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coreastories · 4 years

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The Heartbeat

AO3: Part 14 of Days and Nights of Forever

One dark day for Corea, one terrifying day for Gon and Tae-eul, but life goes on.

When it's fate, there are no coincidences.

Directly follows

Corea News: The queen of Corea stuns in London and

Corea News: A dark day for Corea

I’m so sorry. When I dropped A Dark Day for Corea last Friday, I meant to get this done the next day and not prolong the suspense. But I underestimated it. Sunday came and went and I wasn’t done.

I spent all weekend finishing this so I couldn’t reply to you guys either. I mean, what could I say to you all wailing at me except that I’m writing, which I should DO, not say, right?

So here it is. 11,000 words. Let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy.

With thanks to @collectsfallenstars and @pateetsie for support and threats and encouragements and threats and confidence and threats and all the love and swearing at me.

November was more beautiful in Corea. Perhaps it was unfair to make the comparison because Corea just happened to be closer to the tropics, closer to the sun, farther from the frozen winds of the north, but she couldn’t help it, even if she did have one sunny day in London and that was considered lucky, Elizabeth had told her, especially in November!

No, lucky was living in this beautiful country, coming home to her husband, and with the view of all these red and gold trees outside the car window.

And she had breakfast ready when she got home. She grinned. She thought about calling Gon again but he was probably busy cooking, and she didn't want him to time her arrival. She'd already ruined her own surprise by giving in and calling him earlier.

“Jangmi, did you tell your omma we’re home?”

“Ye, Mama. And she says she’s got cheonggukjang ready for us.”

Both Tae-Eul and In-Yeong said, “Oh my God.” They laughed. Jangmi’s mother’s cheonggukjang was a hit among the guards-- and the king and queen.

And after days of British food, chonggukjang would be heavenly.

“Don’t tell Ho-pil until we’ve all had some,” said In-yeong. “I don’t know how he makes it disappear so fast. Maybe he has a black hole in his stomach and he just pours it in.”

They were still laughing when Tae-Eul saw it. The other car.

It was barrelling through the left of the intersection too fast. Too fast to make the turn it should make.

And then, in contrast to that speeding car, everything else went slow.

In this slower time, Tae-Eul recognized several things.

One: Jangmi was a good defensive driver and had already slowed and stopped the car.

Two: The other car could have crossed the road, perhaps grazing their front bumper, but it could have gone past all the same.

Three: The driver of the other car was too senseless to see the opportunity Jangmi provided to avoid collision. In the grip of panic and trying to control his car, Tae-eul saw him wrenching at the steering wheel with both arms in a mindless attempt to make his turn. Even though it was too late. Even though there was no room.

Four: At that speed, at that trajectory, the other car would nosedive into the side of their car.

Tae-Eul laid both arms across her lower belly and prayed to God and the fate that brought her here. Was lashing out praying? Because she lashed out in shock and anger that this would happen to her, to Gon, their child.

Maybe God heard her, or maybe it was her mind playing tricks to help her cope-- the crash was deafening but it was like a gentle rocking when it came.

It was what happened after that was terrifying.

Tae-Eul felt her seatbelt simultaneously loosen and tighten around her. For half a second, she was buffeted bodily against nothing but air before she felt secure again. There was a terrible noise like thunder right inside her ears and something slammed onto her face, stunning as a well-placed uppercut.

She was blinded and her eyes burned.

She tried to see what had happened to Jangmi and In-Yeong but she cried out at the pain and shut her eyes tight and kept both arms over her pelvis. A firebrand shot through her left shoulder and she cried out again but she kept her arms where they were.

That was when she prayed. With her eyes watering and burning and her ears ringing, she begged to be safe.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

“How are you? It’s not too cold?”

“No. Or maybe I’m just hot. Go back to sleep. I’m going to bed, too.”

“Have you had anything to eat?”

“I had ban-ban on the plane. Go to sleep. I’ll call you when I wake up. Saranghae.”

“Saranghae.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------

“I loved the music and the story but I was honestly so sleepy. It lasted more than two hours. In-yeong had to poke me several times. I lost count after the sixth one. Stop laughing. I bet you fall asleep watching it before it even gets good.”

“Go to sleep. I’ll call you again on your morning.”

“What are you making for your breakfast?”

“Nothing special. Just eggs and tofu and I have kaktugi.”

“Mmmm. I miss that.”

“I miss you. Go to sleep.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

“Don’t worry so much. Just think of her as any old ahjumma.”

“Are you crazy? She’s the queen.”

“No, she’s not. Not to me. Not to the kingdom missing you. You’re the queen here. She’s a queen. You’re a queen. You’re equals.”

“I’m wrinkling my nose at that but I miss you. You should have come with me.”

“You said--”

“What do you want me to bring you?”

“Nothing. Just come home.”

"How cheesy."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

“How was the food?”

“Quite good. I’ve had Angus roast, fish and chips, a full English breakfast-- the sausages here are good, maybe I can bring some-- scones and clotted cream-- I need you or the cooks to learn to make that-- cottage pie, shepherd’s pie, crumpets, and this thing they call Welsh rarebit? It’s cheese and toast. And I loved the vegetables in my salads.

“And the milk and cream here--I think it tastes a little bit like Corea’s. It’s so creamy and delicately sweet.

“I love their chocolate. Cadbury’s. I think we have it at home, right? Should I order more?

“I forgot to tell you-- I almost drank alcohol at brunch when they sent more dishes and apple cider to our table with the chef’s compliments. In-Yeong thought it was juice too. They forgot I was pregnant. I was taking a sip and it didn’t smell and taste like alcohol but Elizabeth took my glass and told me it can be quite strong here.

“I can’t wait to eat ramyeon, though. And ban-ban. I’ll have them when I’m on the plane. What are you laughing at?”

“You talked for five minutes about food.”

“That wasn’t five minutes!”

“I love you. I miss you so much. I’ll see you in… sixteen hours.”

“I can’t wait.”

“To see me? Or for ban-ban and ramyeon?”

“Take a guess.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m here.”

“What?”

“I flew earlier. I wanted to surprise you. I’ll just drive over. Jangmi was on the phone with Yeong long before we landed so I’m sure they’ve arranged things for the escort.”

“But I was going to pick you up-- all right. I’ll see you here, then. Do you want breakfast?”

“Oh do I! I want everything. I want moo saengchae and galbi and my mouth is watering and I can’t talk anymore. Stop laughing.”

“I’ll make everything. Saranghae.”

“Nado saranghae.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gon clung to her voice in his head while everything else seemed to ring and clamor in an infuriating barrage of noise.

He had been talking to her less than an hour ago.

Less than an hour ago, his only thought had been kissing his wife, making breakfast, and holding his wife, his queen, the mother of his child, the best part of his life.

Now he couldn’t get enough air. His mouth was dry and he felt like he’d be violently ill. His hands were fists on his knees and he resisted the urge to thump something.

He prayed. He listened to her voice from their last conversations together and he prayed. He sat there in the back of his car and prayed as they sped to the hospital. He begged that they weren't his last conversations with her. Begged for her safety. Her safety was his child’s. Both of them had to be safe. He begged to hear that voice again soon. Now.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeong sat in the front seat and tried not to let his brain spirale. He needed facts, not speculations and imaginings. In his ear, he could hear his team as they kept him up to date on every minute detail. Everyone was his eyes and ears. Yeong listened and tried to stay in the present, not any horrendous future. He was trained to look ten steps ahead. But it was difficult in this case. His brain refused to catalogue the unthinkable.

The king was quiet in the back seat, still as pale as when Yeong first told him what had happened.

The queen was supposed to arrive at ten this morning. Yeong already had plans in place for the escort going to the airport and back, because the king wanted to pick up the queen.

Nine am and the PA office would have given word to the media whether or not the press could gather at the airport. Yeong had already coordinated with the airport authority for traffic and crowd control as a contingency.

He would have received a brief from the PA office and given a brief to the teams at eight-thirty.

Before seven o’clock, his phone rang. Jangmi told him the queen’s jet was already approaching Corean airspace and the early arrival was supposed to be a surprise for the king. It was testament to how much Yeong had changed-- or how much he had gotten used to the king and queen anyway-- that he didn’t even sigh. He just ended the call, made another, and deployed Ho-pil’s team to the airport in their SUVs.

At eight o’clock, Ho-Pil called him.

“Seonsaengnim. Code Orange. Collision with civilian vehicle. The queen seems to not have major external trauma. No... bleeding. En route to CorGen now. Civilian in custody. Also en route to CorGen under escort. Jang and Park also injured. En route to CorGen.”

A pause. Yeong couldn’t speak and Ho-pil seemed to be catching his breath. And Yeong stupidly waited for the punchline. That he was being pranked. Dumb and dangerous prank, but a prank all the same. But all Ho-pil said next was, “Captain, that fucker was fucking soused. I could smell him when they loaded him on the ambulance. I wish I could kill him.”

Yeong closed his eyes and tried not to close both fists. Wouldn’t do to break his phone right now. “You said she’s not bleeding?” They both knew the significance of what he meant.

“No. But after examining her for a bit, they sedated her. They said it was because she couldn’t breathe properly and her heart was already working too hard, which would be bad for both of them. She has a bad friction burn on her left cheek from the airbag. The other windows all held except Jangmi's so the queen didn’t have lacerations. In-Yeong broke her wrist. And Jangmi took a real beating. When they were getting him out, they were so careful, but he still cried out. Never heard him make that noise before. And they both couldn’t hear me, Captain.”

Yeong took a deep breath. Ho-pil’s report gave him information and time enough to get back his wits and his sense of duty. It was his queen, not his friend. Not his best friend’s wife. And he had to go tell his king, not his best friend.

“CorGen knows to keep quiet when it’s the royal family. And they know protocol. Don’t let her out of your sight.”

“Yes, Seonsaengnim. And the EMTs already called Seonsaeng Chae. I’ll call you with updates if you don’t join us first.”

Yeong hung up. He must have drooped during the call because he realized he had to square his shoulders as he went to find the king. He was almost relieved when the king wasn’t in his suite. To make things simple, he asked the control tower where the king had gone. With the queen away, he could be anywhere.

The control tower answered quickly: The kitchen.

Right. Of course. The queen had probably already called him.

When he entered the kitchen, the king was laying a slab of meat on the grill pan.

“Yeong-ah. We don’t need to leave. She’s already on her wa--”

One look at Yeong’s face and the king stopped talking. In quick, efficient movements, the king turned everything off, wiped his hands on a towel, and rounded the counter. “What happened?” His voice was clipped and dangerous.

Yeong told him. He saw the color drain from the king’s face with every word.

And then there wasn’t really anything else to say other than, “The car’s ready.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

CorGen was used to VIPs. This hospital was where high society wanted to be treated. They had six VIP rooms and these went to ministers and their families, athletes, actors, chaebol owners, heirs and executives.

Royalty was a different level altogether. With the queen pregnant and seeing a CorGen doctor, they’ve opened the seventh VIP room. It was reserved for the royal family, always had been since the hospital opened, but the king had never used it yet in his lifetime.

While the hospital preened at the prestige of opening VIP 7 at last, no one had imagined VIP 7 would ever be needed yet.

Because the queen was only at fifteen weeks.

So when the full force of the Royal Guard arrived at the ER, there was a momentary stupefaction as if everyone was waiting for someone to tell them what to do, or to tell them it was just a tasteless, dangerous joke: it couldn’t really be the queen in that gurney.

Song-eun, arriving at the ER to attend to the queen, saw that freeze. She had frozen herself. She didn’t realize she’d stopped breathing until she exhaled when she saw the queen wasn’t bleeding. She had expected the worst.

And then everyone moved in sync.

They wheeled the queen straight to the prepared trauma room and surrounded her while the EMT and residents rattled off vitals and conditions. Airway and breathing good. Hypotensive because of vasodilation, CO at 45% higher than normal, right, they would fix that. The queen was already on oxygen and fluids. Pulse ox was stabilizing.

“Mama, I’m here. You’re with me,” Song-eun said to Tae-eul, this queen who had made Song-eun a friend, a sister. “I’m going to take care of you and the little bean.”

Sok-jun joined her with two other attendings--neuro and trauma--and they all rattled off directions to their residents and interns. One of them took samples for the trauma panel and the KB test while Song-eun assessed the queen.

“Mama, I’m going to perform a pelvic exam to check on you, okay?”

Under the sheet, her hands moving efficiently, no blood, everything normal. Good.

The queen was already in a neck brace, and she didn’t seem to have spinal injuries as the EMTs have said. The fetal HR monitor beeped steadily. Almost sixteen weeks. Could probably detect omma had been in trouble.

“Mama, you’re doing good so far. And the little bean isn’t upset either.”

Sok-jun was finished with his own examination and did FAST again even though the EMT’s already did. Song-eun scanned the monitor alongside him. No free fluid. Good. He met Song-eun’s eyes and nodded and left.

The neuro attending was already examining the queen’s eyes. Song-eun saw what he saw. “Reactive, symmetrical pupils.” Thank heavens. Good reaction to stimulus. “We can check for focal deficits later. Keep her stabilized.”

Both of Tae-eul’s eyes were red with corneal abrasion and Song-eun winced. She gestured to one of the interns to administer antibiotic eye drops.

“Get me that KB test result asap,” she said as Tae-eul got the polymyxin for her eyes and an ortho team looked at the queen’s legs, which had ugly bruises. But they were superficial. “Let’s use the Lodox right now and then take her to CT. Head and chest just to be sure." Neuro nodded. "Keep her asleep for another hour. Mom and baby are stable. Let’s keep it that way.”

She’d just only noticed and recognized Seok Ho-pil when he spoke. He had stood quietly at the door, not getting in the way, but not relenting to be pushed out either.

“Seonsaengnim, forgive me-- are all those safe for Her Majesty? The CT and the Lodox? What’s the KB test? And can she hear you? I thought she was sedated so she won’t be distressed?”

Song-eun nodded. “We talk to patients under sedation. Sometimes they can hear us. And no, she’s not in distress or in pain, don’t worry. And yes, everything’s safe. Absolutely. I want the CT of her head and chest because that’s where the airbags hit. The Lodox is a full body scan, very safe, low-dose x-ray. I don’t want to miss any injury at all. The Lodox will see if there’s any and we can determine if we need more imaging done then. The KB test is to check if and how much the baby’s hemoglobin transferred to the mother’s bloodstream and we can prevent the potential of Rhesus disease if mom and baby have different Rh blood factors.”

She looked at the rest of the Royal Guard, all listening intently. They were probably privy to the fact that the queen was a rare B negative. It was why Song-eun had been so afraid if the queen was bleeding. Only 1 in 3000 Coreans matched Tae-eul’s Rhesus negative blood. She could take O-neg, but if she needed platelets… Song-eun shuddered. At least she hadn’t slipped and informed the entire room. But the entire room would probably be under NDAs in a matter of minutes.

She could see eight guards in total, scattered in the ER lobby, gathering stares from everyone, and three had already moved ahead, probably to check the Diagnostics Room where the Lodox was.

And then suddenly there were more black suits almost completely covering up the seafoam walls of the hospital.

Song-eun stepped out of the trauma room and came face to face with the king.

She had faced her share of devastated husbands in her career and she hoped she never had to look at the king looking like that again. This was her king and her namdongsaeng and it was heartbreaking to see him so terrified.

She broke protocol and spoke first. “Pyeha, we’re still about to confirm with CT and Lodox about the queen’s injuries, but the baby seems to be fine right now and the queen has passed all tests so far. We just need to confirm and keep them both stable. We’ll do our best. We have everything we need here.”

The king didn’t speak, just stepped past her and into the room. His eyes landed on the monitors and then on the queen. Song-eun was glad everyone had been prompt and fastidious about keeping the queen under a warm sheet.

As it was, the king only saw the queen’s face, with those angry red patches on her left cheek and jaw. The king took a deep shuddering breath and released it, hands rising and fingertips pressing to his eyes.

Song-eun looked away.

She nodded to the orderlies scattered like discarded umbrellas because of the arrival of the Royal Guard. They were easy to spot in their lilac scrubs in the mass of black suits. The two closest bowed to the guards on the way, bowed to the king, bowed to the queen, and then pushed and pulled the gurney.

The king startled as if he was going to grab the gurney but stopped himself. Song-eun laid a hand on his arm, and he jumped again.

Song-eun pressed her hand on his arm more firmly. “We’re taking Her Majesty to the Lodox and then to CT. You can come with us if you like, Pyeha.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok-nam watched Mo Jin-ha burst into tears and wished she could just as easily let go like that. But she couldn’t, she never had, and one of these days, it might kill her, but she wasn’t going to faint this time.

Not until she heard something that would really make her faint.

“I’m sorry-- it’s just-- you know how much I struggled before I finally had Woo-jin and this is-- this is awful.”

Ok-nam patted Jin-ha on the shoulder. Poor Jin-ha had had three miscarriages. It was why she was here, crying, instead of following the king to CorGen. Woo-jin was her little miracle, but the loss of her other children still stung. Would always do.

“Hush now. Let’s wait and pray. We should hear from them any moment now. And you need to make an announcement before rumors spread.”

Jin-ha nodded, wiping tears and straightening her spine. Ok-nam turned to the two policemen who had arrived, hoping to get a statement here but instead seeing the press secretary lose the composure she was famous for.

“Drink your tea, gentlemen,” Ok-nam said. “You do have colleagues who went to the hospital?”

“Yes, ma’am. But if we could get a statement from you--when you hear from them-- then we wouldn’t need to disturb Their Majesties.”

Jin-ha gave another sob. “Oh, the poor queen. She loves that baby so much-- I hope she doesn’t--”

Ok-nam thumped a hand on her chabudai and Jin-ha and both men jumped. “Stop that,” Ok-nam said, ignoring how her heart thumped mournfully and fearfully in her chest. “Don’t think that. Don’t speak of that.”

The phone rang and they all jumped again. Ok-nam answered it just as Seung-ah arrived and knelt beside her.

“Captain Jo, what has--”

“Lady Noh. The queen is fine. No major injuries. They’re still monitoring the queen and the baby. The king is with her. They’re getting her scans.” Ok-nam closed her eyes and sagged in relief. Jin-ha gave a sob of relief and Ok-nam shushed her.

“Seung-ah has the accident footage so you can see,” Jo Yeong continued over the phone. “We’ve already released it to the police. Jangmi has a clavicle fracture and rib fractures and In-yeong has a broken wrist, three fractured fingers, bruised ribs.”

Poor Jangmi and In-yeong. “Do you-- do you have that driver?”

“Yes.” And that was all Yeong said. Ok-nam heard rage in that calm voice. She felt rage herself. “I’ve sent all information to Secretary Mo. She can make the statement at her discretion. I’ll update you.”

Ok-nam put the phone back in its cradle. Seung-ah, pale-faced and pale-lipped, raised her iPad but Ok-nam turned away.

“Are you mad? I don’t want to see it. Show it to these gentlemen.”

Jin-ha seemed to have already received the same footage and the information Captain Jo mentioned in her iPad, and judging by her gasping over the screen, Ok-nam made the right decision not to look at the footage.

“I’m going to pray.”

She took a private, empty, circuitous route so she wouldn’t trail anxious and hysterical court maids and court ladies. She had no time and no patience to comfort anyone.

In the kitchen garden amongst the onggi, her tears surprised her. She wiped them almost angrily.

There was no call for tears yet.

She bowed and prayed.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The sound is not unlike galloping horses. Maybe galloping horses on the coast, because he can also hear a swishing noise like the wind and the surf.

Tae-eul is laughing. “It’s so loud and fast! Are you crying?”

“No.” He blinks his eyes and sniffs as quietly as he can. He sees Song-eun biting her lips and looking amused as she holds the Doppler against Tae-eul’s belly.

Tae-eul squeezes his hand. He moves his eyes away from the ultrasound screen just as she also does. Their eyes meet, and his breath stutters a bit because her eyes are at their most beautiful yet since he met her.

He kisses her hand. And with their child's heartbeat drumming in the background, they grin at each other.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Gon listened to it more times than he'd admit. It was in his playlist for cooking breakfast. He even danced to it in the shower. Tae-eul had caught him at it one time and had laughed so hard and so long she had to sit on the floor.

She didn’t tease him about it, but she invariably looked at him and giggled whenever anyone brought up the baby’s heartbeat or when she listened to the file in her own phone.

He stopped the audio file and put his phone back in his pocket. The beeps of the two heart rate monitors were discordant and so different from the rhythmic gallop and swish of his baby’s real heartbeat but he let those beeps deafen him to everything else.

He kissed Tae-eul’s hand and wished her awake.

She was so pale against the cream sheets on the bed. She now had bandages over her cheek and jaw. Her eyelids were rimmed with red. Her brows were slightly furrowed. She wasn’t tranquil in her sleep.

They’d told him she wasn’t in pain. What scared him was if she was trapped in some nightmare after the terrifying experience she just went through.

It had been almost an hour or so since the tests were done. The CT and the Lodox both found a hairline fracture on her left clavicle.

They’d put her arm in a sling for that and kept her in the neck brace in case of whiplash. Everything else seemed fine. Her head, her spine. Until she woke up and complained of what else hurt, they had no way of knowing, apart from the bad bruising on her left shoulder, on her toes, and on the front of her shins when her legs might have flown and hit against the front seat.

Her blood pressure was back to normal. They’d told him she had been distressed--in the emotional term-- when the ambulance arrived, her heart rate too fast and her breathing erratic, which was why they sedated her and put her on oxygen immediately.

He just knew why she’d been so anxious and afraid.

Song-eun walked into the room and Gon blinked back the sting in his eyes. “Noona.”

“Pyeha. You know Her Majesty is Rhesus negative. We can confirm now that Little bean is Rhesus positive, just like you. We found some hemoglobin of little bean’s in the queen’s circulation so I’m giving her the RhoGAM now.”

Gon watched Song-eun administer the shot on Tae-eul’s arm.

So he saw it when Tae-eul grabbed Song-eun’s hand.

“Mama, you’re awake. How are you feeling? I just gave you a RhoGAM shot. We talked about it before.”

Gon got up and Tae-eul saw him. She let go of Song-eun and reached for him with both hands at first, but both hands went to her belly below her navel, where the fetal HR monitor’s attachments were.

The vital signs monitor made a harsh protest. Tae-eul’s heart rate was spiking.

Gon said, “Tae-eul, you’re all right, the baby’s okay.”

She looked at him and opened her mouth to speak but made an expression of pain, touched her jaw, and cried out when she discovered the raw skin of her burn there.

Gon grabbed her hands in his, looked into her eyes and said, “Tae-eul. You’re all right. The baby’s all right.”

She just looked at him as if she couldn’t understand him. And she was already crying.

Gon stared at her. Why wasn’t she-- and then it clicked. She was probably still deaf from the airbags. He looked at Song-eun and she had obviously come to the same conclusion. She tapped her ears, and then pointed and nodded at the fetal monitor, already rounding the bed to get to it herself.

Gon beat her to it. He let go of Tae-eul with one hand and reached for the fetal monitor to turn the screen toward Tae-eul. His movement was enough to make Tae-eul look in that direction, turning her head as much as she could in the brace.

Gon returned both hands to cradle hers. He bent down to press his lips against her fingertips. He could feel himself shaking with relief now that she was awake.

She looked at the fetal monitor for long moments. The vital signs monitor quieted but her crying continued. Gon bent over her and gently took her in his arms without actually lifting her up. He snaked one arm under her waist and the other arm under her side. She sobbed against his shoulder and he felt her grip the back of his pullover.

He pressed his cheek against her hair, glad she was awake, his heart breaking a little with each sob. She shouldn’t have had to go through this. This much fear. This much worry.

Her sobs slowly stopped until she was only taking deep shuddering breaths. Gon gently pulled back his arms, kissed her uninjured cheek, and wiped her eyes, careful not to actually go near her eyelids with the tissues.

Song-eun caught Tae-eul’s attention. As if she hadn’t just witnessed a breakdown, Song-eun spoke and gestured at the same time, and she enunciated carefully so that even Gon saw her words as much as heard them.

“Tae-eul. Look at me. Baby is here--” Song-eun cupped both hands low on her belly, over her pelvis. “Airbag was here--” Song-eun pointed both open palms on her shoulders and mimed the slam of the airbags over her face and shoulders with a slamming movement of her hands.

“So baby is safe. Okay?” She turned to Gon. “And your car was awesome. God. I have to get one of those.”

“I’ll buy you one,” Gon said, without taking his eyes off Tae-eul. She had calmed down, wincing and squinting with her eyes, looking between them and the fetal monitor.

Song-eun nudged him away from Tae-eul’s side and took his place, sitting beside Tae-eul’s hip and leaning forward to Tae-eul. She held up her index finger. “Follow the finger, Mama. Good. Okay. I’m going to use my light.” She shone that light in and out of Tae-eul’s eyes. Then she placed both her palms under Tae-eul’s. “Pyeha, show her to push on my hands. I saw how she gripped your sweater but I want to make sure.”

Gon mimed bearing down with his hands. Tae-eul pushed. Next, Song-eun mimed making fists with both hands. Tae-eul did that, too. Song-eun swiveled her hips on the bed so she faced the window, leaned back on her hands, and extended and raised her legs, one after the other. Tae-eul did the same.

Song-eun smiled and squeezed Tae-eul’s hands. “Good, good. Just need to wait for your ears to come back. They’ll be back in a bit. You’re good.”

Gon nudged Song-eun aside and she willingly went, smiling. He pushed the button on the side panel and raised Tae-eul’s bed gently, watching her face for any discomfort from her fracture.

Then when she was more or less sitting up, he leaned forward and hugged her as gently as he could, kissed her on the forehead and on her right cheek. He felt her arms close around his waist, and he pulled back before she tried to raise her arms higher. He didn’t want her to strain her fracture.

He enunciated like he saw Song-eun do, not exaggerated but clearly defining each syllable. “Are you all right? Does anything hurt?”

Her eyes went from his lips to his eyes. She spoke carefully now, testing how much her jaw would let her do. “Why can’t I hear you?”

Gon said, “The airbags.”

Song-eun said, “It’s temporary. Around sixteen to forty-eight hours. Is there a ringing noise?”

It took three tries before Tae-eul understood the question, then she shook her head no.

“Oh, good. I’m glad you don’t have tinnitus.” Song-eun cast another long look at the vital signs monitor, smiled at Tae-eul, retrieved the empty syringe she’d dropped when Tae-eul grabbed her, and left, saying she’ll be back later.

“Did you catch that? She said your deafness will last overnight or two days.”

Tae-eul nodded. Then she looked past him at the fetal monitor again, blinking, her eyes spilling tears. Her hands went up to her eyes and Gon stopped her hands before they made contact. She looked at him, wincing. “My eyes hurt.” “I know. I’m sorry. That’s from the airbags, too. Here, noona gave me your eye drops.”

If she didn’t catch that, she quickly understood when he came back to her side with the bottle he’d fetched from her bedside table. Tae-eul being Tae-eul, she tried to be helpful. When she couldn’t tilt her head back at all in the neck brace, she tried anyway. “Ow.” She looked down at her shoulder and her sling as if discovering it for the first time.

Gon used her bed’s recliner and applied the eye drops.

“You have a crack on your clavicle. So don’t move your shoulder or your arms. Does your neck hurt? We’re not sure if you have some muscle strain there.”

“Will you just use your phone? Or find a pen and paper. A… a whiteboard and marker. I’m getting tired trying to read your lips.”

That return of her spirit made him smile. He put down the bottle of eye drops and started writing on her palm instead. And grinned when she also smiled.

But when he was done, her lips were trembling and her face was twisting. She reached for him without raising her hands much from her lap.

Carefully so he wouldn’t jolt her injuries, he moved forward where he sat on her right. He slid his arm around her waist and gently pulled her close. She sighed and entirely rested her right side against him.

“I can’t believe it. Just-- just my collarbone?”

He nodded. It wasn’t just her collarbone, but he could elaborate later.

“I was so scared. I thought it would be worse--”

“Me too.” He wrote the hangul on her palm.

“What about Jangmi and In-yeong?”

“They’re okay, but they have fractures. They’re in surgery to fix them.”

“Oh no. Fractures where?”

“I don’t really know yet. I’ve been with you all this time.”

“They’re going to be so frustrated,” Tae-eul said. “They’ll have to be off-duty.”

“Well, you’ll also be off-duty. You can all be off-duty together.”

“Talk again.”

“What is it?”

She pressed her hand against his chest. “I can feel your voice.”

“Oh. It’s the vibrations.”

She pressed her fingertips at his throat. “I feel your voice better here. Say something.”

“Saranghae. I was scared to death. I’m grateful you’re all right. Are you really all right?”

She nodded, eyes spilling tears again. “You and Song-eun said I am.” And her eyes flicked to the fetal monitor.

Gon sighed and held her closer.

“And you’re sure the baby’s all right? What did Song-eun say?”

This time, he took his phone out of his pocket and typed on it with his arms around her.

She said we’re lucky you’re only almost 16 weeks. The baby’s still small, and the layers of protection are thicker than if you were further along. You did have to get a RhoGAM shot now, and Song-eun says she’ll monitor the baby for Rhesus disease from now on.

Tae-eul was nodding as she read his screen. The Rhesus incompatibility situation wasn’t new to them. They’d learned about it in her first screenings.

Do you have other questions?

Tae-eul stiffened a little in his arms, and Gon thought she was finally going to ask about the driver. Gon had been trying not to think of him either. He had focused on Tae-eul, but now that she was awake and asking questions, the driver was invading his thoughts.

He still didn’t know much aside from the fact that he was completely drunk.

However, after relaxing in his arms again, Tae-eul poked the top right of his phone screen and said, “It’s almost eleven. Why am I not hungry? I haven’t eaten in twelve hours.”

Gon exhaled a laugh. He kissed her hair. He loved this woman. He typed, You ate at eleven pm?

“Don’t go there.”

Still smiling, he typed, I think they gave you something in your IV so you won’t feel acidic and hungry in case you stayed asleep longer. And they gave you vitamins and other essentials. I’ll go ask if you can eat.

He gently maneuvered her back onto her bed. She sighed against her pillow and then looked at the fetal monitor again. Her eyes suddenly went droopy, and Gon knew her adrenaline spike after waking up had worn off now that she knew their baby was safe. And her eyes were probably tired anyway. With her corneal abrasions, sleeping would do her good.

“Hold off on the food,” she said as she closed her eyes. “But get me my kalbi.”

Gon pushed the bed’s button again and put the bed back in full recline. He pressed a kiss on her forehead, and then on her lips, lingering there for several long moments. He loved her, he had missed her, and today he’d nearly lost her.

When they parted, she said, “Saranghae.”

“Nado.”

He didn’t leave her, of course. Gon dropped on the armchair and took several deep breaths, exhaling quietly. His relief sent him doubling over, elbows on his knees, and he thanked God over and over. A litany of Gamsahabnida.

Then he leaned back on the armchair and just looked at her. Now her face no longer looked pinched, as if she was truly sleeping now. Once he was sure she was in deep sleep, Gon hit 3 on his phone.

“Yeong. Ask Dr Chae if Tae-eul can eat. She’s asleep now but she asked about food.”

“Ye, Pyeha.” And before Gon could ask, Yeong added, “My report is in the Drive. I have a lead so I’m about to leave, Pyeha. We’ll continue updating the doc.”

“All right. Thank you.”

Gon took a deep breath and navigated to the Drive. He wasn’t about to leave Tae-eul’s side and Yeong couldn’t deliver the report personally, so this Drive folder, usually for documentation only and something Gon had never looked at, came in handy.

He saw the thumbnail of the footage and his jaw clenched. As king and sovereign justice, he had to watch it.

He watched Jangmi approach the intersection defensively, not crossing it even with the light on green because of that suspicious oncoming white car from the left.

He watched the white car barrel through the intersection-- other cars swerving to a halt.

He watched his wife’s car stop beyond the path of the white car, just like all other cars had done.

He watched the white car swerve for no reason at the last second and ram into his wife’s car, even though practically all the cars had given it a clear path across.

He watched it twice and closed the video before his blood boiling made him throw his phone at the wall.

He could feel his jaw trembling with rage and he swore under his breath to release some of his anger. It made him feel dirty even though Tae-eul was asleep and couldn’t have heard him. He rubbed his hands over his face and looked at Tae-eul, letting the sight of her calm him.

He opened the report next. Aside from details that he already knew, like the time and location of the collision, and Tae-eul’s condition at the time of the ambulance response, it now included photos of Jangmi’s and In-yeong’s x-rays and Yeong’s notes.

Jang Mi-reuk:

lacerations on the face, neck and arm (left)

Type 1 distal clavicle fracture (left)

Type A oblique rib fractures (left posterior 4th, 5th and 6th ribs)

Type B transverse rib fracture (left posterior 7th rib)

30% pneumothorax (left lung)

severe bruising on the left side

sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus (prognosis: temporary)

Park In-yeong:

bruised ribs (left)

distal radius fracture (right)

displaced, mid-shaft and intra-articular fractures of the phalanges (left little finger, ring finger and middle finger)

sensorineural hearing loss (prognosis: temporary)

Gon was glad Jangmi wasn’t worse. He was the only one on the left side of the car, the side of the collision. The other car had rammed the queen’s car a little behind Jangmi’s seat, and even with the car’s airbags and collision safety technology, look at all those broken bones. And his lung had collapsed.

Yeong’s report says they didn’t know how exactly In-yeong broke her wrist and fingers. Probably from slamming them against something during the crash.

Damn. And it was In-yeong’s right wrist. She wouldn’t be able to shoot a gun for weeks. The little crack shot wouldn’t like that.

The next page was about the driver.

Gon read it all but the only thing that stood out was the blood alcohol concentration. The driver weighed 160 pounds with .25 BAC.

That was beyond driving under the influence. Influence was about a quarter of the man’s blood alcohol level. What the driver did was practically--

Gon’s brain supplied manslaughter. He closed his eyes. No one had died. But someone could have. Someone could have. And if Gon hadn’t bought the safest car in the world, or if Jangmi simply chose any of the other cars in the fleet, where would Gon be right now?

---------------------------------------------------------------

“SPEAK UP! I ASKED YOU WHAT HAPPENED TO THE QUEEN AND YOU HAVE TO ANSWER ME!”

Ho-pil gestured to Dong-min and ran to VIP 6, the VIP room where he could hear Jangmi bellowing. He found the man shouting at his nurse from his bed by the window.

On the other bed, In-yeong was awake and looking mournful. When she saw Ho-pil, she said, “I can’t hear it but it’s hurting my eardrums. How’s the queen?”

Ho-pil gave her two thumbs up. Queen was okay. Baby was okay. In-yeong sighed and then winced when that action jogged her ribs.

Ho-pil marched over to Jangmi, who was still bellowing like a wounded bull.

He was a wounded bull. His face, neck and arms were bandaged, his torso was bandaged and in thick braces. He also had a bandage over his clavicle where his surgery incision was. His left arm was in a sling secured with straps to keep his shoulder immobile.

When he saw Ho-pil, he stopped shouting. But he was still yelling. Ho-pil winced. “Sunbaenim. How’s the queen?”

Ho-pil repeated the two thumbs up that worked with In-yeong.

Jangmi burst into tears.

“Should I have moved the car and tried to avoid it? It happened so fast. I should have done something.”

Ahh shit. Poor Jangmi. Ho-pil pulled out his phone and typed rapidly.

You did exactly what I would have done if I’d been the one at the wheel. This wouldn’t have happened if that other bastard wasn’t blind drunk. The queen is fine. She has a clavicle fracture like you, but not as bad. And there’s something about her getting the Rhesus injection thing because she has that rare negative blood type and the baby’s a positive. Don’t terrorize your nurses. They’re the ones who’ll give you food and pain meds.

He showed the screen to Jangmi and the great bull calmed down with every word, and then turned sheepish by the end.

“I’m sorry, sunbaenim. Thank you. But I still want to apologize to the queen. Can we see the queen?”

Ho-pil mouthed, “Can you get up?”

“Sure, if you help me.”

“I’ll help you later. Rest for now. I think Their Majesties will let us know if they want to see--”

Dong-min pounded on the open door and waved frantically at Ho-pil. “Seonsaengnim, the king wants--”

And then the king himself stepped into the room.

They all bowed their heads. Not just out of respect. The king looked murderous. For some reason, Ho-pil had a flashback he couldn’t identify because he had never seen the king like this before, but his mind told him the king was dangerous when he looked like this.

And contrary to Jangmi, the king spoke in quiet, precise syllables that made the hair on Ho-pil’s neck rise.

“Sub-captain Seok. Captain Jo is already investigating that man.” Ho-pil heard disgust and knew the king wanted to call the man something else. Ho-pil already did in his own head. “He has a lead somewhere else. Now I want information on where that man drank all night. If it was an establishment, the owner, and the staff who served him. If it was a private party, who he was with. Call his employers or his employees.”

“Ye, Pyeha. His family, too?”

“We already know his family. Captain Jo sent it in. In any case, I don’t want testimony from anyone who might beg for him not to die.”

“Ye, Pyeha.”

With a nod toward In-yeong and Jangmi, the king left.

They waited ten seconds, and then In-yeong and Jangmi asked him what the king said. Ho-pil typed it on his phone and showed it first to In-yeong, and then to Jangmi.

In-yeong had just looked vindictive. Jangmi spoke their thoughts aloud. Real loud.

“HOLY SHIT.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A loud, grinding noise and the crash of metal against metal.

The piercing shatter of glass breaking. The explosive full blast of airbags. Brakes squealing.

Pain and burning on her eyes, her shoulder, her legs, everywhere. She struggled to part her eyelids but they wouldn’t cooperate beyond a small squint. She couldn’t see Jangmi and In-yeong at all.

She couldn’t hear anything either.

Someone was lifting her and she told them to be careful, she was pregnant, but if they heard her she had no idea-- she knew she was speaking but the way she heard herself was different. Was she dead and was it this quiet when you were dead?

She couldn’t be dead-- she was going to have a baby. And Gon would be devastated. No, no.

Suddenly, her eyes were open and she saw the car coming again as if to finish the job now that the paramedics had brought her out of the shelter of the car.

Determined that it wouldn’t get her this time, she struggled against the paramedics and ran with all her might away from them all, away from that car.

But it still hit her and she felt that gentle and violent rocking again.

It made her ill.

Suddenly, she realized she really was throwing up over a basin. Her eyes were really open. When she was done, she could see beyond the basin and her sheets. Cream sheets and blankets now being gently and efficiently changed around her by court maids in their familiar uniform. Leaf green walls and cream paneling and a big glass window showing the dimming light of sunset.

She was in a hospital room, not a highway full of stopped traffic and one murderous car.

Something cool and comforting was being pressed against the right side of her face. Comforting in contrast to the dull ache she felt in her legs and feet, her shoulder, her face. Everything hurt.

Gon was beside her. He was the one holding the basin and the towel against her cheek. When he saw she was really done being sick, he passed the basin to a court maid, wiped Tae-eul’s mouth with the towel, and offered her a glass of water with a straw.

Tae-eul sipped water and swallowed it with some difficulty past the sobs building in her chest and throat. She held off as long as she could, but they came out anyway.

When she woke up this morning, she had cried with relief. She had been so afraid, so sure that she was about to be told she was no longer-- but then she felt the attachments on her belly and saw the fetal monitor and-- she cried with relief.

Right now, she was crying from residual terror. She had been a detective. She knew what this was. Only, she had known and seen it happen to others. In colleagues, in witnesses, in suspects.

Now she knew what it was like. And her detective’s brain tried to feed her with facts to ease her anguish. She focused her eyes on the fetal monitor. Her baby was fine. She was fine. She couldn’t hear but she was fine. She was in the hospital. She cracked her collarbone. But she was fine. The car hadn’t hurt her. Hadn’t hurt them.

Gon was real, his arms around her, his hand stroking her hair soothingly, and his breath against her ear.

The sick feeling in her stomach receded. Her heart slowed down. She clung to Gon’s arm and let herself fall back against him, on the familiar shelter of his shoulder.

She pressed her lips together to close her mouth and stop crying. There was no need to carry on like this. She looked at Gon, drank him in with her eyes, and let that gaze and that nose and those lips and that jawline blot out the last vestiges of that car from behind her eyelids.

But it frustrated her that she couldn’t hear his voice. She could feel his chest rumbling softly and his lips moving against her forehead but she heard nothing.

He brought his face close to hers, gently tilting her chin so she could see him. She focused on his lips as they moved. “You’re all right. I’m here. Are you all right?”

She nodded and shook her head. “Everything hurts.”

Gon’s mouth curved down. “I’m sorry. Your medication should take effect soon. Noona gave you another dose some time ago. You’ll be fine.”

She nodded, raising her right hand to cradle his neck. When he spoke again, she felt it against her palm. “Do you want to tell me about it? What woke you up? Was it the accident?”

She nodded again. “Just… I saw it all over again. And everything I heard then. I wish I could hear something else to push it out of my head.”

Gon pulled some tissues from the box on her bedside table and gently dabbed at her cheeks, careful not to make contact with her eyes.

He said, “I could sing to you. Maybe only feeling the vibrations on my throat would make it sound better.”

She caught all that from reading his lips and it made her smile. “Go on.”

And Gon sang. An English song he’d heard her alternately sing and hum. It was like a lullaby. Soft, comforting, the notes rising and falling in smooth harmony. She could hear the song in her head, and her mind added the tune to Gon’s voice vibrating against her palm, drowning out that awful screech of metal.

“Moon river,

wider than a mile,

I’m crossing you in style some day.”

Her stomach chose that moment to grumble.

Gon stopped singing and looked at her. “I know I can’t sing as well as you, but that was rude.”

Tae-eul laughed.

“Come on. Let’s get you fed. You’ve had nothing but liquid nutrition all day.”

As if listening for this, another court maid came in and laid a tray on the bed. Then she placed and uncovered a black and gold ceramic dosirak on top of it. Tae-eul smelled kimchi and kalbi and her mouth watered.

Gon picked up the tray and placed it over her lap. She opened her mouth and he chuckled, taking a little bit of everything into a spoonful and bringing it to her mouth.

