Tumgik
#like hello? you just finished what the portal started huh?
shygirl4991 · 4 months
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Tumblr Sexyman Tornament
Summary: The crew receive  a letter from SMG3 to join a tournament that can change the boys into men, the great tumblr sexyman tournament. The crew must go through multiple challenges to win tumblrs votes. Who will be victorious in this grand tournament? 
A gift for @alianarepasa
Tags: humor,silly, adventure, tumblr sexyman,
Everyone at the castle was running around excited, a mail toad arrived giving everyone letters to some event. SMG4 opens the letter and scoffs  “Tumblr sexyman? This is 2024 who even cares about this stuff!” Bob rolls his eyes hearing SMG4 “THAT’S WHAT SOMEONE WHO ISN'T SEXY SAY!” 
Four put the letter away and was ready to toss it till he heard Boopkins speak up “Oh but SMG4 Don't you know the host for the event is last year's winner!” hearing this SMG4 looks at the host name and goes pale “What...SMG3 WON SEXYMAN!” jealousy started to build up at the thought the internet found SMG3 of all people sexy. He snaps his fingers and turns to his crew “What are waiting for we have a competition to get to!” Everyone cheered as they ran through the portal. SMG4 eyes go wide seeing so many familiar faces in the crowd, then his eyes settle on the host himself.  Ignoring his friends calling out to him he stomps up to the host “So you manage to win tumblr sexyman huh? Must have been because true sexyness wasnt around!” he smirks at Three making the man roll his eyes. The man turned to face four “Oh i didn't expect tumblr’s pathetic man to be showing up!” 
The tension rises as the others watch the pair bicker on the stage, Boopkins frowns “Why can't we just get along and have fun with this?” SMG3 and four get close their bodies almost pressed against each other as they smirk “Just you wait and see im taking your title, no one can beat my level of sexy,” SMG3 chuckles leaning forward at this rate any wrong step and the pair would end up kissing  “Then show me how sexy you can be, cause a loser like you don't know how to rizz anyone up.” Mario, seeing the tension between them steps forward, everyone gave him a confused look “HEY YOU TWO SHOULD KISS!!” 
Both mens faces go red at that moment realizing how gay they must have looked as they step away from each other, then in sync yell “SHUT IT YOU ASS!”  SMG3 takes a deep breath “Alright everyone! Let the games begin and SMG4 get off my stage!” he shoves Four off the stage making the man glare at him. SMG3 takes out a whiteboard and starts drawing on it, everyone watches excited for their first challenge. He points to the board and smiles “Okay everyone now that we have all invited accounted for let's begin! Your first challenge will be confidence, to be sexy you must be confident in all you do!
Everyone was taken by Ugandan knuckles to a personalized booth, each contestant had different prompts that will help them show their confidantes. SMG4 walked into the booth ready to show his stuff, looking around he noticed a computer with his youtube channel pulled up. He gets closer to the computer “My channel?” he hears a chuckle as the lights turn off, SMG4 jumps in fear “Uh hello? What's the challenge?” with a blink the lights turn back on. He looks down to notice he was now wearing a dress, then a camera comes out of the wall with a note “Well four, I'm sure your fans are excited for your new video!” 
Hearing this, four panics “What i'm not making a video in a dress!” Another note appears catching his attention giving him a warning if he doesn't he will be kicked out. He sighs looking at the camera “Hey everyone it's me…Princess SMG4…” he could feel himself cringing, he needed something to spark a fire. Remembering that his rival did these challenges with no issue he smiles at the camera placing his hands on his hips “And i'm about to show you some royal class memes!” After passing the challenge he was ready to get out of the dress “No no SMG4, real sexyman will finish the whole thing in a dress!” Hearing the smug tone in SMG3's voice  angered four as he stepped out of the booth. To his surprise half of the people that started are gone, he walks up to the crew that gives him different looks “Don't ask.”
Mario gives him a thumbs up “You make pretty bride!” he glares at Mario for his comment. Meggy giggles and pats his back “Hey it's not bad you have to wear a dress, i was in a battle with no splatgun!” Everyone talks about their first challenge, they all sounded intense so why was he making a youtube video in a dress. A bell rings catching the crews attention “The votes are coming in hot guys time for challenge two!  The internet is a sucker for bad boys, so your next challenge is to show how bad you all can be!” 
Everyone nods getting ready, SMG4 glares at Three “How am i supposed to do that in a dress?!”  Three laughs at the man “Not my problem! Alright viewers at home get ready to vote!” SMG4 walks up to the stage confusing three, suddenly four jumps three and they start fighting, knocking over the camera and ruining the set. Three gets up rubbing his head to notice he was now wearing the white dress they put on four “OI! GIVE ME BACK MY CLOTHES!” SMG4 running off in threes outfit sticks his tongue out as he attempts to catch up with the others. He was already falling behind as he watched the others rob banks and pirate movies, he looked around thinking how he can be a bad boy.  An idea comes to mind as he sneaks up to Mario, he just robbed a restaurant of all its spaghetti. He was laughing and not paying attention to the bag, SMG4 grabs the bag and starts running “IM SORRY!” 
Mario turns looking at his best friend in shock before getting angry and starts charging after the meme guardian. Four started screaming as he was being chased, he did his best to avoid the fat Italian as the votes started coming in. Three fixes his dress annoyed that it was dirty and smiles at the camera  “Times almost up everyone you have five more minutes to commit your crime!”  SMG4 slides in a small gap knowing that Mario wouldn't fit, he lets out a sigh of relief until he starts hearing singing. He starts to shake as he turns looking through the hole. That's when he saw Mario’s arm stretch towards arm. Panicked, he grabs a chair and starts to smack Mario’s arm away till the timer rings letting everyone know the challenge is done.
SMG4 fixes threes hat to make sure it doesn’t fall off his head, he drops the bag of food which Mario jumped the moment he saw it. SMG3 walks up to the final contestants “DUDE WHAT IS WITH THAT GAY AS DRESS?” SMG3 glares at him “Shut it bob, and I know lots of people love seeing someone as sexy as me rock a dress!”  Three glares at his partner before pointing the letter in his hands “Everyone has placed their votes, we know the winner!”
SMG4 eyes go wide surprised “what two challenges and that's it?!” Three scoffs at the comment “Sexyman isnt about skill its about being sexy to the viewers, we can have all the challenges wont change the mind of fans you of all people should know that idiot.” Four sighs looking down, SMG3 would know better than anyone about how fans can be given the creepy fan mail the man gets. The drum rolls and as three opens the letter “In fifth place Mario…which is surprising he ranked so high when he mostly ate paste,” he sighs as he changes the card to see the next person. 
“Fourth place is Toad! Many people watching loved how you hacked into SMG4 channel and posted that video of him in a dress!” SMG4 eyes go wide as he turns to Toad who was laughing, flipping him off, in a panic he takes out his phone and curses to himself. The internet graveyard has no internet beside the starbucks, he was going run to the cafe close by only to get grabbed by Three. “Third place, Meggy for her display of confidence in the badass showdown against the infestation of rat memes that i didn't want to deal with!” SMG4 struggles against Threes hold “Let go bitch i need to delete the video!!” ignoring his partner he flips to the next card his eyes going wide. Looking up he stares at Bob “Uh Bob..for his sick raps…and dad body? The fuck?” SMG4 stopped struggling to look at the card alongside Three. The card showed they recounted the votes multiple times to make sure it was correct. 
Now it was the time everyone was waiting for, SMG4 seeing how he was the only one, got excited. He expected to hear his name only to be surprised “It’s me again! Wow I'm shocked you guys find me so sexy you voted for me when i wasn't even a part of this!” Four grabs the note reading it “That's bullshit then what about me!?” SMG3 smirks “I did say your tumblr’s pathetic man congrats!” Four stares at three “What…WHAT DO YOU MEAN PATHETIC WHAT ABOUT ME IS!” The two start fighting as the crew congratulates each other for their placement. Then they turn to watch the pair fight, Bob decides to make it fun by starting bets as the men argue through the night. 
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definesanity · 26 days
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Sit Back, Relax, And Enjoy The Chaos
The battle raged as usual, although Baiser was having fun.
Oh, she's always having fun, but ticking off Sulfer was a fun past time.
The rage in her eyes was always so delicious...
But what came out of her mouth definitely made her think.
"It used to be easier, damn it!" Sulfer shouted, as she broke through the glass Baiser summoned in front of her. "If it wasn't for you, we'd be able to do things BETTER!"
Baiser paused. 'Is that so...'
"Fall back."
"Eh?" Leopard paused mid gunshot.
"Fall back." Baiser repeated herself. "That's an order."
Everyone looked confused, including Tres Magia, but they vanished into a portal.
A grin was on Baiser's face that made their skin crawl.
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They sat at the table, the grin now a smirk as Utena rested her hand on her hand.
"Any reason why we retreated?" Nemo asked, looking at her phone. "It's unlike you."
"I was just thinking: I want the Tres Magia to grow, and for us too, via battles and learning. So I thought, after Sulfer's comment, why not put it to the test?" Utena then clasped her hands together. "The idea is simple."
Everyone leaned in...
"We take a break."
...And they blinked. "Eh?"
"Think about it!" Utena became animated and excited, standing up and walking around the table. "They don't realise they have to think when fighting us, to use their abilites, to keep them in shape! By laying low, we allow them to realise and become more on edge, allowing us to reenter the picture with renewed vigor!"
She sat back down. "So! Thoughts?"
Everyone was in a thinking pose, sans Korisu, who was playing with her teddie bear, and Matama then spoke up. "What are we going to do? And for how long?"
"At least a month, and... I guess, just hang out? Go about our lives?"
"...Mm." Korisu nodded.
"We are in favour?" Utena asked. Hands raised. A smile. "Excellent."
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Two days down. It seemed the confusion started...
But Utena doesn't know what to do.
She was wondering aimlessly, when she thought of something: She had Tanaka's phone number...
"Hello?"
"A-Ah, Tanaka, hello..."
"Utena." It was curt. "Why are you calling me?"
"Long story, s-sorry... but, I currently have nothing to do, everyone else is enjoying their time off, and..."
A sigh was heard. "I'll text you a place I know. Don't worry, I'll be there. Until then."
She then hung up, and left Utena to look at what was texted.
---------------
One hour later, and she and Tanaka sat down at a table in, of all places, a jazz bar with dart boards and pool tables. No one else was around them, thankfully, allowing them to quietly discuss what Utena did.
By the end of the story, Tanaka looked surprised, but also oddly... proud, looking?
"You must have quite the large amount of patience to see this out." she commented, drinking from what Utena recognised as Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Riesling. Zero alcohol, and an alternative to wine.
She was bored one night and needed something to do. Looking up drinks was what she chose to do.
Erstwhile, Utena simply had a Shirley Temple, a none-alcoholic cocktail. She gave a small drink of it, and answered back to the former villain. "It's been hard already, but I need to see it through... if not for my sake, then for those three."
"And after you have waited?"
"I'll make my reappearance and see if it has worked or not. Then, business as usual, heh..."
Tanaka took a slow sip of her wine, enjoying it and the jazz playing. "There's more to you just inviting me, isn't there?"
"Perception is a strong suit, huh...?" Utena rubbed the back of her neck. "Basically, I was thinking: If another force, like a monster or a Magical Girl or something like that starts to fight us, we need to make sure we can cooperate better. Sure we can work together, yeah, but actually functioning? It's something I want to test if it's possible..."
"...Starting with the one who caused you a lot of agnoy which you dealt back at me." the woman finished. She then sighed. "Fine. I'm in."
Utena gave her a thumbs up in lieu of a verbal reply.
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"Alley-OPP!"
Imitatio gave a yell as Magia Baiser launched her into the air, but she quickly held her greatsword to her chest, as requested, and fell back down.
"DON'T FUCK WITH THIS MAGICAL GIRL!" Baiser then delivered a swift kick to the Magical 'Girl's blade, launching her horizontally and quickly, and Imitatio then simply cut down the mannequin Schiavo Baiser had made just for the attack.
Halting her movement by sticking the sword into the ground, Imitatio then nodded back at Baiser.
This could work...!
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clumsiestgiantess · 4 months
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Chapter 18 of the Other-world Universe; let’s just try to calm down now. Five v one is a big enough fight for one day.
All chapters listed here
[Sympathy, Speed, and Safety all start with S]
As I started down the valley, Ivan called out to me from the opening to what was left of the cavern.  "Are you leaving already?  What if another portal opens?"  I sighed, "I'll be right back, I left-"  "Oh, your friend's still back there, right.  Just don't take too long or everyone here will start to worry."  I nodded and continued down the valley.  These people really need some sort of defense that isn’t little gunmen standing guard 24-7.  Though, I guess I’m that defense for now.  
During the short walk to the entrance, I brainstormed some ideas on how to better protect these people and myself.  I couldn’t stop thinking about that scientist's parting threat.  I was by no means invincible, and I didn’t really know how to fight.  Even with my fancy powers, a large group of scientists would easily be able to take me down if I tried to fight them all together.
Once I made it to the end of the valley, I called out.  "Erica!  I'm back!  Where are you?"  A full minute of silence passed without a reply.  "Erica!?"  I could hear my heartbeat quickening as it thrummed in my ears.  Where is she?  I scanned the rocks over again, unsure where she could have gone.  "H-hello?  Where are you?"  Panic bubbled into my voice.  I made sure to keep her away from the fight so this wouldn't happen, dammit!
Bending over the mountainsides, I started searching the last place I saw her.  It was over here somewhere, I thought uncertainly, by the base of the mountain.  Before I unearthed everything in sight, I reached under an outcropping I'd watched her disappear beneath earlier.  Desperately, I searched the ground in panicked sweeps.  My fingertips brushed against something warm and alive; I grasped it anxiously, and a shocked yelp echoed from beneath the overhang.  When I removed my hand from the rocks, I found Erica stuck firmly in my grasp, her torso engulfed by my hand, arms pinned to her sides.  
I reflexively brought her closer to my face and scrutinized her small form.  She seemed scared for only a moment before plastering on a steely glare.  "I was hoping to leave you waiting a bit longer.  Didn't think you could reach me under there."  I tensed, watching as she angrily averted her gaze from my own.  "You purposely didn't answer me?"  It wasn't a question really, more like a confused statement.  My grip loosened just slightly, and she yanked her arms out of my fist.  "You left me out here-"  "For your own good!" I finished, "I left you out here so you can be safe!"  "I don't care if I'm 'safe' here!  What about you?  How am I supposed to know if you're safe, huh?" Erica questioned.  "I heard the screaming, then everything went quiet and I wasn't sure…" her voice tapered off, then started up again.  "Yes, I didn't answer you.  I knew you would be scared for me.  That's how I felt.  I wanted you to know how it feels when you get left behind — when someone you care about disappears into some big fight that you can’t even see and you don’t know when they’re coming back..  If they’re coming back.”
Hesitantly, Erica placed a hand over the top of my thumb, which still pinned her in my grip.  “I- We just figured out this whole.. loving eachother thing less than a week ago,” Erica said, cheeks slightly reddening.  “We've been through a lot together; I don't want you to get hurt, or taken.  Or worse.”  She angrily rubbed her eyes on the back of her arm.  I could feel her shuddering breaths contracting in my fisted hand.  Finally recognizing the way I held her, I slowly unfurled my fingers into a flat platform so she could stand instead of being held aloft.  Erica straightened herself out accordingly, holding onto my thumb for support.
"I…  But..  It was your idea for me to fight," I said, bewildered.  "Yeah, but it wasn't my idea to be left here, away from everything."  I hesitated, unsure if she would take my next argument the wrong way.  She couldn't really have done much to help me, even if she wanted to.  "Would it have made that much of a difference if you were there, besides peace of mind?" I asked cautiously.  "I don't know!" Erica whined, "I just..  If you had gotten hurt, or- or if you couldn't fight anymore, I thought I might distract them so you could get away."  I faltered, causing her to fall to her knees in my open palm from the sudden jolt it caused.  "But that would be suicide!  You would've been captured!"  "But you would be safe.  You’d still have a chance to go home."
I stood with my mouth agape, dumbstruck by thoughts of potential scenarios that could've gone horribly wrong had I let her come with me.  “I know how badly you want to visit your world again.  Hasn’t it been months since you've lived there a single day?”  It had been a while, but even if I did leave, and Erica let me go, I would still miss her awfully.  "Erica, I…  You would do that for me?"  She looked me over disbelievingly, "Of course I would.  I'd do anything for you, because you've done everything for me."  Standing shakily, she held her arms open wide, gesturing for a hug.  I silently pulled her close; I could feel her arms slipping delicately around my neck as I did so.  They didn’t even reach completely around it.
With careful caution, I pulled myself in around her, enveloping her small form almost protectively as I lowered myself against the soft earth, kneeling there with her tucked close.  It had been so excruciatingly clear to me that if anything were to happen to Erica, I would never have forgiven myself.  I guess it never occurred to me that she would feel the same way.  I really didn’t want to fight; especially if this was the result of me winning.  Sure, the adrenaline rush was enthralling and I was saving countless lives, but at the end of the day, I was endangering myself, and I was hurting people.  Albeit they're awful people, but still.  There has to be a better way.  Something less risky than me throwing my superpowered self at awful people in an attempt to undo some of the damage they'd caused.
I felt Erica shifting beneath my chin and pulled away, leaving her standing on my palms.  "I don't want to fight anymore," I told her, "I'm going to find another way."  She nodded, "How?"  “I'll figure it out later.  Right now I think we both deserve a bit of down time."  Erica laughed; I could still hear the tears in her voice.  "Yeah, I think so too.  Saving the world is really stressful."  I smiled, despite myself.  "Shoulder?" I offered.  "Like you have to ask?" Erica replied happily, climbing onto it the second she was brought close enough.  Soon, she gave me the all clear and I headed back towards the Cavern Town.  
"So," Erica interjected into the silence we walked in, "Obviously you saved everyone.  What happened?"  I relayed a short version of the fight for her as I slowly walked back, even voicing my concern about the woman's threatening parting words.  Erica listened attentively from her seat beside me.  In the end, she patted my neck reassuringly.  "Everything'll be alright.  I'm sure you'll think of some way to stop the hazmat giants."  I let out a relieved breath.  Though I had no idea of what I was going to do, it was nice to be listened to.
“Oh, and the refugees are letting me stay here now!  Some people came up to me after the fight and told me that as long as I keep protecting the town, I can stay as long as I want!”  Erica leaned over my shoulder, peering out to where the hole was torn into the mountain’s face.  “You’re sure?  Even after you.. you know..”  I nodded, “They were still angry at me for that, or at least one of them was, but hopefully having a guarding job here will help make up for it.  And I think we can both agree that your little tent won’t suffice as a house for much longer.”  
Erica nodded so eagerly that I could feel it without having to look at her.  “I know!  Finally!  It’ll be nice not having to wake up to new bug bites every damn morning.”  I paused for a moment, “You know you could’ve taken any of the hundreds of houses that were empty, right?”  “Yeah, but then I wouldn’t be close to your height anymore.”  “You won’t be close to me at all in the mountains.”  She was silent for a while, fidgeting with the material of my shirt.  I slowed to a stop and glanced over at her.  “If..  I- I mean..  Will you stay here?  You agreed; you took the job, so you’re staying in my world, right?”
I hadn’t thought about that.  When they asked me to guard the town, I hadn’t realized that it would become my new job; I just wanted to make sure everyone would stay safe after what I’d done.  The hazmat giants wouldn’t have noticed them if I hadn’t destroyed the roof.  What do I want back home anyway?  To go back to boring college?  To go live in the world that’s sized to me, with showers and new clothes and a bed and people who don’t want to hurt me or fear me — the world I’m meant to be in.  Hmm I made some good points.
“Well, I guess I can stay a bit longer,” I said finally, “My world isn’t going anywhere.”  By my right ear, I heard Erica breathe a sigh of relief.  “If it makes you stay longer, I’ll sleep anywhere.  If the place I’m staying happens to be better than the one I had before?  All the more reason to stay.”  I smiled slightly and nodded, reminding myself that if I went home, Erica couldn’t come with me.  As much as I missed normalcy, I would miss her so much more.
By the time we'd returned, most of the people I'd saved had gone to their homes in the mountains.  Only a few stragglers remained, wandering through the valley.  Small stone monuments had already been erected near some of the wooden structures.  Piles of tiny rocks were adorned with candles and flowers.  My breath hitched at the sight of them.  I'd forgotten that there had been casualties on the other-world side of the fight too, those who'd fought bravely from the gunning towers until their bitter end.  I swallowed a lump in my throat and continued walking.  
Ivan was still waiting for me at the cavern entrance, which wasn't too surprising to me, though I wasn’t sure why.  He hadn't wanted to fight directly, which was smart, yet he was willing to risk coming all the way out to the mansion to find me, despite not knowing if I would even help him.  Judging by his well-postured stance poised directly in front of the entrance, I'd have guessed he was guarding the town had I not known any better.
I sat beside him, looking out at the foreboding abandoned cages left barren in the valley.  "We really need to get rid of those things," I said, gesturing to the metal prisons scattered nearby.  Ivan nodded, "My mom will be back soon with lunch.  After that, I'll help clean up.  Though there isn't much I can do to move the crates, I could probably find somewhere suitable to destroy them."  
"I'd be glad to help with the destruction part," Erica offered from my shoulder where she was happily perched, "Those things kinda freak me out.  Don't you think they look eerily similar to.."  "Animal cages?" Ivan finished coldly, "Yeah, they do.  No offense Alexis, but why are you.. so much nicer than they are?"  “She wasn’t always..” Erica sneered quietly.  I gasped, pretending to have been offended.  "Hey!  At least I'm trying to be better!"  Erica's face immediately flushed to a bright embarrassed red.  "Shit, maybe I shouldn't sit by your ear anymore," she realized aloud, glancing nervously over at me from her seat on my shoulder.  "Do you chasize me under your breath often?" I asked playfully.  Erica only shrugged and turned away, though I could still see the tips of her ears becoming rosey red.  
"What?" Ivan asked, bewildered.  "Nothing," I replied quickly, thinking back to his question.  It took a while for me to explain to Ivan what I'd once told Erica all those years ago — that my world was really no different from theirs other than its scale.  "These scientists aren’t from my world, either.  I’m honestly not sure if my world would be any better finding out about this one, though.  There are people better than me, and people worse than me.  Same as there are here.  I think most people you see are just kinda biased against you, you know?" I offered, "I'm sure there are plenty others like me out there in both worlds, they just aren't here in the other-world."
"The other-world?" both Erica and Ivan asked simultaneously.  It was then that I realized I'd never actually referred to their world as the other-world aloud before.  "Yeah, it's just a name I gave to this place when I found it.  So I could differentiate between my world and yours."  "Well, we call our world Earth," Erica stated matter-of-factly.  I snickered, "We call our planet Earth too, Erica.  That's the reason I needed to give your world a different name."
Just then, Ivan's mother appeared at the town entrance with a large plate of something homemade that smelled delicious.  Unfortunately, the entire dish she made for all of us was bite size at best to me, so I had to decline eating it.  Lest I eat everything in one mouthful.  Erica, on the other hand, instantly clambered down to ground level by the rocks next to my shoulder, hungrily asking for a plate.  The box that made my food was all the way back at the mansion, as well as Erica's last remaining possessions.  
"If you don't mind, I'm going to go get the stuff from the mansion and bring it back here," I announced once the others had settled down with their meals.  "Just get that later," Erica replied, "It's kind of a long trip back, don't you think?"  "What is it with you and not letting me eat?" I asked jokingly.  Erica's eyes widened as she remembered the box I'd made.  "Ohhh yeah.  I swear I'm not trying to starve you or anything."  I nodded, "It's actually not too far away if I run, so I'm going to jog down there real quick.  Then I'll come back, eat, and we can start destroying shit.  Sound good?"  Ivan nodded, but Erica abruptly stood up.  "Maybe I should come too!" she suggested quickly, "You know, to gather up my things?"  
This was rather suspicious, especially because Erica seemed so intent on having lunch only moments before.  "No, I can carry everything just fine, you stay and eat."  "Have I ever seen you run before, like, full speed?"  What a strange question.  "Uhh, I don't think so, why?"  Confused, I bent down a little closer to Erica, and everything clicked into place.  She had that mischievous look in her eyes.  The one she always got right before she said something ludicrous.  I’d seen it a lot more recently — ever since she’d confessed her feelings for me that fateful afternoon.  It was wild to think that she might’ve never done so without getting kidnapped by the people of this town.  
"Can I-"  "No."  "You don't even know what I'm gonna ask!"  "I don't need to," I chided, "I can tell by the look on your face that it won't be anything good."  "But.. but you can out-walk a car!  Imagine how fast you'd be if you ran!"  "Exactly.  I don't have seatbelts, Erica.  There's no way I'm letting you come with me while I'm running at 200 miles an hour!  You would literally die."  "What about your pockets, though?"  "You really think sitting in a pocket on my leg while I'm running is a good idea?" I retorted.  Erica was silent for a moment, then annoyedly sat back down.  "Fine, go get the stuff.  I'll stay here."  She seemed so defeated, but I had to refuse her.
A 15 minute jog later, I was back at the ruins of the mansion.  I'd just finished gathering up my box and Erica's things in a small pile when an idea struck me.  It was risky — I'd have to return to my world to do it — but it would be worth every second I was gone.  I zapped away to my basement just as my father came running down the stairs.  "Where in the world are you taking all the food?" he asked when he caught sight of me.  Luckily I'd been quick enough to get away from the table.  "I, uhhh…”  “Why are you taking all the food?”  “I- I needed something to eat."  "You needed all of that?"  
