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buckleymess · 2 years

Text

Glitter - Robin Buckley

Summary: Birthday sex with Robin. Follow-up to this small fic but you’ll be fine even without reading that one.

Warning: SMUT obviously

Words: 3,3k

Note: There are some errors in this one. I have not proofread it. It’s too late. I need sleep and needed to get this off my chest. Take it now or perhaps come back another day to see if it’s fixed. You do you.

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The hotel shower feels even smaller than what it seemed like from the outside and you can no longer blame her for opting to shower without you. You run your hands over your face as the water falls down on you. Robin brushes her teeth right behind the shower curtain and you can’t help but laugh a bit when the gargling noise she makes gets interrupted by choking.

“Are you alright?” You ask through the running water, tilting your head a bit to see her reflection in the mirror.

“Nearly drowned but I’ve never been better” Robin chirps right after and flashes you a toothy grin, showing off her pearls.

She hums out the melody of Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now while she waits for you to be done. “Fucking hell,” she suddenly exclaims, carefully checking herself in the mirror. “I’m never getting this thing off, am I? I could swear that I’ve tried to scrub it away but that shit just sticks to your skin like-... I still look as if a unicorn threw up on me or something.“

“That’s the price you pay for burying your chest in the cleavage of a person who goes by the name Glitter Jugs.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but when a 6’2, Amazonian goddess offers you a special type of hug. You do not say no. That would be just rude.”

“Stupid, too. I mean, you’ve seen her... that chest is going to follow me in my dreams ‘til the day I die. How did she make it look /that/ real is just behind me,” Robin rambles on while you chuckle.

“Follow you in your dreams, huh?” You repeat amusedly. “Good to know. Good to know.”

“Yeah. In my dreams,” Robin confirms simply. “In reality, all I need is about... this much.” She raises her hand for you to see it in the mirror. Her hands are curled up slightly as if she’s cupping an imaginary breast.

You just turn the water off when the same hand suddenly appears right next to you, searching for your chest.

A content ‘uh-huh’ leaves her mouth when she gets a good hold of you. “See. Fits right in. As long as I have my hands about this full, I am a happy woman,” she concludes. “How much longer are you going to take anyway? The TV in the bedroom is not working and waiting there just like that will be boring.”

You stop her from raising any further complains by pushing the curtain aside and coming face to face to with her again.

“Would you mind?”

Robin blinks at you a bit before her eyes go wide and reaches for your towel, passing it to you with a quiet apology. “Here you go, love.”

“I meant the hand on my boob, Rob.”

Almost as if she wants to make sure that her hand is /really/ there she gives it a little squeeze. A cheerful smile spreads on her face, and she nods her head. “Yeah, right.” She drops her hand down but she doesn’t turn her eyes away, simply watching you while you wrap the towel around your wet body. “I was just trying to prove my case.”

As you make your way out of the shower, she needs to step back a little until her back is pretty much pressed against the door.

Turns out she really wasn’t lying about the amount of glitter she had all around. The tiny silver pieces are still sparkling on her chest, neck and face. Some of them have fallen a bit lower to her shoulders and arms that were kept safe by her long sleeves earlier.

You can already tell that these are going to be a pain to deal with later, but it is still quite the sight for sore eyes.

She always is.

“I look like a fool, I know it.” She reads the silence and the lasting look the wrong way.

Shaking your head, you step forward to her, gently pulling on the bottom hem of her towel to get her closer to you. “Not even in the slightest, promise,” you hum out before kissing her. “This may as well be the thing that is going to follow /me/ in my dreams forever,” you giggle against her lips.

She locks her arms around your neck as she kisses you back and her body arches against you when you slip one hand under the towel. Your fingers now grazing the bare skin on her back.

“Luckily for you, I can get some glitter to brighten up your day any time. All you gotta do is ask.”

You grin at her and peck the tip of her nose. “I’ll keep that one in mind.” Letting go off her, you reach out to open the door, but Robin’s arms stay put. She just holds you, bright blue eyes examining your face up close as the two of you stumble back into the room, almost tripping over the doorstep.

Her laughter seems to fill the entire room, and you can’t help but join. The pain of your stubbed toe somehow disappearing when faced with her joyful expression. The morning is approaching and neither one of you has gotten any sleep in the last 24 hours, and yet she’s somehow beaming.

Step by step, you move further into the room together and after a couple of more steps you give in. Your arms wrap around her waist again and lets out a content sigh. “About time,” she comments, which prompts you to squeeze her a bit tighter before rocking her from side to side. Almost automatically, the playful rocking eases into a much gentler one and within the next couple of seconds you are pretty much just swaying on your feet.

As if there was not enough of dancing earlier tonight.

“Lookin’ in your eyes I see a paradise...,” you start out quietly, the corner of your mouth twitching a bit before she groans and throws her head back.

“Oh no, not this one. I can’t get it out of my head ever since we’ve left,” Robin complains dramatically.

“I figured that much, yeah,” you chuckle and then proceed to inform her that she had burnt the song into your brain as well when she was humming it out in the bathroom.

“I did not do that.” She argues resolutely but the longer you stare at each other, the more you see her confidence in that statement to break. “Whatever...,” she decides in the end, literally waving it away with one of her hands, only to start purring out the melody right after.

Getting do dance with her nice and proud in public was undoubtedly a fun experience, but private dances like these would always remain your favourite. No matter if they happened to the sound of music coming through the radio, or your girlfriend’s mouth.

Smiling faces just inches away from each other, curious soft hands holding, grazing and squeezing the other... Life really cannot get much better than this. You are sure of it.

At least until the moment when she turns around in your arms and pressed her back against yours. She leans back and kisses the corner of your mouth. “I’m so fucking lucky to have you.” Her voice is low when she says it and the words come out sounding raspier than they usually would.

You bow your head to kiss her neck. “I guess you really are,” you agree playfully, and she gasps, giving you a little nudge with her elbow.

“I feel pretty fucking happy to have you too, don’t you worry,” you mutter against her skin before you start kissing her again. Her skin feels so soft under your lips and your tongue. Your mouth leaves a small, glistening trail behind as you move your head to kiss other places, this time lower to her collarbone.

She leans into your body while your hands start to slowly slide down from her waist and over her lap to her thighs. You rub your thumbs over the hem of the towel for a while, just barely brushing against the bare skin that is below.

No one is dancing now. No one can be bothered by shifting their hips to the rhythm of a song that is no longer playing.

Finally, your hands dare to touch her under the towel slightly and Robin quickly drops her hands down to meet yours, encouraging you to venture even further up. You can hear her breathing turning heavier as you stroke her delicate inner-thighs under her guidance.

To your surprise, she starts to remove one of your hands from under the towel and begins to guide you all the way back up, this time even higher to her chest. You follow her wishes and squeeze her breast before you move your hand to the other. Her nipples are poking you through the fabric and you sigh into her skin.

While you glide your tongue over her neck, your fingers dig into the tissue of her thighs and her chest, and you can’t really stop your hips before they naturally push a bit forward.

Robin whimpers quietly and then grinds her back right against you. She flashes you a little smile when you glance up at her and your glances meet before her lips fall ever so slightly apart again.

She reaches her hand behind you; her fingers just barely brush over your towel before they fall down to your ass. There you can actually feel them as she grips on your asscheek and secures you in place, keeping you as close to her body as possible.

Out of nowhere, she drops the hand that was guiding you around her thighs too and instead pushes the towel up a bit. Just enough so that she can touch her clit. She moans right next to your ear and for a second you struggle to do much else than to just breath her intoxicating scent while your hips press against the other. Lightly, you run your hand up her thigh to replace hers.

“Fuck.” Her voice trembles as she speaks out, reacting to the pace that your fingers set on her.

Nipping at her skin, you make it up to her ear. The gentle kiss you place right below it doesn’t match the quick circles you are drawing on her clit, causing her to cry out. Your heart is racing in your chest, and you can feel that hers is the same way. Her breast rising heavily against your arm with every breath she takes.

Robin turns around in your arms slightly to be able to put her free hand to the back of your neck. She searches for your lips, eagerly kissing you in between the soft curses she lets out.

Her eyes pierce you with a glare when you suddenly stop, and she whines when you drag your fingers down over her wet slits. Her core feels so warm as you stroke her, her wetness generously covering your fingers so that you can slide them inside her with ease. She tenses slightly against you when you push them in. The kiss she was just leaning in for again being completely forgotten the moment your thumb finds her clit again. She attempts to move her ass against your front for a while longer but as you curl your fingers inside her, she simply can’t.

The hotel room that was filled with laughs and quiet pop tunes just a little while is now full of the obscene wet noise caused by your fingers buried deep inside her, luring her to cum. She moans right in front of your face, her eyes half-closed in ecstasy and her freckled cheeks burning red.

A delighted cry slips past her lips as you feel her walls tighten around your fingers. Her body collapsing into yours due to her shaking feet.

“You know I can’t take this when I’m standing up,” she breathes out heavily once the strong sensation passes over, closing her eyes for a moment.

You kiss her lips softly, smiling. “Seems to me like you took it just right.” Robin flashes you a smile in return. When you pull your hand out, you can feel her juices spilling out. Her eyes widen as you step away from her for a bit, your hands guiding her to turn around to face you completely.

A little smile is playing on your face as you get down on your knees in front of her. You pull down the towel that was already just barely hanging around her body anyway. It lands on the chair nearby and you look up at her when you move your head closer her thighs. You peck the front a few times before you kiss your way to her inner thighs, your hands running over her ass and the back of her thighs.

When you drag your tongue over her skin, licking of the mess that’s running her thigh, Robin moans above you. She tangles her long fingers in your hair and gasps when you flick your tongue over her cunt before you move to the other leg. Once they are both clean with just the trace of your saliva glistening on them, you place you tongue nice and flat on her soaked core.

“Oh my...,” she starts out but doesn’t finish her sentence as a heavy sigh forces its way out at the feeling of you dragging your tongue all over her slits, lapping at the wonderful wet heat. You moan out happily against her when she pushes her hips forwards slightly. Her clit rubs against your nose, and you realise how soaked you are yourself when she starts to grind her hips against you. You don’t stop her or try to direct her movements at all, allowing her to use you the way she wants and needs.

It is her birthday after all. Though she is not the only one who’s receiving quite the gift. You taste her and feel her all over your mouth and your tongue, and from where you are kneeling between her legs, looking up at her you do have the best view anyone could ever imagine.

Her thrusts turn more vigorous and her whimpers more desperate, informing you that her climax is near. When it actually comes, you feel her thighs tighten under your fingertips and you keep working your tongue all throughout her high.

You barely get to clean up your chin when she’s pulling you back up onto your feet a moment later.

She cups your face, gently stroking your cheeks with her thumbs before she leans forward and kisses you. There’s no way that she cannot taste herself in your mouth when her tongue slips past your lips, passionately rubbing against yours. Robin lets go off your face and takes the towel off from around your body, simply letting it fall down onto the floor before she pushes into you so that you have to step back, ushering you towards the bed.

The last kiss she gives you before pulling away is a gentle peck. She pokes her fingers into your chest, reminding you to sit down. As soon as you do, Robin is already sitting on your lap. One of her hands sneaks in between your legs and she smirks when feeling how wet you’ve become for her. She gathers some of it on her fingers and then looks at you when she raises them up to her mouth to get a taste of you yourself. It feels like even just the sight of this makes you spill out some more.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who’s been having a pretty good time,” she muses after sucking those fingers clean.

You begin to open your mouth to say something, but she stops you by pressing the same fingers against your lips. She strokes your bottom lip and then flicks it a little before she makes you lie back.

Your whole body feels like it is on fire and the moment when she moves to hover above you, you do forget to breath for a second. The ceiling light is right above her, making it look as if she’s wearing a halo and all the glitter only emphasizes the look of a possibly ethereal being. For all you know, she might as well could be.

Robin kisses your chest slowly, savouring and nipping at every inch of skin that she can. Her hands run over your stomach and your side so lightly that it almost tickles.

You feel silly for moaning out at someone so simple as that but after everything, even the feeling of her sucking on the sensitive skin near your nipple makes your head spin. When you look at her, one corner of her mouth is turned up into a smug smirk.

She licks her way to your other breast, gently pinching your skin when she gets to the centre. Some hair falls into her face and your quickly reach out to brush it away. She’s way too pretty to not be looked at. Especially when she circles her tongue around your nipple before taking it into her mouth, sucking on it hard and then pulling at it slightly with her teeth.

You run your hand over her back, nails digging into her skin when she sucks on your skin a bit too harsh. Not that you mind it. There’s nothing she could do right now that would leave you upset... You ache for her. Your heart is beating so loud that you can almost hear it in your ears.

Suddenly, without any type of warning, and just when you were expecting to suck on your breast again, Robin moves away. She moves lower and makes herself comfortable between your legs, peppering a bunch of kisses to your groin and your front. Some of the more innocent than the others. Now when she is so close, only inches away from where you need to feel her the most, the thrill seems almost unbearable.

“Please,” you speak out in a shaky voice, causing her to look up at you with a glint in her eye.

It is a good day though; she doesn’t tease you or make you beg. Instead, she dives right in. You gasp, your back lifting slightly off the mattress as her lips close around your clit. She sucks on it hard before releasing it and flicking her tongue over it just a few times. When she hums against your core, you can feel the vibrations almost all over your body. She licks over your lips, slowly dragging it over your pulsing heat before her tongue grazes your clit again.

“Oh, fuck,” you moan, and your hips involuntarily buck up into Robin’s mouth. The hands that were stroking over your thighs gently now get a proper grip on the flesh so that you cannot easily repeat the action again. If she wanted you to stay still though, she shouldn’t have allowed herself to groan into you the way she did. It only made you want to thrust against her more.

“Robin.” Her name doesn’t come out as anything more than a desperate whine. She doesn’t fully give in, but she gives you a bit more space to move all until the moment when your body freezes and you fall apart with her name and couple of curses on your lips.

When she looks up at you, her lips are glistening all because of you. The smile she sends you is so pure and angelic that it almost looks inappropriate given that she has your release all over her mouth and her chin.

She drops her head onto your thigh and keeps her eyes on you while you try to get your breathing in check again.

“You know that it’s not polite to cuss like that, right?” She comments playfully, referring back to the little hopeless outburst you had merely just a minute ago.

“Fuck off.”

#robin buckley smut #stranger things smut #robin buckley fic #robin buckley fanfic #robin buckley #stranger things fic #stranger things fanfic #robin buckley x reader

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bratzforchris · 8 months

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Heyo! I was wondering if you could do a piece about Micheal is reader’s little brother and reader has a crush on Ashton so Micheal has to like… help reader get up the courage to tell Ashton and he also kinda plays matchmaker. Idk if that makes sense but feel free to ignore this! Take care!

<33

Cupid

❃

Summary: Above

Pairing: Ashton x feminine reader+younger brother!Michael

Warnings: Slight cursing

Word Count: 903

A/N: Thank you for the request!

❃

You sighed, peering through the window into the room where the after-school music club was currently meeting. Your younger brother, Michael, was in the club, but that wasn’t the reason you were here. You smiled as you watched the drummer, banging away a hearty tune.

You’d had a crush on Ashton ever since he had come over to your house with Michael after school. He was beyond sweet and had always talked kindly to you, but you were unsure if he liked you the way you liked him. The honey-blond was currently a senior, while you were a junior and Michael was a sophomore. Sometimes you wondered if Ashton came over to see you, but then would quickly shake the thought from your mind, knowing it was just so he could take your younger brother under his wing.

You jumped back quickly when the door opened, straightening yourself out like you hadn’t been spying.

“Hey Y/N. What are you doing here?” Michael asked, coming out of the room and swinging his backpack over his shoulder nonchalantly.

“Uhhh….nothing. Just waiting for you.” You tried to say casually, ignoring the way your cheeks were flaming.

“You never wait for me?” Your brother questioned, sweeping his currently-blue-fringe out of his eyes.

“Well. Today I did.” You huffed, watching the door to see if Ashton would come out.

Sure enough, the drummer trotted through the door, giggling at something one of the senior girls had said and your heart sank. You knew Ashton probably already had a girlfriend. He was way too kind to not have one. Those thoughts were banished from your mind, though, when he turned to you and Michael.

“Bye Michael! Bye Y/N!” he said cheerfully, swinging his keys around his finger and walking towards the exit doors.

It hadn’t been much, but he had still acknowledged you. You couldn’t help the smile that made its way onto your face as you thought about what it would be like to hold Ashton and have him hug you and maybe kiss him.

“Oh, you so like him.” Michael snorted, looking up from his phone.

“I do not, you butt!” You protested, pushing his shoulder slightly.

“Then why do you look like a fucking unicorn just threw up on you?” he asked, texting someone.

“Ugh,” You groaned. “Whatever. If you want a ride you better hurry.” You told him, speed walking to the parking lot.

Truth was, you were hoping Ashton hadn’t left yet, but you’d never let Michael know that. He already had enough blackmail on you from the two-minute interaction, no need to give him more. The empty lot proved that the honey-blond had already left and your heart sank. You simply unlocked the doors to your white SUV and got in on the driver’s side.

“...you know I can help you if you really like him?” Michael asked quietly, getting into the passenger side as you started the car.

“How are you going to help?” You asked skeptically as you pulled out of the parking lot.

“I dunno. I can talk to him?”

You looked over at Michael, wondering what his ulterior motives were. “You’d do that?”

“I mean obviously I won’t tell him ‘my sister has a fat crush on you’, but yeah. I’d talk to him.” Michael snorted.

“If I find out this is some sort of prank, you’re dead.” You said with a hint of joke to your voice.

“I promise, it’s not,” Michael said earnestly. “Now leave me alone, I’m going to play Call of Duty.” he hopped out of the car and began to walk inside.

You continued to sit in the car for a few moments, letting it idle. Was Michael really going to play matchmaker for you? You sighed and tried to push all thoughts of Ashton out of your mind, heading inside to start your homework.

Sure enough, Michael followed through with his word. You were laying in bed, watching Netflix when your phone pinged. Your heart nearly jumped out of your chest when you saw a DM from @ashtonirwin94.

ash: hey you :)

you: hi ash, what’s up?

ash: nothing much…

ash: would you wanna go get lunch tmrw?

You held your phone to your chest and nearly squealed. Ashton was asking you out? There was no way this was real. Not wanting to leave him on seen for too long, but also not wanting to say yes right away, you crept across the hall to Michael’s room.

“Mike?” You asked, knocking the door.

“Yeah?” he called out.

“Did you tell Ashton to ask me out?”

“No?” Michael opened the door, an astonished look on his face. “I just told him he should talk to you because you both like music and all that weird hippie-dippy shit.” he laughed.

You squealed, your cheeks turning pink. “You’re the best brother ever!” You smiled, wrapping your arms around his torso.

Even though Michael was younger than you, he was already almost a foot taller at 6 '2”, compared to tiny, 5' 3” frame. Sometimes it sucked, but it kind of felt awesome, especially right now.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll remember those words next time I eat the last of those pizza rolls.” he told you, slipping his headphones back on and going back to his PC.

You smiled as you walked back to your room, typing out a text message.

you: i’d love to<3

⌗

➜ taglist: @lukesbolts @thatmarvelgirly

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michelleleewise · 2 years

Note

Hi unicorn, if you're still taking requests....how about Loki finding out reader is pregnant after she is acting all weird sick, hormonal, confusing Loki...but then it's like surprise! Preggo. And super happy fluff?!

Your wish is my command 😁😁💚💔🦄🦄 thank you for the request!! I hope you like it!!

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Surprise

Pairing: Loki x female reader

Warnings: mentions of pregnancy, morning sickness, nausea, raging hormones, all the fluff, worried Loki

Summary: you've felt sick for days, not sure if you were coming down with something, you decided to go to the doctor.....

You opened your eyes, stretching from your long night with Loki as a wave of nausea hit you. You sat up, taking deep breaths as Loki shifted next to you "you alright love?" He asked rubbing your back. You went to say something, but threw your hand over your mouth, sprinting to the bathroom, making it just in time as your stomach emptied. "Darling, what's wrong?" You heard Loki ask urgently as he came in, grabbing your hair holding it back. "I....I don't know, I just feel so sick." You sighed as your head lulled.

"You will spend today in bed, I'll take care of you love." He said rubbing your back. "But Loki i.." You stared "No buts, bed....now." he said sternly helping you brush your teeth before carrying you back to bed. "I'll go make you some soup, I'll be right back." He said kissing your forehead. He spent the day waiting on you hand and foot, anything you needed, he got it. You adored how attentive he was. "Loki, you don't need to do all this." You said as he carried you to the bathroom. "Nonsense love, I want to care for you." He smiled as he set you on the counter running you a bath.

A few days later, you hadn't improved, and Loki grew more worried. You started getting sick after every meal, not able to hold anything down. "Darling, I think you should see a doctor." He said pushing your hair back "I told you I'm fine." You snapped as his eyes went wide "Oh god, I'm sorry Loki, I didn't mean to." You said as you started crying, unable to control your emotions. "Shh it's ok, I know you don't feel good. I understand " He said wrapping you in a hug.

"No, its not ok, I shouldn't treat you like that, you deserve so much better." You sniffles into his chest. "No y/n, you are everything I've ever hoped for, I love and adore you, I know you did not mean it." He said rocking you back and forth as your tears strained his shirt "aahh and now I've made a mess of your shirt, what is wrong with me." You said still sobbing. "Darling it's fine, I swear, it's just a shirt." He said smiling. "I think I do need to see a doctor Loki." You said looking into his eyes. "Whatever you wish love." Be cupped your cheek kissing your forehead.

He stood to help you change into your pajamas, going to unclasp your bra "ouch, that hurts." You said pulling away "what, what did I do? Did I hurt you?" He asked as his eyes widened, hands hovering over you. "No, it wasn't you, its...they hurt." You whispered. "What hurts. Tell me where." He said watching you as you motioned around your breasts. He stood looking confused "h....how do they hurt?" He asked "I'm not sure, but when you pressed on them it hurt." You sighed rubbing your chest. "Im sorry love, I didn't mean to..." he started "I know Loki, it's fine. Hopefully the doctor can tell me what's going on." You rubbed your head as Loki sat next to you.

You woke the next morning, running to the bathroom like you had the last week. "God I'm sick of this." You sighed, feeling Loki's chilled hands on your shoulders "Any better love?" He asked kneading your shoulders "no, not really." You replied as he helped you up. You heard his phone go off as he pulled it out of his pocket "apparently there is a mandatory meeting at the tower." He said putting his phone away. "Well you better go then." You said leaning on him. "But what of your appointment, I need to be there." He said rubbing your arms. "Loki, dear I love you but I'll be fine, go. I'll call you if I need you." You smiled kissing him. "Are you certain, I can tell stark to.." he started as you put a finger over his lips. "Loki, it's ok. I promise I'll call." You smiled at him.

You sat in the room anxiously waiting for your test results as you head a knock. "Hey, we got everything back. So how long have you been feeling like this?" He asked looking over his notes "about a week, or so." You said watching him. "Well, congratulations are in order, you ma'am are expecting." He said smiling. You sat there staring at him "im.....what?" You whispered "your pregnant, seems about 2 months along actually based on your symptoms, but I'd like to do an ultrasound to make sure." He said. "O...ok" You said as he opened the door, having you follow him.

You ran to the store before heading home, knowing exactly you wanted to get. You were still pretty wore out so you ordered dinner, setting the table as Loki ran into the house "Darling, where are you!?" He half yelled "In the kitchen." You called out as he rushed in "I'm so sorry, the meeting took forever, Roger's wouldn't shut up, how are you feeling, what did the doctor say? Are you ok?" He rushed out as you hugged him, squeezing him tightly. "Loki, sit down dear." You said pulling back.

