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frenchrebelfries · 3 years

Text

Always

All it takes is one glance

You and Natalia have been together for years even before you both have been forced to join the Red room, you both were childhood best friends and did everything to survive that hell hole that the both of you were thrown into.

“Will you stay by my side until I fall asleep Y/N?” a small voice if Natalia filled your ears, you just smiled at her

“Always Natalia”

You both grew up together learning to kill people breaking your body with training and shattering your innocent minds but you had each other.

She was your hope, your light in the dark so you had to be strong for her.

Natalia was crying in your arms after a test was conducted each and every one of you had to kill some targets with their family to test our emphathy, Natasha have a soft heart and being force to kill made her hate herself but you were there for here shielding her with thoughts that would break her.

“I killed them Y/N, their child was-… she was to young” she cried as you comforted her rubbing her back with your hands

“It’s not your fault Natalia, you had to do it” you reasoned her as she continued to cry

“will you stay with me even I became a monster Y/N?” she sniffled as her forest green piercing eyes connected to yours, you just smiled at her

“Always Iyubov’ always” you assured her wiping her tears and kissing her forehead.

You and Natalia or Natasha a name she wanted to be called now were together just before both of you graduated from the Red room and was one of the best assassins of the organization, they knew about you and Natasha’s relationship after you both graduated but never interfere as both of you did your jobs splendidly taking their attention away from your relationship not wanting one of you killed as it would take years before someone can be good as you both to be replaced, she had you when she was sent to her first mission until you adjusted in the circumstance you were in and accepted it as it give you both a bit of freedom to be together and sometimes do things you wanted as long as you do your missions right, but all of that change when Natasha got an offer to join SHEILD, Natasha being her she did not let it pass as she reached her hands to you inviting you to join her.

“Y/N we can change our lives there… we don’t have to kill people just because they want to, we can change the world there” you were a bit shocked to what had Natasha said to you as you had taking a liking on the life you were in.

“Will you stay with me even I betray my country?” she was nervous… you can hear it in her voice as you accepted her hand as you always do and kissing the back of it which made her smile widely.

“Always IIyubov” she squeaked and throw herself to you caging you in a tightly hug and kissing you endlessly

“ya Iyublyu vas Y/N”

“ya Iyublyu vas Tasha”.

The SHEILD was no different to the red room that you and Natasha left back in Russia except that SHEILD treated you more nicely and have less missions. Natasha hated killing back then so you talked to Fury to never give Natasha assassinations unless necessary in exchange you will take the missions and do the dirty work for him which he gladly agreed and was kept secret between you both.

“baby I want you to meet Barton, Barton this is my girlfriend Y/N” Natasha was beaming as she introduced you to her friend, an agent she had gotten close from missions that she was dying for you to meet.

He smiled a bit as he offers his hand to you which you gladly took and send him a warm smile thinking how lucky this Barton to be a friend of Natasha.

“it’s nice to finally but a picture to the woman Natasha has been telling me all the time” you smirked and catch a glance at the blushing red head as she elbowed Barton at his side earning us a groan from him

“well Tasha never really shut up about having a friend like you either” Natasha being her sent you a death glare as both you and Barton laugh at the antics of the green eyed ex-assassin.

And that started a beautiful friendship, You, Barton and Natasha were inseparable. Clint took you and Natasha back to his home where his family lived introducing you to his wife Laura and his kids.

Everything was perfect, Natasha and you having dates around New York, taking undercover missions as a couple, watching movies you missed during the training back in red room, constantly telling each other how much you love them and having to spend Christmas with Barton’s family.

Everything WAS perfect

That change because of that one mission…

The mission to retrieve Dr. Banner or the Hulk.

“You good Y/N?” you heard Clint asking you as you stop punching the sand bag

“Yeah… why?” taking a towel and wiping off the sweat on your face to look more presentable in front of your friend

“Why are you not part of the Avenger?” he bluntly questions you

You knew this is going to be a hard pill to swallow for Clint and Natasha of you not being part of the team, only you and Fury knows about the deal of you being the assassin of the SHIELD you did some missions with them but you were very discrete with your kills that Barton and Natasha didn’t even notice this so they thought you were doing similar mission like them.

You weren’t put on the Team because the team saves people from harm while you kill people so they won’t do harm. They were the symbol of peace while you lurk in the dark to aid the peace they wanted.

You just laugh at Clint patting his shoulder

“I’m leading a different team Barton, I may not be an Avenger but we only have one goal”

He was silent for a bit before speaking again

“Are you spending enough time with Natasha these days?” you knew where this is going as you shrugged

“we’ve both been busy, after what happened at New York our team’s missions have been piling up and so was yours” you answered

“Y/N it’s not that I want to mendle to you and Natasha’s relationship but… you really need to look after her and Banner… they’ve been far too cosy to each other” he told you as his voice was full of remorse

You knew about this, about her and Banner’s… closeness

You asked her about this the other time but she just brush it off saying that there just friends.

You didn’t want to point it out again because you trust her… but you just can’t get this feeling that there was more to their friendship, and you really can’t blame her that.

“I know” you whispered to him as silence filled the gym

You were given by Fury a week off from missions which you rejoiced, this was your time to be with Natasha and do something together.

You got off of the floor where the common room of her team is as you saw her by the chair chatting with Clint.

“hey Tasha, Barton” Natasha and Clint smiled at you as you gave Natasha a hug burring your head on her neck making her giggle as Barton rolled his eyes at you.

“Fancy seeing you here Y/N” Clint said faking a british accent as you punched his shoulder murmuring ‘shut up’. You turned to Natasha

“Wanna get dinner later? My treat” you smiled brightly at her remembering the restaurant Maria suggested to go.

“I’m sorry Y/N, I promised Bruce to have dinner with him, how about tomorrow? Sounds good?” you saw Clint raised his left eyebrow as you felt a small pinch at your heart as you only smiled at her not wanting to alarm her.

“Sure, I’ll pick up tomorrow at 6 then” she kissed you on your cheeks thanking you for understanding as she soon got a call from Bruce wanting some help in the lab bidding you and Clint a goodbye before leaving.

You just sighted, you were looking forward to this dinner grabbing a help from Tony to have reservation in that restaurant since it only cater powerful people and Tony was one of them, you look at Clint as he gave you the ‘I told you so’ look

“so… wanna grab dinner Barton?” he cheekly smiled

“I thought you’d never ask”

When you met him at the exit of the building he also invited Maria and Dr. Cho who is wearing formal dresses as you and Barton wore some suit which made feel a bit better, after dinner Maria and Clint dragged you and Dr. Cho from bar to bar enjoying the break you had as they filled your night with fun taking your thoughts off of Natasha.

You were invited by Tony to attend his party, you wanted to decline but Clint, Maria and Dr. Cho forced you to come telling to relax for a while and from the moment you stepped in Banner and Natasha have been lost on their own world together.

You watch as Clint, Tony, Rhodey, Banner and Steve trying to pull Thor’s hammer from the glass table as you sat silently beside Natasha who was in a very ‘interesting’ conversation with Banner as you kept drinking the bottle of beer that was filled with vodka chugging it down to your throat just wanting to disappear in this room.

You felt a hand on your shoulder as you turned around seeing it was Dr. Cho as she gently pulled you up from your seat to Maria and Clint’s side making you breathed a bit more comfortable as she sat next to you giving her a kind smile

“Thanks” you whispered

“your welcome” she replied and continued to watch Steve as he pulled the hammer earning a squeak but again didn’t budge.

You felt Maria leaned on your legs as she sat down taking the bottle of beer full of vodka on your hands as she smelt it and immediately gave you a side eye as you murmured a quick “Sorry”

The fun was stopped when a broken robot walked in limping and all you know was there are robots trying to kill all of you.

You jumping to action wanting to run to Natasha to protect her but you saw her running with Banner…

You were jealous of it but Dr. Cho being closer to you, you pulled her away from the chaos as a robot shot the both of you, you hid her behind a large post

“Stay here” you told her as you pulled a gun from your side and started shooting the robot as it falls to the ground and took it’s head off as Thor finished the last one.

Another problem arises for the Avengers as you barely saw Natasha for a few weeks as you put yourself up from mission to mission not wanting to think about her as all you saw was her and Banner’s face laughing.

“The wall will melt if you kept staring at it you know” you were cut off on your daze by Maria as she sat beside the bed that you are now laying on in the Medical bay, Natasha had been notified about this as you tried to stop them but she never came to look for you.

“How bad was it?” Maria asked seeing your torso wrapped with bandages

“enough to keep me away from missions for two weeks” you sigh not really liking the idea of being coped up in a place that kept reminding you about the circumstance that you were in

“I think I know what have been running through your mind lately… it’s about Bruce and agent Romanoff is it?” the silence of you was taken by Maria as an answer as she looked at you in pity.

And you broke as tears run past you face just staring at nothingness, crying was a foreign thing for you, you never cried when you almost died or taken by the Red room, you never cry when you had your first kill.

But right now… the tears keep streaming down your eyes was you tried your best to stop it, you felt Maria stood and wrap her arms around your shoulder pushing your head on her chest as your tears wouldn’t stop.

“I-I don’t know what to do Maria…” your broken voice hurts Maria in many different ways, out of all the people she met you were one of the most calm person she encountered, and most importantly you are her friend…

It hurts her seeing you cry, it’s her first time seeing you being vule like this.

“just let it all out Y/N”

And you did.

You stood there outside of room Natasha was in wanting to see her as their mission failed and now laying low at Barton’s house but you stood there frozen from the scene of her and Banner holding each other.

You rushed out of your mission when you heard about what happened to them as Clint told you that Natasha was injured and all shaken up with the enhance girl putting things in their mind, you dropped everything and just want to be with the red head but what greeted you is this.

You clench your hands so hard not wanting to break here when you felt someone hugged your leg

“Aunt Y/N” Lila said as you gave her a forced smile picking her up from the ground

“where’s your mom hmm?” you asked her sweetly as she points out to the kitchen as you tickled her sending her in full giggles walking to the kitchen and seeing a very pregnant Laura cooking

Putting Lila down and greeting Laura as she turned to you

“Y/N! oh god I missed you!” you chuckled as she gave you a hug which you return

“Missed you too Laura” you broke the hug

“so did you meet Nat?” you just shrug at her wanting to change the topic so you stared at her big belly

“you look big Lau” she smacked your arm as you both laugh

“I know Lila has been telling me that, why don’t you go sit I’ll make some food” you decline as you picked up some ingredient and started cutting it.

“Nah I’ll be helping you out, we don’t want you getting to worked up”

After you finished cooking you left some supplies for them and sneakily left the Barton’s house not wanting to alarm the team as you linger around the perimeter checking for some anomalies before completely leaving for another mission Fury assigned.

“p-please don’t kill me I’ll do anything!”

Your phone rang as you were in the middle of killing one of the many leader of Hydra as he sat on the ground begging for his life

You quickly answered it as Clint’s voice filled your ear

“Y/N, Nat has been taken” your face harden as anger builds inside you

“What?! “

“Ultron took her”

“I’m on my way”

You ended the call and shooting the man on his head 3 times before heading out

All you though that time was to find Natasha.

You just stood there behind Clint in silent not wanting to lash out in anger and worry about Natasha, there are two new people in the group Pietro and Wanda… you thought they were too young for this, barely even living normal live and was thrown in to this mess… you pitied them as you pitied yourself.

Vision gave Thor his hammer which surprised everyone. Thor took the hammer as Vision left everyone speechless.

“right… well done” Thor patted Tony’s shoulder before leaving

“three minutes, get what you need” Steve said as all of us left packing things they’ll be needing.

You took some guns, daggers and things you needed as you held the locket Natasha gave you after you both graduated from the Red room… it has the first picture of you both smiling as you held a bit more freedom back then.

All you every though is

Bring back Natasha, bring back your love.

You remembered what Natasha used to say to you ‘will you stay by my side?’

“Always” you voiced out kissing the locket placing it back on your neck near your heart.

You were tasked to save Natasha with Banner and evacuated her, you lurked behind Banner as you both navigated your way to Natasha’s cage, you stood at the dark as you pulled your dagger out of the robot beheading it just be sure, turning around seeing Bruce has set Natasha free and again lost between their world.

You want to shout at them wanting your presence to be known rage boiled up inside you and everything stopped when she kissed him… your heart ached, it’s like someone was crushing your heart as all you want is to scream.

You silently left not wanting to see more of them as the picture of them kissing filled your head.

As you got outside you saw robots coming everywhere, you held on your gun and dagger tighter as civilians passed you, you swiftly yanked a robot’s head that was sticking out on the ground and all you saw was red…

You kicked a head of a robot you just beheaded as tons of them was laying beneath your feet, you have gashes littering your body but you didn’t feel any tiredness or soreness only rage and betrayal.

“Y/N?” you froze when you heard the familiar voice of the woman you love, you didn’t want to turn around to see her face as it only reminds you that you were never hers anymore but you can never deny her.

You turn around facing her as your eyes held emptiness, she looked a bit worried as she took a step closer to you avoiding the metal bodies as you held your gun pointing at her and she stopped

“Y/N what are you doi-“ her words cut off when you fired the gun hitting the robot that was flying behind her.

You heard Tony saying stuff at your earpiece wanting all of you at the core as you saw Natasha’s hand holding it out on you

“stay with me?” your anger and rage melted at her words as it brought you back the memories of the past as you took her hand

“always”

“Together” Tony said as Natasha held your hands tighter as you squeeze it reassuring her

And that, all hell broke loose.

You kept killing robots after robots so was everyone keeping them away from the core, you saw a robot going to Natasha’s back, you pulled it’s head snapping its neck.

“I’ll protect it” Wanda said as you, Natasha and Clint rode a car towards where the evacuation is

“get your asses on the boat” Natasha said as all of you got out of the car

“where are you going?” you asked her

“I have to get the big guy” ah… Banner you saw her run to the side as you stood there as you felt Clint held your shoulder

“hey… lets go now” you just nodded following him

Bullets rained down as everyone took cover, Clint on the other hand pulled a child while you were beside him taking cover as you saw Pietro running to shield him…

You pushed your body forward as you reached Pietro’s left side but not enough to cover him from the other shots

You felt bullets broke out of your skin while you saw Pietro took 3, two on his arm and one on his right leg,

he’ll be alright with that…

you thought as your body weaken after taking one on your right shoulder on the right side of your stomach and on your arm.

You held your ground as you put pressure at the shot by your stomach as it bleeds out badly

“you good kid?” you ask Pietro as he nods limping

“Y/N!” you heard Clint shouted as Steve drag you and Pietro to the ship

Your ears were ringing badly as Clint tried to stop the bleeding

“Barton… I badly need a nap right now…” you whispered as blood ran down your lips

“Y/N hey don’t you dare sleep, We need a medic! Agent Y/N is down!” you heard Clint’s voice as you saw Pietro at the side sitting as he looked at you with apologetic eyes as you gave him a reassuring smile.

You saw small dark dots as you kept your eyes open not wanting Clint screaming at you but then you were swallowed by darkness.

Clint run to the helicarrier towards the medical bay with you on his arm limping with Steve behind him holding Pietro

“MOVE!!” he shouted as he reached the med bay placing you on one of the bed as Dr. Cho did her best to keep you alive,

Clint was thrown out of the room as they waited outside patiently

“We’re losing her! Get the defibrillator!”

“Im gonna go and see Pietro” Steve announced as Clint just nodded as he sat beside the bed you lay on, as much as Clint hated the beeping sound from the machines that was hooked up from you it is the only reminder for him of you being alive.

Maria already passed by but Natasha was nowhere to be seen, Maria told Clint that she was busy finding Banner who is now in the quinjet in stealth mode and that made them angry.

Her girlfriend is lying here barely even alive but she kept searching for that guy.

“Thank you for saving me Y/N” Pietro’s heavy accent filled the room you were in

“you still have a lot of things to accomplish kid, and stop thanking me already” you took a bite off of your sandwich which Wanda made for you

“Your sandwich really hits the spot Wanda thanks” you smiled at the witch

“your welcome Y/N, I’ll bring some more tomorrow if you want” she smiled warmly

“that would be great”

A knock on the door and a red head popped on it

“well that’s our cue, come Pietro” Wanda pulled Pietro out of the room as Natasha walked in locking the room.

“Y/N” she called you

“Natasha” you acknowledge her

“how are you?...”

“getting better now”

And a loud noise of silence embraced you both, you took a deep breath looking at the large glass with the green view outside

“I know…” you broke the silence as her head whip to look at you

“What-“ you cut her off

“I know about you and Banner…” you told her bluntly and straight forward

“Y/N… im sorry…”

You gave her a smile cupping her face as tears started to stream down her face

“It’s alright IIyubov… I really can’t blame you if you fall in love with him…” God… it’s been forever since you last called her that

You wipe off her tears as she kept saying how sorry she was as you hugged her tightly as if it was the last time you will do.

“Does he make you happy Tasha?” you asked her as she stayed silent for a while before nodding, your heart ached as it was like being stumped

“Do you love him?” you felt a nod as you closed your eyes tightly not wanting your tears to run by your face. Natasha was all you had left, your reason for everything, all you want is to protect her and keep her safe and make her happy.

And if she’s happy with him… even it hurts… you would gladly let her go

“Be with him…” Natasha froze in your embrace as her green eyes found yours

“All I wanted for you is to you to be happy Natalia… if being with him felt right then I would gladly let you go” at that moment you saw flashes of you and Natasha from the first time you met, to her being scared, the time you confessed your feeling, to your first kiss, the day you held each other as if non in the world matters, to your graduation in Red room, both of you joining SHIELD, celebrating Christmas with the Barton’s and to her lingering laughs and giggles telling you how much she loved you…

Your eyes were watery, Natasha was shocked by the words coming out of your mouth, it is her first time since you were kids seeing you this… broken… and she hated herself for she was the reason her Y/N was this. You’re her hero, her guardian, her shield you followed her everywhere around the globe happily as you were her sun.

A tear slipped from your eyes as you smiled painfully to the woman you love, to the woman you thought you would end up forever… to your home… With all the courage you spoke

“ya Iyublyu vas Natalia, Always and forever” kissing her forehead

as painful as it is, she can’t move forward with a part of her past lingering around her… You…

Breaking the embraced you were with her, taking a step back as you smiled at her as she stayed silent watching you

whispering your last words to her

“goodbye Natalia”

You walk off the room closing the door behind you with heavy heart. You are happy that she’s now making her own choices… not being tied down with anything and having control to her life, you are proud of her even that choice she made hurts you.

It breaks you to let her go but

Natasha finally found her family in Avenger

As you lost yours.

#natasha romanoff angst #natasha #natasha romanoff x re #black widow x reader #marvel #natasha romanoff fanfic #natasha romanoff

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kj-1130 · 3 years

Text

Nothing For Me

Part 7

Main Masterlist

Part 6|Part 8

You and MJ’s relationship continued to grow as time went on.

As she started her first year of high school, you worked on yourself, wanting to be good for her.

Overtime, you learned how to process and deal with things better. You focused on yourself and your developing relationship with MJ and needless to say, things started to look up.

The ‘present but not really present father’ thing didn’t affect you as much as it did, but it was still there. It was one of the only things you hadn’t fully processed and to be honest, you didn’t think you ever could.

Your father is there, and has been aware of presence for almost a decade. And not once has he given you any type of consolation or love like a father should. You would think after Pepper was getting more involved in his life and forcing him to clean up (most of) his act, he would open his eyes and realize that a whole human being was living with him, waiting for him to realize that they were supposed to be relying on him; not an AI built in the comfort of their room.

But nope. Absolutely nothing changed. If anything, things got worse.

He was away more often, focusing on the Avengers. Or he was with Pepper, the new love of his life.

You tried not to linger on the situation often, knowing it would only lead to pain in your chest. So you just stuffed it in the back of your mind, hoping one day that the pain would just lessen all together.

About two months ago, you and MJ had decided to make things official after going on your first date. At first you talked about how fast the two of you were going, but Michelle simply said ‘we’ll be u-haul lesbians then.’ That was the end of the conversation.

Currently, you and your girlfriend were facetiming. You would’ve made the trek to her house but she was about to study and you both knew that you’d distract her. Plus the two of you were due for some time away from each other considering the fact that you’re at her place almost everyday.

“Okay, so I found this recipe the other day and I’m just now remembering it.”

MJ looks at you confused, “Okay?”

You roll your eyes playfully.

“I wanted to try it with you. After my ban from your place has been lifted.”

“It’s not a ban,” she chuckled.

“Well, it sure as hell feels like one ba-” “Mr. Stark has arrived with a guest,” M.I.A cut you off.

“Who is this guest?”

“Secretary of State, Thaddues Ross,” the AI replied, pulling up pictures of the man.

“Hey M, I’m gonna call you back.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she nods, looking a little concerned. “Take all the time you need. Let me know if everything’s okay.”

The two of you give your goodbyes and you ask M.I.A to pull up the live footage from the conference room.

“Perspective. The world owes the Avengers an un-payable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives… but while a great a=many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word “vigilantes”, is what you first hear when you start watching.

Immediately your eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?” Natasha asks.

“How about ‘dangerous’?” he replies. “What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?”

The secretary activates a screen behind him which begins to play the previous battles the Avengers and SHIELD have fought in.

“New York.”

He clicks a button, footage of chitauri, shooting guns, and Hulk smashing plays.

“Washington D.C”

A new video appears, showing the insight helicarriers firing at each other with chaos following.

“Sokovia.”

The frame changes, showcasing the terrified citizens that were on the flying piece of land.

“Lagos.”

“That’s enough,” Steve interrupts.

Ross nods in response and begins his speech again.

“For the past four years, you’ve operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That’s an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution.”

He places a thick document on the table and slides it across to Wanda. As the team slides the book to each other Ross starts talking.

“The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries… it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they’ll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary.”

“The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place,” the Captain begins. “I feel we’ve done that.”

“Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?” There was a momentary pause as the two men’s eyes met. “If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes… you can bet there’d be consequences. Compromise. Reassurance. That’s how the world works. Believe me, this is middle ground.”

At this point, you’re walking out of your room after transfering the feed to your tablet and making your way to the elevator.

“So, these are contingencies,” Rhodey states.

“Three days from now,” Secretary Ross begins. “The UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords. Talk it over.”

Natasha speaks up, “And if we don’t come to a decision you don’t like?”

“Then you retire.”

The elevator stops and you look up seeing the Secretary walk in with someone behind him. You give him a subtle disgusted look before turning your attention back to the security footage.

As the deathtrap descends, you can feel his eyes lingering on you.

“Can I help you?”

“You’re a little young to be an intern.”

“You’re a little old to be looking at me like that,” you shrug, swiping away from the video on your tablet as you feel him looking over your shoulder.

Ross gives an awkward chuckle and furrows his eyebrows. When you reach the bottom floor, he gets ready to step out and places a hand on your shoulder.

You look at him like he’s lost his mind.

“You seem like a good kid. Be sure to make good choices.”

Raising an eyebrow, you refrain from saying what you want to say. You lift your hand and gently take his off of you.

“Don’t touch me,”

Once he exits, you hear the chatting start back up.

“Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor,” Rhodes told Sam. “Which is one more than you have.

“So let’s say we agree to this thing,” Wilson starts. “How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?”

“117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you’re just like, ‘No that’s cool. We got it.”

“I have an equation,” Vision announces as you get back on the elevator.

“Oh this will clear it up,” Sam mutters.

“In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate.“

“Toaster oven’s got a point there,” you mumble, stepping back on the metal deathtrap.

Steve asks,“Are you saying it’s our fault?”

“I’m saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict… breeds catastrophe. Oversight… oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.”

“Boom,” Rhodey says.

You see Tony lying on the couch, quite relaxed, contradicting the tense atmosphere.

“Tony,” Nat starts. “You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal.”

“It’s because he’s already made up his mind,” Steve explained.

“Boy, you know me so well,” Stark starts, getting up and rubbing the back of his head. “Actually I’m nursing an electromagnetic headache,” he pauses to grab a mug of coffee. “That’s what’s going on, Cap. It’s just pain. It’s discomfort. Who’s putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?”

Tony puts his phone in a basket and taps the screen. An image is projected of a smiling young man.

“Oh, that’s Charles Spencer, by the way. He’s a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn’t want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn’t go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where, Sokovia.”

He pauses for a second as the team soaks in the information.

“He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won’t know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass.

“There’s no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I’m game. If we can’t accept limitations, if we’re boundary-less, we’re no better than the bad guys.”

“Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don’t give up,” Steve rebuttals.

“Who said we’re giving up?”

“We are if we’re not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blame.”

“I’m sorry. Steve,” Rhodey blurted. “That-that is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we’re talking about. It’s not the World Security Council, it’s not SHIELD, it’s not HYDRA.”

“No, but it’s run by people with agendas, and agendas change.”

“That’s good,” Tony starts. “That’s why I’m here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing.

“Tony, you chose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don’t think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don’t let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own.”

“If we don’t do this now, it’s gonna be done to us later. That’s a fact. That won’t be pretty.”

Wanda finally speaks up, “You’re saying they’ll come for me.”

“We would protect you,” Vision promised.

“Maybe Tony’s right,” the redhead speaks. “If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off--”

“Aren’t you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?” Sam interrupts.

“I’m just… I’m reading the terrain. We have made… some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back.

“Focus up,” Tony says. “I’m sorry, did I just mishear or did you agree with me?”

“Oh, I want to take it back now.”

“No, no, no. You can’t retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case-closed--I win.”

From what you see, Steve stands to leave abruptly.

You then walk out of the elevator, tablet still in hand with the footage up. The captain walks past you just as you turn the corner and spot the team.

“Someone’s upset,” you hum.

You walk past everyone towards the fridge and grab a water bottle.

“Anyway, that was very childish. And kinda stupid.”

Inquisitive looks are thrown your way and you hold up the tablet awkwardly as you plop down on a chair.

“I was watching you. I kinda do that a lot. It’s not as creepy as it sounds.”

You open the bottle and take a sip.

“What are you doing down here kid--”

“Ahhh,” you interrupt. “Don’t call me a kid. I haven’t been a child for years.”

“Just answer the question,” Tony snaps.

“I like to stay informed. No one tells me anything and while you think that these private meetings only affect you, it doesn’t. It affects me too. You may not remember I’m your child but several people do. And that puts me in danger. So yes, I listen to your conversations to make sure it’s nothing I need to worry about.”

An awkward silence washes over as you gulp down more water.

“Anyway, I was just riding up and down the elevator waiting for you guys to finish. That Ross dude is kinda creepy by the way. But you’re really considering signing that thing?”

“Not you too,” your father mutters.

You let out a laugh and everyone looks at you strangely.

“Is this funny to you?” Rhodey asks.

“Yes,” you stop laughing abruptly. “I find it hilarious that this is the same government that was ready to drop a nuke on the city during the Battle of New York not giving a damn about a single civilian that was still in the area. I find it hilarious that this is the same government that lets thousands of children and women of color go missing and not do a thing about it. It’s funny that this is the same government that let HYDRA, Red Room, AIM; all that shit grow right under their nose. It’s funny because this government is the same one that uses taxpayer money for dumb ass projects and unnecessary military funding instead of using it to fund shit that helps the civilians they claim they care so much about. I mean how can you not find this situation amusing?”

