We will be accompanied by the USS Newton. The Newton is currently under command of Captain Geordi La Forge.”

Yar looks up. “An old friend of mine.”

Jamin nods. “Then you two will get along very well, I suppose. The Newton will be joining us in two days.”

“How long would it take to construct the pressure domes?” considers Yar.

“Captain La Forge recommends a month, at the very least. Settling the refugees into their new home will be difficult, as well.” Jamin responds. “But their old planet is uninhabitable now.”

Yar agrees, sadly. “Relocations not pleasant for anyone.” She leans back in her chair. “Is there any news of the three missing officers?”

“None as of now.” Jamin takes on a more sympathetic tone. “I’m sorry, Captain.”

“You don’t need to be.” Yar shrugs off. “I should’ve gotten a diagnostic run before they went down there.”

“It was a time anomaly, Captain. Being able to accurately predict them is extremely difficult, almost impossible.” Jamin consoles. “You’re not alone in this. The ship’s morale hasn’t been high lately.”

“And what about you? You had quite an amicable working relationship with Troi.” Yar points out.

“I miss her.” Jamin states. “As do you, Captain.”

“Yes, I do.” Yar finds herself choking on her words, closing herself off. “It isn’t the first time I’ve lost people dear to me.”

“Neither is it for me.” Jamin lowers her voice. “My children are still on Romulus.”

“You have children?” Yar is torn, wanting to know more.

“I don’t know whether they’re still alive, Captain,” trembles Jamin. “But I’m glad I left Romulus.” She goes silent. “I could talk more, but I would like to get back to my post now.”

“Dismissed,” allows Yar. After Jamin leaves, Yar wants to do nothing but toss and turn, but the time for grieving was over. There’s still a lot of work to do, and sitting around won’t do anything about it. She’s about to start on reading Ang’s report on Teloi I when the alarms start to sound. The red alert signal blares throughout the ship, and Yar rushes out onto the bridge.

“Lieutenant Peters.” Yar addresses the Head of Security. “What’s the situation?”

“Romulan warbird, decloaking.” Peters scans over the controls. “Off our bow, Captain.”

“Are they hailing?” Yar inquires.

Peters shakes his head. “No. Shall we hail them, sir?”

“On screen.” orders Yar, and the screen blinks to life with the image of a Romulan commander.

“I am Captain Natasha Yar of the Federation Starship Vienna.” Yar greets. “What is your intent here?”

“Commander Rak Jamin, serving the Romulan Star Empire.” The Romulan on the other ship shoots back, glancing off to the side. “We are here in search of valuable information, especially regarding something that was stolen from us.”

“We are a Federation starship.” Yar replies, her voice stern. “We have stolen nothing from you.” She glances away from Commander Rak Jamin, and sees something in the corner of the screen. Two Romulan children, not older than ten. They do not cower, but they stand silently, stiff and emotionless.

“You might have not, Captain, but one of your officers have.” Commander Rak Jamin reveals, glancing to Yar’s left. “Kaz. My dear wife. Or should I say, ex-wife.”

Commander Kaz Jamin’s hands tremble, but she remains silent, with quiet dignity.

“The Romulan Star Empire has accused you of treason, Kaz. You will come with us back to Romulus.”

“To be tried and executed?” Kaz says, urgently. “There is no proof that I am guilty of any crime.”

“You know what I’m talking about, my dear.” Rak says, his voice dripping with venom. “Please cooperate, and perhaps the Romulan Star Empire shall grant you a swift death, free of humiliation.”

The bridge is silent, except for the distant humming from the engines.

Two jolts shake the bridge, and it registers in Yar’s mind that the Romulans have opened fire on the Vienna.

“Shields are holding, for now.” Commander Hurley reports.

“That was a warning shot,” Rak informs, and raises a hand to signal to the weapons officer. “Now come with us.”

“Don’t fire on them, Captain.” Kaz pleads, softly. “My children are on that ship.”

Settling in her chair, Yar bites down on her lip, deep in thought. “Give us an hour, Commander.” She finally announces. Grudgingly, Rak agrees, and Yar and Kaz retreat into Yar’s ready room.

“Why are they after you?” Yar asks, pacing the room. “Please tell me the truth. You know I’d always be on your side, as your captain and...friend.”

“The information was planted.” Kaz replies. “All they want is to execute me as a traitor.”

