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avengersfantasies · 8 months

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The Captain's Daughter - 2

Summary: Maybe Bucky isn't so bad.

Series masterlist here

Taglist: @frickin-bats @pattiemac1 @justsebstan @winterslove1917 @crist1216 @lady-loki-barnes-djarin @kandis-mom @vonalyn @mavrellover91 @natashasilverfox @gojoismysensei @itsafamilyshow @casa-boiardi @ilovetaquitosmmmm

The two of you walked through the dense forest for hours, finally resting at a secluded, thankfully abandoned campsite. There were two tents, and a rock wall blocked the remnants of a campfire. You and Bucky looked around – making sure that you were, in fact, alone and there wasn’t anyone hiding out nearby.

“I’ll go get some firewood,” Bucky informed you with a sigh as he walked past you. You were busy trying to make sure the tents were still in good condition due to the storm that was due to come through tonight. You didn’t respond to him, too concerned with ensuring you’d have a safe place to rest for the night. You sat in your tent and took out your water bottle. Now that a fresh-water creek was nearby, you could afford to chug as much as you needed. “We need to eat,” Bucky’s voice called out to you.

You came out of the tent with your water bottle in hand. “Well, when you die, I’ll be eating good,” you grinned smugly.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “I’m serious.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” you scoffed – throwing your bottle into the tent. “Well, should we order a pizza?”

The soldier shook his head in disbelief. “Your sarcasm isn’t helping.”

“It’s helping me,” you chuckled, throwing him a can of peanuts from your backpack. “Bon appetit.”

“What’s with the snarky attitude?” he asked as he opened the can of peanuts and put one between his teeth to crack open.

You walked up to him with a sultry expression. “Maybe I want you to fuck it out of me, Sergeant Barnes.”

Bucky raised his eyebrows and looked down at you. “That, my dear, will not be happening.”

You rolled your eyes. “Like I’d even want an old man to fuck me,” you said as you walked back to the little area you had set up and took out your own can of peanuts.

“Could’ve fooled me,” Bucky’s voice was flat and unamused.

You exhaled. “I don’t need a babysitter, alright?” you finally admitted. “You don’t have to be here…just go do what you want, and I’ll tell my dad you’re with me.”

“I promised your dad I’d watch out for you,” Bucky argued. “I keep my promises.”

You groaned and shrugged. “Then you should probably get used to the attitude if you’re gonna be with me twenty-four-seven.”

“Guess I’ll have to,” Bucky smiled flatly and finished his can of peanuts. “Goin’ to get water…need some?”

You looked at him with a confused expression. “I can get my own, thanks.”

He shook his head and picked up his water bottle, going to the creek for cold, fresh water.

You and Bucky kept your distance for the rest of the evening before retiring to your respective tents for the night. You could hear the storm coming from miles away, and it hit the flimsy tents before either of you had time to react. The rain easily tore through the old fabric of the tents and soaked your bodies.

“Bucky!” you yelled out through the harsh winds, wanting him to be there for once.

“Over here!” he called out. He was doing what you were – gathering what he could quickly. There wasn’t much either of you could grab before you needed to run. You each grabbed what was essential and left everything else behind. “We have to go!” he yelled, starting to run off into the surrounding woods. You desperately tried to grab the photo of you and your mother and throw it in your bag. It was submerged in the water, and you were trying to find a place to put it so it’d be safe. “Let’s go!” he kept yelling. You looked up and saw the tornado heading your way, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, you were scared. Moments before the tornado reached the campsite, you took off like a shot towards Bucky and let him guide you through the woods. The tornado chased the two of you like it was being driven or steered in your direction. “Keep running!” Bucky yelled out when he realized you were growing tired and falling behind. He reached his left hand back and grabbed your wrist – pulling you up to match his speed. In the distance, you noticed a silver door on the ground, and you pulled Bucky towards it.

“Bucky!” you shouted – trying to pull him towards what you believed was an underground cellar. “This way!”

He scanned the area and didn’t see anyone or anything nearby, so he gave you the go-ahead. He watched as you broke the lock on the cellar door and climbed inside. You flashed the flashlight around the small cellar and let out a sigh of relief when you confirmed it was clear.

Bucky climbed down into the small room and closed and locked the door above him – making sure it was barricaded with something strong enough to hold the violent storm back. Once you were both safe inside, you looked around the small room.

“Great,” you scoffed. “One bed.”

“You take it,” Bucky insisted. “I grabbed some blankets from the tent…I’ll make a pallet.”

You felt terrible as you watched him take the wet blankets out of his backpack, and you stopped him. “No,” you said, “we uh…we can share.”

“Are you sure about that?” Bucky asked with a raised eyebrow.

You nodded. “It’s big enough.”

Bucky nodded and headed over to the twin-sized bunk. “You think so?” he chuckled and motioned to the sliver of mattress left uncovered by his body.

In that moment, you realized you were starting to be okay with this little situation. “Well…we may have to touch a little bit,” you pointed out as you climbed into the bed next to him.

Your breath hitched when you felt his arm on your shoulder, and he could sense that you were nervous because he made sure not to move. Truth be told, you liked how he felt.

“I’m not going to touch you, darling,” he told you – his voice calm and quiet. “I know you’d absolutely hate that.”

“Yeah, totally,” you scoffed. You were honestly trying to convince yourself more than him. “I don’t want an old man to touch me.”

You couldn’t see the smirk on his face. “Then why aren’t you moving?”

Unable to come up with an answer to his question, and not actually wanting to move away from him, you closed your eyes and pretended to sleep until you actually fell asleep in his arms.

“That’s what I thought,” he answered your silence with a soft chuckle and kiss to the top of your head.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #james bucky barnes #james bucky buchanan barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #the winter soldier #the winter soldier fanfiction #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes smut #bucky x you #bucky x reader #the captain's daughter

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yandere-sins · 2 years

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Hey there o.o I really hope you're doing fine

I was really struggling to send this in because I know you’re going through a hard time right now and please take all the time you need with it. I just really had to get this idea out of my head and I couldn't think of anybody else who would write something for it as good as you

Okay so, Au where the school tries to integrate girls with some exchange students from another school and our Riddle-sized reader gets put in Octavinelle and, like, immediately has a babysitter squad (doesn't help that she's put in the same class as Azul).

Basically she can't make a step without the trio knowing where she is and she just can't take that anymore and tries to leave the dorm.

Surely our fish mafia doesn't like the idea of her running away

Stay healthy and I'm sending all the strength your way that I can^^

Blue

All good, right now I have a good rhythm going on but I’ll take a break when I need to ^^ Thanks for your request!

»»———————— ♡ ————————««

♡ Someone has to understand their side. New students always need help and leading, and now that there's a special new direction in place, the housewardens have an additional new task of ensuring everything goes appropriately and the women are integrated into their dorms and safe. It's a noble task in some way, even though Octavinelle doesn't have as much trouble as Savanaclaw or equality problems like Diasomnia. Still, Azul is diligent, and his friends are (mostly) loyal, so what he says goes. Of course, nothing less than the best is good enough for Azul, and he always needs to keep his influence in everyone's business to achieve that.

♡ Having one or two troublemakers was to be expected, but Azul honestly underestimated the feistiness of the other sex. (Not like he has that much experience with girls.) He was convinced he was doing them a favor by putting them under surveillance and with bodyguards if they wanted to go anywhere. Safety first, right? Wrong. Prime example? You. Feisty, quick on your feet, adorable you.

♡ Look, he gets it. You want to explore, have fun, and enjoy your college experience. But there's nothing saying you can't go into the forest with Jade, explore the school grounds with Floyd, and attend your classes with Azul. In fact, you should be thankful for the three since they are providing you protective friendships. Something you clearly need with how often you try to run away and out of their sights, and right into trouble. Not everyone is pleased with women enrolling at NRC, so it's good to have backup. You just haven't grasped the trio's usefulness yet.

♡ Azul has all the information you could possibly want. He can get you into any club, give you any study guide, a list of data about students so you can befriend them, and more! Just for the small price of batted eyelashes and a sweetly-spoken, "Azul, please?" He'll be a stammering, blushing mess as he goes off to get you whatever you want from him. It doesn't bother him and he won't charge you when you come to him with questions, sitting down with you and explaining how to solve the problems you are facing, explaining why and how. It can't bother him since you don't even notice him leaning in towards you, smelling your hair, watching you concentrate and work while he imagines the purest things with you, like holding your hand, feeding each other, having a romantic beach date. What more could he want?

♡ Jade is just so attentive to all your needs, even long before you know what you need. He always has a new, fresh water bottle ready for you, handing it to you without the lid so you can drink it right away. He fetches you food in the cafeteria, so you don't have to queue up, and collects your uniforms, has them cleaned, and delivers them back to you. Occasionally you catch yourself forgetting things because you're getting used to Jade swooping in and helping. But hell, you swear you packed your pencil case, only for Jade to bring it to you barely before the beginning of class, so he's definitely missing his one, just so you have your pencils. Makes you feel bad to know he's getting scolded for it, while he only smiles at his teachers, thinking there's no greater honor than enduring this for your sake. Not like he didn't plan it. Someone had to take your pencil case out of your bag last night while you slept. Jade is absolutely prepared, but there's nothing he wouldn't do if it gives him one more chance to see you thankful for his efforts. Grateful, dependant, sweet you.

♡ Floyd... destroys things and fixes them at the same time. Sounds odd, but it can be helpful. Imagine if you get bullied. Who's gonna bust open the door you get locked in? Floyd. He also hugs and comforts you afterwards, no matter how brash he's doing it. Telling you he's got you, and he'll hurt whoever did that to you in your name. (Takes a lot of convincing so he doesn't do it. But if you ask him to stay with you, he'll gladly oblige. Get ready for being carried around and not let go, though.) Who's there to punch and squeeze some unruly students who get too cozy around you? Floyd. Who fixes your clothes when you work in the lounge? Okay, Jade does that. But Floyd told him AND punched the guys that stared. It's about respect, and Floyd drank his respect women juice (not necessarily respect your darling juice, though). He loves all the opportunities to get rowdy in your name, proving his capabilities to you. Floyd's your very own, splattered-in-blood knight in a half-assed suit.

♡ And still, despite all of this, you run from them. The one thing that makes living above water tedious. Running, hunting, being bothered with the chase. If the roles were reversed and you were underwater, you wouldn't even have a chance to put one foot out of their immediate radius of hands to grab and tails to wrap around you. How much more do they have to prove that their protection is secure and you can rely on them? How many more times do you want to play cat-and-mouse just because they want to be with you any second of the day? And when will you wake up at night and realize them standing around your bed, watching, unblinkingly? Making sure no one gets close to you other than them. No one sees you vulnerable like this except them. It's all theirs, everything, you.

