#so that explains why the rats knew to run and grab the vision immediately

[the-dream-team]

Alternatively could you write one based on the scene where the woman is hiding behind the counter and that amazing hero of a woman takes one look at the scary dude following her and says something like “honey you stay as long as you need” because the world needs more examples of women like that

This scene is one of my all-time favorites from the movie, so thank you for suggesting it! Here’s a little Snape-hate for your Thursday <3 

Read it on AO3

Lily knew better than to get her hopes up when it came to Petunia. She’d learned through the years that trying to get back in her sister’s good graces was far beyond a lost cause, but when she’d spotted the little grey kitten with crystal blue eyes playing in the Cokeworth Pet Shop’s front window, she really thought she’d found the perfect birthday present. Lily and Petunia used to love chasing the neighbourhood strays around when they were children. Surely, Tuney still liked cats. 

Apparently, Lily was quite mistaken. 

On the morning of the twelfth of July, 1976,  when Lily presented Petunia with the mewing gift, she was met by a scowl and crinkled nose.

“Vernon’s dog-sitting for his sister at the moment,” Petunia said as she handed Lily back the kitten, “so this thing will have to be out of sight when he arrives this afternoon. Best to make yourself scarce, as well... Vern thought you were quite odd after you two met last Christmas.”

Lily didn’t give a rat’s arse what Vern thought of her but bringing the kitten back to her own bedroom stung. Navigating the tricky relationship with Petunia had always been difficult when Lily came home from Hogwarts, but this Summer had been especially hard without Sev to turn to when it all became too much. Not that she wanted to turn to him anymore.

She squeezed the kitten to her chest and sighed, the memory of what Sev had said that day by the lake hitting her again in waves. Maybe a walk and some fresh air would help.

It didn’t. 

Barely a block away from her house, Lily heard shuffling footsteps behind her and immediately her chest tightened. She should have known.

“Lily, can we-”

“I told you to stay away from me, Sev.”

She spun around to see Severus, mouth gaping, hair disheveled, brows knit.

“Please,” he sputtered, slightly breathless, “I just want to talk.” 

Lily felt like she could breathe fire at that moment. “Bloody hell, I’ve heard enough out of you for a lifetime. Leave me alone.” She spun on her heel and started heading towards the center of town, hoping that having a crowd might deter Severus in his quest for Merlin knows what. 

“I know today is hard for you,” he continued, unfazed by the fact she was literally running away from him. She rolled her eyes. Maybe if she didn’t respond he’d eventually get the hint… “It’s her birthday. I remember. We used to spend this day together every year.”

“We spent a lot of days together, Severus,” she shot back, still looking straight ahead. “Drop the dramatics and get it through your head that I’m not going to forgive you. Not anymore.”

“That’s not why I’m here,” he said, jogging up to her side, so close she could see his hair swaying in her peripheral vision. 

Lily dodged into the town market, attempting to throw Severus off her tail. Just as she’d hoped, the shops were bustling on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, with plenty of patrons to provide her some protection from her pursuer. She swerved through families waiting in line for ice creams, couples picking out furniture, and teenagers loitering around the record store, but Severus managed to keep up at every turn.

“Will you please just talk to me,” he called, his plea so slimy Lily cursed the underage wizarding laws. Oh, the satisfaction a good Bat-bogey hex would bring right about now.

She cut through a narrow shop selling candles and bath soaps, sure that she’d given him the slip, but her heart dropped when he appeared to cut her off at the exit. He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the alleyway, seemingly dropping any attempt at civility. His hand was cold and tight on her skin as she shook herself free from his grip.

“I saw you with Potter on the Hogwarts express,” Severus sneered, the name Potter like poison on his tongue.

Lily gawked. He chased her halfway through Cokeworth because he saw her talking to James? She knew he hated the Gryffindor boys in their year, but she couldn’t wrap her head around him practically stalking her over one conversation she had weeks ago. The only response she could come up with: “So?”

“So?” he nearly shouted. “How could you possibly even speak to him after what he did to us!”

She had managed to keep her cool. Until now. “What he did to us? Potter didn’t do anything to me, other than act like a bit of a prick- which he apologized for that day on the train, mind you.” 

Severus sputtered. “But it’s his fault-”

“That you called me a Mudblood?” That shut him up. While he tried gathering himself to respond, Lily saw her opportunity to bolt. A group of loud football fans passed by and she spun through them to make a run for it. 

It felt childish, running through the market at age sixteen, but not nearly as immature as that godawful conversation, so it was a lesser of two evils, really. 

She could hear Severus cursing behind her as she searched for an exit, her panic growing as a bloody hen party decided to roost up outside the pub, blocking off the nearest escape route out of the market. With her head clouding from panic at the thought of discussing James freaking Potter with Severus for another minute, Lily made a split- if not uncalculated- decision and leapt over the nearest shop counter. Out of sight, out of mind. 

Well, almost.

“If you’re not a cupcake, you don’t belong here.”

Lily looked up from her hiding spot on the bakery stall’s floor at an unphased woman with arched eyebrows and a messy apron. Her nametag read ‘Carla’ in swoopy script with a smiley face sticker that didn’t match the unamused look on her face.

“I’m- er- just trying to hide from my ex,” explained Lily. Whether that be -friend, -boyfriend, or -husband, she let Carla come to her own conclusions.

“Who, greasy?”

“Yes.”

Carla glanced discreetly from Lily’s spot behind the counter to the marketplace ahead and allowed a hint of a grimace to pass over her unbothered expression. “Honey, stay as long as you need.”

“Thank you,” Lily exhaled, and chanced a look through the cupcake display case. To her horror, she saw Severus approaching the bakery, a wild look in his dark eyes. 

“Do you need something?” asked Carla and Lily watched disgust wash over Severus’ face at the gall of a Muggle shopkeeper to dare speak to him. “I said do you need something?”

He scoffed, rolled his eyes, and whipped around to look elsewhere. 

“I see why you left him,” Carla muttered. She reached under the counter and handed Lily a cupcake with fluffy yellow frosting topped with two eyes and a smile. It matched the sticker on Carla’s nametag and Lily couldn’t help but grin. 

“You know what,” said Lily, reaching into her pocket to pull out her Muggle money, “I’ll take a dozen more of these.”

***

Lily sat in her bedroom, curled up with the kitten that afternoon, her window wide open to let in the warm summer breeze. Voices carried from the garden as Petunia and her boyfriend explained to her parents just how difficult it had been to secure a reservation that night at the swankiest restaurant in all of Cokeworth. 

“By the way, Mrs. Evans,” said Vernon, his loud voice crashing through Lily’s window, “these cupcakes are delicious. They’re from Sweet Street’s Bakery down at the market, are they not? Not a better spot in all of England, you have excellent taste.”

“Oh,” came her mother’s voice, “I had nothing to do with the cupcakes, actually. It was Lily who picked them out.”

As the shocked silence stretched on, Lily’s smile grew tenfold, wide enough to match the happy face on her own half-eaten cupcake. 

#national treasure prompts #lily evans #fanfiction #asks #prompts #thank you!

[halothenthehorns]

All in the Family

Chapter 127: Out of the Fire

At first James thought the concussive, ear-splitting shrieking noise was coming from him. He knew he wanted to scream, but the air felt lodged in his throat now, because he couldn't see Sirius! Had he been vanished into an unknown abyss for dying in this future!?

They were in a very dark room and something massive was moving about, a sunset was forcing painful light into their eyes from cracks around the edges of heavy curtains only illuminating movement but no distinct shape. The rank smell of several unidentifiable things left him gasping and wheezing and he just kept flailing madly around, he wouldn't stop until he found him!

Something painfully tight latched onto his neck and forced him to bend over double, he shrieked in fury, trying to pull away and blindly going for his wand, but he couldn't find it! He must have dropped it when he landed-

"Prongs, stop, moving," Remus hissed in his ear with more stress than he ever would have believed him capable of, hand probably white-knuckled on his neck, he was holding so tight and suffocating him a bit, but it was obvious Moony didn't dare let up.

Heart still thudding, the maddening scene of Voldemort murdering his brother slowly ebbed from his eyes to really take in their surroundings.

Buckbeak finally began to calm now that all racket had deceased, but he was still clicking his beak in fury even as all of them edged as far away as they could bent double. He was standing much taller than usual, and James's eyes finally adjusted to see him perched on a bed. There was fresh hay and sawdust all around, plus a bag of dead rats sitting where the pillows should, leaning against a wooden frame like a mock bag of feed. There were deep scratches in the posts, ruining whatever design had once been inlaid, like Buckbeak often rubbed his sharp beak against it. The real problem of why he didn't go back to his meal came apparent when they saw all the blood around him wasn't from his food, but a deep cut in his front leg.

Sirius finally came into view, and James breathed in relief and tried to move towards him, but Remus kept him in the forced bow with bruising force as Padfoot began gently, "hey there buddy, wow that looks like a problem. I bet it hurts, how'd you manage that huh? Come here Buckbeak, come on, I promise I'll summon up whatever your favorite is if you let me have a look."

Maybe it was the gentle tone, maybe it was the familiarity of the person even if he was several years younger, in Remus's opinion it was just Sirius's innate ability to soothe anyone if he wanted to with that natural charisma when he unleashed it and nobody could resist. Regardless, Buckbeak finally folded his wings and made a pitiful cooing noise as he nudged his head against his shoulder and shuffled forward on three legs while Sirius kept up his inane chatter and carefully climbed up beside him, never moving to fast.

There were already some bandages and cotton balls waiting open and ready at the foot of the king sized bed, Sirius ruddy hoped someone was up here helping the poor thing out. He could now only wish it was himself though, it would be the most useful thing he'd ever done in his life at this point instead of- nope! He was doing it now, taking every care to keep chatting with the hippogriff as he cleaned the wound and wrapped it up tight. He didn't dare draw his wand to try anything else, these beasts were notoriously shy about magic in their presence.

The others began cautiously rising back to normal, and Buckbeak allowed it as Sirius began hand-feeding him from the bag of rats. His tail was still thrashing, binocular vision able to track everything on both sides of his head, but he remained at Sirius's side standing on the bed rather than trying to chase them off, which would do no good, he'd already seen Evans try the door out of the corner of his eye.

James tried edging forward, but Buckbeak spat a dead rat in his face, tearing up his bedding with his good claw as he heavily pawed the ground. Sirius reached up and pat his beak while catching James's eye with the most comforting smile he could offer. "Relax Prongs," his tone was still more honeyed than it had ever been speaking to his best mate, he usually reserved such a thing for teachers he was trying to flatter out of detention. It never worked on anyone but this hippogriff before. "I'm, I'm fine-"

He couldn't keep lying, his voice shook and his fingers began to tremble and the restless animal easily sensed his distress and began ruffling his feathers in unease. Sirius quieted himself and began running his hand along the gray feathers now, stopping to scratch in between the shoulder blades and the back of the neck, those hard-to-reach places that had him almost cooing with content and finally relaxing into him.

No, he was not fine. Of all the trouble he'd ever caused his friends, this was by far the most grievous one yet, now with Harry added to the mix! His godson, his poor godson forced to see this, live Voldemort's pleasure of murdering him! All because he couldn't do one stupid thing right and suck it up in this house. Perhaps he should take a page out of Wormtail's book and start distancing himself from them, give them all a break from his never ending catastrophes!

They watched in distress as Sirius worked himself up to a silent storm, he was clearly making the animal ill at ease as well no matter the affection given, so when Smith grabbed the book up off the ground and began reading, both startled badly yet again. Buckbeak threw his wings to their full extent and shrieked at her while Sirius flinched and had no time to duck, earning the retaliation of being thrown into the heavy curtains and sent them all on top of him, throwing the rest of the room into sharp relief.

Out of the Fire, into the frying pan, Remus finished in his head as he and James rushed forward to help untangle him while the powerful horse legs kicked wildly at the wall, sending a splintering noise in the very foundation while the bellowing shrieks began again.

Alice dropped the book and immediately bowed in apology, mildly appeasing the hippogriff enough he didn't lunge off the bed to attack her at least. He still didn't seem able to settle though, making a keening noise of longing and clicking his beak as he began pacing restlessly on the bed.

It was the most splendid thing in here. The midnight walls had silvery threads in the design up to the ceiling like veins that seemed to seep right down to the canopy that was torn to shreds, but the grandeur ended there. Regulus had only been in here once to even know such a thing was in his parents' room, otherwise it was unrecognizable as all of their things had vanished. They were forbidden from entering, but obviously that hadn't stopped Sirius's purge of the house, which of course made perfect sense why Sirius had put his ruddy pet up here.

His brother smiled, just a bit when his mates got him back on his feet and he realized the same of his own destruction. Regulus longed to throw at him it was doing shit like this why he brought so much of his own troubles on himself, he'd never really tried to make peace with mum and dad. Instead he seemed to go out of his way to do things they dislike just to complain that they hated him.

Regulus cringed at the idea of going back and attempting the same. He'd never be so blatant and in their face at it as his brother, but he didn't much like the idea of them shouting at him the way they did Sirius if he told them he had other plans for his life. He still longed for some kind of peaceful balance.

Potter and Lupin both seemed reluctant to let him back out of arm's length, but the creature refused to settle until Sirius got back on the bed with him and snapped dangerously at anyone who tried to join him. Sirius offered him another rodent carcass and waited until he'd gnashed away at it before nodding back at Smith with that calm aloof air once more he was so familiar with, it was impossible to tell what he was really thinking when he shut down like that, just how they were raised. Mother may actually be proud of him at that moment.

Now his idiot brother was going to die because he'd been in this house too long and refused to listen to anyone, but at least he'd have someone around to notice like Harry and Lupin. The shock of it all felt like an insulting blow to his world view. Sirius was going to be murdered for doing the opposite of what he'd done, was there really no right answer?

She began again in an attempt at a soothing tone like his, and though the bird head was tossed in agitation, he didn't throw his companion aside again but allowed the noise as it did him no harm and her voice was very soft, with fear. She read with dread of poor Harry's panic as he tore off for the Hospital Wing for McGonagall, who wasn't there. She'd been transferred to St. Mungo's.

Harry only had Snape to turn to for help, and that idea didn't seem to be occurring to him as his friends caught up and he had to explain the whole maddening concept to them.

Regulus listened with pity for Harry having to live through this, but something else was ebbing to the surface as he watched the Potter in here. Envy. Sirius kept looking to him, offering him that carefree smile as he kept patting at the beast and even winking at Lupin like this was some joke, making silly faces and even starting to hum a tune under his breath as he continued scratching at the animal, and when he wasn't doing that he was just the haughty Black heir. For all anyone could tell his godson was out having a picnic with him. It was a very good farce a lesser person would have fallen for.

Sirius didn't even look at him. Not to gloat this was the proper way to go against the Dark Lord, not to sneer and mock him for being up in this room he shouldn't be or even to have a laugh about it. He'd known for a very long time now James Potter was his brother's equal in a way he never could be, but this hadn't felt quite so insulting until this very moment where he clearly wasn't even going to be a passing blip as his brother was probably over there pondering what his last thoughts would be.

Frank had his hands on Alice's waist as she read, holding her close as her voice trembled for Harry's pain. They didn't even know Sirius, not really, they felt they had a better understanding of the man he'd become through Harry than the teenager who seemed so determined to ignore the proceedings.

Their aching sympathy though didn't dim their downright confusion at the circumstances. He caught Lily's eyes and saw the same confused expression as she watched him, Hermione's pertinent questions that had no effect on Harry had the three of them very worried something about this wasn't feeling right.

Sirius shouldn't have been leaving this home for this plan to be possible, but this was the same man who'd broken out of Azkaban, that part wasn't so unbelievable no matter who told him what. Why would You-Know-Who need him to get this weapon though? That was a very stumping question, and one they hoped they weren't privy to. If Harry dipped back into the other's mind and heard, the answer would give no relief to these transgressions.

Ron's answer was, plausible, but one look at Regulus didn't make it hold much weight. He'd been killed very soon after his entrance, it seemed laughable he'd even been in You-Know-Who's presence, let alone had some key of knowledge.

Ginny and Luna arriving stopped the impending argument, Harry was so desperate with anger by now that it was a miracle a plan was agreed by all to use Umbridge's fireplace to check this out.

The only one he spoke to for his troubles was Kreacher, laughing about the entire painful situation. Sirius really wasn't there, and now they may get a live version of hearing the great and mighty Black turn out like them if he was tortured while Harry was forced to watch. Neville now being in the very room with them nearly made reality splinter before their eyes.

Lily finally dragged her eyes off of James Potter's white face and buried her own away in her hands so she didn't have to see his reaction when Harry finally remembered Severus Snape was a member of the Order. She didn't even believe anymore he would have helped Harry, she didn't believe much of anything anymore. Here she was, nearly crying in sorrow for these two and only able to imagine her poor son losing someone again, and hating her best friend, what on Earth was this future? How could it be possible something like this could exist?

Something in her sparked traitorously as she looked back up when she heard him lying to Umbridge. Veritaserum was far from the only truth serum, and for him to pretend he wouldn't have any others was laughable. She turned mechanically back to Potter to see his silent screaming was still in full blast, but his wand was in Lupin's hand and he didn't even seem to care. Even the simple fact that he hadn't a reaction for Severus and only had eyes for his best friend felt right to her. If he'd gone about insulting him now, at a time like this, she'd know he was heartless. Instead she was now reasonably confident, almost hopeful again that Severus really was still in the Order for Dumbledore's secret reason rather than any plot of You-Know-Who's. Sev had no reason to lie to Umbridge and help Sirius anymore than he would Harry, but that's exactly what he was doing.

Harry seemed to miss this revelation, he watched his potions teacher go with the purest loathing once more, and she couldn't blame him, after everything Snape had done to her boy. She wrapped her arms around herself as if torn in two. Was this just another false wish then? She still wanted to see in him that childhood friend? It didn't excuse what he'd called her, but maybe if he really saved Sirius Black's life it would show he wanted to change...

Alice nearly shrieked and wanted to throw the book away from herself when Umbridge's next solution was to use the torture curse on Harry. Buckbeak was still no calmer in the heavy environment and glowered at her, but Sirius was quick to keep his attention, a murmuring promise of more spoils for him as soon as he could. He was starting to lose his composure though, they could all see the cracks now. He wasn't even looking at his best mate anymore, his fingers were trembling in the soft texture and his hair was covering most of his face.

The two had once been each other's salvation in escaping Hogwarts, Sirius fought the mad desire to try so now. Throw open that window and ride off into the sunset on the back of the hippogriff, maybe animals could come and go from this nightmare.

He knew he couldn't though, he felt like a coward for even thinking it. His friends might be better off without him, but damn it all, even Hermione was coming up with quite the story to Umbridge's face and got Harry out of that situation, the three of them heading off to the Forbidden Forest! If that girl, who hadn't even wanted to help him moments ago, thinking Harry was having some nightmare, could manage that, he'd suck it up and be there for them any way they wanted him.

#Harry Potter #fanfiction #reading the books #OotP #Marauders #Wolfstar #Jilly #James Potter #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #Regulus Black #Peter Pettigrew #Frank Longbottom #Alice Smith #Lily Evans

[zuffer-weird-girl]

What if s/o is a thief trying to steal Pirate! Overhaul's treasures but then s/o was caught and almost got killed but then Overhaul planed to use her as like an assistant or something?? Sorry, I can't explain much😔 I LUV UR FANFICS BY THE WAYY!!💖 It always motivates me😔✨❤

A mere thief getting on one of the most terrifying and scary ships of all sea, ruled by the tyrant and stoic captain any pirate or simple civilian ever heard of.

Captain Overhaul.

And now, as the trope had left the boat on the deck. You saw a opportunity to get your hands on their stolen treasure. The captain always carried his most gains with him, always with arrogance that whoever crossed his path on sea or eatlrth would have the same destiny. Death.

Yet you, with one braincell aparently, sneaked inside the ship and knocked out one of the man's responsible for vigilance. You smirked to yourself and a bit of pity for the blonde whose was on the wood of the ground as you snuck in inside.

You lighten up carefully one of your matches on the bottom of your boot. Widening your eyes at the amount of gold coins, rum barrels, jewel chests among ruby, jade and diamonds.... you left out a small "wow" as you wondered around.... ocasionally picking one or two things and shoving down your purse you always carried.

You stopped walking and furrowed your eyebrows when you saw a painting. Bringing the light close, you brushed your hand on the dusty painting to see an old man with two kids... the girl was taller and had similarities with the elder while the boy on the left was younger and totally different.... Golden eyes and dark brown hair on his features.

"Huh..." you muttered while hissing when you burned your finger accidentaly with the match. Grumbling and lightening up another one.

Some box with food were in there as well and you were impressed by how much everything, excluding the painting, was in great state... not even one bit of dust on the gold or other things.

"Weird..." you muttered before hearing some drunk voices and footsteps coming from outside.

Cursing you threw the match out from a window and hided yourself on one of the boxes at hearing the sounds of boots echoing and getting closer...

"Maybe it was a mistake staying in here?" You heard a voice and you curled up even more but still tried to poke an eye out of your hidding spot to see something...

"NOnSeNsE!" Another one shouted and you cringed at how loud it was "CAPTaiN KnoWs WhAT He I DoInG PunnNKKKKkk-!"

"Punk?" You muttered quietly before the voices went quiet for a bit.

"Yes Overhaul. We will tell the other to get up by morning." And with that, the voices were out...

You heard stories of thsi young king of the seas before... and hearing the name Overhaul caused almost everyone you knew to shiver... No one who met him came back to tell the story...

You gulped and made quietly your way out as soon as you heard the creaking of the door... you couldn't just get out now... especially with all the crew wide awake...

Well... they did drinked aparently... so you just had to wait a few minutes. So the best you could do was patiently what until everything was quiet enough to get out and ran away.

You heard a sound of water and arched your eyebrow up when you saw water with soap poking and sliding down the door that just had closed... did... did that man was cleaning his own office? Do pirates do that?

You shrugged and quietly went upstairs at noticing not a sound was muttered.. you opened the door slowly and slid you way out of it and closing without a sound.

You looked at the deck and everyone was almost passed out... some even drooling on the ground of teh ship. You made a disgusted face and tiptoed your way out till the exit of the ship....

You were almost there as you laughed inside of your head before your body stopped when a bigger and rough hand closed around your wrist as you gasped at seing a man with white hair glaring down at you.

"What are you doinh in here?" He growled as you gulped.

"G-Got in teh wrong ship!" You yelped quietly... but the man only furrowed even more his eyebrows and shouted "LIFT ANCHOR! WE HAVE A CLANDESTINE HERE!"

Shit...

They all woke up immediately, some grabbing their swords as other went to lift the anchor. The man let go of your wrist as you tried to run back to the exit only to see you were away from the port.

"DAMMIT!" You shouted, preparing to jump on the water before you screamed when a much bigger than the other grabbed your forearm and even lifted you off from the ground.

"Aaaa!" The muscular man let out as you kicked and squirmed on his grasp "What we have here??? Trying to steal from Overhow?"

"More respect towards our Captain Rappa. Now-" the blonde pushed his glasses up with his middle finger as he glared at you "Hold still this street rat."

You growled at him before you kicked the man, Rappa, on the balls as he shouted and let you go... you ran but three man circled around you... One with a bag on his head, one bald and the other blinded you had knocked out earlier whose cleary wasn't happy to see you again.

"Get THIS WOMAN!" Another blonde shouted as you cursed before grabbing the bag face man's forearm and jumping to give a kick right on the bald one's face before punching on the blonde's jaw to get a run for it.

You screamed again when you felt something on your ankle and before you knew it, you were hanging upside down as you saw all the eyes on you...

"Now, what do we have here?" A indigo drunk guy sluttered as he tried to touch you before you slapped him away, accidentally letting your purse fall and show the things you had just grabbed it.

The white haired man from before crouched down to see it as the blonde with glasses from earlier got close.

"Is Captain's things." The man whispered as the blonde nodded, glaring at you.

"So a mere thief huh?" You gulped before yelping when a crow screamed in your ear and flew to be on top on one of the mans.

"Come on, as if pirates aren'tthiefs themselfs..." you mumbled as you hang up side down, smirking and arching one eyebrow before you widened your eyes at seing the same crow transform into a muscled name as he screamed down at you.

"DARe To COmPArE US WiTh YoU ThEN?!" Ah, so this was the guys who shouted "punk" earlier....

"What should we do with her?" A blonde with closed eyes asked, almost I dissapointed as The indigo one spoke after.

"Hey boss, let's shave her!" The guy laughed as you gasped in offense.

"Idiot." The men in glasses muttered while shaking his head.

"Walk the board!" The Rappa guys yelled as you rolled your eyes.

"Tacky dude. Tacky." All of them looked at you in shock, whispering to one another before the white haired man took off his sword.

"Silence all of you." He spike before walking, pointing the tip of his sword to your throat as your breath started to quickened.

The door slammed and everyone tensed, your attacker pulling his sword back and walking away from you as the other males stand by in two lines.

You squinted your eyes, one black boot coming out of the dark and one gloved hand on teh door... despite the night being dark as always, you gulped in fear at the golden eyes narrowing at your figure from the distance.

"Captain." They all saluted Rappa hesitated but did it anyway as the unknown male came in view.

Hat covering the top of his dark brow hair as hsi golden eyes shined along with the moon light... His cape and vests didn't reached the ground and he carrie along a belt that he aparently had both a sword and a shotgun...