Shit.  Quick, think of something believable!  "Well, I put some of it away over there!" I said as convincingly as I could, pointing to the small kitchenette in the opposite corner of the basement.  My father looked at me curiously for a moment, and I nonchalantly told him I needed to go upstairs and change my shirt because I got food on it by accident.  He let me past him on the stairway, but I could tell he was still suspicious of me.  I walked upstairs to my room as naturally as I could, and soon I'd changed into a fresh shirt.
Afterwards, I returned to the kitchen and announced that I would be downstairs ready to move things once my dad was ready.  This was mostly an unnecessary step.  I could've easily slipped back downstairs without anyone seeing me.  However, I thought it would help prove that I wasn't doing anything strange.  Once I was sure Dad had acknowledged me, I returned to the basement.  Standing there at the bottom of the stairs, I took a long look around the room.  Everything seemed so big — so normal.  I could go lay down and relax on the blissfully soft couch, sleep in a real bed, or even take a much-needed shower.  But I had to get back to Erica and Ivan.
My plan worked, and in good time too.  I now sported a shirt with a front chest pocket.  The things I do for her…  Again, I gathered everything up and headed back to the Cavern Town.  Once I was seated with the others, I handed off Erica's things to her.  She was so distracted by her trinkets, I doubt she'd even caught sight of my new T-shirt.  I happily enjoyed a normal-sized meal while the others finished up theirs.  Finally, once each of us were done eating, and Erica had stashed away her things in the home that had been assigned to her when she first arrived, we set off to get rid of the cages.
With Ivan as a lookout on top of the mountain, which gave him a taller vantage point than me, he was able to find a gorge cut off from the valley where we could dump everything.   It took me three trips there and back to relocate all the cages.  It was easier going after that.  Erica and Ivan used some of the chiseling tools from the town to snap all the brackets that held the metal together.  Though, it was really Erica who did most of the breaking while Ivan stood by at the ready with a new chiseling bit every time an old one snapped.  Finally, once everything was broken down, I stomped each thin piece of metal flat.  This way the metal could eventually be repurposed by the Cavern Town.  
It was a bit of a hike back to the town entrance from there, so I offered everyone a ride back.  It was a bit weird how I'd become the new mode of transportation, but I didn’t mind it very much.  I mean, we were all heading that way anyways, and my companions weighed next-to-nothing, so it wasn’t like I was straining myself just to appease them.  In a strange way, it seemed like the polite thing to do.
For a while afterwards, I was left alone outside.  The others had gone into town to get Erica settled in.  I'd asked her to come by whenever she got the chance, though.  I sat draped over the mountain on the opposite side of the valley.  If I sat at just the right angle, the rocks created the perfect little seat.  It was by no means comfortable, but nothing in this world was very comfy for me, anyways.  I'd have to figure out how to spruce up my new home — a field a short walk away from the valley — with some more comfortable things from my own world.  However, it was an amazing view from up there, and it had quite a nice breeze too.  I closed my eyes peacefully, letting my hair billow freely through the wind as I inhaled the crisp air.  
"Well, don't you look beautiful this afternoon?"  My eyes flew open and heat crept across my cheeks.  "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're trying to impress me."  Erica's exhausting yet charming demands were one thing I could readily deal with, but whenever she gave me so much as one unforeseen compliment, I practIcally melted.  
Turning slightly, I saw her standing at the foot of the mountain.  Her voice carried as an echo throughout the valley; I could still hear her despite being so far away.  I stepped back down to ground level and knelt so I wasn't that insanely tall beside her.  "Did you change your shirt or something?" Erica asked me, finally noticing, "Why do I remember you wearing a different one?"  I smiled, remembering why I'd asked her to come back and see me.  "That's actually why I asked you back.  See, even though your ideas make zero logical sense sometimes, I do think they're pretty cool."  I proudly showed her the new pocket.  "Introducing: The closest thing I have to a seatbelt."  It took Erica about two seconds to realize what that meant.  "Holy shit!  You mean I can go!?  But I thought you said it's too dangerous or whatever."  "Eh," I shrugged, "This pocket will probably be safe enough, but if you don't want to-"  A wide grin stretched across Erica's face, "Can we leave, like, right now?"  "I don't see why not."  "Then what are you waiting for?  Let's go already!"
I held my hand out as Erica practically threw herself into it.  "Just please don't kill yourself doing something ridiculous, ok?" I asked, slipping her into the new pocket.  "Wouldn't dream of it!" Erica responded, peering excitedly out of the top.  I walked out of the valley so as not to cause a landslide, but once I hit the open ground I was officially in the clear.  "You ready?" I asked, glancing down to where Erica stood pressed halfway to my chest.  She nodded eagerly.  "Alright then, you might want to hold on."  Moments later, I sprung forward in a burst of excitement-filled energy.  
Though I'd long since moved on from volleyball, I still took my daily jog at least a mile or two around campus and back.  Point being, I can run for a long time without getting worn out.  "YEAH!  WOOOHOOO!" Erica yelled as I ran, "FASTER!  GO FASTER!  YEAAHHH!"  Rolling my eyes and smiling in delight, I pushed myself to pick up the pace.  I dashed over what must've been over a hundred miles in the other-world, lightheartedly grinning at the adrenaline rush my speed gave me.  I was astonished at how quickly ruined towns and forests whizzed by me.  It was as if I had super speed as one of my abilities too; though I knew it was only because of my height that I could travel so fast.
Eventually, I had to slow down just a bit.  I couldn’t run at full speed forever, but I could keep up a steady pace.  Even having slowed to a more manageable speed, wind still whistled in my ears and the landscape still passed by with shocking quickness.  Now I was thoroughly transfixed into my steady gait.  You know the feeling you get when you're cruising down a scenic highway, just enjoying the speed and the scenery?  Yeah, I felt like that.  
Every so often Erica would gasp and point to something cool, or she would ask me to go a bit faster again, but we were otherwise perfectly content to simply watch the moving landscape.  We might've kept going on like that forever — just the two of us.  Unfortunately, I eventually got too winded to keep jogging.  We stopped in an open field, where the grass was short enough so Erica wouldn't have to wade through it.
"That was AMAZING!" Erica gasped as I let her off, "Can we do that on the way back too?"  I laughed in a wheezing sort of way as I tried to catch my breath, "We'll have to see how tired I am, because I can not run anymore right now."  I exhaustedly flopped backwards onto the field, limbs splayed out to stop my muscles from burning.  "Wow," Erica stated, "You didn't have to almost kill yourself, you know.  It would've been fine if-"  "No," I stopped her, "That was awesome.  If I could've gone any faster or further, I would've."  I lay back, eyes closed, taking in the fresh scent of wildflowers and the woods.  Beautiful scenery and pleasant fleeting moments replayed in my head.  Then I felt a knee digging into my neck, abruptly cutting off the tranquility of my short rest.  
"Erica, what are you-"  "Shh," she silenced me.  I opened my eyes and went completely still; I could feel her shifting around on my chest as I stared confusedly into the sky.  "I can't take my eyes off you for two seconds, can I?" I asked mockingly, "Aww, that's so sweet of you to say," Erica cooed, "I can't take my eyes off of you either."  
My head shot up in surprise; I could already feel my cheeks flushing rose red.  Erica was standing inches away from my face with a devious look about her.  She took one look at my blushing, flabbergasted expression and burst out laughing.  I chuckled, both nervous and excited at once.  "Stop it!" I chided sheepishly, "You know that's not what I meant.  What do you think you're doing?"  "Oh, nothing much," Erica said, smugly leaning in closer to me.  "Ok, now you're just asking for it," I teased.  "For what?"  "This," I whispered, planting a delicate kiss on her cheek.  Erica giggled and my spirits soared.  "Oh come on, I know you can do better than that."  "Come here you little-"  
My hands cupped closely together, bracing her from behind.  I kissed her passionately, trying hard not to envelop her entire face in my lips, though it still happened anyway.  She leaned into me and I felt weightless — free.  My eyes closed in bliss as she slowly cupped her hand under my chin.  She stroked it with a feather-light touch, prompting a shuddering sigh from me.  Erica pulled back after a moment to take a breath of air while I lay there beaming in delight.  "I love you."  "I love you too."  
We were leaning so close to one another, I could feel her breath on my skin.  Her taste was still on my tongue, and her scent hovered in my nose in a mixture of sensations that were undoubtedly Erica’s.  She nestled happily into my cupped fingers around her, standing on her toes to press her forehead onto mine.  Kissing me lightly once more, she fell back into my palms.  
Gently, I brushed her cheek with one delicate finger.  Erica flinched and I nervously gave her a bit of space, watching as her hand drifted up to the scar over her eye, just above where the pad of my finger had traced her skin.
“Sometimes I forget this is here,” she said quietly.  “I finally got to look at a real mirror in the refugee camp.  It-  I look awful.”  My eyebrows knitted together in concern as I gently shook my head.  “You look beautiful, love.”  In a slow, delicate balance, I lightly touched my lips to the surface of her scar.  She was so close I couldn’t even see her, but I could feel the slight flinch of her head beneath me, and I could hear the faint gasp she made as I leaned over her.  Drifting away, I again brushed the pad of my finger over her cheek, gently resting at the spot beside the thin break in her otherwise soft chestnut skin.  Erica’s hand fell over my finger and gripped it tightly, smiling lovingly up at me.  “Thank you.”  “Anytime.”
The sky started to bleed red and gold, creating a marvelous backdrop that neither of us could ignore for long.  I scooped Erica up and placed her on my shoulder, propping myself up with my hands so we could watch the sunset for a bit.  Giddy adrenaline rushed through my veins as I felt Erica snuggle up against my neck, pressing a tiny kiss to it before settling down.  
We couldn't stay to watch the whole spectacle, however.  I wanted to start heading back to the town before it got too dark.  I left Erica alone for about five seconds to grab an electric lantern from the basement doorway in my own world so we wouldn't be lost in the dark.  With Erica tucked away at my neck, I began the long walk home.  
The night was refreshingly wonderful.  I watched the stars in awe, noticing for the first time that the sky in the other-world had completely different constellations, as well as those unique colors of star.  The best part was that every time I looked back to the ground to make sure I was still heading in the right direction, I'd glimpse Erica staring up in wonder, herself.  At first I thought she was watching the night sky as well, but after I caught her quickly turning away a few times, I realized that she was gazing up at me.  
I smiled fondly.  Never in a million years would I have thought we'd gaze at each other the way we did now.  At best, I thought I might stare at her longingly from afar, refusing to believe she'd ever trust me enough to love me.  Yet, here Erica was, sitting effortlessly on my shoulder while I walked, as if the spot in the crook of my neck was made purely for her and her alone.  The rhythmic thud of my footsteps nearly lulled me into sleep, but I managed to stay awake just enough to determine where I should be headed.  Sometimes I would bring the dazzling lantern light close to my face just to wake myself up.  By the time my exhausted body shuffled into the valley opening, Erica had long since fallen asleep.  I hadn't even noticed.  I'm thoroughly surprised she didn't fall off me the entire trip back.  
Well, I can't exactly put her to bed; her new house is all the way in the town somewhere.  Refusing to wake Erica up, I stepped into a field to my right, above the valley.  This place was my new, and not really improved, bed.  I'd already dumped my pillows and blanket there earlier.  
I was so tired at that point, I didn't even care how hard the ground was where I slept.  Carefully, I slid Erica off my shoulder.  She groaned in her sleep and rolled onto her side.  I couldn't help fawning over her.  Erica was absolutely adorable sleeping curled in my hands.  As she rolled over and pulled one of my fingers lightly to herself, it struck me just how small she really was.  It was baffling that an entire person could fit neatly in the palm of a single hand, and how trusting that person would have to be to lay unconscious in a place where I could very easily hurt her.  Not that I would ever take advantage of that to do so.  
Setting Erica down on the ground beside me, I fluffed up the pillows and unfurled my blanket, ready to call it a night.  My brain had just fogged over into the beginnings of a dream when I heard a sleepy whisper.  "Hey, are you asleep?"  "Not anymore," I whispered back, "What is it?"  "It's cold, and I don't have a blanket."  I chuckled drowsily.  "Do you want mine?" I offered, lifting it slightly.  The whole thing must’ve been about a mile long to her, at least.  She shook her head and stepped underneath the fuzzy covering.  Once her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, she made a beeline for my hand and pried it up, placing herself beneath it.  Laying down, she pulled my pointer finger closer to her.  Erica's small form was wedged perfectly in the space between two of my fingers.  "You're like a giant space heater.  Your hand is the only blanket I need."  
Erica sighed happily, snuggling further against me.  My insides tingled with joy at her small touch.  She really was fascinating, casually sleeping with one of my digits held tightly to her chest.  Her own small hands gripped mine softly in her sleep.  My arm was already going numb from the way I had it tucked beside me, but I was too tired and too charmed to care. 
Between the two of us, I was the first to wake up that morning.  Erica was sprawled on the grass next to me, snoring, so I decided to leave her be.  I made sure to keep the blanket over her to lessen the chance of her waking up as I slid out from beneath it.  Then I took a short walk around the valley to make sure nothing was amiss.  I nodded good morning to the guards who were still defending their posts, despite their ruined state.  Some of the wooden structures were being rebuilt right there and then.  
Once everything had been surveyed, I returned to the field.  "Hello?"  I stopped midway to the place I'd slept; Erica's confused and slightly annoyed voice called out from beneath my blanket.  "Hello, anyone?  Alexis, if you're just sitting out there watching me..  This isn't funny!  I can't fucking find the end of the blanket, it's too goddamn big!"  I watched as Erica angrily kicked the blanket from beneath.  Her tone grew more annoyed with every word.  I smiled, biting my lip to keep from laughing as I wandered over and lifted the cover off of her.
Erica grumbled at my lighthearted grin, "You were watching me struggle, weren't you?  I knew it!"  "No, I swear I wasn't," I protested as she stomped out from beneath the blanket's shadow, "I was checking in with the guards by the town, I promise.  Though, to be honest, that was kinda funny."  "No!  No it wasn't!" she laughed as she spoke, suggesting otherwise.  "Alright, back to town with you, I have to go plan some way to keep everyone safe now that I’ve agreed to it — before I end up stuck in a fight I can't win."  Erica nodded in agreement.  "You don't have any ideas, do you?"  
She thought for a moment, then shrugged, "Not really."  I sighed, also completely out of ideas myself.  In one swift movement, I scooped Erica off the ground and headed for the town.  For some bizarre reason, Erica seemed thrilled by the way I casually picked her up and carried her off.  Is this even the same woman from four years ago?   Once, she was afraid of me lifting her a few feet off the ground.  Now she insists on riding my shoulder 24-7, and pouts when I refuse to pick her up.  I concluded that her actions now were probably who she was all along.  Erica was likely too frightened of me, in one way or another, to act on them earlier.
My arrival was greeted by Ivan, whom I also asked for ideas on how to protect the town.  He simply told me that it was my job to protect the town, not his.  "However," he added, "we wouldn't need your protection if you hadn't destroyed our rock ceiling."  I apologized again for my destructive rage a few days prior, and returned to my lookout on top of the mountain.  Erica and Ivan both disappeared into the town, and I was left alone with my thoughts. 
Using the box, I made myself breakfast while I surveyed the land for potential threats.  I tried not to stew over Ivan's remark.  My behavior before had only proved that my presence here was really more of a hazard, if anything — certainly not a protector.  One thing stood out to me, though.  If I hadn't destroyed their natural barrier, the scientists wouldn't have found them.  Even if I replaced it, they would still know the town is here.  What if I made something else?  A new barrier that would be strong enough to keep the scientists out, permanently.
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Text
More than just a game
Warnings: dark elements including noncon and rape, oral, fingering, doxxing, stalking, and other explicit content. 
This is dark!Jake Jensen and explicit. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.
Summary: You find a new gaming buddy but he sees you as more than that.
Note: So this is my first Jake Jensen fic and it was lots of fun so let me know what you think and hope you enjoy. :D
Thank you. Love you guys!
As always, if you can, please leave some feedback, like and reblog <3
Special shout-out to @navybrat817​ for helping me with this idea
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After too many nights scrolling through subreddits and searching for something to keep you distracted, you decided to bite the hook. Several other redditors agreed to hop on Minecraft and it had been a while since you logged in. You missed the almost relaxing ritual of mining and building.
You joined the chat, quick to hit the little microphone emblem as you listened to the voices in your headset. You learned long ago to keep your mic muted on the servers, especially with strangers. The last time you dared to speak up as a woman in a game chat, your DMs had become so overwhelmed you deleted and started a new account on Discord and changed your ID on Steam.
You were all given your tasks as players called out coordinates and you kept to chopping up the side of a mountain. You mostly worked alone, chatting through text instead of voice chat. As you placed a crafting table in your little mine, another player, JJ-Smooth, popped up and dropped some iron for you. 
He stayed close but you didn’t mind. A lot of players tried to work together the deeper they got and you were used to it. As you uncovered some lava, he dumped water before you could get burned and helped you hack up the obsidian. 
He thanked you on the voice chat but you knew any courtesy in return would earn you the attention of the entire server. So you dropped some gold for him and went on your way.
“I hear a zombie,” he warned.
You turned to hack up the undead before it could get you, only to be shot by a skeleton hidden on the next level. Another appeared and you died before you could hide, the bony villain killed by your ally as you watched your possession scatter over the death screen.
“Hey, I got your stuff,” he said as you loaded back up, “I’ll find you.”
You typed quickly in the chat, ‘sorry, mic busted, give me your coordinates and I’ll come to you.’
You waited as ‘JJ-Smooth is typing…’ appeared at the bottom and finally he sent the numbers. You hopped over the blocky hills and through the forests until you found the mine again. He was just outside and handed over all your tools and ration. He headed back into the mine and you followed him. This time, you began your own path in the opposite direction.
Before you knew it, you’d lost track of time. You sat back as you realised it was only you and JJ on the server. The silence should have tipped you off earlier. He was the host and you felt super awkward for staying so long. You typed that you were logging off for the night and thanked him. 
You hit the keyboard with your knuckle and yawned as you opened the screen, 
“God, it’s late,” you muttered.
“Hello?” he said.
Your eyes rounded as you looked at the mic symbol and the lack of red line made you cringe. You’d hit an extra button without noticing.
“Um, hi, sorry, I just--”
“Mic busted, huh?” he asked.
“No, I--” you didn’t know what to say, “anyways, I should--”
“So, you’re a chick? Is that why you mute?”
“Uh, well, it’s just… easier, sorry, I--” even if you weren’t trying to hide from gamer dudes, you weren’t the best at conversation.
“A gamer girl, nice,” he said and you sighed, “sorry, that sounded weird, didn’t it?”
“Mhmm,” you touched your bottom lip as you cupped your chin, “it’s late, I have to work tomorrow.”
“You comin’ back?” he asked, almost hopeful.
“I don’t know--”
“I won’t tell anyone,” he said abruptly, “promise, lips sealed.”
“I really don’t know if I can do this too much, I usually work early mornings so… yeah,” you said.
“I get it but you know you’re always welcome, hope you don’t mind if I send you an invite now and then. No pressure,” he offered.
“Uh, sure,” you shrugged, “okay, yeah, good night.”
You left the chat quickly and pulled off your headset. Shit.
‘I’m Jake by the way,’ a pm popped up, ‘gg.’
You typed back, ‘gg, it was fun’ and quickly logged out. You sat back and rubbed your eyes. Well, he didn’t seem like a total creep, maybe just a bit awkward but so were you. You shut down for the night and stretched out as you switched off the lamp. You were going to pay for your session in the morning.
🎮
A few nights later you got an invite to the server. You debated it but as it was Friday, you decided to make good use of the PC you’d saved up forever to build. You spawned in the middle of nowhere and built a bed before you found the half-finished settlement. You joined the chat but you must have been early as you were the only one there.
You headed back to the same mine, some work done since the first night, and laid your torches as you ventured into the depths. You jumped in your seat as a voice broke your peace.
“I don’t think anyone else is gonna join,” JJ-Smooth, or Jensen said, “you think maybe you’ll unmute?”
You stopped your mining and stared at the screen. You hovered over the mic button and re-read his name, he was the only other one there. You clicked and gave a strained smile to the screen.
“So, um, what’s the goal tonight?” you asked.
“Get some materials and go back to the settlement, keep building, oh, maybe we could try a portal, you ever gone to the nether?” he said but before you could reply he kept on, “shit, I shouldn’t assume, you seem like an experienced player.”
“Yeah, a few times, but I’m more a casual miner,” you went back to harvesting stone and ore.
“Ah,” he said, and it was silent for a moment, “so, you work again in the morning?”
“Not tomorrow,” you said as you focused on the game, “daycare isn’t open on the weekends.”
“A daycare, huh? That sounds fun, I love kids… not in a weird way but you know, I… urgh, I have a niece,” he said with a nervous chuckle, “nah, that’s cool though, sounds more fun than my gig.”
“Oh?” you turned and kept your axe moving.
“IT. You know, some people would be like ‘hey Jensen, why do you spend all your free time staring at a screen when that’s what you do at work?’” he scoffed, “well, who says I’m not mining there too.”
You wrinkled your forehead and gave a small laugh. He was rambling and it was kinda odd. You were happy for once not to be the strange one.
“But anyway,” he said, “I found lots of diamond over here. If we get some lapis lazuli we can build an enchanting table and get some sick armour.”
“Awesome,” you pressed your fingertips to your lip as you leaned on your elbow, “should try to head back before dark…”
“Hard to tell down here. How about you mine and I’ll keep an eye out for monsters?” he offered.
“Sure,” you agreed as he came onto your screen, “that works.”
🎮
Another week went by and you ventured back into the server a few times but not for very long as late nights did not mix with young children. The next weekend, you joined again on Saturday night and like the last few times it was just you and Jensen. You wondered why no one else was joining when the subreddit was so popular but you didn’t worry about it for long.
You mostly played in silence, Jensen did most of the talking and it was never about anything more than the game or his niece’s last soccer game. That night when you left the game, he kept typing on Discord.
‘I like playing with you,’ his message blipped up.
‘Same, thx.’
‘Really, you’re awesome.’
‘Thx :) Tired, gotta sleep.’
‘Sweet dreams.’
‘Night.’
You changed your status to offline and dragged yourself to bed. You opened your phone as you laid in the dark and went to the subreddit, you scrolled through the builds and screenshots of other people’s catastrophes. 
You came to Jensen’s last invite post from that night but all the comments complained that the world code was incorrect. Hmm, you should tell him next time.
You blackened your cell and plopped it on your night table. You rolled over and buried your face in the pillow, the light still etched into your vision. You fell asleep quickly and woke the next day to another invite from Jensen.
‘How about some Fortnite? If you’re into it?’
‘Srry, can’t, my mom’s expecting me for lunch.’
‘2 bad, maybe later.’
‘Maybe’.
You got ready to go see your mother for your usual Sunday afternoon visit and it went by like any other. When she asked you what you’d been up to, you didn’t mention the gaming, she was never a fan of it. When you got back home, Jensen was messaging you again. You didn’t open the notification and settled in to catch up on some streaming before another week of work.
Monday hit you like a train and you were glad you hadn’t spent the night mining again. If you had, you doubted you’d even be able to open your eyes. You got to the daycare centre and welcomed in the kids. You got them set up for the morning snack then cleaned up as Sandy took them over to the reading circle.
You wiped the tables and then did some painting before you went out for some play time in the yard. As you watched several of the children on the swings, you glanced around. There was a man across the street. You squinted through the chain link as he seemed to be watching but assured yourself it was nothing as he quickly headed for the corner and disappeared.
Inside, the kids were due for quiet time, some napped and those who didn’t, stared at the ceiling and yawned. You could have joined them but knew that wouldn’t be acceptable. The end of the day came and you helped the kids pack up their paintings and their sweaters. You waited in the yard with them as the parents showed up and handed them off one by one.
You waved to Danika as she clung to her mother and your eye was once more drawn beyond the chain link. The same faded grey jacket, the same glasses, and the hat with the frayed brim. It was a better look at the man. Was he looking at you? Why on earth was he hanging around outside a daycare?
“Sandy,” you turned and lowered your voice as she neared, “see that man?”
She peeked over and shrugged, “which one? The guy crossing the street?”
You looked up again and like before, he was walking away casually as if he hadn’t just been staring through the fence. You shook your head and huffed. “Sorry, never mind.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it,” she waved her fingers, “come on, let’s clean up.”
With the kids all sorted out, you went back in and tidied up the last of their mess. You and Sandy were friendly but like with any, you weren’t very talkative. You never really knew what to say but you were never unkind.
You pulled on your jacket and checked your purse for your phone and wallet. You checked the time and turned off the lights. You bid Sandy goodbye as she headed for her SUV and you took your usual route down the sidewalk towards your bus stop. 
You stopped short as the man was there. You were paranoid, he must just be waiting for the same route. You approached and he turned to watch you as you sat on the bench. He smiled and the dread sank deep in your chest. 
His rectangular glasses gave light to his blue eyes and a goatee trimmed his jaw. He was tall and well-built, you could tell even under his comic book tee. He was going to talk to you, another weirdo in the city.
“Hey,” his voice was chillingly familiar, “how was your day?”
You stared at him and blinked cluelessly. You looked around, it was only the two of you. You opened your mouth but you had to be wrong. He said your name and you winced.
“Jensen?” you breathed as you stood and squeezed the strap of your bag, “why? How--?”
“You weren’t answering me, I was worried,” he said, “just making sure you’re okay.”
“What the-- I don’t understand how--” He stepped closer and you backed up against the bench. “Don’t, I’ll scream.”
“Scream? Why? I’m just-- You know me, it’s me, Jensen.”
“You doxxed me?” you snapped, “what the hell?”
“No, I didn’t-- I’m just checking on you--”
“I don’t know you,” you said as your heart began to race, “so please, leave me alone,” you edged away from him, “and don’t message me again.”
