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lovelybarnes · 3 years

Note

can you do a fic that’s like the ep’s “hit” and “run,” but it’s Y/N and Spencer’s child they have to save, and not JJ’s?

pairings: spencer reid x reader, platonic!bau x reader

warnings: mentions of getting shot, bank robbery, blood, kidnapping, worry, cm stuff.

about: requested! s7 e23-24 but spencer and y/n’s child is at risk (jemily is canon btw, will knows)

thank you so much for requesting! sorry it took me so long and it's going to have to be in two parts, since apparently it was too long lol, it'll be up as soon as i'm done editing it! (i also promise it gets better in the next part-) part two

the ticking clock on your wrist seemed to pulse with each move the arms made, each one notifying you that you were running a little later than before. when spencer rounded the corner to your mother’s house, you sighed in short relief, unbuckling your seat belt when he parked and getting out of the car to open the door to the back, smiling at your son in his booster seat. “hey, bug,” you whispered, undoing his seatbelt and pressing your lips to his head in a weak attempt to wake him up. spencer was taking things out of the trunk hurriedly, setting them down and walking to the door of the house, where your mother was already waiting.

you pulled your little boy into your arms, seeing as he wasn’t fully awake yet and would probably stumble over his feet if you set him down. you only hummed when his fingers twisted in your shirt, holding you close.

“hey, mom,” you greeted, giving her a kiss on the cheek. spencer’s hand rested on your lower back, the other adjusting emiliano’s hair.

“i’m sorry we’re so late, it was supposed to be a day off so yesterday we stayed up late, and emi wouldn’t wake up,” you said, your mom nodding as a response, "oh it's no problem, honey," she assured, stretching her arms out.

you kissed emiliano on the head again as a goodbye, smiling when he made a little noise and handed him to spencer, who pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead before giving him to your mom. you waved goodbye to your son, heart stinging a bit from the disappointment that you weren’t going to spend the day with him like planned. “bye, mom! we’ll be back later, i love you!”

your mom sent you a goodbye you barely heard as you and spencer sped walked back to your car, driving to work late.

the ten minutes you were running late didn’t seem like such a big deal when you realized practically everyone else was behind schedule as well, although you couldn’t blame anyone, it was supposed to be your free day. spencer had even planned to go to a comic con with penelope, but he had only been able to start to get dressed before everyone got called in.

you and spencer were still in the car, examining the scene before getting out. outside, spencer planted a quick kiss on your lips, and you smiled, giving his hand a squeeze, then joining your team.

you stood between spencer and jj, greeting the others with a small nod and a smile before hotch began to list facts about the case. out of the corner of your eye, you noticed jj and emily’s hands tangling together, and a small smile sneaked onto your lips. your eyes flicked up to will’s face, realizing he had seen it too.

you looked back to hotch, who was still talking.

“... killed one person in each robbery.”

rossi voiced the question you had before you could, “m.o.?”

“single gunshot wound. each of the victims has bled out,” hotch explained and you all began walking towards the large vehicle housing penelope, sometimes cutting in with thoughts.

“serial killers with a thirty day cooling off period and we’re only just hearing about this now?” emily asked.

“headquarters identified them as robbers first and killers second,” hotch said, and you raised an eyebrow, “no one kills seven people without serious psychopathic tendencies- especially in the span of seven months.”

“i agree; i disagreed with the original assessment, but i was overruled.”

you nodded, continuing to listen to what hotch was saying as you walked into the fbi rv.

“why haven’t we been able to id them off of surveillance footage?” derek asked.

“they hack the security feed and turn off the cameras. both during the initial canvass and during the robbery, until the masks come back on, and then we’re allowed to watch.”

you squeezed penelope’s shoulder as a greeting, and she only smiled, blowing you a kiss as she continued to type.

you looked up at the screen showcasing the surveillance, running your eyes through the hostages. “they’re using the hostages as human shields,” you observed out loud.

“this is the first time they’ve been interrupted. what went wrong?” jj asked; the rest of the team voiced their thoughts until hotch gave everyone orders on what to do and where to go.

“jj, reid, and prentiss, look over past robberies, that’s going to be our victimology. pull another analyst if you need to. dave, handle negotiations, and morgan and l/n, strategize tactical options with mpd.”

you all nodded, and you squeezed spencer’s hand once more as a goodbye, walking out with derek.

you only had a few minutes to introduce yourself to mpd when a gunshot rang, making you flinch slightly and realize you would have even less time you thought.

“l/n?” a staticky voice you recognized as penelope interrupted your talk with the officer who was going to go in to help the injured bank robber, and you apologized as you pulled the intercom from your pocket.

“yeah, pen?”

“we got names. chris and oliver stratton. they’re brothers. oliver is the injured one”

“chris and oliver stratton," you repeated, "thank you, penny.”

“always, sweetie.”

you relayed the information to the officer with you and derek, who was currently loading up his weapon before reaching to put it in his pants. derek stopped him before he could, “no, no, no, no, i want you to put that in your bag.”

the officer paused, as if asking why, and you responded, “the woman’s probably going to want to search you,” you pushed the medical bag closer, watching as he put the weapon inside, “but chris is going to be too worried about his brother to delay long enough for her to check the bag, too.”

“alright.”

derek and you shared a look, “you’re going in to provide medical assistance, no unnecessary risks, hear me?” derek said, and the officer nodded.

“once you stabilize oliver, check on the hostage they just shot, he might still be alive,” you added. “understood,” officer green replied.

“do not draw your weapon unless you can subdue the unsubs without endangering the hostages,” derek told him, and green nodded again, zipping up the bag. “yes, sir.”

he began to walk over to the bank entrance, and you went over with rossi and hotch with derek; you stared at the screen with the surveillance, spotting the officer you’d just talked to walk in,

“shit,” you muttered, realizing the brother was probably going to die. “this isn’t good, hotch,” you said, and hotch didn’t reply.

“morgan, tell green to make a move before chris does.”

morgan touched his mic, pushing it closer to his lips, “green, you gotta go. green, go.”

you saw as he reached into his bag, pulling out his weapon in silence. chewing at your thumb, you froze when you saw chris reach for his own weapon, shooting green in the chest. you didn’t even have time to think over what just happened when chris shot him again in the head.

you could only blink and stare at green’s body lying lifeless on the floor, jaw clenched and hands shaking in frustration, trying to remain composed.

the next few minutes were a blur, swat was called and hotch and strauss argued about something you didn’t really pay attention to, “you okay, l/n?” derek asked and you nodded, “yeah. yeah, i’m fine, are you?”

derek only nodded, his attention taken away by rossi, who was waving him over.

“they called,” you realized, walking over to rossi.

“...i want an... armored truck and a plane with a cleared flight path to switzerland.”

a female voice cut in, “no, no, no. chad. we want to go to chad.”

“yeah,” chris said, “no agents with guns this time. we’ll fly ourselves.”

there was a click that indicated the conversation was over, and you swallowed hard, “i don’t think he’ll be happy she injected herself in like that.”

“these guys were too good to get caught. so, why did they?” rossi asked, and will, from next to you, answered, “911 received a call alerting them to a robbery in progress.”

penelope cut in from the screen in front of you, “actually, it was a text. dc added 911 messaging after the virginia tech students’ texts went unanswered during the massacre.”

“can you trace it, garcia?” hotch asked.

“yeah. that message was sent from a cell phone that is currently inside the bank that is registered to a… larry phillipis jr.”

will paused, “why does that name sound familiar?”

rossi was silent for a second, thinking, “that’s the name of one of the gunmen from the ‘97 north hollywood bank shootout in california.”

“so, is this an homage?” derek questioned, but no one was able to answer.

“guys, that message was sent thirty seconds before they blacked out the security feeds for entry.”

another voice offscreen that you recognized as strauss asked how that was possible, and derek answered, “it didn’t come from a hostage, it came from one of the robbers.”

you swallowed, “she wanted us here.”

jj and emily were back, and walking over to you and derek. “there’s no clear line of sight to the vault,” will noted, observing the map.

“no, but if we come in, that’s where they’ll go. we need to be ready for it,” derek stated, gazing up at the building.

“garcia caught us up. why instigate a hostage situation?” emily asked from next to you, and you shrugged, “what’s a narcissist without attention?” you answered, “she thrives on it.”

jj was looking around, “she must have something bigger in mind.”

you agreed silently, “well, we need to separate chris and the female to find out what that is.”

“it’s not going to be hard, they’re already on edge,” emily supposed.

rossi walked from the rv to the phone, taking your attention with him. you stared at him before noticing emily stepping over to him and leaving you to stay behind with derek, jj, and will. you all talked between each other, talking strategy and theories.

the next thing you knew, chris was asking for will, and jj was staring at will like he was crazy to even consider it. you were sat next to will, only listening to their conversation.

will was shaking his head, looking between jj and hotch before he turned to you. “i know you’d do it if you were me,” he told you, and you saw jj roll her eyes. “will, i get what you’re feeling, but you’re too close to this case to make this call.”

“you’re damn right i’m close,” will mumbled, “four people are dead because i shot his brother. and no one else needs to die because of what i did.”

you shook your head, “this isn’t about you.”

“risking your life won’t bring them back,” jj pointed out.

from in front of you, hotch sighed, “i’m sorry, will.”

you all stayed in silence for a while until emily walked in, a look on her face that made you sure the news she had wasn’t good. “he’s threatening to shoot more hostages until he has will.”

you sighed and will shook his head, standing up, “screw this, i’m going in.”

there was a panicked look across jj's features, mouth open to argue, but she didn't get to say anything. “no you’re not, we are,” hotch interjected.

in under three minutes, everyone was ready to go, vested up and anxiously waiting for the signal. you stood next to jj, biting your lip and staring at the map in your fingers, trying to strategize. you had barely looked up when you recognized will, walking towards the doors of the bank, seemingly unarmed with his hands raised. your eyes widened, lips mouthing an unheard no and you immediately turned to jj, who had barely seen him.

her mouth opened in a scream of protest, feet beginning to take off to try to stop him in any way she could, but derek had wrapped his arms around her chest, holding her back and off the ground, even as she fought against his arms. emily touched her arm in a useless attempt to calm her. you were frozen, only able to stand and stare and wait for the best that was probably not going to happen.

it was only three seconds that jj’s feet were on the ground, body trembling and eyes already rimmed red.

ten seconds passed by and three gunshots rang, loud and piercing and you pulled a hand to your lips, eyes following jj’s as she tried to run again, but you and derek pulled her back, letting her go when she planted her feet on the ground unsteadily, hand on her mouth.

you were all surrounding jj, apprehensive and waiting for her to blow up or scream.

“did you see where he was shot?” she asked finally, waiting for anyone to reply.

no one did, and after a moment of loud silence, she sniffed, her red brimmed eyes staring at penelope, “is he alive or dead, garcia?”

penelope stuttered, “i- i don’t know.”

“he was wearing a vest,” emily reassured, “he might be okay.”

jj scoffed, staring at her girlfriend, “might be,” she repeated bitterly.

one of the two missing from the group walked inside in a hurry, bad news no one needed from rossi’s mouth, “they’re not answering.”

jj stood up, shaking her head, “alright, we need to get inside.”

derek grabbed her arm gently, “it’s too risky, jj, we don’t have eyes inside anymore.”

jj’s eyes were wet as she looked up at hotch, pleading. “aaron...” she begged, and after a second, hotch nodded. “let’s go in.”

you all stood, walking outside.

not two minutes later, they called, just before you were about to go in.

“want to save the life of mister william lamontagne jr.? one medic that won’t pull the same shit the last one did, or else i’m killing them both.”

“we’re going in anyways,” derek pointed out, and emily nodded, “yeah, but the way we’re going in, it’s more likely the hostages and will won’t make it. if we send someone in, there’s a higher chance we can get them out.”

hotch was thinking, his forehead creasing as he stared at the paramedics. “we need an agent in there.”

“send me,” you said promptly, all eyes going on you. “i have medical training. i was an intern at the hospital before i decided i wanted to be a profiler. i can help him and i can take them down, hotch.”

“absolutely not- that would just be sending another agent in there for them to kill,” derek argued, but you ignored him, staring at hotch, “hotch.”

“l/n…”

“we don’t know how he’s doing, but chris just said we could send a medic in, i’m going to guess that isn’t a great sign. i can do it, i’m an agent, i’m capable, they haven’t seen me or heard my voice, i can fight well without a weapon, you know that.”

jj was staring at you, her fingers tangled with emily’s.

hotch was silent for a second, contemplating what you’d just said, “get your vest on,” he said finally, and you nodded, squeezing jj’s hand before putting said object on.

before going in, you grabbed morgan’s arm, pulling him aside. “i don’t know where spence is, and i’m really not sure what’s going on in there so, if anything happens-”

“y/n-”

“please.” you begged, and derek only nodded.

“if anything happens, my will is in my second drawer, tell him i love him and please don’t let him think it over too much.”

a voice that belonged to hotch interrupted you, “l/n!”

“i’m gonna be okay, tell him that. tell everyone that, okay?” you asked, and derek nodded,

you took a deep breath before walking over to hotch and grabbing your medical bag, double checking you had everything.

hotch had stood in the tent, behind you, only watching you from afar while you pulled on your vest straps, tightening it around your chest. you put on another shirt over it, leaving it invisible to anyone who wasn't looking close enough. you had smiled at hotch before beginning to leave, one of his hands wrapping around your arm and pulling you still.

“hey,” he said softly, “be careful.” you nodded, “yeah. of course.”

his hand loosened, and you sighed, walking away and towards the dreaded bank, arms up and medical bag hanging off your fingers.

the moment your fingers touched the door handle, you could just feel something was wrong, but you couldn’t risk anything- especially will and the hostage’s lives just because of a feeling.

so you pulled the door open, and stepped into the bank, eyes searching for will, who confirmed your bad feeling because he was sitting up, someone putting pressure on his wounds.

“what-”

“get inside! right now unless you want both him and you to die!”

you should’ve known it was a trap, you should’ve just listened to hotch and derek and stayed put, but you didn’t and now it was probable you were going to die.

will was fine, for the most part, he had a bullet wound to his shoulder, but he was up, talking to one of the hostages. you set your medical bag down, observing chris.

the woman had gone somewhere else, and you took the time she wasn’t there to try to communicate with her partner.

“chris,” you started, walking over to him. his gun was quickly raised at you, and you slowed to a stop, raising your hands. “i’m unarmed, as you requested, i’m just a medic.”

his hold on the gun wavered but it didn’t lower, “what?” he demanded, and you swallowed.

“you can’t trust her- the woman. she’s taking orders from someone else.”

chris shook his head, “she’s taking orders from me.”

you shrugged, “chris, take a look around you. when this place is stormed- and it will be stormed, they are going to take all the bad guys, but right, now, i only see one.”

chris looked away from you, and you heard will walk up behind you, “she’s setting you up to take the fall for this, boy.”

chris peered at him, “that’s not true.” he stated, “and how would you know?” he snapped, eyes staring back at yours, “aren’t you just a medic?”

you nodded, “they told me. the feds- they told me they found evidence of that. you can’t trust her.”

the answer seemed to please chris, and he shook his head again, “that’s not true,” he repeated, and you shrugged, trying to act natural, “then where is she?” you asked. chris pointed to his right, “she’s back there.”

you heard will hum from beside you, “huh.”

chris got up all of the sudden, pointing the gun at you and will. “alright, you both, come here. i’ll show you.”

you and will exchanged a look, and he gazed behind you at something you couldn’t see.

“go on,” chris urged, and you began to walk with will, almost falling when chris pushed your shoulder harshly.

you and will were ushered into one of the rooms of the bank, where a few black duffel bags were discarded on the floor. you dismissed them, too busy with the sensation of a barrel of a gun pressed against your back. the woman stepped out of a door, eyebrow raised as she studied at you.

“what the hell are you doing down here?” chris asked, pushing you and will aside to point his gun at the woman.

“calm down,” the woman responded calmly, “you’ll find out soon enough.”

chris didn't like her answer, shaking the gun, “tell me.” he demanded, and a sour look passed by the woman’s face.

what happened next was a blur. the woman muttered something to chris and he picked up the duffel bags, ushering you and will outside. you dropped the bracelet emiliano had made for you outside of the door- in the hope that someone of your team would find it- before you were pushed into the backseat of a car.

on the road, you looked around, trying to figure out where you were and making sure will was okay, while the woman- who you heard chris call izzy- played the recording of the bank on a loop in front of you. you pried your eyes away from the screen, instead trying to form a plan in your head.

“what the hell is that? you recorded it?” chris asked, but izzy didn’t look up, too preoccupied with the images on her tablet.

“i’m talking to you, izzy!” chris said, “you planned this whole thing,” he thought out loud, looking back at the road, “you didn’t tell us any of it, you set us up.”

izzy wasn’t paying any attention to him, but chris continued to talk, “you killed my brother.”

at this, izzy responded, but she still didn’t look at him, the gun in her other hand still pointed at you, “no, that would be him.” she stated, bored.

chris eyed at you and will from the rearview mirror. “how do i know they aren’t your partners?”

izzy watched you, “why would i work with them?” she questioned, and chris was getting increasingly frustrated, “why would you do any of this?”

izzy took her eyes off yours to turn to chris, who glanced at her. “fbi said you got somebody else.”

izzy smiled, “you sound jealous.”

chris raised a gun to her, “who is it?”

izzy rolled her eyes in response, “put that away. this isn’t about revenge, it’s about survival.”

a confused look passed over chris’ face, and izzy continued, “if you haven’t figured it out yet, i’m your only way out of this mess.”

chris moved the gun from her to will, “alright, let me kill them so we can get on with it.”

izzy shook her head, eyes drifting back to the tablet, “we need them.”

“why?”

izzy’s was now distracted by the video, replying distractedly. “leverage. we need to fix him up.”

“and how do you propose you do that?”

izzy shrugged, pointing at you, “she can do it.”

you shook your head, “i can’t, i don’t have my medical bag. and even if i did, i don’t have what i need to do anything.”

izzy was attentive at this, and she gave instructions to chris, driving to an unknown destination.

shit, you thought, staring at the outside of your window when the car pulled up to a fire department. you flinched when chris opened the door to your side and pulled you out, a gun held against your back. izzy did the same to will, standing behind the ambulance door and demanding the medic to fix will.

you were shoved to the wall, a gun against the side of your chest and a promise you would die if you moved whispered in your ear while will was getting fixed up. you only heard a gunshot when you were back in the car with will and chris, and you shared a look with will, fingers curling around the cushion of the car in frustration.

izzy was taking a call, the voice from the other line muffled, and you couldn’t make out who it was or what they were saying.

she gave a location when she hung up, but chris locked his jaw and rounded the corner harshly, parking the car.

“i’m not going anywhere until you tell me the plan,” chris declared, and within a second, izzy had moved the gun from you to chris, shooting him twice.

you flinched at the loud noise, looking from chris to izzy. “what are you doing?” will asked, and izzy shrugged, “he talks too much.”

“go ahead officer, get him out,” she ordered. “and do what, just leave him there?” will asked.

“yes please.”

she turned to you before will got out. “if you move an inch, i will kill him.”

you only nodded, staring at her as she motioned will to leave the car.

when chris was out, writhing on the floor, she glared at you. “you’re driving. get out.”

i can leave, but i can’t leave will here and she’ll shoot me for sure if i run. will can’t fight her right now. without a safe option, you agreed, eyeing will as he entered the backseat again, and you climbed where chris resided, only able to stare as izzy hastily cleaned the blood off the seat.

when you were inside, hands on the wheel, she pointed a gun at will, “go ahead. drive.”

so you did.

you stopped where she told you, watching in the rearview mirror as the hostage will had been talking to climbed in, patting will on the back. “hey will. you see that?”

“i want to do it again,” izzy smiled, watching the man- matthew as izzy referred to him. “we will,” he assured.

izzy turned back to you, “drive. you know the way.”

you glared at her, unmoving. she frowned, shoving the gun into your ribs, “drive,” she hissed. when you still didn’t react, she squeezed will’s gunshot wound, pushing the barrel on the side of his head. “or he dies.”

“drive,” matthew stated simply, and at the sight of izzy’s finger dancing around the trigger, you did.

you could only tighten the grip you had on the steering wheel when you parked in front of your mother’s house, already spotting her playing with emiliano on the lawn.

izzy was staring at you, admiring the frustration on your features, “come on, medic,” she urged, pointing the weapon at you again before putting it in her bag.

you opened the door of the car and walked out, forcing a smile on your face when izzy leaned up to your ear, “you better play nice, or i’ll kill them all.”

you picked up your son when he saw you and squealed, his little arms wrapping around you. you kissed his forehead, “hey bug, i gotta talk to grandma, how about you go back to playing?”

“okay, momma,” emiliano nodded, and you put him down, watching as he ran over to one of the play houses you brought for him.

“hey honey, what are you doing here? i thought you and spencer were supposed to come later?” your mom questioned, her eyes scanning over izzy.

“have you been watching the news?” you queried, and she shook her head, “i heard what happened on the radio, is spencer still working?”

you nodded, “yeah, i wanted you to go with molly because of everything that was going on.”

“are you sure? i can stay,” your mom assured, and you shook your head. “no, no, it’s dangerous right now, and i trust molly.”

your mom looked back at izzy, asking a question with her eyes. “this is izzy, one of the detectives, she’s going to watch over emi.”

“okay, are you sure?” she asked again, and you nodded, relieved you had set up a safe word with her and that she had remembered. she only glanced back at you and emi before she got into her car, “call me for anything.”

you didn’t respond, calling your son, “c’mon, emi, let’s go inside.”

emiliano skipped ahead, running into the house, past you and izzy, who had been surprisingly quiet.

you turned back to her quickly, “if you touch him, i will kill you,” you promised, and izzy didn’t flinch. “if you touch me, he kills will, then a certain spencer reid, then you. you wanna leave your kid an orphan? be my guest.”

you clenched your jaw, glaring at izzy until emiliano ran up to you, tugging on your arm.

“momma, can we watch a movie?”

you took a deep breath and crouched down to him, offering your son a smile as you shook your head, “i can’t, not right now, bug, i have to work, so you’re going to stay with izzy and play with her for now, okay?”

emiliano nodded, and you kissed his head, assuring yourself you would not lose him, and he wouldn’t lose you. “i love you, bug, daddy and i will see you soon.”

emiliano smiled at you and planted a kiss on your cheek, giving you one more squeeze before you straightened up, staring at izzy for a second.

you walked out, hands trembling as you climbed back into the car, wanting more than anything to run back inside and take your son to his father, where you knew he'd be safe. but it wasn't an option right now. because right now, you had to leave your baby with a serial killer and you had to go sit in the car with another one.