“Planted?” Yar raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“I have enemies, Captain.” Kaz answers. “But I destroyed any evidence that I even had possession of the information to begin with. Covered my traces.”

“Why formulate this elaborate plan when they can take you in for deserting the empire? For running away all those years ago?” Yar asks.

“I am not a formal Romulan citizen, Captain.” Kaz bows her head. “I am the child of a Federation prisoner, and a commoner mother.”

“They never treated us like anything, Captain.” Kaz sighs. “We half-breeds were no different from slaves. Then they were afraid of their offspring being tainted by human blood. Their goal was to wipe us out. I only survived so long because my mother hid me. I underwent surgical alterations to my face just so that I could be safely married off. Then I escaped because there was no place for me there.”

“As long as they find no traces of the information you supposedly possess, they will have no reason to arrest you, is that correct?” Yar considers.

“What information, in particular?” Yar inquires.

“Information on their new space-field manipulator.” reveals Kaz.

Yar thumbs her chin. “If we were to run scans, would we find that all files in your PADD and computer databanks would all originate from Federation sources?”

“Yes.” Kaz nods. “But it would not be wise to run scans now. The Romulan Warbird could be monitoring every computer process that is currently running on this ship.”

Yar sighs. “I sincerely hope what you have told me is true.”

“So do I.” Kaz replies.

Yar’s com-badge gives a chirp. “Hurley to Captain Yar. The Romulans have hailed us again.”

Yar exits her office, with Kaz Jamin in tow. “Take heart,” Yar whispers to her first officer, before they step onto the bridge. With her heart fluttering at her throat, Yar steels herself and gets ready to face Rak Jamin, and the truth.

Troi awakes from her nap when Swift taps on her shoulder. Yawning, she stretches out in the chair in the centre of the bridge.

“It’s not easy, running a galaxy-class starship with a total crew of three.” Swift says. “We need to find help soon.”

“Are there any other planets in the sector?” Troi inquires.

Ke’lth reads off a science station. “Yes, there seems to be an planet that it’s inhabited. If we head there at maximum warp, we will reach there in twenty hours.”

“Set a course then, Doctor Ke’lth.” Troi commands.

Ke’lth nods, and turns back to his station. Troi turns to Swift. “You should get some rest.”

“I will.” agrees Swift. “But I think I’ll do one last thing.”

“What’s that?” Troi raises an eyebrow.

“The scanners indicate that one of the bio-neural gel packs might be experiencing a malfunction.” Swift reports. “I would like to head down to give a check before I end my shift.”

“Permission granted.” Troi gives the green light, and Swift starts to remove the clasps on the hatch to Jefferies Tube 23.

#star trek: the next generation #deanna troi #tasha yar #fic #mine #uncharted tag

[supernatural-and-things]

The Aria

Summary: Super smart Castiel is annoyed when he is told he must learn to play an instrument before the end of high school, however, when he meets who will be teaching him, he decides that maybe it won't be so bad.

Warnings: fluff

A/N: Being a musician myself, I'd like to say that, yes, Cas' progression in this fic is incredibly fast and highly unrealistic, however please ignore this for the sake of the story, enjoy!

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Castiel Novak was an incredibly smart student.

Even though he was only in his junior of high school, Castiel could easily outperform the best of the senior year in any academic subject; whether it be Mathematics, Science, English- you name it he could over achieve in it... that was until one day, when his school careers adviser pull them out of his favourite class - advanced calculus.

"Excuse me, Ms Mills," Mr Singer said in a booming voice that made all the students, well all four of them, turn around in their chairs, "could I please speak to Mr Novak?"

Ms Mills nodded and Castiel picked up his books with a sigh of annoyance, the rest of his classmates sniggered at the angel of the class getting called out by the teacher.

"If you would please come to my office, Mr Novak, we need to discuss your future," and Singer announced to a quite frankly scared-out-of-his-mind Castiel.

The pair walked silently to the teacher's office and Castiel made a mental list as to what Mr Singer could possibly want to speak about.

My grades are good, I never get in trouble and I am on route to college, he knows that, so what could he want to talk to me about?