“Look,” Tony attempts.

“I’m not finished,” you challenge, looking him dead in the eyes. “This government don’t give a damn about y’all, especially not the three of us,” you say, gesturing to yourself, Sam, and Rhodey. “We’d be booted out of this country before you could even blink if they ever got the chance and you know that.

“I don’t know why y’all are so adamant on gaining the government’s trust when they don’t give a flying fuck about you or these goddamn civilians. All they care about is power. They don’t care how many civilians come up missing or die in some tragic accident. It doesn’t matter what happens. When they see someone becoming richer or smarter or more powerful than they are, they will do anything to shut that shit down.

“I don’t understand how you can’t see that. And maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s just me and my experience,” you pause, catching the gaze of every person in the room with hard eyes. You take a deep breath and try to calm down. “Sign it if you want to. Think about how many lives you’ll lose then.”

You stand from your spot and walk into the open elevator, ready to get to the comfort of your bed.

It had been two days since the initial meeting and you were currently sitting on Michelle’s bed watching her read.

“You’re really pretty,” you muttered out of the blue.

You saw your girlfriend’s cheeks develop a subtle red tint as she mumbled back a ‘thank you, and continued reading. You groan and gently pull the book out of her hands.

“Hey,” she quietly protests.

“Please,” you pout, holding your arms out as an invitation.

MJ fondly rolls her eyes before lowering herself onto you. You hummed contently and squeezed her before planting a kiss on her cheek.

She surprised you by turning her head and giving you a lingering kiss. That one kiss soon turned into something more.

Michelle gently pushed you onto your back and straddled your hips. Bending down she kissed you once again, her lips gliding with yours.

This continued for a few minutes, taking small breaks in between to breathe. You don’t think you could ever get enough of her and hoped that she was feeling similarly.

You kissed until your jaws hurt. The euphoric feeling still lingered as MJ rested her forehead against yours, trying to catch her breath.

“We should do that again sometime,” you mumbled.

Your girlfriend nodded in response, giving one more chaste kiss to your lips before dropping to your side.

“Tomorrow,” she said after glancing at the clock that read 10:47.

“Guess I’m spending the night then.”

“I have no problem with that.”

The next day, you were awoken by beeping from your phone. Once you were fully aware of your surroundings you picked up the device and read the notifications that M.I.A sent through. Scanning through them, you sat up with urgency and played the video.

“A bomb hidden in a news van ripped through the UN building in Vienna. More than 70 people have been injured. At least 12 are dead, including Wakanda’s King T’Chaka. Officials have released a video of a suspect who they have identified as James Buchanan Bares, the Winter Soldier. The infamous HYDRA agent, linked to numerous acts of terrorism and political assassinations.”

Carefully removing Michelle’s arm from around your waist, you stand up and move to the corner of the room. You press the contact and hold the phone up to your ear.

“Nat what the fuck is going on?”

You hear the woman sigh on the other side of the phone. “Look, just… stay wherever you are.”

“Yeah, okay, whatever. I want answers, Nat.”

“(Y/n),” she says firmly. “Calm down and go back to whatever you were doing. Right now, this does not concern you and I would like it to stay that way. Do you understand me?”

There was some silence, before you let out a forced chuckle.

“Okay, whatever. Bye.”

“(Y/n) c’mo--”

You disconnected the call and gently tossed the phone onto MJ’s desk. “You sound stressed.”

Turning around to face the bed, you see Michelle sat up and leaning against the headboard. You nod slowly and crawl your way up towards her.

“I am.”

You feel her hand take hold of your clenched ones and she rubs them, causing you to relax slightly.

“There was a um, bombing at the--the um… signing thing. And no one wants to tell me what’s going on, so,” you end the sentence, shrugging.

MJ’s head drops onto your shoulder and you let her cuddle close.

“They told me to stay where I was. So hopefully we can get something good out of that.”

There was no response and you thought she had fallen back asleep, but you were proven wrong when your girlfriend started getting up.

“C’mon,” she instructed, holding her hand out when she saw the look of confusion on your face.

Taking her hand, the two of you made your way to the kitchen.

She turned around and grabbed your shoulders.

“We are going to make some breakfast… or lunch whatever. And then we are going to binge watch until we can binge watch no longer. Alright?”

You nod your head, chuckling and then got to work.

It had been days since you last heard from anyone. No updates from Natasha. M.I.A even told you there hasn’t even been a great deal of movement in the compound. Today you decided you would head back.

When you arrived it was quiet. As you walked down the halls you heard distant chatter and followed it.

Turning the corner, you were surprised at what you saw.

“What the hell happened?”

The two men turned to look your way, but you were given no answers.

Tony had bruises on his face and he looked more tense than usual. Rhodey had some sort of tech on his legs.

“You fought them. You fought them all, didn’t you?”

Both men looked away and avoided your gaze.

“You didn’t even listen to what I said. This is what the government does. I tried to tell you, but you didn’t even fucking listen,” you ranted, your voice slightly raising.

“Us breaking apart wasn’t the government. Most of this is on some guy th--”

“Well the government allowed it to happen so I’d say it is their fault!”

You turned to your father with pleading eyes.

“Where are they, Tony?”

“Kid, they’re criminals now, I don’t--”

“Stop calling me that! I’m--I’m not some kid. I’m not your kid,” you let out a frustrated breath. “You--you couldn’t talk it out? Like mature adults? You just had to go assert your dominance somewhere--in what? An--an airport? Some vacant lot? You just had to fight. Do you not know how to communicate?”

You looked at the two men, shook your head, and brushed past them.

Just when things were alright.

“(Y/n)?”

“What M.I.A?”

You were currently laying in your bed trying to control the tears that were begging to fall from your eyes due to the amount of overwhelming shit you had been hit with. You talked with MJ for a little while and while it helped a bit, you honestly were still feeling like… well shit.

“There’s a package for you.”

Furrowing your eyebrows, you head down to where the mail is usually placed, get the package with your name on it, and head back to your room.

Grabbing a pair of scissors, you cut the tape and open the box. Inside was a letter and a phone.

Hey sweetheart.

It was Natasha’s handwriting.

I’m sorry. I really am. We all are. I wish things wouldn’t have ended this way, but they did and we can’t really do anything about it now.

I listened to what you said. I listened and I tried my best to understand. I don’t think I ever wanted to sign the accords in the first place. The only reason I did so was so that we could stay together. So that I could stay with you. This team is the only family I’ve had in a long time. The fact that that stack of papers could end that scared me.

I just kept trying to convince myself that signing the Accords was the right thing to do; anything to keep this team together. Anything to keep everything from falling apart.

But the more I thought about it, I realized. You were right. Everything you said. This government doesn’t care. And if the government doesn’t care like they’re supposed to then we need to. People need the government, but they don’t have it. They do have us though. And they always will.

I love you. I didn’t say it enough and I don’t know when or if I’ll ever get to tell you that again. You are so precious to me and I’m sorry I couldn’t stay. If you ever need anything, you can always give me a call.

You wiped your eyes and gently picked up the phone. You held it in your hands for a moment before setting it down. You folded the letter back up neatly and placed both items in the top drawer of your nightstand.

You laid back down on your bed with less tears on your face.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

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chaoticevilbean · 3 years

Text

Voltron Humans are Weird 2/?

Lance tapped his fingers against the ground again and again, eyes boring into the laser wall that kept them trapped in the cell. Two sentries stood outside, stiff and cold. He had been silent from the moment the Galra had captured him and Pidge on their intelligence-gathering mission. The others were sure to come for them, but the Cuban worried about what might happen before then. Pidge was his little sister in all but blood. He didn't know how he'd survive anything happening to her.

Loud, heavy footsteps pounded their way towards the cell, causing Pidge to scoot closer to Lance, her hands clenched and shoulders tight. The older Paladin moved a bit in front of his comrade, just as tense but ready to fight anyone who tried to hurt the younger. A large Galran commander, broad and furred, stopped at their cell, motioning at the sentries to lower the laser wall. They obeyed, and the commander walked towards his prisoners, teeth bared in what was either a smile or a snarl.

"So we've finally caught some of the famous Voltron Paladins," he growled out. "And you were foolish enough to bring the Green Lion along. Three little presents for the Emperor. Only," the Galra paused, and his mouth closed as he smirked, "he doesn't care about the condition the Paladins of Voltron are in. Which means I can do whatever is necessary to obtain the possible information you have."

"I knew the Galra were stupid, but I didn't know you were dumb enough to think that we'd give you intel."

"Silence, Voltron scum. With the right methods, you'll give me anything I want." Lance grimaced, but quickly turned it into a smirk. The Paladins had learned rather quickly that it is much harder for aliens to lie or hide their emotions, so even amateur acting among humans would be considered highly skilled for other races. It worked to Voltron's advantage that Terrans were underestimated by aliens, leaving them to believe that such skills like lying were beyond the humans' level. Even the Alteans had yet to figure out that the Paladins could lie with ease.

"We're trained in the art of torture, both in inflicting pain upon our enemies in ways that leave them begging for mercy, and in withstanding that which is inflicted upon us. We have watched each other suffer and learned to defy our natural protective instincts. Unless you have something new to give us, which I highly doubt, there is no way you will succeed in getting information." Pidge side-eyed her companion, but was quick to catch on and smirk as well, as though completely confident in her abilities to resist torture.

"Then I guess we'll give you something new, Blue Paladin," the commander sneered, signaling the sentries to grab Lance. As he was dragged out, the Cuban's only thoughts were of how it was him and not his little sister. The Green Paladin looked on with a stoic face, set in the act that had only just begun, but horror was in her eyes.

Lance was taken to a new room and stuck in a chair. He was flanked by two sentries and four Galran soldiers lined the walls. The door closed with a slam, and the Blue Paladin knew he had no chance of fighting his way out. Though he followed Pidge's lead in retaining an expression of indifference, his heart clenched at the thought that whatever torture they had in mind didn't require restraints. It was a scarier notion than if he had been completely subdued.

The commander moved into Lance's view, his sneer still present. He beckoned a soldier forward, a large box in their hands. It was placed on the table, a dull thunk echoing in the room. The soldier scurried backwards as the contents of the container were unloaded. Several beakers, a few sealed cartons, and a plate of what seemed to be mint leaves. Lance attempted to maintain his straight face, keeping himself as still as possible as he studied the probable poisons. It made sense now. He had no chance of fighting his way out, and poison didn't require restraints. All it required was getting it into the desired person's system.

"Well, Paladin, I do hope that you've prepared for your inevitable demise. Maybe you'll manage to squeeze out a surrender as you burn from the inside." As he spoke, the hulking Galra opened one of the cartons, carefully using a scoop to measure out some bright red powder. He seemed extremely cautious of the substance, and Lance tensed in anticipation. The scoop was brought towards his face, and the sentries on either side of him held their guns aimed at his head. His only chance of living was ingesting whatever was given to him.

The commander grasped Lance's jaw, forcing the human's mouth open and dumping the powder in. The boy's eyes widened as he tasted the poison. It... was... spicy. All of the Galra in the room were staring at their prisoner, the underlings peering nervously at him as though he were about to collapse.

But Lance's mind was elsewhere. The poison was spicy, not a whole lot, but maybe like a jalepeno, and only for a moment before it started to fade. He had swallowed immediately, and the burn felt no worse than his mother's mild chili, made for the young ones and their low tolerances. Many of the foods in space were bland, practically tasteless. Even if this poison was deadly, Lance wanted more. He missed spicy foods, missed the burn and the numbness that came with them. He was the kind of person that had tried ghost peppers and Carolina Reapers for fun.

"Is the pain so much that you can't speak, oh great Paladin," his captor asked with venom and victory in his voice. "Do you think you were prepared enough for this?"

"What is this," Lance suddenly questioned, turning to face the Galra head-on with curiosity dominating his expression. The being was surprised, but nonetheless answered.

"A deadly poison that burns through all it touches, C18H27NO3. We learned the human word from the Champion when he was given a small portion of it, to test his strength. Your species calls it capsaicin."

"Capsaicin?" The commander nodded, his smirk back in place, though it disappeared with the next words. "I love this stuff! When my team comes to save us, can we have your supply?"

"For what?" one of the soldiers spoke up fearfully, their eyes trained on the Terran.

"For food! We use capsaicin to season our food! It's delicious!"

"It burns!"

"I know! It's sooo good!" The commander slammed his fist onto the table, growling. He closed the carton and moved it aside, pulling one of the beakers over instead.

"Perhaps this will be better suited for our motives!" His voice raised as he shoved the glass container over to Lance. The boy was less nervous about this, instead grasping the beaker and promptly downing the entire dark liquid. If the powder was capsaicin, then chances are the other 'poisons' were actually not toxic to him. Hunk had once mentioned that many foods humans consumed were considered highly poisonous. The liquid was black tea, served cold.

"So why is black tea considered poisonous? Lemme guess, the caffeine?" The Paladin leaned back in his chair, arms rising to go behind his head. He was greatly amused by the faces of the Galra in the room, and decided that he would take this to the next level. Their own plan reversed and used against them.

The Cuban leaned back forward, bent over the table as he grabbed another beaker. It was fizzing, so he assumed carbonated soda. It was indeed Diet Coke, or something similar.

"Man, these poisons are failing at their jobs. The first is in many dishes back home, the second is used to keep people awake, and this one is soda. We drink it as a common beverage or a treat." He snatched a carton next, pulling out a piece of pineapple. "Mmm, bromelain. The snack that eats you back." He popped the fruit into his mouth, then a few more, chewing with vigor at the delicious taste. Oh how he had missed Earth foods.

He proceeded to wash down the snack with some of the next beaker, though he stopped halfway through chugging it when he realized what it was.

"Shiro will kill me if I get drunk, and I'm not risking it to prove a point. Ethanol may be a fun recreational drink, but not for kids." The Galra seemed more alarmed at that (though Lance would only later learn it was a combination of him referring to himself as a kid and calling ethanol a fun recreational drink), but Lance was already grabbing the container of clear liquid.

"Seriously? You guys think water is poisonous?"

"THAT IS DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE AND YOU SHOULD BE DEAD TEN TIMES OVER!" the commander screamed in the Terran's face. Said Terran sighed.

"Bud, humans need dihydrogen monoxide, or water as we call it, in order to survive. Our planet is literally 70% of this stuff. It rains this stuff. We sweat this stuff. I told you that there weren't any methods that could get me to talk. Now pass over those mint leaves and whatever else you think should kill me. I want to save it for Hunk so we can have some food that actually has flavor for once."

The alarms blared before any of the soldiers or higher-up could respond. All personnel rushed from the room, desperate to leave the human behind. Lance was perfectly happy to wait. Chances are they would forget about Pidge due to his terror tactics, and that meant that the sentries would-

Yep, there they were, powering down. The others must've been spotted on the cameras while getting the female Paladin out. Lance got to his feet, whistling a merry tune. He put all the containers and the plate back into the box, closing the lid. With a small heave, he began his way out, carrying his cargo towards where the Lions were most likely to be held.

About five minutes into his rather casual escape, Keith and Pidge came barreling around a corner. The smaller one let out a sigh of relief, pleased to see her brother-in-arms unharmed. Both showed confusion at the box, but neither questioned it, reserving that for later when they weren't on an enemy ship. Instead, they each grabbed a side of the Blue Paladin and his cargo, and took off once more for the exit route.

It took them an hour to get back to the Castle, between lugging the box back to the Green Lion, taking care of any soldiers between them and their escape, and getting rid of the cruisers. Lance immediately disembarked the robotic feline and headed for the kitchen, box in his arms. The other Paladins followed after, curious as to what was so important their comrade risked his freedom to obtain it. Pidge and Keith also wanted to get the story of how Lance wasn't locked up or injured in any way when they found him.

In the kitchen, the Blue Paladin of Voltron began unloading the contents of his prize, and Pidge immediately whipped out a scanner. Her face lit up at the sight of her screen, recognizing what the information was saying about the 'poisons'.

"No. Way," she whispered, looking up at Lance with the biggest smile ever. "No. Quiznacking. WAY! OH MY GLOB, YOU FOUND EARTH FOOD!"

"That's Earth food?" Hunk picked up.

"Quiznack yeah! No more tasteless goop!"

"You risked not escaping to get food?"

"Shiro," Lance called, silencing the chaos that was rising. "I told them that we Paladins are trained in the art of torture and can withstand both our own pain and watching each other in pain. Told them that there wasn't anything they had that could hurt us enough to break our wills." Shiro blanched for a moment before he realized what that meant. The Galra would always take whatever the Paladins said as truth. "That commander that tried to torture me thought he had some great way to break me... Poison."

"They thought these were poisons?" Keith asked incredulously. Lance nodded.

"Not only did it let me know that they don't know anything about humans who train against torture, but also nothing about human biology. I mean, even if all of this was actually toxic to us, a lot of people that learn to resist torture build up immunities to poison as well. They know nothing about us. And guess what, Hunk?"

"Hmm?" Hunk's eyes caught the mischievous glint in his bro's eyes. This was gonna be good.

"The first thing they gave me... a scoop of capsaicin."

"No way." Matching grins spread on the duo's faces. At the Garrison, in their first three months there, Lance would eat jalepenos with every meal thanks to the large variety of food the cafeteria provided. A benefit of going to a prestigious school that felt a little bad about how hard it pushed its students. He kept eating the peppers at every meal and as snacks for his entire school experience, but in those first three months, the other students couldn't seem to believe it. Some thought he was exaggerating his tolerance of spiciness, and some wanted to see how much he could handle. Soon enough, there were kids buying the spiciest foods and peppers they could, then going up to Lance at meals or between classes to bet against him eating it. Every single time, Lance would accept the bet, devour the food, and pull the money from his stunned peers' fingers. Several occasions, he was late to Iverson's class and was seen towing whatever frozen kid had bet that time behind him. Iverson hated it when that happened, mostly because every other student vouched that it wasn't Lance's fault and that he was probably suffering an awful burning sensation at that very moment. He wasn't.

By the end of those three months, he had gained over $3,000 from the bets, and the faculty couldn't do anything. He split the money with Hunk, especially when his roommate used that money to buy spices for food he would always share with the Cuban. Throughout the rest of the school year, whenever someone new transferred in, the other students convinced them to do a bet as well, if only so they could watch someone else suffer as they had suffered. It continued the next year as a tradition, with former peers tricking both younger and older kids to bet, and some bringing in items they had saved just for that occasion. Pidge was never tricked into betting, due to her insistence on being alone, and neither was Keith, because he was an extreme loner that no one could seem to befriend.

Hunk and Lance therefore both knew that there was no way aliens, who couldn't handle capsaicin, who had practically tasteless food because of their intolerances, could somehow give Lance something spicy enough to hurt him in any way.

"Someone want to clue us in?" Pidge asked, eyeing the rest of the Garrison Trio.

"Did you ever hear about the Spice King?" Hunk shot back, as way of a response.

"I did," Keith interjected. "I never met them, but I heard that it was someone who could eat anything from bell peppers to Carolina Reapers and still make it to class on time."

"Oh, I think I did, too," Pidge exclaimed. "I heard in passing, but I was so obsessed back then that I never found out anything more than they existed."

"Well, the Spice King was a kid in our year," Hunk started. "He was this dude who could indeed eat anything spicy. The only reason he was ever late to class was because he made sure that whoever gave him the food got there as well. They almost always froze up because he would just accept what they gave and eat it on the spot. Kids in our year bet against him every day, multiple times on some. The dude earned a few thousand because they wouldn't stop. Usually, students would convince others to bet against him just because they wanted it to be done by everyone. Happened every year as well."

"Adam told me about that kid. Apparently, the teachers couldn't do anything to stop the betting. It wasn't gambling because the outcome was always the same and it wasn't like anything was being sold. Do you know who he is?" Shiro had his arms crossed as he stared curiously at the Yellow Paladin, who was now beaming in excitement.

"It was Lance."

Silence.

"The Galra tried to feed me, the Spice King, a spoonful of spice to make me give them information. Apparently, it was supposed to burn really badly. It wasn't even that bad. Barely jalepeno level. And then the commander went for some really dark liquid, and at that point, I was like 'if they think capsaicin is poison, what else do they got that is poison to them, but not to me' and so I just took the beaker from them and downed it. It turned out to be black tea, and I just gave up on the whole pretending to be a prisoner because they thought I was gonna die from caffeine. Caffeine. If I remember correctly, I had soda, water, pineapple, and a bit of alcohol, but- but," Lance held up a hand to stop Shiro's lecture, "I only chugged it because I didn't know what it was and I stopped the moment that I realized it was ethanol. Although, to be honest, it was really watered down. Well, not watered down, because water is supposedly toxic, but it was real weak. Like, a preteen could probably drink that entire beaker and it wouldn't do anything. It's right... here." He pushed the glass container towards Shiro, knowing that the man would want the alcohol away from children and near his own mouth. The dude was a tired dad in every sense. "Anyways, they got really terrified, especially when I kept making remarks about Terran uses for each 'poison', so all the Galra rushed out the moment the alarm went off, and then Pidge shut the sentries down so I just packed up the box and brought it along. I thought we'd all enjoy some flavor in our food. I also wanted- no, I needed the spice. Spice is life."

Shiro sighed, and picked up the beaker of ethanol, plainly about to down the entire thing. He was prevented from doing so - and the others were prevented from asking their burning questions - by a high-pitched, very terrified voice.

"PUT THAT DOWN, NUMBER ONE! IT'S HIGHLY TOXIC!"

"WHY IS THERE A BOX OF POISONS ON THE TABLE? GET THEM PUT AWAY, QUICKLY!"

"NUMBER THREE, STEP AWAY FROM THEM, YOU'LL BE DEAD IN TICKS IF THOSE TOUCH YOU!"

"Woah, woah, guys, it's okay," Shiro attempted to calm the Alteans.

"IT IS VERY MUCH NOT OKAY! WHY DID YOU EVEN BRING THOSE ABOARD?"

"PUT THE BEAKER DOWN, NUMBER ONE! WE NEED YOU ALIVE! THINK OF YOUR CHILDREN!"

"QUIET!" the Black Paladin snapped, patience running out like a little kid runs out of Halloween candy. The aliens fell silent, staring in shock at the leader of Voltron. Said man held out the glass, tipped it slightly in a cheers that showed the liquid quite clearly, then swiftly pulled it to his lips and drank the entire thing in one go. Allura and Coran both gasped in terror, eyes comically wide as they could only gape at the human. Shiro finished the drink off with a satisfied exhale, his own eyes closing for a moment as he simply took in the moment.

"Well, you were right about it being weak. I don't think an entire barrel of that stuff could make me so much as dizzy. And princess, Coran, this stuff isn't poisonous. At least, the- uh... Lance, what's the stuff that's in what you had?"

"Bromelain, caffeine, capsaicin, dihydrogen monoxide, ethanol, and carbonation."

"Those aren't poisonous to humans. They're actually considered common foods and drinks on Earth. Once Pidge finishes scanning it all, Hunk'll probably include it in our meals. No offense to either of you, but your food is awful. It's so bland that I once licked a rock I found on a planet just because it was salty and took away from the horrible taste that goo left in my mouth."

"Oh, I remember that," Keith put in. "That's why we got those salt-licks from the Earth store at our last mall trip."

"You- how are you not dead?" Allura finally blurted out, face tinging blue.

"Ethanol, or alcohol as we humans call it, is a large part of human culture. It used to be safer to consume products with ethanol than it was to consume just water, so people gained higher tolerances to it. It still affects us, and we can still die, but if it's taken in moderation and you wait until your body is fully matured, the effects are extremely minimal. Even now that most people have access to clean water, alcohol consumption is a common recreational activity. That said, Lance, you better drink lots of water. However weak that stuff was, I don't want to risk anything." Lance nodded as Coran spoke up.

"You consume ethanol, a known poison, which is still considered toxic to humans, for fun?" A nod answered. "What about the C18H27NO3? And the C39H66N2O29? C8H10N4O2? H2O?"

"Translation?"

"Capsaicin, bromelain, caffeine, and water."

"Oh, well, capsaicin is a poison found in peppers and I think a few other plants. Humans use it as a seasoning, and depending on where each person is from and how they grew up, tolerance levels vary. For example, Lance can eat a pepper that burns your hands severely. His tolerance is really high, probably one of the highest I've heard of. He was famous at the Garrison for it. On the other hand, I can barely handle a jalapeno, which is a pretty mild in comparison. Scratch that, it is very mild when compared to a Carolina Reaper."

"Bromelain is known to be toxic as well. But for us humans, it usually only causes a tingling or itching in the mouth, occasionally mild reactions in our stomachs as well. Our saliva and stomach acids digest the bromelain before it digests us, and so many people enjoy consuming pineapple, which contains bromelain, as a snack. There's even this big, extremely long dispute about whether pineapple should be put on pizza or not. Personally, we all had that discussion, and have agreed to each their own."

"Caffeine is commonly found in coffee and some teas, and in many sodas, which are all beverages. Chocolate is a treat that also can contain caffeine, and it's eaten by basically everyone who isn't allergic. Caffeine has been known to have adverse effects on people, but it's much like ethanol: consume in moderation and it won't do as much harm. It's actually used to help people focus and become more aware of their surroundings. What I wouldn't give for a cup of coffee."

"Black?"

"Common misconception. I actually enjoy mochas."

"Nice, but have you tried a con panna?"

"I was going to but my plan was derailed by a certain Empire of purple aliens."

"We have to get coffee at the Earth store. Or maybe a poison store. I mean, if caffeine is poison, the odds are good it'll be there. Then, Kaltenecker and I are making you the best con panna ever." Allura cleared her throat to gain Shiro's attention once more.

"What about dihydrogen monoxide? How is that considered nontoxic?" All five humans exchanged amused looks, chuckles slipping out at the chaos they were about to unleash.

"Princess, dihydrogen monoxide covers 71% of our planet. Most weather revolves around it and humans are actually made up of 60% water, with our brains being about three-quarters of water. We need to consume dihydrogen monoxide to live. I think the only reason we didn't die from dehydration is because the Castle started producing water for us. Really glad, too. Dehydration is an awful way to go."

"Your water is dihydrogen monoxide?"

"What's your water?"

"We Alteans did not have water. It's only translated because of other races and their need for liquids. Coran and I gain most of our fluids from goo and hydration pouches."

"Okay, so what does dihydrogen monoxide do to most species?"

"Number One... think instant death."

"Can we put this aside for now?" Hunk called out. He was holding the spice in his hands, running his fingers like it was solid gold.

"What're planning on making?" And just like that, the Alteans and their dismay were left behind to discuss something else. Allura and Coran exchanged looks and swiftly left once again to the control room, pulling up their new log.

