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#but like. after a few years that starts to wear down (aka what happens in thank goodness where she starts to seriously have doubts)
waywardcrow · 3 months
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Christmas blues.
Summary: Someone hurt his fairy and Bucky will do everything to fix it and give you the Christmas you deserve.
Pairing: Bucky Barnes x F!Reader.
WC: Almost 2K.
TW: Overprotective Bucky, sad reader because of an abusive ex, Christmas blues, talk about revenge and torture but just mentioned, crying, talk about cheating from reader’s ex and ex best friend, pinning dumbasses, ugly Christmas sweaters and Bucky wearing reindeer ears, kind of drunk writer (aka me), let me know if I missed something.
Disclaimer: English is not my first language, please tell me if I make grammar mistakes.
Part of the Take my hand (wreck my plans) series.
Pictures from pinterest, graphic and dividers by the amazing @ firefly-graphics so all credits to the creators.
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Something had happened, Bucky knew it.
You were different after coming home from visiting your parents. They were going on a cruise ship for Christmas so you’ll be spending it at the compound with everybody for the first time.
He could thought it was the perspective of not spending the holidays with your blood family but you were so excited before you left to have Thanksgiving with them, it didn’t make sense.
Every time someone tried to engage you in decorating the tree or bake cookies for the kids, you smiled politely and declined, leaving everyone worried.
“What’s up with fairy?” Sam asked when he arrived with Sarah and his nephews; they agreed to spend the holidays there so nobody feel left out.
“We don’t know” Natasha replied watching you leave after they failed once again, this time you didn’t want to go ice skating.
“You don’t know?” Sam raised a brow, crossing his arms in front of his chest with a silly smile “I didn’t thought you were familiar with the concept.”
Bucky left them bickering to go find you and he did, your gaze was set in the sunset, not paying much attention to the cold in the air that surrounded you in the balcony.
“Hi sweetheart” you barely reacted, more used than him to Bucky being charming with you.
“What are you doing here? You could catch a cold” Bucky saw you take in the thin layered Henley he was wearing, practically nothing compared to your coat.
“I don’t get sick, honey” he reminded you, making your skin heat despite the winter, feeling like a dumbass. What a scientist you were “I appreciate the concern, though.”
You nodded.
“Are you alright?”
“I should be the one asking that” he said, bumping you gently with his shoulder, Bucky was too delicate with you still but he made every day an effort to be more open, especially with you. He watched your lips become a firm line and his heart started to beat faster in his ribcage. Something had happened, he was sure “I’m here if you want to talk fairy, we all want you to be ok.”
That broke you.
A tear escaped your control and Bucky’s heart sink down, he couldn’t help it when he hugged you making you hid your face in his chest, making you wrap your arms around his waist.
He let you cry; rubbing circles in your back and when you calmed down, Bucky took you to your apartment to make you hot chocolate.
When it was ready Bucky sat next to you in your colorful coach, watching you took a sip while making a mental list of all the awful ways he will torture who hurt you.
“I ran into my ex while being at home” you said without looking at him, making Bucky’s whole body tense. He only heard a few things about him from Tony and Pepper but none were good “he is engaged now, to my ex best friend.”
Oh Bucky would rip his arms away from his body.
“Did he… what did he said to you?” he got closer to his fairy; it should have been very bad to have you crying like that.
Your lower lip trembled so did the mug in your hands so Bucky put his right one on top of yours.
“He said I was invited to the wedding, that Lara and him were grateful I brought them together like they didn’t cheat on me for a year” your voice cracked and more years followed.
That bastard, hot anger cursed through Bucky’s body, he will make them suffer.
“And then Louis made fun of me for buying too much in the Christmas market, he said he was sorry I don’t have anyone to spend Christmas with, like an adult so I have to overcompensate being childish.”
The entire time your eyes were focused in your hands, so embarrassed to be this honest with him when it was your idiotic ex who should be very concerned about what was coming to him, he will recruit Nat and Yelena and Tony to make sure he will pay for every one your tears.
“He is right” you said wiping your tears with your sleeve “I’m childish and dumb and…”
“Hey, hey” Bucky stopped your self-destructive train taking both of your hands in his “none of that is true, fairy” he reassured you making you look at him “he is an asshole, an abuser” Bucky spited that word out, thinking about someone like you having to live with people like that jerk made him want to punch him until his metal arm got tired “he is wrong, you are not what he says.”
“Thanks Bucky but…”
“Ah ah, I’m not letting you be mean with yourself, you’ll do the same for me” it was true, you were so gentle with him and always help him to be gentle with himself too “you deserve the whole universe, honey” Bucky cupped your face in his hands and your breath caught in your throat.
His ocean blue eyes were so kind, so full of trust that it was impossible to not believe his words.
God, he wanted to kiss you so bad but it wasn’t the time so he left a kiss in your forehead “You are not alone, you are so loved by everyone that meets you and it kills me that you have to suffer all that shit, I’m so sorry fairy.”
You hugged him and stay there for a while, feeling the pain in your heart becoming easier.
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The next day  Bucky was knocking in your door before breakfast.
You were feeling bad for telling him all that, for letting him see that part of yourself that wasn’t bright, he had enough pain in his life and still he took yours and made it less heavy.
“Bucky? What are you doing here?” he looked so handsome even wearing the ugliest Christmas sweater you’ve ever seen “what are you wearing?” you whispered, not so sure if you were still sleeping, he was wearing reindeer ears too.
Did Tony and Bruce mess with the time lines again?
“We are going shopping, fairy” he handed you a matching sweater that looked your size “get ready, we leave in ten minutes to get waffles” and with that he disappeared in the hallway.
Confused you did what he said, maybe he needed help with his shopping and it was the least you could do after oversharing the previous night with him.
You met him in the elevators with your ugly sweater on and he smirked.
“You look good, fairy” bashful, you gave him a tiny smile and he felt it like a victory.
And the madness began.
True to his word, he took you for the best waffles you ever eat and then to the Christmas market in Brooklyn, still wearing his silly outfit, parting the crowded area like if he did that every random Sunday, oblivious to the chatter around you both and the not so discreet pictures some took of him. His whole attention was on you.
Bucky could recognize when you liked something, Louis words were still echoing in your mind but he made you feel so safe with him that remembering all your work with your therapist was easier and if you doubted before buying something, he would buy it for you.
You wouldn’t let Louis and Lara take anything more from you and he would help you with that.
“What do you think of this one? It seems perfect for Sam” he told you showing you a funny looking owl with a Santa hat, making you giggle.
“Put it some goggles on and then it will be perfect” you said without thinking, feeling all the cold leave your body when he throw his head back and laughed “oh no, forget I said that, poor Sam.”
“I’m never forgetting it doll, it’s exactly what I’m going to give him” he paid for the owl and gave the old lady in the vendor cart a smile that probably extended her life a decade.
Three hours later, lots of pretzels and hot chocolate you both were taking your car to go back home.
“Thank you for today” you said with a quiet voice when you parked outside the apartments “I know yesterday I was a lot, this made me feel better.”
“You’re never a lot, fairy, you are perfect” there was something else behind his words but before you could ask, Sam shout startled you.
“Hey, lovebirds, Sarah and Clint made lunch” he was wearing only shorts and a t-shirt which was insane but the basketball equipment explained a little, same as the presence of Thor, Cass, AJ and Yelena who looked very proud of herself.
“Let’s go” you said and follow the others, not noticing Bucky’s disappointment matched yours.
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Christmas Eve was so much better than you expected, Natasha and Yelena didn’t leave you alone for a second, Wanda helped you wrap your presents, Tony, Morgan and Pepper would hug you randomly through the day and kiss your cheek, the rest of the team did things like that and you felt so loved.
Bucky made sure of it.
He didn’t tell you Louis and Lara were being taken care of, he probably never will, instead he choose to spend the afternoon making letters to Santa with the kids, having the perfect view of you from the living room while laughing at Morgan’s antics who tried to convince AJ and Cass that Happy was Santa. Nate was buying it by then and it was adorable, the chaos also reminded him of his sisters.
“Who wants dessert before dinner?” Yelena asked from the kitchen, the young widow didn’t miss the chance to steal sweets while you and the others cooked and apparently she wanted the kids to do the same.
There was a loud chorus of enthusiastic answers that made him wince even if the disapproval of the parents in the room made him smile. After a short but intense discussion, Sam and you convinced the others to let it happen, it was Christmas after all.
“Just one cookie, ok? We have to wait for dinner” Sam said holding the tray for them and the little munchkins yell, sugar high already “they are not for you, terminator.”
Sam tried to take them from him but you took the tray from your friend.
“Don’t listen to him, take as many as you want” you said, making a silly face at Sam who responded with a similar one.
“Thanks, fairy” Bucky took one of your cookies and barely noticed Sam going towards the Christmas tree “they smell so good.”
If that didn’t make your skin feel on fire, Morgan’s words did.
“Auntie fairy, you are under the mistletoe with Mr. Barnes” a giggle escaped the little girl and then the others kids who laughed at your reaction. The adults in the kitchen stayed in silence, despite Natasha’s “kiss her, dumbass” comment and Bucky… Bucky was looking at you like you were the only one he could see.
Biting your lip, you doubted for a heartbeat before standing in your tiptoes and giving him a kiss, short and sweet, just like you.
And then, Tony let out a wolf whistle, Yelena an exasperated sigh and you could hear Sam in the back asking who dressed an owl like him and put it in top of the tree but your focus was mostly in the handsome man in front of you who took you by the waist and kissed you again.
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Merry Christmas lovelies! Hope you like this one, please tell me what you think, if you want to see more about Bucky and fairy, etc.
Love, Lily.
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desert-fern · 5 months
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A Gun Amongst Daggers - Jake “Hangman” Seresin X Fem!Navy Seal Reader
Epilogue - Like Real People Do
Summary: When Jake meets a woman at the Hard Deck, the last thing he expects is for her to be a Navy Seal. And not just any Seal, the Commander of Seal Team 3. She’s beautiful, smart, dangerous, and everything about her just makes him want to get close. Her name? Bear. When the Seals need backup, Cyclone puts the Daggers on their radar and now, Jake has to work with Bear and her team, all the while trying to stay professional. Can he do it? Or will he end up falling for the Navy sniper and mission Commander?
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Picture is from Pinterest AKA not mine
MINORS DO NOT ENGAGE! 18+ ONLY. MINORS & BLOGS WITH NO AGE/EMPTY BLOGS WILL BE BLOCKED.
Warnings: probably very inaccurate court proceedings, swearing, mentions of scars, Bear being a badass, sort of victim blaming (not really, but maybe), soft and sweet, author makes up for being an asshole for most of the series…
Word Count: 5.4k
Part 24 >> Masterlist
A/N: big thanks to @sarahsmi13s for helping me with the legal babble/criminal justice parts of this fic! You were a huge help for figuring out the details and made this part just that much sweeter!
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A year later, 365 days after the catastrophe that had been Operation Hellfire, the five Seals involved in the treasonous attack against Bear had gone to trial and the verdict was due any minute. Former Lieutenants Colton ‘Hazard’ Richards, Michael ‘Dex’ Lewis, Jackson ‘Dodger’ Cartwright, Andrew ‘Gallows’ Stevenson, and Grant ‘Chip’ Harding all stood trial together, four of the five pleading not guilty to the charges leveled against them. 
Only Chip had cut a deal with the prosecution. He chose to testify against Hazard and the others and in exchange, he was dealt a sentence of five years at Leavenworth with a chance at parole for his minimal part in the terrorist plot hatched by the other men. He had also leveled charges of blackmail and assault against Hazard, the court finding the latter guilty on both counts. 
Several other members of Bear’s team and a few of the Dagger Squadron had also testified as witnesses for the prosecution; each sharing their experiences with what the media were now calling the ‘Team 3 Traitors’. 
Bear’s own testimony had lasted a few days as she shared her story to the grand jury, detailing her account of what had been done to her as a result of Hazard’s plotting. She denied and denounced any attempt made by the defense to try and undermine her, standing strong on the witness stand as a lawyer repeatedly tried to discredit her. She hardly remembered those days, but the media did. 
A quote of hers, “With all due respect, Mr. Harmen, I believe I know what happened to me far more vividly than your files detailed. You do not get to try for ‘reasonable doubt’ when I will wear the scars of my torture for the rest of my life,” had gone viral. She hadn’t gone searching but apparently Jake’s sister had started sending TikTok edits of the trial to him and a few had made her laugh way harder than she should have. Leave it to the observer to ridicule the men who tried and failed to take her down. 
What the media and those TikToks hadn’t seen however, was the way her hands shook on her lap with every word she spoke. No one saw the fear in her eyes as she sat across from the men who had orchestrated this plot against both her and the US Navy as an institution, and how could they? Bear had stuffed it deep down where it couldn’t be seen, but there were moments where Jake had seen it. Moments where her voice shook. 
But in the weeks this case had been in court, Bear had sat diligently behind the prosecution in her dress blues, her medals proudly on display. Among them, her Purple Heart that had been presented to her not days before the trial. She looked the very picture of a war hero. She had refused to cower, her hand held tightly by Jake’s own. He too, had testified, detailing his own experiences and his involvement in rooting out the traitors among those on the mission. 
Today though, today was different. Bear knew that Flare, like Chip, had brought down charges of stalking, blackmail, as well as assault and battery against Hazard before this trial had begun. Meaning that even if this jury found him not guilty, he would at least be spending some time in prison. 
As the court reconvened after three long days of deliberations, Bear’s heart was in her throat. This was it, the moment of truth. She would know in a few short minutes if she could rest easy or if she had to be worried for the rest of her life. She could feel the glare that Hazard’s mother was throwing her way, hell she had weathered insults from the wives and parents of her former Seal Team members. That would be nothing compared to their reactions if the verdict came back as guilty. “Has the jury reached a verdict?” 
“Yes your Honor.” A short Black man stood, holding an envelope in hand. It was brought up to the judge, who opened it and read it silently. 
“For the two counts of attempted murder, how do you find the defendants?” 
“We the jury, find the defendants guilty.” 
Bear nearly sunk to the floor as emotion overwhelmed her, but she forced herself to remain seated, listening intently. The rest of the charges were read off: conspiracy to commit murder, destruction of government property, domestic terrorism, and espionage.
The jury found the defendants, Hazard, Dex, Dodger, and Gallows guilty of all of them. “And lastly,” Judge Davies said, “For the crime of terrorism, how do you find the defendants?” 
The world seemed to slow to a crawl. Bear held her breath, clutching Jake and FAK’s hands tightly as the foreperson spoke. “We the jury…” Silently, Bear sent up a prayer, begging for them to be found guilty. Hoping that they would pay for what they had done, that they would rot in a cell, but unlike her, they stood no chance at freedom. It was the least they deserved. “…find the defendants guilty.” 
The room exploded in a cacophony of sound; protests from the opposite side of the courtroom, shouts of victory from the Seals, and words of congratulations from the prosecution to one another filling the room. Reporters began shouting over one another, camera shutters clicked and lights flashed, adding to the wave of noise that rolled around the room. 
Bear let herself collapse back into her seat, hands coming up to cover her face as she sobbed in relief. The fear and apprehension that had lived inside her everyday since she had confronted Hazard began to overflow as she cried. It would all be okay. How could it not be? These four men, the men who had blackmailed Flare and Chip, the men who had begun working with terrorists and who had orchestrated her capture and torture, all of them were going to spend the rest of their lives in jail. 
That thought made Bear sit up and wipe her face, sniffling as she did so. She had to show her strength and as she stood, she could feel the hands of her team on her back and shoulders, all of them showing their undeniable support for their Commander. 
Jake had gone to shake the hands of the prosecution, their conversation unintelligible over the din and Bear took a moment to let her eyes trail over him, over the sharp angles of him in his own blues. His shoulders looked broader, the cut of this jacket, while the same as hers, made what little blue he had in his eyes stand out. He looked beautiful. How she had managed to keep him in her life, she didn’t know, but ever since their reunion a year ago, Jake had practically moved in and was staying at her home. 
No one else had been made aware, as far as everyone knew, Bear and Jake were still figuring everything out. They didn’t know about him living with her, and Jake knew for a fact that Bear didn’t know about the ring currently burning a hole in his pocket. He had waited eight months after moving in to buy the ring, and it had been almost four since he walked out of the store with a little box in his pocket. He just hadn’t found the right time. 
Maybe today was the day. 
The bang of the gavel quieted the room quickly. “Order in the courtroom! This court finds the defendants, Colton ‘Hazard’ Richards, Michael ‘Dex’ Lewis, Jackson ‘Dodger’ Cartwright, and Andrew ‘Gallows’ Stevenson guilty on all charges. Due to the precedent for these crimes, Mr’s. Richards, Lewis, Cartwright, and Stevenson are sentenced to life in prison at Guantanamo Bay.”
Shrike bumped Bear’s arm. “I’ve got friends there. They’ll be looked after.” The sharp grin on her face implied anything but, but Bear couldn’t find it within her to care. Not when Hazard was finally paying for all his crimes.
She composed herself and stepped up to the prosecution’s team, next to Jake, shaking their hands. “Thank you, for everything,” she said tearfully. “Your work will not be forgotten.” 
“Neither will your testimony, Commander.” 
Jake watched Bear draw a shuddering breath as she nodded. “Thank you,” her voice was soft, barely audible over the angry shouts from the families of the now guilty. “I will be forever grateful to you all.” 
“Extend some of that to yourself,” James told her. “You were the cornerstone of the entire case, so thank you. You made sure they wouldn’t walk free, we just did the legal speak.” 
Those who heard him, laughed and Jake grinned when Bear cracked a smile. It was a bright beam of grin, one that grew wider the longer she talked with the lawyers. But good things only lasted so long because as Bear turned around, a woman came racing up to them, yelling obscenities. “You FUCKING BITCH!” 
Bear stepped back, her hands raised. “I’m sure you’re right, ma’am, but I’m going to need a little more clarification as to why I’m a bitch in this particular moment.” 
Jake had to turn away to hide his snort of laughter and it seemed to him that the Seals nearby were all in the same boat. 
“My son did nothing wrong! You villainized him for no particular reason all because you KNEW that he was better qualified for your position!” Bear regarded her calmly. She knew Hazard’s mother was convinced of her son’s innocence, hell, she had nearly been called as a character witness before the judge shut that down. “You cheated him out of a job that should have been his! You faked all of this!” 
“Mrs. Richards,” Bear said in a cool tone. She had drawn herself up, standing tall like there was a steel rod straight through her spine. This woman would never believe that her son was guilty, nothing Bear could say would convince her of that. “I am well aware of your delusion that your son is innocent, but I have to disagree,” she began in a steady voice. She had begun unbuttoning her jacket, each gold button sliding out of its place smoothly. “If your son were truly innocent and I were faking my torture, then why would I have these?” 
Bear lifted up her shirt, displaying the scars that ran across her lower stomach. Hazard’s mother gasped, cringing at the sight. But Bear wasn’t done. “You may maintain your son’s innocence all you like, but nothing will change the fact that your son is the reason I will wear these scars for the rest of my life.” She dropped her shirt, tucking it back into her pants and began rebuttoning her jacket. 
His mother opened her mouth to say something, but Jake cut her off and in a tone so cold, the temperature dropped, he spoke “Ma’am, I would recommend you retake your seat so you can say your goodbyes to your son. Otherwise, I believe that no one will blame your son’s former Commander when she smacks some sense into you.” 
The woman before Bear stammered and stuttered, unsure of how to reply. All Bear did was snap her fingers and the Seals behind her stomped a foot on the ground in unison, snapping to attention. The suddenness of the movement startled most of the courtroom and the stare leveled at Mrs. Richards had her slinking back to her spot next to her family. Bear turned back to Jake and nodded at him, the look in her eyes darkening for a completely different reason now, and Jake felt his dress pants tighten from the heat in her brown eyes. 
“Fuck,” he thought. “This is a shitty time for this.” But he couldn’t really help himself, Bear had done what she had done and she had done it proudly. Sue him. “We should leave,” he whispered, his gaze darting between the woman he loved and the media personnel filing out of the courtroom. “Don’t want to get caught in the media storm outside.” 
Bear nodded, a faint smirk rising to her lips, but she said nothing. Instead, she straightened her uniform blues, watched the prosecution file out ahead of her and then she followed immediately afterwards. The flashing cameras and shouting reporters chased her, Jake, and the lawyers out of the building, snapping pictures the whole time. 
No one said a thing. Not the prosecution lawyers, not Bear or her Seals, Jake and the Daggers remained silent as well. No one wanted to be the one quoted as saying something after this trial, the Navy had yet to comment and they all knew that whatever the organization had to say would be the end-all, be-all. No room for arguing, debating, or the like. 
She and Jake made it to his truck, Rooster and Bob cramming into the back seats. Bear felt Rooster’s hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Proud of you, Bear,” he said quietly. He had grown to see that whatever connection that existed between Jake and Bear was more than just the trauma that they shared. As far as he knew, neither one had acted on the obvious feelings that were always thick in the air whenever they were around one another. “You got them.” 
Bear nodded, placing her hand over his. “Thank you,” her voice barely above a whisper. “Thank you both.” She would thank each and every one of her Seals when the time came, but right now, both Bob and Rooster had to know how much their own testimony meant to her. “I couldn’t have done it all without you.” 
A small chuckle came from Bob. “Pretty sure you could do anything you set your mind to, Bear, but you’re so welcome.” Those were the only words he said to her as he slipped out of the truck in front of his house, tapping the driver’s window in thanks. 
Rooster was next, clambering out of the cab awkwardly. “Have a good night, Bear. If you need anything, call me.” He was serious, she could see it in his eyes. “Promise me.” 
She smiled at him, nodding. “I promise that if I can’t get through to this lug, I’ll call you if I need anything.” 
“Good.” The truck door slammed shut, making both her and Jake jump, as they watched Rooster run up his front steps as the door swung open for him. A quick wave at the truck was the only indication of his goodbye before he disappeared inside. 
Jake and Bear drove home in comfortable silence, the radio softly playing some old country song that Bear didn’t recognize. The second Rooster had gone inside, Jake’s hand had moved to its usual place on her thigh, giving it a squeeze. “It’s finally over,” Bear breathed in disbelief as she walked in the front door. “Jake, honey, it’s all over.” 
Bear pulled her hair from its bun, groaning softly at the feeling when she ran her fingers through it. She hated having her hair up that tight, preferring a ponytail or a claw clip to keep it out of her face when she wasn’t in uniform. It just made sense.
Distractedly, she undid her boots, placing them in the coat closet, not paying attention to Jake behind her. 
The late afternoon shone through the windows, casting both Bear and himself in a wreath of golden sunlight. From here, Bear seemed softer, the near permanent furrow in her brow relaxing and smoothing itself away into her skin. The firmness that she carried herself with, the so-called stick up her ass, had lessened as she seemed to transform under Jake’s adoring gaze.
His heart clenched almost painfully in his chest, the guards she let down around him nearly sending him over the edge and Jake found himself struck by the startling need to keep this woman in his life. He’d found his moment, if the way his heart beat as he tracked her movements with the same intensity she had analyzed him with years ago. Everything in him was screaming at him that this was his chance to drop to one knee, to put that ring around her finger and anchor every part of him, his name, his soul, to the incredible woman that she already was.
His mama did say that when it was right, he would know. And who would Jake be if he didn’t listen to his mama? 
“We can sleep easier now, and you didn’t hear Shrike, but apparently she has a friend at Gua- Jake?” Bear cut herself off mid-ramble to find Jake on one knee before her, a small velvet box in hand. “Flyboy… what?” Tears welled in her eyes at the sight, a shaky hand coming up to cover her mouth in shock. 
“Teddy…” Jake’s voice was soft, eyes cataloging every expression that flitted over her face. “I started off my attempt at telling you I loved you by becoming a shaky, rambling mess, and it’s only fitting that I’m here now, the exact same way.” 
He let out a breathy laugh, trying to find his next words. “When we met, I was the cocky asshole that you shot down in less than 10 words and I just walked away because I had a feeling that if I didn’t, I would lose something incredible. I ended up being right. You drove me crazy over the next few weeks, constantly on my mind with your snarky comments and the way you made me work for every second of your time. I don’t think I knew I fell in love with you until I thought you were gone. I gave you my heart without knowing I had yours and I’m making this up on the spot right now so I really don’t know where I was going with this.
“I love you, my gorgeous girl and I can only hope that you love me as much as I love you otherwise this will be very awkward in a little bit.” Jake’s hands were shaking, he was sweating under Bear’s teary gaze and he could feel his cheeks flushing from his nerves. God he hoped she’d say yes. “So I guess the only thing left to do is ask. Teddy, would you do me the greatest honor and marry me?” 
The foyer was silent as Bear stared at him with wide eyes. She had been hoping for this for a while, wishing desperately that she had a way to keep Jake with her forever. Every part of her had fought for him, had fought for herself so that she could see his face again. Now though, as Jake knelt on the wooden floor of their home, Bear felt everything click into place and it felt like sunshine had been poured into her veins, warming her. 
She loved him, had loved him in silence since before they had deployed. Hell, she was pretty sure that it had taken his crash for the last threads to find their place because every action she had taken after that had been done with love for the man before her. “Jake…” she breathed, taking a cautious step towards him like she was afraid he would disappear if she moved too quickly. 
Jake held his breath, begging whoever was listening that Bear accepted his proposal. God. He had proposed and she still hadn’t said a thing. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe she wasn’t ready for this, was he even ready for this? He’d ruined this by asking. They hadn’t even had a full conversation about marriage yet. He fucked this up. Of course he had. 
He felt a palm press against his cheek, chasing his panicking thoughts away. “Did you hear me Flyboy?” Bear said, laughing lightly through her tears. “I said yes.” 
“You did?!” Jake couldn’t keep his outburst from slipping out, making Bear laugh. “You said yes?” His next question was shyer, almost like he couldn’t believe it. 
“Ask me again and find out.” 
Jake took a deep breath, opening the ring box as he did. “Will you marry me?” 
“Yes.” 
The universe seemed to align upon her acceptance, stars falling into place and lighting up the world around them. He fumbled with the ring, slipping onto her finger before tossing the box behind him and kissing her deeply. Bear gasped against his mouth, surprised by the sudden intensity behind it. Jake pulled back, resting his forehead against hers. “Would you believe me if I said I had been planning that for weeks?” 
“Proposing, or the speech?” Bear teased softly, playing with the short hairs at the nap of his neck. 
Jake sighed, shaking his head, but even he couldn’t keep the wide smile off his face. He drew Bear’s left hand away from the back of his neck, kissing the palm gently before turning it over and running a thumb over the ring he had only just given her. The ring itself was a simple gold band adorned with round-cut diamonds arranged to look like a flower; it had screamed Bear the moment he saw it. “Either or,” came his soft reply. 
Bear tilted his chin up to look him in the eyes and was stunned into silence at the love that seemed to shine from Jake’s green eyes. “No,” she told him, running a thumb along his jaw. “But it was from you and I was always going to say yes. If you ever had plans to ask me, that is.” 
He said nothing, dipping his head back down and capturing her lips with his own. This kiss was in sharp contrast to the pure passion that had filled his earlier kiss. It was soft where the other had been fierce; Jake was content to stand there for the rest of his life, kissing the woman he loved. The woman he would marry. 
This time, Bear broke the kiss, pecking him one more time before stepping away. She held her hand up, watching the stones sparkle in the late afternoon light and it brought a smile to her lips. “You did good, Flyboy.” 
“Yeah?” Jake took a step closer, pride radiating out of him. He picked a good one and it was like his concerns had been completely wiped away. Bear had said yes, she loved the ring, and he felt unstoppable. Like he was gliding through the air in his F-18, nothing tethering him to the ground. 
Only now, he did have a tether to the ground, a reason to fight harder than he had ever fought before. She was standing in front of him, eyeing him like he was the only thing she had ever wanted. He felt the weight of that settle in his heart, but unlike the fear of her rejection, this weight was different. It made him feel like he had both protected himself while tearing himself bare and wide open. “It just seemed like something you’d wear, if you ever wore jewelry.”
Bear met his gaze and rolled her eyes, but he knew that it was done with love. It was the only way Jake could describe the way she looked at him. He’d seen it before, in the early days where Bear seemed to doubt his own love for her, but when he wasn’t looking, that’s when he’d feel it. “You’re such a goof,” she told him, moving towards the stairs. “But you’re soon-to-be Mr. Goof, so I guess I can love it like I love you.” 
Jake watched her ascend the stairs, gaping at her. “Now who’s the sap?” He yelled up the stairs as he tugged his boots off in a hurry and raced towards her bedroom, slamming the door behind him. 
“Still you. You’re always the sap.” 
=== 
Flare didn’t know why Shrike called her and told her to meet at her place nor did she know why they, a few of their colleagues, and the Daggers showed up outside Bear’s house 30 minutes later. 
All she knew was relief. 
Her charges against Hazard had stuck and she had been cleared of any wrongdoing given the intensity of her predicament. That, and Bear had gone to the mat for her, refusing to give up Flare in return for another person who couldn’t do her job half as well. She had been demoted however; losing her position as a Lieutenant Commander and dropped down to a Lieutenant while also dropping a few clearance levels as the Navy conducted an internal investigation. 
That was a headache for later though. 
Now she and the others stood outside Bear’s front door, Fireball having rung the bell and she waited curiously. She heard Fanboy whisper to Phoenix “Is that Jake’s truck?” 
“I think s-“ the door swung open, revealing Bear, clad only in a large, wrinkled black t-shirt. Her hair was a mess, sticking to her face, and if you looked closely, you’d find a bite mark or two along the collar of the shirt that kept sliding down. 
“Can I help you?” She asked, leaning on the doorframe, the edge of the door being held in her left hand. “You could have just texted.” 
“We did,” Fanboy replied with a shrug. “But you didn’t answer.” 