Castiel entered Mr Singer's office and, as it was the first time he had ever been in this part of the school, he took a moment to examine his surroundings once he had sat down on a hard-plastic chair. The walls enclosing the room were an ugly mustard colour with a navy ceiling and skirting board. Mr Singer's possessions were neatly ordered on what could only be described as poo-brown shelves and desks. There weren't many objects on the desk in front of him; merely a computer and pencil case. The carpet was also a navy colour with flecks of rainbow threaded throughout the floor. Castiel decided that the office must be incredibly practical as there was nothing aesthetic about it, not that it really bothered him.

"I'm assuming that you must be wondering why I have summoned you here?" Mr Singer's voice said seriously.

Castiel nodded timidly. He wasn't all that comfortable in one-on-one situations with authority figures.

"First, I would like to ask you what colleges you are considering for when you finish here at Lawrence High?"

Castiel took a deep breath. He knew this answer like the back of his hand, "well, sir, I would like to get an undergraduate degree, a bachelor with honors, in biomedical engineering at Yale or MIT, then I hope to complete a masters and continuing into a PhD one day."

Mr Singer closed his eyes and nodded his head slowly, "That is very admirable of you, Mr Novak, and you definitely have the grades to obtain these goals," Castiel smiled at this glimpse of praise, "however, the colleges these days look for not only intellectual students, such as yourself, but also creative and well-rounded students. Now, seeing as you have shown very little interest in sports, I highly recommend that you pick up a creative or performing arts subject before your time here finishes, otherwise, you may not be the best candidate that your preferred college is looking for."

"But, sir, I am neither artistic nor comfortable in performing in front of people; choosing to study any of these subjects will surely lower my GPA?"

"Maybe, however it may be a risk you will need to take. At Lawrence High, we offer Visual Arts, Music, Drama and Dance; unless, of course, you want to re-enroll in the Physical Education course?"

Oh god, no, Castiel thought. He had enough trouble with sport in middle school and was glad he no longer had to struggle through that particular course. There is no way I am dancing either; from what I've heard, it's more physically demanding than sport, I'm definitely not doing drama either- too many people go to the musical which is compulsory to participate in. That leaves visual arts and music; from what I've seen of Charlie's work, you have to be an amazing artist to even pass the class, which I am not. I guess I could learn an instrument; I mean, it's astounding to think about how each of them works, in a mechanical sense.

"I would like to study music, sir, it is the subject in which I am least likely to fail in."

"Excellent choice, I will tell Mr Winchester to expect your arrival at lunch and I shall organise for you to have a lesson off every day so you can learn how to play an instrument."

As Mr Singer finished his sentence, the all too familiar school bell sung its uncomfortably loud tune to signify the beginning of lunch.

"Perfect timing, Mr Novak, you are free to go, and I shall speak to Mr Winchester now, good luck!"

Castiel exited Mr Singer's office to see his best friend, Charlie Bradbury, standing outside the door.

"So, what did he want?"

"He said I had to pick up another subject, a creative or performing art, otherwise colleges may not want me, something about them wanting diverse students."

"Oh, that's so cool, what did you pick?" The energetic girl practically squealed.

"Music- actually, I have to go to the music rooms now to find an instrument I can actually get a sound out of."

"I'm sure you'll find something, I'm gonna go work on my art assessment, peace out bitch."

And with that, Castiel's only life support had disappeared, stranded, he braced himself to enter the music rooms.

As soon as the school's bell blared through the premises, Dean Winchester raced out of class and towards the music center of the school. He entered and threw his bag down before walking over to the beautiful grand piano and the musical composition he had been working on for his extension music class. His fingers danced along the ivory white keys and he became so absorbed in his piece that he didn't hear when someone opened the door and walked into his father's office, much less when his father and the mystery person walked over to the piano and stood next to it, waiting for him to finish; which, eventually, he did.

"Dean," Dean heard his father say as he turned to face the pair, noticing the boy he had never seen before. The boy was astoundingly handsome in an effortless and messy kind of way. Dean traced his eye line from the male's dark chocolate brown thick locks to his piercing blue eyes and strong, tall build which was hiding under a tan-coloured trench coat; an interesting choice for school.

"This is Castiel Novak, Mr Singer has told me he needs Castiel to become proficient in an instrument as soon as possible, so I would like you to please help him find an instrument that he could easily learn. You will have the last lesson of every day off to help him learn it," his father said coldly, almost handing Castiel to Dean for him to deal with.