Humans are extremely resistant to toxins. Many chemicals in Terran foods and drinks are highly poisonous to most other races. A list of known poisons in Terran victuals is included below. Some of these are actually harmful to humans, yet they will still be consumed. Once again, a list is included of these chemicals. Important chemicals to remember for the care of humans are caffeine and ethanol. Caffeine can be used to bring a human into a more alert and focused state. Effectiveness is yet to be discovered, and the chemical should be given in extreme moderation until more data is collected. Ethanol is known to be harmful to Terrans, but is still used as a recreational drink. Sparingly give to humans, and only when they are stressed or somber. It is a rule that only fully matured humans are allowed to consume this beverage, given the harmful effects.

Dihydrogen monoxide covers a little under 3/4 of Earth's surface, and is necessary for the survival of humans. Under no circumstances is it to be kept away from a Terran who requests the substance. Terran weather usually includes dihydrogen monoxide, so caution is advised when visiting Earth. Until further information is gathered, avoiding visiting the planet at all would be prudent. Be warned that humans are 60% dihydrogen monoxide, so touching a human's skin or fluids would be very dangerous and should be prevented at all costs, especially if a being is unprotected and/or particularly susceptible to the substance. Humans will likely not realize they are covered in poison, so it is best if they are reminded each time they meet with a being from another race, until they remember on their own.

Data is still being collected about this species. Approach with caution.

#voltron #vld #oneshots #humans are weird #humans are space orcs #earth is space australia #voltron oneshots #humans are weird oneshots

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avengerscompound · 3 years

Text

Until the End of the World - 14

Until the End of the World: A Captain America Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers x F!Reader

Word Count: 1899

Rating: E

Warnings: pregnancy, canon typical violence

Synopsis: Four years after Steve and Bucky got to the bottom of the HYDRA conspiracy that had led to you and your son being hunted for the first three years of his life, you, Bucky, and Steve have carved out a nice life together. Things are calm and you feel like a family unit. When Geo starts calling Bucky and Steve ‘dad’, a decision is made to try and add to your family.

Things aren’t as calm as they seem. When your pregnancy hits the papers, HYDRA rears its head once again, and Steve and Bucky need to track you down to protect the family they had created.

Chapter 14

The morning had the chaotic energy that Steve had come to love since you’d first moved in all those years ago. Not every day was like this. Often he’d come back from his run to find Geo watching morning cartoons eating his cereal quietly while you and Bucky were plating up breakfast for the adults, and everything was calm and moving smoothly. Then there were days like today. Days when he’d get in and Bucky would be looking harried as he juggled three different things in the kitchen, and you were chasing Geo around with a towel wrapped around your head because Geo was still in his pajamas.

Steve couldn’t quite explain why he liked this kind of morning chaos. Maybe it was because he thrived on stress and he was good at making decisions on the fly. Maybe it was just that it felt real. It wasn’t the fairytale happy ending. It was a real family dealing with real things. Given how bizarre his life could get, it was nice having something so completely normal he could rely on sometimes. With the resistance he was hitting with getting both him and Bucky to be able to legally adopt Geo without you giving up any of your parental rights, it was nice to get this reminder that even if it had to just be a case of one or the other, this was his family and no law would change that.

“Geo, you need to get a move on, we’re going to be late,” you said, as you tried to dry out your hair. You still had your robe on, and you were moving around the apartment like you were looking for something.

“What are you missing, honey?” Steve asked as he came in. You were very close to your due date, you’d been suffering more and more by what you had been calling ‘baby brain’. The most common signs of it were forgetting simple words, going into a room to do something and forgetting what you went in there for, and misplacing just about everything you put your hands on.

“My purse,” you said. “We have to pay for his excursion to the Natural History Museum.”

“You had it by the bed,” he said. “Something about chapstick.”

“Shit, right,” you said, hurrying back into the bedroom. “Get dressed, Geo,” you shouted over your shoulder as you disappeared into your room.

Steve chuckled, following after you. “Did you want me to do the drop-off today?” He asked as he pulled off his sweatstained compression shirt.

“No, it’s fine. I have to go out today anyway,” you said. “I just don’t want him to get there late.”

“I’ll just take a shower and help you both get ready,” Steve said, coming over and kissing the top of your head. You looked up at him from your seat on the edge of the bed. “Thank you, honey,” you said.

He left you to get ready and took his shower, making it quick and perfunctory, before coming out and getting dressed. You were standing eating toast while Bucky and Geo sat at the table finishing up their breakfast.

You looked at your phone and thrust it quickly into your purse. “Come on, G,” you said. “We have to go.”

Geo shoved the last mouthful of pancake into his mouth and jumped off his chair. He kissed Bucky on the cheek and then Steve. “Bye, dads,” he said, grabbing his bag.

“Are you doing pick up, Buck?” You asked.

“Yeah, I’ve got it,” Bucky nodded.

“Captain Rogers,” FRIDAY announced as Steve was pouring himself a coffee. “You’re needed urgently in the strategy room.”

“Thanks, FRIDAY,” Steve said, putting his cup back down. “Guess I won’t be eating after all.”

“There’s always coffee and donuts up there,” Bucky said, getting up and collecting up the dishes. “I’ll see you up there.”

Steve kissed his cheek and followed you out into the hall. “Hope it’s nothing too bad,” you said. The elevator doors were opening as the three of you walked down the hall.

“We’ll handle it,” he said and kissed your cheek. “Have a good day. You take the elevator, I’ll use the stairs.”

“Thanks, honey,” you said, bustling Geo through the doors. “See you tonight”

Steve veered off into the stairwell and took the stairs two at a time. It was a dozen floors up, but he moved quickly and he arrived at the strategy room sooner than if he’d waited for the elevator to return. It was still early, so the only people present were Hill, who always got in well before any of the Avengers, and always left much after them, and a couple of lower down SHIELD agents whose jobs it was just to make sure someone was there if something big went down. They monitored lines of communication and passed off intel gathered overnight to the appropriate people.

They both looked nervous like they were expecting to be court marshaled for something. “What’s going on?”

“Do either of you knuckleheads want to tell him or should I?” Hill snapped.

They shifted uneasily and looked down at the ground as Sam came into the room.

“What’s this big emergency?” He asked.

“About three hours ago, they got word there was a breakout at the Raft,” Hill explained. “It was a minor breakout, but precise and coordinated. They lost one prisoner. These idiots thought the appropriate response would be to send two Agents out to see if they could recover said escapee. Didn’t think to ask who it was that escaped.”

“Who was it?” Steve asked, feeling a slow tightening in his chest.

“Ophelia Sarkissian,” Hill said when neither of the agents would speak up.

“Viper?” Steve said, quickly moving to the computer panels. Immediate and intense dread set it. You would already be halfway to the school and while you had a driver with you, they were not equipped to deal with a HYDRA attack. He could only imagine that that’s why Viper had made the break. He began searching up the tracking on the car and logging into the police reports for incidents on the path between here and the school. “You couldn’t have led with that?”

“Has she already left?” Sam asked, reading his mind.

“Yes, she would have been in the car by the time I got here,” Steve said. There were no police reports but the usual route you took to the school had been blocked off by road work and you’d been diverted down one of the smaller side alleys. “Shit,” Steve cursed. “FRIDAY, assemble the team immediately.”

“Yes, sir,” FRIDAY replied.

“I’ll go now,” Sam said. “Scout ahead. Maybe I can get to her before they do.”

“Thanks, Sam,” Steve said, quickly flicking through the possible alternate routes. “FRIDAY, tell Geo to let his mom know what’s happening.”

“Yes, sir,” the AI responded. Almost simultaneously the system began lightning up with calls to 911 reporting an attack.

“Shit!” Steve cursed. “Hill, tell the other’s what’s happening. I’m going to suit up.”

He ran out the door and down to the armory, taking the stairs again because even the elevator couldn’t beat his quickest descent down the stairs. He pulled on his armor as quickly as he could and by the time he was done Bucky and Bruce had come in.

“They took her?” Bucky asked in a panic as he quickly tried to get dressed in his armor.

“We don’t know for sure, but there’s a large attack in the city on her route,” Steve answered. “I’m going now, catch me up when you can.”

“Tony is already on his way. You want a lift with the Hulk?” Bruce asked.

“Do you mind?” Steve asked.

“For this? No,” Bruce said.

Steve rubbed Bucky’s shoulder as he followed Bruce out. The scientist took no time to release his anger when they reached the street, hunching over as his muscles expanded and twisted and his skin turned green. The Hulk looked around for a moment to get his bearings, and then down at Steve. “Which way?” He grunted.

Steve pointed and the Hulk picked him up and jumped. The Hulk couldn’t fly, but the leaps he took were so large and so fast that it was almost as good as. It wasn’t long until the sounds of sirens and gunfire reached them, and soon after that, Sam and Tony came into view, circling a scene of chaos on the ground. Police were scattered through a five-block area, trying to get people out to safety, and putting up roadblocks. Large groups of people dressed in dark green bodysuits fired into the crowd. “What’s the word?” Steve said when Hulk dropped him to the ground and charged into the group of HYDRA agents.

“They just swarmed her,” Sam said. “The car is there, and the driver is dead. There’s no sign of either her or Geo.”

“No one saw which way they went?” Steve asked as he charged into the crowd after the hulk, throwing his shield at the enemy to clear his way to the car.

“Sorry, Cap,” Sam answered. A lot of the witnesses were eliminated immediately, and the ones that weren’t are in shock. There are vague ‘we saw them being pulled into a black van’ but Tony and I have been doing sweeps and the only black vans we’ve seen aren’t it.”

“What the fuck?” Steve said as he rushed to the car. Tony didn’t even call him on his language, and Steve almost wished he had. The car hood had been crushed by something and the driver was dead behind the wheel. Both doors hung open and when Steve looked inside he saw Geo’s backpack, tablet, and your purse scattered over the back seat.

Steve felt like part of his heart had been ripped out. A group of HYDRA swarmed on him and he quickly fought them off. “How are there so many of them?” Steve asked. “I thought we’d weeded them out.”

“You know what they say, Cap,” Tony replied. “Cut off one head…”

“... and two more… Yeah, yeah,” Steve replied.

Steve looked around and ran out of the alley in the direction he hoped they might have driven off in. There were rubber marks on the road, the kind left when a car peels off quickly. “Tony, Sam, the vehicle that took them took off to the west. It was definitely heavy. I’d say a van or a truck. Scan anything that might fit that. They may have cloaking.”

“On it,” Sam said, swooping off to the west.

“FRIDAY, we need to do roadblocks, search all heavy vehicles,” Steve added.

“Sending in the request to the NYPD now,” FRIDAY responded.

Steve was about to jump back into the fight and see if he could question one of the HYDRA agents - not that he thought it would do any good - when Bucky appeared. “Steve, what happened? Where are they?”

Steve shook his head, feeling that cool exterior starting to crack now that Bucky was here too. He took a deep breath, attempting to pull it together even though all his body seemed to want to do was let himself break down in his lover's arms. He closed his eyes for a moment and shook it off. “We’ll get them back, Buck,” he said, putting his hand on Bucky’s arm. “We have to.”

// NEXT

#steve rogers #bucky barnes #steve rogers x reader #bucky barnes x reader #stucky #steve rogers x bucky barnes #stucky x reader #steve rogers x reader x bucky barnes #captain america fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #reader insert #pregnancy #until the end of the world

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make-me-imagine · 3 years

Text

Submission by @thebookbakery; this is their first published fic, so I hope you guys enjoy it, and let them know what you think!

—–

Bruce Banner (MCU) x Female!Reader (sorry…)

Warnings: Reader with mental illness, so much fluff, code green (but dw, Hulk is a softie)

Marvel Taglist: @aquariuslavenderhoney

Fic Written by: @thebookbakery

Go check out their new fic blog @trashywritestrash !!!

—–

Bruce’s POV

I shove my head in my hands, closing my eyes in a desperate attempt to calm my mind; even though I know it’s pointless. My thoughts have been bouncing around all day, leaving me unable to focus on any task for longer than thirty seconds. Even as they run circles in my head, my thoughts keep making their way back to her.

Y/N has been avoiding me for the past four days. But, to be fair, it’s not only me that she’s been avoiding. Wanda and Bucky noticed it too, but when I asked, they told me to let her come back in her own time. I understand why they would say that; but it’s getting increasingly difficult to hold myself back from knocking on her bedroom door. I’ve never been the type to be that direct- especially when it comes to women- but these past couple of days have been driving me to my wits end. I thought I was just worried, like any good friend would… But that’s not it. Tony’s daily ritual of annoying me while I try to work made me realize that I’m not worried I did something wrong.

I miss her.

Normally, she would come into the lab with enough coffee to kill a horse and sit with us. She would occasionally help me with an equation or grab Tony some tool he needed- but Y/N mainly stayed to keep us company. She’d join in on jokes and keep us from losing our minds to an unfinished project or a lack of sleep. I miss having her sit on an empty desk and read my screen over my shoulder. I miss seeing the sparkle in her eyes when we’d explain what we’re planning next. What I miss most is simply hearing her laugh at something I said. It’s nice. Knowing that Y/N enjoys my company. Or, at least, she did.

I have no idea what time it is, but it must be late. The compound is dead silent, and it’s pitch black outside. Suddenly, I can feel the other guy clawing at my brain, trying to take control. My head feels as if it’s splitting open, my eyes watering as a searing pain shoots from my temples outwards. The reflection of my face on the desk shows green veins appearing.

Oh no.

Y/N’s POV

I feel nothing but the cool water lapping at my ankles. My mind has been almost blank for the past week. This isn’t new, it’s basically a routine by now. Every once in a while, my head will empty, save for a few thoughts here and there. I won’t feel emotions, and when I do, they are so watered-down that I wonder if they’re real or if it’s just a reflex I’ve picked up after faking it for so long. When I get like this, I hide. I stay in my room, only leaving when necessary. I speak in short sentences, if at all. They don’t need to see me like this. I’m not fun, I don’t speak up, I sit on the couch and zone-out the whole time. Words will go in one ear and out the other, leaving only a small trace behind. I don’t want this version of me to be all they can see.

So here I sit with my feet in the pool at three in the morning because I can’t fall asleep. The pool is my usual choice on these nights. If anyone has a nightmare, they’ll go to the kitchen or the common room. No one comes out here. Especially not at night.

I take steady breaths, keeping myself calm. My eyes drift shut as tears slip out and land on my pajama bottoms. I lift my hand to cover my mouth as I sniffle, not wanting to make noise. The worst part of this is that I don’t have a reason for crying. I just feel like I need to get it out.

As I wipe my tears away, I hear movement behind me to my left and quickly turn. Years of spy training and paranoia helps in the reaction time department. My eyes widen.

“Bruce?” Loud footsteps approach and I realize that isn’t Bruce. The large green figure steps closer, dropping onto the ground beside me, “What are you doing out?”

“Hulk heard pretty girl cry,” He mumbles, not wanting to be loud. Y/N wonders if he’s being quiet out of courtesy or fear.

“I’m okay, big guy. But what about you? Are you okay? Did Stark do something stupid again?” He gives a small shake of his head.

“Y/N cry.”

My chest tightens slightly, “You… you came out just to check on me?” Hulk hums in agreeance, looking down into the clear blue water of the pool. “That’s sweet of you.”

After a moment of silence, Hulk glances over at me. When our eyes meet, he looks back to the pool and gently slides in, careful not to splash. Although he went slowly, Hulk is so large that the water overflows and spills over the edges of the tile. It soaks my bottom, but I don’t care; it’s just water. I give him a smile as he steps in front of me, “What are you doing?” the depth of the pool makes him slightly shorter than me, causing me to look down the tiniest bit to see his face.

“Pretty girl still sad,” he answers simply. I huff out a laugh.

“Why do you call me that?”

“Hulk think Y/N pretty,” Hulk looks down, like he’s nervous.

I roll my eyes with a soft chuckle, “Well, you need to meet more people,” he looks back up at me.

“Puny Banner think Y/N pretty too,” my eyes widen slightly.

“Really?” I feel my face heat up, but I try to keep calm. I don’t want to get my hopes up. So, what if he thinks I’m pretty? That doesn’t automatically mean he thinks of me as anything more than a friend.

“Yes,” I take a moment to collect my thoughts before Hulk asks, “Why pretty Y/N so sad?”

After taking a deep breath, I explain, “Sometimes… my mind goes blank and I- I feel kind of empty?” Knowing he’s probably confused, I elaborate, “Do you remember that shell I showed you? It was small and pink- you called it fragile.”

His eyes light up a bit as he nods, starting to get it, “Remember how I told you that a crab used to live inside of it, like a home?” Another nod, “Well… I kind of feel like a shell without a crab. It’s empty, and it just sits there until it’s useful again. When I feel like that, it’s sometimes hard for me to feel happy.” Hulk seems to get it but doesn’t say anything. Then, suddenly, he goes underwater. I watch curiously as he resurfaces, cheeks puffed out full of water. He looks up and puckers his lips, spurting water from his mouth like a roman fountain. And for the first time in the past week, I laugh. It’s quiet, subtle, but it’s real; and it feels good. Hulk sees and smiles when he’s done. Looking at him now, in this moment, it’s even harder for me to understand how people could be afraid of him. Hulk may look big and scary, but he’s a sweetheart.

“Y/N happy?” I couldn’t stop my smile if I wanted to.

“I am now.”

He looks excited, “Hulk make Y/N happy?”

“Yes, you do,” He smiles wide and steps forward, setting his head on your lap. He’s so precious. Carefully, I slide my fingers into his sopping hair, gently massaging his scalp. His eyes fall shut as he stays where he is. I’m completely soaked now, but I couldn’t care less- the incredible Hulk himself is snuggling me like a puppy and it’s adorable.

I don’t know how much time passes like this. Eventually, Hulk pulls away with a frown, “Puny Banner want out.” I reach out to cup his cheek, causing him to lean into my touch with a content smile.

“That’s okay, isn’t it? You can see me again soon.” I use both my hands to pull his face closer to mine, allowing me to place a small kiss on his forehead. He nods slowly.

“Bye-bye pretty Y/N,” And with that, he begins shrinking. I move my hands under his arms so that Bruce doesn’t drown as soon as he wakes up. When he’s back to normal, he immediately shoots up and looks around frantically.

“Bruce- it’s okay, you’re okay! I’m right here,” he calms down and leans his arms against the edge of the pool to hold himself up.

“Oh my- Y/N! Are you okay? Are you hurt?!” He begins looking over me for any injuries.

“No, no, I’m okay. He didn’t hurt anyone,” once he relaxes some, he places his head in his hands. Bruce didn’t move far after transforming, so he’s still close enough for you to comfortably place your fingers back into his hair.

“Y/N… Are you okay?”

I sigh, “Bruce, I promise you, Hulk did not hurt me,” he tenses slightly.

“I wasn’t talking about him…” I get the message and remove my hand from his hair.

“I’m sorry. I was playing with Hulk’s hair before, but I shouldn’t have assumed that you’d be okay with it too,” he looks confused. “You’re two different people with two different opinions. Just because he likes something, that doesn’t mean you like it too.”

“Actually,” Bruce looks down in his attempt to hide a blush, “I, uh… I do kinda like it. It feels… It feels nice.” I smile softly and nod, continuing the motions I was using on Hulk, getting a very similar reaction.

Bruce opens his eyes and looks up at me, not speaking until our eyes meet and are locked for an amount of time that is probably too long for ‘just friends’.

“Are you afraid of him?” I shake my head no, “Why not?”

I hold back my giggles, “Because you’re both big babies.”

His eyes widen slightly with curiosity, “What did he say that would make you think that?” The laugh escapes before I can stop it.

“Let’s see… He came out just because he heard me crying and wanted to check on me, then he called me pretty. After all that, he spit water out of his mouth like a fountain to cheer me up,” Bruce smiles softly, but it falls as he thinks on the words.

“Wait… What did he call you?” He sounds nervous. I was hoping he’d overlook that, but I guess I’m not that lucky.

“Hulk kept calling me ‘pretty girl’ or 'pretty Y/N’,” suddenly feeling shy, I continue, “He’s actually really sweet when you get to know him…” My voice trails off as I worry if I said too much. I know Bruce doesn’t like talking about Hulk, especially right after switching back. However, he only seems to blush at my words.

“Did he- uh, did he say anything else?” Bruce is looking down at his hands, fidgeting nervously like a child who is afraid he’s going to be yelled at. As if the skies finally clear on a cloudy day, I get an idea as to why he is acting this way. Against my better judgement, I speak up.

“He said that you do too… That you think I’m pretty, I mean!” I press my lips together tightly, trying to form a seal. Maybe if my lips fuse together, it’ll finally get me to shut my mouth before I make a fool of myself rather than after. Alas, it doesn’t work, “Hulk probably only said that to make me feel better though, so don’t worry.”

Bruce tenses up at the mention of that. I open my mouth to apologize, but he beats me to it, “No, he didn’t. I- um… I do… think that you’re pretty…” His face flushes beet red and he refuses to meet my gaze. I slowly inch my hand closer to his until they are on top of each other. Carefully, he interlocks our fingers, obviously still scared that he might hurt me. I give his hand a gentle squeeze, causing him to look up.

“Thank you.”

We spend the next few minutes in total silence, staring at our joined hands and appreciate how calm this moment is. No missions, no aliens, no Loki, and most importantly- no Tony. I don’t think either of us could do this with him teasing us the whole time. Bruce moves his hand and, for a second, I’m afraid he’s going to pull away. Instead, he holds both of my hands in both of his, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles lovingly.

“Y/N, would you… Would you like to go to dinner with me?”

I quickly- probably too quickly- nod, trying to conceal my smile. After realizing how desperate I must look, I pull myself together, “I’d love to, Bruce.”

His eyes shine in the moonlight as he smiles wide. Keeping his hands in mine, I pull them up to my face and plant gentle kisses on his knuckles. We just stay there, blushing and grinning like idiots as we bask in the comfort that comes with not being alone. No words are spoken, but they don’t need to be. I look into his eyes and I can feel the warmth and love radiating from him. And I will do everything in my power to show Bruce that I trust him and Hulk. That I am not afraid of him and never will be.

Tony’s POV

“Did I just see that right?” asks Steve as he stares in disbelief at what we just witnessed.

“Do we need to get you bifocals, grandpa? I knew you were old, but I didn’t think your eyesight was that questionable yet,” I quip as I slide my phone back into my pocket.

F.R.I.D.A.Y alerted me as soon as the code green began. I woke Steve on my way to where the big guy was, but when I saw what was happening, I held Cap back. Y/N has a special effect on Hulk, we all know it. This only proves it. Steve scoffs at my comment, but I don’t care, it’s about damn time Bruce talks to her. Y/N is good for him, she makes him happy… They both deserve to be happy, to feel loved. If they can do that for each other, who are any of us to call it dangerous.

Steve looks back at them through the sliding door, “What do we do now?”

Bruce looks so happy. He’s never happy after going green. We can’t see Y/N’s face from this angle, but I can only guess how she must feel right now. For being a couple of Earth’s mightiest heroes who kick ass for a living, they seem content. Peaceful even.

“We go back to sleep.”

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boop-le-snoot · 4 years

Text

PARTY FAVOURS | CHAPTER 4

Rating: Explicit.

‼️TW: Reader is EIGHTEEN! Recreational drug use, smoking and alcohol consumption, deeply internalised self-loathing, very questionable moral standards. Daddy kink taken half-seriously. BDSM themes in later chapters - explicit content will come with it's own TWs. FIRST PERSON POV. Bullying and non-explicit violence in this chapter, Peter whump.

Summary: You're Peter's classmate, a child of rich and famous but uncaring parents. Getting paired up for a lengthy project with the boy was an interesting turn of events and you don't know whether to feel blessed or cursed when you develop, seemingly, a perfectly normal, harmless crush on Tony Stark. Fueled by feelings of inadequacy and boredom, your life spirals out of control - and you're lucky your newfound friends are there to pick up the pieces even if you cannot find it in yourself to believe these amazing human (and not so human) beings voluntarily give you more than a fleeting glance and an offhanded thought. And they brought cake!

A/N: WE'VE GOT PLOT! Peter Parker deserves better. Steeb needs a vibe check cuz he keeps failing them :( Boomers are hot but ... Boomers. KitKat, anyone? Natasha is a Brain Cell™. Enjoy, deviants.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub @mostly-marvel-musings @vozit @littlegasps @pilloclock @shereadsinquiet @hermione-grangers-wife @downeyreads @individualistfem

Beta read by the lovely and patient @miscmarvelwritings 👑 - titty gators assemble! 👀

I scheduled a visit to the tower two days after my "illness" episode. Most of my lows passed without any lingering, the headache was gone and so was the nausea. My mood was still somewhere between "please kill me" and "I could eat a lot of cake right now" but it was bearable. I was very much looking forward to occupying myself with the project if only to divert my focus from overthinking about my own misery.

Peter said he was going to see Tony straight after school and offered for me to tag along with him: Tony sent his driver to pick up the boy. I didn't have the heart to refuse, seeing no point in waiting for an Uber on a rainy workday afternoon. Traffic was horrendous in New York city no matter the weather but a downpour took the congestions to a new height.

When I spotted the sleek, black brand new Audi I made a beeline for it, waving to Happy as I crawled inside as fast as I could. "Don't get the seats wet," The chauffeur grumbled.

"It's wet outside," I rolled my eyes into the next dimension. Whoever thought his nickname was in any way appropriate needed a psych eval. Peter sat on my right side looking wet and downright miserable. I had to swallow a string of expletives at the sight in front of me: the entirety of Peter's right cheek was an ugly shade of blue, eye on it's way to swelling shut and lip busted open. "What in the everliving fuck happened to you?!" Breathing through my nose, I fought bubbling rage inside of me. Peter looked like he went toe to toe with a Hulk.

"Flash happened," The boy mumbled, whining and brooding simultaneously. His cheeks glowed.

"That little runt?" I took another pause to steady my breathing, tentatively reaching out for Peter's hand. He grasped it tightly in gratitude. "Well, did you at least fight back?"

"No, I... I can't do that," Peter became even smaller, curling into the seat and in himself. I was disappointed for sure as I wouldn't just stand there and take a beating, but Pete was different. He was sensitive-a total pacifist to boot.

"Do any of the teachers know? I'm guessing this isn't the first time," Sure, I've seen Parker with an occasional scrape or a bruise but I'd always figured it was just him being a teenage nuisance. Curtain of depression I had over the previous days slowly began morphing into cold fury.

"No, well, they probably do. But Flash is the principal's son so they ignore it, I guess," Peter sighed in defeat. "Mr. Stark doesn't know either. Please don't tell him," He begged.

"Abuse thrives in silence," I parroted our sex-ed teacher but otherwise made no promises. My mind raced between comforting Peter and ordering Happy to turn the car around so I could find the shitty excuse of a human named Flash Thompson and violently make it known what happens to people when they get me pissed off.

"What are you going to tell Tony?" I asked Peter as we herded into the elevator, slightly wet and mostly miserable.

"I have an idea or two," The boy answered darkly.