"Is it bad? Are you.." he started when you held your hand up "stop, please. I'm fine. Im....more then fine." You smiled grabbing the small green box you purchased. You sat across from him, grabbing his hand "Loki, I absolutely adore you, everything you do for me, you are a blessing. No one has ever made me happier, I love you so much." You smiled as his eyes softened "you are my whole world love, I love you more then anything in all the realms." He said rubbing your hand. "Here, I got you something." You smiled handing it to him. "What's this?" He asked looking at it. "Open it, you'll see." You smiled as he slowly lifted the lid, staring inside.

"Darling.....is this......are you....." he stuttered still looking in the box. "Surprise." You said waving your hands "im.....I'm going to be a father." He said, picking up the green booties from the box, seeing a tear fallfrom his eye. "Yes, Loki, you are." You smiled as he looked up at you, his eyes red. He set the box down, walking over to you, pulling your chair out before kneeling down hugging your middle, his head laying on your chest. "Are you happy dear?" You asked stroking his hair. You heard him sniffle as he looked up at you "I've never in my thousand years been happier then this moment. You are my every dream come true love." He said leaning up kissing you.

He laid his head back on your chest, rocking back and forth as you ran your fingers through his hair. "Darling, there was something i wanted to ask you." He said pulling back wiping his face. "Yes Loki?" You asked watching him as he pulled a little black box out of his pocket. "I've been trying to find the courage for some time, but....y/n.." he said looking up at you "will you be my wife?" He asked, opening the box, seeing an emerald ring with diamonds around it. "Oh my God Loki.." you covered your mouth, your own tears falling "Yes, a million times yes!!" You said, holding your hand out as he slipped the ring on, going to hug your middle again "you've me the happiest man in all the realms my love" he whispered as he held you. "Not as happy as you have made me Loki." You smiled.

💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚

@vbecker10 @lokisninerealms @lokiprompts @commanding-officer

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all-too-ric3 · 2 years

Note

hi! can you write 22 and 25 with daniel richard please 🥺

Delayed lovers.

Warnings: Curse words, pure fluff, delays (‘cause that’s a TOC of mine and I consider it a warning)

Summary: Working with Daniel was incredibly fun until an interviewer starts messing with your schedule, but fixes your love live, which makes it not that bad.

Word count: 1.205

Prompts: 22. “Can you say that again?” “Were you not listening?” “No I was, I just like hearing your voice.” - 25. “You know, I think my parents would be proud if I brought you home.”

Don’t forget to share, like and leave feedback. I do not authorise my writing being published on any other platform.

“What do you mean you have to do the interview later? We have a busy schedule today, stop playing with us!”. Being Daniel’s PA and media manager wasn’t easy at all, too many calls, too many paps, too much gossiping. Just like that time the internet spread the news of Daniel’s wild parties and him trashing the whole hotel floor, I mean, he can be chaotic, I cannot deny, but trashing the whole floor? Completely not true, only his and Lando’s room, but we already dealt with it or all of those rumours of him retiring, completely not true and it created an incredibly huge chaos in his fan base.

“The interviewer is running late, she cann-” the man started saying. “Running late? Do you think that’s a valid excuse for you to come up with?” I said angrily. Daniel is already getting ready for the interview and now this man’s telling me we have to postpone the interview, the nerve!

“I’ll see what I can do” he said, a bit scared of my small outburst. “Please, I know it’s not your fault, but put yourself in my position” I said with calm trying to get him to understand we don't have more time. “I know, I apologise, give me a couple minutes”

As he walked away I went to check on Daniel, as i open the door I see him , his back to the door, completely bare, and that’s surely one of the perks of working with Daniel, easy to the eye, among others of course, and definitely not the continuous flirting between us, definitely not that one.

Because to be honest, I don’t like thinking about it, I just… go with the flow I guess, I go with the flow when he kisses me, or when we cuddle, or when we’re too drunk to dance like decent human beings, but it isn't serious at all, just playful flirting, right? My feelings for him are just camaraderie, butterflies? Nah, just an old slice of pizza I found in my fridge that made my tummy turn, right?... Right?

“Can I come in?” I said, peeking my head through the door. “I know I’m taking too long to get ready but, which shirt? Funky flowers or unicorn vomit?” He said, showing me two colourful shirts, totally his style. “About that… there’s no hurry, interviewer is running late”

I walked to the small couch and moved the mountain of clothing he had on it. “So should I stay shirtless? My whole tits out for you to see?” He said standing in front of me. “There’s nothing to see to be honest, you’re too lanky to consider that as tits” I said trying to push him away but failing completely as he threw himself over me and squeezed my head with his chest.

As the laughter stopped and we regained our breath a bit he laid on top of me, “Get off of me!” I screamed while pushing him away but he was stronger and pulled me with him, now I’m laying on his bare chest, listening closely to his heartbeat. “This delay with the interviewer stressed the shit out of me!...” I started rambling about our schedule and the meeting I have to go to with possible new sponsors. “Do you actually like those shoes? Be honest please, because if you do, I’ll work extra hard to get the deal with them, but if you think it’s not worth it, I’ll be happy with whatever result we get” I waited a couple seconds for his answer but didn’t get one, i looked up at him and found him already looking at me. “Can you say that again, babygirl?” he said and smirked when he saw me blushing at his new pet name, “Were you not listening, Dan?” I said with fake anger. “No, I was, I just like hearing your voice”

My head was now buried between his shoulder and neck, my cheeks burning with embarrassment and my tummy turning and I’m starting to think it isn't because of an old slice of pizza and more because of those so called butterflies. “Dan, please”

“You know, I think my parents would be proud if I brought you home” he said and i couldn’t hide for any longer, my eyes now staring at his. “Don’t say that kind of thing!” I said and caress his cheek, he closed his eyes at my touch and continued, “I mean it, they always told me I need to find a responsible woman, that can stand up for herself, that loves me even when I’m being a pain in the ass” we laughed at that part and he turned his head a bit to kiss my palm, “Besides, you’re gorgeous Y/N, I know you don’t understand it, you think so little of yourself sometimes, you doubt about your abilities and your knowledge, you go around joking about your height but that hurts you, sometimes you can be your own enemy” He said grabbing my face between both hands, “If only you can see yourself as I see you, you’d fall in love as hard as I did”. WHAT DID HE SAID?

I sat up quickly and froze for a couple seconds, do I love him too? I mean, when I’m with him, there’s nowhere I’d rather be, and when we’re away, I cannot stop thinking about him. Is that love? It surely feels like it sometimes, like when we kiss, or when we joke around, or when we just lay down in silence. Yup, that's how my mom told me love felt like.

“Dan, at this point, I don’t even see this as a job, working with you is incredible and it feels so natural, but I cannot deny my heart is aching for more” He sat up too and looked straight into my eyes. “Let me give it to you, I’d give up everything I have achieved for you to give me a chance”, I closed the gap between us and said “I’ll never ask you for something like that, nothing makes me happier than seeing you achieve your dreams”, he gave me a small peck of the nose, “Be mine? be mine and you won’t regret it, be mine and I promise I’ll love you until my dying day” I nodded and our noses touched “I’ll be yours in this life and the next one” and I closed the gap between us, our lips collided in a kiss I’ve never experienced, his hand pulling me by the waist and my hands tangled in his hair.

“The interviewer has arr… sorry” the media coordinator burst through the door and left as quickly as he came in. “I’ve never been more grateful with a delayed interview” he said and I hummed and nodded, going back into our kiss. We already waited for them for a while, then can wait for us a bit.

#daniel ricciardo fluff #daniel ricciardo #dr3 x reader #dr3 #mclaren f1 #f1 one shot #f1 fluff

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queen-of-writing-bad-things · 3 months

Text

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 3

Episode 1: A Fiñata Full of Death Bugs

~The Man Cave~

So, the secret was out. Jasper knew about Henry being Kid Danger and reluctantly, Ray had agreed to take the kid under his wing as yet another helper in his store and secret hideout. Honestly, he needed to stop taking children into his employment, the place was starting to be so crowded.

It also didn't help that Jasper was the latest addition. He was a sweet boy, who'd never hurt a fly, but he was clumsy, a blabbermouth and let's face it, a bit annoying and weird at times. Henry wasn't worried and neither was (y/n), they knew he'd be fine, a little excitable at first, but fine. However, the same couldn't be said for Ray, who was frantically pacing a groove into the Man Cave's floor the next morning.

"I don't know about this, man, I dunno." He panicked, making Henry and (y/n) roll their eyes at him as they watched him from the couch. The young woman was still in her pyjamas, having wanted to stay comfy for the first part of Saturday and was happily munching her cereal as Ray worked himself up over the Jasper predicament.

"Come on, it's gonna be great," Henry told him, not seeing what the big deal was.

"Yeah, everything's gonna be fine." (y/n) shrugged, seeing that Ray was in one of his drama-queen fits again. If he got out of hand, she'd be the one to say some soothing words and cuddle him until he smiled again, but for now, it was best to just ride the wave.

"Oh, that's exactly what you said when you talked me into eating one of those women's energy bars. Then I couldn't stop reading books about princesses!" The large man pouted, not liking how Henry and (y/n) smirked at the memory. It was pretty funny to see such a muscly guy reading about Princess Sugarplum and her rainbow unicorn magic land.

"Dude, I've known Jasper my whole life." The boy told him, but it didn't calm his boss down.

"That does not mean he's qualified to have a job here!" Ray pointed out, thinking that you needed special skills and references or some shit to work for him.

"Ray, you hired me when I was twenty. I didn't exactly have qualifications, apart from my degree. Literally, no life experience." (y/n) gave him her annoyed face and he backed off. He hated and loved when she was right.

"Dah!" He groaned, not liking how his morning was going. Maybe Charlotte's enthusiasm could cheer him up.

"Happy Saturday morning!" She smiled at her friends after coming down the tube with a grin on her face. Well, she was certainly full of beans.

"Yo." Henry returned her smile, glad to see that Ray was the only one freaking out about having Jasper around now.

"Hey, Char." (y/n) greeted warmly as she scooped the last of her cereal from the milk in her bowl. She'd have to get dressed soon, but she could wait a little longer.

"Maybe you're happy," Ray grumbled, walking past the young girl to lean on the couch with his back turned on his friends. He was such a child sometimes.

"Char, will you tell Ray that Jasper working at Junk-N-Stuff isn't gonna be a problem?" Henry asked his friend, who usually was another voice of reason around the Man. Cave, but it seemed like she was sceptical of Jasper's abilities to stay calm and collected too.

"I can't tell lies before breakfast." She shrugged and sauntered over to the auto-snacker so she could get some food. Ray was glad that someone was seeing sense, but Henry was about to ruin his mood again.

"Here ya go." The boy said and held out a candy bar for Ray to eat.

"What's this?" He asked, reading the scientific nonsense printed on the packaging. Something about protein or micronutrients and he was so busy deciphering the mumbo-jumbo, he didn't see (y/n) snickering as she slurped the honeyed milk left from her breakfast.

"Lady bar." Henry deadpanned and milk erupted from (y/n)'s mouth as Ray shrieked and threw it away in terror. He looked at her with an expression of playful betrayal as she dabbed the milk away from around her mouth and shared a smirk with Henry. She was so beautiful like this; no makeup, no one to please, just her as natural as she could be, laughing and joking around with his beloved sidekick. It managed to melt some of his apprehension away as he admired the delightfully innocent scene.

"Scrambled eggs," Charlotte instructed the auto-snacker, wanting to get some food into her growling belly.

"Ew, I can't believe you like those." (y/n) grumbled to the girl as she overheard her order. She much preferred her cereal to start her day, probably because it didn't smell gross like scrambled eggs.

"Oh, he's here." Henry's announcement drew everyone's focus away from Charlotte's eggs for a moment and they all looked at the supercomputer. The monitor showed that Jasper was waiting outside Junk-N-Stuff's door and Ray groaned loudly. As (y/n) snuggled into his side last night (insomnia had put her there, would you believe it), he had been praying for Jasper to suddenly change his mind or magically forget about Henry being his sidekick, but his wishes hadn't come true.

"Hey, what's up?" Henry pressed the button that connected the computer's microphone to the speaker outside the store and Jasper smiled brightly. Ray frowned at the sight of the boy and (y/n) came over from her cosy spot on the couch to see what all the fuss was about.

"Hey! Jasper Dunlop, here to see Captain Man and Kid Danger!" Jasper saluted his new boss, who blanched at his loud tone and quickly cut the link before the whole neighbourhood heard his yapping.

"Shhhhh!" Henry tried to quieten him down, but it was too late; Ray's feathers were ruffled.

"Did ya hear that? He's gonna blab all our secrets to the whole world!" He squeaked at Henry and (y/n), both of whom had to admit that Jasper had messed up there, but he'd only been at work for three seconds, they had to give him a chance.

"No, not after we show him our video," Henry said calmly, taking (y/n)'s advice that to deal with an overreacting Ray, you had to be the calm one. Henry didn't have her feminine qualities to help him win over Ray, but he could definitely be cool-headed.

"It's probably just first day nerves and excitement coming through. Give him a chance, Raymond." (y/n) stepped forward and loving rubbed her palms against his chest in a soothing manner, which was her special technique to get him to let go of his anger. It had taken a few years to suss out, but it was a good method and one that Ray enjoyed more than he let on.

"Fine. Just get him down here, get him down here." Ray caved and sent Henry off to collect Jasper from the store so he could show him the way into the Man Cave.

"Hey, I think something's wrong with the auto-snacker," Charlotte commented to the adults as Henry disappeared into the elevator.

"Oh, god, not again. What's the problem?" (y/n) asked as Ray grumbled. More problems? Typical, like his day could get any worse.

"I ordered scrambled eggs and I'm still standin' here, eggless," Charlotte told her, but Ray wasn't up for solving anyone else's issues, just his own.

"Well, I'm stressed out! I need my wireless headphones." He replied and turned around to grab them so he could block out the world and all the annoying teenage boys it brought into his home.

"What about the...scrambled eggs! Eggs-o-day scramble-dee-oh-so!" Charlotte gave up trying to get help from Ray and thumped the machine for her food. Geez, she was starving and she just wanted one plate of eggs. Was that too much to ask?

"Mashed potatoes." The automated voice returned, making Charlotte frown.

"What did I say that sounded anything like mashed potatoes? (y/n), help meeee!" She whined and turned to the young woman for assistance. She knew about electronics and circuit board stuff, maybe she could get her some eggs.

"Ray, can you come help---ah!" She was taken by surprise as her best friend grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into a bone-crushing embrace. She fell into his crossed-legged lap and instinctively snuggled against him as he caged her in and refused to let go.

"I'm sorry, I need to listen to my meditation music and hug my best friend and calm down my inner parts." Ray panted in hyperventilation and swiftly shoved his headphones over his ears and held (y/n) to his chest.

"Aw, poor baby." (y/n)'s bottom lip quivered at how worried he looked and immediately set about doing everything she could to soothe his nerves. She had no idea he was this stressed and she stroked small patterns onto his skin with her pointer finger. He felt his anxiety smooth out as he let the soft music and the sensation of having the essence of his girl carry him off to his happy place.

"Ugh, useless...Ooh, here we go. " Charlotte groaned when she saw them shut out the world just so they could get some cuddle time in. No matter, she could figure this out herself and things were going well as the snack machine's hatch opened.

"Sweet girl, oh my god, I'm freaking out," Ray mumbled in a chanting voice as he pressed his lips to her head, hoping the fruity, familiar scent of her shampoo would ground him.

"Just relax, I'm here." She whispered and brushed her hand over his eyes so they would flutter shut. She just needed him to stay calm, so she ran her fingers through his floppy brown hair in an attempt to do so.

"All right, where are my scrambled eggs?" Charlotte pondered and foolishly stuck her head in the machine to see if she could yank them out. As expected, it didn't go to plan.

"Om--maha is not the capital of Nebraska." Ray carried on chanting, silently loving the way his girl was fawning over him. He always had her to help him through the bad times and now, his spine was tingling from the way fingers ignited his skin and her warm breath tingled against his neck.

"Get me out of here!" Neither of them saw how Charlotte had been sucked into the auto-snacker as her screams for help were drowned out by Ray's music and (y/n) had dozed off when the warmth of Ray's body seeped through her thin pyjamas and lulled her to sleep.

"Ommm...Masaki is when you let your sushi chef choose your sushi for you." Ray continued to say random facts to himself as he cradled the young woman in his arms and the sound of his voice blocked out Charlotte's shouting. He was more than happy to let her sleep in his arms and to see her peaceful face was the most soothing thing she could've given him.

~Meanwhile, in Junk-N-Stuff~

Henry had welcomed Jasper into the store and the boy was full of enthusiasm for his first day working as Captain Man's secret assistant. This was his dream come true and he was adamant that he was gonna make a good start.

"Why are you wearing a tie?" Henry asked as he noticed Jasper's unusually formal outfit. All he would be doing was serving customers in a junk store, he didn't need to look so fancy.

"Oh, 'cause it's my first day at work and I wanna make a good impression." The curly-haired boy explained, but Henry knew that he didn't need to put in so much effort. Ray was a stickler for formality, in fact, he kinda loved being goofy.

"Take off the tie," Henry instructed him and Jasper stroked the material sadly. He thought it looked rather dashing. Still, he followed after Henry and the two friends walked into the back together so they could take the elevator.

"Whoa, the back room." Jasper gasped at the unfamiliar territory, even though it wasn't that cool. It was just another front full of junk that kept the real wonder down below a secret.

"Uh-huh." Henry just nodded and stepped into the elevator, wanting to see the real surprise on Jasper's face when he saw the Man Cave.

"Now, uh...don't get scared." He warned him as he pressed the button. Everyone's first trip in that damn elevator was hell and it was certain that it would leave Jasper shaken.

"Dude, this ain't my first elevator ride." He shrugged, thinking that it couldn't be that bad. Oh, how wrong he was. As soon as the bottom was released from Henry's finger, the elevator dropped, making Jasper scream in terror as he felt his body go weightless. Henry, on the other hand, was perfectly cool and collected as he had had nearly two years to get used to the roughness of the trip down. They landed with a bump and the door slid open to reveal that Jasper was clutching Henry's leg for dear life.

"Oh." He realised that his brush with death was over and he quickly got to his feet before anyone else saw how scared he had been.

"Okay, I got him," Henry told Ray, who had gotten over his anxiety enough to release (y/n) from his arms and let her go get dressed. He was waiting for her to get back and in the meantime, was bringing the floating TV down from the ceiling.

"Hey, boss!" Jasper smiled brightly, feeling so proud that he was standing in the actual, real-life Man Cave and was reporting for duty to the Captain Man.

"Good morning, Jasper," Ray replied in a strained voice. God, his cheeriness was annoying.

"Guess what I'm wearing." The boy said happily, not realising that he was grinding down Ray's gears.

"A goofy tie?" The large man guessed, praying that his girl would hurry up and talk to the kid so he didn't have to. She was so much better at being nice to everyone than he was and it was probably why they fit so well together.

"No, what I'm wearing down here." Jasper pointed to his pants and everyone could guess what he was referring to.

"Okay." Henry cringed, wishing that Jasper could have said anything but that, especially to Ray and on his first day.

"Son, I uh...don't wanna know--" Ray tried to say that he didn't want to see anything like that from Jasper, but it was too late.

"Captain Manderpants!" Oh god. The sight of Jasper's underwear was too much for Ray and the knowledge that the kid was walking around with his face in his...made it even worse.

"Henry?" He squeaked at his sidekick and now, he was thankful that (y/n) was still getting dressed. This wasn't something a sweet, innocent lady needed to see.

"Put your underwear back in your pants, you're making him uncomfortable." Henry hissed at Jasper in a mortified tone and he quickly rearranged his clothing as Ray pretended to text. Jesus, someone needed to break the tension and that someone was on hand to do it.

"Hey! Oh...hello, Jasper, nice to see you survived the elevator ride." A fully-dressed (y/n) smiled as she descended the stairs from the sprocket and gave her new friend a warm and inviting smile. If anyone could make him feel welcome, it was her.

"Yeah, thank you, Miss Danger," Jasper replied politely, not wanting to upset anyone else.

"Oh, (y/n)'s fine, you don't have to be so fancy with me. And might I add that you're wearing a devastatingly handsome tie." She joked when she saw the hotdog pattern and her friendliness put the teen at ease. Her mere presence took the edge off the awkwardness for Ray too.

"Uh, where'd Charlotte go?" Henry asked suddenly, looking around for his other friend who had mysteriously disappeared.

"I dunno, probably somewhere." Ray shrugged, still feeling a little off at having a new, unwanted face in his Man Cave.

"She was around here earlier, maybe she went to the bathroom." (y/n) offered, making sure to keep her manner pleasant since Ray was being so moody around Jasper. She didn't think the boy was so bad, sure, he was a bit silly and odd, but she was certain that he'd grow to be a valuable member of their team. Little did anyone know that poor Charlotte was still kicking and screaming inside the auto-snacker.

"Now, Jasper..." Ray started, but Jasper's exuberance got the better of him.

"Yes, Captain?!" He asked excitedly and gave a salute, which really pissed off Ray.

"First, never do that." The large man told him harshly, making the boy immediately drop his arm. Geez, Ray could be scary when he wanted to be.

"I don't know, I still kind of like the saluting." (y/n) commented, not afraid of Ray and his temper. Well, she was a bit, but she wouldn't let his childish anger walk all over her.

"Secondly, if you're gonna work upstairs in Junk-N-Stuff, the most important thing to remember is to never reveal my identity or Henry's or (y/n)'s," Ray stated firmly, brushing over (y/n)'s silly comment. To see her so formal around him would be too unnatural for him, even if it was a joke and he just wanted her to be herself around him.

"I get it," Jasper confirmed, understanding that secrecy was their survival. He would never let his friends get hurt and he knew that Captain Man could count on him to keep his identity safe.

"You will get it," Ray replied huskily, confusing the woman and teen on either side of him.

"Just show him the damn video." (y/n) rolled her eyes at his dramatics and Ray pressed the play button on his remote.

"Never tell the secret. Captain Man, Kid Danger and Miss Danger. If you are watching this video, that means you know their true, secret identities, Ray Manchester, Henry Hart and (y/n) (y/l/n)." The video started and showed a photo of Ray and Henry smiling together as the large man held a beaming (y/n) in his arms. It was cute and one of their best ones together as a crime-fighting trio.

"I love that pic of us," Ray smirked at Henry, knowing that he and his sidekick looked awesome.

"Yeah, we look good." Henry nodded, thinking the same, although he was certain that he'd never drool over (y/n) the way Ray was now.

"Big-heads." The young woman shook her head at their huge egos and didn't see the way Ray was admiring her features on the screen, nor did she see how he took the time to gaze at her in real life. A goddess amongst mere mortals.

"Help!" Charlotte yelled from inside the auto-snacker, but they were all too focused on the video, so her shouting fell on deaf ears.

"Revealing the secret could have terrible consequences. Such as tragedy, the end of the earth as we know it and loss of bladder control. And now a personal warning to you from Captain Man, Kid Danger and Miss Danger." It was a crappy video and a bit too dramatic, but it got the message across, even if (y/n) hated seeing herself onscreen.

"Never reveal the secret. Or this could happen to you. Or worse, punk!" The three superheroes said in turn, trying to sound cool, but Henry's outstretched hand covered his face and when Ray tried to move it, it broke the cool façade.

"Hey, friend, guess what? Captain Man is really Ray Manchester and his best friend, (y/n) (y/l/n), she's Miss Danger. And Kid Danger, he's a boy named Henry Hart. Ain't that a juicy secret?" Yeah, it was a weird video. Anything that includes a talking and giggling watermelon, is weird.