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synmorite · 3 years

Text

Worth it

Summary: Claire has tried to be patient while waiting for the boys, but her patience has run out. Pairing: Sam x Dean, Dean x Claire x Sam Word Count: 3180 Rating: 18+ Warnings: 18+ only, Wincest, language, nudity, teasing, drinking, smut, light bondage, oral sex (m and f receiving), edging, anal sex, unprotected p in v, rough sex, threesome Created for: @j3bingo - Threesome square A/N: This is the final part of my ‘Brat’ series. It’s been fun! Also this is my first bingo fic! Woo!

~~~

Claire liked to think she was patient. She knew she was lying to herself, but it was a nice thought. Ever since the boys agreed to let her watch them together, she stuck with them. Normally, she would be on her way after a good fuck until the next time. But she just couldn’t wait. She needed to see them together. It was all she could think about. The boys fucking knew it too. There were more lingering touches between them. More groping. More kissing. More flirting. More of everything. Well, everything except what she wanted most. To see them fuck each other. She stayed with them, hunt after hunt after hunt. She practically lived with them in the bunker when not hunting. And just to make matters worse, neither one of the boys would fuck her either. She was feeling extra horny and tried with Sam first. Maybe if she had tried with Dean first, she might’ve gotten somewhere. But Sam was sitting in the library doing research while Dean was out at a bar. She walked into the library just wearing panties and a t-shirt. Hopping up onto the table, she sat cross-legged. Sam glanced up at her and laughed. Claire pouted at him. “Nice try, Claire. Subtlety is not your strong suit.” She gave up quickly on Sam, and tried Dean next. She waited till he was in the shower and then walked in and stripped before joining him. He smirked at her and grabbed the soap. He ran it down her skin, but stopped right before he reached the juncture of her thighs. Tracing his finger back and forth over her wet skin, Dean leaned forward and whispered into her ear, “Sammy told me what you’ve up to, little girl. He thinks you should wait.” Dean pulled his hand away and put the soap back as Claire whined at him. “But I don’t want to, Dean.” “You remember that having a lack of patience is how you got into this mess? You didn’t wait with those vamps, so you had to be punished. Still haven’t learned your lesson then, have you?” Dean stepped out of the shower and grabbed his towel as he left Claire under the running water. ~

It was two months. She knew that there was no way they hadn’t had sex in that time which just made her so much madder that they were clearly just playing with her. If she wasn’t getting to hunt so much, she would have just left them. Maybe she would have. Ok, probably not. But that was also two months that she hadn’t gotten any sex, so she was a bit on the irritable side. Ok fine, a lot on the irritable side. So when the boys dragged her out on a ghoul hunt, she was more than a little pissy with them. She tossed her bag in the back of the Impala and put her earphones in as soon as she settled in the seat. She could see both Sam and Dean trying to talk to her during the drive, but she continued to give them the silent treatment until they gave up. It was already 9pm when they finally pulled into the motel. As soon as Dean unlocked the door to their room for the next few days, she shoved past him ignoring his indignant “Hey!”, dropped her bag on one of the beds, and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind herself. She stared into the mirror for a moment before getting angry with herself for hanging around. They probably changed their minds about letting her watch and just didn’t know how to tell her. Sighing heavily, she decided that she didn’t want to wait anymore. She wanted to get fucked and she wanted to get fucked tonight. She opened the bathroom door and was surprised to see the motel room empty. She saw the boys’ bags on the other bed before spotting the note left on the little table in the kitchenette. Picking up the note, all it said was that they went for food and would be back soon. She crumpled the note and threw it in the trash before opening her bag and pulling out a short denim skirt and a low cut black top. She changed and then pulled her boots and leather jacket back on. She made sure that she had her phone and wallet with her fake ID before calling an Uber to take her to a bar just outside of this little podunk town. There was a bar across the street from the motel, but she didn’t want any of the hicks that might be there. The bar outside of town seemed to be more popular with people her age. Once the uber driver dropped her off, she went in and settled down in a seat at the bar. She ordered a shot of whiskey and a beer before gazing through the crowd to find someone acceptable to take her home for the night. Her hungry gaze landed on a guy with stubble and shaggy hair. He had a smirk to die for and seemed to be a little older than most of the modest crowd. He was sitting at the other end of the bar also surveying the crowd. Claire smirked to herself and threw back the shot before picking her beer up and heading over to him. He spotted her and smiled brightly. She sat down on the stool next to him and leaned forward so her breasts were pushed up. The guy’s gaze immediately flicked downward to look before dragging back up to her face. “See something you like?” She asked, taking a sip of her beer. “Oh yeah. Definitely. I was beginning to lose hope at finding anything interesting here. How about you? Anything you like?” His voice was just deep enough for her liking. “Yea, I think so.” She let her gaze drag up and down him appreciatively. “M’name’s Graham.” “Katie.” Claire said, giving the name on her ID. In less than an hour, Claire and Graham were kissing hungrily in a back hallway of the bar. She pulled away for air and he immediately started licking and kissing at her throat. He wasn’t bad, but he definitely wasn’t good. Claire just hoped the sex would be better than the kissing. “C’mon, let’s get out of here and go somewhere more private.” She said as she pulled his head away from her neck. “Yeah, okay.” Graham said breathlessly. Grabbing his hand, she pulled him back towards the front door of the bar. As soon as the door shut behind them, her heart dropped at the sight in front of her in the parking lot. Sam and Dean were leaning against Baby and staring at Claire. “Oh, shit.” She said. Dean looked positively murderous while Sam looked calm and collected, but she could feel the waves of anger

flowing off of him. She looked back at Graham, trying to decide if it was even worth it at this point. Sighing heavily, she said to him, “Look, you might want to go find some other chick in the bar, cause this isn’t gonna happen.” “Wait, what? I just spent the last hour with you! You owe me!” Unfortunately for him, Graham said that loud enough for the boys to hear and Dean had the guy by the throat before he could take another breath. “The fuck you just say to her?” He growled. “Who the fuck are you?!?! Lemme go!” Graham tried to pull Dean’s fingers off his throat. “Dean, c’mon, he’s not worth it.” Claire urged. Dean growled again before throwing Graham away from him. “Damn right he’s not.” Dean stared hard at him. “Get the fuck home. Now.” Graham scrambled away to a beat up old car before peeling off out of the parking lot. Once he was out of sight, Dean turned his glare to Claire and she flinched. “And you get the fuck into the car now. We’re going back to the motel.” She heard the door of the Impala open and saw that Sam opened the back door for her. She slinked off into the backseat. It was dead silent on the ride back to the motel. Once they made it back, Sam levelled Claire with a look and said, “Go to bed, Claire.” She opened her mouth to argue about how she was 18 and they couldn’t tell her what to do, but seeing the stony looks on both of their faces, she decided she wouldn’t test them. She stripped out of her clothes and pulled on a large T-shirt to sleep in before crawling under the covers and shutting her eyes. It wasn’t long before she fell asleep.

Something was wrong. There were strange noises in the dark and Claire couldn’t move right. She heard a grunt and her eyes shot open. The room was dim with only a table lamp on, but her eyes immediately focused on the two bodies in the bed next to hers. Two naked bodies. Sam was leaning over Dean, kissing him deeply. He was also slowly jerking Dean’s cock in his hand. Dean let out another grunt as Sam twisted his wrist on the upstroke. Claire immediately felt wetness pool between her thighs at the noise. She tugged on her wrists and realized that they were tied to the headboard. She also realized that she was completely naked. When she looked back at the boys, Sam was smirking at her. Dean’s head was thrown back as he gasped with Sam’s hand movements. “Looks like someone finally woke up for the show.” Sam kept his eyes on Claire as he leaned back down and took one of Dean’s nipples between his teeth. Dean grunted and thrust up into Sam’s hand. Claire went to squeeze her thighs together and realized that her ankles were tied to the opposite end corners of the bed so that she couldn’t do anything to create any friction for herself. “Yeah, I cannot believe you slept through Dean tying you down and stripping you.” “Please, Sam.” “Oh no, baby girl. I told you that you’d be tied down. And you haven’t been very patient over the last couple of months, have you? Not to mention the stunt you pulled tonight. So absolutely no touching, babygirl. Not if you want either one of us to play with you.” Claire whined out, “Okay, Sam,” knowing that there were no other options. Any options she wanted anyway. Dean’s eyes turned to Claire and she held his gaze as Sam lowered down and took Dean’s length in his mouth. Dean’s mouth fell open as a hand weaved into Sam’s chestnut hair and held on. Sam licked and sucked until Dean was bucking up softly into Sam’s mouth. His eyes still trained on Claire, Dean asked, “Can I taste her, Sammy? Please?” Sam pulled off of Dean with a small pop. “Okay, Dean. Because you have been such a good boy for me, I’ll let you taste her. But she’s not allowed to cum. I’ll let her get my dick nice and wet for you while you play with her.” Dean nodded eagerly before scrambling over to Claire. She was already spread wide so he settled between her thighs and licked a long stripe up her center. She gasped at the sudden touch. Dean let out a happy sigh as he continued to lick and suck at her. Sam climbed over her so his knees were above her shoulder. “Suck.” He commanded. She lifted her head and eagerly took Sam’s length into her mouth, swirling her tongue around his tip before pushing forward to take as much of him as she could. The angle was awkward, but Sam understood and didn’t try to control her actions. He let her go at her own pace. She could feel a climax approaching and hummed around Sam, but Dean slowed his ministrations, letting her orgasm melt away. Once she was no longer on the edge, he picked back up until she was close again before slowing down and letting it fade. She groaned in dissatisfaction as Dean edged her a third time. Sam grinned down at her. “What the matter, baby girl? Want something?” She pulled off of him and pleaded, “Please, Sam. Just let me cum. Please.” Sam leaned down and stroked a thumb over her lower lip. “Hmm. How about I let you have one orgasm tonight. Just one. Do you want it now, or would you rather have a cock in you?” She threw her head back in frustration. “Careful now, baby girl. If you’re a brat, you’ll get nothing.” Immediately, Claire calmed herself. “I’m sorry. I’ll wait until you decide I can have a cock.” Dean was still licking at the slick pouring from Claire’s hole when she felt him press a finger into her. She gasped and jerked up, and Sam turned to look at his brother. “Seems I have two brats tonight. I told you that you could taste, Dean. I didn’t say you could finger her.” “But Sammy, she’s so soft, and wet, and warm.” “And wouldn’t you rather feel that around your cock instead of your finger? If you’re not careful, I won’t let you cum either, Dean.” Dean immediately

pulled his finger free. “Sorry, Sammy. I’ll be good.” “Good. Now it’s time to get that hole of yours ready for me.”

Claire had never seen Dean look so desperate. So wrecked. Hell, she had never seen him so submissive. He was always so dominant with her. He gripped the sheets in his fists and whined and whimpered with every thrust of Sam’s cock in his ass. “Please, Sammy. Harder. You can go harder.” “Such a little whore for me, Dean. So hungry for his baby brother’s cock.” Sam snapped his hips against Dean harder. Dean let out a gasp and buried his face into the bed. She could hear Dean breathing out and chanting “fuckfuckfuck” as Sam continued to pound into him. She felt a shiver of desire run through her body as her gaze remained intent on the two brothers. She twisted against her restraints and whined. Sam’s gaze locked on her and he pulled his cock free of Dean’s. “Sammy, please!” Dean begged. Sam gave him a hard smack across his ass. “I want you to fuck her. Destroy that little pussy.” Dean turned and looked at his little brother. “But I want you to fuck me.” He whined. Sam smirked, “Who said I wasn’t going to fuck you too?” Dean didn’t hesitate to climb back onto Claire’s bed. He shoved a thick finger into her to try and open her up a little. She gasped at the sudden intrusion and bucked against his hand. Sam was still kneeling on the other bed, stroking his cock. Dean pushed a second finger into Claire and she winced at the stretch. “Enough, Dean. Fuck her.” Dean frowned at his brother. “She’s still too tight.” “But she’s wet enough. I can hear how wet she is. She’ll loosen up once you get going. Besides, it’s not about her tonight. She is being punished after all.” Claire looked back and forth between them. Dean still looked unsure. “Fuck me, Dean. I can take it. I want it.” Dean didn’t hesitate any more and lined himself up before pushing in. He had to fight for every inch he gained inside her as she panted at the burn. Once he was fully seated, she threw her head back, blonde hair scattered all over the pillow. Dean’s forehead rested against her chest and his forearms wrapped under her shoulders as he breathed deeply. She could feel his legs quivering as he tried to control himself. He jerked suddenly and Claire looked down to see that Sam was standing over them, stroking a hand up and down Dean’s back. “How’s that feel, De?” “Fuckin’ tight.” Dean grunted back. The bed dipped as Sam climbed on behind Dean. His large hands gripped Dean’s hips as he rubbed his cock over Dean’s ass. Dean shuddered deeply and pulled back from Claire to push himself back against Sam. Claire thrust her hips, but her movement was limited since she was still tied down. Sam noticed and reached over to tug the knots around her ankles free. She immediately pulled her legs up to wrap around Dean’s waist. She felt Sam run his hands up and down her legs before gripping her thighs and pulling her into Dean. Dean groaned at the feeling before lifting his head and kissing Claire hard, shoving a tongue into her mouth. She started to grind her hips against Dean, needing more. “No baby girl. Stay still.” Sam ordered. She obeyed reluctantly and felt his hands return to Dean’s hips. Dean’s cock twitched inside her as Sam slid back into Dean’s tight warmth. “Fuck us, Dean.” Sam commanded. Dean shuddered as he started a slow rhythm of fucking into Claire while fucking back into Sam. Before long, his speed picked up and Claire was holding onto the ropes around her wrists desperately. Sam growled and started shoving hard into Dean, pushing him into Claire and breaking his rhythm. Dean whined out, “Sammy, ‘m gonna cum if you keep that up.” “Then do it. Fill that bitch up.” Claire and Dean moaned in unison as Sam continued his rapid, hard thrusts. Claire felt the coil tighten in her belly and could tell that Dean was close too as he started to throb inside her. Dean’s chest was pressed against hers and as she felt the dam inside her break, she bit hard into his shoulder. Dean gasped and used his grip under her arms to her shoulders to pull her onto him as deep as he could get before unloading himself inside her. “Fuck!” Sam cried out as he gave a few more hard shoves

into Dean before stilling and grunting as he came himself. He had a tight grip on Dean’s hips that looked like it would leave bruises. They all stayed in their positions, breathing deeply before Claire managed to chuckle out “God, that was fucking amazing!” Both boys let out light laughs of their own as Sam pulled free of Dean slowly and collapsed to the side of Claire. Dean then pulled himself out of Claire and laid down on her other side. “Uh, boys? You gonna untie me?” “Oh, shit. Sorry, sweetheart.” Dean mumbled before leaning up to pull the knot at her wrist free, while Sam undid the other. Once she was free, Dean curled into her side and wrapped an arm around her waist. Sam pulled the blanket up over the three of them before moving arm under Claire’s head and holding the arm of Dean’s that was around Claire’s waist with his other arm. He kissed Claire’s cheek and mumbled, “Sorry we made you wait so long, baby girl. Hope it was worth it in the end.” “Yea, Sam. It was most definitely worth it.”

#j3bingo #dean x claire x sam #dean x claire x sam smut #spn smut #wincest #smut #spn fanfic #spn fanfiction #synmorite #synmoritewrites

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rebelwrites · 3 years

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Already Home

Jason Hayes x Reader

Requested by @chibsytelford // Prompt 6 please woth Jason “You should probably go home.” “But I’m already home." I'd love it if Jase could be the one saying "you should probably go home" and reader answers with "I'm already home". Maybe he got back from deployment and went straight to the bar with the guys and reader knew he would end up there. She gets there and maybe he's a bit drunk and feeling sorry for himself so he tries to push her away. And she is having none of it and explains to him in front of everyone she is going absolutely nowhere and Jason just looks at her like 🥺🥺

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Jason Hayes Masterlist

This Months Writing

You couldn’t focus on work, your head was spinning because Jason had gone completely radio silent on you. This wasn’t like him when he was on deployment, normally he would call you as much as he could but not this time. Luckily the rest of Bravo Six kept you updated and assured you that he was fine. You knew they were lying but knew they did it so you didn’t spend the time worrying.

Leaning your elbows on the desk you looked at the pictures on your desk. One of you and Jase and one of you and the whole team. You knew what you were getting involved with when you started dating Jason and you knew he was facing his battles away from the field.

The sound of your phone ringing tore your attention away from the photos, checking the caller ID you saw the words “BRAVO TWO” flash on the screen and instantly answered it.

“Bravo Two, considering you are ringing me off your own phone I’m going to assume you are back home”

“The eagle has landed” Ray laughed down the phone. “Guessing Jase didn’t tell you we were heading home”

“No he didn't” you sighed “Ray be honest with me here, is he okay?”

“Physically he is fine but mentally I’m not sure, he has been so closed off this deployment” Ray sighed.

“You at the watering hole?” You asked, running your fingers over the picture of you and Jase.

“Damn right we all” He chuckled “guessing we shall be seeing you shortly”

“Yeah I’m gonna ditch work now” you said leaning back in your chair. “The boss that likes me is working today so I know it won’t be a problem”

“Perfect I shall get you a beer waiting” Ray said “see you soon”

The moment the call ended you saved your work, shut your computer down, pulled Jason’s hoodie over you and went to find your boss. Luckily your boss understood you second life so the moment you walked into his office telling him you were taking off he knew the boys were home and nodded at you telling you to take the rest of the week as well.

Taking a deep breath you walked into the pub, scanning the room you saw your boys around the pool table and Jason sitting at the table staring down at his bottle of beer.

Normally when the boys saw you they would all pounce but not today they knew you needed to give Jase a much needed kick up the ass. You knew why he was in such a slump, the anniversary of Alana was coming up.

“Nice to see you home in one piece” you said sitting in the chair next to him, nudging his shoulder.

“Yeah” he huffed not looking up at you. “What are you even doing here?”

Great he was drunk, this wasn’t going to be fun or easy.

“I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear that” you said running your hand through your hair. “Talk to me Jase”

“What is there to talk about?” He mumbled, still not making eye contact.

“I don’t know how deployment went, how you are doing” you said, placing your hand on his forearm.

“You know I can’t talk about it” he snapped.

“That’s bullshit Hayes and we both know it” you said, taking a deep breath. “So how about you stop throwing yourself a goddamn pitty party and speak to me”

Silence. That’s what you got.

“Fine be like that” you huffed standing to your feet. You knew how to work Jason and this was just part of it.

Walking over to Ray you took the beer from him, downing the bottle in one go.

“As much as I love him I want to punch him right now” you sighed leaning against the wall.

“We all do” Clay said looking up from the pool table.

About half an hour had passed when Jason finally looked up, making eye contact with you as he pushed himself to his feet.

“You should probably go home.” Jason said trying to act tough but you saw right through it.

“When are you going to get it into that thick skull of yours Hayes, I am already home” you said raising your voice “I'm gonna love you best that I can. Even when you can't stand me. Even when you can't even stand yourself. I'm telling you I ain't going nowhere whether you like it or fucking not”

Everyone was staring at the two of you, but you didn’t care, you weren't going to give up on the man in front of you.

“Look I know you are hurting and I fully understand that but you have people who care about you, people who want to help” you said as the tears formed in your eyes. “People willing to help you, why can’t you see that. Jase in here okay I’m always going to be here, I’m not going to run from the hills, I am not going to watch the man I fucking love crumble and become someone he isn’t”

Once again you were met with silence.

“Just fucking remember that okay” you snapped grabbing your bag, quickly saying bye to the guys before turning back to Jase. “I’m gonna give you space right now because it’s obvious you don’t want to do anything but feel sorry for yourself. Hopefully I will see you at home”

You only managed to take a few steps before Jase pulled you into him, slamming his lips against yours.

“I’m sorry” he whispered against your lips and he rested his forehead against yours.

“Baby you have nothing to be sorry for okay” you whispered placing your hand on his cheek. “We understand why you are hurting and that’s okay, just don’t shut us out”

“You promise you aren’t going anywhere?” He whispered.

“I swear on my life Jason, unfortunately you are stuck with me whether you like it or not”

@chibsytelford @mrsmarvelous1995 @supervalcsi

@everyhowlmarksthedead @talicat713

#Jason Hayes #Jason Hayes x reader #Jason Hayes imagine #Jason Hayes oneshot #Jason Hayes fanfic #seal team #seal team x reader #seal team oneshot #seal team fanfic

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supernatural-love14 · 3 years

Text

Is That All I Am To You?

Summary: Thinking that her and Dean are exclusive, the Reader is proved wrong when Dean tells another hunter that they are only friends…

Warnings: The tiniest bit of fluff (and I seriously mean tiny). some serious ANGST. No happy ending. Arguing. Language. Crying. Lots of crying…

Word Counts: 1,682

Pairing: Dean x Reader, Former Dean x Reader

PROMPT: Is that all I am to you?

A/N: This is for the @jawritter 1500 Follower Challenge - Jen’s Make Me Cry Challenge - here’s the masterlist to it.

MAIN MASTERLIST ~ SERIES MASTERLIST ~ ONESHOT MASTERLIST

Four years. Four years that I have known Dean Winchester. Two years that we have been dating. At first it started out as a friends with benefits thing, which I was completely fine with if it meant I could spend time with Dean. But then it started to get serious, he started to take me on dates. We’d go to restaurants - just me and him, go play crazy golf, go on walks, stuff that couples would do.

A year down the line of the relationship, Dean gives me space in his room for clothes. Not that it really mattered if I had a drawer or not in his room considering my room was only down the hall. But most of the time I would sleep in his room, with his arms protectively wrapped around me as we slept.

Even Sam believed we were dating, it felt like we were dating - like it was all real. But I was so wrong, that I didn’t even realise that everything Dean had ever promised me was a lie. I should have seen it coming. Like come on, it’s Dean freaking Winchester. The one who gets around with all the women, never settling down, never dating anyone because it would have the worst outcome.

How couldn’t I have seen this? Why couldn’t I have stopped myself from falling for his charm years ago? I feel so naive and gullible. I know now that I can’t ever believe anything that man says. Ever again.

I have to leave, I have to get out of here.

5 Hours Earlier…

Meeting Sam at the bar, Dean and I walk in with his arm “possessively” wrapped around my waist, warding off any guys that would even think to get close to me. Sam sat in one of the corner booths of the bar far away from anyone. To everyone it looked like we were together, technically we were.

Joining Sam at the table, I was sat next to Dean leaning my head on his shoulder while he had one of his arms wrapped around mine. It was so clear to everyone that we were more than just friends. The lingering touches, the featherlight kisses on the forehead. Even the way he looked at me suggested that there was more than friendship. For the first time in a long time, there were no girls even attempting to flirtatiously glance his way. They knew he was taken. They didn’t even try to come over to get his attention, they knew they wouldn’t get it.

“Any new cases, Sammy?” Dean asked, as he grabbed onto one of the many beer bottles that was brought over to them, taking a large gulp of it.

“Man, I’ve looked but nothing so far, a whole bunch of others have taken cases and there’s just nothing at the moment.”

“Do they need any help?” Dean asked, clearly needing something to keep him occupied but Sam quickly shook his head.

“I’ve already asked, but you know what hunters are like, they’ve got their own partners to help them and they don’t need three extra hunters. But I’ll keep looking for cases, I guess we can just take this time off that we never get round to having.” Sam explained, lifting his own beer to drink, his eyes scanning the bar before noticing someone staring at them. “Hey, we’re being watched.”

“What… by who?”

“Don’t know, I’ve never seen him before, he’s just intensely looking at us from the bar.” I turn around to see the man sitting at the bar. Once he see’s me looking at him, he smiles. Gasping I realise who it is. “Y/n, you know who that is?”

“Yeah… my ex.” Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Dean slightly turns to see the guy who is staring at you.

“Bad ending?” Sam asked with concern, his eyes shifting from you to your ex and then to Dean.

“Not really. He’s not… a hunter. And it was a long time ago.” You started to explain to the boys.

“Are you going to go over?” Dean asked, masking his emotions with a straight face.

“Should I?” Looking up at him, trying to get a read on him but failing miserably.

Gulping, Dean looked from you to your ex before looking back at you. “Y/n, he’s clearly here to see you. You should go over there.”

“But I’m here with you guys… It’s fine, really. I’m with you. I have no reason to see him. It didn’t end well last time I saw him, which was when we broke up.”

“Did he know about the hunting life?”

“Yeah, that’s the main reason we broke it off.” I lie easily, not really wanting to explain my past.

“Maybe he’s trying to get you back, maybe he’s ok with you being a hunter.”

“Dean! I’m with you, I don’t need to go back with my ex… I’m already taken.”

“Yeah but we’re not really together, together…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You raise your voice slightly, hoping this isn’t where it’s really going.

“Dean, st-“ Sam started to say before Dean interrupted him.

“We’re only friends with benefits.”

“So, what two years of being together - friends with benefits or not, and not once id you think that with all your actions showed that this was more than friends with benefits. You don’t take a friend with benefits on dates. Let me guess in all of this whole ‘friends with benefits’ thing, you’ve been seeing other people haven’t you?”

“Y/n…I’m sorry that you thought there was more to this-“

“No. What you did was lead me on. I’m going back to the bunker.” Getting up from my seat, I quickly grab my stuff before heading out towards the door. My ex immediately heading towards me, and I couldn’t even stop the eye roll from forming.

“Hey, Y/n. It’s been a while.” He stops in front of me, blocking me from the exit and now i’m suddenly remembering why we broke up in the first place. Anyone would think that we broke up because I was in the hunting life and he was not, something normal. But no, this cheating bastard thinks he has the audacity to think we will pick things up where it was left.

“Yeah, I guess. How’s Amanda?”

“Andrea, was her name.”

“OH right, that so silly of me to get the name mixed up of the girl you threw me away for.” I said bitterly, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Y/n, at the time we weren’t really together.” You could just feel like your brain wanted to explode at that very second, what was with men and not telling you what the relationship status was. Was it that hard to talk for them to talk to me? And why did I have such bad luck with men!?

“Yeah, I remember, I remember you so clearly saying that as you were banging that chick in our bedroom of the house we brought together!”

“Y/n…” He started to say grabbing my arm slightly to pull me towards him, before I so rudely pushed it away. “Don’t be like this. Remember all the fun we had together.”

“No. I don’t. Now if you excuse me, I have to leave. I’ve dealt with dickheads all evening.”

“Hey, don’t go. Come on, catch up with me.”

“No. I’m not going down that path again. What happened between me and you is now over. It’s been over for years.” Clearly not getting the message, he pulls me roughly towards him, before I kick him in the balls. I didn’t even realise one of the Winchester boys were behind me before Sam pulled me back away from my dick of an ex-boyfriend.

“Hey, she clearly said no. So leave her alone.” Sam defended, a glare placed on his face, I turned slightly to see where Dean was but seeing him at the other end of the bar chatting up a chick just made my blood boil. Here I was clearly struggling to get rid of my ex and he’s over there throwing what little we had left away like trash. From this moment I knew it was over. I knew we would never be together. And I knew I had to leave for good. No more would I fall for men like him.

I could feel my eyes tearing up, blinking rapidly to hold them back from falling. My ex now left the area of the bar as Sam watched me with concern. “I’m going back to the bunker.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, I’ll be fine. I’m just going to get some sleep.”

“Ok…just call me to let me know you got back ok.”

“Of course.” Lying through my teeth as I give Sam a quick hug. With him never realising that this would be the last time he would see me. I leave the bar quickly heading back to place which will no longer be my home.

After 5 hours I had packed my things, grabbed anything and everything I had in Dean’s room and my old room to put into my car. My old car was sitting in the garage, where it had been left since the day I moved in here. I never really needed it when I had moved in, I couldn’t help the tears that fell down my face as I realise how much I will miss this place. The memories that I thought were good now turned to ash and dust.

I will move on from Dean Winchester. Sitting behind the wheel just made it all too real as Dean will never know how much I loved him but I have to leave, I can’t stay here knowing that he will never fully be with me not after everything that I now know. He’ll never know what he truly missed out on, holding a hand to my flat stomach, the life that was slowly growing inside of me. Dean will never know that he would have a child. Because he will never find me. Not ever again.

IF YOUR NAME IS CROSSED OUT IT MEANS I CANNOT TAG YOU FOR SOME REASON. ALSO FEEDBACK IS MUCH APPRECIATED!

Forever Tags:

@peachyafshawn @vicmc624 @deanswaywardgirl @hobby27

Dean Winchester Tags:

@foreverasouldreamer @a-girls-little-world @dreamyalessiaa @dhawandyke @bi-danvers0 @anorable-agnes-drew @autumnfrancour2 @waywardbeanie @ellewritesfix05 @flamencodiva @akshi8278 @tuataracda123

If you wish to be added to the taglist even if it just for a series or one shot - comment down below or ask me!

#jensmakemecrychallenge #angst #dean #dean winchester #sad #no happy ending

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evera6234 · 4 years

Text

Gotham’s Salty WIP: Chapter II

CHAPTER I

RATING: T (Teen for cursing and stuff, this may change)

SUMMARY:

Basically, the typical Daminette with a bit of lime and spice. Borderline crack fic bc i cant without humor.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng goes to Gotham whilst carrying three years worth of emotional baggage, what she does with it, we don't know. Does she lug it around? Probably. Does she kick it off a skyscraper? Not probable, but maybe. Does she use it to drop kick an unsuspecting liar. Most definitely. ~~~> EDITED BY OLLIETHETURTLE ON AO3

Transferred from AO3.

Lemme know if u wanna be tagged

“Yeah, your signatures don’t line up…” says the man at the front desk. “You said your name was… Lila Rossi, right? I’m looking for a... Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

“Present,” an amused Marinette announces.

“No! There must have been a mistake. I personally talked to Brucie and his 4 sons, Jason Grayson, Tim Todd, Dick Drake and my precious Damibear!”

“Yeah no. That 100% didn’t happen. 100%,” the somewhat peeved front desk attendant grins.

“How dare you talk to Lila like that! What’s your name? Give me your manager's number!” Alya fumes in a french accent (A/N: total karen moment intentionally placed).

“My name is Andrew Winston, and my supervisor….”

“Hey Andrew, what’s poppin!” says a voice. After observation one could say that said voice comes from a tall muscular man, with a white streak in his hair, wearing a leather jacket.

“My blood vessels, Jason. My blood vessels. Why are you here? You weren’t supposed to be here today.”

“Yeah, Dick broke his arm yesterday at home. He fell down the stairs. And since I am such an amazing brother, I decided that I would fill in for him today!”

“You were forced,” concludes Andrew as he scratches out Lila’s name off the previously mentioned thicc stack of papers with a black marker.

“Yup.”

“This is the class you are supposed to caddy around WE. And they seem to be a bit peeved right now.”

Jason sighs, “Ok. what’s the issue…”

“They are saying that Lila Rossi, here” Andrew points to Lila, then looks down at his notes “says she spoke to a Brucie, a Jason Grayson, a Tim Todd, a Dick Drake and her precious Damibear to set up this field trip. My info here says that a girl named Marinette Dupain-Cheng set this trip up but they don’t believe me.” Andrew nonchalantly continues “Speaking of which, Marinette please sign on all the starred lines. Lila and her friend already filled out everything else.”

“Tim Todd!” Jason chokes.

¬`

The tour had slowed down in the corridors of Wayne Enterprises as Jason let the students go on a quick bathroom and water break. Lila had left for the bathroom, and it is safe to say that Marinette learnt her lesson to avoid bathroom confrontations with Lila. They were never fun, and right now she doesn’t think she can handle a wet shirt in winter.

“Really, Marinette. You take credit for all of Lila’s hard work,” says Kim passing by.

“Do you have any idea how hard Lila worked on this, and you know she hardly has any time to spare.” Max pitches in.

“Yeah. Lila worked so fucking hard concocting the names Jason Grayson, Tim Todd and Dick Drake. Sounds like the revamped cast to The Three Stooges,” Chloe crackles giggling.

“I sure wonder how Tim Todd and Jason Grayson are today? Are they well?” Marinette questions sarcastically.

“Absolutely fucking amazing after hearing that!” Jason wheezes, overhearing the conversation. Jason gave Marinette a knowing look that confirmed an earlier inference. This Jason was Jason Todd. This was priceless.

Adrien’s eyes narrow on his angered face. “What was she doing.” “She promised to take the high road.” “She only needs me, I’m her best friend.” He watched the situation from a distance, unnoticed by Marinette. But as sly he is, he did not slip Jason’s radar.

“So y’all, 1:30pm. That means, Lunch time! Right and you’ll be at the cafeteria, I’ll be joining you guy in about 15 minutes. So fuel up. Remember to show your IDs, lunch is on the house! Bon appetit!” Jason cheerfully announced as bows dramatically (like actors at the end of a play) and he turns around.

A bit into lunch Mrs. Bustier came up to Marinette and Chloe’s table. “Marinette, can I talk to you?” asks Mrs. Bustier.

“Can I come too, Mrs. Bustier?” asks Chloe suspiciously

“No, Chloe. This is just in between Marinette and I, sorry.” Mrs. Bustier replies sternly.

“It’s okay, Chloe. I’ll be fine,” reassured the ladybug holder, squeezing the bee holder’s hand.

“Ok, fine. Let me know if something happens.” Then Chloe leans in to whisper to Marinette, “Audio record it, just in case.” Marinette nods.

“Ok, Mrs. Bustier. I’m coming!” replies the bluenette happily as she follows Mrs. Bustier away from the crowd.

Adrien, from his table with Nino, Alya and Lila watched, “Hey guys, I need to go to the bathroom,” he said before standing up.

“Marinette you should be setting an example for the class. What you did today, making fun of Lila was wrong,” Mrs. Bustier frowned. “You of all people know Lila's condition and you should be more accepting of her.” Disappointed, Mrs. Bustier continues, “I expect you to apologize to her before we head back to the hotel.”

“With all respect, no thank you. I will not apologize for my actions,” Marinette sternly begins. “Does the school have any medical record of her illness?” Marinette asks. “Why should I allow her to take credit for my hard work? And why do I have to be the model student who is obligated to be kind to everyone, when no one ever is to me?” Marinette, now more frustrated than before, questions the teacher. She felt a storm of emotion begin to stir.

“Because you are the class representative! It is your responsibility to lead the class with your example! Lila is a student with needs, she needs to feel accepted by all her classmates and it is your job to fulfill her needs.”

“I’m sorry Mrs. Bustier, but sometimes I can’t shove a square in a circle. Sometimes I can’t do things. Lila is lying, and I can’t lie with her. I will not lie.i will not pretend to like her. And why must I be responsible for all the students in class, but receive no respect for it. Receive nothing but hate and insults. How is that fair for me?” Tears begin to collect in Marinette’s eyes. Mrs. Bustier, for the longest time, has been one of Marinette’s favourite teachers. The fact that right now Mrs. Bustier, couldn’t give less of a shit about her feeling hurt.

“I understand but what about Lila’s feelings? I cannot let you bully Lila. You are being selfish right now, I never thought you could act like this. I am disappointed in you.” Mrs. Bustier finishes as she walks away.

“What about MY feelings. What about me, what’s so wrong with me being selfish every once in a while. Have you ever looked into my family’s bullying complaints against Lila? What about me?” Marinette cries desperately, as Mrs. Bustier walks away. “Why is everyone ignoring me?”

“The real question here is, why are you ignoring me?” growled a voice from behind Marinette. “I thought you promised me to take the high road.” Marinette’s eyes widen as she realizes who’s talking to her.

“I never promised, Adrien. Not once. I can’t keep silent and alone for longer.”

“You are not alone, you have me. And I even LET you talk with Chloe.”

“Yes, I have Chloe and thank you your majesty for letting me communicate with another human being. And no, Adrien I do not have you,” Marinette raises her voice. “Lila has you, you only talk to me in secret. You let Lila lie, you let her hang off your pretty model arms when she wills. You are and were never on my side.”

“So you really are jealous?”

Marinette, delirious with anger frustration, her voice laced with contempt, “No, never.”

He looks down at Marinette and smiles “Stop lying Marinette.”

“I’m not.” Adrien looks back at Marinette, as if he knows something as he too stalks away. “I’M NOT!” Marinette yells.

“So she said that she talked to Brucie, Jason Grayson, Tim Todd, a Dick Drake and her precious Damibear!” Jason nearly on his side from laughing too hard.

“DAMIBEAR!” Tim howled in laughter, with his hands wrapped around his torso to somehow hold his ribcage together. Both brother’s are laughing their asses off in Tim’s office.

“I KNOW!”

“Are we gonna tell him?” Tim begins to ask before he interrupts himself, “No! We are not. What we are going to do is call him that and let him figure it out, sooner or later he will meet the class and when he does…”