You sprinted across the street and as you came up on the curb, you looked back at him. He watched you but didn’t follow. You could tell from there he wasn’t happy but the brim of his cap shadowed most of his face so you couldn’t guess if it was hurt or anger. You quickly spun away and continued down the next street to the nearest stop.
You couldn’t believe he’d just shown up like that. You couldn’t believe he would think that was okay. You couldn’t believe he’d think that much about you.
🎮
You blocked Jensen on Discord and left his world on Minecraft. That night you were shaky and nervous, afraid that he would show up at your apartment. Did he know where you lived? He must if he could figure out where you worked.
You didn’t open Steam that night. You paced your small apartment, jumping at every noise. Sleep didn’t come easily but in shallow spurts that left you even more tired. You watched over your shoulder as you walked to your stop and boarded with one eye on the door.
Work was little better as you found yourself distracted in the room full of toddlers. Sandy asked if you were okay as you kneaded play-do violently. You shook yourself out of your paranoia and assured her you were only short on sleep, not a complete lie.
You took out your phone when you stepped out for a small break. Your mom had called but you would have to get back to her when you had two hours to waste. There was another notification, that one from Discord, a friend request from JJ-NoRematch. It wasn’t hard to guess who it was and you declined it right away.
There were several others from Jensen, too. He followed your Insta, blocked; he followed your mostly empty twitter, blocked; and he even commented on your LinkedIn like a weird. You closed your phone and took a breath before you headed back into the kids, their voices rising in their excitement to go outside.
In the yard, you had another look around, expecting to see him there on the other side of the fence. You were slightly relieved when he wasn’t but still on edge. You joined a game of tag then watched several of the kids line up for the slide. You lost yourself in your job as you told yourself he must have gotten the hint, at least not to bother you irl.
Just like the day before, and every day, you left work and headed for your stop. He wasn’t there either and you sat down and phoned your mom, hanging up as the bus pulled up with a promise to call her again when you were home. At home, you felt almost normal again and checked your notifications; no more follows, no more requests, nothing.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday passed in a similar fashion. Each saw your anxieties less than the day before. You even resolved to open Steam and start a new world for yourself. You spent hours mining and almost fell asleep in your chair. When you nearly tipped over, you decided it was time for bed.
You slept better than you had all week and woke up before noon. You wanted to log right back on but you had life to deal with; groceries, cleaning, and of course, making that call to your mother you’d delayed the night before. After all that, you felt accomplished and you decided to treat yourself to take out, a rare divulgence.
You called the local Chinese eatery and waited eagerly for your feast as you turned on a new episode of your current binge. You played on your phone until the battery was low and had enough juice to buzz up the delivery man. You dug for your wallet as you went to the door and unlocked it without looking up.
“How much--” you asked as you opened the door.
Your eyes met a familiar pair, two blue gems behind a pair of narrow glasses. Jensen wore the same cap and held the paper bag of take-out with a smile. You grabbed the door and tried to swing it shut but he was too quick as he slapped a large hand against the peeling paint.
“It’s on me,” he said, “I love spare ribs.”
“What the--” you gasped as you pushed on the door helplessly, “please go away.”
“You’re not answering me,” he said as he stepped closer and forced you back as his body brushed against yours, “you blocked me and I can’t even get a hey, Jensen, how are you?”
“I don’t want you here,” you tried to shove him and he shouldered you away easily, “get out!”
He slammed the door and you flinched. He put the bag down on the corner table and reached back to twist the lock without a look. His eyes roved around your entryway and further into your apartment. He smiled as they stilled and focused on you.
“This place is cute… like you,” he said and you heard a slight hesitation in his voice.
You swallowed and backed away from him. You spun on your heel and ran for your couch. You reached over the back to your phone and unlocked it as the battery icon flashed. You had just enough juice to make the call. You dialed as you turned back to him.
“I’m calling the police so you b-better l-leave,” you warned as your voice and hands shook, “I me--”
He was quick and before you could pull away, he swiped your cell out of your hand. He scoffed and tossed it across the room. It hit the wall and landed screen down on the hardwood. You bit down and pressed yourself to the couch. You stared at him and kicked yourself forward as you tried to slip past him. He caught you and wrestled you back into the front room.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked calmly as you struggled in his grasp, “I’ve been nothing but nice to you.”
“N-no, you’re-- you-- let me go,” you stammered as he angled you around the couch. He pushed you down so you bounced on the cushion. You tried to push yourself up and he pointed his finger in your face and wagged it. 
“No, you stay,” he growled and wiped his other hand on his jeans. He was nervous, even if he was angry.
“Please, why-- what do you want?” you grasped the cushion and hovered at the edge of the couch.
He sighed and sat in the chair. He took his hat off and set it on the table as he ran his fingers through his short hair. 
“Good question,” he said as his jaw squared and his eyes turned to pinpoints, “better one, why did you block me?”
“Are you serious? You-- you--” you struggled to get your words out, your voice even more splintered by your fear, “you doxxed me, you came to-- to my work-- and…”
“I thought we were getting along. I thought you liked me,” he said with a frown, “I really did, you sure acted like it and-- I only wanted to make sure you were safe.”
“But why wouldn’t I be? I--” you shivered and crossed your arms as you withered beneath his gaze, “Jensen, this was only supposed to be online.”
He scoffed and stomped his boot on the floor. He shook his head as he looked to the ceiling and his anger bulged along his temple. He tilted his head and looked at you again.
“You know, for years, I have been a nice guy, I am a nice guy,” he pushed his shoulders to his ears as he threw his hand out, “I’m so patient and caring and you girls, you don’t even give me a second look.”
“Jensen--”
“No, really, I mean look at you, you’re no supermodel and yet it’s the same thing, ‘let’s just be friends’,” he spat, “but I watch guys all the time treat women like shit and they don’t have any trouble at all, they got them hanging off of them and I’m a creep for giving them a compliment or opening the door--”
“I don’t… know you,” you eked out, “you have to understand--”
“I don’t understand,” he stood abruptly, “I’m done trying to understand.”
He pulled his jacket open and slid it down his arms. You watched him sling it over the chair and as he turned back to you, you stood. He caught your shoulders and held you in place. His strength was plain in his grip as he squeezed then slowly moved his hands to cradle your face.
“I just wanna be nice,” he said as he leaned in. You tried to pull away but he moved a hand around the back of your head and forced your lips against his. He poked his tongue inside your mouth roughly as you tried to shove him away. Finally, he parted, his hands still firmly around your head, “wasn’t that nice?”
“Please,” you begged as he ran his thumb over your bottom lip.
His eyes searched your face as you stared back at him in terror. He sighed and dropped his hands back to your shoulders. He pushed you down to the sofa harshly and backed away.
“Fine, I won’t be nice,” he snarled as he took his glasses off and folded them carefully. He put them on the table beside his cap and twined his fingers together, loudly cracking his knuckles.
You blinked at him as your eyes grew glossy. You brought your legs up under you and pressed yourself to the back of the couch. You grasped the upholstery and turned as you launched yourself over to the other side. You stumbled as you landed on your feet and ran for the door.
You were yanked back as he snaked his arms around you and took you off your feet. You kicked out and screamed but it was cut off by his palm as he kept one arm around your middle. You scratched at his hand as he dragged you back to the couch. He pushed you face down onto the cushions and planted his knee in the middle of your back, slipping his hand away as he put enough weight on you to keep your voice suffocated.
“Listen, I know I look like some IT nerd but I’m a lot more than that, now don’t make me hurt you,” he played with your hair as he smiled down at you, “you try that again and I will shut you up and if someone hears you, I can take care of them too.”
You sniffed as tears pricked in your eyes and nodded frantically as it felt as if he would snap your spine. He pushed off of you and you stayed as you were, paralysed with fear. He sat and unlaced his boots one at a time. He looked up as he set them neatly beside the foot of the chair and he bent to catch your eye.
“Well?” he pointed at you and traced the line of your body in the air, “let’s go.”
You stared at him dumbly and he stood to pull his tee over his head. His torso was sculpted perfectly and his chest trimmed with hair that trailed all the way down to his pants. He stepped forward and tugged at the back of your shirt.
“You want me to do it for you, baby?” he purred, “I can help you.”
You swatted him away and sat up. You bent your legs to your chest and hugged them. “Please, I’m scared, just leave me alone--”
His hand rested on his belt and exhaled again. His fingers moved swiftly to unloop the striped belt and unbutton his jeans. He pushed them down, nearly tripping as he stepped out of them. He stood in his boxers, tented with his impatient excitement, and gripped his hips.
“It’s okay, baby, I know you’re shy, I am too,” he neared and you winced as he grabbed your wrist. He tugged on your arm and you resisted until he bent your hand back painfully and you cried out. He tickled your jaw as he looked you in the eye and tutted, “it doesn’t have to be like this, alright?”
You went limp and let him pull your arms apart. Your legs slipped down and your feet dangled above the floor. He got to his knees and pushed between yours. He slowly rolled up the hem of your shirt and bent to kiss your stomach as he bared the flesh. You trembled as he forced your arms up and swooped the fabric over your head. It fluttered through the air and to the floor as he cupped your tits through your bright pink bra.
“Is this so bad?” he asked as he nuzzled your chest and pushed your tits up. 
He glided the straps down your arm and slid your bra lower so that you popped out. He nibbled at your flesh and traced your nipples with his tongue. You sat rigid and let him explore your body, too terrified to move a muscle. He reached around you and struggled with the hooks, frustrated he snapped the clasps and the band came free.
He continued to play with your chest, his fingers crawling up and down your stomach and sides. There was a genuine curiosity to his touch and it sent a chill through you. His fingertips pressed to the top of your pants and he pulled at them as his lips travelled down to your hip.
He tugged on your pants and jerked your entire body. He tore them lower as he pushed you up and you lifted yourself to let him peel away the layer. He added them to the floor and toyed with the elastic of your panties. The little bow in the front drew his attention as he pushed your legs wider and ran his nose along the cotton.
He hummed and rubbed his fingers down your crotch, pushing the fabric to your folds as he teased you through them. You inhaled sharply at the tingle it inspired and he pressed firmer against you, flicking his fingers along your bud as he noticed how it made you squirm.
He gently pulled aside the cotton and you felt his hot breath against you. You pushed on his head before he could delve into you. “Please, don’t--”
“Shhhh,” he threw your hand away from his head and bent over you, “just relax.”
He dragged his tongue along your cunt and lingered around your clit. You clenched as it sent a thrill through you and he moved his lips against you, suckling at you bud as your breaths grew raspy. You pushed yourself against the back of the couch and dug your nails into the cushion.
He slid a finger along your cunt and circled your entrance. He rubbed up and down as he kept his tongue swirling over your clit and you swallowed back as gasp as he poked inside. He felt around and added another finger, stretching you as he carefully pushed them in and out of you in time with his mouth.
He lapped you up and you closed your eyes, desperate to resist the coil winding within you. Your legs tensed against the couch and you tilted your pelvis without thinking. He sped up, the noise of his mouth and your slickness filled the silence. You let out a puff and moaned as you slapped the couch. The waves rolled over your flesh and you came into his mouth with a pathetic mewl.
He stilled his fingers as he lazily teased you with his tongue. He pulled his fingers out and sat back, the heat between your legs cooling in his absence as he licked up your juices. He watched you as he sucked his fingers and stood. Your head lolled and you edged forward on the couch. You tried to stand but he caught you and flung you back.
“We’re not done, baby,” he winked at you as he grasped the top of his boxers, “go on, lay down.”
You murmured your refusal and once more tried to get up. You slipped onto the floor and shakily crawled away as he dropped his boxers to his ankle. He grabbed you before you could get around the side and lifted you easily. He turned you and shoved you down onto your back as he lifted a leg over you.
He straddled you and again his hands roved over your body. You smacked at his fingers weakly but he easily ignored you. He kept one hand moving along your curves as he stroked himself with the other. He groaned and shook as he stroked his dick. Your eyes followed his hand and you gulped, he was thick.
He moved his knees back and pushed them up beneath your thighs as he kept a hand planted on your chest. He ripped your panties down your legs and untangled them from your feet. 
He held you down as he ran his tip along your cunt, wetting himself with your coerced arousal. You groaned and grabbed the arm of the couch above you. You tried to pull away from him.
He pushed against your entrance and you looked at him in shock. You couldn’t stop him. His eyes were set between your legs as he inhaled and slowly eased into you. He gasped as he got his tip inside you and his muscles tensed. He bit his lip as he dove further in and you gasped as he filled you inch by inch.
“Shitttt,” he moaned as he reached his limit and you whined at how full you were, “oh, baby.”
His hand slid from your chest and he gripped your hips as he pulled back and thrust. You exclaimed and he did it again, slowly as he watched himself impale you over and over. You curled your fingers against the couch arm and your feet arch as you pressed your thighs around him. He lifted your pelvis high as he angled his dick even deeper.
“You feel so good,” he rasped, “oh, baby, you’re so good. Ahh-hh-hh,” his voice fizzled as your walls clenched him and you closed your eyes as you felt the heat building. 
He moved his hand along your thigh and stretched it over your pelvis, pushing his thumb to your clit as he kept his pace. He purred as you writhed helplessly against him and you panted through the rising ecstasy.
“Please, please, please…” you chanted, unsure if you were begging him to stop or for more.
He moaned as he sped up and you sucked your lip under your teeth as you neared your peak. You quivered as your orgasm crashed into you and you let out a strangled cry. He snarled and planted his hands beside your head as he leaned over you, his hot breath tickled your face as he pounded into you.
Your legs bent around him as his pelvis rubbed against you and the friction drove you to another climax. You held onto the arm of the couch as he fucked your harder and harder. He kissed you and nibbled at your lip as he groaned and hooked an arm under to hold you close.
“You’re gonna make me cum, baby,” he said against your cheek and you turned your head away from, “ah, here I--”
He spasmed and slammed into you. He took several long thrusts and stilled. He grunted and drew heavy breaths as he rested his weight over you. He grabbed your head and turned your head up as he pressed his forehead to yours. You kept your eyes closed as the flames slowly dwindled.
“Was that so bad?” he stroked your cheek and trailed his finger down to poke between your lips, “No, it’s what you wanted, isn’t it, baby?” he wiggled his hips and you hissed, “yeah, you want me.”
808 notes · View notes
ura-writes · 3 years
Text
Trampolinist
Summary - You’re a player who jumps from server to server, often revisiting several and always trying to find access to new ones. When a victorious game of duos Skywars on Hypixel wins you an invitation to one of the most famous yet exclusive servers in the community, you find a world you never knew existed, allies you’re not certain you can trust, and enemies that may not be just that. Oh, yeah, and an anarchist piglin hybrid.
(c!technoblade/server jumper!reader)
Basic warnings: minor blood, swearing, light threats
A/N - hello! I decided to start this series as a result of a sporadic idea at midnight after quite an odd dream. Some information you might need:
A few select people can jump servers without using portals, and you (the reader) are one of them.
Some servers are public and some require invites. Hypixel and a lot of the other bigger servers are public, while SMPs such as the Dream SMP are private and require an invite.
Jumpers, as they are commonly referred to throughout the series, still require an invite to private servers, though some have figured out loopholes to this process and actively exploit it, earning the title of “Crashers”. You have figured it out but don’t use the ability.
The rating for this series is 14-15+, most likely including minor to graphic descriptions of blood/injuries, violence, swearing, minor manipulation and death.
There are select groups of people who hate Jumpers and actively try to perma-kill them or get them source-banned from servers, leaving them stuck in single player and isolation.
From the author:
This will be in second person.
There will be no use of Y/N or (Y/N) or anything along those lines. I understand some people use them as a descriptor, but in my opinion, it looks a bit messy/choppy.
Feel free to criticize, though don’t be super harsh.
Also gl free to point out spelling mistakes.
I love love LOVE feedback! Gimme it! Please! /lh /gen
Anyway, those are the basics that you need to know! For now, at least… hehe.
Enjoy the first part!
-ura
——
The familiar particles signalling a personal portal opening in the lobby sends a few people scattering, but most just move to the side, though there are a fair few that stay to watch the person step out of the rip in reality.
The person stumbles out, cursing the deities to high heaven, brushing dirt and sweat and even a bug off of their face, certainly looking a bit worse for wear.
This was certainly not what the audience was expecting. They were expecting a prim, proper or at least somewhat distinguished person to step out of the actively sparking spiral, as most Jumpers are that way, even just a bit.
Nope.
“What are you looking at?”
The people step back a bit, noticing the sword the person clutches in their hand.
That person is you.
“Fuck off, would you? You probably see Jumpers on the daily! Fuckin’ annoying.” you grumble, sheathing the sword at your side. “Fuck… is this Hypixel?”
With a cursory sweep of the attire of the people surrounding you and buildings towering over everyone, you determine that yes, it is, in fact, Hypixel.
Of course, that may have also been the big-ass sign in the sky with the server’s name on it. That too.
With a sigh and a wave of your hand, you pull your inventory up. The typical “please place your personal belongings in a safe place before playing a match, otherwise they may be wiped.” message pops up when you do. You huff, wave your fingers to dismiss the text. Not like you’ve been here a hundred thousand times or anything like that.
The Netherite blade at your side, your armor and any sentimental belongings you have on you go straight into your enderchest, categorized in one of the shulker boxes designated specifically for this purpose.
As you walk along, trying to sort your inventory out (fortunately the server provides a free repair and replace to anyone’s clothing, as yours are beaten pretty much beyond self-help), deciding what match you might want to play, the crowd that was surrounding you quickly scurries off with a few screams.
A quick glance upwards catches your gaze on a red and white nametag.
Huh. Don’t see those often.
Whispers of the name you can’t quite see from where you stand rapidly reach your ears, ringing with slight familiarity.
Dream.
Odd. The masked man doesn’t often come onto public servers, mainly sticking to his own private server, named after him. The Dream SMP. How egotistical.
Without another glance towards the fan-people, you select a game idly. The blue text pops up in front of you, confirming your want to play the match.
Skywars Duos.
Before you know it, you’re whisked off to the arena, a bit dizzy from your landing, but fine nonetheless. The timer for the start slowly counts down, ticking slowly as people pop into existence with increasing frequency.
A presence behind you alerts you to your teammate. You nod at them just as the beeping of the final ten seconds counts down.
After a few repeated sessions, most being losses, you decide on one more match before you head to a tavern for the night, preferably one with a view.
This time you’re the second one to arrive. And for once, you take a longer look at your teammate.
He’s the guy everyone was freaking out about a few hours earlier… what was his name again? Dr-something. Or was it a Tr-something? Ah, who knows. It doesn’t matter as long as he’s good. You don’t bother to look at his nametag; he’s probably just some hotshot who thinks he’s all that.
“Not going to freak out?” he asks you. You snort at the question, shaking your head with a glance at the timer.
“Just here to kick ass.”
“Fair enough,” he replies. “You any good?”
A laugh from you echoes as the beeping of the countdown starts.
“We’ll see.”
The barrier below you drops, sending you hurtling to the floating island below. You quickly hit the ground, rolling into a crouch while your teammate raids the chest beside you, tossing a few bits of armor and a stone axe as well as a golden apple, which you catch and nod gratefully.
The hood on his head drops when another player attempts to take him out of the game. He ducks, barely avoiding the glimmer of the enchanted sword, sweeping her legs out from under her. The enemy player narrowly rolls out of the way with her shield being knocked out of her hands into the dark blue void below the floating island.
She curses loudly as his axe lands beside her head, kicking it to the side.
In that moment, you shove her hard off of the crumbling stone, jabbing your axe in her shoulder for final measure. Her falling figure flashes red with the loss of hearts, and eventually, she disintegrates into dust, the announcement of her tag being eliminated in the chat making you smirk.
“Well, you are good.”
You send him a smirk and collect the spoils of your kill, mostly a few potions and the iron blade, tossing a few of the former to your teammate and splashing a speed potion on yourself.
With practiced movements you begin to build to the middle islands, your teammate throwing the occasional snowball at any approaching enemy players, even knocking one off their bridge. The message of their death rings in the chat, being the fifth elimination.
The chests there contain better loot, even a diamond sword and chestplate, a strength II potion and a Power I bow with fifteen arrows. You take the bow and chestplate (with permission from your teammate, who gladly takes the sword and potion) and book it to the center chests, almost laughing at the amount of snowballs and arrows lying there.
“Well, I’m not complaining,” you muse.
You hear a yell of your tag, quickly spinning around to block the swing of an enchanted axe, their teammate quickly turning to gang up on you after finishing off another person.
Great. You’re fighting two people now.
Swing, duck, dodge, swipe, duck, swipe, block—shit, you got stabbed! Two hearts disappear from your health bar, sending a flurry of curses flying from your lips.
But luckily, your teammate is fast enough to eliminate the weaker of the two.
The tables turn.
The clash of blades, splash of potions and grunts of pain quickly move to the edge of the center island. It’s two verses one now, and the three of you are the last competitors in the match.
Block the swing, return the blow, duck, block, dodge—
A sudden stab in your shoulder alerts you to an arrow stuck in the skin there, slowly depleting your health.
It’s merely a distraction.
The enemy player barrels into you, sending you stumbling backwards right at the edge of crumbling gravel.
Poison becomes your downfall.
The smack of another half heart.
As one last resort, you grip onto the block with one hand, the other dangling with your bow into the void. Gritting your teeth, you do your damndest to drag yourself up, the poison wreaking havoc through your body and strength.
Shit. I’m not going to survive this, am I?
The one-handed grip on your bow tightens, nocked arrow slipping between your dirt-covered fingers.
You make a decision.
Just as the enemy player comes over, smirking but low on health, you let go of the block, drawing your arrow back as you fall into the void.
The broadhead meets its mark just in time, signalling a victory with a dragon appearing underneath you right before you hit the death line. A sigh of relief escapes your lips; you direct the dragon upwards with a rush of gratefulness soaring through your body. Respawning isn’t a pleasant process.
Twenty or so seconds later, you appear back in the lobby with your teammate at your side. The lobby is nearly empty, only a few people milling around, most having traveled elsewhere or checked into a tavern or hotel.
“You’re good. We could use you on our side.”
“ ‘We’?”
Two other figures appear out of seemingly nowhere, one wearing white-rimmed black sunglasses with a blue hoodie, the other a bandana and a white hoodie with flames on the front of it.
Your fingers twitch at your sides, calling up a portal in your mind, ready to dash through it at the slightest hint of a threat. Sparks form by your palms, their signature color drawing the leader’s attention.
“Calm down. I have no interest in killing you.”
“Doesn’t seem like it,” you retort. “Three versus one isn’t exactly fair y’know.” The sparks grow brighter; though they are primarily used to call up portals, they can deal quite a blow to anyone who forcefully comes into contact with them.
Dream (you now read off his nametag, getting sick of referring to him by random aliases) extends a hand in front of his body. Something hovers in it, glowing a soft white and reading something you can’t quite make out.
“It’s not going to kill you.”
Bandanna laughs at that.
“Reassuring,” you snap, taking a closer look at it.
Invitation: Dream SMP
Active?: Yes
Expires: Never
Taken aback, you sputter out a few jumbled sentences before asking why they’d invite you of all people. Sure, you may be okay at Skywars, but that doesn’t warrant an invitation to literally the most exclusive server in the network.
“Uh—what?”
You take a quick glance at the two others, noting their tags are red and white as well, reading Sapnap and Georgenotfound.
“You don’t have to accept.” Dream steps forward to set the glowing orb in your hands. “Just know that we picked you for a very good reason.
How… interesting.
“Is it ‘cause I’m an inactive Crasher?”
The three stiffen at the moniker used for the infamous Jumpers, the ones who figure out ways around the system, the lines of fate that make up the different servers, finding loopholes that not even the best Mender can. They exploit them, gaining almost god-like abilities on the server only to wreak absolute anarchy on the infrastructure until the admin can step in, if they haven’t been eliminated from the system or perma-killed already.
From what little you know about the Dream SMP, you know the admin is a god of sorts, mostly staying out of the way but occasionally fixing matters that need it. Otherwise they stay… wherever gods stay.
“No,” George pipes up. You note his accent, odd and slightly out of place, but not unpleasant. “You being a Jumper does help, however.”
You’ve heard of elusive servers where Jumpers have access to a lot of power and near-unlimited resources, though no one can quite figure out why. Those servers are typically entirely anarchy.
“Yeah, sure.” But you clutch the invitation closer to your person anyway. It glows a bit brighter at the increased contact.
“Think on it.”
Those words echo through your mind throughout the rest of the night, in your bed, subconsciously in your dreams and into the next morning.
It’s no easy decision. You know you’ll be dragged into all sorts of politics, conflict and battles unlike the Skywars ones you usually find yourself dealing with.
Your hand grips the glowing ball a bit tighter, reading the same three statements engraved on it repeatedly until the words are branded into your mind.
And then it disappears.
“Invitation accepted.”
206 notes · View notes
lord-of-gender · 3 years
Text
A Small Problem - Part 2
Once again my inspiration comes from @deyageka
Word count: 1960
Syndicate Meeting
"Perhaps if we-" Phil was saying as Ranboo came into the meeting room, with Tommy right at his heels. It had been two months since they originally found him in the prison and Ranboo had volunteered to watch him that day, completely forgetting about the meeting. He knew he didn't have to come, but it was a good excuse to finally tell them about Tommy.
"Hi, sorry I'm late," Ranboo said awkwardly, knowing the other explanation that he would have to give.
"Hallo!" Tommy said cheerily, moving to stand next to Ranboo, some paper and coloring pigments in his arms.
"What the actual fuck," Phil said, he did a double take when he saw Tommy.
"Heh!?" Techno exclaimed, of all the things he expected, a young Tommy was not on the list. "How?! I thought you said he was dead."
"No, no, no, don't tell me that's Tommy," Niki said, shaking her head.
"Yes, he did die, but Dream revived him," Ranboo said, shifting from foot to foot, "I think that's what happened. Sam found him in the prison like this."
