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elareine · 3 years

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If you could, can you please write JayTim or RoyTim (whichever one you want) trying to be romantic and woo Tim (maybe with some puns, I love puns), but Tim is a bit oblivious towards it, because the other is so cool, therefore they must be trying to make friends and be nice with him and nothing more. So when he does finally realize its an italicized "Oh" moment.

Hi lovely!! Thank you for waiting so patiently for this fill. I... ended up making it JayRoyTim, I hope that's okay? It just fit so well, but I can totally write something else with JayTim or RoyTim for you if you want :)

Also, it turned out to be about pick-up lines more than wooing, sorry. I might’ve gone overboard with googling the puns. It's long enough that I put it on ao3, too. What's your username on there? Then I'll gift it to you.

if you were a transformer (you’d be optimus fine)

“Well, here I am.”

Tim looks up, utterly confused. “I didn’t call for you, but… that’s… great?”

Roy waggles his eyebrows. It looks faintly disturbing. Redheads should maybe not do that. Or, actually, Tim revises mentally, thinking of literally every other redhead Dick ever dated—that’s just Roy. “What are your other two wishes?”

“Coffee and some silence to finish working this case?”

Roy looks weirdly deflated at that, but he does get him some coffee. Tim soon forgets about it.

—

(“How’d it go?”

“Does obliviousness run in the family?”

“Yes. Yes it does. Have you met Bruce?”

“…okay, fair. Your turn next.”)

—

“Jason? What’re you doing here?”

Sure, Jason and Roy have been spending a lot more time in Gotham lately. Something to do with a case, Tim assumes. Maybe even with the one that they worked on together in Star City five months ago?

Anyway. They’ve been around, is what Tim is saying. Not at the manor, but at Tim’s apartment and his workspace, cause apparently it’s not worth rebuilding their safe house after it went up in flames, and Bruce and Damian are too often at Dick’s place. He’s not exactly surprised to see either of them anymore. (Pleased, yes. But not surprised.) However, Tim has no fucking clue why Jason is currently grinning at him from the other side of the library desk.

At least Tim has the good sense to check his name tag before he gasps: “Jason?”

“Oh, hey, Tim.” Jason’s grinning. “Guess you figured out my new job, huh?”

“Yeah.” Tim shakes his head. “Color me surprised.” So this is what Jason’s spending his days doing. He’s gotta be shadowing someone, right? Tim’ll ask him tonight.

“I’ve always liked this place.” Jason’s gaze is far away for a moment. Tim badly wants to know what he’s remembering. Then the older man seems to come back to himself and gives Tim a weird—maybe angry?—look. “It’s a good thing I’m a librarian, too, cause I’m totally checking you out.”

“Alright, I can take a hint.” Tim grabs his book and demonstratively walks over to the self-service scanners. Really. How rude.

—

(“Are you telling me he managed to resist you in your cardigan?”

“Apparently.”

“Aww. C’mere, babe.”)

—

So Roy blows things up all the time. No, really, Tim now totally understands why Dick was so happy when he heard the duo is camping out at Tim’s place for a change. His older brother even gave Tim a thumbs-up, for God’s sake. He must’ve known.

Cause yeah, there’s at least one explosion every two days. Or Roy dropping something cause he’s too focused on what he’s thinking to remember what his hands are doing. Or something dropping on him. Jason seems used to it; he just catches whatever it is or laughs at Roy. Tim… is starting to learn to do the same, actually. Whatever Roy comes up with at that moment is usually worth it, and besides, he’s kinda adorable.

Aaaaaaanyway. (He’s using that word a lot in his own thoughts right now. Almost as if he’s avoiding thinking about something. Hmm.) Tim’s not surprised when Roy walks into a room, stumbles, and slaps a hand over his eyes with a dramatic exclamation.

Tim, in shorts and not much else cause he got drenched in pollen earlier, just raises an eyebrow. “Alright, Roy?”

“Nope.” Roy’s hand is still covering his face, but Tim can still see his grin underneath. “I’m gonna need your name and phone number for insurance purposes.”

“Roy. You have both of these things,” Tim explains slowly, wondering if Roy sustained a brain injury or accidentally dosed himself on something. “And why insurance?”

“I was blinded by your beauty.”

God. Sometimes Tim wonders about the original Titans and their socialization for the two dudes if this is how they think making friends works. Then again, Kori, Donna, and Dick probably appreciated constant compliments about their beauty. It all makes sense. Roy must be so used to it that he even uses those same methods when someone unexceptional like Tim is around.

He smiles gamely. “I’m looking forward to hearing that phone call. Must be almost as great as the time Bruce tried to convince his insurance company that Clark dropping on his car wasn’t an act of God because God is demonstrably not a Kryptonian. Neither was the giant ape punching Clark out.”

Roy drops his hand at that. “…Batman did what?”

—

(“You were doing so well, too.”

“I knoooow. How much more obvious can we get?”

“I dunno, but I intend to try.”)

—

“Do you like Star Wars? Because Yoda only one for me!”

“Haha. No. Star Trek or die.” Tim’s answer is automatic. He’s had these discussions soooo many times with Kon before. Of course Jason also goes for the space cowboy soap opera.

Besides, Jason’s boyfriend is standing right next to him. He doesn’t mean to sound flirtatious with Tim. Or maybe he does, and it’s just good fun? Or maybe teasing him? Tim can’t figure it out, but he knows he doesn’t like the weird hollow feeling he gets in his stomach when he thinks about it, so he changes the topic.

And makes both of them sit down to watch some classic Captain Kirk, of course.

—

(“Should I be insulted by that pick up line?”

“Nah. There aren’t that many lines that imply a polycule, though.”

A kiss. “Alright.”)

—

One of the things Jason and Tim have in common is their predilection for motorbikes and fiddling around with them. Not that makes them unique in the batclan; Tim has never spent days quietly working side-by-side with Dick, though, the way he does with Jason. They started out with separate projects. Then Jason saw this vintage Ducati at an abandoned warehouse he was about to blow up and, well… Would be a shame, right? Tim just happens to have had one of these before—regrettably lost to one of Harley’s exploding baseball bats—so he offers his expertise.

It’s not because it means bending over the engine with Jason, closer than they ever are, their hands brushing when they hand each other instruments. It’s not.

Roy doesn’t join them. He’s too polite to say so, but he finds normal cars and bikes boring af. Doesn’t stop him from popping his head into the garage and whistling when he sees that they are shirtless and covered in grease. It’s a damn good look on Jason, so Tim can’t fault him for that.

Roy follows it up with a: “Are you a parking ticket? Cause you got fine written all over you.”

Tim can’t help it; he blushes at the suggestive tone. Those two never stop flirting with each other, do they? So far, he has managed to avoid stumbling over them while they’re making out (not that they’re making that easy—the kitchen? Really?), and he’d like to keep avoiding that, thank you very much. He’s already feeling guilty enough for his fantasies as it is.

“Uh. I should clean up,” he mumbles and flees.

—

(“Dammit.”

“…do you think that was a rejection?”

“Nah. He was definitely checking me out before you came and fucked it up.”

“That’s saying something if you noticed it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”)

—

So Tim has magically acquired cat ears and a very fluffy tail. Don’t ask. They’re gonna go away in eight hours, and until then, he’s gonna stay in the cave and work himself to distraction. Jason seems intent on keeping him company, though.

(It’s nice. Tim loves hanging out with Jason—that’s not the problem. The issue is that Tim is looking ridiculous, and Jason is being nice about it, and none of this is helping his stupid crush go away.)

They’re absently chatting about nothing until Jason says: “Kinda a pity you’re a cat, though.”

Tim looks up. Huh? Admittedly, he never pegged Jason as the type to go for catboys (though maybe… he did hang out with Kyle… perhaps it’s just that he definitely doesn’t go for Tims), but that’s still a weird pronouncement.

Jason is grinning. “If you were a chicken, you’d be impeccable.” He pauses. “Wait. Like even more than you already are. Uh.”

Tim sighs. Great. And now Jason is making fun of him again. “Whatever.”

—

(“A chicken?”

“Shut up. I panicked.” A sigh. “He was so cute with these ears.”

“…yeah, he was.”)

—

“You must be tired. You’ve been running through my mind all night.”

“I’m not tired,” Tim says automatically. Why does everyone keep asking him that tonight? Surely the shadows under his eyes can’t be that bad? He used concealer!

Something in Roy’s expression softens. “Aww. C’mere.” He pats the space on the couch next to him, and when Tim sits down, Roy pulls him half of on top of him and into a hug. “Relax for a bit, little bird.”

Tim sinks into the embrace, boneless all of a sudden. Roy just has that effect on him. Tim vaguely remembers thinking of him as his oldest brother’s cool friend and then Jason’s cool boyfriend, kind of a fuckboy but clearly good for Jay.

Now? Now, Roy just makes him feel safe.

—

(“So you spent the night on the couch just so he could sleep in your arms?”

“Yeah. Totally worth it.”

“Duh.”

“I just wish we could do that with him every night. Bet he fits perfectly between us.”

“Yeah.”

A pause.

“We might have to up the ante or switch tactics.”)

