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mrsalwayswritex · 2 years

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Secrets Out

Gif is not mine but his face gives me tingles 🥰

Warnings: drinking, smoking, swearing and angst, that's kind of my thing though so nothing new.

Word count: 3.7k

Today was the final straw, Y/N had no issues ever keeping her feelings for John B a secret, she kept her mouth closed and just enjoyed her time with him. Y/N had been hiding the feelings she has had for her best friend a secret since she was 7 and he was 9. The day a 10 year old Rafe Cameron pushed her off the monkey bars into the dirt and called her a dirty pogue for the first time. John B rushed to her side, picked her right up from the ground and wrapped her in a hug as she cried loudly. From that day on, Y/N knew she would follow him to the ends of the earth and jump off with him, all he had to do was ask.

Y/N grew up with John B and JJ Maybank, side by side, literally because Y/N's family lived directly next to the chateau. The duo accepted her into their fold quickly and the trio was inseparable. Watching those boys grow up was hell for Y/N, watching them pine after countless girls, being a shoulder for them when they were rejected. Her affection for the brunette boy grew and grew the older they got, turning into what she knew was love. Y/N was in love with John B Routledge and there was nothing she could do about it.

Tonight was the start of summer parry at the boneyard and Y/N was standing in Kie's bedroom getting dressed. The girls passed a joint back and forth, taking turns pulling things from bags or the closet. "Y/N, can I ask you something?" Kie rolled over on her bed and passed the joint. Y/N nodded her head absentmindedly, pulling a pair of dark denim shorts up her tanned legs. "If you had to pick one of the pogues to marry, who would you pick?"

That got Y/N's full attention as she spun quickly towards the girl. Heart pounding rapidly as her brain immediately conjured the image of John B in her mind, thinking again about how she pictured their lives together. "Earth to Y/N!" Kie waved her hand in the girl's face. "You already got that answer huh? Must have thought about this a lot." Kie laughed and pushed herself off her bed.

Blushing brightly, Y/N hit the joint and blew the smoke in her friend's face. "I would pick you, obviously, those boys suck." She passed the joint back and went back to the closet.

"While you aren't wrong, you're lying but I'll figure it out." Kie winked and threw a sundress to her. "Give me those shorts, wear this and" Kie poked around her closet and pulled out a pair of converse, "put these on."

Once they were both dressed they jumped into Kie's Nissan and off to the boneyard they went. When they got there, it seemed like half of the island was already there, and the sun was beginning to set. Linked arm in arm the girls scanned the beach looking for their friends. Y/N let herself be led by Kiara, still thinking about the question she was asked.

She couldn't stop thinking about the domestic heaven scenario playing on repeat in her head. Thinking about waking up with John B, watching his sleeping form rouse awake and yawning softly, she wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in his long arms and hearing him say sweet nothings to her in his sleep coated voice. Sighing contentedly to the daydream was enough to alert her friends that she wasn't paying attention. Y/N hadn't even noticed they had stopped walking until she felt Kie drop her arm. Looking around she saw they had made it across the beach to a bonfire where JJ and Pope were arguing over something and across the fire, John B sat with a pretty blonde touron.

Y/N ignored the pang in her heart as she threw herself into the wide open and flailing arms of JJ. He wrapped his arms around her middle, giving her a brief squeeze before he simply shifted her to one side and handed her his cup, and went right back to arguing with Pope. Y/N smiled warmly at the blond boy but sat silently and drank JJ's beer. Kie chatted with her as she sat comfortably on JJs lap, eyes flickering towards John B often. Seeing him smile warmly at the girl made Y/N’s insides twist but she couldn't look away.

JJ tapped her bare thigh a few times and she stood up, JJ standing right behind her. "Time for a refill, another for anyone else?" He looked between the three of them but his gaze stopped on Y/N as she nodded quickly. "You look damn good tonight, by the way, Y/N." He leaned over and planted a kiss to the top of her head, he lifted his leg over her and stopped at Kie. "You too, pretty girl." He kissed the top of her head as well and then walked towards the keg.

"Look at JB, that blonde is already replaced by a red head. He's not backing down tonight guys." Pope chuckled with a shake of his head, thankfully missing the way your face dropped for half a second before taking a sip from your cup. Kie didn't miss it though, her head whipping back and forth between the two of you.

"Oh my god it's John B isn't it?" Kies slight buzz was making her voice louder.

JJ walked up at that moment, carrying three cups sloshing beer over the top. "What is John B?" He asked as he sat down and motioned for Y/N to take one. "Oh, is it the red head? Sorry Y/N, looks like this isn't your night either." Shrugging and taking a long drink from his cup.

"JJ! Are you kidding me?" Y/N yelled, her face turning red instantly.

Kiara stared at the two of them with her mouth gaping. Pope reached over and closed her mouth, "Just because you didn't see it Kie, doesn't mean it wasn't happening." He laughed at her and Y/N groaned loudly.

"I'm never hanging out with you fucks again." Y/N hid her face in her arm, “Literally, I hate you guys. We’re going to talk about literally anything else right now.” She shook her head, refusing to show her friends the tears that were welling up in her eyes. Taking a drink she smacked JJ’s leg when she realized they were all just staring at her. “I'm serious you guys, I don't want to talk about this here.” Y/N pointed her finger harshly at them all.

Kie just stared at her, “You mean to tell me that you have had a crush on John B this entire time? Y/N, why didn't you tell me?” Kie whisper yelled at Y/N and the girl just held up her hand.

“Kiara, I'm serious, I do not want to talk about this.” Y/N’s lip quivered and JJ immediately grabbed the girl back up into his lap, Kie reaching her hand out towards her friend and Pope putting a hand on her shoulder. “Yes, alright, I am in love with John Booker Routledge and I have been for a many years, no there's nothing at all that I am going to do about it. I am just going to sit here and drink about it, is that alright with you miss nosey?” Y/N stuck her tongue out at her friends and JJ cheered.

“To drinking about problems!” He raised his cup in the air and Y/N joined him with a small laugh. “Y/N/N, I promise that you do not need to tell me twice that you do not want to talk about your feelings, because I for one am all for that.” She playfully smacked his chest, JJ swatting her hand away. “Don't get me wrong, sweetheart, any other day but today is about summer, not about feelings.” Pope raised his cup to that and they crunched their cups together, laughing at the beer spilling off the sides.

Y/N was trying to throw herself into talking with her friends, but it was hard to be distracted when she was facing John B and his red headed friend. She watched John B lean in and kiss the girl softly, his hand cupping her face gently. Y/N couldn't stop the whimper that fell from her lips. JJ tapped her leg again and stood up, "Switch sides guys." Kie and Pope both slid their way down to where JJ and Y/N were sitting, JJ tapping his other leg so she could sit back down with her back to John B. "Don't worry about them, Y/N." He pressed his lips to the side of her head and she curled into him and enjoyed the rest of her night.

The next day when she walked over to the Chateau, hungover and starving, she was instantly nauseous when she saw a mop of red hair bouncing around in the kitchen. Her feet wouldn't move from her spot on the porch, lip already quivering when she heard the girl laugh. Y/N told her feet to move, to turn around and go home. She didn't want to see this, her feelings simmering at the top after her confession last night, but she couldn't move. "Y/N!" She heard her voice being called but she couldn't respond, couldn't turn towards the voice, she had caught a glimpse of John B lifting the girl onto the counter and her giggles following soon after. "Y/N!!" JJ's body collided with hers as he dragged her from the porch. "Come on, let's go." JJ wrapped his arm around her and she couldn't stop the tears falling.

JJ half carried his best friend to the hammock by the water, sitting side by side. Y/N sniffled slightly and reached into her bra, pulling out a joint and lighter. "I'm sorry J, I know you aren't a fan of the whole feelings thing." She chuckled as she brought the joint shakily to her lips. "I don't know what's wrong with me, it's never been a problem before so why now?" Y/N shook her head and more wet streaks stained her face.

JJ reached over and snatched the joint from her lips and lit it himself. "Y/N/N, just because I don't like to talk about it doesn't mean I don't care." He handed it back to her, blowing the smoke in her face to make her smile. "I'm here for you, babe."

Y/N laughed, taking the joint from his fingers, "No, J, you're here for the weed." Sticking her tongue out at him, he playfully smacked at her thigh. "But as long as you're here I'm happy." They swung together for a while, laying in the sun and passing the joint back and forth in silence. Y/N was nearly asleep when the sound of the screen door slamming shut woke her up.

"Hey Y/N/N, when did you get here?" John B's voice was bright and cheery, which made Y/N's heart clench.

Sitting up and stretching her arms above her head, JJ grumbled in protest as he fell over. "I don't even know what time it is now, JB. I came over and saw your conquest in the kitchen." She spat at him, rolling her eyes. JJ sat up and watched the two carefully.

"Her name is Lauren." John B snapped back. "What's wrong with you today?" He reached out to her and she pulled away quickly. John B pulled his hand back like he had been burned. "Y/N? What's your problem with Lauren? Do you even know her?"

She scoffed and stood up. "No, JB, but I know you. And there's always going to be another one isn't there?" JJ stood up and grabbed at her arm but she pulled it away from him too. "Thank you for hanging out with me J, but I think I'm gonna just head home." She waved off any more conversation and walked towards her house.

John B looked after her and shook his head. "What the hell was that all about?" JJ chuckled dryly and started walking towards the chateau.

"You're fucking clueless, man."

Once the boys were back inside, John B started telling JJ about his fun night with Lauren, JJ holding a scowl on his face the whole time until he heard the front door open. "Y/N?" He called out but the female voice that responded wasn't hers.

"It's us, guys!" Kie shouted through the house.

"Kitchen!" John B hollered back, giving JJ a weird look.

When Kie and Pope came through the doorway John B stared at them. "Do either of you know what happened with Y/N? She's mad at me I think?"

Kie rolled her eyes and John B pointed at her. "That's what she kept doing! What do you know, Kiara?" He moved closer to her and she stood her ground, crossing her arms. "All I know is yesterday everything was fine and now she won't even talk to me, I miss my best friend." John B plopped himself onto a bar stool and pouted.

JJ shook his head at Kie, willing her to keep her mouth closed. JJ had kept Y/N's secret to himself for years and now that Kiara knew, there was no way it was going to be a secret much longer. She rolled her eyes at JJ and put both hands on the counter. "Can you really not see it, JB? You honestly can't tell me what would be her problem? Watching you bring home countless girls and parading them around?" She scoffed and crossed her arms again. "You can't be that dense."

"Kie, stop." JJ warned, raising his finger at her, Pope put his hands on Kie's shoulders and tried to pull her back but she shook him off.

John B looked between his friends and stood up. "What are you guys hiding?" He looked right at Kie and she stared at him.

"I'm serious, Kiara, don't." JJ spoke softly, "please."

"Kie, don't." Pope added, shaking his head. "She won't forgive you for this." He whispered to her, hoping his friend didn't hear. One look told him he was wrong.

John B crossed his arms over his chest. "Someone better tell me what the hell is going on with Y/N, right now."

"SHES IN LOVE WITH YOU IDIOT!" Kie shouted and JJ smacked the counter, running his hands through his hair. Pope threw his hands in the air and they landed on his hips.

"Jesus christ Kiara." JJ grumbled, pushing open the screen door and taking off towards Y/N's house, John B quick on his heels only to be stopped by Pope standing in his way.

"I'm sorry brother but you need to stop. This isn't something you were supposed to find out, you can't go running off without a plan." Pope had both hands on John B's shoulders.

He shoved his friends hands from his shoulders and tried to step past him. "Are you serious? Are you freaking serious right now? I'm not supposed to do anything about this?" John B shoved his hands in Kie's direction, the girl standing wide eyed off to the side. "She just threw a grenade into my life, Pope, what the hell am I supposed to do with that?"

Still blocking the doorway with his arms extended like he was approaching a wild animal, "you need to think about this, you know that this grenade didn't just go off in your life man." John B sat down for a second before standing back up.

"I have to talk to Y/N."

JJ ran as fast as he could across the yards to Y/N's house, pounding furiously on her door. Y/N flung the door open quickly, "JJ? What the hell? What's wrong? Are you okay? Is everyone okay?" She fired off questions rapidly, seeing her best friend's frantic face.

"Kiara told John B."

Those words stopped her heart and her hand flew to her mouth. Rushing back inside she tried to slam the door but JJ stuck his foot in the way. "JJ, please, I really need to be alone right now." Her voice cracked and JJ could see the tremble in her chin. "Please." Once he saw the first wet streak appear on her cheek, he pushed forward through the door and wrapped the girl in his arms, closing the door behind him with a click. She fought him weakly before collapsing against him.

"I'm not going to leave you." He shushed the girl as she began to hiccup while she sniffled. He ran his hand over her hair and held her tightly. A soft knock on the door made Y/N freeze in his arms. She shook her head quickly, JJ reaching forward and turning the knob slowly.

"Y/N?" John B's voice floated through the doorway and she tried to pull away but JJ only held her tighter. John B stepped through the door, hearing her sniffle and JJ shushing her softly. "Y/N, can we talk?" He reached out for her but JJ pulled them back. He looked at the girl who whimpered and nodded her head.

"Let's sit you down." John B had never seen JJ speak so softly to anyone but Y/N in his life. Next to himself, JJ needed Y/N in his life, she was his best friend. She was John B's best friend too, which is what made this conversation so hard for him. "Do you want me to leave?" JJ asked the girl and she shook her head, her eyes wide and wet with tears. "Alright, I'll stay for this extremely not awkward conversation that has nothing to do with me." He chuckled dryly, looking between the two, who weren't looking at him at all, rather they were both staring at each other.

After a few minutes of nothing but sniffling from both Y/N and John B, he finally spoke. "Is it true?" He asked softly. "Or were they all lying to me? I need to hear it from you."

Y/N wiped her nose on her sleeve before shaking her head. "No.. they weren't lying." She closed her eyes and took a deep and shaky breath. "I do, I do love you." Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks and JJ rubbed his hand on her arm. "But I didn't want you to find out like that." She hiccuped and chuckled. "I didn't want you to find out at all, actually." She wouldn't look at him, so instead she played with the bracelets that were on JJ's wrist.

"You don't seem surprised by this, J." John B looked to his friend who shrugged his shoulders.

"We're kindred spirits, Y/N and I." JJ murmured, "both of us are in love with someone who doesn't know the truth."

"Kie?" John B asked, his face softened for his friend who nodded his head.

"Not here to talk about me, dude." JJ reminded John B, who sighed.

"Y/N, listen, you know how much you mean to me, and you know-" John B scrubbed a hand over his face, stopping abruptly when she cut him off.

"Please, JB, don't say it." Her chin quivered and she closed her eyes. "I know you don't love me, I didn't expect you to, but please just," she viciously wiped her face, watery eyes focused on the ceiling, JJ rubbing her knee. "Don't make me have to hear you say it." Her voice cracked and John B's heart broke.

He reached for her and this time she let him take her hand. "Look at me Y/N." She sniffled and raised her eyes to his. "You're my best friend, okay? Nothing in the world is ever going to change that." His own voice wavered, "I promise you that." He gave her hand a squeeze and she closed her eyes, her body deflating against JJ. "And I am so fucking sorry." He dropped her hand and stood up and left without another word.

JJ held Y/N tighter as she let out a sob when the door clicked closed. "I'm sorry Y/N." JJ whispered softly, "I'm so sorry." He rocked with her as she cried.

"I didn't want him to say it, but I hoped he would say something else." She whispered softly against JJ's chest as he rocked her. "You know I can't stay here right?" Y/N didn't look at him but she felt him sigh.

"I knew you were going to say that." His own voice was straining, the thought of being apart from any of his friends was heartbreaking for him, let alone being away from Y/N. John B was his brother but Y/N was his best friend. "Is there anything I can say to change your mind?"

Y/N shook her head sadly, nuzzling closer to his chest.

The next day, JJ woke in the hammock at the chateau after a long night of tears. His head was pounding and he could feel the anger pulsing through him when he heard John B's voice shouting for him. "What the fuck is this about JJ?" John B shouted, waving a letter in his hand.

"Exactly what it says man."

He looked at the blond boy and then at the letter in his hand.

John Booker,

I know this is what I asked you for, I didn't want you to say the words that would break my heart but when you left, it didn't just break, it shattered. I'm in love with you John Booker Routledge, I think I always have been and I'm sure I always will have love for you. I can't be around right now, and I hope that JJ actually delivers this letter because he's telling me that he refuses. I'll be staying on the mainland for a while, but I'll miss you and everyone else. I hope you understand JB. I love you.

-Y/N

"She's really gone?" John B ran a hand through his hair, looking towards her house, like he was going to see her walking towards them like always. She wasn't there. She wouldn't be there for a long time.

JJ nodded his head and closed his eyes to the rising sun. "She's really gone, dropped her off myself." John B dropped in the grass in front of the hammock and pulled out a joint. "Smoke one for her good luck?"

"She did say that I was only here for the weed." JJ shrugged his shoulders and passed his friend a lighter and they watched the sun shimmer across the water in silence.

Tagging a few of my favorites :) @strokesofstokes @maybankforlife @pankowforlife @adventuresinobx @wannabestarkeysgirl

#john b routledge #john b angst #john b #john b fanfiction #john b fic #obx fic #pogues #outer banks #outer banks fanfiction #i finally wrote something

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northropi · 5 months

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Alright been a bit so sona update post.

Picture because these don't get a lot of traffic without one but I don't have much else at the moment ANYWAYS

I'll start by saying, as always, I have plans to tweak any characters I leave behind into non-sona OCs if I make big changes, and that's especially relevant here as all three of these characters are very suited to being PoV characters for stuff in the world. Each represents a domain of things I'm hyperfixated on and by extension a subset of stuff in the setting. Technology, biology, mythology. They have interesting dynamics as mostly comical frenemies. They all have interesting backstories and personalities.

And this is a problem.

None of them feel like me anymore. They've strayed from the ideal of how I want a character like me to look and act in an attempt to avoid having three characters who are just idealized versions of the author running around. Frankly on a bad day Theriadh in particular is... Almost uncomfortable. The way I do her jawline is visually nice but as a character who's just me she kinda gives me a twinge of dysphoria. Her personality has also grown increasingly unlikeable in an attempt to make her a borderline villain and it's dragged her into a darker place than I'd like- and I should probably fix that either way, but I'm not sure I want to fix the rest. Maybe it's time to just let her be her own thing.

499 is also just... Kind of nothing. I like how her canonical job as a character, initially as essentially a delivery drone and then adapted into running it herself to deliver supplies across her entire region, is something sort of menial, but helpful and a little whimsical. I'd rather have a job like that for my sona than The Arbiter Of Life And Death or something, OP sonas aren't bad but they're not mine. I also like that she's a robot. That's... That's it. Sorry girl I've been an irresponsible parent.

Q.C. is probably in the best place and I'm not sure it's just because I'm attached because she got more work done recently. Her backstory is nice, her design on a species level is very appealing to me with all the quirks Harpies and Vampires have (Harpies grouping with Fey in the setting so she essentially has a double-dose of weird vulnerabilities, magic antics, and compulsions, so literally me), but the character under that is... Not me. Developed, but not me, and even her looks sort of have the opposite problem of Thia where I made her too dainty.

This makes a good argument for sort of making Q.C. and calling it a day, though in practice I'd probably be splitting the difference between her and another character. The Vampire who turns her, I realized during a shower thought last night, should probably also be a Harpy, hence why they know each other- well, maybe. I could essentially just drop a genderbent Q.C. design, role as "magical member of the trio," and personality on him and then rework a (probably more Aequornithes-themed) Q.C. design out and just use her as my sona. Short of that, obviously, he also wouldn't need to be a Harpy, and there could be a dynamic between pre-mortem Q.C. and him of a sort of mutual mystique where one being Fey and the other being Undead puts them worlds apart and stuff.

However, I also just can't control myself.

I'd want mechanical features back, I think. There's just an occasional "oh to be a funny doll/robot" longing I have, which having three characters was intended to solve. Making 499 also made me realize that having a robotic character and having a character with robotic traits were really not substitutes for each other. If I just stop caring about the rules of my own setting a Vampire Robot would probably be doable but there's a certain game I'd be associated with (it's a good game, but I don't want my whole branding to come off as just a parody) and making it carry the equally important bird themes would be complicated. It's more tempting at that point to make a character that's just innately flexible on a conceptual level, and the idea of modifying Thia from an explicit Dragon to a more generalized monster has been very compelling for a long time (considering the species name Jabberwock, which is fitting because other than my tendency to throw big scary mystery words around I'm kind of the exact person the poem was making fun of).

The third and most developed option for a replacement character is back to robot, but in a more flexible way- essentially a techno-slime. Could rework herself to look different or utilize new pieces of machinery, letting her cover a lot of conceptual space. This is... Just a really cute concept, I think. I definitely want to keep an avian slant which could make that all confusing but we'll just say she chose a frame to inhabit most of the time that just looked birdy, because she likes flight.

Now, obviously, you might here me lay out three concepts once again and think "wait, we're back at square one." Well, true, but at this point I'm getting tired of not being able to just say "I'm Northy and this is my coherent, singular OC that represents my personality, Northy." I think I need to get back to that, even if it carries a lot of weird conceptual baggage. Or maybe I don't and just get comfy with having three again, wouldn't be the first time. Until then, uh... Hope this is actually appearing on people's feeds, seems I haven't been getting as much reach as before.

#artist sona #vtuber #rambles #sona art

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just-dreaming-marvel · 4 years

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Out Of Time ~ 4

MAIN MASTERLIST

Out Of Time MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 2,325ish

Summary: Steve comes back bigger and with permission to take Y/N with him.

Warnings: none

Steve was gone before Y/N woke up in the morning. She understood that he probably thought that was best for both of them, but she couldn’t help but be a little angry at him. She went to work that day, and the weeks following, with a plastered smile on her face. She struggled to do what she had promised Steve she would do. All she wanted to do was curl up in her bed and cry until she couldn’t feel anything anymore. It was her day off, and she was planning on doing just that, when a knock sounded at her door.

“Coming!” She shouted as she slowly got off her bed. The knock impatiently sounded again. “I said I’m coming!” The knock sounded for a third time just as Y/N had reached the door. She pulled it open. “I said I was coming! Couldn’t you just—“

She stopped speaking at the sight before her. A large, blonde man in military uniform stood at her doorstep. Y/N studied him. He was all too familiar, yet not at the same time. When she meet his eyes, that’s when she realized who was standing at her doorstep.

“Stevie?” She gasped.

“Hey, Y/N,” he smiled.

“What— How— You— You’re taller. An-and you—“

“I got chosen, Y/N/N. They actually chose me. And it worked.”

Y/N was speechless. She turned around and began pacing around the living room, leaving the door wide open for Steve to come in. He came in and carefully shut the door. Y/N silently paced as tears formed. She wanted him to come back, she had literally prayed that they wouldn’t choose him. And look what had happened? God laughed at her and made sure he became the chosen one.

“Are you going to say anything, Y/N/N?” Steve timidly asked after a few minutes of pain staking silence.

“What do you want me to say, Steve?!” Y/N stopped pacing, turned to her brother, and yelled. “Congratulations? Well, congratulations! You successfully became a science experiment and got to join the army! You get to go to Europe and be shot at! Hurray!”

“Y/N—“

“Don’t, Steve. Don’t try to make excuses.”

“I wasn’t going to make excuses. I was going to tell you that I’m actually not going to be heading into battle anytime soon.”

“What?”

“They— um… they think that I should go around the country selling bonds.”

“Selling bonds? Why?”

“You didn’t see the paper?”

Y/N shook her head. “Haven’t wanted to… I’ve been afraid of what it might say.”

“I went after a Nazi. Saved a child. The story went Nation wide. They think that because of it, I’ll be able to sell bonds.”

“So… you’re not going to be shot at?”

“I still want to go and fight, and if this is how I get there, I’m okay with it.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“I don’t know. But I got permission to take you with me. If you’re willing.”

Y/N sighed, running her hand over her face as she looked at the ground. “What I am suppose to do?”

“We’ll find you something.” Steve took a step forward. “You won’t be useless. I just…” He set his now large hands on her arms, running them up and down in comfort. “I just need you there with me. I need my sister’s support and I need to be able to take care of you.”

“Is this because you’re bigger than me now? Now that five minute difference is going to matter?” Y/N chuckled. “Yes. I’ll go with you.”

Steve pulled her into his arms. It was definitely going to take some time for Y/N to get used to how large Steve had become. She wrapped her arms around his large frame.

“I guess I finally have a big brother,” she teased.

“Hey! It’s not funny,” he laughed.

A week later, Steve and Y/N were in a large theater. It was filled with people. Steve was dressed in a red, white, and blue costume. Y/N was watching him as he stood at the center of the stage, just behind the curtain, trying to prepare himself to go out and face the crowd. She could tell he was nervous. Senator Brandt’s aide was there to make sure that Steve didn’t bail.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Steve second guessed, letting out a deep breath.

“Nothing to it,” Brandt’s aide said. “Sell off a few bonds, bonds buy bullets, bullets kill Nazi’s. Bing bang boom. You’re an American hero.”

“It’ just not how I pictured getting there.”

“The senator’s got a lot of pull up on the hill. You play ball with us, you’ll be leading your own platoon in no time. Take the shield.” Steve put on his mask and grabbed his shield.

“You got this, Steve,” Y/N walked up, smiling encouragingly at him. “Go get ‘em.”

Steve gave a nervous smile before taking another deep breath. Senator Brandt’s aide was clearly done with how long it was taking him, and pushed Steve onto the stage. The singers began singing and dancing as soon as he was out there.

Y/N moved to the side of the stage to see better. Steve was nervous, clearly, and hadn’t memorized his lines. But he stayed up there, through it all. Afterwards, he signed autographs, with you right behind him. Life went on this way for weeks. Traveling to different cities around the country. Steve was embracing the name of Captain America and finally memorized his lines. The ladies were obsessed with him. Men wanted to be him. Children idolized him. You watched from a far, opting to just be Steve’s moral support, which was definitely needed.

By the time November rolled around, Steve, Y/N, and the rest of the Captain America crew started touring Europe. They were touring the Allied military camps there. Y/N was confused how a man playing dress up would help cheer up the soldiers, but Senator Brandt insisted that Steve was needed there. And if Steve was told that he was needed, he was going to be there. Y/N was currently standing backstage, watching Steve get made fun of by the soldiers.

She cringed as they yelled at him to bring the girls back out. Brandt’s Aide quickly ordered the girls back out and Steve came backstage.

“Don’t worry, pal,” Brandt’s Aide put a hand on Steve’s back. “They’ll warm up to you. Don’t worry.”

Y/N rolled her eyes as Brandt’s Aide walked away and she made her way towards her brother. “I knew we shouldn’t have come,” she stated. “Why would soldiers need a man dressed in tights to come and speak to them?” Steve glared at her. “Sorry, it’s just the truth.”

“I know…” Steve sighed as he took off his helmet. “I just believed that coming here would do some good…”

“No. You believed that by coming here, you would see some action. And don’t try to lie to me, Steve. We’re twins. I know you better than anyone else, sometimes even yourself. You just agreed to this tour to try to have an opportunity to fight.”

“Can we drop this right now?” Steve questioned as he pulled on his trench coat and grabbed his sketch book. “All I want is some quiet.”

He turned around and headed to the back stairs. Y/N sighed as she watched him sit down and begin sketching. Rain started pouring, almost in perfect timing. Y/N eventually moved a chair to sit behind Steve and began reading a book.

“Hello, Steve,” a British female voice broke the twins out of their thoughts. The woman came up from behind them, taking off her rain coat.

“Hi,” Steve looked up at the woman and greeted.

“You must be Y/N, Steve’s sister,” the woman smiled. “I’m Peggy.”

“Hi,” Y/N greeted. Steve had mentioned Peggy a few times in the past few months, aways blushing and stuttering. She could now understand why.

“What are you doin’ here?” Steve asked the woman.

“Officially, I’m not here at all.” Peggy just above Steve. “That was quite a performance.”