Jason let the scenario Tim described play in his head, “YES! You now speak my wavelength, to be honest maybe Lila wasn’t lying. You may be a Todd.”

“No fucking way am I one. By the way, you should check on the class, how long has it been since you left them?”

“Shit! Twenty minutes! Farewell, dear Replacement.”

“Have fun, report back on any juicy lies, specifically ones about sweet baby Damibear or even Brucie.”

“What the fuck was that?” thought Jason as he heard two people arguing in a secluded hallway, “Marinette?” he thought when he saw the girl, immediately putting a name to the face. But he didn’t know the boy. Jason whipped out his phone and quickly took a picture of the situation, making sure to get a clear shot of the boy’s face. For research purposes.

Gunz Blazin: Hey Tim Todd

Gunz Blazin: Can you gimme a background check for this guy

(*attaches a cropped image of the mystery boy’s face*)

Boy Wonder: ???Tim Todd???

Replacement: I gotchu fam.

Boy Wonder: ???fam???

Boy Wonder: ???

Boy Wonder: Can I be a Todd too

Replacement: No you're a Drake

Jason heard a voice coming from behind him, “That’s Adrien Agreste.”

Jason turns his head to look at the boy again and hears more of the conversation. He turns back and she’s a tall-ish blonde girl with blue eyes. “You are? Marinette’s friend?”

“Yes.”

“And he is not Marinette’s friend?”

“He absolutely is not Marinette’s friend. He’s the ass-hat who thinks he owns Marinette. Are you SURE I can’t punch him in the face?”

“Yes.”

“What if I just break his nose a little.” (Requested by Ollietheturtle, my new dear editor)

“As an employee of Wayne Enterprises, I’m supposed to say no, but in all honestly I kinda wanna do that myself…”

TAG LIST: @jeminiikrystal @demonicbusiness @i-am-ironic @woe-is-me0 @miracleofadisaster @clumsy-owl-4178 @onmywaytoloveyou

#daminette #dcu x mlb #class salt #adrien salt #lila salt #alya salt #maribat #Marinette deserves better #dc x miraculous #chloe redemption #we love chloe in this house #cross posted on ao3 #ozmav #ml salt #damian x marinette

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i-like-it-when-ju-sleeps · 3 years

Text

I Am the Apocalypse (Part 2)

Pairing: Jay Halstead x Sarah (OC)

Summary: Takes place during Chicago Fire 3x18. Sarah is a doctor at Med and in a long term relationshp with Jay. She is at Med when the grenade goes off.

Read part 1 here

Sarah’s vision was blurry. She heard only fainted noises as she slowly sat down. She focused slightly on the front desk where she saw many people, both conscious and unconscious leaning against it. Blood was on the floor and against the walls, smoke and black dirt everywhere. A throbbing pain hit her as she touched her forehead. Looking at her fingers, she saw a small amount of blood and she guessed that she must have hit her head during the explosion. She saw people around her slowly standing, at least the ones who could. Matthew Casey, her old colleague from when she was a paramedic, bent over a little to help her up.

“Your head…” he started

“I’m fine” she waved off. She didn’t need anyone to fuss over her. Many people needed medical attention and she couldn’t afford the luxury of being hurt herself. She leaned against him as he helped her stand up. A wave of dizziness hit her as she fully stood but she shook it off, trying to focus. Realization came upon her and her eyes widened; she turned around to face Matt again.

“What did he say?” She asked in a rush. “The bomber, what did he say?” From behind her, Will had stood up to join, listening to what she was saying. He must have understood where she was going because he shared the look of horror on her face.

“Something about being worse than ebola?” Matt answered, although it came out as more of a question. Sarah’s eyes widened and she glanced at Will who had heard the same thing. She stood up and looked at the two men.

“We need to lock down the ER. No one in or out”

Matt grabbed Hermann by the arm, telling him to keep everyone inside. He then reached for the radio on his shoulder to inform the men who were still outside.

“Chief, some guy just blew himself up. Said what he has is worse than Ebola.”

“We need everyone brought back in that could be infected.” Sarah cut as she grabbed the radio from Matt’s hands. And with that, they all went to work. Sarah had just finished checking up on a man who looked like he had nothing more than a concussion when she found a nurse and grabbed her arm.

“Hey. We need to set up a decontamination area. Any bathroom with a shower. Start getting people washed off.” She ordered and the nurse nodded, walking off to do what she had been told. The voice of Peter Mills got her attention as he called for help.

“Hey! Hey! Over here it’s Severide!” and Sarah’s eyes widened as she recognized her friend’s body lying on the ground unconscious. Will made it to his side before she did, and she heard him say that he needed a black tag. The young woman scoffed and was about to tell him that it was a joke, but Mills was faster. And even though Will tried to explain that the percentages were very low, he didn’t let go until he agreed to treat him.

“Do we have an infectious disease specialist on the premises?” Sarah asked the secretary after looking at some of the injured people around her. The woman nodded

“Diane Claman.”

“Good. Call her. Tell her to get down here right now, full hazmat. We got to know what we're dealing with.” Sarah sighed and made her way towards someone else when her phone rang. She groaned when she saw the ID: Jay. If he called, it meant that he had heard and was probably working the case and worried because both his brother and girlfriend were inside. She pressed the green button and put the device to her ear.

“Please tell me you’re not in there.” was the first thing he said, and she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“You want me to lie?” she asked sarcastically, hoping it would diffuse the tension a bit. She heard Jay sigh on the other side of the line, and she decided to fill him in. “Listen, the guy who blew himself up in here said he had something worse than Ebola.”

“What like he’s spreading it with this?” he asked incredulously.

“Yeah and every one of us has been in contact with this.”

“Who was he?”

“That’s the moment where you come in isn’t it? Do us all a favor and find out” Sarah said before hanging up to deal with other patients. She looked to her left and saw Dawson, her old partner as a paramedic crouching next to a man. She called out to Sarah, signaling that she needed her help.

“His airway's clear. He's breathing. Circulation's good. His name's Jim.” She filled her in, and the doctor nodded, turning to the man.

“Can you hear me, Jim?” she asked and said man breathed out a shaky yes.

“Is that... that's his rib, right?” Gabby asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

“That's someone's ulna.” Sarah stated with a raised eyebrow and confused look on her face before turning towards the half blown-up corpse in the middle of the room. “His.” She said sadly motioning over the corpse. “Let's run an IV with antibiotics, and I need some gauze, tape, bandages, and a cast saw.” Sarah asked and April, who was behind her nodded saying she would get it and was followed by Gabby. The young doctor turned back towards the man who looked at her with wide eyes.

“What? A saw? What are you doing?” the man breathed uneasily and looked terrified.

“Jim, I'm gonna need you to remain as still as you can.” Sarah explained softly, trying to calm him down. “I want to know what's going on exactly.” He said and the young woman nodded in understanding as April and Gabby got back and handed her the small saw.

“Fair enough. I'm not gonna remove the bone from your chest.” Doctor Hale explained calmly.

“Why?”

“I also got 5 milligrams of Midazolam if you need it.” April said and Sarah turned back to the man.

“Would you like a sedative, Jim?” she asked softly.

“I want this damn thing taken out.” Jim said impatiently.

“Believe it or not, you're fine for now. If I remove that from your chest, that's when you're gonna be in trouble. So I'm gonna cut down the bone so it doesn't move and damage your lung. And then we'll wrap it and secure it, and you're gonna keep calm until I can get you to an OR.”

“No. No, no. This came from the body of that lunatic.” Jim yelled and did everything he could to refuse the treatment Sarah had offered.

“Do you want to live, Jim?” the young doctor asked sternly, raising her voice and looking at the man dead in the eye and he nodded. “There you go.” She then said softly. She turned on the saw and held it closer to the bone.

“Hey, Jim. Look at me, okay? Right in the eyes.” Gabby said, getting his attention to distract him from what was happening. The man whimpered quietly as the saw touched the bone. “You're doing great, Jim. You're doing great.” She said over the noise and Sarah finished cutting the bone.

“All right.” The doctor said and looked at the man, getting the gauze and bandages in her hand. “Hey, you did great. Okay, here we go.” She said as she let April and Gabby wrap the rest of the bandages around his torso. “Keep an eye on him?” She asked Gabby as she stood up and said girl nodded. Sarah squeezed her shoulder and stood up, looking at the dead body in the room.

“Can you toss a sheet on that for me? Please?” She asked Otis as she passed in front of her and the man looked at the body with reluctance before nodding. Every firefighter, nurse, doctor and patient in the room looked when a few minutes later, a young woman in a hazmat suit, who Sarah guessed was Diane Claman, walked in, looking uneasily around her, Hermann behind her and showing her the body.

#jay halstead #jay halstead imagine #jay halstead x reader #chicago med #chicago fire #chicago pd imagine #chicago med imagine #one chicago #one chicago imagine #oc #fanfic #chicago pd

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years

Text

HASO, “Telling Tales.”

This story came as a suggestion from someone on the discord server, so I hope you all enjoy a break from some of the heavier stuff I have been doing lately.

The room was large and filled with noise, mostly the clinking of glasses and the clattering of voices, but on occasion the comm systems echoed with a cool female voice broadcasting announcements across the entirety of the station.

There were at least forty tables inside the room packed in close together, with a long bar at one end where men and women alike stood standing and chatting to each other as they took their drinks. Below that was the low rumble of music, and up on all four walls, large projection screens broadcasted earth sports in delayed time.

At the far end of the room a large viewing window looked out on a wide view of space and the rest of the station. The station itself was huge, stretching out for what could have been miles and miles of tightly packed corridors and branching rooms. The station itself was a mesh of Tesraki and human technology and had been built right here in orbit….. In orbit of the thing staring at them from out in the darkness.

A supermassive black hole ringed by a disk of bright light and a halo that cut across the middle.

Honestly as McCaster stepped into the room, he found the view very disconcerting, and had the sudden worry that…. Inexplicably they would start slowly drifting towards the black hole until they succumbed to a horrendous and terrifying death. Looking around though, it seemed that no one else seemed to think so, and he ushered himself inside and over to the bar hoping that a drink might calm him down.

He sidled up to the bar leading against the metal countertop and motion for the bartender with a hand.

She slid over to where he was. She was dressed casually, though the bearing of her chin told him that she was one of the soldiers working on the station and not just a civilian. He ordered something to drink, and he came back a moment later with a metal tankard. He took it surprised to find that he missed the bright amber liquid inside cool glass covered in a layer of condensation, but he supposed having breakable drinking vessels wasn’t going to do for a ship like this.

Still, the liquid inside his mug looked a sort of muddy brown rather than a pleasant amber.

He took another sip.

Still tasted fine though.

He turned to look around the bar watching as groups of people chatted to each other , drank and ate.

Not all of them worked here, some of them, like the crew of the Omen, had stopped by for supplies and to give their men and women some time to relax and have a little fun before they had to ship out again. McCaster felt this was really his only chance for a while, to meet people off the ship.

He sidled forward eyes scanning over the room and falling on a woman. She was pretty, young about his age with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail.

Couldn’t hurt right?

Unfortunately, just as he was sidling up, some other gus seemed to have the same Idea, and he sat down at her table just as two others did pausing to stare at each other across the table.

McCaster looked at the young woman, “This seat isn’t taken, is it?”

She tilted her head at him in near amusement, “I can’t control where you sit.”

“Then I suppose you don’t mind if we join you.” The other man added receiving a glower from McCaster across the table.

“You work here.” The other man asked her

“Yes.”

“Well me and the boys here are just off from The UNSC Pioneer, finest ship this side of the quadrant.”

McCaster snorted into his glass, not trying to be a dick this time, but he knew THAT was a lie.

The other man glared at him, “What, you disagree.”

“Frankly, yes. Our ship is Objectively the best and that’s not even me bragging.”

“Oh really, and what ship is this.”

McCaster smirked, “The UNSC Omen, but I bet you’ve heard of it.”

There was a chorus of disbelief up from the other men.

“Right, and I bet you are personal friends with Admiral Vir too, right.”

McCaster frowned, “Maybe not personal friends, but I did fly with him once.”

More disbelieving booing.

He crossed his arms, “Don’t believe me huh well what about this.” he reached into his pocket to snag his ID card and then pulled it out, holding it up for the entire table to see, “See Lt McCaster of the UNSC Omen. I fly a Thunderhawk, and sometimes the shuttles.” This time the men could hardly argue, his iD said as much, at least as much about which ship he worked on and what he did.

THere was a light murmuring around the table.

“That’s right, so like ninety precent of my friends are aliens.” He was exaggerating just a little bit, he didn’t really interact with the aliens on the ship all that much accept for the Celzex that fixed the weapons on his jet, and the Drev he liked to play" pool with.

But the blond was looking at him with interest, so its not like he could squander this opportunity

He nodded glancing sidelong at the girl.

“Yeah, like I said, its not like the Admiral and I take lunch together or anything, ‘but’ the ship is small enough that I do run into him on a daily basis, cool guy, a bit weird though. I actually flew with him during the burg war on the Gromm home planet.”

A chorus of disbelief.

Behind him someone chimed in, “Bullshit.”

He turned to see that another table behind them had overheard his claims. There was a pretty redhead sitting there, and so he wasn’t likely to let go of his momentum. He raised his ID badge for all to see, “Not lying.” He raised his mug to his lips and took a long satisfied sip, “Disbelieve me all you wan’t but it’s true.”

“Well don’t just sit there all smug, tell us about it then.” Someone urged, and he was more than happy to oblige.

“Well, we had just been informed of the eminent Burg attack on the Gromm capital city below. I had been being debriefed by the Commander, at the time, and went with him to the bridge as we were debriefed. The Nexus was down and Burg ships were descending in swarms. They were unprotected on the planet below, and it was clearly up to our crew to stop the attack.”

His little crowd was drawing even more eyes, and he found himself with a small crowd of skeptics sitting around him listening to his every word.

He found himself speaking faster with excitement and nerves.

“I was on the bridge and watched him survey the scene, when out of nowhere he hands the captain chair over to one of his lieutenants and orders me out with him. They had orbital defences, but he knew that they had no chance in atmosphere since they didn’ have any fighter jets to push back the invasion.” he puffed out his chest, “Admiral Vir handpicked me to accompany him as his copilot and gunner.”

Another chorus of disbelief.

He shook his head, “Disbelieve me all you want, but it’s true. He knew my talents, and he knew I could keep up with him. And I tell you I have never seen a man or woman that could fly like he does.”

He had them now leaning forward in their chairs.

The best part is all of this was true…. Mostly.

“Of course, I was ready, solid as a rock, I have been training for just such situations for the entirety of my career, and I had no hesitations about what I was going to do. The Admiral was relying on me to be his copilot and damn straight I wasn’t going to let him down.” He grinned in a self satisfactory way, “He gave me charge of all the important stuff while he was flying combat…. And he made it sure in no unclear terms that if he couldn’t handle the flying, I was going to take over for him.”

Ok that was sort of a lie, but only a little one.

“I knew as soon as we were coming in that Admiral vir had an idea brewing. We didn’t go for an angled entry but instead piloted our jet straight down. I thought that the re entry was going to rattle my teeth out of my head. But as I said before I had no doubts about the Admiral. I knew we were going in, and I had inklings of what the admiral was about to do. I never questioned him.”

Also kind of a lie, but it's not like it mattered.

“We were plunging from the sky, fire spitting off our wings, going so fast it makes your insides feel like they are on your outsides. Picture the sky fading to blue behind you, fire is benign thrown off your wings like water from a waterfall, the G force is so powerful that it compresses your chest and makes it hard to breathe,” he was standing now gesturing wildly, “We plummet from the sky, and fire our guns exploding a burg ship just before it takes out one of our other fighters. We pull up right before the ground, must have been nine ten maybe even fifteen Gs.” Okay he was exaggerating, “But I stayed conscious through the whole thing.” That was also kind of a lie.

“We broke into combat with the burg drones, and I shot down at least three of them as the Admiral piloted. He said afterwards that he had never seen someone take the shots I did and make it.” Okay yes he had been passed out for half of this, but again its not like any of them were going to know.

What harm was a little exaggeration.

“I caught one burg as we were coming out of a sharp dive, my hand felt nine times heavier than it should have, but I nailed it in the engine compartment and it exploded into a ball of fire. I was still shooting them down when the Admiral orders me to take control of the ship. Of course I wanted to ask what was going on, but there was no time, I grab the stick and manuver us into a tight barrel roll. A ship explodes behind us. I have control of the jet now complete control and I pull us up into tight pursuit of another. I avoid two missiles and in a moment of genius, I drop all of our flares, which collide with at least four burg ships exploding on impact. What I hadn’t known is that the Admiral’s hand had cramped from all that earlier flying, and if I hadn’t been there he would have died. But at that moment I had no idea and proceeded to clear enemy skies over the capital city. I dived so close to the ground that we might have crashed if I hadn’t pulled us into an inverted upwards pull for the last few seconds”

He continued to speak and as he did the fight grew even more excessive and heroic. He detailed in exquisite and colorful imagery as he single handedly flew them to safety pulling off near impossible maneuvers, crack shots and many more outlandish happenings as he and Admiral Vir valiantly switched back and forth on the controls, equals in every way.

He was just describing their great and climactic fight scene where, he had to take command of the ship once again, when he finally noticed no one was really paying attention to him. He saw their eyes, looking past him.

His voice slowed, as he looked around eyebrows furrowed.

He turned where he stood and cut off mid sentence as his eyes fell on a familiar face in the crowd.

Admiral Vir sat behind him in a chair balancing on two legs, head tilted to the side. His eyepatch covered one of his eyes, but the expression on his face was one of great and abiding amusement.

He leaned forward in his seat, “Don’t let me interrupt you lieutenant. I believe you were just getting the the part where you pull an inverted double helix back loop and I pass out drooling in the front, you just manage to pull us out of that dive, and the two burg ships are so confused by the manuver that they crash into each other and explode catching the attention of all the other stunned burg in the area and allowing the other pilots a final push in clearing the sky?”

McCaster’s mouth opened and then closed and then opened again .

Admiral Vir continued to smile as McCaster stammered and gurgled like an idiot.

“So…. what actually happened.” Someone asked

McCaster plopped shamefacedly down in his seat. Admiral Vir paused tilting his head in the other direction as if thinking. A good portion of the room had gone quiet as they shuffled closer to hear the stroy. He stood after a moment and walked over to where McCaster was sitting placing his hands on the back of the chair.

“Well The first part of the story wasn’t wrong. I had been debriefing McCaster and the other recruits on a few aspects of my ship when we got the call in that the Gromm homeworld was being attacked. I DID give up command to the ship of one of my lieutenants, and I DID as McCaster to fly with me as copilot.” he smiled and easy smile that seemed to light up the room around him.

Everyone within a twenty foot radius shifted forward in an effort to be closer to the man and the magnetic nature of his personality and charming smile.

“McCaster was top of his class in flight school, and I wanted an extra pair of eyes, that is true. We did take a vertical dive into the atmosphere instead of an angled entry. Yes there was fire spitting off the wings, and yes we did pull out of a vertical dive after saving one of the other fighter jets. All of that is pretty accurate.”

HE smiled and McCaster wilted.

“He did embellish a few things.” he rested a hand on McCaster’s shoulders, “But what is a good story without a little bit of embellishment? I’ve certainly never told a story that didn’t sound about ten times better than it actually was.” There was a small laugh from the crowd, “Point being that I would certainly fly with McCaster again, he is a brave, talented, and honorable member of my crew even if he is a colorful storyteller.”

McCaster looked up at the Admiral, still leaning on the back of his chair, and watched as the man made subtle eye contact with the blond girl just a few feet away.

McCaster blushed As Admiral Vir pushed his chair forward across the ground to sit next to her.

She was smiling in some measure of amusement, and Admiral Vir winked at him as he backed away. Either that or he just blinked, it was hard to tell with the eyepatch.

He turned back to look at the woman who was looking at him in some measure of amusement.

He rubbed the back of his head.

“He seems to be one hell of a wing man, in and out of a jet.” She commented

He stammered stupidly glancing over his shoulder to where Admiral Vir had retreated to the bar, ignoring the eyes on him, hungry expressions from both men and women as he ordered a drink and sat down.

Bless the Admiral, number one for being a good wingman for sure, and two…. For not totally calling him out on all his bullshit.

Granted everyone probably guessed, but at least he could keep some of his dignity with plausible deniability.

He was able to work himself back into a state of cool suave composure, enough to learn that the woman’s name was Emily, and that she worked as a data analyst for the big black hole thing. It had a lot to do with math and physics which he totally didn’t understand, but certainly tried to because he knew she liked it.

Across the room, Admiral vir attracted ebbing and flowing waves of people coming to listen to his own stories which were mostly modest and self deprecating depictions of what really happened. Being the first person to fall flat on his face on an alien planet, how he had scared the shit out of the bran the first time he met them, how he ended up in a Rundi prison because he was being a dumbass.

There were a few times where he too tended to embellish the stories, only to preface later by saying, but what actually happened was this.

As soon as the man stepped into the room he seemed to change the whole gravity of it like a wandering star collecting satellites.

He supposed that’s what happened when you were famous.

Thanks to him though, it turned out he got along really well with Emily, and despite knowing he was a complete moron, she seemed to like him too, and he scored her number and a surreptitious invitation to accompany her on a walk to somewhere quieter.

As he was leaving, he turned back to look at the Admiral, making surprise eye contact with him as he did.

He raised his glass minutely to McCaster before turning around and continuing his story.

He grinned as Emily took his hand,.

“So….. tell me really, how many times did you pass out when flying with him.”

He snorted, “Please, I spent more than half of it passed out, like I can’t remember shit. I don’t even remember where the sky or ground was relative to each other for most of the time. The man can fly…. Like all that stuff I was telling you, just replace my name with his and you might have yourself a believable story.”

She laughed at his expense and he laughed too

Thank you Admiral Vir.

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bard-of-worlds · 4 years

Text

The Law is the Law chapter 8

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Sorry this was a day late, i skipped a weakend in the story so sorry. here it is and i hope that i will have the next chapter out faster then this one

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Alya slipped out of her room and stopped at her sister’s room, opening the door and looking it, smiling as she saw them sleep as she looked into the room. I am never letting those two hang around Lila if I can ever again, I mean I trust her to look after them and she probably told them nothing but lies about herself. And I can’t believe that Adrien thought we wouldn’t believe him, but I can see why he was thinking that. I let both of them down and I let my sisters down! Her thoughts died as she felt a hand on her shoulder that caused her to turn to Nora’s smiling face and she sighed, now or never.

“Come sis, it won’t be that bad.” Nora said as Alya smiled and sighed.

“I dropped the ball so bad sis, so bad.” Alya said as she walked towards the kitchen, keeping her hand closed as she walked, mentally preparing to exposed everything that she hadn’t done, sure that her parents would be ashamed of her. As she came into the room she saw her father Otis seating at the table as her mother Marlena put the last of the leftovers away in the fridge and Alya coughed and they both looked up at her and Nora.

“So what’s wrong Alya?” Otis asked as Alya and Nora sat down at the table as Marlena walked over and sat down next to him. No one noticed Alya slipped something onto the underside of the table and Alya took a deep breath before she started.

“I messed up, I…… to start with about two days ago a liar that I trusted framed and got Marinette expelled.” Alya began and Otis looked shocked as Marlena gasped as Nora scowled.

“Marinette, your friend Marinette? Why?” Marlena asked and Alya looked down. “Alya?”

“They found the answer sheet for a practice test in her bag, then the liar said that Marinette pushed her down the stairs while they were walking to the principal’s office and then a necklace belonging to the liar was in Marinette’s locker.” Alya said as

“Wait the lockers, but they don’t have locks! And why didn’t the teacher see what happened when she was ‘pushed’?” Otis demanded as he stood up from the chair, a scowl on his face and Alya looked away.

“She stayed in the class room, they were alone when they went to the principal’s office. Then the lieing bitch took us to our locker room and her necklace was in Marinette’s locker.”

“She, the liar just walked after falling down the stairs to the courtyard? After a fall like that you’d get some wounds. And the nurse just let her?” Nora asked with a growl and Alya looked shocked before she started to look sick. “What is it sis?”

“Lila didn’t even go to the nurse’s office, she just led us to Marinette’s locker.” Alya said and at this Marlena gasped.

“Wait, don’t your lockers not have locks!” Marlena said and Otis looked shocked.

“They what?! What kind of school is this?!” Otis demanded and Alya looked down. “Alya?”

“That’s not the worst of it. I missed it when I investigated the school…… about five years ago a student almost drove another student to take their own life.” Alya said and her parents paled as Nora started to growl.

“How the heck did you miss that Alya?!” Nora asked angerly and Alya looked down and Nora winced. “Sorry sis, I mean……”

“It was kept quiet, I….. it was part of a settlement to spare the school and to try and make it better.” Alya said and looked up at her parents. “My friends…..Marinette’s family is going to sue the school about this, how he said she was expelled and well everything, there’s going to be an expulsion hearing last I heard and no matter how it came out she’s……They were talking about going homeschool definitely.”

“And you want to join them Alya?” Marlena asked as she reached over and grabbed her husband’s hands as he looked thoughtful.

“Homeschooling? Are you sure about it little sis?” Nora asked and Alya nodded.

“The way they were talking, they might close the school to go over everything and if that happens well they might send us off to any-school in the city no matter what we want or what kind of school it is, this way we’ll be ahead of the curve and all.” Alya said with a nod. “I’m setting up a private blog so that the other students can look over all the programs tomorrow.”

“You’re setting up the blog because you want to make up for not believe Marinette right sis?” Nora cut in, causing their parents to look from her to Alya as they tried to understand what Nora had said.

“Not believe her her……why?” Marlena asked and Alya looked down ashamed.

“I thought it was like what happened with Daisy and me mom; I just saw what I did in her actions.” Alya said and Otis looked at his daughter and released a sigh as Nora shook her head.

“Oh Alya.” Otis said with a look of self-hatred that almost broke Alya’s heart.

“Dad, it wasn’t your fault. And you were right about me and Daisy.” Alya said as she looked at him with a smile.

“Sis, you gotta let it go. The way it came out, the both of you were having a bad day and you acted like that for about a month before dad talked to you.” Nora said as she smirked. “And he only knew what to say to you because he had a bad first encounter too right?”

“Okay, I’ll admit to that. But homeschooling……… how are we going to not have the twins know about it?” Otis said and then he chuckled at Alya’s confused expression. “What, are you thinking that they’ll not have problems with them doing it too?”

“Fair point…… Alya are you going to the hearing?” Marlena asked and Alya nodded. “Then Nora will be going with you, she’ll ask for a copy of the minutes so the two of us can look it over and then we’ll talk about it, how the other hand how about looking into school around here that might be a good place to transfer to.”

“Okay, okay.” Alya said and sighed. Nora walked over and hugged her. “Sis?”

“Look Alya you made a call based on what happened to you. Yeah it was the wrong call but everything that you knew said it was the right one to make.” Nora said as she drew away. “This isn’t gonna be the last time, and that you know it was the wrong call will help you a lot latter in life, trust me.”

“Thanks.” Alya said as her parents got up and hugged her as well.

“So, homework done, anything else that you need to do to get ready for tomorrow, anything we can do to help out?” Otis asked and Alya looked down and thought about it for a few seconds.

“First, I need to talk to someone without Lila knowing, Nora can you watch the twins tomorrow, I need to track down a few people.” Alya said and Nora nodded.

“Sure little sis, I’ll be glad to, but I’ve got something I need to do on Sunday.” Nora said and she shared a look with her parents. “You head off to bed, I’ll be on twin patrol tomorrow.”

“Thanks sis, I think I take a shower and hit the sack, is that okay?” Alya said and the other three stayed where they were until they heard the shower being turned on.

“You’re going to talk to Marinette about this, aren’t you? And nothing we say will stop you right?” Otis asked and Nora nodded.

“Yep.” Nora said and Marlena sighed.

“Make sure you grab some of their cookies when you leave then, need some money for that?” Marlena asked and Nora shook her head.

“Why talk to her?” Otis asked and Nora sighed.

“I think there might be something off with the story Alya told us, that she left something out on purpose.” Nora said with a shake of her head. “I figured that the little girl won’t.”

“She is honest.” Otis said as he got up, never noticing a microphone on the underside of the table that Alya had slipped there when no one had noticed.

As Alya got into the shower she removed an earbud as she turned off an app on her phone. So glad I got that tech piece form Max, glad I commissioned it from him. I gota send a message to Marinette about this, I mean I can’t not tell her, I mean I never told them about the ‘Akuma Attack’ attack that fizzled out, nothing happened and the butterfly never even got me! But if Lila is working with Hawkmoth then I don’t know why she didn’t try and grab one during………..because if anyone of us saw it then she would have been exposed! That lying rat, I will do everything that I can to take her down! Alya thought as she gritted her teeth and finished undressing before she got into the shower and let the water flow over her. “Something else to deal with latter.”

Later on as she walked into her room drying off her hair she grabbed her phone and got onto her bed before she activated a texting App.

Reporterox; Hey girl able to talk or are you talking with your guest?

BakeDesign; Alya!! It’s not like that!

Reporterox; Sure it’s not, not yet anyway. Anyhow, my sis is going to come over on Sunday, I told them about the liar but not the swarm.

BakeDesign; You didn’t you tell them about the red bugs that attacked?

Reporterox; No….. I should have but I don’t want them to worry to much, say do you know where the weather girls will be tomorrow?

BakeDesign; Alya. Fine I’ll try and not say anything, I can keep secrets you know. And I think Nadia said she saw them at the station sometimes on the weekends before lunch once.

“Don’t I know it girl, don’t I know it.” Alya said with a smirk as she typed another replay.

Reporterox; Yeah, I know you can girl. I guess I don’t want to make more waves now then we need, I mean my dad when he gets bit by bugs is one thing but my mom, let’s just say Nora inherited her temper.

BakeDesign; Ouch.

Reporterox; Don’t get me wrong, we’ve all got problems but well, mom once turned the air blue when someone insulted dad.

BakeDesign; Okay I would do the same thing if someone insulted my mother or father.

Reporterox; Yeah, well tomorrow I’m planning to talk to Aurora about what you told me, find a way to get the information you got me to the others in the school.

BakeDesign; Make sure that you do it safely, if Lila figures out anything that might then you’ll be her next target.

Alya looked at the text and a tear escaped from her eyes and she shook her head. After everything that happened you’re still putting others ahead of yourself, girl you are too good for this world. And that bitch is going to be driven out of here on a rail if I have anything to

Reporterox; Don’t worry, Lila said she’ll be gone for the weekend so I’ll head to the station early to talk to Aurora.

BakeDesign; Good, I’ve gotten in contact with him and he wants to meet you all tomorrow so after lunch then, you see Manon is coming over tomorrow for me to watch so we’ll have to go see him after I let her go, so after lunch if nothing happens.

Alya went still and released a deep breath and looked around her room before smiling that at least she might say goodbye to Trixx. This is bigger than you Alya, this is about Paris. The best thing that could happen is that Mari and Adrien can keep theirs and keep fighting Hawkbutt, if I have to loose Trixx then so be it. Alya thought as she got her emotions back under control.

Reporterox; Good girl, then I’ll talk to Aurora and swing around to help with Manon after, maybe a play date at the park before she’s picked up…… no the twins are staying home for the day……. Long story okay and I don’t want to talk about. So I’ll see you tomorrow and tell you about it all, have a nice night because I’m sure my dad will be here any minute.

“Lights out Alya! You’ve got a big day tomorrow so make sure you have a good sleep!” Otis said from the other side of her door and Alya looked up from her bed and smiled and sent off one last text as she got under her covers.

Reporterox; he just gave me the bell, see you.

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Max sighed as he put away his dishes and finished cleaning up his dinner as he looked around his home as Markov recharged behind him. I can’t believe that I was so wrong about them. I’m usually better but then that napkin thing was proof that I don’t always think things through. Max thought as he finished.

“Come on Max, I mean you couldn’t have known. With all the data it stood to reason that we were right.” Markov said and Max sighed as he walked out of the kitchen towards the living room as Markov took off and flew after him. “You can’t blame yourself too much.”

“I know Markov, but I guess with what happened I was too sure of what we found to think we were wrong. That’s a problem I have I guess.” Max sighed and shook his head. “But what really gets me is what they told us about the school.”

“I suppose that the Principal wanted to protect the school’s reputation. But you would think that they would have tried to keep that from happening again.” Markov said and Max sighed as he sat down and grabbed a controller as he turned the tv and game system on, quickly starting one of his creations.

“I guess…… but still.” Max said as he leaned back against the couch and sighed.

“I believe this is another reason your mother said that you need to talk to people more Max, at least Chloe wasn’t involved.” Markov said and Max looked at his robot as he hovered there. “I predict that she would have, what’s the term, blogged about it right away.”

“Maybe not right away, but maybe.” Max said with a laugh. I mean, maybe the old Chloe. She has become a lot better, but then I did see her mother and I can guess where how she acted came from but man, I don’t know who’s at fault. I never thought the fact that my father is dead would be a good thing, I can only know him from the stories mom told me, I can never know if how he would thing about how I’m more brains then brawn. Max thought as he called up a save file. “I think maybe she’s trying to be a better person, but I can kind of see where and why Chloe became who she is.”

“That is still beyond me Max, I am getting closer to that level of thinking is still beyond me.” Markov said with a sad ‘face’ and Max smiled at him as he paused his game.

“I know you are Markov, that’s something else I’m proud about you, and then there’s the face that you showed the inactive to investigate Lila on your own, I’m so happy.” Max said and Markov ‘blushed’.

“From the interactions with Marinette I knew that she wouldn’t do something so out of character. I first went through the easiest thing I could figure out, Lila’s fall. I calculated with a seventy percent chance that Marinette tripped is the only reason Lila could have been pushed at all, but even that is suspect because of how Lila was able to walk away with the supposed fall.” Markov said and then hovered to the left. “Of course then there is the necklace found in Marinette’s locker, that was very suspect, how could Lila have known the stolen necklace was there? How could Marinette have known about it since Lila never mentioned it before?”

“A few things to mention to Marinette when I talk to her then.” Max managed as he realized all the unanswered questions that the principle hadn’t even thought of because of the chaos of the event. “I can’t believe we missed all that!”

“Don’t be too sad Max, nobody notice it even me; it was only after I looked over my files did I think of those questions.” Markov said and Max looked at him and his mouth dropped open in total shock. “Max?”

“Why didn’t the principle or Miss. Buister call for the nurse, why didn’t she come?” Max asked shakily and Markov looked at him and a question mark appeared on his face as he landed, a sign that he was trying to find out the answer in his data banks.

“I don’t know…. I can’t create a possible idea.” Markov said and Max went still as he thought of one reason but there was no way. “Max?”

“Nothing Markov, I just can’t think of anything myself.” Max said before a ringing came from the phone. “Markov?”

“There’s a video call coming in Max, shall I put it on the tv?” Markov asked and Max nodded.

“Do it Markov.” Max said as he put down his controller. A few moments later a woman with dark skin, brown eyes and short brown hair a low bun wearing a orange uniform with a patch of a moon before a yellow star.

“Mom! You’re back on earth already?” Max asked with a smile