—

They’re talking about their favorite books—Tim doesn’t read as much as Jason does, but they discovered a shared love of sci-fi weeks ago—when Tim says: “Actually, that book kinda reminds me of you.”

“Oh?”

“Overly dramatic but good.”

Jason makes an offended noise, and Tim grins.

“I’m not sure which part I should argue about first.” Jason pretends to think.

Tim is always down to tell Jason that fuck his self-perception—Jason is a good man, one of the best Tim knows; that also feels too revealing right now. Instead, he gets up from their comfortable position on the couch and grabs the first stack on the table, carrying them over to the shelves to replace the gaps. “What kind of book would I be?”

“Babe, if you were words on a page, you’d be fine print.”

“Annoying and no one reads it?” Tim asks without turning around, trying to ignore the babe. That’s. That’s gotta be a slip of the tongue, right? Force of habit from spending so much time with Roy?

“No, fine,” and the emphasis is clear this time. Jason continues before Tim can reply: “Though if we’re talking books…”

Tim whirls around. “Save it. You don’t have to make fun of me just because I—“He swallows down the words.

Jason looks alarmed. “Tim—“

As if he can smell trouble, Roy chooses that moment to enter the room. Tim has barely heard him approach, Jesus. He doesn’t want to have this argument in front of Roy, though, so he just stands there in the middle of the room. Jason, too, has stopped speaking.

Roy, of course, takes one look at the awkwardness and decides to make it worse. Or more confusing.

“Did you just come out of the oven?” he asks.

“As this isn’t Hansel and Gretel, no, I didn’t.” Tim checks his shirt, just in case this is an actual conversation opener and not just a weird attempt at a distraction. “Do I have soot on me?”

“Nope.” Roy shakes his head, and he’s smiling that smile again, the one Tim is startled to recognize, the one he thought is reserved only for Jason— “Because you’re hot.”

And finally, Tim gets it. “Me?”

“Yes, Tim.” Roy’s moving in closer. “You.”

There’s a soft touch to Tim’s shoulder, and Tim whirls around, expecting Jason to be mad, cause his boyfriend is—is hitting on Tim, right, that’s what’s happening, Jason can’t be happy—

Jason is smiling down at him. His hand is still resting on Tim’s shoulder, but it slides down to his collar bone, a gentle presence as he murmurs: “You’re so beautiful that you made forget my pick up line.”

Oh. Oh.

Tim says the first thing he can think of: “Are you a raisin?”

Jason starts grinning. “I’m not even gonna qualify that with an answer.”

Tim smiles back. “Cause you’re raising my hopes for a kiss right about now.”

And he gets one. And then another, and then Roy joins in, kissing Tim’s neck and then his mouth and—Yeah.

They’re too busy for any more pick up lines right now.

#elareine writes #jayroytim

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gold-from-straw · 4 years

Text

Zero Degrees 1 - The Hotoke Family

As promised! Here’s the first chapter of Zero Degrees. I’ll try to do a masterlist or something at some point, but for now, here’s the AO3 link if you prefer.

There was something strange about Frio. Incredibly beautiful, but even Erika had to admit, a little strange. His skin was always cold, for a start, which was great news in October, when the black clouds gathered oppressively hot behind the neon purple of the Jacaranda flowers. Unfortunately, today it was chilly, and she pulled her jumper sleeves down over her palms rather than move away from his side.

The bus bumped over a pothole and shifted forwards in the traffic across the Parklands junction. Some of the students opened the bus window and leaned out with coins to buy roasted maize from street vendors, and the driver gave a yell to warn everyone when the road cleared and he was able to move forwards. Erika stole another glance at Frio and wondered what she could say to start up a conversation with him.

He was looking up at the other students, passing their maize around and bickering, spreading chili lemon slices over the blackened kernels. He bit his lip slightly and looked away, and she wondered if he was hungry. She wondered if she could buy one and share it with him next time.

It's not like she never spoke to him. He was in her year at school, but not her form. They did physics and English together, but he did geography instead of history, and he was in middle set maths while she was in top set. They'd been talking at the start of the bus ride, something about their English essay, and God, wasn’t it telling that even she couldn't remember the exact content of the conversation. And she was an English nerd! He probably thought she was desperately boring, droning on about Mr Brocklehurst and his hypocrisy. Oh God, she hoped she hadn't started talking about Jane's resilience in the face of adversity, because she could talk about that for hours. Come on, Erika, don't be pathetic.

"Doing anything this weekend?" she blurted.

Idiot.

"Uhm, I don't know," he said, turning to face her. "It's only Tuesday."

"Yeah..."

"I think I've got to work."

"You've got a weekend job?"

His pale skin darkened a shade, the slightly grey colour disappearing behind a blush. "Yes, we- uh, I need the money."

"Where do you work?"

"Just at a plant nursery," he mumbled, fiddling with his frayed sleeves. His arms stuck out of the jumper, pale brown skin stretched over sharp bones. Everything about Frio was sharp. His cheekbones in particular, and his chin, but his eyes softened the overall effect of his face. They were huge, and a gorgeous sort of stormy blue-grey. Faith Nzioka in year eleven said he had to be wearing contacts, but Erika had seen them change colour slightly. She didn't admit to that. She didn't want people to know quite how carefully she'd been looking.

“That’s so cool, my parents won’t let me get a job. They want me to focus on my studies.” She rolled her eyes a bit and he smiled shyly, but didn’t say anything.

Dammit. Back to square one.

He fiddled with his hands, twisting them together in his lap. She frowned down at her own, trying out different sentences and questions in her mind and discarding each one until the bus pulled into the Westlands petrol station and squeaked to a halt. He glanced up at her and gave her another of those little smiles, just a little tilt of thin lips that made her stomach flutter and pulled an inane grin from her in response. God, what a dork. She stood, kissed Priyanka and Akeyo on the next seat goodbye, and shuffled down the aisle with the crowd. His arm bumped her shoulder a couple of times as people pushed and laughed behind them.

“Erika!”

She looked up and waved at her mum. Tuesdays meant coffee in Java, which was lovely, and she really enjoyed telling Mum everything, but she had to admit, there was a little corner of her mind that had hoped she’d be late. That she’d be able to stand next to Frio until his parents picked him up, and maybe talk to him a little bit more.

Mum kissed her on the cheek and pressed the key fob so she could jump in the front seat of the Range Rover, waving off the flower vendor who held wilting roses under her nose.

“Good day?”

“Mmhmm,” she nodded. “Got my French test results back, 84%.”

“Nice!”

"Priyanka got 92% again," she shrugged.

Frio was looking at the car as they pulled away from the petrol station, and as he caught her eye through the window he lifted one hand in a little wave. Her stomach dropped through the seat and she waved back, way too enthusiastically. Her face flushed with heat and she forced her hand back into her lap.

“Who’s that,” Mum asked, with that knowing lilt that parents and older family members use when they think they know so much.

“Frio Hotoke,” she said, proud of how casual she made it sound.

“Interesting name, where are his family from?”

“I don’t know, actually. He’s not Kenyan, I don’t think, his accent’s kind of... posh, I guess? Or like a cross between posh and American.”

Mum laughed. “I can’t imagine that. Maybe he’s a posh American?”

She scrunched her nose up. “Don’t posh Americans still sound really American? Like Obama?”

“Anyway, posh and American doesn’t mean anything. People all over the world learn English from movies. I once met a girl on that trip I went on to Japan, remember? She learned English by watching The OC, sounded like she’d been to college in California.”

“Like the news anchors on KTN,” Erika smirked.

Mum clicked her fingers and laughed again, her bangles chittering, until a motorbike weaved in front of her, barely missing the car bonnet and she leaned on her horn, yelling in Kikuyu out the window. Sarit Centre rose up on the left as they crawled around the Westlands roundabout, so close and yet so far, but at least it wasn't a hot day. Erika leaned her elbow on the window and watched a matatu mount the pavement to gain a few extra inches, squeezing past painfully close so it could pull off down Lower Kabete road ahead of just one more car. Mum gesticulated at the driver and sucked her teeth. "Idiots." She shook her head. "Everyone's so tired all the time these days, with that insomnia epidemic. Makes it even worse."

At last, safe in the VIP parking area, they walked into Sarit Centre and down to Java on the lower ground floor, settling into one of the atrium tables. Erika let her eyes wander around the wide tiled area as Mum ordered lattes, watching people bustle past with shopping bags and trying to imagine what they'd bought.

A man in a terrible yellow suit was leaning over the rail on the floor above, fiddling with his phone and watching people walk to and fro in the atrium. As Erika stared, he turned and seemed to catch her eye. She was sure he winked. She blushed, embarrassed, and turned back to face Mum.

Mum pushed her sunglasses up onto her head, beads in the little braids at the nape of her neck clicking with every movement. "Did you hear about the rains in the UK? They said they haven't had such a warm, wet winter in over a hundred years. Not looking forward to my business trip."

"They're always saying things like that, though," she said. "Weren't they saying there was going to be loads of snow this year?"

Mum shook her head. "That was last year. Looks like temperatures are going to stick in positive numbers for the whole season."

"Don't the British always complain about it being cold, though?"

"Britain is cold! Even when it's ten degrees it feels below freezing, I don't know how they manage it. It's not just the UK though, this year. The US is talking about record highs as well."