“Good?”

“Really good. Did I lose my phone?”

Gon nodded. “It was on the seat behind Jangmi. Why?”

“Give me your phone.”

She didn’t even have to navigate much. The file she wanted was on the homescreen. She played it at maximum volume. Nothing.

She sighed.

“You remember how it sounds, though, right?” Gon asked.

Oh, she did. But she wanted to hear it, not remember it.

She wanted that heartbeat to assure her, distract her, make her feel safe and happy again. And Gon’s voice. She needed his voice, too.

They both ate the dosirak without talking much, both of them retreating inside their own heads, and then Gon helped her wash her face-- with wipes-- and brush her teeth-- with a basin.

Maybe her pregnancy-safe painkillers still had narcotic side-effects, or maybe she was just tired out from everything. She drowsily played with Gon’s hand in her lap.

She decided she couldn’t put it off any longer. “Gon. The driver.”

He looked at her, and his gaze was still the same whenever he looked at her, but she saw the fury there, the hard and unforgiving glint.

“Tell me about the driver.”

He took his hand from hers, navigated his phone, and gave it to her with the document open.

She scrolled past Yeong’s notes on her condition, on Jangmi’s and In-yeong’s, her heart squeezing at their injuries, and then there he was. His driver’s license. Kim Ae-go, 1977 08 29, Gijang-gun.

The report had been updated an hour ago with priors. Several counts of DUI and possession, the first one when he was 16. When he was 19, he had crashed his car into a house, killing a cat and her four kittens. The case was settled. When he was 24, he had hit a 15-year-old kid on a bike and the kid was paralyzed from the waist down, but the case was settled. Five years later, he was tried for vehicular manslaughter-- a 17-year-old girl and her 10-year-old sister were killed-- but was acquitted.

“I can’t believe this.”

Gon looked at her, that glint in his eyes sharper now.

“This... this son of a bitch is a menace.”

Gon blinked.

“Well, now that he has endangered the bloody queen and the heir, he has no chance of being acquitted, has he? You can even behead him.” She slammed his phone down on the bed.

Gon stared at her, his eyes flickering between her and the vital signs monitor.

“What? I suppose we can’t have him beheaded just because I was the one attacked this time. He should have been punished long ago. Just… just get him imprisoned for life. No parole.”

In response, Gon’s hand came to cradle her uninjured cheek, and then he was kissing her, pressing and stroking her lips with his, taking her lower lip in his mouth, pulling on it and teasing it with his tongue.

Then he just lingered there with their lips brushing while they both breathed each other’s air. His eyes stared into hers, and the glint was still there, but it was a different kind.

He kissed her again, just a quick but still persistent kiss, and then withdrew.

He took his phone from where she’d slammed it on her bed covers-- now the silk from the palace-- and typed on it. He showed her the screen.

I wanted him beheaded. But I suppose life imprisonment is more appropriate so he can properly reflect and pay for his sins. He’s already under lock and key in the hospital. No chance of being acquitted, no. And yes, life with no parole.

Get better soon, my queen. I missed you. And I love you when you’re bloodthirsty.

She didn’t quite slam his phone down on the bed again, but it was still close. She felt ridiculous about it and glared at him.

He was laughing as he pushed the button on her bed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Gon was shaken, however. He watched Tae-eul asleep in the glow of the lamps, her face golden and beautiful and angelic. Was this Tae-eul’s purpose in his world? Not just a queen but a trap for pests?

He opened his phone and tapped their favorite audio file almost automatically. The volume was still on the last setting by Tae-eul-- maximum-- and he didn’t lower it. He let it wash over him.

It sounded like how his heart thundered in his ears that morning-- just that morning-- when Yeong told him Tae-eul had been in a car crash.

It also sounded like a drum roll before an announcement. What would he announce? That the queen was taking a leave of absence? Could he send her--ask her--to stay in the republic and hope she was safe there?

He grimaced at the stupidity and futility of that thought.

His phone buzzed in his hand. It was Yeong.

“Pyeha. I’m coming to your room and I’ll stay with the queen.”

“Why?”

“He’s awake. He remembers everything. And the Minister of Finance is here.”

----------------------------------------------------------------

Ok-nam saw the sickle moon again in her dream. And just like before, it turned into a brilliant sun.

She didn't know why that thrilled her and assured her but it did.

She was just about to happily sink further in her dream and sleep when she felt herself being pulled to wakefulness.

It was the phone. She answered it and heard the king’s voice just as what happened that day hit her.

"How are you? Have they told you everything?"

"Pyeha. How is the queen?"

"Better. She's fine. They're both fine." Ok-nam sighed. "Lady Noh. Should one punish severely or well?"

Ok-nam didn’t even have to think about it. “Do both. Always.” She dipped her head with emphasis even though the king, her little boy, couldn’t see her. “This is how you make things right. This is how you inspire other people to also always make things right.”

“Hmm. You and your punishments that involve three generations.”

Ok-nam raised her eyes to the ceiling. “I don’t really do that! You know what I mean.”

“Yes, I do. Thank you.”

---------------------------------------------------------------

The Minister of Finance was prostrate before the king.

This day was just full of surprises. Ho-pil had just arrived back at the hospital to make a report to the king when Captain Jo asked him to escort the minister to VIP 5. Ho-pil balked at that, disgusted that the minister and his asshole son were in the VIP wing right alongside the queen, but Yeong told him the entire VIP wing was currently occupied by the Royal Court.

True to the Captain’s word, VIP 5 was empty.

It seemed to be under renovation. Bare walls. With the minister prostrating on the bare floor.

“Pyeha, I beg your forgiveness. I am horrified at what has occurred. At what my son did. My entire family deserves to die.”

The minister was a spry seventy-four year old that Ho-pil had admired. But the man had aged since Ho-pil had last seen him. He felt almost sorry that the son’s sins were being visited on the father. Almost. Because the father had sins himself, didn’t he?

The king, standing tall with the minister at his feet, spoke in his quiet way. No fury this time, but it still made Ho-pil swear he’d never do anything to warrant the king speaking to him in that tone.

“I am not going to make accusations, Minister. But your son has been endangering people for more than two decades. He has even killed two girls. He was acquitted. With his priors, the acquittal seems impossible until one looks at the family he belongs to.

“What do you hope to obtain?”

“Our lives. We deserve to die but please let my family live, Pyeha. I will accept all other punishments I deserve.”

The king replied without pause. “So be it. You are henceforth stripped of your title and ministership. You and your wife are banished from Corea. Your son will be tried and imprisoned the maximum sentence. As I’m the sovereign justice, and this time the case is right before my eyes and I hope I’m no longer an inadequate teenaged monarch, I can assure you your son will die in incarceration. Is that to your satisfaction?”

The minister lowered his head further on the floor. “Pyeha-- my parents-- they’re the ones who coddled the boy. I humbly suggest the punishment extend to them.”

“Very well. I trust your word. They will join you in exile. None of you are allowed to set foot in the kingdom. Not even to die here.”

“Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for sparing my children and grandchildren, Pyeha.”

If the father impressed Ho-pil, the son disgusted him.

The king didn’t even bother to speak to the gibbering man. What a fucking cockroach, begging for forgiveness without acknowledging his actions. The king entered his room, looked at him, and just seemed to tune him out when he began talking.

And when Ho-pil told the king that the cockroach had thrashed the server who had confiscated his car keys, Ho-pil saw the king’s hand clench at his side.

Ho-pil was sure that if the Four Tiger Sword had been at the king’s hip in its scabbard, he would have slit the man’s throat.

But aside from that small movement anyone untrained would have missed, the king didn’t even flinch as they left the room.

“Add that to his charges. And place the server in protective custody. I think Captain Jo already made contact with the family of the girls and they’re under our protection as well. Cut off all communication channels of the Kim family until and after the four senior Kims are exiled.”

“Ye, Pyeha.” His investigation had told him as much. The old Kim patriarch had a long reach without having to step outside his villa. It was just unlucky for the old man he was now standing toe to toe with the king.

“Sub-captain Seok, please inform Secretary Mo that if there are other cases like this that have escaped my notice, I want them all at my desk by Friday next.”

Ho-pil stood tall and took immense pride in saying, “Ye, Pyeha.”

----------------------------------------------------------------

The guards at the door of VIP 7 were instead standing near VIP 6. Gon heard the din of raised voices as he stepped past them. The guards had stepped away so they wouldn’t hear. What on earth--

As he stopped at the door, he heard Tae-eul’s voice clearly, and it stunned him because for a moment, he thought she was talking to him.

“And do you think the republic has force fields that prevent a car crash? I could have a car accident there, too.”

Then Yeong spoke. “What if you had died? What if the baby--”

“Don’t think that. I didn’t die. I didn’t lose--”

“Are you going to look at death every day? I thought it was over.”

“Why do you always make me talk in cliches? We do look at death every day. Anything can happen to anyone at any time.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t see it. You were used today to finally catch that man. You saw his records. Once he slammed into YOUR car, there was no hope for him. His entire family’s power gone just like that because he happened to crash into the queen this time. That was unnecessary. That was senseless. The king would have caught on to him sooner or later. But look what happened. And because you and I both know you’ve been put here on purpose, aren’t you a little suspicious? Aren’t you even a little afraid?”

“Of course I’m afraid. I’m terrified. But there are things you fight and stay for even when you’re afraid. You know that.”

Gon had felt his stomach drop at Yeong’s words, and then Tae-eul’s just knocked the wind out of him. Yeong didn’t answer, so Gon opened the door. He found them on opposite ends of the room, Tae-eul in bed and Yeong standing at the window.

Both of them looked impassive, although Tae-eul’s visible cheek was flushed.

“Did I interrupt something?”

Yeong said, “No.” Tae-eul just sighed.

Gon knew that no matter how tenacious she was, what Yeong said had bothered her. Of course, it would.

To his surprise, Yeong spoke up.

"I'm worried about you. Both of you. If something happens to either of you, I'm the one who'll be left with the pieces. I’m meant to protect you. Why else do I remember everything? But how can I protect you from something like this? I’m powerless and useless.”

Gon took a deep breath and spoke of the realization that had come to him between his call to Lady Noh and his audience with the ex-minister. “Something or someone else will prove powerful and useful then, Yeong-ah.”

Yeong scowled at him.

“It’s a balance. How do you think I felt this morning? I was king but what good was that when Tae-eul was in a car crash? But that car proved powerful and useful. Jangmi’s defensive driving ended up powerless and useless but that car protected them, didn’t it?”

Yeong turned his head to the side, his gesture of thinking over what Gon said.

“I was thinking like you earlier. It crossed my mind that maybe I could ask her to stay in the republic. But like she told you, that didn’t make sense. And when I found out about that man’s family, everything made sense. You said I could have caught on to him sooner or later-- but can you think of any other circumstance where he would have been trapped so cleanly without escape?”

Yeong scowled and sighed. Tae-eul said, “I think that’s the longest he explained something without a math reference, don’t you?”

Yeong sighed again, but this one sounded amused, and the look he gave Tae-eul was full of exasperation. Something Gon was familiar with because it had been directed at him for dec--

Gon snapped his head to Tae-eul. “You heard me?”

Tae-eul grinned and tapped her right ear. “Loud and clear. Ever since Yeong came in and woke me up.”

“I didn’t wake you up. You were already awake.”

“What about your left ear?”

“Still fuzzy. I think because it got the brunt from all the airbags and the… the crash.”

“It will come back. I’m glad you can hear again.”

“Me, too. Give me your phone.”

Gon smiled, moving eagerly toward her, and Yeong did the same, toward the door. “I’ll see myself out. I don’t like being in the room when you two start smiling like that.”

Gon clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry too much. Live for today.”

Yeong just gave him a side-eye. “Tell yourself that, too.”

Gon nodded. “I do. Everyday.”

------------------------------------------------------------

Tae-eul watched the two best friends exchange words--too soft for her to hear-- before Yeong made it out the door. When she was out of here, she was going to send Yeong and Seung-ah to Jeju or Pyeongchang so he could decompress.

Maybe they could all go as a treat to the entire guard while Jangmi and In-yeong were recovering.

Gon gave her his phone, kissed her, and then retreated to the en suite. She heard him at the sink, brushing his teeth, the clink of the water glass against the counter, and then the gentle thump and soft buzz of his luggage as he opened zips and probably got his pajamas.

There was the faint noise of the shower door sliding on its track, once, twice, and then the muffled cascade of the shower running.

She listened to every little noise. She thought she even heard the soft hum of his electric razor. Even the soft slap of his hands as he applied aftershave. It made her smile.

And then she heard the shift of the sound of his footsteps from tile to carpet, and when she opened her eyes, he was watching her from the side of the bed.

“I thought you’d have it in full volume but I came out to absolute quiet.”

Tae-eul snorted. “You don’t know absolute quiet. And I was waiting for you.”

He smiled and helped her move on the semi-double bed to make space for him. It might be a VIP room but the bed still couldn’t be too big to hinder patient treatment. She made sure the space was big enough for Gon to lie on his back rather than on his side all night.

He laid down on his side, however, with his arm over her waist and under her sling, kissing her temple and her cheek.

She squeezed his arm with her left and then she tapped play on their favorite audio file.

Tae-eul closed her eyes and listened to it. Then she remembered Gon dancing to this and giggled. She turned the volume loud and then softer, and the little bean’s heartbeat remained steady and strong.

This was what she’d wanted to hear all day, what she’d known she would hear soon when she’d heard the soft click of the door after Yeong had entered and it latched closed.

So when Yeong had seen she was awake and started talking about his fears, she had been calm and peaceful, with her faith a solid presence in her mind and heart, all because she had known she was about to hear this heartbeat again.

She felt Gon’s thumb swipe at her cheek. “Do you hear any difference?”

She didn’t open her eyes but she tilted her head a little. Gon’s voice was another thing. “Hmm?”

“This is from today.”

“What?”

“This is the little bean at fifteen weeks, not at twelve weeks.”

Tae-eul smiled and laughed a little. “Really? I don’t hear any difference, do you?”

“No. It’s like nothing happened.”

Tae-eul chuckled. “Like nothing happened.”

___________________________________________

Question/reader reaction to A dark day for Corea: WHY DID I DO THIS?! WHYYY!

Answer: You know that sweet pregnancy trope where they listen to the baby's heartbeat? I wanted it in a flashback in a currently bleak scene.

And this is what came to me. I did my research and I kept finding things to support what I wanted to do, like the new Mercedes Benz S-class 2021 (to be released in September), the loss of hearing from airbags, and so many other bits. I loved it.

I did drop Corea News ahead so I’d be committed to seeing this through.

I almost paid for subscription to a medical procedures journal, but I did find specific answers for free. The key is to ask specific questions lol.

If I got anything wrong, forgive me. I could have asked medical people around me, but I’m shy and writing is solitary.

FACT: Rhesus negative blood is RARE in Asia. There was a sad news item in Korea where a man died because he needed platelets and couldn’t find enough donors. He had B-negative blood.

All right, let me know what you think. Please drop a line, thank you! :)

#CoreaNews #CoreaFiction #the king and queen #the king: eternal monarch #TKEM fan fiction #CoreaStories

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inawickedlittletown · 3 years

Text

Is It Too Much To Ask For Something Good (4/4)

Pairing: Dean Winchester/Castiel

Summary: Maybe the problem was knowing that if he talked about it and that if he said it outloud with words that could be heard, it wasn’t only his anymore. Or that they had saved the world but nothing was alright. Not anymore. Not ever.

In the aftermath of defeating Chuck and bringing everyone back, there was still one thing that wasn’t set to rights. Castiel was still in The Empty. And Dean would never leave him there, even if it meant allowing Jack to change him.

Words: 2,331

Read on Ao3

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

He could still taste. It just wasn’t the same as it was before. For one thing, hunger wasn’t a thing so eating something didn’t quench any real desire. It wasn’t satisfactory like it had once been. Saltier and sweeter things had a better taste but Dean could also now name every single ingredient that had gone into something and sometimes he didn’t taste the whole component but each separate flavor. And then there was the molecule thing that Cas had been going on about because that was a thing and it wasn’t pleasant.

Sam thought it was hilarious and Dean thought he saw Eileen smiling too.

They spent the morning right into the afternoon together. Cas was never far and if they weren’t touching in some way, they were within reach of each other. Dean’s wings seemed to lean towards Cas, wrapping behind Cas or just pointing at him but always aware of where Cas was. Cas never seemed to stop himself from glancing at them or touching them.

A call to Sam’s cell interrupted their afternoon.

“It’s Claire,” Sam said and looked at them with wide eyes.

Dean remembered the day when they had driven to meet up with Jody and the girls. How Dean had left it to Sam to break it to Claire that Cas was gone. She had taken off as soon as the words had been said, only to return later and point at Dean and demand that he talk to her.

“Sam said you were the last one that saw him,” Claire had said. “What happened?”

Dean told her what he could. He held her when she cried and tried not to also break down into tears. Since then, Claire didn’t bring Cas up. She called when she needed help whether that be because what she was hunting and it was too much for her or because she needed them to look something up for her at the bunker. Dean had only seen her once since and it hadn’t been for long.

“We’ll meet you there,” Sam said. “Wait for us.”

“I figured that wasn’t something she should hear over the phone,�� Sam said.

Claire wasn’t far. Dean was aware that he could have made it to her almost instantaneously, but driving his Baby was what he did, so he climbed into his car with Cas at his side. Sam and Eileen making the choice to drive separately. Dean was thankful for it. Dean had miracled Cas’ clothes clean after Cas asked with a bashful smile before they got into the Impala. Being able to do something like that for Cas had sent a warm jolt through him.

A couple of hours later they arrived at Claire’s hotel.

She would deny it later, Dean was sure, but her eyes teared up when she saw Cas right before she launched at him and pummeled his chest twice before Dean grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away.

“Cool it with the punches, will ya, blondie?”

“You told me he was gone,” Claire said accusingly at Dean. Her eyes flickered towards Sam too, but they settled on Dean.

“He was,” Dean said.

For some reason they didn’t tell Claire about Dean being an angel, but she did have a long conversation with Cas and afterwards when she hugged Dean afterwards, Claire muttered how happy she was that they were together.

It turned out that Claire didn’t need as much help as she thought, so because Claire demanded that Cas hang back, Dean stayed with him. Dean felt a little weird doing so when he had all the angel mojo at his disposal, but Cas pointed out that Dean didn’t want Claire to know about it anyway. Either way, they were a call away and Dean could fly them in if there was any real danger. In the end, he and Cas weren’t needed and it made Dean think.

It made him think about the life that he and Sam had led for so long. The constant moving and chasing down leads for possible supernatural threats. How never settling down had hurt any chance of a normal life. Even the Men of Letters bunker was so far away from normal that it couldn’t fully function as a home.

“What are you thinking?” Cas asked on the drive back.

Dean was considering the alternative. If he went back to being a human and he left the life. Perhaps not fully, but he might take it slower and be a resource more than someone out there putting his life on the line and doing the work. He could man those agency phones like Bobby had done. There were so many hunters out there. Younger men and women that could take on the mantle. Dean had no idea how Sam felt about it, but Dean could admit that he was tired. Of course, he’d tried the normal life once with Lisa and Ben and it had failed spectacularly. But it had worked in some ways and Dean had cared about Lisa and Ben both. It just hadn’t been enough for him.

“I’m just wondering if I’m really needed anymore as a hunter,” Dean said. “And if I could actually do it and walk away. Retire.”

“The world owes a lot to you, Dean,” Cas said and he reached over to grab Dean’s hand. “No one would blame you for walking away. Or for taking a step back and not chasing every hunt or hint at a problem.”

“I think we’ll have to talk to Jack,” Dean said. “We’ll have to go to him. But Cas, this affects you too. What do you want?”

“I want you,” Cas said without hesitation.

“I want you too,” Dean said and he couldn’t help but break out into a grin.

They left Sam and Eileen a note at the bunker and then Cas explained to Dean how to fly into heaven. And then Dean wrapped his arms around his angel and Dean was flying with Cas in his arms. They arrived in a clean, very white and empty room. At least, it seemed empty at first until Jack appeared, running towards them until he could throw himself at Cas who only just managed to keep his balance.

“You did it,” Jack said to Dean with an excited smile.

Jack showed them around and from the way that Cas reacted, Dean could tell that things were different. Things in heaven had changed. Dean hung back and watched it all. The man — angel — he loved and his son who was God and technically just a few years old. And maybe Cas belonged at Jack’s side in heaven helping with all the changes and making sure that Jack was making the right decisions.

“I don’t want it to be like it was,” Jack told them. “Everyone being apart. I want it to be open...like it’s supposed to be. A place to rest. To be happy.”

They met some of the angels and they gave Dean odd glances which Dean figured had to do with him technically being one of them now. Cas received shocked looks and more than one glare. Jack took them to The Garden. Dean had been there once before and the whole experience still felt more like a dream than anything. It didn’t look the same as it had back then. Now it was wild and huge. It just kept going and going and he imagined that it contained any and all plants. It was beautiful. He saw Cas stop at a flower he couldn’t identify, leaning in to give it a sniff and then he kept leaning there and Dean spotted a few bees that had caught his attention.

“So, you don’t want to be an angel,” Jack said.

Dean wasn’t too startled by him.

“I said yes because it was the only way to save him,” Dean said. “And not gonna lie, Jack, I feel great. And these wings are something else, but it isn’t me. Being human is more. Can you change me back?”

Jack nodded. “I can,” he said. “I wasn’t sure that you would want to give up all that power. But I know your soul and I know who you are, so it isn’t surprising.”

It was the right choice. He felt it in his bones. Looking at Cas, who had moved on to looking at other flowers and plants, it was easy to imagine him remaining in heaven and being in The Garden.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Jack said. “He will not leave you. You’ve made your choice Dean, but you have to know that he made his too. His grace is almost gone. He’s been falling slowly for so long and it’s all because of you.”

Cas returned to Dean’s side after a moment, smiling. “Figure everything out?” he asked.

Dean hadn’t realized that Cas had been giving him and Jack the space to talk.

“I want to go back to being human,” Dean said.

“Good,” Cas said and he linked their arms together. “And one day, when we come back up here, it won’t be like today.”

Dean couldn’t help but gasp. “Are you—”

Cas just nodded.

Dean flew them back to the bunker after Jack filled them in on all the rest of his plans and then told Dean that he didn’t need his help to become human again. It would happen on it’s own in a few days — maybe a full week or two — so long as it was what Dean really wanted.

It happened slowly, and Dean could tell he was changing almost entirely because of how food tasted and how he started to want food and sleep. His wings were one of the last things to go and having their weight removed from his back was weirdly freeing. Cas seemed more affected by them disappearing. Sometimes, Dean caught him reaching behind Dean as if to touch them only to remember a moment later that they weren’t there.

“Is that a thing for you?” Dean asked him one night.

Sam and Eileen had left the bunker on a hunt that Dean had declined to go on. The guilt that he’d expected to feel at that hadn’t hit and Cas’ grip on his shoulder had eased any bit of worry that had existed for him.

“What?” Cas asked. He was watching Dean make dinner from the table, but he got up to stand next to Dean.

Dean couldn’t believe that at one point in his life he had been annoyed by how close Cas got to him. Now, he wanted Cas as close as possible. Always within his reach.

“The wings,” Dean said. “You keep looking behind me or reaching for them.”

“They were beautiful. A reflection of you,” Cas said. “And they’re not fully gone yet. I can still feel them and see them sometimes. I give it a couple more days.”

“Are you upset that I didn’t want to stay an angel?” Dean asked.

One thing that remained from his time as an angel was some of what he already knew. One of those things was that Cas was his and he was Cas’ and their bond — their profound bond — it meant that there was nothing that could stop them from loving each other.

“No. You are human, Dean. The best human. If they were all like you, this world would be very different. But my wings are gone and one day I won’t even have what is left. I’m appreciating them until they are gone. That’s all.”

Dean kissed him. It was a quick kiss, a taste for what they might get to do later. Cas leaned into his space, he pressed kisses away from Dean’s lips, up his jaw to his ear and Dean wrapped an arm around Cas, bringing him close right against his side and breathing him. Sometimes, he was still surprised that he had him there at all.

“Sam texted earlier,” Cas said.

“Yeah?”

“They took care of the ghost. But, they wanted to let us know there’s a pie fest tomorrow.”

Dean dropped the spatula in his hand. “Pie fest,” he repeated. “And you’re only just now mentioning this? I think we have the location of our next date, Cas.”

Cas laughed. “I already told Sam we’d meet him and Eileen there.”

“Hell yeah, we will,” Dean said.

They shared another quick kiss. Dean had never expected to experience a relationship the way that it was with Cas. The ease that came with it that told Dean he was exactly where he should be. They had gone on a few dates since Cas’ return. Out to eat, or to the movies, bowling, and once — while Dean could still fly them places — Dean had taken Cas out to the beach. And those things were fun and doing them with Cas was even better, especially when he got to introduce Cas to something new.

And then there was the other aspects. The sex. Dean wasn’t shy about how much sex he’d had over the years and although it had happened very few times, sometimes it hadn’t been all women. With Cas, just like everything else, it was different. It meant more and it was satisfying because it brought them closer emotionally and physically. It was the most perfect thing.

Pie fest was everything that Dean had expected it to be and being able to fully taste all of the pies made it even better. Having Cas next to him and a tray full of plates of every pie that there had been and with Sam and Eileen signing at each other, Dean didn’t think he would ever feel happier. It was exactly how things should be.

When Cas touched his shoulder where his mark used to be, Dean reached for Cas’ wrist where his mark had been too and they smiled at each other. Things were good.

#supernatural #destiel #destiel fic #deancas #deancas fic #supernatural fic #fix it fic

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scattered--pages · 4 years

Note

For the lukanette lyric prompt." Stop there and let me correct it. I wanna live a life from a new perspective" because I love panic! at the disco and I'll make everyone else love them too. Also this is a cute lyric I love 💘

Thank you so much for this one and I’m sorry this took ages! Work and uni were hectic as hell suddenly and then I got sick so this took forever, but it’s finally here! ♡ I mainly used the way I understood the song and kind of a sudden fierce need to change the usual and the casual in a relationship with someone to something finally as serious and stable as they’re craving it to be, mixed with how a person just wants to relax and throw all their cares and everything everyone else might be thinking about them away and just have fun with the person they trust and love the most , so I hope it worked out how you expected it to in the end? ♡ It’s filled with fluff and Lukanette being happy and in love and in that recently-finally-officially-started-dating phase so I’m also hoping you’ll like it anyway, let me know how you feel about it ♡

Send me a lyrical prompt for a Lukanette fic ! ♡

______________________________________________________

I wanna live a life from a new perspective

Words: 4647 pfff this used to be a ‘drabble or a ficlet’ prompt request whoops

Rating: Teen +

AO3 link: here ♡

______________________________________________________

Marinette giggled slightly, leaned against Luka’s coat, her arms holding onto him firmly as the chilly winter air whipped against her face in the way that was just strong enough to be refreshing and invigorating in this sunny winter’s morning.

“Hm?”, Marinette more felt rather than heard Luka through the vibration against his back as it was unfortunately incredibly difficult to talk to your motorcycle driver both due to the wind, helmets and the fact that it’s not very good to turn your head to talk to someone while you’re rushing down the road 100 km/h. When he’s alone, Luka, even though he’s very careful about laws and regulations, did like to try and practice a stunt or two ever since he was able to pass his A1 driver’s license for a moto légère and finally legally drive a motorcycle he’s been saving for since ages now, and even though she knew he was too careful of a person to do anything stupid, Marinette still disapproved of him doing any out-of-the-ordinary stunts whatsoever on a vehicle realistically far more dangerous than a car and she was very grateful that, until he’s eighteen, he isn’t eligible to drive a bike faster stronger than this one and faster than 110 km/h.

However when she was riding with him, she actually didn’t have to worry at all. Luka was a picture perfect example of caution and precision in his driving, making it very clear that, with her there, he wasn’t risking anything even remotely bad happening, adamant on not allowing anything from her not actually getting hurt but just feeling a slight discomfort because of sudden turns or bumps, to far, far more horrible options he didn’t even want to think about. Turning his head, even ever so slightly so she could hear him through their helmets, was one of those things he would not do, which was fine on smaller routes, but excruciating today, of all days. Because they’ve been driving for almost forty minutes now and the endpoint was a surprise he was planning for their two months dating anniversary. And Marinette was a responsible, calm, understanding young woman.

Patient and immune to insanity-inducing curiosity, however - she was not.

“I gave up on trying to get clues out of you about”, she shouted through the glass of her helmet loud enough so he could hear the teasing tone in her voice before it grew a bit more warm and sensitive, “I was thinking of something different now… Almost a year and a half ago, I was riding behind you on a much slower bike and you had just told me that you were almost finished with your song for me…”, Luka couldn’t turn around but she could almost swear that he was smiling right now and, for the lack of being able to do anything else, he very gently nudged his helmet against hers in a way that made her chuckle. “You know if we were already there, you could have even kissed me right now, but instead, you must suffer, I must suffer in my ignorance of any details about today, it’s all rather tragic…”, the teasing tone was back and she could feel him sigh, followed by what she recognized was a chuckle, sending warm shivers down her spine and brightening her smile even more. Content, with her curiosity eased down for now, she leaned against him even tighter and gazed at the gorgeous French fields stretching on both sides of them, sprinkled with frost, blurring next to them as they passed them by.

Soon, they came near a more inhabited area, embraced with a perfect mixture of urban and rural charm and, upon reaching a specific cottage at the edge of what seemed to have been a wooded area, they stopped.

“We’re here?! We’re finally here?!”, the raven haired girl practically shouted as he turned the engine off, one foot on the ground, arms clapping excitedly, but her helmet still on her head.

Carefully stepping off of the motorcycle, Luka laughed softly, took his own helmet off in one fluid motion, placed it to rest against the steering wheel before helping his girlfriend take hers off and placing a kiss atop her forehead.

“Yes and no.”

The sound she produced, frowning deeper and deeper, sounded almost like a quiet growl.

He laughed again, putting away their helmets and pulling his bike a bit further aside to park it next to the cottage’s entrance. “You waited for almost an hour, now you can’t wait for fifteen more minutes?”

When he reached her, she immediately jumped into a hug, but the eyes looking up at him from the ruffles of his scarf were those of the most adorable rage he has ever seen in his life. “I have had my waiting, Couffaine, give me hints or risk dire consequences!”, she murmured against the woolen material and he cupped her face, bringing it up closer to his as he leaned down to kiss her.

“Soon, my small bundle of anger and rage, soon.”

She moved away and swung her glove at him at that with feigned anger and quickly hopped back to give him one more peck as they both laughed.

“This place here,” he nodded towards the cottage, “Is where a really good friend of my mom’s lives. He works here. And therefore we have special privileges and access that hardly anyone else has, just for us, just for today”, he took her hand and lead the way into the wooded area.

She chuckled. “So… Driving five kilometers per hour faster on the road was out of the question, but trespassing into a strange wooded area outside of Paris is perfectly fine?”

“Hey, it’s not trespassing if it’s…”, he looked aside, puzzled, “Authority approved type of trespassing?”

Marinette went from holding his hand to hooking her arm around it and hugging herself against his side, “You know, everyone keeps thinking you’re this bad boy with a guitar, or just a heartthrob badass rocker on the rise, but in fact, you’re just a teddy bear.”

He laughed pressed his lips against the top of her head, “Yeah, but I’m your teddy bear.”

She smiled, looking up at him with loving eyes, “Yes you are.” And she wouldn’t change it for the world. Her perfect mix of prince charming and a dashing rogue, of sunshine and moonlight, the perfect combination of absolute kindness and softness with a perfectly fitting edge of just enough of exhilaration and wildness. And to think that, a year and a half, after first hearing the first version of ‘her song’, in front of her parents’ bakery, she was still partially capable on letting him slip away for Adrien. Now she wouldn’t let him slip away even if the entire universe offered itself up to her.

“But wait, technically… We are trespassing?”

“Today, you are not to worry about secondary things like that.”

“Luka!”, she nudged his ribs with a genuinely concerned expression now that she realized he really wasn’t joking.

He chuckled again, “It’s gonna be fine… We’re not going to get into trouble and it’s worth it, trust me!”

“Hmm…”, Marinette mused, excited, but quite puzzled and just a bit nervous. In a way, it was a good feeling, to break away from doing everything by the line for a change, and she knew she was not only safe with Luka, but also that he, as mentioned, never would do anything dangerous or fully illegal with her, not to mention that she fully and unconditionally trusted him. So she decided to be brave.

And she didn’t have to stay in her mildly perturbed state for too long as, very soon, they reached the end of the small wooded area.

Marinette clutched at his hand tightly, standing there fully astound.

“Welcome to…”

“Versailles…”

Luka chuckled slightly, “With it’s premises entered by an ever so slightly backdoor way.”

She turned to him, still in a state of absolutely blissful, overjoyed shock, “How did you know that I…”

At her sudden lack of words, he smiled and pulled her into a gentle hug. “Juleka told me you’ve never been here yet”, he shrugged pulling away gently, “And to have grown up in Paris and never been to Versailles is a crime that I had to rectify”, he joked, and she felt an urge of happiness to sudden, she could have cried. Hopping in one place twice, she clapped her hands and turned to the gorgeous, stunning vast fields of flawless shrubbery, grass and blue winter skies, stretching in front of them all the way to the magnificent palace at the garden’s end.

“Screw trespassing…!”, a sudden bout of courage grabbed onto her in her euphoria, “We’re getting to that castle!”

Her hand clasped tightly onto his and they shared a grinning, determined look of agreement, as though they somehow read other’s minds in that very moment, before they began sprinting through the perfect trails amidst the trees, bushes and winding pathways, all preserved perfectly under a thin layer of eyes, making the whole place seem even more like a location springing to life right out of a fairytale.

Peering behind one of the trees, Marinette stuck her tongue out playfully and smirked at Luka, laughing running towards her, “Catch me if you can, Couffaine!”

With a chuckle, he smirked back in a fiendish way that was just charming enough to make Marinette feel an array of fireworks of tingles all over through her body. “Challenge accepted, Dupain-Cheng”, he replied completely confident, causing her to giggle out a tiny squeal of faux panic before she set of to find cover behind the next rich green topiary, luscious even in a winter as cold as this one, as was, somehow, the entire garden.

Reaching the stunning Colonnade grove, Marinette stopped next to one of the beautiful columns, catching her breath quietly as she glided her palm across the smooth marble, admiring the texture of the perfect icy cold surface. Each column the a stunning fluid shade of red or blue, one following the other in a perfect circle with the Abduction of Proserpina by Pluto statue placed right in the middle - a perfectly white vision in marble. She felt like she was in a fairytale. How on Earth did she never come here before…

Suddenly, she felt a hand graze her other palm and in a second, in unique kind of instinct where her hand recognized the other one before her mind did, she instantly intertwined their fingers, only to be spun around and swiftly wrapped into a familiar warm embrace.

"Got you now, my princess", he whispered before placing a soft peck against her lips, the sparks within her vivid once more, spreading from her heart to every corner of her body, causing an array of sensations from the soothingly knotted yearning at the pit of her stomach, to the utmost tender tingles she felt all the way to the tips of her fingers, like pure happiness sparkling through her, so strong and genuine that it couldn’t be contained.

She giggled and locked her lips with him before pulling away only so they could catch their breaths, rosy-cheeked and chuckling blissfully, their foreheads and noses still pressed together.

“Come on my brave trespassing knight”, she stepped away, taking his hand with a grin, “Show me more of your kingdom before the royal guards catch us and give your mom and my parents a heart-attack when they call to tell them their kids have been arrested in a castle outside of Paris”

“I honourably promise that I shall let no guard come anywhere near you, my princess! I swear by my life that I will protect you and our parents’ health for I have fallen for you far too much to jeopardize either of those two”, he grinned and made a surprisingly authentic and gallant knightly bow before her, causing her to break into a fit of blushing giggles again for a moment.

"I bet you say that to all the girls you take on romantic, secret walks around the Versailles gardens in winter", she pouted teasingly.

"No", he shook his head with a smile, “I only say it in hopes of making this one girl in front of me as absolutely and entirely smitten with me as I am with hers.”

"And is it working?“, she interlocked their fingers.

"You tell me, my fair maiden.”

Her shoulders shrugged as they walked, a jokingly disappointed look on her face, “I don’t know… I mean a true princess is never fully charmed until she’s had her first romantic waltz with her dashing suitor.”

Still grinning, he quirked an eyebrow, “What happened to the incredibly-scared-of-dancing-especially-if-it’s-a-real-ballroom-dance-Marinette?”

“You happened, you goof!”, she punched him jokingly and he laughed. “And, that Marinette has never been in the middle of the most beautiful winter outdoor ballroom in the vicinity of one of France’s most stunning castles”, her hand let go of his only to tip-toe a few steps away, spreading her arms and spinning around as she took in the gorgeous view of the Roccocco Grove. The massive, gorgeous stones adorned with decorations and fountains all around them and, even though the fountains didn’t work at the moment, even though the breath-taking arena-like structure lacked the marble flooring, colors, vast audiences and lights that it featured when it was originally built centuries ago, the whole vision of the entire outdoor ballroom structure, covered by thin translucent snow, sparkling in the light winter sun as if it was thousands of little diamonds spilled and strewn across the cold stone, was as if it somehow appeared all around them straight out of a dream. A dream from which Marinette never wanted to wake up.

Regarding the waltz and dancing in general, partially, she was only joking and, partially, she still was a bit terrified to embarrass herself in front of him and to therefore singlehandedly somehow ruin a moment like these, so she wasn’t truly expecting it when he closed the distance between them again, took another graceful small bow that he probably thought was silly but to her it was so charmingly dashing and perfect that, with his smile and the absolute magic radiating from this particular garden grove, it honestly caused her to instantly feel irrevocably and entirely smitten and taken aback by the now increasing levels of dream-likeness of this entire situation.

“Well than…”, he offered her his hand, “May I be so bold as to ask you for a dance, princess?”

And, also somehow without expecting her own courage, but also fully well knowing that there was no way she was capable of uttering anything else right now, she took his hand and with a shy, adoring smile replied, “You may.”

She always forgot how good of a dancer Luka actually was. Coming from a musical family and loving music so much, one would assume that, other than having a huge passion for guitar and, so far secretly, singing, he would also enjoy dancing in more casual, modern music-related situations. So she was incredibly surprised to have learned that he actually could, and very well at that, waltz! Of course, she knew the basic steps, for which she was insanely grateful currently because it was the only thing allowing her to be able to follow his lead, but Luka was gathering more and more points for secretly being a prince behind that façade of just a calm, introverted, punk-rock boy. In fact, it reminded her of that day more than a year ago at the ice rink where she was too busy and blind chasing after Adrien to fully appreciate the down-right movie-like way he spun her around, lifted her and held her in his arms on that rink before Philippe was akumatized.

This time, on the other hand, she was entirely without any other care, focus, or distraction in her mind, now for her the only thing that existed was him and how light and free and so incredibly loved and beautiful she felt in his hands. The ballroom around them might as well have had actual candles, diamonds, fountains and decorations behind them, there might as well have been real music behind them and even if she stumbled in her steps a few times, even if she faltered a bit occasionally, he was there to help her, to catch her, and she never stopped being amazed at how easy it was to just laugh in each other’s arms, ignore life for a moment and just… be, when she was with him.

“Hold on to my shoulders with both of your hands now”, he said suddenly, smiling, and she obeyed, although a tad confused, before she found herself lifted up by her waist slightly mid-spin and swiftly brought back down into his embrace, like they were in scene from Beauty and the Beast.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug as she laughed in that breathless, entirely interwoven with joy way in which only people in love can laugh when they’re completely overcome with how they feel when they’re with the person the care most for.

“If this isn’t reality, never wake me up, please…”, she kept chuckling, “How are you even real, Luka, how did I ever even deserve someone like you?”

She giggled a bit more, but quickly turned dead silent and pulled away as she felt Luka’s smile against her neck fade away slowly, his hands around her losing the strength of their grip. The sudden cold change of attitude was so strong it Marinette snap out of their dreamlike state within a second, replacing it with a string of panic and worry.

"Luka?”, her tone was quiet but nervous, “What’s wrong?”

"Marinette… I need to tell you something… I need you to know, really know something…“

He stepped back a bit, carefully plucking her hands from his neck and placing one of them in both of his own.

The dark haired girl turned an alarming shade of pale that matched the lithe frost covering the surfaces around the grove. "What… is it?”, her voice was cautious and silent, but upsetting her was the last thing Luka wanted to do right now, so he tried to muster up a small sad smile, gently squeezing her hands in his own.

„You’ve been kind of stressed lately and it’s only been so briefly since we’ve been… an actual couple…”, a pause and a shy smile graced his features that Marinette could only describe as breathtakingly adorable, but after that, heartbreakingly fast, his smile faded. Slowly, she studied his eyes with hers, puzzled and worried, as he ran the fingers of his free hand down his scalp through his teal locks before stopping to rub at his neck with a brief sigh, a habit of nervousness and a sign of hesitation, she knew how to recognize these small signs when they painted themselves across his features when he tried his best to hide them and when everyone else thought they were just random quirks. But she knew. “And suddenly“, he continued, torn, silent, suddenly avoiding her gaze, „I feel like I haven’t been as good anymore at keeping you happy or relaxed, and I think it’s because I know everyone’s still saying that…”, his cheeks reddened, but his face somehow grew even more somber. He sighed once more, “Literally, someone from our group said to me a few days ago that they all know I’m just that boy who’s going to be someone to ‘keep you busy’ while you’re getting over Adrien, someone to check all your ‘firsts’ with, until you gather some confidence from this before you finally get together with Adrien for the long term…”

“Luka… Who said that, was Chlo-…”, Marinette tried to stop him, reaching out to place a hand against his cheek, but he caught it and cradled it again in his own palms instead, this time both of his hands held hers in a way in which a person craddles a final drop of water that’s helping them cling to their very life amidst a desert. Lovingly, tenderly, and almost desperately in the way they shook ever so slightly.