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cherrynotdairy · 2 years

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thought about it for a bit and i think part of the reason i’m so pissed about how the second half was written is bc in the first half they set so many things up only to shit on them here

max being the biggest example - i’m pretty sure most fans cried at her scene escaping vecna which was masterfully constructed, and then they were like well fuck you she dies to vecna anyway so it’s sort of sucked out a lot of power from that original scene since in the end she lost to him anyway

they set it up so that eddie would become another core member of the teenage group and another guide/babysitter/protector for the kids but instead they cheaply wrote him off and killed him even though him distracting the bats for longer made zero difference as the others were already in the house not to MENTION that he already HAD his ‘i don’t want to run away anymore’ moment when he followed the others into the upside down he didn’t need to fucking die for it to be realized it just felt extremely cheap and wasted potential for a great character

el was set up to overcome her past and move forward, overcoming the whole ‘was i the monster the whole time’ shit but she ends up thinking that anyway and nothing changes with her except getting her powers back

jonathan and nancy continue to not have an honest conversation which makes no sense to me considering all the shit they’ve been through together

steve is still hung up on nancy which ALSO doesn’t make sense to me considering he was 100% willing to move on from her with robin until she came out to him so that entire arc just pissed me off cuz it just felt like a huge regression for BOTH OF THEIR CHARACTERS when instead they could have written it so that it solidified their friendship and how they’ve both grown and moved on since platonic love is just as important as romantic love but apparently that doesn’t sell as well (heterosexual romantic love is a lot easier to sell bc fuck the gays i guess)

will was set up to overcome his own anxiety about coming out to someone (if not to mike then to jonathan) but was instead used as a stepping stone to validate a heterosexual couple’s relationship which i UNDERSTAND the necessity of i’m just SAYING that literally nothing changed about any of the characters from episode 1 until now there was no growth there was no progress there was only broken bones and death and that sucks ass

#duffer bros really said fuck them kids #stranger things #stranger things spoilers #st s4 spoilers #i am dead inside DEAD #god so fucking dissatisfying idk if i even wanna watch next season lmao #i'll do it for steve tho #a whole ass rant #not thought out very well sorry if it's a mess

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myloveforhenrycavill · 3 years

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Henry Cavill & Characters Fic Recs

Hiya! I’ve put together a list of my absolute favorite fics for Henry and some of his characters so I thought I would share them. It started as a list for myself so I could go back to them in the future. All these fics are ones I go back to and HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! Please enjoy!!!

They will include fluff, smut, angst, series (I will link the series masterlist if available or the first chapter), au, some dark/noncon, etc.... Kudos to all the writers included in this list :) <3

Please read the warnings on each story that the writer provides. Some works may be triggering.

***New additions will be bolded***

Henry Cavill

Across the Street - @maya-the-cute-ass-bee

Always Do - @lifeasitis21

Baby Snuggles… Drink and Wet? - @oh-for-fic-sake

The B****, The Favorite, His Sister & Her Lover - @buckysgoldenheart

The Choice - @thecavillchronicles

Cozy Winter - @english8muffin

The Date - @oh-for-fic-sake

The Dentist - @zealoushound

Fender Bender - @angrythingstarlight

A Good Night’s Sleep - @cruelfvkingsummer

Grand Theft Auto - @oh-for-fic-sake

Homecoming - @zealoushound

How to Piss Him Off - @buckysgoldenheart

I Need a Woman - @chamomilebottom

I Would Do It Again - @foodieforthoughts

Iced Coffee - @onlyhenrys

In the Moonlight - @fallenangelbb

Joy & Pain - @cocoa-and-gold

Just Us - @buckysgoldenheart

The List - @zealoushound

A Mess - @maya-the-cute-ass-bee

The (Mis)Adventures of Kal and Moose - @oddsnendsfanfics

Pooh Bear - @oh-for-fic-sake

Quarantine Date’s - @imaginethisdarling

A Rainy Day - @oh-for-fic-sake

A Rugby Dad’s Guide to… - @hlkwrites

Sunshine & Daisies - @thelastsock

Tik Tok Leggings - @oh-for-fic-sake

Truth and Consequences - @deathonyourtongue

Under the Milky Way - @littlefreya

Unwell - @the-soot-sprite

August Walker

Longing Stares - @quietmyfearswith

More - @oddduckthatgirl

Neglected - @maya-the-cute-ass-bee

On a Lie - @quietmyfearswith

Pretty In Pink - @rmtndew

Protect You - @buckysgoldenheart

Protection - @keanureevesisbae

The Specter - @its--fandom--darling

This Isn’t Goodbye - @cap-winter-barnes

Unexpected - @nuggsmum

The Way to Hell - @littlefreya

What They Did To You - @cap-winter-barnes

You and Me, Against the World - @thatslovelymoony

Captain Syverson

Applewine Valley - @nuggsmum

Captain Confusion - @honeyhenry

The Choice - @onlyhenrys

Cuts & Bruises, Wounds & Abuses - @cinebration

Don’t Wait - @thatslovelymoony

Double-Edged Sword - @mypoisonedvine

Eyes That See - @just-chirpin

Famous Last Words - @its--fandom--darling

Feral Collision - @littlefreya

Flight 292 - @fourmarkdove

Homeland - @cruelfvkingsummer

Kissed by Fire - @wolvesandhoundshowltogether

Lines in the Sand - @littlefreya

Marks - @maya-the-cute-ass-bee

Mine - @yoursecretsmutblog

More Than Just a One-Night Stand - @mary-ann84

Regrets, I Have a Few - @the-soot-sprite

The Road to Paloma - @thetaoofzoe

Southern Generation - @viking-raider

Surprise - @just-chirpin

Syverson - @sillyrabbit81

Upstate - @fourmarkdove

Viking Syverson AU - @r-t-doll

Will You Miss Me At All - @sillyrabbit81

Willow Run - @deathonyourtongue

Clark Kent

About That Night - @yespolkadotkitty

The Bat’s Sister - @viking-raider

Breaking News - @221bshrlocked

Curly Hair and Blue Eyes, Just like yours - @babylooneytoonz

Every Day’s a Holiday - @giorno-plays-piano

Falling, Flying - @crimsonrae

For The Last Time - @lifeasitis21

A Lot of Luck - @lifeasitis21

The Neighbors Son - @oh-for-fic-sake

No Pain No Gain - @ellaimagines

The Offer - @cavillanche

One Step Back - @p3nny4urth0ught5

The Other Lane - @babylooneytoonz

Show Me How You Like It - @princess-of-riviaa

Stay With Me - @friendlylocalwriter

That Southern Hospitality - @221bshrlocked

Touch Starved - @somethinginthewayiam

The Whole World in his Hands - @darkficsyouneveraskedfor

A Workout - @samwilsons-pillowpecs

Geralt of Rivia

Bear - @babylooneytoonz

Beautiful and Damned - @dreamwritesimagines

Betrayed - @yewfandoms

The Call of the Wild - @whitewolfandthefox

The Fall - @yewfandoms

Keep Me - @queenxxxsupreme

Let Me Love You - @scarlettwitcher

Of Things Unseen - @queenxxxsupreme

Silver and Magic - @viking-raider

A Soldier’s Daughter - @viking-raider

Sweet Creature - @queenxxxsupreme

Ulfur Minn - @scarlettwitcher

The Vessel - @babylooneytoonz

The Wench and the Witcher - @for-a-muse-of-fire

Napoleon Solo

Cordial - @cinebration

I Got You - @thebadboyfanclub

A Mistake - @coloraturadiva

Solo Parenting - @cavillanche

Sherlock Holmes

An Absolute Mess - @youvebeenlivingfictional

Floriography - @luciilferss

Lacking In Facts - @zodiyack

Lies Untold - @cherienymphe

A Little Hysteria - @oh-for-fic-sake

Stubborn - @zodiyack

Terribly Confounding - @youvebeenlivingfictional

When We Were Young - @youvebeenlivingfictional

You Are Family Now - @thebadboyfanclub

Walter Marshall

All I’ve Ever Known - @rmtndew

The Babysitter - @redwine-lady

Just What I Need - @angryschnauzer

Kill of the Night - @meowpurrbooks

Medicine - @princess-of-riviaa

Reunited - @yoursecretsmutblog

Safe - @maya-the-cute-ass-bee

Truth and Other Disasters - @itsrubberbisquit

#fic recs #henry cavill x reader #august walker x reader #captain syverson x reader #clark kent x reader #walter marshall x reader #napoleon solo x reader #geralt of rivia x reader #henry!sherlock #henry cavill #august walker #captain syverson #clark kent #walter marshall #napoleon solo #geralt of rivia

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eloves-writes · 3 years

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Don't know if this is a dumb idea, feel free to ignore it if this isn't the type of thing you write

The reader and Spencer are married and both work at the BAU and they have a 4 year old son. And unfortunately their sitter canceled so they had to bring him at the office, which was possible cause it was paper work day

a/n : not dumb at all! this is super cute, i’m personally not great with kids so this might not be my best writing ever but i really hope you still enjoy! i used the season 7 team bc they’re my personal faves but i’d imagine it as more season 14/15 spencer :)

baby genius at work

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stupid job. stupid criminals committing crimes on a sunday evening. stupid police in tampa needing the bau’s help on said sunday evening when they definitely could solve it themselves. at least you didn’t have to go to florida, they just needed an over-the-phone consult but still- it was generally inconvenient to get called into work with no notice and a 4 year old at home. you could get some paperwork done before monday though, if that was a plus.

“spence?” you called from the kitchen, quickly trying to pack your son’s overnight bag. you hoped that a sitter would pull through and he could stay the night somewhere that wasn’t your office- a specialist unit for profiling serial killers, rapists, and pedophiles wasn’t an ideal babysitters club. “did the sitter call you back?”

your husband entered the room followed by your son, theo. they were both smiling mischievously like they’d been doing something you’d disapprove of in the next room. they probably were.

“yeah,” spencer said, running a hand through his overgrown, messy hair. “can’t make it, too late notice.”

theo ran around your feet with far too much energy for a small boy at 8pm, his hair just as messy and unkempt as his father’s. you sighed irritably, throwing the dinosaur backpack over your shoulder along with your own work bag.

“did you try jj? maybe will could watch theo, he’d love to see henry and micheal.” you ruffled the boy’s hair as he jumped up and down, trying to calm him.

“will’s on duty, they have a sitter.”

“crap. i mean, shoot. erm, we’ll just have to take him to work,” you sighed, searching the kitchen counter for your phone you’d somehow misplaced in the last 15 minutes.

“what?” spencer exclaimed nervously. “we can’t take our son to work, he’s four! what about all the files? what about-”

“i’m going to work with mommy and daddy!” theo shouted happily. you gave your husband an amused but sympathetic look. his eyes told you he’d given in.

“garcia can watch him. she never does any work anyway and he’ll fall asleep in an hour, it’s fine- we just need to get going or we’ll be even later than we already are.” before you could even comment on the still-missing phone, you saw theo was playing with it and took it back before loading him into the car with his overnight back and blanket; you had no idea if you’d be back home tonight.

soon enough you made it to quantico, and despite all hopes looking good that your son had fallen asleep, his sixth sense of impending excitement woke him up as you pulled in to the parking lot. spencer held his hand to walk him inside and you handled the bags. garcia was walking along the corridor as the elevator reached the bau floor and squealed at the sight of your son.

“oh my goodness! it’s the baby genius! to what do i owe this pleasure?” she smiled, theo running into her arms. you heard a faint “auntie penelope!”- garcia absolutely adored all the team’s children to the ends of the earth and back.

“can i babysit? can i watch him? please, because you're my favourite genius lovebirds in the whole world?” garcia asked excitedly, wrapping her arms around him. you laughed and nodded.