"That's global warming for you."

"You learning about that in school yet?"

She rolled her eyes. "We've been learning about global warming every year since I was ten, Mum."

Mum laughed and blew the steam off her latte. "Well, I don't know these things, do I? I'm old. Hey, isn't that that boy you were waving at?"

Erika turned so fast she thought she'd get whiplash, and then immediately realised how pathetic that must have looked. Luckily Frio didn't seem to have spotted her.

He was walking with a group of people that must have been his family, but what a mixed group! He held his little sister's hand - she must have been about four or five, a cute little thing with wild curls falling over her face. She had slightly paler skin than him, still with that same grey-blue tint. It should have been ugly, but it seemed to work on them. Frio most of all, of course.

The boy walking beside him was stick-thin and a warmer brown, with Frio’s pointed features and a twitchy sort of energy. He was talking to Frio, his hands fluttering in the air and emphasising every point, stabbing his finger into his palm almost viciously. Frio was nodding and trying to hide a smile, and Erika’s heart could have just melted with how nice he was. So thoughtful to his little brother!

“Njala, a bit quieter please,” said a man walking a step or two behind them, his voice deep and cutting through the chatter of the shopping centre.

If he hadn’t been walking with them Erika would never have pegged the man for being related to Frio. His skin was so dark it was almost blue. Erika and her dad were very dark skinned too, but Mr Hotoke was striking, a matte midnight that seemed to absorb the light around him. And just to make him stand out even more, his dreadlocks were pure white.

He was frowning as he walked, his teeth worrying at his lip. He was carrying two or three plastic bags in each hand, so full of groceries that they were stretching at the handles and cutting into his skin. Erika thought he looked a bit intimidating, until Frio turned and held out his free hand to take some of the bags. Then he looked up at his son and his face relaxed into the sweetest smile. And suddenly the family resemblance was clear.

They were almost level with Erika's table, and she'd just dredged up the courage to call out a greeting when the yellow-suited man on the floor above dropped the phone he'd been playing with. It fell and smashed on the floor right behind Mr Hotoke, a disproportionately loud crash echoing around the four-storey high atrium. Erika jumped, splashing coffee onto the saucer under her cup, but Frio's family fell apart.

Frio flinched, throwing both hands up over his head for just a second. The little girl, suddenly free, ran straight for the door and the road beyond. Frio reached out for her, but she was gone. Mum was on her feet in a moment, but Mr Hotoke was faster. He dropped everything and raced after her, followed by Njala.

Frio was frozen. Erika didn't register at first, but when the others were out of sight, she turned back to him and her eyes widened. He stood in the centre of the carnage, shopping bags scattered around him, his chest heaving, his eyes staring after his family. The hand his little sister had been holding was cupped to his chest, and for a moment she wondered if he had something in it, until she realised he was clutching at his shirt, struggling to breathe.

She ran across to him, Mum close behind, and grabbed both his biceps. "Frio, what's the matter? What is it?"

“Gone... they're..."

"It's OK, sweetie, your dad's gone after your little sister, he'll get her." Mum rubbed his back and took the shopping bags from his hand. "God, you're cold as ice, come, let's sit you down."

"No, I can’t... I have to… I have to stay here. I can't go… I have to..."

"OK, then you just sit down on the floor, that's it. Deep breaths, there you go. Try to match my breathing."

Other people were starting to gather around them. A couple of old white ladies picked up some of the scattered groceries, tutting over the broken eggs and torn packages. Erika sat on the floor next to Frio and held his hand as he gasped for air, the shallow breaths squeaking, almost whimpering as they came. His whole body was shaking, and she wanted to hug him so badly, but the way he was looking up at the crowd around them, eyes twitching from one to another, made her wonder if he'd be better off with a bit more room. People patted him and offered drinks, but he cringed away from them and his breath came faster.

Like he'd read Erika's mind, a guy from the craft shop started shooing people backwards. "Give the poor boy space, move up. Go on, it's not a show, OK? Here." He handed Frio a paper bag. "Breathe into that, concentrate on the noise of the bag crackling, you'll be fine."

The brown paper inflated and deflated, and Frio's eyes almost crossed trying to focus on it, but he seemed to be settling down already. Erika pulled one of his long braids away from his face, untangling it from where it had got caught up with the bag pressed against his cheeks.

In a clatter of trainers on the polished tiles, Njala raced back and fell to his knees beside his brother, putting his hand on his other shoulder. Erika looked up to see Mr Hotoke, his arms wrapped tightly around the little girl, following behind as well, his eyes just as wide and scared as Frio's.

"Father," Frio said, taking the bag away from his face. "I'm sorry… I panicked, I should have--"

"Shh, shh, Frio, it's fine." He bent down and moved the little girl to one side so he could hold her with one arm and pull Frio's face closer, pressing their foreheads together. Erika moved back slightly to give them room.

"I'm sorry, Father, I failed again," he whispered.

"Do not say that," he said sharply. "You did no such thing, you have never failed me in your whole existence, do you hear?"

Frio nodded, but Erika saw his lower lip wobbling the way hers did when she was holding back tears. She couldn't help putting her hand back between his shoulder blades and rubbing gently.

"Is your little girl OK?" Mum asked, crouching down to Mr Hotoke's eye level.

He nodded and kissed her curls. "Scared still, but thankfully she didn't get out to the road. Someone caught her before she could get out of the building but… she was fighting him and screaming. It took me a while to calm her down." He looked back at Frio. "I'm sorry I took so long."

"That's OK."

"Why don't we get off the floor and out of the way. Do you want a coffee?" Mum gestured to their table outside Java.

Mr Hotoke shook his head, though he did look longingly at the cafe. "I am expected back at home, but thank you so much. My eldest son needs to leave for work." He looked at the sorry pile of damaged groceries and sighed. "Come on, children. Thank you all for your help."

"We'll help you carry these to your car," Mum said, picking up a couple of bags.

“We... we do not have a car, we were going to walk home, but thank you."

Mum frowned down at Frio, whose limbs were still shaking as he picked up another shopping bag. "How far away do you live?"

"Only a little way along Parklands Road."

Mum shook her head. "You're exhausted, all of you. Come on, we'll give you a lift, we've got space, and we were pretty much done here."

"I cannot possibly impose so much."

She laughed. "It's nothing! Look, our kids are in the same class, we're practically family." She held out her hand. "I'm Gloria Muthemba."

Mr Hotoke gave a soft laugh and visibly gave up in the face of Mum's overwhelming Good Samaritanism. "Teli Hotoke. This is Frio, Njala and Bhaya." He turned to Erika, still hovering over Frio. "And you must be Erika, yes?"

Erika smiled and nodded, and shook his outstretched hand. It was almost as cold as Frio's, even after his dash across the shopping centre. "Nice to meet you, Mr Hotoke."

"Please, call me Teli. The pleasure is all mine. I have heard much about you."

Frio and Erika both blushed, and Erika thought the butterflies that seemed to live permanently in her stomach these days would burst out of her and soar around with delight. Frio had been talking about her!

Mum paid for their coffee and led everyone back up to the VIP parking area, chatting to Teli, her loud laugh echoing up the stairwell.

"Are you OK?" Erika asked Frio as they brought up the rear.

He nodded and ducked his head down, hiding his face behind the curtain of braids. She'd never known any boy to have a proper full head of braids. She usually chose the chunky ones herself, or kept her hair short and natural, but his suited him perfectly.

Although it was possible that Erika would have thought anything suited Frio.

"Thank you for helping me," he said.

"Any time," she said, and, feeling brave, she patted him on the back. "What happened back there, anyway?"

His shoulders curled slightly like he was ashamed, and Erika felt guilty for asking. "They're called panic attacks," he said. "I get them when there are loud noises sometimes."

"How come?"

"Come on, Erika, keep up," Mum yelled, and Frio immediately walked faster. She glanced at his closed off face and decided not to ask the question again.

#Original Work #Zero Degrees #original ramblings by lyn h

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amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines · 5 years

Text

Drew Ray Tanner: Love in a Photograph (Part 2)

Requested: THE DREW fic omg omg omg omg omg omg could you Maybe do a part two maybe with Drew’s motorcycle like he picks her up and she’s afraid to ride it (maybe anxious do to her weight) or not idk or anything you have inspo for but maybe some anxiousness drew puts aside

part 1

Last Friday, if you’d asked Drew what his favourite day of the week was he would have said he didn’t really have one. That all days of the week just feel the same, well apart from Monday. Monday’s were the worst. However if you asked him right at the minute, he’d say Saturday.

Saturday was forever going to be his favourite day, especially if he got to spend it with you. And, today he finally was. He had been planning all week, thinking about all the ways he was going to make it perfect, just so he could make up for how awkward he had been the first day he met you (and every time you’d been on set together).

He was checking he had everything (camera included, he didn’t need to make that mistake again), when his phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket, answering it without even looking. “Hey.” It was you and a soft smile appeared on his lips as he thought about you. “I’m really sorry.” You continued and his face fell.

“Is everything okay?” He asked, worry taking over his tone.