“Hey baby, Markov how are you two?” Claudie asked as she stood before a camera with

“Quite fine Claudie, a few problems here and there but everything is fine.” Markov said and Max looked at him as his mother gasped.

“Are they serious Max?” Claudie asked and Max looked at Max and then sighed.

“When are you able to come home?” Max asked and Claudie looked at him and he hoped that she didn’t read into more then he wanted as he tried to keep his face expressionless.

“I should be home in a few days but if you need me to come I could see if I can get bumped up.” Claudie said and Max shook his head. “Are you sure Max?”

“No mom, it can stay as it is for now. When you get back we will have to talk but what happened didn’t happen to me.” Max said with a smile and she looked at and sighed.

“Okay, okay I’ll still try and get my post mission work done first, but I will let it take the normal course.” Claudie said and looked at them with a smile. “So anything else, any new Akuma’s that push the understanding of science?”

“The last one was yesterday, I think it was someone who either loved dogs or worked with them, he could control dogs and rode a giant one.” Max said and Claudie looked at him and shook her head as an old horror that he knew all too well came over her.

“You were safe right Max?” Claudie asked and Max grinned

“When the attack started I was in my room, and I he didn’t come over here at all, I think he might have been defeated near the stadium according to what Chloe posted.” Max said and Claudie looked at him and sighed.

“With what’s happening in Paris that’s the best that I can expect then. I’ll be back in a few days and we’ll talk about everything then.”

“Thanks mom, be safe and have a good day.” Max said and Claudie laughed a little.

“Have a great night’s sleep baby.” Claudie said as she closed the video chat. Max smiled and got back to his game was soon lost in the action.

“That was better than I predicted Max, I was sure she would have tried to get here faster.” Markov said and Max nodded.

“Mom promised me that if I said it was okay, she’d not rush home. And this way I have a few days to look over the data and give a good presentation to her about it.” Max said with a smile. This is perfect, this way I don’t have to bother mom on the station and we can talk about what I learned and then work from there! I just hope that those programs that Chloe found for Marinette are right for all of us. I know mom fought against me doing that before but after what happened this might be for the best. Max thought as he played his game, his mind trying to relax when a beeping from his phone caused him to look down and saw a message from Marinette. “This is perfect, Marinette is going to take me to

“I think I’ll stay home Max, if someone hacks into me then Hawkmoth could have the other Miraculous!” Markov said as he hovered around the room. “One stray Akuma and he’ll know!”

“Then I guess we’ll have to work on your security programs Markov.” Max said before a bit of music from the tv caused him to frown. “After tomorrow.”

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Nathalie walked into the mansion and stopped before Gabriel’s office, sighing as she did so. He’s not going to like this at all. But the plan I made is the best thing for everyone involved. She thought as she gathered her courage to knock on the door when a voice came from within.

“Come in Nathalie.” Gabriel said from within the office and Nathalie swallowed and opened the door. “Have you found my son?”

“I think so, after checking his friend Nino’s place I then went to the next likely place he could be, the Hotel.” Nathalie said as she looked at Gabriel as he sat behind his desk looking at his computer. “Once there I found evidence that isn’t a definite it is the best lead we have.”

“And what did you find that told you that?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie smirked a little.

“I overheard the Bourgeois girl talking to a staffer about a special guest, something about how he hasn’t had to leave the suite.” Nathalie said with a small smile. “Given how she feels about him I’m positive that he’s there.”

“Good, once you can talk to him about this then it can all be fixed.” Gabriel said as he looked up and frowned at something before nodding. “Yes, that should work.”

“What should?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel smirked a little.

“The secondary Lila problem. I’ve scheduled a shoot for her tomorrow while you were gone, got back a reply and have just received another report from a special photographer who will be covering the shoot.” Gabriel said with a smirk that caused Nathalie to raise an eyebrow.

“And with everything that’s happening you think pandering to Lila is a good idea?”

“With this photographer, yes. She will give me a perfect report on just what kind of model Lila is.” Gabriel said and looked down with a smile at another email that he opened and read the contests of. “And he’s gotten to the last school she’s been in, I should have a very revealing report on her by sometime in the next few days.”

“When did you send an investigator to look into Lila?”

“After she was in the mansion the first time Miss Nathalie.” A voice form above caused Nathalie to look up and see Nooro hovering there with a scared look on its face. “I begged Master to do that, she doesn’t feel right.”

Nathalie looked at Nooroo for a few moments before turning to Gabriel with a frown. “And you decicded to work with her after an empath told you she wasn’t right?”

“Again yes, but if it had worked out perfectly then we would have finally had what we. Why the Dunpain girl alone might have won us the day!” Gabriel said with a scowl. “But of course that girl Lila couldn’t even do that right!”

“The mass attack didn’t fail because of her, it was because I was week.” Nathalie said and Gabriel sighed and shook his head.

“She planned the expulsion with my help, but it was her idea. We just tried to make it……larger.” Gabriel said as he looked up. “Perhaps the next attack should be someone with a grudge against the Bourgeois, someone who will cause enough chaos that it will let you get to the floor he’s on and get him out. If you can talk to him about it, then maybe this nightmare will end without too much damage.”

“What about Lila?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel smirked.

“I expect that I will have all I need to fire her within the next few days. I will of course have to explain to Adrien why I did it…… I plan on telling him that I did it because I didn’t trust both Adrien and the school to tell me about what has happened there.” Gabriel said and Nathalie looked down at her tablet before looking up at Gabriel.

“Are you sure that’s a good thing Gabriel?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel looked up before looking down and sighing.

“No, it’s not. But that is the only way I can go and still have a chance not to destroy my relationship with my son. And when will she get back from those negotations with our overseas distributers?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie looked confused before she realized who he ment.

“Oh, her? A few days if the airport does their jobs right.” Nathalie said as she looked up

“Good, once she’s here I want her to talk about the lawsuit about Adrien. I want her to go over everything that the courier gave to us.” Gabriel said and sighed and looked down. “Nothing is going to be the same no matter what happens, will it?”

“No, I’m sorry Gabriel but I have said before you need to make more time with him.” Nathalie said and Gabriel sighed and shook his head. “Gabriel.”

“My Miraculous gave me empathic abilities that I haven’t been able to turn off, even working here I still get traces of Adrien’s feelings about her absences and it magnifies my own. The way I’ve been has been the only way I was able to stay partly sane and still be able to function.” Gabriel reminded Nathalie who looked down. “And remember what happened when you used it? You were unconscious for the entire day when they overwhelmed you.”

“I know, I remember Gabriel. But there had to be a better way to do this that didn’t sacrifice your relationship with him.” Nathalie said going over an old argument and Gabriel sighed and Nooroo floated lower, a look of sadness on his face.

“I’m sorry master, but all my holders always have had this problem with others emotions when others have feelings based around the same pain.” Nooroo confessed and Nathalie looked at Gabriel who only looked down, this old argument the three of them had was something that had been said many times during his campaign as Hawkmoth.

“On another note, the Pack Leader was something else sir. Shale I put it into the possible returns file?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel looked up at her and sighed before nodding. “Of course sir.”

“Oh, make sure you that you are notified the moment the paperwork about Miss Dupain-Cheng is underway, if the Lila situation is brought up I will of course deny everything. The modeling contract was just to get Lila help in keeping an eye on Adrien, a mistake that I am paying for.” Gabriel said and turned to look at his wife’s portrait. I know that you will hate what I have become, but I only did this to get you back, once Adrien knows why I did this he will understand, I’m sure of it! I know it will take a long time to heal what I’ve done, but I know we can fix this! Gabriel thought as he looked away from Nathalie as she shared a look of long suffering with Nooroo.

“Of course sir…….. but could he have gone to her house to hide?” Nathalie said and Gabriel shook his head as he understood what she was saying.

“No, from what I know she’s just a school mate that is friends with that Nino boy’s girlfriend, beside being classmates they have no interactions.” Gabriel said and looked at her and held up a hand. “The reason that Adrien did that to Lila is because she was used by Lila because of something about him, no more than that, from what Chloe has said the two girls aren’t friends, Adrien would not risk his oldest friendship by befriending her.”

“I will look into the school; something is bothering me about what has happened.” Nathalie said and looked at Gabriel. “If this plan fails and we can’t find him before Miss Dupain-Cheng hearing I’ll head there, if she has one then I’ll head there and take away a copy of the minutes.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Alya walked out of her building and sighed. At least I was able to slip out before they woke up, now Aurora should be at the station so all I need to do is head there and my Ladyblog should let me into the station and talk to her, I hope. Alya thought as she walked through Paris, keeping an eye out for any sigh of Lila. For this to work she had to make it to the station without Lila having seen her, and given that she had said that she would be taking a weekend trip to help out a charity auction she had to hope that meant that Lila would be staying in, but given that she didn’t know where Lila lived she had to keep on her toes, she couldn’t mess this up.

As she moved through the streets she kept an eye out for anything that might hide Lila the false fox and within moments she had left the area and got on a bus, never noticing that Sabrine and her dad had been driving by, nor that Sabrina had noticed Alya.

“So you want to be homeschooled Sabrina?” Rodger asked and Sabrina tore her eyes away from the bus and nodded at her father. “If something’s wrong with the class you can always transfer.”

“It’s more that I discovered something about the school itself dad, its bad.” Sabrina said and sighed. This is so not the place for the conversation but dad had to pull a late night and then this time was the earliest we could talk. And I don’t want to talk while we’re moving. Sabrina kept an eye out and notice that they were almost to the Seine where Chloe was waiting for her. “It’s complicated and I’d rather we not talk about it in a moving car.”

“That bad then?” Rodger asked and cursed himself when he saw Sabrina nod. “Okay, then lets talk about it tonight when I get home, but what sparked you finding out about it?”

Sabrina stayed silent until Rodger stopped the car and she looked at him with a hard stare before replying. “Marinette was framed and expelled.”

Before Rodger could react Sabrina got out and ran towards Chloe and the two walked off, Rodger staying still for a few more moemnts before he drove off, a scowl on his face from what he was told.

Sabrina walked on and kept her face blank and Chloe looked at her before sighing. “So you just told him about what happened?”

“Just the results, not the nitty gritty Chloe, he stayed out late.” Sabrina said and Chloe sighed.

“Once the report crosses Daddy’s desk I’m homeschooled no matter what, the only thing I can hope for is that I’ll be pick the program.” Chloe said as they started to hear music that grew louder as they walked closer to it. “Sometimes I don’t know if being a mega bitch is worth it.”

“I know why you’ll the way you are, you might not think like a lot of people our age but the core results of it is worth it Chloe, you just need to learn to……show it more like other people.” Sabrina said and Chloe sighed.

“Well, no more tears or jeers! Let’s enjoy the morning and then lunch out, my treat Rina!” Chloe said and Sabrina laughed as they walked closer to the music.

Alya got off the bus outside the TVi building and took a deep breath before she prepared herself and walked in. she moved towards the front desk and smiled at the receptionist.

“Hi, I was wondering if Aurora, the Kidz weather girl came in yet today?” Alya asked and the receptionist looked at her and then at the computer.

“Yes, she and Mirelle are due to record a segment today, but they haven’t made it in yet……. And there they are.” The receptionist said looking over her shoulder and saw Aurora and Mirelle walk into the building talking.

“…..so I was thinking, maybe we should get some new dresses for that party next moneth from Marinette if she can slip us in. I mean I love her work and a nice dress my size…. What is it Mirelle?” Aurora trailed off at how Mirelle’s face fell when she saw Alya and when Aurora turned she scowled at Alya as soon as she saw her. “Oh it’s you. What do you want Alya?”

Alya winced, for the last few weeks Aurora had been a little short with her and Alya could figure out why now, she didn’t believe Lila and with how Alya had put the interview on her blog she deserved it and more. “Aurora I need to talk to you, please.”

“About your new friend Lila, oh she wants to broadcast her recent activities?” Aurora asked and Alya glared back.

“I wouldn’t help that liar if she was on fire! This is about the school and Marinette!” Alya said forcefully and Aurora took a step back and Mirelle spoke up.

“So what happened finally made you realize she’s a liar then?” Mirelle said and Aurora looked around and Alya did as well and noticed the people in the lobby were watching them and Aurora grabbed Alya’s arm.

“Come on, we’re a good hour early and we can talk in one of the unused dressing rooms.” Aurora said as she Mirelle led the way to an elevator and soon they were going upwards. “I’m sorry what happened to Marinette was what it took to have you see the light Alya.”

“Me too.” Alya said and stayed quiet until they reached a room with Aurora and Mirelle’s names on it. Stepping inside Mirelle grabbed a paper cup of water and gave it to Alya with a smile.

“Here, you look like you need it.” Mirelle said with a smile and took a deep sip of it and smiled at her.

“Thanks, I did. I can’t believe that lying bitch tricked me so bad. I can’t believe that I didn’t believe Marinette.” Alya said and Aurora scoffed and shook her head. “What is it?”

“Look Alya….. Marinette is a great judge of character, a really great judge.” Mirelle said and looked down before taking a deep breath. “A year ago she didn’t like a sub, and he was caught trying to steal the proceeds of a school function.”

“Yeah.” Aurora said as Alya gasped. “If Marinette doesn’t like someone that’s a big red flag right there.”

“But Chloe….. I mean she and Marinette are getting along better.” Alya said and Aurora shrugged and Mirelle giggled. “What?”

“Marinette hates what Chloe does not Chloe the person.” Mirelle said and shrugged. “I know it’s weird but Marinette said it herself and well she’s trusting her instants about people.”

“That’s our girl but let’s not talk any more about our favorite designer and let’s talk about what you want to.” Aurora said and looked at Alya who sighed and looked down. “It can’t be that bad.”

“What if I told you that a few years ago a girl was driven to attempt suicide at our school by a bitch like Lila, that the reason more people don’t know is because a deal was made that got rid of the principle who shield the bully?” Alya asked and looked up at Aurora who stared at her stormily and Mirelle who had paled in horror.

“Then I’d say that if the school did that and expelled Marinette then I wouldn’t trust our current principle.” Aurora said and Mirelle looked at her and Aurora sighed and shook her head. “Of course when he didn’t even react to the fact what happened to Marinette, that he did, was illegal but of course he didn’t.”

“Yeah, Kim sent me a text about that.” Alya said and then she looked at the two girls before her. “But I’m here because I got a lot of information about home schooling programs from Mari, and I knew I had to get them to the other students at school and I knew you would be the best person to go to for help with that.”

A knocking at the door caused them to turn and Theo wearing a headset and with his eyes closed pocked his head in. “One hour ladies, the makeup artist will be by in about ten minutes so finish up and get ready for work!”

“Thanks Theo, see you in a bit.” Aurora said and smirked as Theo left. “Good that he’s still doing that think after the last staffer was fired for accidently peeping.”

“Yeah. And no Alya we won’t say any more about that, and don’t spread it around okay?” Mirelle said and Alya nodded and looked around and threw her cup into the trash.

“Well thanks, I’ll send you the address for the website I’ll put the information onto and you’ll get it to everyone who needs it?” Alya said as she stretched and smiled at them. “I’ve got to go, I promised that I’d help Mari watch Manon today.”

“Nadia’s whirlpool, ouch.” Aurora said and even Mirelle cringed.

“Don’t worry.” Alya said as she left. “I’ve got a lot of experience keeping track of kids like her.”

#Miraculous Ladybug AU/ The Law is The Law #miraculous: tales of ladybug & cat noir adrien Fanfiction #miraculous tales of ladybug and cat noir #Ladybug AU #ladybug fanfiction #ladybug fic #lila salt #lila rossi bashing

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wiypt-writes · 3 years

Text

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch 14: Nothing Personal

Summary: Steve confronts Fury about the Lemurian Star mission and the Director reveals just exactly what it is he’s been working on. However, when Fury is later gunned down in Steve’s apartment right in front of the Captain and Katie, the two are forced to run from the very people they’ve called colleagues and friends for years.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Language! Violence.

A/N: I love this edit from @angrybirdcr

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

Chapter 13

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

“You just can’t stop yourself from lying, can you?” Steve seethed as he crossed the floor of Fury’s office.

Nick didn’t even need to ask him what he was talking about. Without turning round the Director spoke calmly. “I didn’t lie. Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours.”

“Which you didn’t feel obliged to share” Steve pressed, raising an eyebrow as the Director spun in his chair to face him.

“I’m not obliged to do anything” Fury replied simply, looking at him.

“Those hostages could’ve died, Nick.” Steve pressed, holding the man’s gaze.

“I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn’t happen.” Fury stated, and Steve could feel his temper rising even more. He hated the blasé attitude the Director was discussing the issue with, like it was simply something he wasn’t all that bothered about.

“Soldiers trust each other, that’s what makes it an army.” He said after a short pause. “Not a bunch of guys running around and shooting guns.”

He wasn’t expecting the response he got. Fury leaned forward, frowning as he levelled Steve with a look.

“The last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye.” Fury spoke, his tone steely. Steve cocked his head to one side, crossing his arms but maintaining his silence. “Look, I didn’t want you doing anything you weren’t comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything.”

“I can’t lead a mission when the people I’m leading have missions of their own.” Steve pointed down at Fury’s desk, stressing his point.

“It’s called compartmentalization” Fury eyed him. “Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them all.” Steve snorted silently and gestured at Fury. “Except you.” Fury took a deep breath and levelled Steve with a look. “You’re wrong about me. I do share. I’m nice like that.” Steve frowned as Fury stood up and motioned for him to follow.

“Where are we going?” Steve’s frustration was evident on his tone.

“You’ll see.” Fury stepped inside the elevator. Steve followed. “Insight bay.”

A photo of Nick’s SHIELD ID flashed up on the screen, surrounded by a green light. Then Steve noticed his, but the light was red as the SHIELD computer spoke. “Captain Rogers does not have clearance for Project Insight.”

“Director override, Fury, Nicholas J.” Fury spoke, without missing a beat.

“Confirmed.”

The elevator started to moved downwards. Steve leaned against the rail which ran round the middle of the glass box and clasped his hands in front of him by his belt. Despite his initial annoyance, he had found himself beginning to understand what the Director was saying. SHIELD had so many secrets, many a matter of national security. It made no sense for everyone to know everything, it was a security risk, he got that. But it still irked him.

“You know, they used to play music.” Steve said, his tone softer as he broke the silence, making a joke at his own expense.

“Yeah. My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years.” Fury mused, somewhat nostalgic. “My granddad worked in a nice building, he got good tips. He’d walk home every night, roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He’d say ‘hi’, people would say hi back. Time went on, neighbourhood got rougher. He’d say ‘hi’ they’d say, ‘Keep on steppin’. Granddad got to grippin’ that lunch bag a little tighter.”

The flash into Fury’s personal life surprised Steve somewhat. He cocked his head to one side and looked at the man. “Did he ever get mugged?”

“Every week some punk would say, “What’s in the bag?”

“What did he do?”

“He’d show ‘em. Bunch of crumpled ones and loaded point twenty-two Magnum.” Fury smirked “Granddad loved people. But he didn’t trust them very much.”

Steve had to smirk slightly, thinking that Fury sounded a hell of a lot like his grandpa. He looked down for a second, and when he looked up he was aware that they had now travelled down the side of the Triskellion and were descending further, underground even. As Steve looked around he realised he was in some sort of below building hangar, and he looked out of the glass, spotting three giant Helicarriers. His mouth fell open in surprise, his brow furrowing.

“Yeah, I know. They’re a little bit bigger than a point twenty-two.” Fury remarked.

Eventually the elevator stopped and Fury stepped out, Steve hot on his tail as he watched people bustling around the hangar shouting, carrying things, fixing things. The helicarriers were bigger than the one they’d used during the Chitauri invasion, each being able to house at least twenty Quinjets.

“This is Project Insight.” Fury explained as he led Steve across the floor of the hangar. “Three next generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites.”

And then Steve understood. “Launched from the Lemurian Star.”

“Once we get them in the air they never need to come down. Continuous suborbital flight courtesy of our new repulsor engines.” Fury stopped underneath one.

“Stark?” Steve asked, frowning.

“Well, he had a few suggestions once he got an up close look at our old turbines.” Fury nodded, as they continued. “But don’t worry, that’s not something Nova is keeping from you.”

“I wasn’t” Steve said honestly, as he looked up and around the hangar. “I trust my girl.”

Fury looked at him before he turned his attention back to the matter in hand and pointed up again “These new long range precision guns can eliminate a thousand hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist’s DNA before he steps outside his spidy hole. We gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen.”

Steve crossed his arms. “I thought the punishment usually came after the crime.”

“We can’t afford to wait that long.”

Steve could feel the nerve twitching in his jaw. “Who’s ‘we’?”

“After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once we’re way ahead of the curve”

“By holding a gun at everyone on Earth and calling it protection?” Steve looked at the director, frowning. He didn’t like this. It smacked of something HYDRA would do.

Fury picked up on his tone and he looked at Steve, arching an eyebrow. “You know, I read those SSR files. Greatest generation? You guys did some nasty stuff.”

Don’t I know it? Steve thought to himself as he took a deep breath. “Yeah, we compromised. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so the people could be free.” He turned and pointed at the helicarriers before looking at Fury “This isn’t freedom, this is fear.”

“SHIELD takes the world as it is, not as we’d like it to be.” Fury stated simply. “It’s getting damn near past time for you to get with that program, Cap”

Steve shook his head. “Don’t hold your breath.” And with that he left.

He changed quickly, eager to put as much distance between him and SHIELD as possible for the rest of the day. After a short conversation with Rumlow about a mission report, he was on his bike and heading for Katie’s apartment, his mind whirling. What was Fury playing at? This wasn’t what he signed up for, at all. It felt so far removed from what he had joined the army to do, to keep people safe, free. Had he really changed that much? He felt a sudden pang for his Howling Commandoes, for Bucky, for Peggy, for Colonel Philips, for all those damned missions which had been simple- destroy HYDRA before they destroyed you.

Despite the fact he had woken up that morning and felt so happy with his girl being there, he couldn’t help but wish life was as simple as it had been back then.

*****

Katie’s morning had been far more productive. She had looked at a couple of transcript extracts her editor had selected. She had to admit, the guy had a good eye for a future blockbuster, and this one she particularly liked. After discussions, they settled on an initial run of two hundred hard copy of the books to be sold online, along with a downloadable kindle version, and if they went they would review how many more we needed.

Pleased with her mornings work and having cleared her diary for the afternoon, she had lunch in the kitchen and had just finished when she heard the elevator door open. She headed into the main area of her apartment to greet Steve, taking a deep breath as she noticed how drained he looked.

“Dare I ask how it went?”

His response was a sigh as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a hug, simply wanting to feel her close.

“That good huh?” She squeezed him back gently before she pulled away and headed towards the kitchen, him following behind her.

“Debrief was fine. Fury, however, went on about compartmentalisation, the usual crap.” Steve sighed, running his hand over his face, smiling softly to himself when he saw she was gathering stuff out of the fridge to make him a sandwich “And then shared something I really wish he hadn’t.”

“Like what?” she asked, throwing some turkey and mayo onto a sub. “Ever heard of Operation Insight?” Steve looked at her, even though he knew the answer. There’s no way she would have and not told him.

“No?” She handed him the plate containing his sandwich.

“Well apparently your brother has. Thanks.” He took the plate from her sat at the breakfast bar taking a bite of his food. He swallowed and then continued “Three huge hellicarriers that are basically designed to go up in the air and never come down based on Tony’s arc reactor tech. Programmed to monitor potential threats and wipe them out before they get chance to do anything.” She frowned, settling on the stool next to him. “And Fury has sanctioned this?”

Steve nodded, taking another bite of his food. “I don’t like it. Like I said to him, punishment normally comes after the crime.”

Katie could see he was really struggling with this and that his faith in SHIELD was running very, very thin. A lot of what the Agency did was political, not just about keeping people safe. She’d tried to explain that the lines were a lot more blurred than back in the 40s, but still had to admit she was kind of with him. As she pondered for a moment, Steve could see the cogs whirring in her brain, the slight v shape crease that always formed in the middle of her eyes when she was thinking was present. Steve didn’t blame her, it had thrown him too and he’d had the full explanation. The hangar had been huge, and there were enough people in there to make him realise that a LOT of people knew about it. What he didn’t know was who on his immediate team knew about it.

“I just wanna know who I can trust” He sighed, looking at Katie as she reached out gently, touching his cheek.

“I know, Soldier.” she said, softly before she shook her head. “Okay, no more talk about SHIELD or hellicarriers, or whatever.” She moved to pick up her soda. “What do you want to for the rest of the afternoon?”

Steve wanted to go to the Smithsonian. He’d been thinking about it since they had emailed him to invite him to open the exhibit on him, which he had politely declined. But he was curious to see what it was like, curious and also eager, after today, to be reminded of a time when he worked with people he knew inside out, people that he would trust with his life. And he was keen to share that with his girl, the woman who had months ago before they even started dating, been the one to help him pick what the museum would display.

“You know, we’ve still not been to the Smithsonian since they opened the exhibit.” He shruged, hoping his tone was casual enough to make it sound like he hadn’t been thinking about it enough. He failed though, smiling as Katie looked at him, arching an eyebrow.

Busted.

“Call it curiosity.” He shrugged.

“You know what curiosity did don’t you?” Katie quipped back, her eyes flashing playfully.

“What?”

She grinned as she delivered the punchline “Killed the Cap.”

*****

“A symbol to the nation. A hero to the world. The story of Captain America is one of honour, bravery and sacrifice,” the narrator at the Smithsonian museum said as we entered the exhibit.

Steve paused to pull the collar of his blue jacket up a little further, a gesture that, along with the cap that was pulled down over his face, he hoped would prevent him from being recognised as they made their way to the start of the pieces.

"Denied enlistment due to poor health, Steven Rogers was chosen for a program unique in the annals of American warfare. One that would transform him into the world’s first super soldier,” the Narrator continued. Steve paused to look at the display to his right when Katie gently nudged him.

“Think you’ve been rumbled.”

Steve looked down at her, and then followed her gaze as she looked to her left at a small boy dressed in a light blue T-shirt adorned with the design of his shield who was watching the pair of them, his eyes growing wide. Steve smiled, put a finger against his mouth to indicate for him to keep quiet. The boy nodded and then turned, running back off to find his mum.

Without speaking Steve took her hand and led her over to the part of the exhibit that had an older looking motorcycle on a platform and some black and white footage playing beside it. The footage was of him in his older Captain America uniform, also currently on display, running through a battlefield.

“In this rare footage, everyone’s favourite war hero, Captain America…”

He didn’t stop to hear the rest, he could remember that mission by heart. It had been on the outskirts of Toulouse, liberating another HYDRA prison camp. Katie allowed herself to be led by him, this was his moment after all. They slowly walked to a display of mannequins dressed in his original suit, plus those of the Howling Commandos, which had been donated by their families. His eyes lingered on Bucky’s for a second and he took a deep breath.

“Battle tested, Captain America and his Howling Commandos quickly earned their stripes. Their mission, taking down HYDRA, the Nazi rogue science division,”

Katie looked at the uniforms, a smile on her face. She had only seen photos of Steve’s war suit, never seen it in person and it intrigued her. More so because this was something that her dad had made, something physical he had touched. She felt a tug on her hand again, and she looked up to see that she was being led to a section dedicated to Bucky. The familiar (albeit again, only from photos), handsome face of his best friend looked back at them as they wandered over to read what it said in more detail.

“Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers were inseparable on both school yard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country…”

The narration didn’t cover half the text on the black, glass screen and in Katie’s opinion it wasn’t a particularly good tribute to a man who had lost his life in such tragic circumstances. She read the rest of the text as Steve’s eyes skated over it, reading, despite the fact he knew it all. He wished he could have saved him, he really did. He’d loved him to have been able to meet Katie. But then, he wouldn’t have anyway. As he would have most likely been dead now. Or what’s to say things may or may not have ended up differently. Would Buck have been on the Valkyrie with him?

He watched the black and white footage playing, where the two of them were talking and then laughing about something and he felt the sadness hit his chest again. And as if she sensed it too, Katie gripped his hand a little bit tighter and lay her head against his arm, her weight giving him something to anchor himself too, and he was grateful for it.

They carried on walking and then they found there was a small cinema area a bit further round the corner playing footage and interviews. Steve paused for a second and then looked at Katie, the question stayed silent. She nodded and together they walked in, taking a seat on one of the benches. There was a bit of introduction footage, and then a familiar face appeared on the screen.

Besides him Katie took a deep breath and whispered a single word “Dad…” and he automatically dropped a hand to her knee, where she placed hers on top of his as the two of them watched her father an animatedly talking to the camera.

“Rogers was different” Howard spoke, smiling, the caption on the screen telling him the footage had been filmed in 1953. “He was constantly striving to do the right thing, with no fear or care for how it would affect him. He, err, when we dropped him behind enemy lines we had no idea if we would see him again. I narrowly escaped myself, the machine guns nearly took our aircraft down but without thought to how he would get back, he told us to leave him behind. When they declared him missing in action the entire company was devastated but, lo and behold… well they can’t keep a good man down.” Howard paused and then looked down and back up at the camera “I can only hope that if I’m graced with Children, they grow up to be half as driven as he was to do the right thing…”

As Katie looked down at her feet, a stray tear fell down her cheek. Seeing her dad there like that was raw. She knew that Tony felt the loss of their parents far more than she did, she had only been seven after all when they had died and Tony had been her father, if you will, for far longer than her actual dad had. But still, seeing him in front of her so candidly, talking about his hopes for his future children, made something in her chest tighten and she couldn’t help but feel sadness at the fact she never got the chance to really know him. Steve gently squeezed her knee, but then as they looked back up at the screen it was his turn to still as someone he recognised extremely well, her face painted into his memory for life, entered the screen and began speaking, also in 1953.

"That was a difficult winter. A blizzard had trapped half our battalion behind the German line. Steve, Captain Rogers, he fought his way through a HYDRA blockade that had pinned our allies down for months.” Peggy Carter stumbled slightly through the interview. “He saved over a thousand men, including the man who would become my husband as it turned out. Even after he died, Steve was still changing my life,” And despite the fact that she smiles slightly at the end of this line, it’s clear to see that talking about Steve affected her a lot.

Katie leaned against him and with a breath he lay his head on top of hers. “We haven’t seen her for a while…” she whispered as the video finished. “Shall we go on the way home?” He gave a soft chuckle and dropped a kiss to the crown of her head.

“You read my mind.”

*******

Peggy was pleased to see them, as always when she was having a good day. They both greeted her and after a few pleasantries they told her about their trip to the Smithsonian. Peggy smiled, informing them that she remembered the interview, like it was yesterday, apparently the man interviewing her had been an “utter rogue”, but she didn’t elaborate on what that meant further than saying he was worse than Barnes, which made Steve laugh. They chatted a little about her time as Director at SHIELD before she trailed off with a sigh as she noticed that Steve was uncharacteristically quiet. After a little gentle coaxing from her and Katie he told her what was on his mind.

“My whole life I’ve just wanted to do what was right, I guess I’m not sure what that is anymore.” He paused for a moment, thinking of how to voice his worries about SHIELD “And I thought I could just throw myself back in and follow orders, it’s just not the same.”

Peggy chuckled as she rolled her eyes and looked at Katie. “He’s always so dramatic.”

Katie let out a small laugh, nodding her agreement. “Tell me about it!”

Steve shook his head, a smile on his face as he raised his eyebrows slightly and looked away as Peggy continued to speak.

“Look you saved the world, we rather mucked it up.”

“No you didn’t. You know, knowing that you helped found SHIELD is half the reason I stay.”

“And the other half being?” Her eyes strayed to Katie who smiled, looking down and then up at Steve as he caught her eye, his hand resting on her knee.

“I quit remember?” Katie reminded her.

Peggy smiled “Indeed, a woman with principles. That I can get on board with. ”Katie gave a little smile as Peggy continued. “Look, the world has changed and none of us can go back.” She spoke softly. “All we can do is our best, and sometimes the best that we can do is to start over.“

At that she started to cough. Steve quickly picked up a glass of water from the table and rounded the back of the chair Katie was sitting in to try and hand her the glass.

"Peg?” He held the glass out as her coughing subsided and she took a sip. Once she had finished she looked up and stared at Steve as if she was seeing a ghost

“Steve?” Peggy breathed out in an amazed yet broken voice.

“Yeah,” Steve whispered, his heart sinking as he recognised the look in her face. Her memory had gone, again.

“You’re alive! You, you came, you came back,” Peggy whimpered. Tears were gathering in her eyes at this point as she tried to hold them back and Steve was struggling to do the same with his own. One of the smartest, nicest, bravest women he had ever met was being betrayed by an illness that was literally rotting her brain. It was cruel, and every time she did this, they went through the same routine.

“Yeah, Peggy.” Steve responded forcing a smile onto his face as Katie squeezed his hand gently, standing up so he could take the chair next to Peggy.

“It’s been so long. So long,” Peggy started to cry, giving up on holding back her tears.

“I’ll leave you with her.” Katie spoke softly as she gently touched Steve’s shoulder. His hand briefly reached up to lay over hers before he leaned over to take Peggy’s.

“Well, I couldn’t leave you.” He forced himself to smile. “Not when you still owe me a dance.”

Normally that calmed the old lady down, but not today. She was becoming more and more confused and in the end he had to press the call button.

“Again?” The nurse who attended asked softly, and Steve simply nodded.

“I’ll fetch the doctor.”

Outside Katie took a deep breath and headed towards her car. Ex partners could always be an issue in relationships but this was something else, something completely different. She opened the passenger side to the car and sat side on in the seat, door open, legs dangling out. She felt sorry for Peggy, she really did, and her heart ached for Steve. It can’t be easy seeing the woman he once loved, and probably still did in some way, fading like that in front of your eyes.

She ran her hand over her face, rubbing at her eyes slightly and waited as she watched various people coming and going out of the main doors of the hospital. It wasn’t that long before a familiar figure appeared, a flash of white T-shirt standing out against his dark navy jacket and equally dark jeans as he walked towards her, hands in his pockets. She stood up, not saying a word as she wrapped her arms around him and he buried his face into the nook of her shoulder and neck, his safe place, his hands gently resting on her hips as he breathed out a sigh.

“Is she okay?” she asked gently. “Yeah they sedated her.” He said as he pulled away.

“I’m so sorry Steve.”