"You have been summoned to the common floor, I was instructed to notify you there is food to be eaten before sciencing, per Doctor Banner's orders," Friday announced, rerouting the elevator to the aforementioned destination. Peter groaned loudly, burying his face in his hands.

"What the fuck happened to you, kid?" Bucky decided screeching like a banshee and attracting at least five of his teammates to come running from the dining room was the best way to approach an obviously spooked Peter. The boy shuffled his feet awkwardly.

"Our classmate beat him up," I answered before Pete could lie. "The fucking runt that doesn't know his damn place. His two cronies probably too," The venom in my voice could've melted steel. I was genuinely furious.

"What's his name?" Captain-Steve growled. I was taken aback at the large blonde man suddenly standing up, fists clenched. My feet moved involuntarily, taking a step back from the enraged supersoldier and Pete cowered, startled.

I stepped in front of him immediately. "I'm gonna need you to chill the fuck down, Cap," The trembling in my voice persisted but I stood my ground nonetheless. "Your roid rage is going to land you in prison if you keep going," In my own rage, self-preservation went out of the window along with common sense. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, Peter was downright shaking behind me.

"She's right," Bucky darkly eyed his friend. "Off to the sparring mats with you." He grabbed Rogers by the shoulder with his prosthetic arm all but hauling the blonde towards the elevator. Thor immediately took the Captain's other side, not quite touching him but obviously giving his friend a vibe check. I could've clapped. Not that Steve resisted much, but still.

"Everyone calm down, please," The Black Widow piped up in an even tone. I can always count on a fellow woman to keep calm in a situation where men's tempers almost cause a disaster. "Now, tell us what happened," She approached Peter on quiet feet. The boy shuffled around me looking every bit as dejected as I felt about the situation. "And someone fetch some ice for that bruise," Romanoff's offhand gesture had Barton scrambling into the kitchen.

Peter sat down on the couch, looking at the floor. "Flash has been bothering me since, like, forever and today I just ignored his usual remarks because I had a calculus test, I- I wanted to make sure I knew everything, and I was sitting in a really quiet corner, and I- Ned was hanging out with MJ somewhere and I guess Flash got angry that I didn't answer," Peter rambled in his usual nervous fashion, sentences jumbling together. Natasha kept nodding, simply hugging the boy softly with one arm. As soon as Clint came back with a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a towel Natasha's other arm pressed it gently to Peter's bruised face. The assassin frowned at the pained whine that left Peter's lips.

"Honestly, that dude is a fucking piece of shit, I'm surprised how he's not in jail yet," I piped up from where I was pacing along the large window overlooking the city skyline. Wound up and tense, I couldn't stay still. "He stole a senior's car for a joyride, last year. He routinely picks on the freshmen and I've personally dislocated his wrist from slapping me on the ass in, like, eight grade," Peter's eyebrows raised at my admission and Natasha gave me a vaguely approving hum.

I caught Peter's eye the moment elevator doors opened revealing a panicked looking Tony and a worried Bruce with Loki standing behind them, talking to a man in... Robes? And a red cape?

"What happened to my science child?!" Tony's fury rang high. The engineer rushed over to Peter, frantically checking him over and growling at the state of his face, letting out a string of expletives seeing the busted lip had started to bleed again.

I gave a tiny tilt of my lips to Bruce who had the oddest compilation of worried, confused and amused in his expression.

"You should probably get him to a doctor, I think his mouth is cut on the inside," I scooted closer to Banner, informing him quietly.

"I'm a doctor," The man in the cape announced, ... strutting (!) over to Pete. There was really no other way to describe his long, precise strides. He quickly butted Tony out of the way and instructed Peter to open his mouth.

"This is utter chaos," Loki muttered, sitting down on the furthest end of the couch.

"It is and I'm living for it," I sighed. The situation was very disorganized with Tony flailing about in blind panic, Bruce just standing there, Cap's rage quit and subsequent intervention by his buddies. Then the new strange dude... Loki was brooding and honestly? Big mood. The only person who made some resemblance of order out if this cluster fuck was Natasha.

All and all, it was quite endearing. I imagined that's what a large, close family would look like. When I said I was enjoying myself - no lie there, even despite the grim situation.

"How are you? Are you hurt?" Bruce quietly asked me, laced with concern. His shoulders relaxed somewhat when I shook my head negative. "Hungry?" I nodded affirmatively and the doctor produced a kit kat bar seemingly out of nowhere, winking at me with a boyish smile. I just about melted on the spot, tearing off a block and giving it to him to avoid any embarrassing reactions I might possibly spout in the wake of my recently acquired crush.

We munched in silence as the Cape Guy explained to Peter (and anxious Tony) that a few butterfly stitches would be needed as well as CT scan to rule out a possible concussion. At that point Tony was steadily turning purple in colour, rage and anxiety combining for a large storm that no doubt will hit sooner or later.

I felt responsible, I guess. Peter must've known Tony was going to react so strongly to his science son getting hurt and well, I hated seeing Tony so mad and helpless. On soft feet, I padded over to the engineer, making sure to stay within direct line of vision. "Tones?" He shot his eyes at me. He was furious. "Look, I'm going to make that fucker's life a living hell," Tony made an agitated noise of protest however I wasn't having it. I knew I'd be in trouble later but for now, I firmly placed my palm over his mouth, enjoying the surprised widening of his eyes at the frivolous gesture. "Listen, right now you can't do shit. You guys are super-powered individuals and Flash is just a nasty kid. You'll get in a big fat mess and he'll get to go away with a slap on the wrist," Tony sagged, visibly, bodily, and I felt it was safe to remove my hand from his face.

"I hate to say it but she's right," Bruce piped up behind me, voice soft.

I nodded. "I'm going to ruin the guy without putting a single finger on him," Tony nodded grimly and Cape Guy halted his examination of Peter's head to give me a mildly concerned stare. "My mother is a litigator, a vicious one at that. I've learned a trick or two," I winked with a grim sort of amusement causing the man to snort. Tony chuckled humorlessly. "As much as I hate to be the voice of reason, it would be a shame for anybody in this tower to end up behind bars. Even if it would be for a good cause," I finished my speech, patting Tony on the shoulder. The surprised squeak made its way out of my mouth when the billionaire pulled me tight against his chest, wrapping his arms around me in a desperate hug.

Ignoring my skyrocketing heartbeat, I wrapped myself around him as best as I could. Whatever issues the man had, they had to be quite painful if he reacted to the situation so intensely. I was selfish, but not heartless, so I gave into the affectionate gesture despite the inappropriate feelings that blossomed within me.

"I don't know what I've done to deserve you," Peter whined, fat round tears beginning to drip down his cheeks. I could tell he was embarrassed beyond Hell but his feelings overwhelmed him enough to just spill through. I immediately made my meanest big eyes to Natasha and Cape Guy who immediately hugged the life out of Pete. There, all set.

"Now go get that scan done," I frowned, seeing Peter start to nod off. "I don't know your name, but can you arrange that? Since you're a doctor," I nodded to the Cape Guy.

"I'm Stephen Strange," he replied, effortlessly picking up a dozing Peter and carrying him to the elevator. Before I could react, he waved his one free hand in some sort of a circle and a glowing ring appeared with what seemed to be a ER room - Strange hastily stepped through, followed by Tony suddenly withdrawing and hurrying after the ... Wizard? The portal closed immediately after.

"What the fuuuuuck..." I gaped at the now empty space. Strange, indeed. Even Loki's scoff didn't put a dent in my perplexed curiosity.

"So, lawyer family, huh?" Natasha, who I'd forgotten about, spoke up, mildly interested.

"Just my mother," I replied casually. They were the last thing in the world I wanted to talk about, especially after being so upset for the past hour. Man, I needed a drink. My hands itched for a cigarette.

"What about your father?" The spy didn't relent, pushing the issue with deadly politeness - I was actually sure she'd threaten me into talking about it even if I refused to.

"He's a celebrity manager."

"Cool," Her tone perked up at that. "Know anyone famous?"

"Know? No," I thought about all the A-list Hollywood stars I've been around, the endless parade of one-hit-wonder musicians that my dad hung out with on a daily basis. "I've crossed paths with at least half the Billboard TOP 40 but that's about it. Katy Perry was really nice," I added as an afterthought.

"I see," Natasha gave me a thoughtful once-over, patting the seat next to her. "So tell me, what do you have in mind for this Flash kid?"

My smile came out sharp and vicious. People tended to underestimate the quiet, quirky loner and I was about to remind them exactly why my kind of kids usually ended up with either millions in their bank accounts or a lengthy criminal record. "I'm going to annihilate any chance he has with having a social life, a girlfriend and I'll be damned if he gets into college without his parents going bankrupt. It goes like this..."

The ominous beginning of my plan attracted everybody in the room, even Loki. If anything, he offered the most constructive advice and the smirk he wore was positively devilish. Steve, Bucky and Thor emerged sometime during the scheming and hastily joined us, identically grim expressions on their faces. We barely managed to get done with our nefarious cackling when a portal appeared once again, Stephen stepping out of it with Tony carrying a sleeping Peter. The boy's head was bandaged, he looked like a mummy.

I stood up, beelining for Tony. "Is Pete okay? Did you call May?"

"He's not concussed but he's taking the day off tomorrow. Yes, I called May. Pete is staying here tonight," Tony looked and sounded like an exhausted, worried parent.

The urge to squee appeared again and I stomped it down with a hard "Good. We made a plan. The fucker is going to choke on his own misery," I gestured to the people sitting in a circle behind me.

Strange snorted.

Furious. I was furious.

Hands on my hips, I swerved towards him, instantly recognizing the ridiculousness of the situation. Here I stood, an eighteen year old high school student, in my fluffy rainbow sweater and denim overalls, staring down a whole grown ass man with magic powers. I digress, my pride won the race against my common sense. "Ex-fucking-cuse you, Voldemort, that's my fucking friend on the line," I seethed, giving him my best death glare.

"Language," Tony barely held together his laughter, looking at the unfolding mess with amusement. Somewhere behind me, somebody chuckled, then I recognised Loki's signature "ehehe" and it kind of went downhill from there. It's a miracle Peter didn't wake up.

"I'd be careful, Strange, she holds up against Stark very well," Loki's quiet compliment only made me preen and puff out my chest in a display of dominance. Stephen's responding eye roll was more fond than annoyed. I counted it as a win.

#tony stark x reader #tony stark x y/n #bruce banner x y/n #bruce banner x reader #stephen strange x reader #Stephen Strange x y/n #bun writes #party favours #repeat after me: PETER PARKER DESERVES BETTER

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wienerbarnes · 3 years

Text

Necessary Evil

Pairing: Bucky x Reader (Cheek to Cheek)

Word Count: 1,816

Warnings: nothing crazy, typical canon violence type stuff, special character appearance👀

A/N: so sorry for not posting this like two days ago when i said i was going to🥴 ive had a ton going on and ive been a busy bee but hopefully ill get myself organized for next week :) question for yall! should i keep the friday posting schedule or do thursdays instead bc of fatws on fridays? lmk!

MAIN MASTERLIST | CHEEK TO CHEEK MASTERLIST

It’s been a confusing couple of weeks. You’ve been placed on a temporary leave while you finish your recovery after the last mission.

You’ve been trying to learn as much about your new powers as you can, not really understanding what they are or how they work considering that most of the time they’ve shown themselves it’s been accidental.

Making Bucky drop food, slamming doors shut, sending stuff flying across the room. At this point you’ll tape your hands at your sides if it means you’ll stop making such a mess everywhere.

Everything has been put on halt. You don’t cook, in fear of starting a fire or making a mess in your kitchen, you don’t spar with anyone or workout unless it’s in a closed off and sealed training room used for when the Hulk was at the tower, in fear of hurting people around you, and unfortunately, you haven’t let Bucky be around you much in fear of hurting him.

He tells you that you’re not going to hurt him and that even if you did he wouldn’t take it personally, but you just can’t bring yourself to do it. The two of you got into a heated argument a few days ago when he offered to let you use him as a practice dummy for your new powers.

“How dare you suggest something like that to me?!”

“Well, I just meant that -”

“Meant what? How would you feel if I asked you to slap me around like a ragdoll with your metal arm? Make you go Winter Soldier on me?”

“That’s not the same thing, and you know it.”

“Isn’t it though?”

It wasn’t pretty.

It also didn’t help that Bucky was sent on a solo mission recently. He couldn’t tell you much about it, and you didn’t push it, knowing the two of you were still a bit rocky with each other, and knowing that it would only put more stress on you constantly thinking about his mission.

Boy, did you miss him though. You’re glad you put aside your pride to hug and kiss him goodbye, taking in his warmth, his love, his smell, savoring his arms around you and his lips on yours before he left. With the way he held and kissed you, you think he felt the same.

That was two days ago. Alpine has been the one to keep you the most company. She’s gotten big, and it’s a lot more fun to play around with her now. You trail a feather attached to the end of a string around the ground while she tries to pounce after it. A knock at the door doesn’t even pull her attention away from the toy as you let her win and catch it, standing up from your sitting position on the floor.

You open it to reveal Sam in more casual clothes than his regular tactical pants and shirt, and you return the smile he gives you.

“You busy?” He asks.

You look over your shoulder to see Alpine still pawing at the feather on the ground.

“No, I’m not busy, what’s up?”

“Just wanted to hang out, we both got the day off, figured I’d show you the best danishes in New York.”

You’re not sure if Bucky put him up to this or if this is a way to keep you from going batshit being stuck in your room not being able to do anything, but you accept the offer anyway. It’ll be nice to get some air.

“Do you, uhm,” You begin, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“What’s up?” Sam asks, the guy from the VA coming out, encouraging you to tell him.

“Do you know if Bucky’s okay? I haven’t heard from him, is all.” You ask, slipping on some shoes and heading back out into the hallway with Sam.

“I mean, I’m sure he’s fine, why wouldn’t he be?”

“Just that I know these solo missions can be anywhere and he could be doing anything, but I still worry. I didn’t know if you knew where he was or anything.”

He doesn’t. He doesn’t know, because Bucky told him Steve asked him for a few favors and he needed some off time for a couple of days. He thought Bucky was in rural New York. There’s no mission. But he supposes he’s not supposed to tell you that.

“Yeah, I don’t know much about it. Fury’s probably the one behind it.” Fury’s in Florida for his niece’s sixth birthday. He doesn’t tell you that either.

Luckily you accept it and enter the elevator to leave the private floor and go to the common area, able to leave out the backway of the tower.

“Avenger in the building, Captain.”

Sam doesn’t understand. Avenger? Who’s even around anymore?

“Uh, huh? Bucky?”

“No, Captain.”

“Clint?”

“No.”

“Who’s here?”

“Underoos.”

Underoos? Where has he heard that? Isn’t that -

The elevator doors open to the common room, a teenage boy stands with his back towards the two of you. His head whips around in typical teenage fashion and your eyebrows shoot up, unaware that the Avengers recruited teenagers.

“Is that a fucking kid?”

“Peter?” Sam asks, clearly surprised at the boy being in front of him. He hasn’t seen him in years. He wasn’t even sure where he was all this time, assuming he was in school, with his Aunt, but now he’s here.

“Sam! And his lady... friend. How are you?!”

“The lady friend has a name.” You chirp.

“What are you doing here?”

You and Sam speak at the same time. Peter addresses you first, “And your name is…?”

“Uh, Agent 51.” You didn’t think that through.

“Weird name, but alright.”

“Peter.” Sam brings his attention back to his question.

“Who is this guy?” You ask, clearly lost on who this person is and how he’s an Avenger.

“This is Spider-Man.” Sam tells you nonchalantly.

“Uh- Sam?!” Peter exclaims.

“What, she works with us, now. She doesn’t have anyone to tell anyway.”

“Sam?!” You elbow him.

“Why are you here, Peter.” Sam asks again.

“Well, you know, I was in school, doing some stuff here and there for Hill and Fury, and I figured I’d stop by.” He smiles.

You and Sam stare in silent confusion.

“Okay, look. I feel… lost. Like I feel like I’ve come to terms with Tony dying and stuff, but, I don’t know...” Peter finally cuts to the point.

You know very little about Spider-Man. You definitely didn’t know he was a kid, but you also didn’t know that he had some sort of a close relationship with Tony Stark. You’re becoming more and more like Bucky everyday; not knowing who any of these people are, not remembering seemingly important events, hell, not even knowing have these things happened because you were under Hydra.

“Peter, we don’t -”

“I’m not asking for help. More so asking if you have anything for me to do, or something.” His smile falls. You’re definitely confused, but you feel for the guy. You remember feeling lost as a teenager, losing the people you looked up to. And that lost feeling landed you in the Marines and the Marines landed you with a terrorist organization. We should help him, you immediately think.

“I’m sorry, man.” Sam offers. He wants to help Peter, as annoying as he finds him. Being a teenager is hard, and being Spider-Man is harder. But, Sam can’t forget that he’s still a kid in school with only his aunt and a few friends around him. He doesn’t want to put a person like that in the immense danger they throw themselves into, even if he knows he can handle it.

“No worries, I’ll be on my way, then.” Peter nervously scratches at his eyebrow.

“Sure you don’t want to stick around here for a bit? I know the Avengers aren’t much of a thing anymore, but, you always got a room here; a place to stay.” Sam tells him, assuming Peter’s on the verge of having a sort of coming-of-age moment.

“No, no, I need to be with May. I’ll see if I can, uh, maybe stop by more often. Maybe. If that’s alright. Nice to meet you, uh, Miss 51!” He bids farewell before walking away awkwardly, leaving Sam with a sort of sullen look on his face and you still very confused.

“What was that whole thing about?” You finally break the silence as you two make your way towards the private garage elevators.

“I’ll tell you over danishes.”

Bucky plants his fist into the HYDRA soldier’s face for the sixth time, the sound of metal hitting flesh making a slushy sound with little clanks, signifying teeth hitting the floor.

“This is the last time I ask you before I kill you. Where is Bychkov, Morozov, and that fuck with metal arms?” He pants beneath the black mask and goggles, an outfit he hadn’t dawned in so long.

Your list is heavy in his pocket, he thinks about the names he’s already crossed off and few he has left. He’s not going to stop until he finds the handlers that captured you and the supposed soldier with metal arms that shot you, details you only mentioned to him once after a nightmare that he refused to ever forget.

“They… went back… to base… in Kiev. Just… north of it.” He struggles out.

One step closer. Bucky stands taller, letting the man slump on the ground, and he reaches for the knife at his thigh.

“Wait! I - I told you… where they went!”

“I was going to kill you whether you told me or not, you Nazi fuck.” Is all he says before he slashes the knife, ending the bastard’s life.

Leaving the man’s home, he rounds a corner into the night and replaces his knife, taking out a pen in one of his many pockets as well as your list.

He crosses off Antonov, looking down at the four remaining names, two of which were the men that did this to you.

He takes a breath, the layers of leather and kevlar straining over his muscles as he sighs. He never thought he’d be hunting people down like this, Nazi or not. He never thought he’d have this black mask and these goggles over his eyes. But he also never thought HYDRA would touch the love of his life the way they did; never thought they’d put you in that chair.

So, now, he’s only getting revenge. It’s the least he can do after this organization has stolen his life, kept him from seeing his family forever, took his arm, gave him PTSD, gave his girlfriend PTSD and injected her with who knows what only to put her in that goddamn chair.

While he never thought he’d be in this position, they asked for it, and he’s not sorry.

On to the next name.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfictions #marvel #bucky barnes series #idk if yall know this but i love spiderman #my fav marvel character #love him more than bucky i just don't read or write for him for some reason idk i just never got into that #and the new spiderman is coming out in december !#i slowly want to incorporate characters into c2c #like i added wanda and plan to write a oneshot or two delving into her and reader meeting and getting to know each other #and then the loki series comes out in june so maybe ill play w that #im just not sure if ill adapt c2c to fatws #depends where it goes and how it ends #we'll see #anyway #yall know u can always send ideas or requests for me to play around with #thanks for reading if you made it this far

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willadisastercry · 3 years

Text

Sleep deprived Keith annoying the crap out of the other paladins before crashing

Tw: depiction of sleep deprivation, insomnia, needles.

Keith has trouble sleeping sometimes... but this is a new level for him. His teammates can’t remember the last time he looked well slept and neither can he. They also don’t remember him being this hyper or social with them, like literally ever.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shiro so annoyed,” Lance whispered over a crouched Pidge as they peered around the corner into the control room.

Keith was hovering around Shiro as he typed away on the panel in front of him, working out the strategy for their next mission.

“Well, if you really think about it, the Galra are kind of like space Russia, they have a lot of real estate, the people are really tall, and—hey, wait why wouldn’t we infiltrate the loading dock first? That’s the most reliable route because the lions won’t be far, we can just cloak them ya know, like all stealth? and if we go in where...”

“I think his mouth is twitching, watch. There it is, it did it again!�� Pidge pointed out, her eyes wide in amazement.

The older boy’s mouth was indeed twitching, the corner pulling up like he wanted to say something as well as drop someone, but he refrained from both.

“I think I would’ve punted Keith across the room by now... do you think Shiro meditates, he must meditate, ya know? He’s always so calm and reasonable, always telling us that we have to breathe and whatever, no one can possibly be that zen without—“

But before Lance could finish his analysis on Shiro’s freak ability to be so zen, the basis of his argument shattered with an explosion from their team leader.

“I can’t even hear myself think, Keith!” Shiro started, a vein very visibly pumping away on his forehead as his face took on a dark flush.

“I have been watching the same surveillance loop for five minutes now beccause I can’t focus with you rambling in my ear!”

The red paladin’s face fell, his antsy pacing halted and his hands tapping his side like he was anticipating something. He took a breath. He hadn’t realized he’d started trembling.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—fuck,” Keith said before turning away, “I’ll leave you alone.”

Lance and Pidge nearly toppled over with how aggressively they flung themselves away from where they had been perched while they eavesdropped. Mostly out of curiosity at how Shiro would handle a manic-ly energetic Keith.

They could hear Shiro cursing under his breath, then ushering an apology for being so harsh but Keith likely didn’t hear it as he hightailed it out of there. He moved so quickly he didn’t even notice the pair as they stood planted in the center of the hallway failing to feign even the slightest of nonchalance.

Shiro ducked his head out to find that Keith had already disappeared and became wildly flustered when he found the very guilty-looking pair instead.

“Uhuh,” he cleared his throat, “do you guys know what’s going on with Keith? I didn’t mean to be such a dick, but he’s like next level tweaking out and I have no idea why...”

“Uh, we’re not sure either,” Pidge replied, “but he’s been like this all morning.”

“Yeah, he made Coran snap and crack a crystal in half earlier...”

“Oooo and Allura stained her dress when he wouldn’t shut up about how human mice carry infection and probably shouldn’t be near food and then she like flung her coffee...”

“And poor Hunk was trying to entertain his ramblings about the how hard it is to attain cinnamon in space and that it should be rationed and ended up burning a whole batch of snickerdoodles...”

“He was bouncing off the walls, it was weird” Pidge resolved. “And Keith never has that much energy.”

“Yeah, he’s been rambling, that’s my thing! The kid hardly says more than five words in one sentence and now he can’t shut up,” Lance added, scratching his head.

“Okay,” Shiro looked like he was running over in his head a million possibilities of what could be wrong, “will you two go check on him for me... and let him know I didn’t mean to yell at him?”

“Of course.”

“We’ll let you know if we figure it out,” Lance promised before they started after their friend.

They checked the common room first as it was the next room on their way and found only a grumpy Hunk scraping the singed bits off of the plate of cookies in front of him.

“D’you see Keith?” Pidge asked, surveying the sight before her.

“No,” he gruffed sadly, taking a bite of one of the cookies and breaking it off with a loud snap.

“Okay, keep an eye out, we think something’s wrong...” Lance looked around, “I know where he might’ve gone but we have to grab something first, let’s go.”

They took off at an urgent trot, once again more out of curiosity than concern because this just didn’t occur. Keith is a guy of few words, so when he speaks it’s usually sarcasm, not a rapid flurry of silly questions that seem more like the goofy blue paladin than the tempered red. This was weird for him. And they just wanted to know why.

But their curiosity changed quickly into fear as soon as they entered the hallway of the training room because they could hear the intense whir of the simulator working. From down the hall.

“Shit Keith,” Lance said activating their bayards they stopped to pick up on the way.

“He’s got it on the highest setting—not even Shiro can handle that intensity solo,” Pidge noted as they raced for the door.

“This kid’s got a death wish,” Lance deadpanned as he wrenched the doors of the training room open, only to be immediately met with Keith’s strangled scream as his head snapped against the floor with a sickening crack, the sentry that threw him across the room quickly closing the distance between them.

Lance ran forward and knelt down, slowly lining up shots and taking down the new sentries as soon as they regenerated while Pidge made her way to the kill switch.

By the time she got to the lever and tugged it all the way down Keith was dangling from his twisted arm and throat, shuddering gasps the only noise he was able to make in protest.

Lance had just taken out the second sentry cornering Keith with a head shot when every robot assailant powered down at once, the one choking Keith releasing his grip on his throat first, his arm pulling at an awkward angle as he fell before it was released. The pale boy let out a shrill gush before clamping his lips together tightly and pulling his slumped form up with the help of the wall.

“What the fuck was that, mullet?!”

He refused to make eye contact with his worried friends as he went to storm out like before, but this time he moved slowly, gingerly.

“I needed a good workout... to clear my head,” was all he managed. They could tell he didn’t want to let on that he was in pain, but the way he grimaced when his arm swung as he walked as well as the obvious bump protruding from his shoulder where no bone should be told them otherwise.

“Oh, that’s a load! That was not a good workout, that was a good ass-whooping! And I’m not entirely sure there’s anything left in your head to clear after the way it smacked the—“

“You’re hurt,” Pidge blurted. “The sentry dislocated your shoulder, I’m staring at the head of your right humerus and I shouldn’t be able to do that...”

“Oh... huh,” was all the mind he seemed willing to pay to his injury, his eyes bleary and wider than usual as he continued to walk away from them, but they persisted.

“We’re taking you to get that checked out by Coran. Right now,” Lance ordered.

“I’m good,” he assured, shouldering the door with his other arm.

Lance reached the door handle first and pulled on it, keeping Keith from going anywhere and spurring a low groan when his bad shoulder was jolted.

“Lance...”

He looked so tired.

He closed his eyes and continued to lean heavily into the hulking door of the training room. Under the bright artificial lights his skin looked greyer than it usually did, every bone in his face sickly accentuated and sharpened, the staple bags underneath his eyes hanging heavier than ever.

“Keith, you’re hurt and something else is obviously wrong so NO, we’re not letting you storm off to go pout to maintain your stup—“

“Shut up—“

Keith’s vision tunneled, his eyes fixed in a clearly unfocused haze as he stared at nothing.

“What?” Lance questioned, very caught off guard by the sudden interjection.

“I s-said shut u-up,” he whispered as he sucked in a shuddering breath.

The shrillness of Lance’s chastisement made his head swim and he blinked away the haze that came with the sudden levity.

“Hey, take it easy...”