He walked slowly towards you, The crown man and the white haired dude trailing a bit behind him as he looked at you from the ground at your hanging upside down corpse.

"... what do we have here?" His voice was a dark and low one as he put his hands behind his back and walked in circles around where you were standing... your head just on the same height as his own one but only for a few inches higher.

"Setsuno." He said, and the blonde shivered "I thought you were looking for our ship..." his tone was cold and dissapointed.

"F-Forgive me C-Captain." He looked over his shoulders at the blonde "She knocked me out, that's why you all probably found me on the floor."

"I will decide your punishement later..." he growled and they all shivered before he returned to lock his golden orbs with you "For now I aparently have to deal with this problem. One that aparently gave you a bit of work to just maintain our prisoner."

"Forgive us Overhaul." The white haired man spoke more confidently as be also looked at you "But we found out that this woman is not only a clandestine, but also one that stolen a bit of your possesions."

He hummed before taking his sword out and lifting up in teh air with a pysocothic look "In that case-"

Everyone closed their eyes as well as you, but you only groaned when your face and body met harshly the ground as you hissed in pain before your vision meet Overhaul's boots..

You gasped when you felt him grabbing you by the hair and taking your face up to look at him.

"So you're a thief. Have to be very brave or some stupid girl to invade my ship out of all the ones on that port." He yanked your head even more as you hissed bit glared at him back "You can have what you picked up. Really, I wont mind."

Everyone let out a confused nose before you saw the crown man throw your purse on the sea.

You were suddenly lifted up by the hair as he yanked you along with by the end of the ship, the most scariest thing was that he was calm, not laughing not shouting. HE WAS FUCKING CALM. You panted while staring at the water above your feet as you were only being held by one of Overhaul's hand.

"You still want that thing?" You shook your head desperately as he hummed "What a shame..."

You went to look but as soon as your feet disconnected with the ground and felt his hand pushing you you let out a bloody scream you met the cold water.

He only looked at you coming out of the water to breath a few minutes ago.

"SADISTIC!" you shouted, teeth hitting together as he only lifted one of his eyebrows.

"We are far away from that shameful city we were now. If you swan until there, your body will be tired out, not even speaking about the sharks and other sea creatures that can come easily after you." Some of the crea laughed as you tried still have more strengh to say with your head out of the water.

"Maybe..." he hitted his finger lightly on his forehead as he stared right in your eyes "Maybe you can be useful on my ship... After all, you own me after that audacity of yours."

"FUCK YOU! AS IF!" you shouted back as he sighed, having his back to you and lifting his hand up.

"In that case. Be my guest to be eaten by sharks." You glared at him before you froze at seing one shark not much far away...

Be a slave for pirates or die by a shark..?

You cried ass you swan the list you could before you gave up and shouted, all of your pride completely lost on that moment.

"I ACCEPT! I ACCEPT OKAY?! TAKE ME OUT OF HERE! PLEASE I BEG YOU-!"

He stopped and smiled sadistically before gaving a look to Mimic, whose nodded and transformed into a crown and went to throw you a rope as you cried in relief and started to grab it.

"Pull her." He muttered to Rappa whose did abruptly. You were soon back on the grounds of the ship as you trembled... Glaring already at the boots in front of you as Overhaul looked down at you, so I the crown rested on his shoulder as the other men snickered at you.

"Welcome to the Hassaikai... slave." He let out a sinister smirk on his face before he snapped his fingers for two man to lift you up.

"Put a chain on her. Maybe this way she wont be a idiot enough to jump amd kill herself on the sea." He ordered before the showed the crown out of his shoulder and walked casually back to his quarters, not before stopping and giving you a look over his shoulders.

"Call me your captain Overhaul from now on until you let your final breath out..." With that he closed the door, leaving you to widen your eyes in horror and be dragged by the man by some other place of the ship.

(Aaaaa I loved this piece, should I continued???"

#overhaul x reader #chisaki kai x reader #overhaul #chisaki kai #bnha imagine #bnha characters #bnha villains x reader #bnha au #captain overhaul #pirate au #shiiit i loved this #zuffer writings

[space-nerd2005]

Maybe She’s Got a Friend-Chapter 2

After a very long wait, ITS HERE!!! This chapter is longer than the first one to hopefully make up for how long it took to come out.

Here is a link to the playlist I made to go along with it

This is the chapter Reader meet Bucky. YAY!!!

2176 words

“I'm terrified out of my mind! Although Steve did just fine, that doesn't mean I will be as fortunate. I have to go. If I don’t make it, tell Peggy I’m sorry. 08.19.41” I quickly shoved my pen in my pocket and shut my journal. Steve opened the door for me and I exited the car. I walked alongside Steve down a long corridor leading to large double doors. My heart was beating a million miles a minute. I was extremely anxious about the life-changing procedure. I had always been an anxious person, being in the SSR only made that worse. Steve spoke my name softly and I looked up to him and hummed in response.

 “I can feel the anxiety radiating off of you, we can sit for a minute if that's what you need,” I smiled at Steve and nodded. Since I met him, he has had striking charisma. Even before the serum, he always knew when he needed to calm someone down. He led me to a bench nearby and sat next to me. "What if it fails, or worse, what if I'm still viewed in the same way once it's over?" I looked up at Steve. He had a sympathetic look on his face. My knee was bouncing up and down and I was playing with the rings on my fingers. Steve placed his hand on my knee, stopping it from bouncing, and grabbed my hand, holding it softly in his. “I know you are worried, but everything will work out okay," he said, holding eye contact with me.

 “I just want to serve alongside those who have put their lives on the line for our country, not be a poster girl.” Steve smiled and that confused me. He spoke up after a moment of demented silence. 

“You are one of the strongest women I know, this serum won't change much. You must force the change; believe me, I know what it's like to be pushed aside for being something you did not choose to be.” I took a deep breath and resolved to bury my emotions. Steve rose to his feet, and I soon followed. “Let's do this!” I smiled, and Steve returned my smile. Together, we marched into the lab. All eyes soon landed on Steve and I blushed, all of my nervous energy rushing back to me. Steve walked me down the stairs to Dr. Erskine. “Please take your uniform off, and ignore the judging stares. They are only wishing they were you.” The doctor whispered into my ear. I started to strip down when Howard Stark came up to me. “You are one lucky gal.” I faked a smile and continued working on taking my uniform off. “Just make sure you take out all of your hairpins; they could be bad for the procedure,” Stark said softly, and I nodded. I made sure to double-check I took all of my bobby pins. I took a deep breath before sitting down in the Vita-Ray Chamber. I quickly scanned the room for Peggy. My eyes danced on Steve for a second longer before returning to look for Peggy. I had no luck. She must have not made it. A deep sad feeling struck my heart. There wasn’t much of an audience this time and you could tell that Colonel Phillips was not happy with Erskine’s choice in subjects. I could hear them arguing when Dr. Erskine came to brief me on the procedure.

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“I told you I wanted an army, and a woman, THIS woman can’t fight my battles for me!” Colonel Phillips could be heard down the hall from Dr. Erskine’s office. I was sitting outside because I was called for a briefing for tomorrow. “I assure you, Colonel, that she will be a wonderful asset to your team. I would like to see how the female anatomy reacts to the serum.” Dr. Erskine replied calmly. “If you don’t think for a minute that the government will defund our department.” The door to the doctor’s office flew open and the Colonel stormed off. I could have sworn I saw a shocked look on his face like he wasn’t expecting me to be there, but he quickly covered it up with his angry façade. After the Colonel had been long gone, Dr. Erskine invited me in. 

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My daze was broken by a nurse suddenly sticking a needle in my arm. I smiled at her as she walked away. Then other nurses began to prep the chamber by adding the remaining six vials of the serum. The doctor then motioned me to lay down and two more nurses strapped me to the bed and brought two arms down to my chest. Steve gave my hand one last squeeze before being escorted up into the box above us. The doctor gave me a pleading look. I nodded and he smiled and turned to a nurse, "Now." Dr. Erskine backed away and my vision went blurry for the first seconds I felt numb. I wasn’t even sure it was working. Then the pain hit me like a train. It felt like lava was running through my veins. It was so quick and before I knew it, it flipped, like a switch. Suddenly, it was cold, I was freezing. My eyes snapped open and I let out a low-pitched scream. Then everything went dark. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The next thing I see are sparks. There are sparks everywhere. Then a jolt of electricity runs in my veins and the last thing I remember hearing was a loud bang, followed by multiple smaller bangs. My memory went quiet. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next thing I remember is waking up in a bright room. My eyes were hazy and I couldn’t focus on anything in the room. I see a hunched-over object in the chair next to my bed. My eyes focused a little bit and I realized it was Steve. I reached my hand out and grabbed Steve’s arm. He jolted up and I got a glimpse of his face. He looked extremely tired. I frowned at him, “Steve, you look like you’ve been through hell and back.” My raspy voice seemed to snap him awake because he stood up. “Oh my,” he took a pause and looked guilty. “You’re probably wondering what happened.” I tried to think back to what happened that fateful day. Steve spoke up and I lost my train of thought. “Something happened in the chamber, causing you to pass out. Then a HYDRA agent’s bomb blew up, he shot the doctor and I chased him down. He ended up killing himself with a cyanide capsule.” I was trying to process what Steve had just told me when Peggy stormed in and smiled at me.

 “You’re quite the looker," she chuckled, and I rolled my eyes. I’m sure my appearance was super attractive. “Steve, I think James needs you. I’ll watch her while you are gone.” She smiled and we both watched as he left. She looked at me and took Steve’s spot on the chair next to the bed. “What’s wrong with Steve?” I asked. Peggy frowned and looked at me, saying, "I suppose you did miss it all. Well, this whole week has been super hard for all of us, but especially Steve. He blamed himself for everything that happened on Tuesday. Then he found out that his best friend, James, or as most call him, ‘Bucky’ was declared MIA. Steve went to the HYDRA base and reclaimed those soldiers.” It had been quite the week. “Oh.” was all I could muster. Peggy smiled and said, "Your doctor said you could probably leave tomorrow, depending on how you feel. "Nothing too serious." She said this as she smiled at me again. 

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In the next week, I was released from the hospital and back in action, well sorta… I am currently in a lab having experiments tested on me like I'm a lab rat. Currently, they are testing my strength. I was sparring with an extremely buff man and I was starting to run low on stamina. I don’t think that the serum affected me the same as it did Steve because I don’t have more muscle content and my stamina feels about the same. Lost in thought I didn’t realize that the man was charging at me. I panicked and put my hands out and braced my feet closing my eyes. I felt a rush wind before a loud thud. I opened my eyes and found that the man who was coming full force at me, seizing on the ground with gold electricity buzzing along with his figure. I looked at my hands and they were shooting small streams of electricity between my fingers. A few doctors ran in and tended to the man while another walked up to me. He was frightened by me because he stood a couple of feet away from me “How did you do that?” he asked while holding his clipboard up to his face ready to take notes. “I-I-I’m not sure, I imagined beating him in a fight and I opened my eyes and he was on the ground.” He looked at me and frowned. “If you could learn how to control that, you alone could be the downfall of the Axis Powers.” I smiled, ‘yes yes I could’ I said to myself.

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After that encounter I started to practice using my newfound electrokinesis, I wasn’t very good at it but I could muster up big charges that took a lot of damage but also took a lot of energy. I had finally been recruited for an actual military mission. It was to get some HYDRA intel. Steve and I had talked previously about me leaving and he said that if I did it successfully, he would let me join his group The Howling Commandos. I was excited because that meant I could go on missions, let alone important missions, with Steve. I knew I couldn't fail this mission. After being beaten the shit out of, I came home to an impatient Peggy. I  explained that the mission was successful and she exclaimed with “Good, I could go for a nice meal and I know you could too. Let's get you changed and we will go out.” She smiled and I swear her smiles are contagious because I caught myself smiling brightly back at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After showering, fixing my hair, and slipping into a blue Grable tea dress Peggy and I decided to head out. As we were catching up she pulled in at a bar and I let out a sigh, “I thought we were going to dinner.” Peggy grabbed her clutch and looked at me “I just need to tell Steve about Howard’s equipment, care to join?” I looked at her as she got out of the car and I decided why not, I haven’t seen Steve in a week, I kinda missed him. “I will be right there,” I told her as she entered the bar. Since Peggy was rushing me I didn’t even have time to put my shoes on. So I hopped out of the car barefooted and rushed into the bar. Immediately when I entered there was some singing and I was hit with a strong smell of alcohol. I was fumbling with my heels as I was getting closer to Peggy’s voice. “0800 Captain.” Peggy stopped right in front of me. After exiting the small room she was just in. Smiling a toothy grin I quipped “Awe you’re blushing.” A swift smack to the arm followed my comment and I rubbed it “Ouch.” I smiled again “I’ll be right out, I would like to say Hi to Steve.” I said to which Peggy replied, “I’ll be waiting in the car, don’t be too long, we have a reservation.” As I messed with my second heel getting closer to the room I could hear Steve’s voice clearly “Don’t take it so hard. Maybe she’s got a friend.”

I finally got my second heel on and I stumbled into the room, my eyes landing on Steve. “Hey, I’ve missed you!” I smiled at him. “Hey! Have you met Bucky?” I looked over to the man he was referring to and my mind went blank. Even though I haven't drunk anything I felt intoxicated in his presence. A blush crept up on my face and I smiled goofily at him. “I don’t think we have.” I smiled and Steve told him my name. Bucky said it slowly and I was swooning. “Hi,” I said, trying to act confident. Then I remembered Steve’s promise about joining the Howling Commandos. “Consider me your partner” I winked at him and Steve looked shocked as did Bucky. “You completed the mission successfully?!” “ Without a hitch”. Then my conversation was cut short by a loud honking noise that could only be Peggy. “I’ve gotta go, I'll see you tomorrow morning Steve!” I said while walking out and into the chilly evening air.

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes #steve rogers #steve x peggy #peggy carter

[forever-more-never-again]

Scales and Scars (Part Five)

Aizawa-Yamada [Y/n] - Given quirks through experimentation, thus their quirks are ‘Artificial’ and not considered ‘true’ quirks

First Quirk: Shadow Manipulation

Uses: Shadow manipulation allows the user to travel almost like teleportation from shadow to shadow by ‘sensing’ the shadows around the user. User is able to control the shadows and form objects. User can change the density of shadows. user also has excellent night vision.

Drawbacks: User experiences flashes of coldness from the presence of shadows, and if holds onto a shadow for too long will begin to develop frost bite.

a/n: The Quirk Apprehension Arc! And introductions to some more love interests!

Word Count: 3119

Pairings: Eraserhead(AIzawa) X PresentMic(Hizashi), Reader X Class1A (Will have multiple endings for pairings)

Warnings: violence against robots

Prologue / Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four

Masterlist

The next week flew by. Between hanging out with Shinso and Tokoyami, Adding Iida to your chat and group hangouts, and dealing with your Pa trying to spoil the results of the entrance exam, it was fun but exhausting. 

“[Y/n], the results are here.” Your dad’s dry voice interrupted you from where you were playing with Inu by moving shadows around.

Leaping up from the floor, you ran over, grabbed the envelope out of his hands and ran to your room shouting back, “Thanks!”

Sitting at your desk, your hands trembled as you held up the envelope that had the UA seal on it. This was it. This was your future. Your chance to become a hero and protect kids from experiencing the same horror and fear that you had.

Taking a deep breathe, you ripped open the seal. A metal disk fell out.

“I guess. So unnecessary.” You muttered under your breath.

“HELLO! I AM HERE!”

“AH!” You screamed and fell off your chair as All Might was suddenly screaming at you.

A hologram. UA had sent a hologram. Of course they did.

Slowly climbing back into your chair, you listened as All Might spoke about your points and how heroic you were working with Shinso and helping other contestants.

“Congratulations Yamada [Y/n]! You ranked Third in the Entrance Exams! Welcome to Class 1-A! This is your Hero Academia!”

When the hologram blinked away, you were left staring at your wall in shock. You placed third!? You were in!? You were in! You had to tell your friends and see how they did!

Future Heros!

15:23 - YaMad?: Guys! The results came! 

15:26 - ForeverTired: Just opened mine…

15:27 - Birb: I got in. Class 1-A

15:28 - Engines: I seem to have ranked 7th. Congrats [Y/n]-Chan.

15:30 - Birb: Yes. Congratulations to getting third.

15:31 - ForverTired: …

15:32 - YaMad?: Oh no ...Toshi? Did you not get in? That’s so not fair! You worked just as hard as me and had more points! Did they not think your quirk was right for the hero's course!? I will march in myself and yell at that rat principle if I have to!

15:35 - Engines: [Y/n]-Chan, maybe let Shinso-Kun answer…

15:37 - ForeverTired: I did it...I got in...Class 1-A Heroics….

15:38 - YaMad?: Oh my god! Toshi! I’m so happy for you! Wait! We’re all in the same class!?

15:40 - Birb: It would seem so. I look forward to seeing all of you in class.

15:42 -YaMad?: This is going to be so much Fun!

You were grinning like an idiot when you finally left your room. Walking into the kitchen, you saw Shota leaning against the counter while Hizashi practically vibrated with excitement next to him. 

“So…” You sent a sly smirk to your dad, “I’m in your class this year.”

Shota groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Yes. And I expect you to act mature and follow my instructions.”

Hizashi couldn't take it anymore and ran up to you and gripped you in a tight hug, “I remember when you were just a baby! And now you’re going to highschool!”

You laughed and patted your Pa on his back, “You’ve known me since I was like Six Pa. Not a baby.”

Your dad just sighed again, “You know that doesn’t matter, Problem Child. ‘Zashi loves being overdramatic.”

At that your Pa let go of you and turned and pointed an accusing finger at Shota, “Oh, don’t think you’re above me! Just last night you were getting all Soft remembering when [Y/n] finally let you hold her after we adopted her!”

Your eyes widened as you looked at your stoic, hobo looking father. He didn’t have his scarf to hide the light blush on his cheeks, so he just turned away.

A soft meow was heard. And you bent over to pick up Inu. An idea hit you, and you peered over at your Pa, “Soooo...can we get another Cat as a gift for me getting into UA?”

Your pa frowned at you, but you giggled as you watched your dad perk up and widen his eyes with interest.

And that was how, a few days later, you were saying goodbye to Inu and your new white cat, Hund, as you left for the first day of school.

With a bounce in your step, you skipped to the Bus station. You were on your own as you went to school because both of your parents had to go in early to prepare for the first day and you were not about to wake up earlier than you had to.

Walking towards the classroom, you were thankful that the school had allowed you some modifications with the standard girls uniform. You had leggings and a long sleeve shirt on. Both to cover your scars. You didn’t want anyone to see them yet. 

Taking a deep breathe, you stood before the large door and remind yourself why you were here. To become a hero. To save kids like yourself. 

And then you pushed open the door and walked in.

Only to run right into someone's back.

“Oi! Watch where you’re going Extra!”

You stumbled back a step, disoriented by the yelling. Looking at the person you bumped into, the first thing you noticed were his intense cherry red eyes. They were filled with a fire that you had never seen before.

Then your eyes caught sight of his hair. Blonde and spiky. You wanted so badly to pet his head and see if the spikes were actually pointy or soft.

A hand waved in front of your face and a scowl was on the blondes face as he yelled at you again, “Hey! You deaf or something!? What you staring at Dumb Girl!?”

Shaking your head, you leveled the kid with your blankest stare and stated, “I’m sorry.” You internally laughed as you watched the scowl turns into a smirk. The kid thought you were apologizing. “You seem to be under the impression that I, oh what’s the phrase?” You tapped your chin as if in thought, watching the smirk turns into a confused scowl, “Oh that’s right! You seem to be under the impression that I give a damn about what you.”

That seemed to set the kid off as sparks flew from his palms. His quirk, you noticed.

“You damn Extra! I’ll kill you!”

You waved him off as you walked past him into the classroom, eyes lighting up as they settled on two people sitting in the back corner.

Rushing towards them, you grinned, “Toshi! Yami!”

The Dark feathered Avain Teen and the sleepy purple head stopped their quiet conversation with each other and turned to give you small smiles.

“[Y/n]. You’re actually here early.” Shinso teased. His sleepy smile betrayed by his bright eyes.

You fake growled and punched his shoulder, “Jerk! I can be on time.”

While Shinso whined and rubbed his shoulder, Tokoyami groaned himself, because Dark Shadow came out and wrapped himself around your shoulders.

“Dark Shadow! Unhand her! We’ve talked about personal space.”

You laughed, scratching Dark Shadow under the chin, listening to the Quirk Purr. “It’s alright Yami. I really don’t mind. And Dark Shadow Just wants a little Love.”

Dark Shadow cackled and his yellows eyes glinted with mischief as he pouted, “Yeah Fumi! [Y/n] doesn’t mind and she gives the best hugs!”

All three of you laughed as Tokoyami’s feathers ruffled in his embarrassment.

“If you’re just here to make friends, then you can leave.”

The dry voice broke through the cacophony of noise that was from your future classmates.

Turning, you stifled a giggle as you watched your Dad rise up, wrapped in his yellow sleeping bag, looking like some kind of demented catipillar.

You slid into the seat in front of Toshi, Dark Shadow disappearing back inside his retainers chest.

“It took you eight seconds to quiet down. I expect it to be shorter than that time tomorrow. For now, put these on and meet outside in five.”

He threw gym clothes out from wherever he had stashed them. And you watched as the students scrambled and ran to the changing rooms.

You were one of the last to leave, and as you walked by your dad, he grabbed your shoulder, pausing you for a moment.

His eyes were unreadable as he stared at you, “I expect you to use your full potential in my class, [Y/n].” Then his eyes softened and he smiled, “Also, I forgot to go over this with you the other day, But your Pa and I will be calling you Yamada and you must call us by our names as well. Okay?”

You nodded, understanding. Of course you didn’t expect to have your relationship between two pro Heros and teachers announced to the student body. Nobody needed to know that you were the adopted kid of Eraserhead and Present Mic, Especially since their marriage wasn’t even a known fact.

In the changing room, you were introduced to the rest of the girls. You were immediately drawn to Toru, who was completely invisible, Tsuyu, “Call me Asui.” Who was super blunt, and Mina, who pounced on you exclaiming that you were “Super Cute!” And already calling you bestie.

“Aren’t we supposed to be heading to Orientation?” Uraraka Asked as you all walked out to the training grounds.

You hid your smile, because you knew you wouldn’t be going to Orientation today.

Yaomomo spoke up, her voice calm and steady, “I’m sure our teacher will explain when we arrive.”

Mina yelled out, jumping up and down, “Did anyone recognize our teacher!? I thought all UA teachers were Pro- heroes?”

The only sign that Toru was standing next to you was the floating uniform as you heard her voice, “Maybe he’s underground or not well-known?”

Asui nodded, “Kero. You could be right Toru-Chan.”

Blinking the sun out of your eyes, you saw the guys standing in a group next to Aizawa.

When all the girls were close enough, Aizawa spoke up, “Today, we’re doing a Quirk Apprehension test. Whoever comes in last will have no potential, and will be expelled.”

As you listen to the ensuring confusion and questions, your eyes were drawn to a bushy head of green hair. The poor kid looked like he was a second away from a nervous breakdown. Your eyes narrowed as you noticed the kid flinching whenever the loud mouthed blonde glared at him.

“Bakugou, how far could you throw the ball in Middle School?”

Brought back to the present, you watched as the blonde kid, Bakagou, apparently, Walk up to the circle and proceed to scream, “Die!” Before blasting the ball away.

Aizawa held up a recording device and showed the score on the screen, “705.2 Meters.”

You whistled appreciatively. That was an impressive throw with his quirk.

First up was the 50 Meter dash. You stood next to Shinso as you watched teams of two race against each other.

You winced at the green haired kid as he went against Bakugou. He wasn’t using any Quirk, so you figured it wasn’t useful in situations like Shinso’s.

You were paired against some kid with strange elbows.

When the bell rang, you immediately traveled to the shadow of the recorder and stepped over the line calmly.

“2.01 Seconds.”

“5.52 Seconds.”

Tape arms walked over to you afterwards and introduced himself, “Hey there. I’m Sero. That was pretty impressive. What’s your Quirk?”

You smiled up at the boy. He was cute in a boyish, innocent way. “I’m Yamada. And you’ll just have to continue watching and figure it out.” You winked at him and moved onto the next event.

Next was the grip strength. 

Shinso groaned and looked at you wryly, “They just love giving the flashy quirks the upper hand, don’t they?”

You laughed as you used your shadows to grip the tool hard enough that it broke.

“Oops.”

After that was the standing long jump.

And then repeated side steps. 

Both of which you easily used your shadows to complete.

The pushups and situps you relied purely on your own stamina and strength. Cheering on Shinso and Tokoyami.

And then everyone was standing before the ball throw again.

Ururaka had the highest score so far, with infinity. Which you congratulated her on.

Shinso turned to you, worried, “I’m going to place last because I couldn’t use my quirk during any of these tests.”

Peering at you dad, you whispered back to him, “He said we could use our quirks however we wanted to pass the tests.” Turning to look at Shinso, you smiled, “So use your quirk when you get up there.”

It took him a moment to understand what you were saying. And when it did register, he frowned at you, “If I do that. Nobody will trust me. It’s the first day. I’ll be labeled a villain before I get the chance to become a hero.”