Once Mr Winchester had left the room, Dean spoke up, "Don't be afraid, he's always like that. So... music! What made you want to learn an instrument, apart from music being the best thing about this school?" Dean said, flashing Castiel his most charming smile.

"Well actually, I am only doing this because Mr Singer seems to think that I won't be accepted into college if I don't do something creative."

"You seem smart enough to pick up an instrument quickly, so maybe this'll work," Dean responded as he began to walk over to the instrument storage room, "so... Castiel is an interesting name; can I call you Cas?"

"Yes, I suppose so. My parents are both really religious and thought it would be a good idea to name our siblings and I after angels. Michael was lucky, myself not so much."

Dean laughed, "Well I think it's pretty cool. So, do you know what you might want to play?"

Castiel shrugged, he hadn't really thought about it.

"Fair enough, maybe you should try the saxophone, it's a good beginner instrument."

So, Cas picked up the saxophone and placed his hands where Dean showed him, took a deep breath in and blew into the instrument. Which he couldn't get a sound out of. All that came out was a rush of air.

"Dude, if you can't play the saxophone then I think there's no hope for any instrument in the woodwind or brass section."

"It's probably for the best, I don't have much stamina anyway," Castiel quipped.

"Okay, what about percussion? You know- drums, timpani, glockenspiel, hell even the triangle."

"I'm not sure I am coordinated enough- besides, I don't know how to read all those symbols, I only learnt the normal notes in music from recorder."

"I guess that eliminates the guitar too, and only leaves the violin and the piano. Seeing as you think you're uncoordinated, I think violin is your best bet, but it'll be difficult. It may look easy to play, but it's hard to make sound good."

Castiel picked up the violin that Dean had handed to him.

"For the time being, let's put bits of tape where your finger need to go," Dean smiled. "So, the biggest string, here," he said pointing to the first of the strings, "is called the G string, which means that when you play it without any other fingers, it makes the note G."

Dean handed Cas a bow.

"To hold the now you need to put your thumb here and rest your other fingers on top," he said, rearranging Castiel's fingers properly. "Great! Now, can you play a G for me?"

Castiel placed the now gently onto the first string and pulled it downwards as perpendicular to the string as he could, applying a bit of pressure, until a long hollow sound resonated through the air.

"Perfect, Cas. You'll be playing pieces in no time," Dean grinned.

For the rest of lunch, Dean introduced Cas to the other three strings; D, A, and E.

"You're doing very well for your first lesson; must be that big brain of yours being able to memorise things so quickly," Dean commented, smiling. "Would you be able to come to my house this afternoon? I have some beginner violin music which I think you should have a go at; meet me here after school?"

"Okay, see you then."

And with that, the bell rang. Castiel raced off to his next class, leaving the violin in the music studio to pick up later.

Castiel just could not concentrate, for the last couple of hours of school all he could think about was Dean and his violin lessons.

At least the lessons will be with someone interesting and not just a boring old teacher. Plus, it doesn't hurt that Dean is incredibly good looking. God, I could just stare into those eyes forever.

Soon enough, the final bell rang to signal the end of school and Castiel was strangely excited to see Dean, and sure enough, there he was, still practicing the same beautiful piece he had been at lunch. Castiel admired how seamlessly Dean's fingers were gracing over the keys.

Damn, his hands must be so strong.

Castiel noticed that Dean had taken off his leather jacket since they had last met, and was now wearing just a sleek black t-shirt that really showed off his figure well. Castiel was so enchanted by this that he didn't even notice when Dean stopped playing which made Dean laugh.

"Like what you see?" He said cheekily, winking and making Cas blush, "come on, let's go... oh! Cas, you get to meet my Baby!"

This statement made the bubble of hope in Cas burst. Sure, he barely even knew Dean, but Cas felt oddly jealous that there could already be someone in Dean's life...

Dean and Cas turned the corner to the school's parking lot.

"Baby!" Dean called out as he raced to a black muscle car. "Did you miss me? Cas, this is my Baby, and if you hurt her, then I'll hurt you," Dean said half-jokingly, half-seriously.

Cas breathed out a sigh of relief as he climbed into the well taken care of Chevrolet Impala.

After about 15 minutes, Cas and Dean had reached Dean's house and two minutes later they were in Dean's room- which looked like Mozart had been redecorating.