It seemed the more he tried to control the tremor in his voice the worse his entire body seemed to shake.

He was fading; he could feel it.

The exhaustion had given way to anxiety as the adrenaline dripped dry allowing him to fully feel the pain in his shoulder as it pulsed angrily.

It was like the tide was washing out, the tumultuous waves of the storm that settled itself in his chest receding just before the next wave surged, and then he could feel everything he’d been ignoring.

Every individual bone seemed to ache with weariness and the pressure behind his tired eyes was so immense that it made him unsteady.

“Woah, what’s going on man?”

The floor suddenly seemed to shift beneath him, like he was walking on one of those moving conveyer belts in the airport that made your feet feel weird once you were back on solid ground.

“I think you should sit down,” Pidge urged, tugging worriedly at the hem of his shirt.

As much as his pride wanted him to protest he couldn’t seem to muster enough energy to even disagree let alone have a shred of cofidence that he could possibly get himself back to his room on his own.

They seemed to understand by his silence that he wouldn’t push away their help now and then he could feel firm hands on his good shoulder and back, guiding his trembling frame down to the floor where he came to rest his head on the knee that wasn’t bouncing.

“Where you at, mullet?”

The tinier hand had never left the middle of his back and rubbed soothing circles on the tense muscles beneath it.

“Can you tell us what you feel like right now?” Pidge asked before moving a hand to steady his restless leg.

He took a strained breath.

“D-dizzy... c-cold maybe, I-I don’t know why I can’t stop s-shaking.”

“That’s okay, don’t worry about that.”

“Here, this’ll help,” Lance added as he draped his jacket over Keith’s back, careful to not have it touch his injury.

“How’s your shoulder? Is anything else hurting?”

Keith thought about it for a solid minute, finding it sort of difficult to organize his thoughts and give Pidge an answer.

“Hurts a lot. S-so does my head... I have a headache—maybe... maybe a migraine I d-don’t know.”

“Is that what was bothering you before? The lights are pretty bright in here so that’s probably not helping... why don’t we start heading to the infirmary, before it gets worse?”

He nodded slowly against his knee and lifted his head up, his eyes still pressed together tightly. He pried one open to test his head but the swirling nausea and general agony that followed was answer enough.

“You don’t have to keep them open if it hurts.”

He hummed in acknowledgment and steeled himself as they took up his good arm and pulled him to his feet then waited for him to give the go ahead before making their way.

It was almost worse when his eyes were closed. The pounding in his head had only increased while they guided him, each step rattling his brain around so painfully that it almost distracted him from the instense heat in his shoulder.

He didn’t know why his head hurt so bad and why it was making his eyes so sensitive. He knew he’d hid it, but not hard enough to warrant this. He was also really tired, practically jumping out of his skin every few moments when he let his head tip forward slightly as if to nod off, which was entirely strange and alarming seeing as he was so drowsy he almost fell asleep while still walking.

He hadn’t noticed when they made it to the infirmary, only realizing when he was being pushed to sit down on something and a light was being shone across his now opened eyes.

“No! Oh-ouch,” he inhaled sharply when the light retreated and he was left seeing a blurred strip of bright white across his field of vision.

“I apologize, my boy, it had to be done. No concussion though! We have dimmed the lights for your comfort, the aversion is most peculiar given your injuries... “

He proded Keith’s shoulder blade and the inflamed area around it, earning a hiss when he tested the dexterity of the limb.

“The scanner detects significant ligament damage that will need to be corrected in a pod after I er... set the joint in its proper place. It will hurt for only a tick and I have several nerve blockers and muscle relaxers I can inject in the area to make the process less painful. Does that sound manageable to—“

But Coran didn’t get to hear Keith’s answer, the way his face greened and he clamped a hand over mouth was telling enough. He bit back a sob as he lurched forward, not enough time or notice for anyone to prepare before Keith was dry heaving, but they didn’t really need to worry because nothing but saliva came up.

“Were you at all ill before this today? This is the first time you’ve been sick to your stomach... when was the last time you ate?”

Silence only followed for a dobash before all three launched into different themes of admonition, but they all had the same anger to them. He knew they meant well, that they were just worried, but the bite to their words made his eyes sting like hell and he was seriously worried he wouldn’t be able to keep the tears at bay before Shiro was there telling them to be quiet.

He turned his head away and tried to breathe normally, but his chest was working up and his head throbbed pitifully and the movement made the burning in his shoulder deepen to where he had to hold his breath to keep from aggravating it. But Shiro’s warm, human hand was pulling his face towards his own, his eyes taking in Keith’s form and coming to several conclusions at once, the tension everywhere, the darkness under his eyes, the tightness in his jaw, the way his hands shook entwined about themselves...

“Keith,” his voice was so low and warm, he felt his chest pang at the gentleness in it. He closed his eyes, he knew what was coming next and he was both relieved and terrified for it.

“When was the last time you got a solid night’s sleep?”

He waited, even though they both already knew the answer and then it was when his hand moved to cup the top of his head that he finally broke. He didn’t need to speak for Shiro to know the answer.

Too long. It had been entirely too long since Keith could remember going to bed and waking up refreshed, each night only more frustrating than the last as he laid his head on his pillow and closed his eyes, knowing full well it wouldn’t work. Nothing did.

This week had been too much though. Running on empty on far too many missions followed by a dozen insomnia-induced late night training sessions trying to tire himself out in order to snag only a few hours of rest.

He’d just kept excerting himself and not ever properly recharging, but not on purpose, he physically couldn’t.

That part wasn’t his fault, he couldn’t help that, but he could let people know he was struggling and he had purposefully not alerted Shiro.

“Shit, Keith,” Shiro murmured with Keith’s forehead on his chest as he held back the sound of his crying, “you have to tell me when it gets bad like this! It’s not safe for you to be fighting and training when you’re not properly rested, you know that...”

Coran resumed analyzing his shoulder.

“And now you’re hurt because I snapped at you—Keith, I’m so sorry, I should’ve realized...”

“D-dont,” he managed through stiff breaths as Coran worked his bad arm gently out of his shirt, “s’not your fault, never is.”

Shiro set his jaw and eyed Coran who looked at him sadly and nodded.

“This conversation is far from over, but we have to get that shoulder fixed right now.”

Coran asked Pidge to gather some supplies and Lance to help him brace Keith.

“You’ll feel a small pinch in your arm now.”

He did. The area felt cold with the liquid that was now under his skin and Coran rubbed it for a minute before moving near his collarbone.

“This one might burn, but you’ll find it entirely numb in a dobash.”

This one was quicker, less to inject, longer to rub in so it spread. It burned and itched, earning a groan before he felt less of Coran’s fingers and more of just pressure.

“Oh, that’s... better.”

“Good, I’m glad.”

He felt someone kneeling behind him holding just below his shoulder and around his chest. Someone else was in front of him holding his arm up with their hand on his other shoulder, Shiro’s hands on his shaking one.

“Now I trust you’re familiar with what is about to happen, do you want me to explain what I am doing or—“

“Don’t explain, just—“

The pain that exploded with the hollow pop that followed was even grosser than the sound itself. Keith’s vision whited for a second and he was immediately ashen and panting as his body worked through the shock of the correction, his ears rang and so he wasn’t sure if he had screamed or not but with the way his throat ached he’d assumed he had.

Exhaustion weighed on him like a sopping wet blanket, making it difficult to keep his head up let alone his entire upper body. He wasn’t sure how long he had been leaned against Shiro’s chest once he started coming back to himself and realized he was the only thing keeping him upright.

Something was compressing his shoulder, pulling in places he didn’t quite like as it was wrapped tightly around the still damaged joint, making its way around his chest and back several times. Shiro held him away for a moment while something fell around his neck that held his arm against his chest and had an attachment to secure it to his side.

He tried to open his eyes and see what was going on but they were so very heavy and he was in awe of how he wasn’t entirely asleep by now, almost thankful for the steady ache behind his eyes as it was forcing him to keep them closed.

“You still there, Keith?”

He hummed into Shiro’s shirt in response.

“Hey, so we’re going to forgo the pod to repair all the torn ligaments for a little while. Coran thinks it’s best that you catch up on your sleep without the being frozen part... we’ll see how you’re feeling tomorrow, does that sound alright to you?”

It sounded superb to him. Truly.

He wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline crash or the general daze from sleep deprivation, but he was entirely checked out. Sufficiently out of it to care much about anything other than Coran’s lovely altean painkillers and the comfy pillow his head was now resting on.

Once he was laid down he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness almost immediately, the last thing he knew before he was consumed in bliss was the blanket that was being pulled up to his chest and Shiro calming words.

“Rest, buddy.”

And he finally did because now he actually could.

He wasn’t sure if it was the level of exhaustion he’d brought himself to or the threat of pain when he awoke, but whatever it was keeping him asleep he was grateful for it. Coran never even had to administer a sedative to keep him down during the night, just pain killers so he wouldn’t be woken up by his shoulder.

He slept for a day and a half after that, everyone taking turns watching over him while he slept so Shiro didn’t bring upon himself a similar fate.

The next time he was conscious coming deep into the next night, nearly early morning. Shiro stirred in the chair he was posted up in when Keith groaned and tried to turn over but cried out instead.

“Crap, what—hey... you’re okay,” Shiro soothed as he held Keith’s searching hand away from the thick layer of bandages covering his shoulder.

“It hurts, Shiro! It h-hurts!”

“I know, Keith, I know it hurts.”

Shiro sounded sad, Keith didn’t want to make him sad.

“I’m sorry...”

“You don’t need to be sorry for anything, bud.”

“I was stupid, I shoulda t-told you—just didn’t want you to worry.”

“I’m always going to worry about you, Keith. All of us are going to worry until you stop giving us reasons to,” he laughed weakly as he ran his hand through Keith’s hair while his breathing returned to normal.

“And until then, we’ll be here to make sure you don’t get pulverized by the training simulators and aren’t walking around delirious from not having slept in a week, okay?”

“Aha, yeah... okay.”

He tried to doze off again, but the steady pulse of pain in his shoulder seemed to prevent it. After an hour of trying, Shiro called Coran in who agreed it was also time to go into a pod.

“You will feel as good as new in no time, number four.”

Keith nodded absently as he rested his head back against the cushion in the cryopod before its doors closed with a whoosh and then cold surrounded him, lulling him off into another much needed sleep.

#keith whump #whumpee #vld #voltron whump #voltron fic #whump tropes #keith kogane #voltron fandom #keith angst #sleep deprived af #vld shiro #takashi shirogane #vld lance #vld pidge #worried teammates #keith needs a nap

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anxiousstark · 4 years

Text

S1 02.1 |Heart Monitor

MASTERLIST

Stiles Stilinski x Reader! Half-sibling!Mccall

Word count:1998

Warnings: Injuries, anger issues, blood, swearing (always).

↪ Please respect my work. Don’t copy, translate or claim them as yours. Not on this website or another. All Rights Are Reserved. Otherwise, legal actions will be taken.

"I thought I said we would talk about this...alone." Melissa smiled at Scott. I could see behind that smile she probably wanted to hit him.

Scott had brought me to his house, and we hadn't said a word to each other. At least we had something in common, none of us wanted to be in this situation. I also got to meet Stiles, his best friend. He asked me a lot of questions on the way to Scott's house, most of them related to what had happened in the store.

Stiles was filling his mouth with pizza that Melissa had ordered. "I can' belief you don' zink of me as family." He talked with his mouth open, and I chuckled.

"Stiles is going to know anyway." Scott fiddled with his slice of pizza. "I would have told him as soon as we finished this conversation." His voice was dull, he seemed to be annoyed. It's not like he was the one living with strangers.

Melissa sighed. "This situation is strange."

"Yes, it is," Stiles replied while grabbing two more slices of pizza. He looked up to see Melissa glaring at him. "Oh, sorry. Continue."

"Like I was saying, this situation is strange." She wiped her hands, looking at her son. "But there are situations in life where we need to think about other people and-"

"Why doesn't she stay with her father?" He spat back as if we didn't have the same father. Well, more like the same sperm donor because none of us grew up having him by our side.

"Because I haven't seen him since I was four," I replied. Scott glared at me, and then he glanced at his mother. "Why doesn't she stay with her mother?"

I swallowed and answered again. "Because she is dead." I heard someone gasp, looking to my side I saw Stiles looking at me with huge eyes, but for the first time in my life, I didn't feel like someone felt sorry for me and that was...peaceful.

"I hope you guys will get along in school."

"She's coming to the same school?!" He got up from his chair.

"Yes, Scott. She is." His mom got up from the chair. "Now, go walk your friend to the door. There's class tomorrow and it's late." She turned around and looked at me. "I will show you your room, sweetheart." She smiled lightly and started walking upstairs.

Scott went outside the house, not without yelling for Stiles to follow him. Now, Stiles and I were alone in the same room and I smiled at him before starting to go upstairs.

"Wait." His voice stopped me. "Are you sure it was a bear? Maybe it was a wolf?"

I grinned. "Good night, Stiles. I suppose I will see you tomorrow."

Stiles beamed at me happily while the teacher introduced me to the whole class as the new student and Scott McCall's sister. I was going to interrupt him and tell him that we weren't siblings when he told me to sit down on a vacant seat.

Instantly, Stiles started to point to a table that was on his left, telling me to sit down there. I rolled my eyes at his enthusiasm and couldn't help but grin at how goofy he was. He seemed like a good guy. Well, at least better than Scott.

"How was your first day?" He rested his head on his right hand, turning his entire body towards me. He looked at me while I took papers and a pencil out of my backpack.

"Well," I put everything in its correct place and looked at him. "I'm in a new place, a new school, new people, and living with my father's other family," I smirked. "Seems like an adventure," I added sarcastically.

"Well, Beacon Hills can be a damn adventure." He whispered. I think he was trying not to say that too loud. But I heard him. "And believe me, Scott isn't that bad." His face got serious. "I mean, he has never watched Star Wars and he sometimes makes stupid decisions...but apart from that, he ain't that bad."

"Seems like we have something else in common." I snorted. I noticed Stiles looking at me as if he was confused. "I have never watched Star Wars." He gasped. "What? It seems like it's boring anyway."

"Okay." He pointed at me. "First of all, that was disrespectful. Second of all, we are going to change that. You McCall's are going to watch Star Wars with me. That is going to be my mission."

His composture changed when Scott came into class, sitting behind him. Scott glared at me, and I rolled my eyes while looking away. But from the corner of my eye, I could see how Scott was getting closer to Stiles. Both of them seemed to be arguing about something. Well, most likely Scott because Stiles was completely ignoring him. He seemed pretty mad.

I decided to lose my focus on them, focusing on my blank paper. And it seemed like I focused too hard because what seemed like seconds have been hours. My head started hurting while putting my things inside my backpack.

Melissa had told Scott to be around me in school and to not leave me alone. But I could tell that Scott didn't like me at all. I guess I discovered that when he didn't talk to me or when he glared at me. Oh, or maybe when he told me to be at least 3 meters away from him and Stiles when walking on the hallways.

"After work. All right, well, that gives me to the end of the school day then." I heard Stiles' voice and felt confused. They were quite far from me.

"To do what?"

"To teach you myself." Stiles turned around, staring at me. I tried to seem confused, even though I was. I just heard their conversation. "And she is going to help." He made a sign for me to walk closer.

I got closer after swallowing. "Yeah?" I asked and tried to avoid Scott's gaze which seemed to pierce my forehead. Yes, Scotty, I know you want me far from you. “You called me?”

"Yeah." Stiles grinned, placing his arm around my shoulders. "You know, your brother, right here." Both of us glared at him. "I mean, you...like. Well, it doesn't matter." He sighed. "He has been dealing with..." He looked at Scott and shook his head in response. "He has been dealing with anger issues, and I just offered to help him control it. And you are going to help me."

"Why do I have to help?" "Why does she have to help?"

We, the McCall's said at the same time.

"Because I say so." The hazel-eyed boy replied while making us walk to a field. "Okay. Now, put this on." He took something out of his backpack, handing it to Scott.

"Isn't this one of the heart rate monitors for the track team?" Scott asked frustrated while I sat down next to the other boy, letting my backpack fall to the ground. Stiles let him know that he had borrowed it while Scott corrected him. "Stole it."

"Temporarily misappropriated. Coach uses it to monitor his heart rate with his phone while he jogs, and you're gonna wear it for the rest of the day." I grinned, even though I didn't know what was going on.

"Isn't that coach's phone?"

Stiles looked at me, rolled his eyes, and then grinned. "That, I stole." He went back to his earnest expression. "All right, well, your heart rate goes up when you go..." He looked at me again and then immediately, looked at Scott. "When...when you're playing lacrosse, when you're with Allison, whenever you get angry. Maybe learning to control it is tied to learning to control your heart rate."

"Like the Incredible Hulk?" Both of them snapped their heads at me when I talked.

Stiles smiled. "Kind of like the Incredible Hulk, yeah."

"No, I'm like the Incredible Hulk." Again. He was glaring at me.

"That is literally what I've said," I replied to him with a little anger.

He was going to reply but got interrupted by Stiles. "Would you shut up and put the strap on?" Stiles helped him and then, he took a tape out of his backpack. "All right. You ready?" He grabbed my wrist, and we both started getting far from him.

"No."

"Remember, don't get angry."

"What is going on?" I asked.

"Wait and see, McCall. Wait and see." Stiles grabbed his lacrosse stick, he began to throw balls at Scott. He was enjoying it, and to be honest, I was enjoying it too. He deserved it, he was being an asshole to me. "Wanna try?" He asked while offering me his stick.

I grinned, grabbing it confidently. "Yeah, I think I would like to try." I felt strength gathering in my body. I threw the ball as hard as I could, accidentally hitting Scott in his private areas. Well, maybe it wasn't an accident."

Stiles 'wooed' while laughing and taking the stick from me, continuing to throw balls at Scott while the taped boy tried to repeat over and over again that he should stay calm.

I saw Jackson looking at us from afar, but I got distracted when I heard a heartbeat? Was I hearing a heartbeat? It was going fast. I glanced back at Scott. Was it his heartbeat?

He was on the floor, making some noises, and I wasn't sure if he was angry or in pain, maybe both. But what I didn't expect was for him to break free from the tape. Sometimes I couldn't even cut it with scissors.

Stiles peered at me, he looked nervous. "Ah..you know. Anger issues."

"Yeah," I whispered, looking back at Jackson. He wasn't there anymore.

"Let's go change." Stiles helped Scott up. Then, he looked at me and told me to wait for them in the corridor so they could accompany me to class. We had a different class now, and to be honest, it scared me a little bit.

I sat down on the floor, my back against the blue lockers. The corridor was empty, the only thing I could hear was my breath. Until I heard footsteps and the back of my neck started burning, making me hiss.

"Agh, it hurts like a bitch." I frowned.

"Mine does too." Jackson was sitting down next to me. "How are you holding up? Lydia told me that you are Scott's sister." I grimaced. "Uhm, Lydia is like pretty popular so she knows everything that happens in this high school, or maybe in Beacon Hills."

I chuckled. "Well, first of all."

"We are not siblings." He imitated my voice.

"How did you know I was going to say that?" I unconsciously touched the back of my neck.

He also seemed bewildered. "I'm not sure." He noticed my hand, lightly touching my neck. "Is it...is it itching?"

I nodded. "A lot. Yours?" I asked, remembering that his wound had appeared after mine, which seemed completely strange.

"Mine too." His eyes seemed to seek some sign on my face. "Do you feel strange?" He started to go into more detail when he noticed that I was confused about what he was referring to. "Like, I feel tired and I sweat a lot."

I heard my name being called and saw Stiles waving at me, standing next to Scott. The other boy didn't seem too happy, he was glaring at Jackson. I suppose that was Scott McCall's thing, glaring at people like he wanted to kill them.

"I think you have clear signs of being a teenager and being exhausted because of school." I offered a little smile while getting up from the floor. He nodded, but I could see that he was quite worried.

I started walking towards the boys when a thought crossed my mind. It smelled like someone was dying.

TAGLIST: @og-baby-ob14 - @savemypostcards - @cas-loves-pizza - @used-avocado - @mvrylee - @bilesxbilinskixlahey - @honeydoll-stark - @arieltheworldisamess - @softpeteparker - @kit-kat-katie99 - @thatsuperherosidekick - @bexbetterxthanxwords - @big-galaxy-chaos - @littlemiss-forgotten - @enchantedcruelsummer - @coldfreakeggsexpert - @merla123 - @sammypotato67 - @weirdowithnobeardo -

People in black means it doesn’t let me tag them.

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12tardis · 4 years

Text

A Million Little Battles That I’m Never Gonna Win (Newt Scamander x Reader)

Warnings: minor violence, mentions of bullying, mentions of anxiety, and a pretty trash toxic masculine antagonist Requested: YES! My first ever request. Lovely anon asked: ‘could you write a fic set in hogwarts where newt and the reader has some sort of a huge argument from a misunderstanding, leading to him ignoring or snapping the reader while she (desperately) tries to explain? just a little angst with a happy ending “ Here ya go anon! I hope you like it. Pairing: Newt Scamander x Reader Summary: Newt overhears another student ask you to the Yule Ball after you’ve already agreed to go with him. ANGST and lots of fluff to make up for it. Featuring angsty/hurt!Newt , protective!reader , mild mentions of anxiety and includes little Scamander babies! I’ll try and link my angsty song inspo too if anyone cares. A/N: Thank you so much for the request anon! I wasn’t expecting to have this done so fast but I really enjoyed writing it. Sorry if I went a little overboard with the angst. Please send me more requests. Hope you enjoy x

Words: 6,131

It was a slow and sunny morning in the Scamander household. Y/N was preparing breakfast while Newt was attempting to help, occasionally flipping the pancakes or stirring the odd pot. Though for the most part he was just taking the opportunity to cuddle his wife from behind.

She moved away from him to lay the food on the dining table, but Newt was close behind her, finally noticing the presence of his children at the table. How long had you two been sitting there?

“Mum, did you go to the Yule ball?”, your daughter called out when she saw the two of you had finally remembered that you weren’t alone in the kitchen. Her older brother was sat across from her at the table, turning to look at both of his parents expectantly. Usually he would make a fuss of being disgusted by his parents’ public displays of affection but even he was curious when he saw the way your eyes lit up in response.

“Oh yes! I think I know where the photos are stashed away”, you said excitedly, disappearing into the next room for a few moments and reappearing with a small pile of photos that you handed to your daughter. You smiled and ruffled your sons curls when he moved closer to look at the photos too.

“Wait, you went together?”

“You two were already together back then?”

“Mum, you look so beautiful!”

“WHAT happened to your hand?”

Your kids asked in rapid succession and you could only blink in response as Newt chuckled “she punched someone that’s what happened”, he said, only laughing harder at the incredulous looks your kids both shot you then.

“He DESERVED it!”, you huffed, folding your arms when your children continued to stare at you wanting answers. “It’s a miracle that dance ever happened. Your father can be incredibly stubborn, did you know that?”, you nodded at the photo of Newt spinning you around the great hall, standing behind where your now husband was sat at the table and looping your arms around his shoulders.

“I can’t believe you actually had the gall to ask Mum to go with you, Dad”, your son jested teasingly to which Newt rolled his eyes, laying his hands over the top of yours.

“I didn’t. She asked me first.”

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

Newt had a smile plastered on his face as he wandered through the corridors of Hogwarts in search of you since you’d left your textbooks behind at lunch again. He couldn’t help but smile fondly as he set out to make sure you got them back in time for your next class. He’d had a perpetual smile plastered on his face all week really since he’d finally garnered the courage to ask you to go to the Yule Ball with him and you’d said yes without a moment’s hesitation.

In truth the ball hadn’t even crossed his mind until you’d asked him to go with you the week prior and Newt had laughed in response, stating it really wasn’t his scene and that he’d rather let one of his mother’s Hippogriffs peck his eyes out. You had nodded in response and tried to laugh it off, but Newt had known immediately that he’d hurt your feelings and he instantly regretted his words. He knew he had to make it up to you.

So he set about, gathering you all of your favourite sweets from Hogsmead and your favourite flowers before he’d asked you to the ball himself, making a show of wooing you like he felt you deserved and he was relieved beyond measure when you agreed.

So yeah, he hadn’t stopped smiling since. That was until he heard the unmistakable voice of one Derick Drysdale, the tall and buff Gryffindor beater in the year above that had made it his life mission to torture Newt at any chance he got. Newt spun around on his heel to head the other way, freezing when he heard your voice.

“Oh h-hi Derick,”, you stuttered slightly when the boy in question stalked over to you, standing over you with his huge frame completely overshadowing you.

You despised Derick and you’d made the mistake of standing up to him once before which had only resulted in Newt copping a particularly nasty beating from him, so you’d resolved to keep your mouth shut rather than provoke him in future.

“Hi there, little lady”, Derick murmured lowly, in what was meant to be a seductive tone but came across as more threatening in your ears “I was wondering if you would go to the ball with me?” Though the way he said it barely sounded like a question, more a demand.

Newt’s interest was suddenly spiked, and he peeked around the corner curiously at the chance to see his high school bully rejected in some sort of poetic justice, expecting to see you turn Derick down. But Newt only frowned when all he could see was the boys hulking frame, with you backed against the wall of the corridor.

Newt waited to hear you tell Derick no, but you were frozen in place, imagining the torrent of abuse Derick would hurl at Newt if you told him the truth.

Derick raised his eyebrows at you and tutted his tongue impatiently when you were just gaping at him stupidly “what, did somebody already ask you?”, he asked, his voice rising slightly with a clear edge to it. Most of the other girls would be swooning over him right now.

“No!”, you barked out quickly with wide eyes, panicking as you recalled every taunt and every shoulder barge Newt had been on the receiving end of. “Nobody’s asked me yet. Nobody at all.”

And just like that Newt felt his heart shatter, hearing you deny his existence with such ease. You were clearly ashamed to be seen with him and Newt felt bile rise in the back of his throat as he watched Derick lift his hand to your face to brush a strand of your hair back.

You were the one person he trusted and allowed himself to open up to. Y/N, his best friend since first year and the very same girl he’d been head over heels for since second year. You were the one person he’d trusted with his heart and now it seemed you’d shattered it beyond repair with one statement.

Newt didn’t see the way you dodged Derick’s touch with a flinch. He only saw the blush you had on your cheeks when Derick pulled away from you, hearing one of his friends call for him and Newt took that as evidence enough that you were charmed by Derick’s looks just like everyone else.

“We’ll continue this later, little lady”, Derick winked at you before he left in the other direction and Newt was so stunned that he didn’t even notice you had turned the corner towards him until you had crashed right into him, sending all of the books in his arms crashing to the ground.

“Oh Newt!”, you gasped, pausing as you took in the foreign expression he wore on his face which you recognised to be sheer anger and betrayal within a split second.

“Newt, I can explain!”, you breathed, reaching for his shoulders and sucking in a breath when he stepped back from you quickly, shaking his head.

“No, you’ve made yourself perfectly clear, Y/N”, Newt spat out, his eyes glassy yet somehow full of rage.