“What for?” “Peggy…it’s so unfair.” “Yeah…” He replied simply. And it was. He wished things could be different, that Peggy wasn’t ill. That she could be home, with her family, living out the last years of her life with the dignity she had lived the rest of it. She deserved more. He looked over the car roof across the street and watched for a second, everyone milling about their business, getting on with their lives. Like he was, and whilst he wished things had been different for Peggy, he suddenly found himself thinking and wondering if he would change anything if he could.

He felt Katie still in front of him, reacting to the fact he himself had changed posture, and as he looked down at her he was suddenly struck with the answer to his question. Despite everything, despite his sudden feelings of nostalgia sparked by the events of the last twenty hours or so, no he wouldn’t. Because whatever had happened, every action, every decision, it had led him to the girl now in his arms, and he loved her so fucking much it hurt. Yeah he had loved Peggy, he still did in some ways, but it was nothing compared to this. Nothing.

He reached out and took Katie’s hands, pulling up her arms so they were round his neck, pulling her closer to him as his own hands joined at the bottom of her back

“I love you.” He said gently, needing her to understand, to believe him. “My best girl.”

“I hope I’m your only girl, Rogers.” She sassed back with a sniff, and he smiled softly, happy that she understood.

“How about we head back to mine and not leave the flat for the entire day tomorrow?” Steve looked down at her, the idea suddenly coming to him and her face lit up. Katie loved lazy days. It was rare Steve was in the mood for them, his incessant energy normally meant he had to be doing something. But on the odd time he agreed, it usually involved them staying in bed till about midday, then watching old movies on the TV under a blanket on the couch, maybe a bit of fooling around and then calling a take out before retreating back to bed. Right now that sounded like a damned fine idea. “Can you clear your diary?”

“Consider it cleared.”

“I just wanna make one quick stop on the way home” He suggested, his journey of contemplation was leading him to one more place. He glanced at his watch before planting a kiss on her lips as she looked at him questioningly. “Thought we could pay our jogging friend a visit.”

********

“Look who it is. The running man and his pretty girl.” Sam joked slightly as he came over to the doorway where Katie and Steve were stood.

“Hey.” Katie smiled as he dropped a kiss onto her cheek.

“Caught the last few minutes. It’s pretty intense,” Steve commented as Sam shook his hand.

“Yeah, brother, we all got the same problems. Guilt, regret,” Sam shrugged. As his sentence went on his voice got more serious and softer.

“Have you lost someone?” Steve asked, perceptive as ever. Katie mentally cursed herself for not filling him in fully, but Sam didn’t seem too bothered to talk about it. He nodded gently.

“My wingman, Riley. Fly in the night mission. A standard PJ rescue op, nothing we hadn’t done a thousand times before, till an RPG knock Riley’s dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It’s like I was up there just to watch,” Sam paused to cross his arms over his chest, his posture slightly tense. “After that, I had really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?”

“But you’re happy now, back in the world?” Steve asked

“Hey, the number of people giving me orders is down to about zero. So, hell, yeah,” Sam joked, loosening up slightly, before getting a bit serious, “You thinking about getting out?”

“No.” Steve replied quickly before he took a breath. “I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t know what I would do with myself if I did.”

“Ultimate fighting?” Sam shrugged and Steve laughed as Katie snorted. “It’s just a great idea off the top of my head. But seriously, you could do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy?”

Steve turned his head to look at Katie, an unconscious movement, smiling gently as he shrugged. “I dunno…”

“Oh I think you do.” Sam said, smirking slightly as Steve placed his hand on the small of his girl’s back.

“Oh, stop by the front desk on your way out,” Katie turned to Sam, smirking, and he raised an eyebrow in question,

“We asked for you by name.” Steve clarified.

“She seemed thoroughly impressed.” Katie finished. Both of Sam’s eyebrows rose at that and he looked down the hallway towards where the front desk was.

“You two are the best.” A smile stretching across his face as he began to turn to head down the hall. “Stop by anytime.”

“No problem.” Steve grinned in amusement as Sam jogged his way down the hall.

It was gone eight by the time they got home, having made a pit stop for a beer on the way. Steve held the door open for Katie, and she stepped into the apartment building and started to climb the stairs in front of him, giving him a quite pleasing view of her ass as her hips swayed side to side in front of him.

“Sam’s right you know.” She continued their discussion from the bar. “And so is Peggy.”

“What about?”

“If you wanted to get out you could do, start over.”

He took a deep breath. “I don’t know what I want, but spending the rest of my life playing janitor for Fury is not it.”

“I can write you a resignation note.” She grinned and Steve chuckled slightly and then took a deep breath.

“You know, it’s funny when I think about it. Us, stuff, what we’ve done and how far we’ve come in a year.”

“You’re saying it like it’s a bad thing.” She teased as she stepped onto his landing.

“No, that’s not what I mean at all.” He took a deep breath as she headed towards his door and turned to face him “You know, I’ve never really talked to anyone or shown them about my past in detail or introduced anyone to Peggy bar you.”

“Well I am your girlfriend.” She shrugged, holding onto the hand that wasn’t digging into his jeans pocket to fish out his keys. “Your best girl.” At that he smiled. “So you should be able to talk to me about anything.”

“I know, I’m not explaining myself very well.” He remarked, finally succeeding in obtaining his keys. And he wasn’t. He was trying to tell her that he couldn’t imagine his life without her, that he wanted her to share his everything, including his home.

“Spit it out Rogers.” She teased as he slid the key into the lock.

He took a deep breath. “Coming home last night and you being there…and then this morning…it was perfect, Doll, and I want that all the time.” He turned to face her leaving his key hanging from the door. “How would you feel about us maybe moving in together?”

She paused for a moment, looking at him, realising he was deadly serious. She raised her eyebrow.

“I thought you came from a time where man and woman didn’t live together until they were married?”

“We could get married if you want.” He blurted out. That made Katie raise both eyebrows as she studied him again, her mouth dropping into a small ‘o’. Steve looked back at her, trying to keep his face passive, as if it had been a joke, even though he knew it wasn’t. He’d known for months she was the one.

But to blurt it out like that? Outside his apartment door, in such a dumbass way?

Way to go, Rogers.

Katie cocked her head to one side, there was a funny look on Steve’s face that she couldn’t place. But whatever it was, even if Steve was serious about them getting married, she knew him well enough to understand that was not how he would want to propose, and that he was probably kicking himself about stumbling it out the way he had done. So she broke the nervous tension, as she always did, with a slight joke.

“You know, that’s not much of a proposal.” She slid her arms up around his neck. “But its one step up from you’d make a great housewife, I suppose.”

“Should I try again?” A cheeky grin spread across his face, glad the tone was playful, his arms circling her waist “Yeah, with a big, fuck off Tiffany diamond.”

“I didn’t think you were so materialistic?”

“Well, you know what they say? Diamonds are a girls’ best friend.”

“And there I was, thinking it was me.” He muttered, his lips pressing onto hers.

“That’s so sweet!” A voice interrupted and they both turned to look at Kate, his neighbour from over the hall. For a split second Steve thought she was talking to them but it soon became apparent she was on the phone. “That’s so nice…but hey, I gotta go…okay bye…”

She dropped the phone into the basket of laundry she was carrying before grinning at us both “My aunt, she’s kind of an insomniac”

Steve smile before looking at the basket of washing in her arms as he dropped his arm round Katie’s shoulder “you know if you want…if you want, you can use my machine. Might be easier and cheaper than the one in the basement.” “Thank you, but I already have a load in downstairs actually, and you really don’t want my scrubs in your machine.” She grinned. “I just finished a rotation on the infectious diseases ward, so,”

“Ah, well, we’ll keep our distance,” Steve grinned, holding his hands up, palms out.

“Hopefully not too far.” She chuckled. “Don’t want to lose my best neighbour. Okay, well I better be off.” She turned to go before she stopped and spun back round to look at Steve. “Oh, by the way, I think you left your stereo on.”

“Right, thank you.” Steve watched her go, frowning. He looked at Katie as they both pressed their ears to the door. The record player was certainly on but…

“We definitely didn’t leave that on before.” Katie looked at him, as the gentle tones of Kitty Kallen Long Long Time hit their ears.

Steve held his finger up to his lips and gestured to the window, before leaving Katie where he was. He ran off, down the stairs as fast as he could and then he scaled the gate on the fire escape easily. Once he reached the steps which were parallel to his window he took a running jump, easily pulling himself up over the sill and into the kitchen area. Quickly and quietly he moved along the wall, picking up his shield which was leaning against the shelving unit. Holding it up, he cautiously peered round the corner of the room into the living area and instantly relaxed when he saw Fury lounging in a chair.

“I don’t remember giving you a key.” He said, somewhat sardonically.

“What, you really think I’d need one?” Nick replied. Steve shook his head and headed to the front door of the flat, pulling it open.

“Fury.” He said with a roll of his eyes, turning and walking back into the apartment.

“Huh?” Katie asked as she followed him into the living room, where the music was coming from, to see Fury sitting on the couch in the dark.

“What are you doing here?” She demanded.

"Nice to see you too, Nova. And in answer to your question my wife kicked me out.”

“I didn’t know you were married,” She continued, frowning. And she didn’t. And she wasn’t sure that he was.

“There are a lot of things you don’t about me,” Fury replied casually.

“I know, Nick. That’s the problem,” Steve grumbled walking forward as Katie remained where she was, eyes narrowed at her old boss. Steve flipped on the light switch, instantly recoiling in surprise when he noticed Fury’s injuries. Besides him Katie gasped slightly and moved to get closer to help but Fury indicated for her to stop and the both of them to stay quiet. He turned off the light again and typed something on his phone.

'EARS EVERYWHERE’.

Bugs? His apartment was bugged? By who? They both exchanged a glance and instantly Katie looked up and around the room, as if she expected to see a microphone glaring at them.

“I’m sorry to have to do this but I had nowhere else to crash,” Fury looked around a bit before he typed something else up on his phone:

'SHIELD COMPROMISED’.

Steve and Katie shared another glance, the pair of them wide eyed. This was bad.

“Who else knows about your wife?” Steve asked, keeping his voice even.

Fury showed them another text;

'YOU TWO AND ME’.

“Just my friends,” Fury grunted in pain while getting up and walking closer to them.

“Is that what we are?” Katie blinked at him. She still hadn’t completely forgiven the man for lying to them all about Coulson.

“That’s up to you.” Fury replied, his eyes darting from Katie to Steve.

Then out of nowhere came a rapid succession of gunshots. Steve quickly pushed Katie out of the way, the pair of them taking cover behind the kitchen wall as Fury groaned before he collapsed down to the floor. Steve scooted forward, keeping as low as he could, pulling him into the kitchen. Katie knelt next to him and tried to check his injuries through his black clothing when he reached up and handed something to Steve.

“Don’t, trust anyone,” he coughed before passing out. Katie and Steve both looked at what he had been handed and saw that it was a flash drive. Steve curled his hand around it and looked at Katie, but before either of them could say anything else there was the sound of someone breaking into the apartment. Steve quickly moved into a defensive position, in front of Katie and Fury, raising his shield.

“Captain Rogers?” a familiar voice suddenly called out and they watched as Kate, his neighbour, cautiously walked in with a gun pointed. “I’m Agent Thirteen of SHIELD’s Special Service.”

“Kate?” Steve frowned, shaking his head. He’d just about had his fill of surprises.

“I’m assigned to protect you.” She continued

“On whose orders?” Katie snapped.

Kate stopped as she spotted Fury lying on the floor. “His,” she dropped besides Katie, checking Fury for a pulse and then spoke into her radio

“Foxtrot is down, he’s unresponsive. I need EMTs.”

“Do you have a twenty on the shooter?” A SHIELD agent questioned through the radio.

Then there was a movement on the other side of the window, on the roof adjacent to the building. Steve instantly glanced up and saw a flash of silver and the shadow of a figure running across the rooftop.

“Tell them I’m in pursuit.” He said and with that he took a running jump and smashed straight through his window, and through into the office building opposite. Steve ran, keeping his eye on the man, smashing through walls, windows, anything in his way. Eventually he caught up with him on the roof and flung his shield at the assassin who, to Steve’s shock, caught it with one swift move in the hand of his metal arm. There was a pause as Steve could do nothing but eye the man with surprise before the shield came flying back. Steve caught it, with both hands on its rim but the force pushed him back a few yards along the gravel surface of the roof. By the time he had stopped the momentum moving him, the assassin had jumped. Steve ran to the edge of the building and looked down.

He was gone.

*****

“What happened?” Hill asked as they all looked through the glass window at the hustle and bustle of the operating room. Steve moved his arm from around Katie and took her hand in his, squeezing her fingers gently.

"He was at my apartment when we got home.” Steve started. “I hadn’t even had chance to ask why when there were two blasts, then another. Someone shot him through the window- three times. I tried to go after the shooter, but I lost him on the roof of the building across the street.”

Steve had no doubt in his mind that if there was anyone else in SHIELD they could trust right now it was Hill, but both he and Katie kept quiet. He had taken Fury’s warning of trusting nobody seriously and had told Katie as much as they had strode through the ED of the hospital. Both were aware that Hill was studying them, side on, her face stony.

“What aren’t you telling me?” She asked quietly.

“Nothing.” Katie answered for them.

Before Hill could drill either of them anymore, the door to the observation room flung open and heavy footsteps crossed the room, stopping at the other side of Katie.

“Is he gonna make it?” Natasha asked, almost inaudibly, staring through the window.

“We don’t know,” Hill mumbled.

“Tell me about the shooter,” Natasha whispered

“He’s fast and strong. And he had a metal arm,” Steve said, letting go of Katie’s hand to fold his arms across his chest and as he did, they both caught the look of recognition and slight fear on Natasha’s face reflected in the window.

“Ballistics?” She swallowed heavily.

“Three slugs. No rifling and completely untraceable,” Maria answered softly.

“Soviet made?”

“Yeah,” Maria looked at Natasha in shock. Steve turned to face her, as did Katie, but she didn’t look back. She stared straight through to the operating theatre but before Katie could ask what it was that she wasn’t saying, the operation room went into overdrive. Machines started beeping erratically, the doctors and nurses were rushing around the room and the panic was palpable even behind the glass. But they couldn’t save him.

“Time of death, 1:03 A.M.”

A few moments passed as the four of them stood completely in shock. Katie reached up to wipe a tear that had trickled down her cheek away, before Natasha turned and almost sprinted out of the room.

Steve pulled his hand out of his pocket, turning the flash drive that Nick had given him over in his hand. Nick had been killed because he knew whatever it was that was on that drive. What could possibly be so bad, so secret, so dangerous that the Director of SHIELD was deemed a threat for knowing? He glanced up at Katie who was watching him, tears in her eyes. She might have had her issues with Fury, but he was a good man and would never have wished him dead. With a sigh Steve placed the item back into his pocket and pulled her in for a hug.

******

A little later, they were all in the same room as Nick’s body. Natasha was by him, hardly having moved a muscle, almost like she was in shock. And it unnerved Katie. Nat wasn’t one to really show emotion but then again, Fury had meant a lot to her. The door opened and a doctor entered, speaking to Hill. She nodded and then walked over to Katie and Steve, coughing to clear her throat.

“They need to take him.” She said, her voice cracking slightly. Steve nodded and stepped forwards.

“Nat. Natasha…” But at that she turned away from them all and made her way quickly into the corridor of the Hospital. Katie and Steve looked at one another, before they hastily followed her.

“Why was Fury in your apartment?” Natasha span around to ask Steve. Her eyes were filled with sadness, but Katie could also see suspicion etched on her pretty features.

“I don’t know,” Steve sighed shrugging his shoulders, and before the conversation could go on further they were interrupted by Rumlow.

“Cap, they want you back at Shield,” He informed them, gently touching Katie’s shoulder. “You too Nova.”

“Alright, give us a second,” Steve nodded dismissing Rumlow, perhaps a little more harshly than he intended, as he turned back to Natasha but Rumlow was insistent

“They want you now,”

“Alright” Katie spoke firmly but calmly. Rumlow nodded and then moved back down the hallway.

“You’re a terrible liar.” Natasha shook her head at Steve with her trademark smirk that didn’t reach her eyes before she turned and left.

“What the hell is on that drive?” Katie asked Steve after a moment of silence.

“I don’t know, but it’s what Natasha was saving data to on our mission the other day.” He replied before he looked up staring very focused into a vending machine to his right, which was open as a janitor filled it up. He didn’t want to take the drive back to the Triskellion, just in case. He knew that something wasn’t quite right.

Katie caught his eye before glancing around the hallway that was mostly full of SHIELD agents, luckily they were all congregated on the other end.

“Do it.” She nodded, figuring out his intention to hide the item “I’ll distract them.”

Without another look back at him, she began to stride forwards towards Rumlow.

“Its almost four am.” she glanced at her watch. “What do they want us for Brock? We already told Sitwell what we know and I don’t work for SHIELD anymore, remember?”

Rumlow shrugged “Honestly, I don’t know Nova. I’m just under instructions to get you both back to base.”

At that point Steve reached them, but he wasn’t stopping. Taking Katie’s hand he nodded to the STRIKE leader

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah,” Rumlow fell into step with them, fixing his earpiece. “Strike! Move it out.”

Steve drove to the Triskellion, Katie’s car flanked by the Armoured SUVs as they sped through the streets of DC. Katie dozed off for ten minutes and Steve let her sleep, lost in his own thoughts. He had expected her to be called in alongside him, especially after she had been, along with him, the last people Fury had spoken to him before he died. But he wasn’t happy about it, he wanted her as far away from whatever the hell was going on as possible. Once they arrived he gently shook her awake and the two of them were given an hour or so to grab something to eat. Neither were hungry, but they forced down their sandwiches, Katie’s brain working in overdrive as she did so. Something was nagging at her, and she was trying to make the connections, figure it out, but her head simply kept replaying Fury getting shot over and over.

“Foxtrot is down, he’s unresponsive. I need EMTs.”

“Do you have a twenty on the shooter?”

She frowned.

“What is?” Steve asked, coffee in his hand as he sat back on one of the large chairs in one of the common rooms by the kitchen area.

“Before…when Kate…Agent thirteen, whatever the hell her name is called back to base…she said Fury was down and needed EMTs…”

She paused and Steve waited, knowing how her analytical brain worked. She had to follow threads, talk them over or write them out, letting them weave together as she did. A look of comprehension crossed her face as the threads connected.

“Sitwell…” She whispered.

“What about him?” Steve asked. “He was the one that replied, at least it sounded like him.” She bit her lip, but not in the seductive way that made his crotch twitch, the way she did when she was thinking “And he asked…do you have a twenty on the shooter.”

Steve frowned, not quite sure where this was going. “Okay…” “Well, how did he know Fury had been shot? How could anyone know he had been shot?”

Now he understood. He understood completely. Damned it she was clever. “They couldn’t.” He sat up and leaned towards her, his voice dropping. “Not unless they were there or Kate…whoever, told them.”

“And she didn’t. She just said he was down and unresponsive.” “Which means…” Steve began, but Katie finished for him. “Sitwell knew about the hit. Because he was in on it.”

The both looked at one another, their faces wearing similar looks of shock. Fury was right, SHIELD was compromised. But how far, they had no idea.

Before Steve had chance to say anything else, the door opened and Rumlow stepped in

“Secretary Pierce is ready now guys.” “Thanks.” Katie nodded, shooting Steve another glance as they both stood up.

“Not a word.” He mumbled as they got into the elevator “We say nothing, not until we figure out who we can trust.”

“If we can trust anyone.” She mumbled back.

*****

“Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?” Secretary Pierce looked at Steve as he sat on the couch next to Katie in the large office.

“I don’t know.” He answered in a soft voice.

“Did you know it was bugged?” Pierce pressed on.

“We did.” Katie nodded meeting the secretary’s eye. “Because Nick told us.”

“Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?”

Steve took a breath and glanced at Katie, his expression stony but the two of them shared the understanding.

No, no he had not.

“I want you to see something.” Pierce continued, and gestured to a monitor just behind the couches we were sitting on. On the screen was a man tied down to a chair, he looked to be currently being interrogated. Katie didn’t recognise the man, but Steve did. It was Batroc, the lead merc from the hijacking of the Lemurian Star.

“Is that live?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not so safe house in Algiers.”

“Are you saying he’s a suspect?” Steve didn’t take his eyes off the screen “Assassination isn’t Batroc’s line.”

“It’s more complicated than that. Batroc was hired anonymously to hijack the Lemurian Star. He was contacted by email and paid by wire transfer, and then the money was run through seventeen fictitious accounts. The last going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech.” Pierce said handing Steve a folder.

“Am I supposed to know who that is?” Steve skimmed through the file offered to him in curiosity and confusion.

“Not likely. Veech died six years ago. His last address was 1435 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick, his mother lived at 1437.”

“Wait,” Katie frowned as she gathered what Pierce was suggesting. “Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?”

“The prevailing theory?” Pierce shrugged. “The hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour and that led to Nick’s death.”

“If you really knew Nick Fury you’d know that’s not true.” Steve replied strongly, and he believed it. Fury was a lot of things, but a traitor he was not.

Pierce nodded in agreement. “Why do you think we’re here talking?” He then got to his feet and began to walk towards the window. “See, I took a seat on the council not because I wanted to, but because Nick asked me to because we were both realists. We knew that despite all the diplomacy, and the hand shaking and the rhetoric, to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down. And that makes enemies.”

Steve didn’t like the way this was going. He looked at Katie and gestured for her to stand as he did. Pierce turned back around and looked at them both.

“Those people that call you dirty because you’ve got the guts to stick your hands in the mud and try to build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today,” Pierce shoved his hands in his pockets. “Makes me really, really angry. Captain, you and Miss Stark were the last ones to see Nick Fury alive. I don’t think that’s an accident.” Pierce said matter-of-factly. “And I don’t think you do, either. So, I’m going to ask again was he there?”

“He told us not to trust anyone.” Steve said honestly.

Pierce made a humming sound. “I wonder, if that included him.”

There was a tense moment of silence before Steve spoke again. “I’m sorry. Those were his last words. Excuse us,” He turned to leave, picking up his shield that he sent down upon our arrival and attaching it to the harness on his back, before ushering Katie out of the room slightly ahead of him.

“Captain,” Pierce’s voice halted him mid step and he turned to look at him. “Someone murdered my friend. I’m going to find out why. Anyone who gets in my way is going to regret it.” Pierce’s voice rang out again, a pointed look in their direction.

Steve wasn’t a stupid man, and he knew that was a veiled threat. He took a deep breath, considering his response, before he decided appearing un-rattled was the best option.

“Understood.” He nodded, holding the door open for Katie to step through keeping himself between her and Pierce as he followed, anchoring his hand on her back to keep her moving.

“You should have lied.” She whispered.

“Huh?” “Back then, said we didn’t know why Fury was there. By telling him that he told us not to trust anyone he knows we know and that we’re hiding something.” Her tone was a little panicked and Steve simply took a deep breath.

“We need to get to the hospital and get that stick.” He looked at her, remaining adamant that whatever it was that was on there would hold the answers. He looked up and down the corridor before they stepped into the elevator.

“Operations Control” Steve spoke as the elevator scanned his face and Katie’s Guest ID.

“Confirmed”

Just as the doors were about to close, Rumlow stepped in with two other STRIKE agents.

“Keep all STRIKE personnel on site” He was saying. Both the agents nodded and voiced their acknowledgement of his order. “Forensics.”

“Confirmed.”

“Cap, Nova…” Rumlow nodded to them both.

“Rumlow.” Steve acknowledged him as the doors closed and they started to descend.

“Evidence Response found some fibres on the roof they want us to see.” Rumlow turned his head to look at Steve. “You want me to get the tac-team ready?”

“No, let’s wait and see what it is first.”

“Right.” Rumlow turned back and Steve looked out of the side of the elevator, pondering what his next move was. Chase down the man responsible? The drive? The elevator stopped at the next floor and Rollins plus a few more SHIELD and Strike agents entered, Steve moving over slightly to allow them in.

“What’s the status so far?” Rollins was saying.

“Administrations level” another one asked, before they continued whatever it was they were talking about, moving round to find a space behind Steve and Katie.

He noticed Katie look round, a frown on her face, but before he could say anything Rumlow spoke, looking over his shoulder at Steve.

“I’m sorry about what happened with Fury. Messed up, what happened to him”

“Thank you.” Steve nodded.

Katie could sense something was off. Years of training as an Agent didn’t just leave you when you quit, and those years of training had taught her very well to read body language. Rumlow was alert, too alert, and it was more than just a nervousness because Fury had been killed. There was an atmosphere in the lift, and she glanced at one of the agents that had joined them at the last floor. He was still talking, normally, but he there was a bead of sweat dripping down his cheek from his temple.

Steve could sense it too. He watched as Rumlow and Rollins exchanged a glance and looked down at Katie who was watching him, nervous expression on her face. He shook his head gently, instructing her to keep calm.

The elevator stopped and another agent entered.

“Records”

This one stood in front of them, facing the elevator doors and it was then with a slight air of exasperation at allowing it to happen, Steve realised they were surrounded. Whilst he wasn’t too concerned, he knew he could more than likely fight his way out, it was his girl he was bothered for. It had been months since she had been in active combat, and this was going to be brutal. Besides him Katie stiffened, feeling very underprepared for what was about to go down. She had no weapons, nothing. Instinctively Steve gripped her hand and pulled her forward so she was stood next to him instead of behind and moved his feet apart slightly, hands on the buckle of his belt, adopting his Captain stance, preparing for what was coming.

“Before we get started,” he sighed, looking down before he stared straight ahead, “does anyone want to get out?”

His eyes flicked to the back of Rumlow’s head. There was a moment’s pause before all hell broke loose. They both put up a good fight, ducking, diving, punching. Steve was then shocked with a baton, but he simply grit his teeth, absorbing the electricity into his body. It hurt, but it wasn’t unbearable. And then, three of them managed to snap one of his arms to the wall of the elevator using some kind of metallic clamp, before five of them piled on him at once, attempting to pin his other arm in too. He kicked out, taking down as many as he could.

Just as Katie had floored the second of the agents who had launched at her, she was grabbed from behind by her hair and hauled to the edge of the elevator, being wrestled roughly to the floor by Rumlow who was instantly on top of her, trying to get her wrists from where she had positioned them underneath her body in an attempt to stop them restraining her.

"Brock…” She spoke gently, looking at him as she swallowed. “What’s going on?” “I’m sorry Stark.” He shook his head. “Just following orders.”

“Yeah well follow this.” She snarled, the anger brewing in her as she jerked her head forwards as hard as she could, feeling it connect with his nose. He yelled, and then her head snapped painfully to the right as he back handed her straight across the face. She felt her lip split and the warm, metallic taste of blood hit her taste buds, stars flashing in front of her eyes as her ears began to ring from the harsh knock.

Steve saw Rumlow land the blow to Katie’s face and let out a growl of anger and aimed another kick at the final agent standing, causing them man to collide with the side of the elevator before slumping down. He turned, pulled on his arm as hard as he could, wrenching the cuff off the side of the elevator and looked up in time to see Katie, who was now pinned against the wall by another set of those damned cuffs, take a blow to the ribs from Rumlow causing her to cry out in pain.

“Rumlow!” Steve yelled causing the man to whip his head round, surprise on his face. Katie, using her arms as leverage, swung her legs upwards, kicking Rumlow with both feet. The STRIKE leader stumbled slightly as Steve snarled at him, his entire body and face alight with rage “Touch my girl again and I’ll fucking kill you.”

Rumlow got to his feet, holding one of his arms out, electric rod in his hand “Whoa, big guy. I just want you both to know, this ain’t personal.”

He then lunged at Steve with his electric rod but one on one Steve was easily able to defend himself, he moved to the right, dodged and grabbed Rumlow, throwing him harshly upwards where he crashed into the ceiling of the elevator, before falling to the floor, unconscious.

“Yeah well, it kind of feels personal” Steve said, his breath slightly ragged from the exertion. He used his foot to flip his shield over like a Frisbee, catching it perfectly.

“You alright?” Steve asked, stepping over the bodies that littered the floor of the elevator to get to Katie.

“Yeah.” She assured him. Steve cut the cuffs that were restraining her into two pieces with his shield and she bent over, his hands gently on her back as she rubbed at her side before straightening up and stalking over to where Rumlow was beginning to stir slightly. She kicked him hard in the face, causing him to flip backwards and he was out, unconscious.

“Nothing personal.” She spat, then looked up at Steve. There was a moment during which they both looked around, trying to make sense of what had happened, before the elevator doors opened and Steve pulled Katie sharply behind him. They both stared at a team of STRIKE agents pointing their weapons into the elevator. Steve raised his shield.

“Drop the shield! Put your hands in the air!”

Steve looked round, and spotted the elevator wires to the left of Katie’s head

“DUCK!” he yelled at her, and as she did, he swiped with his shield over her head sending them plummeting. Eventually the emergency brake systems kicked in and the elevator stopped, slightly misaligned with the doors by a few feet. As Katie bent down to retrieve a gun and some ammo off one of the Agents, Steve forced the door open, intending to climb out but more STRIKE agents were approaching. He closed the door again and looked at Katie, then around the glass walls, looking down below us at the glass roof of the main Triskelion atrium.

It was a long way but they could make it.

“You’re fucking kidding, right?” Katie exclaimed, realising exactly what he was thinking.

“Give it up, Rogers! Get that door open! You have nowhere to go!” came the yell from the floor outside the elevator door.

“Do you trust me?” Steve asked, both his hands cupping Katie’s face.

“Of course I do, but…”

“Then hang on…”

She sighed and jumped onto his back, swinging her legs round his waist and her arms round his neck. Steve raised his shield in front of him, before he propelled them forward and broke through the glass in the elevator, spreading his arms out wide as he fell to prevent them from tumbling through the air before tucking his body as tightly in to his shield as he could. Katie did the same, burying her head into his back as they crashed through the glass ceiling and hit the floor with a loud clang, to screams and shouts from people all around the atrium.

Katie gave a soft groan, rolling off Steve who moaned and stretched out, having been winded from the impact. But Steve knew they had to keep moving. With a monumental effort, he pushed himself up onto his knees, took a deep breath and offered his hand to Katie to help her stand. They both took a quick glance around before he started to run, pulling her with him. She stumbled slightly, but Steve kept hold of her, not letting her fall until her legs seemed to be working again.

And then they ran.

**** Chapter 15

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #Katie Stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fic #mcu #mcu fanfic #captain america #chris evans #chris evans characters

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innittowinit · 4 years

Text

Can you pick me up? my uni burnt down (Chapt. 2)

Relationships: Sleepy bois inc (all fics i write are platonic)

Summary:

In which Techno goes to England for University, his building catches fire in the night, and he isn't prepared for the difference in climate between England and California. SBI fluff ensues

Chapter summary:

After waking up, Wilbur has the great idea that they should do a sleepy boys stream. Tommy doesn't get told about this id

Words: 1785

Language: English

AO3 Chapt. 1

Listen, waking up on a sofa, with a thin blanket shared with 3 men was never going to be the best morning. His back hurt and his legs were numb from Wilbur having sprawled out over the three of them as he slept.

Stretching his arms back, he recounted the events of last night. God, it really was only a few hours ago, he was so tired. Had this been last year, he would have been able to stay up for days on end and then just crash for an entire weekend. It wasn’t last year though and Techno had gotten himself into a fairly healthy routine, he couldn’t exactly be sleeping through his uni classes anyway.

“Alright you two” Hearing Philza’s voice, he propped his head up, “Get up, you can’t lay around all day”

A groan came from the mass of blankets and cushions that happened to be Wilbur, who was curled up in the centre of it,

“Phil it's so early and we went to bed so late. It’s fine to sleep in”

“Okay” he chuckled, humouring his tired friend “It’s midday Wil, im taking the blankets away now”

Techno thought it was much too early too, as he tugged the sleeves of Wilbur’s hoodie down a little further so they could act like gloves.

“Do you mind if I use your PC to try and find out what’s going on with my classes at some point? They'll probably send me an email or something” He grumbled, standing up so he could stretch his back out properly, following Phil slowly to the kitchen.

“That’s fine, it's up in my room, do what you need”

Breakfast was nice, it had been a while since Techno had had time for it honestly, and even longer since he had been able to eat with people he cared about. He had a couple slices of buttered toast and a bowl of some british cereal which he didn’t really like but he didn’t want to be rude so he ate it anyway.

“You wanna stream together later?” Wil asked through a mouth full of food, earning a snort from Phil. This was nice.

“Yeah maybe, you use face cam though, I’m not like against showing them my face but y'know, it is what it is” he shrugged, spooning another mouthful of his breakfast into his mouth, he had to admit it was very bland, he much preferred the sweeter ones that were more popular in America.

“Well think about it, if you decide you don't want them to see you, you can always just sit off to the side and I'll turn my monitor so you can still see it. My office is big enough for it anyway, it’ll be like where Niki was during that one MCC remember?”

Techno nodded and carried on eating, they really were 3 very sleepy boys right now. Maybe he’d take a nap once he found out what was going on with his classes.

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

Streaming without any gameplay to comment about and with facecam on? Techno wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. That just didn’t really sound like something he was going to enjoy.

It was nerve wracking and he always seemed to glance at the camera too much when it was pointed at him. He knew the fans would be disappointed if he didn’t do it though, When Wilbur tweeted out saying that he and Phil would join him in a ‘you laugh you lose’ he watched as the replies freaked out.

You could say he was just a bit camera shy, he wasn’t incredibly insecure, sure there were things he didn’t like that much but everyone had things like that, it just made him nervous to know that people were looking at him.

He’d be okay with his friend’s though, he trusted that they’d never put him in an uncomfortable situation. He knew if he got overwhelmed he could sit outside the frame.

It would be okay.

“Hey hey chat” Wilbur mumbled into the mic, making it loud enough so that everyone could hear but it still sounded like he was whispering.

“We’ve got the blade here, bet you weren’t expecting that huh chat? Or maybe you were, maybe you read the title of the stream, bet there’s someone watching who didn't think he’d be here though” he finally turned the music off and switched from his ‘starting soon’ screen to his regular camera.

Wil went through the rules, it was the normal stuff, he added in some jokes here and there, prodding Techno and Phil to talk at times. They’d already agreed that this wouldn’t be for youtube, since that seemed to add a bit too much pressure for Techno, but hey, he still had to welcome his chat.

“Okay!! First media share! Lets go”

After a series of videos, some funnier than others, Techno had started to loosen up a bit. He was getting more comfortable with the camera and while he’d probably cringe while looking back at the footage, at least he was having fun right now.

He had a warm feeling in his chest that wasn’t usually there when he was streaming alone, sure it was usually fun but nothing was better than being with his friends while doing it, there was really only one person who was missing.

As if on queue, chat started spamming Tommy’s name, for a moment Techno thought he had been mumbling his thoughts out loud, before he looked between Phil and Wilbur, who both seemed equally confused. Moving Wilbur’s mouse over the chat to pause it, Techno tried to read some of the messages.

“Oh he tweeted something” he mumbled, pulling his phone out of his pocket without a care. Maybe some irl streamers would have used the computer but knowing Wilbur’s history, he doubted it could run Chrome and streamlabs at the same time.

Looking at the tweet he felt a little pang of guilt. It was lighthearted and jokey but he knew there’d be a little truth to it. He nudged the other two and read it aloud to them.