“Yeah. Uh… I had to improvise a little bit. Crowds I’m used to are usually more uh… twelve.”

“I understand you’re ‘America’s New Hope’?”

“Bond sales take a ten percent bump in every state I visit.”

“Is that Senator Brandt I hear?”

“At least he’s got me doin’ this. Phillips would have had me stuck in a lab.”

“And these are your only two options? A lab rat or a dancing monkey? You were meant for more than this, you know?”

“Oh, he knows,” Y/N muttered. “He just wishes he was out there fighting instead of dancing.” Steve hesitates. Obviously waiting to say something, either to Peggy or something about his sister’s comments, but stops.

“What? Peggy pressed.

“You know for the longest time I dreamed about coming overseas and being on the front lines,” Steve said almost wishfully. “Serving my country. I finally get everything I wanted, and I’m wearing tights.”

They’re interrupted by an ambulance honking. The trio turned around to watch the wounded soldiers be taken out of the ambulance. Tears form in Y/N’s eyes as the possibility of Bucky ending up that way. At the possibility of him returning to her in a coffin.

“They look like they’ve been through hell,” Steve stated as they still watched.

“These men more than most,” Peggy said.

“What happened?” Y/N asked, unable to look away from the wounded men.

“Schmidt sent out a force to Azzano. Two hundred men went up against him and less than fifty returned. Your audience contained what was left of the one-o-seventh. The rest were killed or captured.”

“The one-o-seventh?” Y/N and Steve questioned at the same time, suddenly standing up. They looked at each other. The one-o-seventh was Bucky’s division.

“What?” Peggy wondered, standing up as well.

“Come on!” Steve insisted, grabbing Y/N’s hand as they ran through the rain to the command tent. Peggy followed behind, holding her coat over her head. “Colonel Phillips,” Steve addressed as they entered the tent.

“Well, if it isn’t the Star-Spangled Man with a plan,” the Colonel sarcastically said as he sat at a desk. “And what is your plan today?”

“I need the casualty list from Azzano.”

“You don’t get to give me orders, son.”

“I just need one name. Sergeant James Barnes from the hundred and seventh.”

Colonel Phillips ignored Steve and pointed to Peggy. “You and I are gonna have a conversation later that you won’t enjoy.”

“Please tell us if he’s alive, sir,” Y/N begged. “B, A, R—“

“I can spell,” the Colonel cut her off. He looked at the trio before looking back down at the stack of papers in his hands. He stood up, carrying the papers with him. “I have signed more of these condolence letters today than I would care to count. But the name does sound familiar. I’m sorry.”

Y/N gasped, hand coming up to cover her mouth as she held in a sob. Steve stood there, tall, not letting that be the end of the conversation. He also didn’t want to show his hurt or weakness, though he held onto Y/N’s hand tighter.

“What about the others?” Steve questioned. “Are you planning a rescue mission?”

“Yeah! It’s called winning the war,” Colonel Phillips stated.

“But if you know where they are, why not at least—“

“They’re thirty miles behind the lines. Through the most fortified territory in Europe. We’d lose more men than we’d save. But I don’t expect you to understand that, because you’re a chorus girl.”

Steve’s jaw clenched. “I think I understand just fine.”

“Well then understand it somewhere else. If I read the posters correctly, you got some place to be in thirty minutes.” Colonel Phillips walked away as Steve looked at the military map, clearly showing where the men were lost.

“Yes, sir. I do.” Steve quickly led himself and Y/N out of the tent and into the show tent.

“Steve,” Y/N whimpered once they were alone inside.

He quickly let go of her hand and pulled her into his chest. That’s when she let loose, let all the tears out. Y/N had never told Steve what had happened between her and his best friend, but it didn’t surprise Steve to see her acting like this. Bucky was her friend too.

“I have to do something, Y/N,” Steve whispered.

“Please, no.” She gripped onto his shirt. “I can’t lose you too.”

“I’m sorry.” He pulled away and began changing and packing somethings. “I have to try and save the guys that are left.”

“What do you plan to do?” Peggy asked as she entered the tent, shaking off her coat. “Walk to Austria?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

“You heard the Colonel, your friend is most likely dead.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, we don’t,” Y/N cried. “But if you go in there, you’ll most likely die too. And then where does that leave me?”

“Colonel Phillips is devising a strategy,” Peggy stated. “If he detects—“

“By the time he’s done that, it could be too late!” Steve walked out to a jeep, the women following behind. “You told me you thought I was meant for more than this. Did you mean that?”

“Every word.”

“Then you gotta let me go.” Steve jumped into the jeep.

“Steve! Please!” Y/N pleaded, grabbing onto his arm. “Please don’t leave me.”

“I’m sorry, Y/N.” He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I have to do what’s right.”

“You can’t drive there, Steve,” Peggy stated. “I have a better way.”

next chapter >

Notes: Tags are struggling right now, for many writers. So I truly appreciate all the likes, comments, and reblogs. It means the world.

#tony stark x reader #the avengers x reader #avengers x reader #iron man x reader #captain america x reader #winter soldier x reader #tony stark imagine #Steve Rogers imagine #Bucky Barnes imagine #avengers imagine #marvel imagine #marvel fanfiction #nick fury x reader #steve rogers x reader #bucky barnes x reader #Phil Coulson x reader #howard stark x reader

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apenapaperandadoofus · 3 years

Text

RFA+minor trio with an MC who is in love with fictional characters (instead of them *insert sad violin music*) Part two

Part one here

Also gues who’s been awake since three AM WHO YA GIRL (now it’s 7am, I wanted to write more but I did fall asleep writing this so uh, I will go and recharge and today in the afternoon I will write more!)

Why do you do this to this poor fella pft

After a long time of working on himself and of getting out of a really toxic relationship, V finally decides to come to terms with his feelings and admits that he loves you

He tries his best so this relationship doesn’t turn out like the last one (with a cult) so he takes it slow....which doesn’t work

He sees you always gushing about this one fictional character in your favorite show, and all the confidence he had built up over the years comes crashing down

I mean the guy you were fawning over was practically perfect, and compared to him V felt like....like a really ordinary person (thinks the guys with natural MINT COLORED HAIR)

He does give up, but both his therapist and friends (mostly Saeyoung and Jumin) told him to just go for it, so one day, he went into your home, just being a whole wreck of nerves, but he tried to knock on your door.

He tries

He literally stood there for about 30 minutes until you saw him out of your living room window and told him to come in.

“S-sorry Y/N, I’m sure you’re busy, and I just dropped here out of nowhere.”

“Aw it’s fine Jihyun! Why don’t you take a seat? Did you want to talk about something?”

He nodded and sat down on your couch, and before he could start his sentence he noticed that your bedroom door was open, and inside countless of pictures of your favorite character were in the wall

That guy was a friggen vampire, V was nothing compared to him

Abort mission abort mission

While sirens were going off in V’s mind, you gave him a cup of tea, and after a few minutes of silence V sighed and decided to get the confession over with! After all, he had to be more truthful.

“The truth is Y/N...I came here to...well...to confess...my feelings...for you.”

“Wha-”

“I’m really sorry! I just, I can’t really lie to myself anymore. I love you, Y/N. You’ve always been by my side, you’ve helped me so much and you always bring out the best in me...that’s amazing. I’ve never really felt like this before, so connected with a person, so close. And I...I just didn’t feel confident enough to tell you because of that...that guy.”

“Which guy?”

V blushed and covered his face with one hand, while pointing with his finger at your bedroom.

You turned your head and looked, and once you realized what he meant, you laughed and sat beside V, cupping his cheek in your hands.

“Jihyun....I do love that character...but not as much as I love you. You’re ten, no, a hundred times better than him, he’s nothing compared to you! I...I’m actually quite relieved, because I’ve actually liked you for a while.”

The two of you blushed, and you leaned your foreheads against each other. Then, after a few minutes of comfortable silence,V laughed and said, “I really thought you would have rejected me for that guy. It was kind of stupid wasn’t it? I apologize.”

V no wHy YOU AND YOUR THERAPIST HAVE TALKED ABOUT THIS STOP SAYING SORRY

Saeran:

Oh the poor boi

After worrying countless of times as Ray about you falling for one of the RFA members, or so called AIs, now he has to worry about you falling for an ACTUAL AI

He didn’t think he’d have a rival in love after everything in ME.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel jealous whenever you talked about your favorite character, or whenever you smiled at your phone or computer.

Listen. He was really jealous alright? Don’t blame him he just wants to love you T_T

No matter how hard he tries to ‘flirt’, you don’t seem to understand that he really really loves you.

That made him feel really down :(, and he spent the days in Saeyoungs house moping a bit.

His twin realized, and after a bunch of pestering, he decided to help Saeran in his conquest of love!

What did Saeyoung do, you might ask?

He made him dress up like your favorite character.

I’m not kidding.

Saeran had NO idea, until you came to visit their home (Saeyoung had invited you over for some important event) and before Saeran could change back you were already in the living room looking at him.

After a few minutes of awkward silence Saeyoung pat his brother in the back and winked. “Good luck!” He whispered.

Good luck my ass, what the hell was Saeran going to say???

He just stood there, blushing like crazy and looking at the ground. At one point you walk closer to him and gently smile. “So uh, why are you dressed like my favorite anime character?” You asked.

Saeran blushed even more and mumbled. “Well I...Saeyoung tricked me into it. He thought if I confessed to you in this get up you might accept it.”

“You wanted to confess to me?”

Saeran gasped. Oh shit he didn’t mean to say that! He gulped and looked around the room, anywhere that wasn’t your face.

“I...I know it sounds dumb, but I’ve been trying for so long, and you seemed to really like that character so maybe if I looked like then you might like me? I- I honestly don’t know how that even works but Saeyoung really said that his plan could work and I followed his instructions without questioning him, which was really dumb.”

Then, you did something Saeran didn’t expect. You laughed.

He blushed and looked up at you, and you gasped for breath as you tried to explain that you weren’t laughing at him.

“Saeran it’s just, haha, it’s just...I’ve liked you for so long too, and I’ve been trying my best to flirt but...well I think it’s funny that neither of us knew what was going on. I thought you didn’t like me back, and so I just tried to hide in my games to fill the empty void inside me yearning for a love I might never have. But I’m glad Saeyoung did this. I like you too, Saeran.”

Then you ran up to hug him, and Saeran smiled as he hugged you back, kissing your forehead and hair and everywhere. He was really happy.

Afterwards Saeyoung will declare himself the best matchmaker in history, and he’ll try to set up a dating show based on cosplay, don’t ask me what the hell it’s about, only Saeyoung knows.

Vanderwood:

Tased you until you understand

No but really, he thought you were weird for liking a fake character.

Until he realized he started finding it adorable whenever you squealed or giggled because of something the character said

Vanderwood tried to shrug it off, he knew he couldn’t let his feelings get ahold of him...yet he couldn’t help falling for you.

He honestly wanted to shoot the game, I’m not even kidding

Whenever you’re playing hell try to get your attention (not being obvious about how jealous he is, nOt aT AlL)

“Hey Y/N, I have to clean the couch, get off of it and help me.”

“Brat, stop staring at the screen like a dumbass and bring me your laundry, help me with it too since you’re not doing anything.”

He also insults your character, you’ve really got him in a tight spot lmao

“He’s not even that handsome.”

“Christ, this is the most stupid guy I’ve ever seen. How can anyone like him?”

“I’m at least cleaner than him Y/N. And I bet I can clean better than him!”

Eventually Vanderwood goes into a little temper tantrum cuz he can’t deal with it anymore, and that night, you sit beside him on the couch and ask what’s wrong.

“You’re an idiot you know?” He says. “Asking me what’s wrong...as if it wasn’t already obvious. I can’t believe you don’t know what’s happening.”

“Well tell me, so I can figure it out.”

“.....Secret agents aren’t supposed to fall in love you know? Having someone dear to you...it’s dangerous, they’re your weakness, and if anyone finds out, you put the person you care about the most in danger. I swore I would never feel like this...yet here I am...”

“Vanderwood...”

“I’ve fallen for a fun add who can’t take her eyes off a fictional character. And I’ve tried to talk myself out of it, I really have. But you’ve really buried yourself deep into my heart you know?” He chuckled. “I’m even saying cheesy shit now. Look what you’ve done to me.”

Finally Vanderwood turned around to face you, for the first time his face showing another emotion than angry or annoyed...his eyes were soft, and showed how much he cared about you.

You felt yourself blush and gently moved a strand of hair away from Vanderwood’s face. He turned red, take aback by the sudden gesture, and you smiled

“I like you too, Vanderwood. I love you.”

How dare you make his heart go all crazy like that

Suddenly he kissed you, and you gasped, your eyes widening in surprise.

After pulling away he sighed. “Jeez idiot...just doing that out of nowhere...how can you want me to hold back when you’re being so adorable? Really”

After you became a couple, there’s no more games for you!

Well not really, he knows how much you enjoy them,but he WILL still shit on the characters you have a tiny crush on lol(he will pout but he will forgive you after some hugs and kisses.

#mystic messenger #vanderwood #saeran choi #jihyun mysme #jumin han #saeyoung choi #mysme #yoosung kim #jaehee kang #choi bois #mysme zen

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gamergirl929 · 4 years

Text

Dancing With A Stranger (Christen Press x Reader)

A single night between the reader and Christen Press changes their lives forever, at least it will change their lives if they can REMEMBER that night and REMEMBER each other, but maybe some meddling from the USWNT can lead them to one another?

You wake with a lengthy groan, the taste of whiskey on your tongue and the sweet smell of perfume clinging to your clothes.

You let out an even louder groan when you feel the dull ache in your skull, the telltale signs of a hangover making themselves known the more you wake.

You leap to your feet and make a beeline for the bathroom, kicking the lid of the toilet open before you heave into the porcelain throne.

The entire time the unpleasantness is filling the toilet, you can’t help bit wonder...

What happened last night?

The music in the club was loud, incredibly loud, but you didn’t care considering a woman with sweet smelling perfume and a dazzling smile was currently dancing against you.

Her green orbs were enchanting, and even in your drunken haze, you knew she was gorgeous.

And when she kissed you, it was like nothing you’d ever felt before, and you never wanted to kiss another pair of lips other than hers ever again.

You shuffle back against your bathroom’s wall, your eyes as wide as saucers.

“What the FUCK happened last night?”

***

Across the city, the bed dips beside USWNT forward Christen Press, who lets out a lengthy and loud groan, her head pounding angrily in retaliation of the amount of alcohol she drank last night.

“Rise and shine.” Tobin says with a cheeky grin and Christen groans, grabbing her pillow and putting it over her face.

“No, let me die.” She groans dramatically and Tobin rolls her eyes before jerking the covers off her best friend.

“Get up, the others are downstairs already.” Tobin snatches the pillow off of Christen’s head and tosses it across the room.

Christen lets out a lengthy groan, covering her eyes as the bright light shining through the hotel’s sliding glass balcony door sends a painful jolt through her head.

“Get dressed.” Tobin pats her leg and Christen groans before sitting up, eyes narrowed as she blinks rapidly, clearing her vision.

It’s then she realizes that the dress she’d worn the night before is still hugging her curves tightly, thankfully though, she had the wear with all to kick her heels off before she’d gotten into bed.

Christen eventually makes her way into the bathroom, staring in the mirror at her disheveled reflection.

Her mind races, searching for any semblance of a memory from the night before, but there’s only one thing she truly remembers and that’s a pair of Y/E/C eyes.

***

“So, remember much of last night?” Kelley asks the brunette with a grin, earning only a grunt in return.

“Oh my god you don’t remember!” Kelley exclaims, Christen sending her a glare as pain pieces her skull.

“Wait, she doesn’t remember?” Alex asks as she drops down in the seat beside Kelley, Sonnett dropping down next to her.

“Oh my god, now way.” She says, wide eyed.

“Yeah, the girl you were dancing with was a babe.” Megan smirks as she takes a seat at the table.

Christen’s eyes widen, cheeks flushing.

The sound of the club’s music was deafening, the Y/E/C orbs she remembers disappearing seconds before she feels someone’s lips against her own, lips that felt as if they were made for her.

Christen inhales sharply, eyes wide as she takes a swig of her water.

“Looks like someone remembered something about last night.” Sonnett wiggles her eye brows suggestively and Christen’s cheeks flush darker.

“Probably that kiss huh?” Kelley winks and Christen swallows hard.

“KISS!?” Sonnett shouts, eyes wide.

“Volume please.” Christen grumbles as she rubs her temples.

“Sorry...” Sonnett whispers, though her voice is only a little lower.

“So, about this kiss...” Mallory claps giddily and Kelley grins.

“Lucky for you, I got a picture.” Kelley beams and Christen’s eyes go comically wide.

Kelley slides the phone across the table towards Christen who stares at the picture with narrowed eyes.

The photo is dark, but green orbs easily manage to make out the picture of herself kissing a flawless Y/H/C woman, her hands on Christen’s waist, while Christen’s arms are around her neck, fingers tangle in her hair.

“Damn.” Christen hears someone whisper behind her and she turns around, realizing that basically the entire team are looking at the picture over her shoulder.

“Megan’s right, she is a babe.” Ali says, earning a glare from Ashlyn.

The brunette rolls her eyes before pressing a kiss to her wife’s cheek, wiping the glare away in favor of a toothy grin.

“Wait, did you get her number?” Mallory asks and Christen hums.

“I don’t think so.” She shrugs and Mallory’s eyes widen, as do the rest of the team’s.

“So, you kiss a girl on the dance floor and don’t get her number?” Kelley groans and Tobin shakes her head, throwing her arm around Christen’s shoulders.

“You’re a useless lesbian Chris.” She shakes her head and Christen sighs.

“Yeah tell me about it.” Across the table, Kelley and Sonnett share a glance, the two looking across the table at Mallory who smirks.

Little did Christen know the trio were going to set into motion something that would change Christen’s life forever.

***

“You look like shit.” Your coworker mumbles, smirking and you roll your eyes, grumbling.

“Long night?” She asks and you sigh.

“I’d tell you if I could remember.” You shrug and she laughs.

“We’ve all had those kinds of nights.” She grins and you let out a yawn.

“I just wish I could remember; I think I kissed someone.” You turn to her and her eyes widen.

“Drunk Casanova huh?” She winks and you shrug.

“I guess so.”

***

“So, you’re going to post it?” Sonnett asks and Kelley nods, grinning.

“If we can’t find this girl, I’m sure Instagram can.” Kelley types out a caption to a photo she took of you and Christen the night before

“But won’t Christen like, I don’t know... Kill us when she finds out what we did?” Sonnett asks and Mallory scoffs.

“I had nothing to do with this.”

“Nothing to do with what?” Kelley jumps, phone flying out of her hand at the sound of Tobin’s voice.

“What are you three up to?” Alex asks her eyes narrowed as she stares at the three women who all share worried glances.

“Oh, nothing.”

Alex glances at Kelley’s phone and in a split second before the defender can even move, Kelley’s phone is in Alex’s hand.

“Oh my god.” Alex shakes her head, Tobin peeking over her should to look at Kelley’s phone.

“Seriously?” Tobin says and the three women all glance at one another nervously.

Tobin and Alex share a glance, both humming.

“I mean... What could it hurt?” Tobin shrugs and Kelley’s eyes widen, as do Sonnett’s and Mallory’s.

Alex reads the caption intently before making her own changes.

“If this goes south, it was your idea.” Alex hits posts before tossing the phone to Kelley who completely misses it as it instead hits Sonnett right in the face.

Kelley’s is still staring at Alex with wide eyes, only earning a smirk and a shrug from the woman before she winks and leaves the room, leaving the defender behind with a blush.

“Guess now we wait.” Tobin shrugs and Kelley nods.

“Now we wait.”

***

Needless to say, when Christen realizes what exactly Kelley has posted, she’s livid, basically kicking in the woman’s hotel room door, scaring the hell out of everyone who’d gathered for movie night.

“I am going to KILL you!” She yells, darting towards Kelley, though she doesn’t get far courtesy of Ashlyn and Alyssa the women holding the smaller forward back.

“What did you do?” Ali asks and Kelley glances at Sonnett with wide, scared eyes.

“We just wanted to find the girl from last night for Christen.” Mallory shrugs.

Christen stops trying to get out of the goalie’s holds stilling with a sigh.

“You did seem really happy with her Chris...” Tobin shrugs and Christen blushes.

“I was... From what I can remember.” She mumbles and Kelley glances at Alex with a grin.

A sudden chime has Kelley turning her attention to her phone and her brown orbs widen.

***

“Why is there a picture of you with Christen Press on Instagram?” Your coworker asks and your eyes widen.

“What are you talking about?”

She shoves her phone under your nose and your eyes widen as you stare at the picture of you and Christen Press dancing together, finally, you can put a name to the pair of green orbs that had enchanted you the night before, and those green orbs belonged to Christen fucking Press.

“Holy shit.” You whisper to yourself and your coworker grins as you read the caption written by USWNT defender, Kelley O’Hara.

LOYAL USWNT FANDOM! We need help tracking this woman down, she’s in New York City and she made a certain, impression on our fastest forward ;) If anyone knows her, please comment.

“They’re looking for you!” She exclaims and you swallow hard, your thumbs unconsciously typing out a comment, before you can even think, you hit send.

***

“Ummm, I think I’m the one you’re looking for. My coworker basically threw her phone in my face... So yeah..” Kelley grins at the comment, her brown orbs locking with Christen Press’s green orbs.

Christen swallows hard, blushing when everyone turns towards her.

Kelley meanwhile has started typing back on her phone, sending a private message to you in the hopes of getting you to come visit Christen at the hotel.

It takes a few minutes, but when her phone dings, Christen eyes the foreword intently, nervously.

“Ready to meet your stranger?” Kelley asks with a wink and Christen swallows hard, glancing down at her feet.

If she remembered one thing from last night, the kiss between the two of you was earth shattering, and the way she felt when she was dancing with you was something she could never forget, no matter how drunk she was that night.

The pretty woman with bright green orbs smiles, before giving her friend a nod, earning a squeal from the defender who wiggles excitedly as she types a message in literally a half second before she hits send.

She gets a text moment later, her brown orbs locking with Christen green ones.

“She’ll be here in twenty minutes.”

***

You stand stock still on the side walk in front of the busy hotel in front of you, staring up at the building as you shift nervously from foot to foot.

You were nervous, more than nervous. You may had been confident in your drunken haze, but sober?

You were far from confident.

You briefly think about leaving, but when you catch sight of her through the hotel’s glass door, there’s no way you can leave.

You can’t leave because those enchanting green orbs are downcast as she stares at her feet, which are nervously shuffling back and forth.

You can’t leave because if you do, you may miss the opportunity to feel her touch again, and to feel her lips against yours.

Before you know what’s happening, you’re tugging the hotel’s door open and walking into the lobby, towards the woman who’s still staring down at the floor, that is until you stop in front of her.

Christen’s eyes rake up your front before they eventually meet your Y/E/C orbs.

The two of you stare at one another for a moment, cheeks flushed a deep shade of red.

“Hi.” You grin, nervously rubbing the back of your neck.

A massive smile spreads across Christen Press’s face, lips splitting to reveal her dazzlingly bright smile that makes your heart skip a beat.

“Hi.”

You never knew dancing with a stranger would completely change your life and you were ready for that change if it meant it was with Christen Press.

#uswnt x reader #uswnt imagine #christen press x reader #christen press imagine #christen press

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lorrynha · 4 years

Text

So there was this thread I wanted to write since I saw bnha288 leaks, and I told myself I wouldn't get back to social media until I finished writing it...

Turns out I'm really really slow at writing, and could manage just to get half of it done 💔

Anyway, I thought it'd be better to post half of it than nothing, since the chapter will come out this week anyway 😅

So here's the half I got done, I hope you like it 🤗

I can't talk enough about how much I loved bnha288. Not just because it gave us some badass Ochako moments we've been waiting since this arc began, and the fact that part of it is her rematch with Toga Himiko is absolutely perfect, but also how this very fight can help develop how Uraraka sees hero society and, more importantly, how this will develop her character even more.

But first, let's discuss what might happen on #bnha289:

IMO there are basically three ways this fight is gonna go down:

• Someone is gonna interrupt them;

• Toga wins;

• Ochako wins.

First of all, I do not like the first one. This is the rematch most of us have been waiting for the most (yes, more than a Deku x Bakugou rematch). It's their moment, with no one to be in their way.

About the last two, first thing to say is that I had a feeling that Mr Compress' marble was totally a chekhov's gun as soon as I saw it, and I'm completely sure that the winner is gonna use it to capture the loser.

Now the second one (Toga wins) is... complicated, to say the least.

Someone might say "I wanna Toga to capture Ochako so she'll have another great rescue arc like Bakugou had". Well... yes, but actually no.

You see, the LOV captured Bakugou for a very specific reason. They wanted that very arrogant and explosive boy, with in their eyes very much potential to become a villian, to turn sides an joint them. But that wasn't what happened. In fact, that arc, and his spare against Midoriya that came after that just how much he wants to be a hero, despite of this very flawed personality.

That rescuing arc not only showed us how the other characters felt about that, but most importantly it showed us how Bakugou really is: he will never become a villian. He had always been a power hunger person, always aiming for being stronger, but he wants to do it all while being a hero. He's not willing to change sides just for power.

Now getting back to Ochako, I ask you: if she lost and was captured by Toga, what would this tell us about both of them?

First, it'd establish that Toga is a sadistic sociopath that wants to keep Ochako for herself because she's obsessed with her. And, well, we already know that. And if that happened, I don't believe Toga would tell the LOV she has Ochako literally in her hands, becuase unlike what happened with Bakugou, they have no intention on turning Ochako to their side, and Toga knows that keeping a hero as a hostage just for fun would cause trouble to the League. I'd be a rather meaningless capture, just to traumatise Ochako to hating Toga and the LOV even more.

Second, it'd establish that Ochako is weak and unskilled, wich is not true. Ochako has been a hero in training for almost a year, and Toga is just a regular girl that joined the LOV few months ago. And think about it: On their first fight, even when Toga was pinned down, she was able to destabilize Ochako just buy calling out her crush and telling her they were alike. Now at the very last page of chapter 288 we have the exact opposite thing happening: Toga is pinning Ochako down, and Ochako's is completly ignoring what Toga is saying so she can focus on her mission. Wouldn't it be very disappointing if Ochako lost again, showing us that she didn't actually made that much progress in her physical, mental and emotional skills since their last fight?

Now I think it's gonna be way more interesting if Ochako wins. Because despite defeating the villain, she won't feel happy nor proud about it. Instead, she might feel confused, wondering if the hero's side is in fact the "good side" of this war.

No, this is not a "Ochako becomes a traitor" theory. She still wants to be a hero, she still wants to go to UA, but now something is bothering her.

That's how I picture chapter 289 in my head:

They're gonna fight, and it's gonna be so badass.

Toga will get to hurt Ochako, scratching her face, her arm or something, but then Ochako manages to steal away Toga's knife and pin her down. Toga is totally trapped, there's nothing more she can do, and Ochako is holding that knife, pointing it at her...

Toga: so, heroine... Are you going to kill me? Are you going to kill me, just like you "heros" did with Jin?

Ochako: Jin? Who's Jin?

Toga: See??? You don't even know his name! So he wasn't a real person to you, right? So you could save him too? Why did you have to kill him!?

Ochako is devastated. She knows they are the villains, she knows they are just getting what they deserve. But here is Toga... not just that random villian that had attacked her, but a girl like her, a girl just her age, crying over the death of a dear friend...

Toga: You call us the villains, but you are even worse!

Toga is very good at disguising her self for deceiving others, just like she did with her a very few minutes ago. She needs to be great at acting and lying to succeed. But right now... Ochako knows she's not faking it. She's genuinely sad.

Ochako: No... I'm not gonna kill you...

She drops the knife in the ground beside them and reveals she has a tiny shiny green ball in her hands.

Ochako: But I can't let you go either.

She then uses that marble to trap Toga.

Ochako watches the girl vanishing in front of her eyes in mere seconds.

