#ALSO i never upgrade my watering can. i’ll upgrade everything else | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

goosewriting · 3 months

Text

Dinner Disaster

summary: after some flirting, reth finally asks reader out for dinner, but it doesn’t go as planned (follows the dinner disaster quest)

relationship: Reth x gn!reader

warnings: spoilers for Reth’s backstory and interactions, smooching

word count: 5.1k

A/N: literally no one asked for this but this game is consuming my very being to a molecular level, and this man is a big reason i’m obsessed. btw if any of you play palia or are interested in playing, hmu and we can add each other lol this is set some time after the flirting starts, after reader gets involved in his uh, side business. this is more or less how the quest played out in my head so, yeah, enjoy~

Navigation: Part 1 (you're here) | Part 2

(english is not my first language. constructive criticism and grammar corrections are very appreciated!)

— — —

Since you developed a real green thumb, to the delight and pride of Badruu, you have some extra apples from your tree that you don’t know what to do with. So, as with most of your garden surplus, you decide to bring them to Reth, who will surely find a good use for the produce.

You spot the freckled Majiri behind the bar when you enter the Inn, thinking that he’d probably make an apple pie with the fruit, and that you’d surely get a slice. Your mouth waters at the thought. You wonder when the cook will teach you the recipe; maybe you should ask him.

Reth’s working the register, finishing some transaction with another human customer, when you place the wooden crate of apples on the bar, and proceed to take a seat on the stool you usually occupy when you visit him at the Inn. Reth gives the apples a curious glance, and talks to you over his shoulder as he hands the customer some change.

“Thanks, babe,” he says without thinking, and you both freeze at his words, as does the human who just paid for a recipe. They shoot you a quick look with raised brows, then silently turn on their heels and walk out of the Inn. Reth slowly turns to you.

“Sorry, that kinda slipped out,” he says sheepishly, unable to meet your eyes. “Are we at the babe status yet?”

To be honest, if he had asked you first, you probably would have said no. It’s not your favourite pet name, and he could surely come up with something better. He often calls you sweet tooth, which you’ve actually come to like a lot. But hearing him call you ‘babe’ so matter-of-factly out of nowhere… You’re surprised to realise that you actually like how it sounded, how it sounds coming from him.

“I mean… If you want to be,” you answer after a moment, deciding to tease him a little. “Sure thing, babe.”

Except that it backfires and it ends with both of your faces burning up, which he tries to play off by clearing his throat.

“Yeah, I’ll still have to get used to it, too,” you chuckle, bringing a hand to your face in an attempt to cover up how flustered you got. “But I like it when you say it.”

“Noted,” he replies, then looks around the Inn to see if someone else will approach the register. As there’s no one else, he fully faces you, leaning slightly over the bar. “Say, what are you up to today?”

“Oh you know, the usual,” you reply, starting to count on your fingers. “Hunting, fishing, foraging. Then tending to the vegetable garden. I also need to craft a new chair. Why?”

“A-are you busy later tonight?”

You prop yourself up on your elbow and give him a lopsided smile.

“I’m never too busy for you,” you offer, and he smiles amusedly at your answer. “You have anything in mind?”

“I was thinking we could have dinner. At your place, maybe?” he asks. “I’ll take care of the food and everything. You just have to show up.”

Up until now, no one has actually visited your house. Sure, you upgraded from your first precarious tent to a proper building, and the Majiri came by every so often to say hi or bring you something, but no one has actually gone into your house. And for some reason the thought of Reth not only being at your place but also being the first one to do so, it makes you a bit nervous… but in a good way.

You realise that he’s still looking at you waiting for an answer, fidgeting with a loose nail on the wooden crate still on the bar.

“I’d love that, actually,” you reply.

“Great!” He looks actually relieved. As if I would have said no to you asking me out, you think, smiling to yourself. He’s so innocent sometimes. Reth takes the crate and shoves it under the bar somewhere.

“Then let’s say around 6pm?” he proposes.

“Sounds good,” you agree with a nod.

Ashura enters the Inn, giving you a warm smile and a wave from afar as he spots you. Given that it’s his boss and you shouldn’t be distracting Reth from work, you take it as your cue to leave.

“See you later then,” you say in a low voice so Ashura can’t hear you.

“Don’t miss me too much,” Reth gives you his usual goodbye. He winks at you and you merely roll your eyes as you turn to exit the place. And just in time, so he can’t see your flustered face. You can’t remember when exactly the winking started, but it never fails to make you weak in the knees.

Once down at the plaza, you refocus on your tasks for the day, mentally making a list of the things to buy, resources to mine and places to go. Then you head for your first stop with a spring in your step. Tonight can’t come quickly enough.

— — —

You come home with a backpack full to the brim of crabs, plants, stones and other goodies. As you set down your things on the grass with a grunt from the weight, you see your palcat coming out of the house to greet you.

“Hey there,” you say, crouching down to scratch her head. She purrs and meows happily. You recently got this companion, and it’s been nice having someone at home to come back to. She often accompanies you when you go out as well, but this morning she was feeling especially lazy and cosy so she stayed in bed. You walk to your storage crate, starting to put everything away, and your cat looks at you with a light tilt to the head as you tell her about your day.

“Oh and actually,” you finish your retelling with the big news. “We’re having a visitor today.”

“Mreow?”

“Yeah, him… So you have to be on your best behaviour, you hear me?” you tell your cat with an accusing finger pointing at her. “We have to make a good impression. If you’re good, you can have lots of treats later, okay?”

She meows again, and you like to think she just agreed; bribes with food always work, after all.

There’s still some time until six, so you tend to your garden, clean yourself and change into a new set of clothes, the nicer one. It’s the only one you own, and it was a gift from Jel. In fact, all the clothing you have was given to you by him in some way or another. You make a mental note to prepare a gift for him for helping you out so much.

Next to your house there’s a nice spot among the trees, near the pond, where you can hear the trickling of water. You grab a big blanket and a lantern, and set everything up for a picnic corner. Even if whatever Reth brought was more of a “plates and cutlery at the table” kind of meal, you could still come out here after and look at the stars a bit. Then, maybe you’ll find the courage to make a proper move on him… You imagine the both of you sitting on the blanket, illuminated only by the warm glow of a candle and the gentle moonlight, you take his hand, he leans in, and…

You mentally slap yourself to get rid of those thoughts, cheeks ablaze. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, you reprimand yourself. He may be a bit of a flirt at times, but Reth doesn’t strike you as the type of person to take such feelings lightly. So you have to make sure that he even is into you in the first place. Like actually into you. Suddenly your whole mental scenario shifts, and as you take his hand, he pulls away, disgusted. But wait. Dinner was his idea. He even called you ‘babe’. Surely he must have some interest, right? You’re not just… a side piece?

Before you can spiral down further, you hear your name being called, although it’s not the voice you were expecting; this one is higher and has a slight lisp. You turn around to find Auni by the gate to your yard. You jog up to where he stands, smiling curiously. Sure, he delivers the mail twice a day, but usually you just find the letters in your mailbox as if they magically appeared; you never saw him actually deliver anything. You wonder if he has a new cool bug to show you.

“Hey Auni!” you greet the boy as you approach him.

“Hi, I have a delivery for you,” he announces, holding out something for you to take.

“Oh, what is it?”

“Reth paid me in cakes to have this brought to you asap, said it was really important.”

“Oh?”

You take the letter from him with a thanks, and he says his goodbyes. Why would Reth send a letter when he’s supposed to show up himself? Maybe it’s a treasure hunt kinda thing?

You open the folded piece of paper, which isn’t even in an envelope, recognising Reth’s handwriting, but it’s even messier and more hurried than usual. The curious smile on your face disappears, your brows furrowing as you read.

Hey, I feel like a HUGE jerk for doing this, but I have to cancel our plans tonight. Something came up that I can’t ignore. Next time we see each other I promise I’ll explain.

- Reth

It feels like your whole body suddenly runs cold, and your hands drop to your sides, your eyes looking ahead at nothing in particular.

Your cat, who had poked her head out the door when she heard Auni, seems to sense the shift in you and approaches, meowing softly, as if asking if everything is okay. You look down at her, and give a light shrug.

“Looks like we won’t have visits after all…” you explain, reading over the letter one more time, then letting out a deep sigh. “Let’s get you something to eat, c’mon.”

She seems to know those words, as she immediately stands up and circles around your legs. Following you inside, she waits for you to get the bowl ready, and once you set it on the ground, she happily digs in.

“Well, at least one of us got a nice dinner.”

You stroke once from her head to her long bushy tail, to which she comically lifts her behind, then you decide to turn in for the night and head to bed, not really feeling hungry despite the eventful day.

— — —

The next morning you wake up to the sunlight shining through your window and fully hitting your face; you forgot to close the blinds the night before. With a squint, you look down at the weight you feel on yourself and find your cat curled up on your lap, which gets a sleepy half smile out of you.

Picking her up in your arms, you go to close one of the blinds, then make your bed and head to the kitchen for breakfast. You start your routine like normal, having breakfast, taking care of the garden, going through your inventory to check what you need and what you can sell. You take your time, though, not really wanting to head into the village just yet.

By the time you’re ready to go, it’s almost noon. Usually you’d be at the inn in the morning to say hi to Reth and chat a bit before starting your day. And while you really don’t feel like talking to him after leaving you hanging yesterday, you also know that he’s probably beating himself up about it, even more so if you haven’t been seen all morning. So after heaving a deep sigh, in hopes of letting all anger and frustration exit your body, you walk through the gate down into the village. To your surprise and delight, your cat follows this time.

You make your way towards the central plaza, exchanging greetings with those who walk by you, stopping to have a short chat with Chayne, whom you probably don’t talk to enough. You make a mental note to remedy that.

Somewhere in your mind though, you know you’re just stalling; you should just get it over with. Reth probably has a good explanation. Besides, you don’t want to be mad at him or give him the silent treatment or anything. You miss him, and you do want to see him. You’re just… disappointed.

Taking one last deep breath as you stand before the Inn, you look down at your palcat and give her a nod. She meows encouragingly. You walk in through the open door, relieved to find it mostly empty. There’s very few people sitting at the tables in the corner, and Ashura isn’t at the reception desk.

Your eyes find Reth’s behind the bar, and he freezes for a moment. You approach him like you normally would, about to take a seat on your usual stool.

“Wait,” he says before you’re able to fully sit down. You merely shoot him a questioning look. He lowers his voice, shooting a quick glance at the people eating at the tables. “Let’s talk in the back.”

Reth scribbles something on a piece of paper and places it next to the till, indicating for you to follow him with a nod of his head. You pat the seat you meant to take while commanding your cat to hop onto it, and she does, so you tell her to stay there and wait. Then as you walk to where he said, you take a quick look at the paper; it reads “back in 5”.

You follow Reth into the back room, and you both come to stand in the farthest corner; since there are two archways but only one has a door, this will have to do to stay away from prying ears and curious eyes. You both talk in hushed voices.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” he says with a sigh, scratching his neck. He drags his eyes up to meet yours, scared of what he might find. “Please don’t be mad. Are you mad? You can be a little mad. I’m such a jerk–”

“Hey, no need don’t say that,” you interrupt him, and you just look at each other in silence for a second. “I mean, I’m upset, but not in a ‘mad at you’ way. More in a… ‘I was really looking forward to it and was bummed that you had to cancel at the last minute’ way.

“I was really looking forward to it too, it’s just…” Reth runs his hand over his face with a groan. “Yesterday was kind of a mess.”

“What happened?”

“Ashura caught me sneaking into the back rooms after hours. I panicked, so I lied and said I was actually planning a party for him, as a thank you. He liked that idea, so he got off my back, but now I actually have to throw him a dinner party with other people.”

You look to the side, unable to stop the scoff that escapes you. But it isn’t a mocking or offended scoff, it’s more of an amused sharp exhale.

For a moment, you think back to how you kind of ended up roped into his side hustle of smuggling illicit goods (especially Flow and ancient artifacts, which are very illegal), which is why he was sneaking around in the first place. You’ve been covering for him with Ashura and many others for a while now, and while at first it was more of a personal favour, now you're in too deep. Not that you mind, though. If you’re being honest with yourself, it adds a bit of an exhilarating factor to everyday life. You’re not entirely sure yet about the actual power and meaning of Flow in this society, but it seems to be connected to humans in some way, so you’re at least a little bit interested in it. If you have to investigate and interact with it in secret, then so be it; you also want answers as to what happened to humanity and how you landed here. Besides, it’s one more thing you two can bond over. Literally partners in crime. The thought makes you smile to yourself.

“You’re kind of bad at this whole criminal thing, you know?” you tell him with a playful grin. “Getting strangers involved, almost being caught by your boss.”

He doesn’t seem too amused.

“I know, I’m…” his demeanour shifts from annoyed at and with himself to almost shy, and he looks down as he bites the inside of his cheek. “I guess I’ve been distracted lately, is all.”

You hum in response, somewhat intrigued. When his gaze comes back up to meet yours though, eyes filled with yearning, the look he gives you makes your heart skip a beat, and suddenly you’re all too aware of how close you’re standing to each other. You need to wrap this up.

“So is there anything I can do to help you out?” you ask him.

“What? No, you really don’t need to. You’ve already saved my hide so many times,” he’s quick to dismiss your question. “Besides, cooking is one of the few things I’m actually good at, so I got that covered.”

Suddenly he looks like he just thought of something that you could in fact help out with, but he doesn’t want to say. You give his upper arm a soft push with your fist.

“C’mon, out with it,” you encourage him with a playful smile.

“Well…” His eyes linger for a second where you touched him. “I need to prepare everything, so I can’t be out and about actually inviting everyone to the dinner party.”

He takes out a paper from his pocket and hands it to you. You skim over it, seeing a list of names.

“If you could invite everyone and let me know how many guests will come, I can make sure to cook the right amout.”

“Got it,” you reply with a nod. “I’ll ask around and probably send Auni back to let you know. He told me you’re paying him in cakes for special deliveries. Think you can sneak another baking session in today on top of dinner? On my tab.”

“Sure thing,” he chuckles, then gets serious again. “And hey, I really am sorry. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Reth, it’s okay, really,” you say, and he’s so close and he looks so sad, you want to hold his face so badly. In fact, your hand is already going up, but you pull back midway, fidgeting with the collar of your shirt instead. “Just… be more careful next time, okay?”

“Yeah…” he sighs. “And thank you, for the invites. I owe you. Again.”

“Yes, you do,” you chuckle. “Maybe I should start charging you with interest.”

He starts patting down his pockets.

“I don’t have any cash on me at the moment,” he says with a smile, playing along.

Your answer comes quicker than you can anticipate and you’re unable to stop your words.

“I was thinking more along the lines of kisses maybe…”

Both of you look at each other a bit shocked.

“Oh. O-oh,” is all he stammers.

Whatever confidence came over you for you to say that, immediately dissipates as Reth turns several shades of pink darker. The tips of his ears look like they might actually catch fire any moment.

“But we can talk about payment later,” you’re quick to add, and clear your throat. “I’ll uhm, get your invites out. You better start on that food.”

“Right. Yes,” he says stiffly, and you both put some space between each other. “Thanks again. And sorry too. And–”

“Reth,” you cut him short again, giving him a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. See you later.”

“B-bye.”

You exit the backroom, calling for your cat, who walks around the bar to find you, and you make a hasty exit through the back, walking down the stairs to your left. As you pass the river, you consider for a moment jumping into the water to cool down. Maybe that would get your heart to slow down again. You fist your shirt over your chest where you can feel the pounding against your ribs.

An inquisitive meow from the side gets your attention back, and you look down at your companion, who’s looking up at you confusedly.

“Right. We have a job to do,” you say and go to take out the paper with the list from your pocket, except that it’s been in your hand the whole time, and it’s now crumpled and slightly damp because of how clammy your hands were. You cringe a bit at that, commanding yourself to calm down at once. Geez, get a grip on yourself, you think.

It takes a while to track Auni down after everyone else, given that he’s always out on his mail route or out and about exploring, probably trying to catch some bugs. When you finally find him, you give him the list of people who plan to atttend Ashura’s dinner, and send him to Reth to deliver the news with the promise of getting his sticky hands on more cake. This seems to do the trick, and he happily jogs off with the new list stuffed into a side pocket of his gigantic backpack. You look after him as his figure gets smaller and smaller, wondering how he’s even able to carry all that. His equipment is bigger than himself.

With a shake of your head, you bring your attention back to your own equipment, and get your bow and arrows ready. Today you’re hunting chapaas; Hassian asked for some meat and fur earlier this week and you haven’t been able to deliver yet.

— — —

You get back home relatively late, and when you do, the flag on your mailbox is up. Setting down your haul next to it, you get out several letters, looking for a message from Reth. And lo and behold, there’s one from him, this time properly written and folded into an envelope.

He says that in the end everything worked out, to which you sigh in relief. Ashura doesn’t suspect a thing apparently, and everyone had a great time. He tells you to meet him at your “private spot” tonight, he has something to give you.

You look at the time, then down at yourself; you’re looking pretty shabby after hunting for hours on end, kneeling down in mud and such. So you quickly change into clean clothes, wash your face and prepare food for your loyal cat. As she happily munches away, you grab your jacket and leave again. Nights can get pretty chilly here, you’ve learned.

It doesn’t take long for you to make your way to the inn, given that you’re essentially bee lining for it. Checking that no one’s following you or sees you enter the inn from the back, you quickly take a left and go down the stairs towards the storage room. Reth gave you the key to it, so you unlock the door and enter, quickly closing it behind you.

When you turn around, you’re met with the cook on the other side of the room, stopping whatever he was doing on the table, and he stands up to come and meet you.

“Hey sweet tooth, thanks for coming,” he greets you.

“Hey,” you smile up to him but he looks tense. “Is everything okay? I thought you said the dinner party worked out? “

“No, it did. It’s- It’s not that,” he curses under his breath at himself.

“What is it then?”

Reth sighs, and you can tell he’s trying to find the right words. So you give him a moment to gather his thoughts, waiting patiently.

“You know… I’m not used to asking for help,” he starts explaining. “Even as a kid, I wouldn't, and I didn't expect others to help, either. It was always just me and Tish against the world. And now there’s you.”

His cheeks flush ever so slightly, and you can start to feel yours mirroring his.

“Here you come, busting into my life,” he says with a soft smile, but it quickly vanishes. “And even though I keep messing up… somehow you’re still here. You’re not sick of me yet.”

You want to interject, as that “yet” doesn’t sit well with you, but he doesn’t let you.

“And more than that, you've put yourself on the line for me, more than once. I honestly don't understand why you keep putting up with me but… I really do appreciate everything you've done and how much you've helped me out, and Tish as well. But the cartel… I- I don’t want you to get hurt because of me. And I don’t want to scare you off either.” He lets out a shaky breath. “Whatever is going on between us, I don’t want to lose this. So let me make it up to you.”

He steps aside to show you what’s on the table: a container with your favourite food.

“And I know this is barely enough for everything–”

“Reth, please stop,” you interrupt him before he can spiral further, your voice soft. “I’ll take the food, thank you. It looks delicious. But you really don’t have to try to make up for any of the, uh, side business stuff. Sure, the dinner didn’t work out, but if you say we just have dinner another day, then that is enough for me.”

You step a little closer, your hand tentatively reaching out for his.

“And you don’t have to worry about scaring me off.” Your voice is nothing more than a whisper now. “I also don’t want to lose what we have. I’m not going anywhere.”

Reth looks down at your hands as he shyly intertwines his fingers with yours, and when his eyes come back up to meet yours, they’re full of something… new. His gaze flickers down to your lips for a second and back up, and you wonder if he can hear your erratic heartbeat. You’re standing so close to each other right now, it wouldn’t take a lot to close the gap.

“That said, though, about that payment I mentioned…” you trail off.

His jaw clenches, and he looks to the side, pulling back away from you ever so slightly.

“Are you sure about this?” he questions rather bitterly. “About me?”

“What do you mean?” you ask. He sighs, eyes cast down at the floor.

“People will talk. They probably already are. With my reputation and all… I strayed from my Path. Most days I’m convinced people don’t even like my soup. I’m nothing more than a scoundrel.”

Your free hand comes up to gingerly hold his chin and turn his face to make him look at you.

“First of all, I don’t care what people say,” you start refuting his arguments. “Maybe I still don’t understand Majiri tradition, but I think you should be free to choose your own path with no expectations, and change it if you find it doesn’t suit you. And I like your soup. Also, I think being a scoundrel is part of your charm. Is that a bad thing?”

He doesn’t reply immediately, and when he does, his voice is so small you almost miss it.

“You’re too good for me.”

You pull back slightly to fully look at him, and it breaks your heart a little how earnestly he means that. So you let go of his hand and hug his torso instead, burying your face into the crook of his neck.

“I don’t know what happened that makes you think that, but I will try my best to show you how wrong you are. You deserve good things, Reth. Whatever it is you want, you’re allowed to pursue it.”

He hugs you back, tightly, so you place a kiss to the only place you can reach, which is his jawline just below his ear. You feel him tremble, but if it’s from relief, anticipation or something else, you can’t tell.

“Right now what I want is you,” he says after a moment.

“Then what are you waiting for.”

Reth lets go only enough for you to come back face to face with him, and he doesn’t waste a second to capture your lips with his. At first it’s shy, new, a sequence of soft pecks, testing the waters. When your hands travel up his chest to cup his face, he relaxes a bit more, kissing you more confidently. His hands slip underneath your open jacket, holding onto your waist and pulling you to him.

His kisses grow more intense, hungrier, and his tongue finds its way to yours. You can’t help the low moan that escapes you when he presses you further into him, and he practically swallows it.

As he takes a step forward, you take one backwards, then another and another, until your back hits the door, and you’re being squished between the rough wooden surface and Reth’s body trying to get impossibly close to yours. The impact makes you grunt, and he responds with something between a sigh and a growl, moving away from your lips to attack your neck. You welcome the break to take a breather, panting, and you remember something.

“Wait,” you say between breaths, and immediately Reth stops his soft bites and licks on your throat, also out of breath, and worry starts spreading on his face.

“W-what? Is this okay? I–”

Your hand on his face gently covers his mouth to stop him from talking, while with the other you turn the key below the doorknob to lock the door, which you had forgotten to do when you arrived.

“Just don’t want to risk getting interrupted, is all.”

You take a moment to admire his slightly dishevelled form: the bandana is a bit askew, his pupils are blown out, his cheeks and ears a deep pink. You probably don’t look much different, to be honest. He looks at you expectantly, waiting for you to give him permission to continue.