"So that's why you asked me, Tommy couldn't keep his mouth shut," Phil muttered, talking about when Ranboo asked about the old Empire. He knew Ghostbur wouldn't have remembered it, or else he would have mentioned it to him.
"I'm the Empire-er," Tommy went up to Techhno and held up a wooden sword, he also wore the paper crown he made. "Like you."
"Be quiet," Techno growled, Tommy backed away, this wasn't the Technoblade he remembered. The boy ran over to Ranboo and buried his head in his shirt. Ranboo could feel his shirt start to get wet as Tommy started to cry. What had he done wrong? Why was Techno mad at him?
"Oh my gosh, Tommy are you okay," Ranboo knelt down to Tommy's level, taking out a cloth so he wouldn't get wet from the boy's tears.
"Tech-no does-n't like me," Tommy sobbed, sniffling between words.
"Oh, I'm sure that's not true," Ranboo said, he looked back at Phil and Niki, silently asking them for help. "He's just surprised to see you."
"I just want Wilbur," Tommy said, his cries starting to die down and reduce to hiccups. "Sam pwomised he would find him."
"He doesn't know," Phil asked, at this age Tommy had idolized Techno and Wilbur. He followed Techno around everywhere and wanted to know everything about him.
"Know, what," Tommy sniffed, using his sleeve to wipe off mucus. "What don't I know?"
"A few months ago," Phil came over and crouched in front of Tommy. "Something happened and-"
"It might be better to find Gho-Wilbur first to tell him," Techno said, the voices had been telling him one of two things. To protect Tommy as all costs, or to kill Tommy for being an orphan. "Who's watching him? Or is he an orphan?"
"I- uh- Sam is mainly taking care of him, so no, he's not an orphan," Ranboo stuttered, knowing a bit of Techno's history with orphans.
"I mean last time I checked I wasn't fucking dead," Phil chuckled, Niki started giggling.
"So what's the plan for today," Ranboo asked, he picked up Tommy as the boy kept pulling on his shirt.
"We're going to do some recon on the Egg," Techno said, "Phil received an invitation to some banquet so we're going to check it out beforehand."
"So I probably shouldn't have brought him," Ranboo said, talking about Tommy as he started to nod off.
"Can't we take him to Snowchester," Phil said, subtly asking if Tommy could stay with Micheal.
"I don't know, Tubbo's not going to be there for a while. He and Jack are busy doing something," Ranboo didn't know what it was there were doing, but it seemed important to Tubbo. And he didn't want Sam to get mad at him for leaving Tommy alone for a little bit.
"He'll be fine alone," Phil said, "We used to do that all the time when he was originally this age."
"You are a terrible parent," Ranboo said.
"Okay mate," Phil rolled his eyes, "you can't be speaking here. Especially not about that shit."
"I wanna stay here," Tommy piped in.
"We could talk to Puffy on our way," Techno said.
"Auntie Puffy!" Tommy said excitedly, bouncing in Ranboo's arms. At the mention of Puffy he had brightened up and got energetic again.
"I guess we have our answer then," Niki laughed.
"Are you good to stay here by yourself for a bit," Ranboo asked. Tommy shook his head and pointed at Niki, she seemed nice.
"Huh, he didn't mind staying home when I took care of him," Phil said.
"Well we think he might have vague memories of what happened in his past," Ranboo lowered his voice and put Tommy down to let him walk over to Niki. "Sometimes he'll just freeze when coming near lava or even a Nether Portal. We've noticed that most of the time he hates being alone."
"I want to stay wif you," Tommy said to Niki.
"I don't know, Puffy and I don't have the greatest history," Niki said, then looked down at Tommy's face as he started to pout. "But I can't say no to you. You are absolutely adorable. Okay, just this once."
"Go now," Tommy waved at them as he sat in the chair next to Niki.
"He does that alot," Ranboo chuckled, "see you later, Tommy."
"Okay Ranboo," Tommy pulled out Clementine from his inventory and made airplane noises as he moved it in the air. Ranboo, Techno, and Philza left the meeting room as Niki laughed with Tommy.
"I haven't seen him like that since," Phil started but trailed off.
"Well of course not, he's a little kid again," Ranboo said.
"Pogtopia," Techno finished for Phil, "he has that light in his eyes again. I remember when we were building that big obnoxious tower, but it made him happy."
"How long had Tommy been with you," Ranboo asked.
"I found him when he was four or five," Phil said, "Wilbur is my only biological son. I adopted Tubbo when he was five as well."
"It's still weird seeing Tommy at that age again," Techno said.
"Yeah, I can't imagine how much of a shock it was when I brought him in there," Ranboo said, he should have thought about it beforehand.
"Oh we were surprised for sure," Philza laughed.
After the trip through the Nether to the community portal they found Bad, Ant, and Punz waiting right outside of the portal. How were they supposed to tell Puffy now?
"Hello, Philza," Punz said, "I didn't think you'd only have two people coming with you."
"Our fourth member is on her way," Techno said, "don't try and threaten us. We have all the power here."
"Ranboo, go talk to Puffy," Phil whispered to him. "Gentlemen, there's no need to fight. We were just curious about the meaning of this invitation I received."
"Ah yes, the banquet," Ant said, "the egg has realized it over stepped a bit, so we've been cleaning up some of the vines and are holding a festival of sorts as a formal apology to the server. You are all invited, we just wanted Phil as a guest of honor."
"Well I'm pretty sure the last time I went to a festival, it didn't turn out well," Techno chuckled, but the voices had raised a good question. Why Phil?
"We swear it won't end like those," Bad said, "I mean we aren't L'Manburg after all."
"Maybe Techno would be more convinced if we saw this change ourselves," Phil said as he spotted Puffy coming towards them, then messaged Niki. Ranboo rejoined the group.
"Of course," Bad said turning around, allowing Puffy to go around them then enter the Nether.
"So uh, where's Skeppy," Ranboo asked, he'd heard from Sam that he had also been infected. "I haven't seen him around recently."
"We don't know," Punz said, "haven't seen him in a while."
"So when you say everyone is invited, who does this include," Phil asked, if they invited the whole server this could be a problem. Tommy couldn't just be left alone for a few hours, but the last thing they wanted was to take him near the Egg.
"Well everyone, except for Dream of course," Bad said, "but alot have said they'll be busy and unable to make it." They walked along the prime path where huge vines used to be, it appeared that they had been cleaned up. Soon Niki caught up with then.
"So what's going on," She asked, holding a cheerful expression to disguise the fact they were hiding something.
"We were just telling them about the banquet," Bad said, "you're coming, right Niki?"
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it," She said.
Something about the banquet and how similar it was to the L'Manburg festivals didn't sit right with Techno. To make matters worse he had just received a message from Quackity.
"I have to do something, you guys can fill me in when we get back," Techno said, he noticed Phil's questioning expression. "Don't worry it has nothing to do with my favor."
"See you later Techno," Ranboo said, he had been wondering the same thing but didn't want to say anything.
"Yeah, I'll say hi to the kid for you," Techno said. It was a throw away comment, but it seemed to interest Bad.
"Kid?" He asked, after checking that Techno was out of hearing range Ranboo responded with: "Yeah, me and Tubbo adopted."
"Oh, you mean Michael," Bad said, he'd heard about the young zombie piglin.
"We were going to Snowchester afterwards," Phil said, easily going along with Ranboo's lie.
"Yeah! You know, every member is important," Niki said, she had no idea who they were talking about, but she could use what they had said to play along.
“Well we should probably let you guys do that,” Bad said, he wasn’t sure if it was time to show them the Egg. No, it wasn’t, they had enough evidence from them to go to the banquet.
“Yes, you’re right,” Ranboo was getting uneasy, he didn’t like anything about the Egg or the Eggpire.
“See you the 25th!”
251 notes · View notes
stardustincarnate · 3 years
Text
EARLY TRYST // Light Yagami x Reader
word count : 4534 genre : fluff <333 ! crack-ish, pre-kira!light, all that  mushy mushy stuff, best friends to lovers because who doesn’t love that trope?
a/n : i’m not sure if i’ve posted this here before but i’m fairly certain that i haven’t oh godric you’ll have to forgive me if i had  --
Who wakes up 5:00 early on a Saturday morning just to bug their neighbor to have a match with them?
Technically, you did. You were bored, and the first thing that came to your mind was playing your favorite sport with one of your bestfriends, who's also your neighbor, Light. Surely he wouldn't mind, would he? But it mattered not since he also did the same to you back then, insisting you two bike together just because he wanted a companion and knew you wouldn't refuse. You were hella pissed even so, and now it's your turn to get revenge.
You brought a ladder, placing it just enough to reach the window to his bedroom on the second floor. You eventually climbed up, practically pressing your face against  the window to get a clearer sight of him sleeping peacefully on his bed, his angelic face barely visible as it was partially covered with his blanket.
'Say goodbye to your sweet dreams, lover boy.'
You thought and knocked on the window loud enough for him to hear. Your first tries were futile so you knocked a little louder and more violent. To his dismay, Light woke up with a teeny-bit of panic in his chest. Creasing his eyebrow and squinting his eyes, he looked at the window, seeing a familiar figure. You snickered as he awakened, languidly making his way to the window, an irritated look on his face when he met your eyes.
He opened the window. "[Y/N], what the hell are you doing here? What time is it?"
"About time for you to play with me."
"Huh? Play with you? You're acting strangely childish. I was still sleeping." He clicked his tongue. You chuckled and shook your head. "Aw, sleeping beauty is upset because his dream was left unfinished. Don't worry, his dashing savior is here to make him feel better."
"You mean worse."
"Bad!" You playfully punched his shoulder. "Says the one who still has sleep in his eyes."
"Of course I have. You just woke me up." He scowled, turning his back at you and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, his face a little flushed.
"Heh, don't be shy!" You teased, wobbling a little in your position.
"I'm not shy! Tch, seriously though, you're in a ladder? You only made it harder for yourself when you could've just knocked on the main door. Mom and dad are already awake. They'd let you in."
"Eh? But I was shy- you know- err, how am I supposed to say 'Can I go to Light's room or something?'" You blushed a little. He hummed in response and gave an understanding look. "Come on in."
"I can't fit in here- just meet me outside. I'll wait for ya."
"You got yourself in this so don't turn back now. You can fit but in another position." Before you could reply, he suddenly grabbed your arms and indicated you to push your head inside. You did, whimpering as he pulled you in by grabbing you by the armpits, your faces almost bumping in the process. You gave a squeal as you felt your feet of the ladder, causing you to grip him tighter, almost hugging him-or maybe even inhaling him.
For a better description you basically looked like a flying fish from outside who's getting devoured by a portal.
With all his might, Light pulled you in until your whole body finally got inside. Of course, as he was secretly anticipating to, you both fell on the ground, with you on top of him, your head against his chest.
You immediately stood up and accidentally stepped on his ankle, resulting a loud whimper from him.
"Oof."
"That hurt, you know."
"Sorry. But-" You both heard a loud crash from outside. You were certain that the ladder you used had fallen, and it was so loud you swore some of your neighbors woke up. "...As I was saying... That was a dangerous way to get me inside. I could've fallen."
"Too bad you didn't."
"How rude!" You scoffed. You jauntily walked towards his bed, flopping down as if it's your own. It felt so soft, and it kinda smelled like him too.
You closed your eyes and spread your arms. His expression softened that he couldn't hide a smile which you thankfully didn't see. He cleared his throat and picked up a pillow, throwing it at your face.
"Hey, I'll go get some coffee. Want some?"
"I've already drank one, but sure!"
"No wonder you're already so hyper. Now get out of my bed."
"Fine." You scoffed and got up, walking behind him on the way downstairs, making yourself smaller so they wouldn't notice.
"Light! You're up early." Sachiko greeted.
"Yeah, and it's her fault." He slid right to reveal your cowering figure. You shyly greeted his mother, flushing pink. "Oh hello [Y/N]! I didn't see you come in. Were you in Light's room the whole night? You two had a sleep-over..?"
"No mom. Why would we do that? She just has her own ways of disturbing my sleep. Is dad still here?"
"He's on the living room and just about to leave. I'll make you two breakfast."
"That's not necessary. We just need some coffee, after that we'll.. What are we gonna do again?"
"Play badminton outside."
"It's still a bit dark, don't you think?"
"It's alright. The sun is about to rise. It'll rise quickly." Light replied to his mom, taking two cups and then pouring hot water on them. "Mild coffee [Y/N]?"
"Nope. Black coffee will do."
"Didn't you already-"
"It was creamy white. It was bland for my liking. I need something stronger." You cheekily replied. He sighed and started mixing your coffee and then his own. "If I recall, yesterday I saw you walking home while drinking that black iced coffee from the convenience store. Too much caffeine is unhealthy."
"Yes, Sir Light, noted." You grinned, blowing your drink before taking a sip. "Hey, not funny. I'm genuinely concerned."
"Concern appreciated."
You both entered the living room, greeting his father who eventually got up, off to work. You sat beside Light as you both watched Sachiko kiss Soichiro goodbye. You smiled and mumbled an 'aw,' nudging Light and causing him to slightly spill the coffee he was about to drink.
"What?" He looked at you then to his parents.
"Nothing."
"Ah, I get it. You wanna do that with someone someday, don't you?"
"That's not-"
"It's okay. We all daydream like that, even me. So don't be shy."
"I'm not shy!"
"There goes my line."
"Hmp. So who's the lucky girl, or boy, you daydream about?"
"Why are you suddenly interested? Well what about you?"
"You didn't answer my question."
"Because that doesn't matter-"
"Unfair. You're so secretive."
"Fair enough since you're just as secretive as I am. You don't even tell me the guys you like, and I'm your bestfriend."
"Because that doesn't matter-"
"Why do you keep on stealing my lines?"
"Oi that's not the point! I mean come on, an honor student like you rarely talks about romance so when you do, of course I must know. I am your best friend after all."
Light cringed, chuckling. "There's nothing special about that."
"Pfft. Honor students like you are so busy with studying that you rarely have time for romance."
"What? No. Look at you, you're an honor student yourself."
"Yeah but I mean the pros, like you. The valedictorians, first honors."
"Just because I don't that about romance doesn't mean I don't think about it. But like you said, I rarely think about it."
"Ooh! So who is the lucky one?"
"Why do you want to know?"
You puffed your cheeks. Honestly you had no idea too. Let's just say you were... curious.
"I need to gather information. I need some information to sip. Either way I'll figure it out when I start my investigation."
"No."
"Augh- I'll disown you, Light Yagami."
He put his cup down, looking at you.
"It's not really possible to disown the person you like, you know."
The coffee that you were drinking almost came out of your nostrils.
"Don't have so much hubris on yourself. I can do a ten-paged essay about why you are so dislikeable."
"But you can do an essay about why you like me ten times longer than that."
"I am so going to hit your ugly being!"
His smile only grew wider, fascination twinkling in his eyes.
"Hit me with your sweet love, maybe I won't mind."
Not blushing wasn't really an option. He burst out of laughter as you'd been left speechless. You continuously punched his arm, but he never stopped laughing. And his laughter was indeed infectious.
As you two were having fun, you suddenly felt eyes on your back. You stopped and turned around, seeing Light's mother slyly smiling at the both of you as she slithered away towards the kitchen. You and Light avoided each other's gaze for a moment and blushed, finishing your coffees wordlessly instead.
"Well, I'll go change now. You wait here."
"Let me come with you-"
Light raised an eyebrow. "What a pervert you are, [Y/N]."
"NO! That is not what I meant!"
"Well what did you mean?"
"I mean, let me wait outside your room instead," You leaned in, whispering. "What if your mom comes here and talks to me? I mean.. I'm super shy around her."
He nodded in agreement but then he added, "There's no need to be shy around your future mother though."
'This smooth-talking bastard!' You sighed and rubbed your nape, 50% about to roll your eyes and 50% about to blush again. You knew what he meant by that. He had always been a tease to you. But you decided to play against his will.
"Wow. I didn't know that the Yagami family will adopt me someday."
"Tch, dummy."
"Did you just call me dummy?"
"What? Of course not! You really need to clean your ears. I said dumplings. Your cheeks remind me of them. And now I'm hungry."
"You are awful!" For the nth time in history, you hit his arm. "I'm really gonna disown you in one of these days. Now get your ass moving already so we can conquer the street first."
"Well you were the one constantly blabbering and delaying things here-"
"Beca-"
"Shut up."
"Pft. Fine." He pulled you up, holding your wrist even on the way back to his bedroom.
After about five minutes of changing to a plain white t-shirt and jogging pants, matching yours by the way, you two headed out the neighborhood. You picked up the rackets and shuttlecock you had left on the ground, handing him one.
"We don't really have a net-"
"Oh come on! This is just a friendly match, so there's no need for that."
"What about the scores? We can play somehow else if you'd like."
"That's not necessary. I'm making the rules, and the only rule here is that the opponent gets the score if you fail to prevent the birdie from hitting the ground."
"That's not how you play badminton.."
"I am well aware of that. I used to be a part of the school's badminton team, hello? But I make my own rules here." You grinned slyly. He shook his head. "There's no fun in this. You just woke me up to make me do some pointless things with you."
You were actually a little offended by that. You puffed your cheeks and crossed your arms.
"Is it bad that I just wanna have some quality-time with my friend? And to get my revenge, too."
What you said made his heart leap a little, and he was having a hard time resisting the urge to smile. But in the end, he only snarled against his own will. "Let's get this done quick. I'll make sure to destroy you."
"Oh, you wish."
And the game started. The eerie silence vanished, replaced by your grunts, pants, and intense movements. The sky was eventually transitioning from a dim purple to a pale yellow one as you two played, eyes focused on nothing but the shuttle, sweat dripping down your bodies. Light was just as determined as you were to beat his ass. The scores were being mentally recorded by you two-no cheating of course. It was a pretty fair game. One moment you'd be on the lead, but he'd take it, and you'd take it back, and the cycle continued. He was the worthiest opponent for you in this, and he thought the same about you.
The deal was a maximum of 50 scores. Currently, Light was leading and almost close to winning. Certainly you didn't want to get beaten so you struck the shuttle at a perfect angle with just enough force. It flew fast; you were sure he'd miss it. But his reflex was quick, and he struck it with a force much stronger than yours-but his flawed angle sent the shuttle flying higher than he intended it to, and it unfortunately landed on one of your neighbor's roof.
That neighbor just so happened to be the one you two-no, the whole neighborhood-absolutely detested.
Light rubbed his nape and laughed nervously, seeing your grimace. "I'll give the score to you then. So, you have an extra shuttle?"
"Unfortunately that's my last one." You facepalmed. You used to have lots of shuttlecocks but you just kept on losing them since everytime you play with someone, they'd either get destroyed in the process or fly too high and land on unaccessible places, just like what happened.
He frowned. "Seriously? What about inside your house? I'm sure there are a bunch of them tangled in your mess."
"I told you that was my last one. I haven't been able to buy more of them so yeah. But thanks to this nerdy friend of mine, I'm now left with none."
You were only being sarcastic, but it sounded way too derisive for him that he felt somehow guilty.
"Now what do we do.." You pouted to yourself. He averted his gaze which then met the ladder from earlier, a brilliant idea crossing his mind. But the last thing he wanted to do was to get involved, in any way, with that awful neighbor. A grim expression crossed his face and you saw it as you walked closer to him.
"Hey, I'm not actually mad at you, dummy."
"No- I mean, that's a relief. But I think I can retrieve it with the ladder. They might notice me though."
You snorted, but at least there was still a way to save that shuttle. You then looked at the sky. The sun was now rawly smiling at you. Surely those rogues weren't awake yet.
"You know what? I'll do it myself."
"Don't. You might fall. I'll go do it. It's a gentleman's job after all." He grinned. "Do you think they're awake?"
"I don't think so. The curtains are closed anyway."
"Alright. In case I fall, you stay below."
"Okay, Princess Light. I'll catch you using these strong manly arms of mine. Muah!"
"Ew."
Thankfully they didn't have a second floor so the ladder's height was alright- although still short. Once Light had climbed up, you stayed below, holding the ladder just to stay sure.
"Damn. How did it get that far?" He struggled to reach it with his racket, even with his arms and body stretched already. After a few valiant attempts, he sighed and steadied himself a little. He had an idea of climbing the roof but the risk of falling down in the process was high. And he certainly didn't want to squash you either.
"Well this is hopeless."
"Don't give up now, my princess!" You continuously poked his butt with the handle of your racket, causing him to give you a death glare, wobbling a little in his position.
"Are you asking to get squashed? Stop that or I'll fall on you."
"That was just to power you up, silly! Don't you dare fall on me."
"How about falling for you?"
"Bitch."
"Now now, don't say bad words!"
He chuckled and was about to continue his mission when suddenly, the curtains flew open, revealing a grotesque face of a woman staring at Light's crotch-because that's where the window was apparently placed.
Let's just say that you two never want to recall that twenty-minute rebuking that you swore went on even as you two had already left the neighborhood, heading elsewhere.
"That went well." Light heaved a sigh, poking your racket with his as you two walked side by side. You nodded.
"Mission failed. Geez, that woman just wouldn't stop talking and bombarding us with malarkey. I'm starting to hate her."
"To be honest who doesn't? The whole neighborhood hates her as far as I know."
"Pfft, right. So what do we do now?"
He poked your cheeks, and poked, and poked, before pinching them so hard.
"Stop your fetish for my cheeks! This is abuse!"
He laughed, a genuine kind. He didn't reply but put an arm over your shoulder. You puffed your cheeks and played along.
"Where are we going?"
"I'm a bit hungry. So let's head to the convenience store."
"Unsurprising but I didn't bring any money with me."
"Not a single cent?"
"Noooope."
"I guess it's fine since I'll be the one treating you. You should be thankful." You only smiled.
On the way to the store you noticed a group of older and drunk men resting on the side of the street. Their eyes pierced uncomfortably through you. You lowered your head, still feeling their laviscious stares nonetheless. Light also noticed this, and so he pressed himself to you. You hadn't even passed them and when you did, the inevitable came. They cackled, whistling and calling you by names as they rapped the table for attention.
You ignored them and thankfully, they didn't bother you more. "Those bastards." You heard your companion clicking his tongue in annoyance, looking back at the drunk men. He saw where their gazes were and it strongly disgusted him. There was an unnerving silence as you two arrived at the store.
You both had hotdogs with buns and ice cream which was your specific request and which Light reluctantly complied to. The two of you were sitting side by side, looking through the glass wall and discussing mostly about school projects and then some gossips which all came from you. After running out of food to munch on, Light went back to buy a huge bag of chips you two would be sharing.
The sky was now a saturated mixture of orange and yellows. People strolling outside were quickly multiplying until eventually the sidewalk got packed. Few vehicles came passing by. The day was starting for a lot.
"Those guys often do that to you?"
Snapping back to reality, you cooed, "Pardon me?"
"The drunk men we just came across with, was it the first time they've called you out like that?"
"Nope. They're always out drinking.." You saw him creasing his brows. "I know what you're thinking. Well they can't be help so don't think too much about it."
"Can't be help or not, that's still wrong. Did you see the way they looked at your curves? Those men reek danger for a young woman like you. Who knows what their next moves are?" Clenching his fist, he growled. He was truly worried for you. He knew how the world is full of suspicious people like them, and who knows that they're capable of doing?
"Now now worry-wart, don't be so angry."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner? You should really start walking home with me early. Does it kill you to immediately go home after school even when you have no business there anymore?"
He got you there. "But I don't want to instantly go home."
"Keep thinking like that and you might never be able to go home again."
You pursed your lips at how scary he made that sound. "Listen, [Y/N]. In this world, there are only a few people you can actually trust. And those guys? They're not looking worthy of someone's trust, even one bit. They're also not the only possible threats to you. Anyone you don't know, or even who you're acquainted with, could be. Even if they look so charming. I'm saying this as a warning, and as your friend. The way they looked at you really triggered me. I can't let you continue your routine anymore. Sure, I know you're going to argue that there's lots of bystanders in case something happens, but that's not always the case. And we're not even sure if they'll help you or proceed to give a blind eye to it."
There came a long pause as you absorbed his words. Hearing them made you feel grateful for having a friend like him-someone who speaks up because he cares about you and your safety. You merely nodded with your mouth agape.
"..I-I'll do as you say then. Thank you Light, really. I appreciate your concern. You give the best advices.. I-you're one of the best people out there."
"Sorry to suddenly explode like that." He smiled, and your heart softened. You asked, "And so, by saying that.. You trust me?"
"Needless to ask dummy. I wouldn't have said that if I didn't."
"Thank you. You know I trust you too. You're one of the people who's worth my trust." You flushed pink as you scratched your nape. This kind of conversation will always make you shy.
"You don't have to say thank you to me for trusting you. And what you said.. You're worth trusting, too."
You didn't argue. The following minutes were silent as you two stared at the void while eating potato chips. You didn't have any new topics in mind, and he seemed to be lost in his thoughts-or his daydreams. You didn't want to interrupt whatever was going on in that complex mind of his.
You absently stood up, craving for another black coffee, but you halted and went back when you remembered you didn't have your own money.
"Oh? You want something?"
"I want coffee. Well- if you don't mind. Ehehehe."
"That I am not going to buy for you. That's going to be your third coffee and the day's only starting."
"Hmph. Forgot I have a mom for a friend. But anyway, you good? You seemed to be thinking about something rather serious earlier."
"Yeah, I'm fine." He smiled. Although he was really deep in thought of something-but what was it?
As he'd already said, he trusted you. He had been friends with you since middle school. He developed the ability to read through your mind. With you both growing closer day by day, he had already memorized your hobbies, your predictably unpredictable schedules, your common moods, your personality, and your flaws as a human being. Heck, he could even write an entire biography book about you with all the facts 99% accurate if he wanted to.