Bear narrowed her eyes. “So all 13 of you just decided to show up at my front door? At fucking 10 pm on a random Thursday?” 
Phoenix gave her a strange look. “Well initially we wanted to all get together to celebrate the win, but clearly you’re celebrating in your own way,” the smirk was audible in her tone and it matched the look that had emerged as she took in Bear’s appearance. 
“I was,” Bear replied coolly, but the blush on her face was hard to hide. “But a few people on my doorstep changed all of that real quick.” 
A voice from near the back of the group had Bear’s head snapping over. “Was there a reason you taught the pilots proper weapons techniques?” 
“Because no one ever asked. And why the hell would I teach them the wrong thing?” She just looked confused at the mere suggestion of improper weapons handling. “Can we just meet up tomorrow? I was in the mid-“ 
“What’s taking so long?” A voice yelled down the stairs, just audible for the team to hear it. 
Bear’s jaw twitched and she looked annoyed. “Give me a second!” She yelled back into the house, turning and stepping inside for half a moment, forgetting that her ring was still on her finger. 
“Bear…” Rooster began. “What’s that on your hand?” 
“What does it look like?” 
A chorus of gasps sounded and everyone immediately started yelling over one another, choosing to ignore the fact that it was 10:30 on a weeknight. “YOU’RE ENGAGED?!” 
Bear groaned, running her hand over her face. “Yes, I am. No that it’s any of your business.” 
“When were you going to tell us?” Bug gasped, reaching for her hand. “Were you just going to hide this from us?” 
“I would have kept it between me and my fiancé for as long as I could have, because this only just happened.” 
Bug blinked in surprise. “He proposed tonight?” 
Bear nodded, her eyes glancing down to her hand, smiling softly at the blue stones. “He did. We got home and he was on one knee. Caught me completely by surprise.” 
The fondness in her tone made the gathered Navy members look at her with their own grins. “So when do we meet the lucky man?” 
She went to reply but the creaking of her stairs had her pausing. “Teddy? What’s going on? Is it another chatty Amazon driver?” Jake’s voice came closer and closer, finally stopping behind Bear. His large hands came to span her hips, burying his face in her neck. The warmth from his bare chest soaked through her stolen shirt, making butterflies erupt in her stomach. “Guess not.” 
The team before them stood in complete silence. A few had had their suspicions about the two of them being together, but no one had any proof. Now though, the proof was staring them in the face. Jake had wrapped himself around Bear like he’d been doing so forever and Bear, always in charge, stoic, and firm, was bright pink as she tried to fight the urge to turn and kiss the man behind her. 
Once again, the explosion of noise hit her hard. The pilots yelling at Jake for not telling them, the Seals yelling at Bear, spouses and partners just yelling in general and it became too much very quickly. She turned into Jake, hiding her face in his shoulder, her ringed hand clutching his arm. 
He lifted his head, glancing down at Bear, who’d curled into him. “Okay guys, we can talk about this later. 
“But…” 
“No.” Jake’s voice was firm as he took in his teammates staring at him like he grew another head. “I just put the damn ring on her finger, give me at least 24 hours alone with her as my fiancee before you start hounding her.” 
His eyes met Reaper’s who gave him a nod. “You did good,” she mouthed, and if Jake got a little teary-eyed as he looked down at Bear where he was still holding her, no one would judge him. 
Strangely enough, it was Rooster that caught Jake’s eye next. There was a moment of understanding in his wingman’s eyes, a sort of approval shining bright in them. “Congrats man, happy for you.” 
Jake merely nodded, choosing to press a kiss to the top of Bear’s head rather than reply. Just standing here, Bear in his arms, watching his team catalog every gesture, every movement that he made, filled his heart with so much joy. 
If he had been asked nearly two years ago what he wanted from his life, he would have shrugged the question off, preferring a non-answer to revealing the heart that yearned for more than he had. Two years ago, his life changed when he was challenged by the woman he would soon call his wife. Two years ago, Jake knew nothing of love. Now though, he knew how bright his life could be. He knew the warmth that love could bring his spirit, and best of all, he knew that he was worth it. 
For Bear, clad in Jake’s - her fiance’s - shirt, wrapped in his arms as she stood in front of her friends, it was in such contrast to everything she had known before. Sure, back in Riyadh, she had toyed with the idea of forever. Playing with it, spinning the threads of this blossoming relationship into something more, if only to have as a thought. That ‘something more’ was this. Joy, endless support, someone who understood her, and love. Pure, simple, boundless love that was shared. 
And now as Jake shooed their friends away making promises to see them soon, Bear knew that she had found everything she had ever wanted. One random night, at a random time, had changed everything she had hoped for in her life. Tonight, standing in her home with Jake, wearing the ring he had given her when he had asked if she would spend the rest of her life with him, this was it. Her career had filled her life, now she was ready to share that life with someone who understood her pain, her sacrifice. 
“I love you,” Jake said softly, freeing her from her reverie. “More than you could ever know.” She looked up, seeing his eyes shine with unshed tears.  
“Careful Jake. I could get used to this,” Bear teased gently, swiping a tear from his cheek. “You’ll spoil me.” 
He pressed a kiss to her forehead, letting his lips linger for just a moment. “A wise woman once told me that I was her everything. Now that I have a future with her in the making, I finally get to make good on my promise to never let her forget how much I love her.” 
“Anyone I know?” 
“Maybe. She’s about your height, similar build, most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. She’s a firecracker, but cares so deeply for everyone around her. I watched her crawl through hell and still look like she wasn’t done fighting. And by her, I mean you, Teddy.” 
“Sap.” 
“You know you love me.” 
Bear nodded, her smile fond as Jake caught her left hand, pressed a gentle kiss to the knuckles. “I really do.” 
“No comment?” Jake asked curiously, a look of brief concern flickering over his face. “Are you okay?” 
She glanced up at him, kissing Jake sweetly. “You are the best thing that happened to me. I never saw you coming, Jake, and I am so thankful that you tried and failed to flirt with me that first day.” 
Jake’s face softened as he drew her into his arms once again. “So am I, Teddy. So am I. I have never been more thankful that I failed to win you over the first time we met.” His words were barely above a whisper, their pronunciation thick as he fought back tears. “If I’m your everything, then I don’t even know how to explain the depth of my love for you. I gave you my heart in the time it took you to glance at me with even a hint of curiosity and I will do everything in my power to make sure you are the only one keeping it safe for the rest of my life. 
“You are it for me, Teddy.” 
Sometimes two people are just destined for each other. One usually flies high, so sure of their own skill that they forget that life is waiting for them on the ground. The other stays on the ground, their head down, fighting to break free of the weight they shoulder everyday. The free-flier learns how to anchor themself and the weighed down learns how to fly among the birds, both getting what they always desired in their darkest moments. 
There is always uncertainty when the grounded learns to soar, fear of giving their heart away and of falling, yet here, in the moment, there is nothing to fear. How could there be when both swore that the other was their everything? That they would travel to the bitter end of time and back again for one another?
The next step is always scary, but for Bear and Jake, they knew that it was only the start of the next chapter of the rest of their life together. One full of peace, love, and happiness that steadied them through it all.
It wasn’t the end, merely the beginning.
===
A/N: This is it. I can't believe that this was 25 chapters worth of Bear and Jake and I am so thankful to everyone who has read and will continue to read this fic now that it's over. AGAD is my baby and my first ever completed fic, so it will always be special. You cannot possibly know how much your endless support means to me, how much of myself I poured into this series. Bear and Jake’s story is done, for now. I have plans for them in the future and I cannot wait to see you all there!
Thank you to @startrekfangirl2233 @sarahsmi13s @dakotakazansky for being my biggest supporters and always being there for me and this fic. I love you all and I’m sorry for breaking your hearts on more than one occasion. For the last time, thank you for reading!
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Taglist: @horseshoegirl @roosters-girl @lovinglyeternal @lavenderbradshaw @roosterforme @bobby-r2d2-floyd @bradleybeachbabe @footprintsinthesxnd @twsssmlmaa @fandomxpreferences @dempy @gizmodear @fighterpilothoe @chaoticassidy @eli2447 @iwantmyredvelvetcupcake @djs8891 @rhirhikingston @sisterslytherinog @impossiblebagelcowboyfreak @sgt-barnesveins @taytaylala12 @urmom-999 @formulapierre @pinkpantheris @havlindzk @a-beaverhausen @killcomet @buxkybarnez @topgunruinedme @hangmanscoming @smoothdogsgirl @a-court-of-roscoe-and-baby
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sakuraryomen01 · 11 months
Text
Valentino /Sukuna Ryomen x Female Reader/ .o7
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warnings: asshole sukuna, college prep. school (aka bitch u at an expensive ass school), former friends to lovers, slow burned love, yuji is sukuna's little brother, sukuna gets a hangover + sick!, being ignored(-ish???), talking about that kiss, pizza and wings with your roomie [brief]
reader: female reader; 23 years of age, college prep.
plot: It's been years since you've moved from country life, since you've forgotten about all the things you used to love about your hometown and where you grew up from... you didn't think it'd chase you to college in the city after almost a decade..
words: 3.826k
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fanfic masterlist: .o1 .o2 .o3 .o4 .o5 .o6 .o7 .o8 .o9 .10 .11 .12 .13 .14 .15 .16 .17 .18 .19 .20
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a/n:: I started writing this chapter while I was finishing up chapter .o6 lolol!! also, tell me if u're not getting tagged in the chapters so that i can fix it! thx for the support and i hope you guys enjoy reading this fanfiction to the end! ❤
~~
Thank you for reading this bit! Enjoy~
. . .
After you had woken up from last night in Sukuna’s arms, you got up to take a small shower. Even though you didn’t want to think about it, it made its way into your mind. What Sukuna had said, the way he touched your body and kissed your neck. Why he mumbled little things like “you’re mine” made your heart ache.
How could you give up on Sukuna when he says things like that?
Reaching down to grab some shampoo, you slick your hair back and start to lather the soapy substance into your hair. You lift your head back and scrub all the worries and thoughts from your mind. 
But wishing the thoughts away, or the touches you shared, wasn’t going to change anything. Yes, you managed to defuse the situation, but it wasn’t with a little work. 
Sukuna’s mumbling replayed in your mind as you finished washing last night’s events off. Quickly grabbing one of his shirts to borrow and wearing your pants from the night before, you went to his kitchen and looked for something that’d be good for a hangover and breakfast. 
You had managed to find some eggs and bacon, adding in some coffee as a drink for Sukuna. Eventually, the sounds of Sukuna showering surfaced as you were plating the meal and adding some butter to a slab of toast you just finished toasting.
"Morning," You heard Sukuna grumble from the hallway. 
Seeing that he was clearly hungover and hungry, you guided him to his living room and placed his meal and coffee onto the coffee table in front of him. Also giving him a pat on the back, you went to grab your food to join him. He wasn’t visibly upset by the events of the other night, making you wonder if he really cared at all what happened.
Wasn’t it nerve wracking for him too? Didn’t it make him upset or nervous?
You didn’t get your answer for another few days. Not a text, nor a call. Even during classes, Sukuna was either not attending or he was taking a sick day. It worried you, since he had started skipping his tutoring lessons too. Concerned for his health, and all around well-being, you decided that stopping by with a few gifts would make him feel better.
After classes and work, you took another moment to send Sukuna a text that you’d be stopping by for a few minutes with some Advil for his headache. Although you felt it was cringey, you grabbed him some stomach medicine as well, making your way over to the male’s dorm a little after 10:30 pm.
You knocked on the door of Sukuna’s dorm and patiently waited for some kind of sign that he was home, and awake. Though, you doubted after a while of waiting. Making you wonder if he was intentionally ignoring you after the kiss. You didn’t blame him, if you kissed him and told him he was yours, you’d want to stop talking to him out of embarrassment. 
“Sukuna?” You tried after a minute or two of waiting, knocking again before there was a click and the door began to slowly creak open.
Seeing a tired, and disgruntled Sukuna behind it, with messy hair and hoods under his eyes, you let out a small coo of pity. He looked worn out and stressed, making you feel guilty for making him look like this. Sukuna, though, took a breath and mumbled a small greeting before letting you into his home.
“I’m sorry about not going to class,” He finally said, as if to defuse the awkwardness between you. “I haven’t been feeling well, I might’ve caught some bug.”
“Oh, really?” You asked, looking around the living room and seeing tissues strewn across the couch and coffee table. “I thought it was something else. Sorry for bothering you, I just came to tell you about the assignments you were missing.”
Sukuna hummed, sitting back down on his small throne of warm blankets and dirty tissues. “Ah, alright. I noticed you texted me too. Did you really bring Advil? It’d help right about now..”
You nod and sit next to Sukuna on the couch, handing him the bag you brought with you. Inside sat a small container of Advil, a bottle of water, some quick and easy to make chicken noodle soup. He looked at the bag’s contents before handing you the soup and taking out the water and medicine.
“Can you make this for me?” He asked, opening the Advil and water, taking a pill and a sip before laying back on the pillow he had under his head. “You can make yourself something too, but I haven’t been shopping yet.”
“Oh, that’s fine,” You said, standing and heading to the kitchen. “I’ll go out while you’re asleep to get you some things!”
You heard a grunt of disapproval that made you giggle, grabbing a pot from the cupboard and turning on the heat. Turning your attention to Sukuna, you see him lying face up with a pained expression. He looked more tired and ill than you’ve ever seen him before; even as a child it was hard for Sukuna to even get something small. 
Half the time, you thought he was invincible while you got the cold a lot during the snowy season. 
“The soup should be done in a few minutes,” You announced, walking around the living room and gathering the dirty tissues that littered the room. Grimacing, Sukuna nodded as you got closer. “Let me get your temperature too, just to be safe.”
“Fine,” He grumbled, taking a few steady breaths as you sat down and pressed a cold hand to his forehead. “Mm, your hand feels really nice.”
“‘Cause you’re burning up!” You exclaimed, quickly standing to grab the chicken noodle soup and return with a bowl prepared for Sukuna to eat. “Here, eat some of this okay? I’ll go get you some food for your fridge.”
Sukuna shook his head, sitting up to start eating. “No, that’s fine. I already feel pathetic for your help enough.”
Pathetic? Sukuna? Nah, that couldn’t be true.
“Don’t get all stubborn and pissy with me,” You said, a firm frown placed on your face as Sukuna ate. “Just because you’re sick doesn’t make you pathetic.”
There was a distant look that crossed Sukuna’s face before he went quiet and put down the bowl of soup. “It’s not that I’m sick.”
After waiting for a few minutes for an explanation, you dropped the conversation even though you knew exactly what he was talking about. That kiss. He probably regretted it, or thought what he said was stupid and childish. You pat Sukuna’s shoulder as he looks up at you, a confused expression now on his face.
“Now’s not the best time to talk about that,” You muttered, smiling warmly at the grumpy man. “You need to focus on getting better, and then tutoring for the next few days. Alright?”
Sukuna slowly nods, taking in your words. You didn’t need an explanation right now. Waiting a little while wouldn’t kill you.
“..Okay,” Sukuna muttered, finishing his food and laying back down. Watching you stand and gather your things before leaving the small apartment like home. 
You left the male’s dorm to go grab some more medicine when you got a text message. Quickly, you climbed into your car and picked up your phone. It was from Yuji. Thinking back, it had been almost a month since you had last spoken to him on the phone. That is, if you included all the studying you were doing for tests and such. 
Yuji- Hey, Y/n! I was wanting to ask you something about Sukuna?
You tilted your head in confusion, wondering if Sukuna had told him about what happened. Maybe he did? No, he’d probably keep something like that secret. Then again, you barely know him now. You’d never know.
You- Yeah? What’s up?
You also added another small excuse for your absence and you almost immediately got a response. The conversation started with Yuji asking about Sukuna’s grades, which you thought were pretty tame and understandable, so you told him point blank what was happening.
You- Sukuna’s kinda struggling in some classes, so my professor asked for me to tutor him. He’s getting better though. Did he tell you he got sick at all?
Yuji- Ah man! That explains it I suppose… I was wondering where he went after telling me what happened between y’all. ><;;
And just like that, you knew your suspicions were confirmed. With a sigh, you asked what he meant for confirmation:
Yuji- He told me about that party. He said something to a guy named Fushiguro about you and him. It was a really random convo, but I thought you knew already?
You were kind of confused for a moment, although you did see them talking you assumed it was about something else. Never did you think it was about you and Sukuna. Starting up the car, you dialed Yuji’s number and waited for him to answer. After a few moments, Yuji’s cheerful voice rang from your phone and you put the device to your cheek. Pulling out of the parking lot, you ask Yuji what Sukuna had talked about.
“It’s the first time we’ve talked on a phone!” Yuji chuckled. “A little weird, but I think I’ll get used to it, haha!”
You laughed with Yuji, starting to drive to the drug store. “I know, it’s a little weird for me too.”
There was a small silence before Yuji brought up the conversation Sukuna had with him.
“He told me that Fushiguro gave him some advice about y’alls relationship. Something like, ‘Just tell her what you’re feeling’, I think. Knowing my brother though, he’d keep all those feelings inside, and nudging him would just piss him off.”
You nodded, as if Yuji would see it, pulling into the parking lot of a local grocery store. The lights were dim, but it was quite apparent to you that it was still open. You unbuckled yourself and stepped out of the car, quickly putting your keys away and making note of what to buy.
“Sorry if this is really sudden, but..” You mumbled, walking through the rows of parked cars and vacant spots, lowering your voice slightly. “How were you and Sukuna after I left?”
You were rewarded with a small silence, a sigh and then a response: “It’s complicated.”
“I can handle complicated things, Yuji.”
He grumbled, but you understood why. The situation that they were in while you all lived there was rather harsh. Sukuna and Yuji’s dad was in a constant drunken state, making your parents worry a little about your safety and their’s. Often offering help to the boys whenever they needed a break from their father’s yelling and abuse. Although they couldn’t take Sukuna and Yuji in, they ended up like their second parents. 
Sukuna and Yuji loved your parents as much as they adored you, and it filled you with guilt now that you were unable to mend things for the past. Even though you couldn’t, you were determined to make it up to Sukuna, to Yuji. 
Half of you felt like you were trying to mend your own broken ego, but the other half was telling you that you owed it to them. Unable to swallow down that guilt, you began to accept it as Yuji started to talk to you about the events that transpired after your move.
“While I didn’t have many problems other than our old man, Sukuna kinda..” Yuji trailed, exhaling probably a lot of emotions he didn’t want to feel. “He went out of control, really.
“He got into lots of fights at school, got suspended a lot. Sometimes, he’d yell at me when he wasn’t in a good mood. Started smoking with the older kids. It was a lot for him.”
There was another pause as you got into the shopping area, pushing a cart in front of you and looking at the items that lined the shelves. Looking from ramen to other assorted things you felt were alright, you began to pile some basic things into the cart.
“Sukuna almost dropped out,” Yuji cut into your train of thought, making you stop suddenly in shock. Phone shaking in your hand and making some passerby glance at you with a confused and concerned look on their faces. “He didn’t, don’t worry. He made it to college, didn’t he?”
You pressed your brows and lips together and a frustrated pout. He’s barely passing though. He was gone for a lot of the year and is taking even more sick days right now. 
You didn’t tell Yuji this, seeing as it’d worry him. “Y/n?”
“Sorry, I’m shopping right now,” You say sheepishly, laughing weakly as you make your way over to another aisle and looking through a bunch of small pre-made meals that Sukuna might enjoy. “Go ahead, continue.”
“Alright.” Yuji responded, although he whined about bothering you which made you smile. “So, now, I suppose you can say that he’s doing well. He’s still smoking and shit, but that’s expected since it’s a habit. He’s working on it though.”
You let out a small hum, looking through the protein section, gathering what you thought would be good for some breakfast meat. Once Yuji voiced his concern about your silence, you reassured that you were alright.
“I promise, Yu.” You said, stopping once again as you continued to chat on the phone. “Sorry for bringing that stuff up again for you, I know it can be a little hard to talk about it–”
“It’s okay,” Yuji says in an attempt to calm you, with a boyish giggle ringing out from your speaker. “To be completely honest, it helped me relax a little while talking about it. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
A burn in your heart rested heavy in your chest. The feeling of guilt and worry made you ache, knowing that Sukuna had every right to want nothing to do with you. But the gratitude you felt for it was unimaginable. It was like it lifted your spirits, knowing Sukuna was still there to help if something went wrong. Yuji and you continued to talk on the phone for another few minutes– more like an hour or so –until you were in line to purchase your items. 
Once you got to the cashier, you smiled. “I’ll see ya soon, Yuji.”
“Mhm, c’ya!”
“Having a good day, hun?” said the woman at the register. Her messy dark hair up in a very loose bun. Her dark eyes shimmering with a sleepy delight. 
“Yea, it’s alright so far,” You answered as she started scanning your items. Looking through your pocket, you pulled out your wallet and began looking for your card. “I’ll be paying with a card.”
She nods at this, bagging things up as she rang your receipt and total. In the midst of this, you looked down at the shirt that you had borrowed from Sukuna. Realizing quickly that you still needed to return it even if you didn’t really want to. It smelled just like him, an almost calming smell that made your heart flutter.
“22.35 is your payment.”
Running the card through the small scanner, you started grabbing bags and piled them back into the cart. Tugging at the ends of the large shirt and pushing the shopping cart outside to where you parked. It had been almost twenty minutes since you got to the store when your phone buzzed with a notification in your back pocket. 
You got back into the vehicle and paused to look at the message, seeing Sukuna’s name on your lock screen. “He texted me?”
He’s so sick, I hope he doesn’t end up pushing himself..
The text consisted of a small thank you and to text him when you were finished. While you didn’t think it was much, you decided to text him back. 
You– I just got finished. I’ll be coming by shortly. I need to return your shirt to you too lol
Starting up the engine once again you pulled out of the parking spot, making your way over to the main road and turning on your blinker. Your phone buzzed again, but you decided to wait until you got to your college before looking at it. Thoughts raced through your head as you drove back home.
What should you tell Sukuna when you see him? Apologizing wouldn’t do much since it’s already too late, it’d be worth the shot though. You sigh, slowing down as you near your destination. 
Sitting in the car quietly and taking a moment to breath and work through all the events that’s happened. You pick up your phone and see Sukuna’s name again, unlocking the device and going to messages to see his text.
Sukuna– Keep it. I’ve been meaning to get rid of it anyways.
There was a small tingle in your body, a shiver that ran up your spine. Unable to make out what this shiver was, you looked down at the dark clothing piece. Seeing an old band name with a few small holes in the bottom of the shirt around the hem, ending just at your mid thigh. It was worn out, a random shirt you grabbed, but it felt like it was more than that to you. 
You responded with a small okay, quickly getting out of the car and collecting the groceries. It took a few tries, but you managed to get all the things you purchased up to the male’s dorm. 
“Sukuna, I’m back,” Knocking on the door, you waited for a few moments with shaky arms. The weight of all the food was making you tired at this point, and when Sukuna opened the door you rushed inside to put the bags on the counter.
“Haahh!! Finally!”
 A shocked expression was written on the sick man’s face mixed with an amused smirk. He closed the door and made his way over to you, looking through all the bags and then at you, taking in your panting figure and chuckling weakly.
 “I told you before, you didn’t need to do this.”
“Shush, just accept it,” You sighed, with a small smile on your face in return. 
Sukuna rolled his eyes and put down the blanket that covered him on the couch before he started helping you put up things. You bickered and whined about him helping you, but he told you it didn’t matter and that it’d be done faster if he helped. Reluctantly, you agreed and continued putting things in the fridge.
After everything was put away, you turned back and bumped into Sukuna. His maroon eyes angled downward, connecting with yours. Silence clouded over you and him, the air becoming thick again as you both stood in the middle of his kitchen.
“Y’know that it was nothing, right?” He eventually mumbled, his breathing low and voice deep. Sukuna’s words made your stomach churn, an uncomfortable feeling that you didn’t really like boiling in the pit of your gut.
You averted your eyes, pressing your lips together and breaking eye contact. Despite your silence, he continued, crossing his arms as well. “I was drunk, and acted without thinking.”
“..Thought so,” You mumbled quietly, clasping your hands behind your back. “I’ll see you later.”
It had been days since it had happened, and bringing it up so suddenly made you uncomfortable. Your heart ached, your stomach hurt. Everything was in pain. It tore you to bits, but you understood where he was coming from.
He doesn’t want me to get my hopes up.
So, after you had gotten your things and said a quick goodbye, you headed over to your dorm. A heavy heart laid bare in your chest, an ache that you felt wouldn’t be able to heal by tomorrow. With each step farther and farther away from him made the strings inside pluck a sad tune. You had denied you wanted any sort of thing for Sukuna, and for it to be returned, but even so you felt the pain was too much. Too much for your fragile heart, weak mind.
Unlocking the door to your home, you pushed open the door to the smell of pizza and chicken.
“Shoko?” You try, taking a few steps inside and looking around before spotting her in the kitchen. “What are you doing?”
“Just getting some things made for you.” She answered, pushing a place of your favorite pizza and some hot wings with ranch towards you on the counter. “You were missing for a few days, hun. Got me wondering what happened to you.”
With a distasteful sigh, you grab the plate and make your way into the living room and she follows. Sitting on the couch with you and waiting silently to hear any form of a response. You didn’t want to talk, but letting the heartache sit and fester like a disease wouldn’t do you any good.
“I visited Sukuna,” You finally mumble, taking a bite of pizza and letting the flavors sit in your mouth for a moment before swallowing. “He’s sick, so I brought him a few things and some food.”
“...And?” She pressed, scooting closer while her show continued to play on the T.V.
“And nothing. I just said goodbye and will see him later.”
The response obviously didn’t make her happy, her brows pressing together slightly before she huffed and rested her cheek on your fist. Letting her elbow hang from the top of the couch, relaxing her body into the cushions. “That’s odd. Aren’t y’all a thing?”
You cringed. Getou probably said something like that. No, Gojo.
“No. Just friends.”
Shoko shrugged, stealing one of your wings and looking at the T.V. “You two looked like you were dating.”
Whatever that meant, you didn’t let it get to you. No matter how much it made you blush or it made the feelings in your tummy churn. “You and Getou have lost brain cells.”
After you had eaten and said goodnight to Shoko, you made your way into the bathroom and got into the shower. Washing your hair and face, making sure to try and relax despite the fact Shoko’s words didn’t leave you. 
“You two looked like you were dating.”
She’s just seeing things then! You said to yourself, pouting your lip a little. Her and Getou acted like a couple too, but it’s not like they were actually dating. They were just fuck buddies that got high together whenever he visited. 
Sukuna and I are too different to be dating.
Sukuna doesn’t forgive me either.
Once dried off and dressed, you went into your bedroom to sleep. But sleep wouldn’t come easily when you felt a sting in your chest and a never ending flow of nightmares that kept you on your toes. 
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a/n: i've been worried that my tagging isn't really working >_>;;; but i'll try retagging as many as possible so that you guys get the reading you wanted! ik chapter .o6 was a lot, seeing as we've got a long way to go before the ending, but i wanted some action so that it doesn't get too boring and plain. anyways, thx for the support and hope to see you guys soon! ❤
Chapter Song Theme: — Stela Cole - Love Like Mine (Lyrics) - YouTube
taglist: @mageyboo, @mzladyd , @mysticwonderlandangel, @sukunaspersonalfleshlight, @kawaiipenguin20, @k-indie, @okkotsufav, @cafeinthemoon93, @pulchritxde, @bontenbunny, @deepinballs, @kleeboomed, @fallenfeversstuff, @fiierytearzx, @wo-ming-bai, @ririkaxbz, @instantgalaxysheep, @watyousayin, @z3r0art, @sukunaobsessed, @lik0, @sukunasfirstlove, @princesstiti14, @nemoyr, @ladywolf44005, @cat-mak20, @coffee-on-a-rainyautumn, @hxlalokidottir, @instantgalaxysheep, @domainofmarie, @the-moongoddess, @dark-n-dirty-duchess, @agentdedf1sh, @sukunastoy, @lyn-soso, @bao-yu-sarah-morningstar-wang-9, @heyitstacy, @lost-in-tokyo, @marksassybanana, @bozos-r-us, @gumis-girl, @p-3-4-c-h, @chaoticqueen33, @dxxny-loves-u, @l0tus-n-l0ve, @jiordeci
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wintfleur · 3 months
Note
Loooove your writing! ❤️ but what about Stella and our favourite captain aka Nico? Need all the details!!!!
˖ ་ 💭 roro’s notes ( tysm lovie!! I absolutely loved writing this, I love Nico so much!! )
au masterlist — you can find asks under #💌stellahughes!
°. — ( feel free to send any requests of things you would like to see in this series, or if you just want to share some thoughts! I would absolutely love that! Please comment if you would like to be added to the tag list! )
So when Stella found out that Jack would be going to the devils, she of course had to do her research. And let’s just say she went down the rabbit hole for Nico hischier, like she literally started giggling when she saw his picture when she searched the team up.
Love at first sight for real! CAN YOU BLAME HER???
When Stella did finally get to meet Nico, she was a blushing and stuttering mess as he introduced himself to her with a smile. Quinn who quickly noticed why she was acting like that tried to help her out by saying ‘sorry she gets a little shy’
Nico was sweet about it and said it’s no problem and that it’s nice to meet her (aUgh he’s so perfect) Jack was giving Stella a confused look, he knows she’s shy but she’s never been this…awestruck? He immediately doesn’t like it.
Obviously stella and nico got closer over the years, Jack and stella are very close(obvi!) and she always tried to come visit jack, meaning that she would also see nico! Nico would also come and visit sometimes, they were all close!
Also over the years, Stella’s crush on Nico was very well known…by like literally everyone! She’s not very good at keeping it a secret. She and everyone knows that nothing would happen from it. Nico finds it very sweet and adorable.