“Let’s move away from the door, maybe–” you start, and within an instant, strong arms are picking you up under your thighs, carrying you over to the other side of the room and setting you down on the table.

“Better?” he asks, placing a kiss to the corner of your mouth.

“Better,” you reply with a smile.

“You said you’re charging me with lots of interest,” he mumbles into your skin as he starts again where he left off earlier. You can only hum in response. “And I plan on paying back what I owe.”

You pull back a little to look at him, and the newfound confidence and assertiveness in his eyes and voice send a pleasant tingle down your spine.

“I’m very much looking forward to it.”

— — —

A/N 2: what? goose being attacked by brainrot over a freckled red-head who seems confident on the outside but is actually riddled with insecurities and does some illegal stuff to keep his family safe? huh, bet no one saw that one coming 🙄 guess i have ONE TYPE, smh.

A/N 3: if this is something you'd like to see more of, feel free to let me know and i'll add palia to my taglist fandoms for you to sign up :D palia has now been added to my taglist! link in my pinned post~

#goose feathers #palia x reader #palia reth x reader #reth x reader #i don't even have a masterlist ready for this one #i have to make a new header lol #and yes i am planning on making this a series because i am delulu and 3 parters is my sweet spot apparently

92 notes · View notes

appdevelopmentagencyno1 · 1 year

Text

Hidden Costs of Software You Need to Anticipate AFTER You Launch

After months of hard work, your software is finally up and running. But as you’re going through your finances, you notice that your monthly expenses haven’t gone down—if anything, they’re going up. What’s going on? There are hidden costs of software that you need to anticipate after you launch your project. Honestly, this is something that I always have to remind my clients whenever they’re developing new software. They assume that once the project has been developed, the expenses are going down to zero and they’re done paying. That’s not the case at all, and it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Here’s an analogy to explain the situation. Let’s say you upgrade from renting an apartment to buying a house. Would you assume that after the down payment, your mortgage will be your only expense as a homeowner? No. Look at your expenses. Your water bill, gas bill, electric bill, and everything else will go up because your house is bigger than your apartment. You might have other expenses creep up on you that you’ve never had before, like a gardener or a landscaper to maintain your property.

Software development is the same.

Whenever you scale up from a small project to a bigger project, there are certain expenses that you’ll incur on an ongoing basis. Everyone is so busy determining the development rates, they forget about the post-launch web development company.

In this guide, I’ll explain the top five hidden costs of software you must anticipate after you launch. Who developed your software? The app development team will continue to maintain your software even after you launch. Your software is going to evolve with the market as new opportunities present themselves. The vision will also evolve based on customer demand.

You always need to remember one thing—stagnant technology is dead technology. Look at companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and all of the other global giants out there. They’ve done a pretty good job at developing software, wouldn’t you agree? Everything you can possibly think of has been developed. So why do they have an army of engineers working behind them? Software development is never finished. Between maintenance, new features, customer demand, and just scaling the platform, you’ll always need your staff to maintain this. On average, look at how often mobile apps are updated and enhanced.

Roughly 30% of apps are updated at least once per month. An additional 53% of apps are updated every six months. So you can’t plan to let your development staff go after the launch date. The team members who developed the app will continue to stay on board. The truth of the matter is this; if you get rid of people, your software will slowly die. Remember, to maintain a competitive edge in this crowded market, you must constantly evolve. The software you started with needs to change and adapt over time.

Hidden Cost #3: Maintenance

Before your launch, I’m sure you’ve gone through the technology to make sure that everything was working properly. All the bugs were found, fixed, and you’re done—right?

That’s not necessarily true, especially in the mobile app space. While you might have fixed the bugs for certain devices or specific operating systems, devices evolve over time. When this happens, your technology or application could regress. Take a look at the average cost to maintain an app in the first year after launch. Some of you probably know why software development is expensive. But why is it so costly to maintain? What are companies spending $10k-$25k+ per year on?

As new demands come from Apple or Google, your compliance levels might downgrade. New legislation comes into effect for the quality of your app, the security of your app, or the privacy of your app. All of these things could change. I’m referring to things like:

GDPR compliance in Europe

CCPA compliance in California

ADA compliance across the US

International compliances

PCI compliance

HIPAA compliance

The list goes on and on. Your technology needs to evolve as all of these things change.

Refactoring

Refactoring is another side of maintenance that’s worth highlighting on its own. The idea behind refactoring is that you write code that’s just good enough to pass basic testing, compliance, limitations, or something else. Then you go back and clean it up at a later time. Here’s a simple visual explanation of how refactoring works. Some of your code that was put in during development might have been “good enough” at the time. But as you scale, it must be rewritten to manage the new traffic load as your business grows. To be honest, these are good problems to have. It means that your app is growing. But you still need to anticipate the costs ahead of time to be fully prepared.

Training is the most underestimated expense in terms of hidden software costs. The biggest mistake that people make is assuming that their staff who is maintaining the app is going to stay with them forever. But that’s not going to happen. In reality, some of your staff will make career decisions and leave you. You’ll be unhappy with other team members, and you’re going to fire them. This is just standard procedure when it comes to running a business. There will always be turnover in personnel. What happens when you lose someone with crucial domain knowledge? Don’t assume that whoever you hire will be able to replace that person immediately.

I know some of you might think that engineers are a dime a dozen, and you can find them anywhere. But even if someone is a blackbelt and an expert, they will not be an effective part of your team as soon as they come in. This takes time. So how can you avoid these expensive training costs? The idea here is to avoid single points of failure with human beings. You wouldn’t want a single server to run your entire mobile app, right? If the server dies, the app dies with it. The same thing can be applied to people. If you have one person with so much domain knowledge—what if that person gets hit by a bus? Can you and your business actually continue without them?

You need to cross-train people. Make sure that your capacity isn’t at a bare minimum. Always have at least one spare person. If you only need two people at a minimum, then you should probably hire a third person. So if one person leaves, you’ll still have enough to operate. When that happens, you can always hire someone else as that “spare tire.”

Hidden Cost #5: Strategic Costs

Strategic costs are incurred whenever your business sees a new market opportunity. You need to shift gears quickly to make sure that you can actually address the market need. Lots of times, market needs are time-sensitive. So if you wait six months to take action, it might be too late. In terms of technology, just 34% of companies seek to get first-mover advantage. If you fall into this category, it can give your software a significant edge over the competition. Strategic costs will creep up on your technology and force you to shift gears in terms of your priorities.

You might even need to hire a few extra people to make sure you hit your target on time. So the anticipation of these hidden costs is so important. Sometimes you need to hard-code certain elements to hit that timeline. You’re essentially “hacking your way” to a solution that needs to be brought to market as soon as possible.

Read more: Terrific Style Tips for Your Small Business Web Site

Pro Tips and Best Practices to Prepare For Hidden Software Costs

Now that you’ve seen the top five hidden costs of software post-launch, it’s time to share some tips that will help you plan accordingly to anticipate those costs. Spending money after your launch is inevitable, but you don’t need to break the bank. These tips can help you save some money if you plan accordingly.

Develop Your Staff

We already established that you need to maintain your staff. But to help keep costs low, you need to develop them using the golden ratio, which is something I’ve discussed in previous posts and videos. Here’s the idea. Use local and remote resources enough, so the combination is in the correct balance for your business. This type of staff development will allow you to scale up efficiently without breaking the bank.

Servers vs. Maintenance

We’ve also talked about the hosting costs and maintenance costs, separately. However, these two hidden expenses are actually interconnected. Sometimes it makes more sense to pay more for hosting fees, so you won’t have to maintain as much on your own. For example, let’s say it costs you $1,000 for a fully-managed host. That’s nothing compared to the cost of having a staff member maintain a cloud hosting solution on their own.

So go ahead and pay for it without thinking twice. It’s cheaper and becomes a headache for someone else to deal with—not you. You won’t need a staff member that constantly has to deal with server maintenance. So try to find a hosting provider that will cover these things. While the initial price tag for this service might seem expensive, you should always weigh it against the cost of having an individual from your staff working on it. The hosting cost will always be cheaper in the long run than maintaining it on your own.

Strategic Partnerships

It’s crucial that you have a partner who understands your technology. This could be your host, an web design agency that you’re working with, or a platform that you’re integrating with. Whoever it is, make sure that they understand your vision. It’s important that they have the ability to help with the big picture during changing times. Opportunity costs and the costs of making mistakes is extremely expensive.

A strategic partner can save you time if they are an expert in a particular field. Or maybe they’ve been through this before and already made mistakes that you can learn from. Your strategic partner is highly valuable and can save you a ton of money over time.

Anticipate Today, Solve Tomorrow

It’s obvious that you need to anticipate future problems and opportunities. We’ve been talking about this throughout the entire guide. Anticipate those problems today, but solve them tomorrow. Not all of today’s problems do not need to be solved today. You might be developing something right now that’s good enough to get to market without hiring two or three new developers. That’s fine. But you need to anticipate the delayed costs that you’re going to pay for later. This is especially crucial for new businesses. A dollar today is much more valuable than a dollar tomorrow. Be strategic with the debt you incur so that you’re in a good position to address the problems when they eventually come up.

For example, let’s say that you know that your server will fail when you pass 100k users. That doesn’t mean you should pay for that capacity on day one when you have zero users. The money could be better used elsewhere. But when you finally reach 100k users, it’s a good problem to have. By now, you probably have a successful business that will allow you to pay for the added costs. However, if you’re paying for that infrastructure today, you’re burning through precious dollars now on a hypothetical problem that might not happen for another year or two.

Conclusion

The costs associated with software development do not end after you launch. If you’re building an app, you must anticipate the five hidden costs that I’ve outlined in this guide:

Maintaining your staff

Hosting expenses

Maintenance

Training

Strategic costs

Anticipating these ahead of time will ensure that you have enough money in the budget to be successful. Otherwise, the quality of your software will suffer. Keep my pro tips and best practices in mind as well to help save money on software development.

I hope this guide was helpful. Use it to anticipate future costs whenever you’re developing new technology.

#web development #app development #mobile app development

0 notes

prettierthanurbf · 3 years

Text

So What?

Y/n walked down the halls to find her best friend, getting the overwhelming feeling she’d be stuck walking into class alone, when she finally bumped into someone she knew. “Oh, great.” She mumbled irritably.

He turned around with a grin. “Well, hello, y/n.”

She rolled her eyes at his cocky grin. “Where’s your brother?”

The question just made his grin grow wider, making your patience even thinner. “Wouldn’t you like to know.” He teased.

She let her eyes wander around the halls to avoid eye contact when her eyes landed on him, sighing in relief, she pushed past his brother and hurried off to Tom. “Hey.” She said happily.

He looked up from his book. “Nice of you to wake up early for once.” He teased.

She laughed. “My parents are going to cut me off if I miss school to sleep in.” She explained.

He looked over her head, his eyes stopping on something that made his eyebrows furrow. “Mattheo’s staring at you again.” He whispered.

She quickly spun around to meet Mattheo’s eyes, turning back around so quick she almost fell over.

Tom helped her stand. “You alright?” He asked concerned.

She put a hand to her head. “I swear if he hexed me I’ll burn the little bastard.”

Tom chuckled. “Now I might just help you with that.”

Before y/n could say anything else, the teacher opened the doors for everyone in the class to walk in.

The whole class was a blur, mostly because y/n was asleep through half of it and hurrying to copy off of To ‘a notes during the other half, paying no attention to the teacher whatsoever.

Tom had to talk to one of his teachers before the next class started, which left y/n waiting outside on a bench alone with a book until class started.

Mattheo, who had grown bored of his friend group, walked off to bug y/n, sliding onto the bench and taking the spot a little too close to y/n.

She didn’t glance up from her book or move. “What?” She asked calmly.

He raised a brow. “No snarky comment? Hm.” He hummed. “Are you feeling alright?”

She rolled her eyes. “What do you want, Mattheo?”

“Ah, there’s the tone I was looking for.” He grinned. “What’re you reading?”

She clicked her tongue. “You could check the cover, you know.”

He shrugged. “It would sound so much better coming from your lips than mine.”

She shut her book, her finger holding the page she was on, snapping her head to look at him. “What do you want, Mattheo?” She repeated, this time a little less calm.

He smirked. “Maybe I want to help with your anger issues.”

“Maybe you should work on yours first.” She said back.

He laughed. “We could work on it together.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’d rather burn. Over and over. For eternity.”

He shrugged. “I could make it worth your while.”

She raised a brow. “What’s your angle, Riddle?”

He looked away with a small grin. “There’s no angle. I just think we could help each other out.”

“Have fun finding someone for that because I’m not your girl.” She slipped a small piece of paper into her book before getting up.

“But you could be.” Mattheo mumbled, but y/n had already walked off with all her things.

His shoulders slumped. “Great.”

Tom walked over to him laughing. “Did you seriously think whatever you were planning would work?”

Mattheo scowled at his brother. “It’s not like you’ve tried getting with her. Why is she so difficult.”

“She’s not into like that.” Tom said in a ‘duh’ tone.

Mattheo scoffed. “All the girls are into me like that.”

Tom shook his head and laughed a little more. “Not the one you like like that.”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t like her like that, Tommy.”

“Then stop going after her, because I swear on my life and hers I will make yours a living hell if you break her heart or mess around with her for kicks. Got it?” Tom said sternly.

Mattheo put his hands up, a familiar teasing grin growing on his face. “It’s not that deep, brother.” And with that he walked off, another grinning glance at Tom before going straight ahead to see if he could find y/n.

He didn’t see her until school was over, when the clouds were making weird shapes up and the colors were changing from the sun going down, the black lake always looked prettiest at this time of day, which is why Mattheo chose to walk alongside it, also in hopes he’d find a weird creature in the water and draw it.

He came across y/n when he was walking back to the school, she was laying on her back, her head rested on her book bag, with a different book in her hands than she was reading hours prior. He walked over to her confidently.

“Hey, gorgeous.”

She sighed. “What?”

He sat down beside her. “So this is what you do after school?”

She rolled her eyes. “Quidditch practice was canceled today.”

He nodded. “Totally forgot you were on the team.”

She glanced at him. “Is there any reason you’re here or what?”

He shrugged. “Just wanted to know how you were doing.”

She pulled a piece of paper put of her robe, handing it to Mattheo without looking away from her book. “You read that and tell me how you think I’m feeling.”

His eyes scanned over the paper. “An animagus? Seriously?”

She shrugged. “Now I’ve got to wait for my uncle Newt to come down here and talk to me about everything.”

Mattheo handed the paper back. “So you can’t go home?”

She shook her head. “Apparently my brothers tore up the place pretty bad and they’re trying to get it under control.”

“So why don’t you just stay with me and Tom?”

She snorted. “Because it’s you and Tom. I swear both of you don’t know how to not argue, especially when you’re trying to do something ‘important’.”

Matthe scoffed. “We do not!”

She raised a brow. “So we’re just gonna play that game now?”

He shrugged. “I mean…”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re an idiot if you think you don’t argue with your brother a lot.”

“Just stay with us.” It came out more as a plead than a suggestion, which was not Mattheo’s intention at all.

Y/n laughed. “Beg me.” She joked.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, ha ha, very funny.” He said sarcastically. “Just stay with us.”

She glanced at him from her book. “If I do will you go away?”

“Maybe.” He said.

She shrugged. “Fine. Just let your brother know so it’s not a surprise or anything.”

“Okay.” Mattheo got up. “Did you finish the other book?” He asked, stopping himself from running off to find his brother so he could talk to y/n some more.

She looked up at him. “Yes. I had most of my classes to read through it.”

“How long have you had this one?”

“Since lunch. Why?”

He grinned. “No reason, no reason.”

“Why?” She repeated, this time sternly.

Mattheo looked down at her. “You’ll find out.” He winked at her before running off to find Tom.

When Spring break rolled around, y/n, Tom, and Mattheo went to Tom and Mattheo’s mansion they inherited when their dad mysteriously passed away.

Y/n explored a little since it was a bit of an upgrade from where the Riddle brothers were staying when she last stayed with them.

She stepped into a dark ish bedroom with lots of books. She walked over to the blinds and pushed them open so she could get a better look in the room.

“I usually like the curtains closed.” Mattheo said, scaring the shit out of y/n.

She turned to him with a hand over her heart. “Warn a girl next time, Mattheo!”

He laughed. “Sorry, sorry.”

She continued to look around. “You know, your room is the darkest one in this whole house. And the most gloomy.” Her eyes landed on the bookshelves. “Except for the books. They’re gorgeous.”

He chuckled. “You can go ahead and take some if you want. I’ve read all of them so I don’t really care.”

She raised a brow before laughing. “You’ve read all these? Like actually, actually? You’re not screwing with me?”

He shook his head. “Is that a surprise?”

“Yes! In all the time I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you open a book.”

“You don’t spend any time in the library.” He stated. “That’s where I am during my free time.”

“When you’re not walking around the lake.” She said.

He laughed. “You stalking me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself, Mattheo. I’ve seen you walking around like a loner because I spend most of my time by the lake. It’s where some of the hot guys at our school swim so it’s a pretty good view.”

Mattheo clenched his jaw before letting out a forced laugh. “I forgot you like staring at strangers who are half naked.”

She shrugged. “If they’re hot, they’re hot. I gotta stare.”

“You’re not like… staring at them like that, are you?” He laughed. “Cause that would be weird.”

“Oh, like how you look at me?” She said, raising a brow as a grin pulled at her lips.

He chuckled. “Now, darling, I think you’re just seeing things.”

“Oh?” She asked, walking over to him. “So if I were to take my sweater off you’d keep looking at my eyes?”

He laughed awkwardly. “Well, I think a lot of people would look, honestly…”

She raised a brow. “If your brother was changing you’d look at his chest?”

He rolled his eyes. “No. Obviously not.”

She nodded. “But you’d have a problem looking in my eyes instead of at my chest?”

“Well you’re not my sister so I can look.”

“Well now you just sound like a creep.” Y/n teased.

Mattheo scowled. “Well now you’re not being fair.”

“Oh no?” She grinned, unzipping her hoodie and sliding it off her arms. “My eyes are up here, Mattheo.”

“Screw this.” Mattheo mumbled annoyed. He cupped y/n’s face gently before pulling her in and pressing his lips against hers.

She pulled away for air after what felt like a short time period. “You do that to all the girls who try to take their sweater off?” She asked dumbfounded.

He shook his head and laughed, his hands still cupping her face. “You’re so blind sometimes, y/n.”

She raised a brow. “And you’re not?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “No?”

“You sound unsure.” She teased. “But you are.”

He rolled his eyes, pulling his hands away. “You are more than I am.”

“I’ve been in love with you since I met you.” She said quietly. “And you never noticed.”

He grinned. “So the flirting was getting to you?” He teased.

“I’ll cut your throat.” She said quickly.

He chuckled. “I’ll take my chances.” He pulled her in for another kiss, pulling away when he heard footsteps getting closer to his room.

She quickly pulled back and stood by the bookshelf, getting a book off the shelf quickly. “What’s this one about?” She asked calmly.

Matthe cleared his throat. “Uh, uhm… werewolves.” He said after clearing his throat.

Tom knocked on the door frame. “Hey, there’s hot water on the stove right now. I’ve got to stop by the market to get some more stuff for dinner. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

Mattheo grinned at y/n as Tom walked off to get his shoes on and leave for the market.

#mattheo riddle #mattheo riddle x reader #hogwarts #tom riddle #riddle #fanfic #mattheo x y/n #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter #slytherin #deatheater #hufflepuff #ravenclaw #gryffindor #xochmagoch #the power she holds #original series

1K notes · View notes

arvinsescape · 3 years

Note

Haz and Harry writes two love letters while they are drunk, one for Tom, and one for Y/n, but they made it seem like they wrote it for each other.

Plot twist, Tom and Y/n are dating in secret.

Love letters.

A/N: So I loved this idea!! Thank you so much for sending it in!! I hope you enjoy and I hope it's what you're looking for!! 💕

Haz and Harry were so drunk as they sat on the couch together, everyone else had retired to bed. The alcohol was buzzing through their systems as they talked, hushing their voices and giggling every now and again.

"No, they have to have fucked though right?" Haz asked as he burst into a fit of giggles.

"Gross man, I don't wanna think about my brother and one of our best friends sleeping with each other." Harry groaned as he ran his hand down his face.

"They are so close though." Haz said and Harry laughed.

"Yeah they are." He agreed. "Wait though, they could just be super close, nothing has to be going on." Harry shrugged.

"Nah," Haz burst into yet another fit of giggles. "They are pining over each other." He added before an idea popped into his head. "Harry, that's it!" He suddenly said, voice a little louder. "We do something, make them realise they are made for each other." He said as he sat upright.

"Like what?" Harry asked, brows furrowed but thoroughly on board.

"We should write them love letters. I'll write Y/N's, you write Tom's!" He said almost excitedly.

"So I write a letter to Tom, pretending to be Y/N? A love letter?" He clarified as Haz jumped up from the couch, quietly disappearing into Tom's office.

"Here." He said handing Harry a piece of paper and a pen. "When you're done, put it in his gym bag, I'll put Y/N's in her bag." He said as he pointed towards your handbag that was by the front door.

"Hang on, why do I get the risky one? Tom's gym bag is in his room." Harry exclaimed.

"Well you're his brother, it'd be fine, besides he sleeps through anything."

"Fine." Harry responded as the two of them got to work.

Tom was getting changed after his shower at the gym when he found the letter, addressed to him. He furrowed his brows as he hastily opened it, reading the contents.

Tom,

I want to start off by telling you that I find you really attractive, one of the best looking guys I know. You make me laugh, more than anyone else. You know how to make me feel better when I'm having a bad day.

I love the way you make me tea when I'm sad. Even if you can't make a cup of tea for shit. I love the way you always know what to do to make me feel better, whether that be a hug or just taking me out for the day, it's like you always know what I need and I love that about you.

I love how you always call me and facetime me when you go away to film, how it always seems to be that you're thinking about me. How you always text me emoji's at random times of the day if you have nothing else to say, just so I know you're thinking of me.

I love how much you look after me, even though I'm not yours to look after. You always make me feel like the most beautiful girl on the planet just by looking at me. You make me feel safe when we're out together, always keeping a close eye on me.

I'm too scared to do this in person so I thought I'd write it in a letter. I think I'm in love with you, I don't want to ruin our friendship by saying it to your face. If you don't feel the same way, please, just rip this letter up and never mention it.

All my love,

Y/N.

Tom smiled as he read the letter, stuffing it back into his gym bag as he shook his head with a laugh.