To him, you were fascinating, despite the fact that you weren't his ‘ideal’ girl. But as they say, some ideals are bound to get broken when something unexpected and much more interesting comes along the way. Sure, you couldn't read his mind as good as he read yours. You couldn't decipher and foresee what his next moves would be very well, wasn't in the exact same level as he was, but he grew attached to you. He trusted you, which was a rare thing for him to do-and consider the fact that trust is a hard thing to earn. You were an honest person, mildly annoying at some point to him. You're one that's willing to help others too. Rarely gets the initiative, but when you do, you execute amazing plans and actions.
The world is ugly, indeed, but he considered you to be one of those who made it less that way. You were one of the beautiful people in this ugly, mundane world. And that, he admired you for.
He couldn't see you as just a friend anymore. He could basically see through you, like you were his other half-like you were meant to be. You were someone he could connect with, someone he trusts, someone he could love. The label 'bestfriends' bothered him because he felt like it didn't suit you both, because something else did.
A couple.
And going back, what he was thinking about was the act of courting you and becoming your boyfriend. But doubts flooded his mind, such as you two being too young for romance, the possibility of your parents being against it since he knew you once swore that you wouldn't get a boyfriend until the age of 25 (which was actually a half-joke), and him not knowing what to properly do afterwards. Was he ready for this? Having you as his girlfriend wouldn't really change or affect anything such as his studies. It would still be the same.. just with an upgraded relationship and label with you. Besides, he had been wanting to court you for some time already. And if he doesn't do it then he'd only grow more and more restless.
He wanted to be yours. He was sure you also reciprocated his feelings. Getting into a teenage relationship is easy and quick and maybe reckless, they say, but not for someone with a complex and rational thinking like him. There were some things to consider- but you know what Light said?
'God damn it.'
"Love."
"Huh?" You weren't expecting that response at all.
"I mean I was thinking about romance."
"Ooh! Finally, you decided to add some teenage thrill in your life. So, what about romance?" You gave a sly look. "Need help? I can be cupid, except I will be hitting you with my fist."
His smile was little but genuine, looking out. "There's someone I like for some time now. I've been wanting to court her."
"Awe! My boy has finally grown! My son is finally having a love interest! Eh, but why do you look so uncertain? Is there a catch?"
"Not really." He looked at you, his cheek resting on his palm. You raised an eyebrow.
"If that's the case then go for it! Who would dare to refuse the Light Yagami anyway? If you're feeling doubtful, which is highly unlikely for you, don't be. Any girl would swoon over you, even myself." You chuckled. He gave a fake impression of still being doubtful, looking down with his hands now on his thighs. It was a rare sight to see. You placed a hand on his shoulder, tapping it. Just then, he looked at you straight in the eye.
"It's not like you to lose some confidence. Come on, don't be sad. You can do it. Go ahead and court the lucky one. Cupid approves." You gave him a thumbs up.
"..If you say so," he seized your wrist and stood up.
"Can I court you then?"
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sergeantsporks · 3 years
Text
Another Shot at Life
Rating: General Audiences, Gen
TW: Child abuse, emotional manipulation
Ao3
Hunter accidentally makes his way into the human realm and can't get back home. But he's discovering that might not be such a bad thing.
Ch 7/7: Home
Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6
Vee trudged up towards the old abandoned house. She’d started checking it every single day since Hunter had been taken, hoping he’d be there.
He never was.
She pushed open the door, and stopped, dead in her tracks. “L-Luz? Red?!”
Red was shrieking like its little heart was being torn in two, fluttering around where the portal had always appeared.
Vee rushed forward, panic building in her chest. “Hey—are you okay?!”
Luz was turning a key over and over in her hands, poking at it. “I need to go back,” she said dazedly, “I need to rescue him.”
“How long have you been here?!”
“I—I don’t know. A couple of hours? I can’t… get the key to work. But I have to go back, I left Hunter behind, and Belos has him, and—” She struggled to her feet, then immediately fell.
Vee caught her, slinging one of her arms over her shoulder. “You need to go back home. You look awful.”
“But Hunter—”
Vee took the key from her. “I’ll go back for him,” she promised, and a sort of steely calm settled over her. Yes. She would figure this out, she would rescue Hunter.
“Mom will never let you—”
Vee bit her lip. Of all the things to take a leaf out of Hunter’s book for. “We won’t tell her.” She tucked the key into her hoodie pocket, half-carrying, half-dragging Luz back home. “Camila!” she called, “Come quick!”
Camila poked her head out of the kitchen, then shrieked, rushing forward and taking Luz from Vee. “Mi carina! Luz, baby, what happened?!”
“Mama,” Luz half-sobbed, “Mama, I left Hunter—he helped me get away from Belos, he—”
Vee slipped out, wandering back to the old house. Red was sitting on the floor, staring at the spot where the portal had been. Vee gently scooped up the bird. “We’ll get him back. I promise.”
Red chirped sadly, hopping back down out of her hands to sit on the ground again.
Vee tugged the training wand Hunter had given her out of her pocket. It glowed blue, and she sucked the magic out of it. She hadn’t needed it to hide from Belos. But she could use it to save Hunter.
Now there was just one more person she needed.
Xxx
Vee strode into the museum. “Hey!”
Jacob jumped. “What are you doing here?” He glanced behind her. “Your—your friend isn’t here, is he?”
Vee felt tears prick at her eyes, but she blinked them back. “He’s… not here right now. I need your help.”
“My help? Why would you need my help?”
Because you’re stupid, and loud, and prideful and the perfect distraction.
“Because you’re right. Because witches are planning an invasion of your world, and I’m a rebel against them, but I need someone to help me take down their leader, and you’re perfect.”
Jacob stared at her, his mouth hanging slightly open. “You’re… you’re a rebel?”
“Yes. Against the beings that want to conquer your planet.” Vee swung the key back and forth on its string. “I can get you inside the witch emperor’s castle. All you have to do is kill him. Protect your planet.”
Jacob made a grab for the key, and she swung it up, catching it and holding it tightly. “Uh-uh. I control the portal.”
“Why?”
“Because you need someone on this side to keep it open,” Vee lied, “Now, are you going to be a hero and defend your home, or do I have to find someone else?”
Jacob shook his head. “I’m coming! I’m coming.”
“Good. Meet me at the abandoned house you were watching, and I’ll open the portal. The fate of your world rests on your shoulders, Jacob.”
Vee strode purposefully out of the museum, making sure she was out of Jacob’s range of hearing before sighing. “Now I just have to figure out how to open the portal.”
She jogged back to the old house, where Red was still waiting, and held up the key. “Hey. Any chance you know how to use this?”
Red fluttered up and pecked at the eye.
“Hey! Don’t break it!” Vee examined the key. “Now how do I…” she pressed gently on the eye of the key, but nothing happened.
Vee stepped to the place where the door had been.
And was met with resistance.
“Huh?”
Vee clicked the key, and the resistance disappeared. She clicked it again. There was that strange wall again.
Or maybe not a wall. Maybe a door.
Vee put her hands on the solid area, feeling for a knob. “Come on,” she muttered, “You have to be around here somewhere!”
Red fluttered up onto her shoulder, chirping. Its eyes glowed, and suddenly, there it was.
The door.
It looked like the sketches Hunter had left behind, but instead of huge eye on the top, there was a keyhole.
Vee gasped. “Oh! You need a palisman to get in! So no one but a witch could get in from this side! That’s clever!”
She heard clanking, and turned around to see Jacob, in all of his armor. Wow, he really looked ridiculous.
“Where’s the portal?” he demanded.
Vee reached up and inserted the key into the lock, twisting it with a quiet click. A doorframe filled with a golden curtain of light appeared, the key at the top of the doorframe. She gestured to it. “The emperor wears a golden mask with deer horns. You’ll know him when you see him.”
Jacob gulped, then plunged through. Vee briefly considered that she should feel guilty about sending him in to face Belos with absolutely no idea what he was up against.
Eh.
Red tried to dive into the portal after Jacob, but Vee held a hand up, blocking the bird. “I know you want to see Hunter, but I need you to stay here and watch the portal, okay? Make sure no one comes for the key. I’ll bring him back. I promise.”
Red ruffled its feathers unhappily, but perched atop the doorframe.
Vee pulled on the magic she’d absorbed from the wand, shifting to match the look of a coven guard. Then she crept through. She could hear Jacob yelling and clanging his way down the hallway, and the sounds of other coven guards chasing after. Perfect.
Vee slipped unnoticed through the hallways, her nerves spiking. Everything about this place was just one bad memory after another. She spotted a singular guard outside of a door, and sidled up to him.
“Um—” she squeaked, “hello? I, uh. I’m a bit lost, I just transferred here. I’m… I’m supposed to go on guard duty for… the golden guard?”
The guard heaved a sigh. “Finally. I thought I would never go off-duty. It’s just so boring, you know? It’s not like he can escape.”
“Oh. Yes. T-totally.”
“Right. See ya, new guy!”
The guard waved and strode off. Vee shuddered. He seemed so… normal. Like his job wasn’t locking up and hurting innocent teens.
She waited for him to disappear down the hallway, then turned the knob of the door, pushing it open. The room was well lit, surprisingly.
Vee almost wished it weren’t.
Hunter was buried all the way up to the nose in a mountain of some kind of… slime that shifted and moved. His eyes were blank—no pupils, no irises, just eerily glowing white.
“Hunter?” she whispered.
He didn’t respond.
Vee crept forward, poking the slime with one finger.
It glowed blue, and Vee gasped. The whole thing was magic. “Hang on, Hunter, I’ll get you out of here.”
Vee wrinkled her nose and put her hands on the slime. It glowed, and she inhaled, sucking up the magic. She almost immediately gagged. There was something wrong with this magic. It tasted rotten.
But the mountain had gotten just a little bit smaller, so she braced herself, and started eating the magic again, suppressing her gag reflex.
The mountain shrank smaller and smaller, and the slime receded from Hunter’s face. He fell forward, and Vee lunged to catch him, her stomach writhing like she’d just eaten live snakes. “Hunter?”
The eerie glow faded from his eyes, replaced with his usual magenta eyes.
“Hunter!”
He just stared blankly up at her, shivering violently. Vee hefted him in her arms, glancing both ways out into the hallway before starting down the hallway. Maybe it was the huge size of the coven guard she’d shifted into, but he seemed smaller than he ever had back home.
And then there were his eyes. They were so… bleak. Hopeless. It was like he couldn’t even see her.
Vee made her way back to the room with the door, occasionally ducking into other rooms or behind statues to hide Hunter.
She heard a clank, clank, clank behind her, and Jacob came tearing back, screaming. Wow, he could run fast, even in all of that armor.
The meaning of why he would be running like that hit her, and she sprinted after him, bolting through the doors to the room.
Only for several guards to be standing in front of her way out. Jacob was nowhere in sight—they must have let him through the portal. Vee skidded to a stop. “Oh. Hey. Uhhhhhhhh…”
“We have a traitor!”
“That’s no traitor,” Belos’ voice hissed behind her, “That’s a dangerous creature, masquerading as one of our own.”
Vee’s veins turned to ice, and every bad memory from her time locked in the dungeon flashed through her mind at lightning speed.
She didn’t see him move, but suddenly Belos was right in her face. “I’ll be taking Hunter back, now. You don’t know what he needs.”
Xxx
“Mom—I’m okay. Really. It was just a fall off of a wall, and a little bit of light torture, and a blow to the head, and a fall from the sky—I’m fine, really.”
Camila finished applying band-aids to all of Luz’s scratches, her chest tight. “A blow to the head? I’m going to call a doctor.”
“I’m okay, Mom! Really! Hunter gave me these painkiller things, and they really worked, but I think they’ve worn off now, and I know I promised I’d stay here, I know, but we have to go back for him!”
Camila sat down next to her daughter. “Okay.”
Luz stopped, mid-rant. “Wh-what?”
“Okay. I’m going to get Hunter. You stay here and rest. How do I get there?”
“I…” Luz’s eyes teared up. “I don’t know! I couldn’t get the portal open from this side, and Mom, it would be too dangerous for you to go!”
“If it’s too dangerous for me, do you think I’d send my little girl in? I failed Hunter—I let Belos take him. So I’m going to get him back.” If we can get the portal working, if he’s even still alive. Camila shook her head, trying to chase away the niggling doubts in her head. No. She was going to rescue Hunter. No matter how far she had to go.
“He was so miserable, Mom,” Luz whispered, “But he’d just… given up.”
Camila’s heart seemed to tear itself in two. He’d gone back to protect them—and had given up on seeing them again. Camila glanced around the room. “Where’d Vee go?”
Luz clammed up.
“Luz? Do you know where she went?”
“I’m… not supposed to tell you?”
A bolt of panic shot through Camila, and she jumped to her feet. “She opened the portal, didn’t she?!”
“I don’t know—I know she was going to try.”
Camila raced for her purse, throwing a few things in. “I’m going to find her, and maybe Hunter if she’s managed to open the portal. Luz, you stay here. You’re not in any state for a rescue mission, kay? Just trust me to bring him back.”
Luz nodded. “I trust you.”
Camila ran out the door, racing up the path towards the old house.
Please be okay.
Xxx
Vee clutched Hunter tightly, his body quivering so hard she thought she might drop him. A surge of anger rushed through her. “What he needs?! He doesn’t need this!”
Belos shrugged. “He got to be too much of a hassle to keep awake. It was simpler for everyone if he just went to sleep until I needed him. Less painful for him as well—but apparently, you just want him to suffer needlessly. Now, little basilisk, give him to me and I might consider letting you go.”
Vee backed up. “No!”
“HEY!”
Vee jumped as she heard Camila’s voice. She whirled around to see her adoptive mother standing over two unconscious coven guards, holding Luz’s baseball bat. “Camila!”
Camila glared at Belos. “Get. Away. From my. Kids.”
Belos disappeared, reappearing next to Camila and plucking the baseball bat out of her hands. “Oh? How interesting. Are you going to make good on that threat to end me, little human?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I am.” Camila whipped out a can of hairspray and a lighter. “Adios, Belos.” She held the lighter up to the hairspray, and clicked them at the same time. A jet of flame shot out, lighting Belos’ robes on fire. The emperor stumbled back with a shriek, and Camila pushed past him, grabbing Vee’s arm. “Let’s go!”
Vee shot through the portal, Camila not far behind. Vee reached up and twisted the key back out of the portal. The curtain of light closed on Belos’ howl of rage.
Camila whistled. “I cannot believe I just did that!”
“That was—it was scary, but it was amazing, and…” Vee glanced down at Hunter, and the euphoria died away. He was still shaking, still blank-eyed. Red fluttered down to his shoulder, nudging his face and warbling softly. Hunter didn’t respond.
Camila put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s get him home,” she said softly.
Vee trudged back up the path to her own home, struggling to squeeze through the door. She gently sat Hunter on the couch, shifting back to her usual form. Eating that cursed prison might have been disgusting, but it had given her a huge backup magic reserve—she’d be good on magic for a while yet.
“You’re back!” Luz limped down the stairs, freezing when she saw Hunter. “Oh—oh, no. Hunter?”
He didn’t respond, just kept staring ahead with those dull eyes. Camila wrapped a blanket around his shivering shoulders, taking his hand in hers and giving it a squeeze. “Oh, Hunter. What happened to you?”
“He—he looks kind of like Matholomew did when he got out of detention,” Luz said softly, “Vee, what—”
Vee twisted her hands. “I—there was this cursed mud, and it made his eyes go all creepy—maybe I shouldn’t have taken him out? Maybe it was supposed to run its course and I made it worse by taking him out early?”
Camila squeezed her shoulder. “You did what you thought was best,” she said softly, “We have him back, and that’s—that’s what matters. We can fix this. He’ll wake up.”
Vee blinked back tears. “But—what if he doesn’t?”
What if I was too late?
Xxx
“H-hey, I’m gonna… gonna put on some Stephen Universe? Hunter? Remember, you liked that?” Vee rubbed her arms. Rain had been gently pattering on the windowpane, but it was starting to pick up. “You did. We watched it together, and I liked Amethyst, and you couldn’t pick your favorite character, remember?”
Hunter still just stared forward, wrapped up in his blanket like a burrito, and Vee sat next to him with a sigh. Red hadn’t moved from his shoulder since they’d gotten him back two days ago—and Hunter himself hadn’t budged, either—he didn’t eat anything, he didn’t sleep, as far as Vee could tell, he just sat there, staring into space. Red chirped softly, nuzzling Hunter’s face, and then hopped over to Vee, giving her big, worried eyes.
Vee cupped the palisman in her hands. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, “I don’t know how to get him back. I don’t know if he’s just in shock, or if this is something that the curse does, or…”
The rain was picking up, wind howling against the window. Vee slid off the couch, setting Red on the floor and digging out birdseed for the palisman. She sat back down on the floor next to the cardinal. “You’ve got to eat something, right?”
Red warbled sadly, and fluttered back up to Hunter.
“I know. I miss him, too.”
Lightning flashed, followed by a crack of thunder, and Vee yelped, putting her hands over her ears.
She heard a rustle and a little whump, and then something warm settled over her. Hunter’s chin rested on her head, his arms flopped over her shoulders so that they were sharing the blanket. Red chirped happily, and Vee froze, her heart thumping hopefully in her chest.
“Hunter? Camila! Camila, Luz, I think he’s waking up!”
Another peal of thunder crashed, and Hunter hugged her just a little tighter. Camila came thumping down, Luz not far behind. Vee didn’t move, holding her breath, worried that if she moved and disturbed him, he’d go back to the way he’d been, barely daring to hope...
xxx
Camila rushed into the living room, where Hunter was flopped over Vee, wrapping her in his blanket. He was still blank-eyed, but his brow was furrowed, like he was trying to remember something. Camila gently cupped his face in her hands.
“Hunter?” She asked softly, “Mijo?”
He blinked, hard, like he’d just woken up. “C-Camila?” His eyes filled with tears, and he fell back, letting go of Vee. The basilisk tackled him in a hug.
“Hunter!”
Camila wrapped her arms around both of them, squeezing them both tight. “Oh!”
His shoulders started to shake. “It was s-so dark,” he whispered.
Camila squeezed just a little harder. “I’ve got you,” she promised. She let the two of them go, and Vee wriggled under the blanket, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with him as the thunder cracked. Luz sat down next to Camila.
“Hey,” she said softly to Hunter, “Thanks.”
He sat bolt upright, making Vee yelp. “The key! Belos!”
Vee held up the portal key. “Oh, you mean this? Don’t worry, Belos can’t get to us.”
“Vee managed to open the portal,” Luz supplied, “She went in after you!”
“And then Camila came for both of us,” Vee finished, “She lit Belos on fire, it was awesome!”
Hunter looked up at Camila, his lip quivering. “You… you fought for me?”
“Of course I did. I said I would, didn’t I?”
Tears rolled down his face, and Camila wrapped him up in a hug. “Hey. Heeey. You’re okay now.”
“I kept—I kept making him mad—and it—and I—”
Camila rocked him back and forth. “Okay. Ooookay. I’ve got you.”
“I couldn’t get out—it was all dark, and blank, and I just kept sinking, and I couldn’t do anything, and I was drowning, and—” Hunter buried his face in her shoulder.
Camila cradled his head in her hand. She could feel a lump on the back of his head, like he’d hit it, and she hadn’t failed to notice the bruises that hadn’t been there when he’d left. A tide of anger swept over her, and she started regretting leaving the Boiling Isles quite so soon. “You’re safe now, Hunter. I promise. Belos can’t hurt you anymore. And if he even thinks about it… well, I have no qualms lighting him on fire again.”
Hunter slumped against her, and she scooped him up, Red fluttering around the two of them. “Okay. You need some sleep.”
“He can take my bed,” Vee offered, “I’m too wired to go to sleep, anyway.”
Camila gave her a grateful nod and carried Hunter up the stairs. He was already asleep by the time they got to Luz’s room, his breath coming in soft little puffs. She nestled him in the bed, pulling the covers over him.
“Good night, Hunter.”
Xxx
Hunter was woken up by the sun.
The sun.
How had he slept this long?!
He bolted upright, nearly scraping his head on the ceiling. Wait. What?
Everything that had happened, came back to him in a rush, and he flopped backwards, running his hands through his hair. “Oh.”
Lying here, in the Noceda house, he could almost imagine that going back to Belos had been nothing but a bad dream.
But it hadn’t been. He had some very real bruises to prove it.
He shuddered, remembering the cold, acidic feel of Belos’ curse.
But then Red soared right into him, singing brightly, and he could almost forget it had ever happened.
Almost.
Hunter’s hand closed around the pin on his cloak. He ripped it off, tossing the cape to the floor, followed by his armor. He didn’t have to wear it anymore. Ever. Belos had no way to get back to him.
Belos had no way to get back to him.
The enormity of the statement caught up to him, and he ran his hand through his hair again. “He can’t come back for me,” he whispered, “I—I don’t ever have to see him again!”
Red chirped in agreement, and a bewildered laugh escaped Hunter’s mouth.
No more running errands for Belos.
No more worrying about what would happen to Red.
No more fear that an attack would hit, and he’d get hurt.
Just Camila and Vee and Luz.
Hunter shuffled down the stairs into the kitchen. “Good morning!”
“You’re cheerful.” Vee grinned. “Afternoon, actually.”
“Really?”
Luz nodded. “Mom said we should let you sleep. Speaking of my mom, she said something about how she shouldn’t have forced me to promise not to go back to the Isles—she doesn’t want me to keep trying to use that key, because it’s too dangerous to get into the keep, but she hasn’t outright said I can’t go back if I can find another way.” Luz glanced around. “I miiiiight ask to borrow Red at some point. If that’s okay with the two of you. I need to let Eda know I’m okay.”
“Luz, are you plotting something behind my back?” Camila came bumping down the stairs, holding a brightly wrapped parcel. “Oh, hey! You’re up!” She thrust the parcel at him. “That’s for you! I actually got it before… but that doesn’t matter, you’re here, I have it, everything’s great.”
Hunter gingerly took the package. “What… is it?”
“It’s a present,” Vee explained wisely, “It’s a surprise. You open it up.”
“Did it… come like this?”
“Nope, Camila wrapped it.”
Hunter squinted at the package. “But… now I’m just supposed to open it?”
Vee nodded. “Yep.”
“Then what was the point of wrapping it up?”
Luz nudged his shoulder. “It’s fun!” Her face dropped. “Oh my gosh, you’ve never gotten a present before, this is so sad. Okay. Just trust us, it’s fun.”
Hunter stuck his tongue out at her, and pulled gently at the paper, trying to unstick the tape.
“Rip it!” Luz demanded, “Tear it open!”
Hunter glanced back at Camila. “But you worked so hard to—”
She laughed. “You’re supposed to rip it, mijo. Go ahead.”
Hunter tore at the paper. It was… oddly exciting.
The wrapping had contained a set of clothing, jeans that actually looked his size, a t-shirt, and a hoodie that looked just a little too big—therefore, exactly the right size.
Hunter turned the fabric over in his hands, tears bubbling to his eyes. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Vee pushed him towards the stairs. “Go see if it fits!”
Hunter scooted up the stairs, closing the door behind him and switching clothes. The rest of his uniform joined the armor and cloak in a pile, and he tugged the hood of his new sweater up, retracting his hands into the sleeves. It was soft, and comfy, and he felt like he could just melt into a puddle right here.
He shuffled back downstairs, and Camila clapped her hands. “Ooo, good, it fits! Look at you!” She grabbed her keys. “Okay, Hunter, Luz, in the car, both of you are coming with me to the doctor’s office, I want both of you checked out for concussions.”
“Mooooooom,” Luz groaned, “I’m fiiiiiiine!”
Hunter let Camila shoo him into the car, stepping out into the bright sunlight (hadn’t it been raining last night?). Warmth spread all through him, banishing the last of the lingering coldness Belos had left behind.
Camila looked back at him as she turned the car on. “Everything good?”
Hunter took in a deep breath, burying his face in his new hoodie. He was back home—this time to stay. “Everything is perfect.”
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huggybearsunshine · 2 years
Text
The Things We Left Behind
Set during 8x07 A Little Slice of Kevin.
The cold water hit Dean’s face like an answered prayer. Pretending to be actually listening to Sam had become more and more difficult with each passing day as his mind seemed determined to wander back to Purgatory, to Cas, and to what happened just before he left. He reached for one of the towels hanging next to the sink and dragged it across his skin roughly as if he could wipe away the thoughts that were plaguing him.
He froze however, when he rose back up to find those blue eyes fixed on him in the reflection of the mirror before whipping around, half expecting the figure to disappear. What he didn’t expect was the low, familiar voice of the Angel saying that same greeting of ‘Hello, Dean.’
His eyes looked up and down, wide and disbelieving, and still somewhat waiting for the man before him to vanish- prove to be nothing more than his mind playing tricks on him.
Instead, Sam appeared over the Angel’s shoulder, looking just as shocked as Dean.
“Cas?” Dean’s voice came out broken and rough and his hand started to reach out without him even realizing, “You’re real?”
“Yes, Dean,” Cas’ eyes darkened with what looked like regret, and it caused Dean to pull back his hand as if it had been burned.
He regretted it.
“Cas..?” Sam’s confused voice spoke up from behind, and the Angel turned to sweep passed him.
Sam’s gaze fell on Dean, but the elder Winchester couldn’t meet his eye, looking at the ground instead and fighting the tears that threatened to well up.
When he failed to connect with either of the other two, Sam followed into the other room, taking his previous spot at the table there, and Dean soon followed.
He hovered uncertainly, choosing to stay on his feet and just stare at the returned celestial.
“Unbelievable, man,” Sam spoke after an awkward moment of silence, “I-I cannot believe it. You’re actually here.”
“Yeah, I’ve been trying to reach out, but for whatever reason, I wasn’t at full power,” Cas’ eyes shifted toward Dean, “So I couldn’t connect with you.”