"Don't do it." The video ended with Henry, Ray and (y/n) frowning at the camera as they shook their heads and fingers solemnly. If that didn't get the message into Jasper's head, nothing would.

"Any questions?" Henry asked his best friend, who, being an odd boy, had a peculiar one.

"How'd you get that watermelon to talk?" He gasped in amazement, making Ray look at Henry with a pissed off face. This was what Henry wanted to bring into his Man Cave? God help him.

"We have them specially trained." (y/n) replied sarcastically and was surprised when Jasper took her words literally. She could already guess what it was going to be like working with him.

"Help! Help me!" Charlotte yelled from the auto-snacker, where she had managed to get her hand out of the hand.

"What was---Charlotte!" Henry exclaimed when he saw her hand clawing for freedom. The four of them ran over to the machine, but they had no idea how to get her out.

"I'm uncomfortable!" The girl shouted. It was dark and extremely warm in the auto-snack and not somewhere you wanted to stick your whole body into.

"Help me get her out of here!" Henry told Ray and the large man tried to use his superior muscle to prise open the door.

"Charlotte, sweetie, you're not meant to get into the machine just for some eggs!" (y/n) shouted back to the girl, who wasn't up for taking any criticism at that moment. Suddenly, the alarm blared in the Man Cave and the surprise of it made Henry and Ray let go of Charlotte's free arm. Well, that was all her progress undone.

"Uh-oh." Ray aid as he heard it and (y/n) was the first to rush to the computer.

"What's going on?" Jasper asked in confusion as everyone rushed away from Charlotte's problem and onto another one. He just went along with it, thinking that Captain Man probably knew best.

"Ah, geez. Something's going down at the airport." (y/n) groaned as the brief summary of the emergency flashed up onscreen.

"Ooh, is a flight delayed?" The curly-haired boy questioned, even though that wasn't a superhero's area of expertise. Bad guys and end of the world situations, yes, lost baggage and bad food, no.

"No!" Henry told him as Ray bit his tongue. If he said anything bad, it'd just upset his girl and he didn't want that.

"Not really in our job description, curly." (y/n) joked to Jasper, deciding that he should have a nickname to help him fit in.

"Come on, kid," Ray told Henry and they both moved off to the side of the room as (y/n) kept Jasper back.

"What are you gonna do?" He asked, wondering what all the commotion was about. He was so excited to see Captain Man and Kid Danger, he could barely contain his burning questions.

"We've got a crime to thwart..." Ray started, trying to puff out his chest and appear all cool so (y/n) might look at him would adoring eyes. She did that anyway, always, he just never noticed.

"...At the Swellview Airport." Henry finished, smirking at how good he and his boss sounded.

"Whoa, do you guys plan those rhymes?" Jasper asked as (y/n) giggled. Only Jasper could take away a superhero's confidence just like that.

"Uh, no, no."

"No, they're super organic." Ray and Henry frowned, eager to just get off and go help whoever needed assistance at the airport.

"Aren't you taking Miss Danger with you?" Jasper asked yet another question, but at least it was on a topic Ray was more than happy to talk about.

"Nah, I'll sit this one out." (y/n) smiled at the boy as Ray pouted. He liked it when she came with him and fought the bad guys, it was like they were getting extra time together.

"You sure?" Henry asked, seeing the way Ray was getting all whiny and grumpy from her staying behind. Ugh, that meant he'd be pining all day until they got back.

"Yeah, go save the world without me, one flight at a time." She smiled and Ray begrudgingly accepted that she didn't always want to go out for every emergency. It wasn't a huge job, so three crime fighters seemed a little excessive and there was work to be done in the Man Cave.

"Wait, what about Charlotte?" Jasper asked, but Ray and Henry were already in the middle of blowing their bubbles, so any more questions would have to wait. The boy grinned in wonder as he watched them transform together for the first time and before they set off, Captain Man and Kid Danger ran over to the auto-snacker, where (y/n) had wandered over to check on Charlotte.

"Hey, Charlotte, how's it going in there?" Ray asked her like it was a nice getaway vacation or something.

"It's going bad! Get me out of this thing!" She yelled back, feeling all sticky and claustrophobic from the hot, tight space she found herself trapped in.

"We can't we got an emergency," Ray told her, even though his best friend was determined to get her out whilst they were gone.

"I'm an emergency!" Charlotte whimpered back, making Ray feel a teensy bit guilty that he wasn't going to stick around and help.

"Can you breathe okay?" Henry asked, wanting to know how bad the conditions were for his friend.

"She's been in there for like two hours, if she couldn't breathe, she'd be dead." (y/n) pointed out and then Charlotte snapped back with some incoherent mumbling.

"Okay, what'd she say?" Henry asked the two adults who were none the wiser.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure she said, "Hey, I'm good, you guys go do what you gotta do"," Ray lied, making (y/n) roll her eyes at him.

"You two, just go. I'll try and get the machine to spit her out." (y/n) told them and they nodded. She had no idea how she was gonna do it without some expert knowledge, but hey, she'd give it a go.

"Okay, Char. Schwoz will be back in two to three hours to help (y/n)." Henry told his friend as the young woman gave Ray a quick hug goodbye and a peck on the cheek. 'For luck', she kept telling herself like she wasn't just doing it because she loved to feel his skin under her lips.

"Two to three hours?!" Charlotte gasped, but Ray and Henry had already run off to the tubes.

"Wait! What am I supposed to do while you guys are out fighting crime?" Jasper asked the heroes as they slapped their belts and the tubes came down.

"Just go up to Junk-N-Stuff and watch the store," Henry told him and Ray agreed. That was basically all Jasper had to do for a pretty good salary.

"But I have some questions about my job." The boy whined and Ray had the perfect solution.

"(y/n) can answer all your questions right after we say up the tube." The large man told the boy, making his best friends eye widen at how sneaky he was.

"Raymond Manchester, you get back here or--" She tried to run forward and give him a slap on the arm for leaving all of Jasper's questions to her, but it was too late.

"Up the tube!" They shouted and within seconds, they were gone, leaving (y/n) alone with Jasper and his book full of questions.

"Okay, um...when a customer comes into the store, am I supposed to tell them to leave or act normal?" He asked the woman, who smiled politely and sat down on the couch with him. At least they were starting off easy.

"Just act normal. Sell them whatever they want, but if they start getting weird or try to get in the back, press the emergency alarm behind the counter." She answered, glad that he was asking questions that she knew about.

"Okay...what do I do if a criminal comes into the store and threatens me?" He asked next.

"Run like hell and alert us down here that you're in trouble. We'll come and help you." She smiled, but it got a little tight as another question was asked.

"Okay..." This could take a while. Charlotte better sit tight.

~3 hours later~

"KEEP PULLING, SCHWOZ!" (y/n) yelled to the genius as they fought to get Charlotte out of the auto-snacker. He'd finally returned after hours of waiting and now, he was helping the young woman get her out. She'd tried everything, yanking, pulling, being nice to the machine, but nothing had worked, so it was nice to have an extra pair of hands around.

"I've got the head!" He replied as he pulled from the sides of Charlotte's head whilst (y/n) kept the door from closing. They were grunting and straining from the effort when Ray and Henry came down the tube after their mission.

"Hiya!" (y/n) smiled at them breathily as she used all of her strength to keep the hatch from closing.

"Ooh, what a pretty fish you have." Schwoz turned around and saw that his boss had a multi-coloured, cardboard and tissue paper fish thing in his hands.

"You're squeezing my head too hard!" Charlotte whined as she managed to her arms out. Just a little more and she'd be free.

"Well, what do you want us to do?" Schwoz asked her sternly, thinking that they were doing their best to help her and all she was doing was complaining.

"Let go!" The teen directed him, not realising what the implications of that action would be.

"Kay-kay." Schwoz smiled, more than happy to give his aching arms a rest from all the pulling.

"Wait, no, no, no! Schwoz!" (y/n) groaned as the girl was released back into the machine, undoing all of their hard work. Well, there was no point in holding the door open now.

"Uh, did Charlotte just get sucked into--" Henry started, but the young woman was too agitated to hear it all out loud.

"Yes. Yes, she did, meaning that the last hour of us busting our asses to get her out has been for nothing. Right, Schwoz?" The young woman hissed and looked directly at Schwoz, who wasn't that worried about the problem or her anger.

"Relax, I'll get her out in a minute." Schwoz brushed her off, which made her fold her arms and sulk at his complacent attitude.

"What's that?" She asked her best friend, strolling over to him in hopes that he'd give her a hug and make her feel better.

"This thing is a fiñata." Ray smiled at her, but she eyed the "fiñata" suspiciously when she heard a buzzing noise come from inside it.

"Yeah, see, it's like a piñata, but, like, fish-themed," Henry explained, making Schwoz roll his eyes at how they were infantilising him.

"I know what a fiñata is." He said in an obvious tone.

"Um, Ray, why is your fiñata buzzing?" (y/n) asked as she poked one of the fish's fins, which probably wasn't a good idea. Ray manoeuvred it out of her reach and she got the message that it was dangerous in some way.

"Well, I bet you didn't know that this fiñata is filled with live Zom-bees." He told Schwoz and shook the thing at the little guy, making him and (y/n) step back and hide behind the couch.

"Ayee!" Schwoz cowered as (y/n) covered her ears and glared at her best friend. That was a mean trick.

"Raymond, you can't bring Zom-bees into the Man Cave. If the fiñata breaks, they'll fly into our ears and eat our brains and y'know, I'm quite fond of mine!" The young woman pointed out and used her cutest eyes to make Ray get on her side.

"Well, you'd be okay 'cause your super regeneration would repair your damaged brain cells, but we'd all die!" Schwoz corrected her, which made (y/n) feel worse. Why did she have to be the survivor of the Zom-bee attack and see all her friends get their brains munched on?

"We know," Ray told the genius and gave (y/n) his most calming smile. He didn't want her to be afraid.

"Yeah, so, how do we get rid of it?" Henry asked his boss, feeling just as nervous as (y/n) and Schwoz around the Zom-bee-filled thing.

"Uh, take it upstairs to Junk-N-Stuff. I'll call animal control and have 'em come pick up that fiñata of death." The superhero replied and gave the colourful fish a dark look. He wanted that thing gone before it freaked his girl out even more.

"Okay, I'll bring it upstairs." Henry nodded, being careful not to break the fragile casing. He'd be the first one to have his brain eaten if they escaped and he definitely didn't fancy that.

"Don't forget to change your clothes." (y/n) reminded him, seeing that Henry was headed straight for Junk-N-Stuff as Kid Danger. That would be a hard one to explain if a customer saw him.

"Oh, yeah," Henry responded and tried to get his tube out whilst balancing the fiñata under his arm, which didn't go well. He stumbled and nearly dropped the thing, spooking the adults as it nearly split open.

"Hey, hey!" Ray gasped as (y/n) squeaked and hid her face in his chest, making his arms instinctively curl around her body to protect her.

"Geez, Henry!" Schwoz breathed out as the fiñata didn't break and the boy tucked it carefully under his arm again.

"Be careful with that thing!" (y/n) whimpered against the red and blue material of Ray's tunic, her best friend running his hand up and down her back to calm her down.

"Guys, chill out, I'm not gonna drop it," Henry reassured them, not seeing why they were getting so worked up about everything.

"Do you have it?" Ray asked, just wanting to make sure he could manage.

"Yeah." Henry nodded, feeling like they were being a little too cautious. Didn't they trust him?

"Are you good?" (y/n) asked, also feeling a bit nervous at the thought of giving a load of death bees to a teenager to look after.

"It's fine." He sighed, pressing the elevator button so he could just leave them to their worrying.

"Are you good?" Ray reiterated, not liking how his girl was still clutching him in fear. He wanted to ensure that Henry knew what he was doing.

"Ray...it's fine. Just...hug (y/n), she looks scared." The boy calmly told his boss and smirked when the large man gave him a grumpy look. It was like Henry wanted the woman to see that he was madly in love with her, what a dick.

"Okay." Ray let it go and returned to petting (y/n)'s hair, only Henry was a bit clumsy and on his way into the elevator, he nearly dropped the fiñata again, making the adults look at him with fear as he struggled to catch it before it hit the floor.

"AHHH, THEY'RE COMING TO GET US!" (y/n) screamed and jumped so her legs could wrap around Ray's waist like a koala, clinging to him tightly as she covered his ears. She didn't want to be left alone, so she'd sooner protect his brain than hers.

"See what you've done?" Ray deadpanned to Henry as he supported the girl he was now carrying. The boy just hit the button and the elevator door slid closed, leaving the man to reassure his girl into letting go, not that he was complaining about how she had chosen him to protect her.

"Come on, sweet girl, it's okay, there's no Zom-bees." He cooed at her and rested his hand on his cheek so he could touch the one covering his ears.

"I don't want them to eat your brain." She mumbled, pouting as his eyes met hers. She couldn't bear the thought of him getting hurt, he was her protector and provider, what would she do without him?

"I'm okay, sweet girl." He chuckled into her hair, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as she smiled bashfully into his neck. What would he do without her?

~In Junk-N-Stuff~

"And here's your receipt." Jasper smiled at a customer as he made another sale.

"Thank you." The woman accepted it graciously and Jasper had to admit that so far, his first day working for Captain Man was going great.

"And enjoy your vintage waterbed." He said to the customer, who was planning on using it for or...with her cats. Weird.

"Uh, do you me to help you carry that to your car?" Jasper offered the woman, seeing that the waterbed was too large and heavy for one person to carry easily.

"Please." The woman agreed and they made small talk as they shifted the water-filled bag out of the shop. It probably would be easier to empty the bed before moving it, but no one thought about that.

"Hey, Jasper?...Yo, Jasp?"Henry yelled as he walked out of the elevator and looked around the front of the store for his friend. He had no idea that Jasper had stepped out to help the crazy cat-lady with her waterbed and he was about to make a massive mistake. Henry's whiz watch began to beep and he plonked the fiñata down on the counter.

"Hey, what's up?" He greeted Ray as he checked to see if any customers were coming.

"Schwoz, (y/n) and I are trying to pull Charlotte out of the auto-snacker and we need another pair of hands," Ray grumbled as he glanced at his friends who were still trying to get the girl out of the damn machine. Why it wouldn't spit her out was anyone's guess.

"Okay, I'll be down in a sec." Henry nodded and snapped the watch closed. There was never a dull moment with his job.

"You know I flaunt ya, 'cuz girl I really want ya. And you're looking nice, got me cooler than a bag of ice, now freeze, freeze, freeze." He mumbled to himself as he walked back to the elevator. Five Fingaz To The Face had been in his head all day and it seemed like it was in Jasper's too.

"Drop it fast and move it real slow, oh! What? You smell so fruity, I'm pirate and you're my booty, argh!" Jasper sang, shaking his butt as Piper and her friend came into the store. Well, this was embarrassing.

"Oh my god, are you rapping?" Piper cringed as she saw the older boy, who didn't see anything wrong with a little boogie in the workplace.

"Yeah." He confirmed, thinking his moves were pretty sweet.

"Well, don't." She snapped. God, it was so embarrassing to see her brother's dopey best friend dance and rap in front of her friend.

"Hey, I work here now, so you have to be nice to me," Jasper told the little girl, but she didn't care. She was only nice to a few select people and Jasper wasn't one of them.

"No, I'm here as the customer, so you have to be. nice to me...THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!" She yelled in Jasper's face when he tried to disagree and he quickly fell into line. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of Piper and her fury.

"Hey, we're gonna be late." Piper's friend said as she looked up from her phone for the first time since she walked into the store.

"Late for what?" Jasper asked as he took in their outfits. Both girls were dressed to the nines in some really cute clothes and he wondered where they were going.

"A birthday party for our friend. So help us pick out a present, would ya?" Piper instructed him, peering around the junk on the shelves. There had to be something in this crappy store that would suit her friend.

"Does she like dogs?" Jasper asked, having something in mind, even though it wasn't remotely apt for an eleven-year-old girl.

"Yeah." Piper's friend said and Jasper walked over to a freaky skeleton on display.

"This is a dog skeleton. Woof, woof, woof...we'll keep looking." The curly-haired boy quickly discarded the creepy thing when he saw Piper's displeased stare. Maybe not.

"Hey, is this a fiñata?" The other girl said, picking up the deadly thing that Henry should've put somewhere safer. Obviously, someone would think it was just another piece of junk on sale and Jasper was none the wiser to its true, dark nature.

"Oooh, cool, how much for the fiñata?" Piper asked Jasper, thinking that it would be the perfect addition to her friend's party.

"Lemme check," Jasper said and started to roughly turn the fish around in his hands so he could look for the price tag. If he knew what was inside it, there was no way he'd be shaking it so much.

"We don't care if it's a boy or a girl." Piper sassed as she watched Jasper shuffle the fish around.

"I'm checking for a price tag! I don't see one anywhere." He said, scouring the paper-covered fish for anything that could tell him the asking price. Of course, he wouldn't find one, it should be locked up, not sold to a child.

"Good, it's free then, thanks." Piper snatched the fiñata from Jasper's hands and made a break for the exit before he could stop them.

"The customer is always right!" She yelled at him when he tried to call after them, silencing Jasper as his second sale of the day made off without paying. That fiñata was about to cause him a load more trouble too.

~The Man Cave~

"Pull!" Ray yelled to his three friends as they tightly clutched Charlotte's ankle and tried to yank her from the auto-snack. It just wouldn't let her go.

"She's still stuck! Let her go, you piece of shit!" (y/n) growled and thumbed the hatch with her fist as Charlotte screamed. No matter how hard they pulled, Schwoz's invention kept her prisoner and it sucked her deep into itself, leaving her friends stumped.

"Well, how are we gonna get her outta there?" Ray asked as they panted. Physical exertion was futile.

"Hey, how about this?" Henry suddenly had a bright idea and smacked his palm against the screen.

"Charlotte." He ordered like he was ordering some fries or a milkshake.

"Charlotte." The auto-snacker confirmed and the young girl came flying out the hatch before bellyflopping onto the floor.

"It worked! Nice one, Hen." (y/n) high-fived Henry as they all celebrated their success. Well, that was easier than they had thought.

"You okay?" Henry asked his friend as she stood up and dusted herself off. Man, that was an ordeal and she was still starving.

"No, I am not okay! And I still never got my scrambled eggs." She said, walking over to the machine and bending down to look through the window of the machine. This time, however, it seemed to understand her order and a load of hot, steaming scrambled eggs were fired at her face.

"You, uh, you got something..." Ray pointed to her cheek as bits of egg plopped onto the floor.

"That's why I order cereal. Eggs are just bad news." (y/n) quipped, thinking it was pretty funny to see Charlotte's unimpressed face covered in the mess. However, her giggling was soon interrupted when the computer started to beep.

"That's Jasper, upstairs." Henry recognised the special beeping and realised that it was the signal from Junk-N-Stuff.

"Oh god, I told him to press it when there was an emergency." (y/n) panicked, thinking that he was being held at gunpoint or the store was on fire or some other disaster.

"Hey, Jasper, what's up?" Henry opened the link and saw his friend on the monitor.

"There's two guys here from animal control, asking about some Zom-bees?" He told Henry as Ray and (y/n) wandered over. Well, at least he was using the line correctly, it was better to ask and make sure he was doing the right thing than just assume.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah." Henry nodded and remembered that he'd left the dangerous insects upstairs, unattended and with a boy who knew nothing about them.

"Yeah, yeah, Jasper, the Zom-bees are inside the purple fiñata," Ray told him, thinking that the matter would be swiftly dealt with, but things were about to get complicated.

"Oh, I sold the fiñata." He told them, making Henry and (y/n) choke on their own saliva as Ray took a minute to process his words.

"Great, then just give it to the guys--you sold the fiñata?!" Ray exclaimed in horror as Jasper remained oblivious to the cock-up he'd made.

"Yeah, and a waterbed." He smiled happily, thinking that his sales so far were good, even though one of them hadn't been paid for.

"Shit on it, wh-who'd you sell it to?" (y/n) asked frantically as she rested her hand on Ray's bicep and looked up at him in worry.

"Piper," Jasper replied, making Henry gasp. His sister? Seriously? Ray ended the call prematurely and peered at his friends with nervous eyes.

"Do you realise what'll happen if those Zom-bees get outta that fiñata?" He questioned the boy, who was seriously freaking out. He couldn't have his sister die from a bee eating her brain!

"Okay, okay, let's not panic about this. I'm sure that Piper just took it home and put it in her bedroom or something." (y/n) told the boy calmly as she theorised that Piper probably wanted it as a decoration. Little did she know that it was currently at a pre-teen's birthday party, being whacked viciously by a load of children looking for candy. They needed to get Jasper with them immediately.

~10 minutes later~

As soon as Jasper had closed up the store and stepped into the Man Cave Henry was all over him, interrogating him about the sale of a ticking time bomb to Piper. There was only a matter of time until the fiñata was smashed open and a load of people were killed.

"How could you give my little sister a fiñata full of death bugs?" The boy asked his friend sternly as Ray paced behind him, just as angry. (y/n) didn't think Jasper was to blame that much, he was just doing his job as they had told him. In the middle of all of this bickering, Charlotte had found a towel and was wiping the egg mush from her face as the argument went on and on.

"Oh, come on! It's not Jasper's fault!" The young woman defended the boy, wanting to be the one who was on his side since everyone else seemed so unfairly angry with him.

"I didn't know there were bugs in it!" Jasper stressed, glad that (y/n) was being so kind to him. He'd never endanger Piper deliberately, especially on his first day at work.

"Well, there are! There's at least fifty Zom-bees inside that fiñata!" Ray hissed, making the poor kid feel worse. He really didn't mean any harm.

"Okay, yelling at Jasper isn't gonna help anything." Charlotte stepped in too, joining (y/n) in defending Jasper.

"Thank you." He said. He was starting to get the picture that they were the reasonable ones around these parts.

"Do you realise how dangerous those bees are?" Ray looked at the two teens as Henry walked around with his hands on his head.

"Ya! They fly into your head, through your ears, and then they feed upon your brain!" Schwoz showed them the information on his PearPad and tried to sound all dramatic. He really knew how to stir the pot and make things worse.

"You should not have worn that tie," Charlotte mentioned to Jasper, as she noticed the hotdog pattern on it. Was (y/n) the only one who liked it?

"Okay, just...did my sister say where she was going anywhere?" Henry asked Jasper, who bit his lip as he recalled every word Piper had said to him. There was a lot of shouting from her, but also...

"Uh...yeah! Some friend of hers' birthday party." Jasper remembered and it triggered Henry's memory about something his sister had been banging on about for weeks.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah! Uh...Gabby Birch." Henry said the name as Ray and (y/n) dashed over so they could hear everything.

"Who's Gabby Birch?" Ray asked, too panicky to put two and two together.

"Her friend, duh!" (y/n) said as she and Henry reached for their gum tubes. That's right, she had her own tube now, all hers, no one else's and it made her feel like one of the team.

"Come on, let's blow and go," Henry told Ray, who remained still. Why wasn't he snapping into action like them?

"No, are you insane?" He asked them halting their movements before they could pop a gumball.

"What? We need to go grab that death fish!" (y/n) pointed out, but Ray had a fairly good point for holding back.

"We can't just run in there as Captain Man, Kid Danger and Miss Danger and be like "Hey, kids! We're here at the party because we were worried that some killer bugs might fly into your heads and eat your brains, happy birthday, Gabby!"," Ray rambled and the sidekicks got the message. They certainly didn't want to freak out a load of children and their parents.

"All right, all right, then...we just gotta sneak in, grab the fiñata and get outta there fast." Henry theorised and the adults agreed. It seemed simple enough, right?