You'd found yours earlier on in the morning, you'd lost something and were rummaging through your bag when you found it, eyes furrowed as you pulled the letter from the envelope addressed to you.

Y/N,

Where do I start? I suppose I should start by telling you how perfect you are. You really really are, everything about you is perfect and I suppose that's the purpose of this letter. I want you to know how incredible you are to me.

I love the way you smile, it's contagious, makes me smile just to see your pretty one grace your lips. I love how you smile even when you're not happy, how you never try and bring the mood down but I want you to know I see through it. I know when you're not okay and it makes me sad.

I hate when you're not okay, I just want to cuddle you, make everything go away for you. I'd take all of the weight off your shoulders, always and carry it myself. Shit, darling, I think I'd do anything for you.

I love how pretty your eyes are, I get lost in them sometimes. Sometimes I just want to kiss you but I can't because we're just friends. I want to be more, I've always wanted to be more.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm in love with you, I want to tell you in person but I always get too afraid because I always think you can do better than me, you deserve the world and I wish I could be the one to make you happy for the rest of your life.

Love you so much darling,

Tom.

You laughed as you read the letter, studying it carefully as you placed it on your bed. Tom came home from the gym and was thankful he didn't see anyone as he made his way upstairs and hastily into your room, shutting the door as he turned to look at you. You had an amused glint in your eyes.

"You were busy last night." You mused as you held the letter up in his direction.

"So were you." He grinned back as he held his own letter up. "Although I appreciate the sentiment, a few things aren't right in here."

"No? Strange that. This letter doesn't quite seem right."

"No?"

"No, darling was a nickname from a while ago." You laughed.

"Yeah, you're usually much more eloquent. Probably drunken rambling this." He mused back. "Do you think we should tell them?"

"What? That their penmanship needs work?" You laughed as you made your way towards him, arms looping round his neck as his found your waist, pulling you in for a kiss.

Harry and Haz both looked like shit when they came downstairs. Harry eyeing the letter's carefully as he sat down, he looked at his brother who looked nothing but amused.

"Good night last night?" Tom asked as you sat next to him on the couch, Tom wrapping an arm around your shoulders and bringing you in closer.

"You were there." Harry said as he gulped down the water Tuwaine had brought in for the hungover lads.

"No, I recall you staying up later than we did." Tom laughed and Haz groaned.

"Tom, keep your voice down."

"Sorry, I'll try and be quieter. I mean, I just hate when you're not okay, I just want to cuddle you." Tom teased as Haz furrowed his brows.

"What the hell are you going on about?"

"You don't remember last night?" Tom asked and Haz shook his head. "You left Y/N a lovely letter, made her morning. Although, I probably should have mentioned that I have a new nickname for her, I haven't called her darling for a while, she's been upgraded to Princess."

"Yeah and Harry?" You mused as the curly haired boy looked at you. "Tom always signs my name off in this cute little way. I also very much enjoy his brews, you outed yourself there mate." You laughed.

"What are you two going on about?" Harry grumbled.

"Maybe those will jog your memories." Tom laughed as the boys picked them up reading through them.

"Who's idea was this?" Harry said, brows furrowed. "This looks nothing like Y/N's writing, it's obviously mine."

"Well I wouldn't have come up with something so ridiculous." Haz said, tossing the letter back on the coffee table.

"If you want pointers for next time, I'll happily lend you the letter I actually sent Y/N a couple of months ago." Tom shrugged and the boys narrowed their eyes at the two of you.

"Wait a second, are you two?" Harry cut himself off.

"Yeah, I told her months ago I was in love with her. Nice try though boys, I appreciate the sentiment." Tom grinned as he leant down to capture your lips in his. "Besides, when you went to put that letter in my gym bag did you wonder at all why I wasn't in bed?" Tom teased.

"No! I don't even remember doing it."

"Harry, on what planet would you think that was ever going to work?"

"Me? This has your drunken stupidity written all over it." Harry fired back, completely lost in their own argument as you and Tom were lost in each other.

#tom holland fluff #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n #tom holland blurb

216 notes · View notes

yourmcu · 4 years

Text

Emotional Support Mode

Pairings: Tony Stark x daughter!reader

Summary:

in which the reader is the loner, antisocial daughter of Tony Stark and the other Avengers including her father never acknowledge her presence (they thought some sort of interaction made you uncomfortable) so she becomes friends with Friday instead - Tony probs finds out and it’s gonna be all cute n fluffie once he realizes -

Word count: 2,243

a/n: hi just wanted to write fluffy tony :)) also I used they/them for friday’s pronouns

Warnings: angst n fluff, friday’s a bit more advanced (not like they aren’t already but) bc they could almost act like a literal human here.

read it on ao3!

You arrive back at the Avengers facility, shoulders slumped and just tired in general since you have a lot of homework and projects to do from school, most of them due by the end of the week. You also have exams later in the week.

“Hey, Fri,” you huff as you make your way to the elevator.

“Welcome home, Y/N. Where do you want to go?”

Yes, you're very close with the A.I that they started calling you by your first name. “To my room - and uh, will you remind me to read two chapters in my history book after I’m done with all my homework? I also have this project, I just need some measurements later, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure thing.”

“Thank you.”

It’s going to be a long night, you sigh heavily just thinking about it. Now you’re probably wondering, ‘you live with the Avengers! Why don’t you ask Tony and Bruce for help? Maybe Steve and Bucky for your History test?’

Yeah, well... you barely talk to any real person you live with. Maybe it’s you, you always thought you're making the team uncomfortable. You don’t even talk to your own father often which is kind of depressing on your part.

You love them, they’re like your extended family, but it just isn’t working out. Maybe they just don’t like you. Up to this day you still wonder why Tony took you in when you were just a baby (you were a mistake from one of his one night stands) - he had the choice not to.

“I’m assuming you zoned out again. You have arrived to your room five minutes ago.” Friday announces.

“Y-yeah sorry,” you shuffle out of the elevator and swiftly head to your bedroom, closing the door behind you.

“I also asked if I should inform Mr. Stark that you have arrived home.”

“No, no thanks. He’s busy and... probably wouldn’t care anyway,” You mutter the last part as you pile the books you need on your desk. “Can you put my study playlist on, please?”

----

“What time is it, Friday?”

“7PM. I was about to remind you to take a break.”

You get up from your chair and stretch, halfway through the last of your homework which is a two page essay. “You’re too kind, thanks pal,” when you walk out your room to head to the kitchen and grab a snack, the lounge is empty, kitchen empty,

“The team’s on a mission? I thought they had the whole week off,” you say before gulping down a water bottle.

“I checked the security footage: they left about an hour ago. Captain Rogers was talking about getting dinner.”

You put the bottle down. “Oh,” you try to mask your disappointment. This isn’t your first time being alone, they always left you here when they had a mission of course but... well, it’s not like they want you around them. “I’ll - I’ll just make myself something later, then. Not a big deal. I have to study anyway.”

Another hour later, the Avengers are back. They're all conversing happily as they pile in the lounge. Peter's rambling about upgrades for the Spiderman suit while Tony's typing away in his phone, nodding at everything he says. Everyone else is arguing about the TV channels and talking about the new restaurant they ate at.

Rhodey shifts, looking around. “Why do I feel like we forgot something?”

Natasha looks at him, waiting for him to go on.

“I assure you, I brought Mjolnir with me this time.” Thor butts in.

“No not that, what time does Y/N get home from school?” No one answers. It’s not like any of them know. It's natural that Rhodey would be worried about his goddaughter (even if they rarely talk). He turns his head to his best friend who’s now walking away with Peter, an arm around his shoulder. “Tony, where’s Y/N?”

He doesn’t hear since he has his full attention on his protégé.

“I’ll start making this tomorrow, I guess. I still have to buy materials.” You mumble to yourself, but you hope Friday's listening to everything you say just to make you feel less lonely. You swipe the hologram of the blueprint away and place the thick books in front of you.

“I would like to recommend a suitable study plan.” they state.

You rub your eyes, sighing, “I’m already halfway, I would’ve considered it earlier though.”

“This is only a recommendation, feel free to ignore it.”

You push yourself away from the desk and mutter a “go on,”, fiddling with your pen.

“Asking Mr. Rogers and Mr. Barnes would give you more details for your History examination, since the pair were originally from that time period. The same goes for Mr. Banner for your Science examination, I believe he has seven Ph.D’s, you may also approach Vision for the same topic. Mr. Stark has all the necessary materials for your project in his lab. Would you like me to-”

If only it were that easy. It should be easy, the thought alone makes you really nervous. “No, I - I appreciate the recommendation, Friday, but - I think I can do this on my own.”

“But you’re tired and it is almost midnight. I would help you myself but you specifically told me not to.”

They’re not wrong. Your eyes are starting to droop and you barely understand anything you're reading. You're also fighting back tears - why is talking to your family so hard?

“I can sense sadness. Would you like me to activate emotional support mode?”

“Yeah, okay. That sounds great right about now.”

----

“Crap. Guess we lost track of time again, kid,” Tony wipes his hands with a rag while he looks at the time on his computer. “You better get home. I’ll send May a text for keeping you this late.”

“Okay, thank you Mr. Stark. I’m just gonna use my suit-”

“No. Happy will drive you.”

Peter knew better than to argue and insist so he just nods and smiles sheepishly. A minute later Happy came ‘round to take him home.

Tony turns back around. “Friday, make a new project for me please, I’m adding minor upgrades to the Spiderman suit.”

“Not now, boss.”

Oh. He did not expect that. “Excuse me?”

“Y/N is currently opening up. I would like to give her my full, undivided attention. Please come back after fifteen minutes or so.”

Tony doesn’t exactly know how to feel about that. He never sees her outside her room anymore that he kinda forgot she existed tonight - oh fuck, they didn’t bring her to dinner with them.

“Well,” he exhales. “What is she saying?”

“That would be an invasion of privacy.”

“I’m her father-”

“Are you, sir?” Friday’s clever remark makes him stop abruptly.

It’s pretty clear that he’s been a shit father. Not only does he ignore you all the time but he treats Peter way better than his own flesh and blood. The Avengers on the other hand, they were nice people, but just didn’t understand so they try their best to get out of your way.

You were afraid of rejection, afraid to interact, because you had no idea what everyone thought of you. Did they like you? Did you make them uncomfortable? Did they want you around? What about Tony, did he really want a daughter in his life? Because you noticed he’d be better off with a son, yeah, like Peter goddamn Parker.

Tony sighs, walking out of his lab and heads to the mini bar to grab a drink. He needs to think: there's absolutely nothing wrong about you, he just didn’t do his job right, you thought he didn’t care, you thought nobody did. Even Friday is turning against him, doing a better job of comforting and being there for you.

“God, I’m such an asshole,” he mutters to himself, rubbing his forehead. He drinks his last shot and heads to the kitchen. “She still awake?” He calls out.

“She is.” Friday has a bitter tone.

He's hesitant to ask again, feeling really bad for not knowing this simple question - “what’s her favorite beverage?”

----

“How do you feel?”

You sniffle. “Well y’know, better than before. I should probably go to sleep. Thanks, Fri.”

“You’re welcome. Also, Mr. Stark is outside your door.”

“W-what?” You put away your books and straighten up, rubbing your damp eyes. “You’re serious? Okay, uh, let him in?” It's more of a question.

“Alright.”

You turn to face your desk as Tony enters the room, holding two steaming mugs. He sits at the end of your bed, just right next to the chair you're sitting on. “Hi,” he gives you a small smile and hands you a mug.

What’s the occasion?

“What’s this?” You ask quietly before taking the mug from his hands. Tony's being gentle and soft, it's odd but you’re not complaining.

“Green tea with honey. I... I thought I saw you make that stuff once.” He says, not mentioning the fact that Friday told him that.

“Oh, well, yeah,” you take a small sip. He added a bit too much honey but other than that it was good. “I thought you preferred coffee, though,”

Tony shrugs, his eyes glistening when he looks at you. “Wouldn’t hurt to try something new.”

“Did - did you want something, Dad?” You always found yourself awkward, couldn’t even make conversation with someone for long, always wanted to get straight to the point so it could be over with.

He looks like he wants to say something but he just averts his gaze to you, his hands, the floor, then suddenly he leans in and hugs you. Your feel your heart swell and body warm up, it’s a new sensation for you after all, you rarely get hugs from people. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “For everything. I’m such a bad dad, I don’t deserve you. I even forgot you when we went out to dinner.”

“You don’t have to be sorry for anything. I had loads of stuff to do earlier anyway, so, but yeah I was just - I just overreact, I’m sensitive. I don’t blame you and the others for not liking me, I know there’s nothing like-able about me, I’m not like Peter-” You ramble, tears now leaving your eyes again.

“Sweetheart, don’t say that,” Tony says as he pulls you closer to him, head resting against his chest while he rubs your back comfortably. “Y/N Stark, you are smart, brilliant - I was just an ass for not acknowledging that.”

“I know you’re just saying that to-”

“Oh, but I’m not,” he now places his hands on your shoulders, getting you to look at him. “Tell me who built their first engine when they were eight?”

You blush, “Dad-”

“No, come on, I wanna hear it.”

“I did.”

“Yes you did. And who made a completely functioning robot at their middle school science fair that blew all the teacher’s minds?”

You’re trying to hide a smile, recalling the memory, “I did.”

“And who,” Tony gets up and walks to the bulky looking thing that you covered with a sheet, pulling it off, “is currently building a computer from scratch?”

“Dad! That’s still a work in progress,” he messily places the sheet back and chuckles.

“My point is, you’re a clever and talented girl, Y/N. Don’t bring yourself down. And you don’t have to be shy around your family, those idiots have been dying to get to know you but since you don’t talk much... they don’t want to force it. We love you,” he says. “I hope you forgive me ‘cause I really wanna make it up to you. I’m not calling Peter in for a few weeks.” Tony sits down beside you again.

You couldn’t believe he’d do that for you. “You don’t have to, if you need him for something then-”

“-then you could help me instead, if you’re up for it.”

“I’m really sorry for being such a lonely freak,” you yawn, getting back into Tony’s open arms. “I love you.”

Tony tucks you in and lies down beside you, “I love you tons, kiddo.”

You snuggle into his chest, feeling his steady breathing while he rests his chin above your head.

----

It's morning. The Avengers are gathered at your open bedroom door.

“Are you getting all of this, Friday?”

“Yes, Ms. Romanoff.”

“Steve turn that shuttering sound down!” Natasha hisses at the super soldier who's doing his task, taking pictures.

Steve almost drops the phone and has Bruce fix the volume for him.

They’re all watching you and Tony cuddle together, still fast asleep.

“Do we have to stay here until they wake up?”

“Unless you have a great way of waking them up, yes. Now shut up.”

“If you think about it we definitely look creepy right now.” Sam comments.

“It’s their fault for having the door wide open all night!” Clint says.

Tony's actually awake the whole time, listening to them bickering. “You have three seconds to get the hell out of here before I make all of you polish my suits.” With that, the team races down the hall, pushing each other to get away first like literal children.

2K notes · View notes

littlemisslipbalm · 4 years

Text

“I know you, Harry Styles”

Summary: Your boss asks you to quarantine at his house to watch over the place and his dog. He then calls you let you know a friend of his has gotten stuck in Los Angeles and needs a place to stay, so he has offered his friend the home that you are also going to be staying at. His friend is Harry Styles. Harry and you get to know each other while you both navigate through this uncertain time.

I’ve had this idea for awhile and im sorry if it’s a little late now, since strict quarantine has ended (lowkey might be coming back since california has been getting bad again), but still i really liked this and wanted to write it. Also look at how cute this sidelook from Harry is in this gif ^^ :) his nose is so slopey

It hasn’t been the easiest write so no worries if y’all hate it. I might do a part 2, but def no part 3 this time, unless it gets easier to write.

Word Count: 4.5k | Warnings: mentions of quarantine and Coronavirus (pls take care if the situation is triggering to you), language, drinking

Enjoy! (Feedback appreciated as always)

You weren’t sure what to say, you didn’t want to break that bliss of him not knowing you knew. “I,” you took a sip of wine, trying to gather a bit more courage, you then laugh meekly, “I, uh, know what you do.”

“Damn…” he said. Harry also took a sip of wine, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed the gulp. “I was still debating whether I’d say that I was a musician or an accountant, y’know, something random.” You smiled, Harry was funny, you decided.

“You’d lie to me?” you said, a hint of flirtation behind your words.

“Oh no, never.”

You were living in Los Angeles when the Coronavirus outbreak first arrived in the United States and California went into quarantine. You lived in a pretty small apartment in Silver Lake and you weren’t excited to be cooped in there, alone for at least the two weeks they had just announced. The governor issued that everything would be shut down by morning and you had to admit you were a little stressed. Just as you were about to walk into your apartment and lock the door, ready to shelter in, your boss and friend of yours called.

“Hey Y/N,” David said quickly over the phone, “You know how I’ve just left for England two days ago and I’m already here. Well, since I’m not a U.S. citizen, I can’t come back. Which is fine, but I was just wondering if you’d mind quarantining at my house and just watching over it? Until I can get back?”

You sighed, “Oh my god, David. I’m so sorry.” “The U.S. announced their border closure so strangely, I couldn’t have known...But it’s fine, really, I’m actually kind of happy to be home.” You nodded as if he could see you.

“So do you think you can do it? I’ve been having my neighbor check in on my dog, daily, but I’d prefer a friend to be at the house with him right now.”

“Oh! Yeah of course, I’ll pack a bag and head over right now. I’m honestly relieved you’ve given me this offer. You’re house is fucking huge and my apartment is tiny.” David chuckled at your slow response but happy tone.

You were right, David did have a nice house. His place was up in the Los Angeles Hills, a place he’d inherited from a wealthy grandparent. It was definitely going to be an upgrade for quarantine. David’s place would make it easier to be alone because of his cute little dog around, a swimming pool, a beautiful kitchen, literally anything you could have asked for. You drove up the long driveway, to the rustic house, David refused to call a classic 70’s mansion as much as you insisted upon it.

“Guess it doesn’t matter what I call it now, huh.” You said to no one. You pulled out your spare key, David had given to you for emergencies when you had started working directly under him. You opened the door and stepped inside to the empty mansion. Checkers, David’s dog came running up to you, pawing your legs and howling his tiny voice at your arrival. You smiled, setting down your bags and grabbing Checkers from the ground. “Hi, baby!” You swung him around and he licked your face adoringly. You ruffled his fur and then placed him back on the ground, he wasn’t more than eleven pounds.

Then you went to find your bedroom. You heard your footsteps echoing throughout the empty house and it definitely felt weird. Being alone, in this big house. You wondered why you had to keep convincing yourself it was so great. Then your phone rang for the second time today. David again. You threw your bags at the foot of the guest bed and walked back through the house to the main room adjoined to the kitchen, near the front door.

“Hello?”

“Ah, Y/N, thanks for picking up! And thank you for agreeing to watch the house -”

“Yeah, of course, I’m just settling in.”

“That’s great! But, I hope you don’t mind, a friend of mine has similar luck to me. He was just supposed to be in Los Angeles for a couple days, but he’s gotten stranded there and has nowhere else to go. He’s a good friend of mine and the house is most definitely big enough for two…” He trailed off, slightly anxious to put you out, when you had already been generous enough to leave the comfort of your own place during this stressful time. “So, I told him he could stay at mine, if he didn’t mind living with a stranger.”

“I’m the stranger?” You asked, slightly confused from what David was saying.

“Yeah, yeah I mean, I told him you were a friend and that you worked with me, obviously.” You laughed with some relief, “Ok, I’ve got you. That’s fine, more than fine, he’s got nowhere to go, it’d be rude of me to say no to him joining me in this mansion,” You got a little excited and emphasized the mansion.

David groaned, but finished, “Well, great! Because I’m pretty sure he’s already on his way. Bye!” The line went dead.

You wouldn’t say you were unhappy that you were going to be sharing the house. The loneliness of the empty house had grown daunting the minute you heard your footsteps. But you realized David hadn’t even given you the name of the man you were going to be living with for supposedly the next two weeks. As well, what if you and the man didn’t get along and were at each other’s throats for two weeks.

You shook the thoughts from your mind, trying not to make any presumptions. Then, you began to put away the groceries you had brought with you from your apartment and refilled Checkers’ water bowl.

Maybe twenty minutes after your phone call with David, informing you of your quarantine housemate, the doorbell rang and you jogged lazily to the foyer with the grand front door.

In front of you stood, a man with mop of dark brown hair on his head, some large green eyes, a nice outfit, and an array of tattoos peeking out from under different parts of his clothing. Wait- you thought - this isn’t some random tall, good-looking white guy. And then it dawned on you. David would be close friends with Harry Styles. This is so typical of that man. And for him to never tell you that before. That is especially David, trying to keep this guy all to himself.

“Hi, I’m David’s friend, he said he’d call ahead and let you know, I’m ‘Arry,” he rested one of his bags on the ground and reached out to shake your hand. You blinked your eyes, still a little surprised at who your roommate was going to be, but determined to be chill about it. You then reached out your hand to meet his. You took note of the largeness of his hands and how soft they were. His hand slid perfectly in yours and his eyes intensely gazed at you in the hallway.

“Yeah, he called, I’m Y/N.” You released his hand after realizing you still had hold of it, just a touch too long. You stepped aside to let Harry bring his things into the house. “Do you need any help with your bags?” You asked quickly, not wanting to seem rude. Harry turned to you as he had just stepped into the house and was exactly beside you, he quirked his head, “Oh no, I’m alright, no need to worry about me.”

“Okay,” you simply responded and walked back into the kitchen. You had left your phone in there and still had some things to organize, David didn’t keep his house as clean or organized as you liked it. You always set to work around his house whenever you came by, no matter his protests. Music was playing from your phone over the bluetooth speakers David had in the house, a mix of random songs for the month that you had compiled a couple weeks ago. It was a mix of your favorite artists: oldies and some newer stuff. You turned it up as you got to work.

Your music played loud enough that you didn’t hear Harry walk into the kitchen. “Hey,” he said. Startled, you flipped yourself to face him, discarding the box of cereal you were moving to be with the other cereals.

“What’s up?”

“I know we don’t know each other,” Harry started. You weren’t exactly sure where he was going with this. “And I’m fine if you don’t want to really interact, but I was actually kind of excited to find out that I wasn’t going to have to be all alone in this house for two weeks.”

Your lips quirked up in about a half smile as a soft chuckle came out. You rested back on the countertop behind you, feeling more relaxed at the rest of Harry’s statement. Harry stared at your figure still taking in the stranger in front of him. You seemed fairly laid back and he liked the music he heard from the speakers, assuming it was your selection.