Punching Shinso, you glared at him and spoke lowly through gritted teeth, trying to keep your voice down, “Toshi. You listen to me. You are not a villain. You have an amazing quirk. And if anyone says otherwise, I will fight them.”

Shinso couldn’t stop his heart from beating faster at the fierceness that [Y/n] was exuding. 

“Shinso Hitoshi. You’re next.”

Aizawa dryly called your friend's name. Giving him a friendly push, you reminded him quietly, “It’s your power Shinso.”

When Shinso got to the circle, he turned around and looked back at the group of students who were watching on confused.

Tired eyes grazed over the students before landing on Uraraka. 

“Hey Infinity Girl, Your name is Uraraka right?”

Uraraka looked startled for a moment before she started to respond, “Yes, wh-”

Shinso smirked as Uraraka’s eyes glazed over, “Come into the circle and use your quirk on the ball for me.”

Uraraka robotically walked to Shinso and used her quirk.

Shinso touched her when the ball was well into the stratosphere, letting her go from his quirk.

“Infinity.”

Uraraka looked confused and looked at Shinso as she walked back to the group.

Meanwhile everyone was shouting or whispering about the events that had just transpired.

“How was that Fair!?”

“He didn’t throw the ball!”

“Does that count!?”

“What’s his Quirk!?”

Your dad raised his hand and tiredly explained, “I told you all to use your quirks at the start of the tests. Shinso used his quirk and I will allow it.”

You couldn’t contain your grin as Shinso walked back to you. When he was beside you, you quickly wrapped your arms around him for a brief hug.

“I knew you could do it Toshi!”

Surprise flashed in his lavender eyes before he smiled back at you.

“Yamada [Y/n].”

You skipped forward, your happiness for Shinso carrying you to the circle.

Gripping the ball in your hands, you tried to think about how you could use your shadows to get a high score.

“Any Day now Yamada.” Your dad’s dry voice rang out in the silence.

Breathing deeply through your nose, you closed your eyes and called all the surrounding shadows to you.

“Wow!”

“What’s happening?”

“That’s so cool!”

The voices behind you were loud, but you managed to block most of them out as you focused on wrapping the shadows around the ball and your hand.

Snapping your eyes open, you leaned back, and pitched forward hard.

The shadows blasted from your hand like an explosion as they raced back to their original places. The force behind the release of your quirk and the shadows propelled the ball forward.

“645.3 Meters.”

Your smile was blinding as you spun around.

And then it disappeared as you watched the green haired kid, whose name you learned was Midoriya, Figure out who your father was, face your father’s wrath, break his finger, and get almost tackled by Bakugou.

A few minutes later, you father pulled up the results of the Quirk Apprehension test.

Anxiously, you scanned the rankings. Fifth! You placed fifth! And then you scanned more and saw that Iida ranked Fourth, Tokoyami sixth, and Shinso thirteenth.

And Midoriya placed last.

When Aizawa revealed that the explosion threat was a logical ruse, you rolled your eyes. Your father was notorious for expelling students. He would’ve followed through on his threat at the start if he truly didn’t see any potential in Midoriya.

The fact that he did, made you curious about the boy who broke his finger using his quirk.

“Of course it was a logical ruse. Did you not know that?” Yaomomo’s voice was filled with confidence. And you didn’t want to destroy that, so you didn’t say anything.

As everyone was leaving, you waved Shinso ahead and stepped up beside Midoriya.

“I understand getting hurt from your quirk.”

The poor teen looked like you were speaking in gibberish as he turned wide green eyes to you and flushed red.

“Uh. H-hi! I’m Izu-Midoriya! Midoriya Izuku!”

You smiled at him. He was kinda adorable. “Yamada [Y/n]. But please call me [Y/n]. Anyways. I saw that your quirk broke your finger. Are you okay?”

Midoriya flushed a deeper red as he mumbled a bit before stuttering out a response, “I’m fi-fine. It’s-It’s nothing! Really!” Then his brain seemed to backtrack and he peered at you in concern as his blush seemed to fade away, “You mentioned yo-your quirk hurt-hurting you?”

You hummed in agreement, clasping your hands behind your back as you reached the locker rooms. Standing outside, not going in yet, you explained.

“My quirk Shadow Manipulation...causes my bones to be really cold, constantly, because of the shadows. And if I use shadows for too long I can develop Frostbite.”

Midoriya looked entranced as you talked about the drawbacks to your quirk. 

“So you're constantly in pain?”

You chuckled, rubbing the back of your neck with your hand, “In a way. But I’ve gotten used to it. The cold doesn’t bother me that much anymore except in certain instances.”

And you were not about to explain the times that your quirk hurt you to this boy. He didn’t need to know about your PTSD and Dissociative disorder. No matter how adorable his freckles and sparkling green eyes were. 

You glanced towards the locker room, “Anyways. It was nice meeting you Midoriya. I’ll see you tomorrow in class!” You waved at him and slipped into the locker room to change.

The first day at UA was interesting. But you had a feeling in your gut that this was just the beginning. 

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[evalinkatrineberg]

Leana

A/N: A little interlude, including an RP with @leanarg , who is so sweet and lovely and amazing!! We love to see it. 

I read the email over again, just to be sure that I really hadn’t missed anything. Maybe there had been some phrasing that I had misinterpreted the previous four times I had read it, or maybe something had gotten mixed up when I had been carbon copied on the email - either way, there had to be a mistake somewhere. This couldn’t be it. This couldn’t be my only option.

Dr. Hammond,

I’d be more than happy to allow Miss Evalin Berg to use the lab work she has done for me over the course of her time at this university to count for her biochemistry lab credits. In fact, I’ll CC her on this email, to make sure she sees this as well. My only stipulation is that if she does decide to use the lab work she did for me as her biochemistry lab credits, I will have to have her name redacted in the publications she contributed to. It’s simply department policy; you know how it goes.  

This stipulation would not apply, of course, should she return and complete her biochemistry lab in person. The decision is ultimately hers to make.

Yours truly,

Dr. Janine Proctor

--

Evalin,

Please notify me of your decision on this matter at your earliest convenience.

Dr. Fiona Hammond

No. Nothing had changed, no words had miraculously rearranged themselves to shed new light on the meaning of this email. Neither of my options were good. Either risk taking an incomplete for my first of two semesters of biochemistry, and possibly delay my graduation because of it, or lose the shred of credit given to my name for helping Proctor with her experiments, and for conducting an experiment of my own creation under her careful guidance. Both options left me with a bleak vision of the future.

With a sigh, I closed out my email, clicking my phone locked and placing it on my desk. I leaned back in my chair, my head facing towards the ceiling as I rubbed at my temples with the heels of my hands. Which of these options was the lesser of two evils? I had never felt so unsure of something in my life, and that was saying a lot, considering the last conversation I had had with Idalia, after Arin and I had kissed in the library. How had it come to this? I had gone from kissing Arin and feeling flustered, yet on top of the world, to showing him the work I had accomplished and promptly making a fool of myself in front of him, only to likely have the work I had shown him ripped out from under me. To say that these past few weeks had been a roller coaster would be inaccurate. These past few weeks had been a race down a double black diamond, and I was an inexperienced skier who should probably still be on the bunny hill.

Maybe these weren’t my only options, though. Idalia had somehow pulled some strings to attend fencing practices outside of the palace - perhaps I could similarly find a way to complete my biochemistry lab at Angeles University.

I immediately shook the idea out of my head. There simply wasn’t enough time in the day for me to do that, and besides, I’d probably already missed the deadline to get into such a class there. Even if they made an exception, given my situation, it likely wouldn’t last. Once Proctor caught wind of what I was doing - and I had no doubt that she would - she’d put in a bad word against me, and I’d likely be kicked to the curb again.

It can’t hurt to at least ask, can it?

Yes, it could hurt. That was a lesson I definitely should have learned by now, given my last conversation with Arin. I couldn’t afford to get my hopes up, only to be let down once again. There was only so much I could take.

Besides, there was so much else to do. Wylan’s birthday party was fast approaching, and I hadn’t even begun to work on my costume. I quite enjoyed the theme, if I was being honest. Star Wars had been one of the movie series that all of my siblings and I could agree upon as being fun to watch. My father used to gather all of us up on rainy days during the late spring, when the Tennessee River had flooded the main roads and we couldn’t get anywhere that wasn’t in our own neighborhood. He would make a large bowl of popcorn and let us marathon one of the trilogies. It was likely just a ploy to keep us kids out of our mother’s hair, but we all looked forward to it regardless. Something about Star Wars had encaptured all of our young minds, and brought us all a little closer together.

Now, the question remained - who was I going to go as? On top of that, what was I going to get Wylan for his birthday? I had only met him once, and those circumstances had been rather unfortunate, in terms of making a first impression. Safiya had said that we didn’t have to get him anything, but it went against the manners I had been taught growing up to arrive empty-handed. Besides, I should at least thank him for not ratting me and Idalia out. Maybe I’d simply get him a card, to do just that.  

My first question, however, was something I could actively work on, and something that took far less emotional energy to figure out. I pushed myself to my feet, grabbing my phone and striding across the floor to my door in a matter of seconds, not waiting to hear it close behind me as I made my way down to the room I had heard a lot of the other girls mention when talking about costumes for the party. Perhaps I could find some inspiration there.

It took me a while to find it, but I couldn’t keep my eyes from going wide once I did. The entire room was just filled to the brim with different fabrics - on mannequins, in baskets, on tables. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before! I bet Missy would really enjoy this. The corners of my lips twitched upwards briefly as I recalled my encounter with the sweet girl from Midston in the kitchens a week or so ago. I was willing to bet she was rather familiar with this kind of environment, given her line of work.

A flurry of motion caught my eye, dragging my attention away from the sheer, salmon-colored fabric I had been studying up until that moment. At one of the big tables in the center of the room sat Leana, who was now smiling and waving at me. I had only really spoken to Leana once, and that had been more in passing than anything else. It also hadn’t been one of my shining moments, to say the least.

I offered her a small smile in return, walking over towards the table she was seated at with another woman, who I assumed was one of her maids. There was a chance that Leana wouldn’t even remember our brief encounter, after all. I might as well be polite. “Hello! Leana, right?”

She immediately nodded. “Hello! I know you are Evalin, the one with the basket gifts,” she replied with a chuckle. So she did remember the one time we had conversed prior to this, then. Already, this conversation was going worse than I had hoped it would be. That had to be a new record, even for me.

I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks as I responded, “Right, that.” I dropped my eye contact with her, looking first to the side, and then back to the table I now stood in front of. There had to be something else to talk about, a different topic of conversation that didn’t make me want to crawl back to my room as I remembered all the mistakes I had made over the past few months. “What are you working on?”

Leana looked down, biting her lip. “Oh, I’m not really doing anything. She’s the talented one here” - her eyes darted to the side, towards where her maid sat - “It’s about the costume for the party.” At the mention of the upcoming function, her voice dropped to little more than a whisper. It was smart, I realized. You never knew who might be listening, after all. We wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise for Wylan, especially not after Safiya had put so much effort into planning it.

“Don’t worry,” I reassured her with a small smile. “I’m here for the same reason, though I’ll admit I haven’t given a ton of thought to who I’m going to go as yet.” That much was the whole truth. I had already been running through an exhaustive list of female characters from Star Wars movies, but every time I settled on one, I’d think up a reason as to why it wouldn’t work. It was getting more frustrating than it was worth, if I was being honest with myself. Perhaps I just wouldn’t dress up. That’d certainly be easier.

Leana hummed thoughtfully, tilting her head towards the left. “Which are your options?”

“I was thinking about going as Jyn Erso, but dressing as her would feel so different from what we normally wear here,” was the response I finally settled on, laughing ever so slightly, though the sound was hollow and tinny to my ears. I really liked the character of Jyn Erso - found her rather relatable in some aspects, in fact - but I just knew that some of the other girls would be showing up in beautifully designed dresses, having given this facet of the party a good deal of thought. If I showed up as Jyn Erso, how out of place was I going to feel? Plus, there was the fact that I looked nothing like Jyn to begin with.

“Well, I think that’s pretty much the point,” Leana replied with a laugh. “Space warriors in a palace - it will be fun!” Her tone was unfailingly positive and upbeat. She was likely an optimist, then. Interesting, considering the dark sides of reality than many people in her field of study tended to uncover. Her demeanor reminded me a bit of my younger brother Randall’s personality, namely the manner in which she held onto the hope that the world was innately good.

You’re analyzing this with way too much depth.

“True.” I inclined my head to the right, biting the inside of my cheek before looking at Leana again. With a small laugh, I attempted to explain myself. “Something about wearing cargo pants in the palace just feels so odd, though.”

“Better than a hairy chewy costume,” she shot back without hesitation, snickering. “I will be going as Rey, so it’s an easy, comfortable one.” At least I wasn’t going to be the only one not in a super fancy gown, then. The thought was reassuring. The way Leana’s smile faltered once she finished speaking, however, was not comforting in the slightest.

I felt my own smile soften as I looked at her. She must have a memory tied to the character of Rey, then. Did it make her homesick, or was there something more to her reaction? I didn’t want to pry, but out of anybody here, I was sure she would be the most likely to understand my own curiosity. “Have you dressed up for themed parties like this before?”

“Yes, college parties could be wild.” With a smile and a sideways glance in my direction, she continued, “What about you? You are still in college too, right?”

“Yes,” I replied instantly, weekends spent with June and Lukas flashing before my eyes like a PowerPoint slideshow on double speed,  “and the parties can indeed be pretty crazy.”

I had never been a big party person in high school. I knew that they were happening, but I didn’t know where, or any of the specifics, for that matter. Parties were June’s thing. I was never invited. It hadn’t been until college that I had finally let June drag me out a few times, and I had definitely allowed myself to loosen up a bit in those scenarios. Many games of spin the bottle, stack cup, and chicken in the pool littered my memory, tinged with a slight alcohol induced haze. The one event June would never let me live down, though, had occurred at the beginning of the fall semester my sophomore year, when I had gotten into a shot contest with a couple of fraternity boys at a darty. I remembered taking eight shots, but I had blacked out immediately after that. According to June, though, that hadn’t stopped me from continuing, and ultimately winning the competition, only to promptly ask her to drive me back to her house, where I had for all intents and purposes passed out in her bed.

That experience had definitely been a mistake, and I was still unsure how I hadn’t died of alcohol poisoning that night, but I found myself grinning nonetheless. Yet, there was one common trend that set these college parties apart from the ones Leana had apparently been to. My grin quickly turned to a frown. “Though I didn’t go to many, and the ones I did go to weren’t really themed like this is.”

“Yeah, I was practically dragged by my friend to them.” She shrugged as I marveled at how similar our experiences could have been, if that was true. As my frown turned back into a smile, her smile turned into a frown. “You’re still in college, right? Biology?”

What about my major had her frowning? Had she heard something about my situation with Proctor through the grapevine? I was sure she had an exhaustive list of sources who would somehow be privy to such information. The thought didn’t sit well with me, but I did my best to push it aside. I’d deal with it another time.

“My best friend was the same way. She was the only reason I really ever got out of the lab.” The thought of June brought a smile to my face, but the expression didn’t linger long as my thoughts turned back to my work under Proctor - or rather, just Proctor’s work, now, I supposed. “I’m a biology major, though, yes. You study journalism, right?”

Leana nodded along, interjecting with a chuckle every now and then until I finished speaking. At that point, she pressed her lips together, almost apprehensive as she began to answer my own question to her. “Yes, I do. I’m also working for a newspaper.” A smile briefly flitted across her face, but it sputtered out as quickly as it had been lit into existence.

“That’s awesome!” She was working, doing something she enjoyed, and making a name for herself. It was quite respectable, in my opinion. “What kind of articles do you write, if you don’t mind my asking?”

She blinked, but then answered, “I’m currently writing for the digital blog covering events, concerts and interviewing famous people.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, as if she wasn't exactly enthusiastic about any of the work she was doing. Why would she be doing it then? Surely it was time consuming. If it wasn’t what she wanted to do, why didn’t she focus on another pursuit that made her happier? She was younger than me, if I remembered correctly, so it shouldn’t be too late for her to change her major, or her career, if she wanted to.

Leana took a trick out of my book then, and quickly changed the topic of conversation. “What about you? What are you working on in the lab?”

Currently, nothing. “My professor and I were working on cancer research using genetics, but,” I paused, pondering whether or not it was worth it to attempt to explain the whole situation to Leana. If anybody already knew about it, or was going to find out about it at some point, it would be her. She might as well hear it from the horse’s mouth, I supposed. “I’m sure she’s continued it without me there, even though it was my idea. It’s not like I would’ve gotten any of the credit anyway, though.” I finished with a sigh, shrugging. There was simply nothing I could do about it, at this point. I had made my bed. Now, I had to lie in it.

She raised her eyebrows, and then frowned. “What do you mean? If it was your idea there must be a way to take the credit you deserve.”

If only she knew. I simply shook my head, giving Leana a small close lipped smile. “She’s in charge, and she’s in the lab right now, and I’m not, nor do I think I’ll ever be in her lab again, no matter how this ends.” I waved my hand through the air dismissively, hoping that the gesture in and of itself would bring an end to the conversation

I should’ve known better than that. Leana blinked a few times, pursing her lips for a while before speaking. “Okay, wait, I just have to ask,” she paused, her voice softer when she continued, “why did you leave her with the project in the first place?”

As if I had a choice! What was I going to do, fly a whole lab with me from Carolina to Angeles? I frowned. “Well, it was done in her lab, which she’s in charge of, so I didn’t have much of a say in the matter.”

“But why can’t you come back to it?” She bobbed her head, at the same time that I came to the realization that I really hadn’t explained that portion of it well. “Well if things turn out that way.”

I winced, knowing I would have to try to explain further, while still being as vague as possible, so as not to incriminate myself in any way. “We had a falling out of sorts before I left to come here, and I don’t think there’s any coming back from it,” I began, shaking my head, “but there’s other jobs out there, right?”

Leana opened her mouth, but then closed it again, pursing her lips slightly. “Um, yes I guess there are.”

Change the subject, now! “So, you’re still writing, even with being here, and all?”

She sighed, shaking her head dismissively. “I have been writing things about all the work that’s done here. Learning a little bit about everything, but I don’t have a purpose for it yet.” Despite the end of her last sentence, she was grinning. She definitely liked writing the. So why had she seemed so unhappy with her job earlier?

I decided to focus on her project instead, narrowing my eyes as I attempted to conceptualize what she was describing. “Like a little memoir, of sorts?”

She nodded. “Yeah, or a little behind the scenes.” She shrugged, pausing to smile before adding, “I like to write about the things no one really sees, but now I have been considering including some good life stories I have learned as well.” Her eyes darted to and from the various people working around us. The palace staff did indeed have interesting life stories, from what I had heard from the ones I had interacted with. I was certain whatever Leana was writing would do them justice, and make an good read.

I had to smile. “I like it. I think there’s a lot to be learned from the lives of others.”

“You think?” One of her eyebrows shot up her forehead. Is it really so surprising to hear me say something like that? I supposed it must be, which didn’t leave me with a great taste in my mouth. “Would you read something like it?”

I nodded enthusiastically, intent on making sure Leana understood the truth of the matter. “For sure! I think it’d be really interesting to learn more about the lives of the people here.”

For a moment, we sat in silence, me attempting to smile, and Leana biting her lip. You could’ve heard a pin drop, which was odd for the palace, to say the least. I had grown so accustomed to the flurry of activity and words casually being tossed around that the absence of that energy almost had me on edge.

Thankfully, Leana spoke up, her voice quiet as she offered me a small smile. “I would like to write a story where the nice biologist comes back to the lab and fights for some rights.”

Her intentions were good, I was sure, and yet the statement had me reeling. The thought of facing Proctor again seemed so improbable, so unlikely, that it was hard to even imagine. Even if I was eliminated, which I was sure was likely, given the odds, I couldn’t picture myself simply returning to life as it had used to be. I wanted to continue my studies, of course, but maybe it was time to branch out a bit, and consider other universities. Proctor might have a big reach nationally, but what about abroad? That might be an option I’d have to look into.

Another daydream tantalized me from the periphery of my mind, flitting in and out of focus. The image of me, returning to Knoxville as the winner of the Selection, and taking back what Proctor was attempting to take from me was undeniably desirable. I radiated a certain level of power in that scenario, like I knew I was successful and wasn’t about to let anybody give me grief about it. It was the impression I had always wanted to have on others, I realized. Did I really need to win this to become that, though? I’d already gained so much from being here for this long. Maybe Leana had a point.

I flashed her a smile, though it was forced and tense. “Believe me, if I had my professor’s reputation and respect in the field, I would argue my case. Thank you, though.”

“Yes, I get that, it’s just scary to think about a plan B after you put all the effort in the plan A.” A look of worry flashed across her face as she sighed, dropping her gaze back down towards the table.

I couldn’t stop myself, exhaling through my nose as I nodded in agreement. “I can understand you on that one. Do you have a plan B?” The words flew out of my mouth before I even had the chance to consider that her worry was likely about just that. “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to!”

Leana just let out a sad chuckle, her eyes flicking back up to mine. “I’m at the point where I don’t know which is which. What about you?”

I had to consider that for a moment. Plan A had always been the same for me - go to college, get my degree, get a research job, move out, get a dog, get married, maybe have a child or two - “the American dream,” I believed my grandfather had referred to it as. Being Selected had thrown a bit of a wrench in that, though. There had been moments of clarity, for sure - like after that first date with Arin, when I had been sure he was about to send me home. My old plan A had stood out in my mind then. After the kiss, though, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe I was simply a naive fool, sure, but I couldn’t deny that I felt something for Arin. Yet, I wasn’t entirely certain that that set a new plan A, in which I won Arin’s heart and in turn this Selection, and figured the rest out from there, in stone. Once again, the odds weren’t in my favor.

“I’m pretty much in the same boat, I’m afraid,” I answered with a sigh. “I never pictured it’d come to this.” I really hadn’t thought I’d make it this far.

“I’m sorry.”

I almost laughed as the words left Leana’s mouth. That was my line! On top of that, she had no reason to be sorry. It wasn’t her fault that I had gotten myself into this mess.

Was this what I sounded like to everybody else?

“I hope you figure things out,” she continued. “Maybe Prince Arin could help.” Her voice went up a few notes at the end of her sentence, making it sound more like a question than a piece of advice.

Could he? The concept of Arin doing anything for me felt so foreign that I couldn’t even picture him in the same room as Proctor. The more I had thought about it after my conversation with Idalia, the more I had realized how little of a give-and-take there was between Arin and I. I was left with a lot of questions that he wouldn’t answer, and even if he had questions for me, he wouldn’t ask them, and depending on what they were, I also probably wouldn’t answer. Maybe we were really just that bad for each other.

You know he doesn’t love you, right?

Lukas’s voice echoed through my head, rattling against the walls of my mind like an angry bee caught under a plastic cup. I didn’t know whether or not Arin even liked me, and despite Idalia’s advice, I was much too afraid to ever ask him as much outright. There was a kind side to Arin, I was still sure of that. He had helped me with my nosebleed, and he had been willing to recommend me books, and possibly even read my own research, but thinking that over, it all seemed so lackluster. Noncommittal. Not that I could blame him for not committing to any of us, at this point. Not when the entire nation was watching him attempt to date thirty-five girls with the goal of making one of them his wife. After all, I myself had even told him that ending the Selection now would make him look hasty and rash.

I had really played myself in saying that, hadn’t I?

I let out a breathy laugh, dragging myself out of the recesses of my own mind. “Maybe, but I’m not counting on it.” I couldn’t count on it, truly.

“We never know,” Leana replied with a chuckle, shrugging ever so slightly.

I shook my head, relating to that statement more than she could possibly know, I was sure. “Does anyone ever know what to expect from him?”

“I know.” She frowned for a moment, but it quickly turned into a small smile, laced with something akin to sympathy. “He's a bit complicated.”

“Yeah.” I nodded, making a mental note to nominate that sentence for Understatement of the Year. I remembered a previous conversation with Arin, spoken over two cups of bourbon in an alcove. With a wry laugh, I finished, “He’s working on it, though.”

“True, I noticed that too.” As she spoke, Leana began fidgeting with the ends of her hair, twisting and rubbing them this way and that between her fingertips. Did her hair not knot when she did that? I had never thought I would be so jealous of the protein structure of somebody else’s hair, and yet here I was.

Leana continued, unfazed by my staring. “Just the mixed messages have me confused at times.”

I could get behind that statement - I had had multiple conversations about as much, recently. With an enthusiastic nod, I replied, “Agreed. Some days, I feel like we might genuinely have a connection, and others, I can’t figure out why he hasn’t sent me home yet.”

She snickered, the sound almost out of place in the otherwise silent room. “Sorry,” she said again, “it's just that I have that last thought a lot.”

Well, I was glad it wasn’t just me, then, but I still couldn’t help but feel bad that he was putting all of us through this. I could understand him leaving me baffled - I was book smart, but not people smart in the slightest. I got confused by almost anyone who I hadn’t known for a good while. For someone like Leana, though, who was in a line of work where interpersonal communication must be one of her strong suits, to be so confused by Arin, spoke volumes.

Leana forged on yet again. “But a connection huh? That sounds good!”

“No worries!” I laughed along, though I was beginning to wonder if I should have phrased my words differently. My smile began to fall before I could stop myself, and reign in my emotions. “Yeah, sometimes we get along very well. I’m sorry he has you feeling so confused, though. It’s frustrating.” And relatable.