They are very close! It’s honestly feels like they have known each other for years! They are each other’s biggest fan, Nico loves and keeps all her art work she’s given him safe, and he loves watching all her figure skating videos, always texting her what he thinks of it!
Now that Luke and Jack play on the same team, Stella finds it hard picking what brother’s jersey she’s going to wear, so most of the time she wears Nicos!
Stella and nicos interactions go viral a lot, especially on tiktok, fans go crazy for there interactions!
Nico always gets shy and laughes when ever Stella says I love you before she hangs up on there calls, he always says it back. He honestly thinks of her as a little sister.
Nico loves teaching her Swiss German
And Stella loves hugging Nico, he honestly gives the best hugs!! 😫
They both find it hilarious how jealous Jack gets, Jack likes to make it clear that he’s still Stella’s favorite and that’s she’s HIS little sister
Nico is one of the few people she actually likes calling her Estella
They are just very sweet in general, they have a great friendship!
He once took Stella to a cat cafe and she cried, she reminds him of a cat tbh.
Stella is always liking and commenting on edits of him!
Stella’s contact name for Nico is ‘nico❣️’
Nicos contact name for Stella is ‘Estella 🐈‍⬛’
NICO IS THE SWEETEST PERSON EVER AND STELLA JUST LOVES HIM SO MUCH! 😵‍💫
˖ ་ 💭 roro’s notes ( I was supposed to post this after the game earlier, but I totally forgot )
°. — taglist ( @privatemythss @bradenschneider @cixrosie )
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jelzorz · 4 months
Text
164.
As per @raayllum's request. Takes place/makes references to the fruit (~7 years post-series end, aka everyone is a fully consenting adult) which is not required reading but does explain what Rayla is talking about and is my justification for the existence of this ship.
"It's weird."
"No, it isn't."
"It is."
"Callum." Rayla lets out a breath. She likes to think she's been pretty patient about this, but it's been a long couple of months, and she's growing bored of managing Callum's expectations for him. To an extent, she understands: first Claudia had come home, and rather than be sentenced for her crimes, Ez had pardoned her, and then, somehow, had started courting her, and Rayla had thought that was weird too at first, but the fit Callum had thrown was pointless at best, and stupid and immature at worst. Rayla is his partner, his wife now, before she is anything else, and she's defended him in the past for his poor decision making and his poorer behaviour, but she will not defend him for his spat with Ez.
He has, thankfully, grown past it, but the reason he put his head back on straight is the new thing he can't get past, and they're not even dressed for dinner yet but Rayla is already exhausted by his inability to process the unexpected.
He pouts at her, helpless, confused, but Rayla would have more sympathy for him if he hadn't spent the last few months in a cold war with Ezran. She will not forgive him if he has another one with Soren and Opeli.
"What's the problem, exactly?" she demands, her patience well and truly wearing thin. "Is there something wrong with them being together?"
"I just—" Callum sputters, his brain obviously stuck on the word together like it's hammer caught between the gears of his brain. "It's—Soren—"
"You had no issues when Soren was dating Corvus."
"No, it's not—" He huffs. "With Opeli?"
"Yes. With Opeli. And?"
He flounders for a moment longer, looking more and more a like a fish gasping for air. "It's... I dunno, Rayla, the thought that they—they—"
"Oh, it's the sex, is it?"
Callum slams his mouth shut and goes so red that it takes all of Rayla's willpower not to dissolve into hysterics right there and then. Admittedly, she'd had the fortune of being told straight—by Opeli, when she'd gone investigating after the tension between all her friends had begun to piss her off. Callum and Ez were already refusing to talk to each other last spring, and when Opeli and Soren started to avoid each other too, Rayla had put her foot down and ambushed her in her office before the situation could grow anymore out of hand.
Then... Well. This summer hasn't been easy for them. She will not let Callum make it worse.
"Don't say it like that." Callum squeezes his eyes shut and rubs at his temples. "It's—Opeli's like a mom, y'know?"
Rayla snorts at him. "Mums have sex, Callum."
"And Soren is like—he's like one of us. It's—it's kind of—" He grimaces, and for what it's worth, looks genuinely frustrated at himself for not being able to reconcile it. Rayla gives him some grace for that. "Look, I don't want you to think I'm not, like, happy for them? It's just... Opeli's been High Cleric my whole life, and she's been looking out for us since we were teenagers, and she's so much older that—"
Rayla stops him there with a scowl. "Is there something wrong with ageing women, Callum?"
"What? No! That's not—"
"Is she not allowed want things, Callum?"
"I didn't mean it like that!"
"Is Soren not allowed to think she's attractive just because she's older?"
"Rayla." He bows his head, resigned, exhausted, ashamed. "There's nothing wrong with them being together," he concedes. "Like. They're both adults. It's their decision. And after everything they've both done, and after what happened this summer... If they're happy, that's all that matters. My brain just... needs time, I guess." Then, quietly, and perhaps a little pathetically, he adds, "Sorry."
Rayla blinks at him, pleasantly surprised by his maturity after the months without it. "I get it," she says at last. "It threw me for a loop too, but at the end of the day, it doesn't change anything. They're still our friends. Our family. We'd still do anything for them, right?"
Callum nods childishly, and Rayla offers him a smile at last and pats his cheek. "Let's go have dinner with them. Think you can do that without having an aneurysm?"
He gives her a look. "Give me some credit."
Rayla laughs at that, loops her arm through his, and presses a kiss into his cheek. "Good," she says with a chuckle, "because Soren's been bugging me about this double date for weeks. Let's just have a good time with our friends, okay?"
Callum takes a breath but he smiles, if a little nervously, and nods. "Yeah. Sounds good."
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harringtown · 1 year
Text
the stars that light the road
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a/n: the writers block has been Real these last few weeks and im basically in the middle of 3 fics so I just said screw it and set them aside for the moment and started something completely new to try and trick writing brain and it definitely worked cuz I word vomited like 3 thousand words <3 
requested by anonymous
pairing: steve harrington x reader
summary: the reader comes to take care of Steve after star court (aka the guy who takes care of everyone is actually taken care of for once, plus some love confessions ofc)
word count: 2.7k
warnings: cursing, blood/injury mention
-
Steve’s house always felt empty to him as a kid, even during what he ironically refers to as the golden years. Aka, the years before his parents realized how little they cared for each other and for him, when they were home every day—and every night.
When the world almost ended the first time, Steve was grateful for his hollow halls. If his parents weren’t around, they couldn’t get hurt, and they couldn’t ask any questions. He felt that way the second time, too.
This time, though, round three, coming back to a big, dark, empty house only makes his wounds ache fiercer. Every step and breath as he heads through the halls, flipping on every single light in every single room, echoes louder than Steve thinks it should.
Maybe he should have gotten checked out by the EMT’s.
Once he’s lit the house up bright enough to be seen from the moon, he just sits down on the bottom step of his staircase. He suddenly doesn’t care about the ratty, blood-stained uniform he’s wearing. Or the fact that he reopened the cut above his eyebrow and blood is actively trickling down one side of his face and falling in tiny droplets onto the stair.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
He should track down his first aid kit. He should do a lot of things. Instead of doing a single one, he just sits.
Getting up would mean dealing with everything that’s happened and doing it alone, again, like always. And he’s tired. Every time he closes his eyes he sees that Russian doctor’s face, and he swears the electrical hum of the base followed him home.
He’s not sure how much time has passed when the knock echoes on the door a few feet in front of him. He jumps to his feet, immediately pissing off his injuries, and blinks the haze out of his eyes as he unlocks the door.
He doesn’t even stop to consider who might be on his porch, mostly because it can’t be anyone but a random neighbor or a mailman who is running ridiculously late on his route.
It isn’t a mailman or a neighbor, though.
It’s you. Your hair still damp from a shower, wearing sweats and an old Hawkins High hoodie, with ugly bruises cresting across any bare skin. Standing on Steve’s front porch a few hours after he left you in the parking lot of what used to be Starcourt Mall, and is now a pile of smoke and ash.
And he has no goddamn clue why.
“What are you doing here?” Steve asks, craning his head to peer around you. He isn’t sure what he expects to see—a monster running behind you—but it isn’t a calm, empty street. It isn’t a peaceful, quiet night. “Did something happen?”
You frown, brows twitching. “What? No, nothing happened.” You clear your throat. “I just—I wanted to make sure you were okay. Y’know. After everything today. I figured I’d check up on you.”
An unfamiliar sensation blooms in Steve’s chest. It starts out warm, but burns hotter and hotter as it crawls up the back of his throat and cinches it shut. He swallows forcefully, and he can still taste the metal twinge of blood.
“You figured you’d… check up on me?” The words have a meaning, but Steve can’t quite attach it.
“Uh, yeah,” you say. You press your lips together and rock back and forth on your heels. “You almost died, like, multiple times today.”
He remembers. His throat is still raw from begging.
“Huh. Must have slipped my mind,” he says, forcing one side of his mouth to lift, though he knows the half-smile falls flat.
“Yeah, well, you got hit pretty hard in the head. A bunch. I’m not surprised.” Your lips pull in a tiny smile as you speak, but it doesn’t quite reach your eyes. There’s something rigid to your expression and stance, and if Steve didn’t know better, he’d say you’re worried.
But he doesn’t know what’s left to worry about. The Mind Flayer is a pile of melted goo, and Billy is dead, and for now, the Upside Down is dealt with. All that’s left to do is pick up the pieces, but none of those pieces are here.
“So, can I come in?”
Steve says yes, because he doesn’t have a reason to say no. He never has when it comes to you. He steps back and out of the way, letting you slip past him and into the house.
And he swears, somehow, the cold house gets a little warmer with you inside it.
“You still haven’t treated that?” you ask, gesturing to the bloody mess of his face. “Steve—”
“I was getting to it,” he says. He locks the door behind you, using the second he’s turned away to compose himself. He’s still not sure why you’re here—you told him, but he doesn’t get it. Like, of all the people you could check up on, how did you end up here?
“Getting to it? Jesus—” You flutter about him like a frightened hen, hands ghosting up and down his arms, across his chest, over the dried blood and the slashed fabric. “You’ve got to get out of these clothes. Take a shower. God forbid something gets infected—”
“It’s not a big deal,” Steve says, lightly swatting your hands away.
“It’s absolutely a big deal,” you say. “In the last twelve hours, you’ve been held captive, interrogated, drugged, and also, part of a pretty bloody battle. It’s a big deal.”
“You were there, too,” Steve says lamely. As if he needs a reminder. The only thing that hurt more than being hit was watching it happen to you and not being able to do a damn thing to stop it.
“Uh-uh. Don’t even try that.” You shake your head. “You don’t think I know your game?”
“Game?” Steve asks.
“In the base. Anytime those guards so much as looked at Robin or me, you started running your mouth, pissing them off enough to draw the fire so it didn’t burn us. You’re the reason all I have to show for the day are a few bruises and scrapes.”
Steve’s lips part, but he can’t find any words to say. He’s just shocked you caught on. He shouldn’t be, but he is.
“I—” Steve starts.
You cock a brow, and Steve gives in, shrugging his shoulders.
“Better me than you or Robin,” he says. “I’ve been through worse.”
Except, he’s not so sure that’s true anymore. He’s told himself those words so many times, after each horrible, nightmare-inducing thing, but the truth is, each time is worse than the last.
That pattern doesn’t exactly bode well for him.
Your lips pull into a thin line. Steve can’t read your expression, but it makes something deep in his chest ache.
“I’m gonna ask you a question, and I want you to tell me the truth,” you say.
“That’s not ominous, or anything,” he says, trying at casualness like it’ll erase his blood and bruises.
“I’m serious,” you say.
Steve exhales sharply and says, “Shoot.”
A line forms between your brows.
“Are you okay?” you ask.
And he has no clue what to say.
The Steve who opened the door to you tonight is in no way the Steve from high school, who was confident and smooth and knew exactly what to say, but he’s still partly that guy. And if the situation was reversed—if it was him at your door, you with the injuries—he’d have this in the bag.
But no one has ever shown up at Steve Harrington’s door simply to make sure he’s okay.
Maybe that’s the reason he tells you the truth.
“No,” he says. “I’m not.”
Something inside him breaks as he says the words. Like he’s been held together by a clump of string for years, and the last one finally frays and snaps.
A sob climbs up his throat, and he tries to swallow it back down, but before he can, you’ve crossed the foyer and wrapped your arms around him. You bury your face in his chest and your fingers curl tight into the fabric of his shirt, and you’re warm and soft and even if you still smell a little bit like ash, Steve doesn’t care.
He stops fighting it. Lets all the horrible feelings, all the fear and loss and grief and regret, out of the cage he’s kept them locked in. He doesn’t even care how he must look, shaking in your arms, tears streaming silently down his cheeks and into your hair.
But you don’t seem to care, either, just holding him tight and whispering, “I’ve got you,” over and over. And he believes you. Just for a minute, in the dim front room, he believes you.
Eventually, Steve forces himself to extricate his limbs from yours, and he has to pretend the sudden loss of touch doesn’t sting. He’s already crossed all the lines he set so he wouldn’t ruin one of the few friendships he has.
“Look, it was cool of you to come over, but you really don’t have to worry about me. I’m fine. Or, I will be. I always am, you know—” Steve waves at nothing, both his hands raised.
“Stop.”
Your fingers close around his wrists, stilling them in their wild gesturing. Steve freezes, too, eyes snapping to yours.
“Steve?”
“Yeah?”
“Where’s your first aid kit?” you ask.
Steve sighs. “Bathroom.”
“Lead the way.”
-
You don’t leave after Steve’s many wounds have been disinfected and messily bandaged. And you’re still there when he gets out of the shower you order him into; he comes back into his bedroom to find you digging blankets and spare pillows out of the back of Steve’s closet.
It’s a clear message: you’re not going anywhere. Steve is so damn grateful he doesn’t have to ask for the company, he could kiss you.
Add it to the long, long list of reasons Steve Harrington wants to kiss you.
He stands in the bathroom doorway a moment, just watching you for a half a shorter longer than is not-creepy, before clearing his throat. You turn and a smile lifts your lips. Still, there are deep bags under your eyes, and your movements as you make a bed on the floor are slow, like you’re sore.
“You’re not sleeping on the floor,” Steve says, leaning a hip into the doorway and folding his arms over his chest.
“What, are you volunteering?”
“Me? Not a chance,” he says. “If you remember, I was held captive, interrogated, and drugged today.”
You roll your eyes at his
“So, you’re kicking me out, then?”
“No,” Steve says, and loses all his confidence. He clears his throat. “I mean, my bed isn’t exactly small, and we’re both mature adults, so I figured we could handle—” He gestures wordlessly, hoping he doesn’t have to finish the sentence.
To his relief, you just nod a few times, suddenly refusing to meet his eye.
It’s quiet as the two of you flutter about before sliding in on opposite sides of the bed. It’s awkward, but not as awkward as Steve expects.
It’s more awkward because it feels normal. It feels like getting into bed with you is an action he was always meant for, and he doesn’t mean sex.
He means, a little house and a white picket fence and his glasses on the bedside table. A stack of your books on the other and your shoes on the floor at the end of the bed and a little dog or cat that you and Steve named something goofy.
A beautiful little life, and it starts here, with him climbing silently onto a creaky mattress with you tonight to do nothing other than sleep.
Maybe he got hit harder in the head than he realized.
You and Steve lay flat on your backs, hands at your sides, only a few inches between you despite Steve’s earlier boasting about the bed’s size. If he moved, or you did, you’d be touching.
“I really thought you were going to die down there,” you say after a few minutes of quiet. Steve wasn’t sure you were still awake. “I thought they were going to kill you. Robin and I didn’t know what they were doing to you, but every few minutes, we heard your screams, and I swear—” You stop. Pause. “It scared the hell out of me.”
Steve doesn’t know what to say. Before he can figure something out, you go on, “If something happened to you, if I actually lost you, I don’t know what I’d do.”
And now Steve really has no clue what to say.
“You’d be okay,” he says. “And you don’t have to worry about me. You really don’t.”
“Yeah, I do,” you say. “Because if I don’t, who will?”
Steve stiffens. “I don’t need anybody’s pity—”
“It’s not pity, you idiot,” you say, angry and Steve isn’t sure why, isn’t sure what he said to piss you off. “I mean, three years now, I’ve watched you put everybody else first. You throw yourself in front of every single bullet from every single gun. And then, at the end of the fight, nobody… thanks you for it. I mean, you’re the only person who never really had a stake in this fight, but you stayed, because it was the right thing to do. Seeing people take that for granted, over and over, it kills me.”
Steve is quiet for a moment.
“What do you mean, the only one without a stake?” he asks. He rolls onto his side to face you, and though you dart a glance his way, your gaze drifts back to the ceiling.
“I mean, this all started with Will Byers, right? So, it makes sense that Mike and Dustin and Lucas were part of the fight. And then there’s El, which is self explanatory. Nancy and Jonathan were in it for their brothers. Joyce for her kid, and Hopper for Joyce. But you, Steve Harrington, you let Dustin into your car, and you drove onto the battlefield, and you never left. Haven’t you ever wondered why that is?”
“Because I’m an idiot, or I have a death wish, or both?”
“Funny,” you say. “You’re a good man, Steve. I really wish you could see it. I wish everyone could see it.”
“Me too,” he says quietly, so quietly he’s not sure he can hear.
You inhale. “You make me so mad sometimes, you know.”
“Not really a shock,” Steve says. “It’s kind of my thing.”
“No, that’s not—I don’t mean that. I mean, yeah, sometimes, but—” You turn your head and meet his eyes. This time, you don’t look away. “But you’re one of the smartest, toughest, bravest people I’ve ever met in my life, and I love the hell out of you for it, and it pisses me off because you still just see yourself as this asshole who deserves all the crap that comes at him. And you don’t.”
Affection swells in his chest, and it’s so big he can barely breathe, but it’s the best feeling in the world. He doesn’t even decide to kiss you. One second, he’s on his own pillow. The next, he lifts a hand to your cheek and lifts his head, leans in, presses his lips to yours.
And you kiss him back. You roll toward him, into his arms, and your hands are in his hair and your breaths are hot and uneven against his lips, and hell, all the alcohol and drugs in the world have nothing on you. Steve thinks he could do this forever.  
It’s only when his brain starts to turn itself back on a few minutes later that he breaks away, forehead dipped against yours, and says, softly, “I love the hell out of you, too.”
You tilt your chin up, mouth finding his again, and you’re both smiling, limbs entangled and sheets twisted around you.
“And I kind of like when you take care of me,” he whispers.
“Good,” you say. “Because you should get used to it.”
“That sounds like a promise.”
“It is,” you say, “and I intend on keeping it.”
And though Steve hasn’t seen much but broken promises, he believes you. He kisses you again, and he can taste the truth on your lips.
-
taglist (join here!): @milkiane​ @spideyboipete​ @robiin-buckley​ @robinbuckleyssgf​ @la-fille-en-aiguilles​ @sunlitide​ @cityofidek​
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blackbat05 · 1 year
Text
Mystery Solved
Al Rothstein (DCEU) x Reader
A/N: Not me churning this out almost after Black Adam because I think his character is so endearing? Feedback greatly appreciated for my first character fic!
Genre: PG-13, one curse word.
Notes: You finally meet your new mystery friend with a few hiccups along the way.
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So. When can I get to see you?
You fingers hover inches above your phone, unsure of what to type to IamAS - aka your online friend that you made at the start of your final year in college.
Hm… I don’t know… I would really like to meet you too but school and work is messing me up real good. Sorry :(
You hit the send button, hoping that whoever was behind the username wouldn’t get too offended. At least you were being completely truthful.
Ah… that’s ok. I have commitments too. Totally understand. How about mid term break? Doesn’t have to be for long. We could go grab a bite or something.
Biting the edge of your lip, you gave it deep thought. Not that they gave you any trouble. In fact, they were absolutely respectful of your boundaries and didn’t rush you in revealing things about yourself.
All that you knew about them was that they were attending the same school as you were. And, they were a huge emotional support whether was it school or work troubles. Whoever it was, they seemed genuinely sweet.
It wouldn’t hurt to try right?
You fire a message off to your mystery friend before heading to class.
Sure. Four fingers - the one beside Connaught Drive. 5pm. >< wear your collegiate jacket!
***
You slip into the booth, tapping your fingers rhythmically. It wasn’t a lie to say that you were downright nervous.
What if they turned out differently from your expectations? Maybe it would be one of the annoying Chads in your tutorials who never paid attention in class. Or the annoyingly popular girl who seemed to have it all?
It sounded cliche, but you were entitled to let your mind run wild.
As your mind wandered to what kind of sauce you wanted to get on your chicken wings, a loud commotion was going on outside the shop. Curious like other patrons, you decided to crane your neck for a better look.
“Help!!!” A young girl no more than the age of 10 was screaming as a man attempts to drag her away. “Someone please help me! He’s not my father!”
You couldn’t believe that no one was helping even after that revelation. Everyone thought it was simply just a belligerent child. Seeing her tear stricken face, you simply couldn’t just ignore it. Bolting out of the shop, you ran towards the duo, ready to give a piece of your mind.
“Hey buddy! Why not you lay your hands of her?” A voice pipes from behind you.
“None of your fucking business asshole.” The man in a dodgy getup sneered at the newcomer… in the same college jacket. Could it be?
“Been called worse.” He shrugs. “We can always talk things out.”
The potential kidnapper raised a flick knife, raising it towards him. “You want to act tough? Fine. I’ll give it to you then!”
“Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance.”
Before you know it, the kidnapper was slammed to the ground by same college guy, writhing in pain. He turns to you, giving a boyish grin.
“I’m Albert Rothstein but you can call me Al. We’re supposed to have chicken together later. Hey, do you think you could wait for a few moments while I call the police to take this creep away?”
You nod dumbly, still trying to process what you just witness. Once you made sure the girl was ok, you went back to the same booth in the shop, waiting for Al. He arrives shortly after, a sheepish smile on his face.
“Sorry about that. Uh… didn’t expect that to happen.”
“Oh! That’s alright.” You waved his apology away. “That was quite something back there.”
“That? Earlier?” Al laughs nervously. “I guess self-defense training from my uncle really paid off.”
“Ah, I see.” You nodded your head. His explanation made sense, but there was still something unreal about how quickly he took him down. “Um.. haven’t I seen you somewhere before?"
Al sips from the soda cup nonchalantly. "Can't say you have."
The door to the exit slides open, making way for 3 individuals that you would have easily identified from a mile away ever since watching their battles in Khandaq.
"Al!" The middle of the trio marches up to your table with an older man and a girl strolling serenely behind their leader. Al chokes on his soda upon the sight, taking a moment to recover.
"Where have you been? Maxine's been trying to call you. We've got another rogue metahuman on the loose" It seemed like the man hadn't seen you yet.
Feeling a pair of steely eyes on you, you find yourself staring at an elegantly dressed man, holding a golden helmet in one arm.
"Leave them be Carter," he chuckles, a twinkle in his eye. "Al's simply enjoying his youth." The girl beside him smirks. It was only then, the second man turns around to face you. A moment of confusion soon turns into realization.
"Oh, I see. The man was too busy to give us a heads-up about his date!"
"No, it's not a..." By now, Al had gone positively tomato at the ruckus his team was making as well as the attention of every patron in the shop. "Ok! Fine, I'll go! Can you please just wait for me outside?"
With a series of mumblings, the trio heads back out, awkwardly standing in the middle of the street.
"I'm so sorry about that..."
"You're from the Justice Society." You whispered.
"Yeah, um... that's not something I really want to advertise you know." Al stammers. "I mean you're a great person and I have nothing against you, in fact, I really like you, and- oh god what am I saying? What I meant is-"
"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." You grabbed his hand in yours. "I can do a rain check on this. Go save the world - Atom Smasher."
Al gives your hand a squeeze, before grabbing his things to meet the rest of them outside.
"I'll see you around!" He yells back, disappearing with a flash of golden light.
***
Epilogue
"So... a date huh?" The leader smacks Al in the back, causing the youngest to groan in pain.
"Would you please!” Al was grateful that his mask was still on.
"I'm just saying!" Hawkman raises both his hands up in defense. "I'm glad you kids are getting to experience the normal life you know?"
“He’s right.” Kent Nelson removes his helmet, placing it aside. “I still remember my days with Inza. It only seemed like it was just yesterday.”
Cruiser parked, the team ambles into the main hall of Hawkman’s Residence. The bell rings.
“Pull out side camera.” Carter commands, showing a screen of you waiting nervously with a bag of chicken and five cups of soda in your hands. Al could feel all eyes staring at him cheekily.
“Uh… hi! I’m here to see Al?”
“He’s right here!” Maxine happily sits beside Carter, waving a friendly hello to the camera. Amused, Carter presses a button to the door.
“Come on in. He’ll take a while to clean up. Meanwhile we can have a little chat.”
Al’s eyes widen, realizing where his team was going with this. “Oh, no you don’t! I know I’m the newbie but don’t screw this up for me!”
Carter nods to his old friend who puts his helmet back on. Moving towards Al, the Doctor teleports him to somewhere else in the giant residence just as you opened the door.
“Hey! Hope you guys are hungry.”
“Always have room for chicken.” Maxine skips over, taking the bags from your hands.
“Um… where’s Al?”
“He’ll be here soon.” Carter replies a little too smoothly. Just at this moment, a loud crash could be heard from the gardens and you see two large blue legs running towards the main building.
“How about we take this inside?” Carter leads you into the dining area with Maxine following behind, attempting to suppress their giggles. You shrug, taking your belongings with you.
Looks like Al would take a while.
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Completed Chaptered AU Fics (2) Masterlist
part one
88 keys (ao3) - bluessunset
Summary: After years of saving up his money and asking his parents, Dan Howell finally has a chance to attend a boarding school for musical arts. The only thing he dreamed of for years. But the experience is a lot more than he imagined it to be.
a night to remember (ao3) - tinyalligaytor
Summary: roxie, who prefers the label exotic performer over stripper, is a star amongst people who are out when the sun goes down. who better for a close-minded phil who has despised what he labels as lowlifes to suddenly obsess over than Roxie himself?
aka the one where phil gets pathetically hung up on dan, better known as roxie and is desperate to get to know him better.
A Rose of Winter (ao3) - Nefertiti1052 (Succubusphan)
Summary: All Daniel wanted to do was escape the stifling life as a Stark of Winterfell and travel the world. Between the looming threat North of The Wall and the den of lions in the capital, he unexpectedly finds love in the midst of a war set to tear Westeros apart. Caught between loyalty to his family and duty, he is torn in a thousand directions that all point to one man: Philip Flowers.
A Stolen Ring (ao3) - orphan_account
Summary: Dan’s not normal. Why?
He's not human, he has a mysterious ring, and he hates Phil Lester. They have a strange past, one filled with bullying and avoidance, but when Dan turns into an incubus, everything changes. He struggles with his identity and cries himself to sleep most nights, yearning to be normal. And somehow the universe makes it worse by bringing him and Phil together - in the most literal sense.
Between The Lines (ao3) - Koolhotsweetloveberries
Summary: Attorney Dan Howell is faced with winning an impossible case or loosing his job.
All evidence points towards his client being guilty. Except for critical evidence provided by Forensic Linguist, Phil Lester.
The man Dan turned down a year ago.
Dan the Personal Assistant (ao3) - blissedoutphil
Summary: Dan has to submit an application video to be an assistant for a company President, Mr. Lester. But what happens when he accidentally sends a wrong video?
Forever Frozen Still (ao3) - jestbee
Summary: Phil is a wedding photographer, capturing the beauty of people’s weddings day after day even if it’s beginning to wear a little thin. Then he meets Dan, a cynical and irritating wedding planner who doesn’t believe in love and finally, he finds something that inspires him.
hooked (on you) (ao3) - calvinahobbes
Summary: Rentboy AU. Dan is a hooker trying to make it on his own in Manchester. Phil is his customer who ends up becoming more involved than he expected. What started out as a business transaction ends up being something neither of them anticipated.
I Fell For You (ao3) - TheWolfWithinMe
Summary: Thrown out of Heaven, Dan walks the streets of London, caring about nothing. Absolutely nothing. Except a blue eyed, black haired boy standing on the edge of a rooftop. Angel!Dan Suicidal!Phil
In My Way (ao3) - INeverHadMyInternetPhase (BirbWatcher)
Summary: Daniel Howell is 21 and Britain’s newest star. He’s just been cast in the much-anticipated film adaption of Last Man Standing, the popular teen fantasy novel with a huge fanbase hanging off his every tweet. In other words, Dan has made it big.
Phil Lester couldn’t care less. He’s a stressed out PHD student working part time at a bookshop while he struggles to get into post-production. He’s 26 and still lives in a tiny flat on the fifth floor of a building with a lift more broken than it is in use. He loves books, but he thinks big film adaptions screw with the plot too much.
Needless to say, Phil is less than impressed when Last Man Standing is getting filmed in his hometown. And he certainly doesn’t want anything to do with obnoxious, arrogant, so irritatingly perfect leading actor Daniel Howell.
Just Like Magic (ao3) - waylesssad
Summary: There is a lot more to magic than waving your wand and saying a few funny words.
Mind Reader (ao3) - orphan_account
Summary: Dan's head was always filled with noise. He'd been blessed/cursed with the power to read minds, but not the power to control it. He heard the thoughts of everyone near him, and the constant voices in his head were close to driving him mad.
That is, of course, until he met Phil Lester, the only one who could make his mind go silent.
My Spirit Love (ao3) - MySecretsX
Summary: If you fall in love with a spirit who drains you both away, do you live together for twenty years, or stay alone each day?
Phil has lived in his house since he was born, but it was when he turned seven he met Dan for the first time. It's all childish games and the muse of a naïve brain until your fifteen-year-old son claims to have fallen in love with the boy you've never seen.