"Oh, come on!" Charlotte protested, seeing a million things wrong with what Henry had just said.

"What?" The boy looked at her, thinking that his plan was perfect.

"How are you guys gonna sneak into a birthday party without being seen?" She asked, making a good point. They could just walk in unannounced, they'd get arrested for trespassing or for being creeps.

"We will need a cunning disguise." (y/n) smirked and rubbed her hands, knowing exactly what would get them into the party. Every kid had them when it was their birthday and it was a sure-fire way to be let in, no questions asked. Hopefully.

~Gabby Birch's Birthday Party~

Well, the party was in full swing: there were balloons, food, cake, music, toys and, of course, the fiñata, which was still being sadistically beaten by numerous little girls. Henry, Ray and (y/n) sneaked in and winced when they saw the rough treatment of the cardboard fish. Their disguises weren't bad, (y/n) had cleverly chosen them to be clowns since they always came to kid's birthday parties, even though no child ever wanted one. Sure, they were creepy, but it gave them the perfect way in.

Both males were wearing alarmingly bright, wacky clothes, face paint and wigs that gave them the clown aesthetic and hid who they were. (y/n) looked equally ridiculous, but also kinda cute in a way and she was sure that as long as no one looked too close, they'd be able to grab the fiñata and get out of there.

"Shit, Henry!" (y/n) gasped as nudged Henry as she saw the fiñata taking its beating and the boy quickly started shaking his boss's shoulder.

"Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray, Ray!" He panicked, gaining the man's attention fairly quickly as he pointed to the tree where the fish has been strung up.

"What? What?" Ray asked annoyedly, but he was soon gulping like his friends when he saw how the girls were minutes away from breaking the fiñata.

"They're whacking the fiñata!" (y/n) said as Ray gasped, making him put himself in front of her so he'd be the first to be eaten if the Zom-bees escaped. He didn't want his girl to munched on, even if she would be fine, especially since she looked so cute in her little dress. God, it fit her perfectly and he was more than happy to admire her figure.

"I don't get why this stupid fiñata won't break." A girl yelled and her friends began to hit it even harder. This wasn't going to end well.

"Here I found a shovel." Piper came in and was immediately encouraged to beat the fiñata with it. Okay, the superheroes had to act before these kids released the death bugs.

"Dear God, she's using a shovel." Ray cringed as he watched the fish bounce from the shovel to the fiñata sticks and each blow was painful to witness.

"We have to do something." (y/n) hissed in his ear, but before they could, a cheery woman with a drink in her hand addressed them.

"Hello!" She smiled, making the clowns panic. How were they supposed to lie to this mom about being the entertainment at her daughter's party?

"Uhhh...hey."

"Hi, how are you?" Ray and Henry greeted her politely as (y/n) just smiled and waved. This was gonna be fun.

"Oh, I'm Mrs Birch, the birthday girl's mom." The woman introduced herself and shook hands with each clown, all of whom were feeling pretty awkward. They had no idea how to clown around and entertain kids, they just needed to grab the damn fiñata.

"Nice to meet you." (y/n) smiled nervously, but thankfully, Mrs Birch didn't pick up on it.

"Okay, so, which one of you is Burples and which one of you is Schmutz?" She asked, making Henry and Ray both choose the one that sounded better.

"I'm Burples." They said together, not liking the idea of being called Schmutz, but then they both sounded weird.

"I'm Schmutz." They then said together, confusing Mrs Birch and making (y/n) facepalm. This wasn't a good first impression.

"You know, we swap."

"We trade-off." They excused their weirdness and luckily, Mrs Birch took it to be a funny clown joke.

"You two really are clowns." She laughed, thinking it was a compliment and the annoyed look on the boys' faces made (y/n) giggle too.

"Yes, they are." She confirmed, loving how the woman had called out Ray and Henry's bumbling behaviour, but then, Mrs Birch stopped and thought about how she had one too many clowns in her garden.

"Sorry, I thought we paid for two clowns." She looked at (y/n) who took a moment to think of a believable lie.

"Uh...well, I'm on work experience. Yep, and I'm just gonna be observing these two...being clowns. Free of charge." She punched out nervously, making it up as she went along and the mom seemed to be fine with it, thank god.

"Oh, lovely, what's your clown name?" Mrs Birch asked and again, (y/n) had to think on her feet for something clownish.

"Uhhhh...Phalange. Yeah, I'm Phalange the Clown." She giggled, reverting to her favourite made-up name for every time she went undercover. It was an oldie, but a goodie and it was convincing enough.

"Well, I'll just leave the entertainment up to you guys, then." Mrs Birch smiled and Ray, (y/n) and Henry could let out a sigh of relief as the woman returned to the other parents.

"That'll be great, ma'am, thank you." Ray nodded at her politely as he tried to channel his inner clown. It should be too hard for him, after all, he was a pretty goofy guy.

"Yes, we are professional clowns." Henry tried to sound convincing like he really was a guy who painted his face and wore baggy pants to entertain kids.

"Ain't that the truth." (y/n) added, smirking at the boy as Ray pulled them to the side. They got up to so much mischief, they probably could pass as clowns sometimes.

"Dang it, they're gonna break that thing open any second!" Ray complained as he watch the kids still whacking the fiñata.

"And then snack time for all those Zom-bees and bye-bye brains for everyone here." The young woman freaked out too, looking to her best friend for any ideas.

"Uh, ooh, I got a plan, I got a plan," Henry told them and before he could discuss it with the adults, he stepped towards the children and started to work his inner clown.

"Hey, kids! Hey! Hey kids, over here!" He yelled at them in a funny voice, baffling Ray and (y/n) as the kids looked at the weirdo trying to get their attention.

"What are you doin'?" Ray asked the boy, thinking that he looked and sounded ridiculous, but it was fine. Henry had a plan.

"Shhhhh!" Henry shut him up and returned his focus to the bored expressions of the children. Yeah, no one likes clowns.

"What?" Piper asked, feeling just as annoyed as all her friends at the rude interruption. She was gonna break this fiñata open if it was the last thing she'd do. And if she did, it probably would be.

"You wanna know what's more fun than whackin' a fiñata?" Henry jumped up and down and acted like all the clowns he'd seen at the birthday parties he'd attended over the years.

"Tell us!" The kids demanded, hoping that his suggestion would be worth them stopping their attack.

"Whackin' Burples the Clown!" Henry pointed at Ray with a huge grin on his face as (y/n) and Ray shared a nervous look. Why did Ray have to be the one who got beat up? Just because he was indestructible, didn't mean it wouldn't hurt.

"No, no, no, no, no." Ray rejected the idea as the kids cheered. Whacking a real person seemed a lot more fun than whacking that stupid fish.

"You're indestructible!" Henry hissed to Ray, thinking that he was the best candidate for the job.

"So?" Ray looked at his sidekick in offence and then at his girl for help. She wasn't keen on the idea of seeing him getting beaten by a load of children, but they didn't have a better idea.

"So just take it or (y/n) will have to be the one who gets whacked!" Henry hissed in his ear and Ray swiftly sucked it up. Damn Henry, he knew his weakness; he'd never let his sweet girl take the pain when he was more than capable of doing so and the boy knew it. That's why he was busy dragging (y/n) off to the side as the kids ran over with their bats, sticks, shovels and planks of wood. Oh dear god, this would hurt.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Ray groaned at the first few hits came in and (y/n) whimpered at the sight of him being treated so cruelly. Why did these children have to love hurting people so much?

"(y/n), come on, he'll be fine," Henry promised the young woman and she knew he was right. Taking advantage of all the focus being on Ray as he tried to escape the kids' malice, the boy and woman sneaked through the garden and avoided the parent's gaze as they went for the fiñata.

Henry tried to snag it from the tree, but it was no use. Whoever had tied it on knew what they were doing and it would take more than a few tugs to set the fiñata free.

"You're gonna have to pull harder!" (y/n) hissed to the boy as he used all his weight to try and snap the string. Things were never easy; luckily, Ray was taking to blows like a champ and the parents were too busy nattering to realise what was going on. Seeing that he had an opportunity, Henry jumped onto the fish and used all his strength to climb up the string to the branch whilst (y/n) kept a lookout.

"Keep going, Burples!" She cheered on her best friend as he was hit by the hammers and bricks, but they soon had another problem on their hands. The garden gate swung open and two more clowns joined the party. Oh, shit, here came the real Burples and Schmutz.

"Hey, hey, who are those clowns?" Henry and (y/n) looked to see that they had company and gulped when the new clowns gave them some very dirty stares.

"That clown ain't supposed to be here!"

"Yeah, we booked this job!" The real clowns snapped as the kids stopped whacking Ray, who was suddenly just as nervous as his sidekicks.

"Uh, look uh, there's a perfectly rational explanation---" Ray tried to keep things calm between himself and the men, but they were obviously very protective over their gigs.

"Why don't you shut up and get outta here!" A clown squared up to Ray, who wasn't the sort of guy to take that kind of attitude lying down.

"Keep trying to get that thing down!" (y/n) hissed to Henry, who nodded as she went to stand in between Ray and the angry clowns.

"Uh, are you guys threatening me?" Ray asked the men as his best friend came to his side, but he wasn't going to let her get hurt, not against these losers.

"Maybe..." The clown replied and jabbed Ray in the nose with a mean right hook, shocking (y/n) and Henry as they watched their friend take the hit. Oh, it was on.

"Ah!" Ray clutched his nose as he waited for the pain to fade, but (y/n)'s temper had flared and she wasn't going to let these two clown jerks hurt the man she loved.

"Okay, Burples, is that how you wanna play?!" She hissed at the man, her eyes burning with fury as she stepped up to the plate. She was taunting them, daring them to make a move and then, she'd give them what for.

"Go back to the gutter, bitch. It's where you belong." The other man growled at her, not realising that he could insult or hit Ray all he liked, but insulting (y/n) made the superhero furious. She didn't deserve to be spoken to so rudely, not be some two-bit clown in a crappy costume and Ray wasn't going to let them get away with it.

"Oh, that's it! You don't talk about her like that! You're going down, clown!" Ray growled at them as he stepped in front of his girl, ready to defend her honour. It enraged the man to see her be mistreated and the protective streak in his DNA told him to keep her safe at all costs from the morons and their harsh words.

"Come on!" The clowns put up their fists, preparing to swing again, but they didn't realise that they had just picked a battle with Captain Man and insulted the woman he loved. They were playing with fire.

"Clown fight! Clown fight! Clown fight! Clown fight! Clown fight!" The kids and parents began to chant with Piper being to ringleader as Ray circled the two men and Henry tried his hardest to get the fiñata to budge.

He jumped up and down on it and finally, it gave way, but Henry couldn't control his landing and he accidentally squished the fish as he fell on the ground. He and (y/n) watched in horror as the death bugs began to fly out of the fiñata, searching for their targets.

"The Zom-bees!" Ray shrieked as he saw the insects spread out and his hands flew to his head to protect his brain.

"Everyone! Cover your ears!" (y/n) screamed to the kids as she got in front of them, hoping that the bees would pick her brain to eat on and not theirs. However, it seemed that they were particularly focused on the two asshole clowns, who had covered their ears too late and were screeching in pain.

"It's hurting my brain!" They screamed as Ray opened the gate for them to run out and they took the Zom-bees with them. Well, that was that dilemma solved. Wherever the bees would go, it wasn't their problem anymore. All they had to worry about was how to explain what had just happened to the terrified kids and their parents.

"Uhhhh...Happy birthday, Gabby!" (y/n) nudged the boys for them to join her and they all smiled as brightly as they could at the little girl. Now, they just needed to get out of the garden before...

"Whoa, clowns? Mister and Missus Clowns?" Mrs Birch stopped them before they could open the gate and the three looked at her sheepishly, hoping she wasn't gonna call the cops on them.

"Yeah, what's up?" Ray and Henry asked politely, hoping that whatever she wanted wouldn't take too long.

"You're supposed to stay and entertain the children until five o'clock. That's, uh...two more hours." She smiled at them as she checked her watch. Two hours, ew, no thank you.

"Oh, uhhhhh." Ray stumbled and looked to (y/n) for an excuse. She was normally good at making things up.

"Oh, well, ma'am, the thing is, you see---" The young woman rambled, wracking her brain for an excuse, but she was cut off when Piper ran over to them with something to say.

"Hey! Gabby wants you clowns to make some stuff with balloons." She told them and Mrs Birch smiled at the idea. That would give them something to do.

"But we gotta go..." Ray shuddered at the murderous glare that Piper was giving him and his excuse dried up in his mouth.

"So do it." She hissed. Looks like they had no choice.

Well, this sucked. Making balloon animals was a lot harder than it looked in the movies or on TV and Henry was struggling to come up with something good. At least Ray and (y/n) had an idea of what to do.

"Look, kids, aeroplane." Ray presented his balloon creation with a bored voice and twirled the propeller to make them clap. To be fair, it was quite impressive that he was able to make one.

"Look, kids, a dog." (y/n) showed them her much simpler design and then passed it to a girl at the front as she rubbed her sore hands together. The balloons had snapped and rubbed them as she twisted the latex into something resembling an animal, but at least they were soon healing over. The perks of being a superhero.

"How people do this for a living is beyond me." She grumbled quietly to Ray as they waited for Henry to finish his masterpiece. Ray saw her discomfort and took a hand into his so he could try and massage away the pain. They'd get better on their own instantly, but he wanted an excuse to hold her hand and she was happy to let him go for it.

"Uh, look I made an X." Henry smiled nervously at the children and held his untied balloons together. He was useless at balloon-art and unfortunately, this was the best he could do.

"Um, excuse me, ma'am. How much more of this do we have to do?" (y/n) asked the woman as Henry was just too painful to watch. Hopefully, they had killed a bit of time making their works.

"An hour and fifty-five minutes." Maybe not. They still had ages left and barely any energy.

"Oh, god." Ray groaned and Henry handed him his balloons. It was mundane and agitating for the couple, who knew that they had much better things to do with their time than mess about for children, but it was okay.

Much better things were about to come their way.

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ljandersen · 1 year

Text

Thank you for the tag @ficbrish! It’s been a while since I’ve seen a new game. Thanks for thinking of me!

Rules: Pick any ten of your fics, scroll to the midpoint, pick a line (or three) and share it. Then tag ten people.

[I went with six and a longer excerpt]

‐----------------------------------------------------

1. Sideways Part 1: Sideways

“Here.” Shepard grabbed his hand. He tried to pull away, but she slapped the pistol into his palm and curled his finger around it. She shoved his hand back at him. “There, Admiral Alenko . Feel better now?”

Kaidan considered the pistol in his hand. He looked up at her. “You know Cicero would like to see me KIA?”

Shepard frowned. “What? You think I’m his hired gun? I’ll take you out while we’re down here alone?”

2. Sideways Part 2: Entwined

Kaidan laughed and cupped her face. “You know there are cameras in here.”

Shepard realized her hand had brunched up his shirt almost to the shoulder. Her palm pressed against the hot skin of his chest.

“I don’t care.” She panted wolfishly and reeled him back to her mouth.

“Whoa.” He laughed and playfully batted her grasping hands away. “You want this all over the extranet? Councilor-Spectre sex tape.”

“Sure. Aquarium Sex Romp Part 1. ”

“Part 1?” Kaidan sputtered, backing up, and laughingly batting her hand away again.

3. Sideways Part 3: Prism

“That’s how you got them? Sleeping gas?” Shepard threw Feron back a step. “After I save you, I’m killing you.”

Feron tugged on his jacket and stood taller. “Then I’m not going.”

“Oh, you’re going. I’ll knock you out with something more concrete than nerve gas and drag you.” Shepard waved at Wrex. “Get over here. We’ll lift them out biotically.”

Grunt roared and beat the wall approvingly. Garrus seemed less certain.

“Who’s lifting me?” Garrus got to his feet. “Is Kaidan up there? Do I get a choice?”

4. Sideways Part 4: Abyss

“You sure you should be operating heavy machinery?” Shepard forced mirth into her tone.

“No.” Kaidan punched another series of buttons. A hiss and lift in the gravity made her scramble to grab the back of his seat for an anchor. Just as quickly, the gravity settled.

“Outer doors locked.” York ran up the gangway to them. “Why aren’t we moving?”

“Because I’m not a real pilot,” Kaidan snapped.

York shoved past Shepard and leaned down beside him. “You sure you should be operating heavy machinery?”

“Does someone else want to do this? Hmm?” He rubbed his temple. “At least I can name some of these buttons.”

5. About Mars . . .

“Donkey laugh?” Shepard shoved him away. “You’ve got it somewhere. That picture. Holding out for something you really want before blackmailing me with it?”

Kaidan lifted his Omni-Tool. The holoscreen image made her cringe.

“Damn. It’s worse than I remember. And, oh nice – ha! – I do have hair in my mouth. Lovely.”

Kaidan laughed and snapped the screen down.

“You found that pretty fast,” Shepard said. “Got it on shortcut?”

“It’s a favorite. Won’t lie.” Kaidan put his hands on his hips. “It’s a good memory. Ash was there.”

6. About Horizon . . .

“Yeah.” Kaidan leaned an elbow on the bar and studied her profile. “I’ve lost a lot of people close to me. Been years now for some of them. Still hurts like hell. You know, let’s just talk about biotic ball or turian prions again. Who doesn’t like a spirited prion debate, hmm?”

Her lips stretched into a weak smile. “I didn’t mean to dampen things. Damn. I’m a bad date, aren’t I?”

“You didn’t stand me up. That strong out the gate, what’s to worry about?”

She grinned sideways at him. “No one would stand you up.”

“Ha. Well, thanks. Go on a date once a year, it keeps the odds in my favor.”

“Once a year?” Her eyebrows raised. She rotated on her stool.

Heat flushed in his cheeks. “Well, I’m deployed a lot.”

Tagging: @rpgwrites @ripley95 @alphahelices @unicorn-farm @jamesholden @ghostxofxartemis @halesshepardn7 @acciokaidanalenko @aricazorel

#mass effect #fanfiction #writing meme #question game #my writing #shenko #fshenko

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palialaina · 8 months

Text

I guess life decided to be nice to me after something like three rude nightmares in as many days. (I am amazed Jel doesn't mind helping me with the whole waking up and calming down after...)

I also kind of embarrassed myself earlier with Dad. I was leaving after a chat and said "Bye dad, love you." I think about half the tavern heard, honestly.... so naturally I panicked and ran off.

Gonna be a fuuuuuun conversation later.

At least I'm down to my last item for the Starry Night Temple! I managed, in quick succession, to fish up the giant goldfish (I kind of want one, but I'd rather keep it in a pond or a big aquarium...) and a bottle with the sushi recipe!

And I swear, if I figure out who threw a sushi recipe into a pond, I might have to throw them in as revenge.

I did have to add another prep station to my cooking space, and I really hope that's the last one I need to make. My area is crowded with two of everything but the oven!

At least with making sushi the only things that smell like fish are my hands, and Kenyatta gave me some lovely-smelling lotion the other day that covered the fish ick pretty nice. I don't think I'll ever be a fish-meal person though.... yick.

But with that bout of luck, all that's left is the unicorn fish over in Bahari Bay! Ooooo, I'm excited! I want to know what'll happen when I finish this last thing off!

I also got pinged to talk to Chanye, this time by Auntie Del. He's... not a bad guy. For some reason I feel like religion talk sets my teeth on edge, but he's... I dunno, he's chill enough that I don't mind it? Maybe it's just that it's something completely unknown...

Maybe it's the fact that I still remember the voice that accompanied me on my way out of the void.

...

Anyways. Chayne.

Apparently he got so distracted trying to interpret whatever was going on with the moons that he forgot he was supposed to go look after Auni, and he was very upset with himself. You know, he jokes about the sects of his brotherhood sometimes, but I think he's got his head in the clouds just as much.

Eh. Maybe that's a little mean. More often than not, he's pretty down to earth. Maybe it's just a priest thing?

So he started getting upset about that, and muttering that he shouldn't expect himself to be an expert in human-related things. Well, I know an expert (mostly) in human related things. So I went and talked to Jina, and apparently the Phoenix moon has volcanoes on its surface!

...something about that is very familiar. A... a planet with volcanoes on it that....

Mn. And it's gone. Figures.

Anyways, the flashes of light Chayne is trying to interpret is apparently volcanoes erupting on the moon, which is honestly cool enough on its own, but Jina suggested I get something called a Moon Tablet from the Phoenix shrine.

So I did~ They weren't all that hard to find either.

I gave it to Chayne, and can the man fuss. Like, he didn't want me to put myself out by doing this, but is it putting myself out when I'm curious too? And inasmuch as I'm comfortable with, he does feel rather like a friend to me. He's never judged me for not being spiritual, or for the... stuff that happened when I first got here, before I really had my feet under me.

Heck, I was a wreck back then...

Still, he asked me to not involve anyone else until he's had time to try and interpret what's going on. Since I admittedly don't know anyone else who'd be interested, that was an easy promise to make. I mean, I might ask Lark or Orion if they have any idea, but who knows?

Oh, speaking of, I got another letter from Orion earlier.

Berry,

Pray receive mine gratitude for inviting me to your little soirée recently. Your domicile was most inspiring. I shall send thee an invitation when it transpires I have more than one freaking room. I was also grateful for your farming advice! I listened carefully, took notes, then bought some seeds from Zeki and planted them around randomly in a burst of farming exuberance. I’m pretty sure Badruu would approve.

I also took your advice and gave Tish a gift to apologize for barging into her (open) house. It worked perfectly, she loved the Sun Lily, it was the perfect way to apologize without actually telling her. Naturally after that I just blurted out what I’d done. But she wasn’t even mad! I think she treats her house like a kind of low-key second showroom or something. Very cool idea. As I left I met Reth going down the street. He seemed surprised that I’d given his sister a flower. I didn’t see what the big deal was until about twenty minutes ago. BERRY. I’VE BEEN GIVING HER SUN LILIES FOR DAYS. I JUST THOUGHT SHE LIKED THEM. WHAT DO I DO BERRY WHAT DO I DOOOOOOO.

OK, maybe that’s not a thing anymore. You said you and Jel made pins or something, right? So maybe she just likes flowers. But then Reth wouldn’t have cared. Unless he read about ancient human customs and is messing with me. That… absolutely sounds like something he’d do. Well played, sir, well played. Logic has one again provided a narrow escape from WHAT IF TISH READ THOSE BOOKS TOO BERRY HELP.

-Orion

PS: I got a fishtank but instead of putting a fish in it I put Nai’o’s carrot. Carrot understands me.

PPS: Should I be concerned that my two confidants are Berry and Carrot? I should tell Badruu that one.

I'll have to let him know about the heartdrop lilies. Though given how new he is, it's probably going to take a bit before he can give one to anyone, if he's even interested in them like that.

...hm. I should get some chocolate for Jel. He's been amazingly sweet recently, since I gave him my pin, and I've been kind of... running around like I usually do.

Something about having my pin has relaxed him. He comes over more often, for one thing. Used to be I had to specifically ask him to come over, and mention if it was for dinner, or to place games, but the past couple evenings, he's just shown up on his own, asked if he was interrupting, and when I said no, told me it was time to stop working and eat.

Well, okay, he didn't tell me, he asked how soon I was going to be done and the sneak has brought me a berry pie every time, so how can I not stop for that???

He's a brat. I think I love him.

#palia #palia online #singularity 6 #berry plays palia #palia game #palia journaling #palia journey #palia mmo #palia roleplaying

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askthechronoverse · 8 months

Text

It's time for a vacation! The Chronoverse Crew is going on a roadtrip and adventure is in the backseat... and maybe something else as well.