“he is all yours, pen. let me know if he starts getting tired,” you changed you focus to theo. “behave yourself for auntie penelope.”

she smiled happily, leading him towards the bat cave to let you and spencer focus on the case. theo liked the bat cave, all penelope’s little things on her desk and all the screens and things to play with. he was unlike his father in that way; spencer didn't like computers and avoided the sort of well-meaning chaos of garcia’s desk, but theo was like him in other ways- he adored reading, and had sounded like a walking thesaurus since the day he learned to speak. the funniness he obviously got from you, but the hair was unquestionably inherited from your husband too. spencer placed his hand on the small of your back and guided you into the bullpen to your desk where emily gave you a friendly smile and carried on with her paperwork; you could tell it was really not an exhilarating case because everyone looked tired. you suspected they’d cheer up if they knew theo was here, but you wanted to get some actual work done before they all wanted to be his favourite aunt or uncle.

you did all get a few reports finished and a short consult on the case before garcia came back into the bullpen with a sleepy theo about an hour later, the team all turning their heads and suddenly looking less tired and bored.

“you didn’t tell us baby genius was joining the team tonight!” jj said, getting up from her desk to hug him. she was closely followed by emily and morgan, the latter of which was convinced he was the superior god-parent to jj. garcia was still mad you didn’t choose her, but she definitely loved him just as much.

spencer stood beside you and placed his hand on your waist, the way he always liked to stand. “we weren’t planning on it,” you yawned. “sitter cancelled.”

“i’m wayyy more fun than a sitter,” garcia promised. you were quite sure she was.

the team all stood around fussing over theo, who was more than happy with the attention but looked like he’d fall asleep the moment it stopped. you took a second to appreciate the way the team loved your’s and spencer’s son; the job took absolutely everything out of them except their endless love for each other and their families. it showed you the ugliest people with the ugliest lives, but they still chose to prioritise the purity and innocence of a child. they had so, so much love to give and wisdom to share- when you and spencer decided to bring a baby into the world, you knew they would be raised by the best family that could be. every member of the team was part of that family, just the way you wanted it to be forever and ever.

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fluff #dad!spencer #spencer reid criminal minds #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds fic

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a-sour-nectarine · 2 years

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How to keep my family happy, healthy, and whole: a guide by Cassandra Cain

Keep Steph away from any electronics you don't want stripped. She's started tinkering.

Don't let Alfred catch you feeding it to him, but Ace loves angel food cake.

Damian can be subdued with hugs if you are patient enough. And if he actually likes you. And if he doesn't have any easy-to-reach blades. Like in his waistband. He probably won't exert the effort to reach the one in his sock, unless he is very annoyed, but anything in his pockets is free game.

Bruce feels important if he is in use as a perch. His shoulders are strong and very comfortable. Don't let Jason try this, though.

Tim likes hair pets. Damian does not.

Duke is very funny if he isn't afraid of hurting your feelings.

Batcow is a very good companion.

Tim is allergic to walnuts. Do not let him eat them, but if he does, the pen that stops the reaction is in the hallway closet.

Keep Barbara from working too much. She gets caught in a loop that never ends.

Don't let Duke get lost in his head for too long. If you set Alfred the Cat on his lap he will come back, but be careful not to startle him.

Dick needs lots of hugs. If they are hugs from Jason or Damian, they seem to be twice as effective.

Don't interrupt Steph and Alfred's tea and gossip hour.

Make sure they are having their tea and gossip hour at least once a week.

Do not let Tim in my room.

If Damian is starting to droop, call Stephanie. She always knows how to fix it.

If Jason is being a baby about coming to the manor, use Alfred as leverage. If Dick is being the difficult on, cite Damian. If it is Tim, it's probably best to leave him alone, but send someone to check on him within the next 10 hours. Pull from outside the family, if he seems particularly annoyed. Bart usually does the trick.

Remember to cover the hallway mirror at night.

Never corner Jason.

If you get on Tim's bad side, you are immediately Damian's target. I know they don't seem very close, but underestimate their loyalty to your own detriment.

If you get on Duke's bad side, no where is safe. You probably won't even realize, because he won't say anything, but the rest of them will take note. Run.

If you get on Alfred's bad side, you might as well say your goodbyes to your loved ones.

Jason enjoys funny mugs. This knowledge will get you far in life.

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chiliiscereal · 3 years

Note

maybe dad daryl where oc is really young and when they are on the road gets sick or maybe the prison sickness and is really clingy to daryl?? idk i’m trying to think of more ideas of the dad daryl trope for you to get inspiration from!🥰

This is my first official request so here we go!!

Thanks so much for requesting! I’ll be sure to do my best!

—————

A broken world is no place for a ten year old. Especially when the people of that world are more dangerous than the monsters that roam the forests.

One might say it was a miracle you were found by the group you had now. Daryl had snatched you from the road before your freshly turned parents could bite you. You thought they were just sick, but then the car they’d been driving crashed when your mother sunk her teeth into your fathers arm. She had only been taking a nap to recover from her fever and then she woke up.

——-

“Dad, please!” You backed away backwards from the wreckage on your hands and knees.

Your father continued crawling toward you with outstretched hands and gnashing teeth. Both of you were covered in gashes and blood.

You tried batting him away but he wouldn’t listen to you. What was wrong with him?

“Hey, girl!” A voice shouted from behind you. Arms grabbed you around your middle and pulled you away.

“Let me go” you screamed. “My dad needs my help!” You looked up at the man holding you with tears in your eyes, trying to get him to release you.

“Ya can’t help yer dad. He’s dead.” The man stated.

“But he’s moving!” You pointed around your fathers body, still crawling for the the two of you.

The man pulled out his crossbow and held you close with one arm, shooting your dad through the forehead. “He’s dead.” He informed you.

You couldn’t speak.

Couldn’t talk.

Couldn’t breathe.

“C’mon.” He grabbed your arm and guided you to his truck. “Got a group. It’s safe an’ there’s other kids.”

You say in his truck, still shaking. “Promise?”

He climbed into the drivers seat and turned it on. “Yeah, whatever, I promise.”

You held out your pinkie. “Pinkie promise?”

He narrowed his eyes, eventually rolling them. “Sure, fine, i pinkie promise.” He got it over with quickly. He almost felt childish doing it.

But it was just what you needed to convince yourself it was safe.

——-

It took a while to get used to your new people. They were friendly... for the most part. The man who scooped you up from the road wasn’t the nicest but he was better than his brother. Neither one of them seemed to keen on getting to know you better. The youngest one had simply placed you in his truck and shoved you off to the rest of the adults.

You didn’t mind though. There were other kids, there was food, and there was safety. That was enough for you. You settled into a tent with Lori and her son after a while. You were there when Carl found his dad again, and you were there when Daryl found he no longer had his brother.

Despite all the loss everyone still found a way to have some form of normality.

But then the Atlanta Camp was over run.

That day you thought would be your last. A walker had managed to trip you up and you landed in the forest floor, backing away. It’s pale bony fingers were on your ankles when an arrow had pierced its forehead before it could bite you.

That was the day you decided you could trust Daryl. No one else understood it, but they didn’t need to.

He’d saved your life twice. He had kept you close that night, downing any walker that came your way.

He tried giving you back to Lori but you didn’t trust Lori to keep you safe. Shane has tried to convince you to leave Daryl’s side but you refused.

So everyone rolled with it. It wasn’t harming anybody after all. You were safe and that’s all that mattered.

———-

“I ain’t gonna keep ya safe.” He rolled his eyes as he drove his truck for the CDC. He gave you a glance out of the corner of his eye. “Sure ya don’t wanna sit in the car with Lori or somethin’?”

You shook your head, kicking your legs happily. “I’m fine right here.” You watched the trees pass by with content.

Daryl gripped the steering wheel a bit harder. “I ain’t gonna entertain ya or some shit. I ain’t a babysitter and ya aren’t my responsibility.”

“I know.” You nodded. “It’s fine though. You’re still trustworthy to me.”

The hunter just grunted in response, to not exactly agreeing but not disagreeing either.

———

Daryl was dead set on proving that he wasn’t trustworthy at all. He tried ignoring you, he tried walking away while you talked to him at the farm, and he tried telling you to leave him alone.

But you followed him around anyway. You could be pretty fast when you wanted to be. You just walked after him and continued telling him about what you did that day.

Daryl finally had enough when you tried to hold his hand while walking after him.

——

You placed your hand in his casually. You hadn’t thought much of it because you did it often with your dad. Your dad protected you like Daryl did. He treated you like Daryl did. He made sure you were fed like Daryl did. Why would it be a bad thing?

Daryl tensed and shoved your hand away immediately. “Don’t do that shit.” He ordered.

“Why not?” You questioned as you took his hand again.

“I ain’t yer dad, alright?!” He snapped, ripping his hand away. “Damn it, just stop followin’ me!” He stormed off before you could even react.

—-

You hadn’t meant to crowd him. You just wanted him to know you appreciated him. So you respected his rather loud opinion and stayed away.

Even when the farm fell, you were away from him.

You made your way to the highway by yourself. You’d walked all night and managed to catch them before they left.

Daryl felt guilty but his pride was too strong for him to do anything about it. Dixon’s don’t apologize and they sure as hell don’t have to feel bad for anything they do.

Your group had wandered for what felt like eons.

Daryl, as some form of apology, took to teaching you how to survive. You went along with it but you’d lost some form of... excitement.

You weren’t allowed to need Daryl. You had to be able to survive without needing anyone. So you learned as much as you could. But there was no more bubbly chatter. No more trying to hold his hand for comfort.

The man didn’t know why but he missed it.

The days grew colder and with most cold weather, comes sickness. Of course it chose the smallest and weakest person in the group:

You.

You’d never really had a good immune system. If there was some cold going around then you were sure to catch it.

And catch it you did.

It started off small: a little cough here, a sneeze there...

Then it started to build up.

Soon your legs were aching.

Your lungs felt like they were trying to breathe in heavy smoke.

All you wanted to sleep but sleep was impossible! You kept rolling over and you absolutely could NOT get comfortable.

A headache wormed its way into your skull as well.

Your first thought was to tell Daryl. But you couldn’t. He’d tell you that you were slowing everyone down. That they couldn’t waste supplies on you. That you were too much responsibility.

This time you just had to get over this sickness on your own. Nobody ever needed to know.

You nearly caved when blood began to come out with the coughing. Seeing that crimson liquid stain the small cloth you’d been using nearly drove you to your knees.

——-

“You alright, kid?” Daryl asked as the group trudged forward through snow.

“Fine.” You muttered and stuffed the cloth in your pocket before he could see anything. “I’m just fine.”

You acted like you couldn’t see him narrowing his eyes at you. He must have seen by now how much slower you’d gotten. He must have seen that you no longer had an appetite. Right? He was choosing not to say anything so you’d get over it alone. He had to be.

“Ya look like shit kid.” He tried again.

You edged away from him a bit, wrapping your arms around yourself to preserve any heat. “Wow thanks.”

“Ya know that’s not what I meant.” He touched your small shoulder gently only for you to jerk away.

“Why the hell won’t you just leave me alone.” You growled and walked to catch up with the rest of your group.

———

You managed to keep up your charade for another week before someone seemed to catch on.

Glenn had noticed your excessive coughing and brought it up to everyone while they’d eaten in the newest house.

——-

“Are you feeling alright?” Glenn asked softly. “You’ve been coughing an awful lot.”

“I’m fine.” You told him.

“Sure you’re not getting sick?”

“I’m sure I’m not.”