She waved her hand through the air, the dismissive gesture one that I often caught myself making. “No, it's not really! I just think too much.” She must have noticed how surprised her words have left me this time, because after a moment, she decided to ask, “Something bad happened?”

“Oh, no!” I shook my head, forcing a smile to return to my face. I didn’t need Leana worrying about me, on top of Clemence and Idalia already having that job more than covered, apparently. Besides, Leana was beginning to remind me a lot of myself, which meant she probably had enough on her mind as it was. “I was asking more about you. Sorry for the confusion!”

“You are sweet,” she responded with a laugh. “Don't worry, I will be fine.”

I smiled, feeling something start to buzz in my pocket. My phone. That was odd. Normally my family called on the weekends, unless it was an emergency.

I needed to leave, and quickly.

“Noted,” I said to Leana, taking a few slow steps backwards towards the door. “If you ever do need anything though, you know where to find me!”

I could only hope she knew that I meant it.

Her responding smile did much to assuage that concern. “Thank you, Evalin. I hope to see you at the party!”

“Likewise,” I replied, smiling as I turned on my heel and made my way towards the door.

As soon as I knew I was out of sight of the door, I fished around in my pocket for my phone, squinting as the light of the screen hit my eyes. The number was familiar, but not one of my family members. I practically sighed with relief before more questions began churning in my mind.

The number belonged to the corded phone in Proctor’s lab. That machine was so old that half of the time the other college students and I ripped into her for even keeping it in the lab after her lab had been renovated the year before I began my freshman year at university. Was she calling to gloat, then? It wouldn’t be entirely out of character for her to do so, and yet, it was late back in Carolina. She shouldn’t even be awake around this time.

With a sigh, and one last glance at the number, I picked up the call. “Hello?”

My blood turned to ice at the voice on the other end of the line. “Oh, Evalin! Thank God!”

Not Proctor. Not my father. My mouth was almost too dry to form words. “Lukas.”

“It’s good to hear your voice.” How he sounded so cheerful, like nothing had ever happened between the two of us, like we had never even fought, was beyond me. He had to be wilfully ignoring it. There was no other explanation.

“I can’t say the same,” I replied, swallowing. I had been spending more of my mental energy thinking about Lukas than I would have liked to after the kiss with Arin. It wasn’t that I felt the same for Lukas that I felt for Arin - quite the opposite, in fact. Something about kissing Arin, however, had brought back the memory of the last time I had been kissed.

Lukas. Under the mistletoe. In the lab.

Ever since then, I had been reevaluating my friendship with him. Or rather, what I had thought had been a friendship. I had never assumed it was anything more. I had never felt that way for him, and I definitely didn’t now. However, it was beginning to seem more and more likely that he had felt that way for me. Maybe he had even thought we were something more.

I wasn’t going to be the one to suck up my pride and ask him.

“Why are you calling?” I kept walking as I talked, letting my feet lead me down hallways and around corners, no destination in mind. I barely even knew where I was, if I was being honest. Every now and then, I’d pass someone from the palace staff, inevitably carrying half a million things in their arms, who’d shoot me a perplexed look, but move on without questioning me further.

On the other end of the line, Lukas sighed. “Well, you wouldn’t pick up my calls.”

“I know,” I replied, turning another corner. “I blocked you.”

He was silent, save for his breathing. Then, “Things are getting bad here.”

My eyebrows rose, unamused. “How so?”

“Your father had an argument with Proctor the other day. I don’t know if he even realized that I was there.”

“Well,” I began, attempting to suppress the laugh I had almost barked out, “Can you blame him? Or has she not told you any of the shit she’s done to mess up my life?”

“You could have prevented this.” His voice was softer, which somehow grated my nerves. Did he expect me to feel sorry for him? He and I had been put in the same position by Proctor, we had just chosen different answers. Yes, I was suffering for it now, but I would survive. The world was more than just Proctor’s lab. I knew that now.

“Could I have?”

His voice cracked. “You could have come home.”

Just like that, I was thrown back into the memory of when I had first met Lukas. It had been our physics lab, freshman year. Paired together because our last names were close together alphabetically, I hadn’t thought much of him at first. He hadn’t smiled the entire fifty minutes we had been in class that day - not that I had cared much, seeing as someone who took the class seriously was more likely to get a good grade. It wasn’t until I had thrust my phone in his direction and prompted him to enter his number that I had seen any flicker of emotion on his face. A flash of surprise. Then he had entered his number.

After that, our friendship had started to take form. First, it had been a common major, and a shared interest in biology at the cellular level. Then he had offered to run with me and June, framing it as an added layer of safety for the two of us. Later, we had realized that we both had Swendish grandparents. His still lived in Swendway, in fact. He had said he wasn’t very close with them, but he had still learned bits and pieces of the language when his father had lived with him and his mother.

From what I could gather, his father had been in and out of Lukas’s life for quite a few years, and he had been raised mostly by his mother, on her own. I didn’t know the full story, nor did I want to press him for details. He could tell me when he was ready, or at this point, he could tell me never. As selfish as I felt about thinking it, it really wasn’t my problem. We all faced challenges in our lives, and we all handled them differently. I was of the opinion that he hadn’t handled them well. Perhaps that made me the asshole. I really couldn’t bring myself to care.

“Arin hasn’t seen fit to send me home yet,” I responded, my face neutral as I continued walking, staring straight down an empty hallway.

“Arin.” He practically spat out the name, his tone harder now. “You’re on a first-name basis now?”

I blinked. “Yes. I would hope to be on a first name basis with the man I might end up marrying one day, if that's the decision we come to at the end of this.”

“Oh,” he laughed. “So, you haven’t listened to a single word I’ve said, then?”

You know he doesn’t love you, right?

I had heard him loud and clear.

“Why are you calling?” I hated how tight my voice sounded. Water. I needed water. Water would help. There would be water in the kitchen. How did I get there from here, wherever here was?

“I heard Proctor tell your father that she looked forward to seeing his ghost wandering the halls of the biology building, at the end of their argument.” He cleared his throat, the sound so familiar it almost hurt. “I just thought you should know.”

I felt the color drain from my face, even as I replied, “Oh, good, so if he shows up dead somewhere, you can testify against Proctor in court.” Or do you not have the balls to do that, either?

I shouldn’t be this mad at him. A few months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to stand up to her either. I still wasn’t entirely sure what had compelled me to stand my ground the day before I had left for Angeles.

“I wouldn’t have to if you’d just come home, and forget this stupid fairytale fantasy of yours. You’ve done it! You’ve proven that you’re invaluable to us, easily likeable, and a face the world will be watching for the rest of the century.” His breathing was heavy on the other end of the line.

The door to the kitchen came into view. How had I even ended up here? I had been looking for this room, yes, but I hadn’t known where I was before. Maybe some higher power was looking out for me after all.

“That’s besides the point,” I argued, rolling my eyes as I walked into the kitchen. “Look -”

“Shit.” Silence. Then, “I’ve got to go.”

I opened my mouth to say something more, but the line had already gone dead. Just like that, he was gone, a phantom left in my memory only once more.

You know he doesn’t love you, right?

I had no idea.

#selectionoc

[just-general-stuff]

Death Doesn’t Discriminate Between The Sinners and The Saints

Chaos. Fire and chaos as the screams of the dying filled the air of this battle-torn city. He could see every inch of the city etched with the burning scars left by the fires almost akin to his own burn scars.

Wesker stared down at the blazing city from the rooftop, his red eyes roaming over the destruction. He had come here when he heard that a rising bio-terrorist group had planned to attack here. Ever since he woke up, he saw fakes and weaklings rise up trying to take over the world.

Yet they didn’t have a clue on how to proceed with their plans. While he only wished to stem the population, these idiots only reveled in the destruction they cause. They wanted to be rid of the living, every single one of them.

So he took matters into his own hands.

He wasn’t as strong as he was before, Uroborous now gone from his system and the virus he had before weakened, but it was still enough to make him slightly stronger than the average human and be able to heal from his injuries in minutes.

The B.S.A.A. always led the hunt against these terrorist groups and he avoided them always, intervening whenever possible but not much.

He wondered what Chris was doing now. No doubt he was in the frontlines still keeping up the good fight.

He didn’t know if he was still angry or glad that Chris did what he did. That virus he had initially injected all those years ago had slowly driven him mad, explaining why he would want to conquer the world. Perhaps stem the population considering the growing problems that humanity was causing but not turning the world into his own personal kingdom.

That was Spencer’s wish. Somehow hearing Spencer tell him he was nothing but a lab rat, it must have snapped his sanity and with the virus only made it worse.

Now, all he wanted was a world that still was alive not dead. There would be no point if everyone on this forsaken planet died.

He heard a loud boom in the distance and looked up to see smoke billowing up into the sky. His sharp vision caught sight of a monstrous B.O.W. as it destroyed everything in its path, swatting military vehicles and armed men alike. It’s destructive rampage destroying numerous buildings in its wake.

He could hear the loud cries of pain and barks of orders coming from the soldiers mixed in with the roars of the B.O.W.

And then his blood froze in his veins. “Captain Redfield! NO!”

He immediately leaped off from the rooftop, landing onto the street with such power it broke the already destroyed street even more, and ran straight for the scene. To those still fighting, he was like a blur and they were left confused as to what had just passed them.

“Captain Redfield! Hold on!” He was getting closer and he turned just as he saw several B.S.A.A. soldiers lift the large piece of concrete off.

His heart stopped when his eyes caught the sight of a bloodied and still Chris as he sat amongst the pile of debris. He had been crushed when the B.O.W. swung and shattered the building catching Chris in its wake.

He took a step forward and then another. And then another one. And then he was running. He didn’t care to hear the loud gasps coming from the other men as he fell onto his knees, grabbing Chris’s shoulders and shaking him.

“Stay awake, Chris! Don’t you dare die on me!” He yells.

“W…Wesker?”

“Stay with me, do you hear me!?”

Chris was stunned to see Wesker alive but covered in hideous burn scars and what was even stranger was the blonde-haired man telling him to keep his eyes open. Shouldn’t he be celebrating that he was dying?

“W-Why do you care? Didn’t you want me dead? You’re getting your chance now…”

“That was different! I was different! I never wanted you dead, Chris.” Hurt him perhaps but never dead. Because a part of his supposedly cold, dead heart still cherished and loved the brunette. Even if he hadn’t realized it back then, his heart which he thought he never had still beats so long as Chris was alive.

“I… I love you. So please, stay awake.” Wesker pleads softly. Chris’s eyes widened in shock at the soft admission. Even after everything, Chris still held feelings for the other man but he kept them under lock and key thinking Wesker would never reciprocate it ever again ever since the man’s betrayal and after he was supposedly died there would be no such chance.

But to hear it now, it brought tears to his eyes. “I’m sorry… I’m tired.”

“Chris, Chris don’t you dare leave me!” Wesker shouts. “Don’t go where I can’t follow you.”

“I… I love you still. Despite everything that has happened, I still love you.” Chris murmurs, getting weaker and weaker as his strength started to leave him.

Darkness encroached from the corners of his vision and he knew this was it. “Christopher!” Wesker screams, horrified as he saw the life leave out of Chris’s eyes and heard the thuds of the younger man’s heart stop.

“Chris… Chris stop fucking around. Wake up. WAKE UP!”

But the brunette never did and never would ever again. Clutching his head in disbelief as tears filled Wesker’s eyes and streamed down his face, Wesker threw his head back and screamed out his grief and sorrow.

This couldn’t be happening. Chris was supposed to live, supposed to survive this. Why now? He felt like a failure not being able to save the brunette, his heart torn out of his chest knowing that Chris was now gone forever.

Leaning in, he pulls the brunette close and kisses the top of the younger man’s head. As he hears the roars of the B.O.W. that took Chris away from him, Wesker’s rage started to grow until it was a great beast howling to be unleashed.

Setting Chris back down, Wesker then got up and turned to face the beast.

With a loud animalistic scream full of grief and rage, all he saw was red.

Red as bright as Chris’s blood that adorned his body.

Red as dark as the creature’s blood spilling out of its body.

Red as the fires that continue to blaze in the distance.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

…Why did he have to be one to keep on living?

Why when the only person that ever mattered to him has died?

…Why couldn’t Death just claim him?

Why?

#albert wesker #chris redfield #chrisker #wesker x chris #resident evil #i just had to okay?

[yelena-bellova]

We’re Not Afraid of You - Avengers/Reader Imagine

Summary: You’re a new member of the Avengers, but they can’t figure out why you seem to be keeping everyone at arm’s length. All is revealed when you accompany them on your first mission…

Requested by anon: Can I request platonic AvengersxReader f imagine where the reader is new to the avengers but is super closed off around them in the compound but when they go on a mission for the first time she is a super badass hero & shocks everyone with her powers.once they go back to the compound she goes back to closed off which has the avengers trying to see why she’s like that & turns out that she’s scared of herself & bc she doesn’t want to hurt anyone .

Warnings: One curse word, a little violence…

Word Count: 2,584

Note: The reader’s powers are kind of a combination between Wanda’s and Jean Grey’s. I tried to give every Avenger some dialogue but clearly failed with Vision because he has zero lines haha Hope you enjoy! :)

The Avengers were gathered in the main living room of the compound for their monthly team bonding night. This month Tony had decided was a movie night and there was currently a heated debate happening over which one they’d watch. “Cap, you are not making us sit through another black and white 1940’s snooze-fest.” Tony argued, holding up Steve’s suggested title. “Well, we’re definitely not watching whatever it was you suggested.” Natasha chimed in, she and Clint were sitting on the floor, her legs draped over his lap. “What’s wrong with the one I picked?” Sam called out from the kitchen, helping Wanda and Vision carry the massive amount of food to the coffee table. They laid out brownies, bowls of popcorn, bags of candy and a box of pop-tarts reserved especially for Thor. “Because the last time we watched the one you suggest, Sam, everyone was passed out cold within the first hour.” Tony retorted. “Well excuse me for enjoying the occasional rom-com.” Sam quipped, grabbing a handful of popcorn and flopping on the couch next to Steve.

“Alright, alright…Bruce and Tony had the best suggestions, let’s just take a vote.” Steve spoke up. “All in favor of Tony’s, raise your hand.” Thor, Rhodey, Sam, and Vision raised their hands. “All in favor of Bruce’s, raise your hand.” Steve called. Him, Natasha, Clint, and Wanda raised their hands. “Fat load that did…” Tony chuckled.

Throughout all this, you had been hiding in your room, as usual. You were their newest recruit, only having been on the team for a month, and you hadn’t adjusted yet to your new life. You had been on the run almost your entire life until S.H.I.E.L.D. picked you up after having seen your powers and recruited you to be an Avenger. You had hesitated greatly, you had always operated on your own so becoming part of a team gave you major anxiety. Because of how much paperwork and training it took to be cleared to work with the Avengers, you hadn’t even been on a mission with them yet. You got along with your new teammates, but you didn’t want to get too close to them. The spacious bedroom that you got to call yours was where you spent most of your time. Unfortunately, the mini fridge you had bought had run dry of food, so you were forced to venture out into the kitchen to restock it. You tried to tiptoe in unnoticed, but that was impossible to do around a group of superheroes. They all immediately turned when they heard you come in, directing all the attention you didn’t want onto you. “y/n! You get to be the deciding vote…” Tony exclaimed.

You froze, not wanting to get drawn into whatever was going on but knowing Tony wasn’t going to let you go. “My Oscar winner or Bruce’s coming of age indie nonsense? And don’t allow yourself to be swayed, but you’re looking particularly beautiful today.”

Groans erupted from the team at Tony’s shameless attempt at trying to get you to side with him, but their eyes still rested on you. You stuttered a little, anxiety starting to run through your head, this is exactly what you didn’t want… “I-I don’t really have an opinion either way. I’m not feeling too good so I’m just gonna stay in tonight.” you lied through your teeth. You turned quietly and walked towards the fridge, grabbing some food you had stashed in the back. You could feel the team still staring at you, knowing they could feel your hostility towards them, you knew you had to throw them a bone... “But I hear the one Bruce suggested is really good.” you mumbled towards them.

Cheers and groans mingled in the air as Tony reluctantly slid the DVD into the player, by the time they turned around to thank you for your help, you had already made a run back to your room. “Is it just me or does she not like us all that much?” Bruce asked the room.

“I thought it was just me, I didn’t realize we were so objectionable.” Rhodey said. “Give her a break, guys. This is the first time she’s ever been a part of the team. She needs time to adjust.” Steve explained, he understood the feeling of being out of place better than anyone. “And we shouldn’t push her. She’ll come around in her own time…” Natasha added, knowing exactly what it felt like to be on your own and then thrust into a team environment. Her heart went out for you and she wished she could help you in some way.

The team collectively shrugged their shoulders and continued on with their night, but leaving an empty seat on the couch just in case you decided to join them. You had chosen instead to spend your night on the rooftop, your favorite spot in the compound second to your room. You gazed out at the dark landscaping, looking off into the distance to the see the lights of the New York City skyline. You sat back in your chair, doing your best to try and relax. You prayed that the team had moved on with their night and weren’t still thinking about you…

ONE WEEK LATER

“Romanoff, y/l/n, where are you?” Steve whispered into his communicator. “3rd level, looks empty but we’re gonna check it out just in case.” Natasha replied, you walked alongside her carefully down the abandoned hall. This was your first mission with the team and saying you were nervous was an understatement. It was simple enough; checking out an abandoned Hydra base to make sure that all the rats had gone down with the ship and see if there were any files left over to retrieve. The whole team had come just in case the report you’d gotten had been terribly wrong. So far there had been nothing, but you got a sinking feeling in your stomach that you and Natasha weren’t alone.

“Sure you don’t want a gun?” she asked as she continued walking down the hall, her weapon drawn. You forgot that no one on the team had seen you use your powers, so when you declined to take any weapons with you, their confusion was justified. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Trust me.” you whispered. “Wait, I’ve got something. Heat signature headed towards the building!” Tony called over the comms.

“GET OUT OF THERE!”

Natasha and you started running towards a nearby window and leaped out of it just in time sending shards of glass everywhere. Something had hit the building and caused a huge explosion right where you had been standing. You both fell through the air, expecting to hit the ground harshly, but Sam sprang into action and caught you both. He set you both on the ground quickly and you turned to see a swarm of unexpected Hydra agents charging towards you. Hulk roared and began taking them out one by one, Steve’s shield and Clint’s arrows started to fly, and Tony, Rhodey and Vision started firing at their enemies from the air. You began throwing punches, hoping that you weren’t going to have to use your powers on anybody. But unfortunately, these thugs played dirty and they weren’t going to go easy on any of you. You heard Natasha let out a loud grunt from nearby, she was pinned underneath a burley Hydra agent with no possible escape. He drew his knife, ready to strike her, there was no time to deliberate on the decision…

You threw your hands out towards the man, letting the blue energy waves flow from your fingers as you threw him into a tree, knocking him unconscious. You began doing the same as more agents charged towards you, your eyes began to glow as your power was now fully unleashed. You had been holding back for so long, you forgot what it felt like to let yourself go and let your powers flow freely…You levitated off the ground and flew through the air towards Steve, who had been knocked down by another agent and began sending blasts of your energy towards him. He was now laying on the ground but was now aiming his fun towards you. He took his shot you deflected the bullet away from you, you then sent him the man flying into the flames of the explosion. You quickly helped Steve to his feet, he looked at you with shock and wonder on his face. “Yeah, yeah, thank me later.” you joked.

“y/n, look out!” Thor yelled, you whipped around to see every agent charging towards you and Steve. He was ready to throw his shield at them, but before he could, you had already launched yourself into the air. Moving your hands together, you built up an orb of your blue energy and sent it forward towards the ground. It looked like an aggressive ocean wave as it knocked down every Hydra agent to the ground in your path, a loud collective groan coming from all of them. You quickly surveyed the area from above, not a single one of Hydras agents had survived the attack. You let out a sigh of relief and lowered yourself to the ground, only to be met by the shocked faces of your teammates.

Shit.

You had forgotten for a moment that they’d never seen you use your powers. You quickly walked away from them, heading towards the Quinjet. Scurrying inside, you headed towards a dark corner and fell to the ground, trying not to cry. Slowly, one by one, the rest of the team joined you on the jet but gave you the space you clearly desired. You stayed silent during the ride back the compound and once you landed, you were the first one off of the jet. You made a beeline to your room, locking the door and sliding against it to the ground. You let your tears fall freely now that you were alone...The reason why you had kept your distance from the team was because of your powers. You knew you were a mutant, you knew you were dangerous and you didn’t want the team to be on the receiving end of your abilities. You were absolutely terrified of what you were and what you could do. You didn’t even have full control over your powers yet, so you weren’t going to take any chances on endangering them. Deep in your thoughts, you were jolted out of them by the knock at your door. “y/n?” a female voice called. It was Wanda. You didn’t want to see anybody at the moment, but out of everybody on the team, you felt the least afraid to be around Wanda. You wiped your eyes and stood up, unlocking the door for her to walk through. She gave you a sympathetic smile and walked towards your bed to sit down, you followed and sat down next to her. She placed her hand on yours carefully as not to frighten you. “I get it, I really do.” she whispered. You began to quietly weep, you knew that she understood exactly what you were feeling. You two seemed to share the same abilities and you had wished so many times you could push past your fear so you could talk to her about it. “I’m so scared.” you cried, turning to look at Wanda. Her expression was nothing but sympathetic as she tucked a piece of hair behind your ear. “What if I hurt somebody? I-I don’t know that I can control it fully and if one of you got hurt because of me, I’d never forgive myself.” you continued.

She twisted herself to face you and placed your hand against her forehead. “I want you to look into my mind and tell me the amount of fear you see.” she said. You began to stammer, she gave you a knowing look, “I didn’t have to look in yours to know you can look into ours…”

You bit your lip, closed your eyes and began to let the blue energy fall from your fingers. You scanned Wanda’s brain and found no trace of fear, only sympathy, and admiration. You opened your eyes and pulled your hand back, letting out a single breathless laugh. She smiled at you, placing a hand on your shoulder, “We’re not afraid of you.” she stated. “I mean, I’m definitely gonna make sure I never piss you off…” Tony quipped.

You whipped your head around, seeing the whole team had gathered outside your door while you were in Wanda’s mind. You wiped your tears and stood up quickly, not knowing how to start explaining yourself. Bruce was the first one to take a step towards you, “Look in mine.” he invited. You gave a hesitating glance to Wanda, but she nodded encouragingly. You turned back to Bruce and looked for any ounce of animosity he may have towards you, but there was nothing. One by one, the team stepped forward and you read each of their minds.

Not a single one of them feared you or your powers.

“We wouldn’t have asked you to be a part of the team if we didn’t want you here, y/n. You don’t need to be afraid of hurting us if we’re not afraid of you.” Steve stated, putting a hand on your shoulder. “I can help you learn to control your powers fully, you already seem to be pretty good at it.” Wanda said, stepping towards you. You gave them your first genuine smile in a long time. Words couldn’t describe how relieved you were in the moment that for once, you weren’t viewed as the threat you thought you were. “Thank you…” you managed to get out through your tears. Natasha came forward and hugged you, the next words she said would stay with you forever… “You’re a part of this family, y/n.” Within the next few weeks, you became fully immersed in the team. Wanda and you had regular sessions together where she taught you how to fully master your powers. On missions, you two became a dynamic duo, combining your energy to create catastrophic results for your enemies. She also quickly become your best friend. Steve and you had bonded over your shared love for old jazz music, spending lots of afternoons with him listening to his record collection from the ’40s. Tony and you spent time designing a new suit for you after he deemed your current one “not badass enough” and you two quickly developed a father-daughter bond. You developed a unique connection with every member of the team and you cherished each one. By the next team bonding night, you were no longer hiding in your room, you were instead sandwiched between Wanda and Clint on the couch. Steve stood in front of the tv holding up two discs, “Alright let’s take a vote. All in favor of Clint’s suggestion, raise your hand.” Steve directed, throwing his own hand up and half the room followed. “All in favor of Thor’s suggestion, raise your hand.” The other half of the room raised theirs. You would be the deciding vote once again. “Alright, looks like we need a tiebreaker…” Steve said, looking towards you with a small smile on his lips.

You debated between the choices, neither one of them were particularly exciting to you, but the decision still rested on you. You smirked, flicked your fingers forward and levitated Thor’s disc out of Steve’s hand and into the DVD player. Laughter rang out in the room, Clint gave you a playful shove against Wanda, “The was simultaneously hurtful and super cool.” he quipped.

You laughed and stole the bowl of popcorn in his lap for yourself. Never once had you imagined you’d actually get to a place where you could use your powers freely and the reaction would be joy, not fear. As you scanned the room looking at each one of your teammates, you couldn’t help but let a joyful tear trail down your face. There would never be enough words to describe how thankful you were to be a part of the Avengers.

They were your family, forever and always.