Is anything possible for love?
scratch bark bite (oh, love me, i lied) (ao3) - Tarredion
Summary: Music & Drama teacher Dan Howell has a well-known rivalry with his coworker, English teacher Phil Lester.
An unforeseen event flips everything Dan thought he knew about Phil and himself on its head. Slowly but surely, the grudge withers, and the two of them cross the line between enemy and friend. But what will happen when their true intents and feelings get revealed? And was what they had ever really a rivalry? Was it even mutual?
Sidetracked (ao3) - phanimist
Summary: Dan and Phil are both contestants on ‘The Bachelorette’, but fall in love with each other instead of the girl.
Siren Call (ao3) - natigail
Summary: Beware of the siren’s call, they tell you.
Dan had heard enough horror stories about sirens to be thoroughly terrified. He never wanted to go near the water, but as fate would have it, Dan’s father had to sign him up for on a merchant’s ship bound for the siren’s passage. Dan had a sinking feeling that he was not going to survive an encounter with one of the deadly predators. Those touched by the siren’s kiss were bound to drown. Except… it doesn’t go quite like that.
The Canary (ao3) - galaxy_ash
Summary: Dan is a famous singer called The Capricious Canary, but known as The Canary by his fans and the public. Phil is a paparazzo who hates his job and is assigned to stalk Dan to get insider pictures.
To Dwell on Dreams (ao3) - carltzmann
Summary: “Taking in the whole image, though, it hardly hurt. Watching this perfect version of himself smile and wave and talk to his friends, bathing in success and appreciation, Dan suddenly started to believe that maybe all that was possible, even with the confirmation of a terrifying secret.”
Dan and Phil meet at the Mirror of Erised.
Trust Me, I'm Broken Too (ao3) - natigail
Summary: The Lesters – the royal family of his homeland – was nothing like Dan thought they would be. Well, the King was just as horrible as he had heard but the King’s brother’s son, who was third in line for the throne, was nothing like Dan thought he’d be. Dan had been adrift for three years going from one “place of employment” to another, only his life was seen as worthless and he was more property than an employee. He had never imagined he’s end up as the property of Prince Philip.
The Prince had no intention of ever taking on a personal servant, which was a fancy name to disguise the fact a law essentially enslaved people. Phil often had to do things he didn’t want to or risk being removed from the succession to the crown. If that happened, who knew who his tyrant of an uncle would pick as a successor? When pressured into the choosing, he’d wanted to go for the most innocent, young girl, but hard brown eyes caught his attention instead.
where we belong (ao3) - parentaladvisorybullshitcontent
Summary: “Only you,” Martyn says.
“Only me what?”
“Only you could end up stranded in the middle of nowhere with a gay author who writes gay books. Jesus Christ, Phil.”
In which Phil is snowed in with nobody but the mysterious dark haired author next door for company.
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mozillavulpix · 1 year
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a bunch of hugtto plotlines that had absolutely no reason to go that hard
aka “the parts that emotionally devastated me”
apparently it’s 5 years old now
Homare having like honest-to-god PTSD after an ice-skating injury, and not being able to become a Precure in the first episode because she was terrified to jump to reach the thing she needed to transform
just, fucking, absolutely everything about Henri. An androgynous ice-skater who likes wearing women’s clothes, has a whole arc about being tempted by the villains because he’s terrified of the onset of male puberty, snapping out of the villain’s control, and then getting to be a Precure himself
also Emiru’s brother is the conservative guy who rejects Henri’s behaviour but then they say actually he was just like that because he’s super-closeted gay and they end up having a relationship
One day Hana is feeling inadequate compared to her friends and those feelings prevent her from transforming. which then makes her self-loathing even worse
That night she starts bawling her eyes out to her mom, realising for the first time that it’s totally possible to dislike yourself and how you turned out as a person
so the mascot characters don’t come from a magical world, they come from the future. the future is also a dystopia and they came back in time to prevent that from happening to the present too
there’s one episode where two girls arguing with each other fuels the bad guy to turn them into a monster of the week, but then they manage to make up from within that state which stops the monster from fighting
they have a robot girl who slowly starts to develop emotions and help the precure and so the villains just shoot her. she lives, they can just reboot her, but
they have a whole song Emiru makes about how much she loves her new friend that she sings to her with her guitar and it’s super wholesome
there’s an episode where they go to a night pool, while Hana is shaken up by the revelations of who the new bad guys are and tries to hide her anxiety from her friends. They never catch on.
homare’s parents are divorced. It’s briefly mentioned a few times and no one treats her differently because of it.
the silly hamster mascot who can turn into a bishonen was also cruelly experimented on by the bad guys and can turn into a monster
they have an episode about a woman going into labor
they also have an episode about a woman having a caesarian section and telling people how that’s totally normal and nothing to be ashamed of
in that episode, a toddler runs away from her parents crying about the new baby, worried that it means her mother will stop loving her
there’s an episode where they meet Hana’s grandmother. she injures her back and has to go to the hospital. she’s okay, but
They have a romance plot where Homare learns and accepts that her love is unrequited. Including The Little Mermaid metaphors
We find out the robot girl was built partially because the doctor that made her had a dead daughter
the mascot’s backstory is that his fucking home burns down, and that’s what makes him realise he needs to join the evil team because he has nowhere else to go
there was a precure team in the future. they got defeated, and the last member got turned into the magical baby from travelling to the past
they spend like the last few episodes before the final battle just accepting that their friends from the future are going to leave forever once the final battle is over. They have a whole group cry about it so they (hopefully) won’t cry when it actually happens. (They still do)
Saya’s mother has an emotional breakdown realising her daughter doesn’t want to follow in her footsteps. Saya goes into her mind and embraces her, thanking her for giving her life
actually the apocalypse in the future was caused by people’s collective fear of moving forward causing time itself to stop. There’s no evidence that it won’t happen again and that won’t be their future
also in the future timeline hana dies and the bad guy is actually her husband from the future who doesn’t want to see that happen again. He never tells her this, but seeing her younger self so ready to face the future, even if it leads to her suffering, makes him realise he shouldn’t try to stop her
they have a future epilogue that shows that the events of the future aren’t going to repeat themselves. Probably. I think they must have created a new timeline or something. time travel is complicated
Emiru and Ruru do meet again in the future. But only because Emiru helps the scientist who created her in the future make her in this time. They finally meet again after like 20 years but this time Emiru is the older one and Ruru is the little one.
like any one of these makes you go “I’m surprised they got away with this”, but there’s so many.
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missvelvetsstuff · 23 days
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With Friends Like You, Who Needs Enemies?
Steve Rogers x Reader, Steve Rogers x Natasha, Reader x ????
Reader is a mutant with the ability to turn sound into light who was 'adopted' aka stolen as a child by Baron Von Strucker to use for experimentation. She was given a form of the Super soldier serum so in addition to her mutant abilities she also has super strength, enhanced senses and healing. When he starts experimenting on his volunteers, the Maximoff twins, she tries to convince them to escape with her but they tell the Baron that she's planning to escape so he doubles her cell security. Steve and reader met when the team recovered Loki's scepter from Strucker.
She falls in love with Steve and becomes good friends with Nat but they aren't the friends she thinks they are.
Notes: Here I go with a new idea because I'm stuck on my wip's. Reader has powers like Dazzler from the X-Men, plus a form of the serum.
Steve and Nat are not great people in this.
This story is canon adjacent except that Thanos never happened.
Warnings: none yet
Prologue
Starts at the beginning of AOU
Steve looked around the room, seeing a woman who disappeared behind a wall. "Second enhanced, female. Do not engage"
A tall, beautiful woman in raggedy clothing approached him with her hands up. "Captain America? Are you here to help us?"
Steve noded but kept his guard up "We're here for Loki's scepter but I can help you. Do you work for Strucker?"
She shook her head "No, he kidnapped me when I was young. He helped me learn how to control my abilities but also experimented on me. He wanted me to be a weapon. I just want to go home"
While they were talking Wanda snuck up on them and forced Steve into a memory. Y/N created a light bright enough to shock him out of it.
Steve shook his head and once it cleared stared at her "How did you do that? What abilities, exactly?"
She shrugged "I'm a mutant. I can turn sound into light. It used to be random but I've learned how to make a laser and how to hypnotize people. Strucker made me learn how to break people out of the witches hex, in case she ever turned on Hydra."
Steve nodded "Well let's get you out of here" into his comms "Third enhanced, female. Not hostile. I'm bringing her with me." He looked at her "I'm Steve, what's your name?" She told him and he nodded "Follow me"
Tony nodded, breaking out of Wandas hex "I have the scepter, let's get out of here."
When they made it to the quinjet Y/N was quiet and stayed out of the way while they worked on Clint. She hoped the Avengers were better than Hydra, they couldn't possibly be worse.
Once they arrived at the tower, Y/N was taken to medical to be checked after Clint was being treated but was only found to be exhausted, malnourished and dehydrated. Dr Cho advised starting with a bland diet and rest for a few days, then a check up before starting on other foods and light exercise.
Nat introduced herself "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself before but my friend....."
Y/N nodded "It's ok, all of you were coming down from a fight. I know how that can feel."
Nat looked at her warily "Thanks. Let me show you to your room. You can take a shower while we get some food for you. There are some sweats in the dresser that you can wear until we get you some clothes. We will be in the conference room. in 30. We need to debrief you and Nick Fury wants to meet you. He's not here today but will probably drop in soon."
Y/N looked surprised "I'm no one but I'll tell you what I can."
Nat showed her the room "If you need any help you can ask Jarvis. He's Tony's AI and helps run things here. Just ask him for directions." Nat looked at her, concerned "You're safe here and we'll help you figure everything out."
Y/N looked around the room, more like a suite and more luxurious than she had seen in many years. Strucker kept her in a small, cold cell that had been made so she couldn't use her powers to get out. She hadn't had a proper shower in ages, usually they just blasted her with cold water once a week.
The shower was heaven and the hot water never ran out. There were some high end toiletries and plush towels, she hadn't felt so good since she didn't know when.
She dried off and put the sweat shirt and pants on, they were so soft and felt wonderful on her skin. She found a pair of slippers in the closet and was ready to face everyone. She looked up at the ceiling "Jarvis?"
"Yes, miss?" She jumped at the disembodied voice.
"How do I get to the conference room?"
"Exit this room, turn left and follow the lights"
"Thank you"
"Of course, miss."
Y/N found the conference room with Jarvis help and could hear the team talking quietly, her name came up more than once which made her nervous. She entered the room and everyone stilled, which made her more anxious.
Tony looked over at her "Come on in, we'll see what we need to do here. I have to say you look much better now. I've never seen anyone look so good in sweats. Natasha can take you shopping for some clothes when you're up for it."
Y/N shook her head "Thank you but I don't have any money."
Tony smirked "Don't worry about that, it's taken care of.
Please have a seat. There's food coming for you."
She sat down where he pointed and looked around nervously. She didn't know much about the Avengers and could only hope they were better than Hydra. A plate of eggs and toast with a glass of Apple juice was set in front of her. She picked at it for a minute before diving in. Strucker almost never gave her real food, just some high protein paste that did the job but tasted awful.
Tony clapped his hands "Alright kids, lets get this started. Y/N would you like to start?"
She looked up at him, wide eyed with a mouth full of food.
Tony grinned "Right, sorry. Go ahead and eat and we'll come back around to you."
Y/N listened carefully to everything they said and tried not to eat too quickly. When they came back around to her she had cleaned her plate and wanted more.
"I'll get you more after we're done here, don't want to shock your system too much." Tony told her softly.
"Can you tell us some about yourself and what Strucker was up to?"
Y/N nodded "Like I told Captain Rogers, I'm a mutant. I can turn sound into various forms of light. I can hypnotize, make lasers or just a pretty light show when I sing. I was 10 or so when Strucker kidnapped me and started experimenting to see how my powers work. He also gave me some kind of serum that made me stronger, heal faster and enhanced my senses. Taught me to fight hand to hand. He insisted he was my father but when I got older, he did things to me that no decent father would do to his daughter.
Last year he brought the scepter and two people that he enhanced with it. Wanda can mess with your mind and her twin brother Pietro moves very fast. I tried to tell them how awful he was and talk them into escaping with me but their hatred for Tony Stark and the Avengers was too much. They told Strucker I wanted to escape and he locked me in a cell I couldn't get out of for the last few months. He released me when you showed up, hoping I would help the twins fight against you but I couldn't. I didn't want to be under his control anymore"
Tears were running down her face as she finished.
Nat rubbed her back gently "Do you know where you're from? Where your family is?"
Y/N sighed "I don't remember much. Strucker tried to erase my memories and they are pretty scattered now. I see flashes of another life but they are blurry and vague. I know I wanted to be a singer, taught myself how to make light shows to go with my songs. I remember when my mom saw me doing that and freaked out. There's not much after that except for Strucker and his experiments."
She sat back looking a little dazed "I'm very tired. Is it ok if I go rest?"
Tony nodded "We can talk more later. Once you're fully recuperated you'll have to come to the gym and show us your stuff. Captain, would you like to escort the lady to her room?" He saw how Steve was looking at her so wanted to give him a little shove.
Steve and Y/N were both quiet on the way to her room. She started humming without even realizing and a soft colorful haze surrounded her.
Steve looked at her in shock "That's so beautiful" his cheeks flushed "I mean you're beautiful, you know your voice and the lights"
She stopped "Sorry, it's a habit and how I comforted myself in my cell."
"No, no, don't be sorry. You don't have to stop, it just caught me off guard" they stopped in front of her door. "Get some rest and ask Jarvis if you need anything" he gently touched her arm and felt sparks which made him pull away quickly. "Yeah, uh, good night"
"G'nite Steve"
Chapter 1
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gumnut-logic · 1 year
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It was a tropical island with the foliage to match. Ferns, palm trees, warm air, the distant sound of ocean with a breeze that caught in his hair.
Virgil found himself up high, sitting on a fat patch of moss in a protected nook far above the construction busily happening below.
From here he could see the footprint of the villa, the hole where the pool was going to go, his father directing operations like the commander he always was.
He had to admit, it was amazing.
Seeing the plans was one thing, seeing it being carved out of the volcanic rock was another.
In the distance sat the chiselled-out runway, another of Tracy Industries’ cargo planes coming into land. No doubt it was stock full of luxury fittings. Fancy doorknobs, Scott’s king-sized bed and other frivolities. But Virgil knew that under the disguise of rich eccentricities there were more important things.
The Island was riddled with secrets, most of which had been actioned long before the villa.
But now the house was the final piece. The topping on the cake. And it was amazing to watch it come together.
A scuff of boots on gravel and Virgil jumped.
“Relax, Virgil.” A gentle hand on his shoulder and his younger brother pulled up a chunk of moss beside him. John’s hair always lit up in the sun, almost a warning as to what that sun could do to that pale skin.
There must have been something on Virgil’s face, because John held up a hand. “I have sunscreen.”
“Sure you do, but is it on your face?”
The glare from his twenty-year-old brother tipped the scales into affirmative.
“Just checking.”
The glare turned into a frown. “What are you doing all the way up here?” A twist to his lips filled with put upon sarcasm. “Are you wearing sunscreen?”
Well, no, but then Virgil wasn’t used to thinking of that yet. His skin tended to brown with what little sun he picked up in Colorado. John, on the other hand, had been wearing the stuff since the day after he was born.
Virgil wasn’t going to admit that though. “I have protection.”
John snorted. “You’ll learn. This is the tropics, Virgil. Southern hemisphere, just that touch closer to that healing wound in the ozone layer.”
“I’m aware of the meteorological and geographical differences, John. I don’t need a space degree for that.”
His brother just shrugged. “It’s on you, big brother.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just because John was right didn’t mean he had to be all haughty about it.
“You started it, remember?” Turquoise eyed him along with an amused smirk.
Virgil shrugged it off and turned back to staring down at the construction below.
There was silence except for the sounds of nail guns and power tools bouncing off volcanic rock.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
Virgil’s voice was quiet. “Yes, it is.”
“You okay?”
“Sure.”
Almost level with them, a huge bird that just had to be an albatross, wheeled past.
“Wow.” The word was out of his mouth without thought.
“There is a lot of wildlife out here.” John’s voice was matter of fact, lacking the feeling welling inside of Virgil. The wind tousled red hair and the artist inside suddenly had the urge to paint it. In fact, that was the source of it all, Virgil realised. He was inspired. To paint.
Everything.
“Have you spoken to Mel Fisher?”
“Huh?” The bird swooped back out over the caldera and Virgil’s eyes tracked it.
“The director of the Raoul scientific expedition. She should have some data on the species native to the island.”
“Oh, yeah, Gordon has been liaising with her.” It was a welcome distraction from the pool. Virgil had been both supportive and worried about Gordon’s obsession with the Olympics. Combined with his school studies and a gruelling training regime, these few weeks of family leave was exactly what was needed.
Of course, tropical island meant sea water that could replace the pool for that time and his little brother had been in the caldera every morning. Their father had spoken to the local authorities...aka Mel Fisher, newly appointed director of the Kermadec expedition on Raoul Island a few hundred kilometres south...about what wildlife existed in the region that could kill or injure an over enthusiastic Tracy fish. The list had been considerable.
Gordon had immediately parroted off what he knew about every single one of those lifeforms enough to glaze over his father’s eyes. The Tracy fish had then been referred to the Director.
The speech Mel had given him was long.
Three other Tracy brothers - John was the one escapee having been on the other side of the planet at the time - were dragged into it and lectured on the hazards of living in a wildlife dominated area.
The biggest danger was apparently death enacted by the Director should they impact the area in any way.
Even their father had taken a step back at the passion in the woman’s speech. Young, blonde and ready to kick a billionaire’s butt, if necessary.
She and Gordon had hit it off immediately.
A distracted smirk at John. It could be entertaining to see the spaceman encounter the eco-passionate Mel. “You guys need to meet.”
Far down below, his father yelled something at one of the workers. He stormed across the construction site and by the amount of gesturing, Virgil reckoned the man had committed at least a level three offence. Probably a safety deviation. Virgil was glad he wasn’t down there to hear the lecture.
“Have you spoken to Scott?”
It startled him. It shouldn’t have, but it did. His head was in the clouds and he obviously needed grounding. “Uh, yeah. He is okay as he can be.”
His big brother was suffering from an abrupt end to a career he thought would be his life. Honourable discharge was one thing, but after what his brother had given the Air Force, the strain behind those closeted eyes...
It was enough to sprout a permanent dislike of the military deep in Virgil’s soul.
“He is managing.” A breath. “This should help.”
The silence returned, both men lost in their thoughts.
“What are you two doing up here?”
It was inevitable really. Virgil looked up as his fish brother approached, his eyes curious. Gordon’s hair appeared permanently wet and sticking up in all directions. He had his latest loud shirt on, but it wasn’t buttoned up. Little more than flip flops protected his feet from the volcanic rock beneath them.
“I could ask you the same thing. Do I need to lecture you on appropriate footwear again?”
Gordon slumped. “God, Virg, when are you gonna loosen up?”
“When my brothers learn to look after themselves.”
“If you expect me to wear flannel and steel-tipped boots in this tropical climate, you are dreaming, bro. Not all of us want to smell like you.”
“What?!”
“You do the ‘working class man’ thing just a little too much, big bro. Have you noticed the humidity? We’re gonna have to invest in a deodorant factory if you keep wearing that outfit.”
Of course, John had to throw his dice into play. “Tracy Industries already has a personal hygiene department.”
Virgil turned his glare to his traitorous next younger brother.
“What? We do! We produce some very good quality products.”
“Next supply run, we’ll need to stock up for Virg.”
“Shut up, Gordon.”
He didn’t stink, did he? A sniff of his armpit would be too obvious and would just inspire more smart-ass remarks from his brothers. And yes, that was a plural. He could trust John about as far as he could throw him...though admittedly that was quite a distance nowadays, but still…
Gordon derailed that train of thought by dumping himself down beside Virgil. He smelt like seawater.
“So, we spying on Dad, or what?” Gordon pointedly stared down at their father who was still giving that one worker the riot act.
“No. Just came up here for the view.” It was the truth. Ocean for miles in the distance, Mateo and its birds, jagged rock, crystal clear water in the caldera, their future being built beneath his feet.
Gordon didn’t immediately answer and Virgil looked in his direction. He found a small smile on his little brother’s face as he stared down at the turquoise depths below them. It suddenly struck him, that of all of them, this move was going to be the best for Gordon. Surrounded by sea life and the very ocean he adored; his fish-loving brother would be in his element.
Once he landed himself that Olympic medal, finished high school and grew up.
Virgil blinked.
‘Grow up’ and ‘Gordon’ were interesting when combined.
He loved his little brother, but he was a handful. Without thinking, Virgil reached out a hand and squeezed Gordon’s shoulder. That prompted a quizzical look in his direction, but Virgil just smiled a little before letting go and returning to his gaze far down below.
“Gordy! Where are you?” The high-pitched voice of the youngest Tracy bounced freely about the rocks.
Gordon rolled his eyes and whispered. “Keep it quiet.”
Virgil frowned. “Why?”
“He’s looking for someone to play that stupid space game with him.”
That earned Gordon a clap around the ear.
“Hey, I played it with him all day yesterday!”
“You could have told me, Gordon.” John was frowning.
“That’s why I came looking for you! I figured if you beat him several times, I wouldn’t have to worry about it tomorrow.”
Virgil clapped him up the ear again.
“Ow! Quit it, Virg. I don’t see you volunteering.”
“No, I’m too busy with that stopwatch timing your ass.”
Gordon blinked. “Oh.”
“Yes, oh.”
“What are you guys doing up here?” Blond, blue-eyed and nine years old, little Alan bounced into the grotto and stared at the three of them before looking around. “Wow, this is a cool spot. You can see everything!”
The kid glared at Gordon for a second before pushing himself in between John and Virgil.
“Hey, sprout. What you been doing?”
“Looking for you guys. Gordon won’t play Star Hero with me.” Those blue eyes shot daggers at the next eldest brother.
“Maybe spending some time outside would be a good idea.”
“Aw, Virg. I’m nearly at the next level!”
Virgil reached out and wrapped an arm around his shoulders drawing him to his side. “But there is so much to see out here, Alan.”
“We’re gonna be here forever. I can see it then.”
A frown. “Allie, you okay?”
“I just wanna play Star Hero.” That was definitely a whine.
“Alan, if you drop the attitude, I’ll consider playing it with you tonight.” John’s voice was cool and clearly not tolerating his little brother’s tactics.
Alan lit up, eyes widening. “You will?! Be on my team?”
John arched an eyebrow. “As long as you don’t give me a silly name.”
“He called me Drockus Doofhead yesterday.” Gordon growled from Virgil’s other side.
“That’s because you are a doofhead. You don’t know the difference between a supernova and a nebula.”
“Yes, I do!”
“Prove it!”
“Hey, hey!” It had been quiet. It had been inspirational. Now... He shoved a finger in Gordon’s direction. “You, he’s nine. Give him a break.” Another finger in Alan’s face. “You. Respect others’ skills. Everyone is different. Consider how much Gordy does know that you don’t, how much he can help you and how much you can help him.”
The pout didn’t fully disappear, but Alan muttered something that could be considered an acknowledgement.
Virgil squeezed his shoulders, but didn’t say anything further. The breeze picked up a little and played with his hair. “Do you like the Island?” The question came out without thought and it stopped him in his tracks, suddenly wondering what his little brothers’ responses might be.
“Are you kidding? There are dolphins, Virg! I was swimming with dolphins this morning! This place is fantastic!”
Yeah, that was the response he expected from his fourteen-year-old fish.
“What about you, Allie?”
“It’s okay, I guess.”
“Allie?”
“I’m gonna miss my friends.”
“You can still see your friends.”
“How?”
“Hololink.”
“Not the same.”
“We can fly in and out as much as you like.”
“Until you’re too busy.”
Silence fell over the grotto, returning it to its natural soundscape of distant waves, birds and the wind.
“I will never be too busy for you, Alan.” The deep voice of his eldest brother broke into the grotto and Virgil’s heart lurched. He looked up to find Scott staring down at their little group. He was still pale, the gash at his temple still pink with healing.
The walking stick in his hand was being leant on heavily.
“What the hell are you doing all the way up here?” Virgil shot to his feet and hurried over, grabbing his big brother’s arm almost terrified he would fall on his face.
“Can it, Virgil. I’m fine.”
Virgil ignored him. “Sit down.” His three other brothers shuffled over to make room and the recovering pilot rolled his eyes before lowering himself awkwardly down onto the moss carpet.
“I should be asking you that question. Is this a meeting I missed the memo for?”
“No. I just came up here for some quiet.”
Scott snorted. “Really?”
“Well, I didn’t expect a family convergence.”
“Can’t escape us, Virg.” Gordon was grinning.
“Wasn’t trying to, Gordo.”
“Could have fooled me.”
“What?”
“Well, why do you think we’re all up here? You’ve been disappearing every afternoon for days. We had to ask Brains to ping your locator.”
“What?!”
A hand landed on his arm and he turned away from Gordon to find Scott staring at him. “Maybe you should answer your own question, Virgil. Do you like the Island?”
He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
So, he closed it again.
It wasn’t just a question of his liking the Island. The eldest three knew far more than the youngest two. Exactly why they were moving to this isolated chunk of rock.
Scott squeezed his arm. “Johnny is in a star man’s paradise with his observatory, and you know my opinion.” He certainly did. Scott was itching to get back into the sky with that rocket plane. “But I don’t recall hearing your thoughts lately.”
“You know my answer. I agreed.”
Eyes as blue as the sky above them interrogated him. “But what about now that we are here?”
“I agreed.” This was not something he wanted to talk about in front of Gordon and Alan. Hell, Gordon’s amber eyes were as sharp as anything. “This place is beautiful.” It was. As if to emphasise the statement, the albatross reappeared from behind them. Its massive wings were hardly moving to keep it aloft. It coasted above, its eyes passing over all five brothers. “I think we can be happy here.” He hoped.
That hand squeezed his arm again and the grotto fell into a thought-filled silence.
The albatross caught a thermal and rose far above the Island.
Virgil watched it grow smaller and smaller.
Scott’s hand did not leave his arm.
Alan clambered around Gordon and curled up next to Scott. Just as Virgil had done earlier, Scott automatically reached out an arm and pulled him close.
Gordon threw a nasty glare at his little brother, stood up, stomped around Alan and Scott and pointedly dumped himself on the other side of Virgil. There may have been an exchange of raspberries between the two youngest, but Virgil tuned them out to protect his sanity.
He did not fail to notice John closing the gap left by Gordon and sidling up next to their littlest brother.
He ignored the sputtering of the fourteen-year-old he grabbed and drew close to his side in a sudden need for closeness. His other arm snaked around behind Scott, snagged John’s collar and gave a yank. The astronaut let out a yelp and nearly fell on Alan. Virgil’s fist caught in the back of his shirt and he managed to sandwich all his brothers together.
“Virgil!” His name was protested vehemently, but he had to smile when none of his brothers pulled away.
“Love you guys.”
Various sputterings of affirmation had him grinning outright. Gordon was literally squirming.
“Love you, too, Virgil.” Alan’s high-pitched voice was refreshingly honest.
“Thanks, squirt.” It was whispered.
Scott’s hand moved from his arm to wrap around Virgil’s back. A tired forehead dropped gently onto his shoulder.
His big brother didn’t say anything.
He didn’t have to.
Virgil’s voice was rough. “Dad has called this place Tracy Island. We are the Tracys. Let’s make it ours.”
“Except the crabs.”
A blink. “What?” He stared at Gordon.
The kid was still under his arm, but was grinning up at him, mischief in every line.
“Half the crabs are on the endangered list. Mel has already laid claim to them.”
Another blink and Virgil just drew his little fish in tighter.
“Oh, god, Virg, need to breathe.”
A laugh welled up and burst out of Virgil from somewhere deep inside.
“I’m glad you find this funny.” The words were perturbed and put out, but John’s struggles were strangely in vain. Alan put an end to them by wrapping his arm around his astronaut brother and dragging him even further into the pile.
No one could resist the squirt.
They sat there together, quiet except for a few sputters from the fishy teenager.
Down below Dad was waving his arms around in front of the tiny figure of Brains.
The sun glittered off the turquoise caldera.
Virgil smiled.
They were the Tracys.
And this was their Island.
-o-o-o-
63 notes · View notes
crozierahegao · 2 years
Text
if i could know (baby, what you know) aka pierre's pov chapter 1!!
pairing: ilierre rating: mature w/c (epilogue included): 6619
link to ao3 (also available to read below the cut)
set pre-original fic, how pierre and ilies start hooking up. set in monaco after the monaco gp.
“You’re going to get sunburned,” Ilies says, lowering his sunglasses to look at Pierre. He’s sitting criss-cross on his beach blanket, while Pierre’s opted for a beach chair. 
“You have an obsession with sunburns,” Pierre says, pushing up his own frames so that they rest in his hairline. “And I don’t burn. The sun’s going to go down soon anyway.” 
“Everyone burns, even in the evening,” Ilies says sulkily, popping the cap off of his spray-on sunscreen and spraying a little on his arm before rubbing it in. The moisture makes his skin glisten a little, highlighting the soft lines of definition in his triceps and biceps and catching Pierre’s eye.
Pierre slides his sunglasses back down.
“Go ahead and get skin cancer,” he hears Ilies mumble, spraying the tops of his feet with the sunscreen. 
“Okay, smartass,” Pierre snaps. “Spray me, then.” 
Ilies sniffs. He sprays sunscreen on the back of his thighs and begins massaging it in. Pierre watches from the corner of his eye, feeling like his throat is closing up. “I’m busy.” 
“Bro,” Pierre says. He hopes his voice sounds normal. “You’re going to let me burn?” 