“I’m sorry, please, I-I just need to say this, cause if I don’t, it’ll take me getting akumatized again and fearing that I’ve hurt you or lost you to say anything, and than I’ll stay silent again for six months until I muster up the courage to try to again attempt saying something that’s been hurting me bit by bit on the inside, until it’s almost too late to say anything, like the last time, cause…”, he gave her that heartbreaking small but growingly sad smile again, “I could write and play a thousand of songs, melodies and tunes to show you how I’m feeling, but sometimes, as much as I’m… very clearly horrible with words, sometimes they need to be said and something nothing else is enough when things like this bubble up unspoken… I’ve seen it with my parents, with other people, and I swear to always be completely honest with you, even with things that are scaring me.”

Marinette had to fight an urge to touch his cheeks and somehow smooth the sudden immensely strong fear and lack of his typical mellow optimism off of his face, but she suppressed it, for now, and simply carefully nodded, urging him to continue.

“The worst is, the person that said this… They, I’m pretty sure, didn’t mean it as a necesarrily bad thing, they just said it kind of as a casual humorous observation cause they, somehow, thought I was okay with it, that I was the kind of chill, fairweather guy that am in on that… Of course, people like Juleka knows I’m not, maybe Rose and Ivan know, people really close to me that spend almost every day with me…but the truth is…”, he frowned for a moment, shaking his head before his eyes met hers again with an earnestness so fierce and pure she could swear she could feel it, “I’m not. I’m not okay with it.”

His fingers caressed her knuckled with the kind of gentleness she’s never felt before. It didn’t matter it was icy cold outside, it made her very core light up with a summer-like warmth and she had to once again fight the urge to grab his face, scream if needed that 'I know you’re not like that, I know!’, just to extinguish this ridiculous notion that she shares this opinion of him with this insanely cruel person, but before she got the chance to, he hesitantly parted his lips to speak again. “I know I’ve told you this before, but to me, this is more than just having another crush or a girlfriend to date for a few weeks or months cause we’re teenagers, and you’re still getting over Adrien, and I’m the easy-going yet rebellious punk rocker who’s here as your rebound and that’s how relationships go in our age …”, he shyly rolled his eyes, angry at the very fact that things like this are expected from people their age because eighteen and sixteen isn’t old enough to know love, when he knew the love he felt well enough to propose to this girl right here and now and not regret it until they’re old and grey and shrivelled up, and he saw the kind of honest, strong love in other people their age all around them, in Alya and Nino and Rose and Juleka and Ivan and Mylene and shattered his heart that he finally found a girl that made him feel like he was constantly dreaming, even when loving her made him hurt, even when being by her side meant that he wasn’t the one she would prefer there, even back when standing by her made him feel both more happy and broken than he’s been in a long time, perhaps ever, he knew how terrifyingly, beautifully, most assuredly different and strong this was. To the point Juleka even mocked and teased him for a while until she realized that this was actually real and very much happening to her introverted, strong but bad with emotions big brother that hardly ever even having had a proper crush or two before.

“What I mean is… What I want to make sure you know about and what I say to anyone thinking or saying stuff like that, because I know more of them have thought something like that as well but were perhaps too polite to voice it and what I mean to say to those people and that outlook on love and on us is…”, he held her hands just a bit tighter and took a deep breath, his eyes searching hers with an unmistakable sense of fear for her reaction, but his words were determined, “…to hell with that, and to hell with what we have being anything close to just that. You’re the first thing in my life that anchored me this strongly or made me feel this way this hard and now that you’re finally with me and are perhaps feeling at least an inkling of what I am, after everything, I am not letting this be a typical cliché teenage passing thing, no matter who thinks that it is and it’s so, so important for me that you know that too…”

His expression, locked with hers, soon grew fully terrified when she didn’t immediately respond, but in reality, Marinette was only out of words for an entirely different set of reasons than the darkest case scenario that he was imagining.

She now firmly placed her second palm onto his hands and squeezed them, smiling and shaking her head in disbelief of what this amazing, mature, selfless boy was somehow made to believe she thought of him. “Luka, I never thought you were like that in the first place and you have nothing to prove to me… The fact is, you are the most kindhearted, empathetic, caring boy I know and I definitely agree with saying ‘to hell’ with what anyone thinks of us…”. She glanced aside with a small rueful sigh, “I know that after more than a year of my very obvious and embarrassing pining for Adrien… it may seem like I need more convincing than necessary but, my truth and my opinion is… You’re not Adrien… And it makes me so happy that you’re not and that’s why I love you. Because just meeting you slowly made me finally realize that, all this time, I needed and felt best and truly loved not Adrien, but you, you silly thing! All of what you just said,“ she chuckled happily, „I’ve known it already. And I am very happy to be here to stay for as long as you’ll have me…“, giggling quietly, she hunched her head down a bit, flush rosyness coloring her cheeks swiftly though, through a set of thick black eyelashes.

And just like that, his lips pulled into that gorgeous, bright grin that accentuated his cheekbones in a way she loved so much and lit up his eyes so that their teal to aquamarine shades almost seemed to have all grown a hue brighter.

„For as long as I’ll have you?“

Suddenly, his arms were wrapped around her as he spun her around, causing her to instantly squee and laugh loudly as she held herself tightly against his chest.

When he put her down again, he brushed a stray lock of dark hair from her face and pressed his lips to her forehead, then against her lips. “How does forever sound?“

#lukanette #lukanette fic #marinette x luka #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #my fic #miraculous ladybug #ml #words #long post

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amarauder · 5 years

Text

The Chinese Calendar ♆ Percy Jackson x Reader

002. the chinese calendar

PAIRING; Percy Jackson x Reader

REQUEST; You hate him because you felt forgotten; you didn’t get the credit you deserved after helping him save the world. He knows that you hate him, but doesn’t know why, so he keeps bugging you to find out. You tell him and he apologizes, and you start talking, and somehow start liking/loving each other

DATE; March 20th, 2019

GODLY PARENT; Nemesis

TIME; After the Blood of Olympus

WORD COUNT; 9821

WARNING; Betrayal, angst, bad words,

A/N; I am so so sorry this took so freaking long. I just haven’t had the motiviation to write for Percy in a while. But I hope you like this piece of crap. I feel like I kept dragging it out because I didn’t know how to end it and believe me the ending is shit. But I swear to god if i look at this thing once more I am going to gauge my eyes out. so here it is. enjoy!

REQUESTED BY; KayzeeDamPotter_fan

TRAILER; in which a girl thought a boy forgot about her after he gains new popularity.

Step One: Let him believe you are friends again.

Drumming her fingers against the wooden table, Y/N waited. She shouldn’t have been too surprised at Rachel’s tardiness. The Sixteen-Year-Old couldn’t remember the last time her best friend had actually been on time.

Just as she was about to check her watch again, Rachel came in with a flurry of loud apologies and loose papers threatening to fall out of her arms. “It’s fine,” Y/N said waving the apology away, “I told you the time was fifteen minutes earlier than when I planned to arrive here. So, I wasn’t waiting too long.”

Rachel snorted, “You’re lucky I have even agreed to listen to this. You know if you are caught with your plans and they are in any way dangerous to Percy, I could be kicked out of camp for just knowing.”

“I’m not planning to kill him! Just mess with him a little, I won’t even be inflicting any pain on him.”

“Wow, that makes me feel so much better! Besides, I don’t even have a problem with him.” Rachel exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air being the usual over-dramatic person she is. She knew Rachel was lying, even it only was a minor white lie. No one could not hold a grudge towards a person after they rejected them.

Rolling her eyes and flashing Rachel a look, she grabbed her plans out and laid them in front of her. She didn’t have time for her dramatics but it was still fun to tell her off. “Oh, stop being dramatic.”

Rachel scoffed but she wasn’t even looking at Y/N anymore, instead, she was eyeing the title with interest. She was certainly proud of it, it was completely original. In bright red ink, the title bared the name of The Chinese Calendar. "I’m the one being dramatic! You are the one basically planning someone’s murder all because you didn’t get credit over something that happened almost a year ago!“

"Hey! I’m Nemesis’ daughter for a reason. It’s in my blood. I almost can’t help it, it’s just instincts. And in my defense, you would be pissed off also if you risked your life for the brat several times all for nothing. Rach, I found the Lightning Bolt, I sailed through the Sea of Monsters, I helped them get Annabeth back from the clutches of Atlas, I survived the Labyrinth, and I fought in the First Titan War. The only thing I didn’t get to participate in was when they fought Luke up in Olympus! And that wasn’t even my fault! Percy forced me to stay in the Hotel! He locked me in a spare room! Do you remember? It’s just,” Y/N sighed, sometimes she had doubts about what she had been planning. The girl knew her plan was a little extreme just because she didn’t receive the credit she deserved. But she was tired of being seen as the girl who couldn’t finish the entire task, the girl who chickened out last minute, the girl who couldn’t run with the boy from the Great Prophecy when she couldn’t didn’t even have a choice. “I’m tired of watching them being idolized by everyone else when they won’t even look my way anymore. Even though I did basically just as much.”

Rachel was silent for a moment. Her eyes were staring holes into the label of the huge wad of paper. Y/N almost thought she wasn’t going to reply until she finally looked up from the desk. From just the look in her eyes, Y/N could tell she agreed with her but something was still holding her back. “Percy still talks to you. Gods, Y/N, I’ve never seen him put so much effort into talking to someone as much as he does with you. You should see the look on his face every time you walk away or ignore him. He looks crushed Y/N. I think you should maybe just talk to him about it first. He probably didn’t know what he did. You know how Percy is, he won’t realize anything until you spell it out for him.”

Y/N closed her eyes tightly, it was hard to breathe with the ever tightening of feeling coming from her chest. The feeling of guilt.

She had a feeling this would happen, she almost didn’t ask Rachel to look over her plan because of the risk of her talking Y/N out of it. But she couldn’t let that happen, not now, not when she had already delved into her plan. “Anyway,” she said, deciding it was now or never. She had to go through with it and if Rachel didn’t agree then so be it. She didn’t need anyone, especially someone on Percy’s side. “Let’s go over it, shall we? Unless you don’t want to of course.”

Rachel looked a bit hesitant but eventually nodded. Her eyes held so much worry, it almost made Y/N nervous. But she didn’t know why Rachel was worried, it wasn’t like she was the one performing the plan.

Surprisingly enough, Rachel had some great ideas and had even offered advice on how to trick him into believing her. After getting Rachel’s approval of the plan, she had gone to one of her siblings to double check. She loved Rachel but the girl was too virtuous for her own good. She had a feeling that Rachel would willingly lie to get her plan to fail.

Thankfully, Monica had dutifully agreed with her entire plan and hadn’t even asked a question on who she was planning revenge on. She shouldn’t have been too surprised though. Monica wasn’t one to delve into someone’s business.

After the plan had been fool-proofed down to the very date she estimated Y/N would be finished with the last task, Y/N felt relieved. It was like she could breathe again. The worst part was over, now she could relax.

The girl sighed contently, her feet kicking a rock as the air around her got chilly. Summer was creeping up on the campers slower than she would have normally liked. But today, she was thankful for the sharp spikes of the freezing wind felt refreshing on her face. Her face felt unusually flushed, she had a feeling it was from the adrenaline from knowing that she would be starting her plan.

“Y/N!” she distantly heard a voice behind her call but not quite registering it. However, the next time she heard the call of her name she saw a girl that she recognized was frequently around Piper. Turning around fully, she stopped in her step and waited for the girl to catch up to her.

“Hey, Lacy. What’s up?”

“There’s a fight going on.” She closed her eyes momentarily, cursing on the inside. Nemesis’ Scales, why was there always a fight going on when she was busy?

“Why?”

A knowing look crossed her features as she rolled her eyes, “Patrick,” she paused at Y/N’s change of facial expressions, “Yes, your brother. Patrick tried to attack Clarisse, again.”

“He’s going to get himself killed by Clarisse, not even monsters! That boy drives me crazy.” Y/N sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Where are all the other Camp Counselors?”

“They’re trying to get everyone to leave but no one seems to remember that Patrick is fighting Clarisse and that she’s twice the size of him.”

Lacy took off in a run and Y/N followed her towards the Arena.

Everyone in the Nemesis Cabin knew revenge was a dish best served cold, the saying had originated from their very own Mother. But instead of following in his Mother’s footsteps, Patrick, the idiot, had decided that taking on Clarisse would be a good start to his plan in order to finally get his own retribution.

As the Head of the Nemesis Cabin, one of the regulations on keeping the position was breaking up unnecessary fights. With a sigh, Y/N headed over to the center of the crowd with confident and calculated steps, making sure to give plenty of space between herself and Clarisse. No one wanted to trespass Clarisse’s personal space when she was in a fight. That was just signing off their death contract.

The crowd seemed to part for Y/N, as if everyone thought Y/N was going to take over Patrick’s pathetic excuse for a fight. It seemed that was what Clarisse hoped for that too as she looked over at the girl while her boot slowly crushed Patrick’s chest.

“Well, well, well, if isn’t Senior L/N.” Clarisse mocked her bandana swinging in the air as she looked down on Y/N’s little brother, “Is your big sister coming to save you, baby Patrick?”

Y/n rolled her eyes and sighed, she didn’t have time for this. She was already late to her class and she knew Will wasn’t one to go easy on her. She supposed she deserved it though. Plus, there was also the fact that she needed to mentally prepare herself for tomorrow.

“Grow up, Clarisse,” Y/N snarked, “It’s about time for you to actually mature. By Nemesis, act your age.”

“Well hello to you too, Jesus.”

With a quirked eyebrow, she stared at the older girl quizzically questioning what was actually going on in her mind. “I’m sorry, what?”

Clarisse rolled her eyes and scrunched up her nose as if someone had just placed dung under it, “Now you’re wasting my time, L/N. I was just implying how goody-goody you are.” [ a/n; do you guys get it or no? haha, i thought it was creative but probably not… ]

Staring at her for a few seconds as if to question her sanity, Y/N sighed and placed her hands on her hips, “Just let my brother go. Do you really want Kitchen Duty, again?”

Surprisingly, Clarisse lessened her hold on Patrick just enough for him to swipe at the back of her knee. Clarisse was sent tumbling down and Patrick quickly pressed his blade to her throat, “Ha! How does it feel to get your ass kicked by a thirteen-year-old?”

“Patrick! No!” Y/N shouted, running towards him before getting held back an invisible force. She looked behind her to see the last person she wanted here behind her. Percy Jackson smiled at her reassuringly, and went to loosen his grip on her shirt when she started to thrash around. She couldn’t let this of all things ruin her plan. She had spent the entire school year on this, but how was she supposed to pretend when her brother was about to be crushed by Clarisse? Everyone knew how quickly Y/N would fall into the grips of anxiety when a loved one was hurt. Hell, Percy had witnessed it first hand.

The horrible memory must have triggered her anxiety as she only started to flail about more. Attempting to wrestle out of his grip, she growled as he gripped her shoulder with his other hand. “Wow, wow, wow, calm down, tiny nightmare.”

Rolling her eyes at the smirking boy in front of her, she hit him in the gut causing him to back away from her with a belch. “I told you not to call me that, Jackson.” She had a feeling that Step One was going to be a little harder than she had anticipated.

Clarisse was now turned towards her with her boot resting on top of Patrick’s chest again. She wondered how she had gotten him held down so quickly, especially since she had only been talking to Percy for a few seconds. Her heart hammered in her chest as she ran towards Clarisse blindly.

Y/N hadn’t been a chosen demi-god, one who had their very own weapon. She liked to be able to use anything and turn it into a weapon. The item could be a blade of grass to a mascara wand and she could figure out a way to injure her opponent with it.

Her original plan had been to just tackle Clarisse down to the floor, but it seemed Clarisse had also become aware of her presence-something Y/N hadn’t considered. Just as she was about to jump, she somehow stopped herself. Everyone knew by now, Clarisse’s electric spear could stop traffic.

She slid on the floor and grabbed a rather pointy rock. It wouldn’t do much, but it was better than dust. However, before she could do any damage, a piercing scream hit her ears. The second the sound hit her ears she wanted to throw up. The sound was nauseating, but the worst part was the familiarity of the scream.

Spinning around so quickly Y/N had to shake off any dizziness she felt. Her mind was in a flurry coming up with the worst case scenarios, but none of them could have prepared them for this. Clarisse’s spear was stuck in Patrick’s leg.

She was falling.

Arms picked her up.

Chiron was shouting.

Someone was guiding her towards the infirmary.

She was trembling.

Dust was picking up with each step.

People were staring.

Patrick was screaming.

It was weird how sometimes everything would melt into a blur. How memories would melt together until it would all become one, or how Y/N would catch herself walking and end up somewhere when she didn’t even know how she had gotten there.

“He’ll be alright,” Will said from next to her, she almost jumped. Y/N had forgotten he was there. “You should be thankful Percy was there, otherwise I don’t think Patrick would still have his leg.”

Y/N nodded, her heart was still hammering and the guilt was getting stronger every second. How was she supposed to keep a level head and continue on with her plan even though she knew she owed him he sanity. Y/N didn’t want to know what would happen to her if she had to watch her brother suffer through the loss of a leg.

“Percy wants to talk to you, by the way. I’ll let him in once you’re ready.” Will said as he stood up to leave. He still had some of Patrick’s blood on his clothes. He knew Y/N wouldn’t answer. The poor girl had been staring blankly for the past four hours.

“I’m ready,” Y/N said once she heard the door squeak open, her head turned towards Will. He was more surprised to see her eyes looking at him than hearing him talk to her. “You can let him in if you change. Blood isn’t a good look for you.”

It was silent for a little bit, both of them just staring at each other, trying to gauge what the other’s next move was. It was only when a hint of a smirk landed on Y/N’s features that Will knew it was okay to laugh and boy he did. If only it wasn’t a nervous laugh.

She heard him before she saw him. Percy looked exhausted, his hair was disheveled and his eyes were lidded. His yawn only further proved it. Somehow that didn’t stop him from being an ass.

He sat down next to her, clumsily. The boy was not nimble whatsoever, the one flaw she could

“Thank you,” Y/N said quietly, her fingers were playing with a necklace wound around her neck, “I don’t know what I would have done if Patrick would have lost his leg.”

She felt Percy’s gaze on her but didn’t move her gaze from a girl and a boy playing tag. She wanted to continue, to really show how thankful she was but the stubborn part of her was stopping herself from saying anymore.

“So this is all I have to do for you to talk to me? I just have to save your little brother.” Percy scoffed and shook his head. Y/N decided it might be a good idea to meet his gaze. “Good to know. I’ll keep that in mind.”

However, the second he looked at her Y/N turned away. Her heart was beating too fast, everything was just too fast. Her plan was going to fail. How was she going to be able to continue on when she owed him so much? All that time wasted planning revenge she didn’t even get to start. It was almost making her mad, the fact that he had the ability to change her mind in a second. Her brother couldn’t even succeed in that department. What gave him the right to be able to do that? Nemesis, she had never wanted to hit more than now. “Don’t thank me either. Poseidon knows how many times you have saved me. It’s only right for me to repay you somehow.”

She felt like she had been slapped in the face, as if someone had chosen a cruel way to get her out of a daydream. Her Father used to have moments like these, were reality struck him all at once. It seemed the gene had been passed down to her. She could continue on with her plan. Afterall, a leg can’t even compare to a life. Can it?

She felt kind of guilty continuing on with her plan at a time like this. Especially, deciding to start her first step, but she didn’t know if she would ever be able to have this oppurtunity with him again. Percy was slowly opening up and becoming emotional. What better way to build a ‘new friendship’ than sympathizing with him and maybe asking for a new start. But that was only if she was feeling risky.

“You finally got tired of it, didn’t you?”

Percy looked up shocked, he looked like he was trying to guage what she was thinking at the moment but she didn’t give him the time of day. She couldn’t not when she could easily give in and spill her secrets. Rachel had sugested that, but that only fueled her fire. The need to prove Rachel wrong was more important that her morals at the moment.

In fact the way he was looking at her was irritating. Almost like ants were crawling all over her body but there was nothing she could do to swat them.

“Got tired of what?”

“Got tired of me ignoring you.”

Percy shrugged, “I think I was just shocked that you actually talked to me and not in a condescending way.”

Y/N tried to keep her giggles inside, but they managed to get out somehow. She knew she shouldn’t have started laughing. It was just one of those situations, like a funeral or a test where you knew you shouldn’t be laughing, but she couldn’t help it. Percy started to laugh too which only made her laugh harder. She was rather confused on what they were even laughing at in the first place. His comment was more sad than funny.

Once they finally calmed down, and Y/N was breathing evenly enough to speak, she spoke. “Why were you laughing?”

“I can’t help it, your laugh is so contagious. Even your smile is, you smile with your eyes and it’s hard not to smile back.”

Looking at him weirdly, she wondered what the hell he was babbling on about. But it seemed Percy didn’t know either as he resembled a putter fish about to blow. She didn’t have the heart to ask him what he meant. Y/N didn’t want to make his ears redder than they already were, she had her fair share of experiences with Valdez. Flirting and blushing didn’t mix well with the poor boy.

“Umm, thanks.” She saw Percy nod in her peripheral vision, but his posture was too stiff to be comfortable while nodding. She was surprised he didn’t pull a muscle when he moved his head. Looking back on it, Y/N almost wished he did, then maybe her plan would have actually succeeded.

“I’m sorry.”

“About what?” he asked, he was looking where she had been earlier. The two children had changed games and were now playing leapfrog.

She sighed, this was a lot harder than she had thought. How could she apologize for something, when she didn’t even know what she had done wrong. “For everything, I shouldn’t have treated you that way, especially after all we had experienced together.”

“It’s alright. I suppose I understand. Annie had put it in perspective for me.”

He was such an idiot.

The apology had been going so well. Then he had to mention her. Y/N had liked Annabeth Chase before the incident, in fact they had been good friends. But then she just had to start rubbing it in Y/N’s face, about how she had 'chickened out’ and how she just couldn’t keep up with the rest of them. It boiled Y/N’s blood to no end.

Taking in a deep breath, she attempted to calm herself down. Y/N couldn’t lose her temper now. Not when she was so ready to start her plan. “That’s good.” Y/N choked out, her voice sounded hoarse and Y/N was praying that Percy didn’t notice.

She felt her nails dug into her palms as she tried to think of what to say to make this situation better. She opened her mouth right when Percy did, causing them both to start chuckling awkwardly.

“You go first,” Percy said with a gesture.

Y/N shook her head, she did not want to go first. It was like confessing your secret crush to the person you liked, it could go both ways. You could either get rejected or be in a relationship with the person you want to be with. But instead, Y/N was only risking her pride and her whole entire plan all in one question. She felt that this was more nerve racking than any other kind of rejection. “Fine, I’ll go first.” She said when Percy shook his own and refused to speak. She breathed a shaky sigh and closed her eyes, Percy could finally see how nervous she was and Y/N realized that she was in fact scared. “I don’t know if this is moving too fast. But do you… Do you maybe want to try our friendship again? It’s just a suggestion, but I’d really love it if you’d consider it and you don’t have to answer now. Take as many days as you want to think it over.”

Percy started to laugh and Y/N’s heart sunk. Nemesis, she really was acting like a twelve year old with a crush. She pursed her lips and turned around so Percy couldn’t see her tears of frustration. Her face felt hot of embarrassment. She had never wanted to cringe at herself more in her entire life. “You know, just because you think the idea is ridiculous doesn’t mean you have to laugh.” She shut her eyes again, but regretted it a few seconds later when she felt the tears she had been trying so hard to hold in fell. All that time wasted planning for something that didn’t even get past Step One.

“Wait, no,” Percy said and raised his hand to put around her shoulder when he heard her sniff and hastily wipe her face. Percy was alarmed. He knew first hand how hard it was to make Y/N cry, but here she was crying over a rejection that Percy didn’t even mean to make. “Y/N, I would love to try to be friends with you again. I was laughing because I was going to ask you the same thing.”

Y/N turned around and gave him the dirtiest look she had ever given him (and there’s been a lot of dirty looks). “Nemesis, you are so annoying, fish poop.”

“Fish poop? That’s a new one.” Percy nudged her with his elbow and scooted closer to her, “Come here, I haven’t hung out with you in forever and you haven’t experienced my improvement in hugging.”

Y/N snorted, reminiscing the memory. Percy and her had been young, around 12 or 13 and they had just escaped the Cyclops when Percy had hugged her. He had always been a good hugger, but Y/N had refused to admit it at the time and still liked to tease him about it.

Shaking her head, she laughed, “I still can’t believe you hugged me then got blasted off the cliff by a Cyclops. I thought you were dead and felt way too guilty about those words being the last words I ever said to you.”

“Ya, what the hell was that, tiny nightmare! I finally build up the courage to hug you and you reject me.” Percy clicked his tongue at the girl and brought her closer with one arm while he poked her in the stomach with the other. Y/N squirmed at the contact but then rolled her eyes and rested her head on Percy’s shoulder. She could almost hear Rachel’s taunting voice in her head, teasing her about how she should have just talked to him about what she felt. But it was too late now, she had to continue on even though she almost didn’t want too.

Step Two: Make him trust you.

Fridays were at Camp were scary. Everyone was always watching their backs for some Ares kid gone rogue or an Athena child deciding that 'you’ are somehow the reason why their plan isn’t working.

After a rather interesting accident between an Ares kid [ it’s always them, isn’t it? ] and one of Y/N’s siblings, she had taken refuge in the Iris Cabin. Rachel was staying there for the Summer as Chiron had finally given into Dionysus’ wishes and had asked some Hephaestus and Aphrodite kids to help rebuild and decorate the Big House. But Y/N secretly really enjoyed the Iris Cabin, it was much brighter and prettier than her own cabin. Plus, there were less threats being thrown around and-as selfish as this sounded-Patrick wasn’t around to whine about her not playing with him.

Knocking on the door, she waited for a quick second before pressing her ear against the wood. It was better to be safe than sorry, right? Afterall, this was a camp full of horny teenagers with beds. How did no one else see that this was a bad idea?

“Y/N?” She heard someone behind her. She felt her face heat up rapidly, how was she going to dodge questions about this? It was such an awkward situation to be in, yet alone converse about it.

It’s not like they wouldn’t ask questions either, they were bound to be confused. Groaning on the inside, she reluctantly turned.

“Do I even want to know what you were doing?” Percy asked, she was surprised to hear the amused tone in his voice.

Y/N almost scowled before she felt her face get warmer as she shook her head. No way in hell would she tell Percy Jackson what she was doing. Sure, they may be 'friends’ but that didn’t mean she liked him.

The porch situation had just been a moment of weakness, but it didn’t help her conscience any less. Y/N had been worrying about it all night, but she had convinced herself that she had just been in a weak emotional state and had taken in any comfort she could.

Because it wasn’t like she could actually like him?

She almost laughed at the thought. “What do you need?”

“What am I not aloud to see my new-no, not new. What the hell is our friendship even called?”

Y/N snorted, “If only you knew.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” she said with a shake of her head, “I know you well enough, kelp head. What is it that you need?”

“I heard that the Nemesis cabin is partnered up with Poseidons’ for Capture the Flag and was wondering if you wanted to help spy on the Athena Cabin with me?”

Turning back to the Iris Cabin longingly, she wondered how much longer she needed for her plan to work. She didn’t know how much longer she could stand Percy’s presence.

She was about to reject him when an image of Annabeth and Percy kissing in the labyrinth popped into her head and suddenly she was nodding vigorously.

Percy grinned, blindingly and suddenly her actions hit her all at once. She needed to stop these stupid, thoughtless decisions. It was going to ruin her plan and all that hard work could not go to waste because some emotions got in the way.

She had already screwed up in the infirmary, she was just lucky it turned out alright.

“So,” Percy said as he threw an arm around her shoulders and brought her closer. She prayed to Nemesis that Percy couldn’t hear her heartbeat where he was because it was too loud for her comfort. “Does tiny nightmare, have a plan for tonight?”

“Yes, she does. Hiding inside the Iris Cabin with Rachel and praying to the Gods that no Ares kid finds them.”

Percy guffawed, then realized she wasn’t joking and stared at her for a few seconds, “Wait, have you been playing in the last few games?”

Y/N shook her head, “No, I stopped after the war.”

Percy opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it and turned forwards. It felt weird not feeling the comforting presence on her side, but she didn’t know why. She hadn’t been within a three foot radius of him since last year, yet after a few minutes the distance felt weird.

“You shouldn’t let fear control your life.” Percy looked so uncharacteristically serious, she almost forgot it was him talking.

“Oh,Yeah? When did you become so prophetic, kelp head?”

She had forgotten how boring Capture the Flag could be. The Nemesis Cabin had lost the coin toss between the Apollo Cabin and now Y/N and her siblings were stuck guarding the flag along with some other cabins.

She really regretted coming out tonight.

Percy had forgotten about her the second he called their team in for planning. She was bitterly reminded of yesteryear.

Covering her eyes from the sun, she tried to blink away the green glare. She was still in shock of what had happened earlier. How could she have been so stupid? She had warmed up to Percy and obviously there were consequences.

Y/N was surprised at herself. She had forgotten about one little knot in her plan.

Y/N still cared for Percy.

It was weird how she hadn’t considered it before. She supposed she had been so blinded by anger the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind.

But it still didn’t make the situation any better. Now she was going to have to work extra hard to make her plan work. Y/N was going to make herself hate him. But she didn’t know how.

How do you hate someone you still care about?

Almost laughing out loud at herself, she shook her head. Why was she even continuing on with the plan in the first place?

'Just because you care about him doesn’t mean he cares about you,’ a little voice in her head said. 'Wasn’t he the one who left you behind? If he cared about you he wouldn’t leave you. But look where he is now, not with you.’

“Y/N?” A hand waved in front of her face, she groaned and shook her head. Everything was so blurry and along with that she had a major headache. She turned her head to see a Hypnos kid, she distantly remembered him as Clovis. “Hey, you fell asleep. You are a heavy sleeper. I’m surprised you didn’t wake up from the screams and shouts from the Blue team. I can’t even sleep through that and that’s saying something.”

They won. Oh nemesis, and Y/N had slept through it. How had she slept through it?

Clovis asked her something else, but she only nodded. Y/N needed to find Rachel. Rachel was surprisingly good at remembering her dreams and she was hoping that maybe she could help her remember hers.

“Ya, ya, thanks Clovis.” She said while getting up, “I gotta go, right now. But I’ll see you later, ya?”

Running towards the pavilion, she dodged campers heading to either their cabins or their daily activities. She sighed impatiently as two girls in front of her walked exceptionally slow, they were talking about something ridiculous that she would have laughed at if she didn’t want to find Rachel.

“Y/N! Hey! Y/N!” Turning around, she saw Patrick run up to her with the biggest grin she had ever seen. He had the flag wrapped around his shoulders which could only mean one thing. “Where were you? Did you hear? I can’t believe I did that. I kicked Clarisse’s butt! You should have seen her face! It was the funniest thing I had ever seen.”

Y/N felt herself unconsciously smile as he went on and on about how he heroically saved the Blue Team from losing. After hearing for the third time how he snatched the flag from right under Clarisse’s nose, her mind started to wonder. She saw Lacy talking with on Patrick’s friends, two naiads bickering over who’s trees were cleaner, but then she spotted Percy receiving pats on the backs from other boys.

If it were any other situation Y/N wouldn’t have cared. But it was the way they were all acting, it reminded her way too much of the day after the war. The day Y/N’s life flipped upside down.

Pretending to listen to Patrick about whatever he was babbling on about now, she caught a bit of their conversation as they walked past.

He hadn’t even noticed her, again.

“Bro, that was such a good save.”

Percy laughed, “Calling everyone bro isn’t going to pick up chicks.”

“Shut the hell up, man. Why’d you give all that credit to that kid. He didn’t do anything, just grabbed the flag and ran it back.”

Y/N’s breath hitched, she felt like she had just been slapped in the face. Her stomach was in her mouth and everything was blurred together like some kind of painting, except the brush strokes were all wrong. Everything about the painting was wrong.

“Y/N,” she heard her brother call, but he sounded further away as if she was stuck in a fish tank and he was on the other side. “Y/N, are you alright?”

A whimper left her mouth, not again. The flashbacks couldn’t start again. She needed to sit down.

Twirling around, she ran into people as she searched frantically for ground that wasn’t covered with people. Everything was just happening too fast. People were calling her name or yelling when she bumped into them. She swore she heard Percy call her name worriedly, but that to have been just her imagination.

Finally finding a grassy area where no people were, she fell onto her knees on it. Panting on her hands and feet, she gasped for air. She felt as if she was going to throw up but she couldn’t, she wasn’t. Y/N wasn’t sick.

Gripping the grass between her hands, she tried to calm herself down. She took in deep breaths and focused on the feeling on the dirt and grass on her skin, the sun warming her up.

After repeating those steps a few times, she finally confident enough to sit against the tree trunk next to her without throwing up. But when she tried to move, she felt a hand holding up her hair and another hand steadily stroking her back. Y/N furrowed her eyebrows and almost kicked the person behind her in self defense. But then she realized that a monster couldn’t get in the border and most certainly, would not be trying to calm her down.

Turning around, she saw Percy kneeling down next to her. The second she saw him she almost jumped away. The sick feeling was back again.

“Are you alright?”

Staring at him in disgust for a few moments, she wondered how he lived with himself. How could he be so selfish to willingly take people’s credit? Nemesis, she needed to get away from him. His presence was making her skin crawl.

But she couldn’t say anything now, not when her plan was going to well.

“What’s wrong?”

Gods, she was done with the plan. She was done with him. Y/N just wanted it to be over and to never have to see him again. “I hate you.”

“What?”

“You heard me. I hate you and I want you to get away from me right now.”

Percy was silent for longer than she had thought. Rolling her eyes, she pushed him away. “It shouldn’t take you that long to process it. I’ve told you many times before.”

“But-”

“Nuh, uh, uh,” she shook a finger at him, “No buts. Just go away and leave me alone.”

“Wait, but Y/N-”

“Did you not hear me before? I want you to leave.” When he didn’t leave, she sighed dramatically and tried to calm her shaking fingers. If he didn’t leave in a few seconds she was going to start crying and she was not going to cry in front of him. “Nemesis, you’re like an annoying fly that I can’t shoo away.”

Percy almost laughed but looked so hurt it didn’t even sound like one. Guilt climbed up into her throat and started to choke her.

Then he left. Just like that, within a blink of an eye he got up and started to walk away.

Step Three: Give him what he deserves.

Y/N had a weird choice of music. She liked to listen to any song-as long as there was the sound of rain in the background. It didn’t matter if it was actually raining and she decided to open her window ( no matter how much her siblings complained ) or it was playing on her phone.

It was actually weird how any song could go with the sound of rain. Y/N could be listening to Classical Music to 80s Alternative to Hard Metal Rock, but somehow it all just flowed.

Giggling to herself, she turned around in her bed and attempted to fall asleep again. Y/N had gone to bed early that night. She had accidentally fell asleep crying around 5, missing dinner in the process but feeling better than she had in awhile. It was like a load of stress had just melted off her shoulders.

Patrick was sleeping next to her. They had moved their beds beside each other when he hurt his leg. Y/N remembered doing it when they were younger, before they had known they were demigods, when things were more simple. Patrick would sometimes sneak into her bed late at night. He would try to be as quiet and graceful as he could, but he somehow would always wake her up. Sometimes they would play cards under the candles Y/N bought and placed around her room during her witch phase.

However, for the past week, it had been Y/N initiating their sleeping circumstances.

Y/N had made an excuse about her being worried about her little brother being injured, but she had a feeling Patrick knew the truth. Afterall, the entire Camp had heard about what had gone down between Y/N and Percy.

The girl sighed and turned back around, she could not find a comfortable sleeping position for the life of her. It got to the point where she had moved so much that Patrick had complained and Y/N had forced herself to stay still even though she could feel her arm going numb.

However, it seemed that whenever she felt like she was about to fall asleep, a noise outside would wake her up. The first time, it had been someone talking too loudly with someone else. She wondered how the furies didn’t catch them.

The second time, it was someone cursing followed by something heavy falling in a bush. Sitting up, she popped her ears popping that would somehow improve her hearing.

Allegedly, it didn’t and Y/N was left with wondering who would be trying to climb up the Nemesis Cabin. She debated waking Patrick up, but she knew it wouldn’t do any good. He would probably only run around and wake up other campers which would only make Chiron or Dionysus mad.

Still debating in her head, she moved her head back and forth before finally getting up with a whimper. She did not want to die today. Y/N felt like she was in some murder mystery, but she was the dumbass who died first going to check out the murderer.

Her room was dark. Splaying her hands out in front of her, she walked towards her window like a zombie. She heard her heartbeat ram against her chest in distress as she glanced back at Patrick. Maybe she should have woken him up.

Shaking her head but stopping in her steps anyway; she wondered how she was going to get back without falling-especially if there was a killer on the loose.

A banging on the window brought her out of her thoughts. Freezing in her steps, she looked back at Patrick again. This was ridiculous. She was a demi-god, for Pete’s sake. Not just a demi-god, but Nemesis’ daughter at that.

When Y/N was a few feet away from the window, she forced her feet to stay put but leaned forward so her hands could unlock the window. She looked like a banana with arms.

However, just as she was about to unlock the window, it opened itself. Flinching away, she almost jumped five feet in the air, resembling a kangaroo. Too bad her landing wasn’t as graceful. She landed on her but, scrambling away from the window.

A figure climbed through and Y/N thought she was about to cry. Her eyes scanned the room, wildly, looking for anything to defend herself with. “What the hell are you doing on the floor?”

A breath Y/N didn’t know she was holding escaped her once she recognized the voice. Her hands were still shaking and she was sure the adrenaline wouldn’t leave for a while but Y/N couldn’t bring herself to care. She was too occupied with wondering what the hell Percy Jackson was doing in her room. Especially since their last encounter ended just as badly as she had anticipated.

“Would you be quiet?” Y/N harshly whispered, and stood up. “Patrick is still sleeping. But why I am on the floor is none of your concern.”

Y/N knew Percy enough to know he didn’t believe her but she couldn’t care less. Sighing and shaking her head, she turned back to her bed. Y/N had already had a big scare tonight, she didn’t need anymore drama. Besides, who the hell climbed into someone’s room at 3 in the morning. She was sure whatever Percy needed to discuss could wait until the morning. “Is anyone hurt?”

“No.”

“Dead.”

“What? No.”

“Shh,” Y/N finally turned around to face him, “Then what are you doing here?”

“I needed to talk to you.”

“And it couldn’t wait until the morning?”

“Obviously.”

“Well, I think it can wait.” Y/N gave him a sarcastic smile, she was so done with him. She had told him how she felt and he didn’t even have the audacity to listen to her. Nemesis, she wasn’t even surprised.

“Well, I don’t think it can.” Percy said and grabbed her arm, forcing her to turn towards him. It was the first time she had seen his face since last week and she didn’t feel any remorse. Her eyes narrowed and her lips picked up into a sneer but he didn’t even flinch.

Gods, she hated him.

Why couldn’t he be like everyone else and leave her alone when she made it obvious that she didn’t enjoy their company. Before she disliked him, she had enjoyed his persistence to be her friend. But now more than ever, she hated it.

She didn’t want to have anything to do with him. Her plan had already failed and they would never be friends again. “Come on, revenge expert, you know how stubborn I am. Either we talk or I’m not leaving your room.”

Staring at him like he was crazy-he was-for a few seconds, she looked around the cabin. Her siblings were still all sleeping soundly somehow and she really didn’t want to wake anyone up. Nemesis, knew what they would do to her if anyone woke up. “Fine, but can we talk somewhere else?”

He cocked his head to the side and looked to be debating something inside his head before he finally shrugged. Leading the way, she had to pretend to know that she wasn’t stumbling and stepping over random things gracefully. Pride can be a dangerous thing.

The nighttime air was surprisingly warm that night which Y/N was thankful for. The conversation would have been much, much worse if she had to stand outside with the looming thoughts of furies overhead while suffering through a very awkward conversation.

Nemesis, she was still debating if she should lie to him.

“Alright, Jackson. What did you need to discuss?”

“Why do you hate me?” Raising her eyebrows, she did her best to seem surprised at the question. Y/N knew had seen it coming after the discussion they had earlier that week but she still couldn’t think of how to answer his question without giving the truth away.

Shuffling her feet and looking down, she avoided eye contact. She couldn’t bare to look at him while she was talking-and she had to answer soon. Feeling her muscles tense up when she couldn’t think of anything, she thought of the best excuse she could within a span of a few seconds. “Umm, I-Listen, Percy. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it, truly,” she added when he gave her a look. “I just… I had gotten mad at something and I had taken it out on you. I’m so sorry. It was entirely unfair of me to get mad at you for something you hadn’t even been apart of.”

Biggest lie of the last millennia. Gods, she could practically feel her nose growing a few more inches.

Percy went silent for a few minutes. It only made her feel more nervous as time went on. He looked almost disappointed by what she had said, as if she were a child telling their parent that the cat had knocked over the glass vase and broke it-not them. “Rach told me everything.”

Staring at him blankly, she tried to process what he had said. It was like her brain had been super glued and the only way for it to work was moving.

She froze then started moving all at once. Bumbling profusely, and moving to run away from him Percy caught her just in time and brought her to his chest.

“Leave me alone! Let me go!” She started to pound his chest and kick as much as she could but he only held onto her tighter. Sobs racked her chest but she felt as if a huge load had suddenly been lifted off her shoulders. It was purely exhausting trying to fight him, but she didn’t stop. “Let me go! I hate you!” But soon her shouts slurred together and her fighting slowed down.

She was just so tired.

Especially after she realized Percy was trying to comfort her. He had been rocking her back and forth while petting her hair. She felt oddly like a child.

Her breathing slowed down as she let herself sob into his chest and hug him back. “I hate you. I hate you so much.”

Percy didn’t say anything, he only started to rub her back.

A MONTH LATER

Y/N couldn’t remember the last time her and Percy had talked but she was finding that she preferred it that way. They would occasionally bump into each other and it seemed Percy would want to say something, but Y/N would be too busy almost falling over air to try to get away from him to notice.