Part One || Part Two

The morning air was overloaded with the sounds of cicadas and birds creating a borderline cacophonous symphony. That didn't matter to the Unikingdom's only true human resident, who was finally getting a quality level of sleep. He muttered something incoherent, digging his head into his pillow. This peace was soon broken by a loud series of knocks on his bedroom door. The human snapped to a sitting position and grabbed a laser gun, aiming it at the door and working on pure instinct. The door practically burst open and, when the intruder revealed themself he put his gun down and rolled his eyes.

"GOOD MORNING, RJ!" Unikitty flew into the dark bedroom and pulled the blackout curtains open to let sunlight join the party. Rex squinted in response to the sudden and unwanted appearance of light.

"Mornin'?" The human replied, trying to figure out how the unicorn cat broke into his house. He rubbed his left eye with his hand and yawned. "We need to talk about boundaries again, don't we."

"We need to talk about something else first." Of course they did. Rex slowly got to his feet and began to look for a change of clothes. "It's summertime and it's almost time for my friends and I to go on our annual vacation!"

"You woke me up to tell me to castlesit? I'll do it, but can you keep conversations like this to after my morning coffee?" He found enough clothes to make a coherent outfit and started to push the floating unicorn cat out of his room.

"Nope! Because you are now my friend, that means you're going too." The cat held on to the doorframe. Rex stopped pushing, his expression a mix of annoyance and hidden flattery.

"You… never asked me if I wanted to go, Princess. I could be doing something that day." Rex pointed out, the words coming out almost halfheartedly.

"I know you aren't. We have the same friends, RJ!" Unikitty countered. "And they're coming… well, everyone here in the Unikingdom is. So come with us."

"This isn't an invitation I can decline, is it." Rex turned on the bedroom light and started to tame his wild hair in a small wall mounted mirror.

"Nope! Besides, after what we've been through we could use a vacation!" There was a deep level of tiredness in her voice that really drove that point home. The human said nothing at first. He couldn't really counter that, though he would have preferred time alone to recover and adjust a little more to the peacetime chaos of the Unikingdom. "We're leaving in a few hours, so get packed and I'll take you to the castle!" This stopped Rex in his tracks.

"We're leavin'... in a few hours?"

"Yep! I'll be in the living room!" The cat floated off, closing the door and leaving the human stunned.

Unikitty was pulling a whole tray of cookies out of the oven by the time Rex emerged from his room, dressed in a denim vest and a ripped shirt that had a faded Space Corps logo printed on it. He held a beaten up duffel bag in his arms. He threw the bag on the couch and walked to his study. When Unikitty poked her head into the study, she found her friend on his radio, attempting to get a raptor to watch his house while he was away. She grinned widely, since he didn't sound too upset at the sudden prospect of a vacation with friends. When he was done, Unikitty grabbed his bag.

"You're dressed and packed. Let's go! The others are waiting!" She grabbed Rex's hand and dragged him out of the cabin, barely giving him time to lock his front door.

The two friends soon found themselves in the shadow of the Unikitty shaped castle, a beaten up sky blue and faded green van on the road. Doctor Fox was dressed in a jumpsuit and checking the engine. She saw the two and waved.

"RJ!" She closed the hood of the van and shuffled over to her friend, smiling excitedly. "I'm happy you decided to come! My calculations show that adding you to the trip will make the vacation 300% cooler!" That made the man smile a little.

"Princess gave me no choice, but I'm glad I'm addin' somethin' to the whole thing." He yawned, watching Unikitty through his bag haphazardly in the trunk. "Ya know where we're goin'?"

"I don't, actually. Unikitty only told Richard because he's driving, but he's not willing to part with that information either."

"Maybe I should go back to my cabin and get another bag. I assumed we were goin' to the beach, but maybe I shoulda known better." The Master Breaker was about to leave when he was stopped by Unikitty.

"There's no time now, RJ! We don't wanna leave without you!" She opened his duffle bag and dug through it, pulling out his guitar and grinning. "You have everything you need anyway and then some!"

"Get out of my duffle bag!" He pushed the royal cat away, snatched his guitar out of her paws and started to put it in the bag. He turned and saw Puppycorn and Hawkodile coming over the hill. The puppy saw his friend and tackled him with a hug. "Hey, kid! Good morning!"

"Mornin', RJ! You're comin' on vacation with us? That's so rad!" The puppy's ball tail wagged as he got off of Rex. Hawkodile just greeted the human with a knowing and sympathetic nod.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Rex flashed the pup a tired smile as Hawkodile threw his and Puppycorn's bags in the trunk. "Hey, Hawk. We got time for me to run to the coffee shop in town? I'll getcha some too."

"I'll make the run, bro. Ya take your coffee with thirteen sugars still?" The hawk crocodile stretched his wings, preparing to take flight.

"Yeah. I can't cut the sugar down any further. Too used to it bein' overly sweet." Rex shrugged as Hawkodile rushed off to get them both coffee. "Get somethin' for Rich, too!" He called after the bodyguard's afterimage as the last member of the group floated into view. "Mornin', Rich." The brick was overburdened by his own bag and Unikitty's luggage and was relieved when Rex took some from him.

"I'd say I was glad you decided to come with us, but I know the princess probably didn't give you a choice." Richard bobbed in a way that could be interpreted as a nod. "I will warn you that our road trips can get chaotic. Will you be alright with that?"

"Is it more chaotic than a normal day with the Princess?"

"I can't say you don't have a point. But the answer to that is yes. And the chaos isn’t entirely her doing." Richard didn't hold any tone to betray his feelings on that fact. That seemed to bother Rex that much more.

"Well… I'm callin' shotgun." Rex jumped in the passenger seat next to the driver's seat and reclined in the seat with his hands behind his head.

"Hey! I wanted to sit there!" Unikitty pouted. She squished her face against the window and stared at Rex, who just ignored her. "I'm always shotgun!"

"Princess, you can get that seat on the way home." Richard was handed a coffee cup by Hawkodile, who had just come back from the cafe. "Now, is everyone here and do you have everything you need? We have time for a few stops before we reach our destination, but we can't be late." Hawkodile and Rex waved from their positions, already engaged in a conversation about battle strategy. Doctor Fox called from under the van and Puppycorn barked at a squirrel in a tree.

"Looks like we're all here, Richard!" Unikitty flew like a flash into the van, taking a seat in the middle, while her brother and Doctor Fox sat on either side of her. Hawkodile sat in the back as best he could, though it was clear the van only seated five.

"Ya sure we got a big enough van, Rich? I can follow behind in my truck, if ya wa-" Rex was interrupted by Unikitty, who leaned into his and Richard's part of the van.

"Nope! We need to stick together! That's how a road trip works!"

"I'm sure Hawk would appreciate not bein'-"

"NOPE! It's like you've never been on a road trip before, RJ!"

"Well, unless the whole TAKOS Tuesday thing or the trip through the Systar System counts-"

"Which they don't." Unikitty interjected.

"We didn't do road trips in Bricksburg. We had everything we needed in the city. There was an amusement park and -!"

"You didn't even go on any with your raptors?" Unikitty was floored.

"Not much room in the whole 'get revenge' timetable to sightsee… Well now that I think about it, the kid an' I did go back in time to Bricksburg together. That counts, right?" Rex shrugged.

"Yeah! That totally counts!" Puppycorn bounced in his seat, his eyes lighting up with recognition. Unikitty thought for a second and nodded in agreement. She will totally count that.

"So you know! You and Little Bro didn't take two different time machines!" She leaned back into her seat, hushing Rex when he tried to argue. "Let's go, Rick!"

"Of course, Princess. We do have a tight schedule." The brick started the van and drove, Rex watching him with fascination by how a being with no hands could somehow drive.

The group were soon on the road. Rex was fully awake at this point and watched the world float past them from the window. The others started to discuss their excitement for this trip animatedly from the back, but the human tuned them out. He jumped a little when Richard spoke.

"How have you been doing, Rex?" The brick kept his eyes on the road as he talked.

"I've been holdin' up, Rich. Still can't get used to all this." The human adjusted the blue bandana that was tied around his neck.

"What can't you get used to?"

"A lot of things. Havin' friends that want me to be happy, people seein' me as a hero, the hustle and bustle of the kingdom in general… It's a lot." Rex leaned back in the seat as much as he could without adjusting it.

"I hope you get better adjusted to that in time, especially having friends like us. We may not be the dinosaurs you normally talk to, but we care about you and, yes, we want you to be happy." Richard smiled, but kept his focus on driving.

"Yes, RJ. You're one of us now." Unikitty whispered suddenly in the human's ear. "One of us." She slipped into the backseat and resumed her part of the backseat conversation without missing a beat.

"That was… disturbing." Rex shook his head and turned back to Richard. "So. Ya wanna tell me where we're goin'?"

"I'm going to be honest with you and tell you that I don't know where we're going. Princess Unikitty's directions are terrible and I'm pretty sure it would involve us driving several miles through the desert for some reason." Rex's left eye twitched when Richard mentioned the desert. "That was my thought, too. I'm not sure what she was thinking, given your past experiences. I have taken the liberty to avoid doing… that, but I still don't know where she wanted to go. I'll be stopping soon to see if we can figure that out."

"Thanks for that," was the only response the human gave as he settled back to watching the treeline come and go. The van soon stopped at a small gas station that felt friendly and only slightly disused, where Hawkodile got out to top off the van's gas tank. Rex turned to Puppycorn, poking his head from the front seat.

"Kid. Be honest. Do ya need to go? Don't know when we'll be stoppin' next." He spoke softly and patiently.

"Uh… no. But I want some trip snacks!" The puppy wagged his tail.

"I'll get some snacks if you go anyway. We don't want Rich to have to stop again, right?" The puppy shook his head and headed for the station's restroom. "And that's how ya get that kid to listen to you." Rex got out as well and headed for the mini mart with his hands in his pockets. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his Brick-a-gram feed, occasionally liking photos that came from his friends from other planets’ accounts. He grabbed some snacks that were easy to clean if they spilled and some coffee and waited for the cashier to finish the transaction before him to put his chosen provisions on the counter along with some Apocalypseburgian currency.

"Uh… dude? What is this?" The cashier held the beaten and battered money up for the distracted time traveler to see.

"Money that is probably worthless here. Hang on…" He pulled out his wallet and pulled out bills from Bricksburg, Syspocalypstar, and even some older Systar System coins before finding shiny gold coins with Unikitty’s head on them. "I… collect coins. Here. Some good old Unikingdom Lolly."

"You bring your collection with you?" The cashier lifted an eyebrow incredulously as he took the Lolly coins and slid the change across the counter.

"Ya never know when you'll meet another… coin collector." He put the currency, including the change, back in his wallet and took his purchases. "See ya." He headed out the door and was quickly joined by Puppycorn.

"Didja get the snacks?" The puppy jumped around the human, excited for the prospect of snacks.

"Didja wash your paws?" After Rex asked this, the puppy ran back to the bathroom and returned with wet paws. "Close enough for me. Here." He handed the puppy a bag of gummy bears and headed for the van. Hawkodile had finished his task as Rex got there. "Hey, Hawk. Ya want some coffee?"

"Nah. I'm good, bro." The hawk crocodile looked over to Rex and saw his phone lock screen was set to a photo of himself and Emmet goofing around. He chose not to say anything about that, instead focusing on the snacks he was holding. "Ya need to stop eating so much sugar."

"Can't help it. Always had a sweet tooth." He dug through a bag of candied pecans and threw one in his mouth.

"Yeah, but you've already had two cups of coffee with thirteen sugars each. That's a lot of sugar and it's only 10." The two took a walk around the station as they spoke, waiting for Unikitty and Richard to finish talking.

"It used to be a lot worse, bro." He pocketed the bag and walked in step with the chimera. "It's the least of my issues right now." The man whispered a small thank you to the brats upstairs when Doctor Fox waved them back to the van. Puppycorn was already inside, head poking out of the open window. He and Hawkodile got to the van, where they could now see that Richard was fretting over a map over the steering wheel while Unikitty sat in the front passenger side seat, sticking her tongue out as Rex as he approached that side. "Hey, Rich." He spoke as he and Hawkodile tried to fit themselves into the backseat with Puppycorn and, eventually, Doctor Fox. "Ya finally get the whole destination thing figured out?"

"I'm just gonna give Richard directions until we get to the next stop." Unikitty seemed way too happy to basically say she wasn't telling anyone anything. "It's a secret."

"Princess, what if this trip takes longer than a day? We shouldn't be gone for so-" Richard was quickly hushed by his princess.

"It'll be fine! We won't be gone for long enough for the people to notice!"

"I'm supposed to be going to Syspocalypstar in a few days to see Em-" Like Richard before him, Rex was shushed by Unikitty.

"You'll get home in time to see him! And, if not, he'll understand!"

"Sad thing is she ain't wrong. But I'm just gonna text him an' tell him…" Rex rolled his eyes at his phone, seeing that he had no signal. "Later." He put his phone away. He tried to relax, but it was too cramped for him to lean back. The rest of the van fell back into casual conversation, Rex choosing to try to get some sleep to the drone of the van's engine. He was quickly nudged awake by Puppycorn, who slurped some unknown liquid he had clearly gotten at the gas station.

"Can you take me with you on your trip to see your bro? I wanna fly in your super rad spaceship again." He growled a little as he chewed on a particularly stubborn gummy bear.

"Pretty sure the Rexcelsior is on the no fly list, so I'm takin' somethin' a lot smaller. I can try to take ya, but it's gonna be cramped."

"Kinda like this?"

"Actually, know what? The ship'll be less cramped." Rex laughed as Hawkodile adjusted to a more comfortable position. "Em’ll be happy to have ya. Not sure about his girlfriend, but I don't care what she thinks." He didn't sound as sincere with the last part of the sentence, accented by a brief glance downward. Puppycorn didn't catch this, though.

"Can we go to that pizza place again?" The puppy asked, holding on to his energy levels.

"Not sure it even exists now. I'd ask Em, but I have no signal on my satellite phone." He shot a brief glare at Unikitty's headrest. "So gonna say maybe, but don't get your hopes up." The pup nodded and the conversation soon moved on to skateboarding tips. Unikitty listened and smiled, glad her friend was able to slip into being part of the group so easily.

"I think he's finally really happy now. Don't you think, Rick?" Unikitty's voice made Richard jump a little.

"RJ does seem to be less dour and I do think he's better adjusted to us. I don't doubt this is because of what we've been through with him. I can't speak for him, but it looks like he has a new purpose. That may be just what he needed." Richard smiled a little himself. "I know I'm glad he's doing better."

"Oo! We're at the first real stop of our trip! Pull in here, Rick!" Richard lifted an eyebrow at a small diner with a large fiberglass taco just next to it. A neon sign on the roof declared the place to be "Taco Joe's Diner", with a gaudy metal sign below it saying it was home of the world's largest fiberglass taco. The friends in the back of the van stopped their conversations and looked out the window.

"Well, it is past lunchtime…" Richard parked the van with perfect precision. When they stopped, the passengers in the back piled out, the lone human stretching a little as his boots hit the dusty ground.

"Dibs on shotgun." He declared as he looked at the large taco. "Ya know, I really should demand old Business gives out the tacos he owes the people of Bricksburg." He walked a short circuit around the van and fished his instant camera from his duffel bag before joining the group again. “If he hasn’t already. Em claimed he gave control of the Realms to the Assembly of Master Builders and Queen Wa’nabi, but it’s the least he can do now.” He looked up and saw that the others were already starting to head inside. He rushed after.

As they entered the diner, it was clear how underwhelmed Unikitty was. It looked like it fell out of the 1950's, but took a few stray hits of grime and rust on the way down. The place was nearly empty, with a hot sauce bottle waitress serving a surly looking figure some piping hot coffee at a counter that cut the place in a rough half. There were no tables with chairs, just booths that could seat maybe half of their party each without being super uncomfortable situated along the knick knack covered walls. The others didn't seem to mind this nearly as much as the princess did or if they did, it wasn't as transparently written on their faces. The waitress eyed the group with her dot eyes and gave them a wave.

"Welcome to Taco Joe's! Have a seat. I'll be with y'all in just a tick!" She spoke in a cheery voice that felt welcoming and warm. The group piled into two booths, with Richard, Rex and Puppycorn in one and the others in the one directly next to them.

"Welcome to the cool kids' table, Rich." Rex sat alone in the booth and close to the large window, with Puppycorn sitting directly across from him. "Glad ya made it. I was worried someone else was gonna take your seat." The human added this last part with a small grin.

"You wanted me to sit with you? I'm shocked you didn't want Hawkodile." Richard's usual monotone held a hint of happiness at the idea of being wanted.

"I think he an' Doc need some alone time. Besides, I like your company." Rex looked out the window at the small town that surrounded them. The town was sleepy despite the clear tourist trap they were built around. It was strange how quiet it was, but he brushed that off in his mind. "I gotta take a pic of us before we leave." He mostly said this to himself, but it was loud enough for the rest of the table to hear. The waitress came over with a pad and a pencil, as well as some paper menus. She passed them out to the group and gave a bright, only slightly customer service smile.

"What can I getcha'll to drink?" The group, with the exception of Rex and Richard, gave their drink orders almost simultaneously. The poor girl was able to keep up, to her credit. Richard ordered a plain glass of water once she finished writing the other orders. "How 'boutchu, handsome?" She turned to Rex, giving him a wink.

"Coffee. I'll have it black since you're sweet enough," he stated while returning the wink. She turned a brighter red and rushed to get their drinks. He grabbed a pink packet from a small tray in front of a small jukebox that looked like it hadn't worked in centuries and played with it. Richard, hiding a slight frown, stopped Puppycorn from mimicking the action with a packet of ketchup. "You guys do this every year, huh?" Richard shook his head as Puppycorn looked up at the brick with confusion.

"This is… our second year doing this after the Princess landed in the new Kingdom.” He floated close to Rex’s ear as he said this information. “We did this every year when she was younger, but that… She wants to bring that tradition back.” He moved back out of Rex’s personal space and spoke normally. “We may need to make new arrangements next time to make sure you can fit into the equation. I don't think Princess Unikitty counted for six people if I'm being honest. You've been with us for a while now, however, so I'm a little less sure what she was thinking."

"Does anyone really know what the Princess is thinking?" Rex shrugged. "She does what she wants. I get that. Seen it firsthand. Watched it help sink an entire submarine."

"I assume you're referring to the TAKOS Tuesday incident?"

"One small part of it, but yes."

"I sometimes forget you were someone different a long time ago," Richard admitted. "I can't see you as anyone else but who I've seen you become."

"That's why I like ya, Rich." The human smiled not noticing as a coffee cup with a cartoon taco and the words “taco me after my morning coffee” imprinted on it was placed in front of him and the bitter liquid was poured in the cup. "Ya don't make me feel like I need to be someone else I just don't have the capacity to be anymore."

"Princess Unikitty doesn't feel that way anymore, either. She's just happy you're happy."

"Well, then! What'll it be?" The waitress's voice cut into the conversation like a bubbly thousand degree knife.

"We'll get the party tray! That should be enough for everyone, right?" Unikitty spoke before anyone else could and the waitress ran off before anyone could object. Rex rolled his eyes and took a gulp from his coffee mug.

"There is a chance we will need to get a hotel for the evening. Are you alright with sharing a room with someone, RJ?" Richard asked, a pen in one of the grooves on his head. "I know you have issues when you sleep."

"If I have to. Ya mind if the person is you? Hawk can be with Princess and PC to do his bodyguard thing and Doc can have her own room."

"That's a sound strategy, RJ. I wouldn't mind spending more time with you if you don't." The brick smiled as he made notes on a napkin. "Would you be willing to look up hotels on your phone within a few hours' drive from here in all directions?" The human nodded and got to work, quickly shooting Emmet a text to tell him he was dragged on vacation and may have to postpone his visit.

"I'm starting to think this was all a ploy to get me and you alone or somethin'." Rex teased as he scrolled. He glanced over to Unikitty. "I could see her doin' that."

"Oh, I don't know about that." Richard didn't show any outward sign of how he really felt. He simply chose to drink his water quietly.

The food came quickly and uneventfully enough and the gang soon left the diner. "Hey, guys. Get in front of the taco. I need a picture." Hawkodile went to grab Rex's camera, but he shook his head. "You too. I put a timer on this bad boy." He perched the camera on the hood of the van and pointed it towards the taco and the gathered friends. "We got one minute. Get ready." The friends gathered together and after a while, the camera spat a photo out of the thin slot at the bottom. Rex grabbed the photo and pocketed it. "Never shake a photo from an instant camera." He said to Puppycorn as he passed him, jumping into the front passenger seat before Unikitty could say anything.

"Hey! He took shotgun again!" Unikitty whined as she floated in the backseat with her brother.

"He had dibs, Big Sis." Puppycorn pointed out.

"Yeah. I had dibs." Rex didn't turn to the princess, but he was smirking smugly.

"Besides, RJ will be navigating us to a hotel when the time comes to rest." Richard stated flatly. "You can still tell me where to go, but did you plan for time to sleep on this trip?"

"Uh…" The cat floated down to the seat gently and frowned. "Go left, OK?" Richard nodded and pulled out of the diner and through the quiet town. It was a town that very much had seen better days and was only inhabited by a few people who looked like they were always living here and always will. Rex closed his eyes, but was woken up by Unikitty shouting for Richard to stop the van. He looked out the front window to see a sign for something called Tourmaline Falls. "Follow that sign! We have to go!"

The brick said nothing and just followed the sign's direction out of town a short distance. He parked in a dirt lot that was crowned by a large gateway that looked like it was made out of the stone the falls were named after. The group could already hear the sound of falling water as they got out of the van and approached the gateway. A being that looked like it was made out of coal handed Unikitty a pamphlet that talked about the falls and requested a donation to keep the area clean and untouched. She threw the being a few coins and followed her friends to the origin of the noise.

The falls were the centerpiece of a large, dark cave. Natural light poured from the top of the cave and only over the falls, lighting blue and green stones that were roughly polished by the heavy flow of water. The falls were roped off to prevent people from dropping into the hole the water flowed into, but that didn't matter. A cool breeze came from the falls themselves, which felt great after being in an over occupied van for even a short period of time. Rex got as close as the barricade would permit and just watched the falls for a bit. Doctor Fox began to collect rock and water samples for later. Richard floated next to the human and took out a camera of his own, this one a small disposable one. He took a picture of Rex by the falls that seemed to be more of Rex than the falls. The human stepped back and took a picture of the falls of his own, his expression soft and enamored.

"I don't think I've seen anything more amazing." He put the photo in his pocket. Richard said nothing, but looked down at his camera.

"We may have to come back later to get more samples!" Doctor Fox called from somewhere in the darker parts of the cave. Unikitty yawned, already bored.

"Can we go? This is really boring." She moaned.

"Wasn't this your idea, Unikitty?" Hawkodile said pointedly.

"I know, but I wanna go now."

"Wait for RJ. I think the guy's havin' a moment over there." Hawkodile jabbed his thumb over to Rex, who was still close to the falls. The human turned to the others after a moment of almost total silence and shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. He headed to the others, followed by Richard and Doctor Fox. "Looks like he's good now. Let's go." The six friends left, but not before Rex got another picture of the group at the gateway. He and Unikitty raced to the van, the man losing to the cat for the front seat by a hair. Unikitty stuck her tongue out at Rex as he climbed in the back. Richard's eyes flashed a slight disappointment as he got into the driver's seat.

"Is there any other place you want to see before we find a town and a place to stay?" Richard asked Unikitty.

"We're good. Carry on." Unikitty grinned.

"RJ. Where is the next town?" Richard looked ahead as he spoke, unable to look at the man now without having to fight the urge to blush deeply.