“Oh. Yeah,” you began, scratching your head, “I know, I was excited to not have to be in my apartment, but then when I got here I got lowkey scared of being here with just myself and Checkers.”

“Wait, Checkers is here?” Harry’s mood and tone immediately picked up, looking excitedly around for the little dog. “I think he’s outside,” you said, crossing to one of the many back doors. You called for David’s dog, you and Harry’s third roommate, and he came leaping through the door.

He ran to Harry and Harry knelt to grab the dog and pick him back up. He twirled Checkers around over his head and kept repeating “Who’s a good boy” before placing the dog on one of the couches. On the couch, Harry playfully flipped the dog on his back and scratched his belly. Checkers wiggled and opened his mouth trying to nip playfully at Harry. Harry in turn put his head right near Checkers’ and shook his own fluffy hair in the dog’s face. Checkers went wild, loving the attention he was receiving.

After a bit, Harry let Checkers go and stood up, you had been watching on amusedly, “God, I love this dog, so fucking cute,” he said. You were surprised Harry knew David well enough to know his dog, but you dismissed it. Then, you laughed and agreed with him.

“Well, do you want to get to know each other over dinner tonight?” Harry inquired as you walked back into the kitchen, still trying to finish your self-given task of cleaning it up. “Sure, why not?”

It was the dinner time you and Harry had agreed upon. You had showered and unpacked over the past few hours. Harry, from what you knew, had done the same. You two hadn’t talked much more since he had suggested the dinner. The guest room he had chosen was on the second floor, like yours, just down the hall. After checking the time on your phone, you left your room and went downstairs. You found Harry on the couch with Checkers, reading a book. You tapped his shoulder from behind the couch and he turned his head to look up at you. “We said 7, right?” He snapped his book shut after raising her brows, coming out of a reading trance. “Oh, yeah,” he responded, rising from his seat and heading to the kitchen. You followed after him, “So what do you want to eat. I brought some groceries with me so we could cook something or there’s always take out.”

Harry opened the fridge, “Let’s make something, yeah?” He leaned back from the inside of the fridge and threw a smile to you over his shoulder. He was very confident and charismatic in person you had noticed just from the few odd moments you had spent with him already. You liked his music and felt like you should tell him you knew who he was, but you also liked the feeling you got that you were just two normal people living together for a little.

“Alright,” you began, walking to his side to look into the fridge as well, “Any requests, Harry?”

You looked up at his face, he was quite tall, taller than you had really thought. He was a really big figure up close, slightly intimidating if you were being honest. He simply demanded attention just with his presence, something strong emanating from him. You could see that strength in the lines of his jaw, lined in stubble, his green eyes set deeper in his head, the sinews in his neck. In every part of his body, there was strength, yet he spoke with a kindness about him. You were extremely interested in getting to know more about him, for this very reason. How could such a big, intimidating man in size and presence be known for being so kindhearted and in touch with himself and the world? What was his secret?

Harry simply began to remove various items from the fridge, placing them down on the island behind the two of you. He only said in response to your previous question, “Like Mexican?” You nodded and laughed, you’d grown up on Mexican food.

“I was thinking fajitas would be good, what do you think?”

“Yeah, absolutely, how can I help?”

Harry grinned at your attitude, he could tell you were the really fun, easy-going type of person. He was glad you weren’t being weird with him, even if he was a stranger. He finished taking the ingredients from the fridge and then gave you instructions on what he needed help with. The two of you set to work, this time it was Harry’s music playing over the speakers.

You sat at the dining table in the next room over from the kitchen and seating area. Harry had told you to go ahead as he finished your plates of food. Moments later, he walked into the room holding the plates. “Ta-da!” He exclaimed while presenting the two plates of food, that looked admittedly, very tasty.

He had changed his outfit from earlier and you were just now noticing. Earlier, it had been a striped dress shirt that he had dressed down with rolled up sleeves and half of the buttons undone, revealing a nice string of pearls, with navy high waisted trousers that cinched at his slender waist. Now, he was in a simple purple knit sweater and brown corduroy flares, still wearing the pearls around his neck. Neither of you were wearing shoes, both wearing only socks. And while Harry might consider that to be a more casual outfit, you were in leggings and a hoodie with a sun on it that you had thrifted awhile ago.

He sat down across from you after placing one plate on the placemat in front of you. The dining table was huge, meant for dinner parties and entertaining, not a traveler and a young employee. You took a bite and hummed in appreciation, but then said, “Wait.”

Harry stopped eating and looked at you, concerned there was something wrong with his cooking. “Red wine,” you stated. Harry’s worried face grew into a grin. “Red wine,” he echoed in agreement and nodded his head. You hopped up from your seat and ran into the kitchen, looking for the cabinet David kept his wine in.

After finding a reasonable Malbec, a favorite red of yours, you grabbed an opener, two glasses, and went back into the dining room where the munching Harry awaited. He was happily chewing his food as he gazed at you as you placed the glasses between your plates, uncorked the bottle with ease, and grabbed the glasses once more to pour the wine.

Finally, you sat down and said, “To whatever the fuck we are about to get ourselves into.” Harry laughed and offered a “Salud” in response. The two of your glasses clinked and you both drank, afterwards setting off to eat your food.

As you ate, you began to talk. Harry started, “So, you work with David?” while taking his fork and stabbing at a cooked bell pepper slice. You finished chewing, “Ah, yeah, he’s my boss. But we work pretty closely, I’m kind of like a personal assistant, but I do more than just his scheduling and errands.” Harry nods.

“Oh no, never. I would’ve definitely just told you who I was if you didn’t know, but it’s nice to pretend for a little.” He grinned as he said the words, his elbow resting on the table with his wine glass in hand. You ate some more, letting his words linger in the air. It’s nice to pretend for a little.

“Well,” you finally said, “I won’t give you any special treatment, if that’s what you’re implying. As far as I’m concerned, you’re just a guy staying at the same house as me. Doesn’t matter to me what you do to pay your bills.”

Harry liked that. You were very intriguing, the way you spoke to him. Especially now that he was sure that you knew about his music and celebrity. “You make it sound like I’m a sex worker or something naughty!” he said, feeling more comfortable with you with the more time that passed and the more wine he had.

“It’s kind of the same thing...providing a service - that your body is an essential part of providing it properly.” You stated smugly, looking over at Harry from behind the rim of your glass. “And there’s nothing wrong with sex workers,” you added.

“You’re right,” he stopped, wanting to continue the conversation, but confused how to move on from sex workers. “So what do you think of my music?”

“I thought you wanted to be treated like you weren’t a celebrity,” you countered.

“That’s out the window, c’mon,” he said, leaning forward.

“You just want me to boost your ego,” you smirked, liking the banter that was coming so easily between you two, “Like I said, I know you, Harry Styles.”

He scoffed at your teasing and rolled his eyes. He wasn’t actually annoyed, he was enjoying this. “Then you’re a fan, huh?” Not letting it go without you saying how you felt about his music.

“Fine,” you sang slightly, shifting in your seat. “Your music,” you paused again, enjoying Harry eager to hear your opinion and you being in control, “is better than a lot of other modern stuff considered good by today’s standards.”

“So you like it?” He said slowly. That was probably the most roundabout, vague compliment he had ever heard. He picked at his almost empty plate, still staring at you.

You tilted your head and placed it on your palm, looking to the sky as if you were thinking about his question hard. Finally, you shifted your head in your palm so you were looking at Harry wearily. Then you shut one eye and said, “I guess,” before shrugging your shoulders as if you didn’t care at all. Harry let a single blow of air out of his nose, like a short laugh, before standing and taking both of your plates. As he walked out of the room he whistled lowly, “You are such a tease, Y/N.”

He disappeared into the kitchen and you heard him cleaning up. You were about to call out to him and say how he didn’t have to do the cleaning since he did the majority of the cooking, but then your eyes fell to the half drunk bottle of wine. Normally, you’d re-cork it and drink the rest at a later date, but it was still early in the evening and you and Harry literally had nowhere to go. Also, the two of you hadn’t gotten past the work question of getting to know you. There was still a bit more to learn about each other and you were happy to continue to discuss over wine.

Harry reemerged from the kitchen and you held up the wine bottle to him and waved it, “We need to finish this.”

“Have I told you yet that I like the way you think?” Harry walked over and grabbed the bottle from your hand. He quickly poured both your glasses much fuller than the usual standard glass of wine. When you eyed him curiously about the heavy pour, he only shrugged practically saying it’s just us drinking it who cares if we fill up our glasses extra full.

“No you haven’t, but I like the way I think too! I’m very smart you know,” you said with some play in your voice as you walked through a doorway that led to the sitting room. Harry trailed behind, bringing the now less than full bottle with him. You both sat yourselves on the couch, a fair amount of space between the two of you, not too close, but not too far apart either.

You both took long gulps of the wine. You were starting to feel a little warm from it, but you enjoyed where the wine was taking your conversation so you weren’t planning on stopping. Harry’s big green eyes squinted slightly at you from behind his wine glass, similar to how you had done earlier. He lowered it and licked his lips. There was definite tension between the two of you right now. Maybe you both had realized the implications of being alone with a stranger for two weeks with no interruptions and no distractions. Whatever it was, it was intoxicating because all you wanted to do was keep teasing Harry and have him keep baiting you.

Harry asked a question suddenly, breaking the silent staring that had been going on. And the tension was broken the two of you continuing your getting to know you for the rest of the night. By eleven, the bottle was empty and forgotten on the coffee table and you and Harry had scooted closer. You had similar likes and dislikes when it came to music. You talked about fashion and what it was like to get to wear top designers all the time - Harry being the wearer, not you sadly. You asked him what it was like to tour and he asked you more about your job and living in Los Angeles, how it was to not walk around the place and be bombarded with people. Then, you circled back to travel.

“I’ve been lucky enough to travel a lot in my life, too. I traveled with my family as a kid and I made sure my job would have me traveling around, too.”

“Oh, yeah?” Harry took the last sip of his wine and set the glass down, readjusting himself to lean on his arm on the couch, looking at you.

“Was supposed to be with David in England, actually, but I got held up and was going to join him next week,” you mused, finishing your wine as well and leaning your body so your back was fully against the back cushion.

“No way, I was supposed to leave next week, too. Who knows, maybe we would have been on the same plane and crossed paths like that without even knowing,” Harry said excitedly.

You rolled your head to the right and looked at his face, how it had lit up at that unlikely prospect. “You probably wouldn’t have known, but I’m sure I would’ve been able to tell, probably have a whole crowd of fans there waiting for you, end up having to delay the plane for ya’. And I’d be sitting there like ‘which famous prick is holding us up?”

“Oi!” he swatted at your leg closest to him, “Has anyone told you you’re a bit mean.”

You raised your brows at his physical contact and his words. You shifted to your side again and slid your legs beneath you, looking directly at Harry. “Yes,” you said seriously.

Harry laughed at that. At least you were honest, and you were funny, too. You joined his laughter, it felt contagious, the way his voice was so loud, but so jovial. His eyes managed to twinkle even as he squinted, his smile taking over his entire face.

Without either of you noticing, the two of you had shifted extremely close to one another. You finally realized because you felt Harry’s breath fanning over your face. His breath smelled of Malbec, but his over scent mixed with it and turned it into something enticing. You wanted to lean in more, but the only place further to go was his lips.

Harry’s eyes flickered to meet yours, confused yet delighted about the situation he had somehow gotten himself in. The two of you breathing in each other, chests heaving from laughter, hearts beating from wine, and bodies ready to ignite the minute they touched. You remained there for a few moments more, basking in his glow.

And then you whispered, “I should go to bed.” You pulled away and retreated upstairs to your room. Harry was left there, sitting stunned at the whole situation. How had that happened? And what had you just stopped from happening? You were thinking the very same things as you sat down on your bed and calmed your breathing.

This was going to be a long two weeks.

Part 2

taglist: @cronias13, @theresthingsthatwellneverknow, @harrys-cherrry,

#harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles x reader #harry styles fluff #harry styles x you #harry styles x y/n #harry styles fan fic #harry styles fanfic #my writing #harry styles imagine #harry styles is domestic #harry styles slow burn #i hate this title #first long fic with no quote #nothing was strong enough #jk i had to change it #i couldnt handle it with out #enjoy

809 notes · View notes

strawberrylemonz · 3 years

Text

Laying out Foundation

Part 1

Part 2 [CURRENT]

Part 3

Dedicated to @wintercat96 I’d like to thank them for sticking around and helping me out in the little ways!

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

“Who the FUCK are you?!”

“Me?! Who the FUCK are you?!”

“I’m TommyInnit!”

“Wtf? No you’re not! I’m TommyInnit!”

“Fuck you!”

“No, fuck you!”

Before either of the boys could say another word, a loud boom of thunder caught them off guard. Falling back in similar manners, the two yelled out in synchronized shock as a bolt of lightning barely missed them.

“AH, WHAT THE FUCK?!”

Catching their breathes, the two Tommy’s exchanged a look before scrambling to their feet. Quickly wiping off the dirt off their clothes, the Tommy with the yellow gem cleared his throat, speaking up.

“Okay okay okay okay, let’s figure this shit out after we find shelter.”

“Yeah, I can agree with that. Let’s get out of here before the weather turns all shit on us.”

The two of them grabbed their items, not that they had much on them. Aside from the blue gem, a handful of bread, some seeds, and a water bucket, Tommy didn’t own much at the time. Everything else was back at his house. The other Tommy seemed to only really have his yellow gem and a guitar. Giving a nod to each other, they made their way through the trees.

--------

They had managed to find a couple of large wooden crates and some strong bungee cords. Using their strength stubbornness, the two managed to pull one of the crates up into a large tree by a decently sized clearing. After struggling for a bit, they managed to secure it with some cords. A groan could be heard from the large crate in the tree.

“Why don’t we just chop down a tree to craft some wooden planks? We don’t have axes, so it won't be as fast, but it’ll be easier than this!”

The other Tommy just raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. Giving out a partial laugh, he motioned towards the trees around them.

“Alright, big guy, then show me how it’s done.”

Rolling his eyes, the Tommy in question climbed out of the tree, grumbling as he approached a nearby tree. Looking at it up close, he noticed how different it looked compared to the trees back at home. Confused, he just shrugged and began punching, much to the confusion and concern of the other boy. Finally, afraid of having to clean a future infection without the proper supplies, he climbed down to stop the tree puncher.

“Alright, alright, stop stop stop stop. You don’t have to break your fucking hands because you’re annoyed with me, what the fuck ma-”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

He froze in place, completely baffled and unsure as to whether or not he was seeing things. His double, who he was sure was insane, had just punched a chunk of the tree out. That wasn’t the only crazy thing about, the tree was still standing up, despite missing the center of its trunk. He watched in silence as the boy continued punching the tree, somehow causing its leaves to drop apples, tree saplings, and stick. Once his double finished, he somehow turned the punched tree parts into planks, then used those and crafted a small table. He stared as the boy made ladders, stairs and planks.

“...whA T THE FU C K?!”

--------

The two soon realized that there are abilities that the two of them can both do, as well as abilities that only one of them are capable of doing. After a screaming of match about such stupid logic, they accidentally discovered that they could combine their separate abilities to create something new. This became evident when they accidentally created a rope ladder for the tree. After all their arguing, however, there was one thing the two discovered that they could agree on.

“This treehouse is kick-ass”

“Hell yeah it is!”

As the sun began to set, the two boys quickly climbed into their newly made shelter. As one Tommy pulled up the rope ladder, the other spoke up to get rid of the silence.

“I wonder how many mobs will spawn in tonight.”

“I’m sorry, how many what?”

“Y’know, mobs. Zombies, skeletons, creepers, endermen, spiders-”

“I’m going to stop you there because I have no idea what you’re going on about. Sounds like complete, utter bullshit.”

“You said the same thing about the tree”

“Fuck you”

--------

It had been a week since the two Tommy’s were brought to this strange world. After much debate, they had finally decided to give each other nicknames, hoping that it would make telling the two apart by other people (if they did ever come across actual people). Despite these nicknames, they still referred to each other as “Tommy” when speaking to one another.

“Dude, how did you learn to sew? That makes all this so much easier for us.”

“I just kinda learned back when I was younger. I actually ended up making the uniforms for the revolution back home.”

“Holy shit”

Rust!Tommy [Toms] shot himself a confident smile as he stared at his reflection in the glass. Adjusting the broach made from his yellow gem on his coat, he fixed the fingerless gloves on his hands. Turning to peer behind him at his counterpart, he stepped aside to allow him to see his reflection. Dsmp!Tommy [Thomas] adjusted his trench coat, admiring his his handiwork. He forgot what it felt like to make outfits for fun, for comfort, not for war or survival. Humming in approval, he clasped the broach, which was made from his blue gem, closed, closing his leather belt around his waist.

“Looks nice, bruv”

“Heh, I know”

“We should design hats for us! Know how to make a cowboy hat?”

“Why the fuck would you want a cowboy hat?”

“I’ll look fucking awesome”

The two laughed as they climbed out of their treehouse, which, to Toms, was surprisingly still in the tree. He had asked Thomas about how that was possible, to which he just replied with, “That’s just how my world works.”

“You grab the wood and mine some cobble. I’ll gather sand and get the furnace going”

“Have fun hauling around buckets of sand!”

“Oh, fuck off. You know I can’t just store it in thin air like you can”

The two wrestled with each other’s arms, trying to mess up the other’s hair first. Toms cheered in victory as Thomas grumbled, heading to the trees. Humming to himself, he pulled out an axe and began cutting down wood. The two were working on an actual house to live in. As much as they enjoyed their treehouse, it wasn’t very big on it’s own. That’s why, much to their delight, it was getting an upgrade. Once Thomas cleared out a good amount of trees, he took out some saplings and bonemeal. putting four saplings by each other, he stepped back and added bonemeal. A giant tree grew towards the sky, towering above the surrounding forest. He couldn’t help but smile at how the tree looked, being much more round than his trees back home. Patting the bark, he walked over the crafting table and began crafting. He was never a talented builder, but he did remember the different builds made back home. Besides, it was only his double that was sticking around. As different as the two were in most aspects, they wouldn’t seriously insult each other’s handiwork.

“That’s a huge tree”

Thomas, who was hallowing the inside of the tree, looked back at his double. Toms was staring up at the tree, bucket of sand in one hand, his other shielding the sunlight.

“Are we going to need all this room?”

“We’ll find a way to use all the space. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

Nodding, Toms started on loading the furnace, getting the glass started. Pulling out some rope, he began making more rope ladders for the tree. Thomas, on the other hand, finished hallowing out the tree and towered up the leaves using the inside. Sighing a content sigh, he began leveling the leaved area, shearing away the leaves and placing down wooden planks. He began putting up the third wall by the time his double climbed up. Looking around, Toms nodded in approval. Peering up at the leaves above them, he finally decided to speak up.

“What if we make large area? Just in case we have guests, or whatever.”

Thomas looked back at Toms, before also looking up at the leaves. Making a noise of agreement, he pulled out a piece of paper. Sitting down on the floor, he set out the paper and pulled out his ink and quill, handing it over to Toms.

“Let’s see what you’re planning. Go all out on the blueprints, I can build it.”

And with a warm look of approval at each other, the two got to work.

#into the Tommyverse #into the tommyverse au #rust! tommy #dsmp! tommy

122 notes · View notes

thewhitejournal · 4 years

Text

“The Intern” Part Four

Aaron Hotchner x Female!Reader

(not my gif)

content warnings: description of a dead child, gunshot wound, cursing

hello all! i will disclose, this chapter contains an extremely cliché fanfiction trope. i’m using this to push our lovely reader and aaron together a little closer. also, sorry about the length, i might’ve gotten carried away. anyway, without further ado, enjoy!

“the intern” masterlist

Aaron pulled up and parked across the street from the hotel where the team was staying. He made the final motion on the wheel with just his palm, the simple and non-sexual action giving you a bit of butterflies in your stomach. He looked over at you with a small smile, and you offered him one back before the two of you stepped out of the car in almost perfect unison.

You rounded the front of the car and met him on the other side, standing next to each other while you waited for a car to pass. You stole a glance at him; he was staring straight ahead, but you were sure he knew you were looking at him out of the corner of your eye. The two of you crossed the street together, and Hotch held the door open for you, gentlemanly as ever.

You followed Aaron up to the receptionist’s desk. This hotel was decently nice, not five stars but not a complete dump either. The sudden urge to wrap your hands around his arm and cling to him came over you; you just loved his presence and it made you feel safe, especially in a place you’d never been before. He told the woman at the desk his name and that he was with the FBI and that he should have a room in his name with two separate queen beds.

Her brows furrowed as she typed away on her keyboard. She looked defeated. Aaron’s face donned a confused look; you were sure yours looked similar.

“Is there a problem?” He asked the woman. She sighed, still clicking and typing.

“I’m sorry sir, I can’t seem to find your name listed for a double bedroom.” He shook his head, telling her that was impossible.

“Our technical analyst, Penelope Garcia, called ahead and reserved rooms for us.” You could tell he was starting to get frustrated. The thumb on the hand by his side was rubbing over his knuckles.

“I’m aware of that, sir, but there’s not a room like that left. We have a room with a single bed at the same price, or you could upgrade to our suite for a hundred dollars more with two separate king beds.” She looked up at him expectantly, waiting for his answer.

He sighed, pulling his wallet out of his coat. Flipping it open, he pulled out his card. “Just give me the single bed.”, he grumbled at her. It was kind of funny to see him bothered like this, but it was not the time to laugh. She took it from him, asking for ID from both of you. You both handed her your driver’s licenses, as your badge probably wouldn’t suffice in this instance.

She confirmed everything and handed Aaron the room key, telling you two to have a nice stay. He didn’t say a word to her, just picked up his go-bag and headed to the elevator. She looked at you like she expected you to say something. You just gave her an apologetic look and hurried after Aaron.

The doors to the elevator slid together, and it was the two of you alone again.

“Sorry about the room.” You said, in an attempt to break the somewhat awkward silence. You looked over at him. In a different situation, the silence likely wouldn’t have been awkward, but he was in kind of a mood.

He sighed, looking forward. “It’s okay, (Y/N).” He seemed to relax a bit, and you returned your gaze to the doors in front of you. With a chime, they opened again and Hotch took the lead out into the hallway.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather try to squeeze in with Prentiss and JJ? You don’t even have any clothes.” He asked you as you reached the door of the room. His brows were knitted together on his forehead, lips in a straight line. Did he not want to share a room with you? Or was he just trying to make you comfortable?