Rachel had tried to get them to mend their friendship, but Y/N was way too embarrassed to even look at him. She didn’t understand, Rachel had never understood.

Sighing contentedly, she placed down her cards, “Sorry, Rach. Straight in diamonds. Read them and weep.”

“What the hell?” Rachel whined throwing her hands up in the air, “How are you so good at cards?”

Y/N looked at her weirdly and scoffed, “I live year-round in a pro-longed Summer Camp with no technology. What do you think I do during the school year. Homework?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. If I saw you actually work for something I think I would die of shock.”

Gasping in mock outrage, she placed an offended hand to her chest, “I would say something witty if it weren’t true. But I can’t think of anything.”

Rachel snorted and threw a pillow at Y/N, almost knocking her off the bed to the point where half of her body was hanging off. “Oh Gods, help me! I’m going to fall of the bed and die!”

Rachel started to laugh, “You can’t even work when you are about to die, eh?”

“Shut the hell up, firetruck and help me get up!”

Rachel only tried to push her off more when the door opened and in came Butch Walker. The poor boy was more than confused but chose not to say anything, which Y/N was thankful for-especially when she fell on the floor.

“Hey,” he paused once he grabbed his sweatshirt and was on his way out, “Do you wanna go to the bonfire with the rest of us? The Iris Cabin gets to roast marshmallows tonight and we could sneak you a s'more.”

Y/N looked at a sniggering Rachel who nodded but laughed harder in return and Y/N grabbed the pillow and threw it at her. “Sure, Walker. We’ll be out in a second. I need to grab a jacket and make sure Rachel gets out without falling over laughing.”

Rachel stuck her tongue out at her friend while Butch laughed quietly, “Sure thing.”

The air outside was way too chilly for Summer, a stark reminder that Fall was coming. The jacket she had grabbed was a zip-up hoodie, the kind that always seemed to stick out in the worst places and Rachel had plenty of fun poking at it.

Swatting her hand away for what seemed like the 20th time, Y/N bumped her hip, “Wanna go swimming tomorrow? I bought a new swimsuit at the Camp Store and it-”

“Does it actually fit this time?”

“Shut up,” Y/N said and pushed her. The last swimsuit she had bought had been a little too small and the top had fallen off when she had jumped off the dock. It hadn’t been as embarrassing as it seemed as no one else but Rachel had been in the water-thank the Gods. But Y/N still hasn’t found the missing suit to this day.

Y/N had had a amazing retort in mind, but the words had lay forgotten once she saw the scene in front of her. Percy was being held up by a bunch of boys from the Hephaestus Cabin and shouting.

She had forgotten it was Friday. His team must have won Capture the Flag. She made a mental note to ask Patrick who had won and made a bee-line too the fire pit. Grabbing Rachel’s hand so she wouldn’t lose her in the crowd, she tried to get through the massive crowd of Campers. Nemesis, they smelled.

“Rach, do you see Butch?” Y/N stood on her tippy-toes to try to see over the heads of kids but she couldn’t see a thing.

“Yeah, hold on,” she said and ducked under an arm. Y/N was forced to follow and could only briefly apologize to the people she bumped into before she was pulled away.

“Y/N! Wait, Y/N!” Y/N turned around at the mention of her name to see Percy making his way towards her. Her eyes widened and she turned around quickly, passing a confused Rachel and now pulling her towards the Camp fire.

Fortunately, Percy hadn’t caught up to them in time and Y/N made it to the fire in record time. She stole a roasted marshmallow from Butch, who looked mildly offended but only poked her with the stick.

“He never says anything, haven’t you noticed?” Y/N asked and nodded towards Butch. Rachel only shrugged as she snagged a bar of chocolate and handed a piece to Y/N.

Feeling a poke behind her, she expected to see Butch but only saw a grinning Patrick. He quickly hugged his sister, something that he didn’t normally do. Y/N raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything and hugged him back. His leg hadn’t healed fully yet, Will had gave him crutches and a cast. The former not with him which was probably the reason as to why he was holding onto her.

“What’s up, little Y/N?” Rachel said with a grin that Patrick only shyly glanced away at. He had had a crush on Rachel since they had met. It was the most hilarious thing to watch, especially when he tried to show off.

“Y/N, I need to show you something.”

“Now?”

“Yes, come on. Rachel can come.” Nemesis, he didn’t know how bad he had it. He had a bad habit of smiling every time he said her name or someone else did.

“Just follow the kid.” She had a soft spot for him too.

Patrick lead her further into the crowd, it was only once they were in the very front did she see what was happening. Percy, and some other campers were up on the stage where Apollo kids usually led the camp songs.

Looking at Rachel, she wondered what the hell was going on when she remembered what the date was. It had been a full year since the war. Nemesis, she was surprised she hadn’t noticed or that no one had said anything.

After a few more minutes of waiting, they finally got everyone’s attention. “Hello, everyone!” Percy started by stepping forward, “As we all know, today is the anniversary of the Titan War.”

After Percy spoke of the tragedies of the war and reminded everyone about the bravery of these very young kids, other campers spoke about those they lost which was followed by a few minutes of silence.

Y/N looked around to see the younger campers getting antsy and Y/N was proud to see Patrick condoling a younger one. “Thank you for those few moments of silence. Percy will now announce a new Camp Tradition we will start today so that we can forever be reminded of our fellow heroes.”

Y/N started to blank out, it was getting harder and harder to concentrate with each word and she found her mind wandering about the most random stuff. It could be about what they were doing tomorrow, or if there were any marshmallows left, or how fun it would be to yell in a microphone.

However, she was brought out of her thoughts when she heard her name being called and people cheering. Y/N was pushed by Rachel and then she was walking up to the stage.

“Percy,” she whispered once she was next to him, “What are you doing.”

“Giving you the credit you deserve.” he said and walked back up to the microphone, “Y/N is one of the most courageous, kindest, and skilled person I know. She has been at my side since the beginning. We found the lightning bolt, sailed the Sea of Monsters, held the sky together, survived the Labrinth, and fought in the Titan War.” Y/N couldn’t pay attention after that, she was too busy smiling. She felt warm all over as if someone had placed a blanket over her.

She couldn’t stop smiling, even hours later and the campers were finishing up the Camp song. She felt Rachel nudge her side, but she didn’t want to bask in Rachel’s smugness. She needed to find Percy.

Snaking through the crowd, she found him sitting and talking to Grover on a bench. Percy didn’t notice her presence until, Grover got up and bid his goodbyes. He had a knowing look on his face and Y/N wanted to laugh. She had missed him.

“Hey.”

“Can I sit?” Percy nodded and drew something in the dirt with a stick that still had marshmallow goop on it.

“Thank you for what you did. It meant a lot.”

“I meant it all. You deserved it and I’m sorry for not noticing it before.”

“It’s alright.” Y/N said with a laugh, “Gods, this is awkward, isn’t it?”

“You think?”

“I just, it’s weird. I don’t understand you at all. I told you I hated you and then you go and do this for me.”

“But you had a legit reason to hate me.”

“Ya, you’re right.” Y/N said bluntly making Percy laugh, “What do we do now?”

“Well, I want to try to be friends. If you’ll have me?”

Y/N rolled her eyes, he was such a kelp head sometimes. “Of course, you sea slug. What did you think I was going to say?”

“Don’t roll your eyes at me! You’re incredibly confusing!”

Y/N scoffed, “You’re one to talk.”

“How am I confusing?”

“You’re right. You’re just completely oblivious.”

Percy stuck his tongue out at her before scooting closer to her. It was weird having their things touch again, comforting but exhilarating at the same time.

Smiling goofily, she turned towards Percy. He had been trying out the yawn and reach trick but had been caught half-way through. His mouth was still in mid-yawn and his arm was just above her shoulder. It was hilarious how he stopped but then kept going as if she didn’t notice.

Rolling her eyes but cuddling into him, she smiled. He could be such an idiot sometimes.

#percy jackson x reader #percy x reader #percy jackson #pjo #anmarauder writings

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lilithpooped · 5 years

Text

Disappear - Kim Hongjoong

Song request: Disappear by INXS

Requested by: @lovekimhongjoong

Genre: fluff

Warnings: may be suggestive for some

A/n: This song reminded me of that relief comes after you get yourself out of some trouble, so that’s how i got this idea and umm, this is my first time trying something like this so I hope you like it 💕 and and and this fic is written after looking at hala hala and say my name era Honjoong pics. Just fyi. (Umm and I totally made up the job so I don’t know if there’s a job like that but for the sake of my fic, let’s say there is. Ehehem.

“Does being sorry help?” You asked to the guy in front of you.

“No, please let me try one more time. Please..”

“Go, you have one more shot. Do it or you’ll be the one receiving prayers after.”

You stood up from your seat and ordered to one of your best men:

“Watch him, if he fails again, you’re free to do whatever you want to him.”

“Yes.”

You left the room which gave you anxiety whenever you got in. You were in charge of a hitmen unit working for government and your job was really hard managing them so the government actually let you have your way with the men as long as you do what is needed to be done.

Ugh, I can’t believe he actually couldn’t do it, you thought to yourself while rubbing your temples and going upstairs to your shared bedroom with your best man. The best hitman in the whole country, your subordinate, childhood friend and lover, Kim Hongjoong.

He was lying on bed playing with his phone when you entered the room.

“Welcome baby.” He sat up.

“Oh, hi.”

“What is the problem? You seem distressed.”

“The guy i told you about yesterday, the one that was supposed to kill the boss.. He couldn’t do it and now they probably know his face. They may even have followed him here.”

“Shouldn’t you kill him too, then?”

“Yes, probably. They will do it even if I don’t anyways so he’ll probably be dead by tomorrow.”

“Hmm.. What if the drug guys followed him here?”

“We’re gonna change location, I’m waiting for an order.”

“Oh I see.” He stood up, put his phone down, came closer and hugged you behind. “How about I take your stress?” He kissed your shoulder.

You smiled, “Wow, that’s so kind of you.” You said playfully before turning your head and kissing his lips. His hands on your belly made you giggle.

“Ah, I love it when you act freely, it reminds me of when we were kids.” He said, taking in the smell of your hair.

“I feel relieved when I’m with you. Kim Hongjoong, you’re probably the only human being that can catch me off-guard. You’re dangerous, you know?” You said slowly while he peppered your shoulder and neck with kisses.

“I know baby, but I will never do anything to hurt you. You can trust me.”

Your romance session got interrupted by your message tone. You sighed and got out of your lover’s hold.

“Ah, shit!” You said after reading the message.

“What is it baby, what do they want?”

“They say I need to go instead of the guy this time and make sure it’s over for good.”

“Will you do it?”

“I have to.”

“But it’s too dangerous you know it. I will come with you.”

“No Hongjoong you’re gonna stay here. I’m taking everyone else with me, I don’t care if they die or not anymore but I need you alive so you’re staying here.”

“Y/n, of course I’m not staying here. What am I supposed to do here, cook for you?? Or do some knitting?? You know I’m the best one out of them. They can’t protect you like I can.”

“Hongjoong, you’re forgetting something. I don’t need protection. I attack and I win, I can protect my own.”

“But you know this time it’s different, that’s why you’re taking them with you. Why not me?”

“‘Cause I won’t need them when I turn back but I will need you. This is my last mission, Hongjoong. We’re gonna go far away from here.” You held his face in your hands while whispering. Your eyes locked.

“Do they know?” He held your waist.

“No one knows.”

“Will we run away?”

“Yes, if you also want that.”

“But why?”

“I’m so tired Hongjoong. I want a normal life. I don’t want to think about our safety. I don’t wanna think about if you’ll come home safely or if you’ll ever come home again. I’m tired. I don’t want this life.”

“But they won’t let us, you know that.”

“They will have to. I have my own game Hongjoong, don’t worry about that. Will you run away with me?”

“Of course, I will. But only under one circumstance.”

“Baby, no. I know what you’re gonna say and no you can’t come with me.” You let his face free and turned your back to him playing with your hands.

“You say yes and we run away right after we finish cleaning. You say no and I’ll still follow you there and won’t run away with you.”

You turned back to him and looked right into his eyes.

“I hate how you turn things to your favor Kim Hongjoong. Promise me, you’re not gonna die.”

“We’re not gonna die today baby!” He smirked and kissed your lips before leaving you to get ready.

—

It was a hard mission. You knew about that, Hongjoong knew about that. But the rest of your men were underestimating the enemy. You knew your team was not able to do this job without you and Hongjoong because you only took the worst ones out of all to keep the good ones from dying and you and Hongjoong could only take a few enemies out.

“Hongjoong, you stay with me, others make teams of two and split. Finish it in 30 minutes and be here if you can. We won’t wait for the late comers. Be careful not to die.”

You ordered and all of your men split. It was only you and Hongjoong now.

“Why did you choose the worst ones?”

“I don’t want good ones to die. The government will need them after we leave. You and I will kill the boss and leave right after.”

“So that was why you asked me to come with my motorcycle after you.”

“Yes,” you took your attention from the house and turned to him “don’t die baby, please don’t die. Not now. Remember, we will just kill the boss and leave. Let the others take care of themselves.”

“You know people will come for us, right?”

“They won’t, told you i have my own game.”

“I love this side of you.” He told you smirking.

“You can love me later, now love yourself and don’t die, let’s go.”

It was not easy, you had to kill all of the men that came in your way. You remembered why you hated that job again, it was not for you to kill that many people and keep on living like nothing happened but only you and Hongjoong knew it. He knew how you get right after you finish a mission, he knew that was why you never forced yourself to go on duties and sent the others instead. He could see the disgust and sadness in your eyes when you kill someone. But he always admired how you never showed it to people, especially to your subordinates.

“Y/n, can you stay here and back me up?”

“No don’t go alone Hongjoong.”

“Can you back me up?”

“Yes I can.”

“Okay, I’m going to the boss.” He left right after this. Knowing you would hate yourself later for killing so many people was the most important reason for him to go alone. He wanted to give you some time now that the security guards of the boss were all out. And he definitely didn’t want you to risk your life anymore.

You waited in the now empty room for nearly ten minutes before Hongjoong came to you again.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Is he dead?”

“Let’s go baby, I’m okay. Everything’s under control.”

You weren’t sure about his honesty right now about his own health but that was not the right time to question him. So you just followed him to the door, careful not to get caught.

“Where’s your motorcycle?”

“We need to run for a while.”

“Okay.”

He held your hand and ran as fast as he could. You were also fast. You heard some yelling and gunshots from the house now behind you. The feeling of victory slowly settling inside you, you kept on running till you see the motorcycle.

“Hold this.” He gave you his gun and put a helmet on your head. Then put one on his head.

“I’m driving Hongjoong, I’m not sure about your health.”

“No, you’re sitting behind me and I’m driving and I’m okay.”

“How come I’m your commander but you never listen to me?”

“Is it the right time for that argument now? Can we talk later??”

“Oof, drive.”

—

When you hugged him behind, you felt the victory fully. You were finally getting away from that dark and uneasy lifestyle. You had Hongjoong with you. You were going to start everything new. You were going to a place where no one could find you, it was not like they were gonna look for you after the mail you sent to the head of your department anyways but this feeling was everything. Going to some other place and starting all over again with the only one you love. It was glorious.

You tapped his shoulder, signaling him to slow down. He slowed the engine down, opened the glass of his helmet and asked;

“What happened baby, should i stop, are you okay?”

“I wanna take my helmet off.”

“But it’s dangerous.”

“There isn’t any car or motorcycle around here. We are the only ones on the road right now. And I really wanna feel the wind.”

He stopped the motorcycle and got off.

“Then let me do it for you.”

Took your helmet off first and then took off his own. Looked in your eyes with so much love..

“You look fine.”

“I bet you messed my hair up while taking off that helmet.” You laughed slowly.

“I may or may not have done that..”

“I hate you Kim Hongjoong.”

He pecked your lips.

“I hate you too Y/n.”

“I know.” You smiled. “When are we taking off captain?”

“After you tell me one thing.”

“What is that?”

“We’ll be together, right?”

“Wow are you afraid?”

“Kind of.”

You knew why he was afraid. You got into that job in your late years but Hongjoong grew up in that business. His father was also doing the same job. He never knew how a normal life would be.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

You pecked his lips once again and got ready to go on the road.

“Come on, drive and take us to somewhere new, Mr Captain!”

He laughed and started to drive. Slower than before but fast enough for you to feel the wind in your hair. The world disappeared at that exact moment.

That was happiness for you.

—————————————————-

Masterlist

#kpop #kpop fics #ateez #kpop scenarios #ateez fics #ateez imagines #kpop imagines #hongjoong #hongjoong fics #ateez fic #hongjoong fluff #ateez fluff #kpop fluff #ateez scenarios #hongjoon scenarios #kim hongjoong #ateez hongjoong

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kjs-s · 5 years

Text

Caught in the crossfire

Fandoms Marvel and The Losers

Pairing Steve Rogers x reader platonic

Summary Steve and the reader are recruited to go after some rogue agents but end up involved in a more tricky case.

Words 1800

Warnings shooting and mention of war

A/N This is my second entry for @locke-writes cinema rewrite challenge. I hope you like it. I found it sa funny that the movie was on when i was reading this last week.

You kept scrolling through the internal memos left on your old tablet, notifying you about everything that had happened with your old partner and his new team. There has been more than a year since you left the Special Forces to join the Avengers. At first, you were content there, up until the horrible remarks one of your supervisors kept making about your work ethics and professionalism drove you to quit. Fortunately, it only took a week for your best friend to come through. Clint was the only person you had told about your work and he loved sharing stories with you. Pizza parties at his house so you can play with his dog was your favorite pastime. Therefore, he offered you a job with him almost immediately. In addition, he appointed himself in charge of your training even though you ended up going on more mission with Steve. You two had just gotten back from a five-month mission to stop an alien attack. However, instead of getting some much-needed rest you found yourself in Steve’s office asking for time off.

‘’ I understand that it might sound crazy or irrational but I am certain something is going on there. I trusted Clay with my life for so long that I know him more than everyone else. You can ask Clint about all the times that lunatic has saved my life. I may not know the rest of his team although I am certain they are trustworthy.’’ You were talking fast so you needed to take a breath.

‘’I trust your judgment on your former partner. You have shown me that you have the ability to read people. I understand if you want to investigate what is going on with them. Why don’t you fill me in? Preferably on a slower pace so I can follow the story?’’

‘’Apparently, there was a mission to search and destroy a drug lord in Bolivia. The memo states that Clay and his team made a deal with the target and betrayed the Special Forces. That forced another team to be deployed in order to finish the mission and they ended up killing the first one.’’

‘’I am so sorry to hear that. And now you hope you can find evidence to clear their names?’’ Steve seemed surprised because he thought there were still alive when you mentioned them at first.

‘’No, that’s not what I need to do. As I read, ‘’The covert team is still alive. They attacked a convoy that was heading to a safe house and stole one of the vehicles. They used a stolen helicopter.’’ Stealing a police helicopter is an extremely risky move. Why would they do that just to steal a van? It doesn’t make any sense.’’

‘’Is it possible that they would try to either clear their names or get back at someone they believe is responsible for what happened? Who authorized the Bolivia mission?’’

‘’Their supervisor, let me check the name.’’ The expression on your face made Steve not want to find out what that person ever did to you. He knew you had quit due to one of your superiors and he assumed that was the codename you saw.

‘’I can’t believe that guy. I am certain he has something to do with this. Not just because I hate him. I honestly believe that.’’ You tried in vain to hide your hatred.

‘’Fine, I respect it. I assume that he has people working for him who would be dangerous. I will have Friday search for your friend and his team. Afterward, I will help you find out the truth and find evidence on Max.’’

It took only a few hours for Friday to track the team to an abandoned warehouse in Miami. When you landed the jet there, you knew the team would be ready to defend themselves.

‘’Clay are you here? It’s (Y/N). And I am positive you know who he is.’’ You pointed at Steve who was just standing around evaluating the situation.

‘’We are here to help. You were my mentor and I know someone tried to kill you and frame you for what happened in Bolivia.’’

‘’How do you know that?’’ A young, good-looking man spoke up from his hiding place. You could see that he was dressed in a ridiculous bike messenger outfit.

‘’ I can still get the internal memos since someone forgot to remove me from the list. Which is a good thing considering that I can help you if something is indeed going on. Sorry I’m asking, but what are you wearing?’’

‘’Can’t say, part of the plan. Does your friend there talk at all?’’ Jensen sensed right away that you were both trustworthy but wanted the others’ permission to share any information.

‘’I do, when I have something to say. I’m Steve and (Y/N) thinks we can be of service to clear your names.’’

‘’Jensen. And we are looking for revenge.’’

‘’I think you said enough.’’ Clay interrupted your conversation. ‘’I will fill our guests in. This one here own me a lot and promised me to never betray me.’’

‘’It was a pinky promise. I always keep those.’’ You spread your arms inviting your friend for a hug like you always used to do to tease him about the whole tough act.

They informed you about Max’s actions and their plan to steal a hard drive from him to prove his actions. It seemed like you weren’t needed although having two extra sets of hand, as back up couldn’t hurt.

‘’Since all we can do now is wait for the class clown to finish his part of the mission, might telling me what do you expect to do next? Stealing from him will get you nothing. We need to make sure he pays.’’ You asked Clay showing how much you still detested your old boss.

‘’I had no idea he acted that way around you. I just thought you needed some time away from the action. And look at you now, an Avengers working with the country’s poster boy.’’

‘’I wanted to come here alone but he is our leader. Looking after the rookie is part of his job. Looks like your boy is successful.’’ You wanted to not comment on your treatment. You had long forgiven Clay for not noticing it.

While the team was working on the hard drive, Steve pulled you aside.

‘’I know that you expect me to talk like a leader and scold you for something. I am joking, those guys are great. Their stories made me feel like I was back at war, making split-second decisions. I don’t approve how they hijacked a helicopter that was dispatched for injured soldiers. However, I understand it was necessary. I’m glad we are helping them.’’

‘’I feel like you are about to tell me something I won’t like.’’

‘’We just need to act quickly. Our involvement will make things go public rapidly.’’ You agreed with him and promised to try your best and for Steve to not get any spotlight.

‘’We found his base of operation. We are headed to Los Angeles. Are you going to come with us?’’ Clay showed you the spot at the port and their mean of transportation.

‘’I think it’s better we get the jet. That way we won’t raise any suspicion and get the element of surprise. Send me the coordinates and we will meet you there.’’

Before landing in the port, you received an encrypted message from Clay. He informed you about Aisha leaving and that he wanted to proceed on his own. You admired him for his dedication to the team. However, that didn’t mean that he had to always be the hero. Refusing your help never stopped you from being a part of a team that could use any assistance. You were surprised about Aisha since you thought she seemed genuine. Steve didn’t share your opinions for he had met many people who betrayed him in the past.

You searched around for a while before finding the team. They had been captured by Special Forces men who were leading them away from your position. Steve reached for his shield but you nodded for him to stop. Drawing attention to yourselves wouldn’t get anything done.

‘’Let’s stay on them to see where they are taking them. If they make any move to shoot them, then we return the shots. You said it yourself, we need to stay unseen. We can’t have the Avengers involved in this.’’

As soon as they stopped, you found a great spot to monitor them. That’s when Steve noticed Aisha pointing a missile at one of the planes.

‘’She is probably here to help. When she fires that, we start shooting to rescue our friends.’’ It all went according to plan, with one issue left to be dealt with.

‘’I saw many armed people while we were coming here. I assume your target would be there with his weapons. Let’s finish your mission.’’ Steve couldn’t help but sound in commend. You then noticed your teammate had been shot in both legs. And having the others asking him if he can stand wouldn’t be pleasant either.

Taking down the rest of your enemies was easy. However, Max still got away. Fortunately, you managed to fire a missile on his plane that was filled with money.

‘’Good job (Y/N). I always knew I could count on you.’’ Clay still sounded like your big brother.

‘’And I always knew you would save my life, time after time. Choosing to let him go to not destroy the whole city is exactly what a hero does. Are you going to tell me what is going on with Aisha now or do I have to wait until we get your teammate to the hospital?’’

‘’She is the drug lord’s daughter. Yes, the one I killed. I bet she won’t let me forget about it any time soon.’’

In the hospital waiting room, everyone thanked you and Steve for helping them. You were just glad that it was over. Steve knew it wasn’t the right time then again he promised to keep an eye out for any more corrupt federal agents. He also offered to make the team official consultants for the Avengers.

‘’That would be great. Especially if it means we will get to see more of the two of you.’’ Clay accepted the offer and Jensen handed you and Steve pink shirts.

‘’Also, if you are not busy saving the world or anything, my niece’s soccer team is playing in a few days. You should come. They are in the playoffs.’’

@writing-journeyx @sprinkleofhappinessuniverse @agentpeggicarter @ohyesmarvel @buckyofthemyscira @romantichen @once-upon-an-imagine @marveliskindacool @jurassicbarnes @uncomfortable-writers @theassetseyeliner @sgtbxckybxrnes @thetherianthropydaily @dresupi @redgillan @captainrogerss @musikat18 @justreadingfics @murdocksmartinis

#noahs cinema rewrite challenge #steve rogers fic #steve rogers x reader #marvel fic #the losers movie #the losers fic #movie rewrite

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roverpassusa · 4 years

Text

Best Driving Tips For First-Time RV Owner

Driving an RV comes naturally for many. Once you’ve driven it a few thousand miles or so, it starts to feel just like driving an SUV or even a sedan. The first time driving an RV, however, requires special care and concentration. You wouldn’t let your child bike down the driveway on the first day. Nor would you let your teenager drive on the highway their first go around. Likewise, you should take it easy the first time you’re driving an RV. Stick to a parking lot at wide, empty stretches of road.

It can be intimidating operating such a large, metal, death box. This can make some drivers anxious and forget to familiarize themselves properly with their motorhome before getting behind the wheel. It’s okay to be nervous, it implies a willingness to learn. But when nerves begin to affect judgment and inhibit focus, they become dangerous. Let this guide take you from standing in front of an RV for the first time all the way to driving one.

Guide to Driving an RV for Beginners

1. Tips for Preparation – Before You Drive

Prior to putting your RV in gear, you need to take several steps to ensure your own and other’s safety on the road. The first is to know the width and height of your vehicle. Failing to do so can result in accidents ranging from embarrassing to life-threatening. Width is less problematic, but if you have an RV of over 102 inches in width (8.5 feet) then you’ll mainly be restricted to highways in the following states:

Alabama

Arizona

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Kentucky

Louisiana

·Maryland

Michigan

North Carolina

West Virginia

Vehicle height is something you’ll have to keep in mind on a more regular basis. Knowing your clearance height is the only thing keeping your RV from being decapitated by a bridge. It’s your responsibility to be on the lookout for low overpasses, the majority of which are clearly labeled well in advance.

If you’re unsure of your clearance level, make sure to measure from the highest point to the ground. Write this down on a sticky note and place it somewhere clearly visible from your driver’s throne. You can also check your owner’s manual for measurements, but keep in mind this doesn’t include any accessories you may have on top (beware of air conditioners!).

youtube

Take all the same measures you would when driving an ordinary car for the first time. Adjust the mirrors. Unlike in a car, the side mirrors are your essential source for seeing rearward, as the rearview mirror is useless for navigational purposes in an RV. Another major difference will be the size of your blind spot. RV’s have much larger ones than cars do. It’s important to monitor your mirrors frequently to watch out for vehicles that may like to take refuge in your blind spot.

Lastly, move the seat to a position that allows you to comfortably command all controls. Driver’s seats in RVs can be adjusted in more ways than those in standard cars, so take your time playing with the switches and buttons until you sit like Goldilocks in your metal death box–just right.

2. Tips for Navigation – While You’re Driving

This might sound dumb, but driving an RV is the same as driving a car, it’s just bigger. See, I was right. And if you want to try our RV you can also book by our campground reservation software.

Maneuvering an RV requires much more space than you’re accustomed to driving a sedan, truck, or van. Just as you’ve probably noticed bus drivers do when you ride public transit, turning requires taking your RV further out into the intersection before you begin swinging it around the corner. Failure to do so could result in running over the curb, a person, or, worse, a puppy (we all know it’s worse).

To avoid doing so, we recommend starting out in an empty parking lot and investing in a few traffic cones to practice with. They’re great for practicing turns, backing up, and the dreaded act of parallel parking. Reading this guide will only get you so far. At the end of the day, there is no substitute for real-world experience. That’s what hiring managers keep telling me during job interviews before rejecting me. If only I would have planned ahead.

Speaking of which, you still have time to. It’s important to plan your route to ensure you won’t have to navigate any areas that may make you feel uncomfortable. Don’t feel bad about driving slow. As you well know, other drivers will politely acknowledge that you’re learning and will surely be voicing encouragement in their own vehicles. Just kidding, they’ll be cussing at you and flipping you off like always. Pay them no mind. They are stinky toot cabbages.

Here are a few things you should keep in mind before you drive an RV. The first is that there is a slight delay between when you press down on the brake pedal and when your RV begins slowing down. This delay of up to a half second can feel much longer when you’re used to having a stopping distance of 150 feet at 60 mph. Learn to give yourself more space.

Yes, you’ll probably definitely get cut off by people who think your following distance is the perfect spot for them (no really, it’s impossible to underestimate the stupidity of other drivers and their penchant for putting lives at risk to save a few seconds). It’s better to arrive a few minutes later, however, than to tailgate and cause an accident. Be patient, stay in the right lane, and drive a bit slower than everyone else.

Driving an RV is a cinch. Once you get accustomed to being so high off the ground, you’ll grow to love the feeling of power that accompanies it. Cruising by, so high, you’ll wonder why you waited so long to fly, no lie. Yes, you’ll have fun driving an RV. Just remember to plan your route ahead of time, make wide turns, and keep a safe following distance. The rest will come naturally.

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darkdevasofdestruction · 5 years

Text

Chapter 6 : Summertime Sadness

“Okay, Party, so Dustin’s coming back home today and we gotta make a blast out of it! We’re gonna go over to him, all of us, I mean, and surprise him! And then, maybe we can go to the pool? It’s super hot outside and it’s gonna be so much fun! We never went together to the pool, did we?” I looked at the gathered kids in my living room. “It’s gonna be awesome! Haven’t gone to the pool before, actually. Since in Cali it was so hot, we’d just go to the beach all the time.” Max grinned, leaning on Lucas. “Hell yes! Let’s go, let’s go-” Lucas cheered, but was interrupted by Mike. “What about El?” he asked, frowning. “What about her?” I asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “She can’t go in public. It will attract attention to her and that’s not good. You know Hopper’s rules.” Mike whined, making us sigh a bit. “What Hopper doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Look at me, I’m out here doing whatever the hell I want. Nobody knows El, except for us, so what’s the big deal? I’ll cover for her, if needed.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Do you even care about her and her safety?!” Mike yelled, making me glare at him. “If anyone understand El the best, it’s ME not YOU, Mike! We have the same background, the same problems, the same powers. But she is still a godamn 14 year old girl! She’s a teenager, she should go out of the house and have fun! What’s the big deal?! Chill and enjoy life!” I rolled my eyes, getting everything ready to go get El from home and raid Dustin’s house. “Mike, come on, calm down. You know Fox is always there for us. She won’t let El get hurt or be in danger.” Will tried to pacify him, hugging me. “Yeah, fine, whatever. Let’s just go get her and greet Dustin.” he grumbled, getting out of the house ahead of us. “Sheesh, lover-boy is moody…” I sighed, getting in the car to drive them all to El, pick her up, then go to Dustin.

Very soon after we got in the house, Dustin and his mum got here too, and while Dustin went to his room, letting nostalgia hit him a bit, I and El started making his toys make sounds and move towards the living room, where we lay hidden. Poor baby was super confused and scared at what was going on, and when he was inspecting the now non-functional toys, we sneaked up behind him and yelled “SURPRISE” or whistled at him, while Lucas was holding the “WELCOME HOME DUSTIN” cardboard.

Thing is…He got to scared that he used the spray in his hand to attack Lucas and all the spray went in his eyes.

Poor kid.

I laughed like an idiot.

Oops?

Trying to calm him down, I went to hug him tightly, while everyone else was either laughing (the boys and El) or trying to help Lucas see (Max).

Problem is, he was so excited about showing us his new inventions from the science camp and to use Cerebro to chat with his girlfriend, that the plans of going to the pool kinda…Failed.

What a pity…

We had to take a looong time to go up a hill, but while walking there, Will seemed to stop and rub his neck a bit, while looking around a bit lost. I went to him and hugged him softly, petting his hair, looking concerned.

“Are you okay, honey?” I asked him gently, like you would talk to a baby fawn. “Yeah…Yeah, I guess I am. Don’t worry, I’m fine.” he reassured, nodding vigorously, making me chuckle at how adorable he was being. “You know you can talk to me if you need it, okay? Any time, about anything.” I reminded him, making him smile in glee and take my hand, going up the hill to the rest of them.

One by one, they all started leaving, and I, too, had to, but I felt bad seeing Dustin’s ruined dreams. I, unlike the others, believed in Suzie, otherwise he wouldn’t have tried so hard to reach out to her.

“Hey, Dustin…I know she’s out there. I’m sure she’ll answer soon. But please go home, it’s getting late and your mum’s gonna worry. I don’t want you staying alone around here, okay? Come, I’ll drive you home. Also…Wanna go to the pool tomorrow? We wanted to go today, to celebrate you coming home, but seeing you so excited and happy changed our minds.” I got up, extending my hand for him to take so we can go home, and he nodded, a bit upset. “Okay, Fox…Are we gonna be all of us?” he asked, as I put a hand around his shoulder while he put his around my waist, slowly going down the hill to my car, with Will holding my other hand. “Well…Hope so. I don’t know about Mike and El…I guess with the new relationship and all, they’re a bit…Too obsessed with each other. And Mike worries about El’s safety.” I tried to say in a way so as Dustin won’t get upset. “But Lucas and Max weren’t like this! …I think. And you and Billy aren’t like this either!” Dustin protested, pouting slightly. “Haha, well…Lucas and Max are a bit more…Mature, to say it like that. They know their stuff and aren’t awkward and shy, like Mike is…And El is new to this world, so it’s no surprise. And I and Billy are 18, so it’s no surprise. We have experience and are emotionally and intellectually more mature than you are…And now that we graduated, we have more free time, despite out part time jobs, so we can hang out whenever we want and it won’t interfere with the Party hang outs and whatever.” I shrugged, reassuring him. “If Suzie were here, you’d have liked to impress and spend a lot of time with her too, right~?” I teased slightly, winking at him and laughing slightly when he turned red. “But…I don’t really like it…I mean, I get that we’re growing up and all that…But it’s not nice to forget or ignore your friends…” Will said in a low voice, pouting. “Awww, baby, I’m sorry…It’s okay, I understand it’s a difficult change, but it’s gonna be okay. Tomorrow we’ll go to the pool and it’ll be super fun, okay?” I kissed the top of his head, getting him in a side-hug. “Well…Then let’s do it!” Dustin cheered as he got in the car.

—

“I’m sorry they didn’t come too, Dustin…” I looked at him with a sad smile, but he shook his head. “Nahh, s'all cool, at least they won’t be too busy snogging and ew whatever.” he shrugged as both Will and Max dragged me to the pool. “Uhhh, c-can we, l-like, w-walk slower? I-I’m a bit shy, o-okay?” I stuttered a bit, looking left and right. “Oh, shush, Kat! You’re gorgeous and you gotta show off that body of yours! And that swimsuit brings out your eyes, okay?” Max encouraged, tugging on my arm. “Yeah, Kat, don’t be shy! Just, don’t think and focus on the fun we’re gonna have once we jump in the water!” Dustin cheered as we got to our lounge chairs and put or stuff there. “O-Okay, yeah, s-sure, it’s gonna be oka-” I began, nodding to myself and trying to encourage me, but that went down the drain once Max tugged on my arm and said, louder than I wished to, “Hey, look, Billy’s here!” which made me let out a soft yet shrill yelp, hiding my face with my hands and trying to hide behind Max, who, as soon as she saw her brother strut towards us, pushed me pretty harshly towards him, getting the gang to jump in the pool, making me stumble and have him catch me in his arms, chuckling. “Awww, look what I found, a Fox falling for me, how cute.” he teased, not letting me go from his embrace. “O-Oh, h-h-hey there! I-I didn’t s-see you here! Wh-What brings you here?” I manage to stutter, looking away from him, letting my hair cover my face. “Kat…I work here.” he deadpanned, making me slap my face. “R-Right…I forgot…” I tried to say, but he shook his head. “Nah, you didn’t forget. You’re just shying out again…And you’re adorable as hell.” he teased, playing with a strand of my hair. “N-No, I-I’m not.” I whispered, not able to say anything out loud, which made him chuckle. “How am I gonna work now when you look so fucking hot and I can only stand there and watch you. You’re so cruel, Kitten. SO cruel, that you don’t even know what you’re doing to me.” he flirted in a low, sensual voice in my ear, making me yelp and hide my face with my hands once again. “D-Don’t s-s-say that! I-It’s s-so embarrassing!” I blurt out, barely audible, making my legs tremble. “You have no idea how much I want to tease you right now…But alas, my shift started and I have to make sure all these fat cows come here as frequent as possible, so we can make money. I promised you we’d go on lotsa trips till we move back to Cali, and I’m not backing down from that promise.” he kissed me deeply, one hand on the back of my head, while the other on my waist, while mine rested on his chest, shaking slightly from embarrassment. “To think we’d be together for so long and you’d still blush like this from a simple kiss…Fuck, I’m a lucky son of a bitch…” he muttered in the kiss, making me giggle slightly. “I love you too, Billy.” I smiled up at him, but when I looked up, he had one of those evil smirks on his face, which made mine falter and try to walk backwards, but to no avail.

He had me trapped.

“Billy…Billy, no…Don’t do that…” I warned him with an awkward laugh, but he only shook his head and picked me up. “Sorry, babe, this is revenge for making me have a raging boner at work.” he chuckled, throwing me in the water as I let out a pitched shriek of shock, before swimming back to the surface. “YOU’RE SO DEAD, HARGROVE!” I yelled at him, but he paid me no mind and went to his lifeguard chair. “Jerk…” I muttered, swimming to the kids and having lots of splash wars, jumping in the water, having swimming competitions and so on.

By the end of the day, we went home, changed and went to Starcourt, the new Mall, going straight as Scoops Ahoy, ‘cause I promised the kids I’d get them Ice Cream, and they promised me a surprise, since I didn’t have the chance to go there until today.

Will guided me to the ice cream place, and as I was looking around, admiring the interesting decor, I hear a very familiar “Welcome to Scoops Ahoy, how may I-…Kat?!” that voice called out to me, snapping me from the trance I was in and gasping. “STEVE! Oh my God, no way! …How can you serve ice cream and not salivate?! Like…Whoa!” I laughed, going over the counter to hug him. “I guess I treated you guys to so much ice-cream in the last year of highschool that I got used to it.” he shrugged, smiling. “It’s good to see you again.” he smiled at me. “That’s a really nice working environment…But how do you deal with the people?! I couldn’t work in such a place. The animal shelter is doing me good, at least.” I chuckled, leaning on the counter. “Well…I get free ice cream whenever I want so…Worth it.” he winked, making me laugh. “Free ice cream for your friends too~?” I trailed on, batting my eyes jokingly. “Mhhh…Depends? Maybe? I will see~.” he shrugged mockingly, looking away. “Fine, fine, you win, King Ste-…Oh my god, who’s THAT?!” I asked, seeing a girl in the back, holding a white board with “You win” with 0 lines, and “You suck” with…A lot of lines. “You are, like, the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen…Along with Nancy. H-Hi, I’m Kat…Uh, Katrina. Nice to meet you!” I smiled as I went to her extending my hand in her direction. “Look in the mirror, you’ll see something even better. I’m Robin, likewise.” she smiled softly. “How come someone as pretty as you knows someone as boring as him?” he chuckled, making me grin. “He gave me free ice cream and took care of me when I was going through a rough time. He’s like the mother I never had.” I laughed, ruffling his hair a bit. “Is this your new way of flirting, Harrington?” she rolled her eyes at him, making him put his hands up in defense. “Is it working…?” he asked in a low voice, looking like a lost puppy, which made both of us laugh at his reaction. “It’s not a bad start, I guess. Did it work on you, Kat? Don’t tell me he charmed you! Have I lost my chances?!” she mock-gasped, making me giggle and shake my head. “Hahaha, no, no…He’s my friend only…No offense, Steve!” I looked at him apologetically. “But, if I wasn’t already taken, I’d have dated you. I can feel you’re an amazing person.” I smiled at her widely. “I’ll take that as a compliment, thanks~! So…Who’s the lucky guy?” she smirked, nudging me a bit.

From there, we went in the back, eating ice cream with the kids and gossiping about life and what not, before biding our farewells and going to look around the many shops at the mall and then back home. It was fun, I can’t lie, but sometimes, so much social interaction can be draining.

—

“Hey, baby, how are you?” Billy said in a low voice over the phone. “Oh, hey sugar! I’m good, I’m good, just looking over some cases from the shelter. I can’t get rid of homework even now, huh?” I laughed, holding the phone closer to me. “How are you, honey?” “I just called to hear your sweet voice. I missed you. We’ve been so busy with work this week…How about we go on the first trip on the 4th of July? The town’s gon’ be packed with people and all that stupid festival shit…” he trailed on, letting me fantasize with a huge grin on my face. “Oh, yes, that sounds like an amazing plan! I was never a fan of all the people on 4th of July, going at the mountains would be so fun!” I cheered, falling on the bed and rolling around excitedly. “Just you and me, my car and my guitar, singing Scorpions and AC/DC by the camp fire, making out in the tent and swimming in the lake nearby. Perfect trip, hmm~?” his voice lowering by an octave, sounding as suave as ever. “I can’t wait! Ahhh, it’s gonna be so much fun! And it’s like, in almost a week! Oh my god, I love you so much, can’t wait! The whole weekend, just us!” I couldn’t tone down my excitement no matter how much I tried. “And I love hearing you being happy. You’re giving my heart a huge boner. When we see each other again, Imma hug you so tight and not let go the whole day.” he chuckled softly. “I’m not complaining. Cuddling with you always helped me relax and sleep well. It’s so warm and urghhh I miss you, babyyy.” I whined a bit before giggling, imagining his done-with-life expression. “My Kitten is so cute, missing me like this. Don’t worry, babe, I’ll make it up to you, I promise. I gotta go now, duty calling. Love you.” he said before hanging up and leaving me thinking of the trip.