“That must have been why you kept seeing him,” Sam also looked to Dean who shifted under the attention, “I mean, you think?”
“Yeah… Yeah, uh, I got to be honest. I-I’m thinking, how the hell did you make it out? I mean, I… I was there. I… I know that place. I know how we had to scratch and claw and kill and bleed to find that portal and make it through it, and it almost finished me… So, I,” Dean let out a huff, uncertainty threatening to turn into anger, “So how exactly are you sitting here with us right now?”
“Dean, everything you just said is completely true… and that’s the strange part. I have no idea,” Cas seemed to have forgotten to even pretend to include Sam in their conversation, his attention now unyieldingly glued to the older of the two brothers, “I remember endlessly running and hiding from Leviathan, and then I was on the side of the road in Illinois, and… that was it.”
“And that- that was it?” the meaning behind Dean’s words seemed to go over Cas’ head and the hunter didn’t know whether to be thankful for or broken by it.
“Yes,” Cas answered definitively.
Broken it is.
The Angel’s eyes darted toward Sam before settling yet again onto Dean.
“I’m… dirty,” he noticed suddenly.
That or he was using it as a way out of the real conversation Dean was trying to have.
“Yeah, well, purgatory will do that to you,” he couldn’t help himself but say in response.
Cas yet again swept by him and it took everything in him not to stop the other man.
With the sudden quiet of the room, Dean’s mind filled with memories of the last time he’d seen Cas, and it wasn’t until his brother’s voice pulled him from his thoughts enough realize he was staring at the bathroom door where Cas had disappeared moments before.
“Huh?” Dean’s eyes dropped, and his guard went up again.
“You alright?” Sam repeated.
Dean brushed his hands on his jeans in a purely self-soothing way as he turned to take the chair Cas had abandoned.
“You do see something severely wrong here, right?” he asked his younger brother, a slightly hysterical look to his eyes that had the other man sitting up straighter in his own seat, “Sammy, I remember every second of leaving that place… I mean, I remember the heat, the stink, the pain, the fear… I have that whole ugly mess right here,” he pointed to his temple for emphasis, “And he says he has no idea how he got out? I…” flashes of the moment that was plaguing him threatened to enter his mind, but he fought them back, “I’m just not buying it.”
He looked over as the water turned on in the bathroom, every sound seeming to be too loud to him all at once.
“So you think he’s lying?” Sam asked with a knitted brow.
“I’m saying something else happened,” Dean spoke the words before the truth of that statement hit him.
Something else definitely happened, and what that meant was practically driving Dean up the wall.
“I saw the shape that he was in,” Dean recovered, “I mean, there was no way he was fighting his ass out alone… No way.”
“Alright, so who…” Sam seemed to consider, “Or what got him out?”
All Dean could think was ‘Not me,’ but he settled on a quick, “Exactly.”
Then the water turned off and the sound of footsteps cut off his line of thinking completely as he looked up in time to see the Angel, fixed up and clad in his suit and coat once again, stepping out of the motel bathroom.
Everything stopped as their eyes met, and Dean’s physical reaction surprised even himself. He covered his lap with his hands to conceal what was happening and panicked eyes cut toward Sam before returning masochistically to the other.
“Better?” Cas asked looking far too pleased with himself, and Dean couldn’t do it anymore.
One confused look from his brother reminded him to control his expression a little too late as a goofy smile had already made home on his face.
“Outside,” was all his voice could produce before he was stomping out and leaning against the wall between the window and door of the room.
He took a deep breath to steady his shaking hands, but as soon as Cas exited the room and the door clicked shut behind him, Dean pinned him against the outside wall.
“Are you seriously gonna tell me you don’t remember anything?” his green eyes bore into Cas’ own.
A hand reached up to grip the wrist that held him in place, “I don’t remember how I left Purgatory, no… But Dean… If you’re asking if I remember…”
He trailed off, scared to say the wrong thing, and looked pleadingly at the hunter before him.
“Yeah, I’m asking that…” he assured the Angel in his grasp.
“Of course I remember…” was his simple reply.
“Do you regret it?” Dean couldn’t help but ask.
“…Do you?” the Angel returned his words.
“I… I don’t…” Dean steeled himself, “No.”
It clearly wasn’t the answer Cas had expected and a huff of air pushed from his chest as his thumb began to rub circles on Dean’s wrist.
“I don’t…” Dean repeated, his nerves clearly getting the best of him.
“Can I..?” Cas reached up toward the hunter’s face, and all Dean could do was nod.
But as soon as Cas’ hand gripped his jaw and tugged forward, Dean gave into the momentum with no hesitation.
————————
@spuffy-destiel
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quicksilverrwrites · 3 years
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𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: peter maximoff x reader 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: it’s your first date with peter maximoff, and the tension between the two of you has been building for weeks. you share a passion like no other, and there's only one place this date can go: the dark back alley of the arcade, a place where no soul dare to go lest they bare the damned title of 'staff'. or quicksilver and scribe, i guess. you pick. 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 4.4k 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: 18+, sexual innuendos, peter and reader are early to mid twenties, british reader (sorry americans <3), make out scene and sexual attraction 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒: the character that features as y/n in my fics is known by the mutant name “scribe” and is charles xavier’s niece.
Your date with Peter comes around the corner faster than you thought it would considering you’re not exactly the typical ‘student’ at Xavier’s School.
You’d thought it would take forever for the week to pass: typically, you spend your time waiting for your friend group to get out of lessons. You’re older, having graduated school when you lived in the United Kingdom, so the only lessons you attend are that of Power Efficiency, Mutant Physiology and Ethics, the latter two being optional and studied merely out of interest. The rest of your schedule consists of a lot of free time. You don’t work—with all the money you have, why would you? Uncle Charles keeps nagging you to do something with your time, something productive, but after what you went through in England with your father…
Making friends here was difficult enough. Dealing with your powers in a new situation—coming to this school—was enough. You’re not exactly an extrovert, either, which is why you’re so surprised that you and Peter click so well.
He’s eccentric and annoying and perfect. Okay, perhaps not perfect in a literal sense, but to you he is. Sure, his leather jacket kind of smells from age and sometimes he talks so fast that you find yourself struggling to keep up, but you find it endearing. And oh, those eyes—you could watch how they light up when he’s super excited about something forever, you think.
He’s the best thing that’s happened to you in a while. You wonder if Charles knew what he was doing when he made Peter your buddy upon your arrival at this institute, but in reality, you know it’s because you’re both the oldest students—almost-students?—at this school. Besides, Charles has seen the two of you work together as a chaotic duo, and you’ve heard the sighs and mutterings of the man when he’s been most exasperated because of the both of you. Why, you think, grinning at your reflection in the mirror, would he ever put himself through that chaos if he could avoid it? The first prank you articulated together was the beginning of many, and you’ve practically been inseparable since you first arrived here.
First it was friendship. Then… yeah, it didn’t take much at all to blossom into something more.
You look good, you think, smoothing down Peter’s Rush tee as it hangs oversized on your body. You look really good. Your style is what would be expected of Charles’ niece even despite the fact that you’ve only ever met him a few times in your life: classy, 10% preppy, academic to a fault. You typically match your clothes to the colour of your powers: blue, but azure in particular. Sometimes pastel blue. You’re particular like that. But tonight you’ve opted for something different. Something a little more… Peter.
Your hair falls naturally past your shoulders, and the cool sleeves of a black leather jacket—your father’s leather jacket, the only leather jacket you own—hang from your shoulders while the jacket itself stops at your thighs. It's too big for you. You’ve paired a black skirt with the shirt, but it’s free flowing and a soft material that practically blends in with Peter’s top. Your boots are chunky platforms, black, and this is the darkest your outfit has been in a while.
It still feels… you, though. It feels right. Maybe because Peter feels right, and you stole this tee from him after you stayed over that night in his basement when it was pouring with rain. You both knew you could’ve opened up a portal to get back to your dorm, but neither of you wanted that.
You both want this, though. You both want each other.
The very acknowledgement of that fact forces you to take a steadying breath in, but the sound of a knock at your door makes your breath stammer. You look at the clock frantically. Is he here already? You both agreed on seven thirty, and it’s only seven. You had a schedule. Arcade, dinner, and whatever was left for after. Maybe a kiss if you work up the courage. Your heart hammers in your chest at the thought. But—
“Ah—hello?” A familiar voice sounds from the door. You breathe a sigh of relief: Kurt. “I came to see if you needed help with anyzi—”
You cross the room to the door and open it before Kurt can finish his sentence.
Kurt grins. As usual it’s a sheepish grin, but there is excitement in his eyes.
“Excited?” Kurt asks. “I vould be if I vere going on a date with ze magnificent Quicksilver.”
You grin at him and roll your eyes, ushering him in the room before you close the door behind you. “Don’t say that in the hallway!” You scold him, not entirely serious. “Anyone could be listening.”
Kurt raises his eyebrows. “Could it be that you are embarrassed?”
Your eyes widen, brows rising too. “No! It’s just—it’s nice now that things between us are private. And… I want to take things slow. I’ve been on dates before, and when you tell people about it it’s always the same thing: when are you going to do this? When are you going to do that? I don’t want to be pressured. And explaining my reasoning to want to take things slow is almost as tiring as actually working myself up into confidence so that I’m not nervous the entire time—”
“You definitely seem nervous.”
You scowl at your friend. “I am not nervous.”
“Your cheeks are red.”
At that, you know your face is starting to flush as red as a tomato. “You are insufferable sometimes.”
Kurt grins. “A few weeks ago, I vould have been hurt to hear you say this.”
You scoff, batting him playfully on the arm. “Are you going to walk me down to the common room or not?”
Kurt’s face takes on an air of confusion. “Ze common room? Why there?”
You shrug softly. “Peter is meeting me there.”
Kurt’s eyes light up with amusement. “Ah,” he responds, and you know by the exaggerated upwards tilt of his head that the next words out of his mouth are going to be sarcastic. “Very discreet, yes. I bet he will bring flowers.”
You scoff once more, parting your lips in playful annoyance as you turn to leave the room, but Kurt appears in front of you before your hand reaches the doorknob. He opens the door, extends his hand to you when his back is pressed against it, and the bow he delivers is nothing but formal. Gentlemanly. He probably learned it in the circus. You give him a teasingly formal nod as you accept his fingers in your own.
The door closes behind you, locks with a wave of your hand, and with a deep breath, the two of you venture down the halls of the manor.
***
You hear the sounds of people cursing at Peter before you actually see Peter.
You and Kurt turn to look at the double doors which lead into the common room at the same time, but Peter comes to a speedy stop in front of the both of you before you can even track his movements… and Peter’s eyes glaze over your appearance, your outfit, as his face pales.
You smirk at the sight of it. You know he likes it. Likes seeing you in his clothes. He looked at you the same way when you first walked out of the bathroom attached to the basement in his tee and grey shorts after that night in the rain. He had slept on the sofa then, had given you his bed, but he’d mentioned to you a couple of days after that his sheets still smelled like a mix of him and you.
You knew then that he couldn’t get the image of you wearing his clothes out of his head.
His outfit isn’t a change from what he usually wears, but he still looks amazing. Hot. The sight of him takes your breath away every time you see him. Silver-and-black jacket, white tee with a band insignia on it, and leather pants with his silver shoes. You can’t forget the goggles on his head, either. But—wait, no, there is something different. A sort of smell.
“What are you wearing?” You ask, the end of your sentence tinged with laughter.
Peter glances down at his outfit. “What?” He asks, confusion—and the slightest bit of worry?—in his gaze. “What's wrong with this?”
“No, silly,” you laugh, “your aftershave. What is it?”
It’s the very definition of seventies musk. It’s musky, leathery, and there’s the faintest smell of whiskey. He’s put way too much on, but your mother always used to complain about how much perfume you put on, too. You’re wearing it now: it’s sweet with the air of something more expensive. Valentino.
When you asked the lady in the store to let you try the ones which smelled sweet like vanilla, this was the first one she showed you. Out of the eight you had the choice of, you were sold on the very first one. You know that the best way to get a guy to fall for you is to smell sweet like candy—it reminds them of their childhood. Or in Peter’s case, you guess it might just remind him of twinkies. You know he loves those.
Peter’s cheeks flush red, and he lowers his head as he laughs. “Oh, man. My mom was right. I really stink, huh?”
You can’t help but laugh: a genuine laugh, teeth in your smile and all. You stand from the sofa you were sitting on with Kurt, and you realise only then that he’s already disappeared. You feel a twinge of guilt for not noticing earlier, but you forgive yourself for that: it is your date night, and Kurt is forever polite.
“You smell great, Peter,” you say, and it’s not entirely a lie. He doesn’t smell bad — it’s better than the leather jacket smell. “And I’m excited for our,” you glance around, whispering, “date.”
Peter’s eyes light up at that. “Right. Date. You mind if I—?”
He gestures to your neck. Whiplash. Right. You shake your head. “Just don’t mess up my hair.”
He blinks at you. “Do you realise how much of a challenge that is?”
Your smile is sickly sweet and riddled with sarcasm. “You’ll figure it out.”
His expression goes slack. He likes it when you do that; when you’re mean to him. You’re a lovely person typically—you reached the lucky end of the trauma spectrum, the opposite of which being the angry side which could’ve made you an arse—but it’s so easy to tease Peter. You like the power in being able to wrap him around your finger. You’ve never had this power over any man before, and after feeling powerless for so long, it's thrilling.
Peter clears his throat, steps towards you, and you swear he’s trying to use the lightest touch possible as he steadies your neck and places a shaky hand on your waist—
And then you’re off.
The world is barely more than a blur. You can’t keep up. Just as you think you’ve gotten used to it, Peter turns a corner—or at least you think that's what happens, because that’s how you would describe the sensation of being almost jolted to the side. And just when you think you can’t take any more, he stops. You’re in the mall, right outside the blue-walled and darkly lit arcade.
Peter’s hands move gently from your body and you lean your hands against your thighs to try to stop the world from spinning. You’ve gotten used to the nauseating feeling this sort of travel gives you now, but you’re not used to the dizziness.
“You okay?” Peter asks, and you can see out of the corner of your eye that he’s assessing you for any potential damage. His hand hovers over your back as if he’s afraid to overstep his bounds, but you would lean into his touch any day.
“Yeah,” you breathe, slowly easing upwards. “I’m good.”
Peter glances over your face in another silent check before he nods. “You ready to get your ass kicked?”
You gape at him. Yeah, that sarcastic comment has knocked the dizziness right out of you. “Oh, you’re on.”
You’re less confident than you seem, but you don’t think Peter picks up on it as he grins and bouncily makes his way into the Arcade. You follow him, shoulder brushing against his as you catch up to his gait, because luckily you both walk fast. He turns to look at you and smiles, softer this time, and you almost get caught up in the softness of his eyes before your heart stammers, your throat closes up, and—
Oh, god. You’re not good with this. The romance. It makes you tense and nervous.
You turn away from him, hands wrapping around the controls of the nearest arcade game. “I call shotgun.”
Peter laughs and comes to a stop next to you. “I know you’re British and that makes you, like, socially awkward, but that only applies to cars.”
You nudge him in the side—hard, but not hard enough to really do damage. He hisses in annoyance, muttering jeez, lady, under his breath. You ask, “Are you really going to deny me my request on our date?”
Peter grins at you, fingers clenching around the neighbouring controls. “Depends. What do I get out of it?”
You smirk at him, your heart fluttering in your chest. “A kiss or two at the end of this, perhaps.”
You watch Peter’s adam’s apple bob. “Per—perhaps?”
You grin. “Depends how you behave.”
You don’t need to read thoughts like your uncle to know that Peter has to be telling himself to breathe. Because it seems like an awful lot of effort for him to successfully inhale and exhale, and he doesn’t say anything before he slams a coin—a quarter? you don’t understand American money—into the machine and the BEGIN GAME screen buzzes to life.
It’s pretty hard for you to catch your breath as you both play in silence, too.
Eventually, conversation picks back up again. A sarcastic comment. The occasional compliment. Peter’s good at these games, but so are you. Arcade stand after arcade stand, his teasing remarks make your heart flutter… as well as something deeper within you, too. You’ve never felt attraction like this before, and truthfully, it’s driving you wild.
“Dad wasn’t around much back home,” you reveal, your eyes glued to the avatar on the screen as it darts around, “so I had a lot of time to kill. The arcade became my home. So yeah, it’s safe to say I can easily kick your arse.”
“Arse,” he teases, mimicking the way you speak. “Trying to let me let you win with a sob story, Xavier? Nah, not going to work.”
You gape at him, taking your eyes off the screen for a mere second, but Peter takes the opportunity to kill your avatar for good. With mock outrage, you quip, “I was not trying to do that!”
He grins at you, his eyes glowing purple and red in the light of your dying avatar. “Ah,” he whispers, “victory tastes sweet.”
You press your lips together in defeat, and then you sigh as you take your hand in his. “Come on. I want a slushie.”
Peter lets you drag him away, and the two of you settle down at the food stand in the arcade as the lights around you buzz blue and purple.
You like the lighting in here, you think, as you step up to the worker. “Two slushies, please,” you tell him, smiling politely. “One red and blue for me, and Peter—?”
“All of them,” he says, nodding towards the flavours.
You part your lips in surprise. All of them? There are about eight flavours up on that display, and you know it’s all going to melt into a mess of slush that barely tastes like anything other than sugar. But the worker has obviously been asked for worse, because he just shrugs and gets to work. One pump, two pumps, three pumps—he goes through them all with the finesse of someone who has worked at a place like this for far too long, and when he hands you your simple two-flavoured slushie in comparison to Peter's complex one, you feel like a bit of a slushie fraud.
You go to reach into your pocket to grab your card, but Peter pays in cash before you can get it out. The cashier gives him a dollar and seventy two cents change, and your date nods in thanks to the cashier before he turns to you with a grin that’s more genuine than cheeky. “My treat.”
You lower your gaze to hide how wide your smile is as you laugh. “Thanks, Peter.”
He nods, and the two of you stand there awkwardly for a second, you sucking innocently on your straw as he stares at you, before he looks at the table and chairs nearby. He clears his throat. “Wanna sit?”
You shrug politely and he pulls out a chair for you. Gentleman. Did his mother give him a run-down of what to do and what not to do before he came here? Probably. You smile at him, your insides warming as you sit down in your seat. This slushie is good, you think, slurping it up through the straw as Peter takes a seat opposite you.
He takes a sip of his drink before he asks, “So the thing about your dad. I know it’s a sore subject considering…” He raises his brows, and you know he means the reason you came here. “But do you mind if I—?”
“No,” you say, shaking your head. You have too much slushie in your mouth, though, so your words are slurred and you smile bashfully as you cover your lips. Sorry, your look says, but he just grins at you.
Peter forces himself to look away, to turn serious again, as he scratches at a loose bit of film on the table. “Why wasn’t he around? Like, the deadbeat dad kind of thing, or…?”
You shake your head. This time, when you speak, you’ve cleared the slushie from your mouth. Your voice is a bit hoarse from the cold as you respond, “No. He worked a lot. He was either in Germany or the Middle East or—somewhere. Mom has a temper, so I found the arcade was a better place to be than home. It’s easy to lose yourself in the games here.”
Peter nods slowly, his head tilting up in a way that indicates thoughtfulness. It’s nice that he’s memorising your words. Nice that he actually cares. That means more to you than anything. “Well, that makes two of us. Absent fathers, I mean, and moms…?”
You grin at him. He's talked about his father before, but always in vague detail. You respond, “Almost-there moms. Just emotionally absent, at least for me. Maybe stunted is the right word.”
Peter lets out a sound between a noise like phew and a laugh. “Harsh, Y/N. No sugarcoating it there.”
You shrug softly, lowering your gaze to your drink. “Sometimes I wonder if…”
Your sentence trails off, and out of the corner of your eye, you see Peter tilt his head. But he doesn’t say anything. Just lets you take your time as he continues picking at the table.
You force a breath. “Sometimes I wonder if what happened… happened for the best. Between the three of us, nobody was happy. But then I think of what I did to him and it’s just—”
“Hey,” Peter says, and across the table, his hand reaches out to splay across yours. “For people like us—mutants,” he says, his tone lowering at the end of his sentence, “stuff like this is inevitable. But, uh… Charles has kinda helped me see that it’s the first step towards controlling this sort of thing. The first step to doing something better. And hell, Y/N, you’re already, like, rockin’. So you only have further to go.”
Your brows furrow in surprise at his words, your eyes turning doe-like at his reassurances. “You don’t think I’ve already hit rock bottom?”
Peter laughs. “You’ve got too much money for that. I've seen you blow two-fifty on curtains. Still don't know how I watched you do it."
You let out a laugh, and that’s when you properly acknowledge the skin to skin contact. His touch makes your body feel like it’s on fire. Your shoulders roll back as your thumb brushes against his knuckle, and Peter’s eyes dart down to your fingers before he looks right back up at you. He looks nervous, like his heart is thudding just as hard as yours.
“I like this,” you whisper. “Thank you.”
Peter lets out a huff of laughter, though from the sound of it, it’s an attempt to hide his nerves. “It’s only a slushie, Xavier."
Your laughter mimics his own, and you press your lips together as your eyes dart between his eyes and lips. You want to kiss him. You’ve never wanted to kiss somebody more. It’s like you could push him up against the wall and kiss him here and now without caring what anybody thinks, and you’ve never had that feeling before.
Peter’s throat bobs again. He’s staring at you in the same way, and you can feel the tension between the two of you as your chest tightens. But you can’t kiss here—not with the table between you, not when one of you will probably spill a slush puppy or both of them, or—
“Another game?” Peter says, his voice hoarse.
You blink the lust out of your eyes. Another game. Yeah—another game, and your slush puppy will melt between and it’ll be easier to drink, and then—
And then you can both get out of here.
You’ve never wanted to leave an arcade more.
The tension cools down a little as you play more games, but it rises as soon as you make a comment about his frantic button mashing movements; something like—
“I hope that’s not the technique you use in bed,” you tease.
Peter chokes, and needless to say, you win that game.
You keep playing until your slushies are finished. Peter finishes his before you, but he lets you have a sip before in order to try it. It’s just as you expected—a sugary mess with the strongest flavour being lime. It’s disgusting, but Peter merely grins at the sight of your face as you grimace at its sour taste.
You’re well aware of the way his gaze rakes up and down your body as you try to finish the rest of your slushie as fast as you can. You’re lingering now; the two of you want to get out of here, dinner be damned. His gaze hugs the curve of your body and lingers on your bare legs, your skin smooth and shaven, the boots you wear only elongating them—
“You look great, by the way,” Peter comments.
You look up at him while still sipping from that straw, and apparently the motion and the eye contact is too much for him. He looks away and mutters something under his breath, something you can’t hear over the beeping of the games and the music playing over the sound effects.
You slam the slushie cup down on the table next to you both with an air of achievement. “What?” You say almost teasingly. You know you’re driving him insane, and even though you’re hardly doing anything, this has been building up for weeks.
“Nothing,” Peter says.
Before you know it, his hand is at your neck and you’re in a different spot entirely.
It’s a short journey this time so you’re not dizzy. You’re still in the arcade, surrounded by the same blue walls and purple-hued lighting. But this area is darker and tucked away, and there’s a door nearby. Probably a staff entrance. This is somewhere you shouldn’t be, but for once, you’re not afraid of breaking the rules.
“The cups,” you comment teasingly. “We should clean them up.”
Peter lets out a breath. “Y/N,” he says, “I—"
“Kiss me,” you blurt out. “Please.”
Peter wastes no time in fulfilling your request.
He’s on you in a heartbeat, lips pressed against yours as his fingers rest at your neck. Innocent, sweet, and yet filled with a sort of passion that sets your lungs and chest ablaze. You can’t help the noise of content that slips from your lips as he backs you up against the wall, and you can’t help but think that this is so unlike him, but—no. No, this is what he’s been keeping buried down for weeks. It's the same for you, too. This is what he’s wanted to do to you for a while now.
This is only half of what he’s wanted to do to you for a while now.
You gasp as his tongue slips out against yours, and your own darts out in response to the sensation. You press your body flush into his, the both of you heated and warm from the feel of one another, and your jacket is quickly getting too hot to keep on any longer. It’s cool in here with the air conditioning, but even so the two of you are ablaze and alive and—
“Y/N” Peter whispers against your lips, his nose brushing against yours as he pants for breath, “d’you think we could leave dinner for tonight?”
Your body talks for you before your mind can register what he says. "Yes," you breathe, and then you pull him back to you.
His lips are on yours and there is nothing either of you need to say as his fingers roam down your shoulders, your arms, moving to your waist. He avoids your breasts and you’re grateful for that; despite how much your body might burn for him, you know that would make you feel like an object, like he only wants you for sex—like your mother has told you countless times before.
But as you and Peter kiss in the belly of that arcade, you think you might have found the one. The first person you can finally trust.
It might be the first date and you might want to take things slow, but this feels too good to pass up. Too good to lose. And because of that, you don't plan on letting him go—
Not unless he wants you gone first.
Not until a member of staff kicks you guys out, at least.
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eveningstar1516 · 3 years
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Rise Of The Demon King ~ Chapter 1
Rise of the Demon King
Fic: Multi Chapter Paring: MC x Everyone (Mostly Lucifer) Type: Angst with a Happy Ending Total Word Count: 26,758 TW: Major Character Death, Reader gets stabbed with a sword through their chest so..., Abusive Parents, Past Child Abuse, Demon Hunters, Loss of Control Summary: You’ve done it. You’ve finally done it. You’ve managed to anger the demon king. Now you hold your head high as he hands down your sentence. AO3 Portal: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27065362
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So I've been meaning to post this on here and I finally am. I'll be posting a chapter a day but the completed version is up on my Ao3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHAPTER 1 - Awakening Day (1,526 words)
It’s been a few years since the exchange program ended. It was such a great success that Lord Diavolo had passed a law allowing inter-realm travel between the Devildom and the Human realm so long as you are approved with the proper paperwork of course. You were one of the few with a special pass to come and go as you pleased while skipping all the procedures. The day you visited was a special day. It had been the day the Demon King “Abandon” would awake from his slumber and return to the throne until he deemed Diavolo fit to rule as a permanent king instead of an heir. After much debate, you convinced your 7 demons to allow you to attend the ceremony. As they were high ranking Lords, they had to be present by Diavolo’s side while you stayed within the crowd with Solomon.