“I’m super sorry to do this but my car has broken down. I know we were supposed to meet up today but I have no other way to get there.” You explained and he sighed. Okay, how can he fix this? Wait, were you trying to get out of this date?

“It’s fine!” He replied forcing a cheery tone in his voice and you looked at your phone confused.

“Are you sure? I know how it sounds, like I’m trying to get out of the date. But I’m really not. I’ve been looking forward to it all week. I literally just got in my car and it broke.” You continued to ramble and he started to feel better. Okay, you weren’t trying to back out of it.

“I’m sure.” He chuckled at your rambling and you let out a sigh of relief. “I can pick you up if you want? Instead of meeting at the park we can just go there together.” He suggested and you smiled softly.

“Yeah.” You nodded. “I’ll text you my address.”

“Cool.” He said as casually as possible. However his stomach was doing backflips at the thought of spending more time with you and his head was dizzy with just the thought of this was actually happening. He was actually going on a date with you.

“See you soon.” You replied. “Hurry up.” You teased.

“You too.” He replied before cursing quietly. You just giggled softly and hung up. How did you have this affect on him. Oh yeah, it’s because you’re perfect.

--------

You’d decided to just sit on the curb outside you house instead of going back in to come back out. You didn’t know what car Drew drove so you were just kind of looking around the street, squinting at each car that passed to see if any of the drivers were Drew. However, what you weren’t expecting, was a motorbike.

“Drew?” You said confused once he’d gotten off. He was stood in front of you, a bright smile on his face and messy hair from his helmet. He looked cute, really cute, however you couldn’t shake the anxious feeling in the pit of your stomach. As much as you wanted to admire him (just like you did when you first met), you couldn’t do it.

“How’d you know?” He laughed and you forced a smile. This was not good. Maybe you should have just used your car, maybe pushed it all the there and back. Or you could have just gotten a taxi or uber or something.

“Haha, yeah.” You laughed nervously and the two of you stood in silence for a few seconds. Drew was playing with his helmet and you were playing with the strap of your camera bag.

“If you’re anxious about me ‘getting it out’, just know that was a slip of the tongue and I didn’t mean it like that.” He rushed anxiously and you laughed.

“Yeah, I know Drew. I was there for all of that.” You replied.

“Oh yeah.” He scratched the back of his neck anxiously. “It’s just Jordan and the rest of them have been giving me a hard time all week about it.”

“Hard time?” You raised an eyebrow and he sighed.

“Yeahhhh.” He shook his head and you could see his soul leaving his body. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He said flatly and you laughed softly, a small blush appearing on his cheeks.

“I, err. I wasn’t expecting a bike.” You changed the subject.

“Oh yeah. I was gonna bring my car but I just thought cos its such a nice day, we could go on this instead.” He explained, a smile took over his face while he talked about the bike and you couldn’t help feel bad, especially when he looked at you and the smile disappeared. “Is that okay?”

“It’s just, I kind of have all this equipment and I err, I don’t think it’s gonna fit on the back of a bike.” You explained and hugged your arms to your body. He looked between you, the bike and the stuff you were carrying before going back to you.

“Well really don’t you just need your camera and batteries. I know I’m not a genius but it’s not like it’s a big fancy photoshoot. We’re just walking round the city.”

“Well, yeah, but.” You stuttered and he looked at you confused. “That’s not the point.” You shook your head and looked at the ground.

“Hey.” He said softly. “Are you okay?” He asked, hooking his finger under your chin and pulling softly.

“I’m anxious.” You mumbled, refusing to make eye contact.

“What about?” He asked confused and you looked at the floor.

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly ‘normal sized’, I don’t want to break your bike or make it tip or anything.” You said quickly. “I wasn’t meant to tell you that.” You said mortified.

“Y/n.” He said softly, but you continued to stare a hole into the road. “Y/n.” He said a little louder and you raised your head a little. His hands cupped your cheeks gently, so you had no choice to look at him. You were expecting him to laugh, or to look at you like you were stupid. However, you didn’t get that, what you were greeted with was a very concerned but reassuring look.

“You’re not gonna break or tip the bike. I promise.” He told you. “Do you know how much weight these things can take. Especially this one. It could take so much more than you and me. Okay?”

“Are you sure because there is a lot of-”

“I’m very sure. And before you go any further, I like all of you. Even the bits you don’t like.”

“We barely know each other.” You rolled your eyes.

“Yeah I know.” He nodded. “But I know what I like. I like bikes, photography, my job, my friends, my family and you.” He said matter-of-factly and you giggled softly. “Like I said, you don’t really need all of that, plus I have my own camera and batteries. They’re in there.” He pointed to the back box and you nodded.

“Will my camera fit in there too?” You asked unsure.

“Yeahhhh.” He drawled out. “But just in case, do you have a backpack?”

“Yeah.” You laughed. “I’ll be two minutes.”

“Thats a lifetime.” He replied with a smile.

“I feel sorry for all your ex-girlfriends then.” You said as you walked away. He watched you with a look of bewilderment before he realized what he said.

“Shit! No, I didn’t mean like that.”

“Sure you didn’t.” You glanced over your shoulder.

“I didn’t!” He argued. “Dammit.” He muttered and he could hear you laughing while you walked into the house. As the front door closed behind you, Drew’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket.

‘have you got it out yet?’ Jordan had text him and he rolled his eyes.

‘no.’ He text back.

‘good. save that for the second date.’ He replied almost instantly and he rolled his eyes even harder.

“Got it!” You waved the backpack in the air, before locking the door again and jogging slightly to where he was stood. “Who ya texting?” You asked and leaned over his shoulder.

“No one.” He mumbled and shoved his phone back in his pocket.

“Is it one of your ex’s? Are you apologizing.” You teased making him blush. He looked cute blushing, you wanted to see more of it.

“You’re so funny.” He said sarcastically and you snickered. “Are you ready?” He asked and you looked at the bike uneasy. He noticed this almost instantly and quickly started talking again. “We don’t need to go. Not if you don’t want to.” He reassured, placing a hand on your upper arm and you nodded. “We can just go into a dark room instead...see what develops.” He winked making you snort with laughter. “You’re cute.” He said casually when he noticed the blush take over your features.

“Did you actually just say that?”

“What? That you’re cute? Yeah. I can say it again if you want.” He replied, a cheeky grin on his face and you looked at him surprised.

“Tanner, I’m shocked.”

“What!?” He asked panicked before trying to regain his composure. “What by?”

“How smooth you’re being.”

“I-I, err. I-” He stuttered and you looked at him expectantly.

“You okay?” You teased and he glared playfully at you. “Do you wanna go?” You asked.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Your carriage awaits.” He said dramatically and helped you onto the bike. “You ready?” He asked after he got on.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” You replied nervously and wrapped your arms around him.

Yeah, Saturday was definitely the best day of the week.

#drew ray tanner #drew ray tanner imagine #drew ray tanner x reader #riverdale #riverdale imagine #fangs #fangs imagine #fangs x reader #fangs x you #fangs x y/n #fangs fogarty #fangs fogarty imagine #fangs fogarty x reader #fangs fogarty x you #fangs fogarty x y/n

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hardeepcox · 4 years

Text

Visa Run #3

Before I start this, I want to add that during Visa Run#2 my dad, Poomi and I found May at the Foxzee’s bargirl place. Business was dead though because of Chinese New Year and actually it felt pretty awkward. I also want to add May had acquired a laugh that seemed more like a maniacal cackle, true story. Seems hilarious now though oh my god. May and I had been messaging every now and then so we stayed somewhat in touch, but when we met this time the atmosphere just felt really awkward. She told me how less fat I now looked and then invited me to play pool. She destroyed me in the first game. We had a re-match, and the bar boss then told her to let me win (thanks for the intel Poomi [he understands Thai]). Dude I am so bad at pool that I actually sunk the 8 ball too early and managed to lose again. I give up at pool, another awkward beer later, I can hear Poomi’s soul faintly saying “true…. yup….” (this is his catch phrase and also the mantra that I mentally tell myself to be chill). He’s bored, and honestly so am I and my dad. We end up spending that night roaming around and drinking beer in random places, pretty chill.

Okay the ACTUAL Visa Run #3

This was my third and final visa run thus far. And for some reason I found myself going to Bangkok ALONE.

The dumbass company that I work for (whose name I won’t say but rhymes with ee em gee) said we had to go to a capital city to get our new visas, we couldn’t go to the Cambodian border and get new visas like literally every other English teacher in the city. This then became my one shot at exploring Bangkok again on my own and getting to know this city better.

Day 1 The first stupid thing I did.

I didn’t know that there was a metro train going straight from the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok to my hotel, so I got stuck in multiple cabs during rush hour, got sent to the wrong address, and walked for over an hour while dragging my carry-on luggage. Yeah it sucked but dammit it looked so cool. After walking under and over a sketchy bridge or two, I finally got to my hotel. Damn it actually looked pretty nice, well on the outside at least. I definitely killed a few roaches in my room that night. I only had 2 nights so I planned to make the most of it.

The second stupid thing I did.