So! Much! F U N !

—

“Okay, so, let me get this straight! You two went yesterday at the mall and had fun…And then you met up with the Idiot Party…And you broke up with Mike for lying to you?” I asked, completely shocked and amused. “Yeah…I dumped his ass.” she nodded, completely innocent but also furious. “Well…You did the right thing, El. Max gives good advice, it seems. Also, I agree with her, Mike’s gonna come back running to you and begging on his knees to have you back. So don’t worry, he will apologise and explain pretty soon what’s the matter.” I shrugged, petting her hair. “Yeah, well, let’s forget about boys! Let’s play spin the bottle, but with a twist! We write names, and you and El can look into the person’s mind and see what they’re doing! Sounds fun?” she asked excitedly, bouncing on the bed. “Sounds good to me! Max, will you write the names?” I brought some sticky notes, gluing them on a cardboard.

Steve, Nancy, Mr. Clarke, Mrs. Wheeler, Dustin, Mr. Wheeler…And Billy.

“Why did you write Billy? What if he senses my presence?” I asked, a bit worried. “Don’t worry, he’ll just tease you. You can say you were testing your powers or something, he’s completely charmed when you talk or use them.” she shrugged. “Well…Don’t you think he’s been acting a bit…Strange, lately? He hasn’t called me in a few days and…I don’t know. I went to visit him at the pool, but he told me his shift just started and I should be careful of what’s about to come. It’s kinda creepy.” I muttered, looking down. “Kat, he’s never been in love, until he met you. He can be weird, I know, but I’m sure he’s fine. Come on, spin the bottle now!” she tried to hype me up, so I smiled briefly and used my powers to spin it, landing on Mr. Wheeler. “Uh…Do I really have to…?” I sweatdropped. “Ew, no, okay, he’s gross. Go again.” Max gagged, spinning the bottle herself. “Well, ain’t this fate…?” I ushered slightly, getting the scarf and preparing to go into Billy’s mind.

Sighing a bit, I started walking in the water, but I soon found his Camaro, but the windshield was smashed. I inspected it slightly, before hearing some whimpers, and rushing in that direction, Billy was crouching and reassuring someone on the floor. “Don’t be afraid, it will be over soon. Just stay very still” he told the girl whimpering…But I couldn’t see her, only hear her screams of despair that somehow made him turn around and look me directly into his eyes…His eyes were watery…He’d been crying…

Anxiety took over me so badly that I started panicking, seeing his form vanish in front of me whilst I tried to reach out… This isn’t good at all.

I ripped off the scarf from my eyes, used the back of my hand to wipe the blood tear from my face and jumped to my feet.

“I’m going to your house. Something isn’t right…Not at all.” I muttered frantically, trying to get them to come with me. “He’s not cheating on you, I promise.” Max tried to reassure me, but I shook my head, my eyes watering a bit. “I’m not scared about that, I know he’s not…I’m…I’m scared for his life…I think he’s in danger…And…L-Let’s just go, okay? Please.” I pleaded, making them look at each other and nod, rushing the my car as I drove them to Max’s home. “He’s car isn’t here…” El said, looking around, sensing my anxieties. “There’s was a girl’s scream…She seemed to be in agony…She was frightened…Crying…And Billy…He seemed scared…He had been crying…He seemed just like after each time Neil was a fuckass with him.” I bit my lip, rushing to his room and looking around. “Let’s search around then…If you say you’re worried, then might as well…” she sighed, going for the nearest drawer the open it. “DON’T OPEN THAT ONE-” I tried to warn her, but to no avail. “Urghh, gag me with a spoon…” she groaned, slamming the drawer shut. “Yeah…Experienced that first hand. Gross, I know.” I shuddered, looking away. “He likes it cold…” I muttered, putting my hands in the water-filled bath tub that had ice bags floating on it. “You don’t think…?” El asked, frightened, before Max cut us off. “It must be for his muscles. He works out like a maniac.” but her comment wasn’t reassuring in the least.

My sight was averted to a cupboard that had some blood on the handle, and inside, I found a bloody lifeguard whistle and a red fanny pack…Damn, that’s bad.

“I…I think we gotta go to the pool and find out whose bag this is…” I say unsure of what to do, and they approved, going to the car with rain coats.

There, two lifeguards greeted us in the most ignorant and rude way.

“No one in the water until 30 minutes after the last strike. And don’t try and argue with me. You wanna get electrocuted, go climb a tree.” the guy said, rolling his eyes annoyed. “Yeah, we don’t care. We’re not here to swim. Or get electrocuted. We found this. Does that belong to anybody?” Max asked, showing them the fanny pack. “Oh, yeah. That’s Heather’s. I’ll get it back to her.” he said eyeing the bag. “We could give it back to her.” Max implied, making him shake his head. “You could. 'Cept she’s not here. Bailed on me today.” sighed, irritated at Heather. “Heather…Heather Holloway?” I asked, blinking at him confused. “Yeah, her. Y'know her?” he asked, almost intrigued. “Been to highschool together. Thanks for the tip, I’ll go give it to her, I know where she stays.” I explained, guiding the girls away from there. “Her picture is on the board…Do you think you can find her? What if she’s not at home?” Max asked, blinking at her picture. “Let’s see.” El muttered, ripping the picture and going to the showers, where we turned on all showers and waited for her to try and locate the girl.

It didn’t take El too long to find her, describing the weird red door that I remember she had at her house, but soon, she started panicking and freaking out, taking off the diver goggles.

“She…She asked for help…She was in a tub with ice…” she tried to explain, and my heart dropped. “This ain’t good at all…” I sighed, driving to where I remembered Heather staid. “Here we are…I guess. Do we…Do we knock or do we go in via powers?” I stumbled a bit around my words, looking left and right at the girls, but El used her powers, not saying anything. “Okay. If there’s someone inside, the door was open, we already knocked, and we are trying to give Heather the bag back, okay?” I revised the plan with the girl who only nodded.

We tip toed down the halls, until we heard laughter down the dining room, and what I saw there shocked all of us. Billy sat at the table with Heather’s parents laughing and chatting around. An uncomfortable silence took over as they looked at us…But I looked Billy in the eyes and I saw a certain emptiness and complete deceit.

This…This isn’t Billy.

Billy’s eyes have life. They have a sparkle for life, for happiness, for freedom, for fun.

This…Is simply…Dull.

“Kat. Max.” Billy said in a very uncharacteristically pleasant voice. “W-We are s-sorry to barge in like that. W-We knocked, but…Maybe you didn’t hear us b-because of the storm and the door was locked.” I said breathlessly, looking straight into Billy’s eyes. “I’m sorry, who is this dripping all over my living room right now?” Heather’s father asked. “I’m sorry. Janet, Tom, this is my sister, Maxine. And this, is my girlfriend, Katrina. What on earth are you doing here? Is something wrong?“ Billy explained, getting next to us and putting his arm around my waist, getting me close to him. "Beware.” he muttered into my ear so nobody could hear or see, making my eyes widen in shock. “We just wanted to make sure everything was okay.” Max explained, stumbling over her words, seeing that I couldn’t say anything. “Okay? Why wouldn’t it be okay?” Billy looked confused, bending down slightly too look at his sister. “Where is she?” El asked quickly, staring into his eyes. “I’m sorry. Where is who?” he asked in a low voice, staring back at her. “Well, they’re a little burnt!” a voice called out of nowhere, revealing Heather holding a tray of cookies…Her eyes wide, empty, like that of a dead fish or some robot. “I’m sorry Heather! This is my sister, Maxine, my girlfriend, Katrina and, I’m sorry, I did not quite catch your name.” he deadpanned, looking at El again, as if he saw something intriguing. “El.” she said simply, not breaking eye contact. “El. Now, what is it you were saying, El? You were looking for somebody?” he asked again, in what looked like a mildly threatening voice. “I-I saw - I saw you - ” she started, but I quickly cut her off. “We saw one of your co-workers at the pool. We found Heather’s lifeguard fanny pack on the ground and we wanted to give it back. I was her colleague in highschool and I remembered where she stayed. We’re sorry again for coming over like this. He…He said that she didn’t come to work and we got a bit worried. We’re sorry for the disturbance.” I found my words again, sparing El the awkwardness and the inconspicuous words she was gonna say. “Heather wasn’t feeling so hot today, so we thought we’d take the day off to nurse her back to health. But you’re feeling just fine right now, aren’t you, Heather?” Billy explained, looking me in the eyes, his expression barely changing. “I’m feeling so much better. Do you girls want a cookie? They’re fresh out of the oven.” she barely gave us an obviously plastic smile, but we shook our heads, handed her back the bag and left in a hurry back home. “That was NOT okay. That was SO not okay…” I ranted, gripping the steering wheel like crazy. “Are you sure it wasn’t just you feeling a bit jealous?” Max tried, obviously a bit concerned for him too, but too scared to admit. “No. I don’t get jealous. Billy wouldn’t do that…He…He never calls you by your full name, and never calls me by my full name either…He barely even uses my name…And his eyes…Did you see his eyes? They were lifeless, Max! That wasn’t okay! We have to do something!” I tried to explain, my heart beating faster than ever. “Hey, don’t worry, maybe he just had to behave like that because of Heather’s parents. You saw how everything was super formal. Wanna have a sleepover? El’s sleeping at mine. Maybe it will help you calm down?” she suggested, but I shook my head. “No, Max, sorry…I can’t tonight. I’m worried too much. I’ll just go home and take a long bath to calm down, okay? Call me if you need anything, I’ll be there in a heartbeat…And mine are like a rabbit’s.” I tried to joke, but it only made me feel worse. “Okay then, if that’s what you think is right…But we’ll have so much fun! Right, El?” Max grinned, getting El inside her house, but it seemed to me like El felt the same way I did.

—

“Mike…? Mike, do you copy? I…I think this is a code red…Or maybe I’m just too worried…Mike, are you there?” I stuttered in the walkie talkie, waiting for an answer. “Fox? Yeah, I’m here, with Will and Lucas. What’s going on?” he asked, worriedly. “I…I…I think…I…Th-The Mind Flayer…I-I-I think it’s b-back.” I whispered between my forming sobs, hugging my knees to my chest, too scared to imagine. “WHAT?! No…No way…! Will…He mentioned the same…Okay, let’s call a meeting and we’ll see. Come over at mine, I’ll call the girls and we’ll see what to do, okay?” he answered reassuringly, and I only nodded, forgetting he couldn’t see it. “Mike…I’m scared…I-I don’t want it to be back…I…I think…I…” I began, before getting lost in my crying. “Fox? It’s Will. Fox…Do you think he possessed someone again?” Will asked me in a very soft and calm voice, just like I always did with him. “Y-Yeah…Th-That’s what s-scares m-me so much…” I managed to choke out. “And…You think…It could be Billy…?” he asked in a voice as gentle as possible, but hearing someone else say that made me drop the walkie and start crying loudly. “Y-Y-Yeah, I-I think i-it’s h-him…A-And I’m s-so scared…I-I don’t w-want it t-to be him…P-Please, Will…Please d-don’t let it be him…Not him…N-Not him, of all people…H-He’s been through e-enough…Please…” I begged, my head buried in my knees, sobbing like crazy. “Fox, come over, it’s gonna be okay, I promise you. Even if it is Billy, we will make sure we save him. We WILL save him, I promise. Fox, you promised you’d save me, and you did. I promise you now that we will save him, okay? I promise you.” Will declared in a very sure yet sweet voice, and I nodded, shakely getting up. “O-Okay, Will…I-I trust y-you…I’m coming over now…I…I hope you’re right.” I managed to calm down a bit and made my way to the car

Billy…Just…Just what the hell did you do…? Why are you like this? What happened to you?

Please…Just please…Please don’t have Upside down world taking over again…

And please…

Don’t let him be a victim…

I couldn’t bare to lose him…

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

@klassickb

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fanficsaremylifeline · 4 years

Text

Bodyswap

On AO3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21891229

*****

Something on this last mission went horribly wrong. Tony hadn't even opened his eyes yet, but he could feel it; something was not right. There was nothing too unusual, when he eventually glinted through his eyes and looked around the quinjet. The mission went by relatively quickly; SHIELD called them to the Andes, where some Alien was literally breaking mountains apart. Tony had thought it an exaggeration, until he and the Avengers stood in front of the giant creature next to which even Hulk looked small. As much as Tony hated it, but the most apt comparison was a kind of humanoid centipede. There were a lot of arms and legs, too many for Tony's liking. The creature did use it's limbs to beat the Avengers up; he did get quite a few ugly blows in, Tony had to hand it that. His preferred method of fighting was a sort of purple glittery gel that it spewed at the six heroes; by the end of the fight they were covered from head to toe in that disgusting goo. Thank the heavens, it didn't smell.

But by now they were on the helicarrier, more or less cleaned up; SHIELD had the thing under lock and key. How they got the thing on the ship, Tony didn't know. And if he weren't that exhausted after the fight, he'd really would have liked to find out. All of them were unusually exhausted and they all had dozed off within minutes of taking flight. But, except for the last bit of goo dripping off them, everything seemed to be as it always was. Nat and Clint were lying half on top of each other as usual; Thor was sprawled out on a chair; Tony snored softly with his feet on Bruce's armrest.

Wait.

WHAT?

Tony still had to be dreaming, that was the only explanation for him to see himself on the other side of the room, while Tony looked like... Oh, they had to be fucking kidding him! As he looked down himself, he saw the red, white and blue suit of Captain America. And sure enough, there was the shield, propped up against his chair, covered in gel.

Tony repeatedly pinched himself, but sure enough, he was still stuck in this weird bizarro world.

“Jarvis?”

“How can I help you?”

Well, here goes nothing. “Who am I?”

“You are Steven Grant Rogers, better known as Captain America, born on the fourth of July 1918 in...”

Tony waved him off. Not even his own AI could recognize him... Whatever this was, it had to stop right fucking now.

“Up and at 'em”, he yelled, “CODE RED!”

Everybody stirred; Nat and Thor jumped up at Tony's call looking ready and wide awake. Clint and that Tony-clone stirred a little slower, but they were also almost immediately alert clearly awaiting a mission report and orders. Steve was the captain after all, and with Tony apparently wearing his face... Bruce was the only one not waking up; but after hulking out that wasn't anything too unusual.

“WHAT? Who are you and why do you look like me?”, Nat cried out and took two steps towards Tony; well, tried to. Her staggering was about as graceful as a newborn deer on ice and after she had found her balance again she looked down herself and turned beet-red immediately. “Oh my god”, prompting a round of curses as everyone found themselves no longer inhabiting their own bodies.

“Guys. GUYS!”, Tony cried to get everybody's attention. “Guess I'm not the only one in the wrong skin. Let's do inventory. Tony here.”

“Clint.” The other Tony raised his hand and Tony could only groan that Katniss was in charge of his body.

“Nat”, came Thor's booming voice.

“And I'm Bruce”, Clint waved.

“Which'd make you Cap or Thor.” Tony turned to the still beet-red Natasha; from the level of apparent embarrassment, it was probably Rogers.

“Steve.” It was absolutely hilarious that Steve never-been-with-a-girl Rogers was now sporting Nat's body; thank the god of irony!

“That'd make me, well him, Thor”, Clint!Bruce pointed at his body.

“What the absolute fuck happened?”, Thor!Nat asked.

“No idea, but it's very weird to hear Thor swear”, Clint!Bruce observed.

“Weirder than Steve having boobs?”, Tony!Clint laughed and was promptly hit on the arm by Thor!Nat.

“HEY!”, Clint and Tony called out in unison. “Don't you dare bruise my body!”, the real Tony made clear, while the fake Tony rubbed his arm.

“I'm really sorry, Nat”, Nat!Steve apologized over and over again and crossed their arms tightly in front of their chest to cover as much as possible.

“Cap, we all know you've never been inside a woman before, but we have more urgent issues right now”, Tony shot over and turned to Clint. “You're Bruce, right?”

“Yes”, he nodded wide-eyed.

“Well, in your expert medical opinion, do you agree that this slime needs to be examined asap?”

“I do. My best guess would be maybe some psychic properties... Not quite sure. We need to talk to that... thing.”

“Yeah, I'll get right on that.”

“Why you?”, Nat!Steve asked.

“Because we all know that Fury trusts Cap more than anyone else”, Tony shot back with a shrug.

“Wait”, Tony!Clint interrupted. “You don't want to tell Fury what's going on here?”

“If we do that, we'll be SHIELD's guinea pigs”, Thor!Nat agreed with Tony. “Do you want to be locked in a lab, while they experiment on us?”

“Good point. So, I'll just be Tony then?”, he asked, and Tony didn't like that grin one bit.

“You couldn't be me in a million years”, he scoffed at his body.

“You wanna bet?”

“You're both pretty”, Thor!Nat interrupted the bickering, no time to soon, as the door opened and Fury walked in.

“Good you're up. You guys feeling alright?”

“Yeah”, Tony nodded, “just a bit banged up, but we're fine.”

“Good. So, slight change of plans”, he announced. “We'll drop you of in New York, before heading to SHIELD HQ with our special guest.”

“Do you mind if we tag along? I'd like to question that thing.”

“You've done your job, Cap, now SHIELD will do ours; we got it handled. Besides, you're under medical lockdown; Helen Cho is already informed that you guys came into contact with some unknown alien substance and that she needs to keep an eye on you. So far all our tests read it as not dangerous, but just to be sure.”

That would not do. “I'm fine”, Tony stated and promptly tripped over Roger's damn long legs. Fine, at first it might have felt not too bad in this body, with it being a super soldier one; or maybe because this body was 15 years younger than Tony's. But there was so much more body, especially height, to carry around...

“Yeah, I can see that”, Fury deadpanned. ”Still no. Until Cho clears any and all of you, you stay away from SHIELD or any other type of action. And that's an order.”

Damnit. Tony was dying to keep talking and bothering Fury until he got what he wanted. But he was Captain America right now and to not alert Fury, he should probably stand down. Fuck. “Yes, sir.” Ugh, Tony hated that. The other Avengers shot him wide looks, apparently just as surprised as Tony was about being able to take the command without bitching and arguing first. Tony still hated it.

“Good. We'll keep you in the loop”, Fury promised, as the carrier touched down at the Avenger's. “And don't forget Banner”, he added with a nod to Bruce!Thor, who was balled on the ground, fast asleep.

“Yeah, I'm... I mean he's just exhausted from hulking out”, Clint!Bruce explained.

“Right, Barton our resident Hulk expert”, Nick remarked drily. “Off you go and rest.”

Tony caught himself just in time before moaning something along the lines of “yes, mum”, but that would not be very Cap-like. But, in a rare moment of clarity, Barton rolled his eyes at Fury before groaning: “you're not my real Mum!” It was definitely something Tony would have said, but it was just so weird to see it himself talk, without being the one talking...

“Just get out, Stark.”

That he would. Tony!Clint strutted out, followed by Nat!Steve, Clint!Bruce, Thor!Nat carrying the unconscious Bruce!Thor and Tony, who was the last to step out, after nodding at Fury, before he followed the others into the common room. Nat put Thor down on the couch, gently putting a pillow under his head and a blanket over him.

“Should we leave him be?”, Steve whispered and Bruce just shook his head. “I... He is out like a light. Hulking out... Not even a bomb going off would wake me... I mean him.”

“Right.” Tony clapped his hands together. “First things first. I'm starving.”

“Yeah, that'd be the super metabolism”, Steve explained. No idea how to handle his female body, he changed the way he was sitting for the fifth time in the last thirty seconds.

“I swear to god, just sit alright?”, Nat growled at him. “You are driving me insane!”

“I'm sorry, I... I just don't want to be disrespectful.”

“So just sit your... my... ass down!”

As amusing as it was to watch, Tony had a very grumbly stomach to deal with. “JARVIS, order food please. I don't care what it is, as long as it's here quickly.”

“Of course Captain, your order has been placed.”

Ugh. It's been not even half an hour and Tony was already sick and tired of being called Cap.

But it was about to get so much worse.

The door opened and Pepper hurried inside. Tony already felt so much better as she smiled across the room and he was just about to walk up to her, when she took three big strides right into Barton's arms. “I'm so glad you're alright”, Pepper sighed, cupped his face and kissed him. Actually kissed him.

“What the FUCK?”, Tony yelled, staring at them with wide eyes.

“Hello Steve”, she greeted him, looking quite confused at his sudden outburst of emotion and swearing. “Since when do you mind a bit of PDA between a loving couple?”

“Oh god... That's not me, I am!”, he tried to explain the situation, but only helped to further the confusion. Pepper just looked at Clint who stared back with wide unblinking eyes, frozen to the spot and still in her embrace.

“Oh, for fucks sake!”, Tony groaned, “Barton. Let go of my girlfriend!”

Finally Clint moved, backed away from Pepper.

“What is going on?”, she demanded to know, looking from one Avenger to the next.

“No clue, hadn't have the chance o figure it out yet. We just woke up to some Freaky Friday type situation”, Tony explained.

“So... Who I just kissed was not...”

“That was Clint in my body, yeah.”

“So you're...” Pepper took a few careful steps towards Tony but stopped just before she could reach him.

“Yeah, it's me Pep.” Tony shot her a skew grin and would just die to take that last step towards her and give her a proper kiss. This whole situation probably gave enough cause for couples therapy without someone looking and sounding like Rogers kissing her though.

“Huh. Steve?”

“Here.” He raised his hand, waving shyly.

“Oh wow...”

“Tell me about it”, Thor's voice echoed through the room.

“Natasha?”

“Yeah... Thor's in Bruce and Bruce is in Clint.”

“Hi Pepper”, Bruce smiled over.

“I...” Seeing Pepper speechless was a unusually scary sight. Until she started laughing, loud and heartedly. As much as Tony loved that sound, right now he couldn't really enjoy it.

“I'm glad you're enjoying this”, Tony deadpanned.

“Sorry”, she chuckled. “I guess we can't celebrate the victory just yet?”

“I definitely don't want you to celebrate with this body.”

“And not with yours either, I suppose”, she smirked.

“Well”, Tony mused, “if you did, I believe I'd have earned the right to do Natasha-Steve over there...”

“Oh fuck no!”, Nat called out in Thor's booming voice. “Besides the obvious, Steve is already way to overwhelmed with my body.”

And cue Steve blushing so hard he matched his new hair colour.

“Right then. What did SHIELD say, do they have any idea how to reverse this?”

“We didn't tell them”, Tony admitted.

“What the hell, Tony. You kept all this”, Pepper gestures around the room, “from Fury?”

“If I told him, SHIELD would lock us up and... I don't know experiment on us and shit. We've got more than enough brainpower to figure something out.”

Pepper took a deep breath, before locking eyes with Tony again “Alright. If there's one thing I can trust it's your brain and that your batshit crazy ideas somehow seem to work out.”

“Yeah, I promise. We all want to get into our own bodies as quickly as we can.”

Jarvis interrupted them as he announced: “Food has arrived.”

“Oh thank god”, Tony sighed.

“Right. Dig in, make a plan and I'll be right here if you need me.”

“Thanks. I love you.”

Pepper just pulled her face into a grimace. “I know it's coming from you, but it's really weird hearing it from Steve.”

“I bet”, Tony chuckled. “Under these circumstances I'd be fine with you saying it back to Steve's face.”

“I love you too, Tony”, she smiled, stressing the Tony, and brushed his shoulder as she walked past him and out of the room. And Tony could only stare after her, quite aware of the dopey lovestruck grin on his face, but didn't care who saw it.

“Ehem.” A collective harrumph brought Tony back into a reality where he was still stuck inside Capsicle's body, while Clint inhabited his.

“Right then...” Tony cleared his throat and turned to himself. “Since you're me, you get to pay. Don't fight it”, he shot back as Clint motioned to argue. “I'm being merciful here after watching you kiss Pepper. So, get the food, pronto.”

“Yes, Captain”, Barton shot back and headed for the door.

“Right and we should figured out whether we'll be honest with Cho, because I imagine she'll drag our asses to the infirmary any moment now”, Nat threw in, before glaring menacingly at Steve, who once again shifted in his seat, but stilled as soon as he saw her stare.

“I vote yes”, Banner suggested. “We could use another doctor and I'm sure she would be confused as to why Clint and Steve worked in the lab with her.”

“Good point”, Steve nodded. “I still feel wrong lying to Fury...”

“Only until we've figured out what's wrong. We need to head to DC asap anyway to talk to that alien; by then we'll hopefully know what we're dealing with”, Tony shrugged and gratefully took a pizza box out of Clint's arm as he walked back in. “Agree?”, he asked, already half a slice of pepperoni pizza in his mouth.

“Agree”, Steve nodded. “I really don't mean any disrespect but I'm very much uncomfortable in this body...”

Before Tony or Clint could make some more comments, Helen walked into the room. “Hey, I thought Fury told you to come straight to the medbay!”

“Hello Helen”, Tony greeted her with his mouth full of pizza, “we were gonna come down right after dinner.”

“Tony, please don't talk with your mouth full, especially with a lady”, Steve reprimanded him, before turning to Cho. “I'm sorry, we're still practising manners.”

“Alright, but why call him Tony? And since when do you care about that?” Helen looked from Tony to Steve, the questionmark on her face growing.

“Because I'm Tony”, he answered.

“And I'm Steve. And they're all jumbled up as well.”

“You don't expect me to believe that, do you?” Cho looked like every teacher Tony ever had, who got to listen to his excuses. He used to be quite creative with that, but body swap never occurred to him...

“The first time we met, you stitched up a cut on my leg I got in a knife fight with a perv who thought he could have his way with me”, Nat recalled to prove her identity.

“Natasha?” Her jaw was on the ground as she looked at Thor!Nat with wide eyes.

“Hi Helen...”

“Why the fuck didn't Fury tell me about this?”

“Because we didn't tell him”, Bruce admittedly meekly as he took a few careful steps towards her. “I'm Bruce, by the way.”

“And why the fuck wouldn't you tell him?”

“Because we don't want to end up locked up in a SHIELD lab, where they treat us like guinea pigs. With Tony, me and you, we can run all the tests on us, this weird goo and figure out a way to reverse this.”

“So you want me to lie to Fury.”

“It's just... We're going through enough shit as it is”, Tony explained. “I just got to watch my girlfriend kiss Clint and we have the thundering, blundering Thor inside Bruce, which just screams constant hulk-outs. Locking us up at SHIELD won't help anybody, especially not us.”

Silence fell over the room as Helen looked from Avenger to Avenger. “Fine”, she sighed eventually and exasperated threw her hands up in the air. “Just don't get me fired.”

“Not gonna happen, I promise. Thank you, so, so much! It's all gonna be fine, promise.”

“I'll hold you to that”, Helen made clear and pointed at Tony, “and trust me, you don't want to piss me off.”

“Yeah”, Tony gulped, taking a timid step back, “I got it.”

“Good. To the lab then.”

“But... pizza!” Tony had basically inhaled half a pizza already, but he still felt like he was starving.

“Supermetabolism”, Steve explained.

“Ah”, she nodded. “Fine. Then everybody who's not starving with me.” And, with Steve, Bruce and Clint on her heel, Helen waltzed off, leaving Thor passed out on the couch and Tony and Nat gorging themselves on pizzas. At least Nat felt like he did, with a supermetabolized body.

“You guys can shower first”, Helen greeted them as they staggered in, carrying the unconscious Thor while trying not to trip over the annoyingly long legs of their new bodies. Tony had to admit, Natasha handled that giant mountain of muscles a lot more graceful that Tony did... “I got enough samples of the goo for plenty of testing.”

The others had already showered, sitting in jogging trousers and SI sweatshirts on the patient beds. Steve had wrapped himself up completely, hiding all of Nat's curves. Bruce was bent over a microscope, already having started the first tests and Clint had his feet propped up against the wall, reading a magazine.

“Right then”, Tony nodded and carefully, as to not trip too much, he made for the bathroom.

“DON'T LOOK!”, Steve yelled and Tony couldn't help his snorted laugh. “Trust me, I wasn't planning on it.” With that, he disappeared in a shower stall.

.-.-.-.-.

“So”, Helen stated, as she glanced over all the test results. “I can't tell you anything about the glibber yet, but all the tests I ran on you guys... Well, they're spectacularly unspectacular. Your results are in accordance with the body you're inhabiting.”

“Well, nice to know that my body is at least healthy, even though Legolas is running it.”

“You kidding me? I love being in a body that can hear!”, Clint grinned back. “No more hearing aids!”

To stop them from starting a fight, Nat just growled at them and they were quiet. Even though she would probably be respected a lot more in this body, it was nice to know that those two were afraid of Natasha, not Thor's body.

“Thanks for the hint”, Bruce smiled over, reached to his ear and shut off the aids.

And Nat just burst out laughing. She couldn't blame him; those guys were just so damn whiny; if she had the possibility to switch off any hearing, she'd do the same. Huh, she never asked, if Banner knew ASL... “You alright?”, she signed and he smiled back with a nod.

“Sick of the whining.”

“Tell me about it. Lucky you for Clint's body then!” She grinned and Bruce just started laughing.

“At least this one is only 7 years older than mine, not 1500.”

“I don't mind that so much, but it's so damn big and different. Not gonna lie, bathroom was a little tricky earlier.”

“Come on, you got it so much harder when you're not in the wrong skin.”

“Guys, don't discriminate us”, Tony moped, looking from Nat to Bruce.

Clint was still sprawled out on one bed, nose in a magazine. “They're just saying that my body is better than Thor's or Nat's”, he commented, barely looking up at them.

Steve looked over at Tony. “We should probably learn ASL...”

“What's going on?” Bruce locked eyes with Nat.

“More whining”, she grinned back and with a chuckle, Bruce went back to his microscope.

“So, physically everything is normal?”, Steve asked again as he turned to Cho.

“Yeah, why? Something wrong?”

He just shrugged. “I feel kinda weird.”

“The results are all perfectly normal for Natasha”, Helen explained, after double checking her notes. “You do have a bunch of new body parts, maybe you just need to get used to that. If you're still not well by tomorrow or it gets worse, I'll check you again, alright?”

“Sure thing”, he nodded and wrapped the blanket a little tighter around himself.

“Natasha, please tell Bruce to switch the aids on again, I'll need his help to hook you guys up to the computers, so I can run tests on your brainwaves.”

She signed at him and Bruce went back to hearing and to work and in no time, Nat and the guys had all sorts of cables stuck to their heads. And the biologists went nuts over their results, comparing data and throwing technical terms around. All that wouldn't be that unusual, if it weren't all coming from Clint's mouth.

“Dude, this is so bizarre”, Clint whispered over. “I mean, I know it's not me, but...”

“But it sounds and looks like you”, Nat finished his sentence.

“I know how you feel, Barton”, Steve threw over, nodding at his body, discussing something or other with Cho. “Bizarre doesn't even begin to cover all this.”

“How are you guys doing?” Nat didn't even hear the door opening, until Pepper walked up to them and sat herself on Nat's bed.

“The bodies are healthy”, she recapped, “the nerds are currently trying to decipher our brainwaves.”

“I might be slightly biased, but you are in quite capable hands with those three”, Pepper smiled.

“No bias, very true facts”, Steve agreed.

“Well, Clint.” She turned to him and Nat could see how much she was weirded out by her boyfriend's body keeping its distance. “I believe I owe you an apology for me throwing myself at you earlier.”

“There's no need to apologize, how were you supposed to know that it wasn't Tony... Still, in the fear of crossing a line here, Tony is a lucky guy”, he grinned, blushing just the slightest bit.

“I think I can appreciate that compliment.”

“Hi Pepper.” Tony turned around and smiled widely at her, all dopey and lovestruck, a look Nat did not remember ever seeing on Cap's face.

“Tony”, she smiled back, “you're making progress?”

“Not really”, he admitted. “this is gonna take a while...”

“Alright, that means that Clint and you are in a bit of a pickle.”

“Why?”

“Because you, dear, have a presentation.”

“Can't you reschedule?”

“I tried, all day but nope. You'll have to go through that...”

Bruce waved over. “I have a lecture in three days.”

“And I have an appointment at the Department of Education”, Steve finished summing up all the impeding appointments.

“So, me and Bruce are fucked”, Tony summarized.

“Hey, I can do a great you”, Clint shot back.

“And I don't know that you'd be that convincing a Cap”, Steve added.

“I already fooled Fury.”

Once again, Nat got them to shut up with a nice, thunder-godly growl, before smiling back at Pepper. “We're gonna get these guys into shape, don't worry about that.”

“If I didn't have you”, she beamed and put her hand over her heart.

“Us girls just got each other's back”, Nat chuckled, aware how weirdly bizarre that must sound in Thor's deep voice.

“Wait”, Tony interrupted the women. “Cap, your Department of Education appointment... It doesn't happen to be in DC, does it?”

“It is”, Steve nodded. “Day after tomorrow.”

“Perfect”, Nat grinned, “you can go to SHIELD!”

“I don't suppose Fury'll let you measure that thing's brainwaves...”

“He will most probably not”, Tony agreed with Bruce and went back into technical terms and Natasha didn't even bother trying to follow what they were coming up with. Instead she shot Pepper another smile and leaned back on her bed.

If everything went completely perfect, she'd be back in her own body in two days time, on Thursday. And no time to soon; Steve really didn't look all that hot... He hadn't said it, but Nat knew her body well enough to recognize all the little signs that he was not only uncomfortable in the female skin but in pain as well. And, doing the Math, it was that time a month...

“Helen?”, Nat called over, interrupting the scientists. “Got a hot water bottle and some painmeds?”

“Of course, what's wrong, Natasha?”

“It's not for me”, she assured Helen and nodded over at her body. “Cramps.”

“Yeah, of course.” Cho started rummaging through a drawer, as Steve looked over at Nat, moving to ask the obvious question.

“I know my body”, she answered pre-emptively.

“Right”, he nodded and stopped the fight against giving in to the pain. “But I thought nothing's wrong with this body?”

“You're not gonna like this”, Pepper shrugged, “but the body is working like it's supposed to.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Omigod.” Tony looked from Pepper to Nat, who both decided to ignore him in favour of the super soldier, who still hadn't gotten that he was on his period.

“It means that you picked a hell of a week for this body swap”, Helen chuckled.

“What do you... Oh.” The penny seemed to have dropped as his eyes went wide and he blushed even more than Nat knew her body could blush.

Steve ignored everybody staring at him and grabbed the hot bottle Helen held out to him. “Thanks.”

“Of course”, she smiled. “I also got some pads down here.”

“Those aren't the things that go inside...”

“No”, Nat interrupted him, “just the underwear. And you'll wear them, or you get to buy me a whole new wardrobe”, she added with the fake-sweetest grin.

“Cap. You don't have to answer if you don't want to”, Tony asked. “But... Did they teach sex-ed back in the day?”

“Tony, they didn't teach sex-ed when we were in school, hell, in many schools they don't even teach it today”, Bruce answered in Steve's place.

“Good point”, Tony nodded.

“You guys gonna teach Steve about what it's like to menstruate, right?”, Nat shot back and was happy to see Helen and Pepper with similarly pissed off expressions on their faces, at which the guys shied back. “Thought so”, she grumbled before turning to Steve. “Pain, moodiness and cravings, that's pretty much what you can expect. You're lucky, my cramps normally don't get that bad, so you'll be alright.”

“Not that bad?”, Steve cried out. “You mean this could get worse?”

“Oh, honey”, the three women answered in unison and just shook their heads.

“Would you like me to explain to you what is currently happening to your body?”, Helen asked with the fakest smile.

“It feels like my innards are liquidizing themselves.”

“That's pretty much what's happening”, Pepper nodded.

“How do you do this every month?”, he moaned and winced, clutching his stomach.

“You know it's just starting, right?”

“If I ever spoke bad about women, I take it all back and I am eternally sorry.”

“We are all so grateful”, Nat deadpanned and looked back at Cho. “Fun week ahead of us.”

“I'm a bit scared to interrupt”, Bruce threw in, “but it looks like my body is waking up...” He pointed over at the bed Thor occupied and man, was that necessary right now? Was one overemotional superhuman not enough?

“He's on you”, she made clear, “I already got my hands full with that”, she added with a nod to the curled up Steve.

“Fair enough”, he shrugged and walked up to Thor, who groggily opened his eyes.

“Clint, friend, what happened?”, he asked in his dazed confusion.

“Thor, I need you to just stay calm. Do you remember the fight?”

“I do.”

“Well, something happened to us, we don't know what yet, but we all woke up in the wrong body.”

“This is preposterous”, Thor answered. His authoritative and confident tone was definitely unusual look for Bruce's usually so restraint and quiet self.

“You are currently inhabiting the body of me, of Bruce Banner. Which is why I need you to stay calm as to not hulk out on us”, he explained and slowly it seemed to dawn on the god. He looked down himself, down the much smaller body and shit, as realization hit him, a slight green shimmer flickered on his face.

“Buddy, everything's alright”, Bruce kept on repeating and shooting Thor a warm and reassuring smile. “We're at the tower, Helen already made sure that we're not hurt and we have everything we need to find a cure. And that is a promise”, he added emphatically.

“I trust you, friend”, Thor eventually got out and his skin went back to its normal hue.

“Thanks”, Bruce smiled.

“Though I am starving”, he remarked.

“Yeah, that's from hulking out.”

“It is truly a weird sensation...”

“It is just as truly a weird sensation to hear Bruce talk like that”, Clint chuckled, prompting Thor to turn around to the Avengers.

“That's Clint”, Bruce explained, “Tony is in Steve, Steve in Nat and Natasha is currently inhabiting your body.”

“That is... confusing”, Thor goggled, eyeing his body curiously.

“I know”, Nat agreed.

Thor's face just broke into a wide smile. “I am glad then, that a warrior of fierceness, swiftness and strength such as you, Natasha, is taking care of my body. It is an honour”, he added and Nat couldn't help the proud smile spreading over her face.

“Thank you, Thor. I will do my best to honour your being.”

“I have not a single doubt. I propose further convening after dinner, though.”

“Sure. If the doc's ok with it, us non-sciency Avengers can scour the kitchen.”

“Yes”, Helen nodded, “get Thor something to eat and we'll do our job.”

“Thank you, doctor”, Thor smiled as he got off the bed. “This body is slightly smaller than what I am used to”, he remarked after catching his balance again.

“Don't worry”, Bruce laughed, “you'll get used to it.”

After dinner, Thor retired rather quickly to his room, being still exhausted from hulking out. Clint was busy texting with Laura, explaining why he wouldn't call or come home these next few days.

Sitting by herself wasn't something Nat was keen on right now, though. Yes, she was used to being isolated, being on her own but ever since she joined SHIELD and now the Avengers, she got used to enjoy having people by her side.

So she went down to the lab, where Bruce was typing around on a keyboard. Steve was still curled up on the bed; he had refused to move earlier and Nat had just managed to catch herself before calling him a wuss. By now he was fast asleep though and Bruce was working by himself. He seemed to have switch the aids off again, he didn't hear Nat walking in and jumped as she suddenly stood in front of him.

“Sorry, I didn't want to scare you.”, Nat apologized and sat down on a chair on the other side of the experimenting table.

“That's alright”, he smiled, “I just prefer to work in silence.”

“Can't blame you... Where are Tony and Helen?”

“Tony went to get some supplies from his labs for the brain wave scanner he's building and Cho has an appointment tonight.”

“And how are you?”

He smiled tiredly. “No idea. I'm comparing brain waves and feel like screaming in frustration, but I don't want to wake Steve. What about you?”

“Just wanted to check on you. You do look like you could do with a break.”

“Yeah, well I feel like I could do with my own body”, he retorted.

“Yeah... Watching Steve like this”, she halfheartedly nodded at him, “is really unnerving...”

“In a weird way I know how you feel... Watching Thor almost hulk out earlier was strange to say the least.”

Nat couldn't help but laugh at them bonding over their bodies being unpredictable wrecks and the guys going through all that, infecting Bruce.

“Listen”, he signed after a while, looking all sombre and earnest. “I still owe you an apology and somehow it feels easiest to do that without talking and while you don't look like yourself... Probably I'm just a coward.”

What was he talking about? “First of all I don't think you're a coward, and secondly I have no idea what you want to apologize for. But, if it'd make you feel better, you can apologize to me again when we're wearing our proper skins.”

“I might just do that”, Bruce smiled. “But still. I don't think I ever apologized for Hulk almost killing you, back when we had Loki on the ship.”

Bruce had not. And Natasha didn't want him to; she did her all to forget that day being dragged across the helicarrier to her certain death, if it hadn't been for Clint... As sure as Natasha was that she wanted to get back into her body, she knew that she wanted nothing less than talking about that.

“I'm so sorry, Natasha, I can't even...”

“Please don't”, she interrupted, “please just... don't.” Ugh, Natasha hated feeling and sounding weak, maybe even more now that she was in a skin embodying strength and power. But if they started talking about that, she'd probably just break down and that was something she needed even less than this blond mess on her head.

Bruce was silent, looking at her with wide eyes. With Clint's wide eyes; the face she couldn't lie to.

“Can we please not talk about that? I appreciate what you're trying to do, but please no.”

Bruce nodded, still looking like a kid that just witnessed their parents fight for the first time.

Just as he motioned to answer, Tony walked back in, his arm full of tools and wires and shit. “Romanoff, you wanna help out?”

“Sure thing”, she forced herself to grin at him, just catching Bruce's face falling before he, too, forced a smile. Tony didn't seem to notice anything; Nat ran into him in his mechanic-moods often enough to know that all Tony managed to focus on was the project on hand and his coffein intake.

“I'll leave you to your work”, she signed to Bruce, Tony probably already forgot she was there, buried between wrenches and screws and cables. She wouldn't even put it past him to have forgotten he was in the wrong body. There was no malice, his brain was just focused on his work right now.

“Sure thing”, Bruce answered, “talk to you tomorrow?”