“Hotch, I can borrow some of their stuff if I need to. I don’t care to share a room with you. We’re adults, right?” You were suddenly very aware of the amount of space between your bodies; it wasn’t much. He chuckled to himself, shaking his head and looking at his feet. His laugh gave you butterflies.

“You’re right. I think they’re in room 207, down the hall. Go by and get anything you need and I’ll let you in when you get back.” He gave you a small smile and opened the door, closing it behind him. You took note of the number of your room, and turned on your heel and walked down the hall.

Once you found their room, you knocked lightly. “Who is it?” You hear Emily call from the other side of the door, but it doesn’t sound like she’s asking you. She sounds distant, probably busy doing something else in the room.

“It’s (Y/L/N)!”, JJ exclaims happily from the other side of the door. Not a moment later, she pulls the door open quickly. She greets you with a huge smile and pulls you into her arms.

“So, are you rooming with us? I mean, it’s kinda tight but I’m sure we can make room for you.”, Emily asked you once the door is shut behind you and you’re in the room. You glanced at the single bed behind the two of them. They must have lucked out of a double-bedded room, too. You laugh nervously, knowing full well they were about to tease you. Your gaze fell to your feet.

“I’m rooming with Hotch.”, you admitted to them. They gasped in unison. Emily covered her mouth, both of them staring at you with wide eyes.

“What?”, you ask them, feeling a bit embarrassed. They must’ve picked up on it.

“(Y/N)! That’s amazing! Just don’t be too loud in case the walls are thin.”, JJ retorted with a smirk on her lips. Your jaw fell and you playfully smacked her arm.

“It’s not like that, guys!”, you exclaimed. Emily rolled her eyes and JJ scoffed.

“Yeah, right. You can’t fool two profilers, not to mention women.” JJ had a point.

“What was with the jacket today, then?”, Emily asked you, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and a knowing smile on her face. You felt your cheeks start to heat up.

“I was cold! Besides, he wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer. Right, J?”, you tried defending yourself. JJ looked over at Emily with a look that said “she’s not wrong”.

“Okay, then why’d you knock on our door? Not that we don’t mind your company, (Y/N/N).”, JJ asked you. You explained you needed to borrow some clothes, and that whatever they could spare would be appreciated. Emily lent you some dress shirts and pants for the coming days ahead, and JJ handed you some underwear and a t-shirt and pants to sleep in. You hugged both of them and headed back out into the hallway, butterflies fluttering around in your stomach at an obnoxious speed.

Your knuckles sounded softly on the door to your room. Aaron didn’t answer right away, and you thought you heard the water running on the other side of the door. Maybe he was showering. Right as you were about to knock again, a dishevelled and dripping wet Aaron Hotchner answered the door. Of course, he was in nothing but a towel that was tied dangerously low, but you tried to ignore that part.

“(Y/N), sorry. I was in the shower.” He said. The water drops trickled down his face and on his bare chest, all the way down to…

“I see that.” You tried laughing off the feeling that was taking over your body at the moment, praying to any deity out there that he wasn’t catching on to your act. There was still a little soap in his hair. He stepped aside so you could come in, and you squeezed past his wet and muscular body. He mumbled another apology as you slid past.

“Hotch, you’re fine! Get back in the shower.” You smiled at him, and he returned one, maybe the biggest you’ve ever seen on him. He stepped back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

Oh, he’s fine, alright.

You flopped onto the bed, trying to compose yourself by taking deep breaths. It wasn’t helping. You figured now was as good a time as ever to change, so you took off your blazer and then started unbuttoning your shirt, shrugging it off your shoulders and onto the bed. You undid the clasp on your bra, taking it off and putting it under your blazer. That was the last thing Aaron needed to see lying on the bed.

Your shoes and pants came next, then you pulled on the clothes JJ let you borrow. The shirt was super comfy. You sat down on the bed, folding your day clothes and placing them in the duffle bag you’d picked up at the airport. Just then, Hotch came out of the bathroom in a white t-shirt and red flannel pajama pants. Your heart did a backflip in your chest.

After zipping up your bag and placing it next to the nightstand, you laid down under the covers. Hotch walked over to the opposite side of the bed that you were on and grabbed a pillow, throwing it onto the sad excuse for a couch.

“Whatcha doin’?”, you questioned with a small smile on your face. He didn’t say anything, just pulled the extra blanket off the bed and unfolded it, laying it on the couch too.

“You can have the bed, (Y/L/N).” The tone in his voice was hard to pick up on. You couldn’t tell if he was opposed to the thought of sleeping beside you, or if he was just trying to be nice.

“Hey, we’re adults, remember? A flat piece of cardboard is probably comfier than that couch.” You softly patted the space next to you, and he chuckled, shaking his head at you. Surprisingly, without any argument, he picked up the pillow and blanket and climbed into bed with you.

The only light illuminating the room was the table lamp on your side of the bed. The soft, slightly yellow glow lit up Aaron’s features perfectly as he tried getting comfortable in the spot next to you. You just lied there and looked at him, hoping it wasn’t obvious you were admiring him. Once he finally seemed ready to go to sleep, you asked him if you could turn the light off. He said yes, so you leaned over and turned it off.

“Goodnight, (Y/N).”, Aaron’s voice sounded out in the dark. You could hear his even breaths and smell his shampoo. You sure could get used to this, though you know you shouldn’t. You sighed contently.

“Goodnight, Hotch.”, you practically whispered, turning over so that your back faced him. You fell asleep faster than you thought.

The hours ticked by as the two of you rested in peaceful sleep, but at one point throughout the night, you thought you felt something on your back. It barely woke you; the sensation was light. At first, you weren’t sure what it was, but you soon deduced it had to be Aaron’s fingers, slowly and gently tracing shapes on your t-shirt. You didn’t question it; surely you were dreaming. But the touch, real or not, was so soft that drifted back into unconsciousness.

You awoke again to the sun streaming into the room, this time more alert. You were warm and relaxed, having slept better than you expected. Suddenly you realized the warmth was not from the sun, but from the man next to you. His chest was pressed up against your back and his left arm was draped over your waist. Your body tensed up, not knowing what to do. It was inappropriate, unprofessional. Then why did you enjoy it so much?

You relaxed again, glancing over at the alarm clock on the nightstand. You still had an hour and a half before you had to be at the station to get to work again. So, ten or fifteen more minutes like this shouldn’t harm anything. You shut your eyes and sighed contently. His breathing was shallow and even behind your head, and you could smell his natural smell. It was hard to describe. You imagined he smelled like what cinnamon and honey tea would taste like on a cold and snowy winter day, warm and cozy. Like home.

You opened your eyes again to see how much time had passed. It had been about fifteen minutes or so, so you decided to carefully slip out of his arms and get in the shower. You immediately missed his body next to yours, but you knew it wasn’t something you should get used to. As quietly as possible, you unzipped your bag and got out all the clothes you’d need. You found a towel under the sink and shut the bathroom door, starting up the water in the shower. You hoped you wouldn’t wake him; partially so he could sleep, but also you wanted to see him right when he woke up and hear his sleepy voice.

You left your pajamas on the bathroom floor and climbed in the shower, reveling in the feeling of the warm water running through your hair and over your body. The fact crossed your mind that yours and Aaron’s hair would have the same scent from the hotel’s shampoo and conditioner, and you weren’t opposed to the thought at all.

You finished your shower and got dressed, putting on a bra and black tank top you planned on wearing as an undershirt. Your dress pants slid over your legs next; you fastened them and admired the way they fit you in the mirror, checking for any flaws.

Next, you used the hotel’s little hairdryer and styled your hair the best you could with what you had, which wasn’t much. You liked how it turned out, though.

You picked up your clothes and pulled the bathroom door open, looking over to the bed to see Aaron sat up, typing away on his phone. He was probably answering emails or something, but you didn’t press him about it. You placed your clothes inside your bag.

“Good morning, (Y/N).” There was the sleepy voice you’d looked forward to hearing. He looked over at you, and you didn’t miss the way his gaze lingered on you. His hair was messy but in a cute way. A soft smile graced his lips. You smiled at him in return, bare feet padding over the carpet to grab your black button-up shirt. Pulling it over your shoulders, you heard Hotch get out of bed behind you. You turned and looked over your right shoulder to see him picking up his duffle, placing it on the bed and unzipping it. You returned your focus to buttoning up your shirt, tucking it into your pants. When you turned back around, Aaron already had his pants and belt on and his white button-up was pulled on, left unbuttoned for the time being. He was quick.

Suddenly, his cell phone rang. “Hotchner.”, he said into the speaker, very matter-of-factly. You turned to face him, watching his face for any change in expression. His eyebrows knit together, and his eyes darted around on the carpet. The look in his eyes told you he was listening to whatever the person was saying, and it seemed urgent. He looked up at you, then back at the floor. “We’ll be there soon.” He hung up. You looked at him expectantly for an explanation.

“There’s another body. I’m going straight to the crime scene, do you want to come or should I have someone take you to the station with them?” The sentence itself might sound snarky, maybe even a little rude. But the tone in his voice was completely the opposite. He knew you were new, and he didn’t want to push your boundaries. You watched his fingers work the buttons on his shirt as you made a decision.

“I’ll go with you, Hotch.” He nodded, pulling his tie around his neck and tying it faster than you’ve ever seen anyone do. Aaron went to the bathroom to quickly comb his hair and brush his teeth. You realized you wanted to put mascara on, so you grabbed a spare tube that you kept in your purse and stood next to Aaron in the bathroom.

For people that hardly knew each other, you were having a lot of intimate moments together already. You felt like he was watching you put it on, but you were too focused and didn’t want to mess it up to try and confirm your suspicions. He was brushing his teeth, and the two of you were looking in the mirror. You smiled at him in it and he gave you a toothpaste-filled smile back. You laughed, careful not to smear your freshly applied mascara. He chuckled deeply. You loved how comfortable you already were around him.

You stepped out to slip on your blazer, making sure you had everything together for the day. He finished up in the bathroom and sat down on the bed to put his shoes on.

“Text the others and tell them I want Morgan and Prentiss to meet us at the scene and JJ, Reid and Dave to head to the station.” You nodded, pulling your phone from your pocket.

‘JJ, Hotch wants you, Reid, and Rossi at the station and Morgan and Em to meet us at the scene. Relay the message pls :)’

The phone vibrated in your hand.

‘Sure thing, boss lady ;)’

You rolled your eyes, smiling. You clicked your phone off and shoved it back into your pocket. Looking up, Hotch was pulling his blazer on and straightening his collar. He nodded for you to open the door, and you stepped out into the hallway. Aaron was right behind you, briefcase in hand. The two of you walked beside each other down the hallway and to the elevator. You couldn’t lie, walking next to him like this felt good.

‘You’d make a good power couple…’ The thought bounced around in your head. You tried ignoring it, but you couldn’t disagree. You definitely wouldn’t mind being Aaron Hotchner’s partner, and not just in the bureau.

The ride to the scene was comfortably silent. You watched the scenery outside the passenger side window go by as Aaron drove. Occasionally, you stole a glance at him. You couldn’t tell if you were just checking on him or if you wanted a little look at him. Either way, he didn’t seem to notice. If he did, he didn’t mention it or even seem to care.

The two of you stepped out of the SUV and Hotch led the way to the officials that were already there.

“Agent Hotchner. Thank you for coming on such short notice.” The officer shook his hand.

“This is Agent (Y/L/N).” Aaron’s hand gestured towards you, and the officer shook your hand as well. He gave you a curt nod, and let the two of you under the police tape.

You were a tad nervous; this was your first time seeing a dead body, and it was a child nonetheless. You just hoped Aaron didn’t pick up on it. You didn’t want him to think you couldn’t handle it just because you were nervous.

You were in the woods, pine trees surrounding you. The cool wind hit your skin, blowing your hair lightly. The body was covered with a sheet. Aaron gave you a look as if to ask if you were ready, before kneeling and throwing the sheet off.

The boy laid on his back, his slender arms crossed over his chest. His lips were blue and so were the tips of his fingers and his little toes. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say he was made of ice. His skin was a pale white and looked to be very cold. The only clothes he had on were thin-looking pajama pants. You’d instantly felt bad for the boy; in the low overnight temperatures of Nebraska, he’d likely been very cold if he’d been alive when he was left here. You knew full well he was gone and had been for a while, but you just wanted to drape a couple of warm blankets over him.

When you didn’t move, Aaron looked up at you. “Are you okay?” His soft voice filled the air. You snapped out of it, looking over at him. Your head rested under your hand, your other arm pulled close to your chest. You only nodded. He turned his attention back to the body, gently picking up his hand. “Look. There’s skin under his fingernails. He fought his attacker.”

You knelt at his side, pulling on the gloves he’d given you earlier. Hotch pulled the skin back on his fingers to show you. He was right. Softly, he placed the boy’s arm where it was. You were looking at his neck, where the abrasions were from his asphyxiation. Despite everything, the boy looked at peace. You hoped he was.

Morgan and Prentiss approached behind you two, asking what you’d found. You both stood to greet them. Hotch explained everything he’d seen, just from observing. They discussed possible motives and things they knew now they could look for on the unsub, like defensive wounds from the boy.

“He’s showing signs of remorse. And he dumped the body in a more secluded area. Do you think he’s starting to regret what he’s done?” Morgan asked, to no one in particular it seemed. Hotch agreed with him.

“Let’s head to the station.”

You got back into the car, still processing what you’d seen. Hotch got in, looking over at you. It’s good that he’s good at his job, but not for you. He must’ve picked up on your feelings.

“(Y/N)? Are you sure you’re okay?”, Aaron asked you. You didn’t answer right away, your gaze fixed forward. You turned your head, looking into his soft brown eyes. They flickered around your face, trying to read your emotions. You offered him a sad smile.

“I’ve just never seen a dead body before, much less a kid. I don’t know, it just kind of made me sad.” Your voice got quieter as your sentence went on; you felt a couple of tears pushing at your water line.

He muttered your name and an apology, taking hold of your hand. His other hand slowly reached up to your face to wipe a tear away, one that you hadn’t even realized had fallen. He was careful not to smudge your makeup, you could tell in the way his thumb grazed over your skin. His hands were rough and calloused, but you didn’t mind it.

“If you’re not up for this…”, he started saying. You shook your head, squeezing his hand.

“I am, Hotch.” His lips formed into a tight smile, and he nodded at you. You expected him to let go of your hand, but he never did. He started the car and pulled out, making his way to the police station. Your hands were clasped the whole way there, his thumb rubbing over your skin every once in a while. You’d never seen him so vulnerable, yet it seemed to come so naturally to him with you. It was his comforting nature, one of the things you admire about him.

After about two hours and lunch from the local Chinese place, you worked together with the team to develop a solid profile for the unsub and a geographical profile as well. You could certainly get used to working cases like this.

Suddenly, a call from Garcia came through Morgan’s cell phone. “Baby girl, you’re on speaker. Behave.”

“Or what, you’ll spank me?” You stifled a laugh, looking around at the rest of the team. Most of them smiled and shook their heads, while Morgan rolled his eyes playfully.

“Garcia.”, Aaron said flatly. You could almost see her eyes widen.

“Sorry, sir. So, I ran the IP addresses of the people that Nathan had been chatting with and I think I found your guy, sending you the info now.” Just then, a text from Garcia came through with everything she’d found.

“Thanks, sweetheart.” Morgan hung up the phone, and everyone looked at what she’d sent.

“He’s got a record, that’s for sure. And he fits the profile.” Prentiss noted aloud. You agreed. His nasty insides certainly showed on his outside, too. Looking at his mugshot made you cringe. Another text buzzed on your phone from Garcia.

‘PLEASE tell me something juicy happened with your roommate!!’

You smiled, rolling your eyes at her. You typed a response, telling her nothing happened, not mentioning the arms you woke up in. She wasn’t happy with your answer, but that’s how it had to be. A relationship between you and Aaron could not happen, no matter how much you wanted it to.

“Dave and Prentiss, go to the work address. The rest of us will go to his house.”, Hotch ordered. Everyone walked out to their respected cars. You climbed into the passenger seat of the SUV Aaron was driving, and Morgan, JJ, and Reid piled in the backseat. Hotch flipped the sirens and lights on and sped out of his parking spot.

The setting sun cast an orange glow on Aaron, lighting up his features in a beautiful way. The five of you made it to the house within ten minutes, followed by a parade of the local cops and SWAT. You all got out, and they strapped their vests on and affixed their earpieces. Hotch pulled out an extra vest and earpiece for you, helping you put them on.

He motioned for JJ and Reid to go around back and scope out, along with some cops and SWAT members. The rest of you went up the front door. Aaron announced that they were the FBI, and there was no answer. Morgan promptly kicked the door in, heading in with you and Hotch in suit. He directed the cops and Morgan to clear the first floor and brought you upstairs with him. Once you reached the top of the stairs, Aaron gave you one last look before taking the left hallway, telling you to clear the right one.

You were practically shaking, walking as quietly and slowly as possible. You cleared the first room, then walked into the second one. When you turned to check behind the door, the unsub was standing there, a gun aimed at you.

Your eyes grew wide. “Drop the gun. It’s over.” Your voice didn’t come out as confident as you’d hoped, and he smirked at you. Faster than you could process, he quickly fired a shot into your body, hitting your leg at what felt like your thigh. You fell to the ground, hitting your head on the wall behind you.

In your blurry vision, the unsub came into view, towering over you. You groaned in pain, clutching your leg. He smiled down at you; you heard him cock the gun again and the barrel came into view.

“Drop it, now!” Morgan’s voice boomed in the room. The unsub did as he was instructed, but a huge smile still on his face. You didn’t hear anything else Morgan told him to do, but he was yanked from the room by a SWAT officer, now wearing handcuffs. It was all you could do to focus on the white ceiling above you. Morgan knelt over you. “Hotch!”, he called over his shoulder.

Morgan took your hand, his other hand cradling your face. “Kid, hey, stay with me.” He muttered something into his mic, something about needing a medic. You heard footsteps growing closer. Your eyes kept rolling in the back of your head, the pain shooting in your leg taking its effect.

Someone told Morgan to go, told him to make sure the medics had some specific things with them. Aaron came into view above you. He quickly knelt beside you, taking your hand.

“(Y/N), look at me.” You did your best to do so, angling your body towards him, but that just made the pain worse. You moaned in pain, squeezing your eyes shut. “Don’t move, the paramedics are on their way.” His voice was low, his hand holding your head up.

“Aaron…”, you gasped out. Weakly, you reached to touch his arm. “Don’t leave me…”, you trailed off, your eyes fluttering shut.

“(Y/N), stay awake for me, can you do that?” He whispered. Your eyes opened back up, looking him in the eyes. You thought you saw a glimmer on his cheek. He let go of your hand and unfastened his tie.

“This is going to hurt. I’m sorry.” You weren’t sure what he meant until you felt a restriction on your leg. It felt like he was going to cut it off. You cursed under your breath, groaning again. Aaron muttered another apology.

“Fuck, it hurts, Hotch…” You could barely form a coherent thought. He mumbled that he knew, pulling you from the ground and up into his arms. Suddenly, the cool evening air hit your skin, and the last thing you remembered was Hotch’s warm body against yours and the smell of the hotel shampoo, your face buried into his chest.

taglist:

@dilaudidwinchester

@awriterincrime

@art-and-thoughts

@royallybookish

@bihoeofmanyfandoms

@hopelesslylosttheway

@moonshinerbynight

@uwu-sebastianstan

@mac99martin

@laycblack

180 notes · View notes

kirishimas-manly-eyeliner · 3 years

Text

@missmorosis asked:

YUHH FLUFFY HEADCANON REQUESTS?? I GOTCHU!! OKAY soooOO how they would take care of their s/o when she's sick??? this idea just makes me so soft for some reason- with hinata, kageyama, and tsukishima for the characters~ also stay strong omg everything is so tiring sometimes but YOU CAN DO IT!!! I APPRECIATE YOU SM!!! YOU PUT IN SO MUCH EFFORT AND YOU ARE MY INSPIRATION AAAAA 💕🥰😘😌💖😭🧡💜💙 I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOUUUUUUU

ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ʙᴀʙʏ ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴏ ꜱᴏ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜɪꜱ, ᴀɴᴅ ɪ'ᴍ ꜱᴏ *ꜱᴄʀᴇᴀᴍꜱ* ʜᴏɴᴏᴏᴏʀᴇᴇᴇᴅ

Hinata, Kageyama, Tsukishima with a sick f!reader

🌸 shoyo hinata 🌸

【☆】 an absolute mess

【☆】 at first the poor bby starts blaming himself 🥺

【☆】 he’s rushing around the room, panicking and saying, “I shouldn’t have had you take me to practice so often! you already have extra classes, and you were already exhausted... i’m so sorry, i promise, i’ll make it up to you!”

【☆】 but you assure him that it’s not his fault, which makes him calm down a little

【☆】 now that he’s a little more calmed down, he realizes now how hot your forehead is and how pale you look (just imagine this bb boy’s face I-)

【☆】 “Here, let me get you something, uh, how about, uh, tea? yeah, does tea work for you? i’ll get you some! what tea do you like?”

【☆】 he gets you your favorite tea, and if you don’t have a liking to it, he ✨upgrades your water✨

【☆】 hinata is still in absolute panic, but he keeps whispering your name when you feel sick, or when the room is spinning and your head is pounding

【☆】 he’s always checking in on you, and trust me, even though he might leave every now and then, he always comes back with something.

【☆】 this man’s cuddles are legendary

【☆】”hinata, you’ll get sick-”

【☆】 “anything is worth it if it’s for you, y/n,” he says, and you can see him tearing up a little as he puts his hand on your forehead to cool you down. “I love you so, so much.”

🌺 Tobio Kageyama 🌺

【★】 yeah so uh he’s in denial

【★】 “what do you mean, ‘you’re sick?’ you haven’t been anywhere for a long time! i don’t even take you to the gym with me,”

【★】 but don’t worry!! he’s not angry-- he just doesn’t want to see anyone he loves hurt-- so maybe, if he pushed it away, they’d get better?

【★】 kageyama looks at you one more time before you realize how worried his expression is, and he almost looks more ill than you are

【★】 “...alright. off to bed we go,”

【★】 “we?” you cough. “you’ll get sick,”

【★】 “that’s okay. it’s not like i care that much anyway,” (he’s lying btw-)

【★】 he hands you a glass of fancy upgraded plus-ultra water and cups your face in his hands, before planting a kiss on your nose. “you better not get sick on me again.”