You’d dismissed him quickly and moved on.

You thought you’d managed to keep it secret for another day. But your coughing became too much.

———

Everyone was walking outside the next day and you were trailing behind. Your throat was burning and you couldn’t stop yourself from coughing into the rag again. You thought you’d straighten up and keep walking.

But you didn’t.

The coughing didn’t stop.

You doubled over and blood kept coming.

“Hey, kid!” Daryl shouted, dropping his stuff and running over to you.

“I’m fine.” You tried to say. “I’m... im okay...”

You were on the ground, feeling like you were going to catch on fire.

“Let me see that rag.”

You tried to hid it again but you couldn’t stop Daryl from taking it.

“Damn it!”

You couldn’t even stand up. Black dots were taking over your vision.

The last thing you remembered was Daryl’s arms scooping you up.

————

“Why the hell didn’t she tell anyone!”

“Must not have felt comfortable.”

“But she needed help!”

“Well you did snap at her and tell her to leave you alone...”

“Shit, I know! I gotta go. Ya said we need medicine for fever and coughing?”

“Yes, and blankets if you find any.”

You blacked out again, only to wake up to a different voice.

“C’mon, ya gotta wake up.” A scratchy voice ordered softly as a hand shook you.

“Please no.” You begged and rolled over. Shivers over took your body. “I’ll be fine. I just need to sleep.”

You didn’t still didn’t want to bother him.

“Ya gotta eat, kid.” He asked, placing his hands in your back so you’d sit up. “Damn, yer cold as ice.”

You peeled open an eye and watched him reach behind him to grab a blanket, layering it over you.

“I don’t need it.” You protested. “I can get over this.”

“I ain’t gonna listen to that shit, got it?” He barked. “I know I shouldn’t ‘a pushed ya like that. I shouldn’t ‘a told ya ta leave me alone. But ya gotta keep yerself alive alright?”

Tears spilled down your face as you pulled the blanket closer. “I’m sorry! I didn’t... I didn’t want this to happen!” You broke into a coughing fit and covered your mouth with the rag. “I didn’t mean to slow us down or,” another cough, “or waste supplies!” You leaned into the man tiredly.

“It ain’t yer fault.” He hesitated in wrapping his arms around you. “M’sorry I let it go this far.” He rubbed your back comfortingly in circles. “Lets get ya warmed up, alright?”

You nodded, still feeling extremely weak. “Can I just sit here?” You asked guiltily. “I don’t want to move.”

“Fine. Just for a little bit.”

You wrapped your arms around him and curled up by his side, soaking in all the warmth.

————

“I gotta go find some medicine.” He told you as he got ready to leave the house everyone was camped out at. “Can’t ya handle bein’ here without me fer a little while?”

You sniffed and pulled the blanket closer. “Okay. I can do that.”

“Be back soon, alright?” He patted your shoulder and went out the door.

——

You slept as much as you could, waiting for him to return. Glenn has forced you to eat but everything felt like it burned your throat.

Everything hurt.

All you wanted was comfort.

For everything to feel better.

You waited for hours for Daryl to come back.

You just wanted the closest thing to a dad you had.

“She’s getting worse.” Lori commented softly. “We need that medicine or else I don’t know how much longer she’s gonna hang on.”

“She might not make it if Daryl doesn’t get back before nightfall.” Hershel said regretfully.

“He should have been back an hour ago! We’ll be lucky if he gets here before she passes out again.”

“No, we’re lucky no one else has caught this. We need this thing stamped out soon or it’s the end for all of us.”

You curled against Glenn’s side, shuddering slightly. “Is he back yet?”

He patted your back softly. “Sorry, kiddo, he’s not.”

You nodded to yourself, and waited a little bit. “If he back yet?”

“You asked that already. Sorry but he isn’t here.”

“Oh.”

—————

“We have to think about what’s best for her.” Rick told everyone in the other room. “If he ain’t back soon, we’ll have to prepare for the worst. Maybe let ‘er enjoy one last meal. Spend time with her.”

“He’s gotta be back soon.” Carol whispered. “He has to be.”

“It’s harder to find medicine now a days.” Hershel told her. “I’m sorry, but the chances of finding medicine is very unlikely.”

You could hear them discussing everything from the other room. You weren’t supposed to but you could.

“Let’s wait.” Lori begged. “Just for a little bit longer.”

“I don’t think-.”

The door opened. “I got the medicine. Where’s the kid?”

You pulled yourself up from the floor and walked into the room. “Daryl?” You called.

“Shit kid.” He dropped his crossbow and ran over. “Why the hell are ya up?”

You glanced tiredly at all the people in the group. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Damn it i thought I told you to stay put.” He began chewing you out but stopped when you sleepily wrapped your arms around him. “Fine. Whatever. Just... come on. Ya gotta take this medicine an’ get better.”

———-

It took you almost a full week to recover but you did.

Whatever it was, it must have done something to your lungs. You couldn’t run without feeling winded.

But you had Daryl at your side the whole time.

He made sure you were always one of the first ones ready to leave when a house was no longer safe.

Never again did he snap at you or leave you unattended.

You may have lost your father when the walkers took the earth, but you somehow managed to gain one anyway.

#for you #bookish #wattpad #fanfic #twd fanfiction #twd incorrect quotes #incorrect twd quotes #twd daryl #twd imagine #daryl dixion imagine #daryl dixon x reader #fanfiction requests

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sh1tbird-shantytown · 3 years

Text

you know how there’s the thing where people will refer to close, same sex individuals as “close friends” in history as an excuse to ignore their obvious chemistry?

hold onto that.

billy and steve were driving together through Hawkins, not going anywhere specifically, just something they did in the early evening before dinner.

but then they came up to the park entrance. and the gates were closed with people yelling at each other. they stopped, got out, and asked around.

apparently there were a couple of rabid dogs in the park and some teenage babysitter’s kids were still inside. apparently she’d only had time to grab the infant that was in her arms and forgot about the two 10 year old twins. people were hysterically going back and forth on whether or not to open the gates and take a chance to go back in or not. wasting time.

billy hadn’t realized until he heard a car trunk opening and closing behind him. but then steve (his steve) was climbing the goddamn fence. billy yelled at him, tried to get him to get back down. to no use. steve already had his bat and he was one more pull-up away from reaching the top.

billy groaned like a beast in a zoo as he jogged back and retrieved his tire iron from the trunk steve had previously been in. then he was demanding entrance, threatened some middle aged dad when he tried to push billy back. but he was no one to back down when it came to his boy. so he climbed the dammed fence just as steve had done. got over and followed the fleeting sight of a polo clad back. cursed steve’s savior complex and his doting need to protect kids just as billy felt to protect him.

he did eventually catch up, scolded steve while also gruffly making sure nothing got to him for the few moments he had lost sight at one point.

he caught attention to the way steve was shifty and shaking with nerves.

“what if they’re the demodogs?” billy took his hand, tried to reason with him if only to try and deescalate some of the situation.

“there are still many cases of rabid average dogs. and they’ve never done anything during the day.” steve didn’t answer him and that freaked him out even more. he hated when steve did that. billy knew he didn’t mean to, but whenever steve was silent like this it always seemed like he knew something billy didn’t. it always made billy question himself, which didn’t help in this situation.

they found the twins not ten minutes later, up in a tree with two great danes foaming at the mouth below them. the kids were silent, hands over their own mouths and shaking just as much as steve had been.

when billy glanced over he saw steve calmer though. he didn’t have time to grab him before steve was stalking towards the obviously messed up dogs. billy stepped after him and three widths in...he stepped on a stick.

just like in the films, it echoed. and not so like in the movies, there was no moment of realization. instead, the danes started directly at them in the same second. billy tried to get up to steve but one dog was already unmoving on the ground by the time he reached his target. and steve had already gone after the other. they were both down a few seconds after.

steve looked at him for a long moment, silent and so full of sorrow, before the kids were suddenly there. crying and reaching to hug steve in thanks. billy led them back to the park entrance, guiding from behind just to be sure.

when the kids ran off and away from steve’s warmth to the opening gate, billy pulled steve into a hug. both their bodies left no room in between. ignored the flashes of light from the cameras they hadn’t even seen or the questions being called out from too many muddled people. billy pressed his lips and nose into steve’s slightly damp hair and held back a shiver when steve hid into his neck.

they answered the police questions when they felt better enough to separate. left them to deal with the aftermath mess. were thanked and lightly scolded for putting themselves on the line alone. went home and had a silent but intimate dinner.

didn’t see the paper till sunday, three days later. steve expected to see nancy’s story about the town’s new library section opening that same day. but no. the front cover was billy and steve themselves, hugging so closer even their ankles were touching. the headline in big letters “TWO BEST FRIENDS SAVE YOUNG TWINS FROM RABID DANES”

steve laughed to himself as he closed the front door, “hey, honey! you’re not gonna believe this!”

billy framed the article the next day and hung it on the wall.

#steve harrington #billy hargrove #harringrove #tw: nongraphic descriptions of violence

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uwu-shinsou · 4 years

Text

Stakeout

Summary: After an unexpected breakup, pro hero Ground Zero is the last person you expect to be comforting you. And also conducting a stakeout in your living room.

Warning(s): Language, themes of breakups

Pairing: Pro Hero!Bakugo Katsuki x Reader

Genre: Hurt/comfort, I guess slight angst?, light fluff, Bakugo tries to be comforting

Word Count: 2.3K

A/N: Okay first off idk about the whole legality of a hero secretly having a stakeout in your home but let’s just IGNORE that pls and thnx LOL. I was scrolling through AUs and saw one that was like “im an assassin conducting a stakeout in your house and you weren’t supposed to be home until next week” and I said okay but what if it was pro hero Bakugo and BAM HERE WE ARE!! So pls enjoy my first baku fic, I tried to make him just as fiery but also slightly more mature since he be a PRO in this 😌

You gotta be honest, the last thing you were expecting to come home to was a famous pro hero conducting a stakeout in your living room.

You hadn’t even planned to be home at all this long weekend. You and your boyfriend had planned a weekend trip together, driven all the way to the hotel, only for him to promptly break up with you and confess that he’d been seeing another girl for almost the entirety of your relationship. You’d dumped him, kicked his butt out of the car, and promptly driven two hours back home, trying your best not to cry over it.

You’d lugged your suitcase up five flights of stairs to your door, fumbling with your house key before sliding it into the lock. You tiredly stepped into the dark apartment, closing your door behind you with a sense of finality.

While locking the door, you began to mumble out the stream of consciousness that had been running through your mind since the moment you left the hotel.“If I ever see his face again I’m seriously gonna break his nose. How dare he even-”

You walked a few steps forward into the living room, only to freeze up and let out a screech as the dark outline of a person moved from your couch. Your hand shot out behind you, and the metal baseball bat that you kept near the door flew through the air and into your hand. You took a prepared stance, ready to bash the intruder’s head in with your weapon.

“You have three seconds to tell me who you are before I start swinging!” You hiss, readying the bat.

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” The darkened figure said, taking a step towards.

“No! No, do not come any closer to me. I’ve had a very bad day and I will take my anger out on you!” You threaten, pointing that bat at the intruder to act as a barrier.

“Hey! Don’t do anything fucking rash! I’m just turning on the light, okay?” In a moment you were blinking into the soft light of the room, gaping at the man who you’d almost just clobbered with a bat.