“Yeah”, she nodded and the smile she shot him as she walked past wasn't even all that forced.

“Yo”, she patted her body on the shoulder. “Rogers, wake up.”

“What's happening?” He almost immediately sat up and cased his surroundings, only relaxing when he realized where exactly he was. “Hey. I assume I didn't dream all this confusion up and you're actually Natasha.”

“Yup”, she nodded and helped Steve on his feet. “Come on, let the nerds do their job and I'm sure you'll sleep better in your bed.”

“Sounds right”, he agreed as they walked back upstairs together, but he stopped awkwardly before heading to his room.

“What's wrong?”

“I don't want to sound like a stereotype but I really feel like chocolate or something...”, he admitted with a nervous blush.

“Right. Hunk-a-hulk-a-burning-fudge is my go-to craving-remedy.”

“Sounds good to me”, he agreed and a few moments later they sat criss cross on a couch, a container of ice cream between them, the only sound being the clinking of spoons for a while until Steve's snorted laughter broke the silence. “This is so fucked up.”

“Steve!” Nat could not remember ever hearing Steve swear, let alone use the F-word!

“I can't in good conscience let Natasha Romanoff go for that long without swearing”, he grinned back and gobbled up another spoon of ice cream.

“Aw, Steve”, she cooed, “ that is so sweet of you! Unfortunately, I believe your body has sworn more in the last six hours than it did in the last six months...”

“Probably”, he laughed, “but Stark deserves it. I mean he, Helen and Bruce are the ones to get us out of this mess, so if it helps his genius-process, let him swear away.”

Nat chuckled and enjoyed some more of the ice cream and took the chance to really take herself in. When would she ever get the chance to properly inspect her body like that?

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

“You got my face there”, she shrugged. “And I don't know, it's interesting to see myself from the outside.”

“I get that appeal, though I assume for an outsider it looks like Thor's oggling Natasha”, Steve shot back with a skew grin.

“Can't blame him”, Nat snickered, “I look good.”

“I feel compelled to thank you for that compliment...”

“You really never looked better.”

.-.-.-.-.

“CODE GREEN!”

Alarms going off all around ripped Bruce out of uneasy dreams. He never heard that one before; and after having fallen asleep crouched over his desk, his brain took a moment longer than usual to start.

“SHIT!” Tony was quicker to react, from the looks of it he probably hadn't gotten even five minutes of sleep. “JARVIS, Hulkbuster!”

Oh. Well, made that made sense given that it was called 'Code Green' and that Bruce had never heard of it; with him usually being the one causing the alarm... He hurried after Tony, and not even Clint's much fitter body managed to keep up with Steve's long legs. They were barely up the stairs, when Bruce heard the growls and screams he only knew from recordings, videos and his nightmares.

To see Hulk – himself – like that was so much worse than he'd hoped it be. Pure rage and hatred emanated from Hulk as he smashed his way around the giant living room.

That was him; that was Bruce right there. He felt all the colour draining from his face and if he didn't have a wall right behind him to lean on, he'd probably have dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Bruce could only stare with wide eyes, as the Iron Legion cornered Hulk, making it all a million times worse.

It took a couch crashing against the wall just beside him to get Bruce out of his trance. Right. Bruce had caused the Hulk, maybe he could just calm Thor.

“Hey buddy”, he tried to smile as he walked up to Hulk, doing all he could to ignore the jelly-like feel of his knees.

“Bruce”, Tony whispered, “do you really thing this is a good idea?”

“Yes, please don't get my body broken”, Clint hissed, but Bruce decided to ignore them both; except for motioning for Tony to get the Legion out the way.

“Thor, I know it's weird to be in this body. And I know it's terrifying.” He walked up to him with his palms out and locked eyes. “But that's alright. We're all terrified, but at least we are all in this together. So please, my friend. I'm asking you to trust me.” With that he held out his hand and either he'd be smashed or they'd get Thor back. If Bruce was being honest, he wouldn't mind either option.

But doubt came over Hulk's face and Bruce could watch the rage slowly dropping as Hulk looked down on Bruce's (well, Clint's) hands. “It's alright, buddy”, he assured him again with a smile, that wasn't even forced.

And the giant green hand came down. Not in a fast punch, but gently, Hulk put his hands in Bruce's, and the green colour started to fade. “Listen, I know you're gonna feel bad now, but I'm here. I got you, I promise.” And the transformation started. This was gonna be a bad thing and definitely not pretty. Bruce barely remembered turning back; often he just came to again in ripped or – mostly – no clothes, in a usually smashed building and no recollection of the last how ever long it was that he had been terrorizing people around him.

Hulk – or was it Thor already? - began to scream and buck, as every muscle in his body spasmed. His skin flashed between deep green and Bruce's normal less than white skin colour, as he curled himself together and shrunk down. “I'm right here, you're gonna be alright”, Bruce kept on reassuring Thor, who was going through some pretty painful shit right now. He knelt by his side and kept his hand on Thor's shoulder who did look almost completely human by now. Looking over at Bruce with wide eyes, there was only a last glimmer of green flickering over his skin, which too, quickly faded away.

“Friend, what happened?” It was barely a hoarse whisper, but more than Bruce usually managed to get out after hulking out.

“You just hulked out on us”, he explained, “but everything is alright again.”

“I am so sorry!”, Thor apologized over and over again, “I truly am.”

“Don't worry about it. Happens to the best of us”, Bruce added with a grin, before he turned to the Avengers. “Can someone get some clothes for the god of thunder?”

Only now Thor realized that Bruce's pyjamas he had borrowed did not survive the hulking activities and blushed immensely. “My apologies, dear friend, for bringing your body into such improper circumstances.”

“Please, nothing I haven't seen yet”, Bruce chuckled, before Clint threw bunch of clothes in their directions, which Thor gratefully took.

“Gotta say”, Tony nodded and patted Bruce's shoulder as Thor dressed himself, “could use you around for every unplanned hulk out.”

“Uh yeah...”

“Friend Stark is right”, Thor smiled, dressed again and most his wits collected. “Thank you, from the bottom of my... well, your heart”, he added with a chuckle.

“Of course”, Bruce smiled back, well, tried to smile back. All that just happened hit him like a wrecking ball and as grateful as he was about Thor being – more or less – himself again, a part of Bruce wished he'd never seen this. Yes, Hulk never had been some purely theoretical being that just took over every time Bruce blacked out, all the pain and destruction was very real, but being face to face with this rage, this monster; this monster that was him...

“Get him something to eat, as much calories and sugar as you can get; Thor's gonna need that”, Bruce instructed. “And you need to rest”, he added in Thor's direction. He could barely look at the tired and exhausted face smiling over at him; the face of the deadly killing machine that caused so much harm.

Bruce had to get out of there, needed a place where he could break down in private, and that as quickly as possible.

Fussing over Thor, nobody seemed to notice him slipping out. He made for upstairs, for the roof; fresh air was what he needed, and maybe no one would go looking for him there. Though it was more staggering than anything else, Bruce made it up, stumbling out the roof door and all but collapsed on the cement floor.

But not even out here, with all that fresh air, he could breathe. It felt like someone kept on tightening a vice around his chest, constricting, squashing his innards... Being out of breath was the only thing keeping him from screaming his lungs out, cry out all that anger, fear, the pain, especially that shame and self-loathing.

Slowly Bruce crawled forward; blinded by emotions he wasn't even sure where he went, but maybe, if he moved, his body would go back to listening to him... Who was he kidding, this wasn't even his body! It wasn't his body that scraped itself bloody on the rough concrete, it wasn't his body that felt sick with hatred and hurt; it wasn't his body that just wouldn't let him die...

Oh.

Bruce could die in this body; he could actually die... And there would be nothing; no pain, no Hulk, no hatred...

Somehow he got to a wall, leaned against it and just let all the thoughts and feelings flow; he had no strength in him to fight all that; what little strength he had left Bruce had to focus into not suffocating and not throwing up. He wouldn't fight the tears any more, that was a lost cause so he let the tears roll off his cheek and took a deep breath.

He could die. But he'd also kill Clint's ride in the process. Clint didn't seemed to be bothered by a different skin that much though... He just was that type of person that rolled with the punches and made the best out of a bad situation. And besides, he'd keep all his skills with bow and arrows, he could be the shooting Ironman or something...

Yes, Hulk would still be around, but it wouldn't be Bruce's problem. If his conscience would let him get through with that though... Who cared, Bruce'd be dead, he wouldn't have a conscience any more!

“Penny for your thoughts?” Blinded by his tears, Bruce didn't even bother to look up at who walked up to him. He didn't need to; Thor's booming voice was unmistakeable. Of course, Natasha had followed him up here. She knew Clint after all, better than anybody else did. All the little tells, they were as obvious to her as a neon sign.

“I'm not that cheap.”

“Good”, she chuckled, “don't sell yourself short.”

Bruce was not in the mood for small talk, he just wanted to be left alone. “What are you doing here?”

“Enjoying the view”, she shot back, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “And you?”

“Take a wild guess.” Balled on the ground, with tears running down his cheeks and his knees and hands scratched and bloody, it really wasn't that hard a conclusion.

“You want to talk about it?”

Bruce just shook his head. He got it now; he got why Nat wouldn't accept his apologies, wouldn't want to talk about Hulk. That face... His face was just such a hate-filled grimace, no signs of humanity, not even the slightest bit. Bruce was pretty sure that the only reason he had managed to calm Hulk down earlier was because he had Thor inside. As quick as Thor was to anger, he was even faster to calm and trust those he held close. If Bruce had been in there... It would have been a very different story.

“Listen”, Nat continued, “I know I said I didn't want to talk about it. But I also know that you're hurting and... I don't know, man, I'm just worried about you.”

“Why? Cause I got to see what kind of killing machine I really am?”, he shot back and looked up at her. “Cause I had to once experience what you live through every time the big guy's around?”

“Is that what's going through your head right now?”

Screw this. “You were right, about not wanting to talk about it”, Bruce scoffed, letting all the bitterness sound through. He was still a little weary on his knees as he got up and walked past her to the door. Well, maybe she did deserve to know what he was thinking, if only for him to be affronting. So, before the door closed behind him, he turned around one more time and locked eyes with her. “What's actually going through my head, is that in Clint's body, I could actually die”, he stated honestly, turned around and behind him the heavy door closed with a loud echoing bang.

.-.-.-.-.

“Boss.” JARVIS' voice ripped Tony away from his work. And he hated nothing more than being interrupted whilst mid-project

“What?”, he grunted, barely looking up from the circuitry.

“Your phone has been ringing for the last ten minutes.”

“Huh?” Properly looking up and even putting his screwdriver down, he heard the repeated beeping of his phone.

“It is Colonel Rhodes”, J informed him.

Well, he wouldn't want to let his Platypus wait! “Put him through, then.”

“Finally”, Rhodey's voice echoed through the lab, “I know you love watching the line blink but I might just take this personally.”

“Darling, you know I love you more than any blinking line”, Tony grinned back, “I'm just busy in the lab, is all.”

“And why do you sound like Steve?”

“As if you don't know”, he scoffed back and was a little miffed that he couldn't shoot his friend the death glare through a voice call, especially when Rhodey started laughing only moments later. “Well, happy you're having fun with this bullshit.”

“Sorry”, he chuckled, “I really am. Yes, Pepper told me and maybe, just maybe, I am kicking myself for being on a business trip right now. I don't suppose you'll still be sporting the latest Super-Soldier-body next week?”

“Not if I've got anything to do with it”, Tony made clear. “I get to interview that thing Thursday, building a brainwave reader right now. And then we'll see.”

“Sounds like a plan. So, how are you doing?” And like that, Rhodey's voice went from totally amused and a little bit mocking to supportive and understanding.

“Well, I already got to watch as Pepper kissed my body, even though Barton was inside and I'm wearing the skin of the man that fucked up my childhood. How do you think I'm doing?”

Rhodey was besides Pepper the only person, Tony didn't even think before speaking; not telling the truth didn't even occur to him when talking to his honeybear.

“I get that... Maybe you should talk to Steve, let him know.”

“Well, he's definitely got bigger problems than my unresolved daddy issues, which aren't his fault. He was dead then, there's nothing he can do”, Tony sighed. It was a little unfair of him to hate Steve the way he did. Well, it probably wasn't hatred any more, but still.

“Do you want me to come home?”

What now? “Rhodey, I'm a grown man. I'm not some fifteen year old college student any more.”

“My duty of care did not end the day you turned 18, or 21. That duty will extend to the day either of us bow out. Well, until you do. Because rest assured if I die before you – and that's a big if – you can bet your pretty ass I'll haunt you if you don't look after yourself, so let me ask again: do you need me to come home?”

“Oh, honeybear!”, Tony cooed and he was admittedly a little lost for words and tearing up just a little bit, which he would vehemently deny if accused of that. “You don't. But I can't even tell you how much I love you for offering just that.”

“I love you, too. There's just one concern...”

“Yes?”

“Just because this body you're having now is young and enhanced, it doesn't mean you can work for 72 hours straight.”

Man, Rhodey just knew him too well, which was an amazing thing, of course. “Well, you'll be happy to know that I am only on hour... JARVIS, when did we get back from South America?”

“27 hours ago.”

“And two of those 27 hours I was being treated by Helen and shit, so I'm only on hour 25.”

“JARVIS”, Rhodey sighed, and Tony could see him shaking his head at that. “If he reaches 36 hours without sleep, you are hereby authorized to cut all the power to the lab.”

“Yes, I will”, JARVIS confirmed and Tony could only groan.

“J, you're my AI, not his.”

“As your AI, that is named and created after the person responsible to look after you, it is my foremost task to keep you as safe as I can”, he stated simply and Tony swore, he saw Jarvis, the human Jarvis, standing in the corner, his arms crossed and shaking his head at Tony.

“Fine”, he groaned. “Just remember: I built the first Ironmansuit in a cave in the desert in Afghanistan.”

“Tones, we're fucking worried about you”, Rhodey cried out. “You little shit are important to me, to Pepper, to JARVIS, so I don't give a fuck if you don't care about your life, because I do. How do you think I'll feel if you work yourself to death? So don't even think I'll apologize for having you locked out of the lab.”

Woah. That went a lot deeper than Tony had anticipated. Feeling a blush creeping up his face, he looked down, unsure of what he should say.

“I'm sorry”, he eventually mumbled, feeling like his 10 year old self being reprimanded by Aunt Peggy.

“I know you are. Just behave yourself and I don't have to feel like I'm mothering you.”

“Please, you love mothering me”, Tony shot back smirking.

“I shall neither confirm nor deny these accusations.” As stern as he tried to sound, Tony knew Rhodey was fighting hard to keep the grin down. “Listen, Ross is calling, I need to get back to work.”

“Do you need a rescue call in like half an hour?”, Tony laughed and delighted when Rhodey joined in.

“Ross already can't stand you, do you really want to push it?”

“Remember, I'm Steve right now. I can pull a lot of strings with the US army.”

“Tempting, very tempting”, Rhodey chuckled. “But as long as you are alright enough to do your job, I'll do mine. And talk to you soon, alright?”

“Yeah. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Tones.”

.-.-.-.-.

It was no surprise to Thor that he'd find Banner in the labs. He, Tony and Helen had barely left their microscopes, computers and machinery behind, working overtime to fix their unfortunate situation.

So focused on his work, Bruce didn't even seem to notice Thor calling out for him, not until he was right in front of the scientist.

“Thor, sorry, I didn't hear you”, he apologized and reached up to his ear. “Some of the machines are really loud and I prefer to work in quiet, so I switched the hearing aids off.”

“That I can understand”, Thor smiled and sat himself opposite Bruce.

“How can I help you then?”

“I have been informed that there is a presentation Bruce has to do, and I thought it prudent to ask you about the contents, so I might be a convincing Dr Banner.”

“Oh, that... You don't have to worry about that”, Bruce smiled, “I cancelled the lecture.”

“Oh.” Huh. Did he not think Thor capable enough? His hurt must have shown on his face, Bruce was quick to explain his reasoning. “This has nothing to do with you. But it's not just a presentation, it's a discussion panel and I can't teach you everything by tomorrow. Even if I could, I think it would help all of us so much more if I focused on reversing this.” He gestured between him and Thor.

“Right.” Thor still didn't fully buy what Bruce sold. Especially one little doubt was nagging in the back of his head. “Is it because of yesterday morning, when I hulked out on...”

“No, it's not”, Bruce interrupted. “You don't have to feel bad about that. Nobody is blaming you, least of all me”, he added with a smile. “It wasn't your fault.”

“I still feel guilty”, he admitted. He had destroyed so much property in only a few short minutes; if Bruce hadn't managed to calm him again... Thor truly did not want to know what would have happened, what he would have done to his friends. “If it weren't for my temper...”

“Buddy, I know exactly how you feel. And that's why you can believe when I say that it's alright.”

“Though I am aware that there is no reason to doubt your word, I still feel responsible and in all honesty, afraid.” It was true, Thor was scared to even raise his voice, out of fear he'd turn into that creature. Ever since yesterday's incident he had hidden himself away in his room, barely leaving it. He hated it with a passion, hated weakness and fear. He hated it almost as much as admitting to it. But if there was one person in this situation he could trust, it was Banner. “How are you not terrified?”

Bruce got off his chair and sat next to Thor on the bench. “I'm not scared of you. Why should I, as boisterous as you might be, you are even more loyal and trustworthy. Yesterday, when I talked Hulk down... I was only able to do that because you trusted me enough to let go of the fear. If it would have been anybody else, I don't know they would have been so quick to trust.”

“Do you truly believe that?”

“I do”, Bruce nodded and locked eyes with Thor. “A good man might not be able to keep from hulking out, but he might be strong enough to trust to let go of Hulk.”

“Wow”, Thor smiled, “nicely said. And a very empowering philosophy.” If his friend understood it that way, then why shouldn't Thor? And if his friend truly believed him to be a good man, then there was no need for him to be afraid, was there? “It pains me to say this, but that would make you, my friend, the strongest Avenger...”

“Well”, Bruce laughed, “Hulk can't be killed, so this is sort of not that big an accomplishment...”

“I am not talking about Hulk”, Thor clarified. “I am talking about you, Bruce Banner and your strength. It is formidable, awe-inspiring to say the least.”

“Wait.” Bruce's expression changed into something somewhat annoyed, almost angry. “Did you talk with Natasha?”

“I have not”, he answered truthfully, confused as to what the doctor was insinuating. “Why?”

“Nothing”, Bruce quickly waved it off, but Thor could recognize the force behind his smile. “Thank you, for the compliment”, he got back on topic. “I'm not sure I believe it just yet, but thank you, nonetheless.”

“I speak only the truth.”

“I appreciate it.” The doctor flushed ever so slightly, and turned his face downwards, trying to hide his blush. It seemed, that Thor should not keep on praising the rather shy and restrained scientist; during his time on earth he has learned that, unlike Asgardians, many earthlings, like Banner, didn't like to boast with their accomplishments.

“So, it seems then that you shall not teach me about earthly physics”, Thor changed the topic and Bruce seemed to be grateful.

“You're welcome to stay, I could use another set of hands; Tony is so busy working on his scanner project, he's practically useless to me.”

“Huh?” Thor hadn't even realized that Stark, who now resurfaced between metal scraps and cables, was in the laboratory. “Heard my name. Oh, hi Thor. When did you get here?”

“Ignore him”, Bruce advised Thor, before waving Tony off. “Nevermind, get back to work.” With a grin and a shrug, Stark disappeared again.

“You don't have to stay, though”, Bruce turned back to Thor. “I'm sure there are more entertaining things to be done than comparing brainwave data.”

“Actually, I would like to see the work process”, Thor smiled enthusiastically. He truly was interested and had already been looking forward to learn from the doctor. And, even though it wasn't gamma radiation, brain activity was just as interesting a subject to study. “And if I can be of any help, I'll gladly support you.”

“Right then, let me show you what I'm doing.” Bruce motioned for Thor to join him in front of a big monitor, over which waves of different heights, widths and colours danced. “Those are our results, these here are yours.” He pointed at a yellow line. “Now I'm just trying to find where our waves overlap with the electrical current of the goo. That's the brown one.”

“What do you hope to achieve?”

“I hope to find the points of overlapping activity to see which points of our brains it's attacking.”

“Ah, I see”, Thor nodded, “if we know where our psyche is being attacked, we know where to inhibit it's influence on us.”

“Exactly”, Bruce smiled. “Well, let's get to it, then.”

“Hey, I've been missing you all afternoon”, Natasha smiled at Thor, as he made his way into the common room.

“I have been in the laboratories with Bruce, deciphering our brainwaves. And now I see colourful wavey lines dancing in front of my eyes”, he reported, before sitting down on the couch opposite her and Captain Rogers. As interesting as it had been to work with Banner, it was incredibly taxing on Thor's brain. He truly had no idea how the scientist Avengers worked on things like that for hours, no, for days on end.

“Impressive”, Nat praised him. “I've been looking after this one all day.” She nodded at Steve, who had a container of Hunk-a-hulk-a-burning-fudge in his hands.

“I'm a disaster”, he explained, sniffling ever so slightly.

“Captain, don't be saddened! We all have challenges in our new bodies, there is no need to be melancholic.”

“He's not”, Natasha explained, “he's hormonal and has no clue how to handle that.”

“Oh. I see”, he nodded. Natasha's body seemed to be even more of a challenge than Bruce's was for Thor... “I already praised Banner for being the strongest of us all, with him having to deal with the Hulk, but I assume that you, Natasha, and all the other women, are just as strong, if not more, having to deal daily with difficulties that have even the strongest warriors crying and in pain.”

“Thank you, Thor”, she smiled.

“I completely agree”, Steve nodded. “Women are fierce!”

.-.-.-.-.

“Hi Pepper!” Tony's voice ripped her away from her paperwork. Right, it wasn't Tony, it was Clint, who now sat down opposite her.

“Clint, great. I tried everything to cancel that presentation that Tony has tomorrow, but no chance. You'll have to get through that.”

“As long as you tell me what I need to say, I should do just fine.”

“It's not just that though.” The real Tony strutted into Pepper's office and smiled at her with wide beaming eyes, before turning Clint. “You gotta be me. Attitude and all.”

“Please”, Clint scoffed, “if you can be demure and shit like Rogers, I can be like you.”

“Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it”, Tony waved him off, but didn't grace him with too much of a side glance. Instead he didn't break eye contact with Pepper. And it was so weird.

Pepper had to repeatedly tell herself that it was not Steve that shot her these heart eyes and that it was not Tony that tried to avoid looking at her.

“Ok, we need to get you guys back into your skin”, she just shook her head after a while.

“No arguments from me”, Clint grinned. “Let's get through this one first, though.”

“Good idea”, Pepper nodded, broke away from Tony's look and turned to Clint. “It's not too difficult though, you got the entire talk on these index cards.” She put them down in front of Clint and he leafed through them, before looking back up at her.

“So, I need to be trained in 'How To Be Tony Stark?' I mean, I've seen how you act in front of a camera for years on end. Be dangerously self-confident, insolent and don't give two shits about authorities.”

“That sums it up nicely”, Pepper chuckled.

“Right”, Tony grumbled, “the magic is doing all that and still being a beloved public figure.”

“I thought all those investor-dudes can't stand the sight of you”, Clint shot back with a smirk.

“Yeah, I guess they don't”, Tony shrugged.

“There will be press though”, Pepper threw in, before Tony could make some comment about Clint not needing to give a shit about the presentation. “And it's not investors; you don't want their money. You will present the newest arc-reactor upgrades to SI shareholders, a bunch of scientists and therefore you might not want to make them hate you, or well, Tony. At least not any more than they already do.”

“I think I can do that”, he nodded, adding with a grin: “I'm a charming person.”

“Tony tells me that every time I brief him on his presentations. And well, you know how that usually plays out.”

“Hey!”, Tony protested, “I'm a charming person to be around!”

“No, you're not”, Pepper and Clint agreed. “I still love you, though”, she added and Tony was once again all smiles.

“That's honestly all that matters”, he beamed.

“So”, Clint interrupted their romantic eye contact, “you regularly tell Tony what you're telling me today?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Pepper turned to Clint with a shrug. “Unless it's about his iron suits, Tony's got the attention span of a gold fish. And like you so nicely said, he can't be bothered to give two shits not only about authority, but also PR. Making my life so much harder”, she sighed.

“You still fell in love with me”, Tony grinned, leaning back in the chair.

“Alright.” Clint cleared his throat. “I'm gonna leave you two alone and read through this.” He waved with the index cards and awkwardly got up.

“Thank you, Barton.”

“Yeah, least I can do since you're working to get us out of this shit”, Clint grinned and, with a last wave, he left Pepper's office.

“Yeah”, Tony cleared his throat, “I'd better get back on that. Before this”, he gestured between them, “gets any worse. Who am I kidding”, he snorted a laugh, “we probably got enough cause for couple's therapy as it is, without Steve wanting to be with you...”

Tony definitely had a point. “Agreed”, she nodded. “Though I might just be 12% attracted to Steve...”

“Alright”, he laughed and got up. “Will that be all Ms Potts?”

“Yes”, she beamed up, “that'll be all.”

.-.-.-.-.

After going through the presentation index cards for the third time, Clint could have sworn his brain had turned to goo. He let the cards drop and sprawled himself out, resting his head in Nat's, well, Thor's lap.

“Sounds like the genius IQ was not transferred with Stark's body”, she remarked, not looking up from her book though.

“I mean, can you lift the hammer?”, he shot back.

Tasha stilled for a moment, but barely long enough to recognize it. At least if you didn't know her like Clint did. “We both know I'm not worthy”, she eventually shrugged.

“Maybe it's better that way”, he grinned up at her and finally she glanced down and locked eyes.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“That I would hate if you had to move to another planet to rule it. I mean, that'd be one sucky commute.”

“Yes, it would be”, she chuckled, before giving her attention back to the story she was reading.

Unsure what else to do, Clint grabbed his phone, intent on daddling around a bit. But his lockscreen picture had him stop: It was taken only a few weeks ago, by Nat actually. Cooper was climbing up Clint's back, grinning cheekily over his shoulder; Laura leaned against his chest, cradling Lila.

Clint just had to talk to his wife. They had only messaged so far, to keep the confusion as minimal as possible, but that just wouldn't do any more. So, consequences be damned, he pressed the call button and only three beeps later, Laura picked up.

“Clint? Is it you?”

“Hey honey”, he sighed, feeling so much better for hearing her voice. “yeah. I know I sound like Stark but it's me.”

“I think I might be able to get over that”, she chuckled. “How are you doing?”

“So good now that we're talking. How are you and the kids?”

“We're alright. You are dearly missed, though.”

“I miss you guys, too.” Clint could start crying any moment now, this sucked majorly. She didn't look down, but a hand came down, gently patting his head. Tasha just was the best friend anybody could ever ask for...

“Are things moving forward at least?”

“No idea, honestly... For now I need to officially be Tony Stark, got to do a presentation about the arc reactor...”

“Oh my”, Laura laughed, the most heavenly sound he had ever heard. “You're gonna do a scientific presentation?”

“Hey!”, he protested, “not fair! I'm smart...”

“Sorry, honey”, she chuckled, “I know you are. You're the smartest husband I've ever had.”

“Haha”, he deadpanned, before he couldn't keep the chuckles down any more.

“You're gonna do just well, I completely believe in you.”

“Thanks. Oh by the way, Nat says hi.”

“Who is she again? Will I have an eternal shock when I say hi to her?”

“Probably”, he chuckled and handed the phone over to Nat. “Laura wants to talk to you.”

“Alright. Hey, Laura. Yes, I am Thor. I'm glad you're enjoying this”, she deadpanned and switched on the speaker. Laura's laughter filled the room, and Clint couldn't help but chuckle along to this most heavenly sound.

“The only thing better than that is that Steve is in Tasha's body, menstruating at the moment”, he laughed.

“Oh, that poor guy. Clint, you don't get to make fun of somebody's period.”

“Thank you, Laura, I've been telling him that all week.”

“Good. It's not like you need my permission, but if you deem it necessary go all god of thunder on his ass.”

“Permission appreciated.”

“Uhm, no?”, Clint threw in, “definitely not appreciated!”

“You're right”, Laura nodded, “Nat doesn't need to be a Norse god to kick your behind from here to Budapest.”

“That's true”, he admitted, looking up at his friend. “I'm definitely more afraid of the ginger Russian than blondie from the Maybelline poster.”

“That's because you're smart”, Tasha grinned.

“And that is smart enough to absolutely rock that presentation tomorrow.”

“Thanks, honey”, Clint grinned.

“So, it sounds like Lila is up. I'll go check on her, you get enough rest and call me after the presentation to tell me how great you did, ok?”

“Promise. Tell Lila and Cooper that their dad loves them so much and will soon be home again.”

“Same goes for Auntie Nat.”

“I'll tell them. The three of us love you, too.”

“Him or me?”, Tasha grinned.

“Nat, you know you'll always be the love of my life”, Laura chuckled. “But Clint, I love you, too.”

“Wow”, he deadpanned and met Nat's smirk head on. “Well, I got to kiss Pepper.”

“Excuse me, you did what?”

“Isn't Lila calling?”, Clint shot back instead.

“Right then. I still love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Alright, Clint.” Pepper patted his shoulder with a reassuring smile. “You're gonna do just fine. You got the notes, be a little overconfident and nothing can go wrong.”

Right. He could do this. He could be Tony Stark, no problems. He gave Pepper the thumbs up and she gently pushed him towards the stage entrance. Shoulders squared, he strutted out on the stage. Luckily there were so many lights on him that he couldn't see how full the audience was.

“Good evening and hello”, he greeted everybody. “I'm assuming you all know who I am, otherwise you wouldn't be here.” That got him a chuckle and it seemed like everything was off to a good start.

He leaned against the lectern and, in the most Tony Stark-like fashion he could, he glanced over his glasses into the room, before taking a first look at his index cards. “Since not everybody might be caught up on what keeps me alive, let me give you a crash course in my magnetically powered heart.”

All night long, Clint had studied what was on these cards, so he could speak as freely as possible about something that, according to everybody in this room, was the one thing he knew more about than anything else.

It wasn't like he understood what any of these cards said, Clint wasn't even sure all of it was English, but as long as he only had to read them out, he'd be alright.

It was admittedly a lot of fun. Clint wasn't exactly the most boisterous person on the planet, but somehow that just came with the body and soon enough, he could just pepper in a few jokes here and there.

“The following I will keep to myself, because, well, if you knew, you might be able to give me a heart attack and I just know that there are a handful of investors and members on my board that can't wait for that to happen to me. Yes, I see you, Justin Hammer”, he winked and a laugh went through the room. The more his jokes landed, the cockier he got, he had to admit that. But the time flew by, and Clint didn't realize how far through the presentation they were, until he got to the last index card.

“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you know that I am smarter than you. Thanks for listening and until next time!”

After a few exaggerated bows, Clint walked off stage, where Pepper was already waiting with a proud smile. “Fantastic job, Clint.”

“Really?”

“Yes”, she nodded. “You were almost as obnoxious as Tony, read through all the information perfectly and your stand-up isn't half bad.”

“Thanks”, he grinned back, feeling his cheeks blushing. “It was actually a lot of fun.”

“It did look like it was. You can be proud, you were fantastic up there.”

“Well, I assume it's safe to say that you're slightly biased there...”

“No, because Tony wasn't up on that stage there, that was a lot of work that you put into this presentation, more than Tony ever did. Maybe you should stick like that, it would make at least my job a lot easier.”

No, he needed to be Clint again, asap. He wanted to go home, wanted to kiss his wife, hug his children and never ever talk about arc-reactors and shit again. “I appreciate the compliment, but I think we're all better fitted where we belong.”

“Also true. Right then, I need to take care of everything here, you're free to get back to the tower and join Natasha in looking after Steve, stress on looking after, not teasing”, she added.

“Don't worry, I won't”, he nodded, “promise.”

“Off you go then. And thank you, so, so much! Saved us all a world of pain.”

Clint tipped his imaginary hat, turned around, where Nat was already standing. “What are you doing here?”

“I watched you presentation, you doofus.” She boxed his arm and motioned for them to walk back together. “You did good. Very Stark-like.”

“Thanks. All the cameras, lights and attention kinda goes straight to your head, it's incredible.”

“You gonna get a big head now?”

“Yes”, he deadpanned. “I'm gonna be the next genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”

“Remember, I have your wife's approval to go all god of thunder on your ass”, Nat reminded him.

“I know you do. And I would like to leave you be right now and call that same wife and tell her how awesome and smart her husband is.” He shot Nat a grin and headed straight for the privacy of his room and the wonderfulness that was hearing Laura's voice.

.-.-.-.-.

This was ridiculous. Steve felt like a caricature come to life, as he gobbled up chocolate ice cream, wrapped in a fuzzy blanket on the couch. He had actually bawled his eyes out, when they watched some cartoon movie about lions last night. Shit, he felt himself already tearing up again, when he thought about Simba, mourning his dad... Thankfully, Tony barged in, before Steve could lose himself some more in all these freaking hormones and emotions.

“Rogers, lets make this quick so I can get back into the lab and finish my work before heading to DC tomorrow.” He dropped opposite of Steve on the couch, and looked at him expectantly. “What's gonna happen to me there?”

“No idea, actually”, he shrugged and put the container down. “They never tell me what exactly they want to do. Sometimes it's just a photo-op, recording a PSA or something...”

“PSAs? Really?”

“Yeah”, Steve shrugged. “They're admittedly super cheesy.” Embarrassingly so, actually... Steve felt himself blushing.

“What kind of contract do you have there?”

“They approached me shortly after I thawed out and asked me if I was willing to use my celebrity status as an educational figure, PBS style. I'm basically their Elmo.”

“That is kinda depressing”, Tony stated after a moment. “They tell you jump and you ask how high?”

“I guess... But helping out teachers and students isn't a bad thing and that's why I accepted.”

“That's noble”, Tony nodded.

Steve didn't buy that. Tony was the exact opposite of what this campaign stood for! “You don't think it's noble, you think it's boring.”

“It can be both”, Tony grinned back.

“Oh really? How do you think you can properly sell this, while thinking you're above all that?” Steve felt his voice (well, Nat's voice) pitch higher, but he didn't care, he was angry at Tony. Why wouldn't he be, Steve was building up his life again in a world so foreign to him, and Tony ridiculed it all!

“Steve”, Tony held his hands out, “I seriously think it's great what you're doing for students all over the country.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“Of course”, Tony nodded with a wide smile. “I do. And I'll do my best tomorrow, I promise.”

“Thank you”, Steve smiled and his chest felt all warm and fluffy. He was so touched that Tony would take this so seriously. “It means everything to me.”

“Yeah, alright”, Tony nodded and moved to leave for, probably the lab, again.

“Are you?”

“What?” He paused and turned back to Steve.

“Are you alright?”, he repeated his question. Something felt weirdly off, and he didn't mean his horrible mood swings.

“I'm just stressed, is all”, he shrugged it off, but Steve didn't buy it.

“You sure?”

“Rogers”, Tony groaned and crossed his arms. “Don't start something you don't want to.”

“I don't want to force you to talk”, Steve shrugged. “But if you have an issue with me or my body, I'd like to help out any way I can to make it better.”

“Nice offer, but I don't think you can. So, unless you have anything against that, I'd like to get back to my lab and into my body, before Pepper has to fall in love with you, too.”

“Too?”

“Fuck”, he sighed and stopped. Still had his back turned to Steve, but he didn't motion to storm off anymore. “My Dad.”

It was a quiet mumble, but Steve was sure he didn't mishear him. “Howard?”

Tony turned to Steve, his face as rigid as that of a statue and a hard expression. “My entire childhood I got to compete with you, a then still dead guy, for my Dad's attention. I lost. Whatever I did, it couldn't compare to the Amazing Captain America, Howard's greatest ever creation. But hey, all in the past”, he scoffed with a shrug.

“Oh, Tony... I'm so sorry!” Steve felt the tears rising in his eyes, but that didn't matter. How the hell could any father do that to their son?

“Yeah, whatever”, Tony waved it off.

“No, not whatever”, Steve made clear and walked up to him. “I am really sorry and I can't even imagine how much you must have hated me. And I can't even fault you, if you still do.”

“Well, it's not hatred anymore.” Tony offered Steve a half-hearted smile. “I did however spend the last few days cursing that fucking Alien. Even though your body is younger and enhanced”, he added with a scoff.

“If it makes you feel any better, the last few days I've been feeling similarly horrible as before the serum.”

“It does a bit”, Tony admitted with a grin.

“Good. I don't know if there's anything I can do to help you to feel better around me, and if it is to punch me in the face, I'll be happy to let you do that. But, knowing both you and Howard, I can definitely say that you're the way better man by far.”

“Thanks”, Tony smiled, and it looked like a real smile, “that means a lot.”

“Good. Now I have this urge to hug you, even if it might be weird to hug my own body”, he grinned.

“Yeah, no”, he shook his head. “Let's not push it.”

“Of course”, Steve nodded and sat himself back on the couch, where the hot water bottle and the ice cream already waited for him. “Thank you, though. For being honest with me. Means everything.”

“Right.” Tony clearly was not used to this sort of compliment and he looked a little awkwardly, before nodding at him again and walking out of the common room.

Huh. This whole body swap was really a lot more taxing on everybody's psyche, issues and their relationships than Steve would have ever imagined... Well, at least these things were out in the open now. And maybe, one day, they'd get this sorted out.

.-.-.-.-.

“Mr Rogers!” Tony was greeted by a young woman with a wide beaming smile. “I'm so sorry, I know you usually deal with Mrs Carrigan, but she has an urgent appointment out of town and can't be with us today. I am Cecily Myers and I hope you don't mind working with me for the day.”

“Of course not, it is wonderful to meet you. And of course I understand, Mrs Carrigan” - whoever that was - “is a busy woman.”

“Thank you, for your understanding. So, if you would follow me, Mr Rogers.”

“Please, call me Steve”, Tony 'corrected' her and shot her a warm smile.

“Right then Steve. Shall we?”

They went up an elevator and along a wide, light filled corridor, until they reached what looked like a makeshift movie set.

“Steve, you can change into your suit in the room over there”, Cecily explained. “In the meantime we'll set everything up. Oh, I'm so sorry for not asking before hand, but can I offer you something? A coffee, maybe?”

“That would be very kind, thank you.”

“I'll get right on that, then.” With a last smile, she hurried off, disappearing in the masses of people, who all turned around to Tony with varying degrees of starstruckness, greeting and waving excitedly.

That, Tony was used to and he waved back, all smiles with every shy greeting he got, as he made his way to the room, Cecily had pointed out to him. Tony had no idea what he was about to do here, it looked like they were going to shoot a video. But Tony was just gonna let all that come at him. He was already in the wrong fucking skin, what else could they throw at him?

“Mr Rog... Steve, everything alright?” Cecily knocked at the door.

Well, Cap's suit was definitely harder to put on than his Ironsuit, and he could definitely use a hand. But he shouldn't ask the girl out there, she already seemed to be in way over her head and a shirtless Captain America was not gonna help the situation. “I'll only be a moment”, he called back and squeezed into the tight leather.

When he finally managed to get out, she awaited him with a cup of steaming coffee and a wide smile.

“Thank you, Cecily”, he smiled and gratefully took the cup. “It's delicious”, Tony lied after taking two or three sips and forced the disgusted expression down.

“Then I'm glad.” She directed Tony towards two chairs and motioned for him to sit down. “While they finish setting everything up, I'm going to brief you on today's mission”, she grinned.

“Wow, you know the lingo”, Tony chuckled, and the girl blushed slightly.

It was almost adorable, well it would be, if she wasn't fangirling about Cap right now. He wasn't as bad as Tony had always thought he was, though he still forced himself to not like Howard's idol. Sure, he got the appeal, if only the idolization of Captain America, the US' most beloved and decorated war hero...

“Anyways”, she cleared her throat. “We want to shoot three more PSAs with you today. The ones we have recorded already played in schools all over the country and the reception was quite positive. So much so, that teachers have submitted topics they think important and necessary. Those are profanity, healthy sleeping patterns and substance abuse.”

Oh, they had to be fucking kidding him! Tony, recording PSAs about not swearing, not staying up for 36 hours at a time and fucking doing drugs? The god of irony really had it out for them these last few days...

“Sure”, he forced himself to stay calm and collected and not snort out at the idea of him telling kids not to say fuck. “Our teachers know best what their students' issues are and I can see those things negatively affecting children.” I also know from personal experience that all that makes for a mind-numbingly boring existence. Fine, Tony was aware that his lifestyle wasn't healthy, but there was a reason they asked Cap to do this, and not Ironman.

“Exactly. We really appreciate the schools' feedback and of course strife to make their jobs the easiest we can.”

Wow, that sounded like it was verbatim taken from the Department of Education's website. It probably was; that girl wasn't older than 25 and looked like she never had to do more than get somebody a coffee. And now, being in charge of a widely known and popular figure, she had to give it her all to sound convincing and as if she had done this all her life.

“Yeah... Listen.” He lowered his voice and leaned a bit closer in, trying to get her to open up to him, to loosen up. “I know I've done this a few times, but I think I might be a little nervous...”

“Really?”

No, not at all.

“I don't know, I just... I'm not used to all this”, he gestured vaguely around the room, at the cameras. “I'm a soldier”, he shrugged. “All the cameras and interviews and things... Besides all that modern technology I don't really understand... It feels like I'm a fish on dry land.”

“I didn't expect that at all, if I'm being honest.”

How much further should Tony go until he was laying it on too thick? “It's just... Mrs Carrigan can be quite scary”, he whispered, hoping to God that this woman he had never met and never even heard of was not a nice and gentle lady.

“Yeah, she can get intense”, Cecily chuckled and Tony was very glad that his bluff didn't just blow up. “As her PA I know that better than anybody...”

“Of course”, he smiled. “Well, I just get the feeling you and I will work wonderfully together, without her.”

“Yeah”, she agreed with a beaming smile. “I do, too.”

“We're ready!”, one of the camera guys called and Tony gulped down the last bit of this disgusting coffee and took his stance by the chair, they had propped up in the middle of the makeshift stage, in front of a green screen.