"Toga-chan... I'm... I'm sorry... I can't save you right now..." Ochako can see a very little version of Toga inside the marble. She hugs it with her hands and cries quietly.

She spends very few seconds crying. She knows she must get back to their mission. Ochako puts it in her uniform and... her pocket is already filled with something.

Oh, right, that little All Might keychain she was gifted on their Christmass party.

She looks at both of them: the keychain in one hand and the marble in the other one. The hero and the villain, the good and the evil...

Ochako is way too confused right now. But she cannot think about all of that right now. She wipes away her tears and run back to Tsuyu. End of the chapter.

I know I'm probably wrong on my headcanons because I'm not a good writer like Horikoshi is, and I know he and his team already wrote a very great chapter, that I'm for sure gonna love and brag about. But, even so, I do really like this headcanon of mine.

What's the core of Ochako's character? She wants to be a hero because she always wanted to help people. She's also happy and lively girl that likes to cheer everyone up, especially their friends.

We can see how she and Iida literally adopted little introverted Izuku and they became a best friends trio. We see she also became Tsuyu best friend, a girl that's also a little reserved.

At first, she wanted to be a hero basically for the job. And yet, not just for the money, but for helping her parents to have a easier life.

She also realised that helping people also includes not getting in anyones way. She thought a relationship would only disturb hers and Deku's focus on being heroes. So she ignored her crush on him, while using these same feelings as a thrust to keeping moving forward.

(and even if my shipper side felt sad when I first watched this, I have to admit this was a great mature decision of her, and the story wouldn't be as good as it is if she had confessed to him that time. It's great that Kohei is giving time for both their relationship and for their character development)

On the Overhaul arc, right after Sir. Night Eye died in her hands, her motivation developed to "I want to help people" to "I want to save people". Now she was 100% sure about what kind of hero she wanted to be: she wanted to be a rescue hero.

When she saved Deku from Black Whip, she asked herself: "of heroes save others, than who's gonna save them when they need it?". This is a very important moment, because while we know who she's talking about right now, she is still subconsciously thinking furtherly: "who's gonna save the people we usually forget to save?"

And now we're watching her making probably one of the most important steps of her development: "Who's gonna save the villains? If we are heroes, why are we killing them, defeating them, when they're just humans like us that need to be saved?"

Ochako is not the traitor and she never will be. She's still mad at Toga and at the villains. She knows that this danm war is their fault. She just wants it to end as soon as possible, and to everyone to be safe and sound. She's sure that the villains side is the worst thing ever, just as bad as it ever could be. But the point is: why isn't the heroes side as good and perfect as it should be?

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I wanted to make a part two talking about how Ochako will eventually help Izuku realize that the hero society is not as perfect as he think it is, and how this would be great character development for him. Maybe I'll finish writing it someday 😆😌

Thank you so much for reading this tread. I really hope you like it. Please feel free to comment sharing your opinions on what you agree and disagree about all of this, I'm highly open for your reviews on my thoughts 💗

#ochako urakara #toga himiko #bnha #bnha 289 #manga spoilers

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snortyport · 4 years

Text

(Un)Broken Happily Ever After Chapter 3

Summary- Four years ago, you thought you were just going to another party. Little did you know you’d meet the man who would change your life.

Word Count- 3436

Pairing- Taehyung x reader

Warning- some swearing, nothing major

A/N- Thanks for reading! This is a flashback chapter if you didn’t figure that out. Each flashback chapter will be in Italics for future reference.

Previous | Masterlist | Next

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Four years ago…

“Come one, don’t be such a drag!” Jungkook says pulling on your arm as he pulls you towards the house party you definitely don’t want to go to. You, and your two friends for the record, have midterms to study for and a party isn’t going to help you remember anything on the study list.

“Yeah, come on Y/N! You haven’t been out in forever!” Hoseok yells from behind you, already in the party spirit after pregaming at your apartment for the past hour. “Plus, this is our last year of university and then we start the real world. We deserve to have a little fun after working our asses off for the past four years! So, I want you to turn that frown upside down and let’s go!” Hoseok pinches your butt which makes you jump and yelp in surprise, making the boys laugh at your outburst.

“It’s time to have fun before we graduate and you go off to some country doing God’s work or whatever,” Jungkook says, slinging and arm around your shoulders.

You’ve known Jungkook since childhood, you two were literally diaper buddies. Your moms were best friends and got pregnant a couple weeks apart from each other. You and Jungkook have often wondered if it was just coincidence that they got pregnant around the same time or if it was planned. Either way, the two of you grew up more like siblings instead of friends.

You spent every weekend growing up at either his house or him at yours. You know every secret of his and vice versa. Every crush brought teasing and every heartbreak brought hugs and a movie night. When your high school boyfriend dumped you right before graduation, Jungkook dropped his grad date to take you instead. Jungkook was always the shy one in your duo and you knew how much courage it had taken him to ask the girl out, so you had refused at first. But he had always pictured the two of you going together so you agreed. The other girl wasn’t graduating that year, so you didn’t feel too bad stealing him away.

People always wondered if there was more going on between you two. Did she like him? Did he like her? But there was never anything like that with him. You knew too much about each other for there to be any romance. Yeah, as the two of you got older, Jungkook sprouted from being a wide eyed adorable little boy to a chiseled, sporty muscle man from long hours spent at the gym. And you grew into your curves, your face cleared up and smoothed out. People are always wondering if there’s something going on.

“It’s not God’s work, you doofus, I just want to go and help children who lost their parents due to war or sickness. That way when I come back home, I’ll be able to use the knowledge I got from there to spread awareness and help from here,”

“Please, Mother Teresa, don’t bring down the mood when we’re about to go walk into the most hyped party of the year,” Hobi says, nudging your side with his elbow. “I don’t want to think about sad parentless children right now. I’m too far gone right now and I might start crying.”

You met Hobi on your very first day of orientation in your first year. You and Jungkook had decided to go to the same university, so you were sitting together at a table when Hoseok came over and asked if he could sit in the extra chair at your table. It didn’t take long for Hobi to secure a spot in your friend group, making your lifelong duo into a trio.

Hobi is more extroverted like yourself so you always had someone to go to parties with when JK would need to recharge his social battery. Hobi was the missing piece you didn’t know was missing. Mostly the three of you did everything together; parties, classes, even going to each others’ hometowns for holidays. The three of you were best friends through and through.

And then in your second year, you met Seokjin and your trio became a foursome. He was graduating that year and decided one night at a party to share his university wisdom and hacks on you and your friends. For some reason he took a liking to the three of you and sought you out a few days after the party and you became actual friends.

You didn’t think you needed someone new in your group, but you couldn’t help warming to this older man who acted the same age as you. it was hard not accept him and his weirdly iconic laugh that was well known around the university grounds and his bad dad jokes. You thought he would bring a sense of maturity to your friend group but when the three of you were all together, you acted more like school children instead of adults.

When he graduated, you were scared things were going to change, that he wouldn’t have as much time to hang out with you anymore but Jin made it a mission to hang out with you at least once a week. And for the past two years, he’s kept that promise. Even when all of you were super busy with school or work. You always made sure to make time for your windshield wiper laughing friend.

“Sorry, sorry,” you say before clearing your throat, “Woo! It’s party time! I’m gonna get so wasted, and dance, and probably hook up with someone if the night goes how I want it,” you proclaim in a high pitched voice, mimicking what Hobi said back at your place.

“Har har,” he glares at you, but a smile graces his features a second later. “Seriously though, I’m going balls to the wall tonight so if I don’t remember who you are at the end of the night then you can be happy for me.”

“You can go balls to the wall but I’m hoping to go balls to pussy tonight,” Jungkook laughs and hold his fist to Hobi to bump.

You and Hoseok groan and you roll you eyes.

“Keep that hetero talk to yourself please. I’m not drunk enough to listen to that,” Hobi shivers in disgust.

“Seriously do you have to be so gro—” you start to say before someone bumps into you hard which makes you lose your footing and trip into Jungkook’s side.

“I’m so sorry!” the tall boy who knocked into you exclaims, grabbing your arms to steady you and you grab onto his. “My friend nudged me, and I wasn’t expecting it and I kinda fell, and I fell into you, and I’m so sorry!”

“Uh, yeah, it’s ok,” you say straightening up, “I didn’t get hurt so no harm done,” you smile. When his dark eyes reach yours after checking you out to make sure you really aren’t hurt, his jaw goes slack. “Ar-are you ok?” you ask, concern flooding your features. He stands, staring at you while still holding onto your arms until one of his friends pushes at his shoulder from behind.

“Oh, uh, I’m fine!” he says, shaking his head and throwing you a boxy smile. Your pulse quickens at this seriously attractive, flustered man, who’s still holding onto you with his big warm hands. His dark, slightly wavey hair falls into his eyes and you’re glad that he’s holding your arms because you think you would have run your fingers through it to get it off his forehead. His cologne tickles your nose and has you wanting to do some crazy things right here in the middle of the party thrower’s lawn.

“Well now that we know everyone is all good, we’re going to get going,” Jungkook says from behind you, grabbing your bicep and pulling you from the guy’s grasp.

The guy flicks his eye to Jungkook and instantly drops his hands from you and takes a step back, bursting the bubble the two of you were in. He sends you a small smile before dropping it to stare at his feet. You let Jungkook pull you away, the stranger’s cologne still lingering in your nose, making your head feel thick and dizzy with desire.

“— could have let her get his name before pulling her away,” you catch the last bit of what Hobi says, the delicious smell finally leaving your system.

“He was eye fucking her so much that I knew he didn’t care about her name,” Jungkook huffs, and you’re now realizing his arm is back around your shoulders.

“Excuse me?” you ask incredulously, craning your neck to stare up at him.

“Don’t worry, I saved you. I could tell that all he wanted was in your pants,” he smiles triumphantly at you.

“Maybe I wanted him in my pants. Did you see him?” you glare at him.

“That boy was blessed by every god. He was just,” hobi brings his hand up to do a chef’s kiss, “perfect.”

“Exactly,” you sigh dreamily. “And who are you to dictate who I can or can’t date or fuck? My body, my choice,” you stop right before the door to shove Jungkook’s arm off your shoulders and to turn and glare at him. “If I want to get my brains fucked out of me with someone who you don’t deem good enough,” you say, air quoting good enough, “then I will. It’s not up to you, ok?”

“Preach,” Hobi says, clicking his tongue at Jungkook.

“Ok, I’m sorry. I know it’s your choice and everything, but I just didn’t get a good feeling about him ok?” he gives you his puppy dog eyes pout which always makes you forgive him.

“Because you won’t be the hottest of our group if she dates him?” Hobi offers, smiling mockingly at Jungkook.

“I just didn’t ok? Can we drop it now and go in?” he asks, looking towards the door.