Dean dug through a pile of boxes to find an old violin case and book of music that appeared to be for two people.

"You remember how to read music, right?" Castiel nodded, "good, because I thought it would be easier to start with us playing a duet, I'll count in 1, 2, 3, 4..."

After playing for three hours, the pair decided that now would be a good time to stop for the day.

"I gotta say, Cas, you're a natural," Dean said as he watched Castiel smile and blush, "I'm serious, you're learning really fast, in fact I think if you and I work hard enough at school and maybe a couple of days a week after school, you could be good enough to play in the school's concert at the end of the year," he continued.

By the end of Dean's compliment, Castiel was blushing harder than ever and Dean took the opportunity to lift Cas' head back up.

"You just gotta be more confident in yourself."

Every day, Dean and Cas would meet up at lunch and the last lesson of he day to practice. As Cas became more confident in his instrument, Dean switched to piano, and over the semester, Dean and Cas grew closer, much closer.

Three weeks before the school's end of year concert, Dean had rushed in excitement to meet his best friend at lunch.

"Hey, Cas," he said quickly, "I have music for you."

"Calm down Dean, I need to unpack my violin first," he responded, confused at his friend's odd behaviour. Once he'd unpacked, Cas stood at the music stand and Dean sat nervously at the piano. As usual, Dean counted them in.

"1, 2, 3, 4..."

They began to play softly and sweetly, however, soon the music turned into a flurry of passion. At the end of the piece, Dean exhaled slowly.

"Dean, this is the piece you were working on the first time I saw you, isn't it?"

"Yeah it is," Dean said, brushing his fingers through his hair and standing up to face Cas, "I adapted it into a piano and violin duet and I was hoping we could play it together at the concert in three weeks."

Dean held his breath as Castiel remained silent.

"Of course, I'll play it with you," Cas finally spoke.

"Yes!" Dean exclaimed wrapping his arms around Cas, and Cas couldn't help but feel like the happiest person on the planet.

After three solid weeks of practicing non-stop, the night of the concert had arrived. Castiel was at Dean's house getting ready, and he was as nervous as he'd ever been. He had showered and was now wearing a black suit jacket with a navy button up shirt and black skinny jeans. Dean had promised to style his hair nicely as soon as he emerged from the bathroom... which he did, wearing a similar assortment to Cas, only he had a black shirt instead of a blue one. Cas felt his jaw drop, but it was okay, because so had Dean's.

"Wow, Cas..." Dean started.

"Yeah... you too."

The two of them stared at each other for a few more seconds before Cas' anxiety kicked in.

"Dean, I’m so scared; What if I mess up? People are watching, Dean, people who see me as really smart and perfect at everything, and what if I'm not?"

"Cas, you'll be fine," Dean whispered in Cas' ear after wrapping his warm arms around him, "You are a freaking prodigy and I know you'll nail it tonight. Now... let's fix up your hair..."

Cas peeked out at the people slowly flooding into the auditorium. This elevated his heart rate quite a bit. He and Dean were the opening act and no matter how much they practiced, and how comforting Dean's hug had been, Cas was nervous as hell. He could see so many people he knew; Mr Singer, Ms Mills, Mr and Mrs Winchester with Dean's brother Sam, his own siblings- Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer and Anna- with his parents, even Principal Crowley had shown up.

"Hey... Cas, take a deep breath. if you just let yourself feel what you're playing, anything will sound good- I believe in you."

Cas nodded and he took his place on the stage.

As the curtain rose, Cas looked at Dean who winked at him with reassurance. He positioned the violin delicately on his shoulder, took a deep breath in and nodded at Dean, ready for the piece to begin.

Cas let the music completely take over him and he really felt the raw emotion Dean had put into composing the piece. He no longer registered that the audience was watching and could only think about one person; Dean. Cas barely felt any time pass, he was too enthralled in the movement and sound he was producing, until the end when there were no more notes left to play.

The crowd erupted into a loud applause and he was snapped back into reality. Cas stood up with Dean to take a bow before leaving the stage.

Cas was so overwhelmed about how he played that he remained silent until he'd put his violin down and broken out of his trance.

"Dean, that was amazing," Cas pronounced as he leant against the wall.

"No, you were amazing," Dean whispered, and wrapping his hand to the back of Cas' neck and jawline, Dean pushed him against the wall, into a long, slow electrifying kiss.

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