"It's about 15 miles from here. Just off the main road." He looked at a map on his phone. "It's a place called Chantilly. It's apparently the home of a purple cow named 'Chanty', if we're in a sightseein' mood when we get there." He checked his messages and chuckled. "Emmet says hi, Princess."

"Ooh! Tell him I say hi! And hi to Wyldstyle too!" Unikitty's eyes lit up at the mention of her distant friend. Rex nodded and texted that before putting his phone away.

Richard started to drive away from the falls, letting the others talk among themselves for the rest of the trip to the town that, when he pulled into the main street, he had to admit was an attraction in itself. The town looked like it was made of whipped cream and candy. He wasn't sure if Rex chose this place because it was close or because of how strange it all was. He drove until he found a hotel, a grand looking villa with a sign over the door that softly and proudly proclaimed it was the Chantilly Grand Hotel. He pulled the van into the cream colored parking lot.

"Once we get our rooms, we have the rest of the day to do what you want to do. Just stay in town." Richard got out of the van. Rex and Hawkodile helped unload the group's luggage as Richard paid for their rooms and handed out the room keys. The rooms were assigned as Rex had suggested, which disappointed Puppycorn. This disappointment went away quickly enough when he saw a sign for a pool.

The group put their bags in their rooms and headed their separate ways. Rex and Richard settled in their room for the time being. The room was as cream colored as the town around them, gold accenting the walls, curtains, and furniture. There were two beds, covered in light colored fabrics made of airy material. Richard floated just above one of the beds, one close to the front door. The human dug through his back for swimming trunks and walked into the bathroom to change. He soon came back and Richard couldn't help but notice the scars and other signs of damage on his body. Some he recognized from the fight for the Unikingdom's freedom, namely two long ones on either side of his lower torso. Those scars seemed older than they actually were and could have been from when he was an angrier man. Richard knew better. His large eyes shot downward.

"Does it still hurt?" The question made Rex stop in his tracks. Rex paused for a moment before answering.

"Yeah, sometimes. I think the sword was cursed, but I ain’t bringin’ it to the Assembly to find out." Rex leaned against the doorframe, turning to face Richard. "Not much ya can do."

"No…" Richard frowned softly. He wanted to do something for the man, though. Maybe hold him in his non-existent arms? Would that be too bold? Of course it would. He had so much he would need to do to get close to being able to do that. "However, if there is anything I can do to help, I want to help."

"Now that you mention it, maybe we can go get some drinks after I come back? It helps to get my mind off it." Rex grabbed a large towel from the bathroom and waited for an answer.

"I would be happy to join you." Richard watched Rex leave and took a breath to assess the situation. He hadn't felt like this since his unrequited lover that he still had yet to speak to. Did he fall for the man's charm further somehow? Seeing his dark eyes light up when they were at the falls made his feelings for Rex more real. He had to remain rational about this. They were just two friends going to a hotel bar for some drinks. There was no need to rush into things. For all he knew, it was the beauty of the falls that made him feel this way. Right? No. It wasn’t and he knew it. He had to remember that he told the guy about his feelings for him the night he regretted more than anything else.

By the time Rex had returned from the pool, Richard had started reading a book about alternative uses for paperclips, but was wearing a little blue bowtie. Wordlessly, Rex went to get changed. Richard looked up when the bathroom door closed, noticing that the clothes Rex had been wearing when they got to the hotel were left on the bed. Was he getting into something nicer, too? He didn't have too long to wait, but he decided that the way Rex dressed would set the tone for the evening. Usually, just having a drink with a friend would be less formal and not a reason to look nice. Right? He really didn't do even that often, since he blended in with the wallpaper so often and didn't have friends outside the castle. Yes, Rex counted as one of those despite living outside the castle himself but he was also an outsider who was far more grounded than the rest of the gang.

The man did soon emerge and Richard looked more confused than anything. He was wearing a new vest, but this one was made of leather. His shirt was a tank top with a faded emblem that the brick would barely see. He jumped when his friend spoke.

"Come on, Rich. I could really use a drink right now." The two headed for the bar, which was called the Creme Club by a fancy looking wooden sign over the door. The area was small and intimate, the color scheme carried over from the rooms. There was a stage opposite the bar that was empty at the present, but a sign on the slick wooden bar hinted that there was live music nightly. The wooden tables were simple and elegant and the chairs matched. Richard let Rex set the pace still, trying to find meaning in the one on one meetup. Rex chose a table in a far corner that could only possibly seat two. Was he trying not to be seen by the others? Richard's heart fell, but he decided to keep his hopes up. An overly angled waitress came over and Richard ordered ice water. Rex shook his head and asked for something far harder: a bourbon neat. The waitress left and Rex looked down, holding his side.

"Are you sure you don't need medical attention?" Richard frowned, one stray sweat drop shaped sparkle matter popping up over his head.

"I'm fine." Rex said through closed teeth. He took a few deep breaths that only seemed to vaguely help. "Or I will be soon enough." The waitress came back with their drinks and the man waited for her to leave before having a drink. He looked around and when he didn't see what he was looking for, spoke again. "I don't get a lotta time to talk to ya like this… Were ya always the castle caretaker and Princess's advisor?" So he was looking for one of the others to show up, Richard assumed. Interesting. “Like, I mean in the old days. Before the… what didja call it? The Fall?”

"Well, no. I'm honestly lucky to have that job, given my past. I was hired as the Princess’ advisor since she was born, but…" Richard decided to be open with the guy. After all, this was the man who ended the world and who saved him from himself. If anyone was going to not judge him about a seedy past, it was him. "I've been to prison before."

"Now that is unexpected." Rex rested his head on his curled hand, eyes urging Richard to continue with captivated interest.

"I mostly was the one to manage the money for my crew, but I did occasionally do field work if I needed some extra cash. Making evidence disappear is a lot easier than you think. It just takes a single paperclip and some ingenuity." The brick found Rex's interest oddly exciting. It was rare someone took this much of an interest in him. "Anyway… I made some miscalculations and ended up getting caught. I had to break out of prison and fled from my home in Frowntown to the Unikingdom. I must have seemed qualified to Queen Butterlope and King Enoue, since they gave me the job on the spot. To this day, I don’t understand why they didn’t run a background check."

"Who know ya were hidin' that kinda backstory? I just thought you were trying to be intimidating when you hinted at a dark past that night." The man was clearly still interested and not running from the situation. That was good, right?

"Most people don't really ask. I'm grateful for that, because I still have to keep the Old Unikingdom a secret." Richard had just a hint of emotion behind the monotone.

"That's a shame. I mean, it's useful that our pasts are easy to cover up around here, but it's better to have someone to talk it all out with. Not sure if this'll bring up some things best forgotten, but do you feel any regrets about it all?"

"Well… I suppose not. I had to make a living somehow and it was the best option I had at the time." Rex was asking questions? This wasn't something Richard was used to at all.

"Hey, we gotta do what we can to survive, right?" Rex was predictably non-judgemental about the whole thing. It was refreshing. "Nothin' wrong with that. Besides, look atcha now: Ya live in a castle an' probably make better money in the long run."

"I also don’t believe my old crew exists. I looked it up once, but I didn’t see anything. It makes it a lot harder to fall into old habits. Though I will admit that getting that confession tape brought back some of the thrills I got doing field work." Richard barely noticed that Rex ordered another round of whatever he was drinking, as well as a glass for him.

"Ya could always leave Princess to clean up her own messes for a while an' go on an adventure or two with me. Travelling around time is pretty thrilling and doesn't end in prisontime." Well, with some potential exceptions, he'd assume.

"I don't know. I feel like the kingdom would fall apart without me. It is… kind… of you to offer." Richard could feel his cheeks go flush.

"It's not an offer I make to everyone, Rich. I just make it for the people I really like. Doc hasn't even gotten that invite and she's a scientist who should see my ship in action." He only let the people he liked a lot time travel with him? So, that probably meant that, up to this point, only Puppycorn was given that chance. But why Richard? "Besides, I think ya need ta get away from the castle more often." The drinks were delivered and the man shrugged. "I know I wouldn't be able to stand the Princess's energy for more than a few hours most days."

"I have a duty to the Unikingdom, RJ. I'm sure you understand better than most that I was given a second chance and I owe the kingdom my diligence."

"Rich, you won't be throwing anything away gettin' out for a little bit. My ship's a time machine. I can have you home before Princess can activate a single glitter bomb. You always say I'm one of you and… I rarely heard that when I was growing up. Or even when I was the Special. I need to return that favor somehow." There was something in the man's eyes that made Richard's heart beat faster.

"Maybe someday, RJ." Why couldn't he commit to letting this man whisk him off his feet? It wasn't like he didn't want to. The man nodded in response.

"Offer's there if ya want it." Rex took a sip of the amber liquid in his glass and glanced at the door. "Think it's too late to keep the night goin' a little longer?"

"Why would you want to do that? Most people wouldn't want to spend this much time with me."

"That's a problem, I think. You're more interesting than you lead on and I'm kicking myself because I haven't spent enough time with you to see that." Rex kept his eye on the door, but suspected that a place like the Creme Club would be too adult for the prince and princess to wander into.

"We have all the time you want to spend, RJ." Richard let some flattery bubble to the surface of his monotone. "It's just so uncommon that I feel this seen. I usually feel invisible."

"That's just wrong. I know what it's like to blend in like that. I wouldn't wish that loneliness on my worst enemy." His voice was unstable now, slipping out of the verbal mask. "I won't do that to you."

"RJ… I know you won't. You haven't yet." Richard smiled softly, his half closed eyes almost sparking. "I'm amazed by how passionate you are about this, but you do appear to be a man of passion." Richard's cheeks turned just a little pinker.

"Yeah. I think I always was, but not givin' a crap makes it easier to drag that out of me." He waved down the waitress and asked for two menus. She shuffled away and Rex turned back to Richard. "Ya seem flush. Ya feelin' alright?"

"Yes. I'm fine." Richard glanced at the menu once it was offered to him and it was clear this hotel restaurant was very upscale. "Maybe we should find another place to have dinner? The least expensive thing is a lot more than I budgeted for dinner on this trip." Rex scratched his head.

"My bank account's still frozen because of the whole Armommageddeon thing. You're probably right." He asked the waitress for his drink tab and paid for that. He pulled out his phone and looked for a cheaper place within walking distance while he finished his drink.

"I can ask for your account to be unfrozen after this trip. I may need to temporarily take control of it, but that would only be so the Systarian government can finish any investigations they have pending." Richard offered. "How do you have money right now?"

"I had some older coins converted to Unikingdom Lolly after things calmed down." Rex's lips curled up a little and he pocketed his phone. "There's a diner about two blocks from here that's apparently got some good milkshakes. The whole town was built around it. Let's see what all the hype is about." He got out of his chair and left the bar from an entrance that led out into the main street. Richard followed along, bobbing next to his companion as best as he could.

The two made small talk until they reached a building that looked like a normal restaurant, a stark contrast from the cream themed world around them. A sign happily let everyone know that the diner was called O'Hare's. They walked in and were greeted by a large rabbit they had to assume was old O'Hare himself. The whole place looked like it was trapped in a bubble in time, with all of the 80's style fixtures looking brand new. It was clear the large gray rabbit was proud of his establishment. The two travelers slid into a booth and sat across from each other. A second, younger rabbit handed them menus and let them be. After some silence, Rex spoke.

"I never realized how alike we are." His voice was softer than normal, barely recognizable.

"It is interesting how you and I found ourselves on similar paths that led us to the Unikingdom and to our eventual friendship." Richard liked the half step his companion's voice had taken. It sounded right, somehow.

The two eventually placed their orders and went back to small talk about the trip so far. The conversation remained light as the time passed, but it was clear to anyone watching that they were connecting. And someone was watching: a very excited and slightly confused Unikitty who had floated in as the two were talking. She was joined by Hawkodile and Puppycorn, but the two were too occupied with their own conversation to notice that the princess was focused on other things.

"Are they…?" The cat tried to sneak closer to her advisor and friend, but Hawkodile stopped her with a sunglasses obscured look. She watched the two talk, but didn't see or hear anything that made her feel like she was right in her unspoken suspicions. She sank back into her seat, occasionally going back to watching the two until they eventually finished dinner and left for the hotel. "Why would he want to spend time with boring old Richard?"

"They looked like they were enjoying themselves, Princess." Hawkodile stated as he looked around the room for signs of danger.

"That's even weirder. Richard is so boring." Unikitty stuck out her tongue. "Why would RJ like talking to him?"

"They must've found something in common. It's how you make friends, after all." Hawkodile shrugged.

The twilight gave the cream colored town an eerie look. Rex stood on the balcony while Richard sat at the room's obligatory desk with a pencil and paper. He stared at the paper for a long time, occasionally glancing at the man on the balcony. The slight movement of the ends of Rex's headband and his dark hair indicated a slight breeze. His back was turned to the glass door and he leaned over the railing, just watching the sun set. Richard turned back to the paper and looked for the words. Pen finally hit paper after another round of watching the man on the balcony. When Rex turned to go inside, Richard grabbed an envelope from the desk and shoved the paper into it. Rex didn't say anything to Richard as he flopped on his bed and turned on the TV.

"Let me know when ya wanna sleep, Rich." He flipped through the channels until he found an action movie.

"You should sleep as well, Rex. I know it's hard for you, but we do have to keep up with the princess until we get back to the Unikingdom." Richard sounded concerned, which overrode the monotone in his voice.

"I'll try. If I start sleepwalkin' and ya catch me, try to keep me away from the balcony." His eyes were still on the movie. Richard bobbed in agreement and floated off to get into his pajamas, which consisted of a light yellow nightcap and an actual, very tiny, full set of matching pajamas. Rex lifted an eyebrow at this, but went back to the movie. Somehow, that just made sense. Richard tried to stay up with Rex for the rest of the movie, but fell asleep during the climax. Rex turned the TV off and tried to sleep as well, but sleep didn't come until hours later. The sleep that did come was fitful and barely got deep.

Rex woke the next morning with Richard gone and both of their bags gone. On the desk was a change of clothes for him, some breakfast and coffee, and an envelope. He got out of bed and walked to the desk, opening the envelope and reading the note within:

Take your time getting ready to leave. The princess wanted to see that purple cow you had mentioned yesterday, so I left with the others to see that. I've already packed the van, so we will be ready to leave when you are. You didn't sleepwalk last night, but I do worry you didn't sleep. well, either. If you need more sleep, I'll try to find a place to stop for the others so you can do that.

Richard.

That letter felt so formal. Rex did have to admit it was nice that Richard left it, though. He couldn't deny that there was a fear that they just left him in this unknown town. He did as the note suggested and took his time getting ready to go out the door. By the time the rest of the group returned to the hotel, he was sitting on the hood of the van, waiting for them.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Unikitty sang out.

"You missed the super rad looking cow." Puppycorn added, opening the van's back door. He stopped when he noticed that the van had an extra row of seats. He shrugged this off and jumped in the middle row.

"Is this our van?" Hawkodile looked around the parking lot skeptically.

"I Master Built a second row of backseats. We had just enough room for one." Rex slid off of the hood and saw that Unikitty beat him to the front seat. He sat next to Puppycorn, which made Doctor Fox and Hawkodile pile in the back row. "Should be less cramped back there now."

"That was a really bro move. Thanks." Hawkodile grinned, turning slightly red with his close proximity to Doctor Fox.

"Yes, thank you Rex. That resolves a problem we would have had with this van going forward." Richard flashed a smile to the Master Breaker as he got in the driver's seat.

"I owed ya for breakfast anyway." Rex winked back as he sat back in the newly built seat.

"Let's go! We're getting close to our next destination already!" Unikitty was slightly more chipper than usual this morning. The van was soon on the road again, the less miserable members of the back rows playing car games while Unikitty navigated and Richard drove. It felt like hours before Richard pulled over on the side of the road and got out of the car.

"Hawkodile, can you please take over driving? I need a break before I start to be more susceptible to road rage."

"Got it." The two swapped seats and were back on the road quickly. Through all of this, Rex was asleep. The sound of the door closing woke the man up, who yawned as he looked around him.

"Hmm. Hey, Rich. Who's drivin'?" He looked at the driver's seat and saw Hawkodile, who was trying to get information from Unikitty and failing at it. "Ya could have told me ya needed a break."

"I'm glad he didn't. You've been asleep for the past half hour, bro. You could have gotten us killed if you're that tired." Hawkodile shouted, keeping the frustrated tone he was giving Unikitty unintentionally.

"I'm fine. I drive like this all the time."

"Probably because you drink enough caffeine to power Frowntown. I've got this. Go back to sleep." Hawkodile went back to focusing on the road and getting directions from Unikitty.

"Pull over an' I'll show ya what I can do like this." Rex growled. Thankfully, the threat was ignored and the trip continued.

When the man was fully aware of his surroundings next, the van stopped again. This time, it was in front of a rest stop with a small, nondescript restaurant called the Snack and Make Tracks. The rest of the group was gone. Rex rolled his eyes and got out of the van, heading to the restaurant. As he walked in, the rest of the group walked out of the stop's minimart. They piled in the car, Hawkodile getting in the driver's seat again.

"We ready to go? Is everyone here?" Hawkodile did not look behind him.

"Uh… RJ is mi-" Puppycorn was interrupted by Unikitty.

"He's just asleep like we left him, Little Bro! Let's get going! To the next stop!" The royal cat sang happily. Like Hawkodile, she didn't look back.

"Princess, I wouldn't leave just yet. If you look behind you, you'll see that RJ-" Richard tried to add to the conversation, but the van was already peeling out of the parking lot. The group drove until Unikitty saw a sign for the world's largest ball of yarn. They pulled over and piled out of the van, the backseat passengers looking at each other with worry.

"Is Rexy just gonna sleep all day?" Unikitty climbed in the back to wake her friend and frowned. "Oh. He's… uh… not here."

"That's what I was trying to say, Big Sis." Puppycorn looked down. Unikitty looked at her phone and saw she had a message from their missing friend.

"Oh. That's… colorful." Unikitty rubbed her head. "Just two words, but you can tell how angry he is."

"You just said he was sleeping." Hawkodile folded his arms while Unikitty texted him back to ask where he was. "I'll go pick him up when you tell me where he is."

"He's just texting those two words. I think he's mad." Unikitty turned blue, tears welling up in her eyes.

"We left a man with abandonment issues behind at a truck stop. I'd say that reaction makes sense." Doctor Fox frowned, guilty she didn't speak up.

Richard grabbed Unikitty's phone and composed a text:

RJ. Stay at the truck stop. I'll come get you. Please stay calm. Richard.

He waited for a reply, which came quickly. "RJ claims he started to hitchhike home. I'll tell him to go back to the truck stop and meet me there. Please stay where you are."

"But that was a half hour away! You want us to stay here for an hour‽" Unikitty moaned.

"Yes. I don't want us to split up any further." Richard got into the van and drove off.

"Besides, Princess, I think this'll be a real treat compared to having to drive with RJ after this." Hawkodile shook his head. "Come on, guys."

Rex had arrived just before the van did and Richard could see something he could only describe as off in Rex's eyes. The normally laid back man held himself with a terrifying aura, one he suspected few people had seen first hand. Richard swallowed as he approached.

"RJ? I'm sorry for the mixup." He floated closer, not wanting to look into the storm behind Rex's dark eyes. "Puppycorn and I tried to let the princess know, but she didn't want to listen."

"You need to be more assertive, Rich." The anger edged his voice, but was held back by a strange calmness. "Let's go. Now." He got into the passenger seat and waited for Richard to leave. Richard tried to make small talk at first, but Rex said nothing the whole ride to the tourist trap. They ended up driving in total, heavy silence.

As they were turning into the parking lot, Richard spoke. "RJ, please remember that we care. We came back for you."

"No. You came back." When they parked, Rex got out of the van and marched over to Unikitty, who was coming out of the attraction. "What were you thinking?" He growled, which put Hawkodile on edge. "You drag me on this trip, don't wake me when you stop for food, then just leave me without checking to see if I was in the back seat?" He hissed the last part of the sentence.

"I thought you were asleep." Unikitty was still blue, her ears going back.

"You know I sleep talk. You know what I sound like when I do that. Isn't it odd that you didn't hear anything like that for a half hour?" He wasn't raising his voice, but the sparkle matter flying from his head was stormy and vibrantly potent. This scared the royal cat even more.

"RJ, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't think-!"

"No. You didn't." He turned around to go back to the van. "I'm going back to the van to get my unbridled rage in check. Make sure I'm actually in the van when you get back." He settled back into the front seat.

"I'll stay with him. Please give us a little time."

"Hurry. There's only so many times I can see a ball of yarn." Hawkodile shook his head as Richard left. The brick climbed in the driver's seat and turned to Rex.

"RJ. We don't have to talk, but I'll listen if you need to let your anger out." Richard's tone was soothing and patient.

"Me too!" Puppycorn was suddenly in the backseat, leaning into the front.

"I can provide a shoulder to cry on: mine or one I can make out of spare parts." Doctor Fox said, also from the back seat.

"Look, I'm glad ya wanna make me feel better…" If there was a 'but' in that sentence, it died in the silence. "I know ya ain't gonna leave me alone, so I may as well talk. Princess is just so impulsive. What if she didn't ask you guys to stop here? I would have been hitchhikin' for a whole day back to Action Forest with no food, no clothes, and no usable money. Also, you all need to be more assertive. You saw I wasn't back there. Don't let her interrupt you like I'm sure she probably did. Cut her off. Tell her she's wrong. One day, letting her step all over ya is gonna lead to something terrible and… unfixable." His angry aura seemed to give way to a deep sadness.

"This is different, RJ. We didn't forget you for long." Richard kept a soothing tone.

"Actually, the three of us didn't forget you at all." Doctor Fox added. "You're our friend. A Unikingdom citizen doesn't forget a friend. We may leave them in a truck stop for a bit, but that's not permanent."

"Don't be sad! I can give you some of my snacks!" Puppycorn passed Rex an almost fully eaten bag of popcorn. The man turned around to give the pup a pat on the head and his popcorn bag back.

"We still have what I assume is a long trip ahead of us. Please, have patience. I did warn you that our vacations get chaotic. If all that happens in the end is leaving you at a rest stop, then it's the calmest vacation we've had in a long time." Richard's voice was helping more than anyone would have suspected. Rex took a deep breath and shook his head.

"I'm so tired of her crap." Rex rolled the window down and leaned out of it. As he finished the sentence, Unikitty and Hawkodile returned to the van and piled in the back.

"RJ, I should have checked myself. That wasn't cool and I'm sorry." Hawkodile rubbed his neck. That just earned a cold shrug.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, too." Unikitty couldn't look at the man directly. Rex turned to look at the two of them.

"The awkward glance downward makes that apology sincere enough for me, Princess." He sounded cold still, but at least wasn't hissing at her. The friends moved on to the next destination in relative silence, none daring to speak save for Unikitty relaying directions to Richard.

When they finally stopped, it was to a small pie stand out in the middle of nowhere. Richard nudged Rex with invisible hands to get his attention after getting everyone's pie preferences.

"I'm going to need some help, if you don't mind providing it." The man simply shrugged and hopped out of the van.

Unikitty took advantage of this and flew into the passenger seat while it was unoccupied. She watched the two walk to the stand and she leaned on the dashboard. She could have sworn she heard Rex laugh as the two waited in line. This change in mood was confirmed by his sparkle matter, which had the occasional lightning bolt mixed in with cartoony raptors and planets. It took them a while to come back with the pies, mostly because they were deeply into their conversation, which Unikitty only really caught little pieces of that didn't provide context. Question mark sparkle matter flew from her horn as Rex opened the driver's side door and got in.

"Are you awake enough to drive, Brickowski?" Hawkodile asked as Rex settled into the driver's seat.