“Yess!” Hobi screams. “Let’s go second best!” he grabs Jungkook’s arm and opens the door, pulling the big lug through the door. You giggle at them as you watch them get swallowed up by the huge crowd of people littering every available space in the house. You turn to look back at the stranger only to find him already staring at you. Your body erupts in tingles and goosebumps and your heart starts pounding. You smile shyly before walking into the booming house.

~~~~~~

A couple hours, and many drinks later, you’re happily dancing with Hoseok in the middle of the makeshift dancefloor. Your sweaty bodies mingling and sharing space with the other dancers. Jungkook disappeared almost immediately after entering the party but Hoseok, your party buddy, hasn’t left your side, except the few times to get more drinks.

Which now that you’re thinking about it, you could use a refill.

You shimmy closer to your friend, bringing your lips close to his ear. “I need another drink! Do you want anything?” you shout to be heard over the music pumping through your veins. He shakes his head and continues dancing by himself before some cute, petite guy twirls into his arms and starts grinding into him.

You push your way through the throng of bodies, wanting to get away from that scene quickly. You’re glad he has someone to dance with but you really don’t want to see your best friend getting some. The floor is so packed you get hips and elbows connecting to your body with every step. You’re having troubles navigating around everyone when suddenly a hand reaches out and grabs your wrist. The mystery person manages to pull you past everyone and out of the raving crowd.

You don’t know who grabbed you, you don’t recognize the back that’s in front of you, but you’re thankful they got you out of there so quicky. The heat was starting to make you dizzy and your stomach twist. Mystery man pulls you to a quieter part of the room, against the wall farthest from the dance floor. He turns around and to your excitement it’s the same guy who bumped into you outside.

His dark eyes are now glassy and bloodshot from a night of drinking and you’re sure your eyes look the exact same. His mouth moves in such a nice way that you can’t tear your eyes away from it. The things you want that mouth to do to you has the blood running through your veins turning to fire. His cologne which is now mixed with alcohol and the faintest traces of cigarette smoke. Not what you’d usually go for but for some reason you find it so sexy and intoxicating. Your already drunk mind feels ten times more fuzzy standing this close to him. You’ve never wanted someone so badly before. His perfect mouth is still moving when you realize he’s trying to talk to you.

“Sorry, what?” you yell, tearing your gaze away from his mouth and to his eyes. He smirks and leans closer. You take a deep breath in, drinking in as much of him as you can.

“Do you want to get out of here? Find somewhere quiet where we can… talk?” he asks, his eyes moving to your lips. He ignites something so ferocious in you that you don’t even recognize who you are right now as you nod your head.

This isn’t like you. You don’t drunkenly hook up with random people, that’s Jungkook’s thing. He’s so shy but once that alcohol hits, he becomes a sex maniac and anyone with a vagina between their legs will do. But that’s never been you. You’re always careful and you at least like to know the person you are sleeping with. You’ve always preferred knowing the name you’ll be moaning out.

But maybe you’ve been missing out on the anonymity. You’ve never seen this guy before on campus so there won’t be any of those awkward smiles and forced small talk when you run into each other. You’re kind of looking forward to it as he pulls you by the hand again towards the stairs.

But when he turns to the door instead of the stairs, alarm bells start ringing in your head. Maybe Jungkook was right and there is something wrong with him? He pulls you outside but before you get too far, you plant your feet on the ground, trying not to sway too much. What if he goes around to university campuses and lures girls in with his incredible smile and hopes of hooking up and then murders them? He stops and turns to look at you in confusion.

“Where are we going?” you ask cautiously, reaching your hand down to your jeans pocket to feel for your phone.

“To the diner just down the road. I asked if you wanted to go and you said yes. Did you change your mind? We can go back in if you want? I just don’t really like parties and thought talking over a burger and fries sounded like a better way to get to know you. But if you don’t want to go with me, that’s ok,” he drops your hand and takes a step away from you. “You don’t even know my name, of course you don’t want to go with me. I’m so sorry, I’ve probably scared you,” he runs his hand over his face and through his hair while grimacing. “Let’s just go back inside. I’m such an idiot,” he whispers and starts to walk past you, but you grab his hand to stop him. He’s either a really good actor or he’s being sincere. It might be the alcohol, but you feel like you can trust him.

“Let me just text my friends where we’re going and then we can go, ok? I didn’t hear you properly inside so when we went outside, I didn’t understand what was happening,” you say, giving him a reassuring smile. He lets out a relieved sigh as you pull you phone out. But then his smile drops, and he looks back at the house.

“I, uh, don’t know how to say this, or if I should be the one saying this. I mean, I don’t know your relationship, but if it was me, I’d want to know, so I should just tell you, right?” he says quickly, almost to himself.

“What are you talking about?” you ask. Your relationship? What is he talking about?

“I, um, saw your boyfriend making out with another girl,” he winces as he looks into your eyes and squeezes his hands together.

“My boyfriend? I’m not dating anyone?” you shake your head in confusion. And maybe if you weren’t so drunk you would have realized instantly that he was talking about your best friend.

“But… earlier… he…?” he stumbles over his words. “When I almost knocked you over? That big guy? Isn’t he your boyfriend?” he scratches his nose, and you notice for the first time that he has a small mole on the end of his nose and now how you definitely want to kiss it.

“The big guy?”

It takes you a painfully long time to understand who he is talking about but when you finally do, you burst out laughing at the absurdity of it. You and Jungkook? Never in a million years. The bewildered look on the guys face is too much for you and it makes you laugh harder. Tears prick at your eyes and you don’t even know why you find it so funny, but you do, and you can’t stop the giggles.

“Me and Jungkook? No!” your head falls backward and the tears streak down your face. “I’m sorry for laughing so much! But he’s like my brother! I’d never date him!” you wipe at your eyes with one hand and hold your stomach with the other.

“Oh… yeah?” he says, his face brightening.

“Yeah. We’ve known each other since we were babies. We’re basically siblings so the thought of us dating is just hilarious but also so gross,” you say before taking a deep breath. “Oh, you’re so cute. That was the best. Thank you for that!” you giggle again while unlocking your phone. You miss the blush the covers his cheeks as he smiles shyly and looks away. You quickly send a message to your group chat letting them know you left and where you’re going.

“I’m Taehyung by the way, but my friends call me Tae,” he says sheepishly. You add his name to the text before sending it.

“I’m Y/N,” you hold your hand out for him to shake. “It’s very nice to meet you, Tae.” His big hand engulfs yours and he shakes your hand. You really want those hands on you but right now this will do. “So, this diner, they have desserts?”

“Yeah, I think so,” he nods his head, smiling.

“Then let’s go!” you take his hand and pull him down the walkway.

It’s a little chilly out with the sun down which you didn’t think about when you agreed to walk, but Tae senses you’re cold and pulls you closer. He puts his hands, with your one hand still clasped tightly together, in his jacket pockets. The warmth you get from him and the lingering heat from the alcohol in enough to keep you toasty.

The two of you talk the whole way to the diner, never once falling into an awkward silence. Because both of you are inebriated, the conversation isn’t too serious. You mostly talk about your dreams and crazy things on your bucket lists. Laughs and giggles fill the night air as you stroll along the sidewalk, a few cars passing you by and illuminating your close figures. Everyone driving by probably thinking you’re dating, and you honestly don’t mind the mix up.

As a pretty outgoing person, you’re used to talking to people easily, but something feels different with Tae. There hasn’t been any awkwardness between you despite the fact that you’ve just met ten minutes ago and you’re huddled together so close that once your icy breath reaches his, they mingle together before disappearing into the night. You normally make friends easily with your cheerful disposition, so you’re not sure why this feels different, but it does and you’re not complaining. It feels like you’ve known Tae for years.

It’s just a hunch you have, and maybe it’s so strong because you’re so drunk, but you feel good things coming your way with Tae. And you really can’t wait.

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I hope you enjoyed that chapter and how they met. I can’t wait to show you the rest of the flashbacks I have planned!

Tagged: @anatron9000, @sugalarity

If you’d like to be tagged, let me know!

#bts imagine #bts fanfic #bts taehyung #bts namjoon #break up imagine #taehyung #namjoon

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chaeparkeths · 4 years

Text

“Are you lost, babygirl?”

TW: Mild violence

a/n: I got a little idea after watching 365 days and thought that marie claire jeong + mafia boss jeong slaps (also i kinda got carried away while writing so its gonna be a long shot hehe.)

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes as she stood behind her father, she just doesn't get why some mafia bosses liked having business talks on top of an open rooftop. It is literally an opened area, assassins would definitely have a clear shot, for goodness sake! Moreover, the wind continues to mess up her hair.

Grumbling, she grabbed binoculars from Momo, walking towards the edge of the roof and looking into the horizon. What Jeongyeon did not expect to see is a gorgeous lady on the beach. Jeongyeon wouldn’t be lying to say that her beauty matched that of an angel. The more Jeongyeon looked at her, the more she wants the breathtaking girl to be hers.

“They seem like assholes” Jeongyeon mumbled when she felt her father’s presence.

Her father laughed, leaning against the railings that are keeping them from literally falling off the edge. “Assholes indeed, but they are also potential business partners. What are you looking at?” He asked after noticing the binoculars in Jeongyeon’s hand. Jeongyeon remained quiet and handed him the binoculars, “ahh... you have to be cautious. Beautiful ladies like her are a heavenly sight but they can wreck havoc.” The older man chuckled as he looked through the binoculars.

“And they’ll definitely squeeze your wallet dry.” Jeongyeon laughed.

Jeongyeon’s father smile vanished, his lips pressed into a thin line as he placed his hand on her shoulder, “one day this will all belong to you, you have responsibilities to carry, you can’t constantly think of fun anymore.”

Before Jeongyeon could even utter a word, a very sharp and loud sound rang around them. Crimson red blood splattered onto her face as she felt a something pierce through her side. Both Jeongyeon and her father staggered for a moment before collapsing onto the ground. “Jeong!” Jeongyeon heard Momo yelled as she started to feel colder, the girl on the beach kept invading her thoughts. Could this be the end?

•

3 years later, San Francisco

Jeongyeon’s eyes darted from one investor to the next, a glass of whisky in her hands as she waits for someone to give her an explanation. “We apologise, but we only managed to retrieve ten percent of the family’s assets,” one of them started, and Jeongyeon decided to dub him as Deadman 1, “we recommend another investment portfolio for your future investments.” He added as he placed a sleek leather file in front of Jeongyeon.

“You recommend?” Jeongyeon scoffed, not even bothering too look at what is inside the file. “Need I remind you that this investment is also recommended by you people, now look where my money went!”

“Well, neither of us expected things to go south,” another businessman-Deadman 2- explained.

Jeongyeon hummed in amusement as she looked at Momo and Nayeon who shook their head, silently agreeing with Jeongyeon that Deadman 2’s reason is bullshit. “I expect a refund as well as five percent interest,” Jeongyeon said, taking a sip of whisky. Deadman 1 instantly gave excuses on how it was an impossible request. “You have a month to get me my refund and fifteen percent,” Jeongyeon pressed on.

Deadman 2 scoffed, closing his file. “This conversation is over.” Before Deadman 2 could even leave his seat, Momo pulled out her pistol and pointed it at the businessman. “This is a free cou-“

“-You people are all words, all you gave us are words, where’s the action?” Jeongyeon cut in, taking the black folder from Nayeon and placing it in front of them. “How would the media react if your affiliation to the mafia gets leaked? What would your family say? How about your shareholders?” Jeongyeon mused as she sees the two men gone rigid while looking through the folder’s contents.

Jeongyeon grabbed her now empty glass and headed over to her alcohol shelf for a refill, “we all know what would happen if I make it public.” She paused, taking a sip, enjoying the slight burn going down her throat. “Shares will drop and I will buy them back at such cheap prices and the two of you will never see day again.” She sat down, crossing her arms as she leans into the chair, “so what are you going to do?”

Deadman 1 sighed, tossing the folder onto the table, “you’ll get it by the end of the month.” Jeongyeon smiled as Momo escorted them out of her office.

“If they lose my money again, I will send their bloodline to hell,” Jeongyeon grumbled as she downs the remnants of her drink. She sighed in annoyance as she looked at the picture sitting at the corner of the table, she likes how it immediately calms her down.

After the day she got shot and nearly died, Jeongyeon sent Nayeon off to get information about the sun-kissed skin goddess she saw on the beach. Turns out her name is Park Jihyo, a marketing director in Myoui Industries

“I found out that a certain someone is heading to Hawaii to celebrate her birthday,” Nayeon giggled as she slid three plane tickets into Jeongyeon’s line of sight, “which is why you, Momo and I are having a week vacation there.”

•

“When you said ‘vacation’ I expected you to actually book a suite and enjoy the Hawaii tourist life, not stay in my own home and do nothing,” Jeongyeon whined as she plopped onto the couch beside Nayeon and Momo. “For the love of god, do not fuck on my couch!” Jeongyeon let out an exasperate sigh when she saw her friends making out.

“Our informant has yet to inform us of their location, all I heard is that they are heading to a party at a club.” Momo winked at Jeongyeon with a lopsided grin as she got off her girlfriend’s lap.

“Informant?”

“Minatozaki Sana, you idiot!” Nayeon sighed. “Momo’s best friends with her and Myoui Mina. I hea- Oh wait, she just sent some info,” Nayeon said as she opened Sana’s messages.

Jeongyeon and Momo instantly leaned against Nayeon, reading Sana’s text. “What a coincidence that they’re partying at L’Sanity,” Jeongyeon mused. “Well, what are you waiting for? We have a party to attend,” Jeongyeon laughed as she dusted her pants.

“Who thought your club will be doing so well,” Momo snickered as the trio entered the nightclub, the bass of the song thumped in sync with their heartbeats.

Jeongyeon shot Momo a look as she grabbed a glass of whisky from the bartender who recognised their boss. “Aren’t you going to socialize and have fun?” Nayeon asked when she saw Jeongyeon heading towards her office.

“I prefer the comfort and quietness of my office,” Jeongyeon chuckled. As she walks down the hall towards her office, her phone buzzed. Jeongyeon stopped in her tracks, opening Dahyun’s message:

‘We’re at the warehouse, everything’s trashed. Probably rival gang’

Jeongyeon growled in frustration, pocketing her phone as she made a quick turn, feeling someone bumping into her, whisky spilling all over her shirt. If Jeongyeon wasn’t angry before, she sure is now. She remembered giving and order to her staff that no one is to be in the vicinity of her office.

When she looked up from her wet shirt, her breath hitched as brown doe eyes stared into hers. Jeongyeon’s frowned disappeared, immediately replaced by a smirk. “Are you lost, babygirl?” She asked, stepping closer towards Jihyo who is currently rooted to the ground.

#twice imagines #twice scenarios #twice #jeongyeon #park jihyo #jeonghyo #nayeon #momo #myoui mina #sana #namo #2na

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atamascolily · 4 years

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lily liveblogs BBC Atlantis 1x02, “A Girl By Any Other Name” (first half)

I actually watched this months ago, but I got interrupted about halfway through, and then there was a global pandemic and I lost my groove. This got super-long, so I’m gonna post it in two parts.

Thanks to @girlwhowasntthere for her help in making sure I could see it, and also for pointing out that Ariadne draws a stone in the first episode (which I totally missed!) so she's not just resting on her privilege there. Good for her!

In the pilot, we were introduced to Atlantis through the eyes of Jason, a dude from our world who has surprising connections to this city of dragons and despots that nobody *cough ORACLE cough* wants to tell him about. But he's managed to pick up two new friends - gruff-but-not-so-secretly soft Hercules, and Pythagoras (yes, that one) - as well as a love interest, an ominous enemy, and Not Die several times in exciting and dramatic ways.

Based on the teaser, it looks like the show is about to introduce another female character, which I am super-excited about, even though the name "Medusa" brings up All Kinds of Questions.

(cut for length and for lots and lots of botanical confusion)

Forest at night. Woman running through the woods while something ominous chases her. Are there forests in Atlantis? I don't remember seeing any in the surrounding wide shots when Jason first showed up from the beach. Where the hell is this supposed to be?

(Side note because I am a Certified Plant Nerd: Where was this FILMED? I'm gonna guess England because BBC and also the leaves look SUPER TEMPERATE, there are definitely maples in there.)

Woman collapses and the camera focuses on her bracelet, which I am sure will be significant later on. We don't hear anything, she starts to get up and I brace myself for a jump scare.

She's got a necklace, too, and I wonder if that's a Plot MacGuffin or if she just has good taste in jewelry.

Ok, so we see her pursuer sneaking up on her, and she turns, and we see it for the first time from her POV and... it's a cave troll! Or something very much like it. She screams, we go to credits.

None of the credits are backwards this time, and I'm so relieved because THAT WAS ANNOYING.

I like the juxtaposition of the ocean and the ruins, then the view of the city, because this show is called ATLANTIS, which implies it's really about the city as a whole (or the city as a character) rather than Jason, even though Jason is the protagonist and audience surrogate.

There are some mountains in the background that look like they COULD have forests, and I will reserve judgement until I see the sets in the daylight, but those mountains look like they ought to be chapparral or the local equivalent, NOT the kind of forest shown in the opening. I'm just saying. I have strong opinions about flora and I will share them.

I am so curious where Atlantis is supposed to be, but I think it's Crete? I'm going with Crete for now until I get more information.

Jason is tossing rocks into a pool because... he's just that bored? Missing the Internet? He's wearing a leather tunic thing and not shirtless, but I'm sure he'll lose it by the end of the episode.

He hears something and gets up and sneaks up on the person coming in the doorway, but I already know it's either Hercules or Pythagoras, and most likely Herc, so I am not surprised when it's Herc. Herc is late AND drunk and Jason is pissed. Apparently, he and Herc are working as security guards for a rich merchant?? (So that answers my question about how they're making money and paying the rent!!)

Jason runs to the Oracle's temple because he's in dire need of Cryptic Exposition and also a Greater Purpose in Life and where better to acquire a Noble Destiny?

"You should not be here," says the Oracle, which is just a classy way of saying GTFO.

"I need answers," Jason demands.

LOL, not happening, dude. She only deals in Cryptic Sayings, not answers. (Although kinda ironic given that the Delphic Oracle’s motto was “Know Thyself”.)

Jason mentions that the minotaur dude claimed he had a great destiny and you can just see the Oracle rolling her eyes, and be all, And you believed him?? LOL.

But Jason DOES have a destiny, even though it doesn't feel like it so the Oracle has to explain that this, too, is also a part of his destiny, and he should just lean into the suck.

Jason calls bullshit. Oracle explains she's trying to protect him, and "all will become clear", mic drop. Jason walks away bummed, but it's DESTINY for him to be confused right now, and I am sure he will have some sort of Character Development about this by the end of the episode.

Herc fell asleep on the job and wakes up to being licked by a goat, which is probably not the most undignified thing that will happen to him in this episode. Also, somebody stole his keys and robbed the thing he was supposed to be guarding, so I'm sure this will end well.

Cut to Herc trying to explain this to Pythagoras, and Pythagoras is calling bullshit. Pythagoras notes the goat slobber and does the best eyeroll to Jason, I love him.

(Hercules is like the roommate from HELL here. How did he and Pythagoras end up rooming together in the first place?)

There's a knock on the door, but it's not the angry merchant, it's the CALL TO ADVENTURE... an old man who's heard that they killed the Minotaur and wants help locating his daughter. I'm picturing an Atlantis version of Sherlock Holmes starring Pythagoras and Jason and it's awesome.

Herc does not want to touch this with a ten foot pole but Jason is bored and eager to help, and so Herc is going to get dragged into this whether he likes it or not. He tries to reject it on the grounds of money, but it doesn't work. The old man talks about his "duty as a father" to make sure his kid is safe, and that's all he needs to say to get Jason on board, because Daddy Issues.

Jason and a new female character, Corinna, are in the palace, trying to be stealthy and they run into Ariadne, which is... awkward. Jason tries to explain, and Ariadne says it's forbidden for Jason to be here... why? Because he's a man? Because he's a stranger? Because he's on Minos's personal shit list? I need some context here.

Jason quizzes Celandine, a kitchen worker, and learns that Demetria, the missing girl, went to the forest to gather herbs and was never seen again. I don't understand what Corinna's role in all this is , but she persuades Celandine to help Jason out by showing him the place where Demetria went.

Time for another marketplace chase! This time it's the merchant after Herc. Meanwhile, Celandine takes Jason to a forest that's super-arid and looks nothing like the one we saw in the opening. There's rock outcroppings in the background, too. No leaf litter at ALL. All dry ever greens... and then a wide shot showing a hill that looks like chapparral, with a series of mountains beyond THAT that look more temperate and have actual snow capped peaks and those are NOT IN THE CREDITS, NONE OF THIS GEOGRAPHY MAKES ACTUAL SENSE, BUT FINE.

Also, it makes zero sense that Minos would send kitchen servants to the forest WAY outside the city limits... wouldn't it be easier for everyone if they sent special people to do that and the kitchen just picked them up or bought them from poorer folk who did? Where are the roads? Are there any surrounding villages and encampments outside the walls? Shepherds watching their flocks? A road? How do the servants know where to go? What stops them from running away? Etc. Etc. I HAVE QUESTIONS, OKAY?

Cut to them in a different forest - still evergreen trees, but a different kind. Looks like a plantation. Everything is too neat and open and in rows. There's greenery, but no sign of any herbs or really any kind of understory. LOL.

Are we there yet? Jason wants to know.

These woods are rich with herbs, Celandine says, and I can't tell if she's being ironic or not because I DO NOT SEE ANY, THERE IS NOTHING BUT CONIFERS HERE, CONIFERS ARE NOT HERBS (though they can have medicinal uses!). Then she adds "If you know where to look" and pulls a knife to stab an unsuspecting Jason while he's looking at the ground, so I guess that answers that question.

(For the record, Celandine is a toxic plant that is actually native to n. Africa, and the Mediterranean and western Asia, so I kinda saw that coming from the name and also the ominous music and close-ups of her face.)

Jason wises up in time to Not Get Stabbed, and Celandine runs away. Jason chases after her, and I saw some FERNS this time in the chase scene, but again NO LEAVES or much in the way of forest diversity at all. Celandine drinks something that looks like poison and dies while Jason is interrogating her. The troll-creature lurks in the woods.

Pythagoras IDs the poison as hemlock. (LOL, of course he would know!) The only reason he doesn't mention that it killed Socrates is probably because Socrates hasn't been born yet, but I am sure the writers were tempted. Jason fell asleep in World History, and also every Literature class ever, because he has no idea what a thyrsus is, or who Dionysus and the maenads are, so Pythagoras and Herc get to explain for the audience! Apparently, the satyrs kill any men who crash their clubhouse, so that's what the troll thing is, I guess?

So apparently the maenads just kidnap girls to join their cult? This is not how I remember it, but okay, fine, let's have the all-female religion be EVIL for DRAMA. Does this mean the trio's going to cross-dress?

Demetria (?) is trying to dig her way out of cell, only to get called to a Secret Evil Ceremony that involves blood, chanting, and tearing apart a dude with their bare hands. Oh, wait, no, they just toss him to the cave trolls (LITERALLY LURKING IN A HOLE IN THE GROUND), which is easier to show on network TV, I guess.

Jason breaks the news to Demetria's father, and he's... aghast. "I won't allow it!" he cries. The show has not explained why it's a bad thing to be a maenad... aside from the whole killing people bit, but I mean, the king kills people all the time in the name of the gods, what makes this any different? (I mean, Minos's evil, but still! He's in charge!) Why can't Demetria be a maenad and still work in the palace and visit her dad? Isn't that what Celandine did?? I AM SO CONFUSED.

Also: father trying to control his daughter's actions is historically accurate, but sits poorly with me, even though she WAS kidnapped in this case and doesn't want to be there. But what if she wasn't? So far the show hasn't explained to me why EVERY WOMAN wouldn't want to be a maenad. Hanging out in the woods without any men and a lot of intoxicants sounds... way better than almost anything else they could be doing.

The old man collapses in grief and Pythagoras is also a healer, because he makes an infusion of what sounds like "Magnolia remenalis" (??). Which is odd because that genus is located in the Americas and eastern Asia, and even assuming trade routes from China are a Thing here, that wouldn't likely be a part of the typical pharmacopeia, especially if Pythagoras has no money...? And I know there are a bajillion species of magnolia, but I've never heard of this... and would he call it by a Latin binomial anyway? But if it's not that, what is he TALKING about? THIS IS WHY I HATE WATCHING THINGS WITHOUT SUBTITLES.

The old man guilts Jason into going after Demetria, of course, thanks to Daddy Issues. Herc is pissed, especially when he realizes they put the old man in his bed. I love Pythagoras's little smile when he explains that Herc is in charge of their guest, since he's not going on the Mission of Certain Doom!

Herc is so predictable, lol. He brings up the prospect of faking his own death to get out of his debts, and I CANNOT HELP BUT WONDER if this is going to be relevant later on. Like... faking your death so the maenads don't find you, perhaps? And changing your name??

(dear writers, if you don't want me to guess your plot twist, please don't PUT THE WHAM LINE IN THE TEASER, kthanx.)

OH MY GOD THIS IS THE SAME FOREST WHERE THEY FILMED THE FIGHT SCENE IN THE FORCE AWAKENS ISN'T IT? I *RECOGNIZE* THIS PLACE!!

(yup, definitely England. Puzzlewood, almost for certain.)

Of course, the most appropriate way to spend the night is to make a fire, eat soup, and tell ghost stories about maenads first, right? Right. The forests rustle. There's a cave troll stalking them. (Yes, it's supposed to be a satyr, but it looks like a cave troll from LOTR, okay??) He tosses something in the food, which probably means it will only impact Hercules, lol. Hallucinations, maybe??

Why anyone would trust Herc with night watch given his track record, ESPECIALLY these two, I don't know, but PLOT.

Yep, definitely the old mine in Puzzlewood. I'd bet money on it.

Herc follows a woman who looks like an elf from LOTR, lol... but it's a satyr in drag. (Or a hallucination?) IDK why everyone is making a big deal about the maenads when they mostly just stand around and let the male satyrs handle everything.

RUN, HERC, RUN! He's rescued by... Demetria, who also wants to get away. Somehow the satyrs don't see them? *shrug*

Demetria uses Herc's knife and cuts herself and walks out with a bloody mouth, claiming the satyrs killed Herc and she drank his blood... I mean, won't the satyrs call her on it?? But the ruse works and she leaves with them.

Meanwhile, Jason and Pythagoras slept through the entire night without incident, and I just... the satyrs KNOW THERE ARE THREE OF THEM. How come they didn't just slaughter them in their sleep, or at least attack them??

Also, if the satyrs only eat human flesh, how does the ecosystem even WORK? How many of them are there?? How often do they eat? Are they omnivores or obligate carnivores? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

#bbc atlantis #lily liveblogs

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saiilorstars · 4 years

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Stars Dance

Ch. 13: The Writer

Fandom: Doctor Who Pairing: 11th Doctor x Original Female Character

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Chapter summary: The Doctor and Avalon get thrown out of the TARDIS and are forced to stay with Craig Owens, a man who can't seem to figure out what he was literally has right in front of him. At the same time, the Doctor finally learns what has been preventing Avalon from finding peace in her sleep.

(Previous chapters)

Fairy Tale Memoirs (Companion story)

The TARDIS materialized in a modern day city of London, unbeknownst to the trio inside. Avalon hurried up to the doors with a long, shoulder brown bag dangling on her side. She was expecting something grand as the Doctor promised but when she poked her head out, all she saw a boring old park. "Oh, nope not that fifth moon of whatever," she called and hopped onto the grass.

"It's the fifth moon of Sinda Callista," the Doctor corrected as he headed for the doors.

Avalon scoffed, "You do realize how terrible your piloting skills are, right? I keep telling you that you need to teach me so that I can one day teach that River Song woman."

"The day I do that is the day pigs will fly," he poked his head out and looked around, "Is that a Ryman's?" he blinked.

"I should punch you," Avalon muttered.

However, a blast from inside pushed the Doctor forwards. Avalon stepped to the side in time and watched him fall to the ground with a small laugh, "That's what you get," she teased. "I bet the TARDIS agreed with me!"

The Doctor groaned on the ground, about to believe that once again his TARDIS chose to side with Avalon, when the doors shut abruptly. Avalon blinked in surprise and even more so when the box began dematerializing.

"Amy!" the Doctor shouted as he sat up, "Amy!"

"What's going on?" Avalon frowned and put a hand in the air where the TARDIS had just been in, "Why'd it just...go? Is Amy alright?" she looked down at the Doctor, the man confused as much as she was.

~ 0 ~

"Are you sure this is the house, Amy?" Avalon was asking as she hurried down the street, speaking to her friend through an ear piece the Doctor had come up with earlier to communicate with her in the TARDIS.

"Yes, that's the place," Amy answered, "Now hurry please and get me out of here!"

It seemed like something nonhuman was preventing the TARDIS from making a proper landing and therefore was keeping Amy inside. The Doctor had found its origins in a flat owned by a Craig Owens. They'd found an advert in a shop with a note saying to go to that flat, written by Amy apparently. But, the Doctor being himself wanted to go straight to the house and pose as lodgers. Avalon reminded him that they needed money and would therefore go to take out some money from her account. And being impatient as usual, he went first to the flat while Avalon went to take out money. She only hoped that he hadn't ruined it for them yet.

Avalon knocked on the door of the designated flat and waited for someone to answer. Eventually, a man with brown hair and blue eyes opened up, and by the face he had Avalon could tell the Doctor had already made his usual impression.

"Hi," Avalon politely smiled, "I'm-"

"Ginger hair," Craig mumbled.

And immediately Avalon went into a fit of irritation, "Is that how that stupid bow-tie, floppy haired man introduced me?"

"And there's the temper," Craig nodded.

Avalon frowned even deeper, "DOCTOR!" she shouted and went inside.

The Doctor casually came out of the living room and smiled, "Avalon, nice of you to make it."

Avalon controlled herself from strangling him right there and then, "You introduced me how?"

"Just the basics," the Doctor shrugged, not even realizing how much worse that made it for her.

"You introduced me as the temperamental, ginger haired woman?" Avalon's mouth dropped, not sure whether to feel more angry or be hurt. But if it was true, which she knew it was, why would it 'hurt' to be introduced like that? Lots of people used to do that back in Leadworth. Why was it such a big deal now? And upon coming to an inconclusive answer, she let the entire thing go and simply cleared her throat and turned to Craig, basically starting all over again, "Hi, my name is Avalon Reynolds," she extended her hand and waited for it to be shaken.

"Craig Owens..." the man slowly shook her hand, being cautious not to upset her again.

"Um, I'm with him," Avalon gestured to the Doctor, "Heard about the room...um, we've got money to cover the month," she picked up her purse and took out a paper bag, "Here you go," she handed it to Craig.

"Yeah, but I was explaining to him that...I only just put the advert today," Craig was eyeing them oddly, probably suspicious which Avalon couldn't blame him for.

"I shop a lot," was her excuse, "Saw the advert myself and told him about it."

"Yes, so...who lives upstairs?" the Doctor had been staring up at the door of the second level. Avalon followed his gaze and found it creepy with the flickering light bulb.