Your arms slowly lowered, the tip of the bat resting on the floor as you blinked in disbelief. “...Ground Zero?” You asked dumbly.

“Yeah, that’s me,” He answered curtly. “Now what the hell are you doing here?”

You looked at light haired hero in disbelief before glancing around the room. “Uhhh, this is my apartment? We’re standing in my living room, and you were sitting on my couch. I think I’m the one who should be asking what you’re doing here.” You slung the bat over your shoulder and glared at him, trying to calm the butterflies in your stomach from the fact that one of Japan’s top pro heroes was standing in your living room.

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” He grumbled, walking back to the couch and grabbing his phone. “WHAT THE HELL?” Ground Zero yelled as his phone flew out of his hand and into yours. His eyes closed and he huffed out an angry sigh. “Fucking telekisnesis. I forgot that was your quirk.”

Your mouth opened in surprise and you clutched his phone to your chest. “How do you know what my quirk is?”

Ground Zero opened his eyes and glared harshly at you. Questioning and antagonizing the most temperamental pro hero was probably not my smartest move you thought as he began stalking towards you.

“F/n L/n, early 20s, telekisnesis quirk, barista and occasional babysitter, lives alone, has been dating her boyfriend for five months, and, most importantly, isn’t supposed to be home for four days because she was on a trip with her shitty ass boyfriend!” He finished his statement with a growl, and his red eyes felt as if they were burning a hole in your face.

You averted your gaze, shuffling your feet as you mumbled, “Well you’re right that he is a shitty ass boyfriend.”

“Listen, I don’t have tme for your drama. According to our intel, you shouldn’t be here until Monday night,” He said accusingly.

“Well I didn’t want me to be back this early either!” You said, letting go of the bat and sending it back to it’s spot by the door. Your hands tightened into fists in frustration and you pushed past the intimidating hero, making your way into the kitchen.

“Hey- don’t you fucking walk away from me!” Ground Zero stomped behind you, staring in disbelief as you started rummaging through your pantry. “I asked you a question!”

You turned around to face him, holding a full package of cookies. “Guess what, Ground Zero? I don’t care!” You exclaimed, opening the package. “Honestly? I don’t even care why you’re in my apartment! Go ahead, make yourself at home! Sit on my couch, eat my food, watch my TV, it doesn’t even matter! The past five months of my life have been a fucking lie, so please just leave me alone to cry in my room and eat my feelings away.” You shoved a cookie into your mouth and tried to step past him. The hero side stepped into your path, and no matter which way you tried to go, he was in front of you. You were just about ready to take a swing at him when he started talking.

“Y/n,” He said. Hearing him use your name startled you enough to stop you in place. He huffed out a quick sigh before speaking. “We’ve been tracking down a rising villainous organization for half a year now. Eveytime that we get close to making the bust, they pick up and move operations. This time, we’re one step ahead of them.” He gently took your arm and guided you back into the living room and over to the window. “We have to take extra precautions when dealing with them, since any sign that the police are on to them causes them to run.” He points out the window to the building next door. It was a squat, rectangular warehouse of four stories. With you apartment being on the fifth floor, it had the perfect view in through a poorly covered sky light.

The pro hero switched out the lights in the room, allowing you to see clearly out and into the other building. You crouched down to get an even better look, and Ground Zero lowered himself down next to you. He handed you a pair of binoculars and pointed to the left side of the skylight, where you could see a group of people working at a long table. Looking through the binoculars brought the figures into clearer view.

“Ground Zero, are they-”

“Bakugo,” He said, interrupting you. “Just- Bakugo is fine, okay?”

You glanced at him in surprise before looking back into the adjacent building. “Alright then, Bakugo. Are they making-” You squinted and focused harder on the objects lying on the table. “Support items?”

“Yeah that’s right,” He responded. “A black market organization for support items to supply to villains. We’ve been through hell trying to track the weapons back to them, but we had a breakthrough a few weeks ago.”

You hummed in thought, shoving a cookie in your mouth before offering one to the pro hero. Bakugo’s eyebrows raised in surprise, but he accepted it nonetheless.

“So you needed my apartment to finish getting your dirt on them, and then you planned on doing your big bust?”

“More or less, yeah. And being here,” He gestured vaguely to your apartment. “Was critical because that skylight was in the perfect place to capture incriminating photos of them doing deals earlier tonight. We’re fucking finally ready to finish this.”

“And how many heroes are on this job, exactly?”

Bakugo held up a hand, counting on his fingers as he thought through it. You hid a smile behind your hand at the gesture. “I guess a dozen or so, plus the local police force. There’s a good number of those shitty criminals in there, but we’ve faced a lot worse.”

You sighed, eating another cookie. “Well, sorry that my breakup got in the way of your important hero plans. I could leave I guess, maybe stay with a friend for the weekend-”

“Shut the hell up, I’m not gonna kick you out of your own damn apartment,” He said, rising from his spot on the floor beside you and going back to his supplies laid out on the couch. “I’m not exactly a very patient person so the bust is happening within an hour anyways. There are heroes and police stationed all around in the other buildings and streets, so I won’t be in your hair for that much longer.”

“Oh,” Was all you said, slowly putting a cookie in your mouth.

The hero stopped fiddling with his supplies and plopped onto the couch, his furrowed eyes meeting your gaze. You raised an eyebrow in question, holding out the cookie package in a silent offering.

“No that’s not- did you say ‘breakup’?”

You huffed out a humorless laugh. “Uh huh. Bastard was cheating on me for basically our entire relationship. I guess I just wasn’t good enough or something.” You bit the inside of your lip and looked down at your lap, furiously trying not to cry. I’ve already embarrassed myself enough, I definitely do not need him to see me crying right now.

“But don’t worry about me, I should just leave you to get ready to, er- arrest some criminals and- do your hero stuff.” You quickly stood up, clutching the cookie package to your chest, and tried to make your way past him while hiding you face. “I’ll just- go sit in my room so I don’t bother you.”

You’d almost made it to the hallway when you suddenly bumped into something that was definitely not your furniture.

You let out an “oof” as you collided with Bakugo’s chest, his hands landing on your shoulders to steady you. You glanced up at him, and his face showed he was just as surprised as you were. He then realized he was still touching you, and took his hands off your shoulders like it had burned him.

“Listen- it’s shitty that he did that to you, and there’s no way you deserved it,” Bakugo said, and the absolute sincerity of it made you burst into tears.

Bakugo started to panic then. “Oh shit, what’s wrong? Did I say it wrong or-” He cut himself off as you vehemently started shaking your head, trying to rub the tears away.

“No no no no,” You said, assuring him. You sniffled, desperately trying to stop your crying. “I guess that I just-” A fresh wave of tears hit you and started rolling down your face, making Bakugo hover his hands in front of him, unsure of what to do.

“I know that I’m not very good at this, but if you want I can go and beat the shit out of him or something,” He said, making you laugh as you wiped your face.

“I was trying to say that it just- meant a lot to me, that you said that,” you said as you started to calm down. “I didn’t really believe it before, that I didn’t deserve that to happen to me, but when your favorite pro hero says it to you…” You shrugged, giving him a wobbly smile. “Maybe it is true.”

He gave you an assuring smile that you could almost call a smirk. “Well you better believe it, honey, because it’s the truth.” He paused, smugly crossing his arms. “So, your favorite hero, huh?”

“Ahaha,” you felt your face go warm, and you gave him a sheepish smile. “Sorta kinda yeah.” The admission seemed to surprise him, like he didn’t know how to respond.

The beeping of Bakugo’s phone in the living room drew the two of you out of the moment. He bumped his shoulder playfully into yours as he passed. “Glad to hear that I’m your favorite.”

You scrambled to the kitchen to put away your cookies and splash a bit of water on your face as he answered the phone. You could just make out his conversation over the running water.

“What’s up, nerd?... Yeah, I know. I got all the pictures we needed... Good. Everything’s still quiet in there… Got it, I’ll see you in a few.”

He hung up his phone just as you edged into the living room, watching him glance out the window into the criminal’s headquarters. He let out a huff of a sigh as he started packing up his things.

You wandered in a little bit further. “So it’s time, then?” You asked. He looked up at you as he finished his packing.

“Yeah, time to beat some villain asses,” He said, shouldering his bag. “You gonna be alright?”

You gave him a soft smile. “I will be. I already feel a lot lighter, like the weight of a whole ass grown man has been released from my body.” Bakugo let out a snort of laughter before falling quiet. “Really, I will be.” You reassured him.

“Of course. But I was serious, if you ever need me to go and knock him around-”

You snickered at him. “Very hero-like.”

“Hell yeah it is,” He responded as you walked him towards the door, opening it for him. “Also maybe don’t go around telling people this happened, ‘cause I’ll probably get my ass kicked for sharing classified information.”

“My lips are sealed, pinky promise,” You said, holding your pinky out towards him. He scoffed but linked his pinky with yours nonetheless. “Good luck, Bakugo.” You started pulling your hand back before he grabbed it and pressed something into it.

“Thanks, sweetheart,” He said with a wink before making his way downstairs and out into the night. You slowly closed the door, leaning back against it and taking a deep breath before opening your hand.

Inside was a scrap of paper with a phone number scrawled across it, and the words “your fav hero” written below.

You may have looked out your window a little more than usual during the rest of the night.

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artificialqueens · 2 years

Text

Now Is All We Get (Bitney) - Veronica

Greetings! Here’s Part Two of the Bitney Parent Trap AU, another prequel before I start posting the main story. The first part was here, btw.

I tried to write this for the Holiday Challenge, and kind of broke my own rules for the title (which is, like the previous prequel, is taken from ABBA’s “Voulez-Vous”) but managed to use the following words: stocking, snowflake, gift, family, feast, lonely. This is also a gift to @artificialedith since she’d been such a good daughter and is writing Adorney. Also, by the way, this would never have gotten posted without her beta help. :)

Summary: Adore and Danny are 3 years old. It’s the first year they’re really into Christmas and their moms are determined to make it amazing for them, in spite of their marital tension.

***

Bianca opened the door to the party, looking around at a sea of unfamiliar faces. She felt a slight twinge in her belly, followed by a cascade of intrusive thoughts: Who are all these people? Where is Courtney? Why did I agree to come here? Why are we paying a babysitter for this? Why didn’t we show up together? Why-

Fortunately, her thoughts were interrupted by a warm voice cutting in.

“Bianca! So nice to see you again!”

She’d met Courtney’s gym buddy, Kameron, several times. The woman was nice enough—a rich divorcée who’d invited them to a big Fourth of July barbecue and then a Halloween festival, both family-friendly events where her kids seemed immediately taken with the twins. She couldn’t figure out her angle, though. What did she want with Courtney?

She had no logical reason to be suspicious. All the evidence pointed to her simply enjoying Courtney’s company, and being kind to her out of the goodness of her heart, especially once she found out that she had two young kids. But there was something about the way her fingers grazed Courtney’s spine when she greeted her, the way she laughed a little too hard at her jokes, that rubbed Bianca the wrong way.

It was pure paranoia. Bianca knew that, which was why she’d kept her damn mouth shut and played nice. Why she’d agreed to come here, after a long day of work, when she’d much rather have been home on the couch with her feet up.

“Thanks. Um, here, this is for you.” Bianca handed over the bottle of wine she’d picked up from Trader Joe’s, hoping it wasn’t too low-rent for the occasion. “Happy holidays.”