You almost recoiled at the look of disgust he shot you, but you tried to reach for him again “No Newt, it wasn’t what it looked like. Please you’ve got to understand!”

Newt turned away from you, violently snatching up your textbooks once more, “Oh I understand completely Y/N. I’m freak,” he snapped, turning back to face you, his knuckles white from how hard he was gripping the books in his hands.

In his distressed state he could only conjure up every memory where you had dragged him off to hang out in your usual hide away and every time you would hide your face in shame whenever someone would tease you for being glued to Newt’s side. It didn’t occur to him that you were hiding your blush every time.

He was so hurt that he couldn’t even recall that you’d been the first one to ask him to the ball or that you’d already knocked back a handful of boys who had asked you to go with them. You stood there feeling helpless as you could practically feel the walls Newt was throwing back up, his face setting into a steely expression you had never seen before, but you absolutely hated already.

“You’re so ashamed to be seen with me that you couldn’t even tell him the truth. Well I can be nobody to you that’s fine”, he spat your own words back in your face as he thrust your textbooks at you, barely waiting for you to grab them before he pulled away from you once again “enjoy the ball with Drysdale, Y/N,” he said coldly, walking away from you swiftly and ignoring you when you called out after him.

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

You tried desperately to speak to Newt and explain why you’d said what you’d said several times over the course of the following three days but he just kept scurrying away from you, without so much as a single look in your direction.

You’d written him numerous letters trying to explain yourself, but your heart sunk when you only found them all scrunched up and discarded in the common room trash bin.

You had no idea Newt could be so completely stubborn and cold, it was shocking. The boy who used to make you blush and fill with warmth from a single crooked smile now had you feeling cold and invisible. You were gutted because you knew he was clearly hurting and all over a misunderstanding. And you couldn’t even fix it because he wouldn’t let you!

You were running late for potions class because you had once again misplaced your textbooks having gotten so used to Newt carrying them for you everywhere you went. You ran into the classroom, panting heavily and blushing darkly when everyone turned around to stare at you.

“Ah Miss L/N, how lovely of you to join us. You will see me after class,” the professor said sternly as you looked over at the desk you usually shared with Newt, letting out a sigh when you saw him sitting at one of the group cauldrons instead, leaving you to sit with another boy you barely knew.

Newt had seen your books that you’d left behind at the library and he’d rolled his eyes as he ignored them and made his way to the classroom. He now felt slightly guilty for the briefest moment when he saw you stumble into the classroom late, fiddling with your robes like you always did when you were feeling anxious, but when your eyes met his all he could picture was you and Derick.

You sat down with a slump when Newt looked away from you, hardly focusing in the class because your falling out with Newt was now also starting to impact your sleep.

Newt avoided you again for the rest of the day, growing increasingly more frustrated when you kept appearing everywhere he went, trying to talk to him. He tensed when you had finally corned him in one of the corridors later that day, reaching out for him again but pausing when you heard Derick and his friends in the distance.

You’d been avoiding Derick ever since your run in the other day and you’d been doing a pretty good job of it. But now froze when you heard him in the background just as you finally had Newt in front of you with nowhere to run because of course Derick would appear now.

Newt scoffed in response, with nothing but pure anger in his veins as he stared at you. How dare you stand there and look upset! He looked at you with that same steely gaze before he nodded in the direction of Derick “I think you’ll be perfect together.”, he said flatly and you reeled back in response like he’d slapped you.

“Newt wha-“ but he cut you off, crossing his arms with the same disinterested expression “a bully and a selfish liar. A match made in heaven”, he said letting his emotions get the better of him before he could stop the words leaving his mouth.

He regretted what he’d said immediately, his hands twitching by his sides when he saw your face crumple in response before you turned away from him and ran off, determined not to let him see you cry.

He felt guilty again as he watched you run away from him, every instinct in his body fighting to chase after you and apologise but when Derick shouldered him a moment later it was like being doused with a bucket of icy cold water and reminded him of why he was angry with you in the first place.

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

A few more days wore on and now the ball was only a day away and you had no intentions of leaving your dorm that night. You were both now avoiding each other and the other Hufflepuffs could feel the tension in the air. It was bizarre to see the power-not-quite-couple avoiding each other like the plague when it was obvious they were still drawn towards each other like opposite magnets.

Newt was mostly just bitter now and still set on being stubborn but now you were hurt and feeling lost. You didn’t think you could handle seeing him stare at you with that blank and steely expression again so you avoided looking at him all together, sticking with your girlfriends from your dorm who were growing exasperated with the whole situation.

You were sitting at your shared desk in Defense Against the Dark Arts together, the both of you sitting as far away from each other as you could physically manage, staring down at your notes in silence while all the other students spoke amongst themselves.

You were supposed to be working on your partnered group project together, but you’d been wringing your hands in your lap anxiously for 20 minutes now while Newt had been doodling in his notebook, completely oblivious to your rising anxiety.

Usually he would take your hand when you were like this, making sure you knew you were cared for and safe but now he was so focused on ignoring your presence completely that he hadn’t even noticed your fidgeting or the way your chest was starting to heave with your increased breathing.

That was until Professor Dumbledore was crouching in front of your shared desk, looking up at you “Miss Y/N, go and wait for me in my office please.” he said gently, and Newt whipped his head to the right to look at you, his mouth dropping open slightly when he took you in , seeing the tears welling in your eyes and watching as you scrambled to gather your things.

The Professor lightly touched your hand, shaking his head “Leave your things. I‘ll be with you shortly.” He said calmly, glad the rest of the students were too preoccupied with their discussions to take notice of you and the state you were in.

Newt opened his mouth to talk to you, but you’d already left the room and he was left to stare at his notes in confusion, wondering what the hell had just happened. Sure, he might have been upset with you but that didn’t stop him from caring about you and worrying the entire rest of the lesson when you never came back, even after Professor Dumbledore had returned to the classroom.

Newt frowned when you still hadn’t returned at the end of the lesson and gathered up your things from the desk as the rest of the students piled out of the classroom.

“Newt, would you care to tell me why you’re ignoring Miss L/N?”, Professor Dumbledore asked, sitting on the desk in front of where Newt was, raising his eyebrows at the young man.

Newt looked back at the Professor, feeling suddenly flustered when all he wanted to do was ask where you were and if you were okay but when the Professor gave him that look he held up his hands.

“Well she’s ignoring me too! I am merely...ignoring her because- because she doesn’t care about my feelings so why should I care about hers?” He said quickly in defense, folding his arms across his chest stubbornly.

“Yes, she doesn’t care about you at all.” Dumbledore said sarcastically, shooting Newt a withering look “that is exactly why she just spent 20 minutes balling her eyes out to me over you. Because she thinks she’s lost her best friend for good.”

Newt shrunk back in his chair at the Professors words, feeling a flood of remorse as he looked away from the older man and down at your belongings piled neatly in front of him.

Dumbledore sighed when Newt didn’t speak so he pulled a chair around to the other side of him, sitting down to be eye level with him.

“Newt. You know Y/N. You know what she is really like and you know she would never say anything, or rather not say something with the intention of hurting you. You’re acting from a place of fear and hurt, and I think it’s time for you to be brave and put it behind you. You need to talk to her and let her explain herself.”

Newt cringed because he knew the Professor was right, but he still shook his head anyway. “No there’s no way she’ll talk to me now! After the things I’ve said, the way I’ve treated her,” he said sadly.

“Nonsense. Stop making excuses. Take it from me when I tell you it is not often that you meet someone who matches and compliments you on a such a level. You know I generally like to stay out of my students’ relations but I would hate to see you throw away this friendship. A once in a lifetime relationship, Newt.” Dumbledore said honestly, pausing a moment to look at Newt before he continued.

“The ball is tomorrow, Newt. You need to go and make up with Y/N and treat that young lady to the dance of her life.” Dumbledore smiled, getting to his feet and pushing your things into Newt’s arms for him to return to you.

“But I don’t even have any dress robes!”, Newt panicked, looking back at the Professor when he was in the doorway.

Dumbledore snorted in response, moving to his desk to start grading the papers he had sat there “I will organise something, now go.” He said, waving his hand dismissively at the young man.

Newt wandered around the grounds in search of you, growing increasingly worried and impatient when he couldn’t find you anywhere.

Eventually he spotted you across the courtyard and he wanted to scream when Derick was there yet again, standing over you and basically demanding to know why you wouldn’t go to the ball with him.

“I would rather go with my boggart, Drysdale! No! I would rather go with a dementor!”, you finally snapped at the older boy, stepping into his space as the students gathered around you started to laugh.

You turned to leave when Derick grabbed your arm, causing one of your close friends and dorm mates Sarah to push him away “Oh shove off Derick! She’s going with Newt, would you just leave her alone?!” she said as you kept walking away from the boy who was now laughing cruelly.

“Oh! OH! It all makes sense now. You’re going with that freak Salamander. Even you know he’s such a loser, you didn’t even have the guts to tell me.” He sneered and you froze, already halfway across the courtyard away from him.

Newt pressed himself into the corner, hiding out of sight and ignoring the stab of hurt he felt in his stomach as Derick continued to make fun of him for all the other students to hear.

“I can’t really blame you though Y/N I would be embarrassed to go with him too”, Derick said, opening his mouth to continue his tirade and crying out when you flew back towards him and socked him in the mouth before he could continue.

He looked back at you in shock, gripping his face in pain as the other students gasped and Sarah tried to drag you away before a teacher came but you were having none of it as you shrugged the girl off and stood over Derick menacingly, your chest heaving as you glared down at him.

“You’re a scum bag and a bully, Drysdale and I’m sick of you tearing people down and getting away with it just because you’re good at Quidditch!” you shouted angrily, jabbing your finger into his chest, causing the boy to back up. Meanwhile Newt was gaping at you with his eyes about to bug out of his head.

“Even if I wasn’t going with Newt I still wouldn’t go with someone as foul as YOU! The only reason I didn’t tell you about Newt was because I knew you would bully him at any chance you got because you’re a pathetic and horrible cruel person!” you were screaming and livid now as more students gathered around to watch the commotion.

“He is ten times the man you will ever be, and you should be ASHAMED of yourself for ever laying a finger on him or anyone else for that matter. Why are you so insecure in yourself that you feel the need to torture others? Do you have any idea how many people despise you? How many people fear you? Do you WANT to be the reason that some students can’t sleep at night?”

Derick had curled in on himself by now, his face fallen in realisation as he took in your words, hearing the whispers and laughter from the other students. He raised his hand towards you and Newt nearly bolted for you thinking he was going to hurt you but he realised Derick was only trying to offer a signal of peace.

You stared back at Derick’s outstretched hand and gave him one last incredulous look “oh PISS OFF!” you shouted and you stormed off before anyone else could talk to you and Newt scrambled once again to chase after you.

Newt found you sitting outside, looking over the lake while you tore at the grass beneath you like it had personally affronted you. He walked over to you slowly, like he would a wounded creature seeing how everything about you was screaming tension. He sat down next to you silently and set your things from class down in front of him.

“If you’re here about the project I’ve already finished it.” you said flatly, not bothering to look up at him.

Newt winced slightly at your cold greeting, sitting beside you in silence for about a minute, just wanting to flee and avoid the tense interaction but he knew he owed it to you to persevere and fix the situation. He reached over and lay his hand on your knee “Y/N, I’m sorry”, he murmured gently, looking over at you and wishing you’d look back at him.

He bit his lip when you showed absolutely no response, still ripping at the grass below you. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. I didn’t give you a chance to explain. But I’m here now and I’d still love to go to the ball with you tomorrow”, he said timidly, his voice growing quieter with each word when you still refused to look at him.

“I’m not going to the stupid ball,” you muttered grumpily, shoving his hand off your knee and turning your back to him, hugging your knees to your chest and shivering involuntarily when the wind picked up.

Newt sighed quietly to himself as he stared at your back, but he heard the slightest change in your tone that told him you were calming down. Slightly.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry. I was...I was reacting from a place of hurt and I never should have reacted the way I did without giving you a chance to explain yourself. I still want to take you to the ball. I don’t even mind if you still want to be mad at me after it. I’ll even let you jinx me if you want. I’m just asking you to not hate me for one day.”

He spoke slowly and calmly, at some point shrugging off his robes and setting them on your shoulders, smiling slightly when he saw you tighten them around yourself and snuggle into the warmth. “I still don’t wanna go”, you mumbled, your voice muffled from you pressing your face into his robes.

Newt smiled even more when he saw you discreetly breathe in his scent on the still warm material and he noticed how your body gradually relaxed. He took that as his cue to move in next to you, gently tipping your chin upwards until he could look into your eyes “and why’s that?”, he hummed, the amusement dancing in his eyes because he knew full well that you had been dreaming of the ball for months.

You didn’t even realise you were pouting now when you saw the teasing look on Newt’s face. You huffed in annoyance, pushing his hand from your face, “you didn’t even want to go! I don’t want to go with someone who doesn’t want to be there.” You huffed, a light blush slowly starting to work its way up your neck from his simple touch and proximity.

Newt softened again at your response because he could tell you were feeling genuinely insecure about the whole thing. He caught your hand in his own before you could pull away again, taking your other hand in his and holding them both firmly. “I didn’t THINK I wanted to go at first. But then you mentioned it and now I can’t think of anything better than getting dressed up and dancing with my amazing best friend all night. I mean it,” he said, smiling adoringly at you when he saw your own lips pulling up into a small smile.

“I know you must hate me right now and I deserve it, but I promise to make sure you have the best night of your life tomorrow.” Newt murmured, letting out a small ‘oomph’ sound when you suddenly flung yourself at him, wrapping your arms around him and tucking your face into his shoulder.

“Oh, Newt I could never hate you! I was never going to go with him, I just didn’t want to tell him I was going with you yet because I didn’t want him to hurt you” you murmured, your voice muffled this time into the fabric of his jumper.

Newt nodded in response and chuckled lightly when he could feel your voice against his shoulder. And he wrapped his arms around you in return, gently rubbing your back and hoping you couldn’t hear how his heart was wildly thumping in his chest.

“I saw you earlier with Derick. I’m so sorry I lashed out at you. I can’t believe I ever thought you would do such a thing” Newt said after a while, when you’d both settled back down on the grass, you with your legs sprawled over his lap “I’m sorry I’ve been such a rotten friend to you this week.” He murmured, looking down at his knees in shame.

You shook your head quickly, this time taking his hands in your own “it’s okay Newt, it was just a misunderstanding. You were hurting and you felt betrayed. I probably would have been the same in your place.” You said understandingly, squeezing his hands in your own.

Newt smiled thankfully at you, the swelling bruises on your hand catching his eye and he gently brushed his thumb over your knuckles “does that hurt?”, he murmured, watching you as you flinched slightly and nodded.

“Just a bit”, you whispered back, the blush returning to your cheeks as you watched him lift your hand to his mouth, pressing gentle kisses to each bruise as he held your gaze.

Merlin, he was going to be the death of you.

He paused with his lips against your skin, his face cracking into a wide grin as he laughed, “God I can’t believe you punched Derick Drysdale. In the face.” He smiled, recognising the slight look of guilt in your expression until you recalled what he’d said about Newt and your face darkened again.

“He deserved it.” you grumbled and Newt laughed again, gently helping you to your feet after casting a quick healing charm on your hand. He kept his hold of your hand with your textbooks hoisted up in his other arm as he lead you both back to the Hufflepuff common room, noticing the relieved sighs that came from your dorm friends when they saw that you two had clearly made up.

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

The next evening Newt was waiting nervously at the bottom of the grand staircase, watching all the other students arrive and wander into the decked-out hall arm in arm.

He fidgeted with the collar of the dress robes Dumbledore had managed to get him. He had looked at his reflection and decided he looked surprisingly okay, his unruly hair was slightly more tamed a top his head and the robes fit him well. He just hoped you’d like the corsage he’d painstakingly crafted for you.

He’d spent the day out foraging for the perfect combination of your favourite flowers, even pinning a small matching one to his lapel. His eyes widened when you appeared on the staircase, carefully making your way down to him.

“Merlin’s beard”, he whispered to himself, taking in the way the silky fabric of your dress draped over your body and trailed behind you. He blinked a few times, seriously wondering if he’d died and gone to heaven because you simply had to be an angel.

The way the light fell upon you and the way your hair was pinned back with pieces falling around you face had him flushing warm as he kicked himself out of his stupor and rushed to meet you at the bottom of the stair case, offering you his arm.

You gripped his arm as you moved from the last step, turning to him with a bright smile, both of you reaching for the other at the same time “Newt, you look so handsome!”, you said, gripping his hands in your own as you vaguely noticed the flash of a camera in the distance.

Newt was staring at you stupidly again as he took in the way your eyes shimmered, highlighted by the elegant make up you wore and how kissable your lips looked painted like that. He was shaken from his thoughts again when you squeezed his hands and he grinned back at you, his cheeks pleasantly flushed.

“Y/N, you look so ridiculously incredible”, he said honestly.

It was your turn to blush now as you ducked your head slightly with a bashful giggle and Newt took the chance to take the corsage out from his jacket pocket, gently working it over your hand and onto your wrist. You stared down at the small floral arrangement, your own stomach flipping as you could tell he’d obviously put it together himself as it was all of your favourite flowers. “Oh, Newt thank you, it’s perfect! You could have just bought one like everyone else, I wouldn’t have been upset”, you murmured and pecked a quick kiss to his cheek.

Newt bit his lip and felt his skin tingle where your lips had just been, shaking his head at you as he wrapped his arm around yours and lead you into the hall “only the best for you” he murmured into your ear, feeling slightly intimidated by the way the students from your year were staring at you both.

But as the night wore on his worries washed away and he focused on enjoying the night with you, spinning you around the dance floor and making sure you knew how beautiful you were. He sat down by one of the ice sculptures later that night to rest his feet for a moment, tensing when Derick Drysdale suddenly appeared in front of him.

You leapt to your feet quickly, immediately taking a defensive stance in front of Newt and Newt grabbed your arm, trying to soothe you “Y/N it’s okay”, he murmured quietly for only you to hear, squeezing your hand in his own.

Derick held his hands up quickly in surrender “no I just came to apologise please don’t hit me again” he murmured, his nose swollen and purple in the middle of his face. You only raised an eyebrow at the boy in response, narrowing your eyes at him as he turned to face Newt.

“Newt, I came to apologise. I...I realise Y/N was right and I’ve been a bully when you’ve done nothing at all to deserve it. I know it’s not my right to ask for forgiveness and I can’t expect you to ever grant me that, but I just wanted you to know I am truly sorry for anything I’ve ever said or done to you. I don’t have any excuses for myself I’m sorry.” he said, looking down at his shoes in shame and Newt looked at him in surprise, seeing the genuine remorse on his features.

“And Y/N I’m sorry for harassing you and making you uncomfortable this last week. You’re uh...you’re a really strong and admirable person.” He said awkwardly as you continued to stare at him. “But yeah, I’m really sorry for everything, Newt. I won’t bother you again.”

But you were still not convinced and Newt squeezed your hand again when he saw you about to give Derick a peace of your mind again “thank you Derick”, Newt cut in smoothly, brushing his thumb over your knuckles again and mentally willing you to calm down. “I appreciate the apology, it takes a lot of courage to admit your wrong doings. We can put this behind us.” He nodded, waiting until Derick eventually left before he tugged on your hand, which landed you in his lap rather clumsily.

He chuckled softly and caught you in his arms, smiling fondly up at you “you are so feisty sometimes I swear you’re really a Gryffindor”, he said as you looped your arms around his shoulders and smiled back down at him sheepishly.

“Only when it comes to you”, you murmured, lightly sweeping his hair from his eyes as you relaxed on his lap, not caring in the slightest about the people that were beginning to stare at you.

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

Newt smiled softly at the memories, pressing a kiss to the back of your hand as your children continued looking through the photos.

“And no, we weren’t together. We were just friends then.” you said eventually and your son barked out a laugh, motioning to the photo of you and Newt seeing each other at the staircase for the first time that evening, your hands intertwined and matching smiles on your faces “just friends my ass! You two look like this right now!”, he exclaimed.

His sister nodded furiously in agreement, looking at the next photo that showed you sat in Newt’s lap by a huge ice sculpture with a smile of awe “you look so in love” she cooed, watching the way young Newt tugged on your hand, sending you falling into his lap as you both laughed. The photo had captured Newt catching you in his arms, his arm coming to wrap around your waist as you slung your arms around his shoulders, the two of you lost in each other’s eyes.

“Well yes. I was in love”, Newt hummed, peering over his youngest’ shoulder to see the photograph before he tugged on your hand, pulling you into his lap just like in the photograph, the both of you giggling before you pecked him on the lips softly.

“That right there, was when I vowed to one day marry your mother.” Newt hummed, squeezing your hip when you blushed in response. “And I was just thinking about how your father had the most incredible eyes I’d ever seen.” you countered, and Newt reached out to flick your son across the head when he made dramatic gagging sounds in response.

“You’re the one that asked!” you both exclaimed together.

PLEASE SEND ME REQUESTS!

***TITLE: I Am Easy To Find - The National makes me fall apart EVERY. TIME. I MEAN MATT’S VOICE IN THE FINAL CHORUS I’m still standing in the same place Where you left me standing …. There’s a million little battles that I’m never gonna win, anyway I’m still waiting for you every night with ticker tape *** -MASTERLIST HERE-

#newt x reader #newt scamander x reader #newt x y/n #newt scamander #newt scamander x y/n #Newton Artemis Fido Scamander #fantastic beasts and where to find them

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silverhandsass · 3 years

Text

Countin’ On You

Having been roaming the streets of Night City all her life, V gets herself into a bit of gang trouble and finds herself at odds with a particular officer.

—Canon Divergent meeting between V and River—

Note:

This started off as an experimental piece for how Street Kid V could have possibly met alternatively 👀 With promise of eventual romance and smut 👀

Ao3

— — — — —

And that was the last of them.

Day after day, these gonks were getting easier and easier to knock out. These guys were especially tough, they had bruised the crap out of her arms and ribs before she finally finished them off. Holding one of their bats in her hand, she rested it over one shoulder and walked over to an older woman that was hunched over by the garbage bins.

"It's over now, lady, come on," she assured, motioning for her to stand.

The woman was cowering, but the moment she looked at V, she must have seen the distinct difference in her attire than the gangoons around them. V wore a long sleeved crop sweater, her tattooed midriff exposed generously. She also wore jeans that had probably been patched up and fixed more times than it she could count, along with sneakers of similar condition. She had no gang logos, no affiliated tattoos or markings of any kind, and her face was most definitely not hollowed out and replaced.

Before V could urge the lady some more, the woman looked past her just in time for a voice to call out.

"NCPD! Stop right where you are!" A man ordered. "Let me see those hands!"

Fuck!

V raised her free hand and shoved the bat off her shoulder, holding it out passively. The woman in front of her held her hands up as well—oh, what a precious little thing, V thought. She was much older, wore a formal, grey outfit, walking around in heels and a pencil skirt. She looked like some office clerk in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

"Don't hurt her, she helped—" the woman tried to object.

"Ma'am, please step away from the area immediately," the officer urged.

The woman looked to V, who faced her palms toward her. She motioned with her head, nudging it to the side as she whispered, "Get the hell out of here!"

"She saved me," the woman called again and V sighed heavily, blinking hard.

"Lady, that's noble, but get the fuck out," V told her, seemingly concerned.

"Ma'am, get away from this woman and step to the side. Now," the officer insisted.

The woman did not move, looking between him and V, over and over. V stepped closer to her, hearing the click of a gun behind her.

"Don't move!" The badge yelled.

"Just hold your fucking horses!" V replied, slowly bending down to drop the bat. She then kept her hands up as she stepped forward once more. "Look, I'll be fine. You go, okay? If he gets to shootin', you don't wanna be here. Go."

The woman hesitated, but eventually gave her a nod, muttering to her that she will not forget this, and finally leaving the immediate area. V could hear the footsteps getting closer and closer, the voice calling out to her once more.

"Turn around—slowly," he ordered.

"Great, just what I needed," V carefully turned to face him. "Another goody two-shoes badge failing to identify the good guy." The moment she could see him, she was studying his every feature; the cybernetic eye, the furs of his coat, the singular hanging earring—the lot of it. For an officer, he sure dressed casually.

"You tellin' me you're the good guy? The hell were you doin' in the middle of a gangoon pit?"

"Dunno, maybe I got bored," V shrugged.

"Attitude like that won't get you very far," He frowned, his gun still perfectly trained on her.

"And here I thought I was perfectly well behaved," V said sarcastically. Then, from the edge of her vision, she spotted a bit of movement far behind him. Her eyes darted to it, seeing a flash of a dark figure hiding behind a large bin.

"You ain't foolin' me," the cop told her, commenting on her change in focus. "Eyes over here."

The figure peeked out, giving V a clear look on what was going on. It was a Maelstrom gangoon that had managed to avoid being noticed, aiming a rifle at them both. "Oh, fuck!" V yelled, grabbing the officer as she leapt to the side. Multiple shots were fired, the sounds deafening her and leaving her in a daze momentarily as the pair landed behind cover.

There was a roaring pain in her arm as she pushed herself up to a seated position. The officer had fired his gun, she recalled, cursing under her breath while holding onto the wound tightly. "Now do you believe me?!"

The officer shuffled over, kneeling beside her. "You saved me," he said.

"And you fucking shot me!" She scolded.

"Fuck. Cover me, I'm going round back to get an angle on him," the officer told her.

"Cover you how, exactly?!" V hissed.

The officer looked at her incredulously. "You went into this fight unarmed?"

"They had bats, and I wasn't thinking!"

"Clearly!" He yelled. He peeked out to get a look, immediately being met with a barrage of bullets. The officer ducked behind cover and cursed. "There's more of them now."

"Look, just... Get the fuck out of here. You're not the one who started this mess."

"You tellin' me to leave you here?" he asked, barely looking at her.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm tellin' you. Don't suppose you got an extra piece you can lend me?" V asked, clutching her arm tightly.

"No, but I got a better idea," the officer replied, shuffling around the corner on the other side and disappearing from sight.

"Wait—fuck!" V hissed, clenching her teeth. "No chivalry for the fucking wicked. Fuck," she whispered to herself, looking off to the side. She did tell him to leave, and cursed at herself for doing so. Soon there were footsteps approaching her position.

"Come out, come out you little fucker!" A gangoon called from nearby.

V looked around her, spotting a body a few meters ahead of her. She crawled forward, reaching for a metal bat the man had dropped. She grabbed it and immediately shuffled back into cover, holding it close. V shut her eyes for a brief moment and breathed heavily through her nose, her jaw tight from having to force herself to ignore the pain in her arm. She pushed herself up to a crouched position, holding the bat high and readying herself for the gangoon.

The moment he turned the corner and aimed the gun at her, she was certain she would not survive. Gunshots sounded off to her right, distracting the man immediately. She did not care what was going on, she simply kicked off from the ground and swung her bat at him. She hit him square in the arm, readying it for another before the gangoon slammed his gun right into her face.