"Just some bloke," Craig answered, still eyeing them.

"What does he look like?" the Doctor asked.

"Normal. He's very quiet," Craig said and soon after they heard a loud bang from upstairs.

"Sure about that?" Avalon raised an eyebrow.

Without another word, the Doctor entered the living room again, much to Craig's irritation as the man seemed to like wandering about in a place that hadn't even been rented to him yet.

"Excuse me!?" Craig went to follow him in.

Avalon sighed and entered the living room afterwards. She saw the Doctor once more looking up and followed it to a corner of the ceiling where a stain was prominently set. "Is that...dry rot?" she guessed, not entirely sure it was even close. To anyone else it might seem like a normal stain, herself included, but knowing that there was something alien in this house was a bit of a cheat.

"Or damp. Or mildew," Craig shrugged.

"Or none of the above," the Doctor mumbled.

"I'll get someone to fix it," Craig waved it off and turned to the pair.

"No, I'll fix it. I'm good at fixing rot," the Doctor began, "Call me the Rotmeister. No, I'm the Doctor, don't call me the Rotmeister..."

"Before you say something more stupid-" Avalon turned and looked around, "-this is the most beautiful parlor I have ever seen, you're obviously a man of impeccable taste, Craig," she complemented and walked around a bit, "Not many men can manage living on their own and still have a nice house. I mean, the only reason my house was clean was because I cleaned it. My dad is lovely and all but he was not a cleaning man, much less my brother," she rolled her eyes, "So kudos to you, really," she smiled, "Can we stay?"

"You haven't even seen the room," Craig felt the need to point out.

"The room?" the Doctor repeated, not quite there yet.

"He means the room we'd be staying in," Avalon sighed and walked up to Craig, taking charge of the situation, "Can we see it, then?"

"Uh, right," Craig nodded and walked back into the hallway.

"Take us to our room!" the Doctor cheerfully exclaimed. Avalon looked back at him and stared for a moment, "What?" he frowned.

"You are really lucky that box of yours can serve as a home because quite frankly...you stink at being human," she shook her head and led them into the hallway where Craig awaited them by the door of the room they'd be taking.

He unlocked it for them and opened the door to reveal a simple room with a bed in the center, pushed up against the wall, wardrobe pieces set around with a couch chair at the far end. Craig allowed Avalon and the Doctor in first while he explained the details, "Yeah, this is Mark's old room, he owns the place, moved out about a month ago. An uncle he'd never even heard of died and left a load of money."

The Doctor was testing the bed while looking around, "How very convenient. This'll do just right. In fact..." but he stopped when they heard more noise upstairs.

"We'll take it," Avalon said quietly as she looked up.

The Doctor stood up and pulled out his psychic paper, "You'll want to see our credentials," and he started listing each as he swapped the paper from hand to hand behind his back, "There...National Insurance number... NHS number... References..."

"Is that a reference from the Archbishop of Canterbury?" Craig pointed as the Doctor put away the psychic paper.

"I'm his special favorite," the Doctor informed casually and put a finger to his lips, "Are you hungry? I'm hungry."

"I haven't got anything in," Craig said but the Doctor was already halfway out the room.

"Believe me that won't stop him," Avalon shrugged and went after the Doctor.

The Doctor was raiding the fridge and cabinets as if it really were his home, "You've got everything I need for an omelette fines herbes! Pour deux!" he cheered and started to cook, "So who's the girl on the fridge?"

Avalon looked at the fridge and saw a picture of Craig and a blonde, blue-eyed, woman set on the top door. Alright, so maybe he did notice some things...

"My friend. Sophie," Craig said.

"Girlfriend?" Avalon asked.

"A friend who is a girl. There's nothing going on."

Avalon narrowed her eyes with an amused smile, "Okay," she sarcastically said.

"We met at work about a year ago at the call center," Craig hadn't even noticed the look of Avalon as he was still staring at the picture.

"Oh, really, a communications exchange?" the Doctor mused, "That could be handy."

"Firm's going down though. The bosses are using a totally rubbish business model. I know what they should do, I got a plan all worked out, but I'm just a phone drone, I can't go running in saying I know best," Craig suddenly stopped and stared at the pair, "Why am I telling you this? I don't even know you."

"I've got one of those faces. People never stop blurting out their plans while I'm around," the Doctor shrugged.

"He wishes," Avalon scoffed and went into the fridge, feeling hungry herself but not in the mood for omelettes.

"Right, where's your stuff?" Craig asked.

"Don't worry, it'll materialize, if all goes to plan," the Doctor looked around.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor and Craig sat down in the living room after finishing up their food, Craig surprised by the talent of the Doctor had for cooking, "Oh, that was incredible! That was absolutely brilliant. Where did you learn to cook?"

"Paris, in the 18th century," the Doctor said without thinking then shook his head, "No, hang on, that's not recent, is it? 17th? No, no, no, 20th. Sorry, I'm not used to doing them in the right order."

"Stop talking before you really ruin it," Avalon joined them holding a bottle of yogurt in her hands. She managed to find it all the way in the back of the fridge.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a bit weird?" Craig had to ask. Avalon seemed far more normal which then made him question how the two worked together.

"They never really stop," the Doctor shrugged. Avalon gave him his credit for not being fazed by the question. "Ever been to Paris, Craig?"

"Nah, I can't see the point of Paris. I'm not much of a traveler."

"I can tell from your sofa," the Doctor gestured, Avalon wondering where the hell he was going to take that.

"My sofa?" Craig repeated, confused.

"You're starting to look like it."

"I have half a mind to throw this at you," Avalon sighed as she played with her spoon in her yogurt, "But I'm hungry so I'll settle for this," she whacked the Doctor's arm. The Doctor still didn't seem to understand what she was so upset over, Craig didn't seem upset. He was laughing.

"Thanks, mate, that's lovely! No, I like it here..." Craig seemed to get distant as he fondled a bright pink key chain in his hand, "I'd miss it, I'd miss..."

"Whoever owns those keys, I'm assuming," Avalon stared with amusement as she moved over to sit on the long couch with Craig.

"What?" Craig snapped out of his nearlike trance.

"You're fondling the key chain," the Doctor pointed.

"I'm holding them."

Avalon quietly scoffed, "Right."

"Anyway..." Craig stood up and walked to a table by the entrance of the room to grab some keys, "These are your keys."

"We can stay?" the Doctor stood up and went to take the keys.

"Hooray," Avalon gave a pretend cheer and continued to eat her yogurt on the couch.

"Yeah, you're weird," Craig began but was cut off by Avalon clearing her throat.

"Him," she pointed at the Doctor without looking back, "He is weird."

Craig chuckled while the Doctor rolled his eyes, "And you can cook, it's good enough for me," Craig continued then held up each key and explained its function, "Right, outdoor, front door, your door."

"Ha-ha! Yes! Me with a key!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Oh boy, that can't go right," Avalon mumbled to herself.

"And listen, Mark and I, we had an arrangement where if you ever need me out of your hair, just give me a shout, OK?" Craig said quieter to the Doctor, nodding over to Avalon and winking.

The Doctor, not understanding, winked back, "Why would I want that?"

"In case you and your girlfriend want some time alone, I don't know..."

And then they heard Avalon coughing loudly from the couch, "Sorry," she stood up and scarfed down the yogurt in her mouth, "Sorry, we're not…" but she continued to cough. Before she made a further fool of herself, she rose to her feet, "It's not like that," she pointed at Craig and went for the kitchen to throw away her yogurt.

"Is she okay?" Craig asked.

The Doctor, who was also in a fit of blushes, averted the human's eyes and instead focused on the stain on the ceiling, clearing his throat, "I've got the strangest feeling we shouldn't touch it."

"Wasn't planning on it..." Craig looked back at it for a minute, seeing no relevant point of the stain. And when he looked to the Doctor he saw the man was gone. That was odd, then again the Doctor was odd as a person.

~ 0 ~

Avalon was returning to Craig's flat holding her journal in her hands, her long purse hanging on her shoulder. She'd taken a day out with her journal, going through every last page she'd ever written on to see just how many blank spaces there were. It had taken her all day but she'd finally come to the conclusion that she had forgotten something entirely big, something that had messed with her head. She entered the flat and quietly walked to the room designated hers, stopping a moment as she heard Craig speaking to someone over the phone in his room, assuming it was that Sophie woman again. She shook her head and entered her room just as the Doctor was heading out.

"Where are you going?" she asked, confused.

"I've got to go gather things for a makeshift scanner!" he cheered.

"Right, okay," she ignored it and walked further into the room, "Have you talked to Amy yet?"

"She's um...doing alright," the Doctor winced, preferring not to tell her about the TARDIS jolting poor Amy around each time there was a 'time loop' which originated from their upstairs roommate.

"By the way, there was something odd I saw at the park," Avalon let her purse fall on the bed, "People kept repeating themselves, like, um..."

"A time loop," the Doctor sighed.

"Yeah, what...what's that exactly?"

The Doctor pointed up and made Avalon look up, "Lovely gift from our roomie," the Doctor said, "The earpiece protects you from it. Don't take it off."

"I won't," she assured and opened her journal, hearing the Doctor begin to head out again, "Fairy tale man, can we...can we talk for a moment?" she turned to him, her journal still in hands.

"Oh, this is serious," the Doctor noticed the ginger's face. She rolled her eyes but let him have this one.

"Look, I don't know...maybe it's just me...I don't..." she bit her lip, the words were beginning to get strained. She didn't like asking for help, she never asked for help. It was who she was; asking for help meant she couldn't take care of herself and her problems.

"Avalon," the Doctor noticed the severity of what ever was she was trying to say and so he closed the door and walked over to her, "It's okay," he cautiously put a hand on her back, "You can tell me."

But Avalon sighed and shook her head, dropping her journal on the bed, "No, I can't. Forget this, forget I ever mentioned, I just..." she closed her eyes and rubbed the side of her head, "I'm tired."

"You are," the Doctor agreed.

He had grown worried to full blown morbidly concerned with her lack of sleep. Insomnia was one thing for humans but Avalon seemed to never want to sleep. He'd was tempted to simply knock her out and force her to sleep but then he would think of the big temper she'd throw after waking up and realizing what he'd done. He was not prepared for that kind of anger.

"I'm just...confused," Avalon mumbled, "There's things that don't make sense and with the lack of sleep I'm probably just making a big deal out of nothing," she pushed her journal and purse to the side.

That was also another possibility, she thought. Amy had also pointed that out and it could very well be true. Avalon couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten decent sleep. The lack of sleep could be making her over think the blank spaces in her journal.

"Look, why don't you lie down for a minute and I don't know...sleep?" the Doctor suggested ever-so-casually.

"Yeah, that...that doesn't sound so bad," Avalon admitted, "But don't you need help gathering the, um...what was it that you were going to get?"

"You leave that to me," the Doctor said and walked her to a side of the bed, "You just sleep, please."

"Okay, I get the memo," Avalon sat down, "I'm slowly losing it. I'll try to sleep, but...please stay out of trouble."

"I will...genuinely, try my best."

Avalon smiled and shook her head, "Please do. I don't want to get a call from the local police station. Although, it would be different being on the receiving end of the call this time," she mused of how odd it would be to be the good person for once.

"Try to get sleep, alright?" the Doctor said as she laid down, "I'll be back..." he trailed off as the ginger had her eyes closed and practically on the verge of sleep.

He sighed and quietly walked to the door, making sure to close it as quietly as possible. He looked up at the door at the top of the staircase while he backed to the entrance door of the flat. He didn't feel very comfortable leaving Avalon on her own, asleep, with the an unknown evil entity. He'd rather she come with him but he would also prefer for her to actually get some sleep. The only thing he could do now was hurry up and get back as fast as possible.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor kept true to his word and returned a mere hour and a half later...with a trolley filled different objects he'd found from random trash bins in the streets. He was being extra careful not to make any noise for Avalon as he entered their room. He closed the door and looked over at Avalon, disappointed to find her fussing in her sleep. By the looks of it, she was having a dream. He left the trolley and started walking for her when he spotted her journal and purse on the floor, probably knocked off by her fuss. He bent down and picked up the opened journal, about to shut it when he noticed empty spaces in the middle of her writing. He made sure not to read any lines for her privacy. He too had books about himself that he never wanted anyone to see and so he followed the same expectations with Avalon's journal. He shut it and looked at the cover. It was a dark brown leather bound journal that looked old and tattered. It bore Avalon's initials on lower bottom 'A.H .R.' and was covered in stickers he assumed she'd posted as a child. He smiled only for a moment before Avalon screamed and sat right up, scaring him enough to drop the journal.

"No! No! No! No!" Avalon was in actual sobs as she repeatedly swatted invisible things on her neck, "Get off me!"

The Doctor hurriedly moved on the bed to calm her down, trying to catch her swatting hands as she continued to shout in terror, "Avalon! Avalon it's me!" he tried to say but she was too much in a frantic mode to listen.

"No! No! Get off me! Get off me!" she sobbed with her eyes shut, "Please!"

"AVA!" the Doctor finally shouted in a louder tone that overpowered Avalon's.

She stopped and opened her eyes, breathing rapidly and heavily, and finally took a look around to see where she was again. She was in the flat, yes, she remembered now. She tried to sleep again...and had another nightmare. Again.

"It's okay now," the Doctor whispered, watching her eyes flicker from one thing in the room to another in such fear it actually pained him. Was that...was that normal?

"I'm sorry," her breath hitched as she spoke, "I...I had a dream..."

"Nightmare," he corrected, "And I'm guessing that's the reason behind your sleepless nights," she nodded and he recalled the other nights she'd appeared in the kitchen with more or less of the same appearance she had now, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"N-no," she managed to say.

"I bet another reason you can't sleep is because you've been bottling this up to yourself," he sighed, "You can tell me, I've had plenty experience with nightmares."

"You have?" Avalon sniffled, hating how she must look to the Doctor at the moment. Her face was covered in tears and her hair was (and felt) like a mess. This was not how she ever wanted anyone to see her. She was Avalon, the girl who never cried. What was she doing?

"Yes, I have had terrible nightmares in my life," the Doctor sighed. He never told Avalon nor Amy what exactly happened with the rest of the Time Lords and Gallifrey, only that there'd been a war and they'd lost. He didn't want them to fear him nor look at him any different. He supposed that was probably selfish of him to let them believe he was a good man but...he just couldn't find it in him to actually sit down and tell the gingers what had happened.

"What about?" Avalon asked and wiped some tears off her face.

"Nothing you need to know about right now," the Doctor waved it off, "But you need sleep, Avalon. Now I would really like to know how to help you but I can't do anything unless I know what the problem is. Have some trust in me, Ava. I promise not a word about this will leave my mouth."

Avalon looked at him for a good minute as she pondered what he would think of her after she told him what kept her up every night.

"Trust in me, Ava," the Doctor insisted.

He knew that nickname was something she used with Rory but after visiting Mary Costa, the name had simply stuck as the name of Avalon's professional debut. He saw it as the moment their relationship had grown into actual friendship.

"It's about Venice..." Avalon suddenly said, her eyes looking down as if in shame.

"What about Venice?"

"It's, um..." she sniffled, "...I can't..." she quickly closed her eyes, "...it's hard to, um..."

"If it's too hard to say, you could just show me," the Doctor suggested as he saw the heavy struggle Avalon was in to utter a word about her nightmares.

"H-how?" Avalon looked up to see him holding his fingers to motion a telepathic exchange. With a sigh, Avalon she nodded and allowed him to place his fingers on her temples.

"I won't look at anything, just show me your dreams," the Doctor instructed.

"Okay," she swallowed hard and closed her eyes, doing just what he asked.

Immediately, the Doctor saw her nightmare...different moments in which she had been bitten and fed on by the Saturnynes. His hearts broke to see her so terrified and defenseless against them. He'd heard that Avalon never showed fear for the sake of Lena so she always kept it bottled in. He understood how difficult it must have been for Avalon to deal with what happened to her in Venice on her own. But because she never showed an ounce of fear to the others, the fear found another way to express itself: nightmares. And, because she kept the nightmares to herself and never asked for help, the nightmares increased in quantities and in strength.

"Avalon..." the Doctor took back his hands and looked at the ginger before him.

Avalon teared up and started sniffling louder and louder until she couldn't keep it in anymore and burst into sobs, "I was scared! I was really scared!" she clung onto him for a hug.

The Doctor, though startled by the outburst, hugged back. He felt this was probably something she used to do with Rory, and well...since he'd taken him away from her as well...she felt truly alone with no one to talk to. He hugged her back and let her cry all she needed to do in order to start overcoming those nightmares of hers and finally get some needed sleep.

"I'm sorry, Ava," he rubbed her back, "You should have told one of us. We would've helped."

"I didn't want to worry," Avalon tried to say through her sobs.

"Don't try to lie, I saw it, remember? You didn't want to talk about it because 'Avalon Reynolds does not get scared'," the Doctor sighed, "Everyone gets scared, Ava. It's natural, normal. But it stops being normal when you keep it bottled inside," he pulled away and made her look up at him, "Your fear found another way to express itself. Now it's harming you for real."

"Wh-What can I do? Please tell me, I can't take it anymore," she shook her head, "I'm tired. Every time I close my eyes I can feel them on my neck," she shivered and swatted her hands over her neck, "They're drinking and I scream over and over and-"

"Sh, sh, sh, it's okay," the Doctor said and pulled her hands from her neck, "It's very simple, actually."

"It is?"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "Just talk about it. Admit you were afraid. And I promise you, little by little, those pesky nightmares will fade away."

"I have to talk about it?" Avalon hesitated as she took her hands from his, "I...I can't. It's embarrassing," she mumbled.

The Doctor sighed, he should've guessed she'd feel like that, "Well, then...don't look at me," he offered, "I'll sit here," he moved to the other side of the bed, "And you lay down where you were," he admitted he was a bit surprise to actually see her obeying and taking her place back for sleep, "Okay, um, just...talk, tell me what happened. Tell me how you felt and I'll listen."

"Um..." she stared at the window across her spot, "...I was mad cos I was caught sneaking down to the chamber, the one where you'd be coming through. Then I saw Francesco, and I...I don't remember much," she paused as she thought, "...I slapped him. But I can't remember why I did it. I just know that I was really, really angry with him...cos he did something."

The Doctor knew that it had to be because of what Francesco had done to Lena. He could see Avalon angry as hell and slapping the man, triggering his instinct to fight back...and biting her.

"Then I was brought into another chamber and they...they strapped me down to this chair and...I met Rosanna, and we argued...and..." Avalon swallowed hard and shut her eyes.

The Doctor noticed her breathing picking up and gently put a hand on her arm, "It's okay," he whispered, "Deep breath," he instructed.

Avalon took a deep breath and waited a moment more before she felt enough to talk again, "They bit me...both of them, the Saturnynes, they...the fed on me like I was a dinner plate," she sniffled, "I can still feel their hands on my neck...pushing my hair away, and I just..." she quietly cried, her hands clutching the blanket underneath.

The Doctor didn't know how to help her at this point. Should he hug her? But it would be a bit awkward considering she was laying down. But he just didn't like hearing her cry and needed a way to stop her. He reached for a nearby blanket and draped it over Avalon, "I promise you nothing like that will ever happen to you again," he whispered, "And whenever you feel scared, please tell me, or even Amy. You don't have to pretend anymore."

Avalon looked back with red eyes and managed a small smile, "Thank you, Fairy Tale Man."

"I didn't really do much," the Doctor admitted, "Sort of acted like a psychologist."

"Well it's been long since I had a 'psychologist'," she chuckled lightly, "I don't...I don't really have anyone to talk to anymore..." she paused, the Doctor saw confusion spreading on her face the more silent she continued to be, "...I..I don't think I really had anyone to begin with," she mumbled, "My mum, Amy...Mels. But Mum died and then I...no one."

The Doctor found it difficult to look her in the eye and not feel guilty. On his watch he'd let Rory and Lena die, leaving Amy and Avalon alone.

"I was scared," Avalon took a breath and turned back to her side, "I admit it," she closed her eyes, "And it actually...feels better."

"Try getting some sleep," the Doctor offered, smiling when she pulled the blanket closer to her.

"God I really hope there's no more dreams tonight," she whispered as she closed her eyes.

"Dream yourself up a knight in shinning armor or something to keep the bad people away," the Doctor said and got a laugh from her, "Meanwhile, I'll be as quiet as possible for you."

Before he got up, Avalon reached back and took his hand, "Thank you," she whispered.

The Doctor smiled back, "You're welcome," he surprised her, and himself, by giving her a kiss on the cheek.

She blinked but nonetheless smiled, "Goodnight." She let his hand go and finally decided to try once more to sleep.

~ 0 ~

The next morning, Craig stood outside the bathroom where he'd been waiting a decent amount of time for the Doctor to come. The Doctor was singing at the top of his lungs, making it just a bit hard to hear Craig's calls from the other side of the door.

Craig gave one particularly loud bang against the door. "Doctor!"

The Doctor stopped his singing for a moment and heard Craig's next call. "Hello?!"

"How long are you going to be in there?" Craig called, sighing.

"Oh, sorry, I like a good soak!"

Craig was about to tell him to hurry up when he'd heard a loud banging above, "What the hell was that?"

~ 0 ~

Inside the bathroom, the Doctor poked his head out from the curtain, "What did you say?"

~ 0 ~

"I'm just going to go upstairs, see if he's OK," Craig headed for the stairs.

~ 0 ~

"Sorry?" the Doctor called but received no answer, "What did you say?"

~ 0 ~

Craig was finishing coming up the stairs and went right ahead to knock on the door of the upstairs room. An elderly man opened up the door by a creak, "Yes? Hello?" he asked.

~ 0 ~

"Craig?" the Doctor called one again and decided to go check what was happening. He grabbed a towel as he got out of the shower but ended up slipping on the floor with a loud thud.

~ 0 ~

"It's me from downstairs. I heard a big bang," Craig was saying to the elder man.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor sat up on the bathroom floor and with soap in his eyes, "No choice...it's sonicking time," he reached out to grab his screwdriver placed in a toothbrush holder but ended up grabbing a toothbrush due to the soap in the eyes.

~ 0 ~

"Thank you, Craig, but I don't need your help," the elderly man closed the door on Craig.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor ran out the bathroom only for the towel wrapped around his waist to slip to the floor, "Oops!" he quickly picked it up and tied around himself again. He needed to get out there because he was sure Craig said something about going upstairs. He reached the stairs and aimed his 'screwdriver' up the stairs, "What happened, what's going on?"

"Is that my toothbrush?" Craig raised an eyebrow as he came down the stairs.

"Correct. You spoke to the man upstairs?" the Doctor stared up at the shut door.

"Yeah."

"What did he look like?"

"More normal than you do at the moment, mate," Craig smiled in amusement, "What are you doing?"

"What is going on!?" they heard Avalon's call as she emerged from her bedroom. She came round the staircase, rubbing her eyes and with a big yawn. "Between shouts and..." she yawned again.

"I thought Craig was in trouble," the Doctor winced. He'd tried keeping his word of being as quiet as possible while she slept. Throughout the rest of the night she slept peacefully while he worked on the makeshift device that would help them with the upstairs flatmate. When morning came by, Avalon wasn't giving any indication that she'd be waking up soon so the Doctor got himself out of there before he did something to wake her up.

"And you couldn't have gotten dressed to go and save him?" Avalon tried not to laugh when she'd finally opened her eyes and saw him with the towel and his hair in the worse state ever. She reached over to flick some of his wet hair off his forehead. "Might wanna go easier on the shampoo next time."

The Doctor swatted her hand away from him, making her laugh again. At least she seemed chipper than usual.

"And with my toothbrush," Craig pointed and headed off to answer a ringing phone in the living room.

"What's going on?" Avalon looked up at the stairs, "Did I miss an attack or something?"

"No, no...suppose not..." the Doctor frowned, "...you should go back to sleep."

"It's past noon," she smiled, "Plus, I want breakfast," she shrugged and moved for the living room when she saw the front door opening.

It was Sophie, coming in with another key. She walked in and lightly gasped when she saw the two, a bit more startled by the Doctor due to his lack of clothing, "Oh...Hello?"

Avalon sighed, "Avalon Reynolds," she waved and entered the living room, "I want breakfast."

She went straight into the kitchen and started raiding the fridge. Knowing men when they said they had nothing it really meant they only had healthy food and didn't actually eat it. She went through that with her father and brother. If there were things like apples and oranges for them there was 'nothing to eat'. She took out a plate and took out a celery stick with a bottle of ranch. Just like she'd guessed, there were things to eat.

"What are you doing?" she sighed when the Doctor came over to the fridge and took out a milk carton...to drink from it.

"The better question is what are you doing?" the Doctor moved to her side and grimaced at the celery.

"Breakfast," she snatched the carton from him and placed a glass in front of him.

"Past noon?"

"Shut up," she muttered, "I never sleep past noon. Barely sleep past six in the morning."

"Well I wasn't going to wake you. It looked like you were finally getting well-deserved sleep."

"I did, actually," she smiled as she took a piece of celery and bit into it, "For the first time..."

"Followed my advice, then," he nudged her, turning her smile into confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Dreamed up some sort of savior," he reached for one of her celery sticks.

Avalon started coughed unexpectedly for a second as she gave a small smile, "Yeah, actually...I did," she quickly turned away, "...and it helped."

"Let me guess, Prince Charming?" the Doctor smirked as he bit into the celery, quickly spitting it back out into the sink, "Bad, very bad," he mumbled.

"Um, yeah, yeah...Prince Charming," Avalon rubbed the side of her neck, "Knight in Shining Armor," she cleared her throat and looked at him with a smile, "Thanks. For real. I'm not used to this kind of treatment."

"Kind of treatment?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, "Do you mean you're not used to people treating you kindly? ...cos you're not a 'nice person'?"

Avalon looked at him, "Where did you hear that?"

"Look, I'm going to be honest here..." he looked back at Craig and Sophie, making sure they weren't listening. They seemed to be having a conversation while Craig held the phone, "...I heard what you said to Vincent," he spoke quietly to Avalon.

"You eavesdropped?" Avalon blinked.

"I didn't mean to, but...the voices sort of carried out and I...I heard," the Doctor winced as if he could already feel one of her slaps that were sure to come his way. But instead, Avalon stepped back her head turning to the side as if she were avoiding his look, "Ava, I'm sorry, I...I know how reserved you are with your things," the Doctor sighed, "I promise I won't say anything."

Avalon scoffed quietly, "Oh please, it's nothing no one's new to. At least now you know who you brought into your home," he opened his mouth to remark on his confusion but she continued without noticing, "I don't need the pity, I get that from Amy at times. Mels is...well...she's the only one that doesn't really care, actually."

"Hold on, I'm not telling you this because I pity you," the Doctor frowned, "I'm telling you this because I'm sorry for what you've been through."

"Isn't that the same?"

"No, it's not. I'm, frankly irritated and upset you've been treated like that for so long," he stepped up to her, "And, I share some of those feelings."

"What? They did that to you too?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Have you met me?" he challenged and she chuckled, "On my home planet, Gallifrey, things were strict. There were rules and laws and I...sort of didn't follow them. Everyone knew who I was, I had an infamous legacy..." he laughed bitterly, "...the infamous child, actually."

"You understand," Avalon realized.

"Of course I do," he nodded.

"But you weren't a criminal like me..."

"Actually," he didn't want to bring up the manner in which he'd ended a war she didn't even know about yet. but perhaps he could mention briefly the object that he used, "...I stole something from my people, and I used it for something bad."

"You don't look like a criminal," she remarked, making him smile.

"I could say the same to you," he shrugged, "But the thing is Avalon, the thing I want you to get from all this is that I try to have my hope, to be happy and to have some friends. I'd like for you to try that too."

"I do have friends," she said quietly, "And I am happy..."

"You've known Amy all your life and yet she doesn't even know what your favorite color is, what you want to be in life...you never talk about yourself," he sighed, "I don't even know you that well. And I'm not that big of an idiot to miss the fact that you're not truly happy."

"Why do you insist so much on this?" Avalon had to ask as she thought of the many times he'd talk to her like this, about things that she didn't even talk to Amy about, "We have a pending alien flatmate to deal with and your wasting your time with a hopeless case?"

"Because it's not hopeless and I clearly care for you," the Doctor casually shrugged.

"You care for me this much?" Avalon whispered.

"Yes," he answered slowly so she would get it through her head, "With your violent ways, your sarcasm, preppiness-"

"I'm not preppy," she crossed her arms.

"Have you seen what you're wearing?"

Avalon opened her mouth but then looked down at her clothes. She wore a buttoned up, pink and white vertically-striped blouse with a high-collared, yoke-styled neckline. It had ruffles around the sleeveless hemlines on each arm. She wore dark blue jeans and brown leather boots with small heels. "Okay so maybe I'm a little preppy..." Avalon reconsidered with a sigh.

The Doctor laughed, "And that's just fine."

"You are one weird alien," she whispered, "But a very helpful one."

"Oh, I've moved up ranks," the Doctor joked and got a laugh from her.

"Don't get too cocky on that, just because you helped one insomniac sleep for the first time doesn't mean anything...ish,"

"Oi?" they heard Craig call, "The game is in an hour, remember Doctor?"

Avalon sent an odd look at the Doctor. "What game is he talking about?"

"Did I forget to mention?" he beamed, "I'm playing football!"

"Oh no..." she whispered and stepped back.

"I'm gonna hit the shower," Craig said and looked over at the pair again, "Doctor, like I said, the spare kit's in the bottom drawer."

"Right," the Doctor nodded, "Best get dressed now."

"Yeah, I'll see you in a bit too," Craig said goodbye to Sophie and hurriedly went for a shower.

Sophie looked around a bit awkwardly as she noticed Avalon silently eating in the kitchen. Avalon then turned to her holding the plate she was eating from, "Celery, Sophie?"

"Um, no thanks," Sophie shook her head.

"So, you don't play or anything?" Avalon walked into the living room and sat down on the couch chair.

"Nah, I just watch," Sophie sat down on the large couch.

"Well, it's not half bad of a date," Avalon smirked as Sophie gasped with a flushed face.

"It's...it's not a date," she quickly shook her head, "Craig and I, we're not..."

"I never said you and Craig," Avalon's smirk widened as Sophie blushed even deeper.

"Oh! U-um, well...um...I, uh..." Sophie looked around in plain embarrassment as she tried figuring out what to say.

"You know," Avalon went on like nothing happened, "People who aren't dating don't usually have two sets of keys to a 'friend's house but yet yours are in your purse," she pointed to Sophie's purse on her lap, "And then Craig had those over there," she then pointed to the table near the threshold, "It's also yours, which he's been holding by the way."

"What's the point of this?" Sophie asked, confused.

Avalon shrugged with a smile, "Nothing, I just guess you must really like it here."

"Um, yeah..."

"It's not bad," Avalon said, "I gotta say back in my house with my dad and brother, they're total slobs at time. If I don't do a regular clean up," she did a whistle, "They are lucky to have me."

"You still go back and clean for them?" Sophie wondered.

"Oh no, they don't even know I'm gone," Avalon shrugged, forgetting for the moment that while for her it was still the night she'd gone off with the Doctor and Amy, for Sophie it looked more like a runaway.