“Pinot! My favorite! Thank you,” Kameron said graciously. “Please, go get a drink, make yourself at home. And if you’re looking for your wife, I believe she’s holding court out back by the pool. No pun intended.”

“Got it.”

Bianca stopped by the bar in the luxurious sunken living room. She watched as a shirtless twink who looked about 14 years old poured her a signature cocktail, a sweet peppermint gin thing complete with a candy cane garnish. She then began to hunt for her wife, finding her perched on a lounge chair, batting her eyes at some guy. That twinge in her belly reared up again, which she tried to dull with a large swallow of her cocktail.

She walked closer, waiting a few uncomfortably long moments for Courtney to notice her.

“B! Hi, baby!” Courtney waved her over with a bright smile, taking her hand.

“Hi.” Bianca said, accepting a chaste kiss, unable to shake the feeling that she’d interrupted something.

“Bianca, this is Magnus. He’s a photographer, and he used to live in Sydney! Isn’t that crazy?”

“Wild,” Bianca agreed drily.

“I was just talking to your wife about setting up a photo shoot. A face like that deserves to be immortalized,” he said, adding a wink for good measure.

Courtney giggled, glowing in that usual way she did whenever people told her how beautiful she was. Which was often.

In the early days of her transition, Courtney had been understandably insecure. Navigating the complexities of the adult womanhood she’d been thrust into without a girlhood to prepare her. And Bianca had been more than happy to be her guide, her champion. Now, though, three years in, she’d fully blossomed into her most effervescent self, and seemed to need Bianca less and less. It made Bianca feel conflicted: as wonderful as it was to see her in her glory, she couldn’t help but miss the days when she was the center of Courtney’s world. When she was the one making her beam with compliments instead of literally every stranger she stumbled across.

The most annoying part was, they were all right. She’d always been beautiful, but these days, when she was feeling more herself than ever before…incandescent was the word that came to mind.

“Don’t I know it,” Bianca said, touching Courtney’s cheek gently. “Wars have been fought for less.”

Courtney turned towards her, eyes bright and soft, giving her that Look. The one that made Bianca’s heart melt, that made her feel like the only one on the planet, if only for a moment.

“Anyway, um…you have my card, right?” Magnus asked.

“Yes, thanks,” Courtney said, cuddling into Bianca’s side.

“I expect to hear from you soon, then.” He reached out to awkwardly pat Bianca on the shoulder. “And nice to meet you, too.”

“Mmhmm.”

Bianca watched him walk away, then cut her eyes back at Courtney.

“What?” she asked, lashes fluttering.

“That guy wanted to fuck you.”

“He did not!” Courtney laughed. “He was just being nice.”

“Yeah, exactly. Being nice, because he wanted to fuck you.”

“Well.” Courtney took a coy sip of her drink, fingers wrapping around Bianca’s arm. “He’s only human.”

Bianca pursed her lips, and Courtney burst into giggles again, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

***

“Courtney!” Bianca hissed, trying to find the balance between loud enough that her wife would hear her and not so loud that she’d wake the (finally) sleeping twins.

Courtney appeared in the doorway, apron on, a big cheery smile on her face. “Yes?”

“Are you done in there? I could really use some help,” Bianca said. They’d started together, carefully stuffing the kids’ stockings and taking bites of all the cookies they’d left before Courtney had fucked off to the kitchen to work on a “secret project.” Bianca couldn’t even begin to guess what that was about, but she could occasionally hear her voice, so she assumed it was some bullshit for her YouTube channel.

Now, Bianca had been wrapping presents by herself for over an hour, and the twinge in her back had grown to an ache, not to mention the pounding headache behind her eyes.

“Soon, promise,” Courtney said, tossing her a kiss and then disappearing again.

“Court-” Bianca groaned, covering her eyes with her hand, irritation rising. She was about to bark again when Courtney popped back out, striding towards her with a plate: cheese and crackers, hummus and grapes. In her other hand was a tall glass of water with a few lime slices and a little crushed ice, just the way Bianca liked. Her cross expression softened.

“Thought you might need a snack,” Courtney said. She knelt down beside Bianca to place the items on the floor. “Omigod, this looks amazing!”

“Thanks,” Bianca said, momentarily disarmed. “You think?”

“Yeah.” Courtney gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. “I promise I’ll be in to help in a few minutes. I’m almost done in there; I just want to clean up.”

“I guess I shouldn’t complain about that,” Bianca grumbled, taking a long sip of water.

Courtney gave her a wink and then rose to her feet. Bianca settled into a cross-legged position, cracking her neck, and then took a few bites of food, amazed at how immediately she felt better from something so simple. Fucking Courtney, how dare she know her so well.

It had been a rough year. Bianca had finally gotten a promotion at the costume shop, and in spite of more hours and more responsibility, the meager raise often made her wonder if it was really worth it. Just when they’d managed to scrape together the money to finally move from their miniscule one-bedroom apartment into a two-bedroom that was barely any bigger, Bianca’s fucking car had broken down, demolishing their pathetic savings account and piling up the credit card debt.

Courtney was as all over the place as usual. She tried, but none of her ventures ever seemed to pan out quite like she’d hoped. There was the ill-fated personal training business, which seemed like a good idea until she realized that she had less discipline than her clients, the fucking food truck disaster, and the yoga certification that she never seemed to finish. Bianca tried not to get mad at her, even when she wasted time on that futile YouTube hobby, reasoning that at least took the lion’s share of the childcare, including volunteering at the kids’ co-op preschool two days a week since Bianca couldn’t. It was hard not to be bitter sometimes, though, especially since Courtney was so much better at spending money than making it. And worse, she never seemed to share Bianca’s stress over their ever-increasing debt, blithely chirping that it would all eventually work out.

It wasn’t their only disconnect. Courtney had a large and growing circle of friends, and the further along she got in her transition, the more Bianca worried that she’d be left behind. Her latest obsession was getting cosmetic surgery, specifically FFS, which Bianca found patently absurd. Any woman on the planet would kill to have her face, and she wanted to change it? Bianca couldn’t understand for the life of her.

She understood the bottom surgery, as impractically expensive as it was. She was prepared to save for it; had been ever since they’d first discussed it. But everything else seemed so shallow, and occasionally Bianca couldn’t help expressing it. To this day, their worst fight ever had been after Bianca had found a pamphlet for a Brazilian butt lift and asked her, ‘Do you want to be a woman, or a Barbie doll?’

In spite of the growing tension between them, they’d managed to come together to gather a pretty good showing under the tree, even with money as tight as it was. The twins were three this year, and finally seemed to understand what Christmas was about. The look of delight on their faces when they met Santa Claus at the Grove had been priceless; so much better than last year, when Danny had cried and Adore had given a skeptical scowl, both of them refusing to sit in his lap. (Of course, Courtney had immediately pointed out that this showed how smart they were, instinctually understanding what a bad idea it was to sit in a strange old man’s lap. But Bianca just wanted a damn picture to send to her parents, and this year, she’d finally gotten her wish.)

To save money, Courtney had scoured yard sales and second-hand stores, finding a bunch of gems like a huge collection of Duplo blocks, dinosaurs, some great wooden instruments, and a bookshelf that she’d repainted in rainbow colors and stuffed with books from library sales. Bianca had put her sewing skills to work, making them each a collection of plush animal friends and big boxes of dress-up clothes. She’d also spent way too much time on two items that were more for her and Courtney’s amusement: tiny little matching denim jackets with hand-painted designs on the back: a mermaid for Adore and rabbit for Danny.

Their big splurge was two brand-new balance bikes, which Bianca was currently trying to figure out how the fuck to wrap. She’d thankfully managed to put them both together earlier while Courtney had the kids at the park, or she’d be up Shit’s Creek without a paddle right now.

“Uh oh…B looks stressed everyone…”

Bianca looked up, mildly irritated to find Courtney’s phone camera pointing at her.

“Can you put the fucking camera away?” Bianca asked, the irritation that had been pushed away by her snacks now returning in spades.

“Do you hear that, everyone? It’s the spirit of Saint Nick himself!” Courtney circled Bianca on the floor, still filming, her voice teasing.

“I’m serious!” Bianca began to laugh in spite of herself, reaching toward Courtney to knock the phone out of her hands. “Turn it off, bitch!”

Courtney turned the phone around to face herself, an aghast expression on her face. “Do you hear the way she talks to me? Terrible…”

“Courtney!” With one final grunt, Bianca managed to get ahold of her wrist and pull her to the ground, both of them collapsing into a pile of giggles.

“Shh, you’re gonna wake the kids.”

“I’m seriously at the end of my rope here,” Bianca admitted. “My back is killing me, and-”

Courtney silenced her with a kiss, arms sliding around her neck. “You need to take a break. Go lie down. I’ll finish up here.”

“No, you don’t need to finish all by yourself. There’s still all these, and-”

“This tiny little pile?” Courtney asked. “I think I can manage. You did almost all of it.”

“You really don’t mind?” Bianca’s muscles screamed for relief, even though she knew it wasn’t quite fair.

“Not at all,” Courtney said, settling in and holding up Adore’s jacket with misty eyes, adding, “This is still the cutest thing I’ve ever fucking seen.”

Bianca laughed, nodding. “I hope she likes it. By the way, use the snowflake paper for her and the candy stripes for Danny. Much easier than making them read tags.”

“Aye aye, captain.”

***

Bianca inhaled, arms wrapping tighter around Courtney from behind. It was still dark, but Bianca could already hear the kids, their bare feet pattering on the wooden floors as they ran back and forth from their bedroom to peek at the tree. She knew they’d come busting in any minute, so she drank in the last few moments of peace.

She’d learned to value intimacy where she could get it, and this time of day, this pre-dawn respite from the world, was precious. Even when they were angry, even during the dry spells that happened more often than Bianca would like, they still slept this way: intertwined, limbs wrapped around each other, warmth from their bodies creating a perfect and slightly sweaty cocoon under the covers.

If Bianca ever had to choose one scent to experience exclusively for the rest of her life, she would answer without any hesitation whatsoever: Courtney’s hair. Sweet, fresh, vaguely citrusy, with traces of the rose perfume she occasionally used and the coconut oil she preferred as a moisturizer. Bianca could happily bury herself in that scent, and in fact did regularly, face pressed to the back of Courtney’s neck as she inhaled greedily.

She felt Courtney stir, shifting in her arms, and mere seconds later, their door flew open as two three-year-olds hopped up on Christmas adrenaline came crashing inside.

“Mum!” Adore yelled, taking a flying leap onto the bed while Danny bounced behind her. “Santa came!”

“He did?” Courtney asked, trying and failing to wrangle Adore under the covers.

Danny nodded vigorously. “There are so many presents, Mama,” he told Bianca, glittering hazel eyes the size of saucers.

“Wow, I guess we better go check it out, huh?” Courtney said, scooping a wriggling Adore up into her arms and rising from the bed.

Bianca let out an involuntary whimper at the loss of her body heat, then pulled a robe from the bedpost to wrap around herself. She took Danny’s hand and let him lead her into the living room to see the impressive haul Santa had left them.

Bianca settled onto the rug, watching the kids tear into their bounty like tiny little demons, eyes practically glowing with excitement. Courtney had ducked into the kitchen, hopefully to start the coffee maker, and when she came out, she caught Bianca’s eye, leaning on the door frame and mouthing, ‘Love you.’ Bianca tossed her a kiss in return.