‘Damn guess I’m not a sleepy boy after all’

The air felt a little thick after that, they hadn’t meant to exclude Tommy; all of the excitement of Techno coming to stay had just made it a little hard to arrange to have Tommy here after all.

Still, they probably should have still told him though. They were supposed to be each other's family.

“Hey chat I think we’re gonna have to end stream early.” Wilbur finally piped up, deciding it wouldn't be right to carry on when they had hurt their friend, not that chat needed to know that though, he didn’t want to embarrass Tommy.

“I feel kinda sick and I don't think you all wanna watch me vomit right? Yeah so it’s best we end it now”

Techno sniggered to himself at that, in games Wilbur always seemed to be very cunning but he supposed he wasn’t very good at lying when it was about something he actually cared about. Said something being Tommy.

After raiding Fundy, the trio hopped straight onto discord.

Tommy didn't answer the first time he was called.

Or the second.

Finally, after three calls, Tommy decided he’d talk to them.

“You are all a bunch of dick heads, you know that? What the hell! Why wasn’t I invited to the sleepy boy’s stream! Wilbur you bitch!” Through all the vulgar language and the constant yelling, it was clear that Tommy was genuinely upset.

He had every right to be, as far as Techno was concerned. From his point of view his friend’s had just gone off and hung out without him. He just hoped he’d calm down once they explained everything.

“You know I thought we were friends! I thought we were brothers! But if you don’t wanna hang out with a ‘kid’ you can just tell me and i’ll- i'll go!” He was still yelling, as usual, it was clear he was trying to make this into a joke where he could overreact but Techno noticed the small sniffles and the quiver in his voice.

By the looks on Phil’s and Wilbur’s faces, they recognised it too.

“Listen, Tommy”

Wil was the first to talk, it made sense, it seemed that Tommy trusted him the most at times. Sometimes Techno could be a bit too cold and sometimes Phil could get a bit too overbearing.

Techno understood this, he didn’t take it personally, he knew it was only natural that you have people you trust with your emotions more than others. It didn’t mean Tommy didn’t love them just as much, just that they weren’t his ‘go-to’ when he felt down.

Techno felt the same way sometimes. Feeling’s got complicated and personally he thought Phil was the best to talk to about that, the fact that he was older and had his life sorted out gave him a sense of comfort, like he could trust him because he knew what he was talking about.

“We didn’t plan a meetup, it just sorta happened. Phil was at my place, helping me record, and then Techno’s Uni had a fire and he needed a place to stay while they’re making it safe again” Wilbur sighed as he heard Tommy moving on the other side of his mic. Techno wondered what he was doing.

“We would have invited you, had we known that we’d all be in the same place Toms”

Phil took over, giving Wilbur a little sympathetic smile. The brunette so obviously felt guilty about the situation.

“But when we got the call from Tech’ it was past 3 in the morning and it was tipping it down with snow, as soon as we got home we all slept. We decided to do a stream this morning but never once did we intend to try and make you feel like you aren’t welcome with us”

Finally it was Techno’s turn to talk...Fuck.

He wasn’t exactly the most sentimental guy, he struggled to show his emotions and he just assumed everyone he cared for just knew that he cared for them. He rarely had to say it out loud. God okay. He just had to swallow his pride and go for it.

“Tommy you are a sleepy boy and you are our brother. We did kind of a dick move today and if I was you I’d probably be upset too. I know I didn't like seeing you guys playing without me during MCC and that wasn’t even any of our decisions. We should have called you or something. I know I kinda tease you a lot but that’s just how I show I like people. Listen Tommy if I didn’t care about you I wouldn’t be comfortable enough to make those kinds of jokes with you. It’s not funny if it’s hurting you though..”

Techno bit his lip, this wasn’t as hard as he had anticipated but it was coming out like word vomit.

“You’re young Tommy but you’re so talented. We love you”

There was some more rustling, it sounded like Tommy was wiping his eyes. Maybe the boy had expected a yelling match, only for it to turn out to be very emotional.

“I love you guys too.. If you ever exclude me ever again though I’m getting my vlog knife out”

#hurt/ comfort #sbi #sleepy boys inc #wilbur soot #tommy innit #tommyinnit #technoblade #philza #fanfic

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snowdice · 4 years

Text

Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 26]

Here is my starting post for today’s study break stories session. See this post for more details and feel free to send me asks to keep me going! It’s been a lot of fun so far! I will reblog this post with the story as I write them today. I’ll be constantly looking for ideas of times and places for Janus to have missions, so feel free to send in any you can think of at any point!

If you are a new follower or just don’t want all of these posts clogging your dash, please feel free to block the tag “study break stories” as all posts and voting about it will go there. You can still see the finished product of the story even if you are blocking that tag as I will not tag the edited chapters with “study break stories” but with the tag “folds in paper.” See edited chapters below. Chapters 3-8 and what I have of Chapter 9 are under the cut.

My Masterpost Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.

It has been a busy weekend. I will answer asks not related to this at a later day. For now I have to study.

Chapter 7

“Him,” was the only thing Janus said before taking off after the figure who had just disappeared into the game area.

“What?” Remus’s voice followed after him. “Janus! What?!”

Janus did not pause, just continuing to run after Pat, hopping over two barricades as a shortcut. Janus cursed when he lost sight of the man for just a moment near the prize table filled with colorful goldfish, but he was able to spot him once again walking into one of the tents. Janus blasted into the tent. It was a game where they raced rats, and when Janus entered, Pat was cooing at one of them.

“Who’s a tiny little squishy precious baby?” he was asking one of them, wiggling his pointer finger at it.

“You,” Janus growled stepping up to him.

He turned and tilted his head at Janus with a frown. “Um, me?” he asked, pointing to his chest, all sorts of innocent, but Janus could see a spot of hidden amusement in his eyes.

“Where is it?”

His eyebrows drew together, but it was an act. It was clearly an act! “Where is what?”

“The…” he glanced around them at the people surrounding them. “Thing you just took.”

“I didn’t take anything,” Pat said with a frown.

“Oh, no,” Janus said. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fooling me twice is not an option.”

“I’m sorry sir,” Pat said. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bull. Shit.”

Just then, Remus jogged into the tent. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“It’s him,” Janus said pointing. “He took it. He has it.”

“I… don’t know what you’re talking about,” Pat said. He looked over to Remus with a confused frown.

Remus looked at Janus. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Janus said. “It’s him. It has to be him. He’s the mask guy.”

Remus squinted at Pat. “He is?”

“Whoever you think I am, I’m not. I haven’t worn a mask all night. I just did the face paint,” he pointed to his cheeks.

Remus raised his wrist and his timepiece lit up green. He looked at Janus.

“I lost sight of him for five seconds. He must have stashed it somewhere,” Janus said. He turned on Pat. “Where did you put it?”

“…Are you,” Pat asked, his eyes going back and forth between Janus and Remus, “… the police?”

“We are, actually,” Khalid said as she stepped into the tent. Remus must have called her. She inserted herself between Janus and Pat. “Agent Khalid,” she said, offering a hand with a smile. Pat looked at it in surprise and then smiled back hesitantly as he took it. “Apologizes, one of the big game prizes was stolen by someone matching your description. Would you mind coming down to security for questioning? Just to clear it up.”

“Oh,” Pat said, hesitant. Janus expected him to refuse outright, but then he said. “Uh, sure.”

“Thank you very much, Mr…”

“Jonas,” Pat told her earnestly. “Do I need to be handcuffed?”

“No,” Khalid said. Janus frowned at her, but she ignored him. “It’s just a talk for now.” She gestured to the tent entrance. “Come with us.”

He did without argument, and Remus and Janus followed behind the both of them. Khalid did not lead them back to the base, but to a little spot that said “security” near the center of the event. Remy was already there waiting for them at a desk.

“Remy, would you please take Mr. Jonas to go sit down?” she asked.

“Sure, boss,” Remy said, standing up. He led Pat away.

Khalid turned to Janus and Remus once they were out of earshot. “What is going on?”

“It’s the mask man,” Janus said, “the one from 1923, and my scanner said the time bomb was on the Millenia Bird outside the games entrance, but then it was gone the next second, and I saw him, and then he ran away.”

“So, does he have it on him?”

“No. I lost sight of him, and he must have stored it somewhere, but I know he took it.”

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“He’s the man from 1923?” she asked.

“Yes! Remus, that’s him, right? You recognize him.”

“Well,” Remus said thoughtfully. “He was in a mask, and it was dark in the room with the necklace. Other than that, I only really saw his back, and he was wearing pants. Mr. Jonas is wearing a dress, so I can’t really tell if their asses match.”

“Okay, but I was with him for hours. I swear it’s him, and I swear he took it,” Janus just about shouted.

“We’ll question him,” Khalid placated, “and Fred and Lena will keep looking in the meantime.”

“He knows where it is,” Janus insisted. “I swear.”

“Okay,” Khalid said, before leaving to follow where Remy and Pat had gone. She stopped Janus with a hand on his shoulder. “I think Remus and I will do the interrogation.” He opened his mouth to argue. “You know the most about him, so observe from the sidelines and see if he makes any mistakes that indicate you’re right.”

“That’s just to placate me and you know it.”

“Observation’s over there,” she said pointing.

He got a thumbs up from Remus as he walked by, and Janus glared at his back before walking off to the indicated location.

He watched as Remus and Khalid entered the room, and Remy left it. Remy joined him in the observation room after leaving and leaned against the wall.

Pat was sitting at a table and watched Remus and Khalid with that same rubbish placid confusion that he had before. “So,” Khalid said, “Mr. Jonas.”

“You can call me Nick,” Pat interrupted.

“Lia,” Khalid replied. He smiled at her happily. “So, are you enjoying your day?” she asked.

“I am!” he replied. “It’s a big day. You only get to see the turn of a millennia once in your life.”

“Ah, yes,” Khalid said. “Doing anything special for it?”

“Um, not really,” he said. “Other than the party. I’m going to meet up with my roommates after dinner. Kevin doesn’t like this sort of thing, and Joe couldn’t come.”

“Your roommates,” Khalid said, considering him. “Do you live around here?”

“Uh huh,” Pat replied.

“Do you have any ID?”

“I do, want me to get it?”

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

Pat unzipped one of the bubbles on his waist and handed her a chip. “Remus, would you mind going out and getting the ID scanner?” she asked, even though her timepiece would be able to read it.

“Ah, shit,” Remy said. “Props. What do those things even look like?”

As Remy scrambled to find something that would pass for an ID reader so “Nick” didn’t get suspicious of Khalid using her timepiece, Janus watched the two alone in the room like a hawk.

“I see you’re wearing a dress inspired by the 2770s,” Khalid noted, as Remus came to stand next to him.

“Yeah!” Pat replied. “Joe made it for me. He’s really good at fashion design!”

“Can I see?” she asked.

With a happy smile, he reached over the table to let her get a look of the sleeves. Janus saw her subtly scan the fabric, probably to make sure it was from the 2990s and not actually from the 2770s. Considering she didn’t mention it, Janus assumed it checked out.

Remy came back with some sort of device then and handed it to Remus who saluted and wandered back into the interrogation room. Khalid pretended to scan the ID in her hand. She handed it back to him without comment. “So, you said you live with your roommates: Joe and Kevin?” she asked.

“Yep!” he replied. “We’re practically like brothers.”

“Would you mind calling them?”

“Erm,” he titled his head like he was confused by the question. “Well, like I said, Joe is a bit busy, but I could definitely call Kevin.

“Here,” Khalid said, “use my phone.”

“I have my own,” he said with a frown.

“Humor me,” she requested.

“Uh, okay,” Pat agreed. He took the offered 2999 phone and dialed a number on it. Khalid reached over to put it on speaker.

“Hello?” a voice asked after a few seconds.

“Um, hey Kevin, it’s Nick.”

There was a sigh on the other end. “Hello Nick, is something wrong? Why are you calling me from someone else’s phone?”

“I’m fine, I think.” He looked up at Khalid. “Why am I calling him exactly?”

“Hello, I’m Officer Khalid,” Khalid said. “I just wanted to confirm that you are Nick Jonas’s roommate, and he does live in Manaus.”

“Yes, we live together with our other roommate,” the man replied flippantly. “Officer? Is something wrong?”

“I believe there was just a case of mistaken identity,” Khalid said.

“Bullshit there was!” Janus hissed, though she could not hear him.

“No need to worry,” Khalid continued.

“I’m good Kevin,” Pat said.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Kevin asked.

“Don’t be Paranoid, Kevin. I’ll see you Tonight for the New Years Celebration. You know I Live to Party.”

“I am hanging up now,” Kevin said.

“No! Comeback.” The line went dead. Pat handed the device back to Khalid.

She took it and smiled at him. “Give us just a couple of minutes,” she requested. He nodded easily, and she and Remus exited the interrogation room. “I… think we’re done here,” Khalid said.

“No, he’s lying,” Janus insisted, and got a dubious look in return. “I know he is! Remus!”

“The alibi is pretty solid…” Remus said, “and he doesn’t have the bomb on him.”

“Oh, come on,” Janus said. “You can’t say there is nothing fishy going on here.”

Khalid and Remus shared a look. “Janus,” Khalid said. “I respect your intuition. It is usually very good, but you have been a bit intense about the man from the 1920s, and I think that may be blinding you a bit...”

“I am not imagining this!” Janus said. “That’s him and he took it.”

“You only met him once while he was wearing a mask,” Khalid pointed out with a frown, “and you didn’t see him take the bomb, did you?”

“No, but he looked at me and I knew,” Janus argued. They both gave him a skeptical look. “Oh, come on!”

“You know that’s a little weak, Jan,” Remus said.

“Let me talk to him,” Janus requested. “Just give me five minutes to talk with him.”

Khalid raised one eyebrow. “Fine,” she agreed. “You have five minutes, but after that, you have to let it go. We can’t waste any more time.”

Chapter 8

Pat looked up as Janus stepped into the interrogation room. “Hi,” he said with an innocent smile that could cut steal.

Janus didn’t say a word as he took a seat; he just watched him intently. He leaned slightly over the table and steepled his fingers in front of his chin. “So, your name is Nick this time?” Janus asked.

“Nicholas Jonas,” he said. “Always has been.”

“Stop it,” Janus said.

“Stop what?”

“Cut the crap. I know.”

Pat leaned forward, mirroring Janus as he leaned closer, interlocking his fingers and laying his chin on top of his knuckles. “What did you say your name was again?” he asked, pleasantly.

“Janus,” Janus replied.

“No, I’m Jonas,” he said, pointing to his chest.

“Not Jonas,” Janus spat. “Janus.”

“Um,” Pat said, eyes alight with amusement. The bastard. “Those are the same words.”

“No, they’re not. It’s Janus. J-A-N-U.-S.”

“Well, that’s confusing,” Pat said with a frown, but his nose was crinkling. “It’s close to my name. You should go by a nickname instead.”

“What?” Janus said. “No.”

Pat hummed. “How about Love Bug?”

“What! No!” Janus sputtered, almost flipping the table, as Pat winked at him.

“BB Good?”

“What does that even mean?!”

“Mandy.”

“No!”

“Okay, okay, how about Macy Misa.”

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Janus stared at him for a moment. “Fine. Whatever. What was I even talking about?”

“Hmm. I Believe we were talking about my name and how you think it’s not my name.”

“Right,” Janus said. “So, Nick. That was your roommate, Kevin on the phone, right? He seemed a bit unhappy with you. Any reason?”

“Nah, we’re Cool” said Pat. “That’s Just the Way We Roll.”

“Not because you’re messing up a mission right now?”

Pat’s eyes crinkled together. “A mission?” he parroted. “I’m not messing up a mission.”

“Oh, really?” Janus growled. “Because you’ve been captured by the TPI, and I know who you are and what you’ve been doing.”

“I have no idea what the TPI is,” he claimed.

“Yes, you do!” Janus said, standing up. “You obviously do! Or you wouldn’t be playing this game!”

“Game?” Pat asked. “Macy I ask you what you’re talking about.”

“This is all just a game to you isn’t it!” Janus said, slamming his hands down on the table in front of them.

“Whoa,” Pat said, putting his hands up. “Calm down. Your face is getting all red. You must be Burnin’ Up.”

“I’m not sure what, but something about what you just said pisses me off.”

“And that is five minutes,” Khalid said, bursting into the room. He felt a tug on the back of his shirt and glared back at Remus who was putting his own body between Janus and Pat.

“There was no way that was five minutes,” Janus growled.

“It was five minutes,” Khalid gritted out. “Remus, get him out of here.”

“Come on Jay,” Remus said, dragging him back towards the door.

“Remus, I swear to god.”

“Just chill, Janus,” Remus said, slamming the door closed behind them.

Janus shrugged him off. “You chill!” he snapped. “He’s playing you all for the fool.”

“Wow, Macy,” Remy drawled like an asshole. “I’ve never seen you so fired up.”

“Oh, my gosh. No one is going to believe me, and he’s going to get away with this.”

“You’re not really helping your case, babe,” Remy said.

Remus grabbed him by the shoulders again. “Here, let’s go get some water.”

“I don’t want water,” he said even as he let Remus lead him to another room to get a glass of water.

“Look,” Remus said. “I know the Mask Guy thing really sucked, but you have to look at the facts.

“I am looking at the facts,” Janus insisted, “and the facts are, he’s fucking with me.”

“You don’t know what mask guy looks like,” Remus said. “You didn’t see Nick take the time bomb, he has an ID from this time period and a roommate in this time he called on the phone, and he legitimately seems to not know what any of us are talking about.”

“Did you even listen to our conversation?” Janus asked. “He was screwing with me the entire time!”

“Janus…” Remus said.

“What?” Janus said, narrowing his eyes at Remus’s tone.

“I know you recently had a bad experience, but not everyone who flirts with you is doing it out of evil.”

Janus’s mouth hung open for a few seconds. “That’s what you got out of our conversation?”

“He called you Love Bug.”

Janus felt his face heat a bit at the reminder. “That’s not… I. I’m stealing your cat and then never speaking to you again.”

Remus laughed. “Ah,” he said. “Young lust.”

Janus elbowed him roughly in the side. “No!”

“Yes!” he crooned, pleased.

“You are the worst partner,” Janus hissed. “When I’m right you owe me 10 loafs of your fresh bread.”

“Branching out from poptarts?” Remus asked.

Janus shook his head. He still wasn’t happy about the state of things, but he could feel himself cooling down a bit.

Khalid came out of the integration room after a few minutes, leaving Pat with Remy. “What was that?” she asked him.

“He got under my skin,” Janus said.

“We’ll talk about it later,” she said. “For now, we’re letting him go and then going back to looking for the bomb like we’re meant to be.”

“Fine,” Janus relented. “Just do me the favor of tagging him before he leaves. Just that. I beg of you.”

“Sure,” she agreed. “If it will calm you down.”

He nodded.

“Then, let’s go,” she said. When they met back up with Remy and Pat, he saw Khalid make the subtle gesture that would tag Pat like they would have for the Millennium Birds. Pat sent him what could pass as a sweet smile if Janus didn’t know better. Then, they walked him outside, leaving Remy on clean-up duty for the make-shift security office.

“So, I’m free to go?” Pat asked. His bemused expression edged far too much on the side of amused verses confused for Janus’s taste.

“You are,” Khalid said. “Have fun at the festivities.”

His hands went flapping about. “Oh, you too!” he said. “Well, I guess you’re working, but you can have fun anyway, I’m sure.”

“We’ll do our best,” she said.

He gave her a blinding smile and reached forward to shake her hand enthusiastically. Janus rolled his eyes and looked up at the heavens. “It was nice to meet you!” he said, “and you too, Remus!” He turned to meet Janus’s eyes. “Macy Misa.”

Janus pressed his lips together.

Then, Pat turned and walked away.

“Well, now that we’re done with that,” Khalid said, turning to them. “We have only a few more hours before midnight and we really need to find the time bomb.

“Oh,” Pat called. He’d paused a few yards away and turned back to them. “Thanks for letting me go so easily by the way,” he said, “and just in the Nick,” he winked, “of time too.” Janus narrowed his eyes at him. He smiled back. “Wrist check,” he said holding up his arm to show off the timepiece there. Khalid immediately looked down at her own wrist just to see that the one timepiece that could move through the time lock was no longer there. Pat made a gesture and disappeared.

All three of them stared at the spot he’d been for a long moment.

Janus was the one to speak first. “I want. The yellow. To be erased. From my record.”

Chapter 9

Khalid immediately called everyone back to base.

“What happened?” asked Fred when he and Lena arrived. The tech people were already scrambling to get through to the TPI and get the time lock broken from the outside.

“Remus, Remy, and Khalid got played by Pat or whatever his name is. It certainly isn’t Nick. He was just setting up a joke,” Janus told him.

“Stop being smug,” Remy said. “It’s not a good look for you.”

“Pat is…?” Lena asked.

“They guy who fucked me over in 1923,” Janus said, “and is currently in the middle of fucking us all over because he stole the pin timepiece, and by extrapolation, probably the time bomb too.”

“It will be fine,” said Khalid, “because what he doesn’t know is that timepiece has a tracker on it. Wherever and whenever he went, we’ll have his coordinates.”

“Speaking of,” one of the techies said. “It’s about to break. You might want to hold onto something.” Janus grabbed for a support beam next to him as the techie put a device on the ground in the center of the base. It blinked once, twice, and on the third blink the ground rumbled. There were sounds of panicked yelps outside. The fail safe for the time lock was not nearly as gentle as ending it correctly.

Everything settled after a few moments, and they all straightened themselves out. Janus’s timepiece buzzed to indicate it was now functioning normally. Khalid had returned her usual timepiece to her wrist and now used it to open a display they could all see. “The pin timepiece’s closest time/space coordinates are…” she trailed off. “Right outside?” She frowned. “That’s strange. Why would he still be here?” She turned to march outside, following the coordinates to a trash can. She pulled the pin timepiece out and stared at it. “Fuck,” she said.

“What just happened?” Remy asked.

“He ticked us,” Janus said. “Again.”

“He was stuck in the time lock,” Khalid said. “That’s why he got our attention. He couldn’t leave with the time bomb unless he had the pin timepiece or we broke the time lock. Apparently, he’s smart enough to know that if he took the pin timepiece away from here, we’d probably be able to find him, but he knew we’d break the lock as soon as the pin went missing. So, he must have stashed his own timepiece and went back in time within the time lock to grab it while we were distracted with the past version of him. As soon as the time lock went down, I imagine he left.”

“Probably with the time bomb,” Janus said.

“Probably with the time bomb,” she confirmed.

And everyone knew the only thing worse than a time bomb was a time bomb you didn’t know the location of.

They evacuated after that, of course, and time locked the location once they were out just in case they were wrong, but midnight 3000 struck without thousands of people dying in Brazil, so the time bomb had defiantly been removed from then.

The, they initiated a time travel lockdown for all nonessentials, not willing to let random history students get caught up in an explosion if Pat decided to set the thing off somewhere.

Then, it was a matter of figuring out everything they could about ‘Pat.’ First, they checked the tracker data as Khalid had tagged him with one of the Millennium Bird trackers. It wouldn’t work outside of the zone they’d set up that day, but the record would show his behavior during the time lock after he’d escaped with the pin timepiece.

There had been many little green dots on the map that day as Fred and Lena had actually been doing the job they’d set out to do, but most of those were running around in the south. There had been one green dot, however, that appeared suddenly in the game area about 10 minutes before the time bomb had been stolen.

They could see Janus’s yellow dot almost brush his when he’d been chasing the earlier Pat down, around when he’d lost him briefly. The earlier Pat must have all but handed it off to his future self.

“He doubled back,” Remus commented when they watched the recorded data. It was a ballsy move and one that most people balked at, because there were inherent dangers any time you interacted with yourself from a different point in the timestream. It was ripe for paradoxes. It made everyone at the agency even more worried, because if he was willing to risk that, then what else was he willing to do?

Because of the lockdown of all nonessential time travel, people working for the TPI were not allowed to go home for the night. They were allowed to pick up anyone or anything dependent on them for care like kids and pets if there wasn’t someone in their home time to care for them, but other than that, they were unfortunately all sleeping in their offices for the foreseeable future.

“You are the only tolerable one,” Janus told the cat who upon being let loose in the office by Remus, immediately jumped on Janus’s lap.

“I have literally done nothing to you,” Lena said, but then added. “Yet.”

“You exist. In my space.”

“Can’t we just all get along?” asked Fred. “It’s only been an hour past when we’d usually go home. I went and grabbed milk and I have my giant thing of different flavored hot chocolate under my desk. We can try them all and vote on which is better.”

“Fuck your hot chocolate, Fred,” Janus growled, having been one of the three who had chipped in to buy it for him on his last birthday.

“Don’t go after Fred, jackass,” Lena spat.

“He’s just testy because his boyfriend escaped,” Remus contributed.

Janus’s lips turned down into a frown and he cupped Diesel Fuel’s face. “We agree we’re eating him first, right?” he asked her.

She purred her agreement.

“I’d have it no other way,” Remus replied.

“There is plenty of food,” Fred said, sounding stressed. “In fact, I was thinking we should all chip in on ordering take-out soon. “What does everyone like on pizza?”

“This is not a slumber party, Fred,” Janus pointed out.

“Shut it,” Lena snapped and turned to Fred. “I’m fine with almost everything, except…”

“Bananas and tuna salad!” Remus interrupted.

“…whatever Remus is about to say.”

Janus rolled his eyes as that started a debate about whether or not fruit and/or fish belonged on pizza. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, which was when there was a knock on the door.

He froze when he heard the familiar voice. “Hello, hello,” said Emile, cheerfully. Janus looked up to see Emile standing at the open office door. Shit. Apparently, the man had decided to give up on sending lackeys to come fetch him and had decided to track him down himself when Janus couldn’t even escape without breaking a time lockdown. They met eyes briefly and Janus could see irritation if not anger in his eyes despite his otherwise cheerful expression and tone.

“Janus,” he said when he’d gotten their attention. “I’d like to have dinner with you.” The word choice told Janus everything he needed to know. Usually Emile was careful with how he said things to make sure people knew they had a choice. Typically he’d say something like, “I was wondering if you’d have time to have dinner with me tonight,” or “I’m about to go get food, would you like to come?” Today, there was no choice in the statement.

Janus still dried to dodge anyway. “Uh,” he said. “We were actually about to order pizza.”

“Go ahead,” said Fred kindly. Janus wanted to strangle him. “We can order pizza with olives if you’re not here.”

“I…” said Janus. “Guess, I’ll be going with you.”

“Great!” Emile said. “Let’s go.”

“Oh,” Janus said. “Uh, now?”

“Now,” Emile said a bit of uncharacteristic steel to his tone.

Well, Janus was screwed. He swallowed his nervousness and got to his feet, taking Diesel Fuel with him. He turned to hand her off to Remus with a plea in his eye, but he just got an eyebrow raise in return. Traitor.

Then, he followed Emile out of the office door. “What would you like to eat?” asked Emile.

“Uh,” Janus said. “I don’t know. You asked me to eat, don’t you have any ideas?”

“I don’t actually,” Emile replied. Right.

“…Noddle Bar?” Janus threw out the nearest restaurant he knew.

“The one noodle restaurant? Sure,” Emile answered simply. They walked side by side out of the front doors of the TPI building. Janus actually couldn’t remember the last time he’d taken these stairs. He usually used his timepiece to get in and out.

The noodle bar was only moderately busy at this time. They were quickly able to find a table near the back and Emile pulled his menu up in front of him. Emile hummed as he flipped through the different displays. “What are you having?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Janus said, only then pulling up the menu himself, but still not quite looking at it.

“What about the fortune noodles,” Emile suggested.

Janus shook his head. “I don’t like those,” he said.

Emile glanced at him through the menu displays. “You used to.” Fortune noodles were a bit cheekily named. They didn’t actually indicate anything about your future. They were just supposed to taste like what you wanted from your future. A grad student might experience a feeling like they’d just aced a paper. A child that they got to stay up an hour later that night. Janus had liked the experience when he was younger, but in recent years, he’d begun to taste the underlying chemicals in the dish until that’s all he could.

“Well,” Emile said lightly, eyes on his menu. “That makes me even more worried for your mental health than I already was because of the almost three years of you avoiding talking to me.”

“No small talk, huh?” Janus asked.

“Forgive me,” Emile said, eyes now focused on Janus, and tone much darker. “How has your life been since I last saw your face 5 months ago during a business meeting and you refused to look me in the eye? Anything interesting happen? Shave your head and let it all regrow? Develop an allergy to peanuts? Join a convent and take an oath of silence that you only just broke today?”

“No,” said Janus quietly into the table.

“Great,” Emile said clipped. “Small talk over. Order your food.” Janus reached up blindly to select the first thing that came up on the food and drink menu as Emile punched something into his own and both menu displays disappeared, meaning there was nothing between their faces anymore. “You know, I was willing to give you a year,” Emile said. “I was willing to let you deal with it on your own because I thought eventually, you’d come talk to me about it, but apparently I was mistaken. The next year, I thought maybe you thought I didn’t want to talk to you, so I subtly made myself available, and you never took me up on the offer. I thought maybe I was just not being clear, and I should make my desire to talk to you more explicit, but as you have been routinely, clearly avoiding me at every single turn, I’ve decided I’ve had enough. So, let’s lay it all on the table. Is it me or do you need help?”

Janus closed his eyes. “It’s not you.”

“Then you need help,” Emile concluded.

Janus shook his head.

“Yes,” Emile snapped. “Whatever this is has gone on far too long.”

Janus stood up and slammed his hand down on the table. “And it’s going to keep going on!” he said. The food popped up at that moment. It appeared Janus had ordered lasagna and bubble tea, and Emile had ordered something with spaghetti and a fizzy drink.

“So, you’re just planning to go on being miserable then?” Emile asked, and Janus wasn’t sure if it was worse or better that he didn’t sound angry anymore.

14656

Janus slapped his hand down on the “To Go” button and his dinner was insta-wrapped by the table. “Yes,” he said.

“What exactly do you think you’re paying penance for, Janus?” Emile asked.

“You wouldn’t understand,” Janus said, paying for both of their meals with his fingerprint.

“That’s a cop out and you know it,” Emile said. “All you’d have to do is talk to me. Or even just talk to someone else. Please.”

“Just…” Janus said, grabbing his bag of food to avoid looking at him. “Just, leave me be.” He walked out of the noodle shop without another word.

Chapter 10

“And I thought Remus was going to be the most disgusting roommate in this equation,” Lena grumbled. Janus and Lena were apparently the earlier risers in the group as Fred was still curled up around a pillow and Remus was sprawled out under his desk.

Janus flipped her off.

“Protein infused Poptarts and caffeinated orange juice for breakfast?” she asked. “Just eat an energy bar and have a cup of coffee like a normal person.”

He took another pointed bite of his Poptart.

“You’re a horrible roommate. This is why they gave us different partners.”

“Yeah, well you snore, asshole,” Janus said after finishing off his meal.

“I’d tell you to go eat shit, but you already did that once this morning.”

A pillow flew across the room and somehow managed to hit the both of them. “S’op fighting,” Fred mumbled. “It’s sleep time.”

“It’s morning Fred,” Lena said.

“No,” Fred mumbled.

Janus ignored them, turning back to his integration port to continue to keep plugging in phrases of interest, but he kept getting nothing.

“What are you doing?” Lena asked after a few moments of him huffing at his screen reader.

“Trying to do anything that may change our current living arrangements.”

She puffed out an amused breath. “Can I help?”

“Can you see any connection between these words and phrases?” he asked, pulling away his screen reader and tapping at the words he’d typed out.

“Paranoid, tonight, I live to party, comeback, love Bug, BB good, Mandy, Macy Misa, I believe, cool, that’s just the way we roll, burnin’ up,” she said. “What are these?”

“They’re things Pat said when we interrogated that struck me funny,” Janus explained. “I feel like he was saying something more than what he said.”

“Hmm,” she said. “PTI for the first three?”

“Maybe,” Janus agreed, “but what about the rest of it? I feel like I’m missing something.”

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“Millennia,” Remus mumbled from under his desk. Janus hadn’t been aware he was awake. “He said something something about it being the only time he could see the change of the millennia.” He turned his head to look at Janus. “Considering he’s a time traveler, that’s definitely a weird thing to say.”

“Millennia,” Janus contemplated. “A different turn of the millennia. Oh no.”

“What?” Lena asked.

Janus sighed, and rubbed his temple. “I know someone who studied the 1700-2200s.”

“Isn’t that good?”

“No,” Janus groaned, “because now I have to go talk to him.” He stood with a sigh and then paused. “How do I even get to Silver Mountains University without my timepiece?”

Luckily Sliver Mountains ended up only being about an hour away from the TPI by time adherent travel, but considering Janus was used to his travel being instantaneous, it was an aggravating trip. He had to show ID and be buzzed up to the fourth floor since it was usually locked to everyone not traveling by timepiece or who worked in the office.

The receptionist was the same man as before. “I’m here to speak to Professor Eran,” Janus said.

The receptionist nodded. “He mentioned you asked to meet him but didn’t know when you’d arrive. He’ll be done teaching his class in about 5 minutes. You can wait over there.”

Janus nodded and sat, waiting for time to slowly tick by. Virgil arrived after a few minutes, lugging a giant bag with him. He caught sight of Janus and wordlessly jerked his head towards the hallway. Janus followed him.

“What’s in the bag?” Janus asked.

“Early 21st century cell phones,” Virgil said, dropping it on his desk. “I let my students mess around with them for their lab.”

“I see,” Janus said.

“What did you need?” Virgil asked. “You said it was official business.”

“You’ve heard about the lockdown, I presume,” Janus said.

“Yeah, it really screws up my research schedule for the summer,” Virgil said.

15412

“Do you know why the lockdown was instituted?” Janus asked. Virgil shook his head, so Janus explained briefly that they had been trying to find a timebomb on the eve of the year 3000, but it had been swiped by a free agent time traveler. “Some of the things seemed to be references to things that I couldn’t place, and I was wondering if you would recognize any.”

“Shoot,” Virgil requested, seeming intrigued by the prospect.

“Okay,” Janus said. “First, the alias he was using was Nick Jonas.” A weird expression crossed Virgil’s face immediately and Janus paused.

“You said the year 3000?” Virgil asked.

“Er. Yes.”

“Nick Jonas. Year 3000,” Virgil repeated with a snort. “Were Joe and Kevin a part of this too?”

Janus blinked. “Yes, how did you know that?”

“Yo-you’re going to have,” his sentence was broken by a giggle, and actual full-fledged giggle, “have to give me a minute.” With that, he sort of listed to the side and seemed to purposefully fall off his chair onto the floor under his desk.

Janus blinked and when he didn’t surface after a moment, he stood up to lean over the desk and look down at him. Virgil had his arm thrown over his beat red face, as he shook from what Janus thought was suppressed laughter.

“What?” Janus asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Just…” Virgil said, sobbing through his laughter. “Just tell me the things he said.”

“Er, mostly he just had weird inflections on words and phrases. There was ‘paranoid, tonight, I live to party, comeback…’”

“Wait, stop,” Virgil said. “Let me guess a few. That’s Just the Way We Roll, Burnin’ Up, Sucker.”

“The first two were, but not the last one.”

Virgil laughed. “Maybe the last one was just implied.”

Janus frowned down. “What are you talking about? What does this all mean?”

Virgil pulled himself out from under his desk and grabbed his bag of phones. He dug through it for a few seconds before pulling one out and handing it to Janus. “I have a lab for my students where they get preloaded phones from the early 21st century and are supposed to guess the demographics of the person who owns it. This one is an iPhone 3 meant to belong to a pre-teen to teenage girl from the year 2009. Look under music artists starting with the letter ‘J.’”

15810

Confused, Janus scrolled through the old style phone, finding the music app and opening it easily. Upon getting to the ‘J’s, he immediately paused on an artist called the ‘Jonas Brothers.’ He clicked on it and read a few of the song titles. They weren’t all there, but…

“That rat bastard,” Janus said.

“Scroll to the bottom,” Virgil said. Janus did and found a song titled ‘Year 3000.’

“You’re kidding me.”

“Click on it,” Virgil requested.

Janus did, listening to the fairly standard pop like intro from the time period. It wasn’t until he got to the lyrics saying, ‘He told me he built a time machine’ that he cursed, understanding exactly what Pat had been doing. When the singer a few lines latter proclaimed that his neighbor said ‘I’ve been to the year 3000’ he almost smashed the artifact to pieces right then and there.

“I have no idea who this guy is,” Virgil said, “but he’s a comedic genius.”

Chapter 11

Khalid caught him on his way back into the TPI building. “I heard you went to Silver Mountains to follow up on a lead,” she said.

“Yeah, but it was garbage,” he seethed. “All I learned was ‘Pat’ knows early 2000s popular culture and likes to fuck with us.”

She hummed. “I’d still like a report about whatever you found. Who knows what we might end up getting from seemingly inconsequential data.”

“Sure,” he said.

“Anyway,” she continued. “I have a mission for you.”

“We’re on lockdown,” Janus pointed out with a frown.

“For nonessentials,” she said. “This is essential.”

“What happened?” Janus asked.

“We picked up a small time distortion in France 2027. At the moment, it is small enough not to cause any disruptions, but it is slowly growing, and we don’t know what caused it. Usually we’d just send surveillance agents at this stage, but considering what’s going on, I think it would be best to send a field agent. And it would just be you, because we don’t want to send too many people out at once.”