“For this one we'll digitally add a classroom into the background, so if you'd just sit on the chair, and read out the cards we have here, that'd be perfect”, some guy who hadn't introduced himself but Tony assumed to be the director, gestured wildly around. Tony wasn't exactly sure what that guy tried to communicate with his waving, but it'd be best to just smile and nod along. And the sooner he'd get through this, the sooner he could get to SHIELD and find out what he came to DC for.

Tony gave him the thumbs up and sat himself down, trying to look as authoritative and stern as he could.

“That's perfect. And please in three, two one...” With a wave, the director motioned for Tony that the recording started and Tony read out what was on the poster in front of him.

“Hi, I'm Captain America. And today I'd like to talk to you about an enemy that has forced it's way into our classrooms, our society, and is intent on breaking our proper American values. Yes, I'm talking about swearing.” Oh fuck, this was so cheesy! “You might think it's cool, but what you see as edgy, comes across as hurtful, disrespectful or offensive. So, take it from a soldier that even on the front lines, respect is the one thing that keeps us united.” And that straight up did not make any sense.

“And cut!”, the director yelled. “Good job, Cap”, he called out in Tony's direction, didn't take his eyes off the screen in front of him, though. “Give us a moment and we'll continue with the next one.”

Tony was ushered off the set and some furniture and some lamps were moved around.

“That was pretty good”, Cecily praised him, coming up to his side.

“Thank you. It's not as bad as I remembered it”, he smiled.

“And that's all I can hope for. Looks like they're ready for you again.” She nodded towards the set and gave him an encouraging nudge to the shoulder. Confiding in her had really helped her and she looked so much more confident than she had barely thirty minutes ago. That was something Tony was already more proud of than all the horrible videos they were shooting.

This time, he was directed to lean against a table, and once again look straight at the camera as he read out: “Hi, I'm Captain America. As someone who has been asleep for 65 years, I know how important a regular sleeping pattern is. Your brain and body need their time to rest and to recharge. Eight hours every night make for a fit, healthy and smart student. And a tired zombie won't do you any good on the battlefield or the classroom, trust me; I've had my fair share of those.”

“And cut!”

Tony couldn't even remember the last time he had slept eight hours consecutively... He probably didn't even get to eight if he added the last few days up... But there was no time for Tony to dwell on it, they almost immediately had him propping his foot up on a chair, holding the shield into the camera and reading out:

“Hi, I'm Captain America. And today, I would like to talk to you about drugs. You might have seen a lot about using on television, maybe even some of your friends tried to tell you how cool it is to smoke weed. But take it from someone who has been frozen for 65 years: drugs aren't cool. Drugs attack your neural system and can fundamentally change and screw up your body's chemistry. It is about as cool as flying an airplane into the Arctic Ocean. It's not. So, be cool about it and don't do drugs.”

“And cut! Thank you, that's a wrap on Captain America!”

Everybody in the room started clapping and for a short moment, Tony was tempted to bask in the praise, until he remembered that Steve wasn't that big on attention. Which was a contradiction in itself: why then would he run around in a bright red, white and blue leather suit?

“Thank you”, he smiled around the clapping people and made straight for Cecily who greeted him with a wide and warm smile.

“Great job, Steve.” She patted his shoulder and the praise made Tony flush a little bit.

“Thank you”, he smiled back, “couldn't have done it without you.”

“Of course you could have”, she shook her head and turned it ever so slightly, so Tony wouldn't catch her blushing. “Right, you can change back into your normal clothes if you'd like.”

Tony very much would like to do that; as good as the tight suit looked on him, he just had that thing about leather and was happy to get back into simple jeans and a shirt. Although... Properly inspecting himself in the mirror like that, maybe, just maybe, Tony would need to make a few tweaks on the suit, once Steve had his body back. Because that suit right here? Did nothing for his ass. Nothing at all. And hey, if you got it, flaunt it, right?

It wasn't too much later, when Cecily escorted Tony back to the parking lot, where he had parked Steve's motorbike.

“Thank you again for your time and for loaning us your face”, she chuckled.

“If it helps keeping America's kids on the right path, then that's all the thanks I need.” Wow, Stark, putting it on a bit thick here.

“That is all we can hope for.”

“Well, I for one believe that our children are in good hands.” With a wide smile, he held his hand out to her. “Thank you for your support. And next time you need my face...”

“We won't hesitate to call”, she grinned back and shook Tony's hand.

“That, and I also expect the title of PA only to be left on your resumée. You're too good for just making coffee”, he assured her as she motioned to argue. “Anyways, I'll hope to see you here next time.”

“Thank you, Steve”, she smiled and this time didn't even bother to hide her blushed face. “I'm already looking forward.”

“Cap, what the hell are you doing here?”, Fury demanded to know. “You're still under medical lockdown!”

Alright, time to be the most convincing Steve Tony could be. “Cho cleared me for my appointment at the department of education and to come here. But I'm sure you already knew that.”

“Come on, then.” Tony could have sworn he saw a hint of a grin on Fury's face, before he turned and led Tony through the corridors. “We've been trying for the last two days to crack this thing, get it to talk, but to no avail. Maybe you're luckier.”

“I don't believe it has anything to do with luck...” That was as snarky a retort as Tony dared to go without blowing his cover.

“Oh is that so?” Fury stopped and looked him dead in the eye. “Then pray tell, what does the amazing Captain America have that SHIELD doesn't?”

For starters a brainwave reader, able to compare the Avenger's data with whatever that thing might omit. Furthermore, Tony's brainpower. “Two days of rest”, he answered instead.

“Good point.” And silently they continued on their way.

Somehow this was weird. Even weirder than the last few days have been already. And it wasn't just that Tony, who had never really been at SHIELD's HQ, was now supposed to be a person regularly going in and out here; Tony had more than enough confidence to pull this off. But Fury... he seemed off. Maybe the Avengers weren't the only affected ones. Or somebody was playing some giant fucked-up trick on Tony. Well, there was an easy way to find out the truth...

“Listen Fury, I feel like I need to apologize for Stark's...”

“Insolence? Impossibility?”, Fury suggested and Tony did not appreciate that. Fine, he didn't really give two fucks about chains of command or authority, but still...

“I was gonna say antics. He told me about you, trying to get him to join the Avengers, but first had to bribe him to get down from that giant decorative hot dog.”

“Yeah, that was something...” Fury just rolled his eyes. Or whoever pretended to be Fury.

Right now it was perfect to be in a body was strong enough to pin Fury against a wall. Tony might have managed to do that in his own body, but Steve was strong enough to actually keep the man in place. “Who are you? And where's Fury?”, he hissed.

“Counterquestion: Who are you and where is Cap?”, he shot back, completely calm, not the slightest waver of confusion or annoyance in his voice.

“What?” Tony was just about to lose himself in the spiral of being caught and about to be locked up, when he realized something. Fury hadn't denied his accusation. “I asked first.”

“Rogers, let go.” Hill came up behind him, shaking her head.

“Not until I know who this is, because it for sure ain't Fury.” Wow, being Cap didn't necessarily come with respect for authority...

“It's not. It's Maria. I'm Fury”, she answered instead. “And she now owes me ten bucks.”

“You were switched, too.” Tony wasn't sure whether it was a question or a statement, but he let go of Maria and took two steps back.

“You guys weren't the only ones that got doused in that glibber”, Maria explained, got a bank note out of her pocket and handed it over to Fury with a groan and an eye roll. “We had a bet, whether you'll see through it or not. And you're Stark, aren't you?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah. What gave me away?”

“The story about the hot dog. I assume it was a test, and I failed it.”

“Yeah”, Tony chuckled. “Had my suspicions, needed them confirmed.”

“Good for you”, Fury interrupted, before waving at them, “after me”, and disappeared into an office two doors over. “Here we can properly talk in private without anybody listening in”, he explained, once Maria had closed the door behind her. Even though he was in a much smaller body, Fury didn't exude any less confidence and he had that authoritative aura; even though Maria's body almost disappeared in the giant chair and desk, Nick still owned the room.

“So, first things first. Who is who?”, he asked.

“Well, I'm in Cap, Cap's in Natasha, Natasha is in Thor, Thor is in Bruce, Bruce is in Clint and Clint's in my body”, Tony summarized, before making himself comfortable on one of the chairs. “Next question: why didn't you say anything on the helicarrier?”

“I could ask you the same thing”, Maria answered, crossing her arms in front of her chest and Tony had to say in all honesty that, like with Nat in Thor's body, the new massive, muscular bulk of a man was not what intimidated Tony, it was very much the woman inside that was scary.

“I asked first”, he grinned back.

“Stark, please. You're in our house”, Fury made clear, not really leaving room for that much of an argument.

“Fine... We very simply didn't want to be SHIELD's lab rats, being probed and tested and shit and – no offence – me, Bruce and Helen are smarter than your guys.” Ok, maybe a little offence... “And you?”

“We didn't tell anybody here for the same reason”, Hill explained. “And we didn't tell you guys, because, well, you definitely do not work well under supervision.”

“What, so you just let us do all the hard work and piggyback off our results?” Tony was almost insulted; though they weren't wrong. But still. “Dance, monkey, dance, huh?”, he scoffed.

“No”, Maria made clear. “When I came over to you guys on the heli, I was intend on telling you, so we could work together and figure something out. And you were so clearly switched too; I mean, Matt Murdock could have seen that. But you didn't say anything, didn't trust me, well Fury. So I didn't say anything either”, she shrugged.

“Oh... Yeah, sorry about that then...”

“Let's leave the past in the past.” Fury leaned over on his desk. “I assume you got something, or you wouldn't have come.”

“Yeah, we think we might...” Tony put his bag on the table, and go out the device they had worked up. “We measured all our brainwaves and Cho and Banner, with Thor's help, found a few interesting things in there that didn't make a lot of sense to them. So, we built this little machine that would be able to, well not measure per se, but receive enough of that thing's brainwaves for us to do a comparison on. If we have that, we can put the goo in the mix and hopefully reverse engineer this psycho-switch.”

“Damn”, Fury nodded after a few moments of pensive silence. “That is impressive. Alright then, I can arrange you having some alone time with it. How long do you suppose you'll need?”

“I take as much as I can get. Ten minutes at least.”

Fury and Hill exchanged a few glances; Tony didn't know them well enough to encode their nonverbal communication. “Fifteen minutes should be doable”, Hill eventually nodded.

“Great! Let's get going, then!”

With a loud bang, the heavy door closed behind Tony and brought him face to face with the... thing. Well, almost. There was a glass wall separating them, which probably wasn't the worst idea; Tony really wasn't in the mood for being slimed again.

“I have been waiting for you.”

Uhm, what the fuck? Didn't Fury just say that thing didn't speak?

“And I don't speak, Fury didn't lie to you.”

Fuck, it was in Tony's head... Ugh.

“Don't be so disgusted, you're one of mine now.” Wow, it sounded almost hurt.

Well, if it read Tony's mind... “What's your name?”

“You can call me Tohu.”

“As in wabohu?”

“Exactly!”, it laughed. “Tohuwabohu, I bring confusion and chaos to all that dare to stand in my way.”

“I wouldn't say we stood in your way, you were destroying our planet”, Tony made clear and switched on his device.

“Same difference... Ah, you are trying to measure me, aren't you?”

It really sucked trying to be sneaky with a mind reader... Tony just went ahead about his business. “Where you from?”

“Fine, stick with the small talk, science boy... If you're hoping for me to name a planet, you're wishing in vain. I'm a nomad, travelling the universe, always on the lookout for shelter.”

“Well, there's no shelter for you on this planet.”

Damnit, the sensors didn't pick anything up. Where the fuck did they go wrong? They synced it perfectly with the goo's resonance!

“Your little machine isn't working I see... But don't hesitate to ask away and I will not lie to you.”

Yeah, it didn't expect Tony to buy that, did it?

“Of course you have doubts. But what do you have to lose?”

Damnit, it had a point. Well, here goes nothing... “Fine. What's the deal with the goo?”

“It contains my specific genetically coded psyche, allowing me access to anybody I choose to.”

That made sense and was pretty much what Tony had expected. “Why swap us all, put us in the wrong bodies? We still overpowered and locked you up, so what good did it do you?”

“Tony, Tony... there is such a big brain in that head of yours... I'm sure you can figure it out by yourself.”

Right then. Tony was nothing if not smart and he was definitely not one to back down from a challenge. So, the Avengers were linked genetically to that thing's psyche, with which it like to reek havoc and chaos. The closer Tony got to that thing, the more potent its control became; now that they were only a few metres apart from each other, they could actually communicate telepathically.

Oh shit.

“Ah, it seems you got it.”

“We're your leverage.”

“And the winner is Tony Stark! You do realize what that means, don't you?”

Tony did. In order to break free from its psychic field, they had to let it go.

“Exactly!”, it laughed. “Once I've left this realm, all psychic ties will be broken. And, before you get all sorts of funny ideas about inhibiting my connections or killing me, you wouldn't be the first that tried it. There were civilizations, far more advanced than your little dirty rock, that had to let me go.”

The so far unmoving creature turned and locked eyes with Tony. “Seems like you have a choice to make.”

Fuck. Tony turned to walk away. Just before the door closed, separating him from the creepy voice in his head, he heard it call out one more time: “I'll be waiting for you.”

“Why in the everloving fuck wouldn't you tell me that that thing is fucking psychic?”, Tony raged, as he stormed back into Fury's office.

“What do you mean?” Instead of an explanation, Tony was met with confusion.

“I mean fucking psychic!” He fell down on one of the chairs stared straight at Fury. “That thing could read my mind and I heard it. In here...” He gestured at his head. “Would have been really nice to know beforehand.”

“It would have been really nice to know, period!” Maria looked at him with big eyes (well, one big eye). “It never spoke to either of us.”

“Then why did it talk to me?”

“That's something we can figure out later. For now I'm more interested in what it did have to say.”

“Right.” Tony quickly recapped the short conversation he had with Tohu. “So, that's our choice”, he summarized. “Either we stay in this bizarro world until that thing undoubtedly outlives us all, or we let it go.”

“Fuck.”

“That's just as apt a comparison”, Tony scoffed. “So, I assume you two'll join me in my travel back to NY, where we can make a decision.”

“Stark, a teamplayer after all?”, Fury wondered with the hint of a grin.

Tony just decided to ignore the sassy undertone and got up instead. “I would love to just roll my eyes and strut out here, but I would probably get lost. I also assume you have a quinjet at your disposal, which would be so much more comfortable and quicker than Cap's motorbike.”

“That would be a correct assumption”, Hill nodded. “Follow me, and we'll be back in NYC in no time.”

.-.-.-.-.

It was a pitiful sight. Curled in himself with a hot bottle on his stomach, Steve was on the couch and watching some kitschy romcom.

“You really are a walking stereotype”, Nat scoffed and held a chocolate bar out to him.

“I'm so sorry”, he whimpered, “I really am.” He took the bar but put it down next to him on the table. “Thanks. I'll have it later when I don't feel so sick.”

“Sure thing.” She just caught herself before rolling her eyes and instead shot him a smile. “So, how're you doing?”

“How do you think I'm doing?”, he shot back.

“Wow, the hormones are working out for ya, huh?”

“And what would you know about how I'm feeling?”, he hissed and that was it for Nat.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Rogers?” Fuck being nice and supportive. “You do realize this is my body, right? And you do also realize that I have been doing that every month since I was thirteen, including the last few months that we've been living under the same roof. But right, you wouldn't know that because I'm not a whiny crybaby, and neither are Helen, Pepper, Maria or any other woman on this fucking planet!”

Woah. That felt good. The message was clearly received, Steve looked up at her with wide eyes and turned beet red.

“Sorry Nat”, he mumbled and disappeared back under a blanket.

“I know you are. That being said, you're allowed to be in pain and moody and bitchy and shit. Just don't dare taking all that out on me, or I'll go all god of thunder on your ass.”

“I promise!”, he nodded eagerly and shot her a small smile.

“Avengers, assemble in the common room!” JARVIS announced.

“Sounds like Stark is back from DC”, Nat smiled back, “maybe you'll get out of this skin soon, then.” He pulled his feet up, allowing Nat to sit next to him on the couch.

“That would mean that you'd be back in pain and stuff...”

“Yeah, but I'm used to it.”

“Hey, you know what's going on?” Clint waltzed in, in all the Tony Stark fashion they were used to, and dropped down opposite them.

“Tony just got back from DC”, Helen explained, Bruce shuffling inside behind her.

He avoided all eye contact, especially with Nat and cowered in a chair. Fuck. What could she say or do to keep Bruce from doing something stupid? What else could she do? Nat was pretty sure he didn't know that she had tasked JARVIS to keep an extra close eye on the doctor, though he was smart enough to guess that she had done something like that.

“My friends, excuse my tardiness”, Thor apologized and it was so weird to see Bruce, the timid and introverted scientist that open and boisterous.

“You're just in time.” Tony walked in, with Fury and Maria on his heel. Well, this was not going to be what Nat had expected or hoped for.

“No need to talk around it”, Maria said, “we know you're in the wrong body. So are we.” She gestured between her and Fury, who waved at the assembled Avengers.

Nat had no more energy left to be surprised or anything like that and just smiled at them.

The others seemed to feel like she did. “Great, so we're all in the same boat. Did you find anything out?”, Clint asked Tony, not even bothering with giving Fury or Maria a second glance.

“Yeah... You're not gonna like it.”

“Tony, I don't like menstruating, just out with it”, Steve groaned.

“Long story short, we're its hostages. We need to let it go, to sever the psychic connection it has to us.”

“So? Let's do it”, Nat shrugged. “Let it roam the galaxy or whatever.”

“What? And let it terrorize other planets?”, Steve threw in. “We can't let it do that.”

“Yeah, but I assume we're not the first planet it has graced with its presence”, she shrugged.

“We haven't”, Tony agreed with her. “It calls itself Tohuwabohu, a nomad, causing chaos wherever he goes.”

“Wow, it's not conceited at all, is it”, Clint scoffed and begrudgingly made room for Maria on the couch he had been sprawled out on. “But it does sound like our conscience shouldn't have to get in the way and let it go.”

From the corner of her eye, she saw Bruce jump a little. Conscience was probably the only reason he hadn't jumped off the tower. It was the same situation, though: Should the Avengers make it easy for themselves and doom another culture to suffer like that or should they just stick it out, get used to the new skin and keep that thing from torturing others? If Bruce were less polite, he would have probably walked out already; it was clearly written all over his face, Clint's face. She couldn't read Bruce Banner all that well yet; he was closed off and they hadn't been living together long enough for Nat to be able to properly read him. Clint was a different story, though. She knew his tells better than Clint knew them himself.

“I do have some readings it's not a lot but we can put our minds together and see what we come up with”, Tony suggested, “and if we still come up empty, we can have this discussion.”

He didn't sound very hopeful; being the one who had actually spoken to Tohuwabohu, he had a better read on the situation than anyone else.

“Are we in agreement?”

Solemn nods went through the round, at which Tony clapped his hands together. “Alrighty then. Before we get to that, though, I need to make fun of Cap.”

“Don't you dare laugh about my period”, Nat made clear and Tony's hands went up defensively.

“I would never”, he asserted. “No, it's more the appointment I had today.”

Steve turned red and put his head in his hands. “So I guess it was...”

“Oh yes, it was”, Tony grinned. Before anybody could urge him to satisfy their curiosity, Tony continued: “Our Captain here has been doing PSAs for high schools, leading to me recording a PSA about profanity, healthy sleeping patterns and drug abuse. Find the irony”, he added deadpan.

“That is gold!”, Clint wheezed.

“Please tell me they are super cheesy”, Nat laughed along.

“Any lactose-intolerant's nightmare.” Tony walked over and patted Steve's shoulder. “Before you try and weasel out of that Sesame Street contract though, you gotta get some girl a promotion.”

“Aha?”

“Mrs Carrigan, whoever that is, was not in today and her PA, Cecily Myers, took care of me.”

“Oh, I know who you mean”, Steve recalled, “she seems very friendly.”

“That she is. And definitely to good to be a PA.”

“Alright, I'll pull some strings once I'm me again.”

“Why don't you just do that?”, Nat asked Tony. He was influential enough, more so than any other Avenger.

“Because I don't know shit about the Department of Education and the people working there”, Tony explained. “Right then, Bruce. Let's get back to it, then.” He gestured for Bruce who silently followed him and once again ignored everybody.

Fuck.

As one after the other filed out of the room, all it took was for her to shoot Clint a look for him to hang back. At least their non-verbal communication worked well enough for him to read Thor's expressions.

“What's up?”

“I think you might need to talk to Bruce”, she explained once they had enough privacy.

“Alright... Some issues with my body or what?”

“You could say that...” She took a deep breath and locked eyes with him. “He's suicidal, but up until a few days ago he was in an unkillable body. He no longer is...”

“What?” Clint's eyes went wide as his jaw dropped. “Why the hell would he want to kill himself? He's one of the most renowned scientists!”

“And also the Hulk”, Nat continued. “I've never seen your face so filled with self-hatred as I have the last few days. I already told JARVIS to keep an eye on him, but I don't think that's enough. I also don't think we should tell everybody, because then he'll jump off the tower for good.”

“Fuck.” Clint looked up at her, somewhere between worry and fear. “Yeah, I'll get right on that.”

“Just don't make it worse, alright?”

“Doesn't seem to be possible.”

.-.-.-.-.

“Hey buddy”, Clint called out and grinned widely at Bruce. “How you doing?”

Bruce didn't even bother looking up at him. “You talked to Nat, huh?”

“Just a bit”, he admitted.

“Right then.” Bruce was not in the mood for this. He reached up and switched off the hearing aids, before diving back into the accumulated brainwave data.

From the corner of his eye he saw Clint furiously signing at him, to get Bruce's attention Damnit. If there was one thing he had learned about Clint was that he was persistent. Maybe even more so, now that he was inside Tony, if that was even possible. Fine. The quicker Bruce would get through this, the sooner he could go back to his work and wallowing in his feelings.

“What?”, he signed back.

“Please don't kill my body.”

“Nice to know where your priorities are at.” Bruce just rolled his eyes and, as Clint motioned to sign his apologies, he just waved him off. “Why though? Tony's body is younger, can hear and is filthy rich.”

Pleadingly, Clint locked eyes with Bruce. “But Clint has a wife and kids.”

Oh. That was news to Bruce... He wasn't sure what to say, but didn't have to.

“I know I never told anybody. Only Nat and Fury know. Nick helped me get them off the grid, where I'd like them to stay. I... I couldn't even call my son, tell him the mission went well. Or my daughter and listen to her toddler-babble...”

Clint's eyes teared up and he turned his head, somehow not wanting Bruce to see that he was emotional about missing his family. Which he deserved to do, of course.

But that shit just wasn't fair.

“I'm happy for you, I really am. But this whole game is rigged, isn't it? Thor goes back, he's the prince of Asgard. Tony goes back, he's the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. What do I get? A life of hiding away, of fear with no sign of it all ending.”

He banged his hand on the table, apparently quite loud, judging from Clint jumping.

“Just leave me be”, he whispered and turned his back on his friend.

.-.-.-.-.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, FUCK! They couldn't do anything. Nothing, absolutely nothing to stop Tohuwabohu from fucking up their life any more. To keep from letting his frustrations out from Bruce and Helen, Tony went up to the penthouse. There were less tools he could throw around, but he had almost finished this bottle of whiskey and that was good enough.

And one big swig later, Tony could properly chuck it across the room and contently watch as it shattered into hundreds of tiny shards in a wonderful loud bang.

“You feel better now?” Pepper stood in the door, shooting him a small smile.

“Hey Pep”, he smiled back and, for a short glorious moment, he forgot everything about his current situation.

“I take it, things don't look too rosy...”

“They do not. If we want to get back, we need to let the Alien go again.”

“Oh.” She sat down next to Tony and looked over. “What do you want to do?”

“Currently I want to either kiss you or at least lie in your arms”, he grinned.

“I'd like that, too”. Pepper smiled back and leaned over. “I'll just keep my eyes closed”, she giggled, before pressing her lips against Tony's, well, Steve's.

And Tony just exploded in joy and love and his face beamed probably brighter than his arc reactor heart. “Oh, that was... I really missed that.”

“Yeah...” She leaned back and grinned up at him. “I do prefer your own lips, though.”

“I should hope so... But...”

“But I might have to get used to this body”, she finished his train of thought.

“I... I just don't know what to do.”

“Come here.” Pepper pulled his head into her lap and started to stroke his hair; the most calming and reassuring touch Tony had ever felt. “I can't tell you what to do. And I don't want to either. Just remember, I fell in love with you, not with your body.”

“I do look so much better than Cap though... I mean, I can appreciate his body, and that is one nice ass...”

When the hand stopped moving, Tony glanced through one eye to find her having an eyebrow raised. “Not sure I got this right: do you want to keep this behind or, once you got your own back, want to be with this behind instead?”

“I mean, maybe as a rebound, if I ever fuck this up”, he shrugged with a grin. “I don't plan on doing that, though.”

“You just assume that you'd get Cap in case we break up?”, Pepper shot back. “Maybe I like this body, too?”

“If you want to give it a test ride...”, he smirked, but the laugh bubbled through. “Maybe not though, this is a young, enhanced body, don't know if my body – in case of getting back - can keep up with that... Although I'm sure the real Steve'd be really grateful and a giver...”

“Tony”, Pepper interrupted him.

Probably a good idea, otherwise he would have probably gone into some very uncomfortable areas of Steve's sex life (or lack thereof). “Sorry. Back on topic... I don't know what's gonna happen... We're pretty divided. Nat and Clint campaign for letting that thing go, Fury, Hill and Steve want to keep working on a different solution, which is pretty useless if you ask me, Thor is just happy to be here, Bruce has been scary quiet on the whole thing and I just don't know anymore what's wrong or right.”

“What does Helen say?”

“She agrees that there's nothing we can do. The alien told me that there was nothing we could do and that fucker was right. We can't kill it; it's skin is tougher than Cap's shield. We can't inhibit it's psychic connection; we can't even properly compute its brainwaves! That goo is about as useful in our research as that glibber from Nickelodeon... It'd be easier to physically explain Thor's power than to get an upper hand on that thing!”

“Then that's what you need to make Steve, Maria and Nick understand.”

“And then?” Tony had no idea how all this could end.

“One thing at a time.” She went back to tousling his hair and Tony just leaned into the touch that somehow made him feel like everything's gonna be alright.

“Ok”, he nodded.

“Just like that you agree?”, she chuckled.

“You're the smart one in this relationship”, he shrugged and grinned up at her.

“Yeah, that's true”, she agreed and leaned down one more time and put a soft kiss on his forehead.

“So, listen up”, Tony announced, after all the Avengers had assembled in the common room. “We can't beat this thing. There is no scientific way to circumvent Tohu's psychic influence on us. There is also no way to kill it. Yes, me, Helen and Bruce are sure about that. We tried everything and there is nothing to argue about, we can't. We have two options: either we let it go or we just stay where we are; in the wrong body.”

“Are you sure...”

“Yes, Steve”, Tony interrupted him and just managed to keep at least mostly calm. “I would bet Pepper's life on that. There's nothing, absolutely nothing. You got that now?”

Steve nodded and silently went back to hugging his hot water bottle.

“Right then”, Fury took over. “Tony, what's your take?”

“I'm ready to be convinced either way”, he answered honestly.

“Fine. Who's got a proper opinion?”

“I do”, Nat made clear. “We do it. We let it go. Evolution has its reasons that we might not understand, but it survives this way.”

“Besides”, Clint continued, “the longer we leave it locked up a SHIELD, the more chances are there for it to spread throughout the institution.”

“And, if we let it go, there is no harm done to our world”, Nat finished their statement.

“But to others”, Steve countered.

“There are plenty of uninhabited planets for Tohuwabohu to settle on”, Thor explained. “Chance that he might find one of those is greater than to find a peopled world.”

“Is this really a chance we can take?”

“Yes”, Nat made very clear, and Tony could have sworn he heard thunder going off in the distance as she all but banged her fist on the table and stared Steve down. “Let's just let go of this fucker before bad things happen we can never undo.”

“You know something we don't?” All eyes were on Natasha, who didn't seem to give two shits about the attention on her outburst.

“As a rule, yes I do”, she shot back.

“Anything we need to know?”, Tony tried again, but was met with silence. He didn't have the strength to try and – speaking from experience – fail at getting information out of her, so he just turned back to Fury. “Alright, I'm convinced, let it go.”

“I guess I could learn to live with it, too”, Steve mumbled, looking anything but happy about it, though.

“Bruce, what about you?”

Even more so than usually, Bruce was quiet and withdrawn. Something must have happened that Tony didn't know about, probably something to do with Natasha pushing to release Tohu to the wide unknown.

“I don't want to go back into my body”, he made clear and looking over at Clint, Tony saw his own face dropping. “But”, the doc continued, “I can't keep Clint away from his. So fine.”

“Fine? You're with us?”, Natasha inquired, looking almost afraid of his answer.

“What's going on?”, Tony demanded to know and looked from Bruce to Clint to Natasha.

“Nothing”, Bruce clearly lied, before looking back at Natasha. “Yes.”

“Good”, she smiled, looking more than relieved.

“So, we're in agreement. Right, then me and Hill need to get back to DC and figure out how to send that thing back into outer space.”

.-.-.-.-.

And there they came, crawling back to him, having failed in their mission, just as Tohu told them they would. And now Fury and Hill stood in his cage, begging to know how they had to let him go.

“I want everybody here”, he eventually communicated. By the way both of them jumped, it was clear to see that neither had expected him to talk to them. It was a little fair, he hadn't been keen on chatting with them so far; he never planned on attaching to them, it happened admittedly by accident. Besides, ever since he had connected to the Avengers, as they called themselves, he had recognized the intelligence of the ones called Stark and Banner plus the Asgardian prince and figured that they'd be the only ones worth talking to. But now that they were ready to let him go, he wanted them all here.

“Uhm, you mean everybody you switched?”

“Yes”, he nodded. “I want to see all of my children, before I leave them forever.”

“We're not your children”, Maria made clear.

“Is this this teenage rebellion I have heard of?”

Both just rolled their eyes and strutted out of the room, to call the rest of the group, undoubtedly.

There had been many that tried to stand in his way, to stop him. Many planets had their so-called heroes and self-proclaimed Defenders; none of which had ever managed to stand in his way.

It was almost adorable, the hubris in which they assumed themselves to be stronger or smarter than Tohuwabohu, as if he weren't older than most their civilizations. They still kept on trying, no matter what he told them, like little children that never listened and instead threw a temper tantrum, until they realized they couldn't do shit and came crawling back.

It didn't take too long, for his door to open again and all his children to strut into his cage.

“There you are”, he greeted them, “I have been looking forward to this moment all week.”

“Yeah, me too.” The woman in the Asgardian's body looked ready to strangle him on the spot, very unladylike. But, if her thoughts were anything to go by, ladylike wasn't an adjective to describe her. So many dark thoughts, memories and emotions. Especially about one of her teammates...

“Banner”, he called out, “your friend seems deeply worried about you. And it seems, for good reasons...” If Natasha had dark thoughts, then Bruce's were pitch black.

“Stay out of my head”, Banner answered but, unlike the rest of the group, he had shied back, keeping at the back and fidgeting nervously with his fingers.

And immediately all the thoughts turned to the doctor with the self-hatred. Somewhere between worry and confusion and maybe, just maybe, it would be best for them to have it all out in the open. And if it didn't help them, Tohu had more than enough drama and confusion to feast his eyes on.

“Bruce, your feelings are valid and understandable. I'm just glad I could offer you the possibility to confront them and maybe even a chance to get out.”

“Get out of what?”

The Avengers were no longer quiet and turned to their doctor.

“Don't listen to him”, Bruce shot back, “it's his shtick to create confusion.”

“Oh, you are a horrible liar”, Tohu chuckled. “But those weren't the only feelings to be searched, were they, Tony?”

Stark rolled his eyes and turned back to him. “What?”

“You had plenty of chances to do some soul-searching yourself, did you? Being the man your father idolized and ignored you in favour of...”

“That's enough”, Rogers called. “You are aware of our intentions so there is no need for further aggravation and instead tell us how you'll be able to leave the atmosphere.”

“My dear... There is no need to take your frustrations out on me. Just because you're still mourning the loss of the love of your life... At least Peggy is still alive...”

“Wait, Aunt Peggy isn't the love of your life?” Tony turned to Steve with wide eyes and the wonderfulness of the rising tension, plus the deep blush on Steve's face, send shivers all through Tohu's body. Now, who was next?

“Clint.” He turned to the archer next. “How was life in the limelights, after hiding everything and everyone away?”

“You fucker leave my wife and kids out of this”, Clint thought. At least he was smart enough not to voice it out loud, rather commendable, Tohu had to give him that.

“My apologies. At least one of you seems to have his anger under control, isn't that right, Thor, Son of Odin?”

“Do not speak of things you do not know about.”

“Oh, but I have been on Asgard once before. I believe it was many, many a century before you were born. It was not much to look at, but if the pictures in your mind are anything to go by, your planet and civilization has blossomed beautifully. Maybe I should visit it once more...”

“DON'T EVEN THINK TO GO NEAR MY PEOPLE!” As expected, the god of thunder lost it, and a beautifully green shine crossed his skin.

“Thor, buddy, trust me, please.” Bruce took his stance in front of Thor and put his hands on the god's shoulders. “You do trust me, don't you?”

“I shall not let this creature terrorize my kin”, he growled, a little calmer but still wonderfully close to hulking out.

“And he won't”, Bruce promised him. “But Hulk can't help right now, we need Thor and his knowledge of space to make sure that Asgard will be alright.”

“You're right.” With a sigh, Thor let his head drop. “I'm terribly sorry, my dear friends that my temper keeps on endangering us.”

“Like I said before”, Bruce smiled, “it's not your fault.”

“Aw, isn't this adorable! Can we expect a happy announcement soon? Oh please, invite me to your wedding!”

“Is this supposed to be insulting?” Thor and Bruce both turned to Tohu. “For Bruce is a formidable person, of incredible strength, knowledge and anybody should be lucky to have him by their side.”

“But Bruce doesn't believe that about himself, does he?”

“Alright, I've had it.”

The way the Avengers looked at Bruce with wide eyes, nobody seemed to expect the doctor's outburst. Banner didn't seem to care or notice their shock, as he walked all the way up to the glass separating them.

“So, you want to out all our secrets, hoping we'll jump at each other's throats? You didn't need to switch us for that, we've been pretty successful at that ourselves before you came and screwed everything up. I mean, look at us for heaven's sake. There's an obnoxious spoilt brat of a genius, a moralistic veteran from World War 2, the guy from Norse mythology, the scariest and toughest woman you'll ever meet, the world's best archer and I mean, I don't think I have to say anything about myself. And now you just want to out our secrets? I mean, come on”, he groaned with an exaggerated eyeroll. “They all know I'm suicidal, I've told them that before. We all know that Stark has daddy issues and that Clint, who makes his living as a spy, keeps secrets from us. And everybody who knows a bit about Captain America and has half a brain, realizes that the relationship he had with Sgt Barnes was straight-washed by historians. So, what the fuck do you think you could do to us that we don't already do to ourselves?”

Huh. Not the drama Tohu had expected to break out, apparently he had not estimated the Avengers relationships correctly. It was drama nonetheless, and enough for Tohu. “Well said, Banner”, he praised him. “I see that there is not much more dysfunctionality to be brought upon you.”

“Well, whoop-de-fucking-doo”, Bruce deadpanned. “So, how do we get rid of you?”

“Let me out of here and I'll fly off. You do realize that I have wings, right?”

Apparently they did not. But that was none of Tohu's problems, as soon as he will be under a clear sky he can go find another place to reek havoc.

“Go ahead, discuss how you'll smuggle me out of here without SHIELD noticing. I'm not going anywhere.”

As the Avengers filed out, there weren't too many exciting thoughts, mostly a bunch of very colourful and creative swearwords directed at Tohu. All he could hope was that they were just as creative when it came to escape plans and he would be out of this world in no time.

.-.-.-.-.

“Well, that went about as smooth as figure skating in the desert...”, Clint remarked as he made himself comfortable in Fury's office.

“What a wonderful picture”, Natasha deadpanned and leaned against the wall behind the archer. “But your lyrical abilities and some interpersonal shit aside, let's deal with that fucker over there for now. I don't assume that SHIELD would let it go if we told them to.”

“That is not going to happen”, Fury agreed, “which means we need to stage a break out.”

“Which isn't too hard”, Nat shrugged. “Stage a distraction, cap the security cams, open the doors and let the thing fly off.”

“Right, simple as that”, Fury scoffed. “May I remind you that your current body isn't all that equipped to sneaking around and being inconspicuous?”

“So? Steve has snuck into Hydra bases before, he can do that again.”

“You mean in a body that he can barely stand up straight in?”

“Then let Clint do it. He can sneak, can work Tony's body and cut the feed.”

“And what sort of distraction did you have in mind?” Ugh, Fury's pessimism was exhausting.

She just nodded at Thor

“Would you be alright with that?” Bruce turned to Thor, looking so much softer than only a few minutes ago while ranting at Tohuwabohu.

“I assume the plan is for me to hulk out, so the agents of SHIELD shall leave their posts.”

“That's the idea, yeah.”

“I am aware that it is our best shot, I am afraid of hurting you, though.”

“I trust you, remember?”, Bruce smiled.

“We all do”, Tony continued.

“Then I shall trust your trust.” Thor nodded and locked eyes with each of the assembled Avengers.

And that's what they did. Natasha and Bruce accompanied Thor to the far end of SHIELD HQ, while Maria took Clint to the security room and Tony, Steve and Fury headed to Tohu's cage to let him out.

“Well, Thor, now's your chance” Nat prompted him.

“I am not sure how to switch it on or off though.”

“Well you better”, Bruce shrugged, “otherwise Tohu might make his next stop on Asgard. Your parents might be safe, I'm not sure if they would be able to get to Loki in time, what with him being in the dungeons...”

“This creature shall not lay a hand on my brother!” Taking Bruce's bait, Thor started to turn green.

“What if he stayed on earth though and ran into Jane and Professor Selvig?”

Nat doubted it needed this last comment, but in any way it helped to push Thor over the edge and with a loud growl Bruce's clothes ripped and the damn rage monster was back.

Fuck.

“CODE GREEN!”, Bruce cried out and thankfully, some nearby soldiers pressed the panic button or something, Nat did not really pay it any attention, she had to focus on Hulk, on where he was and on how to best avoid being close to dying again...

In a matter of seconds, they were surrounded by agents, having their guns pointed at Thor, who growled loudly and punched at everything that came to him.

“DON'T CROWD HIM”, Nat called out.

“That only makes it worse”, Bruce continued.

Hopefully they were quick with letting that thing go, the longer Hulk raged around, the harder it'd be to turn him back.

It were two endlessly long seeming minutes, until a loud crashing sound even drowned out Hulk's growling. All eyes went over to where Tohu was once captive and before Nat knew what happened, everything went dark as the Alien took to the skies and blocked out the sun.

The tumult that broke out when Thor hulked out was nothing compared to what went down now. All the agents seemed to have forgotten Hulk as they hurried around, trying to shoot the asshole down.

“Bruce, now”, she hissed over and the doc walked up to Hulk. Like the other day he had his hands held out as he carefully took step after step.

“Hey buddy”, he smiled, “you see, it's over.” He gestured towards Tohu, flying in circles above them, circling higher and higher. “Soon enough everything will be alright again, we'll get back to normal. Our plan worked.”

Thor just stared after the disappearing Alien, before looking down on Bruce.

“It's alright, buddy”, he assured him. “The sun's getting low.”

The big green hand slowly came down and Hulk put his hand in Bruce's. “Sun's getting real low, buddy.”

“Well, that was a success”, Fury commented, when about half an hour later everybody sat in his office again. Still in the wrong bodies, but Tohu probably wasn't far enough away yet. Or he tricked them all and they were doomed to remain in the wrong skin and had let their only chance for normalcy – at least their enhanced, super-human and alien normalcy – go. Nobody dared to voice this fear out loud, but Nat was sure they all thought it.

“Thor, you did perfectly”, Steve praised the god who was wrapped up in a blanket and more asleep than awake on one of the chairs.

“Thank you, dear friend”, he smiled back. “I hope it was not for nothing.”

“At least nobody will know it was us who let it go”, Clint shrugged, so apparently everything went well in the surveillance area.

“Well, me and Fury got a lot to deal with, so you six better head out before all hell breaks loose and all we can do is hope for the best.”

.-.-.-.-.

When Tony woke up it was still dark out. Groggily he glanced through an half-open eye to the moon shining in through the window. He had to fight to fully open his eyes and he sat up to look around the common room where he must have fallen asleep, as did the other Avengers.

Ugh, every of his joints creaked and cracked as he sat up. Wait, why would that be, if he was in Steve's 20-something year old enhanced body?

It could mean only one thing... He looked down and almost couldn't believe his eyes: blue light from the arc-reactor was lighting up his chest and yes, he was wearing an ACDC shirt, and no longer these horribly tight shirts Steve ran around in.

“JARVIS, who am I?” Last test.

“You are Anthony Edward Stark, born on...”

“Thanks J, that'll be all. YO, UP AND AT 'EM!”, he yelled at the Avengers around him.

“What is it now? Wait, my voice... OMIGOD, IT WORKED!”, Clint cried out and in joy jumped up on the couch, where Steve was patting his chest to make sure that he didn't have boobs anymore.

It was, weirdly enough, Thor, who motioned for them to quiet down. “Friends, do not disturb our doctor, he needs his rest.” He put the blanket, that had fallen off the couch, back over Bruce's torso.

“Right then.” Nat motioned for them to leave Bruce be and the Avengers assembled again in the kitchen. “Thor, don't take this personally, but fuck, I'm so glad to be myself again.”

“No offence taken”, Thor smiled back at her. “thank you for taking care of my body these last few days.”

“Yeah, Steve I'd like to say the same thing to you, but...”

Steve blushed and was about to apologize his ass off, before Nat continued. “I'm kidding. You did well, considering what you were up against.”