V cursed, stumbling backward and tasting iron. As the gangoon aimed his gun at her again, she swung at it and then kicked his chest. That pushed him away from her while also causing her to lose balance and fall back. A hulking figure soon approached them just as a couple of loud gunshots rang into the air. The gangoon fell limp, choking on his own blood as it pooled in his throat and chest.

Turning to her right, V saw the officer walking up to her. "You okay?!"

"Fucking hell, man! You coulda told me you were plannin' on charging at 'em!"

"I told you I was going 'round," he replied.

"And here I thought you left." V wiped at her nose with the back of her hand, seeing a smear of bright red across her skin. "Oh, motherfucker."

"Come on, let's get out of here before more show up," the officer suggested, then glanced at her wound. "Keep pressure on that."

"Ain't my first rodeo, chief."

—

Taking the rag from him, she pressed it against her nose and tilted her head back. "Ah, fuck."

Her arm still stung from the pain, but a quick whiff of a common painkiller helped ease the burn a little. She glanced down at her arm that was now bandaged, knowing she was going to have to go over the ink once it had healed over. She sighed and kept her head back, now wondering how much that was going to cost her.

"So," he stepped in beside her, leaning against the half wall. He looked over the edge behind them, seeing the water and letting out a low whistle at the height. "You make a habit of picking fights you'll probably lose?"

"Didn't lose that one, did I?" She countered.

"Fair point, but you had no reason to be there," his brows furrowed, showing his confusion—he seemed as though he was trying to understand her.

"The lady called for help, I heard her. There's my reason," she shrugged, pulling the rag away but feeling a slight trickle of blood still falling across her lips. Cursing, she turned the rag over to a dry patch and brought it up to her nose again.

"So that's it, you were just... picking a fight with Maelstrom gangoons because you wanted to help?" the officer asked her.

"Is that so hard to believe?" she turned her head to him. "Wouldn't you have done the same?"

"Guess I just don't see enough folks like you to believe it," he replied.

"No, you don't," she agreed, sighing deeply through her mouth.

The officer observed her a moment, looking her up and down, not caring that she was staring back and that she could see him. He was sizing her up, she figured. Maybe studying her, trying to see what he could see.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

After a few seconds of some staring from her, she finally answered. "V."

He scoffed, turning to look away from her. "Fine, don't tell me."

V couldn't help but chuckle. "I don't tell anyone, princess." He turned to look at her again with a raised brow and a hint of annoyance. She sighed, dropping the attitude. "Everyone calls me V." Realizing that the blood flow had come to a tentative halt, she kept the rag away from her face, folding it up.

"River. River Ward." The officer reached out his hand, "Here, I'll toss it for you."

One look at his hand had V scoffing, "Ha! Fuck no," she turned to the side and tossed the rag over the edge and right into the water. She turned him with an incredulous look and smirked, "Ain't givin' you anything to work with."

River studied her a moment, then the corner of his lips flicked up as he spoke. "Definitely no stranger to the streets, then. My money's on Pacifica."

V feigned an insulted look, gesturing into the air to the absurdity of that statement. "Really think I'm that wild, Officer?" She then smirked. "Close. Heywood."

"Ah," he snapped his finger. "Woulda been my second guess."

"I'm sure," she chuckled, hopping off the wall and stepping around him.

"Don't suppose you'd let me make it up to you with a coffee?" River asked her, his gaze following her.

"For shooting me in the arm, you mean?" She raised her brow, chuckling at his sheepish expression. "Maybe put a pin in that, I got some stuff I gotta tend to, but... you know what?" she pointed at River in a casual manner. "You're not bad, Ward. Maybe in a different life, on different sides o' things, we mighta actually been friends," she told him as she began walking backward. V then turned around, making a relaxed beeline for her bike.

"You know, it's never too late," River insisted.

"Maybe not," she called back, blindly waving a goodbye to him before she mounted her bike. A short moment later, she could see the notification of something being sent to her. Contact information—River Ward.

"In case you change your mind," River called out. "Or you need something else."

With a lopsided grin and a lazy wave, V rode off.

#Cyberpunk 2077 #River Ward #River #V #Female V #V / River Ward #Action #Blood #Mild Violence #Eventual Smut #Eventual Romance #Eventual Fluff #just. it's gonna get real nice #My Fics #Countin' On You

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jootsmcgoots · 4 years

Text

MBC Selfshipping Prompts #1: First Dates (Risotto Nero)

WOO BOY so Haley started a weekly Selfship Prompt event over at MBC, and I wanted to write it out! And so I did.

Mind you, this uses my self-insert, Niko, so it’s going to be using that name and female pronouns. This work got away from me, so it ended up being 2422 words (even when I meant for this to be less than 2k words......lmaooo...)

I will get around to posting my reader inserts soon, but not yet LOL I’ll get around to it when I get around to it. This blog is still very much a WIP because I still need to re-reblog a LOT of content from the old blog.

But for now, this is what I’m writing and I wanted to post it up. I may write another for Mista, but we’ll see (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

So as the title implies, this is the first of the prompts, and it’s “First Dates”.

Niko let out a yawn as she sleepily looked out at the busy street. Her eyes scanned the droves of people walking around, trying to scope out her target. Dark eyes blinked as she studied the faces of men nearing her, trying to determine if they were the one she was looking for. When they passed by her, she shrugged internally.

Her phone’s clock read 10:47 AM. She knew they agreed to meet around 11, but it never hurt to be early. “And anyways, better to be early than late, right? Right.” She still couldn’t help getting bored easily, and the anxiety and tension building in her chest continued to rise as the seconds passed.

“Calm down, calm down,” she thought to herself, “It’s just a date; you’ve been on dates before! Just treat it like you’re just hanging out with a friend.” Niko let out the breath she was holding and took her phone out, idly browsing it in order to distract herself. “Plus, it’s Mimi’s brother. There’s no way he’d be the bad kind of sort. She wouldn’t set us up if she thought we weren’t going to get along.”

Still, she had to admit she was surprised when her friend made the suggestion and arrangements. Niko recalled as her friend more or less pushed the aquarium tickets into her hand and snatched her phone to punch in her brother’s contact info.

“It’ll be nice, I promise! He’s a really great guy, and I think you two will hit it off!” Mimi flashed the smaller woman a grin. “Plus, he needs to get out more often.”

Niko’s mouth formed a slight line as she remembered how she had asked her friend for a photo of her date, but Mimi’s grin only grew with amusement.

“Oh, don’t worry about that! You’ll know when you see him.”

A noise of annoyance escaped Niko’s throat. “Dude, what does that even mean?” Her brow creased as she tried to think on what that could have meant, but quickly gave up, deciding it was too much effort. Her eyes absentmindedly left her phone screen to scope out her surroundings again.

Except her eyes bugged out as they fell on a large, foreboding man in dark clothing who towered over most if not all of the other people walking along. Whether by his size or presence, people seemed to naturally get out of his way as he continued making his way down the street. Everything about him exuded a quiet kind of power, from the way he walked, his stern expression, his hulking, muscular frame…

Though she remained completely stock-still, Niko shook her head inwardly. “No, no, maybe it’s not him! Maybe it’s just your regular, big, muscular, scary-lookin’ dude with fucking black sclera and red eyes, just walkin’ down the street for a stroll! All decked out in black and has the kinda expression that says, ‘hey so if you piss me off, I’m going to rip your limbs off’! Totally normal! Yeah! Hahaha!”

However, despite the thousands of thoughts going through her head at miles a minute, Niko knew. Now she understood what Mimi had meant by “You’ll know.” When the man stopped in front of her, it was undeniable that this man was indeed her date.

She could feel red eyes roving over her, studying her. If looks could kill, Niko felt like she would have been smote where she stood from the intensity of his stare alone.

Risotto’s unblinking crimson stare studied the woman before him. She certainly matched the picture and profile his sister had given him. Petite and girlish stature, short black hair that swept to the right, glasses, gold studs in her lobes, everything matched. He noted how she was sporting a mint green frog backpack, just like she’d specified she would so that he could recognize her easier. How thoughtful of her to suggest that in the first place. He couldn’t deny that he appreciated the consideration.

He was an observant man and was well-aware of his perception skills. After all, it was an invaluable skill in his line of work. However even without his sharp senses, there was no missing the look of surprise, awe, and slight fear in his date’s flabbergasted visage. Her eyes were wide, brows raised to the sky and jaw slack, lips seeming to form the beginnings of “Oh my god.”

Risotto let out a nearly imperceptible huff of amusement. His sister was right; this woman’s face hid nothing. He couldn’t help but smile a little at that candidness.

Introductions were short and awkward, but they served their purposes. Once acquainted, the pair could proceed with their date. Their itinerary was rather basic, just go to an aquarium and get some food together. Simple enough.

However, conversation was rather sparse as they made their way to their destination. Without any prior knowledge or known common ground, Niko was unsure of what to talk about, and Risotto was a taciturn individual by nature.

He didn’t dislike the small talk that she was trying to make, asking him things like what he did, what his hobbies were, but it required him to think carefully about his responses. It wasn’t exactly appropriate to vent about how little you were being paid to kill people on a first date.

What were you even supposed to talk about on a first meeting like this anyways? It had been far too long since he had tried connecting with someone new, let alone someone not affiliated with Passione. Though Risotto’s face remained as placid as ever, worry and nerves began bubbling beneath the surface as he picked up on the traces of worry and discomfort on his date’s face, and he wracked his brain for more to say.

He wasn’t alone, though; Niko hardly ever met people like this, usually having some common ground with new conversational partners. Here, she had absolutely no idea. Inwardly, she cursed Mimi for putting them in this awkward situation, wishing a thousand poxes on her friend’s house.

=====

“Eh? You set them up on a date?”

“Yup!” Mimi replied cheerily.

“And it’s a blind date, you said? And she doesn’t know what he looks like?”

Mimi hummed an affirmative as she snuggled up against her boyfriend’s shoulder, black nails clacking against her phone screen as she browsed. Though Kakyoin’s eyes hadn’t left the screen and he had continued dutifully chaining combos, his brows raised in surprise as he made a considering noise.

“Oh dear. She’s in for quite the surprise then.” As the victory logo flashed on screen, he leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead and smiled warmly at Mimi.

“That’s evil. I love it.”

=====

Arriving to the aquarium was a relief and a salvation to Niko. At least now they could busy themselves with an activity, and that would give them something to do together. Slowly, their conversation became less stiff and stilted, as Niko began prattling off about the various exhibits they toured together. Bit by bit, she continued to come out of her shell as she pulled him from room to room, and by noontime she was babbling nonstop about the penguin feeding exhibit they had just been at.

“…and god, they were just so damned cute!” Her eyes glittered at the memory. “Fun fact, did you know that there was this one penguin that fell in love with an anime character? I’m not kidding!” Niko nodded as Risotto tilted his head at that statement. “Yeah, yeah! His name was Grape-kun and he uh…” Her words petered out, and her expression turned sheepish.

Risotto raised a brow, unsure of why she stopped. “Is something wrong?”

Niko fidgeted in silence for a moment before answering. “I…I just kinda realized that I’ve been dragging you from place to place, and I’ve just been rambling non-stop. It’s – it’s not that…it’s okay if you’re just not one for talking. I totally get that!” she said, waving her hands in front of her before wringing them worriedly. “I just wanna make sure you’re having fun too. Like, I just hope I’m not talking over you or only doing the things I wanna do, y’know?”

She looked up at him to meet his stare. Embarrassment was racking up by the second, and as she was going to open her mouth, he spoke.

“I’ve been enjoying myself.”

Relief flooded her senses. Niko smiled at him as she registered his words, her expression relaxing into something much brighter. He couldn’t help but mirror the expression, even though the corners of his mouth had barely turned upwards.

She clapped her hands together as a thought seemed to dawn on her.

“I know! Was there anything in particular that you wanted to do? Anything here that you were looking forward to?”

At that, Risotto’s eyes widened just the tiniest bit, but Niko had caught it. “There is, isn’t there?” she probed with a mischievous grin. “C’mon, tell me! I’m sure it’ll be nice.”

He averted his eyes, and she chuckled good-naturedly at his sudden shyness. “C’mooon, tell me! We already came all the way out here, so if there was something you wanted to do, let’s go and do it!”

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t turn away from her expression, bright and shining like the sun, with no escape. Risotto let out a mumble, still unable to look her directly in the eye.

“Mm? What was that?” Niko tilted her ear towards him.

“…the manta rays.” He repeated himself, barely louder.

She made the connection in seconds. “Oh! The petting pool with the manta rays!” Niko threw him a grin as he nodded. “Yeah, I gotcha! Let’s go!” And at that, she immediately set off before stopping short and looking behind her, waiting for him. “Come on! It gets really crowded, so let’s head on over.”

The petting pool was a popular exhibit, and it was already full of people, children and adults alike, all fawning over the adorable manta rays that practically jumped out of the water for a petting. Though his face remained as stony as ever, the sparkles in Risotto’s eyes exposed his excitement as the sounds of splashing drew nearer and nearer.

Niko let out a giggle. How cute.

However, he just stood there, staring out at the pool that was so close yet so far. Maybe he felt put off by the number of people there.

Taking matters into her own hands, Niko tried to lead them closer to the pool, but found that the droves of people who were already there difficult to navigate. She managed to bypass a few of them, but soon found it hard to actually get near the exhibit. Her lips curled to the side in annoyance as she tried to think about how to get to the exhibit.

Then, she felt someone take her hand. Niko looked up in surprise to see Risotto by her side, taking her hand gently as he began to wade through the crowd with her in tow, people parting as a hulking 6’8” man strode over to the manta ray pool. No one there decided that it was worth getting in his way, especially as he occasionally let out quiet, polite “excuse me, pardon me”s as he made his way over.

As Niko followed him through the crowd, she had a thought. Throughout the date, he hadn’t tried to make contact with her at all. Now that she thought about it, he had kept a respectful distance from her the entire time.

She let that fact wash over her as they approached the pool. Manta rays were swimming serenely through the clear water, occasionally breaking the surface of the water, excited for more pets.

Risotto had already dipped his hands into the cold water, gently stroking the creature as it passed by. A soft smile graced his features, dimples forming on his cheeks.

The sight was something Niko wanted to commit to memory.

Noticing that she had yet to join him, he removed his hand from the pool to look at his date. What he was met with was a soft, nearly reverent look on her face, dust blushing her cheeks. Upon realizing that he was looking directly at her, Niko gave him an awkward grin, hastily kneeling down with him to start babbling about how cute the rays were.

“…sorry.”

That cut her ramble short. “Huh? About what?”

“I should have asked first.”

His heart was thrumming in his chest as he searched her expression for any change. She looked confused for the barest of seconds before realization lit her features.

“Oh. Oh! That!” Niko quickly took her hand out of the pool, but thought better of shaking her hands in front of her like she usually did. “No, no – don’t worry about that!” She laughed, the sound causing a tentative warmth to blossom in his chest. “I really didn’t mind. It was…it was nice.” She emphasized her point with a shy but honest smile that caused the warmth in his chest to go into full bloom.

His eyes softened at her gentle expression, the soft look on her face looking like the most natural thing in the world. Risotto grunted an affirmative, finding words to be difficult.

As they walked away from the petting pool and dried off their hands, Niko spoke up.

“You know…to be honest, I wasn’t so sure about this. It’s been awhile since I’ve gone on a date, and this was my first blind date. I was ready to kill Mimi!” she admitted with a laugh, miming strangling motions. “No offense.”

“None taken.” His chuckle was nearly inaudible, but she didn’t miss the amusement in his voice.

Her smile grew wide, toothy and easy. “But this was nice. Real nice.”

“It was.” Risotto returned the smile, however subtle the change in his expression was. “I’ll admit this was…an experience. But I enjoyed it.”

At that, Niko laughed lightly and reached out to take his hand. Risotto noted the hesitation in her actions, the pause lasting no longer than a second. But in the end, he could feel his hand in hers, warm and comforting, like that was where it belonged.

He smiled at the feeling.

“Let’s go get lunch?” she asked, tilting her head at him.

His hand tightened around hers, just so.

“Let’s.”

As they walked towards their destination, they discussed restaurants, going over their options and bantering all the way there, the sound of her laughter echoing down the street.

#my self insert #Niko #self insert #self insert prompts #first dates #Risotto Nero #Vento Aureo #jojo's bizarre adventure #jjba #modern AU #aquariums #my writing #SFW #fluff #fluffy #risotto x niko

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whumphoarder · 4 years

Text

Flying Blind

Summary: Tony’s never been one to turn down a mission. Even when he can’t see shit.

Word count: 2,194

Genre: light whump, humor

A/N: Happy birthday @awesomesockes!! Hope you enjoy! Thanks @xxx-cat-xxx & @sallyidss for beta-reading and ideas!

Link to read on Ao3

It starts, as bad things in life so often do, with a series of headaches.

Having been prone to migraines since adolescence, Tony doesn’t think much of them at first. As long as the pain in his head and the slight blur to his vision are content to stay ‘irritating’ rather than ‘debilitating,’ he doesn’t complain. He pops some Advil and chugs a few glasses of water, which doesn’t exactly help, but doesn’t not help either. Pepper’s always harping on him about being chronically dehydrated anyway.

Truth is, headaches are so common for Tony that it takes an embarrassingly long time for a man of his intelligence to connect them with all the squinting he’s been doing lately. Or how he’s having to stand a little further back from his holographic images than usual so that he can make out the letters. Or how he’s had FRIDAY increase his screen font size from eleven to twelve. And then thirteen.

It’s simple: Tony’s going blind.

Well, alright, fine—not blind. But old, which is arguably worse. Vision is the first to go after all, and then it’ll be his six-pack, and his memory, and his hair, and before he knows it he’ll be tuning in every afternoon for a new episode of Jeopardy and soaking his pearly whites in a cup of Polident.

Anyway, that’s why, when Tony realizes he might possibly need glasses, he doesn’t request an appointment with SHIELD’s in-house optometrist, nor does he ask Happy to drive him to the unassuming private office downtown that he contacts instead. He just drives himself—which seems like a fantastic idea until he steps out of the office into the blinding brightness of the spring afternoon to find that he cannot, in fact, see shit.

“Well this sucks,” he mutters, blinking multiple times in an effort to clear his watery, stinging, freshly dilated eyes. His vision is so blurred that he trips over an unexpected half-step and only barely manages to avoid face planting onto the sidewalk. He slips on his high tech sunglasses. “Up the tint by fifty percent,” he commands under his breath. The glasses darken immediately and Tony sighs in relief as the strain on his eyes eases marginally. “Now where’s the damn car?”

A route to the parking lot illuminates before Tony’s eyes. He grunts sharply, squeezing his eyes shut against the flash of pain. “Verbal, FRI!” he hisses. “No visuals, just words.”

“Sorry, boss,” she says, and the lenses revert to dark. “Fifteen paces straight ahead, then a sharp right.” Tony starts moving cautiously forward, eyes focused on what he can make out of the ground. “Would you like me to contact Mr. Hogan or Ms. Potts to pick you up?”

Tony pauses. On one hand, he can barely see—there’s no way he should be driving. But on the other hand, the Audi has so many upgrades and added safety features that it basically drives itself. Not to mention, he’s pretty sure that if he calls Happy or Pepper at the moment, he’s never going to hear the end of this.

“...Or perhaps an Uber?” FRIDAY suggests helpfully.

“Nah,” Tony decides. He taps the housing unit on his chest and the nanotech instantly encases him. “Just keep feeding the meter. I’ll take the Iron Express.”

There’s a hint of disapproval in FRIDAY’s voice. “Given your current condition, I would strongly advise against operating any sort of heavy machinery.”

“That’s why I’m not operating it,” he retorts. “You are.”

“Still, I must caution you—” The AI’s voice cuts out abruptly. “I have just received an urgent incoming message from Captain Rogers,” she informs.

Tony’s heart sinks. There’s only one reason that Steve ever uses the emergency override channel, and it’s definitely not to shoot the breeze. “How bad is it?”

“A wormhole has just opened up over Staten Island. Scronquad are invading as we speak,” she reports. “All the Avengers have been ordered to assemble.”

“Fantastic,” Tony groans. He briefly considers sending an empty suit from the Iron Legion in his stead, but then nixes that idea when he remembers that none of his spare suits have the exact same color scheme as the current model. Steve is nothing if not detail-oriented—probably the artist in him. He’ll notice in a heartbeat.

He heaves out a sigh. “Alright, set the coordinates, FRI.”

“Boss—” the AI begins to protest, but Tony interrupts with, “Override code: 6673.”

FRIDAY goes silent. The helmet materializes around him, the HUD lighting up automatically.

“Gah!” Tony yelps, squeezing his burning eyes shut tightly. “What’d I just say about the lights?” he complains. “No lights!”

“Sorry, boss.” The display goes dark, leaving only a heavily tinted view of the fuzzy world around him.

Tony engages autopilot and blasts off before he has time to change his mind.

As far as hostile aliens go, Scronquad are about as annoying as they come. They’re anywhere from eight to twelve feet tall, their scales are a hideous shade of maroon and green, and each one of their ten writhing tentacles oozes a gelatinous slime that somehow manages to smell simultaneously of rotten eggs and expired tuna fish. When they move, there’s an ugly squelching sound as their bodies glide across the ground, similar to the sound of pulling one’s boots out of the mud. They’re nefarious, destructive, repulsive creatures, and never in a million years would Tony have dreamed there’d come a day when he missed seeing their fugly little faces.

First time for everything, he supposes.

“Six o’clock,” FRIDAY chirps. Tony whirls around, head pounding, and catches sight of the blurry outline of a massive purple figure. He fires his repulsor at his best guess of where its head is located and receives a garbled roar of fury in exchange.

“Too low,” FRIDAY corrects. “You’ve taken out his seventh and eighth tentacles.”

“Seventh and— what?” Tony sputters. He fires again, a little higher. “Starting where? He’s a fucking cylinder!”

“Starting at his navel—which is located above his middle eyebrow—and moving clockwise,” FRIDAY clarifies. “Duck, boss.”

Tony drops to the ground a split second before one of the alien’s remaining two-hundred-pound tentacles swings overhead.

“Roll left,” the AI continues. Tony barrel rolls to the side, narrowly missing the appendage’s backhand. “Scronquad at ten o’clock.”

Switching gauntlets, Tony shoots a repulsor beam at the blob approaching on his front left side. The alien blasts backwards. He spins back around and spies another blurry moving purple shape—smaller this time—and instinctively raises his gauntlet towards it.

“Hold fire.” Power to his repulsor instantly cuts out. “That’s Barton, boss,” FRIDAY informs as the figure darts across the street.

“Ah.” Tony winces. “Yeah, good call. That would’ve been a lot of paperwork.”

FRIDAY continues rattling off directions, which Tony follows more or less blindly—firing, charging, and evading as instructed. Every blast of the repulsor results in an explosion of light that shoots daggers of pain through his head. The only thing Tony is seeing at the moment is stars.

Tony keeps the team comms channel playing low in the background under FRIDAY’s verbal directions, and they seem to be making headway. According to Cap’s last update, the wormhole has been closed. Only two of the initial six Scronquad remain, and from the sounds of it, Natasha is close to taking down another.

“Overhead,” FRIDAY warns.

Tony shoots directly upwards, but this time the Scronquad is ready. The repulsor blast ricochets off the protective forcefield that the alien throws up at the last possible second. Tony barely even has time to register what’s happening before he’s blasted backwards and collides with the brick wall of the Wells Fargo office across the street.

Then it’s lights out for real.

The next thing Tony is aware of is his helmet being retracted. Then someone is tapping the side of his face and speaking to him. It takes a few seconds before the garbled words clear into intelligible speech.

“...with me? Hey? Tony?” a voice—Steve’s, he thinks—asks worriedly. “Can you open your eyes for us?”

That sounds like a terrible idea to Tony. He expresses this with a low groan of displeasure.

“Anyone have eyes on Banner?” Steve demands.

“I see him—he’s coming down the side street,” Natasha calls back. She sounds further away—maybe a few yards to Tony’s left. “Still looking a little green, though.”

Aw, fuck. Tony hates to bother the guy when he’s coming down off a transformation. He should really say something. Or at least open his eyes. He makes an attempt to flutter his eyelids open, but they seem to weigh at least a thousand pounds each and he only succeeds in letting out a small moan.

“It’s okay. You’re gonna be alright, Tony,” Steve reassures, patting his shoulder with a heavy hand. “Bruce is coming now.”

Rapid footsteps approach. “I got him, Steve,” Bruce says, his voice a little ragged. Poor guy. From what Tony heard over the comms, Hulk really put him through the wringer today. But Tony’s sympathy instantly dissolves when the doctor pries his eyelids open and shines a penlight into them, causing fresh pain to explode through Tony’s already throbbing skull.

“Gah! Fuck!” he gasps out, squirming away from Bruce’s fingers and clenching his eyes shut again.

“Both pupils are blown,” Bruce says grimly. “The concussion must be worse than we thought. How far out is the Medevac?”

“ETA seven minutes,” Natasha reports. “But there’s no space to land in the alley here.”

“Should we move him?” Clint suggests.

“No, definitely not,” Bruce answers immediately. “FRIDAY was obviously wrong about the concussion—I don’t trust her assessment that he hasn’t sustained any spinal damage either. We’ll have to wait for a backboard and neck brace.”

Well, that’s totally unnecessary. Sure there’s a goose egg on the back of Tony’s skull somewhere and he definitely got the wind knocked out of him when he fell, but he doesn’t need a whole evac —that’s ridiculous. To prove it, he starts to push himself up, but is quickly stopped by a strong hand on his chest.

“Stay still, Tony,” Steve commands, his voice grave. “Don’t try to move yet—we don’t know how badly you’re hurt.”

“Nah, ‘m fine…” Tony groans. He forces himself to open his eyes again and squints up at his worried looking teammates hovering over him.

“Jesus…” Clint whispers, peering down at Tony from above. “He looks like the dolls in that horror film Lila loves. The one with the creepy mother who replaces everyone’s eyes with black buttons.”

“Coraline?” Natasha asks, raising an eyebrow. “That’s a children’s movie, Barton.”

Clint shudders. “It was terrifying.”

“Hey, guys? Keep it down, alright?” Steve reprimands. “He’s concussed.”

Tony would roll his eyes if they weren’t currently drilling holes into his skull. “I’m not concussed,” he mutters.

Steve scoffs. “Sure, Tony.”

“I’m not,” Tony insists. He props himself up on his elbows and this time Steve doesn’t stop him. “My eyes are just dilated. It’s not a concussion.”

Bruce’s expression knits into a worried frown. He leans in closer to Tony. “Wait, does that mean you, uh…”—he lowers his voice—“fell off the wagon?”

“What? No!” Tony retorts, sitting up straighter. “I’m not high, and I’m not concussed! I had an eye exam, but I must be allergic to those stupid drops or something because I can’t see shit right now, alright?”