I went to the one place that I had only heard about in legends… Nana Plaza. I was now experienced in the partying ways of Thailand, these guys don’t fuck around. I took a Grab motorbike taxi to the place, and the driver drops me off right outside the beginning of a street full of bars. They seem to be stemming from this big place that looks like an outdoor shopping center at your local suburban neighborhood, except for all of the stores were replaced with strip-clubs. Read that again, and nope I am actually not exaggerating. Imagine an outdoors shopping center where you would expect to see Baby Gap, Auntie Annes, Toys r Us Express, Hallmark, CVS Pharmacy, and a local tae-kwon-do dojo, but they have all been replaced by strip-clubs. Yeah and lots of red colored lights. I took a lap around the bar in the center, and the music was absolutely pumping in every single one of the surrounding rooms. I walked up to the second floor, and it got a bit more intense. I think or at least it seemed to me like this floor was the ladyboy floor. Two ladyboys would stand by the entrance to the bars and hit you with something, like a small whip or something. Not my thing, if you’re into this kind of stuff, well then hey you do you bro. Nana’s Plaza is a bit much for me at the moment so I step out to see some of the smaller local bars. My method of choosing which bar to enter first is to listen for the one that starts playing reggaeton first. A couple beers later I’m kinda tipsy, so I go BACK into Nana’s Plaza. I somehow stumble straight in and a lady tries to pull my arm. “Real girls here in this bar” she says. I reply, “what about that bar straight ahead?” She goes “I don’t know.” My drunk logic says this person is trying to reverse-psychology my ass, I’m going straight into the ‘I don’t know room,’ fuck it. She lady is surprised while I zoom past her into this unknown abyss.

I walk into this room, and I see a stage with a pole with a bunch of girls dancing. I take a seat right in front of them, which I usually refer to as the “splash-zone.” I sit down and order a local beer, probably a Chang, and suddenly all the girls that were dancing began to line-up in a horizontal line in front me and give me the sad puppy eyes. They want me to choose one to sit next to me. I go “hey actually I just wanna drink my beer.” They try to look even sadder and bummed out. I try to ignore them. After a couple awkward sips of my beer I figure well I guess I’m supposed to actually choose one in this place. So I pick the one that I think is the hottest. She’s happy that I chose her and she sits on my left. Immediately she grabs my left hand, puts it over shoulder, under her bra, and suddenly I’m holding her boob. I was like damn that was quick uhh I’ll just keep chillin and sipping on my beer. She tells me she’s a university student, and some point makes a comment that I find confusing. I don’t remember what she said, but my response to that was “wait…. Is this a ladyboy bar?” She says yep and laughs her ass off. I go “wait so all those hot girls on-stage are actually dudes?” She says yep. I go “ohhhh… okay then cheers!” And we have a beer. I look across the room and I notice that the bartenders are also ladyboys, but not the kind that look like supermodels. They are just regular dudes, with guts, who want to be women. At that point I realize that being a ladyboy is not necessarily just about transforming yourself into a supermodel, some dudes just want to be chicks. And hey I can respect that. You do you bro. Anyways, my ladyboy then says, “hey I have milk too.” I say, “shut up no you don’t.” She goes, “wanna see?” I reply, “um fuck YES.” The ladyboy pulls down her bra, squeezes her nipple, and a few drops of white liquid come out. I’m like “duuddeeee that’s fucking awesome!” and I give her a high-five. She asks me, “wanna taste?” I say “dude fuck youuu” and we are hysterically laughing our asses off. Then she decides to take it up a notch and asks me if I wanna take her back to my place for 3000 baht. I say nah sorry I’m not into that. She replys, “oh it’s your first time? Okay then half price.” I say, “nahh sorry I’m not down.” Eventually she gives up and start to go back with the rest of the ladyboys. Before she leaves she says “can I get a tip?” I had already paid for the beers so I was like, “why?” But I just want to leave so I give her a 100 baht so she can go away. She then says, “can I have 200 baht more? I want to buy food.” I say “uh hell no.” She smiles and slithers back into the darkness. And I proceed to get the hell out of that place.

The third stupid thing I did.

I was hungry, and I was determined to eat some mozzarella chicken at Family Mart. I walked around Bangkok drunk as hell, through random streets, looking for a Family Mart. I find nothing but back to back 7-elevens and I am so incredibly annoyed. I eventually give up and get some basil rice with chicken at a 7-eleven. After over an hour of roaming around the city and looking for Family Mart, I hail a street taxi and head back to the hotel. Day 1, complete.

Funny enough… in the morning I walk outside my hotel and there is a fucking Family Mart literally across the street. I scurry my way across the street and go into Family Mart, mozzarella chicken here I come! I then realize, they only serve this dish in Vietnamese Family Mart… not Thai Family Mart… fuck me.

Damn Bangkok, you always find a way to surprise me you sly bastard.

*I forgot to mention that earlier during Day 1, I had to stop by the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok to get a new Visa. This was the whole reason of me being in Bangkok in the first place. The office which handles Visa applications is literally a hole in the wall, literally dude. And what’s funny is that it’s located in a reallyyyy nice part of town. It honestly felt like Northwest Washington DC, but of course the hole in the wall just felt like an actual hole.*

Day 2

I decide to explore the city on foot. As I stroll around, I see my hotel is located on Sukhumvit 71, near a Muslim community on one side and a bargirl community on the other side. Super interesting, I hadn’t seen this often in Asia except for in some streets near Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh City. I ordered a coffee, I think the lady was a Thai Muslim and she was super nice. But of course… no coffee will ever compare to Vietnamese coffee, the best in the fucking world. I only drink milk-coffee, for some reason it tastes like home. I explore a bit more and I notice the metro station is literally next to my hotel. Jesus I’m an idiot, but okay lesson learned. Anyways I can walk for hours, so I keep going like the energizer bunny. I get some spicy Thai food near a gas station, it was like spicy garlic chicken with rice, veggies, and a fried egg on top. Dope. I crushed it. My mouth was on fire and I was craving caffeine again so I walked to a nearby coffee shop and sipped on some damn good local coffee. I used the coffee shop’s wifi and I called a Grab taxi to take me to Sukhumvit road near the Hilton to reminisce the good old times I had previously had with my dad, Paper, and later on Poomi. I get there and I am walking for hours again, enjoying every second of it. I get lost, and suddenly come across different streets that I have seen before during my previous trips. I am absolutely loving this, downtown Bangkok is becoming more and more familiar. Also keep in mind that I am eating random foods along the way. Damn downtown Bangkok is amazing, I estimate it’s about 20 years ahead of Ho Chi Minh City in regards to development. Sky train, subway, and advanced technology every step of the way. As I continue roaming around I start to feel tired and I think about going back home, also I’m full. SUDDENLY. I find myself resting on a walking bridge in between two shopping malls, and I see a fucking TACO BELL! Dude! My first Taco Bell outside of the US! I rushed in there and ordered a taco combo meal with beef. So full but so worth it. I decided to keep walking so I could burn at least 2% of the calories I had been consuming that day. It starts getting dark out, and I can feel the vibe of the city changing. When the lights go out in this concrete jungle, the night beings come out to chill. I only have this evening left in this trip so I decide to make the most of it, let’s go to Soi Cowboy!

I start walking towards Soi Cowboy on foot (soi means “side street” in Thai), and now it’s dark. Tons of working girls are sitting on the sidewalks, all trying to get your attention. The streets definitely feel more intense than in the morning and afternoon. I keep walking and walking, and eventually I make it! I start walking towards Soi Cowboy and along the way there is a little bar next to the street playing some rock music that catches my attention. I decide to keep this spot in mind. I walk into Soi Cowboy. This shit feels really intense when you go alone, and the strippers or ladyboys are out on the street pulling people into their bars. I decide that I had enough of this shit last night, I’m going back to that street bar I just walked by. I walk to the street bar, get a chair, and start sipping on a Chang beer. Two older ladies are working there and letting the customers choose the songs. Dude if you let me DJ at a bar you KNOW I’m gonna play reggaeton, 100% chance. One lady has good English so we are chatting, the other lady doesn’t speak much English so she sits behind me and starts massaging my shoulders. This lady massaged my entire upper body while I sat there that night, I never even asked for a massage. These ladies are bar-ladies, so they will ask you to buy them drinks. I figure ah hell why not, it’s my last night and I am actually having a good time! We must have been like 4 or 5 beers in when the massage lady says, “hey choose any bottle and I’ll buy you a shot.” I know what’s going down… these ladies are trying to get me to blackout! I, having much experience in blacking out, have an idea. Most Asian girls that I’ve met don’t know much about the strength of liquor/spirits, whatever you want to call it. I look at the options: vodka, tequila, gin, absinthe, jagermeister, you know… the classics! Somehow, I notice a lonely bottle of Malibu, this is a fruity flavored rum with a relatively low alcohol percentage. These ladies don’t know the difference between Malibu and Jose Cuervo, so I order a bitch shot of coconut Malibu and gulp it down. The ladies then expected me to blackout any minute…. Any minute now….. umm…. Anyyyy minute now?! Nope. I was just tipsy and feeling good! So I decide okay I’ll call it a night, time to call Grab. I get the bill it was about 3000 baht! Ouch, but I had a good time so it’s cool. Then the lady with good English asks me, “would you like to take my friend home?” She was referring to the massage lady, who by the way had already digivolved a couple decades ago. I kindly refused. Then, the massage lady asks me for a tip, she had massaged me over an hour non-stop. By now I was tipsy, but I remembered the ladyboy last night asking me for a tip at Nana’s Plaza twice, and this time I was like aw helll nooo. I didn’t tip the massage lady and she was angry as hell, she wouldn’t even say goodbye to me. I called a Grab bike, and he was out there waiting for me in a crowd full of cabs trying to pick-up other drunk, idiot foreigners. Cab drivers of different ages would stand in my way as I walked to my Grab driver, and me being a drunk asshole was actually shoving them to the side! Haven’t done that ever before or since, but I think I was just drunkenly annoyed at people trying to constantly scam me. I finally find my Grab driver and I hop on.