"Don't you think you should've mentioned to your father you decided to go and live with your boyfriend?"

Avalon nearly choked on her celery stick, "Seriously, we're not," she looked at Sophie, "Just friends."

"So you ran away with your 'friend'?" Sophie raised an eyebrow.

"We didn't run away!" Avalon exclaimed and finally scarfed down the rest of her celery stick, "I didn't run away!"

"Then why are you here...?" Sophie asked. She wasn't trying to be rude but it was confusing and a bit odd for two friends to go and rent a room when the logical thing would've been to rent out an entire flat and simply be flatmates like Craig had done with Mark, the anterior flatmate.

"Because we're..." Avalon looked at the ceiling with the spreading stain, "...we're um...you know what, conversation over," she sweetly smiled and stood up, placing the finished plate of celery on the table, "I'm gonna go help my...friend, out," she hurried out of the room.

That conversation probably could've gone better.

~ 0 ~

"No it's not the one with the sticks," Avalon muttered to the Doctor as they followed Craig and Sophie through the park towards the field.

All the way there the Doctor had tried narrowing down what kind of game football was and so he had burdened Avalon with all the questions he could think of. While it had been amusing in the beginning for Avalon, she was beginning to grow tired of answering questions that were clearly not relevant to the sport...especially when the Doctor held the football in his hands.

One of Craig's teammates, Sean, came over to greet them as soon the group had arrived, "All right, Craig. Soph. All right, mate."

"Hello, I'm Craig's new flatmate," the Doctor shook his hand and gave another Gallic kiss, making Avalon sigh as she'd spoken to him about that habit, "I'm called the Doctor. Oh, and that's Avalon," Avalon gave a nod for a greeting.

"All right, I'm Sean," he smiled, "Where are you strongest?"

"Arms," the Doctor said.

Avalon shook her head, "He meant what position, genius," she mumbled to him.

"Oh, not sure," he shrugged, "The front? The side? Below?"

"Are you any good though?" Sean raised an eyebrow.

The Doctor spun the ball on his fingers and grinned, "Let's find out," he kicked the ball into the field and ran to catch it.

"It'll be a real lottery," Avalon warned and moved to go sit on a nearby bench.

"You don't play either?" Sophie came to sit beside her.

"Um, no...not really," Avalon shook her head and sighed, "As a kid I, um, I actually liked sports but you know how it is. 'Girls don't play sports' and all, never really got to do it."

"I like watching," Sophie admitted and looked out to the field.

"Could only guess why," Avalon mumbled and caught the woman blushing again.

"Has anyone told you you're a bit bold?"

"The cops," Avalon shrugged, "My dad...lots of people," she concluded and got a laugh, "Makes it a bit harder to make some friends, though."

"Ava!" she heard the Doctor calling as he ran towards her, "Apparently, you don't play with this." He held out his tweed jacket to her.

"You don't say," Avalon sarcastically gasped and took the jacket from him.

"You could've said something," the Doctor huffed at her sarcasm.

"I did," she reminded, growing serious, "But I do recall you saying 'it's cool'."

"It is!"

Avalon rolled her eyes, "Oh go out and play. And please try not to hurt yourself or the other players." The Doctor beamed and ran off.

"Why did you tell him that?" Sophie wondered, "Isn't he good?"

Avalon opened her mouth but let out a nervous laugh and looked at the field, "Oh look, the game's starting," she pointed, "Let's watch."

Sophie thought the ginger was acting weirder than was the normal but agreed and turned to watch the game begin. As the game progressed the Doctor began to show some genuine skills that helped score some goals for Craig's team. As little as she knew about the sport, Avalon found herself actually getting more into the game along with the onlookers. Together, they cheered for the Craig's team, but more specifically the Doctor who scored the winning goal, and most of the others goals. At the end of the game, Sophie went to congratulate Craig on the team;s win, though the more Avalon looked at the man the more she thought Craig looked upset for some reason.

"Ava!" Avalon heard the Doctor call to her. She barely had time to react when she was taken into a great, big hug. "We won! I won! Did you see that!?" the Doctor spun her around like crazy.

"Wow! Yes, I did! Gotta say, I'm surprised." Avalon laughed as she was set down, actually feeling a blush for his surprise hug, unbeknownst to her the Doctor was also in the same predicament. He'd just been so happy that he'd won and since all the other team members went to hug their friends, he thought he should do the same.

"Ha! Another win! Impressed yet?" he flashed her a smirk that made her roll her eyes.

"You wish! You just had a lucky streak, that's all," she chuckled when his face went flat. "Oh c'mon, just kidding. Congrats! You did win!" She gave him another hug, completely ignoring his sweaty state - she'd let it slide this time. She actually thought he played a good game for somebody who had no idea how to play the game.

The Doctor was always happy to get a hug from Avalon. She always smelled so nice, so floral and...nice.

"Hey!" Sean called to the pair, breaking them apart. "You two just gonna stay there or come join us?"

Avalon quickly untangled herself from the Doctor's arms and pulled them towards the rest of the team. Since neither of them looked at each other, they didn't notice the same blushes they sported on their faces.

"You are so on the team!" Sean immediately said to the Doctor after giving them their drinks. "Next week we've got the Crown and Anchor, we'll annihilate them!"

The Doctor took the words quite literally and moved up to Sean, "No violence, not while I'm around, not today, not ever. I'm the Doctor, the oncoming storm-"

Avalon yanked him back and laughed nervously, urgently motioning him to shut up. "He's just joking," she said to the group and shot a look at the Doctor, "He meant you were totally going to win the next game."

"Oh..." the Doctor blinked and looked back to Sean, the man was overly puzzled with his reaction. "Lovely, what sort of time?"

At that moment, Craig had opened up a can that spilled over, making everyone laugh. However, the action started to repeat itself over and over as a time loop.

Quickly, the Doctor took Avalon away from them and activated the earpieces, "Amy?" he called.

Avalon activated her earpiece in time to hear Amy's scream, 'It's happening again! Worse!'

"What does the scanner say?" the Doctor urgently asked.

"A lot of nines. Is it good that they're nines? Tell me it's good that they're all nines!"

Avalon studied the face the Doctor had and sighed, "Not good, is it?" she asked him.

"No, no, it's...it's good," he tried to say to her and Amy, "Just um, the zigzag plotter, zigzag plotter, Amy," they heard another scream, "Amy? Are you there?"

"Yes, hello," she finally called, the TARDIS seeming a bit better now.

"Ah, thank heavens. I thought the TARDIS had been flung off into the vortex with you inside it, lost forever."

"You mean that could actually happen!?" Avalon blinked with wide eyes, "That's the sort of things you need to mention!" she whacked his arm.

"You have got to get me out of here!" Amy exclaimed.

"How are the numbers?" the Doctor made her focus on that again, not able to handle two alarmed gingers.

"All fives."

"Fives?" the Doctor looked back at the human group to see them acting normally, "Even better. Still, it means the effect's almost unbelievably powerful and dangerous, but don't worry. Hang on, OK? I've got some rewiring to do."

"Hey! You...'hang on'!"

Avalon scoffed, "Great comeback, Amy."

"Oh...shut up!"

Avalon shook her head and followed the Doctor back to Craig's flat.

~ 0 ~

The travelers were lucky that no more time loops happened for the rest of the day. The Doctor set back to work on whatever he was building and since Avalon had zero clue what he was doing, she decided that the best thing she could do for him was to stay out of his way. Today was the first day in a very long time that she was wide awake and she wanted to take advantage of it.

She went out and did a bit of exploring without making herself known. She visited a few shops, bought nothing though since the TARDIS' wardrobe pretty much beat everything they had, and then headed for the local food shops. Since the flat basically had no food, and she couldn't eat healthy forever, she went in for some groceries.

She returned to the flat by evening and had found Craig and the Doctor conversing something in the foyer. The first thing she noticed - because how could she not notice - the great big orange cone the Doctor was holding. A street cone. He literally went out and got a street cone.

"Oh dear Lord," she muttered as she wobbled her way towards them with the grocery bags in her hands.

"Need some help?" Craig offered his hands to which Avalon was very grateful. He definitely seemed in a better mood than he was earlier at the game.

"Thanks," Avalon pushed her purse's strap back over her shoulder and gave the Doctor a look for his chosen cone. "What were you talking about? Didn't get into trouble did you?"

"Oh nothing, I was just telling Craig he shouldn't mind us. Won't even know we're here."

"Right," Avalon nodded then let her eyes linger over the cone. "Doctor, why the hell do you have a street cone? Most guys bring beer or, I don't know, something that's not street cones!"

"Why would I want beer of all things? That smells disgusting," the Doctor scrunched his face, even shuddering as if he was smelling it right now.

"It's actually pretty good. Craig, I'll put the stuff away!" Avalon turned for the living room but before she could even step inside, Craig hollered that he got it and that she and the Doctor could go off.

"Go off where?" Avalon barely asked when the Doctor yanked her for their room.

The Doctor quickly opened the door for Avalon and pulled her inside before Craig could see what laid inside. Avalon was stunned to see the bed covered with a spinning machine-type-wheel.

"Isn't it a beauty!?" the Doctor gestured quite proudly to his creation.

"It's a machine," Avalon said and hushed him, "You may want to speak quieter before Craig or the flatmate upstairs hears you."

The Doctor merely shrugged and returned to work. Apparently, he wasn't done yet. "So, where did you go? Besides the grocery store apparently."

"Places," Avalon moved towards the couch chair, genuinely smiling as she let herself fall onto it. "Today's the first day that I'm actually awake so I celebrated by going to the shops and the park again. I busied myself with more writing." She pulled her journal out of her bag and gave it a sigh that distinctly sounded sad.

The Doctor stopped working to shoot her a suspicious look. "You don't seem too happy about it. And I do believe we talked about that."

"It's not that I'm unhappy, it's just..." she shook her head, "...it's nothing."

"No, c'mon, tell me," he glanced at her with an encouraging nod.

Avalon closed her journal and stared at the cover, "My mum gave me this journal for my fifteenth birthday," she swallowed hard, "Also known as the year she died. So...this is kinda the last thing I have from her," the Doctor stopped working and turned to her as he sensed the importance of her words, "I've been writing in thing for six years and...I've used up all the pages now," she looked up with a sad smile, "I've got no where else to write anymore."

"Um...it's called buying another journal," the Doctor said, feeling like now she was missing the obvious and she rarely did that.

"Doctor, were you not listening? My mother gave me this journal," Avalon clutched the journal to her chest, "I wanted to be a writer, still do, actually," she whispered, "She gave me the journal so that I could start practicing."

"But after her death it turned more into sentimental value for you," the Doctor started to understand.

"It's silly, I know, but...to buy another journal is like replacing my mother and I don't want to do that," she smiled sadly, "I don't want to start a new journal anymore because then I'd have to stop carrying this one," she waved her journal, "And that would be like that forgetting about my mum."

"So you're just going to stop the writing?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged, "I guess...I just can't let go of these pages...pictures..." she opened up the front cover and turned it around fo him to see, "See? My mum wrote me a letter and put a picture of us together, I can't buy a new one."

The Doctor smiled as he saw the teenage version of Avalon with her mother, "I understand," he nodded, "But hey," he beamed, confusing Avalon for a second.

"What?"

"I just learned something about you," he gestured, "And I mean something that not even Amy knows about."

"What?"

He laughed at her genuine confusion, "You want to be a writer!"

"Oh," she looked to the side, "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing!" the Doctor exclaimed, "I'm just happy to know something about you that you've told no one else."

She playfully rolled her eyes, "Oh don't make such a big deal about it. And get back to work," she pointed back to the device he'd left alone.

"Yes, ma'am," he pretended to salute. She laughed and leaned back on the chair, opening her journal to reread some of the pages. The Doctor looked at her for a minute and softly smiled, she actually looked genuinely happy. That was a version of her he hadn't seen just yet so it was more than special for him.

~ 0 ~

"Hello," the Doctor poked his head up from behind the couch where Craig and Sophie sat on.

"What?" Craig blinked at the sight of the man.

"Whoops, sorry, don't worry, I wasn't listening, in a world of my own down there," the Doctor quickly said and winced when he heard Avalon shout his name.

"I thought we were over this," she entered the living room, noticing Sophie and Craig, "Sorry, sorry, he's a bit of an idiot when it comes to tools and he thinks I was lying," she looked at the Doctor, "Which I am not!"

"I thought you were going out!" Craig said to both of them, Avalon sensing an irritation in his tone.

"Why would we go out?" she crossed her arms.

"Because I told him we needed...space," Craig answered quietly.

"This is the first time I hear any such statements," Avalon shrugged and walked up to pull the Doctor up to his feet, snatching the screwdriver from his hand, "This-" she held it up to him, "-is a regular screwdriver. No buttons, no nothing. Have you finally gotten it?"

"What's going on?" Sophie looked between the two, finding a bit irrelevant to be talking over a screwdriver.

"They're really on their way out," Craig tried to say.

"No, I don't mind, if you don't mind," Sophie cut in, smiling at the pair unlike Craig.

"I don't mind, why would I mind?"

"Then stay, have a drink with us," Sophie gestured for the pair to move over and take a seat.

"What, do I have to stay now?" the Doctor looked at Avalon who just sighed.

"Do you want to stay?" she countered.

"I don't mind," he shrugged, completely oblivious to the fact he'd ruined a moment between Sophie and Craig.

"Okay then," Sophie once again gestured for them to move over.

"Great," Craig muttered.

Later on would find the Doctor sitting in the couch chair, still with the wires wrapped around his neck. Avalon had brought a chair from the kitchen and placed it across the couch as she didn't want to intrude even more on poor Craig's night. They'd started to talk and while the Doctor continued working on the wires, Sophie had taken to talking about them of the routine of life and slowly getting more and more upset about it.

"Cos life can seem pointless," she went on, "Work, weekend, work, weekend. And there's six billion people on the planet doing pretty much the same."

"Six billion people? Watching you two at work," the Doctor gave them a small look, "I'm starting to wonder where they all come from."

"What? What do you mean by that?" Sophie became alarmed.

"So that call center," Avalon cut in before the Doctor said something else he shouldn't, "You don't think that's good enough?" Sophie gave a small shrug, "What do you really want to do?"

"Don't laugh. I only ever told Craig about it. I want to work looking after animals. Maybe abroad? I saw this orangutan sanctuary on telly."

"And what's stopping you?"

"She can't, you need loads of qualifications," Craig finally looked down from the ceiling he'd been staring at ever since Avalon and the Doctor had stayed.

"Yeah, true. Plus it's scary, everyone I know lives round here," Sophie gave another shrug, "Craig got offered a job in London, better money, didn't take it."

"What's wrong with staying here? I can't see the point of London," Craig shook his head.

"Well, perhaps that's you, then. Perhaps you'll just have to stay here, secure and a little bit miserable until the day you drop," the Doctor suddenly said, getting the eyes of everyone of horror, "Better than trying and failing, eh?"

"You think I'd fail?" Sophie softly asked, sounding so disappointed it almost made Avalon smack the Doctor for it.

"Everybody's got dreams, Sophie, very few are going to achieve them, so why pretend?" the Doctor grabbed a wine glass he'd been given and took a sip. Although once he tasted it he spat it out quickly into the glass and set it back down, "Perhaps, in the whole universe, a call center is where you should be?"

"Why are you saying that? That's horrible!" Sophie gasped.

"Is it true?"

"Of course it's not true. I'm not staying in a call center all my life, I can do anything I want!" the Doctor stayed silent and only smiled, making Sophie realize she'd been tricked, "Oh! Yeah! Right!" Sophie fist-bumped the Doctor and chuckled, "Oh my God," she glanced at Craig, "Did you see what he just did?"

"No, what's happening?" Craig, heavily alarmed, looked between her and the Doctor, "Are you going to live with monkeys now?"

"You're good," Avalon complemented the Doctor, feeling a bit guilty she'd actually thought he meant every word he said to Sophie.

"It's a big old world, Sophie," the Doctor said to her after giving a wink to Avalon, "Work out what's really keeping you here, eh?"

"I don't know. Dunno..." Sophie mumbled and discreetly glanced at Craig.

~ 0 ~

"And you're sure this is going to work?" Avalon stared at the finished device on the bed, now spinning endlessly.

The Doctor stood beside her with overbearing excitement, "Shield's up! Let's scan!" he announced.

"What are you getting?" Amy asked both of them through the earpieces.

"Upstairs," the Doctor looked at a converted digital clock, "No traces of high technology. Totally normal. No no, no, no, it can't be! It's too normal."

"Only for you could too normal be a problem," Avalon scoffed.

"You said I could be lost forever. Just go upstairs," Amy ordered him.

"Without knowing, get myself killed, then you really are lost," the Doctor informed, "If I could just get a look in there... Hold on," he stopped the device from spinning, "Use the data bank, get me the plans of this building - its history, the layout, everything. Meanwhile, I shall recruit a spy," he de-activated the earpieces.

"And when you say 'spy', what exactly do you mean...?" Avalon crossed her arms.

"How do you feel about animals?" he turned to her with a grin.

"Oh no," Avalon dreaded it as she was pulled out of the room towards God knew where.

~ 0 ~

Avalon was pouring more ranch onto her plate when the Doctor suddenly ran into the kitchen holding the tea pot she'd given him for the breakfast they'd prepared for Craig.

"What are you doing?" she grimaced as he stuffed more tea bags into the pot.

"Craig was oh-so-smart to touch the stain!" the Doctor exclaimed as he ran around the kitchen, even taking her celery stick to drop it into the pot.

"Oi! That was mine!" she frowned.

"Going to reverse the poison, bye!" he dashed out.

"Poison?" Avalon ran after him and came into Craig's room where the man laid on his bed, barely conscious and with an odd streak running on his arm, "What happened to him?"

"He touched the stain," the Doctor sighed.

"What, so he's been poisoned?'

"Yes, hence the tea pot," the Doctor gestured to the pot he held.

"I can heal him," Avalon moved up to the bed.

"What? What are you talking about?" the Doctor frowned.

She rolled her eyes, "I'm from New Earth, remember? My family line descends from the livestock you saved, the same one that carries antibodies in their immune system," she smiled and held her hand to her mouth, gently blowing on her palm. The Doctor watched in awe as small little particles emerged from her mouth. Avalon gave him one more smile before pressing her hand on Craig's arm.

"Is that how that works?" the Doctor mused as he watched the glowing particles take over the streak of the human's arm, "Never seen it in action."

Avalon looked up, "It's through contact of the skin. It can be hands, feet, lips, etc. Though most people prefer the hands," she waved her free hand, "Unless your married."

"That's amazing," the Doctor remarked as he set down the no longer needed pot on the bed stand.

"I've got to go to work," Craig hoarsely tried to say.

"On no account. You need rest," the Doctor pointed.

"It's the planning meeting, it's important."

"You're important. You're going to be fine, Craig," Avalon hushed, "I'm bit rusty on this so it'll take some hours before he'll actually feel better. But the antigens should start taking over again."

The Doctor nodded and led her out of the room.

"Poor Craig, we haven't been making his life easier," Avalon crossed her arms, "Don't you think we should call in to his work so they'll excuse him?"

"Nah, I'll just fill in for him!"

Avalon's eyes widened, "Um...let's not...do that...no..."

"Why not?" he frowned, "I'll be great!" and headed for the doors.

"No! Stop!" she ran after him.

"It'll be fine," he assured.

"It really won't!"

"It will!"

Avalon sighed, "I guess I'll have to go with you or you might get Craig fired," so she followed the Doctor out to the call center where Craig worked.

~ 0 ~

And just as Avalon suspected, things had taken a rather bad turn...for Craig. She was actually surprised to see the Doctor doing well at a human job. He'd managed to do the planning meeting for Craig and get his ideas approved. Even the boss seemed to like the Doctor as he was placed in Craig's seat to manage some customers who were quite rude. Despite barely knowing anything of the job, the Doctor managed to get even more customers for the company which only made the boss like him even more. It was going fine until Craig had come in thinking he'd missed the meeting. Avalon felt guilty the way the poor man was sent back home to 'rest' and especially after he'd blatantly ignored Sophie's request of advice. She'd spoken to Avalon earlier in the day when they first arrived at the center, telling Avalon about a wildlife charity she'd applied for. Though Sophie felt nervous about leaving and so Avalon had advised her to talk to Craig about it, hoping she could give them back the moment she and the Doctor had taken from them last night. But Craig was too upset to notice what Sophie was saying and had accidentally told her to go ahead and do it.

Avalon had never found herself in such chaos.

She'd talked to the Doctor about it on the way back to Craig's flat, trying to make him see that they were actually ruining Craig's life in literal terms. But the Doctor, being himself, didn't catch it.

They returned back to the flat where the cat they'd brought in last night was just coming down the stairs.

"Have you been upstairs?" the Doctor immediately questioned it.

"You speak 'cat'?" Avalon crossed her arms and laughed when he mimicked a meow as a response to the cat.

"You can do it. Show me what's up there? What's behind that door?" he ignored her and continued talking to the cat, "Try to show me. Ohh, that doesn't make sense! Ever see anyone go up there? Lots of people? Good good. What kind of people? People who never come back down. That's very bad."

Craig opened the door for the living room and stalked towards the Doctor, "I can't take this any more. I want you to go!" he returned into the living room and gave back the bag of money Avalon had given him as rent, "You can have this back an' all."

"What have I done?" the Doctor frowned.

"I told you," Avalon mumbled.

"For a start, talking to a cat," Craig pointed.

"Lots of people talk to cats," the Doctor shrugged and handed the money back to Avalon.

"Everybody loves you, you're better at football than me, and my job, and now Sophie's all "Oh, monkeys, monkeys-"

"Woah, hey, that one was all your fault!" Avalon cut in, "You ignored Sophie when she tried talking to you about it," she crossed her arms, "That one's not the Doctor's fault."

Craig frowned and moved to their bedroom, "Yeah, well, this is his fault!" he opened the door and pointed to the device on the bed, "What the hell is that!?"

The Doctor ran over to the device while Avalon quickly shut the door behind them, "It's art! A statement on modern society," the Doctor exclaimed, ""Ooh, ain't modern society awful?" he stopped the device from spinning.

"Me and you two, it's not gonna work out," Craig declared, "You've been here three days, the three weirdest days of my life."

"Your days will get a lot weirder if we go!"

"I thought it was good weird, but it's not, it's bad weird! I can't do this any more!"

"I can't leave this place," the Doctor stalked up to him, "I'm like you, I can't see the point of anywhere else. Madrid, hah, what a dump! I have to stay."

"No, you don't, you have to leave!"

"I can't go!"

"Arguing isn't going to help," Avalon could not believe she just said that. She, the one with the biggest, baddest temper had just said that! What was going on!?

"Right," the Doctor agreed with Avalon and looked at Craig, grimacing as he thought of the oncoming pain, "I'm going to show you something, but ssh, really, ssh! Oh, I am going to regret this. OK, right... First, general background!"

Avalon jumped when the Doctor head-butted Craig, actually hearing the big smacks. However, Craig immediately saw the Doctor's set of past incarnations and his actual identity.

"You're a..." Craig pointed at him.

"Yes," the Doctor groaned as he rubbed his forehead.

"From..." Craig pointed up.

"Sh!"

"You've got a TARDIS!"

"Yes. Ssh!" the Doctor pointed at his face, "Eleventh! Right... OK, specific detail!" he head-butted once more and showed Craig the reasons why he and Avalon were in the flat.

"You saw my ad in the paper shop window," Craig gasped.

"Yes, with this right above it," the Doctor pulled out a note signed by Amy they'd found in the shop of the advert, "Which is odd, because Amy hasn't written it yet. Time travel, it can happen."

"That's a scanner! You used non-technological technology of Lammasteen," Craig moved up to the spinning device.

"You're both so mad," Avalon concluded after the spectacle she just saw.

"Shush," the Doctor pointed at her, making her roll her eyes.

"How's the forehead?" she smirked.

"Never doing that again!" he declared and turned on the earpiece, "Amy!"

"That's Amy Pond!" Craig turned to them.

"Oh, someone's happy they caught up," Avalon smiled.

"Got those plans yet?" the Doctor was asking Amy.

"Still searching for them!"

"I've worked it out with psychic help from a cat."

"Cat?"

"Yes, Amy, he talks to cats now," Avalon shook her head.

"I know he's got a time engine in the flat upstairs," the Doctor cut in before they mocked as was expected, "He's using innocent people to try and launch it. Whenever he does, they get burnt up, hence the stain..."

"From the ceiling?" Craig grimaced.

"Well done, Craig," the Doctor glanced back, "And you, Miss Pond, nearly get thrown off into the Vortex."

"Lovely!" Amy sighed.

They heard a loud crash from above and they could only guess what was going on.

"People are dying up there?" Craig said...only to keep repeating it, "People are dying. People are dying."

"Amy!" the Doctor called as the ginger screamed over the communicator.

"They're being killed!" Craig came out of the time loop.

"Someone's up there so we need to go!" Avalon rushed out of the room with the two following behind.

As they headed up the stairs, Craig stopped and looked at the opened front door to see Sophie's keys in the lock. Avalon and the Doctor noticed them too and ran faster up the stairs.

"It's Sophie. It's Sophie that's dying up there, it's Sophie!" Craig cried and followed them up.

"Doctor! Avalon! Stop!" Amy shouted to them as they arrived at the door of the upstairs flat.

"What is it, Amy?" Avalon asked.

"Are you upstairs?"

"Just going in," the Doctor said.

"But you can't be upstairs!"

"Amy, what the hell are you talking about?" Avalon frowned.

"I've got the plans, you cannot be upstairs, it's a one-storey building. There is no upstairs!"

"Oh..." Avalon and the two men looked down the stairs with nervousness.

Quickly, the Doctor used the screwdriver to entered the 'flat' and came face to face with spaceship room instead, a control panel in the center.

"What?" Craig looked around, dumbfounded.

"What is this?" Avalon stepped further inside.

"The time engine isn't IN the flat, the time engine IS the flat!" the Doctor blinked with surprise, "Someone's attempt to build a TARDIS."

"No, there's always been an upstairs," Craig looked at them surely.

"Has there?" the Doctor challenged, "Think about it!"

"Yes. No. I don't..."

"A perception filter, right?" Avalon turned to the Doctor, "I learned about those, very tricky to spot...cos they can't be spotted. It tricks your memory, like the Angels did."

"Sophie emerged from the other side of the room, screaming as she was forced to walk towards the control panel by energy tendrils.

"Sophie!" Craig shouted and ran towards the woman, the Doctor and Avalon rushing to help.

"Sophie! Oh, my God, Sophie!" Craig grabbed Sophie's hand to keep it from touching a glowing large button on the panel.

"Craig! It's controlling her. It's willing her to touch the activator," the Doctor concluded as he checked the panel with the screwdriver.

"Solutions would be really helpful, then!" Avalon exclaimed.

"Ah! Deadlock seal!" the Doctor stopped with the sonic, meanwhile Sophie's hand had now reached the large button.

"You've got to do something!" Craig said just as Sophie was set free from the panel.

"Wait, why's it let her go?" Avalon blinked, confused, "All that trouble to set her free?"

The Doctor agreed with her and started to look around, grimacing at a dried up skeleton in a corner of the room. He walked to the other side of the panel when suddenly a hologram of a man appeared behind him.

"You will help me," it announced.

The Doctor turned to face the hologram, "Right! Stop! Crashed ship, let's see. Hello, I'm Captain Troy Handsome of International Rescue. Please state the nature of your emergency."

"Really?" Avalon crossed her arms, rolling her eyes at the fake title he'd given himself.

"Sh!" he waved her off as the hologram responded his request.

"The ship has crashed. The crew are dead. A pilot is required."

"You're the emergency crash program. A hologram. You've been luring people up here so you can try them out," the Doctor used the sscrewdriver on the hologram and watched it go through a series of appearance changes.

"You will help me, you will help me, you will help me."

"Craig!" Sophie exclaimed weakly, "Where am I?"

"Hush! Human brains aren't strong enough, they just burn," the Doctor said to the hologram, "You're stupid, aren't you? You just keep trying."

"17 people have been tried. 6,000,400,026 remain."

Sophie stood up now with a bit of irritation, "Seriously, what is going on?"

"Oh, for goodness' sake," the Doctor shook his head, "The top floor of Craig's building is in reality an alien space ship intent on slaughtering the population of this planet."

"In other words now, be quiet!" Avalon shush es the woman.

"The correct pilot has now been found," the hologram said.

The Doctor stiffened, "Yes, I was worried you'd say that."

"He means you, Doctor, doesn't he?" Amy said through the earpiece.

"Why am I not surprised?" Avalon sighed but flinched when the energy tendrils pulled the Doctor towards the panel.

"The correct pilot has been found. The correct pilot has been found."

"What's happening?" Amy cried.

"It's pulling me in! I'm the new pilot!" the Doctor struggled to stay away from the panel.

"Could you do it?" Avalon rushed over to him, "Could you fly the ship safely?"

"No, I'm way too much for this ship. My hand touches that panel, the planet doesn't blow up, the whole solar system does."

"Figures," Avalon sighed and started helping him by pulling with him.

"The correct pilot has been found," the hologram continuously said.

"No...worst choice ever, I promise you," the Doctor looked up, "Stop this!"

"Doctor!" Amy shouted, "It's getting worse."

"It doesn't want everyone," Avalon pointed out and so the Doctor immediately looked at Craig.

"Craig, it didn't want you!" he remembered.

"I spoke to him and he said I couldn't help him," Craig shrugged.

"And it also never wanted Sophie before," Avalon thought, "I don't understand, what's changed?"

"I gave her the idea of leaving!" the Doctor realized the problem, "It's a machine that needs to leave, it wants people who want to escape! And you don't want to leave, Craig, you're Mr Sofa Man. Craig, you can shut down the engine. Put your hand on the panel and concentrate on why you want to stay!"

"Craig, no!" Sophie quickly shook her head.

"Will it work?" Craig looked at the button in doubt.

"Yes!" the Doctor nodded through his pain.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"...Is that a lie?"

"Of course, it's a lie!"

Craig shrugged, "It's good enough for me. Geronimo!" he slammed his hand on to the button and immediately screamed with pain.

The Doctor was set free and ran to Craig's side,Craig, what's keeping you here? Think about everything that makes you want to stay here!" he gave Craig a small slap to get him to focus away from thr pain, "Why don't you want to leave?"

"Sophie! And I don't want to leave Sophie! I can't leave Sophie! I love Sophie!"

Sophie's half widened, "I love you, too, Craig, you idiot!" she slammed her hand over his on the panel. The ship began smoking and sparking upon the second hand's touch.

"Honestly, do you mean that?" Craig blinked at Sophie.

"Of course I mean it! Do you mean it?"

"I've always meant it. Seriously though, do you mean it?"

"Yes."

"But what about the monkeys?"

"Oh my God," Avalon pressed a hand to her forehead, "Don't turn this into something annoying!"

"Craig, the planet's about to burn! For God's sake, kiss the girl!" the Doctor had to agree Avalon, even Amy shouting the same thing through the earpiece.

Craig and Sophie kissed and were able to take their hands off the panel. Even the TARDIS was able to calm and finally materialization, leaving a very relieved Amy to call to her friends, "Doctor! Avalon! You've done it. Aha, you've done it! Oh, now the screen's just zeros! Now it's minus ones, minus twos, minus threes...Big yes!"

But the hologram in the ship started changing appearances again, its voice becoming high pitched as it shorted out.

"Big no," the Doctor stepped back towards the doors, pulling Avalon with him.

"Did we switch it off?" Craig questioned, noticing the still worried face the Doctor had even when they'd just shut down the panel.

"Emergency shutdown, it's imploding, everybody out, out, out!" the Doctor tan out with Avalon, the other humans quickly following in suit.

They ran out the house to the next street and watched as the second floor reverted to the ship and then completely disappeared without anyone noticing a thing.

"Look at them," Craig watched people walking by the house, "Didn't they see that? The whole top floor just vanished."

"Perception filter. There never was a top floor," the Doctor reminded them.

~ 0 ~

After cleaning up the mess in the room they rented, Avalon and the Doctor stepped out the room and walked towards the living room to hand back the keys to Craig. Unfortunately, they entered to find Craig and Sophie kissing and so quickly hurried out. The Doctor left the keys on the sideboard and moved to leave when Craig called for them and halted them on their steps.