#marvel #mcu #avengers #endgame #avengers endgame #marvel imagine #mcc imagine #avengers imagine #marvel fanfiction #marvel fanfic #mcu fanfiction #mcu fanfic #avengers fanfiction #avengers x reader #avengers x you #steve rogers imagine #tony stark imagine #natasha romanoff imagine #wanda maximoff imagine #thor imagine #bruce banner imagine #steve rogers #natasha romanoff #wanda maximoff #tony stark #clint barton #sam wilson #thor #bruce banner

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Aladdin Queen fic John Deacon x reader Chap. 9; Paul’s betrayal is revealed

*Author’s note*

Okay so last update for today until I get the next chapter up for you all. Now the gif below has nothing to do with this chapter except for the outfit that you will be wearing later on in this chapter. So I hope you all enjoy the double feature that I have so gladly provided for you :)

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@psychosupernatural​

@waddles03​

@ixchel-9275​

@georgesgentlyweepingguitar​

@queendeakyy​

@geek-and-proud​

@simonedk​

@kairosfreddie​

______________________________________________________________

The next morning I was walking along the palace corridors with Abu on my back now that he was back to being a monkey.  He was chattering away at me but I told him.

“Don’t worry, when the time is right. I will tell him.” Suddenly two guards stood in front of me and spoke not a word, just continued to glare at me.  I looked at them annoyed as I said as Abu hopped off my shoulder. “Morning?”

“Morning.” I heard behind me.  There stood the Captain of the English guard.  I turned back and muttered,

“Not again.” I was then escorted towards the lower level of the palace while Abu hid behind a large vase.

Next thing I knew, I was being tied to a chair, my hands bound and my legs tied by two of the guards that accompanied the Captain of the guard.  They pushed me towards the edge of the balcony and I could hear below me the sea crashing against the cliff’s edge.

“Please, please gentlemen. You’re making a big mistake here. You have no idea who I am.”

“Oh no, no I know who you are. (Y/n).” Paul said as he came into the room.

“(Y/n)?” his parrot soon landed on the arm of my chair as I continued, “I don’t know that name. I’m Princess Ali of…..”

“Street rat.” His parrot mocked me.

“Of Ababwa.”

“The princess of a kingdom that doesn’t exist. Who now possesses a magic carpet from the Cave of Wonders.” Paul spoke as he looked down at a book. “Seems the only way you would’ve escaped was if you were to have found a treasure. My treasure.”

Oh my god…..he…..Paul was the old man that took me to the Cave of Wonders.  He must’ve used some sort of potion or spell to age himself to trick me into getting him the lamp.

“Where’s your monkey!?” his parrot squawked.

“Where’s the lamp?” I tried to stay strong and stick to my story.

“Look; there’s clearly been some misunderstanding here. My name is Princess Ali.”

“If I throw you from that balcony, and you are who you say you are. You will die a watery death. Which would make dear Prince John so disappointed, especially if he were to think it was suicidal.” Oh that lying snake! How dare he do that to John. “But if by some miracle you survive, it can only be because of the lamp. In that case I shall have my answer. Now for the last time,”

I looked down towards the sea before quickly looking back to see him place the end of his staff against my chest.  His eyes wide with desperation and coldness.

“Where. Is. The lamp?”

“Paul Prenter; I am not who you say I am.”

“Goodbye (y/n).”

“No!” I gasped and I soon felt myself falling backwards what felt like hundreds of feet down towards the sea.  I kept flipping over in my chair since I couldn’t move until I suddenly felt the chair break and water consumed my vision as I sunk to the bottom.

*3rd Person POV*

Abu who earlier had snuck past the guards as his master and best friend was taken away raced back to her room and grabbed the lamp before screeching at Carpet telling him that (y/n) was in trouble.

Together the two of them flew off only to soon see (y/n) being thrown off a balcony tied to a chair.  Carpet tried to fly as fast as he could but it was too late.

After he had done his deed, Paul looked over the balcony to see if anything magical was about to happen.  But when the sea stood still with only the pieces of the chair still floating along the current, he merely shrugged and left his map room.

From the bottom of the sea, (y/n) soon saw the silhouette of carpet just a few inches above the water and soon the lamp began to sink down towards the bottom.  As the lamp reached the sea floor, she quickly swam up to it as best she could and tried to reach out with her bound fingers to try and rub the lamp.

Above the sea, Abu nervously chattered hoping that his best friend was going to make it up alive.  Unfortunately (y/n) was starting to run out of air as she could feel the lamp getting any closer to her.  Soon her squirming ceased and all that came out of her were small amounts of air bubbles before she finally passed out.

Then by some miracle, the lamp got closer to her and her fingers just barely grazed it. It activated and Freddie soon came popping out and he said annoyed.

“Never fails, get in the bath and there’s a rub at the lamp. Alright what is—” but when he looked around to see that he was now in the sea, he quickly turned around to see (y/n) lying on the sea floor motionless. “Oh no (y/n)! Darling listen, hey.” He lifted her up off the ground and said as he held her arms. “I can’t help you unless you make a wish. You have to make a wish! C’mon wake up!”

But no matter how much he pleaded, she didn’t wake up.

“Okay just—just try and form the words for me dear, ‘I wish…’” but as he let her go, she merely dropped back towards the ground. “Oh my darling girl no, this can’t be happening. Oh god, oh god, oh god oh god please no!” He then decided enough was enough, if he didn’t act fast she was going to die. “Okay, okay. Little gray area here but it’s worth a try.”

He made a contract appear and went behind her and placed the contract down and said as he used the ropes that bound her hands behind her back to sign the contract.

“I, (Y/n), being of sound, body and mind. Declare that my second wish is to be saved from certain doom.’ I took the liberty to backdate that a day, I hope you don’t mind.” He hooked the lamp to her side and said again, “Okay my darling, here we go, here we go!”

He then cried out as he quickly spun around creating a whirlpool that could be seen from above before he shot out crying out toward the sky carrying his master bridal style in his arms.  Just as he shot up halfway out of the sea, he quickly poofed back into her room and carried her to her bed.

“Oh c’mon (y/n) dear, wake up. Come on don’t do this to me. Please you lovely darling.” It was then a knock was heard at the door. “Oh shit now what?” he quickly phased into his disguise and went up to the door and cracked it open and was shocked to see who was on the other side.  “Prince John.”

“Hello Freddie, is—Ali awake yet?”

“She uhh….she’s…..”

“Why are you all wet?”

“I was just in the bath darling, now please I need to get the Princess dressed.”

“I thought I heard a scream come from outside, please just tell me if she’s okay.” When Freddie didn’t respond to John’s question, he immediately barged right inside and was shocked to see (y/n) completely wet from head to toe in her clothes and not showing any signs of life. “Oh god!” He rushed over to her and held her face between his hands. “What happened?!” he demanded.

“Deacy why did you just barge into Princess A—what the bloody hell is going on!?” Brian’s voice soon spoke up.

“What happened to her Fred?” Roger snapped.

“Never mind that just help me with her!” John demanded.  Brian, Roger and Freddie raced over to them.  John moved her to the floor so that she would be totally flat while Brian checked her pulse.

“It’s weak. I can barely feel anything.”

“Okay, Deacy you’ll have to give her CPR, press your hands against her chest for five beats then exhale some air into her to give her some oxygen.” Roger explained to John.  He nodded and proceeded to do chest compressions on her before exhaling some air into her mouth.

“Come on Ali, wake up. C’mon please don’t do this to me.” He continued with the CPR as best he could.  By the fourth time and just as he lifted his head up from hers, she suddenly lurched to her right and coughed up some water, right towards Freddie.

“Eww, you could’ve probably done that the other direction dear.”

*My POV*

I suddenly lurched forward and coughed as much water as I could and I heard Freddie’s voice.  But the first thing I saw as I opened my eyes was John.  The early sunrise giving him that sort of angelic glow as he looked down at me worriedly.

“You okay?” he asked me as I felt him cup the side of my face.  I breathed in as much air as I could.

“I think so. You—saved me. All of you……Especially you Freddie.” I softly spoke.

“Well, before the princes came in, it was a team effort.” He said quietly gesturing towards Carpet and Abu who were hiding by the balcony.

“Thank you.”

“(Y/n) what happened? Who did this to you?” asked Brian.

“You wouldn’t believe me…..if I told you.”

“Try us.” Said Roger.  I slowly sat up, but my arms were still shaky to support me.  So John wrapped his arm around me and helped me sit up and he even allowed me to use his body for support.  I rested my head on his shoulder and I said.

“It was Paul.” At hearing his name, all three of the Princes were angry.

“That son of a bitch! I knew he was trouble but never did I—” Brian snapped.

“Welcome to our world Bri.” Roger sarcastically snided.

“Why would he do this to you?” John asked me.

“If I may interject, your majesties,” spoke Freddie.  They turned to Freddie and he continued, “Paul has been secretly planning on obtaining all three of your father’s thrones. We have reason to believe that he’s been trying to obtain enough power in order to gain what he wants. He’s fooled everyone, including your fathers in order to gain full trust so they wouldn’t expect him of anything.”

“I’ve had my suspicions. A couple nights ago he wanted to invade my mother’s home kingdom.” Said John.  Brian and Roger were in shock trying to process the information, but they too had their suspicions of Paul ever since he came to work for them.

“We have to stop him.” I said as I tried to support myself but John took hold of my shoulders and gently picked me up bridal style and set me back on the bed.

“We will. But right now, you need to rest.” He tucked a strand of wet hair out of my face and the two of us stared at each other.

“We’ll—give you two some privacy.” Said Brian as he got up to leave, however Roger and Freddie stood still and just happily watched the show with know at all grins on their faces.  John cleared his throat and eyed the two men who snapped out of their trance and Roger said.

“Oh right silly us. C’mon Fred.”

“Right behind you Roger dear, best leave these two lovebirds alone.” He cheekily winked at us which caused me to blush and soon my bedroom doors closed once more.  As a soft wind blew in from the balcony, I shivered suddenly feeling absolutely cold.

“Oh here, let’s get you into something else before you get pneumonia.” He went into the wardrobe and pulled out another dress, this time it was a magenta color.  “If you want I can leave for a moment till you’re ready.”

“I can just change in the bathroom. Just—promise you won’t look.”

“I promise.” He said as he raised his left hand up and crossed his heart with his right index finger.  I smiled and headed towards the bathroom and removed my wet green dress and put on the magenta dress.  When I gotten the dress on, I stepped out and he looked toward me. “Better?”

“A bit, but still a bit cold though.” He stood up and removed his vest once more and just like he did last night, he placed it over my shoulders and he said.

“And how’s that?”

“Wonderful.” I exhaled softly as the two of us stared into each other’s eyes.  I felt a lump in my throat and my heart began to race erratically as he leaned forward, his nose gently nudging against mine before our lips once again touched each other’s.

We separated from each other before I fully turned around and cupped his face with both my hands and he leaned in and captured my lips once more in a more passionate kiss.  Next thing I knew, we were both on my bed with him hovering over me.

I buried my fingers into his soft, chocolate brown hair and I felt him starting to kiss down my neck.  

Oh Allah never have I felt such great pleasure before in my life, my stomach felt like it was on fire as I felt his hands gently move up from my hips, to my sides. He was just about touched my breasts when I snapped back into reality.

“Wait, wait John.” He stopped and he suddenly grew fearful as he backed away and hide his face into his hands.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Ali I—I really hope you don’t think I’m just trying to sack you. I would never take advantage of you like that. If I did I am truly sorry. I’m a bastard I—”

“No, no John you didn’t. I just….” Should I tell him the truth now? Or should I hold off till after we take care of Paul? “We should take care of Paul first before we—you know.”

“Yeah. Yes of course. We’ll take care of him this afternoon.” He lay down across from me and cupped my cheek in his hand, his thumb gently stroking along my cheek. “He won’t get away with this. I swear it.” I nodded and placed my hand on top of his and kissed his palm before snuggling up into his chest.

I felt his arms wrap around me and his chin resting on top of my head, feeling him every now and then kiss the crown of my head.  The two of us stayed cuddled up in my bed for the rest of the morning.

*3rd Person POV*

Later that afternoon in the throne room, John, Brian and Roger had their backs turned to the main door looking at the three thrones as soon entering the main throne room were their fathers, some of the guards and Paul.

“I saw it with my own eyes my lords. Princess Ali and her servant fled into the night.”

“What?” asked King Harold.

“Not only that, but it would seem she will also return with an army to conquer our homeland.” When they saw the three princes’, the kings questioned their sons if this was true.  The princes turned around and Brian said.

“You said you saw her leave Paul? And that you heard her say she’s going to send an armed battalion onto our shores?”

“Yes Prince Brian. I saw her with my own two eyes.” Roger hummed.

“If what you say is true Paul,” soon walking in was (y/n) and Freddie as John continued as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

“Then why is Princess Ali still here?” Iago squawked out as he flew off.

“Uh-oh.”

*My POV*

John wrapped his arm around me and I greeted the kings.  Paul staring at me in fake relief but his eyes showed true shock as he said to me in a forced tone.

“Princess Ali……what an unexpected surprise.”

“My kings your advisor is not who he says he is.” I answered as John took my hand in his and I felt him stroke the back of it, giving me comfort and relief because boy did I want to strangle Paul at this very moment.

“Oh. I’m not who I say I am.”

“Father, he tried to kill Princess Ali this morning.” John answered.

“Paul, can you explain this?” John’s father asked.

“Yes, my kings. You know my loyalty belongs to you.”

“Your loyalty……” the kings dragged out almost like they were in a trance. “Your loyalty…..” it was then John’s father turned towards me and he said.

“Princess Ali. You invite yourself here, and we took you in as our guest. But it would seem your actions are—” he trailed off before sneering out. “Deceitful! You have seduced my son like a succubus and have wind him into your web of lies.”

“Father what are you—”

“Silence John! Paul’s told me everything about her intentions.” It was then I took notice of Paul’s snake staff. “She wants our throne!”

“Hakim!” Roger’s father called out but before he continued, I quickly reacted.  I grabbed Paul’s staff and lifted it high above my head, then as hard as I could, I slammed it down to the ground, breaking the head clean off.

Smoke and magic evaporated into the air as the kings were now free of Paul’s control.

“Father.” Brian, Roger and John asked their fathers.

“What’s happened?” asked Brian’s father.

“He had you three under a spell.” I answered them.

“Your majesties, she spews lies. My loyalty belongs only to you three.” Paul tried to save himself.

“He wants to bury your kingdoms to the ground so that he can rule all of England.”

“Paul Prenter. You were our most trusted advisor, we took you in when your parents abandoned you and this is how you repay us?! Hakim! Lock him in the dungeons!” John’s father proclaimed.  Soon Hakim, the lead guard and a few others took Paul down to the dungeons.

I immediately felt John’s arms wrap around me and he picked me up and spun me around.

“John! John, put me down.” I giggled.  He set me down and suddenly kissed me.

“You were brilliant love.”

“Well I—”

“So it is true?” we turned to see John’s father walking towards us. “My son has finally chosen a princess?” John smiled and held me close and nodded.

“My kings I—”

“No, no, my dear we must sincerely apologize. Never did we believe that our own council would be plotting against us all these years. But it took a smart woman like you to realize it.”

“And we are forever grateful to you, Princess Ali.” Answered Roger’s father.

“Actually your majesties there’s…..something that I…..”

“Hold on Ali. If I may, there’s…..something that I would like to say to you.” John interrupted me.  He took my hands in his and turned fully towards me. “Ever since coming here, never did I think someone was going to affect me the way you have. Every other Princess in the world has only thought about how our marriage would affect them, but you—you are completely different than what I expected. You’ve shown me so much, and….I feel so complete with you.” He reached into his vest and pulled out a beautiful diamond ring. “This was the ring my father proposed to my mother with when they first met. And he gave it to me, so that when I would find my princess, I would give it to her. So I ask you Princess Ali of Ababwa,” he knelt down on one knee and presented the ring, “Will you marry me?”

“Oh fuck.” Freddie muttered.  I was—well shocked isn’t even the word that I would use right now.

“John I—” With everyone literally waiting on baited breathe, and looking down at John’s nervous face as he kept hold of the ring, I knew I couldn’t reject him like this.  “Which finger do I put this on?” he choked out a nervous chuckle and he said.

“Wedding finger love.” I swallowed back my nerves before finally saying the most dangerous word that I would ever say in my entire life.

“Yes.” With that the entire room was in applause as John smiled widely and stood up and kissed me with loving passion.  After he separated his placed the ring on my left ring finger and held my left hand to admire the ring.

“It looks beautiful on you my love.” He leaned his forehead against mine and embraced me.  I smiled forcefully as my heart just sunk to the floor and my stomach churned.

“And in light of this happy occasion, I would be most honored. To call you my daughter.” John’s father came up and cupped my face before giving me a kiss on the cheek and hugged me as well telling me congratulations.

As John took me back into his arms and I nuzzled into his long hair, all I could think of was what the hell have I done?

#bohemian rhapsody #bohemian rhapsody imagines #bohemian rhapsody movie #bohemian rhapsody imagine #bohemian rhapsody x reader #queen #queen fanfic #queen fanfiction #queen band #queen imagine #queen imagines #john deacon #john deacon x reader #john deacon imagine #john deacon imagines #joe mazzello!john deacon #joe mazzello!john deacon x reader #freddie mercury #freddie mercury x reader #rami malek!freddie mercury x reader #rami malek!freddie mercury #gwilym lee!brian may #ben hardy!roger taylor #brian may #roger taylor #au!Queen fic #au!Queen fanfiction #aladdin #aladdin style fic

[saxonspud]

Chapter 6 - Valentine

It was only when the storekeeper piled the clothes on the counter, you realised that there was more there than you had intended. Arthur helped you carry the clothes back to his horse, where he packed them away in the saddlebags.

"I'm sure I didn't pick out all this stuff!" you exclaimed as you handed Arthur some of the purchases. In fact some of the stuff, you were sure you hadn't even picked out.

Arthur chuckled, "better to have too much, than not enough!"

Once he had packed everything away, he sighed.

"C'mon, after all that, I need a drink!"

Before you had walked very far, you felt Arthur's hand on the back of your neck, his fingers gently massaging it. You felt a tingle run down you're spine, and you moaned under your breath.

Arthur snickered, "you like that, don't you, Kitten?"

You felt your face flush, "I...Its different," you stuttered.

Arthur smirked, and guided you up the steps to the Smithfield's saloon.

As you walked in, you watched as Arthur waved at two men at the bar. His hand dropped from the back of your neck to your shoulder.

"Hey Arthur!" The Mexican greeted him, "since when do we take O'Driscolls out for a drink!"

Before you had a chance to tell him that you weren't an O'Driscoll, Arthur piped up.

"This little Kitten ain't an O'Driscoll, not a proper one anyway!"

The Mexican chuckled, "Javier, pleased to meet you, and this is Charles," he motioned to the man standing next to him.

"I'm Kat!" You introduced yourself. Arthur may think it funny to call you Kitten, but it wasn't your name!

Arthur quickly ordered a couple of beers, then glanced at you, then at Javier.

"She's to small for a Kat, so that's why I call her Kitten," Arthur smirked.

The two men chuckled.

"Are you sure you should be buying her a beer, Arthur?" Javier asked.

You frowned at him, "I'm seventeen!"

Javier held his hands up, "Ok...just checking," he chuckled.

You grabbed the bottle of beer and took a couple of large gulps. Just because you were small, didn't mean you had to be treated like a child.

Arthur rolled his eyes, and took a gulp of his own.

"Where's Bill?" Arthur asked.

The words were barely out of his mouth, before a drunken Bill came stumbling through the door. He collided into another man, and before you knew what was happening all hell broke loose, as punches started to fly.

You tried to keep out of the way, as much as possible, but when you saw Javier in a strangle hold, you picked up your beer bottle, and smashed it over his assailants head.

The man collapsed in a heap.

Javier turned to look at you, "Thank you, gatita!" his thumb gently caressed your cheek, "but you should stay out of the way, we don't want your pretty little face to be hurt," he smirked.

He turned away, and continued fighting another man.

Before long a man came lumbering down the stairs, he was huge. He seemed to be making a beeline for Javier.

"Come 'ere you little greaser!"he growled.

You watched as he threw a few punches at Javier, then he grabbed him, and started smashing his head against one of the tables.

You took the other beer bottle and smashed it over the man's head.

Unfortunately for you, it didn't knock him out, like the other one had.

He grabbed hold of your shirt, and punched you, sending you flying over the table. You lay on the floor dazed, and blood coming from your nose.

Before you even had a chance to get up, he grabbed hold of you again, and hurled you through the window of the saloon. You landed in the mud outside, laying on the floor winded.

You watched as he approached you, his face full of fury. This was it, you were sure you were a gonna, your head was spinning and your vision started to blur.

The last thing you heard was Arthur's voice.

"Fucking leave her alone, you ugly son of a bitch!" he growled.

Then darkness took you.

Everything hurt. You couldn't tell what hurt the most, but you thought it was probably your head. More specifically your face.

You groaned, and tried to open your eyes. Even that hurt.

"Dutch...Dutch I think she's waking up!"

A female voice. Once that you vaguely recognised.

You opened your eyes, well one eye. The other one wouldn't really open.

"who...where..." you mumbled.

"I'm Mary-Beth, its ok Kat, you're safe now. You're in Arthur's tent."

You closed your eyes, and tried to sit.

You immediately felt a hand gently press on your shoulder.

"Oh no you don't young lady, you stay put!" Dutch scolded.

You didn't fight him, there wasn't much point.

"Mary-Beth, please can you go and get Kat a glass of water."

It was a request, but the way Dutch said it, was more of an order.

You realised who she was now, the same person who'd snuck you some water, while you had been tied to the tree.

"Wh...what happened?" you groaned.

"I could very well ask you the same thing!" Dutch chided.

You licked you lips, your mouth was dry. You hoped Mary-Beth would hurry back with the water.

"Is Arthur alright?" You asked, "and Javier?"

Dutch rolled his eyes, "they're both fine! In a much better state than you! What exactly happened?"

Your inquisition was halted, as Mary-Beth handed a glass of water to Dutch. You realised he was sitting on the edge of the cot. He gently tilted your head, and put the glass to your lips.

You gulped down several swallows.

Once Dutch had laid your head back on the pillow, you answered him.

"There was a fight...in the saloon."

Although you're eyes were closed, you could imagine the look on his face by the tone of his voice.

"Evidently! What I want to know is why you became involved in a fight?" He demanded.

You tried opening your eyes again, one was ok, the other hurt like hell. You put your hand up to your face, but it was gently pushed back down. You winced. It was only then you realised that your hands were bandaged.

"Wh...what happened...to my hands?" you whimpered.

Dutch sighed, his tone became more gentle.

"Glass, from the window you were thrown through. Hosea dressed them and bandaged them," he explained.

You suddenly realised you were no longer in the muddy clothes, you were just wearing a shirt and a pair of pants. You also felt clean, like you had been bathed.

"Who...who cleaned me up...changed my clothes!" you asked, your voice slightly panicked.

Dutch chuckled, "don't worry Kat, the ladies cleaned you up! Well more specifically Miss Grimshaw!"

You breathed a sigh of relief, you weren't sure why. After all, Dutch had already seen most of you naked, when you were still tied to the tree.

"So!" Dutch continued, "are you going to tell me how you managed to get punched in the face, and thrown through a window?"

You thought for a moment, how were you going to explain that the whole thing started because Bill picked a fight with a man that he had bumped into. You weren't a rat, never had been.

"A big guy was attacking Javier, so I hit him over the head with a beer bottle like I did the first one, but it didn't knock the second one out, so he came after me!" You explained.

Dutch shook his head, "you make a habit of hitting people over the head with bottles?"

You shook you head.

Dutch hummed, "just get some rest, I'll send someone in with some food later."

You closed your eyes, you weren't really bothered about food, you just wanted your body to stop aching.

Food didn't come later, because you didn't wake up. You guessed that Dutch didn't really want to wake you. You're poor body, probably craved rest more than food. So you slept, through the rest of the day and the following night.

Your eyelids gently fluttering open as the sun rose to greet a new day.

As your eyes opened, you felt fingers push loose strands of hair from your face. Being careful to avoid your still swollen eye.

"Good morning Kitten, glad to see you're still with us!" Arthur smirked.

You blinked in surprise. You hadn't asked where he had been, and now you came to think of it. The last time you had seen him was in the saloon.

"Where have you been?" you asked, curiously.

Arthur chuckled, "had to go and retrieve another damsel in distress!"

You tried to frown at him, but you winced. Moving the muscles on the left side of your face, still hurt. At least for now.

"Alright, not a damsel, but Sean Maguire almost gets himself into as many scrapes as you, Kitten!" he smirked.

You breathed a heavy sighed, "I was only trying to help!"

Arthur smiled, "and I'm sure Javier is more that grateful, but next time use a bigger bottle, eh!"

Arthur put his hand under your back and helped you to sit.

"Now since you've been sleeping for nearly two days, I think we should get you some food!" He suggested.

You nodded, and waited for him to pass you some clothes.

Arthur stood at the end of the cot, looking at you.

"Well I'm not getting dressed with you staring at me," you huffed.

Arthur chuckled and shook his head, leaving the tent.  

Give it time, he thought to himself, and you'd be more than happy to have him in the tent with you, clothes or not!

#rdr2 fanfic #wattpad #a03

[frostclawdragoon]

Prompt #3: “Lost Friend”

Gunblade in hand, R’ouros charged through the battlefield, passing by resistance fighters and clashing into the Garlean soldiers and magitek monstrosities that opposed them. With an intense roar of courage, he brought his blade down upon the enemies that threatened to invade and destroy all they had worked to save and build.

This… This was an enemy he knew how to fight. He knew their strengths, their weaknesses. He knew how they thought, strategized and moved. Each attack made toward him and every footstep to change stances was text-book typical. He didn’t need foresight to know how to dodge such basic swordsmanship and predictable artillery fire.