【★】you laugh. “yessir,”

【★】 kageyama brings you every single meal, without fail. he makes sure that you know that you’re loved, you’re loved by him, and everyone else

【★】 you can also count on him to call one or two other people to get you something tasty to eat

【★】 (bonus: precious boy has never once left the room, besides getting you something to eat or using the bathroom. he watches you, the whole time, and makes sure you know that he loves you (🥺))

🌼 Kei Tsukishima 🌼

【🌼】 tsundere has reached max

【🌼】 this is most likely pre-dating phase, during one of his practice games and he was on call with you

【🌼】 “what are you talking about? you’re sick?”

【🌼】”what? you think that i’m not going to come? wait there, don’t go anywhere.”

【🌼】(it wasn’t like you could-)

【🌼】it was almost unbelievable how fast he came when he heard that you were injured as he rushed in, holding a bag full of medication as he looked at you, sighing at your face that was red and a bit puffy

【🌼】”why you, out of anyone else?”

【🌼】”hmm?” you groaned, waking up from your 8 hour nap-

【🌼】“tch, nothing. here, just, uh... take this. it’s medication.”

【🌼】”oh, thanks, tsuk-” you burst into a fit of coughs, and as if on-command, he wrapped his arms around you, trying to get you to stop as he held your shoulders.

【🌼】”tsuki, what are you doing?”

【🌼】“oh, uh, what?”

【🌼】 he’s so embarrased but he’s also lowkey kinda proud of himself

requests are open! feel free to ask whenever bb ^^ <3

tag list!: @cathwritestragediesnotsins, @mari-bug, @missmorosis, @maddiemadill, and if you’d like to be added lmk!

#request #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu hcs #haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu blurbs #tsukishima x reader #hinata x reader #hinata shoyo #hinata shoyo x reader #kageyama x reader #kageyama hcs #hinata hcs #tsukishima hc

146 notes · View notes

littletrash1027 · 4 years

Photo

A heavy sigh came from Arthur as he plopped onto the small couch, his head laid back onto the cushion. A long day of being in that workshop and getting some work done normally put him in a good mood, but recently all he felt afterwards is exhaustion. He didn’t know if it was because of his lost appendage or his recent emotional health becoming more prominent now. Maybe it was a mixture of both.

There was also a good amount of little sidetracks that caused him more stress and kept his mind running. Many people needed repairs for many tools and equipment, which kept Arthur busy, then there was money problems that Arthur had just recently learned about from his parents on the phone, AND apparently he had lost some notes and blueprints on a personal project, so he probably had to start all over on that. Working and dealing with all of these with just one arm only made it more frustrating. It felt like Arthur was never going to get out of that workshop and he knew he was on the verge of a breakdown. Thankfully, Lance, his uncle, decided to give him a break and drove him back home, which gave Arthur some time to relax on the drive. Probably the most frustrating part of it all was that he had wanted to get back to work, to help with the shop, however, today showed that he still needed more time to recover.

“How much longer do I freakin’ need to wait?? It’s already been over a month, but I’m still nothing but an emotional mess! The only thing I’ve done is cause stress and more problems for everyone...” Arthur thought, his brow furrowing. Although, he knew he couldn’t blame himself, especially with what happened. It didn’t make the thoughts and feelings less hurtful. Arthur lifted his head and his eyes drifted onto the old TV, which gave him an idea for something to do other than sit and think. He reached for the remote on the table next to him and began to search for a show he could just listen to. “Hey, what’s up, tinker!!” Vivi’s voice shouted out of knowwhere, as Arthur could feel hands cover his eyes and a loud screech yelped from him. Arthur whipped his head towards Vivi, her body leaning forward, laughing and giggling from his sudden reaction. His face scrunched up and he tried to push Vivi, yet she barely dodged his hand, still laughing. “VIVI?!!?! I swear to God, you are going to give me a heart attack one day!!” Arthur snapped, irritation and frustration resonating in his tone. “Sssorry! Was just a joke, man! Ha ha!” Vivi teased, her grin wide.

Arthur frowned and glared at Vivi, his head resting on his arm, to which Vivi cleared her throat and straightened herself.

“Okay, but, I do have something I reeeaally wanna show you! It’s something me and Lance worked on that I think you’ll really like!” Vivi beamed, holding her hand out for Arthur to grab. Arthur’s head lifted slightly, a little hesitant to accept, but grabbed Vivi’s hand anyway. Arthur was practically pulled off of the couch, not even given the chance to turn the TV off. He fumbled a bit, but then balanced himself and followed Vivi. Vivi led Arthur to where Lance was sitting, his arms crossed and relaxed, and near him was a long white box on the table. Arthur was slightly confused about the sudden gift, but brushed the question aside. Vivi let go of Arthur’s hand when he was right in front of the box and stood next to Lance, who had a small smile and was weirdly quiet today. Arthur brushed that thought as well, and curiously inspected the box. It was plain and had no tags or designs on it. Not wishing to waste any more time, he lifted off the top of the box, and his eyes widened. “Just a small gift for you, kiddo.” Lance spoke. Inside the box was a steely prosthetic arm, that shined brightly from the light. It had large metal bolts where the knuckles would be and two bolts on each side of the end of the forearm. Lastly, the arm rested on a red cushion, that looked to be from one of the decore pillows that was on the couch. A robotic prosthetic arm, just for Arthur. “It took us a while to make, mainly cause I’m not that big of a help when it comes to mechanics and such, but it was my idea!” Vivi chimed in, her elbow softly nudging Lance’s shoulder, to which he smirked in response. “You can upgrade and modify it to your heart’s content too. Might be best, cause we couldn’t really test it before the surpise.” Lance added.

Arthur was stunned, silent. He didn’t know how to react or what to even say. Emotions overwhelmed him and his eyes began to water, but it took a minute for him to blink, and tears streamed down his face. Arthur snapped out of his trance, then looked at Vivi and Lance, who were expectantly waiting for his thoughts. “I...I don’t know what to say,” Arthur sniffed, “Thanks, like...wow!” Arthur chuckled slightly, a smiling widening across his face. Arthur’s hand glided over the arm, feeling the cold metal and crazy smoothness to it. It was then that Arthur realized... “Wait...did you..did you two steal those blueprints I made for this?” Arthur asked. He just remembered that he wasn’t able to find his sketches and notes on a new arm for himself. He didn’t expect to get an answer to that so soon. “Ummmmm...maaaaaaybe?” Vivi said hesitantly. “I knew you were having a hard time with everything, so I thought we could take this over and give you one less thing to worry about, cause you were already stressed about EVERYTHING, and-” Vivi rambled, but stopped when Arthur hugged her tightly. “It’s-...it’s fine! Thank you guys so, so much!” Arthur laughed, tears pouring freely from his eyes. Arthur then quickly gave Lance a hug, giving him a few pats on the back before Arthur rushed back to the box. He picked it up and bolted towards a separate room. “I’ll put it on and see how it works, then I’ll see what else I can do with it and...” Arthur’s voice drained out as he went further away from the two. Both Vivi and Lance heaved a sigh. “Thanks for doing this for my boy, Vivi. He’s lucky to have a girl like you around.” Lance said. Vivi smiled, putting a hand to her cheek and flapped her other hand downward. “Aw, it’s nothing! I’m glad to help!” Vivi said. “If it’s alright with you, could I stay for a bit?” She asked, wanting to stick around in case Arthur needed her. Lance gave her a thumbs up, which was all the approval she needed. For the first time in a while, there looked to be some hope shining through. Everyone wished it to last, hoping that this would go a long way in this sea of tragedy.

My attention span has been all over the place and I’ve been dragged back into my past fixation, so sorry I haven’t posted! I know I don’t HAVE to, but I’ve started a thing, and I can’t leave it with missing possibilities. This one’s a bit more simple but I’m still proud! (Also those FINGERS ARE SO WEIRD HAHA)

(This is a continuation of a previous drawing I made with another short story along with it: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3)

#mystery skulls #msa #mystery skulls animated #arthur kingsmen #mystery skulls arthur #msa Arthur #vivi yukino #mystery skulls vivi #msa vivi #lance kingsmen #mystery skulls lance #msa lance #digital art #art #storytelling #short story

154 notes · View notes

xnever-fade-awayx · 3 years

Note

kerry/v

"you know I'll do anything you ask me to"-prompt (sofia by clairo)

just an idea, no pressure^^

AN: Quick note, this is unedited, also this is with default Male V! Enjoy~

V groaned as he rubbed at his eyes and slowly opened them. His head was pounding and he felt like he was hit by a truck. He tried to piece together the night before but all he can remember is Kerry fucking him senseless into the mattress. Which he did enjoy. As V sat up in the bed, he glanced to his side to see Kerry passed out on his stomach, completely naked.

V got out of bed quickly and he began searching for his clothes to at least put something on. He wasn’t trying to leave before Kerry left per say, he was just trying to make sure he was covered from the paparazzi this time. They ended up using a drone that went undetected by Kerry’s security last time to take pictures of both men completely naked, asses all out.

The paparazzi called V Kerry’s “current JoyToy” which pissed him off more than it should have. Maybe it was because he was developing feelings for Kerry and wanted to be more than fuck buddies. V shook his head at the thought and ignored it as he threw his jeans on and made his way down to Kerry’s kitchen to try to find some food, some real food.

V managed to find some bread that wasn’t molding, at least from what he saw, and ate a few slices of that before he was going to dip. He heard the groans of Kerry echoing through the large villa as he woke up, walking down the stairs, still completely naked.

“Mornin’.” Kerry mumbled out gruffly as he went to the table that had all types of food and began to pick at the stuff on it.

“Morning. I don’t think it’s safe to eat any of that.” V said as Kerry turned and shot him a small glare. “And I think you should put some pants on before the paparazzi caught you, again.” V tried to tell Kerry as he threw another grape into his mouth.

“Fuck ‘em. Won’t be the first or last time they’ve seen my gorgeous ass.” Kerry laughed as he walked over to V and looked him over.

“I was just heading out. Gotta see Vik for a tune up.” V heard Kerry hum in response to what he said.

“You comin’ tonight? Playing another show tonight with the girls.” Kerry said as he walked over to V and looked into his eyes. V shrugged and placed his hands on Kerry’s hips and pulled him close. Kerry chuckled and moved his arms to wrap loosely around V’s neck.

“I’ll try to drop by. I think I’m gonna check up on Wakako to see if she has something for me today. Need a few extra eddies for rent this month.” V admitted which caused Kerry to frown at the taller man.

“You know I can send you some money. You can always ask.” Kerry tried telling his friend as V pulled away and began walking towards the door.

“It’s fine, Ker. I can make my own money. You don’t gotta act like my sugar daddy. Now, I gotta get going. Vik’s gonna be pissed if I’m late.” V said as he opened the front door and was followed by V.

“Seven tonight if you come by! Talk to Tasha and she’ll get you backstage!” Kerry shouted as he watched V walking down towards his car.

“Put on some god damn pants!”

« ----------------------------------------------- »

Vik had done his check up on V as normal, giving him an upgrade or two but was happy that V wasn’t pushing himself too far. Wakako was happy to see V had assigned him a job that shouldn’t take too long. She had him go to a Tyger Claw hideout and find a person, making sure they were unharmed and alive. There was a shootout, which V tried to avoid, but it was okay. The person he was transporting wasn’t hurt which was a plus but V was a mess and covered in blood.

Wakako thanked V for the person and quickly transferred the money to V before he drove home to shower and change. His entire shower he thought about Kerry, and about them. He had fallen for the rockerboy about the second time they fucked. It was just a casual friends with benefits thing that would happen once every few weeks then turned into almost everyday. Every concert in the city, V would show up, drink too much with Kerry and then they would end up at his place.

V wanted to change it and he decided tonight was the night before Kerry and Us Cracks left Night City for their tour across the world. He shut the water off in the shower and quickly dried off before throwing on some jeans and a random shirt, which happened to be one of Kerry’s shirts he stole. Funny story behind the shirt: Kerry was trying to rush V out since Johnny was coming over and Kerry didn’t want Johnny knowing V and him were fucking. So, V grabbed the first shirt he saw and threw it on as Kerry kicked him out.

V double checked to make sure he had everything before leaving his apartment and heading to get to his car. The entire drive to the venue, V thought of what to say to Kerry and honestly, how the fuck does someone say, ‘hey I love you’ without making it weird or awkward? V shook his head at the thought and said he was just going to do it, fuck it.

He parked on the side of the building, weaving between the fans trying to get backstage and smiled at Tasha. She had learned who V was quickly and smiled at him and allowed him in. She was telling him how he could chill backstage or on the side during the concert before leading him towards where Kerry was. The moment V spotted Kerry, his heart dropped. He was standing extremely close to another guy, smiling at him and giving him those fuck me eyes he always gave V.

“Oh, hey V! Glad to see you!” Red Menace smiled at the man and hugged him tightly. Over the last few months, he got close to Us Cracks just like Kerry did. Kerry turned towards the two and smiled as he walked over to V.

“Decided to show up, I see. Well, I’ll have to give you a special thank you after the show.” Kerry smirked as he made his way to V and closed the gap between them.

“I don’t know if I’m staying. I, uh, have things I need to do.” V avoided eye contact with Kerry. He picked up the change in V almost instantly as he started walking.

“Let’s go somewhere private, V. Just chat a bit before the show.” Kerry said as he walked towards what was currently his little dressing room. V didn’t want to follow him but did it anyway, so he didn’t anger him. Once the two were in the room, Kerry closed the door behind him and locked it. V stood in the middle of the room as Kerry went to lean against a counter where all the mirrors were.

“Why did you bring me in here?” V finally asked as Kerry turned and looked over the other male.

“What the hell is going on, V?” Kerry asked, his arms crossed over his chest. V just watched Kerry as he sighed out. It was now or never.

“Look, Ker… I-we… well, you know how last week we were in that magazine? And they called me a Joy Toy?” V asked as Kerry nodded.

“Yeah. Those mother fuckers got a bad picture of me!” Kerry said, slightly angry as V shot a glare at him.

“Not the point, Ker. I don’t wanna be known as a Joy Toy, okay? I don’t want to be known as your latest fling or your fuck buddy. I wanna be known as… as…” V couldn’t seem to say it outloud. He felt stupid and embarassed.

“As.. my boyfriend?” Kerry finished the sentence. V felt embarassed as fuck at that. Kerry walked over to V and grabbed his face in his hands. “You know, V, I’ll do anything you ask me to. And if that is to be your boyfriend, then I’m fine with that.” Kerry said as he pressed his lips harshly against V’s lip. V melted into the kiss before Kerry slowly pulled away.

“I’ve wanted that for a while…” V whispered, causing the rockerboy to chuckle.

“I was waitin’ for you to say something. If this was just meaningless sex, then I was fine with it. I was hopin’ it would turn into something more.” Kerry said before leaning in and placing another kiss to V’s lips.

“So, does this mean Kerry Eruodyne is no longer going to be a slut? No more man whoring?” V teased which rewarded him a quick slap to the chest.

“Shut the fuck up or else I might take back talkin’ about being your boyfriend.” Kerry glared at V as the other male rolled his eyes.

“Mr Eurodyne? Concert starts in 2 minutes.” A voice called from the other side of the door. Kerry and V both looked at the door before looking at each other.

“Stayin’ to watch?” Kerry said as the two walked out of the door. Kerry followed behind V as they began walking towards the stage.

“Of course. For my boyfriend? Anything.” V said as they got to the side of the stage. Kerry smiled and placed a small kiss to V’s cheek.

“I promise after we will go get dinner, something nice, then back to my place.” Kerry said as he got himself pumped for the show.

“Don’t hurt yourself up there. Gonna need you all good and in one piece later.” V teases as Kerry and him share a rough kiss before Kerry rushed up to the stage to start the concert.

#cyberpunk 2077 #cp 2077 #kerry eurodyne x v #kerry eurodyne x male v #kerry eurodyne #male v cyberpunk

48 notes · View notes

wiypt-writes · 3 years

Text

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch 11: A Turkey Called Marv

Summary: Nat, Clint, Evans, Lawson and the rest of her SHIELD team throw Katie a leaving party once news of her resignation spreads across the Triskellion before Katie and Steve head to New York to spend their first Thanksgiving as a couple with Tony, Pepper and Bruce.

Paring: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: None for this chap, bar a bit of bad language and teeth rotting fluff

A/N: Accompanying One Shot- The Life Of Marv.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 10

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

November 2013

News of Katie’s spectacular resignation spread like wildfire through the Triskellion. Evans, Lawson, Natasha and Clint had all been pretty upset but had understood when she had explained why she was doing it, even if Natasha didn’t necessarily agree. They had no intention of letting her go quietly, however, and the team took it upon themselves to organise a small Leaving do at Lori’s which was in full swing. Background music was playing, food had arrived and the drinks were flowing. Steve was talking to Lawson, Rumlow and Evans by the bar, leaning against it, an easy smile on his face as Katie stood with Clint and Natasha a bit further down the bar as Clint was talking to them about his latest home improvement plan.

“So I thought about putting in a pool.” Clint mused, “Now the kids are bigger I thought it might be nice to have one. Maybe even a pool house round it for bad weather.”

“How ambitious.” Nat quirked an eyebrow.

Clint grinned. “That’s my middle name.”

“Really?” Katie asked. “I always thought it was Robert.”

“What?” Clint looked at her as Nat snorted out a laugh. "Francis. Why would you think its Robert?“

Katie shrugged "You look like a Bob.”

“Wait… so it’s not Ambitious?” Nat asked, winking at Katie. “How boring.”

Katie nodded, draining her glass. "Bob would have been better.”

"Right,” Clint started, pulling himself taller. “I hate both of you.”

The girls laughed and Nat turned to Katie. “So what’s in the pipeline for you now Nova?” “I have no idea.” Katie shrugged and she didn’t. “I guess I’ll just get more involved in the family business.”

“You gonna move to New York?” Clint asked. She shook her head. “Probably spend a bit more time there but, I’m not moving back.”

“Nah, she can’t leave lover boy.” Natasha looked at Clint and Katie rolled her eyes. Truth is Nat had hit the nail on the head. No way was she leaving Steve in DC to move back to the tower. Although they had only been together seven months she had spent over a year of her life being ‘with him’ one way or another and the thought of him not being there terrified her.

“You know, to be fair Nat, they’ve been going out a while now. Things are probably starting to cool off.” Clint teased “Oh trust me, there’s no problems in that department.” Katie sniggered, looking over to where Steve was stood.

“And would you look at that. I’m out of alcohol…” Nat said, suddenly “And so is Stark.”

“There’s a bar over there,” Clint pointed

“Cheers…”Natasha took Katie’s glass and handed it to him along with her own. Clint shook his head taking the glasses with a sigh.

“So… now he’s gone…” Nat glanced over at Steve then back to Katie “Gimme details…”

“Details on what?”

“Throw me a bone here Stark. I’m working on a dry spell.”

“Why are you so obsessed with my sex life?” Katie groaned. “You’re constantly trying to get me to talk about it.”

“Hey, look, up until a few months ago I was convinced he was a virgin.”

“Well then you’re a dumbass.” Katie smirked “Like I said, he’s Captain America, had girls throwing themselves at him back in the day.” “So he was until the serum?”

“I never said that.” Katie flushed.

“You’re such a shit liar.”

“Can we change the subject?”

“Ok, answer me one question and then I’ll drop it.” Nat pressed.

“What?” Katie snapped with an air of playful frustration. If she was honest, it was quite nice to have a girlfriend to chat to about these kind of secrets.

“Did the serum enhance…everything?” Nat wiggled her eyebrows.

Katie glanced over at Steve and smirked before she looked back at her. Fuck it.

“Well if it didn’t, I’ve no idea how he managed to stay upright before.” she smirked "I’m a lucky woman”

The red head threw back her head in a dirty laugh, a laugh that Katie had never heard from her before and it made her snigger at the sight of the normally composed assassin letting loose.

“What I miss?” Clint asked as he reappeared, handing them their drinks.

“I’ll explain when you’re older…” Nat said, patting his chest fondly.

*****

The next two weeks flashed by and before they knew it, it was the morning before thanksgiving and they were at the Tower in New York. Last year Katie and Steve had spent Thanksgiving as friends. This year they were spending it as lovers, and Katie was also excited to be spending it with Tony, although she would never admit that out loud.

Steve was also looking forward to it as well. Tony had mellowed to him somewhat over the past few months, especially when he had found out Steve was supporting Katie’s decision to quit SHIELD and not trying to stop her as he had original thought the Captain would. He was also looking forward to Katie’s damned fine cooking as well. Despite the fact that Tony had offered to cater in as Pepper was away until the very last minute, his girl had insisted on cooking it herself, especially now she had plenty of time on her hands.

As such, Steve and Tony had left her in the kitchen area of the main living quarters at midday to head down to the lab to discuss some further upgrades to the Tower. When they left Katie had been surrounded by bags of flour and ingredients, and when Steve returned he found her at just gone 5:30 surrounded by 3 pies (one apple, one pumpkin and one blackberry) pans of vegetables prepped ready for the and a turkey in the oven ready for JARVIS to turn on in the morning. She was stood at the sink, gently humming, the kitchen now clean and the smell of her baking making his mouth water.

“What are you doing Soldier?” Katie asked, jumping a little as Steve’s arms came around her sides, reaching for the sink, effectively trapping her between the counter and his body.

He laid his chin on her shoulder. “The dishes,”

“I’m only leaving the pie dish to soak.” She informed him, turning her head to give him a quick kiss. “The rest are going in the Dishwasher.”

“Oh because God forbid her majesty would actually wash a dish.” He teased and she rolled her eyes.

“You don’t wash them much either. How many brushes did you break last week?”

“The plastic is bad quality.” Steve pouted.

“Nothing to do with your ridiculously large hands being too rough.” “You weren’t complaining last night.” He grinned, lips warm against her neck as he gently nipped under her ear. Katie squirmed a little and then swatted him in the face with the dishtowel, and he laughed out loud.

“Seriously though Doll face, are you nearly done? You’ve been in here all afternoon. You do know we’re not eating till 3 tomorrow, right?” His hands squeezed her hips and she tossed the dishcloth down and turned to face him, her hands sliding up his chest to his shoulders.

“Yeah but the more I do now, the less I have to do tomorrow, and let’s face it, it’s not like I have anything else to do, on account of being an unemployed bum.” She shrugged making Steve laugh again. “Plus, I just want everything to be, you know…right.” she shrugged, and she did.