“I’m currently using the sunscreen, Pierre,” Ilies says, patiently, as if Pierre is a five year old. A stupid one. 
“You’ve sprayed yourself top to bottom already,” Pierre says. “Give me–fuck!” he reaches for the bottle, and is cut off by Ilies quickly turning and spraying him in the face with sunscreen. The shock makes him roll out of the beach chair and onto Ilies’s blanket. 
Ilies laughs, rolling onto his back and holding his sides as Pierre splutters, spitting out sunscreen and taking off his sunglasses. 
“Asshole!” Pierre snarls, and he lunges for Ilies, hand outstretched to grab the sunscreen bottle. He’s not sure what he wants with it, at this point–maybe to spray Ilies back, or just brain him with the metal bottle and be done with it. “Why are you sticky–” 
“It’s the sunscreen!” Ilies laughs, squirming away from Pierre. His own sunglasses have fallen off and he grabs for them, giggling. “Stop! You’re gonna make me break my sunglasses!” 
“Quit fucking around then,” Pierre grumbles. He shoves a leg between Ilies’s legs, rendering him unable to crawl away, and the leverage allows him to flip them so that Ilies is on his back. Ilies barks out another harsh laugh in surprise and tries to push Pierre off. 
This is dangerous territory, Pierre knows. His thigh is riding high between Ilies’s own thighs, and they’re both only wearing flimsy swimming shorts. If he was operating with a full deck, he’d probably let Ilies go and climb off of him. 
But he’s not. They’ve both been drinking too much alcohol and not enough water all day, elated at Pierre’s two week break from racing. The last time Pierre was sober was shortly before lunchtime, and now it’s half past five.
Besides, it feels really, really good to be on Ilies like this, to feel the way he relents to Pierre’s grip on his arms. His upper thighs have less hair than the rest of his legs, and they feel smooth against Pierre’s skin. It’s far too easy slide his leg up a little higher, to see how far Ilies will let him take this. 
Pretty far, it turns out. Pierre watches as Ilies flushes, twitching as Pierre’s thigh settles neatly between his. Up close, he can see a few grains of sand sticking to Ilies’s cheek. 
He reaches up to brush them off. Ilies’s breath catches. Pierre imagines that he can feel the blood rushing just below his skin. 
Like this, it’s so simple to just lean down and kiss Ilies. So he does. 
Underneath him, Ilies freezes at the first touch of their lips, then seems to relax into it, as if he was hoping it would happen. As if it feels right. It certainly feels right to Pierre, the hot press of Ilies’s soft mouth against his, Ilies’s hands coming up to tentatively touch his shoulders, his biceps. 
The time it takes for them to pull themselves together (which for Pierre means waiting for his half-chub to go down), hail a taxi and get back to their hotel is–is–well, Pierre didn’t keep track, but it was too long. The entire time he’d had to watch Ilies fidget in his seat, the pink tinge on his cheeks seemingly permanent. 
He almost breaks the hotel room keycard in half as he unlocks the door, and has to stop himself from dragging Ilies into the room by the arm. 
Pierre slams the door shut behind him. Before either of them can say anything to fuck up the moment, he snatches Ilies by the waist and pulls him close, planting a new kiss on his lips. 
“Fuck yeah,” Pierre says when they pull away for air. 
Ilies laughs, sounding incredulous. “Fuck yeah?” he says, smirk curling at the corner of his mouth. Shit, Pierre loves when Ilies is like this, coy and teasing. He’s always wanted to push and prod at that part of him, see how far it goes. 
“S’just really nice,” Pierre says, sliding his hands under the hem of Ilies’s shirt. The adrenaline and alcohol coursing through him fuels his confidence, as does the excited glimmer in Ilies’s eyes. “Kissing you.” 
Ilies doesn’t say anything, just leans back in for another kiss. Pierre hears his breath hitch when he settles his hands at the small of Ilies’s back, thumbing the dimples he finds there. He’s looked at those dimples and longed to touch them so many fucking times, and now he’s feeling them, little soft divots in the flesh of Ilies’s back. 
Christ. Pierre’s going to go nuts. 
Faintly, a voice in his head tells him Abort. Back out now! You can’t hookup with your best friend! 
He also thinks: Whatever, as he reaches down to grab Ilies’s ass, causing him to let out a sharp moan. 
Hooking up with Ilies is incredible. Unbelievable, even. 
Neither of them have the coordination or energy to fuck, like, actually fuck, although Pierre would like to. But just pressing his naked body to Ilies’s, to feel the sweat on his skin mingle with his own sweat, is exhilarating on its own. 
“Fuck,” Ilies moans, voice an octave higher and so, so sweet. Pierre’s got a hand around both of them, the movement of their hips and his hand providing a gratifying amount of friction. 
“Like this?” Pierre asks, unsure if he means do you like it like this or do you like this? because he hopes yes is the answer to both, hopes that this inaugural moment of touching Ilies like this is good for him. 
“Yes,” Ilies huffs, one leg hitched up high. His back arches off of the bed and his breaths seem to drag and rush at the same time. “Please–please, fuck, fuck–” 
“Are you close?” Pierre asks. He knows he’s close, feels his balls tightening up as he increases the pressure around their dicks as he strokes them off. The noises that Ilies is making are fucking–so good, so unrestrained and needy, and he keeps looking at Pierre with wild eyes. 
All Ilies does is let out a garbled groan, one hand reaching down to cover Pierre’s and quicken the pace. 
Oh shit. The feeling of Ilies’s hand covering Pierre’s and taking charge makes Pierre’s eyes cross. Their hands move together and their dicks move together and it’s so good that he barely chokes out a “Coming–” and then he is, helpless to the pleasure enveloping him. The cum gets everywhere as they both keep jerking, making everything slippery and wet, and Ilies lets out a sharp cry at the new slickness betweeh their cocks, all over their joined hands. 
“Oh god–” Ilies says, and then he’s also coming, eyes squeezing shut as if the orgasm is wrenching everything out of his body. 
Pierre props himself with his free arm so as to not crush Ilies as he breathes through the aftershocks. 
“Holy hell,” he says, half to himself. Ilies lets out a shaky half-laugh, cum-covered hand falling to his side. 
Pierre reaches over, dragging a finger through the mess in Ilies’s palm. 
“Gross,” he says. 
“Disgusting,” Ilies says back, eyes still shut. The tension that had built in his face during sex is now gone, leaving behind a sated, sleepy expression. 
His eyelashes are so long, Pierre notices. 
Pierre really, really wants to kiss him again. He also wants to slide his around Ilies’s waist and hold him close, breathe in the salt from the sea and sweat on his neck. There’s a strange need in him to reintroduce physical evidence of being together, to prove that the Ilies laying on the bed is not just a figment of an embarrassingly earnest wet dream. 
Ilies rolls over onto his stomach and wipes one hand down on the bedspread, seemingly on his way to sleep. Pierre finds himself looking at the dimples in his back again, and he can’t stop himself from reaching over and brushing his clean hand over them.
The next day is so normal that it almost shocks Pierre. Really, maybe he should have expected how easy things would go. Ilies has never been a fussy person, never hung up on the details, just happy to be with Pierre and do what he wants to do. 
Of course, Pierre feels different afterwards. He feels–changed. He feels like he needs to pull Ilies’s chair out at dinner, needs to hold the door open for him, take his jacket for him. When Ilies talks, Pierre thinks about how his soft, calm voice can twist into a needy whine. He looks at Ilies’s face and thinks about how it looked in the dusky hotel room, screwed up in pleasured agony as Pierre touched him. 
He’s not sure where it’s all coming from. True, he’s always been attracted to Ilies. He’s had years to figure it out, that Ilies isn’t just objectively good-looking, but specifically appealing to Pierre’s tastes. Pierre’s always treated it like an inconvenient truth: yes, Ilies is his best friend, and yes, in a room full of people Ilies is the one he’d pick. 
In the back of his mind, Pierre can sense that those feelings go deeper than even he knows. Truth be told, he's not sure he can handle the repercussions of dredging those feelings up and analyzing them
So he doesn't. But doesn't prevent him from feeling uncontrollably greedy, unable to keep his physical attraction under wraps. His hands remember Ilies, and they just want to grab him, hold him, touch him over and over. 
Despite Pierre’s newfound rapaciousness, nothing happens for a few days. There are moments where something might have happened–Pierre stopping by Ilies hotel room door to say goodnight, or the two of them sitting on a private yacht watching the sun set over the sea—but ultimately, Pierre’s hesitation to push for something Ilies might not want stops him every time. 
Until it doesn’t. It’s the last day of their post-Monaco getaway, and tomorrow, Pierre has to head back to Italy to start preparing for Baku with the team, and Ilies has to get back to Paris for a few days to deal with personal business. 
Pierre wishes Ilies would just move to Milan and has told him as much, but Ilies is still very much attached to France. 
(“But when I come to Milan, I can just stay with you, right?” Ilies had said, sipping his drink and looking up at Pierre through his eyelashes.
Pierre, rendered defenseless, had laughed and shrugged. “Yeah. Of course.”) 
He knows that in less than a week, he’ll see Ilies again for Silverston. Still, their impending separation feels worse than usual.  Pierre’s never been a fan of saying goodbye to Ilies for even short periods of time, but parting ways with him now feels sort of unbearable. 
So, as they return to the hotel for dinner, before Ilies can head off to his own hotel room, Pierre snags his wrist. 
“Come back to mine? It’s our last night.” He tries to sound casual and not at all like he’s been thinking about getting Ilies out of his nice, pressed shirt for the past hour. 
“Sure,” Ilies says, easy as anything. 
For a minute, Pierre feels a little guilty. Ilies looks so unassuming as he shuts the door behind him, as if he thinks he and Pierre will just share a drink on his balcony before saying good night. 
But–when he turns around to take his shoes off by the door, he bumps into Ilies who’s doing the same thing. 
They do a strange, staggered little dance as they both laugh and try to catch their balance, one of Ilies’s hands tangling with Pierre. Ilies ends up with his back against the wall as he giggles, letting Pierre keep hold of his hand. Pierre feels feverish, feeling Ilies’s soft hand in his grip as he studies Ilies’s face–his dark, unreadable eyes, the coy curve of his mouth as he watches Pierre back. 
Ilies’s eyes drop to Pierre’s mouth. 
That’s all Pierre needs to go in for the kill and kiss Ilies, sliding an arm around him to bring him close. Immediately, Ilies responds under him, letting out a small sound as he opens his mouth for Pierre, tongue rolling next to his as Pierre kisses him deeper. It’s just as good, if not better, as the first time. 
Worth the wait, Pierre thinks, as well as, Thank god he wants this too. He feels Ilies slip a hand up his shirt. 
Ilies sleeps with Pierre that night, naked in Pierre’s hotel bed. When they wake up the next morning, it’s too easy to go for another quick round. 
Pierre has Ilies sit on his chest as he jerks him off, Ilies keeling over with his hands on the headboard as he shakes through his orgasm. Some of the cum gets on Pierre’s chin, and Pierre will never forget the dazed look of sheer arousal on Ilies’s face as he processes what just happened. 
They fall back asleep, sticky and under the bright morning sun, until Ilies’s phone alarm goes off and he has to scramble to get dressed and run to his hotel room so that he can leave for his flight back to Paris on time. 
Pierre calls Ilies his Uber and waits with him outside the hotel. Neither of them have the energy to make conversation, but when the Uber pulls up, Ilies smiles at Pierre and pulls him in for a short hug. Pierre has to resist taking a deep breath, as if trying to inhale Ilies in his entirety. 
“See you after Baku.” And then he’s gone. 
They meet up in Cap D’Ail after Baku. It’s a nice bookend to their time in Monaco, yet another resort with private beaches to relax on. Still, it’s nice for the sun and sand to be in France this time. Pierre feels a little more at home. 
While he was in Baku, whenever Pierre had some downtime or was resting in the evenings, he was texting with Ilies nonstop. They even facetimed the night between qualifying and the race, Ilies giving Pierre a cheerful peptalk, smiling at his camera while obviously snuggled up on his couch. 
Nevertheless, when he sees Ilies again, hair wet and skin glistening from swimming in the sea, he feels jittery, as if they’re meeting for the first time. Because of his flight schedule from Baku, Pierre arrived to Cap D’Ail half a day later than his friends, and simply showed up to the beach they were lounging at once he was settled in his hotel room. 
“P5!” Ilies crows as a greeting, unimpeded by the sand under his feet as he runs up the beach towards Pierre. He’s been drinking, Pierre guesses, since it’s not like Ilies to be loud and rambunctious. He walks down the beach to meet Ilies in the middle and sweeps him into a hug, feeling a little giddy. 
“I’m all wet,” Ilies yelps, but he leans into the hug and lets Pierre lift him a little, feet swinging in the air. 
“I don’t care,” Pierre laughs, and he indulges in the feeling of Ilies’s face pressed into his neck and his arms around Pierre’s shoulders for a few seconds longer before putting him down. 
“Congratulations,” Ilies says, when they’re face to face again. He’s flushed and happy and beautiful. 
“Thanks,” Pierre says, smiling. All of his previous nervousness has melted away, and all that’s left behind is a very sweet, simple sense of contentment. 
By some unspoken agreement between them, Ilies goes to Pierre’s hotel suite after dinner and drinks at the beach bar. 
Neither of them are particularly drunk, but they still wrap their arms around each other as they walk through the hotel, laughing at nothing in particular. Pierre feels good. He’s just finished a good race, he’s in a beautiful part of France, and he’s with his best friend. 
Ilies looks at him, a wide smile on his face. “Can we go on the balcony?” 
Snagging a bottle of wine from Pierre’s kitchenette, they walk out to the balcony and pour themselves into one of the loungechairs. It’s somewhere between a chair and a loveseat, and not really big enough for both of them, so one of Ilies’s legs is overlapped over Pierre’s. Pierre puts his hand on Ilies’s thigh. 
Ilies puts his head on Pierre’s shoulder and sighs. “I love it here.” 
“Me too,” Pierre says. He leans back and looks at the stars. Milan’s big-city sky at night sometimes makes it hard to see the stars, but here in Cap D’Ail, Pierre feels like he can see every single one. 
“Do you know the constellations?” Pierre asks, taking a sip from the wine and passing it to Ilies. 
Ilies snickers. “No. Do you?” 
“No.” He looks over at Ilies to find that Ilies is already looking at him. Caught by his gaze, Pierre absentmindedly takes the wine bottle back and puts it on the floor. 
“I’m so glad you’re here now,” Ilies says. His shirt is open, loose and inviting at the chest. 
“Yeah?” 
“Yeah.” 
Pierre leans in. “How glad?” Their noses are almost touching, and Ilies is smiling. 
Ilies reaches up and curls a hand around Pierre’s neck, bringing him in for a kiss. It quickly turns hot and sloppy, Pierre moving closer and crowding Ilies further into the chair, the hand already on his thigh sliding higher, higher. 
Ilies barely gets a chance to mumble “this much” before Pierre’s kissing him again. He feels Ilies’s breath jump as his hand reaches the juncture between his pelvis and his thigh. Pierre himself can feel himself getting hard. He’s been thinking about this, during the brief moments alone during the race weekend. 
“Bedroom,” he manages to say, voice strained. 
He doesn’t haul Ilies to his suite bedroom, but it’s a close thing. They make it there via a series of jagged, unsteady steps as they try to keep kissing while navigating the suite. Pierre manages to get most of Ilies’s buttons undone, and whips his own t-shirt off. 
Pierre backs Ilies onto the huge, overly-luxurious hotel bed and wraps his arms around him as they rut together. He’s so fucking hard up for it, even the sensation of Ilies’s hard cock grinding up against his own through the fabric of their shorts makes his eyes roll into his head. 
“Want you so bad,” Pierre says. He chokes on a gutteral moan as Ilies arches his back, rolling his hips into Pierre’s with renewed force. Ilies pants underneath him, hands roving over Pierre’s body.
Pierre rests his forehead on the bed next to Ilies’s head, speaks right into his ear. “Ilies,” he huffs out. “I really wanna fuck you. Can I fuck you?” 
Ilies’s breath stutters and stops, his body freezing under Pierre’s hands. 
Shit. “Ilies?” Pierre rolls off of Ilies and sits up. Ilies follows suit. 
They both speak at once. “We don’t have to–”  “I’ve never–” 
Pierre stares at Ilies. “Never?” 
Ilies blushes, ducking his head down. Fuck. It’s clandestine, but he’s just–cute. “Just never wanted anyone to before.” 
Pierre reaches over, wrapping a hand around Ilies’s knee. “What about me?” Ilies sucks in a breath. 
“Yeah.” Ilies looks up at Pierre. “I want you to.” 
Pierre has Ilies lay on his back, with his feet on the mattress. Doggy style might make doing this easier, but Pierre needs to be able to see Ilies’s face, to watch his reactions to every one of Pierre’s movements. 
The nervousness from long before is back. He wants to make this good for Ilies, wants him to enjoy it. Pierre hasn’t fucked anyone in a while, and he’s never been anyone’s first. 
The enormity of the situation makes his hands shake a little as he gently moves Ilies’s thighs, spreading them wider to accommodate Pierre. Pierre almost feels like he needs to ritualize this, to kiss each of Ilies’s fingers and toes, to tenderly anoint him before debauching him. 
Instead, he just leans over Ilies to kiss him and get his blood flowing a little more. Ilies whimpers when Pierre gets a hand around him and strokes him back to full hardness. God, just the feel of Ilies in his hand as he trembles underneath him is intoxicating. Pierre gets a little carried away, thumbing the head of Ilies’s cock as he licks the inside of his mouth. 
“Fuck,” Ilies says, pulling away abruptly. “You’re gonna get me close.” 
“Sorry,” Pierre says, stopping his hand and kissing Ilies’s cheek apologetically. 
“Nothing to apologize for,” Ilies says. He smiles at Pierre, but he still seems a little jittery. 
Pierre settles back on his haunches, reaching for the lube he’d dug out of his suitcase. He presses a kiss to Ilies’s knee. “Don’t worry,” he says. “I’ll take care of you.” 
He slicks up his fingers with a generous amount of lube. Once he’s satisfied that the lube is warmed up by his skin, Pierre reaches down, first gently cupping Ilies’s balls, then rubbing on his taint. Ilies lets out a soft moan, eyes half-lidded as he watches Pierre. 
Pierre massages the little bundle of nerves for a little longer before moving his hand further down. With the same finger he used to massage Ilies’s taint, he draws a circle around Ilies’s entrance. No pressure–just gently rubbing, getting the area relaxed. Still, Ilies lets out a small sound, as if anticipating what’s coming next. 
“Have you ever–?” Pierre asks, throat too tight to finish the sentence. Have you ever touched yourself here? 
Fuck, he almost can’t believe Ilies is letting him do this. It feels almost too sacred, too important. Against his will, Pierre still arbitrarily holds onto antiquated ideas around virginity and sex, but he doesn’t know Ilies does the same. 
Ilies catches his drift. “Uh–” he turns red, chest rising and falling rapidly. “A few times.” 
“So you know what to expect,” Pierre says. “Sort of.” 
Ilies bites his lip. “Sort of,” he echoes faintly. 
Pierre runs his free hand up the back of Ilies’s thigh in an attempt to soothe him. “Are you ready?” 
Ilies only nods, swallowing. Pierre circles his finger one more time, then presses his index finger in up to the second knuckle. He bites back a groan–Ilies is tight, and his body is hot around Pierre’s finger. He looks at Ilies, who looks like he might be holding his breath. 
“Okay?” Pierre asks. He can barely keep his voice steady. 
“Okay,” Ilies nods again. “You can–you can go all the way.” 
Pierre doesn’t need any additional encouragement. He rocks his finger in to the hilt. Ilies’s body seems to open up for him, as if it’s eager for more. Experimentally, Pierre rotates his wrist and slides his finger out by an inch or two, then slides it back in. 
“Ah,” Ilies gasps, toes curling against the bedspread. Pierre stills, making Ilies shake his head. “Keep going.” 
Pierre repeats the motion, pulling his finger out further before sliding it back in, the ample lube making the glide smooth and effortless. With each thrust of his finger, Ilies moans a little louder, head pressing back into his pillow. 
“Think you can take more?” Pierre asks. 
Ilies audibly swallows, blinks a few times before nodding. “Please.” 
Please. That alone makes Pierre feel like he’s not going to be able to control himself. He steels himself before pulling the first finger out, then sliding it back in with another. 
Ilies twists, gripping the bedsheets as both fingers breach him entirely. “Fuck,” he whines, breath skittering out as his body accommodates the new stretch. 
“Does it hurt?” Pierre asks, not daring to move yet. 
“No–no, it doesn’t hurt, it–” Ilies screws up his face as he hitches his hips a little. “I don’t know–please just move.” 
“You’re so tight,” Pierre grunts, experimentally spreading his fingers to scissor them back and forth a little. That elicits another long, loud moan out of Ilies, his abs flexing. Emboldened, Pierre slides both fingers out before quickly fucking them back in. 
“God,” Ilies whines, arching his neck. Sweat is forming at his brow. 
“You’re so good,” Pierre tells him, feeling a little overwhelmed. He keeps moving his hand, watching as Ilies twitches with every in-thrust. “Fuck, Ilies, you’re already doing so well, you’re so fucking hot.” Ilies only replies with a whimper, ass squeezing down on Pierre’s fingers. 
Pierre leans over him again to kiss him again, to swallow the sweet little sounds he keeps making as Pierre opens him up. Ilies slides his arms around Pierre’s back and hugs him close, panting in his ear. Pierre wishes he could lean back and look at the expressions on Ilies’s face as he reacts to Pierre’s fingers, but this is just as good. He feels desperate, clingy, as if he can’t bear to have any distance between himself and Pierre. 
“Going for the third,” Pierre murmurs, kissing Ilies’s temple. Ilies lets out a garbled moan and nods furiously. “Can you–let me see you, babe,” Pierre says, the term of endearment slipping out. Ilies lets out a petulant sound, tightening his arms around Pierre. 
“Let me see you,” Pierre says again, softly. “Wanna see how well you take it. Will you let me see you?” He doesn’t recognize his own voice in this moment, entreating and velvety. Pierre’s never really thought of himself as talkative during sex, but with Ilies, he feels the need to coax him, to talk him through it. 
Ilies lets out a hiccup and gradually eases his grip around Pierre. Straightening his back, Pierre looks at Ilies’s face. He’s flushed, all the way down to his neck, and his lips are red as if he’s been biting and worrying at them with his teeth. 
“Fuck,” Pierre says, swallowing down the rush of emotion threatening to overcome him. “God, look at you.” He twists his wrist a little and crooks his fingers just so. 
Ilies cries out, canting his head backwards and trembling, telling Pierre that he found what he was looking for. He pumps his arm a few more times, aiming his fingers to that exact same spot each time. It’s definitely pushing it, especially for Ilies’s first time, but he can’t resist. Not with how Ilies twists and whines, how his body follows the movement of Pierre’s hand as if to keep him inside. 
“Please–” Ilies pleads, writhing. “Please, Pierre.” Begging comes so easily to Ilies that it takes Pierre’s breath away, and he reaches down for his own cock to grip round the base, steadying himself. If he keeps going like this, neither of them are going to make it before any real fucking happens. 
But–he can’t rush this, and Ilies isn’t ready for Pierre to fuck him. Steeling himself, he pulls out his fingers, then slowly pushes back into Ilies’s waiting, trembling heat with three fingers. 
Ilies makes a wounded noise, hands coming down to grip his own thighs, one of his legs lifting up as if to give Pierre more access. Fuck. Pierre first strokes him slowly, allowing him to adjust to the third finger, and then builds up to a quicker pace. 
Suddenly, Ilies makes a punched-out noise as his body shivers. “I can’t-” he whimpers, hissing. “You need to–Pierre, I’m ready.” 
“Okay, okay, okay,” Pierre says, in a low, soothing undertone, running a hand up Ilies’s side. He quickly pulls out his fingers and uses the same hand to slick more lube onto his cock. Just that bit of friction makes Pierre hiss, the anticipation making him hypersensitive. 
He spills out a little more lube onto Ilies’s hole, which is already shiny and pink. Fascinated, Pierre watches as it flutters, and uses his hand to smear it and push a little bit of it in. 
“Pierre,” Ilies urges, hands clenching his own thighs so hard that the skin is turning red. 
“Yeah,” Pierre says, lining himself up. “I’ve got you. I got you.” I’ve got you. I have you. Oh shit, I have you. 
He slides his free hand up the leg Ilies has in the air, propping the calf on his shoulder. Pierre covers Ilies’s hand with his own. The visual of Ilies begging for it, legs splayed open, hole twitching, makes him want to pass out. He’s distinctly aware that no one else on Earth has seen Ilies quite like this. 
“Okay,” he breathes out, and pushes in. The head slides in easily, and both of them moan at the sensation. If Pierre thought Ilies was tight around his fingers, it still can’t compare with the way he feels around his cock. His wet, needy heat wraps around Pierre like silk, drawing him in, coaxing him deep, deeper. 
Ilies lets out a high, broken noise, eyes closed and brows beetled as he takes Pierre in. 
“More,” he tells Pierre, barely able to form the word. Unable to speak, Pierre pushes in another inch, letting himself sink into the clutch of Ilies’s body. 
“Fuck,” he grinds out. “Fuck, Ilies, you feel so fucking good, you’re so good–” 
“Yeah,” Ilies pants. “M-more, Pierre, I need it–” he cuts off with a gasp as Pierre goes for broke and slides home. 
Pierre rocks forward, letting the leg Ilies had up fall to the side as he plants his hands on the bed on each side of Ilies and breathes, trying to get himself back to Earth. He can’t imagine adding friction on top of all of this–it feels like one or both of them will shatter apart the minute he moves. 
At the same time, he desperately needs to move. “Ilies–” 
“Move, move, you can move,” Ilies babbles, wrapping his legs around Pierre’s waist. His breaths are coming short and fast, as if he’s just run ten miles. 
Jesus, Pierre thinks, as he looks down at Ilies, legs spread so wide for Pierre, face flushed, a tear leaking out the side of one eye. Jesus Christ. A strange, unnameable feeling runs through him. 
Pierre grabs one of his hands and kisses it, presses it to his face to ground himself. One hand keeping Ilies’s hand to his face and the other locked on his hip, Pierre pulls back halfway before fucking back in. Ilies keens, face contorting as Pierre works up a steady pace, fucking back on Pierre’s cock every other thrust. 
“God, you take it so fucking well,” Pierre growls, mouthing at the tender skin on Ilies’s wrist, moving his mouth down to plant biting kiss after biting kiss on his arm. “Fuck, you’re unbelievable, Ilies, you feel so good.” He looks down to see that at every thrust in, Ilies’s cock–now fully hard–jumps a little, leaking precome. Pierre grabs for it, spreads the precome over his palm and using it to stroke Ilies’s dick. 
“Ah–,” Ilies groans, voice strained. He presses his lips together and lets out a muffled whimper, quivering. 
“Yeah?” Pierre asks, dropping Ilies’s hand so that he can hold him by both hips. He lifts Ilies’s hips a little and pulls nearly all the way out before fucking back inside with one smooth movement. That has Ilies letting out a sharp wail as he jerks, cock spurting out with more precome. 
“There,” Ilies insists. “Right there–just like that, ah!” He breaks off into a wordless cry as Pierre fucks him on that same spot over and over, hitting his prostate on every thrust. By the way he’s clamping down on Pierre, he must be close. A bead of sweat rolls off of Pierre’s forehead and drops onto Ilies’s stomach. Just as well–Pierre’s close, too. 
“Fuck, you love it,” Pierre says, nonsensically. He’s still in awe; that this is even happening, that Ilies is taking it so beautifully, that he’s enjoying it this much. That Pierre could do this for him. It wouldn’t even matter to Pierre if it felt good for himself–all that seems to matter right now is taking Ilies to the finish line. “Feels good, yeah? Feels good to be fucked by me? I can feel you, feel your hole trying to keep me inside.” Ilies responds by uttering a raw, wild groan, reaching down to stroke himself. 
“Yeah, get yourself off,” Pierre says, fucking in deeper, harder. “Let me see you come, baby.” His abs are burning with the workout, but he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to. The slide and drag of Ilies’s body around his cock is tight and perfect, and Pierre can’t believe how much he’s wanted this. He could do this forever. 
Ilies speeds up his hand, squirming as he does so. “Pierre,” he moans, one last, frantic time, then he’s shuddering violently as his cock spills out all over his hand and stomach. 
It’s all too much for Pierre. He thrusts one more time before he’s coming on a choked groan, half inside Ilies and half spilling out as he pulls out, very belatedly realizing he’s not wearing a condom. His mind doesn’t let him dwell on it, though, as his orgasm rocks through him, and he thrusts his come-and-lube slick cock up against Ilies’s hip to ride it out. They both shiver and shake through the aftershock of their respective orgasms, until Pierre can’t brace himself anymore and falls forward. 
He lands half on Ilies, half on the bed, and immediately reaches for him. Pierre fits a hand around Ilies’s neck and pulls him into for a long, deep kiss. He can feel Ilies’s hitching breathes through the kiss, and he wraps his other arm around him, holding him close. 
“Pierre,” Ilies says, plaintive, and Pierre squeezes him tighter, not caring about the sticky mess between them. 
“I’ve got you,” he says. His heart is pounding, and adrenaline is coursing through him as if he’s just started a race. A fierce rush of affection and protectiveness overcomes him as Ilies buries his face into Pierre’s neck. “You’re so good,” he murmurs. 
Ilies lets out a hiccough, a wet little sound as he heaves huge, unsteady breaths. 
Eventually, Ilies calms down, and the uncomfortably tacky come and sweat on their stomachs and cocks forces them to separate. When they do, Pierre feels oddly bereft, as if he didn’t want to let Ilies go. 
He watches Ilies roll onto his back and close his eyes. 