Studying the art of war. Studying Garlemald. He spent those four long agonizing years learning their history, their culture, their way of combat. Not out of curiosity, not out of searching for a weakness. But because he had to. And now their very idea of life and war had been turned against them in the form of a seemingly harmless miqo’te with a passion for knowledge.

Approaching a magitek armor that was stomping its way toward him, he narrowed his eyes and honed his focus. He quickly lept and rolled to the side, narrowly dodging a missile that impacted beside him. He bolted forward, cutting his way through two more soldiers before reaching the suit of armor. Like clockwork, he knowingly and effortlessly climbed his way up to the seat with the speed of an opo-opo, startling the driver. R’ouros slammed his blade into the control yoke, released the hilt, grabbed the soldier and yanked him out of the seat. He gripped onto his blade again and lept off the now sparking magitek suit and continued his path further into the warzone.

The faster he could end this battle, the faster he could end any further death. Eorzea had suffered enough. The world had suffered enough.

R’ouros shielded his face with his arm from a spattering of dirt and mud as some manner of explosion went off nearby. He didn’t let that deter him or distract him. He kept pushing forward, kept searching for whoever was leading this attack against Ala Mhigo. Could it be the Crowned Prince? He had heard rumors of his apparent survival after taking his own life… I don’t think I could fight him one-on-one, he thought. That might be a fight that is far out of my league--

He skidded around a muddy hill and immediately came face-to-face with another miqo’te. R’ouros stopped dead in his tracks, his breath hitching in his throat and his eyes went wide. That unmistakable stark-white hair against the blackened Garlean armor…

“Khito…!” R’ouros choked out in surprise.

“Ouros…?” Khito responded, sounding just as surprised as he looked. A second later, though, and his expression grimaced. “What the hells are you doing here?” He hissed.

There was a momentary pause, one defended by the sounds of war echoing around them. For R’ouros though, the seconds felt like an eternity as time seemed to slow. The sounds and smells of battle, smoke and death faded as his focus and guard dropped instantaneously. Khito was here… Alive and, despite the blood, sweat and mud smeared on him, he looked healthy, physically and mentally. It overwhelmed him with relief.

R’ouros tensed slightly at the faint tickling of tears forming in his eyes, and he stepped forward. In response, Khito stepped back.

“Come home…!” R’ouros exclaimed, the words bubbling out of him. “Stop fighting and come home!”

“You can’t be serious... ” Khito growled in annoyance. “We’re in the middle of a war, Ouros!”

“But we don’t have to be!” R’ouros retorted with another step forward. “We can just drop our weapons now and make a run for it!”

“And become a deserter? Like you?” Khito snapped, causing R’ouros to flinch. “I’m not going to run away from this. I’ve come too far and sacrificed too much to quit now, and I’m certainly no coward.”

“It’s not cowardice!” R’ouros said with a hard shake of his head. “Garlemald is wrong, Khito! I’ve seen what kind of horrors they can inflict! They hurt people, tear families apart and torture those who fight against them! They’re not heroes!”

“Yet it isn’t Garlemald that’s summoning Primals!” Khito spat. “We’re stopping the bad guys, the real bad guys. The ones that refuse to put a stop to the beasts and people who summon these creatures of mass destruction. We’re saving the world by doing you all a favor and getting rid of the lawlessness that plagues the world.”

R’ouros could feel, in the pit of his stomach, a growing frustration that was getting worse by the second. “Why won’t you listen to reason?!” He snapped. “Are you really that blind to the suffering of everyone around you?!”

“You’re the one who’s blind!” Khito snapped back. “Parading around with the resistance rats, acting like your some mighty hero when all you’re doing is helping the enemy further their goals!”

“I’m trying to save everyone! Even you! Can’t you see that?!” R’ouros tensed again as tears threatened his eyes again. “I miss you!”

R’ouros swore he saw a flicker in those sharp, intense eyes. Just for a moment, his eyes had softened, granting R’ouros a brief window to see the Khito he used to know. Somewhere, buried deep under the lies and poison the Garleans instilled in him, he was still himself. R’ouros just had to grab onto that flicker of light, of desperation, of longing for his home and family. He had to keep it from being snuffed out completely.

He couldn’t lose him.

“Please, Khito.” R’ouros begged. “Please just stop fighting and come home. We’ll put all of this behind us and forget it ever happened…!”

“I can’t.”

“Yes you can!” He took another step toward him. “I’ll help you, Kara will help you!” He smiled weakly. “We can go back to the way things used to be, before the Calamity, before Garlemald and wars and resistances…! We can be a family agai--!!”

A sharp pain shocked through R’ouros’ head, forcing him to drop his blade as his eyes went wide. No. Not now. Not here…! He stumbled backward, his hands clutching onto his head as the pain throbbing in his brain worsened. His heartbeat thumped loudly and wildly in his ears, making the sounds around him muffled as though he were being submerged in water. Through his vision, which began to double and blur, he watched Khito step back, a look of horror crossing his features.

“... No…” He heard him say, his tone was filled with disbelief. “No you--... You’re one of them, aren’t you...?”

R’ouros tried desperately to respond, to explain what was happening, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t allowed to. He was never allowed to do anything. His senses dulled and his eyes pinched closed tightly to the overwhelming pain… And when he opened his eyes, he no longer stood on a battlefield, but instead, he was on a beach. Warm, white sands. Crystal clear waters and a bright blue sky. The sun was warm on his face… He was home...

“... I’m leaving.” He heard Khito say.

He looked over, Khito stood beside him on the beach. He was younger, more inexperienced, but the fierce determination in his eyes was as it ever was. He stared out at the ocean, his mind already made up.

“Why?” R’ouros asked.

Khito looked back at him. “I want to make sure that another calamity never happens again.” He answered. “I want to fight to protect our home.”

“... How long will you be gone?”

He shrugged and looked out at the water. “I don’t know... I don’t know how bad it is out there or how many of those world-ending creatures are running free… But I’ll stop them. No matter what.”

R’ouros looked out at the water and frowned deeply. The thought of never getting to see Khito again weight heavy on him, and it made it hard for him to breathe. He took in a hard, shaking breath as he prepared to wish him luck.

“... Come with me.” Khito asked, unprompted.

“What?” R’ouros looked at him.

Khito returned his gaze with a confident smile. “You want to get away from this life, right? To be free? You can come with me, see the world and help me keep it safe.”

Gradually, an uncontrollable wide grin spread on R’ouros face as joy and excitement bubbled up inside him, replacing the earlier sorrow.

“YEAH! Of COURSE I wanna go with you!” He exclaimed. “I wanna see everything! Read everything! And help you save everyone! Oh man, we’ll take on the world and keep it safe together! Khito and Ouros, the world’s greatest heroes!”

Khito couldn’t help but bark out a laugh.

A flash, and R’ouros was flung back to the present as a sharp, hot and heavy pain crushed into his entire body. His eyes bulged wide as he struggled to gasp in air before hacking out blood. The sounds of war filled his ears again as his senses came about him. He was lying face first in a puddle of mud, his body unresponsive to movement and burning in agony. Lifting his shaking head, he glanced around slowly as he tried to make sense of what had happened. The vision he had seemed so brief… But how much time had actually passed?

From what he could tell, he was crushed under a pile of debris. Magitek in make, judging by the metal… Perhaps a piece from an airship that had been shot down? He couldn’t tell. He tried to push up off the ground or even shove the metal off him, but he couldn’t move. Sharp, broken edges of the debris were dug into his flesh, pinning him there.

He heard rustling and creaking of metal nearby. Shakily, he looked over and saw Khito crawling out of the same debris, coughing to the smoke. He was bloodied and wounded, but still somehow managed to stand.

“K… Khito--” R’ouros coughed out, catching his attention. “Khito h-help--!”

Khito stared down at him with laboring breaths, his eyes wide with adrenaline and… Fear? He didn’t move.

R’ouros weakly stretched his hand out as far as he could, despite the metal digging into his shoulder. He reached toward Khito with clenched teeth, his fingers and hand trembling with pain.

“H-help--...!” He called out again with a wheezing cough. “I-it hurts--! I can’t b-breathe--!”

Khito took a step back.

“... Khito…?”

He took another.

“Khito w-wait--!”

He turned and ran. Running as far and as fast as his wounded body would let him. R’ouros watched as he disappeared off into the ash-filled smoke, his blood-covered eyes wide as he stared at the now empty field of dirt in front of him. His chest, already stinging from the crushing pain and smoke, grew even heavier as his heart crumbled. The tears that had once more welled in his eyes began rolling down his cheeks, his gaze never leaving the smoky land where he had last seen Khito’s silhouette. He foolishly hoped, foolishly waited for him to come back. To save him… He would.. Right? They were best friends… Right...?

He’ll be back… He’ll be back… He kept telling himself.

… He never did.

His head struggled to remain lifted, and eventually, his neck could no longer support him. His face mashed down into the sticky mud below him, and not long after that, the pain, physically and emotionally, had become too much to bear and unconsciousness took him.

--

@sea-wolf-coast-to-coast

#FFxivWrite2019 #my writings #I missed day two cause of various reasons #BUT I AT LEAST GOT DAY THREE #dfGLDFGMLDFG #have Sad Spoilers #for my sad sad cat boi #I'll write about another character soon I promise dfGLDFMGLDFGFD

[short-origins]

Stay Safe.

(Fun fact: I had no idea I was queer when I wrote this. How I didn’t know is beyond me, but whatever.)

So, you’re heading out? 

The bubbly scrawl appears along my left arm. A small smile works its way onto my face as I read the white script. I am not supposed to communicate with anyone outside of my command at this time, but screw it; freedom of speech and expression still apply, yeah?

“Hey, could I borrow a pen?” I turn to my friend Jonah, who gives me a ‘really?’ look. “Yes, really. Now may I borrow a pen or is that a no?” I ask. 

“Yeah, yeah. Here you go,” he sighs as he reaches into his pack to pull out a black pen. “I need this one back, L.”  

“Yes sir,” I say with a lilt in my voice as I snatch the pen from his grasp. “Thanks.”

Yeah, planned patrol. Shouldn’t be too bad.

“Pen away, Liz,” Commander Zolt orders gruffly. “We’ll be out of this stinking truck in five minutes, you’ll live.”

“Yes sir,” I say as I yank my sleeve down over my olive skin and hand the pen back over to Jonah. “Thanks again,” I say. Wordlessly, he takes the pen back and puts into his pack and pulls out some jerky to snack on.

“So, what’d you tell ‘er this time?” he asks while peeling the wrapping open. He wiggles his eyebrows and I just roll my eyes at him.

“It’s not like we had a ton of time to chat and it was just about our day; nothing ‘juicy,’ you idiot.” I say.

“Rats.”

“Shut up.” I smile and lean back into my seat. In the back of the truck are three people besides me and Jonah. Commander Zolt, who has never seemed to like me, along with the siblings Colt and Bel. who mostly chat with each other, but they are good people to hang with otherwise.

As the ride to Quintar continues to draw out, my mind thinks to the writing on my arm. I find myself focusing on the faint pin-pointed pressure of Tiana’s response. Despite how tempted I am to look, I can almost feel Commander Zolt watching and waiting for me to slip up, which keeps me from doing anything of the sort. 

I’ll read it later, when I get the chance. Tiana and I have been chatting for almost fourteen years now. She reached out to me first. 

Does this work? 

The pale blue color had bloomed on my arm. I remember running to my mom immediately after. “Mom! Mom! Look!” I’d said. Seeing the messy scrawl for the first time had been a happy surprise. “Look! They wrote. What do I say back?” I’d asked her mother. 

“Well say hi to them at least. Talk to them,” she said.

The feeling of the truck suddenly slamming on the brakes snaps me back into focus as our bodies jerk towards the front of the truck. “Alright, buzz-cuts and ponies, time to move!” the commander orders us as we begin to pick up all of our items. I pack up any material I took out of my pack and grab my gun from behind my seat as I stand. 

“Three years. We’ve been doing this job for three years. Last run for you, L,” Jonah says as we get ready to go. “You lucky shit.”  

“What can I say? I don’t want to be away from home any longer than I have to be.” I laugh and punch his upper arm, “Plus, once I’m back, I plan to finally meet Tiana in person, rather than over a video chat,” I say as I glance towards my left arm. “But we’ll have to meet up once you’re out. You are out soon too, yeah?”

Before he responds, we are pushed out of the truck into the dry, dusty heat of Quintar. The truck takes off to make room for the next truck as Jonah speaks. “Three more months. Better no forget about me in that time, L.” he says, securing some of gear to his belt. 

“Yeah, yeah.”

We are all corralled into a group once the rest of the command gets out of the other trucks. We split into groups of six and spread out along the surrounding area. Major Beth leads our group based off of her mutt’s nose. 

We arrive to a mostly deserted part of the town as we keep watch outside of each building while the mutt tries to sniff out any bombs, drugs, weapons, and other dangerous material. 

‘Clear!” Major Beth yells out as the mutt sniffs out another crumbling building. As we transition to the next building and continue our check, I lag behind a few paces and pull my sleeve back to see what Tiana wrote. 

Stay Safe. 

The clumsy handwriting makes me smile, as it always has since she accepted my position.

Why the HELL are you doing that!?

I could practically hear her screaming at me through the bold marks on my skin. She knew that I had been thinking about doing this, and had voiced her concern many times prior, but when I told her that it was going to happen, I could feel her anger radiating from the lines on my skin. 

I’m calling.

Moments later my phone rings loudly. I take a breath, before deciding to answer. I deserve any anger she has. “Hey.”

On the other end of the line I hear her strained voice as she asks. “Dammit, Liz. You’re going to get yourself killed out there,” her normally soft and happy voice sounds like it’s on the verge of breaking. “Of all times to go into service why-” she pauses for a moment, swallows and continues, “why now? Why not community service, policing, fire fighting even. Why would you go work in a war zone?” 

I understand her concern. “No one else will by choice. I’m not going to be away long. I’ll be back before you are out of college, and when I come back I’ll have the money to meet you so you don’t have to leave your studies. I’ll be fine. Plus, when I get back I’ll be able to get veterans discounts,” I say, half honest, half joking. Tiana lets out a breathy scoff. 

“Fine. Stay safe.”

“Liz! We need you to check this out,”Major Beth calls out.

“Yes Ma’am!”  I jog inside the building Major Beth and her dog are in. “What is it?”

Major Beth gestures towards three cabinets, two of which were opened. “We found a variety of weapons which were modified.” Major Beth opens the third cabinet and turns to look at me. “You’re the weapons specialists, what do we have here?”

I take that as a cue to begin pulling out the weapons and inspecting them. The first cabinet and much of the second are full of semi-automatic rifles with additions which were added with basic supplies, mostly duct tape. Most of the guns had added on knives and various blades to make basic bayonets. Other guns, though appearing ordinary on the surface, were modified to shoot ammunition other than bullets. Pistols are limited to small rocks and pebbles, but larger guns were altered to use things such as stones and incendiary cartridges depending on each gun.

“Besides the obvious attempt at recreating bayonets, the guns were modified to use more mundane things as projectiles, so they wouldn’t run out of ammunition,” I say, sparing her the details as she comes over to inspect the weapons. I walk over to the third cabinet to find it full of explosives. I hesitate in picking up anything from the third cabinet before walking back towards her. “It’s full of bombs and the bottom has a layering of of gunpowder. I recommend that we use any spare water we have and douse the powder,” I say. 

She nods and I begin to walk towards the door to get a jug of water, but I am interrupted when a loud banging sound ruptures throughout the area. Pulling my gun out, I quickly turn around to try to locate the sound. But I see nothing. The sound was of a gun going off, but I can’t tell from where. 

Another banging sound goes off, and suddenly the cabinet full of explosives is set off. The gunpowder lights on fire and then there is an explosion. 

My body is pushed back into the opposite wall, and my vision blurs to black. 

*

Clunk Click.

The sound of a door rouses me from sleep. My bleary eyes open and I have to blink a few times to see clearly. I turn my head to the right to see a nurse changing what my IV is connected to. 

“Your awake. How do you feel?” he asks.

“What?” I ask before comprehending what he said. “Oh, I- uhh- good? Where am I?” I can feel parts of my body secured by bandages and the air smells too clean, 

“You are in a hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan,” he says. “You were injured while in Quintar, and since it was so close to your release date, it was decided that once you were stable you would be sent here,” he explains upon seeing my confusion. He walks to the door and just before he leaves he adds, “There will be a doctor here to check up on you in a few minutes. Until then, you have a visitor.” He walks out the door, and I can see his silhouette pause to say something to someone just outside the door through the hazy glass. 

A moment later the door opens, and a girl walks into my room. Her hair is an auburn color and her skin is fair. She has many freckles spattered across her nose and cheeks, and her green eyes light up when she sees me awake. 

“You never listen? Do you?” she says as she walks over and sits down in the chair next to my bed. 

“Selective hearing.” I smile up at her. “You were able to convince people to send me here, I’m impressed.” 

She shrugs. “What can I say? I’m majoring in English, I make the best arguments, and I wouldn’t stand for any more delays. By the way,” she stands and slightly leans over the side of the bed to hold out a hand, “it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Liz.” 

I smile and take her hand, “I wish this were under better circumstances. I am happy to meet you in person as well, Tiana.”

#Hint: its gay #I didn't realize before #but #its gay #lgbtlove #Lesbian story #lgbtq+ literature #LGBT literature #Lesbian Short story #science fiction #Lesbian Fiction #Mentions of war #Mentions of violence #Lesbians in the military #Oh no #What will the government ever do? #Short story

[timeisacephalopod]

Action

Have uh, some random Peter Q/ Tony thing in which Tony is Tony and Peter is a movie director.

“You,” Peter says, pointing at the hottie with the coffee. Everyone is going to hate his guts but they can all deal. He knows what he’s doing, its why people love his shit. “Want to be a cool space vagabond in a movie?”

Hottie with the Coffee stares at him for a long moment, clearly trying to determine if he’s serious. “Do you even know if I can act?” he asks.

Nope but he’s got a feeling and his feelings always end well except that one time he worked with Ronan and nearly ruined his career that movie was so bad but then he bounced back with some heartfelt Oscar winning daddy issues shit people loved so. He’s good. “You can probably act, lets go,” he says, walking off fully expecting his new casting choice to follow him.

*

Yeah, okay. This isn’t where Tony thought he’d spend his summer but he’s not complaining either. “I thought only rich kids could end up directors,” he says. He knows a few, they’re all shit but Peter is excellent. Fucking insane but excellent nonetheless. Really likes improv, which means his actors have to be good at it. Lucky him Tony happens to be great with a witty one liner.

“Yeah, that’s pretty true. I robbed the tits out of rich people all over California to raise money to make a movie. It ended up being a smash hit success and it put me in demand a little. People came to me to do a couple things, I proved myself a little more, and now I get regular work. None of the show pilots I’ve written have been picked up but I still get stupid amounts of money for writing them so whatever. Movies are more my thing anyway,” he says. “Gamora, move the lights a little to do that thing!” he yells across the set.

Gamora immediately begins moving the lights around and explaining what’s needed to the rest of the lighting crew. That’s not unusual for Peter, handing out some weird instructions and expecting people to get it. You get used to it working for him. “That’s a great backstory, you should make a movie about it,” Tony tells him, laughing.

“Thought about it but I already write a bunch of self insert characters, figured there was no need to do more of it,” he says. “Besides, sci-fi has always been where I wanted to be.”

“Usually you do drama,” Tony says and Peter raises an eyebrow.

“You did your research,” he says and Tony nods. “Yeah. Got stuck in it for a bit, not really that unusual for writers, getting stuck writing one genre in the industry forever. But I got a few people to take a chance on me and now I’m a proven genre jumper so I get a bunch of different shit. Except horror, I can’t write that to save my life. Always ends up horror comedy.”

Tony nods, “but people loved Black Lagoon,” he points out.

“People are dumb, that movie was hot garbage. The only redeemable thing was the fact that the fans started shipping the creature with the fish man from The Shape of Water and that was hilarious,” he says.

“Yeah, I’ve seen the art. So what exactly drew you to me anyway?” he asks because he’s been dying to know.

Peter shrugs, “your hot.” Tony raises an eyebrow. “No really, that’s it. I mean yeah, also you’re ridiculously expressive and carry yourself in a unique way that’s interesting to watch but mostly you’re hot.”

So it was the way he carried himself, interesting. Not really what he’d been expecting, all things considered.

*

Gamora looks amused, “and the rumor mill has started,” she says, handing her phone off to Peter. He grabs it and rolls his eyes at the TMZ article headline claiming he’s shacking up with Tony but its Tony’s response that catches his attention.

#CanNeitherConfirmNorDeny

More than that the tweet has gone viral. Obviously its a joke, Peter knows that, but he had no idea Tony had such a large and active Twitter base that’s now all interested in his movie for no other reason than Tony being attached to it.

“Bitch, what the fuck? How is this guy a one man marketing campaign?” he asks the screen more than Gamora.

“Probably because he’s already famous, idiot. You do know he’s the son of a billionaire and a genius who’s been in the public eye for years, right?” she asks and no he didn’t know that.

“Well shit, I knew that feeling I had was for a good reason,” he says. Suck it execs.

“Peter he’s well known for being difficult and an asshole, plus he has a history of addiction,” she says. “The fact that none of this seems to be a problem for you is a miracle.”

“Is not, its because I had a good feeling and he looks great on camera. His eyes are unique,” he says and Gamora rolls her eyes.

“Stop hiring people because you think they’re hot, its weird and creepy.”

“I hired you because you’re hot,” he lies and Gamora rolls her eyes.

“You hired me because we worked a job together and you know I’m good with tech. You hired Drax because you think he’s hot,” she says.

“Did not. I hired Drax because he’s a big ass dude and I didn’t know how to say no in the face of all those muscles. I hired Rocket because I thought he was hot.”

Gamora wrinkles his nose, “he looks like a rat.”

“He’s striking, don’t be rude.”

“If you find rats striking,” she mumbles.

“I think rats are very cute and you’re being a dick. Rats are good, Gamora.”

*

Peter considers Tony for a moment, head tilted to the side. “Okay, yeah, Nebs- Fast and Furious but for all those gay guys and women out there. Feel up Tony’s sexy space booty with the camera,” Peter tells her.

The younger Peter who follows Older Peter around with the clip board gives him a funny look. “Don’t be creepy,” he says.

Older Peter frowns at him, “what? Women deal with it all the time and I, personally, have been victimized by the lack of men’s space booties on TV. Its equality,” he says and Tony snorts.

“What, do you want me to bend over too?” he asks, amused.

“Can you work that naturally into the scene?” he asks and Nebula laughs behind the camera.

Mini Peter smacks Older Peter, “don’t be weird! Don’t do that,” he tells Tony and for some reason Peter allows it. Weird, considering he’s laid back but not afraid to tell someone off if they step on his toes.

“Its this your kid?” Tony asks, squinting at him. There’s a resemblance, sure, with the slightly curly dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. Beyond that they look nothing alike.

“Yes,” Older Peter says at the same time Mini Peter says, “no.”

They exchange a look. “No he’s just like my son, I adopted him three movies ago and we’re feeling up Tony’s space booty. This will vindicate every man who’s been attracted to me ever and also women. Straight dudes are officially the minority here and don’t we make movies to please the majority?” he asks Mini Peter, who rolls his eyes.

“That is a totally twisted take on that argument.”

“So is every take on that argument. Space. Booty. Feel it up,” he says.

Tony rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “You’re ridiculous,” he tells Peter.

“Look, just be lucky I didn’t include the original sex scene with an A'askavariian,” he says like anyone knows what that is.

“I’m not fucking an alien. Feel my ass up all you want with the camera, but I draw the line at alien fucking,” Tony tells him.

“Yeah, I got told that was uh. Not appealing to the public and hello, Del Toro had that woman fuck a fish man. Monster fucking is palatable to the public, my editors are just dicks,” he says.

“Peter, A'askavariians have tentacles and needles for teeth,” Mini Peter says, baffled.

Tony wrinkles his nose. “Yeah I know you thought the ass thing was creepy but the alien thing is worse so can we get back to my ass?” he asks.

“Hell yeah, sounds good. Nebula, I assume you know how to work that thing,” Peter says, waving a hand around. “Do stuff. Wait, action,” he says, forgetting fifty percent of the relevant words to his job spontaneously. Not unusual for Peter.

Mini Peter looks horrified.

*

Peter looks like hell, probably, if the rumors are true, because he’s been up all night looking over footage and consulting Rocket for edits later. The guy’s process is a fucking mess. “You should probably sleep,” Tony tells him, bumping shoulders with him. “Today’s going to be a long ass day.” The scene they’re shooting is like ten minutes, which doesn’t sound like a lot but it is when its all stunts and action that looks ridiculous without the CGI to make it look like things are actually exploding. Right now there’s a lot of green screens, sticks with tennis balls on them, and people running around in morph suits.

“Yeah, I’m not leaving anyone else in charge. I have a really specific vision for this and sure I’ve got a good team but also I don’t trust a single one of those assholes,” he says and Tony laughs.

“Will this be more or less painful knowing that you’re tired as hell?” Tony asks. Because some people get nicer and some people turn into massive assholes when step deprived.