“Mama! Look!” Adore screeched, waving a plastic T-rex in the air. Beside her, Danny hugged a box of Duplo bricks to his chest.

“Wow, that’s cool, baby girl. What’s that over there?”

Neither of them had spotted the bikes yet—Courtney must have used pieces of the boxes they came in to obscure their shapes.

“Oh, a big one!” Adore cried, jumping up and down, then tearing away some of the paper. “Oh! Oh! Oh!”

Bianca couldn’t help watching Courtney’s face, her delighted grin as she watched Adore grow more and more excited.

“Mummy! It’s a bike! For me!” Adore yelled, and Courtney sank to her knees to help her get it out of the packaging.

“Wow, are you gonna ride it later?” Courtney asked.

“Yes!” Adore threw her chubby arms around Courtney’s neck and squeezed her tight.

“Dory got a bike?” Danny asked.

“She did. Do you think maybe you got one too?” Courtney asked him, pointing to the big package with his bike, on the other side of the tree.

He ran towards it, tripping a little before peeling off the candy-striped paper to see the bright blue bike underneath. After obsessing for way too long about what color bikes to get each of them so as not to be “reductive,” they’d settled on blue for Danny and green for Adore, also buying sparkly silver streamers for the handlebars and a large number of multicolored decals so that the kids could personalize them.

Danny bounced on the balls of his feet, squealing, “I got a bike too!”

“Wow, you guys both must have been very good this year,” Bianca said, yawning.

“Are you sleepy, Mama?” Danny asked, carrying an unwrapped present over and plunking himself down in her lap.

“I am. Mum and I had to stay up late to make sure Santa got in okay. You know, since we don’t have a chimney.”

“So how did he get in?” Adore asked, suddenly interested.

“Through the window,” Bianca replied.

“Did you see Santa?” Danny asked, mouth falling open.

“No, we uh…we went to bed when we heard the sleighbells,” she said, now enjoying herself. She caught the tail end of an eye roll from Courtney and winked.

“Mum, what’s this present?” Adore asked. She’d found a gift that was in neither snowflakes nor candy stripes: a silver box with a red bow.

“I don’t know. Is there a card?” Courtney asked.

“Umm…” Adore looked at the letters on the tag, brow furrowed.

“C-O-U-R,” Danny began, leaning forward, then exclaimed, “It’s for you, Mum!”

“For me? But who could it be from?” Courtney asked, eyes widening dramatically.

“B-I-A-”

“It’s from Mama!” cried Adore.

“What could Mama have gotten for me?” Courtney asked, lifting the lid off the box.

“It looks like clothes,” Adore said, disappointment clear in her voice.

“Yeah, it looks like…” Courtney lifted the garment out of the tissue paper.

Knowing how tight money was, they’d agreed on a very low dollar amount for gifts for each other. Bianca had used materials from work to create a short, ruby-red, hand-beaded cocktail dress. She’d worked on the beading on her lunch breaks for weeks. She could see, from the way Courtney ran her finger along the edge, that she knew how much work went into it.

When Courtney chose her own clothes, she veered towards soft, organic colors like neutrals and pastels. But it was no secret that Bianca loved her in red, and that dress would fit her like a glove.

“Do you like it?”

“I love it. It’s absolutely beautiful,” Courtney breathed. “Thank you.”

Bianca smiled. Danny was still curled in her lap, and she rested a cheek on top of his head, hugging him close. She saw Courtney whisper something into Adore’s ear, and Adore sprang to her feet, then ran to the shelf where they’d hung their stockings. She reached into Bianca’s and pulled out a small jewelry box, then skipped over to present it to her with a flourish.

“Why, thank you,” Bianca said, pressing a wet kiss to Adore’s cheek.

“It’s from Mummy.”

“Ahh.” Bianca carefully unwrapped the holly-covered paper, letting Danny pull it off, and then opening the jewelry box. Inside was an antique polished-brass locket—no doubt a find from one of Courtney’s garage sale adventures. She opened the little latch to see two brand-new pictures of Adore and Danny. She looked up, a smile tugging at her lips, looking into Courtney’s eyes. “It’s perfect.”

Courtney smiled back. A tender moment, which was then interrupted by Adore finding another dinosaur and screeching with joy.

A half hour later, the floor was littered with wrapping paper and ribbons and toys of all shapes and sizes—and both kids were passed out. Danny, with his head in Bianca’s lap, and Adore face-down on the carpet.

“They’re like tiny little alcoholics,” Bianca commented, carrying Danny to the sofa, and Courtney laughed. “Jesus Christ, what a mess. Can you grab me a couple of garbage bags?”

“Sure.”

By the time Bianca got Adore onto the sofa and both kids covered, Courtney was back with the bags. She handed them off to Bianca and then said, “I’m gonna go put breakfast together.”

“Convenient,” Bianca mumbled, shoving a bunch of wrapping paper into the bag.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” Bianca said louder, shaking her head. It was typical, for Courtney to skip off and do something she found fun just when it was time to clean.

She continued to toss away the paper and straighten up the toys, putting books on the shelf and attempting to save any especially nice ribbons and bows. By the time she finished, she’d worked herself into quite a lather over always being the one to clean. It was that moment when Courtney came sailing in, holding a huge tray of breakfast food along with more coffee, and two little mugs of hot cocoa for the kids.

“What is all this?” Bianca asked, slightly amazed at the feast she was setting down on the table. She figured that ‘breakfast’ would be some cereal, maybe toaster waffles if she was feeling really ambitious.

“Charlene needed to clean everything out before they shut down, so she gave me the rest of the croissants and cinnamon rolls,” Courtney said. So it seemed that Courtney’s tendency to make friends with everyone in the neighborhood had paid off. “And I made those veggie frittatas last night. Cute, right?”

They were super cute, little mini frittatas the size of cupcakes. There was also a plate of veggie bacon, and some bowls of what looked like-

“Is that banana pudding?” Bianca asked.

“Yup! It’s still your favorite, right? I got the recipe from your sister.”

Bianca opened her mouth, then shut it again. She felt like an absolute asshole for assuming that Courtney was just fucking around to get out out cleaning when in fact she’d been doing all this.

“It’s still my favorite,” Bianca finally said. “This is…so sweet.”

Courtney gave her a bright smile, and then a gentle kiss, a brush against her lips. She was about to pull away when Bianca grabbed her, kissing her deeper, feeling her melt into her arms. She pressed their foreheads together, still holding her close, desperate to drink in the moment, to sear it into her memory so that the next time she started to get bitter and annoyed, she would think only of this.

Seeming to sense that she was feeling a little delicate, Courtney ran her fingers through Bianca’s hair, then cupped her face, placing a kiss to one corner of her mouth and then the other.

“Ewwwww!”

The sound of Adore groaning made them both laugh, breaking apart.

“What’s ‘ew’?” Courtney asked, one hand still stroking Bianca’s cheek.

“Kissing. Yuck.”

“Oh yeah? Oh yeah?” Courtney challenged, lifting her off the couch and giving both of her cheeks a combination of wet kisses and raspberries while she shrieked and giggled. The commotion caused Danny to wake up too, rubbing his eyes.

“Is it still Christmas?” he asked, looking disoriented, and Bianca slid onto the couch beside him to give him a hug, poor thing.

“It is, bunny. Are you ready to have the yummy breakfast that Mum made?”

“Okay,” he said, but made no move to get up, instead snuggling into Bianca’s side.

“Actually, I have one more surprise first,” Courtney said. She deposited a giggling Adore back onto the sofa and began to prance toward the front door.

“Where are you going? Can’t we eat first and then-”

“Two minutes! Don’t move!” she exclaimed.

Bianca yawned, shaking her head. “Just what do you think she’s up to?” she asked the kids.

“Something silly, probably,” said Adore.

“That’s a safe bet,” Bianca replied with a chuckle. She dropped a kiss to the top of Adore’s head, tucking her under her arm, both kids now snuggled up with her. Courtney better come back soon or they’d all fall asleep again…Bianca’s eyes felt heavy. She blinked a few times, each one longer than the last.

“Mama! It’s snowing!”

Bianca’s eyes popped open again at the sound of Adore’s voice.

“Pussycat, I don’t think-” Bianca began, then stopped. Because it did look like snowflakes falling just outside their living room window. Her brow furrowed. “What the fuck?”

“Oooh, you said the F word!” Danny cried triumphantly.

“How is it snowing? It’s seventy degrees outside,” Bianca said, wondering to herself more than the kids, as both of them ran excitedly to the window.

“It’s a Christmas miracle!” Adore proclaimed, clapping her hands.

“It’s bubbles,” Danny corrected her.

Danny, as it turned out, was right. Courtney had gotten ahold of one of the machines they used at shopping malls to make tiny bubbles for the illusion of snow. (How, Bianca had no idea. One of her friend-of-a-friend connections, she supposed.)

When Courtney sailed back through the front door a few minutes later, she pretended to know nothing about it, letting the kids show her the ��snow” and feigning shock and awe. She picked Danny up so that he could stick his head out the window, trying to find the source of the bubbles.

Bianca shook her head, sitting down at the table. “Alright, can we get the show on the road?” she asked gruffly.

All three of them looked over at her, the kids both perfectly mimicking Courtney’s curious head tilt, and she softened a bit.

“It’s just…you know, it looks good,” she added.

Courtney grinned, depositing first Danny and then Adore into their booster seats and helping Bianca prepare plates for them before taking some food for herself. Bianca looked around at her little family, a strange sensation filling her chest.

“Are you having a good Christmas, Mama?” asked Danny, and Bianca ruffled his hair before smoothing it back down.

“I sure am, bunny. Are you?”

Danny nodded happily, kicking his heels against the booster seat like he always did when he was excited. “It’s my favorite day ever.”

“Mine too!” Adore agreed, not to be outdone by her brother. Bianca leaned over to give her a smooch right at the crown of her head.

“Mine too,” Courtney echoed.

Bianca caught her eyes, giving her a soft smile as she reached across the table to take her hand. She held it delicately, fingers curled around Courtney’s, and then mouthed, ‘I’m sorry.’

Courtney cocked her head, a slightly confused smile on her face. “Sorry for what, babe?”

Good question. Bianca opened her mouth to reply but then closed it again, shaking her head.

Of course she didn’t know that Bianca had been fuming as she cleaned, having a fight all in her own mind. But more than that, she knew very little of how much Bianca had been struggling lately.

So much of what Bianca felt was hard to put into words, and it was often easier to just…not. Not bother her wife with all of the concerns that she couldn’t articulate. Not bring her down, especially lately when she was so full of joy and loving life so much.

Bianca looked down. Why did she feel so utterly lonely when surrounded by her beautiful family? How could this distance exist between her and Courtney when so much love was also there? That, Bianca was sure of. Even now, Bianca could feel Courtney give her hand a squeeze, feel her beautiful eyes taking her in, seeing her in a way that nobody else ever had.

But she didn’t see everything. She couldn’t. Bianca aggressively swiped at a tear forming in the corner of her eye with the back of her free hand.

“B-”

“I’m sorry,” she repeated, taking a deep breath and getting herself under control.