"Yeah. Rich needed a rest." The brick bobbed in agreement as he got in the back as Rex spoke. "And you already had a turn as a relief driver." There was a slight bitterness in his tone.

"RJ promised me that he would pull over if he felt like drifting off. Princess, please be as clear with Rex as possible with directions. He's not as familiar with the roads you keep taking us on." Richard buckled his seatbelt and relaxed with his slice of pie. "Leave when you're ready, Rex."

"We probably should look for a place to stay soon. Unless we're actually close?" Unikitty shook her head. "Of course we're not. Ya got a map, or are we just navigatin' by sun position?" She nodded and pulled out her map, which she only showed off briefly before pulling it close to her.

"Okay, RJ. We're taking this highway down… three blocks until you see a fork in the road. You'd be going left." She struggled for a moment to read the map.

"If you look at the bottom of the map, it will tell you what distance in miles is equal to one square on the map. What does that say?" Rex spoke in a very patient tone of voice.

"One square is a mile. So… three miles?" The man gave a short nod and began to travel using the directions provided.

The two only communicated like this for a while, Unikitty getting a little jealous that the others had started talking about other things. She decided to speak up when she claimed they were close to their next destination.

"You're spending a lot of time with Rick this whole trip."

"He didn't leave me at a truck stop, Princess." Rex said flatly, keeping a rigid eye on the road.

"Yeah… but you hung out with him before the whole truck stop thing, too."

"We happened to be in the same hotel room, Princess. I can room with someone else next time if that's a problem." His tone could be used as a substitute for the air conditioner.

"I saw you at that restaurant together." She continued to drill.

"So what? It was cheap. Can't two friends have dinner together?" Richard overheard this and listened in, seeing if he could get meaning from this conversation.

"Weeeeellll…. Do you like-like him?"

"I don't see that as any of your concern." Rex remained defensive. This had both Unikitty and Richard with lifted eyebrows. The princess puffed up her cheeks.

"As your friend and the Prime Minister of Love-"

"The only other person who needs to know if I like Richard like that is Richard. That's it. If we wanna tell ya after that, then that's a decision we make together." He continued to hold his tone. That didn't really help either listening party figure out his true feelings. "Where's the exit, Princess?"

"We… passed it three minutes ago. Oh well!" That made Rex grip the steering wheel until his knuckles turned pale. "We can move on to the last thing! Take the next exit! Onward!" The man made no reaction other than taking the directions given.

#the newspaper isn't antiquated •||• written works

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twoidiotwriters1 · 1 year

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Copycat: Cryptomnesia —(Marvel Fem!Oc)

A/N: What do you guys think should I let them date?👀 -Danny

Words: 1,830

Phase Five Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘She’ -by dodie

xvii: Girls’ Night

"Jack is the tracksuit's boss, Laura just confirmed it," Clint told her. "So you better buckle up, Kate's going to be insufferable about this one. Which reminds me— Stop."

"Stop what?" She frowned.

"Your flirting."

"Ha! I'm sorry to burst your bubble but no one's flirted with you since the 90s." The young woman resumed her walk. "Maybe it's because you haven't spent much time around me, but I swear this is how I am with everyone..."

"Nah, bullshit," Clint replied. "You don't remember why you hated me so much as a kid, do you?" Cat didn't reply. "The others didn't pay attention, but I had kids, and I could multitask when a child was around. I kept you from stealing guns of unsuspecting guards, from falling on your face thanks to a loose shoelace— I taught you how to tie your first pair of shoes!"

She chuckled. "You were always telling me not to do this or that, I thought you didn't like me."

"I like kids, and you were a funny one, but you needed a firm hand sometimes, and the others weren't great parental figures."

"And if that was the case why didn't you say so?" She raised a brow.

Clint sighed. "I had a soft spot thanks to my kids, so you keeping your distance helped to keep my walls up. Cat, when we find people like you—"

"Freaks?"

"Young," he corrected, "Fury has to make up rules on the go. We weren't there to be your family, you were there to be a future agent and nothing else."

"That's... sad," Cat pouted. "Makes it sound like I had a shitty childhood."

"You don't think that?" He asked, curious to hear what she had to say.

She made a "so-so" gesture. "I was a satisfied kid after Nat and Hill softened my edges, I found ways to have fun... Not that I can properly remember, it's more like a feeling... my heart knows I was happy once."

Cat cringed at her sentence, and Clint patted her shoulder. "You'll figure it out. For now... you gotta promise you won't get involved with Kate."

"If you promise you won't mentor her once this is over."

"Ha! Easy."

"It's a deal, then," Cat pushed the sunglasses up her nose and tightened her jacket around her body, she really needed a new coat.

Kate walked into the apartment carrying several bags. She found Clint covered in frozen food and Copycat trying to scare a few cats from the fire escape.

"What is all this?" Clint asked.

"This is me saving the holidays— Can you help me out?"

Cat closed the window before the dog could sniff the felines. "What are you doing?"

"I'll get Clint home in time for the big day, figured in the meantime, we could celebrate?"

The mutant examined each bag. "Can't remember the last time I attended a Christmas party..."

"Well, you're in luck," Kate patted the seat next to her. "It's movie marathon night, right? Check this out, I got movies..."

"That's very thoughtful of you... thanks," Clint shared a look with Cat.

"Wait— can we put a pause on that and talk about sword-boy for a minute?"

"Oh, right," Cat sat on the armrest, grabbing a bag and looking inside of it. "You go first."

Clint nodded. "You got good instincts, kid."

Kate looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"We did a little digging and turns out Sloan's a shell company that launders money for the tracksuits. And Jack's the CEO."

"You sure?" Cint hummed, so Kate continued. "Okay, well, we're just gonna have to come up with a plan to take down my mom's fiance's organized crime ring..." Kate pulled out something from the paper bag Cat was holding. "While simultaneously having a heartwarming holiday celebration."

The girl threw an ugly sweater at Clint, and Cat laughed. "I get to see you riding a unicorn, and wearing an ugly sweater? Is my birthday today?"

"No, I'm pretty sure you were born the same day as the devil," Clint scowled.

"So you agree my birthday's on Halloween?"

"I got one for you too, Cat—"

"Noup!" She pushed the sweater back into the bag. "Never worn one and I refuse to."

"Oh, c'mon!" Kate pouted. "It's blue!"

"So what? Blue's not my favorite color," Cat insisted.

"Why the hell is your suit blue, then?"

Cat shrugged. Clint made her promise not to get too close to Kate, and telling the story of her dead brother wearing the same color palette when he was alive was the exact opposite.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Red?" She looked into Kate's eyes. "Could be grey, if you give me a good reason."

The young archer cleared her throat. "Got any more of that slushy stuff?"

"In the kitchen."

"Okay!"

Cat chuckled once Kate was out of sight, Clint was staring at her. "What?" The man ripped a slushy bag from his leg and threw it at her head but she caught it. "Yeah, okay! Just wanted to show what flirting really looks like."

Cat heard them stumble over the information and tried to help, but truth be told, it'd been a while since she'd taken down the bad guys without shooting at everybody.

Clint taught Kate a few tricks, Cat knew most from the years he'd trained her, and Kate was a fast learner just like her. Then they circled back to the tough conversations, and Clint ended up telling them the story of when he met Nat.

"When you do what we do for a living," he said, "it's just a game of managing lost, so..."

Cat was upside down on the couch, and Kate's dog was sniffing her hair. "I lost..." she counted with her fingers, "about four or five people in less than a week. I wasn't ready."

"I think you're doing well," Kate tried to cheer her up.

Cat laughed bitterly. "No. I belong in a rehab center, but people think it's okay for me to be mentally ill as long as I can finish the job."

Kate looked at her. "You don't look that far gone to me... right, Clint?"

The man glanced at Cat, who was still upside down on the couch and poking the dog's nose.

"I think we should wait for her to fully develop a brain."

When Clint decided to share he was the Ronin, he dropped this whole speech about them being weapons, hurting people and it remaining tied to who they were. Cat left the room then, taking refuge in the kitchen. A few seconds later she heard the light in the living room turning off, and Kate's steps got closer.

"Clint's called it a night," she announced. "I think we should do the same."

Cat sighed. "Alright."

Kate looked over her shoulder to make sure Clint wasn't listening, then she got closer. "You didn't lose anyone with the blip, right?"

"I got lucky," Cat hesitated. "I had these high school friends... but I used to hang out with my brother more."

"Your brother?"

"Adoptive," Cat explained. "Quicksilver."

"Oh! Wanda Maximoff's twin, right?"

"After signing the accords, he stayed with me. He kind of took me under his wing as a way to cope with the whole situation. He was the only family I ever had. Or at least, the way he treated me is how I think it feels to have one."

Kate looked at her with fondness. "Sounds like a great guy."

She looked away. "He was a flirt, I picked it up from him. It happens without me knowing, but it happens to most people, that's how babies learn to do things, I think."

"So, Copycat," Kate got close enough to lean on the counter, their arms were brushing. "You're like a mash-up of every hero? Can you lift Thor's hammer?"

Cat stared at her with empty eyes. "Tony tried to convince me to test it out when I was fourteen... I thought I wasn't worthy, I was sure I'd killed the people that'd kept me captive..."

"You didn't?"

"I did it after. That's how I met my best friends..." a little smile formed on her face, "I went to space for a couple of years and came back. My mimicking got out of control, so I had to take care of it, and that's when I met..."

"Yeah?"

She cleared her throat. "Doesn't matter."

Kate frowned. "The way you said it makes me think it does."

Cat pulled back a chair and sat down. "You'll be lucky, Kate, if this is the one and only mission you ever do. Most heroes have been taking a time out since we defeated Thanos, that's also luck, but I'm not a lucky person..." Cat looked up expecting to meet Kate's frown, she caught her smiling. "What?"

"You're not an asshole, you're just sad," Kate clasped her hands around Cat's tangling them in place, and she sat down beside her. "I can handle sad."

Cat's worry increased. "You're not paying attention. I just told you I—"

"That's all over," Kate insisted.

"I probably would've been back at it right now if Clint hadn't called."

"Exactly!" Kate leaned closer, but Cat moved away, she couldn't set her hands free. "There's a part of you that wants to change, and that's the part I want to help."

Cat's chest tingled, she'd heard that before. She didn't want to look touched by it though, so she tried to change the subject. "You're clawing at my hands—"

"You're the one with claws, not me," Kate let go. "I don't think you have to be tied to this your whole life. You can be anyone you want at any given moment, and you decide to be Copycat every day."

"It's the only thing I'm good at."

"Maybe there's a reason you're so good at it," Kate suggested. "I think you don't want to be an Avenger 'cause none of your old friends are there, but that'll change now that I'm here."

"What if the only reason I was an Avenger was that other people were watching me, not because they were my friends?"

"No one's watching now, while you're telling me how you really feel."

"You're watching," Cat was quick to reply. "You haven't stopped staring."

"Exactly, I've been watching for a long time so I know what I'm saying," she grinned. "I think you should try again, but this time with me. You think I'm a good person, right?"

"I-I guess?"

"Then copy me! That's what you do best, right? Before you know it, you'll be good without trying."

She wanted to refuse, but it was tempting. The idea of being around someone like Kate was something she hadn't tried yet. People who were open about their feelings. She was lucky to have met her now, when she needed it the most.

"If we become coworkers we can't date," Cat tried.

"Says who?"

"I'm too much trouble for a spoiled princess like you, I don't think you can handle it."

"I literally just said I could."

"It's not your job."

"I never said that," Kate smiled. "It's an adventure."

The archer made her think there was something worth saving within her. If good behavior was what it took to stay...

Her mind was incredibly quiet, there was no ticking.

Cat supported her chin in one hand. "You have no idea where you're getting into."

"My mom raised a spoiled princess, but not a coward," Kate got up with a playful glint in her eyes.

Next Chapter—>

Taglist.

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

#twoidiots writing #marvel #marvel fic #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #copycat fic

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crystalelemental · 1 month

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Unicorn Overlord round 2 complete. Tried a couple different teams, though a lot of generalized structures remained in place. Teams below the cut. I probably won't do yet another playthrough, I'm...kinda getting burnt out on it. But it's consumed enough of my life that I don't really know what I'll do next, so stay tuned I suppose.

Team 1: Alain/Liza, Eltolinde/Ridiel/Chloe Eltolinde was my choice for Ring of the Maiden this time through, and...look. This was not an effective choice overall. A big problem I have with the Ring of the Maiden is...1PP. This can be offset with something like a 1AP weapon and Amethyst Pendant, getting the 4/4 you want, but Eltolinde has access to no such weapon. For full 4/4, she needs Ruby/Sapphire, but there's not enough equipment for that. Ring of the Maiden is a generally mediocre choice on her. Not that she doesn't make it work, her AoE spam into repetitive Primus Edge is fantastic. Ridiel can freeze, which usually hits the armor knight trying to block her shots, setting up an uninterrupted AoE shot. Chloe was initially set to Active Gift on Eltolinde, but Eltolinde's own Elemental Impetus kinda ruins that plan. I just couldn't separate her from Ridiel. Liza was here because...honestly I just wasn't sure what to do. I kinda threw her in with the intent of healing Alain with a guard when he gets low, alleviating Eltolinde of healer duty. The team certainly worked, just like last run the Alain team basically went undefeated. I had slightly less fun with it this time, solely because I don't feel like I had the best sense of cohesion.

Team 2: Melisandre/Celeste/Umerus, Scarlett/Galadmir Speaking of. Melisandre's Meteor Strike can be good damage, but I found Aubin was not the solution I'd hoped for. Despite War Horn, her problems continued to interfere, and I find her utility much more useful than her damage. A surprising number of teams that pack high evasion and flying units are hard to deal with, and Melisandre is an excellent response to them. It's just that Meteor Strike does not feel like it's doing what it needs to do half the time. She also really wants protection late game. Without someone to shield her, she's relying on her ability to dodge, which is never an ideal approach. Umerus, like Ochlys, is kinda whatever. I don't really respect Feathersword as a class, even if I love Ochlys. Galadmir was attempting to freeze stall. Celeste continues to Fatal Dive, and is very good at it.

Team 3: Berengeria/Gloucester/Hilda, Morard/Primm Finally. Last run, I tried to pick up Berengeria's team late in the game, but they kinda didn't work so well and were behind on level, so they never caught up. This time they did, and as soon as we hit Bastoria, it was basically over. This team was crazy good. Berengeria's Eye of the Warrior Princess sets up the power boost on Gloucester, whose burn kicks off Berengeria's boosts when targets are afflicted. Sanguine Pursuit in particular just becomes ridiculous. Hilda with Aerial Wing contributes with her own Fire Breath. Primm is downright essential. Gloucester needs someone healing, or it becomes a massive problem for him, given the constant HP cuts he inflicts on himself. Morard is an odd one, and truthfully, I think I could've swapped him out, but he worked well and I never felt the need to. Morard got me to respect Berserkers. Mounting Charge into Grand Smash is fantastic. I actually gave him Knot of Ruin. In the back row, the -30 HP is minor, and low Initiative isn't a problem at all when he's the finisher. The +1AP is really nice, because it means his AP and PP considerations are already taken care of for you. With Lionheart and Mirrored Spectacles, he's a lot more accurate than I gave him credit for.

Team 4: Hodrick/Miriam, Yunifi/Tatiana/Yahna Minor changes, but the intent was to aim for freeze. It doesn't really work that well, if I'm being honest. While the Legionnaire/Sainted Knight combo feels right, I find it needs much more power in the back row than what we're actually using here. I dunno. Maybe the class combo just sounds good and I'm just unimpressed by their functional ability.

Team 5: Bryce/Monica/Bertrand, Ramona/Nina Alright, listen. Do I like Bertrand and Ramona? Not really. Bertrand is alright, though the split of one attack with high HP and one with low is really awkward, especially since the high HP one is only at the end of the battle. He's fine, if slightly uninteresting. Ramona, however, is not exactly my favorite. I think it's just misalignment. I felt like Ramona's HP recovery and PP restoration would be good on a more defensive frontline like this, but I kinda disagree with myself. Her sky-high initiative, combined with Extra Heal granting +30 initiative to an entire row, makes me feel like her best use is more offensive in nature. Like, swapping her in for Morard in the Berengeria team likely would've been tremendous, because now they're kicking up high initiative and HP recovery and she's popping in more PP for follow-ups. I do attribute many of her failures to using her wrong. Or at least, sub-optimally. She does die an awful lot, though. And her skills feel very busy without high AP/PP boosting items.

#unicorn overlord

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ljsstories · 1 year

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Chapter Twenty Nine: Hawaii, Vegas, Kilmarnock

Jensen tried to avoid Jonah and Eliza, he had to go over and say hi when she arrived in L.A. but apart from that initial meeting he kept his distance. She had been staying with Jonah for about three weeks and as far as Jensen was aware, they were still just friends. She was doing a brilliant job on the movie set and the director was pleased with her work, telling Landon that she was probably one of the best make-up artists he'd ever worked with. She had a talent, just like her older sister who Jensen was finding it hard not to think about. His feelings for her weren't going away, it haunted him all the time just how much he still loved Jane even though he'd cut off all contact with her and got rid of his daily fixes in the form of her social media. Acting alongside Landon had been the best experience of his life, they just bounced off of each other like they'd always acted together...they truly were like brothers! He spent more time at Landon's house than he did his own lately and spent a lot of time with Ethan and Amelia, who were now calling him Uncle Jensy. If truth be told, he was hiding from Juliet, who was locked in a bitter feud with Sweater Boy over Maddie. She was yet to be christened as Charlie was an atheist and didn't want his daughter affiliated to any religion. Jensen and Jane were supposed to be her Godparents but that never happened, maybe it was for the best, to see Jane again face to face would be painful for him, he needed a clean break hence the reason he was also avoiding Eliza stating the he was busy on the movie set. But his avoidance could only last so long when his brother appeared at his trailer one day looking extremely nervous, "Jensen I need your help!" He mumbled, his eyes darting all over the place as sweat trickled from his forehead.

"Okay, come in!" They sat in the spacious trailer in silence as Jensen waited for Jonah to tell him what this was all about. He finally lost his patience and snapped at his brother, "Seriously Jonah what is this?" Jonah looked at him through his eyelashes and pulled a small box out of his jacket pocket, he opened it to show Jensen a beautiful diamond engagement ring, "Oh!" Jensen exclaimed quietly, his eyes widening as he stared at the huge rock his brother was holding with his shaky, sweaty hand.

"So I've just had it! Either she marries me or that's it, I can't do this anymore!" Jonah swiped a hand at thin air and shook his head.

"Jonah, kiddo, this is a big deal! Marriage is...well it's a true commitment and that means no more women, devoting yourself to just one for the rest of your life! You do understand that, right?"

"Don't patronise me Jensen!" Jonah huffed and snapped the little box shut, shoving it back into his pocket with a frown, "I know what this means! This last year has been torture, I don't wanna be friends! I want more, so much more, I've found her...I've found my unicorn!" Jensen nodded sadly, he understood, so had he but she didn't want to know. It would break Jonah's heart if Eliza rejected him now.

"Well okay, then tell her!"

"I did!" Jonah whined, "I flew over to Scotland and told her but she threw it back in my face!"

"Now come on, that's not entirely true!" Jensen scolded him, Eliza had told him to wait for her, not to take a hike like her sister did to him.

"All I know is that I haven't even looked at another chick since Eliza came into my life! It has to mean something, I haven't fucked another chick since Eliza! That's a long time bro, so much jerking off you cannot believe..."

"Yeah okay, that's...quite enough of that!" Jensen raised a hand to him, that was too much information. He looked at his brother, he was serious about this, that ring was custom made. "Look, I support you in anything you decide, you know that! In the unlikely event that she says no? I will be here, you can always come to me, understand?" Jonah nodded, looking rather unwell, this whole thing was really bothering him.

He had it all planned out, Jonah was taking Eliza to Hawaii after her work was finished on the horror movie, he was going to propose on the beach and if she said yes then he would be complete and they would live happily ever after...hopefully. Jensen hoped everything worked out for him, the only reservation he had about all of this was seeing Jane at the wedding, not just seeing her but having to dance with her as Maid of Honour and Best Man! He wasn't ready for that, he would never be ready! Landon and Sarah had asked him to have dinner with them, which wasn't unusual, however Landon's behaviour was. He seemed rather subdued when he asked him, like there was something bothering him. When Jensen arrived at the Ellis household, it became apparent rather quickly what that was, Sarah's cousin Alison was joining them and she was alone, no significant other to be seen. "I'm so sorry brother!" Landon had said quietly as he arrived, patting him on the back, "Sarah, she's just trying to...look if you wanna go..."

"No, it's fine, really!" Jensen felt he had to stay for Landon, he'd been such a good friend to him, and Sarah was a lovely person who only meant well. Blind dates always ended badly for him, but maybe this one would be different. It surprised him that the Ellis' had tried to set him up with someone so soon, but looking at his mentor now he was aware that it was not his idea, that his wife had arranged this on her own. Alison was raven haired like Sarah, she had brown eyes and tanned skin, she lived in Florida and had been divorced for over a year, she had one son called Daniel who was six years old and she worked at the local high school as a Home Economics teacher. They got along well, she seemed a little star struck which Jensen found amusing as her cousin was married to Landon Ellis who was a bigger deal in his eyes! It turned out that she was a fan of River Monster and her favourite was Jensen, this didn't sit all that well with him but he hid it for Landon's sake. He didn't want Sarah to feel bad either, so he just smiled and nodded and remained polite.

Once the evening was over, Jensen opted to go back to his own place even though it was a bit of a drive. Landon apologised again, feeling bad, but Jensen put on a false smile and said "It's all good, I'll see you tomorrow!" As he drove home he thought about how nice and friendly Alison was, how pretty she was, but his mind would always drift back to Jane...his Scottish Girl! Nothing had changed, he still wanted her and only her, but he was doing what she wanted...he was letting her go! He didn't want anyone else, he wanted to hate her but he couldn't, he still loved her with all of his heart. He thought it was bad when Hayley broke up with him, but this was worse, this was like having your heart ripped out! The long drive finally came to an end as he parked his car in the drive and made his way to the front door. Juliet was sitting on the doorstep in tears, "Jules? What..." Before he could get the words out, she threw herself into his arms and sobbed into his shoulder.

"Jensy, he's such an asshole!" He assumed she meant Sweater Boy, who of late had become a right pain in the ass.

"Who? Charlie? What's he done now? What are you doing out here? Where's your key?" Juliet wept in his arms and he didn't get an answer as to why she was sitting on the doorstep instead of inside.

"He wants me to drop Reed from Maddie's name! Jensy, why is he being so awful? First he blocked the christening and now this? I don't understand!" Jensen wanted to punch him, but after the Corey Tyler incident it wasn't wise for him to be caught hitting someone else. Juliet stayed for a while, their mother had Maddie and Jensen was a little disappointed to not see his niece. As they sat on the couch in his living room drinking hot chocolate just the way Grammy Patty made it, Juliet laughed as she surveyed her brother's home, "You'd think by looking at all the toys and baby stuff in here that Maddie was your daughter!" Jensen simply shrugged.

"Well it's easier to have duplicates of her things than to carry them around everywhere. She loves her Uncle Jensy! I'm her favourite person after her mommy!" Juliet smiled and rubbed his arm.

"Yes you are, you're going to make a great daddy one day! I just know it!" Every time someone said that his mind would wander back to Jane, the only woman he wanted to have kids with. Maybe he'd get over her, maybe pigs would fly! There was no getting over her, not ever! "I'd better get going, thanks Jensy, for listening! And please don't do anything stupid! I'll handle Charlie myself!" She warned him while giving him a hug. He'd let her deal with Sweater Boy, no problem, he didn't want to see his smug face anyway. As he said goodbye to his big sister, he thought about what she said, he wanted his own children, but if he couldn't have them with Jane then maybe he was meant to be alone taking care of other people's kids. He just wasn't going to get his happy ending, was he?