Peter looks him over, “for you? Probably a good thing. I assume actors are having as bad a day as I am given that I end up making the poor bastards go through like thirty five takes of one scene. Everyone else? Not so good. I mean I’m a total dick, but shit Gamora knows how lights work why are they like that?” he asks, clearly finding some type of problem and he takes off to go deal with it, leaving Tony to ponder what today will hold.

He decides to make light of that Buzzfeed article that recently came out regarding his supposed relationship with Peter instead of worrying about things.

*

Peter finds Tony in the morning after he fucking sleeps because he has questions. “You, yeah you, what’s with the Twitter speculation?” he asks, catching Tony with a croissant in his mouth looking confused. “You know, about our non relationship,” he adds.

Tony snorts and pulls the food from his mouth. “That? Good marketing gimmick, people love stupid gossip like that. Figured it couldn’t hurt the movie considering your marketing budget is garbage.”

Yeah, true, he spent too much money on music and landed himself in a three week battle over why he needed to blow that much of the budget on music only to win it by pointing out that music often makes movies. Like Halloween without the creepy Micheal Myers theme song? Just some weird guy in a mask following idiot high school students. Sure he gets stabby but its the music that really sells it. Or it did when it first came out, not its just campy to the modern audience. Point is music can make or break a film and yeah sure, he took the money out of marketing but he’s famous enough now that people who know him will go see his shit because they follow his work- built in audience means he can spare marketing dollars.

“Thanks man, appreciate it after three fucking weeks of arguing over that damn budget,” he says, shaking his head.

“To be fair, I’ve heard the music you want paired with the scenes you shot. It’ll sound amazing,” Tony says and finally some appreciation here.

‘Damn right it will. Didn’t think i’d get marketing in the form of celebrity gossip though and when were you going to tell me you’re already famous?” he asks.

Tony laughs, “thought you recognized me but uh, became clear pretty fast that you didn’t so props to you. The last time I ran into someone who didn’t recognize me on sight I was six. Plus I was bored anyway, might as well spend four months on a movie set.”

“Yeah, but I looked you up. Your company has like five new products launching in the next month,” he says. Which is insane given the time and effort that goes into inventing all those things, testing them and he’s been reliably informed by Wikipedia that Tony’s testing process is extensive, and then comes production, marketing, distribution, customer feedback, and then improvements. All of those things on their own is a stupid amount of work, but together plus spending anywhere from ten to eighteen hours a day on a movie set doing random shit? Tony must have the stamina of a robot because keeping up with it all is borderline impossible.

“Half that stuff was already done when I started this and I have an amazing business partner. Honestly most of the credit for all that should go to Pepper. Marketing was all her and she’s a genius at it,” Tony says.

Peter nods because he followed up on the marketing for it. He’s written a few commercials, he knows how difficult it is to run a good marketing campaign when people fucking hate commercials. “You should keep her around forever. She’s way too good a resource to lose when your commercials don’t fucking suck ass,” he says.

Tony snorts, “you don’t have to tell me twice. Pepper is invaluable.”

Maybe he should hire her to run his marketing campaigns. He pretty much hates everyone he has now and in this industry you’re subject to be fired at any moment so he should fire them all and poach Pepper.

*

Tony walks over to Peter and throws himself down beside him, “smile for me,” he says, leaning into Peter’s space and grinning. He snaps a picture of a mostly confused looking Peter and posts it to his Twitter.

“So like. Are you two a thing? Because I don’t know anymore,” Drax says.

“They aren’t,” Mantis tells him. “But its a good method of attaching Peter’s movie to something.”

Drax frowns at her but says nothing. Tony raises an eyebrow and Peter shrugs, “Mantis is never wrong about stuff like that. She’s like... freakishly good at reading people.”

“Oh you’ll end up together but you’re not together now,” she tells them, not looking up from her tablet. “And Peter, please make sure the boom is not in the shots. I’m tired of editing them out.”

“I thought Rocket did the editing?” Tony asks.

“No, Rocket gets the credit,” Mantis says. “I’m kidding. Mostly. I help.”

“Meaning she’s the only thing that keeps Rocket from spontaneously combusting. She’s almost as good with editing tech as she is with emotions and Rocket needs someone to balance him out.” Yeah, Tony has met Rocket. Guy is wound a little tight and inseparable from that friend of his, Groot. Poor bastard probably has the worst name known to man, Rocket following shortly after. Shit, Mantis isn’t far out from that either.

“Huh. Make my ass look good,” he tells her and Drax’s eyebrows draw together.

“Your ass doesn’t need help to look good,” he says.

“Hey eyeballs off his ass,” he says like he has a right to complain. Everyone currently at the table gives him the same look because he’s a total hypocrite. “What? I told Nebula to feel up his ass with the camera, I didn’t feel up shit,” he points out. “My eyeballs were focused on that one fucky light.”

Tony snorts, “yeah, okay.”

“Don’t look at me like that, its true,” he says. “I maintain that until I’ve felt up Tony’s ass no one can give me the looks you’re all giving me.”

“I mean, if that willing,” Tony tells him and the look on Peter’s face is hilarious.

“Are you willing? Because I may actually have dreams about this.”

Drax shakes his head, throwing his fork at his food. “And people say I need to learn how to be less blunt. At least I’m not ruining people’s meals with admissions to sex dreams,” he mumbles, picking himself up and walking away.

*

Rhodey looks down at the article in his lap. “Is there truth to any of this?” he asks and Pepper looks up, leaning out of her desk to see what he’s reading before sighing. She doesn’t even need to speak for him to know what’s going on.

“You know how Tony is, he’ll get bored of Peter once they aren’t spending as much time together. Its a fling,” she tells him.

Which is why, three months later, Rhodey is annoyed to be standing in front of Peter fucking Quill, guy who is absolutely not good enough for his best friend. Tony looks hopeful, like he thinks Rhodey will like this pasty ass cornfed fucker when that’s so not going to happen.

“Let me be clear- I don’t like you. You look like someone stuffed you with some low quality hay, shoved a stick up your ass, and stuck you in a cornfield in Missouri until you managed to come to life, pulled that stick out of your ass, and walked onto a movie set. You’re not good enough for Tony and there is nothing on God’s green earth that will convince me otherwise,” he tells Peter.

“Well, I am from Missouri,” he mumbles.

“Yeah you look like you’re from Missouri,” Rhodey tells him, tone disparaging.

Tony sighs. “Rhodey, he’s great. Really.”

Rhodey squints, “have you watched this man’s movies? He couldn’t write himself out of a paper bag if it was made out of some damn ad libs,” he says and Peter clenches his jaw.

“I’m real upset that you’re coming up with better insults than me,” Peter tells him.

“Rhodey,” Tony tells him. “He’s actually awesome. Give him a break.”

He looks Peter over. “Give him a break? The only thing that needs to be broken here is this ugly ass relationship. Go date Pepper, she’s perfect for you,” he tells him. That is the only person he will accept because Pepper is amazing and treats Tony right. And he’s good for her too, they balance each other out. This shit he’s got going with Knockoff Chris Pratt? Not attractive.

Across the room Pepper looks vindicated.

#fanfiction #starquill #tony x peter quill #alternate universe

[carry-on-my-pretty-weeper]

Catching Lightning Chapter 15

Author: carry-on-my-pretty-weeper

Character(s): Reader, Peter Parker, Avengers

Word Count: 4.5k+

Warnings: passing out, crying, near strangling

Author’s Note: hey everyone! since i’m a literal piece of shit and have not been posting here’s the longest chapter i’ve probably ever written! i hope you guys like it and i’m sorry for not updating in forever! there’s still a lot left to this story!

Series Masterlist

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When you woke up you were on Steve’s back as he took you back to the compound. You bounced with each step he took. What happened? The last thing you remember was taking out a bunch of bad guys. When you guys got to the compound you tried to speak it came out as a whisper since you didn’t have a lot of energy.

“Steve.”

“Haywire! You’re awake! Thank god,” he exclaimed as he laid you down on the floor.

“What happened?” you asked him bracing yourself on your elbows.

“Well, we fought Hydra agents and then you ended up passing out. You overused your powers-,” he tried to explain before you cut him off. You were started to piece together things from before passing out.

“I don’ think it was d’at,” he looked at you confused so you continued, “I was trainin’ with Nat d’en I went on that run with you and I hadn’ eaten anything since last night. Then fightin’ all them bad guys pushed me ova the edge.” He let everything that came out of your mouth run threw his mind before deciding on what to say.

“You have to take care of yourself. If something happened to you I- I don’t even know what we’d do,” he said gently but firm. You looked down and found your belt to be incredibly interesting. You didn’t think you could look at him right now. He seemed really disappointed. Rightfully so. Although it didn’t make it hurt any less.

“But I’m not going to leave what you did unrecognized. You did protect me and get us both out of that mess so good job. But take care of your body. If you don’t take a break to rest and recharge your body will make you rest and recharge,” he asserted. You nodded your head as he helped you up.

“You’re lucky I didn’t tell Tony or else you’d never see the light of day again,” he joked causing you to laugh. That’s what he was waiting for. He needed to get through to you but he also liked the joking vibe that you had between you two.

“At least I’d be able to understan’ what he was sayin’ unlike you. Ya know with yur ol’ man hearing,” you quipped while grinning at him.

“I can still tell Tony, Tony!” he yelled to the building. You quickly started apologizing and trying to shield his mouth.

“Steve! No I’m sorry Steve! Steve!” you squawked, “Don’t tell Tony!”

“Don’t tell Tony what?” speak of the freaking Devil. Ah fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Haywire didn’t want me to tell you,” you looked at him with the best puppy face you could muster. Looking at your sad face he couldn’t rat you out . He silently cursed before saying  “That when we were jogging back she tripped and ate it.” He shot you a ‘there happy?’ look to which you quickly nodded. Tony laughed before putting a hand on your shoulder.

“It okay it happens to the best of us,” he commented starting to walk back into the compound. Steve mouthed to you ‘you’re welcome’ as he walked after Tony. Thank everything to ever exist that Steve didn’t tell Tony. When you entered the compound you were tackled by a brown and white flash of fur. She immediately started to lick your face. You pushed her onto her back as you started to rub her belly.

“She was an angel,” Bucky said leaning up against the wall. You got up and thanked Bucky again for taking care of Sparks as you went to the kitchen to eat food. Cap’s orders. When you walked in you saw Steve making pancakes.

“I’m making these for you how many do you want?” he asked over his shoulder so that he was careful not to burn any.

“A thousan’- nah a million!” you exclaimed as you poured yourself some water. You pounded it only to receive a mild brain freeze.

“Let’s start off with two then see how you feel,” he suggested with a chuckle. You ended up eating eight. He kept telling you to slow down or at least taste them but you were starving. It was like 11 o’clock but you were already bordering tired. You had to wait until all the pancakes kicked in to give you energy.

Thinking back to what happened during the fight you realized you made a mini storm. You hadn’t ever done that before. Could it be possible you were getting stronger? I mean the more you work out the stronger you get so why wouldn’t that apply to powers?

Steve made some pancakes for himself and sat next to you. He was happily eating his food as he rubbed Sparks with his foot. You noticed that having Sparks around seemed to put everyone more at ease. She definitely put you more at ease so you were happy she could do the same for others. But she was also majorly happy to be showered with so much love from everyone at the compound. When you were training or when you couldn’t take care of her the rest of the team would chill out with her.

Clint and Sam would play around with her, Vision and Bucky would read while she laid on a part of them, Steve and Wanda would just shower her with kisses, Rhodey and Tony would work while she laid at their feet, and Nat and Bruce would walk her. But in the end you were still her favorite. As soon as you entered the room she was by your side and wouldn’t leave you unless she had to. Of course she also hung out with the others but as long as it was close to you.

Finishing off your plate you washed off your dishes and made your way to your room with Sparks not far behind. When you reached your doorway you kicked off your shoes before heading into the shower. Sparks waited on your bed while you cleaned yourself.

Thinking about everything that happen one thing that struck you was the fact that even though you had passed out Steve hadn’t removed your mask. He had only put your hood down. That made you trust him even more because he understood how much your identity meant to you.

As you were washing out your hair you noticed how your muscles were pretty sore which didn’t really happen that often. Well not since the whole powers thing. Powers. Even though it had been a while since having them it still felt weird to say. The hot water pulled out all the cold feelings that had been stuck in your body from the day. All the worry and fear was dulled by the constant stream of warmth. You let your head rest on the wall as you closed your eyes.

Reminding yourself that you had to actually leave the shower at some point, you shifted your weight to your other foot as you turned off the water. Stepping out of the shower you felt the cold tiles of the floor as you grabbed a towel. You dried yourself off and once more stared at your suit. Shoving yourself inside of it you made your way out of the bathroom. Sparks was asleep on your bed as you went to lay down on it. She rolled on her side as if to make herself a pillow. You gladly rested your head on her stomach as you relaxed. Tony walked by your room, once he noticed you were in it he reversed himself till he was in your doorway.

“Haywire, we were going to continue to watch Supernatural would you like to join?” he asked obviously trying to keep you from becoming a hermit in your room.

“Is d’at even a question?” you countered. I mean you had started them off on it. Walking with Tony and Sparks you had made some small talk. When you got to the room you noticed a new face sitting on the couch. Was that Peter fucking Parker? What the fuck was he doing there? You remembered his Stark internship. Did that mean he worked closely with the Avengers? He never mentioned that before and you knew that that was definitely something he would bring up.

“Haywire I’m sure you noticed a new face here. Meet Spiderman,” Tony said not realizing that with those words your rose tinted world would be smashed. Spiderman, your friend was Spiderman. Not knowing how to react you just stood there as Peter got up to say hello.

“Nice to see you again,” he added onto Tony’s greeting.

“Ah- uh yeah! It’s nice seein’ ya too,” you stuttered out desperately trying to find what to say. This was all too much to take in. Holy fuck. Holy fuck! So this is why he would disappear so much and get so many injuries. The air started to get stale due to lack of conversation. Trying to salvage the conservation you talked about watching the show. Peter had just laughed and sat down. Asking him why he laughed he told you how it was one of his good friends favorite shows. Thank god your mask covered most of your face because it definitely would’ve showed how badly you were freaking out. Sparks noticed and immediately started to lick your hand in an attempt to calm you down. It was working. Peter looked over at her and his eyes lit up.

“And who’s this beauty?” he questioned as he offered up his hand for her to sniff. She quickly gave him a once over before deciding to flop on top of him. He was surprised but appreciated the gesture as he started to stroke her fur.

“That’s my bud Sparks,” you answer before sitting next to him. She immediately perked up and wiggled her way next to you. Laughing at her you scratched behind her ears. She leaned into your touch and started to uncontrollably scratch her leg.

The episode started and you spent the entire time debating what to do with Peter. Should you tell him you know his identity? Tell him yours? Questions filled your head to the brim. There was not much of the episode left as you started to freak out more. Sparks sensed this once again and tried her best to calm you down. You just drummed your fingers along her ribs.

Tony noticed you looked a bit more tense and he wondered if it was because there was another superhero there that you didn’t know as well. Unknown to him you knew him all too well. More than any person there. Regardless he noticed that your stress levels were definitely high. Even though he wanted to continue the episode, he wanted you to be okay. So he got up and started to crack open the cabinets to look for something to make with you. You peered over to Tony confused. Usually he waited till a lot later to cook dinner. When he caught your eye he nodded his head over to the kitchen signaling you to come over. Lifting Sparks up a bit you slipped out from under her as you walked over to Tony.

“Isn’ it a bit early for dinna?” you asked him cocking your head to the side.

“I thought we could make some sweets before dinner,” he said as he continued to grab ingredients.

“Sweets befor’ dinna? Thatsa first,” you chuckled. He handed you ingredients as you both started weaving throughout the kitchen.

Peter watched as Haywire stood up and went to talk with Tony. He felt a pang of jealousy. I mean you had just got here and he was already treating you better than he did Peter. Not that he treated Peter badly it’s just he treated you with more care. You both seemed so natural together as you worked in the kitchen. He watched as you two joked together but opted for looking away.

He diverted his attention to Sparks who was currently upside down and starting to snort. He gave that a little chuckle. But this dog was so cute. He wondered where you had gotten her. Giving her some belly pats she started to wag her tail so hard her butt started to shake back and forth as well. The other Avengers took notice and started looking at her instead of the TV. Some laughed while others, cough Clint cough, whipped out their phones and started recording. The faster she wiggled the harder she snorted. This caught your attention as you looked over at her. He saw a smile creep onto your face as you looked lovingly at your buddy. Peter could only see maybe an inch or two of your face but he couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity. Dismissing it for when you saved him he focused back to the present when he realized just how intently he was staring at you.

You glanced over to Peter’s face to find his already looking at you. He seemed to have realized this too and became flustered. He was probably thinking something along the lines of ‘great, now she thinks I’m creepy’. You knew him all too well.

Great! Now she thinks I’m a creep for staring at her! Peter quickly tried to think of the best way to deflect that fact when you seemed to just shrug it off. You walked over to Sparks and she flipped herself over and basically jumped into your arms.

“Who’s ma silly girl?” you asked your voice filled with overdramatic excitement. She just yipped in response. You gave her good scratches behind her ears and under her chin before Tony walked over to you.

“The cookies are in the oven now so we can just relax for 18 minutes,” he huffed plopping down onto the couch. You gave him a nod as you sat next to Peter instinctively. Realizing that he still didn’t know who you were, you left a bit of extra room between you two. This felt exactly like the night you saved MJ and had to pretend to not know her. The only person in your friend group who hasn’t had a run in with Haywire is Ned. 

Poor guy, he was the one who loved superheroes the most out of your entire group. Peter coming in at a close second. Looking back at Peter you wondered how he had gotten his powers. I mean it’s not everyday someone gets them so what was his story? But due to the television being on you swallowed your questions and diverted your attention elsewhere. 

Glancing down towards Sparks you noticed how much weight she had gained back. She was looking pretty healthy compared to the skinny pup that you had found 2ish weeks ago. She still had ways to go but she was certainly getting there. You lifted her up into your arms and leaned back against the couch. She just laid her head on your chest and watched you. You gave her a kiss on the nose before turning your attention towards the screen. She gradually drifted into her own sleep world. You could tell because every once in a while her leg would twitch or her ears would move.

When the timer for the cookies went off you unfortunately had to get up. She whined but you picked her up and laid her on Clint before heading into the kitchen with Tony.

“Do you think they’re ready?” Tony asked opening the oven just a smidge. The cookies had a light brown tint to them and the smell had started to dance throughout the kitchen.

“Yeah,” you said grabbing an oven mitt. After you slipped it on your hand you reached into the oven and grabbed the pan. Pulling it out you placed it on the counter with a quiet ting of metal on marble. You removed a hot cookie from the baking sheet and broke it in half. Offering one half to Tony he gladly took it. He ‘cheers’ed you with his half before you two tasted it. The hot cookie burned your mouth but the sweet and salty mixture overpowered it. It had the perfect amount of crunchy cookie and gooey chocolate. You couldn’t lie you both did an amazing job. Moving them onto a giant plate you brought it over to the other Avengers. It certainly diverted their attention from the screen for a moment. Hands reached over to the plate of cookies and before you knew it they were all gone.

“Oh my god this is great!” Peter exclaimed with his mouth full of cookie. He had two more in his hand as he all but inhaled his first cookie.

“Haywire’s like the team chef, her foods amazing!” Sam added onto Peter’s comment. You just blushed because compliments weren’t your forte.

“Tony helped out too,” you tried to argue. But Sam insisted that Tony’s food wasn’t half as a good before you. Tony just looked offended and tried to argue that his food was great before the entire team started to tell him that you were a better cook than him. Your face literally felt like it was on fire. Everyone just kept complimenting you and you didn’t know what to do. So you just sat as Sparks left Clint to lay on you.

“Hey!” Clint cried out as Sparks left him. You were always going to be her favorite. She looked back at him and tilted her head in a confused manner. He tried calling her back over to him but she stayed glued to you.

“Sorry Clint. I’m ‘er favorite,” you said with a shrug. He just let out a huff and turned his head back to the screen. What a baby.

This episode of Supernatural had started off with Dean finding Sam after he had been missing for a week. He had no memories of what happened but when security tapes showed him killing another hunter that’s when things went to shit. You were so engrossed in this episode as if you hadn’t watched it before. Steve kept gasping every time the littlest thing happened, Nat corrected them when they were fighting but for the most part thought it to be accurate, and Sam kept laughing at all of Dean’s jokes. Not to mention he was really happy that his name was the same name as one of the main characters. You kept feeling Peter’s eyes on the side of your face. You bet it was because he thought you looked familiar so you shielded your face with your arm nonchalantly. The battle from before on whether or not to tell him about you started back up in your head.

At the end of the episode when it turned out to be a demon that was controlling Sam everyone was relieved. I mean no one wanted Sam to end up being a bad guy. You finally decided on telling Peter since you knew his identity. When the next episode started up you asked if you could talk with him. His eyes had a splash of fear in them but he still accepted. You two walked towards your room and you sat on your bed while he stood waiting anxiously about what you were going to say to him.

Had you been creeped out with all his staring? Did you already hate him? Questions like this swirled in his mind before you opened your mouth.

“I don’ really know howda say this so imma just do it,” you started off feeling anxiety run throughout your body. You tried to calm yourself down to not cause an accidental power outage.

“I know who you are. As ‘n I know ya without ma suit and ya know me.”

“What? What do you mean?” he asked as his face scrunched together in confusion.

This was turning out to be harder than you thought it was going to be. Using your normal voice you continued.

“I know you because I’m y/n,” you finally said taking off your mask. He just stood there with his jaw on the floor and his eyes bulging out of his head.

“Y/n?” he practically whispered before crushing you in a hug. You hugged him back and tried your best to not cry. You missed him so much. To be completely honest more than you should but he was there and he was holding you and that’s all that mattered.

“I have been so fucking worried,” he said into your hair. His voice was wavering and you could tell it had been hard for him. You wondered how Ned and MJ were handling it as well. They had also been something missing from you. A piece of your puzzle of life that made it feel empty.

He pulled back from you to look at your face. He had been missing you for a week and a half but it felt like years. At first he thought you had been sick but after the third day of not showing up and not responding to anyone’s texts he got worried. He even stopped by your apartment but no one was home. He didn’t know what to think so he assumed the worst. But being here with you now it felt like the weight of the world was lifted off of his shoulders.

“Why didn’t you at least tell one of us that you’d be gone?” he asked you scanning your face for anything and everything. You dropped his gaze, ashamed that you didn’t tell them.

“It all happened really fast. I told my parents that I was doing a Stark internship thing so that they could tell the school. After that I haven’t had communication with the outside world,” you professed while you fiddled with your hands. Glancing back up at his face you could tell his mind was going a million miles a minute.

“I-I’m just really glad to see you,” he sighed pulling you into another hug. You relaxed as he cradled you in his chest. This time you couldn’t stop the tears that fell from your eyes. He looked down at you in confusion before realizing what was happening.

“Hey, hey you’re okay. What’s wrong?” he asked tenderly as he tried to wipe your eyes.

“It’s just-I didn’t know when I would see anyone again and seeing you-you here just I don’t know,” you hiccuped. He just held you tightly until you got your breathing under control.

“Better?” he questioned. You nodded your head in reply.

“We should probably head back the others are probably getting concerned,” you mentioned as you wiped your eyes for the final time. Reaching over to your mask you put it back on. On the walk back he asked why you were wearing one. You explained to him that no one else except him knew your identity and you wanted to keep it that way. He seemed to think about that for a while before randomly asking about Sparks. Just like that you guys fell into conversation like how it used to be.

When you two got back you could tell, no matter how hard they were trying to hide it, the Avengers were interested in why you guys ran off alone. Nat bet the group that you two like each other and you were going to talk about it and Sam agreed. Tony completely rejected the idea saying that you had only known each other for a few hours. Clint thought you guys wanted to talk about teenager stuff. Steve suggested maybe you were trying to get to know him since he was the only new face to you. None of them were even close. Well, maybe Nat and Sam.

By the time you started making dinner with Tony everyone was itching to know what you guys talked about. Tony was deemed the one to find it out since he was the closest to you. Which made Steve try to argue that he was closest but it defaulted to Tony since he would be the one to talk to you soonest.

“So I saw that you pulled the kid aside,” he remarked grilling chicken, “what was that about?”

“Oh, we were just uh talkin’ about what I should expect if I go on missions and stuff.” Nice lie. You hated lying to Tony but you couldn’t tell him about knowing Peter.

“Why didn’t you ask one of us?”

“Well, ya know I wanted ta know how it was from da other teenager’s perspective.” He nodded his head as he listened to you. As long as you two didn’t, you know like each other in that way he was fine. Since you came to the compound he had quickly bonded with you. So for him boys were a heavy no go. A happy silence washes over the two of you as you weave around each other almost in like a choreographed dance.

When you two were done you took a step back and admired your guys’ hard work. You cooked chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and cornbread. The cornbread was your idea, it was something your dad made for you when you were sad. Not that you were sad! You just missed him and this reminded you of the old geezer. Bruce set the table while the rest of the team got comfy in their seats. When you brought out the food you were met by cheers from the team. What dorks, honestly these were supposed to be the most dangerous people in the world and here they were happy over food. Peter sat down next to Tony but after some whispering between the two of them Peter sat down next to you.

“What’s this all about?” you questioned keeping your voice low.

“Tony wants us to be friends because we’re both teenagers and he doesn’t want you to be alone when they’re on missions,” he responded as he reached for cornbread. The last bit caught your attention.