A slight drizzle begins and I don’t have a raincoat, but damn does it feel amazing. As the motorbike speeds up, the light rain hits my face harder. I open my arms wide like wings and I feel like Leonardo Dicaprio in Titanic. I survived day 2, and the next day I had to catch a flight back to Vietnam with a new Visa. Success!

I was supposed to visit Thailand again in June, but yeah goddamn coronavirus hit so… that’s not gonna happen. Until next time Thailand!

#bangkok #thailand #soi cowboy #nana plaza

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im-tops-bottom · 5 years

Text

"watch where you are going you little piece of shit" Loki says as he shoves Tony aside before walking off with his boyfriend.

"god Loki and Stephen are such assholes. They were made for each other. I don't know how they became popular" Clint says as he helps Tony up and brushes the dust and dirt off.

"well they are good looking, Loki does acting while Stephen does music, they are rich and known how to make friends easily"

"and they are bullies. You coming over tonight?"

"I am not third wheeling tonight. You need to start spending some alone time with Natasha dammit. I'll be fine. Aunt Peggy said I could stay over tonight because apparently dad is drunk and mum is high. Whoo what else is new"

"I can't wait until this year is over. Then you, me, Nat, Pepper, Happy, Arthur, Diana, Rhodey and Carol can start getting ready for MIT. Hopefully those dumb shits didn't sigh up for it"

"seeing as those two love to bully me, I wouldn't put it past them. Rumour has it they are returning back to England. "

"oh poor Peter Parker. Better not tell Aunt May or she'll drag Peter back to America. If those two weren't bullying you then they were bullying your cousin"

"I know. I'll have a chat with Peter tonight and see what he wants to do and if I want to live with all parts of my body working to perfection then I'll tell May afterwards"

"this sucks. Come one lets head to our classes"

Clint drops Tony off to his class before glaring at the golden couple sitting right at the back as he makes his exit. Tony sighs at his table in front of Stephen and Loki. He ignores their attempts as he reads through his homework to make sure everything is correct. He quickly hands it over to the teacher before his bullies takes it off him and does something stupid.

After a couple of minutes of torture everyone settles down as principal Fury comes into the class with two baddass troublemaking looking hotties that has Tony feeling all kinds of things.

"class you have two new students today. They transferred from Hydra High to here to complete their last year of school"

Tony gulps because Hydra High was one of the worst schools in America. All the troublemakers went there and if you weren't one then you became one usually during your first year. They were full of tough people that always caused trouble. Normally students were from mobs/mafia backgrounds and knew the prison system really well. Security was big there that it made it look like you were at an American airport. These two with their leather jackets, ripped jeans, slicked back hair and smirks looked completely dangerous. Usually not the type of people Tony would want to be around and yet he felt like he was getting a boner.

Tony watched Fury leave after saying something and then looked at the 2 new students who, to his surprise, was staring straight at him. The blond one smiled and looked around the classroom getting ready to speak first.

"hi my name is Steve Rogers. Please call me Steve. I look forward to getting to know everyone real well"

Tony gulps as Steve eyes Tony up as he says his last sentence. Tony looks away as he feels his face heat up before his eyes lay on the second person who hasn't stopped looking at him.

"hey the name is James Barnes. Everyone can call me Bucky. Just like what Stevie said I look forward to meeting everyone. Let's make this last year"

Tony lightly gasps as Bucky smirks right at Tony as he finishes his last sentence.

"special"

The teacher pats Bucky and Steve on the back before telling them to go sit next to Tony. Steve sits on his left while Bucky sits on his right.

"Tony will show you around and help you with whatever you need until you get used to this place."

The teacher puts on a movie that the class will be writing an essay on as she sits down and goes through everyone's homework.

Tony now not only has to ignore the two douchebags but now also the two hot guys. He stares right at he tv as he gets ready to take down notes. He eye rolls as he hears stephen and Loki speaking to the two new people.

"I feel sorry for you guys"

"why?"

"you got stuck with this worthless piece of shit. How about hanging out with us and we'll show you boys a good time. It'll be way better than doing boring stuff. He never shuts up if you so much mention science or robots. He's just a waste of time and space. You wouldn't wanna be caught dead hanging around him"

"well lucky for me"

Tony feels Steve's hand on Tony's thigh

"and Bucky"

Tony feels Bucky's ha- wait is that metal? - on Tony's other thigh.

"are into pretty Bambi eyed brunettes who are into science. We'll probably won't be able to to hang out with anyone much at the moment anyway. We are signing up with the schools football team. We were jocks at our old school but got tired of the team being useless and transferred after hearing this school has the best team"

"damn straight we do. The best team ever"

Everyone looks up and much to Tony's relief it's Arthur. Arthur wraps a muscular arm around Tony.

"this is one of our best players in our team. He chose not to be Captain no matter how many times people ask. Arthur why can't you just be Captain. Ditch these losers and join the elite"

"you guys must be new. Just call me Arthur. Anyway come on Tony, Bruce has come returned and he's kicking up a storm."

"why doesn't Bruce handle Bruce?"

"ugh you got a cute scientist and a good looking rich man who are massive idiots for hanging out with you losers"

"no one asked you Stephen"

"well you should be handsome. Stephen is way too gorgeous not to look at or talk to"

"ugh I'm gonna vomit. Come on Tony"

Tony packs up and Arthur leads him out the door.

"are those two dating?"

"hell no. Tony isn't Arthur's type. If he had a vagina and looked like our best fighter Diana then yeah."

"that's good"

"got that right. Everyone would make Tony's life a living hell if wprd got out that those two were dating"

After class finishes Steve and Bucky head off to the cafeteria. After they are unable to find Tony they ask around and find out that he left campus to go eat with his friends.

They get out to the carpark after finding out where Tony went and took off.

Meanwhile Tony just finished eating and went out of the cafe with Clint and Natasha to smoke. Tony took off his glasses and stuffed it in his pocket before he sparked up.

They got to chatting about plans for the weekend when sounds of motorbikes come driving into the carpark and park right in front of the 3.

The three gasp as helmets come off to reveal Steve and Bucky. Steve is the first to notice and smiles.

"hey Tony"

Bucky seals the deal with a filthy smirk that promises good things to those that behave and a deep gravelly Brooklyn accented voice that would probably be able to make anyone harden and come in seconds.

"hey doll. Was wondering where you went off too. Had to have Stephen and Loki show us around. Let me tell you, it was real boring"

"ah yeah sorry about that. Did you guys follow me here?"

"no don't be silly baby. We didn't want to spend anymore time with the dynamic duo. Who are your friends?"

"the names Clint. This is my girl Natasha. So you two must be Steve and Bucky. The incredibly hot duo my friend can't seem to stop talking about"

"you talk about us?"

"you find us hot?"

Tony finishes his smoke and strolls back inside looking like a tomato much to Clint's delight.

"come in guys. I like you two. Come and kick back with us"

Steve and Bucky nod as they follow the couple inside. Clint places 2 seats on either side of Tony much to everyone's amusement (excluding Tony who looks horrified) and then introduces the 2 new people.

Everyone starts talking about school, life, memes and just random things. They all completely forget about school and it's not until Tony receives a call from his drunk father that they realize it.

"hey Tony what's wrong?"

"my dad wants me home. He told me I can't go to my auntie's house because I'm in trouble"

"what happened?"

"school called. Check your times"

Everyone except for Steve and Bucky look horrified.

"how can you two not be horrified?"

Steve grabs a hold of Tony's hand and drags him outside. Bucky stands up and pays for everyones food.

"we don't have parents to complain to. We have a mafia leader who is friends with principal Fury and he already knows what we are like so he let's us be."

"that's so cool. Well I better ring my mum before she has a field day over this"

"everyone Protocol Sunshine"

"what's protocol sunshine?"

"we use Tony getting bullied and how his parents are as a cover up if we so much as miss just one class because we all talk too much"

"oh that's cool. Well we will take Tony home and see all of you tomorrow."

"keep Tony safe"

Bucky nods not realizing to how much that one sentence means to Tony's group of friends. Friends that now Steve and Bucky are apart of. They may be badasses but it doesn't stop them from trying to be normal and makes friends they feel safe and good around.

Bucky sees a confused Tony sitting behind Steve and sits on his bike. He guesses Steve explained what they were going to do. The bikes turn on and they set off.

Tony is internally panicking because not only is his dad pissed off about school but he's not going to be too happy about this. Oh boy is he gonna get his ass kicked.