“Thanks... And Tony, I guess you made more than enough... Tony?” As they looked around, they realized them being one genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist short. “Where did he go?”

“Three guesses”, Nat shot back, pretty sure he had run off to Pepper, the second he saw he was himself again.

“PEPPER!” Only when Tony ran into the penthouse and was greeted by a very tired, still half-asleep looking Pepper, he bothered to check the time. 3.47am. Whoops. “Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, but...”

“Tony, is it you?”

“Yeah”, he beamed, “I'm me again!”

“Finally!”, she sighed and threw herself at him and pressed their lips together. If Tony didn't get to do anything else besides kissing Pepper for the rest of his life, he would be a-ok with that.

“I love you so, so, so much”, he sighed and melted into her touch.

“And I love you”, she smiled against his lips.

“So, I guess it wasn't really a perfect victory, but good enough to celebrate it, don't you think?”

“How subtle.” Pepper broke away from the kiss, giggling. “I'd love to celebrate with you”, she grinned and pulled him towards the bedroom. “The bed has been way to empty without you in it.”

.-.-.-.-.

“Hey Bruce, you busy?” Nat put her head through the lab door. Ever since they had woken up to their normal skins three days ago, she had kept her distance and Bruce had been waiting for her to show up.

“What's up?” He looked up from his microscope.

“I'm kidnapping you”, she smiled.

“Very funny.”

“But true. Come on.” She gestured for him to follow her.

“Fine...” Damnit. If Bruce didn't follow her right now, she would probably drag him to where ever by his ankles. “You gonna tell me where you're taking me?”, he asked as he hurried to catch up to her.

“We're gonna drive a bit”, was the only thing she told him direction wise and tossed a helmet at him. Great, per motorbike.

So, holding on to Nat's torso, they rode out of New York. Bruce wasn't gonna admit it, but it was actually really nice and a lot of fun. And Nat was a good driver. A little fast, but not dangerously so and Bruce just enjoyed the view as they drove past less and less houses and more and more greenery.

Until they reached a farmhouse, in front of which Nat stopped and motioned for Bruce to get off.

Before he could ask where they were and what they were doing here, the door opened and a small boy came running towards them. “AUNTIE NAT!”

“Cooper!”, she beamed and, once he jumped into her arms, whirled the boy through the air. “How're you doing?”

“So good! Daddy and I worked on the treehouse and Mummy just made dinner and you're just in time to eat.”

“Perfect, I'm starving”, Nat grinned, before she turned to Bruce, who so far had only stared at her with wide eyes. She was grinning, almost giggly. “That's Bruce. He's a friend of me and Daddy's.”

“Hi Bruce”, the kid smiled at him. “Are you also staying for dinner?”

“He is, yes”, Nat answered for Bruce, who was still a little overwhelmed at the sight of Natasha Romanoff of all people being cute and cuddly.

“Great.” The boy jumped out of Nat's arm and took each of the grown ups by their hands and pulled them after him towards the farmhouse, where they were greeted by a woman, around Natasha's age, with a little girl in her arm.

“NASHA!”, the girl giggled and stretched her little arms out towards her.

“Hey, Lila”, she cooed and took the girl in her arm. “Laura, it's so good to see you!”

“You too”, the woman smiled back and hugged Nat and the little girl. “And I assume you're Bruce”, she greeted him and held her hand out. “I'm Laura. That's Cooper and that's Lila.”

“It's so nice to meet you all”, he smiled, slightly overwhelmed at this little family and why exactly he was here.

“And to meet you, too. I guess you already know my husband”, she grinned and behind her, Clint appeared.

“Tasha, Bruce, good to see you.”

Of fucking course. This was Clint's family, the people Bruce was asked to keep Clint's body safe for.

“Auntie Nat said they stay for dinner.”

“Of course, we didn't drive all the way for nothing.”

“So, you looked after my Clint's body the last few days?”, Laura asked, as Clint and Nat put the kids to bed.

“You could say that”, he shrugged. “I feel like I should apologize, though, as I take it your existence is supposed to be a secret.”

“I believe a smart scientist like you can keep it”, she winked and handed him a cup of tea.

“Thanks.” Together they headed to the living room and made themselves comfortable. From a few rooms over, Bruce could hear giggling, as Nat and Clint told some dramatic bed time story. “I've never seen either of them like that”, he remarked.

“Yeah”, Laura nodded, and took a sip of tea. “Nat barely shows anybody a side that's not completely controlled and stoic. Same with Clint. I know he's not a serious guy, but Avenger's Clint is quite the burdened guy. Until he and Auntie Nat come home.”

“If I'm being honest, I never pictured him to be the family type”, Bruce admitted. “I mean, with his time at the circus, then SHIELD...”

“Yeah, he doesn't really fit the type... But he is an incredible dad and Nat is an amazing Auntie.”

“Well, this last week has certainly be informative”, Bruce eventually chuckled.

“That I believe... Listening to Thor and Tony Stark telling me they love me was a little weird to say the least.”

Bruce couldn't help but laugh. “That I believe. I think Tony and Pepper went through pretty much the same thing...”

“Yes, Clint mentioned something about kissing Pepper...”

“I think the word 'clusterfuck' perfectly summarized these last few days.”

“Well, if anybody gets through that, it's Earth Mightiest Heroes, isn't it?”, she grinned.

“We definitely create enough chaos being the six of us without needing some mind-reading Alien to do that for us.”

“But when you need each other you're there and get yourselves out of the messes, no matter whether created by an Alien or your own doing.”

“I guess...” From the kids' room, he heard Nat and Clint laughing and couldn't help the smile. “No idea, when or how it happened, but I guess we need each other...”

“Then I'm happy to lend you Clint every now and again”, she grinned and Bruce just smiled back.

“And I promise all of us will do everything in our power to always bring him back to you.”

Laura took Bruce's hands in hers and gently squeezed them. She didn't say anything, but didn't have to; Bruce clearly received all her gratefulness.

Sure, once the excitement of this body switch was over and Bruce was back in his lab, hiding behind science and his microscope, the fucked up feeling of his Hulk-sized depression would soon enough catch up with him again. But at least for right now he could appreciate being kept from doing something stupid and well, with Natasha, Clint, Thor, Tony and Steve caring about him like that, maybe the future wouldn't be too bad.

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igotyoukth · 5 years

Text

Drive. BTS

Masterlist

Seokjin

Was this your car or another restaurant. Jin had filled the whole car with various foods and insisted on stopping at every resting area to get more. You also learned many new uses of your car. It was possible to eat ramen on the road, cup holders were perfect for cupcakes and drinks became enjoably cold when placed under your seat.

When he rushed to get more food, you trew away the wrappers and empty cups. Otherwise there was no space left for the things he bought.

When you walked back to the car, you noticed Jin running out of the building. He yelled something and waved his hands. Without much thought, you started running as well, so you met by the car.

“What are we? Bonnie and Clyde, what did you steal?,” you asked him once you sat down and closed the door.

“They recognized me in there,” he didn’t sound too upset about that, a little smile showed up on his face.

“So you couldn’t buy the ice-cream?”

“The next rest station is only 2 km away, we’ll get it there.” There was no way this boy would give up on his food.

Yoongi

“Next time you doze off, I’m crashing the car on purpose,” he warned you, when he saw you close your eyes for two seconds.

“I wasn’t sleeping,” you lied, suppressing a yawn. It was late at night, and Yoongi had suggested driving around and talking.

“Then tell me, what I was just talking about,” he looked over to you, making sure you were still awake. You were the annoying friend, that fell asleep the second you entered a car.

“I’m admitting my crimes, officer,” you bowed in his direction. You had no idea what he had talked about. All your focus had been on keeping your eyes open.

“I’ll forgive you, if you can guess it.” Music, popped in your mind. But the answer wouldn’t be that easy, if Yoongi asked like that. He was a very twisted man. You also excluded Holly, his dog, because he already talked about him yesterday. Oh! You remembered something else about yesterday.

“You wanted to watch a movie last night, is it about that?,” you asked a little nervous.

“My girl is so smart,” he smiled,”Yes, I watched it, but it was bad. You would’ve loved it.” “Was it romantic? Did they marry in the end?,” you were wide awake now. Romantic comedies were your favorites.

“I won’t spoil it.” “Then I’m going back to sleep.”

“Okay, okay, they die in the end.” “Min Yoongi!”

Hoseok

This boy had some serious issues, when he drove. He turned into an Ahjumma, pointed fingers at people and talked bad about other drivers. He never cursed though. Sometimes you wished he did, so he could relieve his anger that way. But he continued with his passive aggressive act.

“Love, hanging on my ass won’t make me drive faster,” was one of his softer sentences. “Let’s continue driving like this and we’re qualified for turtle races,” was also very well-mannered. Ten minutes into the drive, he started to raise his voice.

“Where do you get the energy to get worked up like this?,” you asked him out of real curiosity. Because he was never too tired to stop talking.

“Oh, don’t let me get started about driving habits, you’ll lose, sunshine.”

“What do you mean?”

“You really don’t know?,” he looked at you for a second and laughed,”You really don’t know.”

“Why?,” you whined, you never heard anyone criticize your style.

“I don’t know, Miss Glue-Me-To-The-Wheel. It’s probably nothing, Madam What’s-A-Smooth-Stop,” he laughed at the nicknames he made.

“YA! That’s what people call careful!” But you joined his laughter, you knew how ridicilous you drove in that sense.

“Everyone has a different style, and you look cute, so all’s good.”

Namjoon

Like Jin, Namjoon also made a stop at every rest station. For very different reasons though. The second you stopped the car- he still didn’t have a driving license- he rushed to the restroom and emptied his stomach. It wasn’t because of your driving style, for real. He read books and did work on his laptop, so of course he got car sick.

You already bought some bread and coffee from the little market, and waited for Namjoon to get out of the restroom. You saw him exit, but you were surprised to see that he wasn’t alone. His companions weren’t fans, but old Ahjussis patting Namjoon’s back. Namjoon bowed several times to them, before shaking hands and saying goodbye.

“Baby, I think I won’t get motion sickness anymore,” he announced happily.

“Why?”

“The Ahjussis explained how it works, my brain can’t process the car moving, but the stillness on the inside,” he explained with bright eyes,”and reading makes it worse.”

“But that’s what I always tell you, Joon!”

“No, I know the exact reason now, I won’t get sick,” he sounded very sure. “If you say so,” you started the car,”but don’t be too proud to tell me if you feel sick, don’t make my car dirty.” “No, baby. It’s mind over body.”

Jimin

You barely argued or fought with Jimin. A really big thing had to happen for you to actually raise your voices or be irrational to each other. He was your perfect boyfriend, who read everything from your eyes.

Well, that applied to everything that didn’t include any of you driving. Because that’s when war happened. You were the biggest enemies, once you two entered a car. It already started with the discussion over who would drive. You were both too proud to let the other one drive. Any “Today I’m driving” was followed by “Don’t you trust me?” from the other. And you couldn’t decide on a game, which seemed fair enough for both of you. (”Arm wrestling? Against a girl? Park Jimin!”) Most of the time you let one of the boys pick a number or something.

Today Jimin was driving. That didn’t mean that you could rest. You were now his personal navigator, feeder and motivator. But he didn’t have it easy with you either. You didn’t shut up at all.

“You are too far right,” you commented on his driving style,”And look at the mirror from time to time.” The more you nagged, the more he took revenge from you.

“Drive slower,” you said. ”Give me water,” he responded. “Change lanes,” was the trigger for “Turn the aircon off.”

So you both couldn’t hide your relief when you reached your destination.

“Let’s use a taxi next time, babe.”

Taehyung

Sometimes you feared for your own life. You weren’t proud of that feeling, but it was what you felt. You couldn’t hide your hand that gripped the door or your constant stare on the street. And you always made sure that the handbrake was in reach. Taehyung didn’t drive in a crazy or dangerous way. He didn’t speed or make reckless moves. He was... unfocused.

“Babe, look at the clouds!,” he suddenly pointed at the sky and even moved closer to the windshield. You tightened your grip.

“Tae, can you please look at the road?” He smiled at you, when he noticed your concerned voice. “But that’s boring,” he joked. He joked, right?

“Dying is boring as well, Tae.” Maybe, he whispered before turning away. But when you thought the danger was over, you were dissapointed once again. He already started playing with the radio and lost focus.

“I’ll do it,” you told him and started the device.

“Why are humans so scared of dying?,” he asked, when he noticed your nervous fumbling. You noticed, how he didn’t ask about your fear of his driving, but dying in general. It was not unusual for him to become philosophic at random times. But this really wasn’t it.

“Pull over, I’m driving.”

“Thank god, I thought you would never say that. Driving is so boring.”

Jungkook

“Move your head,” you murmured in Jungkook’s direction, while trying to park your car. His head was not even the slightest in the way, but you wanted to get angry at him. You both hated parking, and you had lost all rounds of rock-paper-scissors and had to drive and park.

“Even a limo could fit in there.” He sounded amused about your struggling, but he had moved his head nevertheless.

“Then you do it,” you said and stepped on the brakes. Parking was hard enough without him making fun of you.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized right away and touched your cheek,” I’ll go around and help you.” He wasn’t only helping by guiding you into the parking lot, but also by being outside and out of reach. You still heard him nag you a little muted, but it was bearable. And in no time, you parked as good as you could.

“Look how much space you had,” he gestured around. But when he saw your face, he quickly changed,”But you did great, look how parallel you are.”

“I’d rather break my own leg next time, than drive you around.” “Or you could get better at playing games,” he suggested.

“Winning over you?,” you raised a brow,”breaking legs is easier than that.”

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taexual · 6 years

Text

Seeing White / Jinyoung x Reader (SMUT)

Read PART ONE of this reaction HERE

Burning touches all throughout the business meeting – because you needed to prove (to each other?) that you were married – escalate as soon as you and Jinyoung leave the restaurant.

Pairing: mafia au!Jinyoung x Reader

Warnings: strong language, rude jinyoung & smut (unprotected car sex y’all, stay safe)

Words: 6.1k

there were so many things that made me post this so late and I am so SO sorry for taking so long to write this. i hope you enjoy!

Request by anon: could you possibly do a part 2 on mafia Jinyoung? oh and i forgot, yes I would like mafia jinyoung pt 2 smutty but romantic haha x

By @kpopgrrl09: Hey girl! I'm requesting a continuation of chapters for the hyung line of GOT7 MAFIA AU collection its just all too good and i need more to read!

Request by @shineetrash247: But can you maybe right a smuttish second part for Jinyoung's mafia au.Like a small one.Please.Pretty please

You were nervous about the meeting with the foreign businessman because it was the first job assigned to you and Jinyoung since your arranged marriage a month ago. Usually – since your family had relations with the Mafia as well – you attended similar meetings with your father or your uncle. Now, however, you were going to attend one with your husband.

You didn’t even know Jinyoung that well and you were already nervous about this as it was, but then he came into your room and called you beautiful, and made your entire world flip upside down. If previously Jinyoung was nothing but a man you were stuck living with, now he was the handsome guy that you were married to. And on top of that, you’ve had some feelings for him – that’s what you’ve decided last night after he left your room.

It took you one whole sleepless night to realize that normally, it’d take a lot more than just a compliment to get you all flustered. So, it wasn’t even the compliment that made you feel this way. It was obviously the person, giving it.

While you tried to calm yourself down before grabbing your purse and heading downstairs, you heard a knock on your door.

“Y/n,” Jinyoung’s voice – ah, speak of the handsome devil – was heard on the other side of the door. “Are you almost done?”

“Yes!” you replied, your hand instinctively reaching to touch the necklace Jinyoung had helped you put on last night. You still felt aftershocks of electricity in the places where he had touched you. “I’ll come out in a second.”

“Alright, I’ll be at the front door. Take your time!” Jinyoung replied and you heard his footsteps as he walked towards the stairs.

You watched your reflection in the mirror for a few more minutes, trying to understand why your heart was beating so fast. Could it be just because you were afraid you were going to have to lead the negotiation with the businessman? Or was it because you were going to spend the whole night at the restaurant, sitting next to Jinyoung?

Just at the thought of being able to lose yourself in his cologne – honestly, he may have used a cologne that every single man on Earth used and he would have still smelled differently – throughout the whole dinner, you had to sit down on your bed for a moment.

Yeah, you may have been nervous about the meeting itself, but the reason why your stomach was doing somersaults was Jinyoung.

After you slowly exited your room and started to descend the stairs, you could see Jinyoung turn around and face you in slow motion. He had helped you choose a dress last night but he had not yet seen you wear it. And now that he did, you could see every muscle in his body stiffen, despite him wearing a white suit (he did not just match his tie to your white dress, he matched his whole outfit) that made it harder for you to see the outline of his figure.

Meanwhile, Jinyoung had no trouble seeing your figure – because the dress that adorned your body accentuated all the right features, and, frankly, made you feel a little self-aware, especially under Jinyoung’s relentless gaze – as you climbed down the stairs towards him. But then his lungs, once his eyes caught you, started to approach dangerously low levels of oxygen intake, so he was forced to look away from you so he could actually breathe.

“Hey,” he said to you when you stopped in front of him. “You look… breath-taking.”

Literally.

A shade of red crept up to your cheeks but you tried to play it off. “Thank you. You look really good, too. Looks like we’re matching tonight, huh?”

Jinyoung had completely forgotten what kind of outfit he was wearing but to think he’d waste his precious time that he could have spent looking at you by checking what kind of clothes he had on, would have been plain stupid. So, he just nodded and extended a hand to you.

“Looks like we are,” he confirmed as you automatically put your hand in his, feeling the softness of his skin and almost melting right away.

This was going to be a long night.

Your thoughts were confirmed when you walked out of your house, hand-in-hand with Jinyoung, and saw his old – white – Chevrolet parked out front. It was an old model – one of the few you’ve seen in Jinyoung’s garage – so you didn’t have very high expectations about how fast it’d go from zero to one-hundred.

And yet, as Jinyoung opened the door for you and patiently waited for you to climb inside before closing the door and jogging around the car to the driver’s side, you realized you wouldn’t have minded going at twenty kilometers per hour if it meant that Jinyoung would sit next to you. Not too close to damage your entire ecosystem, but not too far so you wouldn’t see him.

Riding in a car with Jinyoung seemed to give you the perfect amount of time to get used to his close presence and prepare you for the night ahead. Oh, and also it gave you some time to look him over while he drove.

Or so you thought.

“I have to say,” Jinyoung suddenly said, just as your eyes had moved down to his hands and the way they were tightly gripping the wheel. “The way you’re looking at me right now – oh, and you’re biting your lip, too? – God, it does things to me.”

You had not expected him to catch you staring. Maybe it was somewhat naïve on your part. But more than that, you had not expected him to say something as obviously provocative as this.

You flushed and looked away immediately, unsure what to do with yourself anymore. “Sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize,” Jinyoung said. “If I wasn’t driving, I would have really enjoyed it. Have I mentioned how beautiful you look tonight?”

“You have,” you answered awkwardly.

“Good. I’ll probably say it again more than once,” he warned. “Are you nervous?”

You had no idea how he managed to go from commenting about the way you were staring at him to casually asking you if you were nervous that fast, but you were noticeably slower and still had a hard time turning your head to look at him due to the redness on your cheeks.

“About the meeting?” you asked, still watching the dashboard of his car instead of him.

“Well, that and… in general,” Jinyoung said, the small smirk on his lips telling you that he could tell how intimidated by him you were.

You weren’t like that before. Before he came into your room last night, you’ve barely even seen him. You were only married technically, but in reality, you could hardly recall what he looked like. And now suddenly, Jinyoung’s face was all you could see.

Of course, you were nervous.

“I’m okay,” you replied to his question. “It’s a little warm in the car, but other than that, I’m fine.”

Jinyoung’s eyes automatically glanced at the heater of the car, noticing that it was placed on maximum heat. Then, his eyes moved to your white dress, which stopped mid-thigh. His eyes lingered there for a moment before he got himself together and looked back at the road.

“You’re not wearing a lot,” he said. “I didn’t want you to get cold.”

Cold was the last thing you were feeling when you felt his eyes on you. You were sure that even if Jinyoung did turn the heater off, you’d still feel on fire with him next to you.

“I debated wearing pants,” you admitted, finally raising your eyes to look at him, but then looking away immediately after he glanced back to look at you, causing your gazes to meet. “But, uh, I thought this occasion called for a dress.”

“I’m glad it did,” Jinyoung said. “You look really good in dresses. In pants, too, of course, but… dresses are great. I like you in dresses a lot.”

Trying desperately not to blush again because, for God’s sake, you were an adult, you nodded. “Thank you.”

“Y/n,” Jinyoung said then. “Do you think it’s important for us to act – you know – married in front of these people?”

For some reason, your stomach dropped. “I don’t know. We were told to. But I guess we don’t have t—”

“We were told to,” Jinyoung interrupted you, repeating your words. “So, we should then, shouldn’t we?”

“I guess so.”

“Okay. I think we got this.”

Obviously, arranged marriages were just a play that two people put up for everyone else. And, obviously, everyone else knew it was a play, too. Yet, they still played along, turning your personal lives into a huge drama with virtually no real details.

Jinyoung helped you get out of the car, – that was parked in an empty lot of an old construction site further away from the restaurant, for safety purposes, or so Jinyoung said – kissing your hand in the process, and thus, letting you know that he had already started to act, so you need to do the same.

The two of you entered the restaurant hand-in-hand and headed towards the table at the far end of the room, where the businessman you were supposed to meet, was already waiting.

“Good evening,” Jinyoung said as a way to announce himself. “I’m very sorry if we’re late. We ran into some traffic on the way.”

The man at the table immediately jumped to his feet, shaking Jinyoung’s hand and kissing yours. This polite gesture did not cause your stomach to flip or even tremble in the slightest, unlike Jinyoung’s touch did.

“I didn’t know this was Le Dîner en Blanc,” the businessman laughed, noticing your white outfits, as Jinyoung and you – not having the slightest clue what he was talking about – chuckled awkwardly. “Well, sit, sit. I’ve only gotten here a few minutes ago myself, you have nothing to worry about. Though, I imagine, having a passenger as beautiful as your wife, would explain your tardiness.”

Jinyoung gave him half a smile. “Yes. Certainly.”

Jinyoung helped you sit in your chair, taking a seat right next to you with the businessman in front of you. Jinyoung couldn’t help but notice the way the foreign man kept eyeing you and he had to admit, he did not like that. Not just because you were technically a married woman, but also because the man reeked of perverted nature. Jinyoung didn’t want you anywhere near him.

Sometime after the waitress took your orders, you began to explain the business project you’ve come here to offer. The businessman listened to you intently, his eyes never leaving yours, and Jinyoung – however stupid it might have seemed – started to feel envious. He was a patient guy. He didn’t need your constant attention. But something about the fact that your attention – although for a professional purpose – was focused on another man caused him to start thinking irrationally.

Without really thinking about it, Jinyoung placed a hand on your thigh. Neither one of you expected skin-to-skin contact because both of you had assumed your dress was a little longer. It must have ridden up when you sat down on the chair. And now Jinyoung had his hand on your bare thigh. His skin was on your skin.

You looked at him with your eyebrows raised.

Jinyoung gave you a quick smile, mouthing, “We’re married.”

Sure, you were married. That didn’t give him the permission to distract you like that, though. Especially not in the middle of a meeting that you were already nervous about.

“Sorry,” you said, realizing that you’ve stopped talking as soon as Jinyoung touched you. “Where was I?”

“We were discussing the values of property downtown,” the businessman explained. “I’m assuming you wanted me to invest in some of those buildings that, if I’m not mistaken, are currently still in business, are they not? I’ve driven past multiple companies that were working in those buildings on my way here.”

“Right!” you said, your thoughts no longer on your racketeering accomplices, but on the way Jinyoung’s fingers seemed to brush over the skin of your thigh every now and then. “Well, those companies are planning to, uh, resettle elsewhere. Business for them isn’t going well downtown. We’re really doing them a favor by taking it over.”

“Uh-huh,” the businessman repeated. “And what makes you certain that your business will flourish since theirs isn’t going so well?”

God, why couldn’t he just sign the damn papers and let you and Jinyoung go? You had trouble maintaining your business tone when Jinyoung’s hand was on your leg.

You glared at the guy next to you before continuing, only to catch him already watching you with an intense gaze. You could see Jinyoung’s dilated pupils and slightly parted lips and you had to look away before you completely lost your train of thought.

Your glares didn’t seem to do anything to him as his hand stayed where it was. And, maybe you weren’t really trying to get him to remove his hand from your thigh. You just wanted him to know that this was not the appropriate time for that.

Somehow, after managing to focus on your work and not on the man in the seat next to you, you finished answering the businessman's questions and waited for him to finish reading the business agreement Jinyoung’s family had typed out beforehand. You haven’t read the agreement before, so you were hoping the businessman wouldn’t ask any more questions. But he did.

Jinyoung, however, noticed your distress and – despite not having read the agreement, either – took it upon himself to improvise.

One of the things you’ve noticed about Jinyoung was that when he was making something up, he gestured with his hands a lot. And now that he was trying to come up with a way to answer the businessman’s question, he had to remove his hand from your leg. You were surprised to shudder at the cold feeling that settled on your thigh in the place where his hand had been.

However, since he was distracting you all through dinner, you chose to pay him back, no longer caring about the risk of blowing this deal off. The businessman was seconds away from signing the agreement anyway.

Slowly, you placed a hand on his knee. Jinyoung didn’t react at all. Thinking that this was really impressive, you slid your hand towards his thigh, making sure your touch was not pressing into his pants too hard, but still making the desired impact despite being very light. Oh, and it was making exactly the impact you were expecting.

Jinyoung stopped mid-sentence once your hand reached his inner thigh. He turned to look at you – and regretted that as soon as he did – and saw you biting your lip as you watched the way the muscles in his legs stiffened at your touch. When you raised your eyes to meet his and smiled before leaning into him inconspicuously, he knew what you were going to whisper in his ear before you even opened your mouth.

“We’re married.”

This was your payback. And your payback was all he could think about as he felt himself stumble over his words, probably not making much sense because his mind was now in the lower part of his body, right next to your hand that was dangerously close to where he needed it the most.

Miraculously, he managed to answer the businessman’s question and get him to nod knowingly without noticing the way Jinyoung’s face was decorated by a sheer pink color caused by the restraining he had to do in order not to grab your hand and place it on the one spot you refused to touch.

Almost immediately after the businessman signed the agreement and took the few remaining bites of his meal, Jinyoung was standing, ready to say his goodbyes.

It looked like all of the professional etiquette was out of the window.

Jinyoung didn’t even bother to listen to the businessman’s wishes to work together on more projects in the future, he just grabbed your hand and pulled you right out of the restaurant. You’d have been lying if you said you weren’t proud of yourself for getting him all worked up like this. You had breathing problems all night because of him. It was time he tasted his own medicine.

Jinyoung did not say a single word the entire time you were walking to the lot where your car was parked. He only looked around a couple of times to make sure no one was following you and then sped up.

Despite clearly being in a rush, Jinyoung did not forget his manners and opened the car door for you as soon as you reached his Chevrolet. You blinked your eyes at the opened back door, though.

“You want me to sit in the back?” you asked him.

“I want you to climb into the back,” he replied. “Now, preferably. Please.”

Still confused, you obeyed his orders and sat down in the backseat of the car. Jinyoung climbed in right after you, locking the car from the inside.

“What are you—”

“What did you think you were doing there?” he asked, cutting you off.

He was sitting right next to you on the back seat, and despite it being dark outside and in the car, too, you could still see the dangerous sparkle in his eye.

“What, in the restaurant?” you asked, trying not to smile when you realized what he was getting at. “You started it.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Neither did I.”

Both of your gazes battled, your eyes refusing to blink as if blinking would result in a loss. And then, Jinyoung chose to let you win by looking down at your lips. He just watched them, not doing anything. However, you were beyond done with anticipation.

“Are you going to kiss me?” you asked quietly.

“Are you going to let me?” Jinyoung countered.

Instead of answering, you decided to take the initiative and turned his face to you with one of your hands, connecting your lips in a kiss that seemed to work as an ignition button, sending both of you into a wild frenzy of heavy breaths and curses.

Jinyoung mumbled a quick “fuck,” as he responded to your kiss with eagerness. His hands immediately landed on your sides and lifted you up slightly, giving you the hint to throw one of your legs over him so you were sitting on his lap.

He had both of his hands tightly secured around your waist, his lips against yours, as you dragged your hands down his chest, feeling the way it rose and fell with every breath that left his mouth and washed off on yours in the form of sloppy kisses. His hands moved down from your waist to your ass, squeezing it roughly before pulling you closer to him and forcing your core to grind against his growing bulge.

You exhaled into the kiss, the friction causing sparks to erupt in your stomach. Jinyoung’s grip on you tightened as he held you pressed tightly against his body while his lips moved expertly against yours, his tongue exploring the inside of your mouth.

When – despite being tightly held by Jinyoung – you moved your hips against his again, he groaned into the kiss, moving his lips to your jawline and down your neck, while he listened to your heavy breathing.

“Are you still pretending we’re married?” you exhaled, a teasing tone not leaving your voice.

“No,” Jinyoung replied, placing a kiss on your neck. “I’m showing you we’re married.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, you felt his teeth on the skin of your neck and gasped at the sudden sting caused by his bite. Jinyoung quickly brushing his tongue over the mark soothingly.

One of his hands left your back and reached the zipper of your white dress, pulling it down as soon as he came across it. Meanwhile, you worked on pushing his suit jacket off his shoulders, which proved to be difficult when he was leaning against the back of the seat and refusing to move, limiting not only his own movements but yours as well. He preferred you pressed tightly against him and did not seem to want to rip each other’s clothes off as quickly as possible. If anything, he moved rather slowly – contrary to his lips that harshly sucked on a spot above your collarbone, causing your breaths to turn into yelps – and took his time exploring the newly revealed areas of your skin on your back since the dress has been unzipped.

“Let me remove it,” you said, trying to pull his jacket off, a heavy breath – because Jinyoung found the sweet spot on your neck – leaving your lips right after.

Jinyoung’s hands wrapped themselves around your waist tightly again as he leaned forwards with you still in his arms, and finally allowed you to push the jacket off his shoulders. He had to release you in order for you to fully remove the piece of clothing, but once you did, his hands were on you again, touching and caressing your skin as if he hasn’t touched you in years, despite it only being five seconds.

He moved the sleeves of the dress down your arms, breathing heavily as if this task was the hardest thing he’s done. You weren’t even touching him as he removed the top half of your dress, but somehow, just the realization that he was undressing you was already euphoric enough for him.

As soon as the top half of the dress was off, your hands moved to the buttons of his shirt, working much faster than Jinyoung, who just sat there, his mouth still open.

“Remember when I said I liked it when you wore dresses?” he asked in a voice so deep that you felt your fingers start unbuttoning his shirt even faster.

“Yeah,” you replied.

“I changed my mind,” Jinyoung said. “I like it when you don’t wear anything.”

Without giving you any time to reply, he reattached his lips to yours, making the process of removing his clothes so much more difficult. You couldn’t really think about the logistics of a shirt when his tongue was in your mouth.

And yet, somehow you managed to finish unbuttoning his shirt and this time, Jinyoung took the lead and pulled his body away from you – not breaking the kiss – so he could remove the shirt himself.

Finally getting to touch the warm and smooth skin of his chest and abdomen sent shivers down your spine that Jinyoung was quick to feel as his hands never left your body for longer than five seconds. You felt him smirk into the kiss and, wanting to show him that you will not stand this cocky expression on his face, you moved your hips over the already prominent bulge in his pants, causing him to groan and pull away from the kiss.

“That’s not very nice,” he told you. “You’re wearing too many clothes to do stuff like that.”

“Am I?” you replied, grinding your hips against his again. This time, you had to bite your lip to resist admitting how the feeling of him so close to you made you feel.

Jinyoung, however, picked up on the game you were playing, and instead of saying anything else, released his frustration by flipping you on the back seat, so you were laying on your back, at the same time as he unclasped your bra. You didn’t even feel him do that as you gasped once your back connected with the cold leather seat of the car.

Jinyoung pulled your bra off before leaning down to kiss you again, the feeling of your breasts pressed against his chest causing him to sigh deeply into the kiss, before bringing his hands to your hips where your dress was currently located.

He had to remove himself from you in order to finish taking the dress off and as soon as he pulled it off of you, the sight of you, sprawled under him made him swallow painfully. His eyes slowly traveled from your face to your legs, trying to take it all in and make sure he’d remember this.

Once he was sure he couldn’t keep himself from touching you any longer, he dropped your dress onto the floor of the car and leaned into you to kiss you again.

“Jinyoung, don’t just—” you started to say right before his lips touched yours. You pulled away from the kiss a moment later. “The dress will get stained!”

“There won’t be any stains if you’ll be a good girl for me.”

You were surprised to learn that a person could defeat all of your arguments with a single sentence, and yet there Jinyoung was, smirking cockily – again – because he knew very well what kind of effect his words had on you. He didn’t need any proof of that, and yet, as he finally brought his lips to your again, his hand slowly slid down your hip, over your inner thigh, and then stopped right next to your core.

“How bad do you want me right now?” Jinyoung asked against your lips, pecking them another few times, before he brought his hand to your panties, gently brushing his fingers against your clit over the material of your underwear, and moving his face away from yours, so he could watch your reaction.

“Did you find your answer?” you asked, not giving him the pleasure of hearing you beg, despite how much you wanted him to just touch you.

“Not really,” he shot back, retrieving his fingers and sliding them under the waistband of your panties instead. “You’re going to have to talk to me, baby.”

“You’re going to have to touch me in order to get me to talk,” you countered, surprisingly losing your timidness when Jinyoung was acting arrogant.

“Oh?” he replied with the same smirk, while he pulled your panties down torturously slowly. “What if I want you to talk in order to touch you?”

Your hands made their way to his belt since he was too preoccupied with the removal of the last piece of clothing on you to realize that he was still wearing more clothes than necessary.

“Do you want me to talk,” you said, successfully undoing his belt and unzipping his pants, all while making sure to brush your hand over his bulge a few times. “Or do you want me to touch you?”

Jinyoung inhaled deeply at the feeling of your hands on him and then chuckled. “Fair enough.”

He finished pulling your panties down your legs and allowed you to help him remove his pants, since the tight space in the back of his car limited your movements. As soon as he was just in his boxers, he pushed you back onto the seat again and climbed over you before kissing you sloppily while his hands returned to your thighs.

He continued to kiss you as he moved one of your legs to a side and repositioned his body so that he was laying on top of you, between your legs. Then, he slowly brought his fingers to your core, rubbing your clit in the same teasing manner as before.

“Jinyoung…” you breathed, slowly losing patience.

“I told you, baby,” he whispered, nibbling on your neck. “You need to talk.”

Oh, fuck it, you weren’t going to win anything if you kept resisting to obey his wishes.

“Touch me,” you said. “Stop teasing and just touch me. Please.”

Jinyoung gave you one more cocky smirk as his fingers started to circle your clit faster while he kissed your neck, enjoying every little sigh that left your mouth from his touch.

“More,” you whispered.

He roughened his pace, rubbing your clit a few more times, before brushing his fingers against your folds – mostly to hear the way you groaned in desperation – and then sliding two fingers inside of you just as slowly as before. However, with each heavy breath that left your lips, he started to move his fingers faster.

He wasn’t kissing your neck anymore. He couldn’t focus on that when he heard you moan softly. He wanted to see your face as his fingers continued to move in and out of you, stretching you out in the most pleasurable way. He knew at that moment that the sound of you whimpering from his touch would never leave his mind.

Suddenly, he curled his fingers against your walls, causing your body to jerk up. “Oh, shit!”

“Does that feel good?” Jinyoung asked, feeling similar amounts of pleasure just by watching your nearly ecstatic face as his fingers continued to bring you closer and closer to your edge. “Are you going to let me make you come, baby?”

“Yes. Fuck, yes,” you moaned out, having a hard time forming sentences when Jinyoung’s fingers were giving you this much pleasure.

Your eyes closed when you felt a knot appear in your stomach and Jinyoung – proving to you that he knew your body language well – quickened the pace of his fingers, circling them inside of you from one of your walls to the other, until you were basically screaming under him.

“Oh, fuck, I’m going to—ahh!” your words drowned in your moans when Jinyoung used his free hand to fondle one of your breasts, tweaking your nipple, while you felt yourself start to clench around his fingers and lose all of your thoughts from the amount of bliss that overcame your body as your orgasm washed over you.

Your body trashed on the seat as you came from your high, screaming incoherent words as well as Jinyoung’s name, but he held you in place and continued to move his fingers in and out of you until your muscles relaxed, heavy breaths still leaving your lips as you tried to recover.

“You’re so fucking beautiful when you come,” Jinyoung growled before attacking your lips with open-mouthed kisses that left you even more breathless. “I want to see it again.”

You pushed Jinyoung’s chest, causing him to sit up on the seat in surprise, and climbed over him, your core directly above his as you settled in his lap, hearing Jinyoung exhale as soon as he felt you so close to his hardened length. Lifting your hips slightly, you heard Jinyoung whine softly at the loss of contact, – he’d never admit he whined, though – and pulled his boxers down.

You debated teasing him just like he had done to you, but both of you were far too impatient for that.

He was already fully hard as he kissed your lips, desperately seeking any sort of contact, while your hands finally touched his length, softly stroking it a few times. But just this tender touch caused Jinyoung to lean back in the seat, groaning.

“Fuck,” he breathed. “I need to be inside of you, baby. Right fucking now.”

Your sighs mixed with his when you lifted your hips up, guiding him to your entrance and then slowly sunk onto him, closing your eyes at the feeling of him stretching you out so much better than his fingers did.

“Oh, fuck,” Jinyoung’s hands were on your waist and his head was thrown back. “Fuck, you feel so good.”

You hummed in response, unable to answer anything, as you slowly circled your hips, still getting used to the feeling of him inside of you but also wanting more friction. Jinyoung reacted to every single one of your movements as his grip on your hips tightened and he clenched his teeth.

“Are you okay, baby?” he asked. “Because it’s taking everything in me not to start thrusting into you right now.”

Exhaling deeply one more time, you placed your hands on his shoulders. “Do it. Fuck me.”

It was all the permission he needed to move his legs further apart to gain some balance and lift your hips up slightly before slamming himself back into you and then pulling out almost entirely again. The feeling of your tightness around him made him go faster and he immediately created a pace that left you breathless, while he pressed your body tightly against his, just like he had before when you were still dressed.

The rapid movement of his hips against yours caused you to scream out and wrap your hands around his neck. Jinyoung’s deep breaths mixed with your moans in the car and he realized that no music could ever replace the sound of your skin slapping against each other as he thrust into you.

“Talk to me, baby,” he asked again and you opened your eyes to notice the fogged up windows of the car. “Are you feeling good?”

“S-so good,” you answered with moans in between the words as Jinyoung’s length hit all the right spots inside of you, not allowing you to think clearly. “F-fuck, Jinyoung. You’re so good. S-so fucking good.”

“Fuck yes,” he groaned, but his heavy breaths and the sound of him pounding into you at full speed made it hard for you to hear what he was saying.

You didn’t need words to know when he was close, though.

As soon as you felt him twitch inside of you, his grip on you relaxed a little and he threw his head back again. “Oh, fuck, baby, you’re so tight. So good.”

He continued to pound into you, his hips moving just as fast as before, but frequent moans started to leave his lips as he neared his release. The sight of Jinyoung in so much pleasure was enough to bring you closer to your own edge. Consequently, the feeling of how close you were, caused you to grind your hips against his in circles, creating a new rhythm that Jinyoung picked up immediately.

“Oh, yes,” you moaned when the new circling motion allowed him to hit the spot inside of you that caused your body to jolt in pleasure. “Oh, fuck, don’t stop!”

“Are you close, baby?” Jinyoung groaned in a raspy voice. “Tell me how close you are.”

“I’m s-so close,” you breathed, moving your hips against his and meeting all of his thrusts.

His heavy breathing in your ear. The tightness of his grip on you. His encouraging words. The smell of sex in the air. The way he fit so perfectly inside of you. The feeling of him pounding into you at a speed that caused you to clench around him with each thrust.

All of that overwhelmed you and took your attention away from your impending orgasm until it was right there, coming over you.

“Fuck, Jinyoung!” you screamed out, feeling the knot in your stomach unravel.

You moaned loudly, allowing the wave of pleasure to take over you while Jinyoung held onto you, groaning loudly at the way your walls tightened around him when you came, causing him to reach his own release sooner than he’d planned.

His hips drilled into you at lightning speed during these last few seconds before he came, and the sound of your screams as you orgasmed, made him still his hips for just a moment as he released himself with a loud groan leaving his lips, before continuing his movements again to ride his orgasm off.

“Oh, fuck. Fuck!” the sound of his curses and moans reached a harmony with yours as you climbed down from your high, feeling your muscles relax right when Jinyoung slowed his thrusts and tried to regain his breathing, without releasing you.

He stopped moving as soon as you unwrapped your arms from around his neck, and, despite not wanting to, he relaxed his grip on you, allowing you to lean back and look at him.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to explain to you just how beautiful I think you are,” Jinyoung said as soon as your eyes met. “Or how good you make me feel.”

You laughed at the last part of his sentence, turning away for a moment before Jinyoung brought one of his hands to your chin, turning your face to him again, so he could place a kiss to your lips.

The kiss was slow and sweet and Jinyoung surprised you with his gentleness. His soft touches were the exact opposite of the way he held you just a few seconds ago. Just the memory of his tight grip on you caused you to take a deep breath.

“Do you think anyone heard us?” you asked after having pulled away from the kiss.

Sure, Jinyoung’s car was parked in a parking lot on a lonely construction site, but now that your hormones were no longer clouding your mind, you realized just how public this place actually was in comparison to, say, an actual bedroom.

“I hope they did,” Jinyoung replied.

Your eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What? What do you mean?”

“Every single person we saw today has been watching you in that white dress. They all want you,” he said. “I want them all to know that I’m the one who can make you see white.”

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