“I’m not going to get to go on missions?” you asked clearly taken aback. What good were powers if you didn’t get to use them? You were just as capable as they were. In fact you took down a couple of Hydra agents already.

“I don’t think so,” Peter said taking in your dejected face before adding, “It’s not a you thing. I don’t get to go on a lot of missions either. I think it’s because they don’t know what they’d tell May if I got hurt. They don’t want to bring us back in pieces.” I guess that made sense. But at the same time you still felt upset. You could handle yourself so you wouldn’t get hurt. Deciding to drop it you ate your chicken and picked at your cornbread. At least it would cheer you up.

That night while you tried to sleep you had another dream. Your consciousness felt like it was drifting until it hit something.

You were floating in space. Trying to look around you realized you couldn’t move. Your throat was burning, it felt like someone was strangling you. Every nerve in your body was inflamed and your heart was going to break through your ribcage. You realized you weren’t alone, there was a man with black hair floating next to you. His face looked close to blue, probably because the lack of air. In an instant he vanished and you were in an apartment. You could move so you stood up and looked around. Walking into a room you saw the same man from a second ago but he was normal. He was sitting down reading a book. When you took a step the floor creaked and he looked up at you.

“Who are you? How did you get here? Did the second rate magician send you?” he asked defensively standing up with knives in his hands. Where the fuck did he get those from?

“I don’t know how I got here. I was in space a second ago and you were there and I have no idea what is going on,” you spilled as electricity wrapped around your hands.

“How are you doing that?” he asked staring at you.

“Doing what?”

“Making lightning with your hands!” he urged clearly irritated. Looking down you hadn’t realized you had been doing that.

“I don’t know! It just happens! Usually I can control it but right now I’m kind of stressed out,” you all but yelled. Realizing he still had knives in his hands he placed them down.

“The only other person I know who can do that is my brother so forgive me if I am wary about you,” he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Who’s your brother?” you asked not daring to let your guard down. Those knives still scared you.

“Why should I tell you? I don’t even know you,” he said in a demeaning tone.

“Yeah and I don’t know you. Big deal! I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on. Plus if your brother has the same powers as me maybe he could help me.”

“Doubt it. Ever since I faked my death he’s left,” he mutters as if it’s a normal thing to do. Who fakes their own death? Is he running from the mafia? The government? That’s the only logical explanations you could think of.

“Well, then who are you since you won’t tell me who your brother is,” you demanded of him. This cemented a frown onto his face. He mumbled something under his breath.

“What?”

“Loki.”

Tags:

@stevieboyharrington, @fandomlover03, @markusstraya, @speggehi, @thetimidsarcasticcat, @condy-wants-a-cookie, @feline-space, @wipplog, @ink-and-tea, @-thatgirloverthere-, @mysteriouslysharkbait, @lionsfandomsandbearsohmy, @absmiles123, @tienna-laufeyson16

#spiderman #spidey #spiderman x reader #spiderman x y/n #Spider-Man: Homecoming #peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter x reader #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x you #Avengers #marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel imagines #marvel imagine #marvel comics imagines #loki imagine #loki laufeyson #tony stark #tony stark x reader #tony stark x you #tony stark x y/n #Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky imagine #bucky barnes imagine #Winter Solider #captain america #captain america x reader #captain americaxreader

[writingsbymarie]

Homecoming ~ Peter Parker x Reader

Warnings: homecoming spoilers, swearing, make out

Word count: 1,354

Relationship: Peter Parker x Female!reader

A/N: I apologize this isn't my best :(

“So he's taking Liz to homecoming,” I asked, my voice so quiet I was surprised Ned even heard me. Ned nodded his head giving me an apologetic look. I felt my heartbreak and fall to my stomach making me feel sick. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going to burst out of my chest. My whole body felt achy and, I felt like the walls were closing in on me. I was having trouble breathing, the world was spinning. I had told no one about how I felt about Peter, but I'm pretty sure Ned just figured out that I like him. Like him? Scratch that I love him. “I have to go” I whispered grabbing my things from my locker, rushing away from the scene before Ned could stop me. Then I saw Peter, walking down the hall way with a huge smile on his face. He walked down the hallway with confidence which was a rare occasion. I guess he really likes Liz. I quickly ducked my head down hoping he wouldn't notice me or the tears trickling down my face. All I knew is that this was going to be the worst homecoming I've ever gone to.

-------

I walked into the school gym with MJ and Ned, and we made our way over to some other members of the decathlon team. I looked around trying to find Peter, but there was no sight of him. About 10 minutes later I saw Liz walk in without Peter which was strange since she was his date. Just thinking about that made my heart ache. At this moment I loathed Liz. What the hell is Peter doing to me? Two minutes after I saw Peter walk in. He looked like he was about to burst into tears. He looked terrified. I watched as he ran up to her, she gave him a confused look and he ran right past her leaving Liz frozen and shocked. I shot Ned a look, and he slowly danced over to me. God, I love this dork.

“Peter just ran away from Liz” I whispered, “He looked really terrified”

“Should we go after him?” Ned asked shoving his hands into his pockets.

“I'll go after him, you go to the library, we will probably need your help” I rushed, taking off my heels handing them to Ned running in the direction Peter went. If Peter was in actual trouble I had no idea what I was going to do since all I can do is run. I sprinted past the lockers and out the back door to find Peter getting his ass kicked by some guy. Why wasn't he fighting back with his webs?  Peter was literally in danger and getting his ass kicked right in front of my eyes and I had no clue what to do, but then I spotted his web shooter, which explained why he wasn't winning this fight. In the spur of the moment I ran and picked up the web shooter pointing it at the man, and I fired.

“Holy shit” I blurted throwing the web shooter to Peter. He knocked the man out and ran up to me his voice in panic.

“Liz’s dad is the vulture” he panted

“Seriously” I questioned, my mouth dropping to the floor.

“Yes, I have to catch him before he leaves” he panicked.

“Call Ned, and tell him to track my phone, I left it in his car”

“Jesus, you are a genius” I mumbled as Peter began to run away. “Wait, how are going to catch up to him” I yelled.

“I'm going to find a car” He yelled back.

“Peter you have no idea how to drive a car” I panted running to catch up to him. “Ill drive, we just need to get a car”.

“No Y/N I don't want you ge-”

“Peter shut the hell up and let me help you” I interrupted. He grabbed my waist making me squeal. I wrapped my arms around his neck, terrified he was going to drop me, but I knew truly he wouldn't. He finally jumped down on a car, which happened to Flash Thompson's car making me smirk. Peter asked for his car changing his voice which made me giggle I jumped in the front seat.

“Ill try not to get too many scratches” I spat, giving him a wink as I stepped on the gas petal. Peter was talking to Ned and telling me where to go. I was passing and avoiding cars, not following any of the rules of the road, but this was an emergency. If my parents found out I was doing this I'm pretty sure they would ground me for the rest of life.

“This the stupidest, and craziest thing I've ever done in my life” I shrieked. The truth was, I loved the adrenaline I felt. The wind in my hair the city lights made me forget everything for a just a little knick of time. Ned told us to turn right too late and Peter had to use webs to make us turn causing the car to flip on his side, I braced myself as the car flipped back to the tires on the ground.

“Y/N are you okay” He panicked, cupping my cheek making me blush.

“I'm fine, now go take down the bad guy” I replied giving him a small smile, as he ran off into the building. The waiting was the worst part. I had no idea what was happening. My chest tightened making it hard to breathe. I felt like I was going to throw up. All of the sudden I heard crashing startling me. I hopped out of the car and ran towards the building until it suddenly collapsed. I swear I felt my heart stop, my body froze. The impact of the building collapsing caused me to lose my balance. I fell and hit my head on a rock instantly blacking out. I don't know how long I was out, but my eyes fluttered open. I groaned rubbing my hand on the back of my head. My white dress was filthy and torn, my hair was a rats nest. My vision was still blurred, and i felt dizzy. Once my vision finally became clear, I realized what had happened. I slowly got up my head pounded. I felt tears sting my eyes.

“PETER” I screamed, choking on sobs. I fell to the ground sobbing into my hands, but when I looked up. I saw the one and only Peter Parker. I was still sobbing. At this point, they became tears of joy. I quickly got up and ran to Peter and practically jumped into his arms wrapping mine around his neck pulling him as close as possible. I buried my head into his neck sobbing. “Don't you ever do that again, you asshole” I choked out.  I pulled away from the hug and felt the urge to slap him, but the glimmering look he gave me made me melt. I wiped away My tears and all of the sudden Peter cupped my cheeks and slammed his lips into mine. I immediately kissed back pulling him closer than before. He put his hand on my lower back pulling me flush against him. He slipped his tongue into my mouth causing me to moan and pull at the strands of his soft hair. For never kissing anyone Peter was a stellar kisser. I pulled away resting my forehead on this.

“What was that for” I whispered as I felt the blood rush to my cheeks.

“I just realized I fell in love with my best friend,” He said completely pulling away from me. “I have to get him before he robs Tony”. He shot his webs and left me standing there alone speechless. I definitely wasn't expecting my night to be to be this eventful, and I would have never thought this would be the best homecoming a girl could ever have.

#peter parker #peter parker edit #peter parker imagine #peter parker smut #peter parker x reader #tom holland #tom holland edit #tom holland imagine #tom holland smut #tom holland x reader #tom holland x you #spiderman #spider man: homecoming #Spiderman edit #spiderman imagine #spiderman x reader #peter parker x you

[hysterialevi]

In the Smoke pt. 31 (Cobblebats)

From Bruce’s POV

THE CATACOMBS

Skulking my way through the dank tunnels, I searched every inch of the crumbling tomb for a certain sniper as my heart hammered in my chest, threatening to leap right out of my rib cage. It had been a long time since I felt this type of fear, and the latest memory I could recall where I experienced the same thing was way back during the debate.

I let out a sigh. Things were so much simpler for me then. I had a single goal in mind, I knew who my enemies were, and nothing was holding me back. For once in my life, I actually had a clear vision of where I was supposed to go. Now though, it was like trying to navigate a blizzard. I couldn’t see more than two steps ahead of me, my feet were stuck in the ground, and with every passing day, the bone-biting winds only grew stronger. Even if I did manage to kill Gideon, I didn’t know where the hell we would start cleaning up this mess.

Pushing my way through a thin layer of cobwebs, I eventually found myself standing in front of what looked like to be an underground chapel. There weren’t any seats in sight, but an ornate altar stood proudly on the other side of the room, dimly lit with a collection of tall candles. There were also a few, intricate stone sculptures watching over the secluded sanctuary, and in the center, I spotted Gideon himself, sitting against the altar while clutching a fresh wound. Blood stained his hands as well as the floor beneath him, and judging by his fading breath, I could tell he wasn’t going to last much longer. I guessed Vicki wasn’t the only one who got hurt during their fight. I carefully approached him.

“...Gideon...?” I softly called out, pointing my gun at him. He glared at me.

“...well, well,” he weakly coughed, straining in pain. “Look who it is. ...Bruce. Fuckin’. Wayne. You certainly got a habit of showin’ up where you’re not wanted.”

I gestured to his wound. “What happened to you? Did Lady Arkham do that?”

Gideon laughed, shaking his head. “She couldn’t do this to me if she tried, and she sure tried her damnedest not too long ago. No, it was the goddamn traps that got me. Opened a door when I wasn’t paying attention, and a spike went straight through me. I limped around for a while, hoping to find a way out, and ended up settling down here. Then you arrived.”

I stepped closer to him. “Why did you even come to the catacombs in the first place?”

Gideon peered at me with an expression that told me I should know. I remained silent, waiting for an explanation.

“...Mayor Hill and your father used to operate down here,” he said. “Always did the dirty work where no one could see them, and this place was perfect for that. It was secluded, away from everyone’s sight, and it blocked any signals trying to break through. No one ever suspected a thing.”

Gideon’s face drooped with sorrow and his eyes scanned the area, almost like he was re-watching an old memory play in front of him. He frowned. 

“...Do you have...any idea...how many people Hill killed in these catacombs? How many he tortured?” He scoffed, glancing at the ceiling. “And the GCPD were worried about the people upstairs.”

I was now only a few feet away from Gideon, and with my gun still in hand, I felt the urge to just finish him off right there, but a part of me wanted to know what else he had to say. I decided to hold off the execution for a little longer.

“That still doesn’t explain why you’re here.” I replied. Gideon paused for a moment, clearly reluctant to tell me his secrets. He pointed an almost lifeless finger at his scars.

“Eight years ago, I used to guard this place. That’s right. I was a damned security guard for that bloated pig, Hill, and my job was to watch the prisoners he locked up down here. It was my only option back then, and it paid enough to keep me and my family fed, so I never questioned it. No matter how many people begged me to let ‘em out, or give them some extra food, I just stood where you’re standing right now...all damn day...waiting to go back home to my wife and kid.”

“What changed?” I asked. A wave of bitterness spread across Gideon’s face.

“Hill kidnapped my wife -- that’s what. I dunno what I did to piss him off so much, but I clearly fucked up somehow. He suspected that I had told the GCPD about his secret prison, and as a result, dragged my wife down here as punishment. Threatened to use her for a number of their experiments.”

I lowered my head in sympathy, trying to avoid eye contact. “...I assume... she didn’t escape?”

Gideon’s nose crinkled in anger. “Nothing I said or did was able to convince Hill to let her go. So I finally gave up, and simply told him to take me instead. The last thing I wanted was for my wife to be alone, but there was nothing else I could do. He accepted the offer, and kept me in the catacombs as his personal lab rat for almost an entire year. I don’t know what happened to my wife after that. She was alive last I saw her, but that was ages ago. She could be dead now, for all I know.”

Gideon suddenly hissed in pain, still suffering from his injury. “I managed to escape after Hill injected me with this certain...chemical. I don’t know exactly what it was -- and I don’t think he knew either --but it made me resistant to a variety of things, which allowed me to break free. I immediately went straight home after that, and killed a lot of people in the process of doing so...only to find a new family living there. My wife and little girl were nowhere to be seen. I suspected he had taken them into the catacombs also, but I never got the chance to search for them. And now, seven years later, I’m finally back in this goddamn tomb, trying to find something that doesn’t even exist anymore...and you’re going to kill me.”

Gideon laughed in a dark tone, gritting his teeth at me. “Those are the type of men your father protects, Wayne. Those are the men controlling this city, and soon enough, you’ll become one of those men yourself. I hope you enjoy it while it lasts.”

Kneeling next to the dying sniper, I lowered my gun for a second and put a hand on his shoulder, a bit worried that he’d jump at me at any minute -- but nothing happened. I let out a breath.

“Gideon,” I nearly whispered, “I’m sorry you went through all of that, but it’s not over. Not yet. Your daughter...she’s still alive.”

His head perked up at me, instantly hooked with interest. He furrowed his brow. “What do you mean she’s still alive? How the hell do I know you’re not just bullshitting me?”

I looked him directly in the eye. “I wouldn’t lie about something like this, Gideon. Her name’s Eva, right? A nine-year-old girl who used to be kept prisoner by Hill’s men, and escaped recently. I did some research.”

Out of nowhere, the sniper grabbed me by the collar with an iron grip and yanked me forward until our noses were nearly touching. I could feel his hands shaking slightly.

“You know about Eva,” he growled. “Where is she!? What did Hill’s men do with her?”

I remained still in Gideon’s grasp, not wanting to provoke him.

“I don’t know,” I answered. “I just know that she’s still alive, and most-likely, probably looking for you. We don’t have to be enemies, Gideon. I can help you find her, if you’ll let me. I can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to get a hold of Eva, but I can at least try to figure out where she is.”

Releasing my collar, Gideon fell back against the altar once more, his body even weaker than before as he tried to stay conscious.

“There’s no point,” he sighed. “I’m gonna die today, and I accept that. I’m already half-dead thanks to this wound, and it’s only a matter of time before I bleed out -- or before you kill me. I was hoping I could lead the Children of Arkham in a better direction -- which is why I turned against Vicki -- but we lost this war ages ago.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gideon’s hand inching towards Vicki’s staff.

“The best I can do now...” he groaned, “...is go down with a fight.”

Jumping backwards, I managed to dodge what would’ve been a fatal attack as the violent lightning crackled mere centimeters away from my face, practically lighting up the entire chapel single-handedly. Gideon was back on his feet again despite his severe injuries, and before I even had time to react, he was already swinging wildly at me, determined to take me down. 

Making my way around the chapel, I tried to distance myself as much as possible from the deranged sniper currently trying to kill me as bolts of energy singed into the walls around me, sending small rocks flying. There was no telling how old these catacombs were, and I had no doubt that if our fight carried on, we would soon be buried with it. 

If I wanted to get rid of Gideon, I would have to do it fast.

Adjusting my mask, I took out both of my weapons as Gideon charged towards me with his staff raised in the air, preparing to slam it directly onto my head. I had no idea how he was moving around so eloquently, considering his numerous wounds, but the man was a tank with feet. If I wasn’t careful, I’d be nothing more than a pile of ash before the end of the day.

Firing a few, carefully aimed bullets at Gideon, I quickly switched back and forth between my two main attack methods, swinging my axe anytime I saw an opening. It was difficult to get anywhere close to the man, what with all the lightning and electricity, but I decided to use the chapel’s crumbling state to my advantage and began baiting Gideon to damage certain weak points.

There were a couple times when Gideon’s lightning bolts nearly burned right through me, or a giant boulder almost crushed me, but after running a few laps around the chapel, I managed to send a number of small pillars toppling down towards him. Of course, with my luck, none of them actually landed on Gideon, but it was still enough to hinder him a bit. And myself, as well.

Hopping out of the way as another rock plummeted from the ceiling, Gideon prowled in my direction, staff still in hand while the rest of the chapel collapsed around us and the statues began to tilt.

Without much space left in the catacombs to run around, I had no choice but to stand my ground, and face Gideon one-on-one as the floor beneath my feet threatened to break apart at any second. The other man didn’t appear to be any more fatigued than before, and as our vicious battle carried on, I couldn’t help but wonder what type of drugs Hill had injected into him all those years ago. Was it possible that it was a modified version of the drug Lady Arkham used? Gideon certainly contained the superior strength that it came with, but unlike other victims, he was able to retain his own mind. That was the dangerous part.

Suddenly, before I could even stop it, Gideon had bludgeoned the staff directly into my face and sent my mask flying across the chapel, causing me to fall backwards. For a moment, the world spun around me like a whirlpool, and all the noises in my head echoed aggressively against the walls of my skull. By the time I was able to return to reality, Gideon had already grabbed my neck and lifted me up from the floor, strangling me mid-air. I could see his eyes piercing through mine.

“Your father did nothing to stop Hill when he took my child away,” Gideon snarled as the staff’s zapping tip got closer to me, “so now, I’m going to take his.”

Before Gideon could move a single muscle however, a Batarang hurled itself right into the sniper’s hand, causing him to drop me along with the deadly weapon. Though, as soon as I hit the ground, one of the toppling statues slammed on top of my lower body, trapping me in place as I desperately tried to crawl away from its restraints. I could hear Dad’s voice projecting throughout the chapel.

“Batman,” Gideon chuckled as he tore the Batarang out, “I knew I’d see you again. I just didn’t expect you’d choose now to show up.”

Batman stood protectively in front of me. 

“Leave him out of this.” He demanded.

The sniper shook his head. “You’re defending the wrong crowd, Batman. This...” he gestured at me, “...innocent boy you’re tryin’ to save...has probably taken more lives than Lady Arkham herself. You can’t be a hero if you protect villains.”

Batman took out a smoke grenade. “The only villain I see here is you.”

Not even a second later, the whole chapel had been shrouded by smoke, and the only things I could hear were the sounds of battle as sparks illuminated the thick fog, revealing both my father’s and Gideon’s silhouettes fighting behind the screen. In the midst of all this chaos, I patted my hands around the stone floor, frantically searching for something to grab onto that could possibly pull me out from under the statue. As soon as I reached my hand out however, another chunk of rock came raining downwards, causing me to retract my arm.

There was nothing around for me to use as leverage, but to my right, I spotted my gun resting not too far away from me, just within arm’s reach. Stretching my hand outwards, I practically dislocated my spine as I attempted to get a hold of the pistol, my fingers desperately straightening in hopes of extending my grasp. 

Just then, with a stroke of luck, the impact of a nearby falling boulder caused the gun to bounce off the floor and right into my hands. I hurriedly reloaded the firearm, and squinted my eyes as I peered through the smoke, trying to aim for Gideon’s head. It was tricky to get a clear shot with all the constant movement, but eventually, Batman managed to hold Gideon in place, allowing me to shoot directly at his forehead.

The bullet ended up hitting him a bit lower than I anticipated, but it still caused a great deal of damage and buried itself into his neck, causing blood to gush down his shoulder. For what felt like ages, Gideon stumbled around weakly on his feet, clutching the side of his neck as he gaped at Batman, his expression softening with relief once he realized he had been defeated. With one last wave of strength, he uttered out a series of final words, his breath faltering with every syllable.

“...Go ahead...and smile,” he wheezed out, collapsing to his knees. Both my father and I simply watched in shock, slightly in disbelief that we actually got him.

“...Your mask ain’t hiding shit...” Gideon was now on all fours, nearly face-down on the floor, “...Thomas...Wayne.”

And with that said, the sniper finally fell limp, his dead stare landing on me as the life drained out of them and they gradually rolled into the back of his head, leaving me and my father alone in the chapel.

He knew all along, I thought to myself. He knew who Batman was, and he knew that I was his son. Why did he wait until now to reveal it?

Oh, well. Those questions were for another time. At the moment, the catacombs were about ready to crumble right on top of us, and with this statue locking me in place, I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. My father rushed over to me.

“Bruce, grab my hand! We gotta get you out of there!”

I glanced at the ceiling, unsure of what to do. “I’m stuck, Dad,” I exclaimed. “If you wait for me to escape, we’ll both die! Just run while you still can!”

Thomas strengthened his hold on me. “You are not making me listen to this nonsense. Now, grab my hand and let me pull you out! We’re leaving this place. Together. I didn’t come down here just to have you die.”

Latching onto my father’s arms, the two of us used as much force as we could, but the bone-crushing weight of the statue proved to be incredibly adamant, and wouldn’t budge. 

And as if that wasn’t enough, I saw a particularly unstable boulder above my father getting ready to smash the floor beneath it. Judging by the way it trembled, we didn’t have long until we were both nothing but mush, but that didn’t stop Thomas. He only continued to tug at my arms, hopelessly trying to slide me out of the statue’s unrelenting grip. 

“I’ve almost got you,” he encouraged. “You’re gonna be all right.”

“Dad--”

“--I said you’ll be all right!”

The boulder was now dangling by a thread, and I could tell that it was about to drop at any moment. Out of fear, I pointlessly began pressing my hands against the statue in an attempt to push it off, but my energy was dwindling. Even with all the adrenaline rushing through my veins, and the anxiety pumping my heart, my body couldn’t keep up with its demands. Unless my father somehow got me out, I was stuck for good.

Just then however, as if by miracle, I suddenly felt myself crawling free from underneath the statue and into my father’s arms, but the relief didn’t last long. 

With one last look at the sky, Thomas saw the aforementioned boulder plummeting directly towards him, seconds away from mashing his entire body. Just before it was able to hit the ground though, he gave me one strong shove, throwing me out of harm’s way while he stayed behind to face his demise. 

“Dad!” I shouted, but it was too late. The boulder had already landed, and underneath it, I could see a morbid splatter of blood beginning to spread. He was gone. Just like that.

Quickly getting back onto my feet, I limped towards the chapel’s exit, desperately trying to find a way out as I leaned against the walls for support. Oz was nowhere to be seen, and thanks to the thick, stone walls of the catacombs, it was impossible for me to contact Alfred for help. My survival depended on no one but myself right now, and if I didn’t pick up the pace, I would soon be sharing my father’s fate.

Retracing my steps, I slithered my way through the narrow tunnels as the structure collapsed behind me, nearly catching up at several points. The entire escape probably only lasted several minutes, but to me, it seemed like an eternity. With all the dust, rocks, and cobwebs, my vision was more than impaired, and the fact that my legs had just been crushed certainly didn’t help matters. Thankfully though, I was able to find what looked like a ray of sunlight not too far in the distance. That was my way out.

Forcing myself to ignore the pain, I charged through the crumbling catacombs like a wild horse and squeezed through the shrinking walkways as rocks began to fill them up, threatening to trap me in here forever, but I wouldn’t let it. Instead, I took a leap of faith and reached for the exit, climbing out as fast as humanly possible.

I felt like I was moving at the speed of light, but the minute I set foot outside, the entirety of the catacombs had fallen apart within a heartbeat, sending a large cloud of dust through the air while I stood by, witnessing all this chaos.

Despite the happiness I felt over Gideon’s death, a part of me couldn’t help but feel regret for what happened to my father. He sacrificed himself to rescue me, even after all the horrible things I’d done -- and if that didn’t define what a true hero was, I didn’t know what would. But there would be time to mourn him later. 

Right now, I finally had a moment to take a breath, and just savor this short period of peace. The battle between the Children of Arkham and Gotham’s people was finished, and with the end of Lady Arkham came the end of the most difficult chapter in my life.

It was all over. 

It was all finally over. 

#cobblebats #batman telltale #bruce wayne #oswald cobblepot #harvey dent #fanfic #story