Pierre props his own head up on his hand and reaches over, trailing a line on Ilies’s bicep. “You okay? That was a lot.” And your first time. 
Ilies opens his mouth, licking his bottom lip. “More than okay,” he says. One side of his mouth curls up in a sleepy grin. His skin shines with sweat, and it’s pink in many areas, as if his body is blushing. 
He glances up at Pierre. “It was really good,” he says, and looks away, as if shy. 
Fuck. Pierre can’t help himself–he leans down to give Ilies another kiss. There’s no heat in it, both of them too spent for that, but it’s deep and sweet. 
Ilies doesn’t want to move, and rightfully so, so Pierre goes to the bathroom to quickly rinse off and get a warm, wet washcloth for Ilies. 
When he comes back, Ilies is on his side, curled up and dozing. 
“Lemme clean you up,” Pierre says, touching his forehead gently. Ilies rouses a little, opening his eyes and nodding. 
Pierre sets about to wiping him down, his arms, his legs, his chest. When he gets to Ilies’s stomach and cock, Ilies lets out a doleful moan. 
“Sorry, sorry,” Pierre says, gently wiping under the head to get it clean. “Can you lay on your stomach? I need to, uh–” his face heats up. “I need to clean–” 
Ilies turns red and quickly moves onto his stomach, burying his face in the pillow. Without speaking, Pierre carefully wipes up the come at his entrance. Every pass of the washcloth has Ilies squirming, and Pierre can hear him letting out little huffs. To his near-disbelief, it makes Pierre’s own cock twitch with interest. It’s just so–intimate, wiping away the come and lube, watching Ilies’s now-puffy and pink hole react to the friction. 
Really, Pierre could look forever, if Ilies would let him. 
“All done,” he says, placing the washcloth aside and kissing the small of Ilies’s back. He turns off the bedside lamp and stretches out beside him. 
Ilies turns so that he’s on his side, his back to Pierre. It feels natural for Pierre to reach out and wrap an arm around Ilies, pulling him snugly against his front so that they’re spooning. They settle in together, their bodies fitting comfortably. 
“Good night,” Pierre whispers into Ilies’s ear. 
“Good night.” 
“Pierre,” Ilies calls from the bathroom. He sounds irritated and amused. 
Pierre puts down his coffee and walks over to the hotel bathroom. “Yeah?” 
Ilies turns to him, holding his arm out. “Look.” 
Ilies’s arm is riddled with lovebites, some of them pink, others a more bruised purple. Immediately, Pierre recalls kissing and biting on that arm the night before. 
“Fuck,” he says, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Sorry.” 
Ilies shrugs, smirking. “It’s fine–but I need to borrow one of your shirts. With long sleeves.” 
Pierre goes over to the suite closet, looking a shirt in a color that would look good on Ilies. Like other morning afters, this one hasn’t been awkward at all. Ilies had still been a little shy right after waking up, but had gradually warmed up to his usual self, letting Pierre tug him onto his chest to cuddle until they both realized they were hungry for breakfast. 
It’s nice–really nice. Having everything he’s always had with Ilies, but also sleeping with him. Pierre’s always preferred being close with the people he sleeps with, and right now, there’s no one in his life that’s closer to him than Ilies. 
The same, unnameable emotion that had run through him last night while looking at Ilies washes over him again, and it knocks the breath out of Pierre. He puts his hand up against the closet wall, feeling knocked off-axis. 
Before he can steady himself, he hears “Pierre?” as Ilies pops his head into the closet. 
“Yeah,” Pierre says, shaking himself and taking his hand from the wall.
“Everything okay?” Ilies asks, walking over to him. 
Pierre forces a laugh. Ilies is still shirtless, his hair wet from a morning shower. A droplet of water is rolling down his chest, over a dusky nipple. He averts his eyes. 
“Yeah, just–probably need to finish my coffee,” Pierre lies. He grabs the nearest blue shirt off the hanger and hands it to Ilies. “Here, wear this one.”
He’s always liked Ilies in blue. 
34 notes · View notes
patchesproblem · 1 year
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I would like to know all of your Einsla hcs
I want to say that you're more powerful than anyone I know. I have so many.. I apologize in advance for the length of this.
This is probably going to be written across a few hours since I'm emotionally dead at this very moment and can't really process things as clearly as I'd prefer, so if anything gets repeated or it devolves into nonsensical ramblings I'm sorry.
Gay under the cut
This might be all over the place and jump between Lab 42 and current time, so uh oops...
Since this is all just hc's one of the first ones of mine is that Ein is 17 while Tes is 19. Einstein's birthday is towards the end of December while Tesla's is around the end of January. I have specific dates but eh. If anyone's interested I'll add them in later. Also headcanon them as extremely mean lesbians, and that they're both ace.
One of the first things is that I legitimately believe that they're soul mates. Which doesn't really affect anything or matter much, but they're always together in every universe. No matter what they manage to find their way to each other and it's sweet.. I love them. Even in the PE Einstein and Tesla were with each other, and Tesla's departure affected Einstein so badly she started wearing her glasses and dyed her hair to match hers.. They're soul mates and I refuse to hear differently..
Going off of in game information (aka their memory clips from the dorms and the AE VN) I personally believe they met each other in 1953. It's really the only thing that makes sense, because so much happened and you can't tell me that it all happened within the span of one year.
1953 is when the first eruption occurred, and soon after Planck and Einstein joined the American branch of Schicksal. Tesla began studying under Planck, and they quickly became friends. Of course it was a bit.. Interesting at first. Tesla had her whole song and dance of 'threaten people so she doesn't get attached and hurt' but they became friends rather quickly. Planck probably wasn't that amused just because Tesla's destructive, but whatever makes her little girl happy ig.
They became friends and were basically inseparable. They actively made each other worse. They looked at each other and went 'Yeah I can make her worse.' Dumbasses, truly.
Putting this in after the fact, but Tesla likes to think that she almost scared Einstein off at first. That was very much not the case, and she knew that she wasn't as big and bad as she tried to come across. Though she lets her think that just because it's harmless and helps her sleep at night.
At first Tesla was weary of Einstein, but like I said they quickly grew on each other. The reason I say this is just because I can imagine her thinking 'wow child prodigy. Can't wait for her to think she's better than everyone else and then be the dumbest person alive.' Was not the case. She is better than everyone else and Tesla loves her for it and will make sure that Everyone knows it. They are beneath her and she will make sure you know it.
Whenever one of them went the other followed even if they weren't needed just for funsies. They always worked together (Einstein would say it's just because Tesla stared at her pathetically but she just wanted to. Her looking pathetic was only a bonus because she could say she felt bad for her or something if questioned.)
They acted as each others emotional support in a sense. Since they met soon after Karl died I like to think that Tesla was always there for her when she couldn't handle dealing with it on her own. Along with this I think that during the time Tesla had to work with Dipshit 1 (aka Edison) Einstein was there to help keep her sane and help her not completely break down. I won't be going too much into this for my own sanity, but soon after Tesla tried to burn down Dipshits office (With Einsteins encouragement) they both just bailed and went to Lab 42 after Einstein got her doctorate.
This one is something I wouldn't shut up about the other day, but it means sm to me and if I'm yelling about my headcanons about them it'd be a crime to not mention it.
I don't think Einstein ever said anything to Tesla after she wasn't able to get her degree too. She never mentioned it nor did she really care. It's hard to explain but she knew that a silly piece of paper didn't determine how much she actually knew essentially. She saw her as her equal and not having a diploma wouldn't change that.
Another headcanon I have is that Einstein dragged Tesla along with her to Lab 42 and refused to work with anyone else other than her. Reason they went to Britain in particular is just because that's where Schicksal assigned them, and it got Tesla away from Dipshit 1 so it worked.
Taking a short break from that but I want to just say how much I legitimately think they care for each other. It's shown in the VN a little, but not much since it's coming from Welt's POV and both of them aren't as affectionate in front of others since yanno. Professionals.
They're really the only two people who actually understood each other in a sense. Like with Ein people mostly just saw her as a child prodigy who thought she was better than everyone else, and Tesla was just seen as an angry ridiculous person who was too emotional and needed to act her age.
It's difficult to explain, but I hope you kinda get the idea. Ein didn't have to act like a mature adult when around Tes and could actually just act like herself. Same went for Tesla, and she didn't have to worry about being belittled for just existing in a way others deemed childish. I've said this before and I'll say it again. A lot of what Tesla get's upset over makes sense. She HAS A RIGHT to be upset over it.
Along with this I hc Tesla as having ADHD and depression which makes her situation worse since emotional dysregulation often comes hand in hand with it. Literally only thing getting mad at her for the way she reacts does is make the situation worse. Hence why when Tesla gets mad at Welt Ein tells him to just leave her alone and don't bring it up again.
I could make an entire post explaining why I think ADHD Tesla is real, but that's the basic parts that's needed for this so.
Einstein actually made an effort to understand and over time they've come to a point where they've developed ways to actually communicate even when Tesla's on the verge of murder. Like Tesla has slight differences that she's caught on to and is able to use that to figure out how to help. She'll just try to give her space and just do small things to try to help calm her down as much as she can. Either that or she'll just sit / lay with her for awhile to make sure she either A. falls asleep or B. knows she's there for her and hopefully allow her to feel like talking.
The same goes for Einstein as well. Tesla helps her in ways that she herself doesn't even realize, yet they mean the world to Einstein. She'll be in a bad mood or having a bad day and then as soon as Tesla starts ranting and rambling about something she'll immediately start feeling better. If she knows that Einsteins having a bad day she'll start doing things in an attempt to help her feel better. She'll immediately go into over protective wife mode and make her favorite meal, watch her favorite show with her, etc.
This is just a side note, but I like to believe that Einstein made Tesla stop drinking. She got worried and basically said "No we're stopping this now." Let me cope okay.
Back to my nonsense from before, Planck knew before anyone else about their feelings for each other. She's the living embodiment of the homophobic dog meme and I will not elaborate further. Now she never explicitly says she knows, but I mean considering how much she relentlessly teases Tesla over it.. Yeah she knew. She probably took bets on how long it'd take for them to actually start dating with her co workers tbh.
Anyways, soon after they went to work in Lab 42 their stupidity just escalated. They made their lesbianism everyone elses problem. The Finn was convinced that they were dating. Truly their #1 ally. Though I will say they probably just got even closer during this time period. It was during this time that they made their little robots in their stupid little rivialry, and it was just chaos. They caused a few explosions by mistake, but sometimes things happen yanno?
Often times they'd stay up late either in their lab or just talking in one of their rooms. There was a few times where they'd be waiting for something to process and 'accidentally' fall asleep on each other. Though tbh they're probably really affectionate in general. Tesla's protective of her to begin with, and Einsteins an absolute menace who enjoys teasing and embarrassing her any chance she gets. It was probably around this time that Einstein knew something was up but she herself was too oblivious to actually realize it. They're both just disasters and got so used to existing like that it wasn't until Welt came around and suddenly became homophobic that she was like "oh. Is this not normal?"
Tesla and Einstein became even more inseparable after the 1955 incident. While before they could still act as functioning humans, after that they would start panicking if they didn't see the other. They had constant nightmares after that and honestly probably couldn't even sleep unless they knew the other was by them. Over the years it got better, but even to this day they still get panicky sometimes when their depression / ptsd flairs up.
This eventually led to them holding hands / each other in their sleep just to make sure they both knew the other was still there and safe, and it just became a habit they still continue to this day even if the nightmares are rarer than they once were.
I've written about this before I think, but I like to think that after the events of November 24th that as soon as Einstein woke from her coma she immediately started trying to figure out where Tesla had gone and immediately went looking for her. It just makes the most sense to me, honestly.
LESS DEPRESSING THINGS ASIDE!! WHILE I'M THINKING ABOUT IT!! Einstein 100% does Tesla's hair and make up often just because she's 'too tired' to do it herself. It started off as that, but eventually it just became a common occurrence just because it give's them an excuse to be stupid and show care for the other. Tesla loves when she does it because she's just a cat pretending to be a human and loves the attention. Fun fact she's probably gotten better at doing it than Tesla herself. I like to imagine that Tesla gets frustrated when dealing with knots so Ein helps get them out for her. Funnily enough she does a better job at taking care of Tesla's hair than Tesla herself. Despite Einstein not really having knots or tangles, she's surprisingly really good at getting rid of them. Tesla barely even feels anything, even if the knots so bad you'd think a tornado hit her.
Speaking of cat pretending to be a human, Tesla has these little noises that she'll make. It sounds stupid yes, but Einstein learned what each one means over the years. Tesla will be laying there and make a happy little noise without thinking about it and she'll just smile to herself.
Tesla also had this stuffed cat that she still has to this day that she cherishes deeply, and they both have plans on adopting a kitten one day and naming it after it. This is something that I'll write a fic about eventually, but she's just as big of a menace as they are.
There's also been a few times where Einstein just fell asleep on Tesla while she just gave her little scritches after she either had a bad day or work tried to kill them both. Which is often both.
OH and on the topic of them being soft and gay.. Einstein keeps their room freezing cold because she over heats easily and can't stand the heat. This, of course, only results in Tesla shoving herself as close to her as humanly possible because she's cold, but no matter what she'd probably be doing that anyways tbh. At least this way they both win. Though Tesla actually doesn't mind as much as she complains about it. However it also becomes a slight problem because Tesla's hair gets stuck in the buttons on Einsteins pajamas LMAO. They're a little dumb.
Speaking of being dumb, Tesla losing her immunity to the cold is literally just because of her own actions. What if I told you that although she was immune to the cold she just started complaining just to get Einstein to hold her which led to her getting too used to it and actually starting to get cold.
Einstein relentlessly bullies Tesla for being a ginger. That is all.
They have a secret language that they use to talk with each other. Yes, they formed an entire language. Yes it uses the most complex mathematical equations you've ever seen. It was originally made to quickly talk to each other through someone else, but it very quickly devolved into both of them using it just to talk without anyone else knowing.
The amount of times poor Joachim has had to take file folders between the two because they 'accidentally took the others work' is too many to count. He's been delivering their angry ramblings to each other for years and he doesn't even know it.
I've mentioned this somewhere else before, but they both keep each other alive in a sense. Without the other they both just kinda start questioning why they're still there. They're the light of each others life even if they bicker like an old married couple.
Tesla will come up with the strangest inventions / experiments but without fail you will find Einstein either A. Helping her with said strange invention or experiment, or B. somewhere nearby to make sure she doesn't get herself killed. The popcorn machine incident must not be forgotten.
Tesla also steals Einstein's jacket any chance she gets. Though they both do, to be honest. It's just less noticeable when Einstein steals Tesla's because it's often when they're off work and are just staying home or going out to see the light of day and touch grass.
Oh fun fact, a majority of the Anti-Entropy staff already knew that they were dating before they did. When they finally 'officially' were they all just acted surprised. Tesla wasn't amused. At all.
If one of them has a long day at work and the other is working in their office they'll just sit there with the other while they work. There's actually been a few times where Tesla or Einstein would just sit on the others lap watching as they work.
They adopted Joachim after the events of the VN and ever since then he's been stuck in a constant loop of "Go as your mom" and "Go ask your mother." He's so tired he can't deal with them and their shenanigans anymore.
Einstein secretly has a photo album that she keeps and updates with pictures of them and Joachim, little letters they've written to each other, and a few other important things that she plans on showing Tesla eventually. When? No clue. Probably an anniversary date, or a day that's really important to them.
Despite all they've been through whenever they're alone together they're able to act like their old selves again. They also tend to call each other by their actual names instead of their last names (Lieserl and Nikola respectively). Everything just feels as if nothing happened and that they're just stupid teenage scientists again. They have so many inside jokes with each other that you could make an entire novel just out of the ones that come to mind first.
In a timeline where god didn't completely hate them I like to think that them, Karl, Welt Joyce, Emma Planck, Elysia, and Eden were all just a stupid little family. When they eventually got married they made Welt be the flower girl and their robots were the ring bearers. Why they made him be the flower girl? It was Tesla's idea. They're mortal enemies yet they're the best of friends. He's just glad that she didn't make him stand still as a decoration. Take what you can get yanno.
Einstein basically grounded Tesla after she pulled her little stunt during the HoV's awakening. Tesla walked up to her talking about how she managed to make make the honkai cure and how she did it without anyone else's help. Yeah Einstein proceeded to pass out cold and didn't wake up for several hours. She was Not Happy. They got lucky Himeko took the L for them because otherwise Anti-Entropy would've been at a disadvantage since one of their leaders was out cold.
Of course while Einstein was proud of her to a certain extent, she was MAD. Like SERIOUSLY UPSET. She understood why Tesla did it. She knew that Tesla had always felt bad for what happened to her (i.e. her son murdering her dad even if it was justified, and then her son lying to her which resulted in her becoming a valkyrie and essentially ruining her own life.), but at that moment she didn't care. She was scared and worried for her and refused to let her out of her sight for over a month.
The thing about it is that while she knows Tesla did the right thing, the fact she did that without someone else around scared her more than anything. She's always been reckless but never to the point of injecting literal honkai into herself. Everyone in her life has died from Honkai, or causes related to Honkai. She was scared. The realization the she nearly lost her sent her into a panic and she just. Passed out. Afterwards she went on a very long panic and anxiety fueled rant to her about how reckless and irresponsible she was, and that she needed to be more careful. The reasoning behind refusing to let her out of her sight is more complicated than just "You're in trouble."
The cure had barely been tested, and to be quite honest as much as she trusts Tesla's math and theories she did not trust Schicksals. She was scared that there would be side effects that they weren't aware of and that Tesla would get hurt, or worse. If something happened to her she knew that she was the only person who had ANY chance of saving her, and the thought of her getting hurt near the front lines without anyway to get to her made every moment she wasn't in her sight terrifying.
Of course Tesla wasn't amused by this, and complained the whole time, but hey. Sometimes you just do what you have to do. Tesla quickly became less mad when the next month was just spent with Ein giving her affection. When in doubt, give your angry cat wife affection. Will solve any problem, just trust me. Einstein made her promise after that she would never do anything like it ever again, and Tesla complained before agreeing just to get her to stop being mad lmao.
Tesla also gets extremely embarrassed when Einstein tries to show affection or flirt with her in front of others. The great Frederica Nikola Tesla can't be seen as weak or have anyone know she is emotionally vulnerable. Truly an absolute disaster of a lesbian and I love her for it.
On a more depressing note, Tesla despises Ein seeing her in the midst of a melt down / break down. She's open with her yeah but also there's been times where she just refused to even acknowledge soemthing was wrong which just ended with her locking herself in a room for several hours on end feeling miserable.
Tesla also learned how to sew. She did this purely because she wanted to fix Eins old scarf since it'd gotten torn up, and I like to think she made her a new one after the second eruption happened and well.. yanno... Tbh I feel like Tesla's picked up a ton of random hobbies specifically because she wanted to do something nice for Einstein.
Another little thing is that I think it'd be cute if Tesla and Einstein had matching plushies that they'd take with them whenever one had to go somewhere else and the other couldn't follow. It was effective, kinda. They still miss each other.
Ein and Tes will rope each other into doing the dumbest experiments known to man kind, but it's exciting to them
. Bonding hours until something goes wrong and their lab is destroyed for the sixth time that week and Joachims on their asses over it.
I like to think that Tesla will just come up with the strangest, most out of left field invention ever and Ein will help her with it even if she's questioning how she got here the entire time.
In current time Tesla and Einstein either have the best sleep schedule in the world or the most destroyed caffeine addicted highschooler who hasn't slept in sixty years schedule ever. There's no inbetween.
Neither really mind though. To be quite honest half the time they just stay up talking about whatever happened that day or some random experiment idea. Either that or Teslas ranting and rambling about how someone made her mad. It happens often.
They both will also stay up all night playing video games. Tesla bullies Einstein at how bad she is at them, but one of these days Einstein will beat her at her own game. Just watch her. She's determined.
They probably play Minecraft LMAO- I don't know why I can just see them playing it together. Tesla likes to build and Ein likes to watch her as she rambles on and on about what she's building. Einstein probably goes out to get the stuff she needs, and when she's not home she'll get on just to farm a bunch of stuff to help her out.
They probably have several entire pinterest boards full of building stuff tbh. I also think that Tesla probably went out of her way to make them both matching Minecraft skins because Einstein wouldn't change hers because she was too lazy.
Tesla also constantly steals Einsteins jacket just because. Though Einstein steals hers so they're even.
I feel like Einstein uses 'dear' a lot towards Tesla. I don't know why it just makes sense to me. She probably picked it up from Planck tbh.
A really REALLY cursed headcanon I have is that both the way they got together and the way they eventually got engaged / married was equally as big of a mess. Now, imagine the scene. You're sitting there minding your own business when you see the two anti entropy doctors just staring at each other because they just tried to propose to each other at the same exact time. They are now bickering over who gets to propose. You do not get paid enough to deal with this.
In the main universe I think their wedding was.. Extremely small tbh..
Planck was there, and they probably put a picture of Welt, Karl, and Schrodinger in the front seats so they could at least be apart of it even if they never got to see it for themselves. Though as depressing as this is Tesla made sure they went ALL OUT on it. Like this girl was planning for MONTHS IN ADVANCE and hand checked LITERALLY EVERYTHING. She even spent literal hours doing Eins make up for her and dressing her up for the funsies.
It wasn't even because she didn't trust her to look nice, it was literally just because Tesla wanted to make her feel special. She wanted to make sure she knew how important she was to her, and make her feel as special as Einstein had made her feel throughout the years. Einstein complained a bit, unsurprisingly. Though it was more out of boredom of having to sit there than actual annoyance at Tesla. Honestly it's still probably one of their most cherished memories tbh.
One of my favorite hcs is that they're both just rambling menaces. Tesla will be telling Einstein about a new hobby, interest, or fact she's learned and Einstein will sit there listening intently while asking questions since Tesla tends to have a difficult time fully explaining things bc adhd is a bitch. She also probably writes down notes as if she was studying in a class lmao. Along with that when Einstein starts rambling Tesla always listens and looks at her as if she's being told the most interesting thing in the world, even if it's something as small as a cool rock she found. It's not often she gets to see her so passionate and outwardly excited about something and she cherishes every moment it happens.
They'll both secretly do research into the others new obsession / interest so that they know what questions to ask and so they're able to talk to the other about it.
One of Tesla's favorite things about Einstein is just how she seems to light up when she's talking about something she's heavily interested in. Seeing her unfiltered genuine joy just does something to her and every time she see's her happy she can't help but fall in love all over again. She's stupid and seeing her wife happy and excited just makes her turn into a mess and her smile just kills her.
There's also little things that they like about each other that the other really has zero clue about. For example Tesla always wears this certain perfume and it's become almost a comforting thing for Ein as weird as it is to say. With Tesla it's mostly what I explained above. Seeing Einstein happy and enjoying life means more than anything to her.
Sometimes Tesla will just fall asleep on top of Ein while they're laying on the couch watching a show or something, or when they're just sitting near the fireplace in the winter.
Especially during the winter their favorite past time is curling up together under blankets and drink hot chocolate on their days off. Tesla has this love of peppermints that Einsteins been aware of for years at this point, and every time she makes them both some she always makes sure to stick a peppermint stick in for her. Tesla is somehow still always just as excited and surprised as the last time. Somehow.
OH OH OH!!! HOLIDAYS!! HOLIDAYS ARE HELL IN THE EINSLA HOME!!
Neither should be trusted in the kitchen. They're chaotic messes of human beings that would make Gordon Ramsay have second thoughts about his choice in profession. Though believe it or not Tesla and Einstein can cook, but they're stupid. Tesla is probably the better one of the two but they both put in the same amount of work. Especially when it comes to holiday meals. Though this also leaves them both in the kitchen.
Tesla and Einstein will be holding a knife and threaten the other with it, all the while teasing and smiling at each other. Though there's probably been a food fight at least a few times. The kitchen was a disaster by the end of it, but hey at least they got to enjoy the holiday with each other.
Actually speaking of cooking.. I like to think that if they know the others had a hard day at work before they got home that the other would try to have dinner done for them. Like if Einstein was having a bad day Tesla would try to make sure her favorite food was ready by the time she got back, and vice versa.
Though they also probably don't cook as often as they probably should lmao. Just like in lab 42 they probably survive off pizza deliveries.
Speaking of deliveries.. Einstein will come up with ridiculous names just to mess with Tesla. She can't use her real name since she's legally dead, and neither can Tesla since she should be dead too. Every time she chooses a name to be written down she tries to come up with the most normal yet extremely weird name just to see Tesla's reaction. It's almost never good. Tesla isn't amused by her wife choosing "Chad" as a name.
There's been several times where Tesla will do Einsteins make up only to forget that she's already done hers and go to kiss her, resulting in her accidentally messing the others up. She dies on the inside every single time. Einstein just teases her over it and tries to hide her smile.
Tesla's way of saying "I love you" is her saying "I will kill you."
Anytime Tesla threatens Einstein she just says "Oh, really now Nikola?" or "Oh, really now Dr. Tesla?" If they're by each other there's a 50/50 chance that she'll lay on or lean against the other and just say "You would never hurt me," just to mess with her. It works every time because Tesla just angrily seethes from embarrassment and annoyance.
Neither of them like keeping secrets from the other. They both have known each other so long and so well that they're able to tell when somethings off about the other. Even if it's just a slight change, it often means that something else is going on. The only secrets they keep from each other are when they're planning on surprising the other. However, everything else they try to talk about.
Tesla and Einstein went back to Lab 42 once, decades later. They'd managed to get it back relatively quickly, though neither had the strength to get themselves to go to it. When they went back memories flooded back, and they stayed for a few hours just reliving some of their happier memories there. Though they left pretty quickly since along with the good came reminders of their reality.
Tesla usually sleeps with soft and fluffy blankets and two or three stuffed animals. Of course she threatens Einstein and made her promise she'd never tell anyone, but it's still a fact.
Whenever Einstein's upset and having a bad mental health day Tesla often holds her and tries to comfort her. This is especially true during the winter months, since that's when things typically get bad for the both of them. Once you add on what happened in November and January first.. You have a recipe for disaster.
Both of them would do almost anything for the other. Even though they bicker a lot and mess with each other, they're just two idiots in love at the end of the day. I might make another post continuing this since I'm very much sure I've missed something, but here's the ones I can currently remember. I have another hc post I'll link below.
I have A Lot more that involve other characters so I'll be making a post about that soonish. I'd add them in here but I'm emotionally and mentally exhausted because god hates me, and this post has already gotten long enough (I believe it's around 5k words now.. Sorry..)
I love them sm and you have no clue how happy it makes me knowing that people like hearing about my headcanons about these two. I think about them too much honestly.. Idk they're just my little stupid children that help me cope. My dumbasses. My daughters. My little losers. Girlfailure x Girlboss.
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dashofmonsters · 2 years
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The Long Road- Pt. 9
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Male Naga x F!Reader
You were expecting a lot worse when Enyn said that your father was fighting Isa, but this is just sad.
Mr. Gohar and an orc are holding your blabbering father back while he's crying and yelling obscene things at Isa who is being held back by Helena because Silas' mother is throwing what looks like a basket of herbs at him.
"Honestly it was much worse a few minutes ago, Isa had smashed a glass against his head and slapped him with her tail. I think she only shirked back a bit because dear Helena got in the middle," Luctux comments as he sips from a mug.
You look at your father and see a small trickle of blood running down the side of his face. Silas squeezes your hand as if to help ease the rising tension building up. It doesn't really help.
"Anything else?" Silas asks the tiefling who only shakes his head. "Right then. My dear, how would you like to handle this?"
For a moment you think about the most peaceful option into breaking this up but you know deep down that won't work. So you start rolling your sleeves back and you hand your staff off to Silas before trudging up to your father.
He's still blabbering on as you walk up to him but the second your fist connects with his cheek he and the entire room silences immediately. His eyes are wide and redden from crying and drinking, his mouth hangs open in shock and his body goes limp.
"No more excuses, no more secrets. Your brother is about to start a fucking war and you're over here acting like an ass because everything is crashing down on you. You don't get to act like this after everything you've kept from the family! You don't get to play the victim because you fucked up! Whatever happened all those years ago, you need to get over it because things are about to get a lot worse!" you yell at him.
His expression goes blank and he begins to fall but Mr. Gohar catches him and sits him on one of the benches.
You turn and notice that Isa and Helena have stilled. Silas' mother holds a bundle of herbs to her chest and gives you a nod, acknowledging that she's net.
"Mr. Gohar, can you see to it that he sobers up please," you smile up at the elderly drider before turning to your brother. "We're going to have a lot of upset people here tomorrow, you know what to do. I'll tell you more about it later... today."
Silas slithers further into the hall and you watch as his mother eyes the armor he's wearing.
"We need to talk, now," is all he says to her, his voice dangerously calm.
Isa straightens herself and sighs, "Yes, I suppose we do."
Peter escorts Helena over to your side as Silas and his mother move to go towards the sitting room you'd been using to study in. Once the door shuts you hear your brother make a clicking noise.
"So how many angry people are we talking about? Ten? Twenty?" Peter gives you an awkward grin.
You shrug, "I'll get a rough number tonight whenever Silas' uncles swing by."
"Anyon and Enyn?" one of the men who had been holding your father back asks.
You and Peter look over and see a group of men huddled together with tight lipped smiles.
"Yeah, we're still here," one of them, the tall elf with a long blond braid waves.
"Oh uh sorry, I just-"
"Don't mind Lir, he just don't like being ignored is all. I'm Gustav by the way, and that's Culann-" the tall broad orc points to a rather thin and lanky dryad who raises a spindly hand. "That's Thurl-" he gestures over to a four armed giant of a man with greyish skin and orc-like features. "And of course that there is Lir, aka sir bitches a lot."