“It’s a dinner.”

“It’s Thanksgiving” She corrected him.

“Yeah, and last years was pretty cool, remember?”

“Yeah but…” she trailed off, biting her lip. Steve knew that look well enough now to know there was more to this.

“What?” He probed gently.

“Nothing, just, well I never had a boyfriend over for Thanksgiving before. Or Christmas come to think of it.”

Steve smiled “I like being your first…” Katie grinned. The whole ‘I like being your first’ thing had started off by her saying it to Steve but they’d fast come to realise that they actually both had a world of inexperience between them when it came to relationships, and it was nice that they could be each other’s firsts in a lot of ways. “Honey, tomorrow is gonna be great.” He assured, tipping her face up to look at his “Don’t sweat it.”

“Did you seriously just say don’t sweat it?” she sniggered.

Steve groaned “I told you I spent the afternoon with your brother…”

She giggled and leaned up to catch his lips in a soft kiss.

“Getting kinda tired of catching you two making out in a kitchen!” Tony chose that time to waltz in and open the fridge door, pointing to them as he did so. “You got your own floor, piss off and go use it.” ******

Katie woke the next morning to find Steve’s side of the bed empty and cold. It wasn’t unusual for him to be up earlier than her, she knew he would either be out running, in the gym or making coffee. She climbed out of bed and walked to the blinds of the bedroom, instructing JARVIS to open them, the AI being one of the many perks about being 'home’. The New York skyline stretched below her and as she glanced down she saw the people gathered on the sidewalks, attention turned to the streets, obviously waiting for the Thanksgiving Parade. She had asked Steve if he wanted to go and watch it in person but he had said he would prefer to stay in and watch from the tower as he didn’t fancy getting mobbed in the street. Being recognised by one person every so often was fine but in those crowds if one person spotted him then it would spread like wildfire. Besides, as he had pointed out, her floor had an awesome view so they could watch out of the window with a drink. Katie frowned as suddenly a large brown turkey shaped balloon floated in front of her eyes. The parade wasn’t supposed to start until nine and that meant by the time it made its way to the Avengers tower it would be… she turned and glanced at the click and gave a yelp. She had slept in until Ten.

Steve heard her before he saw her, not that he needed super hearing to hear the loud yell of "how fucking late?” coming from the bedroom. Grinning to himself he turned back to the griddle on the island of the kitchen, flipping a pancake with one hand and drinking a coffee with the other. “Why didn’t you wake me?” Katie grumbled to him as she leaned in the kitchen doorway, taking him in for a moment. He was freshly showered, dressed in a loose grey t-shirt and sweats, hair still a bit damp and spiked up in a way that made her smile. “Because you were up early yesterday and I thought I’d make you breakfast for a change.” He shrugged as she wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her face into the back of his shoulder. The smell of his shower gel mixed with the smell of the pancake mix, made her nuzzle her nose into him to inhale deeply. “You smell good.” She eventually spoke again. “Good to know.” A grin tugged at the corners of his lips at the fact she was still clinging to him. “I just saw a giant inflatable Turkey.” Her hands dropped and slid under his T-shirt, gently rubbing at his stomach. “What?” Steve paused. “The parade”

Steve smiled. “You know when I was a kid, the parade was the best part of Thanksgiving.” “Yeah?” she mumbled, her cheek still pressed to his shoulder.

“Yeah. Me and Bucky used to come into Manhattan with his family and my ma if she wasn’t working and stuff ourselves on popcorn and warm mixed nuts” He smiled to himself at the memory. They always picked out their favourite balloons, ate until they thought they would burst, and made Rebecca, Bucky’s younger sister laugh till she cried by pretending they were in the marching bands. But once the war started, the parade had ended. He had never realized that they started it up again until Tony and Katie had mentioned it last night as they had sat eating takeout. Part of him had wanted to go to the street to watch it but after seeing that morning how crowded it had been on his run he was happy to watch it from the comfort of Katie’s floor. He turned to face her for first time that day, her arms still round his waist. Her hair was pulled up into a pony tail, face fresh, eyes bright and she was, as ever, in one of his shirts and not a lot else. He leaned forward to give her a quick kiss and when he moved away, she quickly closed the space to give him another, letting her lips linger on his for a second. “I’ll burn the pancakes.” He murmured and she grinned, pulling away. “I’ll make fresh coffee.” She pat his chest and turned to the machine. “Hey JAR…Hit me with some Christmas tunes, buddy” “The usual Miss Stark?” “As long as it has the Pogues on…” “Wouldn’t dream of not doing” the AI replied and then the apartment was flooded with the sounds of ‘Fairy Tale of New York.’ “It’s November.” Steve turned to look at her, but she simply grinned to herself and turned around, singing to him. He couldn’t help but laugh, he knew from last year that Christmas for her started at Thanksgiving and ended on New Year’s Day. Plus the fact that the previous year she had spent Christmas day fighting a bunch of exploding super soldiers meant that she was going to enjoy this year as much as possible. He shook his head, a low chuckle escaping before he turned back to his pancakes. They dragged the cushions off the couch and ate breakfast sat by the huge floor to ceiling windows of the penthouse, Katie sat between Steve’s legs as they both watched the parade. Suddenly, a large green balloon floated by the window and Katie gave a loud squeal when she saw what it was. A Hulk float. An amused smile spread across her lips as she watched the balloon bob in front of the window, twisting to the sides in the air as it wrestled with the wind. “Oh my God!” Katie giggled again, gently tapping Steve’s right calf but he had already spotted it. A massive shield was coming out, followed by Iron Man’s mask, Thor’s hammer, a bow and arrow, Natasha’s Red Widow symbol and her own Nova star. She turned to look at him, a little smile was tugging at the corners of his mouth and when he met her eyes the smile broke out across his features. Laughing in disbelief, he shook his head, turning his attention back look at the shield float bounce down the street. “That’s pretty cool.” He allowed himself a slightly smug and amazed sigh, and it was. If anyone had told him all those years ago that one day he would feature in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade he would have told them that they were mad. Yet there it was. He found himself smiling as he thought about how his ma and Bucky would have reacted. When they had finished eating, Katie leaned back into him a little more, slouching so that her knees were bent and her feet rested on the bottom of the window. His arms reached round her neck, and he kissed the back of her head as they continued to watch the floats, the gentle sound of Bing Crosby “White Christmas” now playing through the room, the two of them simply enjoying the closeness of one another. ***** Eventually it was time to head downstairs and join Tony, Bruce and Pepper for their dinner. Katie and Pepper left the men to it and finished off the prep before calling them all to the table. As was tradition, as ‘head of the house’ Tony carved the turkey with his usual, trademark drama and they took it in turns to give a few things they were thankful for. Tony was thankful for his friends, family and a decent brand of scotch he had in the cupboard for later, Pepper was thankful for being so fortunate and being surrounded by people she loved, Bruce was thankful for being welcomed into their family home, not just for today but since he had taken up residency just after the Chitauri Battle, and Katie was thankful for being in the presence of people she cared for, and for the last year being so much better than the previous twelve months. She shot a wink at Steve as she said that and he beamed before he realised they were waiting for him.

"Okay, well…” He cleared his throat. “I guess I’m thankful for being given a second chance, being welcomed by you all…and for, err, you.” He grinned at Katie who gave him a playful roll of the eyes but the flush on her cheeks told him she had understood.

“Awww.” Pepper smiled, as Tony made a gagging noise which resulted in Katie throwing a carrot at him. He pointed at her, frowning.

“No food fights on my floor, Kiddo.” He said sternly and she simply raised an eyebrow at him, taking a sip of her wine.

The food was good, not that anyone expected anything else. Both Tony and Banner managed two servings whilst Steve made it through three. And then there was the pie. Steve scoffed down a piece of each, whilst everyone else could only face one, but no one cared. And he found himself secretly pleased that there was enough left for him to scoff later on.

“I’m so glad I wore leggings.” Pepper sighted, leaning back and massaging her stomach.

“Tell me about it.” Katie moaned. “I’m so glad this denims have an elasticated waist.” She pulled at the middle of her long maroon peplum style top. “Think I’m having a food baby.”

“Yeah, I gotta hand it to you Kiddo…” Tony leaned back in his chair, undoing the top button of his pants and massaging his stomach “That was absolutely awesome.“

Steve’s hand dropped to his girl’s leg under the table and he gave her knee a little squeeze as she reached for her wine glass, before he moving his arm to drop it round the back of her chair. "I certainly prefer the Turkey dead and cooked anyway” Tony added and Katie groaned. “Are you ever gonna let me live that down?” She looked at him. “No” he shook his head. “What’s this?” Steve asked, setting his glass down. “Did she not tell you about the time she brought home a live Turkey one year? Katie sighed as Steve sat up, turning to her, smirking "No…” “I was seventeen and going through a meat is murder phase.” She waved away the comment with her hands. “I was in the way home and saw him. He was the only one left in the farmyard so I liberated him” “By liberated she means stole.” Tony quipped, standing up to retrieve two more bottled of Rijoca from the wet bar as laughs rang round the table. “No one came looking for him.” She shrugged. “Marv lived a happy life for five years in our back garden” “Marv?” Bruce looked at her, a smile creeping across his face. “After the character from Home Alone.” She replied simply

“You had a turkey called Marv?” The scientist deadpanned and she nodded.

“He was a great pet. Used to chase Tony around” “The bird was a fucking menace.” Tony frowned, topping everyone’s glass up. Settling back into his chair, Katie noticed Pepper giving him a look and he started suddenly as if he was remembering something. He leaned forward and looked at Katie. "So I know we don’t do Thanksgiving gifts kiddo but I was thinking yesterday about something you said to me once, about having a vision for a publishing company.”

Katie stole a look at Steve who simply shrugged. It was true, when she had first graduated she had thought about setting up a publishing company, but one that dealt with unknown writers. Her favourite books in the world were the Harry Potter series and during her degree she had been lucky enough to attend a small seminar held by JK Rowling, who had openly discussed her life before becoming a famous author. She had been a single mother, struggling to make ends meet, and even after she had written the books it took her years to get a deal, being rejected by four different publishers before Bloomsbury (a small, independent group) took a chance on her and it paid off for both of them. Katie loved the rags to riches story and since then had always harboured a desire to do the same thing for other authors but it had never really been much more than a pipe dream.

“It was an idea I once had.” She shrugged, looking at Tony. “Then things went a bit crazy.” “Well… how about we make it a bit more than an idea?” Pepper said. “What?” Katie frowned, looking at Pepper, then he brother who nodded. “I want you to put a proper proposal together, business plan, mood and story board that type of thing.” He said, waving his hand in that Tony-esque manner “Then we’re gonna look at what we need to set it up and take it to the board. Run it as a Ltd company under the Parent company of Stark Industries, but you’ll be the Managing Director.” “I…, I can’t run a business!” She stammered. “Didn’t you run the UK branch of SI for a while?” Bruce looked at her, smiling. “That was different.” She pressed. “Why?” Steve asked. “Shut up Steven.” She shot without even looking at him.

There were a few chuckles round the table before Tony continued. “Look, you don’t need to work.” He shrugged. “You have enough capitol behind you plus the revenue from the business as it to live your life out as an IT girl, but we both know you’ll end up killing someone if you get bored, and that’s likely to be Cap seeing as you see him most so this is for him as much as you.” “Thanks Tony.” Steve tipped his glass to the Inventor who winked. Katie pondered. It really had been a dream of hers since leaving Uni, putting her degree and passion into her work and she would be lying if she said the thought didn’t excite her but it was a hell of a big commitment, and what if it all failed?

“I’ll help you.” Pepper smiled at Katie who was biting her lip. "I’ll proof read the proposal and I’ll be there every step of the way whilst you set up.” She leaned back in her chair. "The week before Christmas there’s another board meeting. I suggest we use that to pitch the idea.”

“I think this could be a great opportunity for you and Stark Industries.” Tony looked at Katie. “And you’ll get full autonomy over it all, I promise.” This was amazing. She looked at Steve who nodded encouragingly. “What is it you keep saying to me? You’ll never know until you try?” he smiled at her. She took a deep breath and looked around the table before throwing caution to the wind and letting out a huge grin. “Ok. Fuck it. Let’s do it.” **** After another half an hour or so of chatter, and a bottle of champagne to celebrate Katie’s agreement to the business idea, everyone chipped in to clear the table before retiring to the plush living area of Tony and Pepper’s floor for more drinks and chat. Then the alcohol really did began to flow, Steve and Tony moving onto the scotch, the soldier watching as everyone around him descended into that well recognised drunken haze. And then out came ‘Drawing Without Dignity’, a game Steve had never played before which was really rather vulgar, but he couldn’t help but enjoy it. The game fast slid into chaos which was to be expected with an extremely competitive Super Soldier who had a natural advantage as he could actually draw, an equally competitive billionaire and a normally mild mannered scientist who also was quite cutthroat when it came to winning it turned out.

Pepper and Katie spent most of the time sniggering at the bickering men, and at the point when they were laughing that much when it was their go, the three boys got so frustrated they banned them from playing. For that, the next time Steve asked Katie what one of the more risqué sayings meant (he had cringed at a fair few of them over the course of the evening) she lied to sabotage him earning her a full on Captain glare. “That was a pretty shitty thing to do.” He grumbled at her as Tony and Bruce were both howling with laughter. “Not my fault Captain Badass doesn’t know what Rimming is!” Katie shot back, wiping away her tears. Steve had to bite back his own laugh at the ridiculous nickname, instead he fixed her with another glare which she returned with a simple shrug of her shoulders. The game ended, and Steve and Tony called it a draw, which was probably the easiest thing to do since Pepper had stopped taking count and tallying towards the end. It was now well after ten pm and Steve looked around the room as Tony stood up, a little unsteady on his feet, teetering back over to the bar.

“I think maybe we’ve had enough.” Pepper hiccupped slightly looked at Tony who had been reaching for another bottle of liquor, wheeled round slightly too fast causing him to stumble into the bar.

Katie cackled as Tony looked at Pepper “Shut up Mom.” he grabbed another bottle of scotch in one hand and the open bottle of Krug the girls were drinking in the other. He walked carefully over towards the sofa, as he dropped down into it heavily, handing the champagne to Katie who was on the floor in between Steve’s legs, her back resting against the sofa. She took it and poured herself and Pepper a glass, quite pleased that she didn’t spill any.

“You know he…he can’t get drunk!” Tony handed Bruce a now full glass, pointing to Steve.

“That’s sad.” Bruce surmised, taking a sip of his drink before Tony sat bolt upright, and pointed at the scientist.

“Hey, I wonder if Hulk can get drunk?”

“That’s an…that’s an…ex…exper-expediment I don’t think we should do.” Bruce shook his head, hiccups punctuating his speech.

“Absolutely not.” Steve shook his head as Katie cackled.

“But it would be for science purposes.” Tony pressed

Bruce wrinkled his nose and shook his head “No Code Green.” “Spoil sport.” Tony sniffed

They stayed for another hour or so, until Pepper fell asleep. Katie’s cheeks were flushed pink and when she asked for a bottle of water Steve knew it was time to go. After asking Tony if he needed help clearing anything up, which he declined stating housekeeping would be in at some point tomorrow to deal with it, Steve stood up, surprised to find he actually felt a little bit of a head-rush. Ok, so maybe the three bottles of scotch they’d managed to go through had had a little effect after all, but he felt the fizziness ebbing away as he pulled Katie to her feet and she grinned up at him.

“Wanna carry me Soldier?” she asked.

He arched an eyebrow and in one swoop had her over his shoulder, causing her to shriek with laughter as she clutched at his navy blue cardigan jacket.

“Night!” She waved from her upside down position. Tony and Bruce waved distractedly from where they were now trying to mix some form of cocktail at the bar.

“You can put me down now.” Katie patted Steve on his back as they boarded the elevator. “Steve…”

He smirked to himself, ignoring her giggles and protests, swatting lightly at her ass, and didn’t put her down until they reached the bedroom where he tossed her onto the bed and set about showing her exactly how thankful for her he was

******* If you want to read more about Marv the Turkey, check out the One shot: The Life Of Marv. As with all SSB One Shots, they don’t need to be read to understand the main story...consider them tasty little side dishes.

********

Chapter 12 Part 1

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #katie stark #chris evans #chris evans characters #mcu #mcu fanfic

70 notes · View notes

ajbwasntwriting · 4 years

Text

Daughter!Reader x Negan, Reader x Daryl: Chapter 5. Secrets hurt

First | Previous | Next

Listen I don’t know why I decided to give each chapter an artsy title I just did. Also as anyone following this may have noticed this story isn’t gonna be regularly updated but rather updated when I have something I’m proud enough to post though I am determined to finish this series, just school comes first. I hope you understand.

I’ll only post more chapters if previous chapters get a good reaction so if you enjoy this please heart it, reblog it, and/or reply to it. Interaction inspires.

if you wish to be added to the tag list please dm me. All chapters can be found under the tag AJ’s Negan’s Daughter AU

The winter continued like that. He’d bring you food and you’d give him goods, even visiting multiple times a week. Sometimes he’d tell you about the stuff, holding up a jar of applesauce ‘from The Kingdom. The guy who runs it used to own a tiger’ or loaf of bread ‘the hilltop grows the grain, but Alexandria makes it.’ You would hum and nod along, knowing he was just trying to convince you to come back. Mainly because he’d ask if you wanted to come back with him and you would be ‘grateful but happy where you are’

You had asked him to start making lists so you knew what to find and you always tried your best to deliver. Cloths, blankets, kitchen utensils, baby bottles-

“Baby bottles?” you asked, pointing at the item on the list. He nodded.

“John and his wife are pregnant and we don’t have enough to go around.” He explained from the comfort of your couch, feet up on the table.

“But you have some?” you continued, not believing what you were hearing “You have...children? As in...babies?”

“Yea. I keep telling you we’re building a society.” he laughed at your bewilderment. “You’d fit in gr-” your mind ran as what you knew was coming ‘Here it comes again. No never works with these people. How do I get him to shut up?’

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” you cut him off, smiling. You turned to your kitchen unit, pulling out a large bot, a can of vegetable soup, and salted beef that Daryl had brought that day. “You’ve brought me so much it’ll probably go bad before I can eat it all.”

In that time he had stood up and walked over to the kitchen, now leaning on the counter. His sudden appearance made you hold your breath “When did ‘get out’ become ‘stay for dinner’?�� he asked, seemingly amused.

“When you stopped understanding what ‘I don’t wanna be part of your group’ meant.” You retorted, cutting up the salted beef with a dedicated kitchen knife. “Are you staying or not?” you turned to him, stopping your cuts for the moment. He nodded with a shallow ‘yeah’, making you smile then go back to cutting. You poured the meat and soup into the pot, placing the lid on top. “Some snow on top to water it down and we’ll be sleeping with full stomachs tonight.”

You had him carry some bowls and a ladle up to the roof. Within an hour the fire outside was lit and the food was cooked atop four bricks you were lucky enough to be able to upgrade your cooking fire with, the old lamp now repurposed into a weapon. There was no conversation but you didn’t feel like you needed it. The wind was calm, letting Daryl look out over the city. “Do you know where the museum is?” He asked while you were stirring the soup.

“A couple of blocks down,” you called back. “Why?”

“Me and a few others are planning on raiding it in the summer” he answered, not turning back to you.

That’s when you realised something. You had heard about all these friends. Carol, Michone, Saddiq, Rosita, Eugene, Henry, Ezekiel, Lauren. He’d mentioned them in passing, saying how they made something he brought you or appreciated something you brought him. Yet he always came alone. It would’ve made more sense if Rick was doing these deliveries, you’d met him before the winter. Sure you stitched up his leg.

The two of you were sitting in front of the fire as it fizzled out when curiosity got the better of you. You swallowed the food in your mouth.

“Why are you always here alone?” you asked, he looked up at you from the other side of the fire. “It makes more sense to have people watching your back but for the past month or so you’ve been visiting me on your own. Why?”

“That’s how it is” he scoffed between mouthfuls.

“That’s how what is?” you snapped.

“You’re allowed to be all secretive but I’m meant to have my cards on the table.” he cut back. You thought it over a second, then went back to eating. You both finished up as the fire mellowed, taking your leave back inside. You carried the pot while he held the bowls. Back in your unit, you piled the dishes into the sink.

“I should get going,” he said, going to pick up his back.

“Y/N!” you nearly yelled. “My name is Y/N,” He looked back at you incredulously. A tense silence fell over you both “Before this,” you waved your hand to motion to the apartment “I was with a few people...including my father. We managed to secure a building, kept the walkers out but after some time new people arrived and a few of them got...Protective, I guess. Including my old man.” You crossed your arms and leant against the sink, the floor now far more interesting than the man in your apartment. “People died keeping me safe when they didn’t need to, all ‘cause my old man refused to let me help, but we were still bringing in new people but not everyone was helping, either cause they weren’t allowed to or didn’t want to. That caused anger to boil in the group and then...more people died.” Thinking back on the Sanctuary tears began to flow, but your voice didn’t shake and your body stayed firm. “I ran away and I’ve been hiding ever since ‘cause I know they’ll kill me if I’m found.” You finally looked back at Daryl who had been hanging on to your every word. You wiped away your tears. “You said I can’t be secretive, well there it is.”

“I didn’t mean-”

“You don’t wanna go home” you cut him off. “You don’t like where you rest your head, that’s why you’ve been spending more and more time out here with me. I get it.” you pushed off the sink, leaning under it to pick up a jug of water to do the dishes with. “You can leave or you can stay the night. I don’t mind.”

You turned your back on him to focus on the dishes. He picked up his things and left without another word. ‘That’s it’ you thought as you scrubbed the pot, now getting more aggressive with it, ‘you fucked up Y/N.’

The following morning you woke up, opened your bedroom door, and saw a familiar red-neck on your couch. You couldn’t stop the smile that plastered your face, but you did grab some clothes from your closet then went back to your room to dress. This time when you left he was up. “‘Morning” he croaked as he stretched. “This couch was a lot comfier the first time.”

Your relationship continued like that for the next while. He’d visit you more regularly, stay for dinner, and usually, he’d stay for the night. You got tired of the complaints about the couch and cleared out the second bedroom. You liked having him visit and were willing to facilitate it. He’d even begun leaving a few things there. Functional stuff like arrows for his bow and fuel for his bike. You found him some clothes and extra blankets, and a bigger bag to carry stuff home.