“Is this related to the time bomb?” Janus asked.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “At the very least, it’s not it being set off as it was in 2999, but if it’s been altered for some other purpose…”

“I’ll go,” Janus said.

“I’ll send over the mission directive to everyone who needs it. You’ll go in around 3 hours.”

He nodded. “I’ll be ready,” he agreed.

In less then 3 hours, he was dressed for 2027 France and in decontamination. “Well,” he said out loud when he was given the all clear sign, “I hope I don’t explode.” He selected the coordinates on the timepiece and the next moment he was in a small alleyway in the city of Montpellier, France in 2027.

It was a little bit warm, but not stifling even in the mid-afternoon and he could faintly smell the sea on the breeze.

After a moment to get his bearings, Janus made his way out of the alleyway and onto a small street. The street was lined with restaurants and shops as people went about their daily lives. He carefully integrated himself into the crowd and began weaving his way through them. He needed to find the source of the distortion but doing a quick scan with his timepiece told him there wasn’t any sign of it yet. He’d have to wait for it to act up.

For now, he decided to get slightly away from people by heading towards the river. He found a park that had benches along water.

As he walked towards the river, he noticed a man on the bench, angled slightly away from Janus and looking out at the water. He immediately recognized the man. “You!” he exclaimed.

Pat’s head shot around to look at him, and he gave a slight head tilt. Then, he smiled, amused. “You are not the person I’m here for,” he said.

“Well, I am now,” Janus snapped. “Where’s the time bomb?”

“Time bomb?” Pat asked, eyebrows drawing together, but amusement on his lips. “Oh sweetie, the time bomb happened a long time ago for me.”

“What?” Janus asked.

“Oh, you’re just a baby,” Pat laughed. “Don’t you get it yet? The two of us are out of sync timeline wise. You’ve been apparently running around with a much younger version of me, but all of that happened quite a while ago for me. Don’t worry though, it gets better.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The time bomb has been long deactivated. Here,” he reached into his pocket and tossed him something. Janus caught it on instinct. “Proof. Don’t worry, we took all of the dangerous bits out years ago from my perspective.” It was the core of a time bomb, the time bomb Pat had stolen if he was to be believed. “You can tell your people it’s safe to remove the lockdown.”

Janus curled his fingers around it. “I don’t get it.”

Something on Pat��s wrist beeped and he looked at it curiously before he stood from the bench, “and I don’t have time to explain it.”

Janus jerked forward to grab his wrist. “Don’t you dare.”

Pat reached up to pat his face. “Don’t worry honey, you’ll be seeing me later.” He twisted his wrist and a small electric current sparked between them. Janus jerked his hand away, and Pat smiled at him. “Or… earlier.” He winked, and then he was gone.

Janus cursed, but he didn’t have more than a moment to be angry because in the next second there was a yelp, and something landed on top of him. He was bowled over into a tangle of limbs and pained noises.

“Oh my god, we need to figure out the height thing,” a familiar voice groaned, just as Janus managed to pull himself away. Pat blinked up at him and his eyes narrowed. “You,” he hissed.

“…What?”

Pat jumped to his feet, leaving Janus on the ground in front of him. “What are you doing here?” he spat, his tone much different then the one he’d been using a moment earlier. His hair was longer than it had been before, and if Janus looked closely, he did seem like he was a couple of years younger suddenly. Out of sync timelines. I’ll see you earlier. Holy shit.

He was suddenly very glad he’d been forced to let the other Pat (the older Pat?) go, else they’d have a whole thing on their hands.

“What are you doing here?” was Janus’s retort as he stood up and dusted himself off.

“It’s none of your business,” Pat told him.

“It is my business,” Janus said, “because for all I know, you are the cause of the time distortions I’m after. Considering that I doubt you have a license for that,” he waved at the odd looking timepiece of Pat’s wrist, “it’s very possible.”

“What are you?” Pat asked, “the time police.”

“Yes.”

Pat dared to roll his eyes, but then he tilted his head slightly. “Time distortions?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s why I’m here.”

He still had a confused frown on his face. Did… did he not know what a time distortion was?

Just then there was a sudden flash of lightening through the sky despite the absolutely lack of clouds. He and Pat both looked up.

“Is that the time distortion?” Pat asked.

“It’s probably the beginning of it,” Janus said.

“That doesn’t look good,” Pat said as he squinted at the sky.

“Just wait,” Janus answered grimly. He looked at Pat. “Usually I’d arrest you on the spot,” he said, “but I’m alone for this one, and that is far more important at the moment. So, have a nice day doing whatever bullshit you are doing.” He glanced at his timepiece.

Janus turned to walk away from him.

“Wait!” Pat exclaimed, and Janus turned back to him to see that his eyes were wide. Janus raised an eyebrow. “So, this time distortion thing is dangerous, right?”

“Depending on the severity, it could cause time to fracture around this place and time, basically erasing it from existence and killing everyone in it.”

“Well, in that case, I should go with you. To help.”

Janus looked him up and down. “You… have no idea what’s happening, do you? You’re an amateur.”

“I’m not,” he claimed. “I just. Pooling resources. You know?”

Janus sighed. “Well, you going around mucking about this time period without knowing what you’re doing could just exasperate the situation, so fine, you can tag along.”

“I know what I’m doing,” he grumbled even as he rushed to Janus’s side at the permission.

“Sure,” Janus said with an eyeroll. He guessed he was a babysitter now. “I believe you.”

Chapter 12

There was something off about his readings. Clearly the time distortion was starting to pull at this place with the way the weather was flickering between storming and sunny, but he still couldn’t quite pinpoint the exact location of the source of it. He could, however, get that it must be somewhere on this side of the river more into the downtown area, so that’s the way he was walking, Pat close on his heels.

“What’s your name, by the way?” he asked.

Janus shot him a glare. “Elvis Presley,” he said.

Pat frowned, clearly knowing who that was. “There’s no reason to be mean.”

“You did it to me first.”

“…Introduced myself as a famous musician?” he asked. Janus didn’t respond, and after a moment, Pat laughed lightly. “You really don’t understand time travel, do you?”

“Oh, yeah,” Janus said. “Name the three types of time distortions.”

“Just because I don’t know the names of things doesn’t mean I don’t understand them.” He stuck out his tongue. Janus was dealing with an actual toddler. “Unlike you who has a bunch of fancy words, but just caused a time loop.”

Janus scoffed. “I did not just cause a time loop.”

“Maybe not a big one,” Pat agreed, “but you did.”

Janus raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never introduced myself to you with a musician’s name, but now you’ve told me that I will. So, at some point in the future I will have to, thereby making you think to say that now. Time loop.”

“That’s not… that doesn’t count.”

“Does too,” Pat claimed. “Like I have said once before and you may or may not have heard me say before, anything you do to me to get back at me for something I haven’t done yet, just causes whatever that is to happen in the first place.”

“But you’re still going to do it.”

“Then take it up with future me. I haven’t done anything to you.” Then he paused and sighed. “…Which I guess means you’ve done nothing to me.” He seemed to mull this concept over for a long moment. “Well you were a bit crabby about me not knowing what a time distortion was, but I can forgive you for that.”

“And I’m supposed to forgive you?”

“Like I said,” Pat said. “I haven’t done anything yet.”

“You also haven’t done anything to endear yourself to me either,” Janus grumbled.

“Hmm,” Pat said. “Fine.” He pulled something out of his pocket. “You’re obviously not having much luck finding whatever you’re looking for. Tell me what it is and I’ll help.”

Janus squinted at what was in his hand. “Is that… an iPhone 5?”

“No!” he said. “It’s super-secret time travel tech disguised as an iPhone 5!”

“We’re in 2027,” Janus said. “Not a great disguise. Those things have been obsolete for a decade.”

“Well I’ll keep in mind to have my tech disguised as phones from the right year next time,” Pat said, sticking out his tongue. “Now what are we looking for?”

“If my timepiece can’t find it, I’m certain yours can’t.”

Pat rolled his eyes and tapped on the device’s screen a couple of times. “I’m going to guess it’s that,” he said proudly.

Janus leaned over to look at the screen. “Are you using google maps?” he sputtered.

“It integrates time relevant data like traffic conditions and local weather warnings with time travel technology,” Pat explained. “Something seems to be going on in a museum a couple of blocks that way.”

“I…” Janus said. That was actually a really good idea, usually unnecessary with scouts observing that data beforehand, and Janus wasn’t sure how good the accuracy would be considering whatever was taking it into account was automated, but still a good idea. “Well, I guess since we have no other leads, we can check it out.”

Pat looked far too proud for having only used a piece of tech that hadn’t even been confirmed as accurate. “Then, let’s go,” he said right as a chilly wind started to pick up and a couple of snowflakes began to fall around them. “Before that gets worse…”

Janus let Pat lead with his iPhone. Janus’s timepiece still wasn’t picking up a clear signal for some reason, but it seemed to point in the same general direction as Pat’s. Strangely though, as they got closer to their destination, the signal started to get fuzzier. Pat’s tech seemed unaffected leading them closer to the museum.

When they got to the Musée Fabre museum, Janus stopped. “What?” Pat asked. He was shivering slightly in the cold and holding his arms around himself.

“My timepiece stopped working completely,” he said.

“I’m assuming that’s weird?” Pat said.

“It is,” Janus confirmed, turning to squint at him suspiciously. “How do I know you’re not the one doing it?”

“If I was doing it, wouldn’t I have just knocked it out from the get go?” Pat questioned.

Janus pursed his lips. “I don’t know,” he said. “Would you have? Maybe it’s a trick.”

Pat’s eyes narrowed a bit on him. “Think what you want, but I’m freezing. Come in with me if you want.”

He dithered from a few moments before following Pat inside. Pat had already struck up a conversation with the woman charging admission into art museum. She was looking at him, her brow knit as he spoke. Janus nudged him away from her getting a confused glance from him in return. He shot a smile at the woman.

“Two adult passes for the museum and the Hotel Sabatier d’Espevran, please,” he said, placing down 14 euro.

“Ah,” she said, still looking at Pat oddly. “Yes sir.” She gave them the passes and Janus quickly shuffled Pat away.

“What is wrong with your French?” he hissed once they were out of earshot.

“What?” he asked, bewildered.

“You sound like you’re reading Le Comte de Monte-Cristo. No one talks like that anymore.”

“I’m a little rusty,” Pat defended himself.

“Two centuries?” Janus asked. Pat stuck his tongue out like a child once again. “Is that your only way to respond to legitimate criticism?”

“What does it even matter anyway? No one ever expects time travel, at least not for something so silly.”

“It’s not silly,” Janus said. “It’s a legitimate issue. The wrong person who’s watched too much science fiction notices and you’re putting the timeline at risk. Not to mention if there are other time travelers around that aren’t as nice as me.”

“Are there a lot of time travelers around?” Pat asked, sounding intrigued.

“There are plenty, both legal and not.”

“Huh,” he said, “but what are the chances we’ll run into another one?”

“Considering the time distortion? There could be many. Opportunists wanting to capitalize off the chaos, people trying to stop it, like me, and not to mention the person who caused it.”

“Wait, someone made it happen?” Pat asked.

“These things don’t just happen naturally.”

“Huh. So, something like this has to be caused by a person?”

“Yes,” Janus said. “…Why?”

Pat smiled. “No reason. I think we should head upstairs. Whatever I’m picking up says it’s around here, but I don’t see anything. Maybe it’s a floor or two above us.”

“Which is why it’s ridiculous to use Google Maps.”

“Would you rather use yours?” he asked sweetly.

“I’m still not convinced it’s not your doing,” Janus growled. “Why does your tech still work when mine doesn’t?”

“Probably the same reason the ring did,” he muttered.

“What?”

“You may be the most aggravating being in the universe.”

Pat glanced at him with a bit of a smirk. “I can’t tell you,” he said. “It would be a much bigger risk to the timeline than me speaking in French from the 1830s. But, I’m pretty sure the reason mine still works is just a software difference.”

“What the hell do you mean a software difference?”

Pat opened his mouth, doubtlessly to supply him with yet another frustratingly cheeky and unhelpful answer. Yet, Pat did not have a chance to do so as, just as Janus stepped onto the second floor of the museum, the ground started to violently shake. Janus tried to turn to catch Pat as the other man’s foot slipped on the last step, but he couldn’t do so in time. Pat fell onto his hands and knees, sliding back a few steps and smacking his face into the stairs hard once and then a couple of times more after that as he slid.

Chapter 13

The room stopped shaking after a moment. “Ow,” Pat said. He seemed a bit stunned but was still moving at least. He carefully maneuvered himself into a seating position. “Ouch. Owie.” He reached up to poke his own nose. “Ow!” Janus slapped his hand away when he got there. A bit of blood was already trickling from his nose and there was a small cut over his eye, but it wasn’t bleeding too much.

Janus pushed him so he was leaning slightly forward and produced a pack of time appropriate tissues from his pocket. He pulled one out of the package and offered it to him.

He took it and pressed it up against his nose to try to stop the bleeding. He seemed mostly alright though Janus imagined he’d have plenty of bruises down the line. The power in the museum flickered and Janus looked up. Now that he was listening, he could hear people panicking in and out of the museum.

“We should probably get off of the stairs,” he suggested.

“Yeah,” Pat agreed. Janus helped him to his feet, and they climbed back up the steps. Janus looked around and found an employees only sign a few feet away. Usually he’d not risk that as it could get him into trouble he didn’t want to be in, but considering the earthquake that had just happened, he could probably play it off as panic.

He ushered Pat into a small room and found a chair and table. He had Pat sit in the chair and pulled out another one of the tissues to dab at the blood coming from the cut over his eyes. “Here,” he said. “Hold that there. I’m going to go see if there are any bandages about.”

Pat took the tissue with the hand not already holding one to his nose. “Thanks,” he said.

Janus nodded and got to his feet. The lights flickered once again but didn’t stay off for now. He didn’t know how long that would last.

He couldn’t see anything that might hold bandages in this room, but there was a second door. “I’ll be right back,” he told Pat, exiting through it.

The lights flickered once more as the door closed behind him and he cursed. When they came back up Janus’s eyes immediately fell on a man. They both froze.

“Remus!” Janus hissed the second their eyes met. “What are you doing here?”

Remus blinked at him for a moment. “Hi. Janus,” he said. “I… come to France for… tea sometimes?”

“There isn’t any tea back here.”

“So, there isn’t…” he said. There was a moment of silence. “Uh, so I actually cannot talk to you right now.”

“What do you mean?” Janus asked. Remus grimaced in a way Janus had never seen from him before. It immediately set off alarm bells in Janus’s head. “Oh my god,” Janus said. “Oh my god. You’re not from the same time as me.”

“Oh, you have no idea,” Remus mumbled.

“Holy shit, you’re looping?!”

“It’s… not looping if I wasn’t here the first time.”

“Remus, we spend more than 12 hours a day together most of the time. The only thing worse than this is if I looped back to this time myself.”

“…Yeah. Anyway, I need to leave now.”

“Please do.”

He turned to go, but then stopped. “Oh, and,” he reached into his pocket and tossed something at Janus. Janus caught it.

It was Band-Aids.

“Oh, shit,” Janus spat at the clear use of foreknowledge. “I hate this. I hate you. I’m going to kill you the next time you see me.”

“Sure, Jan.”

“Go.”

He did, slipping into the next room while Janus took a deep breath and then turned back to the door behind him. He schooled his face before Pat looked up. “I found some Band-Aids.”

Pat nodded and Janus came over to squat next to him.

Janus opened the box and Pat looked down. His eyes lit up with sudden joy so intense that Janus felt like he’d just gotten a punch to the gut. “Kitty Band-Aids!” he exclaimed. Janus bothered to actually look at the design on the container, only to note the cartoon cats on the front. Pat was almost vibrating off his seat. “Look they’re all so cute!” He grabbed the container from him to inspect the different designs printed on the back with glee even as a bit of blood was still trickling from his nose.

Janus took the box back gently and guided the wad of bloody Kleenexes back to his nose.

“Which would you like?” Janus asked.

“Oh, they are all so cute,” Pat cooed. “Um, how about that one!” he pointed. “Or that one! Or that one!”

“Pat you only have one cut.”

“But they’re all so cute!” Pat said, tongue tucking into his cheek. He contemplated the box again. “Let’s do the black one,” he finally settled on.

Janus selected one of the Band-Aids with a black cat wrapped around a pink ball of yarn and staring back at them with wide green eyes. The think looked like it had partaken in one two many doses of catnip, but Janus didn’t mention that.

Instead, he just carefully unstuck the backing from the Band-Aid and motioned for Pat to remove the tissue from his forehead. He smiled at Janus as he drew back.

Janus cleared his throat. “How’s the nose.”

“It’s slowing down,” Pat replied. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Janus replied. They met eyes for a second before Pat looked away back at the box of Band-Aids.

“Oh,” Pat said. “There’s a grey one. I didn’t notice.” He pointed to it. “I should have used that one.”

“Do you like grey cats?” Janus asked.

“I like all kitties,” he said, “but one of my roommates loves grey cats. He had one when he was a kid and thinks of them as good omens. Seeing one always brightens up his day.”

“A friend of mine has a grey cat,” Janus said. “She’s much more tolerable than him.”

Pat laughed a bit. “Don’t be mean,” he said.

“Oh, he deserves it, don’t worry.” Janus considered him for a moment. “Here,” he said, pulling out one of the Band-Aids with the grey cat on it. It did, actually, look a lot like Diesel Fuel.

“But I don’t…”

Janus just shrugged and stuck it on his cheek where there was no wound. Pat giggled and touched it with a finger. Janus stood back up.

“Can I have another tissue?” Pat asked.

“Sure.” Janus handed a tissue over to him and he crumpled up the bloody ones in his hand.

“I think I’m good to keep going,” Pat said, putting the new tissue under his nose. “The nose will stop soon.”

Pat got out his iPhone and directed him back out of the room. They checked the second floor and didn’t find anything and so went to the third floor. The second they arrived in the room that Patton’s phone was directing them too, Janus knew that it must be right. There was a strange, distorted whirling sound and the entire room was shaking slightly like they were standing next to a railroad track.

“I’m guessing this is it,” Pat said.

Janus nodded and looked over his shoulder at the screen. They both cautiously walked towards where the little dot was on the phone.

“Is that it?” Pat asked, pointing at a small device on the center column in the room. Janus reached forward to flip the switch on it. The whirling stopped and the room settled. Janus’s time piece vibrated as it came back online. They waited for a few moments. “I assumed… time distortions would be more…”

“They are,” Janus said. “This one is artificial.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s a simulation,” Janus said. “It causes similar symptoms to a time distortion, but it’s not actually fracturing time at all.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Pat asked.

“I don’t know,” Janus said. He took the piece of tech of the wall and carefully stored it in his pocket, “but someone’s trying to get our attention.”

Chapter 14

Janus didn’t feel comfortable leaving France 2027 just yet, still weirded out by the strange turn of events. So, he and Pat ended up sticking around for a couple of hours. They looked through the art museum for a bit, but Janus was having trouble focusing on the pieces, and Pat eventually suggested they get some air. Janus agreed considering the museum would close for the night soon anyway.

They wandered around the downtown for a bit. The people seemed to jump back from the strange weather and earthquake that afternoon rather quickly, and there were plenty still about to blend into.

Pat was snapping photos every so often like a tourist which Janus shook his head at but allowed because even with the outdated phone it almost made them blend in even more. It also might stop any questions about Pat’s weird way of speaking French. They could just say he was an overeager tourist who watched too many old movies.

“Ooo!” Pat said. “We should get crepes.”

“Why?”

“You can’t go to France and not eat crepes.”

“I assure you, you can,” Janus said dryly.

Pat shot a pout at him and the next thing he knew he was in a small crepe shop.

For Janus, choosing something was easy. He just ordered the first thing he found on the menu which seemed to be a standard one with ham and eggs. Pat on the other hand seemed to be struggling greatly, and Janus had to gently push him to the side to let some other customers order first.

“What should I get!?” Pat asked. “They all look so good! I could do strawberry preserves or maple syrup or just sugar!”

“Or you could get one that is actually food,” Janus suggested mildly. “I don’t think you need any more sugar judging by how you are acting.”

Pat rolled his eyes. “You sound like Lo.”

Janus made a note of the name ‘Lo’ even though it surely was a nickname.

“But, since you’re insisting, I’ll get something healthy. I’ll have the strawberry one. That’s a fruit!”

“It comes with a cream cheese filling,” Janus pointed out.

“And it’s fruit!”

Janus shook his head and stepped up to the counter. “One ham and cheese and one strawberry preserve, please,” he said to the cashier as he was not allowing Patton to order in French and accidently say something stupid. He forked over some euros.

“You don’t have to pay for me,” Patton protested when he saw that.

Janus glanced back at him. “I was afraid you’d try to pay in francs,” he said dryly.

It looked like Pat was about to stick his tongue out at him, remembered that Janus had criticized him for that earlier, and then just scrunched up his face in displeasure as though that was any less childish.

They waited for their crepes to be finished and then went to eat them outside near a water fountain.

“I can pay you back for the crepe,” Pat said after they sat down. “I do actually have euros.”

Janus waved him off. “It wasn’t that expensive.”

Pat hummed. “Well, in that case. I insist on paying for a wish for you.” Janus raised an eyebrow. “In the fountain!” Pat clarified.

Pat set aside his crepe to dig in his pocket for a couple of coins. “Here!” he said handing one over.

Janus glanced over at the fountain. “No.”

“Oh, come on,” Pat beseeched. “You have to want something. I’ll even throw it in for you, but you have to make a wish first!”

“No.”

“Please!”

Janus sighed. “Fine.” He popped the rest of his crepe in his mouth. “I wish for a crepe,” he said after swallowing.

“You just had a crepe, silly.”

“But I liked it, so I want another one.”

“We can go back and get you another crepe.”

“Ah, but I’m not hungry anymore.”

Pat crossed his arms. “You’re just being difficult on purpose.”

“Not me,” Janus said putting hand over his heart. “I would never do something like that.”

Pat glared at him, but then snatched the coin out of his hand. “Fine!” he said. “One crepe wish coming right up.” He hopped up with the two coins and darted over to the water fountain. Janus turned to watch him go but then happened to catch sight of something out of the corner of his eyes.

Pat’s phone.

He didn’t pause in his movement, completing the turn, but as he watched Pat close his eyes, presumably to focus on his own wish, Janus snuck a hand out and grabbed the phone without looking. He slipped it into his own pocket.

Pat came back over after throwing both coins in the fountain and didn’t even seem to notice that his phone was missing, picking up his crepe to take another bite. Just to make sure, though Janus decided to distract him. “What do you think of your crepe?” Janus asked.

“I like it! It’s sweet, but not too sweet. There was a crepe place across the street from my apartment in college, but they always put a bit too much sugar in the dough, I think. I’d still eat them, but these are much better.”

Janus nodded and kept up the light conversation until Pat was finished.

21088

“Well,” he said then, getting to his feet. “It seems that nothing else is going to happen regarding the time distortion. I should be getting back.”

Pat hummed. “I should too. It’s movie night!”

“I probably should arrest you,” Janus noted.

“In the middle of all of these people?” Pat asked mildly.

“Touché,” Janus said.

Pat gasped and pointed at him. “Pun!” he said. Janus blinked at him. “Because we’re in France! That’s French!”

“…Goodbye Pat,” Janus said, turning to walk away from him.

“Goodbye… wait I still don’t know your name!”

Janus stopped to look back at him for a moment. “Like I said,” he replied. “Elvis.”

“Fine,” Pat said. “Au revoir, mon chéri.”

“You never stop, do you?” Janus asked.

Patton giggled. “Considering I don’t know what you mean, I imagine I’m just getting started.”

Janus actually left then, walking off towards the alley he’d first arrived in. In some ways, the mission had been a bust, but in others it had gone very well.

He felt for the weight of the phone in his pocket before pulling up the display screen on his timepiece to go back to the TPI.

It had gone very well indeed.

Chapter 15

The first thing Janus had done when he’d returned to the TPI was hand over the timebomb to Khalid who sent it to forensics. Within the hour, forensics got back to them that it was the same timebomb as 2999 and that it had never exploded, but simply been diffused. Which meant, blessings on blessings, everyone got to go home that night.

Not that Janus went home, no, he ended up falling asleep on his desk somewhere between 3 and 4am, but at least he wasn’t sharing his space with anyone. He’d been trying to hack the cell phone all night to see if it had anything he could use, but he honestly had no idea what he was doing. All it seemed he could do was play some annoying song over and over again about never giving someone up. At around 2am, he’d finally broken and sent off an email, though, he’d continued to try to mess with it after that.

He got woken up by Lena coming into the office at 7am, and noticed he already had an email response asking when Janus wanted to come in.

“Now?” he sent back.

“…Do you sleep?” was the immediate response. “And yes.”

His wrist buzzed as an appointment in 5 seconds downloaded to his timepiece. He selected the coordinates and landed at Cultural Outreach. The receptionist blinked up at him and then back down at the screen on his desk. “Oh!” he said. “I didn’t see this appointment. I think Professor Eran is in his office.”

He didn’t stand to escort Janus this time, so Janus went ahead and went down the hall to Virgil’s office himself.

He knocked on the door and while he was waiting for Virgil to open it, the infernal contraption once again started to play the same stupid song.

“I didn’t even touch you!” he spat, getting it out and tapping on the screen.

“Jonas Brothers dude again?” Virgil asked causally upon opening the door.

Janus shoved it at him. “Make it stop.”

Virgil took it and fiddled with it for a few moments before it stopped with the song. “Oh my gosh,” he said scrolling through something on the screen.

“What.”

“What maniac sets a custom alarm for every 30-60 minutes for a week that just plays ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’? Oh, and one ‘It’s Not Unusual’ on Saturday. He’s mixing memes at an alarming rate.”

“Can you. Just. Make it not happen. Anymore?”

Virgil smirked at him. “Maybe.” He turned around to go back into his office.

“Virgil,” Janus growled following him in.

Virgil just laughed. “What do you want to know about it?” he asked. “Just a fair warning… the song means he… likely was aware someone would steal it.”

“Of course, he was,” Janus groaned.

“But I’m sure we can still get something out of it.” Virgil started tapping at the screen again. “Okay, let’s see. It’s an iPhone 5, and someone jailbroke it.”

“What does that mean?”

“Tampered with it so they could install non-company approved software,” Virgil explained.

“Well I figured that since he was using Google Maps to track time distortions,” Janus grumbled.

“I think I have something,” Virgil said to himself while digging through his desk. “Ah ha!” He held up some sort of cord. “This will let me hook it up to my integrator.” He slotted the cord into the bottom of the iPhone and then crawled under his desk to fiddle around with some other things. “There we go,” Virgil said popping back up. “It might take a few minutes. Running the program any faster might overheat the phone.”

Janus nodded and sat back to wait. Virgil grabbed the phone and started to play around with it a bit even as it uploaded all of its information to his computer.

“Weird,” Virgil said after a moment.

“What?” Janus asked, sitting up straighter.

“There are exactly two contacts. Fewer than I’d anticipate for a regular phone from the 2010s. More than I would expect from one clearly not being used as a phone.

Virgil glanced to the side, and it must have finished the download because he unhooked it from the computer. “I have a 21st century phone network adapter,” Virgil said. “It transfers call back to whatever date the phone says. Do you want to try calling one?”

“It’s worth a shot,” Janus replied.

Virgil dug back into his desk for a small device that he plugged into the same port he’d plugged the earlier cord. “Okay, which contact do you want to try first?” he asked. “One has ‘Ro’ with a crown, red heart, and a gold star emoji. The other has “Lo” with a book, blue heart, and Milky Way emoji.”

“He mentioned a Lo,” Janus said. “So, try him first.”

Virgil nodded. “I’ll put it on speaker.” He pressed some buttons before setting the phone on the desk between them.

The phone rang three times before with a bit of a crackle, it was answered. “Salutations,” a voice said, voice sounding a bit scratchy as though he had only just gotten up.

Virgil motioned with his head for Janus to speak. “Are you ‘Lo’?” he asked.

The man hummed. “To some people.”

Janus… didn’t quite know what to say to that, or even what questions he should ask.

“I’m assuming you’re the man that stole my associate’s phone.”

#study break stories #not writing

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apparently-artless · 3 years

Text

The Other Way Around - 4th Chapter

A Daiya no Ace Fanfic

Warning: Not Beta Read, English Grammar Nazi be warned! ( `ε´ )

Summary:

Kanemaru always acts like a mom when it comes to Sawamura. Always. Always looking out for him, no matter how much the blonde boys denied it. But now that he’s sick, it’s Sawamura’s turn to take care of him.

Note: Different settings and timelines for each character. Check out source below for AO3 version.

Characters: Sawamura Eijun, Kanemaru Shinji, Seto Takuma, Kominato Haruichi, Furuya Satoru, Toujou Hideaki, Yoshikawa Haruno

Chapter 4: Kanemaru Shinji

Half an hour had passed but the frowning southpaw pitcher still found himself staring at the very first question on the assignment he was trying to solve on his own. As it turned out, trying to do his homework by himself seemed impossible at the moment. So what the pitcher did is let out a small sigh, stand up straight, pick up his notebook and a pen, and then step outside his dorm room.

As expected, I need Kanemaru to help me with this one.

Sawamura swiftly moved towards Kanemaru’s room. He went up the stairs, went straight through the other teammate’s dorm room, and barged the door open as he shouted his name.

“Yo! Kanemaru!”

There were two people currently in the room, one was the person he was looking for and the other was his bespectacled dorm mate. Both flinched upon hearing Sawamura’s voice.

“What is it!? My head’s aching! Do not make it worse!” the blonde boy blurted out as soon as he recognized the voice of their loud southpaw pitcher.

Sawamura walked to the middle of the room as he looked left and right, and then he paused as he noticed something.

“Kanemaru, your face is a bit red. Are you okay?” Sawamura asked as he moved closer to the other boy’s face invading his personal space.

“I’m fine. It’s just a headache. I’ll just rest for a bit and it’ll be gone,” Kanemaru replied as he backed away from the other boy’s intense staring.

The pitcher flinched upon hearing the word ‘rest’ as he frantically hid the notebook on his back.

“So? What have you come here for?”

“Oh. Uhm, that...”

“What is it?”

“Uhm. You see, I –“ Sawamura started, his other empty hand scratching the back of his neck. “I actually forgot!”

To avoid lying, because the boy was not used to it, Sawamura just laughed out loud.

“Huh!? Has your stupidity went up even further??” Kanemaru blurted out upon hearing Sawamura’s response.

After his laughing subsided, Sawamura’s face turned serious, and then he bowed politely at Kanemaru.

“This lowly Sawamura Eijun apologizes for disturbing you! I will come back when I remembered what business I have with you!” Sawamura responded as he turned his back at his classmate making sure that his notebook will not be seen.

“Oi, wait!” Kanemaru shouted but the other boy had left in a hurricane, not even bothering to look at him.

After the door went shut, a silent pause emanated the room.

“Geez. What’s up with that guy?” Kanemaru whispered as he scratched his head.

Seto, who was quietly observing the two snickered slightly at the sight.

“What is it, Seto?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just quite surprised that Sawamura-senpai can be considerate,” Seto replied at his senpai, still giggling.

“Considerate? That Sawamura? How so?”

“I guess he went here to ask for your help with his homework. But when he heard you want to rest, he changed his mind.”

“Wha – “ Kanemaru winced, his face slightly blushing. “Since when did that guy learned to be considerate? He wasn’t even the least apologetic when he kept on hitting me when he was practicing his pitching. He better makes sure he won’t fail any subjects! We’ll be in a pinch if our ace couldn’t join the tournament because he failed a class.”

“You really look out for Sawamura-senpai all the time,” Seto commented upon seeing Kanemaru’s reaction.

“Huh!? Who would care about that stupid guy!”

Just how much of a tsundere can this guy be? His awkwardness kinda reminds me of Koushuu.

After Kanemaru had finished his schoolwork, he went to bed early so he’ll be fully recovered the next day. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as he had expected. Upon waking up, Kanemaru felt even more tired, his throat was aching and he was feeling a bit warm too. Nevertheless, he still went to class.

“Good morning,” Kanemaru greeted as he went to his seat.

“Good morning! How are you feeling now, Kanema –“ Sawamura paused upon seeing his haggard-looking classmate entered the room. “Hey! Are you okay? I thought you’re going to rest yesterday! It looked like your state got worse! You did an extra practice yesterday, didn’t you?”

“Shut up, Bakamura. You’re the only one who’s gonna do something like that. Don’t expect others to act like you,” Kanemaru replied, slightly irritated at his growing headache.

“I think you should go to the infirmary,” Sawamura stated, ignoring Kanemaru’s jabbing at his stupidity. “Before it gets worse.”

“Yes. Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Don’t just keep it in mind, do something about it!”

Sawamura was about to add some more retort but was suddenly interrupted when the bell rang and their teacher had entered the room. He went back to his seat but glanced a worried look at the blonde boy before sitting down.

During the entire day at class, Sawamura kept on pestering Kanemaru. He even asked their PE teacher to let Kanemaru rest instead of doing physical activities. He had explained to their instructor that his friend was not feeling good at the moment. The teacher, who was touched by Sawamura’s concern for his friend agreed. Sawamura then dragged Kanemaru towards the infirmary, not even listening to what the latter has to say.

“Pardon us for the intrusion!” Sawamura said in a not-so-loud manner. “My friend right here is very sick and he needs some rest, may I ask for your permission to let him rest?”

“Stop exaggerating, I’m not that sick.”

“That’s what very sick people say!” Sawamura replied with his hands on his hips.

The nurse, who had been observing the two argue as soon as they entered the room, just looked at them with a smile and cleared her throat to catch their attention. The two boys stopped arguing and just looked at her, waiting for further instructions.

“You can bring your very sick friend over here,” the nurse said as she motioned the two boys on the nearest bed by the window.

Sawamura thanked the nurse while he dragged Kanemaru towards the bed while the blond complained “I told you, I wasn’t that sick.” He still ended up following the pitcher’s pace as he had no more strength to argue.

Once Kanemaru had settled himself on the bed, the nurse took his temperature.

“It’s 38.5 degrees. I’ll get you some medicine. For now, you need to rest,” the nurse stated.

“We’ll have our lunch break after our PE class. Just stay on the bed until the break’s over, I’ll bring you lunch!” Sawamura mentioned as he was about to exit the infirmary. The boy had probably planned to let Kanemaru rest during PE class so he can extend his rest by another more hour during lunch break.

The room went silent when Sawamura left.

“Nice friend you have there,” the nurse spoke as she smiled at Kanemaru.

“Y-yeah.”

That was all Kanemaru replied. Sawamura was indeed a good and very loyal friend. He had proven it to him a few times already. And despite his constant naggings, Sawamura would complain but eventually, listen to what he has to say. Needless to say, he would never admit to the southpaw that he also considered him as his friend.

When their PE class finally finished, Sawamura changed to his uniform as fast as he could and even dragged Furuya to buy some lunch.

“Hurry up, Furuya! Kanemaru might be hungry right now! He needs to eat something so he can take his medicine,” Sawamura shouted as he noticed the distance between them increasing.

After buying lunch, they proceeded straight away to the infirmary. Furuya was the one holding their drinks while Sawamura was holding their lunch. By the time they arrived, Kanemaru was sleeping soundly. They waited for around 20 minutes before deciding to wake the boy up. Kominato and Toujou had arrived as well when they were contacted by Sawamura.

Kanemaru was already in the middle of waking up when he heard some voices surrounding him.

“Thankfully, it’s just a fever and not flu. According to the nurse, he’ll be okay in a day or two if he just has plenty of rest,” Sawamura mentioned to the other three teammates.

At that statement, Kanemaru heard some sigh of relief from the other guys. He then opened his eyes as he checked who Sawamura’s companions were.

“Oh, you’re awake now, Shinji. How are you feeling?” Toujou asked being the first one to notice the blonde boy waking up.

Before he replied, Kanemaru tried to sit up but he was lacking the strength to do so.

“Geez. What’re you doing? Don’t force yourself!” Sawamura said as he helped Kanemaru to sit on the bed. “Here, we brought you lunch.”

The three guys assisted as they looked for a small table they can put on top of Kanemaru’s bed so he can eat properly. Kanemaru noticed that there were some pudding, 3 rice balls, and then a thermos as they placed it on top of the table.

“I asked the staff from the cafeteria to make you some soup,” explained Sawamura. “Just in case you can’t eat the rice balls.”

“T-thanks,” Kanemaru whispered, his face still slightly flushed from the fever.

The other four students had rice balls for lunch as well so they could eat inside the infirmary. The nurse had allowed it since it won’t make a mess on the bedsheets. Luckily, it was only Kanemaru who was resting at the moment. After taking their lunch, the nurse gave Kanemaru another set of medicine. Surprisingly, he had eaten all the food that Sawamura gave him and drank some of the juices provided by Furuya. He was shocked when Furuya had offered him three different bottles, one 100% orange juice (the typical orange drink that Sawamura buys), one Pocari Sweat, and one ginger ale and told him nonchalantly, “It’s because you never asked me to buy drinks for you, I don’t have any idea what drink you would like.”