Lir shoots Gustav the finger, "Very rich coming from the one who earned the oh so endearing nickname Cu-"
The entire group quickly jumps him.
"You mad? That's Zale's daughter! If he catches wind of any of us speaking like that in front of her...," Gustav warns Lir.
You roll your eyes, "Yeah no, I worked in a tavern in Melmar. I can damn well guarantee that whatever he was going to say, I've heard worse."
Lir sticks out his arms in defense before crossing them. Gustav just rolls his eyes and shakes his head, "Moving on, I take it there's a lot of things that need to be discussed. Where's uh... where's your mother? Surely she would-"
"Dead, she died giving birth to me," you reply.
Everyone stills and they look as if they'd been punched in the gut.
"No... he would have told us... we would have...," Culann drops to the nearest bench and cradles his head in his hands. The others sway and murmur amongst themselves until Gohar descends the stairs.
"He didn't want to say anything because... it's complicated. More complicated then just being dead," Gohar looks to you with a pained expression. "Your father is one of the rooms, tied up. Don't expect him to be coherent till tomorrow."
"You knew? You knew Silver was dead and you didn't say anything?!" Lir snaps at Gohar and you back up a little.
You start to realize that you're not the only one being effected by these secrets but so many others. Just how far and how long have things been unsaid?
"She's not... It's complicated and then there's the matter of Valen-"
"And where's he? Dead too? What else have you and Zale been hiding?" this time Thurl speaks up, both sets of arms crossed.
The men start barking at Gohar, questioning him and his loyalties to the rest of the crew. You feel Peter tug you back a tad and you look back to see concern and confusion clouding his face.
"Valen's not dead though, right? He went missing... that's what Silas told me... But mom... dad said she-" Peter clutches his head in pain suddenly, wincing as if someone just hit him as hard as they could.
You and Helena help hold him up as he groans in pain, the angry group of men quieting as they watch your brother writhe.
"Mom didn't... she-" Peter let's out a sharp cry and Gohar rushes to his side.
"Stop thinking about it lad, you're going to do more harm to yourself the more you try to figure it out," he tries to pry Peter's hands from his face but it only causes him to jerk back.
"No! No she's not... she was right there! She was-"
Suddenly Peter is crumpling but never hits the ground. Luctux catches him and holds him up.
"What did you do!?" you look to the tiefling who sighs heavily.
"I spared your poor brother a terrible pain. If what Mr. Gohar was insinuating I'm taking it that there's some sort of curse or spell causing some issues?" Luctux looks to the drider as he drags your brother over to the bench Culann is sitting on.
"Something like that. Isa knows more about the situation that this thing has put a lot of people under. But that can wait, right now we have bigger problems. Notus is back and out for blood," Gohar looks to the group and their eyes widen.
"Too many people are getting involved in this," Luctux adds. "Cults and thieves are being added to the ranks causing internal conflict. If things get too out of hand Notus will have the entirety of Malredra in the palm of his hand before a war can even begin."
You remember Charlie telling you about the cults and the one Selia was in. Did the stragglers join with your uncle? How many survived that fight?
"We still have some slim chance for hope right? Kat said that Singred had someone send his message to the king so all we have to do is see what sort of response we get?" you ask.
Luctux shakes his head, "Even if the king responds there's no telling how much good it'll do. Notus is after the royal family, that much we know for certain. The overall end game is much worse."
Silence fills the hall as everyone grasps what to say next. Gustav groans as he folds his arms close to his chest, his nose scrunching. Culann raises his head and rests his spindly hands on his knees.
"I had feared this day would come," Lir clicks and strides forward. "I knew, we all knew that this might happen." The elf pauses before you and puts a hand on your shoulder. "Most of us are old and tired and have seen war before. We know- Knew Notus before the fall of Aella. He loves his family or at least he did. Zale's bargain for peace was like a knife to the back for him so I can't say for certain how safe you and your siblings would be if he knows you exist."
Your gut wrenches and the sour taste of bile crawls up your throat. Part of you had already figured this out, that's why you were glad to see Peter and Helena here but hearing it just makes the whole thing seem more real.
"So what I'm hearing is that it doesn't matter if I'm my father's daughter or not, if I fight I'm still his enemy?" you look Lir dead on and the elf looks stunned.
"She's got a point, regardless of her relation if she fights she fights as one of us," Gohar nods his head.
It's your turn to be stunned as you look passed the elf, "Wait what do you mean?"
Mr. Gohar shrugs, "I can't speak for everyone else but if Notus' is stirring shit like this then it means I can take care of some unfinished business."
The others look at each other and nod and grimace. You look back up to Lir who nods to you as well, "Welcome to the crew of The Dread Maunder."
~~~~~~
You and the few crew members that had made their lives here in Gilli talk, really really talk. They give you more insight to your parents than you ever hoped to get. Mr. Gohar seems to want to steer some topics away but the others are too mad at him to listen and you're honestly thankful for it.
Everything they say hits hard but you take it all in. Lir eventually breaks the conversation for a very late lunch that you, Helena, and Culann make with whatever food survived Isa's wrath from the start of her fight with your father.
Silas and Isa eventually make their way out of the study, both red eyed and tear stained cheeks. Silas makes a beeline towards you as you and Helena take a few trays of food to the dining hall.
"We're about to eat... Peter is uh currently passed out and my dad is upstairs tied up. We can talk later if you'd like," you give him a reassuring smile.
"Ok..." he nods and follows you closely to the dining room that the group had settled into earlier.
Gustav is running his hands through his hair and shaking his head when the three of you enter. His eyes go to Silas for a moment then back to you, "Culann still in the kitchen?"
You nod, "He kept taking over so we just ended up standing there. Helena almost started a fist fight with him."
"Now that's a fight I'd pay to see," Lir snickers and Thurl chuckles.
Helena gives them both the finger after she sets down the trays.
"You must be Valen's boy," Gustav goes over to Silas and clasps his hand on his shoulder. "Good to meet ya lad, now come and sit down. You look like you could use a drink."
The cold sorrow on Silas' face sobers into something calmer and he gives the orc a tight lipped smile, "Thank you, but not right now... That and I'm not much of a fan of alcohol."
Gustav shrugs but ushers Silas over to the table all the same. You take a seat next to him after you set the trays down. You urge him to eat something even if it's just a few bites but he just stares at the food. You sigh to yourself and roll your eyes before tapping his shoulder. He leans down and you whisper, "Don't make me coddle you like a hatchling."
He leans into you and starts laughing, the group of men eyeing the situation with raised brows or knowing grins. Luctux whispers something to Lir who then stands up, "AH! I knew it! I called it! Pay up!"
Both you and Silas look at the elf with confusion.
Culann walks in with a large tray of meats and fish that is unusually ignored by the grumbling men. "What in the nine hells did I miss?"
"Lir won the bet," Gustav points to you and Silas.
The dryad looks at the both of you and grins, "Oh is that so?"
"Wait what bet?" Silas asks.
"The bet that if Silver had a daughter and Valen had a son that they'd get together," Lir crosses his arms in triumph.
"That's a uh... oddly specific bet," you raise a brow.
The group of men shake their heads.
"Valen and Silver were very close, if it weren't for Isa most of us thought those two would have wound up together. That and Silver was very much in love with Zale, to everyone's confusion. Because of that closeness we bet the odds on sons and daughters. Lir of course won. I'd thought Silver would have a son that would get with Valen's daughter, but the damn snake never had anymore kids," Thurl admits.
Silas inhales sharply and clears his throat, "Actually he did have a second clutch."
The room goes quiet and all eyes are on him.
"They're uh...it's-" he pauses and when he looks up you both notice Mr. Gohar standing up.
"They're stuck in the same loop aren't they?" the drider asks.
Everyone's face pales and the tension in the room makes it hard to breathe. Silas nods.
"Don't tell me that idiot went to those ruins? What the hells for?" Lir stands, his chair slamming down to the floor.
"Erinna was dying and the only cure was near the old temple. My mother had mentioned-"
"So Isa sends her husband off to his death?" Lir yells, his voice echoing in the room. "Mabdreger's Temple is an unholy death trap, everyone knows that! I don't care if it's home to a rare herb or godly ass cure, it's a cursed place!"
Mabdreger's Temple, you've only heard of that place a handful of times and no one had anything good to say about it. An ancient place where time doesn't play by the rules, where people have wondered in and never returned or where people walk out of and go mad the second the enter the real world. If Silas' father went there for a cure-
"Then Peter?," Helena whispers and looks to Gohar.
"What about Peter and his mother, how do they tie into this?" She asks.
"Peter and Zale are afflicted with the madness caused by the temple since they were in close proximity whenever Silver vanished. Silver herself is somewhere in the temple, where though, that's anyone's guess. The clutch is also somewhere at the temple as well," Gohar replies, his pale yellow eyes closing as he sinks down. His shoulders sag as if a great weight has been taken off his shoulders and you suppose after holding onto these secrets for years, it has.
"Well fuck," Thurl clicks. "And here I thought this day couldn't get anymore messed up."
Silas looks down at the table with wide eyes, "Oh it can and it will. My uncle still hasn't come by to hash things out with my mom."
Gustav who had been drinking ale spits it out and slams his hand on the table, "Anyon hashing things out with Isa?! The gods take me now! Culann, hide all the cutlery and heavy pans!"
The group starts up again, some still barking at Gohar while others talk about the upcoming fight of the in-laws. Helena tiptoes over to the quiet and observant Luctux who's nibbling on his pipe. He pulls up a seat for her before his eyes go over to you and Silas. He smiles and gestures towards the door as if he knows you're looking for a moment to escape.
You tug on Silas' hand as you stand up and he silently follows you out. It wasn't like you needed a breather from all the information that had been dumped on you or a second to put everything together, but you did need a moment not to think about it. So once you and Silas are further down the hall you tug him down and kiss him.
His moan of surprise against your lips is quickly drowned out by the sound of your heart beat in your ears. You feel him pick you up and deepen the kiss, the breathing between either of you becoming shorter with each kiss. And then you feel a tear.
"Silas?" you cup his face and he winces.
"It's nothing," he nuzzles against you, holding you tighter. "I'm just feeling a lot right now, but this, this helps. You help."
You hug him back, "You help me too. More than you'll ever know."
The both of you just stand there in each other's arms for a good bit before you start peeling away. Your hands linger in his and he brings them up to his lips and he kisses the tips over and over again till you're giggling.
"It's odd that all this stuff is finally getting aired out isn't it," he scrunches his nose.
"Better now then later," you shrug.
"What are we going to do now?" Silas asks.
"I'm going to train with Kat, get my abilities under control so that when it's time I can fight. I don't want to be a liability or left behind or a damsel in distress, that's not who I am," you look up to Silas who and he nods.
"I should probably do the same. I'm not that good at fighting, I'm subpar at best if I'm being honest. Luctux and Selia really carried the party when it came down to actual fights. I also need to expand my use of teleportation since it's pretty useless as is," he grimaces and crosses his arms.
"We both have a lot to work on I guess. It'll be a good distraction, at least for me," you chuckle and lean against the wall.
"Distraction?" Silas inches towards you but you look away and stare blankly out the window.
"Yeah because I really don't want to think about the fact that my mother might not actually be dead or that my uncle wants to kill my family or that my dad and brother are afflicted by some temple magic causing them to become insane and then there's my own personal garbage on top of all of that! I- I'd rather be doing something that can just shut it off for a while," Your eyes sting a bit but you don't dare let a tear slip down as you look back up at Silas. "I wanted the truth and this is what I get! One giant fucking mess... all I wanted to do was travel, get out of Melmar for a while, see the world... Not get involved in a war!"
Your voice echoes down the hall and you feel Silas close in on you, his head dipping down and resting atop your own, "There's nothing I can say right now that'll make any of this better, but maybe once everything is over..." he pauses and inhales sharply. "Once everything is over we can start over and really travel. Go out and see the world with nothing hanging over our heads. Just you, me and George."
A breathy laugh escapes your lips as you look up, "We'll be dragging that poor salamander around the world?"
"He'll love it, he'll get to eat sticks from every continent," Silas chuckles then dips down and kisses your forehead. "Let's just get through all this and then it'll just be us."
Your stomach flips and you feel your heart flutter and your cheeks heat up. His words helped sooth the heaviness you've been feeling with the past being aired out but it does something else to you. You reach up and pull his face down just enough as you stand on your tip toes to kiss him. You feel him smiling against your lips and you feel in that moment that everything will turn out alright.
"Just us, and George," you smile.
"Just us," Silas agrees and tries to kiss you again but a heavy knock to the front door has him bending back with a groan, you laugh.
"That's probably Anyon," you give him a nervous smile.
Silas eyes widen and he scrunches his nose, "Might as well get this over with."
Anyon thankfully had brought Enyn with him, both bundled up for the cold and being shadowed by your aunt Kat and Elli.
Elli and Kat glide past Silas' uncles and over to your side obviously trying to whisk you away. Silas smiles and tells you that he'll find you later. He takes his uncles to wherever his mother had slithered off to.
"Walk and talk kid," Kat grabs your arm and pulls you along and through the front door. Elli follows and keeps close to your other side.
"I've pulled back several of my informants in Brakkor and have planted a few on the coasts. My sister told me to keep them off of Notus' ships so I sent word out to cease the mission and head to the capitol instead. I'll have eyes on the king in a matter of days, just like you asked. It's going to be tricky to get any closer than scullery maids and stable hands but we have some time I'd like to think," Elli looks forward as she laces her arm around yours and plasters a fake smile on her face.
Your aunt Kat does the same and you feel as if something is wrong, very very wrong. You wish you had grabbed your staff before you left.
"Your sister was in Melmar when we got Peter, Helena and Zale. Apparently her and her husband have been keeping tabs on Notus' ships and provided us with valuable information about the fleet. She said she'll keep watching from a distance and will update us somehow if things change," Kat pulls in closer and makes a strange face that makes Elli laugh. Your aunt leans in even closer and whispers something to you that makes you pulls away from her.
"Act like we're teasing you... we're being watched...followed...They're close."
"It's not funny!" you feign being hurt.
"No but it's cute. So when's the wedding?" Elli grabs you and pinches your cheek.
Kat laughs but the uneasy feeling grows and grows till you feel it prickling the hairs on the back of your neck.
Whatever or whoever got closer, a lot closer.
"Come... come on guys, we're not in a relationship relationship… We're just feeling it out," you blabber, trying your best to act like you don't feel the cold sticky air all around you. You notice Elli and Kat writhe a little but they play it off as if they're about to tease you again.
Something lands on your shoulder with a shlop. You don't see it but you feel it, feel the bony slimy six...no seven fingered hand curl around your neck and chest. You still, your mouth hanging open as something sharp presses into the flesh of your neck and before it gets any deep you ignite.
Your entire body is fire and flames and the thing that had touched you screams. It's invisibility drops as it hits the cold and icy grounds squirming and clawing at the air. It's body looks like it was made of mud and sticks and tar. It's screaming voice reminds you of glass shattering.
"Golem," Kat grits her teeth, covering her ears.
Elli steps back a bit in horror, nearly tripping over her feet.
Rage fills you and the fire wraps itself tighter and tighter till you feel like you have to shed it off. The golem's claws reach for you and as you dodge it you stomp its leg and the flames explode off your body. The golem shrieks and writhes as it dries and cracks under the heat.
Kat and Elli jump back enough that they barely miss the fire lapping at their clothes. You hear your aunt shout out to you but you can't tell what she's saying over the roaring fire in your ears. You stomp down on the golem again and it shatters into chunks of dirt and charred branches and sticks. You watch as the glow in its eyes dim and die.
You look up and around to see Kat shielding Elli. You turn towards the front of the house and see Gustav wide eyed as he holds his arms out, stopping the others from going forward. Then you look at yourself reflected in the window, your body completely on fire, your hands have grown long hard black claws and the whites of your eyes are a dark red.
The world starts to spin and your body becomes heavy. You fall to your knees and the snow covered ground sizzles and steams.
Control, I need to control this... Whatever this is I need to be in control...
You do your best to calm your breathing but every time you look at your hands, your claws, you feel a disconnect.
Control yourself!
You hear people yelling and shouting and running about but you don't register any of it. You close your eyes disregarding the burning sensation as you try to reign in whatever you're feeling.
Control this, go back to normal... back to normal...
The prickling of ice and snow slowly seeps into your skin. You topple over into the snow, a lighter sizzle fizzles in your ears. You want to cry but your eyes are so dry and you're suddenly so tired. You hear several footsteps and slithering approaching you. There's talking, lots of it, but it all fades as your consciousness does as well.
~~~~~~~
You wake up to a pounding headache and an aching body. Your mouth feels dry and there's a warm wet cloth over your eyes. You try and reach up to move it but your hand is swatted away.
"Leave it be," Silas grinds out. "There's herbs in the water that'll help with the strain and dryness. Come on I'll help you sit up, you're probably thirsty."
Silas sits you up and you feel his tail holding you up. He brings a cup up to your lips but they feel glued together. You try to open them but your mouth is so dry. After a few tries he carefully rubs your lips with a balm and helps you slowly peel open your mouth.
"Mother said you'll be bedridden for the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow. Your aunt and grandmother said it's best for you to start training as soon as you're well. Your powers are apparently growing at a rapid rate and need immediate control," Silas explains as he lowers you back into bed.
You let out a heavy sigh then groan. You remember very little of what happened aside from igniting and passing out, there seems to be something missing in between but you're still too tired to even talk much.
"On another note, your fire show stopped my mother and uncle Anyon from clawing each other's eyes out so you kind of stopped that. Oh and Charlie's back from wherever he slid off to these last few days. Apparently he-"
You tug on Silas' hand that had been lying atop your own. You feel him shift a bit on the bed, his hair now tickling your cheek.
"How late is it?" you ask, your voice is scratchy from your raw throat.
"It's a little past midnight," he replies before sitting you up again and bringing another cup of water to your lips.
You drink and ask for another and another till your throat feels somewhat normal. He starts to lay you down again and as he does you reach up for him and wrap your arms around his neck, "Come to bed already. I can't imagine you resting while I've been like this."
Silas laughs, he actually laughs and giggles as you feel him move you into his arms, "I'm the son of a healer my dear and you've been my stubborn yet lovely patient for the past several hours."
"And thanks to you and your worrying I'm on the mend. Now sleep," you kiss his cheek and you feel him relax a bit.
It takes no time at all for the both of you to fall into a heavy sleep. That being said, it takes forever for Silas to slink out of bed the next morning. You feel a bit better having rested and the herbal eye wash restored your eyes to normal. Isa gave you the clear to sit up in bed but that's as much as you're allowed to do under her watch.
Silas, his old party members, and your father's old crew are called away to hold a meeting on information that Charlie had brought back. He promises to fill you in when he gets back but not being able to go makes you a bit uneasy.
Your aunt Kat however takes full advantage of your circumstance to start you on some control exercises but not without some interesting conversation.
"I've never been one to pry into the relationship of relatives but I think I'm going to make an exception for you," she starts, her signature feline-like grin starting to appear.
You inhale sharply as you try and focus on the one emotion you opted to focus on, as part of the exercise...contentment. Thinking back now you feel as if you should have chosen embarrassment since that's all you feel most of the time when Kat talks.
"So it's not a a relationship relationship yet? Just feeling things out?" she teases.
Suddenly you feel yourself reeling, your control easily slipping as a memory slides back into place.
"The golem... The golem! What happened-"
"Oh it's good and gone, you made sure of that," Kat replies then recaps the entire incident without so much as batting an eye. "You looked horrified when you started calming down. We had to cover you snow to get you to cool down so we could carry you inside. Oh and don't worry, your old man was still passed out so he's none the wiser about it."
"Why did I do it? I didn't want to, it just happened and then... I wasn't myself, I had claws and.. and my eyes. What happened to me?" you look down at your hands, your very much real and normal hands. The disconnection to your body coming back once more.
"Your element was reacting. More specifically, the spirit of your element was reacting. For fire it's usually things like dragons and phoenixes, but you got the most volatile of them all, an ifrit spirit. Your semi-transformation was a huge insight even if it scared the hells out of everyone at first. Now that we know you don't have an average spirit we'll be able to work with that for your training," Kat explains, cringing a little towards the end.
You give your aunt a blank stare, your eyes wide and you're fairly certain your mouth is just hanging open before you shout, "IFRIT?!?" as you point to yourself.
<Previous Pt.8 Pt.10>
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madd-nix · 2 years
Text
Lost and Found
Chapter 1
About two years after returning from Hisui, Ingo finds a little girl lost in the subway. He and Emmet do everything they can to find her parents, but when it starts to look like a case of abandonment, Ingo realizes he might need to step in for this girl.
Aka this is a highly self indulgent story of Ingo adopting a daughter. This also includes little snippets of Emmet x Piers because it's my story and I say they're cute.
Words: 3,751
Rating: PG (ask to tag)
Ingo stood at the platform, directing passengers and announcing the arrival of the trains. He checked the time. 1:45 on the dot. Things were going just as scheduled. The lunch rush was thankfully calming down now as people returned to work or school, which meant there were now fewer crowds and less noise in the subway. After being in Hisui for five years, Ingo had gotten used to the quiet outside. He was glad to be home, of course, but he now required soft foam earbuds to drown out the noises of Nimbasa City.
Another train came and went, leaving the platform mostly empty. A few people still milled about, but they all seemed to be in no hurry. However, with the clearer view of the platform, Ingo was now able to see a very small and very upset little girl. And she was making her way right towards him.
Ingo bent down on one knee to be more at eye level with the girl as she approached. She was sniffling and crying, so Ingo quickly pulled a tissue out of one of the pockets in his jacket.
"Young lady, what seems to be troubling you?" he asked gently.
"I-I can't find my... p-parents..." the girl responded in a shaky, teary voice.
"I see. Do you know how long it's been since you were separated? And where did you become uncoupled from them?"
The little girl rubbed at her eyes and blew her nose with the tissue Ingo handed her before answering.
".....It was a little while ago... when the crowds were here... and I got separated from them here. I didn't get on any trains or leave this room."
Ingo nodded along. "Well, that was very smart of you to stay where you were. This should help us track down your parents. I am Subway Boss Ingo, and I will make sure you are reunited with them soon." The little girl smiled at that.
"Thanks Mr. Ingo. And my name is Rosie."
"Rosie. That's a lovely name. And how old are you, Miss Rosie?"
"I'm six years old. Almost seven."
"And you were here with both your parents?"
"Yes, Mommy and Daddy. We came here to go to the amusement park."
Ingo nodded as he mentally took note of all this. A six year old girl has been separated from her parents while on their way to the amusement park. This happened most likely during the lunch rush between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm, leaning more towards a later time considering the parents haven't returned yet.
"Alright. I'm going to let the other depot agents know about this and to be on the look out for your parents." Rosie nodded and Ingo stood up. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the radio that every subway employee used to communicate.
"Attention, this is Subway Boss Ingo. I am currently on platform number 2 for the A train. I have a missing girl with me named Rosie. She is six years old, has freckles, brown hair tied into pigtails, and she is currently wearing a pink vest over a white shirt with a brown skirt. She is missing her mother and father, so if any couples approach you looking for a child of that description, please contact me immediately. Thank you." There was a chorus of affirmations from the depot agents along with a clear "Understood!" from his brother Emmet. Ingo then turned back to Rosie.
"Everyone in the subway now knows that you're looking for your parents. I will stay with you to make sure you are safe. Passenger safety is one of my top priorities, so you have no need to worry with me."
"Thanks Mr. Ingo!" Rosie wrapped her arms around his waist in a hug. Ingo gently patted her head and smiled faintly.
"How about we find a bench to sit at while we wait." Rosie nodded and Ingo took her hand as he guided them both over to a nearby bench.
Together they sat silently, and Ingo tried to think of some sort of conversation to help distract the young girl. As another train pulled up to the station and let more passengers off, he noticed Rosie covering her ears. The trains could be fairly loud at times, especially to anyone that wasn't already used to them, and the crowd was pretty loud as well.
"Rosie, is it too loud here?" he asked as he tried to keep his voice down to not add to the cacophony.
"Yeah, a little," she admitted. Ingo pulled the box of black foam earbuds out of pocket from his jacket. He then pointed to the pair already in his own ears.
"It gets a little too loud for me here as well. You can have a pair of earbuds to soften the volume." Rosie smiled and took a pair of earbuds. After placing them in her ears, she tilted her head to listen for a moment, testing them out.
"Hey, they work! It isn't as bad now and I can still hear stuff! Thanks Mr. Ingo!"
"You're welcome, Miss Rosie."
They lapsed back into silence as they waited. Rosie kicked her legs back and forth as she looked around for any sign of her parents.
"What do your parents look like?" Ingo asked, hoping to help spot them.
"Well, Mommy has long brown hair kinda like mine," Rosie began explaining. "She has brown eyes too, and today she's wearing a blue dress and a black jacket. Daddy has short black hair, and he has freckles like I do. He's wearing a gray shirt with buttons and black pants." Ingo nodded as he took note of this. As he scanned the room, he couldn't immediately see anyone that fit those descriptions. He quickly typed that all out in his phone and sent the message along to the depot agents and Emmet in hopes that that will help them.
"Thank you, Miss Rosie. I just sent those descriptions to my coworkers so that they'll be on the look out for your parents as well." Rosie nodded, then continued looking around.
Some more time passed, and Rosie looked like she was starting to get tired and more uncomfortable.
"...Mr. Ingo?" Rosie said quietly. "I'm hungry."
"Ah, yes! Have you had lunch yet?" he asked.
"I had a pretzel before I got separated," Rosie replied. Oh Arceus, this child hasn't eaten in at least an hour!
"I can take you to the break room! We have many different foods there that I'm sure you'll like. We can refuel there! All aboard!" He stood, doing his usual pointing pose, which luckily got Rosie to smile. He then held her hand and guided her to the nearest break room. As he walked, he made another short message over the radio, announcing their change in location while asking for any updates. Unfortunately, there were none, but he didn't let this drag him down.
Once in the break room, Ingo started looking through the cabinets and the fridge for anything a child might like to eat. There were instant ramen packets, a few bagged lunches marked with employees' names (those were off limits), and some lunch meats, cheeses, and bread for sandwiches, along with chips and cookies for snacks. But for now, Rosie needed something more substantial.
"Well, it appears we need to restock soon, but we have ramen and supplies for sandwiches," he said. "We have sliced turkey and ham, along with cheese slices."
"Can I have a ham sandwich with cheese? Please?" Rosie asked politely.
"Of course. Have a seat at the table and I can make one for you," Ingo replied as he took off his white gloves. "And we do have some water and apple juice to drink. Which would you prefer?"
"Apple juice please!" Rosie said excitedly. Ingo handed her a juice box and she sat down to drink it.
Ingo then pulled up his sleeves to wash his hands at the sink. Safety first. It was then that Rosie noticed the bracelet on his arm.
"What's that?" she asked, pointing at it. Ingo looked to where she was pointing. It was the warden bracelet from the Pearl Clan with the image of Lady Sneasler carved into the wood. He insisted that he return it to Lady Irida before returning home with Emmet, but she had simply told him to keep it as a memento. Besides, they could always make another when they found a new warden for Lady Sneasler. And this way, Ingo felt like he would always be Lady Sneasler's warden.
"Ah, this is a bracelet I had received from a previous... adventure," he replied. "I was in charge of taking care of a powerful and strange Pokemon named Lady Sneasler. This bracelet showed that I was her warden."
"Wow, I've never heard of that kind of Pokemon!" Rosie exclaimed. "What was she like? What type was she?"
"She was a fighting and poison type. She was the evolution of a regional variant of Sneasel," Ingo explained. "However, this was a long time ago. Sadly, Sneaslers have... gone extinct." It was a sad fact that tore him apart after he returned home. He has since accepted this fact, but it still kept him awake at night sometimes. Could he have done anything to ensure that her species continued? Did he not do enough for her and her children? Or was this a predetermined fate that he had no hope of changing? He usually tried not to think about it too much.
"Oh... I'm sorry," Rosie said quietly.
"There's no need to apologize. Sometimes that's just how nature works." Ingo put on a small smile to try and ease Rosie's worries. He quickly dried his hands and got to work making them both a sandwich. He was starting to get hungry too after all.
It didn't take long for the sandwiches to be made. It actually took longer for Ingo's coffee to brew. But soon, they were both sitting and eating quietly. He had also loaded up Rosie's plate with a few chips, and he promised her that she would receive a cookie after she ate her sandwich.
Soon, Emmet came into the room. Rosie looked up at him, then she looked at Ingo as she seemed to realize they were twins. They no longer looked exactly alike, but Emmet had been determined to fix that by growing his own beard. It was still rather short, and it looked like more of an inverse of Ingo's beard with Emmet's growing more to point up towards his mouth with Ingo's pointed down, but it sort of fit their "opposite yet matching" aesthetic.
"Emmet, any news on Rosie's parents?" Ingo asked.
"No, not yet. But we are still looking. I've also contacted the local police to see if maybe they're lost in the city somewhere," Emmet replied. "But I came to meet Rosie myself. I was curious."
Ingo nodded and watched as Emmet walked over and held out a hand to Rosie.
"I am Subway Boss Emmet! Ingo and I are twins. It is nice to meet you!" Rosie shook his hand and smiled shyly.
"I'm Rosie. It's nice to meet you too," she said.
"I promise we will find your parents," Emmet assured her. "Ingo was missing once too. For five years. And yet I still found him and brought him home!" Rosie turned to look at Ingo in shock.
"Five years?" she asked. Ingo nodded.
"Yes. A legendary Pokemon took me and sent me through time and space for some unknown reason. We suspect it was during a confused frenzy. That's where I got this bracelet," Ingo said as he motioned to his warden's bracelet. "But yes, if anyone can find your parents, it will be my brother and I."
"Thank you! Thank you Mr. Ingo and Mr. Emmet!" Both brothers tipped their caps and smiled as a "you're welcome".