You didn’t ask why he didn’t want to be with his people. After keeping everything a secret for so long it didn’t feel right, but you could guess. Between your family and your time in the army, you had developed a skill in reading people, a skill you noticed he also had. Maybe that’s why every second didn’t need to be filled with conversation. Though you wish it was so you could know more. He was kind, there was no question of that with everything he did for you without even knowing your name. Though when he came to your apartment he was tense, and he was never happy to leave. This made you think he was going somewhere he didn’t want to be, but he had to be. He always talked so highly of the settlements, trying to get you back there. He must be going someplace else.

The winter passed, your garden began to flourish again, and the walkers thawed. You thought after the winter Daryl would stop visiting but he still showed up. He didn’t come as often for a time, saying he wasn’t gonna make the trip unless he had enough to offer you. You frowned at this “Do come out” you ordered him. “You’ve got people relying on you. Children and everything and I’m able to find stuff in the city you need.”

“I don’t wanna leave you short. Our deal ya know-”

“Screw the deal, Daryl.” you huffed “You’re my friend and I wanna help you”

“Oh we’re friends?” he commented, with a cheeky smirk “Didn’t you try to kill Rick.”

‘So Tara told them’ you thought. “Yes,” you said “In a friendly way.” normally he wouldn’t find that funny, but these past few weeks escaping away to your hide-out had given him a chance to get close to you. “Come and visit me when you can, please? I got nobody else to steal my food.” That afternoon you both search for some last pieces for Daryl, having to go deeper and deeper into the city. You talked about his group’s plan to go to the museum and raid it for seeds and old machinery. You saw first-hand what a crack-shot he was with his crossbow, you whistled as another went down “Not bad bow-boy. How’d you get so good with that?”

“Before all this” you started, walking ahead to pull the arrow out of the dead one. “Me and my brother, Merle, used to move around a lot. We used to hunt sometimes for sport, sometimes for food, but he’d always make it a competition. Decided to learn a quieter weapon so I could beat that son of a bitch.” Another two walkers approached as he spoke. He shot a bolt through one of them while you took the other down with your knife. “After that, he never helped hunting again”

“Sounds like a sore loser” you commented, pulling the arrow out of the walker's head and handing it back to Daryl. He took it and reloaded the bow.

“You have any brothers or sisters?”

“Nah” you shook your head, keeping a lookout while he reloaded. “My old man said I was a miracle baby. Mom was always sick. They thought they’d never have any. I used to hate it but after hearing how Merle left you in a cell while he ran off with your girl, I’m glad.”

“Ahh, he wasn't all that bad,” he commented, walking alongside you.

“No one is as bad as they seem when you know them. At least that’s what my superior officer said”

That evening he couldn’t stay, but he left with a heavy bag and that made you happy. As the evening descended you went back to your unit. The following week would be quiet since Daryl had his big raid coming up. Though you didn’t realise how quiet until you were in the midst of it.

You had scavenged a few things. At this stage, the apartment building had been picked dry but you had a few children’s cloths and some old bandages from first-aid kits that had seen better days. As usual, you had piled everything in Daryl’s room. As usual, you were reading another book. As usual, it failed to entertain you since you’d read it about three times now. As usual, you fell asleep on the couch, not completely though because you heard the front door open.

You sat up sharply. “Dary-”

Thwack

~ Tag List ~

@softsebastian

#twd daryl #daryl x reader #the walking dead daryl #The Walking Dead #the walking dead fanfiction #the walking dead fanfic #twd #twd fanfiction #twd fanfic #twd reader #twd x reader #twd reader insert #daughter reader #negan x daughter reader #AJ's Negan's Daughter AU

107 notes · View notes

user-2-electric-boogaloo · 3 years

Text

A Comparison of RTD and Steven Moffat: Saving The Day

So for this analysis I’m going to compare when Moffat and RTD save the day well and when they save it poorly. There are a few bits of criteria I need to explain.

First I will only be including main series, no Torchwood, no spin-offs, and no mini episodes.

Second, I have to define what makes a good and a bad ending (my examples will come from episodes written by neither of them):

Bad endings include when the sonic saves the day (see The Power Of Three) (there are exceptions, see below), when a character spouts some useless technobabble that doesn’t make any scientific sense/when it doesn’t make logical sense in general, when the Doctor invents/presents a machine/equipment that miraculously stops the baddy and is never referred to again (see Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS), and any other ending I deem to be bad (see The Vampires of Venice)

Good endings include when the sonice activates a device that has been well established to save the day, when technobabble is used that actually makes some scientific sense, and just generally when the baddy is destroyed in what I deem to be a creative manner that makes sense with all the things that had been set up in that episode (see The Unquiet Dead).

There will also be cases where there isn’t really a day to be saved, however this happens more often with Moffat.

Let us begin (obviously there will be spoilers but the last episode in the list aired nearly 4 years ago so what you doing with your life).

RTD:

Rose: Bad

What even is anti-plastic?! Like seriously, he’s faced the Autons loads of times and has never thought to use it any other time.

The End Of The World: Bad

The Doctor just goes up to the appearance of the repeated meme (ha meme) and rips its arm off. He then just summons Cassandra back by twisting a knob which apparently everyone can do if “you’re very clever like me”.

Aliens Of London/World War Three: Good

Just nuking them all was a bit dodgy but I’ll give it to him purely because it had been set up earlier in the episode and it is a genuine option that could have been taken.

The Long Game: Good

The heating issue was set up within 2 minutes of the episode starting. It’s always good to see the Doctor using his enemies weakness against them.

Boom Town: Good

Only just. It’s technology that hadn’t been showcased ever before and came out of nowhere, but I’m allowing purely because it was setting up The Parting Of The Ways.

Bad Wolf/The Parting Of The Ways: Good

See above. It was set up the story before so it works.

The Christmas Invasion: Bad

This was so close to being good. If RTD had just let the Sycorax leader be honourable then everything would have been fine. Instead he had to let him be dishonourable and then the Doctor through the Satsuma at a random button that for no apparent reason caused a bit of floor to fall away.

New Earth: Bad

It only makes sense if you think about it for less than 10 seconds as just pouring every cure to every disease ever into a giant tub and then spraying said supercure onto them all, then having them hug each other to pass it on. That is suspending my disbelief just a bit too far.

Tooth And Claw: Good

Everything is set up in the episode so I’ll allow it but I fail to see how Prince Albert had the time to ensure that the diamond was cut perfectly.

Love And Monsters: Bad

It’s Love And Monsters. Need I say more?

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday: Good

It was very clearly set up throughout the episode.

The Runaway Bride: Bad

I don’t like how a few bombs can supposedly drain the entire Thames.

Smith And Jones: Good

All the events were well established

Gridlock: Good

It’s a fairly bland way to save the day, just opening the surface to all the drivers. But how else could he have done it?

Utopia/The Sound Of Drums/Last Of The Time Lords: Bad

As much as I like the idea that he tuned himself into the archangel network, he basically turned into Jesus. It is arguably the least convincing ending in modern Doctor Who history.

Voyage Of The Damned: Bad

Why was he the next highest authority? If he’s the highest authority in the universe why didn’t they default to him in the first place? If not then why not default to Midshipman Frame? And if he’s somehow in between them then why? Also Astrid killed herself for no reason when she easily could have jumped out of the forklift.

Partners In Crime: Good

It works in the context of the episode, but I don’t see why they needed two of the necklace things.

Midnight: Good

It’s human nature, you can’t get more well set up than that.

Turn Left: Good

It works logically

The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End: Bad

Donna just spouts a load of technobabble whilst pressing buttons and then the Daleks are magically incapacitated.

The Next Doctor: Bad

Why do the infostamps sever Hartigan’s connection with the Cyberking? As far as I remember it ain’t explained.

Planet Of The Dead (co-written with noted transphobe Gareth Roberts): Good

A good couple scenes are dedicated on getting the anti-gravs set up.

The Waters Of Mars (co-written with Phil Ford): N/A

The day isn’t really saved cause everyone still dies anyway.

The End Of Time: Good

Using a gun to destroy a machine is much better than using the sonic to destroy it.

Summary for RTD:

Out of 24 stories written by him, I deem 10 to be bad endings with 1 abstaining. That’s 41.7% of his episodes (43.5% if we don’t count any abstaining).

Steven Moffat:

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances: Good

You’ll see this a lot with Moffat, he knows how to explain things without stupefying levels of technobabble. “Emailing the upgrade” is a perfect example of this.

The Girl In The Fireplace: Good

Some basic logic, the androids want to repair their ship, but they can’t return to it, they no longer have a function so they shut down.

Blink: Good

Always loved this one, getting the angels to look at each other, however they do look at each other sometimes earlier in the episode.

Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead: Bad

This is more of a problem with the setup of the episode, I don’t like that he can negotiate with the Vashta Nerada. I’d rather see them comprehensively beaten, but I guess it’s good for the scare factor that they can’t be escaped from.

The Eleventh Hour: Good

He convinced the best scientists all around the world to set every clock to 0 all in less than an hour. In the Doctor’s own words “Who da man!”

The Beast Below: Good

The crying child motif pretty much ended up saving the day (well for the star whale, life went on as normal for pretty much everyone else).

The Time Of Angels/Flesh And Stone: Good

The artificial gravity had briefly been set up earlier so I’ll allow it.

The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang: Good

Everything had been set up perfectly, the vortex manipulator, the Pandorica’s survival field thingy, the TARDIS exploding at every moment in history.

A Christmas Carol: Good

Literally the entire episode is the Doctor saving the day by convincing Kazran not to be a cock.

The Impossible Astronaut/Day Of The Moon: Good

The silence’s ability to influence people is their whole thing, so using it against them is a good Doctory thing to do.

A Good Man Goes To War: N/A

The day isn’t really saved, Melody is lost, but River shows up at the end so is all fine? I love the episode it’s just the day isn’t really truly saved (yes I know Amy was rescued but she still lost her baby).

Let’s Kill Hitler: N/A

There isn’t really a day to be saved. They all get out alive but no one is really saved other than maybe River but we all knew she was gonna live anyway.

The Wedding Of River Song: Good

Whilst opinion is divided on the episode, the ending still works. the Tesseracta was established in Let’s Kill Hitler, and the “touch River and time will move again” was established well in advance.

The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe: Bad

I don’t like how the lifeboat travels through the time vortex for no reason but to rescue the dad. It don’t make no sense and I don’t think it’s explained

Asylum Of The Daleks: Good

Oswin had access to the Dalek hive mind so of course she should be able to link into the controls and blow everything up.

The Angels Take Manhattan: Good

Paradoxes really do be something powerful, and they even acknowledge how nobody knows if it’d work so I’ll let it slide.

The Snowmen: Bad

Lots of people cry at Christmas, why are the Latimers anything special?

The Bells of Saint John: Good

The whole episode is about hacking so why shouldn’t the Doctor be able to hack the spoonheads

The Name Of The Doctor: Good

It was the story arc for the season pretty much, so of course it was explained well in advance.

The Day Of The Doctor: Good

Both the storing Gallifrey like a painting and the making everyone forget if they’re Human or Zygon works in the context of the episode.

The Time Of The Doctor: Bad

Since when were the Time Lords so easily negotiated with?

Deep Breath: Good

I like the dilemma over whether the half-face man was pushed or jumped.

Into The Dalek: Good

It’s set up well with this new Doctor’s persona of actually not being too nice of a guy (at first).

Listen: N/A

There isn’t a day to be saved. It’s just 45 minutes of the Doctor testing a hypothesis and I low-key love it.

Time Heist (co-written with Steven Thompson): Good

It works logically so I’ll allow it however it isn’t very well set up at all.

The Caretaker (co-written with noted shithead Gareth Roberts): Good

The machine to tell the Blitzer what to do was set up well in advance so I’ll allow it.

Dark Water/Death In Heaven: Good

The fact that Danny still cares even as a cyberman is set up fairly early on after his transformation.

Last Christmas: Good

He does use the sonic to wake up Clara but he convinces the others to wake up through talking so I’ll allow it.

The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar: Good

It’s set up well with that little scene from actually inside the sewers.

The Girl Who Died (co-written with Jamie Mathieson): Good

IDK why the vikings would randomly keep electric eels but they’re set up well so I’ll ignore it.

The Zygon Inversion (co-written with Peter Harness): N/A

Not including this one as it’s only the second part and I’d argue the ending is most likely Harness’.

Heaven Sent/Hell Bent: N/A

Again there isn’t really a day to be saved, yes Heaven Sent really is amazing but it’s only the first part and, being completely honest, he dies several billion times before finally getting through the wall.

The Husbands Of River Song: N/A

Again there isn’t really a day to be saved here.

The Return Of Doctor Mysterio: Good

He gets Grant to catch the bomb which is good. But he does just sonic the gun out of Dr Sim’s hand and says UNIT is on its way which just sort of wraps it up very quickly.

The Pilot: N/A

No day to be saved here.

Extremis: Good

You could technically call it the sonic saving the day, I consider it to be the Doctor emailing the Doctor to warn him of the future.

The Pyramid At The End Of The World: Good

The fire sanitising everything makes sense and it’s in character for Bill to love the Doctor enough to cure his blindness in return for the world

World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls: Good

Yes it is the sonic just blowing the cybermen up, but it’s blowing them up with well established pipelines so I’ll allow it (also the story is amazing).

Twice Upon A Time: N/A

No day to be saved here. Just Doctors 1 and 12 getting angsty about regenerating.

Summary for Steven Moffat:

Out of 39 stories written by him, I deemed 4 to be bad with 7 abstaining. That’s 10.3% of his episodes (12.5% if we don’t count any abstaining).

Conclusions:

Moffat was much better at saving the day than RTD

Moffat liked telling stories where the day didn’t actually need to be saved

I’ve spent way too long on this and I need to sleep

If I spent as much time on this as my coursework I’d probably pass

If you’re still reading this, you probably need to get a life

#doctor who #steven moffat #rtd #in case you can't tell I really don't like RTD #Remember the Superwholock days when everyone ripped the shit out of Moffat #what am I doing with my life #tardis #rose tyler #martha jones #donna noble #amy pond #rory pond #rory williams #river song #clara oswald #Bill Potts

56 notes · View notes

coffeebeannate · 4 years

Photo

From This Prompt List

“If a person is destined to have a soulmate in this life, they will find that one of their eyes has changed colour, reflecting the colour of their anticipated soulmate.

For this to occur, the two must be in close proximity to one another (most studies say no less than several miles, but others claim that there have been some variations), and that, upon meeting, the eyes will revert to normal.

In some legendary, and notable cases, the eye colours will remain heterochromatic for the rest of their lives.

Of course, keep in mind that these stories are not always the same, and not every couple has a soulmate status. And that there is nothing less valid about non-soulmate couples.”

“Nicky?”

Nicky looked up, hastily closing the cover over his tablet, “Ah, sorry, can I help you?”

“The computers broken, again.” His co-worker sounds the most interesting combination of annoyed and sheepish, “Do we have to call tech support?”

“No, no, let me take a look, it’s alright.” Standing up from the desk, “The one we use for catalogue searching?”

“What else?”

He sighs, muttering curses under his breath, “Thing is about as good as a piece of scrap metal, at this point.” Resigning himself to an afternoon tinkering with the world’s most stubborn library resource computer. “It’s alright, go back to work, I’ll let you know if it decides to behave.”

“Thanks, Nicky, call me if you need help.”

“Yeah, yeah no problem” Facing the not-ancient but absolutely useless desktop, “You going to behave, or do we have to fight?”

Predictably, the computer blinks at him, Nicky sighs again and settles before it.

---

It isn’t that Nicky hates his life. Because he doesn’t, and despite what people might think, he’s fairly content. Working full-time as the head librarian might seem like an outdated job, but Nicky’s only 32, and he likes to argue that libraries are a vital part of society. Upgraded as they are, and some facets available entirely online. Besides, he had a degree in the stuff, and plenty of practice.

Andy might’ve had a series of interesting names for his life. His small apartment, three cats, more books and tech than is strictly necessary for a single man to have, and a car that is really a ridiculous thing, but it runs and he loves it and maybe the radio doesn’t work and it has no AC and the heater is also dying, but it’s a good car and he happens to find it charming.

He’s fine.

He’s dated, some one night stands, but nothing sticks.

“Are you reading that book again?” Andy asks, when she catches the soulmates book opened up on his tablet for what is definitely not the 10th, 12th, let’s not talk about it time.

“I think it’s comforting,” Nicky retorts, catching her look of disbelief.

“You know that in most cases, that shit’s a load of crap, yeah? Quynh and I have been married for eight years, no issue. She’s my soulmate, magical eyeballs aside.”

“I know I know..I just think it’s sweet.”

Nicky does not tell her that, for the last six or seven months he’s been glued to the damned thing. Everything feels antsy. He’s not an anxious man at all. His life has never felt empty, nor hollow. And yet, a few months back everything started feeling weird. Like he just couldn’t settle. Bee’s beneath his skin. Ghosting sensations across his scalp. Tingles.

He’d casually mentioned it during his yearly physical, but the doctor determined nothing out of sorts physically, and Nicky had been delaying calling a psychiatrist.

“Maybe you just need a change of scenery.” Andy suggested, stirring too much sugar into her coffee. ‘Maybe your library is finally getting to you.”

Nicky had declined to respond, but filed it away in the back of his mind regardless.

The morning that it happens, Nicky is running late, and doesn’t bother to look in a mirror much beyond ‘brushing teeth and running a comb over hair” before heading into work.

They’re finally upgrading the useless front computer, and he has to let the techs inside. Meaning he’s supposed to be at work an hour before he’d usually be, fiddling with his keys and muttering apologies as he opens the door fifteen minutes after he was supposed to let them in. Offering to buy them coffee for the troubles.

He’s that sort, after all.

He stands in the early morning crowd rush at the cafe yawning and buzzing, body thrumming with tension he can’t pinpoint, nor understand. It’s ridiculous and by the time he stumbles his way through the unfamiliar order, he feels much like he’s about to explode from it all.

The techs are thankful for their coffees, at least, Nicky tries to do some work in his office, and by the time he finally takes a break from his unsatisfactory work, it’s nearly noon.

There, in the libraries Men’s Room, is when he finally notices it.

His left eye isn’t grey, or green, or blue.

(Or whatever true colour his eyes seem to think they are)

It’s dark brown. So dark Nicky can barely see any other colour to it beyond pupil.

He blinks. Splashes water across his face, scrubs his cheeks.

It’s still there.

He takes a selfie with his camera, and stares.

Still there.

It’s still there after work, and the next day, and the Friday when he meets Andy for their usual after work time at the bar, Andy staring at him.

“So it’s not a contact?”

“No, I don’t wear contacts, or glasses! You know that.”

“You think your flowery soulmate shits legit then?”

“What else could it possibly be, Andy?”

Andy studies her beer, for once, she has no answer.

---

It is an extremely boring Wednesday morning when Nicky scrolls through his emails and finds something that bothers him for absolutely no reason at all.

It’s from one of the other departments, and it’s about the national art show being hosted at their oh so esteemed library. Nicky’s library is a popular venue because the building is historic and has a nice receiving room.

That’s not what bothers Nicky. He looks forward to this show. And it’s the first time he’d be in charge of much of it since becoming head librarian some eight months back, but no, it’s the shows headline artist that is prickling at him for yet again, reasons he can’t discern.

Nicky scrolls past the necessary details, but keeps going back to the beginning.

Headline Artist: Mixed Mediums. Classics with a Twist. Yusuf al-Kaysani

Nicky saves the email.

Again, no reason at all.

“Do you think it means anything?” He asks Andy and Quynh while four beers in and sitting on their couch.

“Some artist’s name you’ve never even met or heard of?” Quynh snorts, ‘Yep, definitely cracked some universal secret code there Nicky.”

He sighs, “Hand me another..”

Maybe they’re right.

Maybe he’s being ridiculous.

“Sorry, are you uh,,Nicky..Genova?”

Yes, okay, that does sound odd. But to his credit! He was named Nicolò thank you very much. His mother had made some comment about classics, traditions, blah blah.

“Yeah! Sorry just let me-”

He’s at the top of a ladder, fiddling with a birds nest, of all things. The outside of the library (again historic building) attracted plenty of them.

“Take your time, I don’t usually yell at people on ladders, on principle and all.”

The voice is nice.

It’s the dumbest thought Nicky has had in his head in months.

“Good practice, that.” Finally gasping the nest, starting to climb down the ladder, “Okay!” When he’s returned to solid ground.

“So, what can I do for-”

Nicky, quite elegantly, forgets how to think. Or breathe. Or do anything appropriately life sustaining like that.

The man before him, nice voice man, his brain helpfully supplies. is..gorgeous. And see, Nicky has SEEN gorgeous men and is nicely partial to them. But this man is gorgeous, attractive and, most distractingly, has one blue-grey-green who actually knows eye, and one dark brown one.

And! Nicky notices, has completely lost his own ability to speak. The two of them seem to amend this moments later by pointing at each other’s face mostly rudely, stunned and confused.

Nicky seems to find intelligent language first, but only manages to say, “..Are you Yusuf al-Kaysani?”

The equally stunned gorgeous man confirms this, and Nicky is quite sure he either faints, or dies.

(He does neither of these things, thank you very much)

“..It’s nice to meet you, Nicky.” Yusuf says, finding actual intelligence far before Nicky does. Nicky just swallows.

Their eyes never reverse to their birth states.

Not at the first date.

Not at the proposal.

Nor the engagement party.

Or the wedding.

10 years later, Andy remarks that ‘the most romantic bastard she knows’ would indeed, find an even MORE romantic sap, and that they’d have the perfect book romance.

Joe’s cleaning out the closet one evening when he finds a well-worn paper back version of the novel that Nicky had read endlessly on his tablet all those years ago.

“Hey babe, you never told me you had a paper copy of this.”

“Hmm?” Nicky pokes his head out of the bathroom, “I do? Oh, yeah, it’s a bit worn out.”

Joe flips open the cover of it, peering down into the slightly musty paper, reading aloud and finding his way to join Nicky at the vanity.

“Before reading this book, we must advise and remind that soulmates in this manner are rare, and that there is little scientific study to show a truth. Please do not fret if you never fall into this concept.”

Nicky hums, accepting the arm to his waist, the familiar kiss to his cheek, ghosting along the side of his lips.

“Go on,” Nicky says, casually.

“You know this story, my heart.” Joe chuckles, but continues.

“This rare phenomenon has been observed throughout history..”

#the old guard #kaysanova #au #soulmates au #prompt fic #prompt fics #fanfic #fic #nate does writing #oops this got longer than i anticipated #old guard au #nilefreemans #bi-leigh-bi

107 notes · View notes