The boys drop tony off and give him their numbers before placing a kiss on each cheek and heading off. Tony takes a few breathes before making his way into the Lions den.

As soon as he steps inside he is immediately kicked down the front porch stairs as his drunk father starts yelling at him about all sorts of things. He starts beating the crap out of Tony causing Tony to scream in pain. He hears voices and sees his dad get knocked out before he blacks out.

Once Tony wakes up he feels pressed up against him. In front of him much to his surprise is Steve who looks like he had been crying. Behind him was Bucky who also looked like he had been crying. Tony frowns and wonders why do they care as he slowly gets out of the bed.

After going toilet, he heads to the kitchen and notices a tall man cooking something.

"uhm hello?"

The tall man quickly turns around and smiles as he motions for Tony to sit. Tony sits at the table and jumps as he hears a voice next to him.

"don't worry about him. He's mute and deaf. Hope you know asl"

"I do. One of my friends has a hearing aid"

"that's great. It'll come in handy. The names Friday and that's my older brother Jarvis. He's getting tea ready while our younger brother Vision is dealing with your shitty parents"

"shitty parents? Wait what happened?"

"well"

Tony jolts again from another voice and looks up to see Steve and Bucky coming into the kitchen. They sit down and explain how they saved Tony's life. Steve knocked Tony's dad out while Bucky called for the police. Thankfully they had Vision and his partner attend the scene so they didn't have to worry about false names and what not. Then they talk Tony back to theirs so their own nurse can patch Tony up.

"thank you guys so much for that. How?"

"well we wanted to turn around and come ask you on a date but then we turned into knights in shining armor. Our dad should be back soon. We told him what had happened so he wants to come home and meet you. We are trying very hard to prevent him from adopting you"

"but why?"

"well it would be wierd dating and adoptive brother. Bucky isn't adopted so it's not that wierd"

"no I mean why are you two doing all of this?"

"well for me it was love at first sight and I think Steve just wanted to bang you"

They talk and get to know one another until Vision returns home.

#Stuckony #part 1 #might be another part #clintasha #frostrange #there's several ships in here

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dreamworksworddump · 7 years

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Shidge, taking for-fucking-ever to get together?

She finds it on one of her scavenging trips in the city: A little hole in the wall arcade between an automated coffee shop and an antique book store. It’s true that an arcade on its own isn’t something to be excited about. After all, there’s plenty of those in pretty much every mall and shopping complex. But this arcade is one of those full of old games with physical game cabinets and little 8-bit music numbers. Of course, she calls her brother and tells him about it as soon as she realizes what a treasure she’s stumbled upon. The problem is when he’d answered he was walking with one of those kids preselected to be a pilot for the upcoming Kerberos mission, and while it’s true that nothing’s officially confirmed, it’s all but given that the kid’s gonna be the one going to space with her dad and brother. Which means that he and Matt are expected to hang out and get along. Which also means that this kid is gonna be coming with Matt when she’d really only meant for Matt to come.

Katie sighs and sticks another token into the coin slot. A game of Galaga loads on the slanted screen, and she leans forward, ready to kill more time by blowing up pixelated spaceships when someone places a heavy hand on her shoulder. She turns, ready to punch whoever’s decided the best time to annoy her is right now, when she’s about to play a game.

Instead of some asshole preteen, or petty adult gamer asking for a turn, it’s an Asian kid, or rather, The Asian Kid. Katie doesn’t remember his name, just that it’s something quick on the tongue and that it reminds her of a sneeze. The sound of her ships crashing plays behind her.

“Hey. You’re Katie, right? Matt’s parking the car.” His gaze flits towards the screen, now replaced with a game over screen. “Sorry for messing up your game. Can I buy you another?”

Katie shrugs. A free game is a free game. She’s about to say yes, and then shoo him away, but there’s something about him that piques her interest. Maybe it’s the old world watch on his wrist, or how even though he’s probably got a million flight sims to test at the Garrison, he’s here, at some dinky little arcade with her and her brother, offering to buy her a game. “Play it with me?”

He grins. “I’d love to.”

He drops two quarters into the coin slot, and the familiar opening tune plays. As he adjusts beside her, one hand holding the joystick, the other hovering above the fire button, she spots the name tag on his shoulder. Takashi Shirogane. The sound of a ship dropping from the skies pulls her attention back to the game, and they begin to play. He does pretty well too, much too well for someone who’s never played Galaga before. Maybe it’s because of his piloting skills, she thinks. Someone who flies better than pretty much everyone currently enrolled at the Garrison is bound to be good with their hands, but it’s not fair that his score is higher than hers is! She’s been playing for nearly an hour dammit; she should be able to beat him, easy!

As she loses her final ship, she steps away, turning her attention to Takashi’s ship. He’s on his last one, but he doesn’t seem concerned at all. His ship slides back and forth along the bottom of the screen, shooting almost every falling ship on his first try. The layers of ships between him and the mothership are slowly growing smaller, and smaller, until it’s just him and the final barrage.

He stretches his hand, readies for the final wave, when someone yells in a sing-song voice, horribly off-key. “Shiro! Katie! How could you possibly play without me?”

Takashi presses the fire button a fraction too early, and the sound of Matt’s voice startles him into steering his final ship to the left, directly into the path of the mothership’s laser.

“Come on!” Katie complains, glaring at her brother. He shrugs and leans against the side of a Pac-man game, sticking his hands in his pockets which jingle with the shifting of the quarters inside them.

“Damn it, Matt! I almost won!” Takashi complains, scowling at the high score screen. He’s made it to 8th place, but Katie bets that if Matt hadn’tve messed him up, he could’ve made it to the top five.

Takashi sighs, and starts typing in his initials. Matt watches with a grin, his arms crossed smugly as he carefully enters in T-A-K. “You can always play again.”

“You can always play by yourself.” Katie sticks her tongue out, very aware of how juvenile her response is. Ignoring her brothers faux hurt expression, she grabs Takashi’s hand. “Wanna try Skeeball next?”

He grins. “If you really think you can beat me.”

“You’re on.” She says, tugging him behind her like a toy on a string. Behind them, her brother mumbles about best friend stealing sisters as he sticks a quarter into the Pac-man machine.

Katie pretends not to hear.

A car seemingly appears out of nowhere, forcing her to turn the corner much faster than she’d initially intended to. One of the DVD cases tries to slide out of her shirt, and she has to pause to adjust it before continuing down the hill.

“Asshole,” Katie mutters as she glides downhill.

Now she really wishes she had’ve installed that basket for her bike after she’d bought it. It’d come with the kit, but she hadn’t cared for the distinctly feminine appearance; it looked a bit too juvenile for her tastes, but it sure as hell would’ve been helpful now. Her bike’s one of those old school bikes where you actually have to pedal to move it, and she’d mostly bought it because it looked cool. She hadn’t intended on spending a hundred plus universal credits on fixing it up, but in the end, it was worth it. It was much cheaper than buying a modern motorbike, and was great most of the time, especially since most of her trips were just around the corner to the library or convenience store for more peanut butter cookies. Normally, her backpack was big enough to hold whatever she’d bought, but it had already been full of books and computer parts from the recycling center, which meant that she had no space for the collection of horror movies that she’d come across at the garage sale on the way home.

A disk attempts to dislodge itself from the bundle in her shirt as she turns into the driveway, but she manages to catch it before it falls to the ground.

“Is there a reason why you’re holding ten DVD’s under your shirt, or is it just a new fashion trend I haven’t heard about?” Takashi teases, taking some of the discs from her grasp.

“Some guy around the corner was selling them for like a dollar each, and come on,” She grabs the disc on the top of the stack. “How could I resist buying ‘The face stealer’ and its three sequels when they’re that cheap?”

Shiro unlocks the door for her (when did he get a key to their house?), and waits for her to walk inside before following her in.

“So which ones are we watching tonight?”

She raises a brow and drops the pile onto the couch. “Who said you were invited to my horror movie marathon?”

Shiro snorts. “There’s no fun in watching horror movies alone, now is there?”

Katie taps her chin in faux contemplation. “I suppose not.”

“Popcorn?” He asks as he heads into the kitchen.

“Extra butter, and M&M’s.” She supplies as she hooks up her computer to the TV. By the time he comes back, a bowl of steaming bowl of Popcorn, and two bottles of Coke in his hands, she has the title screen up, and the movie ready to play.

He sits on the couch beside her, taking the corner seat. He grins innocently as if he doesn’t know that that’s where she always sits. She sighs and burrows into his side, snatching the bowl from his grasp.

The narrator begins to speak, his ominous tone seeming ridiculously funny as Takashi whispers the words with him in a high pitched voice. “And the face-stealer took the little girl’s face…”

Katie giggles and nudges him with her elbow. He guffaws and quiets down, his arm draping across her shoulders just as the opening scene begins. Her face feels hot for some reason, even though the weight of his arm around her shoulder feels as natural as the weight of her phone in her pocket.

“You good, Katie?” Takashi asks, grabbing an M&M from the top of the bowl.

He tosses it into the air, catching it in his mouth just before it lands in her hair. “I’m good. I’m great.” She says, staring pointedly at the screen. A green screened monster creeps in a window on screen, it’s face changing into that of a cute teen boy. “If the face stealer was real, whose face do you think he’d go after first? Yours or mine?”