Awakening Day
“So what’s the Demon king like?” you asked the group on your way to the palace.
“Well, we’ve never actually met him. We came to the Devildom while he was still asleep” Satan answered.
“I heard that his aura is so powerful that even if you didn’t know him, which is impossible, that you would both fear and respect him on instinct. It’s rumoured that he is the only being in existence that could possibly challenge the Celestial realm and stand a better chance than we did!” Beel inquired.
“Well if Diavolo got any of his looks from him then he might be one of the most handsome beings in the three realms, after me of course!” Asmo added.
“Remember all of you, King Abandon is not like Lord Diavolo. Lord Diavolo might take enjoyment from your little escapades and shenanigans but His Highness will not tolerate any of that. You are all high ranking Lords, the “Rulers of Hell” I expect you all to behave yourselves and at least try to act the part. That means no inappropriate jokes, going off to steal something, sleeping at inopportune times, constantly snacking, or having your nose buried in a book or console. Our behaviour will reflect on Lord Diavolo and I will not have any of you tarnish it.”
“Oi! We can behave if we want to! Besides this is the King! We’d have to be absolute morons to try and do anything to him!”
“Well Mammon, we’ll just have to keep an eye on you, our moron of a brother,” Asmo said while ruffling Mammon's hair.
“HEY QUIT IT!”
“All of you enough! We will be arriving soon. Remember best behaviour-”
“Alright, Lucifer, you can relax. We’re not crazy enough to invoke the King’s wrath.” Satan said in an attempt to soothe over the eldest concerns.
“Y/N, are you absolutely sure you will be alright with Solomon?”
“Yes, Lucifer I’m sure. I’ll stay right next to him the entire time. I promise.”
With that, we arrived to see Solomon and a few other high-ranking Demons waiting outside the palace courtyard to be allowed in. Upon seeing us, Solomon walked over, extending greetings to each of the brothers before turning to me. Before he could do anything I gave him a big hug.
“How’s my favourite wizard?”
“Hehehe, nice to see you too Y/N. Are you ready to see the King?”
“Yes! I’m so excited. Reading about him just isn’t enough. Have you ever met him?”
“No of course not! I’m not that old!” Solomon replied between laughing breaths.
“We will be heading inside to meet with Lord Diavolo before the ceremony. I trust that you will keep Y/N safe right, Solomon?”
“Of course Lucifer. I love them as much as you guys do. Besides if I don’t you’d all just kill me and I for one enjoy my life.”
With that, the brothers bid me goodbye turning to head into the palace leaving me and Solomon waiting with the other demons for the ceremony to take place.
A little while later, the courtyard is packed with demons and sorcerers of all ranks, waiting to welcome their king back.
“Nervous?”
“A little but who wouldn’t be? I just hope that things won’t change so drastically now that the king is ruling instead of Diavolo.”
“I won’t be so sure, from what I’ve heard, he rules with an iron fist and is much harsher than Diavolo when it comes to his court. As Diavolo’s right hand, Lucifer will be very busy in the upcoming days. I imagine he will be even more stressed making sure his brothers stay in line.”
“Wow, you didn’t need to dump everything on me all at once…”
“It’ll be alright, you’ve handled worse, this’ll be easy in comparison. As long as you don’t anger him or anything like that.”
“Trust me, I don’t plan on doing any of that. Although things never go as planned for me huh?”
“No, they usually don’t do they?” he answered with a chuckle.
Before I could answer, we heard what sounded like fanfare and the crowd quickly quieted down. At the front of the courtyard stood Lord Diavolo in his demonic form with Lucifer at his right and Barbatos at his left also in demon form. The rest of the brothers and a few other high ranking elders and demons stood behind in their demonic glory in accordance with their rank. Diavolo then addressed the crowd.
“Denizens of Devildom! Thank you for coming out today to welcome my father His Highness King Abandon back to the Devildom. I will not keep you here so without further wait, HIS HIGHNESS KING ABANDON OF THE DEVILDOM!” As soon as Diavolo introduced his father, a tall dark man resembling Diavolo stepped up from the shadows in his full demonic glory. His demon form surprisingly simple and modest but still elegant enough to be fit for royalty. His horns unlike Diavolo’s curve upwards from the side of his head and onto the top forming a crown-like shape with gold swirling around it and admonishing the tip. His eyes like golden lava glowing in the lighting and you were convinced that he could set anyone ablaze with just his eyes and little thought. His upper body much like Diavolo’s is full of tattoos symbolizing his royal status. He brandished 4 large black leather wings with golden tips and blood-red accents. While he didn’t have a multitude of accessories like his son, the few he wore complimented his attire greatly making him look even bigger and more regal. He presented an aura that screamed for you to have the utmost respect when in his presence. As if on instinct, everyone present immediately bowed down taking a knee with their hands on their hearts along with those on stage. The kings’ eyes swept over the crowd taking in the different ranks all present for today when you felt a gaze settle on you, the only non magical born human here. I didn’t dare to raise my gaze or move, keeping my head down and as still as possible until I felt his gaze avert from my figure. Sensing my tension, Solomon risked a glance towards me without moving his head and I returned it with a slight smile to try and reassure him that I'm alright.
“RISE!”
At once, all that were present stood at once. Those on stage adopting a soldier-like pose with their hands behind their back, expressions betraying nothing. If this were any other situation, I would've sent them a smile and thumbs up. I wasn't used to seeing them like this and was impressed by their behaviour; though now was not the time for that.
The king then started addressing the crowd. Taking the opportunity, I studied him a little closer; never meeting his eyes and keeping my gaze as respectful as possible. During his speech, he raked his eyes across the crowd and would rest his gaze on mine more than once. Each time he did, I suppressed a shudder as his gaze looked like he was picking me apart and looking right through me. Solomon sensed my discomfort and squeezed my hand to assure me that he’s got my back should something happen. After he finished, everyone bowed their heads with their hands over their hearts as he left the stage along with everyone on it by ranking order. Soon after he left, everyone buzzed back to life talking among themselves about their king and leaving to get ready for the ball happening that night in honour of the king. As Solomon and I were leaving, Barbatos appeared by our side.
“Hello Y/N, Solomon”
“Hello Barb, is everything alright?”
“Yes, all is well. The king requests your presence is all. I’ve been sent to get you.”
“Oh,” I felt a pit form in my stomach. I’ve never interacted with royalty other than Diavolo and I didn’t know how to act when it came to the king.
“Alright. Sorry, Solomon, I’ll see you tonight right?”
“Of course. See you tonight.”
With that, he said his goodbyes to both Barbatos and I, then left. I took a deep breath and followed Barb into the palace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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violetarks · 3 years
Note
Hello!! I saw you were asking for fictif requests and was wondering if you haven't already, may I have some general fluffy headcanons for Felix? I hope you have a wonderful day💕
General Fluff Headcanons
Game: Fictif
Character: Felix Iskander Escellun
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Most definitely craves physical contact
But its that kind of thing where he thinks the more he desires it and stares at you, the more of a chance the universe will tell you to walk over and hug him
It takes you a while until you turn your head, bc you feel like someone is burning holes into your head :))
But all you see is felix flipping the page of his book
Felix: "is something wrong?"
You: "do you... need something?"
Felix: "pardon? no, i dont need anything."
But you know better
He's blushing, embarrassed that you caught him or nearly did
And you can see it as he adjusts his glasses, clearing his throat
Anyway, you do hold his hand, hug and kiss him if he feels comfortable
You hold his hand through portals and in market, bc he doesnt want to be separated from you
Kissing him in public is fORBiddEN bc he'll get all flustered and not be able to function right, resulting in glaring your way and pouting
Hugging him is okay, as long as you dont see his face, so youre usually hugging from behind or digging your face into his shoulder
Speaking if which, it takes a while for him to get used to it all
The first time you grabbed his hand out of the blue, he jolted and squeezed your hand really hard, making you pull away
He apologised over and over again as anisa looked over your hand to check for any injuries (none)
Anisa only did that bc of how much felix was overreacting
He felt so bad that he avoided you for some time
After that, you walked up to him and held his hand again, just casually and this time he didnt freak out, just staring at you
Love :)))
Calls you darling or dear, bc he's old timey like that
But that only happens every once in a while
He'll be distracted or so relaxed that he doesn't notice, but everyone else does
First time, went like
Felix: "love, are you finished with my spellbook?"
You: "i... uh..."
Anisa: "what did you say, felix?"
Felix: "hm? I asked about the spellbook y/n borrowed from me."
Sage: "oh my goodness, you're so bold, felix. i supposed youre different behind closed doors, huh?"
He's so confused??
And you just hand him the book and dont talk about it until after dinner
He's blushing wildly before announcing his return to bed and hiding under the covers
His sarcasm is limited to sage and anisa, and only sometimes you
Bc he usually uses his sarcasm to show how annoyed he was
But with you, its more or a joking matter
Sage gets sad bc you get some privileges over him :((
You two do get up to some mischief tho
Like you both go ahead and make felix blush owo
But sage once convinced you to steal felix's giant coat, and you two ran around the building just playing around
Anisa and felix found you two on top of on of the highest balconies, trying to see if sage's spell for making objects levitate would work on just felix's jacket
Felix: "what do you think you two are doing???"
You, standing on top of the railing as Sage is about to push you off with only Felix's coat above your head like a blanket: "nothing"
Felix then cast a spell where sage becomes invisible to you and you cohldnt hear him at all
Anisa told felix to rake the spell away since sage was weeping in the corner
Sleepy felix :(((
He's at his desk and doing stuff when he falls asleep
You either drag him to bed or pull up a chair to sleep next to him
Although he is a night owl, he goes three days without sleeping and passes out for nine hours
Felix likes to sit next to you at dinner
Sometimes you use your magic to prank or tease felix
But it really never works since he's taught you all you know
He'll be looking for his spellbook and then sigh,, looking your way and just raising a brow
Felix: "drop it this instant, my darling."
You: "fiiiiiine..."
The book drops from the ceiling, right into his palm
Another thing
Felix feels the need to return the gestures
So he will kiss you on your forehead when you get giddy for completing your spell just right
And then look away hastily
Or he'll grab your hand and pull you away when youre about to bump into something
And he just wont let go
Sleeps next to you and once he knows youre asleep for sure, he kisses your palm or kisses your cheek
There are times when he doesnt know what to do
Like when youre upset
Maybe you felt extra sad this morning, or you were feeling homesick, or just not that great at all
Felix does not know how to deal with other people's emotions
The best you'll get is
Felix: "are you feeling well, my dear?"
You: "oh, yeah. i'm fine, felix."
Felix: "alright."
And he's screaming inside bc he cant ask you again now, he's embarrassed to
He knows for sure that something is dead wrong when you go to bed
Maybe your grip on him is too loose, or youre not holding him at all
And he's just thinking about what he can do
Sometimes you start crying and felix cant take it anymore
He turns around and digs his face into your shoulder, arms around your torso and pulling you close
He's holding you so tight that he thinks you'll break if he lets go
You slowly hug him back, crying into his hair
Felix: "... i dont know of what has happened, but you are free to tell me whatever it is that is bothering you, my darling. i... i can help, in some way..."
You: "thanks, felix. i appreciate it."
N e way :))
The most common thing to happen between you two is probably for felix to brush against you a lot
He's trying not to be suspicious so you dont see it, but its when he doesnt watch where he's going that he messed up
Felix, hitting his hip on the corner of the table in an attempt to step closer to you: "my lord, oh my goodness..."
You: "felix, you can just ask me to stand next to you."
Felix: "... i dont know what youre talking about."
Out of everyone in the group, he probably trusts anisa to take care of you the best when he's away
Sage and you almost always get into trouble and he can not handle the energy you two bring out to open
Anisa keeps you contained and helps felix feel at ease bc she can definitely beat a bitch or two
Felix likes having your head on his lap when he's reading
Its one of the only ways you can be close together like this once someone is busy
He's running fingers through your hair and up and down your arm, other hand holding his book as he reads through it
Felix: "are you already asleep, my darling?"
When you don't respond
Felix: "I love you..."
...
You: "I love you too, Felix"
Felix: "i knew it"
You play with his glasses sometimes
He'll be looking for another book or something and you steal his glasses from his desk and just play with them
Or if they're around his neck and you're sitting in front of him
You'll tug him from the chain of his glasses to give him a quick kiss
He burns red and then pulls his glasses on to continue reading
Wrapping your arms around his torso makes him putty in your hands
He immediately leans into you
Kiss him when he's annoyed
Just a quick smooch on his cheek
He' calm down and just dig his head into his hands
You're so warm and so kind to him
He feels like he doesnt deserve it but you assure him that he does, he deserves the world :))
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eddies-weirdo · 3 years
Text
Not Your Loki (pt4)
Pairing: Loki x female reader
Summary: After what feels like a million years of jumping through timelines, you finally think you found the one with your Loki. Unfortunately the Loki you find isn't yours and has been heartbroken and defeated by another. Do you still help him?
Warning: cursing
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“Well if we go here and jump from this point here we’ll -” you flip through pages of the planets you’ve visited to a darker planet on the outskirts of the solar system “- it’ll bring us here, but if we skip this point -” you say pointing at another map of a planet ran by vampires “- we’ll just end up back on the Void.” You lean back in your chair and sigh “Finding the jumping off point is always the hardest, but once we get going we’ll be able to make our way through the timeline without to many issues.” You smile at Loki trying to instill some confidence in his decision to join you. He looks at you skeptically “You don’t know what you’re doing do you?” You narrow your eyes at him “Just because I don’t use the big fancy words that Tony does, doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m talking about.” “That’s precisely what that means though - “ he starts. Oh shit, footsteps. You grab his arm and put up a finger to signal to him that he needs to be quiet. You both hear the footsteps round the corner and a voice say “I could have swore I heard voices when I came by earlier but I don’t see any names on the schedule for this room”. The door opens and you see two guards looking around at the room. Loki starts to speak but you shake your head for once in your life please don’t talk. He looks at you, your eyes locked on the guards, and notices the flicker of green in your eyes. “There’s no one in here G-42, you must be hearing things.” “I swear I heard a -”, “Yeah yeah yeah, you just need a break from the last mission that’s all” and the door closes again. You let out the breath you’ve been holding in. “How did you do that?” You think about how to answer. “I didn’t make us invisible if that’s what you’re wondering, I just made a barrier that blocked us from their sight. That’s the best way I can explain it anyway.” You start to gather your notes and maps, “I think we better get to my safe house, we’ll have less visitors there.” “There’s other places you can go outside of the TVA?” Loki looks at you puzzled. “Oh no, it’s a pocket dimension I found. Is there anything you need to get before we leave?” He pauses, and thinks about Mobius for a moment “Can I say goodbye to Mobius? I know he doesn’t remember me I just ... need to say bye.” You look into his eyes and see that he’s being genuine “Are you sure you want to do this? If it helps you should know that he’s not technically ‘your Mobius’ he’s another variant”. He looks down at the table, thinking for a moment. “I promise I’m not trying to deter you, I’m just trying to be realistic with you. If you truly want to do this I’m sure he’s in his office down the hall.” He nods “I’ll be quick”. 
The two of you try to act as casual as possible as you walk down the hall, avoiding eye contact with anyone you pass. Being here over a thousand times you know exactly where Mobius is at this time of day. You stop a few feet from the open doorway and whisper “He doesn’t know you but I can’t say whether or not he’ll recognize me, so I’ll just wait here and keep watch”. Loki nods, stands up straight, and tries to brush is hands through his hair a bit. You shake your head at him, smiling. “Oh shut up” he whispers at you and hurries off. You see him materialize a stack of folders, and go into the office. 
*Knock, knock* Mobius looks up from his afternoon snack to see a tall, dark headed man in the doorway. “Oh hey there, what can I do for ya?” he asks happily. Loki quickly says “Sorry to bother you, I just got lost. I thought this was the way to the cafeteria” “Ha nope sorry, it’s down the hall, take a right, another right, then a left and you can’t miss the sign.” Mobius says smiling still. “Um thank you ... bye then” Loki stammers and walks back out. 
As Loki walks into the office, you start looking around for any other offices for a spare tempad. I’ll need one for Loki, and mine is almost dead anyway. You look across the hall into an open office. You poke your head in the office and see a box of tempads. JACKPOT. You take four for good measure but then you see the nameplate on the desk. Renslayer. Well fuck me I guess. You turn around and are eye to eye with the judge. She glares at you. You smile back “Hello Ramona”. “Who are you and why are you in my office?” she says still glaring. “Just picking up some extra tempads for my next mission” you says as you start backing out of the doorway. “Wait -” you hear her say and you close the door. You snap your fingers and lock the door. Ohshitohshitohsitohshit you think as you walk quickly down the hall back just as Loki is coming out of Mobius’s office. “I fucked up we need to go” you say grinning in panic. “I was gone for three minutes -” Loki says as you’re quickly putting in the coordinates of your safe house. The familiar orange portal opens and you pull him through before he can finish. 
You both land in a open field surrounded by tall trees and other various fauna. You look around huh I’m pretty close this time, I guess I am getting better at this. Loki sits up and says “Why did we fall and not just walk out like all the other portals I’ve been though?” You laugh “Um ... would you believe me if I said I didn’t think we’d fall out?” He starts to say something else but you interrupt by pointing over his shoulder at your cabin across the field. “Welcome to my home!” 
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He turns to see a small cabin made out of dark wood, with bright purple shutters (“I like to be different” you explain), a large herb garden that has grown out of hand (”I’ve been busy, geez.”), and a porch with a porch swing overlooking the rest of the field. You hold out your hand to help him up and he takes it. As his hand grasps yours you feel a spark of the seidr well that’s new but don’t say anything.  As the two of you make your way to the cabin, Loki asks "Do you even having running water here?" You turn to look at him and wave your hands at him creating green sparks between your fingers. "Anything is possible with magic my darling".
You unlock your door and snap your fingers to light the fireplace and turn on a lamp. Loki looks around at the cozy room. Your patchwork couch of all colors and patterns sits before the small fireplace catches his eye, the far side of the room has a large painting of the field outside that you painted during the time you first found this place, the coffee table has an open book of poetry with a pressed flower from your garden in it, and he smiles at the large green bookshelf you'd made for your ever growing book collection. "As far as I'm concerned, my home is your home. The guest room is down the hall to the right and bathroom is the room across from it. I don't know if you have back problems like my Loki, but there's large bath in there that you're welcome to use." You wave your hand and a small jar of purple bath salts appear. "Here, put this in the bath water as the tub is filling up. It'll help the pain." He looks at you, unsure how to respond to the kindness "Um, thank you". "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me" you say as you walk away. Loki makes his way to the bathroom and notices your gallery wall of pictures and weapons you've collected. In the first picture he sees you with Tony and Bruce in the lab on your first day working with them, the next picture shows you and Bucky arm wrestling with the team gathered around cheering you on, the next picture shows you and Nat dressed up for one of Tony's many parties, "So y/n does know how to dress" he says to himself. He continues looking over the pictures. He sees one with you and Thor, both of you are smiling but the grief on your faces is clear that this was taken some time after Loki's death. "He did mourn you, you know. He loves you in his own way." he hears you say from the kitchen. "Can you stop doing that? It's like you know what I'm thinking" he says. He hears you laugh "Can't, I'm your wife."
The next set of pictures showed you holding Morgan at her second birthday as she hugs you tight, you with Clint as he shows you how to use a bow in the training area, and one big group picture of the whole team. You stand in the front with Clint, Nat, and Tony while the rest of the team stands behind the four of you, all smiles. The last picture he sees is one that someone had taken of Thor and the rest of the Asgardians in new Asgard, but in the far back he can see you on the hill next to marker.
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That's all for part 4! This was going to be a bit longer but it's almost 1 here so I need to get to bed so I can be a functional adult tomorrow.
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lailyn · 3 years
Text
Supermarket Sweep
“Now remember, guys. We are here to get a few items, and these items only,” Stephen warned. 
“Come on, Stephen. Live a little.” Tony slung an arm around his husband’s shoulders. “It’s been a while since we’ve gone grocery shopping together. You never want to take any of us with you when you go.”
“Yes, because when I go to the shops to get bread, bread is what I get. Not a gazillion boxes of mince pies and Christmas pudding.”
“They were on discount!” Tony argued.
Stephen rolled his eyes. “It’s already Easter, of course they were!”
“They were covered in edible gold dust,” Tony said with a defensive shrug. “Loki said the puddings looked really pretty.”
“Yes, they were,” Loki said dreamily.
“Fine, but no more! It’s not the healthiest thing, eating Christmas pudding for breakfast every day, and I had to do it for weeks,” Stephen ranted. “Can we please get something you’re actually going to eat this time? Here, if we stick to the grocery list - ”
“Yes, yes,” Loki sighed, grabbing the list out of Stephen’s hand. 
“Thank - ” and Loki crushed the list in his fist and dropped the ball of paper onto the ground, “ - you,” Stephen finished glumly.
“Tsk-tsk, Loki,” Tony chastised. He patted Stephen on the back and bent to pick the crumpled list from off the ground.
“Thank you...“ Stephen’s voice trailed off at the sight of Tony chucking the list into the trash can. “Tony.”
“Tsk-tsk, Stephen. Why do you always concern yourself with such inconsequential matters?” Tony asked, mimicking Loki’s crisp accent. “You’re going to give yourself wrinkles.”
He ruffled Stephen’s hair affectionately, before making his way toward the store entrance where Loki was already pulling out not one, not two, but three shopping trolleys. “Hey, Lokes, wait up!”
“Wrinkles,” Stephen muttered, resisting the urge to finger his face for fear of finding new ones. He was sure a few had just cropped up and they had not been here five minutes. 
__________________________
Loki stood at the fruits and vegetable section, half-listening to Stephen and Tony argue over the merits and demerits of getting imported fruits over local, seasonal ones for Happy Hogan’s fruit basket, who was currently in hospital recovering from something called a pacemaker operation.
Loki did not understand why they were making their own fruit basket as a get-well gift instead of doing the conventional thing by ordering it online.
Stephen had said something about how a personal human touch would make anything more special and...Loki could not very well argue with that, having acquired not one, but two personal humans of his own. 
Oh look. A little human. 
"Hello," he said mildly as a woman pushed a trolley past him. 
She only gave him a suspicious look before clearing her throat. 
Loki took a few steps to the side to allow her access to the ready-to-eat chilled soups and packaged salads. 
Soon, he found himself locked in a staring match with the toddler sitting in the trolley.
Loki wondered what it would be like if they had little humans of their own. Their place was certainly big enough for a dozen of them.
He reached for the 'Free Fruit for Kids' display basket, picked a banana from the pile of loose fruits and held it out to the boy.
"Eat it," Loki commanded.
Tony lunged and grabbed the banana out of Loki's hand, before dragging his lover down the aisle as far away as possible from the boy and his mother, who by now, was looking seconds away from calling the police.
"Loki, you can't feed other people's kids without their permission!" Tony hissed, while Stephen apologised profusely to the woman in the background.
"I see," Loki murmured, unperturbed. "If I wanted to feed little humans, I have to make sure they are my own." 
"Huh?" Tony asked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
Loki only hummed appreciatively at the revelation and walked away. This required some thinking and quite possibly a serious discussion with his humans.
________________________
“Sumac? What do you even use that for?”
Loki shrugged. “It’s the only one we don’t have. It is not my fault that the ancient Romans settled for so many letters in their alphabet system.”
Loki was obsessed with the supermarket’s own-brand must-have A-Z selection of spices. He hardly cooked but whenever he deigned to help out in the kitchen, Tony and Stephen had better use one if not most of the spices. 
“What do you mean? There’s plenty of spices starting with S.”
“Name one.”
“Sage.”
“You said sage makes your eyes water.”
“Salt. Salt begins with ‘S’.” 
“Salt isn’t a spice.”
“Is too.”
“A spice by definition is a seed, fruit, root, bark or other plant substance. Salt isn’t any of those, is it?”
“You just want to collect all the bottles, don’t you?”
“They’re pretty,” Loki said simply. He nuzzled his pout against Tony’s stubbled jaw. “I like pretty little things.”
“Yeah?” Tony asked huskily. “What else do you like?”
Loki’s smile widened.
_______________________ 
“You do know there is a reason why supermarkets are laid out the way they are?” Stephen asked dryly upon finally locating his husbands in the cereal aisle after a fruitless search of the first few aisles, which they had obviously bypassed. “This is why it takes ages shopping with you guys.”
His two husbands appeared to be engaged in a hushed but heated discussion about something. 
Stephen frowned. “What’s going on?” 
“Nothing,” Tony and Loki said, almost in unison. 
“Loki, please step away from the trolley,” Stephen requested politely.
Loki tried to stand his ground in front of the trolley, but groaned in frustration when Stephen simply put his hands on Loki’s hips. 
Loki could never win against his husband’s tactile style of persuasion. Very, very reluctantly he stepped away from the trolley. 
Stephen dug through the boxes of all sorts of sugar-free, multi-grain based breakfast cereals, all offerings to appease Doctor Stephen Strange. 
Just as he expected, right at the very bottom of the trolley, were a few boxes each of Frosties, Fruit Loops and Honey Nut Cheerios.
“Can you leave me just one?” Loki pleaded. “Please?”