Thankfully, the kids were too busy scarfing down their breakfast to notice her basically having a meltdown, and soon they pulled Courtney’s attention too. She helped Danny put jam on his croissant as Bianca finally took a bite of the banana pudding.

It tastes like home.

“Is it good?” Courtney asked, eyes back on her.

“It’s the best,” Bianca answered hoarsely, eyelashes wet with tears.

Courtney got up from her seat and slowly walked to her side, putting her arms around her and holding her tight. Even though she didn’t know the extent of the turmoil plaguing her, she clearly saw that something was wrong. Bianca swallowed down the lump in her throat, allowing herself to be held, protected, comforted. Courtney kissed the top of her head gently, as if she was one of the kids, and whispered, “I love you, B.”

“Love you too.”

“Merry Christmas,” she added, smiling brilliantly, radiating an almost blinding light.

Bianca basked in her light, letting it fill up all the darkest cracks, praying that it would be enough to save them all, worried that maybe it wouldn't.

“Merry Christmas, angel.”

#rpdr fanfiction #s6 #bianca del rio #courtney act #adore delano #bitney #trans character #kid fic #parent au #fluff #angst #holiday fic #fic challenge #parent trap au #adore is both twins #bitney parent trap #veronica

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choco-glow · 3 years

Text

Fall Like Rain On Sunday, Pt. 9

“Asshole cop.” Jason grumbled as they walked back towards the truck, and Steph giggled wildly, her lipstick only just cleaned up from the wipes she kept in her bag, eyes dancing as they made their way through the crowded Saturday night boardwalk, said asshole cop glaring behind them. Sure, they maybe got a little too into making out on the bench, but Jason had been so thrilled by her reference, and Steph was just…absolutely in love with Jason. So. Y’know. One thing led to another and Jason’s hand had crept up her skirt while she’d straddled his lap…

And then Officer O’Grady had blown his whistle. Right in their ears.

“I agree…sorry he got your bad side…” Jason shot her a grateful smile, and she kissed his cheek softly, all sympathy. The explosion when he was fifteen had ruptured his eardrum, and high-pitched sounds bothered the hell out of him on his left side still, which was why his helmet had specialized protective ear guards, and he wore sound-reducing plugs with his domino. It…was perhaps one of the few things that Bruce and Jason had bonded over; Bruce used similar ones for his own cowl, and had adapted Jason’s with regard to the minor hearing loss.

“Eh…At least it didn’t make my tinnitus start up. All he had to do was cough or somethin’…” Steph agreed, and rubbed his back soothingly, smiling as Jason squeezed her shoulder and kissed her temple. As much as she’d liked the idea of the Ferris Wheel…O’Grady was following, she could sense his eyes on her ass, and evidently, so could Jason; he raised his free arm to flip the cop off and hugged her a little closer, arm sliding down to wrap around her waist. Not to grope her, not that Steph would have minded…but she smiled, snuggling in close anyway. It was possessive without making her the possession.

Makes Dean look like the pervert he was. Creep. And Jason and I are what…three years apart? She made a few mental calculations and nodded to herself, satisfied; they were right at three years and two months apart, and while she and Tim were the same age…she had more in common with Jay. More shared life experience, too…

“Babe? You okay there? You look like you’re a million miles away…” Jason murmured, pausing at the entrance to the carpark, and Steph shook herself, smiling up at him.

“Yeah…sorry, was just…thinking about things.”

“…Good things? Bad things?”

“A little bad, then a little good. I promise, I’m okay…just…maybe more tired than I realized.” She winced at that, but Jason just chuckled, warm and sweet.

“I don’t doubt it, we were both up early. As fun as the bench was…how about we head back and get some rest, hmm?”

“Yes please…Um…do…you mind if I ask you to take me home?” His eyes softened at that, dark green with the night, and he kissed her softly, guiding her back over the gravel with care.

“Not at all, sweetheart; besides, I don’t put out on the first date.” Steph burst into giggles at that, and Jason snickered, helping her back up into the truck. He hopped over the hood, every inch the reckless Bat-boy, which made Steph break into more giggles. Joining her in the cab, he swooped in for a kiss that Steph gladly gave, and carefully got them out of the parking space, bitching a little about idiot tourists and shitty drivers as he made his way to the road again. “Goddamn fuckin’ cop could be over here clearing this mess out…”

“At least Penguin’s men have it well-lit again; the city didn’t do shit about that.” Steph growled out, suddenly feeling far more charitable to Cobblepot and his crew. Whatever else Oswald might have once been, fatherhood seemed to have mellowed him immensely, and his mostly-legit wealth was going into things like lighting the Mile, same with Bruce; hell, Bruce had even sent baby gifts, both has Wayne and Batman, since Cobblepot had largely dropped out of the Rogues’ with the birth of his daughter.

“Yeah, I think B thanked him for it the other day, Barb was shocked on the comms because they actually had a polite conversation; he asked about Robin, B asked about Tracey and little Eugenie.”

“Awwwww…I’ll get a purple penguin for her when I go out on patrol tomorrow.” Jason chuckled at that, and Steph relaxed into his shoulder, fine with taking the back roads home to her apartment. Here too, the little improvements had made things better for everyone, not just the wealthy Gothamites; lights brightened the once gloomy alleys, and people, feeling safer, had begun cleaning them up. Dumpsters had been moved to the backs of the buildings, and play areas built, full of beat up toys. Old sawhorses and a few semi-straight boards sporting carefully repaired flowerpots full of cheap herbs and little flowers leaned against the brownstones, painted bright with cheap acrylic and leftover housepaint.

Graffiti artists, once the bane of the neighborhoods, had been given purpose and permission to express themselves via the Wayne Urban Art grants, and now murals of every color covered the once ugly cement walls. Meanwhile the old abandoned lots, once ignored by the city, had been bought up by Wayne Industries and given to the neighborhoods as small leisure areas, with young saplings and soft grass and little free gardens, tended carefully by gardeners hired by Bruce himself.

Crime still ran rampant, of course; hell, that’s why they still had patrols.

But more and more, that crime was white-collar or supervillain; the average Joe was happy to have a good job again, and a place to call home that wasn’t covered in trash and grime. Petty criminals with a family to feed or a dangerous addiction had more avenues for help now, with flyers on every corner, and kind counselors available night and day. And the only requirement was only “if you know someone else who needs us, please bring them here.” Steph approved of that, as did Jason, and Bruce had only smiled and said “I thought of you two when we set that up.” Highest compliment he’s ever given us, I think…it…it really has made a difference. Just in my life alone…

Crystal Brown had been among the first he’d welcomed to the program, and Steph had broken down crying on Bruce’s shoulder the day her mom had come home clean. Really clean now; whatever else might have happened between them, Steph was just glad to have her mom back…and Jason had had much the same reaction, so Alfred had told her, when Roy’d gone through it too. Roy was Jay’s best friend in the whole world…she smiled a little. I’d almost be jealous, but…Cass is my best friend. And if Cass swung that way, I’d have dated her in a heartbeat, I think…I’m not mad that he and Roy were a pair. I’m just glad they’re still friends.

“Gotta say, B’s really made home feel a lot less gentrified, and more…”

“Alive.” She murmured, and Jason nodded, his voice a little tight as he pulled into her apartment’s lot.

“…I was worried, when he started this, that it’d be the Bowery all over again.” He murmured, and she squeezed his arm, taking a deep breath.

“Me too, if we’re being honest here. But…it’s not. It’s not. It’s…what we would have wanted. Hell, he even retrofitted the Starlight with green tech so that the Narrows’ best babysitter didn’t have to close down.” He laughed, soft and sweet, and kissed her forehead.

“Tell me about it, I begged him to bankroll it when I was a kid because…well, it’s the last original roller rink on the East Coast. I couldn’t bear to see it torn down. I think he started doing it after I died…kinda sweet, to be honest.”

“That’s what I would have done…Ooh. We should go skating next time.” Steph mused, and Jason’s answer was in a hot, sweet kiss, his eyes dancing in the streetlights.

“It’s a date. C’mon, I’ll walk you to your door?” He suggested, offering his hand, and Steph let him pull her out, heart as light as a feather. He was easy to lean into, not handsy in the slightest, big hands rubbing up and down her back, and already, Steph was boneless against his chest, drowsing as they rode the elevator back up. Their hands clasped, Steph swung them a little as they pulled apart, yawning widely as the elevator stopped and she could lead him back down to her apartment door, pulling out her key.

“Mmn…thank you. I love you…and I hope this is still okay?” She murmured, hopeful and more than a little nervous. Jason kissed her again, then once more, and bussed her nose with his own, the smile on his lips as clear a confirmation as the words…but she liked hearing him anyway.

“I love you too, babe, and this is so okay. Get some rest, alrighty? Tim took our patrol tonight, B sent me an apology text earlier, so we’re good till tomorrow.”

“Good. Bastard should know better than to get between me and waffles.” The roguish grin on Jason’s face made her grin back, and he stroked her hair back over her ear again, something she never let Dean or Tim do, because it felt…weird with them. It felt right with Jay.

“Goddamn right, Blondie. Sleep tight, babe, can I bring you waffles in the morning, or are you waffled out?”

“Jay, if you bring me waffles in the morning, I’ll put out, alright? Waffles are life.” She retorted, and he fell back with a snicker, shaking his head as he kissed her.

“Well hell, if it’s really that easy, babe…” She swatted his arm, still grinning, and he kissed her once more, leaning into her doorway in a gesture that should have felt intimidating…but like before, well…it was Jay. It felt right. Steph kissed him back, sighing softly, and he pulled back to kiss her in the center of her forehead. “Head to bed, babe, I’m not far off. If you need anything, call me, okay?”

“Mmn, sounds good…are you really gonna bring me waffles?” She replied, hopeful, and he grinned again, his smile as addictive as his kisses.

“Goddamn right I will, babe. What time works?”

“Probably eight, at least? I need to get up early, do housework, do homework…” She made a face, and he made a face with her.

“Ugh. Well, I can help with the former, and as for the latter, I can be a quiet boyfriend and clean my guns?”

“Deal…See you then?” Steph wanted to crash, she really did, she was yawning so much now…but she didn’t want him to go…

“See you then. Goodnight, Stephie.” He murmured, kissing her once more, then closed the door for her. She leaned against it, listening to him slip down the stairs, and smiled, stepping out of her sandals with a groan of relief (they were cute, but she was tired enough for them to start hurting finally), and made quick work of taking off the rest of her make up, hanging up her dress, changing into comfy undies and a huge tee shirt. Taking down her hair, she glanced over at her phone…and grinned to see his number light up on the screen. She swiped to answer, and leaned back against the pillows.

“Miss me already, handsome?” He chuckled, warm and low, and it didn’t matter that she’d been hearing it all night; she could hear it a million times, and never get tired of it.

“You know it, baby. Figured you’d probably have trouble getting to sleep, as tired as you were, so…I thought maybe I could read to you?” He sounded so hopeful over the line, and Steph’s breath hitched in her chest. Oh…

“…I’d really, really like that. What did you have in mind?” She could see his grin as she closed her eyes, and heard the soft sound of pages turning, the faintest creak of an old book opening.

“Well, I always loved Pride and Prejudice…”

#JaySteph #stephanie brown #jason todd #gothambysunlight #solarpunkgotham #two dorks in love #realistic (mostly) dating expectations #pride and prejudice #jason loved being read to #and loves reading to steph #more bats coming into the picture later

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