He placed the other two drinks on the bedside table and proceeded to drink the orange juice together with the medicine. Before the lunch break had ended, Kanemaru’s fever had gone down to 37.8 degrees. He was about to stand up from his bed but the nurse stopped him.

“That won’t do, Kanemaru-kun. I won’t advise you to go back to your class right now,” the nurse had reprimanded the blonde boy.

“But I already missed a class,” Kanemaru justified.

“You’ll miss more than just one class if you forced yourself right now. Your temperature is getting better. You need to rest more. You can go back to class once your temperature goes back to normal,” the nurse replied in a stern voice, her hands on her hips as if to intimidate the boy.

“O-okay. I’ll rest some more,” Kanemaru responded, slightly frustrated about the fact that he will miss some lessons.

“Don’t worry, Kanemaru! Leave it to me! This Sawamura Eijun will make sure to take down all the notes for all the lessons you’re going to miss,” Sawamura interjected.

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Kanemaru facepalmed as he let out a small sigh.

“You’re so mean! What do you take me for?”

“Do you really want me to respond to that question?”

“Eijun-kun, Kanemaru, stop arguing already. We’re at the infirmary, remember?” Kominato interrupted.

The two stopped their arguing as they bade Kanemaru goodbye as their break’s about to end. Deciding that it would be much better to take more rest so he’d be all healed up by tomorrow, Kanemaru resigned himself to sleep.

The remaining time of the day went by in a flash. Sawamura was unexpectedly very attentive in the remaining classes, making sure to write down the notes he could comprehend while listening to his teachers.

By the time Kanemaru had woken up, it was already past 5 in the afternoon. Nothing could be heard except the clacking of the keyboard made by the nurse. He noticed that his headache was already gone and his throat was no longer aching. Kanemaru had drunk the ginger ale given by Furuya, maybe it helped. He sat up straight and looked at his surroundings, and then at his watch.

I’m late for practice!

“Oh, you’re awake now, Kanemaru-kun. How are you feeling now?”

“I feel better, all thanks to you,” Kanemaru replied politely, bowing slightly towards the nurse.

“Your energetic friend dropped by half an hour ago, he told me to let you know that he already brought your things back to your dorm room and that he will let your coach know that you can’t go to practice for today,” the nurse explained while measuring his temperature.

“I can’t go to practice today?”

“Of course not! Your temperature already went back to normal but if you push yourself, your fever might come back. I gave your friend some instructions so he’ll know what to do.”

The boy turned silent, frustration quite obvious on his face. But he just nodded as he stood up and fixed the bed. Before exiting the room, Kanemaru thanked the nurse once more for looking out for him.

“Get some rest! Drinks lots of fluids! Don’t push yourself too hard for today, got it?” the nurse instructed.

“Yes, ma’am!”

Kanemaru was walking along the corridor when he heard someone calling his name.

“Oi! Kanemaru!” the southpaw pitcher shouted as he ran towards the blonde boy.

“Sawamura? What’re you doing here?” Kanemaru asked upon noticing the boy wearing his baseball uniform, he was already slightly drenched in sweat.

“Good timing! I thought you’d be awake by now so I came to get you,” Sawamura replied as soon as he reached Kanemaru, slightly breathless from all the running, and beamed at his classmate.

“You’re really stupid, you know? I’m fine now so I can go to the dorm room on my own,” Kanemaru responded irritatingly but was touched by the pitcher’s concern.

“Who are you calling stupid! And dorm room my ass! If I didn’t come and fetch you, you might have probably ignored the nurse’s instructions and went straight to practice!” Sawamura retorted, flailing his arms wildly at his classmate.

“That’s –“ Kanemaru paused, unable to look at the intense staring of the other. “Not entirely true.”

“Which means you’re not denying it entirely either! See? It was a good move on my end to check on you. And just so you know, the coach was already aware that you have a fever so you’re not allowed on the grounds!” Sawamura exclaimed.

Kanemaru let out a small sigh and just replied, “Okay, I give up. Drag me wherever you want to drag me.”

“It’s good when you’re being this honest,” Sawamura smiled as he grabbed Kanemaru’s wrist with his left hand, literally dragging his classmate towards the dorm room.

Upon reaching Kanemaru’s room, Sawamura went out for a few minutes and returned with a few things on his hands.

“The nurse gave me some medicine. You still need to drink some after dinner. I bought you some drinks to keep yourself hydrated,” Sawamura explained as he put all the stuff he brought on Kanemaru’s desk. “You don’t need to go to the cafeteria, I’ll be the one to bring your dinner here.”

“You really don’t need to, I can – “

“No! It’s the nurse’s instructions! You need plenty of rest so you’ll be fully recovered by tomorrow! Oh, and by the way, the coach said you can start practicing tomorrow but just do some light exercises if you’re good by then, so for now, just rest, okay?”

“O-okay.”

“And don’t worry about the freshmen. I’ll take over your responsibility in checking their meals for tonight’s dinner. Leave everything to Sawamura Eijun!” the southpaw pitcher saluted.

“You really don’t have to do all these for me, you know? It kinda gives me the creep.”

“This guy! Since you’re sick, I’ll let it slide for now!” Sawamura paused for a moment before speaking once more.

“Besides, you’ve always been looking out for me. So I thought this time, I’ll be the one to look out for you.”

Sawamura just smiled at Kanemaru. The latter was touched, extremely touched that his brain had almost short-circuited that he didn’t know what to respond to Sawamura’s very sincere and honest words.

Geez. How can this guy say something like that? Really, his innocence and naivete know no boundaries!

Kanemaru, unable to find the right words to say, decided to choose the most convenient path to take – to run.

“I’ll be resting now, you can go back to your room,” Kanemaru spoke in a soft voice as he covered himself with a blanket, to hide his embarrassment of course, but Sawamura didn’t need to know that.

“Oh. Hmm. Okay. But you need to change your clothes first, okay? Don’t sleep on your uniform.”

“Yes. Yes. I got it.”

Sawamura observed Kanemaru for a few more seconds and decided to go back to practice.

During dinner, Sawamura pestered the freshmen non-stop about their meals. You would expect them to be annoyed but the kouhais were actually happy being doted upon by their ace pitcher except for one wolf boy who was releasing an emanating aura towards the pitcher which the boy just simply ignored. Ever since the last Spring tournament, before Sawamura became the ace, some of the first-year baseball players were already fanboying at the southpaw pitcher upon witnessing with their own eyes his excellent pitching.

After dinner was over, Sawamura went back to the dorm rooms, his hands occupied with a tray with some food on top of it. Seto accompanied him since they were going to the same room and opened the door for Sawamura.

“Kanemaru, are you awake? Here’s your dinner! Sorry, it took a while. Were you hungry?”

The blonde boy woke up to the sound of Sawamura’s voice. He sat on his bed as he looked at the southpaw pitcher holding a tray with his dinner on top. Upon seeing Kanemaru awake, he placed the tray on top of his desk.

“Seto, please look after Kanemaru for me. Make sure he eats it before it gets cold. I’ll just step out for a bit, I’ll be back.”

“I understand, Sawamura-senpai. Leave everything to me.”

“Ho… what a great kouhai you have here, Kanemaru! Now, don’t be stubborn and eat your dinner properly! I’ll be back!” Sawamura replied as he ruffled Seto’s hair and exited the room enthusiastically.

“He’s so energetic. I wonder where he’s getting all that energy,” Kanemaru commented as soon as Sawamura was gone.

He sat right next to his table. He checked his dinner and proceeded to eat. Kanemaru was still in the middle of consuming his dinner when Sawamura arrived.

“I brought all the notes you missed for today! I also bought some more drinks,” Sawamura said as soon as he entered the room without even knocking. Thankfully, both Kanemaru and Seto already got used to it.

“What? Whose notes did you borrow?” Kanemaru asked as reached for the notes placed on top of his desk trying to inspect the contents.

“Rude! That’s mine! I didn’t borrow it from anyone. I told you to leave everything to me, didn’t I?”

“Oh. That’s right. I forgot. But I’d never thought you’d diligently write your notes this time,” Kanemaru replied nonchalantly as he browsed through the notes, slightly satisfied with its contents knowing it’s Sawamura’s.

“Well, if I put my mind to it, I can do it too,” Sawamura whispered, slightly pouting at his classmate’s reaction.

“How about you keep on doing it every lesson?” Kanemaru replied, still busy looking at Sawamura’s notes.

“Sorry, Kanemaru-sensei! If I do that every day, Sawamura Eijun will not survive the entire school year!” Sawamura said in a loud voice.

Seto laughed at Sawamura’s reply while Kanemaru just facepalmed while reprimanding the southpaw pitcher saying “That’s nothing to be proud of!”

After finishing Kanemaru’s dinner, he drank his medicine, read some of Sawamura’s notes, and then went back to bed. Sawamura was busy chatting with Seto. As soon as he noticed that his classmate was already lying down, he picked the thermometer on the desk and checked Kanemaru’s temperature – 37.5 degrees.

“Your temperature seems normal now. I’ll put some of the drinks beside your bed so you can drink it if ever you got thirsty,” Sawamura stated as he arranged some bottles beside Kanemaru’s bed. “Get some sleep. Good night, Kanemaru!”

Sawamura smiled at the blonde boy but Kanemaru just shrugged. He turned his back towards the southpaw pitcher as he covered himself with a blanket.

The next day, Kanemaru was already fully recovered. When he arrived at their classroom, he noticed that some of his classmates were gathered in front. And at the center of it was the southpaw pitcher, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked intently on his notes while he listened to one of his female classmates explaining something to him. At times, some of his classmates would add something and Sawamura would intently look at the person as if to acknowledge that he was indeed listening.

After a few seconds of silence and some pondering on Sawamura’s end, his face brightened and shouted.

“Oh!!! I see!!! I get it now! I get it now!” Sawamura exclaimed as he wrote something on his notes.

“Sawamura-kun became the class’ little brother while you were not around, Kanemaru-kun,” Yoshikawa spoke as soon as she noticed the crowd in front of the room and Kanemaru’s confused expression.

“Oh, good morning, Yoshikawa-san,” Kanemaru greeted upon hearing the baseball manager’s voice.

“Good morning, Kanemaru-kun,” Yoshikawa responded with a smile to which Kanemaru blushed.

Apparently, Sawamura hadn’t finished his homework for his second class so he had requested the help of some of his classmates to explain to him how he should answer the last part. At first, he only asked one of his classmates, but Sawamura didn’t seem to get it. Some of his classmates got concerned and help with the explanation. And then the next thing they knew, there were around 10 people gathered at the front trying to help Sawamura finish his assignment.

“Thank you, everyone! It’s because of all of you that this lowly Sawamura Eijun was able to understand the lesson now! I love you all!” Sawamura shouted as he smiled intently at the group gathered around him.

Some were girls and some were boys, but all of them were blushing at the ace pitcher of Seidou. Some were ruffling his hair while some were offering him some food like they’re looking after a toddler.

That guy, not only was he getting even more popular with girls, he’s even getting popular with boys?? I’m so envious!!

Kanemaru’s internal monologue was interrupted when Hoshino spoke once more.

“Actually, it kinda started yesterday. During our last class, our teacher gave us the whole time for self-study. During that period, Sawamura was going around asking some of our classmates about the previous lessons that you were not around, comparing notes just to make sure you will not miss anything while you were sick yesterday. He’s just that kind of guy. He wanted to be of help to you so badly that our classmates felt like wanting to help him too.”

“To be honest, yesterday was one of those days where Sawamura was actively listening to the class. He even raised some questions and when the teachers would answer him, he’d request them to slow down because he’s trying to write it down. Some of the teachers were amused and touched that Sawamura is finally becoming a role model student,” Yoshikawa continued speaking so Kanemaru would have an idea what happened in the class yesterday.

Kanemaru was dumbfounded, unsure of what to say at what he just heard.

So that explains the clear contents of the notes he lent me yesterday.

Kanemaru was about to say something when Sawamura suddenly called him.

“Kanemaru! You’re back! Are you feeling fine now?” Sawamura shouted across the room, some of their classmates looking back and forth at the two.

“I’m fine. And don’t shout inside the room! You’re disturbing people!”

“Yo! Sawamura’s babysitter is now back! Geez. Don’t get sick! We’ve got our hands full yesterday looking after him,” one of his classmates said teasingly while the class laughed.

“Who’s babysitting who? You’re so rude!” Sawamura commented as he pouted at the boy.

Kanemaru noticed the light atmosphere emanating from the room. Everyone was laughing and he was hearing a few comments regarding Sawamura’s behavior yesterday.

As soon as Sawamura finished his homework, he went straight towards Kanemaru’s desk.

“It’s good to see you’re doing fine already. You can go back to practice now. But remember, just some light exercises, okay? Or coach will surely reprimand you,” Sawamura said.

“I know already. Geez. You’re such a worrywart,” Kanemaru replied.

“Of course, I’d be worried. You’re my friend after all!”

“Wha–“ Kanemaru was once again surprised by Sawamura’s honest response.

“You really are an idiot,” Kanemaru simply replied, intending to run away again from Sawamura’s unexpected words by infuriating their ace pitcher.

“And I keep on telling you, I’m not an idiot!”

“I’m fine now so you don’t have to worry,” Kanemaru interjected while intently avoiding Sawamura’s gaze. “I’m fine now so if there are things you don’t understand, feel free to bother me, just like you always do.”

When Kanemaru noticed that there was no response, he was forced to look at the southpaw pitcher. Sawamura was staring at him with a surprised look, his mouth slightly parted. And then he smiled brightly, comparable to that of sunlight.

“Thanks, Kanemaru!”

“Don’t get me wrong! I just don’t want you asking around girls for help. Your popularity is increasing so much that it pisses me off!!” Kanemaru blurted out as he put the pitcher’s head in between his knuckles.

“Eh? What’re you talking abou– “ Sawamura started but was interrupted by the sudden pain inflicted on him by the blonde boy. “Ouch! Kanemaru, stop! My head! It hurts! It hurts!”

And then the whole class laughed once more at their two classmates bickering at each other. Except for Furuya who has no intention of waking up until the school bell rang.

#dna fanfic #daiya no ace fanfic #diamond no ace #DnA #daiya no ace #anime fanfic #fluff and humor #sawamura eijun #kanemaru shinji #seto takuma #kominato haruichi #furuya satoru #toujou hideaki #yoshikawa haruno #sawamura eijun & kanemaru shinji

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atiny-ahgase · 4 years

Text

Does He Know That?

Author’s Note: I’m not really that confident in my writing skill do I don’t usually enjoy writing what I see as being long stories but I really like this one. Probably has a little too much plot but that’s okay.

Summary: Your bad day lasts throughout the entire week and you want nothing more than to just relax with your boyfriend who is busy working on his comeback.

Pairing: Yeosang x Female reader

Word Count: 4.4k

Genre: Fluff, Angst

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“Sangie! Wait up,” you yell to the blonde head of hair briefly peeking out above the crowd of students. You squeeze your way through, breathlessly catching up with him. “Yeosang,” you whine “, you walk too quickly,” you say while clutching your chest breathlessly. “Maybe you just walk too slowly,” he teases while smiling down at you. His golden hair appearing even more beautiful in the morning light, framing his flawless face even more.

You smile back at him, eyes rolling slightly at his remark. Your best friend really was a sight for sore eyes. When he wasn’t acting like a teasing five-year-old he was pretty charming. He turns on his heels, proceeding to walk in his previous direction. “You coming!” you hear him shout. You release an exaggerated sigh before running after him.

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You’d met Yeosang on your first day of university, you were running late for your class; unable to find the correct building. Frantically rushing around a corner you collided with another student. That’s where you met. Falling with a thump, both of you landed on the floor, your respective documents joining shortly.

“Wow, where’s the fire,” you hear him say while standing from the floor. He extended his hand helping you up as well. “Sorry, I’m late for class. I just can’t seem to find the right building,” you sigh, exhaustion clearly in your voice. You both collect the papers littered all over the floor before you attempt to leave.

“What building are you in?” you hear him ask. “Umm...Building 19,” you reply, turning around to meet his eyes. “That’s on the other side of the school you’ll never make it in time,” he responds while taking a step towards you, slowly retrieving your schedule from your hand. “You’re an Art Major,” he proclaims “, this is the History Building,” he continues before returning your schedule.

“It’s at least a half-hour walk to your faculty,” he says, you sigh in response; head hanging in the process.“Thank you umm,” you begin; not really knowing what to call him. “Sorry, I’m Kang Yeosang,” he informs you while offering his hand to you for a handshake smiling brightly as you take his hand. You shake it before introducing yourself as well.

“There are maps at the entrance of each building so that should help you get around better. Don’t get too lost okay Newbie,” he smiles at you, chuckling slightly while continuing down the hallway. He seemed nice. Okay, let’s just focus on finding where every room is since you’ve basically already missed your first class. Can’t afford to get lost every time you have a class.

You’ve spent the rest of your day familiarizing yourself with the layout of the campus. Although you’re still not an expert you can at least find your way around easily enough. Dropping yourself on an adjacent bench you decide to rest a little before eventually heading back to your dorm.

Shuffling through your bag you search for your key card, finding it among a folder full of papers. Grasping it, you remove it from your bag which you attempt to close but a gust of wind causes this usually mundane task to be quite difficult, your papers rustling in the wind. Eventually, you succeed without getting any paper stuck in the zipper.

Unfortunately for you, one paper flew out of your bag and is now flying across the schoolyard. Just great. You grasp your bag firmly at your side before chasing the stray page. The wind had settled down momentarily so you grasped the opportunity and grabbed the page before it gets the chance to blow away once more.

Looking over the contents you soon realize that the page doesn’t belong to you; the student ID was unfamiliar. Where could you have gotten this from? Raking your brain you come to the conclusion that it probably belonged to the Yeosang, the boy you met briefly in the History Building. How do I get it back to him? It looks like it’s important. Thoughts flood your mind. It was your fault that you even had it in the first place, you weren’t paying attention.

Sighing softly, you place the page in your bag before heading to the History Building. It has been at least 2 hours since you were last there, what assurance did you have that he’d still be there? And even if he was there; the building has 3 floors, he could be anywhere. Brushing the doubtful thoughts from your mind you continue on your endeavour.

Upon arriving, you realize that you have no idea where to look, feeling just as confused as you were when you had initially wandered into the said building earlier that day, you sigh, distress obvious on your face.

“Are you lost?” you hear an unfamiliar voice inquire. Spinning around you’re greeted by a pair of deep-set dimples. “No, I’m actually looking for someone,” you respond, taking a step back.

He smiles at you, dimples deepening further. “I’m San, by the way, maybe I know them,” he states. You relax slightly at his words, hoping that he at least knew of Yeosang, honestly, any information would have helped. “Do you know a guy named Yeosang?” you inquire, “ He’s about this tall, has blonde hair and a birthmark over his eye.”

“Oh yeah, Sangie. He’s the Student Representative for one of the boys’ dorms,” San says while tilting his head to the left. Well, I guess that’s where the dorm is.“Thank you,” you tell him before heading to the left. “We could walk you if you’d like”, he states while looking over at his group of friends.

There were 4 of them in total; San who sported a silver streak in his otherwise pitch-black hair, a guy with pale silver hair split down the middle and two taller guys. One with vibrant red hair which could easily outshine the sun and one whose eyes for some reason remind you of a puppy dog.

“It’s getting pretty late, we wouldn’t want anything to happen to you,” he reassures. “Thank you but I’ll be fine,” you responded sweetly before heading on your way. The sun was still up and the schoolyard still bustled with groups of people so you weren’t the least bit worried and you knew better than to trust a group of random strangers.

After stopping a few people to ask for directions you finally have the dorm insight. It took you longer than expected, the sun already dropping lower in the sky; welcoming the cold night breeze. Clutching your jacket closer to your body you walk into the reception area.

“Hello,” you greet the security at the desk “, I’m looking for the student rep for this dorm,” you inform him, remembering what San had told you. “Oh Yeosang, he’s in the last room down the hall to your left. You just need to sign the registry first,” he states before handing you a book. You quickly fill in the information before scurrying down the hall. Keeping your head down you ignore the gazes of the other residents before reaching the room in question.

Hesitantly you knock on the door. Hearing faint shuffling from the other side you release a breath of relief. Before long the door swings open and you’re greeted by Yeosang. He wore a loose white t-shirt, a pair of grey sweatpants and a look of surprise. “Um hi,” you begin, a shy smile on your lips. You honestly didn’t think this far ahead.

“Sangie I didn’t know you had a girlfriend,” you hear some boys across the hall.

“Guess our student rep isn’t just all books,” another exclaims with a loud laugh. You could feel your face heating up at their childish remarks, causing you to lower your head. Yeosang must have noticed this because you began to softly tug at your arm causing you to lookup.

“I don’t really know why you’re here but it's a lot quieter inside, come on,” he says while stepping to the side; allowing you to walk in. You step past him, thanking him softly. The door clicked as it closed and Yeosang sigh while running his hand through his golden hair.

“I’m sorry about that. I’d say that they’re not usually like that but I’d be lying,” he attempts to lighten the awkward mood. Lightly chuckling you reach into your bag searching for the entire reason you just turned up at this almost complete stranger’s door. “Umm. I think you dropped this when we bumped into each other earlier,” you inform him meekly before directing the paper in his direction.

Retrieving it from your hand he looks it over before clicking his tongue glancing over at you. “So you came all this way looking for someone you hardly knew and have no information about to give them something they dropped?” he asks rather bluntly, his eyes searching yours. “It seemed important,” you mumbled, shifting your field of vision from his face to the floor. You knew it was kinda stupid but he didn’t have to be so blunt about it.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I have a habit of always saying the first thing to come to mind,” he begins to ramble; fingers ruffling his hair before laying on his bed. Your eyes following his every movement. He’s really handsome; managing to keep your attention even when he’s dressed down. How could he not already have a girlfriend?

“Thank you,” he breathes out “, you didn’t have to go through all that trouble, I really do appreciate it.” You fight back the smile threatening to creep up on your face. “You’re welcome,” you respond; your heartwarming at his words “, I should get going though. It’s getting pretty late,” you continue while glancing out of the window.

“I’ll walk you out,” he states. Not really leaving much room for argument. You both walk down the hall, trying to ignore the hollering you receive from the other residents. Yeosang pushes the door open causing a gust of cold wind to greet you. You shiver slightly while hugging your body. “How far is your apartment?” he asks while looking up at the dark blue sky. “It’s on the other side of the campus,” you respond.

“I’ll walk you there,” he says while already beginning to walk. “Are you sure that’s okay? You’re not really dressed for the weather,” you query while looking over what you assume to be his pyjamas for the night. “And you don’t have a single sense of danger. I wouldn’t feel right letting you walk alone. So come on it’s freezing,” he replies now at least 10 steps ahead of you. You hurry behind him.

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You chuckle slightly at the memory of how you two became friends. Even though he was surprisingly blunt you really did cherish his opinion. You knew that it was coming from a place of love and genuine concern. Yeosang was the one person that you knew would always tell you the truth no matter what. He’d never sugar coat any of his words and he’d definitely never lie to you and you really appreciated that.

You had both arrived at the cafe, sitting down once you had received your orders. “You sent in your paper Sangie?” You ask him. “Yeah, now all I have to do is study for finals,” he states, smiling brightly at you.

“How is your collaboration project going?” Yeosang asks before taking a bite of his sandwich. For your end of year project, the Art Majors were paired up with Seniors belonging to the Fashion Department to work with them on their Final Year Project.

The essence of the project was that you’d choose to analyze a form of art, whether it be found in architecture, different painting styles or whatever you’d like, and combine both Majors (Art and Fashion) to create two cohesive pieces; one everyday look and one high fashion look.

You weren’t really the most fashionable person in the world but you couldn’t have asked for a better partner.“Oh it’s going pretty well,” you begin “, we decided to choose Starry Night so our looks will have to be representative of that piece. I was pretty concerned about manipulating the brush strokes on the fabric to mimic the piece but Hongjoong said that he’s got it covered.” you began gushing about your partner.

Usually, you hate any type of group projects because they basically consist of you doing all of the work and being guilt-tripped into putting everyone’s names on the assignment. But this time things were different, you actually have someone you can depend on.

“Seems pretty full of himself if he thinks he can recreate one of the most memorable pieces of art in history,” Yeosang concludes. Sometimes you forget that he’s a history major.

“I think it’s nice. It shows that he believes in himself and his talents”, you state while looking down at your plate. “Let’s just hope it’s not unjustified confidence,” Yeosang snidely remarked.

Okay, you knew that he was blunt but he has literally no justification to be going in on Hongjoong like that. “Sangie”, you sigh; hand reaching out to grip his arm resting on the table. Using your thumb you rub gentle circles along his arm; feeling him stiffen up slightly.

“You’re not usually like this. Is something wrong?” you question looking into his warm brown eyes. He opens his mouth to say something but is quickly cut off by your name being called.

“Y/n. Hey, I didn’t expect to see you over here,” you pinpoint the voice smiling brightly as you realize its Hongjoong. “Hey Joongie!” you exclaim raising from your seat to hug him.

“I just came to get something to eat before class starts. What about you?” you question. “I was passing by and saw something that looked absolutely delectable from through the window and just thought I’d come in to have a closer look,” he states, his hand still around your waist from your precious hug.

“Wow you must be sporting 40-40 vision to notice those pastries from all the way over there,” Yeosang states, obviously not believing his story. The counter was situated more towards the back of the shop but you just brush it off.

“Hi, sorry we haven’t met. I’m Kim Hongjoong; Design Major,” your group partner introduces himself.

“Kang Yeosang; History,” Yeosang states while raising from his seat forcing Hongjoong to look slightly up. Yeosang was in no way one of the tallest guys you’ve known; he is still taller than Hongjoong.

“I have a paper to write so I’ll see you later okay. Text me when your class is over, we’ll study together,” Yeosang states while pulling you into a hug. To say that you were caught off guard would be an understatement. That was the first time Yeosang had ever hugged you. Yeah you were both friends but you just assumed that he wasn’t the hugging type; but apparently not. You smile into the hug, it was nice, you silently wish that he would hug you more often.

The hug didn’t last long before he pulled away looking over at Hongjoong one last time before grabbing his coffee, ruffling your hair and leaving. Didn’t he say that he finished all of his papers? Why would he lie about something like that?

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin your date,” Hongjoong says nervously while shifting his weight from side to side. You were sure in that moment your cheeks were warmer than the coffee that you left on the table. He thought that you two were together. You and Sangie? He thought that you looked like a couple.

“Oh no it's nothing like that,” you begin almost frantically “, we’re just friends.” Hongjoong’s eyes never drifting from yours. “Really?” he asks; his voice dropping octaves lower than before. You nod slightly, unphased by his change in demeanour.

“That’s great,” he says while brushing a stray hair from your face, fingers lightly grazing the surface of your skin “, I’ll see you in class then.” And just like that, he was gone.

The class was pretty uneventful. No, be honest you weren’t really listening, you were worried about Yeosang. In the time that you have both been friends, he’s never once lied to you. He just isn’t the time. And on top of that, it was a lie about Home Work? Really? Something just didn’t add up; you wanted to ask about it.

“Hey y/n are you okay?” Hongjoong asks once class was over. “Yeah I’m fine I’ve just been feeling a little off today,” you reply. Hongjoong places his hand on your forehead to check your temperature. You know that he’s just being friendly and he’s concerned about your health but every time he touches you it feels wrong. You don’t get that friendly energy that you get from your other friends and you don’t get that warm, safe feeling that you get from Yeosang.

“You don’t seem to have a fever, maybe it was something you ate.” You nod your head slowly, “Yeah probably. But anyway I should be going. I promised that I’d meet up with Yeosang.”

“He won’t die if you don’t hang out with him for one day,” he proclaims while gently gripping your forearm. “Huhh?” confusion dripping from your voice as you turn to face him.

“Y/n. Can I ask you something?” he sighs while looking at his feet.

“Sure,” you simply reply.

“Would you like to go out with me this coming weekend? We could go to the art exhibit that we talked about.” he gleams.

He was asking you out. Kim Hongjoong was asking you out on a date. This is the first time someone has asked you out since you’ve entered University. So why aren’t you more excited?

“Sorry Joongie I can’t. I’m busy that day”, you lie while averting your eyes.

“It doesn’t have to be Saturday, it could be Sunday if you want. Whichever day works for you.” He responds with an air of desperation in his voice.

“Actually I’m not busy,” you confess; the guilt is already beginning to eat you alive. You never were a good liar. “I can’t go because-” “You can’t go because there is no way he would let you,” he interjects.

“Who are you talking about?” you question. You both clearly are not on the same page.

“Your boyfriend. Yeosang was it?” Hongjoong asks, but it doesn’t really sound like a question.

“Sangie isn’t my boyfriend, we’re just friends,” you state, attempting to annoy the sudden ache in your heart that those words cause.

“Does he know that?”

----------

The thunderous downpour of the rain attempts to drown out the ringing of your phone as you try to contact Yeosang. His phone is off, just great. You’re running across the courtyard basically going from building to building until you reach his dorm. You wanted to see him, you needed to see him.

Earlier today he said that he had a paper to write but that was a big fat lie and you knew it. That coupled together with Hongjoong basically insinuating that Yeosang liked you, your mind was a mess. You refused to listen to anything about Yeosang that didn’t come out of his mouth because that’s how much you’ve trusted him. He has always been upfront with you no matter how much it hurt it, that’s why you need to hear it from him.

Finally reaching Yeosang’s dorm building you rush inside; not even bothering to check-in by the front desk cause you’ve been there so many times before. By this time all of your clothes were wet, the rain doing a serious number on you.

Walking up to Yeosang’s door you raised your hand, banging on it harder than usual. “What?” you hear an angered Yeosang ask from inside and within seconds he had swung the door open; ready to give whoever was on the other side a piece of his mind.

You saw the drastic change from anger to concern on his face as soon as he laid eyes on you. Realizing that he could never be mad at you. You walk past him, walking straight into his room.

“It’s pouring outside what are you doing here?” No response. He began rustling through his draws in search of what you believe to be some dry clothes for you. “Here wear this, I’ll wait outside.” He hands you a pair of his shorts and a sweatshirt before exiting the room. You quickly change before opening the door and letting him in.

“Why are you here y/n?” he asks but his eyes never reach you, he hasn’t looked at you once since you’ve entered his room. This isn’t like him; he doesn’t just blatantly lie to you and he always looks you in the face while talking to you. Yeosang has always made it a point to look at whoever he is speaking to in the eyes. He said it was something about effective communication, yet here he was, avoiding eye contact.

Ignoring his initial question you ask, “How’s the paper coming along?” while dropping down at his computer table. He sat on his bed, shoulders hunched looking down at his feet. “It’s going pretty well, you could expect a draft to read really soon if you want,” he states, never lifting his head to look at you. He was lying, you could tell. His voice was distant like he was there but his thoughts somewhere else. What was on his mind?

“Remember when we were walking back from the library after studying for Mid-terms? We talked about how you’re such an amazing friend because you’re so honest. I promised you that I wouldn’t lie to you so we could be amazing friends together,” your voice cracks replaying the memory.

Everyone lies you knew that better than anyone but Yeosang wasn’t like everyone else, not to you. He was your first University friend, he’d always make time for you no matter how busy he got and would continuously check up on you during finals. He meant a lot to you, so much more than he would ever know.

He sighs once more; falling back on his bed. “I don’t know what you want me to say y/n.”

“Tell me the truth. What’s up with you lately? Everything was fine yesterday, what’s so different today?” you yell. Standing to your feet. You’re beyond annoyed right now. You know that something is wrong and you wanna help him through whatever it is he’s going through but you can’t because he won’t let you in. What’s with this attitude? What’s with these secrets? Why won’t he just talk to you?

“You want the truth? Fine!” Yeosang shouts, his voice bouncing off the four walls of his small dorm room. “Not once during this entire so-called friendship have I ever thought of you as a friend.” His words crashing into you like a load of bricks. He was the most important person in your life; tearing down walls that you didn’t even know you had.

“Sangie,” you breathe out, almost in a whisper, heart aching every time you look at him.

“Please stop,” he says in a hushed tone “, stop calling me that. It’s painful. Every moment I spend beside you hurts so Goddamn much, I can’t take it anymore.” he says; his voice someone seeming even more crushed than yours.

“I don’t want this friendship! I don’t want to stand beside you as other guys flirt with you, I don’t wanna hear you gushing about the guys in your classes, I don’t want to stand by and be your supportive friend y/n.” With that, he’s once again seated on his bed, hands in his face and breathing heavily.

Mustering up the little fight you can manage to gather after that heartbreaking revelation you ask, “Then what do you want Sang-...Yeosang?”

“You,” he says. Almost in a whisper. His voice sounded so tired, so soft, so...damaged. “I like you y/n, I’ve always liked you. You’re the only person I know that truly gets me.”

“You’re not deterred by my bluntness, you’re not deceived by my lies, no matter how many times I try to push you away you see right through me.”

He’s now looking up at you, his face red and tears threatening to fall. “I like you to Sangie,” you reply while taking a tentative step towards him. You did like him. You didn’t know when you had started experiencing those feeling for him but you were made aware of it by San; who you’ve been getting pretty close to.

San had asked what kind of guys you were into (he was tryna set you up with one of his friends), when you had responded he couldn’t stop laughing. You asked him about it and he simply said “, You know that you just described Yeosang perfectly right?” He promised that he wouldn’t say anything and you just couldn’t bring yourself to say anything because you didn’t want to ruin your friendship.

And look where that mindset has you. Face to face with a tear-faced Yeosang. You really messed up..

“Stop lying!” he shouts, startling you. “You don’t need to lie to me to keep me by your side,” he continues. He doesn’t believe you and why should he? He’s been harbouring feelings for you this entire time and you just couldn’t see it.

Even though you love him so much, he can’t see his pain. He was hurting because of you, he’s been hurting because of you. You feel your body move on its own. Before your brain can even register you’re already standing between Yeosang’s legs holding him in your arm.

His arms tentatively rest on your waist as you hold him close to your chest, just nuzzling his head. “Sangie” you whisper “, I’m sorry I’m an idiot. I’m sorry that I couldn’t see you even though you always saw me,” your voice begins to crack. You feel his grip on waist tighten as his fingers grasp the sweatshirt that you’re wearing. “I promised that I’d never lie to you, so please believe me when I saw that you’re the best part of every day and I’m so happy to be a part of your life.”

“If you’re not with me I don’t know what I would do. I spent all day worrying about you, I wait at my phone wherever you say that you’re gonna call me. I take the long way to class every day just so I could pass by the History Building and see you sitting under the big oak tree.” you confess. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t come to terms with my feelings sooner but I really do like you.”

You feel him shuffle beneath your grip. Releasing your hands you look down at him as he looks up at you. He looks so vulnerable, you can’t believe that you caused that.

“I won’t stand idly by as other guys flirt with you,” he begins “,and I’m the only guy that gets a nickname ok?” he professes, his eyes looking straight into your soul. “No ‘Sannie’, no ‘Youngie’ and definitely no Joongie.” He continued while poking out his bottom lip; looking at you with puppy dog eyes, his face brightening up as he looks at you.

“Just Sangie from now on okay?”

You reply to his almost adorable wishes the best way you know-how. Leaning forward you place a small peck on his lips, smiling down at him when you pull away. “Fine,” you chuckle “, I’ll leave all of the cute nicknames for you.”

#kang yeosang #yeosang #ateez yeosang #ateez #ateez x reader #ateez imagines #ateez scenarios #ateez au

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