A collective snort of disbelief issues from the little group around him, but Tony just continues to glare at them. Well, it’s more of an annoyed squint, really. Then all at once, they all start talking over one another:

“Are you telling me you just flew a mission blind?!” Steve demands.

“Tony!” Bruce admonishes, looking somehow personally hurt by this. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Nat crosses her arms and fixes him with a blank expression. “That’s insane, even for you.”

Clint scoffs. “Is that why you were briefly planning on barbecuing me back there?”

“Well, you shouldn’t wear purple shirts on Scronquad days!” Tony retorts hotly. “Everyone knows that!”

“Why don’t you tell me how many fingers I’m holding up right now, Stark?” Clint says, making a rather rude gesture.

“Alright, that’s enough!” Steve declares over the squabble. He turns toward Clint and fixes him with a stern look. “Barton, from now on, you need to avoid color coordinating with the homicidal aliens.”

“What?” Clint balks. “You’re taking his side?”

“And as for you,” Steve goes on sharply, glaring straight into Tony’s blown pupils. “No more flying blind.”

Tony snorts. “Isn’t that the whole job?”

Natasha smirks. “He’s got a point there, Cap,” she says, eliciting a small chuckle from Bruce.

Steve looks unamused. He grabs hold of one of Tony’s arms and hoists him to his feet.

The change in elevation does nothing to help Tony’s swimming vision. He blinks several times, feeling suddenly dizzy and sick. “You know, on second thought...” Tony mumbles, swaying a bit. “I might be a bit concussed after all.”

Steve sighs and adjusts his grip to bear more of Tony’s weight. “Alright old man, let’s just get you home…”

Link to all my fics

#hurt tony stark #tony stark whump #humor #banter #team as family #blindness #concussions #headaches #shining the light in the eyes #ima make that a tag for ya bro #my fic #happy birthday cecily!

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ijustwant2write · 5 years

Text

The Butterfly Effect-Bucky Barnes x Powers!Reader

(GIF credit to @rubyslaugh and UGH I LOVE THIS ONE)

Masterlist

Requested by anonymous

Summary: Okie so this is kinda a request but idk exactly what I want 😂 so basically like the reader is an avenger cause she got powers on accident in a lab (like banner) and she has the ability to control plants and like nature and bugs, and basically when ever Bucky is around butterflies form and start flying around her and the rest of the teams realizes but he’s oblivious. Eventually she admits her feelings but he’s not sure cause he’s scared to hurt her, but the end up together? Thank youuuu 💗

Characters: Bucky Barnes x Powers!Reader, mentions of Avengers

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: slight swearing, mention of injuries, fluff

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tenderly watering the plants in the greenhouse, I smiled as they instantly lifted around me, growing a few centimetres taller, a little more vibrant in colour. Ever since the accident, my love for gardening grew, as well as my observations. My (dream) job had been working in a lab with different plants, some common and some rare; we were developing ways to grow vegetation quicker to help with problems such as deforestation. However, the company in charge and supplying the money for this huge project didn’t care as much as the scientists did, using radioactive chemicals as well as many other unknown substances. Of course we had protested about this but they didn’t listen. And for some reason, I was the one who took the fall. It was all a big accident, they were testing the substance without my permission, and I I tried to stop them it had spilt all over me. Then I discovered my new abilities.

Plants responded to me, I was able to control them, and now I could even form them out of my bare hands! Recently, insects had also started to respond to me, and one night after a wonderful dream, I awoke to find a butterfly unfolding in my hand. It was truly beautiful, but I had had to keep it a secret. Though I must have not done a good job of that seeing as I was recruited by the Avengers. I had never thought about fighting with plants, however after they showed me the aggression I could use behind it, I found that I was creating massive, twisted vines, enough to crush bones, to pull up the ground and split it open. The grounds weren’t looking too neat after that.

“Hey, (Y/N)! There you are.” Scott announced as he walked into the greenhouse, a wilted cactus in his hand.

“Hi, oh, he’s not looking too good there.”

“Yeah, that’s what I actually came here for.”

“Scott, that’s one of the easiest plants to look after, what happened?”

“Hey, it’s hard being a superhero and a plant mom too!”

“You can’t keep coming to me for help when a plant starts dying.”

“It’s only happened twice before. Please, I will take care of it.”

I sighed before taking the cactus from him, concentrating on making it better. It slowly straightened itself, a beautiful green colour slowly creeping up from the bottom of the plant to the top, the soil now a dark brown and wet. I handed it back over, feeling like a mother telling off their child.

“Thanks (Y/N). Foods ready by the way.”

As I followed him, I had one of those cliche moments; who would ever imagine being in a situation like this? An accident in a lab gave me powers and here I was, fighting with the Avengers; I was an Avenger! All my life I had been the nerdy girl, obsessed with vegetation, friendly but quiet, never speaking up unless absolutely necessary. Yet here I was, surrounded by these amazing people, not only amazing because of their powers and strengths, because of who they were and how they had accepted me.

In a rare event that everyone was at the base (Steve, Tony, Nat, Clint and Bucky just back from a mission), we were all able to sit down and eat together. Wanda had taken on the role of chef here, a passion she had relighted to keep her happy and busy. She had plated up, some of the team already sat down. I went to grab a plate, bumping into Bucky. Immediately I retracted my hand, suddenly my usual composure tensing, heart beating slightly louder.

“Sorry, you get yours first.”

“Sorry.” I hated how quiet my voice was.

As I went to pick up the plate, three small appeared in my hand. I flinched as I saw them, causing them to flutter away. Wanda opened a window, watching as they flew outside.

“Sorry.” I repeated.“I didn’t actually mean to do that.”

Taking the food, I scurried to sit down, getting into the seat between Tony and Scott. Why had that happened? Was it just an absentminded thought? Was it nerves? Whatever it was, it was making me feel embarrassed for some reason, though no one said anything or even look bothered. Yes, I was an over-thinker, but I had done that in front of Bucky.

No one could deny the alarmingly good looks of the former Winter Soldier. He was the typical strong silent type, mysterious and brooding at first until you got to know him. At first he had observed me, wondering what I would be like as a part of this team, as did the others. But once I was welcomed, his true colours showed. He was a sweetheart, he would always help me with whatever I needed, reassure me that I was meant to be here. He even tried gardening once but complained when the soil got into the metal of his arm. But I knew a relationship would never happen. We were Avengers, and although Scott and Clint had families, I didn’t see Bucky wanting that, understandable when you look back to what he had been through. It was another secret for me to keep from the world.

The next morning, I joined Wanda and Nat in training, still thinking about the butterfly incident. It was distracting, and I didn’t know why I couldn’t just push it to the back of my mind. My own thoughts were pissing me off. Sighing to myself, I started warming up beside the others. I was too nervous at times, I needed more confidence in myself, I needed-

“Morning Bucky.” Wanda greeted him.

Fuck.

Great, just great. Just the distraction I needed. He was lovely enough just standing there, but working out? God that was another story. I smiled at him, making my way to the treadmill. Concentrate. Keep your mind focused. Don’t think about him, don’t wonder if he’s looking at you, if he’s lifting those extremely heavy weights....I hated myself sometimes.

“(Y/N)!” Nat startled me, suddenly beside me. I managed to keep my balance, still running.“Do you mind?”

“What?”

“The butterflies again!”

I looked around me, eyes widening and gasping as I saw the amount of butterflies around me. As I realised that there were definitely almost twenty of them, I lost my footing, falling onto my arm as the treadmill threw me off it. Screaming as I thudded onto the floor, I felt hot tears already falling down my cheeks, curling up into a ball when pain surged through me. Everyone fussed around me, giving me space once the shock passed.

“(Y/N), are you OK?” Nat asked, looking at my arm.

I winced.“It’s just my arm.”

“Your foot doesn’t look too good either.” Wanda pointed out.

“It’s fine.” I moved it, crying out when I realised she was right.

“I’ll take you to the hospital ward, there’s no way you’ll be able to get there by yourself.” Bucky said, already manoeuvring me into his arms.

“I’ll message Dr Cho, get her ready for you.” Nat got her phone out, texting away as Bucky stood up, holding me carefully.

I tried to not cry, not wanting to look any worse in front of Bucky, but it was extremely hard when I couldn’t feel my arm and my foot was throbbing. I had one arm wrapped around his neck, the bad on tucked into my torso, trying not to lean into him. I was stiff in his arms, desperately thinking about anything other than Bucky, especially now and how he was so easily holding me; what a man.

“Oh, they’re back.” He smiled, nodding his head to the two butterflies appearing, they rested on my hair, and I huffed. God, would this nightmare ever end?

“I’m so sorry. This must be so annoying for everyone.”

“I mean, it’s kind of pretty. At least it’s not flies or wasps, or any other annoying bugs.”

“I mean, I guess so.”

“How come they’re appearing so often? It’s never happened before.”

“Uh, I’m not actually sure. Maybe I’m not as in control of my powers, though I don’t know how that would happen.”

“Maybe you’re overworking.”

“Maybe.”

Dr Cho was waiting for me, gesturing towards the bed Bucky could place me on. When he asked if he should stay, I insisted that he leave. He didn’t need to see me like this anymore, and we didn’t need anymore butterflies in this place. Bucky reluctantly left, a kind smile on his face as he walked away. I let out a sigh of relief, happy that Dr Cho wanted to assess my injuries straight away. When she informed me that I had a minor sprain to the foot and a bad bruising on my arm, I groaned, pissed off at my own clumsiness. She advised that I use a wheelchair to get around (seeing as I couldn’t use crutches yet because of my arm), but when she asked if Bucky should come back, I immediately refused. She was surprised by my snappy tone, though brushed it off as I text Natasha to come get me. I seriously needed my girlfriends right now.

Nat wheeled me to my room, only speaking of my injuries until we got inside. With her help, we hauled myself onto the bed, propping my foot on top of pillows. She sat beside me, both of us resting against the headboard; my head lulled to the side, finding Nat already looking up at me.

“Nat, what do I do?” I moaned.

“What do you mean?”

“The butterflies, they keep appearing.”

“And we all know why.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“To everyone but him.”

“What if he’s playing dumb because he thinks I’m weird?”

“How can you be weird here? You’ve got super soldiers, secret spies, a girl with telekinetic powers, a man who shrinks, a hulk-”

I laughed.“OK, I get it. Still, I just don’t think he would be interest in a relationship.”

“Why?” she whined.

“Superheroes don’t date, especially not each other. Plus, have you seen him? No one would ever put us together.”

“Except everyone living in this facility right now.”

I hid my face in my hands.“Nat, stop getting my hopes up!”

“What, it’s cute! There are butterflies erupting from you every time you see him, it’s the sweetest thing in the world!”

“It’s mortifying.”

“Stop it! You put yourself down too much.”

“I’m being realistic.”

Before we could continue our endless cycle of arguing, someone knocked on the door. I called them in, nerves kicking in again as Bucky poked his head around the door. I glanced at Nat who had a smug smile on her face, instantly wriggling off the bed. I couldn’t say anything, not in front of Bucky.

“What good timing Bucky! I was about to get some more painkillers, you can keep (Y/N) company!” Natasha practically skipped out of the room, and I knew she was wearing a smirk.

Bucky shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked over, looking down at my foot.“I heard it’s sprained.”

“Yeah, it’s not too serious though. About four or five weeks resting.”

“Well I know where you’ll be spending all of that time.” He perched on the bed next to me.

“Where?”

“In your greenhouse of course. You’re in there for all of your free time anyway.”

I giggled.“I just miss my career, that’s all.”

“You always had a connection with plants, even before your powers. It’s obvious.”

I looked down at my hands, my head hurting from stopping the butterflies showing.“Thank you for earlier. It was sweet of you to take me to Dr Cho.”

“Just call me your knight in shining armour.”

I hesitated, wondering if I should just bring up the elephant in the room.“Bucky...you, uh....you must have noticed all the butterflies suddenly appearing.”

He slowly nodded.“Yeah?”

Oh my god, I’m an actual idiot. Can I even form a sentence anymore?

“Well, they only seem to be here when I’m near you and....well, uh....I think it’s for a reason.”

He stayed silent, only making me more nervous.

“I-I know the reason. I have feelings for you, and I think because I’ve been hiding them, it’s thrown off my control on my powers; and instead of admitting these feelings before, my powers have taken over to express myself.”

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and I seriously could have burst out crying there and then.“(Y/N), I....”

He doesn’t feel the same. That’s it, I’ve ruined everything.

“I won’t lie and say that I’ve never thought about it.” He ducked his head down, but I could see a small smile.“But why me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, with everything that’s ever happened, I just.....(Y/N), you’re delicate and I’m...I’m not.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m not saying I don’t like you. It’s the total opposite. But, I’d be scared to hurt you.”

“Hurt me? How would you hurt me?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really want to think too far into it.”

“I’m sorry Bucky, if you don’t want this then-”

“That’s the thing, I do. I’m conflicted with myself. I guess....after everything that’s happened to me, it seems bizarre that anyone would want to be with me in that way.”

“How could you say that? All of your past, it wasn’t you, it was HYDRA. You’ve turned your life around so much since then.”

“I always thought that I would just focus on my work and then whatever happened, happened, My love life was just forgotten. Until you showed up that is.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, something happened when I laid eyes on you. You were beautiful, extremely smart and you wanted to do the best you could in any situation, despite it all being scary and new. I really respected you, I still do. I think if it were possible, there would be butterflies coming from me too.”

I sheepishly smiled, blushing profusely.“So, what are you saying?”

“(Y/N), are you sure you would want me?”

“I’m certain, I wouldn’t have even started a conversation like this if I wasn’t.”

“I..I’m not even sure what to say.”

“Say yes. Let’s make a go of this. I’m not a confident person, so right now I’m really shocked I’m even saying this all right now.”

He gleamed that gorgeous smile.“Then yes.”

As we smiled at each other, I felt something tickle my hand. Opening it up, we both looked down, a beautiful light red butterfly opening it’s wings. This had to be a sign, or at least something to add to the mood.

“I think this might stop the butterflies for now.”

“I hope so, but what if it has the opposite effect? What if more come?”

“Then we’ll be living in that greenhouse of yours.”

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagines #bucky barnes one shot #winter soldier #winter soldier imagine #winter soldier imagines #winter soldier one shot #winter soldier x reader #marvel #marvel imagine #marvel imagines #marvel one shot #marvel x reader #marvel comics #marvel cinematic universe

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just-horrible-things · 4 years

Text

Loiral and Marcus - Flight - 6.ii

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Aeliira falters at the threshold to the bank foyer. The dim light shows off the rich decor in a full spectrum of hues, from the dark, plush carpet to the faerie fire flickering across the carvings of the vaulted ceiling. Aeliira has probably never seen so much wealth in her life. Her hesitance brings Loiral a kind of bitter satisfaction, and he uses that feeling of contempt to bolster his fraying nerves. He needs all the confidence he can get to keep his chin high and make himself stride forwards without hesitating himself. He's keenly aware of the stained, sweat-soaked rags he's wearing, the dirt on his knees, the state of his hair. All eyes must be on him, but he resists the urge to look around.

Clinging to anger at the injustice of it all as a defence against shame, he marches straight up to the closest member of staff. Shoulders square, back straight, chin high. All deliberate attempts to project status and confidence. A sneer crawls across his face - and he fights not to let it become a desperate snarl. He can't fail here, he can't. It doesn't bear contemplating. "I wish to make a withdrawal from my bank vault," he announces in clipped, barely even tones. "Now, if you please." The attendant's eyes flick up and down, assessing Loiral's dishevelled state. "And who might you be?" she inquires. Her tone is perfectly polite, but the lack of honorific grates. "My name is Loiral Al'Sekath," he declares. It feels good, surprisingly good. "And I would like to access my account." She inclines her head, expression pleasant but unreadable. "If you would step this way."

Following on her heels, Loiral tries not to glance up at the overlooks where he knows concealed guards keep watch. It's impolite to acknowledge the security. A point of etiquette that's hard to keep as hulking, heavily-armoured guards fall in behind them. Aeliira's presence at his shoulder does nothing to ease Loiral's tension. He knows it's ridiculous to fear a literal knife in the back here and now. But she is uncomfortably close. And she could make this very difficult for him with a few well-placed words.

But as they are lead through gilded doors that click locked behind them, he begins to worry that betrayal shouldn't be his biggest fear. He's been back here a hundred times, but he's never been so acutely conscious of how completely the bank controls the situation. He could disappear here without a chance to defend himself, and no one would ever know.

When they are shown into a familiar consultation room, he deliberately flops into one of the plush chairs. Maybe affecting bored relaxation will help him settle his fraying nerves. "If you would wait here," the attendant smiles, "A consultant will be with you shortly." "I just want to make a withdrawal," Loiral repeats shortly. Though he knows she heard him the first time. "Of course." This should not be complicated. But his heart insists on fluttering against his ribs, and when the attendant lets herself out, he almost expects to hear another lock click.

Almost immediately, a slave is at Loiral's elbow, offering a tray of fluted glasses. Loiral takes one deliberately. A moment's hesitation is dismissed. Even if the glim were poisoned - which would make little sense under the circumstances - refusing to drink wouldn't get him out of trouble. So he knocks it back. Aeliira takes a glass too, and perches herself nervously on the edge of another chair.

Loiral puts his empty glass down with a little more force than necessary. "Don't just stand there," he snaps at the slave. "Find me some clothes, by the hells." She bows deeply, and scurries away. It's unlikely that she'll succeed, and for a moment he wonders how she'll take the unreasonable instruction. But it's not as if she's actually obliged to follow his orders. And maybe she'll pass the instruction on to someone with the power to do something.

He's distracted by watching Aeliira realise that she now has nowhere to put her glass. He takes a small, petty satisfaction in it. The more off-balance she looks, the more readily he can convince himself that he belongs here. This is his world. Nothing has changed, just because he did a brief stint in chains.

The broker, when she arrives, is no stranger to Loiral. Her name is Phyraias, and he has never seen her less than perfectly composed. "Lord Al'Sekath," she greets him as she sweeps into the room. Her dress is close-fitted and immaculate, and her long hair piled atop her head in an elaborate do. Loiral has never managed to discern whether she is genuinely nobility, or if she's simply wealthy and powerful enough to wear the fashions of nobility without fear. "Good gracious, what has happened to you." Loiral feels naked in front of her, every humiliation laid bare. She pauses just long enough that he begins to fear that an answer is expected, but presses on before he can string the words together. "What can I do for you today?"

"I want to make a withdrawal." Why is she making him repeat himself? The attendant must have passed on his words. "Of course, of course. And your ally here, you trust her?" Loiral glances back at Aeliira. Tension accentuates the lines of her neck. Her fingers are tight on the stem of the glass. A smirk quirks Loiral's lips. "Only barely," he answers honestly. "Would you prefer she leave the room?" "I'll speak quietly." He stands and steps closer to Phyraias. She leans in obligingly, turning one ear. The smell of her doubtless expensive perfume fills Loiral's nose as he leans close and breathes the words of his pass-phrase. Phyraias smiles at him as he steps back to a more comfortable distance.

"Very good," she agrees. "In the interest of security, however, I must ask. Do you have any proof of identity?" Loiral is stunned. "Is this a joke?" he snaps irritably. "You know who I am." "I should hate to let a potential impostor have access to a client's vault." Her expression is serious, but her eyes are alight with something vicious. "A runaway slave, perhaps, or other such lowlife. You understand me, I trust." "You have my damned passphrase." Panic is rising fast. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why did he refuse to plan for this possibility? "Isn't that enough?" "Normally it would be," Phyraias smiles, showing many perfect, pearly teeth. "But unusual circumstances call for unusual measures, do they not?" "How dare you!" Loiral snaps, taking a step forwards. He's had enough of people yanking his chain, he needs this to work.

But something in her demeanour stops him. She doesn't lift a finger. Maybe her predatory smile grows a fraction wider. Maybe her eyes flicker for a moment to something behind Loiral. Or maybe it's all in his head. But he is suddenly, chillingly conscious of how deeply within her domain he is. He steps back, heart thudding, anger sputtering out faster than he can rekindle it. Cold fear lurks behind it. "I apologise," he says into the chilly silence. "That was impolite of me." Her smile has not moved.

As Loiral hesitates, thoughts scrambled, Aeliira gets to her feet. "On what grounds are these circumstances unusual?" She sounds confident. Damn, Loiral thinks. She's come up with a plan while he's still reeling. She's going to snatch this out from under his feet. He should have disposed of her sooner. "You presume much about my lord's business," Aeliira continues. "And is your security really so lax that you think an impostor could fool you so easily? Do you not employ wizards? My lord is both tired and in a hurry, and has no time for your obstructive demands." Phyraias' smile is unwavering. Loiral fights not to gawk. "Of course, of course. Nevertheless, some proof of identity would put my mind at ease." "Do you really think we would have come here," Aeliira counters, "If we had time to spare?" "Stop playing games," Loiral agrees, finding his voice. "And give me my money." "Of course. How much would you like to withdraw?" No more objections? Can it be that easy? Alright. "All of it."

He was hoping for the satisfaction of seeing Phyraias surprised, but there isn't so much as a blink. "Give me five thousand as promissory notes," he continues, "Split as three thousands and four half thousands, three thousand in mixed bars, and the rest in coins." He resists an impulse to glance at Aeliira. "That is quite an unusual request," Phyraias notes. Anger bubbles to the surface again, but Loiral reminds himself to be polite. "I'm well aware. Don't make my life difficult." "Such a large transaction cannot be processed instantaneously, you realise." "So long as it's as quick as possible," he allows, "I'll wait." "Very good. I do hope you will be comfortable here – shall I send for more glim?" "Please do. Oh, and get me some clothes, would you?" It's an effort to mask his impatience as annoyance rather than desperation. "I've spent quite enough time in these rags." "Lord Al'Sekath, I'm afraid this is a bank, not a tailor's shop." "Find something," Aeliira instructs. "If we must waste our time waiting, you can at least spare us the necessity of making a detour." "Clothing is not free," Phyraias notes. "Yes, yes," Loiral agrees, "I'll pay a fair price. Just be quick about it." "I will see what can be done."

As the broker takes her leave, Aeliira shoots a delighted, incredulous grin at Loiral. For a moment, he can't help but smile back, amused by her glee. Before he remembers that she is not his friend.

Aeliira's face falls as his expression hardens. Disappointment morphs into angry suspicion. Loiral offers her a cold smile. "Don't sulk," he mocks. "You had your chance." "I'm still getting my cut," she insists. Loiral's silence is answer enough. "Don't you dare ditch me now -" she starts, getting to her feet. But Loiral cuts her off with a snarl. "Don't raise your voice to me, commoner. You had your chance, and you failed. You should be happy with whatever scraps I deign to give you!" "Ignorant boy," she snaps back, surprising him with her vehemence. "I just dragged your ass out of the fire for the second time there! You need me, or -" "I do not! I would have been just fine without -" "You were about to let that bitch bully you into a very awkward position!" Despite his anger, the casual reference to Phyraias as 'that bitch' startles a laugh out of Loiral. Aeliira looks just as surprised to hear it as he is.

There's a moment of silence.

"I'd be an idiot to let you follow me," Loiral tells her bitterly. "You'd slit my throat at the first opportunity - all you want is my money." "No, you cretin." He expects a counter-argument, but she just stares at him. "What, then?" he prompts, suspicious. She takes a breath. "You know what anyone else is going to say, if we admit to being scared of a human?" "They'd mock us. But I don't intend -" "Shut up and listen, will you?" Loiral glares, but he lets her talk. "If we - if either of us admit what we're running from, we will be laughed at. And if he catches up with us, do you think anyone else will take the threat seriously enough? Who else would understand how important it is not to be taken alive?" Loiral can feel the fear rising at the very thought. His pulse is loud in his ears, and his chest is full of cold weight. Aeliira's voice is soft as she implores, "Wouldn't you prefer to have an ally who understands? I know I would."

Something in Loiral wants to agree. Because she's good at this, isn't she - convincing people of things. But it's a false promise. How could he and she be allies, after what's already passed between them? He laughs - a bitter, brittle sound. "You would trust me?" he asks her. "Don't you think I should rather kill you than look at you?" She pauses. Then, "Go on, then." "What, you want me to throttle you?" But his objection falls flat as she pulls a knife from the folds of her tunic and offers it to him hilt first. It's a narrow blade, undecorated but pleasingly elegant. In Loiral's opinion it's barely long enough to be practical for fighting, and so narrow that he'd fear it snapping. He wonders if she's ever used it, or if its only purpose is looking good. "Don't be ridiculous," he tells her sourly. "As if I'm paying for getting blood on their floors." "Cleaning a carpet is hardly expensive," she points out. "Come on, take it."

So despite a certain reluctance, Loiral takes her knife. The balance in his hand is a little far forwards, despite the narrow blade. Aeliira takes his wrist gently. Her fingers are hot on his skin. She tugs him forwards gently. Her free hand taps against her throat. "Right here," she says. "Come on." When she lets go, she leaves him pressing the edge of the blade against the smooth skin. It's not sharp enough, Loiral reflects. It should be grazing the skin, not indenting it. Someone should teach her how to use a whetstone. He's aware of her chest rising and falling with fast, deep huffs of breath. Her lips are slightly parted, her eyes a touch too wide, intense, staring into his. "Do it," she urges softly. "If you really want to kill me, do it. I can't stop you." Loiral's gut twists with nameless emotions. He ought to feel in control. And there is a thrill to it. But when the sword was at his throat, he flinched and cowered and begged for his life. What in the Nine Hells is she playing at? Who does that? He has all the cards, but he still feels like she's playing him. He should kill her, to head off whatever scheme she's weaving. Carpet cleaning is cheap. Cheaper than feeding a travelling companion.

He can't look away from her eyes.

Maybe he shouldn't kill her. But lowering the knife would be admitting defeat. Wouldn't it? He's suffered too many defeats and humiliations, he can't face bending the knee again. But this is his choice, isn't it? He searches the depths of her eyes, hoping for answers, but finds nothing. His breath is almost as fast as hers. He hates this trickery, hates not knowing what to do. He should just kill her and make it simple. It hurts inside his chest. A tight ache, as if his organs had somehow tied themselves in knots inside his ribcage.

When he lowers the knife, he doesn't know why. Aeliira swallows visibly and takes a deep breath. She smiles, and for a moment he's tempted to stab her after all, just to spite her expectations. But he doesn't. He looks down at the knife, turning it over in his hand. He could keep it, to stop her putting it in his back later. But that seems like an insecure thing to do. And besides, she probably has another one somewhere. He flips it, lamenting the poor balance again, and offers her the hilt.

"Thank you." Her smile is hesitant. Loiral gives a little huff of irritation. "Let's try it?" She's almost pleading, for all that she kept her cool while the blade was out. "What do you have to lose? I'm not exactly a threat. Let's try and make it together?" "Fine," he sighs. He expects her to return to the question of the money. But all she says is "Okay."

#my writing #my ocs #loiral and marcus #loiral al'sekath #aeliira #idk what to tag this #it is not strictly whump #knives #knife to throat #strained alliance #trust #??#ha look I wrote it #eventually

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