"What, you're trying to sneak off?" Sophie raised an eyebrow as they joined the pair.

"Yes, well, you were sort of... busy," the Doctor weakly supplied the word..

Craig picked up the keys and held them to the Doctor, "I want you to keep these. Thank you."

"Thank you," the Doctor took the keys, "Cos I might pop back soon, have another little stay."

"Yeah, in 14 years," Avalon smirked, "Or, if you're really lucky, in 12."

"I said I was sorry!" the Doctor exclaimed with a frown.

He had fully apologized to her and Amy, (and Lena unbeknownst to them) about his tardiness. Unfortunately, it had turned into a more joking matter for Avalon in which she used it to tease him and and irritate him. He supposed he should just be content with the fact Avalon wasn't angry about the 14 years. But, it wasn't fun being teased!

Avalon laughed at his comical expressions and turned back to the others, "Now then. 6,000,400,026 people in the world. That's the number to beat."

"Yeah," Sophie chuckled, "That's what my friend Lena tells me."

Avalon stiffened and blinked, "Wh-What did you say?"

"We'll just be going now, bye," the Doctor waved and hurried out the door with Avalon.

Avalon continued to ponder on the name she'd heard. It was a nice name, pretty, but she couldn't help but feel like there was more to it than just a pretty name. Was there?

~ 0 ~

The Doctor finished starting up the TARDIS and already had a destination, "Back in time! You need to go to the paper shop, leave that note for us," he pointed at Amy.

"Right little matchmaker, you two turned out to be," Amy laughed as she moved up to the Doctor, "Can't you find me a fella?"

The Doctor had a stethoscope on rhe console and quickly pulled it off when he'd heard something wrong, "Oh, rectifier's playing up again...Hold on," he eyed Avalon sitting on the console chair with her journal open. She'd not shaken off the name Lena just yet and the Doctor feared she could be actually remembering, "Amy, you write the note and I'll change that will," he walked off go another room in the console.

"You got a pen?" Amy called.

"Make sure it's a red pen!"

Amy went over to his jacket hanging on armrest of the chair Avalon was in, "What's the matter with you?" she eyed Avalon while searching for the pen.

"What do you think of the name Lena?" Avalon blurted rather urgently. She was racking her head for any possible connection to it but was coming up with nothing. But Amy hadn't answered as she took out a jewelry box from the Doctor's jacket, leaving her stunned. "Amy?" Avalon asked and looked up to see her holding the box, "What is that?"

Amy gave a small shrug and moved closer to her, opening the box to find an engagement ring inside. Avalon raised her eyebrows as she looked at the beautiful ring inside. With no answer, the two gingers stared at it wondering what the Doctor was doing with an engagement ring.

#11th doctor #doctor who #ocappreciation #ocapp #dw imagine #doctor who imagines #11th doctor imagines #11th doctor fics #11th doctor imagine #amy pond #oc: Avalon Reynolds #fic: stars dance

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n8thegr8 · 3 years

Text

My Avengers Academy Chapter 2: And Along Came a Spider

“This. Is. So. Cool!” Peter couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The lobby of Avengers Tower looked like something out of Star Wars, but it still had that Stark Industries feel to it. Holographic images of Tony Stark played welcoming whoever walked through the door. The floor was gold stained marble, and Peter could see his own reflection. They probably deep wash this floor every night! He saw multiple strangers littered across the entire room: business people, the media, some students, and even some pro heroes.

“Oh my God, Ant Man is literally twenty yards away from me,” Peter mumbled, absolutely star struck.

“Jeez dude, you ‘aight? You seem really uh…” Pietro trailed off.

“Eager, to say the least,” Wanda cut off Pietro. She planted her hand on Peter's shoulder and almost flinched; he was shaking and quivering. To be fair, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, considering how excited he must be. He was excited. Wanda would describe Peter as a young child being brought to his favorite toy store. She knew how important this was to him;it was important to her as well. She wanted to be a hero who could magically whisk away people’s problems. If Wanda couldn’t do that, then she wanted to help as much as she could.

“I know how excited you are, but keep it down a level or two. We can talk about all this...” Wanda’s gaze scanned the giant room, “...really,'' her journey stopped when she saw golden statues of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, the first Ant Man, andThe Wasp respectively. They weren’t massive, which allowed for them to be placed near the enterence to the staff and student only elevator. “...cool,” her gaze wandered over to see a rather attractive man in a blue uniform with a red flowing cape. “Oh my God, it’s Doctor Strange.”

“Oh my God, he’s right there.” Peter pulled out his hero notebook.

“Oh my God, he really is.” Pietro’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Oh my God, shut up,” a fourth voice spoke up.

The trio turned their heads to see Flash. His face was plastered with a smug grin. Pietro stood forward, pushing Peter and Wanda behind him.

“Oh please, Eugene. You wanna get into Avengers Academy too,” Pietro spat back, “You gotta be a little excited, right? Or is that impossible for someone with a cold dead heart?”

“Tch.” Flash put his hands in his pockets and walked past Peter and Wanda. Pietro mimicked his movements, effectively acting as a wall between the two and Flash. Flash looked at Peter, “How’s the hand, wall-crawler?”

Peter closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His eyes opened back up and he pointed to Flash’s arm. “J-just fine. How’s that bruise on your arm?”

Flash’s eyes widened and lifted his left arm to inspect it. What he found was right under his short sleeve; a dark red bruise. He put his arm down and glared at Peter with a ferocious intensity. “You should get better material, Parker,” he growled, “Whatchya lookin’ at me so much, huh? Peekin’ out from the cracked closet door?”

“Enough.” The four turned once again to see their chaperone towering over them. “If you four aren’t on your best behavior, believe me, I will personally see that each one of you is punished. Got that?”

“Yes, sir…” all four replied.

Peter watched as the chaperone walked away. Yeah, just ignore the casual bullying, nothing to see here. Peter groaned in annoyance.

Flash sighed and started his walk towards the main group, bumping his shoulder with Pietro as he did. “I’ll catch you later, Wall-Crawler.”

Peter felt so helpless when he called him that. It just reminded him of that day.

“Jeez Peter, you’re so weak!” a young Flash Thompson said while on top of a wall.

Peter glanced towards the ground in embarrassment. He has been trying to climb the wall for the past ten minutes, but he kept falling. “I can’t do it, Eugene! I-it’s too, um… slippery!”

Flash rolled his eyes. “Stop making excuses, Peter! Come on!”

Peter’s mind raced as he looked upon the wall again. It towered over him, making him feel so small. He couldn’t do this there’s nothing to grab on to. “F-Flash, I’m just gonna go around.”

“Ugh Peter, don’t be such a sissy.”

“That’s not a nice word,” Peter muttered.

“Come on! Just do it!”

Peter winced at Flash’s command. Why couldn’t Flash just let him go around? Peter couldn’t climb it; it’s too steep and slippery. He’ll just fall again. He didn’t want to make Flash mad, but no matter what, Peter just couldn’t climb it.

“Hey! What are you doing you wimp?!”

Peter snapped back into reality and noticed that Flash was gone. W...where did he go? he thought.

A scream deafened Peter’s ears. “Flash?!” Peter called out for his friend.

“Stop! Stop please!” the screaming continued, “Daddy! Help me!” the screaming was coming from the other side of the wall.

Peter didn’t think when he heard those screams. He vaulted himself onto the wall and started to climb. Digging his fingers into the cracks, pushing up off the ledges under his feet, reaching for the deformities to climb up. “Flash, I’m on my way!” He got to the top and then looked down behind him. He… he did it! He climbed the wall. “I… I did it.”

“Hey, Peter-“

“-are you okay?” Wanda’s voice suddenly entered the picture, and Peter jolted out of his dreamlike state. No longer was he at a park in the year 2021. Instead,he was back in Avengers Tower in the year 2030.

He turned his head to look at her and nodded. “Yeah… yeah, I’m okay,” Peter gave a big smile, “Let’s go and enjoy this!”

Wanda flashed a smile back at Peter. “This is gonna be great!”

The tour of the facility was structured into three sections, and each section had been allotted an hour. The first section of the tour was dedicated to the general history of the Avengers, its founders, and the history of heroism.

“Our tour guide is Hawkeye?!” Peter gushed excitedly to Pietro, who returned his excitement.

“I know! Dude, do you think he really has a quirk?” Pietro asked inquisitively.

Peter closed his eyes and put his hand under his chin. He then went into deep thought. “I actually never considered that. If he doesn’t then it would definitely be a scandal in the superhero society. However, he claims that he never misses, and his quirk is called ‘Dead-Aim’ when he was being interviewed by the Daily Bugle top journalist Eddie Brock he has never released his blood examples to the public. It’s not like he’s contractually or legally obligated to. The Super-Human Registration Act never forces you to make anything about yourself public, and even then it’s highly unlikely-“

“Hey, kid! Yeah, you! The one next to the white-haired boy an’ the brunette, would ya mind shuttin’ ya trap? I’m tryin’ to give a tour here!”

A jolt of surprise ravaged Peter’s body as he was interrupted by the very subject of his mumbling. His gaze was met with the intense gaze of Hawkeye himself, who had conveyed annoyance from his posture. “I-I-I,“ Peter stammered as his body stiffened, and his face turned a shade of crimson red.

“Yeah yeah, that’s what I thought, just keep your mouth closed alright?”

“Y-yes, sir…” Peter said with his face hung in embarrassment. He averted his gaze to the right and noticed Wanda gritting her teeth.

“Asshole,” Poison dripped from her tongue as she said this.

Peter let out a small chuckle and pulled out his hero notebook. He opened it to Hawkeye’s page, and added, ‘Rude,’ under his personality profile. Definitely not asking him my question…

“Tch,” Peter looked up from his notebook to see Flash looking directly at him. He then shook his head, putting his attention to the tour.

The second section of the tour was a showcase of the academy. The group was stuffed into a large elevator and was lifted up to floor 63. From there, the tour continued to the vast array of classrooms. Peter was astonished from the sight. It was the end of lunch for the students, and they were all headed back to their classrooms. “So many students, and they’re all gonna be heroes…” Peter murmured.

“They’re all so well dressed…” Pietro added, “Ugh, do I have to put the effort into how I look when I go here?”

“The day when you put effort into your appearance is the day when hell freezes over, Pietro,” Wanda jabbed, “Maybe if you do, you’ll actually get a girlfriend.”

Peter tried so hard to keep in his laughter, but his body betrayed him. Pietro then shot Peter a dirty look that screamed, “Are you for real?” Pietro was wearing the bare minimum in terms of fashion. He bore a logoed t-shirt with bright blue jeans and basic white gym shoes. Compared to Wanda’s more fashionable choice of a black undershirt, a red jacket, ripped dark jeans, dark gym shoes, and a red bandana wrapped around her head in a nice bow, Pietro’s fashion was basic and uninspired.

“Nah, I don’t have to put effort into my appearance,” Pietro scoffed, “I’m already perfect as is. The girls are gonna run at me.”

Wanda rolled her eyes at Pietro’s egotist statement. “How am I even related to you?”

“Wanna have a detailed explanation?”

“I’d rather not.”

“Guys, Beast is in the class next to us,” Peter whispered, peeking into a classroom.

Pietro and Wanda dropped their sibling banter and joined Peter. There they saw Dr. Hank McCoy, also known as Beast. He had a heteromorphic quirk, which meant that he looked different from “regular” humans.

“He’s huge,” Peter gasped. He stood at 6’8,” and was covered head to toe in blue fur. He had fangs, sharpened claws, and had muscles that were reminiscent of an ape. Peter pulled out his hero notebook once more, and wrote down what he was observing.

“Jeez, he’s intimidating,” Pietro blurted quietly.

“Y-yeah for real,” Wanda stammered.

Peter was writing in his notebook with a fervor that was never experienced by man before. He wrote down every detail he saw: how he was reading a book as he was hanging upside down from the ceiling, how even though he looked like a monster he still had to wear glasses to read, how he was now right in front of him? Wait, what?

Peter’s soul nearly jumped right out of his body as he came to the discovery that the Pro Hero Beast was now standing right in front of him. He looked to Wanda and Pietro, who were shaking in their soles.

Beast opened the door that separated him from the trio. “Hello! How may I help you, children?”

He’s so polite! Peter, Pietro, and Wanda had the same reaction.

Beast took a deep look at the three children that were in front of him, they all had a mixed look of terror, anxiety, curiosity, and amazement plastered onto their faces. He noticed their lack of uniform and came to the only rational conclusion.

“Ah, you must be on tour!” He clapped his hands together and laughed. “I know how overwhelming this school can be at times, with all the pro heroes and promising students treading around.” He kneeled down to be at Peter’s eye level. “But you should know that at the end of the day, we’re all human. We’re just like you, and that’s why we’ve become heroes in the first place.”

As Beast was giving his small lecture, Peter wrote every word he heard, all while maintaining eye contact with him. Beast took note of this. “Ah, a fine learner, I presume?”

Peter stopped writing and tried to stammer out an answer. “I… I… I…”

Beast gave a hearty laugh. “Oh don’t be embarrassed, my boy! Be proud of your sense of curiosity and love for learning.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell him for years!” Wanda chimed in gleefully.

“Oh, and you have support as well, young man! By just looking at you three I can tell that you are all extremely close.” Beast took a hand each of the trio and put them together, the trio now in a position reminiscent of how sports teams break in their huddles. Peter’s face was cascaded in red as he took Wanda’s hand. “Cling on to this kinship that you all have, children. If you wish to graduate from this school and become a hero, having friends you can trust is the most important weapon to fight evil that you will ever have.”

Peter, to say the least, was starstruck. An esteemed hero, such as Beast, was giving him and his best friends life advice to become heroes! He didn’t ask if he was quirkless, and he didn’t assume anything negative. Peter had to ask him his question. Beast was the right person to ask.

“D-Dr. McCoy I-” Peter felt a hand squeeze his shoulder, which shocked him deeply.

“What did I say about being on your best behavior?”

Peter, Pietro, and Wanda turned around to see their chaperone, who wore a very annoyed look on his face.

“Sorry, sir.” The trio hung their heads in shame.

The chaperone huffed. “I apologize for the annoyance, Doctor.”

Beast laughed once again. “Oh do not apologize, my good man. These children are just starstruck!” Beast smiled warmly. “It’s not every day that you get to see a pro hero so up close.”

The chaperone sighed. “Well, you’re not wrong.” He motioned to the trio to go back to the group. “We’re waiting on you three.”

Peter, Pietro, and Wanda said their goodbyes to Beast and headed off on their way. Peter excitedly opened up his notebook yet again and turned to Beast’s page. He wrote the word “kind” under his personality profile.

“Jesus Christ.” Yet again, Peter perked up to see Flash looking at him yet again. Flash looked away, then, as if nothing happened.

Peter suddenly had a horrible thought. Was Flash going to do something to him on this field trip? There are so many people around, though. Was Flash growing bolder? Did he think he can get away with hurting Peter without anybody noticing? No, he’s not that stupid. There are too many people, plus Wanda and Pietro are here. Peter shook his head and walked with the tour guide to the last section on the itinerary.

The final section of the tour was a scientific demonstration by Dr. Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, also known as Hulk and Iron Man. The demonstration was held in the school’s auditorium, and it was the biggest room that the group had ever been in. They sat in three seats next to each other in the front row of the auditorium.

Wanda reached her hand towards the ceiling. “It’s so tall...”

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Pietro sneered, “Anything else painfully apparent that you wanna point out?”

Wanda shot a dirty look at him. “You’re an idiot who’ll run into a ditch on your first day of being a professional hero, and you’re going to fall into obscurity as I rise to the top.”

“Ouch.” Pietro dramatically clutched his chest. “These hot takes are giving me a strong case of ‘You’rejustjealousthatIhaveacoolerquirkthanyou-itis.’”

“Oh, I’ve heard of that! There’s a vaccine for it, it’s called a ‘reality check.’”

“I like Hex more than Super-Speed, I gotta admit,” Peter chuckled.

“No, not you too, man!” Pietro reached out to Peter. “Don’t tell me she brainwashed you!”

Peter showed Pietro Wanda’s page in the hero notebook and pointed to the ‘potential’” section. “I mean, Hex can probably make her fly and that’s automatically awesome.” Peter flipped the page to Pietro’s. “While your quirk is astonishing, and you’re only going to become stronger with more practice, I don’t see you flying. Sooo, yeah.”

Pietro’s face drooped with disappointment. “Yeah, thanks for the ego check, man.”

Peter smiled brightly. “You’re welcome!”

Wanda snickered.

“Oh my God,” Pietro sighed.

“Hey Pete, can I see my section?” Wanda held out her hand.

“Yeah!” Peter handed Wanda the notebook. “Here.”

Wanda flipped to her section of the notebook. She scanned the page and saw that the ‘Potential Hero Name was filled with different options. “Wow, there are a lot of names.”

Peter scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “Yeah, like a week ago I sat at my desk and made all of these potential hero names for you. Some of them are cool, but the others… not so much.”

Wanda gave a small chuckle as she scanned the names. One name, in particular, caught her gaze. “The Scarlet Witch?”

“I actually really like that one!”

“Sounds like a villain’s name, to be honest.” Pietro chimed in.

“It sounds cool but…” Wanda pulled a pen out of her purse and added a new name. “How about this?”

Peter and Pietro leaned in to see the name “The Crimson Sorceress.”

“That’s just ‘The Scarlet Witch’ with different synonyms, sis.”

“Yeah, but it sounds more heroic.” Wanda acted like she was putting up a magic barrier between her and the boys. “More magical.”

“I like it!” Peter exclaimed.

“Yeah, of course, you would.” Pietro sank into his chair. “Whipped,” he whispered.

Suddenly, a stinging pain found its home on the backside of Pietro’s head as Wanda’s hand slapped it. “Ow! What the hell?!”

“I heard that, you dick.”

Peter tilted his head in confusion. “Heard what?”

“Don’t worry about it, Pete.” Wanda winked, but only for a moment.

The lights in the auditorium dimmed and brightened, signaling that the demonstration was going to begin. Peter put on his glasses and pulled out his camera. He wanted to take pictures of the event, and maybe get a better photo of Dr. Banner and Iron Man for his notebook.

Wanda turned to Peter. “Make sure the flash is off, okay?”

“Yeah, ya don’t wanna cause any difficulties, alright bud?”

“Don’t worry, I turned it off before we even got on the bus,” Peter confirmed.

The curtains rose, and there he stood: Dr. Banner, the Incredible Hulk. He stood even taller than Beast did. Peter’s estimate put him at least seven feet tall. Dr. Banner wore a suit that had to have been tailor-made for him, considering how buff he was. He wore heavy rimmed glasses, which Peter appreciated. Like Beast, he looked intimidating, but he emanated this feeling of kindness and sincerity. His appearance showed the strength of his character, as for many years, the Hulk was called a menace to the Earth. Dr. Banner has made many TV appearances to talk about his beginning years as the Hulk. How he fled to South America to escape the United States Military, how his childhood trauma fed into the alternate persona that the Hulk adopted, how dealing with anger management is important, and how living with a split personality disorder is just another facet of the crazy experience called Bruce Banner’s life. When he merged himself with the Hulk, he explained that he felt whole, but sometimes when pushed to the edge the other personality comes out. He went on to explain that the Hulk wasn’t a bad person, far from it. In reality,the Hulk was actually a really kind and gentle creature that just wanted to be left alone. In fact, The Hulkstill had conversations with him about the meaning of life, the ins and outs of heroism, and even what they were going to have for lunch that day. Ever since then, Dr. Banner has been a pioneer in not only the genetic and radiological sciences ,but also in mental health and the understanding of all kinds of disabilities. Whenever Dr. Banner had an interview, Peter made sure to either watch it live or record it; he loved hearing the man talk.

Peter heard the audience murmur about the missing hero who was supposed to be with Dr. Banner on stage: Iron Man. The most popular hero, not only in the USA, but in the entire world. The story of how Tony Stark, a weapons dealer and billionaire playboy philanthropist became the Invincible Iron Man. Everyone knew how it went: Tony Stark was a selfish CEO of Stark Enterprises, and only looked out for himself until he was captured by terrorists in 1998. The terrorists used missiles that were designed by Stark himself and were struck in the chest by shrapnel but were saved by a man who managed to create a magnetic field inside his body to keep the shrapnel from reaching his heart. He was forced to build a new type of weapon for the terrorists, but what he really did was build a suit of armor that augmented his quirk: Arc Reactor. He then became the Invincible Iron Man, and escaped the terrorists’ base making it back home to the United States in one piece. He put a stop on all weapon construction, changed Stark Industries to become a humanitarian company, and registered as a hero. He became a cultural icon; everyone knew of Iron Man and his heroism. He wasn’t Peter’s favorite hero, but he still held a place in Peter’s heart as a founding member of the Avengers, and a great hero all around. He hasn’t made a public appearance in a while, though, Peter thought.

Dr. Banner stepped up to the mic, tapped it just so slightly to see if it was on, and had to catch it because it almost tipped over. “Sorry, over thirty years of being in this body, and I still can’t gauge how strong I actually am.” The audience was filled with laughter. Dr. Banner waved his hands to signal the audience to calm themselves. “You might be wondering about the lack of an overinflated ego that’s trapped in a yellow and red suit of armor.” He took the microphone and started to walk across the stage so that he wouldn’t stay static during the presentation. “Unfortunately, about thirty minutes ago, Iron Man was called for duty, and it’s my off day.I’ll be damned if they call me in.” He played with the wire of the microphone. “I never get called into work, I mean,” he chuckled, “Would you want to be the one to tell The Hulk that he has to come in on his day off?”

The audience burst into laughter once again, which showcased how strong Dr. Banner was as an enter, Dr. Banner knew how to keep the audience entertained. Peter had a hard time getting a good shot due to his own chuckles.

“I never knew he was such a personality on the stage,” Wanda whispered to Peter.

Peter turned to her and raised an eyebrow. “Wanda, we watched like five of his interviews two nights ago.”

Wanda’s face was struck with confusion. “We did?”

Something told Peter that Wanda wasn’t paying attention that day, and that made him a bit sad. He soon forgot about it though, considering how the actual presentation began.

“Now, onto the real show.” Dr. Banner walked towards the podium that was on his left. “As we know, quirks are genetic in nature, but scientists haven’t figured out what they really are yet.” A projection of a DNA strand appeared behind him. “However, we do now know that the quirks have a very similar genetic make-up to that of gamma radiation.”

“Hey, is that true?” Pietro asked Peter in a whispered tone.

Peter leaned his into Pietro to speak directly into his ear. “Yeah, last year they found out that his irradiated genetics are comparable to quirks. He wasn’t born with a quirk, remember? It was the gamma bomb that did it.”

“So, to pursue the hypothesis that quirks were birthed from a gamma event, the Avengers Institute and Stark Enterprise partnered with Oscorp to explore this line of thinking.”

A sudden thought rushed through Peter’s head, Oscorp? That’s Harry’s dad’s company… I haven’t texted him in a while. I should see what’s up with him when I get home.

“Just recently we made a gigantic scientific breakthrough, we found out how to create quirks.”

The audience erupted in disbelief. Soft mumblings filled the auditorium. Some were in disbelief, while others questioned the ethics of such a practice.

“Nah, that’s impossible, man.” Peter turned his head to Pietro. “There’s no way that you can create a quirk just like that.ike, an actual quirk, not a superpower born from an explosion or from an experiment, but an actual quirk? I call BS.”

“Would you just shut up and watch?” Wanda spat.

“And, this, right here, is the fruit of our labor,” Dr. Banner declared as he pressed a small clicker in his hand. “Oh, it didn’t break it this time, thank god.”

The stage floor opened up. Peter heard the machinery in the under-stage doing its work. Then, out of the blue, he saw a very odd-looking machine rise up. The machine had two parts to it: two pillars stood erect parallel to each other. Each pillar curved into each other, at the end of both points were bright red spheres. Various ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ were delivered from the audience.

“This, my eager audience, is ‘The Quirk Accelerator,’ and we are going to make a quirk, right here, right now.” Dr. Banner clicked the clicker once again and a thick sheet of glass separated the stage from the audience. “Man, I’m on a roll today,” he stated proudly. “Now, once I press this button again, we will create an entirely new quirk.”

“Dude, you have to get a shot of this,” Pietro demanded.

“Yeah, Pete! Ooo, this is gonna be cool!” Wanda exclaimed in a hushed voice.

Peter excitedly pulled up his camera, but not before double-checking to see if the flash was turned off. He put his eye up to the viewfinder, and pointed his shot towards the Quirk Accelerator. As he took multiple shots of the machine itself, he noticed something that wasn’t supposed to be there. It was small, but he saw it. A spider, that was lowering itself from the ceiling with a single strand of its web. Peter didn’t know why he focused on such a minuscule thing, but he took a picture of it anyway. Who knows, maybe it’ll get him an award or something. That’d be nice, he thought to himself.

“Strap yourself in folks, ‘cause this is gonna be one hell of a frickin’ light show!” Dr. Banner shouted with excitement.

With yet another click, the Quirk Accelerator hummed. All of the lights that illuminated the stage shut off, and the thick sheet of glass tinted itself to a rather dark degree. Dr. Banner’s description was very apt. In between the two pillars, extremely bright electricity flowed and clashed with the two red spheres. Muffled crackles of thunder were heard as the light got brighter and brighter. Peter, in desperation, shot a picture aimed right in the middle of the action. The sheet of glass got darker as the light emanating from the experiment got brighter. The light show got to its final performance as the light suddenly turned a bright green. The light soon disappeared, though. stage lights were turned back on, and Dr. Banner stood there with a big smile. It faulted for a moment, before returning to a grin. “Now, the quirk will be collected. Since we don’t have any machine assistance here on the stage, I’ll have to collect it myself.” Dr. Banner took a small capsule out of his pocket and walked between the two pillars of the Quirk Accelerator. The audience immediately went into various chatter.

Pietro turned to Peter. “Hey, do you think if any of us go blind because of that, Tony Stark will pay us boatloads of money in settlements?”

“'No, we signed away our right to sue in the event of an injury. It's not like Stark would give you anything. It's better for all of us if you were blind.".” Wanda shook her head.

“It’s true.” Peter nodded.

“Aw, man, that can’t be legal can it?”

“It’s totally legal.”

“Ah, so…” Dr. Banner’s voice cut the audience’s murmuring down to silence. “Apparently, this is our first failed test.”

“Told you he was full of-” Pietro was then cut off by a swift kick to the shin, courtesy of Peter. “Ow!”

Dr. Banner walked back to the podium. “But this is to be expected with any realm of science, that is why we go back to see what went wrong here.” He clicked the clicker for the last time which resulted in the Quirk Accelerator being lowered back into the stage. “We do have various quirks in storage, but live testing hasn’t been authorized by the government yet.” He walked downstage to where the mic stood and put it back in place. “We’re getting closer to unlocking the mystery of quirks every day. Maybe one day we can even track what the very first quirk was, but for now all we can do is theorize and experiment. I apologize that this was a failure, but I’m very glad that I was able to show you our latest endeavors here at Avengers Tower.” Peter took a shot of Dr. Banner as he said this. “I hope to see some of you attend the school next yearand that I sparked a wealth of scientific curiosity within you. Thank you so much, and have a good day, everyone.”

The curtains cascaded down upon the stage, and with that, the demonstration came to end. The lights illuminated the auditorium and people got out of their seats and headed towards the exit. Some were bummed, and others were ecstatic to be in the same room as the Incredible Hulk.

Pietro snatched Peter’s camera right out of his hands. “Dude, did you get the shots?”

Peter jumped in surprise when he realized that when he blinked, his camera was no longer there. “P-Pietro! Be careful with that!”

Pietro shot a genuine smile at Peter. Pietro was tossing the camera up and then catching it with the same hand without looking at it, showing off his dexterity. “Don’t worry, man! I’m the most careful person in the world.”

Wanda crossed her arms. “You literally broke a plate at dinner last night.”

“A one-time incident, won’t happen again.” Pietro tossed the camera up again and waited for it to come back down, but it never did. “Wait, what the hell?”

“Interesting camera you got there, Maximoff. I’m surprised you could afford something like this.”

Pietro groaned as he recognized the voice, he turned around to see Flash going through the pictures on the camera. “That was a lazy insult you had there buddy. Let me guess, did the parasite come up with that one?”

“Funny,” Flash grunted.

Peter stood in utter fear as Flash held his camera. The phrase, Why does he have it? Why does he have it? kept repeating in his mind. This was his biggest fear.

“Here ya go, Parker.” Flash held out the camera in front of Peter. “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t have any weird pics of me.”

“O-okay.” Peter hesitantly reached out to grab the camera. “Thanks, Fla-“

A thud. A crack. The sound of plastic falling onto marble flooring. Glass shattered. Peter’s gaze peered downward to see his camera in pieces.

A devious smile crawled onto Flash’s face. “Whoops.”

Peter was stunned. Did that actually just happen?

“Thompson!” Pietro grasped Flash’s shoulder and forcefully turned him around to face him. “What the fu-?!”

A black tendril shot itself out of Flash’s body and hit Pietro square in the face. He backed up, holding his nose in pain. “Don’t touch me, you freak.”

“Pietro!” cried Wanda.

“That’s it!” Pietro pushed against his right nostril and exhaled from his nose, a clot of blood flew out of his left nostril. “I’ve been playing nice for Peter’s sake, but you just crossed the damned line, Thompson!”

“Pietro, stop this!” Wanda exclaimed with a desperate expression on her face. “Don’t fight him!”

Peter backed up against the wall of the stage. His legs quivered beneath him. A fight? Here?

“Nah, nah, sis!” Pietro rolled up his sleeves as he walked towards Flash. “This guy has been a pain in our asses for years, I’ve been wanting to put him in his place.”

Flash took his stride over to Pietro. The symbiote crawled itself onto his skin and up his neck. “Let’s do this, wuss. Show me you’re a real man and not some pathetic bitch.”

“Bring it on, douchebag.” Pietro leapt forward at Flash in less than a second. Fists flew, and the fight began.

“Pietro, no!” Wanda rushed towards the scene.

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God,” Peter muttered over and over. He curled himself into a ball. His breathing became fast and uneven. He felt light headed, too. A sensation of dread and anxiety swept up his body in a hurricane of fear. “Nononononononono.” Why did this always have to happen? Today was supposed to be a good day, for crying out loud. Why did Flash have to ruin it again? Pietro was just making it worse. He won’t be allowed back into Avengers Academy. Peter thought about his camera, and the thought alone forced him into a shaking fit. He was glued to the sight; his precious camera, it was in pieces. It used to belong to his mother. The name: Mary Fitzgerald, was written in sharpie on the side. Why did this always happen to him? Why did he bring bad luck wherever he goes? Why was he so useless? Why was he quirkless? Why am I just human? Why do I-

Peter felt a stinging pain on his right hand and slapped it. “Ow!” He looked down and his hand and saw a giant bite mark, and the corpse of the spider he just squashed. He sighed. “This day’s just getting better and better.” Perhaps the spider bite was a blessing in disguise, it broke him out of his panic attack. He sighed again and steadily began to stand back up. He started walking towards Wanda, but with every step he began to slow down. He felt as if there was a giant weight on his shoulders. His legs turned into jelly. He started to shake violently. “Wh-what’s happening to me?”

“-eter? A-e -o- oka-?”

Is that Wanda’s voice?

“W-ah! B-o yo- goo-?”

Pietro?

“Y-! Wa-cr-ler! Th- -ck’s th- ma-er?!”

Flash?

His vision started to become blurry, and darkness crept in from the edges of his eyes. “Wanda, I… I don’t feel so good.” Peter lost all control, and immediately lost consciousness as he hit the ground.

“Peter?!”

To be continued…

#my avengers academy #my marvel academy #spiderman #Scarlet Witch #avengers fanfic #my hero academia #my hero academia fanfic #Spideywitch #IzuOcha #kinda

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austarus · 5 years

Text

Harry Wells x Reader Decisions and Impulses

**A/N: The picture/edit/gif does not belong to me. It belongs to @stellar-raven .

“You mean the old Harrison Wells? As in Eobard Thawne?” Cisco asks, with a look on his face as you and the trio walk into the Cortex. You held your tongue, knowing that getting faster is everything to Barry at the moment, no matter how he does it. “You want him to teach you how to run faster? Oh, that’s rich.”