Takashi taps his chin in faux thoughtfulness. “I’d say…it’d go after you first.”

“Why?” Katie can’t think of any good reason for it to go for her first: after all, Takashi’s the strongest of the two, and the face-stealer usually goes after the more powerful person, so logically-

“Your face is cuter than mine, obviously.”

She looks to Takashi, and his face is flushed red too. She leans her head against his shoulder. “Thanks.”

She’s not exactly sure when he started coming over for dinner. It was sometime after they announced the crew for Kerberos for sure, but when, exactly, it became an everyday thing is lost to her. All she knows is that he’s been eating dinner with them so often and for so long, she can’t remember setting a table for just four places anymore.

Her father scoops more peas onto his plate as he describes a new discovery by some college kids and the subsequent possible addition to their mission because of it. Takashi listens with rapt attention, the cube of steak speared on his fork hovering a few inches away from his mouth.

He’s barely eighteen, but he’s going to be one of the first humans to travel past Mars. It’s awe inspiring how he’s gotten so far. Perhaps if she hadn’t chosen to specialize in tech/medical, she could be going on that flight with him, instead of staying behind to finish her studies on Earth. Even so, .that buzz that they seem to carry everywhere has infected her too, and she’s not embarrassed to admit that she’s counting down the days until lift-off. She’s going to miss him, Katie realizes.

Those arcade sessions and movie marathons, and speculations over coffee and peanut butter cookies seem to have happened so long ago. What’s she gonna do when he’s gone? Who’s she gonna do all their things with when it’s just her again?

“Katie?” Takashi calls, and she looks up, unaware that she’d stopped eating.

She shoves a spoonful of mashed peas into her mouth. “Yeah?”

Her mother sighs- she’d given up on her manners years ago, though it still annoys her to death when she acts without them in front of company.

“I really wish they had room for a fourth crew member. Matt’s psychology scores suck in comparison to yours.”

“Hey!” Matt interjects indignantly. “It was only by like-”

“Twenty-five points?” Her father interjects wryly.

Matt sighs heavily and lifts his spoon. “Oh why, mashed peas, why must my friends and family betray me so?” He intones.

Katie giggles, and Shiro laughs, their sounds of humor overlapping.

“I wish I could go, too. Too bad dad can’t recommend two of his kids to come with.”

“Yeah, too ba,” Takashi repeats, half under his breath.

Her parents exchange a look, and then her dad starts on about that new comet, and the moment passes, leaving her heart twisting with that lingering thought: what if she could go with him? The thought it tantalizing.

She’s always had a hard time making friends on her own, but Takashi had practically become friends just by being there. She hadn’t had to work for it, hadn’t had to cut herself off when she started speaking too nerdy. She hadn’t had to hide anything from him for him to like her.

The Kerberos mission would be taking more than just her family with it; it was also taking her best friend.

She sighs, and shoves another spoonful into her mouth. How the hell was she gonna survive without him?

Katie’s one of the few lucky people who get to watch the launch from the control room.

She feels anything but.

Takashi and Matt slowly make their way down the walkway, thanking the various scientists for their contributions to the mission. Her father walks ahead of them, leading their small parade down the crowded hall. The families and friends stand closest to the door to the shuttle, in a small, subdued group. Across from Katie and her mother stands Takashi’s family; a boy in a red jacket with a slightly sour expression. Katie isn’t sure if they’re brothers or just close friends, and wonders why Takashi never spoke of him.

As Takashi exchanges words with the boy, her brother gives her a long hug, with promises to bring a rock back for her. Her father pats her back and tells her that it’ll be her turn soon. They move on to her mother, leaving her and Takashi alone.

“Katie.” Takashi begins, only to be interrupted by her sudden embrace. “Katie, I-”

“I’m gonna miss you.” She sobs. “I’m gonna miss you so much.”

He wraps his arms around her, and she relaxes in his hold, trying her best to memorize the way that his arms feel around her but it’s over much too soon.

“I’ll see you soon, Katie. Don’t watch Deathinator 4 without me, okay?”

“Okay.” She sniffs as he pulls away.

It’s not until they’ve blasted off that she realizes that she’s forgotten to tell him something, although she can’t remember exactly what the words were. She decides that whatever it was, it can wait until they return.

A smaller ‘if’ lingers in the back of her mind. She pushes the thought away and tries to smile for the cameras. Of course, they’ll come back. Of course, they will.

He’s dead.

They’re all dead, her brother, her father. Takashi.

When the Garrison has their memorial, they call him Shiro. They say that he was one of the best and that he died too young.

They say that it’s his fault that they crashed.

She doesn’t believe it, can’t believe it. He was the most talented pilot she’d ever met; he’d trained for that mission his whole life.

She looks into it. Something’s off.

The Garrison kicks her out, and she’s blacklisted from the premises.

She finds a way back in.

She becomes someone new. A boy, fourteen, four years younger than her. She becomes Pidge Gunderson and buries Katie Holt under lies, and secrets and aliases.

She doesn’t remember how his arms felt around her, tries not to remember how easy it was to just exist around him.

For a year, Katie Holt doesn’t exist, and neither does Takashi.

It’s Lance’s fault that she finds him again.

She should rephrase that.

It’s because of Lance that she finds Shiro again. It is, however, his fault that they’re currently stuck in outer space, millions of lightyears from home.

But that doesn’t matter so much.

She’s found one of her missing pieces, and she’s on the trail for her brother and father now. She can’t really complain.

Except she can, because Takashi doesn’t seem to recognize her at all, and he’s not even Takashi anymore. Everyone’s calling him Shiro instead, and the name sounds strange in her mouth when she’s been calling him something different for the past three years.

She decides not to tell him who she is. They have so much more to worry about right now than her petty feelings.

Perhaps, but what will waiting accomplish? It seems to me that this man reciprocates your feelings of love.

Pidge jumps, startled by the almost inquisitive tone of the voice.

“Who is that?” She asks, her voice echoing in the empty hangar.

She looks back towards the door, which is still closed shut. There’s no one in here but her. She looks back to her computer screen, gaze resting reluctantly on the lines of scrolling code.

For someone so smart, you’re awfully dull.

Pidge jumps, her laptop nearly sliding onto the floor before she catches it, and places it aside.

“Green?” She asks aloud. She feels kinda stupid for not realizing it earlier. What else could possibly speak to her in her mind?

You should tell him. He loves you too.

Now that the fear of not knowing who’s speaking has passed, the familiar burn of embarrassment can finally grace her cheeks.

“I don’t love him. We’re just friends.” She protests.

Green chuckles. That’s not what Black thinks, and that’s certainly not what you truly believe.

“How could you possibly know? You don’t know how I felt when he was gone! Or how much I missed him when I thought he was…” She trails off, angry tears glistening in the corner of her eyes. The words come to her easy, much too easy for someone who’d just denied it. “I think I’m in love with him.”

She can feel her lion’s triumphant grin. That you are, my Paladin.

“Now what?” Pidge whispers.

Now you tell him. Her lion supplies.

As if that’s such an easy thing to do.

“Katie?”

She doesn’t turn around. Only one person here knows her by that name.

“Takashi.”

He chuckles somewhat nervously as he sits down beside her.

“No one’s called me that in a while.”

“No one’s called me Katie for a while either.”

The sun is just setting on Arus, the view remarkably similar to that of an Earth sunset. It’s comforting to watch it sink below the horizon, leaving hues of orange and red in the sky. For a few minutes they don’t speak, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

Pidge wonders if now is a good time to tell him; he obviously knows who she is. She opens her mouth to speak, but the right words just don’t seem to come to mind. She closes her mouth again and waits.

“I thought of you a lot, while I was imprisoned.” He says, his voice quiet and subdued. He sounds so much different from who he used to be. The laughter and joy seem to have been stripped from his tone.

“I thought you said you had amnesia.” She says, and Shiro laughs.

“That’s true. I still can’t remember all of the details, and some of my memory before Kerberos is blurry, but I remember you. I remember,” He furrows his brows, deep in thought. “Deathinator 4?”

Pidge laughs. Out of everything that he could remember, it’s that dumb horror movie that comes to mind. “I love you.” She says, not realizing that she’d verbalized her thoughts until she looks at him, and sees the gentle smile gracing his lips.

She hasn’t seen him smile like this since before Kerberos.

“I love you, Katie. I’ve been waiting to say that to you for years.” Before she can reply, his hand is snaking around her waist, pulling her closer. She’s seen enough romance movies to know that now’s a good time to shut up and tilt her head to the side.

When their lips meet, all words seemed to have evacuated her mind.

Error 404 Pidge.exe not found.

When he pulls away, his arm stays around her waist and revels in the familiarity of it. How could she have been so blind for so long when it’s so obvious how well they fit together? She’s not exactly sure. Maybe she’s really known all along, and she’s just been too afraid to admit it. Whatever it was that kept her from realizing the truth, she’s glad that it’s passed.

She’s never felt happier in her whole life.

#shidge #shiro #pidge #shiro/pidge #pidge/shiro #voltron #voltron fanfic #this is what I do with my life

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