Stephen had to smile to himself. Innocent subterfuge aside, Loki could have used magic to conceal his treasure trove of teeth-rotting cereal but he did not. 
He replaced the healthy cereals back on the shelf, leaving Loki’s selection untouched in the trolley. 
Tony and Loki stared at him in bewilderment. 
“Live a little, right?” Stephen sighed. “Just as long as you eat them, I’m happy.”
Stephen had never seen Tony beam more proudly or Loki’s eyes shine as bright, and he wondered if he had not been bewitched, just a little bit. 
_______________________
“That was such a good trip, wasn’t it?” Tony gushed as he stepped out of the portal.
“Yep.” Stephen had to agree. “There was no magic, no stealing, no stabbing. I think we did alright, considering.”
“We did awesome,” Tony corrected. He had to pause in the midst of gushing to enjoy the sudden kiss Stephen was planting on his mouth. “See? I was right. We should do more of these things together, just the three of us.”
“Oh.” 
Tony and Stephen turned. 
“What is it, Games?” “Did you forget to get something?” They spoke at the same time, noticing the frown on Loki’s face. 
Then Stephen noticed a brown paper bag in Loki’s hand that had not been there when they left the store. “What have you got there, babe?” 
From the bag, Loki slowly retrieved a chocolate Easter bunny half the size of a football. Then he took out two more, arranging the three of them neatly on the kitchen counter. 
“I don’t eat chocolate, but thanks anyway,” Stephen said, relieved that Loki’s secret purchase had simply been chocolate. Their not-strictly-human husband had brought back some strange items in the past. 
Loki rummaged through the paper bag again.
“There’s more?” Tony raised an eyebrow. “Sorry to disappoint you, Lokes, but the bunnies are 100% chocolate, they only wrap them in gold paper - ”
A tiny Easter bunny joined the family of three on the counter. 
A silence so absolute fell over the house that Loki could practically hear his human husbands’ fantastic brains turn and their heartbeats pick up pace. 
“What do you think?” Loki asked, hoping his shaking voice would not give his fears away .
“What do we - ” Stephen swallowed hard. “Are you saying that you’re - ?”
Tony was lost for words. He hurried to Loki’s side. 
“No, no.” Loki shook his head vehemently. “No…” Before he could hesitate for too long, “But I could be.”
The tightening of Tony’s arm around his waist gave Loki the final push he needed. “I suppose what I am trying to ask is...could we be?”
Tony and Stephen’s exchange of stunned looks lasted only a second before Stephen dropped the grocery bag he was holding onto the floor. He marched across the kitchen and closed the distance between them. 
Before Loki knew it, Stephen had wrapped his arms around them both, engulfing his husbands in a rough hug.
“I’m in.” Stephen kissed Loki and Tony’s temples one after the other, over and over. “I’m so fucking in.”
“Tony?” Loki called his name uncertainly. 
“Gosh, Loki. You promised you wouldn’t make my eyes water,” Tony managed. 
Loki bit the inside of his lip. “I would apologise for that, but uh, does that mean you’re in?”
“Of course I’m in, silly!” Tony laughed. “Someone needs to inherit all my billions!’
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comingtothetree23 · 3 years
Text
How Long Is Forever?
Paring: Peter Parker x Stark!Reader
Summary: You didn’t know how much would change when you did it. You didn’t know you could travel to five years in the future. The worst part? Thanos won when you were gone. 
Word count: 2K
Warnings: Nothing actually....There might be swearing but I don’t think so.
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"What are you doing!?" You looked toward your father who was fighting an alien who looked a lot like Squidward. You put your hands in front of you to block your enemies' hits. 
"Trying to save the earth, daughter of mine." Was his only response before falling into the ground, Squidward floating toward him. You groaned as you shot lasers toward the new guy who suddenly appeared, seemly not with the others. 
"Hey man." You heard a familiar voice say, "What's up, Mr. Stark?" You look over to see Spider-Man looking straight at you, "(Y/n)." he nodded making you smile. Your Boyfriend is finally here!
"Kid what are you doing here?" Your father asks as you focus on the fight. The man looks around before his eyes open wide making you tilt your head, "what? what is it?" You demanded walking closer, aiming your hands right at him.
"Just had to be today. Too bad." the man growled before tapping on his wrist making your eyes wide. A portal suddenly opened.
"Woah!" You heard Peter somewhere behind you. You looked down in thought before looking up at the man who was entering the portal.
"(Y/n), Sweetie, whatever you're thinking. Don't." You stood up getting ready to do what you had too, "I mean it! Don't do it." You turn to face your two favorite people before tackling the man, right into the portal.
"(Y/n)!" Peter's voice was the final thing you heard before being lost.
"Stupid girl! What are you thinking!?" The man yelled as you two float in a dark place. You punch the man right in the face, eyes glowing from the anger you were feeling.
"I am thinking I am not losing my family!" You landed another punch on the man. The man looked at you with a frown at made you confused.
"(Y/n) Stark? Should have realized."
"What does that me-" 
"You have no idea what's in store for you, young Stark." He stared you in the eye as he said that. He looked up before smirking, "Good luck." He suddenly pushed himself off of you and hopped into another portal.
"He-Hey! Get back here!" You yelled as you looked around the dark realm before a portal appeared in front of you. You covered your eyes as you went through. 
You landed on the ground with a thud, you groaned as you looked in front of you. the compound. You frowned before standing up on wobbling legs before shaking your head and jump. You flew on the roof and found the vent Clint used to use all the time. 
You fell into your room with a thud, again. You rubbed your head as you looked around the room, it was the same. You stood up and walked over and grabbed a picture frame. You wiped the dust off to see you and Peter, You were kissing his cheek as his eye lit up. You frown as a thought occurred to you.
How long were you gone?
"Dad." Your eyes widen as you remembered you left him in the middle of battle, the same with Peter, "Dad!" You ran out of the room and through the halls in search of your family. 
"Dad! I'm home!" You cried out as you entered the dark living room. It was the same but different at the same time. You walked close to the couch and sat down on it your hands going to the cushions. You frowned as you felt something familiar, a mask.
There in your hands was the Spider-Man mask, making your already deep frown somehow deepen. With a sigh, you tucked your hair In the mask as you put it on. 
"Hello?" 
"Hello (Y/n) Stark, Long time no see." You heard Karen's voice rang through the mask, making you give a tiny smile. You helped program Karen, you loved her.
"Karen, You have no idea how glad I am to see you." You smiled as you stood up, "Where is everyone? Dad? Peter? it's too quiet here." You put your hands on your hips as you waited for an answer. Karen was quiet for a moment before she whispered.
"(Y/n)... It's been five years." 
Your heart stopped
"...No...." You took a couple of steps back, "Karen whatever prank you're doing it isn't funny." You couldn't have been gone for five years, it was just a couple of seconds! 
"It's true." Was her only response, even though she was an AI she had emotion in her voice. That's how you knew she wasn't joking. 
"Five years." You put a hand on your forehead as you sat back down on the couch, "I've been gone for five whole years. Everyone must be so worried." 
"Your father has spent years searching for you," Karen informed you, making you feel even worst. You let out a sigh as you looked toward the ceiling. 
"God, That battle must have been something, huh?" You meant to lighten the mood but when she hesitated you knew something was wrong, "...Karen?"
"Do you know what happened?" Karen questioned you making you confused. What kind of question was that? You slowly shook your head as you prayed for some good news, "(Y/n)... Thanos won." 
"You're kidding. Karen, please tell me that isn't true." shaking your head as tears trickled your eyes. If he won.... you lost more than you thought you did. 
"You know the answer, (Y/n)." Her soft voice came through. You find out that you've been gone for five years and Thanos won, today isn't fun. 
"HEY!" a voice yelled out making you stand up quickly and rip off the mask. Your eyes widen at who you saw standing there.
Natasha Romanoff,
"(Y/n)..." Her usual firm voice wavered as she saw you. Her blue eyes filling with tears as she stayed put as if she's scared to move closer.
"Nat." You whispered, tears filling your vision before running to her and tackling her in a long-awaited hug. She tensed up for a moment before hugging you just as tight.
"You've gotten big." You see, you haven't seen her since the Civil War fight where you've gotten in trouble for defended Cap. Her hair has grown long, you kinda love the blond at the tips actually. 
 "It's so long." Your voice broke as tears went down your cheeks. Nat sighed through her nose before closing her eyes and closer you closer.
"You have no idea." Your eyes opened as you broke the hug and out your hand son her shoulder with a determined look.
"Where's dad?"
~~
"You have no idea what's going on too?" Scott nodded as he sat next to her. You tugged the old hoodie closer as you hoped your fathers had answers. Maybe he knew where Peter was, "Do you think he'll miss me?"
"(Y/n), of course, he will." Steve looked at you through the mirror, giving you a firm look, "He never stopped looking for you. One of the first things he said to me when he came back was 'my daughters gone'." You tugged on the sleeve as you thought about it, "He'll be so happy to see you. just like all of us." 
The first thing Steve did when he saw you was giving you the strongest hug you've ever given. 
"We're here. Get ready, boys." Nat quipped as she got out of the car, Steve and Scott following him. You stayed behind for a moment tugging at the sleeves before growing courage and stepping out of the car and walking toward the cabin.
As you walked on the steps you made eye contact with your father for the first time in five years. He dropped his drink as eh stared at you, you staring back.
"...(Y/n)." His voice wavered as he quickly stood up and took a step forward you, "I-...Is it really you?" he gently put a hand on your cheek, as if seeing it you were real.
"It's me, dad." You whispered as he wiped a tear from your face. tears prickled at your dad's eyes as he presses a small kiss in your hair.
"Oh sweeties, I can't believe it." he suddenly hugged you tightly making you smile in his shoulder, "You're really here." it was so quiet you thought it was in your head.
"I missed you so much. I really thought you were gone with everything that happened I...." He stopped himself before he could finish. You instantly felt guilty, for you it was a minute but for everyone else, it was five years. They lost so many people including you for a while.
"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have gone after him it was so stup-" Tony grabbed your shoulders making you look him in his eyes.
"I will admit yes it was stupid but I am so glad you're back. I've been waiting so long for you to be back, Peppers going to be so happy you're back." 
"God, I haven't seen Pepper in a minute."
"no one says that anymore." Your dad sassed making you roll your eyes and stick your tongue out.
"Okay Boomer." 
"You haven't changed in the slightest." Tony smiled, looking at your features, "expect for the wardrobe change." His eyes suddenly saddened as he stared at the hoodie you wore, Peter's hoodie. 
"Where is he? Please tell me you know where he is?" you practically begged for him to tell you where Peter was. You honestly couldn't wait to he in Peter's arms again. 
"Oh, Sweetie...." Tony sighed before hugging you again mumbling out, "He's gone." your heart stopped when you registered what he meant. You didn't realize until they were on Tony's shoulder for you to realize you were crying. 
"He... He can't be gone." you pressed your face in his shoulder as you sobbed, "N-No! I-it isn't true!" You tried to pull away but your dad kept you there, knowing you needed to let it all out.
"Dad, H-he has to be somewhere! M-Maybe in space...He can't be gone." You hiccuped as you slowly started losing energy from struggling in your father's grip. The others watched sorrowfully as they watched you cry your heart out. 
"Actually, we have an idea...." Your father stared at them.
~~
You closed your eyes as you rest your forehead on Morgan's head. Yes, it was quite a shock to see that Pepper and your dad had a kid when you were gone. You've known Morgan for a day but if anything happened to her you'll kill everyone and then yourself. She was ecstatic to see her sister that she heard stories about come back home.
Your dad couldn't help but smile every time he saw his two little girls together finally. he's been waiting for this day since Morgan was born. Pepper couldn't stop hugging you when she saw you again, After so long she became your mother.
"Let's see what's dad's doing." Morgan smiled up at you making you smile back. you've been in a bad mood since you found out your boyfriend is gone and your dad won't help the others. Morgan's been helping you feel better tho.
"Yeah... Let's see." You smiled as you took her hand and went downstairs. You noticed he was working on something that looked a lot like the time travel things he uses to mess with.
Something suddenly happened as our dad stared in shock and sat back in his chair.
"Shit!"
"Shit." Morgan's voice rang out making your dad's head whip at you two. Morgan sat on your lap with an innocent smile. Your dad put a hand on his lisp and shushed her.
"what are you doing up, little miss?" he whispered down at her, You smirked as you made eye contact. He rolled his eye at you.
"Shit."
"Nope. We don't say that only mommy say that word, she coined it it belongs to her." You had to cover your mouth not to laugh at his excuse. He used to say that to you when you were little.
"Why are you up?" 
"'Cause I have some really important shit going on here. What'd you think?" He pointed to the model as both you and Morgan gave him a look, making him sigh, " No i-I got something on my mind." 
"Like juice pops?" Morgan asked innocently making your eyes widen and hugging her closely. Protect. Protect. P R O T E C T! Tony stared in space for a moment before speaking up softly.
"Sure was. Great mind thinks alike Juice pops exactly." she jumped off your lap and took your fathers hand as they left a room. Tony gave you a nod before he left. You smiled as you realized...
.....Everyone's coming back!
~~
"I...Am...IronMan." Was the last thing you heard before a bright light hit you. It's been ten minutes and you finally found your father.... holding on to dear life.
"Dad..." You walked closer to him before going on your knees, "I am so sorry, I should have been here. You shouldn't have had waited five years just to see your daughter again. I am... sorry." You felt the tears rolling down your cheeks, You gasp lightly as you felt his hand gently fell on yours. You look up and make eye contact with your father, you could see the damage on his face from the snap.
"I love you Dad.... So much. I'll never forget you." You sniffle but keep a smile for your dad's final moments, You squeeze his hand knowing he can't return it. You place a kiss on his cheek before standing up and taking a few steps back. 
"Mr. Stark?" You frowned and closed your eyes as you heard your boyfriend broken voice. He runs up to his fallen mentor. Tears start- to form in his eyes, "Hey– Mr. Stark? Can you hear me? It's Peter." when Tony didn't say anything Peter gives a sad smile, "Hey. We won, Mr. Stark– We won, Mr. Stark. We won. You did it, sir. You did it." He kneels in front of him Tony is unresponsive. Peter breaks down and hugs him, "I'm sorry– Tony–"
Peter is gently led aside to grieve, You both make eye contact and you open for arms. He sniffles and runs into your arms, snuggles his face in your shoulder letting his sobs out.
"It's okay. It'll be okay, Peter." You whispered and pressed small kisses to his hair and head as you look back at your father, never stopped whispering to Peter. Pepper Potts sits in front of the fading Iron Man.
 "Hey." your dad is barely able to move his head but manages to look Pepper in the eyes.
"Hey, Pep.." Your dad says so quietly you thought you make it up. You hugged Peter tighter as you knew what that meant. Pepper places her hand on Tony's Arc Reactor and Tony rests his hand on hers. Pepper takes a good look at Tony's fatal injuries before kneeling in front of him.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?"
"Life functions critical." You heard F.R.I.D.A.Y say and you knew for a fact Peter did. Super hearing and all. You gently rubbed his arm as you continue to watch.
Tony smiles with tears in his eyes.
 "Tony. Look at me." Pepper firmly says as she makes sure Tony gets a long look at her smiling face, "We're gonna be okay. You can rest now." That- That broke you but You kept the sad smile on your face as your father stares at both you and Pepper. You knew he need to make make sure his family would be safe when he was gone.
With that acknowledgment, Tony's arc reactor flickers off for good. Pepper can no longer contain her grief and starts crying on his shoulder.  Tony Stark, Iron Man, Earth's Best Defender, died. All the heroes gather, and kneel in honor of Tony. The tears started to cover your vision as everything hit you.
Nat was gone. 
Your father is gone.
You let out a sob as you and Peter cling to each other, never wanting to let each other go.
~~
"He missed you, you know." You stated as you and Peter sat on the roof of the lake house. Everyone was still here for Tony's funeral, even if it was now nighttime.
"I know." Peter's voice rang out, he was staring at the pond and moon. It was a nice night, cold thought but Peter being the nice friend he was, gave you his jacket.
"I missed you too." Peter finally looked at you, his usually bright brown eyes were now red and puffy from crying. He let out the breath he was holding in. You moved closer to him and as you did Peter grabbed you and held you close.
"I missed you too." He murmurs as you lay between his legs, chest becoming you pillow as he rests his chin on your head, "I'm really gonna miss him." 
"I know you will." You closed your eyes as you finally relax, " We'll all miss him but it'll be okay. We're all back and we can be... a family again." You felt Peter's arm tighten around your waist as he smiles in your hair, "We'll ever leave each other again."
"That sounds really nice." 
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cosplaydude637 · 3 years
Text
Chapter 10: Knowledge and new friends
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Hours later the group of Parabatai returned to the institute, their heads hanging low. Izzy was running up to them as they walked in but draw up short as she sees them. Running up next to her came Xander and Ruthie. Seeing their face they all went ghost white.
“What happened?” Ruthie asked?
“We failed…” Angelique sighs. Jace and Mekyle punch the wall they were each standing next to. This made Clary jump a little. Alec walked over and placed his hand on Jace’s shoulder.
“Hurting yourself is not going to do us any good. We need to find the Prince of hell and send him back,” Alec says.
“Or kill him!” Simon snaps
“We will make this right. We are Shadowhunters,” Izzy says, offering them all a warm smile.
“Plus we got a leg up on Sinara now,” Ruthie says with a bright smile.
Jace worlds around and glares at her. This makes Ruthie cringe back, losing her smiles. “A leg up! A leg up! How the hell is letting a prince of hell free into our world a Damn leg up newbie!”
Xander steps in front of Ruthie and right into Jace’s face. “I respect that you're our institute head and I know you could most likely kill me six ways from Sunday but I won’t let any member of my squad be talked to like that!”
Jace’s face goes red and he balls up his fist and starts to swing at the young Shadowhunter when faster than anyone could blink Alec has grabbed Jace by the arms and was halling him back. Jace was fighting Alec the whole way. Xander however did not move from in front of his teammate.
Clary quickly got into Jace’s face and glared at him. “Jace knock it off. They were not there they don’t know what happened plus let’s see what this leg up Ruthie is talking about really is.”
Jace goes limp in Alec’s arms, his face Softening. Clary turns and looks at Xander and Ruthie. “Ok guys, what is this leg up you are talking about?”
Ruthie gives out a little squeak and steps out from behind Xander. “Is he going to yell at me again?”
“No honey it’s ok now,” Clary says with a soft voice.
“We have one of the gatekeeper here.” Ruthie slowly replied.
“What?” Simon spoke up and moved in front of Jace, Alec, and Clary.
“We made a trip to the Shadow Market and Learned. That an old friend of mine is one of the gatekeepers.” Izzy explained.
“You know a really old Shadowhunter?” Mekyle asks, raising an eyebrow.
“No, she is a downworlder.” She replays
“Huh,” the group of Parabatai all looked very dumbfounded.
Izzy leads them to the infirmary with Xander and Ruthie at each side of her. Cassandra was laying in one of the beds, her right arm was wrapped in bandages. She slowly set up her eyes flicking yellow like a dog.
“Guys this is Cassandra Willows she is a warlock,” Izzy says and points to Cass.
“Sup guys great place you got here,” Cass says with a cheerful voice. Ruthie walks over and looks at the bandages and shakes her head and starts unwrapping the bandages and points to Xander then to the cabinet that has the clean new bandages. “Sorry, Doc the wound started itching.”
“You're healing fast and all but I want you to keep this clean and wrapped,” Ruthie orders her as Xander hands her the new bandages. Ruthie starts wrapping Cass’s arm again.
“Push little thing ant she?” Cass says with a giggle.
“You have no idea.” Xander, Mekyle and Angelique say in unison.
Alec walks over to Cass and puts his hand out. “Hello, Cassandra, I am Alec Bane-Lightwood, Console of the Clave.” Cass blinked and shocked his hand with a look of duda I know who you are. “We understand you are one of the Gatekeepers. What gate do you look over and where is it?”
This made Cass go white and her eyes darted around the room mental mapping a way out of the room. Right as she was about to throw the blanket off and head for the exit. Xander lad a hand on her shoulder and smiles at her.
“Trust us Cass, we want to keep all the Gates safe.” He says and ameetly Cass softens and looks back at Alec.
“I guard over the gate of Gluttony.” Cass answers but was cut off by Simon before she could finish
“The Gate of what?” Simon asks
“The Gate of Gluttony you know like the sin,” Cass states coldly looking at Simon. “You do know what the 9 circles of hell are, don’t you?” Everyone turns to Simon and he just stands there looking confused.
“You mean like the Anime?” He asks.
“No you nerd the Book!” Jace snaps.
“It’s the same thing,” Simon mutters.
“The gate here in New York is Limbo. Seeing as New York was the place where other countries came to the U.S. Hersheypark of Pennsylvania sits the Gate of Gluttony.” Cass says, laying one of her hands on top of Xander’s.
“Why there?” Angelique asks
“Most sites of the gates have some ties to what gate is belt there. Gluttony is simple with a theme park.” Cass answers, trying to sit up on the side of the bad. Xander held his hand out to her and she smiled and blushed, taking his hand. “I will take you to the gate. If this Sinara wants to open my gate she has got one hell of a fight on her hands.”
“We can’t all go,” Alec says
“And why not?” Izzy asks.
“We need to keep A group of Shadowhunters here so that New York stays safe” Alec explains
“He is right, we can’t leave New York unprotected,” Clary adds.
As the group tried to decide who was going and who was staying. A ring from the Institute doorbell came. Jace, Alec, Clary, and Angelique break away to go answer the door. Standing at the door when Jace opened it was Bat the local werewolf clans secant in command. Alec gave him a very odd look. “Bat what are you doing here?”
“Is Maia here?” He barks out.
“Huh?” Jace says
“Are all you Shadowhunter stuped or death? Where is Maia” Bat snaps out his eyes glowing yellow.
“Stand down Lykin. Don’t make me put you down!” Jace yells out moving into Bat’s personal space.
“Like to see you try. No one to stop me this time blondy.” Bat growls low in his through.
Before Alec could move in between the two men Angelique was already there pushing them apart. In a very Com and even voice, she speaks to them “ok guys this is not the time and remember we are at peace here. Bat, Maia is not here, she has not been here. Jace, he is only worried about this alpha.”
Bat looks down at the small hand that was on his chest pushing him away from Jace and he starts to chuckle. “Your one brave little girl.”
“She is right though. Bat you have not heard from Maia?” Alec asks.
Bat steps away and ruffles Angelique’s hair. “No she was sent to meet with you and the other members of the Alliance and she never came back.”
“That was weeks ago,” Alec says in shock and a tinge of panic in his voice.
“I know after a few days I thought it was odd but it’s Maia and she does as she wants. After all, she is the Alpha. But after a week it’s not normal.” Bat explains.
“We need to look into this.” Angelique states.
“Ok, I want you to put together a team and look into this Angelique.” Alec orders.
“Me?!?!?” Angelique shouts.
“Yes you, I need to stay here and deal with clave business and the rest will be going with Cass,” Alec says.
“Xander should lead then,” Angelique says.
“There is no way he is not going to go with Cass,” Clay says.
“Oh, you got that too.” Jace chimes in clary smiles and nods.
“This is your mission Angelique as order by your Console.” Alec orders again. This time Angelique just nods. Bat looks at Alec and Angelique. “Bat return to the pack and Angelique will come to you with her team,” Alec adds.
“Ok see you soon Shadowhunter,” Bat says and bonds down the steers.
All the Shadowhunters and Magnus, who had portaled to the institute a few minutes ago now sit around a huge round table in the war room. Alec leads the meeting deciding who is going on what mission and agreeing with the Shadowhunters Angelique picked to take on hers.
Angelique chose Mekyle and Ruthie for her mission Simon and Izzy were picked by Alec to back them up. This leaves Jace, Clary, Xander, and Cass going to the gate.
“We have one more idam we need to deal with,” Alec announces.
“We do?” Simon asks puzzled.
“Yes the names of are Young Shadowhunters,”
“Oh yes, the last name ceremony.” Magnus snickers. Alec shouts him a living eye roll.
“Anyway Xander, Angelique and Mekyle have you chosen your Shadowhunter name?”
Xander stands up. “I have out of respect and honor for my Headmaster and her amazing Daughter. I like to become a Fairchild.” He looks over at Clary and she gives him a small nod.
Alec smiles seeing this. “So be it, welcome Xander Fairchild.” Xander smiles and sits back down. “Angelique, Mekyle, have you?”
“Yes I would like Waterheart.” Angelique says standing up. Mekyle jumps up next to her.
“This was not an easy choice for me but if you would allow. I like to be Mekyle WolfScar.”
Alec gives them a soft smile. “Welcome Angelique WaterHeart and Mekyle WolfScar.”
With the teams assigned they split up and head off to get what gear that they would need and even a little sleep if they could before heading off. This gave the couples some time to be alone leaving the Newbies and Cass to find something to pass their time with if they don’t want to sleep.
Angelique and Ruthie decided they would sleep in the same room for the night so they could talk about the mission and some boys they liked back at the academy. Mekyle was not going to sleep at all so he headed up to the Training Room to punch the bag a little and work on his dagger throws. This left Xander alone with Cass.
Xander leads Cass to the common room where the TV was playing Ghosthunters on the Discovery channel. “I know now that I am a Shadowhunter. I have been rewatching them and the Taps crow came really close a few times to finding a real ghost. I wonder if one of them is related to the Herondales?” Xander says.
“I am a bit shocked to see a TV at all in an Institute,” Cass replies.
“Ya most are still old-fashioned but Clary and Simon need their Anime, is what i got told,” Xander explained.
“Oh man, I love me some Death Note.” Cass giggled.
“You have the cutest laugh, Hold on did you say you like Death Note,” Xander says looking a little flushed. Cass just smiles and winks at him as Xander turns a bright red.
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