“How are you gonna do that?” A query Caitlin resonates, a question that the three of us have been thinking about since Barry made his pitch with this outrageous idea.

“By running back to a time last year,” Barry simply answers, rounding around the main monitors to face you and the others.

“And what about the other you, the one from that other timeline?” You inquire, raising an eyebrow as you stood in between Cisco and Caitlin at the monitors. Caitlin rests her hands on the backrest of the chairs, while Cisco leans forward slightly to rest against his own respective chair.

“I’ll knock him out with something.”

“Barry,” you give him a look, which the speedster quickly disregards as he continues to speak.

“I mean, it’s not like he’ll see me coming, and then I’ll have Wells teach me.”

“Barry, that’s crazy,” Caitlin immediately responds in a ‘voice of reason’ tone, yet not a harsh response on which Barry would have received from a certain grumpy scientist.

“Nothing I’ve read is pointing me towards a solution, and if there’s anybody that’s figured out the key to getting faster without V-9, it’s him.” Barry glances at all of you briefly, mind literally racing for some sort of solution to beating Zoom and ending his treachery. “What do you guys think?”

You let out a little and quiet sigh, listening to Barry justify his conclusion. The idea didn’t settle well with you, neither with Cisco and Caitlin either, especially with interfering in a past point in the timeline. There is literally a 50-50% chance that something could go wrong… You could only move your gaze down to the idle computer screen, pursing your lips and folding your arms. Cisco and Caitlin let out little breaths and digest Barry’s spontaneous plan.

You four hear a sudden scoff, all of you snapping your heads to the source. Harry glances at you, his bright blue eyes softening for a fraction before narrowing them at Barry with a hardened expression, “Your plan is asinine.”

Barry rolls his eyes and makes a face as Harry strolls in his with bag and brooding mood.

“Did you find Jesse?” You unfurl your arms, as you and Cisco ask the current million dollar question that’s been plaguing the genius physicist.

“Does it look like I found Jesse?” Harry fires back with a grave tone before throwing his bag onto the table, then turning around to face Barry. “How many times have you traveled through time?”

“A few.”

“Do you have any idea how many things you could screw up?”

“All I need is one conversation with Dr. Wells.”

“He’s not Wells-”

“-Thawne-”

“I’m Wells!” Harry shouts while throwing down his dark jacket. Barry of all people should know that Harry hates it when they refer to Thawne as Wells. “This man has been studying you for 15 years. For 15 years. And you don’t think he’s not gonna know who you are?”

Harry does have a point… you think as you walk around in hopes of calming the two men down because honestly, Harry might throw something at this point.

“Barry,” you rest your hand on Barry’s arm so he can look at you. You reason your thoughts, “Harry’s right, what if something happens? What if he finds out? Then what? Eobard can smell deceit because he's practically the embodiment of deception.” You move to stand beside your grumpy boyfriend, “The mess would be even bigger and we wouldn’t know how to fix it or where to start with it.”

Barry looks around exasperated before looking at you like a kicked puppy. He just wants an answer to end everyone’s constant state of misery.

“Barry’s pretty good at impersonating himself, though,” Cisco intervenes, completely missing the look you threw at him to not encourage Barry with going through with this. “You should’ve seen him over there on Earth-2. I was like, ‘Somebody get this man an Oscar.’” The mechanical scientist voices his own thoughts with a grin to Caitlin, who humored him with a tiny smile.

I thought the boys agreed not to speak about what happened on Earth-2. You look up at Harry, who had his steely expression locked onto Barry. With crossed arms and an amused smile, the scarlet speedster gave you both a look that hinted what his next course of action will be.

"He will know, Allen. He will know.”

“All right, then what am I supposed to do?” Barry gestures with an extended arm to the speed equation written on the glass board. “I mean, how am I supposed to stop Zoom? Do you know the answer to this equation?”

You, like the others, understand that this- this seems like the only option. A chance, really. Do or don’t. Two options, both which can lead to victorious triumph or disastrous defeat along with the loss of so many lives. How many people have to die because of an evil speedster with a megalomaniac complex?

“If Thawne figures out that it’s you, the timeline will be altered. People can die. Others could live, and no one will know who or what will be affected, but I promise you, when you come back, things will be different. And only you will know what those differences are.”

“Well, if that’s what I have to do to stop Zoom, then so be it, because if I don’t, and Zoom gets my speed before I learn how to stop him,” Harry just shakes his head and presses his lips into a thin line, retaking his bag as Barry speaks. Caitlin and Cisco were quiet throughout the exchange, thinking up possible routes the speedster can take if he does go back in time. “Everybody I care about. Everybody in this whole city, their world will never be the same anyway.”

You all glance at each other when Harry backs down, he takes a glimpse back at the speedster before pulling on his cap as he steps away and out of the Cortex without a single word. You take in a breath, wanting to follow him out. Glancing back at Barry, you register the fact that his green-ish eyes spark with confidence and a tinge of determination.

Taking a few steps, you tilt your head a little before speaking, "Just… if you do go through with this, be careful.” Making eye contact STAR Labs’ resident biochemist and mechanical engineer, you then look at Barry. “It's not just your life on the line, Barry, its all of ours too.”

.:.:.

You knock on the door-frame of the smaller lab with your knuckles softly, blue eyes instantly snapping up away from the board to turn to you. “Hey,” you greet the taller, dark-haired man with a soft smile. Harry looked as if he prepared himself for another yelling match with the hero of Central City, only to drop it when his mind instantly realized that it's you.

He looks cute with his glasses on

“Hey,” he caps the marker in his hand, awkwardly standing there when you took a few steps forward. You couldn’t stop yourself from wrapping your arms around him in an attempt to either comfort him or to subside his remaining inner frustration and rage, to which it took Harry a couple seconds to respond to. This relationship between you and Harry was still new, physical affection rarely exchanged outside of simple hand-holding and brief hugs. Understandable though, Barry's sudden and rash idea on top of Jesse’s disappearance is hitting him even harder now.

You pull back slightly, looking at Harry with a worried look as his arms still curl around your waist, “Are you going to be okay?”

He breathes through his nose, moving his gaze to look past you before making eye contact again, ”I’ll… be fine with you by my side.” His simple words make your heart jump, warmth rising to your cheeks. Harry’s not the coziest with emotions, but you gradually found out that when you’re alone with him he can bring down his walls. Trust, loyalty, and the relentless need to protect the ones he loves.

“I’m here for you, whenever you need me, Harry. I'll do the best I can to help you get Jesse back,” you beam a confident smile and twinkling eyes that indicates every bit of adoration at him when he cups your face. A gesture surprising you, but you don’t pull away. His thumb brushes over your cheek, a million thoughts running through your head as you remember the girls slightly teasing you for not having a first kiss with Harry.

His sky blues gaze into your own eyes, the world around you going on a stand-still. Your heart skips a beat or two, it always did whenever you were around him. What good have I ever done in the multiverse for you to bring such light into my life? Harry thinks as he leans down, pressing a long and overdue first kiss to your unsuspecting lips. Never sparring a thought at the abrupt surge of affection.

You shut your eyes tightly and respond to his lips after getting over your initial shock. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, both of you parting with flushed cheeks.

“Sorry-”

“-One more.” The words leave your mouth and you’re frankly a little bewildered by how forward you're being, cheeks flushing in embarrassment at you outburst . Before Harry can say anything or even come up with a response, his body moves on its own as he kisses you once more. Like how a moth is drawn to the fire. This time with a newfound passion. You take a step forward, resting your palms flat against his black sweater as he pulls you closer to his strong form.

Your mouth meets his over and over, eventually, your tongues joining in. Ragged breaths and little content hums leave one of you at some point, seconds seemed to turn into minutes. One little kiss turns into a smooch session filled with endearment and emotion, hopefully something that a certain scarlet speedster couldn’t ruin even if said speedster went back in time. It’s addicting… kissing her, having her in my arms like this... Harry can’t help but muse to himself when you two give each other one final kiss before pulling away.

Biting your lower lip, you shyly look up at him and a zoo of butterflies flutter around in your body when you see his lips tugged up in a smile. He lets out a sigh and wraps his arms tighter around you. This… Her, I will protect her and Jesse.

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firefightingryan · 4 years

Text

Taken \\ Del Hayes

Who: Ryan Hayes, Meghan Hayes, Sophia Hayes, Marley Rose, Rory Del Monico (@waywardxson) and Grace Del Monico What: Sophia’s mother comes back into the picture and forces her way into their lives. Luckily she has people watching out for her that get her safely back in her father’s arms. When: Tuesday, December 3rd Where: Pop’s mostly. Notes: Rory/Grace are BOLDED, Everyone else is regular. Word Count: 4,790

Ryan was exhausted. It wasn’t a 24 hour shift today, but it’d been an early one. Thankfully, Puck had been able to drop Sophia off at daycare in the morning. He really didn’t know what he’d do when they were back on similar shifts, but he’d make it work just like he had up until now, he just liked that she was with someone she loved so much, someone he trusted so much.

He was still in his casual uniform when he made his way to the daycare to pick up his daughter, something he knew would make her smile because even with her anxieties during the nights lately about his job, she loved showing off her firefighter Papa out and about.

When he walked in the front door and up to the sign in/out desk, he wasn’t expecting the confused look on Nancy’s face.

“Ryan? Didn’t expect you here… You already had Sophia picked up about … an hour ago. Did she forget something?”

The blood rushed from Ryan’s face. He hadn’t. Sure, Puck had dropped her off and had picked her up more than once, he’d known Ryan was going to pick her up today. He hadn’t scheduled Marley or Riley to pick up either, not even this entire week. Nothing made sense right now.

Nancy wasn’t a stupid woman and she knew without a word from Ryan that something was horribly wrong. “You didn’t send that woman or that note, did you?” She asked him, staying as calm as she absolutely could.

“What note?” Ryan asked, not even registering that he himself was talking. Nothing felt right. His daughter was somewhere and he had no idea where. For the first time in almost five years, he could not account for the exact whereabouts of the only person who mattered more than anything. When Nancy handed him a note that he’d apparently sent with a mystery woman he instantly looked at the signature and yeah, it did look like his, but it wasn’t. He’d never signed or written a note. He would have called. Finally he actually took the time to read the note.

Nancy and Darlene, My shift was unexpectedly lengthened today and I will not be able to make pickup time but this is a really good friend and coworker of mine, Christine, and has kindly offered to help me out today. I apologize for the unexpected change in plans and you ladies know how to reach me if you have any concerns. Thank you so much, Ryan Hayes

It wasn’t his handwriting but he knew exactly who it belonged to. The note crumpled in his grip and he could feel the heat rise in his body. “I never would have sent a note,” he told Nancy firmly, and a little louder than necessary, causing Darlene to pop her head out from the daycare floor. Ryan whipped around to face the older woman, someone who’d clearly failed him and his daughter. “No,” he told her, “you let my daughter leave with someone you’d never met. You let my baby girl out of your sight because you got a forged note from her mother who walked out on her before she was even three months old. Her mother who gave up all parental rights and has not had contact with her. If anything happens to her I swear to G-” Ryan stopped in his tracks. He couldn’t even think about that, about something happening to Sophia. He didn’t know what Meghan, Meghan Christine, his ex wife, was capable of, but she couldn’t hurt his baby girl. She couldn’t hurt a child, or at least, that’s what he had to tell himself.

Without another word he was out of the daycare. They were no use to him now. He got in his truck and slammed the door and got out of the small parking lot without even putting on his seat belt. He wasn’t even two minutes away when he pulled over. He had no idea where to go or what to do. They could be anywhere by now. He had no idea if Sophia was happy or terrified. He had no idea what kind of state Meghan was in, other than completely insane to do something like this. He pulled out his phone and began searching through his contacts. He knew he could call Puckerman. Without too much though he clicked the name of his best friend and let it ring. He didn’t know what he’d say but it just kept ringing. Voicemail. Of course. He was probably busy with something with Beth. Ryan hung up without leaving a message. This wasn’t something he could leave over voicemail. He threw his phone down on the passenger seat in anger. He was lost. If he couldn’t get to Sophia, nothing was worth it anymore.

Ryan slammed his hands against the steering wheel. He’d never felt anything like this in his life. Not when his parents had passed. Not when he’d woken up with hearing loss. Not when Meghan had walked out. Never. The only thing that could make everything better would be holding his daughter in his arms and that wasn’t in the cards right now. He tried to think about where Meghan could possibly take her. The firehouse was obviously out of the question, there’s no way Meghan would be that stupid. This had clearly been a planned thing. She’d obviously been here a while and he’d missed it. Riverdale wasn’t that big, how could he have missed that.

Ryan wasn’t exactly sure how long he’d been sitting on the side of the road when his phone started to ring. Without checking who it was, he answered, think it was Puck returning his call. “Puck?” He answered, trying to sound as normal as possible. “Listen, I need your help right now.”

“Not Noah,” the voice on the other end replied.

“Marley?” Ryan replied, taken completely aback. “I actually can’t talk right now. I need to-.. There’s just something I-..” Ryan couldn’t even finish his sentence. He couldn’t speak the words. Sophia’s missing.

“Are you working?” Marley inquired. “This’ll be quick. I just wanted to ask if you knew someone named … Christine? She’s here. With Soph. She said she was a coworker of yours but .. I’ve literally never seen her in my life… Maybe I’m thinking too much bu-”

“I’ll be there in ten.” Sophia was at Pop’s and Ryan couldn’t get there fast enough.

EARLIER

“So Papa had to work late again?” Sophia asked the blonde woman, Chris, from the backseat of the car. She couldn’t help but sound a little disappointed. He’d promised to pick her himself yesterday before she’d gone to sleep.

“He did. But we’ll have plenty of fun together. He’s told me all about you!” Meghan lied, peaking a glance at her daughter in the rear view mirror. Truth was, she didn’t know a thing about the child in her backseat, her child. She couldn’t even see herself in the child, she was like Ryan’s little twin.

It had taken Meghan over four years to realize the mistake she’d made by leaving her daughter behind. She’d missed everything. Her first words. First steps. Every milestone that led them to this point she’d missed and Ryan had gotten. She didn’t know what had caused her to walk out on the two of them, Sophia had been planned. But once she’d met that little girl, there’d been nothing. At first they’d been told it was a touch of postpartum depression, she’d connect with her soon. Meghan waited weeks and it never happened and Ryan was so connected to the baby. He was wrapped around her fingers from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her.

Even if it was late, she was determined to get that connection now. Sophia was older now. They could have a conversation. And after an early dinner, they could hit the road and go anywhere Sophia wanted. She figured Pop’s would be an easy stop. From what she noticed over the past few weeks, it didn’t seem to be somewhere Ryan frequently went to so she figured it’d be a safe enough stop. It wasn’t long before they got to Pop’s and as soon as she got Sophia out of the car seat, the four year old ran for the door without a thought. “Sophia!” Meghan yelled out harshly, not wanting the child to be out of reach. As soon as Sophia turned around though, she knew she had to change her tone as not to alarm her.

“Sweetheart, just stay with me. Parking lots can be dangerous and I’m sure your dad doesn’t want to get a call saying you got hurt, right?” Meghan continued, turning on as sweet of a voice as she could manage.

“Okay,” Sophia surrendered, walking back to Meghan slowly and taking her hand so they could walk in together. Meghan threw a smile on her face as she opened the door and guided Sophia in. She knelt down near the front counter and placed her hands on Sophia’s shoulders and looked into the eyes that looked so much like Ryan’s it hurt. Those same little eyes that she got to see open for the very first time.

“You can go pick a seat, okay. I’ll get us some food, okay,” she told her with a smile. Sophia nodded and walked over to the booths before letting out a happy squeal.

“Gracie!” She yelled when she spotted her friend across the diner and ran over to hug the older girl, who was obviously having a meal with her father. “Hi Rory,” she greeted, turning to the man once Grace let her go.

Meghan hadn’t expected Sophia to run into anyone she knew, that wasn’t part of her plan. She was conflicted. Should she stop the interaction now, or just order the food and guide Sophia away after she’d gotten a chance to talk to her friend. The latter would probably cause less alarm in the man, someone she vaguely recognized from the time she’d spent trying to learn Ryan’s routine.

Meghan ordered quickly. Some chicken strips for Sophia and a burger for herself before walking over to the trio. “Sophia, honey, why don’t we go sit over there by the window and let … these two finish their meal, okay dear?”

It wasn't often that Grace ordered french fries with her meal, the little girl much rather preferring carrot sticks, so since she had the random craving for french fries and ketchup, Rory took advantage of it. He reached over and snagged one, warranting him a narrowed eyed glare. Smirking as he chomped on the fry, Rory's attention was drawn away by the familiar voice. He turned just in time to see Sophia running towards them. Grace was up before he could move, throwing her arms around her younger friend.

Rory wiped off his mouth and stood up, scanning Pop's for Ryan but didn't find him anywhere, instead a woman kept her eyes on the three of me. His eyes narrowed slightly, not recognizing her. Riverdale wasn't a big town, and he knew most people, or at least recognized them.

"Hey Ms. Sophia," Rory greeted, giving her a hug. He kept his voice down and asked her where her father was, listening to the story about Ryan's friend picking her up. She started to talk to Grace and, as the woman approached, Rory stood up.

After Grace had been taken, he felt intensely protective of everyone he cared about, including his friend's kids. "Rory," he greeted her, holding his hand out. "Del Monico. This is my daughter, Grace. We're friends of Ryan and Sophia's. Isn't that right, Soph?" He smiled at the girl as his daughter kept her in a close hug. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name..."

Sophia didn’t want to leave Gracie and Rory alone. Christine should just let them all eat together. Instantly there was a pout on her face, the same pout that usually caused Beth to call her a goblin, but Beth wasn’t here so it was safe.

Meghan wasn’t prepared for petulance. She tried not to let it shake her and turned her attention to the man, Rory, and shook his hand with a small smile. “Christine,” she told him. “I work with Ryan and if you’re friend with Ry, I’m sure I’ve heard stories.” Ry. Meghan hadn’t even thought of that nickname in ages and here she was just spewing it off. Maybe this would be okay. “But like I said, I’d hate to interrupt your meal. It was lovely meeting you.” Meghan reached for Sophia’s hand and started leading her to the furthest booth away from the pair, by a window, just like she’d said.

Sophia stopped abruptly and wiggled from Meghan’s grasp, rushing back towards Rory, essentially hopping onto his lap and holding his face between her tiny hands. “You forgoted to shave, Rory,” she told him seriously. “You need better listening ears.”

Meghan was furious. Why couldn’t her daughter just listen. She placed their food down on the table, slightly harder than necessary, but no more than a few fries left the baskets. She made her way back over to the trio, a little less patient this time. “Sophia, come on, kiddo. You need to listen, remember?”

Rory watched the woman as she introduced herself and he knew something felt off. It wasn't that Rory knew everyone that Ryan knew, but they talked enough that he would have heard the name before. Not to mention, unless she was brand new, the woman most likely didn't work at the fire station. Everything about this sent up his red flags and to be honest, he was about to walk after them when Sophia ran back to him. He chuckled when she clasped her hands on his face.

"Oh, do I?" He asked with a chuckle. "Then maybe you could let me have your ears," he said, giving one of her lobes a playful and gentle tug before pretending to put them on over his ears. "What's wrong? You don't like my fuzzy face? I'm trying to look like Santa." Taking advantage of the distraction, Rory scooted into the booth a little and pat the seat on the other side of Sophia so Grace could sit.

"Daddy said his face will look like a turtle if he shaves," Grace announced, sitting down as she was told.

Rory looked up at Christine and shook his head, "Don't be silly. There's room enough for all of us here. Besides, if you're such good friends with Ry, you must have heard a bunch of stories yourself." He threw the comment back but in the nicest tone possible before he noticed the chicken finger basket. "You're eating chicken fingers this week?" He asked Sophia with a little shock in his voice. "Grace, baby, why don't you share some of your French fries with Soph?"

Smiling pleasantly at Christine, Rory motioned towards the seat across from him. "Please, have a seat. Soph could never be a bother. She and Gracie here are best friends, aren't you, girls?" But despite his smile, under the table, Rory pulled out his cell phone and shot off a quick text message to Ryan. If he was wrong, what harm was there? He tapped out: At Pop's. Who's Christine? Sitting w Soph

“Santa has a white beard,” Sophia quipped back before Meghan walked back over. She didn’t know why, but she would much rather be with Rory and Gracie. She was happy when Rory put her in between the two of them, even if Christine seemed like a nice lady, she still didn’t know her.

This definitely wasn’t going as planned but with a tight smile Meghan took a seat across from the three and nodded. “I didn’t mean she could be a bother,” Meghan backtracked as she took a bite of the burger. It wasn’t great, but it was food. “How could this little angel be a bother? I just know how important it is to spend alone time with your kids.”

MEANWHILE

Hanging up the phone with Marley, Ryan realized he’d missed a message from Rory. Among them, a question of Christine’s identity. Fuck. The last thing he needed was anyone else dragged into this. On my way. Keep them both there. He texted back quickly, albeit late and he could only pray they were still there.

He went to go turn the key in the ignition and realized they’d fallen onto the floorboard amidst his freak out. Lovely. This was the last thing he needed right now.

Quickly he hopped out of the truck and grabbed the keys before hopping back in, getting back on the road as quickly as possible. Normally, he was adamant about speed limit when driving his own truck, but he also knew exactly how to get somewhere quickly and safely and that was exactly what he did.

It wasn’t long before Ryan was at Pop’s. He all but stormed in, scanning the restaurant quickly, desperation written all over him.

"Don't worry about it. You must know how close we all are." Rory said, making sure that this Christine woman seemed to understand that he wasn't going to back down. He wouldn't keep Sophia a hostage or anything but his dad instincts were definitely sounding the alarm.

His phone buzzed in his pocket as he spoke to the girls, Grace suddenly going on a tirade to inform Christine about a giraffe she saw at the zoo that was also named Christine, and promptly informing her about all of the coolest giraffe facts she could remember. Reaching into his pocket, Rory pulled out the phone and glanced at the message, feeling justified in the way he'd felt.

He pocketed the phone and then put his arm over the back of the booth, thankful that Sophia seemed invested in Grace's facts. "So Christine, you must have moved here recently," he said. "Where are you from?" But not a single piece of Rory gave a crap where she was from. He just wanted to keep her talking, and so he asked questions until the door finally opened and he sat up a little straighter.

The look on Ryan's face told Rory everything he needed to know. "Ryan," he called out to the other man, throwing his arm up to flag him down.

Meghan couldn’t believe she was stuck here with these people. People Sophia seemed to prefer over her. Intellectually she knew that made sense, she’d probably known them most of her life, but dammit, she was her mother. That had to mean something.

Pretending she was listening to all the giraffe facts she nodded along. When Rory asked her where she was from she hesitated. Telling him she was from Seattle was too much information that he didn’t need. “Boston,” she told him with a nod. She was about to say more when Rory’s face turned towards the door and she saw the last person she wanted to run into.

Ryan couldn’t believe his eyes. He hadn’t seen Meghan in over four years and here she was, the same as ever. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her as he walked over, not even greeting Marley who was watching the entire situation carefully from behind the counter. Ryan didn’t get angry very often and it wasn’t something he liked most people, especially Sophia, seeing.

“Ry,” Meghan attempted, standing up. “You got off earlier than I expected..”

Ryan shook his head, not having any of her lies. He turned to Rory briefly, and asked him to keep Sophia there before grabbing Meghan’s arm and all but dragging her out of the diner to the parking lot.

“Papa!” Sophia cried, trying to make a run for him, but Rory was too big to move past, even with her little hands pushing against his body. Obviously she was no match.

Meghan went with Ryan willingly, not wanting you cause more of a scene than they already had. Once they were outside, she shoved him away from her. “What the fuck, Ryan!?” She yelled at him.

Ryan couldn’t help but laugh in her face. She shows up out of the blue, kidnaps his daughter, and has the gall in her to ask him what the fuck?! “You really are something, aren’t you Meg?” He asked her, closing the gap between them. He couldn’t believe she could do something like, and why now? “What the fuck are you doing here? You walked out on us, remember?”

Meghan didn’t have an answer for him but she didn’t feel like she needed one. Did she need a reason to want to try and bridge the gap between her and her daughter? No. Not in her head anyway. Regardless of the fact that she’d just lost her job due to stalking a coworker with a child Sophia’s age. “She’s my daughter too, Ryan,” she told him, backing up as he moved closer. She wasn’t scared, but she didn’t want to be near him.

Ryan couldn’t believe this. She couldn’t be trying that. “Not according to the law, Meghan. So leave before I call the fucking cops, and believe me, I know each and every one of them. Leave and do not dare come back here again.”

Meghan stood there speechless. He couldn’t do this. She’d figure out another way to see Sophia but for now she nodded. “Fine,” she told him curtly, walking towards her car. This wasn’t the last of her he was going to see, but he didn’t need to know that.

Ryan hadn’t expected her to give up so easily, but watching her leave he nearly hit the ground. It took a solid few seconds before he remembered where Soph was and he rushed back into the diner and scooped her up in his arms, sitting across from Rory and Grace. “Thank you,” he told the other man, not even looking at him as he checked Sophia over quickly.

Rory curled his arm around Sophia to keep her there. He'd almost suggested taking her and Grace into the back office. Marley often let Grace hang out there but Ryan led the woman outside so he simply waited. "One second, Soph.. Your daddy will be right back. He just needs to talk to Christine. Hey, do you think you can help Grace finish coloring this truck?"

Even though he was trying to distract Sophia (and Grace who was now extremely interested in what was going on), Rory still looked up and out the window, curious enough to wish he knew what was going on. At least his paternal instincts hadn't failed him. For all the ways he wasn't able to give his kid everything she wanted, Rory was thankful for that part.

By the time Ryan came back in, it would have been a miracle to keep Sophia in her seat, let alone keep him from his daughter so Rory leaned back and gave them room, looking over at the two as father checked on daughter.

"You don't have to thank me. We were having a late lunch and the girls saw each other." Rory wanted to ask but he didn't think now was a good time to pry. "Christine," he said, "from Boston." Letting Ryan know what she'd told him.

Ryan held Sophia tightly on his lap, only letting her move so she could face Grace and help with the colouring, instantly calmed now that her Papa was back.

He shook his head. “Nope. Meghan. From Seattle,” Ryan corrected Rory. He wasn’t about to use the word mother, not around both of the girls, but he hoped Rory would pick it up, if not, it was a conversation for another time.

He couldn’t believe how lucky he was that Rory’d been here, and thankfully with his own kid, someone Sophia was getting quite attached to. He looked down at his daughter. “Ready to go home, Sweet Pea?” He asked, running his fingers through her dark hair.

Sophia nodded. She wanted to play with her toys and see Chase. But she had a worry. “Is Christine gonna pick me up tomorrow? I like Rory and Gracie more.”

“Don’t worry, baby. I’m going to take tomorrow off, okay?” Ryan assured her, not knowing what his next steps would be. “Thanks again Rory, and please just let me pay for this lunch.” He was pretty sure Rory would object, but he just hoped Rory would see this was important to him.

Meghan.

From Seattle.

Rory didn't need much more than that. He knew the story about Sophia's mother and in his best guess, that's who that person was. Someone who picked up Sophia and left with her. If she hadn't stopped at Pop's... If Rory hadn't had those red flags... Sophia could be anywhere and both men knew it.

"Gracie and I will be around after you have a fun day with your daddy, okay?" He promised her, knowing that if it had been him in that situation, he wouldn't want to leave Grace out of his sight. Hell, it had been him in that situation not too long ago.

Rory opened his mouth to protest. Ryan had only just showed up and he'd already had his and Grace's food, but he could see something on Ryan's face, almost a plea because it was something he needed to do. And in his situation, Rory would have done the same thing, so he simply nodded and knew that he'd do something to pay him back in the future.

"Call us," he said, standing up when Ryan did and clapping his hand on the man's arm. "Anything you need anything. I mean it. A chat.. a drink.. or if Soph wants a s-l-e-e-p-o-v-e-r."

From beside him, Gracie smirked and simply said, "I know what that spells."

Ryan nodded, thankful that Rory swallowed the protests he’d expected. “Will do, Rory,” he answered, as he picked up Sophia, holding her close. He squeezed Grace’s shoulder. “Be good okay munchkin. I’m glad you were here today.”

Ryan made his way over to the counter to pay for whatever needed to be covered and as he expected Marley rushed over, asking what had happened. He assured her everything was fine, not wanting you add to any stress he could see written all over her face. He left a gracious tip and walked out to his truck.

He didn’t even want to put Sophia in the car seat, irrationally scared that if he let her go, Meghan would take her away. Reluctantly and after a tight hug he did.

“I love you, Papa,” Soph smiles at him, as he buckled her in.

“I love you too, Sweet Pea.”

The whole drive home Ryan drove under the speed limit, eyes peeled on the road for the car he’d seen Meghan leave in. He knew he should make some sort of police report but a big part of him just hoped she’d left for good again. He didn’t want to put Sophia through anymore.

When they got home he made her favourite meal and let her watch as much Paw Patrol as she wanted, tucking her into bed a half an hour later than normal.

After Sophia was safely and comfortably asleep in her bed, Ryan went to one of his most unused cupboards. Pulling out a fairly full bottle of Whiskey, he poured himself a glass, taking a sip without even leaving the kitchen.

It dawned on him that he should probably call the Captain before he drank too much and explain the situation and a sudden need for a leave. The call was quick and the Captain was understanding, telling Ryan to do whatever he had to do to keep the little girl safe and secure.

Grabbing the bottle and his glass, Ryan went to sit on the couch. He rubbed a hand down his face and was met with an unexpected surprise. His face was wet.

Ryan remembered the last time he cried, it was the day Sophia was born, the first time he’d held her he’d cried. And before that, it’d been the night of his parents’ funeral, after the funeral. Ryan wasn’t a crier. He wiped his face and finished his drink, only to immediately refill his drink.

The plan wasn’t to get drunk per ce, just ... to take away the edge. The knife digging in his gut. He could have lost her today. If Rory hadn’t been there, if Marley hadn’t been there... He couldn’t think about it. Tonight needed to end and it needed to end quickly. He didn’t he’d sleep, but one or two more drinks would suffice. For now.

#para #chara:rory del monico #npc:meghan hayes #Little One

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