***

It had been a long eight weeks for Jane, waiting for her little sister to come home after acquiring her dream job in Hollywood. She was true to her word and phoned every day, they would talk for over an hour but latterly Jane was only getting quick calls saying Eliza was just checking in then hanging up. She still hadn't told Jane what flight she was getting back or when to pick her up at the airport, her eight weeks were up, she should have been home by now. She tried not to sound upset or overbearing when Eliza did phone to tell her that she was staying an extra week in Los Angeles with Jonah, he was taking her to Hawaii now that his album was finished. Eliza did always want to go there, Jane hoped that it might bring her and Jonah back together but she never expected what met her at the airport over a week after that phone call. When Eliza appeared, looking tanned and extremely happy, she wasn't alone. Bounding behind her like Tigger was Jonah who was always slightly more tanned but seemed more so from his trip to Hawaii with Eliza. It was Louise that noticed it first and she gasped, then clapped a hand over her mouth looking at Jane and Ricky with wide eyes, "What? Lou are you okay?" Louise pointed frantically at Eliza's left hand, then at Jonah's...matching silver rings on their fingers. Before Jane could say anything she was crushed by Jonah, his large arms enveloping her in a tight embrace.

"Sis!" He exclaimed, rubbing her back with his hand, he seemed a little nervous, and so far Eliza hadn't looked anyone in the eye.

"Janey? Daddy?" She nodded an acknowledgement to her father and sister, "Jonah and I have something to tell you..." Before she could finish Jonah had moved on from Jane and was now shaking Ricky's hand enthusiastically.

"Dad!" He smiled, his lips trembling slightly as he almost shook Ricky's arm off. Eliza elbowed him in the side as he squealed an ouch and swiftly let go. The two of them stood arm in arm, terrified.

"So, please don't be mad Janey but Jonah asked me to marry him and I said yes!" Eliza couldn't wait to finish that sentence as the relief on her face was obvious, "We didn't want to wait so...we went to Vegas and...we just got married!" She raised her shaky left hand up to show off her engagement and wedding ring, both of which sat neatly on her dainty little finger. Nobody knew what to say, Louise catching flies and Ricky looking rather pale while Jane looked from Eliza to her new brother-in-law. Finally Ricky let out a happy cry and pulled Eliza in for a hug.

"Aw ma wee lassie! Yer mum would've been so proud!" Jane could see Eliza's eyes fill up as she felt the urge to join her sister and father. The three of them stood in the middle of Prestwick Airport crying happily as Jonah looked over at Louise for guidance, who simply shrugged and joined the group hug, so he did too. It was a strange sight, five people embracing and crying, if it had been L.A. it would have been all over the Internet. As they drove back to Kilmarnock Jonah and Eliza filled them in on their five days in Hawaii, the proposal on the beach, flying to Vegas at the weekend and just tying the knot. Jane listened in a daze, Eliza had left feeling independent and so sure that she wasn't ready for what Jonah wanted, complete and utter commitment...marriage, babies...now they were Mr and Mrs Jonah Reed! Jane had so many questions, so later that night after a Chinese takeaway, she took Eliza upstairs to get her answers.

"I know you're a little pissed off Janey, and I'm sorry!"

"As long as you're happy Liza, that's all that matters!" Jane replied, half telling the truth. She was a little hurt that she wasn't there to see her only sister say I Do to her rock star boyfriend, but she did like seeing Eliza so happy. As they sat on the end of Jane's bed, Eliza rested her head on her shoulder and sighed with relief.

"I was so worried you'd be mad at me, but when he proposed I just knew that if I didn't say yes, then I'd lose him forever! I couldn't ask him to wait for me any longer, Janey he was so sad! Even though we were spending time together he was so miserable and I just hated it! He wanted me to live in Los Angeles with him but..." Eliza stopped talking when she saw the look of horror on Jane's face, "...I can't stand the heat! It's not my home, you're my home Janey, you and dad!"

"So how is this going to work? He's based over there and you..."

"Jonah says he can be a musician anywhere, unlike Jensen who needs to be in L.A. for film work, he told me he'll live anywhere as long as it's with me!" Jane had to admit, that was so sweet and romantic, Jonah was giving up his old life to have a new one with Eliza.

It was a little awkward, the first few mornings seeing Jonah wander into the kitchen in his underwear, but Jane soon got used to him being around. She was desperate to ask him about Jensen, but part of her didn't want to know, was he there at the wedding? Was he Jonah's best man? Was he still single? It was driving her mad, if he'd moved on with someone else her heart couldn't take it. As Jonah sat munching down a bowl of Coco Pops scrolling through Eliza's iPad, Jane took a good look at him. He reminded her so much of Jensen, which wasn't unusual as they were brothers and only one year apart, but his eyes were different despite also being blue. He looked up from the screen and caught her staring, with a sheepish smile he looked back down at the iPad, "I'm just house hunting!" He mumbled, scooping another spoonful of cereal into his mouth as two little red patches formed on his cheeks.

"H-house hunting?" Jane stuttered, "So you're taking my sister to live...where?" It sounded more intimidating than she had meant it to as Jonah looked back up at her with those eyes, at the airport he'd bounced around like Tigger but today he looked at her like Eeyore, with such sadness.

"I..." He gulped down his breakfast, lost for words, "...well she's my wife now Janey!" He answered her quietly but defensively. He was unsure of himself, but prepared to defend his marriage to Eliza, he knew that the sisters had grown closer since their mother's diagnosis and eventual death, but he was staking his claim in Eliza's life.

"I-I know that..." Jane stammered again, "...I just..." She flicked on the kettle with her back to him, looking out the window, "...please don't take her away from me?" She pleaded, still with her back to him. Moments later she felt two large hands on her shoulders turning her around gently. Jonah's blue eyes gazed down into hers as he smiled.

"Janey I would never do that! That's why we're going to get a house in the countryside, privacy for me and peace and quiet for Eliza. We're thinking maybe Fenwick? It seems pretty small and inconspicuous!" Jonah pronounced it with the W, it was adorable.

"Oh, right, Fennick!" Jane corrected him as he blushed again, she giggled slightly and punched his arm, "The W is silent! That sounds nice, are you sure you can cope with being a nobody over here?" She loved teasing him, he fell for it every time.

"As long as I'm with Eliza, I don't really care!" He shrugged, his hands still on her shoulders, rubbing them affectionately, "I love your sister Jane, I'll take good care of her I promise! She'll want for nothing! She's everything to me!" She believed him, he'd waited for her after all. Jane hoped it would take a while for them to find a house, she wasn't ready to part with her little sister just yet...and she could live with Jonah and his tight pants if it meant she could hold onto Eliza for a bit longer!

***

The movie was almost finished, Jensen had agreed to go out to dinner with Alison to placate her cousin Sarah. It was pleasant but he soon realised that they had very little in common and told her straight that he liked her but not in that way. He never heard from her again, which was probably for the best. He and Landon remained unaffected by this, in fact they were closer than ever since Jonah had disappeared to Scotland with his new bride. Eliza had said yes and the first Jensen knew of his new sister-in-law was when they were packing back at Jonah's apartment to fly over to Kilmarnock. He just blurted out that he was going to live over there as he jumped in a cab with Eliza and they rode off into the sunset together. Steph was upset, Juliet was unbothered by it all and Jensen felt a heavy sensation in his chest over the thought of Jonah being under the same roof as Jane again! He wondered what Jane would think of this whole elopement, would she be pissed at her sister for being so impulsive? Would she send Jonah back on the next available plane to L.A. and forbid him from ever seeing Eliza again? Or was that just what Jensen would do in her shoes? He was still jealous, he couldn't help it, Jonah had everything he wanted and it was a hard pill to swallow even though he wanted his brother to be happy with his soulmate. He wondered if he'd hear from Jane about the whole thing, but he got nothing, he wasn't going to contact her after he promised to never bother her again. They shared this familial connection now, their siblings were married to each other, he'd avoided an awkward wedding encounter but it still ached inside of him, the thought of Jonah getting his happy ending while Jensen was left alone and forever yearning. He'd only heard from Jonah a couple of times, the last conversation was about real estate and how he was going to buy an old farm near Kilmarnock so that Eliza could be close to Jane, how they were going to renovate it and even have a swimming pool. He may have given up living in Los Angeles for the quiet life in Scotland, but he was still a California boy at heart wanting his swimming pool and jacuzzi. Jensen wondered what Jane thought of all this, he always wondered about Jane, would he ever get over her? Now that the movie was all filmed and currently being put together, he was at a loose end. Visiting his brother was a no go area, this was extremely awkward, how was he supposed to maintain a relationship with Jonah without bumping into Jane?

Jonah did come back home for a little while, promoting his debut album, Juliet was talking about touring but he didn't seem to be interested, which wasn't a good move. Jensen offered to come along with him, after all he'd co-written a couple of songs and even sang on them. Being a newlywed, all Jonah was interested in now was Eliza and building their future, his album didn't seem all that important to him anymore, he'd gotten what he wanted. Juliet was tearing her hair out, as his manager she had an obligation to get him on the road for his fans but he still wouldn't budge. He did a few talk shows and performed at a benefit concert with Jensen and Landon which was a hit with the fans, but then he was back on a plane to his wife. Jensen had to admit that he'd be the same if he had Jane to go home to, he'd drop everything for her. Despite his reluctance to tour, Jonah's album hit number one in various countries, he had four singles in the top ten of the charts, he was doing pretty well.

Charlie had been making things very difficult for Juliet for months, first the refusal to have Maddie christened and then demanding to drop Reed from her name. Jensen had promised not to get involved but ended up having it out with Sweater Boy when he came to pick up Maddie at his house. He was babysitting while Juliet tried to deal with Jonah and his lack of enthusiasm for his own career. Charlie had an issue over how much time Jensen was spending with her, even blurting out "You're not her father, I am!", which made Jensen struggle to control his temper, but he did and refrained from hitting him.

"What is this about, huh Sweater Boy?" After he split from his sister, Jensen had resorted to calling him that to his face all the time. Charlie had broken down and confessed that he was lashing out just to stay relevant in Juliet's life, especially after she started dating again.

"I want her back Jensen!" He had cried, standing on the doorstep making a scene in front of Jensen's neighbours.

"Dude, she's moved on! You of all people should know what damage you can do to Maddie by tormenting her mother!" Charlie had agreed that he was being unreasonable but he was still in love with Juliet. Jensen tried as tactfully as possible to tell him that she didn't feel the same, and she never would. He eventually received an apology from Sweater Boy for his behaviour and he promised to talk civilly to Juliet from now on. As Charlie carried Maddie to his car, she leaned over her daddy's shoulder and flapped her little hands at her uncle with an adorable pout, not wanting to leave him. Yes, after her mother, Jensen was her favourite person, even above her own dad!

By Thanksgiving, Jensen and Landon's movie had been released and it was doing considerably well. Their collaborations seemed to be a big hit with the fans. Landon and Sarah had invited everyone over to theirs, Jonah was bringing his new wife over from Scotland but he was spending Christmas with the Thomsons. Jensen was envious still, but he tried to hide it from Eliza who had never looked so happy as Mrs Jonah Reed. He avoided asking her anything about Jane, but she did come up in the conversation now and again, after all she was Eliza's sister. Steph, Juliet and Maddie were there too and Steph went straight in and practically demanded more grandbabies from Jonah and Eliza, the horror on Eliza's face was obvious. She may have been a married woman, but she wasn't ready to be a mother. Steph liked Eliza very much and as they sat at the huge table in the Ellis' dining room, she dropped hints about Jane, much to the discomfort of her older son, "How are your dad and your sister?" She enquired sweetly, as Jensen cleared his throat and excused himself. Landon followed him, noticing how upset he was after keeping it in for so long.

"Little brother! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine! I just need some air!" When Landon wasn't buying it he dropped his guard and told him the truth, "I just can't hear about Jane, if she's with someone I...it will destroy me! I'd rather not know!" Landon nodded, obviously understanding where he was coming from.

"That's okay little brother, you just take a minute and I'll try to distract your mom from any talk of your muse!" Jensen was so grateful to Landon, he'd been his rock through so many hard times in his life, he owed him so much. As he stood outside in the huge back garden he heard someone coming up behind him.

"I'll be through in a minute Landon." He mumbled, but the female voice gave him shivers, the Scottish accent that reminded him so much of her sister. Eliza wrapped her arm around his and stared out at whatever Jensen was focused on, Ethan's huge treehouse.

"I'm sorry if I upset you." She said quietly, leaning her head on his arm still gripping it gently, "I know you still love her and I wish there was something I could do...but you know how she is!" Jensen nodded with a sad smile.

"I do, she's the most stubborn human being I've ever met! And I'm a fucking Capricorn!" He laughed and she joined in, this was nice. It felt like he was enjoying a moment with his new sister-in-law, it just felt natural. After hating her for how she treated Jane, to relying on her for news about Jane and the family, to now being in-laws. He could never have foreseen this, not her and Jonah, maybe him and Jane but...that was never going to happen!

"You know, I was so in love with you for years!" She squeezed his arm a little, "I wanted to marry you! Who'd have ever thought I'd end up marrying your brother!" She laughed slightly, still holding onto him, "I want you to be happy Jensen, I've believed in you all this time, even when the tabloids were putting you down, I always knew you were so much more than the lead singer of River Monster! I told Jane that, I told her that she'd brought out the real you, that she'd managed to break through all the layers and find the true Jensen Reed! I'm proud of you, you're my hero, my favourite singer and actor! I want to give you back some of the joy that you've given me over the years with your work, I want you to have Jane! I want Jane to have you! I won't give up, I'll keep trying!" Jensen sighed, how he wished that could be possible.

"Sweetie, it's not gonna happen! She doesn't want anything to do with me, she's done with me, and to be perfectly honest? I'm kinda done too, I can't get my heart broken again, I won't survive another rejection!" He turned and looked down into her grey eyes, "I'm happy for you and Jonah! I think of you as my little sister now!" He kissed her forehead tenderly, "Thank you for believing in me, and thanks for trying! You're such a beautiful soul, Jonah is so lucky to have you!" He left her standing outside as he re-joined the party. He meant every word, she was just as kind and caring as her sister, it hurt him to be around her, a reminder of what he couldn't have and what his brother did. Maybe someday he would heal and the mention of Jane wouldn't cut through him like a knife, maybe someday he would be over her.

***

Although this was the second Christmas without their mother, it was still a sad occasion for Jane and Eliza who missed Monica every day. Jonah was spending the festive season with his wife and her family, Jane didn't mind, she had to admit he brightened up the place. He'd put in an offer for the farm he and Eliza had their eye on and was waiting to hear back, he was rather excited. Eliza had also managed to talk him into going on tour as his album remained in the top five. He reluctantly agreed and he was heading off in the New Year. Eliza was looking forward to the peace and quiet, "I mean I love him Janey but sometimes I just want a little alone time, you know?" She had told her on Christmas Eve. Being a loner, Jane could totally relate, ten days with Jensen Reed had been an exception. During those days she had to admit that she felt comfortable with him around despite having thrown him into a car and driven him to a strange island where she chained him up and scared the living day lights out of him. Having him in the cottage with her had reassured her, given her something to focus on, making sure he was taken care of. She wished that she could forget the criminal aspect of their time together like he had, but that niggling guilt just wouldn't go away. As she listened to her sister ramble on Jonah came bounding through with the iPad.

"Someone wants to say hi to her Auntie Janey!" He called in an uncharacteristically high pitched voice, handing the tablet to Jane who spotted a little blonde girl on her mother's lap, Maddie! This was the first time she was seeing her face to face, she'd seen photos and videos and had to admit that she was a beautiful little girl...and she loved her Uncle Jensy! Or so Eliza had told her, after meeting her at Thanksgiving Eliza had become broody and wouldn't stop talking about her. The little girl giggled and grabbed at the screen as Juliet greeted them.

"Hey guys, Merry Christmas!" She smiled sweetly as Maddie cooed and talked nonsense, "Maddie wanted to thank her Aunties in Scotland for her presents, she can't wait to open them tomorrow..." She smiled even more at her daughter, and in a silly voice added, "...isn't that right? Yeah Maddie!" The little girl giggled and slapped her hands to her face, she had her mother's eyes, Jensen's eyes, and Jane tried to ignore that.

"Oh you're welcome, that's such a pretty dress Maddie!" Jane waved at her as she giggled some more.

"Your Uncle Jensy bought you that dress, didn't he? Yeah!" Juliet looked up and blushed, "I...um...so how are you guys doing?" Swiftly changing the subject, she was aware of the tension between her brother and Jane. So he'd told her, not that she hadn't suspected, this was the first time Juliet had mentioned Jensen in months.

"We're good, how's it going with Sweater-I mean Charlie?" Eliza coughed, Jane was confused, what about a sweater? Juliet laughed at Eliza and bounced Maddie on her knee.

"We're working stuff out, I mean we have to, for her!" She looked down at the gorgeous baby in front of her with complete devotion, she was so lucky. Jane would never know what that would feel like, to have a child you loved completely. You needed a man for that, and the only man Jane could ever see herself having a child with...was talking in the background! Her heart stopped and she felt faint, Jensen's voice was unmistakable! Jane excused herself and got out of the room as quickly as she could, his voice, it was too much! They must have been at their mother's house, he was there, he was so near and yet so far! She struggled to breathe as she took the stairs to her room, Jonah called after her.

"I didn't know, Janey I didn't know he was there!" So he knew why she'd left abruptly? Was it that obvious? Hopefully Juliet didn't notice! She wiped her face before turning to Jonah with a fake smile.

"What's that?" Trying to pretend she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Janey, he still loves you!" Jane raised her hands and backed against the wall on the stairs.

"Don't!" She winced, squeezing her eyes shut, it was too painful!

"Just...talk to him! Janey it's Christmas!" Once that meant something, when her mother was alive, but now it was just another day. She couldn't face Jensen, not after last time, so much was said, so much that couldn't be taken back. He was done, she didn't blame him, she also couldn't hurt him again. She couldn't give him hope, if he still loved her, she couldn't lead him on. Like Jonah and Eliza before them, Jensen wanted more from Jane than she could give. He would only end up hating her, and she would rather he remembered her fondly than remember her as the girl who destroyed him. She wanted him to love again, she also wanted him to love only her, it was so complicated. She looked into Jonah's eyes and her fake smile widened.

"Goodnight Jonah!" She tackled the remaining steps to her room, leaving Jonah calling back to her.

"Okay goodnight Janey!" Relieved he didn't push any further, she threw herself down onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. A few minutes later her door opened, Eliza didn't even bother to knock. Joining her on the bed she let out a huge sigh staring up at the ceiling like Jane.

"He only just arrived!" She turned her body to face her, "Jensen? He didn't know you were there, Jules wasn't going to tell him! It would hurt him just as much to see you as it would hurt you to see him!" Jane said nothing, just listened, "He's still single!" Still Jane remained silent, her heart fluttered at the mention of Jensen not being with anyone else, "You've left quite the impression, it's going to take him a long time to get over you...if he ever does!" She didn't know what to say, she swallowed several times, still staring at the ceiling, "For what it's worth? I think you're making a huge mistake!" Jane turned her face to Eliza as a tear trickled down her cheek.

"If you knew what I'd done, you wouldn't be saying that! In fact you'd never speak to me again, you'd hate my guts!" Eliza shook her head with a smile.

"I could never hate you Janey, you're my best friend as well as my big sister! You're like my mum now, you take care of me and I appreciate everything you do! I love you, that's never going to change!" Even if she knew that Jane had stolen her tickets? Kidnapped her idol and locked him up for almost a fortnight? Eliza had no idea what an evil bitch her sister truly was! Hopefully she would never find out!

***

It wasn't the best decision Jensen ever made, even though it was spring, the weather in Scotland was particularly brutal on a California born boy who grew up in the sun practically all year round, but Jensen needed a break and it was worth it. He'd always been interested in the Scottish islands since he researched them extensively to back up his lie a few years back, so once awards season was over, he thought he'd do a little travelling. He and Landon had won many awards, as predicted, for Landon's life story. The biggest ones being Oscars for best actor and best director, for Jensen this was his third Academy Award. He didn't care much, none of it meant anything without having someone to share his success with. So far he'd been to Arran, Bute, Lewis and Harris, he was now taking in the beautiful sights of Shetland. He'd grown a beard, his hair was shorter than usual but still long enough to cover his face, he was inconspicuous and he'd adopted an Irish accent once again. So far he'd gone unnoticed and he liked it, the hotel he was staying in didn't realise who he was as he paid cash and gave them a fake name, he went by Martin Hale, his dad's first name and his mother's maiden name. He would take long walks along the beach, he would just sit and drink tea looking out at the view in a café, he was just chilling out. He took photos to show Maddie when he got back, not that she would understand at a year old but maybe when she was older she would appreciate her Uncle's adventures. He missed her, but he didn't miss not being able to breathe without the paparazzi hounding him back in L.A., if he could he'd stay here in Scotland forever, like his brother. He hadn't visited Jonah and Eliza, the Jane factor kept him away, but he would text his brother regularly. He hadn't told anyone where he was going for his vacation, all they knew was that he was getting some much needed peace and quiet after a hectic couple of years. His schedule was clear, he and Landon were planning on doing a covers album with Jonah but that was a long way away, everyone needed time to focus on family...or with Jensen, himself.

He'd been enjoying the sea air and the friendly locals for a couple of days now and he would buy souvenirs from every island he visited. Today he was looking for something unique, something that Maddie could say "My Uncle Jensy got me this, isn't it cool?" And show off to her friends when she was older. So far he'd managed to get something quirky everywhere he'd been, he loved the challenge and this part of his trip was just as enjoyable as the peaceful strolls along the shore at sunset. Wrapped up in a thick jacket, he walked through the streets looking at every little shop to see if anything caught his eye...and something did...or more accurately someone. Standing on the corner scrolling through her phone was a young woman with ash blonde hair, she had a braid draped over her right shoulder and her face was shadowed by the beanie hat she was wearing, but she was familiar. The realisation hit him, where he'd seen her before, and although he'd only officially met her once, he'd seen her face many times in pictures online. He marched over to speak to her, not thinking about the consequences, then as he got within six feet of her he stopped. This was ridiculous! It had been seven months! Seven whole fucking months and he'd managed to put that whole thing to the back of his mind! Now here was a reminded, in the form of Louise, the best friend of the woman he was trying to forget, to move on from in order to heal. No, he had to walk away, forget he ever saw her before he bombarded her with questions about Jane. He turned and bumped into something, a girl who fell backwards onto the sidewalk, her bags spilling a few contents on the ground as she let out a tiny squeak. Jensen immediately tried to help her up with a barrage of sorrys as she pressed the book she was holding in her hand to her face, "Oh my gosh, I-I'm so sorry, are you okay?" He was extremelyembarrassed about knocking this poor young woman over.

"Yes, I'm...fine!" She mumbled, as Jensen kneeled down holding onto her arm as she sat dazed on the sidewalk.

"I really am so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going and..."

"It's no bother, really!" She talked over him as she lowered the book to reveal her face. Her hair was shorter, shoulder length, shorter than he'd ever seen it, but her face...he would never forget that face! It was imprinted in his brain, his heart yearned for that face, he loved that face...he never thought he'd ever see that face again. He gulped down a lump that had formed in his throat as he gripped her hand tightly and said her name for the first time in months.

"Jane?" She looked up into his eyes and blinked, her rosy cheeks reddened even more as those eyes he loved so much simply stared. Finally she answered.

"Jensen?"

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