"So, Ingo, I assume you will not be manning the Singles line until Rosie's parents are found, right?" Emmet asked.
"Correct. I will be staying with her to ensure her safety until then," Ingo confirmed. "Which also means I will not be there for any battles on the Multi line either."
"That's disappointing but understandable," Emmet said flatly. "I will continue to run the Doubles line for now and I'll make an announcement to any possible challengers about the Singles and Multi lines."
"Understood." With that, Emmet bowed slightly to Rosie.
"It was a pleasure meeting you, Rosie. You are in safe hands with my brother. I will continue to keep an eye out for your parents now."
"Thank you, Mr. Emmet. And it was nice meeting you too," Rosie said. With a smile and a tip of his hat, Emmet walked off.
"So, you're both Subway Bosses?" Rosie asked.
"Yes. Emmet and I were luckily both chosen for the position years ago because of how well we work together," Ingo replied. It also gave us the chance to create the Multi Battle train line as part of the Battle Subway. In a multi battle, both Emmet and I face against two opponents. It's a 2 vs 2 battle where everyone each has one Pokemon out at a time. It's challenging because you not only need to know how to work with your Pokemon to fight against an opponent, but you also need to know how to work with your partner against a pair of opponents. If you're not in sync with your partner, you will fail. And Emmet and I are very much in sync with each other. We rarely lose."
"Woah, that's so cool!" Rosie was practically bouncing in her seat. "I can't wait until I can get my first Pokemon! I'll have to come back and battle you when I'm older!"
"I look forward to that battle," Ingo said with chuckle. "So, do you have a certain type of Pokemon in mind for your starter?"
"I don't know. Hmm..." Rosie held a hand up to her chin in thought.
"Would you like to meet my first Pokemon? Maybe that will give you an idea of what you want from your starter." Rosie gasped and her face lit up.
"Yes please! Yes, yes, yes!" She bounced eagerly in her chair.
Ingo chuckled and took out a pokeball from a jacket pocket. He released Chandelure, who trilled happily, then turned to Rosie. She stared in shock and awe.
"This is Chandelure," Ingo said, a hint of pride in his voice. "My first Pokemon. I got her when she was just a Litwick. She's a ghost and fire type. Chandelure, this is Rosie. I'm keeping her company for the time being." Chandelure trilled and floated over to Rosie.
"Hi there. Um, I'm Rosie." Ingo could see that Rosie was a little nervous, so he gently took one of her hands and held it out towards Chandelure.
"It's alright, Miss Rosie. Just hold your hand out like this. When approaching any new Pokemon, you want to let them come to you. But holding your hand out like this can show them you mean no harm."
Rosie nodded and Chandelure floated closer to her. Gently, Rosie started to pet Chandelure's head. She smiled and Chandelure trilled contently.
"It's nice to meet you, Chandelure," Rosie said quietly. Chandelure nuzzled against Rosie's hand in response. Ingo smiled faintly.
"It seems like Chandelure likes you," Ingo said. Chandelure proved this by floating even closer to nuzzle against Rosie's chest. Rosie slowly wrapped her arms around Chandelure and softly pet the Pokemon.
For a while, they sat there quietly. Rosie just continued to pet Chandelure and Ingo sat beside them with a small smile. Soon, Chandelure started to fall asleep, so Ingo returned her to her pokeball.
"Bye Chandelure," Rosie whispered to the pokeball. "And thank you for showing me your Pokemon, Mr. Ingo."
"You're welcome, Miss Rosie," he said with a slight tip of his hat. "I'm always happy to show off my team, and to teach others more about any Pokemon they are unfamiliar with." Rosie nodded, then after a moment, she looked to the cabinet.
"Also, I ate my sandwich and my chips. Can I have a cookie now please?"
Ingo let out a small chuckle, then stood up to get out the cookie jar.
Hours passed, and still nothing. They spent most of their time in the break room, since it was quiet and away from any crowds. Towards dinnertime, Ingo prepared some ramen in the microwave for both of them. Depot agents came and went as the time went on, and none of them had any updates about Rosie's parents. Ingo was starting to worry. And poor little Rosie was starting to get tired.
Eventually, Ingo carried Rosie out of the break room. She was starting to doze off and there was no way she could spend the night in the subway. So he called Emmet to meet him at the platform where he first found Rosie.
It was close to 8:00 at night. The platform was nearly empty, except for a few depot agents, janitors, the few remaining passengers preparing to go home for the night, and Emmet.
"Still nothing?" Ingo asked as he approached his brother while carrying the dozing child. Emmet shook his head.
"No, nothing. The police are still searching the city, but they said tomorrow they'll expand their search past Nimbasa," Emmet explained.
"So, where do we take her? She needs a place to stay for the night," Ingo mused. "Would it be alright if I took her home?"
"I'll let Piers know about this," Emmet said as he pulled out his Xtransceiver. "I'll let him know about the situation, and maybe he can have the couch prepared for her by the time you get there."
"I have him prepare the couch for me," Ingo told him. "She can take my bed tonight. I don't mind a night on the couch."
"Hmm, fair enough." Emmet then started to type away on his Xtrans. "I'll stay here and finish the last of the night's safety checks. Go ahead and get Rosie home. I'll be there later tonight."
"Understood." The two brothers nodded to each other, then Ingo turned to leave as Emmet resumed typing.
As he walked, Rosie shifted a little in his arms. She clung tighter to him, most likely due to the chilly night air. Ingo picked up his pace.
"...Mr. Ingo? Where are we going?" Rosie asked sleepily.
"I am sorry to say that we have not found your parents yet, and it is getting very late. We are going to continue our search, but for tonight, you can stay with me. Is that alright?" She nodded and curled up closer to him. He tried to wrap his coat more around her as he walked.
They soon got home. Ingo didn't exactly have the time or the hands available to dig through his pockets for his keys to unlock the door, so he simply knocked. Piers, his brother-in-law, answered the door. As soon as he saw Rosie, he ushered Ingo inside.
"Emmet told me everything. Poor girl," Piers said quietly.
Marnie, Piers' sister, was setting up the couch with Ingo's pillow and a blanket.
"I have a spare nightgown that she can borrow," Marnie spoke up.
"Oh, thank you, Marnie." Ingo then turned to Rosie. "Miss Rosie, I hate to wake up, but we've arrived at our station. This is Piers and Marnie. We're all here to help you."
Rosie looked up and rubbed at her eyes. Piers waved and smiled to her. Marnie waved as well.
"Would you like to borrow one of my nightgowns?" Marnie asked. "I doubt sleeping in your regular clothes will be very comfortable." Rosie nodded and Ingo carefully set her down. Marnie then led Rosie to her bedroom to help her change.
"...She's been with you all day?" Piers asked once the girls were out of the room. Ingo nodded as he cracked his back.
"Since just after the lunch rush. Just before 2:00," Ingo replied. "We've searched the subway and the police have searched all of Nimbasa. Emmet made sure to have the police start to expand their search tomorrow."
"What kind of parents leave their child and don't think to come back for her," Piers mumbled bitterly. "I don't like the look of this one bit, mate."
"I know. I'm starting to worry. But we have to remain hopeful for Rosie's sake." Piers just nodded in response.
Soon enough, Marnie and Rosie came back out of Marnie's room. Rosie was now wearing a plain light pink nightgown, that was just a little too big for her. The one shoulder was dropping and it was awfully long on her, but it did the job as a pair of loaned pajamas.
"Miss Rosie, we have made arrangements for you to stay in my room for the night. I will sleep on the couch. Come, I'll show you where my room is." Rosie just nodded as she took Ingo's hand and waved to Marnie and Piers.
Ingo led her to his room and he flicked on the light. Rosie made a beeline for the bed as soon as she saw it. She laid down and almost immediately closed her eyes. She looked exhausted.
"Good night, Miss Rosie," Ingo said quietly. "And if you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to come get me."
"...Mm'kay...... night night, Mr. Ingo..." Rosie mumbled. Ingo smiled a little, then quickly grabbed his own pajamas, turned out the light, and left the room. He closed the door, leaving it open just a crack so some light could seep in from the hallway, then he went to the bathroom to change clothes and brush his teeth.
Once that was done, he walked back downstairs to the living room where Piers and Marnie were sitting.
"How's she doing?" Piers asked.
"She seems to be holding up well enough," Ingo replied tiredly. "I've been able to distract her and keep her entertained today, and as soon as she laid down in my bed, she was already starting to fall asleep. But I am worried about how she'll feel tomorrow, especially if we can't find her parents soon."
"How old is she?" Marnie asked.
"Only six years old," Ingo said with a sigh.
"I wonder how far her parents got before realizing she was missing," Piers mused.
"I don't know. I can only hope we find them soon."
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sovengardeswag · 1 year
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The Pines Files
After the events of Weirdmaggeddon, Dipper and Mabel are contacted by the SCP foundation and join the ranks. The adventure never ended, it just took a different turn. And now, years later, they're back to Gravity Falls, aka SCP-████. And it is up to them to investigate the ever-growing mystery behind the town and protect the most dangerous and important SCPs there are and face their past.
Chapter One: Deal With The Devil
Dr. Mason Pines stared at himself in the mirror, hands gripping the sink, and wondered what his life had become. Sure, he knew what he’d signed up for, but still. He hated this. The near constant testing, the things that went on in this place. The dark circles under his eyes were as bad as they had ever been, and he was pretty sure he had gray hairs. Working where he did could do that to a guy. Mason let the water drip from his face before getting some paper towels and drying himself off, leaving his birthmark exposed. It felt like just yesterday he was a little kid.
He and Mabel had only been thirteen when they’d been approached. It was any other September day. The air was turning colder, they had started to settle into their school routine, and they were walking home together as they always had. He was listening to her talk all about her art class, where she had drawn some bits of a fun dream she had, but made a few modifications of course. “Those colors aren’t really possible in pencil, ya know! So I made up for it by putting on lots of glitters! Ms. Walker said I had a lot of imagination! But she also told me I’ll probably have to tone it down for the style units. I don’t think I’ll need to though.”
He’d been nodding along as she talked, writing down a little bit in his pocket journal. He was listening of course, but he also needed to keep track of all of his own little discoveries and theories. However, he was quickly pulled out of both Mabel’s retelling of events and his writings when they turned a corner. Right there, at their house, was a black van, “Mabel. Mabel!” He tugged on her sweater sleeve a little bit.
“I wonder if I should start drawing-” she stopped dead when he pulled on her sleeves and brought her attention to that van. Her eyes widened as she looked at Dipper, “I thought Great Uncle Ford wiped all those government guys’ memories with the mind eraser thingy.”
Dipper gripped the straps of his backpack, telling Mabel, “Maybe it’s not them. Maybe Mom and Dad are working on with some clients.” But even back then, he knew that was just something he said to comfort his sister. “Come on, let’s just head inside. It’s not like we can avoid them forever.”
And so they walked into their house, Dipper calling out, “Mom? Dad? You guys home?” before the two dropped their backpacks and headed into the living room. And their parents were certainly there, but they weren’t the only ones. Sitting on the couch, drinking coffee, were two people. Both were men, one was wearing a suit, sunglasses, and an earpiece. The other was dressed in a sweater and khakis, staring at Waddles as the pot-bellied pig sniffed him.
Their mother waved them over, telling them, “Mabel, Dipper, your father and I were just talking about you and your great uncles to Agent Young and Dr. Gordon. About what happened last summer. They wanted to talk to you.” Her eyes darted between her children and the armed agent taking a sip of his coffee.
Before either twin could answer, Dr. Gordon was up, approaching the two children with a flashlight, their father telling him, “Hey wait! We told you our children aren’t anomalies or whatever! They’re just kids!”
As Dr. Gordon shined a light in Dipper’s ear, he retorted with, “Yes, I know what you said. But you never know with twins! Especially not after that incident.” He then turned off the flashlight and inspected Mabel’s eyes, holding one of them open. “Did you have any sugar today Miss Pines?”
“Y-yeah! I mean no! I mean- Why do you wanna know?” The poor girl was sweating already.
Dr. Grant, completely ignoring her terror, told her, “So that’s a yes.” He went to sit back down, the agent with him nodding towards the other couch. “Let’s get to business then. Have a seat. Your parents filled us in on the situation, but we want to hear from you two.”
“And what situation would that be, exactly?” Dipper was clenching and unclenching his fists. Not sure if he should run away or be honest as he headed onto the couch and sat down, Mabel fidgeting with her hands a little bit as she joined him.
The agent spoke this time, telling the two, “Well, our biggest concern is how you managed to stop an apocalypse-level threat at only twelve years old. And the other is the location of Stanford and Stanely Pines. We want all the details of what happened.”
Dipper, having learned to not trust government agents, asked, “Depends, why do you want to know? And who are you guys anyway?” Mabel was beckoning Waddles over, not wanting him too close to Dr. Gordon.
Agent Young put his coffee down on the table and looked directly at Dipper, telling him, “Smart kid, making sure you know who you’re dealing with. We’re not government if that’s what you’re wondering. We’re from an independent organization that tracks, studies, and contains anomalies. Your uncle, or, I suppose, uncles, have been on our radar for a long long time. And that incident you stopped, well, you wouldn’t expect that kind of work from civilians, let alone children. Minimal casualties, clean termination. Our question is how two preteens and a couple of madmen did that.”
Mabel spoke up, asking, “How do we know you’re not gonna take us to jail after this?”
Dr. Gordon told the kids, “You have our word. Also, Agent Young can give you his handcuffs.”
“What?”
“Just go with it, Young.”
Agent Young hesitated, but he handed his cuffs over to Mabel, who held onto them as if her life depended on it. “Ok, so, Bill possessed Blendin and told me he could make a time bubble to make summer last longer because me and Dipper had a fight and I didn’t wanna grow up so I gave him a weird globe thing that turned out to be a space rift so Dipper and our friends Wendy and Soos had to get me out of a prison Bill put me in and I realized growing up wouldn’t be so bad so we went back to the shack and met up with Grunkle Stan and some of our other friends and made the shack into a big mecha and went to attack Bill and save Great Uncle Ford though that didn’t stop him we got into his pyramid anyways and managed to distract him and Grunkle Stan and Ford came up with the idea to switch places cause they’re identical twins and Bill wouldn’t be able to tell the difference and once Bill went into Grunkle Stan’s mind Great Uncle Ford wiped his mind and that killed Bill and we had to fix Grunkle Stan’s memories and now they’re on a boat but we don’t know where!”
The agent and the scientist both blinked, Mabel finally taking a breath and still gripping those handcuffs with all the strength in her little hands. Agent Young looked to Dipper and asked, “Mind filling in the gaps, son?”
Dipper considered lying, he considered refusing to elaborate. He really did. But something told him they’d just find out. They found out where his family lived, they had known about Stan and Ford. How did he know that they wouldn’t just already know about what had happened? So, he told the truth, about Bill, Blendin, everything. He watched them nod along and his parents cringe at the messier details. He knew that they thought it was all imagination on Mabel’s end. He’d hoped it would stay like that.
Dr. Gordon had been writing this down the whole time and when Dipper was done, he closed his notebook. “That should finish up the incident report. Now, onto business. The big reason we’re here is that you managed to take down the threat. We had operatives in Gravity Falls at the time, and yet, you fixed it. And, as Young said, there weren’t any civilian casualties, aside from your uncle’s memories. However, your uncles are still responsible for all this. In normal circumstances, we’d be interrogating you for their location. However, seeing as they’ve left the site and are a minimal threat, we want to make you an offer.”
“When you kids are older, we want you to be a part of our foundation. We could use people like you on the payroll. And in exchange for your cooperation, we’d be willing to let your uncles go. We’d be willing to pay for your education on top of that, as long as it’s relevant to the foundation.”
Dipper squinted. They were offering… a job? To teenagers? “What’s the catch?”
“Smart kid. The catch is that once you take this offer, there’s no turning back. If you reject the offer or leave, we’ll have to arrest your uncles if we encounter them. We’d wipe your memory of not just us, but that whole summer. You would be completely safe, but it’ll be as if the summer never happened. And as if you never met your uncles. So, the choice is yours.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You’re telling me that my kids, who are thirteen, mind you, have to join your weird organization, or else you’re going to arrest our uncles? Do you know how insane that sounds? What makes you think you can blackmail them, anyway?” Dipper’s blood ran cold at that moment. He’d never heard his father swear like that before.
And then Mrs. Pines chimed in. “Alex is absolutely right, you’re not doing this to our kids! And we’re not just going to let you arrest my husband’s uncles either! He JUST got his uncle Ford back! Honestly, we should just call the police on you. I don’t care if you supposedly have authority, y-.” And then their parents went down, hitting the carpeted floor as the twins yelled out in horror, Waddles squealed. Agent Young was holding a gun.
“Relax, they’re not dead, they were hit with a sedative and amnestic. They’ll wake up and won’t remember a thing about us coming to your home.” And indeed. Their parents were still breathing. Instead of bullet holes, there were small darts. Only noticeable now that it was pointed out.
“W-why would you knock them out and make them forget?” Dipper’s voice cracked as he said it. Dr. Gordon pushed his glasses up, trying to lure Waddles out from his hiding spot under the couch.
“Simple, this isn’t their decision, it’s yours. You’re only thirteen, that much is true, but you’re also already thirteen. A lot of kids don’t get to live that long because of anomalies, like the ones you stopped. Some get to your age and end up suffering in ways you could never conceive of. Imagine what you can do when you’re eighteen, twenty-five, or thirty. The kids just like you who you’d save. Not to mention the huge favor you would be doing for your uncles. Wouldn’t it be nice to do them a favor? To save them the way they saved you?”
Mabel and Dipper looked at each other. These guys had a point. They couldn’t just let their uncles get arrested. And they certainly didn’t want to forget the summer. But, this was also a shadowy organization. Dipper knew that they were thinking the same thing. “Can we think on it a little bit? Before we make the decision?”
“Not overnight,” Young said, knowing exactly what they were thinking. “Your parents will wake up within the hour, so you have a little less than that to decide.”
To that, the twins got up from the couch, heading up to their room. Waddles came out from under the couch to follow them, though it was a tight squeeze for him. When they got to their room, Dipper set out to look for anything that looked bugged, and Mabel turned her stuffed animals away. “I don’t trust them, Dipper.”
“Yeah, neither do I! Mabel, they knocked out Mom and Dad! Honestly, how do we even know that they haven’t been poisoned?” He made sure the window was closed and checked the charge on his phone.
“Because they’d either have to kidnap us or deal with CPS?” Waddles had climbed up onto Mabel’s bed after she sat on it and she was scratching his ears.
“That’s a good point.” Dipper started to pace then, thinking over their options. “Obviously, we’re not gonna let them arrest Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford. But we can’t just do what they want! They’re weirdos!”
“Total weirdos.” "
But at the same time, that was the best summer of our lives! We can’t just forget that!” Mabel nodded along, watching Dipper pace ever more fretfully. “It’s like it’s a trap! Work for someplace we don’t even know about or let them ruin our lives!”
Mabel wasn’t sitting idly by as she pet Waddles, of course. As she watched the pig wiggle happily, she was having her own thoughts on the matter. Dipper’s verbalizations laying it out for her. “Maybe we can ask them to do stuff for us? Make sure they’re not evil?”
“You mean we should negotiate?” Dipper stopped his pacing and looked over at her. “
Yeah!” She slipped off her bed and headed to her drawer, pulling out some pink, strawberry-scented, lined paper and two gel pens. “We can tell them stuff we won’t do if we join them!”
“Of course! Mabel, you’re a genius!” He took a gel pen and a sheet of paper before he lay belly down on the floor. Mabel joined him, and they came up with negotiation points together.
It took 20 minutes total to think of everything they needed, and when they came downstairs, Agent Young had placed Mr. and Mrs. Pines on the couch and was currently trying to maneuver them. Probably trying to make it look like they had fallen asleep after a long day of coding and repairs. He was the one to notice that they each held a paper in their hands. “I suppose our terms weren’t enough for you?”
Dipper nodded, telling him, “We have a list of assurances, demands, that sort of thing. Just to make sure that we’re not gonna get black bagged and murdered by some weird agents. For all we know, your organization isn’t even real.”
Agent Young raised an eyebrow. “You’re not exactly in a position to make demands kid.”
“You’re the one who said we were valuable,” Dipper retorted. “And that means you want us working for you when we grow up more than you want to arrest our uncles.”
“He’s got you there,” Dr. Gordon pointed out. He was still sitting around. Not wanting to help his colleague with the heavy lifting. “Lay it on us kids.”
“First of all, we want to know exactly what you guys do and who you work for. We don’t even know who you are. For all we know, this is a trap from those government agents getting their memories back.” He passes his paper to Agent Young.
“And we want a promise that if we say no, you won’t get rid of our memories of our grunkles or the summer. We know you can get rid of only some memories. You can’t take the best summer of our lives, and it’s not like EVERYTHING that summer was weird,” Mabel added as she passed her own list of demands to Dr. Gordon. Their grunkles would at least appreciate knowing someone remembered them, especially after all that time they were ignored.
As the agent and the doctor looked over the negotiation points, they both knew the kids had a point. Dipper could see it in their faces. Agent Young told them, “We’re from the SCP foundation. It stands for Secure, Contain, Protect. We track down anomalies and capture them, keeping them from harming the populace. We work with governments but not for any government. We are beholden to no law enforcement agency. Essentially, we’re humanity’s best defense against the supernatural.” Dipper and Mabel listened to that explanation and it did not calm them down. Some weird secret foundation? A bad time all around. But they were smart kids. They kept quiet during the explanation.
“Alright then, let’s get down to business then, you’ll find our negotiation points are very clear.”
Both agent and Dr. looked at the lists properly and made the same face of confusion. “The right to maintain a supernatural Youtube channel?”
“No uniforms?”
“What kind of demands are these?”
“Simple ones. You guys are obviously a secret organization. You’re going to want to control our free time to make sure we don’t spill everything. I want assurance that you won’t shut me down if I do ghost hunting in my free time.”
“And I don’t wanna wear a uniform! I’ve never worn one before and I’m not gonna start just cause I’m working for a secret monster jail!” Gordon and Young thought for a moment.
“You can have your YouTube, but it’s gotta be fake or just things that the Foundation would never bother with.”
“The best I can do is to let you be able to customize your armor if you join the Mobile Task Force. Stickers, decals, that sort of thing.”
“And our summer?” Dipper crossed his arms.
“You’d really let your great uncles get arrested after making all these demands?”
“No, we just want to know that you won’t make us forget our own family if it turns out you're, like, super evil or something.”
The agent and the doctor looked at each other, clearly thinking the same thing as they looked back at the twins. “We can do this. The terms just need to be looked at by higher-ups.”
The twins nodded, those conditions were amenable. And after going over the rest of the negotiation points, it was settled.
“We’ll see you again in five years. Your parents will wake up and won’t remember a thing about us. I expect that you’ll want to tell your uncles, but I recommend that you avoid doing that. We don’t want those two on us.” And with that, both agent and doctor left, and the fates of the two children had been sealed. Because that’s what they had been, children.
Did they save the world? Sure they had, and now they had done it multiple times. But who makes two kids join an organization like this? Who threatens two kids into compliance like this? And then, there was a knock at the door.
“Dr. Pines, come back. The test next test is about to start.”
Mason groaned, and he grabbed a paper towel to dry his face. “Right, right.” And then, he left the bathroom. “Has the D-class been given 2107 yet?”
“Yes, he’s been given the variant.”
“Alright, let’s go then.” Just what he needed, to watch a man be haunted by category-10 ghosts that came from a can.
As he walked into the testing room and picked up his clipboard, Mason couldn’t help but sigh, his supervisor telling him, “Don’t be like that Pines, you’ve dealt with ghosts before.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he approached the two-way glass, watching as the D-class just sort of sat there. The diet ghost hasn’t set in yet it seemed. He wondered what took so long to test this new variant though. A “classic” flavor was bound to be stronger based on non-anomalous soda trends.
And then, it started, the guy got up and started looking around in confusion. Another scientist stated out loud for the recording, “15 minutes in, the subject has started to experience auditory hallucinations.”
The poor guy started to pace around, getting up from his chair and pacing, telling the ghost that was haunting him, “Shut up! Shut up!”
“The subject has started to show signs of distress, pacing, trying to make the voices stop.” Mason wondered where this D-class had come from. Was he a murderer? A political prisoner? He wrote down that the guy was getting scared.
And then, the real effects started to set in. The nearby video feed started to go out and the recording was starting to break, they were reliant on the two-way mirror now. “Electronics are now going out. The ghost is now affecting the subject’s surroundings.”
Did they really have to go to 270ml so fast? They had barely gotten the last guy out of the room by the time they got this guy in. And then, it started. The walls started to drip something before the flow got stronger and stronger. It was red. The guy screamed.
“The testing area has started to release a red liquid, tests will be run after the procedure is finished.”
Mason wrote down that the walls were bleeding. There was no way that wasn’t blood. This wasn’t a horror movie; that wasn’t red corn syrup. It certainly didn’t help that despite the lack of a microphone and the soundproofing, he could now hear the ghosts chanting, “Murderer, murderer, murderer!” He wrote that down. “The subject is now bleeding! I repeat the subject is now bleeding!”
From his eyes specifically, the man screamed in pain before he started to cough up blood as well. Guards began to move towards the door, knowing what was about to happen. Mason headed toward the drawer and got the ipecac. "Doctor Pines, what are you doing?"
The room was starting to look like The Shining. Blood was all over the floor from all walls. He strode right in with the agents, almost slipping on the floor as he went up to the D-class. “Come on, man, you’ve gotta take this.” He uncapped the syrup and tried to offer it to the D-class. But it was no use, as Mason tried to pour the liquid into the D-class's mouth, he just coughed up more blood, some even got on his face. There was no way they would be able to get the diet ghost out of his system. All they could do was watch, the agents taking out their mirrors in case they needed to catch the ghosts. But they found that when the D-class stopped coughing and his eyes stopped dripping, the walls stopped bleeding; the chant of “murderer,” stopped.
“The subject has expired, cause of death, blood loss. Take the day everyone.” Mason just knelt there for a bit before getting up, the body being dragged away. And to think he was having a bad day before this. He tried to wipe his face but just found that he smeared more blood on himself. Great.
He heard footsteps from behind as he got up, and heard his supervisor’s voice “Dr. Pines, you need to report to decontamination. D-57351 was due for his monthly blood test.” On top of the ghostly blood.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll go do that. Just give me a minute.” He turned to look at his supervisor. A short woman in her 50’s. Despite her height, she always had an air of intimidation to her.
“There was nothing you could have done. You know that right?”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just a lot. Didn’t expect to see a guy bleed out through his eyes and mouth.”
“Yes, well, you heard the ghosts. He wasn’t exactly a good person, don’t beat yourself over it.” She patted his shoulder, and he had to resist the urge to not let her touch him. At least he could go ahead and get clean before going home. Just as he was about to clock out though, there was a call over the Speakers. “Dr. Pines, report to Dr. Casper’s office. I repeat, report to Dr. Casper’s office.” He groaned and headed straight to there anyways.
Dr. Casper was a no-nonsense kind of woman, despite being head of spectral anomalies with a name like hers. Mason sometimes wondered if she got into ghosts because of her name or if it was a coincidence. She stopped her writing when he came in, her Newton’s cradle going clack clack clack on her desk. “Ah, Dr. Pines, you made it. Please, sit.” She gestured to one of the chairs.
As Mason sat down, he asked, “Is this about the incident with the test? I just followed the procedure. I thought he’d be able to drink the syrup, honest.” It wasn’t his fault the poor guy choked so much. “He would have expelled the diet ghost if it wasn’t for the choking-”
She raises her hand, telling him, “You’re not in trouble for that. We may not be short of D-class, but that’s no way for anyone to go. You did what procedure says you should and just couldn’t get it to work, that’s all. No, you’re here because I have an assignment for you.”
“An assignment?”
Dr. Casper nodded, telling him, “Yes. You see, I think you would benefit from some fieldwork. In the five years you’ve worked at the foundation, you’ve shown exceptional professionalism and excellent results. And in the two years you’ve worked in my department, you’ve been extremely diligent, handling ghosts about as well as people who’ve worked here for fifteen years. However, I don’t think you’re a good fit for lab work or this department.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not demoting you. Goodness no. I want you out there in the field. And I want you to focus on living anomalies. I’ve seen you run around in those videos you make, and your first incident report shows you have the quick thinking and the instincts to do more than work in just one area. Especially with your doctorate credentials.”
“Right, so, you’re saying I need to get out there and actually look for anomalies. ”
“Not exactly,” she folded her hands on top of her desk. “Look, I’ve read your contract, I know you’re not going to leave any time soon. But I want you to succeed, not just be held hostage like a D-class. As I said, you’ve already been approved.” She reached into her files and pulled out some forms. “All you need to do is agree.”
Mason looked them over, reading very carefully. You didn’t survive long in this industry without knowing exactly what you were getting into. His eyes widened once he realized what site he was sent to. Because it wasn’t just any site, it was an entire SCP. Codename: Weirdest Town In America. “You’re sending me to Gravity Falls?”
“I’m not. I’m guessing the director thought you’d do best there.” Mason thought he was being pranked at this point. This was too good to be true. But there it was. Dr. Casper’s signature was right on the line, and Dr. Bright’s signature was right on the line that said: “Director’s signature here.” And the handwriting indicating his transfer to Gravity Falls sure wasn’t in Dr. Casper’s.
“So I just sign here right?” Dr. Casper nodded and Dipper did not hesitate to sign his name. Dr. Mason Pines, Ph.D. in anomalies. He was going home.
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If you liked this fic, please check out my writing tag (Sam writes and sam's writing) here on tumblr. For author notes, please check the AO3 link in the reblogs. The hint for the code in this chapter is 0=space
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